USA > New York > A history of New York, for schools. Vol. II > Part 6
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CHAPTER VIIL.
Un. In our last walk out of town you were all struck with surprise at hearing the language of some boys who were playing and quarrelling almost at the same time, and in either case, uttering words shocking to any well educated person. These poor boys have received no education to counteract the effect of the evil examples they have been surround- ed with. For such, there is little hope but in the House of Refuge.
Phil. Or the Sunday school.
Un. It is evident that their parents had not made them attend that, or any other school, to any good purpose. Do you remember the idle, blackguard boy, that we saw sitting on the fence, not far from the House of Refuge, in one of our walks ?
Wm. Yes, sir. And you remarked that, although
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little differing in dress from the picture of the "Stu- dious Boy," you presented to us, yet he was a perfect contrast to it.
Un. I have procured a little picture of the idler, and now let us compare the two boys. The idle boy is the representative of vacuity and indecision ; the other of thought and determined improvement. We will suppose the idler falls in, as is most likely, with such boys as we saw in our last walk ; he would then become industrious in evil. He would try to out-do them in expressions of indecency. He would smoke his cigar, and if he could obtain money by attending at the doors of the theatres to beg checks and sell them, he would soon add drinking to smo- king. His wants would increase, and to obtain wherewith to satisfy them he would steal, and if not rescued by the House of Refuge, or some other be- nign agent of Providence, he must go on to be the pest of society, or a sacrifice to its laws. Now look at the studious bov. We may believe that he is poor, and has no father; but he has a good mother, and has been taught his duty to God and his neigh- bour. He sees the beauty of knowledge, and thirsts for its precious stream. When at play he would be foremost in skill and activity, but his companions would never be the corrupt or profane. When at school, he would be at the head of his class, and teacher of all less quick of perception than himself. Now, shall I tell you his future history ?
Phil. O, you can't, Unele !
Un. Let me try. His widowed mother cannot keep him at school as long as she wishes, and ac- cepts the offer of a good gentleman, a lawyer, in Albany, to be an attendant in his office. There, Tim --
Phil. Is his name Tim ?
Un. We will call him Timothy Trusty. Tim,
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being active and intelligent, executes his master's or- ders with despatch and punctuality, while he finds time to read without neglecting his duty. There are many words he does not understand; and find- ing an old Latin grammar of his master's, he stu- , dies it. His master observing this, and admiring the boy's general conduct, seuds him to a classical school; then in process of time receives him as a regular law student. Timothy becomes a lawyer, and enters into practice with his master.
Phil. What becomes of his mother ?
Un. That's the question of a good boy. He takes a house for her in town, and lives with her, as much her consolation, as a man, as he was her comfort when the barefooted studious boy.
John. I don't see, sir, but Timothy Trusty may become president of the United States.
Phil. 'That would be capital !
Un. As he did not sit on the fence when a boy, he would probably take a decided stand on the right side when a man. He would be chosen as a member of the state legislature-industrious, honest, intelli- gent, eloquent, and learned, he must go to congress -he must be chosen as one of the senate-honours and offices seek him; and his good mother sees him president. So much for pictures ; now let us go to realities. We have seen that owing to the failure of the attack on Quebec, and other disasters combined, with powerful reinforcements brought to the English by General Burgoyne, our army, dis- pirited, dying with the small-pox, and in a state of helpless disorganization, was driven with dis- grace out of Canada. It was this army that Gen- cral Gates was sent to command. Congress order- cd General Schuyler to raise two thousand Indians to serve in Canada. " Where am I to find them ?" was the reply. Adding, that, under present circum-
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stances, if the savages could be prevented from join- ing the enemy, it was as much as could be expected. This he exerted himself to do, and had a council with them at German Flats, at which he made a treaty. But Sir John Johnson, notwithstanding that he had given his parole, counteracted the intentions of Schuyler by instigating the Indians and High- landers to hostilities against the frontiers. A force was sent to prevent this mischief, and Johnson fled to the Indians and English. He never more returned to Johnstown, but was active with Burgoyne.
Wm. A good riddance !
Un. General Washington recommended sending on Shee's and Magaw's regiments from Philadel- phia, to oppose the threatened attack upon New York; and I will now show you some extracts from a work written by Captain Graydon of Pennsylva- nia, which gives a more circumstantial account of several transactions on our island, than I have found elsewhere, and a more graphick description of the troops collected for the defence of the city. The Pennsylvania regiments were under the command 'of General Mifflin, and were at first employed in fortifying the northern end of the island, and build- ing Fort Washington, which, as it stood on the east bank of the Hudson, was supposed adequate, with Fort Lee, opposite, to prevent the passage of the enemy's ships.
Win. You have not told us any thing of General Mifflin, sir.
Un. He was a gentleman of Pennsylvania, and afterward its governor. Well educated, and having travelled in Europe, (an advantage more rare then than now,) he had some qualifications for his station. He had served likewise before Boston, so might talk of war to the uninitiated. Graydon says of him, " His manners were better adapted to attract popu-
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larity than to preserve it. Highly animated in his appearance, and possessing in an eminent degree the talent of haranguing a multitude, his services in giv- ing motion to the militia, were several times, in the course of the war, felt and acknowledged." His tal- ents were rather brilliant than solid. Mr. Mifflin was deficient in that better judgment which could truly estimate great events or great men, and destroy- ed his usefulness by overweening self-estimation, which led, as with too many others we must men- tion, to dissatisfaction with the great commander-in- chief, and secret league with his enemies. Captain Graydon says of him, " He was full of activity and apparent fire, but it rather resembled the transient blaze of light combustibles than the constant, steady flame of substantial fuel." Graydon describes men and events with the accuracy of an observing eye- witness. Read this extract :
John. " Among the military phenomena of this campaign, the Connecticut lighthorse ought not to be forgotten. These consisted of a considerable number of old-fashioned men, probably farmers and heads of families, as they were generally middle- aged, and many of them apparently beyond the meri- dian of life. They weretruly irregulars; and whether their clothing, their equipments. or caparisons were regarded, it would have been difficult to have discov- ered any circumstance of uniformity ; though in the features derived from ' local habitation,' they were one and the saine. Instead of carbines and sabres, they generally carried fowling-pieces; some of them very long, and such as in Pennsylvania are used for shooting ducks. Here and there, one, 'his youth- ful garments well saved,' appeared in a dingy regi- mental of scarlet, with a triangular, tarnished, laced hat. In short, so little were they like modern sol- diers, in air or costume, that, dropping the necessa-
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ry number of years, they might have been supposed the identical men who had in part composed Pep- peril's army at the taking of Louisburg. Their or- der of march corresponded with their other irregu- larities. It ' spindled into longitude immense,' pre- senting so extended and ill-compacted a flank, as though they had disdained the adventitious prowess derived from concentration. These singular dra- goons were volunteers who came to make a tender
of their services to the commander-in-chief.
But
they staid not long at New York. As such a body of cavalry had not been counted upon, there was in all probability a want of forage for their jades, which, in the spirit of ancient knighthood, they absolutely refused to descend from; and as the general had no use for cavaliers in his insular operations, they were forthwith dismissed with suitable acknowledgments for their truly chivalrous ardour. An unlucky trooper of this school, had by some means or other found his way to Long Island, and was taken by the enemy in the battle of the 27th August. The Brit- ish officers made themselves very merry at his ex- pense, and obliged him to amble about for their en- tertainment. On being asked, what had been his duty in the rebel army, he answered that it was to flank a little, and carry tidings. Such, at least, was the story at New York, among the prisoners."
Wm. Is it possible that this is true, sir ?
Un. I witnessed too many displays of such ill-con- stituted military corps to doubt it. General Washing- ton in a letter of 10th July, 1776, to the president of congress, says, that the battalions of the Connecticut militia will be very incomplete, and that that govern- ment had ordered three regiments of their lighthorse to his assistance, but not having the means to support cavalry, he informed the gentlemen that he could not consent to keep their horses, but wished "them-
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selves" to remain. It appears that while the gen- erality of the troops were employed with the spade and pickaxe, and the fine regiments from Pennsyl- vania were daily at work fortifying the banks of Haerlem and Hudson rivers, these highminded " Connecticut lighthorse," as the commander-in- chief says, "notwithstanding their promise" to con- tinue for the defence of New York, were discharged, " having peremptorily refused all kind of fatigue du- ty, or even to mount guard, claiming an exemption as troopers." I mention these things, boys, that you may know the kind of material Washington had to oppose to the numerous and well-appointed army that was preparing to attack him. These gallant troopers performed one exploit in the city. They paraded at the corner of Wall and Queen streets, where Rivington's printing office and dwelling-house stood, and entering the house, demolished the presses, and threw the types out of the windows, to be dis- tributed by the mob who gathered in the streets.
John. What became of Mr. Rivington ?
Un. He secreted himself and found means to join his friends. After visiting England, he returned and published the "Royal Gazette," at New York, as "king's printer." I must give you another extract from Captain Graydon, to read, respecting the troops on York island. This is it.
John. " The materials of which the eastern bat- talions were composed, were apparently the same as those of which I had seen so unpromising a speci- men at Lake George. I speak particularly of the officers, who were in no single respect distinguish. able from their men, other than in the coloured cockades, which, for this very purpose, had been pre- scribed in general orders; a different colour being assigned to the officers of each grade. So far from aiming at a deportment which might raise them
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above their privates, and thence prompt them to due respect and obedience to their commands, the ob- ject was, by humility, to preserve the existing bless- ing of equality : an illustrious instance of which was given by Colonel Putnam, the chief-engineer of the army, and no less a personage than the nephew of the major-general of that name. ' What,' says a person meeting him one day with a piece of meat in his hand, 'carrying home your rations yourself, colonel !' ' Yes,' says he, 'and I do it to set the officers a good example.' But if any aristocratick tendencies had been really discovered by the colonel among his countrymen, requiring this wholesome ยท example, they must have been of recent origin, and the effect of southern contamination, since I have been credibly informed, that it was no unusual thing in the army before Boston, for a colonel to make drummers and fifers of his sons, thereby, not only being enabled to form a very snug, economical mess, but to aid also considerably the revenue of the fam- ily chest. In short, it appeared that the sordid spirit of gain was the vital principle of the greater part of the army. The only exception I recollect to have scen, to these miserably constituted bands from New England, was the regiment of Glover from Marble- head. There was an appearance of discipline in this corps; the officers seemed to have mixed with the world, and to understand what belonged to their stations. Though deficient, perhaps, in polish, it possessed an apparent aptitude for the purpose of its institution, and gave a confidence that myriads of its meek and lowly brethren were incompetent to inspire. But even in this regiment there were a number of negroes, which, to persons unaccustom- ed to such associations, had a disagreeable, degrad- ing effect."
" Taking the army in the aggregate, with its
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equipments along with it, he must have been a nov- ice or a sanguine calculator, who could suppose it capable of sustaining the lofty tone and verbal ener- gy of congress. In point of numbers merely, it was deficient ; though a fact then little known or suspect- ed. Newspapers and common report, indeed, made it immensely numerous ; and it was represented that General Washington had so many men, that he wanted no more, and had actually sent many home, as superfluous. It is true, there were men enough coming and going ; yet his letters of that day, demon- strate how truly weak he was in steady, permanent soldiers."
Un. We will now take our exercise, and to-mor- row I must tell you of the battle of Brooklyn.
CHAPTER IX.
Un. I mean to give you to-day, as clear a notion as I can of the unfortunate battle of Brooklyn, but will first say a few words of the meeting between Generals Schuyler and Gates. The latter, as we have seen, had been appointed a major-general, and assigned to the command of the troops in Canada. These troops had been forwarded by Schuyler with the intent of commanding them himself in that ex- pedition, but sickness preventing, they had been in- trusted to the gallant Montgomery, whose letters we have just read. They were now (under the com- mand of General Sullivan) ordered by the com- mander of the department, Schuyler, to Crown Point ; where, in the condition of a sick, dispirited, and defeated army, Gates found them ; he not only superseded Sullivan in the command of this force,
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but affected to consider himself independent of, if not superiour to, Schuyler; and the adherents of Gates have to this time, in printed documents, stated that he had been appointed by congress the commander of the northern department, notwithstanding the most positive testimony to the contrary. Gates had as- sumed the style and mode befitting the chief officer of a great department. In one of his letters to Washington, he says, " I must take the liberty to animadvert a little upon the unprecedented behaviour of the members of your council to their compeers of this department."
John. What could induce him to be so bold ?
Un. He had, during the blockade of Boston by the eastern troops, used those arts which Montgom- ery said were so adverse to his character. Gates
could " wheedle and flatter." His manners were specious, as were his talents, and he was indefatiga- ble, by writing and otherwise, in his efforts to attach to himself the eastern members of congress, and other men of influence. He was the boon compan- ion of the gentleman, and the " hail-fellow, well- met," of the vulgar. He saw from the first that Schuyler was unpopular in New England. He was, like his friends Montgomery and Washington, un- fitted for wheedling, flattering, and lying; and be- sides had, in the preceding disputes between the province of New York and New England, maintain- ed the rights of the people who had sent him to the legislature. Gates knew at this time that several members of congress wished him to supersede Schuyler. Elbridge Gerry had, by letter, declared that he wished him to be generalissimo at the north. Messrs. Loval, Samuel Adams, and others, were his adherents. He kept up a correspondence of a , friendly nature with John Adams, but there is no evidence of that great man having appreciated him
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to the disadvantage of Schuyler. He had sounded . Adams as to the character of Robert Morris, and re- ` ceived a high eulogium in answer. Shortly after, Robert Morris wrote to Gates, and speaking of the disasters in the north, he says, " I find some people attributing this to a source I should never have sus- pected : is it possible that a man who writes so well and expresses such anxiety for the cause of his country as General S-r does-I say, is it possi- ble that he can be sacrificing the interest of that country to his ambition or avarice ? I sincerely hope it is not so, but such intimations are dropped."
John. Do you suppose these insinuations have one source alone ?
Un. I believe that they were encouraged by one who took advantage of the prejudices of many. I will mention another instance of the art by which General Gates gained, and attempted to gain, men of influence as agents in his plans of ambition. Connecticut was then a most efficient member of the Union, and Governor Trumbull, as steady a patriot as any on the continent, was the friend of Washing- ton and of his. country, but placing great reliance on Gates. He had three sons at this time in the service ; if more, I know not. One of these young men was appointed a paymaster-general, another a commissary-general, and the youngest was appoint- ed by Gates, soon after he received his commission of major-general, (which was the 24th of June, 1776,) and was empowered to make such an appointment for the army in Canada, his deputy adjutant-gen- eral; and this young gentleman he took on with him and retained, although there was no longer an army in Canada. Mr. Joseph Trumbull, the com- missary-general, was appointed by the same author. ity to furnish supplies for the northern department, of which, as you have seen, Schuyler was the com-
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mander; and notwithstanding that that general had a commissary-general, Mr. Livingston, of his own choice, Gates had influence enough to force Mr. Joseph Trumbull upon him. All this secured to him the attachment of a powerful family, and of the state of Connecticut, where the good old governor was justly esteemed for talents and patriotism.
John. Did not General Schuyler oppose these usurpations upon his authority ?
Un. Yes; or he would not have done his duty to his country. He issued his orders for the relief and safety of the army in Canada, now driven back to his immediate department and command. Gates, on his arrival, refused to submit to the authority of Schuyler, who met this unauthorized disobedience in the most courteous manner, and although the commission of Gates was in such plain terms that none but the wilfully blind could fail to understand it, Schuyler offered to refer the matter in dispute to congress. I have had an opportunity of tran- scribing part of a letter written by Commissary-gen- eral Trumbull, to his patron, which throws light on the subject, and on the characters of the parties con- cerned. Read it. It was written from New York.
John. "July 5th, 1776." "The extract is intro- duced by some words of your own.
Un. Let my words go for their worth. Read on.
John. " He mentions letters received on the sub- ject of his department, and says, 'by which I find you are in a cursed situation, your authority at an end, and commanded by a person who will be wil- ling to have you knocked in the head, as General Montgomery was, if he can have the money-chest in his power. I expect soon to see you and your suite, back here again.' He adds, that he has shown these letters from his deputy-commissaries to Gen- eral Washington, and told him that he would order
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his agents back again ; as a deputy who could have no money from anybody but General Schuyler, could be of no use in that part of the world; fur- ther, he says, he told the general he would 'not be answerable for the consequences where his author- ity and the chief command were both disputed.' "
Un. You see by this, my dear children, some- what of the difficulties Schuyler and Washington had to contend against ; and as you will remember the extracts from the letters of Montgomery, you can judge how differently that gallant officer and good man thought of Schuyler, who is here charged with avarice and peculation, if not directly, certainly by implication. Yet we know that this high-souled gentleman advanced his own money for the publick service when the envied chest was empty; and saw his houses, mills, and plantations at Saratoga, com- mitted to the flames by the enemy, without regret- ing any sacrifice for his country's service. One would suppose, that mean suspicion could not add to this, yet I find the charge against Philip Schuy- ler of intercepting the letters forwarded by congress to the friends of Gates! It was thus that Schuyler and Washington had to contend against internal as well as external enemies. As early as January. 1776, this persecuted patriot wrote to his friend and commander, " I could point out particular persons of rank in the army, who have frequently declar- ed, that the officer commanding in this quarter, ought to be of the colony from whence the majority of the troops came." He says, he has come to the conclusion " that troops from the colony of Connec- ticut will not bear with a general from another col- ony." He lamen's the " unbecoming jealousy" in a people of " so much publick virtue." Writing to the same, in May, 1776, he alludes to the clamour raised against him, which had been attributed to art.
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ful practices of the tories, and says, " I trust it will appear that it was more a scheme calculated to ruin me, than to disunite and create jealousies in the friends of America. Your excellency will please to order a court of inquiry the soonest possible." He had before said that he had reason to apprehend that the tories were not the only ones who propa- gated evil reports respecting him. Ile afterward knew full well who were leagued against him.
Wm. Is it not strange, sir, that the Connecticut people should object to serve under generals from another colony, and yet be willing to follow a for- eign officer ?
Un. It would appear almost unnatural but for cir- cumstances, some of which I have already touched upon. They were particularly adverse to the peo- ple of New York, from the time of old disputes re- specting boundaries; they had originally intruded upon and dispossessed the Dutch, and continued to entertain hostile sentiments, clothed in expressions of contempt, against the original settlers of the prov- ince; and such have unhappily been repeated to this day. Schuyler had ever been a champion for the rights of New York; and much of what he terms a general aversion to men of other provinces, was personal enmity to him. This was fostered and increased by the arts of a foreign officer, to whom these Americans looked up as almost the only lead- er whose knowledge could save them. You must recollect that this was early in the struggle. People had no confidence in their own military skill, and saw in Charles Lee and Horatio Gates, men pos- sessing that knowledge which raised them above any provincial. We must recollect that Americans had heard for years of their own inferiority, and of the immense advantages possessed by the British officers. Therefore, it was not unnatural that men
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who felt their own deficiency in military tacticks (and had almost been made to believe that they were an inferiour race, compared to Europeans) should look up to those who had seen some service, and could talk of battles in words of gunpowder. That this servile submission should have continued so long, does appear to me almost unnatural, for we shall see that many of the Americans were ranged under an intriguing foreigner for the overthrow, at a later period, of Washington himself. But let us . proceed with the affairs of 1776.
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