CHAPTER XXI.PHILADELPHIA AND VALLEY FORGE IN WINTER, 1778.
Mr. Charles Stedman, who served on the staffs of Generals Howe, Clinton and Cornwallis, during the Revolutionary War, in an interesting historical narrative states that “the British army enlivened the dull times of their winter residence in Philadelphia, with the dance-house, the theatre, and the game of faro.” But it is equally true that this large license which relieved the monotony of garrison life, gradually aroused disgust and positive hatred on the part of the citizens of that city. No diversions in force against the American position, or their chief outposts, were possible, since the garrison must be alert for any sudden attack upon the city. The large number of wealthy royalist families had much to dread from the possible capture of their dwelling-place. Scouting parties from Washington’s army pressed so closely to the city limits, at times, that occasional efforts of small detachments to secure wood for fuel and cooking purposes, were admonished, that the limit of their picket-lines was their boundary of possession and safe enjoyment. Carriage drives and daily saddle exercise, which were favorite recreations, had to be abandoned. They were unsafe; as Washington’s cavalry, scouts and artillery needed all the horses that were not needed by the farmers for farm use.
The American army drilled daily, under the patient instruction of Baron Steuben, so far as they had clothing and shoes for that purpose; while their comrades sat down or laid themselves down by log fires and burning stumps, to avoid freezing to death.
Encampment at Valley Forge.
After the camp was fully established, and Washington had asserted his purpose to command, and allow no interference by civilians of whatever pretension, or by military men of whatever rank, the antagonism of the previous months gradually retired from public exhibition. It never drew breath from popular sympathy, and the soldiers regarded his censors as their enemies. And so it was, that in spite of sickness, wretchedness, inevitable desertions and frequent deaths, the soldiers were kept to duty, and acquired toughness and knowledge for future endeavor. A calm reliance upon the future, and a straightforward way of dealing with men and measures, were still vindicating the fitness of Washington for the supreme command.
To the demand of the British Government for the reasons of the inactivity of the British army, General Howe replied that, he “did not attack the intrenched position at Valley Forge, a strong point, during the severe season, although everything was prepared with that intention, judging it imprudent until the season should afford a prospect of reaping the advantages that ought to have resulted from success in that measure; but having good information in the spring that the enemy had strengthened the camp by additional works, and being certain of moving him from thence when the campaign should open, he dropped thought of attack.”
During the winter, a proposition for the invasion of Canada was again under consideration; and General Lafayette, with other officers, visited Albany and the northern army to see what arrangements were both available and desirable for that purpose. It was soon dropped; and was never fully favored by Washington.[7]
7. “Battles of the American Revolution,” p. 461.
7. “Battles of the American Revolution,” p. 461.
During January, Congress sent a committee to visit Valley Forge. As the result, Washington’s whole policy was indorsed and their support was pledged. Baron Steuben, recommended by the Commander-in-Chief, was confirmed as Major-General without a dissenting vote. Conway started for France early in April. The historical “Conway cabal” had lost its most unprincipled abettor. On the fourth of April, Congress authorized Washington to call upon Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, for five thousand additional militia. On the ninth, General Howe received his recall to England. On the tenth, Lafayette returned to camp. On the thirteenth, General McDougall accompanied Count Kosciusko to West Point, to perfect the fortifications at that post. On the fifteenth, Gates was placed in command at Peekskill.
When the spring opened at Valley Forge, the propositions of the many generals, respecting the approaching campaign, were as diverse and varied as the leafage of the forest. As the mind recalls the relations of these officers to earlier campaigns, it will be seen how essential to any real success was the presence of a strong-willed Commander-in-Chief. It is especially to be noticed, that men whose judgment had been accredited as uniformly conservative and yet energetic radically differed as to the immediate objective of army action. It settles beyond question the principle that the entire war, and the entire country, had to be made of paramount consideration, in the decision of any important movement.
Wayne, Patterson and Maxwell recommended an immediate attack upon Philadelphia. Knox, Poor, Varnum and Muhlenburg advised an attack upon New York, with four thousand regulars and Eastern militia, Washington in command; leaving Lee to command in Pennsylvania, while the main army should remain at Valley Forge.Stirling recommended operations against both Philadelphia and New York. Lafayette, Steuben and Du Portail expressed doubts as to makinganyaggressive movement whatever, until the army should be strengthened or the British unfold their plans. This wise suggestion was also the opinion of Washington.
On the seventh of May, the British ascended the Delaware and destroyed public stores at Bordentown. Maxwell and Dickenson had been sent across the river for the protection of these stores; but heavy rains delayed their march, and forty-four vessels, including several frigates on the stocks, were burned.
But the seventh day of May, 1778, was not a day of gloom at Valley Forge. Spring had fairly opened, and the forest began to don its new attire for a fresh summer campaign. At nine o’clock in the morning, the entire army was on parade, with drums beating, colors flying and salutes echoing among the hills. The brigades were steady in their ranks. No brilliant uniforms were conspicuous anywhere, and many had neither coats nor shoes. The pomp and circumstance of war were missing. There was no display of gold lace, or finery of any kind. Strongly marked faces and tough muscles showed the fixedness of purpose of these troops. But it was an occasion of rare interest. This American army was in line, for the reception of a visitor from over the sea. The visitor was a herald sent by Louis XVI., King of France, to announce to Washington and the American people that an armed alliance between France and the United States of America had been consummated. The French frigateLe Sensiblehad landed at Falmouth (Portland), Me., with this messenger, and the American army was drawn up in battle array to receive his message. The chaplain of each brigade proclaimed the treaty and read its terms. It was one of those occasions, not infrequent during thewar, and habitual to Washington throughout his mature life, when he had no way through which to express his deepest anxieties or profoundest sense of gratitude, other than that of communion with God. And now, the listening army was called upon to unite in one “grand thanksgiving to Almighty God that He had given to America this friend.” The scene that followed can never be described. It can only be imagined and felt. Huzzas for the King of France mingled with shouts for Washington, whose face, as described by one, “shone as did that of Moses, when he descended from the Mount.” Caps were tossed high in air. Hand-shaking, leaping, clapping of hands, and every homely sign of joy and confident expectation, followed. Washington had dismounted. He stood with folded arms—calm, serene, majestic, silent. For several moments the whole army stood, awaiting his action. He remounted his horse, and a single word to his assembled staff quickly ran through the lines—that the Commander-in-Chief proposed that all should speak together, by the soldier’s method, through powder. No matter if powder were scarce. Every cannon, wherever mounted about the long circuit of intrenchments, roared; and the hills carried the echoes to British headquarters. Throughout the lines of division and brigade, to the remotest picket post, a running fire at will closed with one grand volley; and then the camp of Valley Forge resumed the “business” of preparing for battle.
With the opening of the spring of 1778, General Howe also was moved to action. His winter supplies, as well as those procurable from the fleet and the city, had been expended. “The storehouses were empty.” Detachments, large and small, were sent to scour the country. To cut off and restrict these detachments, General Lafayette was intrusted with a special command of twenty-fourhundred men, and advanced to Barren Hill, about half the distance to Philadelphia. It also formed a corps of observation, and was the first independent command of that officer under his commission as Major-General. He was especially instructed to note signs of the evacuation of Philadelphia, which Washington regarded as a military necessity on the part of General Howe. The American Commander-in-Chief, although reticent of his own opinions, rarely failed to read other men accurately, and rightly read Lafayette. With singular enthusiasm, great purity of character, unswerving fidelity to obligation, and a thorough contempt for everything mean or dishonorable, this young French gentleman combined a keen sagacity, sound judgment, prompt execution, and an intense love for liberty.
Having taken position at Barren Hill, Lafayette at once introduced a system of communication with parties in the city of Philadelphia. He had with him fifty Indian scouts, and Captain McLean’s Light troops. A company of dragoons had also been ordered to join him. General Howe had been relieved from duty on the eleventh, by General Clinton; who signalized his accession to command by a series of brilliantfêtesin honor of his predecessor, on the eve of his departure for England. A regatta on the Delaware; a tournament on land; triumphal arches; decorated pavilions; mounted ladies, with their escorts in Turkish costume; slaves in fancy habits; knights, esquires, heralds, and every brilliant device, made the day memorable from earliest dawn until dark. And after dark, balls, illuminations both upon water and land, fireworks, wax-lights, flowers and fantastic drapery, cheered the night hours, “exhibiting,” as described by André himself, master of ceremonies, “acoup d’œil, beyond description magnificent.” The procession of knights and maidens was led by Major André and MissShippen, the beautiful daughter of one of the wealthiest royalists in Philadelphia. She long retained the title of the “belle of the Michianzafêtes.” She subsequently became the wife of General Arnold; and the incidents thus grouped show how felicitous was Clinton’s subsequent choice of André to negotiate with Arnold the exchange of West Point, for “gold and a brigadier-general’s commission in the British army.”
During the evening of this luxurious entertainment, and while at supper, General Clinton announced to his officers his intention to march at daybreak to Barren Hill, and bring back for their next evening’s guest, the distinguished French officer, Marquis de Lafayette. At four o’clock on the morning of the nineteenth, when the twenty hours of hilarity, adulation and extravagance closed, General Clinton, accompanied by Generals Grant, Gray, and Erskine, and five thousand picked troops, marched to capture Lafayette. General Gray crossed the Schuylkill with two thousand men to cut off Lafayette’s retreat, in case Clinton successfully attacked in front. Washington advanced sufficiently to observe the movement of General Gray, and signalled with cannon to Lafayette of his danger; but Lafayette, by occupying a stone church and other buildings, and showing false fronts of columns as if about to take the offensive, caused the advance column of Grant to halt for reënforcements; and then retired safely with the loss of but nine men. Lafayette gives an amusing account of portions of the skirmish: “When my Indian scouts suddenly confronted an equal number of British dragoons, the mutual surprise was such that both fled with equal haste.” The officers and men of Lafayette’s command were greatly elated by his conduct of the affair, especially as he was at one time threatened by a force more than twice that of his entire division; and the confidence thus acquired followed hisservice through the entire war. The congratulations of Washington were as cordial upon his return, as those of the officers of the Philadelphia garrison were chilling upon the return of Clinton, without Lafayette as prisoner.
On the same day, General Mifflin rejoined the army. In writing to Gouverneur Morris of New York, the American Commander-in-Chief, noticing the event, expresses his surprise “to find a certain gentleman who some time ago, when a heavy cloud hung over us and our affairs looked gloomy, was desirous of resigning, to be now stepping forward in the line of the army”; adding: “If he can reconcile such conduct to his own feelings as an officer, and a man of honor, and Congress have no objection to his leaving his seat in another department, I have nothing personally to oppose to it. Yet, I must think that gentleman’s stepping in, and out, as the sun happens to beam out, or become obscure, isn’t quite the thing, nor quite just, with respect to those officers who take the bitter with the sweet.”
By this time, the movements of shipping, and within the city, clearly indicated the design of the British to abandon Philadelphia without battle. A Council of War was convened on the twentieth, to hear reports upon the condition of the various American armies; and Generals Gates, Greene, Stirling, Mifflin, Lafayette, Armstrong, Steuben and de Kalb were present. The opinion was unanimous that the army should remain on the defensive, and await the action of the British commander. On the twentieth, also, General Lee rejoined the army. He had been exchanged on the twenty-first of April for Major-General Prescott, who had been captured five miles above Newport, R.I., on the night of July 20, 1777. Lee had been placed on his parole as early as the twenty-fifth of March, and he actually visited York, where Congress was in session, on the ninth of April.
The relations of Charles Lee to the war were as marked as were those of Arnold, except that Arnold rendered valuable service until he turned traitor. During the month of February, 1777, Lee secured permission from General Howe to write letters to Congress, urging that body to “send commissioners to confer confidentially concerning the national cause.” On the twenty-first of February, Congress declined to send such commissioners, as “altogether improper”; and they could “not perceive how compliance with his wish would tend to his advantage, or the interests of the public.” Letters were also written in March; and in one addressed to Washington on the fifth of April, 1777, Lee had written: “I think it a most unfortunate circumstance for myself, and I think no less so for the public, that the Congress have not thought proper to comply with my request. It could not possibly have been attended with any ill consequences, and might have been with good ones. At least, it was an indulgence which I thought my situation entitled me to. But I am unfortunate in everything, and this stroke is the severest I have ever experienced. God send you a different fate.” The answer of Washington was as follows: “I have received your letter of this date, and thank you, as I shall any officer, over whom I have the honor to be placed, for their opinions and advice in matters of importance; especially when they proceed from the fountain of candor, and not from a captious spirit, or an itch for criticism; ... and here, let me again assure you, that I shall always be happy to be in a free communication of your sentiments upon any important subject relative to the service, and only beg that they may come directly to myself. The custom which many officers have, of speaking freely of things, and reprobating measures which upon investigation may be found to be unavoidable, is never productiveof good; but often, of very mischievous consequences.”
During the year 1872 George H. Moore, of the New York Historical Society, brought to light a certain paper indorsed, “Mr. Lee’s Plan, 29th March, 1777,” which was found among the papers of the brothers Howe, British Commissioners at New York. Lee was at that date a prisoner of war, but at the same time a British officer who had been taken in rebellion to the British crown. This letter is noticed, in order to make more intelligible the subsequent relations of Lee to the American Commander-in-Chief. The following is an extract: “It appears to me, that by the continuance of the war, America has no chance of obtaining its ends. As I am not only persuaded, from the high opinion I have of the humanity and good sense of Lord and Admiral Howe, that the terms of accommodation will be as moderate as their powers will admit; but that their powers are more ample than their successor would be tasked with, I think myself not only justifiable, but bound in conscience, in furnishing ’em all the light I can, to enable ’em to bring matters to a conclusion in the most commodious manner. 1 know the most generous use will be made of it in all respects. Their humanity will incline ’em to have consideration for individuals who have acted from principle.” Then follow hypothetical data as to troops required on the part of Britain, and these passages: “If the Province of Maryland, or the greater part of it, is reduced, or submits, and the people of Virginia are prevented, or intimidated, from marching aid to the Pennsylvania army, the whole machine is divided, and a period put to the war; and if the plan is adopted in full, I am so confident of success, that I would stake my life on the same. Apprehensions from Carleton’s army will, I am confident, keep the New Englanders at home, or at least, confine’em to that side of the river. I would advise that four thousand men be immediately embarked in transports, one-half of which should proceed up the Potomac and take post at Alexandria, the other half up Chesapeake Bay and possess themselves of Annapolis.” The relations of various posts to the suggested movement, and the character of the German population of Pennsylvania who would be apprehensive of injury to their fine farms, were urged in favor of his “plan” for terminating the war on terms of “moderate accommodation.”
The reply of Washington to General Lee’s letter is a very distinct notice that he was advised of the letters written by him to Gates and others, derogatory of the action of his superior officer, the Commander-in-Chief.
The return of Lee to duty found the American army in readiness to bid its last farewell to the camp at Valley Forge; but the ordeals through which so many brave men passed, for their country’s sake, were hardly more severe than were those through which their beloved Commander-in-Chief passed into a clearer future, and the well-earned appreciation of mankind.