USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 50
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At length, the post of Lord Cornwallis was formally besieged, and the first parallel commenced, on the night of the sixth of October. The siege was prosecuted with great vigour, courage, and skill; the officers and soldiers of France and America, striving who should display most, these qualities. The defence was maintained, with equal spirit, against a vastly superior force, during thirteen days; until almost every gun on the fortifications was dis- mounted, and the batteries prostrated. On the nineteenth, Lord Cornwallis surrendered the posts of Yorktown and Gloucester Point, with their garrisons. and the shipping in the harbour with the seamen; the army and arms, mi- litary chest and stores, to Washington; the ships and seamen to the Count
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de Grasse. The total amount of prisoners, exclusive of seamen, exceeded seven thousand men. The allied army may be estimated at sixteen thousand ; the French at seven thousand; the continental troops at five thousand five hundred, and the militia at three thousand five hundred. Sir Henry Clinton, fully apprized of the influence which the fate of the army, in Virginia, must have on the war, exerted himself, strenuously, for its preservation; and . having embarked about seven thousand of his best troops, sailed for the Chesapeake, under convoy of twenty-five sail of the line. This armament left the Hook on the day the capitulation was signed at Yorktown, and ap- peared off the capes of Virginia, to learn the tidings of surrender, and to return to New York; no sufficient motive remaining for attacking the great- ly superior force of De Grasse.
The exultation throughout the United States, at the capture of this formi- dable army, which had inflicted incalculable misery over an immense space of territory, was equal to the terror which it had inspired. The opinion be- came universal, that the great struggle was over, that the object of the con- test had been fully gained, and every demonstration of gratitude was poured forth by Congress and the people, to heaven, and its agents in their de- liverance.
XXVII. Whilst the allied armies were on march for Virginia, Sir Henry Clinton, probably, with the hope of recalling Washington, sent an expedition under Arnold, against New London, which landed in the port on the 6th of September. Fort Griswold, on one side of the harbour, made an obsti- nate resistance. It was garrisoned by Colonel Ledyard, and one hundred and sixty men. But being taken by storm, the captors disgraced their tri- umph, by the slaughter of the brave and unresisting defenders. Colonel Ledyard presented his sword to the commanding officer of the assailants, which the barbarian instantly plunged into his bosom, and the carnage was kept up, until the greater part of the garrison was killed or wounded. If such vengeance could be justified, there was, indeed, cause for it. Colonel Eyre, and Major Montgomery, the second in command, together with two hundred men, fell in the assault. The town of New London, and the stores which it contained, were consumed by fire.
XXVIII. The capture of Cornwallis was the conclusion of the war. A show of hostility was preserved for a few months, and some skirmishing was had, of no great interest, between the parties, near New York, and in the vicinity of Charleston. But no military event of importance, after- wards took place. Count de Grasse sailed for the West Indies, Wayne and Gest's brigades marched under General St. Clair, to the aid of Greene, in the south; the French troops remained in Virginia, and the eastern regiments returned to New Jersey and New York, under the immediate command of General Lincoln.
Stimulated by these successes, the preparations for another campaign were commenced, with much alacrity. The resolutions respecting the mili- tary establishment, were adopted by Congress, so early as the 10th of De- cember; and those providing for the expenses of the war, substituting a vigorous system of taxation, for the demoralizing and unjust practice of ex- tortion, and requiring eight millions of dollars, in specie, to be paid by the States, quarterly, were passed so early as the 10th of October. But the country was exhausted. The obstacles to raising revenue, were almost insuperable. At the commencement of the year 1782, not a dollar remained in the public treasury; and although the payment of two millions had been required by the first of April, on the twenty-third of that month, not a cent had been received. On the first of June, twenty thousand dollars, scarce more than sufficient for a single day's service, had been paid. In July, when a
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half years' tax was due, the minister of finance was informed by his agents, that in some States, nothing would be received before the month of Decem- ber. The country was, therefore, indebted for indispensable supplies, to the funds and credit of the financier; but the public creditors were unpaid, and no one could look forward, without deep anxiety, to the perpetuation of the system of forced contribution.
Happily for the United States, the people of Great Britain had wearied of the contest, and constrained their King, and his ministers, to think of peace. Strong resolutions were adopted by Parliament late in February, which not being promptly acted upon by the ministry, were followed on the 4th of March, by a vote of the House of Commons, denouncing as enemies to his Majesty and the country, all who should advise or attempt, a further prose- cution of offensive war on the continent of North America. A change of ministry succeeded these votes, with instructions to the commanding officers in America, which conformed to them.
XXIX. Although the spirit of animosity between the two nations, Great Britain and the United States of America, began to yield to policy and hu- manity, the ire which dwelt in the bosoms of the tories, seemed to wax stronger, as their hopes of restitution waned. In the depredations of Arnold, and in the border war of New Jersey, the injuries done by them, were the most malignant ; and their vengeance was still poured out upon New Jersey. From many outrages, we select the following, as most prominent.
On the 2d of April, 1782, Captain Joshua Huddy was captured, with the block-house he defended, on Tom's river, by a party of refugees, after a gallant resistance. He was carried to New York, and detained in close confinement for some days, and then told, that he was to be hanged. Four days after (on the 12th,) he was carried by a party of tories to Middletown Heights, where he was deliberately executed, with the following label affixed to his breast .- " We, the refugees, having long, with grief, beheld the cruel murders of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures daily carry- ing into execution ;- we, therefore, determine not to suffer without taking vengeance. for the numerous cruelties; and thus begin, having made use of Captain Huddy, as the first object to present to your view; and further de- termine, to hang man for man, while there is a refugee existing. Up goes Huddy, for Philip .White."
The Philip White here named, was a tory, who had been taken by a party of Jersey militia, and killed, in attempting to escape. His death was, falsely, charged upon this victim. Huddy was a man of extraordinary bravery, and met his hard fate, with rare fortitude and composure of mind. He executed his will, under the gallows, upon the head of the barrel, from which he was immediately to make his exit-and in a hand-writing, fairer than usual. Greatly indignant at this wanton murder, Washington wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, threatening, that unless the murderers were surren- dered, he would retaliate. The demand being refused, Captain Asgill was designated by lot, as the subject. In the mean time the British instituted a court-martial, for the trial of Captain Lippincott, the principal agent in the nefarious deed; when it appeared, that Governor Franklin, president of the board of associated loyalists, had given verbal orders to Lippincott, ' designating Huddy as a proper object for vengeance, as one who had perse- cuted the loyalists, and had been especially instrumental in hanging Stephen Edwards, a refugee. The court acquitted Lippincott, stating, that his con- duct was dictated by the conviction, that duty required him to obey the orders of the board, as he did not doubt their authority. Sir Guy Carleton, who had succeeded to the chief command of the British army, notwith- standing the acquittal, reprobated the measure, gave assurance of further
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inquiry, and broke up the board of associated loyalists, to prevent the repeti- tion of such excesses. Asgill was rescued from various reasons. The end of the war rapidly and visibly approached-the Count de Vergennes inter- ceded for him, by letter, enclosing one from Mrs. Asgill, his mother, and Con- gress (November 7th,) directed the commander-in-chief, to his great satisfac- tion, to set the captain at liberty.
XXX. Sir Guy Carleton, with Admiral Digby, was commissioned to negotiate a separate peace with the Americans; but their efforts were futile, as such a course, being dishonourable to the States, was inadmissible. Nor was it apparent, that the powers of the commissioners were sufficiently full for the object. But the public votes we have stated, and, probably, the pri- vate instructions given to the British general, restrained him from offensive war; and the state of the American army, disabled Washington from any attempt on posts held by the enemy. These causes of inactivity in the north, extended also to the south.
After an intricate negotiation, in which the penetration, judgment, and firmness of the American commissioners* were eminently displayed, eventual and preliminary articles of peace were signed on the 30th of November. The treaty, however, did not take effect, until the general pacification, on the 20th of January, 1783. Tidings of the latter event were communicated by M. de La Fayette, by letter, received 24th of March. Early in April, came a copy of the treaty, from the American commissioners, and on the 19th of that month, the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. On the 15th, the execution of the treaty was publicly celebrated, at Trenton.
XXXI. To the restoration of the blessings of peace, one important mea- sure, the dissolution of the army, was indispensable. Military habits, and the spirit of segregation which they engender, are incompatible with the order and equality of civil life. The general and corporal are alike te- nacious. of command; and the soldier, reluctantly, lays aside the casque, the uniform and arms, the idleness and the license, which distinguish him from the citizen. The camp becomes his country-his fellows in arms, his only compatriots, and the articles of war, and the will of his officers, his only laws. His whole being is newly, but not beneficially, modified. Ilis intel- lectual powers and employments are confined to narrow limits, whilst his physical force and sensual appetites, are generally increased, and often in- dulged, by irregular gratification. To dissolve an army which has no cause of complaint against the State, is often a difficult and dangerous duty -- to disarm men, to whom the State, without the means of payment, is deeply indebted; who, poor and naked, look, confidently, on their return to civil life,, only, to servile labour, beggary and oblivion, is indeed a perilous task; yet one, which among the miracles of the American revolution, was accomplish- ed. A happiness, for which the country was as much indebted to the com- mander-in-chief, as for his military services. The traits of character dis- played by him in attaining this object, are more valuable than any exhibited in his previous and after life, excellent as these, certainly, were. He had his equals, perhaps superiors, in his own country, in military talent and political science; but in magnanimity, self-control, and true appreciation of fame, he was unrivalled. Had he been animated by ordinary ambition, the pas- sion common to an Alexander, a Cæsar, a Cromwell, and a Bonaparte, he might readily have availed himself of the discontents of the army to gratify it; he might have loosed upon his country, the most ferocious of animals, an irritated soldiery, and have compelled that country to fly to military despot- ism, as a refuge against the worse evils of anarchy. But, with the love of
* Messrs. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens.
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peace, of order, of social feeling and political equality, which can never be too much praised, he said to the angry elements of discord, be still, and they obeyed his voice.
When the prospect of peace became certain, the officers of the army turn- ed anxiously to their own condition, and asked, as an act of justice, payment of arrears, and compensation for losses sustained by a depreciated currency ; and, as an act of gratitude, a reward, for services which were inestimable. To the immediate gratification of these demands, the obstacle was obvious, as irremediable, in an empty treasury. But there was a party in the na- tional councils, who were indisposed to accept, without question, the high estimate of services made by the military-who believed that the life of the soldier, had, like other conditions, mingled good and evil, the one com- pensating the other; and who would not admit, that the distinction sought by thousands, despite of the labours and privations which it imposed, gave extraordinary and preferable claims upon the country. However sound, in general, might be this view of military merit, it was less just when applied to the continental army. There is no evil, it is true, which afflicted the Ameri- can soldier, that had not been borne in pursuit of the very worst objects of human ambition, of absolute and unhallowed power, of the sordid love of gold. But the motive elevated the service; yet, only so long, as that motive was disinterestedly patriotic. Every effort to obtain pecuniary compensa- tion, made by the soldier, stripped his pretensions of their gilding, and re- duced him nearer to the grade of the ordinary mercenary. The country, but more, especially, posterity, owed to the men of the revolution, a deep debt of gratitude. But was that more due to the suffering soldier, than the suffer- ing citizen-to him who met the enemy in arms, manfully returning blow for blow, than to him, who encountered the foe upon his hearth-stone, and unresistingly beheld his barns and his byres plundered, the wife of his bosom, and the children of his love, violated or slaughtered-to him, who, though, occasionally, scantily and precariously fed, had some assurance in the care of the nation, and in his own arms, that he should not starve, than to him, who was stripped of the loaf that he had garnered for his infants, that the soldier might not want-to him whom, depreciation of the currency, left as it found him, a pennyless man, than to him whom that depreciation despoiled of the boards of his ancestors, and of the stores laid up during a long life of unremitting industry? Let the suffering of the soldier and the citizen, be duly compared; they will not be found more unequal than were the enjoyments for which they contended. An extraordinary gratitude con- tinues even now, to repay the one, but no pension, no praise, has smoothed the thorny path of the other, to the grave.
With views such as we have glanced at, Congress lent a dull and unwil- ling ear, in the depth of pecuniary distress, to the vehement cries of the soldier; and in consonance with the experience of all times past, he demon- strated the disposition to redress his own grievances, and in his own way. An anonymous, but eloquent and inflammatory address, was circulated through the army,* exciting to this course; whilst another missive summoned the general and field-officers, to convene on the succeeding day. A crisis had thus approached, big with the fate of the nation. It was possible, for the commander-in-chief, by prompt, decisive and steady action, to avert the threatened evil; and he did not shrink from the service. He instantly no- ticed the seditious papers, in general orders, and called the general and field- officers, with one officer from each company, and a representation from the staff of the army, to assemble on the 15th, to consider the report of a com-
* March 10th, 1783.
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mittee which had been deputed from the army to Congress. He employed the interval, successfully, in preparing the minds of all for moderate mea- sures. At the convention, General Gates took the chair, and Washington addressed the officers, reprobating, in the strongest terms, the anonymous addresses, not only as to the mode of communication, but, also, as to the spirit which indicted them-dwelling on the character which the army had acquired for patriotism and order-expressing undiminished confidence in the justice and gratitude of the country, and conjuring them, as they valued their honour, as they respected the rights of humanity, and as they regarded their military and national character, to express their utmost detestation of the man who was attempting to open the floodgates of civil discord, and to deluge the rising empire with blood. So absolute was the power of virtue, on this occasion, that not a voice was raised to oppose its behests. Reso- lutions were, unanimously, adopted, echoing the sentiments of the com- mander-in-chief.
These events hastened the adoption of a resolution, which had been, some time, pending before Congress, giving to the officers who preferred a sum in gross to an annuity, five years full pay, in money, or in securities at six per cent., instead of the half-pay for life, which had previously been promised them ; and measures were also taken, to obtain for the troops, three months' pay in hand. At the same time, a happy mean was pursued, of dispersing the dangerous mass. The commander-in-chief was instructed, to grant fur- loughs to the non-commissioned officers and privates, with an intention, which, of course, was persevered in, that they should not be required to re- join their regiments. The officers remonstrated; but the general again ap- peased them, and gained their acquiescence. In the course of the summer, a great proportion of the troops, who had enlisted for three years, returned to their homes ; and on the third of November, 1783, all who had engaged for the war, were discharged.
By these means, an unpaid army was disbanded and dispersed ;- the pri- vates betaking themselves to labour-the officers, who had been drawn from every condition of society, from the professions, from husbandry and from trade, and the mechanic arts, returned, generally, to their primary pursuits.
One, only, exception stands forth from this scene of honourable and pa- triotic devotion. About eighty of the new Pennsylvania levies, who were without pretensions of suffering and service, in despite of their officers, marched from Lancaster to Philadelphia,* to seek a redress of grievances. Joining with some troops, in the barracks of the city, their force was increased to three hundred, which proceeded with fixed bayonets and drums, to the state- house, where Congress, and the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania, held their sessions. They placed guards at every door, and sent to the council a written message, threatening to loose the soldiery upon them, if their demands were not granted within twenty minutes. Congress, though not the object of the soldiers resentment, deemed themselves grossly insulted, having been restrained of their liberty for several hours. Apprehensive of further ill consequence, from this insurrection, that body adjourned, to meet at Princeton, the next place of their assemblage. General Washington, in- formed of this outrage, despatched fifteen hundred men, under General Howe, to quell the mutiny, which, previously to their arrival, was suppressed, with- out bloodshed. Several of the mutineers were tried and condemned, two, to suffer death ; and four, to receive corporal punishment; but all were afterwards pardoned.
XXXII. On the 25th of November, 1783, the British evacuated New
* June 20th, 1783.
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York, and General Washington, attended by General Clinton, many civil and military officers, and a cavalcade of citizens, made a public entry into that city.
His military carcer was now on the point of terminating ; but previously to divesting himself of his command, he proposed to bid adieu to his com- rades in arms. The interview, for this purpose, took place on the fourth of December, at Francis' tavern. At noon, the principal officers had assembled, when he entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass with wine, he turned to them and said, " with a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish, that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honourable." Having drank, he added, " I cannot come to each of you to take leave, but shall be obliged, if each will come and take me by the hand." General Knox being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same affectionate manner, he took leave of all. Every eye was suffused with tears, and not a word broke the deep silence and tenderness of the scene. Leav- ing the room, he passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to White Hall, where a barge waited to convey him to Paules Hook. The whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, testifying feelings of delicious melancholy, which no language can describe. Having entered the barge, he turned to his companions, and waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu. They 'returned the affectionate salute, and when the barge had left them, marched, in the same solemn manner, to the place where they had assembled .*
One other act remained, to render the fame of Washington, as imperisha- ble as the globe on which he lived-to set an example of virtue and patriot- ism, which, through all time, shall inspire the good with the desire of imita- tion, and curb and defeat the demagogue, and the tyrant, who use political power for private ends. This was, the voluntary surrender of that almost dictatorial power, which had been granted by the sages of his country, and which he had used with unequalled prudence and conscientious reserve. This solemn and impressive duty, he performed at Annapolis, on the 23d of De- cember, 1783, delivering his commission to the assembled council of the nation, from whom, eight years before, he had received it; and retiring to become, the first in peace, as he had been first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.
* Marshall. Gordon.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
I. Peculiar sufferings of the State of New Jersey from the War .- II. Laws in New Jersey relative to the Militia .- III. Council of Safety .- IV. Military efforts of New Jersey .- V. State Representatives in Congress .- VI. Establishment of the . New Jersey Gazette .- VII. Unhappy Condition of the States after the return of Peace .- VIII. Inefficiency of the Articles of Confederation-Part of New Jersey in their Adoption .- IX. Measures proposed in Congress for maintaining Public Credit-Efforts of New Jersey upon this subject .- X. She resorts to Paper Cur- rency and Loan Office for Relief .- XI. Difficulties with Great Britain relative to the Execution of the Treaty .- XII. Measures for regulating the Trade of the Union-Result in a Proposition for Revision of the Articles of Confederation .- XIII. Adoption of the New Constitution-Ratified by New Jersey.
I. In the rapid sketch we have given of the revolutionary war, we have endeavoured to place in full relief, those events, in which the State of New Jersey bore a distinguished part, or claimed a peculiar interest. We have, thus, noticed the battles and skirmishes which took place within and around her borders, and the injuries she sustained from the marauding parties of the enemy, and the requisitions of her friends. We have seen, that the Ameri- can grand army, except for a period of nine months, between September, 1777, and June, 1773, when the British occupied Philadelphia, and for the two months of the autumn of 1751, employed against Cornwallis, in Virgi- nia, was, during the whole war, within, or on the confines of, the State. Its presence necessarily drew upon her, the perpetual observation and frequent inroads of the enemy; so that her citizens were, at no time, relieved from the evils of war. Had the American army been regularly and fully paid, some, though inadequate compensation, might have been derived from the sale of her products to additional consumers. But, unhappily, those pro- duets were, too frequently, taken without payment, or were paid for in cer- tificates, which, for the time, were worthless.
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