USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 13
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A six-gun detachment of Knox's artillery regiment won high distinction in the battle. Knox wrote to his wife: "I have met with some loss in my regiment. They fought like heroes and are gone to glory." Among the killed was Benajah
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From print in the New York Public Library
ISRAEL, PUTNAM
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THE CROSSING TO NEW YORK
Carpenter, a Massachusetts man by birth and rearing, com- manding a Rhode Island company of artillery.
THE CROSSING TO NEW YORK AND KIPS BAY (1776)
After the defeat, Washington hurried reinforcements to Brooklyn; and Howe, too prudent to attack, began throwing up siege works. Washington then decided to withdraw to New York. The feat of moving nine thousand men across a broad tideway in one night, without the enemy's becoming aware of it, was largely due to the watercraft of Massa- chusetts men. Washington particularly directed that the boats be manned by Hutchinson's regiment, recruited chiefly from Salem. Glover's Marbleheaders were already on Long Island; and by seven the next morning Glover and Hutchinson's men had brought the whole army with its artillery and baggage across to New York.
New York could be no permanent refuge, and Washington reluctantly decided to withdraw to the north of Manhattan. Before the evacuation was completed the enemy struck at Kips Bay, a cove near the present East Thirty-fourth Street, against a breastwork manned by a raw brigade of Connecticut troops, mostly militia, and Washington immediately rode at full speed to the sound of the guns. Near Murray Hill he came in sight of the fugitive Americans, and of a brigade of Massachusetts militia under General Fellows just advanc- ing to their support along with some Connecticut troops and Prescott's regiment under General Parsons. General Israel Putnam was also present.
Washington shouted orders to fall in line. But the panic spread to Fellows's brigade; their retreat disordered Parson's troops ; and Continentals, Massachusetts men and Connecticut men, joined in a wild flight. Washington lashed runaways with his whip, snapped his pistols at them, and used language which might greatly shock the Daughters of the Revolution today. All was to no avail. The soldiers left their com- mander nearly alone in the face of the advancing British, so vexed, said Greene, that he sought death rather than life; but an aide, seizing Washington's bridle, turned his horse away from the enemy, and the general soon recovered his self-command.
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Washington now sent directions for all the troops in the city to retreat to Harlem. Knox, who had been superintend- ing the removal of the ordinance and stores with the aid of Aaron Burr, by a combination of skill and good luck brought the brigade safe to Harlem. Knox barely avoided capture. Officers from Pennsylvania and Maryland spoke or wrote bitterly of the conduct of the New England troops.
On the very next day came the battle of Harlem Heights, where Americans showed that they could drive the best British troops, and Massachusetts had a great part in the rehabilitation.
MONTRESOR'S ISLAND AND PELL'S POINT (1776)
On September 22 a special force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jackson of Massachusetts made a brave but unsuccessful raid on Montresor's Island. Another Massachusetts officer, Major Hendley, who went as a volun- teer, was killed. Washington described him in a letter to Patrick Henry as one of our best officers. October 1 came a little battle like Bunker Hill at Pell's Point. Glover's brigade, fighting behind stone walls, twice repulsed the British light infantry. At White Plains a militia regiment com- manded by Lieutenant Colonel Brooks, a very gallant officer, flinched from the attack of a Hessian regiment.
TRENTON AND PRINCETON (1777)
After the disaster of Fort Washington, the American army retreated through New Jersey and crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania. Its numbers had been terribly diminished by the refusal of men to stay beyond the term of their enlist- ments and by actual desertions. Washington was at last reinforced by a body of New England troops from Ticon- deroga, but their engagement was to expire with the year 1776. The enemy had established a line of posts on the Jersey side of the Delaware, and Washington determined on a re- turn thrust, which in the end saved the American cause.
At Trenton lay a brigade of about twelve hundred Hessians under Colonel Rahl. Christmas was known to be a day of great festivity for the Germans, and Washington resolved to make a surprise attack on Trenton in the early morning of the twenty-sixth of December. A force of twenty-four
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BURGOYNE CAMPAIGN
hundred men put into boats under Washington's own super- vision, and Glover's Marbleheaders rowed them safely across the Delaware. After landing, the little force was divided into two columns under Greene and Sullivan commanding the eight Massachusetts regiments, those of Bailey, Baldwin, Glover, Joseph Read, Seth Read, Sargent, Shepheard and Hutchinson, mainly composed of State companies but con- taining one Massachusetts Continental company.
The attack was made as planned and four-fifths of the enemy force were captured, with practically no loss on the American side. The success was largely due to the skillful handling of the artillery by Knox who was highly praised by Washington in general orders. A few days later Washing- ton defeated the enemy by a similar thrust at Princeton, a Massachusetts brigade doing good work.
Of great importance, and causing perhaps more immediate alarm in Massachusetts than the operations mentioned above, was danger of British invasion of New York from Canada. The American army in Canada contained many Massachusetts regiments and for a short time it was commanded by an able Massachusetts officer, Major General Thomas. He soon died of the small-pox, and the army dwindled from diseases, ex- piration of enlistments, and desertion. Canada was abandoned; and only the insight and courage of Arnold prevented an invasion of New York in 1776.
BURGOYNE CAMPAIGN (1777)
Repeated changes of generals occurred, and of the regiments forming the army. On June 12, 1777, General St. Clair took command of the American post at Ticonderoga.
A large part of the garrison was made up of Massachusetts troops, Continental and State. On the approach of the British the fortifications were hastily abandoned. On the retreat the rear guard of the army was overtaken and defeated. A new Massachusetts Continental regiment stood firm for some time, but its brave commander, Colonel Frances, was killed. Two Massachusetts militia regiments fled to the main force and temporary safety.
Two detached American victories, at Fort Stanwix and Bennington, did much to ruin the whole British campaign.
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Massachusetts troops participated. The garrison of Fort Stanwix near the Mohawk River included two hundred men of Colonel Wesson's Massachusetts regiment. The relieving force under Arnold was composed partly of Massachusetts men and partly of New Yorkers. The American army at Bennington was made up chiefly of militia from Vermont and New Hampshire; but Colonel Symond's regiment from Berkshire County, in Massachusetts, arrived the night before the battle.
The danger from the British invasion of New York aroused New England, and large numbers of militia came back to the American camp. Burgoyne marched to attack Gates' posi- tion. On the American right were Glover, Patterson and Nixon's Massachusetts brigades under the immediate direc- tion of Gates. In the center with New York troops was Learned's Massachusetts brigade.
Arnold commanding in the left did most of the fighting at the first pitched battle of Bemis Heights, and received assist- ance from Learned's brigade and from Marshall's Tenth Massachusetts. Marshall had a sharp and successful contest with a body of light infantry and grenadiers; and the Eighth Massachusetts, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Brooks, was the last regiment to leave the field. The American of highest rank killed in this engagement was Colonel Colburn of Massa- chusetts, a good officer.
In the second battle of Freeman's Farm, October 7, the Massachusetts brigades of Learned, Paterson and Glover took a most vigorous and important part, fighting under the un- authorized and inspiring leadership of Arnold. A part of Brooks' regiment with Arnold at its head turned and stormed an important redoubt and thus compelled Burgoyne to give way. The next day General Lincoln was badly wounded while reconnoitering.
THE CONVENTION TROOPS (1778 - 1779)
October 16, Burgoyne, short' of provisions and transport and surrounded by a much larger force, signed the Conven- tion of Saratoga by which he and his army were to be em- barked for England at Boston.
Boston was selected in order to delay the despatch to
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MONMOUTH
America of other British troops whose place would be taken by Burgoyne's army. The prisoners were escorted across the State to Cambridge, where and in the neighborhood they were quartered for several months. The failure to pro- vide suitable quarters for officers and troops by the Massa- chusetts authorities is a painful episode. Massachusetts found her enforced guests somewhat burdensome. A body of militia was called out to guard them; there was difficulty in finding suitable quarters for the officers; and there was much friction between General Heath, the Continental commander, and General Phillips, left as successor of General Bur- goyne, when the defeated general was allowed to proceed to England on parole. In 1778 the British "Convention troops" were moved into the interior of the State and were later sent to Charlottesville, Virginia.
GERMANTOWN (1777)
No fighting occurred between the main armies in the spring and summer of 1777, but in the early fall Howe, who had invaded Pennsylvania, defeated Washington at Brandywine, captured Philadelphia, and again defeated Washington who had attempted to surprise a part of the British army at Germantown. Most of the Massachusetts troops had been sent to defend the valley of the Hudson against Burgoyne's invasion, and so took no part in these engagements; but one of the best Massachusetts generals played an unwise part at Germantown.
Early in the battle six companies of a British regiment took refuge in the stone mansion of Chief Justice Chew and from it poured a hot fire on the Americans; and unsuccess- ful attempts were made to burn or to batter down the house. General Knox insisted that to leave a hostile fort in the rear would be against all the principles of war. All this con- sumed valuable time and the sound of firing in the rear shook the nerves of the troops in front, who had been unskillfully handled, and the Americans gave way.
MONMOUTH (JUNE, 1778)
Both armies soon went into winter quarters and remained inactive until the middle of June, 1778. Sir Henry Clinton, who had succeeded Howe, then evacuated Philadelphia and
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marched for New York. Washington followed and, June 28, fought the battle of Monmouth Court House. The action may be divided into two parts; first, the failure of a large detachment under General Lee to cut off the enemy's rear on its retreat; second, the repulse by Washington of the attacks of the main army of the British.
In the first action two Massachusetts regiments were en- gaged, those of Henry Jackson and Wesson. Just after the battle, Knox, who was an intimate friend of Jackson, wrote to Mrs. Knox that he had seen "Harry" in the fight; that he appeared much fatigued; that his regiment had lost a few in killed and wounded and were said to have behaved well. But there were very different reports. Knox formally ex- pressed the opinion that the regiment had been withdrawn from the fighting too readily; and Jackson asked and obtained a court of inquiry. The court found that nothing appeared against him sufficiently reprehensible to require his being sent before a court-martial.
After 1778, the British transferred their active operations to the South, which was defended mainly by troops drawn from its own states. For the remainder of the war, of the little fighting in the North the Massachusetts regiments had their share.
In 1778 the Indians and Tories were doing serious mis- chief near Cherry Valley, New York. A Continental regi- ment, the seventh Massachusetts, commanded by Colonel Alden, was sent there to protect the district and a fort was built. The enemy made a surprise attack, killed Alden and about thirty soldiers, and captured some forty more of the regiment including the lieutenant colonel. The fort, however, made a gallant defense under Major Whiting and Adjutant Huckling, and held out until relief arrived.
The affair at Cherry Valley was one of several instances in which Massachusetts troops were the victims of surprise. In 1777 the British attacked an outpost at Bound Brook com- manded by General Lincoln, captured his papers and three small cannon, and almost caught the General himself. In 1780 Lieutenant Colonel Thompson while patrolling the lines was caught off his guard; he was himself captured, and his force suffered severely in officers and men. Joseph Ward,
Original by Stuart
Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
GENERAL KNOX
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THE BOUNTY CONTROVERSY
the commissary of musters, was captured by a band of refugees.
Although the Massachusetts regiments took no part in the southern campaigns, two of the generals from that State were active in that field. General Lincoln commanded the Southern Army, though with small success. He led a gallant assault on Savannah and barely missed carrying the place; and he defended Charleston with skill and resolution but at last was obliged to surrender with his whole garrison. Lincoln might have shown more wisdom had he saved his troops by an early abandonment of the town.
At Yorktown Knox commanded the artillery in such a manner as again to receive high praise from Washington and to win a major-generalcy from Congress, an honor which he had long deserved.
THE BOUNTY CONTROVERSY (1776)
Massachusetts, as one of the United Colonies, and after July 4, 1776, of the United States, was called upon to furnish a definite number of men for the Continental Army. The United States did not recruit its own troops but apportioned the number desired among the several states. These demands were not easy to meet. What may be termed the surplus or disposable population of Massachusetts was not large. The Continental pay for privates was liberal compared with that of European soldiers; but prices rose, and men with farms to care for and families to support made a painful sacrifice in leaving their homes and fields for military service.
In Massachusetts it was proposed to meet the difficulty by giving a cash bounty, an expedient which removed one ob- stacle but raised others. March 7, 1776, James Warren wrote to John Adams that the House had voted a graduated bounty and added : "I have my doubts and fears about this measure. I fear that bounties will rise faster than money can depreciate or goods rise. I fear the displeasure of Congress that they will be disgusted. The Board [i. e., the Council] have prudently stopped it for the present." In June, 1776, Con- gress asked Massachusetts for five thousand men to serve in New York and Canada. The State voted to raise them
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and offered liberal bounties, but assigned as a reason the pressing urgency and the need of supplying the soldier with means to equip himself on so sudden a call.
The Massachusetts government soon took a much longer step on the downward path. The army had been engaged only for the year and Congress was now endeavoring to obtain a force to serve for the war. To men engaging for this term Massachusetts offered pay of twenty shillings a month in addition to the pay given by the Continent. The State sent commissioners to camp to endeavor to re-enlist its own soldiers, but Washington was so alarmed by the prospect of different parts of the same army receiving dif- ferent rates of pay that he induced the commissioners to refrain from making their offer public until Congress could be consulted. He then wrote to the president of Congress, setting forth the danger in the liberality of Massachusetts. Congress modified its own action by authorizing a bounty for a three-year enlistment nearly equal to that for the war and requested Massachusetts to repeal her offer. Massa- chusetts complied.
What was drawn back with one hand was in substance given again with the other. When a committee of delegates from the New England states (December, 1776) recom- mended giving to non-commissioned officers and privates a bounty of thirty-three and one-third dollars, the Massachusetts legislature promised double that amount. James Warren wrote to John Adams: "The zeal in some to give everything to the soldier, the impatience in others in taking new meas- ures before they could see the effects of what was already done, is such that no reason, argument or influence, I am master of, could carry through a resolve fixing upon some- thing certain as an ultimatum beyond which in the way of encouragement we would not go or prevent the sending out of a resolve holding up to the soldiers a design of making a levy on the Towns which is in effect offering them a bounty of 50 or 60 dollars more and has as I expected and proph- esied stopped the enlistment of thousands who now wait for the opportunity of filching as much more money from their neighbors as they can."
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RECRUITS
EVILS OF THE BOUNTY SYSTEM (1776 - 1779)
The towns also made use of "paper credits." General Heath wrote to Washington that men had enlisted, received a bounty, deserted, re-enlisted and drawn another bounty. Out-of-state men enlisted in the Massachusetts line and were hired by various towns to represent themselves as part of their quotas. The legislature declared that the practice was pregnant with many frauds and mischiefs, and annulled all such bargains, present or future.
In 1777, when a heavy draft was made on the militia, Massachusetts, disregarding previous warnings, offered pay of two pounds ten shillings a month more than the Conti- nental. General Heath wrote to Washington that some men had received from twelve to forty pounds from towns and individuals for three months' service and that he feared that this would not only retard the filling up of the Continental battalions but would make the soldiers who had already en- listed very uneasy.
In 1779, in return for an enlistment for the war, the State offered to pay the Continental bounty of $200 (paper money ), $100 in addition, and $200 more six months after enlistment unless the soldier had already been discharged.
Besides money bounties, special advantages were often given to men in the army, such as exemption from poll and personal property taxes. On one occasion at least their real estate was exempted from a tax levied for the purpose of raising troops. In 1779 the State promised to make good the depreciation of the paper money in which the army was paid, this to be estimated on the basis of the rise in price of certain specified necessaries.
RECRUITS (1775 -1781)
Massachusetts might be prompt and liberal in efforts to raise troops, but could not make them spring full armed from the ground, or even keep them in camp, after with much effort they had been marched there. In calling for troops the State did not order out definite regiments, for nearly all able-bodied men were members of the militia. The organizations were local, and service by regiments or companies would have depopulated some towns and left others untouched. Each
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town was directed to furnish a certain number of men; if they could not be obtained by volunteering, as was usually the case, the selectmen, living up to their title, designated the recruits or more often chose them by lot.
A draftee who failed to report or furnish a good substi- tute in twenty-four hours was fined; but he was not required to serve on that particular summons and he often preferred paying the fine to joining the army. Well-to-do men gave large sums for substitutes. Persons who were physically unfit to serve were fined with the rest, if the selectmen believed them able to pay the fine. These fines were used as an additional bounty to stimulate recruiting or when the quota was filled, for the benefit of the regiment. Towns that were deficient in their recruits were fined thirty pounds, local currency, for each man missing. Towns which promptly filled their quotas received a bounty. Fines and bounties were added to or subtracted from the levy on the town for the State taxes. In 1781 the State government classed the towns and called on each class for a soldier, or a sum twenty-five per cent in excess of the average bounty.
CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM OF RECRUITS (1775-1777)
The hardships endured by the Continental soldiers greatly retarded recruiting; yet the advantages enjoyed and abused by these national troops angered the militia and prevented them from turning out. March 14, 1777, Timothy Daniel- son wrote to the president of the Massachusetts Council explaining why many of the fifteen hundred militia called out from Hampshire refused to march. He said: "The country has been at great expense to enlist their quota of the continental army, and the very men that have paid large sums of money to hire continental soldiers to enlist are now drafted to march to Ticonderoga while the men they hired are rioting at home on their money, unconcerned about the fate of his country. While the one is quitting his family, his farm and husbandry, to reinforce Ticonderoga, the other is sporting from house to house, and from tavern to tavern, spending the money the honest farmer has earned with the sweat of his face."
QUALITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS 137
Much complaint was made of the time spent in marching to camp. Washington wrote that he was informed on good authority that the roads were full of officers and men idling away their time at taverns; and he urged that every party of recruits be accompanied by a commissioned officer ; and that he be ordered to arrive by a specified time and be called to account if he failed. In camp the soldier, unaccustomed to leave his native village, soon felt the pains of exile. Mont- gomery once wrote that he was as homesick as a New Eng- lander; and invalids from that region experienced a sudden restoration of health on receiving their discharge.
QUALITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS
Such conduct raises the question what sort of men New England sent into the army. In September, 1775, a southern rifleman, writing to a friend concerning the troops before Boston, exclaimed: "Such Sermons, such Negroes, such Colonels, such Boys, and such Great Great Grandfathers." Doubtless there was reason for criticism. Puritan sermons may have seemed longer and harder to endure than a day's march, though the bulk of the clergy were ardent in the cause of the Colonies and preached politics. As for the colonels and other officers there is abundant evidence that many were clever politicians, not true leaders. Free negroes were at first admitted to the Massachusetts army. Later attempts were made to exclude them, but with only partial success. The boys were undoubtedly numerous, for Massa- chusetts enrolled "men" as young as sixteen. St. Clair wrote to the president of the Council that his garrison at Ticonde- roga, which was mainly composed of Massachusetts troops, contained many "mere boys, altogether incapable of sustain- ing the fatigues of a soldier." Washington wrote that he heard that a reinforcement from Massachusetts contained children who were paid fifteen hundred dollars to serve a few months. There is less evidence of the service of superannuated men, but Schuyler complained of their presence as well as that of boys.
It must not be supposed that New England in general or Massachusetts in particular had a monopoly of unfit soldiers. Washington said that no State excelled those of New England in the quality of its private soldiers. The States of New
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Jersey and Pennsylvania showed great supineness when in- vaded by the enemy. When Baron Steuben commanded in Virginia he was driven almost to despair by the immaturity of recruits brought in for service at the front.
OFFICERING THE TROOPS (1775 - 1781)
The appointment of officers to the higher ranks was as- sumed by the legislature. It was by nature an executive duty, previously performed by the Governor and Council. Congress had advised Massachusetts to form a government conforming as closely as possible to that of the charter; and by the charter, if there were neither governor nor lieutenant governor the Council performed the duties of the governor, and the Council now claimed authority to appoint officers. The House, however, demanded an equal voice in the matter. The Council then asked the Massachusetts delegates in Con- gress for an opinion as to the meaning of the vote recom- mending Massachusetts to establish a government as nearly like that of the charter as possible.
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