MISSION OF INDIAN CHIEFS.
Untutored as the savage is, many a lesson may be gathered from his lips and his conduct. Before Boston was evacuated by the British troops, the Oneidas and some other Indian tribes had sent to the provincial assembly a deputation of their chiefs, on a mission which displayed much practical humanity and good feeling. The purport of this mission is disclosed in the address of these chiefs to the assembly. It reads thus:—“Brothers, we have heard of the unhappy differences and great contention between you and Old England. We wonder greatly and are troubled in our minds. Brothers, possess your minds in peace respecting us Indians. We cannot intermeddle in this dispute between brethren: the quarrel seems to us so unnatural; and we bear an equal affection to both. Should the great king apply to us for aid we shall deny him: if the colonies apply we shall refuse. We Indians cannot find or recollect, in the traditions of our ancestors, a case similar to this. Brothers, if it were an alien that had struck you we should look into the matter. We hope, through the wise government and good pleasure of the Great Spirit, your distresses may be soon removed, and the dark clouds dispersed. Brothers, as we have declared for peace, we desire you will not apply to our Indian brethren for assistance. Let us Indians be all of one mind, and you white people settle the disputes between yourselves.” But notwithstanding this wise policy of these Indian chiefs, many of the savage tribes bordering on the great lakes and rivers were induced by British agents to wield the tomahawk in behalf of “the great king,” and committed ravages which brought a stain upon the fair fame of Great Britain.
AFFAIRS OF CANADA.
At the close of the session of the British parliament good news had arrived from Canada. Congress had voted nine regiments for service in that colony, and General Schuyler was ordered to prepare a number of batteaux to transport these troops down the lakes and the Sorel to the scene of action. At this juncture news arrived of the death of Montgomery, and the critical situation of Arnold. This news urged congress to renewed exertions. They did all they could to hasten their reinforcements, and called upon the provincial conventions to collect all the money they could for the use of the army in Canada. Men and specie were, however, not easily procured; and, moreover, had the troops been ready on the instant, they could not have marched during the winter, as the ground was covered with snow, and the lakes all frozen over. On the opening of spring, however, by the 1st of April, the force in Canada was raised to 1,800 men. But coined money was not forthcoming for their use, and Arnold issued a proclamation, making the paper-money of congress current, under promise of redeeming it with specie in four months, and threatening all who refused this paper in exchange for their commodities or labour with destruction. The French Canadians had no faith in the paper-money, or in the promises of Arnold, and the troops, therefore, were under the necessity of helping themselves to what they wanted. This was fatal to the American cause in Canada. The Canadians were told that the troops were come to liberate them from tyranny and oppression, but they concluded that they had only come to plunder them. Added to this, the New Englanders laughed at the Catholic church ceremonies, and insulted some of the priests, whence they insured universal hatred and vengeance. The situation of Arnold was a critical one, and it was rendered more so by the appearance of the small-pox among his troops, which greatly thinned his ranks. Still Arnold resolved to persevere. He again set up his battery before the walls of Quebec, hoping to take it before it should be relieved by reinforcements from England. Before, however, he could make any impression, General Wooster arrived as his superior in command; and, taking offence, he retired to Montreal, there to assume a separate command. Many of the Americans also left the army and returned home, under the pretence that the period of their engagement was expired. General Thomas arrived on the 1st of May, and the force then amounted to 2000 men. Had these troops been effective, and had the magazines been well stored, Thomas might have had some chance of success, but such was not the case; and to complete his dilemma, the river St. Lawrence began to open below, and intelligence arrived that English ships of war were daily expected. Thomas therefore resolved to make a precipitate retreat, and he began to remove the sick to the Three Rivers, and to embark his artillery and stores in boats and canoes. Before these operations were completed, however, three English ships which had forced their way through the ice arrived before Quebec, and these vessels instantly threw on shore two companies of the 29th regiment, with some marines and sailors. Struck with consternation, the Americans began to fly in all directions, and General Carleton then sallied out in pursuit of them. Notwithstanding, the enemy retreated so precipitately that Carleton could do nothing more than capture their artillery and stores, about a hundred fugitives, and nearly all their sick, who had been left behind. Many, however, were afterwards found concealed and starving in the woods; and Carleton, as humane as he was brave, treated the whole of the prisoners with great humanity. The rest of the troops crossed the St. Lawrence, and formed at the forts of Chamblée and St. John, on the Sorel, where General Thomas died of the small-pox.
Thus successful, General Carleton dispatched Captain Forster to a strong fort, called the Cedars, situate thirty miles west of Montreal, and which was garrisoned by four hundred Americans. This fort surrendered, on condition that the garrison should be preserved from the ferocity of the Indians. In the attack on this fort one Indian, on the side of the English, was slain, and this excited the passions of the red men to revenge. On the day after the surrender of the Cedars Forster heard that a party of the enemy were marching from another point to secure the fort, and he ordered one hundred Indians to place themselves in ambush on both sides of the road in a wood through which the enemy must pass. This stratagem was completely successful. All the Americans were captured, and when the Indians had brought them to the front of the fort they prepared to put them to death, in atonement for the blood of their tribe which had been shed. This was an ancient custom, and it was with difficulty that Captain Forster induced them to dispense with it: it was only effected by conciliating them with presents. From the Cedars, Forster proceeded to Vaudreuil, about six miles northward. Arnold made an attempt to dislodge him, but was obliged to retreat, and return to St. Anne’s, on the island of Montreal. Being encumbered with prisoners, Forster judged it expedient to release them; Arnold promising to return an equal number of royal troops within two months. This compact, however, was shamefully violated by congress, under pretence that Forster had treated the prisoners taken at the Cedars in a barbarous manner—a pretence which was utterly unfounded. In the meantime General Carleton being reinforced by more troops from England, repaired to Three Rivers, about midway between Quebec and Montreal. Imagining that Carleton had only sent a detachment, General Sullivan, who had succeeded to the command of the troops on the death of Thomas, ordered General Thomson and Colonel St. Clair to cross the St. Lawrence, and to make a night attack on the forces of the English. These two officers did not arrive at Three Rivers till the day dawned, and as soon as they were seen the alarm was given all along the bank, and a fire was opened upon them from some ships. They landed from their boats, and in their confusion ran into a broad morass, where they were attacked in front by General Fraser, and in their rear by General Nesbit; while Major Grant took possession of a bridge, which rendered their escape over the river Des Loups impracticable. Many were killed and wounded, and General Thompson, with Colonel Irvine, and about two hundred men, were taken prisoners. The rest fell back in disorder across a bog into a wood on their left, and on the next day crossed the bridge which Major Grant had occupied, and which was by some mistake now left unguarded, whence they reached their boats, and escaped to their main body at Sorel. General Carleton embarked the mass of his forces and pursued them by water; but when he arrived at Sorel he found that place evacuated, and the batteries dismantled. General Burgoyne, who had arrived with the last reinforcements from England, was charged with the pursuit of Sullivan, while Carleton himself recrossed the St. Lawrence to look after Arnold. That officer, however, glad to make his escape from Canada, embarked his men, crossed over the river at Long Isle, and joined Sullivan at Fort St. John, on the Sorel. The two American generals did not deem themselves safe at this fort, and they therefore set fire to it, as well as that of Chamblée, and continued their retreat up the river. They were followed by Burgoyne; but when that general reached the head of the Sorel, and saw the lake beyond it well supplied with armed vessels, he desisted from the pursuit, and rejoined General Carleton. By these events, Canada was entirely freed from the American arms; and General Carleton commenced preparations for the recovery of Ticonderoga, and the dominion of the lakes Champlain and St. George, now held by the enemy. The American generals, Sullivan and Arnold, threw themselves upon the isle Aux Noix, where they were secure from the enemy, but where many of their men perished of fever.
UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON SULLIVAN’S ISLAND.
While success attended the British arms in Canada, an expedition sent against the southern states totally failed. Governor Martin had been strenuously exerting himself to recover his lost province of North Carolina, by means of a body of Highlanders, who had recently emigrated to America, and another body of resolute men, called “Regulators,” who lived principally by the chase. These two bodies were commanded by Colonels Mac Donald and Mac Leod. They were embodied at Cross Creek, but having attempted to open their way to Wilmington, where they expected some regular troops were to be landed, they were circumvented by a superior insurgent force, and beaten. Mac Leod, with most of his Highland followers, were slain, and Mac Donald, with some of the “Regulators,” were taken prisoners; while the rest fled, and returned to their old hunter life in the back country. The attempt which was made by Governor Martin, indeed, seems altogether to have been premature; but he appears to have been induced to make it from the delay of the arrival of General Clinton and his troops, who were destined for this service. No second attempt could be made to erect the royal standard in the Carolinas, till Clinton arrived from England, and then it was found to be too late. He reached Cape Fear in the month of May, and immediately took the command of some troops which had previously been conveyed to those coasts by Sir Robert Parker. The general’s instructions were to endeavour, by proclamations and other means, to induce the Carolinas to return to their allegiance; to gain information as to the temper and disposition of those provinces; and if he found the royalists sufficiently numerous to take up arms, to leave a part of his forces with them, and then to repair to New York to meet the commander-in-chief, General Howe. Clinton found no encouragement, and met with no signs of co-operation; and he, together with Parker, tired of doing nothing, resolved to go beyond their commission, by capturing or destroying Charleston, the capital of South Carolina, the trade of which town supplied the two colonies with the nerve of war. To this end they sailed from Cape Fear on the 4th of June, and arriving off Charleston they took possession of Long Island, where there were many royalists, but who had previously been disarmed. Near Charleston, however, and covering-its harbour, was another island, called Sullivan’s Island, in which there were armed insurgents and formidable batteries. There was a projecting point of land, also, called Hadrell’s Point, which almost touched this island, and on which General Lee, an Englishman, and rival of Washington, in the American service, was posted with a large force of regular troops and militiamen, and some artillery. Notwithstanding these formidable appearances, however, Clinton persevered in his design of taking this island. He constructed two batteries on Long Island, answering to those of the enemy, and to co-operate with the floating-batteries destined to cover the landing of the troops. The event was most disastrous. On the 28th of June the fleet, under Parker, anchored in front of the American fort, and opened a tremendous fire upon it; while Clinton seconded the efforts of the admiral by firing from the batteries on Long Island. In the midst of the roar of cannon the troops embarked in the rear of some floating batteries in boats and some small craft; but they had scarcely left the beach when they were ordered to return to their encampment on Long Island. Meanwhile the ships continued their firing upon the fort, which was responded to with equal vigour by the Americans. The roar of cannon ceased not till long after night-fall, and then the British fleet exhibited a sad and desolating spectacle; for while the fire of the ships made but comparatively little impression upon the fort, the fire from the fort did fearful execution upon the fleet. The following description of this day of carnage is from the pen of Burke. He says:—“Whilst the continued thunder from the ships seemed sufficient to shake the firmness of the bravest enemy, and daunt the courage of the most veteran soldier, the return made by the fort could not fail of calling for the respect as well as of highly incommoding the British seamen. In the midst of that dreadful roar of artillery, they stuck with the greatest constancy and firmness to their guns; fired deliberately and slowly, and took a cool and effective aim. The ships suffered accordingly: they were torn to pieces, and the slaughter was dreadful. Never did British valour shine more conspicuous, nor never did our marine, in an engagement of the same nature with any foreign enemy, experience as rude an encounter. The springs of the Bristol’s cable being cut by the shot, she lay for some time exposed in such a manner as to be most dreadfully raked. The brave Captain Morris, after receiving a number of wounds, which would have sufficiently justified a gallant man in retiring from his station, still, with a noble obstinacy, disdained to quit his duty, until his arm, being at length shot off, he was carried away in a condition which did not afford a possibility of recovery. It is said, that the quarter-deck of the Bristol was at one time cleared of every person but the commodore, who stood alone, a spectacle of intrepidity and firmness, which has seldom been equalled, never exceeded.” When the firing ceased the Bristol and Experiment, ships of fifty guns each, were left almost wrecks upon the water, but the frigates had not suffered so severely. It was expected by the Americans that most of them would be unable to pass the bar; but, with the exception of the Actæon frigate, which got aground at the commencement of the action, all dropped down with the tide beyond the reach of the guns in the fort. It is clear that Admiral Parker did all that could have been done to effect his object, but skill and valour were of no avail. The fortress was built of palmetto-wood, and therefore it was little damaged; the shot which struck it being buried in its soft materials. Then again, the bombs that were thrown into the fort were instantly swallowed up in a morass that was constructed in the middle, and therefore failed in their design. While the English ships, indeed, were swept of their men, the loss of the garrison did not exceed ten men killed and about twenty wounded. The Americans themselves accounted for their victory by the strength of the fort; the care they had taken to secure its approaches; the courage and skill displayed by Colonel Moultrie, who commanded in the fort; and the presence of Lee on the projecting point opposite the island. On the other hand, the English attributed their defeat to the non-co-operation of the army, which appears to have been declined by Parker, he having full confidence in the powers of the fleet. But whatever may have been the cause of the result, it is certain that by the repluse of this armament the southern states obtained a long respite from the horrors of war, and that it had the effect of raising the depressed spirits of the colonists: by it the spell which had long attached itself to the British navy was broken. After the disaster General Clinton set sail in the Solby frigate with his troops to join General Howe, but the rest of the ships remained at Long Island to refit.