The American army was removed from Middlebrook to Smith’s Clove, on the ninth. On the twenty-third, Washington removed his headquarters to New Windsor, leaving General Putnam in command. General Heath was ordered to Boston, and General Wayne was stationed between the Clove and Fort Montgomery, near Dunderburg Mountain.
Such were the modified positions of the two armies of the north, at the close of June, 1779.
CHAPTER XXV.
MINOR OPERATIONS OF 1779 CONTINUED.—STONY POINT TAKEN.—NEW ENGLAND RELIEVED.
In Fennimore Cooper’s interesting romance, “The Spy,” he furnishes graphic delineations of the true character of those minor operations about New York which were parts of General Clinton’s military recreation, while he had too small a force to meet Washington’s compact army in actual battle. Night forays and short excursions, under the cover of small vessels-of-war and assured of safe retreat, were of frequent occurrence. Mounted bands, officially known as the Queen’s Rangers, had very large discretion in their movements and methods. They galloped to and fro, at will, sometimes securing plunder, and sometimes barely escaping with less than they started with. As a general rule, some “spy” was on the watch, and their ventures were simply mis-adventures. The American “cow-boys” were just as real characters, although less organized; and each party carried on a small war of its own, for the plunder realized. Clinton’s lucky capture of Stony Point encouraged him to undertake other enterprises which weakened the resources of the people, without enhanced prestige to the British troops. On the first of July, Tarleton went out for twenty-four hours, and on his return, made report. He had “surprised Sheldon’s cavalry, near Salem; captured Sheldon’s colors [accidentally left in a barn], burned the Presbyterian church, and received little loss.” He says: “I proposed terms to the militia, that if they would not fire from the houses, I would not burn them.” But the militia that gathered in his rear made the expedition unprofitable. In less than eight hours Washington learned of the excursion.
On the third day of July, General Tryon, under convoy of the fleet of Sir George Collier, which had escorted General Clinton to Stony Point, sailed with twenty-six hundred men for New Haven, Conn. On Sunday, July fourth, when the people were observing the Sabbath and looking forward with enthusiasm to the following morning and the observance of “Independence Day,” Tryon published the following letter to the people of Connecticut: “The ungenerous and wanton insurrections against the sovereignty of Great Britain into which this colony has been deluded by the artifices of designing men, for private purposes, might well justify in you every fear which conscious guilt could form respecting the intentions of the present movement. The existence of a single habitation on your defenceless coast, ought to be a constant reproof to your ingratitude.”
The landing of the various divisions at East Haven, Savin Rock, and other points; and the vigorous defence upon the New Haven Green, by Capt. James Hillhouse, in command of the students of Yale College, are matters of familiar history. Fairfield, Green Farms, Huntington, Long Island, Greenfield and Norwalk shared in this raid; but it only embittered the struggle, and on the thirteenth the expedition returned to New York. When Tryon’s expedition started, Washington was opposite Staten Island; being on a tour of personal inspection of all posts along the Hudson and the New Jersey approaches from the sea. On the seventh of July, when advised that Tryon had sailed, he sent an express to Governor Trumbull, and ordered General Glover, then at Providence, to coöperate with the militia in case the enemy should make any descent upon the Connecticut coast.
Meanwhile, and as the result of his tour of inspection, he planned a counter movement to these demonstrations of the New York garrison. During the six weeks’ occupation of Stony Point by the British Grenadiers of the Seventieth Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Webster, heavy guns had been mounted; breastworks and batteries had been built in advance of the fort, and two rows of abatis crossed the slope leading to the water. Washington, perfectly familiar with the post and the additions to its defences, prepared a minute plan for its capture. General Wayne, it will be remembered, had been posted near Dunderburg Mountain, in the distribution of officers made on the twenty-third of the month. Wayne entered into the plan with avidity. The detail of troops made by Washington and the instructions given have interest, as every possible effort was made to avoid failure or premature disclosure of the design. Colonel Febiger’s Regiment, followed by Colonel Webb’s (Lieutenant-Colonel Meigs commanding) and a detachment from West Point under Major Hull, formed the right. Colonel Butler’s Regiment, and two companies of North Carolina troops under Major Murphy, formed the left. Colonel Lee’s Light Horse, three hundred strong, which had been manœuvered during the day so as not to lead vagrants or spies to suspect their destination, formed the covering party, and took a position on the opposite side of a swamp near the post. The troops left Sandy Beach at midnight and marched by single files, over mountains, through morasses, and deep defiles. At eight o’clock of the sixteenth, the command was within a mile and a half of the fort. Wayne made reconnoissance in person, and at half-past eleven at night the advance was ordered. In order to prevent any deserter from giving warning to the garrison, the purpose of the expedition was not announced until the order to attack could be given personally, by each officer, to his individual command.
The following order was at the same time communicated to the men: “If any soldier presume to take his musket from his shoulder; attempt to fire; or begin the battle till ordered by his proper officer, he shall be instantly put to death by the officer next him.” (This implied, of course, death by the sword.) The advance was to be “with fixed bayonets, and unloaded muskets.” Each officer and soldier had been ordered to place a white paper or cloth upon his cap, to distinguish him from an enemy; and the watchword, to be shouted aloud whenever one detachment reached its point of attack, as an encouragement to the others and a terror to the garrison, was, “The fort is ours!” Pioneer parties, carefully selected, wrenched away the abatis. The detachments moved instantly, as if impelled by some invisible, resistless force. The two assaulting columns met in the centre of the works almost at the same moment. Wayne fell, seriously but not mortally wounded, while passing the abatis. The entire American loss was fifteen killed, and eighty-three wounded. The British loss was one officer and nineteen men killed; six officers and sixty-eight men wounded; twenty-five officers and four hundred and forty-seven men taken prisoners; two officers and fifty-six men missing. The night was dark, and the difficulties of crossing the morass below the fort, at nearly full tide, and clambering up rugged cliffs thick with briars and underbrush, cannot be described. A modern visitor will find it difficult enough to make the same trip, by daylight. The stores, valued at $158,640, were divided by Washington’s order among the troops, in proportion to the pay of officers and men. The courteous treatment extended by him to the prisoners received very gracious recognition from the British authorities. The faithfulness, skill, and daring, and the good judgment with which Wayne comprehended and carried out, in almost literal detail, the plans of Washington, were greatly to his honor, and evoked most appreciative commendation from his superior officer.
General Clinton promptly organized a force, and proceeded up the river to recapture the post; but Washington, having dismantled it, decided that its further retention was not of sufficient value to spare a garrison for its permanent defence, and left it for occupation by the British at their leisure.