USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
I36
NEW HAMPSHIRE
of New Hampshire for assistance, lest they being subdued the military frontier should be pushed back to the borders of New Hampshire, and the depredations of Indians and Hessians should be transferred to that State. The people were more alarmed than before. The legislature was hastily called together for a session of three days. The whole militia was formed into three brigades, to be commanded by General William Whipple and General John Stark. From each of these brigades were selected portions to march immediately, under command of Stark, "to stop the progress of the enemy on our western fron- tier." The force consisted of one-fourth of Stark's brigade and one-fourth of three regiments of Whipple's brigade; amounting to about five hundred men. It was on this occasion that John Langdon, who presided over the joint session of the legislature in committee of the whole, uttered these historic words :-
"I have three thousand dollars in hard money; my plate I will pledge for as much more. I have seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum, which shall be sold for the most they will bring. These are at the service of the State. If we succeed, I shall be remunerated; if not, they will be of no use to me. We can raise a brigade; and our friend Stark, who so nobly sustained the honor of our arms at Bunker's Hill, may safely be en- trusted with the command, and we will check Burgoyne."
Stark was sent for, who stood before the assembly, and stated his terms. He had no confidence in the commander of the northern army and wanted an independent commission. He would be answerable only to the State of New Hampshire. With a brigade he would hang upon the flank of Burgoyne's army and stop their depredations, if in his power. His proposi- tion was accepted and he was given full rank and pay of a brigadier-general. The rendezvous was at Charlestown. The soldiers were eager to join in the "Hessian hunt." More men volunteered than were called for, such was Stark's popularity. Stark wrote that there was only one pair of bullet-molds in his army. As fast as troops arrived he sent them to join the "Green Mountain Boys" under Colonel Seth Warner, at Manchester, Vermont. There Stark joined them and received General Lin- coln, who had been sent by General Schuyler to conduct the militia thus gathered to some point west of the Hudson. Lin-
I37
A HISTORY
coln was soon made to understand that Stark had now an inde- pendent command and that it was his main business to guard the western frontier. A report of his decision was forwarded to the Continental Congress, where it met with disapproval, but the result showed that Stark knew more about military affairs than John Adams and his associates in Congress. That body resolved "That the council of New Hampshire be informed that the instructions which General Stark says he has received from them are destructive of military subordination and highly prejudicial to the common cause at this crisis; and that, there- fore, they be desired to instruct General Stark to conform him- self to the same rules which other general officers of the militia are subject to, whenever they are called out at the expense of the United States." But these troops were not called out at the expense of the United States, but rather by the assurance of such men as John Langdon, backed by the people of New Hampshire. The censure of the Continental Congress at this time was more enjoyed than feared by Stark; at last he had the coveted opportunity to be gloriously independent and conduct his own campaign.
Colonel Warner was left at Manchester, Vermont, with his regiment, and Stark gathered his forces at Bennington, where there were military stores. Burgoyne with the main British army was encamped at Fort Edward. He sent Lieu- tenant Colonel Baum with about fifteen hundred troops, five hundred of whom were Germans and two hundred Indians on a marauding expedition of a fortnight's duration, as he cal- culated, to proceed to Rockingham on the Connecticut river and drive in thirteen hundred horses, when probably there were not half that number in the whole region to be traversed, and also to collect oxen for draft and slaughter. The order was to leave the cows for the inhabitants and to give receipts for property commandeered to such as were loyal. The report was to be scattered that this was the advance guard of a column moving on to Boston, to be joined at Springfield by other troops from Rhode Island. Colonel Philip Skene accompanied Baum to give information about the country traversed.
Two hundred men, under command of Colonel William Gregg of Londonderry, were dispatched by Stark to meet the
138
NEW HAMPSHIRE
advanced guard of Indians, about twelve miles from Benning- ton. Baum said in a letter to Burgoyne, "The savages can not be ruled; they ruin and take everything they please." Gregg's men were slowly driven back till they met the main force of Stark, when the enemy drew up on an eminence in an advantageous place and awaited an attack. Stark marched back about a mile and encamped, sending out skirmishers, the sharp-shooting rangers, to harrass the Indians, two of whose chiefs were slain, together with thirty of the enemy, without the loss of a single man from the skirmishers. The next day was rainy, and many of the Indians deserted. Meanwhile ar- rived in the night the Berkshire men, commanded by Colonel Symonds and the Rev. Thomas Allen of Pittsfield, who de- manded for his men opportunity to fight this time, having been before disappointed. Stark promised to give him on the morrow all the fighting he wanted or never call on him again for help. Order was sent to Colonel Seth Warner at Manchester to hasten with one hundred and fifty men. All told, Stark was able to muster, with the help of the local militia, about fifteen hundred men. Some of the tories of the vicinity of Burlington had joined the ranks of the enemy. The rain fell in torrents during the night preceding the battle, and both armies sought what shelter they could find. The Berkshire men must have gone into battle the next day drenched to the skin after a long night march.
On the morning of August sixteenth Stark deployed his troops for battle. The enemy had cast up a redoubt upon an eminence, which was defended with pieces of artillery, while Stark had nothing but muskets. Colonel Moses Nichols of Amherst with two hundred men was sent to attack the enemy's left flank and rear. Baum thought that as they strode along in their shirt sleeves they were rustics seeking protection, or running away from battle. Colonel Herrick with three hundred men was sent to outflank the enemy's right. Colonel David Hobart of Plymouth and Colonel Thomas Stickney of Concord, with two hundred men fronted the enemy's right. Stark com- manded the reserve. At three o'clock the attack was made from every side. The Indian allies of the British and Germans fled at once. Bancroft says that New England sharpshooters ran up to within eight yards of the loaded cannon to pick off the cannoneers.
I39
A HISTORY
The saying of General Stark, as he addressed his troops before action, has been often quoted and in varied form. It is impossible to determine now his precise words. It is prob- able that he was reported differently by certain hearers. The substance was this:2 "There, my boys, are the redcoats and tories ; you must beat them, or Molly Stark sleeps a widow to-night." The story illustrates the stern determination that filled every breast. Stark in his report said, "Had they been Alexanders and Charleses of Sweden, they could not have behaved better." The enemy's redoubt was taken at the point of the bayonet, and the two brass cannon were turned against them as the remnant fled. Colonel Breyman was approaching with reinforcements for Baum, who had been mortally wounded in the battle, but the timely arrival of Colonel Seth Warner with his small regiment from Manchester held them in check till Stark could again rally his forces and pursue the enemy till nightfall. Two more cannon were captured, together with baggage, horses, carriages and so forth. Two hundred and twenty-six men of the enemy's ranks were left dead on the field. Stark reported, "I have one lieutenant colonel, since dead (Col- onel Baum), one major, seven captains, fourteen lieutenants, four ensigns, two cornets, one judge advocate, one baron, two Canadian officers, six sergeants, one aide-de-camp, one Hessian chaplain, three Hessian surgeons, and seven hundred prisoners." Of Stark's brigade four officers and ten privates were killed and forty-two wounded.
The fight was the fiercest at the tory breast-work. One author says, "The tories expected no quarter, and gave none,- fighting to the last like tigers. They were completely sur- rounded within their fortification, and the work of death was finished with bayonets and clubbed muskets. Hobart and Stickney saw the work thoroughly done. Stark had ordered the men, as they passed through a field of corn, to put a husk of corn on each one's hat. This precaution was a great benefit. As the tories were dressed like themselves, in their working clothes, the corn husk, under the hat-band, served to distinguish friends from foes, and a man without a husk in his hat was
2 It is too bad to spoil a cherished tradition by statement of the fact that General Stark married Elizabeth Page.
140
NEW HAMPSHIRE
sure to be visited by a bayonet or the breach of a musket."3 But one account says that one hundred and forty-seven tories were captured, and another account puts the number at one hundred and fifty-two. These "were tied in pairs, and to each pair a horse was attached by traces, in some cases a negro for his rider; they were led away amid the jeers and scoffs of the victors-the good house-wives of Bennington taking down beds to furnish cords for the occasion. Many of their neighbors had gone over to the enemy the day before the battle."4 These tory prisoners were afterwards used for breaking roads in winter. Vermont had an unusual number of tories, and the strife between them and the Green Mountain Boys was bitter. The cause of this was probably the rival claims for land made before the Revolution by grantees of New Hampshire and New York, leading then to flogging and hanging in some instances. Neighbors often were not friends. The German, or Hessian, soldier had an evil reputation for lust and cruelty. One writer of that time declares that in Vermont they violated girls of ten years of age and women of eighty, yet even the Hessians were less despised and hated than the tories, who took up arms against their own countrymen.
The prisoners taken at Bennington were sent to Boston. Trophies were sent to the governments of Massachusetts, Ver- mont and New Hampshire. Montpelier has now two of the cannon captured, and Concord should have the other two. The spoils of battle were divided among the successful combatants. Stark wrote to General Gates an account of the battle, but paid no attention to the Continental Congress. On inquiring the reason of this they learned that his former letter to Con- gress had not been noticed. They took the hint, thanked him formally for his exploit and gave him a commission as brigadier- general in the regular army. The military insubordination, which had troubled their minds a few days before, flew away on the wings of victory. Less than two thousand dollars of good money paid the entire expense of this campaign.
The victory at Bennington brought renewed hope to all
3 Military History of New Hampshire, by Hon. Chandler E. Potter, P. 320.
4Memoir of Gen. John Stark, by Caleb Stark, pp. 63-4.
14I
A HISTORY
the friends of freedom and discouragement to the army of Bur- goyne. Volunteers from the militia flocked to the northern army, and soon Burgoyne was hemmed in on every side. Gen- eral William Whipple and his brigade marched to reinforce General Gates. On the nineteenth of September was fought the battle of Stillwater, also known as the battle of Bemis Heights. The New Hampshire troops here engaged consisted of Major Dearborn's battalion of infantry, partly made up from Whitcomb's Rangers, Colonel Pierce Long's regiment and some new volunteers, about three hundred men, and General Poor's brigade, made up of three regiments commanded by Colonels Joseph Cilley, Alexander Scammell and George Reid, who had succeeded to Colonel Nathan Hale after that officer's capture at Hubbardton. Certainly half of the Americans engaged in that battle were from New Hampshire, and they bore the brunt of it, losing one hundred and sixty-one in killed and wounded. Among those who fell Bancroft mentions the name of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Andrew Colburn of Marlborough, a brave and meritorious officer, but does not name Lieutenant-Colonel Win- born Adams of Durham, equally popular and brave. He raised a company in Durham immediately after the fight at Lexington and remained in the army till his death. He was son of Dr. Samuel Adams and grandson of the Rev. Hugh Adams, the eccentric and able minister of Durham for many years.5 In this battle were mortally wounded Lieutenant Joseph M. Thomas and Ensign Joseph Fay of Walpole, Captain Frederick M. Bell of Exeter, and Lieutenant William Read of Dearborn's battalion. Colonel Scammell was wounded. The Americans fought without artillery and without a general commanding officer, and yet they inflicted heavier loss than they sustained, the number of British killed and wounded being over six hundred.
In the battle of Saratoga, that followed on the seventh of October, the same regiments from New Hampshire were en- gaged and sustained losses equally great. Here fell Lieutenant- Colonel Samuel Conner of Pembroke, and Captain John McClary. Besides, two full companies of men from New Hampshire were
5 Samuel Adams, son of Lieut-Col. Winborn Adams, served in the Revolution and was afterwards a colonel in the militia.
142
NEW HAMPSHIRE
enrolled among the Massachusetts men in the battles of Still- water and Saratoga.
Burgoyne was now surrounded by the ten thousand or more hastily gathered husbandmen in arms, and after desperate fighting was compelled to surrender on generous terms allowed. Their number was five thousand, seven hundred and ninety- one, among whom were six members of parliament. The total loss of Burgoyne in this campaign was about ten thousand. Thereafter the northern frontier was out of danger, and the war of the Revolution was carried on further south. New Hampshire men continued to do their part, and wherever they fought their work was well done. Soon after the surrender of Burgoyne the New Hampshire regiments, formed anew into a brigade, marched forty miles in fourteen hours and forded the Mohawk river, to check the progress of the British General Clinton, who was marching toward Albany. On hearing of the fate of Burgoyne he returned to New York. The New Hamp- shire troops then marched into Pennsylvania and wintered at Valley Forge.
The miseries of Valley Forge have often been recounted. Lack of food, blankets, clothing and shelter sent many to the hospital or to farm houses for protection from the winter cold. About three thousand men encamped there were unfit for duty. They had no shoes. They were obliged to forage upon the friendly farmers or starve. Congress made no provision for them. Sullivan and many others urged Washington to attack the enemy, but how could starving and half-naked men, without proper arms and ammunition, meet well intrenched foes? Some were conspiring to have General Gates supersede Wash- ington. Meanwhile his men were sitting all night by a fire in order to keep from freezing. That winter at Valley Forge cost more lives than any battle fought during the Revolution, and there was nothing else to do but wait for warm weather and supplies. For days together the army was without bread, and for four days without meat. They could not always walk bare-footed in the snow to get fuel. Only the pursuit of pleasure, on the part of the British army, quartered upon the inhabitants of Philadelphia, hindered their attacking and anni- hilating the sick and starving men at Valley Forge. The bri-
143
A HISTORY
gade from New Hampshire endured sufferings with the rest of the army, and in the battle of Monmouth, in the spring of 1778, they behaved with such bravery, under command of Col- onel Joseph Cilley and Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn, as to receive the special approbation of Washington.
Meanwhile the British had landed forces in Rhode Island, and in April of 1778 General Sullivan was put in command of troops intended to check their advance. A force of ten thou- sand undisciplined men was collected at Tiverton. New Hamp- shire sent General William Whipple's brigade, with Colonels Nathaniel Peabody, Stephen Evans, Moses Nichols, Moses Kelly, Jacob Gale, Enoch Hale and Joshua Wingate. John Langdon armed a company of light infantry at his own expense. They were composed of the leading citizens of Portsmouth and they marched to Rhode Island in two days, a company of forty- six men.
A storm drove away the French fleet, that was expected to bring great assistance. Many of the troops of Sullivan began to desert and return home. His force was reduced to about five thousand, only fifteen hundred of whom had ever been in action. Generals Greene and LaFayette remained to aid him. The battle of Newport was followed by a retreat, although in that engagement the American loss was two hundred and eleven, while the British loss was estimated at one thousand and twenty-three. The day after the retreat from the island one hundred British vessels arrived with reinforcements. The retreat was justified by General Greene and by a subsequent vote of Congress. Some urged Sullivan to do the impossible and to carry everything before him by storm, as Stark had done at Bennington, but the conditions were radically different. In the account of this campaign, too, Bancroft says uncompli- mentary things, to blame and belittle Sullivan. The late his- torian can fight battles so much better than those actually en- gaged in the conflict. In every retreat and defeat somebody must bear the criticism of non-combatants.
General Sullivan continued in command in Rhode Island during the following winter, making his headquarters at Provi- dence. On his transference to another field of activity the citizens of that city gave him a farewell banquet, to express
144
NEW HAMPSHIRE
their esteem for him. In 1779 he was appointed to command an expedition against the six Indian Nations, and the New Hampshire brigade formed a part of his force. The aim was to avenge the massacre of Wyoming and to make another Indian raid impossible. To this end Sullivan was ordered to destroy the Indian villages, their crops and other property,-in fact to exterminate them, so far as he was able. The alternative of Indian war was to kill or be killed. The Indians were led by the noted Butler and Brant, the latter said to have been an illegitimate son of Sir William Johnson. The route lay up the valley of the Susquehanna river, and Sullivan's force of about two thousand could muster only half that number of fighting men. After some preliminary skirmishes the main battle was fought at Newtown, when the Indians were driven from their fort and utterly routed. Sullivan's losses were three killed and thirty-nine wounded, mainly of General Poor's New Hamp- shire brigade. Fourteen Indian villages and their cornfields were destroyed. For some weeks thereafter the expedition sub- sisted on half rations. On this expedition Lieutenant Boyd with a handful of men was surrounded and captured. His body was afterwards found. Sullivan wrote to Washington, that they "pulled out Mr. Boyd's nails, cut off his nose, plucked out one of his eyes, cut out his tongue, stabbed him with spears in sundry places, and inflicted other tortures which decency will not permit me to mention; lastly, cut off his head and left his body on the ground." This account indicates the kind of foe Sullivan had to deal with, and why severe measures were necessary. There was no opportunity for missionary methods ; brutal assassins must be dealt with as such. Some Indians, some negroes and some whitemen should be imprisoned and kept under restraint. If this can not be, the only protection to society under some circumstances is to shoot them at sight, as one would shoot a mad dog. Let sympathetic humanitarians remember those brutally massacred at Wyoming and not ex- pend all of their pity on the murderers. At least two monu- ments have been erected to commemorate this victorious expedi- tion.
The thanks of Congress were voted. After five years of military service General Sullivan's health was so impaired that
145
A HISTORY
physicians warned him that he must take rest. Moreover, he had expended a large part of his property, and his family were in need of his assistance. Therefore he wrote to Washington, resigning his commission as major-general, and returned to his home in Durham. He, as well as Washington and other offi- cers, had envious opponents. There was a lot of conniving and plotting in the American army, as to who should be the com- manders. Petty ambition ruled almost as much as patriotism, and so it has been in all armies. War pushes the determined to the front.
General Stark served under General Gates in Rhode Island, after which he was ordered to New Jersey. He was present at the battle of Springfield in June, 1780. Immediately after he was dispatched to New England to raise a body of volunteers and conduct them to West Point. While there he participated in the trial that decided the melancholy fate of Major John Andre, who was executed as a spy, the dupe of Benedict Arnold. Thereafter Stark had command of a foraging party in the vicinity of New York, taking booty from known tories. In 1781 he had command of the northern department, with headquarters at Saratoga. During the following year he was afflicted with rheumatism and remained at home, but reported to Washington again for service in April, 1783.
General Poor's brigade served in New Jersey in 1780, where Poor died. His three regiments were not reduced to two, as Belknap says, but continued under command of Colonels Joseph Cilley, Alexander Scammell and George Reid. The latter was of Londonderry and after the war was made brigadier-general of militia and sheriff of Rockingham county.
In 1781 a part of the New Hampshire men remained in New York, and another part went into Virginia and took part in the siege of Yorktown. They were present at the surrender of the British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis. Here the lamented Scammell was captured as he was reconnoitering and after his capture was mortally wounded. There was little fight- ing after this event. The British began to see that it would be no economic loss to them to have the American colonies inde- pendent. so long as England controlled the sea-trade. London and parliament got tired of the "unnatural and unfortunate war."
146
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Belknap says that the first New Hampshire regiment, then commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Dearborn, spent the winter of 1782 at Saratoga, and the second regiment on the Mohawk river. All through the war there was scouting on the northern frontier where Colonel Timothy Bedel, Major Benjamin Whit- comb and Captain Ebenezer Webster, with their Rangers, did good service in preventing attacks from Canada.
Early in the war Portsmouth began to send out privateers to prey upon the British shipping. The first mentioned was the schooner "Enterprise," commanded by Daniel Jackson and later by Thomas Palmer. Another armed schooner was the "McClary," whose captain was Robert Parker. She took many valuable prizes, among them the "Susanna," an American vessel trading at an enemy's port. This occasioned difficulty between the New Hampshire legislature and the Continental Congress, the decision of the State court being reversed. Thereupon fol- lowed a remonstrance, vindicating State rights. Some other vessels fitted out at Portsmouth were the "General Mifflin," commanded by Daniel McNeil; the "Rambler," by Thomas Manning ; "Pluto," by John Hill; "Humbird," by Samuel Rice ; "Fortune," by John Mendum; "Bellona," by Thomas Manning; "Adventure," by Kinsman Peverly; "Marquis of Kildare," by Thomas Palmer ; "Portsmouth," by Robert Parker ; "Hampden," by Thomas Pickering; and "General Sullivan," by Thomas Darling and Thomas Manning. Several of these were very for- tunate in capturing ships loaded with supplies for the British army in Boston and New York. Thus provisions, guns and munitions of war were secured for the American troops. The "Hampden" especially had a remarkable career. She sailed in 1779 under command of Thomas Pickering. After taking
several prizes and sending them into French ports she encount- ered an East Indiaman of thirty-four guns, and although she herself had only twenty-two guns she resolved to fight. The action continued two hours and a half, in which Captain Picker- ing was killed. His ship was roughly treated, the masts and rigging being shot away, yet she managed to get back to Ports- mouth for repairs. The Indiaman probably went to the bottom. The "Hampden" was sold at auction to John Langdon, who sold her to the State. She was fitted up and sent with a fleet
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.