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When the assembly again met in May, 1777, George Wythe was made speaker of the house of delegates; the oath of alle- giance was prescribed; a loan-office was established, and acts passed to support the credit of the Continental and State paper currency. Benjamin Harrison, George Mason, Joseph Jones, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and John Harrison were elected delegates to congress, Richard Henry Lee having been left out. There were no little dissension and animosity in congress between the delegates of the movement party and the moderates; and, added to this, it was believed that an old grudge, harbored in Virginia against Mr. Lee for the prominent part he had taken many years before in disuniting the offices of speaker and treasurer, followed him to Philadelphia. The charges alleged against him by his enemies in Virginia were, first, that he had altered the mode in which his tenants should pay their rent from money to produce,
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with the design of depreciating the currency of the country; and secondly, that he had favored New England to the injury of Vir- ginia; thirdly, that as a member of the secret committee in con- gress, he had opposed laying their proceedings before congress- it being thereby intended to insinuate that in so doing he had wished to conceal the embezzlement of the public money.
A letter from Richard Henry Lee to Mr. Jefferson, dated at Philadelphia, November 3d, 1776, contains the following para- graph: "I have been informed that very malignant and very scandalous hints and inuendoes concerning me have been uttered in the house. From the justice of the house I should expect they would not suffer the character of an absent person to be reviled by any slanderous tongue whatever. When I am present I shall be perfectly satisfied with the justice I am able to do myself. From your candor, sir, and knowledge of my political movements, I hope such misstatings as may happen in your pres- ence will be rectified." Early in June, 1777, as well on account of his health as for the purpose of rebutting the charges circu- lated against him, Mr. Lee returned home; and having been elected to the assembly from Westmoreland, he repaired to Rich- mond and demanded an enquiry into his conduct.
Mann Page, Jr., and Francis Lightfoot Lee, owing to the pro- ceedings of the house of delegates against Richard Henry Lee, condemning him in his absence without opportunity of defence, addressed a letter from Philadelphia, dated June tenth, to the speaker, tendering the resignations of their seats in congress.
The demand made by Richard Henry Lee for an enquiry into his conduct was acceded to, and the senate on the occasion united with the house of delegates. Several persons were examined, and Mr. Lee was heard in his own defence. It appeared that he had first proposed to make the alteration in the payment of his rents from money to tobacco at a fixed valuation, as early as August, 1775, when the tenants on account of the association could not sell their produce, and when but little paper currency had as yet been issued for the war of Revolution, and, conse- quently the alteration could not have been proposed for the pur- pose of depreciating a currency which did not then, to any sensi- ble extent, exist. When in March, 1776, the alteration in the
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rents was actually made, very little paper money had yet been issued. And it appeared that in August of that year the tenants of Loudoun County themselves petitioned the convention to have their money-rents changed to produce. The truth was, as Mr. Lee declared, certain evil-disposed men hated him for the same reasons on account of which he was devoted to destruction in the British camp, which were, because he had faithfully served his country, and, in concert with other generous friends to human liberty and the rights of America, had contributed to the defeat of the enemy and to the raising of America triumphant over its cruel and vindictive foes.
As to the second charge, that Mr. Lee opposed the laying the proceedings of the secret committee of congress before that body, for the purpose of concealing embezzlement of the public money, it was well known that he had no sort of connection whatever with any commercial business, and, therefore, could not propose to himself any advantage from any such source. But it was very probable that those who themselves entertained designs of pecu- lating upon the public funds, would be glad to get Mr. Lee out of their way. To lay the proceedings of a secret committee before congress would be to defeat its very object and contradict its name. The third charge was that he favored New England at the expense of Virginia and the South. It was known that America could be conquered only by disunion. Mr. Lee called on his accusers to show that he ever had in a single instance pre- ferred the interest of New England to that of Virginia. Indeed, he knew not in what respects their interests conflicted. New England and Virginia had both exhibited a fixed determination against British tyranny, and their guilt was alike in the eyes of the common enemy. The majority of the other colonies had entitled themselves to some hopes of pardon from the tyrant by vacillating conduct. Among the Middle and Southern States there was, in Mr. Lee's opinion, much enmity to Virginia, owing to jealousy of her wisdom, vigor, and extent of territory; but he had ever discovered, "upon every question, respect and love for Virginia among the Eastern delegates." It was his consolation, that "the malignants, who would represent him as an enemy to his country, could not make him so." He gave his enemies credit
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for more address than he had supposed they possessed, in making use of a good principle-rotation in office-for his ruin; and he believed that the act, limiting the term of service to three years, was framed expressly to fit his case; and thus a malicious slan- der, uttered in his absence, appeared likely to be successful .* Mr. Lee had been superseded early in the session while absent-a flagrant injustice against which no reputation could be safe. John Banister, although not very fond of Mr. Lee, said of his speech on this occasion: "Certainly no defence was ever made with more graceful eloquence, more manly firmness, equalness of temper, serenity, calmness, and judgment, than this very accom- plished speaker displayed on this occasion; and I am now of opinion he will be re-elected to his former station instead of Mr. George Mason, who has resigned."} Mr. Lee is said to have shed tears while speaking on this occasion. The enquiry being ended, the senate withdrew, and in compliance with a reso- lution of the house, the speaker returned Mr. Lee their thanks for the faithful services which he had rendered his country while in congress. The speaker added his own testimony, and said: "Serving with you in congress, and attentively observing your conduct there, I thought that you manifested in the American cause a zeal truly patriotic; and as far as I could judge, exerted the abilities for which you are confessedly distinguished, to prose- cute the good and prosperity of your own country in particular, and of the United States in general." Thus Mr. Lee's vindica- tion of himself was triumphant.
"Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt ; Surprised by unjust force, but not inthralled ; Yea, even that which mischief meant most harm, Shall in the happy trial prove most glory."
* Letter of Richard Henry Lee to Patrick Henry-among the Lee MSS. I am indebted to N. F. Cabell, Esq., for the use of his transcripts of these interesting MSS., which are deposited in the library of the University of Virginia.
¿ Life of Richard Henry Lee, 192; Bland Papers, i. 58.
CHAPTER XCIII.
1777.
Battle of Brandywine-Virginia Brigades-Burgoyne's Expedition-His Sur- render-Daniel Morgan-Washington at Valley Forge-Frigate Randolph- Treaty with France-Clinton retreats-Battle of Monmouth-General Lee- Anecdote of Colonel Meade-The Meade family-Colonel Baylor-General Clarke.
IN the battle of Brandywine, which took place on the 11th of September, 1777, Sir William Howe again proved victorious; but the action was well contested, and the loss on both sides heavy. The Virginia brigades, under Wayne and Weedon, par- ticularly distinguished themselves. General George Weedon, be- fore the Revolution, had been an inn-keeper at Fredericksburg. The third Virginia regiment, under command of Colonel Thomas Marshall, (father of the chief justice,) which had performed severe duty in 1776, was placed in a wood on the right, and in front of Woodford's brigade and Stephen's division. Though attacked by superior numbers, the regiment maintained its position until both its flanks were turned, its ammunition nearly expended, and more than half of the officers and one-third of the soldiers were killed or wounded. Colonel Marshall, whose horse had received two balls, then retired to resume his position on the right of his divi- sion, but it had already retreated. Among the wounded in this battle were. La Fayette and Woodford. The enemy passed the night on the field of battle. On the twenty-sixth the British entered Philadelphia.
On the fourth of October occurred the battle of Germantown, in which the American forces, by a well-concerted plan, attacked the enemy at several points early in the morning. The British were at first driven back, precipitately, toward Philadelphia, but at length made a successful stand at Chew's house, garrisoned by five companies of the fortieth regiment, under the command of Colonel Musgrave. Lieutenant Matthew Smith, of Virginia, having volunteered to carry a flag of truce to Chew's house, was
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mortally wounded, and died in a few days. The Americans being thrown into confusion in a dense fog, Washington, when victory had seemed to be almost within his grasp, was eventually com- pelled to retreat. A British officer afterwards declared in parlia- ment that Sir William Howe had received information beforehand of the intended attack. The ninth Virginia regiment and part of the sixth were made prisoners. Colonel Matthews, after pene- trating to the centre of the town with his regiment, was made prisoner. Major-General Stephen, who commanded the right division of the left wing, was cashiered for misconduct on the retreat, and intoxication. The loss of the enemy was heavy ; and congress expressed its approbation of the plan of the battle and the courage displayed in its execution, and the thanks of that body were given to the general and the army.
In the mean time, at the north, Burgoyne, with a well-appointed army, had advanced from Canada, in order to open a communi- cation between that country and New York, and to cut off New England from the rest of the States. Washington, in a letter to General Schuyler, gave it as his opinion that Burgoyne would, eventually, receive an effectual check; that his confidence of suc- cess would precipitate his ruin; that his acting in detachment would expose his parties to great hazard, and prophetically adds : "Could we be so happy as to cut one of them off, though it should not exceed four, five, or six hundred men, it would inspirit the people."
After capturing Ticonderoga, Burgoyne moved toward the Hud- son, encountering continual obstructions in his route through a wilderness, and harassed by the American troops. A strong de- tachment was overwhelmed by Starke and his countrymen near Bennington, in Vermont. After a series of engagements, in which he suffered a terrible loss, Burgoyne was at length, on the 17th day of October, 1777, thirteen days after the battle of Ger- mantown, forced to surrender at Saratoga to Gates, who had shortly before succeeded Schuyler. Among those who distin- guished themselves at Saratoga was Daniel Morgan, with his Vir- ginia riflemen. He was a native of New Jersey, son of a Welsh- man, and removed in his youth to Virginia, about 1755, and made his living for a time by driving a wagon. In Braddock's expedi-
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tion, when about twenty-two years of age, he served as a private, and was wounded. There is a tradition of his having been severely whipped on a charge of contumacy to a British officer .* For some years after he was twenty years of age he was addicted to fighting and gambling; and the reputed scene of his combats, in Clarke County, retains its name of Battletown. When the revolutionary war began he was appointed a captain, and in com- mand of a troop of Virginia horse he marched thence in the sum- mer, with extraordinary expedition, to the American army at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Washington, who knew him well, and had strong confidence in his bravery and patriotism, detached him to join the expedition against Canada; and he exhibited his accustomed courage at Quebec; and when Arnold was wounded the command devolved on him. When Montgomery fell, Morgan was taken prisoner. While in the hands of the British he was offered the rank and pay of a colonel, but he indignantly rejected them. Exchanged in the following year, he rejoined the army; and in command of a rifle corps rendered signal service at Saratoga.
On the thirtieth day of October Gates' victory was celebrated at Williamsburg by a feu de joie, joyful shouts, ringing of bells, and illuminations; and all prisoners, except deserters, were dis- charged from confinement; and a gill of rum was issued to every soldier. The troops were reviewed by General Nelson, by the speakers of both houses of assembly, and by many of the mem- bers. Governor Henry, by proclamation, appointed a day of thanksgiving.
In December the American army encamped at. Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia. The winter was one of ex- traordinary rigor; the soldiers destitute of clothing, and the hos- pitals filled with the sick. To aggravate Washington's troubles a cabal formed a design at this time of supplanting him, and making Gates commander-in-chief. But Washington stood un- shaken : the angry billows dash in vain against the ocean rock, and fall in empty murmurs at its base.
* The Rev. Dr. Hill told Mr. Grigsby that he had seen the marks of the flog- ging on Morgan's back.
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In May, 1778, the American frigate Randolph, (so called in honor of Peyton Randolph, president of congress,) carrying thirty-six guns and three hundred and five men, sailed on a cruise from Charleston. The Yarmouth, British man-of-war, of sixty- four guns, discovered her and five other vessels, and came up with her in the evening. Captain Vincent hailed the Randolph to hoist colors, or he would fire into her; on which she hoisted the American flag, and immediately gave the Yarmouth her broad- side, which was returned, and in about a quarter of an hour the Randolph blew up. Four men escaped upon a fragment of the wreck, and subsisted for five days on rain water alone, which they sucked from a piece of blanket which they had picked up. They were rescued by the Yarmouth .*
Early in this month congress received despatches containing a treaty between the king of France and the United States of America. In consequence of Burgoyne's surrender and of the treaty with France, the British army (under command of Sir Henry Clinton, who had relieved Sir William Howe,) evacuated Philadel- phia in June, 1778. Crossing the Delaware, they marched for New York. Washington pursued them across the Jerseys, and on the twenty-eighth of June occurred the battle of Monmouth. The result was not decisive; many died from heat and fatigue; the Americans remained on the field of battle, where Washington passed the night in his cloak in the midst of his soldiers. It was during this action that General Charles Lee retreated before the British, who had turned upon him. He was met by Washington, who reprimanded him, ordered the division to be formed, and, with the aid of artillery under Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, checked the enemy's advance. General Lee was arrested, tried, and convicted of disobedience of orders, of making an unneces- sary and disorderly retreat, and of writing disrespectfully to the commander-in-chief, and suspended from the army for one year. Recent developments strengthen the suspicion long entertained that he acted traitorously. It is strange that, conscious of this, he should have remained among those whom he had endeavored to betray. He had previously been signally serviceable in the
* Cooper's History of North America, 106.
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American cause; and at the time of his suspension there were not wanting divers leading men who thought him hardly dealt with. But a man is never better than his principles, and Gene- ral Lee's were bad from the beginning. La Fayette said that Washington never appeared to better advantage than in this action, when roused by Lee's misconduct.
Colonel Richard Kidder Meade, the father of Bishop Meade, was one of Washington's aides-de-camp. The following anecdote relative to him is taken from the Travels of Anburey, who was a lieutenant in the British army, and in 1779 a prisoner of war in Virginia, and visiting the lower country on parole: "On my way to this place I stopt and slept at Tuckahoe, where I met with Colonel Meade, Colonel Laurens, and another officer of General Washington's suite. More than once did I express a wish that the general himself had been of the party, to have seen and conversed with a character of whom, in all my travels through the various provinces, I never heard any one speak disrespectfully as an individual, and whose public character has been the admira- tion and astonishment of all Europe."
"The colonel (Meade) attributed the safety of his person to the swiftness of his horse at the battle of Monmouth, having been fired at and pursued by some British officers as he was reconnoi- tering. Upon the colonel's mentioning this circumstance it occurred to me he must have been the person that Sir Henry Clinton's aide-de-camp had fired at, and requesting to know the particular color of his horse, he informed me it was black, which convinced me it was him; when I related the circumstance of his meeting Sir Henry Clinton, he replied he recollected in the course of the day to have met several British officers, and one of them wore a star. Upon my mentioning the observation Sir Henry Clinton had made to his aide-de-camp,* the colonel laughed, and replied, had he known it was the commander-in-chief he should have made a desperate effort to take him prisoner."
The name of Richard Kidder is said to be derived from a bishop of Bath and Wells, who was from the same stock with the
* To wit, that he ought by no means to have fired at the American, as he pro- bably might have wished to speak to him and give him intelligence.
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Meades of Virginia. Andrew Meade, first of the name in Vir- ginia, born in County Kerry, Ireland, educated a Romanist, came over to New York, and married Mary Latham, a Quakeress, of Flushing, on Long Island. He afterwards settled in Nansemond, Virginia, and for many years was burgess thereof; from which it appears that he must have renounced the Romish religion. He was prosperous, affluent, and hospitable. He is mentioned by Colonel Byrd in his Journal of the Dividing Line run in 1728. His only son, David Meade, married, under romantic circumstances, Susannah, daughter of Sir Richard Everard, Baronet, Governor of North Carolina. Of the sons of David Meade, Richard Kid- der Meade was aide-de-camp to General Washington; Everard Meade aide to General Lincoln. Richard Kidder, Everard, together with an older brother, David, were educated at Harrow, England, under the care of Dr. Thackeray. Sir William Jones, Sir Joseph Banks, and Dr. Parr, were at the same time scholars there.
In June, 1778, Colonel Arthur Campbell wrote to the Rev. Charles Cummings, of Washington County : "Yesterday I returned home, the assembly having adjourned until the first Monday in October. The acts passed, and a list of their titles, I here en- close, together with an address of congress to the people of America, for you to publish, agreeable to the resolve. I wish you could make it convenient to preach at the lower meeting- house in this county, if it was but a week-day, as the contents of the address are of the most interesting nature, both as to the moral and political conduct of the good people of America. Providence is daily working out strange deliverances for us. The treaty with France is much more advantageous than the wisest men in this country expected. The Indians the other day were unexpectedly discomfited on Greenbrier. I think the over- throw was something similar to what happened in this county about two years ago. I must give you the intelligence at full length, as the most hardened mind must see and admire the Divine goodness in such an interposition."
The Rev. Charles Cummings, by birth an Irishman, resided for some time in the congregation of the Rev. James Waddell, in Lancaster, and probably studied theology under his care. Mr.
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Cummings married Miss Milly, daughter of John Carter, of Lan- caster, and in 1773 settled near where Abingdon now stands. His meeting-house was of unhewn logs, from eighty to a hundred feet long and forty wide. Mr. Cummings was of middle stature, well formed, of great firmness and dignity. His voice was of great compass, and his articulation distinct. At this time the inhabitants, during the summer months, were compelled to take shelter in forts for protection against the Indians. The men went to church armed, taking their families with them. The armed congregation, seated in the log meeting-house, presented a singular spectacle of frontier life. Mr. Cummings, when he ascended the steps of the pulpit, deposited his rifle in a corner and laid aside his shot-pouch. He was a zealous whig, and was chairman of the committee of safety of Washington County, formed as early as January, 1775. He was a Presbyterian of the old stamp, a rigid Calvinist, and a man of exemplary piety.
After the battle of Monmouth Sir Henry Clinton occupied New York. The arrival of a French fleet under D'Estaing re- animated the hopes of the Americans. Arthur Lee argued unfavorably of the removal of D'Orvilliers and D'Estaing's appointment. Washington took a position at White Plains, on the Hudson. About this time Colonel Baylor's regiment of cavalry was surprised in the night by a British corps under General Gray. Of one hundred and four privates forty were made prisoners, and twenty-seven killed or wounded. Colonel Baylor was himself dangerously wounded and taken prisoner.
In the year 1778 the town of Abington was incorporated. Virginia sent General George Rogers Clarke on an expedition to the northwest. After enduring extreme sufferings in marching through a wilderness, he and his hardy followers captured Kaskas- kias and its governor, Rocheblave. In December, 1778, Hamilton, British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, under Sir Guy Carleton, governor-in-chief, took possession of the post (now the town) of Vincennes, in Indiana. Here he fortified himself, intending in the ensuing spring to rally his Indian confederates to attack Kas- kaskias, then in possession of Clarke, and to proceed up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, sweeping Kentucky in the way, and finally over- running all West Augusta. This expedition was ordered by
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Carleton. Clarke's position was too remote for succor, and his force too small to withstand a siege; nevertheless, he prepared to make the best defence possible. At this juncture a Spanish merchant brought intelligence that Hamilton had, by detaching his Indian allies, reduced the strength of his garrison to eighty men, with a few cannon. Clarke immediately despatched a small armed galley, with orders to force her way and station herself a few miles below the enemy. In the mean time, early in Feb- ruary, 1779, he marched, with one hundred and thirty men, upon St. Vincennes: many of the inhabitants of the country joined the expedition; the rest garrisoned the towns. Impeded by rain and high waters, his little army were occupied for sixteen days in reaching the fertile borders of the Wabash, and when within nine miles of the enemy it required five days to cross "the drowned lands" near that river, "having to wade often upwards of two leagues, up to our breasts in water." But for the unusual mildness of the season they must have perished. On the evening of Feb- ruary the twenty-third they reached dry land, and came unper- ceived within sight of the enemy; and an attack being made at seven o'clock, the inhabitants of St. Vincennes gladly surrendered it, and assisted in besieging Hamilton, who held out in the fort. On the next day he surrendered the garrison. Clarke despatching some armed boats up the Wabash, captured a con- voy, including forty prisoners and £10,000 worth of goods and stores. Hamilton, and some officers and privates, were sent to the governor at Williamsburg. Colonel Shelby about the same time attacking the Cherokees, who had taken up the tomahawk, burnt eleven towns and a large quantity of corn, and captured £25,000 worth of goods.
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