[FN-1] In a letter to General Gansevoort from Colonel Willett, who was on a visit to head-quarters at the time of the battle of Monmouth, the Colonel says:—"I have had the pleasure of seeing the American army, under the great General Washington, triumph over the haughty British in the battle of Monmouth. The action was grand, and ended gloriously."—MS. letter of Col. Willett.
[FN-2] In his despatches to his government, Sir Henry Clinton stated that he took the advantage of the moonlight in his retreat; when, in reality, he did not begin the retreat until some hours after the moon had set. In the course of a correspondence in the following Spring, between Governor William Livingston and Sir Henry, the Governor taunted him upon this subject of his moonlight retreat. That correspondence was sharp upon both sides. Governor Livingston wrote to Sir Henry that he had received indisputable evidence, that a British General had offered a large sum of money to an inhabitant of New Jersey to assassinate him, (Governor L.) Sir Henry repelled the imputation in strong terms—declaring that were he "capable of harboring such an infamous idea as that of assassination, he would not blacken himself with so foul a crime to obtain so trifling an end." Clinton was evidently irritated, and from the coarseness of his language, gave Governor Livingston the decided advantage in his rejoinder, which was equally dignified and severe.—Vide Almon's Remembrancer, vol. vi. pp. 279, 281.
[FN-3] Letter of Washington to the President of Congress.
The French fleet, under the Count D'Estaing, consisting of twelve ships of the line and six frigates, having on board four thousand troops, arrived on the coast of Virginia about the 1st of July. The design of the French commander was to engage the British squadron in the Chesapeake. But unfortunately, the latter had sailed for New-York a few days before. Thither the Count followed the British admiral, but the bar of the New-York harbor would not allow the entrance of his heavy ships. An attack upon New-York thus proving to be impracticable, by the advice of General Washington it was determined to make an attempt upon Rhode Island, then occupied by six thousand British troops commanded by Major General Sir Robert Pigott. General Sullivan, with an army of ten thousand men, was lying in the neighborhood of Providence, Count D'Estaing arrived off Newport on the 25th of July, and arrangements were soon adjusted between General Sullivan and himself for a combined attack upon the town of Newport by land and sea. The assault was to be made on the 9th of August, for which purpose Sullivan moved down to Tiverton, where he was joined by General Greene, and the ships of war entered the channel. But the militia not having joined the regular troops so promptly as was expected, General Sullivan judged it necessary to postpone the attack for a day or two. Meantime Lord Howe appeared off the harbor with the British fleet, and the Count D'Estaing immediately put to sea to engage him. The French fleet having the weather gage, the British admiral weighed anchor and put to sea, followed by the Count. A storm separated the fleets, so that no engagement took place; and on his return to port on the 19th, Count D'Estaing found it necessary to repair to Boston to refit. During the absence of the Count, however, while in chase of Lord Howe, General Sullivan had crossed over to the island, and on the 15th laid siege to the town of Newport. But when the French admiral departed for Boston, the militia, disappointed and disheartened at being thus abandoned by their allies, left the service in such numbers, that Sullivan was compelled to raise the siege and retire. He was pursued to the distance of a mile north of Quaker Hill, where, on the 29th of August, was fought the battle of Rhode Island. It was a sharp and obstinate engagement of half an hour, at the end of which the enemy gave way and retreated. The loss of the Americans was two hundred and eleven. That of the enemy two hundred and sixty. [FN] Ascertaining, soon afterward, that strong reinforcements were coming from New-York to the aid of General Pigott, a resolution was immediately adopted by Sullivan to evacuate the island. This determination was executed on the night of the 30th—most luckily, as the event proved; for on the very next day Sir Henry Clinton arrived at Newport with four thousand troops, which reinforcement would doubtless have enabled the enemy to cut off the retreat of the Americans.
[FN] One of the most brilliant affairs during this expedition was performed by Colonel John Trumbull, who was acting as a volunteer under Sullivan at the time—as will be seen by the Colonel's memoirs when published.
In September, after the return of the British troops to New-York, strong divisions moved northward on each side of the Hudson river. By a detachment of one of these, under General Gray, a regiment of American cavalry, commanded by Colonel Baylor, was surprised while asleep at Tappan, and almost entirely cut off. The enemy rushed upon the sleeping troopers, numbering one hundred and four privates with their bayonets. The loss, killed, wounded, and taken, was sixty-four. This exploit was very similar to that of the Paoli, under the same General, the preceding year.
In consequence of the hostile spirit very generally and extensively manifested by the Indians—the great western tribes becoming more and more restive—early in June, immediately preceding the affair of Wyoming, Congress had determined upon a more enlarged and decisive campaign against them. This had, indeed, become the more necessary from the belligerent indications among the Delawares and Shawanese, inhabiting the territory now forming the State of Ohio. At the commencement of the war Koquethagaeehlon, the Delaware chief usually known as Captain White-Eyes, a firm friend of the Colonies, had succeeded in preventing his people from taking up the hatchet against them, in opposition to the views of his rival chief, Captain Pipe. But in the Spring of the present year, the policy of the latter had well nigh prevailed, through the revengeful machinations of three celebrated loyalists, named McKee, Elliot, and Simon Girty, who had been confined at Pittsburgh as Tories; but who, effecting their escape, traversed the Indian country to Detroit, proclaiming, as they went, that the Americans had resolved upon their destruction, and that their only chance of safety was to espouse the cause of the Crown, and fight. Availing himself of the excitement created by those fugitives, [FN-1] Captain Pipe assembled a large number of his warriors, and proclaimed "every one an enemy to his country who should endeavor to persuade them against fighting the Americans, and declared that all such ought surely to be put to death." But White-Eyes was by no means inactive in his efforts to preserve peace. Collecting the people of his tribe, he addressed them with great earnestness and pathos. Observing that some of his warriors were preparing to take up the hatchet, he admonished them strongly against such a course, which, in the end, could only bring upon them sure destruction. Still, if they believed he was wrong—if they were disposed to place more confidence in the tales of those whom he knew to be fugitives, than to himself, they should not go out without him. "But he would not go out with them like the bear-hunter, who sets the dogs on the animal to be beaten about with his paws while he keeps at a safe distance. No! He would lead them on, place himself in their front, and be the first who should fall. They only had to determine what they meant to do. As for his own mind, it was fully made up not to survive his nation. And he would not spend the remainder of a miserable life, in bewailing the total destruction of a brave people who deserved a better fate." [FN-2]