CHAPTER VII.
THE progress of events renders it necessary again to introduce the Indian hero of the war of the Revolution more prominently upon the stage of action. Thayendanegea had now been advanced to the situation of principal war-chief of the confederacy, an officer, according to the ancient usages of the Six Nations, uniformly taken from the Mohawks.
It has been seen, in a preceding chapter, that Thayendanegea had accompanied Guy Johnson from the Mohawk Valley, first, westwardly to Ontario, thence back to Oswego, and thence to Montreal, where his services, and those of his warriors, were courted by Generals Carleton and Haldimand, and an agreement was speedily made that they were to take up the hatchet in the cause of the king. For the prosecution of a border warfare the officers of the crown could scarcely have engaged a more valuable auxiliary. Distinguished alike for his address, his activity, and his courage-possessing, in point of stature and symmetry of person, the advantage of most men even among his own wellformed race-tall, erect, and majestic, with the air and mien of one born to command-having, as it were, been a man of war from his boyhood-his name was a tower of strength among the warriors of the wilderness. Still more extensive was his influence rendered by the circumstance that he had been much employed in the civil service of the Indian department, under Sir "William Johnson, by whom he was often deputed upon embassies among the tribes of the confederacy, and to those yet more distant, upon the great lakes and rivers of the northwest, by reason of which his knowledge of the whole country and people was accurate and extensive.
Whether, after the compact with Sir Guy Carleton, the chief again visited the Indian country of the Six Nations during the summer of 1775, is unknown. Probably not; since, in the autumn of that year, or early in the following winter, he embarked on his first visit to England. What was the precise object of this visit does not appear. It is very probable, however, that, notwithstanding the agreement so hastily formed at Montreal, the sagacious chieftain may have judged it prudent to pause before committing himself too far by overt acts of hostility against the colonies. The Oneidas were evidently inclining to espouse the colonial side of the controversy, if any; the River Indians had already ranged themselves on the same side ; Captain White-Eyes, of the Delawares, had determined upon neutrality; and the Caughnawagas, or, at least, some of their leading chiefs, were in the camp with Washington. To all which may be added the fact, that at that time the American arms were carrying everything before them in Canada. These circumstances were certainly enough to make the chieftain hesitate as to the course dictated by true wisdom. His predilections, doubtless, from the first, inclined him to espouse the cause of the king. Nay, he maintained through life, that the ancient covenants of his people rendered it obligatory upon him so to do. In addition to which were the strong ties of blood, of association, and of gratitude, by which he was bound to the family and the interests of the Johnsons. Still, the brilliant successes with which the Americans had opened the campaign in Canada presented another view of the case, which was certainly entitled to grave consideration. Thus situated, the chief may have found his position so embarrassing as to induce him to visit the parent country, and go himself into the presence of " THE GREAT KING," as the British monarch was styled by the Indians, before he should finally determine whether actually to take the field or not. By making the voyage, he would have the additional advantage of studying the resources and the power of the parent country, and would thereby be the better able to determine for himself whether success was likely to crown his majesty's arms in the end, or whether, by an overscrupulous observance of an ancient stipulation of alliance, he should not, with his people, be rushing upon certain destruction.
But whether he thus reasoned or not, it is certain that he sailed for England towards the close of the year 1775, and reached London early in 1776, accompanied by Captain Tice, an officer of English extraction, born in America, who had resided in the neighbourhood of the Mohawk nation.
Only a very brief account of this, his first visit to England, has been found. It has always been said, however, that he was not only well received, but that his society was courted by gentlemen of rank and station-statesmen, scholars, and divines. He had little of the savage ferocity of his people in his countenance; and when, as he ordinarily did, he wore the European dress, there was nothing besides his colour to mark wherein he differed from other men. Upon his first arrival in the British capital, he was conducted to the inn called " The Swan with two Necks." Other lodgings were soon provided for him more suitable to his rank as an Indian king; but he said the people of the inn had treated him with so much kindness and civility, that he preferred remaining there during his stay in London; and he accordingly did so.
Although he was dressed in the European habit, he was not unprovided with a splendid costume after the manner of his own nation, in which he appeared at court, and upon visits of state and ceremony. James Boswell was at that time in his glory, and an intimacy appears to have been contracted between him and the Mohawk chief, since the latter sat for his picture at the request of this most interesting of egotists. He also sat, during the same visit, to Romney, one of the most distinguished artists of his day, for the Earl of Warwick. He was, of course, painted in his native dress, and the picture was greatly prized. The tomahawk worn by him in London was a very beautiful article, polished to the highest degree; upon which was engraved the first letter of his Christian name with his Mohawk appellation, thus: " J. Thayendanegea."
He did not remain in England many months, but, in company with Captain Tice, sailed on his return towards the close of March or early in April, and arrived on the coast near the harbour of New-York, after a very short passage. Having fully determined to fulfil his stipulations with General Carteton, and take up the hatchet in the cause of the crown, he was cautiously and privately landed somewhere in the neighbourhood of New-York, whence he performed a very hazardous journey to Canada, having, of course, to steal his way through a hostile population, until he could hide himself in the forests beyond Albany. He had taken the precaution, however, in England, to provide evidence of the identity of his body in case of disaster, or of his fall in any of the battles he anticipated, by procuring a gold finger ring, with his name engraven thereon at length.*
* This ring he wore until his death. It was kept as a precious relic by his widow for four years, when it was lost. Strange as it may seem, however, during the last summer (1836), the identical ring was found by a little girl in a ploughed field near Wellington Square, while the venerable Indian queen was on a visit to her daughter, the accomplished lady of Colonel Kerr. The aged widow of tile old chief was overjoyed at once more possessing the memento, after it had been lost six-and-twenty years.
What were the particular arguments addressed to the Mohawk in the British capital, or by what process he became impressed with the idea that the arms of the king would, in the end, be victorious in the colonies, is not known. It is certain, however, that whatever doubts he might have entertained, were most effectually dispelled; since, on taking leave, it was understood that he pledged himself heartily to embrace the royal cause, and promised to take the field with three thousand warriors of his race.*
It is no more than justice, however, to allow Captain Brant to speak for himself in regard to the principle by which he was governed in his decision. In a letter written by him to Sir Evan Nepean, the under-secretary of state, when in England after the peace of 1783, he said: " When I joined the English in the beginning of the war, it was purely on account of my forefathers' engagements with the king. I always looked upon these engagements, or covenants between the king and the Indian nations, as a sacred thing: therefore, I was not to be frightened by the threats of the rebels at that time; I assure you I had no other view in it, and this was my real case from the beginning."
* It appears that Colonel Gay Johnson must have visited England at the same time, or nearly the same time, with Brant. Perhaps they went together, although Johnson did not return so soon. General Washington announced his arrival at Staten Island, from England, on the 6th of August, 1776, in a letter written to the President of Congress on the 8th. In Dunlap's History of the American Stage, Guy Johnson's name is given, in 1778, as one of the managers of the old Theatre Royal, Johnstreet. The players were all amateurs, officers of the British army, and the avails of their performances were appropriated for benevolent purposes. The unfortunate Major Andre was one of the actors, and the scene painter. A drop-curtain, painted by him, was used many years after his death.
By " threats," in this letter to the under-secretary, Brant probably meant no more than the efforts made by the Americans to prevent his joining the royal standard, and to preserve the neutrality of the Indians. In connexion with these efforts, there is a scrap of unwritten history, which, whether true or not, is characteristic of the shrewdness, and dry, sarcastic humour of the chief. It is related, that during the early part of the year 1775, while it was yet considered doubtful which side the Mohawks would espouse, and when it was, of course, very desirable to ascertain the views of Brant upon the subject, President Wheelock was applied to as a medium of communication with his former pupil. The doctor, according to the tradition, wrote him a long epistle upon the aspect of the times, and urged upon Brant those considerations which appeared most likely to win him over, or, rather, to secure his neutrality, if not his friendship, to the colonists. Brant replied very ingeniously. Among other things, he referred to his former residence with the doctor, recalled the happy hours he had passed under his roof, and referred especially to his prayers and the family devotions to which he had listened. He said he could never forget those prayers ; and one passage, in particular, was so often repeated, that it could never be effaced from his mind. It was, among other of his good preceptor's petitions," that they might be able to live as good subjects-to fear God and HONOUR THE KING."
If doubt had existed among the colonists before, as to the direction of the channel in which ran his inclinations, there was surely none after the perusal of this letter. But scenes of a more stirring character now demand the attention.
Towards the close of the memorable Canadian campaign-so brilliantly commenced, so successfully prosecuted for many months, and yet so disastrously terminated-while the shattered remains of the American forces were retiring before the troops of Sir Guy Carleton, the former experienced a sad disaster at " the Cedars," a point of land extending far into the St. Lawrence, about forty miles above Montreal, which was occupied by Colonel Bedell with three hundred and ninety provincial troops and two fieldpieces. General Carleton directed a descent upon this post from the British station at OsWegatchie, under the command of Captain Forster, at the head of one company of regular troops and a body of Indians numbering nearly six hundred. The latter were led by Thayendanegea. On the appearance of the enemy before the American works, Colonel Bedell repaired immediately to Montreal for assistance, leaving the Cedars in charge of Major Butterfield. Colonel (afterward general) Arnold, Who was then in command of Montreal-not yet evacuated by the Americana-forthwith detached Major Sherburne with one hundred men, to proceed to the Cedars, and prepared to follow himself with a much larger force. Meantime, however, Major Butterfield, who, it was believed, might have easily defended the position, was intimidated by a threat from the enemy, that, should the siege continue and any of the Indians be slain, in the event of an eventual surrender it would be impossible for the British commander to prevent a general massacre, and consented to a capitulation, by which the whole garrison became prisoners of war. Major Sherburne approached on the day following, without having received any information of the change of circumstances until within four miles of the post, where, on the 20th of May, he was attacked by the Indians, and, after a sharp conflict, compelled to surrender at discretion. No sooner had Arnold received information of these events, than he marched against the foe, then at Vaudreuil, at the head of seven hundred men, with a view of chastising the enemy and recovering the prisoners. " When preparing for an engagement, he received a flag accompanied by Major Sherburne, giving him the most positive assurances that if he persisted in his design it would be entirely out of the power of Captain Forster to prevent his savages from pursuing their horrid customs, and disencumbering themselves of their prisoners by putting every man to death. This massacre was already threatened, and Major Sherburne confirmed the information. Under the influence of this threat, Arnold desisted from his purpose, and consented to a cartel, by which the prisoners were delivered up to him; he agreeing, among other things, not only to deliver as many British soldiers in exchange for them, but also that they should immediately return to their homes."
This disaster, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, the conduct of the officers to whose cowardice it was imputed, was a source of deep mortification to General Washington, and he gave utterance to his vexation in several letters written soon afterward. Nor was Butterfield alone blamed, Colonel Bedell being placed in the same category of condemnation. The commander-in-chief was likewise incensed at the conduct of Captain Forster, in resorting to deceptive and very unjustifiable means to procure hostages for ratifying a treaty of exchange. The name of Captain Brant is not mentioned in any of the books in connexion with these transactions at the Cedars. There is positive evidence, however, that he was not only there, but that he exerted himself efficiently, after the surrender of Major Sherburne, to control the Indians and prevent the massacre of the prisoners. Among these latter was Captain. John M'Kinstry, who commanded a company on that occasion. From his account of the battle, Major Sherburne fell into an ambuscade, and the fighting was severe. Captain M'Kinstry's command was engaged sharply with a body of Indians, before whom his troops were several VOL. I.-M
times compelled to retire. Rallying, however, with spirit, the Indians were repeatedly driven back in turn; and the respective parties were thus successively driven by each other, back and forth, according to the doubtful and varying fortunes of the hour, until the Americans were overpowered by numbers, and compelled to surrender; Captain M'Kinstry being wounded, fell by the side of a tree, and was there taken. He subsequently ascertained that he had been marked as a victim by the Indians, who had actually made the usual preparations for putting him to death by the torture of fire ; and that he was rescued by the personal exertions of Captain Brant, who, in connexion with some humane English officers, made up a purse and purchased an ox, which the Indians roasted for their carousal instead of the gallant prisoner. Captain M'Kinstry was treated with kindness while a prisoner, and contracted an intimacy with Brant, which continued until the chieftain's death. Brant never visited the Hudson after the Revolution without spending a few days with Colonel M'Kinstry at the Manor; and at the time of his last visit, about the year 1805, in company with his friend, who, like himself, was a member of the brotherhood, he attended the Freemason's Lodge in the city of Hudson, where his presence attracted great attention.
But to return. The conduct of Major Butterfield at the Cedars was likewise severely denounced in Congress, and his capitulation pronounced, by resolution, "a shameful surrender." Due credit was at the same time awarded to Major Sherburne for the bravery displayed by himself and his troops, who only " surrendered at last on absolute necessity." Notwithstanding, moreover, the interposition of Captain Brant to prevent a massacre, and the rescue of Captain M'Kinstry, such outrages were reported to Congress as to call forth a series of indignant resolutions upon the subject. In the preamble to these resolutions, it was stated that, immediately after the surrender, the prisoners were delivered over to the Indians ; their baggage plundered, their clothes taken from them, and several of their number killed; and one of them, who had only been wounded, roasted alive. From the circumstance that Captain M'Kinstry had been wounded, and designated for the torture, though rescued, as we have already seen, by Captain Brant, it is quite probable that Congress was misinformed as to the actual consummation of such a purpose in the person of any prisoner. Assuming the fact, however, the enemy's conduct was denounced in the strongest erms : Congress asserting the right of demanding indemnification for the wrongs inflicted upon the prisoners in their persons and property ; and in regard to the murder of prisoners by the Indians, requiring that the authors of those murders be delivered into their hands for condign punishment, as a condition precedent to an exchange of prisoners. In regard to the torturing of prisoners, a resolution was also adopted, denouncing, " as the sole means of stopping the progress of human butchery," a retaliation of punishment, of the same kind and degree, to be inflicted upon a like number of prisoners of the enemy, in every case of outrage thereafter to occur.
These resolutions were, in effect, a refusal to confirm the treaty for the exchange of prisoners entered into by General Arnold, and were so considered by the commanding officers in Canada. The consequence was, the indulgence of much crimination and recrimination on the part both of the American and British commanders. Indeed, complaints of the cruel treatment of the prisoners falling into their hands had been preferred against the enemy several months before, particularly in the case of Colonel Ethan Allen and his fellow-captives. Allen had been captured by General Prescott, by whom, in addition to other indignities, he had been heavily ironed, and sent like a common felon to England. Prescott was afterward taken by the Americans and treated with considerable rigour, in retaliation for the ill usage of Alien. This produced a remonstrance from General Howe, who, on being reminded of the case of Alien, disclaimed any responsibility in regard to that transaction, inasmuch as it was an occurrence in a district beyond the boundaries of his particular command. The affair of the Cedars excited the strongest feelings of indignation, not only in Congress and among the people, but in the army. Soon afterward the account was in part balanced, by a diabolical outrage committed by an American scouting party in the neighbourhood of St. John's. It was the deliberate assassination, by the lieutenant at the head of the party, of Brigadier-general Gordon of the British army. General Gordon was riding alone, and in full uniform, from Laprairie to St. John's. The lieutenant and his party were in ambush within the British lines; and, as the general passed, the former wantonly and barbarously shot him through the body. Although the wound was mortal, the general rode on, and speedily reached St. John's, where he expired. This painful incident aroused as warm a burst of indignation among the British officers as the affair of the Cedars had done among the Americans. General Carleton availed himself of the occurrence to issue a violent, though artful proclamation, which was pronounced by Washington, in a letter to the President of Congress, to be "highly unbecoming the character of a soldier and gentleman." Although the prisoners were not exchanged, under the arrangement made with Arnold, yet Carleton set the American captives at liberty, on condition of their returning to their own homes, there to remain as prisoners. Each of the prisoners was furnished with a copy of his insidious proclamation.
It was not supposed that any considerable numbers of the Indians of the Six Nations participated in the battle of the Cedars, other than the Mohawks and their kindred tribe, the Caughnawagas, or the Seven Nations of Canada, as they chose to call themselves. Indeed, the Six Nations were, at that stage of the contest, far from being unanimous in opposition to the colonies ; and at the very time of these occurrences, a deputation from four of the nations was at Philadelphia, on a peaceable mission to Congress.
On the 25th of May, 1776, the Congress resolved " that it was highly expedient to engage the Indians in the service of the United Colonies;" and they empowered the commander-in-chief to employ, in Canada and elsewhere, a number not exceeding two thousand, offering them " a reward of one hundred dollars for every commissioned officer, and thirty dollars for every private soldier of the king's troops, that they should take prisoner in the Indian country, or on the frontier of these colonies.'' The Congress also authorized General Washington to employ the Indians of Penobscot, St. John's, and Nova Scotia, who had proffered their services, and were to receive the same pay as the Continental soldiers.
Whether any of those Eastern Indians were ever actually engaged in the American service, is not known. In regard to the employment of the Northern Indians, Washington forthwith entered into a correspondence with General Schuyler upon the subject, and pressed him to carry the resolutions into effect. The latter, however, was averse to the measure-as much so as at the first. He disliked to employ such a force under any circumstances, contending that they were too fickle and uncertain to allow any well-founded reliance to be placed upon them at the moment of emergency. At that particular conjuncture, especially, when our troops, bro-
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ken and dispersed, were flying like fugitives from Canada, he thought the chances of obtaining Indian. auxiliaries exceedingly slender; and as to the number prescribed (two thousand), the general intimated, in one of his letters to the commander-in-hief, that it would have been well if Congress had condescended to inform him where so many Indian warriors, not already in the service of the enemy, were to be found. In short, General Schuyler's opinion was correct from the beginning, that the colonies could expect no essential aid from the Indians ; and whatever aid they might receive, would be sure to cost more than it would come to. So the event proved. But, although the British profited most by the employment of the Indians, they are not alone to blame for using them. So far, certainly, as principle and intention are concerned, the Americans are equitably entitled to a due share of the censure. In recurring to coincident events transpiring in other parts of the country, it must be remarked, that the commander-in-chief was often placed in circumstances not the most promising. On his arrival at the camp before Boston, the preceding year, he had found only " the materials for a good army" -not the organized army itself. The troops were mostly undisciplined; and having taken arms to fight for liberty, it was no easy matter to bring them into those habits of subordination which necessarily render a soldier a mere machine to be moved at the will of his commander. The first object of General Washington, therefore, was to bring the troops into a state of discipline. But another difficulty presented itself in the fact that, owing to the short periods of enlistment, the times of service of the greater portion of the army were to expire in November and December. To which was added the embarrassing discovery that all the powder at his command was barely sufficient to supply nine rounds of cartridges per man. There was, moreover, a general want of camp equipage and clothing, and, indeed, of everything necessary alike to the comfort and the efficiency of an army. But Heaven, in its mercy, seemed to have devolved the command upon the man of all others best calculated to meet the emergency and overcome it. His destitution of ammunition was artfully and effectually concealed from the enemy ; and although, on the discharge of those of his troops who would not re-enlist, at the close of December (1775), he had no more than 9650 men left, he yet contrived to sustain himself and keep the enemy beleaguered in Boston during the whole winter. " It is not in the pages of history; perhaps," he wrote to Congress, "to furnish a case like ours. To maintain a post within musket-shot of the enemy for six months together, without ammunition, and at the same time to disband one army and recruit another, within that distance of twenty old British regiments, is more, probably, than was ever attempted,"
The Continental Congress had been induced by the influence of the commander-in-chief to resolve upon the raising of an army of 75,000 men, to be enlisted for the term of three years, or during the war. It was not until January, however, that they could be induced to offer bounties for enlistments, and even then the ranks were not rapidly filled. At the close of February, the whole effective force of the Americans was no more than 14,000 men, exclusive of 6000 of the Massachusetts militia. An assault upon Boston had been meditated in February by General Washington ; but the opinion of his principal officers, expressed in a council of war, being strongly against such a movement, the enterprise was reluctantly abandoned. Wearied by inaction, the next project of the American commander was to take possession of Dorchester Heights, a position commanding the town of Boston, the occupation of which would compel General Howe either to attempt its dispossession by the Americans, or to evacuate the town. The enterprise was so well planned, as to be executed by General Thomas with complete and brilliant success, on the night of the 4th of March. Having diverted the attention of the enemy by a bombardment of his lines in another direction, the movement was unperceived. The weather being mild, the American troops were enabled to labour with energy in throwing up defences, which, on the following morning, struck the general of the British army with astonishment, from their sudden appearance and their magnitude. A heavy atmosphere contributed to magnify the height of the works and increase the wonder of the foe. Sir William Howe made immediate preparations to drive the Americans from their new, and, to him, dangerous position; for which purpose two thousand choice troops were embarked to cross over the same evening; but a severe tempest frustrated his design. On the following morning General Howe convened a council of war, at which it was resolved to evacuate the town as soon as possible. This determination was carried into execution on the 17th, by the embarcation of the whole British army, and the sailing of the British fleet, first to Halifax, but ultimately, as the event proved, for New-York. On the same day General Washington entered Boston in triumph, and was hailed, by the universal acclaim of the people, as their deliverer. Thus was the town which first raised the standard of rebellion the first to rejoice at the retreat of its oppressors. Nor was it the fortune of the invaders ever to set foot there again.
In the North, the operations of the Provincial army had been far less propitious. The conquest of Canada was a favourite project with Congress, and every possible effort within the slender means of the colonies was made to that end. But the fall of Montgomery had thrown, a gloom over the enterprise which was never dissipated. Colonel, now General Arnold, had maintained himself before Quebec during the winter, and until late in the spring, with but a handful of men, numbering, at one time, not more than five hundred effectives. But the reenforcements were slow in arriving; the Canadians, from a variety of causes-the principal of which, beyond doubt, was bad treatment from an undisciplined soldiery-became less friendly to the Americans than at first, notwithstanding the mission of Messrs. Franklin, Chase, and Carroll, accompanied by a Catholic priest, to conciliate them; and on the arrival of General Wooster at his quarters, about the 1st of April, Arnold obtained leave of absence, and took the command at Montreal. General Thomas, who had been assigned to the command of the army in Canada, after the exploit of Gloucester Heights, arrived before Quebec on the 1st of May, where he found an army of nineteen hundred men, less than one thousand of whom were effective, and three hundred of these, being entitled to their discharge, refused to perform duty. They had but one hundred and fifty barrels of powder, and six days' provisions. Well knowing that with the opening of the navigation, Sir Guy Carleton's expected re-enforcements would arrive, the circumstances in which he was placed were altogether so unpromising, that General Thomas, with the concurrence of a council of war, determined to raise the siege on the 5th of May, and assume a more eligible position farther up the river. It was the intention of the American commander to remove the sick to the Three Rivers; but on the 6th, before the arrangements for retreating were all concerted, a British fleet, with re-enforcements, arrived. General Carleton immediately made a sortie at the head of one thousand men, to oppose whom General Thomas had not more than three hundred available troops. No other course remained, therefore, but a precipitate retreat to all who could get away, leaving the sick and the military stores to the enemy. General Thomas led his little band back to the mouth of the Sorel, where he was seized with the smallpox, and died. Large re-enforcements joined the fugitive army at that place under General Sullivan. Before General Carleton moved from Quebec, an expedition was undertaken from Sorel to the Three Rivers, against General Frasier, under the direction of General Thompson and Colonel St. Clair. It was unsuccessful : from which time disaster followed disaster, until, owing to the combined causes of defeat, sickness, and insubordination, the Americans found themselves, on the 18th of June, driven entirely out of Canada; the British army following so closely upon their heels, as immediately to occupy the different posts as they were successively evacuated.
The Americans, however, still retained the control of Lake Champlain, and occupied the fortifications upon its shores, the command of which had now been assigned by Congress to General Gates, with great and manifest injustice towards General Schuyler. Gates at first established his headquarters at Crown Point, but soon afterward withdrew his forces from that post, and fell back upon Ticonderoga. This step was taken by the advice and concurrence of a board of general officers, but contrary to the wishes of the field-officers. The commander-in-chief was exceedingly dissatisfied with this movement of Gates, believing that the relinquishment of that post, in its consequences, would be equivalent to an abandonment of Lakes George and Champlain, and all the advantages to be derived therefrom. In reply to the concern that had been expressed by Washington on the occasion, General Gates contended that Crown Point was untenable with the forces then under his command, nor could it be successfully defended even with the aid of the expected re-enforcements. These re-enforcements, moreover, the general added, could not be allowed to approach nearer to Crown Point than Skenesborough, since " it would be only heaping one hospital upon another."* The "annals of disastrous war scarce present a more deplorable picture than that exhibited by the Americans escaping from Canada. In addition to the smallpox, the army had been afflicted by other diseases, generated by exposure, destitution, and laxity of discipline. Fleets of boats came up the lake freighted with the sick and dying, and even those reported from day to day fit for duty presented but the appearance of a haggard skeleton of an army. " Everything about this army," said General Gates in the letter already cited, " is infected with the pestilence; the clothes, the blankets, the air, and the ground they walk upon. To put this evil from us, a general hospital is established at Fort George,+ where there are now between two and three thousand sick, and where every infected person is immediately sent. But this care and caution have not effectually destroyed the disease here; it is, notwithstanding, continually breaking out."
Such was the deplorable condition in which an army, so recently victorious, had been driven back from what was in fact a conquered country, lost entirely through mismanagement, and the want of an army upon the basis of permanent enlistment. Added to which, was another difficulty lying beneath the surface. Many prisoners had fallen into the hands of the enemy at Quebec, and during the sub-
* The smallpox, which had been so fatal to the troops in Canada, had now broken out at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, the pestilence having been purposely introduced by a villain calling himself Doctor Barker. This fact is stated in a letter from the Adjutant-general of the Northern Department to Colonel Gansevoort, dated from Ticonderoga, July 24. "The villan," says the letter, " by private inoculations in the army, has caused, in a great degree, the misery to which we are reduced by that infectious disorder." Barker was arrested and sent to Albany.- MS. letter of Colonel Trumbull to Colonel Gansevoort.
+ At the head of Lake George.
sequent retreat. Towards all these the conduct of Sir Guy Carleton had been most politic. They had been treated with the greatest care and humanity, and so much of the subtle poison of flattery, mingled with kindness, had been poured into their ears, that their return on parole, which was presently allowed by the British commander, was regarded with apprehension. On one occasion, a large number of prisoners arriving at Crown Point from St. John's in a vessel provided by Sir Guy Carleton, were visited, before landing, by Colonel John Trumbull, the adjutant-general for the northern department. From the feelings they manifested, and the tenour of their conversation, Colonel Trumbull saw at once that it would not be prudent to allow them to land, or to hold the least intercourse with the suffering troops of the garrison. He immediately reported the fact to the general, and advised that the said prisoners should be sent directly forward to Skenesborough, and despatched to their respective homes, without allowing them to mingle with the troops at that place. The suggestion was adopted.
Nor were the difficulties enumerated, all which the officers had to encounter. The spirit of disaffection was far more extensive than those who are left to contemplate the scenes through which their fathers passed, and the discouragements against which they were compelled to struggle, have been wont to suppose. The burden of many of General Schuyler's letters, and also the letters of other officers, during the whole of this season, was the frequency of desertions to the ranks of the enemy. Glancing for a moment at the situation of affairs at the South, the gloom of the picture is somewhat relieved. The expedition of General Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, for the reduction of Charleston, had signally failed. The defence of the fort bearing his own name, by Colonel Moultrie, was one of the most gallant exploits of the whole contest, and served to lighten the despondency that had been produced by the disasters we have been sketching, at the North. It was at this place that the celebrated Sergeant Jasper signalized himself, when the flagstaff was shot away, by leaping from the parapet of the fort upon the beach, seizing the flag, and, amid the incessant firing of the fleet, mounting, and again placing it on the rampart.
But the grand event of the year, the transactions of which are now under review, was the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, a motion for which was submitted in Congress by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, on the 7th of June, and the declaration itself solemnly adopted on the 4th of July. This measure at once cut off all hope of reconciliation with the parent country, and all prospect of a termination of the war, unless by the complete triumph in arms of one party or the other. Such a declaration was an event not originally anticipated, even if desired by the mass of the people ; although it had, unquestionably, and from the first, entered into the calculations of the daring master spirits of the movement in Boston. It had furthermore been greatly accelerated by the conduct of the British government itself, during the preceding session of Parliament, by act of which the Americans had been declared out of the royal protection; so widely mistaken had been the Congress of the preceding year, which had adjourned with strong hopes that the differences between the two countries would soon be adjusted to their mutual satisfaction. At the same time, the parent government was putting forth its energies to crush the colonies at a blow. For this purpose 35,000 British troops were to be employed, in addition to 17,000 German mercenaries purchased from the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick, and the Count of Hanau. These troops, with the Canadian recruits, the American Loyalists, and the Indians, it was intended should constitute an in-
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vading force of 55,000 men. With such preparations in prospect against them, it was no time for inactivity on the part of the colonists; and having, by the declaration, thrown away the scabbard of the sword that had been drawn fifteen months before, there was no alternative but resistance to the end. "
Recurring, for a brief space, to the history proper of the Mohawk Valley, it may be assumed, in behalf of its patriotic population, that the new attitude of the country was neither unexpected nor unwelcome. On the contrary, having been among the earliest to propose a separation, the great act of the 4th of July was nowhere more cordially received than by the Whigs of Tryon county. Nor did they falter in their purpose of sustaining the cause in which the country had embarked, amid all the disasters of the early part of the season or those that followed. In their own section of country, however, the flight of Sir John Johnson and his retainers was the only important incident occurring during that memorable year. Still there was no relaxation of vigilance, or of preparation for the worst, should the storm of war, so long muttering in the distance, actually break upon those settlements. The frontiers were at all times liable to the sudden eruptions of savages, and it was necessary to keep scouting parties continually upon the alert. Cherry Valley being the principal settlement south of the Mohawk, and lying directly in the line of communication between the Mohawk castles and the Indian post at Oghkwaga,* was particularly exposed. Early in the present summer, therefore, a company of rangers was organized under the command of Captain Robert M'Kean. The public service requiring
* As with most other Indian names, there is difficulty respecting the correct orthography of this place. It is spelled Oquaga, Oghquaga, and sometimes Oneaquaga, Brant and John Norton, however, were wont to spell it Oghkwaga. I have adopted the latter method, as supported by the best authorities. Author.
the captain and his little corps elsewhere, the inhabitants strongly remonstrated with the Committee of Safety against the removal of that corps, but without effect. They next addressed themselves to the Provincial Congress of New-York, and, by a forcible and eloquent appeal, obtained another company of rangers to be stationed among them, under the command of Captain Winn.* These papers were written with ability, and with the energy of men in earnest. They had even then received, through their missionaries, intimations that Sir John Johnson and Colonel John Butler were instigating the Indians to make a descent upon them ; and already were the scattered settlers in other and newer locations coming in to Cherry Valley for protection. Apprehending, also, sudden eruptions of scalping parties, the aged, and such as from other causes were exempt from military service, now organized themselves into a company for the protection of the settlement.
In the course of the season, General Schuyler was directed by Congress to cause Fort Stanwix to be strengthened, and other fortifications to be erected, at proper places, along the Mohawk River. Colonels Van Schaick and Dayton had previously been stationed in Tryon county with detachments of regular troops-the former at Johnstown, and the latter at German Flatts. Upon Colonel Dayton was imposed the duty of carrying forward the works at Fort Stanwix, for which purpose the Tryon county militia were ordered to his assistance. The site of that military defence had early been improved, as one of the most important inland posts of the colonies. It was originally built early in 1758, during the French war of 1755-61, by General Stanwix, for
* The names of the Cherry Valley Committee who took the lead in these matters were, John Moore, Samuel Clyde, Samuel Campbell, Samuel Dunlop, James Scott, Robert Wells, James Richey, and James Moore.
the purpose of commanding the carrying-place between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, leading into the Oneida Lake, and thence into Lake Ontario, by the Oswego River. There were several other fortifications at different points of the narrow strip of land between the two streams already mentioned, such as Fort Bull and Fort Newport; the former commanding the creek, about three miles distant. These were strong redoubts ; but Fort Stanwix was comparatively a formidable work, having its bomb proofs, its sally-port, and a covered way to the spring brook. Altogether these works formed an ample defence of the key from Upper Canada to the Mohawk Valley, and were likewise of signal service for the protection they afforded to the Indian trade. But, although the principal fortress had been erected at the great expense-enormous in those times-of 366,400 dollars, the commencement of the war of the Revolution found the whole in ruins. Colonel Dayton appears to have made but little progress in rebuilding the fort, since it will be found that other officers had the works in charge early in the following year, and they were far from complete when subsequently invested by the motley forces of General St. Leger. Colonel Dayton, however, thought proper to change its name in honour of the general commanding the Northern department, and it was subsequently known as Fort Schuyler during the residue of the war.*
A rapid glance at the other warlike events of the season will close the history of the year. Anticipating, on the evacuation of Boston by General Howe, that his next point of attack would be New-York, General Lee was detached by the commander-in-
*There was another Fort Schuyler built on the present site of Utica during the old French war, and named thus in honor of Colonel Schuyler, an uncle of General Philip Schuyler of the Revolution The two are often confounded in history, and the change in the name of Fort Stanwix was alike unnecessary and unwise.
chief with a portion of the army to put Long Island and the harbour of New-York in a posture of defence. Washington followed soon afterward himself, and established his headquarters in the city. Having been joined by his brother, Lord Howe, as commander of the fleet at Halifax, General, afterward Sir William Howe, with his re-enforcements, arrived off Sandy Hook, the latter on the 25th of June, and the former on the 12th of July. General Clinton arriving at about the same time from the unsuccessful enterprise against Charleston, with Admiral Hotham, the combined forces of the enemy now amounted to about 24,000 men, including the Hessians.
Lord and Sir William Howe were clothed with powers, as commissioners, to treat with the colonies for a reconciliation. Their pacific errand was proclaimed before hostilities were recommenced, and promises of pardon were proffered to all who would avail themselves of the royal clemency, and return to their allegiance and duty. Their proposals, however, were considered too exceptionable, both in matter and form, to receive the least attention. On the 22d of August the British army was landed upon Long Island, at Gravesend. The American army, at this time consisting of 15,000 men, under General Sullivan, was encamped in the neighbourhood of Brooklyn. The battle of Long Island, which was severely, though ineffectually, contested by the American forces under Sullivan and Lord Stirling, was fought on the 37th of August. In this action, the loss of the enemy was differently reported at from 300 to 450. The loss of the Americans was far more considerable. General Washington admitted it to be 1000, but is believed only to have referred to the loss of the regular troops. General Howe claimed 1097 prisoners, among whom were Generals Sullivan, Stirling, and Woodhull. On the 30th, the Americans effected a masterly re-
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treat across the East River to New-York.* The enemy made immediate dispositions for attacking New-York; and 80 prompt and skillful were his movements, that, in a council of general officers, an evacuation forthwith was deemed the only means of saving the army. The British fleet was divided into two squadrons, one of which entered the East and the other the North River. Under cover of the former, Sir Henry Clinton crossed from Long Island, and landed at Kipp's Bay, with such celerity that the Americans fled in disorder. Indeed, the evacuation resembled rather a flight than a retreat; all the heavy artillery, military stores, baggage, and provisions, falling into the hands of the enemy. A large portion of the American forces at that time consisted of militia, the conduct of which was scandalous beyond endurance. They deserted, not only in small numbers, but in companies and squadrons, whenever they could; and their conduct in the face of the enemy, or, rather, when running from the faces of the enemy, was most cowardly. So disorderly was their demeanour, and so like poltroons did they behave when flying from Sir Henry Clinton, that even Washington himself lost his patience, and was excited to a degree of hot exasperation. In writing from Harlaem Heights to a friend, General Greene said that two brigades of militia ran away from about fifty men, leaving the commander-in-chief on the ground within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed with the conduct of his troops that he sought death rather than life. His attempts to stop them were fruitless. He drew his sword, and threat-
* During the operations upon Long Island and New-York, Captain Brant contrived to pass from Canada and join the king's forces. He was with Governor Tryon at Flatbush. The late Mr. John Watts. a brother-in-law of Sir John Johnson, used to speak of taking a walk with Governor Tryon, Colonel Asgill, and Brant, through an orchard in that -village. During their stroll, Brant plucked a crude crab-apple from a tree, which, on tasting it, he threw away, screwing his face, and exclaiming," It is as bitter as a Presbyterian."
ened to run them through, and cocked and snapped his pistols. But all his exertions were to no purpose. In a letter upon the subject of this infamous conduct of the militia to the President of Congress, the commander-in-chief declared that, were he called to give his opinion upon oath, he should say that the militia did more injury to the service than good.
General Greene had strongly urged the destruction of the city by fire-a measure afterward so effectively adopted by Count Rostopchin, governor of the ancient capital of Muscovy, to arrest the career of Napoleon-that the enemy might be deprived of the advantage of establishing their winter-quarters therein. His reasons for this measure were sound, and it ought, doubtless, to have been adopted. Washington was believed to be of the same opinion, especially as two thirds of the property which it was proposed to destroy belonged to undisguised Loyalists. But Congress would not allow the sacrifice ; and on the l5th of September the city was in full possession of the enemy, General Washington having retired with the army to King's Bridge. A succession of movements, manosuvres, and engagements followed in Westchester, terminating, for the moment, in the drawn battle of White Plains on the 18th of October.* Washington then divided his army, and crossed into New-Jersey with a portion, leaving 7500 troops at North Castle, under General Lee. The next disaster to the American arms was the fall of Fort Washington, on the 16th of November, after a brave defence by Colonel Magaw, notwithstanding the refusal of a portion of his troops to man the lines. That fortress was attacked with great gallantry at four points, led by General Knyphausen, Matthews, Cornwallis, and Lord Percy. The regiment of Colonel Rawlings, on that occasion, behaved with great spirit; nor would Colonel * The Stockbridge Indians were engaged with the Americans in this battle. They fought bravely, and suffered severely.
Magaw have given up the post but for the conduct of the disaffected. After the fall of Fort Washington, Lord Cornwallis crossed into New-Jersey with 6000 men for the purpose of attacking Fort Lee, of which General Lee was then in command. But the means of this skilful officer were not adequate to the defence of the post against a force of such unequal strength; the people of New-Jersey were at that time intent rather to make terms with the enemy than to afford efficient assistance,* and the garrison was saved by an evacuation. General Washington had taken post at Newark; but the fall of Forts Washington and Lee, together with the diminution of his own strength by the expiration of the term of service of his men, obliged him to retreat rapidly across New-Jersey to the other side of the Delaware, followed so closely by Lord Cornwallis, that the van of the pursuers was often engaged with the rear of the pursued.
In addition to this succession of disasters, Sir Guy Carleton had appeared upon Lake Champlain with a flotilla superior to that of the Americans under General Arnold, and which seemed to have been called into existence as if by enchantment. Two naval engagements followed, on the llth and l3th of October, contested with undaunted bravery, but resulting in the defeat of Arnold, the annihilation of his flotilla, and the possession of the lake and Crown Point by the foe. Early in December Rhode Island also fell into his hands. The forces of the commander-in-chief, at the same time, numbered only from two to three thousand men, and scarcely a
* " The conduct of the Jerseys has been most infamous. Instead of turning out to defend their country, and affording aid to our army, they are making submissions as fast as they can. If the Jerseys had given us any support, we might have made a stand at Hackensack, and after that at Brunswick ; but the few militia that were in arms disbanded themselves, and left the poor remains of an army to make the best we could of it."-Letter of Washington to his brother, John Augustine Washington, Nov. 18, 1776.
new recruit supplied the place of those whose terms of service were expiring. And even those recruits that were furnished were so badly supplied with officers as almost to extinguish the hope of forming an army from which any efficient services were to be expected.
Worse than all, a spirit of disaffection was rife in the States of New-York and New-Jersey, which not only thwarted the purposes of the commander-in-chief, but threatened the most lamentable consequences to the cause. Although there were many stanch Whigs in Albany and its vicinity, there were many vigilant Loyalists in that region, who continued to keep in correspondence with the enemy during nearly the whole contest. In the summer of this year, General Schuyler had detected a dangerous plot in the neighbourhood of Albany, and apprehended some of the ringleaders. During the operations of the army in the autumn, in New-York and its neighbourhood, it was only with the utmost difficulty that large portions of the fluctuating army could be kept in the line of duty, while other large portions either went off in masses, or proved unfaithful while they remained. The conduct of the militia at Fort Washington has been noted. General Greene wrote, on the 5th of November, that the New-York militia, under Colonel Hawkes Hay, actually refused to do duty. They said General Howe had promised them peace, liberty, and safety; and that was all they wanted.
These are but few of the discouragements under which the commander-in-chief was labouring. To borrow his own expressive language in the private letter to his brother cited in a preceding note, " You can form no idea of the perplexity of my situation. No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of difficulties, and less means to extricate himself from them." Nevertheless, the last sun of that year did not sink behind so deep a cloud of gloom as had been anticipated. In the North, General Carleton, who had occupied Crown Point after the defeat of Arnold's flotilla, had returned to Canada without attempting anything farther ; and before the close of the year, the commander-in-chief had the satisfaction to announce that, instead of imitating the bad example of others, the Continental regiments from the Eastern States had agreed to remain six weeks beyond the term of their enlistment. In addition to which, were the bold return of Washington upon Trenton, and his brilliant victory over the Hessian forces at that place on the morning of the 26th of December. " This well-judged and successful enterprise revived the depressed spirits of the colonists, and produced an immediate and happy effect in recruiting the American army."
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