CHAPTER XC.
1776.
Dunmore on Gwynn's Island—Driven thence by General Lewis—Dunmore retires from Virginia—Affairs at Boston—Canada invaded—Howe evacuates Boston—Battles of Long Island and White Plains—Fort Washington captured—Washington retreats—Enemy defeated at Trenton and Princeton—Death of Mercer.
Dunmore, pressed for provisions, burnt his entrenchments, near the smouldering ruins of Norfolk, and sought refuge on board of his fleet. General Charles Lee devised energetic means for curbing the disaffected in the lower country; and his orders were carried into effect by Colonel Woodford, whose vigor was tempered with humanity. Dunmore with his fleet left Hampton Roads about the first of June, and entrenched himself with five hundred men, including many runaway negroes, on Gwynn's Island, in the Chesapeake, to the east of Matthews County, and separated from it by a strait.[664:A]
In the evening of July the eighth, General Andrew Lewis, with Colonel Adam Stephen, reached the camp before Gwynn's Island, and during the night a battery was erected. Next morning the enemy's fleet lying within range, the embrasures were unmasked, and a fire opened upon the Dunmore. This ship, after firing a few guns, cut her cables and retreated, towed off by boats, two batteries playing on her. She was damaged, her cabin shattered, and some men killed. Lord Dunmore himself was wounded in the leg by a splinter, and had his china-ware smashed about him, and exclaimed, as was reported: "Good God, that ever I should come to this!" The other vessels did not escape with impunity, and all retired in confusion to a safe distance. The guns of the batteries were now turned upon the enemy's camp, the shot crossing each other in the centre of it, and the troops were dislodged. On the next morning Lewis, with the aid of some canoes, captured two small armed vessels, and some of his men landing on the island, the look-outs ran exclaiming, "the Shirt-men are coming!" a panic seized Dunmore's men, so that they precipitately evacuated the island, (before two hundred and fifty of the Provincials could be landed on the island,) and the boats of the fleet, consisting of eighty sail, took them on board. They left valuable stores behind, and burnt some vessels. The inhabitants reported that Dunmore had recently received a re-enforcement of one hundred and fifty tories from Maryland, and some cattle. Part of these last fell into Lewis's hands. A detachment was sent to protect the people on the Potomac. Numerous half-covered graves on the island gave proof of the fatality of the place, and the bodies of negroes were found lying unburied. The small-pox was left as a legacy to the island. Among the graves was one neatly done up with turf, which was supposed to cover the remains of Lord Gosport, who had recently died. Ovens, newly erected, and a windmill commenced, made it evident that Lord Dunmore had contemplated a longer stay there. It was reported that he was sick. The negroes, horses, cattle, and furniture of Mr. John Grymes, a tory, fell into possession of the Provincials. Major Byrd, who was sick, upon their approach was conveyed to Cherry Point in a cart, and embarked there. Dunmore shortly afterwards, despatching the remnant of his followers to Florida and the West Indies, retired to the North, and thence returned to England, where he continued to exhibit himself an untiring opponent of America. He entertained hospitably in London the Virginia refugee loyalists Randolph, Grymes, Brockenbrough, Beverley, Wormley, Corbin, and others. Lord Dunmore was appointed (1786) Governor of Bermuda, and died in 1809.
On the 3d of July, 1775, Washington had assumed the command of the American army, encamped near Boston, and had made his headquarters at Cambridge. His first business was to organize, equip, and discipline his force. The British army, blocked up on the land side, remained inactive in Boston, finding itself, although strongly re-enforced, gradually hemmed in and besieged.
In the mean time, in pursuance of the Quebec act, a Canadian force having been marched into the colonies, and it being the manifest design of the enemy to bring down the savages upon the frontier, a detachment was sent to invade Canada. Marching under command of Montgomery, they crossed Lake Champlain, and laid siege to Fort St. Johns, the key to Canada, strengthened by Carleton, the ablest of the British generals, and strongly garrisoned. During this siege a detachment, penetrating further into the country, captured Fort Chamblee, between St. Johns and Montreal. Carleton, marching to the relief of St. Johns, was met and defeated. St. Johns, after a siege of forty-seven days, in a rigorous season, and in a low and wet ground, where the besiegers slept on piles of brush, covered over with weeds, to keep out of the water, surrendered. November the thirteenth Montreal capitulated to the gallant Irishman, General Montgomery. Arnold, accompanied by Morgan and Greene, rubbing through exposure, hardship, and privation, made his way into Canada by the Kennebec and Chaudière Rivers, and was about to unite his forces with Montgomery's. At this time it appeared as if the whole of Canada would probably soon be reduced, and it was confidently expected that Canadian delegates would shortly appear in congress, and complete the union of fourteen colonies. This brilliant prospect was soon overcast; Montgomery fell in a daring but unsuccessful attack upon Quebec. Re-enforcements of American troops were sent to Canada, but owing to their insufficiency in number and in discipline, the rigor of the climate, and the energy of Carleton, the British commander, the expedition eventually proved fruitless in effecting a conquest; and it was found necessary to evacuate that country. While these reverses occurred by land, it was observed with satisfaction that the colonies abounded in materials and resources requisite for building up a naval force; and in some of the colonies vessels were arming. Richard Henry Lee, in a letter to Mrs. McCauley, of England, compared America on the sea, in that year, to "Hercules in his cradle." The American navy was indeed "nursed in the whirlwind and cradled in the storm."
The British army at Boston, admonished by the scenes of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker's Hill, and finding their position more and more restricted by Washington's lines of fortification, remained in gloomy inaction until March, 1776, when Sir William Howe, who had succeeded General Gage, evacuated that city, and sailed with the troops and many unhappy tory refugees to Halifax.
The American army proceeded to New York. Early in July, 1776, Sir William Howe with his army landed on Staten Island. The commander of the fleet was Lord Howe, brother of Sir William, and these two were constituted commissioners for restoring peace. In the battle of Long Island, which occurred on the twenty-seventh of August, the American army, inferior in number, and without cavalry, fought confusedly and badly, and was defeated with heavy loss, variously estimated. Among the prisoners was Major-General Sullivan. The enemy's loss was by no means inconsiderable. From the commencement of the battle on the morning of the twenty-seventh till the morning of the twenty-ninth, Washington never slept, and was almost incessantly on horseback. The disastrous result of this action cast a gloom over the cause of independence, elated disaffection, and damped the ardor of the American troops. The militia in large numbers quit the camp and went home; and Washington was obliged to confess his "want of confidence in the generality of the troops." He urged upon congress the necessity of a permanent army. On the fifteenth of September he was compelled to evacuate New York, with the loss of his heavy artillery and a large part of his stores, and General Howe took possession of the city.
In a skirmish on Haerlem Heights, a detachment of the third Virginia regiment, which had arrived on the preceding day, formed the advanced party in the attack, and Major Leitch, while intrepidly leading them on, fell mortally wounded.
In accordance with Washington's solicitation congress made arrangements to put the army on a better footing. To obviate the movements of the enemy he moved his forces up the Hudson River. On the twenty-fifth of October the battle of White Plains took place, warmly contested, with equal loss, and without decisive result. In November Fort Washington, on the Hudson, was stormed by the British, and the garrison, consisting of twenty-six hundred men, were made prisoners. Washington is said to have shed tears on occasion of this disaster. The enemy's loss was eight hundred. Early in December Washington, finding his army sadly reduced, retreated across Jersey. They were pursued by a British army, numerous, well-appointed, and victorious. At this conjuncture Major-General Lee was surprised and made prisoner—as is now believed—by collusion with the enemy.[668:A] The reanimated spirit of disaffection rendered the American cause still more hopeless. December the twentieth, Washington's army on the west bank of the Delaware, augmented by re-enforcements, amounted to seven thousand effectives; but in a few days all of them, except about fifteen hundred men, were to be discharged upon the expiration of the term of enlistment. Washington became convinced that some bold enterprise was necessary to rekindle the patriotic spirit, and listening to the advice of those about him, resolved to strike at the posts of the enemy, who had retired securely into winter quarters. Crossing the Delaware, a few miles above Trenton, in a night of extreme cold, amid floating ice, he early on the morning of the twenty-six surprised there a body of Hessians, and made one thousand prisoners. Lieutenant Monroe, afterwards president, was wounded in this affair. Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, of Virginia, aid of the commander-in-chief, carrying the intelligence of this success to congress, was presented with a horse caparisoned for service, and was recommended for promotion. Near Princeton another corps was routed with heavy loss; but the joy of the Americans was mingled with grief for the loss of General Mercer.
Hugh Mercer, a native of Scotland, having been graduated in the medical profession, was present, in the capacity of assistant surgeon, at the battle of Flodden, on the side of the vanquished. Escaping, he came to America, and settled at Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where he married, and successfully pursued his profession. During the French and Indian war of 1755 he was a captain under Washington. In an engagement, being wounded in the wrist by a musket ball, separated from his comrades, and faint with loss of blood, he was closely pursued by the savage foe, whose war-whoop rang through the surrounding forests. Concealing himself in the hollow trunk of a giant tree, he narrowly escaped. After a journey of more than one hundred miles through an untrodden wilderness, and supporting life on roots and the body of a rattlesnake, he finally reached Fort Cumberland. For his gallant conduct the City of Philadelphia presented him an honorary medal. In 1775 he was in command of three regiments of minute-men, and in 1776 a colonel of the Virginia troops, and rendered important services in drilling and organizing the new levies. In quelling a mutiny in a company of riflemen called, ironically, "Gibson's Lambs," at Williamsburg, whom he disarmed, he displayed that intrepidity and decision for which he was so distinguished. During the same year, being made a brigadier-general in the continental army, he exhibited signal courage and energy throughout a disastrous campaign. On the 3d day of January, 1777, this excellent officer, leading the van of Washington's army, encountered, about sunrise, near Princeton, three British regiments, and while rallying his troops his horse was shot from under him, and he fell dangerously wounded, and died shortly afterwards in a small house near the scene of the encounter. He was attended by Major George Lewis, a nephew of General Washington, who had sent him to perform that duty, and by Dr. Rush.
The death of General Mercer forms the subject of a picture long familiar to the students of the college of New Jersey. He lies buried in Christ Church, Philadelphia.
FOOTNOTES:
[664:A] There is a tradition that Pocahontas, in swimming across the Pyanketank, was near being drowned, and was rescued by one of the colonists, who received from her, or her father, this island as a reward.
[668:A] George H. Moore, Esq., librarian of the New York Historical Society, is preparing an interesting memoir on the subject of General Lee's treasonable conduct.
