USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 27
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* Colonel R. J. Meigs, of Middletown, Connecticut, was one of the most suc- cessful partizan officers of the Revolution. Soon after the close of the war, he became one of the first settlers of the wilderness of Ohio. He was the agent for Indian affairs as early as 1816 ; and died at the Cherokee agency, June 28, 1823, at an advanced age. He published a journal of the Expedition to Quebec from Sept. 9, 1775, to Jan. 1, 1776. His son of the same name was governor of Ohio, and Postmaster General of the United States.
CHAPTER XIII.
PRINCETON AND THE HIGHLANDS.
THE efforts of Putnam in fortifying Philadelphia were so great, that his health was for a long time very much impair- ed. On the very day that Washington re-crossed the Dela- ware to surprise the Hessians, he found time to write a letter to Putnam, congratulating him on his restoration to health, and informing him of the contents of an intercepted letter, revealing the designs which the enemy had upon Philadel- phia. On the 5th of January, 1777, the commander-in-chief communicated to Putnam his second masterly victory at Princeton, and ordered him forward with all his troops to Croswicks', to assist in recovering the ground that had been so hastily overrun by the enemy, who were now panic- stricken and appalled at the brilliant successes that had attended the American chief.
Soon after this, he was directed to take post at Princeton. Here he remained until spring, within fifteen miles of the large British garrison stationed at Brunswick, with only a few hundred men, and a long and difficult frontier that numbered, at one time, more miles than he had soldiers. He was obliged to keep up appearances comporting with the presence of a large army.
When Putnam arrived at Princeton, he found there Cap- tain McPherson, of the seventeenth British regiment, who had been shot through the lungs, and was in a very danger- ous condition. He was suffering extreme pain, and had not even been examined by a surgeon. No one supposed that he could live more than a few hours when Putnam first discov- ered him. Putnam procured surgical attendance, and bestow- ed the most delicate attentions upon the wounded officer, who, to the astonishment of every body, soon began to show
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
signs of recovery. McPherson, with all the prejudices of a Scotchman, was as generous as he was brave. He knew that he owed his life to Putnam, and acknowledged the debt with deep gratitude. The warmest friendship soon grew up between them, that was ripened by familiar intercourse. One day, the conversation turning upon the favorite theme, the following good-natured dialogue passed between them :
McPherson. "Pray, sir, what countryman are you ?"
Putnam. "An American."
McPherson. "Not a Yankee ?"
Putnam. " A full-blooded one."
McPherson. "By God! I am sorry for it. I did not think there could be so much goodness and generosity in an Amer- ican-or indeed in anybody, but a Scotchman."
After McPherson was able to give his attention to busi- ness, and while his situation was yet critical, he begged General Putnam to allow him to send for a friend, who was in the British army at Brunswick, to come and assist him in making his will. At this time, Putnam's whole army amounted to only fifty men, and the arrival of a keen British officer, who would be able to spy out his resources at a glance, was a thing of all others to be deprecated. On the other hand, he felt anxious to gratify the prisoner in the indulgence of a request so reasonable, and making such a ready appeal to his sympathies. He resorted to an expedient that proved him to be what he had proclaimed himself, " a full-blooded Yankee." He sent a flag of truce to Brunswick with Captain McPherson's request, but with directions not to return until after dark. In the evening, he placed a light in every room in the college and in all the apartments of the vacant houses in the town. He kept his fifty men marching the whole night, sometimes all together, and sometimes in detachments, passing and meeting near the house where the wounded captain and his testamentary adviser were lodged. When the British officer returned, he reported that General Putnam's army could not amount to less than four thousand
311
PUTNAM'S LETTER.
[1777.]
men .* During the winter, with his very limited means, Put- nam took about one thousand prisoners, most of them tories and members of foraging parties. The following letter from Putnam to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, under date of February 18th, 1777, will show the success of one of Lord Cornwallis' foraging expeditions :
" Yesterday evening Colonel Nelson, with a hundred and fifty men, at Lawrence's Neck, attacked sixty men of Cort- landt Skinner's Brigade, commanded by the enemy's RENOWNED LAND PILOT, Major Richard Stockton, routed them, and took the whole prisoners-among them the Major, a Captain and three subalterns, with seventy stands of arms. Fifty of the Bedford Pennsylvania Riflemen behaved like veterans."t
The old continental army expired with the year 1776. After Putnam's return from New Jersey, the new army was divided into three main branches. One division, consisting of troops belonging south of the Hudson river, under Wash- ington ; the northern department, under General Schuyler, composed of two brigades from Massachusetts, the New York brigade, and some irregular corps; and the third, under General Putnam, was stationed in the Highlands. This last detachment was made up of the two remaining brigades from Massachusetts, two brigades from Connecticut, one from Rhode Island, and a single regiment from New York. On hearing of the loss of Ticonderoga, General Washington ordered the two Massachusetts brigades to join the northern department, and when he had learned the strength of Sir William Howe's army, he ordered from the Highlands into Pennsylvania one of the Connecticut brig- ades, and one from Rhode Island ; so that Putnam's whole force now amounted only to a single Connecticut brigade and the New York regiment. He established his head quar- ters at Peekskill. There was in New York a large force made up of British troops and several corps of New York tories who had flocked to the British standard.
* Humphreys, 134, 135.
+ Humphreys, 141. # Humphreys, 143, 144.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Between the two armies was a large tract of country, that afforded abundant booty and good hiding-places for a com- pany of nondescript tories, half brigand and half soldier, who did nothing but rob and plunder the country on both sides of the river, and who made their head-quarters, or rather their principal den, at Westchester. Neither the rights of property, nor of personal security, were safe within the range of their pillaging explorations. They not only stole the horses and cattle of the more peaceable inhabitants, but took possession of their persons and those of their wives and daughters and subjected them to the most barbarous violence and outrageous insults. The patriots retaliated, and deeds were perpetrated along the banks of the Hudson that would have disgraced the tenth century.
General Putnam resolved to put an end to these enormi- ties. He sent Colonel Meigs with his regiment down the river to effect this object. Meigs performed during the campaign some daring feats, that taught that rabble of depredators to respect the moral principle and discipline that they did not choose to cultivate themselves.
General Putnam was thought to be the author of this movement, and all the malevolent feelings of the party who felt their liberties to be restrained, were directed against him. They finally began to concert measures to surprise the general and make him a prisoner. Governor Tryon proba- bly had the honor of being consulted in this enterprise, as will appear in the sequel. To make Putnam a captive after all the trouble that he had given them, would be an achievement worth accomplishing. Spies were sent into his neighbor- hood, who lurked in large numbers around his camp. British gold was lavished so plentifully, and such rewards were offered in case of success, that the tories exerted themselves to the utmost, and were more bold than they ever had been in any good cause. The intention to seize Putnam at his head-quarters was so generally understood, that Washington was well aware of it, and sent him information in relation to it, accompanied with a caution to him to be on his guard.
[1777.]
PUTNAM HANGS PALMER. 313
In spite of all Putnam's vigilance, one Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in the ranks of the tory recruits, found his way into the camp, but he was fortunately detected, tried, and found guilty of being a spy. Governor Tryon, who com- manded the tory levies, used all his efforts to save the prisoner. He wrote a letter to Putnam, in which he painted in glowing colors the crime of taking the life of one of the king's commissioned officers. He threatened the American general with his sharpest vengeance, if he dared to do the least harm to Palmer. Putnam had a very concise way of expressing his thoughts in writing. He answered the menac- ing epistle in these pertinent words :
"Sir-Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your king's service, was taken in my camp as a spy. He was tried as a spy ; he was condemned as a spy, and you may rest assured, sir, he shall be hanged as a spy.
"I have the honor to be, &c.
" ISRAEL PUTNAM. " His Excellency, Governor Tryon.
" P. S. Afternoon. He is hanged."*
The letter, as well as the postscript, is a model of pith and brevity.
Soon after the departure of the two brigades for Penn- sylvania, the British army at New York was largely rein- forced by the arrival of troops from England. Putnam's single brigade in the field, and his solitary regiment at Fort Montgomery, under command of General Clinton, could hardly be expected to withstand the large army that might at any hour he marched against him. He wrote to General Washington informing him of his situation and asking him for some troops to defend the important posts that had been intrusted to his keeping. Washington's condition was equally perilous, and he could only authorize him to call upon the militia.
Putnam was not wrong in his apprehensions of evil. On * Hinman, 113 ; Humphreys, 147.
-
314
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the 5th of October, Sir Henry Clinton sailed up the Hudson with three thousand men, and after making many feints to deceive the Americans, and, passing the night on board his vessels, landed the next morning at Stony Point, and moved rapidly forward toward Fort Montgomery. As soon as the commander of the garrison became aware of the approach of Sir Henry, he sent by express a letter to General Putnam, asking for a reinforcement. The courier proved to be a tory in disguise, and did not deliver the letter. Hearing nothing of the enemy, General Putnam began to be alarmed, and at last rode forth with General Parsons and Colonel Root, to reconnoitre them at King's Ferry.
By five o'clock in the afternoon, Sir Henry Clinton had climbed the mountains that were interposed between the landing and the rear of the fort, and hastily descending a high hill through thickets that none but light troops could have passed, made a vigorous assault upon the redoubt.
Major David Humphreys, then a major of the first Con- necticut brigade, was at head-quarters when the firing began and was the first to hear it. He flew to the camp, and beg- ged Colonel Wyllys, the officer in command, to send all the men who were not on duty, to the relief of the garrison at Fort Montgomery. Colonel Meigs was instantly dispatched with five hundred men, while Major Humphreys, then young and of an ardent temperament, rode at full speed, accom- panied by Dr. Beardsley, along a bye-path, to inform Gov- ernor Clinton that a reinforcement was advancing. When Major Humphreys had crossed the river, he found the fort so completely invested that he could not approach it. He therefore went on board a frigate that lay at anchor in the river, and waited for the American detachment to come up. Here he witnessed the whole action. The fort had been thrown up to defend the river, and had not been constructed with any reference to an attack from the rear. However, Governor Clinton, his brother, General James Clinton, Colo- nel Dubois, and the other officers, were men of true courage,
315
MAJOR HUMPHREYS.
[1777.]
and were all seconded by the garrison, who fought with great spirit. But it was idle to attempt to oppose, with a single regiment, the solid columns of three thousand British troops advancing against the frail works at places where they could be hardly said to offer an obstruction. At dusk, the enemy entered the fort with fixed bayonets. 'The loss on either side was not very great. Almost all the officers and men of the garrison escaped under cover of the smoke and darkness, that was now fast settling over the abrupt moun- tains whose shadows offered them a safe retreat.
It is not likely that the little band of men under Colonel Meigs, had they arrived in season, could have prevented the loss of the fort against such fearful odds.
The young major of brigade, who saw the battle, the retreat, and the sublime picture that followed it, has left us a lively sketch of the closing scene.
"The frigate," writes this young scholar and poet, "after .receiving several platoons, slipped her cable, and proceeded a little way up the river; but the wind and tide becoming adverse, the crew set her on fire, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy, whose ships were approaching. The louring darkness of the night, the profound stillness that reigned, the interrupted flashes of the flames that illuminated the waters, the long shadows of the cliffs that now and then were seen, the explosion of the cannon which were left loaded in the ship, and the reverberating echo which resounded at intervals between the stupendous mountains on both sides of the river, composed an awful night-piece for persons pre- pared by the preceding scene, to contemplate subjects of horrid cruelty."*
* General David Humphreys, was a son of the Rev. Daniel Humphreys, of Derby, Conn., where he was born in 1753. He graduated at Yale College, in 1771, and soon went to reside in the family of Colonel Phillips, of Phillips' Manor, New York. He early entered the revolutionary army as a captain ; in 1778, he was a major and aid to General Putnam ; in 1780, he was selected as Washing- ton's aid with the rank of colonel -- his competitors for the place being Tallmadge, Hull, and Alden. For his valor at the siege of York, Congress honored him with a sword. In 1784, he accompanied Jefferson to France, as Secretary of Lega-
316
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The capture of Fort Montgomery, and the removal of the booms and chains that had been placed in the river, gave to Sir Henry Clinton, a free passage to Albany, and opened a communication between him and Burgoyne. But before any union of their forces could be effected, the capitulation of Bur- goyne changed the whole plan of operations.
The loss of Fort Montgomery led to a trial of General Clinton by a court-martial. He was acquitted with honor. Sir Henry soon fell back to New York. Putnam followed him a part of the way by land. Colonel Meigs was sent forward with a detachment of men who had been selected from General Parsons' brigade to fall upon a band of robbers in Westchester. He succeeded in breaking up the company for a time. He made fifty prisoners, and carried off a large number of horses and cattle that they had stolen.
Among the other outrages committed by these free-booters under the sanction of the British government, was that of
tion. He represented Derby in the Legislature of Connecticut in 1786, but soon after became a resident of Hartford. In 1788, he went to reside in Washington's family, and continued with him until he was appointed minister to Portugal, in 1790. Four years afterwards, he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Spain. He concluded treaties with Tripoli and Algiers. In 1812 he was appointed major-general of the Connecticut militia. General Humphreys died in New Haven, Feb. 21, 1818, aged sixty-five.
In the midst of his public duties he found time for the indulgence of his tastes as a writer, both in prose and verse. A collection of his miscellaneous works was published in New York, in 1790, and 1804. See Am. Spec., i. 259-272. Had he devoted his attention exclusively to polite literature, he would doubtless have excelled any American writer of that day. His writings bear evident marks of haste, but evince abundant proofs of genius. He was remarkable for his wit, his pathos, the facility with which he wrote, and his powerful and condensed narra- tive. He presents more images to the mind of a reader upon a single page, than any other writer who has treated of the incidents and characters of the revolution. His principal work, is a life of Major-General Putnam.
There is at Yale College, a likeness of General Humphreys, by Stuart, that is one of the best works of that great artist. It ought to be engraved and published as a beau ideal of the American military gentleman of that period. It is as I once heard a good artist say, " one of the few portraits that may be said to speak and glow with life."
317
CONNECTICUT AND WEST POINT.
[1777.]
burning the houses of the principal patriots. General Put- nam resolved to put an end to this wanton mode of warfare. Having learned that Governor Tryon had sent out a party to burn Wright's mills, he detached three parties of one hundred men each to prevent it; one detachment captured thirty-five of these incendiary tories, and another forty. Foiled in their attempt upon the mills, a number of the new levies went to the house of Mr. Van Tassel, a whig committee-man of high character, and took him prisoner. They dragged him along with them a great distance, naked and barefoot, over the ice and frozen ground, in a bleak cold night. Putnam deter- mined to retaliate, and to make his selection in a quarter that would command the attention of the authors of this mischief. He chose a victim best suited to effect his object. He ordered Captain Buchanan, in a whale boat, with a few trusty men, to repair to York Island, and burn the splendid mansion-house of General Oliver Delancy. The mission was accomplished with remorseless fidelity, and the dwelling burned to ashes. This incense, rising in the very nostrils of Governor Tryon, was not an acceptable sacrifice. But it stayed the plague in the infected district for a long time .*
Late in the year 1777, General Washington commissioned Putnam to select a new site for a fort, that would supply the place of Fort Montgomery. Putnam examined the banks of the river with great caution, and finally hit upon that bold rock, impregnable in the rear by the high ridges that rise one after another behind it in regular walls, and overlooking with its frowning buttresses the pent up waters of the Hudson. Not long after, the gallant and accomplished General Parsons, with the first Connecticut brigade, went to the spot thus designated by Putnam, and in the cold month of January, while the snow lay upon the ground to the depth of two feet, without tents to shield his men, and without suitable intrenching tools to prosecute the work, struck the first mattock into the soil and threw up the first embankment
* Humphreys, 151.
318
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
at West Point. From that day to this, neither the valor of foreign troops, nor the vile machinations of treason, have been able to pluck or steal the key of the North River from our hands, nor can a keel pass up and down its channel without doing homage to our flag .*
* Humphreys.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENT. CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE.
GENERAL Schuyler, who had offended the Continental Con- gress by writing one of his "subacid letters,"* did not find the displeasure of that body quite as desirable as he might have anticipated. He finally condescended to offer an apology in the shape of a memorial presented to Congress, that was designed as a glossary to the offensive letter, and explained away the text so well, that on the 8th of May, the Congress resolved to receive him again into favor. About a fortnight after this act of oblivion was passed, it was resolved that Albany, Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix, and their dependencies, be henceforth considered as forming the north- ern department, and that Major-General Schuyler be direc- ted to take the command there. Whether the general hum- bled himself with any view of a subsequent exaltation, the reader can judge. It is quite certain that one event followed the other very much in the relation of cause and effect. The New England delegates voted against the appointment, as they said it superceded General Gates, and had their representation been full at that time, the result would have been different.
It belonged to the states of New Hampshire, Massachu- setts and Connecticut, to furnish the troops for the northern posts. Massachusetts did not furnish the quota of men that had been designated for her, under an impression that Ticon- deroga would not be attacked.
* General Schuyler, in one of his complaints to Congress against General Wooster, accuses him of writing "subacid letters." A reference to the corres- pondence of those officers in the fourth volume of the fourth series of the Ameri- can Archives, will readily detect the injustice of the charge. The courtesy and forbearance of Wooster are in striking contrast to the insolence of Schuyler.
320
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The British force in that quarter was under the command of Burgoyne, the successor of Sir Guy Carleton, who had been superceded on account of his conscientious scruples .* This army was provided with everything that could be called munitions and accoutrements in the greatest abund- ance, and had the best train of artillery that had ever followed the movements of a subordinate army in America. t
The designs of Burgoyne were entirely unknown to the Americans, and hence Washington, as well as his subordin- ates in command at the north, was greatly perplexed with doubt as to what course to pursue. At least ten thousand men were necessary for the defense of Ticonderoga alone ; but St. Clair, who commanded there, had only three thou- sand, and these were insufficiently armed and equipped. It was in fact a part of Burgoyne's plan, not merely to take Ticonderoga, but to advance thence upon Albany, and, with the cooperation of the troops at New York, to get possession of the posts in the Highlands. He started on this expedition with an army of eight thousand men, composed of British and German soldiers, besides a large number of tories, Indians, Canadian boatmen, laborers, and skirmishers.}
On the 1st of July, Burgoyne gained a steep hill over- looking Ticonderoga, which the Americans had neglected to fortify because they regarded it as inaccessible to artillery. St. Clair at once saw that there was no chance for his troops except in a hasty retreat. He accordingly placed his bag- gage and stores in two hundred batteaux, and, under convoy of five armed galleys, sent them to Skenesborough, now Whitehall, towards which point the troops retired by land, in a south-easterly direction, through the New Hampshire grants.§ By three in the afternoon, the van of the British squadron, composed of gun-boats, came up with and attacked the American galleys ; and in a short time, the British frigates
* It will be remembered that Sir Guy refused the services of the Indians because they persisted in killing and scalping the American prisoners and the wounded. His scruples could not be tolerated by the British government.
+ Gordon, ii. 203, 204. # Hildreth, iii. 196, 197. § Hildreth.
321
DEFEAT OF THE AMERICANS.
[1777.]
having joined the van, the galleys were completely over- powered. Two of them surrendered, and three were blown up .*
The American garrison at Skenesborough, on being informed of Burgoyne's approach, set fire to the works, and retreated up Wood Creek to Fort Ann, a post half way to the Hudson river. Colonel Long, who commanded at this post, hearing that the British were approaching, sallied out to meet them ; but after a contest which lasted for more than two hours, he retired with his troops to Fort Ann, set fire to the buildings, and withdrew to Fort Edward, on the Hudson, where General Schuyler had previously arrived. t
The vanguard, conducted by St. Clair in person, reached Castleton on the 6th ; the rear, consisting of three regiments, amounting in all to twelve hundred men, commanded by Colonels Francis, Warner, and Hale, rested through the night at Hubbardston, six miles below Castleton. At this place they were overtaken the next morning by General Frazer, and attacked. Hale's regiment ingloriously fled from the field. Francis and Warner, with the two remaining regiments, behaved with great spirit and firmness, and the English fought with equal obstinacy. Several times the lat- ter gave way, but were rallied again by their gallant officers. The Americans seemed destined to triumph, until the arrival of General Reidesel, with his German brigade, when they were compelled to give way before the superior force of the enemy. Francis was killed, together with two hundred of his brave soldiers. The number of the wounded was estimated at about six hundred, many of whom, deprived of all succor, perished miserably in the woods. Two hundred prisoners fell into the hands of the enemy. The loss of the royal troops was about one hundred and eighty.Į
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