USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 23
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And it is further resolved that this court prefer to Gen. Washington a charge of the sum aforesaid against the said Arnold; that a stoppage of so much as is before ordered to be paid to said Noble may be made for the benefit of the Continent.
15
CHAPTER XIII.
PITTSFIELD IN THE FIRST NORTHERN CAMPAIGN, AND AT THE SIEGE AT BOSTON.
[MAY - NOVEMBER, 1775.]
Rivalries at Ticonderoga. - Col. Easton proposes an Invasion of Canada. - He raises a Regiment. - Pittsfield Companies in it. - Gen. Schuyler appointed De- partment Commander. - First Visit to Ticonderoga. - Opinion of the Troops there. - Major John Brown's Second Scout in Canada. - Returning, he urges an immediate Advance. - Appointed to command the Lake Fleet. - Hastens the March of the Army. - Siege of St. John's commences. - Major Brown again sent to Canada. - Reports to Schuyler. - Major Brown the first to lead a Detachment into Canada. - Captures Stores near Chamblee. - Unsuccessful Plan to capture Montreal. - Takes Fort Chamblee. - St. John's surrenders. - Col. Easton's Regiment advances to the St. Lawrence. - Entrenches at Sorel. - Its Sufferings. - Blockades the British Fleet. - Brilliant Services of the Pitts- field Officers acknowledged. - Close of the Campaign. - Col. Patterson's Regiment at Cambridge. - Extraordinary Transmission of Sounds.
THE rivalry which attended the capture of Ticonderoga and its dependencies was not merely for the command of a few hun- dred men in retired posts upon the lakes. The American army had no more restless spirits than those who met in that old historic for- tress ; and, to the imagination of each, it was the gateway to a grand campaign, soon to open, in which they foresaw unwonted opportunities of distinguishing themselves.
John Brown had observed, on his first visit to Canada, that the countenance of a continental army was essential to the party there in league with the patriots ; and he considered the earliest possible moment the best for a march to Montreal. Allen and Easton par- took of the same ideas; and no less so did Arnold, to whose quick perception they would have been suggested by the possession of Lake Champlain, if they had not been before conceived.
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It was plain that Gen. Carleton could not permit the Americans quietly to retain possession of the advantages they had gained ; and the first plan to anticipate his movements was a removal of the armament from the newly-acquired works to safer places of deposit. But this weak policy was quickly abandoned ; and, from the deter- mination to hold and strengthen the forts, the advance was rapid to the purpose of operating from them against Canada. This was, in- deed, the dream of Allen and Arnold, Brown and Easton, from the beginning.
The first distinct recommendation of the invasion of Canada, of which we have record, was that of Ethan Allen to the New-York Congress on the 2d of June. But Col. Easton was at least as early in advising the measure; for, in a letter of June 6 to the Massachusetts Congress, - referring to a previous communication, made probably during his visit to Watertown in the middle of May, -he wrote, "I still retain my sentiments, that policy de- mands that the Colonies should advance an army of two or three thousand men into Canada, and environ Montreal." 1
In June, Philip Schuyler, a distinguished New-York officer of former wars, was, upon the recommendation of his colony, appoint- ed a major-general of the Continental Army, and assigned to the command of the Northern Department. After some delay at New York and Albany in making arrangements for supplies, he reached Ticonderoga on the night of the 18th of July, and found the garrison to consist of a thousand Connecticut men under Col. Hinman, and Col. Easton's small Berkshire corps. Of the six in- complete companies which composed the latter, one contained twenty-seven Pittsfield men, - including its officers, Capt. James Noble and Lieuts. Joel Dickinson and John Hitchcock. The quartermaster, William C. Stanley, was also from Pittsfield. Col.
1 In a letter of May 30, Col. Easton had " hinted to their honors " his willing- ness " to serve his country in the capacity he stood in at home; i. e., with the rank of colonel. " Should you," he added, "gratify me with the command of a regi- ment for the fortifying and garrisoning said fortress," [Ticonderoga], "you may depend upon my most faithful exertions to defend it against the whole weight of Canada, and on the most punctual observance of your orders. And I shall be ready to make such further acquisitions as shall be in my power, consistent with wisdom and prudence, for the safety of what are already made, that you, in your wisdom, shall direct." 2
2 Jour. Prov. Con., p. 713.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Easton and Major Brown were absent, probably attempting to in- crease their force.
To Gen. Schuyler, the garrison appeared " good-looking people, and decent in their deportment; not lacking in courage," but with a shocking laxity of discipline. The sentinel on duty when he arrived at the landing, on being informed that the general was in the boat, did not hesitate to leave his post, to make a vain at- tempt to rouse his companions sleeping soundly by the watch-fire. The new commander met a similar experience at other posts of the guard ; but he, nevertheless, thought he could make excellent soldiers out of the Connecticut and Berkshire levies "as soon as he could get the better of that nonchalance of theirs." 1
But Schuyler had small opportunity to make good soldiers of raw militia-men. It was well understood that Gen. Carleton was meditating an attempt to regain the command of the lakes, with a view to the invasion of the country below; and it was feared that the incursion was only delayed in order to obtain the alliance of the savages. As well, therefore, to anticipate this movement, as to take advantage of the favorable disposition reported to exist among certain classes in Canada, the immediate advance into that Province of such a corps as had been suggested by Cols. Allen and Easton was urged on every hand.
Men and material for such an enterprise were, however, tardily supplied ; and the department commander was, moreover, greatly perplexed by the difficulty of obtaining reliable information from the proposed field of operations, in which all reasonable hope of success depended upon conditions of which he was profoundly ignorant. On the 21st of July, he wrote to the Continental Congress, that the only man upon whom he could rely to proceed to Canada had suddenly fallen ill; 2 but, about that time, Major Brown returned to head-quarters, and, on the 24th, set out on his second visit to Canada, commissioned to obtain the fullest intelligence of the military preparations making by the king's troops, the Canadians, and the Indians; to learn the situa- tion of St. John's, Chamblee, Montreal, and Quebec ; and the number of troops with which each was garrisoned, whether any re-enforce- ments had come to the Province; whether the Canadians designed
1 Schuyler to Washington, Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. ii. p. 1085.
2 Am. Ar., 4th scr. vol. ii. p. 1302.
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taking up arms against the Colonies ; and whatever else it was of consequence that an invading general should know."1
Major Brown took with him four men, one of them a French Canadian, and reached the border in six days, after a tedious march, on the west of Lake Champlain, through a vast swamp, in whose dank recesses the party were compelled to camp three nights. Issu- suing from this comfortless tract, and assuming the guise of a horse- dealer, he penetrated the country, remained four days, and obtained a great amount of information, which proved correct, and of untold value to the army. The kindness of the French Canadians, while he was thus engaged, Major Brown spoke of as "indescribable ;" and he confessed, that, but for their protection, he must have fallen into the hands of the enemy. The shrewd country-people did not, nevertheless, fail to observe that "he was an odd sort of jockey, who never got a nag to his liking;" and some fellow, not so dis- creet as his neighbors, or less well disposed, communicated his suspicions to the military police. The result was, a large squad of red-coats surrounded the house where the major lodged. He, however, contrived to escape through a back window, and make good his flight, although hotly pursued for two days. Two scouts, of fifty men each, were sent after him; but, being kept accurately informed of their movements by the friendly Canadians, he evaded both, and got out of the country on the 3d of August. A further flight of three days brought him to the Bay of Missisquoi, where he found a small canoe, with which he proceeded up the lake, and arrived at Crown Point on the 10th, -just one day later than he had fixed with Gen. Schuyler for his return.
What Major Brown had learned in Canada rendered him still more impatient of delay. Writing, four days after his arrival at Crown Point, to Gov. Trumbull, of the Canadians and their affairs, he said, -
" They wish and long for nothing more than to see us penetrate their country with an army. They engage to supply us with every thing in their power. . . Now is the time to carry Canada. It may be done with great ease and little cost; and I have no doubt the Canadians would join us. Should a large [British] re-enforcement arrive in Canada, it would turn the scale immediately. The inhabitants must then take up arms, or be ruined. It seems that some evil planet has reigned in this quarter this year ;
1 Maj. Brown to Gov. Trumbull, Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iv. p. 135.
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for notwithstanding the season is far advanced, and a fine opportunity presents for making ourselves masters of a country with the greatest case, which I fear may cost us much blood and treasure if delayed, in New York [they] have played a queer part, and are determined to defeat us if in their power. They have failed us both in men and supplies."
The evil planet continued to reign. New York delayed, and finally in great part withheld, her promised contingent, in order to hold her own Tories in check. Massachusetts, absorbed in the siege of Boston, furnished to the all-important northern expedition only the small corps which Col. Easton could raise in Berkshire, after the county had already sent two regiments to Cambridge. It numbered barely two hundred men, of whom fifty-three were from Pittsfield, which early in August had sent a second company of twenty-four men, including its officers, - Capt. Eli Root, Lients. Stephen Crofoot and James Easton, jun.
Connecticut, threatened with an invasion of her coast, furnished over a thousand men, -less than she wished, but all that she could safely spare. The troops from all the colonies were imper- fectly armed, and miserably provided with the most necessary equipments and stores. Illness prevailed, both from this cause and from lack of the restraints of discipline. The regiments of Cols. Hinman and Easton returned a startling proportion of sick, - the latter more than one third of its entire number.
Nevertheless, the last of August found Schuyler, weak and ill appointed as his army was, eager for advance and hopeful of success. There might, however, have been still further delay, had it not been for information received from Major Brown, who, after his return from his Canadian mission, had immediately been placed in command of the flotilla upon the lake, against which a formidable antagonist was known to be preparing on the Sorel, at St. Johns.1
Among the things which he had accomplished in Canada, one of the most valuable was to open correspondence with James Livingston, an intelligent, active, and patriotic gentleman, then resident at Chamblee, who thenceforward furnished the most correct, timely, and important information to the American com- manders.
Major Brown now ventured personally on a scout, as far as the
1 The Sorel is often laid down, especially in modern maps, as the River Riche- lieu, and sometimes as the St. Johns.
.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Isle Anx-Noix,1 whence he sent messengers to his friend Livingston, who returned with intelligence upon the strength of which he addressed a letter to Gen. Montgomery, who had arrived at Crown Point, and was acting as Schuyler's lieutenant, for the " dictatorial style of which "2 he made the extreme exigency of the occasion his apology. It represented that the vessels building on the Sorel were in such a state of forwardness, and were so formidable in their armament, that unless the army moved within ten days, at the latest, it would be necessary to fortify either at Isle Aux-Noix, or, better in his opinion, at Windmill Point,3 otherwise there would be the most imminent danger that the British fleet would sweep the lake, and compel the abandonment of the expedition against Canada for that year at least.
This letter hastened affairs at Crown Point; and on the 31st of August, seven days from its date, Gen. Montgomery embarked with twelve hundred men; and, Schuyler having overtaken him, the army appeared before St. Johns on the 6th of September, nearly two thousand strong.
The siege proved long and tedious. We shall, of course, only be expected to recite the services of the Pittsfield soldiery in con- nection with it, and that portion of the general story which is necessary to their comprehension.
Arrived before St. Johns, Gen. Schuyler began to manifest that irresolution and timidity in meeting difficulties of the military sit- nation, which, in spite of his undoubted personal bravery, so often fatally marred his northern campaigns, and led the people of Berk- shire to distrust, not only his capacity, but his fidelity. The Americans landed on the 6th of September, were fired upon without effect by the garrison, and had a slight skirmish with a small party of Indians. In the evening, "a man who appeared to be friendly and intelligent," visited the general : stating that the whole British force in Canada, except fifty, were in garrison at
1 The Isle Aux-Noix is a small, low island in the Sorel, a few miles below St. Johns. It is an important locality in our story. It is now strongly fortified by the British Government.
2 Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 468. There is nothing disrespectful or assuming in the letter.
3 The Windmill Point here alluded to is at the entrance of Lake Champlain into the Sorel, and must not be confounded with the point of the same name on the west side of the lake.
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St. Johns, which, as well as Chamblee, he represented to be strongly fortified, and well prepared for a siege ; that a hundred Indians were in the fort, and a large body under Sir John Johnson hovering near; that a sixteen-gun vessel was at St. John's, ready to weigh anchor; and that not a single Canadian would join the "insurgent standard."1 The greater part of this stuff was after- wards proved to be pure invention : but Schuyler gave it full credence ; and a Conncil of War, to whom it was submitted, deter- mined to fall back to Isle Aux-Noix, to await re-enforcements, and prevent the passage into the lake of the sixteen-gun ship, which would have effectually cut them off.
While these events were transpiring, Major Brown was absent; having been sent by Schnyler, with Ethan Allen and some inter- preters, to go through the woods into Canada, and there disseminate among the people his address assuring them that the designs of the Americans in entering their country were solely against the English garrisons, and not at all against the property, religion, or liberties of the inhabitants.
This arduous and dangerous service having been faithfully and successfully performed, Col. Allen and Major Brown found Living- ston, who collected a small body of Canadian recruits, with which they attempted, on the 8th, to return to the army, but were deterred by learning that a body of Indians lay in wait for them. Major Brown, however, made his way through, with a communica- tion from Livingston, demanding a party of men from Schuyler's army to cut off communication between St. Johns and the coun- try; explaining his position at St. Terese, and expressing his belief, that, on the arrival of the men he asked for, they would be joined by a considerable number of Canadians.2
In compliance with this request, Col. Ritzema was ordered to . proceed, on the 10th, to a point on the road from La Prairie to St. Johns, as near to the latter place as he deemed prudent; but a succession of disgraceful panics thwarted the execution of the plan.
On the 16th, Gen. Schuyler, compelled by prolonged ill health, returned to Ticonderoga. But it had previously been arranged, that, on the 15th, a second advance upon St. Johns should be com-
1 Lossing's Field-book of the Revolution, vol. i. p. 169.
2 Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 740.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
menced by the army led by Montgomery. In anticipation of this movement, that general, on the day before that assigned for its execution, despatched Major Brown, with one hundred Americans and thirty-four Canadians, towards Chamblee, in order to keep up the spirits of their friends in that quarter.
This little detachment was the first of the American army which could be said to have entered Canada; and, with it, Major Brown penetrated to the gates of Chamblee. There he left one- half his force ; while, with the remainder, he cut off communication between St. Johns and the interior, took several prisoners, and intercepted eight carts, going to the fort, laden with rum and gun-carriages for the armed vessels which threatened the lake. Gen. Montgomery's departure from Isle Aux-Noix was delayed by a storm until the 17th, on the evening of which day he encamped before St. Johns. The next morning, he crossed with five hundred men to the north side of the Sorel, where he had instructed Major Brown to rejoin him. But Brown, trusting to his earlier arrival, had imprudently thrown his little company before a superior force of king's troops, and been repulsed. Mont- gomery's corps, which had been retarded by the inexperience of its raw recruits in marching, came up in a few hours : the king's troops were, in their turn, defeated; and the captures, which Major Brown had bethought himself to hide in the woods before enga- ging in his unsuccessful conflict, were secured.1
The siege of St. Johns having been formally established, Ethan Allen and Major Brown were ordered to La Prairie and Longneil to recruit corps of Canadians for the American army, - a service in which James Livingston had already been so successful as to be commended by Montgomery to Congress.
Allen and Brown also had the most gratifying and encouraging success in this service; and Major Brown was, moreover, lucky enough to take a quantity of stores designed for the Indians, who had been induced by Gov. Carleton to go to La Prairie to operate against the Americans.2 On the 20th of September, Allen had two hundred and fifty Canadians under arms, and boasted to Montgomery, that, in a week or two, he could obtain one or two thousand. Major Brown had also enlisted between two and three hundred. Every thing was going prosperously, and with the most
1 Montgomery to Schuyler, Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 797.
2 Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 840.
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encouraging promise, when the all-important work was interrupted by the unhappy issue of one of those audacious but tempting enterprises, opportunities for which Allen and Brown seem to have been incapable of resisting.
Allen wrote to Montgomery, on the 20th of September, that he would join him in three days with five hundred men, after which, if it were necessary, he would return and recruit. "By the Lord !" said he, " I can raise three times the number of our army in Canada, provided you continue the siege: it all depends upon that." He was, in fact, crazed with the desire to take part per- sonally in the operations against St. John's ; 1 and, on the 24th, he set out for that place with a guard of eighty men. He had gone, however, but about two miles from Longueil, when he was met on the banks of the St. Lawrence, nearly opposite to Montreal, by Major Brown, who proposed a plan for the surprise of that city, which he thought could be easily effected by the combined action of their forces. No project could have been more fascinating to the captor of Ticonderoga; and although, upon its failure, it was denounced as rash and impracticable, it would probably have succeeded, had neither of the parties failed to meet his engagement.2
The proposition was readily assented to, and a plan of operations agreed upon. Allen, returning to Longueil, was to procure canoes, and cross the river at night, a little below the city. At a point a little above it, Brown was to cross, with his corps of two hundred men ; and, upon the signal of three huzzas from the latter party, a simultaneous attack was to be made. The night was so rough, and the canoes to be obtained were so small and frail, that Brown supposed Allen would defer the attempt. At the appointed time, however, the latter having, by the addition of thirty Anglo-Amer- icans, increased his force to one hundred and ten men, was over the river, and impatiently waiting the signal for action. He con- tinued to expect the arrival of the promised co-operating corps until the sun was two hours high, when he " began to suspect that
1 Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 754.
2 Montgomery, to whom the design was communicated too late for his inter- ference in it, although distrusting its success, did not absolutely condemn it. In a letter to Schuyler, he wrote, " Allen, Warner, and Brown . . . have a project for making an attempt upon Montreal. I fear the troops are not fit for it. Mr. Carleton has certainly left that town, and it is in a very defenceless condition."
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he was in a premunire." 1 It was then too late to retreat. A pris- oner had escaped from his guards, and given the alarm in the city ; the boats which had brought them over were insufficient to carry one-third of Allen's men back ; and, although all but thirty-eight finally deserted him, he could not reconcile it with his sense of honor to abandon any. He therefore sent off messengers to Major Brown and a Mr. Walker, asking aid; and stood his ground man- fully, for an hour and three-quarters, when attacked by about forty regulars, and a rabble hundred or two of armed citizens. A smart skirmish occurred, with some loss of life on each side; but, no re-enforcements appearing, the hero of Ticonderoga was obliged to capitulate, and, in violation of the terms of his surrender, to enter upon that long and cruel imprisonment which has awakened the sympathy of every reader of Revolutionary story.
Allen attributed his disaster to Major Brown's failure to keep his engagement; but the commander-in-chief, and all the officers who mentioned the subject in their correspondence, fixed the blame upon his own rashness and obstinacy. This, to be sure, was not an absolutely fair test, as Allen's associates did not mani- fest the same indulgence towards his infirmities of temper, which posterity, with a grateful memory of his heroic virtues, has accorded. But, with whatever undue harshness of judg- ment Allen's contemporaries may have visited his leadership in this affair, the uniform conduct of John Brown compels us to believe, that, if all the circumstances of the case were known, they would fully justify his course. If he had failings as a commander, they certainly did not lie in the direction of excessive prudence, sluggishness in action, or remissness in duty. Of treachery, he was incapable. .
September passed, and the siege of St. Johns advanced but slowly. Discontent began to show itself in the army, which con- stantly embarrassed Montgomery by its disposition to interfere with his proper functions. About the 12th of October, he was informed by Major Brown that the general dissatisfaction was so great, that, unless something was soon done to allay it, there was danger that it would break out in open mutiny.
He therefore called a council of war, in which he found his own opinion opposed to that of every field-officer present. His views
1 Allen's narrative.
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were unchanged by this result ; but, while deeply regretting the decision of the council, he declared that he would not oppose the general sense of the army, but enforce it by every effort in his power.1 And Montgomery was always as good as his word.
But the siege continued to be retarded, as it had all along been, by the want of ammunition, and particularly of powder. It was even feared that this cause would compel the abandonment of the expedition altogether. In this dilemma, Schuyler, on the 29th of September, made an earnest application to the New-York Con- gress for at least five tons, to be sent forthwith to St. Johns. The Congress exerted itself zealously; but all that it could procure from its own resources was fourteen hundred pounds, and this only by resorting to the dangerous expedient of exhausting the county arsenals of the reserve stores, which they were, by law, required to keep. Gov. Trumbull, who was asked for a loan, had none to spare. The Continental Congress, "learning that Gen. Schuyler was in great distress for powder, ordered a single ton to be sent him from New-York City." But all which he received from any source furnished Montgomery but a temporary supply ; and a few days from the 18th of October would have entirely exhausted it.2
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