In May, 1778, the American frigate Randolph, (so called in honor of Peyton Randolph, president of congress,) carrying thirty-six guns and three hundred and five men, sailed on a cruise from Charleston. The Yarmouth, British man-of-war, of sixty-four guns, discovered her and five other vessels, and came up with her in the evening. Captain Vincent hailed the Randolph to hoist colors, or he would fire into her; on which she hoisted the American flag, and immediately gave the Yarmouth her broadside, which was returned, and in about a quarter of an hour the Randolph blew up. Four men escaped upon a fragment of the wreck, and subsisted for five days on rain water alone, which they sucked from a piece of blanket which they had picked up. They were rescued by the Yarmouth.[688:A]
Early in this month congress received despatches containing a treaty between the king of France and the United States of America. In consequence of Burgoyne's surrender and of the treaty with France, the British army (under command of Sir Henry Clinton, who had relieved Sir William Howe,) evacuated Philadelphia in June, 1778. Crossing the Delaware, they marched for New York. Washington pursued them across the Jerseys, and on the twenty-eighth of June occurred the battle of Monmouth. The result was not decisive; many died from heat and fatigue; the Americans remained on the field of battle, where Washington passed the night in his cloak in the midst of his soldiers. It was during this action that General Charles Lee retreated before the British, who had turned upon him. He was met by Washington, who reprimanded him, ordered the division to be formed, and, with the aid of artillery under Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, checked the enemy's advance. General Lee was arrested, tried, and convicted of disobedience of orders, of making an unnecessary and disorderly retreat, and of writing disrespectfully to the commander-in-chief, and suspended from the army for one year. Recent developments strengthen the suspicion long entertained that he acted traitorously. It is strange that, conscious of this, he should have remained among those whom he had endeavored to betray. He had previously been signally serviceable in the American cause; and at the time of his suspension there were not wanting divers leading men who thought him hardly dealt with. But a man is never better than his principles, and General Lee's were bad from the beginning. La Fayette said that Washington never appeared to better advantage than in this action, when roused by Lee's misconduct.
Colonel Richard Kidder Meade, the father of Bishop Meade, was one of Washington's aides-de-camp. The following anecdote relative to him is taken from the Travels of Anburey, who was a lieutenant in the British army, and in 1779 a prisoner of war in Virginia, and visiting the lower country on parole: "On my way to this place I stopt and slept at Tuckahoe, where I met with Colonel Meade, Colonel Laurens, and another officer of General Washington's suite. More than once did I express a wish that the general himself had been of the party, to have seen and conversed with a character of whom, in all my travels through the various provinces, I never heard any one speak disrespectfully as an individual, and whose public character has been the admiration and astonishment of all Europe." * * * * "The colonel (Meade) attributed the safety of his person to the swiftness of his horse at the battle of Monmouth, having been fired at and pursued by some British officers as he was reconnoitering. Upon the colonel's mentioning this circumstance it occurred to me he must have been the person that Sir Henry Clinton's aide-de-camp had fired at, and requesting to know the particular color of his horse, he informed me it was black, which convinced me it was him; when I related the circumstance of his meeting Sir Henry Clinton, he replied he recollected in the course of the day to have met several British officers, and one of them wore a star. Upon my mentioning the observation Sir Henry Clinton had made to his aide-de-camp,[689:A] the colonel laughed, and replied, had he known it was the commander-in-chief he should have made a desperate effort to take him prisoner."
The name of Richard Kidder is said to be derived from a bishop of Bath and Wells, who was from the same stock with the Meades of Virginia. Andrew Meade, first of the name in Virginia, born in County Kerry, Ireland, educated a Romanist, came over to New York, and married Mary Latham, a Quakeress, of Flushing, on Long Island. He afterwards settled in Nansemond, Virginia, and for many years was burgess thereof; from which it appears that he must have renounced the Romish religion. He was prosperous, affluent, and hospitable. He is mentioned by Colonel Byrd in his Journal of the Dividing Line run in 1728. His only son, David Meade, married, under romantic circumstances, Susannah, daughter of Sir Richard Everard, Baronet, Governor of North Carolina. Of the sons of David Meade, Richard Kidder Meade was aide-de-camp to General Washington; Everard Meade aide to General Lincoln. Richard Kidder, Everard, together with an older brother, David, were educated at Harrow, England, under the care of Dr. Thackeray. Sir William Jones, Sir Joseph Banks, and Dr. Parr, were at the same time scholars there.
In June, 1778, Colonel Arthur Campbell wrote to the Rev. Charles Cummings, of Washington County: "Yesterday I returned home, the assembly having adjourned until the first Monday in October. The acts passed, and a list of their titles, I here enclose, together with an address of congress to the people of America, for you to publish, agreeable to the resolve. I wish you could make it convenient to preach at the lower meeting-house in this county, if it was but a week-day, as the contents of the address are of the most interesting nature, both as to the moral and political conduct of the good people of America. Providence is daily working out strange deliverances for us. The treaty with France is much more advantageous than the wisest men in this country expected. The Indians the other day were unexpectedly discomfited on Greenbrier. I think the overthrow was something similar to what happened in this county about two years ago. I must give you the intelligence at full length, as the most hardened mind must see and admire the Divine goodness in such an interposition."
The Rev. Charles Cummings, by birth an Irishman, resided for some time in the congregation of the Rev. James Waddell, in Lancaster, and probably studied theology under his care. Mr. Cummings married Miss Milly, daughter of John Carter, of Lancaster, and in 1773 settled near where Abingdon now stands. His meeting-house was of unhewn logs, from eighty to a hundred feet long and forty wide. Mr. Cummings was of middle stature, well formed, of great firmness and dignity. His voice was of great compass, and his articulation distinct. At this time the inhabitants, during the summer months, were compelled to take shelter in forts for protection against the Indians. The men went to church armed, taking their families with them. The armed congregation, seated in the log meeting-house, presented a singular spectacle of frontier life. Mr. Cummings, when he ascended the steps of the pulpit, deposited his rifle in a corner and laid aside his shot-pouch. He was a zealous whig, and was chairman of the committee of safety of Washington County, formed as early as January, 1775. He was a Presbyterian of the old stamp, a rigid Calvinist, and a man of exemplary piety.
After the battle of Monmouth Sir Henry Clinton occupied New York. The arrival of a French fleet under D'Estaing reanimated the hopes of the Americans. Arthur Lee argued unfavorably of the removal of D'Orvilliers and D'Estaing's appointment. Washington took a position at White Plains, on the Hudson. About this time Colonel Baylor's regiment of cavalry was surprised in the night by a British corps under General Gray. Of one hundred and four privates forty were made prisoners, and twenty-seven killed or wounded. Colonel Baylor was himself dangerously wounded and taken prisoner.
In the year 1778 the town of Abington was incorporated. Virginia sent General George Rogers Clarke on an expedition to the northwest. After enduring extreme sufferings in marching through a wilderness, he and his hardy followers captured Kaskaskias and its governor, Rocheblave. In December, 1778, Hamilton, British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, under Sir Guy Carleton, governor-in-chief, took possession of the post (now the town) of Vincennes, in Indiana. Here he fortified himself, intending in the ensuing spring to rally his Indian confederates to attack Kaskaskias, then in possession of Clarke, and to proceed up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, sweeping Kentucky in the way, and finally overrunning all West Augusta. This expedition was ordered by Carleton. Clarke's position was too remote for succor, and his force too small to withstand a siege; nevertheless, he prepared to make the best defence possible. At this juncture a Spanish merchant brought intelligence that Hamilton had, by detaching his Indian allies, reduced the strength of his garrison to eighty men, with a few cannon. Clarke immediately despatched a small armed galley, with orders to force her way and station herself a few miles below the enemy. In the mean time, early in February, 1779, he marched, with one hundred and thirty men, upon St. Vincennes: many of the inhabitants of the country joined the expedition; the rest garrisoned the towns. Impeded by rain and high waters, his little army were occupied for sixteen days in reaching the fertile borders of the Wabash, and when within nine miles of the enemy it required five days to cross "the drowned lands" near that river, "having to wade often upwards of two leagues, up to our breasts in water." But for the unusual mildness of the season they must have perished. On the evening of February the twenty-third they reached dry land, and came unperceived within sight of the enemy; and an attack being made at seven o'clock, the inhabitants of St. Vincennes gladly surrendered it, and assisted in besieging Hamilton, who held out in the fort. On the next day he surrendered the garrison. Clarke despatching some armed boats up the Wabash, captured a convoy, including forty prisoners and £10,000 worth of goods and stores. Hamilton, and some officers and privates, were sent to the governor at Williamsburg. Colonel Shelby about the same time attacking the Cherokees, who had taken up the tomahawk, burnt eleven towns and a large quantity of corn, and captured £25,000 worth of goods.
The assembly of Virginia afterwards presented to General Clarke an honorary sword, on the scabbard of which was inscribed: "Sic semper tyrannis;" and on the blade: "A tribute to courage and patriotism, presented by the State of Virginia to her beloved son, General George Rogers Clarke, who, by the conquest of Illinois and Vincennes, extended her empire and aided in defence of her liberties." In his latter years he was intemperate.