Events of 1778 and 1779.
IN November of 1776 Silas Deane, of Connecticut, was appointed commissioner to France. His first service was to make a secret arrangement to supply the Americans with materials for carrying on the war. In the autumn of 1777 a ship, laden with two hundred thousand dollars' worth of arms, ammunition, and specie, was sent to America.
Negotiations with France.
2. Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin were also appointed by Congress to negotiate a treaty with the French king. In December of 1776 they reached Paris and began their duties. For a long time King Louis and his minister stood aloof from the proposed alliance. They hated Great Britain, and gave secret encouragement to the colonies; but an open treaty with the Americans was equivalent to a war with England, and that the French court dreaded.
3. Now it was, that the genius of Dr. Franklin shone with a peculiar luster. At the gay court of Louis XVI. he stood as the representative of his country. His wit and genial humor made him admired; his talents and courtesy commanded respect; his patience and perseverance gave him final success. During the whole of 1777 he remained at Paris and Versailles. At last came the news of Burgoyne's surrender. A powerful British army had been subdued by the colonists without aid from abroad. This success induced the king to accept the proposed alliance with the colonies. On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty was concluded; France acknowledged the independence of the United States, and entered into relations of friendship with the new nation.
Benjamin Franklin.
4. Benjamin Franklin, the author of the first treaty between the United States and a foreign nation, was born in Boston, on the 17th of January, 1706. His father was a manufacturer of soap and candles. At the age of twelve, Benjamin was apprenticed to his brother to learn the art of printing. In 1723 he went to Philadelphia, entered a printing-office, and rose to distinction. He visited England; returned; founded the first circulating library in America; edited Poor Richard's Almanac; discovered the identity of electricity and lightning; espoused the patriot cause; and devoted his old age to perfecting the American Union. The name of Franklin is one of the brightest in history.
Benjamin Franklin.
D'Estaing's French Fleet.
5. In May of 1778 Congress ratified the treaty with France. A month previously a French fleet, under Count d'Estaing, had been sent to America. Both France and Great Britain immediately prepared for war. George III. now became willing to treat with his American subjects. Lord North brought forward two bills in which everything the colonists had claimed was conceded. The bills were passed by Parliament, and the king assented. Commissioners were sent to America; but Congress informed them that nothing but an acknowledgment of the independence of the United States would now be accepted.
British Evacuate Philadelphia.
6. The British army remained at Philadelphia until June of 1778. The fleet of Admiral Howe lay in the Delaware. When the rumor came that the fleet of D'Estaing was approaching, the English admiral set sail for New York. On the 18th of June the British army evacuated Philadelphia and retreated across New Jersey. Washington occupied the city, and followed the retreating foe. At Monmouth the British were overtaken. On the morning of the 28th General Lee was ordered to attack the enemy. The American cavalry under La Fayette was driven back by Cornwallis. Lee ordered his line to retire to a stronger position; but the troops mistook the order and began a retreat. Washington met the fugitives and administered a severe rebuke to Lee. The fight continued until nightfall, and Washington anxiously waited for the morning. During the night, however, Clinton withdrew his forces and escaped.
Washington and Lee.
7. The loss of the Americans was two hundred and twenty-seven. The British left nearly three hundred dead on the field. On the day after the battle Washington received an insulting letter from Lee demanding an apology. Washington replied that his language had been warranted by the circumstances. Lee answered in a still more offensive manner, and was thereupon arrested, tried by a court-martial, and dismissed from his command for twelve months. He never reentered the service, and did not live to see his country's independence. The British forces were now concentrated at New York. Washington took up his headquarters at White Plains. D'Estaing repaired to Boston. Howe returned to New York.
Massacre of Wyoming.
8. The command of the British naval forces was now transferred to Admiral Byron. Early in October a band of incendiaries, led by Colonel Ferguson, burned the American ships at Little Egg Harbor. In the preceding July, Major John Butler, in command of sixteen hundred royalists, Canadians, and Indians, marched into the valley of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. The settlement was defenceless. On the approach of the tories and savages, a few militia, old men, and boys, rallied to protect their homes. A battle was fought, and the patriots were routed. The fugitives fled to a fort, which was crowded with women and children. Honorable terms were promised by Butler, and the garrison capitulated. On the 5th of July the gates were opened and the barbarians entered. Immediately they began to plunder and butcher. Nearly all the prisoners fell under the hatchet and the scalping-knife.
Massacre at Cherry Valley.
9. In November there was a similar massacre at Cherry Valley, New York. The invaders were led by Joseph Brandt, chief of the Mohawks, and Walter Butler, a son of Major John Butler. The people of Cherry Valley were driven from their homes; women and children were tomahawked and scalped; and forty prisoners dragged into captivity. To avenge these outrages, an expedition was sent against the savages on the Susquehanna; and they were made to feel the terrors of war.
George Rogers Clark in the West.
10. In the spring of 1778, Major George Rogers Clark, who three years previously had descended the Ohio River with a single companion, from Pittsburgh to the Falls of the Ohio, organized an expedition against the British posts on the Wabash and Mississippi rivers. All the country northwest of the river Ohio was at this time under British authority, but the scattered white inhabitants were nearly all French. The most important post was the town of Vincennes, in what was afterwards the Territory of Indiana. Major Clark gathered his forces on Corn Island, in the Ohio, between the present cities of Louisville and Jeffersonville. The regiment was made up of backwoods militiamen and hunters from Kentucky and the Upper Ohio Valley.
Attack on Vincennes.
11. Major Clark first descended the Ohio to a suitable point, and landed in what was afterwards the Territory of Illinois. From this point he marched across the country to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, where, on the 4th of July, 1778, he surprised and captured the town of Kaskaskia from the British. Here he divided his forces, and sent one division against the British post of Cahokia, opposite St. Louis. This place also was surprised and taken. Soon afterwards the French inhabitants of Vincennes rose against the British garrison, and took possession of the town. But Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, came down later in the year, and the British authority was restored.
The Capture of Vincennes.
12. Hearing of this event, Major Clark collected his forces at Kaskaskia, and in the beginning of 1779 marched against Vincennes. At the same time he sent part of his forces by water, bearing a few small cannon in a boat around by the Ohio and up the Wabash, to a point below Vincennes. At this time the lower Illinois country was covered with water, and Major Clark's campaign was attended with the greatest hardships. On the 18th of February, however, he gained a position on the Indiana side of the Wabash, and made an attack on Vincennes. By skillful maneuvering he deceived the British commander, and on the 24th of the month compelled him to surrender. Thus was the great territory northwest of the River Ohio recovered from the British, and secured for the United States.
The British take Savannah.
13. On the 3d of November, Count d'Estaing's fleet sailed for the West Indies. In December, Admiral Byron left New York to try the fortunes of war on the ocean. Colonel Campbell, with two thousand men, was sent by General Clinton for the conquest of Georgia. On the 29th of December the expedition reached Savannah. The place was defended by General Robert Howe with eight hundred men. A battle was fought, and the Americans were driven out of the city. The patriots crossed into South Carolina and found refuge at Charleston. Such was the only real conquest made by the British during the year 1778.
14. The winter of 1778-79 was passed by the American army at Middlebrook. There was much discouragement among the soldiers, for they were neither paid nor fed. But the influence of Washington prevented a mutiny. In the latter part of May Clinton sailed with an armament up the Hudson to Stony Point. The garrison, unable to resist, escaped from the fortifications.
General Wayne at Stony Point.
15. On the 15th of July General Wayne marched against Stony Point. In the evening he halted near the fort and gave his orders. The British pickets were caught and gagged. Everything was done in silence. Muskets were unloaded and bayonets fixed; not a gun was to be fired. The assault was made a little after midnight. The patriots never wavered in the charge. The ramparts were scaled; and the British, finding themselves between two lines of bayonets, cried out for quarter. Sixty-three of the enemy fell; the remaining five hundred and forty-three were made prisoners. Of the Americans only fifteen were killed and eighty-three wounded. General Wayne secured the ordnance and stores, and then destroyed the fort.
Campaign against the Indians.
16. In the summer of 1799, four thousand six hundred men, led by Generals Sullivan and James Clinton, were sent against the Indians on the Susquehanna. At Elmira the savages and tories had fortified themselves; but on the 29th of August they were forced from their stronghold and utterly routed. The country between the Susquehanna and the Genesee was wasted by the patriots. Forty Indian villages were destroyed.
Campaigns in the South.
17. A little later, the tories, who were advancing to join the British at Augusta, were defeated by the patriots under Captain Anderson. On the 14th of February they were again overtaken and routed by Colonel Pickens. Colonel Boyd, the tory leader, and seventy of his men were killed. Seventy-five others were captured, and five of the ringleaders hanged. The western half of Georgia was quickly recovered by the patriots.
18. General Ashe was sent with two thousand men to intercept the enemy. On the 25th of February the Americans crossed the Savannah, and pursued Campbell as far as Brier Creek. Here the patriots came to a halt; and General Prevost, marching from Savannah, surrounded Ashe's command. A battle was fought on the 3d of March; the Americans were totally routed and driven into the swamps. By this defeat Georgia was again prostrated, and a royal government was established over the State.
19. Within a month General Lincoln was again in the field with five thousand men. He advanced up the left bank of the river in the direction of Augusta; but, at the same time, General Prevost, now commanding the British forces in the South, crossed the Savannah and marched against Charleston. General Lincoln turned back to attack him, and the British made a hasty retreat. The Americans overtook the enemy at Stone Ferry, ten miles west of Charleston, but were repulsed with considerable loss. Prevost then fell back to Savannah.
Attempts to retake Savannah.
20. In September, Count d'Estaing arrived before Savannah with his fleet. Prevost concentrated his forces for the defence of the city. The French effected a landing, and advanced to the siege. D'Estaing demanded a surrender; but Prevost answered with a message of defiance. The siege was pressed with vigor, and the city constantly bombarded. But the defences remained unshaken. At last D'Estaing notified Lincoln that the city must be stormed. Before sunrise on the 9th of October the allies advanced with great vehemence against the redoubts of the British, but were driven back with fearful losses. Count Pulaski was struck with a grape-shot, and was borne dying from the field. D'Estaing retired on board the fleet, and Lincoln retreated to Charleston.
21. On the 23d of September, Paul Jones, cruising off the coast of Scotland with a fleet of French and American vessels, fell in with a British squadron, and a bloody battle ensued. The Serapis, a British frigate of forty-four guns, engaged the Poor Richard within musket-shot. At last the vessels were lashed together, and the Serapis struck her colors. Jones transferred his men to the conquered ship, and the Poor Richard went down. Of the three hundred and seventy-five men on board the fleet of Jones, three hundred were either killed or wounded.
Paul Jones.
22. So closed the year 1779. The national treasury was bankrupt. The patriots of the army were poorly fed, and paid only with unkept promises. The disposition of Great Britain was still for war. The levies of sailors and soldiers made by Parliament amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand, while the expenses of the War Office were set at twenty million pounds sterling.