Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 53

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 53

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For the second time in the history of the colony, the election meeting in May, 1776, convened at Providence, Wednesday, May I, pursuant to a resolution passed in March. On Saturday, May 4, the General Assembly adopted Rhode Island's own Declaration of Inde- pendence,* two months before Congress acted for the United States. Two days later in Eng- land the King constituted Admiral Howe and General Howe as "commissioners for restoring peace to his colonies, and for granting pardons to such of his subjects therein as shall be duly solicitous to benefit by that effect of his gracious indulgence." Admiral Howe, with a fleet, arrived off the coast of America in June. With a letter addressed on June 20 "to the Honor- able Governor Wanton . or other magistrate of the colony," Admiral Howe enclosed a proclamation offering pardon to "all those who in the tumult and disorder of the times may have deviated from their just allegiance, and who are willing, by a speedy return to their duty, to reap the benefits of the royal favor"; and offering also to declare "in his majesty's name, any colony, province, county, town, port, district or place to be at peace with his majesty." The proclamation did not promise any alleviation of the practices or any abandonment of the policies that had been offensive to the colonists; it was construed in America as intended to divide the colonies and colonists, separating radical and conservative, and withdrawing the latter from support of the Revolution. The proclamation arrived too late to affect Rhode Island's stand for independence; on June 16 the Governor, Deputy Governor and other gen- eral officers and seventy-two members of the General Assembly had clinched the Declaration of May 4 by signing an agreement to continue steadfast in the cause of the United Colonies throughout the war. The Governor, on July 21, by direction of the General Assembly, answered Admiral Howe: "I am favored with your lordship's letter of June 20 last, enclosing your declaration. I have communicated them to the General Assembly of this state, now sit- ting here ; and at their request, inform your lordship that they will transmit copies of them to the most honorable the general Congress of the United States of America, to whom every application respecting the disputes between the said states and Great Britain ought to be addressed, and must be referred."

Congress had already adopted the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, and the Rhode Island General Assembly, on July 18, "taking into the most serious consideration the resolutions of the most honorable and Continental Congress of the United States of America of the fourth instant declaring the said states free and independent states, do approve the said resolution, and do most solemnly engage that we will support the said general Con- gress with our lives and fortunes." It was also voted that the Declaration of Independence and the General Assembly's resolution of approval "be published by the Secretary tomorrow in Newport at twelve o'clock in the presence of both houses of the General Assembly; that thirteen cannon be discharged at Fort Liberty upon reading the said proclamation, and that the brigade be drawn up on the Parade, in thirteen divisions, and immediately after the dis- charge of the cannon, make a discharge of musketry, each division firing one volley in succes- sion." The Declaration was read at Newport, in the presence of the Assembly, the Brigade and a vast concourse of people, by Ensign John Handy, Adjutant of Richmond's regiment, on July 19. The General Assembly ordered that the Declaration of Independence and the Assembly's resolution be published at Providence on July 25 "at twelve o'clock in such man- ner as his honor the Governor shall think fit, and that thirteen cannon be discharged on the occasion," and also that both be read in the town meetings to be held in August. The Declara- tion was also incorporated in the public records of the state of Rhode Island by vote of the General Assembly at the March session, 1777. In Providence on July 25, 1776, "the Governor and such members of the Assembly as were in town were escorted by the Cadet and Light Infantry Companies to the courthouse, where the act of the Assembly and the Declaration by Congress were publicly read," by George Brown, an Englishman, "who was selected to per-

*See Chapter XI.

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form the service on account of the compass of his voice. He was then upwards of eighty years old, yet so firm and clear was his utterance that," reading from the west portico, "he was distinctly heard by the crowd on North Main Street." "A salute of thirteen guns from the artillery and the continental ships in the harbor followed. A public dinner was provided, and spirited and appropriate toasts given. In the evening the King's arms were taken down from the public offices and burned. The keeper of the Crown Coffee House contributed his sign to the same fire." On the same day that it "approved" the Declaration of Independence the General Assembly changed "the style and title of this government" to "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." It also passed an "act to punish persons who shall acknowledge the King of Great Britain to be their sovereign," defining the offence thus: "If any person within this state shall, under pretence of preaching or praying, or in any other way and manner, whatever, acknowledge or declare the said King to be our rightful lord and sovereign, or shall pray for the success of his arms, or that he may vanquish or overcome all his enemies, he shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor." Persons who refused to sub- scribe the engagement of loyalty to Rhode Island and the United States were excluded from remedy in courts of justice or by petition to the General Assembly, from voting in elections, and from membership in the General Assembly or other public offices. No person was per- mitted to act as counsellor or attorney in any court of record in Rhode Island without sub- scribing to the pledge. A few Tories had been arrested earlier ; measures were taken in 1776 to remove openly disaffected persons from their homes and neighborhoods to other parts of the state, in which they lived under surveillance and the threat of imprisonment for going out of bounds or for pernicious activity. The record of the Assembly session of May, 1776, con- cluded without the time-honored "God Save the King"; the June conclusion, "God Save the United Colonies," yielded in July to "God Save the United States," and in September to "God Save the United States of America."

Beginning in 1775 the General Assembly at each session had authorized the Governor and Deputy Governor, Assistants and a committee of Deputies to act for it in emergencies between sessions. On December 1I, 1776, the day following the failure of a quorum to assem- ble at East Greenwich in urgent special session called because of the British occupation of Newport, Governor Cooke wrote to the Deputy Governor and members of the Assembly residing in Bristol County, requesting them to go to Providence, to which an adjournment had been taken, in order to make the necessary quorum. Thereupon, because of the difficulty of obtaining representation in the General Assembly from Newport County, the quorums in the General Assembly were reduced, in the upper chamber to five members, including the Gov- ernor and Deputy Governor and three Assistants, or the Governor or the Deputy Governor and four Assistants; and in the House to twenty-one Deputies. A council of war, including Governor Cooke, Deputy Governor Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Ambrose Page, John Tan- ner, John Dexter, Joshua Babcock, Cromel Child, William Greene and Henry Ward, was appointed with plenary powers "to do, act and transact all and everything and matter for the well-being and security of this state, and the United States in general," and "to make and ordain all such rules, orders and regulations for the well-governing, ordering, disciplining, clothing and supplying the army, now raised or that may be raised by this state, and the other neighboring states in conjunction (if an army should be so raised), as to them shall seem right and just." Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were invited to appoint commit- tees to meet with the Rhode Island council of war in Providence on December 23, or as much sooner as possible to confer upon the expediency of raising an army.

PAPER MONEY --- To meet extraordinary expenses Rhode Island had recourse in 1775 to issuing money bills to the amount of £60,000, of which £40,000 carried interest. Resolving, in January, 1776, that "whereas the honorable the Continental Congress and the several pro- vincial assemblies and conventions, considering the distressed situation of the colonies, engaged

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in a war with a powerful nation, for the defence of their lives, liberties, properties and every- thing dear to mankind ; and relying upon the manly spirit and zeal of the colonists, have made divers emissions of bills of credit without allowing any interest thereon; and, whereas the burdens and hardships of this colony are so great," etc., the General Assembly recalled the £40,000 of bills carrying interest, and issued £40,000 of bills without interest. That there was little coin money in the colony in patriot hands was demonstrated early in 1776, when in compliance with a resolution of Congress urging collection of gold and silver to finance military operations in Canada, the General Assembly appointed a committee with instruc- tions "to procure as much gold and silver coin as they can," offering paper money in exchange, and £ 1713 was collected. General Schuyler, writing from Fort George, May 23, acknowl- edged receipt, adding: "This sum, small as it is, will much alleviate the distress of our army, and will be sent into Canada this morning, by General Sullivan, who has already received it into his charge."

Congress, in January, reimbursed Rhode Island for war expenditures properly charged to the general government in the amount of $120,000, equal to £ 36,000 at the prevailing rate of exchange, six shillings to the dollar; the payment was made in continental notes. The Gen- eral Assembly authorized issues of £20,000 in notes in March, £ 10,000 in July if the Treas- urer was unable to borrow the money, ££2000 in September, and $66,670, equivalent to £20,000 in October. In December, the Treasurer was authorized to borrow £30,000 at four per cent. on notes payable on demand ; and later in the same month to borrow £40,000 at six per cent. on notes to be redeemed in two years from the proceeds of poll and property taxes, which the General Assembly pledged itself to order. Unless otherwise indicated, money bills were to be redeemed in six years. Bills and notes outstanding at the end of the year of 1776 reached a total of £ 152,000, equivalent to approximately half a million of Spanish milled dollars. In July both United States notes and Rhode Island notes were made legal tender for payments on all contracts, with provision made for tender of payment and, on refusal, pay- ment into the treasury as a bar to court action. To offset a tendency to depreciation the Gen- eral Assembly in July, resolving that "many evil-minded persons with a view to prejudice the cause of the United States of America, have made use of several methods to depreciate the con- tinental currency, and other current moneys of the said state, to keep up the value of which is a matter of the greatest importance and essential to the safety of the United States, for pre- venting such evil practice in the future," forbade the exchange of paper currency of the United States or any of the New England states for gold and silver at a discount, and the offering of goods, wares or merchandise at a less price for gold or silver than for paper money. A penalty for counterfeiting continental notes was established in October.

A New England conference "respecting further emissions of paper currency on the credit of any of the said states; also upon measures necessary for supporting the credit of the pub- lic currency thereof, etc.," was called to meet at Providence in December. Out of this and the conference on military affairs requested by the Rhode Island General Assembly after the British occupation of Newport developed a series of conferences in December, in which the New England states evolved a joint policy on many matters of mutual interest. Inasmuch as the other states sent committees smaller in number than the Rhode Island council of war, three of that body, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins and Henry Ward, were designated as the Rhode Island conference committee. To the conferences were referred "the expediency of raising and appointing an army for the immediate defence of the New England states against the threatened invasion, as well as for the more general defence in the common cause; and of such regulations as may be necessary to support the credit of our currencies, to prevent the oppressing the soldiers and inhabitants by extravagant prices and in general, of every measure to expedite the raising and appointing an army, or necessary for the common defence." Affecting the currency, the New England conference reported a scale of prices of

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labor, goods, wares and merchandise not to be exceeded, which was approved and adopted by the General Assembly. The General Assembly, in addition, established maximum prices for labor and service, and for commodities not enumerated by the conference. The Rhode Island statute forbade sales or offers at prices higher than those listed, and imposed a penalty for refusing to sell at the prices established for currency issued by Congress or Rhode Island, if the same goods were subsequently exchanged or sold. The latter provision was not subject to the objection that, as a forced sale, it amounted to confiscation; it was limited to goods offered for sale or held for subsequent sale. The conference committees also recommended "that no further emissions of paper money bills be made, but that the several treasuries be supplied by taxes and by borrowing the necessary sums, to be repaid in three years, or sooner, from their dates, with an interest not exceeding five per cent. per annum; unless upon a critical emergency there may be an absolute necessity of an immediate supply, and the money cannot be procured upon loans ; in which case it is recommended that bills be emitted, redeem- able in three years or sooner with an interest of four per cent. per annum; and that the state emitting the same notify the other states of such emission; and also that the several states call in bills of credit at the expiration of the periods for which they were severally emitted, in the best manner they can devise, to give a reasonable and just satisfaction to the possessors of the bills." Rhode Island approved the recommendations, conforming as they did to the prac- tice already inaugurated earlier in the month, and the General Assembly declared "that this state will, to the utmost of their power, make the same the rule of their conduct in future, in supplying the treasury of this state, and for supporting, in the most effectual manner, the credit of the paper bills." There is reason for believing that Stephen Hopkins, who was a member of the conference committee for Rhode Island and who had, in colonial days, been an advocate of a sound money currency, did much to formulate the fiscal policy recommended by the New England conference, and to secure its adoption by the conference, and by the General Assembly.

ADDITIONAL TROOPS RAISED-Colonel Richmond's regiment, 500 men, stationed on the Island of Rhode Island, was ordered recruited to 750 men and twelve companies in January, 1776. In the same month a second regiment of 750 men, to replace the minute men, was ordered, with Colonel Babcock in command. The two regiments, and an artillery division of 150 men, were organized as a brigade, commanded by General West. The latter resigned in February, and Colonel Babcock commanded the brigade as senior Colonel, until, in May, he was dismissed because of insanity. Christopher Lippitt was appointed as Colonel. The bri- gade was supplied with boats to facilitate operations in the waters about the island, and with spades, shovels and other trenching tools. Until the departure of Wallace and the British squadron the brigade remained out of Newport; thereafter part of the soldiers lived in bar- racks established in houses made vacant by the flight of the inhabitants. Camp diseases of the period were prevalent, including smallpox, and provision was made for a hospital. The General Assembly directed the Rhode Island Delegates in Congress to urge "as a matter of real importance to the safety of the army and the United States Colonies, that all common soldiers and seamen in the continental service, or who shall hereafter engage therein, be per- mitted to be inoculated at the expense of the United Colonies." This measure to prevent dis- ease, resembling practices established in modern military service with reference to smallpox, typhoid fever and other contagious and infectious diseases, had it been adopted by Congress in 1776, would have alleviated one of the horrors of Valley Forge and would have saved many American soldiers, who lost their lives in camp needlessly .* The recommendation to Con- gress followed the enactment in Rhode Island of a statute permitting and regulating the estab- lishment of public hospitals for inoculation against smallpox .; The preamble to the statute

*Soldiers in the new Continental battalions raised in Rhode Island in 1776 were inoculated.

¡Repealed, but reenacted, 1777. In 1778 inoculation was forbidden under penalty.

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related the American army experience at Quebec, thus: "Whereas the smallpox both made the most dreadful ravages in the army lately before Quebec, which was the principal cause of raising the blockade of that city, and there is great danger that the inhabitants of the United Colonies may, by the prevalence of that dreadful distemper, be rendered incapable of defence at a time when their safety may depend upon their most vigorous exertions." The simpler preventive, vaccination, had not been introduced in America in 1776. Among other Rhode Islanders who were inoculated were Governor Cooke and his family.

The colony row galleys were ordered to New York in July and placed under the direction of Washington; and Governor Cooke was requested to send ship carpenters from Rhode Island to assist in building vessels for the defence of Lake Champlain, anticipating thus by almost forty years the expedition from Narragansett Bay to Lake Erie led by Oliver Hazard Perry in the second war with England. The British occupation of Staten Island as base for a movement believed to be aimed at New York suggested the need of protecting the inhabitants of Long Island, and of guarding the cattle there from capture by the British. The Rhode Island Brigade had been ordered, early in September, to join with Connecticut and Massachu- setts troops in an expedition to Long Island, when news reached Rhode Island of the Ameri- can reverse at Brooklyn and the retreat from Long Island. The brigade was recalled imme- diately ; eventually the expedition to Long Island was abandoned, Washington advising thus, in view of the movements in and about New York. The brigade had been taken into con- tinental service, and one regiment was ordered, on September 3, to proceed to New York to reinforce Washington's army there. Colonel Lippitt's regiment began to cross the ferries from Newport to the mainland on the morning of September 14, the movement continuing through that afternoon and the morning of the following day .¿ The General Assembly's recess committee ordered another Rhode Island regiment recruited immediately to replace Colonel Lippitt's regiment, and Congress ordered Massachusetts to send a regiment of militia to Rhode Island. Colonel Richmond's regiment was called later as reinforcements for Wash- ington's army, but the orders to march were revoked because of the near approach of the end of the period of enlistment. Congress, convinced of the error of short enlistments and the demoralization in the army occasioned by the departure of units whose terms of service had expired, had authorized the raising, for the period of the war, of an army of eighty-eight battalions, two of which were assigned to Rhode Island to raise, to replace Varnum's and Hitchcock's regiments. The term "battalion" was used instead of "regiment" for reasons connected with the exchange of prisoners. Soldiers for these battalions were enlisted "in the service of the United States of America and in the pay of the United States .... for and during the present war with Great Britain, unless sooner discharged by the General Congress of the United States." The General Assembly, at the October session, chose officers for these battalions, recommending field officers and appointing company officers. A regiment for serv- ice in Rhode Island for three months, consisting of one-sixth of the militia, was ordered raised in November. Thus at the end of November, 1776, Rhode Island had three regiments in the Continental line, Varnum's, Hitchcock's and Lippitt's; and was recruiting two new battalions to replace them, those in the new continental army being enlisted for service through the war. The terms of enlistment of most of the soldiers in Colonel Richmond's regiment had expired; the remnant had been transferred for the time being to Colonel Cooke's regiment, which had been recruited in September. Besides, there was a second regiment, Colonel Sayles, in state service, drawn from the militia in November for three months' service.

BRITISH OCCUPATION OF NEWPORT-General Charles Lee, in November, warned Gov- ernor Cooke of the embarkation of a "considerable force" of British at Staten Island for a destination indicated as South Carolina. Lee considered it as "not impossible or improbable that they may have some designs against Rhode Island, either on a pillaging scheme, or per-

#See Chapter XII for a tale of the march to New York.

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haps with a view of establishing winter quarters for a part of the troops, as they find them- selves straitened at New York." Governor Cooke immediately requested Connecticut and Massachusetts to send assistance, should an attack be made on Rhode Island. The blow fell on December 8, when 6000 to 8000 British and Hessians were landed at Newport and Mid- dletown, from seventy transports. The naval escort, seven ships and four frigates, was seen off Block Island, December 2, and sailed up Long Island Sound to meet the transports. The Rhode Island regiments on the island, 700 men, withdrew to Tiverton and Bristol. Most of the cannon on the island had been removed earlier, and no shot was fired from the three forts guarding Newport as the British squadron sailed in. Perhaps it was as well; Rhode Island's brigade was outnumbered ten to one. For strategic purposes, if the British were content to remain in Newport, aside from the inconveniences and embarrassments involved in military occupation by a hostile force, there was compensation in the thought that 7000 British troops and a supporting squadron of war vessels lay idle at Newport, giving no aid to other British armies in the field. The encampment at Newport was only one of the inexplicable stupidities of a war that indicated little of military genius among the King's forces in America.

The British occupation of Newport aroused New England to a feeling of immediate danger from which it had been comparatively free for the nine months following the evacua- tion of Boston. New England did not realize then that Clinton, disgusted with the situation in America and soon to return to England, cared much less about capturing Providence and controlling the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay as a base for the conquest of New England than he did about finding winter quarters more comfortable than those afforded and promised in New York. The Rhode Island minute men, independent companies and militia responded to the general alarm on the arrival of the British, and Connecticut and Massachusetts acted promptly and generously. From the former three regiments and five companies of infantry and several squadrons of cavalry were sent to Rhode Island. Massachusetts dispatched God- frey's and Cushing's brigades from Bristol and Plymouth Counties, and three regiments and a train of artillery from Worcester and Boston. The soldiers from the three states occupied positions along the shores of the bay, prepared to resist invasion of the mainland, but were not under a general command until the arrival of Major General Lincoln. The Rhode Island General Assembly met at East Greenwich on December 10, and adjourned to Providence. New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts were invited to send delegates to a New England council of war to meet in Providence. To relieve the militia in the field it was voted to recruit immediately a brigade of two regiments of 750 men each, and a company of artillery of 300 men. The brigade was enlisted "in the pay of the state of Rhode Island and Provi- dence Plantations, for the preservation of the liberties of America and the defence of the United States in general and of this state in particular," to serve fifteen months, unless sooner dismissed. Officers chosen included James M. Varnum as Brigadier General, Monsieur Fran- cois Lellorquis De Malmedy as chief engineer and director of the works of defence within this state with the rank of Brigadier General, John Cooke and Joseph Stanton, Jr., as Colonels of infantry, and Robert Elliott as Colonel of artillery. Colonel Cooke resigned and was replaced by Benjamin Tallman as Colonel. General Malmedy was a French professional sol- dier of fortune, who had been recommended by General Charles Lee; Jonathan Clarke was appointed as linguist to General Malmedy. The General Assembly also ordered that every man in Rhode Island capable of bearing arms should be drawn immediately in one of three divisions each of which was to relieve the others in turn in monthly periods of active service. Quakers were exempted from this draft, but in April, 1777, when the man power of the state was exhausted, Quakers were drawn with other residents, having the option of service or of hiring substitutes. General Varnum was released when appointed as Brigadier General in the Continental service in March, 1777. Brigadier General West of the militia and Brigadier General Malmedy were discharged, the latter with resolutions of thanks and a gift of £ 50,

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I, Part 53

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716