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CHAPTER III.

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

1776-1783.

THE Declaration of Independence was joyfully received by the great mass of the American people. It was thought that it would inspire new vigor in defence of their rights, and afford a test whereby to distinguish the friends of those rights from their enemies. It was read to the army, and received by them with enthusiasm.

In declaring their independence of Great Britain the Confederacy were well aware that they had thrown away the scabbard, and that the sword could not be again sheathed until either their sovereignty was acknowledged or they were reduced to a more abject submission than before.

Nor were they insensible of the perils they encountered. Of men, indeed, they had numerically enough in the colonies to cope with any force that Great Britain, powerful as she was, could send against them; but what could mere numbers do unless they were aided by arms, ammunition, military skill, and discipline?

But all those difficulties known to their leaders, if not to the people, those leaders determined to encounter.

The British government finding that its efforts to punish Massachusetts and reduce her to subjection had proved unavailing, and that the large force sent to Boston, so far from being sufficient to act offensively, had been itself blocked up in a narrow peninsula, where it

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WASHINGTON'S PREPARATIONS.

[CHAP. III.

had experienced all the inconveniences and privations of a siege, determined to change its plan of operations, and to direct its efforts on a still larger scale to the Middle States.

New York was selected as the point to be invaded. From the number of islands on the coast it was more accessible, and more easily defended by a naval power. The city would afford accommodations to a large garrison; and from its central position, and its immediate communication with the lakes and New England, the British could carry on their operations in the East, in Canada or the lakes on the north, or in the Southern colonies, according to circumstances.

General Howe was accordingly ordered to meet there the reinforcements which would be sent from England under Admiral Lord Howe his brother; and the two were further appointed Commissioners to treat with the colonists on terms of pacification.

Washington, anticipating that this would be the point at which the British force would be concentrated, lost no time, after he left Boston, in preparing for the enemy. The force under him did not exceed eight thousand men. Knowing its inadequacy, he therefore made requisitions for about four thousand men from Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey; and as the enemy might land on the Jersey shore, and thence penetrate into the middle colonies, it was decided to form what was called a flying camp of ten thousand men, to be furnished by Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, all of whom were to serve till the first of December. He was further authorised to call for such aids of militia from the neighhoring colonies as he should deem necessary.

The number of disaffected was thought to be greater in New York than in any other province, and it certainly

1776.]

ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH ARMAMENT.

177

was very great. They had even gone so far as to form a plot to seize the American General and deliver him up to the British on their arrival. The Mayor of the City of New York and some of the general's bodyguards were concerned in it. By a timely discovery the scheme was defeated, and some of those implicated suffered death.

In the beginning of July, General Howe and the troops under him landed on Staten Island, constituting the most formidable armament that had been then seen on the Western continent. He was well received by the inhabitants, who took the oath of allegiance to Great Britain, and embodied themselves under Governor Tryon for the defence of the Island. Lord Howe, the brother of the General, with his fleet reached Staten Island on the twelfth of July.

To profit by the show of conciliation so likely to encourage the adherents to Great Britain, and to produce some relaxation in the efforts of their opponents, Admiral Howe lost no time in sending a circular letter to the late colonial Governors, and forwarding to them a declaration which he requested them to publish. This declaration stated his authority to grant pardons to those who had deviated from their allegiance and were willing to return to their duty. It declared any colony or place excepted from the penalties imposed by act of Parliament: and that the services of all those who should aid in restoring public tranquillity would be duly considered.

These papers, which had been forthwith transmitted by General Washington to Congress, that body ordered to be published, that the people might see the insidious means resorted to by the British government, for the purpose of amusing and disarming them, and be thus convinced that their valor alone could secure their liberty. VOL I.-12

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HOWE'S LETTER TO WASHINGTON.

[CHAP. III. Lord Howe also sent a letter addressed to G. Washington, Esquire, which Washington refused to receive, as it did not acknowledge his public character- an assertion of self-respect and official dignity that obtained the formal approbation of Congress.

Howe, thus foiled in his first attempt to gain the advantage of a show of conciliation, sent Colonel Patterson, his Adjutant-general, with a letter directed to George Washington, &c., &c., &c. but this was not considered to remove the difficulty; and in reply to Patterson's remark that et ceteras implied every thing, Washington said they also implied any thing. After some time spent in this conversation, the parties finding there was no common ground on which they could agree, ended their conference.

In thus suffering so important a negotiation to be broken off on a mere point of etiquette, it cannot be doubted that the real purpose of the parties was different from the ostensible; and that while one wished to obtain the credit for conciliation and concession, the other wished to escape the odium or responsibility of seeming to avoid them; but that neither was disposed to accede to the terms which he firmly believed the other would insist on.

It seems that this show of conciliation did not altogether fail of its purpose. Besides that many of the secret adherents of Great Britain took advantage of the offer of pardon, and flocked to the royal standard, among whom were Galloway, Chief Justice Allen, and other men of distinction in Pennsylvania, some of the Whigs, as the adherents of Congress were called, were led by it to consider reconciliation with the mother country as not altogether hopeless.

To meet the invading force, well supplied with every

1776.]

PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.

179

thing to give it efficiency, what were the resources of the United Colonies? When General Howe landed on Staten Island, the American troops under Washington did not exceed ten thousand men. On the eighth of August his force, including that of the neighboring posts, was seventeen thousand two hundred and twenty-five, of whom three thousand six hundred and sixty-eight were on the sick list. Subsequent reinforcements increased it to twenty-seven thousand, of whom one-fourth were sick.

A part of this force was on Long Island, at first under General Greene, but he being ill of a fever, the command was given for a short time to General Sullivan, and then to Putnam. The rest were stationed on New York Island, or at posts on Governor's Island, Red Hook, &c. Washington did not think it prudent to send a larger force to Long Island, and too much weaken that in New York, uncertain as he was of the point of attack the enemy might select, since the fleet, by ascending the Sound, furnished the ready means of landing the invading force on New York Island. The American army was very inadequately supplied with arms, ordnance, ammunition, and camp equipage; and a very small proportion of either officers or men had seen service.

The British army having received all its reinforcements in the month of August, prepared for an attack on the American forces on Long Island.

The forces, under the command of Major-general Putnam, were encamped on the neck of the peninsula on which Brooklyn stands. The British army was posted from the Narrows along the south-western shore of the Island, at the distance of from three to four miles. A thickly-wooded ridge, ranging south-west and north-east, ran between the lines of the hostile armies. There were three roads across this ridge: one direct from Flatbush,

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