CHAP. ent roads in the direction of Scotch Plains. About June 26. XX. eight o'clock, Maxwell, who commanded an ad1777. vanced detachment, withdrew without loss. A brief hour later, Cornwallis came upon Stirling's division, in which Conway and other French officers served as volunteers. It was posted on a cleared hill in front of a forest, with six small field-pieces. Stirling, who was a brave man, but no tactician, saw fit to await an attack. His artillery began to play at the distance of a thousand yards, and his musketry fired before the British were within range. Cornwallis planted two twelve-pounders and some sixpounders on his own left to annoy Stirling's right, while Minnigerode, moving a battalion of Hessian grenadiers obliquely, turned his position and attacked his left flank. As the Hessian grenadiers came on, the Americans gave a nervous fire from a distance, and fled. The Hessians captured two brass threepounders, which had lately arrived from France; a third was taken by the first battalion of guards. Cornwallis lost about seventy men, of whom more than half were Hessians. The Americans lost, including prisoners, full twice that number. The party of Stirling was chased as far as Westfield with little effect; there the heat of the day and the fatigue of his men compelled Cornwallis to give up the pursuit. The column which Howe accompanied accomplished nothing; Washington had retired to the heights of Middlebrook. 27, 28. 30. In the two next days the British troops returned through Rahway to Amboy, and were rapidly transferred to Staten Island; on the thirtieth, Howe evacuated New Jersey, never again to step his foot XX. 1777. on its soil. A great victory on the part of the CHAP. Americans would not have given a deadlier blow to British supremacy. As at Boston the refugees June sailed away with the army, so now Jersey men who had accepted the protection of the British king flocked to Staten Island. 30. 4. In Philadelphia toryism had stalked abroad fear- July lessly, and in May a clergyman had publicly read prayers for the king; the nearness of danger now effected a coalition of parties; the unexpectedly spirited manner in which the militia of Pennsylvania turned out, gave a shock to the enemy; and the American congress could celebrate the first anniversary of independence with a feeling of security and triumph. The bells rung all day and all the evening; the ships and row-galleys and boats showed the flag of the nation; at one o'clock, the ships in the stream were manned. At three, there was a dinner attended by the members of congress and officers of the government of Pennsylvania; "Our country" was on the lips of every one; "the heroes who have fallen" were commemorated; the landgrave of Hesse's band, captured at Trenton, played excellent music. Afterwards there were military parades, and at night, bonfires, fireworks, and a general illumination. All the while, Howe was getting in readiness for a voyage, and shipping his army, amidst the halfsuppressed murmurs of his officers, whose chagrin was soon sharpened by the success of a daring adventure. Prescott, the commander of the British forces on Rhode Island, had his quarters at a lonely farm-house about four miles from Newport, on the July 10. CHAP. west side of the island, a mile from any troops, with XX. no patrols, along the shore, and no protection but 1777. a sentry and the guard-ship in the bay. Hearing of this, William Barton, a native of Warren, then a colonel in the American army, embarked a party at Providence in two whale-boats, hid them during the day at Warwick, and on the night following the ninth of July, after the young moon had gone down, steered between the islands of Patience and Prudence, and landed at Redwood creek. Coming up across fields, they surrounded Prescott's house, at once burst open all the doors, took him and Lieutenant Barrington out of their beds, hurried them to the water without giving them time to put on their clothes, and, while men from the several camps were searching for their tracks on the shore, they passed under the stern of the guardship, which lay against Hope island, and carried their captives to Providence. The rank of Prescott was equal to that of Lee, and Washington promptly invited an exchange. CHAPTER XXI. THE ADVANCE OF BURGOYNE FROM CANADA. MAY-JULY 7, 1777. XXI. "THIS campaign will end the war," was the opin- CHAP. ion given by Riedesel; and through Lord Suffolk he solicited the continued favor of the British king, who 1777. was in his eyes "the adoration of all the universe." Flushed with expectations of victory and glory, Carleton employed the unusually mild Canadian winter in preparations. On the last day of April he gave audience to the deputies of the Six Nations, and accepted their services with thanks and gifts. Other large bodies of Indians were engaged, under leaders of their own approval. "Wretched colonies!" said the Brunswick major-general, " if these wild souls are indulged in war." To secure the Mohawks to the British side, Joseph Brant, their young chief, urged them to abandon their old abode for lands more remote from American settlements. To counteract his authority, Gates, near the end of May, thus spoke to a council of warriors of the Six Nations: XXI. CHAP. "Brothers: the United States are now one people; suffer not any evil spirit to lead you into war. 1777. Brothers of the Mohawks! you will be no more a people from the time you quit your ancient habitations; if there is any wretch so bad as to think of prevailing upon you to leave the sweet stream so beloved by your forefathers, he is unworthy to be called a Mohawk; he is your bitterest enemy. Before many moons pass away, the pride of England will be laid low; then, when your American brothers have no enemy to contend with, how happy will it make you to reflect that you have preserved the neutrality so earnestly recommended to you from the beginning of the war. Brothers of the Six Nations: the Americans well know your great fame and power as warriors; the only reason why they did not ask your help against the cruelty of the king was, that they thought it ungenerous to desire you to suffer in a quarrel in which you had no concern. Brothers: treasure all I have now said in your hearts; for the day will come when you will hold my memory in veneration for the good advice contained in this speech." 1 The settlers in the land which this year took the name of Vermont, refused by a great majority to come under the jurisdiction of New York; on the fifteenth of January, 1777, their convention declared the independence of their state. At Windsor, on the second of June, they appointed a committee to prepare a constitution; and they hoped to be received as a new member of the Union. But as New York 1 From the MSS. of Gates in the collections of the New York Historical Society. |