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BRYANT'S
POPULAR HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES.

S-Sfe---^

A POPULAR HISTORY

OF

THE UNITED STATES,

FROM THE

FIRST DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
BY THE NORTHMEN, TO THE END OF THE
FIRST CENTURY OF THE UNION
OF THE STATES.

PRECEDED BY A SKETCH OF THE PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD AND THE
AGE OF THE MOUND BUILDERS.

BY
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
AND
SYDNEY HOWARD GAY.

VOLUME III.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK :
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
743 .i..Mj 746 Broadway.
1879.

Copyright, 1879,
By CHARLES SCRIBXER'S SONS.

[Right of translation reserved.]

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE :
ELECTROTYPED .VND PRINTED BT
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.

PAGE

Condition of New York on the Arrival of Andros as Governor. — Com
parison with New England. — Andros visits Connecticut. — His Recep
tion BY Captain Bull at Saybrook. — Complained of by Lady Carteret,
AND others. — His Recall to England. — New Proprietors of East Jer
sey. — Thomas Dongan appointed Governor of New York. — General As
sembly- ORDERED BY THE DUKE OF YoRK.  ClIARTER OF LIBERTIES ADOPTED.
— Assembly dissolved by James. — Dongan's Administration. — Andros
as Governor-general. — Accession of William and Mary. — Affairs un
der Lieutenant-governor Nicholson. — IIis Council-men, Phillipse, Van
Cortlandt, and Bayard. — Captain Leisler assumes Command, and acts
AS Governor. — Supported by a Committee of Safety and recognized
EY the Colonies. — llis Difficulties. — Troubles avith the French and
Indi.ins. — Contest with Captain Ingoldsby. — Surrenders the Govern
ment TO Colonel Sloughter. — Trial and Execution 1

CHAPTER IL
ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER WILLIAM AND 5IAEY.
Colonial Policy of William and Mary. — Governor Fletcher of New
York. — His Visit to Connecticut. — Renewal of Hostilities with the
French and Indians. — Schuyler's Expedition. — Administration of the
Earl of Bellomont. — Prevalence of Privateering and Piracy. — Cap
tain Kidd's Adventures. — Lord Cornbury, Governor of Neav York and
New Jersey. — East and West Jersey united and Proprietary Govern
ment ENDED. — Controversy between Cornbury' and the New .Jersey As
sembly. — Governors Lovelace, Ingoldsby, and Hunter. — Port Royal
taken by' the english.  proposed invasion of canada.  nova scotia
ceded by the French. — Administration of Governor Burnet 25
CHAPTER III.
VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
Virginia at the Close of Berkeley's Administration. — Philip Ludwell
AND Governor Jeffreys. — Administration of Lord Culpepper. — Wretched

viii CONTENTS.
Condition ofthe Colony-. — Over-production op Tobacco. — The "Plant-
cutters." — Inflation of the Currency by the Governor. — Lord Effing
ham succeeds Culpepper. — A Change for the Better under Governor
Nicholson. — William and Mary College. — Nicholson removed to Mart-
land. — Affairs in that Colony. — Lord Baltimore deprived of Polit
ical Power. — Mary-land a Royal Province. — Church of England es
tablished BY Nicholson. — Edmund Andros, Governor of Virginia. —
Succeeded ey Nicholson. — His Second Administration, and Causes op
HIS Recall. — Governor Spotswood. — His Expedition over the Blue
Ridge. — Settlement of the Shenandoah Valley. — Greater Religious
Toleration. — Progress and Prosperity of Virginia. — Successive Gov
ernors, TILL the Arrival of Dinwiddie ..... 51

CHAPTER IV.
THE CAROLINAS.
Governor Moore's Military Expeditions and their Results. — Troubles
UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF SiR NATHANIEL JOHNSON. — RePULSE OF A
French and Spanish Invasion. — Dissension in North Carolina. — Con
test BETWEEN Cary, Glover, and Hyde for the Governorship. — Interfer
ence of Governor Spotswood. — Indian Outbreak in North Carolina. —
The Yemassee War in the Southern Province. — Indifference op the
Proprietors. — The Buccaneers of the Carolina Coast. — Their Sup
pression, AND Death of the Pirate-Admiral, Black Beard. — Revolution
IN South Carolina. — Deposition of Governor Robert Johnson. — Sir
Francis Nicholson Provisional Governor. — Purchase of the Carolinas
by the Crown. — Robert Johnson reappointed as Royal Governor. 
Condition op the Province .... .81

CHAPTER V.
THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND.
Massachusetts a Royal Province. — The Troubles of Rhode Island. —
Arbitrary Interference of Lord Bellomont. — Administration of Dud
ley. — Indian Hostilities. — Attacks on Deerfield and other places. —
War in Maine. — Capture of Port Royal. — Massachusetts early in the
Eighteenth Century. — Inoculation for Small-Pox. — Governor Shdte
IN Massachusetts and New Hampshire. — The Royal Prerogative in
Forests. — Financial Policy op the Colonies. — Ben.jamin Franklin and
the " New England Courant." — Settlements in New Hampshire and
Maine . . . . 109
CHAPTER VL
GEORGIA.
Proposed Settlement South of the Savannah. — The Margravate of
AziLiA. — The Settlement of Georgia. — Sketch op James Oglethorpe.
— Arrival ofthe Colonists. — Building op Savannah. — Speech of Tomo

CONTENTS. ix
Chichi. — The Highlanders and Salzburgers. — The Pilgrimage ofthe
Salzbdrgers. — The " Grand Embarkation." — The Brothers Wesley. —
George Whitefield and his Orphan House. — Slavery and the Importa
tion op Rum prohibited in Georgia. — Land Tenure. — Oglethorpe's
Journey to the Interior. — Slave Insurrection in South Carolina. —
Georgia invaded by the Spaniards. — Gallant Action op Oglethorpe. —
The Road to Frederica. — Slaughter op the Spaniards in a Defile.
— Oglethorpe's Stratagem. — Retreat of the Spanish Fleet. — Ogle
thorpe's Return to England. — The latter Years op his Life. — Sue-
render op the Charter. — The Halp-breed Queen Mary. — Suppression
OF THE BOSOMWORTH INSURRECTION. — GEORGIA A ROYAL PROVINCE. — ItS
Slow Progress . . . 140

CHAPTER VII.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Penn's Return to America. — Aspect op Philadelphia at that Time. —
Birth op his Son John. — Penn's Seat at Pennsbury Manor. — Relations
to the Indians and his Neighbors. — Return to England. — Friends and
Slavery. — The Earliest Abolitionists. — New Charter granted. — John
Evans appointed Deputy-governor. — Penn's Troubles with the Fords,
and his Arrest and Imprisonment. — Negotiations for Sale of the
Province to the Crown. — Troubles in Pennsylvania. — Opposition Party
under David Lloyd. — Resistance to Taxation. — Complaints against
James Logan. — Conduct of William Penn, Jr. — Death of the Propri
etor. — -Governor Gookin on Military Requisitions and Oaths. — Sir
William Keith's Administration. — Visits of the Younger Penns. —
Benjamin Franklin . . . 170

CHAPTER VIII.
NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH.
The Third Indian War in New England. — New Hampshire a Separate
Province. — Governor Penning Wentworth. — Administration of Gov
ernor Belcher of Massachusetts. — Financial Condition of the Colony,
— Appointment of Governor Shirley. —George Whitefield's First Visit
to New England. — The Revival Period. — War again declared between
England AND France. — The Siege and Capture of Louisburg. — Colonel
William Pepperell. — Louisburg restored to France. — An English
Press-gang in Boston. — The Town-house Assaulted. — Insurrection
skilfully Averted . . • ¦ 192

CHAPTER IX.
NEW YORK.
Governor Cosby's Administration. — Controversy with Van Dam. — The
Zengek Libel Suit. — Struggles of Political Parties. — George Clarke,
Lieutenant-governor. — The Negro Plot of 1741. — Growth of the Col-

: CONTENTS.
ONY IN A Half Century. — Early Settlements on the Mohawk and Sus
quehanna. — The City op New York at several Periods. — King's Col
lege ESTABLISHED. — POSITION OF THE COLONY BY THE MiDDLE OP THE
Eighteenth Century. — Appointment op Governor Clinton. — The Per
plexities OF HIS Administration. — Preparations for a Double Expedi
tion against Canada. — The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Sir Danvers
Oseorn's Inauguration and Death. — Chiep Justice De Lancey succeeds
AS Lieutenant-governor ... . . 222

CHAPTER X.
OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR.
Contest between England and France for Territory' in America. —
French Movements into the Valley of the Ohio. — Line of French
Forts at the West. — Progress of English Settlement We.->tward. —
The Ohio Company. — Major Washington. — His Eight with Jumonville.
— Surrender at Fort Necessity. — Convention at Albany and Plan for
Colonial Union. — Arrival of General Braddock. — His Expedition. —
Franklin's Advice. — Braddock's Defeat and Death. — Operations in
Nova Scotia. — The Question of Boundaries. — Settlement of Halifax.
— Exile of the Acadians 254

CHAPTER XI.
CONTINUATION OP THE FRENCH WAR.
Proposed Operations under Shirley and Johnson. — Battle of Lake George.
— War declared between England and France. — Lord Loudoun Com
mander-in-chief IN America. — Montcalm in Canada. — Loss of Fort (.)s-
WEGO. — Loudoun's Plans and Failure. — Fort William Henry' taken by
the French. — Massacre op the Garrison. — Discouragement in the Col
onies. — The War at the South. — General Condition of the Colonies
and of Canada. — William Pitt. — Amherst supersedes Loudoun. — Cap
ture of Louisburg. — Defeat of Abercrombie. — Capture of Forts Fron
tenac, Du Quesne, and Niagara. — Ticonderoga taken by- Amherst 282

CHAPTER XIL
CONQUEST OF CANADA. — PONTIAC'S WAR.
Fall op Quebec and Montreal. — Renewal of Indian Hostilities.  Pon-
tiao's Conspiracy. — Siege of Detroit. — Battle of Bloody Bridge. 
Death of Dalzell. — Attack on Sandusky. — Taking of Forts St. Joseph,
Miami, AND Ouatanon. — Massacre at Michilimackinac. — Fight at Presqu'
Isle. — Burning of Fort Le Bceuf. — Forts ^'ENANGO, Ligonier, and Au
gusta reduced. — Fort Pitt besieged. — Bouquet's Expedition. — Battle
OF Bushy Run. — The Paxton Men. — Advance on Philadelphia.  Death
OF PoNTiAC. — Submission of the Indians . 304

CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER XIII.
ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND.
Debts of England and her Colonies. — Wealth op America. — The Navi
gation Acts. — The Writs of Assistance. — Plan of Taxing America for
the Roy-al Exchequer. — George Grenville's Resolution. — The King
AND THE King's Friends. — Grenville and the Colonial Agents. — The
Sugar Act. — Colonial Protest against Taxation. — Otis's Letter and
Book. — Passage op the Stamp Act.- — 1!eply of the Colonies. — First
Continental Congress. — Their Resolves. — Resolves of Virginia. —
Other Measures op Opposition. — The Stamps Refused. — Mob in Bos
ton. — The English Government. — William Pitt. — The Stamp Act re
pealed. — The Declaratory Act. — Confusion in English Counsels. —
Joy for the Repeal op the Stamp Act. — Franklin before the House
op Commons . ... 329

CHAPTER XIV.
END OF COLONIAL RULE.
Measures following the Repeal of the Stamp Act. — Ignorance of Amer
ica IN England. — -Quartering Troops in Boston. — Consequent Ill-
feeling.  I.MPRESSMENT AND RESISTANCE OF SeAMEN.  QuARRELS BETWEEN
Citizens and Soldiers. — The Boston Massacre. — Removal of the Mili
tary. — "Sam. Adams's Regiments.'' — Trial and Acquittal of Captain
Preston. — Verdict against Two Soldiers. — Efforts of the Duke of
Gr-4fton at Reconciliation. — Conduct ofthe Earl op Hillsborough —
Lord North's Ministry. — The Tea Tax. — The Whately Letters —
Franklin insulted by Wedderburn. — Arrival of the Tea Ships in
America. — Disposition of the Tea in various Places. — Boston Port
Bill. — Gage appointed Governor of Massachusetts 351

CHAPTER XV.
BEGINNING OF THE WAR.
Loyalty of the Americans to the Crown. — Outbreak of Hostilities. —
Colonel Leslie's March to Salem. — The Anniversary of the MassacriS.
— Altercations with the Troops. — Excursion to Jamaica Plain. — The
Committee of Safety. — Colonel Smith's March to Lexinoton. — Signal
Lights in North Church Belfry. — The First Shot. — Concord and
Concord Bridge. — The Fight at Lexington. — The Enolisii Retreat. —
Lord Percy and his Reenforcement. — The Siege bei: ins. — Arrival of
MORE Troops from Engl.and. — Skirmishes in Boston Harbor. — Bunkei:
Hill fortified by the Americans. — The Battle. — Results of the
Battle . .377

-xn CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. — Major-generals commissioned
BY Congress. — Washington's Arrival at Cambridge. — Scarcity op Pow
der. — Weakness op the Army. — Relative Positions of the Contending
Forces. — Recall pp Gage. — Condition of Boston. — Proposed Interview
BETWEEN Burgoyne and Lee. — Measures for Supplies of A.mmunition. —
Naval Preparations. — Misrepresentations of the Cause of the A.meri-
CANs IN Europe. — Burning of Falmouth in Maine. — Capture of an Eng
lish VESSEL WITH SUPPLIES.  TrEACHERY OF Dr. BeNJAMIN ChURCH. 
Howe's Difficulties and Proposals to the Ministry. — Congress sug
gests THE Destruction of Boston. — Dorchester Heights fortified. —
The Town commanded by the Americans. — Evacuated by the British.
— The American Army- takes Possession . . . 407

CHAPTER XVII.
THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OP 1775.
The Dispute concerning the Territory of Vermont. — The Green Moun
tain Boys. — Allen's Expedition ai;,aixst Ticonderog-4.. — Arnold claims
Command. — Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. — Expedition
DOWN Lake Champlain. — Richard Montgomery. — Siege of St. John's. —
Expedition to Fort Chambly. — Capture of Montreal. — Arnold's Expe
dition through Maine to Canada, and its supposed Importance. — Its
unexpected Difficulties. — Operations before Quebec. — Defeat and
Death op Montgomery. — Wooster takes Co.mmand. — The Final Fail
ure . . . . . 430

CHAPTER XVIIL
OPENING OP THE CAMPAIGN OP 1776.
Parliament supports the King. — Efforts to increase the British Forces.
 E.MPLOYMENT OP MERCENARIES.  MILITARY' IMPORTANCE OF New YoRK
City. — The Provincial Congress of New York and the Committee op
Safety. — The Sons of Liberty. — Exploit of Marinus Willett. — Zeal
OF Isaac Sears. — Lee takes Command. — Fortifications of Brookly-n
AND New York. — Lord Stirling. — The Southern Expedition. — Battle
OF Moore's Creek Bridge. — Arrival of Parker's Fleet. — South Caro
lina adopts a Temporary Constitution. — The British attack the De
fences OF Charleston, and are repulsed . . . . 451

CONTENTS. xiil
CHAPTER XIX.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Growth op the Idea op Independence. — Paine's "Common Sense." — The
Mendon Resolutions. — The Suffolk Resolutions. — The Chester Reso
lution. — The Mecklenburg Resolutions. — Action op the Several Col
onies, and of the Continental Congress. — Lee's Resolutions. — The
Committee to draft a Declaration of Reasons. — Independence De-
CL.ARED. — Jefferson's Declaration. — The Slave-trade Clause. — Recep
tion BY THE People. — Formation of the State Constitutions. — Some op
their Peculiarities ... . . . . . .  470
CHAPTER XX.
LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK.
The Military Situation of New York. — Arrival of the Enemy. — Sum
mary of the Forces. — The Howes attempt Peace Negotiations. — The
British cross the Bay. — Defences of Brooklyn. — Battle op Long
Island — Details of the Action. — The Losses. — Retreat ofthe Amer
icans. — They cross to New York. — The Question op destroying the
City. — Entrance of the Enemy. — Battle of Harlem Heights. — New,
York occupied by the British. — A Great Fire in the City. — Execu
tion of Nathan Hale. — Howe's Second Attempt to negotiate for Peace.
— Battle of White Plains. — Surrender of Fokt Washington . . . 490
CHAPTER XXI.
THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN.
Condition of the Army-. — Retreat through New Jersey. — Howe's Procla
mation OF Amnesty. — Washington crosses the Delaware. — Conduct op
General Lee. — His Capture. — Outrages by the Foreign Troops. — The
Hessians surprised and captured at Trenton. — Washington recrosses
the Delaware. — Battle op Princeton. — Winter Quarters at Morris-
town. — Results op the Campaign. — Sufferings of American Prisoners
IN THE Hands of the British. — The Question of Exchange. — Wash
ington's Position ... .  ... 520
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA.
The New Army. — French Assistance. — The Beaumarchais Transactions.
— Stmpatht of the French Court. — Spain's Attitude. — Opening Skir
mishes OF the Campaign in New Jerset. — Burning of Danbury, Con
necticut. — Meigs's Sag Harbor Expedition. — General Howe sails from
New York. — Appears in the Delaware, and then in the Chesapeake. —
Washington marches to meet Him. — Battle of Brandywine. — Defeat
of the Americans. — Wayne surprised at Paoli. — Philadelphia occu
pied BY the British. — Battle of Germantown. — A Victory lost . 543

XIV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIII.
BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN.
BURGOY'NE SUPERSEDES CaRLETON. — PlAN OF A NORTHERN CAMPAIGN. — EM
PLOYMENT OF Indians. — Death of Jane McCrea. — Loss of Ticonderoga.
— Battle of Huebardton. — St. Leger's Expedition into the Mohawk
Valley. — Battle of Oriskany. — Death of General Herkimer. — Battle
OF Bennington. — Military Jealousies. — Gates displaces Schuyler. —
Battle of Freeman's Farm. — Clinton's Expedition up the Hudson River.
— Fall of Forts Montgomery- and Clinton. — Second Battle of Still
water, OR Be.mus's Heights. — Burgotne's Surrender . . 566

CHAPTER XXIV.
ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. — PROPOSALS FOR PEACE REJECTED.
The Winter at Valley' Forge. — The Conway Cabal. — Baron vox Steu
ben. — Alliance with France — North's Propositions for Peace. — La
fayette AT Barren Hill. — Evacuation of Philadelphia. — Battle of
Monmouth. — Lee's Conduct. — Tried by Court-martial. — The Rhode
Island Campaign. — Arrival of a French Fleet with Troops. — The Tory
and Indian Warfare in Central Neav York. — The Pioneers of Tennes
see AND Kentucky. — Colonel Clark's Expedition to Illinois. — Opera
tions begun at the South. — Loss of Savannah. — Partisan Wari?are. —
Naval Affairs. — Fight between the "Bon Homme Richard" and the
" Serapis " ...... 593

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS.

STEEL PLATES.
Title. Engraver.
Portrait of George Washington  Charles Burt .
By permission, from the original painting by Gilbert Stuart,
in the possession of Dr. William F. Channing, Provi
dence, R. I.
Portrait of James Oglethorpe .  Charles Burt
From the contemporary engraving reprinted in Stevens's
" History of Georgia.''
Portrait of James Otis  C. Schlecht
From the original painting by Blackburn, 1755, in the pos
session of il/rs. Henry Darwin Rogers, Boston, .Mass.
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson  C. Schlecht ,
From a copper-plate engraving by St. Memin. until recently
in the possession of Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Randolph.

To face
Title

143

132

484

WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Title. Designer.
Independence Hall .... . P. B. Schell
The Train-bands signing Leisler's
Declaration  .A. Fredericks .
The Reburial of Leisler . . . . E. A. Abbey .
Spotswood's Expedition over the
Blue Ridge  W. L. Sheppard
The Surrender of Louisburg . . A. R. Waud .
The Embarkation of the Aca
dians  E. Bayard . .
An Indian Game of Ball. J. Runge
After CatUn.

To face
Engraver. Page.
. J. Karst . . 1
. E. Clement . . 15
. J. G. Smitbwick. 32
. Geo. Andrew . . 74
. E. A. Winham . 215
. Hildibrand . . 280
Leggo Bros. . 322

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Title. Designer.
The Retreat from Concord . . . C. S. Ileinhart
The Attack on Fort Sullivan J. E. Kelly . .
The Reading of the Declak.^tion A. B. Frost
Washington Crossing the Dela
ware  AV. L. Sheppard
Fight between the Bon Homme
Richard and the Serapis . . . J. O. Davidson

Engraver.

T(

face

J.

G. Smithwick.

392

J.

W. Evans .

469

E

Clement

487

J.Hellawell .

528
E
Heinemann
619
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT.
Designer.
. Runge
¦ New Netherland."
. . . . G. Perkins
. . . . Fredericks
. . Waud. .
Bogert . .
Winham
Winham Clement Leggo . .
Clement
2'itle. Designer. Engraver.
New York in 1673 ... . . . Runge . . . . H. Eastmead ,
From a print in Asher's
Island of Nantucket
Andros at Saybrook
Perth Amboy . . .
From a sketch.
Seal of New England  Runge ....
Signature of Dongan 
From Valentine's '^Manual."
Leisler's House . .... Runge ....
From a print in Valentine' s " Manual," from a drawing
made in 1679.
Signature of Frontenac ... 
From Shea's Charlevoix' s " Neiv France."
The Attack on Schenectady . Reinhart . . .
Ingoldsby's Attack on the Fort . Cary . . . .
Sloughter signing Leisler's Death-
Warrant .... .... Reinhart
Signature of Jacob Leisler 
From Valentine's ^^ Manual."
Signature of Fletcher 
From Valentine's " Manual."
King William ... . . . Beech .
From the " National Portrait Gallery."
Queen Mary  Beech . . .
From the " National Portrait Gallery."
The Reading of Fletcher's Com
mission . . .... Sheppard . . Bogert .
Page. 1
. 3 5 7
9
. 11
. 14
Leggo . . .
. 16
Hitchcock . .
. 18
H. Karst . .
. 21
Juengling . .
. 23
Leggo . . .
. 24
Leggo . . .
. 25
Pierson . .
. 26
J. Karst . . .
. 27
28
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii
Title. Designer. Engraver. Page,
Schuyler and the Scouts .... Cary  Clement ... 31
Arrest of Kidd  Fredericks . . . Bobbett .... 36
Queen Anne  Beech  Meeder & Chubb 38
From a print of a painting by Sir G. Kneller.
Cornbury  . . Hosier .... Wilson .... 41
From a print now in the South Kensington Museum.
Autograph of Lovelace  Leggo .... 43
From Valentine's '' Manual."
The Four Iroquois Chiefs sent to
England —
Ho Nee Y'eath Tan No Ron . . Beech .... Bobbett . . 44
Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Ron . . " . . . . " ... 45
Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Ton . " . . . . " ... 46
Eton Oh Koan  " . . . . " . . 47
From contemporary English prints in the Library ofthe Amer
ican Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
Signature of Hunter ....  Leggo .... 48
From Valentine's ^'¦Manual."
Colonial Table  Waud  Clement ... 50
The Old Capitol at Annapolis . Warren .... Langridge ... 51
From a photograph for this work.
Governor Culpepper  Sheppard .... J. Karst ... 54
From the painting at Richmond.
Plant-Cutting .'.... . . Frost  Davis .... 56
William and Mary College . . . Sheppard . . . Kilburn .... 60
From a sketch for this work.
Charles, Second Lord Baltimore . Mayer .... Jansen ... 63
From ihe portrait in ihe Maryland Historical Society's
rooms, Baltimore.
President Blair  Sheppard . . . Jansen .... 67
From a contemporary portrait.
General View of Annapolis . . . Warren .... Meeder & Chubb 68
From a photograph for this work.
Ruins of President's House, Wil
liam and Mary College . . . C. Mente . . . G. A. Bogert . 71
From a sketch.
Governor Spotswood  Sheppard . . . H. Karst ... 72
From the Portrait at Richmond.
Lawrence Washington .... Beech . . . Kilburn . . 76
From a copy of the Mount Vernon Portrait.
Frederick, last Lord Baltimore . Mayer .... Potter .... 79
From the portrait in the Maryland Historical Society's rooms.
Granville and Archdale .... Reinhart .... J. Karst ... 84
VOL. III. h

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. 8688 92
9495
99
102
106

108

109

Meeder & Chubb 113
Meeder & Chubb 114

Title. Designer. Engraver.
The French Messenger at Charles
ton  Kappes .... Heinemann
Cauy before Hyde's House . . . Perkins . . . Winham .
L.\wsON AND De Graffenkied . . Sheppard . . . J. P. Geraty
The "Bloody Stick"  Cary  Juengling .
Sanute and Mrs. Fraser .... McCutcheon . . ,1. P. Davis
Maynard's Return  Sheppard . . . H. Karst .
The Muster at Charleston . . . Fredericks . . Bobbett .
Johnson's Return  Cary  Clement .
Medal Struck in 1736 to Commem
orate the Separ.ation of North
and South Carolina . ... Plente  Eastmead
From Johnson's "Revolutionary Traditions."
Fac-simile of the Invitation to
Phips's Funeral   Leo-o-o .
From an engraving in the Massachusetts Historical Society's
Proceedings.
Hannah Dustin's Escape .... Gary . . . Davis . . . .110
Mouth of the Pawcatuck .... Warren . .
From a sketch made for Ihis work.
AVickfoud, Rhode Island .... Warren . .
From a sketch for this work.
Esther, the last of the Roy'al Nar-
ragansetts  Runge .... Treat .... 116
From an ambrotype from life.
M.\p OF Rhode Island  Russell & Struthers 118
Governor Dudley  E. Merrill . . . Andrew . . .121
From a portrait in the Massachusetts Historical Society's
rooms.
Williams House, Deerfield, Mass. Runge .... Hitchcock . . . 122
From an old drawing.
Plan of Port Royal, Nova Scotia. Runge .... Leggo . . . .125
From .'ihea's Charlevoix.
Three-shilling Massachusetts Bill
OF 1741  Photo-Eng. Co. . 131
Photographed from the Massachusetts Historical Society's
collection.
Two-pence, 1722  " " . 132
From the same collection.
New Hampshire Bill of Forty
Shillings, 1742  " n _ J33
From the same collection.
Autograph of Vaudreuil  Leo-n-o .... 133
From Shea's Charlevoix.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XIX

Title. Designer.
Six-pence, 1744 
Photographed from the Massachusetts Historical Society's
collection.
Birthplace of Franklin . . . Garrett . . . .
From, an old print.
Fac-simile op the Heading of the
Boston News Letter 
From "American Historical and Lilerary Curiosities."
Mrs. Dustin's Monument .... Mcnte . . . .
From a photograph.
Savannah  Ru'nge . . . .
From a print of 1741-
The Margravate of Azilia . . . Runge . . . .
From the print in Force's Tracts.
Fac-simile from a Note of Ogle
thorpe's  
From Harris's " Memorials of Oglethorpe."
The Landing at Savannah . . . Waud 
Tomo Chichi  Runge . . . .
From the print in " Nachrichten der Salzburger Emigranten,"
taken from a portrait made from life, in London.
The Salzburgers at Frankfort . . "Walter Shirlaw
John Wesley  Beech . .
From an old print.
BoLzius  . . Runge . . . .
Fromthe picture in "Das amerikanische Ackerwerl Goltes."
Map of the Georgia Coast . . . Runge ....
From Stevens's " History of Georgia."
Admiral Vernon  . Beech ....
From a copy ofthe picture at Mount Vernon.
Fight of the Galleys . . . Davidson . . . .
The Spaniards Surprised . . . Waud 
Oglethorpe in 1785  Runge . . . .
From Ireland's sketch and etching from. life.
Seal of the Georgia Trustees . . Runge ....
From White's " Georgia Historical Collections."
The Slate-roof House  Schell ....
From a sketch made just before its demolition in 1868.
Penn and Rebecca Wood .... Reinhart . . .
Pennsbury Manor  Schell ....
From a sketch for this work.
Andrew Hamilton  Beech . . .
Frpm the portrait photographed in Eytinge's " Independence
Hall."

Engraver.
Photo-Eng. Co.

Andrew

Page.
. 134

i.".r,

Leggo . .

. 137

Gilmore

. 139

F. Karst

. 140

Hitchcock . .

. 142

Leggo . . .

. 144

McCracken .

. 146

Hitchcock . .

. 147

Heinemann .

. 149

AVolf . .

. 152

Winham

. 155

Photo-Eng. Co.

156

J. Karst

1-j8

H. Karst

. 159

Gcratv . . .

. 163

Photo-Eng. Co.

165

Eastmead . .

. 169

Schoonmaker .

. 171

Ilellawell . .

. 173

Pierson . . .

. 174

Gilmore . .

. 178

XX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

184185

Xitle. Designer. Engraver. Page.
Passing New Castle  Davidson . . . Knapp . . . .181
James Logan  Will  Hitchcock . . .182
Fromthe portrait in Armour's " Governors of Pennsylvania."
RuscOMBE  Warren .... Hellawell .
The Grave of Penn  " ....
From prints made for " Sartain' s Magazine."
Sir William Keith  AVill  Meeder & Chubb 186
From the portrait in Armour's " Governors of Pennsylvania."
Keith's Mansion House at Gr.eme
Park, near Philadelphia . . . Schell .... J. Karst
From a sketch for this work.
Patrick Gordon  Will  Pierson . .
From the portrait in A rmour's " Governors of Pennsylvania. ' '
Franklin Entering Philadelphia . Reinhart .... J. Karst .
Penn's Brewing Jar  Waud .... Clement
From a sketch for Ihis work.
Cape Canso  Cary  Geraty . .
From a sketch.
Death of Father Rasle .... Shirlaw .... Davis .
RoBBiNs's Last Shot  McCutcheon . . H. Karst .
Governor Benning Wentworth . Beech  Knapp . .
From a j)ainllng at Portsmouth.
Wentworth's House  Hosier .... Varley . .
From a painting by W. Allan Gay, Esq.
Governor Shirley  Merrill .... Kilburn . .
From an engraving in the possession of Francis S. Drake,
Esq. , from a painting in England.
George Whitefield  Beech  Wolf . .
From an old print.
Defences at Louisburg .... Runge . . . Leggo . .
From a contemp>orary map copied in Shea's Charlevoix.
Sir William Pepperell .... Merrill .... Andrew
From an engraving taken from a painting by Smybert, in the
Massachusetts Historical Society's rooms.
Raising the Red Coat . ... Davidson .... McCracken
Attack on the Town-house . . Reinhart. . . . Smithwick.
Rip Van Dam  Beech  Pierson . .
From the portrait in the New York Historical Society's rooms.
View in Broad Street, about 1740 Warren .... Bookhout .
From Valentine's "Manual."
Ferry-house on East River, 1746 Runge  D.Nichols.
From Valentine's " Manual."
Mrs. Earle and the Negroes . Reinhart .... Jnencflino- . . . 229

187 189190 191
192 195 196198 199202206 210 211 213219223 225 227

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XXI

Engraver.

Leggo

. Davis .
. Winham

. Juengling

Title. Designer.
Signature of Horsmandkn 
From Valentine's "Manual."
Mary' Burton before the Grand
Jury  Fredericks
The Meal Market, New York . . Runge
From Valentine's ^^ Manual."
The Negroes Sentenced .... Reinhart .
Trinity Church in 1741  Runge
From Valentine's " History of Broadway."
The Mob demanding that Quack
BE BURNED  Reinhart .
Ellis's Island  Warren . . . . H. Karst
From a sketch made for this work.
Fort George in 1740  Mente  Davis .
From an old print copied in Valentine's " Manual."
New York in 1746, East Side . . Runge .... Winham
From Valentine's "Manual."
Cadwallader Colden . . . . Beech  Jansen .
From the portrait belonging to the New York Chamber of
Commerce.
Smith's Vly  Cary . .
From Valentine's "Manual."
East River Shore in 1750 .... Runge. .
From Valentine's "Manual."
Braddock's Field  Warren .
Map showing the Positions of
French and English Forts, etc. . . .
Washington on his Journey to
THE French Forts  Cary  Juengling
Plan of Fort Du Quesne ... . . .... Leggo .
From the "American Pioneer."
Old Barracks, Frederick .... Warren .
From a sketch made for the " Riverside Magazine."
Braddock's Route, — Map .... Hosier
Map of Braddock's Field "
Beaujeu's Advance  Cary  Geraty . .
Braddock AVounded  Kappes .... Kilburn . .
Earl of Halifax  Beech  Gilmore
From the portrait in Enlick's " History of Ihe Late War."
Lieutenant-colonel Winslow . . Merrill .... Knapp . .
From the original portrait in the possession of Isaac Winslow,
Esq. , of Hingham, Mass.
Winslow Reading the Decree of
Expulsion  Frost  Smithwick .
Embarking the Young Men . . . Reinhart .... "

Page.
. 23(1

Bobbett. . . .231
Meeder & Chubb 232

235237

. 239
. 242
. 245
246
249

. Pierson . . . .251
. Foster .... 253
. Meeder & Chubb 254
Russell & Struthers 256

. 259
. 260

. Winham

. Leggo

. 264
. 265266
. 268
. 269
. 272
. 276

278
279

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Engraver. Page.
Meeder & Chubb 281

Varley

Varley . .
D. Nichols

J. Karst
Geraty .
Knapp .

Otto

Title. Designer.
Braddock's Grave .  Warren . .
From the " Riverside Magazine."
View on Lake George  F. S. Church
From a sketch made for " Scribner's Magazine."
Map of Lake George and Part of
Lake Champlain  Leggo
Bloody Pond  Church .... Varley
From a sketch made for " Scribner's Magazine."
Plan of Fort George, or William
Henry  Leggo
View from Old Fort, Lake George Church .
From a sketch made for " Scribner's Magazine."
AViLLiAM Pitt  Beech . .
From a print of the portrait hy J. Hopner. R, A.
Field of Abercrombie's Defeat . Warren .
Fort Ticonderoga  Mente . .
General AA^olfe  Will . .
From a contemporary print by Houston.
Quebec in 1730  Runge
From an old print in Popple's " American Atlas."
Landing of AVolfe .... . Sheppard
Montcalm  . Hosier .
From a contemporary print.
Scalp-dance  Runge
From Callin's "North American Indians."
The Fire-rafts in Detroit River . Davidson
Sir AVilliam Johnson's House . . Warren .
From an engraving in Stone's " Life."
Bouquet's Redoubt at Pittsburg. Beech  Winham .
From an engraving in Day's ' ' Pennsylvania Historical Collec
tions."
The Province House in Boston .  Andrew
From an old print.
George IH  Beech .... Pierson . .
From the portrait by Sir William Beechey.
Fanueil Hall in 1879 ...  Andrew. .
From a sketch made for this work.
A Royal Stamp. . . . . Runge .... Leggo . .
From a paper in the New York Historical Society's collection.
Patrick Henry . .  Beech  Nichols
From the portrait in Wirt's " Life."
Old City Hall, Wall Street, New
York, where the First Continen
tal Congress met .... Mente  G. A. Bogert
From Valentine's "Manual."

Hellawell
Varley .

. Leggo

Davis

282

. 284
. 286

. 288
. 293
. 297
. 299
. 302
. 305

307
309311 314
319 327328

329

334

335

339

340

341

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XXIU

F. Karst
Jansen .
Leggo .
Potter .
Pierson .
Andrew Dana

Title. Designer. Engraver.
Burning the Stamps  Frost  Clement
Edmund Burke  Beech  H. Karst
From the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Liberty-pole Festival  Fredericks . . . Clement
Castle AVilliam, Boston Harbor . Garrett .... Dana
From an old print.
The Beacon, Beacon Hill, Boston . Mente . .
From an old print.
John Hancock 
From the painting by Copley in Faneuil HaU, Boston.
Boston Massacre  Photograph .
From the engraving by Paul Revere.
Samuel Adams  Beech . .
From the painting by Copley.
Lord North  Beech . . .
From the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Old South Meeting-house 
From sketches made for this work.
Hutchinson's Country-Sbat, Mil
ton Hill, Mass  Garrett . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Captain O'Connor's Coat-skirts
NAILED to the W^hipping-post . Waud . . .
Profile View of the Heights of
Charlestown 
From a print in Frothingham's " Siege of Boston."
Sale.m Bridge  Vanderhoof .
From a photograph.
Warren's Oration  Reinhart
Signal Lanterns in North Church
Belfry  Merrill . .
Lexington Green  Perkins . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Concord Bridge  Y'endell . .
From a sketch made for this work.
General Gage .  AVill . . .
From the painting in the jjossession ofthe family, copied in
Sumner's " History of East Boston."
Artemas Ward  Andrew
From a portrait taken in 1795.
Plan of Bunker Hill  Runge .... Leggo .
Bunker Hill Battle  ... "
From a contemporary print.

Page.. 344 347
. 349
. 355
. 356
. 358
. 360
. 362
. 365
. 371
. 272

Langridge . .

. 374

Leggo . . .

. 377

H. Karst . .

. 379

E. Clement .

. 381

Andrew . .

. 385

11

. 387

t(

. 390

Wolf . .

. 395

397399
401

XXIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Title. Designer. Engraver. Page.
JosEPPi AA'arren  Merrill .... Wilson .... 404
From the portrait by Copley.
House formerly' occupied by the
Presidents of Harvard, — AA'ash-
ington's first Cambridge Head
quarters  Varley . . 408
From a sketch made for " Scribner's Magazine."
AA'ashington Elm, Cambridge  " .... 410
From " Scribner's Magazine."
General Howe  Beech  Karst . . .412
From Andrew's " History of Ihe American War."
The Craigie House, AA'ashington's
Headquarters at Cambridge . . R. Swain GifEord  415
From a sketch made for " Scribner's Magazine."
The Union Flag  Hosier .... Potter .... 420
The Pine-tree Flag  " . . . . " .... 420
The Rattlesnake Flag . . . . " ..." .... 421
Dragging Cannon over the Green
Mountains on the way' from
Ticonderoga to Boston . . Reinhart .... Meeder & Chubb 424
North End of Boston  Leggo .... 426
By. permission, from reprint from Revere's Drawing in Mr.
H. W. Holland's " William Dawes, and his Ride wilh
Paul Revere."
AA^ashington's Medal  Garrett .... " .... 429
From, the original in the Massachusetts Historical Society's
rooms.
Citadel of Quebec  Mente .... Winham . . . 430
Allen Capturing Delaplace . . Reinhart . . . Heinemann . . 436
Richard Montgomery  Beech .... J. Karst . . . 439
From the portrait by Peale.
Map of Arnold's Route . . Mente . . . Leggo .... 441
Arnold's March  Shirlaw .... Davis . . . 443
Attack on Quebec. — Death of
Montgomery  Frost .... Bogert . . . .447
Montgomery's Monument in St.
Paul's Church, New York . . . Mente . . . . H. Karst . . . 450
British and Hessian Soldiers . . Waud & Hosier . Knapp. . . . 453
Br RNS's Coffee-house, — Headquar
ters OF the Sons of Liberty . . Mente .... Langridge . . 456
From Valentine's "Manual."
Marinus AA'illett's Exploit . . . Abbev .... Smithwick 457
From a drawing made for " Scribner's Magazine."

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XXV

Leggo

Knapp

Title. Designer. Engraver.
Head of Rivington's Gazetteer . . Runge ....
From a copy in the New York Historical Society's rooms.
General Charles Lee  Beech ....
By permission, from Mr. George Moore's "Treason of
Charles Lee." From a Caricature by Barham Rush-
brooke.
Lord Stirling  Beech 
From the engraving in Duer's "Life."
Israel Putnam 
From the portrait by Trumbull.
Moore's Creek Bridge — Plan . . Hosier . .
The Liberty Bell, as it now hangs
IN Independence Hall  Schell . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Portrait of Thomas Paine . . . Beech . .
From the print in Rickman's " Life."
Congress Hall  Schell . .
From a sketch made for this work.
House in which the Declaration
was written  " . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Taking down the King's Statue . Frost  Davis

Nichols ,

• Leggo

Varley

Pierson

J. Karst

Hoey

Page.
. 459
. 460

462

463

465

470

471

481

483

486

Russell & Struthers 491

Langridge Pierson

H. Karst

Map OF Manhattan Island in 1776 . Hosier . .
Rose and Crown Tavern .... Mente . .
Headquarters, No. 1 Broadway . Warren . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Passage of the Troops to Long
Island  Waud . .
Howe's Headquarters, — Beekman
House 
From a sketch made for ' 'Scribner's Magazine."
Jumel Mansion. — Washington's
Headquarters  Cary . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Mrs. Murray and Ge.neral Howe. Abbey . .
From a drawing made for " Scribner's Magazine."
Harlem Plains  Mente . .
From an old print in Valentine's "Manual."
Ruins of Trinity Church in 1776 . Warren . . . . G. A. Bogert .
From Valentine's " History of Broadway."
The Billop House  Mente .... J. Robinson .
From a sketch made for this work.
Chatterton's Hill, White Plains Bonwill . . . . H. Karst . .
From a sketch made for this work.

Pierson

Nichols

McCracken

492495

497

503

505

. 507

509

510

512

514

XXVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Title. Designer.
Ships passing Fort AA'ashington . . Davidson . .
AVashingtox at AA'ashington
Heights . .  "
A'iew of Fort Lee  BonwiU . . .
From a sketch made for Ihis icork.
Capture of General Lee . . . Sheppard . .
View of Trenton  Mente . . .
From a sketch made for this work.
The Stolen March  J. C. Beard
Old Sugar House, Liberty' Street, Mente . . .
From Valentine's " Manual."
Middle Dutch Chui:ch ... . " ...
From Disosicay's "Old Churches."
Rhinelander's Sugar House . . " ...
From Valentine's "Manual."
North Dutch Church . . . "
From Disosicay.
The Chew House at Germantown . Runge . . .
From an old drawing.
Door of AA^ashington's Headquar
ters AT Morristowx . . . Mente . . .
From a drawing by Mr. Bassett Jones, architect.
AVoostbr's Signature  " . .
From the "National Portrait Gallery."
Meigs's Expedition to Sag Har
bor  Reinhart . . .
AA'ashington's Headquarters at
Hartsville  Schell . . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Lafayette's Statue, Union Square,
New York  Mente . .
From a sketch made for this work.
'Squire Cheney bringing the News . Frost . .
Howe's Headquarters, — Cadwalla
der House  Schell . . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Fort Mifflin  . " . .
From a sketch made for this work.
Donor's Grave  " ...
From a sketch made for this work.
Portrait of Burgoyne .... Beech . . .
From Fonhlanque's "Burgoyne."
Death of Jane McCrea .... Beard . .

Engraver. Page.
Andrew . . .516
Clement . . .517
Smart .... 521
Langridge . . .524
Meeder & Chiibb 529

((

533

Langridge . ,

, . 537

Pierson

. . 539

Langridge . ,

, . 540

J. Karst . ,

. . 541

II

. 543

. F. Karst

544

Leggo . . . .54 7

. . . 549
Knapp . . . 551
.lansen . . . 552
Kilburn 555
Knapp . . 558
IMecder & Chubb 563
Anthony . . . 565
H. Karst . .567
Geratv 570

583586

591595

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxvii
Title. Designer. Engraver. Pai/e.
Ruins of Old Fort at Crown Point . Mente . . Andrew . . . 572
Fac-simile of Herkimer's Order  Photo. Eng. Co. 577
From the original in the Historical Society's rooms at Ulica.
Herkimer at the Battle of Oris
kany  Beard  Heinemann . .579
General John Stark  Beech  J. Karst . . . .^81
From the portrait by Trumbull.
B.attle-field of Bennington . . . Warren .... Geraty
General Horatio Gates  Beech  Potter . ,
From the portrait by Gilbert Stuart.
Fraser's Burial  Frost  Clement .
Valley Forge  Schell ... . Andrew .
From a sketch.
Signature of Laurens  Leggo . . . 506
From the " National Portrait Gallery."
Baron von Steuben  Beech .... Potter . . . 598
From Knapp' s "Life."
Map of New Jersey  Russell & Struthers . 601
Joseph Bkant  Beech  J. Karst . . . 608
From Stone's "Life.''
Surrender of Fort Vincennes . . Fredericks ... " ... 612
Charleston in 1780  . Beech  615
By permission, from the old print in Moore's ' ' Diary of the
Revolution."
Stony Point  Mente .... Jansen . . .616
From a sketch made for Ihis work.
John Paul Jones  Beech  Knapp . . . 618
From the portrait by Peale.
John Paul Jones's Medal .... Mente .... Karst .... 622

FULL-PAGE MAPS AND FAC-SIMILES. To face
Title. Page.
Oswego  48
From an old pi'int copied in 0' Callaghan' s "Documentary History of New
York."
The Boston AVater-front  218
From an old drawing in the Massachusetts Historical Society's collections.
The Battles of Lake George  288
From an old print copied in O'Callaghan's " Documentary History of New
York."

xxviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
" A A'iew of Part of the Town of Boston, in New England, and
British Ships of AVar landing their Troops, 1768."  356
From an old print copied in Frothingham's " Siege of Boston.''
Map of Boston and its Environs, 1776  .... 427
From Ellis's " Evacuation of Boston."
Reduced Fac-simile of the Resolutions passed in ToWxN Meeting
IN Mendon, Mass., March 1, 1773  .4 72
From the original town records.
Reduced Fac-simile of the Broadside of the Declaration, dis
tributed through the Country in 1776. ...  484
From an original preserved in Boston,

INDEPENDENCE HALL.

New York in 1673.

CHAPTER I.
NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.
Condition of New York on the Arrival or Andros as Governor. — Compaui-
SON with New England. — Andros visits Connecticut. — His Reception by
Captain Bull at Saybrook. — Complained of by Lady Carteret, anu others.
— His Recall to England. — New Proprietors of East Jersey. — Thomas
Dongan appointed Governor of New York. — General Assembly ordered
BY the Dhke of York. — Charter of Liberties adopted. — Assembly dis
solved BY James. — Dongan's Administration. — Andros as Governor-gen
eral. — Accession of AVilliam and Mary. — Affairs under Lieutenant-gov
ernor Nicholson. — His Council-men, Phillipse, Van Cortlandt, and Bayard.
— Captain Leisler assumes Comjund, and acts as Governor. — Suppohted
by a com-iiittee of safety and recognized by the colonies. — his diffi
CULTIES. — Troubles WITH the French and Indians. — Contest with Captain
Ingoldsby. — Surhenders the Government to Colonel Sloughter. — Trial
and Execution.

When Edmund Andros first arrived in America, — fifteen years
before the catastrophe, already related, that overtook him
in Boston,^ — the colonv of New York which he was to gov- under oov.
Ill T'l Andros.
ern contained only about six or seven thousand people, ihe
population of New England is computed to have been at tliat time
not less than one hundred and twenty thousand. Striking as the con-
1 See vol. ii., p. 393, et seq.
VOL. III. 1

2 NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. L
trast is between these colonies of nearly the same age, it is not diffi
cult to account for it. The colonial commerce of that period had no
need to seek out the most commodious, or the most accessible of har
bors ; the small or inconvenient ports, whose selection was deter
mined by some other exigency than that of trade, answered all com
mercial necessities. The superiority of soil and of climate, the easy
access from the sea, the navigable inland waters, and the central po
sition of New York, so certain to insure the future supremacy of the
State, were not yet taken advantage of with that stern purpose and
restless energy through which the hardy people of New England so
outstripped their slower and duller neighbors of another race.^
From the accession of the English, however, there came, with Eng-
condition of li^li ideas and English enterprise, au increase of prosperity
the province. ^^^^^ ^ moTe rapid growth to New York, although the influ
ence of the Dutch, especially in the social character of the people, was
long felt. Within four years of Andros's arrival there was an addi
tion of probably a third to its population. Besides the natural in
crease, which prosperity would stimulate, there was some emigration
from England, — still more, perhaps, from other colonies.
The eastern part of Long Island, from its relations to Connecticut,
felt this new impulse more sensibly and rapidly than any other part
of the colony. Whaling soon became an important industry on that
shore, and Southampton was deemed worthy of mention with New
York by Andros as one of the two jjrincipal places of trade. Nan
tucket, — settled in 1659 by Thomas Macy and his family,^ — which,
with Martha's Vineyard, made a county of New York, was also at this
earl)' period engaged in the whale-fishery along the coast ; but it was
a far more important industry at the eastern end of Long Island than
anywhere else in any of the colonies. Albany continued the centre
of the Indian trade, and was of importance as the place of negotiation
with the Indians, and with the French. These negotiations, involv
ing the question of whether the Iroquois or Five Nations should be
1 Even a century later the popiilatiou of New England was nearly three tiraes as great
as that of New A'ork, tliough the area — exclusive of Maine, whieh was still largely a wil
derness — was k'.^s. Itwns not till within the last fifty years that the natural advantages of
New York weie able to overcome the superiority which Xfw England had so long held,
and w hich was largely due to difierence of character in the founders of the colonies.
^ The first proprietor of Nantucket was Thomas JIayhew, who bouglit the isl.aud of
James Torrett, the agent of the Earl of Stirling, in 1641. ilayhew conveyed nine tenths of
it to nine others, namely : Tristram Coffin, Thomas itacy, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard,
Peter Coffin, Christopher Hussey, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain, and AA'illiam Pile.
Pile .sold his tenth to Richard Swain, and the nine proprietors then took as partners
John Sraith, Nathaniel Starbuck, Edward Starbuek, Thomas Look, Robert Barnard, James
Coffin, Robert Pike, Tristram Coffin, Jr., and Thomas Coleman. Thomas Macy was tlie
first to settle, wilh his family, upon his lands. Others soon followed. — A Short Journal of
the First Settlement of Nantucket, etc. By Zaccheus Macy. i{ass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. iii.

1678.]

GROAVTH AND CONDITION OF NEAV Y'ORK.

controlled by French or Enghsh, a question on which peace or war so
often depended, occupied much of the time and attention of Andros
and his immediate successors.
In a report upon the condition of his colony in 1678 Andros says
that he could muster two thousand militia men ; the fort in New York
— James-Fort — mounted forty-six guns ; that at Albany twelve
guns, and the fortifications at Pemaquid in ]Maine seven guns. In
each of these the garrisons were victualled for a year. Within two
years twenty thousand acres had received new settlers. The colony
contained twenty-four towns or villages ; it exported yearly about
sixty thousand bushels of wheat, besides provisions, fish, tobacco,
peltries, lumber, and even horses ; and the valuation of its estates was
£150,000. A merchant was thought a substantial citizen who was
worth a thousand or even five hundred pounds ; the standard of wealth
in a planter was only half as high.

Island of Nantucket.

The annual export trade of the province was carried on in fif
teen vessels of an average measurement of a hundred tons.
^ ., Cnnditinn of
Of these one third belonged to New York, and some were theprov-
built there. Occasionally there was an arrival from Eng
land, the yearly value of the imports amounting to £50,000 ; but
most of these small vessels must have been engaged in a coastwise
trade, the most important of which, no doubt, was bringing tobacco
— their single staple — from Virginia and Maryland, and exchanging

4 NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
for it bread-stuffs and provisions. No law, however severe, could
induce their planters to I'aise ior themselves sutficieiit food for their
slaves so long as a crop of tobacco returned a profit.
There were slaves also in New York, but not enough to influence
the system of labor. As Andros said, they were " but very few."
Beggars there were none : the poor who could not support themselves
were taken care of — easily taken care of, no doubt, as there could
not have been many. The manufacture of flour soon became an im
portant industry ; and more than one attempt was made by legislation,
which for some years succeeded, to give a monopoly of it to the city
of New York. Ministers, Andros said, were '• scarce,'" and " religions
manv." The Catholic Duke, his master, could tolerate all sects so
long as the law of England proscribed his own.
This, briefly, was the condition, two hundred years ago, of the
little town destined in the lapse of time and events to become one of
the foremost cities of the world. To Andros the province seemed,
doubtless, of small value, as it had to Nichols, nnless he could retain
New .lersey and the country on the Delaware within his jurisdiction,
and extend it also over that portion of New England embraced within
the Duke of York's patent. One of the earliest ticts of his adminis
tration was to assert this claim, seizing as the occasion information
sent him by Winthrop of the breaking out of Philip's war. He was
"very rauch troubled," he wrote to the Connecticut Governor, "at the
Christians' misfortunes and hard disasters in those parts, being so
overpowered by such heathen." But, he added, " I intend, God will
ing, to set out this evening, and to make the best of my waj' to Con
necticut River, His Royall Highnesses bounds there."
The Connecticut authorities were alarmed at this plain intimation
of the purpose of the new Governor to maintain the Duke's
its conneiti- claim to their province. The General Assembly was con
vened, and one Captain Bull was sent to Fort Saybrook with
a hundred men to resist this violation of their chartered rights. An
dros was not permitted even to read tbe Duke's patent to the people,
and, after declining to submit the question in dispute to a commission,
he yielded to the evident determination to be rid of hira, which he
could not resist, and reembarked for New York. The rebuff may
have irritated him, but if the tradition preserved by Trumbull be
true, it amused him no less. This Captain Bull, he said, was a bull
whose horns should be tipped with silver. He hardly could have
failed to remember this first reception in Connecticut when twelve
years later he came to Hartford as Governor-general, to demand the
colonial charter. He could then compel submission, but he was met
with the sarae spirit of defiance, which could still baffle if it could not
rout him.

1682.]

ANDROS RECALLED.

Though his efforts to retain New Jersey were unsuccessful ; i
though the distant settlement at Pemaquid, in Maine, where he
built a fort, was an expensive and almost useless acquisition ; and
though he failed to bring Connecticut under the jurisdiction of New
York, his administration of the affairs of his immediate government
was judicious. He inaugurated the policy which aimed to detach
the Five Nations from an alliance with the French, and to secure

tor Albany the exclusive contiol
of the trade with that powerful
confederacy ; and he sought to
check in general the progress of
the French at the West. But ""''"" =" s^brcok.
he saw that the position of New York was, in comparison with other
colonies, one of insignificance, and he believed it would remain so
unless all the northern provinces were united under a single gov
ernment. He urged this policy upon the Duke of York, and it is quite possi
ble that he did not regret being recalled — as he was in R<,<.aiiof
1680 — when complaints from Lady Carteret, the widow of ^"'^™-
Sir George, of unwarrantable interference in the affairs of New
Jersey, required that he should return to England. Some charges of
misgovernment were also made against him by others between whom
and himself differences, more or less serious, hail arisen, — particu
larly by Christopher Billop of Staten Island, whom Andros had sent
as his deputy to the Delaware and then recalled for misconduct.
These accusations fell to the ground, aud events disposed of those of
Lady Carteret. Andros, who, on a visit to England three years be-
1 See chap, xx., vol. ii.

6 NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
fore, had been created a knight, was now further rewarded by being
made a gentieraan of the king's bed-chamber.
The Carteret interest in East Jersey ceased, soon after the recall of
Andros — as has been already shown in anotlier chapter —
cto^f"^"" by the sale of the young Sir George's patent to Penn and
ersey. ^^^ associatcs. In March, 1682-83, these twelve proprie
tors associated with theraselves twelve others, most of whora were
Scotch. 1 The Governor of the province was Robert Barclay of Urie,
a distinguished member of the Society of Friends, a favorite of the
Duke of York, and the author of that Quaker classic : " An Apology
for the True Christian Divinity, as the Sarae is Preached and Held
Forth by the People, in scorn called Quakers." The Scotch interest
in East Jersey induced, from time to tirae, a large emigration from
Scotland, raany seeking in the new colony an asylum frora both re
ligious and political persecution at horae. At Ambo Point, at the
mouth of the Rarifcau, a new city was founded at this time and called
Perth — now Perth Amboy — in honor of the Earl of Perth. This
becarae ere long the capital of the province, in idace of Elizabethtown,
and for a while was a successful rival even of New York in commerce.
On leaving the colony Andros had appointed Anthony BroekhoUs
— or Brockholst — as Commander-in-chief of the Militia and
appointed as Lieutenant governor. But he neglected to renew the
governor'of Order for collecting the customs-duties, which had expired
by limitation, and Brockholst was at once involved in a con
troversy with the merchants. They refused to pay these duties, and
William Dyre, formerly of Rhode Island, who was collector of the port
as well as mayor of the city, seized a cargo of goods. The merchant
brought a suit against the collector ; his act was pronounced illegal,
Payment o£ ^"'^ '^'^ indictiuent fouud against him for treason in usurping
duHc™v- power over the people. Brockholst and his council sus-
fused. tained the decision of the court, and the city seal and his
commission were deraanded of Dyre. He refused to surrender them,
disputed the authority of the court, summoned speciallj' for his trial,
on the ground that their poAver and his emanated from the same
Collector authority, — the Duke of York, — and one could not be re-
rndlicquft- sponsible to the other where there was a common master.
''"^- He was hereupon arrested and sent to England for trial,
where, in due tirae, it was decided that he was guiltless of any offence.
1 The twenty-four proprietors of East Jersey, a majority of whom were Eriends, were,
James, Earl of Perth, .John Drnramoud, Robert Barclay, David Barclay, Roliert Cordon,
Arent Sonmans, AA'ilHam Penn, Robert AA'est, Thomas Rudvard, Samuel Groome, Thomas
Hart, Richard .Mew, Ambrose Kigg, John Haywood, Hugh Hartshorne, Clement Plum-
stead, Thomas Coo])er, Gawen Lawrie, Edward Byllinge, James Braiue, AA'illiam Gibson,
Thoraas B.arker, Roliert Turner, and Thomas W'arue.

1683.] GOA'ERNOR DONGAN. - THE NEW CHARTER. 7
For some months there was entire free trade in the colony, for cus
toms-duties are never a free-will offering; but a more important result
oftheconlj^oversy was that the Court of Assizes, whidi attempted
tlie trial of Dyre, represented to the Duke that arbitrary taxation
without regard to the wishes and interests of the people, wis a griev
ous burden, and that a remedy for this and other evils could only be
found in the right of self-government through a General Assenibly
chosen by popular vote. " The _
people," wrote Brockholst,
"generally cry out for an As-
s

"^  JL

*jWJ(E|g

^ *¦•

Perth Amboy.

istracy," he said, "is
'u so low that it
scarce raaintain the
ic peace and quiet
le government."
I Duke promised
the prayer should
DC granted.
A few months later —
in the summer of 1683

— a new governor. Colonel Thomas Dongan, the younger son of an
Irish baronet, was sent out to supersede Brockholst. He
brought orders to issue writs for the election of eighteen Dongan,
representatives of the people, who were to constitute a Gen
eral Assembly to be, with the Governor and Council, the government
of the colony. Their acts were to be subject to the approval of the
Governor, and finally of the Duke. The Governor and Council,
whose appointment still remained with the Duke, were to grant lands,
establish courts and custom-houses, control the railitia ; but no tax
was to be levied without the consent of the Asserably. No man was
to be punished except by due course of law ; a grand jury of inquest,
and trial by jury, were decreed ; martial law and the billeting of sol
diers in private houses were declared illegal ; the right of dower, in

8 NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
one third of the real estate of the husband, was secured to widows ;
religious freedom was guaranteed to all professing Christians who did
not disturb the public peace; the right of suffrage was given to every
freeholder and freeman in any corporation; the Assembly was to
raeet every three years with the right, of meeting and adjourning as
it saw fit during the session ; and the merabers and their servants —
if not more than three — were for that time free from arrest
The Charter i , ¦ , • n i_ c ^
of Liberties Or auy legal ttction, except m cases ot treason or telony.
leges pro- All Act euibodyiug these franchises, under the title of "The
Charter of Libertys and Privileges " was passed by the As
sembly, at its first meeting in October, 16(S3, and sent to the Duke
of York for his approval.
The new forra of government was quite as liberal as that accorded
by royal charter to any of the colonies. But it was not to last long.
The Duke gave no formal assent to the Act of the Assembly, and
within less than two years from the time of its first meeting Charles
II. died and his brother succeeded to the throne. The new policy,
begun with New England, of uniting the crown colonies under a
single governor, soon embraced New York.
When the first troubles, whieh awaited the King at horae, were
Andros Got- disposed of, Jaiues had leisure to give his serious attention
eraro/xew to coloiiial affaii's ; a new commission with fresh instruc-
Engiand tions was thcu given to Dongan, and Andros was sent out
as Governor-general of New England. In these the King declared it
to be his will and pleasure that the recent " Charter of Franchises be
repealed, determined and made void." New England was first to be
reduced to obedience ; New York, meanwhile, was to be held in sub
jection as a royal province, its government invested in a governor
and council of the King's appointment without regard to the popular
will. Jaraes objected to the phrase, " The People, raet in Gen
eral Assembly." The raotto upon the great seal of New England,
delivered to Andros, was more to his mind : " Nunquam Libertas
gratior extat,'" — ¦ " Liberty is never raore agreeable than under a pious
King." 1
Dongan was faithful to his master but not less faithful to the in-
Dongan-s tcrcsts of his colouy. He followed the policy of Andros in
policy. unwearied efforts to conciliate the Five Nations, to secure
their trade for his own countrymen, to cripple the influence of the
1 The whole sentence in Claudian's De Landlliiis Stillehonis, from whieh the motto is
taken, is : — . Nimfjuani liberta.'! grntior crftU,
Quaiyi sub re:^^ pw. . .
It was probably assumed that the loyal subject would remember, or evolve from his own
consciousness, the latter portion of the passage iu looking at the tigure of the King on the
seal.

1685.]

NEAV YORK AND ITS NEIGHBORS.

9

French over the native tribes, and to repel French intrusion upon the
territory south of the St. Lawrence and the chain of the great lakes.
In these efforts he was the more successful because he was a Catholic,
could call English Jesuits to his aid, and stitisfy the rehgious senti
ment in the Indian, which inclined to the symbols of the Church of
Rorae, so far as he was moved at all by Christian teaching.
No former governor saw more clearly than Dongan how much the
wealth and importance of the province would be enhanced if its juris
diction could include the territorj' south and east, originally covered
by the Duke of York's patent. Penn had planted his vigorous com
monwealth at the south, taking from New York the rich lands of the
Delaware ; East Jersej^, under its successive Lieutenant-governors, —
for Barclay remained in England, — Rudyard, Lawrie, Lord Neill
Campbell, and Andrew Hamilton, had in ten years doubled in popu
lation. If the prosperity of his neighbors did not excite the jealousy
of Dongan, it at least made him the more anxious that his own colony
should have the advantage of it. He proposed that Pemaquid — too
far off to be of any
value to New York
— should be given
to Massachusetts,
and in lieu thereof
Connecticut and
Rhode Island be an
nexed to New York.
That any part of
Connecticut should
go to ^Massachusetts
would be, he said,
" the most unpropor-
tionable thing in the
world, they having
already a hundred
times more land,
riches, and people
than this Province,
and yet the charge of
this government raore than that." He complained that New Jersey
robbed New York of her trade and her people ; that Pennsylvania was
encroaching upon New York territory on the Susquehanna; that Con
necticut was, as always, grasping, tenacious, prosperous at her neigh
bor's expense, of evil influence over the New York towns of Long
Island, whose "refractory" people would carry their oil to Boston and

Spal of New England.

10 NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
their whalebone to Perth, rather than to their own capital. In 1687,
while on Long Island they were already complaining of the want of
land, the Governor wrote that he beheved there had not come into his
colony, within seven years, twenty English, Scotch, or Irish families.
The population, he added, had increased by Dutch and French —
Huguenot — emigration ; btit this fact he used only as an additiomd
argument for annexing the nearest English colonies to his own ; —
" that a more equal ballance may be kept between his MaU' naturall
born subjects and Foreigners, which latter are the most prevailing
part of this Government."
He hardly did justice, however, to the growth of New York, in his
ardent desire to extend its dominion. In the first fourteen
Prosperity c ts , ¦ , . . • -t-
under Don- years of English occupation its population had trebled. Yet
he acknowledged that " the people [Avere] growing every
day more numerous," and as a reason for suggesting the necessity
of more forts, he said, they were " generally of a turbulent disposi
tion." He gave them credit for great vigor, for, he said, "the men
that are here have generally lusty strong bodies ; " and of the other
sex he had an equally high opinion, for this is his representative
woraan : " In this country there is a woraan yet alive from whose
Loynes there are upwards of three hundred and sixty persons now
living." But the old pleas were powerless now. The policy of the Duke,
the provincial Proprietary, was not the policy of the King, who meant
to t.ike away all charters and unite the colonies in a single royal
province. In onl}' one case did Dongan succeed in effecting any
change in colonial relations, — it was agreed to end the louff
The Con- ^. iii,.,
nictieut and vexatious controvei'sy as to the boundary line between
boundary. . -i -nt -.-,,/.• ¦ .
Connecticut and JNew i ork by hxing its starting-point, where
it has ever since remained, on the Byram River instead of the Mamar-
oneck. Another early act of his adrainistration raakes it memorable r
the province was subdivided into twelve counties with new names to
some of them, which names, though not the boundaries, remain unal
tered. Ulster was so called for the Irish earldom of the Duke of
Naming of York ; (Drauge, for his son-in-law, Williara of Orange ; Rich-
Counties. mond, probably, for his illegitimate son by the Duchess of
Portsmouth ; Duke's, which comprised Nantucket, IMartha's "\^ine-
yard, Elizabeth Islands, and No Plan's Land, was so named, no doubt,
for the Duke himself, as Duchess was either for his wife or his mis
tress. Suffolk took its name from an English county, a.nd so also did
Cornwall, which included Pemaquid and the rest of the Duke's pos
sessions in jMaine.i
1 The twelve counties were: The Ciry and County of New York, Richmond, Queen's,
King's, Suffolk, Duke's, AVestchester, Ulster, Orange, Duchess, Albanv, and Cornwall.

1688.] ANDROS, GOA'ERNOR-GENERAL. 11
The new government of the " Territory and Dominion of New
England " was enlarged by the addition of New Jersey and New York,
and a new commission issued to Andros as Governor-general in 1688.
Though many may have rejoiced at the removal of the Catholic Gov
ernor, Dongan, the act by which he was superseded was by no means
popular. To merge New York in New England was not to jj^„ y„,.,^
annex New England to New York in the way that had NewTn'i'"
been so long wished for. The greater would now swallow '™'*-
the less in fact as in name. The independence of the colony was sac-

Signature of Dongan.
rificed to the policy of the King. They might be reconciled to this
in the eastern part of Long Island, where they were chieflj' New Eng-
landers, but elsewhere the feeling was one of humiliation and chagrin.
Andros, nevertheless, was received in New York Avith military
pomp and civic honors. The seal of the province was formally
broken in pieces and that of the Dorainion of New England presented
as its substitute. Whatever the popular feeling might be, official
gentleraen had much to expect frora the new Governor ; and he on his
part was not slow to reward his old favorites, the more readily that
every office — whose duties were to be discliarged in Boston, the pro
posed seat of government — bestovs^ed upon a New Yorker, not only
served a friend but mortified an enemy. He visited New Jersey ; at
Albany he called a council of the chiefs of the Five Nations, and ex
changed with them high-sounding phrases on the inferiority of the
French, — who had recently consented, under a general pacification,
to abandon the fort built the year before on the site of La Salle's old
Fort de Conty — on the superiority of the Iroquois, and their willing
ness to be considered, not the children, but the brothers, of the English.
After a sort of vice-royal progress through his southern provinces,
the Governor-general returned to Boston, taking with him the most
important of the official records of New York. Francis Nicholson, a
lieutenant in the army, remained as Lieutenant-governor.
We have sketched already the character of the administration of
Andros, and the heavy hand that Boston laid upon him in return

12 NEAV Y'ORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. 1.
when the opportunity came to her.i William of Orange landed in
England only about a month after Andros returned to New
ini"ngiai°d Euglaud ffom New York. Tn another raonth James had
tiinof'Tn- fled to France; in February, 1689, William and ]Mary were
proclaimed in London King and Queen of England. All
winter, tidings of the jirogress of the revolution had crossed the Atlan
tic ; in February they knew in New York that the Prince of Orange
was at Torbay. The news was sent by Nicholson and his Council to Sir
Edmund both by land and by water, and they ordered, at the same
time, that the King's money should be placed in the fort, — a fact that
shows that even at the outset they were apprehensive of some popular
outbreak. A raore timid or a wiser man than Andros would have
taken prompt measures to anticipate an event which, he should iiave
foreseen, Avould be sure to follow in the colonies any serious disas
ter to the King in England. But he sent no instructions to his New
York Council till nearly three raonths later, when he ^vas already a
prisoner in the hands of the Boston Committee of Safety.
Tlie governraent of New York was left in the hands of Nicholson,
the Lieutenant-governor, Frederick Phillipse, Stejjhen van Cortlandt,
and Nicholas Bayard, the three raore active members of the
tion in New Couucil.^ These men were to work out their difficult prob
lem with such wisdom as they had, — wisdom which, as it
happened, would have been insufficient for an exigency of much less
moment. The popular mind was governed by other though not less
efficient influences, than those which moved the people of Boston.
The Dutch inhabitants naturally sympathized with the Prince of
Orange and hoped for his success. There were in New York more
Romanists than in all New England ; the Protestant population were
alive to the fear of Popery, quickened by the apprehension that Don
gan — not without power, though out of place — and Nicholson were
both under Jesuit influence. Dongan was frank!)' and openly a Cath
olic ; Nicholson, it was suspected, only pretended to be a Protestant.
But neither the people on one side, nor the Council on the other, took
any action until the 26th of April, when news carae from Boston of
the revolution there on the 18th, and Colonel Nicholson called to
gether his Council and read to thein the formal declaration of " the
1 Sec vol. ii., p. .387, et seq.
2 Broadhead says (History nf the .State cif New York) that Phillipse was remarkable only
for being the dullest and the richest man in the town. A'an Cortlandt had made himself
ridiculous a few months liefore at a celebration of the birth of the Prince of AVales, Avhen
he " both sacriliced his hat, peruke, etc." (Letter from Leisler, A'. Y. Col. Doc.), and it
was remembered auaiiist him. B.ayard, the most efficient of the three, was a wenlthv and
ris])ectal)le merchant, but a hot-headed militia capt.ain, quite unfit, as his own letters show,
for important command in a time of emergency.

1689.] NEAV YORK AND THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION. 13
gentlemen merchants and inhabitants of Boston." ^ To him and his
associates in the Government this was a " great surprizall." , .¦
o r Aetion 01
Being but four in number, as they said, they took the iiv",'™™'"
usual refuge of weak men in conditions of unexpected re- nnj''t"iJe°°
sponsibility, and called together the raayor, the members of •^""""^
the common council, and all the officers of the militia. It was agreed
to fortify the town against the French, with whom England was now
at war, and, as the merchants were already sensitive about paying
import duties to the old officers, it was agreed that all such duties
should be expended on the new fortifications. For some time the
little town assuraed the aspects of a carap.
On the first of ]\lay the Council wrote an ingenious letter in dupli
cate to be sent to Boston, one copy to Sir Edmund An-
1 11' 1 T-» 1 c 1 T-, • ''^'^^ Council
dros, to ask him to return the Records ot the Province ivrite to iios-
which he had with him, — the other to Governor Bradstreet
and the other leaders of the popular raovement, in which the request
for the Records is changed into a request that Andros himself raay be
forwarded to them. But the Massachusetts Comraittee of Safety de
clined to release the Governor, and Colonel Nicholson and his three
friends were again left to face their own difficulties.
IMeanwhile — to mention a straw which showed the wind — the
chaplain at the fort prayed regularly for the infant Prince of Wales,
and that the dethroned king might be " victorious over his enemies."
No proclamation of William was made. The anxious Council wrote
to the Secretary of State, whoever he might be, and the Board of
Trade, whoever they might be, explaining how doubtful their posi
tion was, and how fortunate it was that New York was not more
closely united with Boston. A few daj's after a verbal message ar
rived from Andros, asking that Hamilton and Smith, two of his coun-
cilmen, might be sent on to him. But both these gentleraen had
troubles enough at home, and declined mixing in his affairs. This
was on the 22d of May. On the 6th of June Nicholson had deter
mined on what was certainly the course of prudence, — to leave his
jurisdiction; on the 10th of June his administration ceased, though
he did not sail till the end of the month. But the power, and the
duties of government, had already passed into other hands.
The transfer of power had really taken place when this imbecile
Council called together the officers of railitia, and with their advice
embodied the military force. At a tirae when some one raust take
command, it followed, almost of course, that those who in arms sup
ported the little state took the place for which the Council showed it
self wholly incompetent. Araong the captains of the railitia Jacob
^ The Bostolnes, as a despatch of the time calls them.

14

NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.

[Chap. I.

Leisler appeared as the most prompt and courageous man, willing to
take responsibility. While the temporizing policy of the Council —
waiting for more news — extisperated the great body of the people ;
while terrors of French invasion kept the little army on the alert,
everybody asked why Williara was not proclaimed. A foolish speech
of Nicholson's gave rise to a rumor that he had threatened to burn
the town. When Leisler's turn came to guard the fort with
ler taises ' hls compauy, he gave notice that he should call all the train
bands on parade, and ask the inhabitants to unite to defend
the Protestant religion. A rumor spread that the French fleet was

Leisler's House

below. Leisler's critics afterwards said that he started this rumor; —
certainly he improved it. He gave the signal agreed upon, and the
train-bands met. The captains of sorae companies ordered them to
disperse, but they refused; and at Leisler's direction they all signed a
declaration, by which they said they held and should hold the fort for
his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, on behalf of such person as
he had appointed Governor. Six captains and four hundred men
signed this document.
Within a very short time news arrived that WiUiam and Mary had
for the present confirmed in office all Protestants holding commissions
1 Leisler's house was on AVhitehall Street, south of Pearl Street, and was the first brick
house in New York. The picture — taken from the Corporation Manual — is from a draw
ing made in 1679. Leisler's house is marked L.

THE TRAINBANDS SIGNING LEISLER'S DECLARATION.

1689.] LEISLER ASSUMES THE CONDUCT OP AFFAIRS. 15
in the colonies. Had Nicholson possessed the confidence of the people
at all, or, indeed, had he been a man of resource, he might even now
have resumed authority under this order. But Leisler was in com
mand. Alraost all the counties, except New York, had thrown off all
allegiance to Nicholson already. And thus, as we have seen, he noti
fied the Council on the 6th that he should leave for England. They
approved of his departure, and Leisler at the head of his train-bands
was thus left the only commander of the city. Comparing his posi
tion with Bradstreet's in Massachusetts, it is irapossible to say that
Leisler was raore a usurper than Bradstreet. In the case of the New
York interregnum, the Governor who held under James was per
mitted to depart in peace ; while in Boston he was put
iTT-iT'i, Nicholson
under close watch and ward. Had Leisler s assumption 'eaves for
,., 1, 1111 England.
gone no further than this, he would probably have received,
in the end, not even a momentary censure, but the constant favor
of the new monarchs.
Leisler thus became leader of the Protestant movement, — which
happened to be the Dutch movement, — which happened also to be
the popular or plebeian movement in the little city, all of whose peo
ple, of every shade of politics and religion, did not number more than
three thousand. It was at the same time the " country " movement,
to adopt a convenient phrase, often used in English politics, and some
times in the politics of America, to express the sentiments of the
rural districts, where they differ from those of the merchants, or other
men of cities. Leisler, however, was not himself a Hollander, or of
Dutch origin. Fle was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and had come
to New York thirty years before as a soldier. But for many years he
had been a raerchant, and, of late years, a prosperous merchant. He
first appears in the records of recent dissensions as receiving a cargo
of wines, on which the duties, amounting to a hundred pounds, he re
fused to pay to a revenue officer, who was still serving under King
James's commission and clairaed no other authority.
Connecticut proclaimed Williara and Mary on the 13th of June,
and delegates from Connecticut, who had the printed Eng- ^.„.
o T ^ r ^ o William and
lish proclamation of the accession, delivered this to Leisler. Mary pro-
»¦ m (. claimed.
On the 22d he made the formal proclamation. The fact
that the Connecticut delegates recognized him as the actual Governor
instead of going to the " rump " of a Council, excited the indignation
of the Councillors. The King's proclamation, confirming all Protes
tants in office, was made public by them ; but this was but a half tri
umph on their side, as it compelled them to dismiss Plowman, the
Collector, who was a Cathohc, and who had most aroused the indigna
tion of the Protestant party. Leisler appointed Peter de la Noye Col-

16 NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
lector in his place, turning out the three commissioners appointed by
the other party. Bayard took tdarm at the audacity of Leisler's pro-
Fiightofthc ceedings, and on the 28th fled to Albany, leaving Phillipse
coSncii. j^j-|(j Ya.n Cortlandt the only representatives of the Council.
Van Cortlandt soon followed, and from this tirae, for a year and a
half, Leisler was practically at the head of the government.
In imitation of the proceedings in INIassachusetts, and in London,
he invited the counties and towns to meet in convention. The call
was obeyed, and the delegates assembled on the 26th of June.
Committee J ^ ^
of s^tu.t> up- q^hg meeting consisted of twelve members, of whom two
pointed, and o
Leisler ri-c- -^yithclrew after the first session. The others signed a paper
commander, appointing Lcislcr to be Captain of the Fort, and constitu
ting themselves a Committee of Safety. Under this authority Leisler
assumed from this time to be the governor of the province.
This unskilled, self-taught raerchant, into whose hands the conduct
of affairs had fallen at a dangerous and critical raoraent, was beset
with difficulties from without as well as within. King James, who
had ctiraraissioned Nicholson and his council of three, Avas at this mo
ment the guest ttnd ally of Louis XIV. That king, on the 7th of
French hos- Juuc, lu the Very week in which Leisler took coraraand of
tiiities. ^|jg ^Qii^ gave tliese instructions to Frontenac, Governor of
Canada, with regard to tlie whole Province of New York : " If
among the inhabitants of New York there are any Catholics whose
fidelity can be assured, they raay be left in their homes after they have
sworn fidelity to King Louis. From the other inhabitants, artisans
and people necessary for agriculture may be kept at work as prisoners.
All officers, and all the principal inhabitants, will be kept in prison till
they are redeemed by ransom. With regard to all others who are
not French, they will be transported to New England, France, or other
places. But all French
men, especially those of
the pretended reformed
religion, will be sent to
Signature of Frontenac. .r., ,, ^t^,
i" ranee. Ihese were
a part of the direct orders for an invasion of New York. And at
this very raoraent the Jesuit body, at once servants and masters of
this French king, were carrying on, on the frontier, those intrigues
which in this and the following years resulted in the mas-
Indian mas- o J
frontiers""' ^^^res of Peiiiaquid, of Schenectady, of Salmon Falls, and
of Wells' River. Of these massacres the cruelties were due,
in the first instance, not to savage ferocity, but to the counsels of men
who took the name of Jesus for their own.^ At such a time Leisler
1 Compare, for the details, Parkman's Life of Frontenac.

1689.] LEISLER'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROVINCE. 17
found one of the few Roman Catholics in his province a governor of
Albanv on the frontier, and another the collector of the kino-'s rev-
enue in New York. He would not have been justified, either as the
representative of King William, or as governing the province for its
own best good, had he consented to serve, ou equal terms, with these
Catholic officers.
The city and county of Albany was tlie only part of the province
which for a time refused to recognize his authority. Albany was prob
ably strengthened in its independence by Colonel Bayard, and not un
willing to resent New York interference. She had called her own
convention, and intrusted all public affairs to her own magistrates.
She had declined to send delegates to Leisler's convention. This quasi
independent attitude would probably have excited little attention in
history, but that the news of the butcheries of Pemaquid and at
Dover 1 arrived at this time in Alban}^ The frontier village now felt
its weakness. She sent for aid to the city whose ruler she had de
fied, asking for help. Leisler would not recognize the Al-
' '^ ^ /-I • Albany re-
bany government, and they wrote to Connecticut and to tusestorec-
•^ ^ . ^ . ognize Lcis-
!Massachusetts asking for a garrison for the fort. The}^ ap- lerasGover-
pointed Schuyler to its chief command, displacing Sharp,
against whom as a Catholic there were " jealousies." Leisler sent up
a company under ^lilborne, but he was refused admission to the fort.
He returned, and the fort and outposts at Schenectady were garri
soned by Connecticut men.
Had Nicholson dared to remain in New York he would have re
ceived a commission from King William broad enough and strong
enough to relieve him from all difficulty. For, all through these con
fusions William showed no fondness for any revolutions but such as
he made himself On the 30th of July, while Nicholson was yet on
the ocean, an order issued at Whitehall to ai)point him
. ,. , y,. Orders re-
Lieutenant-governor, enclosing instructions from the King ceived from
and Queen. The letter was addressed to him, and, in his
absence, " to such as for the time being take care for preserving the
peace and administering the laws." It is said that Nicholson arrived
in London before the letter was started, and it has been conjectured
that no alteration was made in the address because it was supposed
that Phillipse, Cortlandt, and Bayard would open it. But^ Nichol
son must htive told the authorities that a convention had been sum
moned, and that Leisler was in actual command. It is probable
either that the despatches were beyond correction, or that the Eng
lish authorities were willing to avail themselves of the doubt hidden
under the address. In point of fact at the moment they were writ-
1 See vol. ii., pp. 444, et seq.
VOL. III. 2

18

NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.

[Chap. I.

ten, Bayard and Cortlandt had both fled from New York, and there
was no government there but that of Leisler. Nor did the Council,
which was thus reduced to Philhpse alone, make any pretence of exer
cising authority.
The letter did not arrive till the 9th of December, when Bragge,
who brought it, came by way of Boston. He delivered it to Leisler,
who clairaed it as " the person wdio administered the laws and pre
served the peace." When Cortlandt, who had returned, and Phil
lipse claimed the despatches, the messenger prudently said he would
not be hanged for any of them. AYitli this addition to his authority
Leisler continued his administration and again proclaimed William

^^S^P^'^^^TT^

The Attack on Schenectady.
and Mary, "Scotland being forraerly omitted." Cortlandt and Phil
hpse sent a protest to the King against his claim, but made no pre
tence of assuming the duties of governor themselves.
The duties of the post to which Leisler found himself called might
well have appalled him. Frontenac on the north, one of the ablest
rulers over hunters, Jesuits, and savages, who ever served France,
was taking advantage of the declaration of war to pounce upon the
exposed frontier. In February, 1689-90, the blow came. He formed
three war parties of picked men, who were to attack Albany, New
Hampshire, and Elaine. The first gathered at Montreal, made up of
nmety-six Christian Iroquois, so called, and more than a hundred
French nnircur, du hoi,. They were led by three of the Le .Moynes,

1690.] AVAR AATTH THE FRENCH AND INDIANS. 19
of the same blood as Iberville and Bienville who founded Louisiana
— of the distinguished family to whom France owed so many victo
ries in the years of her American rule.
These leaders were destined to meet one cruel disappointment.
After the party had crossed Lake Champlain on the ice, a council
was called in which the Le Moynes named Albany as the point of at
tack. " How long," said the sullen Indians, " since the French have
been so bold ? " The Frenchmen answered that since their „, War with
late misfortunes, honor required them to take Albany or die. ''"' rrench.
The Indians had no such notion of honor, and at the Hudson, where
the tracks then and now diverge — one for Albany and one for Sche
nectady — they took the path to Schenectady. The French were
obliged to acquiesce. A thaw had softened the snow and ice, and it
was nine days more before they came near the fated village. About
dark on the 8th of February, they reached the river Mohawk, a little
above the village. Sunset has a peculiar marvel at that spot, which
even savages have observed. The range of southern mountains on its
western side is so curved that the red ball of the sun, seen through
the mists of the river, seems to roll slowly down the ridge to its re
pose. But in this fatal twilight and bitter storm there was little
thought of nature's beauty or of savage legend. The scout, sent for
ward, saw nobody. The cold was so bitter that they feared to dis
pense with fires, while their prey was so near that they dared not
make them. Nor was delay needed. Sorae village festival was just
finished and the whole town was asleep soon after nightfall. Tal-
madge of Connecticut, with eight or nine of his militia, was in the
block-house, and only two snow images stood as sentinels at the gate
of the palisades of the town, in fatuous derision of danger. In two
bands the invaders entered, without opposition, having failed to close
the Albany gate so as to shut in the fugitives. One band marched
to the right, one to the left, till the sleeping village was surrounded.
The signal was then given, they " screeched the war-whoop together,"
and fell to their horrid work. No resistance was raade but at the
block-house. In two hours of carnage sixty persons were killed, —
men, women, and children, — and eighty or ninety captives
e ? 1 All Destruction
were secured. A few escaped through the storm to Albany, of schenec-
The village was fired, and at noon it was in ashes. Four
hundred thousand livres' worth of property was destroyed, says the
French report, with a curious precision.
The Albany commander, Schuyler, learned from prisoners whom he
took in pursuit, that Frontenac raeant to attack Albany in the spring.
He sent messengers to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and
Virginia, urging them to reheve him, and even to "the civil and mill-

20 NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.
tary officers at New York." Connecticut gave hira sound advice in
suea-estina: that this was no time for quarrel with New York, and this
oo O -•¦
advice prevailed. Leisler renewed and pressed the urgent demands
made by the .Vlbany government, upon the other provinces; Albany
received the reinforcements, and sent delegates to the House of As
sembly which he summoned to raeet on the 24th of April. An ex
pedition was concerted against the French, and to form plans for this
Leisler invited the other colonies to send delegates to New York.
Seven delegates attended this first Colonial Congress, which was
in session on the 1st of ]\Iay. The names of all have become histor
ical iu the annals of this and the next century. They were Stough-
ton, Sewall, Gold, Pitkin, AA^alley, Leisler, and De la Noye. They
agreed that New York should provide four hundred raen, Massachu
setts one hundred and sixty. Connecticut one hundred and thirty-five,
and Plymouth sixty. Mtiryland had promised one hundred. It was
agreed that Leisler should appoint the commander.
AAMth the energy which merchants or other men of affairs often
show when some accident throws them into the administration of
governraent, and with the eager and terrified zeal of the burghers and
sea-faring raen of New York to back him, Leisler rebuilt the fortifica
tions of that city, which had fallen into decay in the preceding peace
ful years. Hearing of French cruisers at sea he sent out privateers,
some of considerable force, to capture them ; and he was able to offer
sorae assistance also to the ill-fated New England expedition against
Canada. The year 1690, for the whole of which he was the sole
Governor of New York, was a year of spirited mihtary and naval
enterprise. ^Vnd the occasional arrival of a prize showed that neither
the dangers nor the rewards of the seas had been over-estimated.
His foreign was raore successful than his domestic policy. At
horae there was no lack of complaint; and probably raany of those
who had found fault with the imbecile languor of King Log, found
fault now with the activity of his successor. When the royal Governor
arrived, who had been fifteen raonths in coming, he found a hotbed of
sedition and bitter coraplaint ready to welcome him. Walley, the
Plymouth delegate to the Congress, not unfriendly to Leisler, had
characterized his temper well enough when he said, " He is a raan
that carries on some matters too arbitrary."
Still, had King Williara at this juncture appointed any competent
person governor of New York, the troubles which followed, with the
cruel tragedy which they involved, would have been prevented. But,
with the recklessness which has not yet been outgrown in the admin
istration of colonies, William considered the needs of the candidate for
office rather than the need of the colony which was to be governed.

1691. J

INGOLDSBY'S ATTACK ON THE FORT.

21

Soon after the letter was sent, under which Leisler continued his rule,
but long before it arrived, William appointed Col. Henry Sloughter,
a personal favorite of his own, to represent the crown in «, u
JNew York. Even now, had Sloughter with any promptness appointed
- , , ^ .¦ L I Governor of
assumed his ofhce, he wotdd have arrived in New York as -"<™ ^orii.
soon as the paper which served Leisler for a year as his commission.
In fact, however, Sloughter, who was commissioned November 14, 1689,
did not sail until December 1, 1690, — after a year of inexpKcable de
lay, — and then went by way of Bermuda. Unfortunately again, Rich-

Ingoldsby's Attack on the Fort.
ard Ingoldsby, who sailed at the same time with Sloughter as a cap
tain of a company of grenadiers, arrived in New York on the 29th
January, 1691, a few weeks before his Governor. Finding , . , ,
•^ -I 1 • 11* Arrival of
Leisler in command of the fort, he ordered him to deliver captain in
goldsby.
it. He had no civil commission ; he had no warrant from
Sloughter to hold the fort ; he had no commission whatever but that
of major in the King's army. No officer of any rank, superior to In
goldsby's, would have obeyed such a command, unless special orders
were given him by a superior. Leisler offered to Ingoldsby every
courtesy, and quarters for the troops, but declined giving up the fort
until Sloughter or some one commissioned by him, should arrive. On

¦1.1

NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH. [Chap. I.

this Ingoldsby proceeded to mount cannon against the fort, and actu
ally fired upon it. The fort returned the fire. There was after-
iie attacks wards a collision of testimony as to which began this combat.
Fort James, g^^^ ^j- jg certain that almost all the injury and loss of life
were caused by Ingoldsby's party, who maintained a fire against the
fort for some hours. At the utmost but a few men, raost of them
soldiers, were killed.
In this state of half war, Leisler raaintained the fort for some
weeks, until on the 19th of March, Sloughter, the long looked-for
Governor, arrived, for whora all along he said he had been waiting.
Here, on the after trials, testimony differed again. Leisler's son said
that his father, as soon as he had notice of Sloughter's arrival, al
though late at night, sent two gentlemen to congratulate him on his
arrival, and offer the fort and governraent to him as their Majesty's
Governor, but that they, without being heard, were committed to the
common jail ; that the next raorning Captain Leisler sent a letter to
the Governor desiring him to send sorae jjersons to receive the fort,
which he did, but iraraediately caused said Leisler and others to be
committed to prison. ^ Colonel Sloughter, in his official report to the
King, says he sent Major Ingoldsby to demand the fort, to whom
Leisler replied that he would own no Governor without orders frora
the King directed to him. But Sloughter says that Leisler sent a raan
out that night to identify him and make sure that he was Colonel
Sloughter; that he then demanded the fort from Leisler, a second
tirae, and that he refused it ; that only when preparations were made
to storra it, did Leisler send out the two persons spoken of to surren
der it.
Ingoldsby raarched into the fort. Some of Leisler's men threw
The fort dowu their arms, and without further opposition he relin-
toSkru''g"-'^ quished the command. Sloughter issued a commission at
*"" once for the trial of him and his Council for murder and
treason. The trial immediately followed. It has* become one of the
celebrated cases in our history. Six of the prisoners pleaded in form.
Leisler and Milborne, his son-in-law, refused to plead until the court
would decide whether the King's letter of July 30, 1689, had not given
Leisler formal authority. The court would not go into this question,
but referred it to the Governor and Council. They replied that the
King's letter and the papers with it gave no power or direction to the
Leisler and sald Leislcr. Leisler and iAIilborne still refused to plead,
hrougK' and after a trial of eight days, they and six others of Leis-
*™'- ler's Council were found guilty and sentenced to death.
Dudley, a ^lassachusetts man, whom the king had made judge, pre-
1 Administration of Leisler. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1868.

1691.]

EXECUTION OF LEISLER.

sided at the trial and pronounced sentence. The Governor, by the
advice of the judges, reprieved all the prisoners until the king's
pleasure was known.
This was on the 20th of April, 1691. The whole picture is a
wretched web-work woven by men who were wild with the excite
ments of religious bigotry and the hot rivalries of race, in the narrow
confines of a petty seaport, far from their chiefs, and jealous of
their privileges. The historian who traces it feels all along that
even thus far it might all have dropped into the oblivion to which the
most of such wretch
ed broils belong, but
for the terrible blun
der made a few
weeks later.
Sloughter called,
as he had been bid
den, the first regu
lar Assembly sum
moned by a royal
governor. The prov
ince was raore wild
than ever in its dread
of the papists, under
the horrible lessons
taught on the fron
tier. But the As
sembly was chosen
wholly in the inter-
est of the party
whom Leisler had
ousted ; and it had
captured, as a mod
ern phrase has it, In
goldsby and Slough

ter. All the men

Sloughter signing Leisler's Death Warrant,

whom Leisler had
deposed from authority were now ready to take their revenge. (Jn
the one hand petitions for Leisler's pardon were pressed on the
Governor. Counter-petitions for his execution came m, some ot
them even from women. Bayard, of kin to Leisler by marriage,
pressed Sloughter, who was his guest, to carry out the sentence.
"Tradition says that when no other raeans could prevad vvith him,
a sumptuous feast was prepared, to which Colonel Sloughter was

NEAV YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.

[Chap. I.

Sloughter
signs Leis
ler's deatL
^\ arrant

invited. AVhen his reason was drowned in his cups the entreaties
of the company prevailed on hira to sign the death-warrant,
and before he recovered his senses the prisoners were exe
cuted." ^ This was on the 16th of May, 1691, nearly two
years after Leisler had assuraed the government. On that day Leisler
and jAIilborne were hanged, and their bodies were then beheaded, in
the presence of a crowd of indignant people.
Sloughter liimself died suddenly on the 23d of July. Tliere were
suspicions that he had been poisoned, but a medical examination gave
no color to them. It is not difficult to account for the sudden death
of such men. Within three years, on the application of Leisler"s son
at London, the whole question as to his father's guilt was argued be
fore a Committee of the House of Lords, the attainder pronounced on
him was reversed by Parliament after full discussion, and such repa-
Lcisier-sat- ratiou as money could give was made to his family, for the
t.iiuder re- , , . , , . . , - . , . ' ,
versed iiy cliafgeswhich liis privatc cstate had met m his conduct of
tbe Ilonse of, ,.. . t-»ii i iii* r-
Lords. the administration. Bellomont, who succeeded iiim after
some years as Governor of New York, made no scruple in saying that
the evidence on the trial convinced him that Leisler was murdered
judicially. That he would have been more prudent had he surrend
ered his comuiand to Ingoldsby, the event has proved. That he
should have yielded to Sloughter, at the raoraent he knew who
Sloughter was, is certain. That he was unjustly charged with mur
der and treason was the decision of the English Parliament, and such
will probably be the verdict of history.-
1 Smith's Hist. X. Y.
" The student interested in Leisler's rule nnd in his f.ite must read not onlv the papers in
the Colonial Documenta, but the invaluable colleetiou iu the Neio York Historical Society's
Collections for the year 1868.

jl_y C^U/z-y^

CC'i-),^

C^O/'c^^^^

Ol/- /J^il!^ico??h Ji^^ "31 . J^g:

Signature of Jacob Leisler,

CHAPTER IL
ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER ^VILLIAM AND MARY.
Colonial Policy of AA'illiam and Mary. — Goveenor Fletcher of New
York. — His Visit to Connecticut. — Renewal of Hostilitils with the
French and In'dians. — Schuyler's Expedition. — Administration of the
Earl of Bellomont. — Prevalence of Privateering and Piracy. — Captain
Kidd's Adtentires. — Lord Cornbury, Governor of New Youk and New
Jersey. — East and AA'est Jersey united and Proprietary Government
ended. — Controversy between Cornbury and the New Jersey Assembly. —
Goveknors Lovelace, Ingoldsby, and Hunter. — Port Royal taken by the
English. — Proposed Invasion of Canada. — Nova Scotia ceded by the
French. — Administration of Governor Burnet.
Sloughter had been governor only four months at the time of his
death. Except for the melancholy tragedy which marked his adminis
tration, it is remem
bered only for a visit ^y^!x ^X /^ / ^
when he renewed ^i^^ * £/
the treaties of friend- Signatore of Fletcher.
ship with the Iro
quois, and succeeded in detaching the Mohawks from the French.
The Chief Justice, Dudley, would have been his temporary successor,
as the senior member of the Council, had he not been ab- Appoint-
sent in the West Indies. Captain Ingoldsby for a brief j,™cii°eras
period discharged the duties of that office, but was relieved b°^""«-
in August, 1692, by the arrival of Benjamin Fletcher from England
with a commission from the King.
The Whig party, and William and Mary whom that party led to
the throne of England, understood as well as any people in the world
of that day, how to use those phrases which denounced tyranny and
asserted the rights of Englishraen. But, as has been often remarked,
this oligarchy — for it was nothing more ^ was quite as willing
to use the results of the tyranny of the Stuarts, as if that tyranny
had been their own. When Mather and Phips were in England,
pleading for the restoration of the charter of Massachusetts, Somers

Colonial ad
ministration
under Wil
liam and
Mary.

26 ROY'AL governors under AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. IL
was as ready as any Tory lawyer would have been, to instruct them
that the crown could take no steps backward. In his gov
ernment of the new province of New York the new King
did as his predecessor would have done. The Governor
was instructed to send home all laws for approval ; he was
directed to introduce the Book of Common Prayer among Presbyte
rians, Huguenots, and Dutchmen, where perhaps James II. would
have been glad to introduce a mass-book ; he was to take a salary
of <£6t»0 a year frora the colony revenue, accepting no gift from the
Assembly unless the King permitted ; and he was to send to the
King a list of prominent persons
from whom the Governor's Council
would be named. The Stuarts
would hardly have found any
thing to change in this scheme for
colonial administration.
William and Mary's first ap
pointments, also, were such as re
flected little credit on their advis
ers. It must be remembered that
New York was raore distant in
time from England than any of her
colonies are to-day ; that the pop
ulation of the city was hardly four
thousand ; that besides the city
were '' only Long Island and sorae
other small islands, Zopus, Albany,
and the limitts thereof," — to borrow from one of the Council's dec
larations of its weakness. If one considers how little care is given
at this time by the most careful ministry to the selection of a co
lonial governor for ten thousand people on the other side of the
world, it is easy to understand why the new-created Whig monarchy
of William and Mary was as indifferent as it seemed to be in the
choice of its representative in New York.
No more striking proof, for example, could be given of the careless
ness with which colonial affairs were managed than the power be
stowed upon Fletcher, who was not a man of more than ordinary
ability, and of rather less than ordinary good character. His commis
sion gave him the command of the railitia of the New England colo
nies as well as his own. But Sir William Phips, when appointed
Governor of INIassachusetts, was also, by his coraraission, made com
mander-in-chief in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Yet both these
colonies were under governraents of their own in accordance with their

Portrait of King William

1693.]

governor FLETCHER OF NEW YORK.

27

charters, and neither of them was likely to submit quietly to any
assumption of authority within their borders by either Phips
or Fletcher. It was thought necessary, for the safetj' of all antiwrity
the colonies against the hostility of the Indians, that there proTinciai
should be somewhere exclusive command over the whole
body of provincial militia. The heedless appointment of two cora-
manders-in-chief would have necessarily defeated that purpose, even
had Connecticut and Rhode Island been disposed to submit to the
orders of any other governor than their own. Phips and Fletcher
quarrelled with each other, and both quarrelled with Treat of Con
necticut. That colony sent General
Fitz-John Winthrop to England to
complain to the King of the vio
lation of their rights under the
charter. So strong was the feeling
of her people, that twenty-two
hundred of her three thousand
freemen assembled to give pop
ular sanction to Winthrop's mis
sion. Rhode Island was no less
determined to withstand Phips's
attempt to displace her militia of
ficers, and also sent an agent —
]\Ir. Almy — to England with a
protest against this assumption of
power by the Massachusetts Gov
ernor. But Connecticut was quite capable of defending her own rights
without waiting for help frora the King. Fletcher appeared ^^^^^^^^
in Hartford in October, 1693, and ordered the militia under visits con-
' ' , necticut.
arms. He assured the Assembly that he had no intention
of exercising any undue authority over the colony, and in proof he
offered the command of the troops to Governor Treat, as his lieuten
ant. The Assembly were equally determined that he should exercise
no authority at all, whether he intended it or not ; and Treat declined
to be appointed second in coaimand where he was already coraraander-
in-chief. The grim humor of the sturdy Puritans of Connecticut agaui
showed itself as it had more than once before in recent years in
resisting usurpation, or what they believed to be so. The railitia
were allowed to muster at Hartford, apparently to give to Fletcher's
pretences a practical answer which could not be misunderstood. He
ordered his commission and instructions to be read to the troops.

Portrait of Queen Mary

28 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. II.
Captain Wadsworth was in comraand in front of the ranks, and, as
sorae there reraerabered, he was not afraid of governors. When the
reading began, he gave the order, " Beat the drums ! " Their rattle
corapletely drowned the voice of Captain Bayard, — Captain Nicholas
Bayard, of New York. Governor Fletcher coramanded silence. The
reading recommenced, when Wadsworth shouted, " Drum ! drum ! I
say." " Silence ! sUence ! " cried the Governor. " Drum ! drum !

S^ *:^

'i^^ c

/

"I

The Reading of Fletcher's Commission,
I say," repeated the captain. Then, turning to Fletcher, he added,
with a fine disregard of the present facts, but a keen perception of his
duty to Connecticut, " If I am interrupted again, I will make the
sun shine through you in a moment ! " No further attempt was
made to resume the reading, and such was the evident spirit of the
crowd, that the Governor and his suite thought it prudent to quit
Hartford with what dignity was still left them.
Fletcher and Phips both claimed JNIartlia's Vineyard, and with
equal heat promised each other to meet there in arms in the spring

1693.] HOSTILITIES AA^TH THE FRENCH AND INDIAN.S. 29
of 1693; but when the spring came, each was otherwise engaged.
Fletcher's principal occupation, according to Bellomont his successor,
was rifling the revenue, and in particular, deahiig with privateers and
pirates, to whom he sold licenses, quite indifferent how they were
used. Under his sway New York became, as Bellomont says, "a nest
of pirates."
The Governor, however, did not altogether neglect his public duties.
So long as Count Frontenac was governor of Canada, no Eng- Kei,^,,^^
lish colony on the border had leisure to rest for an instant ii^™an""''
without alarm. He was every inch a soldier, and even in his 'lostiiities.
old age, active and adventurous. The savage attacks made on the
New England frontier have been described in another chapter.^ The
Mohawk villages, and Albany itself, were to renew the terrors of the
capture of Schenectady.
On Wednesday, the 8th of February, 1693, three years after the
massacre of Schenectady, the settlers of that village were aroused by
the report that an expedition of French and Christian Indians had ar
rived on the upper iMohawk. The news was sent at once to Albany,
and the next day Schenectady was reinforced by a troop of horse,
soon followed by Major Peter Schuyler, who took command. On his
arrival he sent messengers to warn the nearest Mohawk fort ; but
these returned without being able to cross the river. On Friday a
party of observation brought the news that two of the three Mohawk
towns were already in the hands of the French. On Saturday an
advance party of fifty was sent out to feel the eneray and build a
fort of observation. They heard firing at the nearest Mohawk town.
When the news that the eneray were so near carae to Albany, the
commander there collected a hundred raen and sent thera on Sunday
to Schenectady. With these and the Schenectady detach- gchuyier's
ment, in all about three hundred raen, jMajor Schuyler expedition.
marched on Monday afternoon, but too late to help the two Mohawk
towns. These had been surprised by their Christian kinsmen on
succeeding nights, and the inhabitants killed or captured, raen,
women, and children. It is said that the French tried to keep their
Indians to a promise they had made of killing all their prisoners, but
that, more humane than faithful, they refused.^
After burning the towns the allies had turned to a jubilant, victo
rious return to Canada. Schuyler by a quick night march reached,
early on Tuesday morning, the block-house built on Saturday; the
enemy, it was said, were within eight miles, and a large party of
friendly Indians were coming frora the upper river. He sent out
scouts towards the enemy and also a demand to Albany for more sup-
1 See vol. ii., chap, xviii. '^ Purkmaii's Fnmtrnac.

30 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AYILLIAM AND MARY'. [Chap. II.
plies to feed the reinforcements. These scouts, apparently without
the knowledge of Schuyler, gave the enemy the surprising information
that peace had been declared, and that Schuyler wanted onh' to par
ley. At this the Indians refused to go further, despite the prayers
of the French, but built themselves a log fort where they prepared to
wait for the overtures of peace. The French, unwilling and afraid to
desert thera, were constrained to stay as well.
On AV^ednesday Schuyler was joined by his reinforcement of about
three hundred Indians, men and boys, and, in the afternoon, he cau
tiously marched ten miles on the track of the enemy, without raeet
ing thera. The next morning he marched ten miles further, when
one of the Oneidas raet him who had been sent by the French to gain
over the Mohawks to their side. He told Schuyler of the encamp
ment of the French. Sending back inforraation of this to Schenec
tady', Schuyler again pushed on two miles, when the news was con
firmed by an escaped prisoner. Advancing to a favorable position he
built a fortified camp where he passed the night. On Fri-
Schuyler ... ^ . ... .
overtakes day mormiig his scouts brought him information that the
the enemy. -^ ^ ., • -n, .
enemy were but a mile distant. Breaking carap he marched
forward till he came in sight of thera. At this he gave orders to
engage, risking his five hundred and fifty men against the rumored
seven hundred protected by a log fort. But here his Indians failed
him. They insisted on building a counter-fort, and he, like his French
opponent, was comj^elled to assent.
The French, not receiving the promised overtures of peace, sallied
out three times against him, to be repulsed each time. It then be
gan to snow and both parties retired to their fortifications, and passed
the night in great discomfort, the Albany troops suffering frora hun-
Ketreatof g^r as Well as froni cold. The next morning a deserter
the rreneh. bi-Q^igijt Ju ncws that the eneray were packing up for flight,
and scouts venturing up to the fort announced that they were gone.
Schuyler wished to raarch iraraediately in pursuit, but his men refused
to move till provisions should arrive. He therefore reraained in carap
all day, merely sending out a party of observation.
On Sunday, at ten, the convoy arrived, and when the raen had been
served with their biscuits they were sent after the enemy. They
marched quickly, and at four the news was sent from the front that
they had corae up with thera. Now again, however, the Indians re
fused to raove, their reason being that the French threatened to kill
all the prisoners if they were attacked. After an hour's pleading
they were persuaded, hut too late ; the enemy had crossed the Hud
son on a " flake " of ice and were beyond pursuit.
Schuyler would have followed still, but the raen Avere worn out and

1698.]

FLETCHER RECALLED.

31

hungry, and the Indians still mutinous. He therefore turned back
and reached Schenectady on Tuesday, a fortnight after the
first alarm. Here he found Governor Fletcher, who had s.^iiuwr
heard the news at New York on Sunday, the 12th and hul ""'"'"
immediately collected one hundred and fiftv men ami set 'sail up the
river. The voyage had taken three days, and he arrived too late
After this raid Frontenac's party
were not successful.
ions, left in d^pSt on
plain, were spoiled,
and the ice failed
them. They broke
into small parties,
and in dreadful
straits for food, re
turned to Canada
only after severe
hardships. Fletcher's laurels,
such as they were,
earned in this expe
dition, were all that
belong to his admin
istration. Its after
history, till 1698, is
merely the record
of his intrigues for
money, and his quar
rels with assemblies.
He was recalled that
year to answer many
charges of malad
ministration broup-ht O
against him.

Schuyler and the Scouts.

The Earl of Bellomont succeeded him. His appointment, with en
larged powers, had been talked of for two or three years. A iteEariof
party of some strength, comprising men of influence in Eng- Govmor of
land and the colonies, had urged a consolidated government iiZJ°hu-
of all the northern provinces, like that which had existed un- Ne"i:'n"mp-
der Andros. But it was found difficult, if not irapossible, "''''¦''•
to reconcile all their rival interests. Connecticut and Rhode Island,
governing themselves under their recovered charters, were peculiar!}'
hard to deal with. Jealous of their rights, which agents in London

32 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AATLLLVM AND MARY. [Chap. IL
carefully watched over, they never willingly submitted to any law
meant to be of general application ; rauch less were they patient and
obedient when conformity implied subordination. In matters of trade
they consulted their own interests, without much regard to the interests
of other colonies, or to royal regulations. They bought where they
could buy cheapest, and sold where they could sell dearest, without
asking leave of either Boston or New York, or consulting always the
orders of the Board of Trade. When military aid was needed for de
fence against the Indians on other frontiers than their own, both col
onies reserved the right of judging for theraselves of their ability to
raeet such requisitions. It was in deference, probably, to their char
tered rights and independent spirit, that Bellomont, who was ap
pointed Governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire,
was only made Captain-general over the military forces of the two
other New England provinces and of the Jerseys.
The new Governor found awaiting liim in New York every kind of
irregularity which had grown up under Fletcher's administration, —
frauds upon government, systematic violations of the Navigation
Laws, and the whole population of the city divided by a bitter feud
between the Leisler and anti-Leisler factions. He came with a deter-
Beiiomont's miuatiou to break up piracy, reestablish legitimate com-
poiicy. merce, and enforce an honest collection of the revenue. To
these objects he devoted hiraself with great energy and zeal during
the three years of his adrainistration.
Bellomont's sympathies were known, before he was appointed a
provincial governor, to be with the Leisler party. As a member of a
Parliaraentary Committee he had heard all the testimony in regard to
His sympa- tl^'^ executioii of Lcislcr, and had said eraphatically, that "he
Leisler"'"^'' ^^''^^ luurdered, aud barbarously iiiurdered." The new Gov-
party. emor used his infiuence at once over the New York Assem
bly to procure an act of indemnity for the family of that unfortunate
victim of party hate ; and within a few months of Bellomont's arrival
tlie bodies of both Leisler and ^lelborne — which had been interred
in private ground — were taken up and reburied, with public solem
nities, in the Dutch Church, and their hatchments hung upon its
walls. The adherents of the murdered Governor were those who had ear
nestly believed in the wisdom of that revolution which had called
Williara and INIary to the throne ; it was their aira to maintain relig
ious freedom, and to secure for the people the right, as far as possible,
of popular government. Bellomont's decided coarse in favor of the
popular party meant, perhaps, more to them than he intended. But
he could have done nothing more certain to secure the applause of

THE RE-BURIAL OF LEISLER,

1698.] ADMINISTRATION OF THE EARL OF BELLOMONT. 33
the larger portion of the people than this support of the Leisler party.
It justified the popular abhorrence of a tyrannical and cruel act, and
was hailed as the promise of a just and tranquil government.
The great object of Bellomont's administration, and to this he
devoted himself with almost passionate zeal, was the sup
pression of that forra of piracy which in the guise of priva- ^'^''^'
teering had almost supplanted honest commerce in nearly all the
colonial seaports. The success of the English privateers in the long
wars with France bred a race of men — the successors to the bucca
neers — who cruised in all latitudes, and becarae quite indifferent
whether the unfortunate ship which they captured was of one coun
try or another. The ease with which commissions were granted for
privateering increased the evil. The governor of a province like
New York, when it had not ten thousand inhabitants, had no doubts as
to his right to commission a rover who might never return to the
harbor of New York, and might be a terror in all seas.
It was under such a system of naval lawlessness that New York be
came a " nest of pirates." The name of William Kidd or Kyd Captain
has become prominent among these because political rancor ''"^'''
in England seized on his association with some of the great Whig
leaders. But Kidd was only one of a class, — a man whose guilt
was probably less than that of other raen of his calling ; but he is re
membered where others are forgotten, because he confided too much
in his great associates. Plis name first appears in the troubles of
New York, in the midst of the excitement when Leisler held the
fort against Ingoldsby. Then " this blaspheming privateer "as he is
called, apparently with approval, brought his vessel up to the town,
to assist Ingoldsby's party, and in their despatches he is commended
for it. For this tiraely service he afterwards received a grant of a
hundred and fifty pounds from the anti-Leisler Assembly.
In 1695, Col. Robert Livingston of New York appeared before
the Commissioners of Trade in London, to press against Governor
Fletcher a charge for overawing the elections in New York, j^^^^ ^g^.
Among the witnesses against Fletcher called by Livingston ^ains^the
was Captain Kidd, who was then in London. Livingston's p"''""'"-
confidence in him was such that he recommended him to Bello
mont as a proper person to be commissioned against pirates ; — the
English government being already eager to break up the system of
piracy, and Bellomont having been already suggested as Governor of
New York.
Bellomont acceded to the proposal and a joint-stock company, as
^ we should now call it, was formed for the outfit of the " Adventure
Galley " to be placed under Kidd's command. Somers, Halifax,

34 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap, IL
Shrewsbury, Romney, and Bellomont, were among the chief sub
scribers ; and the King himself was to receive one tenth part of the
profits of the adventure. The agreement provides that Kidd should
sail in search of pirates who had left America with intent to cruise
in the Red Sea and elsewhere. Bellomont and his friends were to
provide a proper ship for Kidd's use, paying four fifths of the cost,
while Kidd and Livingston paid one fifth. The crew was to be en
listed on condition of receiving for their service not more than one
fourth of the prizes taken from pirates. If nothing were taken, Kidd
and Livingston were to return the cost of the galley before March 21,
1697. Of the three fourths prize money after the crew were paid,
Bellomont for the subscribers was to receive four fifths and Kidd and
Livingston the remaining fifth. The King's tenth was to be paid by
the stockholders. Kidd was bound in an obligation of twenty thousand
pounds, and Livingston in a similar obligation of ten thousand, to
fulfil their part of the agreeraent. The royal commission authoriz
ing the adventure finally passed the great seal on the 26th day of
January, 1695-96.
Beside giving leave to cruise against the French, the commission
instructed Kidd to seize certain notorious pirates. Tew, Ireland, Wake,
and Maze. There can be no doubt that his expedition was supposed
to be fitted out against them.
Captain Kidd sailed for New York in April, 1696, with a crew of
He Bails for ^ig^ify men, taking on the voyage a French ship. In New
New York. York he advertised for volunteers, and enlarged his crew to
about one hundred and fifty raen of so bad repute that, after the issue
of his adventures, people remembered it was said that Kidd would
never be able to control so desperate a company.
He is next heard of at Madagascar, then a noted rendezvous for
pirates, where they made themselves secure and lived in barbaric lux
ury. Kidd had cruised about for nine months without falling in with
a single one of the sea-rovers whora he was commissioned to suppress.
It was disobedience of orders to leave American waters for this dis
tant latitude, but in Madagascar he hoped for such good fortune as
would condone his disregard of instructions.
But not a single pirate-vessel was there in the ports of Madagascar.
Then Kidd sailed for the western coast of Hindostan, almost in de
spair at his bad luck, aggravated now by scarcity of provisions. He
soon fell in with the wreck of a French vessel with some coin on
board, and with this he made purchases that relieved his immediate
necessities. But still not a pirate was overtaken. Many richly laden
Eastern ships were met with which the eager crew urged Kidd to
take. He resisted until they fell in with a Mogul fleet under Dutch

1699.] CAPTAIN KIDD'S ADVENTURES. 35
and English convoy ; one of the largest of the merchantmen he at
tacked, was roughly handled and repulsed. His position He tums
now was worse than ever ; he had virtually fired upon the p'™'"-
English and Dutch flags, and that offence must be atoned for by suc
cess at any hazard. He was now a pirate by force of circumstances,
and his own inability to resist their pressure.
In August, 1698, when he was first heard from in New York, news
came that he had taken an East Indiaman, called the Quedagh Mer
chant, and transferred his stores from the Adventure to that ship, burn
ing his old vessel. Other piracies he also committed ; many of his crew
nevertheless deserted him for service raore to their minds, Kidd still
professing to act under the King's commission, and to reserve a large
share of his plunder for the noble subscribers, through whose Orders is-
influence he hoped that his offences would be overlooked, sued for his
But the East India Company had already given notices of his
several piracies, particularly of the Quedagh Merchant, and orders had
been issued for his arrest.
In May, 1699, he was heard from at Nevis. Soon after he was
in Delaware Bay with forty men in a sloop ; thence he "sailed into
the Sound of New York and set Goods on Shore at several Places
there, and afterward went to Rhode Island." From Block Island,
where his sloop lay, he sent a message to the Earl of Bellomont, who
was at Boston. He told him that he had left the Quedagh Merchant
in a creek in Hispaniola, with goods of great value. On board his
own sloop he had, he said, goods worth £10,000. As to the crimes
alleged against him — of these, he said, he could prove his innocence.
Bellomont showed this letter to the ^lassachusetts Council. With
their approval, he wrote to Kidd " assuring him that if he would
make his innocence appear, he might safely come to Boston."
The audacity of Kidd's appearance in Boston is wholly accounted
for by the existence of this safe conduct frora Belloraont.
^ , Kidd goes to
Robert Livingston came to Boston also. He deraanded from Boston and
n .i n -\ - ¦\ ^^ arrested.
Bellomont the surrender of his bond for £10,000, and said
that unless this were given up Kidd would never bring in the Quedagh
Merchant and the wealth she contained. Bellomont says he construed
this as a threat, and on the 6th of June, six days after Kidd's arri
val, he arrested him at the Council Board. Kidd drew his sword, but
was secured and sent to the Boston jail. While in jail he offered to
Bellomont to go, as a prisoner, to the West Indies, and bring back
£40,000 of treasure which would else be lost. But Bellomont refused
the offer.
The Admiralty received the news of Kidd's arrest in September,
and on the 12th sent a vessel for him and his crew. She was driven

36 ROYAL GOA'ERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. II.

back by stress of weather, and Kidd did not finally arrive in England
Kidd taken '^ piisouer Until April, 1700. The delay was thought to be
tji^J^and'^' intentional by the critics of the Whigs. He was kept in
hanged. prison a year. On the 15th of April, 1701, when the great
Tory prosecution against Somers, the Whig Chancellor, was begun
in the House of Coramons, one of the charges against him was his

/

connection with Kidd. Those
ch.uges never carae to trial.
But undei the same govern
raent and with a pertinacity
which belonged to the same

scherae, Kidd was tried for
Arrest of Kidd. iiiurder, and another bill was
found for piracy against him and several of his crew.
The report of his trial is one of the melancholy instances of
the unjust administration in those days of English criminal law.
The evidence brought against him justifies no sentence but one of
manslaughter, resulting from the death of Moore, his gunner, from a
blow given in a brawl, in which there could have been no previous
intention to kill, so far as appeared from the testiraony. But Kidd
was found guilty of murder. The trial for piracy followed. Kidd
claimed that the Quedagh 3Ierchant was sailing under a French com
mission when he took her, and that her capture was, therefore, justi
fied. But this commission, if it existed, was among Bellomont's

1701.] CAPTAIN KIDD'S SENTENCE. 37
papers, and Kidd could not produce it. The government was deter
mined to have him hanged, and he was hanged.
One of the most popular of seamen's ballads i has preserved his
name, while those of Tew and Bradish and Bellamy are well-nigh
forgotten. If a man is innocent unless he is proved at law to be
guilty, Kidd raust be regarded, in the light of the present
legal ruling, as innocent when he was hanged. But his stay Kwd's'sen-
in the East was extended long after the period when he
promised to return. The capture of the Quedagh Merchant in no
sense fulfilled the object for which he was sent, and the stealth and
concealment of her treasure cannot have been the acts of innocent
men. On the other hand Bellomont's correspondence, now fully made
public, is consistent all through. He unquestionably believed that
the original purpose had been abandoned, and he did not dare, there
fore, to sully his hands with the treasure which Kidd gained by that
course. Had such a French commission existed as Kidd pretended, the seiz
ure of the Quedagh was lawful, and four fifths of £40,000 of , treasure
belonged to Bellomont and his associates. It is hard to believe that,
without a motive, the Governor sacrificed an innocent man, and gave
up wealth which was large to him, merely in obedience to the pres
sure of political enemies. The true verdict is, probably, that Kidd
deserved to be hanged, though never found guilty by a fair trial.
It is to be observed that at the time no one pretended that Kidd was
innocent. The utmost that the critics of the trial maintained was
that Bellomont and his friends were also guilty.
Lord Bellomont died in March, 1701, having jjassed about one half
his term of office in New England. To his administration of Death of Lord
the affairs of that portion of his government we shall recur seiiomont.
in subsequent pages. At the time of his death Nanfan, the Lieuten
ant-governor, was absent from New York ; and the party known as
the "White People" — the "Black People" and the " White i_.„„testbe-
People " had become the designations of the Leisler and Lewer'and
anti-Leisler factions — seized the opportunity for an attempt partis -n"
to regain possession of power. The timely return of Nan- ^'"''' ''''"*•
fan, however, defeated this purpose, and the leaders were signally pun
ished. Edward Livingston, who was one of them, was the collector
of customs and receiver of quitrents. The Assembly demanded his
accounts. Whether disposed or not to obey this order it was out of
1 Strangely enough, in the ballad, even in the early editions, his name is made " Robert
Kidd." AVilliam Moore the gunner is rightly named, as the song is sung in the forecastle
to this day : — " I murdered AA'illiam Jloore,
As I sailed, as I sailed."

38 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND .AIARY. [Chap. II.

his power to do so, for his papers were in the hands of Lord Bello
mont's widow, who had gone to England. The Assembly thereupon,
whether justly or not, declared hira a defaulter, and confiscated his
property. Against Bayard, who had had so much to do with Leisler's death,
the feeling was even more bitter than against Livingston. An act,
passed while Sloughter was
Governor, making it treason
" to disturb the peace, good,
or quiet of the province by
force of arms or otherwise,"
was largely Bayard's work.
To this law he now made him
self liable by sending to Eng
land coraplaints of Nanfan's
conduct of affairs. He was
brought to trial and found
guilty. And he would cer
tainly have been punished
under the act of his own con
triving, had not a new Gov
ernor, Lord Cornbury, arrived,
whose character and associa
tions led him into immediate
affiliation with what in our
Portrait of Queen Anne. ^\^-^q wOuld bo Called the COU-
servative party. Bayard and his friends were again in the ascen-
denc}^ and Atwood, who had presided at Bayard's trial, rather with
the zeal and asperity of a prosecuting attorney than the cool impar
tiahty of a judge, thought it prudent to leave the province for his
own safety.!
The new Governor, Lord Cornbury, was the cousin of Queen Anne —
who came to the throne at the death of William in 1702 — and the
grandson of Hyde, Lord Clarendon. He was simply a dis-
bury tioY- reputable profligate, and so overwhelmed with debt that he
could only escape a jail by quitting the kingdora. As he was
to be provided for, his worthless character was not considered a dis
qualification for a colonial governorship. The suramer of his arrival
was marked by a dreadful mortality from yellow fever, introduced
1 A tradition is preserved that Bayard was respited frora time to time by the pavment of
money to Lieutenant-governor Nanfan. But his children, fired at last of these costly ap
peals to their fili.al piity. expostulated with their father for not consenting to be hanged, as
the cost of saving him would come to be, they feared, their pecuniary ruin. — Du Simitiere,
N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., I8li8.

1702.] LORD CORNBURY. 39
from the West Indies, and in ten weeks' time more than five hundred
of the population were swept away. Among them were some of the
most distinguished citizens, but the Governor escaped by retiring to
Jamaica on Long Island.
Cornbury was by no means singular among colonial governors, in
that he regarded his office as given him solely that he might
enrich himself. He entered upon its duties, with that pur
pose, with enthusiasm and success. The Assembly was persuaded to
appropriate £1,500 under a pretence of fortifying the Narrows at the
entrance of New York harbor, in anticipation of a French invasion.
The Narrows remained unfortified and the Governor was the richer
by £1,500. The lesson was not lost on the Assembly, and they ap
pointed a Treasurer of their own, who was to see that future appro
priations were spent in accordance with their intentions. The Gov
ernor resented this reflection upon his conduct and interference with
his will, and an appeal was made to the Crown. It was a substantial
gain to the cause of popular rights that the royal authority sustained
the action of the Assembly. The incident is one of many to point
the truth of the reflection, that it was ultimately to the advantage of
America, that the government in England sent profligate and worth
less men to be colonial governors.^
Though destitute of any sense of public or of private virtue, Corn
bury was not the less zealous on behalf of the Church. It was a zeal,
however, not for religion but for the established Church of England
as a part of the State. A dissenter was to him intolerable as a politi
cal freethinker who was disloyal to the State, and with whom there
was no need of keeping terms of either justice or raercj'. When driven
from New York to Jamaica by the prevalence of yellow fever, he ob
tained by the courtesy of J\Ir. Hubbard, the Presbyterian p„seeution
minister, possession of the parsonage, the best house in the °'^"'^™'''"
town. When no longer needed for his own residence he delivered it
to the few Episcopalians of the village, and the glebe attached was
leased for the support of their church. He subsequently forbade that
any clergyman or school teacher should preach or teach except by
special license. By his persecution of two Presbyterian preach
ers, McKenzie and Hampton, he elevated them into martyrs, and
aroused a resentraent which appealed to the love of religious free
dom throughout the colonies.
No royal governor ever made himself more obnoxious to the whole
country. The ambitious and unscrupulous Dudley, who was at this
tirae chief magistrate of Massachusetts, was using all the power
which his office gave him, and all the influence he possessed in Eng-
1 Bancroft's History ofthe United States.

40 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. IL
land, to destroy the charter governments. He found a willing ally in
Dudley and Combury. Both professed to wish for a union of all the
un™e''a"g7inst northern colonies under a single governor. Cornbury wrote
MicrKhode"' home " that he was satisfied this vast continent which raight
Island. |jg i^^ade very useful to England, if right measures were
taken, would never be so till all the proprietary and charter govern
ments were brought under the crown." The imraediate purpose, how
ever, of the two Governors was that Rhode Island should be annexed
to lAIassachusetts and Connecticut to New York ; and it was only by
the utmost diligence of Sir Henry Ashurst, the agent in London of
Connecticut, and of William Penn, who then represented Rhode Isl
and, that the design was defeated.
The proprietors of East and West Jersey had united, in 1702, in a
voluntary surrender to the Queen of their right of civil gov-
i>roprietary eminent. Combury was appointed by a separate commis-
in the Jer- sioii Goveiiior of that province as well as of New York, for
the Jersey Proprietors did not intend, in consenting to re
ceive a governor from the crown, to surrender their provincial inde
pendence. Each province retained its own Assembly and was governed
by its own laws. But Cornbury resided in New York, making only
occasional visits to Perth Amboy or Burlington. Even a governor
conscientious in the discharge of his official duty, could hardly have
failed, in thus neglecting the inferior province, to sacrifice its inter
ests. Cornbuiy, who was not conscientious, and who looked upon
official duty as only a means for the furtherance of personal ends,
considered New Jersey merely as an outlying possession to be farmed
for his benefit. Ingoldsby was his lieutenant-governor, and he and
other favorites ruled New Jersey in their own and their master's in
terest, without the smallest regard to the rights and welfare of the
people. In New Jersejr, as in the other colonies, the popular party, if not
the stronger, was the abler party. It was led by wise and bold men,
chief among them Samuel Jenings, a Quaker preacher, — who had
been Governor of AVest Jersey, — and Lewis Morris, — afterwards
Governor, — a nephew of Richard Morris, of the Manor of Morrisania,
near New York. Of Jenings, Cornbury said, he " had impudence
enough to face the Devil." i He never hesitated to face Cornbury,
whether in or out of the Assembly, of which he was for some time
Speaker, with calm and fearless dignity.
If Cornbury was able to enforce submission to harsh and arbitrary
rule, the steady resistance of such men as these did not permit the
rights of the people to be lost sight of. It was easy to dissolve an
1 Smith's History if New Jersey.

1707.]

THE GRIEVANCES OF NEAV JERSEY.

41

obstinate Assembly, and not impossible to create another more com
pliant to the Governor's will, by interfering with the free- comtur
dom of elections, and excluding, on one pretext or another, T*^ '?''
'-' A ) New Jersey
members who could not be relied upon to do his bidding. Assembly.
But the large minority, who were really the popular representatives,
could be neither corrupted
nor silenced. The long and
sharp controversies be
tween Cornbury and the
Assemblies are- a significant
evidence of the spirit of the
people, and the insolent con
tempt with which their just
and dignified remonstrances
were met by a royal gov-
ernor.i In an address of the As
sembly of 1707 it is said :
" It were to be wished the
affairs of New York would
admit the Governor oftener
to attend those of New Jer
sey, he had not then been
unacquainted with our
grievances; and we are in
clined to believe they would not have grown to so great a number."
These grievances are recounted, — among them the want of
a due administration of justice, and the pardon or permitted aiie°efo7
escape of convicted murderers ; the exorbitant fees of courts, ' ""^ '"'^''^'
and the exaction of illegal fees generally ; the want of an office of the
Secretary of the Province, and of a Court of Probate, in the Eastern
Division, whereby one half the people were corapelled to take long
journeys on business of constant occurrence ; the keeping of the pro
vincial records, which contained all the evidence of titles to estates,
by a person who was not even a resident of the colony, and had given
no security for the faithful discharge of his trust; the assumption by
the Governor of the right of granting land-warrants, which belonged
to the Proprietors ; the evasion of quit-rents, and the alleged payment
of large sums, of money to the Governor for a dissolution of the Assem-
^ See papers relating to these controversies in full in Smith's History.
¦" Lord Cornbury was in the habit of appearing on public occasions, and even, it is said,
in the streets of New York, dressed as a woman. He declared that it wns proper he should
be so clothed the more fittingly to represent his sovereign mistre^s. The picture in the text
is from an original portrait in the Kensington Museum, London.

Portrait of Cornbury.-

42 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AYILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. H.
bly to that end ; the granting of an exclusive privilege — history has
repeated herself in our time in this form of New Jersey grievance —
to cart goods across the jsi'ovince between Burlington and Amboy,
then the only practicable route between New York and Philadelphia ;
and, add the remonstrants, " we cannot but be very uneasy when we
find by these new methods of government, our liberties and proper
ties so rauch shaken, that no man can say he is master of either, but
holds them as tenant by courtesy and at will, and raay be stript of
them at pleasure," and therefore it is that they seek some relief from
their manifold burdens. " For," they reflect, " Liberty is too valuable
a thing to be easily parted with."
Such raen might have been conciliated ; they could not be fright
ened. " I don't know of nuy grievances," replied Cornbury, " this
province labours under, except it be the having a certain number of
people in it who will never be faithful to, nor live quietly under any
government, nor suffer their neighbours to enjoy any peace, quiet, or
happiness, if they can help it." This was ill-judged insolence. They
were " apt to believe, upon the credit of your Excellency's assertion,"
replied the Asserably, that there are a nuraber of people of this kind
in the Province ; but, they add, " such people are pests in all govern
ments, have ever been so in this, and we know of none who can lay
a fairer claim to these characters than many of your excellency's
favorites." In the Assembly were many who were members of the Society of
Friends besides Jenings, the speaker. In reply to the respectful re
quest that the Secretary of the Province should have more than one
office, and that there should be more than one place where wills could
be admitted to probate, the Governor said : " Of all the people in the
world, the Quakers ought to be the last to complain of the hardships
of travelling a few miles upon such an occasion, who never repine
at the trouble and charges of travelling several hundred mdes to a
yearly meeting, where, it is evidently known, that nothing was ever
done for the good of the country, but on the contrary continual con
trivances are carried on for the undermining of the government both
in church and state." " It is the General Assembly of the Province,"
rejoined that body, " that complains, and not the Quakers, with whose
persons (considered as Quakers) or meetings we have nothing to do,
nor are we concerned in what your excellency says against them."
Perhaps Friends might think themselves called upon to vindicate
their raeetings from the irrelevant aspersions which his excellency so
liberally bestowed upon them. But those of them who were raemlaers
of the House, now " begged leave in behalf of theraselves and their
friends, to tell the Governor they must answer him in the words of

1708.] LOVELACE AND INGOLDSBY. 43
Nehemiah to Sanballat, contained in the 8th verse of the 6th chapter
of Nehemiah, namely, ' There is no such thing done as thou sayest,
but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.' "
But rebukes were unheeded, as grievances were unredressed. The
Assembly determined, as they told the Governor, to appeal combury
to the Queen for protection. Like complaints went up to i'mpr,^™,,'?,"'^
the throne from all th'e colonies, and Cornbury was recalled '^^NeiyYoik.
in 1708. He did not, however, imraediately leave New York, for so
soon as it was known that he was no longer Governor he was arrested
for debt. He remained in jail till, by the death of his father, he suc
ceeded to the Earldom of Clarendon, when he was released by the
privilege of rank.
Lord Lovelace, who succeeded Cornbury as Governor of the same
provinces, came attended by that good fortune which belongs i,oyeiace
to all new dynasties when following bad ones. People were Governor.
sure that nothing could be so bad as that which they had just seen.
He arrived on the 18th of Deceraber,
1708, and was received wilh enthu
siasm. The Assembly, in its address
to him, said : " Our wishes are that
measures may be taken to encourage
the few inhabitants left to stay in the Autograph of Lovelace.
provinces, and others to come." Unwilling to quarrel with a new
Governor they voted to him £1,600 for that year, reserving
. ., - . e . 1 His death.
the privilege of renewing or refusing the grant. Before
Lord Lovelace could protest against the restriction he died, on the
very day when the bill passed the house. ^
In the interregnum, before the arrival of his successor. Governor
Hunter, the administration was in the hands of that Col-
1 -n, • 1 1-1 Ingoldsby
onel Richard Ingoldsby, who had held the government while Governornrf
" . interim.
Fletcher was waited for, and was raore lately the lieutenant
and the tool of Cornbury in the Jerseys. The long war between
Queen Anne and King Louis was still in progress, and the colony
was greatly excited by a new project for the invasion of Canada.
In this juncture the first bills of credit, wdiich New York ever issued,
were put out, the treasury being wholly emjity. But the failure of
the Enghsh fleet, which was to attack Canada by the St. Lawrence,
broke up the whole expedition, to the great mortification of all who
engaged in it.
The conquest of the French province, however, was too important
to the colonies to be abandoned. The Eastern Indians were easily
incited at any moment, to fall upon the exposed frontiers of New
1 May 5, 1709.

44 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. H.

England. At the least rumor of war the little villages and scattered
Indian chiefs fariiis, from the Connecticut to the Penobscot, trembled at
in Kngiaud. gygjy iniusual souud from the forest lest the war-whoop of
the savage should break its silence. The friendship or the subjection
of the Five Nations could never be relied upon so long as the French
were behind them on the banks of the St. Lawrence. They were the
allies of the Enghsh now, and the
advantage was too great not to be
made use of at once. Colonel
Schuyler sailed for England, taking
with hira five distinguished chiefs
of the Confederacy. With these
living witnesses to the promised
faithfulness of their nation he
hoped to give irresistible weight to
his arguments upon the necessity
of the conquest of the French.
It was a hundred years since
Wej'mouth's two New England
savages had stalked about the
streets of London ; almost a hun
dred since Pocahontas and her com-
v <t. jg?::x*" ' c«>' jyj— <h. ^' panions were brought over from
-l^t^T^ Virginia. These Iroquois chiefs
hQT^^^ ^ -^ from New York^ were regarded
M?zee.y^<.ii:ta^??a:Xat:k^yjA.^.€Mm/ifaraA with no less curiosity by the crowds
that followed them than Wey
mouth's stolen savages ; were received with no less cereraony and
distinction at Court than had awaited the Virginian princess. They
raade a speech, — or a speech was put into their raouths, — wherein
they avowed their devotion to the Queen of England, their hostihty
to their French.

1 No. 50 of The S/irrtator — Friday, April 27, 1711 — is an essay suggested by the visit
of those Indian chiefs to London, and the e.-^say, in its turn, may po.ssibly have suggested
to Macaulay his famous Xew Zcalandcr, who, in the distant future, from a broken arch of
London Bridge, is to sketch the ruins of St. Paul. " AVhen the four Indian Kings," wrote
Addison, " were in this country about a twelvemonth ago, I often mixed with the rabble
and followed them a whole day together, being wonderfully struck with the sight of every
thing that is new or uncommon." Pretending then to have found at their lodgings, after
their departure, a bundle of papers, he gives some extracts from the "abundance of very
odd observations which I find this little fraternity of kings made during their stay in the
isle of Great Britain." Colden in his letters on Smith's History of Xew York (see N. Y.
Hist. .Soc. Coll.., 1868), declares these Indians were not chiefs, thongh passed off as such by
Schuyler and Nicholson, and so accepted in England. (Sec also ^^tu|. Am, Hist., vol. ii.)
The portraits are taken from copies in the Rooms of the Antiquarian Society, in
AA'orcester, JIa.ss , of large engravings, published in 1710.

1710.] ROBERT HUNTER GOA^ERNOR OF NEAV YORK.

45

Schuyler gained his end, and the results were raore important, per
haps, than he had hoped for. It was not difficult to convince the
ministry how great an influence further operations in America might
have upon the conduct of the war in Europe. Ships and men were
provided for another expedition, and, though the brilliant achieve
ment which crowned it — the capture of Port Royal, related in an
other chapter — was mainly the
act of New England men, Nichol
son and Schuyler had good reason
to be proud of their share in it.
Sis months before the taking of
Port Royal Ingoldsby had been su
perseded by Robert Hunter as Gov
ernor of New York. He and the
Assembly agreed on one point,
though disagreeing on almost all
others, — that no effort was to be
spared to carry on the war against
the French in America. Perhaps
they were emulous of the success
of New England in the conquest of
Nova Scotia ; at any rate, a fresh
expedition against Canada, ordered
by the home government, received
their hearty cooperation. New
York supplied six hundred men, in
addition to six hundred Iroquois, —
brought into the field by the influence of Colonel Schuyler, — as her
proportion of the colonial contingent; and another issue of Robert itun-
£10,000 in paper money was resorted to for their support, emorof
The other colonies were not less energetic. Connecticut ^""^ ^°'*'
and New Jersey added sixteen hundred raen to the array of four thou
sand which Nicholson mustered at Albany for an expedition
^ "^ ^ . Preparations
against Montreal. Massachusetts had nine hundred men in to invade
T line. Canada.
readiness to embark on board the English fleet of sixteen
men of war and forty transports which arrived in Boston in the sura
mer of 1711 for an attack upon Quebec. Of this fleet Sir Hovenden
Walker was the admiral, and the land force on board, when it sailed
for the St. Lawrence in July, was under the command of General
Hill, a brother of Mrs. Masham, the favorite of the Queen. Seven
English regiments and the Massachusetts reinforcement numbered al
together nearly seven thousand men.
The incompetence of Admiral Walker and the ignorance of the pi-

^ ^Cee.- t/\/e.£.^}(o GaUicn, ^7men!VT>Mi&5ux.^^kumu,

46 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. H.

lots brought inevitable disaster. The fleet had sailed only ten leagues
up the St. Lawrence when, by sorae fatal raismanageraent.

Dispersion
of W "¦
fleet.

of Walker's tcu Or elcvcu of the ships drifted upon the rocks, where they

Retreat of
Nicholson.

-=qi=  ^. J- «>

,:£^

:i

went to pieces, and a thousand men perished.^
Nicholson, meanwhile, had marched from Albany with his army of
four thousand men to attack iNIontreal. Taking the route
of the expedition of the year before, and that under Win
throp in 1691, by way of Wood's Creek and Lake Charaplain, he had
only gone so far as the Lake, when
he received the news of the disas
ter to the fleet. De Vaudreuil,
the Governor of Canada, relieved
from all fears of an attack upon
Quebec, was now free to meet the
invasion by land. Nicholson had
no alternative but to fall back to
Albany. Then the failure of this
new attempt at the conquest of
Canada — the most formidable
that had yet been undertaken —
was complete.
Complete, that is in its direct
aim ; indirectly, the gain was
great to England. De Vaudreuil
feared that France would soon
cease to hold a rood of soil on the
American continent if an army of
ten thousand Englishmen should,
at the same moraent, summon Mon-
Every Frenchman at his command
Castin, the Governor De

JIaOiL \jutXh 2/.i.a.fiijixJvJmb JCxyna<}fJ/tjLjjLa^M(U^

treal and Quebec to surrender
he kept in Canada for a desperate resistance
of Nova Scotia, begged in vain for aid to recapture Port Royal
Yaudreuil understood its importance ; the French rainister regretted
its loss and was anxious for its recovery. But the delay, which the
invasion of Canada at first made imperative, was soon past reinedy.
France was exhausted by the war ; the Whig party — the party of
peace — had attained to power in England ; a few months
Nova sootia later ^larlborough was deposed and disgraced, and the war
to Entrla.ii(i o ± o '
was at an end. By the treaty of Utrecht Nova Scotia was
ceded to England ; — the first substantial success in that long strug-
1 Charlevoix (History if Neir France) says that the bodies of three thousand men were
found upon the beach, but this is unquestionably an error. Dunlap (History of New York)
repeats it.

1711.]

NOVA SCOTIA CEDED TO ENGLAND.

47

gle for supremacy on the American continent, and which was only to
cease with the complete expulsion of the French which this acquisi
tion of so large a territory foreshadowed. ^
When Hunter retired in 1719 the improved condition of the people
justified the congratulatory address he made to the Assembly. His
relations were more amicable with
that body when the necessities of
war no longer strained the resources
of the colony. But, notwithstand
ing his avowal of the hope that
"as the very name of faction or
party seems to be forgotten, may it
ever be in oblivion," he left to his
successor, Burnet, — the son of
Bishop Burnet, — causes enough
for dissension.
As the friend and correspondent
of Hunter, Burnet had the benefit
of his experience, and had become,
when he assuraed the government
in 1720, familiar with the affairs
of the colony. That he failed to
make himself acceptable to the
people was not from any want of
devotion to its interests. He
adopted the doctrine of the states
men of the time that the presence

C.j>ori 0?i(Koam.JCi^L^ of.ty\j.JuMBr.ACaXo7n

of the French on the northern
border was a perpetual and a dangerous menace to all the
English colonies. Where war had failed, other measures, Burnet and
he hoped, might be more successful. The French, he rea
soned, drew their chief support from trade with the Indians ; and as
their commerce with Europe was small, from the long and difficult
voyage up the St. Lawrence, they were largely dependent upon the
English at Albany for supplies for traffic with the native tribes. To
starve out a troublesome neighbor, and to secure, at the sarae tirae,
complete control of the Indians, Burnet conceived to be the. wisest

^ One of the pohtical scandals of the time was that the attempted invasion of Canada
under Hill and Nicholson, which cost the lives of a thousand men and plunged the colonies
into debt, was a job of St. John's, — Lord Bolingbroke, — the Secretary of State. In the
bitter controversies of parties no story was deemed too monstrous for belief. Recent re
searches prove that St. John was grossly wronged by this charge, and that he was exceed
ingly anxious for the conquest of Canada, believing it wonld greatly strengthen his admin
istration and perpetuate his power. See Palfrey's History of New England, vol. iv., p. 281,
note. *

Signature of Hunter.

48 ROYAL GOVERNORS UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. II.
policy. He proposed to prohibit, therefore, all commercial intercourse
between his own province and the French of Canada. In this he had
the support of the Assembly Avhich he found and, for a time, con
tinued in office.
But selfish interests were
stronger than law. The trade
with Canada continued not
withstanding a prohibitory act.
A strong party was soon ar
rayed against the policy of the
Governor on this subject, led
by men who would no doubt
be ready enough to fight the
French if occasion offered, but who were not to be deterred by law
frora a profitable trade with the worst eneraies. The party in opposi
tion was strengthened by a growing hostility to the Court of Chan
cery, established by Hunter without the consent of the Assembly, and
declared to be injurious to the rights of the people. Personal unpop
ularity, with which politics had nothing to do, increased the number
of the Governor's opponents. His impulsive temper led him into dif
ficulties which a more prudent ruler would have avoided ; he thus lost
friends and gained eneraies by becoming involved in a bitter con
troversy among the raerabers of the French Church in New York,
which led to its division.
His administration, however, was notable in that it did much to
strengthen the English alliance with the Indians and to weaken that
of the French. A fort was built and a trading-post established at
Oswego ; advantage was taken of the exasperation of the Indians at
the encroachments of the French at Niagara. The Five Nations
were induced to convey their country to the English King ; the trade
with other native tribes was enlarged and extended, and deputations
of the Miamies frora the Upper Mississippi, and of the Michilimacki-
nacks from the Great Lakes, were attracted to Albany.
The Five Nations at this time had become the Six Nations by the
addition of the Tuscaroras from the south.^ They understood, quite as
t In 1689 the population of the Five Nations was estimated at 2,550 men; ten years
afterward — in 1699 — it had fallen to 1,230. At the period of the Revolution it was com
puted that all the men, women, and children of the Six Nations numbered 9,050. These
had decreased in 1845, according to Mr. Schoolcraft's estimate, to 6,942, of whom only
about one half remained in New York. The politics of this powerful confederacy became
of less and less importance as New York grew to be something more than a trading depot
for heaver skins and elk skins. Remnants of this as well as of many other of the earlier
Indian tribes still linger in the Atlantic States. On the western slope of the continent
they still, in undiminished numbers, though under new names, remain as a factor in na-

f
¦w

O 2
W O
O sp

1727.] GOVERNOR BURNET. 49
well as either the French or the English, how important they were to
both, and that their true policy was to play oft' their powerful
neighbors against each other. To this policy they adhered of the six
with what may be called a savage cunning, but which was in
fact wise statesmanship, till half a centuiy later, when France was no
longer a power in America, and all that was left to England was the
comparatively little she had acquired from France.
The opposition aroused by Burnet's measures was strong enough to
effect his removal. The royal assent was withheld to the act prohibit
ing trade with Canada. A new Assembly was chosen, a major
ity of which was hostile to the Governor, and he was trans- Governor
ferred in 1727 to Massachusetts Bay.^ He died in Boston "™'' '
two years afterward from fever brought on by falling into the water
when thrown from his carriage on a causeway in Cambridge.
Governor Burnet said of hiraself, that his genius did not bud till
late; — that his father. Bishop Burnet, desjjaired till he was twenty
years of age, whether he would make any figure in life. To the
reader, in an age which has wholly forgotten him, the bishop's doubt,
through his son's boyhood, seems well founded. But, as compared
with other royal governors, it can be well understood how many of
the people of New York and of Massachusetts looked back on him
with a certain respect. To write poor coram entaries on the book of
Revelation, as he did, is an occupation more worthy of the lieutenant
of the King, than, like Fletcher, to sell licenses to pirates, or, like
Cornbury, to steal appropriations made for fortifications. These com
mentaries, however, were not thought unworthy of condemnation —
that highest evidence sometimes of worth. If we may believe Sraith,
the New Jersey historian, an act was proposed in the Asserably of that
province with special reference to the Governor's book. Its title was
"An Act against denying the divinity of our Saviour, Jesus Bumet's ad-
Christ, the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, the truth of the f;,'%^!'*'j°;^.
Holy Scriptures, and spreading Atheistical Books." But no ^''^¦•
other mark appears of any want of harmony between hira and the
people of that portion of his government. Under him, as under most
of the Governors of the viceroyalty of New York and New Jersey, the
smaller province was neglected for the larger, and thrived with neglect.
tional politics, still fighting, with their backs to the Pacific, inch by inch for possession of
their hunting-grounds.
^ He was received at the Rhode Island boundary line liy a delegation and escorted to
Boston with unusual marks of welcome. It is said that he was annoyed liy the long graces
before meat, and asked when these lengthy ceremonies would come. to an end. Colonel
Tayler of Boston, one of his escort, replied : " Please yonr honour, the graces i\ ill increase
in length until you come to Boston ; after that they will shorten till you come to your gov
ernment of New Hampshire ; there you will find no grace at all."
VOL. III. 4

•50 ROYAL GOVERNOR.S UNDER AVILLIAM AND MARY. [Chap. IL
John Montgoraerie, Burnet's successor, probably owed his appoint-
Governor ment to the personal favor of George the Second, to whom
jiontgomerie. j^g j^^^j bccu groom of the chamber. He is said to have re
fused to act as chancellor, as his commission bade him, until specially
ordered to do so. He arrived on the 15th of April, 1728. His ad
ministration was short and uneventful, and he died on the first of
July, 17ol. After an interregnum of thirteen months in which Mr.
Rip Van Dam, as senior meraber of the Council, acted as governor.
Colonel Cosby, who arrived August 1, ll'i'I, succeeded to the office.

Colonial Table

The O d Cap o a Ar^napo s

CHAPTER IH.

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
Virginia at the Close op Berkeley's Administration. — Philip Lddwell and
Governor Jeffreys. — Adminlstration of Lord Culpepper. — AVretched Con
dition OF the Colony. — Over-production of Tobacco. — The " Plant-cut
ters." — Inflation of the Currency by the Governor. — Lord Effingham
succeeds Culpepper. — A Change for the Better under Governor Nichol-
so.v. — AVilliam and Mary College. — Nicholson removed to Maryland. —
Affairs in th.4.t Colony'. — Lord Baltimore deprived of Political Power. —
Maryland a Royal Province. — Church of England established by Nichol
son. — Edmund Andros, Governor op Virginia. ^ Sucoekded by Nicholson. —
His Second Ad.ministration, and Causes of his Recall. — Governor Spots-
wood. — His Expedition over the Blue Ridge. — Settlement op the Shen
andoah Valley. — Greater Religious Toleration. — Progress and Prosper
ity of Virginia. — Successive Governors, till the Arrival of Dinwiddie.

The suppression of Bacon's Rebellion did not necessarily bring
tranquillity to Virginia. The leaders on both sides — Bacon condition of
and Berkeley — were dead, and a heavy retribution had ^e" Cns"
fallen upon many who had vainly hoped that in an appeal Rebellion.
to arms they would find a redress for all their grievances. There was
rather sullen acquiescence than cheerful submission in the restoration
of order ; for many who were too prudent or too timid to give to

52 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. IIL
Bacon their open support, no doubt regretted that nothing was gained
by the Rebellion.
As in other colonies, the attitude of the Assembly indicated the
popular temper. That attitude was one of watchful determination to
maintain, within the law, the rights of the people, and resist, so far
as it was prudent or possible, their infringement by royal governors.
When Berkeley asked that the Assembly would bestow some mark of
distinction upon Accomac County for the loyalty of its citizens at the
most trying period of the Rebellion, the Speaker, Colonel Warner, an
swered, no doubt as truly for his colleagues as he did frankly for him
self : " He knew not," he said, " what marks of distinction his honor
could have sette on those of Accomack, unlesse to give them ear
marks or burnt marks for robbing and ravaging honest people, who
stay'd at home, and took care of the estates of those who ran awaj^
when none intended to hurt 'em."^ The Governor could hardly have
failed to understand that beneath the sneer was concealed some sym
pathy for the rebels as well as a rebuke of himself.
It was this Assembly whose remonstrances against his cruel perse
cution of the late insurgents drove Berkeley at length to seek refuge
in England. It was this Assembly also which refused to comply with
the demand of the royal coramissioners for its journals, notwithstand
ing the evident disposition of those officers to deal mercifully with
the partisans of Bacon. The merabers conceived it to be incompati
ble with their honor and their rights, as the representatives of the
people, to subrait their proceedings to the representatives of the King,
and they boldly protested against the act when the journals were for
cibly seized by the coramissioners.
The royalists, not unnaturally, presumed upon the success of their
Continned cause, and were everywhere avaricious and overbearing. Ac-
b'ehveenthe comac Couuty claimed exemption from taxes for twenty
parties. years, iu return for those services upon which Colonel War
ner, the Speaker, put so small a value. Sir Herbert Jeffreys — one of
the King's commissioners, and, after Berkeley's departure. Lieutenant-
governor — found it no easy task to divide the line of truth and jus
tice between the malcontents on both sides. One of the chief of these
was that Philip Ludwell who by his daring and zeal had served the
loyal cause so effectually, at a critical moment in Bacon's Rebelhon,
The affair ^^ ^^^^ Capture of Bland and his fleet in the Chesapeake.
Ludweu ^^^ ''^P^''® ^^ ^^^^ amnesty granted to the late rebels, he sued
one of them — George Walklate — for alleged damages done
to his property in some rebel raid. The Governor granted protection
to Walklate, and refused the writ which Ludwell demanded. " The
^ Burk's History of Virginia.

1680.] LORD CULPEPPER. 53
Governor was a worse rebel than Bacon" — was Ludwell's loud and
angry complaint — " for he had broke the laws of the country, which
Bacon never did .... that he was perjured .... that he was not
worth a groat in England .... and that, if every pitiful httle fel
low, with a periwig, that came in Governor to this country, had
liberty to make the laws, as this had done, his children, nor no man's
else, could be safe in the title or estate left them."
If laws are silent in time of war, no less true is it that morals and
manners are loosest when war is over. Ludwell, indeed, was brought
before the Council to answer for this invective against the Governor ;
the offence was pronounced treasonable, and it was ordered that the
proceedings be sent to the King and Privy Council, that due pun
ishment might be awarded him. But the General Assembly decided,
on his appeal to that body, that the defence as well as the accu
sations should go to England, which was all he could in justice ask.
Perhaps the death of Jeffreys in 1678 may have put an end to the
suit ; perhaps the Lords in Council thought it wiser to laj^ it and
leave it on their table, for Ludwell seems to have gone unpunished.
On the other hand his defiance of a royal governor was welcomed ap
parently as the espousal of the cause of the people, and he is next
heard of, a few years later, as the agent of the colony in England to
seek a redress of grievances which had grown meanwhile more and
more burdensome — grievances, however, which Jeffreys seems to
have been sincerely disposed to remove, while they made an ardent
patriot of Ludwell only when he found that by patriotism he could
best subserve his private interests.
But the incident is of little moment except that it shows how se
rious were the differences that divided parties in Virginia, and how
little even an appeal to arms had done to reconcile them. The ad
ministrations of Jeffreys and Sir Henry Chicheley, — • who soon suc
ceeded Jeffreys as Lieutenant-governor — did little for the colony,
except that they secured peace by a treaty with the Indians, brought
about chiefly by the influence of New York with the Five Nations.
Something more was hoped for from the coming of Lord l„,.j ,,^i„
Culpepper, who, since 1675, had held a commission as Gov- h°f adn^Ms-
ernor for life over the province which, two years before, had "¦*'""^-
been granted to him and the Earl of Arlington for thirty-one years.
Culpepper had preferred to remain in England, but the King insisting,
at length, that he should assume the duties of his office, he arrived in
Virginia in 1680. He brought a proposal for general amnesty and ob
livion for past political offences, but only for this one act of mercy from
the Crown had the people reason to welcome his coming. " The Lord
Culpepper," says a writer of that period, " had a singular dexterity in

54

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. III.

and being •' one

making use of all advantages to his own interests ; " ^
of the raost cunning and covetous men in England," he induced the
King to suggest that the salary of the Governor be doubled — hitherto
.£1,000, — and its perquisites increased to almost as much. This was
no slight additional burden to an already over-taxed and impoverished
colony. Still harder to accept was another proposed law, that the
duties on tobacco and other merchandise, heretofore levied from year
to year and the proceeds disbursed as the Colonial Asserably should
judge for the public welfare, should now be made perpetual and under
the exclusive ciintrol of the King. But these and other laws of less
consequence, the drafts of wliich Culpepper brought from England,
the Assembly was constrained to
accept in consideration of the act
of general pardon which came
with them.
Culpepper returned to Eng
land in a few raonths, leaving be
hind hira these, with the other
fruitful causes of discontent of
an older growth. The colonists
were oppressed with the weight
of fresh taxes while at the same
tirae the jjrice of their single
staj^le product — tobacco — was
constantly falling. The old rem
edies were resorted to, with the
old results. Fresh attempts were
made to regulate the production
of tobacco by agreements with
Maryland and Carolina to limit
the planting, — agreements so
easy to make and so sure to be

Governor Culpepper

disregarded.

^gcii^c^i. It was proposed to encourage the settlement of towns
Efteots of by enforcing the law which forbade that ships should pick
ILt^T"- "P their cargoes
tohae.o.

y going frora plantation to plantation along
the banks of the rivers, but should load only at designated
points, whens it was hoped, the towns would soon grow. No towns
sprung up, for the industrial necessities for their existence were want
ing ; but raany a planter was compelled to add a new item of expen
diture to the cost of his tobacco, or, if the distance to the shipping-
1 .ill Acamnt ofthe Present .Stole and Government qf Virginia. AVritten, iirobahly, within
the last ten years of the seventeenth centnrv, and first published from the oriinnal MSS.
in vol. y, of Coll. „f Mass. Hist. .S,„:

1681.] OVER-PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO. 55
point was too great, to leave it to rot at home. Discontent was again
growing to desperation. The one fact that everybody could see was,
that because there was too much tobacco its price was ruinously low,
but that the planter must sell at that price or he and his people
starve ; the fact nobody would see was, that because the laborers
were slaves, the crop raost easily raised on great estates was tobacco,
and the true remedy was a reforra in the tenure of lands and the
systera of labor.
Another rebellion seemed imminent and would, no doubt, have
broken out had another Bacon appeared to lead it. Petitions were
sent to the King, praying that the overproduction of tobacco might be
prohibited by royal proclamation ; Chichely, the acting Governor in
Culpepper's absence, was besought to apply, raeanwhile, some remedy
to the correction of that evil. He would have gladly found one, but
he could devise nothing better than to convene the Asserably. The
Assembly, fresh from the peojile, could talk of nothing but the peo
ple's wrongs — of misgovernment, of rights withheld, of poverty, of
want for which they had no alleviation.
But, as in all times of popular distress and turbulence, there were
men who thought themselves wise enough to discern and ap- ¦¦ piant-cut-
]Aj the remedy. The way, they said, to stop the over-pro- *"'^'
duction of tobacco was, to — stop it. Putting themselves at the head
of the more violent of the population, they went from plantation to
plantation, destroying the young plants Avhen too late for a second
growth that season. This earliest American " strike," like most of
those of modern times, only brought fresh distress upon those it
was meant to aid. The " plant-cutters," as they were called, were
too few to damage essentially the staple production of three colonies,
but they were enough to bring serious calamity upon themselves and
upon all those whose plantations they laid waste.
It was in the midst of these troubles that Culpepper returned from
England, and his method of dealing with thera was characteristic of
the colonial rule of that period. His first raeasure of conciliation was
to hang the leading "plant-cutters," whose grievance was the cora
mon one, however little syrapathy the planters raay have had with the
violent conduct of those misguided men ; and his first measure of relief
was to inflate the currency by perraission of the King, declaring silver
coins — crowns, rix-dollars, and pieces of eight — of the cur- cuipepper
rent value of five shillings, should be legal tender for six shil- vafufof 'the
lings, the fractional coins to be rated in like proportion. ™™"°J-
But the burden of the change was to fall upon the people alone ; the
five shillings, which were to pass for six in transactions among them
selves, were still to be reckoned at five shillings only in the payment

56

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. IIL

of the Governor's salary, in payment of the heavy tax on
and all other taxes, and in payment of bills of ex
change. The indignant Burgesses remonstrated.
They deraanded that there should be equaliza
tion in the value of money — not one value
for the debtor and another for the creditoi ,
They were not unreasonable in asking that
the six shillings they were compelled
to accept as legal tender in the sale
of their tobacco should be six shilling's
still, and not five only when they paid
their taxes; nor were they irrational
in complaining that they got only - ,
five shillings' worth of
merchandise for six shillings,
while the price was enhancetl
by the increase in the rate
of exchange. The Governor
answered by driving the As
semblymen out of theu cham-
bei. Though the cui-
lency was afteiwaid re
stored to its noimal value, -*

tobacco

English

Plant-cutting.'

y.^'

it was evidently not from any def
erence to the will of the House
of Burgesses or the rights and interests of the people.

1684.] LORD EFFINGHAM SUCCEEDS CULPEPPER. 57
The Governor also brought from England the severest condemnation
of the Assembly for its spirited refusal to surrender its journals for
examination to the King's comraissioners. Beverley, the Clerk, who,
like Ludwell, had distinguished himself for his services on the royal
side in the late Rebellion, was imprisoned now for the zeal
with which he defended the independence of the ^Vssembly. trar/meas-
The next, more direct, attack upon the individual citizen,
was to take away the privilege of appeal frora the decisions of the
General Court — that is, the Governor and Council — to the General
Assembly, except in cases involving only a small sum of money.
Culpepper ceased to be Governor when he ceased to be Proprietary
— in 1684 — on the surrender of the patent, which had becoine vested
in him alone, in consideration of a sura in hand and a pension of
£600 a year for twenty and a half years. ^ Virginia was so far the
gainer, that it became once more a royal province, with a promise
that its revenues should be used, in part at least, for its own benefit.
The last act of Charles II. relating to the affairs of the colony was the
appointment of Lord Howard of Effingham as Culpepper's successor.
But the change of rulers was not a change of policy ; it was only
to turn loose upon the flock another wolf whose hunger was
.,,,-, ^ 1 -1 • LordEBing-
stili to be appeased. Culpepper was mercenary, despotic, h™, Gover-
cruel, indifferent to the welfare of the colony as he was ig
norant of its true interests. Effingham, if not Culpepper's rival in
these qualities, was at least his pupil, and bettered his instruction.
Those of the ignorant "plant-cutters" whom one had spared, the
other hanged. New duties were levied; new fees exacted; xheoppres-
new perquisites contrived; new pretences invented for fresh coionv con-
oppression. The struggle between Governor and Assembly ''°"'^''-
was continued, and the measures resorted to by Effingham were more
arbitrary than those of any of his predecessors. James had among
all his colonial servants no one more swift to catch the spirit of his
rule than this Virginia viceroy. Ostensibly by royal authority he re
pealed laws, or revived those that had been repealed by the Assem
bly ; the members of that body he bought by bribes when that was
possible ; when that was impossible he coerced thera by threats or ira
prisonment ; and when all other measures failed to bend thera to his
will, he would prorogue or dissolve that branch of the government.
Of the Council, always obedient and subservient, he made a Court of
Chancery, that he might add to his power as Governor that of a High
1 The colony, however, was not altogether rid of Culpepper. In 1671, Ch.arles II. had
granted to the Earl of St. Albans, Lord Berkeley, and others, a patent for the Northern
Neck, — the region between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, — which Culpepper after
wards purchased, and the right was confirmed to hiin by letters-patent from James II. in
168.5.

58 VIRGINIA AND IMARYLAND. [Chap. III.
Chancellor. More than once, in the course of four years, he was
called upon to suppress incipient rebellion ; once a slave insurrection
threatened the lives of the white masters. The number of the white
servants of the colony was increased by the exportation from England
to Virginia of many of those prisoners taken with Monmouth at Sedge-
moor, but whose lives were spared when Jeffreys made his Bloodj^
Circuit ; and these added new strength to the more discontented and
turbulent of the population, although the General Assembly pru
dently neglected to obey the orders of the King to pass a law denying
them all power of redemption from servitude for at least ten years.
Philip Ludwell was sent to England to represent to the King and
Council the condition of the province under Effingham's
ries the pro- I'ule. He anivcd, fortunately, about the time of the land-
coionistato iug of the Priuce of Orange, and was enabled to obtain from
William and Mary the hearing which Jaraes II. would no
doubt have refused. Ludwell was so far successful that Effinghara —
who was also in England — never resumed the duties of his office,
though he was permitted to retain both the title and the salary for
several years longer.
The accession of the new sovereigns excited small enthusiasm in
Niehobon Virginia, when it was known that Effingham still held his
ty-govtrnor commissiou and that he was to rule by deputy. Colonel
fln^hlm!" Francis Nicholson was appointed Lieutenant-governor. He,
indeed, would have rauch preferred to return to New York
as its chief magistrate, and all the influence he could command was
used to procure him that position. It would, however, have been
hardly prudent, hardly even decent, to impose him upon a colony
where he had so recently, either from want of moral courage or
from feebleness of judgment, raade a popular revolution alraost in
evitable. But the political amenities, then as now held to be of so
rauch more raoraent than considerations of mere fitness for office,
raade him Lieutenant-governor of Virginia.
He showed himself, however, anxious to discharge the duties of his
post creditably to himself and for the good of the colony. Perhaps
he thought he should best commend himself to the new sovereigns
by making his administration as wide a contrast as possible to those
which had preceded it ; perhaps his late experience in New York had
really taught him wisdom, and he had learned to respect the rights
of his fellow-citizens. It was, at any rate, a new thing to see a gov
ernor in Virginia who thought it worth his while to visit every part
of his province that he might observe with his own eyes the condition
of the people ; who invited them to meet him in famihar intercourse ; ¦
who gave festivals and established athletic sports to improve and

1692.] WILLIAM AND MARY COLLETiE. 59
modify their social relations ; who proposed a public post-office, and
made a great public road through the raost populous portion of the
province ; who encouraged other industries than that of tobacco-
planting, especially the growing of flax, the raanufacture of leather,
and an unrestricted trade with the Indians in furs, in skins, and other
commodities ; and who cooperated heartily with the Legis
lature in the enactment of laws for the purity and peace of condition of
societjr, making drunkenness a misdemeanor with a ijecuni-
ary penalty or punishment in the stocks, and enjoining in other re
spects — such as " swearing, cursing, profaning God's holy name.
Sabbath profaning, attending meetings outside the parish, or travel
ling on that day " — a rigid rule of life more in accordance with the
Puritanical government of New England than that of the Established
Church in Virginia.
The two Assemblies which passed these laws were called by Nich
olson, notwithstanding Effingham's injunction that he should not
permit the popular representatives to come together. So satisfied
was that body with his rule, that at its first session it gave him
£300, in addition to his salary; and so anxious was the Lieutenant-
governor for the public welfare, or so dihgent to gain the public
approbation, that he gave one half this sum to aid in the establish
ment of William and Mary College. The real founder of that col
lege — the second in the colonies. Harvard being the first — was the
Rev. James Blair, the Commissary of the Bishop of London, and the
head, therefore, of the Established Church in Virginia. But his suc
cess was undoubtedly due, in large measure, to the influence used
by Nicholson in its favor.
The charter for this seminary — originally intended mainly for the
education of young men raeaning to be clergymen, and for jounaation
the instruction of Indian children — was granted in Febru- °* ^V'J'i.it'"
ary, 1692, by William and Mary, and by them the college '^""'^'^e.
was liberally endowed. Sir Christopher Wren was the architect of
the first college building ; Blair was the first president, having under
him six professors, for the training of a hundred pujjils or raore ; and
the college was entitled to one representative in the House of Bur
gesses. The opposition to the scheme was persistent, often contempt
uous and bitter. Seymour, the Attorney -general of England, ex
pressed a common feeling, though with raore frankness than courtesy,
when ordered to draw up the charter for the college. He declared
that it was useless, and protested against the royal endowment as ex
travagant. Mr. Blair maintained its necessity, especially as it was in
tended to relieve the religious destitution of the colony in training
young men for the ministry. He begged the Attorney-general to re-

60

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. III.

member that the people of Virginia, quite as much as the people of
other parts of the world, had souls to be saved. " Souls ! " — was the
answer — " Damn your souls ! Make tobacco ! "
Nicholson remained in Virginia only about two years ; but why he
should have retired from office is not quite clear. Nor is it,
rf nX"' indeed, of much importance, except that the reason given by
Beverly, and accepted by later historians, rather suggests
doubts on other subjects than explains this. It is asserted that the
Governor became suddenly unpopular for opposing settlement in
towns — " cohabitation," as the term of the time was — which, at

William and Mary College.
first, he had favored. But he could hardly have rendered himself
obnoxious for opposing that which nothing could have hindered the
people of Virginia from doing if they saw fit, and which they had
obstinately refused to do for years. If there really were any differ
ence of opinion between him and them on this subject, there must
be some other explanation for the slow and painful growth of the col
ony than the want of towns, the isolation of planters upon grants of
immense tracts of land, and the system of labor and cultivation which
grew up with such settlements.
It is more probable that Nicholson returned to England with the
hope, perhaps with the promise, of promotion. Before he left Vir
ginia a revolution in Maryland had deposed the governraent of Lord

1692.] AFFAIRS IN MARYLAND. 61
Baltimore, and that colony had also become a royal province. Sir
Lionel Copley was appointed Governor in 1690. Nicholson may have
hoped to supersede him ; he was, at any rate, appointed in his place
on the death of Copley in 1692.
Charles Calvert, the Lord Baltimore who by this revolution was
deprived of all political power in his Araerican inheritance, j^^f^:,,.^ ^,^
was the son of the second Lord Baltimore, who died in 1675. '^'"'.^ '""'i-
The fortunes of that family had changed with the changing dynasties
of England from the death of Cromwell to the accession of William
and Mary. The prosperity of the state is not always — perhaps not
often- — ^ measured by the struggles of political parties, and Maryland
was not an exception to this obvious truth. Sometimes the Clatholics,
sometimes the Puritans, through these eventful years, gained the as
cendency. Fendall, whom Cecil, Lord Baltimore, had raade a Gov
ernor, turned against his master and put a Puritan Assembly into
power ; Philip Calvert, Cecil's brother, reestablished the authority
of the Proprietary, and made the way smooth and pleasant for his
nephew ; and through all these bitter contentions and vicissitudes,
however important they might be to individual fortunes and the po
litical ambition of a few men, the progress of the colon}' was steady
and its prosperity undisturbed. In the ten years from 1660 to 1670
the population increased from twelve to twenty thousand. Under
the mild rule of the Baltimores, and the sjjirit of tolerance which,
notwithstanding their religious differences, had become the habitual
temper of the people of Maryland, the province was a place of refuge
for the persecuted of whatever faith. Had the first proprietors of
that beautiful, salubrious, and fertile region been so fortunate or so
wise as to make it an asylum of political and social, as well as relig
ious liberty, it might have become in time the central seat of the
power and the commerce of a great empire.
But the inevitable changes carae at last. While on a visit to Eng
land, — Thoraas Notely acting in his absence as Lieutenant-governor,
— Baltimore raet and successfully rebutted all coraplaints brought
against him by the opposing party in the colonjr. But more catholics
serious trouble awaited him on his return in 1681 ; for the trntflgSn'
restless Fendah, with the aid of one Coode, a disreputable ™'=°"''"='-
clergyman of the Church of England, was almost successful in arous
ing the Protestants to armed resistance to the Cathohc government.
Both the leaders were arrested in 1681, tried, and Fendall, at least,
convicted of treason, though neither was punished.
The remaining years of Baltimore's administration of the affairs of
his province were, nevertheless, years of great anxiety and continual
contention. In Maryland the Protestant party was diligent and

62 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. IIL
watchful for an opportunity to seize the government ; in England
their friends were not less active on their behalf, and all the more
that this straggle between rehgious parties in Maryland could be used
to strengthen the anti-Cathohc party at home. Even the King, who
cared little for the religious faith of any of his subjects, was quite
wilhng to listen to the suggestion that his own revenue from the
colony was diminished under Baltimore's rule.
Threatened on all sides, Baltimore again returned to England,
Baltimore's leaving lils infant son, Benedict Leonard Calvert, nominally
Jhi'^fnd'an- Goveruoi", but committing the province to the care of a
*=''^''' Council of Nine, of which William Joseph was president.
Charles II. died before the Proprietary reached England, and he prob
ably looked for more favor from the Catholic successor to the throne.
But James did not mean to raake Maryland an excejDtion in the
policy he proposed to adopt for the government of the American
colonies. The quo warranto which Charles had threatened, raoved
thereto by Baltimore's enemies, James soon ordered to be issued in
accordance with his own general purpose. Whatever his syrapathy
might be with Baltimore as a Catholic governor in a struggle with
Protestant opponents, he had small consideration for him as a colonial
proprietary. Through the few years of James's reign Baltimore was held in that
worst of all conditions, a condition of uncertainty ; for neither could
he get the quo tcarranto against him withdrawn, nor were the pro
ceedings under the writ brought to a conclusion. To him any change
was a chance, however desperate, and when William and Mary landed
in England he was prompt in offering them his recognition and alle
giance. Orders were sent to his deputies in Maryland to proclaim the
accession of the new sovereigns ; but either these orders were delayed
in the passage, or the Council unwisely neglected to obey. Perhaps
the result would have been the same in any event ; but the delay
gave the Protestant party an advantage which they eagerly seized.
Rumors were industriously spread, or sprang uj? naturally and spon
taneously, that the Catholics would remain loyal to James and defy
the revolution. It may have been only to guard against a popular
outbreak, and to be in a position to safely wait events, that Balti
more's adherents made preparations to arra and defend the forts. It
was the best thing to do, if they did anything, having comraitted the
first raistake of neglecting to proclaim the accession of the new King
and Queen. But it made little difference in the end. The prepara
tions for defence on this side were made the pretext of attack on the
other, and had this pretext been wanting, another would have been
found. The losing cause in England could not be the winning one
in Maryland.

1692.]

ANDROS GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.

63

A new rev
olution in
Maryland.

The Protestants, once more under the lead of John Coode, concen
trated their strength in an Association to maintain the Prot
estant religion and the rights of William and Mary as Kino-
and Queen over all Enghsh dorainions. Coode, an Episco
pal clergyman, though a man of doubtful character, possessed, never
theless, the energy which makes
revolutions successful. Balti
more's adherents were driven
out of the capital ; Fort IMatta-
pany, the Government House
where they took refuge, was be
sieged and soon compelled to
surrender; and the Proprietary's
government was in a few weeks
utterly overthrown. In August
(1689) a popular Assembly was
convened at St. Mary's. A re
port of late events was prepared
and sent to England for the ap
proval of the King, and mean
while, till a response could be
received, the Assembly took
upon itself the direction of the
affairs of the colony.
The royal approbation came
in due time, to be followed soon after by a royal governor.
was Sir Lionel Copley, who, dying within a year, was sue- Baltimore
ceeded by Nicholson. Lord Baltimore had been compelled tXpropr"*
at last to answer to the quo warranto before the Privy Coun- '=""¦"'''?¦
cii, and except that he was permitted to retain the revenue from
the lands of Maryland, was deprived of all his proprietary rights.
Since his return to England, Sir Edmund Andros, after his dis
charge from arrest and virtual exculpation for his conduct as
Governor of New England, had busied himself in the affairs emor of
of Virginia. If it was with the hope of being rewarded with
a commission as Governor of that colony, he gained his end. He was
appointed in Effingham's place and assumed the duties of his office
about the time of Nicholson's return to England. If the King thought
him not unworthy of being made again the Governor of an American
Colony, the Virginians may have reflected that it was not for them
to question his fitness. At any rate, they welcomed him heartily for
his recent services, and many of them, no doubt, thought none the
worse of him because the Boston Puritans had deposed and imprisoned

Charles, Second Lord Baltimore.

This

64 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. III.
him as the friend of James, and an enemy of the revolution that
seated Mary and William upon the throne. His loyaltj', however, could
not now be questioned. If not a better, he was a wiser man with
William's commission in his pocket than when he imprisoned Win-
slow for promulgating in Boston the news of the landing of the Prince
of Orange in England.
It may have been partly because he served a new master that
Andros now remembered that a colonial governorship had its duties
as well as its privileges. That he was less arrogant and overbearing
raay have been the result, in sorae measure, of his past painful expe
rience ; and then a more congenial atmosphere than that of Puritan
New England had, no doubt, a softening influence upon his temper.
Like Nicholson, he came a new raan with new things.
He brought with him the charter of William and Mary College,
in which he professed the strongest interest. Nicholson
i itiiir3.ctcr of
iii.5 adminis- had already done soraething to establish post routes and
tration o j.
offices. Andros completed the work in aiding Thomas Neale,
who held from the crown a patent for establishing a postal service to
connect all the colonies. It is Andros to whora Virginia should be
grateful that he caused to be collected and preserved all the records
of the colony not alreadj' destroyed. Nor was he unmindful of the
material needs of the people. He encouraged, not without some
success, domestic manufactures : that less tobacco might be raised,
he introduced the cultivation of cotton, and it was not his fault, but
the fault of the climate, that the attempt was a failure.
For the first year or two Andros was a popular Governor, and de
served to be, though popular applause was clearly not his motive of
action, however much he may have come to believe that the welfare
of the people was worth consideration. He disregarded much grum
bling Avhen he sent out vessels to suppress the contraband trade along
the coast, and he codified English statutes and promulgated them as
the law of Virginia, without paying the slightest heed to appeals to
charters, to precedents, to common justice, or to common sense.
His position, however, was unquestionably one of great difficulties.
The best intentions and the most vigorous rule, even if
Condition of t , , •
the colony directed by a wiser man than Andros had ever shown him-
at this time. i c ; i , i .
self to be, could not, m four or five j'ears, correct the evils
which, with the misgovernment of three quarters of a century, had sunk
deeply into the social and political structure. " It is astonishing,"
says a writer of that period, " to hear what contrary characters are
given of the country of Virginia, even by those who have often seen
it, and know it very weh ; some of thera representing it as the best,
others as the worst country in the world. Perhaps they are both in

1696.] CONDITION OF VIRGINIA. 65
the right. For the most general true character of Virginia is this :
that as to the natural advantages of a country it is one of the best ;
but as to the improved ones, one of the worst of all the English planta
tions in America." " As it came out of the hand of God, " the writer
holds, no region ever had more prospect of becoming a great state.
" But .... if we inquire for well-built towns, for convenient forts
and markets, for plenty of ships and seamen, for well-improved trades
and manufactures, for well-educated children, for an industrious and
thriving people, or for an happy government in church and state,
.... it is certainly for all these things, one of the poorest, misera-
blest and worst countries in all America that is inhabited by Chris
tians." 1
This acute observer was quite able to discern some of the causes of
the want of prosperity in the colony, — that, for example, the grant
ing of lands in large tracts was a hindrance to the settlement of the
country, and that the cultivation of a single staple was an unwise em
ployment of industry. But it was no more revealed to him than to
anybody else of that period, — hardly even yet, indeed, is it under
stood as an axiom of political economy by the Southerner of average
intelligence — that beneath these ostensible causes lay the fatal mis
take of a reliance upon slave-labor, an evil that no political devices
however wise, and no government however well administered, could
ever remedy.^
There was, nevertheless, marked improvement in the condition and
character of the people. A grooving jealousy of arbitrary rule by a
royal Governor soon made itself visible. It was only a few years since
Berkeley had thanked God that there was neither a free school nor a
printing-press in the colony ; and Culpepper and Effingham had for-
^ " An Account of the Present State and Government of Virginia." 3Iass, Hist. Soc.
Coll., vol. v.
^ Slavery was the curse of every colony where it gained a permanent foothold ; and this
caine to be as evident to sagacious men, by the middle of the eighteenth century, as it is
held, in the nineteenth, to be a self-evident fact. Said the Rev. Jonathan Boucher, — iu
1763, — Rector of St. Anne's Church in Annapolis, and at one time tutor of Mrs. George
Washington's sou by her first husband : " Were an impartial and comprehensive observer
of the state of society iu these middle colonies asked. Whence it happens that Virginia and
iVIaryland, which were the first planted, and which are superior to many colonies, and infe
rior to none in point of every natural advantage, are still so exceedingly behind most of
the other British Amerjcan provinces in all those improvements which bring credit and
consequence to a country ¦? He would answer : They are so because they are cultivated
by slaves." Pive and twenty years later, when the Ainerican jirovinces had ceased to be
long to Great Britain, William Pinkney, chief among the distinguished men of Maryland,
exclaimed : " Eternal infamy .aw.aits the abandoned miscreants, whose selfish souls could
ever prompt them to rob unhappy Afric of her sons, and freight them hither by thou
sands to poison the fair Eden of liberty with the rank weed of individual bondage ! " —
Cited in Neill's Terra Murlce.
VOL. III. 5

66 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. III.
bidden that any printing should be done except for the publication
of laws by express perraission, in certain cases. The establishment
of a college was the fulfilment of those fears which Berkeley hoped
wotdd not be accomphshed for another hundred years. It was an evi
dence of increasing intelligence, as well as a promise of future cul
ture, that a seminary of learning should be so soon asked for, even
with a limited purpose. It was inevitable that the raore it flourished
the more certain it was to come into collision with men like Andros,
whose idea of government was at bottom the same as that of
norand'the Berkeley and his immediate successors. The Governor was
contifotrf certain to claim an authority over the affairs of the college
aut on y. ^y^jigij ^ president like Blair was sure to resist. One con
tended for his prerogative ; the other for the true interests of the in
stitution over which he presided. Though the question at first was
one of ecclesiastical precedence between a royal Governor ahd a com
missary of the Bishop of London, it widened into a controversy which
gave new strength to the cause of popular government, and finally
cost Andros his office. To punish and overcome the firmness of Blair
as president of Williara and Mary College, the Governor ar-
ca,ued, and biti'arily removed him as a raember of the Council. The
again ap- polltical issue thus created went by appeal to England. An
dros was defeated and recalled, and Nicholson transferred
from Maryland to take his place.
Nicholson had earned this promotion by his diligence and zeal dur
ing the four years of his administration of the affairs of the smaller
colony. The substitution of the Church of England for the Catholic
Church appears to have been his chief business, but that may have
seemed to be no easy task. It was not a field ready for the reaper,
over which fruitful seed had been cast with lavish hands. Only five
years before Baltimore was compelled to surrender all his rights as
Proprietary — save only his pecuniary rights — a petition to the King
set forth that Maryland was " without a Church or anj' settled min
istry." 1 A church of the regular Establishraent, of course, is meant,
for Presbyterians and Quakers had liberty of conscience and of wor
ship, under Catholic rule, and of forraing rehgious organizations after
their kind. That there were no " churches," was because of the few
ness or lukewarmness of churchmen. To bring the new royal prov
ince within the i^ale of the Established Church of England ; to do
away with the assuraed evil of toleration ; to establish religion by
Litany and Prayer-book ; — this was the policy of the King, and the
first duty of the Governor.
One of the earliest acts of the Assembly, after the arrival of Cop-
1 The English Colonization of America. By Edward D. Neill.

1694.]

NICHOLSON IN MARYLAND.

67

ley, was a law for the establishment of the Protestant religion, and
for dividing the ten counties of JMaryland into twenty-five „-
¦ 1 mi T-1 • T 1 ¦¦ ^ '"^ govern-
parishes. Ihe Iriends and the Catholics were, however ?,'™','"
™. . , 1 ^ ^M Maryland
sufficiently numerous to disregard the act for a while with ¦'"'""¦J-
impunity. Plainly, the want of churchmen was a serious difficulty
in the way of building up the Church. When Nicholson carae, how
ever, he brought with him
six clergymen ; i n fw o
years their number was in
creased to fifteen ; pubhc
worship was forbidden to
the Catholics ; five or six
church edifices were built
in various places ; and all
that law and intolerance
could do was done to force
the Established Church of
England upon an unwill
ing or an indifferent peo
ple. The more rigid of
the Puritans, to whom any
recognition of Episcopacy
was a necessity very bitter
and hard to bear, had, at
least, the consolation of
seeing their old enemies,
the Catholics, suffer, — perhaps aiding in their persecution when it
could be done consistently with their own professions of non-con
formity. This enforcement of a state religion upon the colony brought with
it some advantages. Nicholson caused a law to be passed for the es
tablishment of a school in each county of the province. This, it was
declared, was to secure a perpetual provision of clergymen for the
churches; but the design, no doubt, was broader, or would almost in
evitably become so. King William's School, as that opened at Annap
olis — which in 1694 was made the capital — was named, received
from Nicholson material aid and countenance, and may have served
as a model for others. There, "arithmetic, navigation, and all useful
learning " were to be taught, as well as theologj'. This, at least, was
an improvement on the times of the Baltimores, when there was no
provision for schools of any kind. Such a measure could not be with
out marked influence in the progress of societj'. It was not long be
fore every one of the thirty parishes had a small parochial library.

President Blair.

68

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. III.

averaging about fifty volumes each, exclusive of that of Annapolis,
which contained about eleven hundred volumes. Twenty-five hun
drecl well-chosen books, accessible to everj' person in the community,
would be an important fact in any Anierican province in the begin
ning of the eighteenth century.
But of Nicholson's long career in America, the five or six j'ears of
jii, j5jo„4 his second term of office in Virginia are the least creditable.
minTs'tra-'"'" Something of the reputation attending that administration
tion. must be attributed to the evident prejudice of his contempo
rary, Beverley, the historian of Virginia, whose assertions have been

General V ew of Annapot s
accepted for the most part by later writers. Much, nevertheless, of
all alleged against him must be true. He was self-willed, and oppo
sition may have often led him to be overhearing and violent. That
his sense of duty as a roj-al Governor should have sometimes clashed
with the true interests of the colony and the determination of its
leading men to raaintain them, does not, however, necessarily imply
that Nicholson was a bad or an unscrupulous man. Virginia had
become second in importance of all the colonies ; her House of Bur
gesses represented a population of 40,000 ; these representatives did
not readily yield their own convictions, and there could be a perfectly
honest difference of opinion between them and the Governor, which
raight, nevertheless, lead to bitter contention.
It was the policy of the King, and the interest of all the colonies.

1703.] NICHOLSON'S DEVOTION TO THE CHURCH. 69
that there should be unity of action for defence against the French
and Indians. The Virginians felt that they had little to fear now
from the tribes upon their own borders, and declined to contribute
anything for the building of forts for the protection of the Northern
provinces. Nicholson disagreed with the Burgesses on this point, and
visited New York to consult with the Northern Governors, declaring
that he would pay the Virginia quota from his own means rather than
the colony should be disgraced by refusal. The Burgesses were ob
stinate, and the Governor made arrangements to fulfil his promise.
Beverley intimates that, if the contribution was made at all, it was
done at the cost of the King's revenue. Then the breach between the
House and the Governor was widened when he openly avowed that
the colonies ought to be united in a single confederation, under a sin
gle governor, with a standing army. More than one royal governor
had warmly urged this policy in earlier years ; nowhere could it
arouse more indignation than in Virginia, where the House of Bur
gesses was rapidlj' growing in power and influence, as the representa
tive of a people growing more and more tenacious of their rights.
Nicholson's devotion to the Church involved him in a controversj'
which did much to add to his unpopularitj', and finally cost Quarrels
him his place. Thongh he had not, as in Maryland, to church'Tes-
estabhsh the State Church, he proposed to increase its '™^'
strength. The clergyman in Virginia was entirely dependent upon
the vestry of his parish, who controlled his stipend, and bestowed or
withheld it by an annual vote. Whether wisely exercised or not, it
was then and there a wise limitation of the tenure of the clerical
office. The ordinary clergyraan of the Established Church, at that period,
even in England, was not a very reputable character. Intel- character of
lectually he was but little, if at all, superior to those over oiThe^Bng-
whom he was set to teach ; if he were free from the contain- ^'^^ church.
ination of worldly vices, it was more from want of means than want of
inclination ; socially he was rather beneath the farmers who tilled the
land of the great proprietors, and hardly above the servants who served
at their tables ; his wages were wages of service and not a return for
productive industry, though over the household servant who jostled
him as he approached their master he had this one advantage — that
his wages, though small, were permanent and not dependent upon the
caprice of. anybody.
But in Virginia he neither had nor deserved this advantage. Low
as the clergy were as a class in England, the clergy of the colony
were generally the mere refuse of the order. Bankrupt in purse they
could not be, for that would imply that somebody had once trusted

70 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. IIL
them ; but most of them were bankrupt in everything else that could
have made them respectable at home, and they sought in Virginia an
asj'lura for freedom to serve the devil with as much zeal as ever moved
Puritan to fly to the wilderness for freedora to worship God. It was
well that these wolves, to whose care the flocks were intrusted, could
always be held in sorae restraint by the will of the vestry.
When Nicholson proposed that this power should be taken awaj'
frora the vestries, the disgust was almost universal. The clergymen,
on their part, gave a lively and characteristic evidence of their sense
of the favor to be bestowed, and their fitness to be trusted uncon
trolled with parochial duties. Most of them met together at a public
banquet and got uproariously drunk and broke each other's heads in
honor of an ecclesiastical reform. There were a very few decent men
among them, however, who were unselfish enough to oppose a meas
ure which could only do harm, and at the head of these was the
Bishop's Commissary, the President of the College, Mr. Blair, and
a Rev. Mr. Fouace.
Complaints were sent to England against the Governor. An error
of judgment, grave as his conduct was on this subject, might, perhaps,
have been overlooked. But other charges of neglect of oflicial duty,
misuse of official power, and of private misconduct, were brought
against him. A scandal in relation to a Miss Burwell, whom he
wished to marry, was made great use of, and probably not without
good reason. This lady and her friends had rejected the suit of the
Governor ; he nevertheless j)ersisted in it, threatening the lives of her
father and brothers, involved hiraself in a quarrel with the clergyman
of the parish — Mr. Fouace — and with Mr. Blair, and pursued with
bitter enmity for j'ears all who opposed him. The matter became of
sufficient importance in the colony to be the subject of a long memo
rial to the government at home ; and as it was the subject of many
bitter private animosities, so it undoubtedly had rauch to do with
intensifying the acriraony on public questions.
Nicholson gave to Virginia, as he had given to Maryland, a new
a new capi- Capital. Jamestowii had never recovered frora its almost
'"^^ complete destruction by Bacon and his adherents after the
flight of Berkeley ; the malaria of the surrounding lowlands had al
ways raade it unwholesome, and to abandon it was a wise measure.
The Governor chose Middle Plantation, where the college was built,
for the new seat of governraent. The town was laid out in the form
of a W, — an arrangement which convenience, however, soon over
ruled, — and was named Williamsburg in honor of the King. The
second year of its settlement was commemorated by the first Com
mencement —1700— of William and Mary College — an event of so

1710.]

WILLIA^M AND MARY COLLEGE.

71

much interest that planters in their coaches with their wives and
daughters, surrounded by negro servants on horseback, came from
all parts of the colony ; visitors came by sea from otlier colonies to
do honor to the occasion ; and here and -there, mingled in the crowd,
giving color and picturesqueness to the novel spectacle, was many
an Indian in the bravery of his brightest paint and most
brilhant and graceful feathers. It was a pleasant picture of meteem"nt
colonial prosperity and progress in this oldest of the Ameri- and 5^^
can colonies; but a reflective spectator could hardly have ^°'"^'"'
failed to remember that it was nearly sixty years since the first Com
mencement-day at
Harvard College in
Massachusetts was
celebrated, or fail to
remark in that fact
the essential differ
ence in the charac
ter of the peoples of
the two leading colo
nies. Virginia was
about to begin a
happy — perhaps
the happiest — pe
riod in her colonial
history. On the re
call of Nicholson in
1705, the governor
ship of the colony
was given as a sine
cure to the Earl of Orkney. The appointment of governors and a por
tion of the salary were his ; but beyond the enjoyment of these perqui
sites he interfered no further in the affairs of the province, and his dep
uties were called, and really were, the governors. For five years it so
happened that the colony was left to manage its own affairs under the
Council, — of which the presiding raeraber was Edward Jenings, — for
Edward Nott, Orknej''s first nominee, died a few months after his ar
rival in Virginia, and the second, Robert Hunter, never arrived at all,
being taken by a French cruiser on his outward passage. With the
exception of a few months, therefore, there were five years of tran
quillity and self-governraent, which prepared the way for a wiser and
more prosperous administration than Virginia had ever known under
any of- her royal governors.

Ruins of President's House, William and Mary College.

72

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. IIL

The new Governor was Colonel Alexander Spotswood, who arrived
in June, 1710. It was accepted as a happy augury of his
Spotswood ^^ig t|,j^|; ije -^vas ordered to extend to Virginia the privilege
appointed . 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 -1
ciovemor. q| ^^^ .^yj.jj Qf Habeas Corpus, which had hitherto been with
held. The great satisfaction with which this was received by the
people, and possibly the evident necessity of such a protection to their
rights, may have turned the attention of the Governor to the condi
tion of the laws. It is, at any rate, remarkable that he, a young
raan, bred to arms from his boyhood, should have at once introduced
much-needed reforms in the constitution of the courts, in the general
administration of justice, in the
character of the revenue laws,
and in the collection of taxes.
In all these measures he had
the hearty cooperation of the
Assembly and the commenda
tion of the people. Both were
wanting when he overstepped
the boundaiy line between royal
prerogative and popular rights.
Five years of popular govern
ment had greatly strengthened
the House of Burgesses, and that
body was always ready to with
stand, firmly and unhesitatingly,
any encroachment of the Gov
ernor upon their privileges. In
the second year of his adminis-
Gove no Spotswood tratlou thc House refused to
provide the means he asked for, to aid in repelling an apprehended
invasion of the French from Canada ; compelled him to
between the aslv the government in England for assistance in the prep-
and the .\s- aratlous whlcli he thought necessary and they thought use-
^' less, for defence against the Indians; and declined to con
cur with his proposals for the discharge of the public debt, except
by a tariff upon British merchandise and discriminating taxes
against British ships and in favor of Virginian vessels. Notwith
standing these and other less important differences between him
and the people and their representatives, his popularity for years was
undiminished. He proved his sincere interest in the welfare of the
colony by his exertions on behalf of the college ; bj' assisting to raise
a large fund for its support, and by restoring the building, which was
burnt several years before his arrival and left in ruins ; by establish-

1716.] EXPEDITION OVER THE BLUE RIDGE. 73
ing a school for the education of Indian children ; by insisting upon
a rigid economy in all the offices under his control, and by giving a
hearty support to every measure conducive to the general prosperity.
Spotswood's ardent curiosity about this new country in which he
had come to live, led him into long expeditions that he might
learn more of its extent and character. One of these was ovTthe™
to explore the way to the country beyond the Blue Ridge ™ '"'^°'
Mountains of the great Appalachian chain. He started in August,
1716, from Germantown, on the Rappahannock, with a company of
gentlemen well-mounted and armed, led by Indian guides, surrounded
by a troop of white hunters, rangers, and servants leading horses
laden with provisions and all other things necessary for such an expe
dition. These extraordinary preparations were a safe-guard against
any of the perils or hardships of the adventure. But none were
encountered. No savages dared, even if they were disposed, to at
tack a party so well appointed. The spoils of the chase were enough
for their support. The march by day was a hunt ; for the first time
the solemn forest resounded, and the mountain peaks echoed and re
echoed with the clang of trumpets and the sound of guns. There was
no want of song and laughter and merry-making around the camp-
fires at night as they cooked their suppers of game, and drank of
" white and red wine, usquebaugh, brandy-shrub, two kinds of rum,
champagne, canary, cherry punch, and cider," which were among
the stores they took to beguile the weariness of the way. No enemy,
whether man or beast, ventured to approach with hostile intent this
hilarious invasion of the wilderness.
The most elevated summit they reached was named Mount George,
where they drank health to George the First and the royal family.
The next in height was called either Mount Spotswood or Mount
Alexander, in honor of the Governor. They crossed the dividing
ridge of the mountains where the waters parted, one stream running
westward, the other to the east ; they descended the western slope,
marched seven miles into the valley beyond, and crossed a fordable
stream which they named the Euphrates. On its farther bank, with
such ceremony as their resources permitted, — the firing of salutes,
the blowing of trumpets, the free use of that extraordinary list of
hquors with which the expedition was provided, — possession was
taken of the country in the name of George the King, and a bottle
was buried containing a written attestation to that possession. It
was, probably, the number of empty bottles that suggested this certain
method of concealing the fact from any future explorers.
The expedition occupied six weeks, and the distance travelled was
more than two hundred miles. About the middle of Septeraber the

74 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. IIL
party returned to Williamsburg and rode triumphantly into the town,
preceded by its own trumpeters, and welcomed by the towns-folk.
To commemorate the event, Spotswood instituted a Tramontane Or
der, to encourage future expeditions, presenting to each of his com
panions a small golden horseshoe, to be worn as a badge, choosing
that emblem, it is said, because of the number of horseshoes — httle
used in the soft loam and sand of the lowlands of Eastern Virginia —
required for that mountainous journej'.
The adventure was altogether picturesque and spirited, but thatwas
all. No piigration immediately followed in its trail. The Tramon
tane Order could not exist long on a single past achievement ; and
the golden horseshoe, which no one was entitled to wear who had
not drunk the King's health on the top of Mount George, soon came
Settlement *o be Only a pretty memento, well enough to have won, but
andoah'^vai- "ot worth the wiiiuing anew. Sixteen years more passed be-
'''^- fore the axe of the settler was heard in the Shenandoah Val-
lej', and then, first, not where Spotswood and his jolly companions
had entered it, but near its northern extremity. In 1732, one Joist
Hite took up forty thousand acres of land near the present town of
Winchester, and entered upon possession with a colony from Penn-
sj'lvania. Others soon followed to the same region, some pushing
farther west over the mountains till they descended into the vallej' of
the Monongahela. John Lewis, an Irishman with a Scotch wife, and
their children, founded Staunton, the oldest town in the Shenandoah
Valley ; and one Burden, an agent of Lord Halifax, following him,
obtained a grant of five hundred thousand acres of land, on condition
that he should settle upon thera a hundred farailies. These and more
he brought out from the north of Ireland, Scotland, and the border
counties of England. In the course of ten years, from 1780 to 1740,
Friends, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and Germans from Pennsylvania,
as well as emigrants to Virginia direct from Germany and Ireland,
scattered theraselves through this rich and beautiful valley from its
northern to its southern extreraitj'.
In 1744 the Six Nations consented, in consideration of the sum of
four hundred pounds, to relinquish their title to all that
Treaties .
with the country lying between the western boundary of Virginia
and the Ohio River. Twenty-two years before, Spotswood
had secured a treaty with those tribes whereby they bound themselves
to abandon all the region east of the Blue Ridge and south of the
Potomac. Both treaties prepared the way for this steady and irre
sistible progress of colonization westward, to be pushed a few years
later into the valley of the Ohio.
In the year of this treaty — 1722 — Spotswood ceased to be Gover-

*-^M.^.l

^v

'l* . -V* ''"¦"^'==^-

%^. .>

>
,«

-^f^ i

L-,

SPOTSWOOD'S EXPEDITION OVER THE BLUE RIDGE.

1722.] CONFLICTS WITH GOVERNOR SPOTSWOOD. 75
nor ; but he lived for eighteen years longer as a private citizen of Vir
ginia, and must have seen with gratification the enlargement of the
area of the province, which was the object of his expedition across
the mountains. It was a continuation of that prosperity to which his
long administration had given so strong an impulse. The welfare of
Virginia was sincerely his aim, and his efforts were often successful,
notwithstanding the serious conflict of purpose and opinion between a
royal Governor and a provincial Assembly, so sure to manifest itself
in the course of a dozen years. The Burgesses were slow and cautious,
often obstinate, sometimes stolid, but always honest. The Governor,
conscious of his own integritj', and slow to see that there could be
any legitimate conflict between royal prerogative and popular right,
was very often imperious and contemptuous. The people had made
a mistake, he said to the House of Burgesses on one occasion, in the
choice " of a set of representatives whom heaven has not generally
endowed with the ordinary qualifications requisite to legislators," and
who put at the head of standing committees men who could neither
" spell English nor write common sense." The statement of fact no
doubt was true ; but neither that nor the terms used to convey it were
pleasant to hear, or likely to have a conciliatory influence. Patriotism
would not be less stern and uncompromising in men treated with such
hearty contempt, and they often made the Governor understand that
bad English and a poor style were not at all incompatible with a
clear comprehension of their rights and a vigorous defence of them.
They took the ground — specially with relation to postal laws, but as
a general principle — that Parliament could not enforce a tax in the
colony without the assent of the Assembly ; and the essential thing
was, not that they were not able always to carry out this doctrine
against the Governor, but that they should assert and maintain it as
a fundamental rule of conduct. Taxation without representation was
a phrase to remember for near three quarters of a century, though it
might be forgotten that when first loudly asserted in Virginia it was
provoked, perhaps, by a colonial governor declaring that the House of
Burgesses was a house of blockheads.
Of ah the conflicts, however, in which Spotswood was involved,
none was more earnest and bitter than the old one in regard to
church patronage. The Governor, like his predecessors, claimed that
the presentation to pastoral livings was a privilege of his office, and
that any interference by the vestries was mere usurpation. There
was just as little disposition now as in the time of Andros and
Nicholson to relinquish the control of the individual churches over
their clergymen. As in former years, the Reverend Mr. Blair came
forward to lend the weight of his character and abihty to the cause

76

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.

[Chap. III.

of the vestries ; and, as in former years, the victory was with them.
s ot^vood With the aid of this controversy the enemies of Spotswood
remoTed. prevailed against him, and he was reraoved in 1722.
As an influential private citizen he was, perhaps, of more service to
the colony than he had ever been as its governor. On his domain of
forty thousand acres he found beds of iron ore, established a furnace
and foundry, and gave to \"irginia a new and important industry .1
This identity with the interests of the colony, from his long residence
in it, brought him at length to juster and more hberal views of the
rights of the colonists. In ceasing to be Governor, however, he did
not retire altogether from pubhc life. Frora 1730 to 1739, he was
Deputy Postmaster-general of
the colonies, and through him
Benjamin Franklin was ap
pointed postmaster of the Prov
ince of Pennsylvania. When
Virginia was called upon to
furnish troops in 1740 to aid
in the expedition against Car-
thagena, Spotswood was called
upon to take command, and
he died — at the age of sixty-
four years — Avhile attending
to the active duties of the em-
barkation at Annapolis.
Lawrence Washington — a
half-brother of George Wash
ington — was a captain in
this expedition, and he after
ward named his family-seat in
Virginia Mount Vernon, in
honor of the adrairal under whom he served.
From the beginning of the century to about the end of Spots-
Pro^ressof woocl's administration, the population of Virginia doubled.
the colony, jj. (joublecl again within the next five and twenty years,
a period through which Hugh Drysdale — first after Spotswood — and
Williara Gooch, from 1728 to 1749, were governors. This increase
was inevitable in the addition of a third to the settled area of the
province by the occupation of the region beyond the Blue Ridge.
Of still more moment was it that the emigrants attracted to that
1 He did not, however, as has been stated, introdnce the manufacturing of iron into the
colonies. Two brothers, named Leonard, were the first manufacturers in the town of
Raynham, in Massachusetts, in 1652. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. iii.

Lawrence Aasningion

1736.] GREATER RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 77
lovely valley, differed in many respects from those who first settled
upon the bottom lands of lower Virginia, and from their descendants
who still lived there. There were fewer araong them who came to
America with the hope of acquiring fortunes ; more who came that
they might find permanent and peaceful homes ; fewer who sought
for large tracts of land for plantations ; more who were content with
enough to give them prosperous farms ; fewer who depended upon
the labor of slaves and servants ; more who tilled the earth with their
own hands, and were willing to eat their bread in the sweat of their
own faces ; fewer who prided themselves on gentle blood ; more who
were satisfied to remember that they came of the stock of English
yeomen, and that neither thej', nor their fathers, nor their mothers,
were among those raked out of the prisons of England, and the gut
ters and stews of London, to be sent to grow tobacco in Virginia ;
fewer who from habit trusted for spiritual guidance to the rollick
ing parsons of the Established Church as the respectable religion of
the time ; more who had broken away from a formal worship which
seemed to them to be without sincerity or vitalitj', and who cherished,
instead, profound religious convictions, acquired by long and earnest
reflection, and made the rule of life.
The dissent which began at this period to assume a bolder tone in
the older part of the province, must have been strengthened by the
influence of the Quakerism and Presbyterianism of these later emi
grants. But as the prosperitj' of the colony increased, some portion
of the new element was absorbed by Eastern Virginia as its popula
tion slowly crept up the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge from the
alluvial region between that and the sea. Greater freedom of thought
and a larger religious toleration went step by step with the material
progress of the colony. Governor Gooch was much more troubled in
the later years of his administration with the frequency of itinerant
preaching, and the gathering of dissenting churches, than with the old
question of the power of vestries in the Established Church. What
was the purpose of a pulpit, and what manner of man should occupy
it, came to be questions of more moment than how a man should be
put into a pulpit which the state had built. Whitefield was as
warmly welcomed on his first visit to Virginia as among the Puritans
of the northern colonies, not because he was iu orders, but because of
his power as a field-preacher. The New Lights were a terror to the
soul of Governor Gooch ; but commissary Blair invited the founder of
the Methodist Church in Araerica to preach at Williamsburg.
At Wilhamsburg, that which Berkeley had so deprecated, and Cul
pepper and Effingham would not tolerate, had already come to pass.
A printing-press was set up in 1736, and William Parks published a

78 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. HI.
weekly newspaper. The growing wants of a growing people found
New towns ^^^^^''^ 0"""" remedy. Towns which legislation had tried so
and counties. ^^^^ ^^ ^j^-,., |-q create, spruug up where they were needed.
Increasing comraerce wanted new ports; increasing production new
centres of traffic. Norfolk was incorporated near the entrance to
Chesapeake Bay ; Fredericksburg and Falmouth at the head of tide
water on the Rappahannock ; at the Falls of the James, partly upon
land that once belonged to Nathaniel Bacon, Wilhara Byrd, an
erainent and wealthy citizen, laid out a town to be called Richmond,
and on the Appomattox another to be called Petersburg. New
counties were made, — among them Albemarle, so called from the
Earl of Albemarle, who was appointed the titular Governor on the
death of Orkney in 1737, — and in these, the convenient neighbor
hood of two or three log-houses, as at Winchester and Staunton,
speedily grew to county-seats and market towns.
Gooch relinquished his office in 1749 and returned to England.
Three successive presidents of the Council, John Robin-
Accession of . n-i'i 111.
GoviS-nor gon, Thoiiias Lee, and Lewis Burwell, discharged the duties
of Governor till the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie in 1752.
Under his administration Virginia, in extending her rule still farther
westward, was led into new and momentous relations to the general
welfare of the American colonies.
For the first twenty years of this century there had been little
change in the neighboring province of Maryland, except that it was
restored once more to the Baltiraore family. Charles, Lord Balti
more, died in 1714; his son, Benedict Leonard Calvert, had surren
dered his Catholic faith, had accepted a pension from Queen Anne,
and had educated his children as Protestants. He died not long after
his father, and to his son, Charles, then a child, were restored those
political rights as Proprietary which had been taken from his grand
father at the accession of William and Mary. John Hart, the last
royal Governor, was continued in office as Baltimore's lieutenant for
twelve years. Except for two years, the Proprietarj- governed his
colonj' by deputies, till, at his death, Frederick, his son, succeeded
him in 1751. This, the sixth and last Lord Baltimore, left the prov
ince, by will, to his natural son, Henry Harford, in 1771.
The rule of the Protestant Baltimores was as gentle and as just
as that of their Catholic predecessors had been, and it is sometimes
remarked that the prosperity of the colony seemed suspended under
the royal governors. But, in truth, as no marked difference in the
character of the government of Catholic and Protestant Baltimores
is visible, so no lasting influence can be traced in the adrainistra
tion of proprietary and royal governors. IMaryland, like Virginia,

1733.]

PAPER MONEY IN MARYLAND.

"79

hke the other colonies at a certain period, emerged from the time of
struggle and dependence to enter upon another of ease and strength ;
and Maryland, more, perhaps, than any other colony, was left free to
grow and achieve prosperity, while the rule of roj-al governors was
too brief to permit of any serious innovation upon that popular inde
pendence which the Proprietaries had submitted to, and had, in some
measure, permitted and encouraged.
There was, indeed, here as elsewhere, the same contention between
Governor and Assembly, but it belonged to both royal and proprietary
government. This, however, though it might delay, was not a se
rious bar to the progress of
the colony. If very often
the colony would have been
happier without any gov
ernor, so, no doubt, it could
sometimes have well spared
an Assembly. That, for ex
ample, which in 1733 pro
vided by a single act for the
issue of ninety thousand
pounds of paper .money, in
flicted upon the colony an
injury not easily recovered
from. It was more than a
pound to every inhabitant
of the province, and it was
distributed among them
partly by expenditures upon
pubhc buildings, and partly
by loans. The bills, ere
long, sunk to one half their
nominal value, and, to pro
vide a fund for their ulti
mate redemption, the colo
nists were compelled to submit to a heavy export tax upon their great
staple, tobacco. But Maryland was not singular in the committal of
this financial blunder. There was not a colony that did not believe,
and act upon its belief, that a pound and a pajoer promise to paj' a
pound were of equal value ; not a colony that did not find the belief
a fallacy when the time came to pay the pound.
But for all this Maryland flourished. By the middle of the century
her people numbered about a hundred and thirty thousand ; her aver
age annual export of tobacco was thirty thousand hogsheads, and she

Frederick, last Lord Baltimore.

80 VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. [Chap. IIL
sent abroad also largely of wheat, and flour, and Indian corn. A
number of furnaces and forges were in successful operation, notwith
standing the effort of the British Government to cripple this industry
by offering a bounty on the importation of English iron — a measure
met by the Maryland Legislature by granting a hundred acres of land
to any one establishing a furnace or a forge. There were manufacto
ries also of woollen and of linen, and tanners, shoemakers, and smiths
were encouraged by an export duty on the raw material of their
trades. One third of the people, however, were slaves, and their un
skilled labor was inevitably forced into the over-production of a single
staple. Baltimore was laid out in 1729, on lands belonging to Charles
Carroll, and Frederick was founded sixteen years later. Other towns
were projected, but were of slow growth where they grew at all ; for,
as in lower Virginia, large plantations and slavery enforced a rural
population and a restricted industry.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CAROLINAS.
GOVEENOE MOOEE'S INIlLITAEY EXPEDITIONS AND THEIE RESULTS. — TeOUBLES
UNDEE TIIE AdMINISTEATION OF SiK NATHANIEL JOIINSON. — RePUI.SE OF A
Feench and Spanish Invasion. — Dissension in Noeth Caeolina. — Contest
BETWEEN CaEY, GlOVEE, AND HtDE FOE THE GOVEENOKSHIP.  InTEEFEEENCE OF
Governoe Spots'vvood. — Indian Outbee.ik in North Carolina. — The Yemas
see War in the Southeen Peovinoe. — Indiffeeence of the Peopeietoes. —
The Buccaneers of the Carolina Coast. — Their Suppression, and Death of
the Pieate-Admieal, Black Beard. — Revolution in South Carolina. — Dep
osition of Governor Robert Johnson. — Sie Francis Nicholson Provis
ional Governoe. — Puechase of the Caeolinas by the Crown. — Robert
Johnson reappointed as Royal Governor. — Condition of the Peovince.
The unfortunate expedition of Governor Moore of South Carolina
against St. Augustine, related in another chapter,^ had conse- Effects of
quences of more moment than belonged to it as a merely AuguJune'
mihtary disaster. It fastened a public debt of £6,000 upon a «-''P'=i"'™'
colony of only about five thousand people, created by the first issue of
paper currency, in that province, in the usual form of bills of credit;
and this was followed, in due time, by the inevitable depreciation and
consequent distress which, sooner or later, always attended that des
perate expedient in every one of the colonies. The creation of this
debt was a question of grave difference of opinion among the people,
and this divided them into two parties, whose hostility grew more bit
ter from year to year, as new occasions and new opportunities arose
to widen the breach and strengthen either one side or the other.
An administration that entailed such results as the issue of ambi
tion or imbecility, might well be called an unmitigated evil, had not
Moore, after his return from Florida, undertaken that other and more
fortunate enterprise, by which a new southern frontier was camp.iign
gained at the expense of the Spaniards, and raore territory "outhernin-
secured for future colonization. But even this service did ''"'"•''¦
little to reconcile the opposition. Moore was accused, and probably
with justice, of serving his own private ends on this expedition, by
1 See vol. ii., p. 559.
vol. in. 6

82 TIIE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
holding his Indian prisoners as slaves on his plantation, and in ex
porting them for sale to the West Indies. It was not forgotten that
he had, not long before, dissolved an Assembly for withstanding his
attempt to get the whole trade -^vitli the Indians into his own hands,
that he might, it was said, the more easily kidnap or buy the savages
for that foreign slave-market. Perhaps he was not so bad as he was
painted ; but so little harmony was there, at any tirae, between him
and the representatives of the people, that Charleston was for several
daj's given over to riot when the question of raising funds to meet the
expense of the unsuccessful expedition against St. Augustine came
before the Assembly.
This confusion was still worse confounded when Sir Nathaniel
Johnson was appointed to office in Moore's place, at the ac-
Sir Xathan- . '- '^ r\ - r '
leLiohnson cessioii of Queeii Anne. Of this man Johnson, John Arch-
as governor. ,,, /-.ir-r it-,*
dale, the former Quaker Governor and a Proprietor, said,
that he " by a Chimical Wit, Zeal and Art, transmuted or turn'd this
Civil Difference into a Religious Con trovers j'." ^ It was a religious
controversy, however, only so far as religious differences could be used
to compass a political end.
The official party, the friends and servants of the Lords Proprie
tors, were of the Established Church ; their opponents, who were
largely country people, were dissenters. Dissent, however, was with
many of them raore a matter of tradition than conviction. The gen
eration then native of the soil, and hving upon isolated plantations,
had grown np in ignorance, destitute of schools and of churches, but
inheriting a feeling that no church at all was better than the Church
of England. Manj', it is said, went farther than this, and had lost
all religious faith. Ostensibly to punish these unbelievers, Johnson's
first Assembly passed an act depriving of their civil rights all who
blasphemed the Trinity, or questioned the Divine authority of the
Bible, and condemning thera to three years' imprisonraent.
It is hardly credible that there could be raany in the province ob-
Aets of the noxious to tlils law. Infidelity is not often an intellectual
affiimt dis- conviction or assertion with the merely ignorant ; they cling
senters. rather to a religious belief of some sort, though their faith
may be little better than an unreasoning superstition. If, however,
the act of the Assembly was meant as a blow at the opposition party,
it evidently failed of its purpose, and was therefore speedily followed
up by another, which was more effectual. This law required that
any citizen chosen as a member of the Asserably should conform to
the religion of the Church of England, and should partake of the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper in accordance with the rules of that
1 Archdale's New Description, etc. Republished in Carroll's Hist. CoU. of S. C, vol, ii.

1704.] TROUBLES UNDER GOVERNOR JOHNSON. 83
church. The act was passed by a single vote ; the election to the
Assembly of many of the majority was disputed as carried by corrupt
and arbitrary measures ; yet, by this law, every dissenter in the
colony was virtually disfranchised, and the popular party — whicli
embraced all the dissenters, and far outnumbered their opponents —
was left completely at the mercy of the minority who represented the
Lords Proprietors, and who governed the colony, not for the good of
the people, but for their own profit.
The disfranchised party sent an agent — John Ashe — to England
to represent their grievances to the Proprietors. He escaped with
some difficulty, when his errand became known, from Carolina ; and
he might as well have remained there, so far as any redress awaited
him in London. Archdale, in his place at the Board of Pro
prietors, maintained the rights of the colonists with the sarae the'proprie-
zeal and integrity that he had shown when their governor.
Bnt the majority was against him, and Lord Granville, the " Pala
tine," cut short the debate by exclaiming : " Sir, j'ou are of one opin
ion, I am of another; our lives may not be long enough to end the
controversy. I am for the bills, and this is the party I will head and
support." Granville was a bigoted churchman, and cared much more for the
religious than the political aspect of the question. A proposal to build
a parish church in each county of the province, and to compel the peo
ple to worship therein, would with him condone a multitude of polit
ical sins, even if, in his estimation, the political purposes concealed
beneath the religious pretense were sins at all.. The Governor re
ceived the assurance that the Lords Proprietors approved of the " un
wearied and steady zeal " with which he had prosecuted a " great
and pious work " for " the honor and worship of Almighty God."
With this success the zeal of Johnson and his party was redoubled.
Churches were to be built and pastors provided, and lest this last
duty should be neglected, the ecclesiastical government of the colo
nial church, which rightfully belonged to the Bishop of London, was
vested in a commission of twentj^ laymen to be appointed by the Gov
ernor. The quarrel, in this aspect of it, was essentially the same
as that which, about the same period, agitated Virginia, and ousted
three governors successively frora their seats.
The dissenters, who were about two thirds of the population, had
been contending chiefly, thus far, for the right of keeping su„.,,,sfui
in the Assembly ; they were now forced to contend also for i'^"^-^*-" "

the dis;
ers.

the right of keeping out of the parish church, if it so pleased
them. A new agent — Joseph Boone — was sent to England, but this
time to look for redress in higher quarters than from the Proprietors.

84

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

The appeal was made directly to the House of Lords. That body
condemned in terms positive and emphatic the act relating to religious
worship, and that which excluded dissenters from the Assembly ;^ and
they referred the petition of the complainants to the Queen, with a
prayer that their wrongs might be righted, and that those persons

Granville and Archdale.

should be punished who were guiltj' of so flagrant and oppressive
a misuse of power. Anne responded by declaring the objectionable
laws to be null and void, and forthwith ordered the law officers of the
Crown to take immediate steps for the revocation of the charter.
The issue of a writ of quo ivarranto and the proceedings under it
were never, as we have so often seen in the case of other provinces,

1706.] FRENCH AND SPANISH INVASION. 85
measures rapidly disposed of. Lord Granville died a few months
after the Queen's decision, and Lord Craven, a man of less arbitrary
temper and of better judgment, stepped into his place as Palatine.
A few months afterward, toward the close of the year 1708, Colonel
Edward Tynte was appointed Governor in Johnson's place. He
came with instructions from Craven so conciliatory and considerate
that differences were reconciled aud animosities subdued for
T 1 j: r ^'^ interval
several years. It was only for a few years, however. The <>' <i™t.
seeds of dissension sown in Johnson's administration had taken too
deep a root to be easily eradicated. They bore fruit an hundred fold,
as we shall see presently, and Carolina ceased to be a proprietary
colony. Before Johnson's removal, howe%'er, one opportunity occurred to
him of showing that, at least as a soldier, he was worthy of being
entrusted with the command of a province. Intelligence reached
him that an attack was to be made upon Charleston by the
French and Spanish, partly as a war raeasure against the south caro-
power of England on the American continent, partlj' in sup
port of the old Spanish claim to Carolina. His preparations to meet
the threatened invasion were prompt and vigorous. Fort Johnson —
still standing, and under the same name — was built on James Island
in Charleston harbor ; redoubts were thrown up on that exjjosed front
of the city since known as the Battery ; and a corps of observation
was placed on Sullivan's Island to give the earliest possible notice, by
signal fires, of the approach of an enemy.
The invading fleet consisted of a frigate and four smaller vessels,
under the command of a Captain Le Feboure, a Frenchman. He sailed
from Havana in August, 1706, touching at St. Augustine to take on
board some Spanish recruits, and in due tirae appeared in Charleston
harbor. The Governor had ordered all the militia of the province
under arms, reinforced by all the friendly Indians within reach ; guns
and ammunition were hurried on board six merchant vessels in the
harbor, and these put under the command of Williara Rhett as adrairal.
Everything was done that could be done by a prudent and brave cora
mander. When Le Feboure sent a flag to deraand a surrender, the
summons was received with defiance ; the messenger was taken blind
folded from fortification to fortification, to be shown a well-appointed
force in each. The men were quietly marched from one point to
another, in advance of the unsuspicious Frenchman, who supposed
that he was brought face to face with a new corapany whenever his
eyes were uncovered. Every attempt of Le Feboure to make
•^ J 1 r> -^^^ repulse.
good a landing was repulsed. Rhett's little fleet of mer
chantmen were handled like raen-of-war, and the end was that the

86

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

French retired in a few days, completely baffled and disheartened, and
a ship with ninety men on board, sent to reinforce Le Feboure, which
arrived soon after he left, remained as a prize in the hands of the Caro
linians. In 1704, Henderson Walker, Avho as President of the Council was
acting Governor of Nortli Carolina, died, and Johnson was directed
North Caro- ^J Loi'd GraiivlUe to appoint some one to take that office.
ima affairs. Jjg named Colouel Robert Daniel, who, it may be remem
bered, was engaged with Moore in his unlucky expedition against St.
Augustine. Daniel, like Johnson, was a churchman ; whatever John
son did to secure supremacj' for the pro
prietary party in South Carolina, Daniel

was equallj' eager to do, so far as
it was necessary to gain the same
end, within his jurisdiction. When, '^'"'' "" """^ Messenger at Cha eston
therefore, John Ashe passed through North Carolina on his way to
Virginia, to find a passage to England, he was received with open
arms by the Quakers and other dissenters of the province, who felt
that the cause which he represented was theirs also. They accord
ingly empowered one Edraund Porter, a Friend, to join Ashe in his
mission to England, to represent to the Lords Proprietors how griev
ously they were wronged by this new Governor whora Johnson had
appointed to rule over them.

1707.] AFFAIRS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 87
For some reason, not now apparent, Porter was more successful
than his colleague, and the Board of Proprietors directed
Johnson to remove Daniel and raake a new appointment. He carj^oov-
selected Thomas Cary, who soon became as obnoxious as nol-thmi"'''
Daniel had been, and especially so to Friends, whom he ''°'™^'
would not admit to seats in the Assembly, or to anj' other office, with
out exacting an oath, to take which was forbidden both by their con
sciences and the discipline of their society. Porter was once raore
dispatched to England, to ask redress, and was once more listened to
with favor. Archdale's influence with the other Proprietors was suf
ficient not only for the removal of Cary, but to take frora Johnson all
the power that had been left in his hands as Governor-general of the
two provinces, and to give to the Council of North Carolina — a body
nominated by the Lords Proprietors — the right to elect a chief mag
istrate for that colonj'.
The Council — to -which several new members had been appointed,
some of whom probably, through Archdale's influence, were neniovai and
Friends — asserabled when Porter returned, and elected o^cary'by
William Glover Governor. But Glover was also a church- tti« Council.
man, and no more disposed than his predecessor to adrait Friends to
office without the legal formalitj' of the oath. The Council thereupon
reassembled, deposed Glover, and elected Cary. The natural conclu
sion is, that a compromise had been made between Cary and the
Friends, inasmuch as Cary, when in office before, had insisted upon
the oath, while now Friends were permitted to affirm instead of swear
ing. But the important question was, who was the rightful Governor? On
one side it was asserted that Glover's election had been illegal be
cause the Council had corae together before the time appointed for
their raeeting ; on the other, it was declared that Cary had no right to
the office, because some of the old delegates, who had been superseded
by new appointments, had been admitted to the meeting which elected
him and deposed Glover. There is no conclusive evidence now attain
able from which a positive judgment can be pronounced on this ques
tion ; but it is a case where testimony as to previous character has great
weight. So far as that may influence the verdict, the Cary party were
in the right. Whatever may have been his raotives, those of the
Friends were pure ; for they at least were contending for religious
toleration, freedom of conscience, and their civil rights ; and pispu,,.,
there is nothing in the history of that sect, either in North 'i^'^^f ^^
Carohna or anywhere else, to justify the supposition that '^^'^'^s^''-
they would condescend to any dishonest measures to attain an end,
however just and desirable. That the end does not justify the raeans

S-S

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

is a fundamental principle of their faith, and one to which as a so
ciety they have been generally true. The result, nevertheless, was
disastrous. Both Glover and Cary assumed to be the legitimate Gov
ernor ; the Council was divided between thera, and both assumed,
with their adherents, to represent the Proprietors ; and both issued
writs for the election of representatives to a new Asserably.
Flere, however, Cary proved to be the stronger ; the people were
on his side ; the Assemblj', when it came together, recognized him
and his Council, and repudiated
Glover. A bitter contest followed,
which lasted two or three j'ears,
leading to violence and even blood
shed, till Glover and his imraediate
associates fled for refuge to Virginia.
This civil contention, injurious to a

Gary before Hyde's House.
colony still struggling for existence, was the prelude, perhaps in some
degree the cause, of still further disaster.
^ It was not till 1710 that the Lords Proprietors in England gave any
sign of consciousness of the strife with which this portion of their do-
Hydesap- miuiou was torn. Then they appointed Edward Hyde as
pomtment. G-ovemor, and sent orders to Tynte at Charleston, as titular
Governor-general, to issue a commission to him. When Hyde arrived
Tynte was dead ; the only proof, therefore, of his appointment that
the new Governor could exhibit was that contained, it was said, in

1710.] CONTEST FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. 89
some private and unofficial letters from individual Proprietors. Cary
at first hesitated, and then refused, to accept this as suSicient evi
dence. How far he was justified in this course it is irapossible to
judge now, as we know nothing of the character and the number of
the alleged letters. That Flyde had no official commission, and Cary,
therefore, acted within the law, is acknowledged. He seemed to
apprehend violence, and fortified his house against a possible attack ;
then, growing more confident, as he found that his own party did not
fall away from him, he armed two vessels, filled them with soldiers,
sailed into Chowan Sound, and attempted to land at a place where
Hyde and his Council were assembled, apparently with the purpose of
seizing Hyde. Baffled in this, he retired to Pamlico and proposed to
make a stand at the house of one Roach. This Roach was a trader
recently arrived from England, and the agent of a coramercial house
in which John Danson was a partner. The fact has its significance,
for Danson was a son-in-law of Archdale's, to whom Archdale had
two years before conveyed all his right and title as a Proprietor of
Carolina.^ From Roach Cary received material aid in arms (,,^^.y „p.
and ammunition, as well as a welcome to his house. The 5°=™''™-
trader understood, probably, the wishes and the interests of his em
ployers, and in aiding Cary in Carolina represented truly the Quaker,
or non-conforraist, element in the Board of Proprietors in England.
In this crisis of affairs Hj'de repeatedly appealed to Spotswood of
Virginia for help. It was finally granted, for Spotswood was a royal
Governor, and to him all who arrayed theraselves, for whatever cause,
against constituted authority were only a " mutinous rabble." His
Council agreed with him in the necessity of suppressing an " insur
rection " which might prove of evil influence among the discontented
of their own colony ; even the House of Burgesses assented to his in
terference, while they showed that they were not without sympathy
for the popular party by refusing to grant all the raen and raoney that
he thought the occasion deraanded. But for this, perhaps, he would
not have condescended to negotiation.
Negotiation, however, was first tried ; naturally nothing but delay
came of it. Both parties had gone too far to yield to anything but
force. The Governor of Virginia then called out the mihtia of the
border counties to march into Carolina, and bring that force to bear
upon Cary ; but the mihtia did not respond to this summons. The
people of those counties were almost all Friends, and if they g^^^,^,^^^
could at any time be induced to take up arms, it certainly 'j°'^"''*'p'^\^°
was not now, when they were to be used against their own
brethren. Spotswood asked that a sufficient force from some naval
^ Hawks's History of North Carolina, vol. ii.

90 THE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
vessels, which just then happened to be in Virginia, might be put
under his orders ; but their commanders refused, on the plea that such
a service was beyond the line of their duty. There was one other re
source left to the (ioveruor : he ordered out the marines on board the
guard-ships of Virginia, and sent them to Carolina. Their number
must have been small, but they proved to be sufficient. At their ap
pearance, Cary and the few followers by whom he was surrounded
dispersed without a blow. When it came to a question of serious
armed resistance or submission, he knew that he had no alternative
but to submit.
Why? Not because the party which had sustained hira were cow
ards, but because thej' were Friends. In nurabers thej' far exceeded
their opponents ; Carj' and his iramediate associates, it is plain, were
readj' enough to lead thera to the utmost extreinitj' of armed revolt;
the successful issue of such a revolt was by no raeans hopeless. But
Gary's sub- C'ai'j' kiievv that he and his half dozen followers could not
mission. carry on a civil war alone; he knew that to their arabitious
personal airas — if they h;id any — the great bodj' of the people who
had thus far sustained him were utterly indifferent; he knew that
that support was given for the cause of religious freedom as the
Quakers understood it ; but not even for that cause would these peo
ple take up arras in violation of their profoundest religious convictions
There seeras to be no other rational explanation of this sudden col
lapse of a promising rebellion. It entered upon a new stage with the
ajipearance of troops who represented a government determined to
suppress it by force of arms. In that last resort the Friends had
no response to make ; the weapons with which they fought the good
fight were not carnal weapons.
What this may have had to do with subsequent events it is impos
sible, from the meagre records of the time, to tell. Carj' and two or
three others were arrested and sent to England as prisoners by Spots-
wood, but thej' were never brought to trial. A universal pardon was
jiroclaimed for all except the half dozen leaders, but even these seem
to have escaped punishment. In 1714 we hear of Cary residing in,
or visiting. North Carolina,^ unraolested. This forbearance raay have
been due, in sorae raeasure, to the indifference of the Proprietors to
the affairs of a colony which it was raore profitable to let alone than
to care for. But it is also probable that the conciliatorv spirit of
Friends, prompting 'them rather to suffer than to do evil, was not
without influence. All, at any rate, that they could have gained by
violent resistance was soon accorded them. In 1713 Charles Eden
1 " Colonel Cary is gone for the West Indies but intends in agaiii this Fall." Letter
from Governor Pollock to Governor Spotswood. Cited bv Hawks from Pollock JISS.

1711.] INDIAN OUTBREAK IX NORTH CAROLINA. 91
was appointed Governor by the Proprietors, and from his time,
though the Church of England was established by law, relig
ious freedom was also acknowledged as the right of every oi"ThT
man, and the affirmation of a Quaker was accepted in place
of an oath.
Araong the accusations made against Cary was one which, if true,
should have brought him to condign punishment, but which, as he
was not punished at all, was probablj' known to be an invention of
partisan animositj'. Hyde was hardly in quiet and undisputed pos
session of his office when he was called upon to meet a new and more
terrible calaraitj-. An Indian war suddenly broke out and swept
over the colonv. Cary, it was said, had sent emissaries araone the
Tuscaroras and incited thera to hostilities to create a diversion in his
favor. It is far raore likely that the savages, observing the anarchy
resulting from the dissensions among the colonists, hoped that an op-
portunitj' had come for their annihilation.
Carj' and his adherents had dispersed earlj' in July, 1711; the
appointed day of the massacre planned bj' the Indians was not till
September. To suppose that Cary could have had anything to do
with it, is to assume that he could resort to measures simjjlj' diaboli
cal to satiate his vengeance upon political enemies.
The Tuscaroras had induced all the smaller tribes to unite with
them in a general conspiracy against the English ; the half- ^arwith
tamed savages who lived in the neighborhood of the whites, ^'s ili^sorth
and those who were servants in their houses, agreed to join car°iina.
in the work of slaughter at the hour appointed. And thej' kept their
word. From every dwelling where these trusted servants had their
homes came the signal war-whoop, at break of day, to the bands who
the night before had concealed themselves in the vicinity of every
settlement of whites along the Roanoke, tlie Neuse, and the Pamlico.
Hundreds were slain within an hour, and those who escaped fled
from their burning houses to seek a shelter in the woods.
o . , „ Massacres
None of the sudden outbreaks of savage hate which from along the
^ Koanoke,
time to time had burst upon the several colonies was ever
more furious or more fatal than this. For three days it swept un
checked over the province from its southern to its northern extremity,
and then only ceased for the want of more victims when not a man,
woman, or child was to be found outside of the shelter of a house
garrisoned for a siege.
Among those who suffered most were a company of Swiss and Ger
mans whom persecution had driven frora the Palatinate to England,
and thence to find new horaes in Carolina. The leader of these peo
ple was the Baron De Graffenried, a Swiss gentieraan from the Canton

92

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

The Sn-iss
and German
.^etrtement
at New
Berne. Fate
of Lawson
and De Graf
fenried.

of Berne, and in his honor the town in and near which they settled
was called New Berne. A few days before the outbreak, De
Graffenried and John Lawson, the Survej'or-general of the
colonj' and its earliest historian, had gone up the Neuse to
learn how far it was navigable, and to select and survey lands
for new settlements. They were taken jDrisoners by the
Indians, and Lawson was soon put to death with horrible tortures.
Had their captivity been known, it would have been a warning to the
colonists of the hostile purposes of the savages; but the baron was not
released for several weeks, and then only on
condition of entering into a treaty with the
Tuscaroras and Cores, binding his people to re-
I ) take possession
"' - ' I t of those tribes.

sffii

Lawson and De Graffenried.

He was faithful to this agreeraent, and was enabled thereby to save
the remnant of the Palatines whora the massacre had spared ; he was
better able, moreover, to serve the colony at large by the information
he gained, while the war continued, frora friendly Indians, than if he
had taken up arras.
Meanwhile Governor Hyde appealed to Virginia and South Caro
lina for aid. The generous and impulsive Spotswood was restrained
by the cautious Burgesses, and was compelled to content himself with

1713.] END OF THE WAR IN NORTH CAROLINA. 93
interceding with the Indians. But more immediate help carae from
Governor Craven of South Carolina. Colonel Barnwell, at
the head of a small body of militia and several hundred of South°Siro-
the Yemassees, made a toilsome inarch through the wilder- ''"''
ness from Charleston to the Neuse, and there joined the small force
Governor Hyde had gathered to await their coming. The Tuscaroras
had built a fort about twenty miles frora Newbern, and had retired
there in great numbers. Here they gave Barnwell battle in the open
field, but lost three hundred killed, and a hundred taken prisoners ;
the rest were driven back to their fortifications, with many wounded.
But this did not happen till within a day or two of the end of
January. For more than a third of a year the North Carolinians had
been shut up in their garrison houses. Their crops were lost ; their
farms and villages, through the southern portion of the province,
were destroyed ; in almost every family there was the sound of lamen
tation for dead relatives or friends ; the living were reduced to pov
erty, even to absolute suffering for the want of food ; it was a long
winter of sorrow, of terrible fear, of continual privations, that this
victory of Barnwell's broke in upon, and without that relief the
colony would have soon ceased to exist.
The siege of the Tuscarora fort was not a long one. Barnwell was
wounded ; he found it difficult to feed his men ; his Indian allies were
restless and impatient, as Indians always are of any work requiring
steady and quiet persistence. He raised the siege, made a treaty, and
returned to South Carolina. The North Carolinians bitterly com
plained that he had abandoned them ; for the Tuscaroras broke the
treaty, renewed hostilities, and sought an alliance with the Senecas, of
the Five Nations, to carry on the war. The summer was spent by
both parties in preparations for a renewal of the struggle.
In the autumn Hyde died, and Colonel Pollock, a man of more
energy, was chosen Governor. A general Indian war was
-, -, \ . ° .,...--_ . Pollock 60T-
dreaded in all the southern colonies ; the Virginia House of emor. The
T> , n n Indian war
liurgesses gave a more hearty support to Spotswood s meas- ended in tte
ures of defence, and South Carolina sent a larger force,
under the command of Colonel James Moore, to the relief of the
northern province. Pollock, raeanwhile, sowed division araong the
Tuscaroras, and seduced Tom Blunt, an influential chief, from his alle
giance. Moore overtook the remainder of the tribe, with others who
had entered into alhance with them, in a fortified carap near the pres
ent village of Snow Hdl, on an affluent of the Neuse, in March, 1713.
His attack was so vigorous that the war was then and there virtually
ended. A large number of the enemy were slain, and eight hundred
were taken prisoners, most of whom the southern Indians carried back

94

THE CAROLINAS.

[Ch.\p. IV.

to South Carolina as slaves. A remnant of the Tuscaroras fled north
ward, and the Five Nations frora that time became the Six Nations by
the absorption of the tribe. The submission of all the Indians remain
ing in North Carolina was absolute. They had staked everything
on this final contest. But if affairs with them were desperate, they
were liardlj' less so with the English. An estimate of the resources
of the colony, made
a few days after the
battle, showed that
there were but thir
ty-two barrels of
raeat and eight
hundred bushels of
corn in the whole
pi o vince.
The force led to
the suppression of
this Indian war iu
North Carolina,
fiist by Barnwell
and then by Moore,
was coraposed al
most entirely of
Yemassees. Could
these Indians have
looked forward for
only two years, and
acted on that fore-
--"" sight, it is quite
r possible that not a white man
would have been left south
of the Vnginia boundary. An
alliance between the Tuscaroras
and the Yemassees would have been
too formidable to be met with any
hope of successful resistance. But
when the destruction and dispersion of the Tuscaroras made such an
alliance impossible, then the Yemassees undertook to do alone that
which they had just prevented the northern tribe from doing, — that
which by their combined strength could have been so easily accom
plished. For, in the spring of 1715 the southern Indians sent the "bloody
stick," as a signal for war, from Cape Fear to the St. John's River,

The " Bloody Stick."

1715.]

THE YEMASSEE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

9,5

carrying dismay through South Carolina from the frontier to the coast.
In a single instance only was there any warning of the calaraity.
Sanute, a Yemassee chief, had become warmly attached to a
Scotch settler on the frontier, named Fraser, and to his wife, of Theve-™
a beautiful woman whom the Indian regarded with great rev- ™^*'^'"'*'
erence. To both he had sworn eternal fidelity, confirming his oath by
the ceremony usual,
araong his people, of
washing their faces
with water scented
with certain herbs,
and vowing with his
hands upon his breast
that whatever came
to his knowledge
should be toldto
them. True to his
vow, he came secretly
to Mrs. Fraser, an
nounced to her that
¦ i ''bloody stick"
I been sent from

Sanute and Mrs Fraser,

they must flee for their lives. It may have been a part of the agree
ment that any secret communicated by the Indian to his friends
should not be revealed to others ; at any rate, though the Erasers
accepted the warning for themselves, and fled to the coast, they gave
no hint of the coming danger to the scattered settlers, whose houses
they passed in their flight.
For a few days even Charleston trerabled for its safety, as the few
who escaped the sudden outbreak fled to the town from the outlying

96 THE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
plantations. The massacre, however, soon ceased, for the want of de
fenceless victims. The Indians were now corapelled to raeet an organ
ized force led by Governor Craven, who defeated them in a general
fight near Port Royal. The victory was so complete that the savages
were driven througli the wilderness across the Florida border, and the
province relieved altogether from a people far raore to be feared than
trusted, notwithstanding their past services. Thej' left behind them
the ashes of hundreds of horaes, and the bodies of more than four
hundred of the victims of their barbarity and hate. The outbreak
was supposed to be instigated by the Spaniards ; but whether this was
true or false, the savages were received with welcome and applause in
Florida, and encouraged in future raids. These, however, were suffi
ciently guarded against by two or three railitary outposts along the
southern frontiers.
Two years only had passed awaj' since the existence of North Caro
lina seeraed merely a question of hours. Both colonies, had
Final defeat . . . ^ .
of the their enemies united, might have been destroyed between
Indians. , ^ -'
sunrise and sunset. Now, rather through savage fatuity than
the prowess of the whites, these remained in quiet possession of that
broad domain, while the powerful tribes who claimed it as theirs
were scattered north and south, separated from each other by almost
half the length of the continent. The beautiful forests, the lovely
islands, the noble mountains, of their old homes, above all the graves
of their fathers, were to be to them henceforth only a tradition. In
all the colonial history of North America there is no more remark
able instance of how events, not brought about by the English, but of
which, nevertheless, they knew how to take advantage, served to dis
possess the Indians of their country and give it into the hands of
a new people.
In all these years the Proprietors in England had left the colonies,
for the most part, to prosper or to perish, as events, which they made
little or no effort to control, should determine. Or rather, if an
earlier historian i is right, the Proprietors did far worse by the colo
nists than to neglect them ; for their affairs were left to the manage
ment of a secretary, so far as they were managed at all, and this man
was moved in all that he did by Nicholas Trott, of South Carohna.
Trott was Chief Justice for years. Judge at the same time of the
Vice-admiralty Court, President of the Council, sometimes acting
Course of Govcmor, — always in office, always using the proprietary
to^ taring" secretary for his own purposes and those of his party. But
this period. gQ £g^^. j^g (.]^g Proprietors acted at all, of their own volition,
in the affairs of the colonies, it was to neglect them where their inter-
1 Hewitt's History of the Rise and Progress of Ihe Colony of South Carolina.

1717.] THE CAROLINA BUCCANEERS. 97
ference would have been a help, — to interfere when neglect was of
all things to be raost desired. They were left to defend theraselves as
best they could against their savage enemies ; to reconcile the strife
of factions ; to stagger under the load of debt which war created, a
burden added to by the atterapt to relieve it by the issue of bills of
credit. But any scheme for adding to the revenue of the Proprietors
by an increase of taxes was certain of their approbation ; any op
pressive measure contrived by their officers they were sure to sustain.
To acts of the Assembly of South Carolina to regulate trade with the
Indians, and to secure a free and general election of representatives —
both of imperative necessity for the public welfare — the Proprietors
refused their assent. When the lands vacated by the Yemassees were
taken possession of by the colonj', and opened to the use of settlers,
they were seized by the ProjDrietors for their own use, and hundreds
of new emigrants ruined by demands, for rent and purchase-money,
impossible to meet. Craven's successor, Robert Johnson, a son of the
former Governor, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, received instructions that
took from the Assembly almost all voice in the governraent of the
colony, the Proprietors declaring that all legislation should be sub
mitted to thera, and that they should reject and repeal all laws as they
saw fit. A royal order in Council was about the same time received,
requiring the repeal of an act levying ten per cent, on all British
goods imported, from which came almost the only revenue for the sup
port of the colony, except direct taxation.
The public debt was augmented soon after Johnson's accession,
by a necessaiy public service, and this added burden fell, as usual,
upon the colonists. The pirates who had always, more or
^ X ./ Piracy on
less, hirked alonsc the Carolina coast, had become so bold the Carolina
r -I . -n ¦ coasts.
that they could be tolerated no longer. The island of Provi
dence, one of the Bahamas, had long been a convenient rendezvous
for these buccaneers, but driven thence by an expedition under Cap
tain Woodes Rogers, who took possession of the island in the name
of the King, they had found convenient hiding-places in the sounds
and inlets of the Carolinas, particularly about Cape Fear. They were
the ruin of all legitimate commerce, and the terror of all honest sail
ors. So well armed and manned were their vessels that they did not
hesitate to capture merchantmen within sight of the town of Charles
ton, and extort a ransom from the government for any prisoners of
note that fell into their hands. The adrairal of these rovers, one
Teach or Thache, — but universally known bj' the raore romantic name
of Black Beard, — hoisted his flag upon a ship of forty guns, and the
squadron under his command consisted of six vessels. Three of his
VOL. III. 7

98 THE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
captains. Vane, Worley, and Steed Bonnet, were as well known, and
almost as much dreaded, as himself.
The harbor of Charleston was kept under constant blockade by one
or raore of these vessels, in turn, from the convenient station in the
mouth of Cape Fear River. Hardly a merchantman bound in or out,
could escape them, and so serious was the injury to the commerce of
the port that Johnson determined to put an end to it at all hazards.
He sent out a ship under command of William Rhett, and Steed Bon
net awaited him outside the bar at the mouth of the harbor, till he
saw that the enemy was stronger than he dared encounter.
Capture and -" r-, r\ rr-ii - ^ -m
execution of Tlieu hc Sailed for the station at Cape t ear. 1 hither Rhett
steed Bonnet . -^ e i .
fohowed, attacked and took the pirate with a crew of thirty
men. Returning with these to Charleston, they were speedily tried,
and twenty-nine of the thirty as speedily hanged.
Worlej', another of the pirate captains, soon afterward appeared
in defiance at the mouth of the harbor, and the Governor, taking
command of his ship in person, went out to meet him. Worley's
sloop carried six guns and was ready for battle. The engagement was
desperate ; no quarter was asked or given ; every man on board the
pirate, save the captain and one of the crew, was killed, and these two
refused to surrender, though they could fight no longer. Johnson
sailed back to town, in sight of which the battle was fought, and lest
And of Wor- ^^'s two wouudcd prisoucrs should cheat justice by dying of
'''•'¦ their wounds, they were hanged immediately.
The loss of two vessels, of two of his bravest captains, and of so
raany men, so crippled and alarmed Black Beard that he went with
twenty of his comrades before Governor Eden, of North Carolina, and
took advantage of a royal proclamation made some tirae before, prom
ising pardon to all jDirates who would surrender. He remained for a
while on shore, living a riotous life upon his ill-gotten gains, finding
among his neighbors on Pamlico River a young woman who consented
to be his thirteenth wife. This rural leisure and domestic bliss —
though probably his wives were numbered with the ports where he
refitted — he soon relinquished, and took to the sea again. For a
while he kept within the law, by bringing in vessels, found, he said,
deserted at sea, for condemnation in the court of admiralty. There
were grave suspicions that in this sort of salvage the Governor, the
secretary of the colony, and the admiralty judge had a share of the
profits. But even this pretence of an honest employment of his tirae
by Black Beard was soon abandoned, and he returned to his old
waj's. Either because Governor Eden wanted the strength or wanted the
will, to undertake the suppression and punishment of these bold buc-

1718.]

SUPPRESSION OF TIIE BUCCANEERS.

99

cancers, Governor Spotswood was asked to send a naval force to the
relief of the North Carolinians. The Virginia Governor offered a
large reward for the pirate captain's head, and two arraed sloops, un
der the command of Lieutenant Maynanl of the royal nav^-, were
ordered to Pamhco River. It was intended to take the pirate by sur
prise, but Black Beard was informed of their coming, and was pre
pared to fight if he could not escape. On board his vessel were twen
ty-five desperate raen. When iMaynard overtook thera, the pirates
opened the battle with a broadside, swearing that they would neither
give nor take quarter. Maj'iiard's vessel, unfortunately, ran aground,
and, unable to manoeuvre, was so exposed to the fire of the enemy
that twenty men were shot down at a single broadside. Then Black
Beard boarded, not knowing that iMay-
ird had a reserve of men below. These

Maynard's Return.
other's heads without harm ; then each rushed upon the other with
hi^ dirk and fought with skill, courage, and desperation till Teach
fell. The boarding-party had numbered seventeen ; nine, besides the
pirate captain, lay dead upon the bloody deck ; the other seven were
mortally wounded. Then Maynard, in his turn, boarded the pirate
vessel, made prisoners of the rest of the crew, and was just in time to
seize a negro who stood with a firebrand at the magazine, with orders
from the captain to blow up the ship in case she should be taken.

100 THE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
So the victory was complete, and the law erelong gave the pirates
who survived the fight to the gallows. There is hardly a raore con
spicuous figure of that time in all the colonies than that of the brave
young heutenant, as he sailed through Pamlico Sound and into Chesa
peake Bay, with the ghastly head of the dreaded pirate Black Beard
dangling at the end of his bowsprit.
South Carolina's share in the extermination of this formidable band
of buccaneers cost her ten thousand pounds, — a serious increase of her
public debt — a serious addition to the tangle of difficulty and discord
to be cut by the sword of revolution. The conduct of Trott, the
Chief Justice, had becorae so intolerable that the Governor and Coun
cil united with the bar and the Asserablj' in demanding his removal,
and one of the Council, Francis Yonge, was sent to England
.V new mis- ,.. c, i ,,it-» *,
sion to Eng- to represent the condition ot tlie colony to the Proprietors.
The mission was a failure. If no redress could be obtained
on the representations of an officer of the government, it was plain
that the popular party had nothing to hope frora any further remoii-
straiice. In the dispatches which Yonge brought back, the Governor
was rebuked for being too lenient to the colonists ; he was ordered
peremptorily to enforce the prerogatives of the Proprietors ; to dis
solve the Assembly, to repeal their objectionable laws, to insist upou
the paj'raent of taxes, to increase the number of councillors, to forbid
anj' increase of the popular representation iu the Asserably, — in short,
to enforce with more severitj' than ever the rule which the colonists
believed would prove their speedy ruin.
The point was reached at which almost anj' public exigency would
be sure to bring about a collision between the government and the
people. It came with the apprehension of a Spanish invasion which
the Governor learned was in preparation at Havana. He called the
Asserably together, represented to them the exposed condition of the
province, and asked for means of defence. The Assembly declared
that the tax ujDon imports was sufficient to meet the emergency. The
Governor replied that the Proprietors had repealed the law. The
repeal, the Assembly said, would be disregarded, and whoever refused
to pay the duties would be compelled to obey the law. Thereupon
Chief Justice Trott pronounced judgment in advance, by declaring
that in any such suits brought in his courts he should decide in favor
of the defendants. The crisis had come in which one party or the
other must j'ield absolutelj'.
Governor Johnson, however, that there might be some preparation
to repel the expected invasion, ordered out the militia regiments of
the province for review, and appointed a day for general inspection.
The members of the Assembly, on their part, quietly held meetings

1719.] REVOLUTION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 101
in different places in the country, formed an association, and prepared
for revolution. At the appointed tirae the railitia regiments mus
tered ; the revolutionary leaders seized the opportunity, produced the
articles of association to the soldiers, and thej' were eagerly signed bj'
almost every man in the colony capable of bearing arms. Happily
there was no Spanish invasion, but the Lords Proprietors, neverthe
less, then and there lost a province.
For Johnson hiraself there was the utmost respect. The revolt was
not against him, but against his masters. The members of the As
semblj', resolving themselves into a convention of the people, issued
a declaration of reasons for what they had done, declined to recognize
the proprietarj' government under the Governor and his ille
gal Council, but besought Air. Johnson to remain in office as tween Gover-
rojal Governor until the will of the King could be known, and the con

vention.

He refused, addressing to the Convention a long and able
message, setting forth the rights of the Proprietors, his own dutj'
under their coraraission, and the illegality of the proceedings of the
Convention. " We beg leave to tell you," replied the Convention,
" that the paper your honor read and delivered to us we take no
notice of, nor shall we give any further answer to it, but in Great
Britain." But they assured him " that it is the greatest satisfaction
imaginable to us to find throughout the whole country that univer
sal affection, deference, and respect the inhabitants bear to your hon
or's person, and with what passionate desire thej' wish for a continu
ance of your gentle and good administration," and therefore thej'
again earnestlj' desired and entreated him to remain as Governor " in
his majesty's name, till his pleasure shall be known." True to his
sense of duty the Governor was unmoved.
But however great their respect for his private character, the Con
vention now owed it to the people to be firra in their disregard of
the Governor's authority. He issued a proclamation dissolving the
House ; the representatives would not permit it to be read, and or
dered it to be torn from tlie hands of the marshal. A new Governor,
Colonel .lames Moore, was elected, and the day on which Johnson
had previously ordered the militia to assemble in Charleston was
selected by the Convention as a fitting time for the inauguration of
Moore. Johnson had subsequently directed the commander of the
military. Colonel Parris, to countermand his order, but this, Parris,
who was on the popular side, had neglected to do. On the appointed
day Johnson, coming into Charleston from his plantation, found the
town alive with preparations for the celebration of a joyful event.
The colors were flying from the flagstaffs of the fort ; every bit of
bunting at their command decked the vessels in tlie harbor; the peo-

102

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

pie had culled out a holid-ay, and put on their best attire, and in the
great square iu the middle of the town were drawn up in imposing
array the citizen-soldiers of the whole province.
Astonished, indignant, but not in the least intimidated, the ex-gov
ernor faced this unexpected situation. Seeking out the leading men,
he expostulated quietly but earnestly with sorae who, he believed,
were honestly pursuing a mistaken course ; others he accused of basely
abandoning their duty, and forgetting their oaths. These he threat
ened with punishment. Of Colonel Parris he deraanded how he dared
appear there at the head of his 
troops in disobedience of positive -K ,yf'*'^J^p?C;|

orders ; and he coramanded him
to disperse his men at once The

The Muster at Charleston.

colonel replied that he was there in
obedience to the commands of the
Convention, and as the ex-governor
approached with angrj', perhaps
with some threatening gesture, the
troops were ordered to present their guns, and he was warned that he
came nearer at the peril of his life.
Charleston at that early and rude period of her history was used
to riots as the easiest waj' to carry an election or suppress
claimed a partj', and either there must have been at this juncture
unusual self-restraint exercised by the people, or the affec
tion they bore their late Governor was his efficient protection. For,
he stood alone, looking into the faces of the soldiery ; not one of

1721.J SIR FRANCIS NICHOLSON, GOVERNOR. 103
the officers of the proprietary government — toward whom, perhaps,
there would have been less forbearance — came to his side ; in the
multitude around him there was not one personal eneray, but among
them all he saw not one who was a friend to his cause. Persuaded,
at length, that further contention, under such circumstances, was use
less, he consented to retire, and was led away courteously and kindly
by one of the gentlemen of the opposition. The interest of that gala
day — an interest all the greater that it was unexpected — faded
away as he turned his back upon the soldiers into the muzzles of
whose guns he had looked without flinching. It was the Governor
deposed, not the Governor proclaimed, who had become the central
figure of that celebration. It so often happens that it is more effect
ive to be dramatic than to be right.
This was in Deceraber, 1719. Thenceforward South Carolina was
in fact a royal province, though Johnson for a year or more longer
endeavored by one device and another to maintain his authoritj'.
His last desperate effort was raade in the winter of 1721, when two
men of war were ordered to Charleston to repulse another appre
hended Spanish invasion. Relying on the aid of these ships, whose
captains brought their guns to bear upon the town, Johnson took
the field at the head of a hundred men. Two shots over their heads
dispersed them, and it was plain at last, even to him, that the cause
of the Proprietaries was hopeless.
Meanwhile both parties sent representatives to England. A revo
lution so serious and so complete could not be ignored there. The
Proprietors were charged with having forfeited their charter
by misgovernment, and the Attorney-general was once more ment of
instructed to take the proper steps to test the question, provisional
A provisional Governor of the province was appointed, and
soon after Johnson's final atterapt to reinstate the proprietary gov
ernment. Sir Francis Nicholson arrived as the representative of the
King. It was Nicholson's good fortune to be sent to Carolina, as he had
previously been sent to Virginia and Maryland, at the moment when
the colony was about to emerge from the long and bitter struggle with
hardship, poverty, ignorance, and misgovernment, and was in a condi
tion to enter upon a new era of success and prosperity. It was his own
good sense and sound judgraent that enabled him to see the necessities
of the people, and to understand what measures were requisite to
take advantage of new conditions. The presence of a royal gov
ernor ended all immediate strife between the contending parties,
and with the consciousness of royal protection came a period of
tranquillity, content, and hope throughout the colony. War had

104 THE CAROLINAS. [Chap. IV.
ceased between England and Spain, and Nicholson's first care was to
avail himself of the peace to deliver the colonj' from the fear of
Indian hostilities. He sought and secured peaceful relations with
both the Spaniards and the Yemassee tribe in Florida. With the
powerful nations of the Cherokees and the Creeks on the western and
southwestern borders of the province he concluded treaties of peace
and of commerce, guarantying to thera the possession of their own
hunting-grounds, and receiving a promise in return that the English
settlements should be unraolested, — agreements kept like all Indian
treaties, so long as the reasons for keeping were stronger than the
reasons for breaking them.
Nicholson, if not a devout raan in his private life, was too wise a
statesman to underrate the value of religious influences. No other
American colonj' was so destitute of churches as South Carolina, aud
nowhere else was there so marked an absence of any sense of relig
ious feeling and responsibility. When heretofore it had showed it
self at all, it took on, as we have seen, a political aspect, and was
raade to play an iraportant part in the strife between the Proprietary
party and its opponents. The robe of the saint was stolen only to
serve the devil in. But the new Governor, through the four j'ears of
his administration, labored with great zeal to relieve a destitution
which — if he deprecated it for no other reason — he felt to be an
obstacle to the welfare and growth of the state. He laid down the
boundaries of parishes; encouraged and aided the people to build
church edifices ; and interceded with the Society in England for the
Propagation of the Gospel, to provide thera with pastors. The
church he labored for was, of course, the Established Church ; there
was hardly religious feeling enough in the province, at that period, to
seriouslj' suggest any question of conformity or dissent.
Whether it was that the people were irreligious because they were
ignorant, certainly ignorance and irreligion went hand in hand among
thera. Nicholson was equally earnest in his efforts to overcome both.
There was not a single public school in the province at the time of
his arrival. He aroused the people to some sense of the importance
of education, and aided them to secure it for their children with his
private raeans as well as with the weight of his official influence and
authority. It is strong evidence of the excellence of his adrainistration that,
for the four j'ears it lasted, the Proprietors seem to have submitted
without a murmur to their loss of authority. But both they and
their party in Carolina showed signs of life again when Nicholson re
turned to England, leaving his office in the hands of Arthur INIiddle-
ton, the President of the ( 'ouncil. The writ against the charter had

1729.] SEPARATION OF THE CAROLINAS. 105
not been issued ; in the colony the strife of parties, which had begun
to show itself before Nicholson left, had become threatening. The
Proprietors assumed the right of appointing a Governor, and p^^hase
named Colonel Samuel Horsey for that office ; if other offi- 'he province
.' ' hy the
cers were appointed by the Crown, they claimed that the nom- '-''¦°™-
inations should be submitted to them for their approval. But the
contest was too unequal to be long sustained on their part, and they
offered to surrender their proprietary interest for a pecuniarj' consid
eration. The prayer was granted, and in 1729 both the northern and
southern colonies were purchased by the Crown — including territory
aud arrearages of quit rents — for twenty-two thousand five hundred
pounds sterling. To this agreement, however, Lord Carteret was not
a partj'. A one-eighth interest in the property was retained by him,
which about twenty years later was set apart from the rest by giving
him all the territory from 34° 35' to the boundary line of Virginia,
and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Frora the date of the purchase of the colony by the Crown, North
and South Carolina becarae in law, as they had long been in fact, two
separate provinces. Thenceforward there was no pretence of the au
thority of a governor-generalship to be exercised over the northern
colony by the governor of the southern, — an authority which, for
manj' years, had been merely nominal, or onljr exerted at tiraes by
special order of the Proprietors for some special purpose. The last
proprietary Governor of North Carolina was Sir Richard Ev-
erhard, who had displaced George Burrington. Burrington, Carolina
in his turn, as the first royal Governor, displaced Everhard.
The years of the official tenure of these men were raarked by little
else than their personal quarrels. Burrington was evidently a ruffian
of a low order, and was indicted by the grand jury for an assault
upon Everhard while he was Governor. The indictment gives raany
of the terras of obloquy and defiance which Burrington publicly hurled
at his opponent : that " he was no raore fit to be governor than a
hog"; that he was a " calve's head;" that "I (the said George
himself meaning) will scalp your damned thick skull (the said Sir
Richard's head raeaning) " ; and other equally " scandalous, oppro
brious, and raalicious words," which even then seem to have been con
sidered as hardly compatible with the dignity of an ex-governor. He
was nevertheless reappointed when the province passed to the Crown,
for his family, it is supposed, was in favor at Court. As royal Gov
ernor his conduct was so outrageous that he thought it prudent to
leave the province, and he was murdered not long after, in a drunken
brawl in London. Gabriel Johnston, who was appointed in 1734 as
Governor of North Carolina, remained in office for the next twenty
vears.

106

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV,

It was a singular testimony to the estimation in which Robert
Johnson was held, both in England and in South Carolina,
Johnson re-
apppointed that tlic Govemor whom revolution had deposed should be
Governor of • i i
South sent back with a roj'al com-
Carolina ^
mission, and that his letuin
should be welcomed with univeisal
satisfiction That welcome, when he
aiiived m Chailes-
ton,.in Decembei
1730, was the ^=_ J^\^
w a 1 m e r that he ^ ^

"W

Johnson's Return.
brouglit with him six Cherokee chiefs returning from England. So
important was the friendship of that powerful nation held to be by
the governraent, that almost its first act after the purchase of the
colony was to send an embassy, under Sir Alexander Cumming, to

1730.] CONDITION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 107
these Indians. Six of their chiefs he had taken back with him to
England, a sight of the Tower of London and the King on his throne
being thought then as certain to soothe the savage breast, aud in
duce the warrior to turn his tomahawk into a reaping-hook, as it is
now believed these pleasant consequences come from_ a sight of the
Capitol at Washington and of a President in the White House.
These fallacious hopes were not, indeed, of long duration. Beyond
the Cherokee and Choctaw countries were the French on the Gulf
and the Mississippi ; and whether in trade or in war, the Indians
knew too well how important their position was between the rival
powers. There were, however, more immediate dangers requiring the
presence of a governor in South Carolina. Johnson's report, a few
months after entering upon the duties of his office, was that no taxes
had been collected, and not a court of justice had been held in the
province for four years, — not, in other words, since Nicholson's de-
parture.i To restore harmony and order where discord and anarchy
reigned was the work to which he addressed himself, with a large
measure of success, for the four remaining years of his life.
But it was no easy task. In no other colony was there so raixed a
population, including English, French, Scotch, Irish, and Spanish, un
used for years to much restraint from either law or gospel,
and too ignorant to be safelj' left to be a law to themselves, of the'
There were frora six to seven thousand of these white people, ''"^'"™'
and in addition to them about twentj'-two thousand African slaves.
This heterogeneous population lived, for the raost part, upon isolated
plantations of large tracts of land ; here the labor of the slaves was
chiefly devoted to the production of a single staple, rice, though to
this the cultivation of indigo was soon added. The laboring whites
were indented servants, and, with labor degraded and cheapened by
slavery, their condition was quite hopeless. To their servitude there
came in time an end, but the degradation of their class has been per
petuated in the " poor whites," who are even yet a distinctive feature
in the society of South Carohna and Georgia. The colony, moreover,
was overwhelmed with debt, and the repeated issue of bills of credit
had borne its legitimate fruit in the depreciation of the value of cur
rency. That value was necessarilj' brought to the test of exchange on
England, and it required about this period seven hundred and fifty
pounds of South Carolina currency to buy a bill on London for one
hundred pounds.^ It had been the policy of the Proprietors to escape
the burden of a great public debt by limiting the issue of these
bills of credit ; the people, on the other hand, both to provide a
1 Papers in State Paper Office, London. Coll. of Hist, Sor. of S. C, vol. i.
^ The comlition of tlie currrency in the several colonies in 1748, as measured liy the rate

108

THE CAROLINAS.

[Chap. IV.

revenue for the support of government and to check the increase of
slaves, had insisted that a heavj' duty should be levied upon their
importation. Unhappilj', in the struggle of parties both measures
were nullified, either of which would have been a blessing to the com
monwealth. The establishraent of the roj'al governraent under Johnson," how
ever, gave a new impulse to the energies of the colonists, and fresh
interest was aroused in England in the domain south of Carolina,
the only region along the Atlantic coast now unoccupied bj' Euro
peans. The Governor was ordered to lay out eleven new townships
on the banks of several rivers, to be divided into small farms as an
inducement to the emigration of poor but industrious persons. The
project was defeated, at least in the southern part of the province, by
the preoccupation of the lands in large tracts by planters, who found
an abundant supply of labor in the increasing importation of slaves.
But this southward moveraent of the Carolinians was soon checked by
a project to plant a new colony on the further side of the Savannah
River.
of exchange on London, is tabulated in Douo-lass's .Summary, Hlsinrlml and Political, etc.,
ofthe British ¦Settlements In North America, as follows: —
For £100 New England currency 1100.
" New York " . 190.
East Jersey " 190.
" " West ilerscy " 180.
" " Peniisylvaiiia " 180.
" M.nryland " 200.
Virginia " 120 -» 125.
" " North Carolina " 1000.
" " South Carolina " 750.

-y

Medal Struck in 1736 to commemorate the Separation of North and South Carolin

Fac-simile of the Invitation to Phips's Funeral.

CHAPTER V.

THE EOYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND.

Massachusetts a Royal Province. — Thk Troubles of Rhode Island. — Arbi
trary Interference OF Lord Bellomont. — Administration of Dudley. — In
dian Hostilities. — Attacks on Deerfield and other Places. — War in
Maine. — Capture of Port Royal. — Massachusetts early in the Eighteenth
Century. — Inoculation for Small-Pox. — Governor Shute in Massachusetts
AND New Hampshire. — The Royal Prerogative in Forests. — Financial
Policy of the Colonies. — Ben.jamin Franklin and the "New England Cou
rant." — Settlements in New Hampshire and Maine.
The charter which was brought back by Sir Williams Phips con
verted Massachusetts into a royal province. The first Par-
T c TTT'ii* -f Massacliu-
hament which assembled in the reign of William, manifest- settsaEoyai
- . , . Province.
ed a willingness to pass a bill restoring to the colony its orig
inal charter, but this intention was defeated by the Court. The par
tial discontent which met Phips in the colony when he returned as

110

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

Governor under the new charter was considerably increased by the
hostility of persons who had been connected with the witchcraft
trials. When he died at London, it became necessary to select an
other royal Governor. The appointment was neglected, however,
in the more imperative necessities of the new reign ; for three years
the unpopular Stoughton acted as Governor, and party feeling be
came much embittered. A fresh distraction came in the renewed at
tacks of the Indians upon frontier towns, stimulated by the French,
with whom England was at war.
New Hampshire and the Province of Maine suffered this time more
severely than Massachusetts. An attack upon Haverhill was
memorable for the subsequent exploit of Hannah Dustin,
who, with an infant only a few days old, a boy named Samuel
Leonardson, and another woman, was carried off to an In
dian camp on an island in the jMerrimai:k, near Concord, N. H. The

New Indian
hostilities.
— Hannah
Dustin of
Haverhill.

,^«i=«r„rXj

Hannah Dustin's escape.
infant, as usual, was killed against the trunk of a tree. The sight of
this prepared the mother's heart for her bloody reprisal. One day
when the boy was at work chopping for the Indians, he casually asked
one of the savages how and where he struck a man with a hatchet.
The Indian, pleased to show that bit of sylvan skill, told him. That
night the three captives with hatchets slew the ten sleeping guards,
and Hannah, remembering her infant, scalped thera. Then they
dropped down the river in a canoe to Haverhih.

1699.] AFFAIRS IN RHODE ISLAND. Ill
Joseph Dudley, the Puritan courtier of the King, had been sent
with Andros to England, where the King released hira. To appease
somewhat his hunger for ofl&cial station, he was appointed Chief Jus
tice of New York. Tiring of this contracted sphere, he returned to
England and was made Lieutenant-governor of the Isle of
Wight. In the mean time Lord Bellomont had been ap- mmit, gov-°
pointed Governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New
Hampshire. There was nothing in the brief period of the Earl's ad
ministration of fourteen months to mar the cordiality with which he
was welcomed in Boston, in 1699. His High-Church principles were
overlooked in the deference he paid to the Congregationalism of New
England ; but the General Court abated nothing, notwithstanding
the esteem in which he was held, of their jealous care for their
chartered rights. They refused to vote him a fixed salary, while they
made the liberal appropriation of nearly ten thousand dollars in httle
more than a j'ear for his use.
Rhode Island, however, was less fortunate during his administra
tion than those colonies of which he was the actual Governor.
He was only the commander-in-chief of her militia; but he Rhode isi-
evidently did not forget that she also would have been un
der his rule had the discussion upon making him Governor-general
of all the northern colonies, which so long delayed his coming, been
decided the other way. The unfortunate condition of Rhode Island
gave him the opportunity for the exercise of an authority over that
colony which his military commission did not warrant ; his zeal for
the suppression of privateering and piracy and the enforcement of the
Navigation Laws, supplied a motive.
Circumstances, quite as rauch as choice, had raade Rhode Island a
maritime community. Her undisputed possessions were
nearly hmited to the island withm the waters ot Narragan- timeadvan-
sett Bay, for on the mainland .she was raet by rival claimants
on all sides. The harbor of Newport was more open to the sea than
either that of New York or Boston. And it was never closed. When
the tortuous channel and shallow flats of Boston harbor were covered
with miles of solid ice, and the bay of New York was a firm roadway
from Fort George to Staten Island, the mighty current of the Gulf
Stream, sweeping in upon the Narragansett coast, tempered the cold
currents from the north with the warm waters of a southern climate.
This advantage of situation, when commerce was chiefly carried on in
small coast-wise vessels, made Newport always an easy port of ref
uge, while from its central position it was a convenient point of trade.
Lawful privateers in time of war could find nowhere else a place
where they could so easily refit, where they could so easily run in

112 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
with their prizes or land their plunder ; and when peace turned priva
teers into pirates, courts of admiralty were not always mindful of nice
inquiries as to manifests and bills of lading, even if the legal exist
ence of the court itself was beyond question.
The interests of the people were marine, and that made them sail
ors. Block Island, now only known as a pleasant resort for summer
visitors, was toward the end of the seventeenth century famous as a
rendezvous for sea-rovers, who put in there to recruit, or hovered olf
shore to intercept some ship, worth taking, bound in or out. And
more than once, during those years, when a Frenchman was seen in
the offing, a well-manned ship hurried out of Newport harbor in pur
suit, and, after a gallant fight, sailed back again with a prize in tow.
So for raany years, in the uncertainty of her territorial domain,
Newport, with the tribute which Newport drew from the sea, was the
chief reliance on which Rhode Island depended for prosperity and
wealth. Massachusetts had never forgiven her for presuming to exist
Rhode isi- ^t ^ll' ^i^'i ^^^^ boundary between the two colonies was a
darv^'oTOs- source of perpetual conflict till the middle of the eighteenth
tions. century. A similar controversy existed with Plymouth,
and this lost none of its acriraony when that colony became a part
of Massachusetts during the administration of Sir Williara Phips.
But the question of the western boundary was still more serious,
for it involved all that portion of the present State of Rhode Island
which lies between Narragansett Bay and Pawcatuck River, and south
of the latitude of Warwick. This carae to be known as the King's
Province because of that soleran act of subraission of the Narragan
sett chiefs to the King which Gorton and Holden took to England in
16-14.1 'pjje territory was clairaed both by Connecticut and Rhode
Island as covered by their respective patents. And in fact it had
been granted to both, though the grant to Connecticut was a blun
der. It was one of the frequent blunders of that early period arising
partly from geographical ignorance, partly from carelessness
(¦onneeticut lu tlic administration of colonial affairs. The patents secured
island ciiar- by Joliii Wlutlirop for Connecticut in 1662, raade the Nar
ragansett River the eastern boundary of the colony.^ John
Clarke of Rhode Island was then in England soliciting a charter
for his people, and he exposed the wrong that would be done them by
this encroachment upou territory which they claimed as theirs un
der the older patent. So obviously just was his protest that Winthrop
was finally convinced of it, and when Clarke, the next year, sent home
the Rhode Island charter granted by Charles II. — Winthrop acceding
1 See vol. ii., p. 91. ' -yol. ii., p. 2.5+.

1733.]

THE RHODE ISLAND TROUBLES.

113

to it as the Connecticut agent — it made the Pawcatuck River the
western boundary of Rhode Island, expressly reciting that " the sayd
Pawcatuck river shall bee alsoe called alias Narragansett river ; and
to prevent other disputes, that otherwise raight arise thereby, forever
hereafter shall be construed, deemed and taken to bee the Narraganset
river in our late graunt to Connecticut Colony raentioned as the
easterly bounds of that Collony."
Nothing could be plainer ; the Pawcatuck had been mistaken for
the Narragansett, and the Rhode Island charter corrected and limited

Mouth of the Pawcatuck.

the
before to
Conn ecticut .
Connecticut, nev
ertheless, refused
to abide by that hmitation, and continued, for raany years, to raaintain
her title to the King's province as part of her territory, and at the
later period claimed as far north as Providence. Winthrop, she de
clared, had ceased to be her agent and had no right to acquiesce in
such a compromise. But it was the King who had granted the pat
ent, not Winthrop. Rhode Island accused her neighbor of securing
a charter by " underhand " measures; Winthrop exonerated himself
by acknowledging that a wrong had been done ; if those he repre
sented had not committed a fraud, they proposed, at any rate, to take
advantage of a blunder — which supreme authority had attempted
to correct.
Nor was this the only territorial complication which embarrassed
and impoverished the Rhode Islanders. A corapany, called the Ath
erton Company, — from that Humphrey Atherton who was one of

114

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

the Massachusetts commissioners sent to break up the Gorton settle
ment at Shawoniet in 164-3 1 — had purchased large tracts in

The Ather-
ton Com- the Narragansett country on the Bay about " Smith's trading
house," now Wickford, from the Indians.

pany

Another company
had taken possession of lands, under authority from Massachusetts, —
who claimed them by right of conquest of the Pequot country, — on

wickford, R. I.

both sides of the Pawcatuck River at its mouth. The township laid
Settlement out by theui was called Southertown, now Stonington. Its
nnM""md'' eastern division on the east side of the Pawcatuck was with-
^''¦''"'''' " in the hmits of the Rhode Island patent, and sorae Newport
men settled upon it and called it Westerly. Thenceforth raged a
feud, always bitter and sometiraes bloody, between the two settle
ments. It is an interesting fact, worthy of passing notice, that in that part
Indian Kes- ^f this old town of Westerly, now called Charlestown, reside
Charies-™ all that are left, in New England, of the tribe of Narra
gansett Indians, though there is not among them one of pure
Narragansett blood. In numbers they are about one hundred and
twenty persons. In condition they are reduced to dependence upon the
State, which provides for their wants when the fruits of their own toil,
as coraraon laborers and as basket-makers, are not sufficient for their
subsistence. The land they hve upon is reserved for their special occu-
1 See vol. ii., pp. 79 et seq.

1662.] THE LAST OF THE NARRAGANSETTS. 115
pation; and when portions are conveyed to individuals for their sole
use, as is sometimes done, the title passes by the ancient ceremony of
presenting to the new owner a bit of turf and a twig frora the land.
The tribal government is still preserved, their local affairs being man
aged — subject to the Legislature of the State — by a council chosen
yearly from araong themselves.^ A republic has displaced the line of
kings, the royal dynasty ceasing, probably about a century ago, with
King Tom — a rather disreputable monarch and much given to drink
— and his Queen, Esther. The burial-place of the royal family is on
a hill, within the reservation, where the pensive Indian may recall —
if he remembers thera — the traditions of his race as he looks out over
many railes of lovely landscape, once happy Indian hunting-grounds ;
over, as far as Montauk point, the blue waters of the Bay, whose sur
face, not many generations ago, was never disturbed save by the swift
canoes of savage fisherraen and warriors. On the horizon, seaward,
rises the rocky coast of Block Island where Endicott landed, in spite
of wind and waves, to punish the natives and to destroy their corn,
their wigwams, and their boats; near by, inland, within the reserva
tion of the tribe, rises Fort Neck, where Mason passed the night and
held counsel with the famous Narragansett chiefs, Canonicus and Mian-
tonorao, on his way to the destruction of the Pequot Fort and tribe.
It is historic ground. Does the half-breed pauper, standing upon the
graves of the kings of his race, ponder upon departed glories? Do
no old savage instincts stir his blood as he turns from the sight of his
home of civilized penury to look upon thriving villages and mills and
farms ; upon the sea dotted with the glistening sails of coraraerce ;
upon the smoky pennants streaming across the sky frora passing
steamers ? No scalps now hang in his wigwam ; no squaw pounds
his corn ; no deer bounds through the forest to fall bj' his swift
arrows ; no eneray lurks in its recesses to be followed with stealthy
tread and brought to sudden death. The wigwam of fragrant boughs,
gay with many-colored deer-skins, is a board shanty : the squaw,
once picturesque in scanty garment and untrammeled lirabs, a play
thing and a slave, is a hard-worked woman weaving wicker bas
kets ; in the woods and swamps the son of the warrior and the hun
ter cuts cedar posts 2 and fire-wood. There are only the The last ot
graves on the quiet hill-side to remind him of the past. But Namgiu-
that one spot, at least, is sacred ; no common dust is perrait
ted to mingle there with the dust of kings, and even tradition fails to
preserve the memory of the last burial. The blood of this royal race
1 JIS. notes of Mr. S. H. Cross, Indian agent of the State of Rhode Island.
2 The best cedar posts in Rhode Island come from this Indian reservation. — Mr. Cross's
MS.

116

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

flows now only through the veins of one living person — Esther, an
old woman in Westerly, living apart from her people, the only repre
sentative of the ancient Narra
gansett chiefs, and though not
quite of the pure blood, the
purest living of the Narragansett
tribe. But — to resume the history of
the boundary question — " under
handed " certainly were the meas
ures sometimes resorted to, that
Rhode Island might be deprived
of territory which was justly
hers, and her colonial power be
limited to the narrowest bounds.
The animosities engendered in
those earlier tiraes when Massa
chusetts banished Williams, rav
aged Shawomet, and carried Gor-
Esthe,, the last of the Royal Narragansetts. tou aud hls compauious trium
phantly to Boston, imprisoned
Clarke and punished Holmes with many stripes, for the manifold
heresies intolerable to the Puritans, — those bitter memories had, no
doubt, much to do with this later hostility to the struggling little
colony. That questionable Narragansett patent of 1643,^ whereby
Massachusetts might have set up a claim to all Rhode Island, was
sometiraes, though cautiously, appealed to as an arguraent in defence
of the Atherton purchase.
The Atherton Company was composed of some of the most influen
tial men of Massachusetts and Connecticut ; but its affairs were chiefly
managed by that Edward Hutchinson who was among the earliest
settlers of Rhode Island, but afterward returned to Massachusetts and
was restored to favor. Perhaps he bore no good will to the early as
sociates whom he abandoned; at any rate, he seems to have been more
considerate of the interests of his Company than scrupulous of the
rights of the colony, of a portion of whose domain the Company pro
posed to take possession.
Hutchinson found a facile tool in that Captain John Scott who was
Captain soou afterward conspicuous in the affairs of New Netherland
just before its surrender to the English Commissioners,^ and
of whom Governor Nicolls said two years later — when the
Duke of York conveyed New Jersey to Berkeley and
See vol. ii., pp. 100 <t seq. 2 See vol. ii., pp. 257 et seq.

John Scott
as agent for
the Com
pany in Eng
land.

1663.] CAPTAIN SCOTT'S M.\NAGEMENT. 117
Carteret — "I must charge it upon Captain Scott, who was born to
work mischief as far as he is credited, or his parts serve hira."
Captain Scott was in England acting as Hutchinson's agent, when
Winthrop and Clarke were soliciting charters for their respective gov
ernments. That to Connecticut was granted in April, 1662 ; that
to Rhode Island in July of the following year, after the points of dif
ference between these agents had been discussed and an atterapt at
settleraent made by a board of referees. One of the points pronounced
upon by that board was, that the Narragansett people — the company
was now called the Narragansett Company, i\Iajor Atherton having
been killed by a fall from his horse the year before — should choose
for themselves to which of the tvco governments they would be at
tached. If the eastern boundary of Connecticut was to reraain as provided
by its blundering charter, — on Narragansett Bay, — this proposed
compromise was unnecessarj', for the Narragansett people were, in that
case, already under the jurisdiction they preferred. But the transfer
of that boundary to Pawcatuck River — " alias Narraganset," —
would leave these people, where they did not wish to be, within the
bounds of Rhode Island. Connecticut accepted their offered submis
sion, while she rejected the new boundary of the Rhode Island charter
on the ground that her agent had no longer power to act ; accepted,
that is, as much of the compromise as suited her ; Rhode Island de
clined to surrender to another government jurisdiction in the very
heart of that countr}' which the new charter decided to be hers. The
terms of this charter unquestionably were the only legal and proper
basis of settlement, and those most interested knew it.
About three weeks after the meeting in London of the referees who
thought they had settled this vexed and troublesome question. Captain
Scott wrote a letter to Mr. Hutchinson, for the first time pubhshed a
few years since by Mr. Arnold in his admirable history of Rhode
Island.i Mr. Winthrop, he writes, was " very averse to my prosecut
ing your affairs, he having had much trouble with Mr. Clarke, whiles
he remained in England." Perhaps he raeant that Winthrop, having
already brought the affair to a satisfactory conclusion, was impatient
of any interference ; and certainly, if he was at all aware of ^^^^^.^
Scott's proposed method of interference, he, as an honorable f^^^^i^'^j™^"'
man, might well be " very averse " to any such companion
ship. For so soon as Scott was assured that Winthrop had fairly left
England, he took, he says, " into the Societye a Potent Gentleman,"
sent in a petition against Clarke and his associates of Rhode Island,
and did not doubt " of effecting the premises in convenient tyme."
1 Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. i., chap, ix., appendi.K.

118

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

A letter
from the
King in fa
vor of the
Narragan
sett Com
pany.

And his method " in order to accomplish the business " was this : "I
have bought" he wrote, " of Mr. Edwards a parcel of curiosityes to the
value of ii60, to gratifye persons that are powerfull, that there may
be a Letter filled with Authorizing Expressions to the Collonyes of
the ilassachusetts and Connecticut,'" who should thereby " joyntlye
or severallye have full power to doe us Justice to all intents as to our
Naraganset conceriies." The " potent gentleman " made good use of
the sixty pounds' worth of curiosities to be given to powerful
persons, and in return came a royal letter addressed to the
United Colonies of New England, commending the Narra
gansett people to their kindness and protection. ^ The letter
thus procured, and signed by the King probably in ignorance and in
difference alike of the fresh difliculties in which it might involve his
subjects in Rhode
Island, was granted
only seventeen days
before the new char
ter was issued to
her. That charter
was dated the 8th
of July ; the agree
ment in regard to
it between Win
throp and Clarke
was concluded on
the 7th of April;
"I cannot deeme,"
wrote Scott to
Hutchinson, "those
termes Mr. Win
throp made with
Clarke any way to
answere your de-

Map of Rhode

ng the disputed Boundaries..

sires, were there a
certaintye in what Clarke hath granted." Here was the raotive for
procuring the mandate of the King to the United Colonies — Rhode
1 In the letter of the King, as published in the Collections of the Rhode Island Historical
Society, vol. iii., the name of this "potent gentleman" is given as Thomas Chissick. In
the discussion on the Xarra-ansett Patent before the Massachusetts Historical Society (Pro-
ceedlngs, June, 1862), Colonel Aspinwall says he was Thomas Chiffinch, " the Court pimp;
the willing abettor of ei ery vile Court intrigue ; the man who to furnish assurance of the
royal sanction, contriied the interviews betivceu Charles II. and Dangerfield, the assassin
from Nuwgate, hired to murder the discarded Premier Shaftesbury ; and who afterwards
stealthily admitted the Catholic confessor to the dying monarch."

1703.] DECISION OF THE BOUNDARY QUESTION. 119
Island, it will be remembered, was excluded from that Union — for
the protection of the Narragansett Company ; and it was necessary to
bribe some persons about the King to secure his signature to a letter
in direct collision with the Rhode Island charter, decided upon a few
days before, and signed a few days afterward. Thus harassed on all
sides — at Southertown, by the Narragansett Company, and along the
boundary lines of INIassachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut — for
years the colony could assert no authority, nor collect a dollar of rev
enue, without dispute or resistance, anywhere beyond her little island.
Implicit obedience to imperial authority was by no means a colonial
habit, and it did not in the least avail Rhode Island that in the course
of successive years that authority was exercised on its behalf. Two
of the royal commissioners, Carr and Maverick, decided in its favor,
and declared the Atherton purchase of the Indians null and void;
Andros was equally positive as to the justice of the cause of Rhode
Island, although he suspended her charter ; in 1694 the Board n^^isions „£
of Trade in London, by advice of the Attorney General, sus- ^ry que™''"
tained all the claims which the province insisted upon under ^^"^e"
that charter which at the fall of Andros had again becorae i'*'™"^-
its constitution of government ; and the sarae Board decided against
the claim of the heirs of the Duke of Hamilton to the Narragansett
country, notwithstanding it took precedence of all others, as it was
founded upon a purchase made of the old Plymouth Company early
in the century.
But all this availed nothing ; there were conflicting decisions enough,
meant to be authoritative, to keep the question an open quarrel ; and
it was not till 1703 that Connecticut consented to accept the Pawca
tuck as her eastern boundary, and not till nearly half a century later
that Massachusetts would agree to any compromise whatever.
These protracted disputes were a source of perpetual anxiety to the
colony, hindering her growth as well as interfering with her freedom
of action. It was an encroachment upon her rights under the charter
to give to Phips, and to Stoughton of INIassachusetts, and to Fletcher
of New York, the command of her militia. The case was still worse
when the same power was given to Belloraont, who was Gov- Bellomont's
ernor of two other colonies, and Captain-general also of the arShocTe"
forces of Connecticut and the Jerseys. He was the repre- i*"'""*-
sentative of the party who believed it to be for the interest of the
Crown that all the northern colonies should be united as a single
province, and his conduct was not likely to be questioned if he went
beyond the letter of his coramission. Should he see fit to exceed his
legitimate powers by interfering with civil affairs in Rhode Island,
she had small capacity of resistance.

120 THE ROY^AL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
He did interfere, to her great alarm and injury, by upholding the
pretensions of her opponents. To carry out his purpose in the sup
pression of piracy and privateering, and the enforcement of the Navi
gation Laws, he needed more power over Rhode Island than his mili
tary commission gave him. This question of boundaries was a weapon
he did not hesitate to use. When she declined or neglected to obey
his military requisitions, whether because she could not, or because
she would not, he forbade her to levy taxes or exercise any other au
thority within the disputed territories. Though received at Newport
with cordiality and such hospitality as the people could comraand, his
attitude was hostile, and his judgment severe. In a letter to Eng
land he declared her government to be " the most irregular and illegal
in their administration that ever any English government was." Her
worthy chief magistrate, Samuel Cranston, he denounced as " con
niving at pirates, and making Rhode Island their sanctuary."
It was not that the little colony was so much worse than her neigh
bors, but that being driven to the sea for a subsistence, she made the
most of it. That one is a good sailor is not, indeed, a good reason
for being privateersman or pirate ; but surely that favorite argument
so often urged on behalf of the Puritan — that he was not the less
a most estimable man and exemplary Christian when hanging Quak
ers, or drowning witches, or whipping Anabaptists, because such was
the fashion of his time — raay palliate those evil-doings of the Rhode
Islanders. Of New York, Belloraont said : " The people have such an
appetite for piracy and unlawful trade that they are ready to rebel as
often as the governraent puts the law in execution against them."
The Governor may have thought that because of the weakness and
friendlessness of Rhode Island she, at least, might be easilj' brought
to obedience and good behavior. His accusations, at any rate, were
unsparing, and were met with difficulty by her agent in England ; and
had the Earl lived long enough to push them to a conclusion, Rhode
Island raight have been corapelled to answer to a quo ivarranto, and
have lost her charter.
After the death of Belloraont, Stougliton again became acting Gov-
Administra- cruor, but he too died in four raonths and left an oppor-
deiTthlff tunity for Dudley which he was not slow to seize. Cotton
-Dudi'eT' Mather warmly espoused the cause of a man who in Eng-
againaotive. ]j^j^^ cultivated piety and Puritanism so sedulously as to
win the Congregational heart. Dudley's active party was chiefly in
England ; Massachusetts had not forgotten his subservience to An
dros, and his complicity in the composition of the new charter. His
intrigue was so skilful and persevering that the King was prevailed
upon to appoint him Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

1703.]

ADMINISTRATION OF DUDLEY.

121

This happened just before William's death. The appointment was
confirraed by Queen Anne, and Dudley came to Boston, satisfied at
reaching the point of an ambition which was inspired partly by patri
otic and partly by personal considerations.
The first token of his unpopularity appeared when, according to
instructions from the Court, he demanded that the province should
vote permanent salaries to the Governor, his deputy, and the „¦
/-., .-, -ir-i IJ' Ills gover-
Crown judges. Massachusetts refused, insisting upon its ""^I'v-
custom of annual grants, and the General Court voted Dudley about
one half of the sum which was paid to Belloraont.
In May, 1695, a Board of
Trade had been organized
in London, for the regula
tion of colonial commerce.
Its function lasted until the
American Revolution, and
being inspired chiefly by pri
vate interests, it was a con
stant source of vexatious in
terference. The old laws of
trade were revived, and Ran
dolph was sent out as Sur
veyor-general. Dudley, besides favoring
the Board of Trade, under
took to carry into effect the
most unpopular article of
the new charter, that, name
ly, which clothed the gov
emor with authority to re
ject the nominations of the
General Court, or Assembly, for members of his council. He also,
without a shadow of authority, endeavored to put creatures of his
own into the Speaker's seat. He even went so far as to express
hostility to all charters. His son wrote to England : " this country
will never be worth living in for lawyers and gentleraen till the char
ter is taken away. My father and I sometimes talk of the Queen's
establishing a court of chancery here." A strong party, headed by
Cotton Mather, who was not so influential with Dudley as he expected
to be, and including the leading clergymen of the province, was
formed, and made persistent but unavailing attempts to oust Dudley
from office. But he skilfully created a party of his own, and kept it
in active cohesion by catering to the interests of its members. Au-

Governor Dudley.

122

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

thorities accuse him of conniving at the illicit trade of his party dur
ing the war with France, and he was suspected of sharing in its
profits ; for Dudley was a lover of raoney for the sake of the power
which it could buy.
The Peace of Ryswick, which was transmitted to the colonies in
October, 1697, put an end for a time to French and Indian hostilities.
But when, in 1702, after the death of William, Louis XIV.
determined to espouse the cause of James's son, the Preten
der, England declared war. Indian atrocities of a frightful
kind, directed and stimulated by the French, were wreaked upon
Massacre at Massachusctts aud New Harapshire. De Rouville, with
Deerfield. three hundred French and Indians, carae down from Canada
by the Connecticut valley to surprise Deerfield. That vdlage, con-

Qneen .\nne';

M^ifi^S^*^^

'j^

Williams House, Deerfield, Mass

taining about two hundred inhabitants, suspected an attack and was
vigilant. But one morning in February, 1704, the savages, hiding in
the woods till the sentries retired at daylight, surprised the half-
awakened people. Fifty persons were killed, and a hundred prisoners,
including women and children, were taken and carried off to Canada.
It was the policy of the Jesuits to get hold of as many children as pos
sible, in order to rear them in the principles of Romanism. Many of

1704.] WAR WITH THE FRENCH AND INDIANS. 123
them thus became Catholics, and some of the women, married to In
dians, began the race of half-breeds which, together with the unions of
Frenchmen and Indian women, filled Canada and the Northwest
with able guides and trappers.
Among the Deerfield captives were the minister, Williams, his wife,
and five young children. The youngest had been only a few days
born ; and while the poor mother, finding that she was too weak to
travel through the snow, knelt down in prayer, an Indian tomahawked
her. Sorae twenty years after, a woraan in an Indian dress walked
into Deerfield. The people did not recognize a daughter of Wil
liams, who had married an Indian in Canada and refused to desert
her children. The minister ordered a public fasting and prayer that
her resolution might be changed ; but the new ties were more relig
iously observed than the old ones, and she returned. Indeed, many
children made captives in this manner, who afterwards came back to
the settlements, could not submit to the restraints of civilized life,
and declared that the Indian way was the best.
In the course of the year Lancaster met a sirailar fate. The war,
with the French element of subtle intelligence to guide, was ^tLan-
even more barbarous than Philip's. The colonists, in scat- '='*^''"'-
tered parties, sought to defend a long frontier against an eneray who
knew how to avoid striking till the stroke promised to be fatal.
The French, claiming the whole coast of Maine as far as the Ken
nebec, had established, not long before, a trading and missionary post
among the Norridgewock Indians on the upper waters of that river.
The Indians, ever the warm allies of the French, were ready always
to oppose any settlement of the English east of the Kennebec, while
the French men-of-war seized every English fisherman who was found
in Acadian waters. The province was equally stimulated by hostility
to the French and dread of the Indians, and Dudley recognized the
importance of protecting the frontier against both. He went to Casco
and induced the representatives of various Eastern tribes, including
the Nor ridge wo cks, to meet him in council. French advisers had care
fully instructed the chiefs to assume a spirit of neutrality. The
Governor was presented with the customary belt of wampum and
assured that an intention to go to war was as distant from their minds
as the sun was above the earth. Then two cairns of stones were piled
up, both parties assisting, in token of amity and fraternity. All this
time a plot existed among them to seize the Governor and his suite
and turn them over to the French ; and it was only frustrated by the
failure of a French party to arrive in time.
In less than six weeks after this scene of pretended sincerity, at
tacks were made upon the settlements between the Kennebec and the

124 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
Piscataqua, and the whole region was filled with terror. Families
took refuge in garrison houses, and no work in the fields
Hostilities i i i , - i -i - -r-, i
inthe could be done without arraed protection. Detachments of
Northeast. troops were sent out to intercept the savages, but they were
not to be found. Winter expeditions, undertaken upon snow-shoes,
were no raore successful.
Colonel Church was sent, in 1704, from Massachusetts with over
five hundred men to succor these harassed settlements on the eastern
frontier. He destroyed some villages, and raet and killed some of
the enemy, both French and Indian, on the Penobscot, but with no im
portant result. Iu the winter an attack was made by New Hampshire
raen upon Norridgewock, and the wigwams and French chapel were
burned. These reprisals only exasperated the savages. They struck
back with terrible and cruel blows wherever they found the English
off their guard. That year and the next, Haverhill, York, Exeter,
Dover, Sudbury, Groton, and other places in Maine, New Hampshire,
and Massachusetts, were fallen upon and some of them destroyed.
The savage eneray was so successful in attacking where there was no
chance of defence, or, where defence was made, in eluding pursuit,
that it was computed each Indian slain cost the provinces a thousand
pounds.^ Scalps were at a preraium. Massachusetts offered fifteen
pounds for the hair of any male Indian who was over twelve years
of age ; eight pounds was offered also for each child or woman cap
tured. ^ The French also attempted to stimulate their Indian allies
by offering a scale of bounties for English scalps ; but the savages
generally preferred to take prisoners and transport thera to Canada,
partly inclined to this by the Jesuit priests, who desired to raake con
verts of Protestants, and partly by the pleasure which they felt in
finding that a good many youthful captives were disposed to adopt
their mode of life and to intermarry with their own young women.
Thus the years of Queen Anne's War, glorious to England in the
great campaigns of Marlborough and Peterborough, the splendid vic
tories of Blenheim, of Barcelona, of Ramillies, of Oudenarde, were to
the colonies years of inglorious Indian warfare and savage onslaughts
upon the peaceful homes of woraen and children, — inglorious, but
often heroic in brave deeds and braver endurance of torture and be
reavement. Through all, the colonial authorities held steadily to the purpose of
the conquest of Canada and the expulsion of the French from their
1 Penhallow's Indian Wars.
- This scale of bounties for scalps advanced so rapidly that when Lovewell's volunteers
took the war-path in 1724, a man's scalp was worth one hundred pounds, and one of a
child or woman brought fifty pounds to persons in the public service, and the double of
each sum to volunteers.

1710.]

CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL.

125

northern borders. In 1707, Dudley sent a force of a thousand men,
under Colonel March, raised in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
Rhode Island, to reduce Port Royal. In two campaigns,
extending through the winter into the following spring, against Port
the thousand men were reduced to less than two hundred,
chiefly by hardship and disease, and the fort was not taken. Nichol
son's first campaign from New York, though not so disastrous, was
quite as unsuccessful ; but neither these nor other misfortunes, the
uncertainty of the friendship of the Five Nations, the certainty of
the hostility of all the Eastern savages, abated the courage or deter
mination of the colonies.
In 1710, however, the place was taken by the aid whicli Schuyler
and Nicholson had induced the ministry to give to the war in Amer
ica. In September, a fleet of six ships of war and about thirty

Plan of Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
transports, carrying five regiments of troops, sailed from Boston har
bor. Five of the war vessels belonged to the English navy, the
sixth, a galley, to Massachusetts. Two of the five regiments were
New England men ; the fifth was a regiment of English marines.
General Nicholson of New York was the commander-in-chief. Sir
Charles Hobby and Colonel Taller of Massachusetts, Colonel Whiting
of Connecticut, and Colonel Walton of New Hampshire, led the troops
of their respective colonies.
Port Royal — named afterward Annapolis Royal in honor of the

126 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
Queen — was still under the command of Subercase, who had so suc-
cessfullj' repulsed March and Wainright, two or three years before.
With less than three hundred men, he could make little defence against
the formidable force which now approached. The people outside the
fort opposed the landing of the English troops, aud killed a few of
Its sur- them ; but Subercase yielded when summoned to surrender.
render. Qj.^g transport was wrecked on entering the harbor, and twen
ty-six men were lost ; fourteen or fifteen were killed in the advance to
the fort ; but at this cost of only forty lives Nova Scotia became an
English province, for the capture of Port Royal was virtually the
conquest of all that portion of New France. The proposed invasion
of Canada by land and sea at the same time, under Hill and Nichol
son, which failed so signally the next year, prevented — as we have
shown in a previous chapter — the sending of any aid to Castin, and
the treaty of Utrecht gave to England the province which the New
England troojjs had conquered.
With the accession of George I., August 1, 1714, to the throne, the
doctrine of passive obedience which the Tories maintained against
the Whigs was understood to have been defeated. At the same time
the friends of Governor Dudley, who were principally Tories, lost
their influence, and it was easy for his enemies to procure his re
moval. For twelve years he had, for the raost part, raisgoverned Mas
sachusetts, planting in the soil seeds of enmities which grew to have
a protracted life. Cotton Mather, who expected to make of him a
supple instrument, was foiled by his own weapons in the hands of
an adroiter man ; he becarae, therefore, an implacable foe, and carried
great numbers of the clergy with him. They sympathized with the
accession of Whiggery to power, because it was understood, though
mistakenly, to be raore favorable to provincial principles. Their
Dudley re- frleiids at court were strong enough to procure the removal
of Dudley, when the Massachusetts Assembly declared, soon
after tlie death of the Queen, that the office of governor was vacant.
In New Hampshire Dudley was less unpopular than in Massachu
setts, for he espoused the cause of the actual settlers upon the land
against the Mason claim. This was still the paramount question to
the people of that province, and anxious to win over to their side the
influence of the Crown, they voted the permanent salaries which Dud
ley was instructed to exact, but which Massachusetts refused to grant.
When, therefore, the Crown allowed Allen, the representative of the
Mason claiin, to take iiossession of all comraon and unin-
Pvew Hamp- i i i -i
|Wre Af- closed land, and he summoned Dudley to appear at the trial
on writs of ejectment to sustain the royal instructions, the
Governor managed on various pretexts to delay his journey and not to

1721.J CONDITION OF MASSACHUSETTS. 127
reach Portsmouth at all. So it was easy for him on several occasions
to persuade that province to send addresses on his behalf to the Queen.
One of the.se was sent to George I., in 1715, earnestly praying for
Dudley's continuance in office.
Massachusetts then contained about 94,000 inhabitants, and of these
2,000 were Negro slaves, and 1,200 civilized Indians. The popula
tion of Boston was probably about 10,000. As early as 1690, Indians
were employed as field-hands at one shilling a clay and their
board. The Negroes were chiefly house-servants in the and"ondi"
-, , mu • c 1 • • ¦ 1 tion of Mas-
larger towns, ihe price ot a slave in provincial currency sachusetts
was equivalent to about $80 of our money. If the slaves
ran away, which occurred but seldom, for their servitude was not se
vere, Indians were employed for their recapture. The labor of white
workmen was worth two shillings a day.^
The province owned at that period 190 vessels of various kinds and
of 8,000 tons in all, sailed by 1,100 men. There were eraployed
in the fisheries 150 smacks, with crews in all of 600 men. A few
manufactories of hats and cloths existed, which were a perpetual
source of jealousy to England, whose exports in English products to
all American ports were valued at i£ 1,000,000 sterling. Exports
from all American plantations were valued at £800,000. Daring a
period of great commercial activity, from 1714 to 1717, Boston cleared
for the West Indies alone 518 vessels, and for all the ports of her trade
1,247 vessels ; and 232 vessels were cleared at Salelii.^ The colonial
policy of self-protection was in continual struggle with the English
policy of restriction which affected everything, iron-work, hats, wool
ens, and linen.
The scourge of this colony was small-pox. Four times it had been
epidemic in Boston at different periods, and it appeared ^ „
^ , . r ¦> i 1 Small-pox
again in the spring of 1721. Nearly six thousand persons, and inocu-
more than one half the population, were attacked, of whora
nearly nine hundred died. Inoculation was introduced at this time in
America by Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, and its efficacy was proved in the
next serious visitation from this pestilence, thirty years later, when
out of the 5,544 who took the disease the natural way, 514 died, while
^ In England at that time the rates of wages were as follows: cook -maids and dairy
maids .£2 10 a year ; mowers of corn and grass 1 ». 2 d. a day without meat and drink, and
only 6 c?. with food ; male haymakers 10 d. a day without food, 5 rf. with; female hay
makers 6d.; rough masons, carpenters, ploughmen, brickhuers, plasterer>, and tilers
1 s. 6 rf. from Lady Day to Michaelmas, and 1 s. from Jlichaelmas to Lady Day. If they
were fed they had only S d. a day all the year round. Gardeners and thatchers were paid
at the .same rate. Tailors earned 6 rf. a day with food, 10 d. without; spinners earned only
4 d. daily without food. This schedule of i\ a^es lasted into the reign of George I.
'¦^ Barry's History of Massachusetts, Part ii., p. 107.

128 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
of the 2,113 who were inoculated only 31 died. The remedy was
first used in England by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who had ob
served its effect at Adrianople, and had the courage to try it upon a
child of her own. The medical faculty were bitterly opposed to it.
The clergy preached against it from their pulpits and advised the peo
ple to hoot at her as an unnatural mother who had put the life of her
child in peril. The four physicians who were appointed by the gov
ernraent to watch the experiment upon her daughter were so rancor-
ously hostile, so maliciously incredulous, that she never left them
alone with the child. As in old England, so in New ; the hatred of
innovation was stronger than the fear of the most loathsome of dis
eases and the strong probability of death.
Cotton Mather — who was somewhat of a lay practitioner of raed
icine — was warmly interested in this bold attempt to mitigate human
suffering, and becarae, in consequence, so obnoxious that his house
was assaulted and an attempt made upon his life. Increase Mather,
his father, then a very old man, published a tract in favor of the
remedy, in which he quoted the Negro slaves as averring that it had
always been practised with success in Africa, whence, perhaps, the
Turks had obtained their knowledge of it. About two hundred
and fifty persons were safely inoculated by Dr. Boylston, — seven
onlj' dying — who began with his own children and servants. The
brave man stood almost alone in his own profession ; but among the
clergy, though the opposition was general and bitter, the Mathers
were supported by some of the more eminent of the brethren, — as
the Rev. Drs. Colman of Boston, Walter of Roxbury, a son-in-law of
Increase Mather, and Wise of Ipswich. ^
Dudley's successor ^as nominally one Colonel Burgess, chiefly
known and esteeraed as a soldier. He valued his appointment, how
ever, so little that he was easily persuaded to surrender his commis
sion for £1,000, raised by subscription araong friends of the provinces
who doubted his fitness for the office of governor. It was given then
to Samuel Shute, also a soldier ; but till his arrival the duties of the
office were discharged by Colonel Taller, who had been made Lieuten
ant-governor in reward for his services in the capture of Port Royal.
Governor Shute was fated to discover tiiat party spirit could
rage as violently as an epidemic. Before he became in-
Governor- T -i • • I
ship of Sam- volved IU a coutrovcrsy which arose from the depreciation ot
uel Shnte. •> , r
the currency, he got into trouble from a zeal like that ot
Dudley's to promote the prerogative of the Crown. In fact, much to
the surprise and disappointment of the province, he was disposed to
favor Dudley's old party. This first dispute turned upon the en-
1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., passim.

1722.] THE EXPORT OF TIMBER. 129
forcement of the acts of Parliament on the right to the forests, and
the exportation of naval stores from the colonies.
When the Earl of Bellomont came out as Governor, nearly twenty
years before, his instructions upon this subject were very positive. It
was believed that the colonies could be made to contribute largely to
the support of the royal navy and relieve England from its depend
ence upon Norwaj' for ship timber and other stores. But the supply
was to be enforced by arbitrary and inconsiderate acts of Parliaraent,
not as the result of a legitimate commerce. The Earl had faithfully
devoted himself to the fulfillment of his instructions. He died before
his plans were so matured as to influence his own popularity ; but
they were so definitely fixed, and were so confirmed by subsequent
laws that his successors had only to enforce an established policy.
The vast primeval forests along the Atlantic coast had become to
the colonists a source of comraerce with Spain and Portu- pj^putesas
gal. This profitable trade was interdicted, that England port^'of'^um-
might pick and choose the choicest timber for the wooden ^"'
walls of the royal navy — "to be the mast of some great ammiral "
— and in so doing little regard was paid to the rights of private own
ers. The assertion of a royal privilege first bred discontent, then
violent resistance. It was not easy to prevent the shipping of tim
ber to foreign countries — a trade which the hardy lumberers of
Maine and New Hampshire raaintained as a right wrested from na
ture herself by toil and privation. Quite as difficult was it to prevent
the farmers frora felling trees on lands to which they had a legal title
by grant or purchase — their own trees which the King's surveyors
marked with a broad arrow that they might be reserved for the
King's use. The curious explorer in those eastern forests may even
now find occasionally upon pine trees which the centuries have spared,
these arrow-marks cut more than a hundred years ago — the King,
his mark, upon a domain to which the Revolution secured a quit
claim deed.
John Bridger was, as he had long been. Surveyor-general when
Shute assumed his office. Wherever the surveyor and his men saw
fit, they carved the emblem of royal ownership. The settlers resisted
this assertion of a right over lands held by titles which should be
good even against the King, and for which they had risked their
scalps, and endured the extremity of hardship, that this savage wil
derness might be turned to the uses of civilization. The loss of their
tallest and most shapely trees moved them to righteous anger ; hardly
less did they resent the act of Parliament which denied a trial by
jury on any question of ownership that it was thought worth while to
listen to, but left it to the decision of a judge of admiralty appointed

130 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
by the Crown. The products of the soil they owned were theirs, they
raaintained, to do with as they would, to use or to sell — to sell even
to the King, if he wanted their tar and timber. Still the surveyors
went on carving the broad arrow-heads with indifference or con
tempt. Every stroke of the axe in the clearings was a blow iu the
long conflict between provinces and Crown.
Remonstrance and indignant complaint against Bridger found their
way to Portsmoutli and Boston, and the Governor sided with the sur
veyor. Elisha Cooke, a raember of the Massachusetts Council, showed
the justice of the settlers' clairas, and the irascible old soldier deprived
hira of his office. Thereupon the General Court sent a remonstrance
to the Governor whicli he forbade thera to print. They printed it
nevertheless, establishing thereby a parliaraentary privilege, never
again questioned, of printing what the}' pleased.
The General Court offended the Governor still further by electing
Cooke as Speaker. Shute stood upon his prerogative, refused to con
firm their choice, and dissolved the Court. When compelled to call a
second, that body declined to grant certain approiDriations he asked
for. He indignantly prorogued them also. A third voted him an
insignificant sum, but, at the sarae time, they patiently and firmly
thwarted his obnoxious measures. The old quarrel was Listened
¦upon him when he atterapted, like Dudley, to have a fixed salary at
tached to his office. To manifest its rooted policy upon this point,
the Assembly quietly reduced year by year the annual grant which it
allowed hira, and voted ;i sura so sraall to Lieutenant-governor Wil
liam Dummer that he disdained to accept it.
All this tirae another cause of bitter variance flowed out of the
deplorable financial condition of the province, which was suffering all
the evils of gambling speculation that belong to periods of paper
Pap„ money and depreciated currency. The infection of specula-
money. ^j^^.^ j^^^j Something of the virulence of John Law's i\Iissis-
sippi scheme and the subsequent English South Sea Bubble, though
these manias did not directly implicate the provinces. Queen Anne's
War was responsible for a resort to a financial policy which so readily
buys immediate supplies, and so fatally contracts a public debt for
another generation to repudiate or pay at heavy cost. The provinces
were drained of gold and silver ; and as a desperate remedy recourse
was had to a fresh supply of paper raoney. It was called currency,
but nothing could make it current. Land and merchandise increased
nominally in value, but actuaUy depreciated.
The province was divided into three heated parties, — one that pro
posed a speedy return to gold ami silver ; another, much larger, that
sought to defeat resumption by the estabhshment of a private bank

1722.J

FINANCIAL POLICY.

131

for the issuing of unlimited paper ; and a third that perceived the
necessity for a public bank that should steadily labor to pay the
public debt, and issue paper but restrain the abuse of it. There was
great agitation in every town and village. The acrimony of theologi
cal difference was never more bitter than this discussion over a ques
tion of finance which was little understood. It divided financial
parishes and families like a civil war. At length the project p''»J«'^'^-
of a public bank was successful. It was a great raisfortune, the re
sult of unreasonable neglect and parsimony on the part of England,
that the provinces, which had lavished their life and treasure upon
various wars, were left, thus impoverished, to pay the bills. Under
this ingratitude of the mother country, for whose continental policy
the provinces bled as well as for their own welfare, they may be
pardoned for finding no resource save in the frequent issue of bills
of credit.
The Council generally, from 1710 downward, favored a public bank ;
but the Asserably was prett}' evenly divided. Boston, being a lively
centre for speculative operations,
was eager for a private bank.
When the project for a public bank
finally prevailed in 1721, a loan of
£50,000 in bills of credit was
placed with a board of trustees for
five years at five per cent., and one
fifth of the principal was to be paid
in yearly. Colonel Burgess, who
sold out his appointment as Gover
nor, was araong those who asked
for the establishment of a private
bank ; its supporters were highly
incensed when they discovered that
Governor Shute favored the public
bank. But no financial plan could
resist the demoralizing effect of
frequent issues of bills of credit.
When the five years had expired
in which the principal was to have
been paid, the issue of these bills had increased to £100,000. In that
year, 1727, £60,000 more were voted by the Assembly, and when
Dummer, who was acting Governor till Burnet arrived, vetoed the
measure, the Assembly simply refused his grant of money until he
signed the bill.
In 1722 bits of paper representing five pounds were struck off for

Three-Shilling Massachusetts Bill of 1741.

132

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

Two-pence, 1722.

small change. The penny was round, the two-pence square, and the
three-pence angular. In 1728, £340 in this fractional currency was
issued ; in 1730, £380, the specie value of which was only £100. In
1738, by a vote of the General Court, bills to the amount of £75,500
were issued to pay the public debts ; and
in 1737, £20,000 of the new tenor "to
exchange for old bills at the rate of one

new for three old."
Governor Belcher, who was opposed
to all the schemes which steadily depre
ciated the currency, stated, in 1740,
that the issue of bills up to that time
araounted to £260,000, of which £70,-
000 were yet unredeeraed.^ In the pre
vious year a number of private individ
uals undertook to establish a land bank
with a capital of £150,000. Notwithstanding the popularity of this
step, it failed to procure the sanction of Parliament, and the company
dissolved. The different parliaments of the eighteenth century which
eagerly voted enormous sums to sustain England's continental wars.
The colonies could seldoiii be influenced to reimburse the colonies for their
«"h'wai-ex- heavy expenses incurred in expeditions against France and
penditures. ^],g \y Qg^^ Indies. When in 1741 England was organizing
an expedition against the island of Cuba, the Ainerican provinces were
called upon to furnish 3,600 men, with the bounties, provisions, aud
transports. The quota of Massachusetts was five hundred men; tlieir
outfit and transportation cost £7,000, not a shilling of which was
ever reimbursed. Five years after the fall of Louisburg in 1745, the
expenditure of the colonies in that expedition was remitted to Boston
by the horae governraent in specie, and this was the beginning of a
return to specie payments. But in 1748 the existing currency could
only purchase one eighth the value which the sarae nominal sum
would buy in 1700, and exchange on London stood at £1,100 cur
rency for £100 sterling. A measure toward resumption which stead
ily grew popular in spite of all interested opposition, was in two years
confirmed by an act of Parliaraent commanding the colonies to call in
all their bills of credit and to issue no more that were not to be dis
charged within a year. And no further issue of paper money was to
be made save in extraordinary emergencies.
Specie was at one time so scarce in New Hampshire that paper
currency was issued for half a crown, and an ordinance was passed
to allow the payraent of taxes in tar that was rated at twenty shil-
^ i'elt's History of Ipswich, p. 105.

1722.]

PAPER CURRENCY.

138

lings to the barrel.^ The soldiers who were engaged in the various
campaigns against the French and Canada after 1755 were paid in
paper bills that were issued on the »tjam^s.^^— v-,,;^ <f^^ 
plea of emergency. A bill beai- ^^^^^E^^^^I^
ing the face of fifteen shillings
was worth a dollar. Of this
money the soldiers received £ 1 >
lO.s'. a month, and as the papei
steadily depreciated their pa-)
stood in the course of the same '
year at £15, in 1756 at £18, in
1757 at £25. But sterling money ju^,^t,„^M^,^uw^„^^^.-mKim>.jm-. .^ of ,
soon recovered its status as the lt?*f^)Y***ft**'%'''2'^^'K"^''^r'^'^rC't ^, ^
standard, and the paper value fg^-''^^ ~- -->--»¦»'**¦¦"!  ^ "^
followed the price of silver in alH V:
contracts and exchange. This di
gressitm will serve to group the
financial interests of the province 'I /!,»^
for a considerable period. In 4 ^^i^j
other colonies sirailar measures of « if*"?:
a resort to the issue of papei
money to meet public exigencies
had like results.
The Indian difficulties during the administration of Governor Shute
became another source of serious embarrassment. With the
connivance of Count Vaudreuil, then Governor of Canada, the
French secretly stirred up the half-slumbering ill-will of the
Indians, in spite of the treaty, on the pretext that Perance pos
sessed the coast of Maine as far as the Kennebec. It was not diffi
cult to inflame the temiaer of the savages when they observed the in
evitable encroachments of
the English upon domains
which had been purchased
from them. They did not Autograph of vaudreuii.
at first foresee the practical effect upon themselves, — upon their liunt-
' Th&Provincial Papers of New Hampshire contain frequent records of legislation against
the counterfeiting which can be so easily practised in an era of jiajier currency. One day
in January, 1756, £95 of counterfeit bills were brousrht into the As.semlily, and there
ordered to be burnt iu the pre.sence of the members. This ivas done with sufficient solem
nity. At one time the counterfeiters got possession of unfilled lilanks of currency, left over
from the printing, and proceeded to imitate them at their leisure. Then eacii officer of the
government and each member of the Assembly was furnished with such blanks, that they
might be compared with the bills in circulation. In 17.'io the punishment for cnimterfeit-
ing in Pennsylvania was death ; but that proved to have little deterring power, and a con
viction was seldom obtained.

Bill of Forty Shillings

Indian diffi
culties rlur-
ing Shute 's
Governor
ship.

134

THE ROYAL (JOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

ing, fishing, and planting, — of the more elaborate and persistent meth
ods of the white raan, who was not very scrupulous in observing the
bounds of the tracts which had been ceded to him for an insignificant
reniuiieration. Naturally all this civilizing movement began to be
clear to tliem, and the French made it clearer. Clairas and counter
claims, disputes, ill-blood, quarrels, were inevitable. The Governor
had an excellent plan of building trading-houses in the eastern ter
ritory to supplant the French by direct traffic with the Indians for
their furs. These trading-
posts were to have been under
the direct control of the pro
vincial government. The con
stant turraoil of provincial
politics prevented their estab
lishment ; so that the private
traders as usual, then and at
present, fleeced the Indians
and made their business ope
rations easier by the demoral
izing effect of liquor. The
Governor anticipated that
trouble would result from the
complication, and endeavored
to arrive at sorae friendly
understanding with the chiefs.
He made, however, the mis
take of pressing upon them a
Puritan minister to reside
araong thera, hoping thus to
observe and counter;ict the Jesuit intrigues. The Indians favored the
religion of France as well as its politics, and no minister was allowed
to settle where a Jesuit ruled.
When the war impended, the General Court gave additional um
brage to Shute by encroaching upon his power as comman
der-in-chief of the provincial forces. The officers who were
andtheften- attached to the first expedition were instructed to commu-
eral Court. . 1^
nicate, not with the Governor, but with the General Court
as the representative of the people who were taxed to support the
war. This was clearly an illegal measure, which provoked bitter
wrangling, and the Governor found hiraself involved in a fresh dis
pute. The provincial temper exhibited such an increase of animosity
toward the royal government that Shute sailed for England in disgust.

S X pence, 744

'.'lonflicts be-
twcfii the
Governor

1727.] GOVERNOR SHUTE AND THE GENERAL COURT. 135
He spent the time there in explanation of his course and in urging a
decisive policy against the province. As the result of his activity, a re
monstrance was sent to the General Court in 1723 ; it enumerated the
complaints brought by the Governor of interference with his preroga
tive, and demanded explanations. At first the General Court treated
the charge with an aggravating nonchalance, contenting itself with
a vote that an agent sliould be appointed to manage the vindication
of its conduct. When the Provincial Council stoutly non-concurred
with this, the General Court undertook the raore prudent course of
returning specific answers to the coraplaints. The provincial agents
found the Court obstinately bent upon enforcing the provisions of the
royal charter, especially on the points of cutting timber, the Gov
ernor's power to negative the selection of Speaker, and interference
with military operations.
The judgment of the Board of Trade and the law-officers of the
Crown was clearly against the province. A supplementary .f,,^ j^,^^
charter intended to enforce the most important points at ^,,',^tary''''
issue was sent to Boston in August, 1725, and laid before '^•'"'^'<=''-
the General Court. After some preliminary discussion and voting,
during which a great deal of popular ojDposition was developed, this
explanatory charter was finally accepted by a majority upon a joint
vote of the House and Council.
Governor Shute was now confirmed in his power to negative the se
lection of Speaker of the House, and he proceeded to work for another
concession, — that of a permanent salary for the Governor and Lieu
tenant-governor. Put off and disappointed, he was on the point of
returning in 1727, greatly to the discontent of the province, whose
affairs had been judiciously administered by the Lieutenant-governor,
WiUiam Dummer. Just at that crisis George I. died ; new intrigues
sprang up under a new reign ; new men came into prorainence ; new
favorites clamored for office and had to be provided for. In conse
quence of this, Shute was pensioned, and the governraent of Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire was conferred upon William Bur
net. It is worth noting that the disposition of the clergy of Massachu
setts had been slowly softening in matters of theology. Theological
Even the intolerant Cotton Mather preached a tolerant dis- °;;;''a?hu.
course on the occasion of the estabhshment of a Baptist ""'"•
Church in Boston during Shute's administration. It was within the
memory of living men that the whipping-post or the stocks was thought
to be the proper place for those who doubted the efficacy of infant
baptism ; in a controversy of half a century before upon the rightful
ness of admitting to baptism the children of those who were not mem-

136

THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.

bers of the Church, the father and the grandfather of Cotton Mather
had taken different sides. The times had greatly changed. They
had changed still more since Roger Williams said that Cotton was
the high priest of Boston, when the priest was the head of the State
as well as of the Church. In country towns the clergyman was still
indeed chief among
men ; looked up to
as fittest of all to
guide in worldly as
in spiritual affairs ;
as absolute in the
town-meeting as in
the pulpit ; always
revered and often
beloved by those of
mature age, and al
ways feared by the
young, who would
fly from before his
face and hide from
that austere and
reverend presence.
But in larger places
the influence of the
growth of political
freedora asserted
itself raore r a p-
Lcl corae to be less and
state ; liberty of thought
had grown to be less and less a civil of
fence ; religious differences were raore tol
erated, and free discussion of all subjects was beginning to be possi
ble. Journalism, with something of the meaning which later times
attach to that terra, raade its appearance.
The first newspaper was printed in Boston, in the auturan of 1690,
Newspapers '^^'^ ^^^® meant to be a monthly, with occasionally more fre-
Tn Koiton* q^^eut Issucs, should the demand warrant it. A single number,
however, only appeared. In 1704, the " Boston News Letter "
was established, — a weekly paper which long held its own, but which
never, till a rival appeared, was anything but a mere digest of news.
In 1719, the '' Boston Gazette" was started, of which Jaraes FrankUn
was the printer. Two years later — August, 1721 — Frankhn estab
hshed the " New England ( 'oiirant," partly, it was thought, because the

power

Birthplace of Franklin.

1722.] BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1.37
printing of the " Gazette " had been taken from hira.i The pubhsher
of the " Gazette," Philip Musgrave, was also postmaster, and in
the first number of the " Courant " Frankhn attacked him for of
ficial incapacity. Of the " News Letter " the " Courant " said it
was only " a dull vehicle of intelligence." The new journal was
evidently to be a thing as yet unheard of — a paper in which pohtics
and religion, morals and manners, were to be freely discussed. Its
editor indeed soon wrote himself into prison, and in about six years it
M.6. iSumb. 1.
TheBoflon News Lef fer.
rrom^onba^3pdli7.fo 2flonbae Apnl2^ iro^.
SBoffon • Vanfid hy £(7reen,So\6 by Mdo/asBoMS, at \t\sS>hofi near fheo Id Meefing- Houfe
Fac-simile of the Heading of the " News Letter."
was discontinued ; but its appearance and its character mark an era
in intellectual progress and in the freedora of thought and speech in
^lassachusetts. A club of gentlemen contributed essays on various
subjects, and these writers were called by conservative people, some
times " Free Thinkers," sometimes the " Hell Fire Club." Benjamin
Franklin was the younger brother of James, and wrote paragraphs
as well as set type for the paper. He was about sixteen Be„j„n,i],
years of age, having been born opjiosite the Old South ^''"'''''"•
Church on January 6, 1706. He was the carrier of the paper, and
wrote the carrier's addresses. Curiously enough, the paper opposed
inoculation, and perhaps its popularity in this respect, especially with
the physicians, who had the free use of its colurans, procured tolera
tion for its more offensive matter.
The paper was only a year old when the publisher was bound over
to be of good behavior, in the sura of £100, in consequence of " many
passages .... published, boldly reflecting on His Majesty's Govern
ment, the Ministry, Churches, and College." It was at the same time
ordered that no number of the paper should be printed till it had been
submitted to the Secretary of the Council, and permission granted.
When afterward the elder Frankhn was imprisoned for continued
contumacy, the management of the paper fell into young Benjamin's
hands. When James was ordered to cease the publication he obeyed,
' Benjamin Franklin prohably shared his brother's resentment against the proprietor of
the Gazette. In his autobiography he ignores its existence, and asserts that the Courant
was the second newspaper established in America, the News Letter being the first.

138 THE ROYAL GOVERNORS IN NEW ENGLAND. [Chap. V.
so far as his own name was concerned; but the paper came out, nev
ertheless, with Benjamin as publisher. There was no abatement of
the freedom of comment upon public affairs, wliile the journal com
mended itself for family reading b}^ a selection of the best hjanns of
one Dr. Watts. James seems to have been jealous of his younger
brother's success, and they quarrelled. Then Benjamin ran away ;
and the loss to Boston was a gain to Philadelphia, till the whole
country claimed the services of one of the wisest and best of her
sons. Shute was no happier in his adrainistration of the affairs of New
Harapshire than of those of Massachusetts. The Assembly
New Hamp- , . i , . •
shire under would iievcr vote liiiii a permanent salary, and this standine:
Shute'.-i ad- . ¦¦- • ii i i • i
nunistra- grievance of the royal governors in all the colonies precluded
the possibility of any cordiality of feeling between him and
the popular representatives. He reraoved several members of the Coun
cil and appointed others, who represented the local interests of Ports
mouth, to the prejudice, the country people thought, of their own.
He called the Assembly to a conference with the Council, regarding
the issue of bills of credit, but without condescending to inform its
members of his reason for convening them. When the two tlouses
resented this treatment, he dissolved them. On one point, how
ever, they agreed ; the Assembly supporting him in the suspension of
A'aughan, the Lieutenant-governor, who assumed the exercise of su
preme authority during Shute's absence in Boston. The removal of
A'aughan was justified also by the Crown, and John Wentworth was
appointed in his place.
The emigration of some Scotch Presbyterians to New Hampshire,
in 1718, while Shute was Governor, was much more impor-
Scotcli I^res-
iiyterian..* taut ill her liistory than these political quarrels. These
London- pcople, who uiidertook to better their condition in America,
rlerry N. H. were descendants of the colonists who had been transferred
b}' Jaraes I. to the North of Ireland, where their condition, from
penal laws against Protestants and from local taxation, had become
intolerable. Arriving first in Boston, they dispersed in various direc
tions ; but sixteen of the families, holding together, settled upon lands
a few miles northwest of Haverhill. The boundary between New
Harapshire and Massachusetts had not, at this tirae, been deterrained,
though the two provinces had more than once appointed commis
sioners to draw it, who could not agree. Massachusetts informed
these new settlers, when they applied for a grant, that the}^ were out
of her jurisdiction. In New Hampshire the disputed title to the land
gave them some trouble, but under the protection of Wentworth
they remained upon the spot of their choice, and, being joined from

172.S.] SETTLEMENTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE. 139

tirae to time by other farailies, they called their place Londonderry,
in 1722.
Their minister, MacGregor, informed Governor Shute how offensive
it was to them to be confounded with the Irish against whom they
had fought always for the defence of Protestantism. But the New
Harapshire people were jealous of these new-comers, who entered into
quiet possession of the soil at a time when their own lands were
threatened with litigation. These Presbyterians did the province the
good service of introducing the
manufacture of linen by the
spinning-wheel, and the cultiva
tion of the potato. That vege
table was first planted at An
dover, whose inhabitants began
Avith boiling the balls instead of
the bulbs, wondering, when the
result was served up at, their
simple tables, tliat a potato was
considered to be an esculent.
The prosperity attending
these new colonists led q^^^,. ^^^^^^.
other people to peti- ™'^''*-
tion for grants of land for town
ships. They took possession
before their charters were made
out, and began to fell the trees,
incurring the usual dispute with
the King's survej'or. In 1722
charters for four townships, Chester, Nottingham, Barrington, and
Rochester, were drawn up, including a reservation during the pen
dency of Allen's suit, and signed by Governor Shute, which was his
last official act in the province. Frora 1713 to 1720 sorae attempts
were also made to settle tracts of land in Maine. On Shute's depart
ure for England in 1723, Wentworth becarae acting Governor of
New Hampshire.

Mrs. Dustin's Monument, Concord, N. H.

Savannah, from a Print of 1741.

CHAPTER VI.
GEORGIA.
PrOI'DSKD SkTTLEMENT Soi'TII OF TIIE SAV.A.NXAH.  ThE M.iRGRAV.iTE OF AziLIA. —
The Settle.ment of Geokoia. — Sketch or Jame.s C)i.i,etiioi!pe. — Akeivai, of
THE Colovists. — BriLDiNG of Savannah. — SrKi-.cii of Tomo Chichi. — The
llmnLANDEKS AND Salzeuhgers. — The Piegri.maoe of the Salzbdrgers.—
The "Grand Embarkation." — The Brothers AVesley. — George Wiiitefiei.u
AND his Okphaji Holse. — Slavery and the Importation of Ru.m Prohibitdo
IN Georgia. — Land Tendre. — Oglethorpe's Journey to the Interior.—
Slave Insurrection in South Carolina. — Georgia invaded by the SpANiARns.
— Gallant Action of Oglethorpe. — The Road to Prederica. — Slaughter
of the Spaniards in a Defile. — Oglethorpe's Stratagem. — Retreat ofthe
Spanish Fleet. — ( Iglethorpe's Return to England — The latter Years of
HIS Life. — Surrender of the Charter. — The Half-breed Queen Mary.—
Suppression of the Bosomworth Insurrection. — Georgia a Royal Province.
— Its Slow Progress.

It was jiroposed as early as 1717 by Sir Robert Montgomery, a
Scotchman, to plant a colony on the Savannah River, aud
it is quite possible that the failure of his plan was partly due
to the revolution in South Carolina. Adventurers may have
been deterred from trying their fortunes iu the vicinity of
torn at that time with internal dissensions, and the more

Proposed
settlementat the south
hv Sir Rob
ert Moiit-
comery.

col

1717.] THE MARGRAVATE OF AZILIA. 141
exposed, therefore, to attacks from their Spanish and Indian enemies
on the southern border. Perhaps it was better, however, for the fut
ure settlement of the beautiful region between South Carolina and
Florida that it should be left a while longer to its virgin solitude,
rather than be made the scene of the fanciful schemes of this vision
ary Scotchman.
Montgoraery purchased the territory of the Proprietors on condition
that he should occupy it within three years. " My Design," he said,
iu a " Discourse " commending it to public attention, " arises not from
any sudden Motive, but a strong Bent of Genius I inherit from ray
Ancestors," one of whora, a century earlier, had been interested in
some plans of colonization in Nova Scotia. " The Humour, however,"
he- continues, " Descended and ran down with the Blood : For my
Father was so far of this Opinion, that together with Lord Cardross,
tlie late Earl of Buchan, and some other Gentleraen, he entered into
Measures for Establishing a Settleraent on Port Royal River in South
Carolina, and Lord Cardross went thither in Person." ^
The projector of the new colony proposed to call it by the grandi-
sonous title of the " Margravate of Azilia." It was generally agreed,
he said in his " Discourse," that " Carolina, especially in its Southern
Bounds, is the most amiable Country of the Universe ; That Nature
has not bless'd the World with any Tract which can be pref- ,j,^^ Margni-
erable to it; that Paradise with all her Virgin Beauties, may ™'e°SA2iiia.
be modestly suppos'd at most but equal to its Native Excellencies."
His fanciful plan of colonization was not dependent upon any proposed
community of labor or of property ; and it paid no heed to the prac
tical difficulties in the way of contiguous blocks of farms laid out for
cultivation, regardless of soil or situation, as city blocks are planned
for residence and trade. The country was to be divided into districts,
as population increased, each district to be twenty miles in length and
width, surrounded by a square of fortifications. These were to be de
fended by garrisons who should maintain themselves aud the Mar
grave by the cultivation of a strip of land one mile in width running
around the square within the walls. Inside of this another strip, two
1 See vol. ii., p. .360. The " humour descended and ran down with the blood " also in
the Erskine family. The great-grandson of the Lord Cardross here alluded to — the
eccentric sixth Earl of Buchan, whose faith in metempsychosis was so profound that he
believed all his ancestors lived in his own person, and who might have said, "when I was
at Port Royal," as he would say, " when I was at the battle of Agincourt," — this descend
ant of Lord Cardross was deeply interested in America, and his .sympathies w.irmly enlisted
on behalf of the colonists in the American Revolution. He entered into correspomlence
with some of the leading men, and sent them his engraved portrait. One of these,
presented by the Earl to James Otis, is in the possession of the author, and bears the
autograph iu.scription, "As a mark of my attachment to the cause of Liberty and its
fiiends."'

142

CEORGIA.

[Chap. VJ.

miles in width, was to be reserved to furnish these defenders with farms
of their own, rent free for life, after their term of service should be
over. Of the remaining land, the most was laid out in one hundred
and sixteen smaller squares of one mile each, " bating only for the
highways which divide them ; and in the centre of each square should

A.

The IVlargravate of Aziiia.
stand its owner's dwelling : " these are the estates belonging to the
Gentry of the District." Finally, in the middle of the whole there
was a large square for a city, and at the corners there were others for
great parks — each four miles square — in which were to be kept the
stocks of cattle and of game. Like a holy of holies, at the city's
central point was to be built the Margrave's house — his constant res
idence. But this ingenious scheme of a great rural city, portrayed by picture

1732.] JAMES OGLETHORPE. 143
as well as described in words, failed to excite the adrairation and en
thusiasm its designer hoped for. Not an emigrant offered „ ,
^ ^ . '^ Failure of
to avail himself of the beauties and advantages of the prom- "^« scheme.
ised "Paradise." The provisional three years expired, and the
Proprietaries resumed their ownership of the country. For fifteen
years longer it remained a sort of debatable land between the English
and the Spaniards of Florida, a hunting-ground and refuge for a few
hundred Indians, till, purchased by the Crown of the Proprietors, it
was once more selected as the site of a colony.
A humane movement about this time for the reformation of Eno--
hsh jails — where, it was notorious, the most shocking abuses Anewmoye-
existed — enlisted the sympathies and the energies of Jaraes ""''"'
Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament. His experience as a member
of a parliamentary committee, appointed with reference to this sub
ject, led him and others to wider observation and reflection upon the
condition of the poor generally, and his committee suggested, in a
report to the House, that " there were great numbers of indigent
persons burthensome to the public, who would be willing to seek a
livehhood in any of his Majesty's plantations in America, if thejr were
provided with a passage and means of settling there." They asked
that lands might be given them, as Trustees, in the southern part of
South Carolina, for the planting of such a colony. The subject was
deliberately and carefully discussed for two years after the report was
made, and on the 9th of June, 1732, a charter was granted to twenty
Trustees, for the benefit of the poor of the kingdom, and for the pro
tection of the southern frontier of the Araerican colonies, of all that
region between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers.^ The new colony
was to be called Georgia, in honor of the King, George II.
Oglethorpe was at this time little more than forty years of age, and
his life had been full of action and adventure. His family had been
well known in courts and camps for generations. His great-grand
father and his grandfather had held positions in the royal household ;
and his father — that Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe referred to in a par
agraph of " Guy Mannering " as one who " held orgies with the wicked
Laird of Ellangowan " — had been a well-known general under Jaraes,
but at the time of the Georgia founder's birth, in 1688, had retired to
live as a quiet country gentieraan in Surrey. Oglethorpe was sent to
Oxford at sixteen; and at twenty-one entered the army as an ensign.
He subsequently took service under the great Prince Eugene, was
^ The Trustees were Lord Percival, Edward Digby, George Carpenter, James Ogle
thorpe, George Heathcote, Thomas Tower, Robert Moor, Robert Hucks, Roger HoUand,
William Sloper, Francis Eyles, John Laroche, James Vernon, William Behtlia, .John Bur
ton, Richard Bundy, Arthur Benford, Samuel Smith, Adam Anderson, and Thomas
Coram.

144 GEORGIA. [Chap. VI.
made an officer of his staff, and for several years shared in the most
„ , „ . faraous fighting of the tirae, serving at Peterwardein and at
Oglethorpe s o o ' o
reer'i"Er' Belgrade, and not returning finally to England until peace
''°P<'- was raade with the beaten Turks in 1718. This mihtary
experience was not the least among the qualifications that fitted him
for the post of governor of a frontier colony.
The project of the Georgia Trustees was received with a good deal
Settlement of euthuslasm. Subscriptions on its behalf were numer-
..f Georgia. yyg_ Parliament made generous grants, and the Bank of
England and other public institutions led long lists of contributors.
All the Trustees themselves gave money, besides gratuitous service.
They adhered rigidly to their original design ; selecting their first
body of colonists carefully from the destitute inhabitants of large
cities ; frora deserving insolvent debtors, whose creditors were gener
ally willing to forego their worthless claims on the payment by the
couipany of a small sum ; and frora well-disposed laborers out of em
ployment. Their aira was to exclude from the company all idlers
and vicious persons, and all married men who were disposed to leave
their families behind.
On the 17th of November, 1732, Oglethorpe sailed from Gravesend
in the ship Anne, with the first corapany of emigrants, — thirty-five
families, containing in all one hundred and fourteen persons. On the
13th of January she arrived in the lower bay of Charleston, where she
AiTivaiof reraained only a day, while Oglethorpe went up to the town
emigrants. ^^ coufer wlth Govcmor Johnson. Then the Anne sailed for
Beaufort, and the people were landed to recruit after their long voy
age ; but Oglethorpe, accompanied by Mr. Bull of Charleston, — sub-

tiyt-t'

Fac-simile from a Note of Oglethorpe, ordering Provisions.
sequently the Governor of South Carolina, — went up the Savannah
River to select the place for their future home. The city of Savannah
now stands on the spot he thought best adapted to his purpose.
He rejoined his people at Beaufort, and the next Sunday was ob
served as a day of thanksgiving. " There was," says a contemporary
narrative, " a great resort of the Gentlemen of that neighborhood and

1733.] THE BUILDING OF SAVANNAH. 145
their families ; and a plentiful Dinner provided for the Colony, and
all that came, by Mr. Oglethorpe ; being 4 fat hogs, 8 turkies, besides
fowls, English Beef, and other provisions, a hogshead of punch, a
hogshead of beer, and a large quantity of wine; and all was so dis
posed in so regular a manner, that no person was drunk, nor any dis
order happened." ^ In the course of the week the company, charmed
with their first experience of the new country, and full of cheerful
ness and hope, were taken to the place their leader had selected.
Oglethorpe's first care was to obtain the consent of the nearest Indian
chief, one Tomo Chichi, to his occupation of the land. In this he was
aided by Mary Musgrove, the half-breed wife of an Indian trader
whose post was in the neighborhood. This woman, who acted as
interpreter, persuaded the Yamacraw chief that the settlement of an
English colony at that spot would be an advantage to his people, and
he agreed to use his influence with the Creeks to whom the territory
belonged. For the first week the people were employed in landing their goods.
When this was done they were divided into three parties ; one to pre
pare land for cultivation ; another to fell the trees on the proposed
site of the town, — Oglethorpe, however, wisely sparing some of the
finest of them ; a third to build palisades. Their poor shelter, and
exposure to the malaria from the low banks of the river, caused
some sickness, but their progress was rapid. All worked with a will ;
" there are no idlers here," wrote a visitor frora Charleston ; "even the
boys and girls do their part." " Our people still lie in tents," Ogle
thorpe wrote to the Trustees on the 10th of March, " there being only
two clapboard houses built, and three sawed houses framed. Our
crane, our battery, cannon, and magazine are finished. This is all
that we have been able to do by reason of the smallness of our nura
ber, of which many have been sick, and others unused to labor ; though,
I thank God, they are now pretty well, and we have not lost one since
our arrival here."
With the aid of Captain Bull, of Charleston, who had returned
thither and brought back hired laborers and settlers, Oglethorpe laid
out the place on that symmetrical and excellent plan which makes
the present city of Savannah so beautiful. The broad avenues, with
httle parks at the alternate crossings, still bear witness to L,.ivingout
Oglethorpe's good taste and judgment, and many of the »='''!""¦'''•
streets retain the naraes — Bull, Drayton, Whitaker, Abercorn —
which he then gave them from his associates, or from American or
English patrons of the enterprise. Several months later, when the
^ A Brief Account ofthe Establishment of the Colony of Georgia, etc., a contemporary nar
rative first published in Force's Tracts, ^•ol. i.
VOL. III. 10

146

GEORGIA.

[Chap. VL

number of the colonists was increased by fresh arrivals from England,
the four wards of the town received the names of Percival, Derby,

'The Landing at Savannah,

Heathcote, and Decker,
from Lord Percival, the
president of the com
pany, and three of its
leading benefactors ;
and at the same time
names of other Trustees
were given to the "titli-
ings " into which these
wards were subdivided.
The divisions and their names were officially announced on July 7, —
a day specially set apart for the establishraent of the local government,
and kept by all the people as a holiday. " '
In May a council of the chiefs of all the nearer Indian tribes was
Treaty with ^eld at Savanuali, and the treaty first made with Tomo Chi-
the Indians, ^j^j ^^,.^g Confirmed. (_)glethorpe assured them that he did not
mean to dispossess, or to injure their people in any way, and that what
ever land they would grant for the convenience of the English should
be fairly paid for. " We are persuaded," said a sachem of the Lower
Creeks, " that the Great Spirit who dwells above and around all has
sent the English hither for onr good ; and therefore they are welcome
to all the land we do not need." " When these white men came,"
said Tomo Chichi, " I feared that they would drive us away, for we
were weak ; but they proraised not to molest us." Then in acknowl
edgment of corn and other supplies which the Englishmen had given

1733.]

TOMO CHICHI.

147

Speech of
Tomo Chichi.

them, he offered presents in return, and besought the strangers for
continued kindness. " Here," — he went on with that figurative elo
quence in which the North American Indian has always so
loved to clothe his speech — " Here is a buffalo skin
adorned with the head and feathers of an eagle. The eagle signifies
speed, and the buffalo strength. The English are swift as the eagle,
aud strong as the buffalo. Like the eagle they flew hither over great
waters, and like the buffalo, nothing can withstand them. But the
feathers of the eagle are soft, and signify kindness ; and the skin of the
buffalo is covering, and signifies protection. Let these, then, reraind
them to be kind and protect us." ^
Between the new colony and its nearest English neighbor there
was the utmost harmony. South Carolina came to Ogle- progress of
thorpe's help with large public and private subscriptions, "i«<=o'™y-
and on a visit to Charleston he cordially and feelingly acknowledged
these in an address to its Assem
bly. At Savannah the first rude
shelter of boughs of trees, and the
clapboard houses, were soon dis
placed by substantial dwellings.
A public garden was planted as a
nursery, with raany kinds of fruit
trees, and especially with mul
berry trees ; for it was proposed
to make the manufacture of silk
a principal industry of the colony,
and for this purpose some skilled
workmen from Italy were sent
out among the earliest emigrants.
On Tybee Island, near the mouth
of the Savannah, a light-house to
be ninety feet in height was be
gun ; on the river bank below the
town, a battery was built for its protection. On the Ogeechee River,
Captain M'Pherson with a company of Highlanders built a fort and
called it Fort Argyle, as a defence against the Spaniards. When
Oglethorpe returned to England after fifteen months' stay, he left his
colony in a prosperous and promising condition. He had brought to
it a little more than one hundred persons; in the first year and a half
it increased to very nearly five hundred.
Every ship that had come from England had brought small parties
of emigrants, most of them of that class for whose benefit especially
^ The English found the buffalo in immense numbers in Georgia.

Tomo Chichi. (A Portrait painted in London

148 GEORGIA. [Chap. VL
the colony was projected. Not all, however ; Highlanders came from
Scotland under their petty chiefs, who, at different times,
land emi- Settled at Fort Argyle and at Darien on the Altamaha, —
men well-trained, by their lives at home, for the new life
of the wilderness, whose love of arms and the hunt, whose picturesque
garb and the wild music of their bagpipes commended them to the
enthusiastic admiration and warm friendship of the natives. And in
absolute contrast to these was still another class who, like the Fathers
of Plymouth the century before, were truly Pilgrims, fleeing from re
ligious persecution, and who prized above all earthly things freedom of
belief and of worship ; a devout, humble, long-suffering, and indus
trious people, certain to remain as a distinct community apart from
the general population with whom they had so little in common.
These were the Salzburgers, descendants of those Piedmontese Wal-
denses who, as early as the twelfth century, were, as Pope Inno
cent III. lamented, " carried along by an imraoderate desire of know
ing the Scriptures," and who carae, therefore, under the ban of the
Thewai- cliurcli. Througli the centuries, down to the time of the
their dc-"*^ Reformation, persecution followed them, and then, as they
scendants. became distinguished for their adherence to the tenets of
Luther, the church deterrained that they should be exterminated from
the face of the earth. They were hunted like wild beasts ; some were
scourged till thej' died ; sorae Avere burnt to death in the flames of
their own houses ; some were blown up with gunpowder. Ingenuity
was exhausted in devising methods of pain and terror ; their minis
ters were tortured till death released them ; the head of one of their
most beloved teachers, Anthony Brassus, was nailed in mockery to
the jiulpit from which he had preached. But they were not quite de
stroyed ; a remnant escaped and fled to the valley of Salzburg, then a
province of Bavaria.
Here, in obscurity, they found safety. But they preserved their
organization and, though without ministers, kept ahve their religious
zeal, holding their raeetings in the depths of the forests and in the
dark recesses of mines. For three quarters of a century they were
unnoticed and unmolested, handing down from generation to genera
tion an inheritance of the raemory of centuries of wrong and suffering,
and of the steadfast faith which had sustained their fathers, and
would sustain them.
As their numbers increased, the eyes of the church searched thera
out, and again the church stretched out its hands against
Persecution . „., . , , . „
ofthesaiz- them. 1 heir belief was denounced and derided, and their
burgers. i - j! i • i i m
worship forbidden. They were summoned before ecclesias
tical courts for trial ; many were left to languish in prisons, their limbs

1728.]

THE SALZBURGERS.

149

loaded with chains, while their souls were vexed with priests who
labored to confound their belief and frighten thera into apostasy ;
others were driven from their homes, their possessions seized or de
stroyed, husbands and wives separated, the children taken from both
to be nurtured in the bosom of the church. It was only by the
protests of Protestant Germany, and especially of Frederic Williara,
the Elector of Brandenburg, that there came, toward the end of the

The Salzburgers at Frankfort.
seventeenth century, some mitigation of their many trials and sorrows,
and the wretched Lutherans were left for a season in peace.
But it was only for a season. In 1728, Leopold, the Archbishop of
Salzburg, alarmed at the spread of heresy within his diocese, deter
mined that it should be suppressed. He renewed the persecution of
the unhappy people with a resolute will and a relentless spirit, and sue-

150 GEORGIA. [Chap. VL
ceeded in three or four years in driving thirty thousand of them into
exile. Twenty thousand found a refuge in Prussia ; the other third
fled to Holland, to England, to wherever their faith and their suffer
ings entitled them to sympathy and welcome.
Nowhere was there a warraer interest aroused on behalf of this peo
ple, who had endured so long and so much for conscience' sake, than
in Protestant England. In Oglethorpe's scheme for planting a colony
in America, the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge
saw the opportunity for providing an asylum for some of those who
were still exposed to persecution. Arrangements were made to pro
vide the necessary aid to a limited number, and a proposition to emi
grate to Georgia was accepted by about fiftj' farailies of the village of
Berchtesgaden, a few miles south of Salzburg.
The way was toilsome and long through Gerraany to the northern
coast. But in the autumn of 1733 the villagers started,
grimagein most of them On foot. Carrying only the young and infirm
Europe. . , , . , , , 1 1 - 1 ? . 1
With their household goods m rude carts. At Augsburg
they remained awhile to rest, though the Catholic authorities at first
refused them entrance even to the town. As they dragged on through
their weary journey, they were scoffed at and sometimes maltreated,
when in Catholic districts ; but among Protestants they found every
where hospitality and kindness, the peasants taking the tired women
and children in their arms to carry them from one village to the next.
At Frankfort-on-the-Main the citizens came forth to meet them and
led them into the city in a sort of triumphal procession, to the music
of Lutheran hymns. Here their long march ended, as they took boat
upon the Main. Here, also, they were met by two clergymen, Bolzius
and Gronau, who were to lead them as their pastors to the promised
land. It was not till March of the next spring that these way-worn pilgrims
Arrival in ^J l^i^^ aud by sea reached Charleston, their voyage alone
Georgia. having taken more than a hundred days. Oglethorpe was
on the eve of departure for England, but he gladly turned back with
them to Savannah. They came without wealth ; their only arms
were their Bibles and prayer-books, for the non-resistance to violence,
which discretion had so long taught a hopeless minority, had grown to
an abhorrence of all violence ; but Oglethorpe well knew that these vir
tuous, harmless, and industrious people, long acquainted with priva
tion, self-denial, and subraission, must needs be a valuable acquisition
to a new colony. Lands were given them on the Savannah, selected
by theraselves because the hills and valley bore some remote resem
blance to the home they would never see again. The place they
called Ebenezer, for, they said, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us ; "
and the narae was retained when two or three years afterward they

1735.] THE GRAND EMBARKATION. 151
removed a little, farther inland, — retained by their descendants ever
since. In the winter of 1735-6 Oglethorpe returned from England, where
the report of the first success of the colony, and the pres
ence of Tomo Chichi and several other Indian chiefs whom Embaika-
he had taken with him, had renewed the public enthusiasm.
He brought an addition of about three hundred persons, a few of whom
were of a better class than the beneficiaries of the Trustees ; some
were Salzburgers, others were Moravians, with the Baron von Riek
and Captain Hermsdorf, from Germany, at their head. Charles Wes
ley came as the Governor's secretary ; the elder brother, John, was
sent by the Trustees as a missionary to the Indians. This second
voyage is known as the Grand Embarkation, frora its importance to
the colony, and the distinction is not misapplied. Hermsdorf, as a
brave soldier, was of signal service in the contests with the Spaniards
which soon threatened the existence of the colony ; the Wesleys,
though then young and unknown men, whose stay in Georgia was short,
made in this visit the first step that led to important results in the
religious history of the country.
Charles Wesley quarrelled with Oglethorpe, promulgating a scan
dalous story which it was base to repeat if he did not be
lieve it ; and if he did believe it, the cordial friendship of leys in
subsequent years is not creditable to Wesley. His stay in
Frederica was short, and judicious people had quite as much reason to
rejoice at his departure as he had in going. The career of his brother
John at Savannah was longer and his course even more reprehensible.
He permitted his disappointment in a love affair to influence his con
duct as a clergyman ; he showed more zeal than charity or good judg
ment in censorious criticism (from the pulpit) of public affairs and
public men ; "he drenched them," says Southey. " with the physic of
an intolerant discipline." ^ Perhaps it was not altogether his own
fault that he failed to commend Christianity to the Indians, though
he might have succeeded better had he sought them outside of the
English settlements ; for, when he strove with Tomo Chichi to lead
him to a new faith, the clear-sighted savage, who measured precept
by practice, said — "Why, these are Christians at Savannah! Those
are Christians at Frederica ! Christians get drunk ! Christians beat
men! Christians tell lies! Me no Christian ! "
But the Wesleys were young men then, and the zeal and ardor of
youth ran before knowledge. This episode in their lives would have
been forgotten had there not come in after years the abounding grace,
the eloquence that moved multitudes to bow before it as the forest
^ Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. i.

15i

GEORGIA.

[Chap. VL

bends before the storra, the wisdom that could lay deep and strong the
foundations of a great ecclesiastical organization to rule millions, which
made them araong the most raarked and most influential raen of their
century. It raay be that the painful experience of failure in positions
whose duties were then beyond their strength fitted them for other
and higher duties whieh, had they remained in a young and feeble
colony, they would never have found. But their departure prepared
the way for the coraing of another whose immediate influence upon
his tirae was equal to if it did not exceed theirs, both in England and
Araerica. This was George Whitefield, who was sent to take John Wesley's
George placc at Savanuali. Wesley had left there in secrecy, shaking
Whitefield. ^^^ ^^ |jg g^if-]^ ^i^g (jygt; of his fcct agaiiist it ; for, there was
an indictment for libel hanging over his head on coraplaint of the
husband of the woman
whom he, at one time,
had hoped to marry.
To him Savannah had
become not a pleasant
place to live in, and it is
to be presumed that he
was truthful enough and
humble enough to know
that this was, in part at
least, his own fault.
How else could he urge
Whitefield to take the
place he had run away
from, and in such terms
as these ? " Do you
ask me what you shall
have ? Food to eat, and
raiment to put on, a
house to lay your head
in such as your Master
had not, and a crown of
glory that fadeth not
away." He surely could
not have meant to de
ceive his friend. For it was no common tie that bound them togeth
er ; even the bitterne.ss and acrimony of theological difference — and
nothing wih make men hate each other so cordially — failed in later
years to separate them permanently. They had been fellow-students

Portrait of John Wesley

1738.] CONCERNING RUM AND SLAVERY. 153
at Oxford ; had suffered together, with a few others, ridicule and per
secution for a rehgious enthusiasm incomprehensible to those about
them. The more they were divided from the world in those days,
the more closely they were bound together, and in behavior and belief
alike they had set themselves apart. It was to this Oxford time that
Whitefield alluded once when he said — "I myself thought that Chris
tianity required me to go nasty." And it was also of that time, or
soon after, that the father of the Wesleys, himself a clergyman, said
of his son John — " I sat myself down to try if I could unravel his
sophisms, and hardly one of his assertions appeared to me to be uni
versally true." These " sophisms " were beginning to be a puzzle to
many by the time Whitefiel,d came to Georgia in 1738. On his ar
rival at Charleston, the Rev. Alexander Gordon, the Episcopal clergy
man, warned his people against this disturber of the peace of the
church, preaching from the text — " Those who have turned the world
upside down are corae hither also." Whitefield answered hira, and
his text was — "Alexander the coppersmith hath done me much evil;
the Lord reward him according to his works."
At this second coming to Georgia, Oglethorpe brought with him
two acts of Parliament of a novel and radical character. It would be
a subject of curious speculation what the future history of the country
would have been, could these acts have been permanently enforced.
But as both were from the outset evaded ; and as it was difficult,
probably impossible, under the circumstances of time and situation,
to build up a commonwealth from such foundations ; they remain only
as a remarkable instance of failure to establish a purely moral gov
ernment. One of these acts prohibited the introduction of spirituous
hquors into the colony ; the other forbade the holding of slaves. In
the one case the Trustees hoped to encourage and aid dependence upon
free white labor, which they believed, and believed truly,
could never flourish in competition with the labor of slaves ; of slavery
in the other case they knew that a free traffic in rum led portation of
to drunkenness, and that this was an unmitigated evil to
rough emigrants necessarily freed, in large measure, from the ordinary
restraints of law in older comraunities, and an exterminating curse to
the savage tribes by which they were surrounded. But appetite and
avarice were far stronger than acts of parliaraent or local laws. The
most profitable trade in Carolina was the trade in rum ; such wealth
and prosperity as Carolina had, she derived from the use of slave
labor. The law was powerless to keep rum out of Georgia, where on
one side of an imaginary line were a people determined to buy, and
on the other side a people determined to sell. Equally futile was it
to attempt to keep out slavery. For a brief period the prohibition

154 GEORGIA. [Chap. VL
of the ownership of slaves was evaded by hiring them in gangs from
South Carolina. But even this soon ceased to be necessary.
For a tirae, also, there was another grievance Avhich was a real
and serious injury. This w^as the descent of lands to sons onlv.
The tenure Widows and daughters were debarred by law from any share
of lands. jj.j |-]jg j.g^j estate of husband and father, who had no right of
devise of lands to any person whatever. The tenure was strictly and
inalienably in tail male. The Trustees, however, were wise enough
to see at an early period, that such a systera in a new colony was
impracticable and ruinous. But the progress of the colony was seri
ously interfered with from these various causes. It had besides to
contend with the hostility of the Charleston tradesmen, who were dis
gusted with Oglethorpe's deterraination to control the traffic with the
Indians within the boundaries of Georgid,. The Governor was quite
willing to grant licenses, but it was on condition that no rura should
be sold to the natives. The trader looked upon this as a double
wrong ; not only was he deprived of his best customer for rum, but
he also lost the advantage, when he in his turn became a customer for
peltries, of having a drunken Indian to deal with. The merchants
of Charleston were at a loss for words to express their indignation
and contempt for such an interference with free trade. In Georgia
the malcontents and the friends of the Trustees gave and took hard
blows in a skirmish of pamphlets. In one of these, in a dedication
to Oglethorpe, it was said with what was raeant to be fine irony :
" The valuable Virtue of Hurailit}' is secured to us by your Care to
prevent our procuring, or so much as seeing, any Negroes (the only
human Creatures proper to improve our Soil) lest our Simplicity
might mistake the poor Africans for greater slaves than ourselves :
And that we might fully receive the Spiritual Benefit of those whole
sorae Austerities ; you have wisely denied us the Use of such Spiritu
ous Liquors as might in the least divert our Minds from the Con
teraplation of our Happy Circumstances." ^
Whitefield, on one of his early visits to the colonies, says, in a let
ter to the people of Maryland, Virginia, and Carohna : " I was sen
sibly touched with a fellow feeling for the poor Negroes." He won
ders " they have not raore frequently risen up in arras against their
owners." "And though I heartily pray God," he adds, " they may
never be permitted to get the upper hand, yet should such a thing be
permitted by Providence, all good raen raust acknowledge the judg
ment would be just." But this "fellow feeling," unhappily, did not
last long. The clamor for the introduction of slavery into the colony
carried him along with it.
1 A True and Historical Narrative ofthe Colony of Georgia, etc. Republished in Force's
Tracts.

1738.]

WHITEFIELD'S ORPHAN HOUSE.

155

In accordance with a plan of Oglethorpe's and Charles Wesley 's,^
he had established near Savannah an orphan house, and in all his
wanderings and preachings through Araerica and Great
Britain he never forgot to beg of the charitable for means orphan
to support his Georgia orphans. But he cut off from one
end of his mantle of charity to piece out the other. He discovered
what clear gain it was to rob the poor of their wages ; how safe and
expedient a thing to do if the law would sanction it ; how much
easier to support those poor orphans, the constant theme of his elo
quence, if there was nothing to pay for the labor on which they de
pended. The law forbade it in Georgia ; but there was nothing to
prevent his holding slaves in Carolina. He bouglit a plan- whitefleia
tation there for that purpose, and, while thanking God that °° ^'''^•"'y-
the investment was profitable, he complained in pathetic terms to the
Trustees of the inconvenience of that law which compelled him to
have his slaves and his orphans in separate provinces. It is a piti
able record of inconsistency and weakness. Before he was hiraself
tempted to become a slaveholder, he had, in his exposttilation with
the colonists, reminded them of
" God's taking cognizance, and
avenging the quarrel of the poor
slaves ; " that " God is the same
to-day as He was yesterday, and
will continue the same forever.
He does not reject the prayer of
the poor and destitute, nor disre
gard the cry of the meanest ne
groes. Their blood which has
been spilt for these many years
in your respective provinces, will
ascend up to Heaven against you.
I wish I could say it would speak
better things than the blood of
Abel." Now his eyes were blind
ed, and he could not see that the ^°'''"''
blood was on his own hands. So far as the influence of his character
and example went, no man did more than he to fasten slavery upon
Georgia. The destination of the larger portion of the Grand Embarkation
under Oglethorpe, was to build a new town upon the Island x,.« towns
of St. Simon's, at the mouth of the Altaiuaha. Darien, ''"'"•
farther up that river, the new Ebenezer of the Salzburgs, and
1 Life and Travels of George Whitefeld. By J. P. Gladstone, London, 1871.

156

GEORGIA.

[Chap. VI.

Augusta — both on the Savannah — were begun at about the same
time, but it was to Frederica, on St. Simon's Island, that the Governor
gave his chief attention. The town itself and the approach to it
were defended with military prevision by forts and batteries at differ
ent points on St. Simon's and Cumberland Island, for, as Georgia
was to be the protection of Carolina against the Spaniards of Flor
ida, Frederica was
to be so formidable
that no Spanish
force would venture
to leave it in their
rear, should an in
vasion of the settle
ments north of it be
undertaken. The
Governor made it
his base in the un
fortunate expedi
tion against St. Au
gustine, — already
related in the chap
ter on Spanish colo
nization. •¦¦ But this
was not till after he
had made a second
visit to England,
and returned, for
the third time, with
a mihtary commis
sion which included
South Carolina as
well as Georgia.^
That he was en
abled to hold, after
his repulse from
Florida, all the
places he had built
and fortified on the southern frontier, was due largely, if not alto-
1 See Yol. i., p. 560, et seq,
2 His commission was that of colonel, and not major-general, as we inadvertently said
in the account referred to, though he was called by courtesy General. He went through
the various gradations of military rank on his final return to England, till he was for years
the senior general of the British army. His last military service was in the suppression of
the Rebellion of 1745 under Charles Edward, the Pretender.

Map of the Georgia Coast.

1739.] OGLETHORPE'S JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR. 157
gether, to the friendly relations he had established with the Creeks,
Choctaws, and Chickasaws. He learned, in the summer of 1739, that
the Spaniards were making overtures to these tribes, and attempting
to alienate them from the English; and that their success was not im
possible, as raany of the chiefs were exasperated by the disorder cre
ated among their people by the introduction of rum by traders from
Carohna, who had gone araong them without licenses. A grand coun
cil was to be held in August at the Indian town of Coweta, three hun
dred miles northwest of Savannah, and Tomo Chichi and other chiefs
begged Oglethorpe to attend it.
With only three or four attendants he raade this arduous journey
through the unbroken wilderness, into which, except for the first few
miles, not a settler had penetrated, making his way through forests
and swamps, crossing rivers, when wading or swimming was impos
sible, upon rafts built for the emergency, exposed by day
to the heat of a southern summer, by night to dangerous journey into
malaria, sleeping upon the ground without shelter, or upon
heaps of branches where the ground was wet. It was a journey of
nearly a month each way ; and so corapletely did the party pass out
of the sight and out of the reach of their countrymen, that either
they would bring back the tidings of their own safety, or never again,
in all probability, be heard of. The courage to encounter, the energy
to overcome the difficulties of such an enterprise, and the complete
reliance upon the good faith of the Indians evinced in undertaking
it, were virtues certain to command the enthusiasm and admiration
of the savages. Chiefs of various tribes, who together could bring
into the field 7,000 warriors, met Oglethorpe at Coweta. The per
sonal influence he gained over them was of the utmost importance to
him so long as he remained in Georgia, and to the colony long after
he had surrendered its care into other hands.
It was not Indians only, however, whom the vigilant and deter
mined enemy of the English, the Spaniards, endeavored to ser^jiein.
stir up against them. The slaves of Carolina were encour- i"so„t^°
aged to escape to Florida, where they were organized into caroima.
military companies, and to their officers were given the same rank,
the same uniform, and the same consideration that distinguished the
officers of Spanish regiments. It was fortunate for the five or six
thousand whites of Carolina that their forty thousand slaves had no
allies in Georgia at this critical period, when Spain was determined
upon the conquest of these English provinces. Oglethorpe had
scarcely recovered from the fatigue and serious illness which followed
his long journey to the West, when tidings of a formidable servile
insurrection in South Carolina reached him. The number of the in-

158

GEORGIA.

[Chap. VL

surgents constantly increased as they took up their march toward
Florida, devastating plantations and killing the whites as they made
their way southward. But they were without discipline or organiza
tion. Giving theraselves up, at last, to a carouse upon the liquor
which they had brought away from some of the houses they had plun
dered, they were surrounded by a body of militia, attacked, some
killed, some taken prisoners, and the rest dispersed. Oglethorpe
issued a proclamation for the arrest of any fugitives who should be
found in Georgia, and for any Spanish emissaries discovered in tbe
province, and sent
out a body of troops
to enforce his or
ders. The wide
frontier of free ter
ritory between the
Savannah and the
Altamaha, thus
vigilantly guarded,
was an efficient
protection to slave-
holding Carolina
against the designs
of the Spaniards.
How efficient, was
to be made evident
when in the sum
mer of 1742, two
years after Ogle
thorpe's failure to
take St. Augustine,
the Spaniards in
their turn, as we
have briefly related
in a forraer chap
ter, determined to invade the English provinces. Don Manuel de
^lontiano, who was still Captain-general of Florida, having
Invasion oi . . , i. o o
the Span- bccu reiutorced frora Havana, appeared off St. Simon's Isl
and with a fleet of more than thirty vessels and a force of five
thousand men.i Reports of this proposed invasion had reached Ogle
thorpe some weeks before, and he had sent dispatches, asking for aid,
1 A Memoir of General Oglethorpe. By R. Wright. .1 .Sketch of the Life of General
James Oglethorpe. By Thomas Spalding. Hewit, in his Historical Account of South Car
olina and Georgia, estiraates the force at three thousand.

Portrait of Admiral Vernon.

1 742.]

SPANISH INVASION.

159

to the Governor of South Carolina, and to Adrairal Vernon in com
mand of the English fleet in the West Indies. But no assistance came
in time from either. He called in his Highland troops from Darien ;
summoned those of his Indian allies who were within reach ; released
indented servants, and so mustered a force of about eight hundred
men. There appeared first eleven galleys, probably in what is now

Fight of the Galleys.
called St. Andrew's Sound, between Jekyl and Cumberland islands.
It was necessary to reenforce Fort William on the southern extremity
of Cumberland Island, and to do this Oglethorpe started with three
boats carrying two companies of men. As they crossed the Sound
the Spaniards bore down upon thera, and one of the three boats, un
der Lieutenant Folson, was driven back. But Oglethorpe, with the
other two boats, pushed on through the fleet of galleys, delivering his
shot right and left as he passed, with such effect that four of them
afterward foundered, and the rest were seriously disabled. Pulling
to leeward of the smoke of the battle, he escaped without the loss of

160 GEORGIA. [Chap. VI.
a man, while those who had watched the engagement from St. Simon's
Island supposed — as Folson had a.lso reported — that he and his men
were utterly destroyed. He landed at Fort William, how-
liam reijn- evcr, the troops requisite for its defence, reraoved thither the
men and guns frora St. Andrew's Fort, at the upper end
of Cumberland Island, and then returned in safety to his fleet in
St. Simon's Sound. This gallant action, and the immediate arrest of
Folson for cowardice, aroused an enthusiasm and determination in his
little array without which their situation would have been desperate
and hopeless.
The enemy's fleet of thirty-two vessels, a few days later, ran into
St. Simon's harbor with a brisk breeze, and were received with a heavy
fire from the batteries on shore. To meet them on the water, Ogle
thorpe had only a merchant-vessel of twenty guns, on board which he
put one hundred and ten men, and two schooners of fourteen guns and
eighty men each, all with springs on their cables. On eight " York
sloops " in the harbor he put one raan each, with orders to sink or run
thera ashore in case they were likely to be taken. The object of the
Spaniards was to get up the river, rather than destroy these vessels.
Twice, however, they attempted to board the larger ship, the Suc
cess, and one of the schooners, but were repulsed with a loss of
twenty men after four hours' fighting. Oglethorpe was
Approach of " i • i • , i
the Spanish everywhere at the right moment ; sometiraes on the vessels
fleet. *¦.,. . ,..,,
encouraging his men, sometimes on shore directing the bat
teries. When this hot work was over, and the Spanish fleet had
fought their way through the fire of the batteries and the resistance
of the three English vessels, then Oglethorpe ordered his troops
ashore, thanked the sailors for their brave conduct, and ordered them
to escape to Charleston. That nothing raight be left behind to fah
into the hands of the Spaniards, he dismantled his shore-batteries,
spiked their guns, destroyed all the provisions, and fell back upon
Frederica in good order.
The military skill with which the defences of Frederica had been
laid out now becarae apparent. The town, well fortified, was at the
head of a bay of difficult navigation ; at one point, called the Devil's
Elbow, no ship could pass without " going about," and batteries were
so planted that as she raade that manoeuvre, she could be raked at
once frora three directions for three quarters of a mile. The Span
iards lacked the courage to expose theraselves to so formidable a fire,
and the fleet came to anchor at a point, about four railes below the
town, caUed Gascoin's Bluff. Here the whole force of about 5,000
men was set ashore, that the attack might be made by land and in
the rear.

1742.]

THE DEFENCES OF FREDERICA. 161

But neither here had Oglethorpe's prevision been wanting. The
road running southward frora the town reached, at a dis- The road to
tance of two or three miles, a marsh, along the edge of i^™''*™'^'
which it continued, with an impassable morass on one side and a dense
and tangled wood on the other. A mile or two farther on, this road
took a crescent shape with a width of only about sixty feet, making a
defile dangerous to be caught in, with an enemy concealed at the inlet
and outlet, and in the wood on one side, while over the morass, on the
other, escape was impossible.
This crescent terminated in a wood, where Oglethorpe, when he
fell back the day before to Frederica, had left a small de
tachment of troops with some Indian allies. At dawn of iards re-
day the Spaniards attacked this handful of men, and drove
them through the woods to the entrance of the crescent. Speedy in
formation was sent to the General, who, with such force as he could
rally on the instant, galloped to the front, met the Spaniards and at
tacked them with such impetuosity that he drove them through the
wood into the open ground beyond. Then placing a reenforcement to
resist any farther advance of the enemy, he hurried back to Frederica,
apprehensive that this movement in his rear might be a feint to distract
his attention and draw off his men from an attack on the town by the
fleet. There was no movement, however, from the ships, and he moved
down the road again with a larger force to meet the Spaniards in case
of another advance in that direction. Before reaching the crescent
he met the troops which he had left in the woods beyond, in disorderly
retreat. The Spaniards — veteran troops selected from the army and
brought from Cuba for this important service — outnumbered the
English, probably six or seven to one. Oglethorpe's men, knowing
how perilous their position would be should the enemy be able to get
possession of the pass and cut off their retreat, swept through it in
too great a panic to remember that they might make a successful
stand there against their pursuers. They had already left it a mile
or two behind when Oglethorpe met, rallied, and turned thera back.
They, as well as he, knew that should the enemy once pass through
the crescent and up the road to the open prairie in the rear of Fred
erica, the chance of a successful resistance of 800 men against 5,000
was hopeless.
The Spaniards had pursued the panic-stricken Englishmen into the
pass and marked by the retreating footsteps that they had fled precip
itately through the farther entrance. The victory seeraed complete,
and the road beyond open to an advance at the pursuers' leisure. Their
present position could be easily held against any attack in front, and
VOL. III. 11

162 GEORGIA. [Chap. VL
from the rear there was, they thought, no possibility of danger. On
one side they observed the perfect protection of the impassable mo
rass ; on the other, what seeraed to be an impenetrable wood. Con
fident in security, and exultant in success, the tired and hungry sol
diers stacked their arms, threw themselves upon the grass for rest, and
prepared to break their fast, for they had not as yet that day taken
food. There were within the curve of the road probably from two to
three hundred men.
When the English had fled in utter confusion before the Spaniards
into the defile, the rear guard was a corapany of Highland-
The defile . l J &
held by the ers uudcr the command of Lieutenants McKay and Souther-
land. They followed without being in the least touched by
the panic which had seized their fellow-soldiers in advance, and when
in the bend of the road they swept out of sight of the pursuit, the
Highland lieutenants halted their men. A brief and hurried con
sultation resulted in a rapid raovement. Before the Spaniards had
again come in sight, every Highlander, and a few Indians with them,
had sprung silently into the dense woods bordering one side of the
road, and disappeared. Not the flutter of a single plaid, not the
rustle of a single footstep upon the dried leaves of the forest, revealed
to the Spaniards that they were leaving behind them a detachment of
the troops whom they had seen only a few moments before in rapid
retreat. Stealthily and silently the Highlanders and Indians crept through
the underbrush. McKay and Southerland placed their men
Slaughter of iiinr-i t, tip
the Span- SO as to commaiid both ends ot the jjass, and the whole ot
the sweep of the crescent. Without impatience, motionless
as the trunks of the trees which hid them, they watched the move
ments of the enemy. When the arms were stacked and the Span
iards were dispersed in groups taking the needed food and rest, hi
larious at success achieved, buoyant with the hope of success to come,
there appeared suddenly, among the green foliage, the concerted signal
of two Highland caps, raised in the air at different points. Instantly
a volley of bullets was poured in araong the Spaniards ; then another
and another. The wildest panic seized all who were not killed by
these first discharges. Sorae plunged into the woods, only to be cut
down by the broadswords of the Highlanders ; sorae fled to the en
trances, to be raet there by death from an unseen foe. On one side
were a few raen, cool, collected, out of sight ; on the other, there were
many more, but in the open roadway, crazed with fear, unarmed,
hopeless of escape, falling with every shot. The disparity of numbers
counted for nothing. Oglethorpe was near enough to hear the din of
battle, but not near enough to take part in it. The firing had ceased

1742.]

SLAUGHTER OF THE SPANIARDS.

163

before he reached the defile ; as he rode rapidly into it at the head of
his men, he was received with the shouts of the victorious and trium
phant Highlanders and the yells of the Indians, who stood wiping
swords and tomahawks, surrounded by the dead and dying Spaniards,
of whom hardly a man had escaped.
No further attempt to approach the town by land was made by the
Spaniards, and an advance two or three days afterwards, by water, in
boats, was easily repulsed by the batteries, and by a judicious disposi
tion of men along the shores of the bay. Disaster produced dissen
sion among the invaders ; the Havana troops separated from those of
Florida and encamped 
bjthemsehes Ogle-
thoipe ¦with his small
but dctuo foice har
assed both ind kept
both upon the defen-

The Spaniards surprised.

sive. A proposed assault upon one of them with six hundred men at
the dawn of day, was defeated by a Frenchman, who gave the alarra
by a premature discharge of his gun and raade his escape into the
Spanish camp. The misfortune was the greater that the man knew
exactly the condition and resources of the English, and it was of the
last importance that of these the Spaniards should be kept in igno
rance. By the boldness and energy of Oglethorpe they were persuaded
that he was much stronger than he really was ; he might be over
whelmed by mere force of numbers, should the Spanish commanders
know that their fleet of thirty-two vessels and force of 5,000 men
were opposed by only 800 raen. To raeet this new emergency he re
sorted to a desperate bit of strategy, suggested by the treachery of
this Frenchman.

164 GEORGIA. [Chap. VL
He immediately wrote a letter of instructions to the French deserter
Oglethorpe's which assuiued him to be a spy sent into the Spanish camp.
stratagem. Jjg ordered him to do all in his power to persuade the Span
ish coramander that the Enghsh could muster only a few hundred
men, and that Frederica was really alraost defenceless ; and he was to
offer to pilot the fleet up the river that it might thereby be detained, if
onlj' for three days longer. For, the spy was to let drop no hint of the
immediate approach of reenforceraents of 2,000 men from Charles
ton, according to dispatches which, it was declared, had been received
since his departure ; nor that an English fleet was off the coast bound
to Frederica, and that Admiral Vernon was on the way to attack St.
Augustine. Should the Frenchman strictly and skillfully obey these
directions, he was assured that the reward already paid him should he
doubled. This dispatch was put into the hands of a Spanish prisoner,
who was liberated and heavily bribed on condition that he would
faithfully deliver it to the Frenchman on his arrival in the camp of
the enemy. This man, as Oglethorjae had presumed he would he,
was taken before the Spanish commander when he reached the
Spanish lines, was questioned as to his escape, and, on giving some
confused account of himself, was searched and the letter taken from
him. Desperate as the expedient was, it happened to be well-timed and
successful. A stratagem was suspected, but so much credence was
given to the intercepted letter that the Frenchman was put in irons,
and the Spaniards delayed all movements, awaiting further tidings.
Meanwhile, in the course of two or three days, some passing vessels
were seen off the coast, which the Spaniards at once believed to be
the advance guard of that Enghsh fleet which, as the letter hinted,
was approaching. The Spanish general permitted himself to
the Span- doubt 110 longcr ; his whole army was hurried on board his
vessels ; all sail was crowded for St. Augustine ; Ogle
thorpe, audacious to the last, chasing them out of the sound with his
few boats — too few and too sraall to venture upon an attack.
So the forraidable invasion carae to this sorry and almost ludicrous
conclusion. But the brave and skilful defence of Frederica, never
theless, had saved two provinces to the British Crown, and while it
covered the Spanish commander with disgrace and ridicule, it gave
great military renown to the English general. It was the last serious
atterapt of Spain to establish her assumed right to territory north of
the Altamaha River, though for the twenty years longer that Florida
reraained a Spanish province, hostilities occasionally broke out — as
when in 1743 Oglethorpe again carried the war to the very walls of
St. Augustine.

1744.]

OGLETHORPE'S RETURN TO ENGLAND.

16^

A year after that expedition he returned to England — recalled by
his own request. Calumnies had gone before him frora ene
mies in Charleston; one Cook, whora he had made a lieu- final return
tenant-colonel at Frederica, but who had deserted his com- ° "s an .
mand on the plea of illness just before the late invasion, had followed
with accusations which jealousy and malice had at length formulated.
The General's pecuniary affairs also deraanded his personal presence
in London, as they, not through any fault of his own, but through the
official stupidity at the war-office, bad become entangled.
That there was nothing in all these coraplications that he could not
and did not satisfactorily answer, is plain enough from the fact that
Cook was dismissed
from the service when
his accusations were
brought before a board
of generals, and that
Oglethorpe in the
course of two years
was raised to the rank
of major-general and
two years later to that
of lieutenant-general.
He did not again re
turn to Georgia, but
his warm interest in
the colony, to the end
of his long hfe of
ninety-six years, nev
er wavered. And to
the very end of his
days he preserved the
vigor of character
which always distin
guished him, though
he gradually retired
from^ pubhc life. Not long before his death Horace Walpole wrote
of him : " His eyes, ears, articulation, hmbs, and memory would suit
a boy, if a boy could recollect a century backwards; " and added —
" two years and a half ago he challenged a neighboring gentleman
for trespassing on his manor." This vigorous old man was often a
^ The inscription on the old print from which this is copied, states that the sketch was
made at the sale of Dr. Johnson's library, Feb. 18, 1785, " where the General was reading
a book he had purchased, without spectacles."

Oglethorpe in 1785. From a Sketch from Life.'

166 GEORGIA. [Chap. VI.
conspicuous figure in the literary society of London in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century ; and it is an interesting fact that the ven
erable Samuel Rogers, the poet, whom many living persons knew,
reraerabered that when a young raan he met General Oglethorpe, the
founder of the last English colony on the Atlantic coast of America,
at the sale of Dr. Johnson's library.
After Oglethorpe's return to England the Trustees appointed a
president, — William Stephens, who had been the colonial secretary,
— with a council of four for the government of Georgia. The popu
lation at this time numbered only about fifteen hundred persons, and
these were, for the most part, poor and not prospering. If their
energy and industry had not been misdirected in the attempt to make
Condition of ^^^^ ^i^*^ wiiic the Staple products of the country, they were
the colony. ^^ least disappointed and depressed at the failure of the
experiment. No great degree of prosperity, moreover, was possible
so long as the settlers were harassed with a constant dread of their
Spanish and Indian neighbors, and were so frequently engaged in
active warfare. The tenure of land, though the laws of the Trustees
were modified from time to tirae, continued unwise and burdensome;
and the discontent was almost universal at the prohibition of the use
of slave labor, which Avas so obviously a source of wealth in the
neighboring province. There was little agriculture, almost no com
merce, an impoverished people, and a feeble government. The bril
liant promises of the early days, if they were still jiromulgated, were
no longer believed in, and few new emigrants sought homes in a
colony where, though jsrosperity was possible, it was certain that a
struggle with raany difficulties awaited them.
In 1752, the Trustees, convinced at length, by an experience of
Sun-ender of twenty years, of their inability to govern profitably for them-
the charter, gg^ygg Qy wisely for the colonists, voluntarily surrendered the
charter to the Crown. An incident had occurred, however, five years
before, at Savannah, which came near making this surrender a barren
concession. A new claimant appeared to a portion, if not the whole,
of the territory of Georgia, and had the title been estabhshed the
province would, probably, have passed out of the control of the
Trustees. That ]\Iary Musgrove, the half-breed Indian whora Oglethorpe had
An Indian made hls interpreter on his first arrival, had, after losing
insurrection, successively two English husbands, — John Musgrove, Jr.,
and Jacob Mathews, — married the Rev. Thoraas Bosomworth, a
clergyraan of the Church of England, at one time a missionary of the
Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and a chaplain
to Oglethorpe. He relinquished these clerical duties for the more

1752.] THE HALF-BREED QUEEN MARY. 167
profitable calhng of the propagation of cattle, and ran in debt for
large herds in South Carolina. The islands of Ossabaw, St. Cather
ine's, and Sapelo, and some portion of the mainland, had been re
served to the Creeks by treaty. Bosomworth induced the Indians
to cede these lands to him for the accommodation of his herds. But
the enterprise was a failure, and it is conjectured that he then re
sorted to a desperate measure to relieve himself from debt. It is
quite as hkely, however, that the acquisition of so rauch influence
over the Indians as to induce them to part, for a trifling consideration
in merchandise, with three islands, extending nearly half the length
of the coast of Georgia, suggested the more ambitious scheme to be
accomphshed by their help.
Mary Musgrove, Mary Mathews, Mary Bosomworth, — as she was
known by the surnames of her successive husbands, — was a woman
of mark, as an interpreter and a trader, and had acquired, in both
callings, great power over the Indians. She had as well, it seems,
the respect and confidence of Oglethorpe, who, on leaving Georgia,
presented her with a diamond ring. Apparently she was quite con
tent for years to act as the common friend of both races, being allied
to both by blood, — serving one by selling it peltries, the other by
selling it rum.
But as the wife of Bosomworth, and probably at Bosomworth's
instigation, she aspired at length to higher things. She was, or pre
tended to be, descended from a royal race of Creeks, and, calling the
chiefs of that nation together, she persuaded them to acknowledge
her as their queen. She asserted her sovereign right to all the ^^^^^
territory of the Upper and Lower Creeks ; she disavowed all *''"'^-
allegiance to the King of England, whose equal she assuraed to be ;
and she sent a messenger to Savannah demanding from President
Stephens a recognition of her claims, and threatening, in case of re
fusal, the extirpation of the colony.
If all this had, at first, a ludicrous aspect, it became serious enough
when Mary approached the town at the head of a large body of
Indians. The whole railitia of the province — which nurabered, how
ever, only a hundred and seventy men — had been hastily called to
gether. A corapany of horse was sent out to meet the invaders, who
were so far overawed by the deterraination of the English that they
agreed to lay down their arms before entering Savannah. But the
approach of this Indian host, though unarmed, was quite enough to
excite the utmost apprehension among the people. At the head of
this formidable procession marched Bosomworth, in his canonical
robes, and Mary the queen. These royal persons were followed by
the principal chiefs of the Creek nation ; and behind them came the
tumultuous, hideous, howling, raging mob of naked savages.

168 GEORGIA. [Chap. VI.
The courage and sagacity of President Stephens and his council
were sufficient for the eraergency. No signs of fear were seen in
Captain Jones and the provincial militia as, drawn up in the public
square, they received the warriors, who so many times outnumbered
them, with an artillery salute of fifteen guns. It is questionable,
however, whether a general massacre could have been long averted
had not the savages been induced to lay down their arms at the out
set. In the course of the negotiations, which continued for several
days, there were moraents of exasperation and fury, when Bosom
worth, enraged at iraprisonraent, and Mary, wild with drink, could
easily have led their folloivers, had they been armed, to carry out the
threat of extermination. But the leaders were separated, as much as
possible, at first by persuasion and then by force, from the chiefs, and
these at length were brought to a calmer and raore rational state of
mind. A judicious use of presents is never without influence upon
the contemplative Indian, and Stephens brought it to bear with great
skill upon the Creek chieftains. Then he reminded them — of what
they must have known even better than he — that there was no
strain of royal blood in the veins of Mary, but that this daughter of
some common squaw by some obscure white man was, when "in a
poor, ragged condition, neglected and despised by the Creeks," raised
into consideration by Oglethorpe, as an interpreter. Bosomworth
stormed and threatened when he saw his followers fall away from
him ; Mary, in a drunken rage, stamped upon the ground which, she
swore by her Maker, was all hers ; she cursed Oglethorpe
rection sup- and hls treaties, and devoted to speedy death all these white
intruders. More than once there was imminent danger
that the Indians, inflaraed by these appeals, would put tJie threats
in execution ; but the chiefs, at last convinced that the claims of this
half-breed impostor to be their queen were preposterous, and that
her husband was a liar and a cheat, consented to disperse.
The province reraained in the hands of the E^ighsh without fur
ther molestation frora the Bosomworths, who, however, seem to have
been, in later years, persons of some consideration, notwithstanding
their attempt to set up a throne for theraselves within the dominions
of the King. It is quite possible that they still retained so much
influence over the Creeks as to be too formidable for punishment,
while the colony reraained too feeble to risk a struggle.
The growth of the colony was slow even for ten years after it be
carae a royal province. When, in 1754, a convention of delegates
frora the several colonies assembled at Albany and resolved to form
a union, Georgia was not represented ; and in the apportionment of
representation in the proposed Congress under that plan, no members

1754-1762.]

GROWTH OF THE COLONY.

169

were assigned to that province. It was only, probably, because the
colony was too insignificant for recognition. It was not till at the
Peace of Paris, in 1762, when Florida was ceded to England, and
Georgia relieved from the presence of a dangerous neighbor, that it
gave much promise of prosperity.

Seal of the Georgia Trustees.

CHAPTER VII.
PEN KSYlVaN IA.
Penn's Return to America. — Aspect or Philadeli'hia at that Time. — Birth
OF his Son John. — Penn's Seat at Pexnsburv Manor. — Relations to the
Indians and his Neighbors. — Return to England. — Friends and Slavery.
— The Earliest Abolitionists. — New Charter granted. — John Evans
APPOINTED Deputy-governor. — Penn's Troubles with the Fords, and his
Arrest and Imprisonment. — Negotiations for Sale of the Province to
the Ckown. — Troubles in Pennsylvania. — Opposition Party under David
Lloy'd. — Resistance to Taxation. — Complaints agaixst James Logan. —
Conduct of William Penn, Jr. — Death of the Proprietor. — Governor
Gookin on Military Requisitions and Oaths. — Sir William Keith's Ad
ministration. — Visits of the Younger Penns. — Benjamin Franklin.
When William Penn returned to his colony in December, 1699,
it was after an absence of fifteen years. The Meetings of
turn to Friends in England parted from him with the warmest as
surances of their respect and affection, and on his arrival in
the colony he was received with enthusiasm. It was not thought too
trifling an incident by a Friend ^ to record in his journal that some
young men — belonging, no doubt, to the world's people — deter
mined to salute the arrival of the Governor at Chester by the firing
of cannon. So unseemly a demonstration was forbidden by the mag
istrates ; the salute, nevertheless, was made with two sraall field-
pieces, but done so clumsily that the preraature discharge of one of the
guns so mutilated the young man who was loading it that he after
ward died. It is an evidence of the paternal relations which Penn
maintained with his people, that in the Proprietary Cash Book of that
period are several entries of suras paid "for B. Bevan, of Chester,
who lost his arm," closing with one of " April 20th, for his funeral
charges." The colony was not yet nineteen years old. Penn was thinking of
it as he last saw It, when, before embarking iu England, he said he
was about to return to "the Araerican Desart." But he found a prov
ince of more than twenty thousand inhabitants, " a noble and beau-
^ Thomas Story's Journal.

1699.]

PHILADELPHIA.

171

tiful city " of " above two thousand houses, and Most of them stately
and of Brick, generally three stories high, after the Mode
in London." There were " curious wharfs," as " Chestnut Phnadei"-
Street Wharf, High Street Wharf, Mulberry Street Wharf, ''""
Vine Street Wharf," and from one of these the goods were carted
into the city " under an Arch over which part of the street is built."
There were many lanes and alleys leading from Front Street to Sec
ond Street ; and
some of the princi
pal streets were
named Walnut,
Vine, Mulberry,
Chestnut, Sassa
fras, " taking their
names from the
abundance of those
Trees that former
ly grew there." ^
Those familiar
with Philadelphia
will observe how
accurately names
and localities have
been preserved for
nearly two cen
turies. Penn took
for his town resi
dence the " Slate
Roof House," as it was called, in Second Street, at the southeast
corner of Norris 's Alley. In this house was born John, the Bi,,j^ ^j
oldest son of his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, — the only •'°''° ''™°'
one of his children born in this country, and called therefore, by way
of distinction, " The American." But his principal residence, to which
he removed in the spring, was his country-seat, Pennsbury JManor,
four miles above Bristol, on the Delaware River.
Eighteen years before, during his first visit, a mansion had been
built at this place, spacious and well appointed, and worthy pennshury
of its surrounding doraain of about six thousand acres. Here Manor.
he lived in a style to which, as an English country gentieraan, he
was accustomed, and here he exercised the large hospitality and in
fluence becoming a provincial proprietor and governor. From the gen-
' An Historical am! Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pennsylvania,
etc. By Gabriel Thomas.

The "Slate Roof House,"
as it appeared just before its demolition in 1868.

172 PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. VIL
tie eminence on which the house stood, an avenue of poplars led from
the broad porch down a terraced bank to the river ; the grounds were
laid out in lawns and gardens ; here and there were planted trees
frora other parts of the country, not indigenous to Pennsylvania ;
there were nurseries of carefully selected fruit and forest trees, and
shrubs iraported from England to enrich the native flora ; and the
raost beautiful of the native flowers were gathered together in beds.
Only a few acres of the surrounding land were cultivated, and the old
woods were preserved, except where it was necessary to cut a road, or
where sorae added charm could be given to the landscape b}' opening
a vista to a stretch of the river, or to a distant view. In the river, at
the foot of the poplar avenue, swung with the current the barge of
the Governor. Near the house were buildings for all the convenient
offices of such a residence, — a detached kitchen and larder ; a wash-
house ; a brewery, that there should be no want of the national Eng
hsh beverage, of more universal use at that period, at all meals, than
tea and coffee are now ; stables for imported blooded horses, and Eng
lish carriages. In the spacious rooms of the mansion, where Hannah
Penn — described as "a delicate, pretty woman, sitting beside the
cradle of her infant " ^ — bore gentle sway, were signs of luxurious
living not then quite coramon in the colonies, in satin-covered and
plush-covered cushions, in damask and camblet curtains, in silk blan
kets, in plate and Tunbridge ware, and blue and white china, and in
damask table-cloths and napkins, in high-backed chairs and spider-
legged tables of solid oak.^ Everywhere, without and within, were the
evidences of cultivated tastes, and, combined with thera, the purpose
was apparent of so using wealth that it should conduce to the enjoy
ment and the good of others. For, there was no ostentation and no as
sumption of superiority. In the great hall of the house were always
standing long tables, at which a hearty welcome awaited all comers,
uishospi- whites or Indians, whether of high or low degree. There is
tahty. ^ tradition of one entertainment given to the Indians, when
they were so numerous that it was necessary to lay the tables outrof-
doors, in the great poplar avenue, and one hundred roasted turkeys
were provided as a part only of the ample bill of fare.^ When among
the Indians, in their own villages, Penn ate of their simple food with
as much heartiness as he entertained them at his own more elaborate
feasts. Nor did he disdain, on such occasions, to join in their sports,
to try a fall with their athletes in a wrestling match, or to put his agil
ity against theirs in a contest in running or jumping. No English-
1 Logan MSS. citetl in Janney's Life of Penn.
2 Private Life of William Perm. By J. F. Fisher. Memoirs Hist. Soc. of Pa.
^ Fisher's Private Life.

1699.] PENN'S RELATIONS WITH INDIANS AND NEIGHBORS. 173

man ever so gained their good-will, affection, and respect, and there
was no more affectation or condescension in the familiarity
with which he associated with them, than there was want with the'in!
of sincerity in the uniform policy of absolute justice which
he made the rule of all his dealings with the natives. A perfectly
sincere simplicity in all his social intercourse was a marked trait of
Penn's character. He was, apparently, incapable of comprehending
that mere worldly position made any difierence between him and his
fellow-men. So well was this understood among those who saw his

Penn and Rebecca Wood.

daily life, that only a stranger would remark upon it, as a thing
worthy of notice, that Penn rode up to the Darby Meeting with a
young girl, — Rebecca Wood, — whom he had picked up on the way,
sitting behind him on the bare back of the horse, her naked legs and
feet dangling down by the well-clothed lirabs of the Governor. Yet
he was by no means indifferent to personal appearance and personal
presence ; the ladies at Pennsbury Manor wore silk gowns ''*'''"*¦
and jewelry ; its master was careful of the texture of his garments.

174

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. VH.

and, if his coat was plain, it probably fitted nicely to his shapely
figure ; he did not think it essential to the purity of the inner man
that the outer man should be clothed in the leather breeches of
George Fox ; in one year, while in America, he bought four wigs, at
a cost of twenty pounds.
Pennsbury IVIanor he, no doubt, sincerely hoped would be his per
manent home for the rest of his days, and that there he could
devote himself to the government of his province, and the
development of its resources. Within two years, however, he was

Return to
England.

Pennsbury Manor.
recalled to England, where his presence was absolutely necessary to
defend his proprietary rights against a proposition introduced by bill
in the House of Lords, to bring all the provinces under the direct
government of the Crown. " My heart is among you," he said, in a
speech to the Assembly, "as well as my body, whatever some people
raay please to think : and no unkindness or disappointment shall (with
subraission to God's providence) ever be able to alter my love to the
country, and resolution to return and settle ray faraily and posterity
in it." But now, he thought, he could best serve the colony and him
self on the other side of the ocean. It was, however, a final leave-
taking. He never again saw his beloved Pennsylvania ; anxiety, per
plexity, and pecuniary embarrassments vexed the remainder of his
days, and of the last twenty years of his life he doubtless looked back
to the two years passed at Pennsbury Manor, as the only happy ones.

1701.] PENN'S RETURN TO ENGLAND. 175
Nor did he ever cease, so long as disease left him the power of volition,
to long for a return to that tranquil residence on the banks of the
Delaware, and to hope that he might escape to it from the cares and
vexations which beset his declining years.
He left the colony late in October, 1701, and, though his visit had
not been long, he had reason to reflect with satisfaction, upon the
good that had resulted from it. Many laws were passed at his sug
gestion, which were directly conducive to the welfare of the people,
and where his influence was less direct, it was not less permanent.
A minute of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1700, says : " Our
dear friend and Governor laid before the meeting a concern that hath
laid upon his mind for some time, concerning the negroes and Indians."
He had, in the spring of that year, attempted to procure the passage
of a law, — which the Assembly rejected, — for regulating the mar
riage of negroes ; for his theory seems to have been, that a care for
the moral well-being of the slave was the imperative duty of the
master — a theory which was the high-road to doubting whether the
relation of master and slave was not itself immoral. That it was
absolutely unchristian, inhuman, and impossible of existence in a
high state of civilization, had no more occurred to Penn, as a self-evi
dent proposition, than to anybody else a hundred and eighty years ago.
He was himself au owner of slaves; the very possibility of p^nna,
such a relation, however, seems to have impelled him, in- s'a™'i<''<Jer.
stinctively and irresistibly, to be rid of it. In a will, written just
before he sailed for England, he gives freedom to his blacks, but from
the phraseology in which the bequest is conveyed, it is apparent that
it was meant, not to confer a new benefit, but to guard one already
bestowed. The benefit of the doubt, in his mind, — if he had only
come to the point of doubt, — as to the morality of slave-holding, he
gave to his slaves.^
Twelve years before this date, the German Friends about German-
town had sent to the Monthly Meeting a strong though quaint priends and
remonstrance against " the traffic of men-body." " We slavery.
hear," they said, " that the most part of such negroes, are brought
hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen.
Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty
to have them slaves, as [than] it is to have other white ones 
But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will,
we stand against  Pray, what thing in the world can be
done worse toward us, than if men should rob or steal us away, and
sell us for slaves to strange countries ; separating husbands from their
wives and children. Being now this is not done in the raanner we
1 See Janney's Life of Penn,

176 PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. VIL
would be done at, therefore, we contradict, and are against this trafiic
of men-body." The memorial was referred to the Quarterly Meeting,
and by that to the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia. This body de
clined to give a positive judgment upon the question of the "unlaw
fulness and lawfulness of buying and keeping negroes."
Discussion, however, was not silenced. Eight years afterward
— 1696 — in response to the remonstrances of subordinate meetings,
the Yearly Meeting advised, " that Friends be careful not to encour
age the bringing in of any more negroes ; and that such as have
negroes be careful of them, bring them to meeting, and have meetings
with them in families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living,
as much as in them lies, and from rambling abroad on first days [Sun
days]." So also about the same time the schismatics who followed
George Keith, charged Friends that " they should set their negroes at
liberty, after some reasonable time of service." •*
The minds and the consciences of Friends had been thus prepared
for a further consideration of the condition of the Africans,
Growth of . .
opposition when the subject was again brought before the Yearly Meet-
to slavery. ^ J o o j
ing and the Assembly by Penn. It may have been partly
because there was no precedent for such legislation as he proposed,
that the Assembly declined to accede to his wishes. The good seed,
nevertheless, did not perish, though it was of slow growth. It was
observed by Clarkson, that when, in later years, the preponderating
influence in the Assembly was on the side of the Proprietary and the
Friends, legislation leaned to mercy .^ But so long as Pennsylvania
remained an English colony, everj' attempt to interdict the importation
of African slaves was promptly suppressed by the English government.
The convictions of Friends, however, and their action in Yearly
Meetings, were beyond the reach even of the Crown. For the next
half century these bodies " bore their testimony ; " first, upon the
responsibility of those Friends who were slaveholders, for the moral
condition of their slaves ; then, against any increase of their number
by importation or purchase ; and finally, in 1755, a rule of discipline
was adopted for the disownment of all members of the Society who
persisted in the practice of buying negroes. Three years afterward.
Friends were advised to manumit their slaves ; in 1776 this advice
was enforced by discipline, and Friends were no longer permitted to
retain their membership if they continued slaveholders.
To this final and conclusive step, the Society was gradually led by
1 The Friend, vol. xvii. Bettle's Notices of Negro Slavery. Mem, Hist. Soc, of Pa., vol.
V. Janney's Life of Penn. Moore's Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts — the
fullest and most thorough history of the progress ofthe anti-slavery sentiment in this coun
try in the eighteenth century, that has ever been written.
2 History ofthe Slave Trade,

1701.]

EARLY ABOLITIONISTS. 177

the persistent and earnest preaching and writing, through raany years,
of Burling, Sandiford, Lay, Woolman, Benezet, and other earnest
persons, though the forerunner of them all was William Southeby, a
Roman Catholic, of Maryland, who wrote against slavery before 1700,
and in a petition to the Assembly, in 1712, prayed for the ^^^7 Abo-
abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania. It may be that others ''*'°'""'^-
preceded or followed Friends in that humane work, but, as a religious
society, they were the earliest Abolitionists. It was impossible, more
over, that the agitation araong thera, which continued for three quar
ters of a century, till a Quaker could no longer be a slaveholder,
should not influence the character of the people at large, and the
legislation of the province. As the feehng against slavery grew
stronger year by year in the Yearly Meeting, so frora tirae Xboiition of
to time hostility to the slave trade skewed itself in the As- pean^yi™.
sembly ; and at length in 1780, Pennsylvania, first of all ""•
the States, passed an act for the gradual emancipation of all the
slaves within its jurisdiction.
But if generations of the unfortunate Africans were to perish be
fore the benevolent purposes of Penn bore perfect fruit, his
policy in regard to the Indians was firmly established before treaty with
he left for England. A new treaty was made in April,
1701, with the assembled chiefs of all the leading Indian tribes within
his territory, securing to thera and all their subjects the protection
and the privileges of the colonial laws, without restriction. " That
the said Indians," it proraised, " shall have the full and free privileges
and immunities of all the said laws, as any other inhabitant ; they
duly owning and acknowledging the authority of the Crown of Eng
land and governraent of this province." And " that if any of the
said Indians, bymeans of evil-minded persons and sowers of sedition,
should hear any unkind or disadvantageous reports of the English,
.... such Indians shall send notice thereof to the said Williara
Penn, his heirs or successors, or their lieutenants, and shall not give
credence to the said reports till by that raeans they shall be fully
satisfied concerning the truth thereof; and that the said William
Penn, his heirs and successors, or their lieutenants .... do the like
by them." The immediate cause of this treaty was a question as to
the title of lands on the Susquehanna which Penn had purchased of
the Five Nations, through Governor Dongan, of New York. The
Susquehanna and the Conestoga Indians denied the right of the Five
Nations to sell these lands ; but by this treaty Penn's title was con
firmed, and a bond of friendship established between these tribes and
the Pennsylvanians, which remained unbroken for more than half a
century. vol. III. 12

178

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. VII.

The Dela
ware coun
ties.

Before his departure, the Governor gave to the colony a new char-
A new char- f^i", uudcr whlch it contiuued to be governed till it ceased to
*"''¦¦ be a proprietary province. It gave to an annual Assem
bly, consisting of four persons out of each county, power to propose
bills, a privilege hitherto belonging to the Governor, to judge of the
qualifications and elections of their own members, and to "sit upon
their own adjournments," with " all other powers and privileges of an
Assemblj', according to the rights of the free-born subjects of Eng
land, and as is usual in any of the King's plantations in America."
With great reluctance, Penn affixed to this new constitution his con
sent that the province and the territories — the lower coun
ties, now the State of Delaware — should have separate leg
islatures, in case they should not afterward " agree to join
together ; " but he made one last effort, just before his going, to rec
oncile the two, and sent to the
representatives of both an ap
peal which was as strong as it
was brief.
"Friends," he wrote, "your
union is what I desire ; but your
peace and accommodating one
another is what I must expect
frora you : The reputation of it
is something ; the reality, much
more. And I desire you to re
member and observe what I
say : Yield in circumstantials to
preserve essentials ; and being
safe in one another, you will
always be so in esteera with me.
Make rae not sad, now I am
going to leave you ; since it is
for you, as well as for your Friend and Proprietary and Governor,
William Penn."
One raore act remained before his leaving — the grant of a special
municipal charter to the town of Philadelphia. This done.
Special char- i \ i tt
tertoPhiia- and Andrew Hamilton appointed deputy, with Penn's warm
delphia. .. ^^ i.;'
.friend, Jaraes Logan, who had come with him from England,
as secretary, the founder of Pennsylvania sailed down the Delaware
as the first year of the new century drew to a close, and looked his
last upon the fiehl of his " Holy Experiment."
It was December when he reached horae. In February the King
died, and with the reign of Anne, the daughter of the raan who had

Andrew Hamilton.

1702.]

PENN'S TROUBLES. 179

never been false to Penn, whatever treachery he showed to others,
the Quaker came again into court favor. The proceedings against his
charter were soon put aside ; and had political opposition at home
been all he had to fight against, he would have gone back to America
completely victorious and prosperous.
But he had still worse things to face. New tidings reached him
continually of the dissensions which had been renewed in
Pennsylvania as soon as he had left it. The old dispute be- from Penn-
tween the legislatures broke out still more violently ; and,
besides this, he was overwhelmed with complaints from the people of
petty grievances. The new municipal government of Philadelphia
did not work well ; there was great opposition to the payment of the
quit-rents now falling due ; Deputy-governor Hamilton died at the
end of 1702, and was succeeded the next year by John Evans, whose
earlier administration proved eminently unsatisfactory; in john Evans,
brief, for several years Penn heard little else than bad news Governor.
from the province, or from Philadelphia, or frora personal friends ;
while his private affairs prevented his returning to restore the pros
perity his presence might have brought about.
For, from a long accumulation of causes, his private property was
found to be embarrassed alraost beyond remedy. The steward, Philip
Ford, to whom he had intrusted his affairs in England, had died just
after Penn's arrival at home, and out of the confusion in which the
property was left, it soon became clear that Penn had been defrauded
of large sums. But the worst feature of the matter only appeared
when Ford's widow — apparently a woman with as few scru- pg^^,^
pies as her husband — brought forward a lien on the Ameri- ^'fth^he
can province, which Penn had given her husband as security ^'"^'^''•
for money advanced at the tirae of the second voyage to America.
This indebtedness Penn had paid off by installments, but these Ford
had carefully refrained from crediting in the accounts, while the ap
parent indebtedness had been increased to £12,000, by computations
of compound interest every six months, at six and eight per cent. The
accounts, which Penn had carelessly received without examination,
would not — wrote Thoraas Callowhill, a raerchant of Bristol, and
Penn's father-in-law — "had they been corrected in time, have
amounted to a tenth part of what they now are." But evidence of
Penn's payments was wanting, and when the widow and the son of
Ford brought an action against the proprietor, judgment was given in
their favor. Penn was arrested, and lodged in the Fleet pe„ni„
Prison, where he remained for nine months. The object of i'"=«'p™™-
the Fords was to get possession of the province, but despairing of
that after several hearings before the Lord Chancellor, they consented

180 PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. VIL
to a compromise. To meet the payraent of the sura agreed upon —
which was nearly eight thousand pounds — Penn mortgaged
seiihisprov- the proviucc to several of his friends, and entered into nego
tiations for its sale to the Crown. These dragged on for
several years, and were about to be concluded, when an attack of pa
ralysis, frora whicli he never recovered, though he lived several years
longer, rendered him incapable of business, and the negotiations came
to an end.
The disappointments and anxieties of this period, which covered the
last vigorous years of Penn's life, were aggravated by the
tion of Gov- unsatisfactory condition of affairs in the colony. Evans's ad-
ernor Evans. ... . , . tt e i .
ministration was unwise and oppressive. He refused to pass
a reasonable judiciary bill, presented by the Asserably ; he undertook
to enroll a militia force, and foolishly aroused the people of Phila
delphia by a false alarra of the approach of a French fieet, keeping
the town under arms for two nights, and pretending that the constei'-
nation of the inhabitants was the best proof of the necessity for mili
tary preparations ; he imposed burdens upon commerce, by compel
ling all vessels to report at New Castle, and those inward bound to pay
an impost duty ; he granted a commission for privateering ; and finally
he brought reproach upon the colony by the scandals of his private
life. A vigorous opposition party was aroused against him, of which
An Opposi- David Lloyd, a Quaker lawyer, was the able, but not always
tion party, scrupulous leader. Tie united all who were not Friends, and
many who were, against the proprietary party under Evans. And it
was a Quaker who resisted and effectually put an end to the Lieu
tenant-governor's attempt to raise a revenue by subjecting vessels
coming up the Delaware to a tonnage duty.
Richard Hill, who was one of the Council, determined to test the
question, and went down the river in a vessel of his own, bound to
Barbadoes. As he approached the fort at New Castle, two of his
friends, Isaac Morris and Sarauel Preston, who had embarked with
hira to carry out his purpose ¦ — both also Quakers, and merchants of
great respectability — went on shore and informed the commander,
John French, that Hill's vessel was standing out to sea, and would re
fuse either to report to hira or to subrait to the fine for not reporting.
French attempted to bring the vessel to by opening fire from
the Deia- his guus, and a shot tore through her mainsail. But Hill
liimself had taken the helra, and the Philadelphia stood
steadily on her way. French threw hiraself into an armed boat and
pursued her, and as he came alongside. Hill ordered a rope to be
thrown him. As the coramander stepped on deck he was secured
and taken to the cabin as a prisoner, and his boat was cut adrift.

1702.]

TROUBLES ON THE DELAWARE.

181

French begged to be released, and appealed to Hill's pity by declar
ing he was ill. "If that be the case," answered the Quaker, "why
didst thou come here ? "
From the fort. Evans himself had witnessed this defiance of his au-
thoiit}, and in gieat i.ige
ga\e ch ise in anotlu i boat.
At Salem ho o\eitook the
Ph7ladcl/>h)it,Viheni Hill had
corae to aiichoi, and taken
Fundi on slioic It liap-

F np Kew Cast e

pened that Lord Cornbur}' of New '^'ork was at that place, who, as
Governor of New .lersey, claimed to have jurisdiction over the waters
of the lower Delaware. The parties appeared before him, and his de
cision, that the free navigation of the river should not be interrupted,
was submitted to, because it could not at the moment be resisted.
Logan, the secretary of the province, afterward waited upon him, and
he wrote to Penn, " I entered fully into the raatter, and protested, in
thy name and behalf, against these proceedings, as being not only
against thy inclinations, but evasive of thy rights. I found he had
resented the matter to our Governor, and will resent it home to the
Lords of Trade." But Hill's summary method of resentment had
already settled the question. Others followed his exaraple. He, with
a large number of the merchants of Philadelphia, waited upon the

182

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. VIL

Assembljr, and that body unanimously adopted an address to the
Governor, in whicli they declared that the " arbitrary actions and
oppressions complained of," were an abuse of the Queen's authority,
an open defiance of the royal grant, that they "obstruct our lawful
commerce, and invade our liberties, rights, and properties, and under
the pretence of fortifying the river for the service of the Queen, com
rait hostilities and depredations upon her liege people." The Dela
ware was henceforth free of any exactions frora Governor Evans.
" These are verv cloudy times indeed, and to us a day of severe
Complaints trial," Logiui wiote to Penn. The secretary was a man of
jfimes Lo- gi'sat integrity, and too wise to approve in all things of the
"""¦ course and character of Evans. But his official relations to
the Lieutenant-g;overnor, and his efforts to maintain the rights of the
Proprietor, made his position one
of great difficulty. He was ac
cused of having aided Evans in
his senseless scheme of spreading
the alarm of the approach of a
French fleet, when the inhabi
tants of Philadelphia were thrown
into so great a panic that many
abandoned their houses to escape
into the country, injuring and
destroying their household goods
in attempting to conceal them.
For this and other wrong-doings
of Evans, Logan was made the
scape-goat. An indictment was
found against hira, and though
nothing came of it in the end, it
was a cause of great vexation
both to him and his warm friend, the Proprietor. But though the
" cloudy times " pervaded all this period of Penn's life, there were
intervals of sunshine. The conduct of the opposition sometimes pro-
Lioyd-.uet- diiced reaction, aud the proprietary party would attain again
ter to Penn. .^ niajoritv ill tlic Asseiubly. Thus, David Lloyd overshot
the mark when he sent to England — to Penn and other Friends there
— a memorial setting forth the real grievances of the colonists with
great exaggeration and more bitterness ; and this he signed as Speak
er of the Assembly, though it had never been submitted to that body.
It had been proposed to send an official remonstrance to the Proprie
tor, and to ask for the redress of certain wrongs ; but when it became
known that Lloyd had taken advantage of this purpose to address

James Logan.

1702.] WILLIAM PENN, JR. • 183
Penn in a tone that the facts did not justify, and with an assump
tion of authority that did not belong to him, the revulsion of feeling
was very great, both in England and in Pennsylvania.^
But through all this period, Penn's heaviest trial was, doubtless, a
nrivate srief, — a private grief, however, that carried with it
m, • 1 e 1 ¦ 1 1 Conduct of
much public scandal. This was the conduct of his eldest wuiiamPenn, Jr.
son, Wilhara, whom, two or three years after his return to ¦
England, he had sent to America. This youth had given great prora
ise of future worthlessness at horae, but his father hoped that new
associations and surroundings, and a removal from old temptations,
might work a change in him. He changed his skies, but not his mor
als. The sober influence of Logan and other friends of his father in
the, colony weighed nothing with young Penn, while, for his name's
sake, he received for a while more tender consideration than should
have been accorded him in his many offences against society. In the
Lieutenant-governor, Evans, he found a boon companion after his
own heart, and a useful friend in bringing hira safely through raany
an awkward dilemma. Strange and disgraceful stories were told of
his conduct — women in men's dress in the streets ; midnight orgies ;
his increasing following and evil influence araong the young men of the
town — until at last he was engaged in a tavern brawl, and arrested
for beating a constable. Evans was his corapanion on this occasion,
and getting the worst in the fight, sought safety by declaring his rank.
His assailant had already recognized him, but pretending that he did
not believe the assertion, beat him all the raore for scandalizing the
Govemor by suggesting the possibility of his being engaged in such
disgraceful proceedings. Evans, however, managed to escape, and
attempted afterward to rescue Penn by proposing to exercise his
official authority over the court. But the court disregarded this, and
brought an indictment against Penn. The young man, in a rage, de
clared he would have nothing more to do with Quakers or with Penn
sylvania ; he renounced the Quaker doctrines ; he denied the light of
the provincial magistrates to try him ; and shortly afterward was al
lowed — probably very willingly by those who loved his father — to
sail for home, leaving creditors everywhere behind hira, and selling,
before his departure, all the property his father had given him in the
colony. 1 Great use is made in the Historical Review qf Pennsylvania — attrihuted to Franklin —
of this assumed meiuorial or letter of the Assembly. No intimation is given that Lloyd
had put his name as Speaker to a document of his own ¦writing, which the Assembly had
never seen, which had, indeed, no existence till after the House was dissolved. Yet it
seems hardly possible that the author of the Revlem should not have known that the docu
ment, so far as it pretended to have any other authority than that of Lloyd alone, was little
better than a forgery.

184

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. Vii.

Penn lived till 1718, but the last six years of his life were passed
in a childlike tranquillity, on his estate at Ruscombe, his mind seri
ously impaired and his physical vigor almost destroyed by
deThand the slow progress of disease. By his will he left all his
"'"' property in England and Ireland to his son, William, in
spite of his misconduct; but the proprietorship in the Araerican col-
#«;:. .¥«. ony he left to
three trustees,
" to dispose
thereof to the
Queen, or any
other person, to
the best advan
tage they can ; "
and to pay over
the proceeds to
still other trus
tees, for the ben
efit — after the
""""""'" payraent of all
debts and the conveyance of some land to each of William's children
— of his children by his second wife. To her he left his personal
property, and raade her sole executrix. As raight have been expected,
William entered on a contest of the will ; and the whole raatter,
going into chancery, resulted ultimately in the confirmation to tiie
younger branch not only of the part the will had left to them di
rectly, but of the right of government as well, which had been left to
be disposed of to the Crown. The proposal to surrender the prov
ince was never seriously revived again ; and John, Thomas, and Rich
ard Penn, the heirs, and their mother, the executrix, became pro
prietors in the political as in the ordinary sense, till the American
Revolution dispossessed the survivors.
The colony, meanwhile, had grown in prosperity and numbers, —
Political dis- ^ growth ucver seriously checked by the political dissensions
Pe'nnsyi-"^ betwecii Govcrnor and Assembly, which continued, not only
vania. g^ j^j^g ^^ Peuu llvcd, but till his sons were old men and
Pennsylvania becarae a State. These dissensions had their root in
differences hard to reconcile, — the vital principles of Friends iu re
gard to oaths and the lawfulness of war, and the conflicting interests
of Proprietaries and people. The conflict was raore or less deter
rained, raore or less successful on one side or the other, as the Quaker
element was soraetimes stronger or weaker in the Assembly, or as the
Governor might possess strong powers of persuasion, or command re-

1709.]

POLITICAL DISSENSIONS.

185

spect and obedience by weight of intellect or will. Evans possessed
none of these quahties, and it was a relief to the colonists when
Charles Gookin succeeded him in 1709. His administration was, at
least, without scandal, but the differences to which we allude marked
it from its beginning to its close.
The Governor was uncomproraising in character, uncompliant in
temper. In obedience to the Queen, he made, soon after his (iovernor
arrival, a requisition upon the Assembly for the quota of mmtary''
the province in men, to be used against the French, or their ''ei^'sitions.
equivalent in money. The Assembl^^, with every assurance of their
devotion and
loyalty to the
Crown, were
constrained, i n
obedience to
the religious
scruples of the
larger portion of
the people of the
province, to de
cline contribut
ing directly for
the support of
war ; but they
were willing, on
their part, to make a present to the Queen. By this, or sorae sirailar
device, the colony continued to do its part in support of war raeas
ures, for many years ; but any Governor with a weakness for casuistry
could find in the subject, as Gookin did, an opportunity for contro
versy which could be made to last, if he chose, a man's natural life.
"We did not see it," said Isaac Norris, "inconsistent with our prin
ciples to give the Queen money, notwithstanding any use she might
put it to, that not being our part, but hers." There was little of this
conciliatory spirit and common-sense view of the subject on the Gov
ernor's part; he demanded more than the Asserably thought the prov
ince could afford to give, and his demands were always an unpleasant
reminder to Friends that he was asking them to violate their princi
ples, and not merely to contribute to the support of government.
He raised subsequently a more serious question, by refusing to ac
cept an aflftrmation instead of an oath frora Quakers. No
where in the whole range of history could a moot-court find tion of
,. . 1 . » , . ,. . . oaths.
a question with so many points for the exercise of ingenuity,
with so many unanswerable arguments on both sides, and one so abso-

Grave of Penn.

186

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. VIL

lutely irapossible of settleraent by any process of reasoning on either
one side or the other. The charter granted by Charles II. ; acts of
Parliaraent in the seventh and eighth of Williara III. ; orders of
the Queen in council under Anne ; act of Parliaraent in the first of
George I. ; acts of the Colonial Asserably of Pennsylvania ; decisions
by the Governor and the Chief Justice of New Jersej-, — from all
these sources were drawn arguments, precedents, confirmations, in
consistencies, and incompatibilities, by a judicious and skilful use of
which it could be shown that one side was perfectly impregnable till
the other side was shown to be
equally so, and that neither, ac
cording to the laws, had a leg to
stand upon. As a question of con-
troversjs moreover, it had this
great charm : practically it was
of the smallest consequence, if let
alone, but, if meddled with, its
capability of mischief could only
be measured bj' the possibility of
its interminable discussion. Goo
kin fortunately retired in 1717,
silenced, though not convinced, by
i the last message on the subject
from the Assembly. Sir William
Keith, the next Governor, had
the good sense not to reopen it ;
Friends went on quietly as before, affirming instead of swearing, when
an oath was required as a qualification for any civil position ; and in
1725 the question was once raore taken up, but only to be settled for
ever by a positive act of the Assembly, confirraed bj- an act of Par
liaraent, permitting affirmation, and releasing Friends frora oaths.
Keith, either because his sympathies were really with the Friends,
or because he thought it politic to govern his conduct in accordance
with the known wishes of a majority of the people, yielded gracefully,
rather than contended, on these vexed questions. For, that Friends
would yield nothing on a question of conscience, they gave him to
understand at the outset of his adrainistration. The Assembly joined
with hira, at his accession, in an address to the King, wliich was writ
ten in the style used by subjects when speaking to a sovereign. But
they were also careful to note upon their minutes, that, though they
agreed " as to the matter and substance of the said address," they ex
cepted to " the plural terra you ; " they would have preferred to say,
" thy most dutiful subjects," rather than " your Majesty's ; " — " may

Sir Wilham Keith

1723.]

SIR WILLIAM KEITH'S ADMINISTRATION.

187

it please thee to know," rather than " may it please your Majesty."
The Governor clearly had not forgotten this significant evidence of
the sturdy persistence of Friends, when, some years afterward, the
Quarterly Meeting sent him a remonstrance upon an incident in the
Court of Chancery. He had ordered the hat to be lifted

from the head of John Kinsey — an eminent Quaker law °' ^'""'^'¦^'^

Adherence of Vrierids
to their own

yer, and afterward Chief Justice — before he was permitted p"°"pi«>'
to address the court. Keith had the good sense to see that ceremony
had better yield to conscience, and thereupon ordered, in response to
c the memorial of the Quarterly Meeting, that
'¦' Friends might wear their hats where they would,
" as an act of conscientious liberty, of right, ap
pertaining to the religious
persuasion of said peo
ple." The deter
rained and inde
pendent spirit
shown in these af
fairs of compara
tively small mo
raent, marked the
character of the
people in the long
aud almost mo
notonous struggle
of later years be
tween successive
Governors and Assemblies. The tirae carae when the province had
httle other history than the constant deraand of chief magistrates for
means to aid in the general defence of the colonies in the French and
Indian wars, and the firra purpose of the Assemblies to contribute to
that end in their own way, and to corapel the Proprietaries to bear
their share of the burden.
That struggle began during Keith's administration, in a proposi
tion from liim to raise money by the issue of a paper cur- p^p^^
rency, in 172-3. The project was discussed with great thor- ™™''^''
oughness, and its possible consequences wisely foreseen. It was diffi
cult in the then condition of the colonies to avoid a resort to this
measure, and still more difficult, when the first step was taken, to
avoid the inevitable evil consequences. The Asserably of Pennsyl
vania was cautious. " It was provided," says a report made to the
Crown fifteen years later, and after several other issues had been raade
on the same plan, " that a real estate, in fee simple, of double the

Kettli's Mansion House, Greeme Park, near Philadelphia.

188 PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. VIL
value of the sum lent out, should be secured in an office created for
that purpose ; and that the sums so let out should be annually repaid
into the office, in such equal sums or quotas as would effectually sink
the whole eapital sum of forty-five thousand pounds within the time
hmited by the aforesaid acts." In 1739, when this report was made,
the amount of these bills that had been issued was altogether about
£87,000, of which some £80,000 were outstanding in the province;
yet so favorably did they stand in comparison with some other colo
nial paper money, that the £80,000 of provincial currency had a
value of £50,196 in sterling raolle3^ This comparative value, how
ever, steadily decreased in later years with the additional issues of
paper currency.
Keith was removed from the office of Governor in 1725, but he re-
Keith'5 re- maiiied a citizen of the province, and was chosen a repre-
movai. sentative to the Assembly. If he had lost the confidence of
the Proprietors, the people seem to have believed that his administra
tion of the affairs of the colony was for its good.
It was a period of great prosperity, so great that it does not seem
to have been retarded by an act passed in the fifth year of
Prosperity , j i. ,j ^
of Pennsyi- Patrick Gordon's administration, which succeeded Keith's.
vania. t^ i • • i • • •
By tbis act it was attempted to irapose restrictions upon im
migration, ^ by taxing every immigrant five shillings on his settlement
in the province. It was ostensibly designed " to prevent poor and
impotent persons from being iraported," but is said to have been dic
tated by alarra at the large nurabers that arrived from Ireland and
frora Germanjr, and seriously threatened the supremacy of the Friends
in the colony which they regarded as especially their own. That the
prosperity of Pennsylvania was great enough to bear without injury
this check to population, appears from a statistical account published
this year (1731). "That Pennsylvania," the writer says,^ "which
has not any peculiar staple (like Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland),
and was begun to be planted so late as 1680, should at present have
raore white inhabitants in it than all Virginia, Maryland, and both
the Carolinas, is extreraely remarkable. And although the youngest
colony on the continent, they have by far the finest capital city of all
British America ; and the second in magnitude ; " and adds, after
a long enumeration of the colony's products and profitable industries :
" The Pennsylvanians build about 2,000 tons of shipping a year for
sale, over and above what they employ in their own trade, which
may be about 6,000 tons raore. They send great quantities of corn
to Portugal and Spain, frequently selling their ships as well as cargo ;
and the produce of both is sent thence to England, where it is always
1 Grahame, vol. iii., pp. 134 and 13.'i. 2 Cited by Proud, vol. ii., p. 203.

1732.]

VISITS OE THOMAS AND JOHN PENN.

189

laid out in goods and sent home to Pennsylvania  They receive
no less than 4,000 to 6,000 pistoles frora the Dutch isle of Curagoa
alone, .... and they trade to Surinam, .... and to the French part
of Hispaniola as also to the other French sugar islands  From
Jamaica they sometimes return with all money and no goods 
And all the money they can get .... is brought to England, ....
which has not for many years past been less than £150,000 per an
num." The Pennsylvania trade with the other colonies this writer
estimates at £60,000 a year.
In 1732, Thomas Penn, the founder's second son by his second
marriaare, arrived in Philadelphia ; but, though the people
received him cordially, and he lived for years among thera, younger
he was never popular, and had but little personal influence.
The case was very different with his elder brother John — the senior
Proprietor — who carae in 1734.
His personal magnetism, cordial
interest in the province, and ex
ceptional ability, recalled his fath
er ; but a renewed atterapt by the
Baltimores to revive the old claim
to Delaware, called him again to
England, as William Penn had
once been called, after a year's
residence, and he did not return.
In the year after his departure
(1736), Governor Gordon died ;
and after an interval, during which
the venerable Logan acted as chief
magistrate, George Thomas fol
lowed in the governorship in 1738,
— beginning a nine years' adrain
istration, which, while it showed his own ability to be inferior
Gordon's, was not raore eventful or less quietly prosperous.
If the general annals of the province yield but httle which it is of
interest to trace, much happened in the Quaker city — " the finest
capital of British America " — during these quiet years, tbat was as
important as though it had come under the head of political events.
One of the foremost characters in American history was coming into
public notice, and beginning his career in ways as various Benjamin
as his abilities. Benjamin Franklin, — whose first visit to the p™nsji™"
town had been made when his quarrel with his elder brother "'"¦
at Boston had sent hira out, a printer's-boy of seventeen, to seek his
fortune, — had returned to Philadelphia in 1726, and raade it his

Patrick Gordon.

to

190

PENNSYLVANIA.

[Chap. VJI.

home. The story of his first short stay there is farailiar ; his arrival
on a Sunday morning iu 1723, and his traditional walk through the
streets eating his breakfast of a roll of bread ; his unprosperous en
gagement with the printer Keiraer; his encouragement by Governor
Keith, and his voyage to London, only to find there that he had been
deceived by the Governor's promises. His second arrival in the Penn
sylvania capital was
very different. He
came with employ
ment assured hira ;
and from this time
all that he did pros
pered. In 1728 he
was a partner in
establishing the
" Pennsylvania Ga
zette," a newspaper
which had a life
of a hundred and
twenty years. He
sprang almost im
mediately into
prominence. His ac
tivity was ceaseless ;
he improved tlie
printing press, and
printed paper-mon-
Ss ey for his own and
other provinces ; he
founded a cheap li
brary ; and wrote
usefully on all man-
Franklin entering Phdadelphia. ^jgj. qJ subjCCtS. He
published the first edition of the famous "Poor Richard's Almanac"
in 1732. The Assembly appointed him its clerk in 1735 ; and under
Thomas's administration he was the provincial postmaster. What
Philadelphia owed to his sound sense and public spirit, can hardly
be over-estimated. Every part of the city administration profited by
his suggestions. He founded the American Philosophical Society ni
1744 ; and two years afterward began the series of experiments in
electricity which led him to such great achieveraent. From his elec
tion to the Assembly four years later, his political life belongs to
other chapters of the history of the time ; and to those greater strug-

1748.] BENJAMIN 'FRANKLIN. 191
gles on which his adopted colony was now, like the rest, about to
enter. The history of Pennsylvania begins to merge into the history of
that colonial union which the events of the next ten j'ears so thoroughly
cemented. James Hamilton, a native of the colony, and the son of
Andrew Hamilton, Penn's forraer deputy, succeeded Thomas in the
fall of 1748 ; and by the close of his administration, the shadow of a
coming war had forced the Quaker province, like its neighbors, into
active preparations for defence.

Cape Canso

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW ENGLAXD AND THE FRENCH.

The Thihi) Indian War ix New Exgi.and. — New Hamp.siiire a Skpaeate Prov
ince. — GovKKNOR Bexnixg Wextworth. — Adjiixistratiox of Governor
Belcher of >I issAciirsETTS. — Fixaxciat, Coxditiox of the Colony. — Appoint-
JMENT OF (iOYERNOR SlIIRLEY.  GeOIIGE AyillTEFIELIl'S FiRST ViSIT TO NeW EnG-
nxT). — The Revival Period. — AVar again declared between England and
France. — The Siege and Capture of Louisburg. — Colonel Williajii Pep
perell. — Louisburg restored to France. — An English Press-gang in Bos
ton. — The Town-house Assvulted. — Insurrection skilfully Averted.
In the third Indian war, Avhich broke out in 1722, in the Northern
provinces, the strife was most deadly and the destruction
'^^''g. raost complete along the Eastern border, in the disputed ter
ritory claimed both by the English and the French and their
Indian allies. But it was not confined to that region. Bands of sav
age warriors crept along the frontiers of Maine and New Hampshire,
watching with unwearied vigilance for a chance to fall suddenly upon
some sleeping village or defenceless farm-house, disappearing agam
like the shadows of the night, before the next day's sun arose upon
heaps of mangled bodies and the smouldering ashes of desolated

The third
Iniii;in war
in New
lanrl.

1723.] THE THIRD INDIAN WAR. 193
homes. In 1723, Dover, New Hampshire, and its vicinity, suffered
from the over-confidence of the inhabitants, who were careless in re
tiring at night-fall to their garrison-houses. Many narratives of heroic
conduct belong to this period. For instance, Aaron Rawlins, at New
market, had a daughter twelve years old ; her raother saw her own
father killed by the Indians in 1704, and the recollection mingled with
the blood of this daughter. Late in August, 1723, the house of Raw
lins was attacked by a band of eighteen Indians. His wife and two
children, going out by chance, were seized, the father and the young
est daughter being left within. He barred the door, and both made
such a defence by rapid firing that the people in the garrison-house
were afraid to send assistance, concluding by the frequent
reports that the Indians were in great force. At length the uawiins
father was killed, and his daughter's head cut off. The cap
tive son was adopted by the Indians, and never cared to resume the
English life; and the captive daughter married a Frenchman.
In 1724 a few persons were killed, but the vigorous movements of
scouting parties prevented great disasters. In Dover, there were sev
eral Quakers, who would neither use arras for the defence of their
families, nor avail themselves of the shelter of the garrison-houses.
The Indians could neither understand nor respect their scruples ; a
few were killed, and the families taken to Canada. These outrages
led to the expeditions of the two provinces of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, against Father Rasle and his Eastern Indians. If it be
true, as Belknap says, that a half-breed son of the priest was killed at
Oyster River in the summer of 1724, his bitter plotting against the
English involved a personal feeling.
Father Sebastian Rasle had lived among the Indians for thirty-
seven years, accommodating himself with the usual French p^tj^^^
facility to their habits of life, building his own wigwam, ^*''''
planting corn, and preparing his meals in their method, adopting their
language, and devoting hiraself to their temporal and spiritual im
provement. He was a polished scholar, who had surrendered all the
preferments of the Church to occupy this outpost in the wilderness.
Age and privation had not blunted a single faculty of his intelligence,
and he devoted it, together with a rare diplomatic talent, to the ser
vice of Rome and of France. A truly remarkable pioneer, a perfectly
unselfish man, as the Jesuits generally were, — a man whose delight
was in the commanding influence which he had fairly earned, — his
record has been not altogether appreciated by the men whose hate he
naturally incurred. In him the Governor of Canada found an agent
more potent than his troops.
The first act of violence was committed by the Indians upon some
vol. III. 13

194 NEW ENliLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIIL
traders at Canso, in August, 1720 ; their goods were plundered, and
Thefirst several persons were killed. Then the Eastern Indians,
hostilities. ^^jjQ began to muster with fresh threats against the frontier
towns of New England, were again raet by Governor Shute's agents,
and with difficulty dissuaded frora their purpose of attempting to re
cover, as they said, the territory which by natural right belonged to
them. Their abandonment of the attempt was a sore disappointment
to Father Rasle and Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, who had
hoped to reanimate the hostility of the Indians. This intrigue was
suspected, and a deraand was made upon the Indians at Norridgewock
to deliver up tlieir favorite priest. Their consent ought not to have
been expected ; but, on their refusal. Colonel Westbrook was sent
with a party of raen to arrest the priest, who had notice in time to
escape, but his flight was so precipitate that he left behind the com
promising correspondence with Vaudreuil. This was in 1722. The
plunder of their village and atterapt upon the Father so enraged the
Norridgewock Indians that they led the other Eastern tribes in fresh
attacks upou the frontier, and plunged the provinces into a serious
and costly defence.
The Indian settleraent at Norridgewock had greatly flourished un
der the supervision of Father Rasle. Every political and
mentatNor- thcologlcal inotlve Inspired the provinces with jealousy and
dread of this success at civilizing their worst enemies, and
of the establishment of a frontier post which would be a constant
menace. Two attempts had been made to break up this settlement
by the capture of its master-spirit. On the 12th of August, 1724, a
third atterapt succeeded.
The place was surprised by an expedition of two hundred men, at
Its capture ^ time wlicn few Indian fighters were at home. The sur-
and pillage, yiyors of the attack fled into the forest with their wives, and
Father Rasle was slain in advancing toward the English in order to
divert their attention from his flock. The victors pillaged the chapel,
and tore down the crucifixes and other symbols of worship which the
Indians had learned to reverence. When they returned to their de
vastated village, the beloved priest was found all hacked with wounds,
scalped, and with mud crammed into the persuasive mouth. It is said
that strict orders had been issued to capture but not injure the father;
but that when a soldier summoned him to surrender, he refused, and
was slain. The body of the priest was buried underneath the altar
at which he had ministered to his converts, with savasre vows of ven-
geance for a funeral service.
In the same year. Captain John Lovewell, with a corapany of vol
unteers nurabering eighty-seven, made a successful expedition against

1725.]

TIIE EXPEDLIION TO PEQUAWKETl'.

195

a party of Indians who were coming from Canada, well equipped with
snow-shoes and moccasins for the captives whora they ex- LoTCweiis
pected to carry back. Stimulated by this success, by the i^^p'"^'''™-
large bounty offered for scalps, and by the liberal pay, it was easy
for the Captain to organize another expe
dition. Each man received two shillings
aud sixpence a day during his term of
volunteering. Starting iu April,
1725, Lovewell determined to strike
the Pequawkett (Pigwaeket)
Indians, whose village was near
il pond in the present township ¦
of

Death of Father Rasle.
sheet of water two and a half miles long and a mile wide. When they
reached Ossipee Pond, a stockade was erected, to afford a place of shel
ter in case of a reverse. Here eight men were left ; the rest pushed for
ward about twenty miles, and carae to tlie pond, where thej' encamped.
The next morning. May 8, an Indian who was hunting ducks dis
turbed them by the report of his gun. They left their packs on the
ground and pursued hira, expecting to come upon a body of the en
emy; he was killed, and the men, finding no trace of other savages,
returned to their camping-ground. In the mean time a party of In
dians, under a noted sachem, Paugus, came upon Lovewell's track.

196

NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIIL

and, counting the packs, discovered that his own force was superior iu
nurabers. He placed an ambush, and when the raen returned for
their packs they received a fire which instantly killed Lovewell and
eight raore, and wounded three. The rest, only twenty-three in num
ber, retreated to a pine grove upon a point which ran into the pond.
Here they maintained themselves all day without food, and delivered
so deadly a fire that the savages, toward nightfall, retreated, carrying
away raany of their dead and wounded.
Only nine of the raen reraained unhurt. They, and the wounded
who could walk, be-
¦•C_jf5Ai^^^;S5^I^.' .^ ^.(^.aja. , gan their retreat
toward the stockade,
leaving on the well-
fought field the mor
tally wounded, one
of whom — Lieuten
ant Robbins — asked
that a musket be left
with him, hoping to
have one more shot
before he died. They
had struggled to the
stockade with incred
ible suffering, only
to find it deserted ;
for a man who had
run away at the first
volley had so alarmed
the little garrison
with his report that
they fled. In the
march homeward,
three wounded men
died. The survivors
were araply honored
and rewarded, for
this fight of theirs
was the raost deterrained and audacious recorded in the earlier Indian
warfare. Paugus was killed, and the tribe had suffered so severely
that the remnant deserted the spot, and went to settle on the head
waters of the Connecticut.!
' There wa,-; u lo^ieud comiected with this fight, long belicveiJ but now somewhat discred-
iteil, that .lohii Chaiiiherlain and I'aiiL;iis went down to the water to clean ont their guns.

Robb ns s Last Shot

1725.1 A TREATY WITH THE EASTERN TRI15E.S. 197

It was high time that the provinces should attempt to restrain this
deadly warfare in a tirae of peace, by proceeding to the jj^gii^h
headquarters in Canada of the French instigation. Vau- ™"™Min°'
dreuil was at Montreal, where he received the provincial '"''
commissioners with a deal of blandness and courtesy, and professed
to be surprised at their chtirge of his intrigue through Father Rasle.
Whereupon the commissioners quietly produced his correspondence,
at the sight of which he was struck with mortification and a sense
of guilt at having disturbed the relations established by treaty be
tween France and England. But he was still so much swayed by the
influence of the Jesuit priests who were around hira, that the cora
missioners found difficulty in bringing him to any terras. Tbey no
ticed that, whenever a priest was present at their conferences, the
Governor was stubborn ; but when they addressed him alone, he was
disposed to consider the justice of their coraplaint. At length he did
interfere so far as to procure the release of several captives at a mod
erate ransom, and to promise to counsel the Indians to cease hostili
ties. After a while, the Eastern tribes did solicit peace, when they
discovered that the provinces were preparing to pursue them still more
vigorously. A treaty was made with them at the close of ^ 4^.^,^^^, ^^
1725. The English set up trading-posts on the St. George, p™'"''
Kennebec, and Saco, toward which they succeeded in attracting the
Indians by underselling the French. The policy was not financially
profitable, and the posts had to be sustained by special appropriations,
but the period of tranquillity that was thus secured lasted, with few
interruptions, till the war between England and France which began
in 1755.1
which had become fouled by firing. In this process, each gesture which they made was
simultaneous, as they taunted each other and threatened death ; but the musket of the
Englishman had a habit of aelf-priming, and while Paugus was filling his pan, Chamber
lain bhot him. True or false, the story is a happy hint of the benefit of that shortening
of method attained in the modern revolver. If the story be true. Chamberlain's gun,
probably, only had the trick of priming itself — not uncommon, as sportsmen know, with
the old-fashioned musket — from an enlargement of the vent in the ]iau. But it is a curious
coincidence that something like the modern revolver had already been invented iu Boston.
Penhallow [Indian Wars], speaking of the reception given there to some chiefs of the Six
Nations, a few months before Lovewell's fight, says : "They were entertained with the cu
rious sight of a gun that was made by the ingenious Jlr. Pim, of Bi)>toii ; wbich, altliough
loaded but once, yet was discharged eleven times following Avith UiiUi't^, in the sjjace of
two minutes, each of which went through a double door at fifty ynrds di.stance."
1 The coa^t of Maine and its rivers were very sparsely settled by the English, notwith
standing this accommodation with the Imli.uis, for their treachery was held in lively re
membrance, and a well-defended trading-post offered the only security. From George's
River to the St. Croix, there was not one white habitation till the first pciiuancnt settle
ment was made by Governor Pownall, of JIa>sachusetts, on Penobscot Bay, in 17.59. At
that time, hardly six hundred of the once dreaded I'liiobscdt Indians remained. Belfast
was first settled by Scotch Presbyterians from Loiidonderiv and .Vntrim, in Ireland, in
17B9.

198

NEW ENGLAND .VND TIIE FKENCIL [Chap. VIII.

The counsel of Wentworth, the Lieutenant-governor of New Hamp
shire, through these years of border warfare, was as saga-
Lieutenant- . ^,. ' eie mi .
governor cious as wei'e fiis uieasures tor defence. Ihe province prized
his executive ability, and gladly voted him grants of money.
During his administration. New Hampshire first acquired the royal
assent to an act establishing a limited local self-gov^ernment. He fa
vored the popular movement for triennial Assemblies, for fixing the
qualificiition of an elector at real estate worth ^£50, and of a repre
sentative at a freehold estate worth £300, though he was not bound
to be a resident in the town which voted for him. The selectmen
;ind the moderator of the town meeting were to decide if a candidate
were properly qualified, but their decision was subject to an appeal
to the House of Representatives.
The controversy between Shute and Vaughan, on the question of
Questions of absentee governors, had widened till it divided the prov-
shirego"''" i"ce into two parties : one proposing that New Hampshire
ernment. sfiouhl be absoi'bed by Massachusetts ; the other, that it
should have a governor and administration of its own. But the prov
ince was still poor. Its ex
port trade was chiefly con
fined to fish and lumber, and
'* though that in lumber wn.s
profitable, it was small and
precarious, and trammelled
ever by royal regulations.
An independent adrainis
tration could not yet he
raaintained, but the provin
cial politics tended decidedly
in that direction. It was
partly from this motive that
New Harapshire steadily
pushed its claim to town
ships nver which its neigh
bor had pretensions. A great
deal of acrimony attended
this controversy over the
boundary-line. New Hamp
shire sent its agents to England, who well knew bow to inflame the
Territorial jpalousy whicli coii tiiiually cxist m1 between the Crown and
claims. Massachus'.'tts. Bel'lipr, w1io succeeded Burnet in 1730, was
especially anxious to preserve harmony between his two provinces,
each of which was a desperate claimant for territory. It might have

Goverror Benning Wentworth.

1740.] WENTWORTH GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

199

been foreseen that the Privy Council would favor New Hampshire.
In 1740, its final decision took from Massachusetts a tract of territory
fourteen miles in width and fifty in length, which was more than New
Hampshire had ever asked for. The persistent effort of one province
to have this decision modified, and of the other to have it maintained,
bore such fruits of ill-feeling, and of embarrassment to the Crown,
that it yielded to the party which desired a separate adrainistration,
at the same time reaffirming the decision of the Council.
Thus New Hampshire at length took the administration of affairs
into her own hands, and attained to the dignity of a Gov
ernor of her own. Benning Wentworth, a son of the Lieu- Benning
tenant-governor, was the first incumbent of the office, and
in his hands it lost none of the importance attached to a thing so long

? %^

 — _  ¦« _ _  5. ( -

-j[ p

Wentworth's Hous

and so earnestly desired. The Governor was fond of display. His
splendid coach, surrounded by a troop of guards, became a feature of
Portsmouth ; and in the panelled rooms of his araple house he affected
an almost vice-regal state. There were not wanting, however, those
who charged corruption upon his adrainistration, and accused him of
appointing his own relatives and friends to office, with little regard
to their qualifications. ^
^ In his domestic service was a pretty girl, the daughter of one Shortredge, whom he
desired to marry after the death of his first wife. Wlien her father objected to the match,
the Governor had him press-ganged and sent to sea. When Shoitredge returned, he told

•200 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII.
When Shute retired in disgust from the perplexities and dissen
sions which had beset his term of office — leaving Boston for
Lieutenant- t-iiii • i i • • j. - i- r-c
governor Euglaiicl aliiiost lu sccrccy — the acunmistration of affairs
devolved upon Williara Dummer, the Lieutenant-governor.
Of a more conciliatory temper than some of his predecessors, he had
less trouble with the General Court, and the raore leisure, therefore,
to devote to that Indian warfare upon the Eastern border, the main
incidents of which we have just related. Burnet, who relieved him
in 1728, was less fortunate. If he indulged in illusions fed by his flat
tering reception, they were dissipated when he came into collision
with the House upon the old variance respecting a permanent salary.
Governor The House Steadily adhered to its policy of voting au an-
ms'contro- Hual graut, of a sum strictly calculated upon the Governor's
thraenerai popularity. Bumct refused to accept the first grant which
Court. ^.^^^ voted by the House ; whereupon that body expressed
its regrets and quietly dispersed at the end of the session. Then a
forraidable raeeting of the citizens took place, and Boston approved
the act of the Asserably. This so nettled Burnet, that when the next
House asserabled, whose members manifested an increased aversion to
fixed salaries, he did not dissolve it, but resorted to a measure which
he thought would bring it less dangerously to terms ; he adjourned it
to Salem, and then refused to sign a warrant for the payment of its
expenses there. This did not improve its temper. The expenses
were paid by private subscriptions, and Burnet wrote to England he
could do nothing with tlie representatives. They retorted that Bur
net's measures were arbitrary and unconstitutional, and that he was
eager to extort money. He was, indeed, deeply in debt when he first
left England, and was always scheming how to repair his broken
fortunes. When the next House asserabled, he recurred to his last
unfortunate expedient and adjourned it to Cambridge.
But the disposition of the General Court was not affected by this
change of place. The House at length sent two agents to explain its
attitude to the King. Frederick A\'ilkes, a. merchant, and Jonathan
Belcher, hardware merchant ;ind member of the Council, were selected.
But when the House voted a grant to defray the expenses of its agents
in London, the Council refused to concur, so that resort was had
again to a private subscription. When the agents arrived in London
they found, of course, that the Board of Trade supported the Gov-
thc odious story of his disappearance, aud it was remembered again.st Wentworth in the
dawning of the Revolutidii. The girl jiersistcil iu saying No for the three years of her
father's absence, having hft the Governor's service. Finally she married him. Mr. Long
fellow's charming poem celebrates the circumstances of the wedding. Shortredge was cap
tain of the first company raised at Portsmouth for the Continental army. — Hayes's MS.
Traditions.

1739.] BELCHER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 201
ernor's measures, particularly in that matter of the salary. The
House was not discouraged, but stood out obstinately for the policy of
annual grants. So this opposition to the Governor went on till he
died, September 7, 1729.
Dummer became again the acting Governor till the appointment
of Jonathan Belcher, who was a Boston man and personally Governor
popular. He arrived in August, 1730, with the old instruc- seieher.
tions to insist upon the salary, which he did most faithfully. The
House, with equal pertinacity, proposed its annual grant. Belcher re
fused to accept it, and dissolved the House. The next one which as
sembled proved so refractory that Belcher resorted to bribing the
more accessible members, and succeeded by various influences in get
ting a measure of compromise introduced, to the effect that a bill for
an annual grant of £1,000 sterling, or sorae fixed sum, should pass,
with the understanding that it should continue annually, provided
that no future House should be bound to the bill as a precedent.
The friends of the Governor were not powerful enough to secure the
passage of this bill. The King had instructed Belcher to leave the
province and return to London in case of the failure of the House to
vote the required salary ; but he preferred to remain and exercise
what influence he could comraand, till he succurabed at the failure of
his last measure, when he addressed the King with a frank statement
of the difficulties of his situation, explained the temper of the people,
and said the resolution of its representatives would never, in his opin
ion, be overcome. He asked for a modification of his instructions..
The House backed his solicitation with an address, drawn up settlement
at his own request, praying the King to permit the Governor °ry q°J.s!"
to accept such grants of money as raight be voted. This the ''""¦
Court prudently yielded. It was an iraportant victory for Massachu
setts, involving graver interests than tbat of payment of raoney, be
cause it threw the administration of the roj'al governors raore directly
upon the appreciation or dislike of the people, and secured a raeasure
of deference. On the other hand, it confirmed a spirit of liberty ; dis
tance and the difficulties of intercourse alone postjjoned the epoch of
the Revolution.
The concihating action of Governor Belcher in the contest upon the
salary procured for him a considerable degree of popularity, Financial
until he began to oppose the financial scheming which broke
out in 1739. He had received strict instructions to permit
no further issue of bills of credit for any term beyond 1741, which
was the limit in time for those already in circulation. The Land
Bank, which was started in 1739, was a scheme of speculatoi-s to evade
this prohibition of the Crown. The Governor's hostihty to their proj-

sehemes in
Massachu-

202

NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIIL

ect threw raany of them into the arras of his old enemies, who were
secretly plotting for his reraoval. Conscious of the general excellence
of his adrainistration, which he had conducted without one sordid mo
tive, and in a spirit of as much impartiality as any man at the time
could exercise between an obstinate Crown and an unconciliating
province, he took no measures of defence, but relied upon his record.
Certain intrigues araong the dissenters in England who had been led to
believe in his hostility to Congregationalism, in connection with other
grievances, procured his recall in 1741. He went to England, and
completely reinstated his character, but it was too late to receive the
thorough vindication of a return to his governraent, for another person
had been appointed, the Court not being willing to face his provincial
unpopularity. But he was raade Governor of New Jersey in 1747,
where his administration was prosperous.
He was succeeded in iMassachusetts by William Shirley, an English
Belcher re- lawyer wlio had lived eight years in Boston. One of his
earliest measures, which at least showed a prudent and
adaptive policy, was to neglect the royal instructions forbid
ding any issue of fresh bills of credit after 1741. This he was con
strained to do by the evident

called GovernorShirley.

m

reluctance of the General
Court to tax the province in
order to take up the old bills
of credit. Perhaps he was
flattered by the action of
that body in voting that his
annual grant should never
fall below a thousand pounds
sterling. He was the first
of the royal governors who
established a fair under
standing between himself
and the province, helped in
this by a spirit of modera
tion and a just estimate of
the old difficulties which
might recur.
The great religious awak
ening whicli began in 1740 with the labors of George Whitefield in
George Ncw Eiighiud, Continued into Shirley's administration. The
il NewEng- "lost brilliant events of the reign of George IL, whether of
war or of peace, yield in importance, some wise men think,
to that religious revolution in England, begun by the preaching of

Governor Shirley.

1740.]

WHITEFIELD IN NEW ENGLAND. 203

the Wesleys and of Whitefield.^ But except that the preaching of
Whitefield laid the foundations of a sectarian Church, to become, in
the course of a century, the largest in the United States, this revival
was less remarkable and of less moment in this country than in Eng
land. It was not compelled to encounter that frank skepticism
which, Priestley says, was so prevalent in France that every philo
sophical person he was introduced to in Paris was an unbeliever in
Christianitj^, or even an atheist, some of whom told him that he
" was the only person they had ever raet with of whose understanding
they had any opinion, who professed to believe in Christianitj'."'
This want of religious faith prevailed hardly less in England, at that
period, but it was the result of indifferentism rather than of ^ religious
philosophy. John Weslej' and his followers appealed to ™''°'""o°-
men dissatisfied with negations, weary with the coldness of unbe
lief, eager to welcome any reaction, even one which would dispel
doubt by mere force of bold and fervid assertion. They preached
also to hearts numb and almost desperate and dead with suffering,
arousing a sense of a divine love and care, and holding out a promise
of compensation for the utter wretchedness of this life. But in Amer
ica there was little absolute infidelity, and there was not then, any
more than now, that brutish lower order so wretched frora poverty,
so degraded by the want of any social consideration, so cut off from
all opportunity of intellectual culture, as to be hardly responsible for
its ignorance of moral law, and its insensibility to any obligation of
religion. In New England Whitefield had only to breathe upon the
slumbering fires of Puritanism to fan them into a flame ; and in the
middle colonies, and, to a certain degree, farther south, he was sure
of ready and sympathizing listeners among those whose religious life
was a protest against the formalism, the worldliness, aud the want of
spiritual emotion in the Established Church. Successful as that re
markable religious movement was in England, it was accomplished
through enormous exertion, much tribulation, and raany perils, which
it was not corapelled to encounter in Araerica. No wonder that
Whitefield loved to return again and again to that coraparatively
peaceful field of evangelical labor, as he did raore than a dozen tiraes,
where at length his brief and eventful life ended.
There had been, nevertheless, a great falling off in New England
from the rigid religious discipline of the earlier times, which punished
in this world, as well as threatened punishment in the next, for any
departure, mental or material, frora an established rule of faith and
conduct. Generations had come and gone since the rainisters of the
' See the admirable chapter on " The Religious Revival " in the second volume of Lecky's
England in the Eighteenth Century. Also Gledstone's Life and Travels of George Whitefield.

204 NEW EN(;LAND and the FRENCH. [Chap. VIIL
churches had ceased to be the chief power in the State, and since only
church-members in good standing were thought worthy of political
enfranchisement. Diverse sects had crept in with every wave of emi
gration, and had established the right to freedom of opinion. Of later
years manj' new comers frora England had brought with them the
laxity of thought and observance upon religious subjects which were
there so general. Godliness had been displaced by indifference, or at
least by a worldliness which was raore concerned with present pros
perity than so to live and believe as to prepare for and deser\e a life of
eternal happiness in the world to come. This unregenerate condition
was observed aud lamented as almost hopeless. When, " on the night
after the Lord's day, October 29th, 1727," says Trumbull, "the
Almighty arose, and so terribly shook the earth through this great
continent," though many men sought the ministers and the meeting
house, it was more " from fear than conviction, or through change of
heart." Six and seven years later, when an epidemic, called the throat
distemper, prevailed throughout the colonies, — though most
Neu Eng- Severely in New England, — even the frightful ravages of that
disease, carrying oft', soraetimes, whole families of children in
a few days, jDroduced, it was remarked, no religious change in the peo
ple.^ Professors continued lukewarm, young people were so " loose and
vicious " as to seek amusement in social intercourse on Sundaj' evenings
and the evenings of lecture-days ; the Thursday lectures were thinly
attended ; there was great want of strictness in the keeping of the
Sabbath, neighbors greeting each other and indulging in conversation
upon worldl}' matters in the intermissions of divine service ; man)' of
the clergy were known to be content with inculcating frora the pulpit
the duty of leading pure and virtuous and unselfish lives, while they
neglected to enforce the inherent depravity of all born of women, and
salvation by the grace of God.^ The good time had passed away
when all things were subordinated to religious belief ; when life here
after was surely eternal d;inination, and life here was hardly worth
having, and hardlj' perraitted, to him convicted of heterodox notions
upon sanctification, justification, and a covenant of works.
It was believed that the Lord had permitted the sowing of such seed
1 The throat-di^tcnlper, .as it was calleil, prevailed as an alarming epidemic in many
places, at intervals of about thirty years, thriiiighout the last century. The modern diph
theria is niiC|Ucstioiiably the same disease, as the characteristics, course, severity, and age
most liable to .attack, are precisely the same in both. So far as the few bills of mortality
of those ]ieriod^ show, the disease is quite as fatal now as it was then, ftlcdical science,
howevei-, has discovered that it is the result of bad drainage, and not a special evidence of
divine wrath. (See Belknap's History nf Xi-ir Hampshire.)
- Edwards's Narrative, and Prince's t.'liristian History, as cited in Trmnbnn's History of
tjunnectleut.

1740.]

THE REVIVAL PERIOD. 205

that there should be a harvest of revivifying grace. For such a harvest
the laborers were ready. For the first quarter of the eighteenth
century, Northampton in Massachusetts had been, under the rainistry
of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, a central point of occasional revivalism.
Moved by the influence of that example, the flame of religious excite
ment broke out at times in various places in New England, like signal-
fires, to warn the church of its lukewarmness, and to arouse its zeal.
Not long before the death of Mr. Stoddard, his grandson, Jonathan
Edwards, became his colleague. The mantle of the older prophet fell
upon the younger and stronger shoulders, and in 1733, and Religious
the two following years, a revival, more remarkable than any ™"™'>'-
that had preceded it, carae — in the language of that time — as in "a
rain of righteousness," and as " the dews of heaven " upon Northamp
ton and the neighboring towns. A " Narrative of Surprising Con
versions," written by Mr. Edwards, and published both in Boston and
London, was widely read, arousing everywhere a deep religious fervor,
and preparing the way for a fresh revival in 1740. Even sober Rhode
Island did not escape the universal excitement. As, for exaraple, it is
related that in Westerly, where " there was not oue praying faraily,"
where they treated " even with scorn and ridicule " the doctrines of
the total depravity of the human heart, of regeneration, and of justifi
cation by faith, there was soon gathered a church of thirty or forty
members. So in other places the tranquillity of all alike, whether
devout or indifferent, was broken up, sometimes to good purpose,
sometimes to not so good. The churches were stirred as they had
never been before, and have never been since; new ones were gathered ;
old ones were increased, and the pious rejoiced that though New Eng
land was the centre of this movement, its influence extended even to
the remotest southern colonies.
But this rejoicing had its limit. There were some who indeed
from the beginning had questioned the healthfulness of this ueaetion
emotional outbreak ; had doubted whether, in the long run, *°"°"'^-
the cause of religion did not receive more harra than good frora sudden
conversions brought about by syrapathetic and uncontrollable excite
ment rather than by calm appeals to reason and conscience. These,
however, were a sraall minority, and they were silenced, if they were
not convinced, by being denounced as eneraies of the true faith, and
as Arminians, — a term then so obnoxious as to be almost a sentence
of banishment from the society of pious people. But events justified
the judgment of these doubters in some degree, even with raany of
the most zealous of the revivalists. The movement at length got be
yond the control of the raore rational of tbe clergj' in many places, and
its progress was marked with extravagances and excesses, over which

206

NEW ENIH.AND AND TIIE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII.

the judicious grieved and the scoffers triumphed. Not only were the
phenomena of uncontrollable emotion, of bodily contortions, of epileptic
prostrations, of hysteric weeping and wailing, common in this as in all
epidemics of religious revivalism ; but there came divisions in the
churches. Lay preachers, raen and women, took the work of grace
out of the hands of ordained ministers. Fanaticism and extravagance
sometiraes crept out of the pews, and up the pulpit stairs, and clergy
men led their parishioners into the devious ways of the " New Lights."
To the churches of Connecticut, where the movement spread tlie
widest, and struck its
roots the deepest, it was
a time of peculiar
trouble. Ecclesiastical
trials divided ministers
and peoples, and social
relations were disturbed
past all patience and for
bearance. It came at
length to be questioned
more and more by many
good people whether
this work was the work
of God or of the devil.
The influences which
had such consequences
were already at work
when Whitefield arrived,
in the autumn of 1740,
at Boston. There were
at that time, in the town,
nine Congregational
churches, three Episco
pal, one Baptist, one
French, and one Scotch Presbyterian. The stated lectures were thinly
attended, and the ministers generally complained of the
lukewarmness of their congregations. Whitefield, whose
a preacher had preceded hira, was warmly welcomed. His
power of oratory has probably never been surpassed in the world;
not so rauch for what he said, as for the wtiy in which he said it. He
had strong emotional force, and marked dramatic ability, which some
training as a strolling actor in early life had, no doubt, helped to per
fect. Over his voice, which was rich and musical, he had perfect
command ; his gestures were frequent, but always graceful, and every

George Whitefield.

Whitcfields
preaching.
fame as

1740.]

THE PREACHING OF WHITEFIELD. 207

motion of the head, every sway of the bodj', was a gesture. His
imagination, probably, was rather redundant than rich, for his im
agery seems commonplace, and his thoughts do not appear to have
been either profound or original. His mastery was a mastery over
words and the way of using them. Garrick used to say that he could
plunge an audience into tears by merely varying his pronunciation
of Mesopotamia. Chesterfield, decorous, self-possessed, cynical, skep
tical, — as he heard Whitefield describe a sinner as an old man, blind,
trembling, staggering upon the brink of a precipice, over which in a
moment he would be dashed into pieces, — was so lifted out of him
self and out of reality, that he sprang forward with the cry, " Good
God ! he is gone ! " When he preached on Boston Coraraon, it was
to audiences of fifteen to tv^^enty thousand people. Franklin was once
cool enough, as he listened to him in Philadelphia, to walk backward
till he was out of the reach of distinct hearing, and then, by calcula
tion of distances and the number of persons who could stand in the
given area, he cafne to the conclusion that that rich and powerful
voice could be made to penetrate through the open air to thirty thou
sand persons. Nor was the philosopher himself proof against its per
suasive tones. His judgment did not approve of that Orphan House
iu Georgia which was so dear to Whitefield, and he went to a meet
ing where its claims were to be urged upon the audience, deterrained
to give nothing. His pocket was full of raoney — copper, silver, and
gold. His deterraination soon yielded so far as to gain his own con
sent to give the copper ; then, as the preacher went on, he was willing
that the silver should follow the copper ; before the sermon was over,
copper, silver, and gold were all emptied into the contribution-box.
But Franklin thought it was a mistake to pubhsh Whitefield's ser
mons. They were nothing if not heard.
Wherever Whitefield preached, he aroused the deepest feehng. As
he went through New England, he did not hesitate to proclaim that
many of the ministers were unconverted men, and ought to be de
serted ; yet they flocked to hear him nevertheless, and he found no
such admiration from clergymen in any part of the country as in Bos
ton. But at the annual convention of the clergy of Massachusetts in
1743, the tide turned, aud a " Testimony against the Disorders in the
Land" was framed and printed. The revivalists rallied at a meeting
of their own in Carabridge, and issued a counter-testimony, which de
clared that the converts were " epistles of Jesus Christ, written not
with ink, but by the Spirit." In 1744, Harvard CoUege appeared
with a testimony against the errors of Whitefleld, signed by every
member of the Faculty. When, in 1745, the ministers who still sup
ported the revival called another meeting, only twenty- eight were

208 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII
present. The result of so decided a reaction in the public mind was
to strengthen the uncalvinistic tendencies, against which the clergy
hoped to make Whitefield their instrument.
The Peace of Utrecht, which had been continually disturbed in the
War be- coloiiies by French Canadian intrigue, was definitely broken
France and ^J ^ declaration of war in the spring of 1744, resulting
England. from the hostile continental politics of France and England.
The news of this reached Duquesnel, the Governor of Cape Breton,
before it was known in the colonies, and he took advantage of it to
strike an unexpected blow. The French viewed with jealousy the
settlement of fishermen on the island of Canso, whose small garrison
might be captured bj' a surprise, and perhaps the fishing interest of
the English in those waters might be broken up by attacks on other
places. The undertaking was intrusted to Duvivier, who was sent
from the fortress of Louisburg with nine hundred raen. He was suc
cessful at Canso, captured all the inhabitants, and sent them to Louis
burg, but he failed at Placentia ; and at Annapolis, after a desperate
fight, he was forced to retreat, for Shirley had reenforced the garrison
just in tirae. Although the French were not yet in condition to fol
low up the first attacks, their privateers took many prizes, especiafly
of fishing vessels, all of which were brought into Louisburg, and the
fishing business was completely paralyzed.
These operations of the French roused the indignation and alarm
of New England, and a corresponding zeal for war animated the in
habitants. Governor Shirley was found to be adequate to the emer
gency. First taking vigorous measures to protect the frontier, he
sought to organize and direct the earnest popular conviction that Lou
isburg, a formidable neighbor and perpetual threat to the interests of
New England, must be captured. From fishermen who had been re
leased, and from other sources, he drew sufficient information about
the fortress to perfect a plan for taking it ; but as the success of it
Shirley's depended upon secrecy, he desired the House then in session,
proposal. January, 1745, to receive a private message from him, under
an oath not to divulge it. Fully confiding in Shirley's patriotism,
the House consented.
The plan was of such magnitude, involving so raany difficulties and
such expense, that the members at first brought little but amazement
to its discussion. It was considered to be an undertaking beyond the
means at their comraand, even if all the provinces should unite. The
inforraation which Shirley communicated, regarding its feasibility, did
not seera to the House so conclusive as it did to the ardent Governor.
It was discussed for a few days, then referred to a committee, who
reported adversely, and the report was accepted. One of the mem-

1745.] SHIRLEY'S EXPEDITION AGAINST LOUISBURG.

209

bers who favored the enterprise was a bold deacon who raade it a sub
ject of family prayers. His startled and curious listeners gave hira
no peace till he explained the design for which he invoked the divine
blessing, — waiving his oath as a legislator to his peace as a family
man. The Governor's purpose was soon made known to everybody,
and received the popular approbation. Petitions, signed by promi
nent merchants and ship-owners, were sent in to the House j^,, expedi-
from various places. The public opinion thus bearing on L?uisburg"
the members, they became raore evenly divided, and a reso- ^""^'^'"^ o"-
lution in favor of the enterprise passed by the casting vote of Speaker
Hutchinson. In some respects, the time was favorable. Duquesnel, an officer of
great ability, had died, and his successor was old aud a man of medi
ocrity. The officer who captured Canso had returned to Europe to
solicit help for the garrison in troops and supplies. It had been re
ported to Shirley that the men were ill-fed and in no temper to make
a protracted defence. The winter was unusually raild ; the harvest
had been abundant, and provisions were plenty ; the uneraployed fish
ermen were eager to enlist. In the autumn, a French ship, that was
hastily fitting out to relieve the starving and discontented garrison,
was broken in launching. Shirley also counted upon the coopera
tion of the English fleet in the West Indies. He had petitioned the
ministry, without broaching to thera his scheme, to send Comraodore
Warren to Boston to protect the fisheries and the general interests of
England. He had, in the mean time, solicited the Commodore for aid,
who declined for want of orders; but the day after this refusal, instruc
tions from the ministry to repair to Boston reached hira. On his way
a vessel gave him the news that the provincial ships had sailed for
Canso, whither he shaped his course, and arrived just in time.
But Louisburg, under every temporary disadvantage, was a forrai
dable place, and was styled the Gibraltar and the Dunkirk
of America. A much stronger power than a dependent fences of
colony might well hesitate to attack it. Shirley's secret, °"'^ "^'
though well kept from France, was scented by the Indians, who com
municated it to the French in Canada, where it was received with ridi
cule and general incredulity, so confident were the people that the
fortress was irapregnable. The place had been twenty-five years in
building, and had cost France thirty raillions of livres. In 1713 a
walled town was begun at the southeastern extremity of Cape Breton,
two miles and a half in circumference, with a stone rampart over
thirty feet high behind a ditch that was eighty feet wide wherever
the place was liable to an attack. The entrance of the harbor was
defended by a battery of thirty twenty-eight-pounders upon a small
VOL. III. 14

210

NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VHI.

island. Just opposite, on the harbor's inner edge, was a formidable
batterjr of twenty-eight forty-two-pounders, and two eighteen-pound-
ers. The entrance to the town was over a drawbridge which a cir
cular battery of thirteen twenty-four-pounders commanded. The
batteries and six bastions could mount one hundred and forty-eight
cannon : sixty-five of this number were mounted, and sixteen mor
tars. The town was laid out in squares, and contained valuable mag
azines of naval stores. Many of the houses were substantially built
of stone. This was the rugged nut that Shirley meant to crack.

The New
England
forces.

Defences at Louisburg, from a contemporary French Plan.
He addressed circulars to every American province, asking for its
aid. Every one out of New England shrunk from the formidable en
terprise. But New England possessed fourteen arraed vessels mount
ing two hundred and four guns, and nearly a hundred sail of trans
ports. The quota of troops was 3,200 for Massachusetts, including
150 New Hampshire men ; 300 for Rhode Island ; 350 for
New Hampshire, and 500 for Connecticut. The New Hamp
shire regiment, under Colonel Samuel Moore, sailed in trans
ports belonging to that province, directly for the rendezvous at Canso.
They were under convoy of an arraed sloop carrying thirty men, com
raanded by Captain John Fernald, and this vessel afterward did good
service as a cruiser. The Rhode Island troops did not reach Boston
till after the fleet had sailed, but they arrived in Louisburg in July,
just in time to relieve those who by that time had captured the place.
Colonel William Pepperell, a raerchant of Kittery, New Hampshire,
was appointed to command the expedition, but he naturally hesitated.

1745.]

COLONEL WILLIAM PEPPERELL.

211

sir William Pepperell

He sought counsel of Whitefield, who was then lodging at his house,
and who told him that the scheme did not look promising ; if it should
not succeed, the widows
and orphans of the slain
would reproach him, and if
it should succeed, he would
become an object of envious
hostility. He must there
fore undertake it with a
motive so pure and strong
as to deserve success. When
Pepperell yielded to the so
licitations of Shirley's mes
sengers, Whitefield gave him
as a motto for his flag. Nil
DESPEEANDUM, ChEISTO
Duce. The great revival
ist was urged to countenance
the enterprise, that his fol
lowers might be encouraged
to enlist ; accordingly a
great enthusiasm arose among them at this dedication of a standard,
and the expedition put on something of the aspect of a crusade. One
clergyman armed himself with a hatchet wherevcith to smite the
Romish images. Old Parson Moody, the famous preacher of York,
— whom Pepperell made chaplain, — when there was a call made
in that place for volunteers, stepped to the drum-head and put down
his name. None held back after that exaraple. Frora Berwick and
Kittery the male inhabitants, almost to a man, followed Pepperell.
Besides his services he gave to the expedition ,£5,000.1 jjjg second
in command of the expedition was Roger Wolcott, the Lieutenant-
governor of Connecticut.
It is remarkable that the French should not have suspected the pur
pose of all these preparations. But every province refrained from
sending vessels in the direction of Louisburg. Not a copy of Shirley's
order to the captains of train-bands was allowed to be taken. In
eight weeks four thousand three hundred men were enhsted, and all
1 Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire was ambitious and did not relish Governor
Shirley's preference of Pepperell for the command of the troops destined for Louisburg.
After Pepperell had accepted, Shirley sought the cooperation of Wentworth by writing to
him a politic letter to the effect that it would have been a great satisfaction to all, and a
great advantage to the expedition, had not the gubernatorial gout prevented him frora
taking the command. Whereupon Wentworth denied the gout and offered his services.
Shirley was then compelled to acknowledge that he had given the command to Pepperell.

212 XKW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII.
the preparations were complete. New York loaning a few cannon, and
New Jersej' and Pennsylvania contributing some provisions and
clothing. The fleet collected at Nantasket Roads ; a day of fasting and prayer
was ordered through the province, and one evening each
vous at week for special prayer. Then the Massachusetts vessels
sailed, JNIarch 24, for Canso. The New Harapshire troops
were already there ; those frora Connecticut arrived about April 10.
The ice around the shores detained the fleet till April 29, when it
weighed anchor for Cabarus Bay at Cape Breton. Not a French ves
sel of observation was encountered ; the appearance of a numerous
fleet, the following morning, was actually the first advertisement of
Pepperell's destinatiou whicli reached the garrison. This element of
surprise was very effective. A feint of landing at one place favored
the putting ashore of a detachment at another, where a tardy attack
was easily repulsed. The French retreated within their lines; half
the troops were landed, and the rest ujion the two following days.
Some large warehouses filled with inflammable stores and spirits were
set on fire, the sraoke of which as it drifted inland so alarmed the
French that they spiked the guns of the powerful battery at the
bottom of the harbor, threw the powder into a well, and retreated in
boats to the town.
The next morning Colonel Vaughan, a soldier of admirable eon-
duct, reconnoitering with thirteen men, discovered that the battery
was deserted, took possession, and sent to Pepperell for reenforcements
and a flag. Meantime a soldier went up the flagstaff with a red
coat in his teeth, and nailed up the symbol of jjossession. The French
soon attacked Vaughan with a hundred raen under cover of a fire
frora the city, but his thirteen held out till reenforcements arrived,
and the French gave up the attempt. Ample war material was found
in the battery ; the guns were unspiked and did good service against
the town during the siege.
By May 5, Pepperell had thrown up three batteries by night, the
third being only seven hundred yards from the city.-' The
labor of bringing up guns and munitions was great ; every
thing had to be dragged by hand through morasses, consuming four
teen days. A fourth fascine battery was thrown up within two hun-
1 It is worth noting that the man to whom Pepperell entrusted the planning of his bat
teries was the Colonel Gridley who marked out the lines of the redoubt on Bunker HiU in
which Warren fell. Many of the bravest officers of the Revolution served under Pepperell
at Louisburg, where New England raen began to have a salutary contempt for their ene
mies' lines. " When Gage was erecting breastworks across Boston Neck, the provincial
troops sneeringly remarked that his mud walls were nothing compared with the stone -R'alls
of old Louisburg." — Parsons's Life of Pepperell.

1745.]

THE SIEGE OF LOUISBURG.

dred and fifty yards of the drawbridge. It was evident
capture the island battery the fleet must corae into the harbor,
dangerous movement was not popular araong the volunteers;
much dissatisfaction reigned that a council of war thought
postpone it. On May 20, Commodore Warren, who, under gi
comforts, was cruising outside,
captured the Vigilant, of sixty-
four guns, having on board six
hundred men, and military stores.
This stroke of luck raised the
spirits of the volunteers, and pro
portionably depressed the French
when Pepperell managed to con
vey intelligence of it to them.
But the Commodore was anx
ious to have the island battery
taken out of his way. Pepperell,

213
that to
, This
and so
best to
eat dis-

on the other hand, inclined to
rely upon the strong impression
which his fascine batteries were

por

le enemy's works.

The Commodore's prisoners hap
pened to let out the fact that a number of war vessels were nearly
due ; his crews were falling sick, and no fresh provisions could be pro
cured. So Pepperell consented to a night attack, which was made
by four hundred men with scahngdadders ; but the boats were ob
served and fired upon, the muskets of the men were wetted in land
ing, and the attack was repulsed with the loss of sixty killed, and one

214 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII.
hundred and twelve, with the wounded, taken prisoners. Amid con
siderable depression the regular business of the siege was resumed,
under volleys of cheering frora the French which were raore galling
than their fire.
Pepperell maintained a constant coramunication with Governor
Shirley, frora which we learn that he was frecpiently short of ammu
nition, and there were not trained gunners enough to man his bat
teries. He borrowed powder of the Comraodore, hoping to turn
against the eneray several French cannon, found under water; but
these, for want of balls corresponding to their calibre, were useless.
His largest raortar and one or two cannon burst. He could do little,
for want of amraunition. By the first week in June fifteen hundred
men were on the sick list, and a call for reenforceraents followed that
for powder.
Meantime, while French war ships were expected, the garrison kept
vigorously pounding away at the works of the besieging forces. The
fog also settled down upon the batteries and disturbed the effective
use of their guns and coramunication with the fleet outside.
Yet even in June the French in Quebec were utterly incredulous
as to any expedition againpt Louisburg ; so uncertain was the water
intercourse of those days, and so watchful were the English cruisers.
But the Commodore's fleet, though strengthened by the arrival of
several ships, could not venture past the island battery to make with
the land forces a joint attack upon the town. During the siege th(^
provincials were shelterless, and many died of fever, while the French
were snugly ensconced beneath their roofs. The French, however,
who were trained soldiers and began by underrating this little army
of tradesmen, fishermen, backwoodsmen, and mechanics, had omitted
from their reckoning one element of the temper of a New Euglandev,
— that when he is the worst baffled he is the raost obstinate and dan
gerous. So Pepperell grimly held on to all his positions, and threw
up another battery, which got the range of the dreaded island battery
and seriously annoyed it. He had also succeeded in silencing all the
guns except three in the drawbridge battery, and that was nearly a
heap of ruins.
Under these circumstances a combined attack seeraed to the Com
modore more practicable. Every arrangement to that effect had been
made, his fleet was drawn up in line, eleven ships of forty guns each;
the land forces were in position to attack, and Pepperell and the Com
modore, and no doubt Parson Moody also, were stirring them up with
Thesnr- appeals to their courage and sense of duty. It was the fif-
render. teeuth of Juue, 1745. Governor Duchambou rapidly sur
veyed his prospects. No French vessel could enter the harbor; his

1745.]

THE CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. 215

island battery was dominated ; several breaches had been raade in his
bastions; his soldiers, worn out by the incessant strain by night
and day for seven weeks, could only feebly stand to their guns.
Pepperell's forces outnumbered by five times his own.
In the afternoon he concluded to ask for terms of capitulation.
During a suspension of hostilities the island battery was delivered up
to the Commodore, and his fleet entered the harbor. Honorable terms
were offered and accepted by the Governor, and although the articles
of capitulation were not signed till the 19th, Pepperell disregarded
the formality, as if to anticipate a memorable date. On the seven
teenth of June he entered the fortress at the head of his volunteers.
Shirley's nut was cracked, and the troops who did it were astonished
to discover the strength of the shell. Shirley soon arrived, and re
ceived the keys from Pepperell. Six hundred and fifty regular troops,
thirteen hundred militia-raen, six hundred sailors, and two thousand
inhabitants were sent to France. Cannon, stores, provisions, and prop
erty to an enormous amount were taken, for which the English paid by
the death of only 130 men. The French lost 300. All the bells in the
provinces rang their joy-peals when the event was known ; all Eng
land broke into illuminations and bonfires ; and Europe, not surprise in
excepting France, was astonished. General Pepperell became ^""P"'
the first American baronet; he and Shirley were commissioned as
Colonels in the British army ; Warren was promoted to be an Ad
miral. Still further honors awaited Pepperell ; within the next three
years the city of London presented him a silver table and a service of
plate, and the King made him, at Pitt's suggestion, a Lieutenant-
general.^ While Louisburg was garrisoned for a year by New England troops,
the other provinces, which had declined to share in the expedition,
manifested a noble spirit of gratitude and admiration towards those
who had taken the place, and sent abundant store of necessaries to
the troops. The news of its fall was carried to France by Duvivier,
who was on his way in July, with a squadron of seven ships, for the
recovery of Nova Scotia. When in mid-ocean he learned from a cap
tured vessel — on board which was ex-Lieutenant-governor Clarke of
New York — that Louisburg was in the hands of the Enghsh. He
1 After the .surrender, Mr. Moody preached a sermon in a Jesuit chapel. At a dinner
given by Pepperell, Moody was the senior chaplain, and therefore entitled to say grace.
The officers dreaded to annoy the guests with one of his long-winded addresses, but no one
dared to counsel the rather irritable parson. He seemed on this occasion to be anxious for
his dinner, and the grace was simply, " 0 Lord, we have so raany things to thank thee for,
that tirae will be infinitely too short to do it ; we must therefore leave it for the work of
eternity. Bless our food and fellowship upon this joyful occasion, for the sake of Christ
our Lord. Amen."

216 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII.
returned to bear the evil tidings to France, abandoning his design
against Nova Scotia, which now seemed hopeless.
France was aroused to fresh and raore extensive preparations to
recover all it had lost, and to add to its dorainion in Amer-
ni?a^™r"sof ica. It Contemplated the possibility even of conquering the
whole country from Maine to Georgia, and the utraost alarm
spread through the colonial seaports as rumors reached thera, from
time to time, of the designs of the French. Tbe next summer a fleet
of eleven ships of the line, with thirty smaller vessels of from ten to
thirty guns each, and transports carrying over 3,000 troops, sailed from
Rochelle. To these were to be added four ships frora the West Indies ;
and an army of nearly two thousand Canadians and Indians was al
ready in arras to join the land force on its arrival.
The colonists trusted to the fleet at Louisburg and to reenforcements
Their fail- fi'om England — which did not come — to meet the French
""¦ on the coast. On land, preparations were made, under the
energetic leadership of Shirley, to counteract the French invasion hy
a fresh attempt upon Canada, and troops vvere collected from the
several provinces to that end. But the naval expedition of the French
was from the beginning attended with disaster. The ships were
separated at sea by storra ; sorae were disabled and abandoned, or
returned to France. The Admiral, the Duke d'Anville, soon after
his arrival in the bay of Chebucto, in Nova Scotia, suddenly died.
The Vice-Adrairal, D'Estournelle, worn with anxiety at the non-arrival
of many of the fleet, and by a fatal sickness which broke out among
the men, himself fell ill of fever, and in a fit of delirium ran his sword
through his body. Jonquiere, the Governor of Canada, who had
joined the expedition, succeeded to the command, and set sail for an
attack upon Annapolis, though half the raen were already dead. But a
storra overtook and dispersed his fleet ; the enterprise was abandoned,
and the ships made their way back to France.
More than a year had passed, and with the signs of approaching
The treaty pcace, there was relaxation of effort on both sides. The one
ohapei'ie"'.'- brilliant result of the war in Araerica was the capture of
iertorJd to™ Louisburg ; but it was after all a barren victory to the
Prance. provluces, savc that it taught thera a well-remembered les
son, — that the rough colonial life was no bad school for the training
of soldiers who would be a match for the best of regular troops. No
share of the prize money of £600,000 from captured French ships,
which the expedition threw into the hands of the English fleet, feU
to the array on shore. Notwithstanding Pepperell's just claim, War
ren and his sailors took the whole of it. When peace was made be
tween England and France, in April, 1748, Cape Breton was restored

1749.] NEW ENGLAND FINANCES. 217
to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The people of New
England had expended costly lives and much treasure in the capture
of Louisburg, and they saw with disgust this cession, for which no
equivalent was received that benefited either England or the colonies.
Pepperell had hoped that Cape Breton aud its dependencies would be
annexed to the Crown, and converted into an American colony.
When the New England regiments which garrisoned Louisburg
were disbanded in consequence of this peace. Sir Williara was obliged
to send money to the troops for the payment of debts and to trans
port them to their homes. He forwarded 1,420 silver dollars, and sil
ver was so scarce that he could only procure it by paying from fifty
to fifty-two shillings in currency for each dollar. But the Provinces,
who saw the dearly bought Cape Breton taken from them, could now
demand more earnestly, and with the more reason, the reimbursement
of their expenses. In the summer of 1749, Parliament voted the sum
of £183,649 sterling to liquidate this demand. In consequence of the
urgent representations of prominent merchants who were opposed to
the existing paper currency and desired to retire it, that sum was
transmitted in metal. Six hundred and fifty-three thousand ounces of
silver and ten tons of copper were landed at Long Wharf, in Boston,
— more coin than was ever seen there before. It was divided
between the four New England Colonies. Massachusetts lana "^
received the greatest share, and that of New Harapshire afterthe

war.

amounted only to $16,000. Before this arrival the paper
currency of Massachusetts stood at the rate of eight to one in silver ;
it was now redeemed at one fifth less than the current value. The
colony had learned from hard experience that a promise to pay was
not paying ; that the increment of proraises was only an increment of
debt. It profited by that lesson, and now proposed to make real
raoney, not a fluctuating paper substitute for money, the measure of
values. To this end it prohibited the circulation, within its own
jurisdiction, of the paper currency of neighboring provinces, while it
redeemed its own. The wholesome result of this wise policy was the
sound financial condition and consequent prosperity of Massachusetts
till in the struggle for independence she again resorted to a paper
currency and accepted bankruptcy as a part of the price to be paid
for civil liberty.
The colonies were compelled, at this period, alraost to exhaust their
resources and energies to defend theraselves and to secure to
England her American possessions. They were left, for the Enjianjand
most part, to fight their own battles, to work out their own
safety, with little or no aid from the parent government. Araerican
affairs were, not altogether without reason, of secondary importance

218 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIII,
to England. Deeply involved in a war in which all Europe was en
gaged, and harassed by the machinations of the Pretender, Charles
Edward, — whose claim to the throne was a perpetual menace to the
peace of the kingdom, till his disastrous campaign in Scotland, in
1745, — the difficulties and the dangers of the distant colonies were
of coraparatively sraall moment. The sense of neglect and the feel
ing of resentment — though often from opposite causes — were not new
moods in the colonial temper ; but tbey were strengthened quite as
rauch by indifference to the welfare and safety of the colonies as they
had ever been by any seeming or real attack upon thera. With this
discontent, however nurtured, grew the spirit of independence, ready
to show itself on any provocation.
A provocation carae in Boston in 1747. A number of sailors had
deserted from some English men-of-war, then in that harbor, under
the command of one Commodore Knowles. To supply their places
the Commodore ordered, as he would have done in England, that a
press-gang should take from raerchant vessels and on the wharves of
Boston, as many men as were needed. He did not know, perhaps,
or, if he did know, did not care that a law of the realm, passed in the
reign of Anne, forbade impressraent in the colonies, except of deserters
from naval vessels. But certainly he could not have understood that
no man in Boston, however humble, could be made against his will to
serve even the King.
When it was known, one day in November, that Knowles's boats
had corae up early in the morning from the fleet in Nantas-
prcss-gang ket Roads, had visited all the vessels in the harbor, had
taken the crews even of those just ready for sea, had swept
the warehouses and the wharves of laboring men and mechanics, —
then the town broke out into a blaze of excitement and fury. A mob
armed with clubs and stones, and whatever other weapons they could
suddenly lay their hands upon, filled the streets. The Governor's
house, where some of the officers of the English ships happened to be,
was soon surrounded by an angry crowd. An assault was threatened,
and the officers armed theraselves to defend their lives. Influential
citizens mingled with the raob, exhorting thera to refrain from violent
measures. jV deputy sheriff, more courageous than prudent, ordered
thera, in the narae of the law, to disperse. Him they seized, bore off
in triumph, and set in the stocks. The ludicrous spectacle of his dis
corafiture turned angry oaths and cries, for a while, into jibes and
laughter, and served to lure the crowd from the Governor's house.
Tumult in But it was ouljr a diversion. When evening came, the
the city. jx-ople swarmed into King (now State) Street from all parts
of the town, defiant, irresistible, determined that the wrong should

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[From an Old Print.]
1747.]

AN ENGLISH PRESS-GANG IN BOSTON.

219

be righted. The Town-House at the head of the street, where the
General Court was in session, was surrounded, and that body ap
pealed to with shouts, — with,
no doubt, impatient impreca
tions, and when these were un
answered, stones, sticks, and
brickbats crashed through the
windows of the Council Cham
ber. The Governor and other
official gentlemen replied to this
unmistakable summons by ap
pearing upon the balconj^ The
crowd was besought to be pa
tient till the General Court
could act; it was assured that
the Governor would make ev
ery possible effort for the re-

Attack on tile Town-house.

lease of the men, whose kidnapping he disapproved of, while, at the
same time, he deprecated these violent outbreaks. But even so popu
lar a man as Shirley talked in vain ; deeds, not words raerely, were
wanted; " it was thought adviseable," says Hutchinson, "for the Gov
ernor to withdraw to his house."
The citizens demanded that every officer in town, belonging to the

220 NEW ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH. [Chap. VIIL
fleet, should be seized and held till the kidnapped raen were released.
In the course of the evening a rumor that a barge had come up the
harbor from the fleet spread through the crowd. A rush was made to
the waterside, a boat was seized, — only it happened to be the wrong
one, — dragged to the front of the Governor's house, then to some
raore open place, and burnt. The blood of the town was up, and it
was fearfully in earnest.
The next day the Governor ordered out the militia by beat of
drum; but the drummers were silenced by orders more po-
pectotaf- tent than the Governor's, and the militia-men refused to
appear. This was giving to affairs so serious an aspect,
tbat Shirley retired to the Castle in the harbor, not, probably, in fear,
but as the most serious and dignified protest he could make against
the riotous subversion of civil authority.
From the Castle he appealed to Commodore Knowles, protesting
against the outrage which had been perpetrated by his orders and had
thrown the town into a state of insurrection. The Comraodore would
accept no terras and offer none, except this : that unless his officers,
who had been arrested and detained in Boston, were set at liberty, he
would bombard the town. Whether he would really have proceeded
to that extremity, or thought the threat would be enough, he was sup
posed to be in earnest, and several of his ships weighed anchor and
sailed up the bay.
Things had come to that pass that a settlement of some sort was in
evitable. Though the General Court continued in session, for three
days the naval officers had been held in custodj', or on parole, by no
other authority than that of rioters. Though these rioters were labor
ing men and mechanics, it was thought that they were instigated and
upheld by many influential people. It was seriously discussed whether
the Governor's retreat to the Castle was not an abdication; whether
Massachusetts Bay had any longer a governraent.
Thereupon the General Court passed a series of Resolutions. These
tumultuous and riotous proceedings, they declared, tended to the de
struction of all government aud order ; it was incumbent ou the civil
and railitary officers to suppress thera " whensoever they may hap
pen ; " and that the house would "stand by and support with their
lives and estates his excellency the Governor and tlie executive part
ofthe government;" but they were also careful to add that "this
house will exert themselves by all ways and raeans possible in redress
ing such grievances as his Ma.jesty's subjects are and have been under,"
which were the cause of those recent disturbances. A town meeting
was also held, where it was resolved that the General Court should
be sustained.

1747.] INSURRECTION AVERTED. 221
All this, of course, was eminently proper ; and care had been taken
that it should also be eminently safe. The militia were now order re-
again called out, and the summons was obeyed with great *''°'''^*-
alacrity. Governor Shirley, under the assurance that government
was to be supported, returned from the Castle in great state and dig
nity, and was received with railitary honors. The British naval offi
cers were released, and perraitted to return to the fleet unmolested.
Had there been then, after all, only a riot of depraved and misguided
persons, demanding an unreasonable thing in an outrageous man
ner, who were only to be put down ? Negotiations of state are not
always recorded, and history is left to guess frora events by what
solemn agreements they may have been brought about. The peace
and order which had fled before riot, were restored with much osten
tation ; but at the same time tlie sailors, the ship-carpenters, the sail-
makers, and the laborers, who had been seized and carried on board
the British vessels, quietly returned to their homes with none to hin
der. All Boston hurried down to the wharves to huzza lustily as
Commodore Knowles's fleet got under way and sailed out
of Nantasket Roads for England, for there was not one oitheinci-
Boston boy on board. The General Court ordered the win
dows of the Council Charaber to be mended, and asked no further
questions. Commodore Knowles, no doubt, made due report at the
Admiralty Office in London of the indignity put upon the King's
colors and uniforra; but evidently it was thought best not to reopen a
dispute with a people who had not been moved in the least by a threat
to knock their town about their ears, had abated nothing of their as
sertion of the sacredness of personal libertj-, had gained all they asked
for, and in return had given nothing.

CHAPTER IX.
NEW YORK.
GovERN'OR Cosby's Administration. — Controversy with Van Da.vi. — The Zen-
GF.R Libel .Suit. — Struggles or Political Parties. — George Clarke, Lieu
tenant-governor. — The Negro Plot of 1741. — Growth of the Colony in a
Half Century. — Early Settlements on the Mohawk and Susquehanna. —
The City of New York at several Periods. — King's College established. —
Position of the Colony' by* the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. — Ap
pointment op Governor Clinton. — The Perplexities op his Administra
tion. — Preparations for a Double Expedition against Canada. — The
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Sir Danvers Osborn's Inauguration and
Death. — Chief Justice De Lancey succeeds as Lieutenant-governor.
Colonel Cosby, who arrived in New York in August, 1732, came,
like others who had preceded him, to raake a fortune from
Governor official scrvlce. He entered at once into a controversy with
Van Dara, the acting Governor, demanding an equal parti
tion of the salary and perquisites received by that gentleman in the
interval between Cosby's appointment and arrival. The result was
a suit in equity, in which not only all the lawyers of the colony, but
most of the people, were deeply interested. The popular party sym
pathized with Van Dam ; the aristocratic party, with the Governor.
Out of this suit grew that trial of John Peter Zenger for libel,
which is so distinctive a mark in the history of American jurispru
dence. Zenger was the publisher of a newspaper, — " The New York
The Zenger Weekly Joiimal," — and he made it the mouth-piece of the
libel suit. opposition to the Governor and his supporters. It was or
dered by the Council that four obnoxious nurabers of the paper, to
gether with two printed ballads which were considered libellous, be
publicly burned by the common hangman, or the whipper at the pil
lory ; and the magistrates of the city were required to preside at that
ceremony. The magistrates refused, but the order to burn the pa
pers was, nevertheless, obeyed. Zenger was afterwards arrested and
brought to trial.
His counsel, at a preliminary hearing, filed objections to the legal-

1736.]

THE ZENGER LIBEL SUIT.

223

ity of the warrant, and to the trial of the case before Judges De Lan
cey and Philipse, inasmuch as they held their places by appointraent
from the Crown. " You have brought it to that point," said Chief
Justice De Lancey, " that either we must go from the bench or you
from the bar." And the
lawyers were dismissed from
the bar, the court assigning
in the case before them
counsel of their own choos
ing. The defendant, however,
engaged Mr. Andrew Ham
ilton, an erainent lawyer of
Philadelphia, to appear on
his behalf. The case came
before a jury. Hamilton
boldly took the ground that
the defence might prove the
truth of the libel in justifi
cation, and that the jury
were to determine both the
law and the fact. The pub
lication was acknowledged ;
but "you will have," said
Hamilton, " something more to do, before you make my client a li
beller ; for the words themselves must be libellous, that is, false,
scandalous, and seditious." " Our constitution," he said, " gives us
an opportunity to prevent wrong by appealing to the people." The
jury followed this reasoning, and responded to the appeal. The pris
oner was acquitted ; the people approved the verdict ; the corporation
presented Hamilton with the freedom of the city in a gold box, and
when he left the town, to return home, a salute was fired in his honor.
The trial gave the last blow, in public estimation, to the Exchequer
Court, and objections were again raised, such as had been made
against Montgoraerie, to the Governor's sitting as Chancellor.
Cosby died in March, 1736, soon after his defeat in this memora
ble trial. Van Dam, who had given him so rauch trouble,
claimed by right to be his teraporary successor as the oldest Governor
member of the Council. He had, however, absented hira
self for some time from the meetings of that body, a raajority of which
were the partisans of the Governor. It was declared, moreover, that
Cosby, not long before his death, had removed Van Dam from the
Council, and the Board thereupon recognized George Clarke as the old-

Rip Van Dam.

224 NEAV YORK. [Chap. IX.
est member, and aj:)pointed him Lieutenant-governor. The popular
feeling was warmly in Van Dam's favor, and nothing was expected
frora his opponent but a continuation of the arbitrary and selfish policy
which had raade Cosby's administration so obnoxious to the people.
Cmve The contest was warm and bitter ; both men assumed the
pointe'a'Gov- functions of tbe office, and Clarke, who held the Fort, took
ernor. mcasures for its defence. The struggle, which seems to
have risen nearly to the dignity of a rebellion, was only ended when
Clarke's claim was confirmed by a commission from England.
The political tranquillity of his seven years' government shows that,
if there was not rauch to blarae hira for, so there was little
his adminis- I'casou for pralse. Perhaps he had less disposition than sorae
other colonial rulers to encroach upon the rights of the peo
ple ; perhaps he was only wise enough to understand that the people
would not tolerate encroachment. " We beg leave to be plain with
your honor, and hope you will not take it amiss," said the first Assem
bly he met, " that you are not to expect that we will either raise sums
not fit to be raised, or put what we shall raise into the power of a
Governor to misajjply, if we can prevent it." Thej' assured him fur
ther that they would only raake up such deficiencies as seeraed to them
just ; that such revenue as they thought fit to raise would be provided
frora year to year, and that they did not " think it convenient to do
even that, until such laws are passed as we conceive necessary for the
safety of the inhabitants of this colony."
Each successive Assembly showed a similar spirit, which was not to
be shaken by the remonstrances of the Governor, even when he warned
one of thera of " the jealousy prev^ailing in Great Britain that the
colony wished to be emancipated from the Crown." Perhaps it was
because he knew what serious ground there was for that " jealousy,"
that he was so careful not to try the irapatience of the people by any
other provocation than reproaches, and sometimes by an adjournment
of the Legislature.
During his administration, however, occurred an event which marks
TheKerrro ^'"^ ^^^ i^^ the liistory of New York, as sombre with tragic
Plot of 1741. interest as that given to the annals of Massachusetts by the
Quaker and witchcraft persecutions of the previous century. But
New York went mad in a senseless panic, and burned negroes at the
stake eighty years after the last Quaker was hanged on Boston Com
mon, and half a century after it was believed in Massachusetts that
an old woraan, accused of witchcraft, would drown when thrown into
a pond, if she was innocent, but would float like a cork, if she was
guilty, to be saved only to suffer death at the hands of the public exe
cutioner.

1741.]

THE NEGRO PLOT.

225

The origin of this tragedy was almost contemptible. In February,
1740-41, one Mrs. Hogg, who kept a small shop in Broad
Street, was robbed of some goods and money. A few days ^ °"^'"'
before, she had heedlessly opened a drawer containing some silver
coin, in the presence of a young sailor of the name of Wilson. This
Wilson was in the habit of frequenting a low ale-house on the North
River, kept by one John Hughson, a place of resort, probably, of dis
solute persons of all sorts, but especially of idle servants araong the
negro slaves. To three of these, Cffisar, Prince, and Cuff'ee — they
had no other names, but were known as Vaarck's Cffisar, Auboyneau's
Prince, and Philipse's Cuffee — to these three Wilson told how he
had seen the money in Mrs. Hogg's drawer, how easily the shop could

view in Btoad Street, about 1740.
be entered in a way he knew of, and the prize secured. On this hint,
the burglary was committed ; but, whether Wilson repented of his
share in it, or whether he hoped to secure impunity for himself by
betraying his comrades, he, a few days afterward, assured iNlrs. Hogg
that he had seen a square piece-of-eight, described as araong the stolen
coin, in the hands of Cfesar, at John Hughson's dram-shop.
This evidence was confirmed by Marjr Burton — an indented ser
vant of John Hughson's, a girl of fifteen years — who con- Marv Bur-
fessed to a neighbor that she knew who committed the rob- ton's evi-
bery, and showed a piece of the stolen raoney, which she said
the negro Ceesar had given her. On further examination, she im
plicated one " Margaret Sorubiero, alias Salingburgh, alias Kerry,
commonly called Peggy, or the Newfoundland Irish beauty," a dis
reputable young woraan of one or two and twentj-, who lodged at
vol. hi. 15

22(j NE\V YORK. [Chap. IX.
Hughson's house, and was reputed to be the kept mistress of Vaarck's
Csesar. Then some of the goods were found under the kitchen floor
of Vaarck, the baker — Cassar's master — to which access could be
had frora a low drinking-place, next door, kept by John Romme.
Romme fled on this discover)^ and the assumption was, that he was an
Arrest of accomplicc ill the burglary. The other persons accused,
antfhis" including Hughson and his wife, were arrested, Hughson
family. acknowledging that he had received and concealed some of
the stolen goods. It was a commonplace crirae, and there was no
lack of evidence to convict the criminals. The incident would have
been soon forgotten, had not unexpected events presently given his
torical interest to the dram-shops of Hughson and Romme, to the
negroes C?esar, Prince, and Cuffee, and to the young white women of
questionable character, Mary Burton and the Irish beauty, Peggy.
A fortnight after the accused persons were committed to prison, a
Eire in the ^^^ brokc out in the roof of the Governor's house, within
*"'• the Fort, about one o'clock in the afternoon. The house,
the adjoining chapel, the barracks opposite, and the secretary's office
over the gate of the fort, were all burned to the ground. The furni
ture of the government house and the colonial records, kept in the
office of the secretary, were saved ; and it was thought most fortunate
that the fire occurred in the daytime, as therefore, probably, it did not
spread beyond the walls of the fort. There was naturally for a few
days a good deal of excitement in the town, rather, however, from the
character of the buildings burned, than frora the extent of the fire or
any doubt about its origin. A plumber had been engaged upon the
roof of the Governor's house during the morning, in soldering the
leaden gutter between it and the chapel, carrying with him from
place to place a furnace of hot coals. The wind was very high ; thi
roofs of the two buildings were covered with wooden shingles ; with
such a concatenation of circumstances, the result was almost inevitable.
At first there was no thought of any other than this obvious explana
tion; and again, but for subsequent events, an incident of no great
moment would have soon ceased to be of the slightest interest to any
body. About a week afterward, also in the middle of the day, a fire broke
other fires o^* i'^ the roof of Captalu Warren's house near the bridge
in the town. ^^ ^.^^^ southwcstem part of the town. Sparks from a foul
chimney had caught upon old and dry shingles. It was put out with
little difficulty, and there was no doubt about the cause of it while
men's minds were cool.
On the East River side of the town, was an old wooden storehouse,
belonging to Mr. Van Zandt. It was filled with boards and hay, and

e

1741.]

THE NEGRO PLOT. 227

was burnt down about a week after the fire at Warren's. This also
happened in the daytime. The proximity to the river made it easj^
to prevent the flames from spreading ; and everybody believed that
the carelessness of a smoker, known to be within the building, who
dropped sparks frora his pipe among the hay, was the origin of the fire.
These two fires, following within a week of each other, kept up the
excitement which that at the Fort had caused. The town, which con
tained about twelve thousand people, was compactly built, still cover
ing only that end of the peninsula below Wall Street. Three fires,
two of which were serious, within so short a period, were, no doubt,
unusual, and prepared the way for the panic that presently followed.

«* ^ v' If

*- >- T;'

^«

Ferry House on East River, 1746 — From an Old Print.
The day after the burning of Van Zandt's warehouse, some hay
was found to be on fire in a cow-stable, belonging to one Quick, on
the east side of the town. This was easily suppressed ; but it was
scarcely done, when another alarm was sounded frora the west side,
where smoke was seen coming frora the kitchen-loft of Ben. Thomas's
house near the city market and "next door to Captain Sarby." It
was traced to two beds between which fire had been put, and which
was the sleeping-place of a negro.
Early the next morning — on Sunday — some coals were found
under a hay-stack near John Murray's stables in Broadway. But
they had gone out without doing any damage. The next forenoon an
alarm came from Serjeant Burns's house, opposite Fort Garden ; but
if there was any cause for it, it was only the burning of a foul chim
ney. An hour or two later it was discovered that the roof of Mrs.
Hilton's house — which adjoined Sarby's on the east side, as Thomas's

228 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
did on the west — was on fire. Here was pregnant matter for suspic
ion, and it grew into fury when some flax was found near by, which
it was thought, was used to kindle the flames. Then a cry arose in
the streets — " The Spanish negroes ! the Spanish negroes ! Take
up the Spanish negroes ! "
There was, as it happened, a Spanish negro in Captain Sarby's
house, whom he had recently purchased, and who was one of
groes appro- nineteen belonging to a Spanish vessel taken at sea and
brought not long before into New York as a prize. A Court
of Adrairalty had condemned them as slaves, in spite of their protest
that they were freemen in their own country. It is evident that these
unfortunate blacks had not quietly submitted to their fate ; had proba
bly complained angrily, and perhaps threatened ; for, this first public
outbreak of panic pointed to them as men who had a motive for
some signal act of vengeance. Sarby's servant was at once seized, and
orders were given for the arrest of all who came in the same ship.
In hot haste the magistrates came together at the City Hall. Sarby's
negro was still under examination when again the alarming cry of
fire was heard. Looking frora their windows. Mayor Cruger and the
rest saw a streak of flame running up the roof of Colonel Phihpse's
storehouse — the work, this time, possibly of an incendiary, for there
was no chimney in the building. It was hardly extinguished — which
was done speedily — when the crowd was turned in a new direction
by a fresh alarm, which seems, however, to have been groundless.
But soon after some chips were found burning in a baker's cellar;
and trifling as this coramon incident was, it served to feed the popu
lar excitement.
A negro was seen to jump frora a window of Philipse's ware-
Pearsofin- house. He uiay have been there for no unlawful purpose —
Eurrection. certainly not to kindle a fire that was already extinguished.
But frightened raen do not stop to reason. A shout arose — "The
negro! the negro! the negroes are rising!" — then, "Cuff Philipse!
Cuff Philipse ! " A frantic rush was made for Philipse's house, where
Cuff was found quietly sitting in the kitchen. He was seized upon,
nevertheless, and hurried to jail ; an order was issued that all negroes
in the streets should be arrested. There were man}' about who had
been diligently assisting in passing buckets of water in the line with
the whites ; but this circumstantial evidence of the absence of any evil
purpose among them seems not to have been thought of. To be black
wdiS ]3rima facie evidence of being a conspirator.
The air was heavy with rumors. Only the day before Mrs. Earle
had seen, frora the window of her house in Broadway, three negroes
on their way to Trinity Church. As they passed, one of them ex-

1741.]

QUACO.

229

claimed: "Fire, Fire! Scorch, Scorch a little! damn it! By and
by!" then he "threw ujj his hands and laughed." At these terrible
words and alarming
gestures, "the
woman conceived
great jealousy," and
repeated them to
her next-door neigh
bor, Mrs. George.
They watched for
the return of the
negroes from church,
and Mrs. George
recognized the man
whom Mrs. Earle
pointed out, as ]\Ir.
Walter's Quaco.
The two women
went to an alder
man, and the alder
man went to the
other magistrates,
and Quaco was soon
under lock and key.
Quaco said on ex
am i n a t i o n — and
brought the other
negroes to prove it — that they were talking of Admiral Vernon's
capture of Porto Bello — the news of which had just been received —
and what he would do by and by to the Spaniards. The raan's ex
planation, confirmed by his companions, was accepted then, and he was
released, — though he was hanged not long afterward. But the story,
nevertheless, flew like wild-fire about the town. The magistrates as
yet had not taken leave of their senses, but everybody else believed
that it was New York Quaco was talking about ; that it was only
" scorched " a little now, but " damn it by and by " it was to be laid
in ashes ; with other dreadful things, as it appeared later.
The jail — a part of the City Hall — was soon full of terrified ne
groes, and among thera were Hughson with his wife and daughter,
Mary Burton his servant, Peggy the prostitute, who had lived in
his house, and one Arthur Price, a thief, under arrest for stealing at
the fire in the Fort, who was to play an iraportant part in the coraing
tragedy. The Governor issued his proclamation offering rewards for

IVIrs. Earle and the Negroes.

230 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
any disclosure that should lead to the detection of incendiaries — to
whites, money ; to free negroes, money and pardon ; to slaves, money,
pardon, and freedom. On a day appointed, the troops were called ont
to patrol the city, while the aldermen and councihnen, attended by
constables, ransacked every house of their respective wards for stolen
goods and concealed strangers. Neither were found in a single in
stance. Yet, it was confidently said, that the panic-stricken people,
as they raoved from place to place to escape the neighborhood of
threatened fires, had been plundered without mercy of their house
hold goods. The goods, it was plain, were not in the possession of
the negroes, but there was no pause to consider of how much weight
that fact was worth, nor whether the stolen property could be any
where else than in the houses of the blacks. Mercy had already fled;
men had lost their reason.
The Suprerae Court was convened ;i a grand jury was summoned;
every raember of the bar, without a single exception, volunteered his
services on behalf of the government, leaving the accused, — who,
frora their ignorance and
friendlessness, were pecul-
'PfP'^nimJ^ ^"i^ \ "f*^ °* '°L^'f ' ~^
without the possibility ot
Signature of Horsmanden. , , , „ o a
making a defence."^ As we
have said, the first outbreak of frenzy was directed against the Span
ish negroes, — the few poor fellows whora the Admiralty Court had re
duced to slavery. Next came the vague, thoughtless, but terrible fear
of a negro insurrection, — terrible in the dread of vengeance for the
innumerable and unutterable wrongs suffered by a slave, but of which
the slave himself is so often less conscious than he who inflicts them.
Not only did the negroes in prison deny all knowledge of any plot, —
that they would have clone in any case, — but there seems to have
been a destitution of any evidence against thera, in their conduct at
home or abroad, — an absence of all signs of any unusual conscious
ness of discontent, — a want of any appearance of exaltation as at
some coming, longed-for period of freedora and happiness. They hud
dled together in the jail, appalled, despairing, helpless ; outside of it,
1 Itis to ;i .lustice of this court, — Daniel Ilorsmancleii, — that we are indebted for a
complete and curious record of these events. He sat on the bench at most, if not aU of the
trials, — a position for which he was eminently unfit, from his ludicrous narrow-minded
ness, timidity, and want uf sound judgment. His book is entitled The New York Conspiracy,
nr History of the Negro Plot. It is a scarce work, of nearly four hundred pages; minute,
eutirelj' one-sided, and reflects faithfully the credulity and abject fear which, for montlis,
overcame the common sense and manline^s of tlie people.
2 New Yorkers will be interested to know the names of the lawyers of the city a hun
dred and thirty-eight years ago. They were Jlessrs. Bradley, — who was Attorney-gen
eral, — Murray, Alexander, Smith, Chambers, Nichols, Lodge, and Jameson.

1741.]

MARY BURTON.

231

they were in continual dread of accusation which might fall any
where, and against which innocence was no defence.
The robbery of Mrs. Hogg's shop had occurred on the last day of
February ; but it was not till toward the end of April that
•^ ° J , i Commenec-
the case came on for trial, at the moment when the town ment of the
had gone wild with affright at the repeated fires and ru
mors of insurrection. There was an interval of weeks between the
robbery, concerning which Mary Burton was the principal witness, in
deed the only witness, — for Wilson seems to have disappeared, — and

Mary Burton before tlie Grand Jury.
the first fire. In all this time Mary had given no hint of any knowl
edge of a plot. But now, whether instigated by others, or impelled
by the hope of a reward of £100, and release from her terra of servi
tude, .she insinuated that she could tell as much about the fires as
about the burglary. Of course she was urged to tell the truth ; but
the truth assumed was, that the negroes had entered into a horrible
conspiracy to burn the city, to rob and to murder the inhabitants, and
to commit any other atrocities that the most heated imagination could
conceive of. "The grand jury," says Judge Horsmanden's narra
tive, "was very importunate and used many arguments with her.

232

NEW YORK.

[Cu-ip. IX.

in public and private, to persuade her to speak the truth, and tell
all she knew about it." When she hesitated, apparently
ton^LaTit- from fear of evil consequences to herself, she was promised
protection ; she was rerainded of "the heinousness of the
crirae she would be guilty of if she was privy to, and could discover
so wicked a design," and would not ; that " she would have to an
swer for it at the day of judgment," and that " a most damnable sin
would be at her door."
No wonder that an ignorant child of fifteen years yielded, at last, to
such iraportunities and arguments, in the official and solemn presence
of seventeen of the raost respectable gentlemen of the town. On the
one hand, her gain would be great; on the other, she had little to
fear now from her late master and mistress, John Hughson and his
wife, or from her late corapanion, Peggj', whose certain punishment,
even she could see, was a foregone conclusion. ^

The Meal Market. -- From an Old Print.
The wonder is. rather, that seventeen sensible and sober men could
heed her story. Even on the robbery, her testiraony conflicted with
that she had at first given, and if either statement were true the other
was false. But the stealing of Mrs. Hogg's spotted linen and pieces-
of-eight was of trifling moment corapared with the revelations of a
conspiracy that the witness now made.
She said that Caasar, Prince, and Cuffee were not raerely thieves
Theevi ^^^^ arch-conspirators, and their common talk was of burning
dence of the the Fort, aud of going to the Vly and burning the whole
plot. o o .' t,
town. Ihey were to do this in the night, and as the white
people came to put out the fires, the three negroes were to put them
all to death. To this plot John Hughson and his wife assented and
1 The Grand Jury was composed of seventeen gentlemen, all designated as merchants.
Among them are names well known at this day in New York, aud held in the highest es
teem. They weie: lu.bcrt Walls, Jeremiah Latouche, J(isr|di Read, Anthony Rutgers,
John McEvers, John Cruger, Jr., John Merritt, Adoniah Schuyler, Isaac De Peyster,
Abraham Keteltass, David ProvDust, Rene Hett, Henry Beekman, Jr., David Van Home,
George Spencer, Thomas Duncan, and Winan Van Zandt.

1741.] CAUSES OF THE PANIC. 233
promised to give their aid. It was " in their comraon conversation "
that when all this was done, Cajsar was to be Governor, and Hughson
was to be King. Sometimes, she declared, tliere were large raeetings
of twenty or thirty negroes at her master's house, who would not
dare, the three leaders declared, to disobey their orders. But there
were no white people — she said then — except the Hughsons and
Peggy at any of those consultations ; and the preparations raade for
the insurrection were eight guns and sorae swords, — three pistols
and four swords, she added afterward.
All this, meagre, inconclusive, and absurd as it was, we are told by
Judge Horsmanden, " was most astonishing to the grand jury," and
"could scarce be credited." It was not that so incredible a tale
should be invented, and men in their sober senses be asked to accept
it as true, that astonished them ; but that " white people could con
federate with slaves in such an execrable and detestable purpose."
The gross absurdity of the story, — that three black men and one
white, with a doubtful following of about twenty raore, without even
arms enough for the leaders alone, had conspired to destroy a city of
twelve thousand inhabitants, only a sixth of whom, bond and free,
were negroes, that one of the conspirators might be made a Governor
and another a King, — the absurdity of such a story told by a child
of fifteen years, whom seventeen grave gentlemen had alternately
tempted by rewards, and frightened by threats of terrible punishraents
in this world and the next, seeras to have occurred to nobody.
But the fear of insurrection is an ever-present terror wherever slav
ery exists. This dread had been touched to the quick by the causes of
rapid succession of alarras of fire ; rumors, none too absurd ""^ p™'°'
for belief, fed the popular exciteraent. There was war with Spain,
and in the town were a score of Spanish negroes held as slaves, but
who claimed to be freemen ; the jail was full of blacks, arrested, not
because they were, but because they raight be, dangerous ; fear was
lashed into frenzy, and demanded victims ; here at hand was a band
of thieves ; what more likely than that they should be a band of
conspirators also, contriving riot and arson, murder, rape, and all con
ceivable atrocities, proposing the conquest of a province and to make
of their leaders kings, and governors, and captains ? The Grand Jury
beheved in all this wickedness and folly, from the tale of a foolish or
a cunning child, and went with it to the grave judges of the Suprerae
Court. They also listened and believed. The whole bar of the city
was summoned in consultation in so serious an eraergency ; it was
determined that the trials should be conducted in the highest court,
aud the Governor was asked for a special order to prolong the session,
about to close, for that purpose.

234 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
There came forth presently another swift and artful witness — Price
The witness — Under indictment for stealing goods saved frora the Gov-
Price. ernor's house at the fire in the Fort. He was right if he
believed that his own crime would soon be forgotten, could he help fix
the far more monstrous crime of premeditated insurrection upon any
of his fellow-prisoners. It was easy for the inmates of the ill-con
trived and over-crowded jail to hold intercourse with one another, and
Price was soon ready to repeat real or invented conversations.
The first of these was with Peggy, Hughson's lodger ; the second,
a few days later, with Sarah, Hughson's daughter. These people were
absolute strangers to Price, yet Peggy — if he was to be believed
— had twice corae voluntarily to the wicket in his door, and, in the
raost extraordinary way, reposed in him entire confidence. Except
that the language, which he said the woman used, was to the last
degree profane and vile, and raight, therefore, well have been hers,
the internal evidence in his statement shows its falsehood. But it
was ingenious ; as in Mary Burton's testimony, there was the innu
endo indirect about the fires, substituted for the proof direct about
the robbery ; and while it was assumed that this was true, it was
suggestive of the wildest suspicions of the truth of the other. He
made no pretensions of having obtained any information from Sarah
Hughson by voluntary confession ; on the contrary, she denied, he
said, all knowledge of any plot ; but in the expression of her fears of
what might befall her parents and herself, and in her comments on
the fires, when induced to talk of them, she betrayed — or was repre
sented as betraying — how intimate her knowledge of a plot was.
If Mary Burton had told the truth, here was the most remarkable
confirmation of her story, coming at exactlj' the right time ; on the
other hand, if the imagination of the child had been stimulated hy
persuasions the most tempting, and by threats the most appalling, this
suspicious story was clearly an invention, suggested by hers and told
with a selfish purpose. It was certainly clumsy, contradictory, and
incredible ; it was related by a thief who, unless he could commend
himself to mercy in this way, was certain of heavy punishment ; was
certain, if he could so commend hiraself, of reward as well as pardon.
From so slight a beginning of wrong-doing, first made fortuitously
conspicuous, then tortured into something that it was not by low
cunning, transparent falsehood, and intense credulitj', there grew a
strange scene of terror and outrage. For its disregard of all rules
of legal evidence, for its prostitution of the forms of law for the per
petration of cruelty, for popular credulity and cowardice, for the
abnegation of all sense of mercy, for the oppression of the weakest and
most defenceless, it was without precedent, and has bad no parallel in

1741.]

FATE OF THE ACCUSED.

235

any civilized community. There were, indeed, Judge Horsmanden
acknowledges, "some wanton, wrong-headed persons amongst us, who
took the liberty to arraign the justice of the proceedings, and set up
their private opinions in superiority to the court and grand jury," and
who " declared with no small assurance (notwithstanding what we
saiv with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and every one might have
judged of by his intellects, that had any) that there was no plot at
all ! " But these were only a wretched minority. The popular mind
was not in a state to weigh nice points of evidence, or even points
that were far from nice, to detect motives in cunning and interested
witnesses, to consider probabilities calmly. Except by the few, the
tales of Mary Burton and Price were caught up with avidity and
accepted without question. The man Hughson, Peggy, and the three

Ttie Negroes Sentenced
negroes were speedily brought to trial, convicted, and sentenced to be
hanged. They were tried, indeed, for the robbery — the
negroes for committing the act, the whites for receiving the of^fesar"
stolen goods; — but when Csesar and Prince were brought
up for sentence, the judge exhorted them to discover their confede-

236 NEW YORIv. [Chap. IX.
rates " in designing or endeavouring to burn this city and to destroy
its inhabitants," as he was " fully persuaded " it was in their power to
do if they would. But there was no delay in their execution, in the
hope that their speedy punishment might bring others to confession.
To the last they denied that they knew of any conspiracy.
The Hughsons and Peggy were spared a little longer, to be in
dicted for the plot. Peggy had stoutly and indignantly denied, up to
this tirae, that there was any truth in Price's story. But now, in the
Pe-'-v'scon- hopc of savlug hcp life, she raade a jaretended confession. If
fession. what she said was true, Mary Burton's tale was false, for
she shifted the headquarters of the plot frora Hughson's to Romme's,
charging him with being a receiver of goods stolen by negroes, with
inciting them to insurrection, and promising to take thera all, when
enough had been stolen, to another country. She said nothing of the
two negroes who had just been hanged, but she implicated a number
of others, all of whora were irainediatelj'" arrested.
The 13th of May, designated a raonth before by Lieutenant-gov-
A public ernor Clarke as a day of jDublic fasting and humiliation,
Fast ordered, .^.^^j^g g^ observcd witli great solemnity. The excitement
grew more intense, sanctioned thus by religious observance, and the
highest example in the State, and fed with constantly new revela
tions. At Hackensack, on the other side of the Bay, in New Jersey,
sorae barns had been burnt, and suspicion fell, of course, upon the
negroes. Two were apprehended and tried, confession was extorted
from one of thera, and both Avere burnt at the stake.
The Burton child was equal to any deraands that could be made
upon her. With that " remarkable glibness of tongue," which even
Judge Horsmanden — wbo, no doubt, would have cheerfully burned
any negro in the colonj' — was compelled to acknowledge, distin
guished her, she could confirm any accusation brought against any
body. Romme, she now reraerabered, was intimate with Hughson,
and often conferred with hira ; the negroes whora Peggy accused,
Mary had frequently seen at Hughson's house. When, soon after,
Avitli Hughson and his wife, Peggy was hanged, declaring, with her
last breath, that there was not a word of truth in her previous con
fession, and that she was totally ignorant of any plot, having hoped
only to save herself by accusing others, IMary's testimony — which
that pretended confession had suggested — was still held as conclusive
bjr the Court.
And so in all subsequent proceedings, the trembling slaves — wild
Character of "^vltli flight — sometiiiies whcii arrested on raere suspicion,
theevidenee. q^, ^yi^^-^j staudlug at the foot of the gallows, or about to be
bound to the stake where the ready fagots were piled to consume

1741.]

CHARACTER OF THE PLOT.

237

presently their living flesh, — were only too eager, as the frenzy
grew, to confess to anything, to avow the wildest and most improbable
designs, to impute to others the most horrible purposes, that so they
might appeal to the mercy of the Court, and save their own wretched
hves. To Mary Burton any new revelation was a fresh irapulse to
her own recollections, and her evidence was always forthcoming in
proof of anything that needed confirmation. Price, within the walls
of the jail, was equally useful, so. long as the unsuspicious negroes
would consent to hold intercourse with hira. That he raight lead his
victims into unwary talk, to be turned against them, the authorities
furnished hira with liquor, that he might first raake thera drunk.
No stories, however absurd, were held by the Court or by the people
as incredible. None of
these confessions ex
torted by fear, some
times at the gallows'
foot, or at the stake in
the hope of reprieve,
and often recalled when
hope was no longer pos
sible, — none of these
pretended to any con
certed plan, which could
secure success to an in
surrection, or prevent its
immediate suppression
by the most ordinary
method of preserving
the peace. There was
only the vague purpose
of burning and killing,
for which the provision '''' " ^y church,
of arms was the eight guns, three pistols, and four swords which Mary
Burton declared were concealed at Hughson's.
This baldness of detail, and the evident poverty of imagination
which gave no heed even to probabilities, showed that the
mere abjectness of fear prompted these confessions, while no theaueged
outside evidence supplied the essential element of proof. "'"''
It was accepted as true that there was an understanding between
Hughson and Homme — who supplied negroes with liquor and received
their petty thievings — and the Spanish Government for the capture
of the city, and this ridiculous supposition was suggested no doubt by
the presence of the score of Spanish negroes probably held unlawfully

238 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
as slaves. It was seriously believed that a few negroes meant to
wa.tch at the doors of Trinity Church with the expectation that the
congregation, as it carae out frora service some Sunday morning, would
quietly submit to be killed one by one ; that a handful of discontented
blacks raeant to murder their masters and take their mistresses for
their wives, in the expectation that their fellows would at once follow
their example when a few should begin the work of murder and ra
pine — that thus a small minority of the population, ignorant, de
graded, unorganized, and unarmed, could compel the most servile sub
mission from a community, intelligent, well-ordered, strong in civil
and military government, outnumbering these besotted insurgents —
even if thej' were joined by every negro in the citj' — five to one;
and that in such a community there could be grave reason for fearing
that one of the vilest of the lowest class of whites had seriously pro
posed to raake hiraself King, his wife Queen, the slave Cassar Gov
ernor, with the prostitute Peggy as the head of a governor's house
hold. In the great dread that all these absurd and impossible things were
impending, the Supreme Court, countenanced and aided by the whole
bar of the city, applauded and urged on by the most enlightened and
influential citizens, in the course of two or three months, imprisoned
more than a hundred and fifty negroes — four of thera women; con
victed over a hundred of these as conspirators; burnt twelve of them
alive at the stake ; hanged eighteen, and transported seventy-two —
some of whora were probably freemen — to be sold as slaves in other
countries. The accused were in all cases without counsel ; whenever
their masters appeared on their behalf to give testimony as to their
good character, or to show by alibi, or other circumstances, that
the accusations were necessarily false, the evidence was disregarded.
That a conspiracy existed, was assumed to be true ; accusation was
accepted as proof, and this was held to be none the less conclusive
although the so-called confession on which it rested was subsequently
declared to be false by him who had made it with the hope of saving
his own life, because he repented of having borne false witness against
the innocent.
One instance may be given of the method pursued in the trials
and the character of the confessions that obtained credence.
Quack's con- -p* i 5 /-\ i
fession and Koosevrelt s Q'-^^ck was charged with being one of the con-
execution. . I'll' r, ,^ ,1
spirators, and with having set fire to the Governor s house.
When bound to the stake, the hope of a pardon was held out to hira,
if he would tell all he knew. With the fagots piled about the wretched
negro, what else could he do but confess anything that was charged
against him? The essential point was, did he set fire to the Gov-

1741.]

JOHN URY.

289

ernor's house ? He declared that he did ; that the night before, he
took a brand from the kitchen fire and placed it on a beam beneath
the roof. But as nothing came of it, he, the next day — twelve or
thirteen hours afterwards — went again to the garret, quickened the
still burning brand with his breath, and the fire caught the roof. The
confession was accepted as true, nobody, apparently, observing its

The Mob dennanding that Quack be burnt
evident absurdity, and nobody remem
bering that on that morning a plumber
had been employed upon the roof in a high wind, with an open furnace
of live coals. But it was too late to save his life ; the mob howled
for his execution, and the fagots piled about the stake to which he was
bound were soon ablaze.
But among the accused were some who were not black, besides the
Hughson and Romme families. As the panic spread, there Arre.stof
sprang up the fear of Papacy. The town was searched for ^S^s^'^^^-u;!
Cathohc priests ; none were found ; but an obscure school- ^^^¦
master, one John Uiy, was arrested on suspicion. Extorted confes
sions, after his arrest, were made to implicate him as one of the con-

240 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
spirators at John Hughson's bouse. Sarah, Hughson's daughter, who
was repeatedly reprieved and finally pardoned, had become a swift
and willing witness against any prisoner whose conviction was deter
mined on. Ury, hitherto unheard of, and about whom many who had
gone to their deaths had said no word, appeared now as a chief insti
gator of the plot. It was he who presided at banquets at Hughson's;
he who kept a list of the conspirators ; he who swore them to secrecy
by drawing a circle on the floor with chalk, into which each negro put
his foot as he took the oath ; he who adrainistered the sacrament and
absolved from all sins — confessing Peggy among the rest, who was
often, it was said, his bed-fellow. Mary Burton, who was never want
ing, who at first swore she had seen no white persons at Hughson's
house, except theraselves, but who remembered Romme as soon as he
was arrested, now also remembered Ury. She had witnessed these
ceremonies ; had seen the chalk-circle, and " black things " — the ne
groes' toes, it was conjectured — going in and out ; had been offered
absolution by Ury. All this, forgotten before, was now recalled
vividly by this swift and willing witness.
Ury was hanged. All testiraony frora those who knew him well,
and who showed him to be a harmless and hurable teacher, was re
jected. He protested, on the gallows, with an appeal to God, that he
" never knew Hughson, his wife, or the creature thatwas hanged with
them ; " that he " never saw them hving, dying, or dead ; " that he
" never knew the perjured witnesses but at his trial ; " that he "never
had any knowledge or confederacy with white or black as to any
plot ; " and he declared that he was not a Catholic, but a non-juring
minister of the Church of England.
On his trial was produced a letter frora Governor Oglethorpe to
Governor Clarke, in which the writer said he had received
Governor , ,
Oglethorpe's " somo intelligence of a villainous desiffii of a very extraor-
letter. o ./
dinary nature and, if true, very important." It was that
" the Spaniards had emploj'ed emissaries to burn all the magazines
and considerable towns of Nortli Araerica," and that for this purpose
" raany priests were eraployed who pretended to be physicians, dan
cing-masters, and other such kinds of occupations." It was thought
certain that Ury was one of these priests. Then there was one
Corry, a dancing-master, already in custody, suspected of being a
Catholic — whora Mary Burton, of course, recognized at once, as one
of the corapany at Hughson's, when Corry " stoutly denied it and
declared he had never seen her before, at which the girl laughed.
There was also great search for one Holt, another dancing-master
aud supposed Catholic, but he, fortunately for himself, had left the
town. Oglethorpe's letter produced a profound sensation, though it

1741.] REVULSION OF FEELING. 241
does not seem to have been observed that he closes it by saying that
he had no faith in these rumors and failed to find any confirmation
of them from Spanish prisoners. They firmly believed, in New York,
in pretended schoolmasters and dancing-masters, who were Catholic
priests in disguise, and who were conspiring with slaves to burn
American cities.
Some soldiers stationed at the Fort were also taken into custody,
apparently on no other ground than the suspicion that they
were Papists. One of them was frightened into a confes- supposed
* 1 T 1 . Catholics.
sion, and his testimony was much relied upon to convict
Ury. The Burton child professed to know all about these men also
— to know so much, indeed, that she had often been sent, she said,
to bring a dozen soldiers at a time to Hughson's house.
But it seems to have been suspected, at last, that these stores of
knowledge, held in reserve by this ingenious young person, might
become embarrassing. She talked of many white persons coming to
Hughson's house, and " some in ruffles ; " that these ruffled gentle
men would often send letters to Hughson, with raoney in them, which
she judged, by the feeling, to be " milled Spanish pieces-of- eight ; "
she gave " the names of several white persons beyond the vulgar
who sometimes resorted at Hughson's ; " and she said that attempts
had been made to bribe her to silence by offers of silk dresses and
promises of gold. Of all this, Judge Horsmanden, who sat upon all
the trials, says, " the Recorder did not care to be over-solicitous, for
some reasons."
But Judge Horsmanden was himself the Recorder. His solicitude
for the extreme punishment of negroes and obscure Catholics had
been intense, and there can be little doubt as to his reasons for hesi
tating to enter upon the wider field of exploration to which Mary
Burton was ready to lead the way. The fervor of the persecution
was burning itself out ; the opinion of those " wanton, wrong-headed
persons " who, as Judge Horsmanden said, always declared
, ¦'J Bevulsion
" there was no plot at all," was making its way among sen- of popular
sible people ; the testiraony of the infatuated and evil-
minded child — whose story had grown so rapidly from the imputation
of some vague talk of insurrection by two or three thieves and the
receiver of the stolen goods, to a plot including gentleraen of stand
ing, with wealth at their coraraand, and in which soldiers by the score
had already enlisted — such testiraony would prove too rauch, if ac
cepted, and would presently make everybody ridiculous who lent an
ear to it. The natural revulsion of a panic carae at last. Of the
twenty white persons comraitted, four were hanged and others ban
ished frora the colony. But with Ury the tragedy ended ; the town
VOL. III. 16

242

NEW YORK.

[Chap. IX.

recovered from its insane and cowardly terror by the end of summer ;
though for months timid people heard in every alarm of flre a threat
ened conflagration, and so long after as March of the next spring, a
futile attempt was made to revive the belief in insurrection by hang
ing a negro idiot accused of arson. As the proceedings
Thanksgiv- bcgaii wlth a Fast, so now the Governor and Council ap
pointed the 24tli of September as a day of public Thanks
giving to God for his mercies in delivering the colony from " this
horrible and execrable conspiracy." To many persons the presence
of an avenging Providence had been visible in a miraculous manner,
in that the body of Hughson, which had been hung in chains, was
believed to have turned black, and the body of Csesar — also hung in
chains on Ellis's Island, in New York harbor — to have turned white.

Ellis's Island.

This melancholy exhibition of the unmanly and abject fear which
may seize upon an intelligent and vigorous community in the presence
of a servile race, ignorant and powerless, seems to have been confined
chiefly to the city. There were two or three cases of the punishment
of blacks for some alleged connection with the plot — one we have
already mentioned on the Jersey side of the Hudson — in the vicinity
of New York ; but everywhere, except in the town, the proportion
of blacks to whites was probably too small to admit of any serious
apprehension of a negro insurrection.
The population of this province bad increased, in the half century
between Leisler's death and the accession of Clinton, who succeeded
Clarke as Governor, from ten thousand to more than sixty thousand
people. " We are," said a memorial of the Council to the Govern-

1704.J

GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 243

Growth of
i prov
ince.

ment at home in 1692, " the key and centre of ah their majesties'
plantations in this main." Although, as the memorial com
plained, "the East and West Jerseys, Pennsylvania, the Sim
lower counties on the Delaware, and that part of Connecticut
which is to the westward of the Connecticut River, were lopped off," ^
the province was large enough and its advantages obvious enough
to attract emigrants. Presbyterians from Ireland, and Protestants
from France, came in considerable nurabers towards the end of the
century. In 1710 three thousand of the Protestants who had fled to
England at the invasion of the Rhenish palatinate by Louis XIV.,
crossed the ocean, and many of them planted new homes along the
upper waters of the Mohawk and Schoharie Creek. In 1737 several
hundred Dutch families made their way to the valley of the Mohawk.
Within the next two years Scotch and Scotch-Irish, under the leader
ship of John Lindesay, pushed over the hills which border the Mo
hawk on the south, and settled on the banks of Cherry Vahey Creek
upon a grant of land made by Governor Clarke to four associates
— among them his own representative.^ These hardy pioneers
brought with them the best eleraents of civilization, and were as
robust and vigorous of character as they were strong to encounter
the hardships of the wilderness. By them were built the first church
and school-house in which the English tongue was spoken and taught
west of the Hudson.^ Araong the earlier settlers in the Mohawk
Valley was William Johnson — afterward Sir William — who came
as the manager of his uncle. Admiral Sir Peter Warren, to whom a
large land-grant had been made in that region. So along the Sus
quehanna and the Mohawk and their tributaries was scattered from
time to time through the first half of the eighteenth century, the seed
that was to bloora in later years into the rich harvest of Central and
Western New York.
In the interminable records of disputes which royal governors
maintained with their councils and assemblies, the reader vainly
searches for some glimpse of the life of the men and women who were
unconsciously building up an empire through the uneventful detail of
their daily duties and pleasures. But a bit of a journal from the pen
of an adventurous woman who went on horseback from Bos
ton to New York in 1704, to collect some debts due to the York eariy
estate of her husband, supplies a little picture of domes- eenth cen-
tic life in that prosperous hamlet by the seaside, which has
now become a city of a million inhabitants. " The City of New
1 See Documents Relating to the Colonlcd History ofthe .State of New York, vol. iii., 836.
Neiv York Colonial Documents, vol. vi.
^ Central New York in the Revolution. By Douglass Campbell. 1878.

244 NEW YOliK. [Chap. IX.
York," she says, " is a pleasant, w^ell-compacted place, situated on a
Commodious River which is a fine harbor for shipping  The
Bricks in some of the Houses are of divers Colors, and laid in Check-
The houses ^'^s ; bclug gkzed, look very agreeable. The inside of them
described. jj^pg j^gg^^ ^q admiration, the wooden work, for only the walls
are plastered, and the Luraoners and Joist are planed and kept very
white scoured, as so is all the partitions if made of Boards 
The hearths and staircases were laid with the finest tile that I ever
see, which is ever clean, and so are the walls of the kitchen, whioh had
a Brick floor  They are Generally of the Church of England,
and have a New England Gentieraan '¦ for their minister, and a very
fine church, set out with all Customary requisites. There are also a
Dutch and Divers Conventicles, viz. : Baptists, Quakers, &c. They
are not strict in keeping the Sabbath as in Boston and other places
where I had been, But seem to deal with great exactness, as far as I
can see or Deal with  The English go very fashionable in their
dress. But the Dutch, especially the middling sort, differ from our
Female cos- womeu iu their habit, go loose, wear French ranches, which
turne. g^j.g jjjj.g j^ (-i^p j^j^ J i^ead-band in one, leaving their ears bare,
whieh are set out with Jewels of large size and raany in number, and
their fingers hooped with Rings, some with large stones in them of
many Colors, as were their pendants in their ears, which you should
see very old women wear as well as young.
" They have Vendues very frequently, and raake their Earnings very
well by thera, for they treat with good Liquor Liberally, and
the Custoraers Drink as Liberally and Generally pay for it
as well, by paying for that which they Bid up Briskly for, after the
sack has gone plentifully about, — though sometiraes good penny
worths are got there. Their Diversions in the Winter is Riding
Sleighs about three or four i\Iiles out of Town, where they have
Houses of entertainment at a place called the Bowery, and some go
to friends' Houses, who handsomely treat thera."
In 1724, when Benjamin Franklin was returning from his first visit
Anecdote of ^'^ Bostou, after he had made his home in Philadelphia, the
Frankhn. captalu of the sloop which brought hira to New York spread
the intelligence that his passenger had " a trunk full of books." So
large a cargo of an article so rare excited surprise, and in consequence
the piinter lad received a message from Governor Burnet that he
would be glad to see him, and Franklin accordingly waited on the
Governor. A long narrative of the interview is preserved, which
closed with a cordial invitation from the Governor to Frankhn to
visit hira again. This incident is valuable as showing the utter sim-
1 Mr. Vesey.

1740.]

GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 245

plicity of life in the colonial seaport, where books and men who had
read them were so few that the King's representative was glad to
hold an hour's literary conversation with a printer's boy.
The Governor lived within the lines of the Fort, near the upper end
of what is now the Battery, and his official residence was ^he oover-
called Fort George. It was burned down, with tragic con- °'"''' ''°"'°-
sequences, as we have already related, in the fire of 1740. The Gov
ernor's report of that date shows that it was roofed with cedar shingles.
Most of the large buildings at that time were covered with tiles, and
it is said that no roof in New York was slated till after the beginning
of the nineteenth century.

i

Mk ^ -y^i^.^^ '•• --

f.

Fort George in 1740.
An amusing passage in one of Governor Clarke's desjDatches shows
how far the city, in 1738, had drifted from the decorous pre- Decay ot
fences of loyalty. He complains that many of the principal '"y'^'^y-
people of the town refused to follow his example in putting on
mourning for the death of Queen Caroline, " pretending that they
had made themselves the joke of the town for doing it on the late
king's death."
The population of New York city, which was hardly 3,000 in 1689,
was about 12,000 in 1756. In the face of the perpetual difference,
common to all the colonies, produced by the desire of the governors
to make their own salaries a permanent charge on the colonial rev
enue, the matchless advantages of the seaport asserted themselves

246

NEW YORK.

[Chap. IX.

in a growth so quiet and steady as
to be hardly noticed. Their com-
Groivth of phiints that their territory
the city. ]^j^(j been diminished, to
the advantage of Connecticut and
the Jerseys, showed their ignorance
of the laws of trade ; for the prod
ucts of those provinces came to New
York as steadily as ever. New Jei- j
sey, as we have seen, hoped to make
of Perth-Araboy the most import
ant provincial seaport. But natural
laws are stronger than legislation,
and it is difficult now to believe
that the pretty seaside village on
the Jersey coast could ever have
been supposed to be a formidable
rival to the great coraraercial city
of our time.
As the trade in furs became less
ivianufac- important, the exportation
tures. Qj naval stores increased
But down to 1740 the attempts to
raanufacture potash — now one of
the products most readily furnished
by forest regions in Araerica — had
not been successful. Dreams of
raaking a wine country of the val
leys of the Hudson and Mohawk
appear in sorae of the governors
despatches. Sorae iron was made
from the rich bog ores ; but neithei
the people of New York nor the
grantees of Pennsylvania knew the
value of the coal wliich was yet to
be fouud on the upper waters of the
Delaware and Susquehanna. In
general, it may be said that the
manufactures of the province were
unimportant. That colonial polic\
of England which Chatham sue
cinctly stated when he said he
would not have a hob-nail made in

1743.] HEALTHY PROGRESS. 247
the colonies, had full sway. In 1700 " a coarse pair of yarn stock
ings," which cost 9 d. in London, cost 3 s. 6d. English in the city of
New York ; and a pair of shoes which cost 3 s. 6d. in London, cost
1 s. Qd. in New York. But ship-building flourished steadily, and ves
sels were sent abroad loaded with provincial products, and sold at once
in foreign harbors.
Cadwallader Colden, the Surveyor-general, who was one of the few
American men of science at that time, in attempting to show
! T\T. • • • Colden's
the existence of a feasible route for trade to the Mississippi, navigation
scheme.
finds it by the upper waters of the Susquehanna, which he
proposed to reach by Cayuga Lake, thence through the Juniata by
portages to the Alleghany River, and so through the Ohio.
As early as 1708 a delegation waited on Lord Cornburjr to ask in
what part of the " King's farm " he wished to have the col- T^ikofa
lege [King's, now ColumbiaJ built. The King's farm in- <^°"'=s'^-
eluded all the region west of Broadway, and north of Cortland Street.
But no happy answer of Cornbury founded a university by a grant
out of that princely doraain. In 1738 Lieutenant-governor Clarke
sent home " an act for the further encouragement of public schools
for the teaching of Latin, Greek, and mathematics." The encourage
ment was the appropriation for this purpose of a tax on peddlers and
hucksters. From a perusal of council records, or governors' reports, of the con
dition of the colony during the first half of the eighteenth
century, one would suppose it was shaken by disease in every growth of
limb, and only preserved each year from instant death by
the most heroic stimulants. But in truth it was gaining with that
sturdy health which a temperate cliraate, a raatchless systera of water
communication, boundless forests, fertile soil, and a frugal, religious,
and industrious people almost corapelled. Before the half century
was over, which began when Sloughter, in a drunken fit, hanged
Leisler, the representative of popular rights, the people of New York
had discovered their own real power, and in their own quiet way had
asserted it. The misdeeds of the King's governors did little toward
arresting the healthy growth of material prosperity. Education and
the ornaments of civilization followed, perhaps with somewhat unequal
step, on the accumulation of wealth, and before the middle of the cen
tury the province had established itself as " the key of the system of
American colonies." Though it did not know it. New York was
already well forward on the path of empire.
Since 1737 Lord Delaware had held the sinecure office of Governor-
general over New York and New Jersey ; but in 1743 a separate ju
risdiction was established in each, George Clinton being appointed

248 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
Governor of the former, and Lewis Morris of the latter province. Clin
ton was the second son of the Earl of Lincoln, and an ad-
ton Gov- miral in the British navy. He remained in office ten years ;
and if, as has been charged against him, he carried back to
England eighty thousand pounds as the fruit of his ten years' service,
he raay have thought hiraself sufficiently compensated for an official
career of raore than ordinary trials and vexations. If the post was
bestowed upon hira through family influence, rather than because of
any personal fltness, he served his royal master at least with zeal,
even if he gained sraall credit for ability.
His adrainistration was one long struggle in defence of the royal
prerogative. The result was an enforced concession to the
DeLancey colouists of rights for wfilch they had long contended, hut
which by previous governors had been in sorae raeasure suc
cessfully withstood. Clarke, the late Lieutenant-governor, had retired
from office worn out with contention with the popular party, and the
most influential leader of that party was James De Lancey, the Chief
Justice. This able man Clinton, nevertheless, at his accession took
for his adviser, and for the rest of his term repented of his weakness.
It had long been a vital point with the party which De Lancey rep
resented, that the Governor should be under the control of the Assem
bly, by making his salary depend upon an annual appropriation.
Hunter had in his tirae defeated this policy, by inducing or constrain
ing the Assembly to extend the limitation to five years, and this had
held good through the administrations of successive governors to the
time of Clarke, Clinton's predecessor. In the contest with Clarke the
popular party had been successful ; the rule was changed, and the
salaries of the Governor and other official persons were to be deter
rained frora year to year by the will of the Assembly.
De Lancey persuaded Clinton to continue this concession ; to ac-
Advantages ccpt, that is, the precedent lately established under Clarke,
the°Assem- ^"^^^ "0^ ^^ lusist upou that whicli several preceding govern-
'''^' ors had made the rule. He took a still greater advantage
afterward of the Governor's ignorance of civil affairs, by persuading
him to consent to another and more serious innovation. The Assem
bly sent the Governor an appropriation bill, in which, instead of
appropriating certain suras for the salaries of incumbents of certain
offices, they provided that those salaries should be paid to certain per
sons named who then held those offices. The Governor signed the
bill, and the advantage once gained the Assembly never relinquished.
They had reduced him at the outset to pecuniary dependence, by get
ting into their own hands the power of raaking his salary what they
pleased from year to year, or even of withholding it altogether ; and

1743.]

PERPLEXITIES OF GOVERNOR CLINTON.

249

hands, and would be satisfied with nothing less than

^^f'0%ypj

he practically surrendered the appointing power when he permitted
them to bestow a salary upon a person named in the appropriation
bill ; for the pay expired with his term of office, and the next incum
bent was without pay till the Assembly saw flt to provide it. It was
a short step from refusing to pay anything to an officer nominated by
the Governor, to dictating whom they chose to have him nominate.
Experience soon taught the Governor how skillfully he had been
led to put himself almost entirely under the control of the Assembly.
His letters to the Governraent at horae are filled, from the first year of
his administration to the end of it, with coraplaints of encroachments
upon the royal prerogative by an insolent, malicious, and flagitious
"faction," which aimed at getting the whole power of government
into its own
making the colony independent
of the Crown. Whether frora
want of regard to the raan, or
indifference as to the affairs of
the colony, and incredulity as
to the growth of this popular
spirit, the Board of Trade and
the Secretary of State seera to
have given little heed to these
constant and bitter complaints
of the Governor. He soon quar
relled with De Lancey, and took
Cadwallader Colden as his chief
adviser ; the result was only to
add to the hostility of the Assem
bly the hostility of the Council.
When the war with France was
over and the public exigencies
were lessened, he atterapted to
retrieve his early errors, by re
fusing to sign raoney bills till the Assembly would consent to make
the support of the Governor permanent, and to attach sala- oiinton's
ries to offices and not to officers named. But the Asserably '¦''<"^^'""">-
was quite as firm as he, and could afford to refrain from appropriat
ing money much longer than he and the Governraent could afford to
do without it. A dead-lock of two years ended in his unconditional
submission, and he signed the bills at last with their objectionable
features unchanged. He prorogued Assemblies and reraoved coun
cillors, but the faction did not abate in the slightest degree its oppo
sition to hira and his plans and policy. The Government at home

Cadwallader Colden.

260 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
paid so little heed to his complaints, that it sent out to De Lancey a
commission as Lieutenant-governor. Clinton put it in his pocket and
kept it there for a year or two, raaking the while pathetic appeals to
Government that he might not be compelled to submit to the humiha
tion of appointing his bitterest enemy to a place of trust second only
to his own, — a humiliation, nevertheless, which he was compelled to
submit to when he left for England, and was constrained, on the eve
of departure, to install De Lancey as his successor.
This bitter contest between Clinton and the Assembly, underlies all
the public events of this period of ten years in tbe history of New
York, — a contest not raerely personal, remarkable as it was in that
respect, but between the incongruous forces of arbitrary rule and the
rights of the people.^ The renewal of war between France and Eng
land was known in New York in Julj', 1744, and Clinton was at that
War with time in Albany making preparations in expectation of that
Prance. evcnt. The treaty with the Six Nations was renewed ; cir
cular letters were sent to the governors of the other provinces, that
measures might be concerted for the common defence, and the Governor
some time before had ordered a double garrison to Oswego, which the
traders had deserted, to hold that iraportant post. He was already
face to face with the difficulties which were for years to perplex and
harass him. The Asserably was urged by repeated messages to pro
vide for the safety of the province, but he writes to the Duke of New
castle, Secretary for the Colonies, — to whom he sends his messages
and the replies, — " Your Grace will see how backward they are in
their deliberations, and that it is with the utraost difficulty to bring
thera to any tolerable resolution for the service of the publick." The
Asserably chose to judge for itself, of the necessities of the occasion;
the treasury was under their control ; they would not sub-
Independ- . ^ . . » i r> , i i i
ence of the luit to dictatioii f roiii the Governor, and they were largely
influenced by the jealous caution, — coramon to all the colo
nies, — lest their expenditure for defence should be of more benefit
to some other province than their own. It was a question, moreover,
with many persons whether the wiser policy was not for the colonies
to maintain neutrality in the war, and thus be safe from attack from
either French or Indians ; and from this came the most serious accu
sation which Clinton made, as year by year the difference between
him and his opponents grew wider and deeper, that there was a strong
party at Albany with whom the trade in peltries and rura was of far
more moment than their allegiance to the King or the safety of the
colony, — an accusation which was hardly thought worthy of contra
diction. 1 New York Colonial Documents, vol. vi.

1746.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF CANADA. 251
The next year Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, asked for aid in
his proposed expedition against Louisburg. It was, Clinton ^^^ ^^ ^^_
thought, of quite as much importance to New York as to J|^j„™
New England that this attempt should be successful. But louisburg.
the Assembly did not agree with him. They refused to send men,
and in money appropriated only £3,000. Even this was done with
great deliberation and evident reluctance, while they were not in the
least moved to emulation when the Governor sent off at his own ex
pense some cannon to assist in the siege. They turned a deaf ear to
his earnest demands for active measures of defence and offence, till at
length, wearied with a hopeless struggle, he dissolved the House, and
ordered a new election. Though the news of the probable success of
the siege of Louisburg induced this body to vote £5,000 additional in
aid of that enterprise, it soon showed itself as uncompliant as its pre
decessor. "The dispatch of business," wrote the Governor, is

Smith's Vly, — From an Old Print

"greatly neglected by the Assembly." " They are selfish, and jealous
of the power of the Crown, and of such levelling principles that they
are constantly attacking its prerogative." That his complaints were
not altogether unreasonable, is plain enough.
In November of this year the fort and twenty houses at Saratoga
were destroyed, thirty persons killed, and sixty made captives by the
Indians. Crown Point on Lake Champlain was a position of great impor
tance to both French and English, as it commanded the frontier line
and the ordinary road of communication between Canada and Albany.
In 1746 orders came from England for the capture of Canada, in ac-

252 NEW YORK. [Chap. IX.
cordance with Shirley's plan, to follow up the taking of Louisburg ;
and all the colonies, as far south as Virginia, were to furnish
vfE'of™ troops for that purpose. An advance was to be made from
Louisburg against Quebec, and another from Albany towards
Montreal by way of Crown Point. The Six Nations again promised to
take up the war hatchet against the French, and that they would not
permit their priests to come among them any more, declaring, "on
the contrary, should any now dare to corae, we know no use for him
or them but to Roast them." As the rendezvous of the troops was at
Albany, within the jurisdiction of Governor Clinton, the command
devolved upon him, when Lieutenant-governor Gooch, of Virginia,
who had been appointed to that position by the commissioners of the
several provinces, declined to accept it.
Clinton called to his aid William Johnson, who was already well
William kuowu for liis knowledge of the Indians and his influence
Johnson. ^.^gj. ^]jg,j-j_ ^[-,2 Mohawks luadc him one of their chiefs,
and he had married an Indian woman, the sister of Joseph Brant, who
was the head of that tribe. Through Johnson's efforts the alliance with
the Six Nations was confirraed, and other tribes in Pennsylvania and
New England had promised to go upon the war-path. But all these
forraidable preparations were destined only to involve the unfortunate
Governor in fresh difficulties. D'Anville's fleet off the eoast of Nova
Scotia arrested the movement from Louisburg. General St. Clair,
who was to be commander-in-chief of the expedition against Canada,
did not corae with the promised reenforcement of British troops.
Delay was inevitable ; the Indians, disgusted with inactivity, began
to disperse. The colonial troops remained idle, without pay, and
poorly fed, at Albany, through the autumn and winter. The Assem
bly, in spite of Clinton's appeals and protests, refused to make any
appropriation for their pay, and the Council, with the exception of
Mr. Colden and one or two other members, sustained the Assembly.
The troops clamored and broke out at last into open mutiny, and the
Governor was ouly able to extricate himself from serious difficulty by
drawing upon England for large sums. Johnson attempted to take
Crown Point with an inadequate force and failed, and then came ad
vices from England that the expedition against Canada was abandoned,
to be followed soon after by a general peace and the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle. When the news reached the Governor that the offensive raovement
against the French was given up, and that the troops were to be dis
banded, he proposed to put his own province upon the defensive. He
deemed it necessary that a force of eight hundred men should be re
tained and sent to the frontier, but the Assembly refused to provide

1753.] DE LANCEY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 253
the means, and declined to do anything further for the support of the
Indians. The Governor thereupon ordered the colonels of the mihtia
of the several counties to hold themselves in readiness to
, , Disregard of
march at a moment's notice. He called out the regiment eiintonsor-
and independent companies of the city of New York to
parade, and his order was read at the head of the ranks. " But,"
he writes to the Duke of Newcastle, " every man unanimously re
fused to obey any orders from tbe Crown, unless an Act of Assembly

1 -itii"^'^ ".**

East River Shore, 1750. — From an Old Print.
was passed in the Province for that purpose ; which shows how well
my opinion of their levelling, and the republican principles, has been
grounded from time to time." And he adds patheticalljr in a post
script — " nothing has encouraged y^ faction so much as this, that I
have not been able to obtain any thing to show to thera, signifying
His Majest' approbation of ray conduct, or displeasure of theirs."
It was not his fault that he was corapelled for several years longer to
endure these humiliations, for he asked repeatedly, but in vain, to be
recalled; and the final mortification — the necessity of giving to De
Lancey his commission as Lieutenant-governor — was, no doubt, the
keener that he had hoped to escape it when Sir Danvers Osborn ar
rived in 1753, to supersede him as Governor. But that
gentleman, who was in a condition of morbid mental depres- sir Danvers
sion, took his own life two days after his inauguration ; and
Clinton had then no alternative but to deliver formally to De Lancey
the commission which he had so long withheld, and had so repeatedly
urged the Government in England to recall.

CHAPTER X.
OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR.
Contest between England and France for Territory in America. — French
Movements into the Valley of the Ohio. — Line of French Fours at the
West. — Progre,ss of English Settle.ment Westward. — The Ohio Company.
— Major Washington. — His Fight with Jumonville. — Surrender at Fokt
Necessity. — Convention at Albany and Plan for Colonial Cniox. — Ar
rival OF General Braddock. — His Expedition. — Franklin's Advice. —
Braddock's Defeat and Death. — Operations in Nova Scotia. — The Ques
tion of Boundaries. — Settlement of Halifax. — Exile of the Acadians.

' The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
settled nothing of the great con
test between France and England
for supremacy in America ; it
merely announced a truce, during
which both parties, recovering from their exhaustion, made provision
against an inevitable and decisive conflict. In America petty hostil-

1748.]

THE DISPUTED TERRITORY. 255

ities on the border were scarcely interrupted between the date of the
treaty (1748) and the resumption of open war in 1755. As we have
seen. Governor Clinton, of New York, thought it absolutely neces
sary, — though the Assembly did not . agree with him, — that on the
disbanding of the troops in 1748, a force of eight hundred raen should
be in readiness to raarch at a moment's warning to the defence of
the frontiers. The Governors of other provinces sympathized with
Chnton's apprehensions, and not without reason.
The two centres of interest for both nations were the country about
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the valley of the Ohio. In 1749, De
Celeron, the French commander at Detroit, made an expedition to the
Ohio River, claimed the country as belonging to the French King,
commanded all English traders to leave it, and wrote to the Governor
of Pennsylvania that if such "traders should thereafter make their
appearance on the Beautiful River, they would be treated without any
delicacy." Some who did not obey were afterward arrested near the
lake of Otsanderket (Sandusky) and were detained as prisoners. A
few months later, several Mohawk chiefs assembled at the house of
Colonel Johnson, and asked of him an explanation of a leaden tablet
which was to have been buried on the banks of the Ohio, but had
been taken by some of their tribe from a French interpreter. It bore
a Latin inscription clairaing ownership of all that region of coun
try for France.^ The French built a fort at a commanding point
above Niagara Falls, the Governor of Canada maintaining their right
to encroach thus upon the lands of the Iroquois, who, he declared,
were not subjects of England, but, if subjects at all, of France.
There were constant alarras of bodies of Frenchraen making their
way southward from the lakes to the Ohio valley; and of their de
termination to possess and hold that region, there was no room for
doubt. The aira of both nations was the same, to be com- rreneh and
passed, however, for different purposes and in different ways, pianola the
The French meant, by a series of fortifications, to connect ^^'''^*"
the St. Lawrence with the Gulf of Mexico ; the English proposed the
establishment of colonies Avestward of the Alleghanies, Avhich should
be outposts of defence for the seaboard settlements, and bases for
^ TrRnsIation : Inthe year 1749, during the reign of Louis XV., King of France, ¦we,
Celeron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissoniere, com
mander-in-chief of New France, for the restoration of tranquillity in some villages of In
dians of these districts, have buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and Tchada-
koin, this 29th July, near the River Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of the
renewal of possession which we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those that
therein fall, and of all the lands on both sides, as far as the sources of the said rivers, as
enjoyed or ought to be enjoyed by the preceding kings of France, and as they therein have
maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially by those of Riswick, of Utrecht,
and Ol" Aix-la-Chapelle. — Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York, vol. vi.

256

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

further advances into the unknown western country. Each put forth
claims resting upon discovery or purchase, but each knew also that
possession was the strongest title, and it was inevitable that the
struggle for possession should come first upon those who actually
stood upon the disputed territory.
The course of the French can be traced by the successive posts
which they established along the chain of great lakes and upon the

Map showing the Positions of French and English Forts and Settlements
about the beginning of tne French War
highways of the river system. As early as 1670 and 1671 the Jesuits
established missions at the outlet of Lake Superior, at the head of
Green Bay, and upon the northern shore of Lake Michigan ; and the
Sault Ste. Marie, La Baye, and Michilimackinac became centres of
Indian trade, rendezvous for the coureurs de bois, and garrisons for
French troops. A little later, a line of forts was established, guarding
the passages of the great lakes, Frontenac, — where the St. Lawrence
issues from Lake Ontario, — Niagara, and Detroit. These places be
came by degrees the centres of little settlements that grew up under
the protection of their walls, but railitary occupation continued to he
the chief aim. Then the access to the Mississippi was controlled hy
Fort St. Joseph near one of the sources of the Illinois, and stifl more
by the older fort at Green Bay, on the Wisconsin River. The valleys
of the Miami and tbe Wabash were held by Fort Miami and Fort

1748.]

THE OHIO COMPANY. 257

Ouatanon, a little below the present site of Lafayette, Ind., while
the southern shore of Lake Erie was guarded by Forts Presqu' Isle,
Le Boeuf, and Sandusky. Along the natural highways to the Mis
sissippi and the Ohio were stockade settlements at Vincennes, at
Kaskaskia, at Cahokia ; and on the banks of the Mississippi were
solitary stations marking the course of French arms and trade.
Coming closer to the frontier of British settlements, communica
tion was open from Fort Niagara to Presqu' Isle, on the site of the
present town of Erie, thence to Fort Le Bo3uf on a branch of the
Alleghany, from which there was direct passage by water to Venango,
and to the entrance of the Alleghany into the Ohio, where stood the
farthest outpost of the French, in this quarter. Fort Du Quesne. It
will thus be seen that the French could march their troops by natural
highways from the stronghold in Canada, at the back of the New
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia settlements, and were rapidly get
ting control of that great artery, the Mississippi itself.
The Enghsh, on the other hand, were pushing their colonies from
the Atlantic coast westward, by irregular lines, across the rugged
Alleghanies, with little help from river courses. From those moun
tains and from the country on the farther side, incursions from Indians
were always threatened, and it was early seen that there was need of
establishing settlements upon that frontier country which should serve
as a protection to the thinly scattered homes lying between the moun
tains and the sea-coast. But the English life was that of settlers, not
of traders and hunters, and the measures taken were for occupation of
the country, not for simple military control. It was partly the move
ments of the French that suggested to Spotswood of Virginia the
extension of the Virginia settlements westward, to intercept the com
munication between Canada and Louisiana; and three years later
Governor Keith of Pennsjdvania urged upon the Lords of Trade the
erection of a fort on Lake Erie. From time to time, during the next
thirty years, warning voices were raised by sagacious observers, and
plans suggested for the systematic action of the government.^
The first organized attempt at possession, was the formation of
the Ohio Company in 1748, by an association of gentlemen .^^^ q^^^
in Virginia and Maryland, with a representative in London. c»mp'i"y-
Thomas Lee, one of his Majesty's Council in Virginia, was the original
projector; and Lawrence and Augustine Washington, elder brothers
of George, were largely interested in the enterprise. Five hundred
thousand acres of land were granted to the Company by the King, to be
' These considerations, with others, were set forth at a later date by Franklin in his de
fence of the Walpole Grant, which asked for an immense tract of country south of the
Ohio, for purposes of settlement.
VOL. hi. 17

258 OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. X.
taken chiefly on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela
and Kanawha rivers, and west of the Alleghanies. One of the princi
pal objects of the Corapany was to make use of the river communica
tion by the Potomac and the eastern branches of the Ohio, and thus
connect the new country with Virginia and Maryland, rather than
with the rival colony of Pennsylvania. The road over the mountains
from Cumberland to what is now Pittsburg, was laid out by Colonel
Cresap, one of the Company, chiefly through the agency of a friendly
Indian, Neraacolin. Exploring parties were sent out in 1750 and 1751
under Christopher Gist, and Gist himself, wbo had been appointed
surveyor of the Corapany, formed a settleraent, with eleven other fam
ilies, in the country between the Monongahela and Youghiogheny
rivers. But the countiy which the Ohio Corapany proposed to occupy,
though granted by George II. , had other owners. When Penn made
his first settleraent, he found on the banks of the Delaware the Lenni
Lenape (Original Men), known by the English then and afterward
as the Delaware Indians. They had been reduced to subraission by
the Iroquois, and they afterward sold their lands to Penn, and lived
amicably by the side of the settlers. But little by little the whites
crowded back the Indians, Penn's successors not always dealing with
them according to his precept and exaraple, till the Delawares were
driven to the western slopes of the Alleghanies and the adjacent val
leys. The Shawnoes, who had also been subdued by the Six Nations,
were their neighbors.
The Ohio Corapany petitioned the government of Virginia to invite
the Indians to a treaty. A meeting was called at Logstown,
ny's plans o£ a triiding-post about seventeen miles from the present site
of Pittsburg, on the north side of the Ohio. The traders
and the French alike threw obstacles in the way of a good understand
ing between the governraent and the Indians, and it was not until a
second call was given in 1752, that Mr. Gist, as agent of the Com
pany, Colonel Fry, and two other commissioners frora Virginia, met
the Indians and effected a treaty, by which the Indians agreed not to
molest any settlements that might be made on the southeast side of
the Ohio. But the Indians were careful even now to refuse to recog
nize any English claim to the land. The Corapany constructed a fort,
built sorae roads, and brought goods for trading ; a few families set
tled about Gist's place, but before the country had been fairly occupied,
their vigilant adversaries, the French, had pushed southward from
Lake Erie by the highway of the Alleghany, and were preparing to
estabhsh themselves, not by colonies, but by forts, in the heart of the
disputed territory. In the autumn of 1753 they had intrenched

1753.]

MAJOR AVASHINGTON.

259

themselves at Venango (now Franklin, in Venango County, Pennsyl
vania). When this was known in Virginia, it was determined to send
a commissioner to investigate the proceeding, since Venango was on
territory claimed by that colony. Governor Dinwiddie selected for
this duty a Virginia surveyor, about twenty-two years of age, ^^^^^
who had already shown a marked capacity for dealing with
Indians and for backwoods life, and whose brothers had been
closely identified with the movements of the Ohio Company,"
— Major George Washington. The young comraissioner, accompa
nied by Mr. Gist and a few attendants, set out from Fredericksburg,
October 30, 1753, and making friends at Logstown with some Dehi-
ware chiefs, took them with hira to Venango, which he reached early
in December. The officers whom he found there sent him on to the

Washingtonappointed
commisionerfor the Com
pany.

-• '%i^:.

~fii""

n\

i .;-^ -'

f4r

W:M

Washington on his Journey fo the French Forts
commander at Fort Le Boeuf, to whom he delivered the letter of
Governor Dinwiddie. He brought back an evasive reply, but the
object of his expedition was really accoraplished in his observations of
the movements and plans of the French and their dealings with the
Indians. The report made by Washington on his return, January 16, 1754,
led to prompt action on the part of Virginia. The Assembly voted
X 10,000 for fitting out an expedition, which was to erect necessary
fortifications at the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela
to protect the Ohio Company in its operations. The provinces of
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and ilaryland were called upon for aid,
but the jealousy between the provinces, and the disputes between tbe
people and Proprietary in Pennsylvania, prevented any very vigorous

260

OPENING OP THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

assistance, so that the main burden fell upon Virginia. Washington
was made second in command, under Colonel Joshua Fry, and the
active work of organizing the little array at Alexandria was mainly
his. Meanwhile, in advance of the action of the Burgesses, a com
pany of raen under Ensign Ward had been sent forward in haste to
secure the position. Washington, in coraraand of the main body, had
reached the carap at Will's Creek, near Cumberland, when he learned
that the French under Contrecceur had appeared in force
begun by beforc tlic woi'ks wlilch Ward and his men had begun, and
had demanded an immediate surrender. On the 17th of
April, 1754, Ward surrendered, and that date has been taken as the
beginning of actual hostilities
in this final struggle of the
French and English for su
premacy in Araerica. Ward
hiraself brought the intefli
gence to Washington, who at
once sent expresses to the
Governors of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, ask
ing for re iinf orcein ents, and
then pressed forward with his
men, without waiting for Col
onel Fry, who had not yet ar
rived. Contrecceur proceeded,
after Ward's surrender, to
complete the works which
the English had begun, and
naraed the place Fort Du Quesne, in honor of the Governor of Canada.
It was Washington's plan to proceed to the junction of Red Stone
Creek with the Monongahela, thirty-seven miles frora the French
position, and there intrench while waiting for reenforcements ; but
before he reached that point he learned, at a place called Great Mead-
ovrs, not only that the French force had been increased, but that a
party was in the woods approaching hira. He took advantage of
the night to surprise the scouting party in advance of the main body,
and captured more than half their number. In the attack M. de
Jumonville, the coraraander, was slain. Washington then hastily
erected earthworks at Great Meadows, naming the place Fort Neces
sity, and waited anxiously for the reenforcements which he
ton's sur- had beeii told were on the way. Before these came, how
ever, on the 3d of July, he was attacked by a large body of
French and compelled, after a gallant struggle, to capitulate, upon

Plan of Fort Du Quesne.

17o4.] CONVENTION AT ALBANY. 261
terms which, through the ignorance or duplicity of the interpreter,
proved to be less favorable than was at first supposed.
The French seized upon this affair as a pretext for diplomatic nego
tiation, behind which they concealed more active measures.
iieii- • - ^ 1 Rapid prog-
The English pushed forward their preparations with less ress toward
diligence. The government had already sent instructions to
the colonies not to permit encroachments by the French, — which was
precisely the course Virginia had been pursuing, — to form a confed
eracy for mutual support, and directed the Governor of New York to
call a Council of Indian chiefs, to conciliate them by presents, and
win them to the British interest. The imminent peril in which the
colonies found themselves was a powerful auxiliary to these instruc
tions, and on the 19th of June, 1754, twenty-five delegates from seven
northern colonies asserabled at Albanj-, and there raet delegates from
the Si.x Nations.
Franklin, who was sent from Pennsylvania, relates, in his " Auto
biography," that, on the way to Albany, he drew up a plan for a
union of all the colonies under one government, and found, on his
arrival, that several of the commissioners had done the sarae thing.
There was a general belief in the necessity of such a union for the
better defence of the colonies, and the subject was discussed
with great deliberation. The plan finally adopted, based union of the
upon that proposed by Franklin, provided for a federal
government, consisting of a President-general and a Grand Council.
The President was to be appointed by the Crown, with a veto power
over the acts of the Council ; the Council was to be a popular Congress,
composed of a designated number of delegates chosen by the Assem
bly of each colony. The Congress was to raeet annuallj^, and oftener
if summoned by the President, and the term of service of members
was to be three years. ^ This constitution of governraent was submit
ted in due time to the Board of Trade in England, and to the Assem
blies of the several provinces, but was rejected by both. In England
it was thought to give too rauch power to the people ; in Araerica the
fear was that too much was granted to a royal President.
1 The delegations of the several provinces were fixed as follows, and they show the
relative importance of each at that time : —

Massachusetts Bay . 7
New Hampshire 2
Connecticut . 5
Rhode Island ... 2
New York . 4
New Jerseys 3
Nova Scotia and Georgia were not included in the plan. For a full report of the Con
vention, see New York Colonial Documents, vol. vi.

Pennsylvania 6
Maryland . . 4
Virginia 7
North Carolina . . 4
South Carolina . 4

262 OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. X.
The Convention, however, devoted itself with great zeal to strength
ening the alliance with the Indians, and impressing upon them how
disastrous it would be to their welfare, should they perrait the French
to build forts upon the Ohio. The Indians replied : " The Governor
of Virginia and the Governor of Canada are both quarrelling about
lands which belong to us, and such a quarrel as this may end in our
destruction." In Septeraber, 1754, Edward Braddock was commissioned as Com
mander-in-chief of all the forces in North Araerica, and with
General him, as iiext ill command, were associated Governor Shirley
and Sir William Pepperell of Massachusetts. It was the
design of the government to make a fourfold moveraent against the
French possessions. The French forts in Acadia were to be taken ;
expeditions were to proceed against Crown Point and Niagara ; and
Braddock himself was at once to dislodge the French from Fort Du
Quesne and the other forts in the Ohio valley. After reducing those
places, he was to raove on to Niagara and join the expedition which
was at the same time to attack that stronghold. Tbe provision made
for this comprehensive plan was liberal. Six thousand troops were
provided by the Crown, equipped for service, and large sums were
placed at the disposal of the provinces, which were encouraged to raise
a provincial array. Braddock hiinself arrived with his expedition in
Hampton Roads, in February, 1755. The French, after reenforcing
Fort Du Quesne, in expectation of an early attack, had withdrawn
their troops during the winter, and there were now not over two hun
drecl raen, French and Indian, in occupation. But the movements of
the English were speedily known, and the commander of the fort, on
guard against surprise, was able to summon something less than a
thousand men from the neighboring forts. Two months after Brad
dock landed in Virginia, a formidable squadron sailed from Brest, car
rying three thousand men to Canada. It seems almost as if the Eng
lish had become befogged by their own diplomatic manceuvres, when,
instead of attacking at once an arraaraent whose destination and pur
pose were unequivocal, thej' sent Adrairal Boscawen, with a force half
that of the enemy's, to lie in wait for the squadron off the Banks of
Newfoundland, and sorae time after sent an insufficient reenforcement
to support hira in the face of another powerful detachment of the
French fleet. Mirepoix had declared that the first gun fired
War begun. . , -*- • r
at sea in a hostile raanner should be taken as a declaration ot
war. Boscawen captured only two French ships, and war was uow
opened in dead earnest.
The Coraraander-in-chief of the British forces in North America was
a soldier of acknowledged training and j^ersonal bravery, but a self-

1755.]

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION. 263

confident and obstinate man, a martinet who held in high esteem the
traditions of the Coldstream Guards, of which he had been Lieuten
ant-colonel. Upon his arrival he called a convention of the Governors
of the different colonies to meet him for conference, and urged upon
them, in the same letter, the formation of a comraon fund with which
to assist in carrying on operations. The convention met on April 14,
at Alexandria, and the intervening months were spent by the General
in discovering the difficulties which lay in his way. He found himself
representing the British power, but unable to overcome the obstinacy
or indifference of Assemblies and Governors. The affair of the Ohio
lands had been taken up by Virginia, and Virginia, therefore, showed
most alacrity in supporting the English General ; Pennsylvania was
dilatory, not from want of interest, but because of the interminable
quarrel between the Governor and the Assembly as to the amount of
money to be raised and the best way of raising it. The Braddock's
most direct road led through that province, and contemporary "=^p«'^''">"-
as well as later judgments unite in deploring the error which led
Braddock to make Virginia, rather than Pennsylvania, his starting-
point ; 1 but the choice was not singular, when Virginia had been all
along the moving colony, and the previous expeditions had followed
the road that had been blazed from Hill's Creek.
At the meeting of Governors, General Braddock earnestly urged
those points in the campaign which formed the basis of his instruc
tions. He called for the estabhshment of a coramon fund ; but they
replied that they had in vain endeavored to persuade the several As
semblies to take measures for this. He proposed that a treaty, with
presents, should be made with the Six Nations, and that Colonel John
son should negotiate it. They assented to this, promised to raise eight
hundred pounds for presents, and also agreed to place the expedition
against Crown Point under Johnson's command. He proposed the
reenforcement of the fort at Oswego, and the building of two vessels
on Lake Ontario, to which they also agreed ; and after full instructions
to Johnson, — who was at first reluctant to accept his trust as pleni
potentiary to the Six Nations, because of the lack of faith heretofore
shown toward the Indians, but finally was persuaded to accept in con
sideration of Braddock's known integrity, — the council broke up, and
the army began its movements.
On the 24th of April Braddock was at Frederick, Maryland, impa
tiently awaiting the arrival of the wagons which he had ordered for
Entick, i. 142. Franklin's Autobiography, in Bigelow's Life of Benjamin Franklin,
written by himself, i. 317. The Olden Time, ii. 540. "It was computed at the time that
had he landed at Philadelphia, his march would have been shortened by six weeks, and
£40,000 would have been saved in the cost of the expedition. — Sargent's Braddock, pp.
161, 162.

264

OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR.

[Chap. X.

transporting his stores. In the old barracks, still standing, he received
Washington, whom he had invited to join his military faraily as aid-
de-carap, and Franklin, who at this time was Postraaster-general of the
colonies. Franklin gave hira iramediate and important aid. When
the efforts to procure wagons had signally failed, he came forward
with a proposal to obtain thera from Pennsylvania, and by a most
adroit advertisement and address, added to his personal influence, the
necessary conveyances were promptly secured. He might have been
of far greater service if Braddock could have been prevailed upon to
take warning from the words of this shrewd American. The English
General, who had already discussed with the naval commander the
Braddock's ^6st coursc to be pursuecl with the French whom he should
plans. capture at Fort Du Quesne, and had laid out his journey
through the backwoods as confidently as if expecting to mtirch from
London to Greenwich, said to Franklin, in an off-hand waj', that he
_ should only stop a
__ — ^ ^, — _^-r=r;^^ day or two at Fort
~ ^^^5=^ Du Quesne, and
then go on to Niag
ara and Frontenac.
Franklin ventured
only to say : " To
be sure, sir, if you
arrive well before
Du Quesne with
these fine troops, so
well provided with
artillery, that
place, not com
pletely fortified, and, as we hear, with no very strong garrison, can
probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend
of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by
constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them ; and
the slender line, near four railes long, which your army raust make,
may expose it to be attacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut
like a thread into several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot
come up in time to support each other." " He smiled at my ignor
ance," adds Franklin, "and replied: 'These savages raay, indeed, be a
forraidable enemy to your raw American railitia, but upon the King's
regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is irapossible they should make
any impression.' I was conscious of an impropriety in ray disputing
with a mihtary raan in matters of his profession, and said no more."^
1 Bigelow's Life of Franklin, i. 324, 325.

Old Ba racl<!

1755.]

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION.

265

The same fatuous reliance on " regular troops " led Braddock to
receive so coldly and disdainfully the overtures of Croghan, the in
terpreter, and his hundred Indians, that they fell off from him.
Washington knew the value of these men, and urged thera upon the
General ; but though he seems to have been drawn to the young Vir
ginian, he was incapable, as Washington himself says, " of giving up
any point he asserts, be it ever so incompatible with reason or com
mon sense."
The rendezvous for all the forces was at Fort Cumberland on Will's
Creek, and here, on the 7th of June, Franklin's wagons and
horses having been gathered, the expedition made its final
start. It consisted of 1,000 regulars, brought over by Braddock, 30
sailors, and 1,200 provincials, be
sides a train of artillery, and with
them, at the start, were a number of
friendly Indians. The road fol
lowed was that originally made by
Nemacolin, over which Washington
had passed, now slowly widened by
the axes of the advance guard.
On the third night after starting,
the encampment was only five miles
beyond Fort Cumberland. A week
later, when they had effected the
crossing of the Great Savage Moun
tain, they entered upon the gloomy
tract known as the Shades of
Death. Dense woods of enormous
white pines covered this region,
and the stihness of the forest only
sharpened the ear more intently
for the sudden crack of the Indian's
rifle. When the expedition emerged
from this, at Little Meadows, where
an advance detachment had thrown
up some rude fortifications, a council
was held, to consider how best to
raeet the growing difficulties. Wash
ington's urgent advice was, to push
on with twelve hundred men, lightly
equipped, leaving about half the men and all the baggage and horses
that could be spared. His advice was taken, and again the army

Braddock's Route,

266

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

moved forward, now more compact, but growing worn and exhausted
by the unwonted labors.
Now began also, as they plunged deeper into the wilderness, deser
tions of the Indian allies, the picking off of stragglers bv
His march. , ., , . ^ n i e ^ -
hostile savages hovering on the flanks ot the tram, and sud
den apparitions of dusky forms at night. The tactics of the army were
still those of European warfare. They halted, as Washington impa
tiently declares, " to level every mole-hill and to erect bridges over
every brook, by which means we were four da3rs in getting twelve
miles." It was with difficulty that Braddock could persuade any of
the Indians still remaining with him, to act as scouts, while his own
raoveraents were conistantly watched and reported to the French
coraraander. At length on the 8th of July tbe army encamped two
railes from the Monongahela,
near what is known as Crooked
Run. They were on the same
side of the river as the Fort, but
the passage for two miles was
bjr a narrow defile, having the
river on the left, and a high
ridge on the right. It was de
terrained, therefore, to take ad
vantage of two fords on the
Monongahela; to cross at the
first ford not far frora the camp ;
then, proceeding along the south
side, to recross at the other, at
the month of Turtle Creek, dis
tant, as the crow flies, from Fort
Map of Braddock's Fie'd. Du Quesnc, oiily about eight
railes ; thence to raarch upon the fort and invest it.
The progress of Braddock's raarch had been reported from day
Action of to day to Contrecceur, the coraraander at the fort. The
the French, j^iyi-^^bgi- pf ^j^g army, whose line extended soraetimes fom-
railes, was greatly exaggerated, and Contreco3ur, looking upon his
feeble garrison, not a thousand in number, of which four fifths were
Indians encamped about the walls, resolved not to hazard a battle,
but to seek an honorable surrender. The Indians shared his appre
hensions ; but one of the captains of the regulars, De Beaujeu, wefl
versed in Indian warfare, begged to be allowed to lay an ambuscade
and intercept the British on their march. To do this, the consent
of the Indians had to be obtained, and it was only upon the morn
ing of the 9th, when a runner brought word that the army was in

1755.] BEAUJEU ATTACKS BRADDOCK. 267
motion again, that Beaujeu could bring them to resolution. Ap
pearing at their council, he burst out, " I am determined to go out
and meet the enemy. What ! will you suffer your father to go out
alone ? " From timidity and unfeigned reluctance they passed sud
denly to fierce confidence and headlong haste. In a moment the war
paint was on, and the whole body of French and Indians were frantic
for action.
Braddock broke carap early on the morning of the 9th, and hav
ing sent detachments to hold both fords, moved his army across the
river. He ordered the march to be made as if on dress parade, and
in this manner, with splendid uniforms, colors flying, and martial
music, the soldiers eagerly looking forward to the end of their toil,
the whole army passed along the southern bank from the first ford
to the second, the sunlight falling on the brilliant colors and gleam
ing steel.i Washington and Gates, Gage, Morgan, and Mercer, —
names that were to be famous in another war, — were there.
By two o'clock most of the troops had crossed the second ford.
From the gentle slope of the river bank, covered with an open wood
of walnut trees, the land rose abruptly into high hills from which fell
off three deep ravines, dense with a rank growth of trees and under
brush. The inarch was over these rounding hills and diagonally to
the ravines which now began to disclose themselves. Suddenly, when
the troops were separated by the nature of the ground, one of the engi
neers, who was marking out the road, looked up and saw a man,
gayly dressed in a fringed hunting-dress, wearing a silver gorget on
his breast, come leaping down the hill-side. It was Beaujeu. Be
hind him, following with bounding steps, the motley array of French
and Indians came pressing on. He stopped, and swung his
hat about his head, when suddenly the savages disappeared, '='"*^'
the French only reraaining in sight and pouring a murderous fire upon
the English. In a moment from the ravines on either side came vol
leys accorapanied by unearthly yells and shrieks such as never before
had saluted the ears of the regulars. .Gage's raen, who held the ad
vance, stood their ground and were presently reijnforced by St. Clair's
working party. They returned the fire of the French, and Beaujeu fell
dead. The Indians began to fly, but Dumas and De Ligueris, compan
ions of Beaujeu, rallied the savages, and from their posts behind the
trees rapidly picked off the regulars, who continued to fire with great
noise and fury into the forest, which now seemed transformed into a
1 "AVashington was often heard to say. during his lifetime, that the most beautiful spec
tacle he had ever beheld was the display of the British troops ou this eventful morning." —
Sparks's Washington, ii. 469.

The ambus-

268

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

troop of devils, each tree sending its murderous bullets into the ranks
of the regiment. Scarcely a man was to be seen, but the deadly fire
was unerring and incessant. Braddock, who was with the rear still
at the river bank, hearing the engagement, sent forward the bulk of
his forces, leaving four hundred to protect the baggage at the river.
They had formed and were advancing, when Gage's party fell back
upon the advance, and the mass of men, struggling in confusion, be
carae almost a raob, into which the French and Indians, hovering
about as if in the branches of the trees, plunged their deadly fire.
In vain Braddock, rushing hither and thither, sought to rally his

Beaujeu's Advance.
men and form them ; in vain he urged thera forward. Four horses
were shot under him; he mounted a fifth, and with his officers flung
hiraself in advance to inspirit his raen. But they could not be ral
lied. The provincials, indeed, who throughout raaintained more cool
ness than the regulars, better understanding the nature of the warfare,
quickly took positions behind trees. Washington urged Braddock to

1755.]

BRADDOCICS DEFEAT.

269

give the word for the men to adopt this method, but instead, the in
fatuated commander himself drove men frora out of their skulking-
places, as he thought thera, and insisted that the battle should be waged
according to established rules. In the confusion the raen fired upon
their own comrades. Braddock himself was wounded, but while lying
upon the ground he continued to give orders, and the army, trained to
obedience, while it could not advance, could at least stand and be
shot down.
At length, when they were surrounded and even the baggage was
attacked, and all hope of victory was gone, he ordered the
drums to beat a retreat. In a moment, the retreat became '^p"""'-
a panic, and it was only by the bravery of a few devoted men that
Braddock himself was borne off the field. The men threw aside guns
and accoutrements, and rushed across the
river. Here Braddock raade an effort
to bring his demoralized army to a stand,
for the savages did not follow thera be

Braddock wounded.

yond the bank ; but the rout was com
plete, and though a stand was made,
every soldier stole away from his post.
The straggling remnant pushed back
over the road by which they had so lately
advanced, and on the llth the camp of reserves was reached. The
army was utterly disorganized, and no effort was made to save any
thing. The stores vi'ere destroyed, and the straggling troops fell back
at last to Port Cumberland.
Braddock continued giving orders so long as strength reraained to
him, but kept utter silence otherwise. On Sunday, the 13th, as the
shattered army lay at Great Meadows, he gave his final orders, and

270 OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. X.
committed affairs to Washington, for whom he had forraed a strong
attachment. During the retreat he is said to have spoken only to
give his commands. Now, his sole allusion to the terrible discom
fiture which had broken up his army and destroyed his military repu
tation, was in the half-muttered words, " Who would have thought
it ! Who would have thought it ! " He turned to Orme, his faithful
lieutenant, and said, " We shall better know how to deal with thera
another time." But Braddock's one chance had been lost through
his own obstinacy and wrong-headedness. He died, and was buried
at Great IMeadows, where his grave is still pointed out. The army,
under Dunbar, finally reached Philadelphia at the end of August.
The miserable conclusion of an expedition which had set out so
vaingloriously, brought a train of evils in the devastation of
Braddock's the back country of Virginia and Pennsylvania by the In
dians, who had no fear of this defeated enemy ; it brought
also one unsuspected good in the knowledge that regulars were not
invincible, and the British power not blindly to be relied upon. The
conduct of the provincials in the flght, showed clearly the mettle of
the country troops, and their superiority in fighting methods. The
breaking down of the foreign army led at once to the creation of a
railitia organization, and out of Braddock's defeat grew that confi
dence in themselves which sustained the Americans in the subsequent
conflict with Great Britain. The immediate effect, nevertheless, upon
the minds of English and Araericans was one of bitter chagrin and
disappointraent. In Nova Scotia, the news of the disaster was received at a moment
so critical to operations in that quarter, that imperative orders were
given to prevent its reaching the French inhabitants. The English
occupation of that province since its cession by France in the treaty
of Utrecht, in 1713, had been very meagre, and such population as
the peninsula held was raainly French, while the boundaries of the
province were the subject of long and rainute controversy, a contro
versy onlj' ended by the conquest of Canada itself.
The question of boundaries was considered for raore than three
years at Paris by a Board of Commissaries. The range of
of Nova the discussion included the consideration of ancient hunts
and the identity of Nova Scotia and Acadia, and conclusions
differed widely. But both governments practically recognized the
popular understanding that Nova Scotia or Acadia corresponded with
the present limits of the peninsula. The French acknowledged that
the people about the Basin of JNIinas were British subjects, and the
English confined their efforts at colonization to Nova Scotia proper.
The importance of the peninsula, and the necessity of planting it

1749.]

CONDITION OF NOVA SCOTIA. 271

with Englishmen, if it was to be anything more than nominally Eng
lish, were beginning to be seen. Scarcely any organized effort had
been made by the English to occupy the country, while the French
settlements about Annapolis Royal and the Basin of Minas had
OTOwn into compact comraunities who were rapidly accurau-
5 '^ . 1 • , 1 , 1 • • e Condition o£
lating wealth. Not the nationality only, but the religion ot the Acadian
111,1 1 111 Peninsula.
these French settlers held them together and made them a
foreign body, all the more dangerous in the eyes of Englishmen that
they were both French and Roman Catholic. " The zeal and attach
ment of these Nova Scotians to the Romish faith," writes a vigorous
pamphleteer of that day,^ " will always prevent the settleraent of
Protestants in the country, unless it be done in compact bodies and
under the cover of fortifications ; but till this is accomplished, it can
no more be said that the Province belongs to the Crown of Great
Britain, because it is possessed of Annapolis Royal, than of the king
dom of Spain frora our possession of Gibraltar. It is therefore abso
lutely necessary for the safety and interest of the Northern colonies
that some speedy and effectual measures are taken to put these Nova
Scotians on a definite footing, or to remove thera ; the last cannot
well be done, and the first in nothing better than by encouraging
a considerable number of foreign Protestants and others to settle
amongst them."
This encouragement was soon given. An advertisement in the Lon
don " Gazette," dated at Whitehall, 7th March, 1749, was incueementa
issued by the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Planta- 'ettie?s''in
tions, oft'ering special inducements to recently dismissed offi- ^°'"^ scoUa.
cers and privates of the army and navy, as also to carpenters, ship
wrights, smiths, masons, joiners, brickmakers, bricklayers, " and all
other artificers necessary in building or husbandry," by which pas
sage was given to Nova Scotia, grants of land made, and subsistence
promised for a year. So popular was the enterprise and so prompt
the movement that, early in May of the same year. Colonel Edward
Cornwalhs — uncle to that Lord Cornwallis whose name occupies so
conspicuous a place in the annals of the American Revolution — led
an expedition of about twenty-five hundred persons into Chebucto
Harbor in Nova Scotia.^
The name of Halifax was given to the settlement which was then
begun, in honor of the President of the Lords of Trade and Planta
tions, Lord Halifax, who was exceedingly interested in the success
The State of Trade in the Northern Colonies considered : with an Account of their Produce,
and a particular Description qf Nova Scotia. By Otis Little.
- Haliburton 's Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia makes the number rauch
larger; but Akins's Selectionsfrom the Public Documents of Nova Scotia gives a list of
those who came with Cornwallis.

272

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AA^AR.

[Chap. X.

Halifax founded

of the enterprise. The country about Chebucto Harbor was densely
wooded, and the nearest settleraent was that of the French
about the Basin of Minas, twenty miles distant, but a cattle-
path already connected the two points. Cornwallis at once set his
colonists to work, clearing the ground in preparation for the winter,
and at the end of four raonths could report " there are now three
hundred houses covered in at Halifax, which I hope will be tolerably
comfortable for the winter." The removal of the garrison from Lou
isburg added both to the force and to the stores of the young colony,
and French and Indians were hired to labor upon the public works.
Cornwallis had the poorest
possible opinion of the mili
tary resources at Annapolis.
"My Lord," he writes to
the Duke of Bedford, who
had now become Secretary
for the Colonies, " these
Companies are as prepared
for service as a Regiment
raised yesterday. The
whole management in tbis
Province, both with regard
to the Inhabitants and these
Companies, has been such
that 't is scandalous the
Grown should be so served.
It has been called an Eng
lish Province these thirty-
four years, and I don't be
lieve that the King had one
true subject without the Fort of Annapolis. I cannot trace the least
glimpse of an English Governraent." He wrote repeatedly of the
way in which the French were inciting the Indians to make
the English War upoii the colony, openly and by stealth : " The French
with the have not only set on the Indians, but have acted in conjunc-
tion with thera ; they have entered and took possession ot
part of the Province, drove off the Inhabitants, forced them to swear
allegiance to the French King, and in short acted with as much vigour
and done as much harm to us as they could have done in open war.
There was hardly a pretence, indeed, of a cessation of hostilities.
A French settlement had recently been raade at the mouth of the
St. John, and an expedition had been sent to occupj^ the isthmus
between Nova Scotia and the raainland. Throughout the whole win-

Earl of Halifax

1749.]

THE ACADIAN PROBLEM. 273

ter Halifax was in constant apprehension of attack, and was inces
santly annoyed by predatory bands of French and Indians. To
strengthen the Province, Cornwallis believed first of all in military
measures ; but he recommended also the introduction of foreign Prot
estants, especially from among the Swiss, whose influence over tbe
French Cathohcs, he hoped, would be beneficial.
But some more direct interference with the inhabitants seeraed
necessarv. The troubles of the colonists could be traced di-
-J ...... The problem
rectly to the machinations of certain priests and intriguing of dealing
-J . , i\ith the
men amonsst them ; and in event of an open war with French in-
. 1 1 1 J.1 habitants.
France, which was steadily becoming more probable, tnere
could be little doubt that the French settlers would, openly or secretly,
side with the French cause. To banish thera from the Province was
only to turn them into open enemies and increase the strength of Can
ada and Cape Breton. That peril had been early foreseen, and re
peated allusions to it recur in the correspondence between Cornwallis
and the home government. On tbe other hand, there was no time,
in the face of the gathering storm, to make English citizens of them.
The introduction of French Protestants was an experiment which
might easily work in the opposite direction from what was intended,
and fan the fiame of religious hatred.
In tracing the relations between the English and French which led
to the deportation of the Acadians, it becomes necessary to
11 1 Difficulties
note how constantly the English government, both at horae of the ques-
and in the Province, were rerainded that the persons with
whom they were dealing held but a paper loyalty to them. By the
terms of the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the French residents in Aca
dia, then ceded to the English, were allowed a year in whicli either
to take the oath as British subjects, or to leave the country. But
while the French in Canada urged them to remove, and threatened
them with the fate of rebels if thej' did not, the English were aware
that not only Avould their removal greatly increase the importance
of the rival colony of Cape Breton, but leave Nova Scotia alraost
entirely depopulated. It was hoped, moreover, that in process of
time the descendants would become Anglicized by intercourse with
English emigrants. But English emigrants came slowly, while the
French remained, assuming the position of Neutrals, a name, indeed,
which was frequently applied to thera. They claimed that to tbe
oath of allegiance, which they finallj' took, there was a reservation
which exempted them from taking up arms against their own blood.
Like all neutrals, they were suspected by both sides — by the French,
because they owed allegiance to the English ; by the English, because
their blood, their sympathies, and their religion were French.
VOL. III. 18

274 OPENING OF THE FRENCH WAR. [Chap. X.
From the settlement of Halifax in 1749, to the outbreak of the
war in 1755, the French Acadians, either personally or by delegates,
were repeatedly summoned to meet the English authorities, and the
one condition imposed upon them, of taking the oath of allegiance
without reserve, was evaded or refused with an ingenuity which con
firms the common judgment of the English at that time — that behind
these simple peojDle Avere French emissaries, especially the priest Le
Soutre, who used them with great dexterity for their O'wn purposes.
When every other argument failed, the Acadians would announce
their resolution to leave the country ; but that was precisely what the
English were bent on preventing, although the project of removing
them began to present itself as the only satisfactory method of solv
ing the problem. The position which the English claimed for thera
selves is very forcibly set forth in the reply which Cornwallis made
to the deputies of the French district, when, at the beginning of his
rule as Governor, they appeared before him and presented a letter
signed by one thousand persons, having in it this clause : " The in
habitants in general. Sir, over the whole extent of this country, have
resolved not to take the oath which Your Excellency requires of us ;
but if Your Excellency will grant us our old oath which was given at
Minas to j\Ir. Richard Phillips,^ with an exemption for ourselves and
for our heirs from taking up arms, we will accept it. But if Your
Excellency is not disposed to grant us what we take the liberty of
asking, we are resolved, every one of us, to leave the country." In
cornwaiiis's ^^^^ ^'^plji Colouel Comwallis said, with great emphasis :
th^'E^gUsh' " Gentlemen, you allow yourselves to be led away by people
position. .^^]jQ jQj^^ j^ ).Q j^jjgij. interest to lead you astray. They have
made you iraagine it is only your oath which binds you to the English.
They deceive you. It is not the oath which a king administers to
his subjects that makes them subjects. The oath supposes that they
are so already. The oath is nothing but a very sacred bond of the
fidelity of those who take it."
The crisis seems to have been reached in the summer of 1755, when
memorials were presented frora the people of Minas and Pisiquid (now
Windsor), praying for the restoration of the arms which had been
1 This oath, given in 1727-28, was the oath of allegiance, qualified by the iusertion of a
clause in the margin that the Acadians were not to be obliged to take up arms against
France. There is no evidence that Governor Phillips tendered such an oath, but it does
appear that Governor Armstrong in 1727 allowed the modification in certain cases, and
was severely reprimanded by the home government for so doing, and that Ensign Wroth
repeated the blunder the next year in other cases. He also was summoned before the
Council and reprimanded, on the ground that " the articles and concessions " granted by
him were " unwarrantable and dishonorable to H. M. government and authority, and con
sequently null and void." See Akins, p. 78. The Acadians clung to this modified oath
with the greatest persistency.

1756.] A CRISIS IN NOVA SCOTIA. 275
taken from them, and for exemption from the required oath. These
memorials were offered at a time when it was rumored that a
n -iTii^T^i 11 1 '^'^^ crisis.
French fleet was in the Bay ot h undy, and the coraraander
in charge at Minas reported an immediate change of temper in the
people from submission to insolence. The deputies who presented
the memorials were brought before the Council, July 3, 1755, and a
long conference was held, at the close of wbich the deputies asked
permission to return and consult the body of inhabitants ; but the
request, clearly to gain time, was refused, and they were required to
give a definite answer to the demands of the Council the next day.
The next day came, and the deputies refused to take the oath, where
upon they were ordered into confineraent. The Governor ^ now issued
an order for all the French inhabitants to send at once to Halifax
new deputies with the " general resolution of the said inhabitants in
regard to taking the oath, and that none of them should for the future
be admitted to take it after having once refused so to do, but that
effectual measures ought to be taken to remove all such recusants out
of the Province." Two hundred and seven inhabitants of Annapolis
River sent thirty deputies, with instructions to contract no new oath ;
one hundred and three inhabitants of Pisiquid, Minas, and the river
Canard, presented a raemorial by deputies, utterly refusing to take
any but the reserved oath, and asking that those who had been de
tained at Halifax be set at liberty ; two hundred and three inhabi
tants of Minas and the river Canard clung to the oath which they
believed they had taken under Governor Phillips, and called for the
release of the prisoners in Halifax. The deputies presenting these me
morials appeared before the Council and refused the oath. " Where
upon," says the record of the Council, " tbey were all ordered into
confinement. As it had been before determined to send all the
French inhabitants out of the Province, if they refused to take
the oaths, nothing now remained to be considered but what meas
ures should be taken to send them away, and where they should be
sent to."
The force requisite for this purpose was at hand. Besides the small
body of troops in the Province, a regiment of two battal- ^ fo^ce sent
ions, consisting in all of two thousand raen, had been en- to'^^adi"-
fisted in Massachusetts by Lieutenant-colonel John Winslow, of
Marshfield, great-grandson of Edward Winslow, one of the founders
of the Plymouth settlement. This expedition, sailing from Boston
on the 20th of May, had arrived at Annapolis Harbor five days later,
and on the 1st of June raoved forward in a fleet of forty-one vessels
^ Cornwallis had been succeeded by Peregrine Thomas Hopson in 1752, and he by
Charles Lawrence, as Lieutenant-governor, in 1754, and Governor-in-chief in 1756.

276

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

to Cliiegnecto, the district now known as Cumberland, where a nar
row isthmus separates the waters of the Bay of Fundy from North
umberland Strait, and connects the peninsula of Nova Scotia with the
continent. Here the French had established themselves in three for-
tifled places, with a view
to command the land
connection and give free
passage into the district
occupied mainly by the
French Acadians. Wins-
low's force was enlarged
by the addition of three
hundred regulars, with a
sraall train of artillery,
and the whole expedition
was under the command
of Lieutenant-colonel
Monckton. The success
of the expedition was un
equivocal. The French
fortifications were taken ;
the garrison of Fort
Beau S^jour were sent
to Louisburg on condi
tion of not bearing arms
in America for six
months; the Acadians and Indians were disarmed, the Acadians be
ing pardoned, in one instance at least, as having been pressed into
the service.
It was this force on which Governor Lawrence now relied for the
deportation of the Acadians. The whole number for which
carrying provisloii was to be made was about three thousand.^ In a
letter to Colonel Monckton, Governor Lawrence had already
advised that the whole affair should be conducted as a strat
agem : " It will be necessary to keep this measure as secret as possible,
as well to jjrevent their attempting to escape, as to carry off their cat
tle, etc.; and the better to effect this, you will endeavor to fall upou
sorae stratagem to get the men, both 3'oung and old (especially the
heads of families), into your power, and detain them till the trans-

Lieutenant-colonel Winslow.

away the
French col
onists.

1 Minot's History of Mnssachusetts says: "The whole number of persons collected at
Grand Pre' finally amounted to 48.3 men and .3.37 women, heads of families, and their sons
and daughters to .'liT of the former, and 576 of the latter, making in the whole 1,92-3
souls.''

1755.]

EXILE OF THE ACADIANS. 277

ports shall arrive, so as that they may be ready to be shipped off ; for
when this is done, it is not much to be feared that the women and
children will attempt to go away and carry off the cattle  As
their whole stock of cattle and corn is forfeited to the Crown by their
rebellion, and must be secured and apply'd towards a reimbursement of
the expense the governraent will be at in transporting thera out of
the country, care must be had that nobody make any bargain for
purchasing them under any colour or pretence whatever ; if they do,
the sale will be void, for the inhabitants have now (since the order in
Council) no property in thera, nor will they be allowed to carry away
the least thing but their ready money and household furniture."
The mode of procedure being left to Colonel Winslow aud Captain
Murray, they agreed upon the issuing of a proclamation to call the
people together, which should be ambiguous in statement, but posi
tive iu its object. The paper was accordingly drawn up and dis
tributed in the several comraunities. It ordered all the inhabitants,
" both old men and young men, as well as all the lads of ten years of
age, to attend at the church at Grand Pr^, on Friday the fifth instant,
at three of the clock in the afternoon, that we may impart to thera
what we are ordered to coraraunicate to them ; " declaring that no
excuse will be admitted on any pretence whatever, on pain of forfeit
ing goods and chattels, in default of real estate.
The purpose of this meeting does not seem to have been suspected
by the inhabitants, for it was not the first time they had been sum
moned to appear before their rulers to discuss their relations to the
government. At any rate, they assembled at the appointed time, to
the number of four hundred and eighteen able-bodied raen, in the
church at Grand Pre. The church was put under guard, aud was
continued thenceforth as a guard-house. They were not kept long in
suspense as to the meaning of this reception. Colonel Winslow, sur
rounded by his officers, took his place in the centre of the Assembly.
They were called together, lie told them, to hear " his Majesty's final
resolution " iu regard to a people who " for almost half a century had
had more indulgence granted to them than any of his subjects in any
part of his dominions," though, he added, " what use you have raade
of it, you yourselves best know." The duty that had devolved upon
him, he continued, " though necessary, is very disagreeable to ray nat
ural make and temper, as I know it must be grievous to you ; " but
his business was to deliver "his i\Iajesty's orders and instructions,
namely — that your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds, and live
stock of ah sorts, are forfeited to the Crown, with all other your
effects saving your money and household goods." So far as the ca
pacity of the transports permitted, they were to be allowed to carry

278

OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR.

[Chap. X.

their household goods with them ; families, it was promised, should
be kept together, and the removal should be as easy to them as it was
possible to make it. He concluded with
the expres.sion of a hope " that, in what
ever part of the world you
may hill, you may be faith-

Winslow reading the Decree of Expulsion
fill sulijtits, a peaceable
hap]i\ peiiple."
The)' were surrounded by the troops, and
escape was impossible. But they begged that
certain of their nuraber might be retained as hostages, leaving the rest
free to attend to their families and make the necessary provision for
removal. Colonel Winslow would not grant this, but he permitted
ten to be absent at a time, and, as the ten returned, others took their

1755.]

EXILE OF THE ACADIANS.

279

places. But even this privilege he was soon compelled to deny thera.
He saw, or fancied he saw, some suspicious movement among the
prisoners. The transports had not arrived, and it was determined
that other vessels in the harbor should be used, instead of the church,
as a temporary place of detention. Orders were given for the re
moval to these vessels, first, of all the young unmarried men, and then
of the young married men, leaving on shore only the old and feeble.
The scene of the separation was one of great lamentation. At first

Er-nbarking the Young Men.
the young men refused to march, but the prick of the bayonet, and
Colonel Winslow's personal handling of the foremost, brought j,,^ p^,.ti,,„
them into line, and they filed down to the boats, weeping, "''""'''•
praying, and singing hymns, while a great company of women and
children knelt by the way, and added their cries to the voice of the
men. It was many weeks yet before the transports arrived which
were to remove the families, and meanwhile the cares of Colonel
Winslow increased. He was not inhuman nor even needlessly severe

280 OPENING OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. X.
in the performance of the task imposed upon hira ; but he was a man
of decision, and the delays fretted hira. " It hurts me," he writes,
Septeraber 29, "to hear their weeping, wailing, and gnasliing of
teeth ; " and on the sarae date he expresses an ardent wish " to be
rid of the worst piece of service that ever I was in."
The transports did not arrive until the lOtli of October, but, in an
ticipation of their arrival. Colonel Winslow, on the 6th, ordered the
farailies to be in readiness for embarkation. " Even then," he says,
" I could not persuade them I was in earnest." Meanwhile twenty-
four of the young raen deserted from the vessels, but twenty-two of
these returned. On the 21st of October, the transports were filled
with their unhappy passengers, and ready to sail. , Orders were given,
in accordance with AV^inslow's promise, that farailies should not be
separated ; but in the confusion of embarkation, and from the prelim
inary dispersion of the younger raen araong the vessels of the harbor
for safedieeping, the rule was soraetiraes disregarded, though not by
design. 1
The exiles were scattered through the several colonies, and their
naraes are found in many places to this day, though often sadly cor
rupted. Mtiiiy were merged in time in the English population. Two
separate villages, however, near Bordeaux, in France, are filled with
descendants of Acadian exiles who found their way thither. Some
families went to Guiana ; ten years later, enough of thera retained
their social and rehgious relations to plant a colony in the western
parishes of Attakapas and Opelousas, in Louisiana, where the cor
rupted ntime of " Cajeans," and the primitive habits and simplicity
of the people, still testify to their pure descent from the Acadians of
Nova Scotia.
The larger portion of these exiles were sent to Massachusetts,
where they were distributed among the several towns. The two vol
umes of records in the State House at Boston ^ contain varied testi
raony respecting the unfortunate exiles. They were often subjected
to harsh treatment. Their children were forcibly taken from thera ;
the provision for their support was denied ; and they were shifted
impatiently from town to town. The tenacitjr with which they clung
1 The number of persons expelled from Acadia has commonly been set down as about
7,000. This is the estimate of Haliburton, Grnham, Parkman, and others. Probably the
origin of the statement is in the circulnr letter from Governor Lawrence to the governors
of the several colonies to which the exiles were sent : " As their numbers amount to near
seven thousand persons," he writes, " the driving them off, with leave to go whither they
jilcased, would have doubtless strengthened Canada with so considerable a number ot in
habitants." Seven thotisand probably represents with sufficient accuracy the totnl French
population of Acadia in 1755, but the entire number of those exiled did not exceed, if
Minot be correct, two thousand, of whom many subsequently returned to Acadia.
2 French Neutrals, 23, 24.

<
<<

oIsoH<
<SWw

1755.]

THE ACADIAN EXILES.

281

to their faith seems to have annoyed their persecutors. One town
sends in its bill for "keeping three French pagans." There were
instances, however, of friendly protection shown by individuals, aud
the more generous sentiment found expression in a report, though it
was not accepted, by a comraittee appointed to consider certain cora
plaints of ill usage, wherein the selectmen of the towns complained
against are " expected to show coramon acts of humanity." In Penn
sylvania, a somewhat similar disposition of the exiles was made in a
distribution among the country towns, and provision was made for
them from time to time, amounting in all to about £7,500.^
Until they ceased to continue as a distinct body in the several
colonies, there is almost unvarying witness to their submission and
gentleness. The whole body of testimony regarding them deepens
the sense of their harralessness, and when the poet sang of their
wrongs, he at once touched the latent feeling regarding them when
two or three generations had removed their history from the arena of
war and pohtics.
1 See Hon. VV. B. Reed's paper, " The Acadi.an E.xiles, or French Neutrals In Pennsyl
vania," Memoirs ofthe Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. vi , 1858, in which he clearly
refutes Judge Haliburton's charge that the Acadians were offered for sale in Pennsylvania.

Braddock's Grave.

CHAPTER XL
CONTINUATION OF THE FEENCH WAR.
Proposed Operations under Shirley and Johnson. — Battle of Lake Georgk.
— War declared between England and France. — Lord Loudoun Commander-
IN CHIEF IN A.merica. — Montcalm in Canada. — Loss of Fokt Oswego. —
Loudon's Plans and Failure. — Fort AVilliam Henry taken by the French.
— Massacre of the Garrisox. — Discourage.ment in the Colonies. — The
AVar at the South. — General Condition of the Colonies and of Canada.
— AVilma.1i Pitt. — Amherst supersedes Loudoun. — Capture of Louisburg. —
Defeat of Abercrombie. — Capture of Forts Frontenac, Du Quesne, and
Niagara. — Ticonderoga taken by Amhkrst.

view on Lake George.

Braddock's
ill-starred expe
dition was only
part of a gen
eral scheme for
establishing the
supremacy of
the British in-
ica. The move-
been successful by
the reduction of Beau S^jour, and by the
silence of the depopulated and wasted vil
lages about the Minas Basin and Anu'apolis Royal. We have seen
that Braddock purposed, after capturing Du Quesne, to push on
and join the forces sent to take Niagara. Albany was the rendez
vous for the two expeditions, the one against Niagara under General
Shirley, and the other against Crown Point under General
fhe expedi- _ ^ ^ ^
tion agamst Joliusou, and IU Juue an army of nearly six thousand men,
Niagara. . . , . *^ -^
raised by the northern provinces, was asserabled there and
in the neighborhood. They were raainly provincials, iU-disciphned
and impatient of delay, and Indians, who never could be brought
under even the ordinary rules of the camp. It was Shirley's plan
to take .his forces to Oswego, by way of the Mohawk River and
Oneida Lake, and thence to Niagara. There was delay in the ar
rival of the troops ; and when, at the end of July, the last regiments
were embarking at Schenectady, the news of Braddock's defeat ar-

1755.] INDECISION OF GENERAL SHIRLEY. 283
rived, and so discouraged the men, already dispirited by the evident
lack of generalship, that great nurabers deserted, and ra'any of the
batteau raen especially, on whom the expedition was so dependent,
refused to go farther. It was the 18tli of August before Shirley
reached Oswego, and another month before he could raake sufhcient
provision for the attack upon Niagara. The stormy season then set
in, and after waiting nearly a fortnight, and seeing the force reduced
steadily by sickness and by desertion, it was determined in council to
abandon the attack this year, to leave Colonel Mercer with a garrison
of seven hundred men at Oswego, and that General Shirley should
return with the rest of the array to Albany.
There was another reason why Shirley hesitated to attack Niagara,
and determined instead to strengthen Oswego, though it would have
moved a man of more martial zeal to prosecute his first purpose with
greater activity. Intelligence had reached him of an intended move
ment against Oswego. The Erench expedition which had sailed from
Brest in the spring had lost six hundred men and two ships of war in
a dash made by Admiral Boscawen; but it had substantially increased
the military resources of Canada by landing a thousand raen at Louis
burg, and fourteen hundred at Quebec. The first duty imposed on
Baron Dieskau, in command of these forces, was the reduction of Os
wego. Forts Frontenac and Niagara commanded the two
extremities of Lake Ontario, but so long as Oswego was movement
held by the English, the coramunication between Canada oswego
and the Ohio Valley was always liable to interruption, orown
Moreover, the capture of General Braddock's papers had
disclosed the plans of Shirley. Accordingly, Dieskau, proceeding to
Montreal, prepared at once for a movement up the river to Fort
Frontenac. It was a rumor of this movement uhat carae to Shirley,
and he hesitated, when he should have taken active raeasures either
for a vigorous attack or a prudent defence.
But when Dieskau was on the eve of moving, inforraation reached
Montreal that the other expedition, designed to reduce Crown Point,
had already been put in motion, and Dieskau was importuned to aban
don his original intention and meet this raore imminent danger. He
consented with reluctance, and led his troops, numbering about two
thousand men, up Lake Champlain to Fort St. Frederick at Crown
Point, and there awaited the arrival of the English.
The forces collected at Albany for the northern carapaign were sent
forward, without artillery or batteaux, under General Ly- English
man, early in July. These were occupied in building Fort "ped'tion
" .^ L to against Ti-
Lyman, afterward Fort Edward, on the east bank of the "^"nawoga.
Hudson, until General William Johnson should arrive with the neces-

284

CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. XI.

sary equipments and provisions. It was the 8th of August before
.lohnson set out and joined Lyman at the fort, which was at the be
ginning of the " carry "
of fourteen miles, to Lake
St. Sacrament — named
soon afterward, by Gener
al Johnson, Lake George,
in honor of the King,
George II.
Marching leisurely
northward, he encamped
at the south end of the
lake in a strong position,
covered by swampy ground
and woods on the sides not
protected by the lake.
Here he proposed waiting
for his batteaux, building
a fort meanwhile, when he
would proceed to Ticon
deroga, fifteen miles below
Crown Point, a strong mil
itary position not yet oc
cupied, to make that his
base of operations against
Fort St. Frederick, lie
expected to be joined here
by a large number of war
riors from the Six Nations,
and was mortified and dis
appointed that they did
not corae. The old chief,
Hendrick, attributed this
to Shirley, who, he de
clared, had spoken with
great conterapt of Johnson
to the Indians, and had

Map of Lake George and part of Lake Champlain.

urged thera to go with
hira to Oswego, and not
to Crown Point. This, no doubt, was true, for there was no cor
diality between the two generals. Johnson had already complained
to the Board of Trade of Shirley's attempts to undermine his influ
ence with the Six Nations, and his unwarrantable interference with

1755.]

FIRST BATTLE OF LAKE GEORCxE. 285

him as their superintendent, to which post Johnson had been ap
pointed by Braddock. The Indians, however, carae in day by day,
though in small companies, and took an active share in the carapaign.
Dieskau, leaving a large force at Crown Point, pushed on with six
hundred Indians, seven hundred Canadians, and two hundred regulars,
by way of Lake Champlain to South Bay, now Whitehall. Here he
learned from an English prisoner that the fort which Lyman had built
was without cannon, and that Johnson, in his carap, was also almost
without artillery. The French commander then proposed by a sud
den movement to seize Fort Lyman, thus cutting off John- Dieskau
son from his supplies, and to occupy a position frora which marches on
he could either descend upon Albany and intercept the cora
munication with Oswego, or attack the New England border. The
scheme seemed perfectly feasible. Dieskau marched his army to
withiu a short distance of tbe fort, on the road leading directly to
Lake George, where he halted and sent a party of Indians to recon
noitre. They quickly returned, bringing word that Johnson had
learned of their approach, and had sent warning to the fort. John
son was indeed aware of the imminent peril in which both his little
army and the fort were placed. Early in the morning of the 7th of
September a council was held, in which it was decided to despatch a
thousand troops and two hundred Indians on the road to the fort, to
meet the enemy. Hendrick, the Iroquois Sachem, alone dissented
from the decision. " If they are to fight," he reasoned, " they are
too few; if they are to be killed, they are too many." But he was
overruled. The march was begun, the provincials headed by Colonel
Williams, the Indians by Hendrick himself, whose weight compelled
him to ride.
Meanwhile Dieskau, whose aim it was to capture the fort first,
found himself balked by the reluctance of his Indians, who had a
terror of fortified places, and beheved that the fort was supplied
with the dreaded cannon. They refused to make the attack, but were
ready to march against Johnson's camp. Dieskau accepted the situa
tion, and at once moved toward Lake George, encamping near the
southern spur of the French Mountain. On the 8th, learning of the
approach of the English, he prepared an ambuscade in a
defile of the road less than four miles frora Johnson's camp. cldefthT
On his left, where his line extended half a mile, a natural ''"^"¦*
breastwork, covered with trees and shrubs, concealed the raen frora the
road ; the right line bent like a hook across the road for a quarter of
a mile to where swampy ground covered with a thick growth of trees
and brush afforded perfect concealment. The ambush forraed thus a
horse-shoe-shaped trap, and if the enemy should enter it, it would be

286

CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. XI.

possible, by bringing round the long left line, to enclose the whole body
and open an attack on the rear.
Into this trap marched Colonel AVilliams and Hendrick with their
men. Williams had halted two and a half miles from the camp, near
the entrance of the defile, to wait for the other divisions, but by a
strange neglect in so experienced an officer, had not sent forward
scouts. The Indian, Hendrick, now took the lead, and the division
pushed forward. The old warrior had advanced beyond the extremity
of the shorter line of the ambuscade when he was suddenly hailed by

Bloody Pond.
an Indian who appeared near hira. " Whence carae you?" was the
challenge. " Frora the i\Iohawks. Whence came j^ou? " "From^Mon-
treal." At this a rausket-shot, fired, contrary to orders, by some im-
Death of patient man before the entire division had entered the fatal
"ndMonei circlc, brouglit on the engagement. From the thick woods
Williams o,-, either side, and in the rear, volley after volley feh upon
the entrapped soldiers. The old Indian chieftain was one of the
first to fall, shot through the back. Williams also fell,^ and the
^ Colouel Ephraim AVilliams, a brave soldier aud earnest patriot, by his will founded

1755.] SECOND BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE. 287
command devolved upon Lieutenant Whiting. The raen, who fought
bravely, rushed to the right of the road where Dieskau's long left was
hidden behind the natural breastwork. The French and Indians rose
suddenly and fell upon them, doing great execution. But tbe men fell
back, notwithstanding, in good order, till another stand was made
near a small pond,i where reenforcements, sent forward by Johnson,
gave them new confidence and covered the retreat to the carap.
Arrived at the camp, they clambered over the hasty barricade of
fahen trees which Johnson had begun to raise after sending out Col
onel Wilhams's party in the early morning. He had also dragged up
his cannon frora the lake, aud had disposed them where they could be
most serviceable in case of attack. Dieskau foUowing the retreating
soldiers came into full view of the camp, and the sight of the cannon
at once damped the ardor of the Indians, who skulked into the woods.
The quarter-hour which was spent in bringing back the stragglers and
forming his lines, was a breathing-time for the Enghsh, who were
now behind their slight defences and under the command of their
officers. Johnson's camp was protected in the rear by the lake ; in front the
hastily thrown-up breastwork afforded a slight bulwark. Three guns
were posted in front of the road which led to the carap from Lyman's
fort, and other cannon were placed near the ammunition close by the
lake. It was half after eleven o'clock. Down the road came
T-, , c . . ,. .£ J! ^^^ attack
the regulars of the trench army, forraing m line as if tor on the
parade, their white uniforms gleaming and sharp bayonets
glistening ; on either flank the Indians and Canadians had dispersed
themselves in the swamps. The Mohawks at the first alarra had fled
with their squaws and pappooses to their own carap, and had not re
turned when the battle opened.
These New England and New York raen had known little of fight
ing in the presence of solid ranks of trained soldiers. Dieskau halted
the regulars, who opened fire by platoons, while the Canadians and In
dians kept up a sharp rattle on the flanks. The three guns at first only
made reply ; but presently the provincials, finding themselves as yet
unhurt, regained their courage and began, from behind their breast
work, picking off the regulars before them. Unable to hold their po
sition in this cleared place, the regulars took to the woods like the
savages. Dieskau led his men to Johnson's left, but without effect,
and then passed to the right, where the Indians had done the fiercest
fighting. Johnson, wounded at the outset, had been carried to his tent,
Williams College, in Massachusetts. The Alumni of the College have erected a monument
over his grave.
' Bloody Pond, still pointed out as holding in its depths the bones of the men who fell
in that fight.

CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap, XL

and Lyman took command, placing himself in the most exposed posi
tion and showing the utmost bravery. The Mohawks had returned
and engaged in the fight, which now became a hand-to hand contest
over the breastwork. The provincials, no longer in fear, fought, as
Dieskau said, like devils, and leaping the breastwork, clubbed their
muskets and dashed furiously at the eneray. The guns at the same
time were brought to bear upon a party of Canadians and Indians
concealed in the morass, and did such execution tbat the enemy was
dislodged from a position of much advantage. The Indians and Cana
dians were scattered right and left ; the regulars were speedily over
come at close quarters with the provincials, who struck at them as
with sledges, and pounded them to death, so that scarcely one escaped.
The retreat was a disorderly flight. Dieskau, who had already
Retreat of bccu scvcrcly wouudod, was shot by one of his own men
the French, ^g j-j-^gy |y£|- ^j^g Held ; he was carried into the general's
tent, and treated with consideration. Lyman was for pursuing the
enemy, but Johnson gave orders to call back the men. But the gar
rison at Fort L3'man had heard the noise
of the engagement, and had sent a detach
ment of two hundred New Harapshire troops
to the field. These suddenly came upon the
remnant of the French array at dusk, rest
ing by Rocky Brook, where, half-starved,
they were raaking a hasty supper. Lyman's
men fell upon them, and comjoleted the rout,
capturing the baggage and ammunition. Of
the English forces, the loss during the day
was between two hundred, and three hun
dred. The French lost, by different estimates, not far from a third of
their number, or about five hundred.
That the whole expedition was not captured, was due apparently to
the extrerae caution or hesitation of the wounded general, Johnson.
But the success was otherwise so complete, and the news of it so in
spiriting, after Braddock's defeat two months before, that the colonies
rang with rejoicings. Johnson, besides being rewarded with a gift of
£5,000 from the English Government, was made a baronet. His part
in the fight was not to be overlooked, but in his own account of it he
seems to have slighted General Lyman's services. ^ The escape from
peril was a real one, and the danger was even raore imminent than
from the defeat of Braddock ; for, had Dieskau captured Fort Lyman
and defeated Johnson, he would have been able to march at once upon
Albany, and leave behind him an open road to Canada.
^ See Livingston's Review, and Dwight's Travels, ill.

Fort George, or William Henry.

o fiio W '-'

fe rt

en t;
W fe
h-1 '-'
H
H<:

1766.] THE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM. 289
While the English built a strong fort at the south end of Lake
George after Dieskau's repulse, — Fort Wilham Henry or Both parties
Fort George, — and garrisoned that and Fort Edward, — as '°'^'''y'
Fort Lyman was re-named, — the French took possession of the im
portant pass at Ticonderoga, and at once proceeded to fortify it. Af
ter the death of Braddock, Governor Shirley was at the head of the
English army in America. He called a council in the autumn of this
year (1755), in which the campaign for the ensuing spring and sum
mer was laid down upon precisely the hnes adopted for the late cara
paign. That is. Fort Du Quesne and Crown Point were to be the ob
jects of attack; Oswego was to be reenforced, and Niagara sMriey's
and Frontenac to be assailed from that point. Ticonderoga '=''™i""e°-
was to have been attacked in front from the frozen lake, but this
project was defeated by the mildness of the winter. In the almost
palsied condition of the British administration of that day, all action
seemed perpetually waiting upon some special moveraent which, after
all, was not of vital importance. War had been actually Ttedeciara-
declared at length by the British Government on the 17th ''oio£™r.
of May, 1756, and by the French Government on the 9th of June
following. The campaign in America now waited on the
arrival of the new Coraraander-in-chief, Lord Loudoun, and commander-
Lord Loudoun waited for soraebody else. He was " a raere
pen-and-ink man," as the Earl of Shelburne styles liiin,i one of the
Duke of Cumberland's school, forever getting ready to start.^
A very diflierent raan was at the head of the French forces. Louis
Joseph, Marquis de Montcalra de Saint Veron, had arrived in Montcalm i
Canada with three thousand men and abundant stores with ^'^'^^'^>^-
which to prosecute the war. The manageraent of military affairs in
Canada had not been of the best, but the French rarely lacked men
ready to seize the opportunity, and Montcalm brought great ability and
experience to his task. While the English were waiting and hesitat
ing, or quarrelling about rank and precedence, the French were ac
tively engaged in cutting off the supphes intended for Oswego, in mak
ing dashes at the English, capturing small forts and taking prisoners,
and in winning the Six Nations so far as they could from the English
alhance. The siege of Oswego was early determined upon, and a strong
corps of observation was posted by Montcalm at what is now Six-
Town Point, in Henderson, Jefferson County, New York, on the shore
of Lake Ontario. Fort Niagara also was strengthened and reenforced.
1 Fitzmaurice's Life of William, Earl of Shelburne, i. 81.
Franklin, vi^ho was vexed at Loudoun's indecision, quotes a witty characterization of the
Earl by one Innis : " He is like St. George on the signs, always on horseback, and never
rides on "—Autobiography in Bigelow's Life of Benjamin Franklin, vol. i., p. 356.
VOL. III. 19

290 CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. XI.
On the 3d of July, when Colonel Bradstreet, who had been charged
with the conduct of a convoy of provisions and stores down the
Onondaga to Oswego, was returning to Schenectady, he was suddenly
attacked about ten miles from Oswego, and had a sharp skirmish with
a body of Canadians and Indians, followed by a more serious engage
ment, in which Bradstreet routed the enemy, but was unable to follow
up his advantage. From one of the prisoners the movements of the
French against Oswego were learned, and promptly reported to General
Abercrombie, who, awaiting Lord Loudoun's arrival, was commanding
at Albany and Fort William Henry a force of about ten thousand men.
The General ordered a regiment of regulars to the relief of Oswego ;
but before they could be moved. Lord Loudoun appeared, and through
his dilatory action it was the 12th of August before the relief set out
frora Albany.
On that very day the last of the forces intended for the invest-
Oswegohe- ment of Fort Oswego arrived in camp, and Montcalm at
sieged once Opened fire upon Fort Ontario, on the right bank of
the river. The garrison was under the comraand of Colonel Mer
cer. As the enemy brought their batteries nearer and nearer. Colonel
Mercer, whose amraunition was already expended, spiked his guns,
destroyed his provisions, and ordered a retreat across the river to Fort
Oswego, distant four hundred and fifty yards. Here a brisk fire was
opened upon the fort he had just abandoned. A portion of his force,
however, had ascended the river four and a half miles to a hill, where
Colonel Schuyler was intrenched, whence they could have harassed the
enemy ; but Montcalm perceived the manoeuvre, and while keeping up
an active fire on the fort, sent a large body of Canadians and Indians
to cut off communication between it and the hill. On the 13th Colo-
And cap- i^sl Mercer was killed by a cannon ball, and the garrison
tured. gave up the struggle, and surrendered to Montcalm,-' though
the comraon soldiery were still ready to continue the fight. The
French loss was trifling. The English lost as prisoners of war sixteen
hundred raen, including eighty officers, one hundred and twenty-one
pieces of artillery, and a great store of amraunition, together with
seven armed ships and two hundred batteaux which had been pre
paring for a descent upon Niagara and Frontenac. The forts at
1 Montcalm was a little surprised at the quickness with which he had accomplished his
object. " The celerity of our operations in a soil which they considered impracticable, the
erection of our batteries, completed with so much rapidity, the idea these works gave them
of the number of the French troops, the movements of the corps detached from the other
side of the river, the dread of the savages, the death of Colonel Mercer, commander of
Chouaguen [as the French called Oswego], who was killed at eight o'clock in the morning,
doubtless determined the besieged to a step which we had not dared to expect so soon.
Montcalm's Journal of the Siege of Oswego, in New York Colonial History, x. 443.

1756.] LOUDOUN'S PLANS AND FAILURE. 291
Oswego had been built in the territory of the Six Nations. Several of
these Indians were present at the battle, and JAIontcalm, immediately
upon the surrender, destroyed the forts in the presence of the Indians ;
an act which had a two-fold significance, as marking the superiority of
the French to the English and the friendliness of the French to the
Indians. General Webb, meanwhile, with his reenforcements, was slowly
making his way to Oswego, and had reached the great portage, when
he heard the news of the capture of the forts. The great portage
was now the most advanced post held by the Enghsh in the Iroquois
country, and as if to aid the French in their schemes. General Webb
proceeded to destroy the fortifications which had been begun there in
a naturally strong position, and to retreat with the garrison ^^bh-s re-
and his own men to Schenectady and Albany. The English '"*"'•
had now apparently abandoned the Six Nations as well as lost the key
to Lake Ontario.
There still remained an opportunity to turn the forces assembled at
Albany against Crown Point, and so retrieve the ill-fortune. But the
paralysis of inaction continued. In the long delay the seven thousand
men who had been collected had dwindled by desertion and sickness
to four thousand ; the success of Montcalm, instead of quickening the
English, seemed to discourage them, and the expeditions against Ti
conderoga and Du Quesne were abandoned. Forts William Henry
and Edward were strengthened, and the grand campaign which had
been planned was turned into an ignoble defence. Montcalm, antici
pating an attack on Ticonderoga, hurried thither from Oswego ; but
no enemy appearing, he strengthened the fortifications there and re
turned to Montreal for the winter.
The campaign for the next year was begun by assembling another
council of generals and governors. With more men and with a
naval armament. Lord Loudoun proposed to confine active Loudoun's
hostilities to a single expedition. The posts already held p'"""'
were to be strongly fortified, and a combined. attack by land and sea to
be made against Louisburg, a place which New England coveted above
all others. It was partly on this account, doubtless, that a requisition
for four thousand men was readily comphed with. New York and New
Jersey added their quota, and in July Admiral Holbourne arrived at
Halifax with a squadron and a reenforcement of five thou- ^^ ^^^^^ ^^
sand troops. Halifax was the rendezvous, and Loudoun louisburg.
arrived there from New York with six thousand regulars. There he
learned that Louisburg was held by six thousand regulars, in addition
to the provincials, was guarded by seventeen line-of-battle ships in the
harbor, and a French fleet that had lately sailed from Brest was looked

292

CONTIN'UATION OF THE FRENCH WAR. [Chap. XL

for daily. It was quite in accordance with his usual method to return
to New York with the Admiral the last of August, putting off the
capture of Louisburg for a year.^
When Montcalra learned that Loudoun had left New York for
Louisburg he proceeded to carry into execution the plan which he had
formed for attacking Fort Williara Henry. The French had been
unceasing in their efforts to win over the Indians of the Six Nations
to their side, and the repeated defeats of the English, together with
the policy of the French emissaries, had at length produced so strong
an irapression upon the Indians that by parties and tribes tliey deserted
the English and attached themselves to the successful and more sympa
thetic French. The fort which had been erected on the spot where
Johnson and Lyman had repulsed Dieskau was badly placed on the
Fort Wil- shore of Lake George, with low land all about it, and over-
iiam Henry, igokcd by lillls OU the west and northwest, by one of which at
least it was perfectly comraanded. At this time it was garrisoned by
two or three thousand regulars under the command of Colonel Monroe,
while at Fort Edward was stationed an army of four thousand men
under General Webb. At both forts a descent frora the upper waters
was constantly looked for, and this summer had already brought with
it several warnings. As early indeed as March 18, an attempt had
been made by Rigaud to surprise Fort Williara Henry, and though he
was obliged to return to Ticonderoga he succeeded in destroying more
than three hundred batteaux, several buildings, and a quantity of pro
visions. A skirmish had taken place near the end of July at Harbor
Island, a little south of Sabbath Day Point ; a raid almost to the walls
of Fort Edward had resulted in the loss of thirty-two of the English
and Indians ; and a few days later a party sent from Fort William
Henry to reconnoitre fell into an ambush, and almost the entire
party of three hundred were either killed or captured, twelve only
escaping. Montcalm, with fifty-five hundred Canadians and regulars, and six
teen hundred Indians, was now making his way from the rendezvous
1 How these performances Avere viewed in England, which was fretting under the gross
mismanagement of affairs, may be inferred from AValpole's letters. " Shortly after came
letters from the Earl of Loudoun, the commander-in-chief in North America, stating that
he found the French twenty -one thousand strong, and that, not having so many, he could
not attack Louisburg, but should return to Halifax. Admiral Holbourne, oue of the
sterne.st condemners of Byng, wrote at the same time that he having but seventeen ships
and the French nineteen, he dared not attack them. Here was another summer lost ! Pitt
expressed himself with great vehemence against the Earl ; and we naturally have too lofty
ideas of our naval strength to suppose that seventeen of our ships are not a match for any
nineteen others." AA^alpole's George II,, vol. ii., p. 231. Entick (ii.,392) declares that there
was no such formidable force at Louisburg, but that the enemy adroitly managed to let
the English capture some fictitious despatches, giving these irapressions.

1757.]

SIEGE OF FORT AVILLIAM HENRY.

293

at Ticonderoga across
the portage to the up
per waters of Lake George. Here a division
was made. De Levis, with twenty -two hun
dred French and Canadians, escorted by six
hundred Indians, toiled by land down the
narrow trail at the west of the lake; the rest,
with all the baggage, were transported in
batteaux and canoes. The Indians bad been
brought together from wide distances. On
the morning of the 8d of August the be
sieging array landed on the west side of the
lake, about two miles from the fort. The
guns were immediately placed in jjj^ ^^^ i,^.
position, and Montcalra despatched ^"'Sfd.
a letter to Colonel Monroe, calling upon hira
to surrender, and intimating that he might
,» not be able to restrain his Indians in
case the English resisted and the
fort should be taken. But the
"^•7^^? ^, English commander relied not
¦^"^Vs. ^^^ES^^^ alone upon his own forces.
'" '" " General Webb, at Fort Ed
ward, was only fifteen miles

mt

294 CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. XL
distant with four thousand raen, and Monroe replied briefly that he
would not surrender. Montcalm's approach was not unknown to
Webb. Sir Williara Johnson also had heard of the raovement as soon
as the French General left Ticonderoga, and at once hastily gathered
Indians and militia, and marched to Fort Edward, which he reached
on the second day of the siege. Israel Putnam, making a reconnois-
sance on the lake with a body of rangers, discovered Montcalm's ap
proach, and had, it is said, notified. Webb, urging him to oppose the
landing ; Webb, who was near Fort William Henry, enjoining secrecy
upon Putnam, hastily returned to Fort Edward.
In the investment of the fort, De Levis occupied the right and held
the road leading to Fort Edward. On the 4th of August, the second
day of the siege, a messenger from the fort to Colonel Monroe was
intercepted, and a letter found from the imbecile Webb, advising
Monroe to surrender, as he dared not send any reenforcements until
he should himself receive aid from below. The messenger was sped
on his way. Johnson did come, apparently tbat same day, and begged
to be allowed to take volunteers to the support of Monroe. Webb
gave consent reluctantly, but when the entire body of provincials
sprang forward ready to follow Johnson, he withdrew his consent, and
left Monroe to his fate.
The siege lasted six days, when Monroe, with half of his guns use-
And cap- l®ss ^^'^ nearly all his amraunition expended, hung out a flag
tured. Qf truce and obtained liberal terms from Montcalm. But
the confidence wliich he placed in the French General's word that the
English should raarch to Fort Edward under guard of a detachment,
was not justified. Montcalm, in the terms of surrender, stipulated
that a hostage should be held by him until the safe return of the es
cort frora Fort Edward. The peril did not lie with them, but with the
unhappy men whora they escorted, for scarcely had they begun their
march when the Indians, wild with liquor and the hope of plunder, fell
Massacre of "poii the English soldiers, and killed them, without mercy.
thegarrison. ^ panic Seized the English. Sorae fled to the French for pro
tection, others took to the woods, and many were held captive by the
Indians. Montcalra, like other commanders in sirailar situations, had
sown the wind, and the whirlwind was reaped. It was easier to excite
the Indians to a pitch of frenzy than to control thera when thus ex
cited, and it has been necessary ever since that day to defend a general
whose fault hiy not in a deliberate connivance with his savage alhes,
but in his reckless use of raaterial which served his purpose in war.
When the news of this massacre was spread through the country, the
provincials flocked to the defence of the frontier. But Montcalm,
after burning the fort, returned to Canada with the stores.

1757.] REVIEAV OF AFFAIRS. 295
The close of the year 1757 marked the most discouraging period in
the contest of the colonies with France. At the extreme . . Review of
south indeed there was peace and moderate prosperity. A affairs in
firm hand held the government in Georgia, where Governor
Elhs, finding the colony distracted, factious, and disordered, speedily
succeeded in restoring good feeling, protecting the coast and frontier,
effecting amicable relations with the Creek Indians, and making the
colony a refuge for many families that fell back from the dangerous
frontiers farther north. To South Carolina, also, there had been an
exodus of families from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, after
Braddock's defeat ; but here the often-repeated story of Enghsh mis
management of the Indians was approaching a terrible conclusion.
In 1753, Governor Glen had made a treaty with the Cherokees, by
which that tribe had agreed to keep the peace with the Creeks, and
also to concede large tracts in the upper country to the English. At
least, this was the English interpretation of the treaty, and, amid the
murmurs of a people among whora the French had already begun to
intrigue, they proceeded to build forts, notably Fort Prince George
near the headwaters of the Savannah, and Fort Loudoun, at the head of
navigation on the Tennessee, about thirty railes from Knoxville.
The French had already penetrated to the centre of East Tennessee,
and had trading-houses convenient to the over-hill Cherokees, and
these Indians, like the other tribes, were vacillating between the
two powers, uncertain which was the more deadly enemy. These
forts, meanwhile, though far removed from the base of supplies, gave
encouragement to settlers in the back country and in the western
parts of the two Carolinas. But farther north, the country west of the
Blue Ridge had been rendered uninhabitable for whites. The Indians
and French had carried fire and sword up and down the valley. Fort
Loudoun, at Winchester, was the chief protection of the western fron
tier. Dinwiddie, the somewhat visionary and capricious Governor of
Virginia, had urged on the Board of Trade the erection of a cordon
of forts from Crown Point to the country of the Creeks, and Wash
ington had advised that Virginia should erect forts along her frontier
at distances of fifteen miles ; but the cries of families flying before
the Indians continued to be heard, and the military resources of Vir
ginia had been reduced by the policy of Loudoun in drawing off sol
diers for his great and utterly ineffective army. Fort Du Quesne was
still in the hands of the French, and the English had lost Oswego.
Acadia was still in their possession, but a powerful armament at Lou
isburg threatened not only Halifax, but the New England colonies.
Bitter conflicts in the management of internal affairs were distract
ing Pennsylvania and New York, and although the people everywhere,

296 CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AA^AR. [Chap. XL
especially on the frontier, raade vigorous by the hard experience of
life in a new country, were equal to any emergency, there was no one
in England or Araerica who so commanded the universal respect and
confidence as to be able to unite for any common purpose the separate
strength inherent in all the colonies.
The French, on the other hand, though Canada was suffering from
gross official peculation and was brought to the verge of a distressing
poverty, appeared at this time singularly strong and victorious. They
had achieved almost uninterrupted railitary success ; they had been for
tunate in their coraraanders ; and, though the history of that province
had been the history of a railitary and ecclesiastical despotism, there
was a concentrated force now under control which could strike quickly
and effectively. But New France, nevertheless, was approaching a
point of exhaustion. The very advantage which it held as a military
power carried with it the disadvantage of having no allies in an agricul
tural and self-reliant people. The base of supplies was in France, not
in the colony, and thus, as the war continued, the gathering force of
the English and Araerican resources began to tell. In the long run the
English would have worn out the French ; the wavering line of fron
tier settleraents would have been slowly pushed forward from behind.
But the issue was to corae quicker, and the disadvantages under which
the colonies had labored were to give way before the genius of a sin
gle man.
Pitt had been forced upon the King by his own impetuous nature
William ^11^ by the coraplaints of a disappointed people. The Sec-
^'"' retary of State, who was one of the Council, became substan
tially prime rainister. His measures for prosecuting the war in Amer
ica met at once the obstacles which before had stood in the way of
success. He had faith in the men of the colonies, and he dealt with
thera frankly and honestly. England should furnish arms, ammuni
tion, and all necessary equipments ; the colonies were to raise, clothe,
and pay the raen. England would furnish from her trained soldiers
the generals and upper officers ; but the colonial troops might choose
their own colonels and subordinate officers, and these should rank
with Enghsh officers of the same grade. To Pitt's policy at this time
is largely due not only the success in arms but the independent spirit
of the colonies. They responded at once to the call for men and
money. The objective points in the coming campaign were the same as
they had always been — Louisburg, Ticonderoga and Crown
paign of Point, Du Quesue, — these were the keys of the French
railitary system. Instead of Adrairal Holbourne and the
Earl of Loudoun, who had been recalled, Admiral Boscawen and Sir

1758.]

CAPTURE OF LOULSBURG.

297

Jeffery Amherst were placed in command of the naval and land forces
which were to attack Louisburg. On the 2d of June, 1758, the com
bined forces, acting in perfect harmony, arrived before Louisburg, and
on the 8th, the first favorable day, landed in the face of the enemy,
making their way through heavy surf and up steep acclivities. The
decisive work was done with the landing ; after that it was a question
of time, as the English parallels rapidly advanced. On the captm-eof
25th of July the garrison surrendered upon demand, threat- louisburg.
ened by a final assault, for which preparations had been made with
great vigor. Nearly six thousand prisoners were taken, and sent to
England and France, and
the victory was not only
complete, but left a substan
tial result in the possession
of the coveted fortress,
which at once became a
standing menace to Quebec.
The moral effect of the cap
ture was in every way im
portant. New England was
awakened to new enthusiasm
by the recapture of a place
which she had once taken,
and whose restoration to
France by England she had
never ceased to regret. The
brilliancy of the assault, in
which Brigadier-general
Wolfe played a conspicuous
part, revived the sinking
spirits of men who had seen action paralyzed under the feebleness of
Loudoun and Webb.
While Amherst was prosecuting the siege. General Abercrombie,
who had succeeded Loudoun upon his return to England,
. , , 1 . (• 1 . Attack on
was aiming at the second great object of the campaign — Ticonder-
the capture of Ticonderoga. The officer next in command.
Lord Howe, was the ruling spirit of the array. Before Abercrombie
reached the camp, Howe had sent Rogers with his rangers, who, win
ter and suramer, had scoured the woods and lakes of the country, on
a reconnoissance, and thus had secured a plan of the French works at
Ticonderoga, and a survey of the neighboring district. The fortified
town and camp of Carillon, as the French called the place, was upon
a point of land washed on the north, east, and south by the waters

William Pitt.

298 CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AA^AR. [Chap. XI.
of Wood's Creek, the entrance to Lake Champlain and the entrance
to Lake George. On the west only was there approach by land, and
here, on either extremity, was low, wet land, while the country occu
pied by the French was hilly and broken. Montcalm was in com
mand, with about three thousand effective soldiers, and De Levis
who had been sent to relieve Fort Frontenac, which was threatened
was hastily recalled, as the news came that the English, twenty-five
thousand strong, were setting out for Carillon. The fortifications of
the place were not very strong, but the ground to be passed over hy
an investing force offered excellent opportunities for defence. Here,
therefore, intrenchments were hastily made, with an abattis of felled
trees. Yet Montcalra, even on the day of the attack, hesitated
whether to atterapt to hold it or retire to Crown Point. He finally
decided that he would await the attack of the enemy who were
before him, since if they could not carry the works by storm there
would needs be two or three daj^s before they could bring up the ar
tillery.^ Abercrombie had not twenty-five thousand, but only fifteen
thousand troops, regulars and provincials.
It was the 5th of July when he left his carap at the foot of Lake
George and ascended the lake with batteaux and rafts, — a brilliant
spectacle, raade more picturesque by the bright plaids of his High
landers. Two bodies of French troops had been sent out to dispute
the landing of tbe English ; but when, the next day, the enemy
appeared in force, they at once retreated ; one division went safely
back ; the other, raaking a detour, became involved in the tangled
woods, and suddenly came upon a body of Enghsh troops, equally be
wildered. It was the centre column, headed by Lord Howe, and the
two parties at once began firing upon each other. The provincials
with Howe fought bravely, and almost the whole French detachment
Death of ^f three hundred and fifty men was slain ; but Howe fell
Howe. ^^ ^jjg gj,gj. £j.g^ ^^^ j^jg jpgg ,^,^^^ irreparable. Abercrombie
knew nothing of fighting but by rule ; he refused the advice of the
provincial leaders ; he showed caution when dash would have suc
ceeded, and was obstinate in attack when obstinacy was failure and
defeat. The French labored incessantly at their defence, cheered by
Montcalm, who worked with the rest. De Levis arrived, and gave
them fresh courage. Meanwhile the English lost precious time in
securing a position which was unnecessary, whether they were to suc
ceed or to fail.
The attack was made on the 8th. Abercrombie, ignorant of the
formidable character of the abattis, though warned by Stark, of New
1 Pouchot's Memoir upon the Late War in North America, translated by Franklin B.
Hough, 1866, i. 11.5, 116.

1758.]

DEFEAT OF ABERCROMBIE.

299

Hampshire, sent bis obedient regulars again and again to the attack.
For five hours the battle raged ; the English were dogged and obedi
ent, the provincials cool and alert. They tried now the centre, now
the flanks ; they hurled themselves against the sharp, ugly barrier,
and could scarcely see the shouting line behind that poured a murder
ous fire into their ranks. A French officer hung a red handkerchief
on the end of a musket, and beckoned the enemy on. Some thought
it a flag of truce, and rushed up crying quarter. The French, seeing
them come with their arras held against their breasts, were at first
puzzled, and then fired furiously at the intrepid men who were break
ing through the hedge.

¦  r-'-V^

Field of Abercrombie's Defeat.
At sunset the hopeless attempt was abandoned, and the troops
withdrew to the lake. But the final confession of failure,
with the terrible scenes of the day, broke down the spirits ^'''' "=''"'^'-
of the men, and those who had made the attack without flinching at
last took to precipitate flight. The darkness of the night and the igno
rance of the French saved them from pursuit, and the shattered force
encamped again on the ruins of Fort William Henry, having lost
more than two thousand men, and left the dead and wounded along
their track.
Immediately after the ill-starred attack on Carillon, Bradstreet, with
a detachment of three thousand men, nearly aU provincials,
marched rapidly to Oswego, and, taking passage to Fort ?ort"Fron-°^
Frontenac, quickly reduced it, and captured its little garri- *"'°'"''

300 CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH AVAR. [Chap. XL
son and abundant stores. He destroyed the fort and the vessels that
lay there, and returned to Albany to join the main army.
i\Ieanwbile the remaining expedition, for the recovery of Fort Du
Quesne, succeeded through the weakness of the French, and almost
in spite of the English commander. It had been placed under the
command of Brigadier-general Joseph Forbes, wdio, with nearly seven
thousand raen, was five raonths in crawling to the Ohio, and was even
abandoning the object at the last moment, when a happy fortune dis
closed the weakness of the enemy. General Forbes bad left Phila
delphia with bis comraand earlj' in July, and listening to Penn
sylvania advisers, who were suspected of wishing to secure a new
road, determined not to use Braddock's road, but to raake another,
which would be shorter, from his rendezvous at Raystown, now Bed
ford. Colonel Washington joined him with the Virginia troops at
Bedford, greatly dissatisfied with the course which had been pursued.
He was sent forward in advance of the main army to take command
of a division eraployed in opening the road, against which, as a use
less waste of time, be had vainh^ protested.
At Turtle Creek, twelve miles from the Ohio, a council of war was
called, on the 24th of November, for the situation seemed well-nigh
desperate. Provisions were almost exhausted, and the general opinion
was, that a retreat was imperative. Forbes, who from bis unbending
will had earned the name of the Head of Iron, swore that he would
take Du Quesne or die in the attempt. But that night clouds of smoke
were seen above the fort, and the sound of a heavy explosion reached
the carap. It was conjectured — as Forbes soon knew frora his scouts
was the fact — that the French were abandoning the place. Inthe
morning the army moved cautiously forward ; no enemy opposed
thera ; in a few hours they entered the fort, but it was only to take a
heap of ruins.
The French had retreated down the river, and the Indians had
dispersed. That the works had been destroyed, was of httle moment ;
tbe important thing was, that the valley of the Ohio was recovered
to the English. But it might, perhaps, have been done at less cost
had Forbes been as sagacious as he was undoubtedly brave. A rapid
march by the old road would have led to the sarae result and would
have precluded one disaster. While the army halted at Raystown,
waiting for the new road to be made, the General sent Bouquet with
two thousand raen to occupy the Loyalhanna (now Ligonier, Pennsyh
yauia). Here Bouquet entrenched, and sent forward Major Grant
with eight hundred raen, as a preparatory movement toward taking
the fort, which be believed he could do without waiting for Forbes.
On a hill — still called Grant's Hill — overlooking Du Quesne, Grant

1758.]

CAPTURE OF FORT NIAGARA. 301

was surprised by a sally of seven or eight hundred Frenchmen, with a
host of Indians, and, though he fought with great bravery, his com
mand was almost destroyed. It consisted chiefly of Highlanders ; and
as, on the 25th of November, their countrymen under Forbes raoved
through an Indian path in approaching the fort, their rage and their
grief were beyond control when they saw the remains of their old
comrades exposed to every indignity that savage ingenuity could
invent. To bury these, as he had already buried the whitening
bones that still strewed the field of Braddock's fight, Forbes es
teemed a sacred duty.
Pitt, aware of the growing weakness of Canada, was pouring men
aud material into America, in preparation for a carapaign
which it was hoped would be final. Amherst bad displaced ments from
1 . 1 1 • c • J.J. 1 England.
Abercrombie, and was to mass his forces in an attack upon
Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and then proceed by the northern
route. Wolfe, who had shown his skill and courage at Louisburg,
was to conduct an expedition up the St. Lawrence against Quebec,
and General Prideaux, in command mainly of provincials and Indians,
was to lay siege to Fort Niagara, and then, descending the St. Law
rence, meet the other two armies before Montreal.
Fort Niagara was being strengthened by Pouchot, who had been sent
in command, and who complained bitterly of the inadequate support
given him. He was going to a distant post in the midst of Indians
who were fast coming under the control of the English, and only about
a hundred and fifty men were allowed him. He intiraates that M. de
Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, was so sure the place would be cap
tured, that he withheld a larger body from him. Nevertheless, he pro
ceeded on his errand, and even entertained the project of retaking and
destroying Fort Du Quesne. He reached Niagara on the 30th of
April, and busied himself in repairing the fort, in communicating with
the other posts, and in using every exertion to detach the Indians
from the English alliance.
General Prideaux's division, marching rapidly to Oswego, embarked
at once, and appeared before Niagara on the 6th of July.
The work was pushed forward with great vigor, but Pri- PortNTag-
deaux was killed by the carelessness of one of his soldiers
very early in the siege, and the command devolved on Sir William
Johnson. Pouchot summoned to his aid the forces from Detroit, Ve
nango, and Presqu' Isle ; for it was clear that the fort could not stand
a long siege, and that their only hope lay in a repulse of the Eng
lish. That hope was speedily destroyed. About nine o'clock in the
raorning of July 24, the garrison heard distant firing and saw a com-

302

CONTINUATION OF THE FRENCH WAR. [Chap. XL

motion which they could not understand. It was explained to them
shortly by the arrival of a messenger, bringing a summons to surren
der, and the intelligence that the httle army sent to raise the siege
bad been met, and in a spirited battle of an hour had been completely
routed. Pouchot refused to believe the calamity, but when it was
raade clear the garrison surrendered.
Meanwhile the centre division was encountering the delays which
seeraed to attend every movement on Lake George. On
taken by the tlie 22d of July, aftcr a month's delay, — for disaster had
inculcated prudence, — Amherst appeared with an army of
about eleven thousand men before Ticonderoga, and occupied the outer
lines wbich bad been abandoned by the French. Four days later,

when he was ready to open his
batteries, an explosion an
nounced that the besieged had
blown up the magazine and evacuated the fort. Amherst took pos
session of the works, and, still cautious, groped his way to Crown
Point, only to find that Fort St. Frederick had also been aban
doned, and that the French bad retreated to the Isle aux Noix, at
the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. He spent the rest of
the season in strengthening Ticonderoga and building massive works
at Crown Point, which consumed millions of money, apparently only
to give pleasure to the idle tourists who now saunter about the ruins.
Amherst indeed made preparations for a flotilla which should com
mand the lake and give means for attack on the French army ; he
opened a road also to the Connecticut River, and he sent the daring

1758.] ACTION AND INACTION. 303
Rogers on an expedition against the Indian village of St. Francis, an
expedition marked by some of the most exciting passages of the ran
ger's perilous life. But the array which had been gathered with so
much care remained inactive, while Wolfe was conducting his part of
the campaign before Quebec with untiring energy.

CHAPTER XII.
CONQUEST OF CANADA. — PONTIAC'S WAR.
Fall of Quebec and Montreal. — Renewal of Indian Hostilities. — Pontuc's
Conspiracy. — Siege of Detroit. — Battle of Bloody Bridge. — Death of
Dalzell. — Attack on Sandusky'. — Taking of Forts St. Joseph, Miami, and
Ouatanon. — Massacre at JIichilimackinac. — Fight at Presqu' Isle.—
Burning of Fort Le Boeuf. — Forts Venango, Ligonier, and Augusta re
duced. — Fort Pitt besieged. — Bouquet's Expedition. — Battle or Bushy
Run. — The Paxton Men. — Advance on Philadelphia. — Death op Pontiao.
— Submission of the Indians.
Aftee the capture of Louisburg, Wolfe had returned for a season
to England, but, with all his bodily weakness, he had the
Wolfe un- invincible spirit of a soldier, and a loyalty which borrowed
the capture patlios from a presentiment of death in the field. Louis
burg was the rendezvous for the land and sea forces, amount
ing to about eight thousand, with which Wolfe undertook the capture
of Quebec. He was ably seconded both by Admirals Saunders and
Holmes, and by the three Brigadiers — Monckton, Townsend, and
Murray. They left Louisburg toward the end of June, 1759, and
dropped anchor in the St. Lawrence, below Quebec, making the prin-
¦cipal camp on the Isle d'Orleans, but presently occupying also the
promontory of Point Levi, on the southern shore of the river and
nearer Quebec. Montcalm had been advised of the approach of the
eneray, and gathering all the forces which could be spared from Mont
real, Three Rivers, and the fields of the starving Canadians, had dis
posed them in such a way as to fortify those approaches to the citadel
The citv and ^'^^ then deemed naturally irapregnable. The city, rising
its defences, .^^jj-j^ rocky front between the St. Lawrence and the St.
Charles, had been unapproachable by the Indians, who for a hundred
years and more had scalped their victims almost at its base ; it had de
fied the formidable squadron under Sir William Phips, and it seemed
now to need only abundance of provision and a few disciplined sol
diers to hold out against a siege until the hard northern winter should
again encircle it with the protection of frost and storm.
But Canada was assailed by more dangerous enemies than the Eng-

1759.]

THE SITUATION AT QUEBEC.

305

hsh, and when the great fleet with its profusion of resources lay be
fore Quebec, Montcalm must have grown bitter over the corruption
which had eaten away the strength of the place. He bad hned the
shore, from the St. Charles to the Falls of the Montmorenci, with
fortified camps, containing, with the garrison in the city, about thir
teen thousand men of varying degrees of military discipline and with
unequal equipment. A boom had been built across the St. Charles,
with vessels sunk be- .^ . _^
hind it, and barges in
front. On the south
side of the city, the
land fell off precipi
tously to the St. Law
rence, here a rapid
river, a mile wide,
the ascent of which
was guarded by the
small naval force,
consisting of two frig
ates under Captain
Vauquelin. Steep
paths led from the
shore to the plains
above, and small
bodies of troops
stationed here could
serve easily as pickets
in a place so admi
rably fortified by na
ture. Wolfe planted
his batteries along
the opposite shore,
and began a severe
cannonading on the
city walls — harmless as regarded the citadel, but rendering the lower
town almost uninhabitable. His forces were not equal to Montcalm's
in numbers, and it was evident that he raust gain the advantage either
by strategy or by the powerful assistance of the fleet. The French
maintained the defensive, except that they made two futile atterapts,
one to destroy the eneray's fleet by fire-rafts, the other to dislodge
Monckton, shortly after he had taken up bis position at Point Levi.
Wolfe resolved to attack Montcalm's extreme left, which rested on the
banks of the Montmorenci. He had already occupied the left bank of
VOL. HI. 20

General Wolfe.

306 CONQUEST OF CANADA. [Chap. XIL
that river, and he had there the advantage of overlooking the lower
right bank, with the French intrenchments. Below and
A ffrynlr On.
the French above the Falls were fording-places ; by these Wolfe proposed
to send detachments, while a division from Point Levi, cross
ing in barges, was to land on the strand, west of the Falls, where the
landing was to be covered by the Centurion, a sixty-gun ship anchored
below. The day chosen for the movement was the Slst of July, and the
basin swarmed with barges bearing Monckton's detachment, and fly
ing back and forth between the several camps. It was a sultry day,
and the movement did not begin until after noon. De L^vis, in com
raand of the extrerae left of the French army, had disposed his troops
at the two fords, and, having the inside, could readily raass the defence
at either point. It was Wolfe's intention that the three parties, after
landing and crossing the river, should meet upon the Courville road,
and imraediately advance upon the French redoubt, and it was an im
portant part of his plan that the landing and the two crossings should
be made simultaneously, in order to divide the enemy's defence.
There was a redoubt near the point where Monckton's division was to
land, and not far from the lower ford, and when this was taken the
ranks were to form for an attack upon the intrenchments behind.
The plan was intricate and bold, and there was no lack of courage
in the assailants. There was, however, apparent lack of discipline
and concentration. At the upper ford the British were driven back,
and De Levis's raen, accomplishing this, made haste to reenforce those
who were awaiting the attack of the troops which, landing on the
strand, were now hurrying pell-mell across the ground from the re
doubt that had been imraediately evacuated, toward the intrenchments.
There was irregularity and want of concert both in the landing and in
the attack. The abandonraent of the redoubt may have misled the
English into a contempt for the enemy. But they were quickly unde
ceived. The Canadians, waiting behind the intrenchments, suddenly,
as the troops came rushing upon thera, opened fire, so sure and so
rapid that the attack was arrested. At that moment a thunder-storm
burst overhead. Over the slippery ground the English fled precipi
tately to their boats, their retreat hidden by the blinding rain. When
the storm cleared, the Canadians saw the eneray bearing their wounded
to the boats, a part recrossing the lower ford and regaining their in
trenchments on the left bank of the Montmorenci, and part returning
in the barges to the carap at Point Levi. The victorious Canadians
harassed the retreating soldiers with their guns, while their Indian al
lies hovered about them with their tomahawks. The British kept up
their cannonading all night, but the expedition was a sorry failure.
About five hundred men had been lost by the attacking party.

1759.]

THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.

307

The siege was prolonged for another month, and an expedition was
sent up the river, but with little effect, except, it may be, to familiar
ize the officers with that side of the city which was now to witness
the triuraph of the British array. Wolfe, sick and discouraged, called
a council of his officers and invited new plans for the capture of
Quebec. The plan proposed by the council involved the reembar-
kation of the array, to be conducted up the river to the south side,
above the town, where they should cross, gain the rear of the works,
and compel Montcalm to raeet them, while at the sarae time they
cut off his communication with Montreal. The preparations for this
new approach excited great uneasiness in the city, and Montcalm was
urged to anticipate the movement by a new disposition of his troops.
But he was confident tbat a handful of men could defend the ap-

Quebec in 1730. From an Old Print.
proach to the city in the narrow passes leading to the river, and more
over he had strong doubts that the enemy intended anything raore
than a feint, as demonstrations were still continued at the mouth of
the Montmorenci. However, Bougainville with a body of men was
stationed up the river, and was now reenforced, while the guards along
the steep bank were cautioned to be on the lookout.
Wolfe, lying almost helpless in his chamber, caught at a plan
which commended itself to his own courageous spirit, and the troops
were transferred to the fleet. A detachment was sent forward to
reconnoitre during the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September, and news was
brought by two deserters from the French that a convoy of provis
ions was to arrive from up the river, and seek to gain the port in the
darkness of the night of the 12th-13tb. The city was rauch dis
tressed from lack of provisions, which were slowly brought with great

308 CONQUEST OF CANADA. [Chap. XH.
difficulty by land, and it had been deterrained to run the risk of
dropping barges noiselessly down the river with the flood. Wolfe
seized upon the fact to further his own purposes. Holmes's fleet
had passed the town, receiving a fire from the fortress, which it could
not re"furn, and was now anchored above the port. A detachment
had been sent beyond Cape Rouge in order to hold Bougainville's
attention, while a show of operations was still kept up at the Mont
morenci, to engage the vigilance of De L6vis. There was no moon
on the night of the 12th, but the air was clear and the sky was
The success- bright Avitli stars. Wolfe rose frora his sick-bed and led the
ful a.ssauit. perilous expedition in person. In the depth of the night,
some thirty boats, bearing sixteen hundred soldiers, fell silently down
the river toward the little cove which had been chosen for the de
barkation. As they floated down the stream, AVolfe repeated in a low
voice stanzas frora Gray's "Elegy," one verse of which, it has been
often remarked, was so appropriate to the fate about to befall him : —
" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
Aud all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour :
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.''
" Gentlemen," he said to the officers who had listened to him, " I
would rather have written those lines than take Quebec to-morrow."
The boats drew near the landing-place beneath the overhanging
wooded heights. The sentinel, peering out from the darkness, heard
rather than saw the objects in the water. " Qui vive ? " he called.
" La France ! " replied a Highlander in the foremost boat, plans hav
ing been laid for those familiar with French to answer the demands.
" A quel regiment?" continued the sentinel. "De la Reine," was the
reply, the narae of a regiment under Bougainville's command. This
boat and others, being under too much headway, shot beyond the
landing-place. Again one of the barges was challenged. " Qui
vive?" "Ne faites pas de bruit, ce sont les vivres," ("Hush! the
provisions,") was the half-whispered rejoinder. Then sorae of the
boats grated on the beach at the cove, and the Highlanders of Fra
ser's regiment sprang ashore. Wolfe had turned his boat back, and
was one of the first to land. A guard-house stood at the head of the
cov'e, and a narrow path led up the steep from this point. The guard
was instantly surprised, and the Highlanders sprang up the path,
catching at bushes and roots and trees to help them. A sraall guard
was at the head of the jJass, comraanded by an officer who had already
shown hiraself unworthy, and who now was in bed. These made a
hasty defence, but were overpowered by the foremost Highlanders,
while up the path, hastened by the sound of musket-shots above.

1759.]

WOLFE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.

309

men came crowding and pushing one another. The pass was held,
and in the breaking day the men could see the ships coming to anchor
opposite the cove, now known as Wolfe's Cove, when fresh troops
clambered up the path. As the sun rose, the English army stood
)n the Plains of
. stretched in a
behind the city.
pon the guard,
ad escaped into
1 the garrison,
istantly sent to
ntcalra. He re
id at first to be-
e in the whole
snt of the dan-
, but, taking a
y of 4,500 raen,
:ched over the
_ lb 111

Landing of Wolfe.
ing the St. Charles, and passed through the city to the Plains beyond.
It was eight o'clock in the morning, and Montcalm, fearful lest the
British should intrench theraselves, as indeed they had already be
gun to do, determined, against the advice of his generals, to make an
immediate assault. The eneray had been able to bring up but one
gun, and in case of defeat would inevitably be subjected to terrible
punishment, for there could be no orderly retreat frora the position

310 CONQUEST OF CANADA. [Chap. XH
they had taken, while Bougainville's division, which had been ordered
up at once, would receive thera in rear and flank. Montcalm was
driven to desperation as he saw the British in a position which he
had first declared it was impossible for them to take, and that to
take it was of the greatest peril to the city. He ordered an attack,
and the Canadians, crouching in tbe corn and copse, kept up a brisk
fire, while the regulars began to advance rapidly in three divis
ions, the Enghsh still maintaining an unbroken front. The French
advance was broken and irregular, tbe men already fatigued by their
march to the city, but it was quick and resolute, and the platoons
delivered a determined fire as they pushed forward. Still the Brit
ish line did not reply. When at length the French were only forty
yards distant, the word was given to fire, and in an instant the mus
kets, doubly charged, mowed down the French ranks, so that these,
already disorderly, becarae confused and irresolute. Wolfe saw his
opportunity. He flung hiraself before the grenadiers, and charged
upon the amazed Frenchmen. They turned and fled, and the shout
ing Englishmen leaped after them, driving them headlong and fell
ing thera to the ground. In the first rush of this impetuous charge
a ball pierced Wolfe in tbe side. He staggered forward, when an
other struck his breast, and he fell. He was borne to the
Wolfe and rear and laid on the grass. The charge was still tumul
tuous, and one of the officers excitedly cried out, " See how
they run ! "
" Who run ? " asked Wolfe, who had lain as if in a deadly swoon,
but roused himself now.
"The enemy, sir ; they give way everywhere."
"Then," said Wolfe, "tell Colonel Burton to march Webb's regi
ment down to Charles River, to cut off their retreat from the bridge.
Now, God be praised, I shall die in peace." And turning on his side,
he passed into the shadow at the end of the path of gloiy. By a
tragic coincidence, Montcalm also fell at the head of his troops, as he
sought to rally thera after the first fierce attack. He was borne to
the hospital, and refused to give any raore orders. He had words for
the bravery of his opponents, and for the last offices of religion, but
the fight he gave up instantly. He had a soldier's burial, at his own
desire, in a cavity of the earth formed by the bursting of a bomb
shell. The French were driven behind the walls of Quebec. Within a few
days, terms of capitulation were proposed, wdiich General Townsend
acceded to, and on the 18th of September the British entered the
city. The winter passed in enforced inactivitj^ on both sides, the
French withdrawing their troops to Montreal, and the Enghsh send
ing away a portion of their army in the fleet.

1762.]

CAPITULATION OF THE FRENCH.

311

When the river opened in the spring, De L^vis, with an army of
about seven thousand men, moved down from Montreal. General
Murray had not three thousand men in garrison, but he sallied out at
once to meet the enemy, and a second well-fought battle upon the
Plains of Abraham followed. The English, however, were repulsed,
and the French raade immediate preparations for a siege. Both com
manders were hoping for speedy reenforcements, and in May they
came, but to the English only. De L^vis threw his heavy guns into
the river and retreated. Vauquelin withstood an attack, but, after a
stout defence, was com
pelled to leave his two
frigates in the hands of the

enemy. It was plain that the
French could do httle now
but await events. The ap
proach to Montreal was
guarded at the Isle aux
Noix by Bougainville ; the
rapids above were held by
a small force, as were those
on the upper St. Lawrence.
¦Fresh reenforceraents to
the English were looked for
by all these routes. From
the south came Colonel
Haviland, with an army
from Crown Point ; Am
herst, with his own divis
ion of ten thousand regulars
and provincials, reenforced
at Oswego by a thousand
Indians under Sir William
Johnson, came from Lake Ontario ; and these, with General Murray
from the east, met before Montreal. On the 8th of September the
city surrendered, and in the terms of capitulation were included De
troit, Michihmackinac, and other posts held by the French farther
west. The French fleet, which arrived upon the coast soon after, but
too late, was met by a British squadron and corapletely destroyed.
New France was soon wiped out from the map of America.
Peace, indeed, was not definitively concluded between France and
Great Britain till the auturan of 1762, when Canada, Nova Scotia,
and Cape Breton were ceded to Great Britain, France retaining

312 CONQUEST OF CANADA. [Chap. XIL
New Orleans and the region west of the Mississippi, which she imme-
Conditions diately conveyed to Spain. The contest, meanwhile, was
of peace. continued in Araerica, not by the French, but by the Indians,
who foresaw the certainty of their own subjugation when they could
no longer command the friendship and protection of one of the two
great powers. A few months after the surrender of Quebec, Major
Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire, a noted ranger, was sent
by General Amherst to carry the news of the capitulation to Detroit,
and take possession of that and other western posts on the fron
tier. In November, 1760, tbey encamped at the mouth of the Cuya
hoga, where the city of Cleveland now stands, to wait for fair weather.
Here they were visited by a party of Indians, ^ who announced that
they came from Pontiac, the chief who claimed all that country, and
whose orders were, that the English should proceed no farther till they
had received his permission. A few hours later he entered the camp
in person.
Pontiac was chief of the Ottawas, whom he was said to have com
manded at Braddock's defeat, and in 1746 he and his war
riors had defended the French at Detroit against an attack
by some of the northern tribes. His mother was an Ojibwa, and the
Ojibwas and Pottawotamies were in alliance with the Ottawas, he
being the principal chief of the three tribes. He was now nearly or
quite fifty years of age, and is described as unusually dark in complex
ion, of medium height, of powerful frame, and of haughty bearing.
Subtle, patient, cruel, with much raore than the ordinary capacity of
his race, he possessed all of their few good qualities and most of their
many bad ones.
Pontiac deraanded of Major Rogers his reasons for being at that
place, and why he presumed to pass through the country without his
perraission. He was told in reply of the conquest of Canada by the
English, that the party were on their way to receive the surrender of
Detroit, and that it was hoped a general peace and friendly relations
raight iramediateljr follow. Pontiac took a night for the considera
tion of intelligence with which probablj^ he was already familiar, and
the next day in a second speech declared that he wished to be at peace
with the English, and would let them remain in the country so long
as they treated him with due consideration. He was, perhajjs, at that
moment sincere. His old friends, the French, were conquered, and
he may have hoped, by an early declaration of friendship for the
^ In the relation of the Indian warfare of this period, the historian has only to follow
faithfully and gratefully The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, one of the
most exhaustive, as well as interesting and instructive monographs, that have ever been con
tributed to American histoi'v.

1762.] PONTIAC. 313
English, to secure an influence that would give him a complete as
cendency over the other tribes. His good-will was further jij^, j^j^^^,
shown when Rogers and his two hundred rangers arrived at ^^'^¦
Detroit River, where four hundred Detroit Indians were lying in am
bush. They were persuaded by Pontiac to relinquish their design of
cutting off the English.
The Indians who witnessed the surrender of Detroit, November 29,
1760, marvelled that the stronger garrison should tamely lay down
their arras to a force so much inferior, and could only account for it
by attributing to the English a superhuman prowess. No such be
lief, however, found lodgment in the mind of their wiser chief. He
hated the English, and did not believe them to be invincible ; he
dreaded their supremacy, and feared that they meant to conquer his
own race, as they had conquered the French, and would drive them
from their hunting-grounds or make them slaves. His ears were open
to idle tales which soon reached hira from the Canadian traders — that
his father, the French King, was old and had been asleep, but that
he had aroused himself, and a great army was coming to the help of
his dusky children ; his fleet of great canoes, it was rumored, was on
its way up the St. Lawrence River. He took counsel, therefore, of
his thirst for vengeance, and not of any fear of the prowess or the
numbers of the hated enemy. He pondered over tliese things for
months alone in the depths of the forest, or in the silence of
his wigwam, where none dared to interrupt the thoughts of plan of ex-
the grim and melancholy savage. His plans, at length, were
fixed. In a single day all the forts should be attacked and their gar
risons put to the sword ; all the frontier settlements should be laid
waste ; then, with the aid of the French, he would move upon the
older ones, and tbe English should be exterminated or driven across
the sea.
Near the close of 1762, Pontiac sent ambassadors to the several
nations, to lay his plan before them and propose the next
.... . , , His negotia-
spring as the time for its execution. Ihese ambassadors, tions with
bearing a red-stained tomahawk and a wampum war-belt,
visited every tribe between the Ottawa and the Lower Mississippi.
The only nation of the Iroquois that joined in the conspiracy was the
Senecas, the others being restrained through the influence of Sir Wil
liam Johnson. But all the Algonquins, with few exceptions, the
Wyandots, and some of the Southern tribes, entered into it, as well
as the three iiumediately under the control of Pontiac. The time was
fixed at a certain change of the moon in May. Each tribe was to dis
pose of the garrison of the nearest fort, and then all were to turn
upon the settlements.

314

PONTIAC'S WAR.

[Chap. XH.

Although within two years several smaller conspiracies of this
nature had been discovered and thwarted, most of the commanders of
the forts appear to have been almost stupidly unsuspicious
covers the aiid negligent. In March, Ensign Holmes, commanding
Fort JMiarai, where Fort Wayne, Indiana, now stands, was
informed by a friendly Indian that the neighboring tribe had received
a war-belt and were preparing to capture his post. He at once called
them together, and accused them of it. They confessed the truth,
pleaded that they had been over-persuaded by another tribe, and re
newed their old protestations of friendship. Holmes wrote to Major
Gladwyn, the commander at Detroit, saying: " Since my last letter to

Scalp-Dance.
you, wherein I acquainted you of the Bloody Belt being in this vil
lage, I have raade all the search I could about it, and have found it out
to be true. Whereon I asserabled all the chiefs of this nation, and
after a long and troublesorae spell with them, I obtained the Belt
with a Speech as you will receive enclosed. This affair is very timely
stopt, and I hope the news of a peace will put a stop to any further
troubles with those Indians who are the principal ones of setting mis
chief on foot. I send you the Belt with this packet, which I hope you
will forward to the General." Gladwyn did send the information to
Amherst, but said he believed it to be a trifling matter which would
soon blow over.
Pontiac called a great council, at a point on the river Ecorces, not

1763.] PONTIAC AT DETROIT. 315
far from Detroit, which was held on the 27th of April, 1763, and was
very fully attended. He delivered a long oration, in which pontiac'a
he recounted the wrongs and indignities that the Indians ''°™"i-
had suffered at the hands of the English. The French, he told them,
were their friends, and he repeated the stories he had heard
that the King of France would soon sail up the St. Law- ^"'"^^'"^
rence with his great war-canoes to assist his children. Above all he
pointed out to them the probability tbat unless something was done,
their extermination was inevitable. Then he told them of a tradition,
which he could hardly have invented, that a Delaware Indian had
been admitted to the presence of the Great Spirit, who told him his
race must return to the customs and weapons of their ancestors, throw
away the implements they had acquired from the white raan, abstain
from whiskey, and take up the hatchet against the English, — " these
dogs dressed in red, who have come to rob you of your hunting-
grounds and drive away the game."
The tirae fixed for the insurrection was the 7tli of May. Pontiac
was to lead in person the attack on Detroit. On the 1st he visited the
fort with forty warriors, and danced the calumet-dance before the offi
cers. A few days later he called a final council of a hundred ^he plan at
chiefs, and laid before them his specific plans. With weapons i'<='™''
concealed in their blankets, they were to go to the fort and demand a
council with the commandant. Being admitted, Pontiac was to make
a speech, and when he presented the wampum-belt wrong end fore
most, it was to be the signal for the chiefs, to fall upon and slaughter
the officers. At the sound of this, the Indians who waited at the gate,
or lounged about the streets, were to massacre the soldiers and citizens.
On the 5th the wife of a settler, visiting an Ottawa village to buy
maple sugar and venison, observed many of the warriors It'! discoTfirv
cutting off the barrels of their guns with files. When she
returned home and reported this, the blacksmith of the post remem
bered that the Indians had recently corae to his shop to borrow files
and saws, refusing to tell the purpose for which they wanted them.
Those who understood the native character, knew at once that this
could only mean that the guns were to be shortened for easier con
cealment beneath their blankets, and this could only be for some
treacherous purpose. But Gladwyn was not conyinced till the next
day, when he received a visit from his mistress, an Ojibwa girl, said
to be very beautiful, whose unusual manner, and reluctance to depart
when the gates were about to be closed, led him to question her.
After considerable hesitation she revealed the plot with all its par
ticulars.^ 1 Parkman traces the fate of this girl. She was probably seized by the Indians and

316 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XH.
The fort at this time consisted of a square inclosed by a palisade
Description tweuty-five feet high, with a wooden bastion at each corner
of the fort, jnounting a few light pieces of artillery, and block-houses
over the gateways. Within were barracks, a small church, and about
a hundred houses, mostly of wood, divided from one another by nar
row streets, but all separated from the palisade by a wide space. The
garrison consisted of one hundred and twenty men, and there were
about forty others capable of bearing arras. Two armed schooners
were anchored in the river. Estimates of the force under Pontiac
vary from six hundred to two thousand. When, at ten o'clock on the
morning of the 7th, the great chief entered the gate with his sixty
chosen warriors, all plumed and painted, and closely wrapped in gaudy
blankets, he saw at once that his design was known. The garrison
Pontiac ^^^ Under arms and posted in readiness for immediate or-
baffled. ders, while every officer had a sword and two pistols in his
belt. "Why," said the chief, " do I see so many of my father's young
men standing in the street with their guns ? " Gladwyn answered
carelessly that he had ordered thera out for exercise. With many
misgivings, knowing what tbey themselves would have done had they
discovered such treachery on the part of pretended friends, the Indians
took the seats assigned thera, and with much embarrassment Pontiac
began his speech. He appeared to debate in his own mind whether
it would not be best, even now, to attempt carrying out the plot.
Once he seemed about to lift the warapura-belt, when a slight gesture
from Gladwyn was instantly answered by the rattle of arms at the
door, and tbe warning roll of a drum. Pontiac seemed confounded at
this evidence of the discovery of his purpose, and that the Enghsh
were in readiness to resist the proposed onslaught, was silenced, and
sat down. After a pause, Gladwyn made a short reply, assuring the
warriors of his friendship so long as they deserved it, but telling them
that instant vengeance would be taken for any hostile act. The coun
cil presently broke up, and the discomfited conspirators were con
ducted to the gate.
The next day Pontiac and three of his chiefs returned to present
Major Gladwyn with a calumet, and to assure him that " evil birds
had sung lies in his ear." He knew that Gladwyn knew it was he
He declares '"'^o lied, aiid wheii, the following day, he carae with a large
war. crowd of wai'riors, he found the gates barred, and was told
that he alone might enter. Then he made instant declaration of war.
His followers gave the war-whoop, and running to the houses of two
t.aken before Pontiac, who punished her with his own hands, beating her with a kind of
racket club which the natives used in their ball-play. But her Ufe ¦was spared. She lived
to be an old woman, and was at last scalded to death in a kettle of boiling maple-sap into
¦n'hich she fell when drunk.

1763.] THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. 317
or three defenceless English outside the palisades, murdered them and
shook their bleeding scalps at the soldiers of the fort.
Pontiac ordered the Ottawa village to be moved across the river to
the Detroit shore, where it was pitched at the mouth of Par- j.^^ ^^
ent's Creek (afterward called Bloody Run), a mile and a '"'s>">-
half northeast of the fort. He had been joined by the Ojibwas, and
on the 10th established a deterrained siege. Frora behind barns,
fences, and trees, and from inequalities in the ground, the savages
opened fire, and kept it up for six hours. This was returned when
ever one of the dusky forms could be seen. A group of outbuildings
which sheltered a large number of thera was set on fire with red-hot
spikes shot from a cannon, and burned down. When the day closed,
no impression had been made upon the fort, except that five of the
garrison were wounded.
Gladwyn greatly underrated the extent and seriousness of the plot,
and on the llth he opened negotiations with the Indians,
through an interpreter and two Canadians. The chief re- andMcDou-
plied that he wished to hold a council with the English,
and asked that Major Carapbell, who was second in command, be sent
to him. The Major went, accompanied by Lieutenant McDougal, —
rather against Gladwyn's will, however, — and both were detained as
prisoners. McDougal escaped a few weeks later, but Carapbell was
afterward murdered by a savage to revenge the death of his nephew,
who had been killed in a skirmish.
On the 12th, Pontiac compelled the Wyandots to join him, and
renewed the siege. By raidnight sallies and other expedients, the
garrison gradually reraoved all buildings, fences, and orchards that in
terfered with the sweep of their guns, or gave shelter to the eneray in
their approaches to the fort. The cannon-shot, of which, in coramon
with all Indians, they had great dread, kept them at a distance ; but
they could still shoot their arrows tipped with burning tow upon the
roofs of the houses within the palisades. The supply of water was
inexhaustible, but it needed unwearied watchfulness to guard against
this terrible danger. Every man in the fort was constantly under
arms ; no possible precaution was overlooked ; the provisions were
wisely husbanded; and friendly Canadians across the river brought
over considerable supplies under cover of darkness. On the other
side, the assailants, who had expected a speedy victory, had ex
hausted their scanty stores of food, and they sought to replenish
them by robbing the Canadian farmers of the neighborhood. Pontiac 's
When these complained to Pontiac, he replied that he was commissa-
fighting for their interests no less than his own. Theft,
he promised them, should be stopped, but he substituted for it regu-

318 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XIL
lar requisitions upon them for supplies, and gave them in payment
promissory notes drawn on birch bark, and signed with the figure of
an otter, — all of wliich, it is said, were redeemed.
Gladwyn kncAv that reenforcements and supplies for his own and
other posts were on their way up Lake Erie, and one of the schooners
was sent to raeet the boats and hurry them forward. Unfortunately
she missed thera, and they approached leisurelj' along the shores of
the lake till they reached the mouth of the Detroit River, quite unsus
picious of any danger. While they were making preparations to encamp
for the night, a band of Wyandots surprised and routed the party.
About sixty men were killed or taken prisoners, two only of the boats
escaping, in one of which was Lieutenant Cuyler, the commander of
the expedition, and about forty men. The other boats the Indians
corapelled their prisoners to row to Detroit, where their approach was
hailed with delight till it was discovered that they were filled with
savages. Tbey had concealed themselves in the bottoms of the boats,
and had hoped to enter the fort by stratagem. The disappointment
in the fort was almost unbearable, when they discovered, by a fight
in one of the boats between an Indian and a white soldier, that the
whole convoy bad been captured, and that the hoped-for relief was
only so much additional strength to the savages, in arms, ammuni
tion, and provisions.
When Cuyler reached Niagara and told his story, another expe
dition of relief was started in Gladwyn's schooner, which had
on°a ' arrived at that place in safety. On the 23d of June she
came in sight of Detroit, but for lack of a breeze was com
pelled to drop anchor. That night the Indians, in their canoes, at
tempted her capture ; but when they came within a few yards of the
prize, a broadside of grape-shot, with a shower of musket-balls, tore
through the fleet of birch bark, killing fourteen Indians, wounding as
many more, and scattering the remainder. Several days afterward
she succeeded in ascending to the fort, giving the Wyandot village a
broadside of grape as she passed, and came to anchor beside her con
sort. Besides food, amraunition, and reenforcements, she brought news
of the Treaty of Paris.
But Pontiac still clung to his purpose, gained a few recruits among
the floating and adventurous population of the Canadian villages, and
pushed the siege. The schooners were a serious annoyance to the
Indians, as their fire swept the approaches to the fort, and their guns
were frequenth' turned upon the camp of the besiegers. Several
attempts were raade to destroy thera by means of fire-rafts, but with
no success.
The Wyandots and Pottawotamies now sued for peace, and ex-

1763,]

THE BATTLE OF BLOODY BRIDGE.

319

changed prisoners with Gladwyn ; but the Ottawas and Ojibwas still
watched the fort and kept up a desultory fire. Meanwhile ,j,^,,„ ^,.^^,^^
a reenforcement of two hundred and eighty raen, with artil- ^^'or peace
lery and supplies, was coming from Niagara in twenty-two barges,
under command of Captain Dalzell. On the morning of
July 29, favored by a heavy fog, they ascended the river; continued by
but as they passed the villages of the Wyandots and Potta
wotamies a heavy fire was opened upon them and fifteen men were
killed or wounded.
Dalzell, whose arrival was hailed as a promise of salvation to the
exhausted garrison, soon proposed a rash plan for a night attack on
Pontiac's carap. Gladwyn, who better knew the numbers and re-

/:^'i- Ai I

The Fire-rafts in Detroit River.

sources of the Indians, consented only with great reluctance and raany
misgivings. At two o'clock on the morning of July 31, two hundred
and fifty men, led by Dalzell, left the fort and raarched silently along
the shore toward the Indian camp, which was on the farther bank of
Parent's Creek. They were accompanied by two large batteaux, each

320 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XH.
carrying a swivel gun in the bow. But sorae Canadians had learned
of the intended attack and betrayed it to Pontiac, and the Indians
had made the mile and a half of road that lay between the fort and
the camp one long ambuscade. They were behind every tree and
fence and house, silently watching their victims as they unsuspect
ingly marched by. No resistance was offered till the van reached the
bridge over the creek, when a destructive fire was opened in front,
and half of the advance guard fell. Dalzell, conspicuous for
Battle of ° ., \
Bloody his bravery and coolness, prevented a rout and led on his
men through the darkness. But no enemy was to be found
in front ; the Enghsh knew nothing of the ground beyond this point,
and a retreat became inevitable. Then frora every shelter along the
roadside flashed the guns of the hidden savages, and the whole retreat,
though marked bj^ many acts of brave devotion, became little more than
a sickening detail of helpless slaughter. Those who straggled or feU
were quickly scalped as the exultant eneray closed in upon the retir
ing column. Dalzell, already twice wounded, turned back to rescue a
Death of wouuded Sergeant, and was shot dead. Major Rogers with
a strong party covered the retreat by taking possession of
a strong house, which was already crowded with refugees, the cellar
being full of women and children, and the aged master of the house
standing upon the trap-door that led to it, to keep out the hardly
less frightened soldiers. Here, while the remainder of the troops
reached the fort, Rogers and his men were besieged by two hundred
Indians till the batteaux, which had gone down laden with the
wounded, returned and drove off the assailants by a fire from the
swivels that swept the whole ground about the house. In this battle,
known as the fight of Bloody Bridge, the English lost fifty-nine men
killed or wounded ; the Indians probably not raore than twenty.
One of the schooners, sent down to Niagara with despatches, was
returning with a crew of ten men, besides the captain and
flght on the mate, when she was attacked in Detroit River, on the night
of August 4, by more than three hundred Indians, who
silently surrounded her in their canoes, and were clambering up the
sides with their knives between their teeth, when the alarm was
given. The crew sprang to the gunwales with spears and hatchets,
and despatched raore than a score of the assailants. But the captain
was killed, several of the crew disabled, and the vessel in the posses
sion of the savages, when the mate roared out an order to fire the
magazine and blow her up. A few of the Indians knew enough Eng
lish to understand this order, and iu an instant raore the whole party
leaped overboard and swara off in every direction.
Notwithstanding the supply of provisions brought by the schooner.

1763.] ENGLISH POSTS TAKEN BY THE INDIANS. 321
it was soon necessary to place the garrison on short allowance. But
now the Indians, whose own provisions were failing, began to tire of
the siege, and were further discouraged by news that strong reenforce
ments from Niagara were coming to the relief. But this expedition,
under command of Major Wilkins, was overtaken by a disastrous
storm on the lake. Seventy lives were lost, besides all the stores and
ammunition, and the survivors returned to Niagara.
On the 12th of October, all except the Ottawas sued for peace.
Gladwyn replied that he had no power to make peace, but would grant
a truce. This was finally accepted, and he took advantage of it to
gather in a good supply of provisions for the winter's use. The Otta
was maintained their hostile attitude till the 30th of October, when
a French messenger arrived with a letter from M. Neyon, com
manding Fort Chartres on the Mississippi, in which Pontiac was in
formed that he could have no help from the French, as they were
now at peace with the English, and he was advised to discon- jjig gj^g^
tinue hostilities at once. Pontiac sullenly raised the siege, """'""'•
and went off into the country bordering the Maumee, where he vainly
endeavored to organize another movement.
Though the originator of this plan of extermination had failed to
carry out his own part in it, his allies who attacked the other attack on
English posts were almost uniformly successful. On the s™''"'*^-
16th of May, seven Indians appeared at Fort Sandusky, commanded
by Ensign Paully, and asked for a conference. They were admit
ted, and, at a signal, seized Paully and bound him. At the same
instant, shots and shrieks were heard without, and in a few rain
utes the fort was in the hands of a band of savages, and most of the
garrison were slain. They burned the fort, and carried off Paully
with the intention of torturing him to death ; but an aged Indian
widow offered him the alternative of marriage, which he accepted,
and after a time made his escape. On the 25th of J\lay, a large party
of Pottawotamies appeared before Fort St. Joseph, on the onst. jo-
southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of St. ''^^^¦
Joseph River. This little work was held by Ensign Schlosser with
fourteen men. The Indians, crowding in under pretences of friend
ship, suddenly fell upon the garrison, and in less than two minutes
killed all but Schlosser and three men, quickly plundered the fort,
and carried its commander to Detroit. At Fort Miami, on May 27,
Ensign Holmes was decoyed from the fort by a story of a
• 1 • 1 T 1. ¦!, 1 n T 1 • J Miami.
sick woman m the Indian village who wanted medical assist
ance. On arriving there, he was shot dead. The fort was then sum
moned to surrender, with a promise of mercy if no resistance was
made. Discouraged by the loss of their commander and the numbers
VOL. III. 21

322 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XH
of the Indians, the garrison made haste to surrender. Fort Ouata
non, on the Wabash, near the present site of Lafayette, was
also captured by stratagem ; but the lives of Lieutenant Jen
kins and his men were spared through the intercession of some French
traders. At Michilimackinac the Chippewas assembled in great numbers
Michiii- but aroused no suspicion of the purpose of their visit, so
macanac. hariiiless at first was their behavior, and so earnest their
protestations of friendship to the English. On the 4th of June,
these were invited to witness their garae of ball on the plain in front
of the fort. The whole garrison looked out upon the sport, from
open doors and windows, and were thrown entirely off their guard by
the eagerness with which the savages followed the ball, intent appar
ently to drive it either to one goal or the other. The game continued
from early morning till noon. Just outside the gate stood Captain
Etherington and Lieutenant Lester, careless and unsuspicious of any
sinister design. But the savages, in all their racing and shoutino',
were warily watching for the favorable moment. At length, about
noon, the ball was thrown near the gate as if by accident ; there was
a sudden rush, — the two officers were bound and hurried away, and
the savages poured into the fort. Their squaws were already there,
with weapons concealed in their blankets, wbich the warriors snatched
from their hands. So sudden was the moveraent that the scattered
and unprepared soldiers were incapable of defence. Seventeen were
instantly killed, and the five or six who were taken prisoners, were
only reserved for a more cruel death. All the English traders were
robbed of their goods and they themselves led away into captivity.
But there was no molestation of the French, who had calmly wit
nessed, and, for the most part, probably approved of the massacre.
At Presqu' Isle, near the site of the present town of Erie, Pennsyl-
Attack on vauia, was an unusually strong block-house commanded by
resqu s e. gjjgjgj.j Chrlstie, with a courageous and skillful ¦garrison.
On the morning of ,Iune 15, it was surrounded by two hundred
Indians, most of whom had come frora Detroit. The garrison at once
retired to the block-house, where they held out against an assault that
had no cessation for two days and a half. The Indians threw fire-
arrows and balls of flaraing pitch, and again and again the house was
set on fire, but araid showers of bullets the flaraes were extinguished
by the cool courage of the soldiers. Rude breastworks were piled up
by the savages on a ridge that comraanded the fort, whence they
could fire in comparative safety. Some of them, growing bold, at
tempted to cross an open space and take shelter under the walls, but
were shot down in the attempt. Then they resorted to mining ; and

.-'-'"V^

INDIAN GAME OF BALL.
[After Catlin.]

1763.] FORT PITT. 323
while this work was going on the water in the fort became exhausted,
and the soldiers, the well in the parade-ground being out of their
reach, dug a new one inside the fort. The raine reached the house of
the commanding officer, which the assailants at once set on fire, nearly
stifling the garrison with the smoke and heat, for it was close to the
block-house. Through the night and all the next day the intrepid
garrison fought without a moment's rest against fire, and the incessant
and fierce assaults of the eneraj'. When it was evident that the mine
had reached a point beneath their feet, and that further resistance was
hopeless, they surrendered, but only on condition that they should be
permitted to depart unmolested. The promise, however, was broken ;
tbey were all bound and taken prisoners to Pontiac's camp, whence
Christie soon esca]3ed and found refuge in the fort at Detroit.
Three days after this attack on Presqu' Isle, Fort Le Bceuf, a
dozen miles south of it, was surrounded and set on fire.
Ensign Price and his garrison of thirteen men cut a hole Port Le
through the rear wall of the block-house, and silentlj^ es
caped, while the howling savages in front believed thera to be per
ishing in the flames. About half of them reached Fort Pitt, the re
mainder dying of hunger by the way. Fort Venango, still farther down
the Alleghany, was captured by a band of Senecas, who
'->.'' . 1 enango.
gained admittance on some friendly pretext. They butchered
the entire garrison at once, tortured Lieutenant Gordon to death by
slow process, and then laid the whole work in ashes. Soon afterward
the same band raade a futile deraonstration against Niagara. Fort
Ligonier, forty miles southeast of Fort Pitt, was attacked ligonier and
by a strong force, but was successfully defended till relieved "^"'' "'
by the advance of Bouquet's expedition. Fort Augusta, at the forks
of the Susquehanna, was only threatened — perhaps because of its sit
uation so far east.
At Fort Pitt, where Captain Ecuyer commanded three hundred and
thirty soldiers, traders, and woodsmen, when news of sorae ^^^^ ^.^^
of these disasters arrived, the most vigorous measures were
taken for defence. The walls of the fortification were repaired and
strengthened, a larger supply of water provided for, and an efficient
though rude steam-engine was built. On June 23 a few Delawares
appeared, called a parley, and with the usual professions of friendship,
said that six great Indian nations had captured all the other forts, and
were now marching against this. "You must leave this fort," said
their chief, " with all your women and children, and go down to the
English settlements, where you will be safe. There are many bad
Indians already here, but we will protect you from them." Ecuyer,
who was quite as cunning as the Indians, thanked them warmly, but

324 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XH.
declined to go. He told them, he said, " in confidence," as a return
for their kindness, that an English army of six thousand men was on
its way thither, while another of three thousand had gone to attack
the Ottawas and Ojibwas, and a third, on the frontiers of Virginia,
would be joined by the Cherokees and Catawbas, "who are coming
here to destroy you. Therefore take pity on your women and chil
dren, and get out of the way as soon as possible." The frightened In
dians withdrew for a time, but returned on the 26th of July, and re
peated their proposition, but were defied. At night they began the
attack, many of them digging holes in the river bank, where they could
shelter themselves and fire at every soldier who appeared.
Colonel Henry Bouquet, by birth a Swiss, an able and experienced
Bouquet's soldler, wlio had entered the English service and was now in
expedition, command at Philadelphia, was ordered to march to the relief
of Fort Pitt, with all the force he could muster. With five hundred
men, mainly Highlanders, he set out, and about the 1st of July
reached Carlisle, where he found the population in a state of terror.
Many of the settlements in Western Pennsylvania had been laid
waste, and those of the settlers who had escaped the toraahawk were
crowding into the villages farther east. There were more in Carlisle
than could be sheltered, and they were encamped in the fields all
around it. About the 18th, Bouquet was ready to leave Carlisle, and,
sending forward thirty chosen men to Fort Ligonier, he took both
that and Fort Bedford on his line of raarch, and dispersed the Indians
who had gathered about and beleaguered them for weeks. Thence
he passed on over the ground traversed by Braddock eight years be
fore. But Bouquet was as farailiar with the Indian character and
Indian methods of warfare as Braddock had been ignorant. The vig
ilance of his men, on the march or in carap, was never relaxed for a
moment ; on such perpetual watchfulness he knew that safety de
pended, and that he could best encounter Indians with Indian tactics.
At one o'clock on the 5th of August, they had reached within a
Battle of ™il6 of a Small stream called Bushy Run, by the side of
Bushy Run. ^\Yi(.\^ [^ -^yag proposcd to encaiiip and give the needed rest to
troops who had been on tbe march since daj^break. Bouquet was not
taken by surprise when suddenly a fierce attack was made upon his
advanced guard. Sending forward troops to their support, he brought
together his horses, cattle, and wagons, to secure their safety, sur
rounding them with a reserved corps. As the battle in front evi
dently grew more furious, he led forward this force, who, with rapid
discharges frora their guns and at the point of the bayonet, drove the
Indians before them and relieved their comrades. Then came fresh
assaults upon both flanks, and upon the convoy in the rear, and the

1763.] THE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN. 325
troops fell back to meet the tide of battle from these unexpected
quarters. The little army was surrounded ; the woods were full of
Indians, who, fighting from behind trees and under-brush, poured a
deadly fire into the troops collected in one spot. The maddened
horses, — there were nearly four hundred of them in the inclosed
space, — bewildered and unmanageable with fright at the firing and
the yells of the savages, plunged about wildly and created inextricable
confusion. But the men stood firm. They delivered their fire with
precision, or charged steadily with the bayonet, whenever a chance
was offered to strike a blow at the enemy ; though the chances were
few, for the Indians fled to their hiding-places at every charge, to ap
pear again from all sides, and to pour in again their deadly fire, as the
soldiers fell back into line. So the conflict continued all the after
noon, till the friendly darkness hid assailants and assailed alike.
The situation seemed desperate, and Bouquet wrote that night to
Amherst in a tone that showed, though he had not lost courage, he
had little hope that he and his command would survive the next day's
battle. Already he had lost sixty men, and many were wounded.
The camp was on a hill, and they had no water. The suffering, espe
cially of the wounded, from thirst was almost intolerable, — " more
intolerable," wrote Bouquet, " than the enemy's fire." But they had
only to wait through the long night, weary and faint with waiting and
watching, for what another day would bring forth. Any atterapt to
move the camp in the face of the enemy would be fatal. They must
conquer or die where they were.
The day renewed the fight. With the first light, the forest re
sounded with the yells of the savages ; through the branches and
leaves bullets rattled like hail. It was a question of hours only, as to
how long it would be before every soldier would be shot down, as all
stood, a conspicuous target to enemies who surrounded them on all
sides, and who took a deadl}^ aim, each raan frora his own particular
hiding-place. To return their fire was to fire at shadows ; to charge
was to charge upon dusky phantoms who flitted singly frora tree to
tree, or faded out of sight in the dim light of the forest. Bouquet was
hopeless of any successful resistance, unless he could bring these scat
tered and agile opponents into one compact body, to remain so long
enough to receive the crushing blows he knew the English could deal
thera. To do this, he resorted to a stratagem which corapletely an
swered his purpose. He feigned a retreat. Two companies of light
infantry were ordered to fall back into the circle wbich was Bouquet's
central point of defence. On the right and left the troops opened their
files to receive them, and then closed up in their rear as if to cover the

326 PONTIAC'S WAR. [Chap. XIL
retreat of the central circle. Two other companies drew up as if in
aid of this proposed retreat, when the Indians, completely deceived by
these skilful and careful movements, and fearing that their prey was
about to escape thera, rushed headlong, wild with rage, and — that
which the English so longed to see — in a corapact body, to the at
tack. It was a fierce, a terrible and destructive onslaught, as it must
needs have been ; but out of it came safety. Had the Indians watched
more warily, they would have seen there were movements from, as
well as toward, the central circle. Two companies, under cover of
the hill, were so placed that, as the savages threw themselves on the
main body, deterrained to destroy it by one united and concentrated
blow, these two companies poured in upon their flanks, dealing death
by bullet and bayonet upon the foe at last within their reach. As the
Indians turned to fly, two other companies met thera in front, and the
rout of the few who were left alive was complete. No savage had
time to fire his gun raore than once ; he was either dead or flying for
his life before he could load a second tirae. The Indians who were
on the other flank made no attempt to help those on whora such swift
Arrival at destructiou had fallen, but fled with the utmost precipita-
Fortpitt. tion. The Enghsh lost, in the two days, eight officers and
one hundred and fifteen men, and the Indian loss was somewhat
smaller. The march was resumed ; the eneray made but one attempt
to interrupt it, which was easily repulsed, and on the 15th of August
the troops entered Fort Pitt.
There came, not long afterward, general submission and universal
peace. Bradstreet, along the lakes, and Croghan and Bou-
Treaty of . ' o ' o
1766 at Os- quet, in the valley of the Ohio, had pacified the most war
like of the tribes, compelled the surrender of all English
prisoners, and induced the chiefs — Pontiac among them — to assemble
at Oswego to meet Sir William Johnson, where a treaty was con
cluded in the suramer of 1766.
But for many months, along the borders of all the midland colonies,
the people lived in perpetual fear of savage incursions, subjected often
to atrocities that seera alraost incredible, and retaliating with as little
mercy when the chance was offered them. Two thousand of the
whites were killed, and as raany farailies were driven from their
homes. It is hardly to be wondered at that the peaceful tenets of the
Friends — who would not believe that all the fault was on the side of
the untutored savages, who were fighting for the lands which had be
longed to them and their fathers — exasperated the backwoodsmen
whose life was a perpetual warfare. Some of these on the Susque
hanna — who carae to be known as the " Paxton Men," frora the name

1766.]

THE PAXTON MEN.

327

of their settlement — were restrained by no considerations of mercy
or of justice. Believing that sorae Indians at Conestoga were raore
faithful to their own people than to the Christians whose faith they
had accepted, the Paxton Men forced an entrance into a .,,, „
1 T T 111 The Paxton
house where these Indians had been put for safety, and mur- ^'"^¦
dered them in cold blood. When others were taken to Philadelphia
for protection, the borderers marched on the city, swearing vengeance
on Quakers and Indians alike. For a day or two the city was almost
in a state of siege from a mob of several hundred of these rough men,
who had gathered at Germantown, and peaceful Friends took up arms,
turning their meeting-house into barracks, in defence of the innocent
and helpless. The frontiersmen were at length induced to disperse
and return to their
homes. Much of
their exasperation
was undoubtedly
due to the inter
minable dispute be
tween the Proprie
tary Governors and
the Assemblies, —
in which there was
usually a large Qua
ker element, — the
latter always stur
dily maintaining
their right to tax
themselves in their
own way, and that
an equitable por
tion of that taxa
tion should be borne
by the Proprietaries. And this difference was also aggravated by the
jealousy of the Presbyterians of the influence of Friends.
Pontiac's conspiracy had failed in its grand object. But it had re
sulted in the capture and destruction of eight out of the
1C./.1 TT Till c Results of
twelve fortified posts attacked, generally by the massacre ot tiie conspir-
their garrisons ; it had inflicted upon the English the wreck
of several costly expeditions, and had carried terror and desolation
into some of the most fertile valleys on the frontiers of civilization.
This able chief afterward succeeded in rallying some of the tribes of
the Illinois country, and was joined by a considerable nuraber of
French traders ; but his followers gradually fell away, and in 1766

sir William Joiinson's House.

328

PONTIAC'S WAR.

[Chap. XH.

he gave in his formal submission to Sir William Johnson. In 1769, a
Kaskaskia Indian, being bribed by an English trader with a
barrel of liquor and a promise of additional reward, followed
the great chief into the forest, where East St. Louis now stands, and
assassinated him.

Death of
Pontiac.

Bouquet's Redoubt at Pittsburg.

CHAPTER XIII.

ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND.

Debts of England and hek Colonies. — Wealth of America. — The Naviga-
Tio.N' Acts. — The Writs of Assistance. — Plan of Taxing America for the
Royal Exchequer. — George Grknville's Resolution. — The King and the
King's Friends.— Grenville and the Colonial Agents. — The Sugar Act. —
Colonial Protest against Taxation. — Otis's Letter and Book. — Passage or
THE Stamp Act. — Reply of the Colonies. — First Continental Congress. —
Their Resolves. — Resolves
of Virginia. — Other Meas
ures OF Opposition. — The
Stamps Refused. — Mob in
Boston. — The English Gov
ernment. — William
Pitt. — The Stamp Act
repealed. — The De
claratory Act. — Con
fusion IN English
Counsels. — Joy for
the Repeal of the
Stamp Act. — Frank
lin before the House
of Commons.
The end of war
is, of course, a pe
riod of universal
congratulation;
yet all nations have
learned that it
bungs with it a series of changes
in social, flnancial, and com

pile Province House

Boston.

arrangements.

in jrcial
volving great difficulties even tiie .
°.°  „ 1763.

Tlesults of
peace of

after victory. The peace of
1763 was attended with such results both in England and in America.
True, France was humbled and disgraced, and there were court flat
terers enough in England to say that her power was broken forever.
But the wise Count de Vergennes, one of the ministers of France,

330 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XHL
read the future well enough to see and to say that the loss of Canada
by France involved the loss to England of her American colonies.
Since the event, raany sirailar prophecies have been found in the
words of Englishraen, Frenchmen, and Americans of that time.
Both countries over-estimated the iramediate value, to either crown.
Value of of the province which was lost and won. The French Gov-
Fmnce^and ernment did not know how to administer colonies. It had
England. given away the whole valley of the jMississippi to the King
of Spain, for mere want of skill to make it worth the trifle which it
cost the French exchequer. Canada, though longer held, was not
more profitable. For the bureaux of administration, under all dynas
ties, have a foolish way of valuing possessions or departments accord
ing as they are a charge on the treasury or yield it a profit. To Eng
land, Canada was of value, because its possession secured peace to the
English colonies, — but hardly for its own sake. Even under the
false " Colonial System " it could hardly be claimed that the furs or
timber or naval stores of Canada were any raore valuable to Enghsh
trade than those which could be obtained in her other colonies.
What was perfectly clear, however, both in the colonies and in
England, was, that the first duty of peace was, to pay the expenses of
war. The American governments, fortunately for theraselves, had
had so little credit in Europe that they had not atterapted to borrow
largely there. But their home debts were considerable. That of ^las-
sachusetts alone was nearly £200,000, not funded, — a large sum for
those days, — and the province had determined on a system of tax
ation which should repay it in five years. In other colonies, the em
barrassments caused by debt, in especial by paper currency, were con
siderable. The national debt of England, almost doubled by the war,
was now £145,000,000.1 What had been gained by the war? Safety
to the American colonies, and additional territory. True, the new
territory had but a few hundred thousand inhabitants, and much of it
was inaccessible wilderness. But on the map, at least, it doubled the
English dominions in America, and the thought was naturally sug
gested that America raust pay a part of the enormous debt, to justify
which American provinces were the largest visible acquisitions.
A habit had grown up, indeed, of justifying the subsidies paid to
Gerraan powers, and the other expenses of war upon the Continent of
Europe, by saying that England could " conquer America in Ger
many." It was not simply the cost of the campaigns of Braddock,
Abercrombie, and Wolfe, which was to be repaid ; it was those more
doubtful expenditures which had left the memories of Minden and
1 Private correspondence of that tirae is full of terrors regarding it, and a belief that
the nation is bankrupt is constantly expressed.

1760-1775.] TRADE OF THE COLONIES. 331
Fontenoy, that were to be met, if possible, by the colonies now freed
from the dread of French rivalry or of savage war. The money grants
made to all the American colonies in the war were only a little over a
million pounds. ^ But the charge of the army and the navy, it was
said, should be borne in part by them. The colonists considered that
they had borne their share in maintaining their own contingents of
troops, and they had lost nearly thirty thousand of their young men
in the war.
Meanwhile, the rapid increase of the American colonies, both in
numbers and in wealth, was forced upon the attention even health of
of the most careless. It is said that, between 1765 and *ancoio-'"
1775, two thirds of the foreign commerce of Great Britain ""'^'
was that which she conducted with America. Between 1700 and
1760, the value of property in England increased fifty per cent., and
Pitt declared this was wholly due to the Araerican colonies. Speak
ing iu 1766, he said, " The profit to Great Britain from the trade of
the colonies is two millions a year. This is the fund that carried you
triumphantly through the last war. You owe this to America." Let
it be remembered that Great Britain supplied three millions of peo
ple in America with almost every manufactured article which they
needed ; that she received from her colonies the tobacco and much of
the fish, indigo, rice, naval stores, and other productions which she
required; that, with her growing strength in the West Indies, she
used her colonies on the raain land to feed her islands, — and it will
be understood that English merchants and those who had to deal with
them in England conceived high ideas of the wealth to be derived
from America. From 1760 to 1775, Great Britain sent to New Eng
land, New York, and Pennsylvania alone, goods amounting in value
to about £2,000,000 annually. The exports of the thirteen colo
nies to Great Britain alone, as appeared from the public statistics,
were often more than a million pounds a year. In 1773 they were
as much as £1,369,232. The comparison supplies us with an estimate
of the result of the trade of the colonies with the West Indies and
the Mediterranean, from which trade by bills of exchange, or other
methods, the English merchants were paid what the direct exports
did not provide. There was a constant drain of sijecie, which com
pelled the colonies to resort to the issue of paper currency as a cir
culating medium among themselves, and in its turn increased their
burdens. Sir Robert Walpole said he supposed that if the colonies
should gain £500,000 in trade, half of it would, in two years, pass by
indirect channels into the English exchequer. There were sound
commercial, as well as political, reasons for colonial resistance to any
taxation in the benefits of which they were to have no share.
1 The precise snm was £1,031,066 13s. 4d.

332 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIII.
In the vast enlargement of the commerce of England and of the
The Naviga- colonics, and in the movements of armies and navies in the_
tion Act. -i,y,^i-^ the strlctncss of the " Navigation Act " sustained many
severe strains. Exceptions were raade to its principles by statute.
In particular, such exceptions perraitted direct coraraerce with Cath
olic countries, which the colonies supplied with fish for Lent, and with
the islands of the AVest Indies. More than this, however, — the reve
nue officers had been perraitted, and were even expected, to overlook
violations of the act in certain classes of trade, where the national
interest seeraed to require its relaxation. But on the whole these
laws were sustained, and with the return of peace a greater stringency
was observed. Every province felt it, and tbe annals of every state
contain accounts of popular indignation against the officers of the cus
toms. In Boston, they were ordered to procure from the Supreme
Court general warrants authorizing them to search where they would
for smuggled goods. The collector directed his deputy at Salem to
obtain one of these Writs of Assistance, as they were called. The
question of legality was raised, and the Superior Court decided to
hear argument before granting the ^Yrit. James Otis, Jr.,
James Otis Jr. o o ' '
' was Advocate-general, and it was his duty officially to ap
pear on behalf of the Crown. He refused, resigned his office, and at
the trial in Boston, in February, 1761, appeared, with Oxenbridge
Thacher, a leading lawyer, on behalf of the popular side. " Then
and there," says John Adams, " American Independence was born."
" Otis was a flame of fire. With a promptitude of classical allusions,
a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates,
a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into f uturitj', and a
rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him.
American independence was then and there born  Every man
of an imraense, crowded audience, appeared to me to go away as I
did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance." In this case, the
court took tirae to consult the English practice, which, as it proved,
permitted the issue of the general warrants. But the warrants,
though granted, were never used.
In the interval between the petition for the writ and tbe hearing
before the Suprerae Court, Chief Justice Sewall, who had doubts of
the legality of granting the power of search, died. Hutchinson, who
was Lieutenant-governor, a raember of the Council, and a Judge of
Probate, was also appointed Chief Justice, as Sewall's successor, by
Governor Bernard. There was little doubt what the decision of the
Court would be under this new Chief Justice. The appointraent was
raade, it was supposed, to secure a decision in favor of the Crown;
and the indignation and disgust were the greater that the choice

i,-'-Ml?S OTIS

1.764.] PLAN OF TAXING THE COLONIES. 333
should have fallen upon one who alreadj^ held three other important
offices. In reply to the bitter animadversions upon such an appoint
ment, it was retaliated tbat Otis had resigned his position as Advo
cate-general, not from patriotic motives, but because tbe office of Chief
Justice was not given to his father, James Otis, a distinguished lawyer
of Barnstable, and a member of the Provincial Assembly. The cal
umny was a baseless invention, and John Adaras afterward expressed
his surprise, in writing upon these events, that anybody should " have
swallowed that execrable lie, that Otis had no patriotisra." ^
When the popular hatred had driven Lord Bute from the ministry
in 1763, George Grenville succeeded him as prirae minister. Qrenviiie's
On the 10th of March, 1764, Grenville moved, on an amend- ^^mp-du-
ment to the Sugar Act, a resolution which contained these *""*'
words : " It may be proper to charge stamp-duties on the colonies and
plantations." The issue of these fatal words has been so iraportant,
that every effort has been made to trace the origin of the suggestion.
As early as 1734, Governor Cosby, of New York, had proposed to the
Assembly " a Duty upon Paper to be used in the Law, and in all
Conveyances and Deeds," as a convenient method of taxation; but the
Asserably did not accept the proposition, though it was intended as a
colonial measure. That such a tax should be levied by act of Par
liament, seems to have been first suggested ten years later by Lieuten
ant-governor Clarke, of New York. In December, 1744, Governor
Clinton wrote to the Duke of Newcastle : " Mr. Clarke, the
Lieu' Governor, lately showed me two printed scheimes tion of the
which he said were sent hira from England." One was of a
general character in relation to trade ; but the other was a proposal
" for estabhshing by Act of Parliament dutys upon starap papers and
parchment in all the British and American Colonys." " I must beg
leave," adds the Governor, " to make a short observation upon them,"
— and it was the wisest observation he ever made. " The People in
North Araerica," he continues, " are quite strangers to any duty, but
such as they raise themselves, and was such a scheira to take place
without their knowledge, it might prove a dangerous consequence to
His Majesty's interest." ^ The next reference to the project is found
in the English Archives, under date of July 5, 1763, in a note from
Hugh McCulloh, a treasury clerk, in which he says the stamp-duty
on vellum and paper in America would produce upwards of £60,000
a year. The plan must have been considered, therefore, imraediately
after Grenville took the reins. For the Earl of Bute had resigned on
the 8th of April, 1763.
^ Tudor's Life of James Otis,
^ Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. vi.

334

ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND.

[Chap. XHL

and *' the
KiiigV
friends

According to an anecdote of a later period, told on the authority of
The King Benjamin West, C4eorge III., when he carae tothe throne,
wished to have a new palace, which might rival the palaces
of the Continent. It is said that the ground for this new
Versailles was selected in Hyde Park, and that nothing was needed
but the money to build it.
To obtain for the treasury
a larger revenue became
thus a personal wish of the
King and the courtiers, and
to gratify that wish also the
scheme of a revenue from
the colonies was determined
on. There is probably some
foundation for this story. It
is not necessary, however, to
go far to find the reasons
why the ministers of great
nations wish to increase the
receipts of the treasuries
they control. This is cer
tain, — that the knot of
courtiers who, at this tirae,
took the name of " The
King's friends," always fa
vored, as the King himself did, all proposals for taxation.
The cautiously worded clause introduced by Grenville into a sugar
Grenviue ^ill Only conimitted Parliaraent to what might be necessary.
Colonies' ^^^^ attracted but little observation in London, except among
agents. ^i^g agents of the colonial Assemblies. The custom had be
come general for each Asserably to maintain an agent constantly
in London, who represented its interests. This custom illustrates the
relations of the colonies to the Crown, and shows how little the As
semblies trusted their own Governors as mediators between them and
England. Tbe agents instantly told Grenville that any scheme for
internal taxation would be intolerable to Araerica. He replied that he
should have carried through the raeasure that year, instead of indicat
ing it by a resolution, if he had not himself thought it advisable that
the Assemblies should have notice of the intention, and an opportu
nity of proposing another mode of contributing to this charge, if any
other should be raore agreeable to them.^
1 There was afterwards much discussion, even in Parliament, how far this overture of
Grenville's to the agents went. jV comparison of the stateraent in Franklin's letters, and

George

1764.]

THE SUGAR ACT.

335

The Sugar Act, which, by Grenville's amendment, obtained a place
so important in American history, was first enacted in the j,^^ ^^
sixth year of the reign of George II. (1734). In order to '^'''•
protect the English sugar colonies, a duty, so high as to be practically
prohibitory, was laid upon all sugar and molasses from foreign colo
nies introduced into American ports. This act expired in 1764. In
renewing it, Grenville wished to make it remunerative instead of pro
hibitory, and accordingly changed both text and title. The old title
was, " An act for the better securing the trade of his Majesty's sugar
colonies in America; " the new one
was, "An act granting duties in
the colonies of America." The
duty on foreign molasses was
changed from sixpence a gallon to
three pence, and new duties were
imposed on coffee, pimento. East
India goods, and wines from Ma
deira and the West
ern Islands. Impor- r.jg*"^"'™"*'
tations direct from
these islands to the
colonies were permit
ted, by one of the nu
merous exceptions to
the Navigation Act.
The colonies had con
ceded the right of the
government to pro
tect trade with a pro
hibitory tariff; but
when the preamble
of the new bill declared that it was "just and necessary that a revenue
should be raised there," and it was proposed that this be done by a
tax virtually direct, which would burden almost every business trans
action in the daily life of the citizens, it aroused a storm of universal
indignation. It was an assumption by Parliament of a power which
Hutchinson's account of Bollan's advices to Massachusetts, shows that the fact is as
given above. Hutchinson's statements are always open to suspicion, because he wrote after
the result. But in this case, the Assembly's letter in replj' to that of their agent, Jasper
Mauduit, makes it certain that Hutchinson rightly represents its contents. That letter
was written by Jaraes Otis, June 13, 1764. It says distinctly : " The kind offer of suspend
ing the stamp-duty, in the manner and upon the condition mentioned, amounts to no more
than this, that if the Colonies will not tax themselves as they may be directed, the Parlia
ment will tax them."

Faneuil Hail, 1879.

336 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XHL
the Colonial Assemblies had long raaintained was inherent in the
colonies themselves, and considerations of private interest now gave
strength to a principle of public policy.
When the news reached Boston that it was proposed to impose a
stamp act upon the colonies, a meeting was called in Faneuil Hall,
and instructions to the representatives of the town in the General
Court — written by Samuel Adams — were adopted. "There is,"
said this paper, " no more room for delay. We therefore expect that
you will use your earliest endeavors in the General Assembly that
such methods will be taken as will effectually prevent these proceed
ings  But what still heightens our apprehensions is, that these
unexpected proceedings raay be preparatory to more extensive taxa
tions upon us. For if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands ?
Why not the produce of our lands, and in short everything we possess
or make use of ? .... If taxes are laid upon us in any shape, without
our having a legal representative where they are laid, are we not re
duced from the character of subjects to the miserable state of tributary
slaves ? " And the instructions concluded with this suggestion, — the
germ of the union of the provinces, — that " as his Majesty's other
North American Colonies are embarked with us in this most impor
tant bottom, we further desire you to use your endeavors that their
weight may be added to that of this Province ; that by the united
applications of all who are aggrieved, all raay obtain redress."
This document the House adopted essentially as its own, and sent
it, with James Otis's pamphlet on the " Rights of the Colonies," as
instructions for the guidance of Mauduit, the Massachusetts agent in
London. About the same tirae, a committee to correspond with other
colonies "upon measures which concerned their common interest" was
appointed, as Adams's original report to the town meeting had sug
gested. The letter to Mauduit, the English agent, undoubtedly drawn by
James Otis, was explicit. It set forth the expenses which Massachu
setts also had sustained in these wars, carried on for the benefit of the
empire. " Granting the time raay come, which we hope is far off,
when the British ^ Parliament shall think fit to oblige the North
1 Once for all in these pages, it may be said here that the use of the word "British''
was the custom of the time ou both sides of the water. Aftcr the union with Scotland, it
had been made a fashion, which had at last taken root everywhere. In literature, in Par
liament, and in correspondence, the " British army," the " British Parliament," and the
" British Constitution " were spoken of, — of course correctly, if the feelings of Scotland
were to be considered. This habit has died out in England, and the custom of to-day
speaks of the "English Parliament " and the " English Army." Readers of Sir Walter
Scott will reraember how unwilling he was to yield to this habit. Ignorant Englishmen, —
as ignorant of the literature of their own country as of everything else, — have come to
regard the use of the word " British " in American writers as a provincialisra. The truth

1764.] PROTESTS AGAINST TAXATION. 337
Americans not only to maintain civil government araong themselves,
but to support an army to protect them, can it be possible that the
duties to be imposed, and the taxes to be levied, shall be assessed with
out the voice of an Araerican parliaraent ? If all colonhsts coioniai
are to be taxed at pleasure, without any representation in p™''^*^*''-
Parliament, what will there be to distinguish thera, in point of lib
erty, from the subjects of the most absolute prince ? If we are not
represented, we are slaves."
This is the same ground which the House of Representatives had
taken two years before, in a remonstrance also prepared by Otis. In
that case. Governor Bernard, in a recess of the Assembly, had incurred
a small expense, and made a contract for the future, which he asked
the Assembly to assume. The House of Representatives then replied
that their most darling privilege was the right of originating all taxes.
They said, " It would be of httle consequence to the people whether
they were subject to George or to Louis, — the King of Great Britain,
or the French King, — if both were as arbitrary as both would be, if
both could levy taxes without Parliament." ^
Other colonies were not less alarraed, and some of thera not less
emphatic in their protests against the proposed tax. In October, the
General Assembly of New York addressed a memorial to the House
of Comraons, in concluding which they said they had " no desire to
derogate from the power of the Parhament of Great Britain ; but they
cannot avoid deprecating the loss of such rights as they have hith
erto enjoyed, .... the deprivation of which will dispirit the people,
abate their industry, discourage trade, introduce discord, poverty, and
slavery." And they also at the sarae time appointed committees to
correspond with the agent of the province in London, and with the
Assemblies, or their committees, in the other colonies. Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and Virginia instructed their agents to ask for a hearing
before the House of Comraons, and Pennsylvania sent a moderate but
firm protest to Franklin, to be presented to Grenville.
On the llth of August, however, the Earl of Halifax had sent in
structions to all the Governors in the colonies, that they should at
once transmit to him " a list of all instruments raade use of in public
transactions, law proceedings, grants, conveyances, securities of land
or money, within your government, with proper and sufficient descrip
tions of the same ; in order that, if Parliaraent should think proper
to pursue the intention of the aforesaid resolution, they may thereby
is, the Araerican writers follow the custom of the period when their ancestors were still the
subjects of the "Best of Kings."
'¦ Adjourned session, September, 1762.
VOL. III. 22

338 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIII.
be enabled to carry it into execution in the most effectual and least
burdensome manner."
So soon as the Massachusetts Assembly received these tidings, it
prepared an address, drawn up by Hutchinson, to the King, Lords,
and Commons. There was rauch difficulty in framing it so that it
should be acceptable at once to the people, who were represented in
the Assembly, and to the more courtly Council, which had been se
lected by the Governor from the candidates sent up by the House.
At last, however, an address was agreed upon. When it arrived in
England, the Board of Trade seems at first to have refused to forward
it to the King.^ Edmund Burke and Governor Hutchinson both speak
of the refusal to receive this and other memorials. But at the end
of the year, perhaps in response to some unofficial instructions, this
memorial, with Otis's pamphlet and the New York protest, was sent
to the King by the Board of Trade, with the letter of the Massachu
setts Asserably to Mauduit, their agent. The Board said, " We hum
bly conceive that in this letter the Acts and Resolutions of the Legis
lature of Great Britain are treated with tbe most indecent disrespect,
principles of the most dangerous nature and tendency openly avowed,
and the Assemblies of other colonies invited in the most extraordi
nary raanner to adopt the sarae opinions. We think it our duty
hurably to lay these votes before your Majesty, together with a book
referred to therein, printed and published in Boston, and since re
printed and published in London."
The Legislature of Virginia met so late in the year that its resolu
tions were not among those thus coolly condemned by the Board which
sent these memorials to the King. When it met, in November, 1764,
a raemorial was drawn by Pendleton or Bland, which remonstrated
with Parliament against taxation without representation. The lan
guage was moderate in comparison with that of after years, but it did
not lack for distinctness in its assertion of the principle for which her
sister colonies were contending.
With such warnings, Grenville introduced the Stamp Act, which
The Stamp ^'¦^^ passcd On the 22d of March, 1765. It was debated
*°'' hotly, and was opposed earnestly in a full House ; but the
majority for the measure was very large — 294 to 42. By this act,
every business document was declared illegal and void unless written
on paper bearing the governraent starap. The cheapest stamp was
one shilling, and for the more iraportant docuraents the prices ranged
upward frora this sum.
1 Judge Marshall says the ground was taken that petitions against money bills interfered
with the privilege of the House of Commons. Neither Burke nor Hutchinson alludes to
this e.xcuse. If it was raade, the claira was extraordinary.

1765.]

THE STAMP ACT.

339

A Royal Stamp.

The colonies had been wholly prepared for this by the intimations
of the previous year, and their indignation was all the greater because
their remonstrances were unnoticed. Protests against parliamentary
interfereuce in taxation, which for a century and a half had been
made on separate occasions, were now called forth at tiie sarae mo
ment by one act, of which for a year they had had warning. Every
colony spoke in reply, and with no uncertain sound. The news arrived
in Massachusetts before the annual " election day " in May. The
House of Representatives did not so much as compliment the Gov
ernor by an answer to his speech, but sent letters,
in the name of the House, to every Assembly as
far as South Carolina, proposing a general con
gress to consult on the circurastances of the colo
nies, and the difficulties to which they would be
reduced by parliaraentary taxation, and to "con
sider of a general, united, dutiful, loyal, and hura
ble representation to the King." The day pro
posed was the first Tuesday in October. In
Rhode Island, where the Governor was elected
by the people. Ward, who held the office, refused
to swear to carry out the act. In Connecticut, the Governor, Fitch,
took the fatal oath, fell from popular favor at once, and was never
reelected. The Legislature of Virginia had also raet in May. According to
Patrick Henry's recollections, when he vras an old man, there uenry's
was a certain aversion on the part of the leading members to ¦'«s»i"''™s.
come forward. Observing this, he wrote, on the blank leaf of an old
law-book, four resolutions which became celebrated. The third and
fourth are in these words : —
" Resolved, That the taxation of the people by theraselves, or by
persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know
what taxes the people are able to bear, or the easiest method of rais
ing them, and must themselves be affected by every tax laid on the
people, is the only security against a burdensome taxation, and the
distinguished characteristick of British freedom, without which the
ancient constitution cannot exist.
" Resolved, That his Majesty's hege people of his most ancient and
loyal colony, have without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right
of being governed by such laws respecting their internal polity and
taxation, as are derived frora their own consent, with the approbation
of their sovereign or his substitutes, and that the sarae has been con
stantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain."
These resolutions were opposed, with great earnestness, by all the

340

ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND.

[Chap. XIH.

more prominent members. They said the same thing had been ex
pressed in more conciliatory form, in the resolutions of the previous
year, to which no answer was yet received. Henry supported his res
olutions with all the fire of his eloquence. It was in the midst of
this debate that he exclairaed, " Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the
First his Cromwell, and George the Third — " (" Treason ! " cried
the Speaker. " Treason ! treason ! " echoed frora every part of the
house.) Henry faltered not for an instant, but rising to a loftier atti
tude, and fixing on the Speaker a look of deterraination, finished his
sentence with the firmest emphasis — '¦^ may profit hy their example. If
this be treason, make the most of it."
The resolutions passed by a very close vote ; the last of the series
by one majority only. It
was afterwards remembered
that the messenger who car
ried to Massachusetts these
resolutions of Virginia,
passed on the way, and con
versed with, the messenger
who carried to Carolina and
Virginia the invitation of
Massachusetts to a Conti
nental Congress.
The resolutions of Virginia
were passed on the 29th of
May, 1765. The Massachu
setts Assembly met the same
week. As the summer passed,
the arrival of bales of stamped
paper and the commissions
for the new officers who were to sell the stamps, was the signal in
each seaport for the expression of popular indignation. The col
lectors were hung in effigy; they were "waited on" by raobs, and
corapelled to decline. As successive Assemblies met, they pronounced
the Starap Act illegal. And nine Assemblies appointed their dele
gates, in answer to the invitation of Massachusetts, to the First Con
tinental Congress. It met in the city of New York on the first
Tuesday of October, 1765. Twenty-eight delegates constituted the
Congress of Asscmbly. They chose General Timothy Ruggles, of Massa-
heS^New chusetts. President.^ This Congress was composed of some
^°''''' of the most distinguished men in the colonies. They had
been chosen, also, with the wish to have the colonies fairly repre-
' He did not concui' in the conclusions of the Congress.

1765.]

THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

341

Their pro
test.

sented. On the roll are found the naraes of some who, in the final
issue, sided with the Crown. But their resolution was decided ; it
satisfied the raost eager ; it surprised the royal Governors ; it prob
ably surprised the government in England. The resolves
which the Congress agreed upon should be studied for a pre
cise view of the position in which at that raoraent the countiy stood,
now united for the first tirae. They are in the following words : —
" The members of the Congress, sincerely devoted, with the warra
est sentiments of affection and duty, to his Majesty's person and gov
ernment, inviolably attached to tbe present happy establishraent of
the Protestant suc
cession, and with
minds deeply ira
pressed by a sense
of the present and
impending misfor
tunes of the British
Colonies on this con
tinent, having con
sidered, as maturely
as time will permit,
the circumstances of
the said colonies, es
teem it our indis
pensable duty to
make the followin
declaration of our humble opinion respecting the raost essential rights
and hberties of the colonies, and of the grievances under which they
labour by reason of several late acts of Parliaraent.
" I. That his Majesty's subjects in these colonies owe the sarae alle
giance to the Crown of Great Britain that is owing frora his subjects
born within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body,
the Parliament of Great Britain.
" II. That his Majesty's liege subjects in these colonies are entitled
to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural-born subjects
within the Kingdom of Great Britain.
" IH. That it is inseparably essential to the freedora of a people,
and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on
them but with their own consent, given personally or by their repre
sentatives. " IV. That the people of these colonies are not, and frora their
local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons
in Great Britain.

342 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XHL
" V. That the only representatives of the people of these colonies
are persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes ever have
been or can be constitutionally imposed on them but by their respect
ive legislatures.
" VI. That all supplies to the Crown being free gifts of the people,
it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the principles and spirit of
the British Constitution, for the people of Great Britain to grant to
his Majesty the property' of the Colonists.
" VII. That trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of
every British Subject in these Colonies.
" VIII. That the late act of Parliament, entitled ' An Act for
granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties in the
British Colonies and plantations in America, etc.,' by imposing taxes
on the inhabitants of these Colonies, and the said act, and several
other acts, by extending the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty
beyond its ancient limits, have a manifest tendency to subvert the
rights and liberties of the colonists.
" IX. That the duties imposed by several late acts of Parliament,
frora the peculiar Circumstances of these Colonies, will be extremely
burthensome and grievous, and frora the scarcity of specie the pay
ment of thera is absolutely irapracticable.
" X. That as the profits of the trade of these Colonies ultimately
centre in Great Britain to pay for the raanufactures which they are
obliged to take frora thence, they eventually contribute very largely
to all supplies granted there to the Crown.
" XI. That the restrictions imposed by several late acts of Parlia
ment on the trade of these Colonies will render them unable to pur
chase the manufactures of Great Britain.
" XII. That the increase, prosperity, and happiness of these Colo
nies depend on the full and free enjoyment of their rights and liber
ties, and an intercourse with Great Britain, rautuall}' affectionate and
advtintageous. " XIII. That it is the right of the British subjects in these Colo
nies to petition the King, or either house of Parliaraent.
"Lastly, that it is the indispensable duty of these Colonies to the
best of sovereigns, to the raother country, and to themselves, to en
deavour by a loyal and dutiful address to his Majesty, and humble
applications to both houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal of the
act for granting and applying certain starap duties, of all clauses of
any other acts of Parliaraent, whereby the jurisdiction of the Admi
ralty is extended as aforesaid, and of the other late acts for the restric
tion of American commerce."
Sirailar resolves were passed in many of the Colonial Assera-

1765.] OPPOSITION TO THE STAMP ACT. 343
blies, Virginia taking the lead in a series which encouraged all the
others. Among the measures already taken in the colonies to resent the
proposal of taxation, were agreements by which the asso- Measures of
ciates bound themselves not to import Enghsh goods, and "pp"*''''™-
orders that had gone forward were countermanded. Retail traders
agreed not to buy and sell such goods if they were brought into the
country ; and in New York a fair was opened for the exhibition and
the encouragement of domestic raanufactures. It was agreed not to
put on mourning apparel, as the required stuffs were English. That
the growth of wool might be encouraged, it was deterrained that lambs
should not be used as food. The royal Governors, in that delusion
which ruled them through the whole, spoke with contempt of these
compacts. But they were so powerful as to govern the whole course
of the year's trade, and were sufficient to appall sorae of the largest
manufacturing towns in England. Manchester first appears in the
parliamentary history as a place of importance at this crisis, when
the petition of her manufacturers asserts that nine tenths of their
workmen are uneraployed.
It was soon found that it would be impossible to enforce the use of
stamped paper, though the ref usal suspended the whole busi- popular hos-
ness of.the country. Mr. Oliver, the agent for its distri- Sp'dis*^"
bution in Massachusetts, was compelled to resign, and after- '"''"'""^s-
ward required by a mob to renew his resignation in public. His win
dows were broken and his house entered, in the violence of the trans
action. Gaining courage by the quiet with which this outrage was
received, the mob attacked the house of his brother-in-law. Lieuten
ant-governor Hutchinson, which was entered, and everything in it
thrown into the street and destroyed or carried away.' The ^j^bg in
local authorities called out the militia, and offered rewards ^°'^^°^-
for the arrest of the ringleaders. But when some persons were ar
rested, another mob released thera.
In other colonies, violent measures or peaceable agreements were
resorted to with the sarae result. Except araong those holding office
under the Crown, there was but one feeling. The newspapers —
whose influence then was less through editorial coraraent upon public
affairs, and more in letters from priv^ate citizens — led public opinion
in warm appeals to patriotism, as well as in dispassionate essays upon
the rights of the people. In Xew York, an association called the
Sons of Liberty ^ took upon itself the direction of the opposition.
^ The estimate of the damage was .£2, .500, which may be taken as the value of the fur
niture and other property in oue of the most elegant establishments in Boston, at that time.
^ When the Stamp Act was passing through Parliament, Charles Townshend sjjoke of

344 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIIL
Sirailar associations were forraed in other provinces, and a committee
of correspondence gave to that opposition the strength of mutual and
concentrated puipose. Lieu-
A 1 ' i ' tl 11 Ult ^ i-^einoi Ctilden made

burnt in effigy ; the house of Ma]oi
James was sacked, and its contents completely destroyed. He had
made hiraself peculiarly obnoxious by declaring that " he would cram
the colonies as planted by the care of England. It was then that Colouel Barre' broke out
in that brilliant aud indignant defence of the colonies, where iu the French War he had

1765.] POPULAR EXCITEMENT. 345
the stamps down their throats with the end of his sword;" that "if
they attempted to rise he would drive them all out of the town, for a
pack of rascals, with four and twenty men." Colden was at length
compelled, by the popular excitement and violence, to pledge himself
not to use the stamps, and to deposit them with the city Government
for safe-keeping. When a vessel arrived in the harbor of New York
with stamps on board for use in Connecticut, the vessel was boarded,
the packages seized, taken on shore, and a bonfire raade of them. In
Philadelphia, the stamp-distributor, one Hughes, raade haste publicly to
resign his office when informed that his rather tardy deliberation would
be aided by a visit from the Sons of Liberty. In Maryland, the dis
tributor. Hood, was burnt in effigy, and when he fled to New York, a
deputation from the "Sons" visited hira at Flushing, demanded and
received a formal resignation of his office, and an oath that he would not
resume it. In every province, the stamp-distributor was compelled to
resign his office. In New Hampshire, the coramission of that officer
was carried in procession upon the point of a sword ; the newspaper
of Portsmouth carae out in mourning, and an effigy of the Goddess
of Liberty was carried to an open grave. In South Carolina, the
Stamp Act was publicly burnt, while the bells of Charleston tolled,
and the flags on the ships in the harbor were hung at half-mast.
The Constitution of England was by no means yet adjusted on its
present basis, or on what were then called " constitutional ^j^^ jingiijij
principles." George III. had steadily carried forward his s"™™™™'-
notions of a possible royal prerogative, such as his predecessors, George
I. and George II. , had been content to yield. The Earl of Bute, the
favorite of the young King's mother, and the head of his household
when he was a prince, had indeed ceased to rule ; but the popular
indignation suspected, however unjustly, that his influence still con-
trohed the government when Grenville was crowded out of power
before the year closed, chiefly from the feeling that he was Bute's tool
and appointed successor. Under the powerful patronage of the Duke
served as a soldier. " They planted by your care ! " he exclaimed. " No, your oppres
sions planted thera in America  Tbey nourished up by your indulgence ! They grew
by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care about them, that care was exer
cised in sending persons to rule them in one department and another, who were perhaps
the deputies of deputies to some member of this Hou.se, sent to spy out their liberties, to
misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them ; men whose behaviour on many occa
sions has caused the blood of those sons of lltierty to recoil withiu them." The speech was
reported by Jared Ingersoll, the agent of Connecticut, and was probably Avidely and grate
fully read in America before the Sons of Liberty in New York had formed their association
and given it a name. "I ara happy to hear of your success the American day," wrote the
Earl of Shelburne to Barre'. "It must give your friends in America the greatest pleas
ure." — Tii7.ma.m-'ic&'& Life of Shelburne. Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull has shown that the
phrase "sons of liberty "had been used many years before in Connecticut. But it had
then been applied to freedora from ecclesiastical rather than political tyranny.

346 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIH.
of Cumberland, a new cabinet, which was really independent of the
Earl of Bute, came into being, headed by the Marquis of Rocking
ham. This Rockingham ministry was so much engaged in home poli
tics, and in securing its own existence, that when it became necessary
to call Parliament together, in December, 1765, it had come to no
understanding on its course regarding Araerica ; the King's speech
.sirajjly referring to the importance of the news received from there.
Grenville, enraged by this news, moved an amendment to the address,
full of indignation. The Ministers were not yet reelected to Parlia
ment, and, with some difficulty, Grenville, in deference to them, with
drew his motion. But after the recess the storm carae.
Strange to S'ay, however, even in the recess, the Ministry could not
agree on their course. Nor had they agreed when the necessity of ac
tion was forced upou them. Then ensued one of the most dramatic
scenes that Parliament ever witnessed, and the debate of January,
1766, which is one of the most memorable in history.
It was a year since William Pitt had appeared in the House. The
William formal debate on the address to the King carae on. A
Piw- young meraber, whom the world did not know, but who has
since given us the most vital historj^ of this whole business, — Edmund
Burke, — raade his maiden speech. Pitt rose immediately after him,
the whole House eager to hear the voice of the oracle. He began by
conafratulating Parliament and Burke's friends on the value of the
acquisition of such a meraber, and then went on to speak doubtfully,
even sarcastically, of the Ministry. At last he carae to speak of
America : " When the resolution was taken in the House
fence of to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured
America. . i • , , . • c • 1
to be carried in my bed, so great was my agitation ot mmd
for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have
laid me down on this floor to have borne ray testiraony against it.
.... Since I cannot depend upon health for any future day, I will
now say thus much, tbat in my opinion this kingdom has no right to
lay a tax upon the colonies  Taxation is no part of the gov
erning or legislative power. At the same time, on any real point of
legislation, I believe tbe authority of Parliament to be fixed as the
Polar Star, fixed for the reciprocal benefit of the mother country and
her infant colonies. They are the subjects of this kingdom, equally
entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of raankind, and the
peculiar privileges of Englishraen, and equally bound bjr its laws.
The Americans are the sons, not the bastards, of England." ^
1 It was in this speech that Pitt made his celebrated prophecy that the " rotten part of
the Constitution" — by which he meant the "rotten borough" system — would not con
tinue a century.

1765.]

MEMORABLE LANGUAGE OF PITT.

347

At the close of this speech a long pause ensued. Then General
Conway rose, — the leader of the Ministry in the House. Pie was
one of the few men who had voted against the Stamp Act. He said
he agreed with, almost every word which Pitt had uttered, and he be
lieved the Ministers did ; and he disclaimed distinctly the charge
which Pitt had made in the speech, that the Earl of Bute still had an
infiuence in the royal councils.
George Grenville, of course, could not bear silently such attacks on
his policy. He defended the Stamp Act ably. He said the origin
of the American hatred to it
was to be found in the fac
tions of the House. When
he ceased speaking, Pitt rose
to answer him, though to
speak twice was forbidden
by the rules. But the House
cried, " Go on ! " and Pitt
went on. " The gentleman
tells us America is obsti
nate, America is almost in
open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice
that America has resisted !
Three millions of people so
dead to all the feelings of
liberty as voluntarily to sub
mit to be slaves, would have
been fit instruments to make
slaves of all the rest."
These words, perhaps, more
than any others in those celebrated addresses, endeared Pitt to the
Americans. It would be hard to find other words more widely re
peated, even by school-boys in their declamations, for raore than a
hundred years.
The address to the King determined nothing. But Pitt's speeches
fixed the minds of tbe wavering ministers. Pie had given
, T T 1 1 -1 1 . 1 1 The results.
ttiem a policy, and they were sure it would be sustained by
the House. In compliance with his ideas, they brought in a bill re
pealing the Starap Act, and another declaring the supreme power of
Parliament over the colonies. They also laid ou the table large ex
tracts from the American correspondence. The House heard at its
bar witnesses acquainted with the subject, araong others. Dr. Frank
lin. i This exaraination closed with these questions and answers : —
' The full report of the examination, all alive with Franklin's wisdom and wit, is iu
Sparks's Franklin, vol. iv., p. 192, and in earlier editions of Franklin's Works.

Edmund Burke.

348 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIH.
" Q. What used to be the pride of Araericans ?
" .1. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great Britain.
" Q. What is now their pride ?
" ^. To wear their old clothes over again."
If the final result of Pitt's eloquence, of Conway's conviction, of
Franklin's wit and wisdora, and tbe apparent wish of the majority of
the House, seems to us a confused medley, we are no worse off than
they were wbo p:irticipated in it. Pitt wrote to his wife, confiden
tially, on the llth of February, " The whole of things is inexplicable."
Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son the same day, " Perhaps you ex
pect from rae a particular account of the present state of affairs. If
you do, you will be disappointed, for no man living knows what it is."
In truth, the ministers were disappointed in their effort to state, in
resolutions, tbe doctrines which Pitt had laid down. The Stamp Act
could be repealed ; but the law officers would not consent to
Conflict of p 1 • (- ¦ 1 . 1 1 • 1 1 .
opinions any statement of his favorite doctrine that tlie right to legis-
among Eng- ,. i-. tt^t
lish states- late and the right to tax were distinct. Lord Camden un
derstood, and maintained the distinction. But Lord Mans
field ridiculed it, and, when the bill was to be drawn, he would not
hear of it. Pitt and Camden both said that taxation and legislation
were separate. Pitt's statement had been, " that we may bind their
trade, confine their manufacture, and exercise any power, except only
that of taking their raoney frora their pockets without their own con
sent."' But tbe Declaratory Act, as drawn by the law advisers of the
Crown, instead of saying this, said that the power of Parliament was
supreme over the colonies, and extended to all cases whatsoever. It
always happens tbat a body like Parliaraent prefers the larger defi
nition of its own authorit}^ and Pitt writes to his wife, in the same
letter which has been cited, " We debated long on various resolu
tions relating to America, and finally ended in a good deal of agree
ment." It seemed to hira, as to all raen eager for a solution of the
iraraediate difficulty, that the repeal of the Starap Act was the great
practical object.
Meanwhile the Ministry were embarrassed on another side. They
were embarrassed, as those who dealt Avith George III. often were, by
finding they had misconceived his wishes. Before the debate was
over, the leaders in the House found they were speaking and voting
against " the King's friends." But this misunderstanding was ex
plained, and, at tlie moraent, wrought them no raischief.
General Conway brought in the resolution for the repeal of the
, ^ Stamp Act on the 17th of February, 1766. After another re-
Repeal of i i i i i "
the Stamp markable debate m iMarch, in which Grenville and Pitt both
Aut. spoke, the vote m its favor was 275 to 167. Describing this

1766.]

REJOICINGS IN THE COLONIES.

349

occasion, eight years after, Burke said : " I reraember. Sir, with a rael
ancholy pleasure, the situation of the honorable gentleman (General
Conway) who raade the motion for the repeal ; when the whole trad
ing interest of this Erapire, crammed into your lobbies, with a trem
bling and anxious expectation, waited, almost to a winter's return of
light, their fate from your resolutions. When at length you had de
termined in their favor, and your doors, thrown open, showed them
the figure of their deliverer, in the well-earned triumph of his impor
tant victory, from the whole of that grave raultitude there arose an
involuntary burst of gratitude and transport. They jumped upon
'"'"I like children upon a long-absent father.
\i England, all America, joined to his ap

plause. Nor did he seem
insensible to the best of all
earthly lewaids, the love
and admiration of his fel
low-citizens. Hope elevated, and ]oy bright
ened his crest. I stood near him ; and his
face, to use the expression of the Scripture
of the first martyr, ' his face was as if it had
been the face of an angel.' .... I did hope that that day's danger
and honor would have been a bond to hold us all together forever.
But, alas ! that, with other pleasing visions, is long since vanished."
The joy described with so rauch spirit by Burke, extended itself
through all the mercantile and manufacturing towns in Eng- joyatthe
land. In America it was unbounded. The people had "P"''''
hoped ; but the news, when it came, was more than they had dared

Liberty-Pole Festival.

350 ALIENATION FROM ENGLAND. [Chap. XIH.
to hope for. General Conway, who had been the consistent friend of
the colonies, accompanied the repealing act by a conciliatory letter,
and, for the moment, it seemed as if the bone of contention was out
of the way and a new era had come in. Full-length portraits of Con
way and of Barr^ were ordered to be hung up in Faneuil Hall in
Boston. The Assembly of Virginia voted to erect a statue of George
III. ; and a similar honor to Pitt was proposed in Maryland. But
nowhere was the enthusiasm greater than in New York. The inhab
itants petitioned for, and the Assembly decreed, the erection of statues
both of the King and of Pitt ; ^ on the King's birthday, which oc
curred not long after the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was
received, the people assembled in the Fields (now City Hall Park)
and with rejoicings and festivities set up a Liberty Pole, at the foot
of which the King's health was drunk in hogsheads of punch.
But it was a perishable monuraent of the restoration of peace and
harraony. Before the summer was over, in onlj^ a little raore than
two months frora the time of its erection, the Pole was levelled to the
ground by the soldiers of the Fort. Thenceforward it became for sev
eral years a rallying-point of contention between the soldiers and the
people. It was repeatedly cut down, or blown up with gunpowder,
and as often replaced at once by a new one»; and in these contests,
where hard blows and soraetimes serious wounds were given and
taken, the spirit of resistance was kept alive and active.
1 The statues were not finished for four j'ears. In August, 1770, that of Geoi'ge III.,
which was of lead, was set up in the Bowling Green, and that of Pitt, in marble, at the
corner of Wall and Sraith (now Williara) Streets.

CHAPTER XIV.
END OF COLONIAL EULE.
Measures following the Repeal or the Stamp Act. — Ignorance of America
IN England. — Quartering Troops in Boston. — Consequent Ill-feeling. —
Impkess.ment and Resistance of Seamen. — Quarrels between Citizens ,\nd
Soldiers. — The Boston Massacre. — Removal of the Military. — "Sam.
Adams's Regiments." — Trial and Acquittal of Capt.ain Preston. — Verdict
against Two Soldiers. — Efforts of the Duke of Grafton at Reconcilia
tion. — Conduct of the Earl of Hillsborough. — Lord North's Ministry. —
The Tea Tax. — The Whately Letters. — Franklin insulted by Weddek-
eurn. — Arrival of the Tea Ships in America. — Disposition of the Tea in
VARIOUS Places. — Boston Port Bill. — Gage appointed Governor of Massa
chusetts.
The repeal of the Stamp Act was, after all, only a concession for
the sake of . present expediency, not an acknowledgment of
an exclusive and inherent right in the colonial subjects to power over
tax themselves. It was accompanied by a Declaratory Act by Pariia-
asserting the power of Parliament over the colonies " in all """' '
cases whatsoever ; " which raight well arouse, as Lord Shelburne after
ward wrote to Pitt it did, " an unfortunate jealousy and distrust of
the English Governraent throughout the Colonies." The Mutiny
Act, also, not long before, had been extended to America, and one of
its provisions was, that the Colonial Assemblies should pro- ^ho Mutiny
vide quarters, with "fire, candles, vinegar, salt, bedding, *°''
utensils for cooking, beer or cider, and rum," for the support of troops.
Parliament, moreover, accompanied the repeal of the obnoxious act
by a resolution recomraending that the Assemblies of the several
provinces should corapensate all those who had suffered loss the year
before in the stamp-riots. That the Sugar Act should still remain
the law, without modification, would have been enough to keep alive
distrust of the home government ; but when, to the negation of any
essential change of policy, there was added so much positive proof
that the policy was unchanged, there was quite sufficient reason for
the most jealous watchfulness on the part of the Americans.
Meanwhile the Rockingham Ministry was dissolved, and, though
Pitt accepted the Privy Seal, the changes in the Cabinet indicated

352 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
that a spirit of aggression rather than of conciliation would rule in
the affairs of the colonies. Pitt, raoreover, to the surprise of
the English all England, and, indeed, of all Europe, chose to go into the
House of Lords as the Earl of Chatham, at the sacrifice of
his influence as well as of his popularity. That mysterious illness of
his — which has been a cause of so much speculation, which was be
lieved by raany to be akin to raadness, by others the exaggeration of
peculiar eccentricity, and, in our time, perhaps, would be covered un
der the more charitable and comj)rehensive terra of nervous prostra
tion — was now at its height. Whatever it was, it led him, unfortu
nately both for England and Araerica, into alraost complete
of Towns- isolation, leaving Charles Townshend free from all restraint.
Pie had accepted office under Pitt while opposed to his pol
icy in regard to the affairs of the colonies. He had acceded to the
repeal of the Stamp Act, only because it was inexpedient to attempt
to enforce it. Military garrisons, he now insisted, should be kept up
in the large colonial towns, to be supported bj' colomal taxation ; a
colonial revenue must be exacted ; and he ridiculed the distinction
between internal and external taxes. This distinction was one at first
strenuously insisted upon by the Americans ; but had Townshend, who
died in the auturan of 1767, lived a little longer, he would have seen
how corapletely his own measures changed their opinions on this point.
Taxation of the colonies was to be resisted, let it take what form it
would, if only the purpose was plainly seen that taxation was in
tended. The intrigues and strife of parties, and the determination of the
landed interest in England to lighten its own burden, favored Towns-
hend's polity. It was proposed to reduce the land-tax of four shil
lings in the pound to three shillings, and Townshend was quite willing
to see the defeat of his own party on this question, as it enabled him
to insist upon making up the deficiency in the revenue by colonial
taxation. But the colonies were of one raiiid ; they would submit to
no infringement upon their rights by Parliament, though, as events
ordered, it was upon New York and Massachusetts tbat the duty de
volved of taking the lead in defence of those rights.
When Sir Henr}^ Moore, the Governor of New York, sent a mes-
Refu,-.ai of ^age 111 June, 1768, to the Assembly, requiring them to make
tosujport provision for troops, then on their way to that colony, in ao-
troops. cordance with the Act of Parliament, the Assembly refused.
They were willing to bear a proportionate share in tbe support of
troops on the raarch through the province, as they had always done,
and of their own free will. But the quartering of soldiers in the col
ony at the colonjr's expense, as this act provided, was the imposition

1768.] CIRCULAR LETTER OF MASSACHUSETTS. 353
of a tax without their consent. In the spring, Parliaraent ordered
that the legislative functions of New York should be suspended till
the law was complied with. In the debate on this measure, Pownall,
formerly Governor of Massachusetts, but now a meraber of Parlia
ment, was exceedingly frank in his animadversions upon the conduct
of the House. It had seen fit to assume that New York alone had
revolted against this assumption of power. " Believe me," said Mr.
Pownall, — whose experience and sound judgraent should have com
mended his words to those raen who ought by this time to have begun
to see that they were attempting to ride a storm and guide a whirl
wind, — "Believe me, there is not a province, a colony, or a planta
tion that will submit to a tax thus imposed, more than New York
wih." Other colonies, where like requisitions were raade for the support
of troops, were careful, in granting them, to avoid seeming
to do so in obedience to the act. Sympathy with New York, by'tho other
as the target of rainisterial displeasure, extended to thera
all, and that deepened to indignation when the Mutinj^ Act was ex
tended for another year, and it was deterrained to impose j)ort duties
on wines, oil, and fruit, if shipped direct from Spain and Portugal,
and upon glass, paper, lead, colors, and tea. The revenue to be raised
from these duties was to be at the disposal of the Crown, and to be
used for the support of the civil officers of the colonies.
This was justly considered a blow at the very root of their consti
tutional rights. The one thing above all others which the colonists
had never lost sight of, and had never ceased to contend for, — as the
history of the colonial period shows, — was, to provide for the necessi
ties of government in their own way, and to keep those to whom the
affairs of government were intrusted, dependent upon the Colonial
Assemblies. In this emergency, the General Court of Massachusetts
addressed a circular letter to the Assemblies of all the other colo
nies, suggesting that they should unite in supplications to the King
for relief.
The acts of Parliament, they said in this letter, "imposing duties
on the people of this province, with the sole and express
J,.. ¦•- ... r,. Circular Let-
purpose of raising a revenue, are infringements ot their nat- ter of Ma.s-
1 T . . , . , , sachusetts.
ural and constitutional rights ; because, as they are not rep
resented in the British Parliament, his Majesty's Commons in Britain
by those acts grant their property without tbeir consent." And they
submitted it to the consideration of their countryraen, " AVhether any
people can be said to enjoy any degree of freedom, if the Crown, in
addition to his undoubted authority for constituting a Governor,
should appoint hira such a stipend as it shall judge proper, without
VOL. III. 23

354 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
the consent of the people, and at their expence ; and whether, while
the judges of the land, and other civil officers, hold not their commis
sions during good behavior, their having salaries appointed for them
by the Crown, independant of the people, hath not a tendency to sub
vert the principles of equity, and endanger the happiness and security
of the subject." With one accord the other colonies united in hearty
approbation of this letter. But when it reached England, the Earl
of Hillsborough, who had succeeded Shelburne as Secretary of State
for the Colonies, wrote to Governor Bernard of Massachusetts to order
the General Court " to rescind the resolution which gave birth to
the letter, and to declare their disapprobation of and dissent to that
rash and hasty proceeding ; " and if they refused, the Governor was
to dissolve the Court. The other colonies were ordered to take no no
tice of the letter, and were also threatened with dissolution of their
Assemblies in case of disobedience.
It is a remarkable evidence of the utter ignorance that prevailed in
England of American affairs and American character, that
English TT'iii
ignorance of HiUsborougli could have sent such a message to a body
Auierica o j
whose leading men, when raeasured with the worthiest of
the public raen of England, were in every sense their peers, and in
some sense their superiors. The General Court replied with great
dignity to the minister's insolent demand, and by a vote of ninety-five
to seventeen declined to comply with it. In truth, no other result was
probable, or hardly possible. The older colonies had been essentially
self-governed for a century and a half, and were virtually indepen
dent. Alraost all of the inhabitants, except in Georgia, were born
upon the soil. The circumstances of their lives had created habits of
thought as well as methods of hving, and no " Be it enacted," pro
nounced three thousand miles away, could stand if brought in conflict
with this native self-reliance and inborn belief in their own rights.
To ministers in England it seeraed that to dissolve an Assembly was
a final and decisive step. In Boston it only showed the people that
the tirae had corae for town raeetings. An appeal from Faneuil Hall
Wits responded to by every town in the province, and committees of
correspondence and of safety laid deep and strong the foundations of
a new state. It was easy to irapose taxes on imports by bills in Par
liament, and to appoint revenue officers for their due collection. If
not quite so easy to do, it was more to the purpose when done, to
determine neither to order nor to receive importations. If the Minis
try supposed that the colonists were to be overawed by the presence
of troops, they misjudged the circumstances and character of the
people in this as in everything else. Their appeals had been to the
clemency of a King to whom they avowed the most loyal allegiance ;

1768.]

QUARTERING TROOPS IN BOSTON.

355

to the justice and reason of ministers who, they were slow to believe,
intended to take from them the rights they had always maintained,
and the loss of which would reduce them to political slavery. If the
final arbitration must be by force of arms, they would be as ready
for that as they had been to raeet all other questions ; but they were
reluctant to admit that the necessity for such arbitration could ever
arise. When, therefore, under the King's new system of government, four
resiments of soldiers from the Crown establishment were
& . - . J, , The qnar-
Quartered in the town of Boston, every preiudice ot tbat tering oi
^ J. , 1 1 . troops.
community was shocked ; every raan felt that this was an
insult to the good fame of the town ; and every man, whatever his
station, asked him
self what these sol
diers were doing,
and what they were
there for.i The
answer was clear
enough, that they
were doing nothing.
The King was pay
ing them for doing
nothing, in a little
town in which the
whole population of
able - bodied men,
not more than three times as numer
ous as these soldiers, were engaged in
the most active industry. Worse
than this, the soldiers and their offi
cers introduced habits in the last de
gree exasperating in a Puritan town.
The army of England at that time was recruited frora the lowest
dregs of the English population. And here, by way of bravado, four
regiments were introduced in the midst of a coraraunity where men
had not been used to see a professional soldier once in a generation,
and where public morals, and the outward forms of society, had been
pushed by the leaders of the government to the very verge of asceti
cism. Had any eneray of King George counselled hira as to the best
method by which he could alienate his subjects here, such an enemy
1 Ten years after, when the Count Rocharabeau comraanded the French army in Amer
ica, he was asked in Connecticut, to his great amusement, " What he did when he was at
home?"

Castle William.

356

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

could not have suggested a plan raore ingenious tban that- of quar
tering a considerable body of troops in Boston. To quarter so many
troops in a provincial town of England would, perhaps, have been
thought a favor. The habits of society, the gayety, and the other
stimulants to intercourse and trade, had long since blotted out in
England the old prejudice against a standing army. But all the
larger colonies had been formed while that prejudice still existed.
All the old political writers of England, on whom the colonists greatly
relied, regarded any standing array as an instrument of tyranny.
And, as has been said, the experience of all their history had shown
that in such states as theirs, at least, no standing army was neces
sary for order or tranquillity.
Up to the year 1767, the presence of English troops was unknown
Castle Wil- ™ Ncw England, excepting in tirae of war; and even then,
ham. g^^gj-^ troops wcre moved as soon as possible to the frontier.
In the spring of 1768, in the midst of bitter irritation between the
Governor and tbe Massachusetts Asserably, the newly-
appointed Coramissioners of the Customs had been com
pelled to remove to Castle Williara, about three miles
beloAv Boston, in the harbor, where the garrison then
consisted of a detail from the railitia of the neighbor
hood. The Grovernor was so far dissatisfied with this
garrison, that he requested General Gage, the English
Commander-in-chief at New York, to order one or two
regiraents of the King's troops from Halifax to hold
the fort. He also moved three vessels of war down
the harbor so as to cover it. Before his orders could
be executed, the government in England, of their own
movement, had anticipated them and sent their orders
for quartering troops in the town. Early in Septem
ber, an officer arrived to prepare their quarters. His
errand was at once known, and the popular indignation
was shown by the immediate provision of a tar-barrel,
1^ which was hauled up by night into the frame, long
erajJty, of the beacon which gave its name to Beacon
Hill, — the highest of the three hills of Boston. In
preparation for such a purpose, the selectmen of the town had re-
Popuiarin- paired the beacon. It may be doubted whether this beacon
B.Ston°The ^^^d bccu used since it summoned the people of the coun-
beacon. ^.j.y ^q |.]^g ovcrthrow of Andros.i It had been established
in the very earliest days of the colony.
The town meeting of Boston sent a committee to the Governor,
^ See vol. ii., p. 393.

Tile Beacon.

1768.] QUARTERING TROOPS IN BOSTON. 357
asking him to issue precepts for a General Assembly, to take meas
ures for the preservation of their civil rights and privileges. The
Governor refused, and the committee of the town of Boston pro
ceeded, on its own warrant, to summon an Assembly for the purpose
named. The town meeting then voted that every inhabitant should
be requested to provide himself with fire-arms for sudden danger in
case of a war with France. As no war was probable, the design of
this vote was evident. Meanwhile the Council declined to provide
barracks for the troops in Boston. They said there were barracks for
a thousand men at Castle William, and that these would accommo
date all the troops expected from Halifax. The act of Parliaraent
requiring them to prepare quarters for troops had provided that
where barracks already existed, they should be used.
In the midst of this irritation the Convention met, and addressed
the Governor. They asked him to convene the General Troops sent
Assembly. The Governor refused to receive their petition, '° Boston.
but addressed a paper to them admonishing them instantly to sep
arate. They remained in session nine days. Their moderation seems
to have disappointed everybody, of both parties. The troops finally
arrived off the harbor on the 28th of Septeraber, the Convention ad
journed on the 29th, and on the 1st of October the troops landed.
Even the regiment which was intended for the castle was brought up
to the town. One regiment encamped on the Coraraon, and the other
was quartered in .Faneuil Hall and the Town House. The local au
thorities still refused to provide barracks, and the commanding officer
hired quarters for them and purchased supplies at the charge of the
Crown. The Irish regiraents in addition arrived on the 10th of No
vember, and were quartered in a similar way. A fleet of eight men-
of-war, with an aggregate of raore than a hundred and eighty guns,
was anchored off the town.
The justification raade by the home government for sending a gar
rison to Boston was the news of a riot on the 8th of July, jji^ts the
A schooner, laden with molasses, had been seized for viola- p'^*''"'-
tion of the customs. Thirty men entered her at night, confined the
keepers, and carried off the cargo. The selectmen restored the
molasses, but Governor Bernard, in reporting the raatter to the gov
ernment, said, with a sneer, " We are not without a government, only
itis in the hands of the people of the town." This occurrence, and
a similar riot in which some wines were landed from the sloop Lii
erty, belonging to John Hancock, seera to have given the raotive to
the English adrainistration for severer measures than they had at
tempted before. A large garrison once in the town, there occasionally
broke out the annoyances which might be expected after such circum-

358

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

re.

stances of irritation. So soon as the General Court met, in Maj', it
proved that the result of this irritation was a stronger ma-
RemoTal of i . . i /-, itn a •
the troops iority agaiust the Governor than before. A committee was
demanded. " .
at once appointed to ask for the removal of the troops. The
Governor answered that he had no authority over them. The Gen
eral Court replied that it was only owing to exaggerated reports that
the troops had been sent. They said there had been no dis-
nor in con- turbauces wliicli bore any proportion to sirailar tumults in
the General the best regulated cities of Europe. Any disturbances here
were far from being carried to tbat atrocious and alarming
length to which riotous assemblies had been carried in Great Britain,
" at the very gates
of the palace, and
even in the royal
presence." They
refused to proceed
to business while
surrounded with
soldiers. Governor
Bernard raet this
refusal by remov
ing the General
Court to Cam
bridge, where was
no garrison ; and
the House pro
ceeded to business
there, under a pro
test. On the 27th,
they voted a peti
tion to the King
for Governor Ber
nard's removal,
wbo, as it hap
pened, had the
ra o r t i fi c a tion of
communicating to
them the next day the King's orders that he should return to England
to lay before him the state of the province. He had received these
orders as early as April. The General Court asked to see the King's
order, and it was laid before thera. The Court replied that they
" cheerfully acquiesced in the command of their sovereign for his re
turn to Great Britain, aud the order for a true statement of the

Jonn Hancock.

1770.] ATTEMPTED IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN. 359
affairs of the province gave them peculiar satisfaction." On the
departure of Bernard, Hutchinson, the Chief Justice of the Prov
ince, a gentleman of old New England blood, became acting Gov
ernor. Such are, perhaps, the more important external signs of constant
irritation which appear on the public records after more
than a century. But, as a matter of course, the occasions sources of
of personal and private irritation, occurring almost with every
hour, did more to alienate the people from the Crown than any for
mal passages, however bitter. Such were the daily parade of regi
ments, and their military instruction in the heart of the town, — duels
between officers, and between officers and citizens, — the ridicule with
which a body of English officers would regard the antiquated and
provincial customs of the little sea-port, — and, worst of all, the quar
rels, more and more frequent, between ignorant and brutal privates
and the people of the lowest class of the town, equally ignorant and
equally brutal. Of the population of Boston, which would not count
more than four thousand able-bodied men, a large portion were sea
faring men, with the habits of adventure and violence which are not
unusual with sailors in all countries. Under such conditions, alterca
tions constantly took place, of which the local annals are full. One
of the most exasperating was the impressment by the offi
cers of the Rose man-of-war of sorae searaen from a Marble- impress-
head brig. The seamen resisted, defied the English officer
in command, and killed him. On the trial of the guilty person, he
was acquitted by the Admiralty Court, which was wholly in the
King's interest, on the ground that he acted in self-defence. It also
proved that the statute which gave the right of impressment specially
excepted the American coast from its execution.
Such altercations and bitterness culminated, after a year and a half,
in an occurrence which at the time received the exaggerated name of
the "Boston Massacre," a name which it has never lost. In the ex
perience of places always accustomed to quarrels between soldiers and
civilians, this transaction would have been considered trifling. Its im
portance in this instance is due to the fact that it brouglit to a crisis a
long series of annoyances in a community wholly unused to a garrison.
On the 3d of March, 1770, by mutual agreeraent, a party of soldiers
and rope-makers had an encounter with clubs, near mid- ^he Boston
night, and several raen on each side were badly wounded. ^^'^''^'^'^''¦
The next night, a renewal of the fight was prevented with sorae diffi
culty. On the evening of the 5th of March, two young raen under
took to pass a sentinel at the foot of Cornhill, ^ without answering
^ The name " Cornhill " then applied to a part of what is now Washington Street.

360

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

his challenge. A struggle ensued, in which sorae of the soldiers from
the neighboring barracks turned out, one armed with a pair of tongs
and another with a shovel, and the offending citizen was driven back
through the alley-way which he had atterapted to pass. This en
counter, trifling in itself, was sufficient to call out the soldiers in de
fence of the sentry, and the people of the neighborhood as well.
The assembly of
people was, of
course, much the
larger. The offi
cers succeeded in
drawing the sol
diers into the bar
racks ; but the
raob was now large
enough to turn its
attention to an
other sentinel, who
stood not far off, in
front of the Custom
House. ^ A boy
pointed hira out as
a soldier who had
lately knocked him
down, and some
twenty young men
attacked him with
missiles. The man
loaded his gun, and
tried to retire with
in the building, but,
finding the door
Boston Massacre. From an Engraving by Paul Revere. locked Called for
the main guard, whose station was within hearing. The officer in
comraand sent a sergeant with six raen to his relief, and also sent

When that name gradually absorbed the names of the short streets which run from south to
north through Boston, the name of " Cornhill " lapsed. It was taken up and used again
for the street which now bears it. As it happens, the altercation named in the text was at
the foot of each Cornhill. It was in a narrow alley which passed from what was then
the end of Washington Street, to Brattle S(|uare. The opening of what is now called
" the new Washington Street" swept away all local monuments of that spot, which is now
a, part of the great thoroughfare.
1 In State Street, then King Street, where the building stands now occupied by the
Union and State Banks.

1770.] THE BOSTON MASSACRE. 361
a messenger for Captain Preston, the officer of the day, who was at
an entertainment in Concert Hall.
Meanwhile an immense mob was gathering, perhaps with the in
tention on the part of their leaders of attacking the main guard.
But if this were so, that intention was diverted, when they saw this
wretched httle file in front of the Custom House. The bells had
been set ringing, as if for fire, and the crowd constantly increased.
The soldiers had found time to charge their pieces without orders.
They were joined by Captain Preston, with six more raen. By way
of defence, they only presented their bayonets, falling back in a
curved line in front of the Custom Plouse. Their caution is shown,
from the fact that there was time to send to Concert Hall for Preston,
their commander, and for him to come down to the main guard and
join them. He knew perfectly well, and the mob knew, that, by Eng
hsh law, his raen must not fire without the order of a civil magistrate.
Preston seems to have behaved with moderation and judgraent to the
last. The mob challenged the soldiers to fire. " Come on, you
bloody-backs ! " " Corae on, you lobster-backs ! " Such allusions to
the red coat were, for ten years, favorite epithets of derision. " Fire
if you dare!" " Daran you, why don't you fire?" At last a sol
dier received a severe blow from a club. He stepped aside a little,
levelled his piece, and fired. Immediately after, seven or eight more
of the men fired, and the mob fled. Three raen lay dead on the
ground, two others were mortally wounded, and six slightly.
The drums beat to arms, the Twenty-ninth formed in King Street,
and an immense concourse of people also assembled, among whom
were some of the most distinguished citizens. Governor Hutchinson
addressed the people from the balcony of the State House. He
promised that a full investigation should be made in the morning, and
the crowds retired. A citizens' guard of a hundred raen took charge
of the streets, and peace was restored. Before daybreak, Preston had
surrendered himself for trial, and was comraitted to jail, and the sol
diers who had fired upon the people were coraraitted also.
With the morning, the selectmen of Boston waited upon the Gov
ernor and Council. They said that, unless the troops were
T <. 1 ., 1 1 Removal of
removed from the town, terrible consequences must be ex- troops again
- . . n 1 1 . 1 1 demanded.
pected. A town meeting was called, which convened at once.
It sent a committee of fifteen to demand tbe removal of troops ; but
the Governor replied that he had no power to remove thera. He said
the troops were under the coraraand of General Gage at New York,
but that Colonel Dalrymple was ready to withdraw the Twenty-ninth
Regiment to the Castle, that being the regiment whose soldiers had
had fights with the rope-makers, and had fired upon the people. The

362

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

committee reported this answer to the town meeting at the Old South
Church, and the meeting voted it unsatisfactory. A smaller com
mittee was sent to say that nothing would satisfy the raeeting but
a total and iramediate removal of all the troops. Samuel Adams was
the chairman. Hutchinson, having consulted Colonel Dalrj'mple in a
whisper, said aloud that one of the regiraents should be sent away.
Adams replied with unhesitating promptness, " If the Lieutenant-gov
ernor or Colonel Dalrymple, or
i-j? -<^VJi.. both together, have authority to
remove one regiment, they have
authority to remove two ; and
nothing short of the total evacu
ation of the town by all the reg
ular troops will satisfj' the pub
lic raind and preserve the peace
of the province."^
The Governor gave way. He
was ridiculed in England for
his corapliance, and the colo
nists considered it a triumph.
But there is no doubt that he
had to give way ; and his com
pliance postponed the outbreak
of the war five years. A promise
was given, and the first orders
for tbe reraoval of the troops
were issued. Some of the officers
were very indignant, and expresses were sent to General Gage, in the
hope that he would recall the orders. Another town meet-
" Sam Ad- . "^ n i • i i rs
ams's Regi- mg was Called to quicken the movement. On application to
Dalrymple, the Twenty-ninth Regiment was removed, and
the next day the Fourteenth. Both were afterwards called by Lord
North " Sara Adams's Regiments." The final removal took place on
the 10th and llth of March.
Frora this time until the arrival of Gage in 1774, no troops were
quartered in Boston. The raistake had been made, however. To a
people not yet unAvilling to recognize the authority of the Crown, the
worst symbol of that authority was foolishly displayed in a raost ex
asperating way .2

Samuel Adams.

this remark was made to Colonel Dalrymple. But it i.^

^ GoTernor Hutchinson says
clear that all present heard it.
2 In all tlie tumults of ten years before the war, there appear to have been seven lives
lost. One was the English officer of the Rose. The others were Attucks, a half-breed

1770.] GRAFTON AND HILLSBOROUGH. 363
Preston, the officer in comraand on the night of the " Massacre,"
was tried for murder. He was defended by Josiah Quincy
and John Adams, lawyers of the highest reputation araong Prestons
the patriots, and was acquitted. The soldiers were also ac
quitted, excepting two, who were found guilty of manslaughter, and,
by the inhuman law of that time, were sentenced to be branded in
the hand. Hutchinson, the Governor, excuses hiraself for permitting
this sentence to be executed, because the remission would have had
a tendency to irritate the people, and, " being of little consequence to
the prisoners, it was thought most advisable not to interfere."
The history of America, however, was not to be decided on Araer
ican soil. The fickle and wayward behavior of successive English
ministries — behavior which could not be called a policy — swayed
the course of events more than any decisions made in America.
While the Duke of Grafton supposed that he directed affairs in Eng
land, as the head of King George's Cabinet, a Cabinet meeting was
called on the first of May, 1769. Grafton urged on this occasion the
remission of all the American duties ; but in opposition to his opin
ion and to that of Camden, Granby, Conway, and Plooke, tea was
still retained as a subject of taxation. The Cabinet agreed, however,
that the circular to the Colonial Governors should " contain words as
kind and lenient as could be proposed by some of us, with encourag
ing expressions." ^ These were distasteful to other merabers, among
whom was Hillsborough, the Secretary for the Colonies. When, there
fore, Hillsborough drew up the instructions, which we now have, all
these "encouraging expressions," whatever they were, disappeared.
There is nothing conciliatory in the despatch, excepting the statement
that his Majesty's present administration had at no time intended to
lay any further taxes on America, and that the duties on Remission
glass, paper, and colors are to be remitted. The Duke of °^ """'*'¦
Grafton says that Hillsborough not only garbled the minute in the
Council Records, but accompanied it with a circular letter, which
Grafton terms " unfortunate and unwarrantable, calculated to do all
mischief, while our real minute might have paved the way to some
good." In his manuscript Memoirs, he distinctly charges that Hills
borough made these changes at the instance of the King.
It is one of the curious questions of history how far such a remis
sion of all duties as the Duke of Grafton proposed, if made at this
early period, might have affected the subsequent course of events.
Indian negro, Carr an Irishman, and three Americans, Gray, Caldwell, and JIaverick,
killed in the Boston Massacre, and a German boy, Snyder, killed by a soldier a short time
before. ^ These are the Duke's ivords.

364 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
On the other hand, this is certain, that where the adrainistration of a
nation was thus the prey of jealousies and intrigues, — when the re
sponsible minister was thus foiled by the " King's friends," — no pol
icy which deserves that name was possible. Indeed, he best reads
the history of America, for that period which proved so critical, who
understands that, on this side the water, her affairs were directed
with substantial unanimity by thoughtful men not unused to govern,
who bad earned the confidence of the great raajority of their country
men, and who, for all the years of tbis crisis, were never without a
specific plan to which they gave unbroken attention. The same
reader must understand that, in England, American affairs were ad
ministered by men quite ignorant of the country with which they
dealt, — jealous of each other, and mixed up in every sort of personal
intrigue, — taking office or leaving it according to the event of certain
local controversies, and all the time liable to be thwarted by a King
who was very lukewarm in his love of constitutional government, and
always hoping for accessions to his personal power. Let this reader
reraeraber also that an ocean three thousand railes wide separated the
two countries ; that all the disadvantages of this separation accrued
to England, and all the advantage to Araerica. He will then under
stand that, in the impending controversy, England, though she had
an army, a navy, and an organized government, stood no real chance
of subduing the United Colonies. Seven million people in England,
indifferent to the subject, ignorant as to the real matters of contro
versy, and as to the place where it was carried on, contended, at every
disadvantage excepting those of numbers and wealth, with three mil
lion people, substantially united, who raaintained institutions to which
they had always been accustoraed, in the country to which they were
born. The King raet Parliament rather earlier than usual at the begin-
The King's ning of 1770. Eveu in England, the opening of the royal
speech. spcecli aiuused people, so inadequate did the etiquette of
the occasion seem to be to the requisitions of an empire. At a mo
raent when a rupture with France was imminent, when Hyder Ali
was in the flush of his success in India, and when America was wait
ing, eager for a decision as to the policy which was to govern her, —
the King began by saying, " My Lords and Gentlemen, it is with
rauch concern tliat I find rayself obliged to open the session of Parlia
raent with acquainting you that the distemper among horned cattle
has lately broke out in this kingdom." ^ Neither House was in any
1 Jnnins, whose central passion was hatred of the Duke of Grafton, says : " Instead of
the firmness and decision of a King, you gave us nothing but the misery of a ruined gra-
ziei'."

1770.]

LORD NORTH'S MINISTRY.

365

.5 par-
- on way, and Granby at theiioy™Address.

mood to be satisfied with talk about diseases of cattle. Lord Chat
ham himself moved an amendment to the Address, proinisino- atten
tion to the nation's discontent, — discontent arising frora the ejection
of Wilkes frora the House of Commons. After Chatham's speech.
Lord Ciimden rose from the woolsack, and in so raany words said he
had been trammelled too long " by his Majesty,  I beg
don, — by his Ministers." Camden, Cc
once withdrew from the Cabinet. With thera vanished "the
last real hope of any policy conciliatory to America. The Duke of
Grafton resigned on the 28th
of January, and Lord North
became Prime Minister. The
"King's friends" had tri
umphed, and their laurels, such
as they were, are in the history
of the next twelve years. Lit
tle credit is it to Lord North,
that he personally disapproved
of much of the policy to which
for those twelve years he lent
himself ; that it was the King's
policy, and not his. No Eng
lish nobleman should have found
himself long in any such false
position. It is his excuse that
he knew already the nature of
the King's malady, which was
still a secret to all but a very
few. As Lord North appeared at the time, and, indeed, as he has been
represented in history, he has shown few of the traits which
we associate with the hero of tragedy. A commonplace
man, -with a certain knack at affairs, who had the absolute confidence
of a foolish King, and who used that confidence till he lost half that
King's empire, — this is what appears at first, and it may be said to
be the true verdict of history regarding hira. But a tragic poet might
go further, and, by introducing us into the secrets of his distresses and
his decisions, raight show that poor Lord North's position was one of
the most pathetic in history. His world was indeed " out of joint,"
nor was it for such as he to " set it right." Whenever he proposed to
abandon the enterprise, — as it is easy to say he should have done, —
this poor, half-witted King, was ready with the appeal, " If you leave
me, where shall I go ? " And the helpless Minister, without the possi-

Lord North.

366 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
bility of advising with any human being, had to consider what would
come to England, if, in the sudden shock of his resignation, his King
should go raad, as he had everj^ reason to suppose he would. Such a
position would be tragic, indeed, if one of the really great men of his
tory were placed in it. It is perhaps raore tragic, certainly more pa
thetic, when such questions are to be solved by the unadvised wisdom
and the uninstructed conscience of a man second-rate in everything.
And such a raan was Lord North.
The student of American history, reading the interesting record of
the three years with which Lord North's administration began, searches
with curious interest for whatever beginnings he may find of the
policy which made the United States an independent nation. He fol
lows thus the history of John Wilkes, of the prosecution of the print
ers and the beginning of reported debates ; he studies the letters of
Junius ; he reads of the birth of the East Indian Empire of England;
he follows the outbreak about the Falkland Islands ; he is involved in
the tragedy of the Queen of Denmark, and in the matrimonial alli
ances of the King's brothers. But these events and these scandals,
while they intensely excite the people of Great Britain, seem to have
no concern with the fortunes of Araerica. On the other hand, the
fortunes of America, through those years, seem to have no interest
for the people or the statesmen of England. The votes on American
affairs are taken in houses not full, and the views of the Ministry are
always sustained by very strong majorities.
In the session of 1770, an effort was raade to repeal the tea duty.
But Lord North carried it by a raajority of seventy-two.
repeal the Dr. Fraukliu thought the House would have agreed to the
motion but for what he called " Ij'ing letters," which asserted
that the non-importation agreements were no longer favored in Amer
ica, and that the zeal of the patriots was chilled. Two years after
wards Franklin won a personal triuraph, and the colonies a substantial
one, in the reraoval of Lord Hillsborough from the post of Colonial
Secretary. The reader has seen that he was not friendly to America,
in the trial of strength between the Duke of Grafton with his friends
and Lord North with the King's friends. As time passed, Franklin
brought forward his plan for a company for the settlement of Illinois,
and secured the interest of three merabers of the Privy Council. But
when the petition was referred to the Board of Trade, Hillsborough
reported against it. He even took the ground that this would be a
place of refuge for offenders, and would draw away too raany people
frora Great Britain. Franklin replied in detail. When the petition
came before the Privy Council, they granted it, setting aside Lord
Hillsborough's report. Hillsborough resigned, thinking, perhaps, that

1773.] THE TEA TAX. 367
his resignation would not be accepted. But his colleagues were glad
to get rid of him. Lord Dartmouth, who was really a friend
of the colonies, succeeded him. Dr. Franklin thought, and oughsuc-
had reason to think, that such an incident and such an Dartmouth,
, £ J.1 1 - r^ ^^ Secretary.
appointment were good omens tor the colonies. Governor
Hutchinson notes that the government even proposed to withdraw the
fleet from Boston to Halifax, which had been forraerly the naval sta
tion. Other signs seemed favorable. " A general state of quiescence,"
wrote Arthur Lee, " seems to prevail over the whole empire, Boston
only excepted." ^ But these hopes were illusive. At the same time
a negotiation was in progress which, as the event has proved, made
vain all such omens of peace. True, Araerica seemed better satisfied.
The removal of the regiments from Boston had been followed by the
tranquillity which had been proraised. But any hope of a permanent
good understanding, or of a gradual forgetfulness of the causes of
issues, was swept away at once by a blunder of Lord North's. This
belongs to the poor tricks wbich James the First used to honor by the
name of "king-craft," and it resulted in the dismemberment of the
empire. For better or for worse, the Crown of England was allied to the
East India Company, which even then was iraportant, and Eastindia
which afterwards becarae imperial. This Corapany, at the Company.
end of a series of bad years, of vchich the raisfortunes were due in
part to the refusal of the Araericans to import tea frora England,
found itself burdened with 17,000,000 pounds of tea in its English
storehouses. It was necessary for the Governraent of the nation to
save the company from bankruptcy by lending it a million and a half
of money. The proposal was therefore matured, that the Corapany
might export to America as much tea as it wished, and receive back,
as drawback, the tax of sixpence a pound which the teas had to pay
into the English exchequer. The teas would then have to pay in
America only threepence a pound, the one reraaining tax left, after
eight years of dissension.
Lord North probably thought that in this way he should please two
parties not easy to please. He served the East India Corapany, and
he seemed to grant to the Americans what they wanted, a virtual sus
pension of the Navigation Act, so far as teas were concerned. For
this plan he obtained the permission of Parliaraent. The wiser di
rectors of the East India Corapany distrusted the gift. Tbey knew
men better than Lord North. They begged to be permitted to pay
to the exchequer the sixpence duty in England, and to land the teas
free in America. But this Lord North refused, probably at the King's
1 To Reed, February 18, 177.3.

368 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
direction. " There must be one tax," said the poor King, " to keep
The duty on "P ^'^^ light." Lord North, therefore, with fatal resolution,
tea retained. \jq[^\ ^q i}iq principle iuvolved. He confessed that the whole
revenue obtained would be, at the best, but twelve thousand pounds.
The East India Company consented at last to the scherae, and, as the
suramer passed, freighted several ships for Araerica, on tlieir own ac
count, consigning tbem to merchants in the different sea-ports. In
formation as to these consignments began to arrive in America in
September. Franklin's hopes of peace frora Lord Dartmouth's appointment, or
whatever other cause, were rudely dispelled by another incident, of
which the germ showed itself in this same year, 1773. Confidential
as his relations were with many raerabers of Parliament
inson Advice and of tlic Government, it was raentioned to hira one day,
apparently as no secret, that the Governraent had been
guided, in quartering the troops in Boston and in its other severe
raeasures, by the advice of Araericans born, — men of character and
position. Franklin said be did not believe this. To satisfy him,
twelve letters were brought him, written bv' Hutchinson, the Governor,
and Oliver, the Lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, both natives
of that province. These letters confirraed to the full the statement
which had been made to hira. They proposed the introduction of
troops, and one of thera proposed the establishment of a " patrician
order." In one letter, wliich was particularly outspoken, Hutchinson
said tbere must be an abridgment of what are called " English lib
erties." He said he doubted whether it was possible that the people
of a colony should enjoy all the liberty of the parent state.
Franklin obtained permission to send the originals of the letters to
America, on condition that they should not be copied or
ton by printed, and sent them in his official letter, as Agent of the
House of Asserably, to the chairraan of their Committee of
Correspondence. They might, he said, be read to that committee and
a few other gentlemen. So soon as they arrived in Boston, they awak
ened a storm of indignation against Hutchinson. He had been affect
ing a conciliatory part. In the midst of the contest between him and
the Asserably, — which was eager that the colony should pay his sal
ary in accordance with the ancient usage, — he had affected to be,
not indeed a champion of the extrerae views, but a mediator between
the colonies and the Crown. Here came evidence that in all such af
fectation he was a liar. The colonists were wounded by a man who
should have been their friend. A Governor of their own religion, of
their own blood, born in their chief town, and educated among thera,
had turned against them.

1774.] FRANKLIN INSULTED BY WEDDERBURN. 369
Echoes of the storm which rose in Boston soon resounded in Lon
don. A duel between Mr. John Temple and Mr. Whately,
brother of the gentleman to whom these letters were ad- ^vi^atliy''''^
dressed, made the raatter one of universal interest. The
Privy Council itself was so far moved that it took up the petition of
the Massachusetts Assembly for the removal of Hutchinson and Oli
ver, — a petition which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been
left to sleep. There followed a most exciting meeting of that great
body of state, — a body which in our tirae acts only on occasions of
mere form. It was the fullest meeting of the Council which Edmund
Burke remembered. Everybody of note was there. The petition
was read, with the resolutions of the Asserably, and the letters on
which those resolutions were founded. John Dunning, afterward
Lord Ashburton, supported the petition as counsel, and supported it
temperately and ably. Then followed what was called at the time a
"bull-baiting." Wedderburn, a lawyer whom Lord North's favor
had hurried forward, and who was afterward Lord Chancellor, under
the title of Lord Loughborough, spoke, as Solicitor-general, in opposi
tion tothe petition. He spoke for three hours, — largely in violent
personal attack on Dr. Franklin, who of course was present.
He charged Franklin with stealing the letters of Hutchinson insults
and Oliver, and said that men would hide their papers from
him in future. In a classical allusion, he called him " a man of three
letters," by which the Romans raeant a thief, and charged hira with
intriguing to raake hiraself Hutchinson's successor. His triuraph was
complete. " No speech was so much applauded," says Hutchinson,
" since those of Cicero against Anthony." The Council pronounced
the petition of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts ground
less and scandalous. In the method which the Council took to do
this, it had insulted the great American who was the admiration of
half England and of all Continental Europe. The scene excited public
criticism everywhere. The wit of Wedderburn's address was highly
praised ; but the dignity of Franklin's manner made him new friends.^
Afterward, William Pitt the younger, in the House of Coramons, al
luded to this scene in the "Cockpit." ^ He bade the House recollect
how the future Chancellor of England had called the future plenipo-
' On the inteiview in the Council Chamber, Horace "Walpole wrote this epigram : —
" Sarcastic Sawney, swollen with spite and prate,
On silent Franklin poured his venal hate ;
The calm philosopher, without reply,
Withdrew, and gave his country liberty.'"
^ The Cockpit and Tennis Court. These two appendages to the palace at Whitehall
had been built hy Henry the Eighth, close to St. James's Park. The Treasury now occu
pies the site of the Cockpit, and the Privy Council Office the site of the Tennis Court.
VOL. III. 24

370 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
tentiary of the United States " a hoary-headed traitor," and how, as
they walked away, men were ready to toss up their hats and clap their
hands for joy, as if they had obtained a triumph. " Alas, sir, we
paid a pretty dear price for that triumph afterwards." What they
paid is shadowed in Wedderburn's own speech: "How will it here
after sound in the annals of the present reign, that all America, the
fruit of so many years of settlement by this country, the fruit of so
much blood and treasure, was lost to the Crown of Great Britain in
the reign of George the Third ? "
This incident took place on the 29th of January, 1774. It was, in
the last degree, an outrage upon Franklin, but was not in itself singu
larly iraportant, for the result arrived at could have been easily pre
dicted. It becarae, however, a visible, or dramatic exhibition of the
conflict, which had thus far been soraewhat concealed in despatches or
debates. But this conflict had already passed such limits. The Eng
land which applauded the speech of Wedderburn as nothing had been
applauded since Cicero, was waked now by a sudden shock, — to feel
that the real contest was not a " bull-baiting " in " the cockpit," as
the hall of the Privy Council was aptly called. It was to be on an
other continent and on a larger scale.
On the 27th of January arrived in England the first news of the
reception of the vessels which had been sent out with the East India
Company's tea. The people of America understood very well who
made this great consignment. Although the patriots had winked at
trifling private iraports from England, so that, in certain cases, men
bad paid the duty, they did not therefore close their eyes when the
Governraent of England, by the agency of the East India Company,
invited thera to give way on the matter of principle. The offer of a
drawback for the Company's benefit and a consequent reduction of
the price, was only an insult to such men, as Lord North might have
known it would be. The Coraraittees of Correspondence provided
for the occasion long before the teas arrived. They must be sent
back. In most instances they were. But in Boston Hutchinson
refused to give a permit for the return of the ships, acting with that
happy obstinacy about trifles which distinguished all his administra
tion. The tea was at the wharf, and the town meethig of Boston
was called to consider the crisis.
Tbe Dartmouth, the first of the tea vessels, arrived on the 28th
Arrival of ^^ Novembcr. A town raeeting was called the next day,
theteaships. ^.^^ becausc Faueuil Hall was not large enough it adjourned
to the Old South Meeting-house, which was so often used for such
purposes, that it gained the narae from an English Governor of being
the " seed-bed of rebellion." In twenty days frora the arrival of the
first ship the Collector would make a formal deraand for duties.

1774.]

THE TEA IN BOSTON HARBOR.

371

In the town meeting Samuel Adaras hiinself moved the action,
which, as chairman of the Comraittee of Correspondence, he had sug
gested to the other colonies, " that the tea should not be landed, that
it should be sent back in the same bottom, to the place frora which
it came, at all events ; and that no dtity should be paid on it." This
resolution passed unanimously, and the owner and raaster were di
rected at their peril neither to enter the tea at the custom-house, nor
suffer it to be landed. A watch was set on the ship, and six post-
riders were appointed to notify the country towns of any effort to
land it by force.
While negotiations were going forward between the Comraittee of
the town and the consignees, two more tea ships arrived. By direc
tion of the Committee, they were anchored near the Dartmouth, that
one guard might be enough for all. This Committee, which took the
whole direction of the controversy on the part of the people, was made
up of the Committees of Correspondence of Boston and from neigh
boring towns, which "hke a little senate, "said
Hutchinson, met daily at Faneuil Hall.
The excitement increased frora day to day.
At last the twentieth day had corae. Every
thing was at a dead-lock. The Governor's
Council was unanimous in accepting a report
which said that to land the tea would f,„t allowed
be to accede to unconstitutional tax- *" ^e landed.
ation. The Commit-

tee would not perrait
the landing of the
tea. The Governor
would not give a pass
which should enable
the ship to go by
the Castle on her way
back to London.
rhe Adrairal had
placed ships of
war to guard the
channels, that
no vessel with
out a pass should
go to sea. The
meeting of the people was held again at the Old South, which was
crowded. It was no longer a town raeeting. A citizen of Weston,
Jonathan Williams, was chosen moderator, as if to show that the coun-

Old Soutii Meeting-house

TABLET IN TH6 TOWEF\.

372

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

try and the town were together. When it had been kept waiting all
A public "^^y' '^ messenger came frora the Governor's country seat on
meeting. Mlltou Hill, at a quarter before six, announcing his refusal
to grant a pass. Samuel Adams said, " This meeting can do nothing
more to save the country." There was a moment of silence. A voice
in the gallery cried, " Hurrah for Griffin's wharf." The meeting in
stantly dissolved, and the immense throng proceeded to the point
where the ships lay. Two bodies of young raen, whose faces were
blackened, and who were otherwise so disguised that they should not
be known, were all ready for the exigencj'.
Passing to the shore, at the wharf they took possession of the ships.
They bade the captain and crew furnish hoistinar-tackle, and
The tea . o '
thrown over- they obeycd. The chests were lifted on deck and split open,
and the tea poured into the water. Tbe great majority of
tbe men of Boston, standing on tbe shore, watched the business, as,
through the moonlight of a winter's night, the chests were emptied
into the silent bay. The business was conducted without noise or
disorder. When every box was destroyed, the working party with
drew their sentinels,
and the town was at
j'ieace. It was well
nigh dawn.
It was evident
that the most care
ful preparation had
been raade by the
leaders for the crisis.
It was equally clear
that their orders
were well obeyed.
Even in the tradi
tions of Boston, not
more than two or
three names can be
certainly given of
those who made up
the working party.
Hutchinson's Country Seat ^jj ^j^^ ^^^^ g^;^
the act. But not more than fifty, at the most, joined in the work.
They kept their secret, which had probably the sanction of an oath.
It is believed that a list of the actors was preserved for more than
half a century, but this list probably exists no longer.^
1 So well was this great secret kept, that, with two or three exceptions, it is certain that

_a^S83!*»'=«'

1775.] DISPOSITION OF THE TEA. 373
Attempts were raade by some of the spectators to carry off small
portions of the tea, but probably with little success. The descendants
of one of the party on board the vessel long preserved as a sacred relic
— perhaps still preserve — a few leaves which their ancestor found in
his shoes on returning horae. A heavy bank of the tea leaves was
thrown up on the Dorchester shore. One Captain O'Connor, it is
related, filled his capacious pockets, but was seized as he jumped
from the vessel, and left the skirts of his coat in the hands of the
person who atterapted to stop hira. O'Connor was a well known
resident of Charlestown, and his coat-tail was the next day nailed
to the whipping-post in that town, — a ludicrous but effective penalty
for his want of patriotism. ^
How earnest and wide-spread the feeling was on this subject, is
shown by the public records in other places besides Boston. In Fred
erick County, Md., in Norfolk, Va., in Piscataqua, N. PL, and in
other places, petty dealers who had clandestinely received a few
pounds were haled before pubhc committees and forced to confess
their misdeed and deliver up the tea for destruction. At Stamford,
Conn., in June, 1775, one Sylvanus Whitney appeared before the
Committee of Observation, and confessed that he had been " gnilty
of buying and selling Bohea tea, since the first of March last past,
whereby I have been guilty of a breach of the Association entered
into by the Continental Congress ; and sensible of my misconduct, do,
in this publick raanner, confess my crirae, and hurably request the
favor of the publick to overlook this my transgression." " Where
upon," says the official record, " the comraittee passed sentence
against him, agreeable to the direction of the Continental Congress.
His punishment being greater than he was able to bear, he requested
the liberty to advertise himself, and offering to deliver up the unfortu
nate tea to be burnt, the committee were of the opinion that it would
satisfy the publick, who are requested to accept of the following con
cession as a satisfaction for his crime." In the evening the tea was
hung upon a gallows erected for the purpose, in the presence of a
great crowd of citizens, and finally a large bonfire was built under it,
"as it was thought dangerous to let the said tea hang all night, for
fear of an invasion from our tea-lovers." ^
A meeting of citizens in New York compelled the consignees to
decline receiving the cargo sent thither, and when the ship arrived, a
if a raan's descendants say " he was certainly on the tea-party, for he always said so," that
man was not of the working pai-ty, but was only a bystander. If on the other hand a per
son who was questioned in old age declined to say whether he was of that jjarty, there is
a possibility that he was.
1 Memoirs of George R. T. Hewes, etc.
2 Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. ii., page 920.

374

END OF COLONIAL RULE.

[Chap. XIV.

vigilance committee took possession of her, and after some days she
sailed again for England with all her tea on board. The
of tea in™ captaiii was inclined to be stubborn; but after being es-
ei paces, ^^^.^.^j ^^ ^|^g towu, he was convinced that any attempt to
land his cargo would only insure its destruction. Another ship had
brought a few chests as a private venture, and when the fact was dis
covered, a mob threw them into the river. The ship sent to Phila
delphia was stopped before she reached the city, and when her captain
heard what had happened to tbe cargoes in Boston harbor, he wisely

Captain O'Connor's Coat-skirts nailed to the Whipping. post.
turned her pi'ow toward home. The tea sent to Charleston was
landed, but, purposely perhaps, was stored in damp cellars, and in a
short tirae was found to be useless.
Intelligence frora Boston reached England at the moment when
Wedderburn was uttering his new philippics. The Government, which
had seriously entertained the project of withdrawing the fleet, heard of
this act of defiance in the harbor where that fleet lay. The King was
prompt in taking up the quarrel. On the 7th of March a royal mes-
The Boston ^^g^ ^^^ ^^^^^ to Parliament with the principal documents
Port Biu. received from America. On the 14th of the same month Lord
North brought iu the measure which proved, in the event, to be the

1775.]

THE BOSTON PORT BILL. 375

declaration of war, — which is generally known as the Boston Port
Bill.^ This bill, by way of punishing Boston as the hot-bed of rebel
lion, provided that after the 18th of June, no persons should load or
unload any ship in that harbor. The customs and com- Massachu-
merce, it was hoped, would be transferred to Salem. An- ernment"
other measure, called "the Massachusetts Government Bill," '^'"•
revised the charter. The Council was to be appointed by the Crown,
and the magistrates by the Governor. A third bill provided for the
trial in England of persons engaged in the late disturbances, and
a fourth provided for the governraent of Quebec. All these bills
were opposed by the most liberal members, who were regarded as the
friends of America, and Pownal and Johnston, who had been Royal
Governors, and generally voted with the ministry, spoke against the
Port Bill. Pownal said boldly that, in Hutchinson's case, he would
have called on the troops without the consent of the Council, — for
Hutchinson had excused himself by the Council's backwardness. He
had withdrawn some companies from Castle William and posted thera
in ueighboring towns, — not, however, in Boston. But tbe truth there
was, that " Sam Adams's regiments " were nothing as against the arraj^,
not of a mob, but of an organized force which the Committees could
have brought against them. It is in Johnston's speech on this occasion,
that the statement occurs, — for which he doubtless had good war
rant : " If you ask an Araerican who is his master, he will tell you
he has none, — nor any Governor but Jesus Christ." The bills all
passed by large majorities. The Quebec bill was opposed with raost
energy. It has proved in a hundred years the source of great diffi
culties in the civilization of Canada.
These acts were received in the colonies with every token of dis
gust and rage. The people of the sea-port towns of Massachusetts
were eager to show that they would not profit by the losses of Boston.
The people of other colonies were eager to show that they were ready
to go as far as Massachusetts. The Port Bill was printed with black
Hnes about it, as if it described a tragedy, and with the title, "A bar
barous, cruel, bloody, and inhuman murder." On the back of one of
the editions was printed a private letter from London, without a name,
which contained these words : " I can assure you that the coraraander
has private orders not to fight unless they can prove you to be aggres
sors, — nay, they have orders not to commence hostilities without or
ders." ' It is not the only instance where a law generally resisted has retained the title of a
" Bill," as if it had never passed from that embryo condition to become an " act." Thus the
Fugitive Slave Law, which was law for many years in America, is still sometimes called
the "Fugitive Slave BiU."

376 END OF COLONIAL RULE. [Chap. XIV.
The sympathy of the other colonies had been promised in advance.
The Virginia Assembly, in March, 1773, had formed a colo-
the Virginia iilal Committee of Correspondence, and had invited all the
ssem y. Assemblies "on the continent" to join them. Printed cop
ies of their resolution were sent by the Massachusetts Committee of
Correspondence to every town in their province. Connecticut, Rhode
Island, and New Harapshire joined in the appointraent of legislative
committees, and a second Continental Congress was proposed. Curi
ously it happened, that, at tbe moment when the English Ministry
dismissed Franklin frora his place as Postraaster-general, the colonists
were planning a post-office of their own.
The Port Bill provided that the trade of Boston raight be recovered
on proper apology, and, in particular, if the tea were paid for. But
a meeting of the towns around Boston, held in Faneuil Hall, urged
that no attention should be given to tbis offer ; they prepared to join
their suffering brethren of Boston in every raeasure for relief. They
drew a circular letter proposing general cessation of trade with Eng
land. Other colonies resolved to assist the people of Boston. " Don't
pay for an ounce of the damned tea ! " is the pointed phrase with
which Christopher Gadsden accompanied a generous contribution
from South Carolina.
Plad Lord North advised diligently as to the measures best fitted to
unite the colonies, he could not have done better than he
p'ointed did. To Carry out those raeasures in Boston, he appointed
-Massachu- General Thoraas Gage Governor in Hutchinson's place. Af
ter a very short passage of twenty-four days only. Gage
arrived, imraediately after the news of the passage of the bill, which
would close the harbor on the first of June.

^ ri'M .p,, '''>''"')^
»3 ¦* - '*^ff. . -it-

Narrow Pass. Bunker Hill. Breed's Hill. Moulton's Point.
A Profile View of the Heights of Charlestown.
CHAPTER XV.
BEGINNING OF THE WAK.
Loyalty OF THE Americans to the Crown. — Outbreak or IIostilitif-s. — Colo
nel Leslie's March to Salem. — The Anniversary op the Massacre. — Al
tercations WITH THE Troops. — Excursion to Jamaica Plain. — The Commit
tee OF Safety. — Colonel Smith's March to Lexington. — Signal Lights in
Christ Church Belfry. — The First Shot. — Concord and Concord Bridge.
— The Fight at Lexington. — The English Retreat. — Lord Percy and his
Reenforcement. — The Siege begins. — Arrival of more Troops from
England. — Skirmishes in Boston Harbor. — Bunker Hill fortified by the
Americans. — The Battle. — Results op the Battle.
A CENTURY after the outbreak of the war which parted the United
States frora any political dependence on England, the recurrence of
the anniversary of every battle of that war was enthusiastically cel
ebrated by the people of every place concerned. Tradition yielded
its doubtful authority ; contemporary records gave up from the dead
their living testiraony ; and orators and poets becarae historians, to
make real the finest details of the past to the iraagination of the chil
dren's children of the actors. In such eager study of every detail of
history, it is certain that the springs of moveraent and the precise
facts are better known to us than they were to those who were envel
oped in the dust and smoke of action. The tirae has come when the
history of those days can be written with near approach to accuracy.
When the year 1775 opened, it found the colonies exasperated to
the last degree by the persistent efforts to subject them to
the arbitrary rule of the Kincj. Unwillingc to eive up the thebegin-
J. J-i- r 1 1 , , . , ,. -1 ningotl775.
traditions ot ioyalty by which, tor two generations, the
House of Brunswick had been regarded as the apostles, not to SHy
martyrs, of Liberty, the popular writers and orators in America
charged the violations of their rights and customs, not on the King,
but on the Ministry of the time. They were undoubtedly sincere in
this use of language. The unpopular acts were spoken of as the
" Ministerial Acts," and the army which was sent to enforce thera
was the " Ministerial Army." The revelations of a century have
proved that this loyal effort to palliate the conduct of George HI. was

378 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Cuap. XV.
all wrong. He was the centre of the whole scheme of American tax
ation. In a certain wrong-headedness which was perhaps the first
symptom of bis insanity, he imagined that in the colonies, at least, he
raight play the part of an absolute monarch. The satire of another
generation has called him at this period a " Bruraraagem Louis XIV.,"
and that phrase perhaps sufficiently describes his relations to Amer
ican history. 1
In this aspect of affairs, with a little English army stationed at
A conflict Boston, and a handful of royal troops at other capital towns
inevitable, jj^ ^^xQ coloiiics, it was a qucstion of time only, a question
even of days and hours, when the bolt should fall. And, since it has
proved that a new erapire was born on the day of the first open col
lision between the colonists and the authorities of the Crown, every
place in America which can present any claim to that honor has
urged it eagerly at the bar of history.
It is thus that the jieople of Salem, in IMassachusetts, on every fit
occasion, are proud to remind their countrymen that on
meeting at Suuday, tlic 26th of Februarj^, 1775, they met the English
Salem, Jlass. . n , .1 c I'l tvt
troops 111 arras, and raet thera successfully. Nay, more, it
seems certain that, when an English infantry soldier used his bayonet
against a Salem boatman, the first blood of the Revolution was shed
there. But, fortunately or unfortunately, as the reader may judge, the
royal coraraander withdrew his troops without battle ; and the very
success of the preparations of the people of Salera and Essex County,
the very promptness with which the Essex regiment under Timothy
Pickering stood to its arras that day, has deprived Salera, in the mind
of the American people, of the honor of beginning the American
Revolution. At the request of some friends of the royal government in Marsh-
field, Plyraouth County, Massachusetts, General Gage had sent a small
detachment to that town, to protect them from insult. This detach
ment had landed there, and had taken up its quarters without resist
ance from the people. It was, perhaps, because he was encouraged by
tbis shght success that Gage struck next at Salem. He had heard
there were some cannon tbere. He sent out Colonel Leslie, with a de-
1 A passage in a speech of Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton, denouncing Lord
North's bill for the government of Massachusetts Bay, intimates a feminine influence in the
Crown counsels. " When I talk of the Minister, I mean to speak with all due respect to
the noble Lord, though I do not consider hiin as the immediate actor of all this. I know
not the age, the person, or the sex ; but, that I may not be wrong, I will use the language of
Acts of Parliament, which I imagine will comprehend, and will say, he, she, or they, — to
that person or persons alone do I mean to address myself." — Speech in House of Commons,
M.ay 2, 1774. The allusion is to the King's mother. Walpole speaks of " that cool dis
simulation in which he had been so well initiated by his mother, and which comprehended
almost the whole of what she taught bim."

1775.]

COLONEL LESLIE AT SALEM BRIDGE.

379

tachment, to seize them, on Sunday, February 26, 1775. The party
landed at Marblehead in the morning, while the people Leslie's ex-
were at meeting, and set out by land for Salem. The news p'"""™-
had been sent from Marblehead before thera, and the Salem people
were not surprised. The detachment marched through the town of
Salem; but when they reached the " North Bridge," they found the
drawbridge up, and the commander was then told by the asserabled
people that really this was a private way, and that neither Colonel
Leslie nor any one else could use it without the owner's perraission.
Colonel Leslie seems to have recognized that they had the law on

Salem Bridge.
their side, but in answer he appropriated two scows or " gondolas," ^
and began to embark his men. On this, the owners of the Atsaiem
scows leaped into them with the soldiers, and began to scut- ^"'^s^-
tie the boats. Here Colonel Leslie's respect for private right gave
way, and the owners were expelled with bayonet-thrusts. This was
the first bloodshed of the Revolution."^
But Leslie did not follow up this advantage. One of the Salem
ministers. Rev. Thomas Barnard, had proposed a comproraise, which
he accepted. The bridge was lowered, and the troops marched over,
and fifty yards beyond. Then the Colonel shook hands with the min-
^ " Gondola," the Italian word, was in use in English literature as early as Spenser's
time. "Scow" is a local phrase in New England for a lai'ge flat-bottomed boat, gener
ally towed from place to place, or propelled across shallow water by poles. " Gondola,"
pronounced "gundalo," is still familiarly used in New England, as a .synonym for " .scow,''
by people who never heard of Venice.
2 But before this a man had been hanged in tlie Hampshire Grants, uow Vermont, for
resisting the Crown authority.

380 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
ister, and marched his command back over the bridge. As he left
Salem, the Danvers companyof minute-men, the "flank company"
of the Essex regiment, arrived. But their services were not needed.
Colonel Leslie continued his retreat to Marblehead and Boston with
out seizing the cannon he was sent for.
On the 5th of March, Dr. Warren ¦ delivered the fifth annual ora-
warren's tiou OU tlic Bostoii Massacro, in that town. It was his sec-
oratiou. Qjj^ oration on this subject. The church was crowded with
people of both parties. Even the steps of the pulpit were covered
with British officers. So dense was the crowd, that Warren and his
friends entered the church by a ladder through the pulpit window.
There was no disturbance while the orator spoke. The oration was
pointed and vehement, but always carefully avoided anything which
could be called treason. This passage hints to the gentlemen around
hira what Warren and his friends were learning : " Even the sending
troops to put these acts in execution is not without advautages to
us. The exactness and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth
with ardor in the pursuit of railitary knowledge. Charles the Invin
cible taught Peter the Great the art of war. The battle of Pultowa
convinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made." He said,
as had been said before, that he and his friends were not seeking
independence. But there were raen in that house who were. " But
if these pacifick raeasures are ineffectual," he said, " and it appears
that the only way to safety is through fields of blood, I know you
will not turn your faces from your foes, but will undauntedly press
forward until tyranny is trodden under foot, and you have fixed your
adored Goddess Liberty fast by a Brunswick's side on the Ainerican
Throne." George III. and Liberty, on an Ainerican throne, seated side by
side, like Williara and Mary, probably raade their last appearance
then, even in prophecy. The oration ends with these words: "Hav
ing redeemed your country, and secured the blessing to future gen
erations, who, fired by your exaraple, shall emulate your virtues, and
learn from you the heavenly art of making millions happy with
heart-felt joj', with transports all your own, you cry. The glorious
work is done ! Then drop the mantle to some young Elisha, and
take your seats with kindred spirits in your native skies."
As Warren spoke, an officer of the Welsh Fusileers, who sat on
the pulpit stairs, drew from his pocket a handful of bullets and held
tbem out in his hand for the rest to see. Warren dropped a white
handkerchief over thera.
The theme of the orators on all these occasions was the danger to
liberty and order when standing armies are quartered in towns.

177.5.] ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE.

381

With the return of the garrison to Boston, the necessity of this lesson
returned. That King George quartered soldiers among the people,
became one of the indignant complaints of the Declaration of Inde-

Warren's Oration.

pendence. Only a week after Warren's address, appeared an illus
tration of the danger he described.
A raan named Ditson, frora Billerica, had bargained with a soldier
for a gun. As soon as he had paid his money he was seized by half-a-

382 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
dozen of the soldier's comrades for breach of the act against trading
with soldiers. Thej' kept hira locked up all night, and the next
Arrest of moming the officers condemned hira without a hearing, to
Ditsou. |-,g tarred and feathered. The soldiers were only tori glad
to execute this punishment, and then paraded bim through the
streets with a placard inscribed " Araericau Libertj', or a Specimen
of Deraocracj'."
The Billerica selectmen remonstrated to General Gage, in a piiper
wbich ends with ominous words : " Maj' it please your Excellency,
we raust tell you we are determined, if the innocent inhabitants of
our countrj' towns raust be interrupted bj' soldiers in their lawful in
tercourse with the town of Bostou, and treated with the most brutish
ferocitj', we shall hereafter use a different style from tbat of petition
and complaint."
There is something of real pathos, in such protests from the gov
ernment of little country towns, which, but for the result, would seem
ridiculous. That in "town raeeting" a town which had not fifty
voters, should vote raoney to buy powder and flints with which to make
war against a King who, within fifteen years, had humbled the French
raonarchy, seemed absurd. But the histoiy is full of such declarations.
And when the selectmen of Billerica sent their warning to that
King's Lieutenant-general in America, the illustration of what they
raeant was at hand.
To try the countrj', and at once to display his little array and to
exercise it after a winter cramped iu quarters. General Gage
sent out on the 30th of March, a large body of troops on what
was called " an excursion." Earl Percj', afterwards Dtike of North
umberland, then a young officer of high rank in Gage's armj', com
manded the partj', which consisted of five regiments. " It marched to
-lamaica Plain, a village about four railes south of Boston, then
crossed the country to Dorchester, a town nearer the sea, and so re
turned to Boston, after a raarch of about ten railes. The season was
earlj', and it was said that the gardens and fields of the farmers were
unnecessarilj' injured by the soldiers.
It was to check just such " excursions " thatthe " Committee of
Safetj%" since celebrated, bad been created bj' the Provin-
mittce of cial Congress of ^lassachusetts as early as February 9 of this
year. This comraittee, consisting of five men, was a per
manent executive. Its " business and duty " were, to "alarm, muster,
and cause to be assembled with the utmost expedition, and com
pletely armed, accoutred and supplied, such and so many of the militia
of the prtivince as they shall judge necessary, and at such place and
places as they shall judge proper." Such levy was to be made when

(iage s ex
eursions.

1775.] THE EXPEDITION TO CONCORD. 383
the committee should think an attempt was raade by force to carry
out the " Boston Port Bill." The committee did not judge that such
an occasion was presented by Percy's "excursion" to Jamaica Plain.
It had no military objective. It marched without baggage and with
out artillery," says Warren in a letter written at the time. " But,"
he adds, " had they attempted to destroy any magazines, or to abuse
the people, not a man of them would have returned to Boston."
The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts had been collecting at
several points such stores, both of arms and of provisions, as their
means permitted. One of the most indignant outbursts in the Eng
lish Parliament, the year before, was in ridicule of the audacity with
which the General Court of Massachusetts had -sent for the royal
approval a bill for the purchase of twelve brass cannon. Many stores
had since been purchased without King George's approval. The
towns kept theirs in tbeir own magazines ; those which belonged to
the province were at Concord and Worcester, the county towns of
Middlesex and Worcester counties. Concord is about twenty railes
northwest of Boston. General Gage first sent two officers in dis
guise to reconnoitre each of these places and the routes to thera, ^ and
on Tuesday evening, the 18th of April, he sent a detachment of about
eight hundred men to seize and destroy the guns, munitions,
and stores, at Concord, lo insure a surprise, his troops pedition to
. xTT 1 Tcy-^11 Concord.
were to march at mght. Under the command of Colonel
Smith, they left Boston in the boats of the squadron at the water
edge of the Common,^ landed at Lechmere's Point, now East Cam
bridge, and marched across the salt marshes, so as to strike the road
to Menotomy, or West Cambridge. The night Avas clear and frosty.
Meanwhile the country was alarmed, and the patriot leaders in
Boston were well informed of every step taken by the General and his
troops. Legend and poetry have illustrated every minute of that night ; but
no imagination can make incidents more draraatic than the precise
facts as they come out in their purity, after all the tests of the stern
est examination. Dr. Warren bad returned to Boston from a meet
ing of the Provincial Congress at Concord. It was as early as the
16th, when Gage gave warning of his plans, by launching the boats
of the transports, which had been laid up all winter. On Sunday, the
16th, Warren sent Paul Revere from Boston to Lexington, to tell
Hancock and Adams that the boats were launched. Paul Revere
' It was not a hundred years, since Worcester had received that name in direct insult to
Andros, in memory of the Worcester where the son of the King of England fled for his
hfe before the army of Cromwell.
¦^ Near what is now Park 8i|uare.

384 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
was a coppersmith and engraver. He was one of thirty "North End"
mechanics who through the winter had made it their business to patrol
the streets of Boston at night, in order to note every movement of the
English troops. Revere took his message to Hancock, aud returned
through Charlestown. At Charlestown, on the night of the 16th, he
agreed with " Colonel Conant and other gentlemen that if the British
went out by night, we would show two lanthorns in the North Church
steeple, — and if by land one, as a signal." Returning to Boston, he
reported his arrangements to Warren.
On ]\Ionday and Tuesday General Gage did nothing; but the two
Committees — of Safety and Supplies — were preparing for him at
Concord. They passed raore than twenty votes relating to the removal
aud disposition of cannon, amraunition, and stores. Tuesday evening
Warren discovered in Boston that the troops were to raove at once.
He sent in great haste for Revere, and begged hira to set off for Lex
ington. This he did, first calling — as his own narrative relates —
" upon a friend," and desiring hira to hang out the two signal lan
terns from the tower of Christ Church.^ He took his coat and
boots for his ride, and, in his boat, which was in readiness, was rowed
over by his men to Charlestown. When he came into the little town,
he found that Colonel Conant and others had already seen his signals.
Here he raet also Richard Devens, who had just returned from a meet>
ing of the Comraittee of Safety, and who told him he had met ten
British officers riding towards Lexington frora Cambridge. These
were a party who had dined at Carabridge, in the futile hope that
by disposing themselves on the road to Lexington after night-fall,
they raight cut off all news of the advance.
Revere found a good horse in Charlestown, he says ; the night was
pleasant, and at eleven o'clock he started on the eventful ride which,
iu Longfellow's version of it, has raade hira immortal. The moon
was already up. He had scarcely left Charlestown, and was passing
"where Mark was hung in chains," when two Enghsh officers on
horseback tried to take hira. But Revere and his horse were too
quick for them. In Medford he waked the captain of the minute-men.
From Medford to Lexington he alarmed almost every household. He
came to Lexington about midnight, and gave his news to Hancock and
' "Ileft Dr. Warren, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the signals," is
Revere's statement (,1/ass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. v.). Who the "friend" was, is a disputed
point, on Avbich there is no evidence except family tradition. The descendants of Robert
Newman claim that he was the sexton of Christ Church, and at Revere's request be made
the signals. The descendants of John Pulling declare that he was the intimate friend of
Revere, and that it has been handed down in their family, from generation to generation,
that it was he with whom Revere had an agreement to hang out the lanterns ; that he got
the keys from the sexton for that purpose, and that he was afterward compelled to leave
Bostou to escape punishment for bis enterprise.

1775.]

THE ALARM IN MIDDLESEX.

385

Adams, who were at Rev. Mr. Clarke's house
William Dawes, whom
Warren had sent out by -*affi '
land, over Boston Neck.
And after a little stay with
Dawes and Dr. Prescott,
"a high son of liberty," he
started for Concord between
one and two in the morning.
Prescott, who was thus pre
ordained to take the torch
when it fell from the hand
of the first messenger, had
lingered thus late, on that
critical night, with his
sweetheart, a young lady of
Lexington, whom he after
ward married. The three
rode on together toward
Concord. On the way,
while Dawes and Prescott
stopped to alarm a house.
Revere was surrounded by
four English officers. Pres
cott escaped, and reached
Concord with the news.
Revere was taken prisoner,
and carried back by the
English officers and the
other six of their party to
Lexington, where he arrived
a little before the column of
whose movements he had
given information.
The Provincial Commit
tee of Safety had adjourned
from Concord to Menot-
omy.i On the sudden ar
rival of the troops, in the
middle of the night, they
were awakened, and, with
out dressing, ran into the

HerQ he was joined by

VOL. HI.

Signal Lanterns In Nortli Churcli Belfry.
1 Afterwards West Cambridge, now Arlington.
25

380 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
fields to escape. These were Orne, Lee, Gray, and Heath. Dr.
Wiirren, the fifth member of the committee, was in Boston, watch
ing what passed there. He remained till about seven in the morning,
when he left Boston, forever, as it proved, with the words: "They
have begun it ; that, either partj' can do ; and we '11 end it ; that, only
one can do."
Colonel Smith, as has been seen, had made every effort to arrest
any person who could alarm the country, but had wholly failed.
Conscious of his failure, be sent back for a reenforcement. Gage
received his message at five o'clock. He had anticipated it, and at
four o'clock had ordered out the first brigade, under Lord Percy.
But by a series of those petty blunders and delaj's which befall armies
unused to war, it was nine o'clock before this brigade was ready in
Treraont Street, in Boston. The boats could not be used, because
they were at Cambridge, and Percy marched by the circuitous land
route through Roxbury and Brookline. Sraith, meanwhile, pushed
forward six companies of his light infantry with a bodj' of marines,
under Major Pitcairu, of the Marine Corps, directing him at the
earliest raoraent to take possession of the bridges over the Concord
River at Concord. This was a railitary precaution against attack
from the railitia north or west of that little stream. On Major Pit-
cairn, therefore, and his immediate coraraand, was thrown the respon
sibility, which soon proved so critical, of the outbreak of the war.
The sun had not j'et risen when Pitcairn, hurrying on his men, ap-
Piicairn at pi'oached Lexingtou Common. This was a little green in
Le.xington. fi-Qj-if; of ^he meetiug-house. Obedient to tbe alarm, the
Lexington minute-men had formed sorae tirae before. They had sent
scouts do'wn the silent road, who had returned saying there was no
eneinj', so slow had been Smith's progress. On this announcement
the men had withdrawn into the meeting-house and other houses
around the green. At a second alarra thej' paraded again. They
were under the coraraand of John Parker, a veteran of the French
war. As the column under Pitcairn approached, each party could
observe the nurabers of the other. Parker saw that his command was
wholly outnumbered, and directed his raen to retire. Pitcairn, at the
same moment, rushed forward, with the words, which were long after
repeated in every household, —
" Disperse ! rebels, disperse ! "
On each side there was the raost eager wish that the responsibility
of the first shot should be thrown upon the other party. The Con
tinental Congress had indicated this wish earnestly. The Provincial
Congress, anxious to conform to its directions, had cautioned the town
committees to use the utraost forbearance. On the other side there

1775.]

THE FIRST SHOT.

387

was equal caution. General Gage went to the verge of pusillanimity,
in directing his officers not to assume the offensive. Colonel Leslie
had been ridiculed, not in print only, but in song and talk, for retir
ing without a struggle at Salem, and yet he had simply obeyed Gage's
instructions. Each partj', in a word, wanted to show that the other struck first.
And it has long been one of the mooted questions of this great
struggle, whether the English or the Americans fired the first shot.
jMajor Pitcairn, in coraraand on the one side, and Captain John Parker,
who commanded on the other, declared that their orders were strict,
that no man should fire till he was fired upon. But that somebody
fired, a war of seven long years was the evidence.

1

-¦~ •.'St-'^SJ

Lexington Green.
Sifting to the very bottom the testiraony which has accumulated on
both sides, it seems that the witnesses, who spoke with can- Thefirst
tion, all spoke the truth. Pitcairn probably gave no order '^'"''¦
to fire, — even commanded his men not to fire, as be alwaj'S said. It
is admitted on all hands that at the last moment he struck his sword or
staff down, as a signal to them to forbear firing. Parker ordered his
men to disperse, and not to fire, — very properly declining to attack
with seventy men, not even in arraj', a column of six companies of
royal infantry. But Pitcairn also says he saw a "flash in the pan"
on the other side. What happened was probably this : One of Par
ker's men, without order, drew trigger, and his gun missed fire. The

388 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
poAvder flashed in the pan. Some English soldiers, without order
also, considered this to be, as it certainlj' was, a sufficient signal that
war had begun, and fired sorae irregular shots in return. These shots
hurt no one ; but a general discharge from the English line followed,
in which raaiij' of the Lexingtou partj' were killed and wounded.
They then returned the fire, and the war was begun.
Had the unknown Protesilaus lived, the fl;isli of whose disobedient
musket, in the gray of the morning, precipitated at that moment the
certain storm, he would afterward have told the story. It was not a
moraent to be forgotten, nor to be ashamed of. It raust be that he
was one of the seven raen who were found bj' their wretched wives
and mothers dead on Lexington Common, after the English column
had passed bj'.^
It is true, then, tbat the Americans did not fire first. It is also
true that one unknown Lexington soldier tried to fire and failed. It
is true that the English commander and his raen did not mean to fire
first. It is also true, that as events were ordered, thej' fired the first
shot, and took the first lives lost in the war. In the return fire of
Parker's raen, one English soldier was killed, and one or two wounded.
Of Parker's little force one fourth were killed or wounded by one
volley. The English troops fired another volley, in triuraph, on the Coiu-
The march ™on, aiid presscd on to Concord. As has been already said,.
[ngtonto Colonel Smith knew that the country was alarmed, and had
Concord. ggj^j- ^^ck for reeiiforcements. From Lexington to Concord,
as they marched, is about eight miles, by a road which, as they must
have noticed then, could be easilj' obstructed bj' an adverse force. It
was still earlj' morning, and thej' arrived at Concord without further
interruption. Thej- had already made what a prudent officer would
consider a good day's raarch, and had been without sleep through
the night. The General's intention raust have been that they should
take position for tbat daj' and the next night, at least, at Concord.
But the whole country was now alarmed, and the towns showed
what thej' raeant when they defied King George. The arrangements
made by the committees of correspondence and the Provincial Con
gress, to carry information of any eraergency, worked wonderfully
well. To tbis hour there are traditions in northern Middlesex and
Worcester counties of the "man on the white horse," who passed
through before daybreak, to say that the English had left Boston, and
^ Ten men more were wounded, — seventeen in all, out of seventy, disabled by oue volley.
This fact is a sufiicient evidence that their military array was not considerably broken, and
that the firing was at very close range. Such a proportion of loss would be remarkable at
the end of a battle.

1775.]

CONCORD AND CONCORD BRIDGE. 389

that the war had begun. Nay, it would not be hard to find those who
have heard that this message carae before mortal horse could have
reached the spot where it was heard, and that no man can tell who
this fatal messenger was, or whither he went. Without supposing
that any Castor or Pollux of the eighteenth century brought the
fatal tidings, it is certain that they advanced with a celerity till then
unknown. The reader has been told that Colonel Smith had notified
General Gage that he should need reenforcements. This was before
four o'clock in the morning. But long before the tardy forms of the
officials in Boston had sent off Percy's brigade to him, the minute-
men of the colony, for thirty miles around, had been summoned by
the prompt prevision of the patriot authorities, and were on the raarch.
Thus the Concord minute-raen had formed, and some of their
neighbors from Lincoln, the next town, had joined tbem before Pit-
'cairn and Colonel Smith arrived there. Sorae of the companies
marched down the road toward Lexington, far enough to see that
they were quite outnumbered, and then withdrew. They forraed on
a bold hill eighty rods behind the village. Here Barrett, their Colo
nel, joined them. He had been engaged, under personal and secret
orders from the Provincial Congress, in concealing musket-balls and
removing provisions which the colony had collected there. These
were beef, flour, molasses, rum, and candles. Barrett found that he
was outnumbered, and withdrew his whole force across the Concord
River, where he held them watching the English column in their na
tive village. Colonel Smith, the English commander, attended to the
duty assigned him. He broke off the trunnions of three new can
non, which Barrett had not been able to remove ; he destroyed some
wooden spoons and trenchers, and other articles in the humble com
missariat provided for the army which his inarch of that day was
calling into the field. But this did not last long. Shots at the North
Bridge told all men, if any raan had doubted before, that war had
begun. The Concord and Lincoln companies, on the hill above the North
Bridge, were joined by different companies of minute-men
from the towns of northern Middlesex. They could see concord
smoke, which showed that the English were firing houses or
goods. The court-house was in flames. They could see at the bridge
three companies of English troops, who were under an officer naraed
Laurie. It was when these men began to take up the bridge that
the httle army of mihtia acted.
The Lincoln minute-men volunteered to clear the bridge. Captain
Davis, of Acton, made the remark, now a proverb, " There is not a
man in my company that is afraid." Colonel Barrett commanded the

390

BEGINNING OF THE WAR.

[Chap. XV.

column to pass the bridge without firing ; but, if fired upon, to return
the fire. The New England passion for law appears in the language
of his order. " It is the King's highwaj', and we have a right to
march on it if we march to Boston. Forward, raarch ! " They
raarched to the quickest air their fifes could play — the " White Cock
ade." Laurie, who coraraanded the detachment of English, recrossed the
bridge. JMajor Barrett, in command of the attacking party, hurried
upon it. When they were within a short distance, the English fired
three distinct volleys, and Davis and Hosmer were killed. The Con
cord rainister, IMr. Eraerson, was nearer to the Enghsh than either of

'1-4. \^^- -'¦^'''

Concord Bridge.
them, on the Concord side of the river. He wrote in his diary that
night that he " was very uneasy till the fire was returned." When
Davis and Hosraer fell, the militia returned the fire. The English
retreated. The minute-men crossed the bridge, and sorae of them
ascended the bold hill where the Concord raen had formed in the
morning. Another party of English, with Parsons in command, re
turning frora Colonel Barrett's house, crossed the bridge from the
northern side, and were allowed to join the main force undisturbed.
In this encounter at the bridge, the Araerican railitia first attacked
the King's troops. The English lost here one soldier killed and sev
eral wounded. Colonel Sraith now abandoned anj' idea of posting
himself at Concord. As soon as he could collect proper carriages to

1775.] RETREAT OF THE BRITISH. 391
carry his wounded, he started on his return. Meanwhile, from every
quarter, the minute-men were pouring down. They did
not know what was the true "objective." 15 ut they meant
to be in time, and they were in time. The whole country between
Boston and Concord was aroused. Tbe Provincials, knowing every
inch of it, chose their own best places to attack the King's troops.
So soon as these had passed, their unseen enemies would take some
cross-road and attack again. " Thej' are trained to protect themselves
behind stone walls," writes General Gage. " They seemed to drop
from the skies," says an English soldier. Smith and his men, after
their hard march of nearly thirty miles, carae back to Lexington ex
hausted. Smith himself was wounded. They had marched from
Concord, nearly eight miles, in two hours.
"A number of our officers were wounded," says Bernicre, an Eng
lish eye-witness, " so that we began to run rather than retreat in order.
The whole behavedwith amazing bravery, but little order."
A little beyond Lexington Coramon, at about three o'clock. Smith
and his hard-pressed partj', as they approached Boston, raet the re
enforcement under Lord Percy, so long desired. Lord Percy had
moved at nine in the morning, in a direction almost directly per„-s
opposite that of Lexington, because he was obliged to leave >=°i"™"-
Boston by land. It was remembered afterwards, that as he passed
through Roxbury, his bands played "Yankee Doodle," and that a
prophetic boy insulted hira by crying out, "You raarch to Yankee
Doodle; you will come back to Chevy Chase." This allusion to the
"woful hunting" so celebrated in literature in the history of his
house, appeared again and again in the pasquinades of the tirae. At
Cambridge he had to cross Charles River, and the Committee of
Safety, or Colonel Heath, one of their number, had directed that the
planks should be taken from the bridge. Percy was thus still further
detained. As soon as possible he pressed forward with his troops,
leaving the train of stores to follow when the bridge should be more
firmly repaired. The officer in coraraand of this convoy lost his way,
and to the inquiries he made in Cambridge, such false answers were
given that with only scant military escort, he fell into the hands of
some West Cambridge "exempts," led with intelligence and success
by a negro soldier who had served in the French war.
Lord Percy, without his train, pressed on in time, as has been said,
to meet Smith just below Lexington, about two or three The return
o'clock. His field-pieces are always spoken of as awing '"Boston.
the militia. The exhausted columns rested a while, "the raen's
tongues hanging from their raouths, like dogs ; " such was the tradition
repeated for generations. The united force then took up the march

392 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
to Boston, and met with the sarae resistance everywhere, from a
force constantly increasing. At last, as the sun was going down, the
head of the column crossed Charlestown Neck. Beacon Hill, in
Boston, was covered with people, watching for their return, and, as it
darkened, one could see thence the musket-flashes on the road from
Cambridge to Cliarlestown. Percj' had to use his field-pieces again.
At West Cambridge, Dr. Warren, while exposing himself to the
enemy's fire, had the pin on his earlock shot away. By this time
Colonel Heath, of the Comraittee of Safety, was in some sort com
manding. The English had just reached Bunker Hill in Charles
town, when one of Colonel Pickering's aids rode up to Heath with the
news that the Essex regiment was just behind him, on the road from
Salem. The Danvers company had marched direct to Menotomy; the
rest of tbe regiment had gone straight to Charlestown. But Heath
thought it too late for any further offensive operations. The Eng
lish posted sentries on their side of Charlestown Neck ; Heath placed
his sentries on the other side, and ordered the militia to lie on their
arras at Carabridge.
Tbe loss of the English in the march and retreat was reported by
Gage as sixty-five killed, one hundred and seventy-eight
The results. ^ ... ./ o
wounded, and twenty-six missing, a very large loss from
a force of eighteen hundred men. The loss of the Americans was
forty-nine killed, thirty-six wounded, and five missing.^
All that night the march of the minute-men from every town in
The gather- jMassacliusetts, froiii Rhode Island, from Connecticut, and
Amc°r*ican froiu Ncw Hampshire, kept the country towns awake. Be-
miiitia. £^|,g morning on the 20th, before Gage's tired troops were
ferried back frora Charlestown to their barracks, an American army
was at Carabridge. The intelligence had flown over the land, that the
English troops had fired on the Lexington militia^ and with it had
gone the news that the coluran had been driven back to Boston. The
story grew as it went from province to province. By the tirae it came
into western Connecticut, it took a form which was carried by ex
press to New York, and was there relied upon as in some sort an offi
cial narrative. In that form the New York Committee of Safety
despatched it southward, and so it sped to Charleston, S. C, rousing
a country. No fiery cross ever stirred a nation to raore eager enthu
siasm. That despatch is therefore worth copying now, — although, in
literal fact, eveiy raaterial stateraent in it was untrue. It was in
these words : —
' These figures are taken from Gage's return, and from Phinney's History.

1775.]

THE NEWS CARRIED SOUTHWARD. 393

"Wallingfokd [Conn.], Monday 24th, 1775.
" Dear Sir : Colonel Wadsworth was over in this place raost of yes
terday, and has ordered twenty men out of each Corapany in ^ockwood'e
his Regiment, some of which had already set off, and others ^""^'¦
go this morning. He brings accounts, which came to him authenti
cated, from Thursday in the afternoon. The King's troops being reen
forced a second time, and joined, as I suppose, from what I can learn,
by the party who were intercepted by Colonel Gardner, were then
encamped on Winter Hill, and were surrounded by twenty thousand
of our men who were intrenching. Colonel Gardner s ambush proved
fatal to Lord Percy, and another General Officer, who were killed on
the spot the first fire. To counterbalance this good news, the story
is, that our first man in command (who he is I know not) is also
kihed. It seems they have lost raany men on both sides ; Colonel
Wadsworth had the account in a letter from Hartford. The Country
beyond here are all gone, and we expect it will be impossible to pro
cure horses for our wagons, as thej' have and will, in every place, em
ploy themselves all their horses. In this place they send a horse for
every sixth man, and are pressing them for that purpose. I know of
no way, but you must immediately send a couple of stout, able horses^
who may overtake us at Hartford possibly, where we must return
Mrs. JYoyes's, and Meloy's if he holds out so far. Remember the
horses must be had at any rate.
" I am in the greatest haste, your entire friend and humble servant,
" James Lockwood.
"N. B. Colonel Gardner took nine prisoners, and twelve clubbed
their firelocks and came over to our party. Colonel Gardner's party
consisted of seven hundred men, and the Regulars one thousand eight
hundred, instead of one thousand two hundred, as we heard before.
They have sent a vessel up Mystick River, as far as Temple's farm,
which is about half a mile from Winter Hill. These accounts being
true, all the King's forces, except four or five hundred, must be en
camped on Winter Hill." ^
This curious mixture of the account of personal need for horses and
of the outbreak of a civil war, is hardly intelligible when corapared
with the facts. History has not known better than Jaraes Lockwood
who was " the first man in command " ori the American side. The
rumor of his death probably rose from the death of Captain Davis, of
Acton, in the attack on Concord Bridge. The account of Percy's
being intercepted at Winter Hill is an instance where the wish was
father to the thought. For a generation after. Colonel Pickering was
' Preserved at Charleston, S. C. Published in Marshall's Remembrancer.

394 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
blamed unjustlj-, because he did not effect this consummation with
the Essex regiment.^
With the twentieth of April, therefore, the "Siege of Boston"
-The siege of bcgau. The patriots had studied, through the whole win-
Boston. .j,g^.^ jj^ pijj^j-^ fp^. withdrawing all the inhabitants from Boston,
which Gage, naturally enough, had resented. But, Avith the shock of
battle, the departure of the inhabitants came of course ; and, eventu
ally, when Gage found be Avas reallj' besieged on the land side, he did
not oppose it.
As the minute-men arriA'ed, they AA'ere posted in that part of
Charlestown (now Somerville) which is outside Charlestown Neck, in
Cambridge, and in Roxburj'. Works were thrown up on Charles
River anil on the salt marshes, to prevent any movement of Enghsh
troops by boats. The only egress from the city bj' land was over Bos
tou Neck, bj' which Percy had marched out. This passage Avas com-
Generai Ar- sanded coiupletelj' by a strong fort on the highland aboA'e
temas Ward, j-j^g Roxbury JMeetlng-house.^ General Artemas Ward, of
Shrewsbury, AA'as tbe senior officer in command of the Massachusetts
troops, and a deference was yielded to bim bj' Spencer, of Connecti
cut, Greene, of Rhode Island, and Folsom, of New Harapshire. These
Avere the senior officers of the contingents from those colonies. But
his orders to them take the form of requests. And his own commis
sion as General and Coraraander-in-chief of the Massachusetts troops
was not given hira till the 20th of JMaj'. The works which have been
alluded to Avere planned, and Avell planned, by Henry Knox, a young
Boston bookseller, Avho had interested hiraself in railitary studies, and
by Gridlej-, Avho had served in the French War. During all this pe
riod, there Avas a wretched deficiency of powder in the stores of this
suddenly enlisted army. The Provincial Congress, in fear of a bold
attack by Gage, which very probably would have resulted in their de
feat, made provision for securing their records and stores, such as they
Avere, in case of the necessity of a retreat.
As early as the 26th of April, ^ a letter from Dr. Warren to Gage
proposed that the people of Boston be alloAved to leave the
The exodus T",^ t, .,,. ,.
from Bos- towu. Gage agreed, but said their arms raust be giA'en up;
and on the 27th a great number of arras Avere deposited at
Faneuil Hall. The railitary habit of the time appears in the fact that
there was almost one weapon for every grown man. At first. Gage
1 " And vanquished Percy, to complete the tale.
Had hammered stone for life in Concord jail." — Lowell.
2 Now a little ornamental square, in which is the stand-jiipe of the Boston Water Works.
The " Meeting-house " was that made famous by the ministry for half a century of Eliot,
" the Apostle to the Indians." See vol. i., p. 539.
^ Not the 20th, as printed by mistake in Force's Archives.

1775:]

THE NEWS SENT TO ENGLAND.

395

allowed the inhabitants to depart on the condition that only thirty
wagons should leave the town daily. But so large a nuraber left that
the Tories in Boston, remembering the patriot plans of the last win
ter, took alarm, and compelled Gage to rescind his permission. On
the day of the expedition to Concord, almost tAvo hundred Tories Avere
enrolled under General Ruggles, of Hardwick, said to be the best sol
dier in the colonics. ^ Fearing that, unless the inhabitants should re
main in the town, it would be burned by the American army, thej-
told Gage that they would leave the town themselves if the einigi'a-
tion were not stopped, and he was obhged to yield.
The Provincial Con.gress, immediately after the events of Lexing
ton and Concord, prepared an account of the battles, con- j^ews of the
firmed by depositions from the principal actors. These they ""nt'trEng-
eutrusted to Captain John Derby, of Salem, Avith the order '*'"'¦
to sail to some convenient port of Ireland and thence to hasten to
London, and deliver his pa
pers to the agent. With
these orders Captain Derby
started, and outsailed every
other vessel on the Avaj'.
Captain Brown, in the
Sukey, with Gage's de
spatches, had sailed before
him ; but Captain Derby
reached London eleven days
before anj' other neAvs ar
rived. This early announce
ment of the outbreak, which
naturally enough took the
view most favorable to the
patriots, produced an imme
diate effect in England, such
as the government depre
cated. The impression, of course, gained gToqnd every day that they
had news Avhich they dared not publish.
On the 8th of May, so distinct a rumor was circulated
bridge that Gage intended to march out, that the ininute-
men of the towns near Boston were called into service.
Gage had another opportunity to see hoAV large Avas the re
serve force at the service of his eneray. On the 13th, Israel Put
nam— Avho, when the news of the fight at Lexington and Concord
reached him, left his plough in the field at Pomfret, Conn., mounted
1 The same who had presided at the first Continental Congress, ten years before.

General Gage.

at Cara-
Alovements 111 and
around Boston.

396 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
his horse, and the next morning AA'as in Concord — marched a little
array of two thousand three hundred men from Cambridge to Charles
town Neck, and through CharlestoAvn to the ferry there. Had any
permanent Avorks on Bunker Hill been intended by Ward and the
American officers, that Avas the better time, before Gage was reen
forced. On the 27th, a skirmish, in Avhich Putnam led, took place at
Hog Island, northeast of Boston, in the harbor. Besides the sheep
and cattle which Avere the object of the raid, tbe English lost a sloop,
twelve swivels, and several raen. An exaggerated account of the ex
ploit gave to it at the south the character of a battle ; and it Avas to
this affair that Putnam owed a certain prorainence at the time, Avhich
helped in securing the rank given him in the Continental army a few
weeks afterward.
Several skirmishes of this character, which generally resulted to the
advantage of the Americans, gave confidence to the ncAV levies, and
showed that they held the English at disadvantage. They were the
result of an order of the Committee of Safety, passed on the 14th,
that such live stock should be removed from the islands, and thej'
prepared the way for the action at Bunker Hill. Gage did not seem
to understand how soon he should need the provisions thus taken
from him. In tAvo of these affairs alone, thirteen hundred sheep,
which he might have used, were lost.
On the 25th of May, Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne ar-
An-ivai of rivcd with large reenforceraents. As they entered the har-
fon'^and''" ^01", they hailed a tender bound to Newport, and asked the
Burgoyne. news. When told that Boston was surrounded by ten thou
sand men in arms, they asked how large was the English force, and
were told it Avas five thousand men. " Ten thousand peasants keep
five thousand king's troops shut up ! Let us get in, and we '11 soon
fiud elbow-room." The story was circulated everywhere, and the
nick-name " Elbow-room " was applied to Burgoyne all through the
Avar, never Avith raore sting, of course, than at the period of his own
reverses. The highest hill on the peninsula of Charlestown commands the
The English "orthern part of Boston and the northern part of Boston
strategic harbor. The hills on the southeast of Boston, noAV part of
oTSdeT- South Boston, but then called Dorchester Heights, on Dor-
town Chester Neck, command the southern part of Boston and
all the harbor. Of course both parties saw the evident necessity of
iraraediately occupying both CharlestoAvn and Dorchester Heights.
General Burgoyne, in a letter to Lord Stanley, says it was absolutely
necessary that the English should occupy these heights, and that it
was thought best to begin with Dorchester. He says he has never

1776.]

BOSTON BESIEGED.

397

•differed from Clinton and Howe, and they, with General Gage,
formed the plan. The troops under Howe Avere to land on the point
of Dorchester Neck noAv known as City Point, Clinton's in the cen
tre, while Burgoyn-e cannonaded from Boston Neck, if necessary, to
keep clear the line of approach from the American forces in Roxbury.
These operations Avere to take place on Sunday, June 18. The Pro
vincial Congress and General Ward knew all this in advance, as ap-
piears from their Report made to the Congress at Philadelphia.^

"June 20, 1775.
" We think it an indisputable duty to inform you that reenforce
ments from Ireland, both of horse
and foot, being arrived (the num
bers unknown), and having intel
ligence that General Gage was
about to take possession of the
advantageous posts in Charles
town and on Dorchester Heights,
the Committee of Safety advised
that our troops should prepossess
them, if possible."
It must be remembered that in
this disturbed state of affairs the
Committee of Safety was the only
executive of the insurgents. This
report to the Continental Congress
is made simply for their informa
tion. Under an order of the Com
mittee of Safety, General Ward formed a detachment to take posses
sion of the hill above Charlestown. It Avas made up of Prescott's,
Frye's, and Bridge's regiments, under Colonel Prescott, and Measures
a party of Connecticut men drafted from several companies thc™mOTi-
under Captain Thomas KnoAvlton, of General Putnam's ™"''
regiment. They were ordered to furnish theraselves with packs,
blankets, intrenching implements, and provisions for twenty-four
' Major AVemyss, who sen-ed under Gage, has left iu his manuscri|)t papers the follow
ing frank notice of this general, which ])robably contains an e.xplanation of the way in which
news leaked out from his counsels. " Lieut.-General Gage, a commander-in-chief of mod
erate abilities, but altogether deficient in military knowledge. Timid and undecided in
every emergency, he was very unfit to command at a, time of resistance and approaching
rebellion to the mother country. He was governed by his wife, a handsome Ainerican ; her
brothers and relations held all the staff ap])ointinents in the army, and were, with less abil
ities, as weak characters as himself. To the great joy of the army, he went to England
soon afterthe disastrous attack at Bunker Hill." Mrs. Gage was a daughter of Stephen
Kemble, of New York.

Artemas Ward,

308 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
hours. Colonel Gridley's corapany of artillerj', with tAvo guns, made
part of the command. The expedition started from Cambridge at
nine o'clock on the evening before the 17th, crossed Charlestown
Neck, and reached Bunker Hill, the highest point of Charlestown,
about ten. Frora the English battery on Copp's Hill to Bunker Hill
is about one mile ; from Beacon Hill, in Boston, to Bunker Hill is
Buni^er nearly a mile and a half. At that time Beacon Hill was
'''"• one hundred and thirtj'-eight feet above sea-level; Bunker
Hill was one hundred and ten, and Copp's Hill about sixty feet. If
the object of fortifying Bunker Hill Avas to command the harbor,
a redoubt there would hardly carry out the design, because a spur
projecting southward frora the hill, making an eminence of about-
sixty-tAvo feet above the sea, rose betAveen the top of Bunker Hill and
the sea, and would protect the shipping to some extent. On the other
hand, if the design Avas merely to keep the English from seizing the
heights, both Bunker and the southern eminence, afterwards called
Breed's Hill,^ should be fortified at the sarae time. If the Provincials
had contented themselves with fortifying the higher part of Bunker
Hill only, the English troops might have formed under cover of the
lower hill; or their commanders might have intrenched themselves on
the south side of that hill, Avhere they could not be reached by firing
from Bunker Hill, from any guns in use at that time.
When the American officers found themselves on the crest of Bun
ker Hill, about ten in the evening, Prescott called the field-officers
around him, and showed them his orders. They deliberated for a long
tirae as to Avhether it Avould be more advisable to fortify the top of
Bunker Hill, or take the lower eminence from Avhich thej' could Avith
greater ease harass the English fleet. After some time it was deter
mined to proceed to the lower hill, half a mile nearer to Boston, and
The fortifi- t'dkn post there. General Putnam, Avho Avas present, strongly
BunTer' advocatcd intrenching the upper hill as Avell as the lower one.
iiiu. rpj^g Committee of Safety, after the event, said that forti
fying a point so near Boston Avas a mistake. But it is justified by
the highest military authority, for the reasons Avbich we have given.
Colonel Gridlej', the engineer officer, insisted on sorae decision being
made without further loss of time, and Avhen it was resolved to fortify
the lower hill, he raarked out the lines of a redoubt there. This re-
1 The height on which the battle was fought had no distinctive name before tbat time, but
was known as pastures belonging to different men. Breed being one of them. After the
battle the hill was called Breed's Hill ; but as the detachment was sent to put up fortifica
tions on Bunker Hill, that designation clung to the fight. Hence the confusion of names
wbich ]razzles every reader out of Massachusetts. Though many insist upon calling the
hill on which the tall monument stands, to commemorate the battle, Breed's Hill, the monu
ment itself is called Bunker Hill Monument.

1775.]

THE AMERICANS ON BUNKER HILL.

399

doubt was skilfully planned. It measured eight rods on its longest
side, Avhich fronted CbarlestoAvn. The other two sides Avere not quite
so long. The side toAvard Bunker Hill was lower. A breastwork
extended for about a hundred yards to the north, and stopped at a
marshy place at the north side of the hill. This Avork was begun at
midnight and continued till nearly eleven o'clock on the raorning of
Saturday, when the intrenching-tools were sent back to General Put
nam, that he might use thera to throw up fortifications on Bunker
Hill strong enough to hold that height as Avell as the other.
It was a clear moonlight night. But so quiet was the working

MYSTIC

Plan of Bunker Hill.

party, that it attracted no attention till morning. It was after day
break when Linzee, the commander of the Lively frigate, which lay
in the stream opposite where the naA'y-yard uoav is, saAV the neAv for
tification and opened fire upon it, waking the toAvn to the bold enter
prise of the night.
It was the morning of St. Botolph's day, the festival day of the
saint from whom Boston derives its narae.
Colonel Gridley returned Linzee's fire from his field-pieces, and the
fire from the ship was soon suspended by Gage's order. He was
roused from his repose, and on conference with his officers determined
to attack the works before they could be strengthened.

400 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
The English and Araerican accounts of the battle which followed,
differed, at the tirae, as if tAvo scenes had been described.
ofBuniier The best English account published in London, Avhen the
news arrived there, Avas General Burgoyne's, in a letter to
Lord Stanley.^ He saj-s that, seeing tbat the eneray had fortified
the heights of Charlestown during the night, the English generals
thought it necessary to attack that side instead of seizing Dorchester
Bur ovne's Hclghts, as It had been proposed to do on the next day.
account. General Howe, and under hira General Pigot, Avith about
tAVO thousand raeli, landed at JMoreton's Point (Avhere the navy-yard
noAv is) and advanced up Bunker Hill where the strength of the
enemj' lav. " Howe's disposition Avas exceechnglj' soldier-like." As
the first force advanced up the hill, " thej' raet a thousand impedi-
raents from strong fences, and were also injured by a rausketrj'-fire from
Charlestown." HoAve sent back to Burgoyne on Copp's Hill, in Bos
ton, to set Charlestown on fire, Avliich was instantlj' done by a number
of red-hot shot frora the batteries which afterward, together Avith the
shipping, kept up a vigorous fire upon the heights. In this published
letter, Burgoyne OAvns that Howe's left was staggered, and that reen
forceraents Avere sent. Thej- remained ujdou the beach, however, not
knowing Avhere to march. Immediatelj' General Clinton, without
waiting for orders, crossed in a boat to coraraand them, and arrived
in tirae to be of service.
Burgoyne closes his letter by saying: " The day ended with glory,
and the success was most iraportant, considering the ascendency it
gave the regular troops ; but tbe loss was uncoraraon in officers, for
the nurabers engaged."
On the other hand, the Committee of Safety published an account
bv' Rev. Peter Thacher, who saAv frora the eastern side of
The Amer-
ican ac- JMystlc Rivcr, wliat could be seen by a spectator there.

count.

This Avas sent to Arthur Lee, and others, in London, as a
correction of the report raade by General Gage in a circular letter
to the governors of the other colonies.
This account says in substance, that about noon several barges ap
proached Charlestown and lauded on the beach westAvard of the
Ainerican Avorks. The troops forraed upon landing, and waited till a
second detachment arrived from Boston, Avhen they took up their
march to the redoubt. Thej' moved slowly, Avith large flanking
parties. At this instant, smoke and flames arose from Charlestown,
which had been set on fire by the eneray, either that the smoke might
cover their attack, or to dislodge one or two regiraents of provincials
which had been placed in the town. But the Avind, shifting suddenly,
blcAV aAvay the sraoke. 1 The letter already referred to, p. 396.

1775.]

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.

401

Meanwhile, according to this account, the Araericans, within tbeir
intrenchments, waiting impatiently for the enemy, reserved their fire
until they were within ten or twelve rods, and then delivered a ter
rible discharge of small arms. The eneray faltered, stood still a
minute, and then ran with great precipitation towards their boats,
some even seeking refuge in the boats themselves. Here, the specta
tors on the opposite shore could see the officers run down to them
and urge the men forward with passionate gestures, even goading
them on Avith their swords. As soon as they had rallied, they marched
up towards the intrenchments, apparently with great reluctance.
Again the Americans waited until they were within six or seven
rods, and then fired, and again put the regular troops to flight.

-V*-

if-*!'

A. Boston Buttery, li. Churlu;=toW]i. C. British Troops iittackiii
Bunker Hill Battle.

U. Provincial Lines.

From a Contemporary Print, entitled '' View of tiie Attack on Bunker's Hill, witii tiie Burning of
Charlestown, June I7tii, 1775.''
The officers, making greater exertions than ever, once more urged
on the men to a third assault. This time they brought cannon to
bear upon the breastwork, raking it from one end to the other, so
that the provincials retired Avithin tbeir redoubt. The "rainisterial
army " now made a great effort. The ships and batteries redoubled
their fire, the officers increased their exertions, and the redoubt was
attacked on three sides at once. The breastwork outside the fort
had been abandoned ; the ammunition of the provincials was ex
hausted, and there were but very feAV bayonets. Not until the re
doubt was half filled with the British was the Avord given to retire.
The retreat must have been cut off, however, had not the flanking
party, whose place it was to attack the rear of the fort, met with a
body of provincials, who kept thera from advancing farther than the
VOL. III. 26

402 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
beach. These two parties fought with the utmost vigor, and not until
the provincials saw that the main body had left the liiU, did they
retire. Such is the official account as published by the Committee of
Safety. Tbere is no doubt that Thacher's stateraent that there were three
attacks is correct, although neither Gage in his despatches, nor Bur-
goj'ne, saj's anything about them.
While Pigot with the left Aving was attacking the main body of the
Americans, General Howe, with the right, marched alonff
Howe's . . .
flank move- the Mystlc River, to try to turn the Araerican flank on
its left. Against him Colonel Prescott had sent Captain
Knowlton with his Connecticut men, and two field-pieces. Knowl-
ton had taken his place behind a fence on the southern slope of
Bunker Hill proper, extending northeasterly toward the Avater.
This fence, which Avas made of stones, Avith rails of wood above, he
strengthened bj' a parallel line of fence, filling the spaces between
with new-mown grass. While he Avas doing this, reenforcements of
New Hampshire troops under Stark arrived.
On the firmness of this bodj' of raen on the Araerican left, event
ually depended the retreat of the Avhole party. As Howe advanced.
Colonel Callender opened fire on hira Avith his field-pieces, Avhich were
between the redoubt and the fence. Knowlton's men at the rail fence
held their fire until the enemy were within fifteen rods. When they
did fire, the English retreated, terribly cut up, at about the same time
that Pigot Avas repulsed before the redoubt.
In the second attack, HoAve's guns Avere charged with grape.
Through the whole action they had no proper balls. ^ They moved
up on a road running between the redoubt and the rail fence nearly
as far as the breastwork. The design was, to rake the redoubt. This
time, also, Howe was on the right of his attack before Stark and
Knowlton. At the rail fence and at the redoubt the Americans held
their fire till even a shorter distance intervened.
In both cases the English broke and retreated. It was at this
period of the action that Clinton arrived frora Boston with reenforce
raents, as narrated by Burgoyne. Tbe havoc at the attack thus made
by Howe in person was even raore terrible than that at the redoubt;
the annals of war haA'e, perhaps, no parallel to it. Oxie light com-
1 Thanks to the " dotage of an officer of high rank, who spends all his time with the
school-master's daughters." This is the verdict of an English writer of tbe day. The offi
cer was General Cleaveland, " who was enamored of tbe beautiful daughter of Master
Lovell," and in order to gain favor ^^¦itb her had given her young brother an appointment
in the ordnance department, for which he was not fitted. The beauty of the lady has
been handed down to later generations by transmission more sure than that of verbal
tradition .

1775.] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 403
pany of the Fifty-second Regiment had every raan killed or Avounded.
Howe himself bore a charmed life, but every officer of his staff Avas
killed or Avounded. It was to the accuracy of the marksmen, whether
at the redoubt or at the fence, that the terrible carnage of the day
Avas due, and around these volleys have clustered the most frequent
traditions of the fight. The efforts made by American officers Avho
had been under fire before, to restrain the eagerness of young troops,
are recollected in a hundred stories. " Fire Ioav," " Aim at the
handsome coats," " Aim at the waistbands." And there is no boy in
America who does not believe that Putnam and Prescott bade
their men Avait, till "they could see the whites of the eyes" of the
English. This order Avas probably familiar to the officers, Avho had
studied with eagerness the memoirs then fresh of the wars of Fred
eric. It was recorded that Prince Charles, when he cut through the
Austrian army in retiring from Jagendorf, gave this order to his in-
fanti'j- : " Silent, till you see the whites of their eyes." This was on
the 22d of May, 1745. And this order, so successful that daj', was
remembered twelve years after at the battle of Prague, when the
general Prussian order was, " By push of bayonets, — no firing till
you see the whites of their eyes."
In the third attack the English artillery gained their position and
drove the defenders of the breastAvork into the fort. Most of the
Americans had noAV only one round of ammunition, and few had more
than three. But Prescott bade them bold their fire, and thej' did
so until the enemy were within twenty yards. The English, taught
by experience, did not attack in platoons, but were drawn up in col
umn. The column Avavered under the fire, but the men rushed on
with the bayonet ; and Clinton's and Pigot's men, on the south and
east, reached the Avails. At Prescott's order, those Avbo had no bay
onets retired to the rear of the redoubt, for their ammunition was all
gone. The men in the front rank, as they scaled the Avails, were all
shot down. But these Avere the last shots, and as the English leaped
over the parapet, Prescott unwilhngly gave his order to retreat.
His retreat was covered, as Thacher's account explains, bj' the firra
ness with which Stark and Knowlton held the rail fence. TheAmeri-
The gap between the breastwork and the rail fence had been """^ ™'"'"'
enfiladed by Howe's artillery. The whole action had lasted about
two hours of a hot summer afternoon. The English once in the
redoubt had httle spirit to follow the enemy. On the other hand.
General Putnam, at the other work, on the crest of Bunker Hill,
found it impossible to hold the retreating parties there.
As the party in the redoubt left it. General Warren, as he is that
day called for the first time, was killed. He had been, till this mo-

404

BEGINNING OF THE WAR.

[Chap, XV.

raent, the efficient leader of the popular movements in Massachusetts
since Sarauel Adams had left for the Congress in Philadelphia. He
drew out the popular enthusiasm as no other leader had done. He
had shown eloquence, energy, and Avisdom. He was brave — so brave
as to throw aAvay his life. But the records of the Committee of
Safety, and his OAvn letters, show that he kneAV how to be prudent.
Only three days before the battle he had been raade a major-general
by the Provincial Congress, to hold command second to Ward. His
coramission had not been
issued, and on the day of
the battle he served as a
volunteer. But his pres
ence alone, when he arrived
at the redoubt late in the
day, was everything to the
exhausted men there. His
death was regarded as a na
tional calaraity.
Colonel Prescott, who
from first to last had com
manded the movement, and
who ordered the retreat, es
caped unhurt. But he was
enraged that he was obliged
to leave the ground which
he had so well maintained.
Joseph Warren. Whcu fic rctumed to head
quarters, he offered to take both sets of works again, if he might only
have fifteen hundred men. But General Ward very Avisely refused.
Prescott could probably have done what he proraised ; but there was
no military object Avorth the attempt.
Through that day, and afterAvards, it was suggested that Ward
might have reenforced the working-party more efficiently
than he did. But the criticism is unjust. It was impossi
ble that Ward could believe that his enemy would attack
the works in front and on the eastern flank only. It was entirely in
Gage's power to cut off the Bunker Plill party from their base by
landing a party on Charlestown Neck, under the protection of the
men-of-war. He did use the fire of the ships to enfilade the Neck,
and materially to retard all movement in each direction. He also
kept up, all day, a heavy fire on Boston Neck from his works. General
Ward had every reason to suppose that the British leaders would
thus attempt to divide his army, instead of taking the resolution

AVard's ac
tion re
viewed.

1775.] RESULTS OF THE BATTLE. 40-5
which proved so nearly fatal to thera, of attacking Prescott's works
in front. General Ward knew, also, what he Avould not tell, even
to save his reputation, that on the day of the battle he had, for the
use of his whole array, only sixty-three half-barrels of powder (sixtj'-
nine hundred pounds), hardly half a pound for every soldier in his
command. General Ward had been overruled, as the event has
proved, wisely, in the council Avhich ordered the fortification of
Bunker Hill. He had himself opposed this measure, as Warren had
done, which had been ordered by the Committee of Safety in oppo
sition to them. He now decided, and decided rightly, not to risk
more than a reenforcement comparatively sraall in the attempt to
hold the hill. As it was, he had men enough there, could he only
have supplied them raore fully with ammunition. Prescott even re
ported that with bayonets he should have successfully resisted the
final charge of the English left ; and at his instance tAVO thousand
spears Avere at once raade for the array. But all the bayonets in the
world Avould not have protected Prescott's raen after the gap betAveeii
the redoubt and Knowlton bad been passed by the English. That
gap was alreadj' covered by Howe's field-pieces when Prescott ordered
the retreat. A fair review of the day shoAVS that that retreat Avas
ordered at the proper moment, not too late and not a moment too
early. The loss of the Americans in this battle was one hundred and fiftj'
killed, two hundred and seventy wounded, and thirty taken
, ¦' •' The losses
prisoners. Gage's return of his loss was two hundred and by the bat-
twenty-four killed, and eight hundred and thirty Avounded.
According to his OAvn stateraent of the English engaged — about two
thousand men, — this Avas more than half the attacking force. But
the British force was, in fact, somewhat larger tban that estiraate.
Of his total loss of one thousand and fifty-four, one hundred and fiftj'-
seven were officers. In some parts of tbe field tbe havoc AA'as without
precedent. Howe is said to have exclairaed, " They raay talk of their
Mindens and their Fontenoys, but there was no such fire there I "
The remark is true, whether Howe raade it or not. And it is certain
that the impression made upon Howe and Clinton on that daj', gov
erned their lead of the British armies for the next seven years.
They were wary of leading troops against intrenched raen.
At the moment, and for many years after, the meraory of Bunker
Hill carried Avith it, in the minds of Ncav Englanders, especially of
those in the army, a bitter feeling of annoyance, as if " some one had
blundered ; " as if a victory well earned had becorae a disgraceful
defeat. The implication Avas freely raade that some Araerican officers
misbehaved, an implication never sustained by evidence. Courts-

406 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. [Chap. XV.
martial were held, to try sorae of the most seriously accused. Colonel
Callender was degraded from his command, for inadequately serving
the Avretched artillery. But in seven years of faithful service after
wards, this misused gentleman amply retrieved his reputation. From
the recent publication of Burgoyne's letters, we now know that the
English officers thought their privates misbehaved. ^ This Avas never
publicly intimated at the time, either in published dispatches, or by
courts of inquiry or courts-martial. The charge of cowardice made
bj' officers hot under disappointment, does not need to be challenged
by men proud of the English reputation for bravery. It Avill be re
raerabered that the English privates were, in general, as ncAV to actual
war as their enemies. The critic who reads that one company of the
Fifty-second Regiment had every man killed or wounded in the bat
tle, will not ask many questions as to the braverj' of the survivors.
As time has passed, and both sides of the picture have been opened
to exaraination, it has becorae certain that that battle Avas the decisive
battle of the war. From that moment the English generals under
stood that thej' were contending with soldiers.^ From that moment
the Horae Government had really no permanent policy but in offers
of conciliation, — more and more liberal till they granted the whole.
From that moment there was no possibility of a return to a colonial
position. And though more than. seven years of battle followed be
fore the last serious conflict, this battle of the beginning, the most
bloody of all, and the raost sharply contested, has proved to be, also,
the most critical.
' Burgoyne to Lord Rockford. He says there is a melancholy reason for the disparity of
the loss of officers, — that not only were they left unsupported hy their men in the attack,
but that " all the wounds of the officers were not received from the enemy." He begs
Rockford that this shall not pass "even in a whisper" to any but tbe King. He says he
trembles as he writes.
^ " The men in all tbe corps having twice felt the enemy to be more formidable than they
expected, it will require some training under such Generals as Howe and Clinton, before
they can prudently be intrusted in many exploits against such odds." — Burgoyne to
Rockford.

CHAPTER XVI.
THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. — Majoe-genekals commissioned
BY CoNGKESS. — Washington's Arrival at Cambridge. — Scarcity of Powder.
— We.\KN'ESS OF THE ArMY. — RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE CONTENDING FoRCES.
— Recall of Gage. — Condition of Boston. — Proposed Interview between
Burgoyne and Lee. — Measures foe Supplies of Ammunition. — Naval
Preparations. — Miskepeesentations of the Cause of the Americans in
Europe. — Burning of Falmouth in Maine. — Capture of an English Ves
sel with Supplies. — Treachery of Dr. Benjamin Church. — Howe's Diffi-
oclties and Proposals to the Ministry. — Congress suggests the Destruc
tion of Boston. — Dorchester Heights fortified. — The Town commanded
BY the Americans. — Evacuated by the British. — The American Army
takes Possession.
Ojst that hot Saturdaj' in June, while the battle was fought at Bun
ker Hill, the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, all un- Washington
conscious of what was passing, unanimously appointed George commanjer-
Washington, of Virginia, to be General and Commander-in- '¦^'^ii'e*-
chief of the armies raised for the raaintenance of Araerican Liberty.
They appointed Artemas Ward, of Massachusetts, his First Major-
general, Gates, of Virginia, his Adjutant-general, with the Appoi„t-
rank of Brigadier-general, and Charles Lee, an English S^"„'".gL-
half-pay officer, the Second Major-general. Two days after- "''''''
ward, Schuyler and Putnam Avere also appointed Major-generals.^
The nomination of Washington had been pressed upon Congress
by the leaders of opinion in Massachusetts, and by no man more than
by Warren himself, till this moment the popular leader of Massachu-
The following is the list of the appointments made by the Continental Congress in
June : —
George Washington, Esq., General and Commander-in-chief of all the forces raised or
to be raised for the defence of American Liberty ; Artemas Ward, Esq., First Major-general ;
Charles Lee, Esq., Second Major-general ; Philip Schuyler, Esq., Third Major-general ;
Israel Putnam, Esq., Fourth Major-general ; Seth Pomeroy, Esq., I'irst Brigadier-general ;
Kichard Montgomery, Esq., Second Brigadier-general ; David Wooster, Esq., Third Briga
dier-general ; William Heath, Esq., Fourth Brigadier-general ; Joseph Spencer, Esq., Fifth
Brigadier-general; John Thomas, Esq., Sixth Brigadier-general; .John Sullivan, Esq.,
Seventh Brigadier-general; Nathanael Greene, Esq., Eighth Brig.adier-general ; Horatio
trates, Esq., Adjutant-general, with the rank of Brigadier-general.

408

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XA'I.

setts. On the day, and perhaps at tbe hour, Avhen the direction of
the war passed frora his hands, his great successor Avas appointed.
The nomination of Ward,i who was actually in command, as the sec
ond general, was alraost a matter of course. The other appointments
of this day, those of Gates and of Lee, were suggested by the natural
feeling that the great deficiency of the national army Avould be mili
tary skill. Here were two Englishmen, who had attained a certain
rank in the English array. They never hesitated about proclaiming
their oAvn merits. And the appointments had at the moment the ad
vantage that they gave no preeminence to one colony over another.
They Avere well
received by the
people; but, in
the end, both
appointmentsproved signally
unfortunate,and intensified
the national dis
like of every
thing English.
Washington
and Gates pro
ceeded almost
immediately to
Cambridge. At
New York they
met the news
of the battle of
Bunker HiU.
A well authen
ticated anecdote says that Washington expressed his joy at learning
that the American soldiers had stood as firmly as they did.
starts for But lic Avas stlll slx davs from the army, and the danger
that the English officers raight follow up their success was
irarainent. He, his aid, Mifflin, and his military secretary, Joseph
Reed, Avith General Lee, travelled together. The eagerness of the
toAvns through which they passed to receive the little partj' Avith
honor, soineAvhat delayed their jDrogress. But on Sunday noon, the
- It is one of tbe most pathetic bits of satire in American history, that the name of the
first commander of the Continental army should now be remembered by nine people in ten,
only as tbat of an imagined humorist, — half philosopher, half showman. Even the mis
spelling " Artemus " of the showman will be found in Judge Marshall's reference to the
Major-general.

* . !» " ^ « ^

House of the President of Harvard College, — Washington's first Cambridge
Headquarters.

1775.] WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. 409
2d of July,^ they arrived at Carabridge, Avhere thej' were received
for a few days in the house of Langdon, the president of m, ^^.j^^j
the college. On the 4th of July, with appropriate cere- uoiJo'/'tire''"
mony, his commission Avas read in the presence of a detach- '^o™™a°<i-
ment of the army, and of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,
and he assumed the command. Nothing is more interesting than
the careful deference with which, all along, he treated the local au
thority, such as it was, and, on the other hand, the equal deference
with which the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts regarded his
wishes. They had carried on their affairs Avithout any chief long
enough to feel the need of one in war. He was too wise to trespass,
in the least, on an authority which was so freely conceded. He Avas
soraewhat disappointed at the lack of military precision condition of
which he found in the army that had been called into exist- analt^up-
ence in a little more than two raonths, and Avas greatly alarmed ^^"'^'
at the deficient supply of Avhat carae to be called in correspondence
" a necessary article." By this circumlocution raen tried to conceal the
fact that poAvder hardly existed in the thirteen States in sufficient
quantity for the use of one general action. ^ Even the material for
manufacture could not be obtained in large quantities. Thus the
apothecaries' shops in New York were searched for saltpetre, and, in
the correspondence of the leaders of the time, the discovery of a hun
dred pounds of that article is spoken of as if it were indeed a price
less treasure.
The three other appointraents raade on the day Avith Washington's
Avere not unfavorably received in the army ; but the selec
tion of officers afterAvard raade was not such as altogether to pointments
satisfy either hira or the officers of highest rank who were ac
tually in the field. In addition to his other difficulties, Washington had
the care of persuading officers Avhom he wanted to remain in service,
and of inducing Congress to revise their estimate of others. He ap
pointed Joseph Trumbull, of Connecticut, Commissarj'-general, and
named John Trumbull one of his aids. He afterwards recommended
Henry Knox to the comraand of the artillerj'. After-experience indi
cated the profound Avisdom of these appointments. In one AVord, it
may be said that Washington instantly acquired the enthusiastic
' Not the 3d, as hy an oversight Washington himself said in the letter usually cited.
'^ At the battle of Buena Vista, in the Mexican war, 300,000 rounds of ammunition for
musketry were used by the American army, and 3,750 pounds of powder by the cannon.
This is a consumption of four tons for the battle, in which .5,000 Americans engaged 20,000
Mexicans. Colonel Baylor, of the American .army, finds on observation of the war of the
Rebellion, that the average use of a cannon in position is forty-two rounds a diiy, for a
battle. The amount of powder is about one quarter the weight of the ball, in aitillery.
Washington's stock on the 3d of August was 9,937 lbs., a little less than tive tons.

410

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XVL

love of New England, though the men of New England were sup
posed to be so Avidely unlike his OAvn Virginians.
For many weeks, all railitary men in the American army lived in
expectation, — it Avould be fair to say in dread, — of an at
the opposing tack frora the English lines. A return of the number of
the array, Avhich Washington obtained in the Aveek after he
arrived, shoAved a total of sixteen thousand seven hundred and sca'-

>««:¦ -ft: ,i -.*iafe\^'*

> "^ CO

Wasiiington Eloi, Cambridge.*
enty-one Ncav Englanders,^ of whom nearly two thousand were sick,
furloughed, or absent on duty. A council of the iVraerican generals,
held on the 9th, determined that at least twenty-two thousand men
were needed to defend the lines. Their estiraate of the force of the
English, including their sailors and marines, was eleven thousand five
hundred, which has proved to be correct. The English generals could
raake their choice of Charlestown Neck, or Boston Neck, for a place
of egress, if they chose to attack the Araerican lines. These extremi-
1 This tree, under ^^hich Washington's commission was read to the army, is still stand-

- From Massachusetts, 11,689; from Connecticut, 2,333; from Rhode Island, 1,085;
from New Hampshire, 1,664.

Their rela-
1 posi-

1775.] RECALL OF GENERAL GAGE. 411
ties of what may be called the Araerican right and left wing, are
many miles from each other, by circuitous routes, — separated also
by Charles River, over Avhich the Americans had but one
poor bridge. It was clear, therefore, that in any attack the tlve'j
American army might be outnumbered. Washington had,
however, the resource — of Avhich be availed himself when be needed
 of calling in the minute-men frora the neighboring towns, who
were ahvays ready for duty, and moved with a promptness Avorthy
of their name.^
But the English generals made no movement, not even a menace.
The truth Avas, their loss at Bunker Hill had been more severe than
the Americans at first suspected. As has been seen it had affected the
morale of their men, and made the commanding officers much more
cautious. In the heat of the suramer the Avounded fared ill. The
report from England, of the way in Avhich the news of Lexington and
Concord was received, was not encouraging to men in command. Gage
was removed from his bed of thorns, and recalled to England
by a despatch of August 2d. He was virtually disgraced, and movea :
no other command was ever offered to hira. The coraraand command o£
of the army was given to Howe, and Avas retained by him
for three years, when he in turn Avas removed. The departure of
Gage from Boston, in October, was regarded by the patriots as in
some sort a victory. " Through this pane of glass," wrote Josiah
Quincy, with a diamond, on his window, "I saAv Gen. Gage sail out of
the harbor of Boston."
The governraent were certainly justified in removing Gage. They
never had any reason for appointing him, but that he had served in
America, and that he had an Araerican wife. General Burgoyne
charges on this handsome wife the unintentional comraunication of
all Gage's secrets to the enemy.
Boston suffered also, all through the summer, frora the lack of fresh
provisions. In August, Gage was willing enough to renew the
'^ 11 1, 1 -1 Second ex-
arrangements which he had quashed before, and to perrait the odusfrom
egress of the inhabitants. They were sent out, day after
day, by way of Winnisimet, and on their arrival, became, in many in
stances, a charge on the generous charity of the people of the country
towns. While the population diminished, death was as frequent as
it had ever been in the most populous days of Boston. A well in
formed native of the city says that the reenforcements received by
1 This recourse was so considerable, that Hilliard d'Auberteuil, a French author of
matchless absurdity, coolly doubles Washington's force in his statements, saying, simply,
that one half was not kept in the field, but was occupied in cultivating the land ! He thus
gives Washington, what perhaps he would have been glad to have, an army of 60,000. In
similar style he gives Howe 50,000 in Boston.

412

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XVI.

the arraj', before Septeraber, had not made up the losses caused by
battle and disease.
Such Avere the causes, so far as we can state them, Avliy the Enghsh
officers in command did not moA'e upon Washington's array at the ter
rible period AAdien it had not poAA'der enough cA'en for a few hours'
fighting. The neAvs of Gage's recall Avas received early in September.
In tbe despatches then sent. Lord Dartmouth, Secretary for the Colo
nies, distinctly intiraated that it Avould be better to make
gestnfin 110 further inroads into the countrj'. He suggested that it
wouhl be better to leave Boston altogether, and take post at
New York. If this Avere impossible, he asked if the army could not
be divided betAA'een the ports of Halifax and Quebec.
To this despatch HoAve replied, on the 2d of October, that nothing
could be gained, except reputation, by a raarch into the interior. He
considered that
New York should
be taken and held ;
that the "founda
tion of the war
should be laid " by
haying troops in
force thei'e, large
magazines and
stores, and the
whole well fortified
and secured. He
says that as Castle
William in Boston
Harbor is of no use
to him, he had de-
stroj'ed the shore
battery, and mined
the fort so as to de-
stroj' it Avhen Bos
ton should be evac
uated. He also ad
vised the seizing of
the island of Rhode Island. Nothing is now said of merely reducing
a rebellion. It is the "foundation of war" Avhicli is to be laid. Nor
is a Avord noAV said about punishing Boston for its factious persistency,
or reducing New England, as an example to the rest. The drift of the
letter is, that it Avill be better to operate where there is less opposi
tion. In truth, NeAv England, by her unyielding firmness in the

General- Howe.

1775.]

THE SUPPLY OF AMMUNITION. 413

beginning of the war, earned for herself the exemption, almost com
plete, from its presence, which she enjoyed for the last six years be
fore the peace. The pressure of an enemj''s armj' was to be chiefly
felt in those very regions which the CroAvn officers thought at first least
infected by the contagion of rebellion.
Soon after General Lee arrived at the American camp, from Vir
ginia, General Burgoyne, Avho had served Avith him in the
Enghsh army, wrote him a long letter from Boston, such as interview
he was fond of Avriting. He proposed an interview at an inn Bmgoyne
on "Boston Neck,"i with the hope of bringing about sorae
adjustment of grievances. He did not misapprehend his man. They
Avere men of much the same type, — conceited and arrogant, with
httle skill in words, but thinking they had rauch, and with far less
skill in arms than in words. Lee sent Burgoyne's letter to the Pro
vincial Congress of Massachusetts, and asked their instructions, say
ing, at the same time, that he should Avish some American gentleraen
to accompany him to the interview. The Congress consented, and
appointed Elbridge Gerry to accompany Lee ; but the language of
their reply to hira was so cool that he abandoned the project.
All through this period of apparent quiet, the utmost efforts were
made in every quarter, by the Araerican authorities, to provide pow
der, lead, flints, clothing, tents, and other material for a carapaign.
Even the smallest quantity of powder or of saltpetre was begged for.
General Cooke, of Rhode Island, Governor Trumbull, of The collec-
Connecticut, Robert Livingston, of New York, and Frank- tion of am-
lin, now acting on the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia,
appear prominent among those most active. Livingston established
a powder-mill, and did it so secretly tbat the English agent Avho had
charge of the government stock of saltpetre was in ignorance of
its existence till a bold raid on his stores emptied them, and taught
him its value. The Coraraittee of Safety in Georgia got hold of a
supply of poAvder intended for the Florida Indians. A bold push into
the Gulf of Mexico brought back a hundred barrels from a trading
vessel there. An attack on Bermuda brought off a considerable
quantity from that island. Far away, in Orleans, in Louisiana,
Ohver Pollock, an Araerican citizen, Avas making arrangements to
send the precious commodity up to Pittsburg by the river. So
soon as the English cruisers were withdrawn in the autumn. Governor
Cooke sent a fast sailing vessel of eighty tons to Bordeaux, to pur
chase powder on the account "of the Continent." By this proud
name, which should never have been given up, Avas the new nation
^ The inn was the " George." It was burned before the evacuation, but reappeared as
the " George Washington."

414 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. [Chap. XVL
beginning to call itself. Lead was obtained frora the mines of Con
necticut, Avbich had been little Avorked in tiraes of peace.
IMeanwhile, and partly in connection Avith this terrible necessity, a
little navy Avas coming into existence. As early as the 5tli
TtlG iTPvm of •/ c^ i/ '
an Ameri- of May the people of New Bedford and Dartmouth, in Buz-
zard's Baj', southwest of Cape Cod, indignant .at the in
cursions of the Falcon, one of the British sloops of war, fitted out
a vessel with Avhich thej' attacked and recaptured one of her prizes,
with fifteen prisoners, in the harbor Avhere she had taken refuge in
Martha's Vinej'ard. This Avas the first naval victory of the Avar.
On the 12th of June a plan Avas formed in Machias, in Maine, for
taking tbe diargaretta, an armed sloop in the service of the Crown,
then lying at that port. Tbis scherae was carried out with success ;
the Margaretta, another King's sloop, and a sloop that Avas loading
Avith lumber under her protection, being taken. Her captain and one
of her crew were killed, and five wounded. The armament of the
3Iargaretta Avas then transferred to another vessel, Avhicli was placed
under the coraraand of Jeremiah O'Brien. He AA'as soon afterwards
made marine captain by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,
and sent to intercejDt vessels bringing supplies to the troops in Boston.
Many other affairs sirailar to that in which the Margaretta Avas cap
tured took place on various parts of the coast. So soon as Washing
ton's attention was called to the possibility of cutting off the supply
vessels of the English, as they entered Massachusetts Bay, he com
missioned officers in command of vessels, to take such supplies.^
Their instructions Avere to avoid fighting, even if they Avere of equal
force with their enemy, — the object being to seize supplies. The
Massachusetts Provinci.al Congress at once legalized such captures.
Washington supplied armaments and raonej' from the Continental
treasury, and, Avith little delay, six sraall vessels were commissioned,
— the Lynch, Franklin, Lee, Warren, Washington, and Harrison.
Rhode Island bad at sea a vessel under Whipple, Avho Avent as far
as Bermuda, Avhere he found the inhabitants friendly to the Ameri
can cause, but terrified by Gage's threats of vengeance for the loss of
the powder stored there. Connecticut had a sraall vessel in service
also. A petty war on sheep and oxen on the coasts was kept up by the
smaller British vessels, that Boston might be provisioned. Yet Gage
hardly brought in raore animals by such raids, — which embittered
Destitution ^^ ^^s scaboai'd against him, — tban he had permitted the
at Boston. Americans to carry off from under his own eyes in Boston
Baj'. So severe was the destitution of his troops that on the 4tli
1 The first of these commissions dated September 2, 1775.

1775.]

CONDITION OF THE TWO ARMIES.

415

of September, after the royal cruisers had brought in more than a
thousand sheep and oxen, the cattle brought, at a public sale in Bos
ton, prices ranging from fifteen to thirty-four pounds, and the sheep
thirty shillings and upward. ^
While the English army was thus confined, and reduced by sick
ness, the forces under Washington Avere steadily enlarging. Re
cruiting officers were bringing up the numbers of the regiments more
nearly to the complement, and furloughs were granted more charily.

The Craigie House, Wasiiington's Headquarters at Cambridge.
A return of August 19th shows a total on paper of 19,060, — an in
crease of 2,390, in six weeks since Washington took the command.
Among the recruits were several companies of riflemen frora Vir
ginia, — one of thera under the command of Captain Daniel Morgan,
who at the neAvs of the battle of Bunker Hill had started on the
long march to Boston. These skilful raarksraen, Avho, Avhile rapidly
advancing, could hit a target of seven inches at a distance of two
hundred and fifty yards, were posted along the lines and were espe
cially dreaded by the enemy. But the American array, as well as the
^ A camp song of the period asks : —
"And what have you got, by till your designing,
But a town without dinner to sit down and dine iu 1 "

416 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. [Chap. XVL
English, suffered from sickness. Thus, at the end of August, more
than a quarter of the Connecticut contingent Avere returned as sick
and unfit for active service.
With the first raoraent of relief from the terrible lack of powder,
Washington displayed that spirit of enterprise Avliich was
pushes on an esseutial trait of his character. He advanced his works
his worlts. on his extrerae left by fortifying Ploughed Hill ; though he
supposed this raight bring on an action, as the fortifying of Bunker
Hill had done. The eneray did not move, however. Indeed, their
only victory of the summer Avas an extraordinary paper victory. In
two issues of the "Public Advertiser" in London, full detailed ac
counts Avere published of an attack led by General HoAve in person,
on the rebel Avorks in Roxbury. These AVorks Avere stormed and
taken, and Generals Putnam and Lee were raade prisoners, Avith
twenty-five hundred of inferior rank. The English loss in this wholly
fictitious victorj' was one hundred and fifty killed. For all this detail
there was not the slightest foundation. Later intelligence, of course,
showed that the readers of London had been imposed upon. It is
but one of many such stories, Avhich we must pass without mention,
although they engaged public attention in their daj', and had their
share in influencing the opinion of the Avorld. On the Continent
such fictions were not so easily exposed as in England. Their cir
culation resulted in the most extraordinary notions of the contest,
— absurd to any well-informed person, but not the less received be
cause absurd. Such notions and the fictions from Avhich they are
formed, are not j'et Avholly eradicated frora the popular impressions
of Europe.^
Until October, the English naval force, under Adrairal Graves, had
raade no attack upon any point on the coast, except for the
tack on seizing of sheep or oxen for the array. But in that month.
Graves, having consulted with Gage, before he left, sent the
Ganceau, Captain MovA'att, and an arraed transport, the Cat, Avith two
other vessels, to destroy Cape Ann (bj^ which Gloucester is meant)
and Falmouth, noAV Portland, in Maine. In Howe's despatch to the
ministry, describing the result, he seems to wish to throw the re
sponsibility upon Graves. The only excuse offered for burning the
tOAvns is, that they were distinguished for their opposition to Govern
raent. The selectmen of Falmouth speak of the affair as Captain Mow-
1 No more ridiculous illustrations of such exaggerations can be found than in Hilliard
d'Auberteuil's Essays, already alluded to. Under the pen of this well-meaning writer, the
forests of America, being as old as she is, furnish uo wood young enough for the building
of large ships ! Charles Lee appears as the orator whose eloquence created the Revolution,
which he then passed to Washington's more prudent hand.

1775.] THE BURNING OF FALAIOUTH. 417
att's personal retaliation on them, because he had been seized by
some provincial troops soon after the battle of Lexington. He had
been released at that time, but the town had refused to give up their
guns or to send away the troops. Notice had afterwards been sent to
Falmouth, that unless they perraitted Captain Coulson, Avho had a
ship there, to sail for England, their town should be "beat about their
ears." This threat was accomplished by burning it on the 17th of
October. Captain MoAvatt offered at the last to spare it if tbe town
would give up their cannons, small arms, and ammunition. But this
was. refused. One hundred and fifty houses were burned,' with all
the churches and other public buildings.
This attack on an open town which offered and could offer no re
sistance, was the real declaration of Avar by England against America.
Up to this tirae there had been a lingering notion araong the Ameri
cans that the army in Boston Avas the objective, and that Avar existed
only in Boston Bay. The royal commanders, not unnaturally, did
not choose to be confined by any such understanding. Finding no
enemy in arras anywhere else, they had nothing to attack but de
fenceless towns. General Greene says, in a letter frora Carabridge of
this date, " we are at loggerheads here, but at other places only spar
ring." The conflagration at Falmouth shovred the country that war
was war, — lawless and cruel. The correspondence and journals of
the time all shoAV that in this event a step and a long step was taken.
So much further was reconciliation put out of the question.
The destruction of Falmouth proved the imperatiA'e necessity of
measures to meet the eneray on the sea as Avell as on the Beginning of
land. Connecticut and Rhode Island had been peculiarly '"""^J"-
exposed, during the auturan, to incursions from the eneray. It was
the sufferings of their people, probablj', that raoved the delegates of
the latter province in Congress to suggest the forraation of a navy, of
which Esek Hopkins Avas appointed commodore. The frigate Rose,
under the command of Captain Wallace, was, Avith a number of other
vessels, stationed along the southern coast of Ncav England, and their
depredations upon the people were for raonths unceasing. Newport
was seriously threatened in October, and many of her people fled with
their household property to the surrounding country in the midst of
a violent storm. Wallace consented to spare the toAvn only on con
dition of being supplied with fresh provisions. Bristol fared even
Avorse, for the town Avas bombarded, and many houses destroyed. At
Jamestown, on the island of Conanicut, opposite Newport, a force
landed in December, burnt houses and barns, plundered the people,
and carried off all their live stock. Governor Cooke called out all the
' Howe, in his despatch to England, says five hundred.
VOL. III. 27

418 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. [Chap. XVI.
minute raen of the province, and asked of the commander-in-chief
that a regiment of the line might be sent for its protection. The
request was complied with, though it came at that critical moment
when Washington Avas reorganizing the array around Boston, and not
long after the troops from Connecticut, whose term of enlistment had
expired, were in a state of mutinj'. General Lee Avas sent to New
port at the head of eight hundred men.' He so disposed them as to
glA'e protection to the inhabitants in that neighborhood ; and he sup
pressed with a strong hand those among the Tories who encouraged
the eneray and gave information which made the depredations upon
their neighbors easy, and at the same time insured their own pro
tection .
The equipment of the little fleet of the New England colonies was
slow, and its operations Avere insignificant, till, late in November, by
a fortunate stroke. Manly, in the Lee, took the brigantine Nancy,
bound from London, with railitary stores, Avbich Avere most acceptable.
"Two thousand muskets," "one hundred and five thousand flints,"
" sixtj' reams of cartridge-paper," thirtj'-one tons of rausket-shot,"
" three thousand round-shot for 12-pounders, four thousand for 6-
pounders." Such were some of the heads of the invoice of her stores
as it opened before the delighted eyes of the general officers and their
hard-pressed chief of engineers, Avho not long before had prepared a
list, not dissimilar, of the necessities of the armj'. For the rest, the
nav;\l service was not j-et organized. Washington says, bitterly, in a
private letter, in Noveraber, " Our privateersraen go on at the old
rate, — mutinying if thej' cannot do as they please." Such has
proved to be the habit of privateersraen in most wars.
1 Lee exacted an oath from the Tories, which AVashington sent to Hancock as " a speci
men of his abilities in that viay." This "iron-clad" oath, Arnold (History of Rhode Isl
and) gives iu full, as follows : —
" I, .lohn Bowus, bere, in the ])reseuce of Alinight}' God, as I hope for ease, honor, aud
comfoit in tbis world, and happiness in the world to_ come, most earnestly, devoutly, and
religiously swear, neither directly nor indirectly to assist the wicked instruments of minis
terial tyranny and villany, commonly called the King's troojis and navy, by furnishing them
with provisions or refreshments of any kind, unless authorized by the Continental Congress
or the Legislature, as at present established in this particular colony of Rhode Island. I do
also swear by the same tremendous and Almighty God, that I will neither directly nor indi
rectly convey an}' intelligein'e, nor give any advice to the aforesaid enemies so described, and
that I pledge myself, if I sbould, by any accident, get tbe knowledge of such treason, to in
form immediately the Committee of Safety. And as it is justly alloAved, that when the
sacred rights and liberties of a nation are invaded, neutrality is not less base and criminal
than open and avowed hostility, I do further swear and pledge myself, as I hope for eternal
salvation, that I will, whenever called upon by the voice of the Continental Congress, or
that of the Legislature of this particubar colony, under their authority, take arms and sub
ject myself to military discipline iu defence of the common rights and liberties of Anierica.
So help me God. Sworn at Newport, December 25, 1775. "JOHN BOURSE."

1775.] TREACHERY OF DR. CHURCH. 419
The attention and anxiety of the armj', and of the Continental
Congress, as well as the Congress of Massachusetts, Avere excited in
the autumn by the discovery that Dr. Benjamin Church, a member
of the House in Massachusetts, Avas communicating secretly with his
brother-in-law in Boston. Church had been a prominent patriot,
the friend of Warren and of the other Boston leaders. On the dis
covery of a letter in cipher from him to his brother-in-law, he Avas
arrested. The letter was deciphered, and proved to contain accounts
of the force of the Americans, with disparaging allusions to their
commanders. Church was expelled from the Massachusetts Assem
bly. In bis defence he said the letter was written not long after the
battle at Bunker Hill. " Was there a man," he said, " Avho church's
regarded his country, who Avould not then have sacrificed ''''='"^t'e''y-
his life to obtain a tolerable accoraraodation ?" He called attention
to his exaggeration of the resources of the American array, and af
fected to have carried on the correspondence in the true interest of the
country. But it Avas clear enough that his conception of that interest
was not. that of men who were now committed to open war. The
Continental Congress took his case as their OAvn, and put him in close
confinement.^ The Continental Congress was still urging an attack upon Boston,
"to break up the nest there," as Washington says. He held a coun
cil of general officers on the 18th of October, to consider the subject.
They decided unanimously that such an attack Avas impracticable.
Meanwhile the armj- itself AA'as near its end. The enlistments did
not hold the raen, except in a fcAV instances, beyond the close of the
year. A comraittee, consisting of Franklin, Lynch, and Harrison,
came from Philadelphia to Cambridge, to raake the best arrangements
for its renewal. But this renewal Avas attended Avith end- condition oi
less care and anxiety for all parties concerned. The orig- EniiTt"^'
inal idea, to raake an array in Avhich there should be no ""'°'^'
regard to colonial lines, proved impracticable. Even if the officers
assented, the men would not enlist unless thej' knew who Avas to com
mand them. The abolition of the old colonial systems, Avhich gave
small regiments in some colonies and large ones in others, raade
another difficulty. A general order for the enlistment of the ncAV
army was issued as early as October 22d, but on the 28th of November
only 3,500 men had enlisted on " the new establishment," as it Avas
called. The change enabled the generals to drop officers of the loAver
grades, who had in any way forfeited confidence, and in the end it
greatly improved the condition of the array. Yet to disband one
He remained in prison for some months, and was then permitted to sail for the AA'est
Indies. The vessel iu which he took passage was never heard of afterward.

420

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XVL

Union Flag.

army and recruit another in the face of an enemy, Avas, as Washing-
ton often said, a raatter for the most serious anxiety. Changes, how
ever, Avere absolutely necessary, and a great point Avas gained when,
by the first of the j'ear, the reorganization Avas complete, though the
army Avas reduced in numbers.
" The day [January 2, 1776] Avhich gave being to the new army,"
The Ameri- Washlngtou Avrote to Reed, " but before the proclamation
can riag. eaiiie to hand, we had hoisted the Union Flag, in compli
ment to the United Colonies." It happened that the King's speech
had just been received in Boston, and copies of it
were sent out to the American camp. The raising
of this flag, and the discharge of thirteen guns
that saluted it, Avere, not unnaturallj', supposed
by the British officers to be a token of rejoicing
at the King's speech ; for the flag itself, though
it contained the thirteen stripes emblematic of the
thirteen colonies, still retained the union of the
British standard, the Crosses of St. George and
St. AndreAV. The Araericans, Avhen they learned
of the misunderstanding of the English, indig
nantly raade a bonfire of the roj'al speech, and it is in allusion to
this incident that Washington wrote to Reed the words we have just
quoted. Previous to this tirae there had been no national flags. "Union
Flags," as they Avere called, were sometiraes used, but they were sim
ply the British Standard, Avith the legend, "Liberty and Property,"
or "Liberty and Union," inscribed upon the field. It is not certain
that there Avas any Araerican flag displaj'ed at the battle of Bunker
Hill, though tradition saj's that one floated over Prescott's. redoubt
emblazoned with the AVords "Come if j-ou Dare ! " ^ A raonth after
the battle, hoAvever, Avlien the Declaration of the Continental Con
gress, setting forth the causes and necessity of .
taking up arras, was publicly read in the camp
on Prospect Hill, a red flag, sent from Connecti
cut to General Putnam, was raised, on Avhich
were inscribed the Avords, " Qui transtulit, sus-
tinet,"^ and "An Appeal to Heaven." The flag
of Massachusetts Avas Avhite, with a pine tree' in
the centre, also bearing the raotto, "An Appeal
to Heaven," Avords taken frora the closing paragraph of the " Address
of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts to their brethren in Great
1 Frothingham's History of the Siege of Boston.
- This is the motto of Connecticut.

Pine Tree Flag.

1775.] CRITICAL CONDITION OF GENERAL HOWE. 421
Britain." This flag was on all the floating batteries, was borne by New
Hampshire as Avell as iMassachusetts regiments, and Avas suggested
in October by Reed as the flag of all naval vessels. A blue flag with
a white crescent Avas raised over the fortifications in South Carolina
the same year, and the first naval flag Avas yellow, Avith a rattlesnake
in the act of striking, and beneath, the motto, " Don't tread on me ! "
But the first recognized Continental standard Avas
that alluded to by Washington in his letter to
Reed, as raised in the camp around Boston on the
2d of January, 1776. This Avas superseded by a
resolution of Congress, on the 14th of June, 1777,
declaring "that the flag of the thirteen United
Colonies be thirteen stripes, alternate red and
white, and the union be thirteen stars, Avliite in
a blue field, representing a neAV constellation." With the addition
of stars, this has continued to be tbe national standard.
But General HoAve, shut up in Boston, was in a condition even raore
critical than that Avbich gave Washington so rauch anx- nowe's con-
iety. It was easy enough to say in England that he had com- '''''°"'
mand of the sea. But, in truth, the naval force was crippled, or the
officers said it was, for want of seamen ; and Howe writes earnestly
that more may be sent out. So weak was it, that he could not even
provision his little army from the raids on the shores of a continent
which his vessels should have comraanded for a thousand railes.
There was also a serious misunderstanding between HoAve and Ad
miral Graves. Provisions of every kind, not only salt meats and
flour, but corn, butter, potatoes, and eggs, were shipped to HoAve from
England and Ireland, sometiraes, alas, to fall into the hands of the
insignificant Araerican cruisers in Boston Bay. Even live oxen, sheep,
and hogs Avere sent frora England in great numbers. But the vessels
met bad weather at the outset. An exaggerated account, published in
Enghsh journals at the time, says the English channel Avas covered
with the bodies of sheep Avhich had been throAvn overboard. It is now
known that not one animal from this extraordinary shipment ever ar
rived in Boston. That the Government raade it, was a concession
that their cause was desperate. How could they expect to regain a
continent on Avhich a little army of ten thousand raen could not find
enough provisions to keep them alive?
At this period public opinion continued to declare itself in England
by the generous offerings of private subscriptions, either to ^^ ^.^^^ ^.^
solace the army by national syrapathy, or to rebuke the J;;^.|'J^"''='''
Government by charities to those whom it Avas oppressing.
" The King's friends," through all England, were not satisfied Avith

422 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. [Chap. XVL
addresses formally presented, and subscribed liberally for comforts to
be sent to the soldiers and sailors in Boston. On the other hand, when
the ncAvs of the repulse at Lexington was received in England, friends
of Araerica placed one hundred pounds in Franklin's hands for the
widows and orphans of the raen killed by the troops that day. After
Avards, even to the end of the war, money was thus raised by subscrip
tion for American prisoners.
General Howe found difficulty even in providing barracks for his
troops for the winter season. In summer many of them were en
camped on Boston Common and on Bunker Hill. On the 26th of
November, he wrote a despatch to Lord Dartmouth, explaining that
he must winter in Boston, because he had not transports sufficient to
raove the force, as Dartmouth had suggested. For this purpose, he
supposed that 35,000 tons of shipping were needed, and the whole
force at his command was not 26,000 tons. Unwillingly, therefore,
he stayed through the winter. He pulled down one meeting-house
for fuel. He even mined coal in Cape Breton for the use of his army
in Boston. As late as the 27th of November, sorae of his regiments
were still under canvas. At this period he sent ont to the Americans
three hundred more of their countrymen, mostly woraen and children.
These Avere provided for in Hampshire County, in western Massachu
setts. To amuse the officers and men, theatrical entertainments, almost
Amuse- for the first time in Puritan Boston, were given in Faneuil
Boston"* ""* Hall. Up to this time General Burgoyne's reputation had
garrison. been that of a man of letters rather than a soldier. Indeed,
his military farae rested on a success in Portugal which, according to
modern notions of Avar, can scarcely be called a skirmish. For the
present purpose Burgoyne wrote a little play called "The Siege of
Boston." While the play went on, a sergeant rushed upou the
scenes, and announced that the Yankees were on Bunker Hill. The
audience laughed, regarding the announcement as a part of the per
formance. But in a moment more the officers were ordered by Gen
eral HoAA'e to repair to their posts, and the audience broke up in the
utmost confusion and alarm. One of KnoAvlton's Connecticut com
panies, by a bold raid, had crossed the Neck and had fired the bakery
of the English contingent at Charlestown. In the midst of the sever
ities of the campaign and the summer, Howe reports, with just pride,
that he had lost but thirty-three men by desertion, in seven months
after the battle of Lexington. ^ Burgoyne gave up his literary and
^ This report gives a good test of the accuracy of our materials for history. It would
not be difficult, from the American reports, to say at what dates most of these men de
serted. Indeed, we have the accounts which many of them brought in. At a later period
the desertions from the English force weakened it sorely.

1775.] AN ATTACK SUGGESTED. 423
military duties for the moment, and returned to England at the end
of November. He had been six months in Boston, and had not j'et
made " elbow-room."
In a despatch of this date. General Howe confirms the ministry in
a plan they had already deterrained on, for raising raercena- q^,.^,^,,
ries in Hanover and Hesse. He says that the only recruits ^"hcEnJ
they can send frora Great Britain will be men of the worst ''^'''''¦¦"y-
kind. Six or seven thousand will be needed, "who Avill be Irish
Roraan Catholics, certain to desert if put to hard work, and, from
their ignorance of arras, not entitled to the sraallest confidence as
soldiers." To obviate this difficulty, he suggests incorporating with
each English regiment one hundred trained soldiers from Hanover or
from Hesse. Such were the reasons for Howe's inactivity during the
critical period when Washington was reneAving his array. The loss
of the storeship Nancy brought another source of anxiety, which hung
on him for three raonths raore.
On the 3d of Deceraber, in a letter to Lord Dartmouth, he says :
" The brigantine Nancy has been taken with four thousand
stand of arras.^ The circumstance is unfortunate, as it puts for an attack
in the enemy's hands the means of setting the toAvn on fire, as
the vessel contains carcasses and other materials of like nature."
Howe wrote as a soldier, and contemplated such a mode of attack as
it might have been his duty to pursue under like circumstances. Had
Washington acted only as a soldier, he Avould very probably have fired
the town. The policy of doing so was openly considered in the Amer
ican councils. On the 22d of December, the Continental Congress
resolved, " That if General Washington and his council of war should
be of opinion that a successful attack may be made on the troops in
Boston, he do it in any manner he may think expedient, notwithstand
ing the town and property in it raay be destroyed." In communi
cating this resolve. President Hancock Avrote : " You will notice the
resolution relative to an attack upon Boston. This passed after a
most serious debate in a comraittee of the whole house, and the exe
cution Avas referred to you. May God crown your attempt with suc
cess. I most heartily wish it, though individually I may be the great
est sufferer."
But Washington's intention was to cross on the ice, so soon as the
Charles River, and what was known as the " Back Bay," ^
, , , „ Dorchester
should freeze. In raost Avinters, this bay, at least, Avas frozen Necitiaid
over. But this winter proved unusually mud, and no such
opportunity offered itself until the middle of February. Washington
then called a council of Avar, as Avas the fashion in all armies at
1 An over-statement, as the reader has s?en.
2 Now covered with streets and houses.

424

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XVI

that time, and as he was re
quired to do bj' his commission.
To his disgust, he Avas outvoted
in council, and the plan of attack
over the ice Avas pronounced
too hazardous. General Howe,
meanwhile, availed himself of
the severe Aveather to send over
a party on the ice, on the IStli of
Februarj', to Dorchester Neck.
A party under Colonel Les-
liL fiom the foils, and another

of gien idieis

md light infan-

dtstioA ( d t M I'A' house and

Dragging Cannon over the Green Mountains.
all other "cover" on that pen
insula. They also took prison
ers the Araerican guard of six
raen. In his despatch announcing
this success ^ Howe says he had
ascertained that the enemy in
tended to take possession of Dor
chester Point. The reader has al
ready seen that he and the Eng
lish generals had the same inten-
1 In all iustances, we quote from Howe's manuscript dispatches, now preserved in the
English State Paper Office. Only a part of them have been printed iu full.

1776.] DORCHESTER HEIGHTS FORTIFIED. 42.5
tion as early as June of the preceding year. AVhy they did not
seize these heights, after they were reenforced, it is difficult to sa.y.
Washington had refrained, not siinplj' for Avant of poAvder, but from
lack of heavy artillery. This lack was now supplied by the capture
of the Nancy and the arrival of a train — brouglit as never cannon
had been brought before — from Ticonderoga. So soon as the snows
of winter served, the heavy guns needed for the American lines Avere
brought, under the adrairable direction of Henry Knox, noAv at the
head of the artillery, on forty-tAvo sleds, drawn by long teams of oxen,
through the passes and over the ridges of the Green Mountains, and
down through the hill country of New England, over roads Avhich
never bore a cannon before and have never borne one since. Their
arrival at Cambridge was Avelcoraed with enthusiasra. Had Howe
only known it, with that arrival his easy winter was ended.
Washington asked the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts to call
out the militia of the neighborhood, and this Avas imme
diately done. Ten regiments of soldierly men came in at can move-
once, and so far reenforced his army. Ward, Avho comraanded Dorchester
at Roxbury, Avas intrusted with the oversight of the move
ment upon Dorchester Heights, and the imraediate direction of it was
intrusted to John Thoraas, also of Massachusetts, one of the briga
dier-generals, an officer whose early death, before this year was ended,
was a serious loss to the Araerican cause. The earth Avas frozen hard,
so that such works as were thrown up on a summer's night at Bun
ker Hill were impossible. Fascines were collected, and Avhat the mil
itary language of that day called " chandeliers," Avhich were a kind
of foundation for fascines.
On the night of Saturday, the 2d of March, 1776, a vigorous can
nonade was begun from the American works to the north of Boston,
and it was maintained through the nights of the 3d and 4th, to
divert the attention of the English. At the least, the noise of the can
nonade might overpower the sound made by Thomas's long train as it
passed over frozen ground. As soon as this firing began on Monday
evening, he moved from Roxbury Avith twelve hundred raen, and took
possession, without discovery, of the higher hill, that farthest from
Boston, which at that time commanded Nook's Hill, nearer to the
town. Four hundred yoke of oxen drew the materials for the works,
and this train passed unnoticed by the English sentries, hardly a mile
away on Boston Neck. When Thomas was fairly intrenched, a heavy
reenforcement joined him. The raovement corresponded precisely to
what the movement on Bunker Hill would have been bad the piirty
entrenched the higher summit there. The raen worked Avith energy
and by morning a respectable defence and battery Avere constructed.

426

THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.

[Chap. XVI.

wholly to the surprise of the English officers. The AVork Avas planned,
as Avas that so Avell tested at Bunker Hill, by the veteran Gridlej',
who had the assistance of Colonel Putnam. HoAve Avas astonished.
He wrote to the minister that this must have been the Avork of
twelve thousand men. One of his officers said the suddenness of the
whole recalled the wonderful eastern stories of enchantment and in
visible agencj'. HoAve knew, of course, and the Admiral immediately
notified hira, that the fleet could not remain in safety under the fire
of these guns. That evening, Howe sent three thousand men, under
Lord Percy, to Castle William, Avhich is on an island about a mile
from the extrerae point of Dorchester Neck, most distant from the
town.

North End of Boston. From an Old Print.
Percy's instructions Avere, to attack the neAvly-built works on their
AA'ashing- eastwarcl or southern side, Avhere it must have been supposed
ton's plans, (.j^g^j. ^}-,gy ^,xere uot SO stroug as in front. But a violent
storm that night and the next morning broke up his plan of attack,
and that day Avas lost. Washington, of course, expected such an
attack. He relied on Thomas and his party to repel it, from works
which were rauch stronger than those on Bunker HilL While it
engaged the eneray, Putnam Avas to attack the town on the Avestern
side, where Greene's and Sullivan's brigades of four thousand men
were in readiness. Greene Avas to have landed with his raen near the
ground now occupied by the gardens of the Massachusetts Hospital.
Sullivan was to land a little farther south, — not far north of the
present line of Beacon Street. Had they succeeded, they would have
raoved south on the English works at Boston Neck, to admit the
American troops at Roxbury. Three floating batteries were pre
pared, Avhich should move in advance of the troops, and clear the
ground for their landing.

1776.] THE BRITISH EVACUATE BOSTON. 427
We shall never know what would have been the success of tbis bold
plan, — bold enough to redeem Washington from the imputation,
sometimes thrown at him, of excessive caution. He thought well of
it. His officers thought well of it. The men were in high spirits and
weU led. The 5th of ilarch, when he supposed it would be executed,
was the anniversary of the Boston Massacre. Only a year before
Warren had told Knox and others of those men in the Old South
Meeting-house, of the dangers of standing armies. Only a year ago
he had painted that touching picture of George and Liberty seated
together on an American throne. Everything had happened since
that commemoration !
But the English did not move on the new works, which with
every hour's delay grcAV stronger. Washington now prepared to ex
tend them, and to seize Nook's Hill, closer to Boston, — immediately
opposite it, indeed. To continue the comparison with the other pen
insula. Nook's Hill Avas for Dorchester Neck what Breed's Farra, the
site of Prescott's redoubt, was for Bunker Hill. On the night of the
9th he would have intrenched that hill. But on the 8th a flag of
truce from Howe appeared, with a note from the selectmen of Boston,
giving information that General Howe was determined to leave Bos
ton with the army under his command. They said that he had as
sured them he would not destroy the toAvn unless his troojjs were
molested in their embarkation. They said their fears Avere quieted
with regard to General Howe's intentions ; and they begged " that
they might have some assurance that so dreadful a calamity might not
be brought on by any measures from without."
Howe was not unwilhng to adopt this indirect way of communica
tion with his eneray, for Avhich he had no lack of precedents
in the etiquette of the wars of Frederick. Washington uaTraSos-
woiild not receive the message, which was not, indeed, ad
dressed to hira. But it answered every purpose, and without other
official communication on either side, Howe was permitted to embark
his forces without molestation. He had abandoned the plan of as
saulting Thomas's works, and had determined to evacuate Boston.
On the nights of the 9th, 10th, and llth, Washington continued the
bombardment, and the enemy replied. Bnt these were the last move
ments of offence or of defence. All Saturday night the explosions
were heard, by which HoAve destroyed the property he could not take
aAvay. On the morning of Sunday, the 17th of ]\Iarch, he sailed with
his whole army, hastened, as it appeared, by the Avork on Nook's Hill,
which Washington had at last fortified. It Avas just three raonths
since he had notified the English rainister that he had not transports
sufficient for more than two thirds of his force. Not a vessel had

428 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. [Chap. XVI
joined him in tbe interval. But under the spur of necessity the navy
and the transports proved sufficient. General Putnam immediately
marched into Charlestown, and took the English fort on Bunker Hill,
Avhich Avas held by tAvo wooden sentries. General Ward sent a party
from Roxbury across the Neck, and the siege of Boston was ended.
The selectmen notified Ward that the small-pox was in the city, and
Entry of the 'T-dA'ised that thoso of the array not "protected " should not
Americans, gnj-gr. But OU iMouday the great body of the army marched
in. The returns of HoAve's force, on the day he left, .show that he
had in all eight thousand nine hundrecl and six officers and men.
They sailed in seventy-eight ships and transports. With him he
took about eleven hundred loyalists, either old residents of Boston or
others avIio had come into the town frora the countrj' to escape the
persecutions of their neighbors. Many of these never returned to
their native land. A large number of thera settled in Nova Scotia,
and Avere a valuable addition to the population of that colony. i
Tbe larger part of Howe's squadron proceeded directlj' to Halifax.
The naA-al ships loitered in the outer harbor of Boston, and elsewhere
in Massachusetts Bay, to give notice to vessels from England, that
thej' raight not fall into the hands of the American army. But " the
continent," from C:inada to Florida, was freed frora the royal army.
Less than one j'ear of vigorous assertion of the rights under Avhich
thej' had lived from the beginning, had, for the moment, given such
an answer to the repressive measures of the English CroAvn. The
joj' Avas universal. The handful of residents left in Boston received
the army as liberators. Washington entered the town Avith ceremony
which is still remembered in tradition. The long street by Avhich he
came, j'ielded in time its historical names to his. "The Neck," Avhich
was the local narae of the Isthraus, " Orange Street," which commemo
rated the Liberator of England, " NeAvbury Street," Avhich told the tale
of Charles's disgrace, " Marlborough Street," named in honor of the
conqueror of Blenheim, and " Corn Hill," which fondly recalled mem
ories of London, — all these names gave way, that " Washington
Street" might remind the town of him who freed it from the first
army of strangers tbat ever stood within its borders. Congress or
dered a gold medal struck, to be presented to him. It is the first
in the numismatic history of independent America, and bears the
proud raotto, " HOSTIBUS Primo Fugatis."^
" As I passed through the toAvn," — wrote one who entered it the day
after the evacuation,^ — " it gave me much pain of mind to see the
1 See, for details, Sabine's American Loyalists.
2 The original medal, in the fortunes of an expiring family, and afterward of civil war,
came into the jiossession of the Mas,s.acbuseUs Historical Society.
2 Diary of Ezekiel Price, published in Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Soc, November, 1863.

1776.]

CONDITION OF THE CITY.

429

havoc, waste, and destruction of those houses, fences, and trees in the
town, occasioned by those sons of Belial, Avho have near a year past
had the possession." The Old South Church had been used as a
riding-school for the soldiers : the West Church and the church in
Holhs Street, at the South End, had been used as barracks ; the Old
North had been taken down and used as fire-wood, — in revenge, it
was said, of the signal
lanterns hung in its
belfry on the eve of
the movement on Con
cord. Faneuil Hall
had been made a
plaj'-house. But the
wonder is that there
had not been more
destruction of private
and of public prop
erty, when it is re
membered that this
town, beleaguered
for nine months, was
in possession of the
enemy. If Howe
made use of public
buildings, and permit
ted the destruction of some old buildings for fuel, let it be said that
he used aU his authority to restrain wanton destruction and robbery.
There Avas much of it in the last Aveek of British possession, but he
threatened death to the perpetrators.
It had been known ever since October, that English expeditions
were proposed to seize Hudson River and New York. To arrange
the resistance to these. General Lee had been stationed at Ncav York,
and extensive works of fortification had been planned. Noav, Avhen
Howe left Boston, Washington believed that Nbav York was the des
tination of his fleet and army. He immediately sent forward General
Heath Avith the whole body of riflemen and five battalions, and Gen
eral Sullivan with six battalions, to meet this expected invasion.
General Putnam was ordered to New York to take command, and to
carry out, so far as he thought advisable, Lee's plans of defence, till
the Commander-in-chief sbould arrive and assume the direction of
affairs.

Washington's Medal.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE NOETHEEN CAMPAIGN OF 1775.
The Dispute concerning the Teekitoka' of Vermont. — The Green Mountain
Boys. — Allen's Expedition against Ticonderoga. — Arnold claims Com
mand. — Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. — Expedition down Lake
Champlain. — Richard Montgomera". — Siege of St. John's. — Expedition to
Fort Chambly. — Capture of ^Montreal. — Arnold's E.xpedition through
Maine to Canada, and its supposed Importance. — Irs unexpected Diffi
culties. — Operations before Quebec. — Oefeat and Death of Montgom
ery.  AA'OOSTER TAKES Co.MMAND. — The FlNAL FAILURE.

y-

"t

¦t

^'^fm^.

Citadel of Queliec.

ry now
State of
\ at this
time a v^'ilderness, just
beginning to be occupied, and Avas the scene of intercolonial strife.
The Vermont " The Graiits " Avas the popular narae for a tract first set-
dispute. ^j^^j i^y eraigrants frora New Harapshire, Avho held the title
to their lands under grant of the Governor of that State. But New

1775.] THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS. 431
York claimed a prior right to the territory as far east as the Connect
icut River. In 1749, the township of Bennington, the first in the
territory, AA'as granted under a patent from Governor Benning Went
worth, of New Hampshire; and although New York reraonstrated,
successive grants continued to be raade until 1764, when an appeal
to the CroAvn brought the decision that the Connecticut River, north
of the Massachusetts line, was the boundary between New York and
New Hampshire. It would have made little difierence to the settlers
in this ncAV country, who had come not only frora New Hampshire,
but from the western districts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, under
which colony they held title to their land, but the New York govern
ment, under this decree of the Crown, began to grant new patents
covering the property already occupied and improved, and requiring
fees and other charges to secure New York titles. The colonists, al
most without exception, resisted these clairas, and a warra conflict fol
lowed. The colonists were without regular government; condition of
they had no town, for it was not till after 1780 that Ben- the country.
nington had even a country store. There were no wagon-roads, and
scarcely even foot-paths through the wilderness ; but blazed trees
marked the thin lines of routes that Avere afterward to become high-
Avays. At first the action of the New York government was resisted
in the courts of Albany, and that proving of no avail, the colonists in
the Grants formed a league for mutual protection, and received the
officers of the Crown, who came with writs of possession, in a manner
that was termed rebellious by the authorities, and self-defensive by
the mountaineers. Under the name of Green Mountain Boys,
,11,, ^ ... . . ,. , The Green
tney neld a rude military organization, and resistance to the Mountain
processes of law was so far formal and combined that a
price was set on the heads of the leaders, and they Avere treated as
outlaws. The nearest military posts were Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
From the former, especially, officers of the Crown carae with
,. ., .^ icii -1 1, Importance
their demands to the farms that lay scattered on the slopes oiTiconde-
of the Green Mountains, and the fort was looked upon as
the gateway to the Grants from New York. At this time (1775), it
was falling out of repair, and Avas garrisoned bj' about fiftj' men, but
contained a considerable supply of military stores. It held at once
the outlook toward Canada and the nearest approach to the unruly
people of the Grants. To western New England it was the best
knoAvn fortified post, and the one most identified with the frontier
life, while in the East it had a wide farae through its recent histoiy.
To this point, therefore, many eyes were turned VA'hen the difficulties
with Great Britain began to reach open Avarfare. The Green Moun-

4.32 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVII.
tain Boys, by a succession of individual encounters, had become ac
customed to the idea of fighting, and there were no such restraints
upon them as held back the people of more conservative and law-abid
ing sections. The first tidings of Avar found them eager to act ou the
offensive, especially toward the point which represented to them the
only British tyranny they had known.
In the Avinter of 1775, John Brown, of Pittsfield, a lawyer and an
,7ohn ardent patriot, Avho was in the counsels of the Boston com-
missiOT^o mittee, made a journey through the Grants to Canada, to
Canada. dlscovcr the temper of the Canadians toAvards the British
Government, and to secure, if possible, assurances of organized aid
for the other colonies. In his letter from Montreal to the Committee
of Correspondence in Boston, — Adams and Warren, — dated March
29, 1775, he informs them that he has established a channel of com
raunication through the New Hampshire Grants, which may be
depended upon, and adds : " One thing I must mention, to be kept a
profound secret. The Fort at Ticonderoga raust be seized as soon as
possible, should hostilities be comraitted by the King's troops. The
people on Neiv Hampshire Grants have engaged to do this business,
and, in ray opinion, they are the most proper persons for this job."
It does not appear that the Massachusetts Committee took, at the
tirae, any steps to accoraplish this object. But when the news of Lex
ington Avas spread abroad, both Massachusetts and Connecticut were
alive with volunteers hurrying to the camp at Cambridge,
Effect of the , ., , , , ^ , , , -r., •,
Battle of while delegates to the Congress, about to assemble at Phila-
Lesington. ii,. . iii ^ -
delphia, Avere passing througli the country, consulting with
patriots on the road. In Connecticut and western Massachusetts, the
first thought Avas at once of Ticonderoga ; its stores were coveted, and
its undefended condition Avas known.
Colonel Parsons, of Connecticut, Avas on his way from Oxford to
Hartford, Avhen he fell in with Captain Benedict Arnold, who AA'as
hurrying frora Ncav Haven over the sarae road to WatertoAvn. Cap
tain Arnold's intention Avas to obtain a coraraission from the Provin
cial Congress at WatertoAvn, that he might raise a corapany for the
capture of Ticonderoga. Parsons reached Hartford on the morning of
the 27th of April, immediately consulted with five other
Action of '- . •' . .
Parsons and gentlemen, communicating to them Arnold s information, and
Arnold. n i , , , ,
proposed that they should at once take secret measures for an
expedition against the fort. Procuring £300 from the treasury on
their own responsibility, they sent off two men, — Romans, Avho had
been an engineer in the British service, and Noah Phelps, of Simsburj',
on their Avay to the Grants, apparently, for no positive information
exists on this point, — Avith instructions to put means in the hands of

1775.] THE EXPEDITION AGAINST TICONDEROGA. 433
the Green Mountain Boys to carry out their plans.i On Friday, the
28th, Captain Edward Mott, arriving in Hartford, saw Leffingwell,
one of the gentlemen who had engaged with Parsons. In answer to
inquiries respecting affairs at Boston, he said that the great lack of
military stores could be best remedied by a sudden attack pegig^g ^^
upon Ticonderoga. Leffingwell, consulting Avith Parsons and i''=oi"ieroga.
Silas Deane, determined that Mott should take five or six men Avith
him, overtake Romans and Phelps, and act in concert with them ; his
instructions being to proceed at once to the Grants, and there enlist
men for the expedition.
Mott overtook Romans and Phelps at Salisburj' on the 30tli, and
the party, consisting now of sixteen men, held on together northward.
At Sheffield they sent two men, Halsey and Stephens, to Albany, to
discover the temper of the people there, and proceeded to Pittsfield,
which they reached on the first day of May. Here they lodged at
Colonel Easton's, and fell in with John Brown. Their instructions
had been to keep their own counsel, and not to enlist men until they
reached the Grants ; but Brown, who knew the country well, and
Avas already a prominent patriot, at once won their confidence, and,
with Easton, strenuously advised them to raise a portion of their
forces in the more closely-settled country in which they then were.
Both Easton and Brown joined them, and the forraer assisted Mott
in enlisting men in Wilhamstown and Jericho, now Hancock. At
Bennington there was a rendezA'ous, and tAVO men — Hickok and
Phelps — made an excursion to Ticonderoga to get exact informa
tion of the condition of the fort. Phelps, disguising himself, en
tered the fort as a countryman who desired to be shaved, and, while
hunting for the barber, asked questions and kept his eyes open, play
ing the part of an ignorant rustic. Men were sent out on all the
roads leading to the lake, to intercept passers and prevent knowledge
of the movement reaching the fort, and the whole company was in
structed to meet at Castleton for a final rendezvous. Here
Allen, with his Green Mountain Boys, was ready for the
attack, and the comraand of the principal body of troops was given
to him. On the 8th of May the final plans were laid. Allen, with
one hundred and forty men, was to go to tbe lake by way of Shore-
Romans and Phelps's expedition became at once merged in Mott's, whose course is
clearly laid down ; but in Bernard Romans's account with the Colony of Connecticut for
moneys expended in the capture of Ticonderoga, there is this item : " Pcdd Heman Allen go
ing express after Ethan Allen, 120 miles, £2. 16s." (Rev. Papers, vol. iii. p. 26.) Heman
Allen was a brother of Ethan, living in Salisbury, Conn., and Ethan's acknowledged lead
ership of the Green Mountain Boys indicates that Romans's first business was to send with
despatch to the leader of the forces that Avere relied upon to take Ticonderoga. Some
thing, moreover, of the nature of these first orders may be inferred from the subsequent
orders given to Mott.
VOL. III. 28

434 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XV JL
ham, opposite Ticonderoga. Thirty men, under Captain Herrick,
were to advance to Skenesborough and capture Major Skene and his
party, and then drop down the lake to join Allen, carrying boats from
Skenesborough to assist in transporting the troops.
Allen had gone forAvard to Shoreham on the 8 th, and the party
under orders for Skenesborough was in readiness, when suddenly
an officer appeared through the woods, attended by a ser-
Arnold oyer- .
takes Allen's vaiit, aiid huiTyiug to the camp. It was Benedict Arnold,
who had remained in Cambridge and Watertown only long
enough to lay his plans before the Coraraittee and to receive a com
mission as " colonel and comraander-in chief over a body of raen not
exceeding four hundred," to be enlisted for the reduction of Ticonder
oga. He had set out at once for western Massachusetts to raise men
for his command, and there learning that a party from Connecticut
had just been over tbe same ground, he left a feAV officers to enlist
troops, and made all haste to Castleton. Presenting himself before
Mott and Easton, he announced the action of the Massachu-
And claims . _ - . . -
the com- sctts Committee, and asserted his right to command the forces.
maud. . . T , 1 . .
They shoAved bim their plans and took hira into their counsels,
but he declared they had no proper orders, and insisted upon his own
superior rank and commission. The raovement on their part Avas in
deed voluntary, appointed by a self-elected comraittee in Connecticut,
and associated Avith an outlaw military organization. Arnold's claim
Avas strong, if the Massachusetts Committee had legal authority, with
the right to punish for contumacy ; but then Mott and Easton had the
men Avhora they had engaged, and had promised they should be com
manded by their oAvn officers. They refused to surrenfler the com
mand to Arnold. He was not to be put down, but the next morning
set off to overtake and supersede Allen.
He came up Avith Allen apparently sorae tirae before nightfall of
the same day, Avhen the advance party was at Hand's Cove, on the
eastern shore of the lake, preparing to cross. Here he found himself
in the midst of men making ready for action. With them he took
part in the crossing of the lake, Avhich, owing to the difficulty of pro
curing boats, was not wholly effected when day broke on the morning
of the 10th of May. Allen Avas impatient of delay, and fearful lest
if they waited for the entire body to cross they should lose the golden
opportunity of surprising the fort, he addressed his men, eighty-three
in nuraber, telling them of the hazard of the enterprise, and calling for
volunteers to follow him in an imraediate attack. Not one of the men
drcAv back. A lad living near by, farailiar with the approaches, was
their guide, and Allen gave the word to advance. Arnold again
stepped forward and claimed the command. He Avas a reckless, daring

1775.] ETHAN ALLEN CAPTURES TICONDEROGA. 435
man, and the adventure exactly suited his nature, but it was an adven
ture where he must lead and not follow. Allen, having bis oavii raen
behind him, was no less courageous and was naturally enraged at this
interference. He was for putting Arnold under guard ; but one of his
friends, seeing the peril of the enterprise, if the dispute continued,
proposed that the two raen should march side by side. The compro
mise was accepted, and the coluran advanced quickly to the wicket-gate.
A sentry posted there snapped his fusee, but it raissed fire, surprise of
and as Allen rushed upon him, he retreated with a shout ''"''"''•
through the covered Avay within the fort. The assailing party fol
lowed at his heels, Allen and Arnold vying in the race for leadership.
The fort was surprised, and the victory was already won without a
blow, as the Green Mountain Boys set up a shout on the parade facing
the barracks.
It was so early that the garrison was still asleep. Allen forced one
of the sentries to show him the commanding officer's quarters, and
standing at the entrance he called on Captain Delaplace to corae forth
and surrender his garrison. The Captain sprang out of bed, and, half
dressed, raade his appearance at the door: "By Avhat authority?"
he said. " In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental
Congress ! " ^ was Allen's ansAver. Delaplace, seeing the uncouth
figure before him, was ready to dispute the coraraission; but Allen,
with his sword, was an unequal disputant. The commander yielded,
and ordered his men to be paraded without arms. The surrender
threw into the hands of the Green Mountain Boys one captain, one
lieutenant, and forty-eight subalterns and privates, exclusive of Avoinen
and children, all of whom Avere sent to Hartford. The capture of
stores and military material included a hundred and twenty pieces of
cannon.2 The first surrender of the British was on the day of meet
ing of the second Continental Congress.
While these events were occurring in the fort. Colonel Seth Warner
1 This swaggering demand rests upon Allen's own narrative, and has been called in
question by those who, looking closely, perceive tbat Allen was a disbeliever in Jehovah
as having anything to do with American affairs, and tbat the Congress, though called,
had not actually assembled. It is quite possible that Allen has glorified hiraself sorae
what ; but the phrase was possible to him, for, though a vain, he was a genuinely brave
man. ^ The authorities for the movement against Ticonderoga are chiefly to be found in Cap
tain Mott's Journal, with illustrative documents, published in Conn, Hist. Soc, Coll., vol. i.,
pp. 163-188, Ethan Allen's narrative of the capture of Ticonderoga, and the correspond
ence and newspaper reports collected in the appendix to Hon. L. E. Chittenden's address
before the Vermont Historical Society, October 2, 1872, published by the society. See,
also. Governor Hiland Hall's paper, read before tbe same society, October 19, 1869, and
other contributions to the controversy by B. E. Da Costa in The Galnry magazine for De
cember, 1868, Prof. George AY. Benedict, in the Burlington Free Press, and J. Hammond
Trumbull, in the Hartford Courant.

436

THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVIL

was bringing the rear guard across the lake, and was immediately de-
captnreof 'Spatclied witli about one hundred men to take possession of
.ind'stoes"' Crown Point, Avhich Avas garrisoned only by a sergeant and
borough. twelve men. The capture was efl'ected Avithout difficulty,
and a hundred cannon were secured. The party sent to Skenes
borough sur
prised Major
Skene, and
brought away
also a schoon
er and several
batteaux to
Ticonderoga.

Allen capturing Delaplace.

An arraed force was noAV in possession of these two strongholds,
with considerable material of war and transports. The quarrel for

1775.] ARNOLD AND ALLEN ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 437
command was at once renewed by Arnold. He wrote letters stating
his grievances to the Massachusetts committee ; but Allen was the
accepted leader of the raen, and Massachusetts, upon an understand
ing of the situation, compliraented Arnold, but referred him for orders
to Connecticut, since that colony had actually planned the expedition.
Connecticut was in no mind to prefer Arnold to Allen.
Meanwhile, the operations Avent on, and Arnold and Allen carried
on a species of off-hand freebooting together, for Arnold's ,!,„„ ^^^^_
audacity, and a knoAvledge in certain directions superior to "'"""'¦
Allen's, made him a useful ally. There was a sloop of war lying at
St. John's, and it was proposed to take the schooner and batteaux
already captured, get possession of the sloop, and make a descent
upon the garrison. This done, Lake Champlain would be entirely
in the hands of the patriots. Arnold, as the better seaman, Avas
placed in charge of the schooner, Avhile Allen folloAved Avith the bat-
teairs. On the evening of the 17th of May, Arnold, being Avithin
thirty miles of St. John's, and becalmed, took to the batteaux, reached
the sloop in the night, surprised it, captured a few raen, and hastened
back to Ticonderoga, without possessing himself of the place, since he
learned that reenforcements were on the way from Montreal. On his
return, he met Allen a little below, Avho undertook to form an ambus
cade and intercept the reenforcements ; but his men Avere fatigued,
and when in the morning they were attacked by a superior force, they
retreated to the batteaux and returned to Ticonderoga Avith a trifling-
loss in prisoners.
Allen urged vehemently the immediate use of Lake Champlain as
a basis of operations against Canada ; but it was a month Timidity of
before the importance of the position was clearly seen, and Congress.
meanwhile the Continental Congress, fearful lest these operations
should bring them into difficulty, Avere half disposed to avoid respon
sibihty, and required a complete inventory of the captured stores to
be taken, against a possible restoration of them to Great Britain in
event of an adjustment of the differences. Arnold, unable to accept a
second place in any command, took up his quarters at CroAvn Point,
where he was left to himself by Allen and Easton. When a commit
tee arrived from Massachusetts to settle the disputes which ¦ Arnolds
had arisen, he instigated his few followers to mutiny, and P'="''**«'encc.
threatened a withdraAval of the vessels Avhich he controlled to St.
John's, for the purpose of delivering them and his command to the en
emy, if he could not carry out his OAvn plans. Colonel Hinman, with
a thousand men, had been appointed by Connecticut to take posses
sion of Ticonderoga, and the difficulty Avas flnally settled by the res
ignation of Arnold on June 24.

438 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVIL
When it became known to Congress that General Carleton, Gov
ernor of Canada, was fortifying St. John's, building boats, and pre-
The inva- paring to rc-occupy Crown Point and Ticonderoga, a reso-
adTpTO-'^'^''" lution was adopted (June 27) instructing General Schuyler
posed. ^Q repair Avithout delay to Ticonderoga, and " if he found it
practicable, and it would not be disagreeable to the Canadians, imme
diately to take possession of St. John's and Montreal, and pursue
anj' other raeasures in Canada which might have a tendency to
promote the peace and security of these colonies." The attitude of
the Canadians towards the belligerents was one of great uncer
tainty. Governor Carleton thought the gentleraen, the clergy, and
most of the bourgeois, faithful to the King ; but he was scarcely able
to raise a companj' of militia, although large bounties of land were
offered to volunteers. Schuyler, on his part, fouud it hard to secure
any trustworthj^ intelligence frora Montreal and Quebec. There were
sj'inpathizers Avith the American party in each place, and a com
raittee of correspondence at Montreal ; but exact inforraation as to
the active cooperation which might be expected frora the people Avas
not easily to be had. The general irapression Avas, that the common
people Avould at least maintain a neutralitj', and, in event of the
success of the Araericans, would range theraselves on their side.
The attitude of the Indian tribes gave still greater anxiety. The
poAverful influence exerted bj' Sir William Johnson over the New
York Indians had, after his death (1774), passed into the hands of
The indiin ^'^^ soii-ludaw and ncphcw, Guj' Johnson, now Indian Agent,
element. ^^.|j ],jg gQj^^ gj^. John Jolmsou, both of whom Avere bitter
Tories. At first covertlj', afterward openly, they estranged the In
dians of the Mohawk Valley from the Araericans, and brought about
an active alliance with the authorities in Canada. Schuyler sent
Ethan Allen and Major John Brown into the country lying be
tween Lake Charaplain and Montreal, to discover the true condition
of affairs there, and if possible to persuade the Canadians and the In
dians of that country to ally themselves with the Americans.
IMeanwhile volunteers carae in sloAvlj', and the absence of any con
trolling authoritj' not only caused a conflict between the Provincial
and Continental Congresses, but rendered the soldiers insubordinate and
quarrelsome. Supplies and ammunition carae slowlj' and irregularly,
so that it Avas the middle of August before Schuyler was in any de
gree prepared to move his troops. At this time Major Brown re
turned and reported that there Avere seven hundred regular troops in
Canada, three hundred of AA'hom Avere at St. John's, and that Sir John
•lohnson Avas at Montreal with three hundred Tories and some Indians,
endeavoring to persuade the Caughnawagas to take up the hatchet

1775.]

SCHUYLER AND RICHARD MONTGOMERY.

439

for the King. In a few days came intelligence that Carleton was
about to move up the lake to attack Ticonderoga.
At length the expedition of about twelve hundred raen, Avhich had
waited for a favorable wind, sailed down the lake. The
whole force fell short of two thousand. Schuyler's chief sub- down Lai<c
rt' r\ iTi'iiTr T-, Champlain.
ordinate officer was General Kichard Montgoraery, an Irish
man, who had been in the British service, and Avas with Amherst in
the campaign of 1759 Avhen Wolfe captured Quebec, but had sub
sequently settled in New York and married into the Livingston family.
He was a tall, handsome, spirited raan, who drew to hiraself
IT 11 f>i r>. Iticliard
the admiration of the soldiers and the confidence of his iuontgom-
fellow-officers. Upon him the command shortly fell; for
Schuyler, disabled by illness, was compelled to return to Ticon
deroga bj' the middle of Sep
tember, before any very positive
advance had been made.
At the Isle aux Noi'x a boom
was thrown across the channel
to prevent the passage of the
energy's sloop - of - war, and an
armed camp was formed. One
or two skirmishes occurred, in
which the insubordination and
cowardice of the soldiers almost
completely disheartened Mont
gomery. " I am," he writes to
his wife, " so exceedingly out of
spirits and so chagrined with
the behavior of the troops, that
I most heartily repent having
undertaken to lead them ....
Such a set of pusillanimous
wretches never were collected.
Could I, with decency, leave tbe army in its present situation, I
would not serve au hour longer  We were so unfortunate as to
have some Canadians witnesses of our disgrace. What they will think
of the hrave Bostonians, I know not." ^ Montgomery proceeded to
invest St. John's, while Schuyler, remaining at Albany, used his
utmost exertions to forward men and supphes.
The siege, which lasted nearly two months, was a severe test of the
raw, undisciplined troops. Sickness prevailed, and homesickness was
' Biographical Notes concerning General Richard Montgomery, together with hitherto un
published Letters. (By L. L. H.) 1876. p. 11. "Bostonians" was a term frequently ap
plied to the Anierican forces.

Riciiard Montgomery.

440 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVII.
almost as potent, while the insubordination was so great that it was
Siege of St eveii a raatter of policy at times to submit important move-
johns. ments to the vote of the rank and file. The independence
and self-assertion of the soldiers showed itself in other ways. Ethan
Allen, on his Avay to ilontgomery's camp, with about eightj' Canadi
ans whom he had enlisted, fell in with Major Brown at the head of
two hundred Araericans and Canadians. Brown, who was almost as
much of a free lance as Allen, proposed that they should make a
sudden attack AA'ith their united party on Montreal, where he declared
there were not raore than thirty raen in garrison, and where the
towns-people were largely Araerican in their sympathies. Allen
eagerly accepted the proposition. The plan was, to cross the St.
LaAvrence Avith their respective forces above and below the
Abortive at- .... , , , . ,
taciion City 111 the mght, and at daybreak, upon a given signal, to
raake a simultaneous attack. The night Avas blustering, and
the passage of the river dangerous and tedious; but by early dawn all
of Allen's band stood upon the shore, waiting anxiously for the huz
zas frora BroAvn's party. Thej' waited in vain. Brown had failed
to keep his agreement, and Allen's forces, too weak to effect the sur
prise of the city alone, were set upon by the garrison, and, after a
brave defence, in which some forty of the Araericans fell, were over
powered and raade prisoners. Allen was among them, and was sent to
England. This affair was not approved by Montgomery, though not unknown
to him ; but he was still powerless to exercise that complete control
over his ill-assorted troops which was essential to military discipline
and success.
But an expedition against the fort at Chambly was more success
ful. The fort Avas taken with the aid of sorae of the inhab-
to Tort itants of the district, and its large stores of ammunition and
provisions were of material aid to the armj' encamped un
der the walls of St. John's. Carleton made an effort to relieve the
garrison there, but was repulsed, and at length, on the 2d of Novem
ber, IMajor Preston, in command at St. John's, hearing of Carleton's
Surrender o£ I'cpulse, and Seeing no chance of relief, surrendered the fort
St. John s. ^j-^ij Yed out his troops, already in peril of starvation. Nearly
five hundred regular troops, the greater part of the British armj' in
Canada, thus fell into the hands of the Americans.
The road Avasnow open to Montreal, and Montgomery, advancing to
Sorel, ordered a detachment to cross the St. Lawrence. He
captures posted his forccs to prevent any comraunication between
Montreal and Quebec, and established batteries upon both
banks of the river. Carleton was in the town, but he was surrounded

1775.]

ARNOLD'S EXPEDITION THROUGH MAINE.

441

by a timid and half-hearted populace, who Avere chiefly fearful lest
their property should be destroyed. He left them to their fate, tak
ing the little garrison with him, and on the 13th of November Mont
gomery marched into the town.
While these events Avere in progress, a supporting column had set
out for Canada by another route, almost simultaneously K^^p^.j^tio^
with Montgomery's departure from Ticonderoga, and had through""
fought its way against natural obstacles more serious than ^ame.
the forts which lay in Montgomery's path. While Schuyler Avas per
fecting his plans for the northern

campaign, he heard rumors that a
portion of the British fleet had left
Boston for the St. Lawrence. He
Avrote to General Washington for
information, and Avas assured that
no such movement had taken place.
Whether or not Schuyler's letter
started the project in Washing
ton's mind, Washington wrote
again, five days after the assurance
had been given, outlining an expe
dition which was to ascend the
Kennebec River, cross the high
lands that divide it from the Chau
diere, and descend that stream to
Avhere it enters the St. Lawrence,
nearly opposite Quebec. Such a
movement he conceived would
have one of tAvo results. Either
it would recall Carleton from the
defence of Montreal, and so facilitate Schuyler's plans, or it would
find Quebec unprepared, and the division, uniting with Schuyler's
forces, could at once take that place and complete the conquest of
Canada. The design was in all probability suggested to Washington
by Benedict Arnold, into whose hands had fallen the journal of Colonel
Montresor, an officer of engineers in the British service, who, fifteen
years earlier, had conducted an exploring expedition from Quebec into
the interior of Maine, covering a portion of the route. At any rate,
Arnold Avas selected to take command of a detachment num- a„,„,ji ;„
bering about 1,100 men, drawn from the army about Boston. '^"¦^¦"""^
From the nature of the country they were to traverse, it was irapos
sible to carry field-pieces, but it was hoped that the two rivers would
afford a water highway most of the distance for the transportation of

Map of Arnold's Route.

442 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVIL
men and provisions. The order to draft the men was given on the
1st of September, and a week later the troops set out across the
country to NeAvburyport, where they Avere to be transported to the
mouth of the Kennebec. On the 14th, Washington addressed a letter
His instruc- ^° Arnold, Avith specific instructions, in Avhich he enforced
tions. ^YiQ necessity of so conducting the expedition as to respect
religiouslj' the neutrality of the Canadians, and to win thera if possible
to the Araerican cause. Property was to be held sacred ; religious
scruples were to be tenderly considered ; and death was to be the
penalty for any injury to person or property of Canadian or Indian.
A handbill, written bj' Washington, was printed for distribution
amongst the Canadians, setting forth the friendliness felt by the
Araericans for thera, and declaring that the armies sent into the
country were to protect, not to injure thera. They were earnestly
solicited to join the cause of libertj', and to take advantage of the
presence of the arraies on their soil to rise against the tyranny of the
British. Frora the letters and papers of the day it is evident that great im-
supposed portance was attached to the raoveraents in Canada. That
o?toe''*°°° country had been the scene of conflict within the memory
movement, q£ (.||g men "who Averc UOW throAviug off the authority which
then they fought to extend. The splendid river St. Lawrence, Avith
the rockj' fortress of Quebec, and the fertile lands that stretched to
Montreal, appealed to their iraagination, and the frontiersmen who
had penetrated the northern forests knoAV that no natural boun
dary separated them from the vast country bej'ond. The fortified
places Avhich once had been centres of French trade Avere noAV threat
ening posts of the British enemy, and every interest suggested the
necessity of possessing them. Yet the people of Canada had little in
common with the colonists, and their prevailing rehgion Avas distrust
ed and hated by the Americans. Great caution and address, there
fore, Avere used in raaking the invasion of Canada an act of hostihty
only to the British governraent, and one of eraancipation to her peo
ple. Nor Avere the chances of war despicable. There Avas only one
Aveak battalion of British troops in all Canada, and there was good
evidence that the people, Avhere they were not openly sympathetic and
ready, were at least entirely indifferent to the continuation of British
rule. Schuyler's army Avas raoving, and Arnold's detachraent, AA'hich
reached Fort Western, — the present Augusta, on the Kennebec, —
the 28d of September, Avas expected to be tAventy days making its
march of about two hundred miles. Indeed, there was some solicitude
lest Arnold's array, reaching Quebec long in advance of Schuyler's,
should expose itself to sudden peril frora the massing of troops at that
place.

1775.]

UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES.

443

It would seem almost as if Arnold's enthusiastic and fierj' temper
' ad got the better of Washington's
tfiiiittlfe- "«^ I aution. Montresor's expedition
.wfiraM .*JB^^^ - 'ad indeed been effected in three
ceeks, but that Avas in the middle
f suramer, and consisted Andusditii-
if only a handful of men, """'«*'¦
ightly equipped. To move a col-
imn of eleven hundred men in the
ihort days of autumn, Avhen winter
¦vas coming on, proved to be a dif
ferent matter. It Avas sixty days
before the little army, reduced by

that time about one half, reached the St. Lawrence. They left the
last white family at Norridgewock, on October 3, and were nearly a

444 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVII.
month making their Avay to the headwaters of the Chaudiere. Their
batteaux Avere SAvaraped in the rocky, boiling river ; they sank to
their waists in vast bogs ; thej' were forced to raake Avearisome port
ages, and to cross and recross the same ground, to cany their loads ;
thej' lost their Avay : " this was the third daj'," AA'rites a surgeon of
the partj', " Ave had been in search of the Chaudiere, Avho Avere only
seven computed miles distant the 28th. Nor were Ave possessed of
any certainty that our course Avould bring us either to the lake or
river, not knowing the point it lay frora Avhere we started. HoAvever,
Ave carae to a resolution to continue it. In this state of uncertainty
we Avandered througli hideous swamps and mountainous precipices,
Avith the conjoint addition of cold, Avet, and hunger, not to mention
our fatigue, — with the terrible apprehension of fainting in the des
ert."^ Their provisions failed thera, so tbat they ate dogs, candles,
shaving-soap, poraatura, and lip-sah'e, and boiled their raoccasons in
hopes of extracting sorae glutinous nourishment frora thera. They
fought like beasts for succulent roots which they discovered and
grubbed frora the sand ; great nurabers fell sick and vA'ere left behind;
sorae perished by the Avaj', and Colonel Enos, with the Avhole rear
division, amounting to a third of the force, Avhen near the Canada
line, being instructed by Arnold to provide for the return of the sick,
called a council of his officers, in which it Avas resolved to return
in a body to the coast, lest their provisions should utterly give out.
Enos Avas court-raartialled for his desertion of Arnold, and though
acquitted, never regained his standing. Arnold hiraself pushed for-
Avard, after reaching the Chaudiere, to send back cattle and other sup
plies to his famished followers. When the raen received them, they
fell upon thera like Avolves, and gorged theraselves so that many sick
ened and some died.^
On the 4th of Noveraber the stragghng band reached the first house
„ , in Canada. It was a raonth since they bad left the last house
<_ anada .i
reached. j^-j ]\/[aine. Their progress noAV was coraparativelj' easy, and
it Avas perhaps owing to the exhausted condition of the men that the
last thirty railes occupied ten days. Yet that delay may be regarded
Quebec re- ^^^^ causiug the failure of the expedition. On the 5th of No-
enforced. vembcr, Avheu Arnold, Avith a portion of his array, Avas at St.
Mary's, thirty miles from Quebec, a vessel from NeAvfoundland reached
that place, carrying a hundred men, chiefly carpenters. They found
1 Senter's Journal, p. 21.
" The details of this march, wbich long left its frightful memory in the minds of men,
are preserved in several narratives of members of the expedition, chiefly those of John
Joseph Henry (Albany, 1877) ; Joseph AVare, in A'. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg., April, 1852;
Isaac Senter, Bulletin of Penn. Hist. .Sor.. 1846 ; Return J. Jleiys, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.,
vol. ii., 2d series ; James Melvin, Franklin Club, Philadelphia.

1775.] ARNOLD BEFORE QUEBEC. 445
not a single soldier, we are told, in the city,^ but immediately set to
work repairing the defences and making platforms for the cannon.
On the 12th Colonel Maclean arrived with a hundred and seventy
men, enough to raake a protracted defence. The next day Arnold
brought his forces to the opposite bank of the river. It was
intended that the expedition should surprise the town, and rives before
11 1 A 1 1 X • ^be city,
Washington had urged Arnold to use great precaution to
prevent neAVS being carried by sea frora the Kennebec ; but Arnold
himself had unfortunately given intelligence of his movements, by
a letter sent on the 13th of October to General Schuyler, which was
intrusted to an Indian, who proved faithless. While at St. Mary's
Arnold opened comraunication with General Montgoraery, and the
junction of the two armies now became a matter of the liveliest con
cern. On the evening of the 13th of November, just as Montgomery had
entered Montreal, Arnold began, under cover of darkness, to
transport his troops across the St. Lawrence, and again at iie'igi^trof "
daybreak the sentinels on the walls of Quebec looked out '^ '^™'
upon an army on the Plains of Abraham. Arnold had followed pre
cisely the path which Wolfe had taken, and, as Wolfe had done, of
fered battle with three fourths of his entire force, — five hundred and
fifty men. But Lieutenant-goyernor Cramah^, in coraraand, having
perhaps Montcalm's misfortune in mind, did not accept the challenge.
Moreover, Arnold's hope was, that the appearance of an American
army would be a signal for a revolt within the city, and that the ap
prehension of it would be a check upon the commander of the town.
The Americans shouted triumphantly, but the walls of Quebec did not
fall flat, though some of the people within responded. A few harm
less shots were fired, and a formal demand was made for surrender.
Arnold had neither the means to make a breach in the Avails, nor the
force to storm them, and he could only invest the place. But his own
position was perilous. Carleton had escaped from Montreal, and was
on his way to Quebec. The garrison had been reenforced, and Arnold
learned that he was shortly to be attacked. Accordinglj', „ , , ,
J o J ' But retreats.
he soon broke camp and withdrew to Point aux Trembles to
await Montgomery. Montgomery arrived on the 1st of December
and assumed command. On the 5th the army, now three thousand
men, with six field-pieces and flve light mortars, encamped before
Quebec. The ground was frozen to the depth of many feet, and buried deep
in snow. To construct earthworks was practically impossible ; gabions
and fascines, therefore, were set up and filled with snow, over which
1 Allen's account of Arnold's expedition, in Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., i. 403.

446 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVIL
water was poured and an ice-battery formed, glittering and formidable
to the eye, but in reality brittle and easily destroyed. At the first
cannonading from the walls it broke in pieces. Three Aveeks wore by,
during Avhich Montgomery begged for reenforce'ments, but Schuyler
was powerless to raise them ; tbe raen were growing exceedingly rest
less and mutinous, and there was no sign of any AA'eakening of the
toAvn. At Christmas an immediate attack Avas decided upon, to take
place the first stormy night. One column, led by Arnold, was to ad
vance by the Ioav ground between the St. Charles and the Heights of
Abraham, and penetrate the lower toAvn at a point where a gate
communicated with the upper town, unprotected by any ditch or
drawbridge. Another column, led by Montgomery, was to advance
between the St. Lawrence and the rocky heights of Cape Diamond,
push into the lower town, and take advantage there of an easy com
munication Avith the upper town. It was expected that once in pos
session of the loAA'er town, the merchants Avithin the city would compel
Carleton to give up the place to prevent further destruction of prop
erty. Aaron Burr, eager to take a conspicuous part in the attack,
headed a forlorn hope which was to scale the Cape Diamond bastion,
and he drilled his raen and prepared his ladders with great care.
The night of the 30th of Deceraber, chosen for the assault, Avas, as
the assailants hoped it Avould be, dark and stormy. While Colonel
Livingston and Major Brown raade a feint on the upper town to dis
tract the garrison, ^Montgomery and Arnold Avere to advance upon the
points selected for assault. Montgomery's column, taking the road
along the river bank, raade its way over blocks of ice and through the
heavy drifts of snow, till it reached the first barricades under Cape
Diamond. These Avere passed Avithout difficulty ; but beyond Avas a
block-house, pierced for muskets, and defended by two small field-
pieces. The eneray bad fled after the first ineffectual fire; but as
]\lontgoraery advanced at the head of his raen, exhorting them to fol
low, with the words, "Push on, brave boys, Quebec is ours!" a shot
frora the block-house struck and killed hira instantlj'. His aid. Cap
tain Cheeseman, Captain INPPherson, and two privates Avere killed
by the sarae discharge ; the advance was checked, and then fell back
in confusion and flight.
Arnold's division, alraost at the same moment, had advanced in
single file, along a narrow path between the precipice and the shore
of St. Charles Bay, the men covering their guns under their coats
from the driving storm. The town Avas now awake ; bells were ring
ing ; an uproar of confusion filled the air, from the rapid firing from
batteries and barricades. The darkness and the storm favored the
assailants, who pushed on rapidly past isolated houses to the Palace

1775.]

DEFEAT AND DEATH OF MONTGOMERY.

447

Gate. At the first barricade Arnold was wounded and carried to the
rear. The command devolved upon Captain Daniel Morgan, who,
at the head of his Virginia riflemen, scaled the barricade with ladders,
Morgan himself being the first to mount. As his head appeared
above tbe palisades a discharge knocked him down, the powder burn-

Attacll on Quebec— Death of Montgomery.
ing his face, one ball passing through bis hat and another through
his hair at the side of his head. He mounted again, calling to his men
to folloAV, and the barricade was carried, and the enemy driven to the
houses on both sides of the narrow streets. In these the fight con
tinued, at intervals, for hours, and had Morgan's men been properly
seconded, the town might have been taken. But no reenforcements
came. The advance party were cooped up between the two barricades.

448 THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. [Chap. XVIL
AAdiere they made a desperate but unequal fight, seeking in their turn
protection in the houses. From the Palace Gate a sortie had been
made, and Captain Dearborn, Avith a column of two hundred men, had
been taken prisoner. JNIorgan tried to cut his Avay back. He had lost
probablj' not less than sixtj' raen — among thera Captain Hendricks
of the Pennsylvania riflemen, Humphreys, Morgan's first lieutenant,
and Lieutenant Cooper of Connecticut. The men AA'ere discouraged;
further resistance was seen to be futile, and the Avhole partv, four
hundred and twenty-six in number, surrendered. The remainder of
Arnold's party, avIio were in the rear as a reserve, retreated to cainp.^
The victorious Englishmen found tbe bodj' of Montgomery and gave
it a soldier's burial Avithin the city. Fortj'-tAvo years afterwards it was
reraoved to New York Avith distinguished honors, and placed beneath
a raonument in front of St. Paul's Church. As the boat bearing it
passed sloAvly doAvn the Hudson, the aged widow sat alone upon the
porch of her house at Rhinebeck, Avatching the mournful pageant.^
The comraand of the wrecked armj' fell now upon Arnold, who mus
tered his forces and disposed them for a blockade, hoping raeauAvhile,
that Schuyler, to whora he dispatched a messenger, would reenforce
the little armj'. Schuyler earnestly besought Congress to send for
ward troops, and in the course of the winter about 3,000 AA'ere sent
to his relief. Carleton raade no atterapt to drive Arnold away. He
could not afford to risk the chances of a battle, and he knew that
Avben spring opened be should receive help from England. The Ca
nadians continued tbeir neutrality, and though a feAv engaged on
either side, so that families were divided against one another, there
Avas a general loss of confidence in the Araerican cause. Congress
1 Major general Sir James Carmichael Smyth, in his Precis of the Wars in Canada,
characterizes the enterprise as soldier-like, but thinks Montgomery should have reversed
bis plan, making the real assaults upon the points which were selected for the feint, aud
false attacks only on the lower town. " There was no necessity upon tbe present oc
casion to move, with narrow columns, into confined streets and lanes, to become mastere
of the lower town ; having subsequently the upper town, separated from the lower town
by a line-wall with flanks in it, to acquire. It would surely have been better policy to have
assaulted the upper town at once, aud to have endeavored to escalade, at the same moment,
several of the bastions. . In endeavoring to penetrate by the lower town, he re
quired to be successful in two operations. Had he determined to assault the upper town,
he would only have had to have escaladed a wall of eighteen feet high, and the place was
his.'' — p. 116.
- '-At length," she wrote, " they came by, with all that remained of a beloved husbaiiil,
wbo left me in the bloom of manhood, a perfect being. Alas ! bow did he return '! How
ever gratifying to my heart, yet to my feelings every pang I felt was renewed. The pomp
with which it was conducted added to my woe ; when the steamboat passed with slow and
solemn movement, stopping before my house, the troops under arms, the dead march from
the muffled drum, the mournful music, the splendid coffin canopied with crape and crowned
with plumes, you may conceive my anguish. I cannot describe it." — Biographical Notes
concerning General Richard Montgomery, p. 129.

1775.] GENERAL WOOSTER IN COMMAND. 449
was anxious to attach the provinces, and still believed it possible to
do politically what had not j'et been done by the sword. Additional
proclamations were sent forward, and a commission consisting of
Franklin, Chase, and Carroll, to Avhicli was added Carroll's brother, a
Jesuit priest, afterward Archbishop of Baltimore, was appointed to
visit Canada and organize if possible a political union. Scarcely had
they reached Montreal when news Avas brought of the arrival of a
British fleet at Quebec, and Franklin hastened back to Philadelphia,
at the instance of his colleagues, to urge the imperative need of im
mediate reenforceraents.
In March Arnold was displaced by General Wooster, who arrived
Avith fresh troops. He reraained in command about two months, but
could make, though he attempted it, no irapression upon the fortifica
tions of Quebec. Of his courage and high character there Avas no
question, but he wanted military experience. He Avas, perhaps, too
old to learn, and his conduct of affairs had aroused ranch dissatisfaction
and criticism. He Avas accused of partiality to the troops from his
own State — Connecticut — but so bitter were sectional jealousies,
both in Congress and in the army, that such an accusation was always
sure to be made wherever enmity existed, and Avas certain to be ac
cepted, no matter how unfounded. The difficulties, moreover, with
which Wooster had to contend, his successors found equally insur
mountable till Canada was at length abandoned.
When Major-general Thomas, who superseded Wooster, reached the
army early in May, and found that he could hardly bring into the
field a thousand men, he determined to retreat. Even this he Avas not
permitted to do unmolested ; the garrison of Quebec had been largely
reenforced, and Carleton attacked the Araerican position, routed
Thomas's force, and captured a hundred prisoners and raost of the
stores and provisions. He retreated first to Deschara Vault and then
to the Sorel — a wretched raarch of a disorganized, disheartened, half-
starved, and rapidly decreasing force. Their miseries were aggra
vated by small-pox, brought into the camp by a girl Avho had been a
hospital nurse, and at the mouth of the Sorel, on the 2d of June,
General Thomas died of it.
The British Avere equally successful at other points. Major Butter-
field, with nearly four hundred men, held a fortified post at a place
called the Cedars, on tbe St. Lawrence, about forty miles above Mon
treal. This was captured on the 18th of May by Captain Foster Avith
a detachment of regulars and Canadians, and a large body of Indians.
The next day Major Sherburne, on his Avay to relieve Butterfield, was
attacked in the woods by a part of Foster's force, and was compelled
to surrender. Arnold, Avho followed a few days later, Avas unsuccess-
VOL. III. 29

450

THE NORTHERN CAMPAIGN OF 1775. ['Chap. XVII.

ful in an attempt to dislodge the enemy from their strong position at
Vaudreuil and Perrot Island.
Brigadier-General John Sullivan succeeded Thomas and arrived at
Sorel early in June. Ignorant of the condition of the army, he was
over-confident, and Avrote to Washington that he could " put a neAv
face upon affairs here."' In the interval of four days between Thomas's
death and Sullivan's arrival General Thompson was in command, and
had ordered a forAvard movement to Three Rivers. Sullivan approved
it, and putting the expedition under the command of Thompson,
ordered him Avith tAvo thousand men, under Colonels Wayne, IMaxwell,
and Irvine, to join Colonel St. Clair, who was already at Nicholet.
On the evening of the 7th the combined forces crossed the river at
Point Du Lac, and found themselves in the morning on the beach, con
fronted by Frazer, with artillery and a force three times their own,
exposed to the fire of the ships in the river, and their advance impos
sible. One hundred and fifty were taken prisoners, and the rest re
gained their boats. Sullivan resumed tbe retreat which Thomas had
begun, falling back upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The Canada
carapaign was at an end in June, the British holding Isle aux Noix as
tbeir advanced post.

THE STA7E0r»EW YORK
r.lc...,..^J....'c;.J,;
""'''itiT'Vf'Jj"""'
' '"''''liKiiii

CHAPTER XVIII.

OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OP 177G.
Parliament supports the King. — Efforts to increase the British Forces. —
Employment of Mercenaries. — Military Importance of New York City. —
The Provinci.al Congress of New York and the Committee of Safety. —
The Sons op Liberty. — Exploit of Marinus AVillett. — Zeal of Isaac
Sears. — Lee takes Command. — Fortifications of Brooklyn and New York.
 Lord Stirling. — The Southern Expedition. — Battle of Moore's Creek
Bridge. — Arrival of Parker's Fleet. — South Carolina adopts a Tempo
rary Constitution. — The British attack the Defences of Charleston, and
are repulsed.
The ministerial plan of operations in America had been gradually
maturing since the reception of the news of the Battle of
Bunker Hill, which had touched the pride of the nation at supports the
the most sensitive point. Parliament, in the autumn of 1775,
voted the King and Ministry all the men and material they called for.
It mattered httle that the friends of America in that body again raised
their voices for concession and conciliation. The vigorous appeals
and arguments of Burke, Fox, Barr^, Wilkes, and Conway in favor
of colonial rights, still found unwilling ears, or were listened to only
as the vindictive tirades of the "opposition." The ministerial party
blindly clung to the policy of coercion first and concession afterwards,
and, in their address to the King, expressed the hope that they should
be able, "bj' the blessing of God," to put such means into his Majes
ty's hands as would soon defeat and suppress the rebellion, and enable
him to accomplish his " gracious wish of reestablishing order, tran
quiUity, and happiness " throughout his empire. The disorders in
America, the King said in his speech, " must be put down by the most
decisive exertions." Wisdom and clemency, he told the Commons,
ahke demanded this course.^
The army to be sent for the subjection of the colonies was to be in
creased to nearly forty thousand men, supported by a forrai- Recmiemg
dable fleet, raanned by over tAventy-two thousand searaen. '"'5ng'=">*-
If the parhamentary majority which sustained the ministerial policy
^ King's speech at the opening of Parliament, October 26, 1775.

452 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIIL
had reflected the feeling of tbe nation at large, there Avould have been
no difficulty in obtaining tbe additional troops required. But the calls
met Avith a feeble response. The necessary complement at home to
fill the old and depleted regiments could not be secured ; and the gov
ernraent, even before it resolved on extreme measures, found itself
forced to draAV upon its garrisons in the West Indies, Ireland, and
Gibraltar. The King, as Elector of Hanover, could do as he pleased
Avith Hanoverian troops, and by putting these in places garrisoned by
English soldiers, he Avas able to add about tAventy-three hundred men
to the army in America. The opposition in the House of Commons
seized upon the evident lack of popular syrapathy Avith the King's
measures. The Ministry, compelled to find an explanation, replied
that the general prosperity among all classes, and the large numbers
enrolled in the railitia, Avho could not be called upon for foreign ser
vice, was a sufficient explanation of this apparent apathy. ^ It was
an excuse, however, rather than an explanation, and one in which,
probably, they did not themselves believe ; it certainly Avas not satis
factory to those statesmen Avho were opposed to the war.^
The King cared nothing for English sympathy, and Avas equally
indifferent as to Avhether the Avar AA'as carried on with Eng-
tuses to aid lisli or witli foreign soldiers. It Avas a question of pounds
and thalers, not of flesh and blood. Soldiers could be bought
at a flxed price per head, and, Avhile that was so, it Avas the English
treasury, not the English people, that need be consulted. George,
frora his relations to Holland, had no doubt of her friendly aid. In
an autograph letter to the States General, he asked for permission to
employ their Scotch brigade. He AA'as refused. " Our troops," said
the Baron van der Capellen, " Avould be eraployed toAvard suppressing
Avhat some please to call a rebellion in tbe American Colonies ; for
which purpose I would rather see janissaries hired than soldiers of a
free state. Such a measure raust appear superlatively detestable to
me, Avho think the Americans worthy of every raan's esteera, aud look
on them as a brave people, defending, in a becoming, raanly, and relig
ious raanner, those rights which as raen they derive from God, not
from the legislature of Great Britain."
The rainisters, Avith hardly less doubt of a favorable answer, turned
to Russia. The Eastern question of that day had brought the Empire
under obligations to Great Britain for aid against the Turks. In re-
^ Speech in Parliament, November 3, 1775, by Lord Barrington, of the AA'ar Office.
2 In the early part of 1775, Lord Camden expressed tbe belief, founded on observation,
that the merchants, tradesmen, and common people were generally opposed to a war, while
the landed interest supported the government. At tbe opening of the camp.aign of 1776,
the King probably had a stronger support than Camden allowed him the year before. But
the war, nevertbeles-i, was not popular.

1775.]

ATTITUDE OF THE GREAT POWERS.

453

turn, Catherine would now, perhaps, have helped the English King
with twenty thousand troops, but for the interference, both no help from
open and secret, of the other powers. For more than a dozen f^^l^f^' ^j.
years France had been anxiously watching the growing alien- f'"'''"^-
ation between Great Britain and her American colonies. De Font-

British and Hessian Soldiers.

leroy and De Kalb had been sent, after the French war, to travel in
America, to observe her resources, and study the causes of dissen
sion which even at that tirae had begun to show theraselves ; and
now, when hostilities had actually broken out, so far as France had
influence with other European powers, it was sure to be exercised,
directly or indirectly, in favor of the revolting colonies. Nothing could
be expected frora Prussia. Said Frederick to a party of Englishraen :
" If you intend conciliation, some of your raeasures are too rough ; and
if subjection, too gentle. In short, I do not understand these mat
ters ; I have no colonies. I hope you will extricate yourselves advan
tageously ; but I own the affair seems rather perplexing." And as to
European -sentiment generally, John Moore, an English physician,

454 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.
travelling through the principal cities in 1775, wrote from Vienna:
European " -^^ present, the inhabitants of the Continent seem as impa-
opinion. j-jgj^^ g^g those of Great Britain for ncAvs from the other side
of the Atlantic ; but with this difference, that here they are all of one
mind, — all praying for success to the Americans, and rejoicing in
every piece of bad fortune which happens to our array." ^
But there were no large political considerations to influence the
Aid from decisions of the petty German princes of Hesse-Cassel, Bruns-
toman^ Avick, Hauau, and others, when England asked for their as-
states. sistance. It was simply a question of the purchase of so
much war material, and negotiations depended upon nothing but price,
and the skill of buyer and seller. As early as the summer of 1775, Sir
Joseph Yorke, Avho had been instructed to look into the condition of
these markets, reported that men enough could be had if the price
could be agreed upon. In due tirae, when it was determined that the
most vigorous measures should be taken for the campaign of 1776,
Colonel William Fawcett was sent to conclude with these needy princes
the purchase of their subjects, to carry on a foreign war for the sub
jection of a free people. There was little or no voluntary service,
except among officers; men were corapelled to enlist, and a stipulated
price per head was paid by England to the potentates Avho claimed
the right to dispose of their people as suited their own purposes.
Even George III. had grace enough to feel some compunction at
a transaction disgraceful to the England of the eighteenth century.
" To give," said the King, — when offers were raade to the English
agent to open recruiting offices, — " German officers authority to raise
recruits for rae, is, in plain English, neither raore nor less than to
becorae a raan-stealer, Avhich I cannot look upon as a very honorable
occupation." But the offices were opened, tbe men were forced to en
list, and the princes Avere paid by England. The Duke of Brunswick,
— who was surrounded by mistresses, who gave the manager of his
opera an annual salary of thirty thousand thalers, and his librarian,
Lessing, three hundred, — sent off his quota of men with insufficient
clothing, Avithout overcoats, Avith no supply of shoes and stockings ; and
their commander. Baron Riedesel, was compelled to borroAv in England
five thousand pounds to raeet their most comraon wants. ^ The first
division of these German troops sailed from England for Quebec in
April, 1776. Others followed, in the course of the summer and au
tumn, for New York.^ Months before tbe evacuation of Boston, it
^ A View of .Society nnd Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany. By John Moore,
M. D. (London, 1786.) Letter 96.
' See The German Element in the War of Independence. By George Washington Greene.
' The whole number of German troops sent to America is thus given by Dr. Kapp,
after a careful collation with the statements in the State Paper office in London : —

1776.] MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF NEW YORK CITY. 455
had become clear that the base of future operations must be at some
other point along the coast. To increase the array there, and attempt
to break up the siege, promised no gain Avhich would corapensate for
the loss that raust inevitably folloAV. Moreover, the rebellion was
gathering force ; and it Avas evident that it had already assuraed di
mensions so formidable that it was no longer possible to crush it by
a single blow at a single point, as was at first supposed might be
done.^ It was determined, therefore, that the central point of railitary raove-
ments for 1776 must be New York. Here was an unequalled Ngw Yorlt AS
harbor, with the Sound on one side and the Hudson on the abaseoi
other, — both strategic lines for the British, who had com
mand of the sea. On land the army conld control New York and the
Jerseys, and break up all concert of action betAveen New England and
the more southern provinces. This was the English vicAv of the situa
tion, and it was so obvious that Washington assumed New York to be
Howe's objective point on evacuating Boston, and took his OAvn meas
ures accordingly.
In New York, as in some other colonies, the functions of the Pro
vincial Congress had devolved upon a Committee of Safety
of a hundred members. There were Tories upon this com- York Pro-
¦*¦ vincial Con-
mittee ; or rather, — to speak Avith entire accuracy, — there eress^and
were conservative merabers who afterwards became Tories, mittee of
Safety.
Things had gone very far before tbat hard and fast line was
drawn which made the impassable barrier between Whig and Tory.
To this party belonged raany of the best and the wisest of the colo
nists. John Adams put them at about one third of the whole people.
Their names are often found attached to those earlier protests and
remonstrances with which it was hoped to avert the despotic purposes
of the King and his ministers. They held to the hope of conciliation
and compromise, long after their neighbors had seen that there was no
choice but absolute submission or resistance to the death. There Avere
Brunswick .... 5,723 Waldeck  1,225
Hesse-Cassel . . . 16,992 Anspach  1,644
Hesse-Hanau . 2,422 Auhalt-Zerbst . 1,160
Totiil  29,166
Of thc^e, 17,313 returned home, leaving 11,853 to be accounted for.
1 A change of base was talked of as early as July, 1775, as appears from what Burgoyne
wrote to Lord Rochford, Secretary for the colonies : " General Gage seenis to be not dis
inclined to an idea of evacuating Boston, if he can make himself master of New York, aud
of taking up his winter quarters there ; and there is much solid reason in favor of it. The
post, iu a military view, is much more important, and more proper to begin the operations
of next year's campaign. In political consideration, yet more might be said for it, and in
regard to general supply, the neighborhood of Long Island, and otlier adjacent Islands,
would afford some assistance that we want here." — Fonblanquc's Burgoym-, p. 181.

456

OPENING OF THE CA:\IPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.

many of this class in New York ; sorae of them belonged to the Com
mittee of One Hundred, and they took advantage of their position to
aid the royal cause on the plea of preserving the peace.
But there was a coraraittee within the Coraraittee, composed of that
The Sons of '^^^^^ ^^ men — the "Sons of Liberty" — Avho had little
Liberty. faith in Priiico or Parliament, who had a strong belief in
the inherent right of self-governraent, and w&re quite ready to stake
everything upon
that issue; Avho
Avere quick to see
and ready to resent
a n y encroachment
of arbitrarj' power.
If the One Hundred
were too cautious,
the smaller number
were always ready
for any emergency;
if these sometiraes
Avere regardless of a
wise prudence, and
their actions tended
to precipitate a con
test without sufficient preparation, the larger number by their very
inertness staved off catastrophe. If one party hastened slowly, tliere
was no lack of watchfulness in the other, no abatement of activity to
keep up the movement of steady and uncompromising resistance to
everything that threatened the popular cause.
When the ncAvs of the engagements at Lexington and Concord
reached New York, immediate steps Avere taken to prepare
prepares for for War, if war was to come. A public meeting assembled
in the City Hall, and all the arms and munitions in the
arsenal, AAdiich was a part of that building, were secured. A com
pany, led by John Lamb and Isaac .Sears, two of the most active of
the " Sons of Liberty," arrested all the British vessels in port about
to sail for Boston ; a vessel loaded Avitli rum, to which the Collector
had refused a permit, because the rum Avas supposed to be for the use
of tbe insurgents, was taken possession of, and her cargo discharged ;
the keys of the custom-bouse were demanded of the Collector, and
the building closed. A military corapany Avas forraed, the arms taken
from the arsenal were put iuto their hands, cannon Avere collected,
and raeasures promptly but quietly taken to put the city in a state of
defence. The imperative need AA'as arras and munitions of war. At

Burns's Coffee-house, Broadway, opposite Bowling Green.
quarters of the Sons of Liberty.

1776.]

THE SONS OF LIBERTY.

457

Turtle Bay, on the East River, Avas a deposit of military stores be
longing to the King. Lamb, with some of his associates, approached
it by night from the river, surprised the guard, and carried off every
thing of value. So, when the British garrison Avere ordered to join
the army in Boston, they Avere not permitted to take Avith them any

Marinus Willett's Exploit.
arms except those they carried in their hands. It was agreed that
they should embark unraolested, and this was one of those acts of
prudence, on the part of the Coraraittee of One Hundred, of Avhich
their more ardent compatriots did not approve. The intention un
doubtedly was, to avoid a coUision, which, as General Wooster was
already in camp outside of NeAV York with an army of volunteers
from Connecticut, might have been easily provoked. It was believed.

458 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. X-\'III.
on the one hand, that the Avhole garrison could have been taken prison
ers ; on the other, it Avas thought best not to run the risk of a bombard
ment of the town by the naval vessels in the harbor. The decision
of the Comraittee Avas acquiesced in, but the acquiescence went only
wiuetfs ex- to the letter of the agreeraent. As the troops marched at
pioit. noon down Broad Street, preceded by five carts loaded with
arms, they were raet at the corner of Beaver Street by IMarinus
Willett, who boldly seized the first horse by the head and brought the
whole hne to a halt. A crowd instantly gathered, among them the
Mayor, Whitehead Hicks, and Gouverneur Morris. The command
ing officer demanded the reason of this interruption. Willett an
swered that perrais.sion was given only that the troops should embark
unraolested, not that they should take aAvay arms. Hicks and Mor
ris expostulated. "You are right!" shouted John Morin Scott,
an erainent Son of Liberty. Willett jumped upon the cart, and de
clared the arms should not be taken to be used against their " Brethe-
ren in Massechusettes." If the soldiers, he said, desired to " Join the
Bloody business which Avas transacting near Boston, we Avere ready to
meet them in the Sanguin field," but if any of them "felt a repug
nance to the unnatural Avork," and would leave the ranks, they should
be protected. He then led the first cart into Beaver Street out of
the line of march, and the rest followed, the officers making no at
tempt to stop him, and no reply to his appeal. Only one of the sol
diers, however, accepted his invitation to desert, and marched off with
the carts, cheered and protected by the croAvd.^
A few weeks later the Continental Congress made a requisition
The cannon upon NcAv York f Or caunou, to be placed at several points
fro'mThe o" the Hudson for the defence of the course of that river.
Battery. -pj^g Proviucial Cougress ordered the Battery to be dis
mantled, and the enterprise Avas entrusted to Captain Lamb Avith a
military companj', and Sears at the head of a band of volunteers.
The English line-of-battle-sbip Asia lay at anchor not far distant ;
she sent a boat ashore, and in an encounter between her crew and
the men at the Battery, several of the sailors were Avounded, and one
was killed. The Asia opened fire upon the fort, but all the mounted
guns were nevertheless removed.^
The situation grew every month, alraost every week, raore critical.
^ Marinus Willett's Narrative. In a volume of original papers published by the Mercan
tile Library Association, of Xew York, under ihe title : New York (.'Ity During the Revolu
tion, with a valuable introilnction by Henry B. Dawson.
^ Six mouths afterwards General Lee removed tbe remaining guns which were not
mounted, from the fort, without opposition from the ship*. " Indeed," he say*, in a letter
to the President of Congress, " I even consider their menaces to fire upon the town as idle
gasconade." — Lee Papers, vol. i., N, Y. Hist. .Soc. Coll.

1776.]

ZEAL OF ISAAC SEARS. 459-

Between Whigs and Tories, the difference was irremediable ; neither
could allow that one might be mistaken without being wick- Thefeciing
ed; and as both held the opinions of the other side to be fe- whTgTand
lonious, persecution was inevitable wherever one side was ''^°"*'^'
stronger than the other. The patriots Avere the stronger in and about
New York; but the Tories were strong enougli to make a determined
fight, hoping to gain the ascendency if sufficiently reenforced from
England. " Rivington's NeAV York Gazetteer " Avas their mouth-piece,
and was bold and aggressive. It was determined to suppress it, and
TH«K.OAV.ov...... j,rVING7-OJV's '"'¦ ''''
NEW-YORK^^^^GAZETTEER;
Coiiiiecficut, Hudfoii's River, ^^^^^^^M^^S^ Ne-\v-Jerfej, and Quebec
AV E E K L Y<^^^^,ADVERTISER.
TRINTEDaf his OPEN andUNINFLUENCED PRESS fronHhg Hanover-S(Viahd.
Head of Rivington's Gazetteer.
for that purpose Isaac Sears, who had removed to New Haven, visited
New York at the head of more than a hundred men. On Destruction
the way they burned a sloop at Mamaroneck. Entering the ?'n's^ai°^"
city, they rode in perfect order down Broadway and Wall ''"'"='•"
Street, at the foot of which was Rivington's office. This they com
pletely sacked, carrying away the type to cast into bullets, and offered
to give Rivington, in return, an order on Lord Dunmore, of Virgin
ia, for a new supply, he having seized and confiscated a printing-office
in Norfolk which belonged to a Whig.
Sears was never so happy as when suppressing Tories, several of
whom he captured on this expedition, and took back Avith
him to New HaA-en. Some months later Lee made him an
Adjutant-general, Avith the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. " He is," he
wrote to Washington, " a creature of much spirit and publick virtue,
and ought to have his back clapped." Sears's first duty in his new
office was to suppress tbe Tories of Long Island. In a report to Lee,
he Avrote : " I arrived at Newtown, and tendered the oath to four of
the grate Tories, which they swallowed as hard as if it Avas a four
pound shot that they ware trying to git down." This Avas the " iron
clad " oath which Lee had forced upon the Tories of New Haven.
When Lee was ordered by Washington to take comraand at New
York, the Committee of Safety were greatly alarmed lest his
appearance should provoke Tryon — Avho had fled to one ot command at
the men-of-war in the harbor — to put in execution his
threat to bombard the town. The Committee pleaded the defenceless

460

OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OE 1776. [Chap. XVIIL

condition of the place, and especially their want of powder ; but the
more ardent patriots, who, by such actions as we have just related,
had kept up the enthusiasm
of the people, welcomed the
news of Lee's coming. Lee
himself wrote the Com
mittee that they might be
" perfectly easy." " If,"
he said, " the ships of
war are quiet, I shall be
quiet ; but I declare sol
emnly that if they make a
pretext of my presence to
fire on the town, the first
house set in flames by their
guns shall be the funeral
pile of sorae of their best
friends." He should only
bring into the city enough
raen to protect it; but "If
Mr. Tryon and the Captains
of the ships of war are to
prescribe what numbers are,
and what numbers are not,
to enter the town, ....
the condition is too humiliating for freemen to put up with."
But the ample baj^ the tAvo navigable rivers, and the waters of
Fortifying the Sound bcyoiid, were important features in the question
New York. q£ defcuce. Clearly, whoever coramanded the sea had an
important advantage, for New York could be surrounded by a fleet.
The width of the North River appeared, to Lee at least, to render
its obstruction to the passage of ships impossible ; and on the other
side, the Sound was open to them as far as Hell Gate. A hostile
squadron could thus take up a position on the flanks and in the rear
of Manhattan Island, and with the assistance of land forces, compel
the evacuation of the town. The General saw this at a glance, and
so reported to Washington ; but at the sarae time he belieA^ed the
position offered an opportunity for delaying and embarrassing an
' This picture, rejiroduced in Moore's Treason of Charles Lee (from which we copy it),
was originally engraved for a work written by Dr. Thomas Girdlestone, to prove that Lee
was the author of the Junius Letters. It is from a likeness taken when Lee returned from
Poland, in bis uniform as aid-de-camp to King Stanislaus. Girdlestone says : " Thou^'h
designed as a caricature, it was allowed, by all who knew General Lee, to be the only suc
cessful delineation, either of his countenance or person."

General Charles Lee.

1776.] FORTIFICATIONS OF BROOKLYN AND NEW YORK. 461
enemy ; that if it could not be converted into a permanent military
base for the Americans, it could be made a costly capture for the Brit
ish ; and on this theory he proceeded to construct a system of de
fences, to turn New York into Avhat he termed " a disputable field of
battle." He proposed first to make it secure, at least against a direct attack
in front, presenting as bold a face toward the sea as the sit-
uation admitted. The salient point he judged to be the Brooklyn
present Columbia Heights on the Brooklyn side of the East
River, for the reason that it commanded the city and the river.
There he laid out an intrenched camp with strong redoubts, one of
which was thrown up on the edge of the bluff', at the foot of the pres
ent Clark Street, and nearly opposite a point on the New York side,
between Fulton and Wall Street ferries, where its guns could sweep
the channel or bombard New York, should the enemy succeed in
landing within the town limits. This Avork was named Fort Stirling,
and Avas the most important in Lee's plan. Several batteries f^„^ j^ jjg,„
were erected on the New York side of the river, from the ^™'^'
ship-yards to Whitehall Slip, which, in conjunction with Fort Stirling,
were expected to raake the passage of men-of-war along that chan
nel a hazardous venture. To prevent their coming down the Sound,
a fort was built by Colonel Drake's Westchester County militiamen,
at Horn's Hook, opposite Hell Gate.
For the protection of the west side of the city, nothing Avas at
tempted beyond the erection of works at various points below Canal
Street, to keep the ships out of the river. No attempt was raade to
fortify the Jersey side.
At Fort George and the Grand Battery at the foot of Broadway
the works were strengthened ; but the General had little confidence in
their abihty to withstand a vigorous bombardment. That the eneray,
however, might not obtain a foothold there, he tore down the rear of
Fort George, threw up a parallel across Broadway, at BoAvling Green,
to command its interior, and had the streets in the vicinity barricaded.
In a word, he sought to turn New York into a fortified mihtary
camp. The Avork had only been begun, when, on tbe 6th of March, Con
gress divided the southern and middle colonies into two ^ ^ ^^.
... Lord Stir-
miiitary departments, and transferred Lee to the coraraand iing takes
f ,1 £ , . command.
ot the former, leaving Lord Stirling to carry out the plan his
predecessor had adopted. Nothing was lost by the change, for the
new commander carried on the work with the utmost energy. Wash
ington's orders, now that he saw the siege of Boston near its end,
were imperative that no time should be lost in preparing for what he

462

OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.

knew the spring Avould bring. Stirling ^ recruited troops on everv side,
and ordered out all the male inhabitants that had remained in town,
black and white alike, to dig on the fortifications. The slaves were
to Avork every day. On the Brooklyn side the scattered residents
were directed to report Avith spades, hoes, and pickaxes, to Colonel
Ward, whose Connecticut regiment had been stationed there. The
troops under Stirling at this
point consisted, about the mid
dle of March, of the tAvo Con
necticut regiments that Lee
brought with bim. New York
militia from Westchester, Or
ange, and Dutchess counties,
under Colonels Drake, Swart-
wout, and Van Ness, Stirling's
New JerseA' Continentals, and
other small detachments, which,
with the tAVO city " independ
ent" battalions, made up an ir
regular force of about four thou
sand men. The city mihtary
companies were composed of
citizens of raeans and influence,
under Colonels John Lasher and
William He3'er, and in time of
peace attracted attention by their varied and shoAvy uniforms. Many
of them were now found true to the colonies, and remained in the
ranks. One of their number, — afterwards Major, — Nicholas Fish,
tells us of their Avorking on the redoubts, though " it did not agree
well with the tender hands and delicate textures of many," and doing
their part with " amazing agility and neatness."
The joyful news of the success at Boston reached the busy gar-
AVashington T'sou Avliile matters Avere in this condition. Washington

LorcJ Stirling.

loVcerto*"^ did not lose a moment, after HoAve's evacuation, in hur-
NcnvYork. xylng the NeAV England army to Ncav York.

The Penn
sylvania and Virginia riflemen had already been sent on, Avhen Gen
erals Heath, Sullivan, Spencer, and Greene reached the city Avith their
forces — tAA'enty-two regiments — at intervals during April. The
artillery Avas under Knox, and Putnam took the chief command till
the arriv-al of Washington. Colonel Rufus Putnam, the chief engi-
1 This officer, wbo henceforth was to be identified with the fortunes of AA'ashington's
army to the close of tbe war, was a native of New York, became afterwards a resident of
New Jersey, and claimed the title to an earldom through his Scotch descent. His name
was William Alexander.

1776.]

NEW YORK A MILITARY CA:\IP.

463

neer, Avas also sent, with instructions to stop on his way at Provi
dence and Newport, and lay out such further defences as might be
required at either place. Last of all folloAA'ed tbe Com
mander-in-chief, who left Carabridge on April 4th, passed ar^h-e^hi""
through Providence, and arrived at Ncav York on the 13th. °"^'
Here he fixed his headquarters temporarily at a house in Pearl Street,
at the foot of Cedar Street.
If the town had been like a busy camp in February and early
March, it was noAV, with its great garrison, altogether given
over to the hurry of military preparation. Families has- a military
tened into the country ; often, in their fear, leaving the city ^ ^
in the worst of weather, and abandoning their dwellings to the sol
diery. As early as April 9th,
Major Fish was impressed
with the change that had
already occurred, and Avrote
to a friend that the society
of the town had been aban
doned by " most of its mem
bers, especially the fair ; "
the barricading of the
streets, aud other mihtary
matters were, he said, his
"current employment."
Some of the troops were
quartered in houses at the
foot of Broadway, and made
sad havoc with their inte
riors, to the great grief and
loss of their Tory owners.
The few merchants who re
mained raised their goods
to an enormous price. Rum, sugar, and cotton, went up immoderate
ly; some articles could not be had at all. One Avriter notes that there
was quite a panic about "pins." In every Avay this lately flourishing
centre of colonial trade suffered the evils of a military occupation.
One Jacob Harsin told the whole story when he added, in a postscript
to a letter to a friend, " We are noAV a City of Waar."
While there was such strained activity here at the central point,
the British plans had other ends in vieAV than the capture of
fl, t !• 1 . ' The South-
tne metropolis, and in one quarter at least these plans were em expedi-
already working. The expedition to the southern colonies
was the King's favorite project. Dunmore and Martin, the royal gov-

Israel Putnam.

464 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.
ernors of Virginia and North Carolina, had made such sanguine rep
resentations of the ease Avith which both colonies could be brought
to submission, tbat great things Avere hoped for in that quarter the
moment the Governors Avere provided with a small force to "back their
authority. The seven regiments sent for this purpose had been se
lected by the King himself. They Avere led by Earl Cornwallis, and
the fleet Avas cotnraanded by Admiral Peter Parker ; but Clinton,
who, as Ave have seen, had been detached from the force at Boston,
met thera near Wilraington and assumed the general command. The
work done — for it was believed it Avould be short, — the generals had
orders to return north, and Cornwallis was to go at once to Canada.
Dunmore and iMartiu misunderstood the popular sentiraent of their
colonies. Dunmore had already exasperated the Virginians Avitli his
threats, and forays, and atterapts to incite insurrection among the
slaves. iMartin, in North Carolina, issued a proclamation on the lOtli
of January denouncing the " daring, horrid, and unnatural rebellion"
existing in the province, aud calling upon all faithful subjects to erect
his Majesty's standard and unite in its support. He Avas sure of
gathering a large force of loj'alists, and it Avas this that determined the
destination, in the first instance, of Cornwaiiis's expedition. The set
tlers along the upper part of Cape F'ear River, round about Cross Creek
(the present Fayetteville), Avere chiefly Highlanders, Avho had emi
grated from Scotland after the defeat of the Pretender, at Culloden,
thirty years before ; and Avere now, out of gratitude and by an oath
of allegiance, bound to take up the King's cause in America. Among
their leaders Avere the McDonalds, the iMcLeods, and the Stuarts,
and to them Martin issued commissions Avitli authority and orders to
muster their men at BrunsAvick on the 15th of February, and then
march to the coast to cooperate with Clinton and CoriiAvallis. Donald
McDonald, as colonel, quickly gathered a force fifteen hundred strong,
mostly Scotchmen and old " regulators," and prepared to carry out
^Martin's instructions. But the Governor's January proclamation also
had another response. The Highlanders and the disaffected Avere no
more prompt to obey, than the patriotic party Avere to disobey it.
The resolute and conscientious Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the back
counties, and the majority of tbe inhabitants along the coast, took up
arras, but it Avas against the King ; Jlartin, frightened frora his head
quarters at Newbern, Avas compelled to issue his commands from on
board the sloop-of-war Scorpion, anchored off Wilmington.
When tbe mustering of McDonald's clans and " banditti " Avas
The militia heard of, the provincial railitia Avere called out, to prevent
"*"¦ them from reaching tbe Governor. Brigadier-general James
Moore, of New Hanover, Avith his regiment of five hundred State

1776.]

BATTLE OF MOORE'S CREEK BRIDGE.

465

troops, and sorae others, marched to Rockfish Bridge, within seven
miles of the Scotchmen's camp at Fayetteville. On the 19th he was
joined by Colonel Lillington with Wilraington minute-men. Colonel
Kenon with Duplin volunteers, and Colonel Ashe Avith independent
rano'ers. Among these soldiers Avere " men of the first fortunes " in
the State, who, to encourage others, "footed it the whole tirae. "^
Moore's force was still one or tAvo hundred less than McDonald's.
On the 20th, the latter moved within four miles of Moore, and gave
him until noon of the next day to join the royal standard. Moore
returned the Highlander's consideration by alloAving hira exactly the
same time to lay down his arms and be received as a friend and coun
tryman of America. Otherwise, be should be treated as an eneray.
That night McDonald gave the Americans the slip, and, passing
them by a rapid raarch, headed for the coast. Moore in- McDonald
stantly sent expresses in all directions for troops to gather e'^desthem.
at certain points to intercept the Scotchmen. Colonel Richard Cas
well, a trusted citizen of
Lenoir County, was coraing
up with eight hundred rai
litia from Newbern ; and
to him word was sent to
find and " by every means
iu his poAver distress, har
ass, and obstruct " the en
emy on their Avay, while
Colonel Lillington raade a
forced march to Widow
Moore's Creek Bridge,
twenty-five miles above
Wilmington, near the South ^°°'^'' ^'^^^ ^''"'^^-
River across Avbicb McDnn- ¦^' ^' positions of the Loyalists ; 3, 4, positions of the Americans.
aid would have to move. All these detachments, directed by General
Moore, made extraordinary exertions to overtake the enemy. Lilling
ton reached the bridge on the 26th, some hours before the loyalists,
and was joined in the afternoon by Caswell, who took command, tore
up the planks, and erected a breastwork across the road on the lower
side. The loyahsts carae on early the next morning. jMcDonald,
their chief, who had fought at Culloden, had been taken ill and re
mained in his tent, leaving the command to Colonel McLeod, a vete
ran of the same field. In the ranks were the husband and son of
Flora McDonald, who had won the affection of these people by help
ing Charles Edward, the Pretender, to escape in disguise, and who
^ Letter in Force's Ainerican Archives, Fourth Series, vol. v., p. 959.
VOL. IIL 30

466 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.
noAv, an emigrant to North Carolina, stood faithful to King George
in return for her pardon.
When the enemy reached the bridge to attack, CasAvell's post on the
The flght at oppositc sldc appeared to them to be abandoned. McLeod,
Cree* " with Captain Campbell folloAving, charged across the still
Bridge. standing timbers, and, with part of the force, rushed within
thirty paces of the Araerican intrenchraeiit, Avhen Caswell's and Lill-
ington's men rose from their cover and delivered a terriblj^ destruc
tive fire, killing the two leaders, and wounding or killing nearly forty
others. Twenty balls pierced McLeod, Avho had almost reached the
breastwork. "In a very feAV minutes," as Moore reported, "their
whole army was put to the flight," and numbers were captured, among
whom was McDonald. The victory was complete. Eight hundred
and fifty were taken prisoners, disarmed, and discharged, and fifteen
hundred excellent rifles Avere secured, besides a box of money and
chests of medicines. Colonel Moore reached the ground at the close
of the battle, and the united provincial force, which had but two men
wounded in the action, slept that night on the field.
This affair determined the fate of Toryism in North Carolina, break
ing IMartin's power and blasting his hopes. Within tAVO weeks, nearly
ten thousand men were in arms in the State to resist the threatened
invasion. For four years after, until Cornwallis reappeared in 1780,
North Carolina enjoyed comparative quiet, and lent her aid to other
colonies. All this took place Avhile Clinton was at Wilmington, and Avhile
Parkers t^c ships of the British expedition were one by one arriving
fleet arrives. ^.Jj^^.g . j^^^^ J^ ^.^^ ^^^ ^^j^^-J ^^^ 3^ ^f JJ^^y ^j^^^^. Admiral
Parker reached Cape Fear frora Cork with the last of his fleet. The
fifty-gun ship Bristol, with Cornwallis on board, had been eighty-
one days on the voyage. Gales and calms delayed them. Finding
what had happened in Martin's government, Cornwallis wrote to
Germain : " I raust still raore laraent the fatal delays that pre
vented the arraaraent frora arriving in tirae in this Province." Noth
ing reraained but to raake an attempt on Charleston, and thither
the expedition sailed during the last daj's of May.
South Carolina stood ready to bear her share in the struggle. Her
Prepara- caHy Sympathy with Massachusetts, and noAV with the com-
insouth™' iiion Continental cause, had culminated in the most active
Carolina. preparation for the defence of her own borders. l\luch had
already been done. Colonel Christopher Gadsden had been appointed
to command the first regiment on the Continental basis, and Wil
liam Moultrie the second. William Thompson led a regiment of
rangers or riflemen, all approved marksmen, the Colonel being the

1776.] THE DEFENCES OF CHARLESTON. 467
best shot among thera ; and tbe railitia were organized to be ready
at the earliest call. The large disaffected part of tlie population Avas
watched, and prevented frora disturbing the raeasures for meeting
the enemy at the sea. The militiamen on tbe North Carolina border
were notified to march to the assistance of their sister colony on the
first alarm ; but nOAV that the danger had passed in that quarter.
North Carolina had already sent a regiment Avithout waiting for the
summons. The safety of the colony depended in the present emergency upon
the security of Charleston harbor. Without the cooperation of the
men-of-Avar, Clinton would be powerless ; and Avithout the possession
of the harbor the ships could not cooperate. To hold it from the
enemy, accordingly, the military authorities of the State exerted their
best energies. The defences begun in 1775 were pushed on Defences for
rapidly. At the entrance to the harbor on the north side ciiarieston.
lay Sullivan's Island, a long, low, marshy, and wooded strip of land ;
and opposite, on the south side, Jaraes Island, much larger, Avas prac
tically a part of the main coast. Here Gadsden was stationed, Avhile
Sullivan's Island Avas intrusted to Moultrie and Thompson. On the
north side, nearer the city, at Haddrell's Point, Brigadier-general
Armstrong, whora Congress had sent doAvn frora Pennsylvania, took
command. The city itself was subjected to much the same treatment
as New York. Along the water-front, batteries and breastAvorks Avere
thrown up. Valuable storehouses were torn down at the docks, to
give roora for the play of the cannon; the streets Avere barricaded;
the leaden weights of the AvindoAvs of the churches and houses moulded
into bullets, and boats, wagons, and horses were impressed. Lee ar
rived on the 4th of June to assume comraand, and was constantly
active in providing further raeans of defence.
The point of greatest importance in tbe harbor defences was the
fort Avhich Colonel Moultrie and his men had been building on Sul
livan's Island, where the channel ran nearest to tbe shore. This was
Fort Sullivan, and in shape and size it resembled Fort George at the
Battery in New York, — a square with four bastions, large enough
to hold a thousand raen. Night and day the soldiers and carpenters
worked on it, and yet, says Moultrie, it was not nearly done when
the enemy attacked. Only the tAvo faces fronting the channel were
complete, and on these thirty-one guns Avere mounted. But the best
material was ready to their bands. The palmetto logs which entered
largely into the construction of the work, with their tough and spongy
fibre, Avere hardly less serviceable than a mail of iron, and there was
plenty of sand to support thera. The walls were sixteen feet thick,
and the centre of the fort was a swamp.

408 OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1776. [Chap. XVIII.
The enemy raade their a^jpearance in the offing ou the Slst of May.
Though expected, the ncAvs startled Charleston. President
fleet ap- ''" Rutledgc aiid his Council iraraediately sent expresses through
out the State to hasten the march of the militia to the coast.
Citizens packed oft' their families into the country. Everybody Avent
to Avork raore vigorously on the defences, — slaves and masters alike.
Lee shoAved distrust in the ability of Moultrie and his fort to keep
back the fleet, and once he recommended abandonment of the post.
At all events, he urged the immediate building of a bridge of boats
betAveen Sullivan's Island and the main. But Moultrie had no thought
of turning back. One day, Avhen Lee visited hira, he took him aside
and asked, "Colonel, do you think you can raaintain this post?"
" Yes, I think I can," was Moultrie's reply. When finally the ships
came over the bar, his temper Avas again tested. " AVell, Colonel,"
said Captain Laraperer, an old sailor, " Avhat do you think of it noAv?"
"I think Ave shall beat them." "Sir, when those shijis come to lie
alongside of your fort, they Avill knock it down in half an hour."
" Then Ave Avill lie behind the ruins and prevent their men from land
ing, " replied jNloultrie.
After long delay, the British advanced to the attack, on the morn
ing of the 28 th of June. The land forces had debarked
on Long Island, lying north of Sullivan's but a short dis
tance ; and they were to attack Thompson first and then Moultrie, in
the flank and rear, while the fleet should bombard the fort in front.
Between ten and eleven o'clock the raen-of-war sailed up the channel
opposite to Moultrie's palmetto Avork, and the action opened. There
Avere two fiftj^-gun ships, th& Bristol nnd Experiment ; the frigates
Actceon, Active, Solehay, Sphynx, and Syren, of twenty-eight guns
each ; the raortar-ship Thunder Bomh, and two sraaller vessels. Two
hundred guns were here to be trained on the devoted post. The
Solehay led the squadron, with the Bristol, flying Admiral Parker's
pennant, third in line. As they approached Avithin range, the Amer
icans opened fire on the leading vessels, but no reply Avas made until
the fleet had come to anchor close to the fort. The bombardment
noAv began, and Avas sustained in " one continual blaze and roar."
Deserters reported that Moultrie's first fire killed a man in the Bris
tol's tops, whereupon tbe Admiral ordered the tops to be cleared.'
Shot poured against the side of the fort, but they sank into the logs,
without splintering or dislodging them ; the shells that fell Avithin
plunged mostly into the marsh or deep sand, and seldom exploded, so
that the ships' fire proved less damaging than might have been in
ferred from the sound of the repeated and simultaneous discharges.
' Gadsden to Moultrie. Force.

1776.] THE BRITISH REPULSED. 469
Moultrie's raen withstood tbe ordeal Avith unfailing courage and
discipline. The Colonel, who Avas suffering from the gout, smoked
his pipe with his officers. Their guns Avere well aimed, and the balls
tore through the ships with fatal effect. All through the long and
hot afternoon the bombardment was kept up, and neither side showed
signs of yielding. Once the flag of the fort, a blue banner Avith a
silver crescent, bearing the word " Liberty," was shot aAvay, but Ser
geant Wilham Jasper boldly leaped the parapet, and re- j„spers ex-
placed it securely on the bastion in the hottest of the fire. '''°"'
On the other hand the Bristol's cables were cut by the shot, and
as she swung around, bringing her decks within range of the American
guns, they poured in a deadly fire. The ship and her creAv suffered
terribly. Captain Morris was taken below, Avounded in several
places, and his arm shot away. Every man on the quarter deck was
either killed or AVOunded, the Adrairal standing alone at one tirae in
the thickest of the shot. He escaped with his clothes torn and a
slight Avound. The Fxpe7'iment suffered hardly less than the Bristol.
" Mind the Coramodore ! " " Mind the fifty-gun ships ! " was Moul
trie's order ; and their death-roll showed hoAv effectively the artil
lerists did their AVork, these two ships alone suffering a loss of sixty-
three killed and one hundred and forty-seven wounded. Three of
the other ships attempted to take position westward of the fort, but
all ran aground. The Actceon next morning was abandoned and
burned. By seven in the evening, the ships' fire slackened, and at nine
they slipped their cables and withdrew tAvo miles from the Island.
Chnton, with the land forces, had atterapted to cross from Long
Island to Sullivan's Island, but the fire frora Thompson's The final re-
battery, and the depth of the ford, frustrated his plans. *"'""¦
The victory Avas complete. Congratulations poured in upon Moul
trie. His regiraent was presented with a pair of beautiful banners.
Lee, who had visited the fort during the engagement, and pointed some
.of the guns himself, wrote to Washington of Moultrie's men : " The
cool courage they displayed astonished and enraptured rae, for I do
assure you, my dear General, I never experienced a hotter fire.
Twelve full hours it was continued Avithout intermission. The noble
fellows who were mortally Avounded, enjoined their brethren never to
abandon the Standard of Liberty." ^ The garrison lost ten Tlie results.
men killed, and twenty-nine wounded. From that day tbe
fort Avas known as F'ort Moultrie. The decisive character of this ac
tion convinced the British of the improbability of success in that
quarter, and the expedition sailed for Ncav York.
I The Lee Papers. N. Y. Illsl. .Sor, Coll.

CHAPTER XIX.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Growth OF THE Idea of Independence. — Paine's " Co.-mmon Sense." — The JIen-
DON Kesolutions. — The Suffolk Pesoi.ctioxs. — The Chester Resolution.
— The Mecklenburg Resolutions. — Action ofthe Several Colonies, and of
THE CONTINENT.iL CoNGRESS.  Lee'S RESOLUTIONS.  THE COMMITTEE TO DRAFT
.1 Declaration of Reasons. — Independence Declared. — Jefferson's Dec-
uRATioN. — The .Slave-trade Clause. — Reception bv the People.

The Liberty Bell.

Up to the autumn of 1775, the groAvth of
the feeling iu favor of proclaiming independence had been
very slow. But after the royal proclamation had severed ah
relations except those betAveen a government and rebels who have

1776.]

GROWTH OF THE IDEA OF INDEPENDENCE.

471

"traitorously levied Avar" against it, the sentiment spread through
the country. As Hancock said, affairs were "hastening fast
to a crisis." Views which a twelvemonth before Avould have independ"
been denounced as treasonable and dangerous, VA'ere now
freely expressed in conversation, in letters, and in pamphlets that had
a wide circulation. Franklin, who in March, 1775, personallj' assured
Lord Chatham that, although he had travelled widely in America, he
never had heard, " in any conversation from any person, drunk or
sober," the least expression in
favor of independence, wrote to
a friend in Holland, at the close
of the year, that Araerican inde
pendence was likely to be de
clared before long. When Con
gress assembled in May, 1775,
the Massachusetts delegates
were suspected of leaning tOAv-
ard separation, wbich even the
most active Sons of Liberty in
Philadelphia were unprepared
for, and they said to Adams
on his arrival, " You must not
utter the word independence,
nor give the least hint or insin
uation of the idea, either in
Congress or in any private con
versation ; if you do, you are
undone, for the idea is as un
popular in Pennsylvania, and all the Middle and Southern States, as
the Stamp Act itself." Early in 1776 Adams wrote that scarcely a
newspaper was issued which did not openly vindicate the opinions so
recently denounced.
The publication which had the widest influence at this juncture was
undoubtedly Thomas Paine's "Common Sense." Paine was
an Englishman, with literary tastes and ambition, who, at "common
the age of thirty-seven, came to America in Deceraber, 1774,
taught pupils in Philadelphia, and edited the "Pennsylvania Maga
zine." He Avas befriended by Dr. Benjamin Rush, and at his sugges
tion wrote, under that famous title, a pamphlet which presented a
strong and original plea for independence. It appeared anonymously
in January, 1776, and had a wide circulation. Everybody read it, and
nearly everybody was influenced by it. " All men, whether in Eng
land or America," wrote Paine, "confess that a separation between

Thomas Paine.

472 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XLX.
the countries will take plnce one time or other. To find out the very
time, Ave need not go far, for the tirae hath found us  There is
something absurd in supposing a continent perpetually governed by
an island  Britain is the parent country, say some ; then the
raore shame upon her conduct  A government of our own is
our natural right  We have boasted the protection of Great
Britain without considering that her motive was interest, not attach
ment ; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account,
but from her eneraies on her oavii account, — from those who had no
(piarrel with us on any other account, and who Avill ahvays be our ene
raies on tbe same account."
The Colonial Declaration of Independence, Avhich was soon to fol-
The Mendon ^ow, Avas to somo exteut anticipated by the action of A'arious
Resolutions. ^;Q^j^g .^^^d couutles. The first of thera all, probably, Avas
the toAvn of Mendon, Worcester County, Mass., Avhicli in 1773 adopted
these resolutions : —
" Resolved, That all raen have an equal right to life, liberty, and
property. Therefore.
" Resolved, That all just and laAvful governraent must originate in
the free consent of the people.
" Resolved, That a right to liberty and property (which are natu
ral raeans of self-preservation) is absolutely inalienable, and can never
laAvfully be given up by ourselves or taken from us by others." ^
Here are three of the fundamental propositions of the great Dec
laration, — that all men have an equal right to life and liberty ; ^ that
this right is inalienable ; and that just government must originate in
the free consent of the people. FolloAving these were the Suffolk Res-
The Suffolk olutions, adopted by the delegates for Suffolk County, Massa-
Resoiutions. chusetts, in a meeting at Milton, September 6, 1774, bearing
a sirailar reserablance to tbe Colonial Declaration, especially in the cat
alogue of grievances. Dr. (afterward General) Joseph Warren was
chairman of the comraittee that reported thera, and is believed to
have been their author. The preamble declares tbat " the power but
not the justice, the vengeance but not the wisdom of Great Britain,
Avhich of old persecuted, scourged, and exiled our fugitive parents from
their native shores, now pursue us, their guiltless children, with un
relenting severity," and that " if a boundless extent of continent,
swarming Avith raillions, will tamely submit to live, move, and have
their being at tbe arbitrary will of a licentious rainistry, they basely
yield to voluntary slavery." It also recites sorae of the more flagrant
' Proceedings of the Ainerican Antiquarian Society, April 27, 1870.
- The addition of " the pursuit of happiness " is raere rhetoric, that idea being already
included in "liberty."

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1774.] THE SUFFOLK RESOLUTIONS. 473
causes of complaint, such as the mutilation of the charter, the pres
ence of ships of war, railitary murders in the streets of Boston, and
the laAV designed to shield the murderers. The first resolution ac
knowledges George III. as the rightful sovereign. The second de
clares it the indispensable duty of the colonists to preserve civil and
religious hberty. The third denounces the Bostoii Port Bill and kin
dred acts, and the fourth declares that no obedience to those acts is
due from this province. The fifth declares that, so long as the jus
tices of the several courts hold their places by any other tenure than
that which the charter and laws direct, no regard ought to be paid to
them by the people ; and the sixth pledges the county to support and
bear harmless all officers who refuse to execute the orders of the
courts, at the sarae time recommending that disputes between citizens
be referred to arbitration. The seventh advises collectors of taxes to
retain the public moneys till the civil government is placed on consti
tutional ground. The eighth denounces those Avbo have accepted
seats at the council board by virtue of a mandajiius from the King,
. and calls upon them to resign, or be considered enemies of the prov
ince. The ninth expresses alarm at the new fortifications on Boston
Neck. The tenth advises tbat all qualified citizens use the utraost dil
igence to acquaint themselves with the art of Avar, and meet for that
purpose at least once a week. The eleventh declares a purpose to act
merely on the defensive, so long as that is consistent Avitli self-preser
vation, and assigns " affection to his ^Majesty " as tbe reason for this.
The twelfth suggests that if any citizens who have been conspicuous
in contending for violated rights are arrested, the unconstitutional
office-holders should be seized as hostages. The thirteenth declares
the necessity for a Provincial Congress ; and the fourteenth promises
respect and submission to the measures of the Colonial Congress for
the restoration of civil and religious rights. The fifteenth counsels
order, respect for the rights of property, and " a steady, manly, uni
form, and persevering opposition, to convince our enemies that, in a
contest so important, in a cause so solemn, our conduct shall be such
as to merit the approbation of the wise and good, and the admiration
of the brave and free, of every age and every country." ' These res
olutions were sent to the Continental Cougress, Avhich approved them
on September 17, and resolved that the whole continent ought to
support Massachusetts in resisting the unconstitutional change in her
government, and that whoever accepted oflBce under the altered state
of affairs should be considered a public enemy.
The committee of Chester County, Pennsylvania, on May 31, 1775,
' The resolutions may be fouud in the appendi.x to Bradford's History of Massachu
setts.

474 DECLARATION" OF IXDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
adopted a resolution asking the citizens to pledge themselves to "learn
The Chester ^^^ military exercise," and that " we will, at all times, be
Kesoiution. jj^j readlucss to defend the lives, liberties, and properties of
ourselves and fellow-countrymen, against all attempts to deprive us
of them." 1 Other counties took similar action. On the 6th of June,
1775, the County of Cumberland. Ncav York (now Southern Ver
mont), passed unanimouslj^ a series of resolutions, the first of which
declared tbat the late revenue acts of the British Parliaraent Avere
" unjust, illegal, and diametrically opposite to the Bill of Rights ;"
and the second " That Ave Avill resist and oppose the said Acts of
Parliaraent, in conjunction with our brethren in Araerica, at the ex
pense of our lives and fortunes, to the last extremity, if our duty to
God and our country require the same." ^
On the 31st of May, 1775 (the very day that Chester Count)',
Pennsylvania, passed its resolution), the committee of Meck
lenburg lenburg County, North Carolina, adopted a series somewhat
similar to the Suffolk resolutions of the year before. The
preamble founds this action upon " an address presented to his Maj
esty by both Houses of Parliament in February last," Avherein "the
American colonies are declared to be in a state of actual rebelhon."
Frora this circurastance the Committee say they " conceive that all
laAvs and coramissions confirraed by or derived frora the authority of
the King and Parliaraent, are annulled and vacated, and the former
civil constitution of these colonies for the present wholly suspended."
Tbe first resolution declares all coramissions granted by the CroAvn to
be void. The second declares that no legislative or executive poAver
exists, except in the Provincial Congress of each province. The third
to the fifteenth are devoted to a code of procedure for civil disputes
and tbe collection of taxes. The sixteenth declares that " whatever
person shall hereafter receive a commission from the Crown, or at
tempt to exercise any such commission heretofore received, shall be
deeraed an eneray to his country," and the seventeenth denounces
as equally criminal auj^ person who refuses obedience to the above
rules. The eighteenth pronounces these rules to be in force till the
Provincial Congress shall provide otherwise, " or the legislative body
of Great Britain resign its unjust and arbitrary pretensions Avith re
spect to Araerica." The nineteenth provides for the arming of the
county railitia, and the twentieth for the purchase of powder, lead,
aud flints."^ The resolutions bear the signature of Dr. Ephraim Bre
vard as Clerk of the Committee, and he is believed to have been their
1 Printed in Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. ii , p. 859.
- Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. ii., p. 918.
S AVheeler's History of North Carolina, p. 255.

1775.] THE MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS. 475
author. As soon as they Avere adopted, they Avere read from the steps
of the Court House in CharlottetoAvn, and a copy was sent by special
messenger to the Congress at Philadelphia. They Avere published in
the " South Carolina Gazette " of June 13, 1775, and a copy sent to
Earl Dartmouth, Secretary of State for tbe Colonies, by Governor
Wright of Georgia, is still in the State Paper Office, London. In
a note accompanying it. Governor Wright said : " By the enclosed
paper your lordship will see the extraordinary resolves by tbe people
in CharlottetoAvn, Mecklenburg County ; and I should not be surprised
if the sarae should be done everywhere else." It required no great
sagacity to surmise that the same would be done everywhere else, in
asrauch as it had been done already in so many other places. One
month later. Governor Martin, of North Carolina, writing from Fort
Johnston to the Secretary, says : " The minutes of a council held at
this place the other day, will make the impotence of Governraent
here as apparent to your Lordship as anything I can set before you.
.... The situation in which I find myself at present, is indeed, ray
lord, most despicable and mortifying  The resolves of the com
mittee of Mecklenburg, Avhicli your Lordship will find in the enclosed
newspaper, surpass all the horrid and treasonable publications that
the inflammatory spirits of the continent have yet produced." The
horrified Governor assigned this bad preeminence to the Mecklenburg
resolutions, not because of their intrinsic character, for they Avere
less audacious and forcible than sorae of the others quoted above, but
because they were uttered in his own province, and in thera he read
his own deposition from power. They do not appear to have attracted
any attention in Congress, or even to have been officially received
there, — perhaps because similar ones (notably those of Suffolk
County) had already been received and acted upon.^
' The Mecklenburg resolutions of JAIay 31 had entirely passed from memory, when in
1819 the Raleigh, N. C, Register published a series of five which, according to an ac
companying statement purporting to have been written at the time, were adopted by the
people of that county on the twentieth day of May, 1775. Portions of these resolutions bore
a striking likeness to the most familiar parts of the Colonial Declaration of Independence
— so striking as to render it morally certain that one must have been taken from the other.
This was especially true of the third: " That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and
independent people, and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association,
under the control of no power other than that of our God and the general government of
the Congress; to the maintenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to each other
our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honour." The accom
panying statement declared that a copy of the resolutions was sent to the North Carolina
delegation in Congress, and the messenger on his return reported that they " were Individ.
ually approved by the members, but it was deemed premature to lay them before the
House." The original manuscript was said to have been burned on the 6th of April, 1800,
but a copy had been sent to Dr. Hugh AViUiamson, who was writing a history of North
CaroHna, and another to General W. R. Davie. But Williarason does not mention them

476 DECLARATION OF IXDEPEXDEXCE. [Chap. XIX.
By the spring of 1776, the uppermost thought in men's minds, all
over the countrA', had come to be independence of England
Prepara- ' . . o '
tion.s forin- a uiore perfect union of the colonies, and the establishment
of a local government for each. John Adams, in the previ
ous Xovember, had written a letter to Richard Henry Lee, in which
he says : " It is a curious problem, what form of government is most
readily and easily adopted by a eolonj' upon a sudden emergency."
In this, and in another letter, written the following January, he
sketched a plan for the guidance of a people seeking •• to get out of
the old governraent into a new one." ^ The desire to read the second
letter, — which was the raore elaborate, — was so great, and the ap
plication for copies so frequent, that it was printed, but without the
author's narae, and its influence Avas felt both in and out of Con
gress.^ in his history, and the Davie copy was accompanied by :i certificate, dated Se|itember 3,
1800, which expressly declared it to be compiled solely frora memory, and that it "might
not literally correspond with the original record." On the publication of this docuraent in
1819, Jefferson pronounced it " a very unjustifiable quiz," and pointed out the weakness
of its claira to authenticity. John Adaras expressed surprise that he had never heard of it
beftire, and wrote to AA^illiara Bentley, August 21, 1S19: "I was on social friendly terms
with Caswell, Hooper, .and Hewes (delegates frora North Carolina in the Contineut.d Con
gress), every moraent of their e-xistence in Congress ; with Hooper, a Bostonian and a son of
Harvard, intiraate and familiar. Yet frora neither of the three did the sli;_ihtest hint of these
Alerklenhurg resolutions ever escape : " and to Jefferson he wrote : " You know that if I h,ad
jiosscsst'd it I wonld have made the hall of Congress echo and reecho with it fifteen months
before your Declaration of Independence." Furthermore, it has been shown that iu Au-
unst, 1775, the memhers of the North Carolina Provincial Congress, including four of the
reputed sif:ners of the Declaration of May 20, subscribed their names to a test of loyalty
to the British Crown. The controversy that arose upon this question caused the Legislature
of North Carolina, in 1830, to appoint a committee to investigate it. In 1838 Peter Force,
compiling his .-imerlcan Archives, came upon an abbreviated copy of the genuine resolu
tions of May 31, and in 1847 Dr. Jo.seph Johnson found the entire series in the South
Carolina '.imette, while about the sarae time George Bancroft discovered the copy in the
London State Paper Office. The probable explanation then becomes obvious, n.araely : th.it
the compiler of the disputed series did reraeraber the circumstance of certain resolutions hav
ing been passed. — though making an error of eleven days iu the date, — and in attempting
to reproduce them was influenced by an unconscious remembrance of the far more striking
expressions of the Colonial Declaration of July 4, 1776. For a conclusive discussion of
this -n-hole subject, see an article by Dr. James C. AVelling, in the North American Revietr
for April, 1874.
1 ."<ee Appendix to vol. ii. of Sparks's Writings of Washington, and vol. iv. of Works of
.lohn Adams.
- Araong the AA'arren Papers, in the possession of Mr. AATn.slow AY.arren, of Boston, is
a letter frora John Adaras to Jaraes AVarren, the larger portion of which is devoted to
"the rise and jirogress'' of this pamphlet on the forraation of State governments. Itis
interesting and v.aluable, as showing how rauch the earliest State constitutions were formed
upon the suggestions raade hy Mr. Adams. The ]iaraphlet referred to is in Works oJ John
Adams, vol. iv., but this letter has never been published, and is much fuller than anything
heretofore discovered in relation to a subject of so much interest in the life of Mr. Adams,
and in the constitutional history of the States. Mr. Adams says : . . "Inclosed you
have a little Pamphlet, the rise and progress of which you shall be told. Jlr. Hooper and

1776.] ACTION OF THE SEVERAL COLONIES. 477
On the 26th of March, the General Asserably of South Carohna,
 the judges of her courts refusing to exercise their func
tions, — adopted a Constitution for the government of that Sout™t°ir-
Province. It Avas intended, hoAvever, only as a temporary
measure, to " continue to the 21st of October next and no longer,"
or, — as its preamble recited — " until an accommodation of the un
happy differences between Great Britain and America can be ob
tained, an event Avliich, though traduced and treated as rebels, Ave still
earnestly desire." North Carolina next took up the ques- or North
tion — on the 12th of April — and ber action Avas restrained ^"''o''""-
by no avowed expectation of possible conciliation. The Congress of
that Province voted that her delegates " in the Continental Congress
be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other colonies in
declaring independency, and forming foreign alliances," reserving at
the same time, — in Avhich her exaraple was followed by other prov
inces, — the right " of forming a Constitution and hiAvs for this col-
ony." Rhode Island, a little later, went further than this. On the 4th of
May her Assembly declared that as George III., regardless of the
compact between him and his colonial subjects, Avas endeavoring to
compel them " to submit to the most debasing and detestable tyr
anny," it, therefore " becomes our highest duty to use every raeans
which God and nature have furnished us, in support of our invaluable
Penn, of North Carolina, received from their friends in that Colony very pressing instances
to return home and attend the Convention, and at the same tirae to bring with them every
hint they could collect concerning government.
" Mr. Hooper applied to a certain Gentieraan acquainted with the tenor of his letters, and
requested that Gentleman to gi\e him his sentiments upon the subject. Soon afterwards
Mr. Penn applied to the same Gentieraan, and acquainted him with the contents of his let
ters, and requested the same favor.
" The time was very short. However, the Gentleman thinking it an opportunity, provi-
deiitially thrown in his way, of coraraunicating some hints upon a subject which seems not
to have been suflSciently considered in the Southern Colonies, and so of turning the thoughts
of gentlemen that way, concluded to borrow a little time from his sleep, and accordingly
wrote with his own hand a sketch, which he copied, giving the original to Mr. Hooper and
the copy to Mr. Penn, wdiich they carried with thera to Carolina. Mr. AA'ytlie, getting a
sight of it, desired a copy, which the Gentleman made out from his meraory as nearly as
he could. Afterwards Mr. Sergeant, of New Jersey, requested another, wdiich the Gentle
man made out again from his memory, and in tliis he enlarged and amplified a good deal,
and sent it to Princeton. After this. Colonel Lee requested the same favor, but the Gen
tleman, having written, amidst .all his engagements, five copies — or, rather, five sketches,
for no one of them was a copy of the other — which amounted to ten sheets of paper pretty
full and in a fine hand, was quite weary of the office. To avoid the trouble of writing any
more, he borrowed Mr. AVythe's copy, and lent it to Colonel Lee, who has put it under types
and thrown it into the shape you see. It is a pity it had not been Mr. Sergeant's copy, for
that is larger and more complete, perhaps more correct. This is very incorrect, and not
traly printed. The design, however, is to raark out a path and put men upon thinking.
I would not have this matter comraunicated."

478 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
rights and privileges, to oppose that poAver Avhich is exercised only for
our destruction." It was then enacted thatthe " Act, entitled 'An
Act for the more effectually securing to his Majesty the allegiance of
bis subjects in tbis his colony and dorainion of Rhode Island, and
Providence Plantations,' be, and the sarae is, hereby repealed;" and
it was provided that in all coramissions for officers, in all writs, and
in all processes of law, " wherever the name and authority of the
said King is made use of, the sarae shall be omitted, and in the roora
thereof, tbe name and authority of the Governor and Company of
this colony shall be substituted ; " tbat the courts of laAV be no
longer entitled nor considered as the King's courts ; and that no in
strument in Avriting, of any nature or kind, Avhether public or private,
shall in the date thereof, mention the year of the said King's reign."
At the end of tbis session of the Assembly', the records which, says
Arnold,^ had ahvays closed with the formula, " God save the King,"
ended now Avith the words, " God save the United Colonies." Thus
tbe first colony to declare her absolute independence of the Crown Avas
Rhode Island.
Massachusetts was not far behind, though her first official action,
like that of South and Nortli Carolina, was prospective and condi
tional, rather than positive. On the 10th of May ber House of Rep
resentatives called upon the people to assemble in toAvn meetings and
instruct their representatives " Whether, if the Honorable Congress
sbould, for the safety of the said colonies, declare them independent
of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants, Avill
soleranly engage, Avith their lives and fortunes, to support them in the
measure." A month later, James Warren wrote to Elbridge Gerry
that one half the members of the House had received affirmative
instructions, and that probably all would have been so instructed had
the resolution reached them sooner. " Thus, it appears to me," he
adds, " the sentiments of our colony are raore united on this great
question than they ever were on any other ; perhaps ninetj^-nine in a
hundred would engage, Avitli their lives and fortunes, to support Con
gress in the raatter." One toAvn only in the Commonwealth seemed
to hesitate. The vote of the raajority in Barnstable — the birth
place of Jaraes Otis — was in the negative ; but the same record bears
the protest of the minority, — headed by Joseph Otis, a younger
brother of Jaraes, — and their protest was made more emphatic, and
Avith added numbers, in a second public meeting the next day. Pitts
field undoubtedly represented the feeling of the whole province, in
instructing its representative that he should " on no pretence, what
ever, favor a union with Great Britain," and that he should use all
^ History of Rhode Island.

1776.] ACTION OF THE SEVERAL COLONIES. 479
his influence with the House to assure the Congress that this whole
Province are waiting for the important moment which they in their
great wisdom shall appoint for the declaration of Independence and a
free Repubhck."
May, indeed, was a month of unusual agitation. Five days after
Massachusetts had called upon her toAvns to sanction by Action of
formal vote the undoubted deterraination of the people, — n™tSi"con-
eleven days after Rhode Island had declared herself an inde- ^'''"*'
pendent Commonwealth, — the Continental Congress, on the loth,
recommended to all the colonial assemblies to form such governments
as should " best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constit
uents in particular and Araerica in general ; " for, the preamble to
the resolution declared, the people being excluded by Act of Parlia
ment from the protection of the Crown, " it is necessary that the
exercise of every kind of authority under the said Crown shall be
totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted under
the authority of the people of the colonies."
The country was ready for this final and conclusive step. Those
colonies that had not already spoken, — directly, as Rhode Island,
North Carolina, Massachusetts ; indirectly, as South Carolina had
done, — avowed, with a single exception, in the course of the next six
weeks, their determination to unite in declaring tbeir independence.
The one exception was New York, whose Assembly hesitated on a
technicality, giving at the same time constructive assent.
Virginia had not waited for the suggestion from the Continental
Congress of the 15th of May. On that same day her Con
vention — which had displaced the Provincial Assembly —
instructed the Virginia delegates in Congress to urge it " to de
clare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from
allegiance to, or dependence upon the CroAvn or Parliament of Great
Britain ; " and at the same time a committee was appointed to pre
pare " a Declaration of Rights, and such a plan of government as will
be most likely to maintain peace and order in tbis colony, and secure
substantial and equal liberty to the people."
On the 14th of June the Connecticut Assembly resolved unani
mously that the delegates of that colony to the Provin- ot conneot-
cial Congress, be instructed to propose to that body "to '™''
declare the United American Colonies free and independent States,
absolved from all allegiance to the King, and to give the assent of
this colony to such declaration, when they shall judge it expedient
and best." So, on the same day, the Delaware House of Representa
tives took up the congressional resolution of May 15, and gave to it
their unqualified and unanimous approval.

480 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
NeAV Hampsliire Avas one day only behind Connecticut. A joint
Of Xew committee of the Council and Assembly Avere appointed to
Hampshire, jj.^^y ^p .^ declaration of opinion, which, on the 16th, was re
ported and unaniraously adopted. It pronounced New Hampshire
" free and independent of the Crown," and instructed its delegates
in the Continental Congress to support a measure for the indepen
dence of the thirteen colonies, with the usual reservation of local
government. Whatever imraediate influence raay have been exercised in Phila-
of Pennsyi- delphia itself by the presence of Congress, it vs'as not suffi-
vauia. cient to dispel the doubt as to the policy Avhich the Province
of Pennsylvania might insist upon maintaining. Religious convic
tions, with Friends, oA^erruled all political considerations; with them
no Avrongs justified an appeal to the sword. The Proprietary interest
Avas still of great Aveight, and these combined influences tempered the
ardor of the most determined patriotism to that degree, at least, that
moderation and caution guided and checked the popular movement.
But they did not control it. When the advisory Resolution of Con
gress carae before the Asserably, it was deterrained that the instruc
tions given to their delegates the previous Noveraber should not be
changed. "We strictly enjoin you," said those instructions, "that
you, in behalf of this colony, dissent frora and utterly reject any
propositions, should such be raade, that may cause or lead to a separa
tion from our mother country, or a change of the form of this gov
ernment." But to repeat this order Avas almost the final act of Pro
prietary rule in this Province. On the 20tli a large meeting of the
people of Philadelphia convened in the State-house yard. It de
clared that the government was no longer " competent to the exigen
cies of our affairs ; " that " a Provincial Convention ought to be chosen
hy the people, for the express purpose of carrying the said resolve of
Congress into execution ; " and directed the coraraittee of the city
to call a conference of the committees of every county in the Prov
ince. The Conference assembled on the 18th of June ; on the 19th it
resolved that the Resolution of Congress of the 15th of May Avas
fully approved ; that the present government of Pennsylvania Avas
incompetent, and that a Provincial Convention be called to form a
new one. On the 24tli a coraraittee, appointed for that purpose, re
ported a declaration Avhich, after an explanatorj^ preamble, declared
that "We, the Deputies of the people of Pennsylvania, assembled in
full Provincial Conference for forming a plan for executing the Re
solve of Congress of the 15th of May last, for suppressing all author
ity in this Province derived from the Crown of Great Britain, and for

1776.]

ACTION OF THE SEVERAL COLONIES.

481

estabhshing a government upon the authority of the people only, now,
in this publick manner, in behalf of ourselves, and Avith the approba
tion, consent, and authority of our constituents, unaniraously declare
our willingness to concur in a vote of the Congress declaring the
United Colonies free and independent States, provided the forming
the government and the regulation of the internal police of this Col
ony be always reserved to the people of the said Colony."

Congress Hall. — Room where the Declaration was signed.
On the 30th of May, Governor Franklin, of New Jersey, a son of
Benjamin Franklin, issued a proclamation calling upon the oiNewjer-
Congress of that Province to meet on the 20th of the next '''^¦
month. That body, hoAvever, assembled on the 10th of June, full
charged with zeal and courage in the common cause. On the 16th it
declared that the Governor, in his proclamation, had " acted in direct
contempt and violation of the Resolve of the Continental Congress
of the 15th day of May," and that he had " discovered himself to be
an enemy of the liberties of this country. Within a day or tAvo he
was arrested, and soon after sent to Connecticut, Avhere, the House
VOL. III. 31

482 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
said, "he Avould be capable of doing less mischief than in New Jer
sey." On the 21st it Avas determined to form a new government in
accordance Avith the recommendation of Congress ; and two davs after
ward five delegates Avere chosen to represent the Province in the Con
tinental Congress, with authoritj' "to join AAdth them in declaring the
United Colonies independent of Great Britain."
New York and ^Maryland moved more sloAvly than the other colo-
0£ Alary- uics ; but It was rather frora the tardj' caution of legislative
lanj. action than any Avant of popular enthusiasm. In both there
was a strong Toi'y party. Maryland had first to rid herself of a roj'al
and proprietary Governor. Early in April correspondence between
the Ministry and Governor Eden had been intercepted, and more nat-
urallj' than reasonably, — for he Avas the representative of the King,
and the colonies, hoAvever good their cause, Avere in rebellion, — had
aroused great indignation. General Lee, then in command of the
Southern Departraent, Avrote to Sarauel Purviance, the Chairman of
the Baltiraore Coraraittee, urging Eden's iramediate arrest. " The
sin and shame," he said, in his impulsive aild dictatorial Avay, " be on
my head. I AAdll ansAver for all to the Congress." It was not, how
ever, a question of sin aud sharae, but onlj' of expediencj', and Aviser
men than Lee thought tbat Eden at liberty in England Avould be
much less likely to do harm than an imprisoned Governor in Mary
land Avith a partj' behind him. The Convention advised him to de
part, aud in June he put himself out of reach, on board an English
frigate. On the 9th of tbat month the Committee of Safety called
upon the Convention to raeet on the 20th, and that bodj' resolved,
Avhen it came together, that the Avrits issued, in the narae of the Pro
prietarj', for a neAV election of members of the Assemblj', should not
be obeyed. It further resolved, on the 25th, "that the representatives
of the colonj' in Congress, or a majoritj' of them, or any three or
raore of tbem, be authorized and empowered to concur Avith the other
United Colonies, or a raajority of thera, in declaring the United Col
onies free and independent states."
On tbe 24th of May the Ncav York Congress appointed a committee
Of Xew to consider and report upon the Congressiou'al Resolution of
^°*' the 15th. After several reports, the conclusion reached, on
the 31st, was, tbat inasmuch as the existing Congress carae into exist
ence under the old government, which Avas dissolved by the hostile
acts of the King, and bj' the abdication of Governor Trj'on, the ques
tion of a neAV governraent must be decided by the people ; and there
fore there should be an election of a ncAv Congress, to raeet not later
tban the second Mondaj' of the next July. The delegates in the Con
tinental Cougress, therefore, Avere left without instructions. What

^^iJ>^§p§

'¦¦€>¦ yy

•iiy^y yM' C.^o::N,.G . S§<^J§i0;i^^'y-yitfy:J^ y^^M''y'Z--^§m

¦¦''''}¦''': By' the'' R EP R'E SE N T ATI Ty'.E S ' of, 'tie'y-i'Uy'''^^^
', r'y -l^.G e'N.E-RAL Q;P NGIR E'S'S
H E N in ihc Conrfe of human Events, it becofnee necdTary ' , Fo^ quaneiisg Urge Bodies o
for one People lo diflblve the Politial Bands which have con- < For protcfting them, by a ro
*¦ nested ihem wiih another, audTo afTurae smong the Powers d^r^iuch-rirey-Aould cozutiic
'.. •/ :¦¦.• «fthe Earth, the feperaieandcqnal Station to which the LawsofNa ute For cui eg off our Trade ¦cit
•¦'yy- ¦''* "ind of Nature's God enntle them, a decent RcfpecT to thq Op on ot for mpol ng Taxes on us wit
,''; Manl.ind requires that thsyfiiouSd declare the Caufes which i.T.gtl tjem der ng us in many Ca
,'-'.:¦¦> to thefeperation. - .¦.. .-.-. . :;¦'., ' ¦-'..¦''. '^ t anfport ng us beyond Sc
Wc hoHtheiiTcnthsto.faS'feif-'evidenf." that alt Men are create! \- r abol flung the free fyllcm
equal, thi! they are endowed bv their Creator with certain unalendbl- cTab! (h ng there n an atbiifary G
'; Eigtiu, that araong ihcfc are Lile, Liberty, and die Purfuit of Haop astorndcr c atonccao Essmpl
¦ -r.cfr,— That to fcccre thefs fti^hes. Governments are ioftiiutcd among abfolutc ulc nto ihdc Colonics
' , ;•' ¦ -Men^'GS!)vmgtheirjoftl'onerjYrom iheConf=ntof the Governed ha For tak ng away our Charter
* ^-r.Hcncvsr any Form of Government becoraes dciTnjftivc of tbefe Ends ale ng Iin Jamcntally the Forms
^y;"",' iiii ihc Ki5htof the People toalterortoabolifhir, and toinflituie new t fufpcnding our own Leg
;- ^ Go.imr.i(;r.i, ia^ing its foun (!ai ion on fuch Principles, and organ z ng i s qf th Power to legifla c for us in
¦'. .';' Powers in Tiich For[3j.as to them Ihail feem moft likely to effeft their Hehas abd cated Government h
¦ '":..' , Eifify and Happincfi, Prudence,' indeed, wili diftate that Go/eratnentf gpj w g og War aga oft us. ¦.-¦''.
. '.' -f^ loLscftatHrEEdflionldtiot be changed for light and tranrient Caufes Hehas plundered our Seas,' ra g do Co (1% bwpt
---¦'  -'vnglj- all Experience haih ihewn, that MSnkinfl'are m e d l- def oyed the L vcs of our Peop
iffer, while livils arc fufferable, than to i^glif'thcmfel es o/ j.jc at th sT tue tranrponing

i_ ahoiiihing theForms towhlch they arc accuftomcd, but when a !or
• .Train of -Abufes and Ufurpattons, purfuing invariably the lame Ooiel:
-I" -cTinces aDefign toreduce them under abfolute Derpotirm, it is th
; Right, it is thsir Duty, to throw off fuch Cov.crnment, and to pro d
I, iiewG.uards for their future Security, Suc^! has been thepate l '^uf
ii'ieranCe of thefc Colonics ; and fjch is noiv fhe' Ncccfiity wh ch con
-A-- • j' jlrainsthem to alter iheirformcr Syflems of Government. The H ftory
\'/ii': ^, pf theprefent&ijgof Great-Bntiin isa yiftorjJDf repcat'cd Injur e^and
'' ¦ ' JJfurpitions, all having in ditecl Obltfl 'the EUabhlhment ofan"^ro
jQie Tyraa,ny over theie States. To prove ihilf-lct Kafli be fubm tied ca
.g^ndidlfllforld,. ^^ ' ' .-¦¦•.--->¦ :.,^
.^^'^-¦^¦leiytci hisSffenttoLaws, the moft wholcfomc ^d neceffar
;-jor the public Good.

Tpo rung
pleat the Wo ks of Death, Defo
C curafances of Cruelly and Ptt
c s Ag and totally unworthy
He I as conft a oed our fcllovj C
bear Arms aga nfl ihc r Country, t
and G e hrcn or to fall ihemfelvc
He his cxc [rd Doraellic Infurr
ro b ng on rhe lofiab ants of our F
whofe known Rule of Warfare,

V0>

J S age of th fe OppreiT w h
moft bumolc Term Our repcai.d Pa
..¦-.,. ,¦ ,  .--„• - - -¦ • ,-¦ -J- . . IT reputed ImLiy A Pr nee, whofe Ch <ft
¦He has fortiddenhis Governors to pals Laws of imrnediate and prcff „i;,h may define a Tyrant, is ui.l b h
^'.^^^yif^^r^^^'^^^f-^'^h'-f^^ "i«"'^ hor have ws been wanting in A n
'Xteobtamedi'audwhetiio r_.:peQded.h= has utce^Jy titgleSicd to attend ha,e w -ned tbem from Time to T ra ofA
i' ^ii'^'^"'' 'r <-i\'''' r" , t". ,-1 -, ," ¦ ~j '• "" tt extend an uowarrantaole Jurifdiftio n Weh,
.:,- He hasrefufedto pali o'.her Laws fir tbe Accommodation or I rge* .r, r . „n  „f „. , i:,^;™..,. ._j c .t ™ »
- TMi -sx STi^ 1 1 J- 1. 1- n , ij I- HI. n ¦ 1. r n th C cutultances ol oi.r tmigrai aad o tl m n
-> pmncb oEPeople, unlxrfs thof; People would reimqLufli the Right of R , ¦ .t, , . r (it-„,^7,i -  j „ r,
¦ ttSrair"^^^"''^"^^' ^ ^ "^^ meftimaycSo .hem. an'd form d l^ '^ ^^%- ^^^^n S d' ^i w 5,^ ^
>Ie tor-Tyrants only. _ -^V-, ,:¦._;.¦'„.¦.¦/¦¦„ -J- ¦ _ /^„|j ably n = rupt our Conn 1« dC <rf
ifio b \o;«of jufl d Co -u

He has-called together CigiBitivV Bodies at Places uniifual, nncumfor-.
. 'table, and diftanE from tfae Depoft tory of rheir public Reconl.^ for ih^ lul

. ^ _,. .,   _   others
,¦' , ?,¦. , lo be defied ; whereby the Legiflativc Powers, incapable of Annihdat on,
¦it- ¦^ .;':.' J^'^'i '¦^'iraedtoihE people at Urge for'their cxercifc; the S.s.te reman
'¦' ''.'^ -'_ 'fg in 'lie mean lime expofed. to all the Dangers of Invalion Irom n tb
¦vf'^.'y.-out.ap.dCcn'j'jirions'n'rJiin.,,,.,;.;'^;-';;-'''-'.-"^ .-'¦ ¦; ... .;';"¦.- '
,'¦;'.¦. ,-; Hr. hiicadavourdjtopte-.'cntihepopuI.itionofthcfeStatesjrcriha pu ok
:;^7'" --¦;''i°''''-"^''S''*?'^"''^°' Naturalisation of Foreigners; refulinj;; lo paf o t
'l-_^.i <'. ^ cr-co^Taijc their Migrations hither, and raiCog the Conditions cf c w
>¦;.'¦ ^I'.^lAppronriitionr^cjr Land-- : / " • ^'' *\ ¦"-.¦ ^
}:\':- ¦¦¦', U HEhMobr/r'aftcMhe AHraiDiftsiiionorjQfliabbyfe'fofing his rtffd
^1";;' V; 'JiAVi foT elbbllffiioj; JiiJ ^-^ry Powers. "
¦,iy','.';-VV;!HE hai raaJc jsdgtio.^-aJcnt on his Will alone, for the Tenure cfthnr
(':.l.''S^' ¦;P®<^«*> an^ thc-Am<:an: jnd P.-.ymta'. of their Salarcei. ¦ ^
^^li^i^'a-'Xl^'^'^^'^ erenctl'a rL'J.dijd^of ricw OlSces, c".-' ft-Ot hither Sw.rm T
.^^---.V'^jCttcersiohirnfsOQr tvopl:, a^deatout rbdr Sub^t^ce.
;'!•.¦?'!'¦ "^'i*"^ ^^ I"T>i -'!Gong "-¦ iiLToc; of Ptace, Siand'Og fiitiileJ, p^I hOb
-*.--¦¦.¦. jpMfcntof out lMUlani:e» ¦ ¦ ¦ •
j&^ J ™''" ''^ EfeP-d or der tb Ma tjy ndcpcod'Tit of "iai (bpeno
!fL kSc-c vil Po cr
(^\'**'*fe*^.^?cmb eiu^ ^ b r o rnocflnstoaTa ifiaon o oen J5 . .
c^ ^(hraKon ana Dira-^jio" ygpiyj oBdjma gvcoaiaalTHi tothoiAQa Ct.^^^

a qu cfce n hc^f JecclH
a we bold the reft of MaoLiad Lo^iiucs m
We, haefore the Rcprefcniadv dflL UN
A M E R 1 1. A n Geueral C a^
Supr rae Jirdgc o he World for th R
an and by d e luthotity of the g d Peti
u^ lb and Declare That chefe tJm C
cb FRFE A O iNDEPENDEtIT S
1 / !eg aae, to the Br i A Crown and h
I era au the S-ate of Gre3'.-Br;iti!i ni
and th tas Tpek A d Indep::wo S
7 ar conclude Ptacc, coarsft
a J r Acl -id Th rgs nidun In
4td ia oGpport 0^ bis Declar
tcftinn J lavme Pro d nee, we m y |
Oir lonmn, and our facred He

!

At

S^Ik3 iv OfiDERJflJ B«HAtE /ft Co

-fiiti'^^mrr'^.

¦ REDUCED FAC-.SIMILE OF THE BROADSIDE DI.STRIBUTED
THROUGH THE COUNTRY.

1776.]

RICHARD I-IENRY LEIi'S RESOLUTIONS.

483

these instructions would be, when the people should manifest their
wishes, there was no doubt, and the event justified the expectation.
Congress, meanwhile, was preparing for that last step which should
trample out all hope and all possibility of any reconciliation.
On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, of the A^iiginia lution^m
delegation, offered the three following resolutions, which
John Adams seconded : —
" That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and
independent states ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
British Crown ; and that all political connection between them and
the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
"That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures
for forming foreign alliances.
" That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the
respective colonies for their consideration and approbation."
Action upon these resolutions was postponed to the next day, Satur
day, and again, on
that day, to Mon
day, the 10th. On
Monday, it was
voted in Committee
of the Whole, that
consideration of the
first resolution be
postponed to Mon
day, the 1st dajr of
July ; and in the
meanwhile, that no
time be lost, in case
the Congress agree
thereto, that a com
mittee be appointed
to prepare a Decla
ration to the effect
of the said first res
olution." This com
mittee was chosen the following day, the llth of June, and its five
members were, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Roger Sherman, and R. R. Livingston. On the l-2th, committees
were appointed to carry out the other two resolutions, that on a plan
of confederation being made up by one member fi-om each Province.
The Continental Congress and the Colonial Assemblies, under
whatever name, marched together, deliberately and firmly, step by

House in which the Declaration was written

484 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
step. Neither hurried, neither hindered the other. The Congress
waited wliile the colonies deliberated, and while all who had not al
ready reached it, were coming to the same inevitable conclusion, Jef
ferson was at work upon tlie great Declaration. Congress moved
with the dignity and formality becoming to the work before it. On
Friday, the 28tli of June, the Committee reported the first draft of
the Declaration, which was read, and ordered to lie upon the table,
and the House adjourned to Monday, the 1st of Jul}% the day ap
pointed three weeks before for its consideration. On j\londay, after
tlie dispatch of other business, the resolution relating to Independence
was referred to the Committee of the Whole, and the House then
resolved itself into Committee. When the House resumed its ses
sion, Mr. Harrison, from the Committee, reported a resolution, and
on this being read, action upon it was postjDoned till the next day
at the request of one of the colonies, — South Carolina, On
ence tie- the 'Id the resolution was passed, — " That these United
Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent
States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British
Crown, and that all political connection between them and the Slate
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Every col
ony voted in its favor, except New York, whose delegates, being still
without instructions, did not vote at all.^
Of the debates of these two days there is no record ; but that on the
rebate on ^^'^t day, when the question was carried in Committee of
tim 0™'*^™' the Whole, was the fuller and more conclusive. In a letter
Reasons |.q gj^Q-m^i Chase, Johii Adams said of it : " The debate took
up most of the day, but it was an idle mispense of time, for nothing
was said bnt what had been repeated and hackneyed in that room be
fore a hundred times for six months past." But from other letters
of his, and from contemporary writers, it is plain that the debate,
however wearisome it may have been to himself, who bore the chief
burden of the day, was of great importance. There were delegates
who were opposed to the resolution, or hesitated to take the responsi
bility of voting for it, notwithstanding the instructions of those they
represented. The new members from New Jersey were of the latter
class and were anxious to hear what arguments could be advanced in its
favor. To satisfy these, ^Ir. Adams was put forward, and he replied
with great power to Mr. Dickenson, of Pennsylvania, who represented
the cautious policy of a large party in that colony. Mr. Adams s
^ Henry Wisner wa.* one of the delegates from New York, and Thomas JIcKean, a dele
gate from Delaware, declared, in several letters written at different times in subsequent
3-ear.-i, that AVisner voted for independence. But as the vote was taken by colonies, his in
dividual vote could not be counted if the rest of the delegation refrained from voting.

„,..,-y /¦.: .^y,. fy'y^'J;..r,.,, y,y..., ..,;>¦ y;.. J -., ,: <.i , .¦ , ..• A.y.y'.y.J.

y^ ..y:,~.^,..y y.:.,,,..y.y,j.. y., . y/...,^.,,.,.

y'..,-^ ..:..- ^ f y . y?.-^ y/...^.-.^,^./v

1776.] INDEPENDENCE DECLARED. 485
speech convinced the Ne.Av Jersey delegates, and probably carried, if it
did not convince, others. All the members, in the end, signed the Dec
laration, but — wrote Mr. Adams many years afterward — in 1813, —
"as far as I could penetrate the intricate, internal folding of their souls,
I then believed, and have not since altered my opinion, that there were
several who signed with regret, and several others with many doubts
and much lukewarmness." It is an interesting fact, mentioned by
him in the same letter, that although North Carolina was the first
colony to instruct its membei's to vote for independence, a majority
for the measure hung at one time upon the vote of Mr. Hewes, a del
egate from that colonj% who had voted against it. A member, one day,
showed by documents from all the colonies, that public opinion was
everywhere in favor of the measure, when Mr. Hewes " started sud
denly upright, and lifting up both his hands to Heaven, as if he had
been in a trance, cried out : ' It is done ! and I will abide by it ! ' "
Of the event itself, Adams said in a letter to his wife : " But the
day is past. The 2d day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable
epoch in the history of Anierica. I am apt to believe that it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.
It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, bj^ solemn
acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with
pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and
illuminations, from oue end of this continent to the other, from this
time forward, forevermore." Thus far, into the beginning of a second
century, the event has been commemorated in preciselj' the way that
Adams said it should be, but commemorated — like the Landing of
the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth — on the wrong day. For, it will
be observed, the resolution passed on the 2d day of July Avas the for
mal declaration of the independence of the colonies — the actual sev
erance of all ties of allegiance to the British Crown ; the Declaration
adopted two days later — the 4th — was the declaration of the reasons
for establishing an independent government.
This statement of reasons for the Declaration of Independence was
not so easily agreed upon as the resolution to declare it. The com
mittee, on the 3d, asked leave to sit again after a second day's debate.
Changes had been made in Jefferson's original draft by his colleagues
on the committee appointed for its preparation ; still others were
made by the House; but none were so important or so significant as
the omission, in deference to the South, of the following pas- ^^ ,
. ' " ^ The slave-
sage relating to the slave trade : " He has wa.ged cruel war trade clause
" ^ omitted.
against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights
of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never of
fended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another

4s6

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.

hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.
This piratical war
fare, the opprobri
um of INFIDEL pow
ers, is the warfare of
the Christian king
of Great Britain.
Determined to keep
open a market
where MEN should
be bought and sold,
he has prostituted
his negative for sup
pressing every legis
lative attempt to
prohibit or restrain
this execrable com
merce. And that
this assemblage of
horrors might want
no fact of distin
guished dye, he is
now exciting those
very people to rise
in arms among us,
and to purchase that
liberty of which he
has deprived them,
by murdering the
people on whom he
also obtruded them :
thus paying off for
mer crimes commit
ted against the LIB
ERTIES of one peo
ple, with crimes
wbich he urges them
to commit against
the LIVES of anoth
er." But the great
_body of the docu-
Taking down the King's statue. mellt WaS left aS

1776.]

THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 487

Jefferson had written it. Finally, late on the afternoon of July 4, it
was approved and passed, and ordered to be printed. At TheHeciara-
the same time is was " resolved, that copies of the Declara- r™ oL
tion be sent to the several assemblies, conventions, and com- '"^op"**-
mittees or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers
of the Continental troops; that it be proclaimed in each of the United
States, and at the head of the army." ^
It was not till the 8th that tbere was any public celebration in Phil
adelphia, perhaps because the printed copies of the Declara
tion ¦were not ready earlier. The Committee of Safety or- tion promui-
Elated
dered that the sheriff of Philadelphia should read, or cause
it to be read and proclaimed on that day at 12 o'clock. At that hour
the Committee of Safety and of Inspection, the officers of the city
government, and many members of Congress, filed out in procession
from the State House into the yard, where a great concourse of people
gathered around the observatory, and the Declaration was read from its
balcony by John Nixon, a member of the Committee of Safety. The
day was given up to public festivity, and the great bell in the tower
of the State House led the rejoicing peal of all the other bells of the
city, to "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhab
itants thereof," in accordance with the legend inscribed thereon.
Throughout the country, in the army and in town-meetings, from
time to time, as the Declai-ation was received, it was accepted with
similar manifestations of jubilation, tending sometimes to acts of ex
travagance. As in Philadelphia the people tore down and burned all
symbols of royal authority in public offices, so in New York a mob '
pulled down the gilded leaden equestrian statue of King pui,i„g
George that stood in the Bowling Green. The head was fZ^-^^"
taken off and placed in a wheelbarrow and wheeled to the ''''""'^'
Governor's house. These was so much excuse for this act, — that lead
was greatly needed. Ladies at Litchfield, Conn., principally of Oliver
Wolcott's family, moulded the remainder of the statue into forty-two
thousand bullets, to be shot at the soldiers of the King.
Pennsjdvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and
North Carolina, adopted State constitutions in 1776 ; New York,
South Carolina, and Georgia, in 1777 ; Massachusetts in 1780, and
New Hampshire in 1781. Connecticut and Rhode Island continued
to use their royal charters as the fundamental law of the State, — the
former till 1818, the latter till 1842. All of these State constitutions
' The romantic tradition that as soon as the adoption of the Declaration was decided
upon, a little boy on the pavement clapped his hands and shouted " Ring ! ring! " to the
old sexton in the tower, who thereupon seized the tongue of the Liberty Bell and pro
claimed the momentous tidings to a waiting crowd, and that the Secretary of Congress
hastened to read the paper from the steps, seems to be without foundation.

488 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. XIX.
have since undergone amendment, and several have been entirely re
modelled. As first drawn and adopted, they contained arti-
Adoption of .^ ^ ifl
State consti- clcs whicli sliow that tlic youug States, so boastful of their
tutions. ¦' ... . , . ,
new fledged civil liberty, the principles of which they set
forth with admirable force and clearness, had not yet fully compre
hended the no less important necessity for religious liberty.
The Constitution of South Carolina provided that all persons and
societies who acknowledged one God and a future state of rewards
and punishments should be " freely tolerated," and that " the Chris
tian religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared
to be, the established religion of this State." No churcli could be
incorporated until its members had subscribed to five articles of belief
specified in this Constitution ; these were to the effect that there is
one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments; that He is
to be publicly worshipped ; that the Christian religion is the true
religion; that the Scriptures are divinely inspired, and that it is the
duty of every man, being thereunto called by those that govern, to
bear witness to the truth. In accordance with these provisions, it is
further stipulated that a qualified voter must acknowledge the being
of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that
" no person shall be capable of an\r place of honour, trust, or profit,
under the authority of this State, who is not a member of some
church of the established religion thereof."
" The Constitution of New Jersey forbade the establishment of any
one religious sect in preference to another, and provided that "no
Protestant inhabitant shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right
merely on account of his religious principles," and that any person
who professed " a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect " might
be elected to office.
The Constitution of Pennsylvania required every member of the
Legislature, before taking bis seat, to declare his belief in the existence
of a God who is "the rewarder of the good and punisher of the
wicked," and that the Scriptures are " given by Divine Inspiration."
The seventh section of the second chapter, solemnly considered and
adopted with the rest, can scarcely be read in our clay without excit
ing a smile. It provided that "the House of Representatives of the
freemen of this commonwealth shall consist of persons most noted for
wisdom and virtue, to be chosen by^ the freemen of every city and
county of this commonwealth respectively." The thirty-second sec
tion prescribed a penalty for any elector " Avbo shall receive any gift
or reward for his vote, in meat, drink, monies, or otherwise;" and
the thirty-sixth declared that " whenever an office, through increase
of fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable as to occasion many to ap-

1776.]

THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. 489

ply for it, the profits ought to be lessened by the Legislature." The
final section provided for the election, every seventh year, of a Coun
cil of Censors, whose duty should be, "to enquire whether the Consti
tution has been preserved inviolate in every part, and whether the
legislative and executive branches of the government have perforraed
their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves or
exercised other or greater powers than they are in titled to by the Con
stitution." The Constitution of New Hampshire provided that members of its
Legislature must be " of the Protestant religion," and this clause was
not formally repealed till 1877, though for many years it had been
disregarded by common consent. The Constitution of Massachusetts
provided, in its forty-first article, " that sumptuary laws against lux
ury, plays, etc., and extravagant expenses in dress, diet, and the like,
suited to the circumstances of the commonwealth and the spirit of the
Constitution, shall be established with all convenient speed." Ju
ries were to consist of fifteen freeholders, the agreement of twelve of
whom was sufficient for a verdict. Every minister or public teacher
of rehgion was required to subscribe to the Constitution, and to read
it once a year to his congregation.

CHAPTER XX.
LflSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK.
The iliLiHRY Situation" of New York. — ARiiiv.ii, of the Exe.mv. — Sf.m.m.^ry
OF j-HE Forces. — The Howes .\TTE5irT Pe.ace Negotiation's. — The British
f Ros< THE BiY — Defences of Brooklyx. — Battle of Long Island — Details
OF THE Action. — The Loses. — Hetreat of the A.mericans. — They" citn^s
TO New York. — The Question of destroying the City. — Entrance of the
Enemy. — Battle of Harlem Heights — New York occlpied by the British.
— X Great Fire in the City. — Execution of N.^thax Hale. — Howe's Second
Atte.vpt to negotiate for Peace. — Battle of \Vhite Plains. — Surrender
of Fort Washington.
The opinion held by Lee as to the impracticability of making Xew
Lee pushes Yoi'k absolutely defensible, does not appear to have been
"rork^at sharcd by Washington and many of his officers who came
xewiork. ^-Jt];! the Bostoii ai'my. Xew works were laid out by the
engineers, and new points occupied. Washington clearly proposed to
hold Xew York permanently. Lee's plan was judicious, so far as it
went, and it was now enlarged. General Putnam, soon after his ar
rival, decided that Governor's Island, at the entrance to the East
River, was a point of great importance. Should the eneniy, he said,
•• get i)ost there, it will not be possible to save the city, nor could we
dislodge them without great loss." Takino; a thousand men, he seized
it on tbe night of the Sth of April, and immediately threw up breast
works to protect his partj^ :ig.tiiist attack from Tiyon's ships. The
point of Red Hook on Long Island, just below, was occupied at the
same time, and in a few weeks Paulus Hook, on the Jersey side of
the Hudson, nearly opposite Cortlandt Street, was also fortified.
Should a fleet, therefore, attempt to sail up the East River, it was
lielieved that the batteries at Red Hook, Governor's Island, and Fort
.Stirling, on Long Island, with those on the X'ew York side, could
damage it materially. Transports with troops, at all events, could
not safely pass them. As a further defence, hulks were sunk later in
the season, in the cb'annel between Governor's Island and the Battery.
( In the Hudson River, ten miles farther up, at what is now known
as Fort Washington Point, tbe river narrowed between the towering

1776.]

DEFENSIVE WORKS AROUND NEW YORK.

491

PaUsades on the Jersey
side, and the rugged
heights of nearly equal
elevation on Manhat
tan Island, Upon the
Palisades a strong
work was begun dur
ing the summer, at first
known as Fort Consti
tution, and subse
quently as Fort Lee ;
and on the New York
side, where is now One
Hundred and Eighty-
third Street, stood
the formidable work,
Fort Washington.
From these positions a
plunging fire could be
thrown upon vessels
brought to a stop by
hulks and chevaux-de-
frise placed in the
channel of the river.
Three water-batteries
were also built along
the shore from Red
Hook to Fort Lee. By
the mouth of June,
eighty pieces of cannon
and mortars were
mounted or ready to
be mounted, bearing
upon the bay and the
two river channels.
To carry out the en
gineers' plans, the ut
most diligence was
necessary, for Howe's
arrival was expected
daily. Colonel Rufus
Putnam, the engineer,
relates how busily ho

49;;

LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.

was employed from daylight in the morning until night, besides some
times going in the night by water from New York to Fort
Much work , . ^ , . rw^, ., , , ^
accom- \\ asliington. ihe most exposed points were the first at
tended to ; and large fatigue parties were sent every day to
Governor's Island, Red Hook, the Battery, and other forts. Besides
the water-batteries around the city, a chain of strong redoubts -was ex
tended just north of it, along the line of Grand Street. The largest
Fortifica- """^s " Bayard's Hill Redoubt," near the corner of Centre
aroundthf Street. This hill was the highest in the vicinity, with a
"^^'- commanding range, and its summit, once covered -with cedars,
was cut away and leveled for the fortification. Several other eleva
tions on tbe west side, as far up as Tenth Street, were also fortified.
The city itself was literally converted into an intrenched camp. All
the streets leading to the water were barricaded. The City Hall Park
was surrounded with barriers.^ Fort George and the Grand Battery
were greatly strengthened from within. Works stood behind Trinity
Church, around the old Hospital at Duane Street, at the ship-yards
on the East River, and wherever a landing could easily be made.
It was not until the closing days of June that the long expected
Arrival o£ enemy arrived. A thousand things had delayed them. They
the enemy, j-j^^j ^.^ jji-jjig everything they needed — provisions and mu
nitions. The first to arrive was the General himself. Sir William
Howe, in advance
of his Boston army,
now on its way
from Halifax. He
reached Sandy
Hook in the frigate
Greyhound on the
25th of June, and
was warmly wel
comed by Governor
Tryon and " many
gentlemen, fast
friends of govern
ment." The troops
followed in one him
dred and thirty
ships, and were all in the bay by^ the 29tli of June. Howe's first in
tention was, to land on Long Island; but learning that the Americans
occupied strong positions there, the troops were debarked at Staten
Island. " Will Hicks's Mansion House " was the General's liead-
1 See John Hill's Chart of New Ynrl; in 1785.

Rose and Crown Tavern.

1776.]

ARRIVAL OF TIIE ENEMY. 493

quarters.! Then came Admiral Howe, Sir William's brother, with
troops from England, and finally, on the 12th of August, the Hes
sians arrived.
These forces numbered altogether nearly thirty-two thousand men,
of whom not quite twenty-five thousand were fit for ser- strength of
vice. This was six thousand more than Washington could "i^'i^y-
show upon his rolls. There were four battalions of light infantrj',
the flower of Howe's army, under Brigadier-general Leslie, and four
more of grenadiers, under Major-general Vaughan, whicli formed a
part of the reserves under Cornwalhs. Brigadier-general Cleaveland
commanded the artillery, three brigades, with at least fifty field-pieces.
The main body of infantrj^ included twenty-seven regiments of the
regular line, formed into eight brigades under Generals Robertson,
Pigot, Jones, Grant, Smith, Agnew, Erskine, and Matthews. The
command of the last named consisted of two battalions of the King's
Guards, which held the right of the line. A few troops of dragoons
and two or three companies of American loyalists completed the Brit
ish forces. Second in command stood Lieutenant-general Clinton, and
next in rank Lieutenant-general Earl Percy. Among Howe's aids
were Captain John Montressor, an engineer, who had lived in New
York, and owned the present Randall's Island ; and Major Cuyler of
the family of Albany loyalists of that name. There were also subor
dinate officers who distinguished themselves later in the war — Maw-
hood, who did good service at Princeton ; jMusgrave, who thwarted
the American plans at Germantown ; the brave Monckton, who fell at
Monmouth ; and the accomplished Webster, who ended his career
with Cornwallis in the South.
Hardly, if at all, inferior to the English were the eight thousand
Hessian "allies." De Heister, their General, was an old tij^ ncssian
man, and a veteran of many European campaigns. The te- '''°°'"'
dious passage of thirteen weeks from Spithead had sorely tried him,
for he had run out of tobacco. As finally arranged on Staten Island,
his command was divided into four brigades under Generals Von
Stirn and Mirbach, and Colonels Donop and Lossberg. Donop had
the famous Yagers, or sharpshooters, and the grenadiers under Min-
gerode, Block, and Linsingen. Among the Colonels, Rahl was one
of the ablest commanders, up to the affair of Trenton, where his con
tempt for Washington's army brought death to himself and disaster
to Howe. The private soldiers had many of them seen service. Most
of them, no doubt, had come against their will, and some had actu-
^ So wrote a British officer on July 9, whose letter was published in the London Chron
icle. Local tradition says, that the " Rose and Crown" tavern — a house lately standing
ou the Richmond Eoad, near New Dorp — was Howe's headquarters. Will Hicks may
have been the inn-keeper.

494 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
ally been kidnapped. They were, however, good soldiers, and were
soon dreaded and hated alike in the Anierican arnij'.^
The best that could be said for Washington's army was, that it
contained good material. As a whole, it was little else than
Strength _ i • • c i
andcoadi- a possB ot armed citizens, tor the most part brave and de-
American terinined men, but lacking effective organization and disci
pline, and most of them without experience.
This force was made up of the most diverse material. There
were men and officers from ten of the thirteen States — from New
Hampshire to Virginia, with no uniformity in arms, dress, discipline,
or manners. Those knowai as the Continental regiments were en
listed in the first instance under the regulations of the Continental
Congress, and served in its pay and under its authority. They cor
responded to our modern " regulars," though at that date their term
of service was only a year. They were mainly from New England,
having reenlisted during the siege of Boston to serve through 1776.
But there were two regiments from New York, and two from Penn
sylvania, making not over twenty-five in all, and numbering less than
nine thousand men. The forty-five other regiments and detachments
were State troops, raised for the campaign under calls from Cou
gress, and militia which in some of the States had been first organized
under the Colonial governments. The soldiers represented all classes
of society. Among officers and men were clergymen, lawyers, physi
cians, planters, merchants, farmers, mechanics, tradesmen, and labor
ers, mostly native Americans, of good English blood, with a sprinkling
of Germans, Scots, and Irishmen. IMost of them were indifferently
equipped. The old flint-lock piece was the common arm ; bayonets
were scarce, and so also were uniforms. The two regiments which
made perhaps the best appearance on parade were Smallwood's iMarj'-
landers and Haslet's Delawares. The Delaware men wore blue uni
forms, looking not unlike the Hessians ; those from Maryland were
clothed in scarlet coats turned up with bufl'. The Pennsylvania and
i\Iaryland riflemen, on Washington's recommendation, wore long hunt
ing-blouses and pantaloons, some in white, some in black, and still
others in green. But the larger number of the troops were in citi
zen's clothes. The officers were distinguished by different colored
sashes and cockades. Washington wore blue aud buff, and was al
ways neatly and often elegantly dressed.
The organization of the army changed with the coming and going
1 Dunlap, the historian of New York, describes the Hessian as wearing "a towering
brass-pointed cap ; moustaches colored with the same m.aterial that colored his shoes, his
hair plastered with tallow and flour, and tightly drawn into a long appendage reaching
from the back of his head to his waist, and his blue uniform almost covered by the broad
belts sustaining his cartoueh-box, his brass-hilted sword, and his bayonet."

1776.]

THE AMERICAN OFFICERS.

40.5

of troops during the campaign, but at the beginning of its active work
in August, it consisted of eleven brigades in five divisions.
° ,. . . .111 J- -NT -1-1 The division
Putnam s division included troops from New lork under ana general
Brigadier-generals James Clinton and John Morris Scott,
and from Massachusetts under Fellows. General Heath's division
consisted mainly of New York and Pennsylvania men under Gener
als Mifflin and George Clinton ; Spencer's division of two Connecticut
brigades under Generals Parsons and Wadsworth ; Sullivan's division
of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York troops under
Generals Stirling and McDougall ; Greene's division of Massachu
setts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Long Island men under Gen
erals Nixon and Heard. General Oliver Wolcott had temporary com
mand of a body of Connecticut militia, and the artillery regiment
from Massachusetts was under Colonel Henry Knox, of Boston.
Washington's aids at this time were, Colonel William Grayson, of
Virginia, Lieutenant-colonels Richard Cary, of Massachu- ^v-ashing-
setts, Samuel B. Webb, of Connecticut, and Tench Tilgh- '""'^^'^i'-
man, of Philadelphia, who acted as a volunteer, but subsequently took
rank as Lieutenant-
colonel, and fought
with his chief to the
close of the war.
Alexander Hamil
ton was captain of a
N"ew York artillery
company, and his
post was at the Bat
tery. Aaron Burr,
with the rank of
Major, acted as aid
to Putnam. Mercer,
of Virginia, com
manded the mihtia
in New Jersey, and
watched the enemy Headquarters.- No. I Broadway.
at Staten Island from that side. During most of the season the Gen
eral's headquarters were at the Mortier House, overlooking the Hud
son, just above the line of Houston Street, near Varick. In later days
the place was better known as Richmond Hill, where Aaron Burr re
sided, i
Admiral Howe, and his brother, General Howe, who had been
' The old " town headquarters " were the Kennedy house, No. I Broadway, still standing,
or perhaps one of the houses above it. There is some uncertainty in regai'd to this.

496 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
instructed to enter upon negotiations for peace, sent, on the 14th
of July, a flag of truce up the bay, bearing a letter to
po:ue nego- the Coiiimaiider-in-chief . Atljutant-general Reed and Lieu
tenant-colonel Webb were sent down in a boat to meet
it, but observing the letter to be addressed to " George Washington,
Esq.," they refused to receive it. Reed saying, " We have no person
in our army with that address." After the boats had parted, the
British officer, putting about again, asked by what title Washington
was to be addressed. " You are sensible, sir," answered Reed, " of
the rank of General Washington in our array," and the conference
was ended. 1 On the 20th another flag of truce was sent up. The
bearer. Colonel Patterson, Howe's Adjutant-general, was escorted to
Colonel Knox's headquarters, noAV No. 1 Broadway, where Washing
ton received him and listened to his proposals. The subject of ex
changing prisoners was discussed ; but Washington replied to the
propositions for peace by pointing out the fact that Howe was not
empowered to acknowledge American independence, and the Ameri
cans would treat for peace on no other basis. A subsequent inter
view between Lord Howe and a committee of Congress proved equally
fruitless. On the 22d of August the British troops were transferred from
Staten Island to Gravesend Bay, on Long Island. Four frigates, with
bomb-tenders, took their station close in shore, ready to protect the
'¦ Immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill, Samuel B. Webb was appointed aid-de
camp to General Putnam, and on the 21st of June, 1776, then twenty -two years of age, he
was appointed private secretary and aid-de-camp to General AVashington, uith the rank of
Lieutenant-colonel. From an original journal now in the possession of his son, General J.
Watson AVebb, we make the following extract, whicli gi\es the details of this incident: —
" .Y( tc York, July 14, 1776. — A flag of truce from the fleet appeared, on which Colonel
Eeed and myself went down to meet it. ^Vbout half way between Governor's aud Stiitcn
Islands, Lieutenant Brown of the Eagle offered a letter from Lord llowe, directed, George
W.vsHiNUTOx. Ksi,> ; which, on account of its direction, we refused to receive, and parted
with the usual compliments.
"New York, 17th July, 1776. — A flag from the enemy, with an answer from General
Howe about the [letter] sent yesterday, directed George AVashington, E.sq., etc. — which
was refused.
" Ntiv York, I9th July. 1770. — A fl.ag appeared this morning, whcu Colonel Reed and
myself \vcnt down. jVii aid-de-camp of General Howe met us, and said, as there appeared
an insurmountable obstacle between the two Generals, by way of compounding. General
Howe desired his Adjutant-general might be admitted to an interview with his Excellency,
General AVashington ; ou which. Colonel Reed, in the name of General Washington, con
sented, and jiledged his honor for his being safely returned. Tho aid-de-camp said the
adjutant-general would meet us to-morrow forenoon.
" Neir York-, 20th July, 1776. — At 12 o'clock we met the flag, took Lieutenant-colonel
Patterson of the  Regiment into our barge, and escorted him safe to town to Colonel
Knox's quarters, where His Excellency, General AVashington, attended by his suite and life
guards, received and had an interview of about au hour with him. We then escorted him
back in safety to his own barge. In going and coming, we ]iassed in front of the guard
battery, but did uot blindfold him ; — social and chatty all the way."

1776.]

THE BRITISH CROSS THE BAY.

497

movement. When the ships were fairly in position, nearly ninety
batteaux and flat-boats, fllled with the best troops of the
c 1 T c 1 1 ^'"'^ enemy
aj-i^y^ — the light infantry and grenadiers, four thousand cross the
strong, with gay uniforms and glittering arms, — pushed off
from the Staten Island beach, and were rowed by sailors from the
men-of-war to the Gravesend shore.
The flotilla moved across the Narrows
in ten divisions ; and following it came
transports with eleven thousand more
troops and forty pieces of artillery. All
were debarked before noon. These fif
teen thousand men took possession of
the roads, and occupied the Dutch vil
lages of Utrecht, Gravesend, and Flat-

I1 r

Passage of the Troops lo Long Island.
lands; while CornAvallis, Avith the reserves and Donop's Hessian Ya
gers and grenadiers, drove back Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen, Avho
had been patrolling this coast since May, and advanced as far as Flat-
bush. The American plan of defence, in case of attack on this side, had
been Avell matured. Greene, who was in command on Long Island, be-
lieA'ed in earthworks, and his brigade of Varnum's and Hitchcock's
VOL. III. 32

498 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
Rhode Islanders, Little's Massachusetts men, and Hand's riflemen,
worked well here through the trying summer, and protected
Oeneral - , i. i . i j. i_i • ,
oreeneand thcmselves Avitli foi'ts and intrenchments tnroAvn up in Avhat
lyn de- is now the heart of Brooklyn. The main line ran from
Wallabout Bay, the present Navy Yard, on the left, to what
was then knoAvn as the Gowanus Creek and marsh on the right.
Its length Avas less than a mile and a half, and it included, at varying
distances, five strong redoubts. That on the right, near the marsh,
which extended up from Gowanus Bay as far as the line of the pres
ent Baltic Street, was named Fort Box, after the Brigade-major,
Daniel Box, an old British soldier and capittil drill-master ; next stood
Fort Greene, largest of all, south of the present Fulton Avenue, not
far from Bond Street ; then, on the left of the avenue, was the " Ob
long Redoubt," and some distance farther along. Fort Putnam crowned
the hill which has since been transformed into Washington Park. A
little redoubt on its left completed the line in front ; wdiile the short
flank to the Wallabout was protected by breastAVorks and abatis.
Not more than twenty gunsAvere mounted in the works, from one end
to the other. 1
Between the Brooklyn lines and the coast at Gravesend Bay runs
Topography ^ contlnuous ridgc of hills, from the harbor, below the pres-
of the fleld. gjj^ GreenAvood Cemeteiy, easterly through Jamaica to the
end of the island. The cemetery and Prospect Park lie upon the
crest and slopes of tliis ridge, which in 1776 was covered Avith thick
Avoods and underbrush. From the other side of the hills to the sea
stretched the broHd, level plain on which stood the villages of Utrecht,
Gravesend, Flatlands, and Flatbush, where the British had encamped
after their landing. The distance from the ridge to the lines varied
from a mile and a half to four miles, and west of Jamaica it Avas in
tersected by four roads, all joining the King's highway AAdiich led to
the feny. The higliAvay itself crossed the hills four miles from the
lines, half Avay to Jamaica ; from it branched two roads to Flatbush,
one through Bedford village ; and down near the harbor ran the Goa\'-
anus road to the NarroAvs. Here was a strong natural barrier, Avhich
the enemy must penetrate from the plains beloAV before reaching the
Brooklyn works, and here Washington noAv proposed to hold the en
emy in check as long as possible. He made the ridge his outer line
of defence, and, as the enemy could advance in order only through
the roads and passes, three of these Avere covered with strong guards,
and the fourth — the distant Jamaica pass on the left — was watched
by patrols.
1 The Gowanus and Wallabout marshes set iu so far that the land west towards New
York became a peninsula. It was across the neck that Greene formed his defensive line.

1776.]

THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 499

On the announcement that the British had landed, six regiments
from Stirling's, Scott's, and Wadsworth 's brigades were or- p„t„am and
dered to cross at once from New York to reenforce the eommUndSn
Brooklyn wing. The prevailing fever, which had deprived Long island.
the army of the services of many of its officers, had most unfortu
nately prostrated General Greene ; and at the moment when he could
least be spared, it became necessary to relieve him and to give the
command to General Sullivan. The change occurred on August 20,
and four days later Sullivan was in turn relieved by General Put
nam ; but he remained with the Long Island forces as second in com
mand. The battle opened on the road leading from the Narrows. Very
early on the morning of the 27th, the American guards sta- ^^^^ „^y„„
tioned beyond the Red Lion, or about half a mile Avest of the '"'S'™'
southwest corner of the present Greenwood Cemetery, were unexpect
edly attacked by Grant's column. It was not yet daylight, and in
the confusion of the moment the pickets retreated rapidly, leaving
their commanding officer. Major Edward Burd, of Reading, Penn., a
prisoner in the enemy's hands. Brigadier-general Parsons, who Avas
the field-officer of the day, hurried down the road, rallied
a few of the scattered guard, and waited until General Stir- marches to
hng, whom Putnam had ordered forAvard on the first alarm,
could follow with reenforcements. Stirling Avas advancing with three
regiments, a company of riflemen, and a battery of two guns.
The first step in the plan of defence, which Avas to hold the Gow
anus road near the Red Lion, was lost by this flight of the guards.
Stirling's duty was to check the enemy at the next most defensible
point. This was on the ridge, afterward known as Wyckoff's Hill,
whioh stretched up from the shore. Ahmg the crest of this hill, about
on the line now marked by Nineteenth or Twentieth Street, he placed
his men. He had already sent forward Atlee, with his two hundred
Pennsylvania musketeers, to skirmish with Grant's vanguard at a
marsh half a mile in advance. Although his men had never before
been under fire, their commander was a veteran of the old French
war, and he so held thera to their work that the advance of the enemy
was delayed while Stirling formed his line from the water-side up the
hill to its top. On the left of this line, Atlee drew up his men in
good order when compelled to fall back.
It was nearly seven o'clock when Grant formed his line of battle
within easy cannon-shot of Stirling. Near the road he massed his
Fourth Brigade in two hnes, and continued the Sixth in one line
toward and probably within the limits of the present Cemetery of
Greenwood. In addition, he had with him the Forty-second High-

500 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
landers, two companies of New York loyalists, and ten field-guns;
against Stirling's seventeen hundred raw troops, he brought up fully
six thousand veterans. Along the Gowanus road, against Stirling's
right, he sent forward a body of light troops. From an orchard near
by, and from behind hedges, these men opened a brisk fire, and a
sharp flght folloAved between them and the Anierican riflemen. The
old Bennett farm-house, which remained for many years after the war
at the corner of Twenty-first Street, bore the marks of cannon-balls
and bullets received in this engagement, and near by Avere pointed out
the graves of English soldiers who fell here.
The advance upon the left, at the same time, threatened to overlap
the American line, and Stirling at once ordered up Parsons
Atlee in with Huutingtoii's and Atlee's men. Three times an assault
Avas made by Grant's regiments ; but Parsons held his posi
tion, probably on the spot now known as " Battle Hill " in Green
Avood Cemetery. i\.inong the killed AA'ere Lieutenant-colonel Parry,
of Atlee's regiment, and Lieutenant-colonel Grant, of the Fortieth
British foot.
But Avhile Stirling was thus making a successful defence on the
Narrows road, HoAve and his flanking column — four brig-
flanking adcs, tlic light infantry, grenadiers, guards, dragoons, and
manceuvre. .-, . , , . , ,
artillery, with thirty guns — Avere elsewhere m motion.
With the advance rode Clinton ; following him came Cornwallis,
then Earl Percj^, Avitli Howe. The column had left Flatlands at nine
o'clock, the night before, and, guided by Tories, marched east to
ward the hamlet of New Lots. Leaving the Jamaica road on' their
left, they struck across the country, and at about two o'clock in the
morning reached Howard's Half-way House on the Jamaica road, a
little east of the pass where it cut through the hills. Thence the road
ran nearly straight through Bedford Village, four miles, to the Brook
lyn lines.
The American plan of defence had not included the holding of
the Jamaica pass by any considerable force, on account of its dis
tance. On the night of the 26tli, the patrol there consisted of five
mounted officers from Ncav York regiments. While they were look
ing out for the enemy beyond the pass, the British appeared across
the fields in their rear, and all five Avere captured. Learning from
these men that the pass was unguarded, they pushed through
an impor- after a brief rest, and reached Bedford betAveen eight and
nine o'clock on the 27th, Avhere they were as near as the
American troops were to the Brooklyn Avorks. The successful ex
ecution of this flank move decided the daj^
An attack AA-as now made upon the American outposts facing Flat-

1776.] RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS. 501
bush, while a part of the column continned doAvn towards Brooklyn.
The extreme left of the outer line Avas Avatched by Miles's Pennsyl
vania battalion, and at the Bedford and Flatbush passes Avere Wylly's
and Chester's Connecticut men, Hitchcock's Rhode Islanders, Little's
Massachusetts, and Johnston's NeAV Jersey men. A line of sentinels
along the ridge through Prospect Park and Greenwood connected
with Stirling. By some fatality. Miles did not observe that Andsur-
Hovye had marched around him, until he was well in his AmlScaa
rear. More than half his two battalions, therefore, fell into °"'p°s'8-
the enemy's hands. The other troops just named, finding themselves
thus surprised on the left, turned to reach the Brooklyn camp before
they should be intercepted. Sullivan, avIio had gone out
to reconnoitre, was Avith them. As they retreated, raany of sumvanand
them fought, and fought well. The enemy captured three coionei
guns on the Flatbush road, only by a desperate fight with
the artillerymen. Sullivan Avith his men held out till noon, Avhen
the General was captured. Colonel Philip Johnston, of New Jersey,
fell at the head of his regiment.
The Hessians had been ordered to remain passive, but prepared, un
til they should be assured of Howe's presence on the left.
At the first sound of the conflict, they raarched rapidly and sians move
Avith flying colors, from Flatbush, along the eastern sec
tion of the present Prospect Park. Spreading through the woods,
they attacked and dispersed the broken detachments in retreat. Thus,
at about ten o'clock, ten thousand British and four thousand Hessians
were in pursuit of not quite three thousand Americans in rapid flight
through the Avoods and over the hills, just outside the Brooklyn lines.
No assistance could be sent thera, but much the greater number suc
ceeded in getting within the works.
Stirling, and Parsons on his left, Avere now the only officers with
an organized force in the field. During all this rout and
confusion in their rear, they still faced Grant in good order, forced to re-
till Stirling, hearing the noise of the battle behind him, and
finding that no orders could reach him, fell back along the GoAvanus
road. But this was already in possession of Cornwallis, who held it
at the Cortelyou House, near the upper end of the Gowanus marsh.
Nothing remained for Stirling but to attempt to cross the marsh at
the mouth of the creek. It was high water, and fording was diffi
cult; nor could this be atterapted in the presence of the spirited con-
enemy without great loss. He deterrained, therefore, to at- u^r^LT
tack Cornwallis with a small force, while the rest of the "''
command should wade or swim the creek. Taking half the Maryland
battahon, he marched boldly upon the enemy, and charged them re-

502 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
peatedly. But before overAvhelming numbers, success Avas out of the
question ; they retreated to the AVOods, and Avere all taken.
General Stirling Surrendered to the Hessian commander, De Heis
ter. Parsons's and Atlee's men were also captured, though
Parsons himself succeeded in hiding at night and escaping to camp
at dawn next morning.
By two o'clock in the afternoon, the engagement was over. The
enemy had captured betAveen eight hundred and one thou
sand prisoners, at a loss to themselves of three hundred and
sixt\'-seven officers and soldiers. The American loss in killed and
Avounded Avas probably less than three hundred.^
During the progress of the engagement Washington had crossed
to Brooklyn, but could, of course, send no relief from the raain lines
Avhile the British threatened them. To repair his losses he promptly
sent for more troops, and on the morning of the 28th had nearly ten
thousand men on the Long Island side. The British ad-
gierre of . .
the°Brooii- vauccd tlicir intrenchments to within range of Fort Put-
lyn works. nam by daAvn of the 29th. The ground favored them, and
in tAventy-four hours more their superior artillery Avould be playing
heavily on the Brooklyn works. Eighteen thousand troops Avere
ready to storm them when the guns should be silenced, while in the
rear of the American army Avas the East River, wider than now, by
a thousand feet, at its narrowest part. But it rained almost con
stantly during the 28tli and 29th ; and beyond some smart skirmish
ing along the picket lines, nothing occurred. Washington, hoAvever,
kneAV that every hour was full of danger, and he Avas almost con
stantly ill the saddle, moving along the lines, giving orders, and cheer
ing the men.
Late in the afternoon of the 29th, a council of the general officers
met at Philip Livingston's mansion, and it was determined
Council of J. o '
war decides to retreat froui Long Island. Washington had already be-
to retreat. . ° ° ,
gun preparations bj' sending for all the boats that could be
found anywhere on Manhattan Island, and by the exertions of Heath,
Quartermaster Hughes, and Hutchinson's men from Salem, Avho rowed
the boats down from Fort Washington, every variety of craft had
been collected at the Brooklyn ferry by eight o'clock in the evening.
Glover's raen from Marblehead manned the sail and roAv-boats, aud
the retreat began.
For twelve hours, with interruptions that alraost proved fatal, the
troops were ferried across. The regiments, as they marched down to
' The question of the losses at this battle is discussed in The Campaign of 1776 Around
New York and Brooklyn, recently issued by the Long Island Historical Society, p. 202.
The total loss for the Americans is there put at about oue thousand.

1776.]

THE AMERICANS CROSS TO NEW YORK.

503

the ferry, did not understand the movement. General orders that
afternoon had informed them that INlercer Avas expected from ,^,,,^ ^^.
New Jersey Avith reenforcements. Tlie sick had previously JjjX'}'
been sent to New York on the plea tbat they Avere an incuni- ^'''" ^°*'
brance, and that the quarters they occupied were needed for troops
Avithout shelter.
During the early hours of the night the storm of wind and rain was
violent, and the passage across the river exceedingly difficult. Mc
Dougall, who had the transportation in charge, once gave it up, and
sent Avord to Washington that its accomplishment AA^as not to be hojied
for. Not finding the General, McDougall took no responsibility, but
went on Avith the work as best he could. " But," adds the historian
Gordon, "about

eleven the wind
died away, and
soon after sprung
up to southwest,
and blew fresh,
which rendered the
sail-boats of use,
and at the same
time made the pas
sage from the island
to the city, direct,
easy, and expedi
tious." 1
For a covering
party to occupy the
works to the last,
Washington had detached Mifflin Avith six regiments, Avith orders to
remain until they were sent for. By some mistake, Scammell, one of
Washington's aids, brought the order about two o'clock in the morn
ing for the entire body to march to the ferry. The lines were accord
ingly deserted, and Mifflin's men Avell on their Avay to the ferry, Avhen
the Commander-in-chief came upon them in the darkness. " A
dreadful mistake ! " he exclaimed ; and all were marched back again
to their posts. Fortunately, the enemy were still unsuspicious. Still
more fortunately, as Gordon Avrites, " Providence further in- , ,
.' ' ' _ ^ a dense log
terposed in favor of the retreating army, by sending a thick as..iist3the
J, c J ^ .J o movement.
tog about two o'clock in the morning, which hung over Long
Island, while on the Ncav York side it was clear. Under cover of this
1 Gordon obtained his particulars from Colonel Glover's letters. Dr. Roilgers's Thanksgiv
ing Sermon, aud persons who were present.

Beekman House.

504 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Cuap. XX.
fog Mifflin's men finally, about sunrise, Avithdrew iu order and crossed
safely^ Last of all followed the Commander-in-chief.
There Avere three points to be settled immediately, consequent on
Shall New thls retreat from Long Island. Shall the defence of New
J°ac"ted York City be continued ? If evacuated, shall it be burned ?
and burned? ^y^d, in that casc, what position shall the American army
take next? The slow movements of the British gave the generals
and Congress two Aveeks to decide. The enemy moved to the site of
the present Astoria, to NewtoAvn, and along the East River, threaten
ing to cross to Westchester County above. They could easily have
bombarded the town from Brooklyn Heights, and from Governor's
Why New Islaiid, of Avliicli they had taken possession on the 30th.
not de""' Eut HoAve refrained from destroying a jjlace Avhich he hoped
stroyed. soon to Capture. Greene and some others, expecting that it
would fall into the hands of the enemy, Avished, for that reason, that
it should be destroyed. Congress, to whom the question was referred,
decided that no harm should be done to it, influenced by the same
motive that governed Howe, — that its possession, at some future time,
would be of far greater service than its destruction. Thus both par
ties agreed that it should remain uninjured.
Washington would haA'e attempted the city's defence even now, had
not his faith in the soldierly qualities of the majoritj' of his troops
been shaken by recent experiences. The militia were, as he said,
"dismayed, intractable, and impatient of return," and after the re
treat from Long Island large numbers Avent back to their homes
in squads, in companies, alraost by regiraents. Discontent bred in
subordination, and the wisdom, vigilance, and energy of Washington
Avere taxed to the utmost to maintain the semblance of an army. The
men were, no doubt, dispirited by the disasters of the last fevi' days;
but they were still raore discouraged by privations and difficulties for
Avliich there seemed to be no reinedy. They Avere, as General Scott
frankly told the New York Congress, " badly paid and wretchedly
fed." No wonder that many of them despaired of being either bet
ter paid or sufficiently fed, for the real difficulties of the situation
were quite as apparent to them as thej' Avere to their superiors. Fresh
recruits, hoAvever, carae in to take the place of the home-sick raen who
left, and the improvement in the condition of the army, though slow,
was steady. On the 2d of September, however, it numbered, accord
ing to official returns, less than twenty thousand men.
It was decided in a council of Avar on the Gth that the city should
be held, contrary to the judgment of Washington, Greene, Putnam,
and perhaps others. On the 10th, Congress voted to leave the ques
tion to the Commander-in-chief, Avho had, however, on the same day

1776.]

POSITION OF THE TROOPS.

505

made preparations for leaving, and two days later a council reversed
the decision of the week before. The evacuation was to be raade on
the 15th, and the utraost activity prevailed on the two previous days.
Howe was aware, of course, of this movement, and meant to prevent
it. Several ships of war were moved up the North and East rivers,
and the larger portion of the American army Avas posted at Harlem
and King's Bridge to repel any attempt of the eneray to cross from
Long Island in their rear. The troops left beloAv were position of
Colonel Silliman's brigade of Connecticut railitia, and levies ''"' '^op^-
in the city. General Parsons's Connecticut and Massachusetts Conti
nentals at Corlear's Hook, at the foot of Grand Street on the East
lliver ; General Scott's Ncav York State brigade on the Stuy vesant
estate, about Fourteenth Street on the river ; General WadsAvorth's

Jumel Mansion — Wasiiington's Headquarters.
Connecticut levies at Twenty-third Street; and at Thirtj'-fourth Street,
at Kip's Bay, Colonel Douglas, with more Connecticut militia. All
these troops lay behind lines thrown up along the river front to repel
a landing, and on the 15th were to fall back with the rest of the army
to Harlem Heights.
The five British men-of-war in the East River had anchored in Wal
labout Bay, and behind Blackwell's Island, with flat-boats and trans
ports. On Sunday morning, the 15th, they drew up in line close to
the shore at Kip's Bay, opposite Douglas and his militiamen. About
ten o'clock, these ships suddenly opened their broadsides on Douglas,

506 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
making a " thundering rattle," as a Hessian officer Avrote, and drove
the Americans in confusion from behind the low works,
The landing ,.. i -t fv -i i i ti iij ttt
at Kip s which could anord them but slight shelter. Under protec
tion of this fire a body of light infantry and grenadiers, with
Donop's Hessians, crossed from the mouth of NewtoAvn Creek in
eighty-four flat-boats. Landing without opposition just above Thirty-
fourth Street, they chased the fugitives in disorderly flight over the
fields to Murray Hill.
Washington, who on the 14th had moved his headquarters to the
mansion of -Colonel Roger Morris, on Harlem Heights,^ hastened, at
the first sound of the cannonade, to the front. At Murray Hill,
near the residence of Robert Murray, about the line of Thirty-sixth
Street and Fourth Avenue, he attempted to arrest the retreat. It Avas
impossible to rally the militia. Those frora Massachusetts followed
the exaraple of Douglas's raen, and the older troops of Parsons were
carried away with them. Washington, Putnam, Parsons, and Fel-
loAVS rode in among the men, doing their best to bring order out of this
confusion and arrest their flight. The Commander-in-chief
toilVan|er Avas workcd up to the highest pitch of indignation. Gordon,
the historian, heard that he drcAV his sword and threatened
to mil the fugitives through. Greene Avrote that in his disgust and
Avrath he sought " death rather than life," and Avas among the last to
leave the ground. Tilghraan, Washington's aid, adds that he " laid
his cane over many of the officers who showed their men the example
of running." He drew his sword, snapped his pistols, brandished his
cane, dashed his hat to the ground, and exclaimed, " Are these the
men with whom I am to defend America ! " But for one of his at
tendants seizing his horse's reins and turning hira toward Harlem
Heights, it is said the General would have fallen into the enemy's
hands. Putnam, hastening down to New York, gathered up Silliman's com
mand, and by extraordinary exertions, assisted by Aaron
Putnam and .., .ni-i-iTl 1
his division Burr, lus aid, marched up the west side of tbe island through
the woods, and at dark reached Harlem Heights in safety.
Howe Avas in close pursuit of this coluran, and there seems no good
reason for doubting the story of his being delayed by Mrs. Murray.
The General and his staff stopped at her door to ask hoAV long since
Putnam had passed, and AA'as assured by that lady that he must be
already beyond successful pursuit. She then urged the officers to dis
mount. The day was " insupportably hot," and the invitation of this
charming Quaker lady and a not less charming daughter was irresist-
1 The present Jumel Mansion at One Hundred and Sixtieth Street, east of Tenth
Aveuue.

1776.]

THE AMERICAN ARMY ON HARLEM HEIGHTS.

507

ible. " Mrs. Murray," says Thacher, in his military journal, " treated
them with cake and wine, and they Avere induced to tarry two hours
or more. Governor Tryon frequently joking her about her American
friends." Those American friends, when Howe and his staff dis
mounted at her gate, Avere only ten minutes ahead.

Mrs. Murray and General Howe.
The American array rested at length on the broken ground and
along the southern crest of Harlem Heights. Many of the men slept
without shelter, in clothes drenched by a rain that fell at evening ;
cannon, baggage, stores, and provisions were lost, and lost through
their own want of obedience, of discipline, and of courage. But
the next morning, the 15th, a Avell fought action at the front put
fresh spirit into both officers and men. A body of not quite one hun
dred and fifty rangers, from the Connecticut and other Ncav England
regiments, had recently been organized under the command of Lieu
tenant-colonel Thomas Knowlton, who did such brilhant service as the

508 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
captain of the Connecticut troops at the battle of Bunker Hill.
His corps was intended for scouting duty along the enemy's front.
Early on the morning of the 16tli he cautiously approached
l^^trtiB 01 , -t -r -I Tl -IT
uaiieni tlic point Oil tlic Blooiiiiiigdale road Avhere the enemy were
Heights. -^ ° . •'
supposed to have encamped on the previous evening. They
Avere soon found, a little over a mile from the American lines. Their
van, as usual, consisted of the light infantry brigade, and when
KnoAvlton's party Avas discovered hovering in the Avoods in front of
them, the second and third battalions were ordered out to chase the
rebels back. Knowlton and his men received thera with a discharge
of eight or nine rounds from behind a stone fence, before their num
bers compelled him to retreat. As they pressed him in front and
flank, he drew back toward the Heights, the infantry following.
A report of the skirmish reached Washington, and he rode at once
to that point. In a short time KnoAvlton and his rangers came in
and reported that the detachment in pursuit Avas about double his
OAvn force, or three hundred strong. The ground favored an at
terapt at the capture of the Avliole party, and Wasiiington gave his
orders accordingly. Harlem Heights rose abruptly from the plain,
Avitli the extrerae southern point reaching the present One Hun
dred and Twenty-sixth Street east of Ninth Avenue. Opposite, not
half a mile distant, Avere the Blooraingdale Heights, of lower eleva
tion, and the vale betAA'een them, at the Avestern end of Avhich lies
Manhattan A'ille, AA'as knoAvn in the army as the "holloAV way." The
British infantry had followed Knowlton to the edge of the Blooming-
dale Heights, nearly opposite to the rocky point of Harlem Heights,
Avliere Washington was directing the movements. Halting there,
their bugler sounded the " Tally-ho " of a fox-chase, and they sat
Plan of the dowu to rest themselves. The plan of capture was, to make
engagement. ^ diversion in their front, while a detachment should gain
their rear and prevent retreat. This movement Avas entrusted to
Knowlton's rangers reenforced by three companies of Weedon's Yif-
ginia regiment under Major AndrcAV Leitch. In front were chiefly
Rhode Islanders from Nixon's brigade, under Lieutenant-colonel
Crary ; as these advanced, the British ran doAvn from their position
to a rail fence, and opened fire. Knowlton's flanking force, concealed
by the bushes, made a detour around the enemj''s right, but by some
mistake they began their attack upon the flank of the infantry. Find
ing theraselves in danger of being surrounded, the enemy gave way,
and ran up the hill again, Avith the Americans in pursuit. The flight
continued over the Bloomingdale Heights, through a piece of woods,
and to a field beyond, Avliere the infantry, being reenforced by the
Forty-second Highlanders, made a stand.

1776.]

BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS.

509

To drive the regulars in the open field Avas a new experience for
Washington's men, and this success Avould doubtless have ^^^^ ^^
bppn followed up but for the fall of tbe two brave leaders Leitch and
uct-ii ivy £- 1 T . 1 1 Knowlton.
of the flanking party, KnoAvlton and Leitch, as they came
up. " I do not care for ray life," said KnoAvlton to the Captain on

Harlem Plains.

whom the command now devolved, " if we do bnt win the day ; "
and he ordered him to press forAvard. ^
Washington immediately sent forward detachments from the Mary
land brigade, and from Nixon's and Sargent's, wbich swelled . . The enemy
the number engaged to over fifteen hundred. The British driven over
infantry being also reenforced by the Forty-second High- aaie
landers, two field-pieces, and Donop's Yagers, a sharp fight
folloAved of an hour's duration, at a buckwheat field, east of the pres
ent Bloomingdale Asylum. Putnam, Greene, George Clinton, Reed,
and merabers of Washington's staff, all joined in the affair, holding
the men well up to their work, until the enemy, surprised to fiud such
opposition, again retreated through an orchard towards Bloomingdale.
The Americans pursued ; but Washington feared an advance in force
by the enemy, and sent Tilghraan, his aid, to bring back the troops,
Avho returned in high spirits.
Knowlton was buried the next daj', Avith military honors, near the
^ Letter from the Captain, whose name is not given, in the Connecticut Gazette, Sep
tember 27.

510

LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.

roadside, not far, it is supposed, from the intersection of Tenth Ave-
Losse« on '^"^ ^"^l Ouc Hundred and Forty-fifth Street. Leitch died
either side. ^^^ ^j^g jg^ Qf October. Bcsidcs these two leaders the party
lost tAVO other officers — Captain Gleason, of Massachusetts, and
Lieutenant Allen, of Rhode Island — and about seventy-five pri-
A-ates in killed and AVOunded. The loss of the eneniy was A'ariously
estimated, at the time ; HoAve reported that his loss was fourteen
killed and scA'enty
Avounded. Coming
so immediately upon
the panic of the day
before, the action
Avas important iu its
influence upon the
men. " This af
fair," Washington
wrote to Congress,
" I am in hopes,
wili be attended
Avith many salutary
consequences, as it
seems to have great-
ly inspirited the
Avhole of our troops." It Avas this, rather than any importance in
the movement itself, that aroused the anxiety of the generals, and
led so many of them to take part in it. "I suppose," wrote Adju
tant-general Reed, " many persons will think it Avas rash and impru
dent for so many officers of our rank to go into such an action, but
it was really to animate the troops, Avho were quite dispirited, and
would not go into danger unless their officers led the Avay." De
spondency and discontent, however, still prevailed ; many deserted,
and those whose enlistments expired went horae during the next four
Aveeks, ill which there Avas little to do except to strengthen the
Heights. Yet there was no want of exciting events in this interval of ces
sation from fip-hting. The town Avas taken possession of
-New York , , , ., . , , ... -,. , it
occupied by by tile hostiic army, with much military display, and not a
theBriti.sh. .'' ... -^ ' / r^
little rejoicing among the loyalists, Avho gave to (jrovernor
Tryon an enthusiastic Avelcome. These demonstrations were hardly
over, when the calamity Avhich both sides had hoped might be
averted fell upon the town. On the 21st it Avas well-nigh
-V ffrcst fii'G. destroyed by a fire, which, breaking out, from some un
known cause, at Whitehall Slip, swept through Stone, Beaver, and

Ruins of Trinity Church.

1776.] EXECUTION OF CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE. 511
Broad Streets, up Broadway to Barclaj' Street, and along the North
River to King's College, Avhich was saved with difficulty. Five
hundred buildings, among thera Trinity Church and the Lutheran
Church, were destroyed. Several woraen and children, it was sup
posed, were burnt to death, and their shrieks, Avrote the Moravian
pastor, Shewkirk, " joined to the roaring of the flames, the crash of
falhng buildings, and the widespread ruin Avhicli everywhere appeared,
formed a scene of 'horror great beyond description." There were no
hells in the churches to give a tiraely alarm, these having been re
moved by order of the Provincial Congress ; the fire-engines were out
of order, and buckets were almost useless in arresting the progress
of the flames. That there should be suspicions of incendiarism was
inevitable. " Nurabers of people," says the Moravian pastor, " were
carried to jail on suspicion to have had a hand in the fire, and to have
been on the rebels' side, — it is said about two hundred; however,
on examination, the most men were as fast discharged."
In the excitement of the destruction of a large portion of the city,
and the arrest of so many suspected rebel incendiaries, it is Execution
not likely that the hanging of a single spy in the neighbor- Nathm*'"
hood of the town attracted much attention. It is, neverthe- ""'''¦
less, the more marked incident of the two, both from the character of
the man who suffered death, and as a precedent which no doubt influ
enced Washington when subsequently he Avas called upon to decide
the fate of a spy. The morning after the fire. Captain Nathan Hale,
of Connecticut, was hanged near the corner of East BroadAvay and Mar
ket Street. Frora the purest motives of patriotism he had volunteered
to go within the British lines on Long Island, and obtain information,
indispensable to the Commander-in-chief, of the disposition of the
forces of the enemy. He was arrested on his return, and taken to
Howe's headquarters, the Beekman mansion at Turtle Bay, on the
East River. The papers found upon his person were the evidence of
his purpose, which, indeed, he made no pretence of denying. No trial
was granted hira ; it is said that he was not permitted to see a clergy
man, or to have the use of a Bible in his last hours, and the pro
vost martial to whom, after a single night's confinement, he Avas deliv
ered up for death, destroyed the letters he had written to his mother
and sisters. " I only regret," he said, as lie Avas about to die, " that
I have but one life to give for ray country." His burial-place is un
known, and no raonuraent has been erected to him by the nation in
whose service he met an ignominious death. Like Andrd, he Avas a
gentleman of education and high character ; if, by the laws of Avar,
both equally merited the death, the risk of which they took, there is
this marked difference in their fates, — that to Andr(^ was given a fair

.512

LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.

tempt at
reconciliation.

and impartial trial upon the evidence, and that his countrymen re
membered, after the lapse of a century, to give his body a grave and
his memory a monument among the most honored of England's dead.
During this interval of comparative quiet, the attempt at recon-
a second at- ciliatiou, with Avhich Howe Avas in a certain degree in
trusted, was renCAved. General Sullivan, three days after
his capture on Long Island, went on his parole to Congress
at Philadelphia, bearing a raessage from the English Admiral that he
desired to confer on the subject with some of their members in a
private capacity. Congress declined to treat with hira in any other
way than as the representatives of Anierica; but consented to send a
^ committee to ascer
tain what powers he
possessed as a civil
commissioner. Franklin, Adams,
and Rutledge met
him on the llth of
September, at the
Billop House, on
Staten Island, op
posite Amboy ; but
the conference only
brought out the fact
that Lord Howe had
no authority to ne
gotiate with the
rebels as an inde
pendent people, and
that the committee
had no intention of
treating Avith him on any other basis. Gordon reports that the latter
managed the matter " Avith great dexterity, and maintained the dig
nity of Congress."
It Avas not until the 12tli of October that Howe was prepared to
renew the offensive raeasures against Washington. The position of
the Anierican army at Harlem Heights was too strong to be assaulted
in front, and the British commander was now compelled by the neces
sities of the situation, rather than of choice, to folloAV out his favorite
tactics and again move on his opponent's flank and rear. Washing
ton, on his part, had made such preparations that he was not for the
third time to be taken by surprise. Howe decided now to do that
which he mig'ht have done immediately after the battle of Long

The Billop House.

1776.] MOVEMENTS OF GENERAL HOWE. 51-3
Island, — to land in Westchester County, march across toward the
Hudson, and cut the Anierican communications. But in-
• 1 1 IT Howe lands
stead of landing Avell along the coast, at a point AA'liere he could in westches-
1 - -I - TTT 1 • 1 ) 1 • ter County.
quickly seize the mam roads in Wasnington s rear, his ad
vance division, Avhich started from Ncav York on the 12th, and passed
through Hell Gate in flat-boats under cover of a fog, stopped at
Throg's Neck, six miles distant, Avhich then had no strategical im
portance whatever. It Avas simply a projecting tongue of land, con
nected with the main land by a causeway, Avhicli the Americans had
already obstructed and covered Avith Avorks. Here the British wasted
five days Avaiting for provisions and stores, and Washington improved
the time by preparing for the next attempt upon his flank.
This cA'ident design on the Westchester roads promjjted the calling
of a council in the Araerican camp on the 16th. It was decided that
Harlem Heights Avould be untenable should Howe move upon them,
and preparations, therefore, should be made to evacuate the Avliole of
that position, Avith the exception of Fort Washington. That post,
the council, persuaded chiefly by Greene's opinion of its importance
and impregnability, decided to retain with a sufficient garrison. Ac
cordingly, the Commander-in-chief gradually Avithdrew his troops
along the hills west of the Bronx 'River, Avhich runs through West
chester nearly parallel to the Hudson, and thus held the army Avell in
hand to face the enemy wherever they appeared.
On the 18th Howe left the Neck, and debarked again at Pell's
Point, a short distance below New Rochelle. Glover's bri-
J *• cT»T5ni 1 1, TT-i iVlarches
gade, consisting of Reeds, Shepherds, and Bailey's Massa- towards New
1 1 1 T 1 ¦ I- • Rochelle
chusetts men, opposed the light infantry from behind stone
Avails, Avitli an effective fire, and then fell back sloAA'ly. The enemy
advancing took post in the vicinity of New Rochelle, Avliere they de
layed again until the 22d, giving Washington ample time to place
himself at White Plains, where he held the roads leading up the
Hudson and to New England. If HoAve's movement was merely to
compel the evacuation of Harlem Heights, it was successful ; if the in
tention was to hem in the AA'hole American force south of White Plains,
it was a signal failure. On the evening of the 27th the two armies
were only four miles apart. Washington's line of Avorks —
part of thfe distance a double line — ran along hilly ground white
within the village of White Plains, in a southwesterly direc
tion, the left resting on broken ground near a holloAV and mill-pond,
and the right on a curve of the Bronx, which protected flank and
rear. Just across the Bronx rose Chatterton's Hill, a little in ad
vance of the main line, and presenting a steep front. Behind the in
trenchments lay the four divisions of the army, mustering about thir-
VOL. III. 3,3

514

LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEAY YORK. [Chap. XX.

teen thousand men. Chatterton's Hill had not been fortified, and
Colonel Putnam, the engineer, had gone out to it to mark a line of
defence. The British moved up frora Scarsdale, and, driving in the outpost
parties under Spencer, reached Washington's position about ten o'clock.
They marched in two columns, — Clinton on the right, De Heister on
the left, — in numbers about equal to the Americans, or, according to
Stedman, " thirteen thousand effective raen." The purpose seemed

Chatterton's Hill.

to be, at first, to attack in front, and a corapany of dragoons ap
proached Heath on the left to reconnoitre, but were checked by a
battery. Instead of attempting a direct assault, however, the enemy
filed off to the left and extended their lines in the plain some distance
in front of Chatterton's Hill. Here the main body halted, and the
soldiers sat down on the ground, Avhile a column four thousand strong
proceeded to cross the Bronx and move up the hill. The design evi
dently A\'as, to attempt the capture of that point as preliminary and
necessary to subsequent movements. One body, under General Leslie
and Colonel Donop, forded the stream in front, and Rahl, with part
of his Hessians, crossed farther down. To cover the movement, fif
teen or twenty pieces of artillery opened a rapid fire on the Ameri
cans opposite.
At the time of Howe's approach, Washington was riding in

1776.]

BATTLE OF AVHITE PLAINS. 515

company with Lee, Heath, and other officers, examining a stronger
position for defence farther to the rear.i An orderly brought
word of what might be expected, and the generals galloped chaTtdton's
back to their posts. Colonel Brooks's Massachusetts militia
were sent to Chatterton's Hill, and Haslet, Avith his Delaware men,
soon followed. These formed in good positions, the militia consider
ably to the right, AA'here they Avere shortly reenforced by ^IcDougall's
brigade of Continentals, including his OAvn, Ritzeraa's, Smallwood's,
and Charles Webb's. Captain Alexander Hamilton brought up his
two field-pieces. This disposition of the troops was hardly made along
the broAV of the steep declivity, when the enemy came on, clambering
straight up the difficult ascent. The situation was not unlike tbat at
Bunker Hill. Captain William Hull, of Webb's regiment, describes
the scene as exceedingly imposing, with the entire British army in full
view, and the attack in front, combined with the heavy cannonade, as
an ordeal Avhich, under the circumstances, might have tried the nerves
of older soldiers. McDougall's men poured a hot fire into Leslie's
ranks, before which they recoiled, and sought shelter. A second
charge up the slope was met AA'ith an equally determined resistance,
especially from Smallwood's and Ritzema's men in the centre. For
fifteen minutes the enemy Avere held in check, when Rahl and his
Hessians appearing on the American right, drove the militia frora
their posts. This break on the right made it impossible for McDou
gall to maintain his position, and he Avas compelled to retreat. As
the fire in front inereased, and Rahl was noAV on their flank, the
Americans gave way, at first in some confusion ; but a portion of
them kept up a fire from behind trees and fences, and the whole
force succeeded in retiring to the main line across the Bronx. The
loss Avas about thirty prisoners and less than one hundred and fifty
killed and wounded. The enemy's loss was nearly a hundred greater.
In the course of the next two or three clays, Washington removed
his army to an impregnable position on the Northcastle
Heights. It was useless to folloAV him, and Howe, after sev- takes posi-
eral days' delay, marched to the Hudson to the reduction of Northcastle
Fort Washington. All the evils of Avar were visited upon "'^
the people of the neighborhood ; the British troops lived upon the
country, and the court-house and a part of the village of White Plains
were burnt by the Americans after the enemy left it.
Whether Fort Washington should, if possible, be held, Avas an anx
ious question, both in Congress and with the generals in jortwash-
the field. Congress wished to hold it at any cost, to guard '"^ton.
the Hudson. Greene, who believed that Howe contemplated, as his
1 Heath's Memoirs.

516

LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEAV YORK. [Chap. XX.

next move, a descent upon New Jersey, still urged that it be retained,
to compel the enemy to leave part of their force in' its vicinity, and
thus distract their future operations. Washington Avas far more anx
ious as to the probable transfer of the campaign to New Jersey, and
a move on Philadelphia. The fort, he thought, even if it should be
possible to repulse such a force as Howe could place before it, had
already ceased to serve
the purpose for which it
was originally intended.
Two of the enemy's ships,
on the Ttli of November,
in spite of attempts to
set them on fire, and in

Mr^A

Ships passing Fort Washington.
defiance of the cannonading from the fort, had broken through the
impediments placed in the channel, and ran up the river ; and, only
two nights before the final attack, thirty or forty flat-boats had passed
up into Spuyten Duyvil Creek, unobserved from either shore. Wash
ington accordingly wrote to Greene that, under the circumstances, he
did not think it " prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount
Washington," but at the same time left it discretionarj' with him to
give the necessary orders for its evacuation.
The commander of the fort Avas Colonel Robert Magaw, a lawyer
of Philadelphia. He was regarded as :i good officer, and had had

1776.]

THE SIEGE OF FORT WASHINGTON.

517

some experience as Major of Hand's riflemen at the siege of Boston.
The twenty-seven hundred or more troops composing the coionei Ma-
garrison were chiefly Pennsylvanians. Rawling's Maryland foTumn-""
riflemen and Bradley's Connecticut levies Avere together less '^"'
than five hundred of the number. Howe demanded a surrender on
the 15th, threatening that if he were compelled to take the fort by
assault, the garrison should be put to the sword. MagaAv replied
that to propose such an alternative was unworthy an officer of the
British nation, and that, for himself, he should defend the fort t6 the
last extremity.
Washington had been absent for some days, Avith several of his

Washington, at Washington Heights.

principal officers, raaking preparations for any movement farther up
the river and on the west side, to secure the important pass of the
Highlands by sufficient fortiflcations. On his return to Fort Lee, on
the Jersey side, nearly opposite Fort Washington, he was surprised
to find that this post was still occupied. On the 16th, he crossed the

518 LOSS OF LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. [Chap. XX.
river with the purpose of coming to a final and positive decision, upon
the spot, of the question of defence or evacuation. But it \A'as already
decided. Howe had begun the ;ittack, retreat was impossible, and the
garrison had no choice but defence or surrender. " As the disposition
Avas made," wrote Greene, "and the enemy advancing, Ave durst not
attempt an)' new disposition ; indeed, Ave saw nothing amiss. We all
urged his Excellency to come off. 1 offered to stay. General Put
nam did tbe same, tind so did General Mercer; but his Excellency
thought it best for us all to come off together, -which we did, about
half an hour before the enem}' surrounded the fort."
The British directed their attack from three sides, under cover of a
Howes line tnrious caniiouade frora Fordham Heights on the east bank
of attacic. Q.f .[.|-|g H;ii-lem. JMagaAV had stationed his men in the outer
lines, some distance above and beloAv the fort. Lieutenant-colonel
Cadwallader, with Slice's Pennsylvanians, commanded at the lowest
of the triple line of Avorks across the island. ToAvards King's Bridge,
on the high ground near Inwood, RtiAvling and his Alarylanders Avere
posted. On his right. Colonel Baxter's Pennsylvania Rifles occupied
Laurel Hill on the Harlem, near where Tenth Avenue terminates.
The rocky and precipitous side of the river, north and south of the
present High Bridge, Avas watched by small parties. The distance on
this defensive line, betAveen Cadwallader below and Rawling and Bax
ter above, Avas two and a half miles.
The enemy advanced in three columns. One came up from
Bloomingdale and Harlem Plains, led b}' Lord Percy, who was accom
panied bj' HoAve. Knyphausen moved down the road from King's
Bridge, and Avith him marched Rahl and his men, only a little nearer
the Hudson. The third force, under General Matthews, supported
by Cornwallis, appeared in boats on the upper Harlem, heading tow
ard Baxter. The fighting began everywhere nearly at the same time,
Percy leading off. He attacked Cadwallader, and carried a small re
doubt ; but as Cadwallader had the middle and a much stronger line
to fall back to, and could probably hold Percy Avell in check, HoAve
ordered a body of Highlanders, led by Lieutenant-colonel Sterling, to
move up in boats, and land above Cadwallader. MagaAV, observing
this movement, sent out an opposing force ; but the Highlanders clam
bered up the hill-side in spite of the destructive flre that tore through
their ranks, and, reaching the top, took a hundred and fifty prisoners,
besides compelling Cadwtillader to beat an immediate retreat to the
fort. On the north side, the Hessian columns met in RaAvling and
his riflemen a stubborn enemv. The avoocIs resounded Avith the
shouts and volleys from either side, until the Americans Avere pushed
back by sheer Aveight of numbers. Ba.\;ter fell on Laurel Hill, AA'here

1776.] AVASHIKGTON'S POSITION. 619
Matthews attacked him, and the entire American force Avas soon hud
dled within the fort. Knyphausen then deraanded an immediate sur
render. Further resistance Avould only be to incur great loss of life in
a work now croAvded with nearly three thousand men. jM;i- su^cder oi
gaw, therefore, surrendered on honorable terras. The cap- ""^ *°"'
ture cost the eneniy nearly five hundred men in killed and wounded.
The American loss beyond prisoners was hardly a third of this number.
NeAV York City and Island, frora the Battery to King's Bridge,
were now in the possession of the British. Two days afterward
Cornwallis passed up the river, and at a point nearly opposite Yonkers,
landed with six thousand men. Fort Lee could be held no longer in
the presence of such a force; it was, therefore, abandoned. Evacuation
and the American army withdrew to the other side of the <>* I'^t Lee.
Hackensack River. HoAve considered the reduction of these two forts
of vital importance, as they commanded the entrance to the Hudson,
or, at least, made it perilous for the passage of English ships ; and
so long as Fort Washington Avas held by the Americans, the commu
nication of New York with the open country beyond could never be
safe and uninterrupted. His objective point in the campaign, there
fore, was so far gained. His reasons for reducing Fort Washington,
were, on the other hand, precisely the reasons Avhich Greene, and
those who agreed Avith him, had urged for its defence. The real dif
ference of opinion among the American generals, was not so much
whether it was desirable, but Avhether it Avas possible to maintain
that position. If it could be done, it ought to be done ; if it could
not, then the atterapt to do it only involved a loss of life and muni
tions. The further question — whether its voluntary abandonment
without fighting, or its surrender after an unsuccessful defence, Avould
have the more dispiriting effect upon the army and the country —
was a question that, however important, could not be permitted to
govern the final decision. There could be no doubt that the loss of
the fort Avas most serious ; it is equally certain that in the existing
state of things, the loss, and the method of losing it, Avere gOA'erned
by the inevitable necessities of the case. Washington was not strong
enough to hold it, nor had he authority sufficient to compel
., . ,. ., , TVashing-
its evacuation Avithout a fight, decided as his oavii judgment tonsposi-
Avas, that that was the wiser thing to do. Congress hampered
him ; and affairs had not yet reached that point where he could demand
implicit obedience from his Major-generals, instead of suggesting
measures in which he asked their cooperation. That time came the
sooner, probably, that he Avas not in haste to assert and assume the
poAver that should properly belong to the Commander-in-chief.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE NEAV JERSEY CAMPAIGN.
Condition of the Armt. — Retheat through New Jersey. — Howe's Proclama
tion OF Amnesty. — Washington crosses the Delaware. — Conduct of Gen
eral Lee. — His Capture. — Outrages by the Foreign Troops. — The Hes
sians SURPRISED AND CAPTURED AT TreNTON.  WASHINGTON RECROSSES THE
DELA-n'ARE. — Battle of Princeton. — AVinter Quarters at Mokristown. —
Results of the Campaign. — Sufferings of American Prisoners in the
Hands of the British. — The Question of Exchange. — Washington's Posi
tion. Little doubt remained in Washington's mind that the British
Avould follow up their successes about Ncav York by an im-
Washington . ¦*¦ -r-n •! i i i . rm • , . .
apprehends mediate movc upon Philadelphia, lliis was the opinion of
a move oa . . . ,
phiiadei- the couucll of Avar at White Plains when Howe relinquished
further operations in Westchester County. Washington,
therefore, left Lee at Northcastle, and Heath in the Highlands, tak
ing Putnam, Greene, Stirling, and Mercer, Avith him southward.
Something over four thousand men composed his entire force, and
many of these Avere to leave in Deceraber.
Washington wrote to Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, to be
prepared for the invasion of his province. He suggested that the mi
litia be in readiness for instant service, and recommended the people,
in the strongest terms, to remove their " stock, grain, effects, and car
riages," for the enemy in their progress Avotild leave them nothing.
" They have treated all here," he Avrote from Westchester, " without
discrimination ; the distinction of Whig and Tory has been lost in one
general scene of ravage and desolation." What could not be re
moved, he advised, should be burned " without the least hesitation."
The condition of his army still gave him great anxiety. By the 1st
Condition ot ^f December he would have only about two thousand Con-
hisarmy. tincutals Oil the Jersey side, to oppose Howe's entire force.
The several legislatures were exceedingly slow in raising their addi
tional quotas, and Congress still adhered to the policy of short enlist
ments. The first necessity now Avas reenforcements. Adjutant-general Reed

1776.]

RETREAT THROUGH NEAV JERSEY.

521

was sent to appeal to the Ncav Jersey Legislature for help, and Mifflin
was despatched on a like errand to Congress at Philadelphia. Being
a popular and able speaker, he addressed meetings in that city, roused
the war spirit afresh, and by the middle of December had contributed
much toward raising new troops in both town and country. The
Philadelphia " associators," or home-guards, turned out in large num
bers. General Schuyler sent down from the Northern Department
seven eastern regiments under Gates and St. Clair.
The enemy had reneAved operations only four days after the cap
ture of Fort Washington, and Fort Lee Avas evacuated so hastily by
the Americans that the kettles Avere on the fire, and a thousand bar-

*-,»;«¦

'&S§gy;

saa.**

^? -.

Viev^ of Fort Lee.

rels of flour, three hundred tents, and a number of mounted cannon
fell into the hands of Cornwallis. As Washington reached Hacken
sack bridge, the British van appeared in sight on the road above. By
the 22d the whole American army had fallen back to Newark. On
the 28th, as Washington Avas leaving Newark at one end of the town,
Cornwallis entered at the other.
Northern New Jersey was thrown into a panic at this invasion.
Taking advantage of the alarm, the tAvo Howes, as Peace
ft . . . A proclama-
^-^ommissioners, issued a proclamation on the .30th, in which tionoiam-
they offered pardon to all who had taken up arms against
the King, if they returned quietly to their homes, the offer holding
good for sixtj' days. Many in Ncav Jersey and Pennsylvania accepted

522 THE NEAV JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI.
it. Among these Avas Joseph Galloway, of Philadelphia, a member
of the first Continental Congress. ^
From Newark Washington fell back to Brunswick on the Raritan.
Most of the flying camp, Jerseymen and Pennsylvanians, Avent home,
their term of enlistment having expired. The British came on through
Elizabethtown, Uniontown, Woodbridge, and other places, impressing
cattle, horses, and Avagons. On December 1st, Washington retreated
by a night march to Princeton, Avhere he left Stirling and
Washington „ ° , , , ., °
reaches the Stephen, of Virginia, to Avatch the enemy, Avliile he moved to
Delaware, '^ ' ° ' ,,er,.,.
Trenton Avith the other half ot his force to transfer stores
and baggage across the DelaAvare. Howe unaccountably ordered
Cornwallis to halt at BrunsAvick. In the lull of the pursuit, Wash
ington urged Congress to raise a permanent army and " have nothing
to do with militia except in cases of extraordinarj' exigency." That
he might, in case of necessity, make a safe retreat into Pennsylva
nia, he had boats in readiness at Trenton, and to prevent pursuit lie
ordered every sort of craft removed from the Jersey side for seventy
miles up and doAvn the DelaAvare. He gave special orders that the
Durham produce-scoAvs should be secured, as any one of them was
large enough to transport a Avhole regiment. Cornwallis, on the Sth,
suddenly pushed on again, and nearly surprised Stirling, while the
and crosses entire American force, less than three thousand, crossed the
''¦ Delaware as the British Avere marching into Trenton. Sted
man, Avho Avas in Howe's army, criticises the easy pace of the pur
suit. To him it seemed as if HoAve " had calculated with the great
est accuracy the exact time necessary for his enemy to make his
escape." As the two armies moved southward, the panic in Jersey and Penn
sylvania increased. Congress thought it unsafe to remain
in Philadelphia, and adjourned early in December to meet
at Baltimore. Oliver Wolcott, a delegate from Connecticut, Avrote
that " it was judged that the Council of America ought not to sit in
a Place liable to be interrupted by the rude Disorder of Arms." Put
nam and IMifflin were ordered there to put that city in a state of de
fence. As Washington fell back sloAvly through NeAV Jersey, warily Avatch-
Lecscon- i"g every raovement of the enemy, he had repeatedly and ur-
duct. gently ordered Lee to join him with his whole force. But
that General chose to construe those orders as conditional, and not im
perative. This Avas in accordance with his settled purpose to acquire a
1 Howe sul)sequently mnde him superintendent of the post at that cit}-, but he appears
at tlie close of the war as a witness in England against the Britisli General who h.id par
doned him, who was .accused of conducting a very sluggish campaign iu the Jerseys.

1776.] CONDUCT OF GENER.AL LEE. 523
separate command ; more than this, — as he had hoped the year be
fore that the supreme command Avould be bestowed upon him, so he
still hoped, undoubtedly, that he might supersede Washington. He
assumed to instruct the New England Governors, and even Congress,
upon the construction of the army, and the measures which should be
adopted for the conduct of railitary affairs. In November he Avrote to
the President of the Massachusetts Council, Jaraes BoAvdoin, that
"before the unfortunate affair of Fort Washington, he Avas of opinion
that the two armies — that on the east and that on the Avest side of
North River — must rest each on its own bottom; that the idea of
detaching .... from one side to the other was chimerical ; but to
harbor such a thought in our present circumstances is absolute insan
ity." When Washington ordered hira to move, he saAV fit to act upon
his own judgment rather than to obey the orders of his superior, and
directed General Heath to cross the river and join the main army, in
stead of himself. Heath refused to obej', properly conceiving that
his movements Avere to be governed by the Commander-in-chief.
"The Commander-in-chief," Avas Lee's reply, "is now separated from
us; I, of course, command on this side the water : for the future I will
and must be obeyed." When, at last, he leisurely took up his line
of march to join the raain array, where the aid of his troops Avas so
imperatively needed, he wrote that he was "in hopes to reconquer the
Jerseys, Avhich Avere really in the hands of the enemy before ray ar
rival." In a letter to General Gates, two days later, he says, " En-
tre nous, a certain great raan is raost damnablj' deficient. He has
thrown me into a situation Avliere I have my choice of difficulties —
if I stay in this Province, I risk myself and Army, and if I do not
stay, the Province is lost forever — .... I must act with the great
est circumspection — .... as to Avhat relates to yourself, if you think
you can be in time to aid the General, I Avould have you by all means
go." Even Gates, he thought, should be governed by his own discre
tion, rather than obey positive orders ; and Avhile he hesitated whether
he should stay or not stay in .Jersey, Washington had four times Avrit
ten him within ten days — " hasten your march as much as possible,
or your arrival may be too late to answer any A'aluable purpose : "' — ¦
" the sooner you join me with your division, the sooner the service
Avill be benefited : " — " march and join me Avith all your whole force
Avith all possible expedition : " — "push on Avitli every possible suc
cor you can bring." ^
On his march through Jersey he compelled the inhabitants to fur
nish his men with clothing, of Avhich they Avere, like all the army.
See Treason of Major-general Charles Lee, by Geoi'ge H. Moore. Lee Papers, N, Y.
Bist. Soc. Coll., 1872.

524

THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN.

[Chap. XXI.

greatly in need, promising that the public should pay for it.i He did
not cross the Hudson until the 3d of December, sixteen days after he
was directed to march. On the 12th he was no farther
than Vealtown, and on the next day was taken prisoner.
The previous evening, he had pushed on Avith his staff and about a
dozen guards to Baskingridge, and put up at a tavern. " A rascally
Tory," according to one account, noticed Lee's exposed position, and

Lee cap
tured.

1 " "^'.s
' 1 I ' '

Capture of General Lee.
galloping away at high speed, gave the information th'at night to a
British scouting-party under Lieutenant-colonel Harcourt, twenty
miles distant. Harcourt arrived at Baskingridge, with fifty of his
dragoons, about ten o'clock on the morning of the 13th. Lee Lad
1 This order, recently discovered, directs Colonel Chester and a party to proceed to Har
rington townshi]! and collect all the serviceable horses and spare blankets they can find,
leaving " a sufficient number to cover the people ; " and they are to gather shoes and great
coats, " to serve as AVatch Coats." " The people from whom they are taken," conlinues
the order, " are not to be insulted either by language or actions, but told that the urgent
necessity of the troops obliges us to this measure, — that, unless we adopt it, their liberties
must perish."

1776.] DISTRIBUTION OF THE BRITISH TROOPS. 525
sent for his horses, Avas about to mount, and AA'ould have been gone in
ten minutes. The dragoons approached cautiously and surrounded
the house. Some resistance AA'as made, and a shot cut off the ribbon
of Colonel Harcourt's queue. In the attempt to escape, several of
the Americans Avere wounded, and two Avere killed. Captain Brad
ford, Lee's aid, evaded the enemy by changing his clothes, and Major
Wilkinson hid in safety behind a door. Lee was placed on horseback,
bound hand and foot, and hurried off beyond successful pursuit.
The command of his troops fell to Sullivan, who lost no time in obey
ing the orders Lee had so long disregarded, and reported at headquar
ters on the 20th. The strictest Avatch was noAv kept upon the eneray
across the river ; scouts were sent to ascertain their position and
movements, and particularly Avhether they Avere building boats. The
critical state of affairs urged Washington to aggressive measures.
Bold as any attempt whatever on the ehemy might seem, the situa
tion demanded it. Something must be done to offset Howe's SAveep-
ing progress ; soraething to cheer the troops ; something to assure the
country that the array, at least, had not despaired of the cause, and
only required vigorous support at home to crown it with success.
Washington appears to have contemplated a move of this nature as
early as the 14tli, when he wrote to Governor Trumbull of the effect
"a lucky blow" might have in rousing the spirits of the peo
ple, which he knew were quite sunk by late raisfortunes. su^prSe"
The favorable opportunity soon offered. On the 23d of De
cember he wrote : " Christmas-day at night, one hour before day, is
the time fixed upon for our attempt on Trenton."
Confident in their strength, and believing that the end of the rebel
hon was near, the British distributed their forces in New
Jersey at different points until the freezing of the DelaAvare of X^Brit-
should enable them to cross into Pennsylvania and continue
their march to Philadelphia. They spread themselves over as much
territory as possible, to afford the loyal portion of the inhabitants
"protection," as well as to keep recruits from joining the American
army. At Brunswick, they collected stores and provisions, guarded
by cannon and six or eight hundred men; at Cranberry a camp for
Tory recruits was established. Cornwallis fixed his headquarters at
Princeton. Donop with two thousand Hessians commanded in Bur
lington County, where a scout found his men " scattered through all
the farmers' houses, — eight, ten, tAvelve, and fifteen in a house, —
and rambling over the whole country ; " Rahl, with twelve hundred
more, occupied Trenton. The people everywhere Avere given over to
plunder.! The British posts Avere hardly Avithin easy supporting dis-
A letter bearing date December 12, 1776, gives a vivid picture of the conduct of these

526 THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Cuap. XXI.
tance of each other; indeed, Rahl, at Trenton, to show his contempt
for the Continentals, would have no supports, and refused to throw
up a single defensive AVork. CornAvallis, even, Avas so far convinced
that the campaign was over, that he had obtained leave of absence to
return to England, and had gone from Princeton to New York, leaving
Grant in command in loAver Jersey. That officer, equally unsuspect
ing, assured Donop, on the edge of the river, that while he and Rahl
should be on the Avatch, there was nothing to apprehend from the
rebels. Ascertaining the exact position of the enemy, Washington deter
mined to cross the DelaAvare at night above and beloAv Trenton, fall
upon Rahl and his Hessians, surround and capture them, and recross
before he could be overtaken. The plan required the cooperation of
all the troops that could be mustered. To engage Donop's attention
below Trenton, a body of militia, under Colonel Griffin, from Phil
adelphia, skirmished at Burlington and Mount Hollj', and succeed
ed so far as to draw off part of his force eighteen miles southeast of
Rahl. General John CadAvallader Avas directed to cross at Bristol with
a force of Pennsylvanians, ^ and General Ewing had been ordered to
foreign troops, and suggests anew the question whether there can be any such thing as
civilized warfare. The writer .says the progress of the British and Hessian troops through
New Jersey was attended with such scenes of desolation and outrage as would disgrace the
most barbarous nations ; and he cites half a dozen incidents which he declares well authen
ticated. AVilliam Smith, of Smith's farm, near AA'oodbridge, hearing the cries of his
daughter, rushed into the roora and found a Hessian officer attempting to ravish her. "In
an agony of rage and resentment, he instantly killed him ; but the officer's party soon
came upon him, and he now lies mortally wounded at his ruined, plundered dwelling."
They entered the house of Samuel Stout, Esq., in Hopewell, .and destroyed his deeds,
papers, furniture, and effects of every kind, except what they plundered. They took iiway
every horse, and left his house and farm in ruins, " injuring him to the value of two thou
sand pounds in less than three hours." Old Mr. Philips, his neighbor, they pillaged in
the same manner, and then cruelly beat him. " On AA'ednesday last," says this writer,
"three women came down to the Jersey shore in great distress; a party of the American
Army went and brought them off, when it appeared that they all had been very much
abused, and the youngest of them, a girl about fifteen years of age, had been ravished that
morning by a British officer." Sixteen young women in Hopewell, flying from the enemy,
took refuge on the mountain near Ralph Hart's ; bnt information being given of their
retreat, they were soon carried dowu into the British camp, "where theyhave been kept
ever since." The settlements of Maidenhead and Hopewell were broken up ; "no age nor
sex have been spared ; the houses are stripped of every article of furniture, and what is
not portable is entirely destroyed. The stock of cattle and sheep are drove off; every ar
ticle of clothing and house-linen seized and carried away. Scarce a soldier in the Army
bnt what has a horse loaded with plunder. Hundreds of families are reduced from com
fort and affluence to poverty and ruin, left at this inclement season to wander through
woods without house or clothing." — Force's Archices, Fifth Series, vol. iii., p. 1188.
1 Adjutant-general Reed was sent by AVashington to Cadw.allader to coijperate with and
aid hira in the proposed movements across the Delaware. Some years after the peace, a
controversy sprang up between Reed and Cadwallader, which was embittered by, if it did
not originate in, political differences, and has been kept alive in the present century in more
than one history of the Revolutionary period. The essential point of this controversy is

1776.] WASHINGTON'S BOLD DESIGN. 527
make a similar attempt opposite Trenton. The Coramander-in-chief
proposed to lead the raain column himself from McConkey 's Ferry,
nine miles up the river. The movement Avas to begin on Christmas
night, and every preparation was made to insure success.
But the condition of the river threatened to defeat this bold design.
When Cadwallader atterapted to cross frora Bristol he found the ice
so piled up on the Jersey shore as to prevent the landing of artillery.
He could do nothing, and relinquished the attempt in despair. Ew
ing was equally unsuccessful. These two cooperating parties, who
were to have cut off comraunication between Rahl and Donop, being
thus effectually baffled, the chances of the success of the main force
were proportionately lessened. Washington deterrained, neverthe
less, to push on at all hazards, though without support. He could at
least trust the troops under his immediate command. The best gen
eral officers then in the service Avere to go with them ; — Greene,
who had shared his chief's hopes and anxieties through the cam-
a charge against Reed of meditating a treacherous abandonraent of the cause of his coun
try, and a determination to go over to tlie enemy. Evidence as to the alleged words and
acts of the Adjutant-general, while at Bristol, were gathered together and have been re
peatedly published to substantiate the charge, a.nd he and his friends — particularly his
grandson, the late AVilliam B. Reed — have been called upon to prove a negative. For
the discussion of this question we have neither space nor inclination. At the same time,
we do not hesitate to say that the difficult task of proving a negative was never, perhaps,
more completely accomplished, were it not that no evidence could be given to offset the
direct, positive, and unbiassed testimony found, a few years ago, in the manuscript journal
of the Hessian Colonel Donop, or one of his staff. In this it was charged that Reed had
"received a protection," and " had declared that he did not intend any longer to serve," —
that is, in the American army. It is true, that Mr. AV. B. Reed, having got sight of
the original Hessian journal, showed that this, which was made to appear as the assertion
of a fact by a mutilation of the journal, was, in reality, the assertion of a rumor only, and
one among others so confused that the writer of the journal " would not listen any more
to them." But before this was made to appear, the first published extract had done its
work, and had been accepted as an absolute confirmation of the original charge of dis
loyalty made against Reed by Cadwallader.
But even with this satisfactory discovery of the grandson that the alleged assertion of a
fact was the assertion only of a rumor, the existence of such a rumor, recorded in a con
temporary Hessian journal, while it could not prove the charge against his grandfather to
be true, was, at least, very damaging collateral evidence of the truth of that charge. By
a fortunate incident, however, it appears, at last, that even the rumor reported by the Hes
sian was a blunder, and that it referred, without doubt, not to Adjutant-general Reed, but
to another officer with a similar name. In 1876, William S. Stryker, Adjutant-general of
New Jersey, found in the archives of his office a rejiort of Colonel Donop, made to the
British Major-general Grant, on December 21, 1776, in which he saj-s that Colonel Reed
had received a protection, and declared to General Mifflin that he would serve no longer,
whereupon he was carried off a prisoner by Mifflin. Donop knew uo English ; the com
mander at the time and place referred to was Colonel Griffin — not Mifflin ; the Colonel
Reed, then and there arrested, was not Joseph Reed, Washington's Adjutant-general, but
Colonel Charles Re.id, of the Burlington militia, who, the Memorandum Book of the Phil
adelphia Council of Safety shows, was still in custody a month later in that city, " taken
in New Jersey." With this discovery of Adjutant-general Stryker, the whole case against
Joseph Reed may, in legal phrase, be put out of court.

528 THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI.
paign ; Stirling and Sullivan, both good soldiers ; Stephen, Avho had
The general hstiu Avitli Wasliingtou in the French Avar ; Mercer, rising in
officers. reputation; St. Clair from the Northern Departraent ; Knox,
Hand, and Glover, Poor, Stark, and Patterson, soon to be Brigadier-
generals. Gates was offered the command of one of the parties farther
down the river, but he preferred to gallop off to Philadelphia to discuss
some question of rank before Congress. Twenty-four hundred men
composed the expedition, nearly all of whora had seen service — at
Bunker Hill, in Canada, on Long Island, at Harlem Heights, and
at White Plains ; men from every province, from Ncav Hampshire
to Virginia.
The swift current of the river was filled Avith cakes of floating ice.
The difflcui- ^ driving storm of snow and sleet pelted the half-clad troops,
'"^^' benumbed them with cold, and threatened to render both
guns and ammunition useless. Bnt officers and raen alike were insen
sible to these difficulties ; thej' knew they had everything to win, that
failure Avould be no disgrace, defeat a less misfortune than to go back,
and that victory Avould be hailed Avith enthusiasm bj' the Avhole coun
try. As they entered the boats, they were inspirited by the calm and
resolute bearing of their chief. Knox shouted his orders in a voice
whose loud and cheerful tones encouraged the troops ; and none doubted
of the safe passage of the river, Avhen Glover, with his Massachusetts
fishermen, — as good sailors as they Avere soldiers, — stepped forward
to man the oars.
It was four o'clock in the morning before troops and cannon were
all safe on the Jersey side, when, by the original plan, they should
have been there by midnight. " This," says Washington, " made me
despair of surprising the toAvn, as I Avell knew we could not reach it
before the clay Avas fairlj' broke ; but, as I was certain there Avas no
making a retreat without being discovered and harassed on repassing
the river, I determined to push on at all events." Despite the slip
pery road which made quick marching difficult at first, and although
many of the men were almost barefoot, the column moved on in good
order, Avithout a raurniur, and in profound silence. But they were
nearly all hardened troops, and could march Avell ; the Eastern regi
ments, under St. Clair, had just come down from Ticonderoga, four
hundred miles distant ; tbe troops under Lee and Sullivan had been
on the road three weeks, and the rest had found rapid travelling their
only safety in the Jersey retreat. Only those had remained behind
who Avere too foot-sore or too destitute of clothing to leave their
quarters. When Birmingham village Avas reached, the force divided ; one
column, under Greene, taking the Scotch or upper road ; the other.

"^A^.

*SA^**'^"-*=S?*

THE CROSSING OF THE DELAAA'ARE.

"Pr.

1776.]

THE HESSIANS SURPRISED AT TRENTON.

529

under Sullivan, following the parallel river road a mile to the south.
With Greene, were Stephen's, Mercer's, Stirling's, and De Fermoy's ^
brigades, in advance; with Sullivan, Glover's, Sargent's, and St.
Clair's followed. Washington took the upper road with Greene. The
march now was easier and swifter, as they had turned their backs
to the storm. Then the discovery was made that the priming for
the muskets had become in many cases too wet to use. Sullivan
promptly reported this to Washington ; Washington replied that they
must fight with fixed bayonets.
At eight o'clock precisely, Greene's advance guard, headed by Cap
tain William Washington, of Virginia, and guided by David jhe Hessians
Banning, of Trenton, carae upon the enemy's outposts on ™''P"'^''"1-
the skirts of the town. The young Hessian lieutenant in charge had

]ust time to turn his men
out and delivei oue fiie,
when Captain Washington
and Lieutenant James
Monroe — afterward Presi
dent — dashed after them
View of Trenton. with the American van, and
followed the Hessian pickets rapidly into Trenton. Three minutes
later, firing was heard on the lower road, and Washington was as
sured that Sullivan's Aving was up and at work. Stark's New Hamp
shire men led the advance there, and had fallen upon the enemy with
a shout and a rush. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, the
' A French officer, lately commissioned a brigadier by Congress. His regiments were
Hand's riflemen and Hausegger's German battalion from Pennsylvania.
VOL. III. 34

530 THE NEAV JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI,
surprise was complete. Both Anierican colurans moved straight on in
support of their advance parties. Tavo streets running through the
toAvn (then King and Queen, now Warren and Greene) converged
Avhere tbe upper road entei-ed. At this junction. Captain Forest
planted six guns, and Washington in person directed their fire down
King Street, in Avhich the Hessians were attempting to form. The
street was quickly cleared. The enemy then brought two field-pieces
to reply to Forest, but the column under young Washington and
Monroe charged on the gunners, drove them off, and disabled the
guns, both officers receiving slight Avounds. No chance was given the
enemy to rally.
Manj' of the Hessian officers had been engaged through the night
in Christmas festivities, and among them Rahl. He Avas not, prob
ably, in a condition to meet an emergency, and the suddenness of the
attack helped to bewilder him. His orders Avere Avild and confused,
though he boldly faced the situation. But the American fire was so
close and severe from behind houses, fences, and other points of van
tage, that the Hessians, brave and A-eteran soldiers as the}' Avere, fled
like raw recruits for their lives. A part attempted to break through
to Princeton ; but Hand's riflemen took post on the left, and checked
them in that quarter. Sullivan's attack Avas as Avell sustained as
Greene's, and a party of British troopers and yagers, instead of fall
ing back fishting', retreated in haste across the bridge oA'er the
Assanpink Creek, Avliich runs through the eastern part of Trenton,
and made their Avay towards Donojj's camp. But Sullivan's men
held the bridge, and Avlieii one of Rahl's regiments attempted to
escape over it, they Avere compelled to surrender. The Avliole force.
They sur- ^^o'"' surrouiided and thrown into confusion, were soon com-
render. pelled to lay down their arms. They had been driven back
to a field east of the town, where Rahl fell, mortally Avounded. Sup
ported by two sergeants, he gave np his SAVord to Washington.
The Americans took nine hundred and fifty prisoners, six guns, and
many small arms and trophies, besides killing seventeen and Avound
ing nearly eighty of the enemy. Their own loss Avas two killed and
four Avounded. Washington recrossed the DelaAvare that evening
with all his prisoners, and tbe next morning warmly thanked his
troops for their steady and brave conduct. ^
1 Captain AA'illiam Hull, of Webb's Continentals, who distinguished himself subse
quently during the M'ar, wrote, January 1, 1777, of the action at Trenton : " The Resolu
tion aud Bravery of our Men, their Order and regularity, gave me the highest sensation
of Pleasure. Genl. AA'asliingtiui highly congratulated the Men ou next day in Genl. Or
ders, and with Pleasure observed that he had been in many Actions before, but always per
ceived some misbehaviour in some individuals, but iu that action he saw none. . . . AA'hat
can't men do when engaged in so noble a caused " — Mrs. Bonney's Legacy of Historical
Gleanings, vol. i.. p. 57.

1777.] WASHINGTON RECROSSES THE DELAWARE. 531
When Donop, at Burlington, heard of Avhat had happened, he at
once abandoned loAver New Jersey, and CoriiAvallis went back to
Princeton. A party of British hurried doAvn to reconnoitre, but only
to find Trenton empty of both Hessians and Americans. Washing
ton crossed the river again on the 30th, and mustered his Avhole force
in the neighborhood of Trenton. The NeAV England regiments,
whose term of service expired with the close of the year, Avere per
suaded to remain six weeks longer, and these, Avith a considerable
number of Pennsylvania militia, recruited mainly in Philadelphia,
increased the army to about six thousand men.^ Early on Ncav
Year's morning, Robert Morris, the Avealthy and patriotic Philadel
phian to Avhoni Washington had applied for money to pay
the troops, Avas busy borroAving funds frora his friends. He money for
-ifini Tin • ¦ 1 'i- the troops
raised ntty thousand dollars in specie, and sent it to camp.
On the same date, Washington wrote to Congress : " We are devising
such means as I hojje, if they succeed, Avill add as much, or more,
to the distress of the enemy than their defeat at Trenton." But his
plans Avere largely contingent on the movements of the enemy, and
these were speedilj' developed.
Hearing that Washington had again crossed the Delaware, Corn
Avallis prepared to meet him and blot out the Trenton dis- ivashingtou
grace. Concentrating all his available force at Princeton, ^jXware
— seven thousand men, British, Highlanders, Hessians, and '^^'^""'
Waldeckers, — he marched on the 2d of January, 1777. De Fermoy,
Avith Hand's and Hausegger's regiments, Avas sent to check this
advance. Hand's men, as usual, behaved Avell ; but Colonel Hau-
segger was made prisoner, and is said to have proved himself a traitor
by a voluntary surrender. Some other troops under Greene also
harassed Cornwallis on his march, and prevented his reaching Tren
ton until evening. Washington, raeaiiAvhile, drew up his army on the
east bank of the Assanpink Creek, covered the crossing at the bridge
with artillery, and guarded all the fords above. The enemy came
on, driving back the advance, and passing through Trenton, Avere on
the point of storming the Assanpink Bridge, Avhen thirty pieces of
cannon opened upon them, as Knox said, " with great vociferation
and some execution," and compelled them to withdraw out of range.
1 There were " bounty-jumpers " in those days. In a general order, issued from his head
quarters at Morristovvn in February, 1777, AA'"ashington called attention to the "frauds
and abuses committed of late by sundry soldiers, who, after enlisting in one regiment and
receiving the bounty allowed by Congress, have deserted, enlisted in others, and received
new bounties." The Commander-in-chief, who was a strict disciplinarian and never in
clined to be merciful to wrong-doers, proceeded to declare that " this ofiFence is of the raost
enormous and flagrant nature, and not admitting of the least palliation or excuse ; who
ever are convicted thereof, and sentenced to die, may consider their execution certain aud
inevitable."

532 THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIG.V. [Chap. XXI.
Hardly had the two armies posted their pickets and lighted their
fires along either bank of the Assanpink, when Washington called a
council of his officers to discuss their position. Obviously it Avas crit
ical. The Del-aware Avas between him and Pennsylvania, and filled
with floating ice. Its passage in the presence of the eneray, at any
point below Trenton, was out of the question. Retreat in that direc
tion Avas impossible. To cut his Avay back to McConkey's Ferry, or
beyond, Avould undoubtedly have involved the ruin of his army, and
that, he knew, Avould be the end of the Avar then and there. He
might be able to hold the Assanpink front against Cornwallis, but the
stream above could be crossed, and his right flank turned. If he fore
saw — as it is to be assumed he did — the possibility, or even the prob
ability of placing the array in so hazardous a position, he voluntarily
encountered a great risk by the return to New Jersey. It Avas to as
sume the offensive with his eyes open to the possible consequences.
From Princeton to Trenton the main highway ran nearly in a
straight course through the village of Maidenhead, and it Avas along
this that Cornwallis had advanced. There was still another and less
travelled route between the tAvo places, known as the Quaker road,
which followed a roundabout line east of the Assanpink. By this
road, the distance to Princeton from Washington's camp was about
seventeen miles. It was proposed at the council to take this unfre
quented route, raake a night march to Princeton, reverse the situa
tion, and find a safer position beyond. The feasibility of this " most
extra manoeuvre," as Knox describes it, Avas demonstrated, all the
generals approved it, and orders were issued to carry it out imme
diately Avitli great secrecy and precaution. ^
About one o'clock at night the march was begun. St. Clair di
rected the details of preparation. The baggage was first
march for sent to Bui'lington, for no encumbrance on the road could be
Princeton. • i a i • . i
permitted. Along the front appearances Avere maintained as
of an army quiet in its encampment. A party left behind relieved
the guards as usual through the night, and fence-rails and dry wood
Avere piled on the camp-fires along the bank of the Assanpink, about
Avhicli the pickets gathered closely as the cold increased. Others
were at work Avith picks and shovels on a breastwork near the bridge.
1 In his brief narrative reviewing his military career. General St. Clair claims the credit
of having proposed this move to the Council. " The General," he says, " summoned a
Council of the general officers at ray quarters, and aftcr stating the difficulties in his way,
tbe probability of defeat, and the con.scciiience that would necessarily result if it happened,
desired advice. I had the good fortune to suggest the idea of turning the left of the enemy
in the night, gaining a raarch upou him, and proceeding with all po.ssible expedition to
Brunswick. General Mercer immediately fell in with it, and very forcibly pointed out both
its practicnbility and the advantages that would necessarily result from it, and General
Washington higlily approved it ; nor was there one dis.senting voice in the Council."

1777.]

THE MARCH TO PRINCETON.

533

So far as the pickets of the enemy could see, or conjecture, the Amer
icans were resting quietly in their camp all the night through, wliile
the troops, ignorant of their destination, Avere quietly set in motion
along the Quaker road toward Princeton. The ground, Avhich had
been muddy during the day, Avas hard from a sudden frost, and the
artillery was moved Avithout difficulty. As the men pushed on, in
silence and perfect order, though soinetinies sturabling over rocks
and stumps, and shivering in the keen northwest Avind, they discussed
annmg themselves what the General meant to do.'

The Stolen March.

St. Clair's brigade of Ncav Hampshire and Massachusetts troops
moved at the head of the column. Captain Isaac Sherman, of Con
necticut, son of that Roger Sherman Avho signed the Declaration of
Independence, led the advance guard. ^ In the van, also, Avere Captain
Thomas Rodney Avith an independent company from Delaware and
the " Eed Feather company of Philadelphia Light Infantry," which
alone of all the troops pretended to be in uniforra. The column moved
on all night "inthe most cool and determined order," thongh once
the cry was raised in the rear that the Hessians vvere upon them, and
some of the militia took fright and fled toAvard Burlington. Washing-
1 Journal of Captain Thomas Rodney, of Delaware.
2 AVilkinson's Memoirs,

531 THE NEAV JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Ch.\p. XXI.
toll, as usual, kept Avitli the van. The only cavalry that he could use
for guards, couriers, and patrols was a compan}' of twenty-one "gentle
men of fortune "' from Philadelphia, aa ho A-olunteered their services
and paid their oaa'ii AvaA".
It Avtis a little after daybreak AAdien the troops neared Princeton.
At Prince- The moming was bright, serene, and extremeh' cold. Wash-
'""¦ ington's plan Avtis to leave the main column Avith Sullivan's
division in advance, Avheel to the right and surprise the tOAVii on the
flank, Avbile ]\fercer should keep straight on, at the same time detach
ing a p'arty t(.i break down the bridge over Stony Creek on the main
road, to retard the enemy's pursuit from Trenton. Thus at sunrise
on the morning of January 3d, the situation Avas directly the reverse
of what it had been on the previous morning. CoriiAvallis AA'as at
Trenton, Washington at Princeton. Cornwallis Avas outgeneralled,
and the American army once more saved from thre:itened ruin.
Some serious work, howeA'er, remained to be done before the suc
cess of the manceuvre was completely assured. Three liritish regi
ments, — the ITtli, 40th, and 55th, — with three companies of dragoons,
had been left at Princeton as a rear guard. Two of them had been
ordered to join Cornwallis, and before sunrise this morning they -were
on the road, — the ITth, under Lientenant-colonel ]M;nvhood, and the
dragoons twentv rainutes in advance of him. After crossing Stony
Creek, a mile below the town, MaAvhood discovered the Americans on
the Quaker road half a mile to his left. Unable to account for their
appearance there, he nevertheless promptly faced about tind recrossed
the creek to reconnoitre, and, if iiecessiiry, sIioav fight. " You may
judge of the surprise of the British," says Knox, " when they saw such
a large column marching up. They could not possibly suppose it
was our army, for tluit, they took for granted, AA'as cooped up near
Trenton. They could not possibly suppose it was their own array re
turning bv a back road; in short, I believe they were as much aston
ished as if an army had dropped perpendicularly upon them."
Mawliood, believing that some advantage could be gained by
attacking and delaying the Americans, Inistened to take position just
off the road, on a hill near the house and barns of a Quaker named
Chirk. It so happened that Mercer, with a small Continental brigade
composed of the remnants of Smallwood's and Haslet's regiments,
and a detachment of Virginians under Captain Fleming, about three
hundrecl in all, on seeing the British returning, aimed for the same
Battle of point, reached it first, and forraed behind a fence. As the
Princeton, eiiemy camc up, Mercer's men poured a volley into their
ranks, which avus immediately returned. Major Wilkinson, of St.

1777.] THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 535
Clair's staff, recollected that the smoke from the discharge of the tAvo
lines mingled as it rose and went up "in one beautiful cloud." MaAV-
hood, riding on a little broAvn pony, Avitli tAvo favorite spaniels bound
ing in front of him,' directed the movements of his small force, AA'hich
he held under thorough discipline and now brought to the field in
the best fighting condition. Preserving its line, the Seventeenth fol
lowed np its fire Avitli one of those irresistible charges for which the
British regular has been famous since the clays of Marlborough in
Europe and Wolfe in America. Despite the efforts of their officers
to keep them to their ground, Mercer's men, Avho had but few bay
onets, took to flight. General Mercer himself Avas unhorsed at the
outset and, refusing to surrender, struck out Avith his sword, only to
be bayoneted on all sides and left for dead. The brave Colonel
Haslet, of the Delawares, Avhile endeavoring to rally his men. Colonel
Potter, CajDtain Fleming, Captain Neal of the artiller}', and other
ofiicers, Avere also killed. General Cadwallader's militia brigade,
which had been sent to support Mercer, then gave way before jNIaw-
hood. But fortunately. Captain Moulder's volunteer artillery from Phila
delphia, and Captain Rodney's men, firing under cover of the barns
and stacks of hay in the vicinity, temporarily checked the enemy and
enabled Washington, Avho was now at the front, to take measures
against further disaster. He sent Avord to Nixon's brigade of the New
England Continentals, then commanded by Colonel Daniel Hitchcock,
of Providence, to come up on the eneray's right, Avhile Hand's veteran
riflemen threatened their left. The Commander-in-chief then rode
in among Mercer's and Cadwallader's routed troops, regardless of
personal danger, and succeeded, Avith others, in re-forming the greater
part of them, and again drew them up in front of the British. Both
sides opened fire. Hitchcock, Hand, and CadAvallader pushed on, and
Mawhood, finding himself in danger of being surrounded, was com
pelled to retreat. His men had thus far fought bravely, but noAV
they sought safety in flight, and throwing doAvn their arms, scattered
down the road, up the creek, and over the fields, pursued by the
shouting Americans. The danger Avas over. The army moved on to
Princeton and drove the other British regiments, Avho had posted
themselves in the College building, out of the toAvn. The exhausted
troops encamped that night at Somerset Court House, fifteen miles
beyond. The intention of making a push for Brunswick, where Wash
ington had hoped to capture the British stores, had to be abandoned,
^ Wilkinson's Memoirs, AVilkinson was St. Clair's Brigade-major, afterward General-
in-chief of the American army, and gives many particulars in his account of the battles of
Trenton and Princeton.

536 THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI.
for the men " having been Avithout rest, rura, or provisions for two
nights and days, were unequal to the task of marching seventeen miles
farther." i
In the fighting of this day, the British lost over sixty killed, and
raany Avounded, besides two hundred and fifty prisoners.
The losses. . . .
The American loss was about thirty killed, and a propor
tionate number of wounded ; but araong them was the gallant ]\Ier-
cer, who died a day or two later, and Haslet, whose services had been
valuable from the beginning of the campaign. Hitchcock, who was
thanked by Washington in person for his conduct in the battle, died
ten days later from the hardships of the campaign.
When Cornwallis discovered that the enemy was beyond pursuit,
he at once marched his troojDS to Princeton, and entered the place
an hour after the Americans had left. They came 'on, it was said,
"in a raost infernal sweat — running, puffing, and blowing, and swear
ing at being so outwitted." ^ Washington, hoAA'ever, could not be
overtaken. On the 6th, the arm}' reached ]\Iorristown, and
quarters at preparations Avere immediately made to go into Avinter quar
ters. The campaign was virtually over for that winter,
though Heath and Lincoln raade a demonstration toAvard New York a
few days later, and summoned Fort Independence to surrender. The
movement served, perhaps, to alarm HoAve for the safety of Ncav York,
but Avas otherAvise so far from answering the purpose intended, that
the generals in command were rebuked for its failure. They permit
ted themselves to be driven frora the investment of the fort by a sortie
of the garrison. "Your summons," Avrote Washington to Heath, "as
you did not attempt to fulfil your threats, Avas not only idle, but far
cical, and Avill not fail of turning the laugh exceedingly upon us."
With the general result of the campaign, however, the Commander-
in-chief had every reason to be satisfied, as the country had
the cam- every reason to be satisfied Avith .the Commander-in-chief.
paign- rpj^g wisdom of trusting liiin with alraost irresponsible power
was raade manifest, as it became plainer every day that he kncAV how
to use and would not abuse supreme authority. In about six months
he had completely changed the aspect of affairs. Successive disasters
— the loss of Long Island, the evacuation of New York, the surrender
of Fort Washington, the retreat through New Jersey to the banks of
1 Captain Rodney, mentioned above, was frora Dover, Delaware, and was a brother of
Hon. Caesar Rodney, delegate in Congress from that State. AVriting on the evening of the
fight, he s.tys of Princeton : " This is a very pretty little town ou the York road twelve
miles from Trenton ; the houses are built of brick, and are very elegant, especially the
College, which has 52 rooms in it ; but the whole town has been ravaged and ruined by
the eneray."
- Knox, in letter of January 7, 1777.

1777.]

RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.

537

the Delaware, the apparently impending fall of Philadelphia — had
made the most sanguine almost despair of the war. But the main
army was now safely and firraly seated in the very heart of New Jer
sey; anxiety for New York had compelled Howe to abandon, at least
for the present, his designs upon Philadelphia; BrunsAvick and Am
boy were the only towns that he could really call his own in all that
province, which, a little while before, he and his troops believed they
could overrun at will ; he had been outgeneralled by the rebel chief
whom he affected to despise, and his veteran, disciplined, and well
appointed troops had been out-fought by raAV militia, just taken from
the plough and the workshop, and about to return there, half-starved,
half-clothed, almost shoeless in the winter weather, almost without
any of the ordinary
appliances of the
camp, short of am
munition, short of
arms, — short of
everything but an
invincible determi
nation to fight to
the end, and an in-
telligent under
standing of what
they were fighting
for. Trenton and
Princeton had
shown that at the
head of such an ar
my was a great soldier, one avIio knew how to Avait, Avho could never
be hurried, who could never be put to fear ; with the raental re
sources of foresight, of corabination, and of concentration that make
military genius. The English Ministry and European statesraen rec
ognized in the New Jersey campaign the character of the American
Revolution and the certain coraing of a new nation.
Meanwhile the penalties of war Avere exacted in full raeasure. The
sufferings of the American soldiers who had fallen into the sufferingsof
hands of the British, and were held as prisoners in New p""™""-
York, were notorious at the time, and have long been famous in the
annals of cruelty, — " Since man first pent his fellow men
Like brutes within an iron den."
A writer in the New London "Gazette" gave an account of their
treatment, writing it down from the recitals of some of the prisoners

Old Sugar-House, Liberty Street.

538 THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI.
themselves. As soon as they were taken, they were robbed of their
baggage, money, and clothes. Some of them Avere put on board the
prison-ships and thrust down into the hold, where they Avere so
croAvded together that they were in a constant perspiration ; and from
here they were suddenly transferred to some of the churches in New
York, Avhere, without any covering or a spark of fire, they suffered
from the other extreme of temperature, " and the consequence was,
that they took such colds as brought on the raost fatal diseases, and
SAvept them off almost beyond conception." The food that Avas given
them for three days was scarcely enough for one day, "and in some
instances they Avent for three days without a single mouthful of food
of any kind." " For the bread," says this writer, " some of it Avas
made out of the bran Avhich they brought over to feed their light-
horse ; and the rest of it was so mouldy, and the pork was so damni
fied, being soaked in bilge-Avater in the transportation from Europe,
that they were not fit to be eaten by human creatures." Sick and
well were thrust in together in the churches, than Avhicli no buildings
could be more unfit for the confinement of men who must eat and
sleep there ; and " manj' lay for six, seven, or eight days in all the
filth of nature and of the dysenterj', till death, more kind than the
Britons, put an end to their misery." It was said that the English
officers Avere continually cursing the prisoners as rebels, and threaten
ing to execute them as such, and that at one time they ordered each
man to choose his halter, out of a parcel offered, whereAvith to be
hanged. And many of them Avere hanged, the executions taking
place at night on a pernninent gallows 'in what is now Chambers
Street, New York. Out of about five thousand prisoners, fifteen
hundred died in captiA'ity, and many others scarcely survived to reach
their homes when they Avere released.
The buildings used for prisons in Ncav York Avere Van Cortlandt's
sugar-house, at the northwest corner of Trinity church-yard ; Rhine-
lander's sugar-house, corner of William and Duane Streets ; another
sugar-house in Liberty Street, a short distance east of the old Post
Office ; the North Dutch Church, still standing in William Street ;
the Middle Dutch Church, of late years the Post Office, at the corner
of Liberty and Nassau Streets ; the Brick Church, formerly at the
head of Nassau Street ; the New .lail, now the Hall of Records in
City Hall Park ; and the New Bridewell, in the same park, which has
been demolished. Eight hundred prisoners were packed into the
North Dutch Church.
The prison-ships were mainlj' devoted to the confineraent of Amer
ican sailors. The principal ones Avere the G-ood Hope, anchored in
the North River, and the Scorpion, the Falmouth, the Stromholi, the

1777.]

THE BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS.

.539

Hunter, and afterward the Jersey, anchored in Wallabout Bay, the
present site of Brooklyn Navy-yard. As the agreement con- pnson-
cerning prisoners only provided for exchanges in kind, those '^'''p'''
on the prison-ships were left much longer in confinement than the
other captives of war, since they were mostly privateers, and the pri
vateering vessels Avere accustomed to parole their prisoners instead
of bringing them into port, — the Americans thus being left without
sailors to exchange for sailors. At one time the British authorities
offered to exchange these seamen for soldiers ; but the Americans re
fused, as that would only fill up the ranks of the enemy, Avitli no cor
responding benefit to their own. The Jersey Avas an old sixty-four-
gun ship, dismantled, and moored about twenty rods from shore.
Her port-holes Avere closed up,
and two tiers of holes twenty
inches square, barred with iron,
were cut in her sides. For a
long time the average number
of prisoners on board Avas one
thousand. Their alloAvance of
rations was' tAvo thirds the quan
tity issued to British seamen, but
with no fresh vegetables of any
kind. The rations were raostiy
cooked in an immense boilei
called "the Great Copper," the
meat being boiled in sea-Avatei
which corroded the copper and
rendered the food poisonous.
There was some relief, however,
for those of the prisoners who
happened to possess any money.
An old woman known as " Dame
Grant" came alongside on alternate days, in a boat rowed by two
boys, and sold fresh bread, vegetables, and other dainties, prudently
requiring that the cash be placed in her hand before the goods Avere
delivered. The prisoners had no means of Avashing their linen, ex
cept by dipping it in sea-water and then la5'ing it on the deck and
treading on it. No light or fire was furnishecl, and every night there
was a struggle for the places nearest to the small, grated openings.
The prisoners lost alraost every feeling of humanity for one another ;
and the principal anxiety of the volunteer nurses seemed to be to
claim their perquisites by robbing the dead and dying of their cloth
ing. "Death has no relish for such skeleton carcasses as Ave are,"

Middle Dutch Cliurch.

540

THE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN.

[Chap. XXI.

said an emaciated prisoner to Captain Dring, as he went on board ;
"but he will now have a feast upon you fresh-comers." The Captain,
finding there Avere several cases of small-pox on board, at once inocu
lated himself, using a common brass pin for a lancet. The Rev.
Thoraas Andros, who Avas confined on the Jersey, says an armed guard
was necessary in the Avell-room, to compel the prisoners to work the
pumps enough to keep the hulk from sinking, and they would not use
the buckets, brushes, and vinegar AA'hich were furnished for the cleans
ing of the ship. The highest privilege that any prisoner could aspire
to was to go ashore as one of a burying-party. General Johnson,
who lived near Wallabout Bay, estimated the number of deaths on
the prison-ships anchored there at eleven thousand five hundred. No
estimate puts it lower than ten thousand. ^
Finally a cartel for a general exchange A\'as agreed upon, and AA'as
The question ^^ oucc Carried out by Howe, AA'ho had everything to gain
of exc"

and nothing to lose by it. He gaA'e up men so broken down
by close confinement, short rations, and barbarous treatment, that
they could be of lit
tle further use as sol
diers, and expected
to receive in return
an equal number of
well-fed red-coats
and Hessians Avho
could resume their
places in his army
at once. In no other
Avay could he get re
cruits for that army,
except by bringing
them three thousand
miles across the sea.
A writer of the time,
in a letter dated Morristown, January, 1777, remarked that General
Howe had "discharged all the privates Avho were prisoners in New-
York : one half he sent to the World of Spirits for Avant of food ; the
other he hath sent to warn their countrymen of the danger of falling
into his hands, and to convince them, by ocular demonstration, that
it is infinitely better to be slain in battle than to be taken prisoners
by British brutes."
^ See Recollections of the Jersey Prison-ship. From the original manuscript of Captain
Thomas Dring. Third edition, edited by Henry B. Dawson. 1865. The Americans also
had a piison-ship, the i?eto/i'a(/oH, moored near New London, Conn., for captured British
sailors. But it was never crowded, and presented uo such scene of wretchedness.

Rhinelander's Sugar-House.

1777.]

THE QUESTION OF EXCHANGE.

541

In April, 1777, General Howe demanded of Washington a return
for a considerable number of officers and twenty-two hundred privates
whom he had released and sent within the American lines. Washing
ton refused to make the return by releasing an equal number of Brit
ish ' prisoners ; his argument in support of this refusal being, that
though the enemy had kept the letter of the contract, they had delib
erately violated its spirit and nullified its purpose. He would not
hold himself bound, he told HoAA'e, " either by the spirit of the agree
ment or by the principles of justice, to account for those prisoners
who, from the rigor and severity of their
treatment, were in so emaciated and lan
guishing a state at the time they carae out,
as to render their death almost certain and
inevitable, and which, in many instances,
happened while they were
returning to their horaes,
and .in many others after
their arrival." The Araeri
can commander proceeded
at considerable length to
lay doAvn the principles ap
plicable to the case, and to
charge Lord Howe in the
most direct manner with
purposely disabling the
prisoners in his hands.
" The object of every cartel
or similar agreement," he
said, " is the benefit of the
prisoners themselves and
that of the contending
powers. On this footing,
it equally exacts that they
should be well treated as
that they should be ex
changed; the reverse is therefore an evident infraction, and ought
to subject the party on whom it is chargeable to all the damage
and ill consequences resulting from it. Nor can it be expected that
those unfitted for future service by acts of severity, in direct violation
of a compact, are proper subjects for an exchange. In such a case, to
return others not in the same predicament, Avould to be give Avithout
receiving an equivalent, and would afford the greatest encouragement
to cruelty and inhumanity." The circumstances that called for an

North Dutch Church.

542 THE NEAV JERSEY CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXI.
application of these principles Avere as forcibly stated as the principles
themseh'es. Washington declared that he was " compelled to consider
it a fact not to be questioned, that the usage of our prisoners Avhilst in
your possession, the privates at least, Avas such as could not be justi
fied. This Avas proclaimed by the concurrent testimony of all who
caniie out ; their appearance sanctified the assertion ; and melancholy
experience, in the speedy death of a large part of them, stamped it
with infallible certainty." He proclaimed his pui'pose to retain and
care for these released prisoners, as an act of humanity, but not to
consider tbem exchanged, and not to return for them an equal num
ber of able-bodied British soldiers.
Howe admitted the justice of the principles laid down, but denied
that they Avere applicable to him. He claimed that the prisoners had
been supplied with the same food, in quantity and quality, that was
issued to the King's troops not on service; that the sick had been
received into British hospitals, and that he was entirely at a loss to
account for the great mortality among them. After an interval of
nearly two months (June 10, 1777) Washington sent him a long re
joinder, going over the ground with great particularity and specifying
the methods and means of ill-treatment which had been pursued. He
closed by declaring that he would not recede from his position on the
question, but Avas extremely anxious for a general exchange on equita
ble principles.

The C:.-.". r;.:--^. ^. Jermantown.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA.
The New Army. —French Assistance. — The Beaumarchais Transactions. —
Sympathy of the French Court. — Spain's Attitude. — Opening Skirmishes
OF the Campaign in New Jersey. — Burning of Danbury, Connecticut. —
Meigs's Sag Harbor Expedition. — General Howe sails from New A'ork. —
Appears in the Delam'ARe, and then in the Chesapeake. — AVashington
marches to meet Him. — Battle of Brandy-wine. — Defeat of the Amer
icans. — AVatne surprised at Paoli. — Philadelphia occupied by the British.
— Battle of Germantown. — A Victory lost.

The work of the winter, after the troops were placed in winter
quarters at Morristown, Avas the formation of a new army in ^^ „e^ ^^.^^
preparation for a new campaign. Congress had decided in ™""''
August, 1776, that eighty-eight battalions be raised, to take the place
of the regiments in the field upon the expiration of their terms of
service, and that they should be apportioned to the several States
in accordance with their relative populations. The appointment of
ofiicers, except the Generals, was given to the State Assembhes, but
the commissions issued frora Congress. The power of removal and
appointment of all officers below the Generals was, however, subse
quently given to Washington. To raise this army and put it into the
held, was an exceedingly slow, vexatious, and laborious process. Even
m March, Washington had not four thousand men on his muster rolls.
Indeed, the whole number of raen called for by Congress Avas never
recruited by the States. The strain upon the population
Avas severe, and the question of length of service was a diffi- cuuy with
cult one to deal with. On the one side, it Avas contended
that an effective and well-disciplined army could never be organized

544

THE CAMPAIGN IN PEN^NSYL VANIA. [Chab. XXU.

with men whose terms would expire in a year ; on the other, it was
declared that the northern farmers and mechanics Avould enlist with
alacrity for that length of time, and keep the army full, but could not
be induced to leave their farms and workshops for a period so long
that it was practically their ruin. The difference of opinion marked
the difference betAveen North and South. The northerner, with his
quick intelligence and active habits, required but little time to become
a good soldier ; and he was not willing to sacrifice all that he had ac
quired, or all his hopes for the future, by a long enlistment, though
he might make repeated short ones. The social condition of the
South, on the other hand, produced raen whose lack of education, and
whose smaller in
telligence, required
long and severe
training, and to
whom a long term
of service was little
or no sacrifice, for
their stake in so-
ciet}' Avas small, as
they left neither
farms nor work
shops behind them.
It was only one of
those questions
which, growing
out of disparity of
race and social con
ditions, and the
consequent differ
ence of civihzation,
have always, from
the first moment
of the political
union of the States,
made that union
precarious. But
Avhen the summer
campaign fairly began, Washington had under his immediate com
mand seven thousand three hundred Continentals. The army south
of the Hudson was divided into ten brigades, under Generals Con
way, De Haas, Berre, Maxwell, Muhlenberg, Scott, Smallwood,
Wayne, Weedon, and Woodford.

Door of Washington's Headquarters at Morristown.

1777.] FRENCH ASSISTANCE. 545
From the first outbreak of hostilities in 1775, to the opening of the
campaign of this year, the difficulty of procuring munitions g,.„icityof
of war was quite as serious as that of procuring raen to use ™"""'0"s-
them. The supply of gunpoAvder depended partly upon Avhat coidd
be picked up in the West Indies and on the coast of Africa, and
partly upon the capture of English vessels by the privateers. But so
limited and uncertain was this resource, that poAvder-mills were estab
lished in several places ; every possible encouragement Avas given to
the domestic production of saltpetre, and the thrifty farmer turned
his barn-yard into a laboratory. Arms, at first, Avere equally scarce,
till the governraent provided for that want, in part, by establishing
manufactories in Massachusetts at Springfield, and in Pennsylvania
at Lancaster. But for the relief of this dire poverty in all Aidfrom
that made the continuance of Avar possible, the reliance Avas i'^'""'^'-
largely upon the friendly, though secret, aid of France. In the spring
of 1776, Beaumarchais, an agent of Vergennes, proposed to Arthur
Lee, then in London, to provide arms, ammunition, and even money,
for the use of the Americans. The negotiations were, of course, Avith
out any apparent sanction of the French government, as they Avere
in violation of its treaty obligations to Great Britain ; but the ar
rangement Avas finally concluded with Silas Deane, at Paris. Beau
marchais fulfilled his engagements uncler the commercial style and
name of Roderique Hortales & Co. Large supplies of powder, cannon,
and field equipage were shipped from France in spite of the protesta
tions of the English minister in Paris. The French government, in
reply, regretted that any of its subjects should be so regardless of
treaty obligations, denied all responsibility for such illegal acts, pre
tended to interfere, but let the ships slip out to sea Avithout hindrance.
But in January, 1777, France took a more positive position, Avhen
the commissioners — Benjarain Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur
Lee, whom Congress sent to Europe — asked the King to recognize
the independence of the United States. This decisive step the King
Avas not prepared to take ; but, he said, in his reply to the Commis
sioners — "to prove his good Avishes towards the United States, he
had ordered two millions of livres to be paid to them by quarterly
payments, Avhich should be augmented as the state of his finances
Avould permit." At the same time the commissioners were to be at
hberty to make purchases of inilitary stores and forward them as pri
vate merchandise. A year was yet to pass before France Avas quite
ready to avoAV publicly the sympathy Avhich her people felt in the
cause of the Americans, by the recognition of the new Repubhc,
though Vergennes had shoAvn for a dozen years his anxiety that the
old enemy of France should be crippled by the loss of her colonies.
VOL. hi. 35

546 THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. XXII.
An effort Avas raade to enlist Spain on the side of America. Lee
Spain's atti- started for Madrid in February, but the Spanish Court
'"''''¦ would not admit him to an interview. Yet it secretly joined
with France in aiding the colonists to the extent of a million hvres.
This course Avas dictated purely by policy. Spain desired to be on
good terms Avith France; but the independence of the English colonies
in Araerica she dreaded rather as a mischievous example for her own,
than approved of it as a struggle for the liberties of a people which
should command her respect and sympathy.
Frederick of Prussia was too closely bound to England to encourage
rrctoicks openly the revolt of any portion of her subjects. But he
opinion. .^^..^g j^qj. -^y^nting in frankness of speech. He spoke of Parlia
ment as acting " like an infuriated fool in the Araerican business."
" I like those brave fellows," he said of the American soldiers ; "and
cannot help secretly hoping for their success." He exacted the pay
ment of an impost duty on the German legionaries, hired by England,
when they passed through his dominions to a port of embarkation, for,
he said, " they are cattle exported for foreign shambles." If England
cared for the apjDrobation of Europe in her efforts to subjugate Amer
ica, she found little anywhere except among the petty princes whose
soldiers she purchased.
At Morristown, N. J., Washington's headquarters were at the
Freeman Tavern, a house which is still standing. The
town, from its elevated position, could be easily defended,
and Avas a convenient point frora which to observe the movements of
the enemy during the Avinter. The army, reduced to a mere handful,
took up quarters in log huts, and at intervals engaged in skirmishes
with the English, who had drawn in their posts close to Staten Island
and New York.
A party of New Jersey militia, under Colonel Oliver Spencer, at
tacked an equal number of Waldeckers at Springfield on the
in New 5th of Januarj', two days after the battle of Princeton, and
routed them, taking thirty-nine prisoners. On the 20th,
General Philemon Dickinson, of Trenton, at the head of three hun
dred New Jersey militiamen, with two independent companies of Con
tinentals, raised under Captains Ransom and Durkee in the Wyoming
Valley, defeated an English foraging party sent out from Ncav Bruns
Avick to seize the flour in a mill near Somerset Court House. The
enemy had loaded their plunder in wagons, and were about to carry
it off, when Dickinson's men waded jNlillstone Creek, waist-deep, and
fell upon the foragers with so rauch spirit that he corapelled them to
fly, leaving Avagons and flour behind them.
Later in the spring, the British also organized raids against points

1777.] BURNING OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT. 547
where American stores had been collected. Peekskill, on the Hud
son, Avas a general depot for cattle, provisions, and other sup- ^^^^ ^j j^^.
plies for the troops. Here General McDougall was posted, ^^sush.
with less than three hundred effective men. On the 22d of March
the enemy appeared off the town with a fleet of ten sail, from which
a body of five hundred regulars, under Colonel Bird, landed to attack
McDougall. That officer, fortunately, had been apprised of Bird's ajj-
proach in time to Avithdraw the garrison and a considerable part of
the stores. The English destroyed all that remained, and burned two
or three houses. Sorae skirmishing occurred on their retreat, in which
they lost nine killed, and the Araericans one.
A far more destructive incursion was that of April 26th, into Con
necticut, under Ex-governor Tryon. With two thousand Danbury
men, Tryon, who had been made a Major-general of pro- ''"™«<*-
vincials, sailed down the Sound frora New York, and on the 25th, late
in the evening, debarked his force on the east bank of the Saugatuck
River. The distance from this point to Danbury was about twenty
miles. Tryon, keeping on the east side of the Naugatuck, marched
with but slight opposition toward Danbury, where he arrived at two
o'clock the next day.
The neighboring country was speedily alarmed, and General G. S.
Silhman, of Fairfield, started in pursuit Avith five hundred militia.
Major-general Wooster, of the State troops. Brigadier-general Arnold,
Lieutenant-colonel Oswald, of the artillery, and other officers, were at
New Haven, sixty miles distant, and they rode with all speed toward
Danbury. A heavy rain on the afternoon of the 26th prevented
any considerable numbers of the militia from reaching the village of
Bethel, tAvo miles southeast of Danbury, until near midnight. The
American plan was, to intercept the enemy as they returned to their
vessels in the raorning.
Tryon rapidly accomplished the object of his expedition, destroying
over sixteen hundred tents — a loss the Americans could ill sustain —
and other stores, and after burning all the buildings belonging to reb
els, set out on his return. Finding
the militia in force on the road by — yy
which he had come, he turned west- /^ -^£^10 cJ/cyf^tSy^
erly toward Ridgefield, intending to ' /
reach his ships by another route. wooster's signature.
Wooster, Arnold, and Silliman di
vided their forces to meet this raovement. By a forced march, Ar
nold reached Ridgefield before noon on the 27th, in advance of
Tryon. Wooster Avas in pursuit with a small body. If his courage
had ever been doubted before, he proved it now. Urging his men to

548 THE CAMPAIGN IN PENXSYLVANI.V. [Chap. XXU.
folloAV him to the attack of the enemy, he fell, mortallj' Avounded, and
was carried from the field upon his sash.
At Ridgefield, Arnold attempted, AA'ith his usual daring, to check
Arnolds the enemy, but could effect nothing Avith his small handful
bravery. ^j: men. Here he had a horse shot under him, and the tra
dition is, that Avhile he was struggling to release his feet from the
stirrups, a Tory from New Fairfield, named Coon, advanced and called
to him, "Surrender!" "Not yet," returned Arnold, who at that
moment, having extricated himself, drew a pistol, shot the Tory, and
dashed into the woods amid a shower of bullets. He presently' reap
peared and renewed the attack.
LTnable to check the retreat of the eneni}', the militia gathered at
Saugatuck Bridge on the morning of the 28th, where Arnold, Silhman,
and Colonel Huntington, Avitli a small party of Continentals, prepared
to make a final stand. Lieutenant-colonel OsAvald and Colonel Lamb,
of the artillery, had guns posted advantageously ; but the enemy
crossed the stream above, and passing doAvn the east side before they
could be attacked, reached Compo and their vessels. Their loss was
forty killed, and many wounded ; on the other side eighty Avere
Avounded, and tAvent}' killed, among them Dr. David Atwater of New
Haven, and Lieutenant-colonel Gold.
Other marauding expeditions followed this, on both sides. On the
21st of May, Colonel Return J. Meigs, of Parsons's brigade,
pedition to tlieii at New Haven, embarked a detachment in thirteen
whale-boats for a descent on Long Island ; a gale compelled
them to put in at Guilford, but on the 23d, reembarking with one
hundred and seventy men, he crossed the Sound under convoy of two
armed sloops, and landed at Southold, on the northern shore of Long
Island, at six o'clock p. M. Finding that the enemy's troops at that
point had marched for New York tAvo days before, the Colonel de
termined to surprise the detachment guarding stores at Sag Harbor,
fifteen miles distant, on the soutli side of the island.
Taking one hundred and thirty men, and eleven boats, which Avere
carried across the strip of land to the broad bay on the other shore,
he reached a point four miles frora Sag Harbor about midnight. Con
cealing his boats in the Avoods, he led his men, Avith bayonets fixed, to
the assault of the barracks of the enemy — who Avere chiefly Ainerican
loyalists. The attack Avas made at five dift'erent points at the same
moment ; at the first alarm an armed schooner, carrying sevent}' men
and tAvelve guns, lying within a hundred and fifty yards of the shore,
opened a brisk fire of grape and round shot. The action continued
for nearly an hour, but Meigs succeeded in capturing the Avhole of the
Tory guards, in burning tAvelve brigs and sloops, one of thera armed

1777.]

THE CAPTURE OF GENER.\L PRESCOTT.

549

with twelve guns, and in destroying more than a hundred tons of hay,
large quantities of grain, ten hogsheads of rum, and other stores. Be
fore night he Avas in his quarters again at NeAV Haven, without having
lost a man. For this exploit Congress voted him a SAvord, with an
assurance of its high sense of " the prudence, activity, enterprise, and
valor," displayed in the expedition.
But the destruction or capture of military stores was not ahvays the
object of these raids. On the night of July 20, Lieutenant- coionei Bar-
colonel William Barton, of the Rhode Island militia, entered G"„e?ai'"'"'
upon an adventure of another character, for which the com- P^scott.
mander also was presented a sword by Congress. The British Alajor-
general Prescott was in quar
ters on the west side of the ff
island, about half way between
Newport and Bristol Ferry,
and Barton deterrained to
make him prisoner. With a

Meigs's Expedition to Sag Harbor.

party of forty men in five whale-boats he pulled through the British
fleet without being discovered, landing in the night about a mile from
the house where Prescott lodged. The surprise Avas complete ; the
English General Avas not even aAvakened till a negro with Barton
came head foremost, as the easiest Avay of forcing it, through a panel

550 THE CAMPAIGN IX PENNSYLA'ANIA. [Chap. XXII.
of the door into the bedchamber. The capture of Prescott Avas con
sidered as an offset to that of Lee, and Washington, as well as Con
gress, hoped that they might be exchanged for each other.'
That Lee should be restored to the army AA'as considered at that
Lgg,3 time, b}' most people, desirable — by many, as absolutely
treason. ncccssary ; yet it was four months before, in March, 1777,
that he, the second Major-general in the American armj', had volun
tarily drawn up that plan of a carapaign for the Howes by Avhich, he
believed, Washington and his army could be isolated, and the Middle
States cut off from all aid from the North and from each other, and
then, one by one, reduced to submission, so that, as he said, " I will
venture to assert AA'ith the penalty of ray life, if the plan is fully
adopted, and no accidents (such as a rupture between the poAvers of
Europe) intervene, that in less than two months from the date of the
proclamation [of pardon] not a spark of this desolating war remains
unextinguished in any part of the Continent." " The country," he
said, " has no chance of obtaining the end she proposes to herself ; "
to continue the Avar was to waste blood and treasure on both sides ;
he put it upon his conscience " to bring matters to a conclusion in the
most compendious manner and consequently the least expensive to
both parties." And the conclusion he proposed was, the subjugation
of the people who Avere struggling for their liberties, who had lav
ished upon him their confidence and regard, and whose cause he
raeant to betray by giving to their enemies the benefit of his assumed
knoAvledge of how that cause could be most easily and most speedily
ruined. His conduct was none the less base, that, unlike Arnold, the
enemy did not think hira Avorth heeding or buying.^
The summer months had come before Howe developed his proposed
operations, Avhich Lee had hoped to influence. To watch him
breaics more closely and be in a position to follow his movements
rapidly, Washington, on the 28tli of May, broke camp at
MorristoAvn and marched a short distance southeast to Middlebrook,
on the Raritan, ten miles from Ncav BrunsAvick. His force now num
bered seven thousand Continentals. The English General made no
1 Congress bestowed upon Barton, besick'S the usual honor of a sword, a tract of land iu
Vermout. He was distinguished for his services later in the war, and attained to the rank
of colonel. AA'hen Rhode island adopted the Federal Constitution Colonel Bartou was the
special messenger sent to announce the fact to Congress. Later in life he was unfortunate,
and was imprisoned for debt growing out of sorae iiTegularity in the transfer of a portion
of his land in Vermont. Lafayette, on his visit to the United States iu 1825, heard of the
unhappy fate that had befallen the veteran, with whose services he was probably familiar,
pnid the claim against him, and he was released.
'^ The remarkable document in which Lee set forth his plan of a campaign for the
Howes, ivas discovered by George H. Moore about twenty years since, and published in full
and in fac-simile in his Treason of Major-general Charles Lee,

1777.]

HOWE SAILS FROM NEAV YORK.

551

move until the 12th of June, Avhen he pushed out Cornwallis to sur
prise Sullivan at Princeton. Failing to overtake Sullivan, Avho fell
back to Flemington, or to disturb Washington in his strong h„„.„., ,„a.
position at Middlebrook, Howe retired toward Staten Island "t^"™^-
Sound, and the Americans advanced to Quibbletown (the present
Ncav Market) with Stirling's division in the front at Metuchen. Find
ing Washington at some distance from his old and Avell fortified camp,
the English General, on the 26th of July, again moved out in force
to bring him to action or get in his rear ; but Washington
n 1 T 1 1 .1 1 • r T Crosses to
thwarted both plans by a timely retreat to bis former ground, staten
Cornwallis, however, encountered Stirling, and took from
him three cannon and about two hundred prisoners. On the 30th the
Enghsh again withdrew, this time crossing in a body to Staten Island.
From this moment, for six weeks, the movements of the enemy
were veiled in so much secrecy that Washington at times was g^ds jj.„„,
totally at a loss where to post himself most advantageously. ^'^'^ ^°'^^'
His anxiety was partly dispelled when, on July 23d, Howe set sail
from New York j^ .,^,
with about eighteen
thousand men, leav
ing six thousand in
the city under Clin
ton. His destina
tion was concealed,
but on the 30th the
fleet appeared in the
Delaware, and
Washington quickly
put his armj' in mo
tion. But Howe,
finding the Dela
ware so obstructed
that he could make
no landing above
Christiana Creek,
again put to sea.
Washington had en
camped on the Nesharainy Creek, about tAventy miles north of Phila
delphia, in the vicinity of the present village of Hartsville, Avhere,
for two weeks, he awaited events in great anxiety .^ To venture far
' AVashington raade his headquarters here at the two story dwelling still standing on
property owned by the heirs of AVilliam Bothwell. At the time of the Revolution it was
one of the best finished houses in the neighborhood. — AV. J. Buck in Penn, Mag,, i. 275.

Washington's Headquarters at Hartsville,

.552

THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLV.^NIA. [Cuap. XXII.

from Philadelphia Avould have been hazardous, and yet if the enemy
should sail to New England, and a junction be made there with
Burgoyne, they Avould gain valuable time and be many days' march
in advance of the American army. Greene wrote that Howe's move
ments Avere so strange they "exceeded all conjecture." When ten
days had passed Avithout tidings frora the fleet, and Washington was
persuaded that Howe's objective point Avas not Philadelphia, he
called a council of war. The
unaniraous opinion of this
body Avas, that as the enemy
had in all probability sailed
for Charleston, and Avould
arrive there long before any
succor could reach the place,
it Avould be advisable to make
a retrograde movement to
ward the Hudson. There
the army Avould be in a posi
tion to threaten New York
or resist Burgoyne, if he
should succeed in defeating
Gates and move southward.
But fortunately before
there was tirae to carry out
this intention tidings arrived
that the British fleet had
been seen off the capes of the
Chesapeake. This intehi-
gence was confirraed the next
day by a dispatch from one
William Bardly, dated the
afternoon of August 21st,
announcing that one hundred ships had anchored off the river Pa-
tapsco, and that their number was continually increasing.
the chesa- As tlic tide was running a strong ebb at that hour, Bardly
Avas unable to report whether the enemy Avould land at Bal
timore or farther up the bay.^ The dispatch did good service ; it Avas
evident that HoAve had not relinquished his designs upon Philadel
phia, and orders AA'ere immediately giA'en to break camp and move to
meet the enemy. While the soldiers were busy Avitli their prepara
tions, the cheering news of Stark's victory at Bennington was brought
to them. 1 Manuscript Letter in Colleetions of Mass. Hist. Soc.

Lafayette's Statue, Union Square, New York.

1777.] BATTLE OF BRANDYAVINE. 553
At the camp on the Nesharainy, Washington's army Avas joined by
several of those foreign officer's Avho subsequently rendered efficient
and distinguished service to the Anierican cause. Lafayette, a young
Frenchman, of noble descent, then tAventy years of age, first learned
of the war in Araerica and its character while stationed at Metz as
a captain of dragoons, and he determined to offer it his personal aid.
As Franklin Avas unable to provide a vessel to transport him
to the American coast, he purchased one on his own ac- joins wash-
count, not without opposition both from his friends and at
court. He secretly set sail from the Spanish port of Passage, early
in 1777, and arrived at GeorgetoAvn, S. C, in April. With him were
twelve other officers, among them Baron John De Kalb. Congress at
first declined to coraraission Lafayette, on his arrival at Philadelphia ;
hut when he explained that he came as a volunteer, and Avished to
serve in the arm}' without pay, that body, on the 31st of July, gave
him the honorary rank of Major-general. He imraediately reported
to Washington, and was raade a member of his inilitary family.
De Kalb Avas by birth a German, but held rank in the French
army. Some ¦years before the war — as Ave have elsewhere De Kalb
mentioned — he, as well as a M. de Fontleroy, had travelled
through the American Colonies, by direction of the French minister
Choiseul, to learn the character and resources of the people, the ex
tent of the disaffection to the mother country, and the probabilities of
success in case of a revolt. De Kalb executed his commission with
ability, and had since watched Avith deep interest the progress of rev
olution in America. In September Congress gave him also a com
mission as Major-general. He remained with Washington till he was
detached in 1780 to serve in the southern campaign, where he fell on
the field of battle.
Washington marched his array in good order through Philadelphia
on the 22d of August, and proceeded to Wilmington. On
the 28th, HoAve reached the head of the Elk, fifty-four miles Kennett
from Philadelphia, and on the 10th of September, after skir
mishing with General Maxwell's advance corps, concentrated his force
at Kennett Square, six or seven railes south of the Brandywine River.
Here Washington deterrained to oppose his farther progress.
Howe's position on the left bank of the BrandyAvine Avas excellent
for defence. By commancling the principal fords, he left his B.ittieof
antagonist the choice of assaulting him at a disadvantage in brandywine.
front, or marching circuitously to the right. The crossing on the line
of the main road to Philadelphia Avas knoAvn as Chad's Ford. Bren-
ton's, Jones's, and Wistar's fords, were above, at intervals of three or
four miles, and a few miles beyond, where the river forked, there were

554 THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. XXII.
fords on each branch. The American army lay mainly opposite the
middle fords, — a position selected by Greene. At Chad's, Wayne
was posted Avith his division and artillery. Greene's was some distance
to his right, and still farther on Avere Stephen's, Stirling's, and Sulh-
van's divisions, forming the left wing of the army, commanded by
Sullivan, the senior Major-general on the field. This main line
stretched along the thickly wooded bank of the river for three miles,
and the farthest crossings on the right, Avhich it did not cover, Sulh-
van was instructed to Avatch.
Early on the raorning of the llth, the English flanking division,
under Howe and Cornwallis, marched for the upper crossings at the
forks of the river, with the intention of moving down upon Sullivan
on the other side and turning his flank. Although conducted in broad
daylight, and occupying nearly eight hours in its execution, the ma
noeuvre vi'as successful. The Araericans were distracted by conflicting
intelligence, ¦ — or rather failed to assure themselves of the enemy's
jDOsition. To ascertain Avhat Howe was about. Colonel Theodoric
Bland, under Washington's instructions, crossed the Brandywine at
Jones's Ford. He sent word back to Sullivan and the Coramander-
in-chief that CornAvallis was certainly aiming for the upper fords — in
telligence Avhich was confirmed by a later courier. Washington imme
diately decided to cross the river Avith his own force, and attack the
division of the enemy under Grant and Knyphausen opposite Chad's
Ford. Sullivan and Greene Avere sent to engage Howe's flanking col
umn. This bold raove on the part of Washington proraised success,
and a part of the troops had already forded the river, when Major
Spear, Avho had gone in the direction of the Brandywine forks, re
ported to Sullivan that there were no signs of the enemy in that di
rection. Sullivan accordingly, on his own responsibility, halted his
column and sent word to Washington at Chad's Ford, three or four
railes away, that the first report of Howe's flanking moveraent must
be erroneous, since nothing had been seen of it by the scouts who had
just corae in frora the right. Surprised at this, as he believed the
first reports to be true, the Commander-in-chief, nevertheless, decided
to abandon his proposed attack upon Grant and Knyphausen on the
other side of the river.
At about one o'clock in the afternoon, however, 'Squire Thomas
Cheney, of Thornbury toAvnship, galloped into Sullivan's
flanic camp with a report that the English had crossed the forks of
movement. loi* i .-r-.
the BrandyAvme and were nearing Birmingham meeting
house, on Sullivan's right. To make sure that his information reached
headquarters, Cheney rode on and informed Washington of the ene
my's approach. Washington hesitated for a moment to accept tidings

1777.]

BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.

555

so directly in conflict with Sullivan's latest report. " If you doubt my
word," said Cheney promptly, " put me under guard until you can ask
Anthony Wayne or Persie Frazer if I am a man to be believed ; "
and then turning to some of the General's staff, who were less in
chned to believe him than their chief, he indignantly exclairaed : " I

'Squire Cheney bringing the News.
would have you to know that I have this day's Avork as much at heart
as e'er a blood of yon ! " ^
Cheney's report, however, Avas presently confirmed by direct intel
ligence from the right, and Washington set his troops in motion to
meet the enemy. Sullivan, Avhen fully assured of the presence of the
British at Birmingham meeting-house, ordered the right wing, con
sisting of Stirling's, Stephen's and his oAvn divisions, to take up a
1 Historical Address by J. Smith Father, Penn. Mag, of Hist,, vol. i., p. 293.

556 THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. XXH.
position across the line of the enemy's march. In the hurry and ex
citement of the movement, Sullivan's division, while manoeuvering to
get into the general line on the left, was attacked, and, after a brief
struggle, forced to retreat. The divisions under Stirling and Stephen
offered better resistance ; but the defection on the right confused the
entire line, and in spite of Sullivan's personal efforts and the brave
stand made by Conway's brigade, the whole front Avas forced back by
Howe's vigorous assault.
To recover this reverse, Washington hurried Greene's division to the
support of the right Aving. But after a forced raarch of four miles
across the country, it could do no more than cover the retreat. Wee
don's Virginia brigade succeeded in checking the eneray until dark ;
and the entire column under Sullivan kept on toAvard Chester. Wayne,
in the mean time, had been attacked by Knyphausen and Grant at
Chad's Ford, and forced back Avith the loss of sorae cannon.
In this action Lafayette distinguished himself, and received a wound
in the leg Avhich confined him to his quarters for two months. ^ The
American loss Avas nearly three hnnd"red killed, five hundred wounded,
and ten field-pieces. The English lost something less than six hun
dred in killed and AVOunded.
The Avorn and broken columns of the Araerican army found rest
that night at Chester, and on the folloAving day retreated
toward Philadelphia and Germantown. On the 15th of
September, it crossed the Schuylkill, and on the 16th drew up in
position near Goshen meeting-house, on the Lancaster road. Howe
adA'anced, and skirmishing opened, Avitli Wayne in the American ad
vance. A stubborn pitched battle appeared to be imminent, Avhen a
storra of extraordinary violence set in and compelled the cessation of
all field movements. The rain so damaged the arms and cartridges
that Washington retired to French Creek, in WarAvick township, to
repair damages, but detached Wayne, Avith fifteen hundred men and
four field-pieces, to threaten and harass the enemy's flank and rear
Avhenever opportunity offered.
On the 19th, Wayne Avas at Paoli, and in the forenoon Avas able to
Waynes approach Avithin half a mile of Howe's encampment without
movement, j^eiug observed. He reported to Washington that the en
eray Avere then quiet, " washing and cooking," too compactly massed
to be openly attacked by his small force, but in a position to be struck
a heavy bloAV if the Commander-in-chief should come to his aid with
the Avhole array. Howe, he learned, was about to take up his line of
march, and though his pickets and patrols Avere throAvn Avell forAvard,
1 The U. S. frigate in which Lafayette returned to France at the close of his visit to
this country in 1825, was appropriately named the Brandywine.

1777] ALARM IN PHILADELPHIA. 557
Wayne hoped that by a skilful and rapid movement, the next night,
he might surprise the eneray and do some damage. " Here Ave are,
and there they go ! " Avas the watchword in Wayne's camp that night,
where it Avas believed that HoAve was completely ignorant of the
movement against hira. But some vigilant Tories were keeping the
British General exactly informed of Wayne's position and his prob
able purpose, and he, on his part also, had a surprise in store for his
opponent. General Gray was sent out, Avith three regiments of infantry and
some dragoons, toward Paoli, under Tory guides. The men Avere or
dered not to fire a gun, but depend altogether upon the bayonet.
About midnight, tAVO hours before the time fixed by Wayne for his
own movement, the British had silently approached, and surprised
his pickets, killing some and driving the rest upon the main bod}'.
Wayne instantly ordered his men under arms, but before they could
form, the enemy rushed upon the camp, cutting doAvn and bayonetting
the men, now throAvn into utter confusion. Then followed, wrote
an English officer who was present, " a dreadful scene of haA'oc."
The Americans were easily distinguished by the light of the camp-
fires, as they fell into line. It offered to Gray's men an advantage
Avhich quickened their movements. The charge Avas furious, and all
Wayne's efforts to rallj' his men Avere useless. They Avere driven
through the woods for two miles, and nearly one hundred and seventy
were killed. It Avas the chance of war that one side did Avhat the
other hoped to do, but the action, nevertheless, is recorded as the
"Paoli Massacre."
The steady adA'ance of the English upon Philadelphia threw that
city into great panic. It was one o'clock at night on the pyiadeiphia
19th, when Aid-de-camp Alexander Hamilton rode into "¦'''™'='i
town with a message from Washington to Congress that the eneray
had crossed the Schuylkill, and could be in the town in a fcAv hours.
The members were roused in their beds and told of their danger. Nat
urally they stood not upon the order of their going. One sedate del
egate, according to a diary of the time, rode off bare-back. Congress
had already adjourned to Lancaster.
Late as it was, the news spread rapidly. Thomas Paine, then sec
retary of one of the committees of Congress, describes the fright and
confusion into which the town was thrown. " It was a beautiful, still,
moonlight morning," he wrote to Franklin, " and the streets as full of
men, women, and children as on a market-day." Some moved away
at once, but a considerable portion of the inhabitants, especially the
Tories and the non-combatant Friends, many of whom Avere Tories,
remained in their homes. The excitement and terror were greatly

558

THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. XXII.

increased by the fear that the town Avould be set on fire, as was done,
whether accidentally or purposely, in New York, the year before.
For several nights the streets were patrolled to guard against this
possible danger.
HoAve marched leisurely down from Swede's Ford, and did not oc
cupy the city until the forenoon of the 26th. On the even-
Howe occu- . , „ , 1 1 . 1 1 •
pies the mg bcforc, he assured the inhabitants that those who re
mained peaceably at their homes should not be molested in
person or property. In the forenoon CornAvallis, Avith his division of
English and German troops, entered the city. The Tory citizens re
ceived them with loud cheers, as they marched down Second Street,
in gay uniforms and brilliant array, to their allotted quarters at the
Alms House and the State House. For his own residence, Howe
first occupied the house of General Cadwallader, on Second Street,
below Spruce, and
afterwards the man
sion on Market
Street where Wash
ington lived during
his Presidency.
From two inter
cepted letters it was
learned, a fcAV days
later, that Howe
had sent doAvn a
small detachment
to reduce the Amer
ican forts on the
Delaware. It took
little from his
strength, but when
added to the several
battalions under
Cornwallis in Phil
adelphia, four miles from the main camp, the decrease in Howe's
force was sufficient to invite an attack from a watchful opponent.
Washington determined to seize the opportunity.
Llowe's array was encamped in nearly a straight line from the
Schuylkill, across the main street of Germantown, to a point called
Luken's Mill, near the old York road. There were four approaches to
this line of the eneray : the Manatawny road near the river ran in on
their extreme left ; the Reading road, or Germantown Street, pierced
the centre ; the Lime-kiln road at Luken's Mill was at the right.

Howe's Headquarters. — Cadwallader House.

1777.] THE BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 559
and the York road, still farther to the right was guarded by patrols
and Simcoe's Rangers. Washington's plan Avas to advance on all
these four roads, and engage the enemy along the whole line at the
same moment. His orders were, that the attack should be made every
where at " precisely five o'clock " on the morning of the 4th of Octo
ber. That such accuracy in the movements of four separate columns
would be observed in the then condition and discipline of the Ameri
can troops, was hardly to be expected ; but if the plan should be only
partially carried out, it promised success. The main reliance was on
the two central colurans of Continental troops. That which Avas to
move direct upon Gerraantown, along the Reading road, Avas under
Sullivan's command, and was composed of his own and of Wayne's di
visions, and of Conway's brigade on the flank. The column next to
the left, marching by a longer route along the Lime-kiln road, was
under Greene, and included his own and Stephen's divisions, flanked
hy McDougall's brigade. These two bodies nurabered about nine
thousand good troops, inclusive of Nash's and Maxwell's brigades,
which forined a corps de reserve under General Stirling. The reraain
ing two columns on the right and left were militia, without artil
lery, commanded respectively by Generals Armstrong and Smallwood.
Armstrong was ordered to move down the Manatawny road by Van
Deering's mills, to turn the enemy's left, while Sraallwood and For-
man, with Maryland and New Jersey railitiaraen, Avere to attempt to
turn the right. Washington's purpose Avas to take the English off
their guard in front and flank, and by a deterrained attack, break and
rout their line before reenforcements could arrive from Philadelphia.
About eight o'clock on the evening of the 3d, the army left its
encampment on Metuchen Hill, and, marching all night, g„,iivan's
reached the points aimed at about daybreak on the 4th. ''"^'^'''
Sullivan's column, having the shortest and easiest route, reached
Chestnut Hill, where lay the centre of Howe's main line, and ad
vanced to the attack before the other columns arrived. The enemy's
pickets were posted on this road at Mount Airy, a mile or more below
Chestnut Hill. On Mount Pleasant, a short distance farther, lay their
supports, which consisted of the Second Light Infantry Battalion.
Nearly half-way between them and the main line. Colonel Musgrave's
Fortieth Regiment was stationed, opposite the stone mansion known
by the name of its late occupant, as the " Chew house."
The night had been dark, and the morning broke in clouds and
mist. The precautions taken by the Americans against giving an
alarm on the raarch had succeeded, and they were on the outposts of
the enemy before their approach was known. The American advance
guard, under Captain McLane, of DelaAvare, charged upon the pickets

560 THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Chap. XXII.
at Mount Airy without firing, killed the sentries, and drove the others
back to the light infantry. Sullivan detached a Maryland and a Penn
sylvania regiment to follow rapidly in support, and then formed his
division in line on the right of the road. The British infantry held
their ground for a feAV minutes, bat gave Avay before superior num
bers. Wayne's division then came up, and Sullivan formed it on the
left of the road, while CouAvay's brigade was transferred to the right
of both divisions. Thus aligned, Sullivan's and Wayne's troops pushed
forward on both sides of the road, driving before them both the in
fantry and the Fortieth Regiment, which had come to their relief.
Wayne's raen rushed eagerly after the Second Infantry, and sought to
revenge, at the point of the bayonet,^ the bloody Avork of that battal
ion at the "Paoli Massacre."
It Avas an auspicious and animating opening of the battle for the
Howe nndcc Americans. When Howe heard the unexpected firing on his
*''"^' front, he mounted his horse and dashed up the road, Avhere his
men Avere falling back hurriedly before the steady advance of their as
sailants. " For shame, light infantry ! " he shouted : " I never saw you
retreat before." But, Avarned by the heavy volleys that the enemy
Avas upon him in force, he turned back to the main line to prepare for
a general battle.^ Sullivan's and Wayne's columns pressed on, im
peded, hoAvever, by the many fences in the outskirts of Germantown,
through Avhich they Avere compelled to break their Avay. It Avas not
many minutes before they had forced their way to Avithin half a mile
of the British line, steadily driving the enemy before them.
But here an unlooked-for obstacle interfered with the forward
Chew's movement. In retreating before Sullivan, Colonel Musgrave
house. ^^^ g-jj. companies of the Fortieth Regiment thrcAV them
selves into the CheAV house, Avhicli stood a short distance from the
road, and, barricading the loAver story, converted the strong build
ing into a teraporary citadel. Sullivan and Waj'ne passed this man
sion Avithout observing that Musgrave occupied and Avas prepared
to defend it ; but this was seen Avlien Stirling came up Avith the re
serve. Washington, Knox, Reed, Pickering, the Adjutant-general,
and other officers of the staff, rode Avith Stirling's troops, and a con
sultation Avas held as to the propriety of attacking this stronghold.
Knox insisted that it Avas against all inilitary rule to advance Avith a
1 Lieutenant Hunter, of this battalion, writing a few days afterward, says : "AVhen tlie
first shols were fired at our pickets, so much had we all AVayne's affair in our remem
brance, that the b.attalion were out and under arras in a minute. . . . Just as tlie bat
talion had formed, the pickets came in and said tlie enemy were advancing in force. They
had hardly joined the battalion when we heard a lond cry, ' Have at the bloodliounds ! Re
venge AA^ayne's affair 1 ' "
^ Moovson's Historical Record of the Fify-second Regiment, "Lieut. Hunter's Diary."

1777.] BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 561
fort in one's rear, and it Avas accordingly decided to send a flag to
Musgrave, demanding his immediate surrender. Major Caleb Gibbs,
of Washington's guard, had in the first instance offered to carry the
flag, but his offer was then declined. Upon the final decision, Lieu
tenant-colonel MatthcAV Smith, of Virginia, an accomplished officer,
acting as Assistant Adjutant-general, volunteered to make the de
mand; but Avhen near the house, he was fired upon and received a
wound frora Avhich he afterAA'ard died. MaxAvell's brigade of the re
serves was then called up and ordered to attack the place. Four light
field-pieces — no large ones having been brought Avith the army —
opened upon the building, but it effectually resisted bombardment.
No impression could be made upon its Avails. The musketry-fire was
even less effectual. Brave as ^Maxwell's men Avere, the garrison with
stood them quite as bravely. The defence Avas as vigorous as the
assault was fearless. The house Avas riddled Avith bullets, as raay
be seen to this day ; the chivalric Duplessis and Lieutenant-colonel
Laurens recklessly exposed theraselves in futile attempts to set it on
fire ; so hard pushed Avere the besieged that an officer had his horse
shot under him within three yards of the building ; in tAA'o Ncav
Jersey regiments alone the loss Avas forty-six officers and men.^
For more than an hour this hot contest continued, making itself the
pivotal point of the battle, — not so much from any importance attach
ing to the possession of the house, as from the effect of the struggle on
the general movement. It arrested at this point all Stirling's reserve
force on their Avay to the support of Sullivan and Wayne; and uot
only that, but it alarraed and confused Sullivan's and Wayne's men in
the centre, who did not understand this noise of an engagement in
their rear ; and it misled Greene's forces on the left, as to the position
of the enemy. General Stephen, on the Lime-kiln road, hearing the
firing, and believing that he should find the eneray in that direction,
left his own line of march and Avas presently engaged in a Avarm fight
with the rear of Wayne's troops, each mistaking the other for Brit
ish. The fog and the smoke of the battle made the early morning
almost as dark as night. Wayne, in a letter written two days after
Avard, says his forces Avere already in possession of the whole camp of
the eneniy, when they became involved in this blunder. Victory, he
thought, was already Avithin his grasp, Avhen his men, under this attack
from a quarter Avhere they had no reason to look for it, fell back two
miles in confusion. Greene's column Avas to have come up on Sulli
van's left and have formed a continuous line directly in HoAve's front.
The advance was retarded by fences, hedges, and thickets ; the heavy
fog rendered every movement uncertain ; but all these difficulties
1 Pennsylvania Magazine qf History, vul. i.
VOL. III. 36

562 THE CAMPAKiN IX PENNSYLA'ANIA. [Chap. XXII.
might have been surmounted but for Stephen's blunder, and possibly
Stephen would not haA'e blundered but for the attack on Chew's house.
It was .shown aftei'Avard, before a court-martial, — by Avhose sentence
Stephen was dismissed the service, — that he was drunk, and nothing
can be predicated on the possible conduct of a drunken man.
As it Avas, however, the battle was lost. Howe had time to form
•rhe Ameri- '^"'^ ^'¦^ iiiake, first, a vigorous defence, and then to assume
.¦;,ns retreat, ^jj^ offensive. Washiiigton ordered a retreat, and the Amer
ican army regained its position on Metuchen Hill, Avith a loss in killed,
wounded, and prisoners of about a thousand men. On the otlier side
the loss was about half that number. Howe Avas afterward accused
of having receiA'ed, the night before the battle, information of Wash
ington's design. If this were true, he made no preparation to meet it;
and it remains, therefore, an open question, whether Washington's
good generalshiji would have equally availed for the salvation of his
army had Howe been prepared for bim. It is not a question, if the
charge were true, that Howe's besetting sin of unreadiness came near
proving his own destruction.
Howe soon withtlrew his arniy from the open country into the city,
Howe re- '"'^ ^ safc retreat from the operations of his active and ener-
PhVhui'e'i- getic opponent, as well ns to find comfortable quarters for
•'''"'' the Avinter. That those quarters should be comfortable,
however, one thing Avas requisite. On the land-side communication
with the country was cut oft' bv the presence of the American army,
which constantly intercepted supplies, and it was absolutely neces
sary, therefore, that there should be free access to the city by the Del
aware River. So long, inoreoA'er, as it was commanded by the Amer
icans, Howe was isolatetl from his fleet, and he was, in a measure,
subjected to some of the inconveniences of a beleaguered position, and
to its possible dangers.
The navigation of the river was impeded by sunken obstructions,
and until these Avere removed, no vessel of war could pass
cm the Deia- abovB the moutli of the Schuylkill. To attempt their re
moval was difficult and dangerous, for about thera hovered
a fleet of galleys of light draught of water : on one side of the river,
just below the mouth of the Schuylkill, was Fort Mifflin, on Mud
Island; on the opposite shore, at Red Bank, was Fort ilercer; and
at different points, along the .shore, wei'e several floating batteries.
Colonel Christopher Greene, of Rhode Island, commanded at Fort
Mereer, and Lieutenant-colonel Smith, of Baltimore, at Fort Mifflin,
and each had been reenforced by Washington till their garrisons
numbered four hundred men. ('(donel Sterling had taken possession
of Billingsport, farther down tli(> Delaware on the Jersey side, on the

1777.]

OPERATIONS ON TIIE DELAAVARE.

568

1st of October, before HoAve had fallen back upon Philadelphia. The
occupation of Billingsport enabled the British men-of-war to break
through the chevaux-de-frise placed in the channel at that point, and
pass farther up the river. Sterling, observing the importance of the
position at Red Bank, then feebly garrisoned by the ^Vmericans, pro
posed to take that also ; but Howe, with his usual procrastination, de
layed his consent, till Washington, Avith his usual promptness, took
advantage of the blunder, and filled the fort with a strong garrison.
Three weeks later HoAve recognized the soundness of Ster- netcnceoi'
ling's advice, and the Hessian Colonel Donop was sent with *'»»'' Aiereer,
twelve hundred men to reduce Fort .Alercer. The exterior works

were in too unfinished a condition to be defended, and the garrison
withdrcAV into the interior lines, but not, as Donop supposed, from
any doubt of their ability to hold the place. The assault Avas incau
tious to rashness, in the confident expectation of immediate success ;
and it was a fatal mistake. Donop and his Lieutenant-colonel, Miii-
nigerode, both fell Avith mortal wounds ; the loss altogether was four
hundred of the tAvelve hundred Hessians Avho made the attack, and
in less than an hour the remainder Avere in retreat to Philadelphia.
Two British ships Avhich moved as far up the river as the obstrui'-
tions Avould permit, to aid in the assault, ran aground ; one Avas
blown up by the fire from the fort, the other was burnt to escape
capture.

564 TIIE C.V:\IPAIGX IX PEXNSVLVANIA. [Chap. XXII.
The next attempt to open the river was better managed and more
iuid of Fort successful. Fort Mifflin was invested bj' the British fleet on
Mifflm. ^jjj^ iKtli of November, and some heavy guns brought to bear
upon it from a neighboring island. The garrison made a determined
fight so long as there AA'as anj' hope of repelling their assailants. But
it Avas impossible to hold r)ut long against the heavy metal of so many
vessels, surrounding tlie fort at so short a distance that hand-grenades
could be throAvn over the Avails from their decks, and sharp-shooters
in their tops could pick off' the gunners as fast as they could man the
guns. The fight was not given up, however, until the principal offi
cers AA'ere disaliled, and two hundred and fiftj' men ont of the four
hundred of the garrison were either killed or Avounded. The place
Avas therefore evacuated at night, the men taking refuge on the other
side of the river, in Fort Mercer.
But Fort Mercer could be maintained oiily a few days longer.
iiothiorts Cornwallis moved into New Jersej* at the head of so large a
evacuated, force that the fort Avas cut off frora all relief in case of an
attack, and it was Aviser tf) save the garrison by abandoning the post
to the enemy. The Americans, at the same time, burned their gallevs,
except a feAV that contrived to escape to Bristol, and the DelaAvare
below Philadelphia Avas completelj- under the control of the British
fleet. On the 4tb of December — the Americtin army then being encamped
at White Marsh, abcmt twelve miles fi'onl Philadelphia, and
Chestnut reeuforced bj' twenty-two hundred men — Howe moved out
as far as Chestnut Hill with fourteen thousand men, to feel
the enemy, and in the hope of provoking him to battle. Washington
was quite readj' to be provoked if Howe would attack him in po
sition ; he Avas not disposed to gratify his antagonist by going out
to meet him Avliere the advantage of position would be on his side.
On the 5tli an attack Avas made on the American right ; and though
there Avas some sharp fighting, the loss Avas small on either side, and
Washington, with the main army, remained immovable. An at
tempt on the Ttli to bring about a general action was equally un
successful. An attack was made at Edge Hill, on the American left,
Avhich was met bj' Colonel CJist with the Maryland railitia, and by
General Morgan Avith his corps of Virginia riflemen, avIio had recently
arrived from the northern armj'. Thej- gave the eneray a warm re
ception, but Avere compelled at length to retire, Morgan and his men,
however, doing great executioii upon the enemj- with their unerring
marksmanship and pursuing them through the Avoods. But the retreat
of the Maryland militia released their opponents to reenforce those in
Morgan's front ; and he also Avas compelled to retreat. The loss ou

1777.]

AVINTER QUARTERS AT V.\LLEY FORGE

565

the American side was certainly inconsiderable ; but as more than
eighty wagons Avere reported as going into Philadelphia filled with
dead and Avouiided, the \'irginia rifles must have made great havoc
among the British soldiers.
Howe, discouraged by the result of this attempt to bring on a gen
eral battle, retired the next day to Philadelphia. Washing- ^v-j„ter
ton, a few days later, moved to his chosen winter quarters at vaue*™ "
Valley Forge, and the raarch of his army over the frozen ^°'^^°'
ground might have been tracked, from the Avant c^f shoes and stock
ings, "from White Marsh to Valley Forge by the bloocl of their
i'eet." 1

J Gordon, in his History uf' the Aiuerlnni ]ii volution,
tioned it to me when at his table, .June, '3, 17.'*4."

' General ^A'a^lIington mcu-

Donop's Grave.

CHAPTER XXIIL
Errv(;oYNE','< campaign.
I)i:i;i;ovNE strKi!SEr)i> ( 'arlktox. — Pi..4X ny \ Northern C.v:\ii'Aif:x. — K.mpi.oy-
¦MENT OF Inih.vns. — l)i-:.v'rii Ol' .T.\M-: AlcCjtEA. — Loss OI' TlCONDEROi;,;. — li.VT-
TEE OF HuBB.MniioN". — St. Lec:er's Expedition- jxto the Moha'wk A'ai.lev. —
Rattle of Oijiskanv. — Death of Gexerae Hekki'mer. — Battle of Benxinc-
Tox. — MiLiT.iiiv .Jealousies. — G.vtes iuspl vces Schuyler. — Battj.e of Free-
m.vn's F.'\rm. — Ci.ixTox's E.xI'EDITIox VV thi: llunsox TJn'ioit. — F.m.l of i''oins
MoxTi:o:\iERV \XD Clixtox. — Second B.kttle of Stillwater, on Be.mis's
Heights. — Bercoyxe's Surrendkh.
At the chisc of the campaign of 1777 — the j-ear which the Tories
hived to call the j'ear of three gibbets — the liritish Avere in quiet pos
session of tAVO of the three principal cities of the new Republic, one of
them its capital; the national legislature Avas a fugitive bodj'; the
national army, after successive defeats, bad marched Avitli naked,
"bloody feet," to winter quarters, AA'here, neglected bj' Congress, they
Avei'C for months to suffer with hunger, to shiver for Avant of cloth
ing through the long and drearv Avinter, and miiny, when the power
of endurance was exhausted, to lie down and die of privation or dis
ease. Yet, notwithstanding these gloomy and threatening clouds hung
over the dawn of the new j-ear, the fading light of the year that was
passing away was ruddj' and warm Avitli the glow of one great suc
cess — a golden sunset that gaA'e promise of a glorious to-morrow.
While at the South Washington had been able only, in the face of
enormous difficulties, to avert overwbelmine; catastrophe and
The Xcirtli- , , . .
ern earn- hold Up tlic Avar agaiiist the splendid armj' and inexhaustible
resources of Howe, at the North the plans of the ministry
had come to naught, and .such disaster had followed as, all things con
sidered, had never before befallen the arms of England.
For reasons chiefly personal, tbere Avas no cordiality betAveen the
Secretary of State for the colonies and the Governor of Canada.
Germain disliked Carleton. Carleton had great contempt for Ger
main. "That there is great prejudice," Yvrote the King to Lord
North, in December, 1776, "perhaps not unaccompanied Avith rancor,
in a certain breast against Governor Carleton, is so manifest to Avho-

1777.]

PLAN OF A NORTHERN CAMPAIGN.

5()7

ever has heard the subject raentioned, that it would be idle to saj- anv
more than that it is a fact. Perhaps Carleton may be too cold, and
not so active as might be Avished, which may make it advisable to
have the part of the t^anadian army Avhich must attempt to join Gen
eral HoAve led by a more enterprising commander  Burgoyne
may command the corps to be sent from Canada to Albany."
Burgoyne, on his return to England about this time, after seeing
the end of the American campaign in Canada, submitted to ]iui.^,„,.„^,.,
the Ministry his "Thoughts for conducting the Avar from the p''"'-
side of Canada.'" At a Council held in ]\larch it was determined to
give him the command, and
at the same time it was pro- i^agsi j,
vided that a force under Vtt^n^
Lieutenant-colonel St. Leger ¦„"* /^
should make a diversion on K '. .''te^
the Mohawk River. The
instructions addressed to
Carleton, acknowledging
that "this plan cannot be
advantageously executed
Avithout the assistance of
Canadians and Indians,"
bade him furnish both ex
peditions with " good and
sufficient bodies of those
men." Carleton at once
tendered his resignation of
the governorship, A"et did
his utmost to assist Bur-
goj'ne. But this utmost, it
appears, was not much, for
Burgoyne describes the Ca
nadians as "ignorant of the General John Burgoyne.
use of arms, aAvkward, disinclined to the service, and spiritless."
Against the Indians none of these objections, at least, could be urged ;
out Burgoyne understood well enough the more serious objections to
their employment.
Burgoyne's plan assuraed that the object of an expedition from Can
ada would be to obtain possession of Albany, control the Hudson
River, cooperate Avith Howe, and thereby enable that General to act
with his whole force to the southAvard.^ This, in the main, Avas the
' Burgoyne's Plan of the Campaign from the Side qf Canada, with the Remarks thereon of
George the Third. Fonblanqne, p. 483.

568 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIII.
old project Avhich had been broached and in part attempted the year
before, to divide N^ew England from the other States, and thus reduce
the rest with greater case. In the prosecution of the plan, Burgoyne
vi'ould have been glad to be allowed a certain latitude and discretion,
such as a de\'iatioii from his line of march into Massachusetts and down
the Connecticut ; but his final orders, which Avere precise and imper
ative, left him no choice but to raarch straight upon Albany and
"force a junction" with Howe. Singularly enough, it nowhere ap-
xo lustru pears that any such obligation was put upon Howe to meet
iiowe*'''" '° Burgoyne, and, as events proved, Howe felt no such obliga
tion. In this respect the scherae was fatally Aveak in execu
tion. Cooperation was absolutely enjoined on the one General, but
not upon the other. ^
Burgoyne's army concentrated at St John's, on St. John's River, the
Burgoyne's outlct i)f Lake Champlain, on the 12th of June, and a day
*°'''"'' or two later embarked. A little less than eight thousand
men composed the force, half of whom were British regulars and Ca
nadian volunteers, and half Hessian contingents under General Riede
sel. Forty pieces of artillery — the finest train in America — made
the column esp)ecially formidable. Burgoyne's subordinate officers
were experienced and skilful soldiers, including Generals Phillips,
Riedesel, Fraser, Specht, Hamilton, and Earl Balcarras, and Major
Ackland, avIio respectively commanded the two choice corps of light
infantry and grenadiers. The English fleet on the lake, consisting of
nine vessels carrying one hundred and forty- three guns, and manned
bj' six hundred and forty seamen, received its orders from Captain
Lutwidge of the Royal George, acting as Commodore.
Encamping, about the 17th, at the river Bouquet, on the Avestern
shore of the lake, the English General at once prepared for active
operations against Ticonderoga. During his delay at this point he
addressed his Indian allies in an intensely rhetorical speech Avhich be
came the subject of ridicule AA'ith Americans and opposition members
' The Earl of Shelhnrne thus explains the origin of this fatal blunder. In writing of
Lord George Germain's incapacity, he says: ".Among many singularities he (Germain)
had a pai ticular aversion to being ])nt out of his way on any occasion ; he had fixed to go
into Kent or Northamptonshire at a particular hour, and to call ou his way at his office to
sign the despatches, all of which liad been settled, to both these Generals. By some mis
take, tho.sc 10 General Howe were not fair copied, and upon his growing impatient at it,
the office, which was a very idle one, promised to si'iid it to the countiy after hira while they
dispaiched the otiiers to General Burgoyne, expecting that the others could be expedited
before the jiacket sailed with the first, which, however, by some mistake, sailed without
them, and the wind detained the vp.s.scl which wa< ordered to carry the re.st. Hence caine
General Burgoyne's defeat, the French declaration, and the loss of thirteen colonies. It
might appear incredible if his own secretary and the most respectable persons in office had
not assured me of the fact ; what corroboraies it is, that it can be accounted forin uo other
way." — Fitzmaurice's Lljl of Shelburne, vol. i.

1777.] DEATH OF JANE McCREA. 569
in Parhament. The employment of savages in the expedition, sug
gested first by Burgoyne and then sanctioned by the King,i i„ciiansas
had been defended in the House of Lords upon grounds of '''""*'
necessity, and also as permissible on principle. "It is perfectly justifi
able," said Suffolk, " to use all the means that God and nature has put
into our hands." But Lord Chatham, astonished and shocked at the
proposition, expressed his indignation in the strongest terms. There
Avere many officers in the service aa'Iio Avere opposed to having the red
men as companions in arms.
Burgoyne hiraself appears to have appreciated the possible disgrace
that the cruelties of these forest allies might bring upon his army, and
in his address he invited thera to fight for the King's cause, only on
condition that they kept to the King's code. " I positively forbid
bloodshed," he told them, " when you are not opposed in arras. Aged
men, Avomen, children, and prisoners, must be held secure from the
knife or hatchet, even in the time of actual conflict. You shall re
ceive compensation for the prisoners you take, but you Avill be called
to account for scalps. In conformity and indulgence to j'our customs,
Avhich have affixed an idea of honor to such badges of victorj', you
will be allowed to take the scalps of the dead Avhen killed by your
fire or in fair opposition ; but on no account or pretence or subtlety
or prevarication are they to be taken from the Avounded or even from
the dying, and still less pardonable Avill it be held to kill men in that
condition." ^
The unhappy fate of .lane McCrea, Avliich was indirectly due to
the employment of the savages by the English, excited everj-
where the deepest horror and indignation, not merely against Jime mc-
the Indians — though that could hardly be increased — but
against the invaders Avho had made of these savages their allies and
instruments. The manner of her death Avas at first uncertain; but as
the horrible story sped far and wide through the countrj', the romance
of personal considerations gathered about a tragic incident of Avar, and
the feeling aroused Avas universal and intense. The certain facts ap
pealed to the tenderest sympathies ; so much Avas known to be true,
that none thought of asking if anything could be false. She was
young ; she was beautiful ; she was gently nurtured and of high
' The King's memorandum on Burgoyne's plan contains the sentence: "Indians must
he employed, and this measure must be avowedly directed."
^ In ridicule of this appeal, Burke indulged in an illustration which delighted the House
of Commons. "Suppose," he exclaimed, "there was a riot on Tower Hill. AVhat would
the keeper of his Majesty's lions do? AVould he not fling open the dens of the wild
beasts, and then address them thus : ' My gentle lions — my humane bears — my tender
hearted hyenas, go forth ! But I e.xhort yon, as you are Christians, and members of civil
ized society, to take care not to hurt anv man, wom.aii, or child ! ' "

570

BURGOYNE'S CA:MPAIGN.

[Chap. XXIII.

sdcitil position ; she Avas betrothed and about to be married to a
young loyalist officer ; she met her sudden death Avlien in the hands
of tAVO Indians, and the long and beautiful hair, torn from her head,
Avas shoAvn afterward at Burgoyne's headquarters. So much was true,
and it was enough to excite universal execration, even if the stories
that Avere told of the manner of her death Avere untrue. It Avas nat
ural enough that exaggerations should be accepted Avliere there could
be no doubt of so much that AA'as sad and pitiful.
Thoup'h all that was told was not true, the incident exercised as

Death of Jane fVlcCrea.
deep an influence then, — and has ever since in its various forms —
as if it Avere. But Jane McCrea was not killed by the Indians, though
she was their captive. A ]\lrs. McNeal, at Avliose house she Avas visit
ing, near Fort Edward, had received Avarning that there Avere Indians
in the neighborhood, and she must take refuge at Fort Miller. Lieu
tenant Palmer with twentj- men Avas sent by General Arnold as au
escort for the family. While Avaiting for the household goods to be
packed. Palmer made a reconnoissance in the neighborhood, fell into
an ambuscade of savages, and twelve of his men, Avith Palmer himself.

1777.] THE RHITISII BEFORE TICONDEROG.A. 571
were killed at the first fire. The Indians then rushing to the house,
seized Mrs. McNeal and Miss McCrea, mounted them on horseback,
and started to escape, before their flight should be intercepted by as
sistance from the fort. The soldiers, however, Avere in time to fire
upon them before they were quite out of reach, and by this fire Jane
McCrea fell. She alone, sitting upright, was killed, as the Indians
stooped at the fire, one of them exclaiming, " Um shoot too higli for
hit ! " One of the Indians, though in rapid flight, paused long enough
to seize her long hair and scalp her, exasperated, probably, at the loss
of the reward offered by Burgoyne for Avhite prisoners. " I never saAV
Jenny afterward," said Mrs. McNeal, — Avho arrived the next day at
the British camp, and related the facts, — "nor anything that apper
tained to her person, until inv arrival in the British camp, Avlien an
aid-de-camp showed me a fresh scalp-lock which I could not mistake,
because the hair Avas unusuallj' fine, luxuriant, lustrous, and dark as
the Aving of a raven." Miss McCrea Avas buried the next daj' by the
soldiers who attempted her rescue, and who had heedlessly caused her
death. Three bullet-holes Avere found in her body, but no other
wounds, according to the testimony of Colonel Morgan Lewis, under
Avhose direction the interment was made. When many years after
ward the remains Avere disinterred, the skull Avas unbroken ; no savage
tomahawk had ever been " sunk " in it, as had been so long believed. ^
After a brief stay at Crown Point the British army appeared be
fore Ticonderoga on the 1st of the month, and immediatelv in
vested the fortress. This stronghold, the kej' of the North, as it Avas
then assumed to be, it was confidently expected would prove a serious
obstacle to Burgoyne's farther advance. The possibility of its cap
ture or a necessity for its surrender Avas not contemplated by the
Americans, and this over-confidence in the strength of the position led
to that careless negligence common Avitli inexperienced soldiers. Gen
eral Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsj'lvania, Avas now in command of the
post, AA'ith a force of three thousand men, tiiid this he believed quite
strong enough to hold it. His early messages had been so assuring
that even Washington had no misgivings. Major-general Schuj-ler,
who had superseded Gates in the command of the Northern Depart
ment, made all possible liaste to strengthen the chain of posts from
Ticonderoga to the Hudson and Albany. He called upon the gover
nors of contiguous States Avhich this invasion immediately threatened,
for speedy assistance ; Putnam, AAdio AA'as in command on the Hudson,
' The evidence on this subject seems conclusive. Mrs. McNeal was a cousin of General
Fraser, and in his tent she told the story to General Burgoyne the day after her own escape
and the death of Jane McCrea. It was related to Judge Hay, of Saratoga, who verified
it fully by the evidence of other contemporary witnesses. All the testimony is carefully
collated in an article in the Galaxy magazine for January, 1867, by AA'illiam L. Stone.

BURIiOYNE'S CAMPAIGN.

[Ch.ai-. xxiii.

was asked t() send up regiments from Peekskill ; the several Commit
tees of Safety Avere urged to diligence to provide against the common
danger, and Avord Avas sent to General Herkimer, up the iMohawk, to
be prepared for the enemy on the Avestern frontier. But responses to
these appeals came in sloAvly, and Schuyler's resources for raeeting the
emergency were altogether inadequate. Moreover, neither he nor St.
Clair had fully fathomed Burgoyne's designs. They did not know
whether his move upon so strong a post as Ticonderoga Avas simply a
feint to cover an extended flank manceuvre, or Avhether he Avould
march directly from that point into New England. St. Clair's force
was too small to cover every exposed point, and to save some of his

Rums of Old Fort at Crown Point.

out
he On_ __ L,,. b. „_
c^om pelled to abandon
Avas the commanding eminence of Mount Hope. This the English
(ieneral Fraser promptly took possession of, and mounting heavy guns
there cut off the communication of the Americans Avith Lake George.
The unexpected occupation of another point, made the enemy masters
I if the position and brought to their opponents disaster that, at the
moment, seemed irremediable.
Soutli of the American fortress a steep, Avooded height rose more
i'.,it De- than six hundred feet above the level of the lake, and over-
iiaDce. looked every fortified elevation in the vicinity. It was known
as Sugar Loaf Mountain, and because of its supposed inaccessibility
had been neglected in former wars, and thus far in this. The pos
sibility of dragging cannon to its summit had been admitted by offi-

1777.] LOSS OF TICONDEROGA. 57-3
cers in the American camp, but it Avas not supposed that the enemy
would attempt it, and St. Clair, even had he occupied it, had not suffi
cient force to hold more ground than had already been fortified.
Burgoyne's engineers, however, Avere men of skill and energy. No
ticing the importance of this eminence, thej' secretly made a path
over A\'hicli artillery could be hauled to the top, and, on the morning
of the 5th, surprised the Araericans Avitli a line of nearly completed
works Avhose fire could not be endured bj' the garrison of Ticon
deroga for an hour. The aspect of affairs Avas suddenly and com
pletely changed.
From Fort Defiance, as the enemy called their iiCAV position, a ter-
riblv destructive cannonade aa'ouIcI undoubtedly be opened
-J 1 1 1 . 1 f 1 Evacuation
Avithiu twenty-four hours, and to the plunging shot from that ot 'I'lcomi,-
elevation there could be no return. A council of war Avas
hastily summoned, and it Avas decided that Ticonderoga should be
evacuated that night, though it Avas hardly hoped that it could be
done without great loss. It Avas the only rational thing to do. The
capture of the place was inevitable, and resistance Avould be raad
ness; there Avas just a chance of saving the garrison, and this St.
Cltiir and his officers Avisely concluded to atterapt before it Avas too
late.' That the purpose should not be suspected by the eneray, firing
Avas kept up as usual through the day, but at dusk the guns Avere
spiked, tents were struck, and the women and the sick Avere sent uj)
the lake with the stores in boats to Skenesborough, uncler the charge
of Colonel Long's regiment. At three o'clock in the morning of the
6tli the troops raarched out of the Ticonderoga forts and moved
toward Castleton, nearly thirty railes southeast. All had safely left
the place Avithout giving the alarm, Avhen suddenlj' the house Avhich
General De Fermoy had occupied as his headquarters burst intti
flames, having been set on fire contrary to orders. Its blaze discovered
the Americans on the retreat, and immediate preparations were made
for pursuit.
Generals Eraser and Riedesel pushed after St. Clair, while Burgoyne
and Phillips, Avith the fleet and right wing of the armj',
breaking through all obstructions, sailed up the lake, or *«
South River, in chase of Colonel Long and the American
flotilla. Long and his partj' reached Skenesborough about three
0 clock in the afternoon, and at once marched to Fort Ann, eleven
miles southAvard. Here Colonel Long, deterrained to retreat no far-
The subordinate generals at the post were Poor, of New Hampshire, Paterson, of Ma^-
sachusetts, aud De Fermoy, a French officer. The troops were composed of 2, .500 Contiuen-
tals, poorly clothed and armed, and about 900 militia. Both Schuyler and St. Clair were
tried by courts-martial, as being responsible for the sujjjioscd disaster, but both -ixere honor
ably acquitted.

Ketreat of
be Amer
icans.

574 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Cuap. XXIII.
ther without a fight, faced about. The next day, three railes north
of Fort Ann, at Wood's Creek he met the Ninth regulars under
Lieutenant-colonel Hill, whom he handled so severely that but for
the arrival of a party of Indians the enemy would have been dis
persed, if not captured in a body. Gathering his wounded, Long
abandoned Fort Ann, ami fell back to Fort Edward, thirteen miles
beloAV. St. eclair was less fortunate. He retreated all day through the
Battle of Avoods, leaving a part of his force at Hubbtirdton, and raarch-
Hubbardton. -j^g ^^j^j^ ^.^^^ ^.^^^ j.^ Castletou. Fi'aser followed promptly ou
tlieir heels, with ten companies of light infantry, ten of grenadiers,
and two companies of the Twenty-fourth regiment — -in all, eight hun
dred men.' On the morning of the 7th he attacked the detachment
St. Clair had left at Hubbardton, of about thirteen hundred men,
under the New tlampshire Colonels Warner, Francis, and Hale. A
sharp engagement foUoAved, in which the Americans held their ground
for a Avhile, in spite of the defection of Hale's regiment, Avhich aban
doned the field. But Fraser was reenforced by Riedesel Avith fresh
troops, wdio by a spirited bayonet-charge turned the right wing tind
compelled a retreat. Warner and Francis, however, had made a good
fight. The American loss Avas about three hundred and fifty ; forty
officers and men — among them Colonel Francis — Avere killed; the
rest Avere wounded or taken prisoners. The subsequent capture
of Colonel Hale tiiid many of his men increased the loss in prisoners
to more than three hundred. The British also suffered severely,^
though victory remained on their side. The Ainerican force dis
persed through the woods. On the 12th inst. General St. Clair, after
making a circuitous intirch of more than a hundred miles, reached
Fort Edward with the remnant of the armj' Avhicli he had led from
the fort.
The loss of Ticonderoga and the reverses that followed it, excited
univei'sal alarm. The Avhole Northern Department seemed at the
mercy of the enemy. The inhabitants along the upper Hudson be
lieved that nothing could hinder Burgoyne from rapidly advancing to
Albany, and, that point gained, the junction Avith Howe would be all
but accomplished. " The evticuation," Avrote Washington, Avhen the
news reached him, " is an event of chagrin and surprise not appre
hended, nor Avithin the compass of mj' reasoning. This stroke is severe
1 Diary of Joshua Pell ,, Junior, an officer of tbe British army in America, 1776-1777.
Magazine of Am. Hist., vol. ii., p. 107. (1878.)
- According to Pell's diary, ante, the enemy's loss was : Major Grant, 1 Captain, and 1
Lieutenants killed ; Majors Balcarras and Ackland, 4 Captains, and 8 Lieutenants wounded.
Two Sergeants and 24 men killed ; 10 Sergeants and 104 men wounded. The Hessians
lost two killed and one Lieutenant and 22 men wDiindcd.

1777.] SCHUYLER REENFORCED. 575
indeed, and has distressed us much."' When the news reached Eng
land, it was received there Avith as much e-xultation as it aroused de
spondency in the States. As the first important and successful step in
the campaign, it was hailed as an evidence of the Avisdora of the ^Miii-
istry, as Avell as a proof of the Aveakness of the colonists. In the first
moment of triuraph on one side, and of disappointment on the other,
the fact was overlooked that the loss, on one side, and the gtiiii on
the other, of even a comnianding position, involved no question of the
general efficiency of either. There was undoubtedly an error of judg
ment, and — if Ticonderoga was of the importance so long attached to
it — a very serious error; but it ought to have been remembered that
the scientific soldier on one side could see the possibility and importance
of a move, which the civilian lately turned soldier on the other side
would be utterlj' blind to. Hatl either Schuyler or St. Clair had a
military training, he perhaps would have seen the strategic importance
of Sugar Loaf Mountain, and the absolute necessity of preventing its
being occupied by the British. This certainly ought to have been
done, though there were those avIio were bj' no means disposed to look
upon the loss of Ticonderoga as tin irremediable misfortune. " It is
predicted" — wrote Thacher, in his "^Military Journal,'' under date of
July 14th — " by some of our Avell-informed and respectable charac
ters, that this event, apparently so calamitous, Avill ultimately prove
advantageous by drawing the Britisli army into the heart of our coun
try, and thereby placing them more immediately within our power."
But this Avas a blind trusting in Providence without regard to the
condition of the powder.
All the troops that General Schuyler could muster at Fort Edward
by the middle of July numbered barely five thousand, — militia and
Continentals. Again he called for assistance. Washington sent him
Nixon's and Glover's brigades and Morgan's unequalled rifle- Reijniorcing
men, besides guns, ammunition, and tents AA'hich he could Schuyler.
ill spare from his own army. General Arnold and General Lincoln,
uf Massachusetts, Avere also ordered to report to Schuyler. Bur
goyne's delay gave time for the arrival of these reenforcements, and
by the 6th of August the Americans numbered six thousand, Iavo
thirds of whom were tolerably Avell armed Continentals.
Schuyler, on retreating from Fort Ann to Fort Edward, tore up
the roads, felled trees, destroyed all the bridges, and drove off the
cattle, to the great disgust and delay of Burgoyne's soldiers, Avho
had hoped that their recent successes would insure them an easy
march to the Hudson River.i They were seriously delayed, moreover,
' Colonel John Trumbull, Schuyler's Adjutant-general, wrote ou July 25 as follows:
" Our little army are novv returned to Moses Kill, two or three miles below Fort Edward.

576 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chai>. XXIII.
by the tardj' arrival of their provisions, Avhich had to be brought from
Canada bj' a long and tedious route through the lakes and over diffi
cult portages. The month of July had alraost gone before they
reached the river at Fort Edward. Schuyler abandoned this fort on
the 22d, to take a better position on Moses Creek, three miles be
low. Thence he fell back a few days later to Saratoga, then to Still-
Avater, and finallj' to Van Schaick's Island, Avhere the Mohawk runs
into the Hudson.
Burgoyne's plan of the campaign included a cooperating force to go
up the St. Lawrence to (.)sAvego, and through the Mohawk Valley
to Albany, there to join the main bodj'. The purpose Avas, to distract
the Americans on their flank, crush out rebellion in the valley, secure
the active cooperation of the large Tory element in its population,
and thus bring all Avestern New York completely under control of the
English by the time the British army should reach Albany. The
force sent upon this expedition to the MohaAvk Valley Avas composed
of seven hundred Avhite troops of all arms, including regulars. Sir John
Johnson's Loyal " Greens," nianj' of Avhom had their homes along
st Lea-er's ^lie Mohawk, aiid about one thousand Indians under Joseph
expedition, ^y.^nt, the chief of the JMohaAvk tribe. Barry St. Leger,
Lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-fourth Regiment of the British army,
to Avhom the preference Avas given, both by Burgoyne and the King,
had the chief comraand. His corps, rather less than eighteen hundred
strong, reached the vicinity of Fort StauAvix on the 3d of August.
This old fortification, built in the previous war, on the Mohawk
Fort sohuy- RiA'er, a fcw milcs east of the present village of Rome, was
ler invested. j.,Q^y better kuowii as Fort Schuyler. Recognizing the im
portance of the post, the Americans had garrisoned it Avith about
seven hundred and fifty Ncav York and Massachusetts Continental
troops under Colonel Gansevoort, of Ncav York, Avho had served in
Montgomery's expedition to Canada. He had put the place in an ex
cellent condition for defence, and St. Leger's summons for surrender
Avas met Avitli a prompt refusal.
The patriotic people of the vallej', warned in time of the approach
of the enemj', and yielding neither to panic nor despair, Avere ready to
All the houses, barracks, stores, etc., at the latter place, are burned and destroyed. It
.¦•eems a maxim to General Schuyler to leave no support to the enemy as he retires; all
is devastation and waste when he leaves. By this means the enemy will not be able to
pursue so fast as they could wish ; want of carriages, I am told, will be a great hindrance
to their progress ; tbey were not provided, it seems, from Canada  Ten days or a fort
night, I fancy, will put our people into a situation to stand, if we can obtain that time from
the enemy, and iu that time are reenforced from below with 2,000 or 3,000 Continental
troops. . . I wish General Washington could see our situation ; am sure he would give
us a reenforcement."' — MS. letter. Trumbull Papers, in the possession of the Massachu
setts Historical Societv.

1777.]

ST. LEGER AND GENERAL HERKIMER.

577

throw themselves in St. Leger's path, and save the fort, their farms,
and their homes. At the earliest alarm, the militia turned out, eight
hundred in miniber, and hurried forAvard to the relief of Gansevoort,
with the veteran General Nicholas Herkimer at their head. Herkimer's
This old soldier, an energetic German, had so heartily iden- refie've tiie
tified himself Avith the popular cause, Avas so Avell knoAvn '""'
through central New York, and sb highly esteemed among his neigh
bors, that his leadership Avas in itself an element of strength. On the
4th of August, the militia crossed the MohaAvk Avhere Utica now
stands, and the folloAving day Herkimer sent Avord to GanscA'oort of his
approach, and proposed that the garrison should meet him at an ap-

WS^X^Am^'^B^ fill -^B' 'fill

wmmm : '^^"^":--- ^ii;; '^mi..:mmA

Wr---xi^, ;',iifii

Fac-simile of an Order by General Herkimer. l
pointed time by a sortie. This plan, however, was defeated by some
delays in the march.
St. Leger had heard of Herkimer's approach, and had taken meas
ures to intercept it. Having failed in his first purpose, Herkimer
would have moved slowly and with caution ; bnt permitting his bet
ter judgment to be overruled by the reproaches of younger officers —
especially of Colonel Parris, one of the Committee of Safety, and of
Colonel Cox, who accused him of want of energy and spirit — he or-
1 Explanation: Sir, — You will order your battalion to march immediately to Fort
Edward, with four days' provisions, and ammunition fit for one battle. This you will
disobey [at] your peril. From [your] friend, Nicolas Hekchhei.mer.
To Colouel Peter Bellinger, at the l'"lats, October 18, 1776.
VOL. III. 37

578 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIII.
dered a rapid advance. The railitia of the Mohawk Valley, whose
experience of Indian warfare should have taught them better, marched
carelessly along the bends of the river and through ravines, till a deep
wooded holloAV was reached near Oriskany. At one end of this the
Battle of British regulars lay in ambush, and the Indian allies Avere in
Oriskany. concealment on both sides. When Herkimer and his men
were fairly Avithin this defile, a destructive fire was opened upon them
by the hidden enemy; the rear guard AA'as cut off from the main body,
driven back, and dispersed, many being taken prisoners, and the pro
vision train captured. Herkimer was mort'ally wounded, and his horse
shot under him. Seating himself upon his saddle at the foot of a tree
where he could overlook the field, he continued to give orders while
he calmly smoked his pipe. To all remonstrances, urging him to re
tire, he said, " I Avill face the enemj'." His men, as brave now as
they had been rash before, determined to fight to the last. In groups
of tAVO or three, from behind trees, or any point of advantage that the
nature of the ground afforded, they met or assailed the enemj' ; men
encountered each other in hand-to-hand fights with clubbed rifles, with
toraahaAvks, with knives. Captain Gardener killed three men in quick
succession Avith his spear. Captain Dillenback, attacked at once by
three men, brained the first, shot the second, and bayonetted the third.
Henry Thompson rested long enough to take his lunch, as he sat upon
the body of a dead soldier, and then resumed his fighting. ^ Thirty
men of Johnson's Greens, Avho rushed into the midst of the fight under
the pretence of reenforcing the Americans, were fallen upon and in
stantly killed. For five hours the desperate battle continued, till the
ground Avas covered with the dead and wounded, nearly two hundred
being killed on each side.
At length the Avelcorae sound of firing was heard in the direction
of Fort Schuyler. The messengers sent forward the day be-
Fort sehuy- forc, had readied the fort, and immediately Gansevoort or
ganized a sortie composed of tAvo hundred and fifty New
York and Massachusetts men under Lieutenant-colonel Willett, of
New York. The party made a rapid dash into the eneray's camp,
where only a few troops remained, captured flags, baggage, stores, and
papers, and by their firing relieved Herkimer of the enemy on his
front and flanks.
The Indians, haAdng lost many of their warriors, were the first to re
treat at the sound of Willett's musketry, and the whole British force
soon followed, leaving the Americans in possession of the field. It was
a complete check to St. Leger's proposed raovement, though he still
persisted in the siege of the fort. When, however, soon after, rumors
1 Address at the Centennial Anniversary of the Battle of Oriskany. By Ellis H. Eoberts.

1777.]

THE REPULSE AT ORISKANY.

579

reached him of the approach of Arnold Avith a second relief party of
Continentals, whose numbers Avere magnified by couriers sent design
edly into the enemy's camp, the Indian allies became alarmed, and
compelled St. Leger to abandon the siege and hurry back in the di
rection from Avliich he carae.
To the raemory of Herkimer, Avho, ten days after the battle, died
" like a philosopher and a Christian," Congress ordered a monument,
— which has never been erected ; to Willett it presented a sword, and
to Gansevoort its thanks. It was not an over-estimate of the impor
tance of this repulse of the British invasion of the Mohawk Valley.
Burgoyne's plan of the campaign was in one essential part entirely

Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany.
frustrated, while soon after fresh disaster met his advance in another
direction. At Bennington, Vt., then known as the " Hampshire Grants,"
twenty-five miles east of Burgoyne's line of march, the battle of
Americans had established a depot of horses and stores, Bennington.
Avhich, in the destitute condition of his army, was much coveted by

580 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIIL
the English commander. His provisions were giving out, and a timely
supply from Canada Avas doubtful. On the 6th of the month there
was hardly enough on hand for the consumption of two days. En
couraged by the statements of Philip Skene, the principal loyalist in
that region, and of scouts and deserters, Burgoyne organized a secret
expedition, not only to capture the Bennington dejjot, but to deraon
strate toward the Connecticut Vallej', overaAve the country, and then
to return by a circuitous march to Albany. For the leader of the
raid he selected Lieutenant-colonel Baume, an accomplished and
trusted German officer, and gave him for his command a select corps,
about five hundred strong, consisting of Hessians, dragoons, English
light infantry under Captaiii Fraser, and a party of loyalist rangers.
About one hundred Indians also hung upon the column. Receiving
minute instructions from his commander-in-chief as to what he Avas to
do in any possible emergency, and to exercise the utmost caution,
Baume left the raain army on the llth, and on the afternoon of the
13th reached the township of Cambridge, sixteen railes distant. On
the next day, Avriting " on the head of a barrel," he. sent Avord back
to Burgoyne, that the rebels Avere uoav apprised of the expedition, but
that the Tories were flocking in to him ; that his Indians were uncon
trollable, ruining or taking everything thev pleased ; and that reports
made the strength of the American militia at Bennington about eight
een hundred, all told. On receiving this information, Burgoyne or
dered forward, on the 15th, Colonel Breyman and five hundred Bruns
wick chasseurs, to reenforce Baume.
In the old farming town of Dunbarton, Merrimack County, New
stark leads Hamjjshire, still stands the venerable mansion from which
ifenJ^shire Johii Stark liurried Avith the farmers to Boston, at the news
™™' of the fight at Lexington, and wliich he had now again left
to meet this marauding expedition sent against his own neighbors.
At Bunker Hill and Trenton the veteran colonel had already gained
high reputation, and in this exigencj' he Avas the man above all
others to lead Avhatever troops might gather at Bennington. All
that region would answer his call. Whj' he was not with Schuyler
and the main American body at this time, is to be explained by the
unfortunate jealousies existing in that department, and his OAvn con
viction that he had been neglected in the last promotion of general
officers. But his patriotism was unimpeached, and at such a moment
he Avas readj' for action. Burgoyne's approach had aroused all New
Hampshire to rencAved efforts to do her duty in the defence of the
country. "I have," said John Langdon, President of the Assenibly,
" three thousand dollars in hard' money ; ray plate I will pledge for
as much more. I have seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum, which

1777.]

THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.

581

shall be sold for the most they Avill bring. These are at the service
of the State. If we succeed, I shall be remunerated; if not, they Avill
be of no use to me." The State promptly ordered out the militia, and
gave Stark the command.
The raen answering to the summons came from the best class of
people in the " Grants." Stark's brigade consisted of fifteen hundred
militia under Colonels Nichols and Stickney, while Colonels Seth
Warner, Herrick, and Williams reported with companies of Green
Mountain boys. The entire force which gathered to resist invasion
was not far from twenty-
two hundred. On the morn
ing of the 14th the greater
part of it reached Benning
ton, Warner's men march
ing all night in the rain from
Manchester, Vermont.
Stark had heard of Baurae's
approach, and he raarched
instantly to support Lieu
tenant-colonel Gregg, who
had been detached the day
before to skirmish with and
delay the enemy. During
the forenoon of the 14tli
the forces carae within sight
of each other, and Baume
at once took up a command
ing position overlooking a
bend in the Walloomscoik
River. A heavy rain prevented
movements on the 15th.
On the 16th Stark raoved to attack the enemy on three sides at once.
Colonels Nichols and Herrick, Avith about five hundred men, raade their
way through the Avoods to his left and rear, their approach frightening
the Indians off the field. Colonels Stickney and Hubbard engaged
some detached parties, Avhile Stark with the raain body attacked Baume
in front. Tradition runs that, as soon as the General came in sight
of the enemy, he exclaimed, "See there, my men ! — there are the
red-coats! Before night they 're ours, or Molly Stark 's a widow."!
For two hours the fight continned, the Americans pressing upon
! The tradition m.aj- be Wrong, however, as tradition so often is. Mrs. Stark's name was
neither Molly nor Mary, but Elizabeth.

General John Stark.

582 BURGOYNE'S CA:\1PAIGN. [Ch.\p. XXIII.
the enemy with the steadiness and cool persistency of men used tn
battle, at times dashing up the hill at the earthworks, in spite of
the AA'arm reception given them. Surrounded nearly on all sides, by
this determined conduct of the niilititi, the British finallj' gave Avav,
and attempted to escape bj' their oiilj' road of retreat ; but in this
they Avere foiled, and the entire body surrendered. Baume was mor
tally wounded.
Greatlj' elated by their success, the militiamen scattered to plunder
the abandoned camp. In this disregard of discipline and loss of order,
they came near losing all the advantage thej' had gained bj' their
courage and previous good behavior. Colonel Brej'inan arrived upou
the field with reenforcements, and all that had been avou would have
been lost had not Stark, who was prompt to see it, met this new emer
gency, and sent Colonel Warner Avith a fresh regiment to the rescue of
the almost discomfited and disordered men. Brej'inan Avas driven
back bj' ^Varner Avith considerable loss. When night closed, victorj'
for the Araericans AA'as assured. Thej' had taken four cannon and
nearly seven hundred prisoners, with a loss to theraselves of less
than a hundred in killed and wounded.
This new disaster to Burgoyne, following so closelj' upon the re
pulse in the Molia\A-k Vallej-, gave a neAv and cheerful aspect to
affairs in the Northern Department. Ncav England Avas full of en
thusiasm, and volunteers hastened from all quarters to strengthen the
Araerican array. " Pray let no time be lost," Avrote General Glover
to James Warren in the Massachusetts Legislature, to urge the send
ing on of men ; " a day's delay niaj' be fatal to Araerica. Let the
body be as large as can possibly be collected." In Connecticut
hundreds of the railitia pressed forward. As an evidence of the gen
eral enthusiasm, Noah Webster records that his father, his two
brothers, and himself shouldered their muskets and marched to the
field, leaving their mother and sisters alone to carry on the farm.
The militia in northern and central Ncav Y'ork turned out with equal
alertness. Rivalries and disputes as to precedence and the right of promotion
Avere among the fruits of the want of discipline AA'hich ex-
the North- isted in the Revolutionary armies, and sometimes, no doubt,
ern army. i^tg^-fgi-g,} .^,[^1^ ^lic efficiency of military operations. But
party spirit and sectional jealousies not unfrequently governed Con
gress in the choice of major-generals ; and both Arnold and Stark had
been passed over, earlj' this year, and their juniors preferred to them
from other considerations than those of military merit. Arnold never
recovered from this Avound to his pride and self-love ; and if the vin
dictiveness it engendered did not lead him to treason, it made it easier

1777.]

MILITARY JEALOUSIES.

583

for him to be a traitor. Stark was of different stuff. It AA^as his self-
respect, not his self-love, that was Avounded, and though he retired
from the array Avhere his past services entitled him to recognition
which he did not receive, no man could be quicker than he to take the
field again, as Ave have just seen, when it Avas clear that his services
Avere again needed. Nowhere had jealousy and misunderstanding bred
so much mischief and bitterness as in this Northern Department. One
general after another had been displaced, and each had been exposed to
reprehension where each had probably done the best that circumstances
wonld admit of. Wooster, Thomas, Sullivan, Schuyler, Gates, had
followed each other in rapid succession, till the autumn of 1776, when
Schuyler by an appeal to Congress had procured his reinstatement.

Battle-field of Bennington
Both he and Gates had strong friends and bitter opponents. Schuyler
had little confidence in the New England troops, and the Ncav England
troops and their representatives in Congress had just as little confi
dence in hira. Both were wrong : there Avere no better soldiers in the
army than those from NeAV England ; there was no more devoted
patriot, nor a braver soldier in the country than Schuyler. Pro
vincial jealousies, as old as the French and Indian Avars, had much
to do Avith the feeling of mutual mistrust ; and Schuyler's raisfortunes
rather than his faults, in the conduct of the campaign thus far, could
be easily used as effective Aveapons against him by those Avho sincerely
doubted his military ability, or who resented his avoAved contempt

584 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIII.
of the New England troops. When Ticonderoga Avas lost, it was at
tributed to his Avant of generalship, and before that was atoned for by
Gates iu ^-'^^ Subsequent successes under his command. Gates, who was
command. ^ better politician than soldier, had induced Congress to give
him Schuvler's phice at the verj- moment when he had nothing to do
but reap the advantage of Schuyler's successful movements. Con
gress had not heard of Herkimer's and Stark's victories Avhen they
reinstated Gates at the head of the northern arraj-. ^
As September advanced, the distance betAveen Gates and Burgoyne
decreased. On the 12th, the former moved his camp from the mouth
of the Mohawk and took position on Bemus's Heights in
Bemus's the towii of Stilhvater, twentj--five miles north of Albanj'.
eig s. ^,j^^ ^.^^^ which was commanding, and capable of easy de
fence, had been selected by Arnold and Kosciusko, and under the di
rection of this Polish engineer Avas strengthened bj' a lin-e of breast
Avorks and redoubts. With the right resting on the Hudson, the left
on ridges and woods, and the front made impregnable by a ravine
and abatis. Gates felt himself secure against direct assault. To con
tinue his march to Albany, Burgoyne must first crush this obstacle.
The difficulties encountered bj' the British in bringing up supplies,
fatally delaj-ed their progress. Recognizing the absolute necessity of
pushing on, thej- attacked the Americans on Bemus's Heights as
soon as they reached that point. Both sides had their entire force
in hand. The strength of Gates's army Avas about nine thousand.
On the right, where he himself commanded, Avere posted Nixon's,
Glover's, and Patterson's Continental brigades, all Massachusetts
troops; in the centre, Learned"s brigiide, mainly from the same State;
and upon the left, where Arnold Avas assigned the command, lay Gen
eral Poor's brigade of the three New Hampshire Continental regi
ments under Colonels Cillej', Scammell, and Hale; the third and
fourth New York, under Colonels Van Courtlandt and Henry Liv
ingston, and tAVO large Connecticut militia regiments under Colonels
Thaddeus Cook, of Litchfield, and Jonathan Latimer, of Ncav Lon
don Countj'. Attached to Arnold's wing, but usually operating at the
front, were the famous rifle corps ^ under Colonel Daniel Morgan,
'"Gen. Gates Is a happy man to arrive at a moment when Gen. Schuyler had just
paved the way to victory ; he has not taken any measures yet, and cannot claim the honor
of anything that has as yet happened." — MS. letter from Col. ^'arick, Albany, Aug. 23, 1777.
.A. Y. Mercantile Library.
'- This corps, which rendered conspicuous service in the engagements with Burgoyne,
was made up of good inarksnicn chosen from fhe regiments which composed AA'ashington's
army at Morristown in tbe spring. They were nearly all from the JMiddle and Southern
States, ilorg.an's seconds in command were Lieutenant-colonel AA'illiam Butler of Penn
sylvania, and Major Alorris of New Jersey. AVashington organized the corps for his own
campaign, but sent it to Gates, upon the latter's urgent request for reenforcements.

1777.] BATTLE OF FREEMAN'S FARil. 585
of Virginia, and a body of about three hundred Continental light in
fantry, detailed for the carapaign and coramanded by Major Henry
Dearborn of New Hampshire.
Skirmishing on the 18th Avarned the enemy that parties for forage
could go out safely only in force. ^V party of soldiers gathering po
tatoes, a mile frora carap, Avere attacked, and killed or captured by the
Americans. Burgoyne immediately issued an order threatening in
stant death to every man who ventured beyond the advanced sentries.
No useless exposure was permitted. " The life of the soldier," he
declared, " is the property of the King."
On the 19th serious work began. Breaking camp at Swords' Farm,
on the river bank, five miles north of Gates's position, Bur-
govne moved forward to the attack in three colurans. Gen- stiiiwatcr,
° ' . . or Pree-
erals Phillips and Riedesel followed the raain road alons; mans Farm .
the Hudson, with the artillery; the centre, Avhicli Burgoyne
accompanied, moved toward Freeman's Farm, about opposite the Amer
ican left; Avhile General Fraser took a more Avesterly route, with the
design of turning Gates's left flank.
The intentions of the enemy being evident, the regiraents of Arnold's
wing were successively ordered out to face Fraser and Burgoyne,
while the brigades on the right remained at their posts within the
Avorks, awaiting events. Fraser's advance consisted of Canadians and
Indians, and the engagement opened toAvards noon, about a mile from
the lines, between them and Morgan's riflemen and Dearborn's in
fantry. The enemy's skirmishers were at flrst driven back, but on the
approach of Fraser's supports, Morgan was compelled to The engage-
retreat in some confusion, with the loss of a captain and m™t opens.
twenty men taken prisoners. Rallying his corps, however, Avith his
powerful voice and the call of his shrill Avhistle, Morgan was soon in
position again. ScammeH's and Cilley's New Hampshire regiments
had been already sent out to support him, and in a short time nearly
the whole of Poor's brigade was in line to resist the advance of the
enemy on that flank.
By this time, betAveen one and tAvo o'clock, Burgoyne's central col
umn had reached Freeman's Farm, and Avith Fraser on the right pre
sented a determined front. The left column Avas still advancing along
the river. But as Morgan and Poor's brigade had now concentrated
m front of Burgoyne, Fraser could not have continued his independ
ent flank movement Avithout exposing the centre, and the two columns
Avere soon compelled to join their fronts as a continuous line.
Thick Avoods, interspersed Avith occasional clearings and ravines,
covered the battle-ground. Taking advantage of this protection, the
contending lines could approach each other within close range. As

586

BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN.

[Chap. XXIIL

the New LLimpshire men came up to reenforce ^lorgan, and the action
Avas rencAved, the firing 'steadilj' increased in volume and effect, con
tinuing until sunset. For some distance between the two lines lay a
holloAV, and the attempt on each side to drive the other from its posi
tion was invariably followed with serious loss. When Cilley first be
came engaged, so manj- of his men fell in twenty minutes that he
could save himself only bj- falling back on reenforceraents. With
these the regiment AA-eiit into the fight again with great spirit, and
fought till night. Colonel Scammell fearlessly led his regiment
Avhere the fire was the hottest. Lieutenant-colonels Adams and Co-
burn, of the Second and Third New Hampshire, fell dead in the heat
of the battle. The two Ncav York regiments, which Avere sent out
during the action, became hotly engaged, especiallj' the Second under
Colonel Courtlandt. Cook's and
Latimer's Connecticut militia
men also distinguished them
selves bj' their steadiness and
courage. Cook's losing fifty men
killed and Avounded, or more
than any other regiraent except
Cilley's. Major WiUiam Hull,
of Massachusetts, lost nearly
half of three hundred raen under
his coraraand. For four hours
the battle continued in the
woods, without a decisive re
sult. The enemy fought Avith
desperation, under the lead of
their gallant officers. Their four
pieces of artillery — the Ameri
cans having none on the field —
becarae at one time the central
point of the contest. A party
of New Hampshire men charged upon and seized a twelve-pounder,
onlj' to be driven from it bj' a larger body of the enemy. Again it
was taken bj' the Americans, and agaiii thej' were forced back.
Private Thomas Haines, of Concord, sat astride the muzzle of the
piece when the enemj' last came np, and killed Iavo men AA'ith his
baj'onet before a bullet struck hira doAvn.^ Thirty-six out of the
fortj'-eight British gunners in this desperate struggle were either
killed 01 Avounded.
Later in the afternoon Learned's brigade entered the fleld, and Ar-
^ .Tournal of Lieutenant Thomas Blake.

General Horatio Gates.

1777.] RESULT OF THE BATTLE. 587
nold's entire wing Avas thus engaged. The General himself Avas pres
ent during at least a portion of the afternoon, not onlj' issuing orders,
hut keeping the troops up to the fight by his daring example. ^ From
the nature of the ground, however, and as the troops were sent into
action at intervals by regiments, the movements Avere conducted
mainly by the colonels. At sunset the firing ceased, the Americans
Avithdrew to their fortified line, and the enemy Avere left in possession
of the field. In a military point of vieAV, it was a drawn battle ; but
it had checked Burgoyne's advance and was in realily a decisive suc
cess for the army under Gates. ^
The British fortified the ground they held from the river to Free
man's Farm. Their loss had been heavy, especially in officers, the
total being over six hundred and flfty, ^ Avhile the American loss Avas
sixty-five killed, two hundred and eighteen wounded, and thirtj'-eight
missing, or less than half the eneray's. Of the Twentieth and Sixty-
second British regulars, scarcely fifty raen and five officers survived
the battle.
Eighteen days elapsed before there was anj' further raovement. In
the interval Gates grew stronger, Burgoyne weaker. The action of
the 19th and its result Avere hailed with joy throughout the country.
Militia continued to march nortliAvard. General Ten Broeck joined
the army with over two thousand men from New York; Lincoln
brought in as many frora Massachusetts and Ncav Hampshire. Gen
eral Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, went up Avitli three hundred
volunteers, the majority of the militia frora that State being retained
1 General AVilkinson, Gates's Adjutant-general, asserts in his Memoirs that no general of
ficer was on the field on the 19th, and this -statement is adopted by Mr. Bancroft and oth
ers, who insist that Arnold took no part in the fight. Beyond the authorities which "have
been quoted to the contrary, we have the .Memoirs of Major Hull and the diary of C'olonel
Courtlandt, both ot whom say they received orders from Arnold in the field. General Car-
rington, in his recent Batdes ofthe Revolution, properly observes that it would be utterly in
consistent with Arnold's nature and the position he occupied to suppose that he remained
quietly in camp while his entire division was out fighting the enemy.
^ General Glover briefly described the action as follows, in a letter of September 21 :
" The battle was very hot till half-past two o'clock; ceased about half an hour, then re
newed the attack. Both armies seemed determined to conquer or die. One continual blaze,
without any intermission, until dark, when by consent of both parties it ceased ; during
which time we several times drove them, took the ground, passing over great numbers of
their dead and wounded. The enemy in their turn sometimes drove us. They were bold,
intrepid, and fought like heroes, and I do assure you, sirs, onr men were equally bold and
courageous and fought like men fighting for their all." — Essex Institute Hist, Coll,, vol. v.
No. 3.
^ The enemy's loss on the 19th has heretofore only been estimated. From Pell's diary,
already quoted, we get the details, namely: 4 captains, 9 subalterns, II sergeants, 219
rank and file, killed. Two lieutenant-colonels, 2 majors, 7 captains, 13 subalterns, 6 ser
geants, 400 rank and file, wounded. The American loss is given by Gordon, who took it
from the report of the Board of War.

588 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIIL
at Peekskill under Generals Putnam and Silliman. Stark threatened
Burgoyne's communications at Fort Edward. Colonel John Brown,
of Pittsfield, Avith five hundred raen, made a dash at Ticonderoga, and
took prisoners and guns.
Around the enemy a net Avas forming, Avhicli they must break
through at one end or the other, or be captured. One gleam of hope
remained for them. Operating in dense AVOods, Avitli uncertain means
of communication with New York, Burgoj'ne had for Aveeks been in
total ignorance of the progress of events elseAvhere. He had advanced,
expecting every hour to hear that a cooperating column Avas moving
up the Hudson to Albany, which Avould compel Gates to fall back
Clinton's co- both to save that point and to save his army. As time
operation, passed, the hope of this relief grew stronger. On Septem
ber 21st intelligence came from Sir Henrj' Clinton that an expedition
Avonld sail up the Hudson in about ten days, for the purpose of at
tacking Forts Clinton and Montgomery, a few miles below West Point,
and thus create a diversion Avhicli raust be in Burgoyne's favor.
Clinton kept his promise, and succeeded in doing much damage and
creating much alarm along the Hudson. On the 3d of October he
left New York, raoyins; Avith a large force by land and Avater,
Capture of ' ' o o J
Torts Clin- and Oil the 5th reached Verplanck's Point, forty miles up the
ton and . , '^ , , '' '^ ^ .
Montgom- river. lirom this point a large detachment was sent in
ery. . . .
boats, convoyed by ships, toward Peekskill, as a feint to
cover the crossing of the main body early on the 6th, to King's Ferry
on the west side of the Hudson. A heavy fog favored the move.
General Putnam, in command at Peekskill, was deceived by this ma
noeuvre and took no precautions agaiust the advance at King's Ferry.
FolloAving a circuitous route around Dunderberg mountain, Clinton
appeared in the afternoon before Forts Montgomery and Clinton, and
carried both by assault. Governor George Clinton of Ncav York ex
erted himself to save the posts, and Genertil James Clinton receiA'cd a
bayonet-wound. The Anierican loss was about three hundred, of
Avhom sixty or seventj' Aveie killed and Avounded. The British dis
mantled the forts, burned two American frigates, destroyed stores, and
Kingston cudcd their incursion by mtirching to Esopus (uoav Kings-
burned. ^.qj-, -j ,^^^^ laying it in ashes. Putnam, who could send no
assistance to the forts in time, retreated farther up the river, aban
doning the fortified points, and took post at Fishkill. The Hudson
Avas thus left open to the fleet of the enemj', who, satisfied with their
success, returned to Ncav York. A court of inquiry relieved Putnam
from responsibility for these reverses in his department, serious as
thej- were, and disastrous as thej' might have been.
Burgoyne's situation was becoming raore and raore critical. His

1777.] SECOND BATTLE OF STILLAVATER. 589
provisions were giving out, and it was necessary either to advance or
to retreat. He determined to advance, and on the 7th of October
moved with a select detachment of fifteen hundred regulars and ten
guns to turn the Araerican left. His best general officers Avere Avith
l^iixi — Phillips, Riedesel, and Fraser. Taking position in open ground
within less than a mile of the American Avorks, his advance sought to
reach the American rear.
No sooner Avas Gates apprised of Burgoyne's appearance than he
ordered out Morgan and his riflemen "to begin the garae."
The fighting was e-^'en raore desperate and decisive than that tie of stiii-
of the 19th of September. The enemy's advance Avas driven Bemu.s',s
in, and Morgan made his Avay to Burgoyne's right, Avhere
Fraser was in command. Poor's and Learned's brigades Avere ordered
to attack the left, Avhile other troops Avere held in readiness to enter
the action where needed. As Poor and Learned advanced, they were
met by a sharp but ineffectual volley from Ackland's grenadiers, to
which they replied Avith close and telling discharges. The attack
soon proved decisive, and the grenadiers and artillerj'inen fled from the
field, leaving Ackland wounded and a prisoner. Nearlj' at the sarae
moment Morgan and Dearborn fell upon the right of the eneray and
routed it Avith serious loss. The centre held its ground until driven
hack by further reenforcements from Gates's lines, including Ten
Bi'oeck's New York militia. Scarcely one hour after the British gave
battle, their Avhole line Avas retiring in disorder towards their camp.
At this juncture Arnold appeared upon the field. Personal differ
ences with Gates had led to his removal from command since Arnold and
the battle of the 19th, but he had remained in camp. When '''''''^•
this action opened, he joined his old division, now hotly engaged, and
assumed control of its movements, notwithstanding his removal. On
hearing of this defiance of his authority. Gates sent an aid to recall
him ; but Arnold, keeping out of the Avay of the messenger, placed
himself at the head, noAV of one brigade and now of another; and led
them to the attack at different points Avith good judgment and un
daunted courage. His conduct roused the troops to enthusiasm, who
cheered and followed Avherever he led. As he entered the field the
British line was already breaking. Under his impetuous assaults, first
Avith Patterson's and Glover's brigades, and then Avith Learned's,
the enemy gave Avay everywhere in confusion. Even when driven
to their intrenchments, at dusk, the vigorous charge of Arnold and
Morgan on the extreme right, broke through the line of Avorks and
forced the Germans to abandon their position. In this last j^,,„„i^
charge Arnold was Avounded as he was entering the sally- ^™''°'i'='>'
port. In his report of the action. Gates had the magnanimity to men-

590 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIIL
tion Arnold's services, and Congress at once promoted him to the
rank of major-general.
The loss on the side of the Araericans in this Avell-fought field was
reraarkably small ; not over fifty were killed, and about one hundred
were wounded. On the other side the loss was much heavier, their
killed alone outnumbering all the casualties of their opponents.^
Their heaviest blow Avas in the fall of General Fraser. Quite as
Death o£ bi'ave and almost as reckless as Arnold, his example Avas no
Fraser. jggg inspiriting to the troops he led, and to him more than to
any other British officer Avas due their desperate resistance. Morgan
saw the contagion of his exaraple ; and, if tradition may be trusted,
pointed him out to three of his unerring riflemen as a proper object
for their aim. When he fell, mortally wounded, the tide of battle
turned. Not even Burgoyne, who also exposed himself wherever his
presence seemed needed, could save the day. Shot through the hat
and waistcoat, he narrowly escaped a fate like Fraser's, ahd only re
turned to his camp Avhen driven back Avith his troops. His principal
aid. Sir Francis Gierke, Avas mortally wounded, and died next day a
prisoner in Gates's tent. Lieutenant-colonel Breyman, commanding
the Germans on the right, was also killed. Eight of the guns brought
into the field Avere lost.
This signal defeat of the enemy on the 7th Avas decisive. Gates
Burgoyne '^^^^ UOW moi'e thaii twlcc as strong as his antagonist. Con-
retreats. scious of the danger of his situation, Burgoyne, on the night
of the Sth, abandoning everything not immediately needed, quietly
retreated to Saratoga, and encamped on the north side of the Fish-
kill. On the morning of this day. General Lincoln, while reconnoiter
ing the enemy's position, received a severe wound. In the evening,
Fraser was buried Avith military honors in a redoubt near the Hud
son. Burgoyne, Phillips, and other general officers, with their staffs,
were present at these last services over the grave of their comrade,
where the requiem was the fire of American cannon aimed at a group
easily distinguished by the artillerymen, but who Avere unconscious of
the purpose of that sad and solemn gathering.^
Gates followed the enemy, raaking such disposition of his troops
1 British loss on October 7 — Pell's Diary: One General, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 cap
tains, 7 subalterns, 5 sergeants, 1 60 rank and file killed. [No return of wounded.] Two
majors, 2 captains, 8 subalterns, 16 sergeants, 7 drums, 234 rank and file, prisoners. Esti
mating their wounded at 250, their total loss was nearly half of the select body they
brought into the field. ^
^ The wives of se^¦eral officers accompanied Burgoyne's expedition, notably those of
General Riedesel and Major Ackland, and suffered all the hardships of the campaign.
Madam Riedesel, in her Memoirs, describes the burial of Fraser under fire of the Ameri
can artillery.

1777.]

BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER.

591

as to surround them. General Fellows, Avith JNIassachusetts militia
severed their line of retreat by holding the crossing of the Hudson.
Morgan, Poor, and Learned threatened their rear on the Avest. Nixon
Patterson, and Glover remained in their front, and, in attempting to
advance beyond the Fishkill on the 10th, narroAvly escaped collision
with the entire British force, Avhicli had not yet, as supposed, left
its position. On the 12th Burgoyne had but five days' rations in

Fraser's Burial,

camp, and on the 13th his desperate situation compelled him to
summon a council and propose the question of capitulation.
His officers unaniraously declared that in consideration of all that
the army had already suffered, and its present critical proposals of
position, proposals for surrender could be made without dis- s""™'!""^-
honor, and a flag was accordingly sent to the American commander. ^
' "On the 12th frequent cannonading and skirmishing; comm.anding officers of regi
ments were sent for by General Burgoyne, to know what a face their regiments bore. The

592 BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XXIII.
On the 17th, after the negotiation Avas once on the point of being
broken off', — Burgoyne receiving information which led him to hope
for reenforcements fromthe south, — the articles of capitulation, or
" Conventions," as they Avere officially designated, Avere signed by Gates
and Burgiiyne. It was agreed that the British army should march
out with all the honors of Avar, and have free passage to England,
upon condition of not serving again during the war. Five
capituia- thousand seven hundred and sixty-three officers and men
were included in the surrender. On the forenoon of the
17tli, thej- marched out from their camps, and laid down their arms
in a field near Old Fort Hardy, in the presence only of Majors
Wilkinson and Lewis of General Gates's staff. Burgoj'iie presented
himself to Gates, Avith the remark that the fortune of Avar had made
him his prisoner ; and for several daj-s after the English officers Avere
receiA'ed and treated Avith every mark of consideration due to Avorthy
foes. The surrender of Burgoyne's army on the 17th of October Avas, up
to this time, the most important event of the war ; and the battles of
September 19th and October 7th are counted among the decisive bat
tles of the world. The Avhole countrj' was jubilant, not only that so
much had been gained Avhere so little had been hoped for, but that in
that gain thej- saw the promise of greater things to come. In Eng
land the tidings of disaster and defeat were receiA-ed with bitter dis
appointment, and reproaches were heaped upon the General for the
failure of a campaign in the plan of which the King and his minister
had blundered. Congress presented to Gates a medal for completing
the Avork which others had begun and made possible if not inevitable;
but the people did not forget to be grateful to the brave officers and
men Avho in battle after battle had Avrested victory from as brave an
army as England could send to the field.
answer of the British, they would fight to a man. The German ofiicers returned to their
regiments to know the disposition of their men ; they answered : ' Ni.\ the money, nix the
rum, nix fighteu.' The British regiments being reduced in number to about nineteen
hundred, and having no dependence on the Germans, General Burgoyne, on the 13th Oc
tober, opened a treaty with Major-Genl. Gates." — Pell's Diary,

CHAPTER XXIV.
ALLIANCE "WITH FRANCE. — PROPOSALS POE PEACE REJECTED.
The Wintek at Valley Forge. — The Conway Cabal. — Baron vox Steuben.
— Alliance with France. — North's Propositions for Peace. — Lafayette at
Barren Hill. — Evacuation of Philadelphia. — Battle of Monmouth. —
Lee's Conduct. — Tried by Court-martial. — The Rhode Island Campaign.
— Arrival op a French Fleet -with Troops. — The Tory and Indian AVar-
FARE IN Central New York. — The Pioneers of Tennessee and Kentucky.
— Colonel Clark's Expedition to Illinois. — Operations begun at the
South. — Loss op Savannah. — Partisan AVarfare. — Naval Affairs. — Fight
between the " Bon Homme Richard " and the " Serapis."
The camp at Vallej' Forge Avas laid out in parallel streets of log
huts, built by the soldiers with timber found in abundance
in the neighboring woods. Each brigade Avas encamped by ment at ^•al-
itself ; the quarters of the officers Avere opposite their respec
tive regiments and companies; in each hut — measuring fourteen by
sixteen feet — AA'ere lodged twelve privates. The headquarters of the
Commander-in-chief were at the house of Isaac Potts, the proprietor
of the forge which gave a name to the localitj', and near by were
those of Greene, Steuben, Lafayette, and other officers of rank, —
"small barracks," wrote Lafayette to his Avife, "Avhich are scarcely more
cheerful than dungeons." The camp Avas protected by forts and in
trenchments ; in advance of the lines Morgan and his riflemen Avere
stationed, and more distant points were guarded by outposts of dra
goons and militia.^
The army was well sheltered, for a log house is a comfortable dwell
ing, and the Avoods near by afforded plenty of fuel. But in every
thing else there was absolute impoverishment. Had food been abun
dant in the surrounding counti-y, there Avere no horses and wagons to
draw it to camp ; even had there been no lack of these, the roads
were almost impassable for any beast of burden or any carriage. Pro-
' " General AVashington keeps liis station at Valley Forge. I was there when the army
first began to build huts. They appeared to me like a family of beavers, every one busy,
some carrying logs, others mud, and the rest plastering them together. The whole was
raised in a few days, aud it is a curious collection of buildings in the true rustic order." —
Letters from Thomas Paine to Dr. Franklin. Penn, Mag. of Hist,, vol. ii.
VOL. m. 38

591 ALLIANCE WTTH FRANCE. [Chap. XXIV.
visions of all kinds were scarce and poor, and what there were the men
themselves were compelled to transport, " who, without a murmur,"
a Congressional Commission reported, " patiently yoke themselves to
little carriages of their oavii making, or load their wood and
The suffer- ...
ings of the provisions Oil their backs." They would have been cheerful
as Avell as patient had they been in a condition for such
Avork, for work in itself is no hardship. But they Avere weak from
the want of sufficient and proper food ; they went to their labor in
thin and tattered clothing and Avith uncovered feet ; and when they
sought for rest and vigor in sleep, it was on the bare earth that made
the floors of their huts, — for they were Avithout even loose straw for
their beds. This last necessity Washington endeavored to relieve,
and at the same time to secure provisions, by issuing an order to
farmers Avithin seventy miles to thrash out all the grain in their barns
and deliver the straw in carap before the 1st of March, under the
penalty of having " all that shall remain in sheaves after the period
above mentioned seized by the comraissaries and quarterraasters of
the armj' and paid for as straw." By the 1st of February the want
of clothing was so absolute that about four thousand raen in their
huts were necessarily relieved from duty on this account. From des
titution came sickness, and the death-rate increased thirty-three per
cent, from week to week. " Nothing," said the report addressed to
the President of Congress, referred to already, " Nothing, sir, can
equal their sufferings, except the patience and fortitude with which
the faithful part of the army endure them." There were, however,
the unfaithful also, Avhose patriotism was not proof against hunger
and cold and pestilence, and they deserted in large numbers. In
Februarj' there were in camp only about flve thousand effective men.
Congress was at York, Pennsylvania. If it Avas not powerless to
relieve the poverty which was so sorely trying the army, then it was
indifferent to the Avelfare of the men on whom the safety of the coun
try so largely depended. Both propositions, probably, were, in a
raeasure, true. Washington was authorized to take supplies wher
ever he could find them within seventy miles, for which he was to
pay in money, if he had it, if not, in certificates. But Congress
failed to provide for the redemption of these certificates, even in the
depreciated paper money, which, poor as it Avas, at least, was a little
better than nothing at all. There Avas then, as there is now,
of procuring a Considerable portioii of the rural population of Pennsyi-
S11DDli6S vania slow to understand, and slower still to accept, new
ideas, and reconcile theraselves to new relations. These were either
still loyal to the King, or, if favorably disposed to the new govern
ment, their devotion was moderate and not animated with any very

1778.]

TIIE WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE.

595

deep sense of the spirit of self-sacrifice. In Philadelphia, Avhere the
British army passed the winter in gayety and almost riotous plenty,
the farmers, if they could get there, were paid in gold for their prod
uce. The ardent patriotism that would lead them to Valley Forge
instead, to receive, in place of gold, certificates that were absolutely
worthless, was a patriotism not in daily use.
Before the winter Avas over, it Avas a question whether the army
would break up in mutiny or be dissolved for want of the neces-

MsLj'^'^'^ -¦"-

?. V,.

Valley Forge.

saries of life. The burden of anxiety and responsibihty was heavy
upon the Commander-in-chief, and perhaps for that reason his ene
mies thought it a good opportunity to bring about his overthrow.
The success of the northern campaign had added greatly to Gates's
reputation. Easy as it is to see uoav, at the distance of a hundred
years, that the laurels which he gathered should have been bound
upon the brows of others, the credit he had acquired stimulated his
own ambition and made him the central figure in the opposition to

596 ALLIANCE AA'ITH FRANCE. [Chap. XXIV.
Washington, both in Congress and in the armj'. He was raade in the
autumn President of the Board of War ; Mifflin was one of its mem
bers ; Conwaj' — bj' birth an Irishman, but by adoption a Frenchman,
a colonel in the French armj', and one of the officers Avhom Silas
Deane had sent to America — Avas made a Major-general OA'er the
heads of his seniors in commission, and Avas appointed Inspector-gen
eral. He AA-as at the head of a secret movement bj- which it w-as
intended to remove Washington tmd put Gates in his place.
This was, as it has ever since been called, the " Conwaj- C'abal," and
The "Con- Couwaj- spcuttbe winter at York intriguing with Mifflin, Lee,
way Cabal.' — .^j.^^ jiad bccu excliauged — and sorae members of Con
gress, to bring about the removal of Washington. An intrigue of this
sort could not long remain a secret, for it Avas necessary to its success
that various influences should be brought to favor it. The correspond
ence between Gates, Mifflin, and Conwaj-, reflecting upon Washington,
became known through the indiscretion of Wilkinson, Avho had seen
one of the letters and repeated its purport to Stirling. The unfavor
able impression produced bj- this discovery was not removed Avhen
Gates, with some bluster, first demanded of Washington to know
who had tampered with his letters, and then denied that Conwaj' had
Avritten the letter Avhose Avords had been quoted. It was hoped to
secure the alliance of Lafayette bj' offering hira the command of a
new invasion of Canada, which came to nothing; he would onlj'
accept it on condition that he should report to Washington as
Commander-in-chief. Anonj'inous letters to Patrick Henry, Governor
of Virginia, and to Henrj-
L aureus. President of
/^5<Z'^r^'yS^^'^''<^<^<2-^j?<2^^ Congress, were at once
forAvarded by those gen-
Signature of Henry Laurens. tleUien tO WashiugtOU
himself. Attempts to influence State legislatures proved equally
abortive, and when the purpose of the "C'abal" became knoAvn to the
countrj' and to the armj-, it met with universal condemnation. ^ The
scheme was not onlj' completelj' frustrated, but its principal instiga
tors either repented of their share in it, or Avere deprived of the power
of attempting further mischief. Gates and IMifflin both ceased soon
after to be members of the Board of War. Gates was ordered in the
spring to take charge of the fortifications on tbe Hudson. IMifflin was
brought to trial for mismanagement in the affairs of the quartermaster's
1 Captain Selden, of Connecticut, writing from Valley Forge, in tlie spring, undoubtedly
reflected the feeling of the army. He says : " I am content if tliey remove almost any
General except his Excellency. The country, even Congress, are not aware of the Con
fidence the Army Places in liim, or motions never would have been made for Gates to take
the Command." — ikanuscrlpt Letter.

1778.] BARON VON STEUBEN. 597
department, in which, hoAvever, nothing was proved against him but
incapacity and confusion in the accounts. He resigned his commission
as Major-general, but acquired some distinction afterward as a member
of Congress. The next campaign brought Lee before a court-martial.
Conway, who Avas also sent in March to the Northern Department,
offered his resignation to Congress, Avhich, contrary to his expectation
and wishes, was accepted. Not long afterAvard he Avas shot in a duel
by General Cadwallader, who accused him of cowardice at the battle
of Brandywine. Supposing himself fatally AVOunded, he Avrote a con
trite letter to Washington, and on his recovery returned to France.
But notwithstanding the hardships and threatened disasters of
the Avinter at Valley Forge, there came to the army in that encamp
ment one signal advantage which told in all the future military op
erations of the AVtir. This was the arrival of Frederick
Wilham von Steuben, a veteran Prussian General, Avho had isaronvon
learned the art of Avar uncler the great Frederick, and whose
experienced ej'e saw beneath the tattered clothing and worn frames
of the men the material for excellent soldiers. He proposed to in
troduce the Prussian system of minor tactics, and, beginning on a small
scale, he gradually brought the Avhole array to an admirable condition
of drill and discipline. Congress appointed him to the office of In
spector-general, and adopted the regulations he had drawn up for the
American service ^ — regulations which were rather an adaptation of
the Prussian system to the character of the men before him, and the
needs of the army, than a rigid adherence to its tactics.
The soldiers Avere quick enough to see that this ncAV Inspector-
general, unlike the raan for whom the office was created — ConAvay —
put his heart into his work, and was moved by no personal ambition,
but by a deep interest in the struggle for Avhich they were suffering
so much, and a sincere desire to fit them to achieve success. His
very roughness of manner and quickness of temper were to thera an
evidence of his sincerity. The grim Prussian veteran appealed irre
sistibly, without perceiving it, to the sensitive American humor when,
having exhausted his vocabulary of German oaths upon an awkward
squad at drill, he wonld cry out to his aid, — " Come and swear for
me in English ; these felloAvs will not do what I bid them ! " When
in after battle-fields these men manoeuvered with the precision and
coolness of a grand parade, simply because they kncAv they Avere
parts of a great raachine, whose effectiveness depended upon the
method of its movement, and the adaptation of the parts to the
^ For details of the special services aud their importance to the Revolutionary AVar, see
life of Steuben, by Frederick Kapp ; and Tlie German Element in tlie War of Independence,
by G. AV. Greene.

598

ALLIANCE AA^TH FRANCE.

[Chap. XXIV.

whole, — then they remembered and blessed the Baron von Steuben,
and the way he hammered tactics into them with his big, strange
oaths. In other respects his inilitary knowledge was of immense
value in various Avays, and of all the European officers who sought
service under the new Republic, he did more than any other in aid
of its complete establishment.
The effect in Europe of Burgoyne's surrender was not long in mani-
Aiiiance fcsting itself. It gave strength to the opposition in Eng-
withFrancc. jy^jj^j^ wliicli Avas shoAvu at the opening of the next session of
Parliament ; but far more important than this, it decided the policy of
France. It was easy, under the ncAV aspect which the annihilation of
one armj' in the North, and the
vigorous campaign of Washing
ton at the South, gave to the
war, for the French Minister and
the American Commissioners in
Paris to come to terms. On the
Gth of Februarj' a treaty was
concluded, providing that if Avar
should break out between France
and England, during the exist
ence of that Avith the United
States, it should be made a com
mon cause ; that neither of the
contracting parties should con
clude either truce or peace Avith
Great Britain without the formal
consent of the other first ob
tained ; and they agreed not to
lay down their arms until the in
dependence of the United States should have been formally or tacitly
assured by the treaties that should terminate the war. The news of
this important step reached the United States in April ; on the 2d
of May the treaty Avas ratified bj' Congress ; and nowhere Avere the
tidings received Avitli more satisfaction than at Valley Forge, where a
day was set apart for public rejoicing with all the demonstrations that
an impoverished military camp could afford.^
The impending event in Paris Avas no secret in England. The op-
1 M. Capellan, the patriotic Hollander, who made a speech in the popular House of the
Dutch government, against loaning troops to England in 1775-76, wrote this letter —
hitherto unpublished — to Franklin on the conclusion of the French alliance ; —
" Z. Woi.1, 28 Jlpril, 1778.
" Sir : As I have been the first, or say better, the only one of all the members of our
State who has dared hiraself to declare openly for y<' American Cause, and that in a

Baron von Steuben

1778.] NORTH'S PROPOSITIONS FOR PEACE. 599
position in Parliament sought to open negotiations with the American
Comniissioners to avert the French alliance, but this carae to nothing.
Lord North, knowing that, if a treaty were made, war be
tween France and England was sure to follow, was reduced tempts at
to a humihating position Avithout being certain that even
humiliation would keep him in office. In February he brought into
Parhament two conciliatory bills, which were passed in March. The
plan proposed yielded all that England had been contending against —
the right to tax the colonies — and Congress Avas recognized as a legal
representative body, by the appointment of Coraraissioners to treat Avith
it. But that which the insurgents contended for was not conceded
— their right to be entirely independent of the British Crown. The
scheme was sure to come to the ground, — -would have come to the
ground, even had there been no alliance with France, — but it was
North's best as it Avas his last card.
A part of the opposition, had thej' had the power, would have con
ceded independence to the revolted colonies. Others would, if they
could, have come to some comproraise, not essentially dift'ering from
that proposed by North, but which Avould have left the question of
independence in abeyance, to be settled afterward when peace was
once restored. There was faith enough in such a policj' — futile as
it would have proved — to have overthrown North, and restored
Chatham to office, had it not been for the obstinacy of the King.
He hated Chatham Avith the intensity that belongs to unsettled
reason, and refused to admit him to his presence. " I solemnly
declare," he said, " that nothing shall bring me to treat personally
with Lord Chatham." There still lurked in his clouded mind the
belief that the colonies could yet be subdued. Chatham, he said,
Avould insist on a total change.
But Chatham's plan, it is known, involved the idea that the States
could still be retained as English colonies. Pie would have rescinded
all obnoxious laAvs, withdrawn all the troops from America, leaving
garrisons only in a few strongly fortified places, and concentrated all
the strength of England upon a struggle with France. When that
was ended — and no Englishman could permit himself to doubt what
the end would be — he Avould trust to the common ties of race, of
language, of religion, and of interest, to bring back the Americans to
problematical time. Congratulate you out of the bottom of my heart of the happy success
with which providence has crowned America.
" The joy I feld on the news of the taking the army of General Burgoyne, which will
shine in the annalls of America and its Liberty, surpassed with a greater joy which occa
sioned the Treaty concluded with France, and by which the U. S. of America see them-
selfs placed amongst the Independent Powers in the world." — M.S. in Trumbull Papers,
in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

600 ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE. [Chap. XXIA'.
their allegiance. " The raoraent," said Shelburne — who thoroughly
understood Chatham's views — " that the independence of America
is agreed to by our Government, the sun of Great Britain is set, and
Ave shall no longer be a poAverful or respectable people." ^
North's scheme of reconcihation Avas, after all, no more impracticable
than those devised by rival statesmen. Chatham's plan, Avhatever it
was, he could not have carried out, had he again come into power, for
he died on the llth of May. When he fell in the House of Lords a
month before, stricken unto death, he was about to reply to the Duke
of Richmond, who had moved a resolution for an address to the Crown,
asking the King to withdraAV his fleets and armies from the revolted
provinces, and " to effectuate conciliation with them on such terms as
might preserve their good will," — by which the duke meant that
their independence should be acknowledged. The resolution Avas lost
bj' a majority of only scA'cnteen, notwithstanding the dying words of
the great statesman AA'ere against it.
The Comraissioners, with Lord North's proposals for peace, arrived
in June. Their credentials were immediately presented to Congress,
who received them on one day, and gave on the next an answer, curt,
conclusive, and almost defiant. Nothing, they said, but "an earnest
desire to spare the effusion of human blood, AA'ould have induced them
to read a letter that so reflected upon their ally, the King of France ;
that they were ready, however, to enter upon the consideration of
peace whenever the King of Great Britain should show that he had
any "sincere disposition for that purpose;'" and that the only evi
dence of that sincerity would be " an explicit acknowledgment of
the independence of these States, or the withdrawing his fleets and
armies." It Avas near midsummer before this point in the history of the year
was reached. Arms had rather Avaited upon diplomacy. For though
through the spring' there were some military raoveraents, there were
none of rauch moment. When made, they Avere less to gather glory
Raids in ^^^ more to gather corn and cattle. Two such expedi-
xew Jersey, ^^jgjjg were made into New Jersey in March, and tAvice, near
Salem, at Quinton's Bridge and at Hancock's Bridge, the railitia were
called out to resist such raids upon their fields and barn-yards. A
like attempt at plunder Avas raade at Montgoraery, in Pennsylvania,
on the 1st of May. To check these incursions, and, at the same time,
to have a force near by in case Philadelphia should be abandoned —
of which already tliere was some expectation — Washington ordered
Lafayette, Avith about two thousand men, to take a position at Bar
ren Hill, half way betAveen Valley Forge and the city. This move-
1 Fitzmaurice's Life ofthe Earl of Shelburne.

1778.] EVACUATION OF PHILADELPHIA. 601
ment Howe determined to defeat, and he sent out Grant Avith five
thousand men to surround and capture this force under Lafayette.
When apprised of his danger, Lafaj'ette made a feint of at
tacking Grant, and then by a rapid march crossed the Barren
Schuylkill at Matson's Ford before he could be intercepted.
The affair ended with little loss on either side, and at the time Avas
considered a brilhant piece of manoeuvring on the part of Lafayette.
To the enemy it A\'as a source of chagrin and disappointment.
The British had occupied Philadelphia for raore than eight raonths
¦with a force superior to Washington's, but had failed to establish
themselves in the State at large. With the Peace Com-
• ¦ -I -NT -IT- 1 rr^i ^'^'^ British
imssioners carae orders to return to New York. Ibe con- leave Phiia-
centration of their forces had become of greater importance
than the occupation of territory. On the 18tli of June the move
ment was begun, hastened, doubtless, by a report that a French fleet
under D'Estaing was on its Avay to blockade the English in the Dela
ware. Between the hours of three and ten o'clock A. M., the entire
army had been ferried across the river, and immediately took up the
march northward through the Jerseys. All told, it numbered about
fourteen thousand effective men, under Sir Henry Clinton, Howe hav
ing been relieved of his comraand, with a baggage and provision train
eight or ten railes long, Avhicli included officers' luggage, and plunder
from the Quaker City in carriages, saddle-horses, servants, Avomen, and
" every kind of other useless stuff." The heat was oppressive, rains had
made the roads difficult of travel, and the way before them was long.
During this tedious march, between six hundred and eight hundred
Hessians deserted in safety.
The moment Washington was positively informed of Clinton's
start, he broke camp at Valley Forge and folio Aved in pur- -nra^wngton
suit. Maxwell's brigade was pushed forward to join Dick- p^''^™^'
inson's militia, to aid in the destruction of bridges, and delay the
enemy. On the 21st, the American army crossed the Delaware at
Coryell's Ferry, the present Lambertville ; on the 26th, reached
Kingston, twenty railes west of Freehold ; and on the 28th it struck
the rear of Clinton's columns, and the battle of Monmouth Court
house folloAved.i
A council of war, held at Hopewell on the 24th, expressed a divided
opinion as to the advisability of bringing on a general engagement with
Chnton. Six generals, including Lee, advised that the enemy should
be followed up and harassed by separate and cautious attacks, at vari-
' Clinton's first intention was to march to Amboy ; but hearing at Allentown that AVash
ington was nearing him, and might dispute the passage of the Raritan, he turned east-
Ward to Sandy Hook, via Freehold or Monmouth. — Clinton's Report.

602

ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE.

[Chap. XXIV.

ous points, upon the retreating columns. Six of the generals, among
whom were Greene and Lafayette, proposed raore vigorous raeasures.
Washington hiraself Avas clearly unAvilling to perrait the eneray to
cross NeAV Jersey Avithout I'eceiving an effective blow. As he ap
proached Clinton, strong, select, and ably-led detachments were sent
in advance of the raain army. In the van was a corps about five
thousand strong, exclusiA'e of Dickinson's militia on the left, and
Morgan's riflemen, Avho were ordered to threaten the enemy's right

Map of New Jersey.
flank. The command of this force was given flrst to Lafaj'ette, but
finally to Lee, as he claimed it on the ground of rank.
A little after noon on the 2Tth, Inspector-general Steuben recon
noitred the enemy in person, and reported that they lay encamped
on the main road by Monmouth Court-house, in a strong position.
Washington instructed Lee, in case Clinton resumed his march the
next morning, to attack him at once. The distance between the two
armies on the night of the 2Tth Avas onlj' five miles, the American
adA'ance corps being at the little village of EuglishtoAvn, west of iMon-

1778.] BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 603
mouth. Although requested by the Commander-in-chief to unite
upon some plan of action with the generals in his comraand, Lee
failed to narae anything definite, preferring, he said, to be governed
by circumstances. During the night, several hundred men -^vere
moved to points nearer the enemy.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 28th, Avord came to head
quarters that the enemy were moving. Knyphausen inarched Avith
the baggage train and its strong convoy, while Clinton, Avith his best
troops, followed about eight o'clock. Washington sent Avord to Lee
to hasten in pursuit and bring on an engagement, unless some urgent
reason to the contrary existed. The main army, leaving its packs,
moved forward to support the advance corps.
General Dickinson's militia first engaged the enemy, betAveen seA'en
and eight o'clock in the morning, and, supposing himself to Battle of
have encountered the advance of the returning British, Avhen Monmouth.
in fact it Avas merely a small flanking party, he sent for aid, while
holding his ground, and the British presently fell back. At this time
conflicting reports were brought to General Lee, some of the scouts
thinking that the eneray Avere, and others that they were not, return
ing in force. Hence there Avas much marching and countermarching,
and it was not until after nine o'clock that it Avas certainly knOAvn
that the British were continuing their march toward Middletown.
In this uncertainty, the opportunity for striking the left flank, accord
ing to Washington's plan, was lost.
The second skirmish took place betAveen Colonel Butler and a small
party of the enemy's horse, Avhich was quickly driven through the
village. Colonel Butler folloAving with artillery and occupying a slight
eminence while the other brigades carae up. Here the British light
di'agoons charged vigorously, but Avere repulsed bj' Colonel Butler.
Up to this point the advantage was on the side of the Americans.
The several regiraents Avere well posted, in spite of the absence of
any general leadership in the morning's moA'ements, and a determined
advance would have taken Knyphausen's column at great disadvan
tage. At this stage of the conflict, Lee sent orders to Wayne to
move to the right, and capture the enemy's rear-guard. The other
commanders, who were Avithout orders, understood this movement to
be a retreat, as they saw that the enemy was moving and apparently
threatening their connection Avith Wayne. They abandoned their po
sitions, and had fallen back some distance Avhen, too late, orders came
from Lee to stand fast. By this time the entire division Avas in re
treat. By half-past eleven, the British had discovered the confusion
attending these various movements, and had turned back in consider
able force. Lee watched the. retreat of his detachments across a ra-

604 ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. [Chap. XXIV.
vine, reraained to see the last of his men safely over, and then followed
them, to find that Washington had come up with the main army and
assumed command in person.
The change of command was instantly felt among the troops Avho
were retreating, and many of thera at once rallied and formed a line.
The regiments of Colonels Stewart, of Pennsylvania, and Ramsej', of
Maryland, Avhich were nearest at hand, Washington posted on the
left of the road, with two guns, saying, " Gentlemen, I depend upon
you to hold the ground until I can form the main army." On the
right of the road he placed Wayne, Varnum, Oswald, and Living
ston. The other retreating regiments, broken, but by no means
panic-stricken, passed through the new line to re-form, many of them,
however, voluntarily joining the troops already in position.
With the last of the retreating force carae Lee, and that remark
able interview with Washington followed, in which he showed that
" sublime wrath " to which he sometiraes gave way, and Avliich was
not incompatible Avith his equally sublime patience and usual self-
command. As Lee approached him, he instantlj' expressed his as-
washington tonisliment at the unaccountable retreat. " I wish to know,
rebukes Lee. gjj.^" Jjg exclaimcd, " Avhat is the reason — Avhy this dis
order and confusion ? " Overawed by Washington's manner and sting
ing rebuke, Lee could only reply that he saw no other confusion than
might naturally arise from disobedience of orders.-' Washington may
have understood, even then, that the confusion was not from diso
bedience of orders, but from the want of them, and that Lee was
throAving upon others the responsibilitj' for disaster which was the
result of his OAvn incapacity or treachery. The tradition is, that the
commanding General was so moved that ordinary language did not
suffice to express the depths of his indignation, and that he cursed
Lee with emphasis and heartiness. Whether he did or did not some
times lapse, Avhen angry, into a manner of speech more common in
that century than in this, is a question that can never be settled now
by any positive evidence. He had more than one human Aveakness,
great and good man as he was, and it is not at all improbable that
SAvearing, under great provocation, was one of them. But Avhen the
storm, on this occasion, had blown over, Lee offered to bring the
troops into some order in the front, and finally, being greatly fatigued,
took command of the various bodies that had made their way to the
rear. This was the end of his military career, as he was soon after
1 This, substantially, is the version of the famous meeting, as Lee gave it himself in his
written defence before the court-martial which tried him for disobedience. The proceed
ings of the court, and the testimony of officers, out of which alone can a correct account of
the battle be unravelled, haic been published in different forms, and most recently in the
Lee Papers, published by the New York Historical Society.

1778.] ARRIVAL OF A FRENCH FLEET. 605
brought to trial before a court-martial, found guilty of disobedience
to orders, misbehavior before the eneniy, and disrespect to the Com
mander-in-chief, in two letters Avritten after the battle, and sentenced
to suspension from command for a year.
Colonels Ramsay and Stewart soon felt the British advance, and
their resistance brought on the general engagement of the day. Both
stood firm until compelled to fall back before superior num
bers. Ramsay held his ground desperately, and refused to Ramsey's
yield, until he was wounded and taken prisoner .1 L-afay- ^'^ ''°''^'
ette formed a second line just in time to prevent Clinton with his
main body from out-flanking the position on both sides. The sharp
est fighting took place near the road where Washington first checked
the retreat. Here Lieutenant-colonel Monckton, of the Roj'al Gren
adiers, was killed, and his body remained in the hands of the Ameri
cans. Firing continued until five o'clock in the afternoon, when the
British, failing to make any impression, fell back. The losses of the
two armies were nearly equal. Clinton reported 355, and
Washington 362, killed, Avounded, and missing; but on the
side of the Americans there Avere many stragglers who had been over
come with the heat, and afterward reported to their respective regi
ments. Clinton continued his march to Ncav York without further molesta
tion, Washington following and taking his position at White Plains,
to be in readiness for future movements. All eyes were soon directed
toAvards Rhode Island, where, late in July, the Count D'Es- Arrival of
taing arrived with a squadron of twelve ships, carrying four i>'^''^™e-
thousand French troops. This fleet was intended to relicA'e Philadel
phia, but did not reach the Delaware till after that city was evacu
ated. There was not depth enough of Avater, D'Estaing believed, to
admit the ships into New York harbor, and he therefore passed on to
Newport. At his approach, tAventy-one English vessels, large and
small, were burned to avoid capture.
Large hopes and eager curiosity waited upon this appearance of a
French fleet with a French army as the first fruit of the new alliance.
The disappointment was great that D'Estaing coidd not find his
1 " AVhile his men were on the retreat he [Ramsay] was attacked by one of the enemy's
dragoons, who charged him very briskly. The Colonel was on foot. It was for some time
between them a trial of skill and courage. After the horseman fired his pistol, the Colouel
closed iu, and wounded and dismounted him. Several dragoons now cama up to support
their comrade ; the Colonel engaged them cominus ense, giving and receiving very serious
wounds, till at length, attacked in his rear, and overpowered by numbers, he was made
prisoner. General Clinton paid a proper attention to such uncommon prowess, aud gen
erously liberated the Colonel the following day on his parol." —Revolutionary Letter, Mag.
of Am, Hist, June, 1879.

606 ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE. [Cu.ip. XXIV.
Avay into NeAV York baj', capture or destroj- the smaller English fleet
there, and blockade Clinton in his principal stronghold. It Avas
thought that something else was Avanting besides depth of Avater on
the bar at the mouth of the harbor ; but this was soon forgotten, when
the English burnt their vessels at N^ewport, and the rjiduction of that
place, Avhich General Pigot held Avith six thousand British and Hes
sians, seemed a certain and speedy event. Sullivan AA'as in command
of ten thousand men — militia and Continentals — in Rhode Island,
with Greene and Lafayette as division commanders, Varnum and
Glover as brigadier-generals.^
The French and Ainerican armies were to cooperate in an attack
upon Newport, to be made on the lOtli of August. Sullivan, to
take advantage of the abandonment of the north end of the island
by the enemy, moved before the time agreed upon. He neglected
to notify D'Estaing of his change of purpose, and out of this misun-
]ii,«.istcr to derstanding came delay Avhich, in the end, defeated the en-
his fleet. terprise. When, on the 9th, the French were ready to co
operate, a fleet of thirty-six vessels, under Lord Howe, from New
York, appeared in the offing. D'Estaing reembarked his men, gath
ered his ships together, and put to sea. A northeast wind gave him
the Aveather-gage of the Englishmen, who declined battle. A furious
storm followed, which scattered both fleets. For ten days they Avere
at sea, Avhen Howe returned to New York, and D'Estaing to New
port, his ships so shattered by the storm that he deterrained to take his
fleet to Boston to refit.
Sullivan had pushed on, notwithstanding the absence of the French
troops. He had compelled the enemy to Avithdraw within their lines
of intrenchments stretching frora Newport harbor to Eaton's Pond,
and covered his own men by earth-works at various points, while
waiting for D'Estaing's return. That the fleet needed to refit, there
could be no doubt ; the orders of the government were that in such
an emergency D'Estaing should go to Boston, and that was the best
port for his purpose. The public disappointment, nevertheless, was
keen and bitter. It was easy to understand that sails and rigging
might need to be replaced; that hulls and spars must be repaired;
that Avater-butts should be refilled, and the stock of provisions be
replenished. It was not easy to understand why four thousand sol
diers should remain on board to Avatcli the progress of this refitting.
There Avas a prevalent feeling that these troops might have been left
on Rhode Island to do a little fighting, aud that the ship-car
penters, stevedores, calkers, and riggers in Boston Avould have done
' In Varnum's brigade was a negro regiment, organized with Washington's approval,
composed of slaves emancipated on coudition of enlisting.

1778.] THE RHODE ISLAND CAMPAIGN. 607
quite as Avell without their presence. But D'Estaing gave little heed
to such reasoning as this. He seemed to think that his ships and his
soldiers were not to be separated ; that together they forraed an expe
dition which Avould be broken up if either acted independently of the
other. The Frenchman was very polite but very persistent, and went
to Boston — ships, sailors, and soldiers. The American general was
more frank than polite, when he said in General Orders, that Amer
ica might " be able to procure that by her OAvn arms which her allies
refuse to assist in obtaining." The popular feeling was on his side ;
Frenchmen were not always' safe in the streets of Boston while the
ships lay in that harbor, and one officer was killed in a braAvl. Con
gress and the Commander-in-chief did all that could be done to
soothe the wounded feelings of the French officers, that there should
be no disturbance of the cordiality between the two governments.
Sullivan determined to attack on the 29th. If anything Avas to be
done, it must be done quickly, for the volunteers, doubtful
' . Battle of
of success without the assistance of the French, Avere return- itiiotie isl
and.
ing to their horaes in large numbers. The roads leading to
the town, and the hills near it, knoAvn as Quaker, Turkey, and Butt's,
were taken possession of by the Americans. The British advanced
from their works, and attacked at several points Avith great vigor, but
were repulsed with equal steadiness. The fighting was desperate for
several hours, though of Sullivan's five thousand raen only fifteen hun
dred had ever before seen the sraoke of battle. None behaved better
than the raw troops of Greeiie's colored regiment, who three tiraes re
pulsed the furious charges of veteran Hessians. The Araericans Avere
driven, at length, from sorae of their positions, but their loss in killed,
wounded, and missing was only a fcAV more than two hundred, while
that of the other side Avas over a thousand. ^
A dispatch from Washington the next day warned Sullivan that
Pigot was about to be reenforced by Clinton Avith five thousand men.
To risk a battle and atterapt to hold the open country against superior
numbers, would have been little else than madness. A retreat was
begun, and in the course of the night the Avhole army crossed to the
mainland at Tiverton in safety. It was just in time ; the reenforce
ments, on board a hundred English vessels, were in Newport harbor
the next morning. As Sullivan had escaped, Clinton reconciled him
self to that disappointraent by burning New Bedford and Fairhaven,
and all the vessels at their Avharves. Howe sailed for Boston, and
challenged D'Estaing to battle, who was not yet ready for sea. When
his fleet was refitted, he sailed for the West India station, without
any further attempt then to aid the Araericans.
1 Arnold's History of Rhode Island,

608

ALLIANCE AA'ITH FRAN^CE.

[Chap. XXIV.

In other parts of the country there were, in the course of the sum-
Toriesand ^^r and autumii, military movements having no immediate
centraf New councction with those along the coast, but which were iiev-
York. ertheless of great interest to those immediately concerned,
and sometimes of general importance. Through all the West the
Indians were instigated to hostility, — in New York by Sir John
Johnson and other leading Tories, and in more distant regions by the
English governors at Niagara and Detroit. The battle of Oriskanj',
the year before, Avhere more
than a hundred warriors had
been sped on their way to
the happy hunting-grounds,
had aroused in several tribes
of the Six Nations a thirst
for A'engeance not easilj' sat
isfied. Joseph Brant Avas
the most powerful of all
their chiefs, and education
among the whites, in failing
to change his savage nature,
had given him the added
power of a cultiA'ated mind.
His relations to the Johnson
family — Brant's sister hav
ing been the mother of sev
eral of Sir William John
son's children — attached
him to the Torj' interest,
and to that interest, stronger
Joseph Brant. ij-, Central New York than
in any other part of the country, he was a formidable allj'. His
name was a terror among the Whig population, for wherever he ap
peared, death and dcA'astation were sure to follow.
From Julj- to November, from the vallej' of the Susquehanna north
ward through the country west of Albanj', then called Tryon Countj',
a merciless warfare was carried on by the Tories and Indians, in
which the Tories were sometimes even more saA'age than their saA'age
allies. Whole settlements Avere given to the flames, and as little
mercj- was sliOAvn to old Avomen, ami to infants in the cradle, as to
men Avith arms in their hands. At Wyoming —
" On Susquehanna's side, fair AVyoming ! " —
on the last days of June, two of the forts were taken, and manj' of
the inhabitants of the valley compelled to flj' for refuge to a third,

1778.] TORY AND INDIAN WARFARE IN NEW YORK. 609
called " Forty Fort." The garrison was under the command of Colo
nel Zebulon Butler, who, overruled by rash counsel, led his men to
battle against a superior force of Tories and Indians under j^nack on
Colonel John Butler. The result was a disastrous defeat, Wyoming.
in which only about sixty of the three hundred American soldiers
escaped. As the news spread through the valley, those who had not
already left their homes fled to the woods and mountains, or sought
safety in Fort Wyoming. This, in a day or two, was weakly surren
dered by Colonel Dennison, Avith a stipulation that the settlers should
be permitted to return to their farms and be unmolested. The stipu
lation was disregarded in the destruction of propertj', and raany per
sons were killed, though it is questionable Avhether a general raassacre
followed.^ Nor is it certain that Brant was engaged on this expedi
tion. In others, however, he was the chief actor. He had, a few days
before, entered the settlement of Springfield, on Otsego j^gepij
Lake, and burnt every house excepting one, in which he had ''™°''
placed the Avomen and children in safety. Indian scouts and scalping-
parties roamed through the summer along the banks of the Schoharie.
Late in August or earlj' in September, Brant, with a large body of
followers, laid Avaste the settleraents on German Flats, in the valley
of the Mohawk, leaving for ten miles not a house, a barn, or a stack
of grain of the lately gathered harvest, standing, and driving off all
the cattle. This act, hoAvever, was fully avenged a few days later in
the destruction of the Indian towns of Unadilla and Oghkwaga by
Colonel William Butler, with a Pennsylvania regiment and a detach
ment of Morgan's riflemen, Avho had been sent for the protection of
the harassed people.
More pitiful than all Avas the fate that befell Cherry Valley earlj'
in November. Walter N. Butler, a son of the Tory Colonel ^he Mii^-
John Butler, who had been a prisoner at Albany, had re- cS°'
cently escaped, and, as a signal act of vengeance, he deter- ^^"''J-
mined to destroy a village noted for the refinement and virtue of its
inhabitants, as well as for their devotion to the revolutionary cause.
Lafayette, when at Albany, the year before, to prepare for that abor-
1 Stone, in his Life of Brant, denies it. Dr. Thacher, in his Military Joumcd, gives some
stories current at the time, which are almost incredible. See also Moore's Diary of the
American Revolution, for contemporary rumors. AVeld, in his Travels through the States qf
North America during the Years 1795, 1796, 1797, visited AVyoming — then AA''iII<esbarre
— and says: "It was here the dreadful massacre was committed. . . . Several of the
houses in which the unfortunate victims retired to defend themselves, on behig refused all
quarter, are still standing, perforated in every part with balls ; the remains of others that
were set on fire are also to be seen, aud the inhabitants will on no account suffer them to
be repaired." VOL. III. 39

610 ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE. [Chai>. XXIV.
tive expedition against Canacla which he Avas to lead, had ordered that
a fort be built at Cherrj' Valley, the command of which was given to
Colonel Ichabod Alden, who knew nothing of the Indian Avays. He
had warning of the approach of Butler and Brant, but took no pre
cautions. He assured the villagers that there AA'as no reason for appre
hension, and they remained in their houses till they were startled by
the savage Avar-crj'. Alden himself Avas outside the fort, and was pur
sued by an Indian as he ran Avith all his speed to get within the gates.
He turned and snapped his pistol, as he ran, again and again at his
pursuer, Avho, before the fort was reached, came near enough to biu'v
his tomahawk in the head of the unfortunate Colonel. Nearlj- fifty
persons Avere killed in the course of the daj', tmd all but sixteen of
these were AA'omen and children. There Avere cases of peculiar atrocity,
even for Indian 'n'arfare ; the savage Butler or the savage Brant, either
by choice or chance, marketl the massacre to be remembered bj' the
murder of women A'enerable in character and j-ears. The fort was
not taken, but most of the buildings in the village Avere burned.
The only mercy shown Avas to release most of the women and chil
dren taken prisoners : Mrs. Campbell and ]Mrs. ^loore, with their chil
dren, being still detained because their husbands were leading Whigs.
The motive of Butler's clemency, — the motive of the attack on the
village, — it maj- be, was the fact that his mother and seA'eral of her
children were prisoners at Albanj-. and tliese taken at Cherrj- Valley
were offered in exchange. ^
But this Indian warfare was not confined to Central Ncav York.
nestem Thougli the AA-ar so absorbed the resources, the interest, and
pioneers. ^|^g energies of the people between the mountains and tbe
sea, in the western vallej's the pioneer of civilization Avas fighting his
waj' into the wilderness, not rauch concerned about the higher con
test that was going on behind him. In 1775 Daniel Boone had made
his first " blazed trace " in the Avilderness Avest of Virginia, soon to be
known as Kentucky ; the territory of the present State of Tennessee
was organized in 1776 as the County of Washington in North Caro
lina ; Ohio was known as the District of West Augusta; in 1777 Ken-
tuckj- had three militarj- stations, Boonesborough, Logan's Fort, aud
Harrod's Station, on the "dark and bloody ground," the coramon
hunting-fields of the northern and southern Indians ; Boone, Logan,
Harrod, Kenton, Patterson, Galloway, Montgomery, and many others,
were names known and dreaded by the Indian tribes, as they pen
etrated through all this unbroken wilderness, — men who have left
behind them memories of mighty hunters and of mighty fighters,
whose lives were filled Avith roraantic adventure, with deeds of daring
1 Stone's Life of Brant. Camiibell's Central Nic York In the Revolution.

1778.] CLARK'S EXPEDITION TO ILLINOIS. 611
and endurance, which have no parallel in the liistory of the settlement
of any other part of the continent.
For, it Avas not merely that tliese pioneers encountered the jeal
ousy and fears of natives dreading the encroachment of the white
men upon their lands. To that natural dread the Avar lent a ncAV
and intense incitement. The commanders of the English posts at
the Avest and iiortliAvest Avere diligent in arousing the hostility of
the tribes to the ^Vmericans, and manj' an Indian expedition Avtts in
stigated at Detroit, at Vincennes, and at Kaskaskia, on the river of
tliat name, two miles from the left bank of the Mississippi. Colonel
George Rogers Clark, one of the hardy and brave pioneers
of Kentucky, determined to strike at the source of this evil, dition to
and on making known his bold plan to Governor Patrick
Henry, received his approbtitioii and aid. To his success it Avas due,
that in the negotiations for peace between the poAvers in 1782, the
^lississippi River, and not the Alleghany range, Avas made the western
boundary of the United Sttites.
In May, 1788, Clark went clown the Ohio Avitli only a hundred and
fifty men. At Corn Island, at the Falls of the Ohio, he remained a
few days to receive additions to his companj-, and to build a block
house as a depot of provisions. Here he left five men, who, after he
had gone, removed to the mainland, made clearings, and built log
cabins where Louisville Avas to be. At the mouth of the Tennessee
Clark left his boats and marched across to the Kaskaskia. On the
evening of the 4th of July he crossed that river, and surrounded and
took the toAvn, whose inhabitants Avere not aware of the approach of
an enemy. The Governor, Rocheblave, he sent prisoner to Virginia ;
the people he pacified by lenient treatment, and exacted from them
an oath of allegiance to the United States. Cahokia, farther up the
river, was then taken in the same Avay, and afterAvard Vincennes on
the Wabash. In the ttutumn the county of Illinois Avas recognized
and a civil commandant appointed.
Governor Hamilton of Detroit soon recovered Vincennes, where
Clark had left only tAvo raen in the fort ; ^ but late the following
winter, Clark marched from Kaskaskia, through a country much of
Avhich, at that season, Avas under Avater, retook the fort, and sent
Hamilton as a prisoner of war to Virginia. This signal success, and
the judicious as Avell as brave conduct of Clark, so influenced the In
dian tribes of the Illinois, that from bitter enemies they became either

a sur-

' Governor Hamilton approached the fort with eight hundred men and demanded
render. Captain Helm — with his one soldier — refused till he knew the terms. Hamilton,
not knowing the weakness of the garrison, conceded the honors of war : the eight hundred
raen were driiwn up to receive with ]iroper ceremony the retiring garrison.

612

ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE.

[Chap. XXIV.

friends of the Americans, or, at Avorst, neutrals in the war. It was
more by skilful management, however, than bj' any displaj' of ma
terial force — Avhich was not at his command — that Clark brought
about this result. He gave the saA-ages, he savs, " harsh language
to supply the w-ant of men, well knowing that it was a mistaken no
tion in raany that soft speeches Avas best for Indians ; " he assured
them " they wotdd see their great father, as thej' called him, given to
the dogs to eat." ^

Capture of Fort Vincennes by Governor Hamilton.
Towards the close of the year the Avar AA-as shifted to the South,
Operations wherc the rainistry raade its final move for the subjection
at the South, ^f |.]^g rebelUous colonies. Lieutenant-colonel Carapbell was
sent, as the initial step, Avith tAVO thousand raen to reduce Savannah.
Genertil Robert HoAve, of North Carolina, was in command at that
jioint with from tAvelve to fifteen hundred men. With a lagoon in
front, a morass on his right, the swamps of the river on his left, and
the Avorks of the town in his rear, he thought himself safe from as
sault. But Campbell soon discoA'ered that a path through a swamp
had been left unguarded, over Avhich, led by a negro, a detachment
1 A letter of Colonel Clark, in which he gives a narrative of his expedition to Illinois,
and the journal of his second in command. Major Bowman, — both documents belonging
to the Kentucky Historical Society, — were published for the first time a few years since,
¦with notes bv Sir. Henrv Pirtle of Louisville.

1779.] PARTISAN AVARFARE AT THE SOUTH. 613
gained and turned Howe's right. A simultaneous attack was raade
in front, and the Araericans, taken by surprise, fell back through the
town, losing, in a confused retreat, over five hundred raen in killed,
wounded, and as prisoners, with their baggage and artillerj'. The
loss on the other side Avas trifling, and Savannah was the prize of their
victory. A few days later General Prevost advanced from St. Augus
tine, taking Sunbury on his way. By the end of January, Campbell
was in possession of Augusta, and the royal rule seemed, for the
moment, once more restored over the whole of Georgia.
But only seemed. Throughout that State, and in South and North
Carolina, there broke out a partisan warfare which had had partisan
no parallel in any other part of the country. The loyal and ™''^'''=-
the patriot parties Avere so nearly equally divided that each was confi
dent of gaining the ascendency', and the bitterness of personal detes
tation intensified to cruelty the evils of ordinary AA'ar. A district
of country remained loyal or patriot so long as it AA'as occupied by
the troops of either one side or the other. Citizens served as militia
when organized militia operations promised success ; Avhen success
seemed hopeless, or protection was no longer afforded by the presence
of regular troops, they fled to the swamps and Avoods and carried on a
murderous and predatory Avarfare against their neighbors who were
on the other side. Soon after Augusta Avas taken, a Colonel Boyd
marched with a body of Tories from the back counties of Carolina to
join Campbell. Colonel Andrew Pickens gtithered together a band
of patriots from the district of Ninety-Six, intercepted and defeated
Boyd, took seventy of his men prisoners, tried them for treason, and
five were hanged. The next month, in March, Colonel Ashe, with
fifteen hundred North Carolina militia, Avas ordered bj- General Lin
coln — who had taken HoAve's place — to move doAvn the Savannah
toward the eneray, who had left Augusta. At Briar Creek Ashe had
a strong position, but, exposing his camp on one flank, he was sur
prised by the eneray, tAVO hundred of his men Avere either killed or
Avounded, and his command disappeared like a mob that had been fired
upon, almost all of them returning to their homes, a hundred or two
only rejoining Lincoln's array. These two instances are fair indica
tions of the nature of the contest at the South. NoAvhere else, except
to a limited degree in central Ncav York, was the Avar so entirely a
desperate civil Avar, where neighbor was arrayed in deadly hatred
against neighbor, each holding his Ufe at the price of sleepless vigi
lance, each knowing that the death of the other Avas his only real se
curity. Little reliance could be placed upon the aid of militia, Avhere
at any moment the troops might turn their backs upon the command
ing officer and hasten home to the protection of their own firesides

611

ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE.

[Chap. XXIV.

against personal enemies. This condition of things gave an adven
turous and romantic aspect to the partisan warfare in that region,
and rendered all military movements uncertain.
Through the spring, Lincoln and Prevost moved from point to
point in the open country, each striving to out-manoeuvre
Movements ^ ¦*¦ " ^
at the the other, without any important result. On the llth of
Soutli. ^ . ' ¦*¦
^lay, the English commander was before Charleston, and
summoned it to surrender. Some of the civil authorities Avere quite
willing to compound for the safety of the town, by agreeing that

Charleston in 1780.

the State should remain neutral ; but neither would Governor Rut
ledge, Moultrie, and other military leaders consent to abide by such
an agreement, if made, nor would Prevost accede to it. Lincoln at
tacked the works of the enemy at Stono Ferry, without success and
Avith considerable loss. But Prevost at length fell back upon SaA-an-
nah, and the belligerents, by the middle of summer, Avere in about the
same relative positions as at the beginning of the year.
Expeditions AA'ere sent out in the course of the spring and summer
by Clinton, more for the purpose of plunder and of distressing the
people, than with any hope of conquest. General ^Matthews, with
twentj--five hundred men, landed in Virginia, destroyed large quan
tities of merchandise at Norfolk and Portsmouth, burned or carried off
the tobacco along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, destroyed manv

1778.] R.VIDS IN CONNECTICUT. 615
houses and a hundred and fiftj- raerchant A'essels, and broke up thou
sands of barrels of pork, pitch, and turpentine, inflicting distress and
ruin upon a population hitherto exempt from the evils of Avar.
On the 5th of Julj', General Trj'on landed at New Haven Avith
three thousand men, where there was no force to oppose him. jjaid.^iin
The people, nevertheless, bravely defended their homes. Connecticut.
The Yale students formed themselves into a military company under
Captain James Hillhouse ; the Reverend Dr. Daggett, President of
the College, after sending his daughters to a place of safety, shoul
dered his musket, and with his sons went out to fight the invaders.
He Avas taken prisoner. The townspeople tore up the planks of West
Bridge, and Avith a few field-pieces checked the advance in that direc
tion. They took advantage of every commanding point about the
town, of every bit of Avood Avhere an ambush could be raade to annoy
the troops and to impede their progress. But the British and Hes
sian soldiers overran the toAA'ii ; women AA'ere outraged, and men were
murdered ; houses Avere ransacked for plate, Avatches, jewelrj-, and
clothing, and what could not be carried off Avas recklessly destroyed.
It Avas a scene of robbery and debauchery disgraceful to civilized sol
diers, doublj' disgraceful to Tryon and the other officers of his com
mand. It was a mere raid for the purpose of plunder, and the next
morning the drunken soldiers were marched, or driven, or carried on
board the ships, to sail for Fairfield. This fared even worse than
New Haven. It Avas first given over to rapine, and then its eightj'-
five dAvelling-houses, two churches, fifty or sixtj- barns, and a court
house were burned to the ground. Green's Farms and Norwalk were
next visited, and the same pitiless destruction inflicted upon both.
Houses, churches, barns, and vessels Avere given to the flames.
Before these raids, Clinton had made a purelj' military movement up
the Hudson, and captured the half-finished forts at Verplank's Land
ing and Stony Point, then held by small garrisons. Washington
marched at once to cover West Point, making his headquarters at
New Windsor, deterrained to recapture both places. The first at
tempt was upon Stony Point, and Avas eminently successful. The
details were planned by the Commander-in-chief, and their execu
tion intrusted to General Wayne, whose courage and dash especially
fitted hira for so difficult an enterprise. His attacking column con
sisted of four regiraents, under Colonels Febiger of Virginia, Butler
of Pennsylvania, and Meigs of Connecticut, and Majors Hill and
Murfree of Colonel Putnam's regiment. The attack Avas to be made
at midnight on July 15 ; and at eight o'clock that evening, Wayne,
who had made that day Avith his men a difficult march over the moun
tains from Fort Montgomery, was within a mile and a half of the fort.

616

ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE.

[Chap. XXIV,

After a careful reconnoissance in person, he divided his force into two
columns and moved forward. The men were to depend on the bay
onet alone, and an order was issued that the nearest officer should in
stantly cut doAvn any soldier who took his gun frora his shoulder before
the word Avas given. That they might distinguish each other in the
darkness, a bit of Avhite paper was fastened to their hats, and thej'
were to shout, "The fort 's our own ! " as thej' entered the Avorks.
The neck of land leading to the Point was covered by a high tide

Capture of
Stony Point.

with two feet of water. The dela

this

time to the enemy to discover the movement, and fire Avas
opened upon the cidvancing columns by the pickets. The whole gar-

'±tt:^s'^-jh»,:,l

&

Stony Point.
rison were immediately at their posts. Wttj'iie's men Avere more than
twentj- minutes in scrambling up the steep ascent, under heavy but
random firing, climbing over, AA'here they could not tear down, the
abatis, but not firing a shot. Shouts came — says a contemporary
account — from the fortifications of "Come on, A-e damn'd rebels;
come on I" — to which the assailants ansAvered, "Don't be in such
a hurrj', my lads ; we will be with j-ou presently." ^ Lieutenant-
colonel Fleury first scaled the parapet and struck the British colors ;
the right column poured in after him ; Waj-ne Avas struck down by a
ball in the forehead, but soon recovered, and was carried in by his
1 Moore's Diary ofthe Revolution,

1778.] NAVAL AFFAIRS. 617
men. The capture was complete in less than half an hour frora the
firing of the first shot, with a loss of flfteen killed and eighty-three
wounded. Nearly five hundred prisoners, fifteen pieces of cannon,
and large quantities of stores and amraunition were the prizes of the
victory.! The works at Stony Point were destroyed, and the place aban
doned, to be again occupied soon after by the British. Preparations
to attack the fort at Verplank's Point, on the other side of the river,
were given up, as Clinton raoved to its support. These hostile dem
onstrations, hoAvever, and especially so signal an exploit as that of
Wayne's, induced Clinton to postpone indefinitely a movement upon
Connecticut, to support which he had moved a portion of his troops
to Mamaroneck. Of the danger of leaving so active an eneray be
hind him, by undertaking any distant expedition, he received an
other warning the next month by the surprise of the post at Pa^iusHook
Paulus Hook, now Jersey City. Before daylight on the ^"'^i'™'''*-
19th of August, Major Henry Lee, with five companies of Southern
troopers, carried the place by assault Avithout firing a shot, — took
a hundred and fifty prisoners, and retired in safety, though hotly pur
sued by reenforcements from New York.
In a naval expedition sent out by Clinton in August, the success
was altogether on the side of the English. Massachusetts
sent a militia general, Lovell, with a thousand men, to re- the Penob-
duce a British post within her territory on the Penobscot.
With Lovell went three ships of the Continental navy, three of the
Massachusetts navj', Avitli thirteen privateers, altogether carrying
three hundred guns, under the command of Commodore Saltonstall.
The fort was too strong, or the investment was mismanaged, and re
enforcements were sent for. But the delay gave time for aid to be
sent to the besieged. Admiral Collier arrived in the bay Avitli five
ships, Avhich Saltonstall saw fit to run away from instead of fighting.
Several of his vessels fell into the hands of the enemy, but the rest
he burned. The troops made their way back to Massachusetts as
best they could through the wilderness, and for a while no question
was so Avarmly discussed in that State as which of the leaders, Lovell
> AVayne wrote at 2 a. m. that morning to Washington : " The fort and garrison, with
Colonel Johnston, are ours. Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined
to be free " The same day Colonel Febiger wrote to his wife : —
"Mr DEAR GiKL : I have just borrowed pen, ink, .and paper to inform you that yester
day we marched from Fort Montgomery, and at 12 o'clock last night we stormed this con
founded place, and, with the loss of about fourteen killed and forty or fifty wimnded, we
carried it. I can give you uo particulars as yet. A musquet-ball scraped my nose. No
other damage to ' Old Denmark.' God bless you. Farewell. Febiger.''
— [From original MS. in possession of Col. Geo. L. Febiger, U. S. A., New York city.]

618 ALLIANCE AA'ITH FKAXCE. [Chap. XXIV.
or Saltonstall, Avas the more responsible for the disaster, and h;id
more completely coA-ered himself with disgrace.
Within one day of this disaster, John Paul Jones sailed from the
ci5ast of France. A month later he fought a battle without parallel
in naval history, and, in its consequences, more important than any
other event of the year. Hitherto the contest upon the sea had been
mainly a predatory warfare of privateers, aimed at the destruction of
commerce and the plunder of merchant A-essels. The young republic
was without a navj- proper. " To talk of coping suddenly with G.
B. at sea, wonld be Quixotic indeed," Avrote John Adams in 1775.
"The only question with me is, can we defend our rivers and har
bors '?" ^ But to the work of forming a, navj- Congress earlj' ad
dressed itself, and no one more earnestly thtin Job^i Adams himself.
Five frigates and a number of smaller vessels were built or bought,
^.^„^i in the course of four j'ears, bj- Congress, but two of the
affairs. frigates never were sent to sea, being bui'iied in port to save
them from the enemy ; each province had a squadron of small ves
sels, and, though they could none of them cope Avith the heavier
British ships, thej- were alwaj-s ready to meet those of their own
weight of metal. The foreign commerce of the countrj- was destroyed
bj- the war, and capital and men sought remuneration for its loss in
privateering. How successful thej' were in helping, in this Avay, both
themselves ;ind their countrj-, is shown bj' the comraercial reports.
Thus, two hundred and fifty British A-essels in the West India trade,
with cargoes of the aggregate value of ten million dollars, Avere cap
tured bv the American cruisers before the 1st of February, 1777. In
the course of that j-ear the number taken Avas four hundred and sixty-
scA-en ; of the two hundred engaged in the African trade, only fortv
escaped ; thirtj'-five only Avere left of the fleet of sixty vessels that
traded directly between Ireland and the West Indies ; and in Mar
tinique, Avhere manj' prizes Avere carried, the market Avas so over
stocked that silk stockings could be bought for a dollar a pair, and
Irish linen at tAvo dollars the piece.
Paul Jones was one of the most daring of these cruisers. He had
Paul .Tones made many prizes in British Avaters, and his name was a
'Homme^°" terror all along the coast. Among the earliest recollections
jiiciiuri/. p£ gjj^, Walter Scott Avas the excitement aroused by the en
trance of Jones by night into the harbor of Whitehaven, seizing the
sentinels and spiking the guns of the fort, burning some of the ship
ping, while a fleet of more than tAvo hundred colliers escaped destruc
tion only by chance. To the "pirate .Jones" — as the English called
him for retaliating, in a mild w-ay, on the coast of England, the atroci-
1 Letter to .Tames AA'aireu, in AA^arren manuscripts.

FIGHT OF THE HON HOMME RICHARD AND THE SERAPIS.

1778.]

JOHN PAUL JONE.S.

619

ties committed on the coast of America — tlie Jving of France gave
an old Indiaman, to be fitted out as a man-of-war. In cumpliment
to Dr. Franklin's " Poor Richard," Jones called her the Bon Homme
Richard, and in her put to sea on the llth of August.
After a cruise of more than a month along the Avest coast of Ire
land and the north of Scotland, on the '22d of September, the Richard,
with two consorts, the Alliance and Pallas, came in sight of a fleet of
merchantmen under convoy of the frigate Serapis, of fifty guns, and
the Countess of Scarhorough, of
tAventy-two, off Flamborough
Head, on the coast of Yorkshire.
Jones gave signal for pursuit,
though his own men Avere di
minished by drafts to man prizes,
and his prisoners on board Avere
two thirds as nuraerous as his
crew. Landais, the commander
of the Alliance, who through
out the cruise had been insub
ordinate and regardless of the
Commodore's orders, intiraated
that their duty Avas to escape.
Speaking the Pallas, he told
her commander that if the Eng
lish vessel were a fifty-gun ship
they had nothing else to do.
The Serapis was a new frigate,
built that spring. She Avas
rated at forty-four guns, but carried fil'tj-. She had twentj' guns on
each of her decks, main and upper, and ten lighter ones on her quarter
deck and forecastle. The Richard had six ports on each side of her
lower deck, but onlj' six guns there, which were intended to be used
all on the same side. On her proper gun-deck, above these, she had
fourteen guns on each side — twelves and nines. She had a high
quarter and forecastle, with eight guns on these. She Avas of the old-
fashioned build, with a high poop, and Avas thus ranch higher than the
Serapis, so that her loAver deck was but little loAver than her antag
onist's main deck.
It was an hour past sunset, under a full moon, when the Richard
came within hail of the Serapis. Captain Pearson spoke ^ightwith
her twice. Jones did not answer, but opened fire, to Avhich "'* ¦S""/"*-
the Serapis instantly replied. At the first fire of the Richard, two
of the heavy guns on her lower deck burst. Tlie men on this deck

John Paul Jones.

620 ALLIANCE AVITH FRANCE. [Chap. XXIV.
who were not killed by the explosion went up to the main deck, and
the guns on the lower deck were not fought afterward.
After his first broadside, Jones caught the wind again, and closed
with the Serapis, striking her on the quarter jnst after her second
broadside. He grappled their vessel, bnt, as he could not bring a
gun to bear, he let thera fall off. Captain Pearson asked if he had
struck. Jones answered, " I have not begun to fight ! " The Eng
lish sails filled, Jones backed his top-sails, and the Serapis wore short
round. As she swung, her jib-boom ran into the mizzen-rigging of
the Richard. It is said that Jones himself then fastened the boom
to his mast. Somebodj' did, and it did not hold, but one of her
anchors caught his quarter ; and so thej' fought, fastened together,
each ship using its starboard batteries.
On board the Serapis, the ports were not open on the starboard
side, because she had been firing on the other. As they ran across
and loosened those guns, the raen amidships found thej- could not
open their ports, the Richard was so close. They therefore fired
their first shots through their own port-lids, and blew them off.
The fire from the eighteen-pounders on the main deck of the Sera
pis, though it was probably that AA'hich sank the Richard the next
daj', passed for nothing so far as immediate execution Avent, for there
Avas no one on the lower deck of the Richard, and her main deck
was too high to be in danger. The raain deck Avas a match for the
upper deck of the Serapis, and her upper guns did execution, Avhile
those of the Serapis had too little elevation. On the quarter deck,
.Jones had dragged across a piece from the larboard batterj-, so that
be had three nine-pounders almost raking the Serapis. There was
verj' little musket-practice in the smoke and darkness.
Thus the firing went on for tAvo hours, neither side trying to board,
till an incident occurred to which both Jones and Pearson ascribed
the final capture of the Serapis. The men in the Richard's tops
were throwing hand-grenades upon the decks of the Serapis, and
one sailor worked himself out to the end of the main-j-ard, carrying
a bucket filled with these missiles, lighted them one bj- one, and
threw them down her main hatchwaj'. Here, in the centre of the
deck, stretching the wliole length of the ship, was a row of eigliteen-
pounder cartridges, which the powder-boj's had left there when they
Avent for more. One of the grenades lighted the row, and the flash
passed fore and aft through the ship. Some tAventy of the men amid
ships -AA'ere blown to pieces. There were other men Avho were stripped
naked, leaving nothing but the collars of their shirts and their wrist
bands. Farther aft there was not so rauch powder, perhaps, but the
men Avere scorched and burned more than they Avere wounded.

1778.] CAPTURE OF THE SERAPIS. 621
Soon after this an atterapt was raade to board the Richard. About
ten o'clock, an English officer, a prisoner on board the Richard,
scrambled through one of the ports of the Serapis. He told Captain
Pearson that the Richard was sinking ; that they had had to release
all her prisoners from the hold and spar-deck, himself among them,
because the Avater came in so fast ; and that if the English could hold
on a few minutes raore the ship was theirs, — all of which was true
excepting this last.
On this news, Pearson hailed Jones again, to ask if he had struck.
He received no answer, for Jones was at the other end of his ship, on
his quarter, directing the fire of his three nine-pounders. Pearson
then called for boarders ; they formed hastily, and dashed on board
the Richard. But she had not struck, though sorae of her men had
called for quarter. Her crew Avere ready under cover. Jones hiraself
seized a pike and headed thera, and the English fell back again.
This Avas their last effort. About half-past ten Pearson struck.
His ship had been on fire a dozen times, and the explo- smiencier of
sion had wholly disabled his raain battery, which had been ""^ serapis.
his chief strength. But so uncertain and confused Avas it all, that
when the cry Avas heard, "They've struck!" raany in the Serapis
took it for granted that they had taken the Richard. In fact,
Pearson had struck the flag with his own hands, as the men, half of
whom Avere disabled, would not expose themselves to the fire from
the Richard's tops. For his victory Jones was largely indebted to
the ability of his subordinate officers, especially Lieutenant Richard
Dale, who was severely wounded, but kept his post to the last, and
at one time was left entirely alone at the guns beloAv.
When Pearson delivered his sword to Jones, he is reported to have
said, "I cannot, sir, but feel rauch mortification at the idea of surren
dering my sword to a man who has fought rae with a rope round his
neck." To which Jones, returning the sword, replied, " You have
fought gallantly, sir, and I hope your king will give you a better
ship." Afterward, when Jones heard that Pearson had been knighted
for his gallant though unsuccessful action, he reraarked, " He deserved
it! and if I fall in with hira again, I will make a lord of him."
The morning after the battle, the Richard was found to be in a
horrible condition. She was still on fire, and wherever her antag
onist's main battery could reach she had been torn to pieces. There
Avas a complete breach from the main-mast to the stern. For the
Serapis, the jib-boom had been wrenched off, at the beginning, the
main-mast and mizzen-top fell as they struck, and at daybreak the
Avreck was not cleared away. First, all the AVOunded Avere removed
to the Serapis, then all the crew, and at ten the Richard went to
the bottom.

622

ALLIANCE WITH FR.INCE.

[Ch.\p. xxiv.

While this desperate fight was in progress, the Pallas had engaged
and taken the Countess of Scarhorough. Landais in the Alliance had
occupied himself between both vessels. Once and again her shot
wounded men on board the
Richard, so that some of her
people supposed the Alliance
was in English hands. It was
even chai-ged that she had de-
iberately poured more than one
broadside into the Richard.
.Tones took his prize into Hol-
and, when the Serapis and
Srarhurough Avere transferred to
the French gOA'ernment. In or
der to relicA'e the Dutch from
diplomatic difficulties, Jones
todk command of the Alliance,
and went to sea. Landais sub
sequently sailed in the Alliance
for America, but on his return
was deposed from his command
for insanitj-, and afterward was
expelled from the navy. Jones
also returned to America in the
Ariel : and, after an absence
of three years, reached Phila
delphia on the 18th of February,
1781. Congress had given him
a vote of thanks, and the King
of Fnince had presented him
with a SAVord.
The effect produced by
Jones's exploits may be judged
from the statistics of trade.
The number of vessels that left Newcastle for foreign trade that
year was little more than half the number in 1777. The coasting
trade diminished almost as much. To defend the coast.
Popular in- , , , ,. . rrii
(lignation in voluntcer' boclics Were organized in every district. lue
England. ° ill
popular discontent Avith naval management had shown
itself in the spring, in the strong vote for ]Mr. Fox's motion, con
deraning the governraent for sending out Admiral Keppel Avith an
insuflicient fleet. Keppel himself had given most damaging testi
mony as to the inefificiency of the arrangements of the Admiralty.

John Paul Jones's Medal.

1781.] THE FLEET OF PRIVATEERS. 623
Fox's motion was defeated in a full house by a majority of only thirty-
four, — a majority secured by Lord North's assuming the responsi
bility, which, in those days, might have been left for the Admiralty
alone to bear.
The action between the Serapis and the Richard Avas the last im
portant action betAveen English and American ships in the Avar. The
French fleet Avas relieving the American Government from the ex
pensive necessity of meeting at sea^ the greatest naval power in the
world. And the various reverses of five years of hard fighting had
reduced the American fleet to a very small establishraent. Early
in 1780, the Providence, the Queen of France, the Boston, and the
Ranger fell into the hands of the English at the capture of Charles
ton. But few frigates now remained to the United States. iMassa
chusetts still had the Protector and the Defence, besides merchant
vessels employed as has been described. The fleet of privateers
was perhaps larger than ever. What their number was, it is now
impossible to say. But the Admiralty Court of the Essex district
in Massachusetts — the largest of the three ^Vdmiralty districts —
had condemned eight hundred and eighteen prizes in 1780. In the
single month of May, 1779, eighteen prizes were brought into New
London. In 1781, the privateer fleet of the port of Salem alone
Avas twenty-six ships, — twelve of which carried twenty ,^.^^^ p^..,,^.
guns or more, — sixteen brigs, and seventeen smaller ves- ''^'^^'' "'='''•
sels. Here Avas a fleet of fifty-nine vessels, Avhich carried nearly
four thousand men, and mounted seven hundred and forty-six guns.
It is true that the guns were light. But so Avere those of the enemies
with whora they had to contend. So small was the public force of
the Americans after so severe losses, that for the remainder of the
AA-ar most of the naval actions Avere those of these privateers.
1 The English estimates for 1779 provided for 87,000 .seamen and marines.

TABLE OF DATES.

1659. Settlement of Nantucket.
1678. Jeffries, Governor of Virginia.
1680. Culpepper, Governor of Virginia.
Brockholst, Lieutenant-governor of New York.
1683. Dongan, Governor of New York.
First popular Assembly in New 'Y'ork.
1684. Effingham, Governor ot Virginia.
1688. Boundary Line between New York and Connecticut fixed.
1689. William and Mary proclaimed.
Nicholson, Lieutenant-governor of New York.
Leisler Revolution.
Revolution in Maryland.
¦War -with the French and Indians.
1690. Destruction of Schenectady.
First Ne'wspaper in Boston.
Nicholson, Lieutenant-governor of Virginia.
Copley, Governor of Maryland.
Church of England established in Maryland.
1691. Sloughter, Governor of New York.
Execution of Leisler.
169'2. Nicholson, Governor of Maryland.
Andros, Governor of Virginia.
¦William and Mary College chartered.
Fletcher, Governor of New York.
1693. Expedition against the French under Schuyler.
1696. Kidd sails from New York.
1698. Bellomont, Governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
1699. Penn returns to Pennsylvania.
Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts.
1701. Kidd hanged.
Andrew Hamilton, Governor of Pennsylvania.
1702. Cornbury, Governor of New York and New Jersey.
Nathaniel Johnson, Governor of South Carolina.
Government of Ne-w Jersey surrendered to the Crown.
1703. Boundary Line between Connecticut and Rhode Island fixed.
John Evans, Governor of Pennsylvania.
1704. Indian War in New England.
VOL. III. 40

626 TABLE OF DATES.
1 706. French invade South Carolina.
1708. Lovelace, Governor of New York.
1709. Gookin, Governor of Pennsylvania.
1710. Port Royal taken.
Revolution in North Carolina.
Hunter, Governor of New York.
Spotswood, Governor of Virginia.
1711. Indian 'War in North Carolina.
Expedition against Canada.
1713. Five Nations become Six by the addition of the Tuscarora Tribe.
Eden, Governor of Nortli Carolina.
1714. Proprietary Government restored in Maryland.
1715. Indian 'War in South Carolina.
1717. Proposed Settlement of the " Margravate of Azilia" in Georgia.
Robert Johnson, Governor of South Carolina.
Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania.
1718. "William Penn died.
Suppression of Piracy on the Carolina Coast.
Scotch Presbyterians settled in New Hauipshire.
1719. Revolution in South Carolina.
1720. Burnet, GoAernor of New York.
Nicholson, Governor of Soutli Carolina.
1 72'2. Third Indian "War in New England.
Benning AA'^entworth, Governor of New Hampshire.
Drysd.ale, (lOvernor of A'irginia.
1725. Gordon, Governor of Pennsylvania.
1728. Gooch, Governor of A'ii'ginia.
Montgomerie, Governor of New York.
1729. The Carolinas purchased of the Proprietaries by the Cro'wn.
Baltimore laid out.
1730. Belcher, Governor of Massachusetts.
1732. Charter of Georgia granted.
Cosby, Governor of New York.
Trial of Zenger for libel.
Spencer Phips, Lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts.
1733. Oglethorpe's Colony settles in Georgia.
1734. Salzburgers settle in Georgia.
Gabriel Johnston, Governor of South Carolina.
1 736. First Printing-press established in 'Virginia.
Clarke. Lieutenant-governor of New York.
1739. Robert Johnson, reappointed Governor of South Carolina.
1740. Geori;e AMiitefield's first visit to New England.
1741. Negro Plot in New York.
Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts.
1743. Lewis Jlorris, Governor of New Jersey.
Clinton, tJovernor of New York.
1744. "War between England and France.
1745. Capture of Louisburg.
1747. Belcher, Governor of New Jersey.
1748. Ohio Company formed. Louisburg restored to France.
1749. Settleraent of Halifax, X. S.

TABLE OF DATES. 627
1752. Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia.
1753. DeLancey, Governor of New York.
1754. Colonial Congress at Albany, and Proposed Union.
1755. Braddock's Defeat.
Battle of Lake George.
Banisliinent of the Acadians.
1756, Fort Oswego surrendered to the French.
1757. Massacre of Fort William Henry.
Pownall, Governor of Massachtisetts.
1758. Defeat of Abercrombie at Fort Ticonderoga.
Fort Ticonderoga taken by Amherst.
Recapture of Louisburg.
Capture of Fort Niagara by the English.
1759. "Wolfe captures Quebec.
1760. Bernard, Governor of Massachusetts.
1761. Attempt to enforce "Writs of Assistance in Massachusetts.
Colden, Lieutenant-governor of New York.
' 1763. Pontiac's AVar.
1764. Passage of the Stamp Act.
1765. Meeting of First Continental Congress.
1766. Repeal of the Stamp Act.
1768. British Troops quartered in Boston.
17 70. Boston Massacre.
British Troops removed from Boston.
1771. Hutchinson, Governor of Massachusetts.
1773. Tax on Tea exported to the Colonies by the East India Company.
Destruction of Tea in Boston and elsewhere.
1774. Boston Port Bill passed.
Gage, Governor of Massachusetts.
1775. February 26, Troops sent to Salem, Mass., to seize Cannon.
April 19, Fight at Lexington and Concord.
May 10, Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
June 15, Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. June 17, Battle of
Bunker Hill. Siege of Boston begins.
October 17, Burning of Falmouth.
November 13, Montreal taken by Montgomery. Arnold's March to Quebec.
December 30, Death of Montgomery. Daniel Boone settles in Kentucky.
1776. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Caro
lina, adopt Constitutions.
County of Washington, N. C. (Tennessee), organized.
January 2, Union Flag raised at Cambridge, Mass.
February 27, Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.
June, Arrival of British Fleet in New York Bay. June 28, Attack on Fort
Sullivan, Charleston, S. C.
July 2, Declaration of Independence by Congress.
August 2, Battle of Long Island.
September 15, Americans abandon New York. September 16, Battle of Har
lem Plains. September 21, Burning of New York.
October 28, Battle of White Plains.
November 16, Surrender of Fort Washington.
December 13, Capture of General Lee. December 26, Battle of Trenton.

628 TABLE OF DATES.
1777. New York, South Carolina, and Georgia adopt Constitutions.
January 3, Battle of Princeton. January 26, Tryon's Attack on Danbury,
Conn.
May 21, Meigs's Attack on Sag Harbor.
June 14, Flag of Stars and Stripes adopted by Congress.
July 6, Burgoyne captures Ticonderoga. July 23, Howe's Army sails from
New York for Chesapeake Bay.
August 6, Battle of Oriskany. August 16, Battle of Bennington.
September 10, Battle of Brandywine. September 19, " Paoli Massacre."
First Battle of Stillwater.
October 4, Battle of Germantown. October 6, Forts Clinton and Montgomery
taken by the British. October 7, Second Battle of Stillwater. October
17, Surrender of Burgoyne. Howe occupies Philadelphia.
1778. Conway Cabal.
Commissioners sent to Congress by Lord North with Proposals for
Peace.
Alliance -with France.
May, Clark's expedition to Illinois.
June, Attacks on Wyoming and Cherry Valley. June 18, British leave Phil
adelphia. June 28, Battle of Monmouth.
July 1, Trial of General Lee by Court-Martial. Arrival of French Fleet under
D'Estaing. July 5, Tryon attacks New Haven, New Bedford, and Fair
Haven. July 15, Capture of Stony Point. July 29, Battle ot Rhode
Island.
August 10, Assault on Paulus Hook.
September 22, Fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis.
December 29, Savannah taken by the British.
1779. May 11, Charleston, S. C, besieged by the British.

INDEX.

^BERCROMBIE, GENERAL, in com
mand at Albany, 290 ; attacks Ticonde
roga, 297 et seq'.
Abolitionists, early, 177.
Abraham, Plains of,' 309, 445, 446.
Acadians, deportation of the, 273 et seq.
Acco.MAC County, Va., its loyalty, 52.
Ackland, M.ijOR, in Burgoyne's campaign,
568 et seq. ; 574, note ; wounded, 589.
Adams, John, his estimate of New York
Tories, 459; on independence, 471 ; opin
ion of Mecklenburg Resolutions, 476,
note ; extract from a manuscript letter
of, 476, second note; his pamphlet on
government, 476, and second note ; sec
onds Lee's Resolutions, 483 ; of commit
tee on declaration, 483 ; quoted, on dec
laration of independence, 484, 485 ; as
peace commissioner, 512; quoted, 617.
Adams, Lieutenant-colonel, killed, 586.
Adams, Samuel, writes the instructions to
representatives, 336 ; his regiments, 362 ;
his resolution concerning the tea, 371.
Adventure Galley, The, placed under
Kidd's command, 33 ; burned, 35.
Affirmation by Friends, Governor Gookin
refuses to accept, 184.
Agnew, General, 495.
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 252 ; its charac
ter, 254.
Akins cited, 274, note.
Albany, centre of New York's Indian trade,
2 ; refuses to acknowledge Leisler's au
thority, 17 ; asks for help against the In
dians, 17 ; French and Indian attack on
proposed, 19 ; reenforced against the
expected French and Indian attack, 20 ;
conveniion to form a confederation called
at, 261.
Albemarle, Earl of, titular Governor of
Virginia [1737], 78.
Alden, Col. Ichabod, 610.
Alexander, New York lawyer, 230, note.
Alienation of the colonies from England,
329.
Allen, representative of the iVIason claim,
126.
Allen, Ethan, takes command of the ex

pedition against Ticonderoga, 433 ; cap
tures the place, 435 ; his narrative of
Ticonderoga cited, 435, note; sent to
Canada, 438; joins the expedition
against Canada; is captured at Montre
al, and sent to England, 440.
Allen, Heman, 433, note.
Allen, Lieutenant, killed, 510.
Almy, sent to England, 27.
Ambo Point, foundation of Perth Amboy
at, 6.
Amherst, Sik Jeffery, takes command of
expedition to Louisburg, 297 ; captures
Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 302 ;
marches against Montreal, 311.
Ammunition, rate of expenditure in a bat
tle, 409, note.
Amnesty in "A^'irginia, 53.
Anderson, Adam, 143, note.
AndhJ:, Major John, his case compared
with Captain Hale's, 511.
Andros, Sir Edmund, report of, on New
York, 1, 3; urges the Duke of York's
claim to Connecticut, 4; recalled [1680],
5 ; sent out as Governor-general of New
England [1685], 8; made Governor-gen
eral [1688], 11 ; his progress through
the southern provinces, 11 ; made pris
oner in Boston, 12 ; Governor of Vir
ginia, 63; recalled, 66; suspends the
charter of Rhode Island, 119.
Ann, Fort, 573.
Annapolis, made the capital of Maryland
[1694], 67.
Annapolis Royal, 125 ; the French under
Duvivier defeated at, 208.
Anne, Queen, ascends the throne [1702],
38.
"Apology for the True Christian Divin
ity," etc., Barclay of Urie's book on the
Friends' doctrines, 6.
Appeal, privilege of, 57.
Archdale, John, quoted as to Governor
Johnson, 82 ; his New Description cited,
82 ; maintains the rights of the colo
nists, 83.
Aroyle, Fort, built, 147.
Arlington, Earl of, 53.

630

INDEX.

Arlington, Mass., 385, note.
Armstrong, General, at defence of
Charleston, 467 ; at Germantown, 559.
Armstrong, Governor of Nova Scotia.,
274, note.
Army, The Continental, orders and plan
for its renewal, 419.
Army, effort to raise a new [1776], 543.
Arnold, Benedict, plans an expedition
against Ticonderoga, 432 ; overtakes
Allen, and claims command, 434 et seq. ;
captures a sloop at St. John's, 437 ; his
expedition through Maine, 441 et seq. ;
wounded in the assault on Quebec, 447 ;
blockades Quebec, 448 ; pursues Tryon,
547 ; shoots a Tory, 548 ; reports to
Schuyler, 575 ; at Bemus's Heights,
wounded, 589 ; made a major-general,
590.
Arnold, S. G., his History of Rhode Island
cited, 117, 418, 478.
Ashe, Colonel, at Moore's Creek, 465 ;
defeated at Briar Creek, 613.
Ashe, John, sent to England, 83 ; his recep
tion in North Carolina, 86.
Ashurst, Sir Henry, defeats Coiuhury's
scheme, 40.
Asia (man-of-war), fight with, at the Battery,
458.
Aspinwall, Colonel, quoted, 118.
Assanpink Creek, 530, 531.
Assembly", of New York, constituted by the
Duke of York, 7, 23.
Astoria, L. L, 504.
Atheistical books, proposed act coucern-
iug, 49.
Atherton, Humphrey, his Company, 113;
killed, 117.
Atherton Company, the, 116.
Atherton Purch.\se, The, declared null,
119.
Atlee, Colonel, at the battle of Long Isl
and, 499.
Attucks, killed, 362, note.
At"(vatee, Dr. David, killed, 548.
Atwood, Judge, leaves New York, 38.
AUBERTEUIL, HiLLIARD d', quOtcd, 411,
note; 416, note.
Augusta, Fort, 323.
Augusta, Ga., founded, 156.

"RACON'S REBELLION, consequences
" of, 51.
Bailey, Colonel, 513.
Balcarras, Earl, in Burgoyne's campaign,
568 et seq. ; 574, note.
Baltimore, City or, laid out [1729], 80.
Baltimore, Lord, deposed, 60.
Baltimore, Lords, rule of in Maryland,
78. (See also Calvert.)
Bancroft, George, finds Mecklenburg
Resolutions, 476, note ; his History ofthe
United Slates cited, 39, uote.
Bank, a puhlic, established [1721], 131.
Barclay, David, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note, 9.

Barclay op Urie, Robert, Governor of
East Jersey, 6 and note.
Barker, Thomas, a Proprietor of East
Jersey, 6, note.
Barnard, Robert, a Proprietor of Nan
tucket, 2, uote.
Barnard, Thomas, a Proprietor of Nan
tucket, 2, note.
Barnard, The Rev. Thomas, 379.
Barnstable, Slass., 478.
Barnwell, Colonel, marches to join Hvde,
93.
Barre, Colonel, his reply to Townshend,
344, note ; his portrait hung in Faneuil
Hall, 350.
Barren Hill, 601.
Barrett, Colonel, 389.
Barrington, Lord, his speech, 452.
Barton, Lieut. -col. AA illi am, captures
General Prescott, 549 ; his reward and
his imprisonment, 550, note.
Baskingridge, N. J., Lee captured at, 524.
Battery, The, in New York dismantled,
458.
Baume, Lieutenant- colonel, mortally
wounded, 582.
Baxter, Colonel, killed, 518.
Bayard, Nicholas, member of New York
Council, 12 ; his character, 12, note ; his
flight to Albany. 16 ; his influence, 17;
urges the execution of Leisler, 23 ; tries
to read Fletcher's commission in Hart
ford, 28 ; his trial, 38 ; how respited, 38,
note.
Baylor, Colonel, quoted, 409, note.
Beacon, The, in Boston, 356.
BEAU.jE.iu, De, plans and leads the attack
on Braddock, 266 ; shot dead, 267.
Beaujiarchais, his services in France, 545.
Beau Sejouu, Fort, 276.
Beautiful River, The, 255.
Bedford, Duke of, 272.
Bedford, L. I., 498.
Beetiman, Henry-, Jr., 232, note.
Beekman Mansion, The, 511.
Behtha, AA'illiam, 143, uote.
Belcher, Jonathan, becomes Governor of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
[1730], 198; sent to London, 200; ap
pointed Governor of Massachusetts, 201 ;
recalled, 202 ; made Governor of New
Jersey, 202.
Belfast, Maine, settled [1769], 197, note.
Bella5iy, pirate, 37.
Bellomont, Earl of, quoted, 29 ; ap
pointed Governor of New York, Massa
chusetts, and New Hampshire, 31, 111 ;
sympathy with Leisler, 32 ; subscribes
to the Adrintwe galley, 33 ; favors the
popular party, 32 ; hostility to priva
teering, 33 ; arrests Kidd, 35 ; his cor
respondence, 37 ; his death [1701], 37 ;
his quarrel with Phode Island, 120.
Bemus's Heights, 584; battle of, 589.
Benedict, George AA'., cited, 435, note.
Benezet, early abolitionist, 177.
Benford, Arthur, 143, note.

INDEX.

631

Bennett Farm-house, The, 500.
Bennington, Battle of [1'7771, 579-582.
Bennington, Vt., the township granted
[1749], 431.
Bentley, William, 470, note.
Berkeley', Governor of Virginia, 52.
Bernard, Governor of Massachusetts, 332,
337 ; quoted, 357.
Bernicre, Mr., on the British retreat from
Concord, 391.
Berre, General, 544.
Bethel, Conn., 547.
Bettle's Notices of Negro Slavery cited,
176, note.
Bevan, B., wounded in tiring a salute for
Peun, 170.
Beverley, Clerk of Virginia Assembly, im
prisoned, 57.
Bienville, 19.
Bigelow's Life of Franklin cited, 264.
Billerica, address of selectmen to General
Gage, 382.
Billingsport, 562.
Billop, Christopher, quarrels with An
dros, 5.
Billop House, The, 512.
Bills of Credit, in Maryland, 79; New
York's first, 43 ; in South Carolina, 81 ;
130 etseq.
Bird, Colonel, attacks Peekskill, 547.
B1RMINGH.1.M, N. J., 528.
Birmingham, Penn., 555.
Black Beard, commander of pirates, 97 ;
killed, 99.
Black, Colonel, at New York, 493.
Black People, 37.
Blackwell's Island, 505.
Blair, The Rev. James, founder of Wil
liam and JIary College, 59 ; his contro
versy with Andros, 66.
Blake, Lieut. Thomas, his Journal cited,
586.
Bland and his fleet, capture of, 52.
BL.iND, Mr., 338.
Bland, Col. Theodoric, at Brandywine,
554.
Block Island, a rendezvous for sea-rovers,
112, 115.
Bloodshed, first of the Revolution, 379.
Bloody Belt, The, 314.
Bloody Bridge, battle of, 320.
Bloody Kun, 317.
Bloody Stick, The, 94.
Blunt, Tom, Indian chief, 93.
Board of Trade for the Colonies organ
ized, 121.
Bolingbroke, Lord, his connection with
the invasion of Canada, 47, note.
Bollan's advices to Massachusetts, 335,
uote.
Bolzius, 150, 155.
Bon Homme Richard, her career, 618 et
seq.
Bonney, Mrs., her Legacy cited, 530, note.
Boone, Daniel, 610.
BooNK, .Ioseph, sent to England, 83.
Boonesborough, 610.

Bosoa^wen, Admiral, sent to the Banks of
Newfoundland, 262, 283 ; takes com
mand of expedition to Louisburg, 296.
Bosom-worth, Mary, her claim to Georgia,
166 et seq.
Bosomworth, The Rev. Thomas, 166 et
seq.
Boston, made the capital of the Territory
and Dominion of New England, 11;
revolution in, 12 ; its churches in 1740,
206; riot in [1747], 218 c( seq.; troops
sent to, 355 et seq. ; their removal de
manded, 358 ; the " Massacre," 359 ;
changes iu streets, 360, note, 428 ; siege
of, 394 et seq. ; siege, prices in, 414 ;
its condition during the siege, 421, 422 ;
the question of its deslructiou, 423 ;
evacuated by the British, 427.
Bothwell, William, 551.
Bougainville, at Quebec, 307 ; at Isle aux
Noix, 311.
Boundary between Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, the question of, 138; be
tween New Y(jrk and Connecticut, 10.
Bouxty-.iumper,s. .531, uote.
Bouquet River, Burgoyne encamps at, 568.
Bouquet, Col. Henry, sent to Loyalhanna,
300 ; marches to the relief of Fort Pitt,
324 ; defeats the Indians at Bushy
Run, 326.
Bowdoin, James, 523.
Bowman, Major, 612, uote.
Box, Daniel, 498.
Boyd, Colonel, defeated af Ninety-Six, 613.
Boylston, Dr. Zabdiel, introduces inocu
lation, 127.
Braddock, Edward, his expedition and
defeat, 262 et seq. ; his death, 270.
Bradford, Captain, 525.
Bradish, a pirate, 37.
Bradley, Attorney'-general of New
York, 230, note.
Bradley, Colonel, 517.
Bradstreet, Colonel, his battle with
Canadians and Indians, 290 ; captures
Fort Frontenac, 299 ; his success along
the lakes, 326.
Bradstreet, Governor, letter from New
A'ork Council to, 13.
Bragge, brings the royal letter of instruc
tions to New York, 18.
Braine, James, a Proprietor of East Jersey,
6, note.
Brandywine, battle of, 553 et seq.
Brant, Joseph, 608.
Brassus, Anthony, martyred, 148.
Breed's Hill, 398.
Bkenton's Ford, 553.
Brevard, Dr. Ephraim, 474.
Breyman, Colonel, at Bennington, 580 ;
killed, 590.
Brick house, the first in New York, 14,
note.
Bridger, .Iohn, Surveyor-general, 129.
Bristol bombardeil, 417.
British, use of the word, 336 note.
Brockholst, or Beockholls, Anthony,

632

INDEX.

Lieutenant-governor of New York, 6 ;
quoted, 7 ; superseded by Dongan, 7.
Brodhead's History of New York quoted,
12.
Bronx River, 513.
Brooklyn, fortifications in, 461 et seq. ;
state of the defences of, 498.
Brooks, Colonel, 515.
Brown, Captain, of the Sukey, 395.
Brown, John, his mission to Canada [1775],
432, 438 ; disappoints Allen at Montreal,
440 ; exploit at Ticonderoga, 588.
Brown, Lieutenant, 496, note.
Brunswick, Duke of, parsimony to his
soldiers, 454.
Buchan, Sixth Earl of, 141, note.
Buck, AA'. J., cited, 551, note.
Buffalo, in Georgia, 147, note.
Bull, Capt.ain, defends Connecticut rights
at Saybrook, 4.
Bull, Me., Governor of South Carolina, 144 ;
assists in laying out Savannah, 145.
Bundy, Richard, 143, note.
Bunker Hill, battle of, 398 et seq. ; the
losses, 405.
Burden, Mr., 74.
Burgess, Colonel, succeeds Governor Dud
ley, 128.
Burgess, Governor, sells his appointment,
131.
Burgoa'ne, Gen. John, arrives in Boston,
396 ; his account of Bunker HiU, 400,
406 ; writes to General Lee, 413 ; his
play, 422 ; his letter to Rochford quoted,
455, note ; his campaign in New York,
567 et seq. ; his speech to the Indians,
569, ridiculed by Burke, 569, uote ; his
surrender, 592.
Burk's HIstm-y of Virginia, cited, 52, note.
Burke, Edmund, 346 ; quoted as to repeal
of Stamp Act, 349 ; ridicules Burgoyne's
.speech to the Indians, 569, note.
Burling, early abolitiouist, 177.
Burlington, N. J., skirmish at, 526.
Burnet, AA'illiam, becomes Governor of
New York [1720], 47 ; his policy to
ward Canada, 47 ; transferred to Massa
chusetts Bay [1'727], death, character,
49 ; appointed Governor of New Hamp
shire, 135 ; becomes Governor of Massa
chusetts, his contentions with the
General Court, 200 ; his death, 201 ; his
invitation to Franklin, 244.
Burr, Aaron, heads a forlorn hope at
Quebec, 446 ; aid to Putnam, 495, 506.
Burrington, George, Governor of North
Carohna, 105 ; murdered, 105.
Burton, John, 143, note.
Burton, jAIary, her connection with the
Negro Plot, 225 et seq.
Burwell, Lewis, acting Governor of Vir
ginia, 78.
Burwell, Miss, scandal about, 70.
Bushy Run, battle of, 324, 326.
Bute, Earl of, 333, 345.
Butler, Colonel, at Monmouth, 603;
at Stony Point, 615.

Butler, Colonel John, 609.
Butler, AV'alter N., 609.
Butler, Lieut.- col. AA'illiam, 584, note.
Butler, Colonel Zebulon, 609.
Butterfield, Major, defeated at the
Cedars, 449.
BvLLiNGE, Edward, a Proprietor of East
Jersey, 6, note.
Byram River, made starting-point of Con
necticut boundary, 10.

QADAVALLADER, Gen. John, 518, 526;
at Princeton, 535 ; his house occupied
by Howe, 558 ; his duel with Conwav,
597.
CiESAR (Negro Plot), 225 et seq.
Cahokia, 257; captured by Clark, 611.
Cajeans, 280.
C.iLDWELL, killed, 363, note.
Callender, Colonel, at Bunker Hill, 402 ;
degraded, 406.
Callowhill, ILvnnah, Penn's second wife,
171, 172.
Callowhill, Thomas, 179.
Calvert, Benedict Leonard, nominally
Governor of Maryland, 02; his death,
78.
Calvert, Charles, Lord Baltimore, 61 ;
his death, 78.
Calvert, Charles, the younger, death of,
78.
C.VLVERT, Frederick, death of, 78.
Calvert, Philip, 61.
Camden, Lord, 348; withdraws from the
Cabinet, 365 ; quoted, 452, note.
Campbell, Captain, at Moore's Creek,
466.
Campbell, Douglass, his Central New
York In the Revolution, cited, 243, note,
610, note.
Campbell, Lieutenant- colonel, 612.
Campbell, Lord Neill, Lieutenant-gov
ernor of East Jersey, 9.
Campbell, Major, at Detroit, killed by the
Indians, 317.
Campbell, Mrs., 610.
Canada, a futile project for the invasion of,
43 ; another [1711], 45 ; its capture or
dered from England [1746], 251 ; con
quest of, 304, et seq.; ceded to Great
Britain [1762], 311 ; its value to Fiance
and England, 330.
Cannon brought from Ticonderoga to Cam
bridge on sleds, 425.
Canonicus, 115.
Canso, Island of, captured by the French
[1744], 208.
Cape Breton restored to France, 217 ;
ceded to Great Britain [1762], 311.
Capellen, Baron van der, refuses troops
to Great Britain, 452; letter by, 598,
599, note.
Cape Rouge, 308.
Cardross, Lord, goes to South Carolina,
141.
Carillo.v, 297.

INDEX.

683

Carleton, Gen. Sik Guy, prepares to re
capture Ticonderoga and Crown Point,
438 ; reenforces Quebec, 445 ; enmity
between him and Germain, 566 ; he re
signs his governorship, 567.
Carolinas, The, purchased by the Crown
and separated [1729], 105.
Carpenter, George, 143, note.
Carr, royal commissioner, 119 ; killed, 363,
note.
Carrington's Battles ofthe Revolution cited,
587, note.
Cakboll, Archbishop of Baltimore, com
missioner to Canada, 449.
Carroll, Charles, 80,
Carteret, Lady (widow of Sir George),
complains of Andros, 5.
Carteret, Lord, territory in the Caroliuas
(North Carolina) set apart to him, 105.
Carthagena, expedition against, 76.
Gary, Lieut.-col. Richard, 495.
Cary, Thomas, appointed Governor of
North Carolina, removed, elected again,
87 ; his quarrel with Hyde, 89 ; accused
of inciting Indians to war, 91.
Castin, Governor of Nova Scotia, 46.
Castleton, Vt., 433, 573.
Castle William, 356, 426.
Caswell, Col. Richard, at Moore's Creek,
465.
Catherine op Russia, refuses troops to
Great Britain, 452.
Caughnawagas, The, 438.
Cavalry, Washington's, 534.
Cedar Posts, 115.
Cedars, The, captured by Canadians and
Indians, 449.
Celoeon, his expedition to the Ohio, 255.
Centueion, The (ship), 306.
Chad's Foed, 553.
Chajiberlain, John, kills Paugus, 196,
note.
Chambers, lawyer, 230, note.
Chambly, Fort, captured, 440.
Cha.mplain, Lake, Schuyler's expedition
down, 439.
Chancery, Court of, established in New
York, 48 ; established in Virginia, 57.
Charles IL, of England, death of [1685],
8, 62.
Charles Edward, Qie Pretender, 218.
Chaeleston, S. C, riot in, 82 ; attacked by
the French and Sp.ani.sh, 85 ; defences of,
467 ; the British attack, 468.
Chaelesto-vvn, Mass., importance of, 396.
Charlestown, R. L, 114.
Charlevoix, his Historyof New France quo
ted, 46, note.
CiiAETEE, a Supplementary, accepted by
Massachusetts [1725], 135.
Chase, commissioner to Canada, 449.
Chase, Samuel, 484.
Chatham, on employment of Indians as sol
diers, 569 ; George III.'s hatred of, 599.
(See Pitt.)
Ciiatterton'8 Hill, 513; attack on, 515.
Chebucto Harbor, 271.

Cheeseman, Captain, killed, 446.
Cheney, 'Squire Thomas, at Brandywine,
554.
Cherokee Chiefs taken to England, 106.
Cherokees, Glen's treaty with, 295.
Cheeey Valley, settlements iu, 243 ; mas
sacre of, 609.
Chestee Resolution, The, 473.
Chestee, Colonel, 501, 524, note.
CiiESTEEFiELD, LoBD, how affcctcd by
Whitefield's preaching, 207 ; quoted, 348.
Chestnut Hill, action at, 564.
Chew House, The, 559-562.
Chicheley, Sie Heney, Lieutenant-gover
nor of Virginia, 53, 55.
Chiegnecto, N. S., 276.
Chissick, Thomas, a "potent gentleman,"
118, note.
Chittenden, L. E., his address cited, 435,
note.
Choiseul, 553.
Christie, Ensign, in command at Presqu'-
Isle, 322.
Church, first west of the Hudson, 243.
Church, Dk. Biinjamin, his ti'cachery,
419.
Church, Col^inel, marches against the
French and Indians [1793], 124.
Church of England established in Mary-
laud, 66 ; in South Carolina, 82, 83, 104.
Cilley, Colonel, at Bemus's Heights, 584.
Clark, Col. George Rogers, his expe
dition to Illinois, 611; letter of cited,
612, note.
Clarke, (teorge, Lieutenant-governor of
New York, 215, 224; suggests stamp
duties, 333 ; appoints a public fast iu
consequence of Negro Plot, 236 ; his
despatches quoted, 245.
Clarke, John, solicits a charter for Rhode
Island, 112.
Clarkson, Thomas, quoted, 176.
Claudian, quoted, 8, uote.
Cleaveland, General, 402, note ; com
mands artillery, 493.
Clergy of Established Church in Vir
ginia, character of, 69; controversy as
to appointment of, 70, 75.
Clerke, Sir Francis, mortally wounded,
590.
Clinton, Fort, captured, 388.
Clinton, George, Governor ot New York
[1743], 242, 247 ; his administration,
248 ; his aid to the LouLsburg expedi
tion, 251; his despatches quoted, 253;
superseded by Osborn, 253.
Clinton, Governor, on stamp duties, 333.
Clinton, Gen. George, 495, 588.
Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry, arrives in Bos
ton, 396 ; in command at the South,
464 ; at attack on Charleston, 469 ; at
New York, 493 ; evacuates Philadeb
phia, 602 ; his report cited, 602, note ;
moves up the Hudson, 615.
Clinton, Gen. James, 495 ; wounded, 588.
CoBURN, Lieutenant-colonel, killed, 586.
Cockpit, The, 369, note.

634

INDEX.

Coffin, .Iames, a Proprietor of Nantucket,
2, note.
Coffin, Feter, a Proprietor of Nantucket,
2, note.
Coffin, Tristram, a Proprietor of Nan
tucket. 2, note.
Coffin, Tristram, Jr., a Proprietor of
Nantucket, 2, note.
Colden, Cadwallader, bis proposed route
ti-i the Mississippi, 247 ; becomes Gov
ernor Clinton's adviser, 249 ; attempts
to enforce the .Stamp Act, 344.
CoLE.MAN, Thomas, a Proprietor of Nan
tucket, 2, note.
Coleman, The Rev. Mr., 128.
Collier, Admiral, 617.
Columbia College. (See King's Col
lege.)
Committee of Safety, Massachusetts, 382,
397 ; New A' ork, 455.
Compo, Conn., 548.
Conant, Colon i-:l, 384
Conciliation, attempts at, 599.
Concord, the British march to, 383 ; battle
of. 389 ; retreat from, 391.
Conestoga, 327.
CoNFKDERATiON of the colonics, fii'st move
ment tciward, 261-
Congress, the first Colonial, 20 ; Massa
chusetts proposes a Contineutal, 339;
meets in New A'ork. 340 ; resolutions
passed by it, 341 ; leaves Philadelphia,
5-2-2.
Connecticut, claimed by the Duke of
"i'ork, 4 ; proposal to anni'x to New
York, 9 ; characterized by Governor
Dongan, 9 ; AA'illiam and Mary pro
claimed in, 15; indignation at violation
of the charter, 27 ; charter granted
[1662], 117; instructs her delegates to
jiropose a declaration of independence,
479 ; her Constitution, 487.
Constituiion, Fort, 491.
Continental troops, 494.
CoNTRECiEUR, Captures and completes Fort
Dn Quesne, 260 ; awaits Braddock's at
tack, 266.
Conty, Fort de, 11.
Conway, General, speech on American
affairs, 347 ; moves repeal of Stamp Act,
348 ; his portrait huuL;- in Faneuil Hall,
350 ; withdraws from the cabinet, 365.
CoNw^AY, Gen. ICdward, 544 ; at Brandy
wine, 556 ; at Germantown, 559 ; made
a major-general, 596 ; resigns, 597 ;
wounded in a duel, 597.
Conway Cabal, The. 596 et seq.
Coode, The Rev. John, 61 ; heads a revolu
tion, 63.
Cook, Lieutenant-colonel, accuses Ogle
thorpe, 165.
Cook, Col. Th.vddeus, of Litchfield, at
Bemus's Heights, 584, 586.
Cooke, Elisha, elected speaker of the Mas
sachusetts Assembly, 130.
Cooke, Governor of Rhode Island, calls out
the minute-men, 417.

Cooke, General, 41.
Coon, a Tory, shot by Arnold, 548.
Cooper, Lieutenant, killed, 448.
Cooper, Thomas, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey', 6, note.
Copley, Sir Lionel, appointed Governor
of Maryland [1690], 61 ; death, 61, 63.
Copp's Hill, 398.
Coram, Thomas, 143, note.
Cores, The, Indians, treaty with, 92.
Corlear's Hook, 505.
Cornbury, Lord, arrives at New York as
Governor, 38 ; his character, 38 ; steals
£1,500, 39 ; his zeal for the church, 39 ;
propo.ses a union of the colonies, 40 ; ap
pointed Governor of the Jerseys, 40;
wears female apparel, 41, note ; quarrel
with the New Jersey Apseniblv,42 ; with
Quakers, 42; recalled 1 1708], 43; ar
rested for debt, 43 ; declares the Dela
ware free to navii;ation, 181.
Cornhill, Boston, 359.
Corn Island, 61 1.
Cornwall County, New York, 10.
Cornwallis, Earl, commands in North
Carolina, 464; at New York, 493; as
cends the Hudson, 519 ; headquarters at
Princeton, 525 ; out-gencralled by AA''ash-
ington, 534 ; enters Philadelphia, 558.
Cornwallis, Col. Edward, conducts emi
grants to Nova Scotia, 271.
Cortelyou House, The, 501.
Coryell's Ferry, 602.
Cosby, Colonel, appointed Governor of
New Y'ork [1732], 50, 222 ; death of,
223 ; proposes a duty on papei-, 333.
Cotton, cultivation of, introduced in Vir
ginia, 64.
Coulson, Captain, at Falmouth, 417.
Counterfeiting of colomal currency, 133,
note.
Counties, twelve erected in New York
[1687], 10.
Courant, The New England, estabhshed,
136. ~
Courtlandt and Phillipse protest against
Leisler's authority, 18.
Cox, Colonel, 577.
CRAJIAHli, LltUTENANT-GOVERNOR, Com
mands at Quebec, 445.
Cranberry', N. J., a Tory camp at, 525.
Cranston, Samuel, Governor of Rhode Isl
and, denounced by Bellomont, 120.
Crary, Lieutknant-colonel, 508.
Craven, Lord, appointed Palatine, 85 ; Gov
ernor of South Carolina, defeats the In
dians near Port Royal, 96.
Cres4p, Colonel, lays out a road over the
Alleghanies, 258.
Croghan, interpreter, 265 ; pacifies the In
dians in the Ohio A'alley, 326.
Cross, S H., his MS. notes cited, 115.
Crown Point, its importance, 251 ; Enghsh
expedition against [1755], 283; aban
doned by the French and occupied hy
Amherst, 302 ; new works built, 302.
Cruger, Mayor, of New Y'ork, 228.

INDEX.

635

Cruger, John, Jr., 232, note.
Cuba, English expedition against organized
[1741], 132.
Cuffee (Negro Plot), 225 et seq.
Culpepper, Lord, Governor of Virginia
[1680], 58 ; goes to England, 54 ; returns,
55; ceases to be Governor [1684], 57;
purchases the Northern Neck, 57, note.
Cumberland, N. S., 276.
Cumberland, Duke of, 345.
Cumberland, Fort, 265 ; Braddock falls
back to, 269.
Cumberland Co., N. Y""., Resolutions, 474.
Cumberland Island, Ga., fortified, 156.
Cumming, Sir Alex.a.nder, ambassador to
the Cherokees, 106.
Currency inflated in Virginia, 55 ; depre
ciation in South Carolina, 107.
Cuyler, Lieutenant, his attempt to re
lieve Detroit, 318.
Cuyler, Major, 493.

J)AGGETT, THE REV. DR., shoulders a
musket, 615.
Dale, Lieut. Richard, of the Bon Homme
Richard, 621.
Dalrymple, Colonel, 361.
Dalzell, Captain, arrives at Detroit, 319 ;
attempts to surprise Pontiac's camp,
319; his death, 320.
Danbury, Conn., burned, 547.
Dangerfield, the assassin, 118, note.
Daniel, Col. Robert, appointed Governor
of North Carolina, 86 ; removed, 87.
D'Anville, Duke, death of, 216.
Darien, settlement of, 148, 155.
Dartmouth, The, arrives at Boston with
tea, 370.
Dartmouth, Lord, becomes Colonial Sec
retaiy, 367 ; his suggestions to Howe,
412, "475.
Davie, General, AV. R., 475, note.
Davis, Captain, at Concord, 389; killed,
390.
Dawes, AVilliam, 385.
Dawson, Henry B., 540, note.
Deane, Silas, 433 ; negotiates for supplies
in France, 545.
Dearborn, Captain, at Quebec, 448.
Dearborn, Major Henry', at Bemus's
Heights, 585.
Debt, England's national, in 1763, 330.
Declaratory Act, The, 348, 351.
De Costa, B. F., cited, 435, note.
Deerfield, Mass., attacked by French and
Indians |1704], 122.
Defiance, Fort, 572.
De Fermoy, General, 529, 531 ; at Ticon
deroga, 573, note.
De Haas, General, 544.
De Heister, at New York, 493.
De Kale, Baron John, sent to travel in
America, 453; emigrates to America, is
commissioned, and joins Washington,
553.
De Lancet, James, Chief Justice of New

York, 223, 248 et seq. ; commissioned
Lieutenant-governor of New York, 250.
De la Noye, in first Colouial Congress, 20.
Delaplace, Captain, bis capture by Ethan
Allen, 435.
Delaware, separate legislation accorded to,
178; approves of independenre, 479;
adopts a State Coustitution, 487.
Delaavario, Lord, Governor- general of
New York and New Jersey, 247.
Dela-ware Indians, 'The, 258.
Delaware River, tonnage duty in the,
180.
Dennison, Colonel, 609.
De Peyster, Isaac, 232, note.
Derby, Capt. John, takes news of the Rev
olution to England, 395.
Descham Vault, 449.
Deserters fiom the British, 422.
D'Estaing, Count, arrival of his fieet, 605 ;
shattered in a storm, 606 ; goes to Bos
ton to refit, 606.
D'Estournelle, A'ice-admiral, death of,
216.
Detroit, fort established at, 256 ; surren
dered to the English [1760|, 311, 313 ;
description of the fort, 316; attacked
by Pontiac, 316.
Devens, Richard, 384.
Dickinson, Gen. Philemon, defeats a
party of British at Somerset C. H., 546,
603.
Dieskau, his expedition to Crown Point,
283 ; inarches on Fort Lyman, 285.
Digby, Edward, 143, note.
Dillenback, Captain, at Oriskany, 578.
Dinwiddie, Robert, Governor of A'irginia
[1752], 78 ; sends AA'ashingtmi to A'e-
uanno, 259 ; urges the erection of fron
tier forts, 295.
Ditson, the case of, 381.
Dongan, Col. Thomas, made Governor of
New York [1683], 7 ; his policy, 8 ;
quoted, 9, 10 ; superseded by Andros,
11 ; his religion, 12.
Donop, Colonel, at New York, 493 ; at
tacks Fort Mercer, and is killed, 563.
Dorchester Heights, 396 ; fortified by
the Americans, 425.
Dorchester Neck, Leslie's raid upon, 424.
Douglas, Colonel, 505.
Dover, N. H., attacked by Indians [1723],
193.
Drake, Colonel, 461, 462.
Dring, Capt. Thomas, his Recollections
cited, 540, note.
Drummond. John, a Proprietor of East Jer-
se}', 6, uote.
Drunkenness made a misdemeanor in Vir
ginia, 59.
Drysdale, Hugh, Governor of Virginia,
76.
Duchambou, Governor of Louisburg, 214 ;
surrenders, 215.
Dudley, Joseph, presides at the trial of
Leisler, 22, 23 ; becomes an ally of
Cornbury, 40 ; sent to England, ap-

636

INDEX.

pointed Chief Justice of Xew York,
Lieutenant-governor of Isle of AVight,
111 ; appointed Governor of iMassachu
setts and New Hampshire, 120 ; his rev
olutionary measures, 121 ; meets a coun
cil of Indians at Casco, 123 ; removed,
126.
Dumas leads the savages against Braddock,
267.
Dummer, AA'illiam, Lieutenant-governor of
Massachusetts, 130, 200.
Dunbarton, N. H., 580.
Duncan, Thomas, 232, note.
DuNLAP's History of New York cited, 494,
note.
Dunmore, Lord, confiscates u. printing-
office, 459.
Dunning, John, advocates removal of
Hutchinson, 369 ; speech quoted, 378,
note.
Duplessis, at the Chew House, 561.
Du Quesne, Fort, 257 ; completed by Con
trecceur, 260 ; Braddock's expedition
against, 262 et seq.
Duquesnel, Governor of Cajie Breton, his
expedition against Canso, 208 ; his death,
209.
Durkee, Captain, 546.
Dustin, Hannah, carried off by Indians,
110.
Duvivier commands the expedition against
Canso, 208 ; learns of the fall of Louis
burg, 215.
Dwight's Travels cited, 288, note.
Dyre, William, Collector aud Mayor of
New Y'ork, 6.

'PARLE, MRS., her connection with the
^ Neuro Plot, 228.
Earthquake [1727], 204.
East India Company, The, 367.
Easton, Colonel, 433, 434.
Ebenezer, Ga., 150.
EcoRCES River, 314.
Ecuyer, Captain, in command at Fort Pitt,
323.
Eden, Governor of Maryland, 482.
Eden, Charles, appointed Governor of
North Carohna [1713], 90.
Edge Hill, action at, 564.
Education in New York, 247.
Edward, Fort, 283, 272.
Edwards, The Rev. Jonath.^n, his Narra
tive of Surprising Conversions, 205 ; his
Nai-ratlve cited, 204, note.
Effingham, Lord Howard, appointed Gov
ernor of A'irginia, 57 ; virtually deposed,
58.
Eliot's Meeting-house, 394, note.
Elizabeth Islands, part of Duke's County,
New York, 10.
Elizabethtown, N. J, 522.
Ellis, Governor of Georgia, 295.
Elm, The AVashington, 410.
Emerson, The Rev. Mr., at Concord, 390.
English ignorance of America, 354.

Englishtown, 603.
Enlistments, difficulties with, 543.
Entick cited, 263, note ; 292, note.
Erie, Penn, 322.
Erskine, General, 493.
Esther, Queen of the Narragansetts, 115.
Esther, last of the royal Narragansetts, 116.
Etherington, Captain, in eomniiiud at
Michilimackinac, 322.
Evans, John, Deputy Governor of Pennsyb
viuiia, 179 ; character of his admiuistra-
tion, 180; attempts to collect tonnage
duty in the Delaware, 181.
Everhard, Sir Richard, Governor of
North Carohna, 105.
Ewing, General, 526.
Eyles, Francis, 143 note.
pAIRFIELD, C( INN., destroyed by Gen
eral Tryon, 615.
Fairhaven, Conn., burned, 607.
Falmouth, Me., attacked by the British, 416.
Faneuil Hall, used a.s a play-house, 429.
Fathey, j. Smith, cited, 555.
Fawcett, Col. AA'illiam, 454.
f.vyetteville, n. c, 464.
Febiger, Colonel, at Stony Point, 615;
his letter, 616, note.
Febiger, Col. George L., 616, note.
Fellows, General, 495.
Felt's History of Ipswich cited, 132, uote.
Fendall, Governor of Maryland, 61.
F'ernald, Captain John, 210.
Financial difficulties of the provinces, 130.
Fish, Maj. Nicholas, 462 ; quoted, 463.
Fisher, J. F., his Life of Penn cited, 172.
note.
Fishkill, Putnam takes post at, 588.
Fitch, Governor of Connecticut, his fall,
389.
FlTZMAURlOE, his Life of Shelburne cited,
289, note ; 344, note ; 568, note ; 600,
note.
Five Nations, The, council of, called at Al
bany by (Governor Andres, 11 ; five of
their chiefs scut to England, 44 ; join in
expedition agaiust Canada, 4 5 ; convey
their country to the English King, 48;
statistics of, 48, note ; become Six Na
tions by accession of the Tuscaroras
[1713], 94. ( See also Iroquois.)
Flags, American, 420, 421.
Flatbush, the British occupy, 497.
Flatlands, the British occupy, 497.
Flax, growth of, encouraged in Virginia,
59.
Fleming, Captain, killed, 535.
Flemington, N. J., 551.
Fletcher, Benjamin, commissioned Gov
ernor, 25 ; instructions from the King,
26 ; salary, 26 ; character, 26 ; quarrel
with Phips, 27 ; appears in Hartford to
assert his military authority, 27 ; at
tempt to have his commission read, 28 ;
what Bellomont said of him, 29; goes
to Schenectady with troops, 31 ; re
called, 31.

INDEX.

637

Fledry, Lieutenant-colonel, at Stony
Point, 616.
Florida, ceded to England, 169.
Folsom, General, 394.
Folson, Lieutenant, 159.
Fonblanque's Burgoyne cited, 455, note.
Fontleroy, sent to travel in America, 453,
553. '
Forbes, General Joseph, his expedition
to Fort Du Quesne, 300.
Force, Peter, Archives cited, 373, 465,468,
474, 526, note ; finds Mecklenburg Res
olutions, 476, uote.
Ford, Philip, Penn's steward, 179.
Fordham Heights, 518.
Forest, Captain, at Trenton, 530.
Forests, dispute concerning the right to,
128.
Fort Wayne, Ind., 314.
Forty Fort, 609.
Foster, Captain, captures the Cedars, 449.
Fouace, Rev. Mr., controversy with Gov
ernor Nicholson, 70.
France, .alliance with, 598.
Francis, Colonel, killed, 574.
Franklin, Benjamin, birth [1706] and
early years, 137; goes to Philadelphia,
138; returns to Philadelphia, 189; his
early adventures there, 190 ; establishes
the Pennsylvania Gazette aud Poor
Richard's Almanac, 190; becomes Post
master of Pennsylvania, 190; founds
American Philosophical Society, 190;
his electrical experiments, 190 ; how af
fected by Whitefield's preaching, 207 ;
his interview with Governor Burnet of
New York, 244 ; draws up a plan for a
union of the Colonies, 261 ; his Auto
biography cited, 261, 263; his advice to
Braddock, 264 ; Autobiography quoted,
289 ; as a witness before Parliament,
347 ; sends Hutchinson's letters to Bos
ton, 368 ; insulted by AVedderburn, 369 ;
of committee to renew the army, 419;
commissioner to Canada, 449 ; on inde
pendence, 471 ; of committee on declar
ation, 48.3; as peace commissioner, 512.
Franklin, James, 136 ; impri.soued, 137.
Franklin, AA'illiam, Governor of New-
Jersey, arrested and sent to Connecti
cut, 481.
Franklin, Penn., 259.
Eraser, Captain, at Bennington, 580.
Eraser, General, defeats Thompson at
Point du Lac, 450; in Burgoyne's cam
paign, 568 et .leq, ; his death, 590.
Eraser, Mrs., warned by Sanute, 94.
Frederica, Ga., founded [1736], 156; bat
tle with the Spaniards before, 161, 162.
Frederick, Md., founded [1745], 80;
Braddock's rendezvous, 263.
Frederick of Pru.ssia, what he said of the
war in America, 453 ; his admiration
for the Americans, 546 ; exacts a cattle-
tax for the mercenaries. 546.
Freeman's Farm, battle of, 585 et seq.
Freeman's Tavern, Morristown, N. J.
546.

French Church in New York, itsdivisiou,
48.
French Creek, in Warwick, Penn., 556.
French, John, commander at Newcastle,
tricked by Richard Hill, 180, 181.
French Fortifications, series of, 255,
256.
French Mountain, 285.
Friends, their opinions on slavery, 176 ;
Governor Keith's dealings with, 187.
Frontenac, King Louis's instructions to,
16 ; organizes a war on the frontier
[1690], 18 ; his intended attack on Al
bany, 19 ; his character, 29.
Frontenac, Fort, built, 256 ; captured by
Bradstreet, 299.
Frothingham's Siege of Boston cited, 420,
note.
Fry, Col. Joshua, treats with the Indians,
258 ; comm.ands expedition to the Alle
ghany, 260.

flADSDEN, COL. CHRISTOPHER, of
^^ South Carolina, 466.
Gage, Gk.neral, restrains Governor Col
den, 344 ; sends troops to Boston, 356 ;
appointed Governor of Massachusetts,
376; his wife, 397, note; recalled, 411.
Galloway', Joseph, 522, and note.
Galloway', pioneer, 610.
Gansevoort, Colonel, commands Fort
Schuyler, 576 ; thanked by Cougress,
579.
Gardener, Captain, at Oriskany, 578.
Gardner, Colonel, 393.
Garrick quoted, 207.
Gates, Horatio, with Braddock, 267 ; a|)-
poiuted Adjutant-general, 407; sent to
New Jersey, 521 ; supersedes Schuyler,
584 ; Colonel Varick's comment, 584,
note ; made President of the Board of
AVar, 596 ; ordered to the Hudson,
596.
Gazette, The Boston, established, 136.
George, Fort, New Y'ork City, 226, 245,
289.
George L, death of, 135.
George III., his reason for taxing the colo
nies, 334 ; his statue set up in New York,
350, pulled down, 487 ; his speech in 1770,
364 ; speech at opening of Parliament iu
October, 1775, 451 ; ashamed of hiring
mercenaries, 454 ; quoted, 566.
George, Lake, called St. Sacrament, 284.
George, Mrs., her connection with the Ne
gro Plot, 229.
Georgia, first proposed settlement in Mar
gravate of Azilia, 140, 141; chartered
[1732], 143; first emigrants to, 144'
slavery in, 153; tenure of lauds, 154
war with the Spaniards, 159 et seq.
condition of, in 1750, 166; the trustees
surrender the charter, 166; not repre
sented in the first Congress, 168 ; adopts
a State constitution, 487.
Germain, Lord George, how he thwarted
Burgoyne's campaign, 568, note.

6ys

INDEX.

Ger.max Fl.its devastated, 609.
GERM.iXTOWN, buttle of, 558 et seq.
Gerry', Elbridge, 413.
Gibbets, the year of three [1777], 566.
Gibbs, Major Caleb, 561.
Gibson, AA'illiam, a Proprietor of East Jer-
SL'V, 6, note.
Girdlestone, Dr. Thomas, 460, note.
Gist. Chri>topher, explorer, 258.
Gist, Colonel, at Edge Hill. 564.
Gladwyn, Major, warued of Pontiac's de-
si.; us, 314 ; defends Detroit, 316 e( seq.
Gleason, Capt.vin, killed, 310.
Gleostone's Life of Wliitefield, cited, 155,
203, notes.
Glen, Goveruor of South Carolina, 295.
Gloucester, JIass., 416.
Glover, Colonel, 502; General, 513; at
Trenton, 528, 575 ; quoted, 5S2, 587, note.
Glover, AVillia.m, elected Goveruor of
North Carolina, 87 ; deposed, 87.
Gold, in first Colonial Congress, 20.
Gold, Lieutenant-colonel, kiUed, 548.
Gondola, the word explained, 379, note.
Gooi H, AA'illiam, Governor of A'irginia,
70, 232.
Gookin, Ch.irles, becomes Governor of
Pennsylvania [1709], 185 ; retires
[1717]', 186.
Gordon, The Rev. Alexander, 153.
Gordon, Lieutenant, tortured to death at
A'enango, 323.
Gordon, Patrick, appointed Governor of
Pennsylvania, 188 ; death of, 189.
Gordon, Robert, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
Gordon, historian, quoted, 503, 512, 565.
Goshen, Penn., 556.
Governors, Roy'al, under AA'illiam and
Mary, 25 et seq.
Governor's Island fortified, 490.
Gowanus Creek, 498.
Grace, repartee concerning, 49, note; how
Parson Moody ,said, 215, note.
Graffenried, Baron de, captured bv In
dians, 92.
Grafton, Duke of, 363. 365.
Graha.me's History of the United States
cited, ISS.
Granby withdraws from the cabinet, 365.
Grand Embarkation, The, 151.
Grand Pre, 277 et seq.
Grant, Dame, 539.
Grant, General, 493; at the battle of
Long Island, 499 ; at Brandywine, 556.
GR.iNT, LlEUTEN.iNT-COLONEL. killed, 500.
Grant, Major, defeated at Grant's Hill,
300.
Grant, Major, killed, 574.
Gr.a.nt's Hill, 300.
Grants, the Hamp.shire, 430.
Granville, Lord, his reply to Archdiile,
83 ; his death, S5.
Graves, Admiral, attacks Falmouth, 416.
Gravesend Bay, British troops land in,
496 ; British troops occupy, 497.
Gray, killed (Boston Massacre), 363, note.

Gray, escapes (Massachusetts Committee of
Safety), 3S6.
Gray's Elegy quoted, 308.
Grayson. C'ol. AA'illiam. 495.
GRE.iT Meadows, AA'ashington fortifies,
260 ; Braddock at, 269.
Great Savage JIountain, 265.
Green Bay, 256.
Greene, Col. Christopher, 562.
Greene, Vi. AA""., his German Element cited,
454, 597, notes.
Greene, Nathanael, 394, 495; appointed
brigadier general, 407, note ; quoted,
417 ; reaches Xew York, 462 ; quoted
as to Fort AA'ashington, 518; at Tren
ton, 528 ; at Braudywiue, 554 ; at Ger-
manto-vvn, 559 ; at "A'alley Forge, 593.
Greenleaf, Stephen, a Proprietor of
Naiituckrt, 2, note.
Green Mountain Boys, 131, at Benning
ton, 581.
Green's Fak.ms destroyed, 615.
Grkens, Johnson's Luval, 576, 578.
Gregg, Liei tenant-colonel, 5S1.
Grenville, George, becomes prime minis
ter, 333 ; introduces the Stamp Act, 338 ;
defends the Stamp Act, 347.
Gridley, plans the «orks at Boston, 394;
plans the works on Dorchester Heights,
426.
Griffin, Colonel, skirmishes at Burling
ton, N. J., 526.
Gronau, 150.
Groome, Samuel, a Proprietor of East
Jersey, 6, note.
Gunpowder, American supply of, 413, 545.

TJABEAS CORPUS, writ of, extended
to A'irgiuia, 72.
Hackensack Bridge, 521.
Hackensack, N. J., a plot suspected at, 236-
Haines, Private Thomas, his exploit, 586.
Hale, Capt. Nathan, execution of, 511.
Hale, Colonel, captured, 574 ; at Bemus's
Heights, 584.
Haliburton, T. C, his History of Nova
.Scotia cited, 271, note.
Halifax, Earl of, subscribes to the Ad
venture galley, 33, 271 ; his preparations
for im]io~ing a stamp tax, 337.
Halifax, N, S., how named, 271.
Hall, Governor Hiland, cited, 435, uote.
Halsey, sent to Albany, 433.
H.iMiLioN, Alexander, 495, 515; warns
Congress of the approach of the enemy,
557.
Hamilton, Andrew, Lieutenant-governor
of East Jersey, 9 ; appoiuted Deputy
Governor of Pennsylvania, 178 ; death
of, 179 ; iu the Zenger hbel suit, 223.
Hamilton, General, in Burgoyne's cam
paign, 568 et seq.
Hamilton, Governor of Detroit, captures
Vincennes, 611; taken prisoner, 611.
Ha5iilton, James, becomes Governor of
I Pennsylvania, 191.

INDEX.

639

Hampton, Rev. Mr., persecuted by Gov
ernor Cornbury, 39.
Hancock, John, his sloop unloaded by a
mob, 357 ; on the proposed destruction
of Boston, 423.
Hancock, .Vlass., 433.
Hancock's Bridge, skirmish at, 600.
Hand, General, at Trenton, 528 ; his rifle
men driven back on Long Island, 497.
Hand's Cove, Vt., 434.
Harbor Island, 292.
Harcourt, Lieutenant-colonel, 524.
Hardy, Old Fort, 592.
Harford, Henry, last Proprietor of Marv-
laud [1771], 78.
Harlem Heights, 505 et seq. ; battle of,
503.
Harrison, JIr., ou committee to renew the
army, 419; reports resolution of inde
pendence, 484.
Harrod, pioneer, 610.
Harroi>s Station, 610.
Harsin, Jacob, quoted, 463.
Hart, .Tohn, Governor of Maryland, 78.
Hart, Kalph, 526, note.
Hart, Thomas, a Proprietor of East .ler
sey, 6, note.
Hartshorne, Hugh, a Proprietor of East
Jersey, 6, note.
Hartsville, Penn., AVashington's head
quarters at, 551.
Harvard College, its testimony against
AVhitefield's errors, 207.
Haslet, his regiment, 494 ; killed, 535.
Hausegger's Battalion at Trenton, 529,
note.
Haverhill, Ma.ss., Indians att.ack, 110.
Haviland, Colonel, marches against Mon
treal, 311.
Hawks, his History of North Carolina cited,
89.
Hayes's MS. Traditions cited, 200, note.
Haywood, .John, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
Heard, General, 495.
Heath, AVilliam, 386, 391, 392; appointed
brigadier-general, 407, note ; sent to
New York, 429 ; reaches New York,
462, 495 ; Memoirs cited, 515, note.
Heathcote, George, 143, note.
Hell Fire Clue, The, 137.
Hell Gate, 513.
Helm, Captain, 611, note.
Hendrick, Indian Chief, 284 ; death of,
286.
Hendricks, Captain, killed, 448.
Henry, John .Joseph, his Narrative cited,
444, note.
Henry, Patrick, his resolutions on the
Stamp Act, 339 ; his speech in support
of them, 340, 596.
Herkimer, Gen. Nicholas, 572 ; marches
to the rebef of Fort Schuyler, 577 ; his
order, 577 ; mortally wounded, 578 ;
death, 579.
Hermsdorf, Captain, emigrates to Georgia,
151.

Herrick, Captain, his expedition to
Skenesborough, 434, 581.
Hessians, The, arrive in America, 493 ; sur
render of, at Trenton, 430 ; repulsed at
Fort Mercer, 563 ; in the battle of
Rhode Island, 607. (Sec also Mercena
ries.)
Hett, Rene, 232, note.
Hewes, George R. I'., Memoirs cited, 373,
note.
Hewes, Joseph, how he voted for indepen
dence, 485.
He'wit, his Historij of South Carolina cited,
96, 158.
Heyer, Col. AA'illiam, 462.
HicKS, Whitehead, 458.
Hicks, Will, his mansion house, 492.
Hill, General, commands troops sent
against Quebec, [1711] 45.
Hill, John, his chart of New Yoric cited,
492, note.
Hill, Lieutenant-colonel, 574.
Hill, JIajor, at Stony Point, 615.
Hill, Ricii.ird, refuses to pay tonnage
duty in the Delaware, 180.
Hillhouse, Captain James, 615.
Hillsborough, Earl of, letter to Gov
ernor Bernard, 354 ; 363 ; his removal
from ofiice, 366.
Hilton, Mus., her house on fire, 227.
Hinman, Colonel, takes possession of
Ticonderoga, 437.
Hitchcock, Col. Daniel, 497; at Prince
ton, 535 ; his death, 536.
Hite, Joist, 74.
Hog Island, skirmish at, 396.
Hogg, Mrs., her connection with the Negro
Plot, 225 et seq.
Holbourne, Ad.miral, arrives at Halifax,
291.
Holland, Roger, 143, note.
Holmes, Admiral, 304.
Holmes, I'nsign, discovers Pontiac's plot,
314; his death, 321.
Holt, dancing-master, implicated in the
Negro Plot, 240.
"Holy Experiment," Penn's, 178.
Hood, stamp distributor in Marvland, 345.
Hopewell, N. J., 602.
Hopkins, Esek, appointed Commodore,
417.
Hopson, Peregrine T., Governor of Nova
Scotia, 275, note.
Horsey, Samuel, nominated Governor of
South Carolina, 105.
Horsmanden, Daniel, his History of the
Negro Plot cited, 230, note.
Hortales & Co., 545.
Hosmer, killed at Concord, 390.
Hough, Franklin B., 298, note.
Howe, Admiral, Lord, arrives at New
York, 49.'! ; meets Adams aud Frankhn
on Staten Island, 512.
Howe, General, arrives in Boston, 396 ;
takes command at Boston, 411 ; his
coudition at Boston, 421, 422 ; his man
uscript despatches, 424, note ; evacuates

640

INDEX.

Boston, 427 ; arrives at New York, 492 ;
lands his forces iu AVestchester County,
513; correspondence with AA'ashington,
541 ; crosses to Staten Island, and sails
from New Y'ork [1777], 551; advances
toward Philadelphia, 553; at German-
town, 560 ; defeated near Chestnut Hill,
564 ; his failure to cooperate with Bur
goyne explained, 568. note.
Howe, Gen. Robert, commands at Savan
nah, 612.
Howe, Lord, with Abercrombie, 297 ;
killed, 298.
Howes. The, issue a proclamation of pardon
in New .Jersey, 521.
Hubbard, Colonel, 581.
Hubbard, Rev. Mr., treatment by Governor
Cornbury, 39.
Hubbardton, battle of, 574.
Hucks, Robert, 143, uote.
Hughes, Quartermaster. 502.
Hughes, stamp distributor in Philadelphia,
345.
Hughson, John, his connection with the
Negro Plot, 225 et seq.
Hull, Captain AA'illiam, 515 ; quoted. 530,
note ; at Bemus's Heights, 586 ; his Me
moirs cited, 587, note.
Humphreys, Lieutenant, killed, 448.
Hunter, Lieutenant, his diary quoted,
560, notes.
Hunter, Robert, Governor of New Y'ork,
43, 45 ; he retires [1719], 47 ; nominated
Governor of Yirginia, 7 1 .
Huntington, Colonel, at the battle of
Long Island, 500, 548.
Hussey, Christopher, a Proprietor of
Nantucket, 2, note.
HuTCHiN-ioN, Edward, 116.
Hutchinson, Speaker of the Massachusetts
Assembly. 209 ; becomes Chief Justice of
^Massachusetts, 332 ; Lieutenant-g(.>ver-
nor, his house r.ansacked, 343 ; Gover
nor, 362, 363 ; his letters of advice, 368.
Hyde. Edward, appointed Governor of
North Carolina, 88 ; death of, 93.
Hyder Ali, 364.

TBERVILLE, founder of Louisiana, of
same blood as the Le Jloyues. 19.
Illinois, Franklin's plan for the settle
ment of, 366.
Immigration, restricted in Pennsylvania,
188.
Impressment of seamen in Boston, 218 :
again attempted, 359.
Independence, Declaration of, 470 et seq. ;
growth of the idea, 470-482 ; committee
to draft declaration of reasons for, 483 ;
paragraph on the slave-trade omitted,
4,'*5 ; Kini; of France asked to recog
nize American, 545.
Indi.\n Atrocities in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts. 122.
Indian Chiefs, Hve, sent to England, 44;
what Colden said of them, 44, note.

Indians, the Northwest, attracted to Albany,
48 ; campaign against the Southern, 81 ;
prisoners held as slaves, 82 ; treaties
with, in Carolina, 104; a grand coun
cil of, at Coweta, Ga., 157 ; Penn's last
treaty with [1701], 177; The Eastern,
treaty with, 197.
Indian War in Maine, New Hamjishire,
nnd Massachusetts, 124; the third in
New England [1722], 192.
Ingoldsby, Richard, anival in New York,
21 ; attacks the fort, 22 ; Governor ad
interim, 25 ; as Lieutenant-governor of
New. lersey, 40; Goveruor orfiH(er)'Hi, 43.
Innocent IIL, quoted, 148.
Inoculation introduced in America, 127.
Inwood, 518.
Ireland, pirate, 34.
Irish Beauty, the Newfoundland, 225 ei seq.
Irish Catholics as soldiers, Howe's opin
ion of, 423,
Iron, manufacture of, 246.
Iroquois Indians, confiict for the control
of, 3, 5 ; what Andros said of them, 11 ;
treaties renewed by tsloughter, 25. (See,
also. Five Nations.)
Irvine, Colonel, iu expedition against
Three Rivers, 450.
Isle aux Noix, 302, 450.
Isle d' Orleans, 304.

TAJLAICA. L. I., the relation of Jamaica
pass to the American defences, 498, .500.
James, Fort, New Y'ork, condition of in
1678, 3.
James Island, 467.
James. Major, bis house sacked, 344.
James II. of England, acces-ion of, [1685], 8 ;
his colonial policy, 10; abdication of, 12.
Ja.meson, lawyer, 230, note.
Jamestown. R. I., burned, 417.
Janney's LIJi of Penn cited, 172, note, 175,
note.
Jasper, Serg. Williaji, his exploit, 469.
Jefferson, Tho:mas, opinion of Mecklen
burg Resolutions, 476, note; of com
mittee on declaration, 48.S.
Jeffreys, Sir Herbert, Lieutenant-gov
ernor of A'irginia, 52 ; Ludwell's denun
ciation of him, 53, his death, 53.
Jenings, Edward, acting Governor of
A'irginia, 71,
Jenings, Samuel, a popular leader, 40;
Speaker of the Assembly, 42.
Jenkins, Lieutenant, in command at
Ouatanon. 322.
Jericho. (See Haucock, Mass.)
Jersey', East, sale of, 6; Lieutenaul-gov-
emors of, 9.
Jersey, East and AYest, the Proprietors
surrender their right of civil government
[1702], 40 ; how ruled by Cornbury, 40.
Jesuit influence in New York, 12 ; intrigues,
16; iu Canada, their policy, 122; influ
ence over the Indians, 134 ; missions,
256.

INDEX.

641

Johnson, Fort, Charleston Harbor, 85.
Johnson, Dr. Joseph, finds Mecklenburg
Resolutions, 476, note.
Johnson, Guy, Indian Agent, 438, 576.
Johnson, Sir John, commands Tories and
Indians, 438.
Johnson, Sir Nathaniel, appointed Gover
nor of South Carolina, 82 ; defends
Charleston, 85.
Johnson, Robert, Governor of South Car
olina, 97; deposed, 101 ; returned with
a royal commission, 106.
Johnson, Sir AA^illiam, settles in the Mo
hawk Valley, 243 ; his influence with the
Indians, 252 ; his expedition agaiust
Crown Point, 283 et seq. ; wounded, 287 ;
made a baronet, 288 ; attempts to re
lieve Fort William Henry, 294 ; cap
tures Fort Niagai'a, 302 ; restraius the
Iroquois from joining in Pontiac's con
spiracy, 313 ; makes a treaty with the
Indiaus at Oswego [1766], 326 ; his re
lation to Brant, 608.
Johnston, Colonel, 616, note.
Johnston, Col. Philip, killed, 501.
Johnston, Gabriel, Governor of North
Carolina, 105 ; his speech in Parlia
raent, 375.
Jones, Captain, of Georgia militia, 168
Jones, John Paul, sails from France, 617 ;
his descent ou the British coast, 618 ;
captures the Serapis, 620 ; effects of
his exploits, 621 et seq.
Jones's Ford, 553.
Jonquiere, Goveruor of Canada, 216.
Jumel Mansion, The, 506, note.
Jumonville, slain, 260.
Junius, 364, uote ; theory that Charles Lee
wrote the letters, 460, note.

J^APP, DR., cited, 454, note.
Kapp's Life of Steuben cited, 597, uote.
Kaskaskia, 257 ; captured by Clark, 811.
Keith, George, 176.
Keith, Sir Willi.vm, becomes Governor of
Penn.sylvania [1717], 186; removed,
[1725], 188,257.
Kennedv House, The, 495, note.
Kennett Squ.\re, 553.
Kenon, Colonel, at Moore's Creek, 465.
Kenton, pioueer, 610.
Keppel, Admiral, 622.
Kerry. ( See Sorubiero. )
Keteltass, Abraha.m, 232, note.
Kidd, Robert, 37, note.
Kidd, William, his career, 33 et seq. ; trial,
36 ; execution, 37.
King Log, allusion to, 20.
King's College, New Y'"ork, 247, 511.
King's Friends, The, 3.34 etseq. ; 364,421.
King's Province, The, 112.
Kingston, N. J., 602.
Kingston, N. Y., burned, 588. (See Zo-
pus.)
Kinsey, John, 187.
Kip's BAy, 505.
VOL. IIL 41

Knowles, Cojlmodore, impresses seamen
in Boston, 218.
Knowlton, Lieut.-col. Thomas, 397 ; his
raid into Charlestown, 422, 507 ; killed,
509.
Knox, Col. Henry, plans the works at Bos
ton, 394 ; given comnumd of artillery,
409 ; brings cannon from Ticondero
ga for the siege of Boston, 424 ; com
mands artillery at New York, 462, 495 ;
cited, 536, uote ; at Trenton, 528.
Knyphausen, General, 518 ; captures Fort
AVashington, 519; at Brandywine, 554 ;
at Monmouth, 603.

r A BAYE, French station on Green Bay,
-^ 256.
Lafayette, pays the claims against Col
onel Barton, 550, note ; sails for Amer
ica, is commissioned, and joins AA'ash
ington, 553 ; at Valley Forge, 593 ; his
loyalty to AA'ashingtou, 596; takes posi
tion at Barren Hill, 601.
Lafayette. Ind., 257.
Lake George, called St. Sacrament, 284;
battles of, 285 et seq.
Lamb, Capt. John, 456 ; exploit at Turtle
Bay, 457 ; dismantles the Battery, 458;
Colouel, 548.
Lambertville, 602.
Lancaster, Mass., attacked by French aud
Indians, 123.
Lancaster, Penu., arsenal established at,
545 ; Congress adjourned to, 557.
Landais, Cajitaiu of the Alliance, 619-621.
Land Bank, the, 201.
Lands, tenure of in Georgia, 154.
Land Tax, proposed reduction of, 352.
Langdon, John, his patriotism, 580.
Lanning, David, 529.
Laroche, John, 143, note.
Lasher, Col John, 462.
Latimer, Col. Jonathan, at Bemus's
Heights, 584,
Latouche, .Teremiah, 232, note.
Laurens, Lieutenant -colonel, at the
Chew House, 561.
Laurens, Henry, President of Congress,
596.
Laurie, in command of English troops, 389.
Law, John, 130.
Lawrence, Charles, Governor of Nova
Scotia, 275, note.
Lawrie, Gawen, a Proprietor of East Jer-
sev, 6, note ; Governor of East Jersey, 9.
Lawson, .John, murdered by Indians, 92.
Lay, early abolitionist, 177.
Learned, General, at Bemus's Heights,
584.
Leather, manufacture of encouraged iu
Virginia, 59.
Le B<euf, Fort, 257 ; burned by the Indiaus,
323.
Lech.-uere's Point, 383.
Lecky's History of England cited, 203,
note.

642

INDEX.

Lee, Arthur, quoted, 367.
Lee, Charles, 386 ; appointed Major-gen
eral, 407 ; sent to protect Newport, 418 ;
his iron-clad oath, 418, note ; stationed
at New Y'ork, 429 ; letter to New Y'ork
Committee of Sab'ty, 460 ; theory iden
tifying him with Junius, 460, note;
transferred to the Southern Depart
ment, 461 ; at defence of Charleston,
468 : letter to Purviance, 482 ; his in
subordination, 522 ; his capture, 525 ; his
treason, 550 ; court-martialled, 597 ; re
buked by AA'ashingtou at Jlonmouth,
604,
Lee, Fort, 491 ; evacuated by the Amer
icans, 521.
Lee, Maj. Henry, surprises Paulus Hook,
617.
Lee, Richard Henry, his Resolutions de-
clariui;' independence, 483.
Lee, Thomas, acting Governor of A'irginia,
78 ; projects the Ohio Company, 257.
Lee Papehs cited, 604, note ; 469, note.
Le Feboure. Captain, commands the fleet
sent against Charleston, 85.
Leffingwell, Mr., 433.
Leisler, Jacob, captain of militia, 13, 14 ;
his house, 14, uote ; left in command of
New York, 15; leader ofthe Protestant
mo^'cment, 15; bis life, 15; left at the
head of the government, 16 ; assumes
the goveruorship, 1 6 ; receives the i'r)\ al
letter t)f instructions, 18: in first colo
nial Congress, 20 ; what AA'alley said of
him, 20 ; plans an expedition against the
French, 20; rebuilds fortifications nf
New York, 20 ; sends out privateers, 20 ;
delivers up the government to Slough
ter, 22 ; tried, with his council, for mur
der and treason, and sentenced to death,
22 ; executed, 24; his attainder reversed,
24 ; re-buried, 32.
Leisler and auti-Leisler factions, 37.
Leitch. jNI.vj. Andrew, 50S ; killed, 509.
Le Moynes, three, lead attack on the fron
tiers, 18.
Lenni Lenape, The, 258.
Leslie, Colonel, his expedition to Salem,
37.S ; his raid on Dorchester Neck, 424 ;
at New Y'ork, 493, 514.
Lessing, 454.
Lester, Lieutenant, at Michilimackinac,
322.
Levis, De, with Montcalm at Fort AA'^illiam
Henry, 293 ; at Ticonderoga, 298 ; c(uu-
maiids the French left at Quebec, 306
et seq. : moves dowu from if outreal, 311.
Lewis, John, 74.
Lewis. Col. JIorgan, 571.
Lewis. M.vjor, 592.
Lexington, battle of, 386-3SS.
Liberty, Hancock's .sloop, 357,
Liberty-pole festival iu New Y'ork, 350.
Ligonier, Fort, attacked by Indians, 323.
Ligonier, Penn.. .'ioii.
LiGiERis, De, leads the savages against
Braddock, 207.

Lillington, Colonel, at Moore's Creek,
465.
Lincoln, Gen. Ben.jamin, reports to
Schuyler, 575 ; campaign in the South,
613 e( seq.
Lindesay, John, his settlement in Cherry
Valley, 243.
Linsingen, Colonel, at New Y'ork, 493.
Linzee, commander of the Lively, 399.
Liquors, spirituous, prohibited in Georgia,
153.
Little, Colonel, 498.
Little Meadcvvs. 265.
Little, C)tis, his State of Trade cited, 271,
note.
Livingston, Edward, collector of New
York, his property confiscated, 37, 38.
Livingston, Col. Henry, at Bemus's
Heights, 584.
Livingston, Philip, 502.
Livingston Col. Robert, appears in Lou
don against Governor Fletcher, 33 ; de
mands surrender of his bond, 35.
Livingston, Robert, 413.
Livingston, R. R , of committee to draft
declaration, 483.
Livingston's Recti w cited, 288, note.
Lloyd, David, opposes Govurnur Evans,
180; Speaker of Pennsylvania Assem
bly, 182 ; his letter to Penn, 183, note.
Lockwood, Ja.mes, bis letter, 393.
Lodge, lawyer, 230, note.
Logan, Jajii.s, 178; quoted, 181, 182; in
dicted, 182.
Logan, pioneer. 610.
Logan's Fort, 610.
Logstown, council with Indians at, 258.
Londonderry, N. H., fouuded [1722], 139.
Long, Colonel, 573.
Long Island, condition and industries of
in the 17th centuiy, 2; the New Y'ork
towns on, 9, 26 ; battle of, 497 et seq.
Look, Thomas, a Proprietor of Nantucket,
2, uote.
Lossberg, Colonel, at New York, 493.
Loudoun, Fort, 295.
Loudoun, Lord, becomes commander of the
British forces in America, 289 ; plans an
attack on Louisburg, 291.
Loughborough, Lord, 369.
Louisburg, expeditition aeainst, planned
by Governor Shirley, 208 el seq. ; its
defences, 209, 210;"its value, 216 ; the
siege of, 212 et seq.; surrender, 215;
restored to France, 217; ex|ienses of
the expedition refunded to the colonies,
217 ; New York's contribution to the
expedition against, 251 ; Loudoun's
abortive expedition agaiust, 291 ; cap
tured, 297.
Lovelace, Lord, appoiuted Governor of
New Y'ork 1 1708], 43 ; death [1709], 43.
Lovell, General, defeated on the Penob
scot, 617.
Lovell, jNfiss, 402, note,
Lovewell, Capt. John, his expedition
against the Indians, 194 ; his death, 196.

INDEX.

643

Lovewell's Volunteers, 124, uote.
Lowell, James Russell, quoted, 394,
note.
Loyalhanna, 300.
Ludwell, Philip, suit against a rebel, 52 ;
arraigned for treason, 53 ; sent to Eng
land, 58.
Luken's Mill, 558.
Lutwidge, Captain, in command on Lake
Champlain, 568 et seq.
Lyman, Fort, 283.
Lyman, General, moves against Crown
Point, 283.
Lynch, Thomas, on committee to renew the
army, 419.
Ty/[AcGREGOR, The Rev. Mr., minister of
Scotch Presbyterians in New Hamp
shire 139.
Maclean, Colonel, defends Quebec, 445.
McConkey's Ferry, 532.
McCrea, Jane, the story of, 569-571.
McCulloh, Hugh, on stamp duty, 333.
McDonald, Col. Donald, defeated at
Moore's Creek, 465, 466.
McDonald, Flora, 465.
McDougal, Lieutenant, at Detroit, 317.
McDougall, General, 495 ; at Peekskill,
547 ; at Germantown, 559.
McEvERS, John, 232, note.
McKay, Lieutenant, 162.
MoKean, Thomas, 484, note.
McKenzie, The Rev. Mr., persecuted by
Governor Cornbury, 39.
McLanb, Captain, 559.
McLeod, Colonel, at Moore's Creek, 465.
McNeal, Mrs., with Jane McCrea, 570.
M'Pherson, Captain, builds Fort Argvle,
147.
McPherson, Captain, killed, 446.
Macy, Tho.mas, first settler of Nantucket
[1659], 2.
Magaw, Col. Robert, defends Fort Wash
ington, 516.
Maidenhead, N. J., 532.
Maine, coast of, claimed by the French,
123; Indian war in, 123 et seq.; at
tempts at settlement in, 139 ; the coast
of, first permanent settlement on [1759],
197, note.
Mamaroneck, 617.
Manchester, Vt., 581.
Manly, in command of the Lee, takes the
brigantine Nancy, 418.
Mansfield, Lord, 348.
Marblehead, Leslie lands at, 379.
Margravate of Azilia, The, 141 et seq.
Marlborough, Duke of, deposed, 46.
Marshall, Judge, cited, 338, note.
Marshall's Remembrancer cited, 393, note.
Marshfield, Mass., troops sent to, 378.
Martha's Vineyard, included in govern
ment of New York, 2 ; ])art of Duke's
County, 10 ; claimed for both New York
and Ma.ssachusetts, 28.
Martin, Goveruor of North Carolina, issues
a proclamation, 464 ; quoted, 475.

Maryland, re\olution in, 60; condition of
in the 17th century, 61 ; a popular as
sembly convened, 63 ; Proprietary gov
ernment overthrown, 63 ; schools estab
lished in, 67 ; Proprietary government
restored, 78; condition of in the 18th
century, 79 ; declares for independence,
482 ; adopts a State constitution, 487.
Masham, Mrs., 45.
Mason, Mr., 115.
Mason Claim, The, 126.
Massachusetts becomes a royal province,
109; her condition in 1715, 127; her
letter ou taxation, 336 ; her address to
the King, Lords, aud Commons, 338 ;
her circular letter on taxation without
representation, 353 ; Government Bill,
The, 375 ; declares for independence,
478 ; adopts a State constitution, 487 ;
its peculiarities, 489.
Massacres brought about by Jesuit in
trigues, 16.
Mather, Cotton, espouses Dudley's cause,
120 ; attempts to oust him, 121 ; mobbed
for inoculation, 128 ; delivers a tolerant
sermon, 135.
Mather, Increase, in England, 25 ; f.avors
inoculation, 128.
Mathews, Jacob, 166.
Matthews, General, 493 ; his raid in Vir
ginia, 614.
Matson's Ford, 601.
Mattapany', Fort, besieged, 63.
M.iUDUiT, Jasper, 335, note, 336.
Maverick, royal commissioner, 119 ; killed,
363, note.
Mawhood, at New York, 493 ; at Prince
ton, 534.
Maxwell, Colonel, in expedition against
Three Rivers, 450, 602.
Maxwell, General, 544, 553 ; at German-
town, 559.
Mayhew, Thomas, buys Nantucket, 2, note.
May'nard, Lieutenant, in pursuit of pi
rates, 99.
Maze, pirate, 34.
Mecklenburg Resolutions, The, 474.
Meigs, Return J., cited, 444. note; his
expedition to Sag Harbor, 548 ; at
Stony Point, 615,
Meloy's horse to be returned, 393.
Melvin, James, cited, 444, note.
Mendon Resolutions, The, 472.
Menotomy, 383.
Mercenaries, employment of, 423 ; at
tempts to hire thein on the Continent,
452-454 ; their numbers, 455.
Mercer, Fort, 562 ; attacked by Donop,
563 ; evacuated, 564.
Mercer, Colonel, garrisons Oswego, 283 ;
killed, 290.
Mercer, Gen. Hugh, with Braddock, 267 ;
commands militia, 495 ; at Trenton,
529.
JIerritt, John, 232, note.
Metuchen, N. J, 551.
Metuchen Hill, 559, 562.

644

INDEX.

Mew, Richard, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
Miami, Fort, captured by the Indians, 256,
321.
MlANTONOMO, 115.
Michilimackinac, becomes a ceutre of
trade, 256 ; surrendered to the English,
311 ; captured hy the Indians, 322.
Middlebrook, N. J., 550.
Middle Plantation, 70.
Middleton, Arthur, acting Governor of
South Carolina, 104.
Mifflin, Fort, 562; reduced bv the Brit
ish fleet, 564.
Mifflin,, General, 495; court-martialled,
596.
Milborne, Leisler's son-in-laAv, marches
with a company to Albany, 17 ; tried for
treason and murder, 22 ; executed, 24 ;
reburied, ^^'ith public honors, 32.
Miles, Colonel, 501.
Militia, Washington's opinion of, 522.
Millstone Creek, 546.
Minas, B.vsin of, 272.
MiNGERODE, Colonel, at New York, 493;
killed. 563.
Minot, his History qf Massachusetts cited,
276, uote.
Miracles, reputed, in connection with the
victims of the Negro Plot, 242.
Mirbach, General, 493.
MiRKPoix quoted, 262.
Mississippi River, Colden's proposed
route to the, 247 ; control of access to
the, 256 ; made the western boundary
of the United States [1782], 611.
Mississippi Scheme, The, 130.
Mohawk Indians detached from the
French, 25.
Mohawk River, French and Indian raid
on the, 29.
Monckton, Lieutenant-colonel, service
in Acadia, 276 ; Brigadier-general, 304;
at New York, 493 ; killed, 605,
ISIoNEY given in Europe for the American
cause, 422.
Monmouth Court-house, battle of, 602 et
seq.
JNloNROE, Colonel, iu command at Fort
AA'illiam Henry, 292,
Monroe, Lieut, James, at Trenton, 29.
Montagu, Lada' Mary AA'ortley, 128.
Montauk Point, 115.
Montcalm, Louis Joseph, Marquis de,
takes command in Canada, 289 ; be
sieges Oswego, 290; his journal quoted,
290, note ; returns to Montreal, 291 ;
besieges and captures Fort AVilliam
Heniw, 293, 294; in command at Ti
conderoga, 298 ; defeats Abercrombie,
299 ; his defence of Quebec, 304 et seq. ;
Montgo.merie, John, appointed Governor
of New Y'ork [1728], death, 50.
Montgomery, Fort, captured, 588.
Montgomery', )iioneer, 610.
Montgomery, Richard, appointed Briga
dier-general, 407, note; commands an

expedition against Canada, 439 et seq. ;
his death, 446 ; removal of his remains
to Ni'w A'ork, 448; General Smyth's
criticism of his plans, 448, note.
Montgo.mery', Sir Robert, his attempt at
colonization [1717], 140.
MoNTGo-MERY', Peun., skirmish at, 600.
Montiano, Don JIanuel de. Captain-gen
eral of Florida, makes war on Georgia,
158.
Montmorenci, Falls of, 305.
JIontre.il, surrendered to the English, 311;
attacked hy Ethan Allen, 440; captured
hy IVloutgouiery, 441.
Montressor, Capt. John. 493.
Montressor, Colonel, his journal, 441 ;
his expedition, 443.
JlooDY, Parson, enli>ts iu the expedition
against Louisburg, 211 ; how he said
grace, 215, note.
Moor, Robert, 143, note.
Moore, Frank, his Diary of the Revolu
tion cited, 609, 616, notes.
Moore, George, his Treason of Gmeral
Lee cited, 450, 523, notes.
Moore, Governor of South Carolina, con
sequences of his expedition against St.
Augustine, 81 ; against the .Southern
Indians, 81.
Moore, Sir Henry', Governor of New
Y'ork, 352.
Moore, Col. James, marches to the
relief of North Carolina, 93 ; elected
Governor of South Carolina, 101.
Moore, Gen. ,James, defeats the Loyalists
at Moore's Creek Bridge, 465, 466,
Moore, Dr, John, quoted, 453,
Moore, Mrs, 610,
Moore, Col, Samuel, commands New
Hamjishire regiment at Louislmrg, 210.
Moore, AVilliam, killed by Kidd, 36, 37.
iAlooRE's Creek Bridge, battle of, 465.
Moore's Notes on Slavery cited, 176.
MooRSON, cited, 560, note.
Moreton's Point, 400.
Morgan, Col. Daniel, with Braddock, 267 ;
at Boston, 415; succeeds to command
before Quebec, 447 ; surrenders, 448 ; at
Edge Hill, 564 ; 575 ; the make-up of
his rifie corps, 584, note ; at A' alley
Forge, 593.
Morris, (\4ptain of the Bristol, in attack
on Charleston, 469.
Morris, Gouverneur, 458.
INIoRRis, Isaac, 180.
Morris, Lewis, a. popular leader, 40 ; ap
pointed Governor of New Jersey [1743],
248.
JIORRis, Major, 584, note.
Morris, Richard, 40.
Morris, Robert, raises money for the
troops, 531.
iNIoRRis, Col. Roger, 506.
Morrisania, Manor of, 40.
Morristown, N. J., American winter quar
ters at, 543 et seq. ; AA'ashington's head
quarters, 546.

INDEX.

645

Mortier House, The, 495.
Moses Creek, 576.
Mott, Capt. Edward, his mission to Ver
mont, 433, and note, 434 ; his journal
cited, 435, uote.
Moulder, Captain, 535.
Moultrie, Col. AVilliam, 466; defends
Fort Sullivan, 468 et seq.
Moultrie, Fort, name of Fort Sullivan
changed to. 469.
Mount Airy. 559.
Mount Holly', N. J., skirmish at, 526.
Mount Vernon, why named, 76.
Mow ATT, CiPTAiN, sent against Cape Ann,
416.
Muhlenberg, General, 544.
Murfree, Major, at Stony Point, 615.
MURR.4.Y, Captain, service in Acadia, 277.
Murray, General, 304 ; captures Montre
al, 311; defeated by De Le'vis on the
Plains of Abraham, 311.
Murray, John, his stables set on fire, 227.
MuREAY, Robert, 506; .Airs. Murray de
tains British officers, 506.
JIuRRAY, New York lawyer, 230, uote.
JlusGRAVE, Colonel, at New York, 493;
at Germantown, 559 et seq.
Musgrave, Philip, 137.
Musgrove, John, Jr., 166.
Musgrove, Mary, 145 ; her claim to Geor
gia, 166 et seq.
Mutiny Act, The, 351 ; extended, 353.

IVANFAN, Lieutenant governor of New
^^ York, 37.
Nantucket, settlement and progress of, 2 ;
part of Duke's County, New York, 10.
Narragansett Indians, last remnaut of,
114.
Narragansett Patent, The, 116.
Narragansett River confounded with
the Pawcatuck, 113.
Nash, General, at Germantown, 559.
Naval Actions, 618-623.
Naval Expedition, a French, agaiust the
provinces, 216.
Naval Stores, exportation of increased,
246.
Navigation Act, The, 332.
Navy, beginning of the, 414, 417.
Neal, Captain, killed. 535.
Neale, Thomas, his patent for postal ser
vice, 64.
Necessity, Fort, constructed by AVashing
ton and surrendered, 260.
Neck, Fort, 115.
Negro Plot, The, 224 et seq, : a public
fast appointed in consequence of, 236 ;
a thanksgiving, 242.
Negro Regiment, A, inthe Revolution, 606,
note ; its behavior in battle, 607.
Nehemiah, quoted, 43.
Nemacolin, an Indian, assists Colouel Cre
sap, 258, 265.
Neshaminy Creek, 551.
Newark, N. J , American army at, 521.

New Bedford burned, 607.
New Berne, N. C, how named, 92.
New Brunswick, N. J., the Americans
fall hack to, 522 ; collection of stores at,
525.
Nem' England, compared with New York,
2, and uote; territory and dominion of,
11.
New F'rance disappears from the map, 311.
New Hampshire, townships chartered in,
139 ; the controversy between Shute
and Vaughan, 198 ; becomes a separate
province, 199; declares independence,
480 ; adopts a State constitution, 487 ;
its peculiarities, 489.
New Haven, Conn., British raid upon, 615.
New Jersey, Andros's wish to letain it
under the Duke of York's government,
4, 5 ; said to be robbing New York of
her trade, 9 ; added to New England, 1 1 ;
strength of parlies in, 40 ; grievances
under Cornbury, 41 ; separated from
New Y'ork, 247 ; declares for inde| eu-
dence, 482 ; adopts a State Constitution,
487 ; its peculiarities, 488 ; the cam
paign of 1776-7 in, 520 ei seq. ; campaign
of 1778, 602 et seq.
New London, Conn,, prizes brought to, 623.
New Lots, L. I., 500.
Newmarket, N. II., Indian atrocities at, 193.
New Market, N. J., 551.
New Orleans aud the country west of the
Mississippi ceded by France to Spain
[1762], 312.
Newport, R. L, causes of prosperity iu the
17th century, HI, 112; threatened, 417.
News Letter, The Boston, established,
163.
Newspaper, the first in Virginia [1736],
77 ; the first iu Bostou [1690], 136.
Newtown, L. L, 504.
New AViNDSOR, N. Y., 615.
New Y'ork (Province), c<mdition of toward
the end ol 17th century, 1 et seq. ; granted
an Assembly, 7 ; " Charter of Libertys
and Privileges," passed, 8 ; her growth
and prosperity, 10 ; added to New Eng
land, 11 ; the revolution in, 12, 13; the
Protestant movement in, 15; war be
tween Leisler and Ingoldsby, 22; her
first Assembly, 23 ; her first bills of
credit, 43 ; her increase of population
between 1691 aud 1741, 242; her me
morial on taxation, 337 ; adopts a Stale
constitution, 487 ; action on the subject
of independence, 482.
New York (City), progress of, 2 ; AA'illiam
and Mary proclaimed in, 15 ; fortifica
tions rebuilt by Leisler, 20 ; life there in
1704, a woman's journal quoted, 243,
244 ; population, 245 ; citizens refuse to
put ou mourning for Queen Caroline,
245; Gage's intention to occii|iy, 455,
note ; prepare^ for war, 456 ; fortified,
461 et seq.; the defenses euhirgcd and
strengthened, 490; occujiied hy ihe Brit
ish, 510 ; il great fire breaks out, 510.

646

INDEX.

Neyon, M., informs Pontiac of the treaty of
Paris, 321.
Niagara, r, French fort built at, 255 ; Shir
ley's expedition against, 282 et seq. ;
Fort captured by Sir AVilliam Johnson,
301.
Nichols, a New Y'ork lawyer, 230, note.
Nichols, Colonel, 581.
Nicholson, Franiis, Lieutenant-governor
of New Y'ork, under Audros, 1 1 ; his
religion, 12 ; sails for England, 13 ; ap
pointed Lieutenant-governor by AVil
liam aud Mary, 27 ; his agency in the
Port Royal expedition, 45 ; attempted
march on Jlontreal, 46 ; Lieutenant-
governor of Virginia, 58 ; his retire
ment from office, 60 ; appointed Gover
uor of Maryland [1692], 61 ; appointed
Governor of A'irginia, 66 ; controversy
on the Indian question, 69 ; quarrel
about Miss Burwell, 70 ; appoiuted Pro
visional Governor of South Carolina, 103.
Nicolls, Governor, quoted, 176.
Ninety-Six, fight at, 613.
Nixon, John, reads the Declaration, 487, 495,
Nixon's Brigade, 575,
No JIan's Land, part of Duke's Countv,
New York, 10.
Non-importation Agreements, 343.
Nook's Hill, 425, 427.
Norridgewock, mission established at, 123 ;
attacked by New Hampshire men, 124;
destruction of, 194.
Norris, Isa.vc, quoted, 185.
North, Lord, becomes prime minister, 365 ;
his connection w ith the East India Com-
piauy, 367 ; his proposals for peace, 600.
Northampton, iMass., a centre of revival
ism, 205.
North Carolina, her Council empowered
to elect it Governor, 87 ; dispute over
the governorship, 87 ; the quarrel be
tween Hyde and Cary, 88-91 ; Indian
Avar in, 91, 93 ; declares for indepen
dence, 477 ; adopts a State constitution,
487.
Northcastle Heights, AA'ashington occu
pies, 515.
Northern Neck of Virginia, 57, note.
Norwalk, Conn., destroyed, 615,
Notely, Tho.mas, acting Lieutenant-gover
nor of Maryland, 61,
Nott, Edward, 71.
Nova Scotia ceded to England, 46, 126,
311 ; encouragement of emigration to,
271 ; the English occupation of, 270;
boundaries, 270; French' settlements,
271 ; Cornwaiiis's opinion of it as iin
English Province, 272.
Noye, Peter de la, appointed collector,
15 ; ill first Colouial Congress, 20.
NoYES, Mrs., 393.

Q'BRIEN, JEREAllAH, made marine cap
tain by Provincial Congress of Massa
chusetts, 414.

O'Connor, Captain, loses his coat-skirts
373.
Oghkwaga destroyed, 609.
Oglethorpe, James, his early years, 143 ;
sails for Georgia, 144 ; lays out Savan
nah, 145 ; assisted by So'uth Carolina,
137; Avelcomes the Salzhiirgers, 150;
his difficulties with slavery and rum-
selling, 153, 154 ; his jurisdiction ex
tended over South Caroliua, 156; his
military rank and service, 156, note;
journey to Coweta to attend Indian
council, 157; Avar Avith the Spaniards,
159 et seq.; his stratagem Avith a de
serter, 163 ; carries the Avar into Florida,
164; return to England, 165; his last
years, 165 ; a letter from, produced at
Negro Plot trials, 240.
Oglethorpe, Sir Theophilus, 143.
Ohio, kuoAvn as AA'est Augusta, 610.
Ohio Company, The, organized [1748], 257 ;
expedition iu aid of, 259.
Ohio River, Celeron's expedition to [1749],
255.
Old North Church, Boston, signal lan
terns in steeple, 384, note; burned for
firewood, 429.
Old South Church, Boston, 370 et seq. ;
used as a riding-school, 429.
Oliver, Lieutenant-governor of Massachu
setts, llis letters of advice, 368.
Oliver, Mr., stamp distributor iu Mass;i-
chusetts, 343.
Oriskany, battle of, 578.
Orkney, Earl of, tiluhir GoA'ernor of A'ir
ginia [1705], 71.
Orme, Braddock's aid, 270.
Orne, 386.
Osborn, Sir Danvers, appointed Governor
of New Y'ork [1753[, 253.
OsSABAAV Island, 167.
Ossipee Pond, stockade erected at, 195.
OsAVALD, Lieutenant-colonel, 547, 548.
OsAVEGO, a fort built at, 18; French move
ment against, 283 ; besieged and taken
by Montcalm, 290.
Otis, Jaaies, 333 ; his letter to Mauduit
quoted, 335, 336 : his pamphlet on the
Rights ofthe Colonies, 336.
Otis, Ja.aies, Jr., opposes the AA-rits of as
sistance, 332 ; Adams's characterization
of him, 332.
Otis, Joseph, 478.
Otsanderket, Lake, 255.
Ouatanon, Fort, 256 ; captured by the In
dians, 322.
Outrages by the British forces iu NeAv Jer-
.sev, 520,"526, note.

pAINE, THOMAS, his Common Sense.
471 ; quoted, 557 ; quoted as to Valley
Forge, 593, note.
Palfrey's History qf New England cited,
47.
Palmer, Lieutenant, sent to escort Mrs.
McNeal and Jane McCrea, 570.

INDEX.

647

Paoli, Wayne surprised at, 557.
Paper Money, 131 ; in Pennsylvania, 187 ;
Massachusetts prohibits circulation of
that from other colonies, 217. (See
also Bibs of Credit.)
Parent's Creek, 317, 319.
Paris, The Treaty of, 318.
Parker, John, in command at Lexington,
386.
Parker, Admiral Peter, expedition to
North Caroliua, 464, 466.
Parkman, Francis, his Conspiracy of Pon
tiac, 312, note ; his Life of Frontenac re
ferred to, 16, note ; 29, note.
Parks, Williaai, establishes a press in Vir
ginia, 77.
Parris, Colonel, 101 ; another, 577.
Parry, Lieutenant-colonel, killed, 500.
Parsons, commanding English troops at
Concord, 390.
Parsons, General, plans an expedition
against Ticonderoga, 432 ; 495.
Partisan Warfare at the South, 613.
Patterson, pioneer, 610.
Patterson, Colonel, 496, and note; at
Trenton, 528.
Patterson, General, at Ticonderoga, 673,
note.
Paugus, leads his Indians against Love
well's party, 196; his death, 196, and
note.
Pauley, Ensign, in command at Sandusky,
321.
Paulus Hook fortified, 490 ; surprised, 617.
Paavcatuck River made western boundary
of Rhode Island, 113.
Paxton Men, The, 326 ; they murder In
dians at Conestoga, 327.
Peace negotiations, 496, 512.
Pearson, Captain of the Serapis, 618, 620.
Peekskill, N. Y., British attack ou, 547.
Peggy (Negro Plot), 225 et seq.
Pell, Joshua, Jr., his Diary cited, 574,
notes ; 587, note ; 590, note.
Pell's Point, 513.
Pemaquid, fort at, 3, 5 ; Gov. Dongan pro
poses to exchange, 9 ; part of CornAvall
County, New York, 10.
Pendletos, Mr., 338.
Penhallow's Indian Wars cited, 124, note.
Penn, John, born, 171 ; visits Philadelphia,
189.
Penn, Thomas, arrival in Philadelphia, 189.
Penn, Willia.ai, one of the purchasers of
» East Jersey, 6 ; takes from New York
the lands of the DelaAvare, 9 ; defeats
Cornbury's scheme, 40 ; returns to his
Colony [1699], 170; his mode of life,
172, 173; recalled to England, 174 ; his
opinions on slavery, 175 ; his last treaty
Avith the Indians, 177 ; regains favor at
court, 179; his financial troubles, 179;
imprisoned, 179 ; his last years, his Avill,
184.
Penn, William, Jr., his disgraceful con
duct, 183.
Pennsbury Manor, 171.

Pennsylvania, eiicroachiug upon New
York's territory, 9 ; emancipation of
slaves in [1780], 177 ; new charter given
by Penu, 178; passes to Penn's heirs,
184; the Assembly refuses to furnish
men and money for Avar purposes, 185 ;
her population and prosperity in 1731,
188 ; her protest against taxation, 337 ;
her position ou the question of Inde
pendence, 480 ; adopts a State constitu
tion, 487, its peculiarities, 488; the cam
paign of 1777 in, 543 et seq.
Penobscot Bay, first settlement on, 197,
uote.
Pepperell, Sir AA'illiam, commands the
expedition against Louisburg, 210; cap
tures the place, and is made the first
American Baronet, 215 ; 262.
Pequaavkett Indians, expedition against,
195.
Percival, Lord, 143 note,
Percy, Earl, his excursion to Jamaica
Plain, 382 ; chaffed by a Boston boy,
391 ; sent to attack Dorchester Heights,
426 ; at New York, 493.
Perrot Island, fighting at, 450.
Perth, Earl op, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, and uote.
Perth. (See Perth Amboy.)
Perth Amboy', founded [1683], 6 ; its early
expectations, 246.
Phelps, Capt. Noah, sent on a mission to
the Green Mountain Boys, 432, 433,
note.
Philadelphia, its appearance iu 1699, 171 ;
receives a municipal charter, 178 ;
Howe's approach to, 553 ; Congress
leaves, 557 ; Howe occupies, 558 ; evacu
ated by the British, 601.
Philips, Mr., 526, note.
Phillips, Richard, Governor of Nova
Scotia, 274.
Phillips, in Burgoyne's campaign, 568
et seq.
Phillipse, Frederick, member of New
Y'ork council, 12; his character, 12,
note ; Judge, 223.
Phillipse and Cortlandt protest against
Leisler's authority, 18.
Phinney's History cited, 392.
Phips, Sir William, in England, 25 ;
commander-in-chief in Rhode Island
and Connecticut, 26 ; quarrel with
Fletcher, 27 ; brings home the charter
of Massachusetts, and appointed GoA'
ernor, 109 ; death of, 110.
Pickens, Col. Andreaa', defeats Tories at
Ninety-Six, 613.
Pickering, Col. Timothy', commands at
Salem, 378 ; blamed unjustly, 393.
Pigot, General, at Bunker HiU, 400 ; at
New York, 493.
Pike, Robert, a Proprietor of Nantucket,
2, note.
Pile, William, a Proprietor of Nantucket,
2, note.
Pioneers, Western, 610 et seq.

648

INDEX.

Pirates, Kidd sent against, 34 ; at Mada-
e'iisciir, 34; on the Carolina coast, 97;
defeated, 98, 99.
Pirtle, Henry, 612, note.
Pisiquid, 274.
Pitcairn, Ma.ior, reaches Lexington, 386.
Pitkin iu first Colonial Congress, 20.
Pitt, Fort, attacked by Indians, 323 et seq. ;
relieved by Bouquet, 324.
Pitt, AA'illia.ai, 296; sends reenforcements
to America, 301 ; his defence of Amer
ica, 346 ; quotation from letter to his
Avife, 348 ; his statue set up in Ncav
York, 350 ; becomes Earl of Chatham,
352 ; si)ecch on the Royal Address, 365.
Pitt, AA^illia.m, the younger, on AVedder
burn, 369.
Pittsfield, Mass., 478.
Plant-cutting, 55.
Ploavman, Collector, dismissed, 15.
Plumsteah, Clic.ment, a Proprietor of East
Jer.^ey, 6, note.
Point du Lac, action at, 450.
Point Leai, 304 et seq.
PoLLCM.'K, Colonel, chosen Governor of
North Carolina, 93.
Pollock, Olia-er, 413.
PoAiEROY, Seth, appointed Brigadier-gen
eral, 407, uote
Pontiac, .312; his Avar, 313 et seq,; his
oraiion, 315 ; his death, 328.
Poor, (iENERAc, at Trenton, 528 ; at Ticon
deroga, 57.3, uote; at Bemus's Heights,
584.
Port Bill, The Bostou, 374.
Porter, Edmund, sent to England, 86.
Portland, Me. (Sec Falmouth.)
Port Roy.vl, Nova Scotia, expeditions
aaainst, under Colonel March [1707] and
General Nicholson, 45, 125 ; captured
[1710], 125.
Port Rcjyal, South Carolina, battle Avith
Indians near [1715], 96.
Postal Sep.aice estaljlished iu Virginia,
64.
PoT.vSH, unsuccessful attempts to manufac
ture, 246.
" Potent Gentleai vn,'' A, enlisted in behalf
of the Narragansett Company, 118.
Pottaavotamies, sue for peace at Detroit,
318.
Potter, Colonel, killed, 535.
Potts, Isaac, 593.
Pouchot surrenders Fort Niagara, 302;
his Memoir cited, 298, note.
Powder, hoAV obtaiued bv the Americans,
413.
Pownall, Goa'Ernor of Massachusetts,
makes a settlement at Penobscot Bay,
197, uote ; speech in Parliament, 353.
Prayer-book, Governer Fletcher instructed
to iutroduce, 26.
Prescott, Dr., 385.
Prescott, Col. AVilliam, commands at
Charlestown, 397.
Prescott, British General, captured by
Lieutenant-colonel Barton, 549.

Presqu' Isle, Fort, 257 ; captured hy In
dians, 322.
Preston, Captain, 361 ; tried for murder,
363.
Preston, jAIa jor, surrenders St. John's, 440.
Preston, Sa.aiuel, 180.
Prevost, Gener.il, his campaign in Geor
gia, 613.
Price, Arthur (Negro Plot), 229 et siq.
Price, Ensign, escapes Avitli his earrison
from Fort Le Bauif, 323.
Price, Ezekiel, his aiary quoted, 428.
Prices in New York in 1700, 247.
Prideaux, General, his expedition against
Fort Niagara, 301 ; his death, 301.
Priestley, quoted, 203.
PriN( E (Negro Plot), 225 et seq.
Prince George, Fort, 295.
Prince's Christian History cited, 204, note.
Princeton, N. J., AA'ashington retreats to,
522 ; the Americans march on, 532 ; bat
tle of, 534 et seq. ; the tOA\ u described by
Rodney, 536.
Printing-press, the first in A'irginia [1736[,
77.
Prisoners, treatment of, 537 et seq.
Prison-ships, 538.
Pria'ateering, Bellomont tries to suppress,
33.
Pria'ateers, sent out hv Governor Leisler
[1690], 20; turned pirates, HI, 112; be
havior of [1775], 418 ; exploits of [1778],
622.
Proclamation of pardon issued by the
Howes in New Jersey, 521.
Providence, island of, rendezvous for pi
rates, 97.
Proa'oost, David, 232, note.
Public Advertiser, London, cited, 416.
Putnam, Israel, discovers Montcalm's ap
proach to Fort AA^Uiam Henry, 294 ;
leaves his plough, 395 ; commands at
Hog Island, 396; at Bunker Hill, 398
et seq. ; appointed Major-generiil, 407 ;
takes command at NeAv York, 429 ; for
tifies Governor's Island, 490 ; takes post
at Fishkill, 588.
Putnam, Col. Rufus, plans the AA'orks on
Dorchester Heights, 426 ; sent to New
Y'ork, 462 ; quoted, 491.

QUACO, his corluection Avith the Negro
Plot, 229 et seq.
Quakers, (See Friends.)
Quebec, AA'olfe's expedition against, 304 et
seq. ; its capture, 310; Arnold's expedi
tion against, 441 et seq.
Quedagh Merchant, The (ship), taken
by Kidd, 35-37.
Quibbletoavn, N. j, 551.
Quick, his stable on fire, 227.
Quincy, Josiah, quoted, 411.
Quixton's Bridge, skirmish at, 600.
Quo Av.iRRAXTO sgaiust Maryland, ordered
liy James IL, 62 ; issued against the
government of South Carolina, 84.

INDEX.

649

DAHL, COLONEL, at New Y'ork, 493,
¦'•'' 514 ; at Trenton, 525 ; killed, 530.
Ramsay, Colonel, at Monmouth, 605.
Randall's Island, 493.
Randolph, Surveyor-general, 121.
Ransom, Captain, 546.
Rasle, Father Sebastian, and his In
dians, expedition against, 193 ; his char
acter and histoiy, 193 ; his death, 194.
Raavling, Colonel, 517.
R.A-AVLiNS, Aaron, his heroism, 193.
Raystoavn, 300.
Read, Col. Charles, 527, note.
Read, Joseph, 232, note.
Red Bank, N. J., 562.
Red Feather Company, The, 533.
Red Hook occupied by the Americans, 490.
Reed, Colonel, of Massachusetts, 513.
Reed, Adj.-gen. Joseph, 496 ; the charge
against him disproved, 526, note.
Reed, W. B., his Acadian Exiles cited, 281,
note ; his Reply to George Bancroft cited,
527, note.
Religion, legislation on in Marj'land, 66 ;
iu South Caroliua, 82.
Religious Aavakening in Neav Eng
land, 202 et seq.
Religious Moa'ements in Virginia, 77.
Religious Toleration, groAvth of iu Mas
sachusetts, 135 et seq. ; limitations of in
early State constitutions, 488.
Republican Principles, groAA'thof in New
Y'ork, 253.
Revere, Paul, his ride, 383-385.
Revolution, beginning of the, 378.
Rhett, Williaai, as Admiral, 85 ; iu pur
suit of pirates, 98.
Rhode Island, proposal to annex to Ncav
York, 9 ; Avithstands Phips's authority,
27 ; dispute as to her boundaries, 112 ;
condition under Bellomont, 111; the
boundary question, 116; charter granted
[1663] ,117; her claims sustained by the
Board of Trade [1694], 119; declares
independence, 478 ; her constitution,
487 ; battle of, 607 et seq.
Richmond Hill, 495.
Rick, Baron von, emigrates to Georgia,
151.
Ridgefield, Conn., 547.
Riedesel, Baron, commands mercenaries,
454 ; in Burgoyne's campaign, 568 et seq.
Riedesel, M.vdam, her Memoirs cited, 590,
note.
Rigaud, his attempt to surprise Fort Wil
liam Henry, 292.
Rigg, Ambrose, a Proprietor of East Jersey,
6, note.
Riots in Boston, 357, 359 ; number of lives
lost in, 362, note.
Ritzema, Colonel, 515.
Rivington's Gazetteer, destruction of, 459.
Robbins, Lieutenant, his last shot, 196.
ReBERTS, Ellis H., cited, 578.
Robertson, General, 493.
Robinson, John, acting Governor of Vir
ginia, 78.

Rochambeau, Count, anecdote of, 355,
note.
Rocheblave, Governor, 611.
Rockingham, Marquis of, becomes prime
minister [1765[, 346.
Rocky Brook, rout of the French at, 288.
Rodney, Capt. Thomas, 533 ; his journal
cited, 533, 536, note.
Rogers, Ma.i. Robert, Avith his rangers,
reconnoitres at Ticonderoga, 297 ; his
expedition against St. Francis, 303; his
expedition to Detroit, 312; covers the
retreat at Bloody Bridge, 320.
Rogers, Samuel, 166.
Rogers, Capt. Woodes, takes possession
of Providence Island, 97.
R(.ijiANS, Bernard, sent ou a mission to the
Green Mountain Boys, 432, 433, note.
Ro-AiME, John, his connection with the
Negro Plot, 226 et seq.
Romney subscribes to the Adventure galley,
34.
Roosevelt, his Quack in the Negro Plot,
238.
Rose, The (man-of-Avar), 359.
Rose and Croavn T.vvern, The, 493, note.
Rotten BOROuciiis, 346, note.
Rouville, his attack on Deerfield, 122.
Rudyard, Thomas, a Proprietor of East
Jersey, 6, note ; Lieutenant-governor, 9.
Ruggles, Gen. Timothy, President of the
first Continental Congress, 340 ; in com
mand of Tories, 395.
RuscojiBE, Penn's estate iu England, 184.
Rush, Dr. Benjajiin, befriends Paiiie, 471.
Rutgers, Anthony, 232, note.
Rutledge, Edavard, as peace commissioner,
512.
RuTLEiKiE, John, President of South Caro
hna, 468.
Ryswick, Peace of [1697], 122.

gABBATH-DAY POINT, Lake George,
skirmish near, 292.
Sabine's Amerlcein Loyalists cited, 428,
note.
Sag H.vrbor, Meigs's expedition to, 548.
Saint Andreav's Sound, 159.
.Saint Augustine, Moore's expedition
against, its consequences, 81.
Saint Catherine's Island, 167.
Saint Ch.vrles B.vy, 446.
Saint Charles Ria'er, 304 et seq.
Saint Clair, General, to command expe
dition against Canada, 252.
Saint Clair, Gen. Arthur, in expedition
agaiust Three Rivers, 450 ; sent to New
Jersey, 521 ; at Trenton, 529 ; quoted,
532, note ; in command of Ticonderoga,
571 ; court-martialled, 573, note.
Saint Frederick, Fort, at Crown Point,
283, 284.
Saint .John's, sloop at, captured by Arnold,
437 ; fhe place fortified, 438 ; siege of,
439 ; surrender, 440 ; Burgoyne's army
concentrated at, 568.

650

INDEX.

•Saint Joseph, Fort, captured by the In
dians, 256, 321.
Saint Leger, Lieut.-col. Barry, his
movement ou the MohaAvk, 567, 576 ;
repulsed at Oriskany, 578.
S.yiNT Simon's, Island of, Ga., 155 ; forti
fied, 156.
Salem, Mass., first blood of Jhe Re\'olution
shed at, 378 ; priA'ateer fleet of, 623,
Sale-ai, N, j,, skirmish at, 600.
Salingburg. (See Sorubiero.)
Saltonstall, Coaiaiodiire, 617.
Salzburg, Leopold, Archbishop of, perse
cutes the Lutherans, 149.
Salzburgers, The, 148 et seq.
S.vNDiFORD, an early abolitionist, 177,
S.iNDUsKY, Fort, 255-257 ; captured by the
Indians, 321,
Sanute (an Indian) Avarns the Erasers, 95,
Sapelo Island, 167.
Sar.\tog.\, Indian atrocities at, 251.
Sargent's Life of Braddock cited, 263.
Saugatuck Ria-er, 547.
S.iULT Ste. Marie, 256.
Saunders, Adaiiral, 304.
Savannah, Ga., the site of, 144; hOAV laid
out, 145 ; captured by the British, 613.
Saybrook, Andros's visit to, 4.
.Sc-VLPS, bounty offered for, 124.
ScA.Ai-AiELL, Colonel, at Bemus's Heights,
584.
SCARSD.ALE, 514.
ScnENLCT.A,DY, massaci'e at [1690], 19.
Schlosser, Ensign, in command at St.
Joseph, 321.
School-house, first west of the Hudson,
243.
Schools established in Jlarjland, 67.
Schools in South Carohna, 1 04.
Schuyler, Adoniah, 232, uote.
ScHUA'LER, Peter, :\ppointed to command
at Albany [1689], 17 ; learns of Fronte
nac's intended attack, 19 ; takes com
mand on the JMohaAvk, 29 ; pursues the
French and Indiaus, 30 ; goes to Eng
land with Indian chiefs, 44.
Schuyler, Philip, at siege of Os^A'ego, 290 ;
appointed Major-general, 407 ; his ex
pedition against Canada, 439 et seq. ;
takes command of the Northern Depart
ment, 571 ; court-martialled, 573, note ;
reinstated, 583.
Schuyler, Fort, 576.
Scotch Presbyterians, emigration of to
New Hampshire, 138.
Scott, Capt, John, 116.
Scott, Gen. John Morin, 458, 495, 544,
ScoTi, Sir AA'.ilter, 618.
Scottish emigrants to North Carolina, 464.
Seal of New England, 8, 9.
Seal of New York, broken, 11.
Sears, Isaac. 456 ; dismantles the Battery,
458 ; destroys RiA'ington's Gazetteer, 459 ;
made Adjutiint-general, 459.
Selden, Captain, quoted, 596, note.
Senecas, The, join in Pontiac's conspiracv,
313.

Senter, Isaac, his Journal cited, 444, note.
Serapis captured by the Bon Homme Rich
ard, 620.
Sewall, Chief Justice of Massachusetts. 332.
SEW.iLL, Mr., in first Colonial Congress, 20.
Sey'mour, Attorney-general of England, pro
tests against founding Williain and
Jlary College, 59.
Shades of Death, The, 265.
Sharp, a Catholic, dismissed from command
at Albany, 17.
Shaavnoes, 'I'he, 258.
Shea, John G., his Charlevoix cited, 46,
note.
Shee, Colonel, 518,
.Shelburne, Earl of, quoted, 289, 351 ; on
independence, 600.
SHENANDo.yiL A'allea', Settlement of, 74 ;
character of the people, 77.
Shepherd, Colonel, 513.
Sherburne, JI.ijOR, surrenders, 449.
Sheraian, C.vpt. Isaac, 533.
Sheraian, Roger, of committee to draft
declaration, 483,
Sheavkirk, Pastor, quoted, 511,
Shirley, AVilliam, appointed Governor of
Massachusetts, 202 ; plans an expedition
agaiust Loui.-burg [1745], 208 ; his dif
ficulties Avith the mob, 220 ; his expedi
tion against Niagara, 282 et seq.
Shorehaai, A't., 434.
Shortredge and his daughter, persecuted
by Governor AA'entAvorth, 199, note.
Shrewsbury, subscribes to the Adventure
galley, 33.
•Shute, S.imuel, appointed GoA'ernor of
Massachusetts, 128 ; his contentions with
the General Court, 130 ; sails for Eng
land, 134 ; Go\ernor of Ncav Hampshire,
138; departs for England, 139; retires
from office, 200.
Silliman, Gen. G. S., 505 ; pursues Tryon,
547.
Simcoe's Rangers, at GermantoAvn, 559.
Six N.A.TIONS, 48 ; treaties with,for lands in
A'irginia, 74; tieaty Avith, renewed, 250.
(See also Five Nations.)
Six-town Point, N. Y'., 289.
Skene, Major, 434 ; captured, 436 ; 580.
Skenesborough, A't., 434-573.
Sl.a. A'ERY, iu New York, 4; prohibited in
Georgia, 153; in Pennsylv.ania, 175;
abolished in Pennsylv.ania, 177.
Slaves, increased importation of to South
Carolina, 108.
Sl-va'e trade, paragraph on, omitted from
the Declaration of Independence, 485.
Sloper, Williaai, 143, note.
Sloughter, Col. Henrt, appointed Gov
ernor of New York [1689], 21 ; ar
rives there |1691], 22; caUs the first
Assembly, 23 ; signs Leisler's death-
warrant, 24 ; his death, 24, 25.
Small-pox in Massachusetts, 127; in Bos
tou, 428.
Smallavood's regiment, 404, 515, 544; at
GermantOAA'u, 559.

INDEX.

651

Smith, a New York lawyer, 230, note.
Smith, Colonel, 383, 386.
Smith, John, a Proprietor of Nantucket, 2,
note.
Smith, Lieut.-col. Mattheav, of Virginia,
mortally Avounded, 561.
Smith, Lieutenant-colonel, of Baltimore,
in command at Fort Miffiiu, 562.
Smith, Samuel, 143, note.
Smith, William, 526, note.
Smith's History of New York cited, 24, 40,
41, 44, 49, notes.
Smyth, Maj.-gen. J. C, quoted, 448, note ;
493.
Snow Hill, battle of [1713], 93.
Snyder Boy, killed, 363, uote.
Society for the Propagation of Chris
tian Knowledge, 150.
Soldiers, quartering of, on the colonies,
352, 355.
Somers, Lord, his answer to Mather and
Phips, 26 ; subscribes to the Adventure
galley, 33 ; prosecuted by the Tories, 36.
Somerset Court-house, N. J., Americans
encamp at, .535.
SO.AIERVILLE, Mass., 394.
Song, A Camp-, quoted, 415, note.
SoNJiANS, Arent, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, uote.
Sons of Liberty, 343 et seq., 456.
Sorubiero, Margaret, her connection with
the Negro Plot, 225 et seq.
South Carolina, her public debt, 81 ; divis
ion of parties in, 82 ; revocation of her
charter ordered by Queen Anne, 84 ;
Indian war in, 95; public debt inereased
by war against pirates, 100 ; revolution
against the Proprietary government,
101 ; the miliiia join revolutionary as
sociation, 101 ; duties on imports re
pealed, 97, 100; becomes a royal prov
ince [1719], 103 ; religious condition of
in 1720, 104; schools flrst established
in, 104 ; analysis of her population in
1730, 107; division of land in, 108;
slave insurrection iu, 157 ; adopts a
provisional Constitution, 477 ; prepares
for war, 466 ; adopts a State constitu
tion, 487 ; its peculiarities, 488.
Southeby, AA''illia.ai, early abolitiouist, 177.
Southerland, Lieutenant, 162.
Southertown, Conn., 114, 119.
Southey, Robert, his Life of Wesley
quoted, 151.
South Sea Bubble, The, 130.
Soutre, Le, French priest, 274.
Spain, her attitude during the Revolution,
546.
Spalding, Thomas, his Life of Oglethorpe
cited, 158.
Spaniards incite Indians and slaves to Avar
in Georgia and Carolina, 157.
Sparks, Jared, his Washington cited, 267,
476, notes ; his Franklin cited, 347, note.
Spear, Major, al Brandywine, 554.
Specht, General, in Burgoyne's campaign,
568 et seq.

Specie sent to Boston to refund expenses of
Louisburg expedition, 217.
Spectator, Addison's, quoted, 44, note.
Spencer, George, 232, note.
Spencer, Joseph, appointed Brigadier-gen
eral, 407, note ; reaches New Y'ork, 462,
495.
Spencer, Col. Oliver, defeats the AA^ab
deckers, 546.
Spotswood, Alexander, Governor of Vir
ginia [1710], 72 ; expcdinon oA'er the
Blue Ridge, 73, 257 ; ceased to be Gov
eruor, 74 ; death [1740], 76 ; assists
General Hyde of North CaroHna, 89.
Springfield, Mass., arsenal established at,
545.
Springfield, N. J., skirmish at, 546.
Springfield, N. Y., burned, 609.
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, 516.
Stamp Act, The, passed, 338; repealed,
348.
Stamp Duties, Grenvihe's plan, 333 ; ori
gin of the idea, 333 ; Governor Clinton's
opinion, 3.33.
Stamps, refusal of colonies to use, 343 et seq.
Starbuck, Edavard, a Proprietor of Nau-
tucket, 2, note.
Starbuck, Nathaniel, a Proprietor of
Nantucket, 2, note.
Stark, John, at the siege of Ticonderoga,
298 ; at Bunker Hill, 402 ; at Trenton,
528 ; his home, 580 ; fights the battle of
Bennington, 581, 582.
Staten Island, Howe's troops occupy, 492 ;
leave, 496.
States, adoption of constitutions by the,
487.
Staunton, Va., founded, 74.
Stedman, historian, cited, 514, 522.
Steed Bonnet, a pirate captain, 98.
Stephen, General, at Trenton, 529 ; at
Brandywine, 554 ; at Germantown, 559.
Stephens, Mr., sent to Albany, 433.
Stephens, AVilliam, appointed President
of Georgia, 166.
Sterling, Colonel, 562.
Steuben, Baron Frederick William
von, at Valley Forge, 593 ; his charac
ter, 597 ; at Monmouth, 602 et seq.
Steavart, Colonel, at Monmouth, 605.
Stickney, Colonel, 581.
Stillavater, battles of, first, 585 ; second,
589.
Stirling, Lord, takes command at New
York, 461 ; who he Avas, 462, note, 495 ;
surrenders at Brooklyn, 502 ; at Tren
ton, 529 ; at BrandyAvine, 544 ; at Gei-
mantowu, 559.
Stoddard, The Rev. Solomon, 205.
Stone's Life of Brant cited, 609, 610, notes.
Stonington, Conn., 114.
Stono Ferry', fight at, 614.
Stony Creek, 534.
Stony Point, captured by the British, 615 ;
recaptured by Wayne, 616.
Story, Thomas, his Journal cited, 170,
note.

652

INDEX.

Stoughton, AA^illiaai, in first Colonial Cou
gress, 20; iictiug Governor of Massa
chusetts, 110, 120.
Stout, iSaaiuel, 526, note.
Stryker, Willi.i.ai S., 527, note.
Subercase, iu command at Port Royal,
126,
Suffolk Resolutions, The, 472.
Sugar Act, The, 351, 355.
Sugar Loaf AIountain, 572.
Sullivan, Fort, at Charleston, 467 ; bom
barded, 468, 469.
SuLLiA'AN, John, appointed Brigadier-gen
eral, 407, note ; at siege of Bostou, 426 ;
sent to New York, 429 ; takes com-
mitnd in Canada, 450 ; retreats to Ti
conderoga, 450 ; reaches New A'oi'k, 462,
495 ; succeeds to Lee's command, 525 ;
at BrandyAvine, 554 ; at Germantown,
559 ; fights the battle of Rhode Island,
607.
Sullivan's Isl.and, 467.
Sunbury, Ga., Ciiptured, 613.
Savain, John, a Proprietor of Nantucket, 2,
uote.
Savain, Riciivrd, ti Proprietor of Nan
tucket, 2, note.
SwARTWouT, Colonel, 462.
•Savede's Ford, 558.
Swords' Farm, 585.

T^ ABLET, a leaden, to have been buried
ou the banks of the Ohio, 255 .and note.
T.AiLER, Colonel, jirovisional Go\ernor of
iMassachusetts, 128.
Talmadge at Schenectady [1690], 19.
Tax.vtion of the colonics, 333 et seq.
T,a.yler, Colonel, his repartee to Governor
Burnet, 49, note.
Tea, attempts to repeal the duty on, 366;
accumulation of iu England, 367 ; scut
to America, 308 ; how received in Amer-
ic;i, 370 et seq. ; Bostou tea-party, 372
et seq. ; action concerning in other jdaces
than Boston, 373.
Teach, commander of pirates, 97 ; killed, 99,
Temple, John, his duel, 369.
Temple's farm, 393.
Ten Broeck, Geueral 587,
Tennessee, State of, organized as AVash
ington County, 610.
Tennis Court, The, 369, note.
'Iew, a pirate, 34, 37,
Thache. (See Teach.)
Thacher, ( )xenbrii)GE, 332.
Thacher, The Rea'. Peter, his account of
Bunker Hill, 400; his Journal quoted,
507, 575; cited, 609, note.
Thanksgia'ing, a public, for delivery from
the Negio Plot, 242.
" The American," John Penn so called,
171.
Thoaias, Gabriel, his Account of Pennsyl
vania cited, 171, uote.
Thoaias, George, becomes Governor of
Peunsvlvania, 189.

Thomas, Gen. .Iohn, appointed Brigadier-
general, 407, note ; in command at Dor
chester Heights, 425 ; takes command
before Quebec, retreats, dies, 449.
Thompson, General, marches against
Three Rivers, 450.
Tno.AipsON, Henry, at Oriskany, 578.
TuojipsoN, Col. AA'illiaai, 466.
Throat-distemper, 204, note.
Thr(.)g's Neck, the British occupy, 513.
Ticonderoga, the French fortify, 289 ; iit-
tackid by Abercrombie, 297 et scij.;
abandoned by the French, ;ind occupied
by Amherst, .'302; importance of, 431,
432 ; Allen's expedition against, 433 (•(
siq. ; surprised and captured, 435 ; Bur
goyne captures, 573,
TiLoiiM.VN, Lieut. -COL. Tench, on AA'ash
ington's staff, 495 ; quoted, 506.
Tobacco iu A'irginia, duties on made per
petual, 54 ; attempts to regulate pro
duction, 54-56.
Toji, King of the Niirrngansetts, 115.
Toaio CiiiCHi, 145; goes to Eiighind, 151;
his argununt again.st Christi.-iiiity, 151.
Tories iu Boston, 395 ; iu New York, 455 ;
on Long Island, snjjpressed by Scars,
459 ; supju-csscd iu North Carolina, 466 ;
their Avarfare in Central Ncav A'ork,
609.
Torrett, J.vmes, agent of the Earl of .Stirl
ing, sells Nantucket, 2, note.
'lowER, Thoaias, 143, note.
Townsend, General, 304 ; accepts the sur
render of Quebec, 310,
ToAVNsiiEND, Charles, Barre"s reply to,
343, note ; comes iuto poAver, 352 ; death
of, 352,
Trade of the Colonies [1760-1775], 331,
Tr.ading-posts, English, in Maine, 197.
Treat, Goa'ernor, his quarrel AA'ith Phips
and Fletcher, 27.
Trenton, N. J., the British occupy, 522 ;
AA'ashington's plan to surprise, 525 ; the
battle, aud surrender of the Hes.sians,
529, 530.
Trinity Church, Ncav Y'ork, burned, 511.
Trott, Nicnou.iS, Chief .Tu.stice of South
Caroliua, 96 ; his removal demanded,
100.
Tru.aibull, GoAERxoR,of Counccticut, 413.
Truaibull, j. IIa.aimond, cited, 345, 435,
notes.
Trumbull, John, 409.
Tru.aibull, Col. John, quoted, 575, note.
Trumbull, Joseph, appointed Commissary-
general, 409.
Truaibull, quoted, 204.
Tryon County, 608.
Tryon, ( iovERNOR, 459 ; Avelcomes the Brit
ish forces to NeAv York, 492 ; burns
Danbury, Conn., 547 ; raid iu Connect
icut, 615.
Tudor's Life of Otis cited, 333, note.
Turner, Robert, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
'Iurtle Baa', 457-

INDEX.

653

Tuscaroras join the Five Nations, 48 ; de
feated at Snow Hid, 93 ; join the Five
Nations, 94; become hostile in North
Carolina, 91.
Tybee Island, light-house begun, 147.
Tynte, Col. Edavard, appointed Governor
of South Carolina, 85 ; death of, 88.

TTNADILLA destroyed by Col. AVilUam
^ Butler, 609.
Uniforms, American, 494 ; Hessian, 494,
note.
Union of the Colonies, Franklin's plan
ofa, 261.
UxiONTOAVN, N. J., 522.
Ury, John, victim of the Negro Plot excite
ment, 239 et seq.
Utrecht, L. L, the British occupy, 497.
Utrecht, Treaty of, 46 ; the peace of,
broken, 208.

"yAARCK, the baker, his connection Avith
the Negro Plot, 226.
Valley' F^orge, the Americans go intOAA'iu-
ter quarters at, 565 ; description of the
camp at, 593.
Van Cortlandt, Stephen, member of New
York Council, 12 ; anecdote of, 12, uote;
flight to Albany, 16.
Van Courtlandt, Colonel, at Bemus's
Heights, 584.
Van Dam, Rip, acting Governor of New
Y'ork, 50, 222 ; disputes the office Avith
Clarke, 224.
Van Deering's Mills, 559.
Vane, pirate captain, 98.
Van Horne, David, 232, uote.
Van Ness, Colonel, 462.
Van Schaick's Island, 576.
Van Zandt, Mr., his storehouse burned,
226.
Van Zandt, AA'inan, 232, note.
Varick, Colonel, quoted, 584, note.
Varnum, Colonel, 497.
Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, meets
Nicholson's invasion, 46 ; incites the
Indians to hostility, 133; controlled by
the Jesuits, 197 ; fighting at, 450.
Vaughan, Colonel, at Louisburg, 212.
Vaughan, General, at NeAvYork, 493.
A'aughan, Lieutenant-governor of Ncav
Hampshire, suspended, 138.
Vauquelin, Captain, at Quebec, 305 ; de
feated, 311.
Vealtown, N. J., 524.
Venango, 257, 259 ; fort captured by the
Indians, 323.
Vergennes, Count de, quoted, 330, 545.
Vermont, the dispute oyer the territory, 434.
Vernon, Admiral, 159.
Vernon, James, 143, note.
Verplank's Landing, captured, 615.
Vincennes, 257; captured by Chirk, 611;
by Hamilton, 611, and note ; retaken hy
Clark, 611.

Virginia, amnesty in [1680], 53; becoraes
again a royal pro\'iuce, 57 ; rebellions
ill, 58 ; prisoners of Sedgemoor sent to,
58 ; condition of, in 1692, 64, 68 ; toAvns
incorporated and counties erected, 78 ;
her remonstrauce agaiust taxation, 338 ;
her resolutions ou the Stamp Act, 339,
340 ; adopts a State constitution, 487 ;
instructs her delegates to urge a decla
ration of independence, 479.
A'ON Stirn, General, 493.

"^yADSAA'ORTH, CAPTAIN, defeats the
reading of Fletcher's commission, 28.
AA'adsaa'Orth, Colonel, 393.
AA'adsavorth, General, 495.
\A' AGES in Massachusetts in 1715,127; in
England, 127, uote.
AA'^AKE, pirate, 34.
AA'aldeckers, 531 ; def eated at Springfield,
N. J., 546.
AValker, HENDERSfiN, actiug Governor of
North Carolina, death of, 86.
Walker, Admiral Sir Hoveden, com-
raantls tbe fleet sent against Quebec
[1711], 45.
Walklate, George, 52.
AA^ALLABOUT Bay, 498.
Wallace, Captain, comraanding the Rose,
417.
AVallea', in first Colonial Congress, 20 ;
quoted, 20.
Walloomscoik River, 581.
Walpole Grant, The, 257, note.
Walpole, Horace, on AVedderburn's treat
ment of Franklin, 369, note; quoted,
378, note.
AA'alpole, Sir Robert, quoted, 331.
AValpole's Letters quoted, 292, note.
AValter, The Rev. Me., 128.
AA'ar declared by England against
FR.A.XCE [1702[, 122.
War Expenses of the colonies [1763],
330, 331.
AA'ar avith the French, New York's prep
aration for, 250 et seq.
Ward, Gen. Arteaias, in command at
Boston, 394 ; ajipoiuted JIajor-general,
407 ; iu command at Dorchester Heights,
425.
AA'ard, Artemus, the showman, 408, note.
AA^ARD, Colonel, fortifies Brooklyn, 462.
AA'ard, Ensign, begins a fort on the site of
Pittsburg, 260.
AA'ari>, Governor of Rhode Island, refuses
to execute the Stamp Act, 339.
AA'are, Joseph, cited, 444, uote.
AA^arne, Thomas, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
Warner, Colonel, of Virginia, quoted,
52.
AVarner, Colonel Seth, captures CroAvu
Point, 436; 574, 581.
Warren, Captain, his house burned, 226.
Warren, Commodore, 209 ; at Louisburg,
213; promoted, 215.

654

INDEX.

W.iRREN, J.\aies, letter from Adams to,
476, second note; letter lo Gerry, 478;
5S2 ; 617, note,
AA'arren, Joseph, his oration on the mas
sacre, 38(1; dispatches Paul RcA'ere to
Lexiui^tou, 383 ; his prediction, 386 ;
pin of his earlock shot away, 392 ; his
letter to Gage, 394 ; killed at Bunker
Hill, 403 ; reports the Suffolk Resolu
tions, 472.
AA'arren, Ad.aiir.4l Sir Peter, 243,
AA'arren, AA'insi.ow, 476, second note.
AV-iRAViCK, Penu., 556.
Washington, Augustine, interested in the
Ohio Company, 257.
AA'-ashington, Fort, 491 ; attacked by the
British, 518 ; surreudered, 519.
Washington, George, sent bv Governor
DiuAviddie to A'ciiauuo [1753], 259 ;
joins Braddock, 264 ; joins Forbes at
Bedford, 300; appoiuted Commander-
in-chief, 407 ; goes to Cambridge, 408 ;
his medal, 428 ; instructs Arnold as to
his expedition through Maine, 442 ;
hurries his troops to New Y'ork, 462 ; a
letter to, refused because of the address,
496 ; his auger at the retreat in New
York, 506 ; crosses the DelaAvare, 522 ;
crosses the DcbiAA'are a second time,
531 ; marches on Priucetou, 532 ; at
Princeton, 535; correspondence with
Howe, 541 ; breaks camp at ?ilorristoAA'u
[1777], 550; at Hartsville, 551 ; at bat
tle of BrandvAviue, 554 et seq, ; at A'al-
ley Forge, 593 ; pursues Clinton across
New Jersey, 602 ; assuraes comraand at
Monmouth, 604 ; rebukes Lee, 604,
Washington, L.^avrence, 76 ; interested in
the Ohio Compauy, 257.
AA'.a.shington, Capt. AA'illia.ai, at Trenton,
529.
AA'atts, Robert, 2.'i2, note.
AA'ayne, Anthony, iu expedition against
Three Rivers, 450, 544 ; at Braudywiue,
554 ; surprised at Paoli, 557 ; at Ger
raantown, 559 ; captures .Stony Point,
616.
AA'ealth of the colonies [1760], 331.
AVebb, Col. Charles, 515,
Webb, Gen'er.a.l, his attempt to relieA'e Os-
Avego, 2!*1 ; in command at Fort Ed
Avard, 292 ; his pusillanimous conduct,
294,
AA'ebb, Gen, J. AA'.vtson, 496, uote.
AA'ebb, Lieut.-col. Samuel B., 495 ; ex
tracts from his diary, 496, note,
Webster at New Y'ork, 493,
AA'euster, Noah, 582,
AA'edderburn insults Franklin, 369,
AA'eeuon, General, 544; at BrandyAvine,
556.
AA'eld's Trnvels cited, 609.
AA'elling, Dr. Jabies ('., cited, 476, note.
AA'ejiyss, .Al ajor, quoted, 397 note,
AVentavoutii, Penning, becomes first GoA'
ernor of Ncav Hampshire, 199 ; his love
iiffair, 199, note ; his jealousy as to the

Louisburg expedition, 211, note; his
administration, 198,
Wentavorth, John, appointed Lieutenant-
governor of New Hampshire, 138 ; be
comes acring Governor of NeAv Hamp
shire, 139.
AA'eslea', Ch.vrles, goes to Georgia, 151.
AVeslea', John, becomes a raissionary to the
Indians, 151 ; character of his labors,
203.
AVest, Benjajiin, cited, 334.
AA'est, Robert, a Proprietor of East Jer
sey, 6, note.
AA'estbrook, Colonel, sent to arrest Father
RiLsle, 194.
AA'estekly, R. I., 114 ; religious revival iu,
205.
AA'hately. !Mr., his duel, 369.
AA'iieeler's History of North Carolina cited,
474, uote.
AA'hig Party, The, virtually tyrannical,
25 ; regains poAver in England, 46.
AA'hii'ple commands ;i cruiser, 414.
AA'hitefield, George, at Williamsburg,
A'a., 77; takes John AA'csley's place at
Savannah [1738], 152; his sympathy
Avith slaves, 154; establishes au orphan
house, and Avoiks a gang of slaves for
its benefit, 155; his labors in New Eng
land, 203 ; arrives in Boston [1740],
206 ; his oratory, 206, 207 ; his counsel
as to the Louisburg expedition, 211.
AA'iiiTEiiALL, N. Y., 28.5.
AA'iiiTEiiAA'EN, Enghmd, Jones's descent
u]ioii, 618.
AA'hite People, 37.
AViiiTE Plains, 513; battle of, 515.
AA'iiiTiNG, LiEUTEN.VNT, at battle of Lake
George, 287,
AA'hitnev, Svla'anus, 373.
AA'lCKFORI>, R. I., 114,
AA'iLKES, Frederick, sent to London, 200.
AA'iLKKS, John, ejected from House of Com
mons, 365.
WiLKESBARRE, 609.
Wilkins, JIajor, Avreck of his expedition
to Detroit, 321.
AA'iLKiNSON, Gen. James, 535, uote; his
M iiioirs cited, 533, 587, note.
Wilkinson, Major, 525, 592.
AA'illiam and Mary, acce-siou of, 12.
AA'illiaai and Mary College founded
[1692], 59 ; first Commenceraent [1700],
70.
AA'iLLiAji III., instructions to tbe Governor
of Ncav A'ork, 26 ; death of, 178.
AA'illiam, Fort, Georgia, 159,
AA'iLLiAJi Henry, Fort, 289, 292; capitu
lates to jNlontcalm, 294 ; the garrison
massacred, 294,
Williams, Col, Ephraim, at battle of Lake
George, 285, 286, aud note.
AA'lLLIAMS, Cc>LONEL, 581.
AVilliams, Jonathan, 371.
AA'illiaais, The Rev. Mr., captured at
Deerfield, 123.
Williams College, 287, note.

INDEX.

655

Willett, Lieutenant-colonel, at Oris
kany, 578.
Willett, Marinus, his exploit, 458.
Williamsburg made the capital of A'ir
ginia, 70.
Williamson, Dr. Hugh, 475, uote.
WiLLIAMSTOAVN, Mass., 433.
Wilmington, Del., 553.
Wilson (Negro Plot), a sailor, 225.
Windsor, N. S., 274.
Winslow, Lieut.-col. John, his expedi
tion to Acadia, 275, et seq,
Winthrop, Gen. Fitz-John, sent to Eng
land, 27.
Winthrop, John, secures a patent for Con
necticut [1662], 112, 117; disowned by
Connecticut, 113.
Wise, The Rev. Mr., of Ipswich, opposes
inoculation, 128.
AViSNER, Henry', 484, note.
Wistar's Ford, 553.
Wolcott Oliver, ladies of his family make
bullets of King George's statue, 487,
495 ; quoted, 522 ; joins Gates, 587.
Wolcott, Roger, Lieutenant-governor of
Connecticut, joins expedition against
Louisburg, 211.
Wolfe, Brig. -gen. James, at Louisburg,
297 ; his expedition against Quebec, 304
et seq. ; his death, 310.
Wolfe's Cove, 309.
Woman, a hving, Avith 360 descendants, 10.
Wood, Rebecca, her ride Avith Penn, 173.
Woodbridge, N. J., 522.
Woodford, General, 544.
Wood's Creek, skirmish at, 574.
WoOLM.VN, early abolitionist, 177.

Wooster, Gen. David, appointed Briga
dier-general, 407, note ; takes command
before Quebec, 449 ; in camp near New
Y''ork, 457 ; pursues Tryon, 547 ; mor
tally Avounded, 548.
Worcester, Mass., how named, 383.
AA'orley, pirate captain, 98.
Wren, Sib Christopher, 59.
Wright, Governor, of Georgia, 475.
AA'right, R., his Memoir of Oglethorpe cited,
1 58, note.
Writs of Assistance, 332.
Wroth, Ensign, 274, note.
AVyandots, The, join Pontiac, 317 ; sue
for peace, 318.
Wyckoff's Hill, 499.
AVylly, Colonel, 501.
Wyoming, Massacre of, 608.

YAGERS, DONOP'S, Hessian sharp
shooters, 493 et seq,
Yale Students form a military compiiny,
615.
Yamacraav, Indian Chief, 145.
Yellow F'ever iu New York [1702], 38.
Yemassees, The, 94.
Y''oNGE, Francis, sent to England, 100.
York, Duke of, action of Avith regard to
New York, 11 et seq. (See also James
IL)
Yorke, Sir Joseph, 454.

2ENGER, JOHN PETER, sued for libel,
222 et seq.
Zopus, 26.

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