USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 59
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Congress, early in 1780, planned a reorganization of the army as a body of 35,000 men ; and Rhode Island was requested to raise, additional to those already enlisted, 810 men for the regiments of Colonels Greene, Angell and Sherburne "to serve during the war." Recruit- ing officers for each of the towns were appointed in February. Washington, in a letter to Governor Greene under date of May 23, announced, in confidence, the expected arrival of a
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French fleet, adding, "the place where they will arrive is not certainly known, but they may probably come to Rhode Island." Ten days later, writing to the Rhode Island committee of cooperation, he urged a draft as a measure for recruiting the continental battalions up to full strength. In his letter Washington reviewed the unsatisfactory situation prevailing in the army because of short enlistments, failure of states to maintain quotas, and neglect to pro- vide food, clothing and other necessities for the soldiers. Washington was extremely anxious, in anticipation of the coming of the French, to have under his command an army of reason- able size, and maintaining an appearance of good discipline and effective support. He feared that the French might be "chagrined and discouraged" by the spectacle of the American army ; and that "the succor designed for our benefit will prove a serious misfortune, and instead of rescuing us from the embarrassments we experience, and from the dangers with which we are threatened, will in all probability precipitate our ruin. . . . The court of France has done so much for us that we must make a decisive effort on our part; our situation demands it; 'tis expected." The General Assembly, in June, ordered the raising of 610 men, still needed to fill up the battalions, to serve six months from July I, and requested that the men of Col- onel Greene's regiment be consolidated with Colonel Angell's regiment, and that Colonel Greene be assigned to command the six months' contingent. The 610 men were assigned to the towns by quotas, and, in July, the drafting of 163 men to complete the battalion was ordered. In October, the enlistment of 220 men for three years or the war was provided for to fill up the continental battalions.
FRENCH FLEET AND ARMY-A French naval fleet mounting 700 cannon, Chevalier de Ternay, Admiral, commanding, appeared off Newport, July 10, 1780. It convoyed transports carrying Comte de Rochambeau's division, 6000 men, half the army corps of 12,000 men promised by France for concerted action against the English armies. The departure of the second division from France had been delayed. The landing of troops, cannon and stores continued for five days from July 11. The French immediately remodeled the fortifications abandoned by the British and erected others, as they completed a comprehensive system of defensive works covering the island, including Butt's Hill in Portsmouth and guarding a line of retreat to the mainland across the Seaconnet River. The French had been preceded by Dr. James Craik, who had been detailed by Washington to prepare hospitals for the sick; and by Colonel Ethis de Corny, a French purchasing agent. The need for hospitals was immediate; almost a third of the French soldiers and sailors were suffering from scurvy. The Assembly, in June, in anticipation of the arrival of the French, had appointed inspectors of markets to prevent, so far as possible, charging higher prices to French than to native buyers. The Assembly also enacted statutes (1) forbidding and punishing aiding or encouraging desertion from foreign armies and navies allied with the United States ; and (2) granting to the French, without naturalization, comity, including recourse to Rhode Island courts of justice, and testate and intestate inheritance without the disabilities and prerogative interventions custo- marily imposed upon aliens in the polity of the eighteenth century. The French were greeted enthusiastically in Newport ; by order of the town council the principal streets of the capital were illuminated on the night of June II by candles placed behind window panes. The Gen- eral Assembly and the council adopted resolutions of welcome and exchanged letters of felici- tation with Chevalier de Ternay and Comte de Rochambeau. The French officers and Gen- eral Heath of the Continental army, who had succeeded General Gates, were entertained at a state dinner by the General Assembly.
Never was there so much rejoicing at military occupation, and never did troops so well earn the esteem of the people as did the French while in Rhode Island. Their officers were courtly gentlemen, gallant soldiers, distinguished members of the nobility of France, many of
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them fresh from the dazzling brilliancy of Versailles and the Tuileries; the troops were under perfect discipline, with strict orders, rigidly enforced, against the disrespect for property com- mon with soldiers of the period. Rochambeau's army could be marched through an orchard without the loss of an apple; on the long journey from Rhode Island to Yorktown mile after mile of farming country was traversed without an instance of depredation. The French were Catholics; most Rhode Islanders were Protestants. Perhaps it was fortunate that the French landing happened in Rhode Island, where the Quebec act had not been, as it was elsewhere in America, one of the causes of the Revolution; where the Charter forbade discrimination because of religion; and where there was little intolerance among the people, because of a full century of religious liberty. It is true that the French came as deliverers, bringing with them the hope that the Revolution soon might be terminated successfully; that should detract neither from the credit due to Rhode Island for the whole-hearted welcome extended to the French, nor from the credit due to the French for the splendid behavior of officers and sol- diers which won them the affection of the people of Rhode Island. The Rhode Island memories of the French in Rhode Island during the Revolutionary War are as sweet as the memories of Americans in France and Belgium during the World War. The influx of so large numbers of soldiers and sailors imposed serious responsibilities upon Rhode Island in the matter of assisting the French commissary and quartermaster in obtaining supplies; and state and municipal officers cooperated splendidly. Bread flour was scarce, and efforts were made to obtain supplies in Connecticut. When the French settled down in winter quarters the cavalry was sent to Connecticut because of the greater abundance of forage; except two regiments remaining at Newport to man the fortifications, the infantry was sent to what was then North Providence, and camped on the highland north of Camp Street and Rochambeau Avenue as these highways are named in Providence. A granite boulder marks the site of the encampment. The French officers were quartered in private residences in Newport and Provi- dence. The sick were in hospitals in Newport, Bristol and Providence. Admiral Chevalier de Ternay died of a malignant fever during the winter, and was buried in Trinity Churchyard in Newport, his grave being marked by a monument. Of the French soldiers who died some were buried in the common cemetery at Newport, some on Poppasquash Point in Bristol, and others in the North Burial Ground at Providence. The graves of the French soldiers at the North Burial Ground are marked by a monument to the "unknown" French soldiers of the Revolutionary War.
Washington had wished to relieve the despondency arising from the disaster to the American army in the South at Camden, but was deterred by the insufficiency of his army and the alertness of the British. With the arrival of the French he hoped to undertake a demon- stration in force against Clinton. Only half of the French army promised reached Newport in 1780, and the British fleet supporting Clinton was reinforced soon after the French arrived, so that it exceeded Chevalier de Ternay's squadron in guns and tonnage. The French Admiral was chagrined to find himself practically constrained to remain at anchor at Newport. Wash- ington, Rochambeau, and Ternay, each accompanied by his staff, met in conference at Hart- ford in September, and agreed to pass the winter without undertaking an active campaign ; all were to remain alert and ready to join in any movement to forestall activity by Clinton. Colonel Greene's regiment was ordered from Rhode Island to join Washington's army. Except that the Rhode Island militia was called to the colors once to reinforce Rochambeau against a threatened attack by the British, there was no military activity in Rhode Island in the winter of 1780-1781.
Washington arrived at Newport on March 6, 1781, for a conference with Rochambeau, and was greeted by the French with the military honors accorded to a Marshal of France. Remaining at Newport until March 13, the war situation was discussed thoroughly in all its various phases, and plans were made for effective cooperation of French and American forces
@Jabez Bomen
JABEZ BOWEN (1739-1815) Judge of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, Deputy-Governor, and Chancellor of Brown University.
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in the campaign outlined for 1781. In March the major project was a movement in force against Clinton in New York; as events developed, through Greene's successful campaign in the South, which hastened Cornwallis in flight to the coast and thence on to Virginia and Yorktown, the objective was changed. Leaving Newport on March 13, Washington rode through the island towns, crossed Bristol Ferry, and proceeded thence, through Bristol, War- ren and Barrington, overland to Providence. He was entertained at dinner at the State House on March 14, and in the evening at a military ball in Hacker's Hall, on South Main Street. He was the guest of Jabez Bowen while in Providence. Washington left Rhode Island on March 15, riding across Connecticut to join his army on the Hudson. Colonel Rochambeau, son of the Comte, returned in May from France, whither he had sailed from Newport on October 28 with dispatches. He brought news to Washington that a new French fleet, Comte de Grasse commanding, had sailed from Brest, and that more French troops and "six millions of treasure" were on their way to America. With Colonel Rochambeau came Comte de Bar- ras to succeed Chevalier de Ternay. Washington and Rochambeau met in conference at Wethersfield, Connecticut, on May 21; Barras, who had been invited to the conference, remained at Newport to watch a British fleet, which had appeared off Block Island. Follow- ing the Wethersfield conference the French troops, except 500 left with the Rhode Island militia to guard Newport, were withdrawn from Rhode Island. Heavy cannon made in Rhode Island were loaned to Rochambeau and were carried by the French to Yorktown. Horses and wagons were impressed to move arms, stores and baggage.
The movement of troops began on June 10, in boats from Newport to Providence, and thence westward by daily marches to join Washington at Dobbs' Ferry. The French marched by regiments, a day's journey apart. Of the journey across Connecticut a contemporary newspaper said: "A finer body of men was never in arms and no army was ever better furnished with everything necessary for a campaign. The exact discipline of the troops, and the attention of the officers to prevent any injury to individuals, have made the march of this army through the country very agreeable to the inhabitants; and it is with great pleasure we assure our readers, not a single disagreeable circumstance has taken place." Another observer of the march to New York, and subsequently to Elkton and Baltimore on the way to York- town, wrote: "The army of Rochambeau, on its march from Newport to Yorktown, was so thoroughly well conducted that there was not even a single instance of one of the soldiers taking an apple or a peach from an orchard without leave having been previously obtained." The leader of a delegation of Friends who greeted Rochambeau in Philadelphia said to the Comte : "General, it is not for thy military qualities that we come to make thee this visit. We make no account of talents for war; but thou art the friend of man and thy army lives in perfect order and discipline. It is this that leads us to pay thee our respects." And thus the French passed on from New York to the Yorktown campaign, to share with the Rhode Island battalion the glory of the final charge that carried the redoubt and persuaded Cornwallis to surrender. When the Yorktown campaign was developed Barras sailed to join de Grasse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, carrying the remaining French troops from Newport .* Rochambeau and his army spent the winter of 1781-1782 in Virginia. Late in June the army in four divisions marched to rendezvous at Baltimore; it reached the Hudson River and Wash- ington's American army on September 14. A month later, October 22, the French army marched toward Rhode Island, reaching the outskirts of Providence on November II, and crossing the town to the campground in North Providence occupied during the winter of 1780-1781. The French officers were quartered in private residences as before. Rochambeau remained in Providence until arrangements had been completed for embarking his army, and himself sailed from Philadelphia, January 14. The French army broke camp in Providence on December 4, entered Boston on December 7, and sailed December 24. Not all the French
*The French occupation of Newport is commemorated by a monument in Wellington Park.
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sailed away. Comte de Segur, writing of the last stage of the march, said: "I was, more- over, obliged to keep, night and day a strict watch. The prospect of happiness which liberty presented to the soldiers, had created in many of them a desire of quitting their colors and of remaining in America. In several corps, therefore, the desertion was considerable." While the French were in Rhode Island in 1782, the General Assembly addressed a letter to Rocham- beau, declaring : "Nothing can equal our admiration at the manner in which you have par- ticipated with the army of the United States in the fatigues, the toils and the glory that have attended the allied armies, but the magnanimity of the Father of His people, and the Protec- tor of the rights of mankind. . ... May heaven reward your exertions in the cause of humanity, and the particular regard you have had to the rights of the citizenry." Rocham- beau answered: "It is with an inexpressible pleasure that I and the troops under my com- mand have received the marks of esteem and of acknowledgment which you are so good as to give to the services which we have been happy enough to render to the United States jointly with the American army, under the orders of General Washington. This state is the first we have been acquainted with. The friendly behavior of its inhabitants now, and at our arrival here, will give them always a right to our gratitude."
In Rhode Island in 1781 the General Assembly and the people were concerned with enlist- ing soldiers to fill up the continental battalions, raising money to support the army, and with furnishing quotas of food and other supplies requisitioned by Washington. With the depar- ture of the French army for Dobbs' Ferry, the militia was called out in relays to maintain a garrison at Newport with the 500 French left by Rochambeau. When these French troops were withdrawn, 100 Rhode Islanders were enlisted to serve from October to April. The General Assembly met eight times in 1781, at East Greenwich in January and December; at South Kingstown in February, March and October; at Newport in May; at Providence in May and July. The meeting at Newport was conducted in the Synagogue, the State House being in use by the French. Governor Greene was reelected and Jabez Bowen was returned to office as Deputy Governor. William Ellery replaced John Collins as delegate to Congress. The town of Scituate was divided, and a new town, Foster, created. A committee appointed to determine a fair valuation for apportioning taxes reported £2,990,486, or $9,968,286. The county valuations were : Providence, £1,080,246; King's, £892,480; Newport, £453,800; Kent, £429,000 ; Bristol, £ 134,960 .; The ten towns having the largest valuations were South Kingstown, Providence, Smithfield, Scituate, Warwick, Glocester, Newport, North Kingstown, Cranston and Exeter, with Coventry the only other town with a valuation over £ 100,000. The name of King's County was changed in July to Washington, "in perpetual and grateful remembrance of the eminent and most distinguished services and heroic actions of the illustrious commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States of America." Taxes of £20,000 in coin for the state treasury, and £6000 in continental bills of the new series for sinking, were levied. A schedule of depreciation of continental bills of the old series from forty-two to one in April, 1780, to one hundred sixty to one in May, 1781, was adopted. The Treasurer was directed not to receive continental bills of the old series after October at any scale of depreciation. In December the General Assembly directed the delegates in Con- gress to consult with Robert Morris concerning a tax of $216,000 in silver requested of Rhode Island because "the abilities of this state will not admit of collecting and paying the said sum in money"; the Assembly requested, in lieu of money, "the receiving of such articles of pro- duce of the state as can be furnished for the use of the army, in payment of so much of the said sum required of this state . . . . as the same shall amount to at the prices to be agreed upon, and to request that the sums of money, which may from time to time be collected and paid .... may be expended within this state, that the inhabitants may not be deprived of a circulating medium." Governor Greene in a letter written pursuant to the resolution said :
tIn 1782 the valuations were readjusted: Washington County, £883,480; Newport, £461,800; Kent, £428,000. The Tiverton valuation was £110,500 under this apportionment.
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"The circulating cash hath been in a great measure collected and sent out of this state to pay our army when to the westward, and for other purposes, whereby the scarcity thereof hath become uncommonly great."
Washington wrote to Governor Greene early in 1782, urging the necessity of continued prompt cooperation by the states in carrying forward the work of ending the war. The vic- tory at Yorktown had been decisive; but Washington feared that the contentment occasioned thereby might produce a lethargy that would prove fatal should England strike vigorously in renewing the struggle. He argued logically that America should not relax, and that a speedy conclusion of lasting peace would best be promoted by a demonstration of strength in America. As to the payment of taxes by produce, or purchases of army supplies remote from the place of actual use, he pointed to waste and cost of transportation as sources of burdens in the form of additional requisitions. Rhode Island, though deprived of the profitable market for pro- duce that had prevailed during the French occupation and had brought about an immediate prosperity, and of the gold and silver coin placed in circulation through French purchases, and facing a serious economic situation because of the diversion of so much hard money from the state, took up courageously the task of raising the taxes requested by Congress, and recruit- ing and outfitting the soldiers needed to maintain the continental battalion. The opening of a controversy that was to persist until the ratification of the Constitution appeared in a letter written by Governor Greene to Robert Morris in October, 1781, which included the following : "With respect to the impost of five per cent. recommended by Congress to be laid upon all imports and exports, at present we are unable to determine upon the utility of that measure, and the revenue arising therefrom, within this state, would not be worth collecting. We shall wait until our sister states have adopted the same, and whatever is for the advantage of the union we shall cheerfully accede to it." In later discussion of the proposed impost Rhode Island was to object for the reason that the tax would impose an extra burden upon it as a commercial state .¿
WARTIME LOSSES-Taxes of £ 12,000, payable in gold or silver, to replenish the general treasury ; of £6000, payable in gold and silver, and of £6000, payable in produce, both for the continental treasury, were ordered in January, 1782. The second continental tax was levied in gold or silver, instead of produce, in February, because Robert Morris insisted that continental taxes must be transmitted in specie. A third continental tax of £ 12,000, payable in gold or silver, was ordered in June. Rhode Island was making a courageous effort to com- ply with every request made by Congress, and to cooperate with Robert Morris in his plans for placing continental finances on a sound money basis. Morris was adamant in refusing commutation of continental levies. Persuaded by him, Congress asked the states for men and money only ; Morris requested the states not to offset continental taxes in any way, even by paying soldiers' wages, but to send all money due the continental treasury directly with the purpose of simplifying accounting and assuring economy in handling money. He complained in July that of $4,000,000 requested by Congress for the year only $40,000 had actually been paid by the states. At the end of the year four states had paid nothing into the continental treasury ; the combined payments of nine states amounted to $422,162. Rhode Island's appor- tionment had been $216,000; of this $80,000 had been taxed, and $37,785 had been paid into the continental treasury. Withal Rhode Island's payment on its quota had been better by twenty per cent. than that made by any other state. When, in 1783, Edward Chinn of New York and Ebenezer Thompson made a joint examination of accounts betwixt the state and the confederation, Rhode Island was credited with having overpaid nearly $500,000 on obli- gations chargeable to the continental treasury. The destruction of property, counting other towns than Newport, during the British occupation had amounted to $500,000. Without esti- mating losses to commerce, interrupted and suspended over a period of seven years, the war
#Chapter XIV.
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had cost Rhode Island $1,000,000 in excess of a fair share of the total expenditure. The limit of taxation had been reached in 1782; the approach to exhaustion of tax resources was indi- cated through 1781 and 1782 by the difficulty of enforcing collection of taxes, even by resort to committing town treasurers to jail, and distraint and prosecution in many instances. The General Assembly was constrained from time to time to release treasurers from jail, and to set forward the date for closing town accounts with the general treasury and paying taxes. Early in 1782 the general treasury was so completely stripped of money that orders of the General Assembly on the Treasurer were for issuing promissory notes bearing interest rather than for payment in cash. The state debt was mounting rapidly and the General Assembly recognized the futility of ordering taxes that could not be collected. The tax laws were revised in such manner as to levy land taxes on tenants first, with recourse ultimately to the land itself; and separate lists of taxes on real estate and personal property were ordered. Recourse to an excise on imports, with specific and ad valorem duties, was taken at the February session, 1783.
AGRARIAN UNREST-Meanwhile there had been riotous resistance to the collection of taxes in Glocester, which Deputy Governor Bowen suppressed by arresting the ringleaders. Discontent beyond the borders of Rhode Island was indicated by a petition by residents of Wrentham, Franklin, Bellingham, Mendon, Uxbridge and Douglas to the Rhode Island Gen- eral Assembly in 1782, requesting that Rhode Island assume jurisdiction in so much of these towns as lay south of the "true" southern line of Massachusetts. In June Rhode Island instructed her delegates in Congress that Rhode Island claimed the boundaries established by the Charter. In the winter of 1782-1783 the discontent in Massachusetts had developed into a movement to overturn the government and particularly to resist taxes. Connecticut border towns became involved, and a meeting was held at Killingly to further revolution against the government at Hartford. A convention for a similar purpose, with more than a dozen towns represented, met in Massachusetts. Taxes had become anathema, and the conspirators were willing to destroy government in order to avoid further taxation. Armed bands from Massa- chusetts invaded Rhode Island to obstruct officers employed in collecting taxes and to rescue persons who had been arrested for failure to pay.
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