USA > Rhode Island > History of Rhode Island > Part 19
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Prescott was subsequently taken to Pomfret, in Connecticut, where he remained a short time. It is said that the landlord of the house where he stopped, brought him a dish of beans and corn, at which he was so highly exasperated, that he threw them into the face of the landlord, who very deliberately wiped his face with his shirt sleeve, and left the room. He, however,
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
soon returned, with a cow-hide, and the manner in which he applied it to his back, was a striking caution.
Quako, the black, who piloted the enterprise, and who was rewarded for his services, lived for many years in Pomfret , Connecticut ; he afterwards removed to Munson, Massachusetts, where he died. It is stated that the British were so incensed against him, that if they could have caught him, he would have been hung, drawn, and quartered.
General Prescott was afterwards exchanged for General Lee, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and, at the close of the same year, or the beginning of the next, he again took command of the British forces on Rhode Island, where he remained until its final evacuation.
The imprisonment of Colonel Barton, for the term of four- teen years, in Vermont, was a blot on the national escutcheon. A man who had rendered such essential service to his country should have received the aid of the nation. But not until General La Fayette came to this country on a visit, was his liberation effected. He, like a noble patriot, enquired after his old friend and companion in arms, and on being informed of his imprisonment, went out of his way to meet him, (and it was a joyful meeting,) the prison doors were opened instanter, and the captive set at liberty.
On the 27th, Congress voted Colonel Barton an elegant sword, in acknowledgment of his capture of General Prescott, and sent him a vote of thanks, for that important service. Important it was on many accounts. It had a tendency to excite in a high degree the enthusiasm of the people, to con- vince them that their foes in this quarter were not invincible, and to humble the arrogance of the enemy.
Colonel Barton was quite an amusing man, and whether the countenance is the true index of the heart or not, he had the happy faculty of always appearing pleasant. It was a familiar saying of his-
" To die and bo forgot, is the lot of all mankind, But to be forgot before you are dead is hard."
He would then break forth from his reverie, and sing most amusingly these words,-
" But while we're here, with friends so doar,
Let's drive dull care away."
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SURRENDER OF GENERAL BURGOYNE.
In September, 1777, a secret expedition against Rhode Island was concerted by General Spencer, the commander-in- chief of the American forces in Rhode Island. The Americans were stationed at Tiverton, near where the stone bridge now is. By some means, however, the British commander was apprised of Spencer's intention, and made preparations for his reception. He directed several dams to be thrown across the brook, running from the north, through the land of the late William Bailey, southward to Easton's Pond, which raised the water to the depth of three or four feet, all through that valley. It is said, the British intended to permit them to land, and march up without opposition, then destroy their boats, and cut off their retreat.
The expedition was, however, abandoned, even after the troops had embarked on board their boats. The certain cause of its failure is yet unknown. It has been suggested, that it was designed as a feint, to divert the attention of the enemy, and thereby succeed in dislodging them from other and more important points.
General Burgoyne's surrender immediately followed this event, and but little regard was paid to the course of policy adopted by General Spencer, while in command of the troops on the Island.
General Spencer, on leaving his quarters one morning, found the following doggerel verse, written in large letters, placed in full view of the public :
" Israel wanted bread, The Lord sent them manna ; Rhode Island wants a head, And Congress sends-a granny !"
After this, the Major-General was called by the sobriquet of " Granny Spencer," as long as he remained in Rhode Island.
On October 17, 1777, a flag arrived at Newport from Provi- dence, bearing intelligence of the surrender of General Burgoyne and army to the American forces. A knowledge of this event had reached the Island, and was known by certain individuals two days previous to its public announcement by the arrival of the
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
flag. During the whole time the British had possession of the island, a correspondence was maintained between certain indi- viduals of the island and the main, at Little Compton, so that the American officers were constantly apprized of the general movements of the enemy, while in possession of Rhode Island.
The correspondence was maintained by signals given on the Island, indicating a clear coast, and that a messenger could pass over in safety, after dark. The first signal was the leaving down of a certain pair of bars, which, with the spy-glass, could be distinctly seen from the main. Afterward, for fear of excit- ing the suspicion of the enemy, the signal was changed-when an open window of Mr. Peleg Peckham's barn answered the same purpose.
A small vault in the ground, near the shore, and at no great distance from Mr. Peckham's, covered with a flat stone, served as a depository of communication. There, letters and papers were regularly deposited and removed, by the respective indi- viduals engaged in the correspondence. It was through this medium of communication that the intelligence of Burgoyne's surrender first reached the Island. It is said that the papers bringing this intelligence, and which were found safely deposit- ed in the vault, are still preserved in the family of a Mr. Barker, on the Island. This noted spot is in Middletown, on the east side of the Island, in sight of Little Compton.
That part of the British army now in possession of the Island, consisted of the 22d regiment, commanded by Colonel Camp- bell ; the 43d, by Colonel Marsh ; the 54th, by Col. Bruce; and the 63d, by Major Sill. The artillery was commanded by Col- onel Ennis. The Hessian regiments were, the Heno, the Beno, the Dedford, and Lanscraft, deriving their names from their respective commanders. There was also a company of light horse attached to the army, with a regiment of refugees, com- manded by Colonel Fanning. There were also a few compa- nies attached to the army, called Soushears and Anspaks ; these were Germans.
In the spring of 1778, General Sullivan having been appoint- ed to the command of the American troops in Rhode Island, the British commander at Newport, anticipating an attempt upon the Island by the Americans, sent a detachment of five hundred men up the river to destroy their boats, and by this
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ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET.
means frustrate the anticipated expedition. They landed on the morning of May 25, at daylight, between Warren and Bristol, and proceeded in two divisions, one for Warren, and the other for the head of Kickemuet river, " when they destroyed about seventy flat-bottom boats, and set fire to one of the State galleys." They also burnt a large quantity of pitch, tar, plank, and other pro- perty belonging to the Americans at that place. The party which proceeded to Warren, after having burnt the meeting- house and a number of dwelling houses, plundered and robbed the inhabitants, not even the females excepted, who were robbed of their shoe buckles, gold rings, handkerchiefs, &c. A few days subsequently, a body of one hundred and fifty men were sent to burn the mill, and other buildings around it, at Tiverton. They burnt the old mill, and another building at the landing ; but in proceeding to the town, the place of their intended plun- der, their progress was arrested at the bridge by a Spartan band of twenty-five men, who had planted themselves there, and dis- puted their passage. Nor were they able to carry the bridge, although frequently attempted, and were compelled to return without effecting the object of their expedition.
In July, 1778, the French fleet of eleven sail of line ships, be- sides frigates and transports, under the command of Count D'Estaing, appeared off the harbor, to the great joy of the in- habitants, and anchored near to Brenton's Reef. One of the ships of the fleet ran up the west side of Connanicut, and an- chored at the north point of the Island. The three British frigates above mentioned, lay at anchor on the east side of Pru- dence. A few mornings after, they weighed anchor and sailed, with the design of getting under protection of the battery at Tammany Hill. The French ship, aware of their intention, got under way at the same time, and cut them off.
The frigates then stood in for the shore, and were run aground about five or six miles from Newport, on the west side of Rhode Island. Before they grounded, they cut away the masts, for the purpose of driving them nearer the shore; and as soon as they struck, they set them on fire, and made for the shore in their boats. During this time, the French ship was sufficiently near to have thrown grape shot over them, yet when she saw them fire and abandon their vessels, she retired and took her former position, without firing a gun. A number of British
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
vessels, lying at Coddington Cove, were also set on fire as soon as the burning of the frigates was discovered. The Grand Duke, lying a little to the north of Long Wharf, with several other vessels, was burnt. The Falcon and the Flora, frigates, were sunk ; the latter at Fort Walcott Wharf, and they were never afterward able to float her. About a year after the Bri- tish evacuated the Island, and the Americans took possession, the Flora was floated, fitted for sea, and sent to France. About the same time the frigates were burnt in the harbor and along the shore, the King Fisher, a man of-war, was burnt in the East Passage.
The French fleet, after lying at anchor for several days, ran up the middle passage, and anchored under Gould Island. They ran up under three topsails, and received the fire of the British batteries as they passed, but returned it with such warmth that they soon silenced the forts. Several shots from the French fleet were unintentionally thrown into the town. As soon as the fleet approached the harbor, the British troops com- menced burning the houses about two miles from Newport, commencing at the house formerly owned by the late Geo. Irish, Esq. ; they burnt every house on the West road, for the distance of a mile ; on the East road about half that distance ; and from the West road to the shore. At the same time a party, principally refugees, was employed and sent out through the Island, headed by one William Crosson, who cut and de- stroyed cart-wheels, wagons, and carriages of all descriptions, grindstones, scythes, axes, hatchets, and every other edged tool they could find, and filled up many of the wells. Crosson's deeds of darkness were perpetrated during the night, and were not confined to the limits of the Island, but often extended as far as Swanzey Neck, Little Compton, and Fall River, plunder- ing the inhabitants of everything he could bring off in his boats, and frequently not even sparing the citizens themselves. In one of his midnight excursions, he seized and brought off a worthy and respectable citizen of Swanzey Neck, by the name of Slade, who died of the small pox on board of the British prison ship in the harbor of Newport. Many others, who had the misfortune to fall into his hands, were never after permitted to return.
Crosson's character had become so notorious, and public in-
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AN INHUMAN MURDER.
dignation so excited, that measures were taken for his appre- hension. But securely sheltered under the protecting wing of British power by day, no prospect of his capture appeared, unless it could be effected when engaged in his depredations at night. Accordingly a boat was fitted out at Little Compton called a shaving mill, commanded by Lemuel Bayley of that town, for his capture. Nor was it long before he found him- self a prisoner. He was conveyed to Providence under a strong guard, but when he arrived there, such was the public feeling of indignation against him, that with great difficulty the guard could protect him from popular violence. After hav- ing been in prison for several months in that town, by some means, supposed to be by the influence of a bribe, he escaped from jail and appeared again in Newport. When the British evacu- ated the Island, Crossons went off with thein, and probably considered it safe to remain with them, as he never afterward returned to Newport. Dollars and cents, it seems, have always had an unbounded influence with some in the Plantations .- Among the reckless associates of Crosson, was a man by the name of Gouldsborough. He landed his party at Little Comp- ton one evening, near the place where a lad by the name of Taggart, son of Judge William Taggart, senior, and brother of the late Judge Taggart, of Middletown, was stationed as a sentinel. The inhuman Gouldsborough seized and murdered young Taggart on the spot.
A few days previous to this, the British commander had seized and drove within the lines all the stock, cows, oxen, &c., he could find on the Island. Sheep there were none, having all been previously stolen.
The same day (at night) on which the French fleet came in, the British withdrew their troops from the north end of the island, and took up their position on the heights, about two miles from Newport. Their line extended from Coddington's. Cove to Easton's Beach ; the whole distance being defended by breastworks and redoubts; besides which, they had a line still nearer the town, running from the West of the north mill down to the Gills' farm, formerly the property of Nicholas Easton. On the following morning, the American army landed on the north end of the Island, without opposition, and took posses- sion of the neighboring heights. The army was composed of
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
militia, continental troops, and volunteers, commanded by Gen- erals Sullivan, Green, Glover, and the Marquis de Lafayette, supposed to number from ten to fifteen thousand men.
On the afternoon of the same day that the Americans landed on the Island, the British fleet of twenty-five sail was discovered standing in for Newport. They came too off Point Judith for the night, but a sudden change of wind favoring the Count the following morning, he stood out to sea with his whole squad- ron. Lord Howe, after some unsuccessful manœuvering to get the weather guage of the French fleet, put to sea, followed by Count D'Estaing, and both fleets were soon lost sight of in the distance. The storm which had already commenced, continued to rage with increasing violence for several days, so that no general action was obtained between the fleets. Both, how- ever, were greatly damaged by the storm.
The Languedoc, of ninety guns, commanded by Count D'Estaing, had neither mast nor bowsprit standing, and several others were in a similar situation. The American troops en- camped on the north part of the Island, sufferred not less than the ships. Such was the violence of the tempest, attended with a powerful rain, that by the night of the 12th, not a tent or marquee remained standing. Many horses and several of the soldiers perished by the severity of the storm, and the whole army was in the most wretched and deplorable condition. And in addition to their own personal sufferings, the greater part of their ammunition was either destroyed or greatly damaged by the storm. The 14th, the storm having subsided, and the day be- ing serene and warm, the American army spent in drying their clothes, &c., and in making ready for their future operations. On the following morning, they took up their line of march in three several divisions; one on the East road, one on the West, and the third through the centre of the Island, and pos- sessed themselves of the heights, about one and a half miles from the British lines. General Sullivan quartered about five miles from Newport, at what is now called the Gibbs Farm. General Lafayette quartered on the East side of the Island, at what was then called the Bowler Garden Farm, about the same distance from Newport. General Green quartered on the farm now owned by the heirs of the late Colonel Richard K. Ran dolph, of Newport.
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. GREAT SNOW STORM.
The British had thrown up a large fort, the remains of which are still visible, a little to the north and east of the residence of the late George Irish, Esq., and directly opposite on Honyman's Hill. At a distance of little more than a mile, the Americans had thrown up a fort and other works, and by the 20th, they had opened two four-gun batteries, and by the 23d had mounted seventeen pieces of heavy artillery, two ten-inch mortars, and three five and a half inch howitzers.
From these works, on either side, was kept up a continual cannonading by day, and throwing of bombs by night, by which many were killed on both sides. An amusing circumstance is related of the discharge of a cannon from the battery at Hony. man's Hill. A large dinner party had assembled at the Dudley Farm, now occupied by Edward Van Zandt, Esq., when just as the guests were about to seat themselves at the table, a ball passed through the hall, and the company fled precipitately out of the house, with the loss of their dinner.
GREAT SNOW STORM.
On the night of the 22d of December, 1778, a snow storm com- menced with a severity never before experienced by the oldest inhabitants, for the quantity of snow which fell, as also for the severity of the cold.
In Newport, all the sentinels of the British army who were stationed in the exterior lines, that were not called in before night, were found after the storm, frozen to death at their posts ; many soldiers perished in buildings where they had no fire, and many perished in endeavoring to find their quarters during the snow storm. The storm was afterwards known as the " Hessian storm," from the great number of soldiers of that nation who perished.
No tidings were received, and nothing was known of the dis- abled and wrecked condition of the fleets, until about a week after the storm, when the French fleet were seen at a distance, standing for Newport.
At 7 o'clock, P. M., the Marquis de Lafayette, and other
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
officers, went on board to consult with the French officers, on measures for the vigorous and successful prosecution of the ex- pedition, and prevail with them immediately to enter the har- bor. But their efforts were without success, and about 12 at night they left the ships and returned on shore. The conduct of the Count, in refusing a compliance with the request of the American officers, when conquest appeared so easy, and victory so sure, was most severely censured. But when it is considered that his instructions were positive from the Court of France, in case of disaster, and that his officers unanimously signed a pro- test against entering the harbor in their disabled condition, this censure at least in a very great degree, must appear to be un- merited and severe.
We have never been able to discover that any very important aid was furnished by the French fleet, while in the waters of Newport. There was, we grant, a show of resistance, but the efficiency in prosecuting the line of defence, failed. Far be it from us, however, to undervalue the aid received from the French. It decided the contest. "It cost her more than three hundred millions of dollars," and hurried her into a revolution, more ex- hausting than any other state in the tide of time.
The chief object of the treaties of 1778, was the establisment of the Liberty, Sovereignty, and Independence of the United States in the war of the Revolution. It was a dark and gloomy period with the Colonies, when France offered her assistance. The hopes which had been kindled by early successes, were almost extinguished by recent and successive disasters. It was at this painful moment that allied armies, fresh, vigorous, and well- appointed, cooperating with a gallant fleet, met the invader, and his surrender at Yorktown, opened the way to peace, sover- eignty, and independence.
The militia raised for this expedition, were drafted only for three weeks; one-half of which were on service, and the re- mainder were to hold themselves in readiness, to succeed them at the expiration of that time, if called for. Within twenty-four hours after the French fleet sailed for Boston, between two and three thousand volunteers from Boston and other parts of New- England, left the army and returned home. And many of the militia whose term of service had now expired, returned, while those who were to succeed them, came on with reluctance, and
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RETREAT FROM RHODE ISLAND.
not more than half their number was ever supplied, so that the American army was greatly reduced.
In this situation, without a naval force to protect or succor them, the possibility of a successful retreat was the only alterna- tive. But it was deemed prudent not hastily to abandon their present position, lest they should thus encourage the pursuit of their foes, and hazard the honor of a successful retreat. They still maintained their post until the night of the 28th, when about 12th o'clock, the army began to move toward the north end of the Island, secure a communication with the main, and wait until information should be received from the French fleet in Boston.
Gen. de Lafayette was despatched with a message to Count D'Estaing, to ascertain whether the assistance and cooperation of the fleet could be expected, and to solicit its speedy return. The Count could not consent that the fleet should return, but promptly offered to march his troops from Boston, to the assist- ance of the American forces on Rhode Island, if requested. At daylight, the retreat having been discovered by the British, they took up their march in pursuit.
The French have never been distinguished on the ocean ; in the battle-field they have never had their superiors. If the fleet had been possessed of sufficient nerve they might at this exi- gency have rendered essential service to our troops, but as it was, they displayed a very great weakness, and gave the enemy the advantage. About six miles from Newport, the regiment in advance, commanded by Col. Campbell, was separated in two divisions, and pressed forward in pursuit ; one division retaining the road, the other the open field to the left. They advanced without opposition or obstruction, until they approached a wall running from the west a little to the north of Sampson Sher- man's house. Here the Americans had lying in ambush, under . the wall, a piquet guard of between three and four hundred men, who were not discovered by the enemy, and who were ordered not to fire until the word was given by the commander; again to load and fire, and then continue their retreat.
The orders were strictly obeyed, and the command to fire was not given until the enemy were within half gun shot, when they poured upon them such a flood of death, as not only to check the advancing foe, but throw them into the greatest con-
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HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
fusion, giving the guard sufficient time again to fire and make good their retreat, with but very little loss.
Col. Campbell had several balls pass through his clothes, and his horse killed under him. At ons of the field pieces every man was shot down at the first fire. In the rear, and at a die- tance of not more than half a mile, the Fifty-fourth and two Hes. sian regiments were advancing, but so unexpected and fatal had been the work of that moment, and so rapid the retreat of the assailants, that they arrived too late to render their dying com- panions the least assistance.
The main body of the American army had gained and taken possession of Butt's Hill, on the northern part of the Island. It has generally been supposed, even at this time, had General Green's advice been taken, a most signal victory might have been gained over the pursuing ensmy. His advice was over- ruled, however, and the enemy pressed onward toward the American lines. They advanced near the left wing of the Ameri- can army, but were repulsed and driven back by General Glover, when they retired and took possession of Quaker Hill, about a- mile from the position occupied by the Americans. A contin- ued skirmishing was kept up between the two armies, during this and the following day, and frequently whole regiments were engaged in the deadly strife at once, and the same spot of ground was taken possession of and abandoned by both the bel- ligerent parties. The last and most severe skirmish during the action, was an attempt made by the British on a redoubs in pos- session of the Americans. A reinforcement was sent to its re- lief, who arrived just in time to prevent the success of the enemy, and just as they were making a third and desperate effort to carry the redoubt ; they were repulsed with considerable loss, and in great confusion precipitately retreated, leaving many of their slain and wounded on the field of battle. After this action, the firing of the musketry ceased, but the roar of the artillery still continued on both sides.
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