USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 17
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293
FLIGHT OF DUNMORE.
-
1775.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
Adjournment of the Virginia Assembly-Continental Congress -Washington appointed commander-in-chief-Battle of Bunker's Hill-Movements of Dunmore-Battle at Great Bridge-Norfolk evacuated-Bombarded and burned-Meet- ing of the Assembly-New constitution adopted-Declaration of Independence-Retreat of Dunmore-War at the north- Disastrous expedition against Quebec-Retreat of Washing- ton across the Jerseys-Battles of Trenton and Princeton- Campaign of 1777-March of Burgoyne from Canada-Cap- ture of Ticonderoga-Surrender of Burgoyne-Movements of Howe-Battles of Brandywine and Germantown-Wash- ington retires to Valley Forge-Treaty of alliance with France-Howe evacuates Philadelphia-Clinton retreats across the Jerseys-Battle of Monmouth-Arrival of a French fleet off the Capes-An attack upon Newport pro- jected-Its failure-Invasion of the southern states-Vir- ginia plundered by General Matthews.
THE flight of the governor was no sooner dis- covered, than the council and assembly agreed upon a joint address, entreating him to return to the palace, and offering to concur in any measure that might be considered necessary for his per- sonal security. On his refusal to do so, the assembly declared his office vacant, and appointed the president of the council in his place. They adjourned themselves soon after, having first agreed to meet in convention at Richmond, for the purpose of organizing a provisional govern- ment, and arranging a plan of defence. While the Virginia assembly were thus endeavouring to
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294
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1775.
induce Dunmore to return to Williamsburg and resume the duties of his office, the continental congress, then in session at Philadelphia, after declaring that hostilities with Great Britain had commenced, had appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the continental army. This appointment was made on the 15th of June, 1775.
On the 17th, was fought the battle of Bunker's Hill. Four days afterward, Washington left Philadelphia to assume command of the troops, then stationed at Cambridge.
On the 17th of July, according to previous agreement, the Virginia convention met, entrusted the executive authority to a committee of safety, and ordered the immediate enlistment of two regi- ments of Minute Men. The royal government of Virginia was at an end.
Dunmore, having with him several armed ves- sels and two companies of regulars, still hovered about Old Point Comfort, and threatened the lower counties. Hoping to create a diversion in his favour west of the mountains, he had sent to his former agent Conolly, the commission of a lieutenant-colonel ; but his project failed of suc- cess by the arrest of Conolly in Maryland, while returning from a visit to General Gage at Boston.
Landing at Norfolk, then just rising into a town of some commercial importance, Dunmore seized a printing press, and on the 17th Novem-
295
GREAT BRIDGE.
1775.]
ber, issued a proclamation, declaring martial law, and offering freedom to all slaves belonging to rebels who would join the royal standard. A large number of negroes and tories responded to the call. With this mixed force he commenced offensive operations. Marching to Kempsville, in Princess Anne county, he destroyed some arms collected there, and took several prisoners, among whom was Captain Mathews, of the Minute Men. Having threatened the inhabitants of Hampton with an attack, the committee of safety sent Colonel Woodford with a hundred riflemen to assist in defending the place. Before he could arrive, six tenders, filled with men, entered Hamp- ton Creek, and endeavoured to effect a landing, for the purpose of burning and plundering the town; but as the enemy approached the shore in boats, they were driven back by a party of con- cealed riflemen. Night set in ; and, in the mean time, the reinforcement under Woodford arrived. In the morning a second attempt to land was re- sisted with even greater success than the former; the enemy then withdrew to Norfolk.
Desirous of striking a decisive blow, the com- mittee of safety determined to force Dunmore to evacuate Norfolk. Woodford's second Virginia regiment and the Culpepper battalion were or- dered upon this service. At Great Bridge, a few miles from Norfolk, the enemy occupied a stock- ade fort, which, being furnished with artillery,
296
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1776.
and strongly garrisoned, effectually protected the approach to the city. Woodford threw up & breastwork at the end of the causeway, and waited for the arrival of reinforcements. De- ceived by a stratagem as to the number of the provincials, Captain Fordyce, at the head of three hundred and fifty regulars, tories, and negroes, sallied out from the fort on the morning of the ninth of December, 1775, to attack Woodford in his entrenchments. While advancing along the causeway, Fordyce fell mortally wounded, and his troops, after having sustained a loss of nearly one-third of their whole number, in an action which lasted only thirty minutes, gave way and retreated precipitately to the fort. Alarmed at this unexpected defeat, Dunmore hastily spiked his artillery, abandoned his works, and embarked with the remainder of his army on board the ves- sels in the harbour. Five days after the skirmish at Great Bridge, the Virginians, reinforced by the North Carolina militia under Colonel Robert Howe, took possession of Norfolk, and opened a fire upon the British ships. In retaliation for this rash provocation, and for the rough treat- ment which certain royalists had experienced from the conquerors, Dunmore, strengthened by the arrival of the frigate Liverpool, bombarded the town on the first of January, 1776, and, land- ing a party of marines and seamen under cover of the cannonade, set fire to it in several places.
297
INSTRUCTIONS TO DELEGATES.
1776.]
Of a thousand houses, nearly nine hundred were consumed. The remainder were destroyed soon after by order of the committee of safety.
During the whole of the summer following, Dunmore, sailing up the various rivers of eastern Virginia, carried on a series of petty predatory incursions, by which the loyalists sustained great losses. Plantations were ravaged, houses were burned, and nearly a thousand slaves abducted from their masters. At length, although moving with celerity from point to point, and retreating to his boats whenever menaced with a serious attack, he found himself so continually harassed by armed parties of volunteers and militia, that he was constrained to withdraw his motley force, and retire to St. Augustine with the plunder he had accumulated.
The general assembly of Virginia met at Williamsburg on the 6th of May, and after ap- pointing Edmund Pendleton president, and John Tazewell clerk, proceeded to the business before them.
On the 15th of the month it was unani- mously agreed upon to instruct the Virginia delegation to the continental congress, then in session at Philadelphia, to propose in that body a formal declaration of independence, and the absolution of the United Colonies from all alle- giance to Great Britain. A committee was also appointed to prepare a declaration of rights, and a plan of government suitable to the new con-
298
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1776.
dition of the province. On the 29th the con- stitution, framed by George Mason, with a preamble sent by Jefferson from Philadelphia, was unanimously adopted. Patrick Henry re- ceived the appointment of governor. On the 5th of July the assembly adjourned. At Philadel- phia, the day previous, the declaration of Inde- pendence as drawn up by Jefferson was passed by Congress. It was proclaimed at Williamsburg on the 25th of the same month amid the firing of cannon, and the exulting shouts of the assembled people.
The assembly again met on the 7th of October, 1776, and appointed a committee to revise the state laws. By the strenuous efforts of Jefferson and Mason, an act was passed at this session, by which dissenters were relieved from the disabilities under which they had laboured previously, and all forms of religion placed upon an equal footing.
From the retreat of Dunmore, until the sum- mer of 1779, the territory of Virginia was hap- pily exempted from that fearful condition of things which always accompanies the march of hostile armies. At the north, in the mean time, the forces sent over by Great Britain had been kept constantly engaged. The campaign of 1776 opened disastrously for the American cause. The army ordered to attempt the reduction of Canada had met with a signal defeat before the walls of Quebec, where Montgomery, its heroic
299
1776.]
. BATTLE OF TRENTON.
leader, fell mortally wounded. The Virginians under Morgan, though fighting bravely in the midst of the storm and darkness, were over- powered by numbers, and compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war.
During the campaign in Canada, reinforce- ments from England had raised the royalist army under Howe, to twenty-four thousand men. To oppose this large body of disciplined troops, the American commander-in-chief had a force of about twenty thousand provincials, badly equip- ped, yielding but little military obedience, and rendered inharmonious by sectional jealousies. The defeat of Putnam on Long Island, compelled Washington to abandon New York to the British and retreat across the Jerseys. With his troops daily diminishing from the expiration of their term of service, from sickness, and, desertion, he crossed the Delaware on the 7th of December, at the head of a dispirited army, reduced to three thousand five hundred effective men. One bright gleam, however, shed a lustre over the close of the campaign. With twenty-five hundred picked men, and six pieces of artillery, Washington secretly recrossed the Delaware, on the night of the twenty-fifth of December, 1776, entered Trenton the following morning in the midst of a snow storm, surprised a body of fifteen hundred Hessians stationed at that place, took one thou- sand of them prisoners of war, and captured their
300
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1777.
artillery. Astonished at a reverse so little ex- pected, Howe immediately directed Cornwallis to take command of the British force quartered at Princeton, and attack Washington in his camp at Trenton. Finding his position a dangerous one, and retreat difficult in the face of an enemy equal in numbers and far superior in arms and discipline, Washington adopted the bold expedient of occupying the attention of Cornwallis in front, while the provincial army retreated silently from camp and fell upon his rear. The manœuvre succeeded. Near to Princeton three regiments of British regulars on their march to join Corn- wallis, were attacked and broken, with the loss of three hundred men taken prisoners. Washington then retired to winter quarters at Morristown, while Cornwallis encamped at New Brunswick.
The British plan of the campaign of 1777 was in many respects similar to that formerly recom- mended to the French government by De Callier, the design being to separate the New England states from the middle and southern colonies, by opening a communication between New York and Canada. In pursuance of this project, General Burgoyne left Canada with an army of eight thousand men, captured Ticonderoga, dispersed the greater part of the garrison under St. Clair, in their retreat to join Schuyler at Fort Edward, and obtained complete command of lakes George and Champlain. Hitherto Burgoyne had been
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1778.] PHILADELPHIA EVACUATED. 301
successful at every point. He was now to ex- perience a series of reverses, which weakened the confidence of his troops, lost him the support of his Indian allies, and finally enveloped him in such a network of difficulties, as constrained him to surrender, on the 17th of October, the whole of his army to General Gates.
In the mean while, the successes of Sir William Howe had created great excitement in the south- ern and middle states. Sailing up the Chesa- peake, he landed at the head of Elk, advanced toward Philadelphia, defeated the American army under Washington at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, captured the defences on the Delaware, and thereby enabled the British fleet to co-operate with the army. The winter being close at hand, Washington went into quarters at Valley Forge.
The event of greatest importance in the year 1778, was the treaty of defensive alliance signed between France and the American colonies. Fearful of the river Delaware being blockaded by a French fleet, Howe concluded to evacuate Phila- delphia, and ordered Clinton to retreat across the Jerseys to New York. On the 19th of June, the British army, twelve thousand strong, crossed the Delaware, and took up its line of march. Washington at once started in pursuit. On the 28th of the same month, the enemy encamped at Monmouth Court House. The following morning
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30
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1778.
Washington ordered Lee, who commanded the advance, to press forward and commence the ac- tion. Lee did so, but in a short time retreated. The troops were rallied by Washington, and a sharp but indecisive engagement ensued. Under cover of the darkness, the British gained the high lands of Nevisink, where they occupied a position secure from attack. From Nevisink, Clinton embarked on board of Howe's fleet, and returned to New York, barely escaping a French squad- ron of sixteen ships, commanded by the Count D'Estaing, and having on board four thousand French troops, which arrived off the Delaware a few days later.
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Desirous of profiting at once by this fortunate event, Washington arranged with the French commander a plan of attack on Newport, Rhode Island, where six thousand of the enemy were garrisoned. General Sullivan, with a strong division of the continental army, was ordered to co-operate with D'Estaing on this service ; but the latter being led away by the prospect of bringing the British fleet to an engagement, Sul- livan was compelled to abandon his position in front of the town, and retreat hastily across the island to the main land.
Foiled in their efforts to reduce the northern states, the main strength of the British arms was now directed against the south. Georgia was invaded by an army of three thousand five hun-
1778.] DEVASTATION BY THE BRITISH. 303
1
dred men, commanded by Colonel Campbell, which, forming a junction with the force under Prevost, Governor of Florida, captured Savannah, and speedily overran the whole province.
In the mean while, Clinton, who had succeeded Howe as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, despatched General Matthews from New York, with twenty-five hundred men, to commence operations against Virginia. The squadron having these troops on board, entered Hampton Roads early in May, and Matthews im- mediately entered upon a career of plunder and devastation. He took possession of Fort Nelson and the town of Portsmouth, recaptured Norfolk, and destroyed both there, and at Gosport, large quantities of naval and military stores. One hundred and thirty merchant vessels were either captured or burned in the James and Elizabeth rivers, and a frigate and nine smaller ships of war on the stocks at Gosport, were also consumed by fire. Three thousand hogsheads of tobacco formed a portion of the plunder acquired by this expedition, which, though remaining within the limits of the province but a few days, inflicted a damage upon public and private property amount- ing in the aggregate to two millions of dollars.
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304
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
[1780.
CHAPTER XXV.
Clinton embarks for the south-Capture of Charleston-Gates appointed to command the southern continental army .- His defeat at Camden-Leslie sent to Virginia-Greene super- sedes Gates-Arnold in Virginia-La Fayette ordered to re- inforce Steuben-General Phillips forms a junction with Arnold-Destruction of stores at Yorktown-Petersburg captured-Advance of Cornwallis-Battle of Cowpens-Re- treat of Greene-Marches against Rawdon-Cornwallis reaches Petersburg -- Expeditions of Simcoe and Tarleton- . March of Cornwallis to Portsmouth-Skirmish near James- town-The British army concentrated at York and Gloucester -Movements of the allied forces under Washington and Rochambeau-Arrival of the French fleet in the Chesapeake -Yorktown invested-Incidents of the siege-Capitulation of Cornwallis-Negotiations for peace.
THE subjugation of Georgia was no sooner completed, than the conquest of the Carolinas was resolved upon. Previous efforts to obtain possession of Charleston having failed, Clinton determined to attempt its reduction in person. Leaving Kniphausen with a strong garrison in New York, he embarked on the 26th of Decem- ber, 1779, for Savannah, with seven thousand troops. After completing his arrangements at the latter port, he sailed for the harbour of Charleston, which he entered early in April, and proceeded at once to invest the town. On the 14th of April, 1780, two continental regiments stationed at Monk's Corner to keep open the communica-
305
1780.] CAPTURE OF CHARLESTON.
tion with the country north of Broad River, were surprised by Tarleton, and effectually dispersed. Fort Moultrie, threatened by sea and land, sur- rendered on the 6th of May. In the mean time, Clinton with the main army was pressing forward with great vigour his operations against the town, which was obstinately but unsuccessfully defended by General Lincoln. Finding himself complete- ly surrounded, and with no hope of receiving succour from without, Lincoln at length decided to open negotiations, which resulted in yielding up the city and surrendering its garrison as pri- soners of war. Clinton had no sooner acquired possession of Charleston than he spread his forces over the interior of the state. As no opposition was offered, the conquest was speedily completed. Having re-established the royal government, and placed four thousand troops under Cornwallis to maintain his conquest, Clinton returned with the remainder of his forces to New York.
So soon as the capitulation of Lincoln became known to Congress, that body appointed General Gates to command the continental army in the south. Pushing forward at once to overtake the Maryland and Delaware battalions under De Kalb, which had already been detached for service in that quarter, he came up with them at the Deep River, a tributary of the Cape Fear.
Apprehensive of danger, Lord Rawdon, com- manding the British advanced posts in South 26*
306
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1780.
Carolina, immediately called in his detachments, and concentrated his forces at Camden. Gates marched at once upon that point by the most direct route, gathering strength from Virginia and the Carolinas as he proceeded, until his army was in- creased to six thousand men. Cornwallis, advised of his approach, hastened from Charleston, formed a junction with Rawdon, and at daybreak on the 6th of August, encountered the southern provin- cial army in the vicinity of Camden. Gates, rash as he was vain, was utterly defeated, and his troops, routed and pursued, were driven into the swamps and effectually dispersed.
When Clinton heard of the defeat of Gates, supposing that Cornwallis, taking advantage of his victory at Camden, would proceed at once across North Carolina, and attempt to overrun Virginia, he despatched from New York three thousand men, under Colonel Leslie, to the Chesa- peake Bay, for the purpose of co-operating with the southern army. But Cornwallis, weakened by the defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, and wanting both supplies and reinforcements, was in no condition to advance. Under these circum- stances, Leslie's movements were crippled. Land- ing at Portsmouth, he took possession of a few vessels, plundered some of the plantations on the coast, and then set sail for South Carolina.
In the mean time, Congress had directed Gene- ral Greene to reorganize and take command of
307
1780.] ARNOLD IN VIRGINIA.
the southern continental army. On his way to the headquarters of Gates at Charlotte, in North Carolina, Greene left Baron Steuben in Virginia to collect recruits, and to assist in defending the state against an expedition, then fitting out at New York.
On the 30th of December, 1780, the traitor Arnold entered the Chesapeake with a fleet of fifty sail, proceeded with nine hundred men to the falls of the James River, and took possession of Richmond without opposition. Sending out a detachment of light horse under Colonel Simcoe to Westham, the latter destroyed the cannon foundry at that place, and such stores as had been hastily removed there from Richmond.
Descending the James River, a few days after, Arnold returned to Portsmouth, plundering and destroying as he went.
The principal part of the Virginia troops having joined the army under Greene, Steuben, finding himself too weak to enter upon offensive operations with the militia which had been hastily collected, was compelled to confine himself to watching the invaders, and restricting their ope- rations. The presence of Arnold in Virginia no sooner became known to Washington, than he formed a project for the capture of the traitor. In pursuance of the plan he had devised, General La Fayette was sent with twelve hundred conti- nentals to reinforce Steuben, and to co-operate
308
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781.
with the French squadron, which presently sailed from Newport for the Chesapeake Bay. The scheme, though well devised, was destined to be frustrated. A naval engagement took place off the Capes, between the British and French fleets, in which the latter being worsted, were obliged to return to their former anchorage at Newport.
By the activity of Clinton, a detachment of two thousand men, commanded by Major-general Phillips, was soon after sent to the assistance of Arnold, and the combined forces, supported by the British squadron, speedily renewed the old system of plunder and devastation.
Leaving one thousand men to garrison Ports- mouth, Phillips sailed up the James River, and after sending a detachment to destroy the naval stores collected at Yorktown, proceeded to Pe- tersburg, where Steuben with a body of militia, less than one thousand in number, attempted to oppose his progress. After a sharp skirmish, which lasted for about two hours, Steuben retired with his troops to the opposite side of the Appo- mattox. On -the 25th of April, 1781, Phillips entered the town, where he captured and burned, during the following day, four thousand hogsheads of tobacco. Crossing the Appomattox, he marched to Chesterfield Court-house, set fire to the build- ings erected at that place for the reception of recruits for the army under Greene, and destroyed the provisions and stores collected there.
309
RETREAT OF GREENE.
1781.]
In the mean time, Arnold proceeded to Os- borne's, where he burned a quantity of tobacco. So soon as Arnold's detachment had formed a junction with the main army, Phillips proceeded to Manchester, a small village opposite to Rich- mond. The arrival of La Fayette in that vicinity, induced Phillips to re-embark his troops, and fall down the James River; but learning on his way that Cornwallis was advancing into Virginia, he relanded his troops at City Point, and Brandon, and returned hastily to Petersburg, to form a junction with that officer. Suffering under a se- vere attack of bilious fever, Phillips died a few days after reaching the city. The command of the army then devolved on Arnold.
During the progress of these events in Vir- ginia, Cornwallis had been actively engaged in South Carolina against Greene, and the partizan officers by whom the latter was supported. By the defeat of Tarleton at the "Cowpens," the British lost six hundred men; but reinforced the next day by the troops under Leslie, Cornwallis pressed forward in pursuit of Morgan, hoping to intercept him before he should be able to form a junction with Greene. In this, however, he was not successful. The provincial forces were united, and Greene evinced a determination to defend the passage of the Catawba. The fords being forced by the enemy, Greene, closely pursued, fell back upon the Yadkin. He had scarcely crossed it
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1781.
before the British van came up, but only suc- ceeded in capturing a few wagons.
A sudden rise in the river effectually prevent- ing the enemy from crossing for several days, Greene continued on to Guilford Court-house, from whence he retreated by a forced march into Virginia.
Cornwallis had no sooner returned to the in- terior of North Carolina, than Greene recrossed the Dan, and threw out skirmishing parties to keep the tories in check on the Haw and Deep Rivers, and to harass detached parties of the enemy's regulars. Being reinforced during the early part of March, 1781, by detachments of continental troops from Virginia and Maryland, and by a large body of volunteers from Virginia and Carolina, he advanced to Guilford Court- house, and offered battle to Cornwallis. On the 15th of March, an engagement took place. It ended in the defeat of the provincials, who sus- tained a loss of four hundred men.
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