Meanwhile the gunboat, totally disabled, drifted with the outgoing tide, no attempt being made by any one on board to work any of the fourteen guns with which she was armed.
When Captain Neill, true-hearted soldier that he was, saw the desperate helplessness of the British sailors, and their attempts to save themselves, he ceased firing and sent men to rescue them from watery graves. The gunboat was carried by the tide beyond the mouth of the Elizabeth River, and, being in flames, went down to Davy Jones’ capacious locker just after passing the spot now occupied by the Dry Dock Company.
Some thirty years ago, oystermen raked up a large number of British coins and many other articles from this spot, and many believed the treasure was at one time possessed by the sailors of the ill-fated gunboat.
General Livingston, who had remained with Captain Neill and witnessed the attack and destruction of the vessel, at once wrote the following dispatch to General Washington, sending it off post-haste:
Elizabethtown, July 4, 1776.
Midnight.
One of the enemy’s sloops of war, mounting fourteen guns, having this evening run up to this point, was attacked from the shore by the twelve-pounders, a great number of her men killed, she set on fire and entirely destroyed.
As Captain Neill’s attack on the British gunboat occurred about midnight, July 4, 1776, there can be no shadow of doubt that his guns were the first ones fired after the immortal Declaration of Independence was adopted, the Congress in session at Philadelphia having formally performed this act between nine and ten o’clock that evening. It was the first exploit of the new-born nation, and a gallant young Irish patriot, a citizen of this province, carried it to success.
Captain Neill and his battery was shortly after assigned to Col. Thomas Proctor’s[[6]] regiment of artillery, and subsequently to the brigade of artillery commanded by General Knox.[[7]] The battery participated in the battles of Trenton, Assinpink Creek, Princeton and Monmouth.
But it was at Princeton that the heroic Neill sealed his devotion to the cause of American liberty and independence with his life’s blood. He was instantly killed by a British sharpshooter just after Hugh Mercer, a Scotsman, was mortally wounded.