USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress > Part 35
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Colonel Waterman's regiment was ordered to Warwick neck, Colonel Aborn to Pawtnxet, and Colonel Noyes' to Tower hill.
These arrangements were hardly completed when, on the 7th, the British fleet entered the bay, sailed up the West or Narra- gansett passage, and rounding the north end of Conanicut island, anchored off Stoddard's shore in Middletown. In their passage through the sound they had made several feints of landing. As they passed through the waters of Narragansett they saw red flags waving from every fort and battery. Resist- ance at Newport, however, was impossible, the total force on the island not exceeding seven hundred men.
On the morning of the 8th the troops were disembarked from the transports which lay at anchor in Weaver's bay, at the southern end of Prudence island. One regiment landed at Long Wharf; the main body at Greensdale in Middletown (the resi-
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dence of the family of General Greene). The British regiments were the Twenty-second (Colonel Campbell), the Forty-third (Colonel Marsh), the Fifty-fourth (Colonel Bruce), the Sixty-third (Colonel Sell), all infantry, and Colonel Ennis' regiment of artillery. The Hessians were the Brigade of Inyne, the Guards and a part of Losberg's regiment. The brigade of Huyne seems to have been composed of the regiment of Banan, the Anspach- Bayreuth regiment, and the Guards of Landgraf (Prince) Charles Ditfurth. After landing, the light infanty and grena- diers went up the island to Bristol ferry at nearly its northern end, and bivonacked in the open air until their tents and bag- gage were unladen.
The American forces had already retreated, and carrying with them thirty guns left the island and withdrawn to Bristol and Providence an hour before the disembarkation. According to the account sent by Governer Cooke to Washington, at ten o'clock on the night of the Sth, the fleet consisted of seventy- eight ships of war and transports. The British, on landing, marched in three divisions. one toward Newport, the second toward Howland's ferry, the third to Bristol ferry, where they arrived in time "to fire upon the boats that brought over our last men, but without doing much damage." The governor says that the retreating troops had to leave behind "abont fif- teen or twenty heavy cannon."
The main body bivouacked about the country or in the farm houses, which they pillaged, but with little more result than the capture of a few head of cattle. The next morning, 9th Decem- ber, Clinton marched on Newport, which he entered without resistance. He was accompanied by Earl Perey and Major- General Prescott, and by Prince Charles Ditfurth, with the Hessian Guards and a company of light horse. The Hessians who went in with Clinton were quartered on the town. On the 13th the force was distributed in permanent cantonments, and the next day were joined by the Ditfurth regiment. The New- port garrison then consisted of one battalion of light infantry, one grenadier battalion, four British regiments, a detachment of English artillery, a company of light dragoons, the Seven- teenth regiment, and the lessian regiments. General Richard Prescott was put in command of the post, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell was the next in rank within the town, and General Smith commanded the troops outside. Two yager or light
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infantry companies were made up from the Hessian regiments.
Mr. Rosengarten, in his monograph on " The German Soldiers in Newport," made up in the main from Max Von Elking's "Account of the German soldiers in the war of the Revolution," thus describes the appearance of the town at the time of the occupation : "Newport town contained eleven hundred houses, mostly small wooden ones; the large and handsome residences of the well to do were built so as to show on the street front great iron gates, but in the rear there were large gardens sur- rounded by stables, houses for the negroes, etc. Within there were the handsomest carpets, hangings and furniture. The rich people had a great love of pleasure and luxury. The sol- diers quietly set to work to make themselves comfortable, in spite of the unfriendly welcome from the . Patriots,' to whose numbers most of the people belonged. The officers were quar- tered in the houses of the few royalists who remained, the sol- diers in those of a large number that had fled. The empty ap- pearance of the streets as the troops marched in was due to the great numbers of the inhabitants who had left. The greatest need was firewood. Detachments were sent in all directions to gather it, and in one instance as far as Staten Island. The offi- cers who went there reported that most of the people there, too, had fled from fear of the Hessiaus; it was indeed currently be- lieved that even the little children would fall victims to the barbarity of these foreign troops. The people generally were very ignorant, credulous and timid; no assurance that no harm should come to them could persuade them that they were sale. The colored people were much less anxious about their fate, and a few Indians were met, mostly day laborers employed in the fisheries."
The general assembly of Rhode Island met at Providence on the 10th, and in view of the invasion ordered the raising of two regiments of infantry, seven hundred and fifty men each, to be brigaded under the command of a general. and a regiment of artillery of three hundred men, "for the defense of the United States in general and of this State in particular." James Mitchell Varnum was appointed brigadier general and Monsieur François Lellorquois de Malmedy, chief engineer and director of the works of defense, with the rank of brigadier general. The colonels of infantry were JJohn Cooke and Joseph Stanton, Jr .; the colonel of artillery, Robert Elliot. Joseph Nightin-
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gale was appointed major general of the militia in the place of Joshna Babcock, who was appointed one of the council of war. Jonathan Clarke was assigned as "linguist" to M. de Malmedy, with the rank of major.
M. de Malmedy was a French gentleman who, in September, 1776, had been "appointed in the continental service." Gen- eral Charles Lee wrote from Chatham, New York, to Washing- ton, on the 8th of December, that on hearing that the British troops had embarked and directed their course to the eastern prov- inces, sailing one half through the sound and the other turning the southwestern end of Long Island and steering eastward, he had " detached Colonel Varnum and Monsieur Malmédie to take the direction of the Rhode Island troops who are without even the figure of a general." Malmedy reached Providence on the 6th, and at the request of Governor Cooke "viewed the lines of cirenmvallation which were opened on the right bank of the [Providence] river." He thought them too far out, and changed them, bringing the posts in. In his letter reporting the condi- tion of affairs he said that he had then been given the rank of colonel, and entreated Lee to have him commissioned by con- gress before the 1st of January, that he might rank others.
On the 25th Malmedy wrote that he had examined the ground abont Warwick neck, which the committee of safety proposed to defend, but found it untenable in case of a descent, and urged the evacuation of the post already begun. He was sur- prised at the inactivity of the British and the lethargy of the people of Providence. Malmedy was modest as to his own abil- ities. He busied himself diligently finishing the open lines, be- cause " there was only one man here who knows that kind of work;" but, he wrote, he was himself " no engineer by profes- sion," and was anxions for a different line of service, though glad to do what he could in any line of duty. Heavy snow was falling on the 20th and there was no travelling. In this letter of the 25th he announced the arrival of Major General Lincoln, who had been appointed to the chief command. There were rumors of an intention of the British to march on Boston by way of Providence. On the 23d of December the agreeable news came in of the arrival of "an immense prize ship" at New Bedford. and General Varnum went down at once to save it from the hands of Clinton.
A convention of the New England states met in Providence
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on the 25th, when it was advised to concentrate the several quotas to the number of six thousand men in the state of Rhode Island, which was called upon to supply eighteen hun- dred. A thousand continentals were to be added.
The records of the assembly for the 23d report the request of one James Joseph Halleen, a French gentleman, who had purchased a schooner in Rhode Island, to be permitted to go out in the vessel with a French crew only and a cargo of hoops, shingles and " shaken casks," to the French West In- dia islands. Permission was granted. This assembly also de- termined against the issue of any more paper money, and adopted resolutions for borrowing at five per cent. and for taxa- tion. Regulations were made " to prevent monopolies and op- pression by excessive and unreasonable prices for many of the necessaries and conveniences of life. and for preventing en- grossers and for the better supply of the troops in the army." A committee reported the act which regulated the prices of labor, goods, wares, merchandize, &c .: labor not to exceed three shillings and four pence aday, wheat seven and six pence per bushel, pork four pence per pound, grass fed beef three pence, salt ten shillings per bushel, West India rum seven shil- lings and eight pence by the gallon, New England rum three shillings and ten pence, sugar eight pence per pound, cheese six pence, potatoes one shilling and four pence per bushel, coffee one shilling and four pence the pound. These were all retail prices. At the same session two fire ships were ordered to be prepared and put under command of Captain Silas Tal- bot, and the row galley at Providence to proceed to Pawtuxet to receive the orders of Commodore Esek Hopkins.
The last Wednesday of the month of January was recom- mended to be observed as a fast day by the general convention and an act requesting observance was approved by the assem- bly which adjourned on the 2d of Jannary, 1777. On the 10th the British frigate "Cerberus," which lay at Fogland ferry, on the East or Seconnet passage, was driven from her moorings by the troops of Little Compton with two pieces of artillery and lost in killed and wounded several of her crew. On the 12th General Arnold, sent by Washington to assist in the defense, arrived at Providence and with him came the inspiring news of the landing of Lafayette to offer his sword to the new nation. On the 14th the English, in revenge for the attack on the
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"Cerberus," sent a party to Prudence island which burned the few buildings spared in the raid of the preceding winter.
The day before, Sir Henry Clinton sailed for England on the " Asia." " saluted on going aboard by a discharge of cannon," the command devolving upon the Honorable Hugh Earl Percy. Clinton left to Percy six Hessian and four British regiments in the country, and two British regiments and Losberg's Hessian regiment in the town. The notice of his departure appeared in the first number of the Newport Gazette published by John Howe " at the Printing House in Thames street near the Parade." This number, issued Thursday, January 16th, 1777, contains Lord Howe's proclamation from New York of November 30th, 1776, granting pardons to all who "shall promise to remain in a peaceable obedience to His Majesty," and also the address to Sir Henry Clinton by the loyalists of Newport, described by the Gazelle as " four hundred and forty-four of principal in- habitants of the town." The address expressed the "truly grateful sense of his majesty's paternal affection and tender- ness for his unhappily deluded American subjects exhibited in the proclamation of November last," with which the subscribers were penetrated, deplored " the baleful influence of factions and designing men through his majesty's American colonies," congratulated Sir Henry upon his arrival among them, thanked him for his many instances of humanity and benignity dis- played since his arrival and solicited his influence with the king's commissioners. The subscribers sum up their dutiful address with the statement of their conviction "that to be a subject of the British empire with all its consequences, is to be the freest member of any civil society in the known world." Another address seems to have been addressed to Lord Howe and the commissioners on the 12th of January, 1777, and signed by the inhabitants of Newport -- Joseph Wanton, Jr., John Maudsley, Stephen Ayrault, Augustus Johnston, James Keith, Walter Chaloner, William Wanton and Francis Malbone. From this Gazette it appears that the English fleet had brought in quite a number of prizes. Seven vessels are named, some with valnable cargoes. On the 13th of January the inhabitants of Jamestown addressed Earl Percy in terms similar to those of the loyal addressers of Newport.
On the 22d an American galley under cover of a fire upon the British force at Dutch Island ferry, landed four hundred
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men but were driven back to their boats by Hayne's brigade and the lire of two English six-ponders and two llessian three- pounders with some loss. In the last week of January the "Merlin" sloop of war convoyed in two transports with Hes- sian troops on board, and the " Cerberus " went out again from Newport for the Seconnet passage. On the 28th of January the row galleys made a demonstration upon the "Sphynx" off Warwick point but did not attack.
On the 5th of February the marine committee sent orders to Commodore Hopkins to despatch four vessels under Captain John Paul Jones, of the "Alfred," on an expedition, but it was found impossible to man or get them to sea. On the 14th the sloop "Providence" went down to capture a Britsh schooner of eight guns which had grounded between Pru- dence and Patience islands, but the crew set her on fire and blew her up. On the 21st the row galley "Spitfire," rigged as a schooner, covering a party landed to bring off hay from Rhode Island, exchanged fire for several hours with a battery on shore.
While the enterprise of the patriots kept the army of occu- pation constantly on the alert, the officers anmsed themselves with organizing subscription balls. Captain d'Avant and Cap- tain Mahlsburg, the latter one of the most distinguished of the Hessian officers, were " Masters of the ceremonies." The balls were given on Monday evenings. The regulations as to the comings and goings of the inhabitants were strict. None were allowed to leave the island for the main without permission, and no inhabitant was permitted to admit any person into his house without reporting him to Prescott, the commandant, "on pain of military execution." Perey had his own views on the subject of the small-pox, and on the 13th of February ordered that no person within the island " presume to inoculate for the small pox." At this time the colony authorities were legalizing this sanitary precaution.
On the 13th of February the Newport Gazette reported the arrival of a " brig with upwards of thirty masters of ships who have been taken at different times by American pirates. These freebooters are fitted out by men who have made their for- tunes from the credit of British merchants and who have chosen this method most gratefully to repay them." There was an exchange of prisoners at this time going on between
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Earl Percy and Governor Cooke, under the general cartel and by Washington's recommendation.
On the 1st of March the assembly met at Providence, ordered the declaration of independence of the United States of America of the 4th of July, 1776, to be "entered on the public records" of the State. This was done on the request of congress of the 18th January, 1777. The Oneida Indians sent a deputation to this assembly to pledge their neutrality if not active aid, and one of the chiefs received the present of a gun. This and other presents to the amount of about seventy-eight pounds were paid for by the state. The Quakers or " persons of tender con- sciences were relieved from their fines." At the same session also Major-General Spencer was " strongly recommended (if in any way consistent with prudence)" to make an attack on the enemy at Rhode Island; the assembly considering it a great disgrace to New England in general and Rhode Island in par- ticular that no attempt had as yet been made. Rewards were promised by the assembly for the capture of British officers, ranging from one thousand dollars for a British or foreign general officer to twenty dollars for each private soldier brought off within fifteen days. Regulations were prescribed for the formation of companies of volunteers who were to choose their own officers; the governor was requested to summon the militia, and a rendezvous was fixed for Wednesday the 12th of March at Providence, East Greenwich and Bristol; those of Newport county to meet at Howland's ferry. The selectmen of the neighboring Massachusetts and New Hampshire towns were asked to send in volunteers. The plan, however, fell through.
On the 15th of March another attack was made by the Amer- icans with a fire ship and two galleys on an English man-of- war, which, according to the German account, ended in the loss of one of the galleys, burned to save it from the Hessians, and the escape of the other, with the force of the burning vessel.
At the adjourned session on the 24th of March General Var- num, having been appointed by congress brigadier-general in the . continental army, and General Washington having directed two generals of the continental army to take command of the troops on Rhode Island, Generals Varnum, West and Malmedy, ap- pointed by the assembly, were dismissed from service with thanks, and the latter voted a gratnity of fifty pounds for his " abilities, activity and zeal."
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At this session the assembly, considering that the freemen of the towns of Newport, Portsmouth, Middletown and James- town were deprived of meeting at their usual places for the choice of representatives in general assembly, authorized per- sous known to be freemen in either of those towns to the num- ber of seven to meet for such choice on the third Wednesday in April ; those of Newport in Providence at the state house ; those of Portsmouth and Middletown in Tiverton ; those of Jamestown in North Kingstown.
On the 2d of April the row galley " Washington" blew up near Bristol and eight men perished. On the 5th of April Lord Percy left his command and returned to England. The Hessian accounts describe him as " very popular with both troops and people, a good soldier, a kindly man, full of tenderness for the sick and suffering, the poor and needy." He was succeeded in his command of the post by General Prescott.
On the 17th of April the assembly ordered the raising of five hundred effective men to fill up the continental battalions. The men were to be raised by draft; the towns of Newport, Ports- mouth, New Shoreham and Middletown being excepted. Large bounties were offered without much success, and the draft created such disaffection in Exeter that General Spencer was recon- mended by the assembly to march troops into the town to cor- rect the unruly and protect the quiet citizens. Washington was urging Governor Cooke to press the enlistment, and ordered him to forward every man who had recovered from the small pox at once, and those who had not as soon as they were re- covered (of course inoculation is here meant).
Washington was of opinion that the number of troops on Rhode Island was greatly exaggerated if, as he was informed, they only consisted of six Hessian and two British regiments. "The Hessian regiments when they came ont complete (he writes) did not exceed six hundred men each, and the British two hundred and fifty each." With the casualties they should not exceed " three thousand ; a number too small to make any attempt upon the main." He adds that he was "convinced that they intend to leave Rhode Island, where they have wintered comfortably and kept up a considerable diversion, and join their main body " in the Jersies.
To congress he wrote on the 10th of April that "an attack on the King's troops at Rhode Island was certainly a desirable
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event conld it have been conducted with success, or upon equal terms. It being an object of great moment and involving in its issne many important consequences, I am led to believe the practicability of it has had much consideration, and the meas- ure was found to be unadvisable under the circumstances of the troops collected for the purpose. If the enemy have not evac- uated the Island I suppose the matter will be further weighed." This letter was in answer to the resolutions adopted by congress on the 16th of April recommending the general assembly of Rhode Island to collect their whole force, and with the militia of Massachusetts bay and Connecticut "attack and destroy the enemy on Rhode Island." The resolutions further directed Washington to appoint the general officers, and he and the three states concerned were notified by express. Washington's judgment as to the British inability to make any further ad- vance on the main was soon justified.
After Percy's departure there was so much movement in Newport that offensive operations were expected, but this idea was abandoned when it was learned that the Hessian Guards had been returned to New York. The garrison, however, was not further diminished. At the May meeting of the general assembly Captain John Hopkins or any officer of the ship " Warren" was empowered to impress men for a contemplated crnise, "being seamen-transient foreign persons and not inhab- itants of this or any of the United States and not enlisted in the service of this state on the continent." The same authority was given to Captain Abraham Whipple of the ship " Providence," the number of men being limited to sixty.
At the assembly meeting in June the new galley " Wash- ington," having been repaired and rigged as a schooner, was assigned to the command of Joseph (Charles) Mauran, an Italian from Villafranca, who had commanded a privateer be- fore Sir Peter Parker blockaded the harbor. The " Washing- ton" carried ten four pounders, fourteen swivel guns and eighty men. It does not appear, however, that any of these enterprising officers were able to run the blockade through the long passages, well guarded by batteries and hostile ships of all kinds.
A journal kept by one Fleet Green, who lived in Newport during the occupation, gives many details of the daily life from June, 1777, to October, 1779. In June the Hessians were in-
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sulting and the streets were dangerous after dark. The fisher- men were obliged to haul up their boats. On the 31st of June he records that a flag sailed " for Providence with one hundred and thirty women and children belonging to the town; their trunks were all searched and some things taken from them, such as tea, pins, linen and men's clothes by the Provost Marshal and Hessian Town Sergeant."
In July occurred the capture of General Prescott by Colonel William Barton of the Rhode Island militia, who was then stationed at Tiverton. An account of this daring exploit is given in the history of the town of Portsmouth in this work.
The British post being thus deprived of its commander, General Sir Richard Pigot was ordered from New York to take his place. He arrived on Monday, the 21st of July, on the "Swan" sloop of war, and landed at noon upon the Long Wharf, where he was received by the principal officers of the army and navy. Adetachment of Hessian troops, accompanied by a band of music, escorted his excellency to the house pre- pared for his reception. On the 26th the town school house was taken for the use of the bake houses.
On the 28th Governor Cooke wrote a letter to General Pigot complaining that the mutual courtesy established at the re- quest of Earl Percy, of allowing ladies to pass from the main to the island and the island to the main had been stopped. The governor reminded the general that "women and children are not the proper objects of war," and added "that the com- manding officer upon Rhode Island appeared to him to have de- parted from the common dictates of humanity." General Pigot answered on the 30th, expressing his regret that the application had been neglected, and while, as in duty bound. he defended his predecessor against the charge of inhumanity, he informed the governor that he had ordered a flag to be ready to carry as many of the women and children as chose to go. From this it is reasonable to infer that the date in Green's journal has been misprinted. Such a complaint could hardly have been made at the close of July if a flag had gone out in June. Pres- cott was taken in July.
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