The capture of Savannah was very easy. On the 28th, the enemy landed just below the town, Major-General Howe having drawn up his forces about half a mile to the east, his left resting on the river, and his right and rear covered by rice-swamps, across which he believed there was but one road. “Fortune, however,” says the British report of this enterprise, “whose favours no prudent officer will ever deny, threw a negro into the hands of the commander, whose intelligence turned to the happiest account.” This man led a British detachment, by a private road known to himself, to the back of Howe’s force, and the Americans, thus at once attacked in front and rear, were completely routed. The British loss was less than thirty; of the Americans 450, while several commissioned officers were taken prisoners; and Savannah, with its artillery, shipping and stores, fell into the hands of the British. The remains of Howe’s army fled into South Carolina.
This was the greatest acquisition made by the British in the present year. Washington had gone into winter-quarters at Middlebrook. The two hostile armies of the north were now, at the close of 1778, after two years’ struggles and manœuvres, in very nearly the same relative position as at the close of 1776. The British, driven from the mainland, were now again entrenched on New York Island; and Washington, speaking of the present state of affairs, nobly remarked: “The hand of Providence had been so conspicuous in all this, that he who lacked faith must have been worse than an infidel, and he more than wicked who had no gratitude to acknowledge his obligations.”
CHAPTER VIII.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR (continued), 1779.
While the war was being carried forward on the eastern borders of the States, and the people suffered grievously from the natural consequences of the prolonged struggle, the spirit of enterprise was no less alive in the remoter provinces, and adventurers were advancing towards that Great West which has ever been so attractive to the American mind. As had been so often the case before, the restlessness of the Western Indians led now to the conquest of their territory. It was reported to congress that the Indians of the Ohio had been stimulated to hostility by Hamilton, the British commandant at Detroit, and in consequence it was determined to send an expedition against that post; but before this was done, one still more important was accomplished by George Rogers Clarke, a young backwoodsman of Kentucky. Clarke was a man of great sagacity; and having come to the conclusion that the best way of putting an end to Indian hostilities was to destroy the sources whence they derived encouragement and support, and having correctly ascertained that these border Indians were not merely the tools of the British, but that great numbers amongst them were well-inclined towards the Americans, he proposed in December, 1779, to the executive council of Virginia, a plan for the reduction of the British posts of Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, all founded, as we may remember, by the French in the days of their American prosperity. The governor and council approving of Clarke’s plan, afforded him such facilities as he required for its accomplishment. Early the following year he enlisted 200 men for three months, and, accompanied by thirteen emigrant families, descended the Ohio to the Falls, where the emigrants parted company and settled themselves in Corn Island, the little band of warriors thus dropping, as it were, by the way the seeds of civilisation and domestic life. Again Clarke embarked on the river, and advanced to within sixty miles of its mouth, where, hiding his boats, he marched by land to Kaskaskia, which he reached on the evening of July 5th. The march had been difficult, and having long been short of food, they were on the point of starvation, but the town and fort being taken by surprise yielded to the famished men without a struggle. M. Rocheblave, the British commandant, was taken in his bed, and not a drop of blood was shed. The inhabitants were mostly French, and the news of the French alliance with the Americans, and the respect shown by the conqueror to life, property and religion, disposed the inhabitants to be satisfied, if not pleased, with the change. The papers of the governor, among which it was suspected were orders from Hamilton to excite the Indians to hostility, were immediately either destroyed by his wife or concealed among her clothes, for “the conqueror, as a gallant son of Virginia, would not tarnish the fame of his state by an insult to a female;” therefore the papers remained undiscovered.
After a few days’ rest and refreshment in Kaskaskia, Clarke and his men proceeded to Cahokia, a small but important post which possessing a great trade with the Indians, was the depôt of arms and ammunition; this and another neighbouring post also surrendered without bloodshed. Besides these conquests, the people of St. Vincent’s, or Vincennes, on the Wabash, swore allegiance to Virginia, and friendly relations were established with the Spanish commander at St. Louis, on the other side of the Mississippi. A party was also sent by Clarke to build a stockade at the falls of Ohio, which was the first germ of the present city of Louisville.
Returning to Kaskaskia, Clarke convened the hitherto hostile Indian tribes, who filled with dread of this boldest of the “Big Knives,” as they called the Virginians, were easily induced to transfer their allegiance from the British to the Americans. The territory thus acquired, embracing all the country north of the Ohio, was erected by the assembly of Virginia into the county of Illinois.
The army of Washington passed this winter more comfortably than the last. A supply of clothing had been received from France; and provisions were secured by congress having laid an embargo on all exports. In fact, the army was now better fed and supplied than at any former period. Great discouragement and distress, however, prevailed, owing to the depreciation of the bills of credit, which had reduced the pay of the army to a mere trifle, totally insufficient for their needs. The Tory party also caused many troubles and anxieties; and so dangerous an element was this in the state, that even after the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, when congress had resumed its sittings in that capital, many wealthy and respectable citizens became amenable to the law; and two Quakers, John Roberts and Abraham Carlisle, were found guilty of treason, and spite of every effort being made to save them, were executed. These trials and executions greatly inflamed the hatred of the Tories, and party-spirit became still more bitter.
In the minds of the Americans this inveteracy was increased by the late conduct of the once popular General Arnold, who, in consequence of his wounds, had been appointed to the military command in Philadelphia, and to the astonishment and disgust of his friends, showed a great leaning towards the adverse party, and very soon married a young wife, the daughter of a Tory family.
Towards the close of the past year America obtained, through her commissioners in France, a loan from the French court of 3,000,000 of livres—a very insufficient sum to relieve their present difficulties, and the obtaining of which led to much quarrelling and party-spirit. Congress, occupied with disputes which originated in this loan, “was reduced,” says Hildreth, “to a very low ebb. Many of the abler members left it; frequently there were not more than twenty-five in attendance. Washington passed five weeks at the commencement of the year in Philadelphia, and his letters at that time evince serious alarm at the state of affairs.”
A scheme for the invasion of Canada by the aid of a French fleet was entertained at this time by congress, but discouraged by Washington, who had strong suspicion that if successful it would tend only to the advantage of France. It was resolved therefore, that all offensive operations should be confined to an attack on Detroit, and an expedition against the Six Nations.