USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 29
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The impending invasion of New York City caused its inhabitants to seek asylums in the country in every direction, particularly in New Jer- sey, which aroused the New Jersey Congress into the passing of an ordi- nance to repress the influx, " it being unknown upon what principles such removals were occasioned," - whether to escape ministerial oppression or the resentment of an injured community, - and all persons coming from New York with the design of residing in New Jersey were re- quired to produce a permit from the committee of their precinct ; in case of refusal, to be themselves returned immediately from whence they came. The whole power of the Province of New Jersey was exercised by this self-constituted body, which assumed control over its funds and directed its physical energies.
The animosity which burst into a blaze between those for and against kingly rule was of the most serious character. Language was ransacked for forms of speech with which to express the abhorrence each felt for the other. The old saying became current, " though we are commanded to forgive our enemies, we are nowhere commanded to forgive our friends."
1 William Temple Franklin resided in France, became the biographer of his grandfather, and died at Paris, May 25, 1823.
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BURNING OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.
Every week brought news which intensified the bitterness. The rumor that general orders had been issued by the British Ministry to burn all the seaport towns of America (though without foundation) was believed by thousands ; and, as if in confirmation of the startling story, Norfolk, the best town in Virginia, the oldest and most loyal colony of England, was burned and laid waste by Lord Dunmore, the Royal governor who had been driven from that province. This following in the immediate wake of the wanton bombardment and burning of Portland, Maine, by a British man-of-war, lashed the American heart into a fury of antipathy which it required two entire generations to eradicate. "I can no longer join in the petitions of our worthy pastor for reconciliation," wrote Mrs. Adams, the most gifted woman of the period. Franklin, returning from Can- bridge, where he had been sent on an important mission to Washington, appeared before Congress in a stern mood. He had recently written to Dr. Priestley that humorous summing of the grand result of the first cam- paign which was a standing paragraph in the newspapers for years : " Britain, at the expense of three millions, has killed one hundred and fifty Yankees this campaign, which is twenty thousand pounds a head, and at Bunker Hill she gained a mile of ground, half of which she lost again by taking post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time sixty thousand children have been born in America. From these data Dr. Price's mathematical head will easily calculate the time and expense ne- cessary to kill us all, and conquer our whole territory." But it was a long time before Franklin could pen any more jokes upon the war. He was fully prepared how to go to all lengths in opposition to England.
The New York Congress appealed to the Continental Congress for a military force to disarm every man on Long Island who voted adversely to their existence as a body, and a committee consisting of William Liv- ingston, John Jay, and Samuel Adams reported promptly and favorably. Full authority was invested in the New York Congress to direct and con- trol the troops employed in this delicate service, which was assigned to Jerseymen under Colonel (afterwards General) Nathaniel Heard, assisted by Lord Stirling's battalion, and which was accomplished before the end of January.
Meanwhile a little pamphlet of thirty pages, penned by a literary ad- venturer unknown to fame, who had been but a year in this coun- try, and entitled " Common Sense " by Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, Jan. 2. electrified the whole continent. Thomas Paine had the genius to con- dense into vivid expression the political doctrines of George Fox, William Penn, Turgot, Adam Smith, Franklin, and Jefferson, and the press of Pennsylvania placed it before the people. It was a startling success.
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It fell into everybody's hands. Edition after edition was sold. It is not dull reading even now. Of the grave point at issue it said :-
" The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth. 'T is not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent, of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'T is not the concern of a day, a year, an age ; posterity are virtually involved in it even to the end of time."
Its reasoning was that Europe and not England was the parent country of America. This idea struck deep into the heart of New York, where the majority of the inhabitants were not of English descent. Its claim was that this continent could not reap a single advantage by connection with Great Britain ; that its business could not be managed with any degree of convenience by a power so distant, and so very ignorant of its geography and resources.
" There is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually gov- erned by an island ; in no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than the primary planet."
During the same memorable month of January General Schuyler per- formed a service for the country, without bloodshed, which was of the
first importance in its bearing upon coming events. New York, Jan. 19. the central and all-important link in the confederacy, contained an element of savage power which occasioned the utmost solicitude. Arms and ammunition were said to be concealed in Tryon County, and it was well understood that Sir John Johnson had fortified Johnson Hall, and gathered about him his Scotch Highland tenants and Indian allies, intending to carry fire and sword along the valley of the Mohawk. While Schuyler was deploring the condition of the army in Canada, and entreat- ing for three thousand men to reinforce Arnold at Quebec, the Continental Congress, acting from the advice of the New York Congress, ordered him to take measures for disarming these hostile forces in the interior of New York. He forthwith hastened from Albany at the head of a body of soldiers, defying the wintry storms and deep drifts of snow, and joined by Colonel Herkimer with the militia of Tryon County, marched over the frozen bosom of the Mohawk River and suddenly appeared before Sir John's stronghold on the 19th of January. Resistance was hopeless, and
Sir John capitulated, surrendering all weapons of war and military Jan. 20. stores in his possession, and giving his parole not to take up arms against America. On these conditions he was granted a permit to go as far westward in Tryon County as the German Flats and Kingsland districts, and to every part of the colony southward and eastward of these districts ; provided he did not go into any seaport town. On the following day, all
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SIR JOHN JOHNSON SURRENDERS TO SCHUYLER.
things being adjusted, Schuyler with his troops in line, and his officers and men instructed to preserve respectful silence, conducted the surrender with gentlemanly regard to the feelings of Sir John and his Scottish adherents ; Sir John himself was allowed to retain a few favorite family side-arms, making a list of them. The whole party marched to the front, grounded their arms, and were dismissed with timely advice as to their conduct to- wards America. For his discreet management of the whole affair, Schuyler was warmly applauded by Congress, and congratulated by Washington.
It is impossible to regard the wise and effective movements of New York at this critical juncture but with admiration. The adverse influ- ences within her own territory were being overcome gradually, but with a high hand. Governor Tryon, castled on a British ship in the harbor, was keeping up a suspicious intercourse with the citizens, and the com- mercial classes had little faith in the success of what was termed the " rebellion." Everybody suspected everybody ; even the strongest assur- ances of attachment to either side in the controversy were often doubted. The scholarly training of the men who were conspicuous in the New York Congress is apparent through their intolerance of injustice in any form. They were hopeful amid the network of difficulties which sur- rounded them, and displayed a breadth of vision which the rash and narrow-minded had not the ability to perceive. They empowered county committees in every part of the province to apprehend all persons noto- riously disaffected, and by judicious examinations ascertain if they were guilty of any hostile act or machination. Imprisonment or banishment was the penalty. Committees thus appointed could call upon the militia at any moment to aid them in the discharge of their functions.
Isaac Sears, for his meddling propensities and unjustifiable and riotous conduct, had been completely dropped out of the New York councils, and soured with chagrin proceeded to the camp at Cambridge, where he in- dustriously labored to convince the generals of the army that New York was a " nest of tories," and in imminent danger from them. He so mis- represented the chief men in the popular movement that many of the New- Englanders regarded New York as but a step removed from monarchical alliance. He obtained the ear of General Charles Lee, a highly cultivated production of European warfare, who, having lost the favor of the British ministry and all chance of promotion, been distinguished in the battles of Poland, and led a restless life generally, had taken up his abode in Vir- ginia, and espoused the American cause. Prior to his appointment by Con- gress as major-general he had been intimate with Horatio Gates, and a fre- quent visitor at Mount Vernon ; he was whimsical, careless and slovenly in person and dress, - for although he had associated with kings and princes
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he had also campaigned with the Mohawks and Cossacks, - and was always attended by a legion of dogs that shared his affections with his horses, and took their seats by him at table. " I must have some object to em- brace," he said, misanthropically. " When I can be convinced that men are as worthy as dogs, I shall transfer my benevolence, and become as stanch a philanthropist as the cantling Addison affected to be."1 He was a general fault-finder with those in authority, and catching the notion from Sears, applied at once to Washington for an order to proceed to New York " and expel the Tories."
Washington had not yet been apprised of the vigorous measures adopted by New York, and yielded to what seemed a necessity. He charged Lee to communicate with and act in concert with the New York Congress, and himself wrote asking their co-operation. A military force would have been gladly welcomed had it been in command of an officer who respected civil authority ; but when the tidings reached the metropolis that Lee, with Sears as his adjutant-general, was advancing at the head of fifteen hundred Connecticut men, without so much as intimating his design, the New York authorities were filled with just indignation. Washington scrupulously respected the civil government of each Colony as well as of congresses. Lee scoffed at it all. The Committee of Safety Jan. 21. sent a messenger to Stamford to ask Lee that the troops of Con- necticut might not pass the border until the purpose of their coming should be explained, arguing that it was impolitic to provoke hostilities from the ships of war until the city was in a better condition of defense.
Lee wrote to Washington making a jest of the letters received, calling them " wofully hysterical "; and he was careful not to soothe New Jan. 23. York in his reply. The Committee immediately wrote to the Continental Congress, who dispatched a special committee at once to harmonize matters. Lee entered New York, February 4, on a litter, hav- ing been attacked with the gout while travelling over the rough winter roads of Connecticut, and was irritable, arrogant, and unreason- Feb. 14. able. He conveyed the impression that his office was to conquer New York rather than offer the city protection from a foreign foe It was a cold stormy Sunday, and by a singular coincidence, Sir Henry Clinton's squadron, which had recently sailed mysteriously from Boston, appeared in the harbor about the same hour.
Two hostile forces thus facing each other over her bulwarks threw the city into convulsions ; it was supposed the crisis had come, and that the streets of the metropolis would shortly be deluged with blood. Citizens
1 Letters of Lee to Adams.
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THE PANIC.
fled in wild dismay. Every wagon and cart that could be found was employed in transporting valuable effects into the country ; boats were swiftly laden, and men, women, and children ran through the streets with white, scared faces. Whole families made their escape as best they could, taking little or much with them as the circumstances allowed. The weather was so severe that travel in every direction was attended with peculiar peril and distress. The rich knew not where to go, and the poor, thrown upon the charity of interior towns, suffered from a complica- tion of ills. The floating cakes of ice in the rivers compelled the Asia and other war vessels to hug the wharves, which added greatly to the ter- ror and confusion.1 Never had New York seen a time of such agonized alarm, such a breaking up of homes, or such a series of business misfor- tunes. Hundreds of men were suddenly deprived of the means of sup- porting their families. Garish Harsin wrote to Mr. William Radclift,2 concerning a rumor that fifteen sail were in the lower bay; and said that for four days, although nothing material happened, the people scattered as fast as possible. He also said new life was given to the moving, “ as if it was the Last Day," on the 7th and 8th by the arrival of Lord Stirling with one thousand men from New Jersey, and the anchoring of another British ship in full view of the city.
General Lee aspired to supreme military power, and was charmed with the opportunity of exercising a separate command fromn his chief; he grew amiable as the danger increased, and patronizingly conferred with the New York Committee of Safety in regard to defensive measures. He went out with Lord Stirling to " view the landscape o'er," and determine upon points where fortifications would be desirable, after which he wrote to Washington : " What to do with the city, I own, puzzles me. It is so encircled with deep navigable waters, that whoever commands the sea must command the town." He told the New York Committee that " it was impossible to make the place absolutely secure," using, perhaps unconsciously, the precise language addressed him when remonstrated with so earnestly against the introduction of New England soldiers into New York.
It was no time now to waste words. The Committee, in their anxiety to delay the bombardment of the metropolis until their ships, sent privately for powder, unmolested by the men-of-war, should have returned, and suitable preparations made for decisive action, used every argument and took every precaution to prevent the provocation of hostilities prema- turely ; the situation required prudent management. No representative
1 Tryon to Dartmouth, February 8, 1776.
2 New York in the Revolution, 86.
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body of men on the continent were more thoroughly true to the country than the New York Congress and Committee of Safety, a statement no one will question after reading the simple and clear record of their daily proceedings. Their policy, so much criticised by their neighbors, was dictated by a shrewd regard for the public cause as well as their un- doubted duty to care for a defenseless city ; and it proved the wisest in the end. They bore the despicable abuse of Isaac Sears, who executed Lee's orders with vicious ferocity ; the revilings of Waterbury, who de- clared that " things would never go well unless the city of New York was crushed down by the Connecticut people "; and the inconvenience of harboring so many troops from other States, who seemed impressed with the notion that they had come to chastise a stiff-necked city rather than to aid in repelling an invasion ; while at the same time they were calling out the citizens to assist in fortifying the island, who responded with wonderful alacrity, - the whole people, men and boys of all ages, working with cheerful and untiring zeal.1
Meanwhile Clinton sent for the Mayor, and expressed much surprise and concern at the distress caused by his arrival ; which was merely, he said, a short visit to his friend Tryon. He professed a juvenile love for the place, said no more troops were coming, and that he should go away as soon as possible.2 "If this is but a visit to his friend Tryon," writes Lee, "it is the most whimsical piece of civility I ever heard of." It was a sore trial for Lee to be obliged to consult committees at every step, and he took not a few on his own responsibility ; one of these was to terminate the supplying of British ships in the harbor with eatables. He wrote to Washington, February 17: "Governor Tryon and the Asia continue between Nutten and Bedlow's Islands. It has pleased his Excellency, in violation of his compact, to seize several vessels from Jersey laden with flour. It has in return pleased my Excellency to stop all provis- ions from the city, and cut off all intercourse with him, - a measure which has thrown the Mayor, Council, and Tories into agonies." Lee's course confirmed the notions of Congress in regard to his superior military ability, and in the midst of his schemes for New York they appointed him to the command of the newly created Department of the South. He left the city, March 7, in the same critically caustic humor as when he came, the
Committee, and even Washington himself, falling under the lash of March 7. his disrespect. Reaching Virginia, he wrote to Washington that the members of the Congress of New York were " angels of decision when
1 Bancroft's Hist. U. S.
2 Sir Henry Clinton was on his way to join Admiral Parker in his movements on South Carolina.
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LORD STIRLING IN COMMAND OF NEW YORK.
compared with the Committee of Safety assembled at Williamsburg." He wrote furthermore in regard to the situation of affairs, which illustrates forcibly the difficulties encountered in every part of America during this period of suspense : " I am like a dog in a dancing-school; I know not where to turn myself, where to fix myself. The circumstances of the country intersected with navigable rivers, the uncertainty of the enemy's designs and motions, who can fly in an instant to any spot they choose with their canvas wings, throw me, or would throw Julius Cæsar, into this inevitable dilemma; I may possibly be in the North, when, as Richard says, I should serve my sovereign in the West. I can only act from sur- mise, and have a very good chance of surmising wrong."
Lee's predictions that New York would go " into hysterics " at his de- parture were not realized. Lord Stirling remained in temporary com- mand, and pushed the defenses of the city already projected as rapidly as resources permitted. He was an energetic and conspicuous officer, and with family interests and connections on every side, was stimulated to the utmost effort. A letter written on the 12th furnishes a faint glimmer of light as to what was going on in the way of preparation aside from earth- works and the sinking of batteries into cellars : --
" At New York we have a founder who has already cast 14 or 15 excellent brass field pieces. We have a foundry for iron ordnance, from 24-pounders to swivels. As to iron shot, we have plenty, and, on a pinch, could supply the whole world ; and as for small arms, we are not at the least loss, except for the locks, in which branch there will soon be a great number of hands employed. The means made use of to introduce the manufacture of saltpetre has met with the desired success ; so that the women make it in various parts of the country. From the various accounts, we shall by midsummer have 30 or 40 tons, or more, of our own manufacture. In one manufactory they make 50 cwt. per week. At Newbury in New England they make at least 100 lbs. per day. In short, it is now as easy to make saltpetre as it is to make soft soap. As to brimstone and lead, the bowels of our country produce more than sufficient for a war of 1000 years. In a short time we shall have at least thirty ships of war, from thirty- eight guns downwards, besides (if the ministry carry on their piratical war) a great number of privateers. When you return you will be surprised to see what the mother of invention has done for us. . I wish I could convey to you a small idea of the ardor which inflames our young men, who turn out with more alacrity on the least alarm than they would to a ball."
On the 14th Washington wrote to Stirling that the enemy appeared to be on the eve of evacuating Boston, and he presumed their destination was New York. Stirling immediately sent urgent appeals for troops in every direction. Colonel Samuel Drake was already here with minute-
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men from Westchester County, and Colonel Swartwout and Colonel Van Ness each with a command from Duchess County. He ordered over the Third New Jersey Regiment, and wrote to six of the nearest counties of that State for three hundred men each ; while Congress sent forward five or six Pennsylvania regiments. The Connecticut men were impatient to return home to attend to their spring farming, but many of them were induced to remain two weeks beyond their term of enlistment under Wa- terbury and Ward, until Governor Trumbull could supply their places with troops commanded by Silliman and Talcott. In case of an alarm, they were to parade immediately at the Battery, on the Common, and in front of Trinity Church. On Long Island a guard was posted at the Nar- rows and another at Rockaway, to report the approach of ships, and the Sandy Hook Light was dismantled. In the city cannon were mounted in the batteries as fast as completed ; and all the male inhabitants, black and white, worked by order of the Committee on the fortifications, the blacks every day, the whites every other day.1 F. Rhinelander wrote to a friend : " To see the vast number of houses shut up, one would think the city almost evacuated. Women and children are scarcely to be seen in the streets. Troops are daily coming in ; they break open and quarter themselves in any houses they find shut up. Necessity knows no law."
With the first April sunshine came General Israel Putnam, the redoubt- able hero of Indian and French adventure in the old Colonial wars, having been sent forward by Washington to command New York until April 4. his own arrival. He took up his abode in the Kennedy mansion, No. 1 Broadway, which had been vacated by the family, now in New Jersey.2 Some of his officers quartered themselves temporarily in the Watts mansion adjoining, the former city residence of the notable coun- selor.3 An authentic incident is related of the manner in which Hon. John Watts, Sen., left the country. Some of his letters had been intercepted
1 Advertisements which illustrate the extent of slavery in the New York of that period are found in all of the newspapers of the day, of which the following is a specimen : " March 12, 1776. Run away from the subscriber, a yellow wench, named Sim ; about five feet ten inches high, had on when she went away a narrow-striped homespun short gown, a wide-striped homespun petticoat, speaks good English, walks very much parrot-toed, has Indian hair, a middling likely wench. Whoever brings her to John Rutter, in Cherry Street, shall receive a handsome reward." - Constitutional Gazette.
2 See Vol. I. 655. Captain Kennedy was superseded in the Royal Navy in 1766, for refus- ing to receive the stamp papers on board his vessel. He was placed under arrest at Mor- ristown, New Jersey, in 1776, by the Colonial authorities, - at which time he was on half pay from the English government, - but was afterwards released on parole ; the next year he was suspected of giving aid to the enemy through his wife. His situation on the fence be- tween the two powers was precarious in the extreme.
3 See Vol. I. 501, 654, 732.
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ESCAPE OF HON. JOHN WATTS.
on their way to England, and read at a New York coffee-house, before a crowd of excited people, who became infuriated on the instant and surged about his dwelling, threatening violence and destruction. Judge Robert R. Livingston (the father of the Chancellor), who lived just above, on Broadway, was returning from court, dressed in his scarlet robes, and see- ing the danger to his friend, -for however opposed politically, the two great leaders of opposing principles were at heart warmly attached to each other, - he mounted the steps of the Watts mansion at the peril of his life, and waved his hand to the angry multitude, commanding silence ; he was gifted in oratory, and held the crowd spell-bound with his eloquence, taking the opportunity unseen to whisper directions for hiding Watts in a back building; and continued to speak until the rescue was complete, when he was escorted by the rioters to his own door with many cheers. That night Counselor Watts retired on board a man-of-war and shortly sailed for Europe. Before his departure, however, he clasped Judge Liv- ingston in his arms, exclaiming, with passionate warmth, "God Almighty bless you, Robert ; I do not believe you have an enemy in the world." Mrs. Watts accompanied her husband, but died two months after her arrival in Europe ; and the death of Watts himself was announced from Wales within a brief period. Judge Livingston's own death was recorded shortly after the scene above described.
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