USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania in American history > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
64
ANTHONY WAYNE
mand which must inevitably be attended with the most anxious care, fatigue, and difficulty, and from which more may be expected than will be in my power to perform, yet I should be wanting both in point of duty and gratitude to the President were I to decline an appointment however arduous to which he thought proper to nominate me," was the lan- guage of his letter to the Secretary of War, April 13th, 1792.
The underlying motive of the war was the determination of the Indians to make the river Ohio the permanent boundary between them and the United States, and the fact that after the con- cession by Virginia of her western claims the Ohio Company, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, had established a settlement within what is now the state of Ohio. Within seven years fifteen hundred people had been massacred. Another defeat, said the Secretary of War with auspicious suggestion, would be ruinous to "the reputation of the Government." In its origin, in its conduct, in its results, and even in its details, the expedition was almost a repetition of the march of Cæsar into Gaul. The fierce savages of a vast and unknown territory were about to be
.
65
ANTHONY WAYNE
subjected, and an empire of civilization to be erected upon the lands over which they held sway. Wayne organized his army in Pittsburg and some such fore- cast must have occurred to the minds of those in authority, for it was called not an army but a legion. This legion, it was intended, should be composed of over four thousand men, but there were actually under arms two thousand six hundred and thirty- one. Where it was recruited appears with approx- imate accuracy in June, 1793, when the Secretary of War sent one hundred and nineteen men from Pennsylvania, one hundred and one from Virginia, one hundred and one from New Jersey and thirty from Maryland, and when Wayne issued a call for volunteers for six weeks, one hundred and sixty-six from Ohio, one hundred and sixty-four from Westmoreland, one hundred and sixty-four from Washington, eighty from Fayette, and eighty- two from Allegheny, these last four being counties in Pennsylvania. Along with the organization of the legion came the most rigid enforcement of dis- cipline. During the progress of the campaign, in which the greatest vigilance was necessary, at least two soldiers were shot to death for sleeping on their
66
ANTHONY WAYNE
posts. When Wayne found some of them drunk in the village, now the city of Cincinnati, he ordered that no passes be thereafter granted. Whiskey was kept out of the camp. Careful directions were issued describing the methods of meeting attacks upon each flank and upon the rear. He placed reliance on the bayonet and the sword, and urged his men not to forget that "the savages are only formidable to a flying enemy." The crowns of the hats of the men were covered with bear skin. He insisted upon cleanliness of person and regularity of diet. " Break- fast at eight o'clock, dine at one; meat shall be boiled and soup made of it . . a good old soldier will never attempt to roast or fry his meat." Every day the field officers, sub-lieutenants and captains of the guard dined with him, and his salary did not pay the expenses of the table. One hundred lashes with wire cats were sometimes inflicted as punish- ment. He adroitly sowed and cultivated dissensions among the Indians, having in his army the chief Cornplanter as well as ninety Choctaws and twenty- five Chickasaws. The war lasted for over two years, and we are enabled to appreciate the condition of the wilderness in which it was conducted when we learn
67
ANTHONY WAYNE
that he was without communication from the Sec- retary of War in Philadelphia from December to April. The British, contrary to the provisions of the treaty of peace, had established certain posts within the country and Wayne was given authority if he found it necessary to dislodge them. To his wisdom and discretion, therefore, was trusted the grave question of renewing the war with England. Just before the march an interesting incident oc- curred. On the Ist of June, 1792, he granted a leave of absence to Alexander Purdy, a soldier in Captain Heth's company, in order that he might assist in printing at Pittsburg a pamphlet written by Hugh H. Brackenridge, " the first publication of the kind ever proposed in the western country."
Late in the summer of 1792 he moved his army twenty-seven miles down the Ohio river and there encamped for the winter. In May of 1793 he advanced as far as the site of Cincinnati. Like all human movements in which various forces are concerned, there was much delay due to differences of views and divergences of counsels. Wayne had reached the conclusion that we should never have a permanent peace until the Indians were taught to
68
ANTHONY WAYNE
respect the power of the United States, and until the British were compelled to give up their posts along the shores of the lakes. In Philadelphia the government was timid about entering upon the war, and previous defeats had made it fearful of the outcome. Knox, the Secretary of War, wrote that the sentiments of the people "are averse in the ex- treme to an Indian war," and again "it is still more necessary than heretofore that no offensive opera- tions should be undertaken against the Indians," and finally that a "defeat at the present time and under the present circumstances would be perni- cious in the highest degree to the interests of the country." While the hostile Indians were perfect- ing their combinations and holding their pow-wows with Simon Girty and an aide of the British Colonel Simcoe, who promised them protection as well as arms, ammunition, and provisions, the government sent B. Lincoln, Beverly Randolph and Timothy Pickering to Fort Erie to negotiate for peace. The result of these efforts was that after gaining what time was needed the Indians refused to treat at all, and the duty fell upon Wayne to see that the com- missioners reached home with their scalps on their
69
ANTHONY WAYNE
heads, for which they formally gave him thanks. To make a general war was the conclusion of the tribes. Wayne then wrote to Knox: "Knowing the critical situation of our infant nation and feeling for the honor and reputation of the government which I shall support with my latest breath, you may rest assured that I will not commit the legion unnecessarily."
By the 13th of October he had marched to a point on a branch of the Miami river, eighty miles north of Cincinnati, where he found a camp which he fortified and called Greenville and there he re- mained through the winter. The march was so rapid and the order maintained so perfect, that the Indian scouts were baffled. From there he sent a corps with guides and spies six miles further along the trail of Harmar to secure "intelligence and scalps." He likewise detached a force to go to the field where St. Clair had been defeated, to bury the bones of the dead and erect a fort called Fort Recovery.
In May a lieutenant with a convoy gallantly charged and repelled an assault.
On the 30th of June about seventeen hundred
70
ANTHONY WAYNE
of the enemy made a desperate attempt to capture an escort under the walls of Fort Recovery and to carry the fort by storm, keeping up a heavy fire and making repeated efforts for two days, but were finally repulsed. Twenty-one soldiers were killed and twenty-nine wounded, and no doubt both sides were animated by the memories of the misfortunes of St. Clair at the same place. A few days later, after receiving some reinforcements of mounted men from Kentucky, he marched seventy miles into the heart of the Indian country, built Fort Defi- ance at the junction of the Le Glaize and Miami rivers, and then within sight of a British fort on the Miami made his preparations for the battle which was inevitable. He had marched nearly four hundred miles through the country of an enemy, both watchful and vindictive; had cut a road through the woods the entire way, upon a route longer, more remote and more surrounded with dangers than that of Braddock; had overcome the almost insuperable difficulties of securing supplies; had built three forts, and now had reached a position where the issue must be decided by arms. On the morning of August 20th, 1794, the army advanced five
71
ANTHONY WAYNE
miles, with the river Miami on the right, a brigade of mounted volunteers on their left, a light brigade on their rear, and a selected battalion of horsemen in the lead. They came to a place where a tornado had swept through the forest, and thrown down the trees, since called the Fallen Timbers, and where the twisted trunks and limbs lay in such profusion as to impede the movements of the cavalry. Here the Indians, two thousand in number, encouraged by the proximity of the British fort, determined to make a stand. Hidden in the woods and the high grass, they opened fire upon the mounted men in the front and succeeded in driving them back to the main army. The enemy were formed in three lines in supporting distance of each other, extend- ing for about two miles at right angles to the river and were protected and covered by the woods: Wayne formed his force in two lines. He soon per- ceived from the firing and its direction that they were strong in numbers on his front and were en- deavoring to turn his left flank. He met this situation by ordering up the rear line to support the first, by sending a force by a circuitous route to turn the right of the enemy, by sending an-
72
ANTHONY WAYNE
other force at the same time along the river to turn their left, and by a direct charge with trailed arms in the front to drive the Indians from their covert with the bayonet, his favorite weapon. The Indians could not resist the onset, broke in confu- sion, and were driven two miles in the course of an hour through the woods with great loss. Their dead bodies and British muskets lay scattered in all directions. The next day Wayne rode forward and inspected the British fort. The major in command wanted to know " in what light am I to view your making such near approaches to this garrison?" to which Wayne replied that, had the occasion arisen, the fort would not have much impeded "the prog- ress of the victorious army." All of the villages, corn fields, and houses, including that of McKee, the British Indian agent, within a scope of one hundred miles, were burned and destroyed.
American annals disclose no such other victory over the savage tribes. For the next quarter of a century there were peace and safety along the bor- der. It secured for civilization the territory between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. It made possi- ble the development of such states as Ohio, Illinois
73
ANTHONY WAYNE
and Indiana. When the information reached Lon- don the British Government, recognizing that the cause of the Indians was hopeless, ordered the evacuation of the posts at Detroit, Oswego and Niagara. Twenty years later there was written in praise of Perry's victory on Lake Erie that it was only second in importance to the West to that of Wayne at the Fallen Timbers.
Two weeks later Wayne was crushed to the earth by a falling tree, so much bruised as to cause great pain and hemorrhages, and only the fortunate location of a stump, on which the tree partially lodged, saved his life.
After the treaty of cession and peace had been executed, and after an absence in the wilderness for three years, he returned home in 1795, everywhere hailed with loud acclaim as the hero of the time and received in Philadelphia by the City Troop and with salvos from cannon, ringing of bells, and fireworks.
His last battle had been fought. His work was done. "Both body and mind are fatigued by the contest," were his pathetic words. Soon after- ward the President sent him as commissioner to
74
ANTHONY WAYNE
Detroit and on his return he died at Presque Isle, now Erie, December the 15th, 1796.
We have this description of his personal ap- pearance: "He was above what is termed the middle stature and well proportioned. His hair was dark. His forehead was high and handsomely formed. His eyes were dark hazel, intelligent, quick and penetrating. His nose inclined to be aquiline."
His was a bold spirit. His six wounds indicate that he did not hesitate to expose his person when need arose, but he possessed beside that moral cour- age which enabled him to move with steady step when confronted with difficult and complicated propositions where the weak waver. Neither the fortifications at Stony Point nor the unknown wilds of Ohio made him uncertain. No man was potent enough either in military or civil affairs to give him affront with impunity. He was on the verge of a duel with Lee, with St. Clair, and with some others. He did not hesitate on occasion to say " damn." At the same time he was almost senti- mental in his affections. Attached to his wife, who was ever to him "Polly," or "my dear girl," he
75
ANTHONY WAYNE
wanted her to come to him in camp, and he never wrote to her without telling her to kiss for him his "little son and daughter." A negro boy waited upon the officers of the light infantry, and when the corps was dissolved they determined to sell him. "The little naked negro boy, Sandy," wrote Wayne, "so often ordered to be sold, is in my possession and newly clothed. I shall take care of him."
He had healthy cravings. He was fond of porter and Madeira, of venison, cheese and sugar, of dress, of the approval of his fellow men, of the glory that follows successful military achievement. He drank tea as well as wine. He could be pru- dent and even diplomatic. Had he rushed upon the Pennsylvania Line when they were aroused and angry, he would have been killed. He opposed in 1778 chasing after Clinton in Connecticut. Con- trary to the thought of Washington, he ordered a regiment to follow towards Stony Point for the pur- pose of having the men who were to make the charge strengthened by a sense of support. When the irritated Colonel Humpton claimed that Wayne's servant had taken his puppy and demanded its return Wayne presented his compliments, denied the facts,
76
ANTHONY WAYNE
declined to " dispute so trifling a matter," and sent the dog. He refused to lend his pistols to his friend, Major Fishbourne, who wanted to fight a duel. He had certain philosophical tendencies. " For law is like war-a trade to a common capac- ity, but a science to a man of abilities," he wrote to his son, and again, "let integrity, industry and probity be your constant guides." He did not be- lieve that the colonies could depend upon the aid of France, but contended that they must rest "on the firm ground of our own virtue and prowess." It was because of these tendencies that he was so particular about the discipline and dress of the soldiers, so insistent upon the provision for their needs, so reliant upon the moral effect of the cut- ting edge of a weapon, and so careful to cultivate the pride and esprit of the corps. He always wanted Pennsylvania troops to be with him in his campaigns, not that he intended to reflect upon those of other states, but because they and he had learned to trust each other and knew the value of the association. His willingness to encounter dan- ger and to take the risks of responsibility was by no means all due to the impulse of a military tempera-
77
ANTHONY WAYNE
ment. He saw, and more than once made his vision plain, that many and perhaps the most of those around him were subservient in thought and feeling. They had so long regarded the English as masters that when they met them as foes they had more respect for the enemy than confidence in themselves. He knew that the first step toward in- dependence must be an enlargement of soul. He called no Englishman a Hannibal, and when he met the pseudo Roman on the James, struck him with a spear, and after his capture invited him to dine. The supreme contribution of Wayne to the Ameri- can cause was that more than any other general he gave it inspiration. He proved that an English force could be assailed and compelled to surrender in a stronghold regarded as impregnable, and his con- duct affected for good the whole army. The most diffident were given courage by the example of Wayne.
His letters, while lacking in literary skill and somewhat too roseate in their style, unlike much of the correspondence of the period, which is stilted, stiff and vague, always give vivid pictures and make entirely plain the thought he purposed to convey.
78
ANTHONY WAYNE
No one can read them intelligently without being impressed with the accuracy of their reasoning and the correctness of his judgment upon military prob- lems. He understood the conditions in Georgia better than Greene. He comprehended the situa- tion in Ohio more clearly than Knox. The orders of Washington, Schuyler, Lafayette and Greene show very plainly that when they were met by a difficult situation, requiring strenuous mental and physical effort, they were all disposed to call for the assistance of Wayne. Every general under whom he served sent him to the front. He had the advance at Germantown, and Monmouth, and on the James in Virginia. He was the first to enter Savannah and Charleston. No other general of the Revolution had so varied an experience. Greene came the nearest to him in this respect, but he neither fought so far north nor so far south. He was the only one of them who added to his reputation as a soldier after the close of the Revo- lution. The most dangerous event that can happen to a successful general is to be required to command under different conditions in a later war. History is strewn with the wrecks of reputations lost under
79
ANTHONY WAYNE
such circumstances. Wayne was subjected to this supreme test, and still he triumphed. He is the only general of the Revolutionary War in whose achievements the great West, rapidly becoming the source of power in our government, can claim to have participation. The final popular judgment upon all questions is sure to reach the truth. As time has rolled along most of the generals of the Revolution have become as vague as shadows, but Wayne remains instinct with life and the heart yet warms at the recital of his deeds. No common- wealth in America but has a county or town bearing his name. New York has made a state park of Stony Point, and ere long Ohio will do the like for the Fallen Timbers. One of the most inspiring of our lyrics written in the stress of the War of the Rebellion tells how "The bearded men are marching in the land of Anthony Wayne."
By no chance, therefore, does it happen that his statue is set upon the centre of the outer line at Valley Forge. It is where he stood in the cold and the drear of that gloomy and memorable winter, and the place he held on many a field of battle. This hallowed camp-ground, where was
80
ANTHONY WAYNE
best shown that spirit of endurance and persistence which created a nation, shall tell, through the com- ing ages, to the future generations of men, the story of the bold soldier and consummate commander whose place seemed ever to be where the danger was the most threatening, and prudence and skill were the most essential.
CONGRESS HALL'
"When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them."-Joshua, Chap. IV, Verses 6 and 7. " Les grands édifices, comme les grands montagnes, sont l'ouvrage des siècles." - Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo.
- - T is proper and fitting that the Court of Com- mon Pleas No. 2, in finally departing from the building in which its sessions have for so long a time been held, should recall the remarkable as- sociations of the venerable structure. The events of human life are necessarily connected with local-
* In the preparation of this address, delivered at the last session of the Court of Common Pleas No. 2, in Congress Hall, I have used freely Thompson Westcott's " History of Philadelphia," as printed in the Sunday Dispatch; John Hill Martin's "Bench and Bar ;" Frank M. Etting's "History of Independence Hall," F. D. Stone's edition ; Hon. James T. Mitchell's " Address Upon the District Court," and John William Wal- lace's " Address Upon the Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society."
I have been materially aided by Mr. Andrew J. Reilly, Mr. Luther E. Hewitt, Mr. John W. Jordan, Mr. Julius F. Sachse and Mr. F. D. Stone. .
82
CONGRESS HALL
ities. The career of a man is somewhat influenced by the house in which he was born and the place he calls home, and in the growth and development of nations, such buildings as the Parthenon, the Pyramids, St. Peter's, the Prinzen Hof at Delft, Westminster Abbey, and Independence Hall, about which important memories cluster, become an in- spiration for present action and an incentive for future endeavor. When we search with due dili- gence we find good in everything and sermons in stones and bricks.
The idea of the erection of a hall for the use of the county originated with the celebrated law- yer, Andrew Hamilton, to whose efforts we owe also the State House. He, as early as 1736, secured the passage of a resolution by the Assembly of Pennsylvania looking to the accomplishment of this purpose. The Act of February 17, 1762, provided for a conveyance to the county of a lot at the southeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets, con- taining in front on Chestnut street fifty feet, and in depth along Sixth street seventy-three feet, on which should be erected within twenty years a building to be used "for the holding of courts" and as a "com-
83
CONGRESS HALL
mon hall." The project progressed slowly, and when it was finally carried forward to completion, two different funds were used for the purpose. The first of them had a curious origin. It was a time- honored custom among the early mayors of the city to celebrate their escape from the labors and respon- sibilities of their office by giving a public banquet, to which their constituents were generally invited. In 1741, James Hamilton, a son of Andrew Hamil- ton, and mayor at the time, considering it a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance, gave, in lieu of the entertainment, the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, to be used in the erection of an exchange or other building for public pur- poses, and subsequent mayors followed his example. If our late mayor, when he vacated his office in March last, sent no prandial communication to you, these early qualms of conscience may explain the omission. The other fund was raised in 1785, by the sale of "the old gaol and work-house." On the 29th of March, 1787, fifteen feet were added to the depth of the lot by an Act of the Assembly ; soon afterward work was commenced upon the cellar by gangs of convicts called "wheelbarrow-
84
CONGRESS HALL
men,"* and the building was completed in the early part of 1789, just in time to insure its future fame and importance. On. the 4th of March of that year, the Assembly, acting by authority of the rep- resentatives of the city and county of Philadelphia, tendered to Congress, for the temporary residence of the Federal Government, the use of the building " lately erected on the State House Square." In the year 1790, Congress, after a long and somewhat embittered struggle, finally determined to fix the location of the capital on the banks of the Poto- mac, and Philadelphia, mainly through the efforts of Robert Morris, and much to the dissatisfaction of the people of New York, was selected as the seat of government for the intervening period of ten years. On the 6th of December, 1790, the first Congress, at its third session, met in this build- ing, the House of Representatives on the floor below us, and the Senate in this room.
In the Columbian Magazine for January, 1790, is a copper-plate representation of the building as it was when completed, taken from the southwest. This view shows five windows in each story of the
* Historical Magazine, Vol. X, p. 105.
85
CONGRESS HALL
west wall, two chimneys on the west, a cupola on top, a brick wall enclosing the square on Sixth street, and the rear of the building pretty much as it is at present. The text describes it as "a large new building, finished in a neat and elegant style," and the square as "a beautiful lawn, interspersed with little knobs or tufts of flowering shrubs and clumps of trees well disposed. Through the middle of the gardens runs a spacious gravel walk, lined with double rows of thriving elms and communi- cating with serpentine walks which encompass the whole area. These surrounding walks are not uni- formly on a level with the lawn, the margin of which being in some parts a little higher forms a bank which, in fine weather, affords pleasant seats."
From the books of foreign travellers and others we get a pretty good description of the in- ternal arrangement and appearance of the building. Isaac Weld, an Englishman, says:
"The room allotted to the representatives of the lower House is about sixty feet in length and fitted up in the plainest manner. At one end of it is a gallery, open to every person that chooses to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.