USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > Governors for three hundred years, 1638-1959; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations > Part 12
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On 19 Feb., 1777, congress appointed five new major-generals-Stirling, Mifflin, St. Clair, Stephen, and Lincoln-thus passing over Arnold, who was the senior brigadier. None of these officers had rendered services at all comparable to his, and, coming as it did so soon after his heroic conduct on Lake Champlain, this action of congress natu- rally incensed him. He behaved very well, however, and expressed his willingness to serve under the men lately his juniors, while at the same time he requested congress to restore him to his relative rank.
The last week in April 2,000 British troops under Governor Tryon invaded Con- necticut and destroyed the military stores at Danbury. They were opposed by Wooster with 600 men, and a skirmish ensued, in which that general was slain. By this time Ar- nold, who was at New Haven, on a visit to his family, arrived on the scene with several hundred militia, and there was a desperate fight at Ridgefield, in which Arnold had two horses shot from under him. The British were driven to their ships, and narrowly es- caped capture. Arnold was now promoted to the rank of major-general and presented by congress with a fine horse, but his relative rank was not restored. While he was at Phila- delphia inquiring into the reasons for the injustice that had been done him, the country was thrown into consternation by the news of Burgoyne's advance and the fall of Ticon- deroga.
At Washington's suggestion, Arnold again joined the northern army, and by a bril- liant stratagem dispersed the army of St. Leger, which, in cooperation with Burgoyne. was coming down the Mohawk valley, and had laid seige to Fort Stanwix. After Schuyler had been superseded by Gates, Arnold was placed in command of the left wing of the army on Bemis heights. In the battle of 19 Sept., at Freeman's farm, he frustrated Bur- goyne's attempt to turn the American left, and held the enemy at bay until nightfall. If properly reenforced by Gates, he would probably have inflicted a crushing defeat upon Burgoyne. But Gates, who had already begun to dislike him as a friend of Schuyler. was enraged by his criticisms on the battle o" Freeman's farm, and sought to wreak his spite by withdrawing from his division some of its best troops. This gave rise to a fierce quarrel. Arnold asked permission to return to Philadelphia, and Gates granted it. But many officers, knowing that a decisive battle was imminent, and feeling no confidence
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in Gates, entreated Arnold to remain, and he did so. Gates issued no order directly su- perseding him, but took command of the left wing in person, giving the right wing to Lincoln.
At the critical moment of the decisive battle of 7 Oct., Arnold rushed upon the field without orders, and in a series of magnificent charges broke through the British line and put them to flight. The credit of this great victory, which secured for us the alliance with France, is due chiefly to Arnold, and in a less degree Gates was not on the field, and deserves no credit whatever. Just at the close of the battle Arnold was severely wounded in the leg that had been hurt at Quebec. He was carried on a litter to Albany. and remained there disabled until spring. On 20 Jan., 1778, he received from congress an antedated commission restoring him to his original seniority in the army. On 19 June, as he was still too lame for field service, Washington put him in command of Philadel- phia, which the British had just evacuated. The tory sentiment in that city was strong, and had been strengthened by disgust at the alliance with France, a feeling which Ar- nold seems to have shared. He soon became engaged to a tory lady, Margaret, daughter of Edward Shippen, afterward chief justice of Pennsylvania. She was celebrated for her beauty, wit, and nobility of character.
During the next two years Arnold associated much with the tories, and his views of public affairs were no doubt influenced by this association. He lived extravagantly, and became involved in debt. He got into quarrels with many persons, especially with Joseph Reed, president of the executive council of the state. These troubles wrought upon him until he made up his mind to resign his commission, obtain a grant of land in central New York, settle it with some of his old soldiers, and end his days in rural seclusion. His request was favorably entertained by the New York legislature, but a long list of charges now brought against him by Reed drove the scheme from his mind. The charges were investigated by a committee of congress, and on all those that affected his integrity he was acquitted. Two charges-first. of having once in a hurry granted a pass in which some due forms were overlooked, and, secondly, of having once used some public wagons, which were standing idle, for saving private property in danger from the ene- my-were proved against him; but the committee thought these things too trivial to no- tice, and recommended an unqualified verdict of acquittal. Arnold then, considering himself vindicated, resigned his command of Philadelphia. But as Reed now represented that further evidence was forthcoming, congress referred the matter to another committee, which shirked the responsibility through fear of offending Pennsylvania, and handed the affair over to a court-martial. Arnold clamored for a speedy trial, but Reed succeeded in delaying it several months under pretence of collecting evidence.
On 26 Jan .. 1780. the court-martial rendered its verdict, which agreed in every par- ticular with that of the committee of congress; but for the two trivial charges proved against Arnold. it was decided that he should receive a reprimand from the commander- in-chief. Washington, who considered Arnold the victim of persecution, couched the rep- rimand in such terms as to convert it into eulogy, and soon afterward offered Arnold the highest command under himself in the northern army for the next campaign. But Ar- nold in an evil hour had allowed himself to be persuaded into the course that has blackened his name forever.
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Three years had elapsed since Saratoga, and the fortunes of the Americans, instead of improving. had grown worse and worse. France had as yet done but little for us, our southern army had been annihilated, our paper money had become worthless, our credit abroad had hardly begun to exist. Even Washington wrote that he "had almost ceased to hope." The army, clad in rags, half-starved and unpaid, was nearly ripe for the mutiny that broke out a few months later, and desertions to the British lines averaged more than 100 a month.
The spirit of desertion now seized upon Arnold, with whom the British commander had for some time tampered through the mediation of John Andre and an American loyalist. Beverley Robinson. Stung by the injustice he had suffered, and influenced by his tory surroundings, Arnold made up his mind to play a part like that which Gen. Monk had played in the restoration of Charles II to the British throne. By putting the British in possession of the Hudson river. he would give them all that they had sought to ob- tain by the campaigns of 1776-77: and the American cause would thus become so hope- less that an opportunity would be offered for negotiation. Arnold was assured that Lord North would renew the liberal terms already offered in 1778, which conceded everything that the Americans had demanded in 1775. By rendering a cardinal service to the British, he might hope to attain a position of such eminence as to conduct these negotiations, end the war, and restore America to her old allegiance, with her freedom from parliamentary control guaranteed.
In order to realize these ambitious dreams, Arnold resorted to the blackest treachery. In July, 1780, he sought and obtained command of West Point in order to surrender it to the enemy. When his scheme was detected by the timely capture of Andre, he fled to the British at New York, a disgraced and hated traitor. Instead of getting control of af- fairs, like Gen. Monk, he had sold himself cheap, receiving a brigadier-general's place in the British army and a paltry sum of money.
In the spring of 1781 he conducted a plundering expedition into Virginia; in Sep- tember of the same year he was sent to attack New London, in order to divert Washing- ton from his southward march against Cornwallis. In the following winter he went with his wife to London, where he was well received by the king and the tories, but frowned upon by the whigs. In 1787 he removed to St. John's, New Brunswick, and entered into the mercantile business with his sons Richard and Henry. In 1791 he returned to London and settled there permanently. In 1792 he fought a bloodless duel with the earl of Lauderdale, for a remark which the latter made about him in the house of lords. His last years were embittered by remorse.
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WILLIAM ARNOLD
Father of GOVERNOR BENEDICT ARNOLD First Governor Under the Royal Charter
William Arnold whose name appears second upon the "Initial deed" at Providence, upon his arrival in Massachusetts Bay, June 24, 1635, found a party from Hingham, Co. Suffolk, lately arrived and about to establish a new township to be called Hingham which was done September 18, William Arnold appears as No. 13, on the first list of those who "drew house lots from the Cove on the north side of the road to Fort Hill."
If he really intended to settle here, he soon changed his plan for in 1636 we find him in Providence where he was assigned a home lot in the row of lots on North Main St., north of Star St., the east end of this lot is now covered by Hope High School Athletic Field. Here he probably built and lived a short time for a contemporary deed of land in this vicinity is bounded on William Arnold's "Wolf trap" evidently built by him for protection of his cattle. The initial deed of 1637, which made him one of 13 propri- etors of Providence was followed by another which divided all the meadow ground on the Pawtuxet river between the same 13 persons and about 1638 William Arnold and William Carpenter with their families settled here at the ford or indian wading place. where the Pequot trail crossed the Pawtuxet river.
This ford is quite a distance up the river from the present centre at the falls and the bridge, and lies a few rods only below the present bridge on Warwick Avenue. From this ford northerly the "Pequot road was made the dividing line between William Carpenter's homestead extending from it, west to Pawtuxet river, and that of William Arnold ex- tending from it, easterly to the salt water. Later Arnold's son Stephen, and son-in-Law Zachery Rhodes settled at the falls, where with Joseph Carpenter they built a corn mill and laid out to it a road through the woods northerly (now Broad St.) which joined the Pequot Path, near the present Junction of Broad St. and Warwick Ave. Upon this home- stead, situated very much as was his old home at Ilchester at the Roman Ford on the Ivil. William Arnold passed 37 years, until July 1675, when the horrors of King Philip's burst in all its fury upon the Colony.
The story of what happened to him. is best told by an affidavit made by his young nephew Major William Hopkins, the original of which is preserved in Prov. Town papers. 0268 "Oct. 16, 1678 William Hopkins age 31, testified before John Whipple, Asst. that at the beginning of the war, and at the desire of some neghbors, he went to Pawtuxet to try to persuade William Arnold to go to some garrison or down to his son Benedict's, at New- port, on account of the danger he was in. That he, William Arnold, refused to go to New- port, but would go to Providence, but afterwards said that that was too far, but he would go to his son Stephen's garrison, so presently his son Stephen went to his father and de- sired his father to go to his garrison, and the sayd William Arnold did goe along with his son Stephen and this deponent to his son Stephen's Garrison."
The "garrison" to which William Arnold was carried in such a feeble condition, and now 88 years old, and where he probably died, was the Mansion house of his son Stephen.
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whose homestead covered nearly all the land west of Broad St. to the Pawtuxet river, and from the falls, north to the swamp where the brook from the east runs under Broad St. to the river. The driveway to his house from Broad St. is now Lockwood St., and behind it now stands the Rhodes's Casino, and the old canoe club houses. On the bluff at the north end of this homestead farm, overlooking the swamp was the burial lot of Stephen Arnold's family. This burial lot has now been built upon, the only grave stones upon the lot those of Stephen and Sarah (Smith) Arnold, were removed about 1860, to Swan Point Cemetery. As this Stephen was the last survivor of the emigrant party of 1635. I give the inscription:
"Here Lies the Body of Stephen Arnold Aged 77 Years Deceased 15th Nov 1699.
During the summer and fall of 1675, nothing of a serious nature occurred at Paw- tuxet, until in December, detachments of the Massachusetts troops under Gen. Winslow, on their way to the "Swamp Fight" at Kingston, encamped at the garrison, and were sup- plied by Stephen Arnold with provisions, the requisitions made by Gen. Winslow were paid by Mass. some years later. January 27, 1676, after the Kingston fight. 300 Indians attacked Pawtuxet, burning William Carpenter's outbuildings, corn and hay, and drove away 180 sheep, 50 head of neat cattle, and 15 horses.
William Harris, whose farm adjoined Carpenter on the west at Blackamore Pond, in a letter (Vol. 10, 171, R. I. His. Soc. Collection), describes this attack as following one on Rehoboth and Providence, "And then went to patuxet & ther burnt some houses and an empty garrison and fought against another, and shott fire upon arrows forty or fifty but ye English put them out, and in ye night time went ther way." This attack did not drive away the Stephen Arnold Garrison, but in March a still larger party of Indians swept through this part, and Harris writes again "the enemy hath burnt all ye houses in Warwick all in patuxet and almost all in Providence and the inhabitants are gone some to one place and some to another."
During one or the other of these attacks all the buildings on the Harris farm were burnt, his son Tolleration, and a servant were killed, and Wm. Carpenter lost his son William Jr. and a servant; Carpenter and Thomas Hopkins probably going to Oyster Bay, Long Island, where both had children living. No hint has been discovered as to where Stephen Arnold went at this time, with his wife and seven children. It seems probable that his father William, in his great age and feeble condition had died and been buried by the side of his wife Christian and grandson William, at Pawtuxet, as his name is not mentioned among the refugees at Newport or Long Island but this is conjecture. Callen- der refers to his death as about 40 years after the settlement of 1636.
Nov. 3. 1677, Gov. Arnold at Newport, calling himself "Benedict Arnold Senr. Eldest son and heire to William Arnold late of pautuxett," made a warrantee deed, on the nominal condition of one hundred Pounds to his "Brother Stephen Arnold of Paw-
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tuxett afore sayed," of all Land of our sayd father licing within the Bounds of patuxett. between patuxett river and Providence bounds"&c.
This was not an uncommon way at this period of settling an intestate estate, and shows that as soon as the war was ended and civil government restored, a mutual agree- ment between William Arnold while living, and his two sons, was honorably carried into effect by the legal heir under English law, after his death.
GRAVE OF GOVERNOR BENEDICT ARNOLD
NEWPORT, R. I.
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OLD STONE MILL
NEWPORT. R. I.
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE CITIZENS OF NEWPORT AND VISITORS OF THE OLD STONE MILI
ay A : Wird in the clocks offre of the day Court of the U S for the death of P.
Copied from Benedict Arnold's will as printed in "The Old Stone Mill" by Rev. Charles T. Brooks pub. 1851. Original of will is now at John Carter Brown Library, Providence.
. . . My body I desire and appoint to be buried at ye North East corner of a parcell of ground containing three rod square being of and lying in my land in or near ye line or path from my dwelling house leading to my Stone built Wind-Mill, in ye town of Newport, abovementioned, the middle or center of which three rods square of ground is and shall be ye tomb already erected over ye grave of my grandchild, Damaris Goulding, there buried on ye fourteenth day of August, 1677, and I de- sire that my dear and loving wife Damaris Arnold, after her death may be buried near unto me, on ye South side of ye place aforesaid ordered for my own interment and I do order my Executors to erect decent tombs over her grave and my grave in such convenient time, as it may be effectually ac- complished, and further I do hereby solemnly prohibit the selling or otherwise disposing of said three rod square of ground or any part thereof, but that it be wholly reserved to ye use of my kindred re- lations for so many of them as shall please to bury their dead in the said ground and therefore do order and appoint that they shall have from time to time on all such occasions to and from ye said burying place, free egress and regress without any molestation from any that shall succeed me in ye land about it."
124
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In 1857 the bodies of Governor Arnold and his wife and others buried in the cemetery were taken up and removed to the then new Willow Cemetery on Warner Street, in which there was to have been an "Antiquarian Lot". However such a storm of protest was raised by prominent citizens that the bodies were taken back and reinterred in the Arnold cemetery. Later the stones were placed on the ground and covered over with soil. The graveyard has recently been restored, the stones cleaned and replaced and the cemetery has now been placed in the care of the Preservation Society of Newport County.
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32
OLD MILL AT CHESTERTON ENGLAND. ERECTED 1632. RESEMBUNG IN STRUTTURE THE OLD MILL AT NEWPORT. R.I. TAWN FR. M NOTTHE PY P NENE.
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Brenton Arms
WILLIAM BRENTON
President: 1660-1662; 1666-1669.
Born: About 1600 in Hammersmith, Middlesex County, England. Died: 1674 in Newport, R. I.
Buried: Newport, R. I. Fort Adamıs.
BRENTON, GOVERNOR WILLIAM, was born in Hammersmith in England, not far from the commencement of the 17th century. He was among the early settlers of Massa- chusetts, having been admitted as a freeman in Boston, May 14, 1634. For three years, 1634-37, he was a selectman of Boston, and for one year, 1635, was a Deputy in the Gen- eral Court. August 20, 1638, he was admitted as a freeman of Pocasset, or Portsmouth, in the island of Rhode Island. In January, the year following he was appointed an "Elder," to assist "Judge" Coddington in his judicial duties, etc. He was among the first settlers of what is now Newport, where he had assigned to him four acres of land. His fellow-citizens chose him from time to time to fill the highest offices of honor and trust. He was Deputy Governor of Aquidneck or the island of Rhode Island from March 12. 1640, to May 19, 1647. He subsequently held the same office from November, 1663, to May. 1666. He was President of the four united towns of Providence, Warwick, Ports- mouth and Newport, from May, 1660, to May, 1662. He was Governor under the Royal Charter from May, 1666, to May 1669. Subsequently, in 1672. he was again elected gov- ernor, but declined to serve. His death occurred in 1674.
Governor Brenton owned extensive tracts of land on Rhode Island, in Narragansett and other places. He had seven children, three sons and four daughters. His oldest son, Jahleel. died without issue, November 2, 1732, and was buried on Brenton's Point. This son held a commission from William and Mary, and was Collector and Surveyor-General of the customs of the colony. His second son was William, who was one of the first set- tlers of Bristol. His third son was Ebenezer, who also lived in Bristol, and probably died there. His son of the same name acquired military distinction and bore the title of "Ma- jor." The four daughters of Governor Brenton were Sarah, Mehitabel, Abigail, and Elizabeth. Several of his descendants reached eminence as naval officers; Jahleel. his great grandson rose to the rank of admiral in the British navy, and his son of the same name. Sir Jahleel Brenton, was also an admiral, and another son. Edward. a post cap- tain. Another of his descendants, John. was secretary to Admiral Provost on the East India station, and a post captain.
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THE BRENTON FAMILY
As Told by an Early Historian
Fate has smiled kindly upon the Brenton family. William Brenton, the surveyor, was the first of the race in America. Coming to this country in 1634, he brought with him a commission from King Charles I, which allowed him a certain number of acres per mile on all lands he should survey in the New England Colonies. The tract he chose for his home in Newport comprised very nearly two thousand acres of the best land in the col- ony. Brenton's Point, at the extremity of which Fort Adams now stands, formed a part of it. Upon this farm was built the edifice commonly called "The Four Chimney House," said to be the largest house in the colonies at the time of its erection. It was one hundred and fifty feet square. Through it extended a hall that was sixteen feet wide. Upon its roof, which was surrounded by a railing, seats were built and a promenade was con- structed. The grounds surrounding it were laid out in the most artistic manner, and were kept in a high state of cultivation. The fruit trees in the orchards were mostly im- ported from England. Among them were found many varieties never before cultivated in this country. It is said that the "yellow russet" apple was first grown upon the Bren- ton grounds. A wall of granite, five feet in height, surrounded the estate, which was named Hammersmith. from its owner's English birth-place.
In 1660 Mr. Brenton was chosen President of the Rhode Island Colony, and thus happened to be its chief officer when the family of the Stuarts was placed again upon the English throne. The Court of Commissioners for the Colony was sitting at Warwick when the news of the Restoration was received. President Brenton, as a loyal subject of King Charles II, immediately appointed a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing, to be ob- served throughout the Colony. He also directed that processions in each town should commemorate the event, and that a holiday should be given to servants and children. Tradition says that a long procession passed through the streets of Newport on the night of the celebration. The thronging people carried lanterns with which to illuminate the darkness, and kettle-drums, hand-bells, and fifes for the more perfect manifestation of their joy. Upon a platform was carried a person dressed to represent the late Lord Pro- tector. Behind him stood one who was supposed to personate His Satanic Majesty. One of the hands of the ruler of the lower world was placed upon Cromwell's head, while the other brandished a spear in air. From time to time the procession halted to listen to the repetition of these lines:
"Old Cromwell-man! your time is come, We tell it here with fife and drum; And Satan's hand is on your head. He's come for you before you're dead, And on his spear he'll throw you in The very worst place that ever was seen, For good King Charles is on his throne, And Parliament now you'll let alone."
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This practice of marching through the streets on the anniversary of the Restoration was maintained for many years. At last it became simply a nuisance, and as such was suppressed by the town authorities.
Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton and Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, both of the British navy, and Sir Brenton Halliburton, long the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, were all descended from William Brenton, and were all born in Newport.
William Brenton's son, Jahleel, was about twenty-one years of age when King Philip's War broke out. When the news of the destruction of Providence by the Indians was received in Newport. he quickly manned a schooner and hastened to the re- lief of the homeless fugitives. Jahleel Brenton, after serving as His Majesty's Collector of Customs in Boston, for some years, came back to end his days in Newport. He was for a time Collector of Customs for Newport also, and thus became very prominently identified with the commercial history of the port. In 1720 he built the famous Chan- ning House upon Thames Street.
NEW GRAVE OF GOVERNOR WILLIAM BRENTON AND HIS SON JAHLEEL BRENTON FORT ADAMS, R. I.
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THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF
GOVERNOR WILLIAM BRENTON
BELOW IS A PAGE FROM THE ORIGINAL STEVEN'S RECORD BOOK SHOWING THE PURCHASE OF THE TOMB STONE FOR GOV. WM. BRENTON IN 1727 BY HIS SON JAHLEEL.
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