The Project Gutenberg ebook of a brief History of the United States

FOOTNOTES
[1] Admiral Howe now wrote to Washington, offering pardon to all persons

who should desist from rebellion; he addressed the letter to "George

Washington, Esq.," and sent it under flag of truce. The messenger was told

there was no one in the army with that title. A week later another

messenger came with a paper addressed "George Washington, Esq. etc. etc."

This time he was received; and when Washington declined to receive the

letter, explained that "etc. etc." meant everything. "Indeed," said

Washington, "they might mean anything." He was determined that Howe should

recognize him as commander in chief of the Continental army, and not treat

him as the leader of rebels.

board ships anchored near Brooklyn. Their sufferings in these "Jersey

prison ships" were terrible, and many died and were buried on the beach.

From these rude graves their bones from time to time were washed out. At

last in 1808 they were taken up and decently buried near the Brooklyn navy

yard, and in 1873 were put in a vault in Washington Park, Brooklyn.

volunteered to enter the British lines on Long Island to procure

information greatly needed. As he was returning he was recognized by a

Tory kinsman, was captured, tried as a spy, and hanged. His last words

were: "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
[4] When Howe, marching across Manhattan Island, reached Murray Hill, Mrs.

Lindley Murray sent a servant to invite him to luncheon. The army was

halted, and Mrs. Murray entertained Howe and his officers for two hours.

It was this delay that enabled Putnam to escape.

Fort Moultrie, and when he joined Washington at New York, was thought a

great officer. Lee was jealous, hoped to be made commander in chief, and

purposely left Washington to his fate. Later Lee crossed to New Jersey and

took up his quarters at Basking Ridge, not far from Morristown, where the

British captured him (December 13, 1776).

as a lad and entered on a business career, and when the Revolution opened,

was a man of means and influence. He signed the non-importation agreement

of 1765, and signed the Declaration of Independence, and at this time

(December, 1776) was a leading member of Congress. A year later, when the

army was at Valley Forge, he sent it as a gift a large quantity of food

and clothing. In 1781 Morris was made Superintendent of Finance, and in

order to supply the army in the movement against Yorktown, lent his notes

to the amount of $1,400,000. In 1781 he founded the Bank of North America,

which is now the oldest bank in our country. After the war Morris was a

senator from Pennsylvania. He speculated largely in Western lands, lost

his fortune, and from 1798 to 1802 was a prisoner for debt. He died in

1806.
[7] Read the story of Jane McCrea in Fiske's _American Revolution_, Vol.

I, pp. 277-279.

first flag of stars and stripes ever flung to the breeze. Congress on June

14, 1777, had adopted our national flag. The flag at Fort Stanwix was made

of pieces of a white shirt, a blue jacket, and strips of red flannel. The

day was August 6.
[9] The story runs that several Tory spies were captured and condemned to

death, but one named Cuyler was spared by Arnold on condition that he

should go to the camp of St. Leger and say that Burgoyne was captured and

a great American army was coming to relieve Fort Stanwix. Cuyler agreed,

and having cut what seemed bullet holes in his clothes, rushed into the

British camp, crying out that a large American army was at hand, and that

he had barely escaped with life. The Indians at once began to desert, the

panic spread to the British, and the next day St. Leger was fleeing toward

Lake Ontario.
[10] The second battle is often called the battle of Stillwater. Shortly

before this Congress removed Schuyler from command and gave it to Gates,

who thus reaped the glory of the whole campaign. In both battles Arnold

greatly distinguished himself. He won the first fight and was wounded in

the second.
[11] Lafayette was a young French nobleman who, fired by accounts of the

war in America, fitted out a vessel, and despite the orders of the French

king escaped and came to Philadelphia, and offered his services to

Congress. With him were De Kalb and eleven other officers. Two gallant

Polish officers, Pulaski and Kosciusko, had come over before this time.

Kosciusko had been recommended to Washington by Franklin, then in France;

he was made a colonel in the engineer corps and superintended the building

of the American fortifications at Bemis Heights. After the war he returned

to Poland, and long afterward led the Poles in their struggle for liberty.
[12] An interesting novel on this period of the war is Dr. S. W.

Mitchell's _Hugh Wynne_.

officer who had seen service under Frederick the Great of Prussia, and had

been persuaded by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to

America and help to organize and discipline the army. He landed in New

Hampshire late in 1777, and spent the dreadful winter at Valley Forge in

drilling the troops, teaching them the use of the bayonet, and organizing

the army on the European plan. After the war New York presented Steuben

with a farm of 16,000 acres not far from Fort Stanwix. There he died in

1794.
[14] Certain officers and members of Congress plotted during 1777 to have

Washington removed from the command of the army. For an account of this

Conway Cabal read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. II, pp. 34-43.
[15] Great Britain now sent over commissioners to offer liberal terms of

peace,--no taxes by Parliament, no restrictions on trade, no troops in

America without consent of the colonial assemblies, even representation in

Parliament,--but the offer was rejected. Why did the commissioners fail?

Read Fiske's American Revolution, Vol. II, pp. 4-17, 22-24.
[16] Lee had been exchanged for a captured British general, and came to

Valley Forge in May. From papers found after his death we know that while

a prisoner he advised Howe as to the best means of conquering the states.

For his conduct in the battle and insolence to Washington after it, Lee

was suspended from the army for one year, but when he wrote an insolent

letter to Congress, he was dismissed from the army.

near New York. It might perhaps have captured the British fleet in the

harbor; but without making the attempt D'Estaing went on to Newport to

attempt the capture of a British force which had held that place since

December, 1776. Washington sent Greene and Lafayette with troops to assist

him, the New England militia turned out by thousands, and all seemed ready

for the attack, when a British fleet appeared and D'Estaing went out to

meet it. A storm scattered the vessels of the two squadrons, and D'Estaing

went to Boston for repairs, and then to the West Indies.
[18] Six of the thirty never got to sea, but were captured or destroyed

when the British took New York and Philadelphia. Our navy, therefore, may

be considered at the outset to have consisted of 24 vessels, mounting 422

guns. Great Britain at that time had 112 war vessels, carrying 3714 guns,

and 78 of these vessels were stationed on or near our coast.
[19] John Barry was a native of Ireland. He came to America at thirteen,

and at twenty-five was captain of a ship. At the opening of the war he

offered his services to Congress, and in February, 1776, was given command

of the _Lexington_. After his victory Barry was transferred to the

28-gun frigate _Effingham_, and in 1777 (while blockaded in the Delaware),

with 27 men in four boats captured and destroyed a 10-gun schooner and

four transports. For this he was thanked by Washington. When the British

captured Philadelphia, Barry took the _Effingham_ up the river to save

her; but she was burned by the British. At different times Barry commanded

several other ships, and in 1782, in the _Alliance_, fought the last

action of the war. In 1794 he was senior captain of the navy, with the

title of commodore. He died in 1803.

government protested so vigorously that the _Reprisal_ and the _Lexington_

were seized and held till security was given that they would leave France.

The prizes were ordered out of port, were taken into the offing, and then

quietly sold to French merchants. The _Reprisal_ on her way home was lost

at sea. The _Lexington_ was captured and her men thrown into prison. They

escaped by digging a hole under the wall, and were on board a vessel in

London bound for France, when they were discovered and sent back to

prison. A year later one of them, Richard Dale, escaped by walking past

the guards in daylight, dressed in a British uniform. He never would tell

how he got the uniform.
[21] John Paul, Jr., was born in Scotland in 1747. He began a seafaring

life when twelve years old and followed it till 1773, when he fell heir to

a plantation in Virginia on condition that he should take the name of

Jones. Thereafter he was known as John Paul Jones. In 1775 Jones offered

his services to Congress, assisted in founding our navy, and in December,

1775, was commissioned lieutenant. He died in Paris in 1792, but the

whereabouts of his grave was long unknown. In 1905, however, the United

States ambassador to France (Horace Porter) discovered the body of Jones,

which was brought with due honors to the United States and deposited at

the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Porter's account of how the body was found

may be read in the _Century Magazine_ for October, 1905. Jones is the

hero of Cooper's novel called _The Pilot_.

Congress to John Paul Jones, fleet commander--for the capture or defeat of

the enemy's ships off the coast of Scotland, Sept. 23, 1779."

CHAPTER XV

THE WEST.--After Great Britain obtained from France the country between

the mountains and the Mississippi, the British king, as we have seen (p.

143), forbade settlement west of the mountains. But the westward movement

of population was not to be stopped by a proclamation. The hardy

frontiersmen gave it no heed, and, passing over the mountains of Virginia

and North Carolina, they hunted, trapped, and made settlements in the

forbidden land.

the banks of the Watauga Creek and began the settlement of what is now

Tennessee. The next year James Robertson and many others followed and

dotted the valleys of the Holston and the Clinch with clearings and log

cabins. These men at first were without government of any sort, so they

formed an association and for some years governed themselves; but in 1776

their delegates were seated in the legislature of North Carolina, and next

year their settlements were organized as Washington county in that state.

Robertson soon (1779) led a colony further west and on the banks of the

Cumberland founded Nashboro, now called Nashville.

one of the great men of frontier history, entered what is now Kentucky.

Others followed, and despite Indian wars and massacres, Boonesboro,

Harrodsburg, and Lexington were founded before 1777. These backwoodsmen

also were for a time without any government; but in December, 1776,

Virginia organized the region as a county with the present boundaries of

Kentucky. [1]
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.--In the country north of the Ohio were a few old

French towns,--Detroit, Kaskaskia, Vincennes,--and a few forts built by

the French and garrisoned by the British, from whom the Indians obtained

guns and powder to attack the frontier. Against these forts and villages

George Rogers Clark, a young Virginian, planned an expedition which was

approved by Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia. Henry could give him

little aid, but Clark was determined to go; and in 1778, with one hundred

and eighty men, left Pittsburg in boats, floated down the Ohio to its

mouth, marched across the swamps and prairies of south-western Illinois,

and took Kaskaskia.

British general at Detroit with a band of Indians. But Clark, after a

dreadful march across country in midwinter, attacked the fort in the dead

of night, captured it, and then conquered the country near the Wabash and

Illinois rivers, and held it for Virginia. [3]
SPAIN IN THE WEST.--The conquest was most timely; for in 1779 Spain joined

in the war against Great Britain, seized towns and British forts in

Florida, and in January, 1781, sent out from St. Louis a band of Spaniards

and Indians who marched across Illinois and took possession of Fort St.

Joseph in what is now southwestern Michigan, occupied it, and claimed the

Northwest for Spain.

positions at New York and Newport, and the French fleet under D'Estaing

was in the West Indies. The British therefore felt free to strike a blow

at the South. A fleet and army accordingly sailed from New York and

(December 29, 1778) captured Savannah. Georgia was then overrun, was

declared conquered, and the royal governor was reestablished in office.

[4]
[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN COLONIES DURING THE REVOLUTION]
THE AMERICANS REPULSED AT SAVANNAH.--Governor Rutledge of South Carolina

now appealed to D'Estaing, who at once brought his fleet from the West

Indies; and Savannah was besieged by the American forces under Lincoln and

the French under D'Estaing. After a long siege, an assault was made on the

British defenses (October, 1779), in which the brave Pulaski was slain and

D'Estaing was wounded. The French then sailed away, and Lincoln fell back

into South Carolina.
BRITISH CAPTURE CHARLESTON.--Hearing of this, Sir Henry Clinton and Lord

Cornwallis sailed with British troops from New York (December, 1779) to

Savannah. Thence the British marched overland to Charleston. Lincoln did

all he could to defend the city, but in May, 1780, was compelled to

surrender. South Carolina was then overrun by the British, and Clinton

returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command.

war. The Tories there clamored for revenge. That no man should be neutral,

Cornwallis ordered everyone to declare for or against the king, and sent

officers with troops about the state to enroll the royalists in the

militia. The whole population was thus arrayed in two hostile parties. The

patriots could not offer organized opposition; but little bands of them

found refuge in the woods, swamps, and mountain valleys, whence they

issued to attack the British troops and the Tories. Led by Andrew Pickens,

Thomas Sumter, and Francis Marion whom the British called the Swamp Fox,

they won many desperate fights. [5]

under De Kalb were marching south before the surrender of Charleston.

After it, a call for troops was made on all the states south of

Pennsylvania, and General Gates, then called "the Hero of Saratoga," was

sent to join De Kalb and take command. The most important point in the

interior of South Carolina was Camden, and against this Gates marched his

troops. But he managed matters so badly that near Camden the American army

was beaten, routed, and cut to pieces by the British under Cornwallis

(August 16, 1780). [6]
[Illustration: WAYNE'S CAMP KETTLE. Now in possession of the Pennsylvania

Historical Society.]

armies near New York had done little fighting; but the British had made a

number of sudden raids on the coast. In 1779 Norfolk and Portsmouth in

Virginia, and New Haven and several other towns in Connecticut had been

attacked, and ships and houses burned. In New York, Clinton captured Stony

Point; but Anthony Wayne led a force of Americans against the fort, and at

dead of night, by one of the most brilliant assaults in the world's

military history, recaptured it (July, 1779). [7]

Washington to defend the Hudson. The chief fort was at West Point, the

command of which, in July, 1780, was given to Arnold. When the British

left Philadelphia in 1778, Arnold was made military commander there, and

so conducted himself that he was sentenced by court-martial to be

reprimanded by Washington. This censure, added to previous unfair

treatment by Congress, led him to seek revenge in the ruin of his country.

To bring this about he asked for the command of West Point, and having

received it, offered to surrender the fort to the British.
Clinton's agent in the matter was Major John André (an'dra), who one day

in September, 1780, came up the river in the British ship _Vulture_, went

ashore, and at night met Arnold near Stony Point. Morning came before the

terms [8] of surrender were arranged, and the _Vulture_ having been fired

on dropped down the river out of range.
WEST POINT SAVED.--Thus left within the American lines, André crossed the

river to the east shore, and started for New York by land, but was stopped

by three Americans, [9] searched, and papers of great importance were

found in his stockings. Despite an offer of his watch and money for his

release, André was delivered to the nearest American officer, was later

tried by court-martial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged as a spy.

sent the news to him as well as to Washington. Arnold received the message

first; knowing that Washington was at hand, he at once procured a boat,

was rowed down the river to the _Vulture_, and escaped. From then till the

end of the war he served as an officer in the British army.
The disasters at Charleston and Camden, and the narrow escape from

disaster at West Point, made 1780 the most disheartening year of the war.

Cornwallis began to invade North Carolina, and sent Colonel Ferguson into

the South Carolina highlands to enlist all the Tories he could find. As

Ferguson advanced into the hill country, the backwoodsmen and mountaineers

rallied from all sides, and led by Sevier, Shelby, and Williams,

surrounded him and forced him to make a stand on the summit of Kings

Mountain, October 7, 1780. Fighting in true Indian fashion from behind

every tree and rock, they shot Ferguson's army to pieces, killed him, and

forced the few survivors to surrender. This victory forced Cornwallis to

put off his conquest of North Carolina.

patriot army in the South. He was too weak to attack Cornwallis, but by

dividing his army and securing the aid of the partisan bands he hoped to

annoy the British with raids. Morgan, who commanded one of these

divisions, was so successful that Cornwallis sent Tarleton with a thousand

men against him. Morgan offered battle on the grounds known as the

Cowpens, and there Tarleton was routed and three fourths of his men were

killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.

Cornwallis himself in hot pursuit. When Greene heard the news, he

determined to draw the British general far northward and then fight him

wherever he would be at most disadvantage. [10] The retreat of the

American army was therefore continued to the border of Virginia.
GUILFORD COURT HOUSE.--Having received reinforcements, Greene turned

southward and offered battle at Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781). A

desperate fight ensued, and when night came, Greene retired, leaving the

British unable to follow him. Cornwallis had lost one quarter of his army

in killed and wounded. He was in the midst of a hostile country, too weak

to stay, and unwilling to confess defeat by retreating to South Carolina.

Thus outgeneraled he hurried to Wilmington, where he could be aided by the

British fleet.

British out of Camden, and by the 4th of July had reconquered half of

South Carolina. Late in August, he forced the British back to Eutaw

Springs, where (September 8, 1781) a desperate battle was fought. [11] The

British troops held their ground, but on the following night they set off

for. Charleston, where they remained until the end of the war. [12]

where a British force under Benedict Arnold joined him. He then set off to

capture Lafayette, who had been sent to defend Virginia from Arnold. But

Lafayette retreated to the back country, till reinforcements came. When

Cornwallis could drive him no farther, the British army retreated to the

coast, and fortified itself at Yorktown.

Grasse was about to sail from the West Indies to Chesapeake Bay. He saw

that the supreme moment had come. Laying aside his plan for an attack on

New York, he hurried southward, marched his army to the head of Chesapeake

Bay, and then took it by ships to Yorktown. [13] The French fleet was

already in the bay. Some French troops had joined Lafayette, and