USA > Maryland > Chronicles of colonial Maryland, with illustrations > Part 26
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rison, Rawdon was there with 2,000 men, and Green did not deem it wise to risk a battle. Like Camden, however, the enemy could not hold it with its lines of communication with Charleston cut off, and it too, was now abandoned, the enemy moving to Orangeburg, quite near its base of supplies. Green followed right on their heels and they fell back on Eutaw Springs, where on the 8th of September, the memorable bat- tle of that name, one of the most hotly contested engage- ments of the Revolution, was fought. The North Carolina troops, under Sumner, formed the right wing, the Maryland Line under Williams and Howard the left and the Virginia militia under Campbell, the center. The battle soon became general and raged furiously. The right, unable to hold its position, began to fall back. Seeing this, Green ordered the Maryland men to charge. "Let Williams advance", he said, "and sweep the field". With fixed bayonets and a shout they obeyed and by a rapid advance in the face of a terrific fire. They were soon mingled, each with the other in deadly strife, Campbell, commanding the Virginia troops, fell, and this seemed to increase, if possible, the impetuosity of the Mary- land men. Williams soon broke the British center and then its right. Its left, composed of the famous Irish buffs, was in the conflict with Howard and would not yield, but grappled unto death with the Maryland men. At length, no longer able to stand the fury and fierceness of Howard's attack, and seeing that they were alone, the brave buffs fled from the field, and the whole of the British encampment fell into the hands of the valiant and victorious little army. But, while revelling and feasting over British stores, the enemy again formed and posted in a brick house and picketed garden, from which Green had not been able by night to dislodge them. Before morning they had saved him from all further trouble by getting away from Eutaw Springs and placing themselves within the lines of Charleston. The British lost about 500 killed and wounded and about the same number taken pris- oners, and the Americans about 140 killed and wounded.
General Green in his official report of this engagement says: "The Marylanders, under Colonel Williams, were led
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on to a brisk charge, with trailed arms, through a heavy cannonade and a shower of musket balls. Nothing could ex- ceed the gallantry and firmness of both officers and soldiers upon this occasion". To General Smallwood he wrote: "Noth- ing could exceed the gallantry of the Maryland Line. Colonels Williams, Howard, and all the officers, exhibited acts of un- common bravery, and the free use of the bayonet of this and some other corps, gave us the victory * The Maryland Line made a charge that exceeded anything I ever saw". Of Colonel Howard he wrote: "He has great ability and the best disposition to promote the service. My own obligations to him are great-the publics' still more so. He has been wounded, but has happily recovered".
This virtually closed Green's masterly campaign in the South. In less than twelve months after taking charge of Gate's badly shattered and crippled army, he had completely re- deemed the two Carolinas and Georgia from British invasion, except Charleston and Savannah, where a few of the enemy were still cooped up.
In strategy and in high military genius, as well as in results, it could hardly have been surpassed. It is true he had with him Williams and Howard, Morgan, William Washington and Lee, Marion and Sumter, and much of the time Smallwood and Gist, each a power within himself, but above and beyond all this, he had the patriotic ardor and the deadly bayonet of the indomitable 'old Maryland Line.
While these events had been going on in the Carolinas and Georgia, Virginia was being invaded and pillaged by Benedict Arnold. Steubens and Smallwood had been sent there to check it, but they did not have force enough to do more than harass him, and now and then to capture an outpost, or compel the enemy to give up its booty. The only plan of operations they could pursue was to drive back detachments sent out here and there to plunder and destroy. Steubens did effective work along these lines, and Smallwood compelled the enemy to abandon a prize captured at Broadways on the James, and later with 300 men and a few cannon, drove Ar-
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nold's force out of the Appamatox and down as far as City Point to its fleet. Cornwallis, who had gone to Virginia after realizing that he could no longer successfully cope with Green in the Carolinas, was now in command of all the Virginia forces, 7,000 strong. He had supplanted Arnold, in whom he had no confidence, and had sent him back to New York. His headquarters were at Yorktown, which was powerfully fortified and a very strong position if supported by a navy which could afford means of escape should he be cut off on the land side by closing up the narrow strip lying between the York and the James River. Without such support it was exceedingly weak, being assailable on the two sides skirted by the Chesapeake and the York. The post was not of Corn- wallis' selection, but that of Clinton. Washington now con- ceived the bold idea of availing himself of this element of weak- ness-try to catch him when he had no navy. Lafayette was in command in Virginia with about 4,000 men, not enough to seriously disturb Cornwallis, and yet enough to retard and hinder any hasty movement which he might desire to make. Count Rochambeau, the distinguished French commander, was also now here with 4,000 men and ready to co-operate, and the able French Admiral, Count De Grasse, had advised Rocham- beau that he would leave the West Indies about the middle of August, headed for the Chesapeake with 29 men of war, heavily mounted and 3,000 men for duty on land. These were ideal conditions for the success of Washington's scheme, which was to transport his army from New York to Yorktown, get behind Cornwallis on the land side, and with the French navy on the water side, "bottle him up". It was a prodig- iously bold undertaking and one that was going to require ex- traordinary strategy and skill to carry out, as well as profound secrecy. So impressed was Washington as to this latter essen- tial fact, that he would confer with no one about it except Count Rochambeau, who had to know the secret if his co-op- eration was to be effective. Clinton in New York must be misled, and Cornwallis of course, must be kept in the dark. To bewilder Clinton, he gave every indication of preparing
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for an attack on New York with the combined American and French army and the French navy. To make this appear more certain, he began and kept up preparations on a very large scale, seemingly intended for a long encampment in New Jer- sey, just what he would have done if a siege on New York had really been contemplated. Leaving a sufficient force to hold West Point, Washington now set out on his long march of four hundred miles with 2,000 continentals and 4,000 French reg- ulars, and so carefully had the movement been guarded, that the enemy did not have the remotest idea where he was going. He had gotten nearly to Maryland before Clinton knew of it, and even then he thought it was only a ruse and that he was surely coming back, hoping by this little piece of strategy to surprise and catch him napping. Cornwallis was of this opinion too, and so confident of it that he offered to send Clinton re-inforcements, as he only had the small force under Lafayette to look after. Elkton, at the head of the Chesapeake, was reached and from there the army was con- veyed in transports, which had been secretly provided, to the Virginia shore. Washington and Rochambeau and their staffs, going over land by way of Mount Vernon, which the former had not seen for nearly six years. In addition to the 4,000 French regulars with Washington, the 3,000 troops for land service under Admiral De Grasse at the proper time were landed and placed with the Commander-in-chief. By this time Cornwallis began to hear rumors of what was going on, but he did not believe them. To hurl an army four hundred miles, and to do it so as to effectually elude the points both of departure and destination as to its purpose, involved a series of bold adventure and daring effrontery which he could not quite take in, and when he did, the thing so dazed him that he could not correctly focus its meaning. When at length its full significance dawned upon him, his first impulse was to cut through the lines of Lafayette and get into the highlands, where the French navy could not go. But, as he had so often done before, he put it off. The next day it was too late, for De Grasse was in front of Yorktown, and Washington was
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at Williamsburg, close by, with 12,000 men and rapidly ar- ranging those segments, which, with the French fleet, were to form the circle by which Cornwallis was to be surrounded and within which Yorktown was to fall. Each moment the cordons were drawn tighter and tighter and soon Yorktown was besieged. But it was not like Cornwallis to give up with- out a fight and a desperate struggle ensued, lasting several days. Seeing his works, one after another, shattered and crumbling, and knowing now that he could neither win or get away, to prevent the further loss of life, Cornwallis, on the 19th of October, surrendered and Yorktown was taken. During the siege the allied forces lost about 300 killed and wounded, and the British about 550, and surrendered 7,000 troops, 2,000 sailors, 1,500 Tories, 8,000 muskets and 235 cannon, besides a large quantity of ammunition and stores. In the afternoon of that eventful day the British Army marched out of York- town with colors cased, between lines formed by the French on the left and the Americans on the right, extending about a mile in length, and laid down their arms. It was a dramatic, military scene, and here, too, the greatness and grandeur of Washington again shown forth. The brave Lord Cornwallis, who had been his relentless antagonist for all these years, now lay prostrate at his feet, but he, who had the head to contrive and the hand to execute the most brilliant and stren- uous strategic movements of modern times, had also the heart to "temper justice with mercy". To avoid unnecessary humil- iation, he ordered that all attempts at exultation be sup- pressed, and permitted Cornwallis to surrender his sword by the hand of O'Hara, through whom it was returned to the fallen chieftan, who now, with his principal officers, were paroled, each taking his side arms and all personal property. The British prisoners were sent to Fort Frederick, Md., and to Winchester, Va.
In this final struggle for American Liberty-this master stroke of the war-Smallwood and Gist were there with the third and fourth Maryland battalions, and all gallantly sus- taining the zeal and dignity of Maryland and adding fresh lustre to the honor and glory of the Maryland Line.
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The surrender at Yorktown practically ended the war. It brought about the downfall of the personal government of George III of England and it secured American Indepen- dence. Throughout this prolonged struggle for political jus- tice and national freedom, the Maryland Line was animated by a high sense of patriotic duty, valor and courage. In the heat and fire of battle from Long Island to Yorktown, at times turning defeat into victory almost single handed and alone, by its discipline and heroism it won, both for its officers and its men, the applaudits of the enemy and the gratitude of those of its countrymen who espoused the cause of Ameri- can Liberty.
After the close of the war the remnant of the Maryland Line turned its face homeward to be disbanded. Maryland, now almost exhausted in resources by the strains of the war, could not afford to be generous to her soldiers, however strong the desire, except in the expression of her feeling of profound gratefulness for their splendid military achievement, and her approbation for the gallantry which they had displayed throughout that long and eventful struggle. She did, however, try to be just. Congress had been discussing the question of bounties for the Continental troops after the close of the war, nearly all of whom it was known would be penniless, and the great majority broken down in health. Half pay for life was proposed, but full pay for seven years was what was ultimately provided. Maryland, appreciating the quality of her soldiers and the value of their services, added to this, half pay for life, to commence at the end of the seven years of whole pay as provided by Congress, extending the act to the widows of those who would have been entitled to such pensions. In addition to this, Maryland divided an immense area of land lying in the western part of the state into military lots of 50 acres each and apportioned them among her sold- iers or their representatives, one lot being awarded to the privates and four lots to the officers.
General Nathaniel Green, who fully realized that his bril- liant achievements in the Southern campaign had so largely
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depended upon the Maryland Line, in his report to Governor William Paca, of Maryland, pays this high tribute to the worth and valor of its men: "I should be wanting in gratitude not to acknowledge their singular merit and the importance of their services. They have spilt their blood freely in the service of their country, and have faced every danger and difficulty without a murmer or complaint. It affords me the highest satisfaction to hear of the generous measures which this state is pursuing for rewarding that band of vet- erans who have been the greatest support of our Southern operations, in our most critical situation; nor should I do justice to their merit, not to add my highest approbation of their general conduct. Their patience and bearing have been equalled by few and excelled by none".
Maryland furnished during the Revolution 15,229 regulars and 5,407 militia. When measured by the standard of example and results, their record will ever be one of honor to them and of grateful remembrance to the American people. The Mary- land Line was not only a brilliant contribution to the Ameri- can Revolution, but it was a most essential factor in the win- ning of American Independence and to the cause of Ameri- can Liberty.
Authorities : Proceedings Maryland Convention ; Proceedings Mary- land Council of Safety; Proceedings Maryland Council; Journals Con- tinental Congress; McSherry's History of Maryland; Scharf's Hist. of Maryland; J. B. Lossing, Field Notes of the Revolution; Memoirs of Long Island Historical Soc., The Battle of Long Island, Thos. W. Fields; The American Revolution, John Fiske; The Revolutionary War, Francis Vinton Greene; Sparks Life of Washington; Irving's Life of Washington; General Washington, Gen. Bradley T. Johnson ; Hist. of our Country, Edward L. Ellis; Sketches of North Carolina, Simms; Hist. of the Late War, Perkins; Hist. of Virginia, Howison ; Hist. of Georgia, McCall; American Archives; Life of Nathaniel Green ; G. W. Greene; Thatcher's Military Journal; Stedman; Dawson; Sullivan's Indian Expedition.
CHAPTER XIV
The Western Reserve and Maryland's Part in it
IN the vast expanse of country known as "The Western Re- serve", bounded by the Alleghany Mountains on the east, and the Mississippi River on the west, and extending from the Great Lakes on the north to the Gulf on the south, constituting a distinct unit in the drama of American History, and in the act of making it a part of the American Commonwealth Mary- land became not only the central figure, but the leading actor. First explored by La Salle, who in 1682, proclaimed formal possession of the great Mississippi valley in the name of France, and in honor of his King called it Louisiana. Thus discovered and later colonized, it became the subject for the final struggle between France and England for North Ameri- can supremacy, and at the close of the French and Indian War in 1763, that part of the great valley lying east of the Mississippi River as far down as New Orleans, but not includ- ing it, was ceded to England, to which country it belonged at the time of the American Revolution, that portion of the valley lying west of the Mississippi at the same time being ceded to Spain, an ally of France in that struggle, in whose possession it remained until 1802, when it again fell into the hands of France through her first consul Napoleon. At the close of the Ameri- can Revolution the disposition of this territory furnished one of the most difficult and troublesome questions that came before the American and English commissioners for adjustment at the treaty of Paris in 1783.
That part of it known as "The Northwest Territory" was the first public domain owned by the thirteen confederated colonies of America, and its history as such has a marked, in-
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deed, a unique bearing upon our national development. The part that Maryland played in obtaining this domain for the confederated colonies, and the significant results flowing from its obtention as reflected upon our national life, are not gener- ally understood, nor are they clearly defined or fully portrayed in the most of our state and national histories. In none of them is full and ample justice done to Maryland, while in many of them she is not even accorded the "cold respect" of an hon- orable mention.
It was never seriously contemplated that England should be allowed to control this territory if the American Revolu- tion resulted in independence, and the treaty of Paris of 1783, ratified by Congress in the old Senate chamber at Annapolis, January 14th, 1784, definitely settled that question. But to whom did it belong? North Carolina had already annexed the Tennessee country and Virginia had settled and taken pos- session of Kentucky. This, however, still left a vast territory north of the Ohio River debatable ground. Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut each claimed portions of it, be- cause their western charter line, it was alleged, extended to the Mississippi River, and Virginia, spurning and ridiculing those pretensions, claimed practically the whole of it for the reason that her charter ante-dated them all and made the great Father of Waters her western boundary, and upon the further ground that during the Revolution she had, through the military expeditions of George Rogers Clark, taken possession of that territory and had established trading posts in much of it. Such was the situation when Maryland came to the front in the Continental Congress, set on foot and pushed to a success- ful conclusion a plan by which these conflicting and irrecon- cilable claims could be adjusted in a way at once consistent with the law and the facts, and in harmony with that spirit of equity which the conditions of the times demanded. Mary- land's position was that the original charters of the claimant states never contemplated the Mississippi River, then unknown. as their western boundaries ; that England did not at the date of those charters own the territory in question, and did not in fact acquire it until by the treaty of Paris in 1763; that England
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had herself decided that those grants did not extend beyond the Alleghany Mountains and had expressly forbidden the as- sumption of any jurisdiction by the claimant states of any ter- ritory west of that line ; that Virginia's pretensions, based upon conquest at a time when the United Colonies were engaging a common foe for results to be equal weal of all, was too vague a claim for serious consideration ; that this vast domain, therefore, having belonged to Great Britain at the time of the Revolution, and having been won from her by the united effort and by the common blood and common treasure of the thir- teen colonies, it should be owned by them in common, and held as a territorial commonwealth of the new Confederation, and over which the new Confederation alone should exercise jur- isdiction and control. To this end, Maryland on the 15th of October, 1777, moved in the Continental Congress that "The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such states as claim to the Mississippi or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary, so ascertained, into separate and independent states, from time to time as the numbers and circumstances of the people may require"
This has aptly been described as a "pioneer thought" and a "path-breaking idea" for at that time national sovereignty had not been much thought of by Congress, or by the people, and the suggestion met with but little favor. Maryland alone offered the resolution and Maryland alone voted for it. The claimant states could have hardly been expected to give prompt approval of such a measure, and the smaller states, such as Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware, did not seem to appreciate the overwhelming consequences and dangers to them of permitting such enormous inequality in territory as the claim of the larger states would have engendered. Mary- land, however, had well considered her course, and for more than three years she pursued it earnestly and relentlessly in spite of the most violent opposition and threatened vengeance if she did not relent. She even went to what was charged as the "most unreasonable and unwarrantable length" in posi- tively refusing to assent to and sign the Articles of Confedera-
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tion unless she received satisfactory assurances that this claim to the Northwest territory would be abandoned by the claimant states. This was, indeed, a drastic step in the interest of her resolution, for the Articles of Confederation could not become effective at all unless ratified, not by a majority, but by all the states, and which meant of course, that if she persisted in such a stand, there could be no confederated government. But Maryland was inflexible and her efforts were destined soon to be rewarded. By February, 1779, all the states except Mary- land had signed the Articles of Confederation; but standing alone as she was, she proved fully equal to the occasion.
In May of that year the famous "instructions" and the "declaration" from the General Assembly of Maryland to her representatives in the Continental Congress, and which set forth clearly and boldly the reasons why Maryland should not sign the Articles of Confederation until the western land ques- tion was put upon a satisfactory basis, were presented to Con- gress, the latter document, having been printed and gener- ally distributed among the delegates and the people of the several states. These were closely followed by an Act of the Virginia Legislature to establish a land office for the purpose of issuing patents for her so called "vacant western lands", and for which Maryland was making her fight in the interest of the new Confederation. Maryland promptly protested against this movement, and through a resolution offered in Congress, urged Virginia to reconsider this step. This motion prevailed, all the states voting for it except Virginia, North Carolina and a part of New York, a most significant acqui- sition of strength as bearing upon the Maryland movement, which at first had no support except that of her own vote. The issue thus squarely made soon became the subject of gen- eral discussion in Congress, in the state legislatures and among the people. Shortly after this came the "Virginia Remon- strance", in which Virginia, while scorning the suggestion of the Confederation exercising jurisdiction over the western lands, declares her willingness to listen to any "just and reason- able proposition" for removing Maryland's excuse for delay in ratifying the Articles of Confederation, thus showing that
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the force of Maryland's position was being decidedly felt. The first important break, however, in the ranks of the oppo- sition came from New York. General Schuyler, a delegate from that state, seeing the drift of things and realizing that the Maryland policy of making the western lands a great national commonwealth, to be ultimately divided into free, independent sovereign states, was inevitably to prevail, so reported to the legislature of his state. Acting upon this report, the General Assembly of New York in February, 1780, passed an Act "to facilitate the completion of the Articles of Confederation", and directed her representatives in Congress to make the cession of her western lands. This action on the part of New York acted as a great tidal wave, destined to sweep before it and neutralize the force and power of all the opposition to the Maryland movement. Even Congress now thought it was time to divulge its hand, and the committee to which had been referred the Maryland declaration and the Virginia remon- strance, on the 6th of September, 1780, made its report, with the proposal that a general cession of all the western lands be promptly made. This, on October 10th was followed by the further proposal by Congress, that, when so ceded, the new Confederation should, in due time, divide it into free, inde- pendent and sovereign states-the identical plan which Mary- land three years before had inaugurated and set out so earnestly to accomplish. Connecticut promptly fell into line, and on January 2nd, 1781, Virginia gracefully yielded, it being under- stood that she would be re-imbursed for the expense she had borne in subduing and defending the territory she claimed under the expedition led by George Rogers Clark during the Revolution.
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