After the close of Sullivan's campaign against the Senecas, very little of general interest transpired at the North, except the withdrawal of the British troops from Rhode Island, on the 25th of October, 1779. La Fayette had been in France during the summer, and chiefly through his efforts, the French government had consented to send another powerful fleet,' and several thousand troops, to aid the Americans. When informed of this intended expedition, the British ministry ordered Clinton to cause the evacuation of Rhode Island, and to concentrate, at New York, all his troops at the North. This was accomplished with as little delay as possible, for rumors had reached Rhode Island that the new French armament was approaching the coast. So rapid was the retreat of the British, caused by their fears, that they left behind them all their heavy artillery, and a large quantity of stores. Clinton sailed for the South at the close of the year [December 25], with about five thousand troops, to open a vigorous campaign in the Carolinas. Washington, in the mean while, had gone into winter quarters at Morristown,' where his troops suffered terribly from the severity of the cold, and the lack of provisions, clothing, and shelter.' Strong detachments were also stationed among the Hudson Highlands, and the cavalry were cantoned in Connecticut. During this fifth year [1779] of the war for Independence, difficulties had gathered thick and fast around Great Britain. Spain had declared war against her on the 16th of June, and a powerful French and Spanish naval armament had attempted to effect an invasion of England in August. American and French cruisers now became numerous and quite powerful, and were hovering around her coasts; and in September, the intrepid John Paul Jones had conquered two of her proud ships of war, after one of the most desperate 1 Page 286. * Page 269. Dr. Thacher, in his Military Journal, says, "The sufferings of the poor soldiers can scarcely be described; while on duty they are unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of storms and severe cold; at night, they now have a bed of straw upon the ground, and a single blanket to each man; they are badly clad, and some are destitute of shoes. We have contrived a kind of stone chimney outside, and an opening at one end of our tents gives us the benefit of the fire within. The snow is now [January 6th, 1780] from four to six feet deep, which so obstructs the roads as to prevent our receiving a supply of provisions. For the last ten days we have received but two pounds of meat a man, and we are frequently for six or eight days entirely destitute of meat, and then as long without bread. The consequence is, the soldiers are so enfeebled from hunger and cold as to be almost unable to perform their military duty, or labor in constructing their huts. It is well known that General Washington experiences the greatest solicitude for the suffering of his army, and is sensible that they, in general, conduct with heroic patience and fortitude." In a private letter to a friend, Washington said, "We have had the virtue and patience of the army put to the severest trial. Sometimes it has been five or six days together without bread, at other times as many without meat, and once for two or three days at a time without either. * * At one time the soldiers ate every kind of horse food but hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, rye, and Indian corn composed the meal which made their bread. As an army, they bore it with the most heroic patience; but sufferings like these, accompanied by the want of clothes, blankets, &c., will produce frequent desertions in all armies; and so it happened with us, though it did not excite a single mutiny." * Hoping to regain Gibraltar, Jamaica, and the two Floridas, which Great Britain had taken from her, Spain made a secret treaty of peace with France in April, 1779, and in June declared war against Great Britain. This event was regarded as highly favorable to the Americans, because any thing that should cripple England, would aid them. John Paul Jones was born in Scotland in 1747, and came to Virginia in boyhood. He entered the American naval service in 1775, and was active during the whole war. He was afterward very active in the Russian service, against the Turks, in the Black Sea, and was created rear-admiral in the Russian navy. He died in Paris in 1782. naval fights ever known. These were the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. The conflict occurred in the evening, off Flamborough Head, on the east coast of Scotland. Jones's ship was the Bonhomme Richard, which had been fitted out in France. After much maneuvering, the Serapis and Sausnes Richard came alongside of each other, their rigging intermingling, and in this position they poured heavy broadsides from their respective guns. Three times both ships were on fire, and their destruction appeared inevitable. A part of the time the belligerents were fighting hand to hand upon the decks. Finally, the commander of the Serapis was obliged to yield, and ten minutes afterward, the Countess of Scarborough, which had been fighting with another vessel of Jones's little fleet, struck her colors. The Richard was a perfect wreck, and was fast sinking when the conflict ended; and sixteen hours afterward, she went down into the deep waters of the North Sea, off Bridlington Bay. Jones, with his prizes, sailed for Holland, having, during that single cruise, captured property to the value of two hundred thousand dollars.' 1 The naval operations during the war for Independence, do not occupy a conspicuous place in history, yet they were by no means insignificant. The Continental Congress took action on the subject of an armed marine, in the autumn of 1775. Already Washington had fitted out some armed vessels at Boston, and constructed some gun-boats for use in the waters around that city. These were propelled by oars, and covered. In November, the government of Massachusetts established a Board of Admiralty. A committee on naval affairs, of which Silas Deane [page 266] was chairman, was appointed by the Continental Congress in Octo A GUN-BOAT AT BOSTON. On the land, in America, there had been very little success for the British arms; and sympathy for the patriots was becoming more and more manifest in Europe. Even a great portion of the intelligent English people began to regard the war as not only useless, but unjust. Yet in the midst of all these difficulties, the government put forth mighty energies-energies which might have terminated the war during the first campaign, if they had been then executed. Parliament voted eighty-five thousand seamen and thirty-five thousand troops for general service, in 1780, and appropriated one hundred millions. of dollars to defray the expenses. This formidable armament in prospective, was placed before the Americans, at this, the gloomiest period of the war, yet they neither quailed nor faltered. Relying upon the justice of their cause, and the favor of a righteous God, they felt prepared to meet any force that Great Britain might send to enslave them ber, 1775. Before the close of the year, the construction of almost twenty vessels had been ordered by Congress; and the Marine Committee was so re-organized as to have in it a representative from each colony. In November, 1776, a Continental Navy Board, to assist the Marine Committee, was appointed; and in October, 1779, a Board of Admiralty was installed. Its Secretary (equivalent to our Secretary of the Navy) [page 382] was John Brown, until 1781, when he was succeeded by General McDougal. Robert Morris also acted as authorized Agent of Marine; and many privateers were fitted out by him on his own account. In November, 1776, Congress determined the relative rank of the naval commanders, such as admiral to be equal to a major-general on land: a commodore equal to a brigadier-general, &c. The first commander-in-chief of the navy, or high admiral, was Esek Hopkins, of Rhode Island, whom Congress commissioned as such in December, 1775. He first went against Dunmore [page 244] on the coast of Virginia. He also went to the Bahamas, and captured the town of New Providence and its governor. Sailing for home, he captured some British vessels off the east end of Long Island, and with these prizes, he went into Narraganset Bay. In the mean while, Paul Jones and Captain Barry were doing good service, and New England cruisers were greatly annoying English shipping on our coast. In 1777, Dr. Franklin, under the authority of Congress, issued commissions to naval officers in Europe. Expeditions were fitted out in French sca-ports, and these produced great alarm on the British coasts. ADMIRAL HOPKINS. While these things were occurring in European waters, Captains Biddle, Manly, M'Neil, Hinman, Barry, and others, were making many prizes on the American coasts. Finally, in the spring of 1779, an expedition was fitted out at L'Orient, under the auspices of the French and American governments. It consisted of five vessels under the command of John Paul Jones. They sailed first, in June, for the British waters, took a few prizes, and returned. They sailed again in August, and on the 23d of September, while off the coast of Scotland, not far above the mouth of the Humber, Jones, with his flag-ship (the Bonhomme Richard), and two others, fell in with and encountered a small British fleet, which was convoying a number of merchant vessels to the Baltic Sea, when the engagement took place which is described in the text. Congress gave Jones a gold medal for his bravery. Many other gallant acts were performed by American seamen, in the regular service and as privateers, during the remainder of the war. The "whaleboat warfare" on the coast, was also very interesting, and exhibited many a brave deed by those whose names are not recorded in history-men who belong to the great host of "unnamed demigods," who, in all ages, have given their services to swell the triumphs of leaders who, in real merit, have often been less deserving than themselves. For a condensed account of the whole naval operations of the Revolution, on the coast, see supplement to Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution. CHAPTER VII. SIXTH YEAR OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. [1780.] WHEN, on Christmas day, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton sailed for the South, with the main body of his army, he left the Hessian general, Knyphausen,' in command at New York. To aid the southern patriots, Washington sent thither the Baron De Kalb' and others the following spring [1780], and thus the two armies were so much weakened at head-quarters, that military operations at the North almost ceased during that year. The Carolinas became the chief theater of war, and many and bloody were the acts upon that stage. Invasions from without, and the cruelties of Tories' in their midst, made 1780 a year of great woe for the patriots and their families below the Roanoke, for they also suffered all the horrors of civil war. At no time, during the whole conflict, were the Tories, or adherents of the crown, more active throughout the whole country, than in 1780. They were the most inveterate enemies of the patriots, and the lead ers were in continual correspondence with each other, with the Their correspondence was carried on chiefly in cipher #V'S "E 7 49 would remain a secret. These characters sometimes varied, and CA it was a frequent occurrence for two persons to invent a cipher alphabet, for their own exclusive use. The engraving shows the alphabet of the cipher writing of some New York Tories. #za southern/L CIPHER ALPHABET. A fleet, under Admiral Arbuthnot, with two thousand marines, bore the forces of Sir Henry Clinton to the southern waters. After encountering heavy storms, they arrived on the coast of Georgia in January; and early in February [Feb. 10], turned northward, and proceeded to invest Charleston. Clinton's troops were landed [Feb. 11] upon the islands below the city, on the shores of the Edisto Inlet, thirty miles distant; but instead of marching at once to make an assault upon the town, the British commander prepared for a regular siege. General Lincoln was in Charleston with a feeble forces when Clinton landed; and he was about to evacuate the city and flee to the interior, when intelligence of the tardy plans of the British reached him. He then resolved to remain, and prepare for de 2 Page 316. Note 4, page 226. 1 Page 259. During a severe storm off Cape Hatteras, one vessel, carrying heavy battery cannons, was lost, and almost all the cavalry horses of Tarleton's legion, perished at sea. Tarleton supplied himself with others, soon after landing, by plundering the plantations near the coast. During the preceding winter, Lincoln's army had dwindled to a mere handful. The repulse at Savannah had so disheartened the people, that very few recruits could be obtained, and when Clinton arrived, Lincoln's army did not exceed fourteen hundred men in number. The finances of the State were in a wretched condition, and the Tories were everywhere active and hopeful. fense. John Rutledge,' the governor of South Carolina, was clothed with all the powers of an absolute dictator; and so nobly did the civil and military authorities labor for the public good, that when the invaders crossed the Ashley [March 29, 1780], and sat down before the American works on Charleston Neck,' the besieged felt strong enough to resist them. In the mean while, the intrenchments had been greatly strengthened, and works of defense had been cast up along the wharves, and at various points around the harbor. Fort Moultrie was strongly garrisoned, and Commodore Whipple was in command of GOVERNOR RUTLEDGE. a flotilla of small armed ships in the harbor. Abraham Whipple On the 25th of March, Admiral Arbuthnot crossed Charleston bar, drove Whipple's little fleet to the waters near the town, and cast anchor in Five John Rutledge was born in Ireland, and came to South Carolina when a child. He was one of the most active patriots of the South. After the war he was made a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and also chief justice of South Carolina. He died in the year 1800. 2 Note 1, page 296. Note 5, page 249. Abraham Whipple was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1733. His early life was spent chiefly upon the ocean, and, in later years, he was long engaged in the. merchant service. At the age of twenty-seven, he was commander of a privateer, and during a single cruise, in 1760, he took twenty-three French prizes. He was engaged in the destruction of the Gaspé, in 1772 [page 223]. In 1775, he was appointed to the command of vessels to drive Sir James Wallace from Narragan sett Bay. He was active in naval service until the fall of Charleston, when he was taken prisoner. |