On the thirteenth day of October, Congress authorized the building of two small cruisers, and on the thirtieth, two additional vessels, of small tonnage. A naval committee was also appointed, consisting of Silas Dean, John Langdon, Joseph Hewes, Richard Henry Lee, and John Adams. On the twenty-eighth of November, a naval code was adopted; and on the thirteenth of December, the construction of thirteen frigates was authorized. Among the officers commissioned, were Nicholas Biddle as captain and John Paul Jones as lieutenant. Thus the American Navy was fully established.[[1]]
[1]. See Appendix, “American Navy.”
On the twenty-ninth day of November, Captain John Manly, who was the most prominent officer of this improvised navy, captured a British store-ship, containing a large mortar, several brass cannon, two thousand muskets, one hundred thousand flints, eleven mortar-beds, thirty thousand shot, and all necessary implements for artillery and intrenching service.
As the year drew to its close, the British levelled all their advanced works on Charlestown Neck, and concentrated their right wing in a strong redoubt on Bunker Hill, while their left wing at Boston Neck was more thoroughly fortified against attack.
Congress now intimated to Washington that it might be well to attack the city upon the first favorable occasion, before the arrival of reënforcements from Great Britain. The laconic reply of the Commander-in-Chief was, that he “must keep his powder for closer work than cannon distance.”
On the nineteenth of November, Henry Knox was commissioned as Colonel, vice Gridley, too old for active service. Two lieutenant-colonels, two majors, and twelve companies of artillery were authorized, and thus the American regular Artillery, as well as the navy, was put upon a substantial basis, with Knox as Chief of Artillery.
The closing months of 1775 also developed the progress of the expeditions for the conquest of Canada. The reënforcements required for the actual rescue of the detached forces from destruction, increased the burdens of the Commander-in-Chief. This period of Washington’s military responsibility cannot be rightly judged from the general opinion that Montgomery’s nominal force of three thousand men represented an effective army of that strength: in fact, it was less than half that number.
Montgomery reached Ticonderoga on the seventeenth of August. Schuyler, then negotiating a treaty with the Six Nations, at Albany, received a despatch from Washington, “Not a moment of time is to be lost,” and at once joined Montgomery. They pushed for the capture of St. John’s, under the spur of Washington’s warning; but on the sixth of September and again on the tenth, were compelled to suspend operations for want of artillery, having at the time a force of but one thousand men present, instead of the three thousand promised. Schuyler’s ill-health compelled him to return to Ticonderoga; but with infinite industry, system, and courage he was able to forward additional troops, increasing Montgomery’s force to two thousand men.
Ethan Allen, who had been succeeded in command of the “Green Mountain Boys” by Seth Warner, was across the line, endeavoring to recruit a regiment of Canadians. After partial success, regardless of order, he dashed forward, hoping to capture Montreal, as he had captured Ticonderoga. He was captured, and sent to England to be tried on the charge of treason. In a letter to Schuyler, Washington thus notices the event:
“Colonel Allen’s misfortune will, I hope, teach a lesson of prudence and subordination in others who may be too ambitious to outshine their general officer, and regardless of order and duty, rush into enterprises which have unfavorable effects on the public, and are destructive to themselves.”