USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 27
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1 Am. Ar., 4th ser. vol. iv. p. 907. 2 H. C. Van Schaack.
8 Jour. Cont. Cong., 1776.
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determine upon his conduct, and their sentence be carried into execution-there being no vacaney to which he could be appointed ; but, should he be honorably acquitted, his past services would recommend him to the confidence of Congress for future employ- ment." 1
In the previous February, after his regiment was disbanded, Col. Easton wrote to Gen. Washington, requesting to be again appointed to the command of a regiment in the northern army ; alleging that the application was made " in faithfulness to the dear deceased Gen. Montgomery and his commands, and obliged by a love of liberty and his country." " You will see, sir," said he, "by the letters and orders enclosed, the minds of the generals who wrote them." Washington replied, through his aid, that, not knowing how matters stood with regard to Easton's command, he thought it necessary to refer the case to Congress, if Col. Easton wished to raise a new regiment, and advised him to repair to Phil- adelphia, and produce there the honorable testimonials of his merit which he had sent for his own examination. "The services you have done your country in the last campaign," said the writer, " mentioned in the letters to you from the late gallant Gen. Mont- gomery, merit the acknowledgment of the public."
Col. Easton accordingly repaired to Philadelphia in April, and there laid before Congress, not only the request which he had made to Washington, but also petitions regarding other matters, which will appear from the action of that body upon them.
Col. Easton's claims for his services in the surprise of Ticonder- oga were referred to the committee of Albany, the claims of all other persons engaged in that affair having been disposed of in the same manner. It was resolved, that "as, from the testimonials produced by the petitioner, it appeared that he and his battalion behaved with great diligence, activity, and spirit, in the successful enterprise against Gen. Prescott, and the vessels and troops under his command," after the surrender of Montreal, and that, "to encourage the parties employed in that important service, Gen. Montgomery promised them all the public stores, except ammuni- tion and provisions, which should be taken in the vessels; and as the petitioner alleged that no part of those stores was delivered, nor any composition made to the troops concerned in the acquisi-
1 Am. Ar., 5th ser. vol. i. p. 1597.
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tion,"- therefore it was recommended to the general commanding in Canada to appoint commissioners to estimate the stores, and pay the value thereof to the officers and men employed in that service, in such proportions as the commissioners should determine. As the petitioner's account of regimental receipts and disbursements on which he claimed a balance due could only be adjusted in Can- ada, the settlement was referred to the Congressional commissioners in that Province. But, as Col. Easton was in want of money, two hundred dollars were ordered to be advanced him.
With regard to Col. Easton's request respecting a court of in- quiry concerning his own conduct and that of Major Brown in the Sorel affair, " as Gen. Arnold had, on the first of February, alleged to Congress that both officers were accused of acts which would bring great scandal upon the American arms, and produce great disgust in the army in general, if either of them were promoted until these matters were cleared up; and as Easton asserted his innocence, declaring that he neither plundered, nor directed, nor was privy to the plundering of any prisoner, or other person whatso- ever ; considering, therefore, on one hand, the aggravated nature of this charge, which was an impediment to the petitioner's promo- tion, and, on the other, the great confidence reposed in him by Gen. Montgomery, and the essential service which he had ren- dered his country,"-Congress instructed its commissioners in Canada to institute an inquiry, by court-martial or otherwise, into the charges against him, giving him an opportunity of making his defence, and to transmit their proceedings thereon to Congress, in order that justice might be done the petitioner if he had been accused without sufficient reason.1 But a new difficulty here beset the unfortunate colonel, whether by the instigation of Arnold does not appear. He was arrested, and thrown into prison, for a debt of fifteen hundred pounds, "York currency," and had no remedy but to apply to Congress, which he did in the following terms, after acknowledging his indebtedness for the sum for which he was sued, and nine hundred pounds in addition : -
" I have due two thousand pounds lawful money. My creditors have a landed security of what I value at three thousand pounds lawful money: In several letters they have received from me since I came to this place, I have offered my land and my outstanding debts at an honest appraisal ;
1 Am. Ar., 4th ser., vol. v. p. 1690.
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in short, I have done every thing in my power to get a settlement, but have heard nothing from them. There is no such thing as obliging people to pay their debts in the Massachusetts by the resolves of the honorable Congress.
I ought to be on my way to Canada. This settlement with the commission- ers appointed by Congress requires it; a settlement of my regimental accounts of five captains still in the service at Canada, the getting the stores and vessels taken by the regiment appraised, the court of inquiry to be holden there in regard to Major Brown and myself, and many other important matters, all urge it; in short, I am in pain to see the event of Quebec." 1
Congress granted the enlargement requested by Col. Easton, and he returned to Canada; but, before he reached that Provinec, it had been evacuated by the American forces, and he appears to have profited nothing by the Congressional orders in his favor. From that time he seems to have abandoned in despair the attempt to obtain justice, at least against Arnold, and remained inactive, save when volunteering in the militia, which he did as often as opportunity presented.
Col. Brown was more persistent; and having armed himself with the order of Congress passed in July, for a court of inquiry in his case, and its confirmation of his rank as lieutenant-colonel in August, and being assigned to Col. Elmore's Connectieut regi- ment, - he returned to the army in the latter month, and forwarded his papers to Gen. Gates, who had, for a time, supplanted Schuy. ler in the northern command. From him, he asked a compliance with the directions of Congress : but Arnold, who had acquired even greater influence over the new and less manly commander than he had possessed with Schuyler, was able to ward off the investigation, which, with good reason, he dreaded; and, on his instigation, Gates had the assurance to refer the matter to the Board of War.
Wearied with vain efforts to obtain a vindication of his charac- ter by a court of inquiry upon his own conduct, and hopeless of effecting it in that manner, Col. Brown now adopted a new line of procedure, and preferred to Gen. Gates the following serious charges against Arnold, whom he insisted should be arrested, and tried upon the several specifications : -
1 Am. Ar., 4th ser., vol. v. p. 1234.
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To the Honorable HORATIO GATES, EsQ., Major-General in the Army of the United States of America, commanding at Albany.
Humbly sheweth, that, in the month of February last, Brig .- Gen. Arnold transmitted to the honorable Continental Congress, an unjustifiable, false, wicked, and malicious accusation against me, and my character as an officer in their service, at the time when I was under his immediate command ; that, had there been the least ground for such an accusation, the author thereof had it in his power - indeed, it was his duty - to have me brought to a fair trial by a general court-martial in the country where the pretended crime is said to have originated ; that I was left to the necessity of applying to Congress, not only for the charge against me, but for an order for a court of inquiry on my own conduct in respect thereto; that, in consequence of my application, I obtained a positive order of Congress to the then general commanding the Northern Department for a court of inquiry, before whom I might justify my injured character; that the said order was transmitted to your Honor at Ticonderoga, in the month of August last; and, notwithstanding the most ardent solicitations on my part, the order of Congress has not yet been complied with; that, upon my renewing my application to your Honor for a court of inquiry, you were pleased to re- fer me to the Board of War.
Thus I have been led an expensive dance, from generals to Congress, and from Congress to generals ; and I am now referred to a Board of War, who, I venture to say, have never yet taken cognizance of any such matter; nor do I think it, with great submission to your Honor, any part of their duty. I must therefore conclude, that this information, from the mode of its origin, as well as from the repeated evasions of a fair hearing, is now rested upon the author's own shoulders.
I therefore beg that your Honor will please to order Brig .- Gen. Arnold in arrest for the following erimes, which I am ready to verify, viz. :-
1st. For endeavoring to asperse your petitioner's personal character in the most infamous manner.
2d. For unwarrantably degrading and reducing the rank conferred on your petitioner by his (Gen. Arnold's) superior officer, and subjecting your petitioner to serve in an inferior rank to that to which he had been appointed.
3d. For ungentlemanlike conduct in his letter to Gen. Wooster, of the 25th of January last, charging your petitioner with a falsehood, and in a private manner, which is justly chargeable on himself.
4th. For suffering the small-pox to spread in the camp before Quebec, and promoting inoculation there in the Continental army.
5th. For depriving a part of the army under his command of their usual allowance of provisions ordered by Congress.
6th. For interfering with and countermanding the order of his superior officer.
7th. For plundering the inhabitants of Montreal, in direct violation of a
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solemn capitulation, or agreement, entered into with them by our late brave and worthy Gen. Montgomery, to the eternal disgrace of the Continental arms.
8th. For giving unjustifiable, unwarrantable, cruel, and bloody orders, directing whole villages to be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof put to death by fire and sword, without any distinction to friend or foe, age or sex.
9th. For entering into an unwarrantable, unjustifiable, and partial agree- ment with Capt. Foster for the exchange of prisoners taken at the Cedars, without the knowledge, advice, or consent of any officer then there present with him on the spot.
10th. For ordering inoculation of the Continental Army at Sorel, without the knowledge of, and contrary to the intentions of, the general commanding that Northern Department ; by which fatal consequences ensued.
11th. For great misconduct in his command of the Continental fleet on Lake Champlain, which occasioned the loss thereof.
12th. For great misconduct during his command from the camp at Cam- bridge, in the year 1775, until he was superseded by Gen. Montgomery, at Point Aux-Tremble, near Quebec.
13th. For disobedience of the orders of his superior officers, while acting by a commission from the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay; and for a disobedience of the orders of a committee of the same Congress, sent from that State to inspeet his conduet, and also for insulting, abusing, and imprisoning the said committee; as also for a treason- able attempt to make his escape with the navigation men, at or near Ticon- deroga, to the enemy at St. Johns, which obliged the then commanding officer at Ticonderoga and its dependencies to issue a positive order to the officers commanding our batteries at Crown Point, to stop or sink the vessels attempting to pass that post, and by force of arms to make a prisoner of the said Gen. Arnold (then a colonel), which was accordingly donc.
JOHN BROWN, Lieutenant-Colonel.
ALBANY, Ist. Dec., 1776.1
Col. Brown transmitted this impeachment to Congress as well as to Gates; but such was the reputation and favor which Arnold's dash and gallantry, shrewdly turned to account by his meanly intriguing spirit, had won for him, that nothing came of either presentment.
Congress allowed its admiration for one bold and active officer to lead it into gross injustice towards another. Nothing, therefore, was left to Brown but to appeal to still another tribunal, - the people of the country. This he did in a paper which was
1 H. C. V. S. Col.
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published at Pittsfield, April 12, 1777.1 The substance of its contents is contained in the foregoing pages, and we quote but one paragraph : -
" I appeal to every person of common understanding, whether in a mili- tary character or not, that, if Gen. Arnold did not know himself guilty of the charges laid against him, he would not have endeavored to bring himself to a trial, to clear up his character, which, had he been able to do, he cer- tainly might have called his impeachers to account for false and malicious charges, and put the saddle upon the other horse ; but, very far from this, he has used every possible art to prevent a trial, as if his character was not worth a sixpence."
In the winter of 1777 occurred an incident which is thus related in Col. Stone's Life of Brant : -
" During the winter of 1776-7, while Arnold and many of the officers were quartered at Albany, . .. Arnold was at the head of a mess of six- teen or eighteen officers, among whom was Col. Morgan Lewis. Col. Brown having weak eyes, and being obliged to live abstemiously, occupied quar- ters affording greater retirement. . . Col. Brown published a hand- bill, attacking Arnold with great severity, rehearsing the suspicious circum- stances that had occurred at Sorel ; and upbraiding him for sacking the city of Montreal while he was in the occupancy of that place. The handbill concluded with these remarkable words : 'Money is this man's God ; and, to get enough of it, he would sacrifice his country.'
" Such a publication could not but produce a great sensation among the officers. It was received at Arnold's quarters while the mess were at dinner, and read aloud at the table; the accused himself sitting at the head. Arnold, of course, was greatly excited, and applied a variety of cpithets, coarse and harsh, to Col. Brown, pronouncing him a scoundrel, and declaring that he would kick him whenever and wherever he should meet him. One of the officers present remarked that Col. Brown was his friend, and that, as the remarks just applied to him had been so publicly made, he presumed there could be no objection to his repeating them to that officer. Arnold replied, ' Certainly not ;' adding, that he should feel himself obliged to any officer who would inform Col. Brown of what he had said. The officer replied, that he should do so before he slept. Under these circumstances, no time was lost in making the communication to Col. Brown. Col. Lewis himself called upon Brown in the course of the evening, and the matter was the principal topic of conversation.
" The colonel was a mild and amiable man, and he made no remark of par- ticular harshness or bitterness in respect to Arnold; but, towards the close of
1 H. C. V. S. Col.
18
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the interview, he observed, ' Well, Lewis, I wish you would invite me to dine with your mess to-morrow.'
"' With all my heart,' was the reply. 'Will you come ?'
" Brown said he would, and they parted.
" The next day, near the time of serving dinner, Col. Brown arrived, and was ushered in.
" The table was spread in a long room, at one end of which the door opened directly opposite to the fireplace at the other. Arnold was standing at the moment with his back to the fire ; so that, as Brown opened the door, they at once encountered each other face to face. It was a moment of breathless interest for the result. Brown walked calmly in, and, turning to avoid the table, passed around with a deliberate step, and, advancing up close to Arnold, stopped, and looked directly in his eye. After the pause of a mo- ment, he observed, ' I understand, sir, that you have said you would kick me. I now present myself to give you an opportunity to put your threat into execu- tion." Another brief pause ensued. Arnold opened not his lips. Brown then said to him, 'Sir, you are a dirty scoundrel.' Arnold was still silent as the Sphinx : whereupon Brown turned upon his heel with dignity, apolo- gized to the gentlemen present for his intrusion, and left the room.
" This was certainly an extraordinary scene; and more extraordinary still is the fact that the particulars have never been communicated in any way to the public. Arnold certainly did not lack personal bravery ; and the un- broken silence preserved by him on this occasion can only be accounted for upon the supposition that he feared to provoke inquiry upon the subject. while at the same time he could throw himself upon his well-attested courage and rank as excuses for not stooping to a controversy with a subordinate officer. But it still must be regarded as one of the most remarkable personal interviews to be found among the memorabilia of military men. 1 "
Arnold in May, 1777, forwarded to Congress a copy of Brown's Pittsfield appeal, which was referred to the Board of War, "together with such complaints as had been lodged against Gen. Arnold." But the Board, acting entirely ex parte, giving no notice to Brown, or any other complainant, that they might appear and substantiate, if they were able, the truth of their charges, acquitted Arnold on the strength of his own assertions, corroborated by the statements of Carroll of Carrolton, who had been one of the com- mittee to visit Canada, but had had no opportunity personally to know the facts. And the Board not only acquitted Arnold in this strange way, but convicted Brown without a hearing - notwith- standing his long seeking for open trial and even-handed justice -
1 The particulars of this story were derived by Col. Stone from the lips of Col. Lewis himself.
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COLLEGE
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of having " cruelly and unjustly aspersed the character" of the man who had as sedulously avoided scrutiny as his accusers had courted it.
Col. Brown knew nothing of these proceedings until the follow- ing November. On the 22d of the previous February, he had resigned his commission in the Continental army, being "deter- mined that no power on earth should force him to serve with an officer who was impeached of treason and every thing else, unless he was brought to justice." He now forwarded to Congress the following spirited remonstrance1 in which he exposed pointedly and forcibly the absurdity and illegality of their conduct in the case, and the gross injustice which had been perpetrated against himself.
TO THE HONORABLE THE CONGRESS.
The Memorial and Remonstrance of John Brown of the State of the Massachusetts Bay humbly sheweth, That in the month of March, 1777, your petitioner was passing through Yorktown to the southward, when he waited on the Honorable Charles Thompson, Esq., Secretary to Congress, who favored your petitioner with a copy of the very extraordinary trial of Gen. Arnold, from which the following is an extract : -
" In Congress, May 20, 1777 .- A letter of this date from Gen. Arnold, with a printed paper enclosed, 'signed John Brown,' was read. Ordered, That the same be referred to the Board of War, together with such com- plaints as have been lodged against Gen. Arnold."
By this your petitioner would suppose, that the Board of War were directed, not only to take into consideration his complaint, but all others that had been lodged against Gen. Arnold, particularly those lodged by a gene- ral court-martial, composed of thirteen of the principal officers at Ticonde- roga, in the year 1776, as well as those lodged by Col. Hazen and others, although it does not appear that any other matter of complaint was deter- mined upon but that contained in the handbill, signed John Brown, on which the Board of War reported, -
" That the general laid before them a variety of original letters, orders, and other papers, which, together with the general's account of his conduct, confirmed by Mr. Carroll, one of the late commissioners in Canada, and now a member of this Board, have given entire satisfaction to this Board con- cerning the general's character, so cruelly and groundlessly aspersed in the publication."
Your petitioner begs leave to affirm, that Mr. Carroll, whatever he might wish, knew nothing, more or less, as a witness concerning the charge laid against Gen. Arnold, owing to an unlucky alibi which happened with respect to him, in regard to all the charges laid in the complaint. Still, how far his
1 Collection of H. C. Van Schaack, Esq.
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evidence might go in assisting General Arnold in proving his negatives, I do not pretend to say, as this is to me an entirely new mode of trial. First, because one of the parties was not notified, or present at the same, eonse- quently ex parte, unconstitutional, and illegal on every principle. Secondly, because there was not one witness present at the trial who ever had it in his power to know any thing of his own knowledge respecting one of the charges laid in the complaint. Thirdly, with great submission to the honorable Con- gress, they had not the least right to take cognizance of the erimes mentioned in my complaint. For the truth of this assertion, I beg leave to refer them to the military laws by them composed and instituted for the regulation of the army, which are the only security and protection of the officers and soldiers belonging to the same ; consequently no other court or tribunal ean have any right to take cognizance of the crimes mentioned in my complaint, but that of a court-martial, and therefore the trial of the general, above recited, was a nullity, to all intents and purposes.
However, should your Congress be of a different opinion respecting this matter, and that the trial of Gen. Arnold was legal and constitutional, he then expeets that Congress will give him the same indulgences and latitude, and that he may be heard by Congress on the subject of his impeachment of the general, in which case the general's presence and witnesses will not be necessary.
Your petitioner therefore esteems it a great grievance, that Congress, by the trial aforesaid, have resolved and published, and authorized Gen. Arnold to publish to the world, that he, your petitioner, has been guilty of publish- ing false and groundless assertions and complaints against a general officer, when, at the same time, every article in the impeachment was saeredly true, and could have been proved so could a proper trial have been obtained, of which Gen. Arnold was well apprised, or he would have been as fond of his trial in the army as his impeachers were. It is possible that Gen. Arnold might have suggested to Congress that your petitioner was not an officer at the time he solieited his trial. As to this matter, your petitioner has not as yet been informed whether his resignation has been accepted or not. Indeed, he cannot suppose it compatible with the wisdom and dignity of Congress to discharge any of their officers for the reasons set forth in your petitioner's letter accompanying his resignation, as he then stood impeached by the same Gen. Arnold of high crimes, which, if true, affected the reputation of the United States ; and Gen. Arnold's sacred character stood impeached by your petitioner of thirteen capital charges, which, in the opinion of those most knowing, might have effected the loss of that honest man in conse- quence of a proper trial before a generous court-martial. Your petitioner presumes his resignation was not accepted by Congress. Let this matter be as it may, Congress is sensible that he was not out of service from the commencement of the war until the reduction of the British army under Gen. Burgoyne, in which he arrogates to himself some share of eredit (sinee no one else is willing to give it to him.) Your petitioner is sensible, that
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Congress, at the time of Arnold's application for a trial, were embarrassed on all questions, and no doubt labored under high prejudice with respect to your petitioner's character, owing, perhaps, to representation made there by Gen. Gates, who, it is possible, has been mistaken in his friend Arnold ; which prejudices your petitioner hopes time and events have eradieated. He can assure Congress that he hopes and wishes for nothing but common justice, although the history of the war, and his present infirmities incurred therein, might entitle him to something more. But to stand convicted, by a deeree of Congress, of publishing cruel and groundless libels, without a hearing, while actually fighting for liberty, is intolerable in a free country, and has a direct tendency to cheek the ambition, and even disaffect those men by whose wisdom, valor, and perseverance America is to be made free, not to mention the dangerous precedent such trials may afford. Your petitioner, therefore, implores your House to reconsider their determination on his im- peachment of Gen. Arnold, as there cannot, at this date, exist a possibility of doubt that the same was presented, and furnished Gen. Arnold with a foundation to establish a character on the ruins of a man, who, to speak moderately, has rendered his country as essential service as that dangerous general, whose reasons for evading a trial at a proper tribunal are very obvious, and fully suggested in my impeachment on which the general had his trial, by which it appears that Gen. Arnold was rescued out of the hands of justice by mere dint of authority exercised by Gen. Gates. Your petitioner, relying on the wisdom and justice of Congress, begs leave to subscribe himself most respectfully
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