USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 48
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The American army went into winter-quarters at Morristown, log-huts being erected, as at Valley Forge and Middlebrook. It was a season of great severity. The snow, for four months, averaged from four to six feet deep. The bay of New York was frozen over so firmly that two hun- dred sleighs laden with provisions, with two horses each, escorted by two hundred light horse, passed over it from New York to Staten Island in a body. Loaded teams crossed the Hudson on the ice at Paulus Hook, and all the rivers, creeks, harbors, ports, and brooks were frozen solid in every direction. The shivering soldiers almost perished for want of proper food, and were alternately without bread or meat, and sometimes des- titute of both. Washington and his military family occupied the Ford Mansion, and at each end of the house an addition was made of logs, one for a kitchen and the other for an office. Late in December Mrs. Wash- ington arrived, riding a spirited horse, and escorted by a guard of Virginia troops, having for two days braved the perils of a terrible storm of wind and snow. She remained at headquarters until spring.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
1780 -1783.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS. - NEW YORK CITY IN 1780. - FORAYS INTO NEW JERSEY. - CAMP LIFE AT MORRISTOWN. - ALEXANDER HAMILTON. - ELIZABETH SCHUYLER. - ARNOLD UNDER A CLOUD. - RETURN OF LAFAYETTE. - CAPTURE OF CHARLESTON. - BURNING OF CONNECTICUT FARMS. - BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD. - SIR HENRY CLIN- TON AT EASTHAMPTON. - TREASON OF ARNOLD. - AARON BURR. - EXECUTION OF ANDRE. - UNPOPULARITY OF THE WAR IN ENGLAND. - CORRESPONDENCE OF HARTLEY AND FRANKLIN. - THE FRENCH ARMY. - COUNT ROCHAMBEAU. - WASHINGTON AT DOBB'S FERRY. - THE CONFLICT AT THE SOUTH. - BURNING OF NEW LONDON. - SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. - MARAUDING PARTIES. - SIR GUY CARLETON. - PEACE NEGOTI- ATIONS. - SUSPENSION OF HOSTILITIES. - SIGNING THE DEFINITIVE TREATY OF PEACE. - DAVID HARTLEY. - THE CINCINNATI. - THE EVACUATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK BY THE BRITISH. - GRAND ENTRY OF THE AMERICAN ARMY.
T THE value of events can never be seen while they are transpiring. It is only in the calm light of their influences that they may be properly estimated. Great affairs oftentimes take their rise from small circumstances. The philosophers, politicians, and warriors of the Revolu- tion, astute, wary, and stubborn as we find them, had little conception of the magnitude of their undertaking. Here and there were original minds, comprehensible and flexible enough to become the founders of a nation. Others, equally fervid by intensity of conviction, and imbued with a cer- tain wise, strong sense of diplomacy, were masters of the situation only through the sweep of vast impulses behind them. The future was un- certain. No electric cable supplied at evening the policy for the next morning. The leaders of thought and the leaders of armies were alike groping in a dense cloud. Soldiers sleeping in the snow with a fire at their feet, and spending cold, wintry days in idly repining over hardship and inaction, knew not that they were working out results so grand that time would but add to their luster in all the centuries to come. In that severe school was a continual dramatic movement. Standards of duty, rules of action, and habits of thinking destined to impart a tinge and a
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NEW YORK CITY IN 1780.
flavor to the broader culture and sweeter disposition of later days, were constantly bursting into life. And although the knowledge was with- held from the actors and sufferers in the projection of the national structure, we know that within one hundred years it has grown to a place in the front rank of great nations.
The city of New York, where the government of our Union was shortly to receive the first pulsations of existence, and where more than else- where its benefits are now seen, was the central point around which the chief events of the Revolution revolved. The years during which the main body of the American army hovered in significant proximity - almost within sight of her steeples - were fraught with all the romance which belongs to the medieval struggles of European races. The fortunes of her citizens were as varied as any conceit of the most vivid imagina- tion. Within her stately mansions the officers of King George lived like princes, and within her harbor the fleets anchored which were to terrify the whole Southern seaboard ; while just beyond the waters that laved her western shores every hill-top and tree was like a watchful sentinel. No military movement in any direction could be executed without dis- covery, save under the cover of midnight darkness. Washington's spies passed in and out of the city despite the utmost vigilance. And Wash- ington himself, with unerring sagacity, remained among the fastnesses of New Jersey, with his eye upon Manhattan Island, while he detached regiment after regiment of his best troops for the support of the South.
As the winter advanced the inhabitants of the metropolis were dis- tressed for firewood and food to a degree never before experienced. The snow was so deep that forest-trees could hardly be extricated from their native wilds after being felled. Ornamental and fruit trees were attacked, and before spring the streets and lanes, gardens and grounds, were shorn of their treasures. Wall Street surrendered some of its beautiful shade trees, more than a century old, to be converted into fuel for the family of General Riedesel. The baroness writes : " We were often obliged to borrow wood of General Tryon for Saturday and Sunday, which we would return on Monday if we received any." The poor burned fat to cook their meals. Provisions were alarmingly scarce, and so costly as to exhaust the means of the wealthiest. Fifty dollars would not feed a family two days. In vain the British generals entreated the farmers of Long Island and vicinity to bring their produce to market; and foraging parties were ยท equally unsuccessful; for the country people buried meat, corn, oats, and vegetables beneath the snow on the first intimation of their approach, and hied to the mountains, carrying old family furniture beyond their reach. In their rage at finding barns empty, cattle gone, and farm-houses
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deserted, the foragers applied the torch and desolated whole districts, thus increasing not only the general misery, but the determination of America to be free.
To add to the cheerlessness of New York, the men-of-war in the bay were immovably ice-bound, and an army with its heaviest artillery and baggage might at any moment cross the Hudson on the ice. Knyphau- sen expected Washington, and took measures accordingly. Refugees and loyalists formed themselves into military companies and were subjected to garrison duty. But the Americans at Morristown were in no condition to take advantage of the opportunity for a descent upon the city. The whistling winds were drifting snow above their heads, their garments were worn and thin, and many of the men had no shoes. The utmost discomfort prevailed even at headquarters. "Eighteen of my family," wrote Washington, " and all of Mrs. Ford's are crowded together in her kitchen, and scarce one of them able to speak for the colds they have caught." The distress for provision became so appalling that an appeal was made to the people of New Jersey direct, who responded nobly. Colonel Matthias Ogden collected cattle and grain in Essex County, and the temporary relief afforded induced Washington, about the middle of January, to give some twenty-five hundred of his best overcoated troops a little exercise. An expedition to Staten Island was placed under the command of Lord Stirling, the object being to capture a British encamp- ment. Five hundred sleds and sleighs were procured to convey the
party to Elizabeth, whence they crossed on the ice in the night Jan. 15. from De Hart's Point ; but the enemy, apprised of their approach, were strongly fortified, and intrenched behind an abatis of snow ten feet high, therefore an attack was deemed unjustifiable. After remaining twenty-four hours on the island, the Americans withdrew, with five hun- dred or more frozen ears and hands, and a quantity of blankets and stores. At Decker's Ferry they captured and destroyed nine sailing-vessels, and took a few prisoners. Some of the men had disobeyed their superiors and committed depredations upon the residents of Staten Island. for which they suffered severe punishment. Lord Stirling required all stolen property returned to Rev. James Caldwell of Elizabeth, who was to return it to the owners. Washington, who had in general orders warned the whole army against robbing the inhabitants on any pretext whatever, taught wholesome moral lessons by his treatment of incorrigible offenders. Thatcher says in his journal that death was inflicted, in some aggravated instances, for the crime of robbery, but that the penalty usually, after a fair trial, and conviction by a court-martial, was public whipping, in keeping with the practice of the times in both England and America.
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Ten days later the British crossed the ice in the night, one party visit- ing Newark, and another entering Elizabeth about the same hour. The Newark Academy, on the upper green, was burned, several Jan. 25. houses plundered, and thirty-four prisoners taken, among whom was Judge Joseph Hedden, one of the Committee of Public Safety, whom they com- pelled to walk to Paulus Hook in his night-shirt; he died a few days subsequently in consequence of the exposure. At Elizabeth the court- house and the Presbyterian Church were burned, a number of dwellings plundered, and a few prominent men carried off as prisoners. The guard, under Major Eccles, numbering about sixty, was captured on the start. The guides of the enemy were natives of Elizabeth, familiar with all the roads, and knew all the residents of the town.
Washington sent General St. Clair on the 27th to investigate the situ- ation, and re-establish guards along the shore of the frozen waters of the bay. But in spite of all precautions Rahway was visited on the 30th by a band of refugees, and a pleasure-party broken up without warning. Eight men were seized and carried off, several young ladies robbed of all their jewelry, and among other trophies three handsome sleighs and ten fine horses were taken to New York City on the ice. On the 10th of Feb- ruary another foray into Elizabeth by a circuitous route resulted in the capture of five or six citizens, and the plundering of as many good houses, of which were the old mansion of Governor Belcher, and the residence of William Peartree Smith and his son-in-law, Elisha Boudinot, who were fortunately out of town. The war, degenerating into midnight robberies, had trained and let loose upon society a class of murderous thieves, who, under the cover of British protection and the pretense of serving the king, furnished a chapter of horrors which could never be forgotten by the peo- ple of that generation. It was impossible to guard the whole long stretch of shore, and while the ice lasted the nights seemed chiefly devoted to barbarous raids. At Morristown the utmost precaution against a surprise was maintained. Pickets were thrown out towards the Hudson and the Raritan, and the firing of a gun in the distance would be answered by discharges along the whole line of sentinels to the camp and headquarters. On such occasions Washington's life-guard, commanded by William Colfax, grandfather of Schuyler Colfax, housed in log-huts near at hand, would rush to the Ford Mansion, barricade the doors, and throw up the windows ; five, with muskets ready for action, were generally stationed at every window behind drawn curtains, until the troops from camp could be assembled and the cause of the alarm discovered. Mrs. Washington and the other ladies were obliged to lie in bed, sometimes for hours, with their rooms filled with guards, and the keen wintry winds blowing through the house.
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As the intensity of the cold abated, and supplies became more abundant, the spirits of the army revived. The youthful Alexander Hamilton was the life of Washington's household. He had been aide-de-camp and secre- tary to the commander-in-chief since March, 1777, and had won special favor and confidence. His Scotch strength and French vivacity, his grace- ful manners and witty speeches, were a perpetual attraction. His figure was slight, erect, and expressive, his complexion boyishly fair, and his fea- tures lighted with intel- ligence and sweetness. He wore his powdered hair thrown back from his forehead and cued in the back, and his dress was faultlessly elegant on all occa- sions. He presided at the head of Wash- ington's table, and was usually the smallest as well as the youngest man present. Wash- ington sat upon one side, with Mrs. Wash- ington at his right hand. Hamilton had already evinced ex- ceptional aptitude for Alexander Hamilton. [From the painting by Trumbull in possession of the Chamber of Commerce.] the solution of finan- cial problems, and the originality of his opinions induced the general belief that he possessed the highest order of genius. As an individual he probably inspired warmer attachments among his friends and more bitter hatred from his foes than any other man in New York history.
An event occurred in February which colored the whole life of the future statesman and jurist. Elizabeth Schuyler, one of the daughters of General Philip Schuyler, came to Morristown to spend the spring months with her aunt, Mrs. Dr. Cochrane, then residing in a cottage near head- quarters. She was a beauty and a belle; small, delicately formed, with a bewitching face illuminated by brilliant black eyes. No young lady of her time had been more carefully educated or more highly bred. Her father's home in Albany had always been the resort of all that was most
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ELIZABETH SCHUYLER.
cultivated and polished in the social life of what Walpole styled "the proud and opulent colony of New York"; and its courtly hospitalities had been from time to time enjoyed by notable representatives of the Old-World aristocracy. She was descended not only from a long line of Schuylers, but from the Van Rensselaers, Van Cortlandts, and Livings- tons - the great feudal lords of the Colonial period - which, it being still the age when the distinctions of rank and caste were held in severe respect, lent an added interest to her personal charms. She came like a fresh flower into the dreariness of that winter scene of frost, alarm, and despond- ency ; and Hamilton was presently her de- voted lover. Erelong General Philip Schuy- ler himself arrived at headquarters, the chairman of a com- mittee from Congress, empowered to act in the name of that body for various and definite objects relative to the re-enlistment of troops and the exigencies of the coming campaign, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton. [Elizabeth, daughter of General Philip Schuyler. ] expecting to remain with the army all summer. He was accompanied by Mrs. Schuyler, and with their sanction the youthful pair were betrothed, being married the following December.
The accomplished Kitty Livingston, daughter of the governor, passed the early part of the winter in Philadelphia, and returned to "Liberty Hall," under the escort of General Schuyler, while on his route to Morris- town. She wrote to her sister, Mrs. Jay, in Madrid, of the admiration the wife of Chancellor Livingston - now in Congress - had elicited in Philadelphia, and of her intimacy with Mrs. Robert Morris. She said Colonel Morgan Lewis, who was married in May, 1779, at Clermont, to Gertrude, the sister of Chancellor Livingston, had purchased a house in
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Albany ; and that Lady Mary and Robert Watts had rented Mrs. Richard Montgomery's farm for two years, in order to leave New York City. She described the French Minister, his secretary, M. Marbois, and a Spanish dignitary, Don Juan de Miralles, all of whom had wagered that Mrs. Jay used paint to produce the brilliancy of her complexion, and that she would go to plays on Sunday while in Spain. Even the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, while pronouncing Mrs. Jay a philosopher, had inti- mated to the piquant Miss Kitty that he had been questioned upon the subject of her sister's artificial coloring. A few months later Mrs. Robert Morris wrote to Mrs. Jay that the Chevalier de la Luzerne was convinced of his error, had gracefully acquiesced in the loss of his bet, and had presented Miss Kitty with a handsome dress-cap.
These foreign noblemen visited headquarters in April, and were received with military honors. Washington, accompanied by his staff, and the congressional committee, conducted them to Orange Mountain, to April 24. obtain a distant view of New York and the position of the enemy ; and, mounted upon splendid horses, with their troop of aids, and servants, they formed a striking cavalcade. Baron Steuben exhibited the dis- cipline and tactics of the troops by a grand review; a large stage was erected in the field, which Thatcher says " was crowded by officers, ladies, and gentlemen of distinction from the country, among whom was Gov- ernor Livingston of New Jersey and his lady." This display was followed by a ball in the evening at the Morris Hotel.
Arnold had just been tried by a court-martial for his irregular con- duct while in command of Philadelphia, and sentenced to a reprimand from the commander-in-chief, which was administered with consummate delicacy. Public opinion was divided in his case. His brilliant, soldierly qualities, and his daring exploits spoke eloquently in his behalf, while his ostentatious and costly style of living, with his debts and his government accounts yet unsettled, had excited suspicions of his integrity. He had occupied one of the finest houses in the Quaker City, indulged in a chariot and four, given splendid entertainments, and was known to have made temporary use of the public moneys passing through his hands. He had courted and married Margaret, the daughter of Edward Shippen, afterwards Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and it was known that the family were not well affected to the American cause. In the exercise of his military functions he had become involved in disputes with the State government, and lost forever the confidence of that body. Noth- ing fraudulent was proved against him, but his course was pronounced imprudent and reprehensible. He now appeared before the public a soldier crippled in its service, seeking a new appointment; and Wash-
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RETURN OF LAFAYETTE.
ington, knowing his abilities, was disposed in his favor. He subse- quently obtained the important command of West Point.
On the 12th of May, the same day that Sir Henry Clinton captured the army under General Lincoln at Charleston, Lafayette arrived at Morristown by way of Boston, and met with a rapturous greeting from the entire army. Washington folded him in his arms with May 12. profound emotion. There was something singularly impressive in the enthusiastic devotion of this young French nobleman to a doubtful cause, in a far distant land. His second coming was the more wel- come since it had been generally predicted that he would never return. He brought the glad tidings of a French army already upon the Atlantic, sent to aid America in the ensuing campaign. Remaining at headquar- ters but one day, he hastened to Philadelphia, as he was charged with messages from his government to Congress.
By no one was he received with more cordial grace than the brilliant and versatile Gouverneur Morris, who complimented him with one of his characteristic dinners, at which the arts of conversation were displayed to the greatest advantage. Morris was particularly happy in his intercourse with foreigners ; he was a man of pleasure, generous, gay, original, spark- ling with humor, and polite to a fault, and with his convivial and social qualities was united a marvelous genius for affairs. But like his Morris ancestry, with whom the reader is familiar, he abounded in whimsical peculiarities. He owned a famous pair of gray horses, which, when brought to the door in front of his stylish phaeton, he insisted, with immoderate expletives, should stand unrestrained by either groom or rein while he mounted to his seat. The next morning, after the banquet given to Lafayette, they ran away with him, throwing him upon the Philadelphia pavement with such violence that his leg was broken, and subsequently amputated just below the knee. It was esteemed an "irreparable misfor- tune," and sympathy was extended from every quarter. The day after the accident a clerical friend called to offer consolation, and dwelt at some length upon the good effects which the melancholy event would be likely to produce upon the moral character of a young man, when Morris interrupted him with the remark, "My good sir, you argue the matter so handsomely, and point out so clearly the advantage of being without legs, that I am almost tempted to part with the other."
It was three or four months before he was able to leave his room, and his quick preceptions, fertility of resources, and energetic counsels were severely. missed by Congress in that crisis. The machinery of credit, paper circulation, and forced certificates, had run its race, and was about tumbling into ruins ; the impending danger to the whole national fabric
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was manifest to all, while how to avert it was the problem no one yet could solve. Congress adopted vigorous resolutions for raising money and troops, and the State governments made laws, but the execution of either was attended with innumerable delays. Individuals contributed largely to the public funds ; and ladies in various parts of the country started subscriptions for the relief of the army. In the mean time there was a famine. The soldiers had no bread. Washington knew not which way to turn. New Jersey was exhausted through the long residence of the army. New York by legislative coercion had given all she could spare froni the subsistence of her inhabitants. Virginia was sufficiently taxed to supply the South. Maryland and Delaware had made great exertion, and might perhaps do more. Pennsylvania was represented as full of flour, and Washington finally made a powerful appeal to Joseph Reed, president of her executive council. " All our departments are without money or credit, all our operations are at a stand," he wrote ; " the patience of the soldiery is wearing out, and we see in every line of the army features of mutiny and sedition. Any idea you can form of our distress will fall short of the reality. We can no longer drudge on in the old way. Unless a new system, very different from that which has a long time prevailed be immediately adopted throughout the States, our affairs must soon become desperate beyond the possibility of economy." His letter procured supplies, but not on flying railway trains ; ere laden wagons moved slowly across the country, two Connecticut regiments paraded under arms, announcing their resolve to return home or procure food at the point of the bayonet. No other man than Washington could have grappled with and overcome these difficulties. He not only retained the mutineers in service, but restrained them with discipline, managing with such consummate discretion as to command their affec- tion while winning the confidence of the whole country.
On the 28th of May the official report of the surrender of Charleston May 28. was received at headquarters. About the same time New Jersey refugees in New York City represented to Knyphausen that the troops under Washington were hopelessly discontented and mutinous, and that the inhabitants of New Jersey had become so tired of the vexa- tious compulsory requisitions for the support of the army, that they would seize the opportunity to throw off their allegiance to Congress if a British force was sent to their assistance. Believing this, the German veteran ordered nineteen regiments into the much-afflicted State across June 6. the Hudson. They sailed to Staten Island on the 6th of June, crossing in the night to Elizabethtown Point. Early the next morning the whole force was in motion, commanded by Knyphausen.
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BURNING OF CONNECTICUT FARMS.
The sun was rising in a clear sky as the " Queen's Rangers," a splendid body of dragoons, mounted on very large and beautiful horses, with drawn swords and glittering helms, entered the village of Elizabeth, followed by the infantry, "every man clad in new uniforms, complete in panoply, and gorgeous with burnished brass and polished steel." The whole body numbered six thousand.
But the proud leaders soon discovered their mistake. If the people had murmured because of the exactions of Washington, they had never thought of abandoning the cause of their country. The militia were every- where out in small parties to oppose them, and the fences and the bushes were ablaze with musketry. The brigadier who commanded the van was unhorsed with a fractured thigh while yet in Elizabeth, and the column was harassed all the way to Connecticut Farms, a distance of seven miles. The troops of the enemy were kept in perfect order during the march, committing no deeds of violence. General Maxwell withdrew his brigade towards Springfield, making a stand on the rising ground back of the Farms' village, and again on the east side of the Rahway River; he was joined by Colonel Elias Dayton, who had retired from Elizabeth before the enemy, to their great annoyance. In the afternoon the militia flocked to the defense from all quarters, and the fighting was perpetual. In the midst of his chagrin at the turn events were taking, Knyphausen learned that Washington, hearing of the invasion, had thrown his whole force into the strong post of Short Hills ; it was also apparent that the mutinous disposition of the American army had vanished as soon as distress - not disaffection - had ceased to affect the mind. As night approached, heavy clouds loomed up in the western sky. A retreat was ordered, and at ten in the evening the whole pompous array of horse and foot and flying artillery retrod their route of the morning, in strict silence, and in the midst of a drenching thunder-storm. They had distinguished themselves by plundering and burning the little village of Connecticut Farms, and by murdering the lovely wife of Rev. James Caldwell. "Nothing more awful than this retreat can be imagined," wrote one of Knyphausen's guards, "the rain, with the terrible thunder and lightning, the darkness of the night, the houses at Connecticut Farms in a blaze, the dead bodies, which the light of the fire or the lightning showed now and then on the road, and the dread of the enemy, completed the scene of horror. It thundered and lightened so severely as to frighten the horses, and once or twice the whole army halted, being deprived of sight for a time. General Knyphausen's horse started so as to throw the general."
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