USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > Annapolis > Annals of Annapolis : comprising sundry notices of that old city from the period of the first settlements in its vicinity in the year 1649, until the war of 1812 ; together with various incidents in the history of Maryland, derived from early records, public documents, and other sources ; with an appendix, containing a number of letters from General Washington, and other distinguished persons, which letters have never been published before > Part 12
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'We sincerely congratulate you on your safe arrival here, and wish you all possible happiness and success in the execution of so important a trust. We admire and respect the character of a man who, disregarding the allurements of profit and distinction his merit might procure, engages in the cause of mankind, in defence of the injured, and the relief of the oppressed. From your character, from your great abilities and military
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experience, united with those of the commander-in- chief, under the smiles of Providence, we flatter our- selves with the prospect of discipline and order, success and victory.
'Be assured, sir, that it will give us great pleasure to contribute to your happiness. May the favour and blessings of heaven attend you. May divine Provi- dence guard and protect you, conduct you in the paths of honour and virtue, grant you the reward of the brave and virtuous, the applauses of mankind, and the approbation of your own conscience, and eternal happiness hereafter.'
To which general Lee replied,-
'Gentlemen : Nothing can be so flattering to me as the good opinion and approbation of the delegates of a free and uncorrupt people. I was educated in the highest reverence for the rights of mankind, and have acquired, by a long acquaintance, a most par- ticular regard for the people of America. You may depend, therefore, gentlemen, on my zeal and integrity. I can promise you nothing from my abilities. God Almighty grant us success, equal to the righteousness of the cause. I thank you, gentlemen, for an address which does me so much honour, and shall labour to deserve it.'
On the arrival of general Burgoyne in America, general Lee, who had been on terms of intimacy and friendship with him, addressed him a letter, in which he sets forth in bold relief the 'wickedness and treach- ery' of the British government, and expresses his deep regret that 'men of such a stamp as Mr. Bur- goyne and Mr. Howe, can be seduced into so impious and nefarious a service by the artifice of a wicked and
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insidious court and cabinet,'-and says, 'not less than 150,000 gentlemen, yeomen, and farmers are now in arms, determined to preserve their liberties or perish.' He defends the Americans against the charge of cow- ardice, and passes a high encomium on their bravery, and reminds him of some instances of the reverse, 'particularly where the late col. Grant (he who lately pledged himself for the general cowardice of America,) ran away with a large body of his own regiment, and was saved from destruction by the valor of a few Virginians.'
General Burgoyne, in reply to this letter, defends the course he pursued, and justifies that of his govern- ment, but expresses great personal regard for general Lee, and desires to have an interview with him, for the purpose of delivering into his own hand some letters, 'as well as to renew the rights of our fellow- ship.' To this general Lee replied by the following card :
'CAMBRIDGE, Head Quarters, July 11th, 1775.
'General Lee's compliments to general Burgoyne- would be extremely happy in the interview he so kindly proposed. But as he perceives that general Burgoyne has already made up his mind on this great subject, and that it is impossible that he (general Lee) should ever alter his opinion, he is apprehensive that the interview might create those jealousies and sus- picions so natural to a people struggling in the dearest of all causes, that of their liberty, property, wives, children, and their future generations. He must there- fore defer the happiness of embracing a man whom he most sincerely loves, until the subversion of the
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present tyrannical ministry and system, which he is persuaded must be in a few months, as he knows Great Britain cannot stand the contest. He begs general Burgoyne will send the letters which his aid- de-camp has for him. If Gardiner is his aid-de-camp, he desires his love to him.'*
1776. On the 21st of January, of this year, (1776,) we find the following proceedings were had by the council of safety, relative to the harbour of An- napolis :
'Resolved, That Messrs. Lancelot Jacques, Charles Wallace, William Hyde, Allen Quynn, James Brice, William Whetcroft, and Beriah Maybury, or any three of them, be requested to make a chart of the land and water at the mouth of this river, specifying the width and depth of the channel between Horn point and Greensbury's point, and some distance without and within the same.'
On the 16th of March following, the gentlemen returned a chart of their survey, but which, like many other of our public documents, is not to be found among the archives of our State.
The convention of Maryland appropriated the sum of five thousand nine hundred pounds to fortify this city. But the council of safety doubting the suffi- ciency of that appropriation to erect suitable fortifica- tions for the defence of the city, expressed their opinion to the convention that, with an additional sum, batteries might be erected on Greensbury's, -
* See Appendix, for a letter from general Lee to the president of the council of safety of Maryland, justificatory of the part he took in advising the seizure of the person and papers of governor Robert Edin-a letter replete with the noblest sentiments of patriot- ism and zeal, in the cause of American liberty.
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Horn, and Windmill points, and other places adjacent, between those places and the city, on the south side of the river, which would fully answer the purpose of preventing men-of-war approaching the town. They therefore asked, and obtained from the convention, authority to draw on the treasury for whatever sums they might deem necessary to complete the fortifi- cations, and to build a number of 'row-gallies or gondolas.'
Fortifications were accordingly erected on Horn point, Beamen's hill, and Windmill point, besides seve- ral breast-works which were made at various other places. These were all completed, with great vigour and perseverance, under the superintendance of Messrs. James Brice, John Bullen, Charles Wallace, William Wilkins, Beriah Maybury, John Brice, John Campbell, Joshua Fraizer, and Allen Quynn.
The council of safety, apprehending that the great number of slaughter-houses then in the city, would engender disease, adopted on the 22d day of July, the following order :
'Whereas, it hath been represented to the council of safety by physicians and others, that the intolerable stench arising from slaughter-houses and spreading green hides to dry in the city of Annapolis, may be productive of pestilential disorders and ill consequences to the troops and others residing in the said city. Therefore, ordered, that no butcher or other person shall, after the 26th day of this instant, presume to slaughter bullocks, mutton, or any kind of meat, or put up green hides to cure within the limits of said city for and during the term of three months, thence. next ensuing.'
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On the 18th of December, several of the citizens of Annapolis having received letters demanding their immediate departure from the city, and the council of safety being informed thereof, expressed their sense of the illegality of such a measure, by the following proceedings :
'In Council of Safety, Dec. 19, 1776.
'We are called upon by the duty of our station to take notice of the powers assumed by some persons yesterday evening in ordering divers of the inhabi- tants of the city of Annapolis into banishment, with- out any cause assigned, by cards transmitted them. We are of opinion such cards are contrary to our association, flying in the face of the resolves of con- gress and convention, and against the letter and spirit of our declaration of rights. The peace of the State ought and must be preserved, and all offenders brought before the proper judicatures for tryal. Therefore we earnestly recommend to all associators and other well disposed persons to discourage such extra-judicial and disorderly proceedings, tending in their consequences to prejudice the common cause, and to the destruction of order and regular government.'
And on the 23d of the same month, the following further proceedings were had :
' Whereas, we have received information that on Wednesday, the 18th day of this instant, (December) in the evening, cards were delivered to sundry persons in the city of Annapolis, to the following effect :
'You are hereby ordered to depart this city to-mor- row, 9 o'clock. Signed, J. WEEMS,
'In behalf of Anne Arundel county.'
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'Which cards we are informed were delivered by Stephen Steward, Junior, the council of safety having taken the same into consideration, are of opinion that such cards are contrary to the resolves of congress and convention, and against the 21st section of the decla- ration of rights, which asserts :
"That no freeman ought to be taken or imprisoned, or deprived of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.'
'Ordered, therefore, that the said John Weems and Stephen Steward, Junior, attend the council of safety on the thirtieth day of December, to shew by what authority the said cards were so made out and de- livered .?
On the 30th of December, colonel John Weems and Stephen Steward, Junior, accordingly appeared before the council of safety, and acknowledged that they had been active in making out and delivering the cards mentioned in the order of the board, and having pro- mised that they would not intermeddle in the same manner again, but would leave all persons to be dealt with according to the law of the land. They were dismissed by the council, on condition that they pay the messenger his fees.
On Tuesday, the 5th of March, about seven in the evening, information was received at this place, that a man-of-war and two tenders were coming up the bay,. and had taken a New England schooner lying at the mouth of the Patuxent river, the wind blowing hard at S. W. and the general expectation was, that they would be at Annapolis in a few hours, the necessary
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dispositions were made to receive them in case they thought proper to land, and expresses were despatched to Baltimore and other parts of the province, to com- municate the intelligence. Between twelve and one o'clock on Tuesday night the wind shifted, and blew a violent gale at N. W., and so continued all day on Wednesday, during which time there was no certain information of the position of the vessels. On Thurs- day there was a light breeze up the bay, and about two o'clock the vessels hove in sight, and at half past three came opposite to the city with some prizes, and stood up the bay. Off the mouth of this harbour they burnt a shallop loaded with oats, and in the evening anchored off the mouth of the Patapsco. On Friday night intelligence was received, that the vessels were the Otter sloop-of-war, and two tenders, and the gene- ral opinion was entertained, that they were going to Baltimore to take or destroy the ship Defence. The Defence, however, being got ready on Friday night, towed down the river, manned with a number of brave fellows, all of whom were Americans in their hearts, and most of them by birth, attended by several smaller vessels, crowded with men, to assist in case of an engagement. Captain Nicholson, of the Defence, got under way early on Saturday morning, resolved to re-take Hudson's ship, (a large vessel the Otter had made a prize of, loaded with wheat and flour,) and to engage the Otter, if she moved to assist the tenders which guarded the prize; the morning was thick and hazy, and the Defence got nearer to them than was expected, before they discovered her bearing down upon them, those on board the tenders appeared much alarmed, and pushed off with precipitation, and
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on a signal given, more hands were sent by the Otter to assist in rowing them off, which was effected with difficulty, leaving three or four small prizes, besides Hudson's ship, all of which fell into the hands of captain Nicholson, who having manned the prize ship, and seeing the Otter get under way, clued up her courses and prepared for battle, expecting her to come up, but the 'Otter' having waited about two hours, as if in expectation of captain Nicholson's coming down, at length bore away, and in the after- noon came to anchor off this port. Captain Nicholson continued his station some time, and having performed his duty in the most gallant manner, returned with his prizes to Baltimore.
On Sunday morning the Otter sloop and her tenders made sail and went down the bay. The regulars, militia, and the people in general, behaved on this occasion in the most spirited and patriotic manner.
At this period of gloom and general distress, balls were prohibited in this place, and throughout the province, by a resolve of the convention. The public mind at this period, disinclined as it was to the indul- gence of the ordinary pleasures and amusements of life, was devoted to matters of a serious character, and therefore musket and cannon balls lost none of the public favour under the interdiction referred to.
'ANNAPOLIS, July 6th, 1776.
'A declaration of the delegates of Maryland.
'To be exempt from parliamentary taxation, and to regulate their internal government and polity, the people of this colony have ever considered as their inherent and unalienable right : without the former,
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they can have no property; without the latter, no security for their lives or liberties.
'The parliament of Great Britain has of late claimed an uncontroulable right of binding these colonies in all cases whatsoever, to force an unconditional sub- mission to this claim, the legislative and executive powers of that State have invariably pursued for these ten years past, a studied system of oppression, by passing many impolitic, severe and cruel acts for raising a revenue from the colonists, by depriving them in many cases of the trial by jury, by altering the chartered constitution of one colony, and the entire stoppage of the trade of its capital, by cutting off all intercourse between the colonies, by restraining them from fishing on their own coasts, by extending the limits of and erecting an arbitrary government in the province of Quebec, by confiscating the property of the colonists taken on the seas, and compelling the crews of their vessels, under the pain of death, to act against their native country and dearest friends, by. declaring all seizures, detention, or destruction of the persons, or property of the colonists, to be legal and just.
'A war unjustly commenced, hath been prosecuted against the united colonies with cruelty, outrageous violence and perfidy ; slaves, savages and foreign mer- cenaries, have been meanly hired to rob a people of their property, liberty and lives ; a people guilty of no other crime than deeming the last of no esti- mation without the secure enjoyment of the former. Their humble and dutiful petitions for peace, liberty and safety, have been rejected with scorn; secure of and relying on foreign aid, not on his national forces,
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the unrelenting monarch of Britain hath at length avowed by his answer to the city of London, his determined and inexorable resolution of reducing these colonies to abject slavery.
'Compelled by dire necessity, either to surrender our properties, liberties and lives, into the hands of a British king and parliament, or to use such means as will most probably secure to us and our posterity. those invaluable blessings.
'We, the delegates of Maryland, in convention assembled, do declare, that the king of Great Britain has violated his compact with this people, and that they owe no allegiance to him. We have therefore thought it just and necessary to empower our deputies in congress to join with a majority of the united colonies in declaring them free and independent States, in framing such other confederacy between them, in making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for the preser- vation of their liberties ; provided the sole and exclu- sive rights of regulating the internal polity and govern- ment of this colony be reserved to the people thereof. We have also thought proper to call a new convention, for the purpose of establishing a government in this colony. No ambitious views, no desire of indepen- dence, induce the people of Maryland to form an union with the other colonies. To procure an exemption from parliamentary taxation, and to continue to the legislatures of these colonies the sole and exclusive right of regulating their internal polity, was our original and only motive.
"To maintain inviolate our liberties, and to trans- mit them unimpaired to posterity, was our duty and
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first wish; our next, to continue connected with, and dependent on Great Britain. For the truth of these assertions, we appeal to that Almighty Being who is emphatically styled the searcher of hearts, and from whose omniscience nothing is concealed. Relying on His divine protection and assistance, and trusting to the justice of our cause, we exhort and conjure every virtuous citizen to join cordially in defence of our common rights, and in maintenance of the freedom of this and her sister colonies.'*
'At a meeting of the associators of the city of An- napolis, on Thursday, the 11th of July, 1776.
'WILLIAM ROBERTS, EsQ., Chairman. 'JOHN DUCKETT, Clerk.
'1st. Resolved, That it is the duty of every inhabi- tant of the city of Annapolis, and all persons having property therein, to contribute every assistance in their power for the protection and defence of the city and the inhabitants thereof, and that Mr. James Brice, Mr. John Bullen, Mr. Charles Wallace, Mr. William Wil- kins, Mr. Beriah Maybury, Mr. John Brice and Mr. John Campbell, or a majority of them, or of any three or more of them, be a committee to act on behalf of the inhabitants of this city, and that they wait on the 'council of safety,' and inform them that the inhabitants will afford every assistance in their power for putting the city into the best posture of defence ; and that the inhabitants will in person, or by others employed at their expense, labour on any intrenchments or works, which the council shall think necessary.
'2d. Resolved, That the said committee be empow-
* See Appendix, for two letters from John Hancock, Esquire, to the convention of Maryland, one dated June 4th, and the other July 8th, 1776.
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ered to call on every inhabitant of the city, and every person having property therein, to labour in person, or to furnish some person to labour in his stead, at such time and place as the committee shall think proper, on the works as may be ordered by the council of safety, to be erected for the defence of the city.
'3d. Resolved, That the said committee be autho- rized to execute all matters which may be recom- mended by the council of safety, for the defence of the city, or for keeping the peace and good order therein.
'4th. Resolved, That no member of this meeting will, and that it is the opinion of the meeting that no inhabitant of the city of Annapolis ought, to buy from or employ, any merchant, tradesman,' or any other person who hath not subscribed the association.
'5th. Resolved, That application be made by the committee to the council of safety not to employ in the public service any non-associator, and that they be requested to give a preference to such trades- men and others as have manifested their attachment and zeal to the liberties of America.
'Ordered, That copies of the above resolutions be transmitted by the chairman to the associators of Bal- timore town for their opinion and concurrence.
'Ordered, That the names of the non-associators in this city be published and distributed among the inhabitants.
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'Resolved, That this meeting be adjourned to the 10th day of August next, and that the committee have power to call a meeting at any time before, if they shall think proper.
'True copy of the proceedings. .
'Test, JNO. DUCKETT, Clerk.'
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'ANNAPOLIS, July 11th, 1776.
'Yesterday evening six companies of the first bat- talion of Maryland troops stationed in this city, and commanded by Col. William Smallwood, embarked for the head of Elk in high spirits, and three compa- nies of the same battalion stationed in Baltimore town, embarked yesterday morning for the same place, from thence they are to proceed to Philadelphia.'
Extracts of a letter from Philadelphia, dated,
'July 6, 1776, Saturday morning.
'General Howe has landed a great body of troops on Staten Island : his force cannot be ascertained. General Washington and his troops are in high spirits. The strength of our army at New York cannot be ascertained, the militia pour in so fast that it is im- practicable. The Jersey militia, amounting to 3500, have acquired great honour, in forming and marching with such alacrity and expedition. They have for some time past got over to New York. The batta- lions of our city (every one of them) are marching to Trenton and Brunswick, in the Jerseys. The rifle battalion in the pay of this province, marched yester- day for the same places. The militia in the counties are also ordered to march: out of these bodies they mean to form their quota of the flying camp, to be posted in the Jerseys, and to be at the command of general Washington. It is expected that the lower counties and Maryland will immediately march their quotas of militia, to compose the flying camp, to this city, to defend it in the absence of its own battalions.
'Your hour of trial is come, your plighted faith, your public honour, the love of your country, and
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its dearest liberties, in this moment of imminent danger, demand that you instantly fly to the assistance of a sister colony.'
'Saturday, noon.
'An express is just arrived from general Wash- ington, Howe's army consists of 10,000 men : Admi- ral Howe is not yet arrived, but hourly expected with 150 sail, having on board 20,000 troops. The ene- my's grand army will consist of 30,000. The whole militia of this province are ordered to the Jerseys. We are in anxious expectation to hear from Mary- land, nor can we for a moment entertain a doubt that our brethren will not desert us, in the day of our dis- tress. The farmers here have left their harvest, and cast away the scythe for the musket. I should rejoice to hear you have imitated so laudable, so glorious an example.'
How Maryland responded to this appeal to her patriotism and love of country, is well known. The battle-fields of Long Island, White Plains, Camden, the Cowpens, and of Eutaw, tested the valor of her sons, and proved them to be worthy of the freedom they were resolved to achieve, or perish in the attempt.
In council, as well as in the field, they were ever found ready to support the freedom and independence of America.
Extracts of letters from New York.
'NEW YORK, August 27th, 1776.
'I sit down in the midst of confusion to tell you that our people have been engaged with the enemy on Long Island, all this morning, and are at it yet ; we cannot get at particulars.
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'P. S. The first battalion of New York, colonel Lasher, and the Pennsylvania and Maryland battalions behaved with the greatest bravery, even to a fault. They were commanded by Lord Sterling. We forced the enemy into their lines.'
'PHILADELPHIA, August 31st.
'You will no doubt be very anxious to receive a particular account of the late engagement between our troops and the enemy on Long Island.
'Smallwood's battalion of Marylanders were dis- tinguished in the field by the most intrepid courage, the most regular use of the musket, and judicious movements of the body. When our party was over- powered and broken by superior numbers surround- ing them on all sides, three companies of the Mary- land battalion broke the enemy's lines and fought their way through. Captain Veazey and lieutenant Butler, are among the honourable slain. The Mary- land battalion lost 200 men and twelve officers-severe fate. It is said our whole loss is five or six hundred.'
'NEW YORK, September 1.
'Last Monday morning we went over to Long Island,* and about midnight we were alarmed.' 'Upon which near three thousand men were ordered out, consisting chiefly of the Pennsylvania and Maryland troops.' 'The Delaware and Maryland battalions made one party.' 'Our orders were not to fire until the enemy came within fifty yards of us, but when they perceived we stood their fire so coolly and reso- lutely, they declined coming any nearer, although
* See Appendix, for an official account of this battle from colonel Smallwood, to the convention of Maryland,
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