[FN-2] In the State Senate, the legislature being then in Session at Poughkeepsie.
[FN-3] Antiquarian Researches, by Giles F. Yates.
The small fort just mentioned was at this time in command of Colonel Brown, with a garrison of one hundred and thirty men. An unfortunate occurrence induced him to leave his defences, and resulted in his discomfiture and fall. The circumstances were these:—the moment tidings that Sir John had broken into the settlements of the Schoharie reached Albany, General Robert Van Rensselaer, of Claverack, at the head of the Claverack, Albany, and Schenectady militia, pushed on by forced marches to encounter him, accompanied by Governor Clinton. Having arrived at Caughnawaga on the 18th, and having likewise ascertained that Fort Paris was to be assaulted on the morning of the 19th, Van Rensselaer dispatched orders to Colonel Brown to march out and check the advance of the enemy, while at the same time he would be ready to fall upon his rear. Brown, faithful to the hour designated, sallied forth, and gave Sir John battle near the site of a former work, called Fort Keyser. But General Van Rensselaer's advance had been impeded, so that no diversion was created in Brown's favor; and his forces were too feeble to withstand the enemy, or even to check his progress. Colonel Brown fell gallantly at the head of his little division, of which from forty to forty-five were also slain. The remainder of his troops sought safety in flight.
Colonel Brown, who fell on this occasion, was a soldier of great courage and high moral worth. He was early in the service, and was engaged in the memorable and ultimately disastrous campaign in Canada. While the American army was at Sorel, he detected, or believed he detected, a design on the part of General Arnold then to play the traitor. Arnold was about making a mysterious night movement of the flotilla of light vessels belonging to the Americans, then with the army in the St. Lawrence, which Colonel Easton, suspecting all was not right, prevented—but not until he had ordered two or three pieces of ordnance to bear upon the vessels, threatening to fire upon them if they proceeded. The conviction upon the minds of Easton and Brown was, that it was the purpose of Arnold to run off with the flotilla, and sell out to Sir Guy Carleton.
After the close of the Canadian campaign, during the winter of 1776-77, while Arnold and many of the officers were quartered in Albany, some difficulty occurred between Brown and the former, which resulted in ill-feeling between them. Arnold was at the head of a mess of sixteen or eighteen officers, among whom was Colonel Morgan Lewis. Colonel Brown, having weak eyes, and being obliged to live abstemiously, occupied quarters affording greater retirement. In consequence of the misunderstanding referred to, Colonel Brown published a hand-bill, attacking Arnold with great severity; rehearsing the suspicious circumstances that had occurred at Sorel; and upbraiding him for sacking the city of Montreal while he was in the occupancy of that place. The handbill concluded with these remarkable words:—"Money is this man's God, and to get enough of it, he would sacrifice his country."
Such a publication could not but produce a great sensation among the officers. It was received at Arnold's quarters while the mess were at dinner, and read aloud at the table—the accused himself sitting at the head. Arnold, of course, was greatly excited, and applied a variety of epithets, coarse and harsh, to Colonel Brown, pronouncing him a scoundrel, and declaring that he would kick him wheresoever and whensoever he should meet him. One of the officers present remarked to the General, that Colonel Brown was his friend; and that, as the remarks just applied to him had been so publicly made, he presumed there could be no objection to his repeating them to that officer. Arnold replied, certainly not; adding, that he should feel himself obliged to any officer who would inform Colonel Brown of what had been said. The officer replied that he should do so before he slept.
Under these circumstances no time was lost in making the communication to Colonel Brown. Colonel Lewis himself called upon Brown in the course of the evening, and the matter was the principal topic of conversation. The Colonel was a mild and amiable man, and he made no remark of particular harshness or bitterness, in respect to Arnold; but, toward the close of the interview, he observed—"Well, Lewis, I wish you would invite me to dine with your mess tomorrow." "With all my heart," was the reply; "will you come?" Brown said he would, and they parted. The next day, near the time of serving dinner, Colonel Brown arrived, and was ushered in. The table was spread in a long room, at one end of which the door opened directly opposite to the fireplace at the other. Arnold was at the moment standing with his back to the fire, so that, as Brown opened the door, they at once encountered each other face to face. It was a moment of breathless interest for the result. Brown walked calmly in, and turning to avoid the table, passed round with a deliberate step, and advancing up close to Arnold, stopped, and looked him directly in the eye. After the pause of a moment, he observed: "I understand, Sir, that you have said that you would kick me; I now present myself to give you an opportunity to put your threat into execution!" Another brief pause ensued. Arnold opened not his lips. Brown then said to him—"Sir, you are a dirty scoundrel." Arnold was still silent as the sphinx. Whereupon Brown turned upon his heel with dignity, apologised to the gentlemen present for his intrusion, and immediately left the room.
This was certainly an extraordinary scene, and more extraordinary still is the fact, that the particulars have never been communicated in any way to the public. Arnold certainly did not lack personal bravery; and the unbroken silence preserved by him on the occasion, can only be accounted for upon the supposition that he feared to provoke inquiry upon the subject, while at the same time he could throw himself upon his well-attested courage and his rank, as excuses for not stooping to a controversy with a subordinate officer. But it must still be considered as one of the most extraordinary personal interviews to be found among the memorabilia of military men. [FN]
[FN] The particulars of this interesting story were derived by the author from the lips of General Lewis himself.