USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 63
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A complaint of a more serious character against a privateer com- missioned by Rhode Island, commanded by Isaac Hopkins, was made to the governor by Jan de Wendt, governor of the Island of St. Eusta- tius, in the West Indies, belonging to the Dutch. In his letter the Dutch governor states that Captain Hopkins, in a private brigantine- of-war, seized and carried off a ship with a valuable cargo belonging to gentlemen of that island, subjects of the States of Holland. That he, the said Hopkins, aided by one Richards, of Antigua, took posses- sion of her "in sight of an English port, into which they might have carried her, but that, finding her papers and proceedings, regular, and despairing of success in that port, carried her away to Auguilla, twenty leagues distant, in hopes of taking some advantage from the inexperience of persons in trust there, in regard to the laws". The judge here, it seems, refused to libel the ship without first sending to Antigua for the advice of the consul. Upon this they pretended to send to Antigua and in the mean time advised the captain of the .captured vessel to go to St. Eustatius to advise with the owners there. This, in the belief of the governor, was but a concerted scheme to enable the captors the more easily to run away with the vessel and to prevent the owners from pursuing and retaking her. Under these circumstances De Wendt had granted a flag of truce to Captain Bappel, master and part owner of the Dutch vessel, to proceed to Rhode Island and demand the restoration of the ship and cargo. He also called upon the governor of Rhode Island to "protect Bappel and aid him in the recovery of the damages he had sustained" from the privateer or their sureties. But the complaint of the worthy Dutch governor against the Colony did not end here, for he adds that he shall take the opportunity thus afforded to communicate with the governor to acquaint him with the cruel treatment he had received from a privateer from Rhode Island, whereof Nathaniel Sweeting was commander, in having a vessel taken and carried into New Providence. The cargo, he further asserts, though his own property, had been con- demned as French, without having any other evidence for it, as
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appeared by the statement of the case sent him by the judge's au- thority, than it being consigned to a Frenchman. Furthermore, he states that 4,950 pieces of eight ($4.950) in cash, the property of the owner, Mr. Neuville, a Dutch merchant in Amsterdam, were taken. "Such proceedings as these", concludes De Wendt, "against neutral powers, upon a legal trade, will not bring honor on the English Gov- ernment; and when they are properly represented, as they shall be, and come to appear before higher powers, will, no doubt, meet with their just resentment; and the owners of that privatcer may rely upon it, I will never give the point up, till I have justice done me".
It appears that the commanders of privatcers and masters of other vessels were in the habit of taking away slaves from the Colony without the consent of their owners, which had occasioned both in- convenience and loss to them. In consequence of this an act of the Assembly was passed, imposing a penalty of £500 upon any one who should knowingly carry off a slave. Owners of slaves were also au- thorized to go on board privateers or other vessels and search for their missing slaves, opposition to which by the masters rendered them liable in the same penalty as though they had carried them off.
It will be remembered that Oswego was taken by Montcalm in 1756, but the records do not mention what troops or other men werc captured by the French. By a letter from Governor Pownall, of Massachusetts, to Governor Greene, August 4, 1757, it appears that among the prisoners were a number of shipwrights and other artificers sent from Rhode Island and employed by General Shirley at that place. These men were taken to Quebec and sent thence to England in a cartel ship. Governor Pownall writes: "Upon application to the Lords of the Admiralty, in behalf of these poor people, their Lord- ships, in consideration of their sufferings, were pleased to direct that they should be borne on board His Majesty's ships and take their passage therein to their own country. They are recommended to me. I cannot but esteem it my duty to do everything in my power to assist people who have deserved so well of their country and suffered in its service. I have, therefore, advanced them subsistence to carry them to their respective homes.
"It were impertinent in me to recommend those who belong to the Colony of Rhode Island to your Honor's care and protection.
"I cannot but presume, from the justice of their employers, that there will be no need to seek your Honor's assistance in helping them to their pay and other dues, which they claim from those who engaged them in the service".
The names of the Rhode Island prisoners thus restored were John Tarbox, Mat. Thompson, Robert Hart, Thomas Goddard, Jos. Peter- son, Rufus Church, Samuel Mott, and Edward Channel. A report, made by a committee of the Assembly ten years later, to whom was
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referred the claims of these men, contains their names and a statement of the period for which wages were due them. Their periods of ser- vice extended from thirteen to forty-five months, reckoning from the time of their engagement to their return to their homes. The com- mittee reported in favor of allowing their wages and Governor Ward was requested to write to the agent of the Colony in London, directing him to apply to the government to pay these men.
The French in Canada had not been inactive while the English were concentrating at Albany and Fort William Henry, and had collected a large force of Canadians and Indians in addition to the royal troops. In June the Earl of Loudon with a large body of troops left New York for Halifax, there to join the British fleet to make an attempt to recover Louisburg. No sooner, however, had this large force departed, than Montcalm made a simultaneous attack upon the several posts occupied by the English near Lake George. With an army of 11,000 men he laid siege to Fort William Henry, then gar- risoned by 500 men under Colonel Monroe, with a detachment of 1,700 entrenched near by. At this time General Webb lay at Fort Edward, fourteen miles distant, with 4,000 men, among whom were the Rhode Island troops. But they did not go to the relief of the besieged, under apprehension that the French force was much larger than it was. The English held out for six days, when they capitulated, with half their cannon burst or dismounted and their ammunition nearly exhausted. The English were permitted to depart with the honors of war, under pledge not to serve against the French for eighteen months.
Upon application of the Earl of Loudon an order was given to place at his lordship's disposal a company of seventy men, who were to be drawn from the Rhode Island regiment by Col. Samuel Angell, and remain with Loudon during the winter. The Council of War were authorized to provide and send transports to Albany to bring home the troops that had been engaged in the campaign.
Towards the close of the year renewed complaints were made by Secretary Pitt of "violences and depredations committed by His Majesty's subjects in America, against those of Spain", which had been viewed by him "with the highest disapprobation". To check these practices the governor was directed to enforce with the utmost rigor the observance of the instructions to privateers, and to employ great care in order to prevent all excesses, such as were alleged to have been committed in violation of the freedom of navigation by the sub- jects of Spain. The precise nature of these charges does not appear ; but it is evident that the privateers commissioned by Rhode Island, which swarmed in the Indian seas, had not stopped to inquire whether it was a French or a Spanish vessel which they boarded, so long as it was a prize of value. These they took to various West India ports, where they were condemned and sold. Few of them were taken to
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Rhode Island, and the only evidence of the suecess which attended a cruise was a valuable return to the owners in silver and gold or valu- able merchandise.
The loss of Fort William Henry and the utter defeat of our troops eaused the greatest consternation throughout the Colonies ; but it was too late to begin anything new that scason and the forces went into winter quarters. The General Assembly, however, passed an aet to cnlist two hundred and fifty men for the winter from those who were returning from Albany, a measure which gave great satisfaction to Lord Loudon, as shown by a letter from him to Governor Greene. The better to provide for the protection of the trade of the Colony the Assembly passed a vote to build a war vessel. During the same ses- sion a memorial was presented from the merchants of Providenee, ask- ing that application be made to the king for the appointment of a judge of the Court of Viee-Admiralty for the Colony. The memo- rialists represented that the merchants had become large adventurers in private ships of war, and that the property brought in by sueh vessels eould not eome into the hands of their owners until first ad- judged and eondemned by a proper court; that there was only a deputy in the Colony, who was so mueh limited and controlled by his superior, who lived out of the Colony, that great damage, delay, and inconvenience resulted.
With the beginning of the year 1758 the Earl of Loudon ealled for a convention of governors of the northern colonies to be held at Hartford. At its February session the Rhode Island Assembly re- solved to send three commissioners, namely, the governor, Col. John Andrews, and Samuel Ward. They were direeted to lay before Lord Loudon the exact state of the Colony as to its fortifieations, eannon, warlike and military stores, the number of inhabitants, and the condi- tion of the treasury. They were also required to ask of his lordship an allowance for the provisions and military stores furnished by the Colony during the two preceding years. The memorials presented to Lord Loudon by the commissioners present some important details regarding the actual state of the Colony at that time. They state that at the close of 1755 there were in the Colony 8,262 able-bodied men capable of bearing arms; but as they had lost many during the war, and 1.500 were out in privateers, they believed the effective foree had been greatly reduced. This is eertainly a very large number to be engaged in privateering, and shows to what an extent the business was carried on. From an order to pay eertain residents of Newport the amount of their bills for the board of French prisoners, it is evi- dent that our privateers had been active, for in no other way eould sueh prisoners have found their way to Newport. The amount voted to be paid for the board of these men was £580 10s.
Admiral Lord Colvill, who had been appointed eommander-in-
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chief of his majesty's ships in North America, wrote Governor Greene from Halifax to the effect that his ships were short of seamen and desired him to raise and forward to him with the utmost dispatch as many as possible. At the same time dispatches came from Secretary Pitt expressing great disappointment at the result of the late cam- paign, and the determination of the king to recover his losses by the most vigorous and extensive effort. He thought the northern Colonies were able to furnish 20,000 men, which, with a body of the king's forces, might by way of Crown Point carry the war into the heart of the enemy's possessions. If found practicable Pitt also purposed to attack Montreal and Quebec. The secretary further reiterated the call of Admiral Colvill, "to supply him with such a number of sailors and workmen from the Colony, as he shall, at any time, require for His Majesty's service".
In September, 1758, General Abercrombie, who had been placed in command of the English forces, returned to England, and Major- General Jeffrey Amherst was appointed to the post of commander-in- chief of the king's forces in North America. The question of flags of truce occupied much attention at this time, probably owing to the powers claimed by them, and the General Assembly appointed a com- mittec to examine the laws relating to them. By their report it ap- pears that since the commencement of the war, only little more than a year, eleven commissions had been issued. Governor Greene had granted three and Governor Hopkins eight. The latter were issued to Ebenezer Tyler, Thomas Rodman, Nehemiah Rhodes, Paul Tew, Lemuel Angell, Samuel Thurston, John Updike, and Benjamin Wan- ton. The law regarding these vessels was now amended, a provision being made requiring every flag of truce to carry off all prisoners of war that were in the government at the time of issuing the commission, if they had the capacity for so doing. An exact account was also directed to be kept by the register of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of all prisoners of war brought into the government.
In January following (1759) came letters from Pitt expressing the intentions of the king in a campaign against the enemy, and stating that these could not be carried out except with the aid of 20,000 men from the Colonies. To render the levies more certain, General Amherst wrote Governor Hopkins to not disband the troops which had been employed in the campaign the previous summer, but to continue them in pay, and at the same time to take the necessary steps to raise the new levy. Several letters came from Pitt and Amherst upon this subject of supplying troops for the army in the beginning of 1759, and the governor was directed to urge on the Council and Assembly the importance of exerting themselves in the present critical and decisive emergency, on the results of which so much of the safety of the English rights and possessions in America depended. In reply to the requisi-
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tion of Seeretary Pitt the General Assembly ordered that the troops in the pay of the government should be at once augmented to one thou- sand, and divided into thirteen companies. The Council of War was directed to send as many of these troops to Albany as the transports would carry, the remainder to march by land; they were ordered to be ready by the 25th of March. The field offieers of the regiment were Henry Babeoek, eolonel; Danicl Wall, lieutenant-colonel ; John Whiting, major. Three of the companies were to be led by these field officers. To provide for the comfort of the troops the commissary and sutler were ordered to supply clothing and other neeessaries not fur- nished by the crown. A singular clause was added also to the aet providing for the regiment, as follows: "If Canada be reduced to obedience to His Majesty, during the present campaign, each of the soldiers in the service of this Colony shall be entitled to the sum of £10, lawful money, on his return, agreeably to the promise made tlic soldiers last year".
There were other phases of this war in which Rhode Island be- came quite deeply interested. This Colony at the beginning of the contest had considerable eommeree with the French islands of the West Indies, and, as usual in such cases, property to a large amount belonging to Rhode Island citizens was seized or retained by the French authorities. To obtain such property the owners asked leave of the General Assembly to send out flags of truce. Godfrey and John Malbone of Newport obtained permission to send a flag of truee to the Island of Hispaniola for such a purpose, and the same privilege was granted Silas Cooke, of the privateer Providence, though for a different purpose. It appears from Captain Cooke's petition that, while on a . cruise in the West Indies, he was captured by two French frigates and carried to the port of St. Mark, in Hispaniola. He and his crew were subsequently liberated and sent to Jamaica, with the exception of three Indians and nine negro slaves belonging to men in Rhode Island. The latter were to be sold, and knowing how highly they were prized by their owners, he made arrangements with a Frenehman to purchase them so that their owners might have an opportunity to redeem them. It was with the view of obtaining these slaves that permission was given Captain Cooke to proceed with a flag of truce to the port of St. Mark.
At the February session of the General Assembly a complaint was made by Silas Cooke, agent for Don Antonio Gomez Franeo, a subjeet of the king of Spain, against the privateer Roby, Capt. Simon Smith, of Warren, which, on the 29th of January, entered the harbor of Monte Christo, a port on the Island of San Domingo, and there seized a Spanish vessel belonging to this Don Antonio, loaded with sugar, which he sent to Warren, where she had arrived and been elaimed by the owners of the Roby as a lawful prize. Mr. Cooke showed that the
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king, two years before, had prohibited his subjects from taking or molesting any of the subjects of his Most Catholic Majesty, on any pretense whatever, and as anything done by the people of the Colony, contrary to the proclamation of the king and against the Law of Nations, might draw upon them the displeasure of the king and in- volve the nation in a controversy with the king of Spain, which the ministry at home had carefully avoided, he prayed in behalf of Captain Rodriques, the master of the captured vessel, that it might be restored to him, together with its cargo. The Assembly accordingly passed a resolution citing the owners of the Roby to make answer to the matters alleged in the petition of Mr. Cooke.
Returning now to the campaign against Canada, it appears that Rhode Island, as usual, was required to furnish seamen for the fleet then at Halifax under Admiral Durell. This officer, under date of February 14, 1759, addressed two letters to Governor Greene on the subject. He stated that as the equipping and manning of the squad- ron under his command was "of the utmost consequence to His Majesty's service, and particularly to the Colonies", he was obliged to call upon Rhode Island for seamen. In case they could not be furnished the admiral stated that he should be obliged to apply to the regiments then at Halifax for them, which he feared might be detri- mental to the operations by land. As an inducement for seamen to join his squadron he promised them a bounty of forty shillings ster- ling, and pledged himself that they should not be taken either to Europe or to the West Indies.
In compliance with this request of Admiral Durell an act was passed for raising seamen to complete the manning of the king's ships at Halifax, and to further manifest the zeal of the Colony in the cause, the Assembly voted to pay each able-bodied seaman who should enlist a bounty of forty shillings sterling in addition to the pay of the king. In order the more efficiently to carry this act into effect, the governor was requested to issue his proclamation embodying its features therein. At the same session the Assembly voted £10,000 towards procuring stores and necessaries for the fort on Goat Island and for completing its ravelins. The town of Newport had the disposition of this money, as well as of the enlistment of soldiers for the fort.
To carry on the war it became necessary to resort to a tax where- with to pay off the troops on their return from the campaign. The sum of £16,000 had already been voted for enlisting, equipping, and provisioning the regiment, and the apportionment of the proposed tax was now made. This brought from three citizens of Newport, Messrs. J. Honeyman, Joseph Wanton, jr., and D. Ayrault, jr., a protest against the bill. From this it is evident that the war had borne heavily upon the people. This the signers do not seem to have objected to, but they thought the people of Newport had to bear too large a proportion
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of the tax. They say, "the merehants of Newport have lost, in the course of their trade, upwards of two millions of money, sinee the commencement of the War, whieli loss must greatly affeet all persons residing in the town", who so much depend upon the prosperity of the mereantile community. They think, therefore, that "the inhabitants are not in a eapaeity to pay such proportion of the tax as is enjoined by the Bill". On the other hand, they believed that the inereased priee of provisions, by reason of the war, had greatly benefited the people in other parts of the Colony by whom these artieles were pro- dueed; and that they in consequence should bear a larger proportion of the tax.
Preparations for the campaign for the conquest of Canada in 1759 were on a far grander seale than those of preceding ones. A powerful fleet under Admiral Saunders, with eight thousand men, in command of General Wolfe, was to attack Quebee. To reach Montreal by way of Lake Champlain the French forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga were to be reduced, for which purpose General Amherst with twelve thousand men was to mnareh from Albany; while, farther west, an entranee was to be made into Canada at Fort Niagara with a provincial army under General Prideaux, and a large body of the Six Nations of Indians under Sir William Johnson. The northern Colonies entered upon this eampaign with great enthusiasm, notwith- standing their former saerifiees for the same end; but military spirit was manifested chiefly in New England and New York. Massachu- setts, though she had sent large numbers of men before, now furnished no less than seven thousand for this war, ineluding those sent to the frontier and in garrison.
The struggle began at Fort Niagara with General Prideaux's foree of two battalions from New York, two British regiments, and the Indians under Jolinson. Prideaux was killed at the beginning of the siege and the command devolved upon Johnson. Nine days later a general battle took place, which resulted in the defeat of the French and the surrender of their army. At the same time General Amherst eommeneed operations on Lake George with a foree of twelve thousand men, of whom one-half were provineials and the remainder British regiments. The French had about one-fourth this number and they were foreed to abandon Ticonderoga and Crown Point. These first results of the eampaign were announeed to Governor Hopkins in a letter from General Amherst, dated July 27, and the following was received by the governor, written three days after the fall of Tieon- deroga :
"TICONDEROGA, July 29, 1759.
"HON'D SIR :- I have so many different things to do, that I have seareely time to turn around. For God's sake, if you have any regard to the safety of your Government, as I am well assured no man can
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have more, be good enough, as soon as possible, to appoint Major Whiting Lieutenant-Colonel, and Eb. Whiting, Major. I besecch you to do so, as it is for the good of His Majesty's service. The latter has been solicited repeatedly to take command in Inskilling Regiment, and he would not do it without my leave; and he is so good an officer that I could not, contrary to his private interests, let him go.
"I beg you would come up, and then you will see what is abso- lutely necessary. We want brass kettles, which I must draw upon Dow for-but how to get them here, I can't tell. I have not two minutes notice of this express going.
"The fort was evacuated the 26th of July, the same day that Louisburg surrendered.
"I am, &c., &c.,
H. BABCOCK."
To complete the story of the naval events of this campaign we give the letter of Admiral Durell, acknowledging the aid he had re- ceived from the Colony, etc. :
"PASS AMELIA, off the ISLE MADAME, "3d September, 1759.
"HONORABLE GENTLEMEN :- I received the honor of your letter, by Mr. Tripp, with the men you so readily and cheerfully raised for His Majesty's service, upon my application to yon.
"I take the opportunity of the said gentleman, to return you my hearty and sincere thanks, as well for the men raised, as for your generous offer in assisting, at any time (upon timely notice given you) to raise a greater number, if His Majesty's service should demand it. I shall not fail, when I come to England, to represent the cheerfulness with which you acted upon this occasion.
"When you draw for the forty shillings bounty-money you have dispersed upon this account, you will be pleased to make your draught upon the Honorable the Commissioners of His Majesty's navy; and if said draught should be objected against, which I don't apprehend will be the case, you will be pleased to direct your correspondent, in Lon- don, to apply to me, and I will represent it to the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
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