USA > Maryland > Chronicles of colonial Maryland, with illustrations > Part 24
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But the clouds that hung so heavily over Valley Forge had their silver lining. The masterly strategy of Washington in handling Howe during the previous summer and fall, and the winning of Saratoga, had deeply impressed France, and had paved the way for an offensive and defensive alliance with that power. This was promptly effected, and France began immediate preparations to send to America both men and money. The intrigues too, which Horatio Gates had been plotting, through the Conway Cabal, to get himself put in Washington's place, were now brought to an end. When it became known that Gates, who by similar plotting had sup- erceded Schuyler in the command of the Northern Army, was not really in active service in the heat of the battle of Sara- toga, and that at its most critical moment he was not on the field at all, but in his headquarters, and that Schuyler and Arnold and Morgan had really fought the battle and won it, and yet, that in his report, which he had the discourtesy to send to Congress instead of to his Commander-in-chief, he had not even had the frankness and generosity to mention the names of those officers, and that he was implicated in the
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Conway Cabal, he was dismissed from the Board of War and assigned to duty at the forts on the Hudson.
The presence too, of Baron Von Stubens, a German officer of high rank and a military teacher of great renown, at Valley Forge, proved to be a genuine ray of sunshine. He had come to help the American cause, and to do so, he spent that winter in instructing the troops with painstaking care in the military tactics by which the best results could be won, and by the advent of spring, he had an army, though small and ragged, that was well drilled both in the use of arms and in movements.
Maryland, during the winter and spring, raised 2,902 men, the quarto demanded by Congress, and by June they were with the Maryland Line on the field.
General Howe having resigned, Sir Henry Clinton early in May reached Philadelphia to assume command of the British forces. Fearing that Washington on the land side and the French fleet on the water side, and which was destined soon to arrive, might bottle him up there, he determined to evacuate Philadelphia, and on the 18th of June, having sent his sick and stores by water, set out on the march to New York, with his army of 12,000 men. Washington started after him in hot pursuit, and on the 28th occurred the battle of Monmouth, one of the most hotly contested engagements of the Revolution, and on one of the hottest days of the year.
General Charles Lee, shortly afterwards dismissed from the army, with 4,000 men was ordered to make the advance, while Washington with the rest of the main army assumed position. Lafayette, who had become suspicious of Lee, hur- ried a messenger for the Commander-in-chief. When he dashed upon the scene, he was astounded to find Lee in confus- ion and rapidly retreating, instead of making the attack as or- dered. In thundering and withering tones he demanded of Lee the reason for such conduct, but receiving none that really explained it, he ordered colonels Ramsey and Stewart of the Maryland Line, to form under Wayne and hold the enemy until he could restore order in Lee's broken and fugitive col- umns, and form the line of battle, saying to Ramsey and
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Stewart: "If you can stop the British for ten minutes, until I form, you will save my army". Under a most galling and deadly fire, the brave Marylanders undertook the task, and with undaunted defiance threw themselves upon the enemy and checked the advance, not for ten minutes only but for half an hour and until order had been restored. In this engagement, which came to be a hand to hand fight, Colonel Ramsey fell after having received a number of fatal wounds. The line formed, with Stirling on the left, Green on the right and Washington in the center, the battle soon became general and was fought with desperate spirit and vigor on both sides. In the heat of it, Wayne, who had done such effective work with the Maryland brigade in the morning, was now destined to win further laurels. He boldly attacked the British cen- ter, occupied by the "Royal Grenadiers" and repeatedly re- pulsed them, in the final charge pouring such a volley of de- struction into their ranks that nearly every officer fell, in- cluding their gallant Commander, Colonel Monckton. A des- perate hand to hand fight occurred over his body, but Wayne carried it off the field. But even with this brilliant victory, the scales were still only about evenly balanced. Washington now ordered his right wing, consisting of Smallwood's Mary- land and Patterson's Massachusetts, to action. They came forward with resolution and steadiness, and in the language of Captain Jacobs, of the 6th Maryland regiment, they "had the pleasure of driving the enemy off the field of Monmouth". That night, Clinton, under cover of darkness, slipped away and finally landed in New York. Washington, by slow marches, through the intense heat, went up to White Plains on the Hud- son, and there occupied his former strong position.
The battle of Monmouth, it is conceded, was most skill- fully conducted on both sides, Washington and Clinton both displaying extraordinary generalship. Considering its intens- ity and the length of time it was raging, the mortality of the day was surprisingly low, owing in part, to the sheltered posi- tion that both sides much of the time occupied. The British loss was about 400 and the American about 300. The tem-
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perature was around 96 in the shade nearly all day, and many men on both sides died from sunstroke.
Monmouth was the only battle of the Revolution in which troops from all of the thirteen colonies participated, and the only one in which a woman acted the part of a cannoneer, Mollie Pitcher, seeing her husband fall, rushed to his aid and finding him dead, gallantly took his place and bravely main- tained it during the rest of the battle. For her heroism Wash- ington made her a lieutenant and Congress placed her on the roll at half pay for life.
Washington, now advised of the arrival of the French fleet of twelve ships and six frigates, and a land force of 4,000 men, determined to call the new allies into action and by form- ing a juncture with them, strike a crushing blow upon New Port, where the British had 6,000 men under Sir Robert Pigat. The expedition was assigned to Sullivan, who was sta- tioned nearby, and whom Washington re-inforced with 1,500 picked men under Green, Lafayette and Glover. To these were added a large number of yeomanry from New England, which had been greatly harassed by the garrison at Newport, thus giving Sullivan an army of about 9,000 men. With this force, aided by the French fleet and the 4,000 French troops, the game seemed to be one which ought to be easily and quickly won. The plan of attack was admirably arranged, but it was destined to fall through. The land forces were to enter the Island from three sides, while the fleet was to lay to the south side. Count D'Estaing, Commander of the allies, reached there on the 29th of July and began unloading his troops when the British navy arrived on the scene. D'Estaing at once ordered his troops aboard the ships and sailed off to meet the enemy, leaving Sul- livan to cope with the situation as best he could. A terrific storm now came up and drove both fleets so far out at sea that D'Estaing did not get back for twenty days, and when he did return, promptly sailed away with his entire navy and army for Boston to repair his ships. Sullivan, thus deserted, the New England men having become disheartened and gone home, and learning that Clinton was hurrying 5,000 additional troops
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there, recrossed to the main land and the brilliantly planned siege of Newport was over.
D'Estaing now moved down the coast to the West In- dies, to join his countrymen there at war with England, declared almost as soon as the Franco-American alliance had been formed. This conduct of D'Estaing aroused intense indignation all over the country and greatly shattered the hopes that, the French alliance would speedily end the war. Indirectly, it did materially help the American cause from the beginning, for it brought on war between England and France, thus not only preventing England from sending additional troops to America, but made it necessary that a part of those already here be withdrawn for other fields of battle. These indirect results, were destined to be followed later on, as will be seen, by the most active service and splendid achievement of the French army and navy in the cause of American independence. It opened the way too, by which that dashing naval Com- mander, John Paul Jones, with a little fleet fitted up by France, proclaimed to the world the rise of a new American sea power, and with which, he won a victory so brilliant in its achieve- ments that it produced a most profound and salutary moral effect throughout the civilized world. Cruising in the British seas, off the coast of Scotland, he encountered a fleet of British merchantmen, under convoy of the powerfully armed cruiser, the Serapis, carrying sixty-three guns and 320 trained seamen. Though his own flagship, the Richard, was neither mounted or manned so strongly, on the night of the 23rd of September, 1779, by a skillful manoeuver Jones got the Serapis lashed to the Richard, and thus, muzzle to muzzle, he fought and won the most desperate and murderous sea battle ever recorded, per- haps, in naval history.
After the failure of the attack upon Newport nothing fur- ther occurred during the fall of importance, except that the opposing armies successfully held each other at bay, neither caring to risk a drawn battle.
Early in December, Washington went into winter quar- ters in New Jersey for the protection of that State-the Mary- land Line being stationed at Middlebrook, that place being also the headquarters of the Commander-in-chief.
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CAMPAIGN OF 1779
Maryland's quota for the campaign of 1779, as apportioned by Congress, was 2,849 men, and Washington was urged to send forward promptly efficient officers to properly effect the enlistment and thus hasten the recruiting service, the sum of $2,000 being appropriated for that purpose. The de- preciation in Continental currency had become so great that Smallwood, on behalf of the officers of the Maryland Line, was now constrained to ask that better provision be made for their support and addressed to the Governor and General Assembly of Maryland, an appeal in which he says: "We beg leave, most respectfully, to represent to your Excellency and Honors that the several provisions heretofore made by the Legislature for the subsistance of her officers, have by no means been adequate that a zeal for the public cause, and an ardent desire to promote the happiness and interest of their country have, notwithstanding, induced them to con- tinue in the service to the very great prejudice of their pri- vate fortune; many of which being now entirely exhausted, we find ourselves under the painful and humiliating necessity of soliciting further support and the disposition of a generous and grateful people to reward the services of the faithful sons and servants of the State. The very great de- preciation of the Continental currency renders this absolutely necessary to enable us to continue a service in which nothing but a love of liberty and the rights of mankind can contain us". This communication received immediate atten- tion and an Act was passed for the relief of the officers and sol- diers of The Maryland Line which seemed to be just and adequate.
The winter at Middlebrook was a severe and trying one, though the army was in better condition than when at Valley Forge, and the suffering was less intense. Both armies were content to simply watch each other, though the British did make in February an attempt to take Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Smallwood, with the Maryland Line and Saint Clare's Pennsylvania division, was ordered out to form a juncture
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with Maxwell, stationed nearby, and repulse the enemy, but no engagement took place. The British changed their minds and retreated to Staten Island.
The atrocities which had been perpetrated the year be- fore upon the inhabitants of the Wyoming Valley and North- western New York by bands of Tories and certain tribes of the six nations, led by Colonel John Butler of the British Army and Sir William Johnson, English Agent at New York, stood almost without a parallel in savage warfare. The coun- try was pillaged and devastated, aged men and innocent chil- dren were butchered, burned and tortured to death, while the women shared either the same fate or were left to the passions of a brutal soldiery. Skirmishing parties which had been sent out to assist in protecting the frontier settlement, when surprised and captured, as frequently occurred, were treated with a cruelty that beggared description. Among those called upon to share this horrible fate, was Pulaski's legion, composed principally of Maryland men, and whose heroism and gallantry had been so often proven. Fifty-five of them were surrounded and captured by Ferguson at night, and after a most wanton and cruel torture, fifty of them were in cold blood bayonetted and massacred. Such marooning ex- peditions were unworthy of an enlightened people or of a civilized soldiery, and yet, the English War Secretary, urged that the raids be continued and in the appropriations for the support of the war, was one for scalping knives, a lasting shame and a reproach to a boasted civilization. Washington determined to send out a force sufficient to put an end to this terrible carnage, even though it should leave the rest of the army, for the time being, too weak for a drawn battle with Clinton. He offered the command to Gates, but he declined the perilous undertaking. Sullivan, however, was equal to the occasion and early in the summer he started with an army of 5,000 men on his long march, with instructions "To lay waste to country of the hostile Iroquois and capture the nest of Tory miscreants", and he executed the order both in letter and spirit. At New Town, now Elmira, he encountered 1,500 Tories, gave them a battle and routed them with enor-
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mous loss, and following up this, he waged upon the Iroquois and their country, a war of such furor and destruction that their country was left a desert, and the tribe itself too weak, both in numbers and prestige, to ever again become a disturbing factor in the American Revolution. This acco.nplished, Sul- livan returned with his army after a march of seven hundred miles.
While these events were going on in the north, Washing- ton resolved upon the capture of Stony Point, a high, bold, rocky formation projecting out into the Hudson below West Point, and which was cut off from the mainland except at low tide. It was heavily mounted and strongly garrisoned. The dauntless Anthony Wayne asked to be permitted to lead the assault and he was given 1,200 men, Washington having first personally inspected the situation and its surroundings. The attack was as skillfully planned as it was heroically exe- cuted. The dogs in the neighborhood were quietly destroyed, every gun was ordered unloaded for fear that a bark or an accidental shot might sound the alarm, and a fruit vendor whose habit it was to visit the garrison, was employed as a guide. On the night of July 15th the start was made. Be- fore reaching the point, Wayne arranged his men of whom 150 volunteers, under Colonel Fleury, were to form the right vanguard, and 100 volunteers chiefly Maryland men, under Major Stewart, of the Maryland Line, were to form the left. The two were to scale the point on opposite sides, and at the same time, each being preceded by a "forlorn hope" of 20 men, led by lieutenants Gibben and Knox. At the hour of low tide the marshy causeway was crossed and the guide was advanced with a few men, dressed as farmers, to give the countersign and arrest and gag the sentinels. This done, each wing with fixed bayonets, stealthily made its way to the top of the precipice and had nearly reached it before they were discovered. The pickets opened fire, and the garrison now aroused, was soon in an uproar and every man at his place pouring a volley of musketry and grape into the assaulting columns. But by a deadly use of the bayonet they overcame every obstacle, and with a resistless rush swept everything
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before them and Stony Point was taken. "The storming of Stony Point", says Irving, "stands out in high relief, as one of the most brilliant achievements of the war. The Americans had effected it without firing a musket. On their part it was a silent, deadly work of the bayonet ; the fierce resistance they met at the outset may be judged by the havoc made in their forlorn hope ; out of 22 men, 17 were either killed or wounded. The whole loss of the Americans was 15 killed and 83 wounded. Of the garrison, 83 were slain, including two officers, 553 were taken prisoners, among whom were a lieutenant-colonel, four captains and twenty-three subaltern officers". This act of heroism was warmly applauded, and Congress, in testi- mony of its appreciation of their brave, prudent and soldiery conduct, ordered a gold medal to be struck and presented to General Wayne and a silver one each to Colonel Fleury and Major Stewart. The ordnances and stores captured at Stony Point were estimated to be worth $158,640, and these were divided among the officers and troops, in accordance with their rank.
The capture of Stony Point was soon followed by another daring venture, the surprise of Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, and within cannon shot of the main army with Clinton in New York. The expedition was entrusted to light horse Harry Lee, who had made himself acquainted with the con- ditions of the garrison there, and it was executed in true military order. On the night of the 19th of July, a march of twenty miles was started, with a detachment of the Mary- land Line, under Captain Levin Handy in front. Paulus Hook was reached at four o'clock. The advance upon it was in three columns, and it was made so noiselessly that the works had almost been gained before the movement was discovered. A determined dash, with fixed bayonets, threw the sleepy and careless enemy into consternation and, after a loss of 50 men by the deadly bayonet, for not a shot was fired by the assault- ing party, the garrison surrendered. Fearing that the firing had aroused Clinton in New York, Lee now beat a hasty retreat, and though he had a long marsh to cross and water "breast deep" to wade, he reached the line early the next morn-
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ing, having taken with him 164 prisoners, including several officers. This surprise was a marvel in execution, for the storming and gaining of Paulus Hook were made with the loss of only two men. From Colonel Lee's report to Con- gress, the Maryland men sustained their record for valor and steady bearing. In it he says: "In my report to General Washington * * * I did not tell the world that nearly half of my countrymen left me. That was reported to me by Major Clark as I was entering the marsh, but notwithstand- ing this and every other dumb sign, I pushed on to the attack. The brave Marylanders stood by me faithfully. Major Clark, with his Virginians, exerted himself, but their efforts to second his endeavors were not the most vigorous".
After this Washington moved up to West Point, where he and Clinton watched each other, both fearing to risk an open battle, until December, when Washington went into win- ter quarters again at Morristown, where the Maryland Line and the Virginia and Pennsylvania troops, under Putnam, formed the right wing of the army.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1780
The winter of 1780 in Maryland was one of great activity. The Maryland Line was to have 1,400 new men, who had to be recruited and ready for service by the Ist of April. The extreme severity of the weather and the great scarcity of pro- vision around Morristown, and indeed, throughout New Jer- sey and Pennsylvania, which states had also been severely taxed to feed the enemy, made it essential that the deficiency should be made up and supplied, as largely as possible, by Maryland. To that end, commissioners were appointed in each county in the State to collect wheat, rye, corn, oats, flour and other provision, and to employ wagons and vessels to con- vey them to their destination, and through the earnestness and activity of these commissioners, the suffering condition of the army was soon relieved.
Though the American Revolution had been in progress for more than three years, the British were not in control of
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a single one of the Northern or Middle States, which had chiefly been the scene of the conflict. All that Sir Henry Clinton had been able to do, was to occupy New York City, and in that, the resourceful Washington had held him prac- tically cooped up for more than a year. Every one of the invaded states was under self government, and still in the Confederation. Clinton, thus realizing his utter failure at con- quest, resolved to try his fortune in the Southern states. If he could not succeed at the strongholds, he might do so at the weaker points of the Confederacy. He had the most cogent reasons for knowing that Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, of the Southern states, had a most proficient militia, but their troops were in the north with Washington and too far away to be available in the extreme south, and he knew that South Carolina and Georgia did not have a strong mili- tary organization, and were practically defenseless. There was a large Tory element there too, that could be counted on, and it was quite possible that an insurrection of negroes against the whites could be excited. Florida also, lay next to Georgia, and as it was an English possession, could be relied upon through its military officer, that inhuman monster, Augus- tine Prevost, and the Cherokee Indians, for effective aid. To this plausible reasoning, was added the alluring hope, that if the Southern States, or most of them, could be thus subdued and made to withdraw from the Confederation, it would so weaken the rest of the Union that it could not stand, and that, one by one, the states would fall asunder and resume their places in the sisterhood of the American-English colonies.
With this bright picture before him, Clinton set out from New York with 13,000 men in transports, heavily convoyed, for the south, reaching Charleston early in May. The garri- son at Charleston was under command of General Benjamin Lincoln, who instead of evacuating, and thus saving his army, when he realized what an overpowering force was against him, as Washington would likely have done under similar circumstances, determined to hold his ground. On the 6th of May, Clinton began preparations for the siege and soon had Charleston completely encircled and was ready to crush
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it. The issue, with such a disparity of forces, could have had but one result, and on the 12th, after some heavy connonading, to save a useless slaughter of men, Charleston was surrendered and the whole garrison, 3,000 men, fell into the hands of the British. Pulaski's legion, still chiefly composed of Maryland men, had hurried to the defense of Charleston, and in the siege, Count Pulaski was mortally wounded, and his legion shared the unhappy fate of the rest of the garrison. Clinton, deem- ing this a fatal blow, now hastened back to New York, to watch the movements of Washington, leaving Cornwallis with 5,000 men at Charleston, with instructions to set up a Royal Government in South Carolina, and then proceed against North Carolina. Savannah had already fallen into the hands of the enemy, and Georgia was under Royal rule, but South Caro- lina had not been subjugated, and she was destined never to be. Marion and Sumter, Pickens, Williams and Clark, each with a mere handful of men, less than a thousand all told, and miserably equipped, but burning with patriotic ardor and of undaunted courage, by effective surprises, un- expected skirmishes and skillful manoeuvers, harassed, de- layed and checked the advance of the enemy until re-inforce- ments reached the state and gave Cornwallis something more serious to think about than setting up a Royal Government in a state which, though having practically no organized army, he had not yet been able to conquer. Washington was greatly perplexed. His presence in the South was badly needed, and yet, to go there meant the probable loss of the state of New York, the most important military center and the most powerful state in the Union. He settled the question by retaining enough troops to hold New York, and sending the Maryland Line and the Delaware troops to the South. There were no transports to convey them, and if there had been, there were no men of war to protect them, so the long journey had to be made chiefly by an overland march. They started from Mor- ristown on the 15th of April, reaching Elkton, Maryland, on the 3rd of May, from whence they were taken in vessels to Virginia. To the men of the Maryland Line, 2,000 strong, this passage through their native state must have been a
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