USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 60
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February the ninth a French sixty-four gun-ship, with two frigates, under Monsieur De Tilley, sailed for the Chesapeake, and arriving by the thirteenth threatened Portsmouth. But the ship-of-the-line proving too large to operate against the post, De Tilley, in a few days, sailed back for Rhode Island. It was a great disappointment to the Virginians that the French admiral could not be persuaded to send a force competent to capture the traitor. Governor Jefferson, in a letter to General Muhlenburg, offered five thousand guineas for his capture; and suggested that men might be employed to effect this by entering his quarters in the garb of friends-a measure not to be justified even toward Benedict Arnold.
After the battle of the Cowpens, Greene, closely pursued by Cornwallis, retreated across the Dan into Virginia. His lordship then proceeded to Hillsborough, then the capital of North Caro- lina, where he invited the inhabitants to repair to the royal stand- ard. Greene, re-enforced by a body of Virginia militia under General Stevens, soon re-entered North Carolina, where numerous tories were embodying themselves to join Cornwallis. On the twenty-fifth of February, Lee, with his cavalry, by stratagem sur-
* January 26th, 1781.
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prising a body of royalists under Colonel Pyle, cut them to pieces. On the fifteenth of March occurred the battle of Guilford. Greene's army was much superior in numbers, but consisted mainly of militia and new levies. The cavalry of Lee and Wash- ington was excellent, but the ground was unfavorable for their action. The officers under Greene were mostly veteran. The Virginia militia were commanded by Generals Stevens and Law- son, and by Colonels Preston, Campbell, and Lynch; those of North Carolina by Generals Butler and Eaton. Of the conti- nentals one Maryland regiment alone was veteran. Guilford court-house, near the great Salisbury road, stood on a hill which descends eastward, gradually, with an undulating slope for half a mile, terminating in a little vale intersected by a rivulet. On the right of the road the ground was open, with some copses of wood; on the left a forest. Greene, with not quite two thousand regulars, was posted at the court-house; in the field to the right of the road, the two regiments of Virginia under Huger, the two of Maryland under Williams. Three hundred yards in advance of the regulars were stationed the Virginia militia, crossing at right angles the great road; and as far in front of them and across the same road the North Carolina militia were formed: the Virginia line in the woods; the Carolinians partly in the forest and partly on its edge, behind a strong rail-fence, in front of which lay an open field. Two pieces of artillery, under Captain Singleton, were placed in the road a few yards in advance of the first line. The right flank was guarded by Washington's cavalry, a veteran Delaware company under Kirkwood, and Colonel Lynch with a battalion of Virginia militia. The left was guarded by Lee's legion and Campbell's riflemen. At about ten o'clock in the forenoon, after some firing of artillery, the British, reaching the rivulet, deployed into line of battle, the right commanded by Leslie, the left by Webster. The North Carolina militia, unable to stand the shock, a few excepted, broke, threw away their arms, and fled precipitately through the woods. The Virginia line re- ceived the enemy with more firmness, but the greater part of them were compelled to retreat, which was accelerated by the fall of General Stevens, who was wounded in the thigh. The struggle between the enemy and the continentals was stoutly contested,
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but the second Maryland regiment unexpectedly giving way, Greene was compelled to retreat. Cornwallis pursued but a short distance. The American loss in killed and wounded amounted to thirty officers and four hundred privates. The British loss amounted to five hundred and thirty-two, including several valu- able officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart of the guards was killed ; Colonel Webster mortally wounded. The total number of Greene's army was forty-five hundred, of whom thirty hundred were actually engaged. Cornwallis' force, according to American accounts, numbered two thousand; according to his statement, to only four- teen hundred and forty-five. After this disastrous victory Lord Cornwallis found it necessary to retire toward Wilmington.
In the mean while Arnold's anxiety for his safety at Ports- mouth was relieved by the arrival* of a re-enforcement under General Phillips. This accomplished and able but proud and passionate officer, exasperated by a tedious captivity, upon his exchange had been indulged by Sir Henry Clinton in a desire to invade Virginia, and wreak his vengeance on a State where he had been so long detained (unjustly as he, not without some reason, believed) a prisoner of war. Having united Arnold's force with his own, Phillips left Portsmouth, f and on the follow- ing day the army landed at Burwell's Ferry, from which the militia fled. Phillips, with the main body, marched upon Wil- liamsburg, and entered it without serious opposition. Simcoe, with a small party of cavalry, early next morning surprised a few artillery-men at Yorktown, (the rest escaping across the river in a boat,) and burnt "a range of the rebel barracks." The British sloop, Bonetta, anchored off the town. How little did the parties engaged in this little episode anticipate the great event which was destined soon to make that ground classic! The Bonetta, too, was destined to return to that picturesque place to play her part in the closing scene. Phillips, embarking at Bar- ret's Ferry, near the mouth of the Chickahominy, issued "the strictest orders to prevent privateers, the bane and disgrace of the country which employs them;" but these orders were disre- garded. When off Westover, he issued further orders, saying:
* March twenty-seventh.
1 April eighteenth.
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" A third object of the present expedition is to gain Petersburg, for the purpose of destroying the enemy's stores at that place, and it is public stores alone that are intended to be seized." A body of two thousand five hundred men under Phillips landed at City Point,* and passed the night there; and on the next morn- ing (Wednesday) marched upon Petersburg, by way of Colonel Banister's Whitehall plantation, where they halted in the heat of the day and refreshed themselves. Steuben, with a thousand men, disputed the entry of the town. At about two o'clock the British advanced in two columns by the old road leading by the Blandford Church, and were opposed by a party of militia posted on the heights, just beyond Blandford, under Captain House, of Brunswick, and Colonel Dick. The enemy were twice broken, and ran like sheep, and during two hours advanced only one mile. At length the battalion of Americans posted at the Bollingbrook warehouses, near the Blandford Bridge, being flanked by four pieces of artillery, were compelled to retire over the Appomattox, taking up Pocahontas Bridge as soon as they had crossed it, ten men being killed in ascending the hill. On this hill Steuben had placed some troops and cannon to cover his retreat. The Ameri- can loss, killed, wounded, and taken, in this affair was estimated at sixty; that of the British probably not less, there having been, according to Colonel Banister, not less than fourteen killed; their wounded were sent down the river in gun-boats. Abercrombie, who commanded the British infantry on this occasion, was the same who afterwards fell in Egypt. Phillips, taking possession of Petersburg, made his headquarters at Bollingbrook, a private residence, on an eminence overlooking the river. He destroyed, next day, a large quantity of tobacco, the people removing it from the warehouses to save it from the flames. One of them was set fire to by a soldier and burnt. The enemy also destroyed several vessels. The bridge over the Appomattox being readily repaired, Abercrombie, with a detachment, passed over on the twenty-sixth, and took possession of the heights opposite the town, known as Archer's Hill. Phillips, with his whole army, crossing on the same day, burnt the bridge, and proceeded to
* April twenty third.
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commit devastations at Chesterfield Court-house, Osbornes, and at Warwick, destroying the American vessels, and shipping off the tobacco. This being private property, its destruction was in violation of his recent order. At Manchester a detachment destroyed the warehouses and tobacco, and several dwelling- houses, the militia and inhabitants of Richmond being quiet spec- tators of the scene. Proceeding from Osbornes to Bermuda Hundred, the British embarked there and sailed down the river as far as Hog Island, where Phillips, receiving orders by an advice-boat, returned up the river, as far as Brandon, the seat of Benjamin Harrison, where the troops landed in a gale of wind. Colonel Theodorick Bland, Sr., received the following protection : "It is Major-General Phillips' positive orders that no part of the property of Colonel Theodorick Bland receive any injury from his majesty's troops.
" April 25th, 1781.
"J. W. NOBLE, aide-de-camp Major-General Phillips.
"Major-General Phillips is very happy to show this favor on account of Colonel Bland Junior's many civilities to the troops of convention at Charlottesville."
Notwithstanding this, Colonel Bland's place of residence, Farmingdell, in Prince George County, was plundered by the British troops : his furniture broken to pieces; china-ware pounded up; tobacco, corn, and stock destroyed, and negroes taken off. General Phillips being taken ill, found it necessary to travel in a carriage, which was procured for him by Simcoe.
Part of the troops were sent* to City Point in boats; the rest marched upon Petersburg, arrived there late in the night, and surprised a party of American officers engaged in collecting boats for La Fayette to cross his army. La Fayette, with a strong escort, appeared on the heights opposite Petersburg, and the artillery, under Colonel Gimat, cannonaded the enemy's quarters. Bollingbrook, where General Phillips lay ill of a bilious fever, being exposed to the fire, it was found necessary to remove him into the cellar, and it is commonly reported that he died while the firing was going on. This mistake appears to have originated
* May ninth.
+ Tenth.
46
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with Anburey, who, in his Travels, mentions that during the cannonade, the British general, then at the point of death, ex- claimed, "My God, 'tis cruel: they will not let me die in peace !" Anburey, being himself a prisoner of war, was not in favorable circumstances for obtaining accurate information on this subject. It appears that the cannonading took place three days before the death of General Phillips. He died on the thirteenth. La Fayette, aware that Bollingbrook was headquarters, directed some shot particularly at that house, which, from its elevated site, afforded a conspicuous mark. This proceeding was provoked by the horrid series of devastations which Phillips had just per- petrated in company of the traitor Arnold. Two balls struck the house, it is said, one passing through it. General Phillips lies buried in the old Blandford Churchyard. Miller,* a historian of his own country, observes that it would have been a fortunate circumstance for his fame "had he died three weeks sooner than he did."t
Upon the death of General Phillips the command devolved on Arnold, and he sent an officer with a flag and a letter to La Fayette. As soon as he saw Arnold's name subscribed to the letter he refused to read it, and told the officer that he would hold no intercourse whatever with Arnold; but with any other officer he should be ever ready to interchange the civilities which the circumstances of the two armies might render desirable. Wash- ington highly approved of this proceeding.
Already before the death of General Phillips, Simcoe had been detached from Petersburg to meet Cornwallis, who was advancing from North Carolina. Simcoe, on his route to the Roanoke, captured, some miles to the south of the Nottoway River, a Colo- nel Gee, at his residence, "a rebel militia officer," who, refusing
* Hist. of England.
Bollingbrook, deriving its name from the family of Bolling, who owned much of the land on which the town of Petersburg was built, consisted of two frame buildings, or wings, standing apart, it having been designed to connect them by a main building, which, however, was never done. The eastern tenement was burned down some years ago, and thus was lost an interesting memento of the Revolution. A representation of it may be seen in Lossing's "Field Book of the Revolution."
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to give his parole, was sent prisoner to Major Armstrong. An- other "rebel," Colonel Hicks, mistaking Simcoe's party for an advanced guard of La Fayette's army, was also made prisoner. At Hicks' Ford, a captain and thirty militia-men were taken by a ruse de guerre, and compelled to give their paroles. Here Sim- coe, on his return toward Petersburg, met with Tarleton and his "legion clothed in white."
During this year (1781) Captain Harris, with the little brig Mosquito, after taking two prizes, in a voyage to the West Indies was captured by the British frigate Ariadne, and carried into Barbadoes. The men were confined there in jail and prison-ships : the officers taken to England and incarcerated in Fortune Jail, at Gosport. Driven by cruel usage to make a desperate attempt at escape, they succeeded, and returned to America, and again bore arms against the enemy. Among them were Lieutenant Cham- berlayne, Midshipman Alexander Moore, Alexander Dick, cap- tain of marines, and George Catlett, lieutenant of marines. Shortly after the capture of the Mosquito, the Raleigh fell into the enemy's hands, and her crew were no less maltreated. The brig Jefferson, under command of Captain Markham, captured several prizes.
Among those distinguished for their gallantry in the little navy of Virginia was Captain Samuel Barron, (son of Commodore James Barron,) afterwards of the United States navy. Captain John Cowper, of Nansemond County, was in command of the Dolphin brig, with a crew of seventy-five men. Embarking on a cruise, he nailed his flag to the mast-head, and declared that he would never strike it to an enemy. Engaging shortly after with two British vessels, she was seen no more, and it is supposed that she sunk during the action.
John Tyler was born at his father's residence, near Williams- burg, in James City County, in 1748. His father, whose name he bore, was marshal for the colony, and his mother was the daughter of Doctor Contesse, one of the Protestants driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and who found a home in Virginia. John Tyler, the younger of the two sons of this union, (the elder of whom died young,) enjoyed frequent op- portunities of hearing the debates in the house of burgesses, and
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heard Patrick Henry in the stormy discussion on his resolutions in 1765, and in the decline of life still related with animation his recollections of that debate. He became so decided an opponent of the tyrannical pretensions of the mother country that his father often predicted that, sooner or later, he would be executed for high treason. Mr. Tyler studied the law under Mr. Robert Carter Nicholas, and while thus engaged formed an acquaintance with Thomas Jefferson which ripened into a friendship terminated only by death. The society of the ardent Jefferson fanned the flame of young Tyler's patriotism, and he became at an early day the advocate of independence. About the year 1774, having obtained his license, he removed to Charles City, where he took up his permanent abode. Successful in the practice of the law, he was after a brief interval elected a delegate from that county. He was re-elected for several years, his colleague for the greater part of that time being Benjamin Harrison, Jr., of Berkley, whom Mr. Tyler succeeded as speaker of the house of burgesses. After the lapse of many years Mr. Tyler's son, of the same name, succeeded General William Henry Harrison, son of Benjamin Harrison, Jr., in the Presidency of the Union. Mr. Tyler, the revolutionary patriot, while a member of the assembly, contracted an intimate friendship with Patrick Henry, for whom he enter- tained an almost idolizing veneration. They corresponded for many years. Mr. Tyler participated largely in the debates, and on all occasions exhibited himself a devoted patriot, and thorough- bred republican. In subsequent years he was governor of Vir- ginia and judge of the United States district court. In private life his virtues won regard, in public his integrity and talents commanded the confidence of his country.
John Banister was the son of an eminent botanist, of the same name, who settled in Virginia toward the close of the seventeenth century, and devoted himself to the study of plants. In one of his botanical excursions, near the falls of the Roanoke, he fell from a rock and was killed. As a naturalist he was esteemed not inferior to Bartram. John Banister, the son, was educated in England, and bred to the law at the Temple. He was a bur- gess of the assembly, and afterwards a distinguished member of the convention of 1776. In the following year he was an active
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member of the assembly. He visited the headquarters of the American army about the time of the battle of Germantown. In 1778-9 he was a member of congress at York, and at Phila- delphia, and in September visited headquarters as member of the committee of arrangement. He was one of the framers of the articles of confederation. In 1781 he was lieutenant-colonel of cavalry under General Lawson. The two other colonels in the brigade were John Mercer, afterwards governor of Maryland, and James Monroe, subsequently President of the United States. Lawson's corps was dissolved when Leslie retired from Virginia, and thus the horse commanded by Colonel Banister was lost to the State, at a time when cavalry was so pressingly required. During the invasions which Virginia was subjected to, Colonel Banister was actively engaged in the efforts made to repel the enemy. Proprietor of a large estate, he suffered repeated and heavy losses from the depredations of the British. At one time, it is said, he supplied a body of troops, on their way to the South, with blankets at his own expense.
A miniature likeness of him is said to be preserved by his descendants in Amelia County. Of an excellent and well culti- vated mind, and refined manners, he was in private life amiable and upright, in public generous, patriotic, and enlightened. As a writer he may be ranked with the first of his day. A number of his letters have been published in the Bland Papers, and several, addressed to Washington, in Sparks' Revolutionary Cor- respondence.
Colonel Banister resided near Petersburg, at Battersea, which house he built. Chastellux visited it in 1781. Colonel Banister married, first, Mary, daughter of Colonel Theodorick Bland, Sr. Of this union there were three children; but this whole branch is extinct. Colonel Banister's second wife was Anne, sister of Judge Blair, of the federal court. There were two sons of this marriage: Theodorick Blair, and John Monro. Theodorick Blair Banister married Signora Tabb. Children surviving, (1856:) Monro, Tudor, Yelverton, and two daughters. John Monro Banister married Mary B. Bolling. Children surviving: Wil- liam C. Banister, the Rev. John Monro Banister, and three daughters.
CHAPTER XCIX.
1781.
Cornwallis at Petersburg-La Fayette retreats-Simcoe's Expedition-Tarle- ton's Expedition-Cornwallis marches toward Point of Fork-Devastations of the Enemy-Peter Francisco-La Fayette re-enforced by Wayne-Cornwallis retires-Followed by La Fayette-Skirmish at Spencer's Plantation-Action near Jamestown-La Fayette.
CORNWALLIS marched* from Wilmington for Petersburg. To facilitate the passage of the rivers, two boats, mounted on car- riages, accompanied the army. Tarleton led the advance. While the army was yet on the left bank of the Roanoke, Cornwallis, who had passed it, upon overtaking Tarleton's detachment, ordered them to be dismounted and formed in line for the inspec- tion of the inhabitants, to enable them to discover the men who had committed certain horrid outrages on the preceding evening. A sergeant and a dragoon being pointed out as the offenders, were remanded to Halifax, condemned by a court-martial, and executed. His lordship was prompted to such acts of discipline not only by his moderation and humanity, but also by a desire to avoid any new exasperation of the people, and by a hope of alluring the loyalists to his standard. On the 19th of May, 1781, he reached Petersburg, and with the remnant of his Carolina army he now united the troops under Arnold, consisting of a detachment of royal artillery, two battalions of light in- fantry, the 76th and 80th British regiments, the Hessian regi- ment of the Prince Hereditaire, Simcoe's corps of cavalry and infantry, called the "Queen's Rangers," chiefly tories, one hun- dred yagers, and Arnold's American legion, likewise tories, the whole amounting to about two thousand five hundred men, which, together with the Carolina army, made his lordship's aggregate force at Petersburg about four thousand five hundred. The
* April twenty-fifth.
(726)
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entire field force now under his command in Virginia was not less than seven thousand three hundred, including four hundred dragoons and seven or eight hundred mounted infantry. He received intelligence from Lord Rawdon of his having defeated Greene, at Hobkirk's Hill. Cornwallis remained three or four days at Petersburg. Light troops and spies being despatched to discover La Fayette's position, he was found posted near Wilton, on the James River, a few miles below Richmond, with a thousand regu- lars and three thousand militia, the main body of them under command of General Nelson. La Fayette was expecting re-en- forcements of militia and Wayne's Pennsylvania Brigade. In compliance with the orders of Governor Jefferson, continental officers were substituted in the higher commands of the militia. Three corps of light infantry, of two hundred and fifty each, of select militia marksmen, were placed under command of Majors Call, Willis, and Dick of the continental line. La Fayette's cavalry comprised only the remnant of Armand's corps, sixty in number, and a troop of volunteer dragoons under Captain Carter Page, late of Baylor's Regiment. General Weedon, not now in service, owing to a diminution in the number of officers, was re- quested to collect a corps of militia to protect a manufactory of arms at Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg. Tarleton patroled from Petersburg as far as Warwick, and, surprising a body of militia, captured fifty of them. In the mean while General Leslie arrived at the mouth of the James with a re-enforcement sent by Clinton from New York. Cornwallis, upon receiving in- telligence of it, ordered Leslie to repair to Portsmouth with the 17th British Regiment, two battalions of Anspach, and the 43d, to join the main army. His lordship now proceeded with his forces to Macocks, on the James, opposite to Westover, where, being joined by the 43d, he crossed over, the passage occupying nearly three days, the horses swimming by aid of boats, the river there being two miles wide.
Arnold obtained leave to return to New York, "where business of consequence demanded his attendance." The British officers had found it irksome to serve under him. Cornwallis afterwards told La Fayette that as soon as he joined the army in Virginia, he took the first occasion to send Arnold down to Ports-
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mouth, and expressed disgust at associating with a person of his character.
The force concentrated by Cornwallis amounted to eight thou- sand. La Fayette, hearing of this movement of the enemy, crossed the Chickahominy and retreated toward Fredericksburg, with a view of protecting the arsenal at Falmouth and of meeting Wayne. Cornwallis pursued with celerity, but finding La Fayette beyond his reach, gave out the chase, and encamped on the banks of the North Anna, in Hanover. La Fayette, who had been hotly pur- sued by Tarleton, retreated precipitately beyond Fredericksburg; and it was on this occasion that Cornwallis, in a letter, said of La Fayette: "The boy cannot escape me." The Marquis de Chas- tellux says : "All I learnt by a conversation with Mr. Bird* was that he had been pillaged by the English when they passed his house in their march from Westover in pursuit of Monsieur de la Fayette, and in returning to Williamsburg, after endeavoring in vain to come up with him. It was comparatively nothing to see their fruits, fowls, and cattle carried away by the light troops, which formed the van-guard; the army collected what the van- guard had left; even the officers seized the rum and all kinds of provisions without paying a farthing for them; this hurricane, which destroyed everything in its passage, was followed by a scourge yet more terrible : a numerous rabble, under the title of Refugees and Loyalists, followed the army, not to assist in the field, but to partake of the plunder. The furniture and clothes of the inhabitants were in general the sole booty left to satisfy their avidity; after they had emptied the houses, they stript the proprietors, and Mr. Bird repeated with indignation that they had taken from him by force the very boots from off his legs." "Mr. Tilghman, our landlord, f though he lamented his misfortune in having lodged and boarded Lord Cornwallis and his retinue without his lordship's having made him the least recompense, could not yet help laughing at the fright which the unexpected arrival of Tarleton spread among a considerable number of gen- tlemen who had come to hear the news, and were assembled at
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