USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 41
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This admirably conducted enterprise furnished Washington the means of exchanging an officer of equal rank with Lee, which was accomplished in due course of events. Had Lee's character been as well understood then as now he would not have been wanted by the Americans at any price. He had been busy, while Congress and Washington were tenderly guarding his interests and striving for his release, in writing out and presenting to Lord and General Howe an elaborate plan for reducing the Americans. The evidence of this treason, the document itself, dated March 29, 1777, has been discovered and given to the world by the emi- nent scholar, George H. Moore.1 Lee commanded little respect in the British mind, and his counsels were in the main unheeded. If he in- fluenced in any slight degree the southern movement of the Howes, they had less reason than before to honor his military judgment.
Swiftly following the capture of Prescott came tidings of the loss of that enchanted castle in popular imagination, Ticonderoga. It had been invested by Burgoyne ; and evacuated by General St. Clair on the night of July 5th. The indefatigable exertions and appeals of Schuyler for an increase of military strength were counteracted by the intrigues of Gates; Schuyler had even been displaced, at the very moment when Bur- goyne's splendidly appointed army was crossing the ocean, and it was late in May before he was restored to the command. The peril then was close at hand, and it was impossible to collect men ; thus the garri-
1 Treason of Major-General Charles Lee, by George H. Moore ; Bancroft's Hist. United States ; F. Moore's Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution ; Shaw to Elliot, March 4, 1777 ; Sir Joseph Yorke to the Foreign Office, March 7, 1777 ; DeLancey's Notes to Jones's History, Vol. I. 672 ; Watson's Annals of Philadelphia.
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son was totally inadequate for the defense of the position against such a brilliant pageant as swept over the historic waters of Lake Champlain on the 1st of July. The importance of this fortress was overestimated both in England and America, as proven by subsequent events. Still the peo- ple of New York, having regarded it as the bulwark of their safety, were terror-stricken, not knowing whither to fly. They feared the savages more than the British, and the Hessians more than the savages ; and the forests were swarming with wildcats and wolves. The Tories were jubi- lant. And when the news reached England the king rushed into the queen's apartment, exclaiming, "I have beat them, I have beat all the Americans !" Even Lord Germain announced the fall of Ticonderoga in Parliament, as if it had been decisive of the fate of the colonies.
The Council of Safety at Kingston sent Gouverneur Morris and Abraham Yates immediately to Schuyler's headquarters at Fort Edward, to confer as to the most efficient measures for the protection of the State. They encountered rumors of disaster and depredation at the North and West which were appalling. They found Schuyler hopeful amid his perplexi- ties, hastening to assemble his army at Moses Creek, five miles from hence, and employing scores of brave men in the woods to fell trees across the road, letting them drop from both sides, their branches min- gling ; they tumbled trees into the fordable rivers, and interposed every other obstacle which ingenuity could devise to embarrass Burgoyne ; at the same time cattle were driven beyond his reach, and bridges and saw-mills destroyed. Within the twenty-one miles which he must needs march to reach Fort Edward, the country was so broken with streams or swamps that he was obliged to construct not less than forty bridges, one of which, a log-work over a morass, was two miles long. It was a wet season, and when dry was not a pleasant land to journey through. But the excep- tional difficulties at which Burgoyne stood aghast were the result of Schuyler's sagacity. Brockholst Livingston, son of Governor Livingston of New Jersey (afterwards a judge residing in New York City), then twenty years of age, was Schuyler's most efficient aide-de-camp, and was constantly conveying orders through the woods ; Matthew Clarkson, Liv- ingston's cousin, joined Schuyler's staff at this point. The committee thought that Schuyler, from being personally acquainted with the passes and defiles, might with suitable aid effectually defeat Burgoyne.
But all eyes having been turned towards Ticonderoga as the Gibraltar of the Americans, its abandonment caused a panic of alarm and disap- pointment. The voice of censure against its commanders resounded from one end of the continent to the other, and was industriously sustained by Gates and those whom he had won over to his interests. Both
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Schuyler and St. Clair were accused of military negligence, and even of complicity with the enemy. Party spirit, fomented by jealousies of long standing, deafened the public ear to the true reasons of the case, - or their palliating circumstances. Time and investigation proved that St. Clair had acted the part of a judicious and skillful officer. And the vista of a century reveals Schuyler's wisdom, integrity, breadth of vision, and nobility of character, in a light which will radiate undimmed in all the future. He was the real conqueror of Burgoyne, and thereby rendered services to the country second only to those of Washington in importance and extent. He had the sympathy of the New York government and the confidence of Washington through all his trials ; Congress, slighting the very authority it had bestowed upon Washington so recently, sent Gates to supersede Schuyler, to whom the latter gave, upon his arrival in camp August 19, the cordial reception of a soldier and a gentleman.1
But thrilling events had transpired ere Gates, with the powers and the aid hitherto entreated by Schuyler in vain, reached his destination. The storm had broken upon Central New York. News passed like a whirl- wind through the Mohawk Valley that St. Leger with picked soldiers, accompanied by Sir John Johnson and his Royal Greens, and Brandt at the head of one thousand Indians, were coming eastward from Lake On- tario down the Mohawk River - and it was said they had offered twenty dollars for every American scalp. It was a terrible hour. The country was roused with horror. Sir John Johnson was known to be a powerful leader of men. He possessed the magnetism which inspired devotion. His regiment was composed of his kinsmen, neighbors, and tenants. Even his slaves were provided with weapons ready to obey his slightest nod. He was both a knight and a baronet. His princely domain was here, stretching off beyond the horizon ; broader and more valuable than any other private estate in the colonies, save perhaps those of William Penn and Lord Fairfax. After he broke his parole and went through the woods into Canada, his wife, Mary Watts, daughter of Councilor John Watts, a lady of great beauty, was taken to Albany as a hostage for his good be- havior. She was allowed to reside with a venerable aunt, accompanied by her sister and children, but given to understand that if her husband appeared in arms against the Americans, or if she attempted to escape, she would be the victim of retaliation. The following November she
1 The Burgoyne Campaign, by John Austin Stevens ; Lord Mahon's History of England, Major-General Philip Schuyler and the Burgoyne Campaign, by General John Watts de Pey- ster ; Bancroft's Hist. United States ; Central New York in the Revolution, by Douglass Camp- bell ; Burgoyne's Surrender, by William L. Stone ; Address of Horatio Seymour; Oration by George William Curtis ; DeLancey's Notes to Jones's History of New York ; Stedman ; Lossing; Sparks ; Irving.
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BATTLE OF ORISKANY.
applied to the Convention for permission to go to New York, which was denied ; but she was allowed to take up her abode with the family of Cadwallader Colden, at Coldenham, in Ulster County. The first thing she did was to send a trusty messenger to Johnson Hall, for one of Sir John's tenants to come to her with a sleigh and a pair of good horses. The man appeared as directed, and her ladyship and sister, Miss Watts, disguised in servants' dresses, started in the evening, traveling all night, and reached Paulus Hook next morning, where Sir John, who was in New York City, received and provided for her. Thus no restraint could now be imposed upon Sir John's movements, since his family were safe under British protection, and he plunged into the strife with a bitterness scarcely to be equaled. And he was as brave and energetic as he was vindictive. Jones says that he did more mischief to the rebel settlements upon the frontiers of New York than all the partisans in the British ser- vice put together.
The inhabitants of the region, who paled with terror at the approach of this foe, were nearly all patriots, the Tories having either followed Sir John, otherwise escaped, or been imprisoned by the existing authorities. On the site of Rome stood Fort Stanwix, the garrison commanded by Colonel Peter Gansevoort, a young officer of twenty-eight, cool and reso- lute, aided by the bold and experienced Marinus Willett. The militia of Tryon County were quickly assembled to aid in its defense, and eight hundred, led by General Nicholas Herkimer, chairman of the County Com- mittee of Safety, were hastening to the fort on the dark, hot, sultry summer morning of August 6; when within six miles (and two miles west Aug. 6. of the Oriskany Creek, which is some eight miles from Utica), they were obliged to cross a bog and small stream in a ravine, by a primitive corduroy road, and found themselves all at once in a deadly ambush pre- pared by Sir John Johnson, who had been notified of their movements by the sister of Brandt. Here in this deep defile for six doubtful, desperate hours, without lines, or fort, or artillery, hand to hand, with knife and rifle, with tomahawk and spear, swaying and struggling, slipping in blood and stumbling over the dead and dying, raged the most bloody battle of the seven years' war for American Independence - and, indeed, of all modern history. After the smoke cleared from the first exchange of rifle-shots, the hollow became a whirlpool of vengeance; neighbors and kinsmen recognized as they slew each other; even brothers with uplifted spears rushed into deadly embrace. The Indians were crazed with the horrible scene and slaughtered indiscriminately. With the first volley Herkimer was mortally wounded and his horse killed ; but, ordering his saddle to the foot of a tree against which he could lean for support, he calmly
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directed his troops. There were no Briton born soldiers, no Hessians, no professional fighters in this combat, but New York men, children of the soil almost exclusively, kindred struggling with kindred for supremacy. The courage exhibited on both sides was marvelous. Sir John's brother- in-law, Stephen Watts of New York City, a gallant young officer of twenty-two, who led the advance-guard of the enemy from Oswego, was pierced many times with a bayonet, and lost one of his limbs, but was found alive three days after the battle and conveyed to camp by Sir John's Indians. He recovered. Colonel Willett sallied from the fort and vigorously attacked the main army of St. Leger, which diversion en- abled the militia to beat off the adversary. But, alas ! full four hundred were dead or wounded, including many leading and influential men. St. Leger wrote to Burgoyne that almost all the principal movers of the rebellion in Tryon County were among the slain. There was scarcely a habitation in the Mohawk Valley that was not in mourning for the loss of father, husband, brother, or son. Never had militia, caught in a trap, defended themselves with more valor, or died to better ulterior advantage for their country. Willett's exploit, without losing a man, resulted in bringing into the fort twenty or more wagon-loads of captured articles, including the gala fur robes and blankets of the Indians, and five English flags which were triumphantly displayed before evening on the flag-staff directly beneath the first "stars and stripes" ever unfurled under the Act of Congress of June 14. This pioneer United States banner was a curious piece of needlework, the white stripes having been cut out of ammunition shirts, the blue stripes fashioned from a camlet cloak which Willett had taken from the enemy at Peekskill in March, and the red stripes made of stuff contributed by one and another of the garrison. St. Leger was stunned by the obstinacy of the resistance, and Albany began to seem to him a great way off. He invested the fort, but the Indians had lost, with eighty or more of their number, including several favorite chiefs, their taste for fighting, and hearing that Arnold, sent by Schuyler, was coming up the valley with "thousands of men," they robbed the British officers of their clothes, plundered the stores, and ran away. St. Leger's forces were demoralized, and he finally retraced his steps to Canada. The blood of Central New York was not shed in vain ; the sacrifice rendered Burgoyne's right arm powerless.
Before Burgoyne learned the fate of St. Leger, he sent (August 11) an expedition to capture an American depot of supplies at Bennington ; it was commanded by Colonel Baum, and consisted of five hundred Hessians, a select corps of British marksmen, a numerous party of Tories, and a hundred or more Indians. But they never reached Bennington. New
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THE BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.
England was as belligerent as New York had been at Stanwix. The hero, John Stark, was a favorite commander, although not at this time holding any commission, and the militia of New Hampshire sprang from their summer work at his call. Anticipating Burgoyne's measure, he had reached Bennington on the 9th, William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Maine, commanding one of the accom- panying brigades. The news of the enemy's approach brought out the militia from every quarter. Berkshire was all activity. Parson Allen came from Pittsfield in his chaise, and complained because Stark did not begin the conflict in the midst of a heavy rain on the 15th. "If the Lord shall once more give us sunshine," exclaimed Stark in reply, " and I do not give your men of Berkshire fighting enough, I'll never ask you to come out again." That same day the Indians began to desert Baum. They said the woods were "full of Yankees." He had intrenched upon an eminence, within sight of the Bennington steeples some seven miles distant, upon the soil of Hoosac, New York. And dripping in the storm, harassed with uncertainty about the tactics of the Americans, irritated by the conduct of his savage allies, and subjected to the perpetual stings of skirmishing parties, his situation was anything but enviable. On the 16th Stark skillfully surrounded the whole British force,
attacking upon every side simultaneously at a given signal; the Aug. 16.
farmers swept up the hill with fiery and resistless fury, seized the blazing guns, drove the veteran troops as if they were wild animals threatening their homes, and became masters of the field. As they swarmed over the breastworks Baum attempted to cut his way out, but fell mortally wounded, and his worn-out troops surrendered. The contest lasted two hours ; then came a brief lull and a reinforcement from Burgoyne, which had occupied thirty hours in marching twenty-four miles, and the onset was renewed, Colonel Seth Warner aiding Stark with a fresh regiment from Bennington. The second fight raged until sunset, when the foe retreated upon a run, chased by the Americans until quite dark. The arms, artillery, and ammunition-wagons captured were of special value at this crisis. The prisoners in the hands of Stark numbered seven hun- dred, while the loss of the British was over two hundred in killed and wounded. The Americans lost less than one hundred. It was a victory which quickened the pulse of the nation ; a victory won upon the soil of New York by the sons of New England, and which rendered the left arm of Burgoyne powerless.
It was now that the haughty Burgoyne, who had airily boasted in London that with an army of ten thousand men he could promenade through America, found himself brought to a halt. He saw that he had
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been deceived as to the sentiment of the country. He discovered that the Indians were irresponsible beings, and like spoiled children grew more unreasonable and importunate with every new favor. And he learned the unwelcome truth that while within forty-seven miles of the chief town of a great agricultural region he must look to Canada for his daily food ; it was almost a month before he had accumulated supplies necessary for any further advance. And these triumphs had all been accomplished before Gates assumed command of the Northern department.
The outlook of the British campaign of 1777 had been interesting upon paper. Burgoyne was to move southward by Lake Champlain, Howe northward by the Hudson River, and St. Leger eastward from Lake On- tario. They were to meet at Albany. The whole strength of the English nation was aimed at the heart of New York. The fleets, the armies, and the savage allies were to follow converging lines and unite in the final blow. The study of America had convinced England that New York, physically as well as morally, was the great objective point to be con- quered. That, once in possession of the stronghold of her commanding system of mountains and valleys, the American rebellion would be crushed.
In the session of Parliament from the 31st of October, 1776, to the 6th of June, 1777, America was the principal topic of discussion. Opinions clashed perpetually. Lord Rockingham in one house wished rather to give up America and embrace her as an ally than to carry on so destructive a war. Lord Cavendish in the other declared the war useless and unjust, and the conduct of it ineffectual, barbarous, and inhuman. Lord Sandwich was for forcing the Americans to submit even to the last drop of their blood. Lord Shelburne was not afraid to declare that America was justi- fiable in her resistance from the beginning. Another member described the Americans as a cowardly banditti who talked loudly, and ran lustily when faced by men of courage. Fox called the affair of Long Island "terrible," and saw nothing in it worthy of triumph. In relation to the bill empowering His Majesty to secure and detain persons charged with or suspected of high treason committed in North America, he cried out, " Who knows but the ministers in the fullness of their malice may take it into their heads that I have served on Long Island under General Wash- ington ?" "Our own liberties are in danger," exclaimed Wilkes. The Duke of Grafton expressed day by day the most marked abhorrence of the course pursued against America. Edmund Burke would have made peace on any terms. In the early part of May, 1777, David Hartley advised a measure in the shape of an address to the king "to rescue the honor of England from being brought to disgrace by the attempt of impossibilities." It was in substance to make a gift of independence to America, while
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DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIAMENT.
England might be said to have anything in her power to give. He urged for an immediate suspension of hostilities. In his opinion America was the rising world, which would in a few years be multiplied an hundred- fold, and her friendship was worth preserving. He warned Parliament of the misrepresentations or ignorance of the ministry as to the general sense of the people of America, and predicted certain defeat and disasters, with an enormous waste of public money. A few days before the session termi- nated (May 30) Lord Chatham, after two years of sickness and seclusion, came to the House of Lords, wrapped in flannels, to lift his voice once more against this mad and impracticable war. " You cannot conquer the Americans," he said. " Your powerful forces may ravage ; they cannot conquer. I might as well talk of driving them before me with this crutch ! You have sent too many to make peace, too few to make war. We are the aggressors. We have invaded them. We have tried for un- conditional submission ; try what can be gained now by unconditional redress." His motion was for the redress of all American grievances, and the right of Americans to dispose of their own property. The de- bate which ensued called forth the highest energies of both contending parties. But the motion was lost. The ministry had already obtained the vote of Parliament for one hundred thousand men and ten millions of money. David Hartley wrote : "Coercion, and not conciliation, was from the very first the secret and adopted plan. The decisive periods were during the first three sessions of this Parliament; the first, opening in November, 1774, laid the foundation of the war, the other two threw away the pearl of peace, when it was in their hands, and drove America to the irrevocable extremities of independence and foreign alliance." 1
The arrogant ministry, who had uniformly withheld every document of information from Parliament, watched the moves on their great American chess-board with exultant pride. The failure of St. Leger was hushed into silence. Lord Germain through sheer negligence omitted to sign and send the explicit orders for Howe's movements, which had been pre- pared, but which were found in the minister's office in London late in the Autumn.2 Had this fact been known at the time, the mystery of Howe's ocean dance about the capes of Delaware while the king's forces at the North were in such dire peril would not have been so difficult of solution. Howe had resolved to take Philadelphia by sea, and a circuitous route had wasted nearly the whole month of August ; he finally landed Aug. 25. at the Head of Elk on the 25th, farther from the Quaker City than he was in June, while at New Brunswick. Here he recruited his
1 Hartley's Letters on the American War, 3, 31; Parl. Hist.
2 Fonblanque's Burgoyne, 232, 233.
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army for several days, permitting an indiscriminate plunder not only of horses, cattle, and sheep, but of everything else that fell in the way of the soldiers, without distinction of Whigs and Tories.
Meanwhile the Marquis de Lafayette, with the veteran Baron de Kalb, and ten other French officers seeking service, arrived in Philadelphia by the way of the Carolinas, creating no little sensation. The romance at- tending the manner in which this rich young nobleman had baffled every obstacle to reach and offer his services to America as a volunteer without pay, made him an object of interest alike to the army and to the world. He was less than twenty years of age, the husband of a beautiful woman, a daughter of the illustrious house of Noailles, himself of high birth, and with ample means for every luxury. While preparing in secret a vessel for his voyage, he visited London, where his kinsman, the Marquis of Noailles, was ambassador. He was presented to King George and graciously received. He also met Sir Henry Clinton at the opera, who had come home on a winter leave of absence. And he declined an in- vitation to visit the naval armament at Portsmouth, as, mindful of his own hostile designs, he did not deem it proper to pry into the military forces of the kingdom. His first introduction to Washington was at a dinner-party in Philadelphia which included several members of Con- gress ; before they separated Washington invited him to become a mem- ber of his military family, which invitation was gratefully accepted. Through him Washington learned more clearly the temper of France. Franklin's visit had produced a profound impression. The amiable Louis XVI. hesitated about involving the nation in another war with England, but it was generally understood that the United States would receive secret succors and warlike stores.
John Jay and Gouverneur Morris traveled to and from Philadelphia during the hot days of August ; tarrying a few hours in Percepany, New Jersey, where Mrs. Jay and her infant son, Peter Augustus, were spending the summer months with the family of her father, Governor Livingston. They were obliged to journey with the utmost caution, as marauding ex- peditions from New York and Staten Island were prowling continually on the Jersey shores and far into the country. Sullivan, who had been left with his command when Washington quitted the State, attempted retalia- tion by crossing with a force of one thousand to Staten Island, August 22, of which Aaron Ogden and Frederick Frelinghuysen were conspicuous officers, and captured two loyalist regiments from New Jersey, with eleven officers. The prisoners were sent off in a prize vessel; but the American rear-guard was attacked before they could re-embark, and after an ob- stinate conflict forced to surrender ; the loss was one hundred and sixty-
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