XXIX. 5. Oct. CHAPTER XXIX. WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-CONTINUED. Meeting of Congress; alarming Evils require its Attention.-British Cruisers.-Portland burned.-Efforts to defend the Coast.-Congress acts with Energy.-Parliament resolves to crush the Rebels.-Henry Knox.Difficulties in the Army.-Provincial Prejudices.-Success of the Privateers.—British Theatricals.-The Union Flag.-Affairs in New York.— Rivington's Gazette.--Governor Tryon.-General Lee in the City.-The Johnsons.-Dunmore's Measures in Virginia; Norfolk burned.-Defeat of North Carolina Tories.--Lee at the South.-Cannon and Powder obtained.--Dorchester Heights fortified.-Boston Evacuated.-Washington in New York.-British and German Troops in Canada.-Numerous Disasters.-The Retreat from Canada.-Horatio Gates.-A British Fleet before Fort Moultrie.-Gloomy Prospects. CHAP. WHEN the Continental Congress reassembled, delegates from Georgia took their seats, for the first time, and the 1775. style was assumed of THE THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES. Sept. During the session, a delegate from beyond the mountains presented himself as the representative of the colony of Transylvania, the germ of the present State of Kentucky, (settled by those bold pioneers, Boone, Harrod, and Henderson), but the delegate of the fourteenth colony was rejected, on the ground that Virginia claimed the territory. Alarming evils required the prompt attention of Congress. The army was almost destitute of ammunition and military stores; the coast, to a great extent, unprotected; British cruisers hovered on the shores of New England; demanded of the inhabitants supplies; burned PORTLAND BURNED-PLANS OF DEFENCE. 345 XXIX. Oct. and pillaged the towns. The notorious Captain Wallace CHAP was stationed in Narragansett Bay; Stonington and Bristol had been bombarded, and Newport was threatened 1775. with destruction. The British Admiral, Graves, it was 7. said, had issued orders to burn all the rebel towns from Halifax to Boston. This was no idle rumor. At Falmouth, now Portland, in Maine, the destruction began. This patriotic little town had, some time before, resolutely 18. repulsed Lieutenant Mowatt of the British navy. One evening he appeared with several vessels in the harbor, prepared to mete out the punishment due for such rebellion. He informed the inhabitants of his intention, and allowed them two hours "to remove the human species out of the town." A further respite until nine o'clock next morning was with difficulty obtained. The people removed during the night; then, by means of bombs and carcasses, this flourishing village of three hundred houses was laid in ashes. The other towns assumed a posture of defence, and avoided a similar ruin. The colonies separately took measures to defend their coasts against such attacks. Already Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina had appointed Naval Boards, and equipped armed vessels. The British ships had been driven from the harbor at Charleston; a powder-ship had been captured by a South Carolina vessel. Washington had sent cruisers into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Massachusetts Bay, to intercept supplies intended for the enemy. One of these, the schooner Lee, commanded by Captain Manly, deserves particular mention. She did the country good service. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, now equipped a few small vessels. Although a few harbors were thus defended, the force that protected the coast was still insufficient. Congress applied themselves vigorously to remedy these evils. They forwarded some of the powder seized by XXIX. CHAP. the South Carolinians to the camp; appointed a secret committee to import it from the West Indies; took meas1775. ures to establish mills for its manufacture, and founderies Nov. for the making of cannon. They licensed privateers, and 25. Dec. 13. ordered gun-boats to be prepared for the defence of the harbors; appointed a Naval Committee, which was authorized to build thirteen frigates; but, alas! want of funds interfered sadly with the accomplishment of these proposed measures. In this Naval Committee we recognize the germ of the Navy Department. About this time a secret committee was authorized to open a private correspondence with the friends of the cause in England, Ireland, and elsewhere; this grew into the State Department. Thus was the Continental Congress gradually laying the foundation of the present government of the United States. Parliament, in the mean time, took measures to crush the "rebels;" enacted laws against them, cruel in the extreme; gave orders to treat them in warfare not as equals, but as criminals, who should be thankful to escape the gallows. The ministry proclaimed all ships trading to the colonies lawful prizes; and the crews of all captured colonial trading vessels virtually slaves; these were doomed to serve in the royal navy as marines. Parliament also voted to increase their army in America to forty thousand men-of this number twenty-five thousand Nov. had yet to be raised. They could not be obtained in Great Britain; men would not enlist. Lord Howe had written to the ministry that Catholic Irish soldiers could not be trusted, and suggested the employment of German troops. Negotiations were accordingly commenced with two of the little German principalities, Brunswick and Hesse Cassel; and the English monarch hired seventeen thousand Germans, or Hessians, to aid him in subduing the descendants of Englishmen in America. In vain did HENRY KNOX--COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS. 347 XXIX. the best and most humane in Parliament oppose these CHAP. measures. There was in England an honorable minority, who felt for the cause of the colonists. Burke and Barre 1775. stood firm; Conway and the Duke of Grafton resigned their offices, and joined the opposition; Lord Effingham and the son of Pitt threw up their commissions in the army, rather than take part in the unnatural struggle. The mercantile interests of the country, and especially the Corporation of London, were opposed to the measures of Parliament. Intelligence of them aroused the Americans to greater exertions, and deepened their hostility to the mother country. Since the battle of Bunker Hill, the armies in and around Boston had been inactive-the British from choice, the Americans from want of ammunition. Washington was anxious to be ready, when the bay should be frozen to pass over to the town on the ice. But he must have powder and ordnance. Henry Knox, a bookseller of Boston, had entered with great zeal into the cause of his country. He had an intuitive skill in the use of artillery, which he first displayed on Bunker Hill, and afterward in planning the defences of the camp. His aptness and energy attracted the attention of Washington. Knox proposed to go to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and bring from those places the cannon and powder that could be spared. Washington approved the suggestion, wrote to Schuyler at Albany to give his assistance, and to Congress, recommending Knox as colonel of a regiment of artillery. Knox immediately set out. Other difficulties surrounded the army. The soldiers had enlisted but for one year, their terms would expire before the first of January. In anticipation of this, a committee of the Continental Congress, consisting of Doctor Franklin, Colonel Harrison, of Virginia, and Thomas Lynch, of Carolina, met at Cambridge, with committees XXIX. 1775. CHAP. from the New England colonies, to reorganize the army, and to devise means to increase it to thirty-two thousand. The committees were in favor of an attack upon Boston as soon as practicable. Their plans were well laid, but how could they be carried out? The soldiers were unwilling to re-enlist; the zeal of the patriot army had begun to flag; winter was coming on; they were ill-fitted to endure its hardships; their fuel was scanty and their clothing poor; their families needed their presence; the attractions of home presented a delightful contrast to the privations of a winter campaign. Their patriotism was not extinct, but they were weary and discouraged. Says Washington, in a letter: "The desire of retiring into a chimney-corner seized the troops as soon as their terms expired." Those who were willing to re-enlist, would do so only on certain conditions. They must know under what officers they were to be placed. Provincial prejudices had their effect; the men of one colony hesitated to serve with those of another, or under officers not of their own choosing. It is pleasing to record one instance of highminded patriotism-doubtless there were many. Colonel Asa Whitcombe, a worthy and experienced officer, was not reappointed on account of his advanced age. His men took offence, and refused to re-enlist. The colonel set them an example by enlisting himself as a private soldier. A younger officer immediately resigned the command of his regiment that Whitcombe might be appointed, which was done. On the first of December, some days before their terms expired, a portion of the Connecticut troops began to return home; they were unwilling even to remain in camp till their places could be supplied. Their arms were retained at an assessed value. In the midst of this gloom, the privateers did good service. The camp was thrown into ecstasies by the |