CHAPTER IV.ARMED AMERICA NEEDS A SOLDIER.
The Second Continental Congress convened on the tenth day of May, 1775. On the same day, Ethan Allen captured Ticonderoga, also securing two hundred cannon which were afterwards used in the siege of Boston. Prompt measures were at once taken by Congress for the purchase and manufacture of both cannon and powder. The emission of two millions of Spanish milled dollars was authorized, and twelve Colonies were pledged for the redemption of Bills of Credit, then directed to be issued. At the later, September, session, the Georgia delegates took their seats, and made the action of the Colonies unanimous.
A formal system of “Rules and Articles of War” was adopted, and provision was made for organizing a military force fully adequate to meet such additional troops as England might despatch to the support of General Gage. Further than this, all proposed enforcement by the British crown of the offensive Acts of Parliament, was declared to be “unconstitutional, oppressive, and cruel.”
Meanwhile, the various New England armies were scattered in separate groups, or cantonments, about the City of Boston, with all the daily incidents of petty warfare which attach to opposing armies within striking distance, when battle action has not yet reached its desirable opportunity. And yet, a state of war had been so farrecognized that an exchange of prisoners was effected as early as the sixth day of June. General Howe made the first move toward open hostilities by a tender of pardon to all offenders against the Crown except Samuel Adams and John Hancock; and followed up this ostentatious and absurd proclamation by a formal declaration of Martial Law.
The Continental Congress as promptly responded, by adopting the militia about Boston, as “The American Continental Army.”
On the fourteenth day of June, a Light Infantry organization of expert riflemen was authorized, and its companies were assigned to various Colonies for enlistment and immediate detail for service about Boston.
On the fifteenth day of June, 1775, Congress authorized the appointment, and then appointed George Washington, of Virginia, as “Commander-in-Chief of the forces raised, or to be raised, in defence of American Liberties.” On presenting their commission to Washington it was accompanied by a copy of a Resolution unanimously adopted by that body, “That they would maintain and assist him, and adhere to him, with their lives and fortunes, in the cause of American Liberty.”
It is certain from the events above outlined, which preceded the Revolutionary struggle, that when Washington received this spontaneous and unanimous appointment, he understood definitely that the Colonies were substantially united in the prosecution of war, at whatever cost of men and money; that military men of early service and large experience could be placed in the field; that the cause was one of intrinsic right; and that the best intellects, as well as the most patriotic statesmen, of all sections, were ready, unreservedly, to submit their destinies to the fate of the impending struggle. He had been upon committees on the State of Public Affairs; wasconstantly consulted as to developments, at home and abroad; was familiar with the dissensions among British statesmen; and had substantial reasons for that sublime faith in ultimate victory which never for one hour failed him in the darkness of the protracted struggle. He also understood that not statesmen alone, preëminently Lord Dartmouth, but the best soldiers of Great Britain had regarded the military occupation of Boston, where the Revolutionary sentiment was most pronounced, and the population more dense as well as more enlightened, to be a grave military as well as political error. And yet, as the issue had been forced, it must be met as proffered; and the one immediate and paramount objective must be the expulsion of the British garrison and the deliverance of Boston. It will appear, however, as the narrative develops its incidents, that he never lost sight of the exposed sea-coast cities to the southward, nor of that royalist element which so largely controlled certain aristocratic portions of New York, New Jersey, and the southern cities, which largely depended upon trade with Great Britain and the West Indies for their independent fortunes and their right royal style of living. Neither did he fail to realize that delay in the siege of Boston, however unavoidable, was dangerous to the rapid prosecution of general war upon a truly military plan of speedy accomplishment.
His first duty was therefore with his immediate command, and the hour had arrived for the consolidation of the various Colonial armies into one compact, disciplined, and effective force, to battle with the best troops of Great Britain which now garrisoned Boston and controlled its waters.
Reënforcements under Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne had already increased the strength of that garrison to nearly ten thousand men. It had become impatient ofconfinement, and restive under the presence of increasing but ill-armed adversaries who eagerly challenged every picket post, and begrudged every market product smuggled, or snatched, by the purveyors or officers and soldiers of the Crown. Besides all this, the garrison began to realize the fate which afterwards befell that of Clinton in Philadelphia, in the demoralization and loss of discipline which ever attach to an idle army when enclosed within city limits. When Burgoyne landed at Boston, to support Gage, he contemptuously spoke of “ten thousandpeasantswho kept the King’s troops shut up.” Gradually, thepeasantsencroached upon the outposts. An offensive movement to occupy Charlestown Heights and menace the Colonial headquarters at Cambridge, with a view to more decisive action against their maturing strength, had been planned and was ready for execution. It was postponed, as of easy accomplishment at leisure; but the breaking morning of June 17, 1775, revealed the same Heights to be in possession of the “peasant” militia of America.
The Battle of Bunker Hill followed. Each force engaged lost one-third of its numbers, but the aggregate of the British loss was more than double that of the Colonies. It made a plain issue between the Colonists and the British army, and was no longer a controversy of citizens with the civil authority. The impatience of the two armies to have a fight had been gratified, and when Franklin was advised of the facts, and of the nerve with which so small a detachment of American militia had faced and almost vanquished three times their number of British veterans, he exclaimed, “The King has lost his Colonies.”
Many of the officers who bore part in that determining action gained new laurels in later years. Prescott, who led his thousand men to that achievement, served withno less gallantry in New York. Stark, so plucky and persistent along the Mystic river, was afterwards as brave and dashing at Trenton, Bennington, and Springfield. And Seth Warner, a volunteer at Bunker Hill, and comrade of Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga, participated in the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington, and the Saratoga campaign, during the invasion of Burgoyne in 1777.
Of the British participants, or spectators, a word is due. Clinton, destined to be Washington’s chief antagonist, had urged General Howe to attack Washington’s army at Cambridge, before it could mature into a well equipped and well disciplined force. He was overruled by General Howe, who with all his scientific qualities as a soldier, never, in his entire military career, was quick to follow up an advantage once acquired; and soon after, the junior officer was transferred to another field of service.
Percy, gallant in the action of June 17th, was destined to serve with credit at Long Island, White Plains, Brandywine, and Newport.
Rawdon, then a lieutenant, who gallantly stormed the redoubt on Breed’s Hill, and received in his arms the body of his captain, Harris, of the British 5th Infantry, was destined to win reputation at Camden and Hobkirk’s Hill, but close his military career in America as a prisoner of war to the French.
The British retained and fortified Bunker Hill, and the time had arrived for more systematic American operations, and the presence of the Commander-in-Chief.
Congress had appointed the following general officers as Washington’s associates in conduct of the war.
Some of these have been already noticed.
Artemas Ward.
Charles Lee, a retired officer of the British Army, a military adventurer under many flags, a resident of Virginia, an acquaintance of Washington, and ambitious to be first in command.
Philip Schuyler, then a member of Congress; a man of rare excellence of character, who had served in the French and Indian War, and took part in Abercrombie’s Ticonderoga campaign.
Israel Putnam.
Seth Pomeroy.
Richard Montgomery, who served gallantly under Wolfe before Quebec, in 1759, and in the West Indies, in 1762.
David Wooster.
William Heath, who, previous to the war, was a vigorous writer upon the necessity of military discipline and a thoroughly organized militia.
Joseph Spencer, of Connecticut, also a soldier of the French and Indian War, both as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel.
John Thomas, also a soldier of the French and Indian War, and in command of a regiment at Cambridge, recruited by himself.
John Sullivan, a lawyer of New Hampshire, of Irish blood; a member of the First Continental Congress, and quick in sympathy with the first movement for armed resistance to British rule.
Nathaniel Greene, already in command of the Rhode Island troops.
Congress had also selected as Adjutant-General of the Army,Horatio Gates, of Virginia, who, like Lee, had served in the British regular army; commanded a company in the Braddock campaign, and gained some creditfor bravery at the capture of Martinique, in the West Indies. He was also known to Washington, and shared with Lee in aspiration to the chief command.
If Washington had possessed prophetic vision, even his sublime faith might have wavered in view of that unfolding future which would leave none of these general officers by his side at the last conflict of the opening war.
Ward, somewhat feeble in body, would prove unequal to active service; lack the military acuteness and discernment which the crisis would demand, and retire from view with the occupation of Boston.
Lee, so like Arnold in volcanic temper, would be early detached for other service, in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina; would become a prisoner of war at New York; would propose to the British authorities a plan for destroying the American army; would escape execution as a British deserter, on exchange; and afterwards, at the Battle of Monmouth, so nearly realize his suggestion to General Howe, as to show that his habitual abuse of Congress and his jealousy of his Commander-in-Chief were insufficiently atoned for by dismissal from the army, and the privilege of dying in his own bed, unhonored and unlamented.
Schuyler, devoted to his country, with rare qualities as a gentleman and with a polish of manner and elegance of carriage that for the time made him severely unpopular with the staid stock of New England, would serve with credit in Canada; organize the army which Gates would command at Saratoga; be supplanted by that officer; retire from service because of poor health; but ever prove worthy of the confidence and love of his commander-in-chief. Of him, Chief Justice Kent would draw a pen-picture of “unselfish devotion, wonderful energy, and executive ability.” Of him, Daniel Webster would speak, in an august presence, in these terms: “Iwas brought up with New England prejudices against him; but I consider him second only to Washington in the service he rendered to his country in the War of the Revolution.”
Putnam, who had been conspicuously useful at Bunker Hill, would, because of Greene’s illness, suddenly succeed that officer in command on Long Island, without previous knowledge of the works and the surrounding country; would, feebly and without system, attempt to defend the lines against Howe’s advance; would serve elsewhere, trusted indeed, but without battle command, and be remembered as a brave soldier and a good citizen, but, as a general officer, unequal to the emergencies of field service.
Pomeroy, brave at Bunker Hill, realizing the responsibilities attending the consolidation of the army for active campaign duty, would decline the proffered commission.
Montgomery, would accompany Schuyler to Canada, full of high hope, and yet discover in the assembled militia such utter want of discipline and preparation to meet British veterans, as to withhold his resignation only when his Commander-in-Chief pleaded his own greater disappointments before Cambridge.
The perspective-glass will catch its final glimpse of Montgomery, when, after the last bold dash of his life, under the walls of Quebec, his body is borne to the grave and buried with military honors, by his old comrade in arms, Sir Guy Carleton, the British general in command.
Wooster, then sixty-four years of age, would join Montgomery at Montreal; waive his Connecticut rank; serve under his gallant leader; be recalled from service because unequal to the duties of active command; would prove faithful and noble wherever he served, and fall,defending the soil of his native State from Tryon’s invasion, in 1777.
Heath, would supplement his service on the Massachusetts Committee of Safety by efficient duty at New York, White Plains, and along the Hudson, ever true as patriot and soldier; but fail to realize in active service that discipline of men and that perception of the value of campaign experience which had prompted his literary efforts before he faced an enemy in battle.
Spencer, would discharge many trusts early in the war, with fidelity, but without signal ability or success, and transfer his sphere of patriotic duty to the halls of Congress.
Thomas, would prove efficient in the siege of Boston, and serve in Canada.
Sullivan, would also enter Canada; become a prisoner of war at Long Island; be with Washington at White Plains; succeed to the command of Lee’s division after the capture of that officer; distinguish himself at Trenton; serve at Brandywine; do gallant service at Germantown; attempt the capture of Staten Island and of Newport; chastise the Indians of New York, and resign, to take a seat in Congress.
Greene, would attend his chief in the siege of Boston; fortify Brooklyn Heights; engage in operations about Forts Washington and Lee; take part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Newport, and Springfield; would then succeed Gates at the south, fight the battles of Guilford Court-House, Hobkirk Hill, and Eutaw Springs, and close his life in Georgia, the adopted home of his declining years.
But, during the midsummer of 1775, the beleaguered City of Boston, astounded by the stolid and bloody resistance to its guardian garrison, began to measure the costof loyalty to the King, in preference to loyalty to country and duty; while the enclosed patriots began to assure themselves that deliverance was drawing near. Burgoyne, after watching the battle from Copp’s Hill, in writing to England of this “great catastrophe,” prepared the Crown for that large demand for troops upon which he afterwards conditioned his acceptance of a command in America.
The days of waiting for a distinct battle-issue had been fulfilled. The days of waiting for the consolidation of the armies about Boston, under one competent guide and master, also passed. Washington had left Philadelphia and was journeying toward Cambridge.
WASHINGTON AT FOUR PERIODS OF HIS MILITARY CAREER.[Etching from H. H. Hall’s Sons’ engraving.]
WASHINGTON AT FOUR PERIODS OF HIS MILITARY CAREER.[Etching from H. H. Hall’s Sons’ engraving.]
WASHINGTON AT FOUR PERIODS OF HIS MILITARY CAREER.[Etching from H. H. Hall’s Sons’ engraving.]