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 38
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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
At four o'clock, when Colonel Trumbull took in a brigade of Massachusetts militia to meet an expected attack on the right, the enemy had disappeared. The action was over. Repulsed from all their assaults, the British and Hessians were driven back to their fortified lines, losing one of their batteries on the retreat. The American loss was two hundred and eleven, that
387
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of the British one thousand and twenty-three, including pris- oners. The British had a force superior in numbers and thor- onghly trained, while not more than fifteen hundred of the Americans had ever been under fire.
The "battle of Rhode Island " may be fairly held, as it is said Lafayette styled it, " the best fought action of the war." There seems to have been no error either in the plan or execu- tion of the masterly movement of retreat ; and the seenre re- sult was the holding of the strongest position on the island, equally available for a renewal of attack or to cover a safe withdrawal to the main land.
The 30th of August, Sunday, both armies spent the early part of the day in burying the dead and caring for the wounded. Colonel Campbell, of the Twenty-second, came out for leave to look for the body of his nephew, who fell at his side. At noon despatches were received from Washington that Lord Howe was on his way with five thousand troops from New York for the relief of the Newport post. A council of officers was held, and it was resolved to evacuate the island. Under a feint of pitching tents and fortifying the camp and a heavy cannonade, the stores, munitions and heavy baggage were moved. At nightfall the tents were struck and the troops were crossed over the ferry to Tiverton, the Providence regiment acting as rowers.
At eleven o'clock Lafayette came in from Boston. He had ridden seventy miles in seven hours on Friday to Boston, and now returned sixty miles in six and a half. He brought with him the promise of d'Estaing to march his men immediately overland from Boston to join in an attack on the island. La- fayette now aided in superintending the transports, and under his personal supervision the pickets and last covering parties were brought over without the loss of the smallest article of baggage. Sullivan's barge was the last to leave the island. Four of his life guards were wounded by the enemy, who ap- peared on the hills as they were crossing. The next morning the British fleet, with Sir Henry Clinton's forces on board, was seen off Newport from Tiverton heights.
The army of Sullivan was now redneed to twelve hundred con- tinentals and two thousand state troops with some militia whose time was about expiring, while the British force, with the re- enforcements brought by Clinton, reached eleven thousand men.
3SS
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Congress voted thanks to Sullivan and his army for their signal service, and Washington issned a general order in commenda- tion. Congress, moreover, passed a resolution showing "its appreciation of the zeal and attachment the Count d'Estaing had shown to the cause of the United States on several occa- sions and especially in the noble and generous offer to march from Boston at the head of his troops to co-operate in the re- duction of Rhode Island." D'Estaing was of too noble a spirit to bear any malice and in the course of the next year showed his zeal and his mettle, but gained little fame as a naval com- mander.
The condition of the inhabitants of Newport during this pe- riod of hostilities was not to be envied. The French shot flying over the wooden town was alarming but the sufferings war brings in its train were not confined to terror. "Sixteen buildings," says Mrs. Almy in her journal, "were destroyed to clear the field of action," while the blazing vessels and burning buildings threatened the whole closely built wooden town with total rnin. On the retreat of the Americans Ports- month and Middletown were plundered. By the report of an- other journal, that of Fleet Green, "some families were desti- tnte of a bed to lie on."
After Sullivan's retreat the island was held with rigorous military care, the great extent of water line subjecting the ont- lying posts to constant danger of surprise. On the 17th of September Admiral Byron, who had been sent out in June by the British admiralty to re-enforce Lord Howe, came into New- port harbor with two ships of the line and on the 25th Howe followed in his flagship the " Eagle," and turning over the com- mand of the American station to Byron, sailed for England. On the 28th he was followed by General Pigot whom General Prescott succeeded. On the 12th of October four hundred men arrived for the Anspach Bayreuth regiment and one hundred light cavalry under Major Von Dieskan. They had been twenty- six weeks at sea and were in poor condition. The entire regi- ment was brought into the town and half went into winter quarters in the abandoned buildings, the assignment between camp and honseing being settled by lot, and in November the Landgrave and Ditfurth regiments were also marched in to the southern part of the town. Hnyne's and Bnnan's regiments were marched from the camp at the lines to barracks at Wind-
389
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
mill and Quaker hills; Hayne's on the east road. Bunau's on the west, and detachments of men sent from each to guard Howland's ferry.
In October the town was startled by a daring exploit-the cutting out on the night of the 25th, from the east passage, of the "Pigot" galley, a vessel of two hundred tons, strongly armed and manned, by Major Talbot in a little sloop with two three pounders. The "Pigot" was carried into Stonington, and later served as guard ship in Providence river. In Novem- ber Admiral Byron, who had left port in September, came into the harbor with twelve ships of the line. He had been cruising for the French fleet off Boston, but without success. Byron's ships lay for a month to refit and then went to the West Indies. In December the town was visited by a storm of intense sever- ity-a heavy fall of snow, and cold so intense that many of the Hessians perished, frozen to death. More than fifty people are said to have lost their lives on this fearful night, chiefly sol- diers. This was long known as the Hessian storm. Fuel was everywhere scarcee. A few days later a brig bound to New York was taken by Lieutenant Chapin with six men and a whale boat. The troops and the inhabitants had to depend now wholly upon the army supplies, as they were prevented from any communication with the mainland. Many of the towns- people were obliged to remove. After January, 1779, rations were cut down to one half bread and one-half rice. The bread was oatmeal and rice mixed. Fuel now became so scarce that turf was burned, the old houses destroyed, and the wharves stripped of their timbers. A week or two later the meat ra- tions were cut down one half, and salt or dried fish took its place.
At last the famine was relieved by the arrival, on the 25th of January, of seven British ships with supplies obtained from a great fleet with provisions from Ireland to New York. A raid was made by the loyalists on the mainland and three hundred head of cattle were brought in. But this was dangerous busi- ness, no quarter being given those taken on sneh forays. In May provisions grew scarce again, and there was a great deal of scurvy among the troops. Fifteen sail came in with wood from Long Island, and fish fell so low in price that men could hardly be persuaded to go ont.
In the arrangement for the summer two of the German regi-
390
IHISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ments remained in the town and the others were posted on Tonomy hill and at Turkey hill. In June two of the Hessian regiments were sent to join Tryon's force in its operations along the sound. On the 21st of June Major Arnbach, of the Land- grave regiment, was buried with the honors of war. Qniet was only disturbed during the summer by the forays of the tories and the sharp reprisals of the patriots. In July a murderous raid was made on the house of Major Taggart at Little Comp- ton, but under the system of whale boats organized by General Gates, who at this time commanded the "Providence," ven- geance was quick and sure. In Angust Talbot took the tory privateer "King George," belonging to Newport, which he boarded without losing a man, and in the course of a month four other valuable prizes.
In October the repulse of the Americans and French at Savannah, when Pulaski fell and d'Estaing was wounded, in- duced Sir Henry Clinton to attempt the subjection of the South- ern colonies. To effect this he needed to concentrate his forces. On the 11th of October the town was thrown into consternation by the arrival of the order to get ready for the evacnation of the island. The next day fifty-two transports arrived to take off the garrison, seven thousand men with the military stores. The refugees were also permitted to embark and the merchants hastened to move their stores. Forty-six of the royalists, says Arnold, with their families, and a large number of slaves whom the occupation had liberated, embarked at the wharves. The vessels were hanled out to Brenton's point and moved as fast as loaded. The barracks at the point and the lighthouse at Beaver Tail were burned. The north battery was razed but the Goat Island fort spared.
On the 25th the inhabitants were warned to keep within doors on pain of death while the embarkation of the troops was being made. All day long the troops were marching to Bren- ton's point, whence they were taken by boats to the ships. "Newport," says an eye witness, "looked as if everybody was dead, for doors and windows were shut, not a soul was to be seen, and this was done to guard against desertion." Strange to say, this seems to have been the motive of Prescott's order, which was especially that no woman should be allowed to be seen at the windows or on the street. At ten o'clock at night the fleet, one linndred and ten sail, convoyed by three men-of-
391
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
war, sailed ont of the harbor. On the 31st they arrived in New York. Governor Greene had issued a proclamation on the 16th forbidding any person landing on Rhode Island or Conanieut to molest the inhabitants after the withdrawal of the enemy.
It is not probable that the English garrison or the Hessian contingent were especially rough to the townspeople during this occupation. Indeed, in some things those that remained fared better than those that went away. Though at times pinched for food and fuel, they were generally well and reason- ably supplied from the British stores. The property owners suffered most. All the empty private houses were used as bar- racks, and the troops were quartered upon the inmates of those which were inhabited, with little regard for their own accom . modation and comfort. The artillery officers carried off all the bells from the houses of worship except Trinity. The meeting houses except Trinity and the Sabbatarian were turned into rid- ing schools. The Redwood was thrown open to all. The state house was used as a hospital. The forage yard was on the Quaker field; the wood yard on the north side of Church street. General Prescott had his headquarters in the Bannister house, and it is said that his spacious sidewalk in front, from Mill street to Prospect Hill street, was made ont of stepstones taken from private houses, and the whole of the south flight of steps from the state house. The general aspect was of decay and dilapidation.
The interior of the island presented an appearance not less melancholy. The groves of forest trees and many of the or- chards even had been cut down for fuel and military purposes, the farms were broken up, the gardens destroyed and the fertile meadows torn up. And as with the homes so with the avoca- tions of the people. More than half the population had left the island, the wharves were deserted, commerce and trade abandoned. The Jewish merchants were gone.
Among the acts of vandalism committed by the retiring troops was the taking off of the records of the town from its settlement; a favorite habit of British commanders. The vessel which carried them was sunk at Hurlgate. Three years later the frag- ments were fished up and returned to the town and copies made of what remained legible.
On the 26th of October, the morning after the departure of the British, General Stark crossed from Tiverton with the troops
392
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
quartered there, and marched into Newport: Colonel Barton being sent on in advance with orders to prevent any boat landing without a special permit. The losses sustained by the town during the occupation were estimated at over one hundred and twenty- four thousand pounds by a committee of the legislature in 1782, and more than five hundred houses were destroyed; but this was trifling compared with the interruption of commerce, which, notwithstanding her magnificent harbor, never returned to her wharves and merchants. No sooner were the Americans in possession of the city than they took measures to raise the sunken British men-of-war and to take possession of the estates of the tories.
The winter of 1779 80 set in with intense severity. The bay was frozen over for six weeks, and ice formed into the ocean as far as the eye could reach. Wood sold for twenty dollars a cord ; corn at four silver dollars a bushel ; potatoes at two. All the troops who could be spared were sent home, and the New- port garrison, at first five hundred strong, was reduced to one hundred and eighty men. In February, 1780, the Newport " Mercury," which had been for three years removed to Re- hoboth, was revived at its birthplace by Henry Barber. In May the spirits of the depressed inhabitants were revived by the news that a French fleet would soon arrive with a contingent force.
THE FRENCH IN RHODE ISLAND, 1780-1. - Lafayette, disap- pointed in the result of the expedition under d'Estaing and still hopeful of the active co-operation of a land force of the French army in the next campaign, after the failure at Rhode Island, applied to congress for an indefinite leave of absence from the army, in which he was a full major-general. This he received on the 20th of October, 1778, and on the 11th of January, 1779, sailed from Boston for France in the frigate " AAlliance," which the king had placed at his disposal. During the year he confined himself to earnest efforts for assistance from the French govern- ment in money and material of war. It had been understood before he left America that he should not apply to the ministry for assistance in troops, and this coincided with his own judg- ment, but as the year wore on he changed his mind on this point, and, assuming the responsibility carly in 1780, made an application of this nature, and in a letter of the 20th of Febri- ary, submitted a plan of operations for an expeditionary
393
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
corps of thirty-six hundred men to be under his personal con- mand. He had already received from the king the appoint- ment to a regiment of dragoons.
Later, on mature consideration, he decided to resume his command in the American army and, charged with private dispatches to congress, he sailed from Rochefort on the 6th of March on the frigate "Hermione, "and reached Boston on the 27th of April. Thence he went to Washington's headquarters at Mor- ristown, which he reached on the 10th of May. The news he brought was of the intention of the French ministry to send over a fleet and of the present organization of an expeditionary corps. Notwithstanding the secrecy attempted on all sides, the British government was aware in March of the equipment of the squadron at Brest for America, but uncertain of its des- tination. On the 17th of May Rivington's Royal Gazette, pub- lished in New York, gave a detailed account of the composition of the French force.
It was arranged with Lafayette in his interview with the French minister at Paris that officers should be posted at Cape Henry and on the coast of Rhode Island to watch the arrival of the fleet and convey to the admiral of the French squadron and the general commanding the troops all necessary informa- tion as to the position of the enemy and the wishes of General Washington. These dispatches were prepared in duplicate by Lafayette on the 19th of May, 1780. The originals were handed to M.de Galvan with instructions to proceed to the month of the Chesapeake where the fleet was expected first to appear, and copies were sent by trusty messengers to Point Judith and Seconnet. It being later learned that the fleet would "in the first instance touch at Rhode Island for the purpose of landing their sick and supernumerary stores and to meet the intelli- gence necessary to direct their operations," General Heath was ordered to Providence to present himself to the French commanders on their arrival. Heath, who was at the time at his home in Roxbury on a leave of absence, went at once to Providence. Congress hastened to fill up the army and Mon- sieur de Corny, a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in the United States army, who had received at Versailles the appointment of commissary-general of the French forces, visited Rhode Island, escorted by a troop of horse, to arrange for hospitals.
The French squadron on the night of the 20th of May lifted an-
394
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
chor and set sail from the roadstead of Brest. The fleet consisted of seven ships of the line, three frigates, a corvette or flute fitted as a hospital ship, and a entter; in all twelve ships carrying six hundred and eighteen guns. The transports, thirty-two in number, carried the expeditionary corps of five thousand men. The fleet was commanded by Monsieur de Ternay, chef d'esca- dre, the troops by Count de Rochambeau. The fleet was de- tained some days in the Bay of Biscay by contrary winds, but gained an offing from the continent withont meeting a hostile cruiser, although it was known that Admiral Graves was fitting out at Portsmouth to intercept and force them to action.
On the 20th of June the French fleet fell in with five British vessels to the southward of the Bermudas, a part of the squadron of Commodore Cornwallis, returning to the Antilles. Line of battle was formed by the French, but Cornwallis changed his course and bore away. The squadron held a similar course during the day but at night the English commodore turned to the southward and de Ternay held on to the American coast.
On the 4th of July, toward nightfall, he made the month of the Chesapeake, where his frigates signaled ten or twelve sail at anchor in the bay. Fearing that these vessels might be part of the squadron of Arbuthnot, who was on the American station, or of Graves who was expected, de Ternay changed his course several times during the night and the next day steered straight for Rhode Island. They came upon the coast in a dense fog. At four o'clock on the afternoon of the 9th of July, land was descried from the masts of the " Conquérant." It proved to be Martha's Vineyard. The crews, who had suffered greatly from the warm weather and confinement, were in great glee. On the morning of the 10th anchor was again weighed; at noon pilots came on board from the island. The fleet again anchored at ten o'clock. On the morning of the 11th sail was made but the weather being still foggy and a danger signal being hoisted by one of the convoy, the fleet again came to anchor. At eight o'clock the fog lifted and the shore line opened into view; Point Judith, a league distant, beyond the Newport point, and most welcome, the French flag on each of the points of the land. This was the signal agreed upon by Lafayette that Rhode Island was safe in American hands and the French would be well received.
General de Rochambeau and his staff went at once on board
395
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the frigate "Hermione" and sailed for Newport, where he landed at noon. De Ternay had cause for congratulation.
Admiral Graves left Portsmouth in pursuit of the French early in May with seven vessels. Meeting in the channel the same westerly gale which detained de Ternay in the gulf, he was forced to put back to Plymouth, where he was held by con- trary winds fifteen days. Putting to sea again he crowded sail and on the 13th of July, only forty-eight hours after the arri- val of de Ternay at Rhode Island, reached New York where he found Arbuthnot with four ships. A few days later the French would have found their course to Rhode Island blocked by eleven men-of-war withont the impediment of a helpless fleet of transports.
The French squadron which now anchored in the Newport harbor, consisted of the "Duc de Bourgogne," eighty guns, the "Neptune" and "Conquérant" of seventy-four; the "Prov- ence," "Eveillé," "Jason" and "Ardent," of sixty-four; three frigates, the "Surveillante," "Amazone" and "Gentille," of thirty guns. Besides, there was the corvette "Fantasque" which had made the expedition with d'Estaing and was now fitted as a hospital ship and carried the heavy artillery and the cutter " La Gnèpe." As soon as the ships were anchored the troops of Rochambeau were landed. One third of them, sick, were removed to the interior. The fortifications were placed in charge of the French who proceeded at once to remodel and put them in a posture of defense.
The troops disembarked, five thousand and eighty-eight men, consisting of the regiments of Bourbonnais, Soissonnais, Sain- tonge, Royal deux Ponts, an Alsatian corps and six hundred men of Lauzun's Legion, three hundred of whom were intend- ed to be mounted for a troop of horse. All the officers of these corps belonged to the best of the old French nobility and many of them had served with distinction in the wars of the continent. The Count de Rochambean, a gentleman of an old Vendome family, was a veteran of nearly forty years ser- vice, who had spent his life in camps and had won high merit in the campaign of the low countries for the prudent qualities which became a. commander, while equally remarked for his bravery and tenacity. Just such qualities were needed for the delicate position of controlling a hot headed band of young of- ficers in a country jealous of its customs and among a popula-
396
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tion proud in individual freedom. Among his aids were the Count de Fersen, a young Swedish gentleman high in favor with the French court and esteemed one of the handsomest and most elegant of this age of courtesy, Chevalier Charles de Lameth and the Counts de Damas and de Dumas. The household of Rochambeau was fully mounted in French state and his major- domo, in his solemn dignity and magnificent array, was a per- petual wonder to the plain provincials.
The other high general officers were the Baron de Vioménil, the Chevalier de Chastellux, a distinguished member of the French Academy, and the Chevalier de Vioménil, who disputed the palm of manly beauty with the fair Swede. As aids to the Baron de Vioménil, the Chevalier d'Olonne, a scion of an old historic family, and the Marquis de Vauban ; and serving in the same capacity as the Chevalier de Chastellux, Monsieur de Mon. tesquien. On the general staff, among those whose later lives were eventful in history, were the Chevaliers Alexandre de La- meth and de Berthier. The Regiment Bourbonnais was com- manded by the Marquis de Laval Montmorency, as colonel, and the Vicomte de Rochambean, son of the general commanding, as colonel-en second; the Soissonnais by the Count de Saint- Maime, a most sensible and practical officer, with the Vicomte de Noailles, brother-in-law of Lafayette, who married his sister; the Royal Deux-Ponts by the Marquis des deux Ponts, Count de Forbach, as colonel, and his brother, Connt des Deux-Ponts, as second officer (they belonged to the family of the Counts Palatine); the Saintonge by the Comte de Custine, with the Comte de Charms, son of Maréchal de Castries, the minister of war, as second. The Legion was the proprietary regiment of the Duke de Lauzun, of the famous family of Biron, which had given several marshals to France. As an auxiliary to the Legion, attached to it but under independent command, was the Regiment Dillon, with Count Arthur de Dillon colonel, and Barthelemy Dillon lieutenant colonel. The Dillons were of a high born Irish family who, following the fortunes of James the Second, crossed with him into France where their ancestor entered the military service in which his sons succeeded him.
The park of artillery was large and there was an abundance of munitions of war for all arms. M. de Menonville commanded the artillery, a corps of five hundred thoroughly trained men, and de Berthier was at the head of the topographical engineers.
397
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
A more perfectly appointed corps, in the quality of its officers, in the composition and discipline of its men, and in its general equipment, could not have been devised ; and it woukl be diffi- cult to find record of any similar army which, in a foreign land of different customs and religion, so won the attachment of the population on whom it was quartered.
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.