USA > New York > A history of New York, for schools. Vol. II > Part 10
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John. The story of the capture of Fort Wash- ington and so many brave men has made me melan- choly, sir. It must have had a terrible effect on our people. How many prisoners did the English take !
Un. Upwards of two thousand, and many of these the best, in appointment, discipline, and arms, that our army possessed. These added to the men taken on Long Island, filled the prison, the hospital, the churches, and sugar houses of New York with suf- fering and dying Americans. The British imme. diately crossed the Hudson, and Washington was obliged to abandon Fort Lee with loss of artillery and stores, and precipitately retreat west of Hack- insac river, with the shadow of an army, every day becoming thinner. General Lee, who com- manded what was now the principal body of the forces, was ordered to join the commander-in-chief
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as soon as possible, as the enemy evidently were pushing for Philadelphia.
John. Was it not supposed that leaving two thou- sand men at Fort Washington under a colonel's command, and exposed to the whole British force, was an errour ?
Un. Yes; by many. And one of the evils at- tending the fall of these brave men, was the loss of confidence in General Washington, which it occa- sioned. His enemies rejoiced, and boldly declared that he was unfit for his station ; and none so loudly as Major-general Charles Lee. General Wash- ington had been determined by a council of officers, and by the opinion of one in whom he ever justly placed great confidence, General Greene. Yet I believe he sorely lamented the not withdraw- ing these men from a post, which, if even more strongly garrisoned, could only have been held for a few days. In the commander-in-chief's letter to congress, dated from General Greene's head-quar- ters, the 16th November, 1776, he says, that when the army was removed in consequence of Howe's landing at Frog's Point, Colonel Magaw was left with 1200 men at Fort Washington with orders to defend it to the last. Afterward "reflecting upon the smallness of the garrison," he wrote to Greene, who commanded on the opposite side of the Hud- son, to be governed by circumstances, and revoked the absolute order to Magaw. Hearing of the summons to surrender, the general hastened from Hackinsac, and was prevented crossing to Fort Washington by meeting Greene and Putnam, com- ing from thence, who assured him that the men Were " in high spirits, and would make a good de- fence." Next morning the attack commenced, and when the column of Colonel Rahl had gained the ground on the hill within 100 yards of the fort,
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and all the advanced troops had been driven in or taken prisoners, a flag with a second demand of surrender was sent in to Magaw, at the same time that Washington, who viewed the contest from the palisades, (the rocks opposite,) sent a billet to the colonel directing him to hold out, and he would endeavour, in the evening, to bring him off. It was too late : the treaty of surrender had been en. tered into, and could not be retracted. Magaw and his brave men became prisoners of war, the soldiers retaining their baggage and the officers their swords. Their fate was hard. Most of these troops were Pennsylvanians ; and strange as it must appear to us now, many of them thought they were sacrificed to the jealousy of the eastern men ;. and here is an extract from an intercepted letter, which shows again the hostile feelings which some of the New England people entertained towards their brethren of the middle and southern states. I
copied it from Gaine's New York Mercury of December 9, 1776, and the whole letter is a curi- osity. It is written from North Castle, where Lee was in command, and dated November 18th. Af- ter mentioning the surrender of Fort Washington, the writer says, " I am glad a southern officer com- manded : the story is not told to his advantage."
John. Who was the writer, sir ?
Un. Joseph Trumbull, "Commissary-general,"
as Gaine has it, " of the rebel army."
Wm. But is a letter so published to be consider- ed genuine ?
Un. If it contains internal evidence of its au- thenticity, as this does. He says, "I received a letter from brother Jack, dated the 4th of November in which he says he has not received his commis. sion, and resents it highly, as he has a right to do : it is scandalous treatment; I apprehend Schuyler
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has kept it." Now this perfectly accords with what I before showed you from a letter in the hand- writing of Mr. Trumbull, to General Gates. There is historick evidence likewise that letters at this time were intercepted and found their way to New York. One was from General Washington to his wife, and was with true politeness forwarded to the gen- eral by Sir William Howe, unopened.
Wm. Was he a great general, sir ?
Un. All his operations, since landing on Staten Island, appear to me to have been conducted with great skill.
John. What was passing, during this time, in the northern part of our state ?
Un. We will leave our dispirited and discomfited friends on the west side of the Hudson for a time, and return to Schuyler and Gates. You have heard the audacious attempt of the English officer to su- persede the American, and the rebuke given to the
usurper by congress. I have pointed out the calumnies with which the adherents of Gates attempt- ed to injure Schuyler, and the manly, forgiving spirit with which he met these injuries. We will now take a brief view of the events of the remainder of the campaign in this region, where General Schuyler retained the chief command, and Messrs. Gates and Arnold acted under him. On the 3d of August, 1776, Schuyler writes to Gates as to a friend, lamenting that he should be the object of envy, when his wish is to be in a. private station. He says, at "the conclusion of the last campaign I begged leave of congress to retire, and in confidence communicated to General Washington my more immediate reasons for it." He laments that he was persua led to continue. About this same time, Gen- eral Carleton (who was preparing to gain possession of Lake Champlain by building a fleet superiour to
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that which Schuyler had constructed for its defence, and intrusted to Arnold) issued these general orders ; read them :----
Wm. " Letters or messages from rebels, traitors in arms against their king, rioters, disturbers of the public peace, plunderers, robbers, assassins, and mur- derers, are, on no account, to be admitted. Should emissaries from such lawless men again presume to approach the army, whether under the name of flag- of-truce-men, or ambassadors, except when they come to implore the king's mercy, their persons shall be immediately seized."
Un. Such was the style our enemies at the north assumed; and the British treasury soon enabled them to gain a superiority in naval force on the lake: At the west, Butler, an English partisan, with seven hundred Indians and whites, were advancing upon Fort Stanwix, (since miscalled Rome,) where Col. Dayton was not in force to oppose them. Sur- rounded by difficulties, which were rejoiced in and increased by the man to whom he communicated them, General Schuyler wrote to Gates that he has notified congress and General Washington, of his determination to resign his commission, and insist on a hearing. He says, " My countrymen will be astonished to find that I shall not only clearly ex- culpate myself of all infamous charges laid to me, but point out that it ought to be bestowed elsewhere." At this time Joseph Trumbull writes to Gates: "I find that General Schuyler is about to resign; I congratulate you and myself thereon."
John. It appears to me, sir, that the misrepre- sentations and calumnies urged against Mr. Schuy- ler were monstrous.
Un. He was aware of the atrocious calumnics by which his enemies were endeavouring to destroy him. You well remember the letter of Joseph
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Trumbull to Gates, in which he attributes the death of Montgomery, and the misfortunes in Canada, to the man whose wish is that Gates likewise should be knocked in the head. Yet you have seen that this man was straining every nerve to serve his country. While forwarding the service on Lake Champlain, he was engaged, as he says in a letter to Washington, " on business the most disagreeable, to a man accustomed to civil society, that can possi- bly be conceived." A whole month, at the Ger- man Flats, was he endeavouring to secure the neu- trality of the Indians by speeches and presents. He says, he " believes the Six Nations will not fall on the frontiers:" but he was, at the same time, pre- paring for defence. To congress he complains, that his character had been barbarously traduced: he asks for a committee to inquire how far the mis- carriages in Canada, or if at all, are to be imputed to him. He says, "conscious of the mediocrity of my talents, and that I am vastly inadequate to the command I am honoured with, yet, on this occasion, I may be allowed to say, that I do not believe that I shall even be convicted of an errour of judgment."
John. Boldly said, sir.
Un, Like a man conscious of rectitude. He con- tinues : " Confidence of the army, in me, I know, is, in a great measure, destroyed by insidious insin- uations, industriously propagated by a set of mis- creants." September 14th, he tenders his resigna- tion to congress : "I am still willing to meet any inquiry. Oppressed as I have been by calumnies, I shall be always ready to do the duties of a good citizen, and to give my successor all the information and assistance in my power." He notifies General Washington that he has resigned, and adds, "after two weeks, I prepare to attend to my duty in congress."
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John. Did he then quit the service, sir ?
Un. No; congress would not accept his resig- nation. Still, their conduct towards him was so unsatisfactory, that but for events on Lake Cham- plain, that called upon his patriotism, he would have retired in disgust. He wrote to congress, and called upon them, in vain, (as his friend Washington in- cessantly did,) for a change of measures. He com- plained in letters, to those he thought his friends, of the unjust charges brought against him; and, among others, he unfolded his grievances to Samuel Chase and Governor Trumbull. In the mean time English gold accomplished more than continental paper, and General Carleton equipped a fleet on the lake, which destroyed that commanded by Arnold; and, being then master of this little inland sea, he threatened the army of Gates at Ticonderoga. This again called forth all the energies of Schuyler, who forwarded re-enforcements, and endeavoured to guard the country by its militia ; but this last spe- cies of force was such to him as the commander-in- chief had found it, "a broken reed :" refractory, in- subordinate in all things, they would neither march nor work, when ordered: but a sufficient show of opposition was made to induce the British general to defer his attack on " Ti;" and, as the winter was approaching, (to avoid being frozen in the lake, where he would be certain of destruction from sur- rounding enemies, ) he prudently returned to Canada, and relieved the good people of New York from their fears for the present.
John. And this would give an opportunity for the troops of the northern department to go to the relief of General Washington.
Un. Just so. General Schuyler dismissed the militia, and on the 12th November, from Albany, he orders Gates to send on the Jersey and Pennsyl-
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vania troops, to embark upon the Hudson. "I shall have sloops in readiness to convey them down." " General Sinclair or General Maxwell to march with the regiments destined for the southward." At the same time, Gates received a letter in a very dif- ferent style. It is like an under current in the sea, or an under plot in a fiction. Read that ; it is copied from the handwriting of Mr. Gates's friend :
WVm. " The enclosed I received from our mutual good friend, Mr. Gerry. The tory interest is (with ?) General Schuyler. Walter Livingston is to be nominal contractor,, and Philip Schuyler, major-general, real contractor. That Livingston will take the contract, is now ascertained by his let -. ter to me of the 8th instant, (November.)"
John. Who wrote this, sir ?
Un. Joseph 'Trumbull.
WVm. What does he mean by tory interest ?
Un. The most hateful appellation that could then be bestowed was "tory," and this is appropriated to the friends of Schuyler. A short time after, it was, we may reasonably suppose, applied to those who supported Washington against the same knot of intriguers.
John. Was there no danger of a winter expedition against Ticonderoga ?
Un. General Schuyler took precautions to meet such. He informed congress that he had supplied that post with provisions, and pointed out measures to anticipate any attempt of the enemy. He calls on Governor Trumbull to send on the troops, raised in his state, to " 'Ti" and Fort George. At the same time, we find him directing Gates to proceed with troops to aid General Washington, and calling upon influential men to establish the government of the State of New York, that the unprincipled and licen- tious may be controlled. To his old friend and fel-
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low-labourer, General George Clinton, then com- manding at New Windsor, he forwards timber for obstructing the navigation of the. Hudson ; and in- structs him in the manner of constructing and sink- ing casoons. Such were the cares of this great man ; while those who were undermining him were occupied with schemes of selfish ambition, or modes of obtaining lucrative contracts.
John. The contrast is very striking, sir.
Phil. Uncle, what are casoons ?
Un. They are square frames of timber, which are filled with stones, and sunk, to prevent vessels pass- ing or approaching any place. To-morrow we will return to the neighbourhood of New York, and see how General Washington fares in his retreat through New Jersey, with a few disheartened, half- clothed, half-armed troops, followed by the trium- phant legions of Sir William Howe. Now for our day's exercise.
CHAPTER XIII.
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Un. Tradition says, that Washington sat on one of the pinnacle-rocks of the palisades, opposite the fort which bore his name, and watched, with his telescope to his eye, the progress of the movements that were to decide the fate of two thousand of his best and bravest soldiers. " Here, boy," said an old man to his son, " here he sat, and when he saw the American flag fall, he took the spyglass from his eye, and the big tear rolled down his cheek,"
John. Is this a fact, sir ?
Un. I cannot vouch for it. Surely, it is very probable. We will now see what this great man says of the situation of himself and army. From
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Hackinsac, he wrote to his brother Augustine, November 19th, 1776, and mentioned the loss of Fort Washington: " We have lost not only two thousand men that were there, but a good deal of artillery, and some of the best arms we had." He laments that the different states are so slow in levy- ing their quotas of men: "In ten days from this date, there will not be above two thousand men, if that number, of the fixed established regiments, on this side Hudson's river, to oppose Howe's whole army." Two days after, he informed congress, that the British had followed up the blow of the 16th, by crossing the Hudson and pushing for the bridge over the Hackinsac, obliging him to retreat so as to secure that pass; that the cannon of Fort Lee were lost, with a great deal of baggage, two or three hundred tents, a thousand barrels of flour, and other stores. Ile was then retreating to put the river Passaic between him and the enemy. He orders Lee to leave his present position and cross the Hud- son with the continental troops. On the 27th of November, Lee had not moved. The enemy not only advanced on the track of the retreating Ameri- cans, but pushed detachments from Staten Island and passed by Amboy, Woodbridge, and the villages along the Raritan.
John. How did the hostile army treat the in- habitants ?
Un. Some of the yeomanry of the country, con- cluding that all was over, "came in," as it was called; and, according to the proclamation issued by the Howes, submitted and received 'paper protec- tions; but most of the men retired and left their property to the mercy of the enemy. It was my hap, then a little boy, to be in a village on the route of the army, and I saw the process of plundering the houses in which old men, women, and children,
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had been left, in confidence that British magna- nimity would shield them.
Wm. The plunderers were Hessians, I suppose ? Un. Not one, on this occasion. They were British infantry ; and General Grant was in a house of the little place, (it was at Piscatawa,) receiving submissions and giving protections.
John. It must have been a strange scene.
Un. It made an indelible impression on me. Not far from me stood a female follower of the camp, having charge of a musket, and guarding a pile of household furniture, to which a soldier industriously added by bringing forth from a house, where the mistress and her children stood weeping at the door, every article he could find, from the table and look- ing-glass, to the tongs and shovel; pots, kettles, women's clothing, and feather beds, were, by the same industry, transferred from the owners' homes to various piles, similarly protected. Here a soldier was seen issuing from a house, armed with a frying- pan and gridiron ; and there a camp-follower, bearing a mirror in one hand and a bottle in the other.
Wm. What could soldiers do with feather beds ?
Un. They ripped them open with their bayonets, strewed the road with the feathers, and their help- mates carefully preserved the ticking. This system of pillage, and the necessity under which the army might find itself of sweeping off cattle and forage, had a tendency to rouse individual resentment, and turn the timid, or submissive, into soldiers, seeking revenge for personal injury. On the day I witnessed this scene, General Washington was posted at New - Brunswick, behind the Raritan, but the river was fordable, and his force altogether inadequate to op- pose Cornwallis, at the head of eight thousand vete- rans. I will here mention a young captain of
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artillery, who was in aftertime a conspicuous object in American history, Alexander Hamilton.
John. You mentioned him as a writer on the whig side, when quite a boy.
Un. Yes. This gentleman was born in the West Indies, at the island of Nevis, in the year 1757. He was sent by his friends, for education, to our neigh- bourhood, and placed at a school in New Jersey, from whence he was transferred to King's college, New York. At New York, young Hamilton not only mingled with the writers of the day, but was active with Sears, M.Dougal, and Lamb, in the bustling scenes of the times; and when the two last entered the army, one a colonel and the other a cap- tain of artillery, Hamilton had qualified himself for a like employment, and raised a company, with which he was present on the Battery when the guns were removed and the Asia fired upon the town. Captain Hamilton was with the army at Brooklyn, the White Plains, and now, with his company and field-piece, was at Brunswick, doomed to retire farther with his future friend.
Wm. You have mentioned some of the leading men of the New York whigs, but say nothing of Captain Sears.
Un. He retired, first to Connecticut, and subse- quently to Boston ; and there, during the war, was engaged in fitting out ships for his old business of privateering. The other leaders of the popular party, as you know, all entered the army. Marinus Willet I shall have to mention in the events of the subsequent vear. When next I speak of Alexander Hamilton, it will be as an aid to the commander-in- chief.
John. Did General Washington retreat beyond the Delaware ?
Un. He did. Lord Stirling, with two brigades,
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were, on the third of December, at Princeton, and the General at Trenton, Two brigades of his re- maining troops, having served their time of enlist- ment, abandoned him, when now most wanted. General Lee's movements were unknown, both to the commander-in-chief and to congress. An ex- press was despatched "to know where, and in what situation, he and his army were." It was known that some of the regiments from the north had joined him. These were under St. Clair, who, on the 27th November, had written to Gates that he would do all that he could to inspirit the troops, and get them on to Washington's army, but feared that he could not keep them together.
John. This is a melancholy picture of the Amer. ican army.
Un. A disjointed, disobedient mass: but that the head and the heart were sound, what would have been the fate of America! This winter showed to the great commander those on whom he might depend; and developed, in part, the false-hearted- ness of others. On the 9th of December, General Washington received a letter from Lee by the hand of an officer, who had been sent to seek him and his army, and the general found, that, instead of obeying his orders to join him as soon as possible, the major-general was pursuing schemes of his own, and " hanging on the rear of the enemy," when wanted to oppose their front.
The commander writes to him, on the 10th : "Do come on ; your arrival may be fortunate ; if it can be effected with- out delay, it may be the means of preserving a city. whose loss must prove fatal to the cause of America. And again, the next day: " Nothing less than our utmost exertions will be sufficient to prevent Gen. eral Howe from possessing Philadelphia. The force I have is weak, and entirely incompetent to
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that end. I must, therefore, entreat you to push on with every possible,succour you can bring.' Gen- erals Mifflin and Putnam were sent to Philadelphia, and they persuaded congress to fly to Baltimore.
WVm. What was General Lee about, sir ?
Un. It is difficult to tell. It is evident that he thought himself better qualified as commander-in- chief than Washington ; and it is to be presumned that he wished, while in a separate command, to do something to show the world his superiority. On the 11th of December, he wrote from Morristown, and gave notice that, instead of intending to follow the directions he had received, he was about to make his way to the ferry below Burlington, in case the enemy's column should cross the Delaware, an event which Washington, by securing the boats, and guarding the passes, was endeavouring to pre- vent; and farther, Lec hints that the Jersey militia would turn out " if they could be sure of an army remaining among them." I have copied this from an unpublished letter, in Lee's handwriting, dated Baskingridge, December 13th, 1776, and addressed to Gates; read it :---
Wm. "The ingenious manœuvre of Fort Wash- ington has unhinged the goodly fabric we had been building: there never was so damned a stroke. Entre nous, a certain great man is damnably de- ficient. He has thrown me into a situation where I have my choice of difficulties."
Un. His situation was in consequence of dis- obeying orders, and slighting the directions by which his route had been pointed out and measures taken to facilitate his junction with the main army.
WVm. " If I stay in this province, I risk myself and army; and if I do not stay, the province is lost forever. I have neither guides, cavalry, medicines, money, shoes, or stockings. I must act with the VOL. 11 .- 13
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greatest circumspection. Tories are in my front, rear, and on my flanks; the mass of the people is strangely contaminated; in short, unless something which I do not expect turns up, we are lost."
Un. The comment upon this epistle is the fact. that something which he did not expect turned up very quickly. On the morning this letter is dated, (which was probably written the evening before.) this circumspect major-general was surprised and carried off to Perth Amboy by a party of British dragoons. I saw him, without a hat, enveloped in a cloak, and surrounded by his captors, galloped into the market square of the town. The command of his army falling on Sullivan, it was safely con- ducted, by the route designated in the commander- in-chief's letters, thus re-enforcing the main body. And in ten or twelve days after the date of this let- ter, the "certain great man," who was " damnably deficient," recrossed the Delaware with his troops, without the necessary comforts of " shoes or stock- ings," and captured, or drove in, the advance of the British army.
Wm. Bravo! The tide is turned !
Phil. But, Uncle, did gentlemen, when writing or speaking, make use of such words as are in this letter ?
Un. General Lee was noted for profanity. I would not have given you his letter with such ex- pressions in it, but that I thought they would excite your disapprobation of the like language, and, at the same time, characterize the man.
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