decisive_battles_of_america
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+ | DECISIVE BATTLES< | ||
+ | OF AMERICA</ | ||
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+ | CLAUDE HALSTEAD VAN TYNE, GEORGE PIERCE GARRISON,< | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | JAMES K. HOSMER, J. H. LATANÉ, RICHARD HILDRETH,< | ||
+ | BENSON J. LOSSING</ | ||
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+ | HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS< | ||
+ | MCMIX</ | ||
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+ | Copyright, 1909, by <span class=" | ||
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+ | Published October, 1909.</ | ||
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+ | but our country has been in larger part maintained | ||
+ | and transmitted to us directly or indirectly as the result | ||
+ | of war. Almost from the outset there were conflicting | ||
+ | claims on the part of Spain, France, and England, and | ||
+ | also Holland. The struggles against hostile native tribes | ||
+ | along the Atlantic seaboard were followed by war against | ||
+ | the aggressions of the French, who would have kept the | ||
+ | English-speaking colonies east of the Alleghanies. That | ||
+ | long period of strife was followed by two conflicts with England, | ||
+ | the first gaining America for Americans as an independent | ||
+ | nation, the second confirming it as an independent | ||
+ | nationality. While the great Louisiana Purchase was a | ||
+ | peaceful acquisition, | ||
+ | territory was intermingled with his military plans. California | ||
+ | and the extreme Southwest came out of conflict | ||
+ | with Mexico. The Civil War preserved the integrity | ||
+ | of the country which Americans had gained. Hawaii was | ||
+ | added through a revolution fortunately bloodless. As a | ||
+ | result of the war with Spain, Porto Rico and the Philippines | ||
+ | were included within the limits of our authority.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to arrive at an agreement, the series of political events | ||
+ | which have preceded war and the manifold aspects of | ||
+ | civil life have seemed very justly to modern historians | ||
+ | more important than the descriptions of war itself. The | ||
+ | older writers were fond of dwelling upon all the pomp | ||
+ | and circumstances and all the dramatic accompaniments< | ||
+ | of battle. Modern history is written differently, | ||
+ | in fact, that we are apt to find battles summarized | ||
+ | in paragraphs by scientific historians. Thus the pendulum | ||
+ | has swung from one extreme to another, until it has become | ||
+ | a difficult matter to find in the newest shorter histories | ||
+ | accounts of significant military events which approach | ||
+ | completeness. Take, for example, the battle of | ||
+ | Bunker Hill. No name in our own military history is | ||
+ | more familiar, and yet in many of the books most readily | ||
+ | available for older as well as younger readers this battle | ||
+ | appears as a brief summary of facts. As to the Mexican | ||
+ | War, such remarkable military events as Taylor’s victory | ||
+ | at Buena Vista over a force five times as large, or the | ||
+ | series of desperate battles which won the City of Mexico | ||
+ | for Scott, are practically little more than obscure names | ||
+ | for readers of to-day. It is not strange that Mr. Charles | ||
+ | Francis Adams once inaugurated his presidency of the | ||
+ | American Historical Association with an earnest plea for | ||
+ | military history.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the present volume, which is a companion to | ||
+ | Harper & Brothers’ new edition of Sir Edward Creasy’s | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | the importance of preserving historical relations and | ||
+ | continuity. The concise chronology of leading events in | ||
+ | American history which runs through from beginning to | ||
+ | end is not entirely limited to the military side of history. | ||
+ | The introductory chapter sketches world relations from the | ||
+ | fifteenth century. The second chapter affords a broad | ||
+ | view of the relations of the early colonists to the Indians, | ||
+ | and there is also specific reference to Champlain’s alliance | ||
+ | with the Algonquins and the consequent hostility of the | ||
+ | Iroquois. For the rest, the conditions and causes leading | ||
+ | up to conflict are set forth wherever necessary in | ||
+ | order to furnish a perspective, | ||
+ | in some degree consecutive. As to the question of selection, | ||
+ | there is obvious justice in Creasy’s dictum that the | ||
+ | importance of battles is to be measured by their significance,< | ||
+ | and not by the number of men engaged or by | ||
+ | carnage. To New Englanders in the seventeenth century | ||
+ | the struggles with the Pequots and with King Philip were | ||
+ | for the time being a fight for existence as well as for | ||
+ | possession of the country. They were but small affairs, | ||
+ | measured by modern standards; but much history would | ||
+ | have been written differently had the early New England | ||
+ | settlers encountered the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | rule on this continent, was fought by Englishmen with | ||
+ | only slight American aid, but its consequences to Americans | ||
+ | were assuredly momentous. As compared with | ||
+ | Gettysburg, or Sedan, or Mukden, Bunker Hill was a mere | ||
+ | skirmish, yet its fame is well founded, for it was the first | ||
+ | formal stand against the British by an organized American | ||
+ | soldiery, and in this and in the fact of American initiative | ||
+ | in seizing and fortifying Breed’s Hill, it differed from the | ||
+ | hasty gathering of patriots at Lexington and from the | ||
+ | brief conflict at Concord Bridge. In the light of modern | ||
+ | experience, again, the naval battles of Lake Erie and Lake | ||
+ | Champlain seem small engagements, | ||
+ | our northern frontier and the other repelled an | ||
+ | invasion aimed at the very vitals of our country. On the | ||
+ | other hand, the dramatic battle of New Orleans, fought | ||
+ | after peace was made, would have had but slight political | ||
+ | consequences had the outcome been different.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As to the war with Mexico, a certain chastening of the | ||
+ | American conscience has perhaps led us to forget the | ||
+ | extraordinary gallantry of a volunteer as well as a regular | ||
+ | soldiery in a foreign country, repeatedly pitted against | ||
+ | great odds. The story of the more significant battles | ||
+ | in those campaigns is entitled to better acquaintance, | ||
+ | Taylor’s final victory on the north and the series of desperate | ||
+ | attacks by which Scott reached the heart of Mexico | ||
+ | are therefore set forth in some detail.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battles, but Sir Edward Creasy’s point may be<span class=" | ||
+ | reiterated that it is not numbers or bloodshed that constitute | ||
+ | the significance of a battle. Fort Sumter was a | ||
+ | small affair; Antietam, Shiloh, Fredericksburg, | ||
+ | Chickamauga, | ||
+ | great conflicts. Yet influential as they were, they were | ||
+ | not decisive; while Sumter represented the first open | ||
+ | attack on the Flag and the instant call to arms.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | warfare. The blockade of the South, which can be only | ||
+ | touched upon here, represented that decisive influence of | ||
+ | sea power which has been so eloquently expounded by | ||
+ | Captain Mahan. This influence was illustrated more | ||
+ | concretely in Farragut’s capture of New Orleans, which | ||
+ | was as necessary as Grant’s conquest of Vicksburg to clear | ||
+ | the Mississippi and cut the Confederacy in two. In spite | ||
+ | of the military importance of Sherman’s march to the sea, | ||
+ | the fact that, like Grant’s ceaseless battering in Virginia, | ||
+ | it was a campaign rather than an event, renders any | ||
+ | adequate description impossible in the limits of a book | ||
+ | dealing, for the most part, with crises or facts of immediately | ||
+ | significant consequence. On the other hand, | ||
+ | Gettysburg, which destroyed once and for all the possibility | ||
+ | of a successful invasion of the North, is a historical | ||
+ | landmark in concrete form. It is described in this volume | ||
+ | by a historian who is also a veteran of the Civil War.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with the great struggle of 1861–65, it is assuredly of historical | ||
+ | consequence that the battles of Santiago de Cuba | ||
+ | destroyed the last vestiges of a Spanish rule in the Western | ||
+ | Hemisphere which had lasted nearly four hundred years. | ||
+ | Out of this came freedom at last for Cuba, and its grave | ||
+ | responsibilities. Earlier in the same year Dewey’s guns | ||
+ | drove the Spanish flag from the Pacific, and gave us a not | ||
+ | wholly welcome partnership in the vexed questions of the | ||
+ | Orient.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | never to be reopened. But there are momentous lessons< | ||
+ | of patriotism and self-sacrifice to be read in these accounts | ||
+ | of deeds which have preserved our country and helped | ||
+ | to make it great. The eminent historians whose works | ||
+ | have furnished these chapters have been moved by no | ||
+ | desire to glorify war in itself—rather the reverse; but | ||
+ | they have dealt with phases of history so vital and of | ||
+ | such supreme interest that this story of these events | ||
+ | will help general readers, old and young, to an ampler | ||
+ | knowledge of our history.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
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+ | < | ||
+ | of American Expansion</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | have been simpler had they not spent so much | ||
+ | energy in conquering one another; for side by side with | ||
+ | the advance of the frontier goes a process of territorial | ||
+ | rivalry of which the end is not yet. Along with a contest | ||
+ | with the aborigines for the face of the country went a | ||
+ | nominal subdivision of the continent among the occupying | ||
+ | European powers, a process made more difficult by | ||
+ | the slow development of knowledge about the interior: | ||
+ | as late as 1660 people thought that the upper Mississippi | ||
+ | emptied into the Gulf of California.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the very beginning came an effort to settle the prime | ||
+ | problem of European title by religious authority. Three | ||
+ | papal bulls of 1493 attempted to draw a meridian through | ||
+ | the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, west of which Spain | ||
+ | should have the whole occupancy of newly discovered | ||
+ | lands, and, east of it, Portugal.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Spain was first to see the New World, first to coast the | ||
+ | continents, first to explore the interior, first to conquer | ||
+ | tribes of the natives, and first to set up organized colonies. | ||
+ | Except in Brazil, which was east of the demarcation line, | ||
+ | for a century after discovery Spain was the only American | ||
+ | power. A war for the mastery of North America between | ||
+ | the Anglo-Saxon and the Spaniard continued for more | ||
+ | than two centuries. After the defeat of the Spanish | ||
+ | Armada by the English, in 1588, it became possible to | ||
+ | break in upon the monopoly of American territory; as | ||
+ | soon as the war with Spain was over, England gave the | ||
+ | first charter, which resulted in the founding of a lasting | ||
+ | English colony in America—the Virginia grant of 1606.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | had it not included the whole continent of North America, | ||
+ | hardly an eighth of which was occupied by Spanish colonies. | ||
+ | International law as to the occupation of new countries | ||
+ | was in a formative state: everybody admitted that | ||
+ | you might seize the territory of pagans, but how did you | ||
+ | know when you had seized it? Was the state of which | ||
+ | an accredited vessel first followed a coast thereby possessed | ||
+ | of all the back country draining into that coast? Did | ||
+ | actual exploration of the interior create presumptive | ||
+ | title to the surrounding region? Was a trading-post | ||
+ | proof that occupation was meant to be permanent? | ||
+ | Did actual colonies of settlers, who expected to spend their | ||
+ | lives there, make a complete evidence of rightful title?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
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+ | < | ||
+ | and contorted in America. Who had the best title to | ||
+ | the Chesapeake—the English, who believed Sebastian | ||
+ | Cabot had followed that part of the coast in 1498, or the | ||
+ | French, whose commander Verrazzano undoubtedly was | ||
+ | there in 1524, or the Spaniards, for whom De Ayllon made | ||
+ | a voyage in 1526? Spanish explorers had crossed and | ||
+ | followed the Mississippi River, but it is doubtful whether | ||
+ | in 1600 they could easily have found its mouth. The | ||
+ | French, in like manner, had explored the St. Lawrence,< | ||
+ | but without permanent results. Therefore, the territorial | ||
+ | history of the United States may be said to begin with the | ||
+ | almost simultaneous planting of settlements in the New | ||
+ | World by France, England, and Holland, between 1600 | ||
+ | and 1615. The French happened first on the St. Lawrence, | ||
+ | which was the gateway into the interior, with its | ||
+ | valuable fur-trade; and they set up their first permanent | ||
+ | establishment at Quebec in 1608. The English, after | ||
+ | thirty years of attempts on the Virginia coast, finally | ||
+ | planted the colony of Jamestown in 1607. The Dutch | ||
+ | rediscovered the Hudson River in 1609, and founded New | ||
+ | Amsterdam in 1614. The next great river south, the | ||
+ | Delaware, was occupied by the Swedes in 1638. It is one | ||
+ | of the misfortunes of civilization that Germany, then the | ||
+ | richest and most intellectual nation in Europe, and well | ||
+ | suited for taking a share in the development of the New | ||
+ | World, was in this critical epoch absorbed in the fearful | ||
+ | Thirty Years’ War, which in 1648 left the country ruined | ||
+ | and helpless, so that no attempt could be made to link | ||
+ | the destinies of Germany with those of America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the English first picked up various small islands in the | ||
+ | West Indies, in 1655 wrested away the Spanish island of | ||
+ | Jamaica, and thereupon made a little settlement on the | ||
+ | coast of Honduras. The next step was a determined onset | ||
+ | against the nearer neighbors in North America. Quebec | ||
+ | was taken and held from 1629 to 1632; the Dutch, who | ||
+ | had absorbed the Swedish colonies, were dispossessed in | ||
+ | 1664;<a id=" | ||
+ | with the French. These conflicts marked a deliberate | ||
+ | intention to seize points of vantage like Belize and | ||
+ | Jamaica, and to uproot the colonies of other European | ||
+ | powers in North America; it was part of a process of | ||
+ | English expansion which was going on also on the opposite | ||
+ | side of the globe.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | As the eighteenth century began, France, England, | ||
+ | and Spain were still in antagonism for the possession of | ||
+ | North America; and the French, in 1699, succeeded in | ||
+ | planting a colony on the Gulf in the side of the Spanish | ||
+ | colonial empire. These international rivalries were soon | ||
+ | altered by the struggle of England against the attempt | ||
+ | of Louis XIV. to bring about the practical consolidation | ||
+ | of Spain and France, which would have made an immense | ||
+ | Latin colonial empire. To some degree on religious | ||
+ | grounds, partly to protect their commerce, and partly from | ||
+ | inscrutable international jealousies, the nations of Europe | ||
+ | were plunged into a series of five land and naval wars | ||
+ | between 1689 and 1783, in each of which North American | ||
+ | territory was attacked, and in several of which great | ||
+ | changes were made in the map.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In these wars the colonies formed an ideal as to the | ||
+ | duty of a mother-country to protect daughter colonies, | ||
+ | and aided in developing a policy which has been described | ||
+ | by one of the most brilliant of modern writers | ||
+ | as that of “sea power.”< | ||
+ | was a succession of fleet engagements in the West Indies, | ||
+ | always followed by a picking up of enemy’s islands; and | ||
+ | also the repeated efforts of the colonists in separate or | ||
+ | joint expeditions to conquer the neighboring French | ||
+ | or Spanish territory. The final result was the destruction | ||
+ | of the French-American power and the serious weakening | ||
+ | of the Spanish.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1732 the charter of Georgia was a denial of the | ||
+ | Spanish claims to Florida. By the treaty of 1763 France | ||
+ | was pressed altogether out of the continent, yielding up | ||
+ | to England that splendid region of the eastern part of | ||
+ | the Mississippi Valley which the English coveted, and | ||
+ | with it the St. Lawrence Valley. For the first time since | ||
+ | the capture of Jamaica, a considerable area of Spanish | ||
+ | territory was transferred to England by the cession of<span class=" | ||
+ | the Floridas. Louisiana to the west of the Mississippi, | ||
+ | together with New Orleans, on the east bank, were allowed | ||
+ | to pass to Spain. From that time to the Revolution | ||
+ | the only two North American powers were England | ||
+ | and Spain, who substantially divided the continent between | ||
+ | them by the line of the Mississippi River.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | but were parcelling out their new territory. It was | ||
+ | always a serious question how far west the coast colonies | ||
+ | extended; some of them—Massachusetts, | ||
+ | Virginia, the Carolinas—had bounds nominally reaching | ||
+ | to the Pacific Ocean. To silence this controversy, | ||
+ | 1763 a royal proclamation directed that the colonial | ||
+ | governors should not exercise jurisdiction west of the | ||
+ | heads of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic, leaving in | ||
+ | a kind of territorial limbo the region between the summit | ||
+ | of the Appalachians and the Mississippi.< | ||
+ | territorial grants gave rise to many internal controversies; | ||
+ | but by the time of the Revolution most of the | ||
+ | lines starting at the sea-coast and leading inward had been | ||
+ | adjusted.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | colonies was disturbed by the addition of Nova Scotia | ||
+ | and Quebec on the north, and East and West Florida | ||
+ | on the south. Intercolonial jealousy was heightened in | ||
+ | 1774 by the Quebec act, under which the almost unpeopled | ||
+ | region north of the Ohio River was added to the | ||
+ | French-speaking province. When the Revolution broke | ||
+ | out in 1775, that jealousy was reflected in the refusal of | ||
+ | Quebec and Nova Scotia and the distant Floridas to join | ||
+ | in it. Almost the first campaign of the war, however, | ||
+ | showed the purpose of territorial enlargement, | ||
+ | 1775 the Arnold-Montgomery expedition to Canada vainly | ||
+ | attempted to persuade the Frenchmen by force to enter< | ||
+ | the union. Two years later George Rogers Clark lopped | ||
+ | off the southern half of the British western country. The | ||
+ | Southwest, into which settlers had begun to penetrate in | ||
+ | 1769, was, during the Revolution, laid hold of by the adventurous | ||
+ | frontiersman; | ||
+ | Paris thought best to leave that, as well as the whole | ||
+ | Northwest, in the hands of the new United States.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | into the American continent of a third territorial power, | ||
+ | the United States, which was divided into two nearly | ||
+ | equal portions: between the sea and the mountains lay the | ||
+ | original thirteen states; between the mountains and the | ||
+ | Mississippi was an area destined to be organized into | ||
+ | separate states and immediately opened for settlement.< | ||
+ | This destiny was solemnly announced by votes of Congress | ||
+ | in 1780, and by the territorial ordinance of 1784, | ||
+ | the land ordinance of 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance | ||
+ | of 1787, which, taken together, were virtually a charter | ||
+ | for the western country, very similar in import to the | ||
+ | old colonial charters.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In this sketch of territorial development up to 1787 | ||
+ | may be seen the elements of a national policy and a | ||
+ | national system: the territories were practically colonies | ||
+ | and inchoate states, soon to be admitted into the Union; | ||
+ | while the expansion of the national boundary during the | ||
+ | war was a presage of future conquest and enlargement; | ||
+ | and, considering the military and naval strength of Great | ||
+ | Britain, the only direction in which annexation was likely | ||
+ | was the southwest. Although the Federal Constitution | ||
+ | of 1787 acknowledged the difference between states and | ||
+ | territories only in general terms, and made no provision | ||
+ | for the annexation of territory, the spirit and the reasonable | ||
+ | implication of that instrument was that the Union< | ||
+ | might be and probably would be enlarged; some writers | ||
+ | at the time felt sure that republican government was | ||
+ | applicable to large areas.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | new nation should at once show a spirit of expansion: | ||
+ | in 1795 and 1796 its boundaries were finally acknowledged | ||
+ | by its southern and northern neighbors. Various | ||
+ | wild schemes of invading Spanish territory were broached, | ||
+ | but not till 1803 was the question of the Mississippi fairly | ||
+ | faced. Repeating the bold policy of Louis XIV., Napoleon | ||
+ | attempted to combine the military and colonial forces of | ||
+ | Spain with those of France, in order to make head against | ||
+ | Great Britain. As a preliminary, | ||
+ | compelled the cession of the former French province of | ||
+ | Louisiana, and thereby revealed to the American people | ||
+ | that it would be a menace to national prosperity to permit | ||
+ | a powerful military nation to block the commercial | ||
+ | outlet of the interior. Hence, when Napoleon changed his | ||
+ | mind and offered the province to the United States in | ||
+ | 1803, there was nothing for the envoys, the President, the | ||
+ | Senate, the House, and the people to do but to accept it | ||
+ | as a piece of manifest destiny. The boundaries of the | ||
+ | Union were thus extended to the Gulf and to the distant | ||
+ | Rocky Mountains.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | claimed, and in 1814 forcibly occupied West Florida. In | ||
+ | the same period began a purposeful movement for extending | ||
+ | the territory of the United States to the Pacific. | ||
+ | Taking advantage of the discovery of the mouth of the | ||
+ | Columbia River by an American ship in 1792, President | ||
+ | Jefferson sent out a transcontinental expedition, under | ||
+ | Lewis and Clark, which reached the Pacific in 1805, and | ||
+ | thereby forged a second link in the American claims to | ||
+ | Oregon. By this time the Spanish empire was in the<span class=" | ||
+ | throes of colonial revolution, and in 1819 the Spanish | ||
+ | government ceded East Florida and withdrew any claims | ||
+ | to Oregon, Texas being left to Spain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | territorial status of the United States. By 1819 the | ||
+ | Atlantic coast all belonged to the United States, from the | ||
+ | St. Croix River around Florida to the Sabine; the country | ||
+ | was reaching out toward Mexico, and was building a | ||
+ | bridge of solid territory across the continent, where, as | ||
+ | all the world knew, far to the south of Oregon lay the | ||
+ | harbor of San Francisco, the best haven on the Pacific | ||
+ | coast. The bold conceptions of Jefferson and John | ||
+ | Quincy Adams and their compeers included the commercial | ||
+ | and political advantages of a Pacific front; | ||
+ | and they were consciously preparing the way for the | ||
+ | homes of unborn generations under the American | ||
+ | flag.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to bring out sharply a territorial rivalry with Great | ||
+ | Britain. The War of 1812 had been an attempt to annex | ||
+ | Canada, and after it was over a controversy as to the | ||
+ | boundary between Maine and Nova Scotia kept the two | ||
+ | countries harassed until its settlement in 1842.<a id=" | ||
+ | that the rivalry for Oregon, which had been held in joint | ||
+ | occupation since 1818, was intensified. About 1832 | ||
+ | immigration began in which the Americans outran the | ||
+ | English; and it was fortunate for both countries that in | ||
+ | 1846 the disputed territory was divided by a fair compromise | ||
+ | line, the forty-ninth parallel.< | ||
+ | controversy was fought out within the limits of the Union | ||
+ | itself, between the friends and opponents of the annexation | ||
+ | of Texas, in 1845.<a id=" | ||
+ | American colony planting itself within the acknowledged | ||
+ | limits of another power, until it was strong enough to set<span class=" | ||
+ | up for itself as an independent state and to ask for admission | ||
+ | to the Union.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | on California, which could be obtained only by aggressive | ||
+ | war upon Mexico, and for connection with which | ||
+ | the possession of New Mexico was also thought necessary. | ||
+ | Ever since 1820 explorers had been opening up the region | ||
+ | between the Mississippi and the Pacific,< | ||
+ | that there were several practicable roads to that distant | ||
+ | coast.<a id=" | ||
+ | United States into a serious territorial adventure; for | ||
+ | apparently nothing but the hasty treaty negotiated by | ||
+ | Trist in 1848 stopped a movement for the annexation of | ||
+ | the whole of Mexico.< | ||
+ | conveniently rounded out the cession of New Mexico and | ||
+ | closed this second era of territorial expansion.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | by the accidental connection with slavery; but the annexation | ||
+ | of Oregon and California added to the Union | ||
+ | very distant possessions, | ||
+ | have been slow but for the discovery of gold in California | ||
+ | in 1848. At once a new set of territorial questions arose: | ||
+ | the necessity of reaching California across the plains led | ||
+ | to the organization of Nebraska and Kansas territories in | ||
+ | 1854, which convulsed the parties of the time; the movement | ||
+ | across the Isthmus to California brought up the | ||
+ | question of an interoceanic canal in a new light; the | ||
+ | commercial footing on the Pacific led to a pressure which | ||
+ | broke the shell of Japanese exclusion in 1854. Above all, | ||
+ | these annexations brought before the nation two questions | ||
+ | of constitutional law, which proved both difficult | ||
+ | and disturbing: the issue of slavery in the territories, | ||
+ | which precipitated, | ||
+ | the eventual status of territories which, from their situation< | ||
+ | or their population, were not likely to become | ||
+ | states.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the purchase of Alaska,< | ||
+ | of Secretary Seward, in which the nation took very little | ||
+ | interest; nor was the public aroused by Seward’s more | ||
+ | important scheme for annexing the Danish West India | ||
+ | Islands and a part of Santo Domingo; when the latter | ||
+ | project was taken up in 1870 and pushed with unaccountable | ||
+ | energy by President Grant,<a id=" | ||
+ | showed itself plainly averse to annexing a country with | ||
+ | a population wholly negro and little in accord with the | ||
+ | American spirit. For twenty-five years thereafter there | ||
+ | was the same indisposition to annex territory that brought | ||
+ | problems with it; and then the movement for the annexation | ||
+ | of Hawaii was headed off by President Cleveland | ||
+ | in 1893.<a id=" | ||
+ | away, and left the United States in possession of the | ||
+ | Philippine Islands, a distant archipelago containing seven | ||
+ | and a half millions of Catholic Malays; of the island of | ||
+ | Porto Rico, in the West Indies; of the Hawaiian group; | ||
+ | of a responsible protectorate over Cuba; and, four years | ||
+ | later, of the Panama strip, which may include the future | ||
+ | Constantinople of the western world.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the whole territorial history of the country, never | ||
+ | has there been such a transition. The Philippines, | ||
+ | “Mr. Dooley” in 1898 thought might be canned goods, | ||
+ | are now, according to the Supreme Court, in one sense | ||
+ | “a part of the United States,” yet not an organic part | ||
+ | in financial or governmental or legal relations. The | ||
+ | country, which from 1850 to 1902 divided with Great | ||
+ | Britain the responsibility for a future Isthmian canal, is | ||
+ | now “making the dirt fly” in a canal strip which is virtually | ||
+ | Federal territory. China, which a few years ago was one<span class=" | ||
+ | of the remotest parts of the earth, now lies but a few | ||
+ | hundred miles from American possessions. The romantic | ||
+ | era of annexations has gone by: the automobile trundles | ||
+ | across the Great American Desert and stops for lunch at | ||
+ | a railroad restaurant, and the South Sea Islands have lost | ||
+ | their mystery since the trade-winds straighten out the | ||
+ | American flag above some of those tiny land-spots.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, IN THE HISTORY OF COLONIAL< | ||
+ | AMERICA BETWEEN THE LANDING< | ||
+ | OF COLUMBUS, 1492, AND<br /> | ||
+ | CHAMPLAIN’S BATTLE< | ||
+ | WITH THE IROQUOIS,< | ||
+ | 1609</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | continent from near the mouth of the Mississippi to | ||
+ | Sinaloa in Mexico.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | River. Coronado, coming from Mexico, reaches the | ||
+ | interior, probably northeastern Kansas.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of South Carolina.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Florida.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1565. Founding of St. Augustine by the Spanish.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in the name of Queen Elizabeth.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | region is named Virginia in honor of Queen Elizabeth.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Roanoke Island.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the coast of Massachusetts.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Plymouth Companies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Mohawks, of the Iroquois Confederacy, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 id=" | ||
+ | the Indians</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | War” and the “Thirty Years’ War”; and when we | ||
+ | think of a continuous national contest for even the least of | ||
+ | those periods, there is something terrible in the picture. | ||
+ | But the feeble English colonies in America, besides all | ||
+ | the difficulties of pioneer life, had to sustain a warfare | ||
+ | that lasted, with few intermissions, | ||
+ | years. It was, moreover, a warfare against the most | ||
+ | savage and stealthy enemies, gradually trained and reinforced | ||
+ | by the most formidable military skill of Europe. | ||
+ | Without counting the early feuds, such as the Pequot | ||
+ | War, there elapsed almost precisely a century from the | ||
+ | accession of King Philip, in 1662, to the Peace of Paris, | ||
+ | which nominally ended the last French and Indian War | ||
+ | in 1763. During this whole period, with pacific intervals | ||
+ | that sometimes lasted for years, the same essential contest | ||
+ | went on; the real question being, for the greater part | ||
+ | of the time, whether France or England should control | ||
+ | the continent. The description of this prolonged war | ||
+ | may, therefore, well precede any general account of the | ||
+ | colonial or provincial life in America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | that they found the Indians a gentle, not a ferocious, | ||
+ | people. They were as ready as could be expected to | ||
+ | accept the friendship of the white race. In almost every | ||
+ | case of quarrel the white men were the immediate aggressors,< | ||
+ | and where they were attacked without seeming | ||
+ | cause—as when Smith’s Virginian colony was assailed by | ||
+ | the Indians in the first fortnight of its existence—there is | ||
+ | good reason to think that the act of the Indians was in | ||
+ | revenge for wrongs elsewhere. One of the first impulses | ||
+ | of the early explorers was to kidnap natives for exhibition | ||
+ | in Europe, in order to excite the curiosity of kings or the | ||
+ | zeal of priests; and even where these captives were restored | ||
+ | unharmed, the distrust could not be removed. Add | ||
+ | to this the acts of plunder, lust, or violence, and there | ||
+ | was plenty of provocation given from the very outset.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | AMERICAN INDIANS | ||
+ | ABOUT 1500 | ||
+ | BY LINGUISTIC STOCKS | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | been much exaggerated, | ||
+ | settlers. The early Spanish invaders made no pretence | ||
+ | of buying one foot of land from the Indians, whereas the | ||
+ | English often went through the form of purchase, and | ||
+ | very commonly put in practice the reality. The Pilgrims, | ||
+ | at the very beginning, took baskets of corn from an Indian | ||
+ | grave to be used as seed, and paid for it afterward. The | ||
+ | year after the Massachusetts colony was founded the court | ||
+ | decreed: “It is ordered that Josias Plastowe shall (for | ||
+ | stealing four baskets of corne from the Indians) returne | ||
+ | them eight baskets againe, be fined five pounds, and hereafter | ||
+ | called by the name of Josias, and not Mr., as formerly | ||
+ | he used to be.” As a mere matter of policy, it was | ||
+ | the general disposition of the English settlers to obtain | ||
+ | lands by honest purchase; indeed, Governor Josiah Winslow, | ||
+ | of Plymouth, declared, in reference to King Philip’s | ||
+ | War, that “before these present troubles broke out the | ||
+ | English did not possess one foot of land in this colony but | ||
+ | what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian | ||
+ | proprietors.” This policy was quite general. Captain | ||
+ | West, in 1610, bought the site of what is now Richmond, | ||
+ | Virginia, for some copper. The Dutch Governor | ||
+ | Minuit bought the island of Manhattan, in 1626, for sixty | ||
+ | gilders. Lord Baltimore’s company purchased land for | ||
+ | cloth, tools, and trinkets; the Swedes obtained the site of<span class=" | ||
+ | Christiania for a kettle; Roger Williams bought the island | ||
+ | of Rhode Island for forty fathoms of white beads; and | ||
+ | New Haven was sold to the whites, in 1638, for “twelve | ||
+ | coats of English cloth, twelve alchemy spoons, twelve | ||
+ | hoes, twelve hatchets, twelve porringers, twenty-four | ||
+ | knives, and twenty-four cases of French knives and | ||
+ | spoons.” Many other such purchases will be found recorded | ||
+ | by Doctor Ellis. And though the price paid | ||
+ | might often seem ludicrously small, yet we must remember | ||
+ | that a knife or a hatchet was really worth more to | ||
+ | an Indian than many square miles of wild land; while | ||
+ | even the beads were a substitute for wampum, or wompom, | ||
+ | which was their circulating medium in dealing with | ||
+ | each other and with the whites, and was worth, in 1660, | ||
+ | five shillings a fathom.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>So far as the mere bargaining went, the Indians were not | ||
+ | individually the sufferers in the early days; but we must remember | ||
+ | that behind all these transactions there often lay a | ||
+ | theory which was as merciless as that of the Spanish “Requisition, | ||
+ | and which would, if logically carried out, have made | ||
+ | all these bargainings quite superfluous. Increase Mather | ||
+ | begins his history of King Philip’s War with this phrase, | ||
+ | “That the Heathen People amongst whom we live, and | ||
+ | whose Land the Lord God of our Fathers hath given to us | ||
+ | for a rightful Possession”; | ||
+ | superiority that gave the sting to all the relations of the | ||
+ | two races. If a quarrel rose, it was apt to be the white | ||
+ | man’s fault; and after it had arisen, even the humaner | ||
+ | Englishmen usually sided with their race, as when the | ||
+ | peaceful Plymouth men went to war in defence of the | ||
+ | Weymouth reprobates. This fact, and the vague feeling | ||
+ | that an irresistible pressure was displacing them, caused | ||
+ | most of the early Indian outbreaks. And when hostilities | ||
+ | had once arisen, it was very rare for a white man of English | ||
+ | birth to be found fighting against his own people,< | ||
+ | although it grew more and more common to find Indians | ||
+ | on both sides.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As time went on each party learned from the other. In | ||
+ | the early explorations, | ||
+ | see the Indians terrified by their first sight of firearms, | ||
+ | but soon becoming skilled in the use of them. “The | ||
+ | King, with fortie Bowmen to guard me,” says Capt. John | ||
+ | Smith, in 1608, “entreated me to discharge my Pistoll, | ||
+ | which they there presented to me, with a mark at six-score | ||
+ | to strike therewith; but to spoil the practise I broke | ||
+ | the cocke, whereat they were much discontented.” But | ||
+ | writing more than twenty years later, in 1631, he says of | ||
+ | the Virginia settlers, “The loving Salvages their kinde | ||
+ | friends they trained up so well to shoot in a Peace [fowling-piece] | ||
+ | to hunt and kill them fowle, they became more | ||
+ | expert than our own countrymen.” La Hontan, writing | ||
+ | in 1703, says of the successors of those against whom | ||
+ | Champlain had first used firearms, “The Strength of the | ||
+ | Iroquese lies in engaging with Fire Arms in a Forrest, for | ||
+ | they shoot very dexterously.” They learned also to make | ||
+ | more skilful fortifications, | ||
+ | night, which in the time of the early explorers they had | ||
+ | omitted. The same La Hontan says of the Iroquois, | ||
+ | “They are as negligent in the night-time as they are vigilant | ||
+ | in the day.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | much in the way of forest warfare from the Indians. The | ||
+ | French carried their imitation so far that they often disguised | ||
+ | themselves to resemble their allies, with paint, | ||
+ | feathers, and all; it was sometimes impossible to tell in | ||
+ | an attacking party which warriors were French and which | ||
+ | were Indians. Without often going so far as this, the | ||
+ | English colonists still modified their tactics. At first they | ||
+ | seemed almost irresistible because of their armor and | ||
+ | weapons. In the very first year of the Plymouth settlement, | ||
+ | when report was brought that their friend Massasoit | ||
+ | had been attacked by the Narrangansets, | ||
+ | Indian had been killed, the colony sent ten armed men, | ||
+ | including Miles Standish, to the Indian town of Namasket | ||
+ | (now Middleborough) to rescue or revenge their friend; | ||
+ | and they succeeded in their enterprise, surrounding the | ||
+ | chief’s house and frightening every one in a large Indian | ||
+ | village by two discharges of their muskets.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | against a stealthy and light-footed foe. In spite | ||
+ | of the superior physical strength of the Englishman, he | ||
+ | could not travel long distances through the woods or | ||
+ | along the sands without lightening his weight. He | ||
+ | learned also to fight from behind a tree, to follow a trail, | ||
+ | to cover his body with hemlock boughs for disguise when | ||
+ | scouting. Captain Church states in his own narrative | ||
+ | that he learned from his Indian soldiers to march his | ||
+ | men “thin and scattering” through the woods; that the | ||
+ | English had previously, according to the Indians, “kept | ||
+ | in a heap together, so that it was as easy to hit them as | ||
+ | to hit a house.” Even the advantage of firearms involved | ||
+ | the risk of being without ammunition, so that the | ||
+ | Rhode Island colony, by the code of laws adopted in 1647, | ||
+ | required that every man between seventeen and seventy | ||
+ | should have a bow with four arrows, and exercise with | ||
+ | them; and that each father should furnish every son | ||
+ | from seven to seventeen years old with a bow, two arrows, | ||
+ | and shafts, and should bring them up to shooting. If this | ||
+ | statute was violated a fine was imposed, which the father | ||
+ | must pay for the son, the master for the servant, deducting | ||
+ | it in the latter case from his wages.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of scalps came to be a recognized part of colonial warfare. | ||
+ | Hannah Dustin, who escaped from Indian captivity in | ||
+ | 1698, took ten scalps with her own hand, and was paid | ||
+ | for them. Captain Church, undertaking his expedition | ||
+ | against the eastern Indians, in 1705, after the Deerfield | ||
+ | massacre, announced that he had not hitherto permitted | ||
+ | the scalping of “Canada men,” but should thenceforth< | ||
+ | allow it. In 1722, when the Massachusetts colony sent | ||
+ | an expedition against the village of “praying Indians,” | ||
+ | founded by Father Rasle, they offered for each scalp a | ||
+ | bounty of £15, afterward increased to £100; and this | ||
+ | inhumanity was so far carried out that the French priest | ||
+ | himself was one of the victims. Jeremiah Bumstead, of | ||
+ | Boston, made this entry in his almanac in the same year: | ||
+ | “Aug. 22, 28 Indian scalps brought to Boston, one of | ||
+ | which was Bombazen’s [an Indian chief] and one fryer | ||
+ | Raile’s.” Two years after, the celebrated but inappropriately | ||
+ | named Captain Lovewell, the foremost Indian | ||
+ | fighter of his region, came upon ten Indians asleep round | ||
+ | a pond. He and his men killed and scalped them all, and | ||
+ | entered Dover, New Hampshire, bearing the ten scalps | ||
+ | stretched on hoops and elevated on poles. After receiving | ||
+ | an ovation in Dover they went by water to Boston, and | ||
+ | were paid a thousand pounds for their scalps. Yet Lovewell’s | ||
+ | party was always accompanied by a chaplain, and | ||
+ | had prayers every morning and evening.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the fact that it was not confined to those actually engaged | ||
+ | in fighting, but that the colonial authorities actually | ||
+ | established a tariff of prices for scalps, including even | ||
+ | non-combatants—so much for a man’s, so much for a | ||
+ | woman’s, so much for a child’s. Doctor Ellis has lately | ||
+ | pointed out the striking circumstance that whereas | ||
+ | William Penn had declared the person of an Indian to | ||
+ | be “sacred, | ||
+ | scalp of an Indian man, $130 for that of a boy under ten, | ||
+ | and $50 for that of a woman or girl. The habit doubtless | ||
+ | began in the fury of retaliation, | ||
+ | order to conciliate Indian allies; and when bounties were | ||
+ | offered to them, the white volunteers naturally claimed | ||
+ | a share. But there is no doubt that Puritan theology | ||
+ | helped the adoption of the practice. It was partly because | ||
+ | the Indian was held to be something worse than | ||
+ | a beast that he was treated with very little mercy. The<span class=" | ||
+ | truth is that he was viewed as a fiend, and there could | ||
+ | not be much scruple about using inhumanities against a | ||
+ | demon. Cotton Mather calls Satan “the old landlord” | ||
+ | of the American wilderness, and says in his < | ||
+ | “These Parts were then covered with Nations of Barbarous | ||
+ | Indians and Infidels, in whom the Prince of the | ||
+ | Power of the Air did work as a Spirit; nor could it be expected | ||
+ | that Nations of Wretches whose whole religion was | ||
+ | the most Explicit sort of Devil-Worship should not be | ||
+ | acted by the devil to engage in some early and bloody | ||
+ | Action for the Extinction of a Plantation so contrary to | ||
+ | his Interests as that of New England was.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | very little union on the part of the Indians, and each | ||
+ | colony adjusted its own relations with them. At the time | ||
+ | of the frightful Indian massacre in the Virginia colony | ||
+ | (March 22, 1622), when three hundred and forty-seven | ||
+ | men, women, and children were murdered, the Plymouth | ||
+ | colony was living in entire peace with its savage neighbors. | ||
+ | “We have found the Indians,” wrote Governor | ||
+ | Winslow, “very faithful to their covenants of peace with | ||
+ | us, very loving and willing to pleasure us. We go with | ||
+ | them in some cases fifty miles into the country, and walk | ||
+ | as safely and peacefully in the woods as in the highways | ||
+ | of England.” The treaty with Massasoit lasted for more | ||
+ | than fifty years, and the first bloodshed between the Plymouth | ||
+ | men and the Indians was incurred in the protection | ||
+ | of the colony of Weymouth, which had brought trouble | ||
+ | on itself in 1623. The Connecticut settlements had far | ||
+ | more difficulty with the Indians than those in Massachusetts, | ||
+ | but the severe punishment inflicted on the | ||
+ | Pequots in 1637 quieted the savages for a long time. In | ||
+ | that fight a village of seventy wigwams was destroyed by | ||
+ | a force of ninety white men and several hundred friendly | ||
+ | Indians; and Captain Underhill, the second in command, | ||
+ | has left a quaint delineation of the attack.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | colonies for nearly forty years after the Pequot War, | ||
+ | while in Virginia there were renewed massacres in 1644 | ||
+ | and 1656. But the first organized Indian outbreak began | ||
+ | with the conspiracy of King Philip in 1675, although | ||
+ | the seeds had been sown before that chief succeeded to | ||
+ | power in 1662. In that year Wamsutta, or Alexander, | ||
+ | Philip’s brother—both being sons of Massasoit—having | ||
+ | fallen under some suspicion, was either compelled or persuaded | ||
+ | by Major Josiah Winslow, afterwards the first | ||
+ | native-born Governor of Plymouth, to visit that settlement. | ||
+ | The Indian came with his whole train of warriors | ||
+ | and women, including his queen, the celebrated “squaw | ||
+ | sachem” Weetamo, and they stayed at Winslow’s house. | ||
+ | Here the chief fell ill. The day was very hot, and though | ||
+ | Winslow offered his horse to the chief, it was refused, | ||
+ | because there was none for his squaw or the other women. | ||
+ | He was sent home because of illness, and died before he | ||
+ | got half-way there. This is the story as told by Hubbard, | ||
+ | but not altogether confirmed by other authorities. If | ||
+ | true, it is interesting as confirming the theory of that | ||
+ | careful student, Lucien Carr, that the early position of | ||
+ | women among the Indians was higher than has been generally | ||
+ | believed. It is pretty certain, at any rate, that | ||
+ | Alexander’s widow, Weetamo, believed her husband to | ||
+ | have been poisoned by the English, and she ultimately | ||
+ | sided with Philip when the war broke out, and apparently | ||
+ | led him and other Indians to the same view as to the | ||
+ | poisoning. It is evident that from the time of Philip’s | ||
+ | accession to authority, whatever he may have claimed, | ||
+ | his mind was turned more and more against the English.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It is now doubted whether the war known as King | ||
+ | Philip’s War was the result of such deliberate and organized | ||
+ | action as was formerly supposed, but about the | ||
+ | formidable strength of the outbreak there can be no question. | ||
+ | It began in June, 1675; Philip was killed August | ||
+ | 12, 1676, and the war was prolonged at the eastward for | ||
+ | nearly two years after his death. Ten or twelve Puritan< | ||
+ | towns were utterly destroyed, many more damaged, and | ||
+ | five or six hundred men were killed or missing. The war | ||
+ | cost the colonists £100,000, and the Plymouth colony | ||
+ | was left under a debt exceeding the whole valuation of its | ||
+ | property—a debt ultimately paid, both principal and interest. | ||
+ | On the other hand, the war tested and cemented | ||
+ | the league founded in 1643 between four colonies—Massachusetts, | ||
+ | Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut—against | ||
+ | the Indians and Dutch, while this prepared the | ||
+ | way more and more for the extensive combinations that | ||
+ | came after. In this early war, as the Indians had no | ||
+ | French allies, so the English had few Indian allies, and | ||
+ | it was less complex than the later contests, and so far less | ||
+ | formidable. But it was the first real experience on the | ||
+ | part of the eastern colonists of all the peculiar horrors of | ||
+ | Indian warfare—the stealthy approach, the abused hospitality, | ||
+ | the early morning assault, the maimed cattle, | ||
+ | tortured prisoners, slain infants. All the terrors that | ||
+ | lately attached to a frontier attack of Apaches or Comanches | ||
+ | belonged to the daily life of settlers in New | ||
+ | England and Virginia for many years, with one vast difference, | ||
+ | arising from the total absence in those early days | ||
+ | of any personal violence or insult to women. By the | ||
+ | general agreement of witnesses from all nations, including | ||
+ | the women captives themselves, this crowning crime | ||
+ | was then wholly absent. The once famous “white | ||
+ | woman,” Mary Jemison, who was taken prisoner by the | ||
+ | Senecas at ten years old, in 1743—who lived in that tribe | ||
+ | all her life, survived two Indian husbands, and at last | ||
+ | died at ninety—always testified that she had never received | ||
+ | an insult from an Indian, and had never known | ||
+ | of a captive’s receiving any. She added that she had | ||
+ | known few instances in the tribe of conjugal immorality, | ||
+ | although she lived to see it demoralized and ruined by | ||
+ | strong drink.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Indians any cruelty resulting from sensual vices, but<span class=" | ||
+ | of barbarity of another kind there was plenty, for it was | ||
+ | a cruel age. When the Narraganset fort was taken by | ||
+ | the English, December 19, 1675, the wigwams within the | ||
+ | fort were all set on fire, against the earnest entreaty of | ||
+ | Captain Church; and it was thought that more than one-half | ||
+ | the English loss—which amounted to several hundred—might | ||
+ | have been saved had there been any shelter | ||
+ | for their own wounded on that cold night. This, however, | ||
+ | was a question of military necessity; but the true | ||
+ | spirit of the age was seen in the punishments inflicted | ||
+ | after the war was over. The heads of Philip’s chief followers | ||
+ | were cut off, though Captain Church, their captor, | ||
+ | had promised to spare their lives; and Philip himself was | ||
+ | beheaded and quartered by Church’s order, since he was | ||
+ | regarded, curiously enough, as a rebel against Charles the | ||
+ | Second, and this was the state punishment for treason. | ||
+ | Another avowed reason was, that “as he had caused many | ||
+ | an Englishman’s body to lye unburied, | ||
+ | bones should be placed under ground. The head was set | ||
+ | upon a pole in Plymouth, where it remained for more | ||
+ | than twenty-four years. Yet when we remember that | ||
+ | the heads of alleged traitors were exposed in London at | ||
+ | Temple Bar for nearly a century longer—till 1772 at | ||
+ | least—it is unjust to infer from this course any such | ||
+ | fiendish cruelty as it would now imply. It is necessary | ||
+ | to extend the same charity, however hard it may be, to | ||
+ | the selling of Philip’s wife and little son into slavery at | ||
+ | the Bermudas; and here, as has been seen, the clergy were | ||
+ | consulted and the Old Testament called into requisition.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | there were Indian outbreaks in Virginia, resulting | ||
+ | in war among the white settlers themselves. The colony | ||
+ | was, for various reasons, discontented; | ||
+ | oppressed, and a series of Indian murders brought the | ||
+ | troubles to a climax. The policy pursued against the | ||
+ | Indians was severe, and yet there was no proper protection | ||
+ | afforded by the government; war was declared< | ||
+ | against them in 1676, and then the forces sent out were | ||
+ | suddenly disbanded by the governor, Berkeley. At last | ||
+ | there was a popular rebellion, which included almost | ||
+ | all the civil and military officers of the colony, and the | ||
+ | rebellious party put Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., a recently | ||
+ | arrived but very popular planter, at their head. He | ||
+ | marched with five hundred men against the Indians, but | ||
+ | was proclaimed a traitor by the governor, whom Bacon | ||
+ | proclaimed a traitor in return. The war with the savages | ||
+ | became by degrees quite secondary to the internal contests | ||
+ | among the English, in the course of which Bacon | ||
+ | took and burned Jamestown, beginning, it is said, with | ||
+ | his own house; but he died soon after. The insurrection | ||
+ | was suppressed, and the Indians were finally quieted by | ||
+ | a treaty.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | nationalities besides the Indian and English entered in | ||
+ | an important way. These were the Dutch and the French. | ||
+ | It was the Dutch who, soon after 1614, first sold firearms | ||
+ | to the Indians in defiance of their own laws, and by this | ||
+ | means greatly increased the horrors of the Indian warfare. | ||
+ | On the other hand, the Dutch, because of the close | ||
+ | friendship they established with the Five Nations, commonly | ||
+ | called the Iroquois, did to the English colonists, | ||
+ | though unintentionally, | ||
+ | issue of the prolonged war may have turned upon it. | ||
+ | These tribes, the Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, | ||
+ | and Senecas—afterward joined by the Tuscaroras—held | ||
+ | the key to the continent. Occupying the greater part of | ||
+ | what is now the State of New York, they virtually ruled | ||
+ | the country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from | ||
+ | the Great Lakes to the Savannah River. They were from | ||
+ | the first treated with great consideration by the Dutch, | ||
+ | and they remained, with brief intervals of war, their firm | ||
+ | friends. One war, indeed, there was under the injudicious | ||
+ | management of Governor Kieft, lasting from 1640 to | ||
+ | 1643; and this came near involving the English colonies,< | ||
+ | while it caused the death of sixteen hundred Indians, first | ||
+ | or last, seven hundred of these being massacred under | ||
+ | the borrowed Puritan leader Captain Underhill. But | ||
+ | this made no permanent interruption to the alliance between | ||
+ | the Iroquois and the Dutch.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | alliance was retained, and to this we probably owe the | ||
+ | preservation of the colonies, their union against England, | ||
+ | and the very existence of the present American nation. | ||
+ | Yet the first English governor, Colden, has left on record | ||
+ | the complaint of an Indian chief, who said that they very | ||
+ | soon felt the difference between the two alliances. | ||
+ | “When the Dutch held this country,” he said, “we lay | ||
+ | in our houses, but the English have always made us lie | ||
+ | out-of-doors.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Indian wars, the French became almost the controlling | ||
+ | influence on the other side. Except for the strip of English | ||
+ | colonies along the sea-shore, the North American continent | ||
+ | north of Mexico was French. This was not the | ||
+ | result of accident or of the greater energy of that nation, | ||
+ | but of a systematic policy, beginning with Champlain | ||
+ | and never abandoned by his successors. This plan was, | ||
+ | as admirably stated by Parkman, “to influence Indian | ||
+ | counsels, to hold the balance of power between adverse | ||
+ | tribes, to envelop in the net-work of French power and | ||
+ | diplomacy the remotest hordes of the wilderness.” With | ||
+ | this was combined a love of exploration so great that it | ||
+ | was hard to say which assisted the most in spreading their | ||
+ | dominion—religion, | ||
+ | skill, or military talent. These between them gave the | ||
+ | interior of the continent to the French. One of the New | ||
+ | York governors wrote home that if the French were to | ||
+ | hold all that they had discovered, England would not | ||
+ | have a hundred miles from the sea anywhere.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | till the final catastrophe of 1759, Canada remained uninterruptedly | ||
+ | French; and from the tide-water of the St. | ||
+ | Lawrence as a base, French traders, soldiers, and settlers | ||
+ | (< | ||
+ | southward. In the year of the restoration probably not | ||
+ | over a hundred and eighty of its inhabitants might properly | ||
+ | be called settlers, with perhaps a few score military | ||
+ | men, seafarers, and visiting commercial adventurers. | ||
+ | The majority of residents, of course, centred at Quebec, | ||
+ | with a few at the outlying trading-posts of Tadoussac | ||
+ | on the east, Three Rivers on the west, and the intervening | ||
+ | hamlets of Beaupré, Beauport, and Isle d’Orleans. | ||
+ | At the same time the English and Dutch settlements in | ||
+ | Virginia, the Middle Colonies, and Massachusetts had | ||
+ | probably amassed an aggregate population of twenty-five | ||
+ | thousand—for between the years 1627 and 1637 upward | ||
+ | of twenty thousand settlers emigrated thither from | ||
+ | Europe. While the English government was engaged in | ||
+ | efforts to repress the migration toward its own colonies, | ||
+ | the utmost endeavors of the powerful French companies, | ||
+ | their arguments reinforced by bounties, could not induce | ||
+ | more than a few home-loving Frenchmen to try their | ||
+ | fortunes amid the rigors of the New World.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of indiscretion, | ||
+ | legacy to the little colony which he otherwise | ||
+ | nursed so well. Seeking to please his Algonquian neighbors | ||
+ | upon the St. Lawrence, and at the time eager to | ||
+ | explore the country, the commandant, with two of his | ||
+ | men-at-arms, | ||
+ | war-parties against the confederated Iroquois, who lived,< | ||
+ | for the most part, in New York state and northeastern | ||
+ | Pennsylvania. Meeting a hostile band of two hundred | ||
+ | and fifty warriors near where Fort Ticonderoga was afterward | ||
+ | constructed, | ||
+ | easily routed the enemy by means of firearms, with which | ||
+ | the interior savages were as yet unacquainted.< | ||
+ | success in this direction was, through the unfortunate | ||
+ | importunity of his allies, repeated in 1610; but five years | ||
+ | later, when he invaded the Iroquois cantonments in the | ||
+ | company of a large body of Huron, whose country to the | ||
+ | east of Lake Huron he had been visiting that summer, | ||
+ | the tribesmen to the southeast of Lake Ontario were | ||
+ | found to have lost much of their fear for white men’s | ||
+ | weapons, and the invaders retreated in some disorder.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and the French. The former were year by year mercilessly | ||
+ | harried by the bloodthirsty Iroquois, until in 1649< | ||
+ | they were driven from their homes, and in the frenzy of | ||
+ | fear fled first to the islands of Lake Huron, then to | ||
+ | Mackinac and Sault Ste. Marie, finally to the southern | ||
+ | shores of Lake Superior, and deep within the dark pine | ||
+ | forests of northern Wisconsin. In the destruction of | ||
+ | Huronia, several Jesuit missionaries suffered torture and | ||
+ | death.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As for the squalid little French settlements at Three | ||
+ | Rivers, Quebec, and Tadoussac, they soon felt the wrath | ||
+ | of the Iroquois, who were the fiercest and best-trained | ||
+ | fighters among the savages of North America. Almost | ||
+ | annually the war-parties of this dread foe raided the | ||
+ | lands of the king, not infrequently appearing in force | ||
+ | before the sharp-pointed palisades of New France, over | ||
+ | which were waged bloody battles for supremacy. Fortunately | ||
+ | logs could turn back a primitive enemy unarmed | ||
+ | with cannon; but not infrequently outlying parties of | ||
+ | Frenchmen had sorry experiences with the stealthy foe, | ||
+ | of whose approach through the tangled forest they had | ||
+ | no warning. Champlain’s closing years were much saddened | ||
+ | by these merciless assaults which he had unwittingly | ||
+ | invited; in the decade after his death the operations | ||
+ | of his successors were largely hampered thereby. | ||
+ | Montreal, founded by religious enthusiasts in 1642, during | ||
+ | its earliest years served as a buffer colony, in the | ||
+ | direction of the avenging tribesmen, and supped to the | ||
+ | dregs the cup of border turmoil.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | their defences, but far and near their Indian allies were | ||
+ | swept from the earth. The Iroquois practically destroyed | ||
+ | the Algonquin tribes between Quebec and the Saguenay, | ||
+ | as well as the Algonquins of the Ottawa, the Huron, and | ||
+ | the Petun and Neutrals of the Niagara district. The fur-trade | ||
+ | of New France was for a long period almost wholly | ||
+ | destroyed; English and Dutch rivals to the south were | ||
+ | friendly to the Iroquois, furnished them cheap goods and | ||
+ | abundant firearms and ammunition, and egged them on<span class=" | ||
+ | in their northern forays; while toward the Mississippi, | ||
+ | and south of the Great Lakes, Iroquois raiders terrorized | ||
+ | those tribes which dared to entertain trade relations with | ||
+ | the French.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1646, however, the blood-stained confederates, | ||
+ | nearly a half-century of opposition, consented to a peace | ||
+ | which lasted spasmodically for almost twenty years; | ||
+ | until in 1665 the French government found itself strong | ||
+ | enough to threaten the chastisement of the New York | ||
+ | tribesmen, and thereafter the Iroquois opposition, while | ||
+ | not altogether quelled, was of a far less threatening | ||
+ | character.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN CHAMPLAIN’S BATTLE< | ||
+ | WITH THE IROQUOIS, 1609, AND<br /> | ||
+ | THE CONQUEST OF THE<br /> | ||
+ | PEQUOTS, 1637</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Negro slavery is introduced into Virginia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of New Netherlands. Indian massacre in Virginia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | becomes a Crown Colony.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Indians.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Company.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1631. Settlement of Maryland by Clayborne.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Baltimore receives a charter for a colony in Maryland.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Settlement of Rhode Island by Roger Williams.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | colonists.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | became involved in new troubles—a violent | ||
+ | internal controversy and a dangerous Indian war. | ||
+ | The most powerful native tribes of New England were | ||
+ | concentrated in the neighborhood of Narragansett Bay. | ||
+ | The Wampanoags, or Pocanokets, were on the east side of | ||
+ | that bay within the limits of the Plymouth patent, and the | ||
+ | Narragansets, | ||
+ | side. Still more numerous and more powerful were the | ||
+ | Pequots, whose chief seats were on or near Pequot River, | ||
+ | now the Thames, but whose authority extended over | ||
+ | twenty-six petty tribes, along both shores of the Sound to | ||
+ | the Connecticut River, and even beyond it, almost or quite | ||
+ | to the Hudson. In what is now the northeast corner of the | ||
+ | State of Connecticut dwelt a smaller tribe, the enemies, | ||
+ | perhaps the revolted subjects, of the Pequots, known to | ||
+ | the colonists as Mohegans—an appropriation of a general | ||
+ | name properly including all the Indians along the shores | ||
+ | of Long Island Sound as far west as the Hudson, and even | ||
+ | the tribes beyond that river, known afterward to the English | ||
+ | as the Delawares. The Indians about Massachusetts | ||
+ | Bay, supposed to have been formerly quite numerous, | ||
+ | had almost died out before the arrival of the colonists, and | ||
+ | the smallpox had since proved very fatal among the few | ||
+ | that remained. Some tribes of no great consideration—the | ||
+ | Nipmucks, the Wachusetts, the Nashaways—dwelt | ||
+ | among the interior hills, and others, known collectively | ||
+ | to the colonists as the River Indians, fished at the falls of<span class=" | ||
+ | the Connecticut, | ||
+ | alluvial meadows. The lower Merrimac, the Piscataqua, | ||
+ | and their branches were occupied by the tribes of a considerable | ||
+ | confederacy, | ||
+ | whose chief sachem, Passaconaway, | ||
+ | a great magician. The interior of New Hampshire and | ||
+ | of what is now Vermont seems to have been an uninhabited | ||
+ | wilderness. The tribes eastward of the Piscataqua, | ||
+ | known to the English by the general name of Tarenteens, | ||
+ | and reputed to be numerous and powerful, were distinguished | ||
+ | by the rivers on which they dwelt. They seem | ||
+ | to have constituted two principal confederacies, | ||
+ | east of the Kennebec being known to the French of Acadie | ||
+ | as the Abenakis. All the New England Indians spoke | ||
+ | substantially the same language, the Algonquin, in various | ||
+ | dialects. From the nature of the country, they were | ||
+ | more stationary than some other tribes, being fixed principally | ||
+ | at the falls of the rivers. They seem to have entertained | ||
+ | very decided ideas of the hereditary descent of | ||
+ | authority, and of personal devotion to their chiefs. What | ||
+ | might have been at this time the total Indian population | ||
+ | of New England it is not very easy to conjecture; but it | ||
+ | was certainly much less than is commonly stated. Fifteen | ||
+ | or twenty thousand would seem to be a sufficient allowance | ||
+ | for the region south of the Piscataqua, and as many | ||
+ | more, perhaps, for the more easterly district. The Pequots, | ||
+ | esteemed the most powerful tribe in New England, | ||
+ | were totally ruined, as we shall presently see, by the | ||
+ | destruction or capture of hardly more than a thousand | ||
+ | persons.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | small. Previous to the Massachusetts migration | ||
+ | to the Connecticut, | ||
+ | and dissolute master of a small trading vessel from Virginia, | ||
+ | whom the Plymouth people charged with having | ||
+ | been engaged at Manhattan in a piratical plot to seize | ||
+ | one of their vessels, having been sent away from Boston< | ||
+ | with orders not to return without leave, under pain of | ||
+ | death, on his way homeward to Virginia, in 1634, had entered | ||
+ | the Connecticut River, where he was cut off, with | ||
+ | his whole company, seven in number, by a band of | ||
+ | Pequots. There were various stories, none of them authentic, | ||
+ | as to the precise manner of his death, but the | ||
+ | Pequots insisted that he had been the aggressor—a thing | ||
+ | in itself sufficiently probable. As Stone belonged to Virginia, | ||
+ | the magistrates of Massachusetts wrote to Governor | ||
+ | Harvey to move him to stir in the matter. Van Cuyler, | ||
+ | the Dutch commissary at Fort Good Hope, in fact revenged | ||
+ | Stone’s death by the execution of a sachem and | ||
+ | several others. This offended the Pequots, who renounced | ||
+ | any further traffic with the Dutch, and sent | ||
+ | messengers to Boston desiring an intercourse of trade, and | ||
+ | assistance to settle their pending difficulties with the | ||
+ | Narragansets, | ||
+ | English settlements. They even promised to give up—at | ||
+ | least so the magistrates understood them—the only two | ||
+ | survivors, as they alleged, of those concerned in the death | ||
+ | of Stone. These offers were accepted; for the convenience | ||
+ | of this traffic a peace was negotiated between the | ||
+ | Pequots and the Narragansets, | ||
+ | sent to open a trade. But this traffic disappointed the | ||
+ | adventurers; | ||
+ | The Pequots, according to the Indian custom, tendered, | ||
+ | instead, a present of furs and wampum. But this was | ||
+ | refused, the colonists seeming to think themselves under | ||
+ | a religious obligation to avenge blood with blood.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | July, 1636, the crew of a small bark, returning from Connecticut, | ||
+ | saw close to Block Island a pinnace at anchor, | ||
+ | and full of Indians. This pinnace was recognized as belonging | ||
+ | to Oldham, the Indian trader, the old settler at | ||
+ | Nantasket, and explorer of the Connecticut. Conjecturing | ||
+ | that something must be wrong, the bark approached | ||
+ | the pinnace and hailed, whereupon the Indians on board< | ||
+ | slipped the cable and made sail. The bark gave chase, | ||
+ | and soon overtook the pinnace; some of the Indians | ||
+ | jumped overboard in their fright, and were drowned; | ||
+ | several were killed, and one was made prisoner. The | ||
+ | dead body of Oldham was found on board, covered with | ||
+ | an old seine. This murder, as appeared from the testimony | ||
+ | of the prisoner, who was presently sentenced by the | ||
+ | Massachusetts magistrates to be a slave for life, was | ||
+ | committed at the instigation of some Narraganset chiefs, | ||
+ | upon whom Block Island was dependent, in revenge | ||
+ | for the trade which Oldham had commenced under the | ||
+ | late treaty with the Pequots, their enemies. Indeed, all | ||
+ | the Narraganset chiefs, except the head sachem, Canonicus, | ||
+ | and his nephew and colleague, Miantonimoh, | ||
+ | believed to have had a hand in this matter, especially the | ||
+ | chieftain of the Niantics, a branch of the Narragansets, | ||
+ | inhabiting the continent opposite Block Island.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Roger Williams, by whose aid he wrote a letter to | ||
+ | the Massachusetts magistrates, | ||
+ | what had happened, and stating that Miantonimoh had | ||
+ | sailed already with seventeen canoes and two hundred | ||
+ | warriors to punish the Block Islanders. With this letter | ||
+ | were sent two Indians, late sailors on board Oldham’s | ||
+ | pinnace, and presently after two English boys, the remainder | ||
+ | of his crew. In the recapture of Oldham’s pinnace | ||
+ | eleven Indians had been killed, several of them | ||
+ | chiefs; and that, with the restoration of the crew, seems | ||
+ | to have been esteemed by Canonicus a sufficient atonement | ||
+ | for Oldham’s death. But the magistrates and ministers | ||
+ | of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | into consideration, | ||
+ | called for in August, 1636; and four companies, ninety | ||
+ | men in all, commanded by Endicott, whose submissiveness | ||
+ | in Williams’ affair had restored him to favor, were | ||
+ | embarked in three pinnaces, with orders to put to death | ||
+ | all the men of Block Island, and to make the women and<span class=" | ||
+ | children prisoners. The old affair of the death of Stone | ||
+ | was now also called to mind, though the murder of Oldham | ||
+ | had no connection with it, except in some distant | ||
+ | similarity of circumstances. Endicott was instructed, on | ||
+ | his return from Block Island, to go to the Pequots, and to | ||
+ | demand of them the murderers of Stone, and a thousand | ||
+ | fathoms of wampum for damages—equivalent to from | ||
+ | three to five thousand dollars—also, | ||
+ | as hostages; and, if they refused, to employ force.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | escaped; but Endicott burned their wigwams, staved | ||
+ | their canoes, and destroyed their standing corn. He | ||
+ | then sailed to Fort Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut, | ||
+ | and marched thence to Pequot River. After some | ||
+ | parley, the Indians refused his demands, when he burned | ||
+ | their village and killed one of their warriors. Marching | ||
+ | back to the Connecticut River, he inflicted like vengeance | ||
+ | on the Pequot village there, whence he returned to Boston, | ||
+ | after a three weeks’ absence and without the loss of a | ||
+ | man.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and unprovoked attack, lurked about Fort Saybrook, | ||
+ | killed or took several persons, and did considerable | ||
+ | mischief. They sent, also, to the Narragansets to | ||
+ | engage their alliance against the colonists, whom they | ||
+ | represented as the common enemy of all the Indians. | ||
+ | Williams, informed of this negotiation, | ||
+ | the Massachusetts magistrates, | ||
+ | visited Canonicus, to dissuade him from joining the Pequots. | ||
+ | This mission was not without danger. In the | ||
+ | wigwam of Canonicus, Williams encountered the Pequot | ||
+ | messengers, full of rage and fury. He succeeded, however, | ||
+ | in his object, and, in October, Miantonimoh was induced | ||
+ | to visit Boston, where, being received with much | ||
+ | ceremony by the governor and magistrates, | ||
+ | act with them as a faithful ally. Canonicus thought it | ||
+ | would be necessary to attack the Pequots with a very< | ||
+ | large force; but he recommended, | ||
+ | agreeable to all the Indians—so Williams informs us—that | ||
+ | the women and children should be spared, a humane | ||
+ | piece of advice which received in the end but little | ||
+ | attention.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | conduct, was not universally conceded. A letter | ||
+ | from Plymouth reproached the Massachusetts magistrates | ||
+ | with the dangers likely to arise from so inefficient an attack | ||
+ | upon the Pequots. Gardiner, the commandant at | ||
+ | Fort Saybrook, who lost several men during the winter, | ||
+ | was equally dissatisfied. The new settlers up the Connecticut | ||
+ | complained bitterly of the dangers to which they | ||
+ | were exposed. Sequeen, the same Indian chief at whose | ||
+ | invitation the Plymouth people had first established a | ||
+ | trading-house on the Connecticut River, had granted land | ||
+ | to the planters at Wethersfield on condition that he might | ||
+ | settle near them, and be protected; but when he came | ||
+ | and built his wigwam, they had driven him away. He | ||
+ | took this opportunity for revenge by calling in the Pequots, | ||
+ | who attacked the town, and killed nine of the inhabitants. | ||
+ | The whole number killed by the Pequots | ||
+ | during the winter was about thirty.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In December a special session of the General Court of | ||
+ | Massachusetts organized the militia into three regiments, | ||
+ | the magistrates to appoint the field officers—called sergeant-majors—and | ||
+ | to select the captains and lieutenants | ||
+ | out of a nomination to be made by the companies respectively. | ||
+ | Watches were ordered to be kept, and | ||
+ | travellers were to go armed....</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | suffer during the winter. The attack on Wethersfield | ||
+ | has been mentioned already. Fort Saybrook was beleaguered; | ||
+ | several colonists were killed, and two young | ||
+ | girls were taken prisoners, but were presently redeemed | ||
+ | and sent home by some Dutch traders. It had been resolved | ||
+ | in Massachusetts to raise a hundred and sixty men<span class=" | ||
+ | for the war, and already Underhill had been sent, with | ||
+ | twenty men, to reinforce Fort Saybrook; but, during | ||
+ | Vane’s administration, | ||
+ | from any misgivings as to the justice of the | ||
+ | war, but because the army “was too much under a | ||
+ | covenant of works.” The expedition was now got ready, | ||
+ | and, by a “solemn public invocation of the word of | ||
+ | God,” a leader was designated by lot from among three | ||
+ | of the magistrates set apart for that purpose. The lot | ||
+ | fell on Stoughton, whose adherence to the orthodox party | ||
+ | during the late dissensions had restored him to favor, and | ||
+ | obtained for him, at the late election, one of the vacant | ||
+ | magistrates’ seats. Wilson was also designated by lot | ||
+ | as chaplain to the expedition. The people of Plymouth | ||
+ | agreed to furnish forty-five men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The Connecticut towns, impatient of delay, having obtained | ||
+ | the alliance of Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, | ||
+ | had marched, to the number of ninety men, almost their | ||
+ | entire effective force, under the command of John Mason, | ||
+ | bred a soldier in the Netherlands, | ||
+ | 10, with prayers and religious ceremonies, solemnly invested | ||
+ | with the staff of command. After a night spent | ||
+ | in prayer, this little army, joined by Uncas with sixty | ||
+ | Indians, and accompanied by Stone, Hooker’s colleague, | ||
+ | as chaplain, embarked at Hartford. They were not without | ||
+ | great doubts as to their Indian allies, but were reassured | ||
+ | at Fort Saybrook. While Stone was praying “for | ||
+ | one pledge of love, that may confirm us of the fidelity of | ||
+ | the Indians,” these allies came in with five Pequot scalps | ||
+ | and a prisoner. Underhill joined with his twenty men, | ||
+ | and the united forces proceeded by water to Narragansett | ||
+ | Bay, where they spent Sunday, May 21, in religious | ||
+ | exercises. They were further strengthened by Miantonimoh | ||
+ | and two hundred Narraganset warriors; but the | ||
+ | English force seemed so inadequate that many of the | ||
+ | Narragansets became discouraged and returned home.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The Pequots were principally collected a few miles | ||
+ | east of Pequot River, now the Thames, in two forts, or | ||
+ | villages, fortified with trees and brushwood. After a fatiguing | ||
+ | march of two days, Mason reached one of these | ||
+ | strongholds, | ||
+ | from the sea-shore. He encamped a few hours to rest | ||
+ | his men, but marched again before daybreak, and at | ||
+ | early dawn approached the fort. The Pequots had seen | ||
+ | the vessels pass along the sea-shore toward the bay of | ||
+ | Narragansett, | ||
+ | attack them, they had spent the night in feasting and | ||
+ | dancing, and Mason could hear their shoutings in his | ||
+ | camp. Toward morning they sunk into a deep sleep, | ||
+ | from which they were roused by the barking of their | ||
+ | dogs, as the colonists, in two parties, approached the fort, | ||
+ | one led by Mason, the other by Underhill, both of whom | ||
+ | have left us narratives of the battle. The assailants | ||
+ | poured in a fire of musketry, and, after a moment’s hesitation, | ||
+ | forced their way into the fort. Within were | ||
+ | thickly clustered wigwams containing the families of the | ||
+ | Indians, and what remained of their winter stores. The | ||
+ | astonished Pequots seized their weapons and fought with | ||
+ | desperation; | ||
+ | against the muskets and plate-armor of the colonists? | ||
+ | Yet there was danger in the great superiority of their | ||
+ | numbers, and Mason, crying out “we must burn them,” | ||
+ | thrust a firebrand among the mats with which the wigwams | ||
+ | were covered. Almost in a moment the fort was | ||
+ | in a blaze. The colonists, “bereaved of pity and without | ||
+ | compassion, | ||
+ | the fight within the fort, while their Indian allies, forming | ||
+ | a circle around, struck down every Pequot who attempted | ||
+ | to escape. No quarter was given, no mercy | ||
+ | was shown; some hundreds, not warriors only, but old | ||
+ | men, women, and children, perished by the weapons of the | ||
+ | colonists, or in the flames of the burning fort. “Great | ||
+ | and doleful,” says Underhill, “was the bloody sight to<span class=" | ||
+ | the view of young soldiers, to see so many souls lie gasping | ||
+ | on the ground, so thick you could hardly pass along.” | ||
+ | The fact that only seven prisoners were taken, while | ||
+ | Mason boasts that only seven others escaped, evinces the | ||
+ | unrelenting character of this massacre, which was accomplished | ||
+ | with but trifling loss, only two of the colonists | ||
+ | being killed, and sixteen or twenty wounded. Yet the | ||
+ | victors were not without embarrassments. The morning | ||
+ | was hot, there was no water to be had, and the men, | ||
+ | exhausted by their long march the two days before, the | ||
+ | weight of their armor, want of sleep, and the sharpness | ||
+ | of the late action, must now encounter a new body of | ||
+ | Pequots from the other village, who had taken the alarm, | ||
+ | and were fast approaching. Mason, with a select party, | ||
+ | kept this new enemy at bay, and thus gave time to the | ||
+ | main body to push on for Pequot River, into which some | ||
+ | vessels had just been seen to enter. When the Indians | ||
+ | approached the hill where their fort had stood, at sight | ||
+ | of their ruined habitations and slaughtered companions | ||
+ | they burst out into a transport of rage, stamped on the | ||
+ | ground, tore their hair, and, regardless of everything | ||
+ | save revenge, rushed furious in pursuit. But the dreaded | ||
+ | firearms soon checked them, and Mason easily made | ||
+ | good his retreat to Pequot harbor, now New London, | ||
+ | where he found not only his own vessels, but Captain Patrick | ||
+ | also, just arrived in a bark from Boston, with forty | ||
+ | men. Mason sent the wounded and most of his forces | ||
+ | by water, but, in consequence of Patrick’s refusal to lend | ||
+ | his ship, was obliged to march himself, with twenty men, | ||
+ | followed by Patrick, to Fort Saybrook, where his victory | ||
+ | was greeted by a salvo of cannon.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In about a fortnight Stoughton arrived at Saybrook | ||
+ | with the main body of the Massachusetts forces. Mason, | ||
+ | with forty Connecticut soldiers and a large body of Narragansets, | ||
+ | joined also in pursuing the remnants of the | ||
+ | enemy. The Pequots had abandoned their country, or | ||
+ | concealed themselves in the swamps. In July one of<span class=" | ||
+ | these fortresses was attacked by night, and about a hundred | ||
+ | Indians captured. The men, twenty-two in number, | ||
+ | were put to death; thirty women and children were | ||
+ | given to the Narraganset allies; some fifty others were | ||
+ | sent to Boston, and distributed as slaves among the principal | ||
+ | colonists. The flying Pequots were pursued as far | ||
+ | as Quinapiack, now New Haven. A swamp in that | ||
+ | neighborhood, | ||
+ | surrounded and attacked, a parley was had, and life was | ||
+ | offered to “all whose hands were not in English blood.” | ||
+ | About two hundred, old men, women, and children, reluctantly | ||
+ | came out and gave themselves up. Daylight | ||
+ | was exhausted in this surrender; and as night set in, | ||
+ | the warriors who remained renewed their defiances. | ||
+ | Toward morning, favored by a thick fog, they broke | ||
+ | through and escaped. Many of the surviving Pequots | ||
+ | put themselves under the protection of Canonicus and | ||
+ | other Narraganset chiefs. Sassacus, the head sachem, | ||
+ | fled to the Mohawks; but they were instigated by their | ||
+ | allies, the Narragansets, | ||
+ | was sent to Boston, and many heads and hands of Pequot | ||
+ | warriors were also brought in by the neighboring | ||
+ | tribes. The adult male prisoners who remained in the | ||
+ | hands of the colonists were sent to the West Indies to be | ||
+ | sold into slavery; the women and children experienced | ||
+ | a similar fate at home. It was reckoned that between | ||
+ | eight and nine hundred of the Pequots had been killed | ||
+ | or taken. Such of the survivors as had escaped, forbidden | ||
+ | any longer to call themselves Pequots, were distributed | ||
+ | between the Narragansets and Mohegans, and | ||
+ | subjected to an annual tribute. A like tribute was imposed, | ||
+ | also, on the inhabitants of Block Island. The | ||
+ | colonists regarded their success as ample proof of Divine | ||
+ | approbation, | ||
+ | “bloody heathen” by abundant quotations from the Old | ||
+ | Testament. Having referred to “the wars of David,” | ||
+ | Underhill adds, “We had sufficient light from the word< | ||
+ | of God for our proceedings”; | ||
+ | quotations from the Psalms, concludes: “Thus | ||
+ | the Lord was pleased to smite our enemies in the hinder | ||
+ | parts, and to give us their land for an inheritance!” | ||
+ | The Indian allies admired the courage of the colonists, | ||
+ | but they thought their method of war “too furious, and | ||
+ | to slay too many.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE CONQUEST OF<br /> | ||
+ | THE PEQUOTS, 1637, AND THE DEFEAT< | ||
+ | OF KING PHILIP, 1676</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Colony of New Haven. Swedes and Finns settle | ||
+ | in Delaware.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Battle of Edgehill.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Royalists are defeated. Roger Williams obtains a patent | ||
+ | from Parliament for the United Government of the | ||
+ | Rhode Island Settlements.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Naseby.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Netherlands, | ||
+ | mouth of the Delaware.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a charter from Charles II.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and Delaware rivers to his brother James, Duke< | ||
+ | of York. The English occupy New Amsterdam and take | ||
+ | possession of the province of New Netherland. The | ||
+ | Colony of New Jersey is established.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Colonies is completed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Ste. Marie.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | English.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | tribes of New England had, in 1673, undergone no | ||
+ | very material diminution. The Pocanokets, or Wampanoags, | ||
+ | though somewhat curtailed in their limits, still | ||
+ | occupied the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay. The | ||
+ | Narragansets still possessed the western shore. There | ||
+ | were several scattered tribes in various parts of Connecticut; | ||
+ | though, with the exception of some small | ||
+ | reservations, | ||
+ | Uncas, the Mohegan chief, was now an old man. The | ||
+ | Pawtucket, or Penacook, confederacy continued to occupy | ||
+ | the falls of the Merrimac and the heads of the Piscataqua. | ||
+ | Their old sachem, Passaconaway, | ||
+ | the colonists with awe and veneration. In the interior of | ||
+ | Massachusetts and along the Connecticut were several | ||
+ | other less noted tribes. The Indians of Maine and the | ||
+ | region eastward possessed their ancient haunts undisturbed; | ||
+ | but their intercourse was principally with the | ||
+ | French, to whom, since the late peace with France, Acadie | ||
+ | had been again yielded up. The New England Indians | ||
+ | were occasionally annoyed by war parties of Mohawks; | ||
+ | but, by the intervention of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | recently been concluded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were still continued by Eliot and his coadjutors, | ||
+ | supported by the funds of the English society. In Massachusetts | ||
+ | there were fourteen feeble villages of these | ||
+ | praying Indians, and a few more in Plymouth colony.< | ||
+ | The whole number in New England was about thirty-six | ||
+ | hundred, but of these near one-half inhabited the | ||
+ | islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and other subject tribes, and their limits had been contracted | ||
+ | by repeated cessions, not always entirely voluntary. | ||
+ | The Wampanoags, within the jurisdiction of | ||
+ | Plymouth, experienced similar treatment. By successive | ||
+ | sales of parts of their territory, they were now shut up, | ||
+ | as it were, in the necks or peninsulas formed by the | ||
+ | northern and eastern branches of Narragansett Bay, the | ||
+ | same territory now constituting the continental eastern | ||
+ | portion of Rhode Island. Though always at peace with | ||
+ | the colonists, the Wampanoags had not always escaped | ||
+ | suspicion. The increase of the settlements around | ||
+ | them, and the progressive curtailment of their limits, | ||
+ | aroused their jealousy. They were galled, also, by the | ||
+ | feudal superiority, | ||
+ | her dependent tribes, claimed by Plymouth on the | ||
+ | strength of certain alleged former submissions. None | ||
+ | felt this assumption more keenly than Pometacom, head | ||
+ | chief of the Wampanoags, better known among the | ||
+ | colonists as King Philip of Mount Hope, nephew and successor | ||
+ | of that Massasoit who had welcomed the Pilgrims | ||
+ | to Plymouth. Suspected of hostile designs, he had been | ||
+ | compelled to deliver up his firearms, and to enter into | ||
+ | certain stipulations. These stipulations he was accused | ||
+ | of not fulfilling; and nothing but the interposition of the | ||
+ | Massachusetts magistrates, | ||
+ | prevented Plymouth from making war upon him. He | ||
+ | was sentenced instead to pay a heavy fine, and to acknowledge | ||
+ | the unconditional supremacy of that colony.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A praying Indian, who had been educated at Cambridge | ||
+ | and employed as a teacher, upon some misdemeanor had | ||
+ | fled to Philip, who took him into service as a sort of secretary. | ||
+ | Being persuaded to return again to his former | ||
+ | employment, this Indian accused Philip anew of being< | ||
+ | engaged in a secret hostile plot. In accordance with | ||
+ | Indian ideas, the treacherous informer was waylaid and | ||
+ | killed. Three of Philip’s men, suspected of having killed | ||
+ | him, were arrested by the Plymouth authorities, | ||
+ | accordance with English ideas, were tried for murder by | ||
+ | a jury half English, half Indians, convicted upon very | ||
+ | slender evidence, and hanged. Philip retaliated by plundering | ||
+ | the houses nearest Mount Hope. Presently he | ||
+ | attacked Swanzey, and killed several of the inhabitants. | ||
+ | Plymouth took measures for raising a military force. | ||
+ | The neighboring colonies were sent to for assistance. | ||
+ | Thus, by the impulse of suspicion on the one side and | ||
+ | passion on the other, New England became suddenly engaged | ||
+ | in a war very disastrous to the colonists, and utterly | ||
+ | ruinous to the native tribes. The lust of gain, in | ||
+ | spite of all laws to prevent it, had partially furnished the | ||
+ | Indians with firearms, and they were now far more formidable | ||
+ | enemies than they had been in the days of the | ||
+ | Pequots. Of this the colonists hardly seem to have | ||
+ | thought. Now, as then, confident of their superiority, | ||
+ | and comparing themselves to the Lord’s chosen people | ||
+ | driving the heathen out of the land, they rushed eagerly | ||
+ | into the contest, without a single effort at the preservation | ||
+ | of peace. Indeed, their pretensions hardly admitted | ||
+ | of it. Philip was denounced as a rebel in arms against | ||
+ | his lawful superiors, with whom it would be folly and weakness | ||
+ | to treat on any terms short of absolute submission.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A body of volunteers, horse and foot, raised in Massachusetts, | ||
+ | marched under Major Savage, in June, 1675, | ||
+ | four days after the attack on Swanzey, to join the Plymouth | ||
+ | forces. After one or two slight skirmishes, they | ||
+ | penetrated to the Wampanoag villages at Mount Hope, | ||
+ | but found them empty and deserted. Philip and his | ||
+ | warriors, conscious of their inferiority, | ||
+ | their homes. If the Narragansets, | ||
+ | of the bay, did not openly join the Wampanoags, they | ||
+ | would, at least, be likely to afford shelter to their women< | ||
+ | and children. The troops were therefore ordered into | ||
+ | the Narraganset country, accompanied by commissioners | ||
+ | to demand assurances of peaceful intentions, and a promise | ||
+ | to deliver up all fugitive enemies of the colonists—pledges | ||
+ | which the Narragansets felt themselves constrained | ||
+ | to give.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | country, news came that Philip and his warriors | ||
+ | had been discovered by Church, of Plymouth colony, collected | ||
+ | in a great swamp at Pocasset, now Tiverton, the | ||
+ | southern district of the Wampanoag country, whence | ||
+ | small parties sallied forth to burn and plunder the neighboring | ||
+ | settlements. After a march of eighteen miles, | ||
+ | having reached the designated spot, the soldiers found | ||
+ | there a hundred wigwams lately built, but empty and deserted, | ||
+ | the Indians having retired deep into the swamp. | ||
+ | The colonists followed; but the ground was soft; the | ||
+ | thicket was difficult to penetrate; the companies were | ||
+ | soon thrown into disorder. Each man fired at every | ||
+ | bush he saw shake, thinking an Indian might lay concealed | ||
+ | behind it, and several were thus wounded by their | ||
+ | own friends. When night came on, the assailants retired | ||
+ | with the loss of sixteen men. The swamp continued to | ||
+ | be watched and guarded, but Philip broke through, not | ||
+ | without some loss, and escaped into the country of the | ||
+ | Nipmucks, in the interior of Massachusetts. That tribe | ||
+ | had already commenced hostilities by attacking Mendon. | ||
+ | They waylaid and killed Captain Hutchinson, a son of | ||
+ | the famous Mrs. Hutchinson, and sixteen out of a party | ||
+ | of twenty sent from Boston to Brookfield to parley with | ||
+ | them. Attacking Brookfield itself, they burned it, except | ||
+ | one fortified house. The inhabitants were saved | ||
+ | by Major Willard, who, on information of their danger, | ||
+ | came with a troop of horse from Lancaster, thirty miles | ||
+ | through the woods, to their rescue. A body of troops | ||
+ | presently arrived from the eastward, and were stationed | ||
+ | for some time at Brookfield.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The colonists now found that by driving Philip to extremity | ||
+ | they had roused a host of unexpected enemies. | ||
+ | The River Indians, anticipating an intended attack upon | ||
+ | them, joined the assailants. Deerfield and Northfield, | ||
+ | the northernmost towns on the Connecticut River, settled | ||
+ | within a few years past, were attacked, and several | ||
+ | of the inhabitants killed and wounded. Captain | ||
+ | Beers, sent from Hadley to their relief with a convoy of | ||
+ | provisions, was surprised near Northfield in September, | ||
+ | and slain, with twenty of his men. Northfield was abandoned, | ||
+ | and burned by the Indians.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to chastise the insolent doings and murderous practice | ||
+ | of the heathen; but it was found another manner of | ||
+ | thing than was expected; for our men could see no enemy | ||
+ | to shoot at, but yet felt their bullets out of the thick | ||
+ | bushes where they lay in ambush. The English wanted | ||
+ | not courage or resolution, but could not discover nor find | ||
+ | an enemy to fight with, yet were galled by the enemy.” | ||
+ | In the arts of ambush and surprise, with which the Indians | ||
+ | were so familiar, the colonists were without practice. | ||
+ | It is to the want of this experience, purchased at | ||
+ | a very dear rate in the course of the war, that we must | ||
+ | ascribe the numerous surprises and defeats from which | ||
+ | the colonists suffered at its commencement.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | command on the river determined to establish a magazine | ||
+ | and garrison at Hadley. Captain Lathrop, who | ||
+ | had been dispatched from the eastward to the assistance | ||
+ | of the river towns, was sent with eighty men, the flower | ||
+ | of the youth of Essex County, to guard the wagons intended | ||
+ | to convey to Hadley three thousand bushels of | ||
+ | unthreshed wheat, the produce of the fertile Deerfield | ||
+ | meadows. Just before arriving at Deerfield, near a small | ||
+ | stream still known as Bloody Brook, under the shadow | ||
+ | of the abrupt conical Sugar Loaf, the southern termination | ||
+ | of the Deerfield mountain, Lathrop, on September< | ||
+ | 18, fell into an ambush, and, after a brave resistance, | ||
+ | perished there with all his company. Captain Moseley, | ||
+ | stationed at Deerfield, marched to his assistance, but arrived | ||
+ | too late to help him. Deerfield was abandoned, | ||
+ | and burned by the Indians. Springfield, | ||
+ | time, was set on fire, but was partially saved by the | ||
+ | arrival, with troops from Connecticut, | ||
+ | successor to the lately deceased Mason in the chief command | ||
+ | of the Connecticut forces. An attack on Hatfield | ||
+ | was vigorously repelled by the garrison.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Merrimac began to attack the towns in their vicinity, | ||
+ | and the whole of Massachusetts was soon in the utmost | ||
+ | alarm. Except in the immediate neighborhood of Boston, | ||
+ | the country still remained an immense forest dotted | ||
+ | by a few openings. The frontier settlements could not be | ||
+ | defended against a foe familiar with localities, scattered | ||
+ | in small parties, skilful in concealment, | ||
+ | with patience for some unguarded or favorable moment. | ||
+ | Those settlements were mostly broken up, and the inhabitants, | ||
+ | retiring toward Boston, spread everywhere | ||
+ | dread and intense hatred of “the bloody heathen.” Even | ||
+ | the praying Indians, and the small dependent and tributary | ||
+ | tribes, became objects of suspicion and terror. They | ||
+ | had been employed at first as scouts and auxiliaries, | ||
+ | to good advantage; but some few, less confirmed in the | ||
+ | faith, having deserted to the enemy, the whole body of | ||
+ | them were denounced as traitors. Eliot the apostle, and | ||
+ | Gookin, superintendent of the subject Indians, exposed | ||
+ | themselves to insults, and even to danger, by their efforts | ||
+ | to stem this headlong fury, to which several of the magistrates | ||
+ | opposed but a feeble resistance. Troops were sent | ||
+ | to break up the praying villages at Mendon, Grafton, and | ||
+ | others in that quarter. The Natick Indians, “those poor | ||
+ | despised sheep of Christ,” as Gookin affectionately calls | ||
+ | them, were hurried off to Deer Island, in Boston harbor, | ||
+ | where they suffered excessively from a severe winter. A<span class=" | ||
+ | part of the praying Indians of Plymouth colony were | ||
+ | confined, in like manner, on the islands in Plymouth | ||
+ | harbor.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | as usual, added bugbears of her own. Indian | ||
+ | bows were seen in the sky, and scalps in the moon. The | ||
+ | northern lights became an object of terror. Phantom | ||
+ | horsemen careered among the clouds or were heard to | ||
+ | gallop invisible through the air. The howling of wolves | ||
+ | was turned into a terrible omen. The war was regarded | ||
+ | as a special judgment in punishment of prevailing sins. | ||
+ | Among these sins, the General Court of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | after consultation with the elders, enumerated neglect | ||
+ | in the training of the children of church-members; | ||
+ | in men’s wearing long and curled hair; excess in apparel; | ||
+ | naked breasts and arms, and superfluous ribbons; the | ||
+ | toleration of Quakers; hurry to leave meeting before | ||
+ | blessing asked; profane cursing and swearing; tippling-houses; | ||
+ | want of respect for parents; idleness; extortion | ||
+ | in shopkeepers and mechanics; and the riding from | ||
+ | town to town of unmarried men and women, under pretence | ||
+ | of attending lectures—“a sinful custom, tending | ||
+ | to lewdness.” Penalties were denounced against all these | ||
+ | offences; and the persecution of the Quakers was again | ||
+ | renewed. A Quaker woman had recently frightened the | ||
+ | Old South congregation in Boston by entering that meeting-house | ||
+ | clothed in sackcloth, with ashes on her head, | ||
+ | her feet bare, and her face blackened, intending to personify | ||
+ | the smallpox, with which she threatened the | ||
+ | colony, in punishment for its sins.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Tarenteens, or Eastern Indians, had attacked the settlements | ||
+ | in Maine and New Hampshire, plundering and | ||
+ | burning the houses, and massacring such of the inhabitants | ||
+ | as fell into their hands. This sudden diffusion of | ||
+ | hostilities and vigor of attack from opposite quarters | ||
+ | made the colonists believe that Philip had long been plotting< | ||
+ | and had gradually matured an extensive conspiracy, | ||
+ | into which most of the tribes had deliberately entered, | ||
+ | for the extermination of the whites. This belief infuriated | ||
+ | the colonists, and suggested some very questionable | ||
+ | proceedings. It seems, however, to have originated, like | ||
+ | the war itself, from mere suspicions. The same griefs | ||
+ | pressed upon all the tribes; and the struggle once commenced, | ||
+ | the awe which the colonists inspired thrown off, | ||
+ | the greater part were ready to join in the contest. But | ||
+ | there is no evidence of any deliberate concert; nor, in | ||
+ | fact, were the Indians united. Had they been so, the | ||
+ | war would have been far more serious. The Connecticut | ||
+ | tribes proved faithful, and that colony remained untouched. | ||
+ | Uncas and Ninigret continued friendly; even | ||
+ | the Narragansets, | ||
+ | had not yet taken up arms. But they were | ||
+ | strongly suspected of intention to do so, and were accused | ||
+ | by Uncas of giving, notwithstanding their recent | ||
+ | assurances, aid and shelter to the hostile tribes.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>An attempt had lately been made to revive the union | ||
+ | of the New England colonies. At a meeting of commissioners, | ||
+ | on September 9, 1675, those from Plymouth presented | ||
+ | a narrative of the origin and progress of the present | ||
+ | hostilities. Upon the strength of this narrative the | ||
+ | war was pronounced “just and necessary, | ||
+ | was passed to carry it on at the joint expense, and | ||
+ | to raise for that purpose a thousand men, one-half to be | ||
+ | mounted dragoons. If the Narragansets were not crushed | ||
+ | during the winter, it was feared they might break out | ||
+ | openly hostile in the spring; and at a subsequent meeting | ||
+ | a thousand men were ordered to be levied to co-operate | ||
+ | in an expedition specially against them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | woods no longer concealed their lurking attacks. | ||
+ | The frozen surface of the swamps made the Indian fastnesses | ||
+ | accessible to the colonists. The forces destined to | ||
+ | act against the Narragansets—six companies from Massachusetts,< | ||
+ | under Major Appleton; two from Plymouth, | ||
+ | under Major Bradford; and five from Connecticut, | ||
+ | Major Treat—were placed under the command of | ||
+ | Josiah Winslow, Governor of Plymouth since Prince’s | ||
+ | death—son of that Edward Winslow so conspicuous in | ||
+ | the earlier history of the colony. In December the | ||
+ | Massachusetts and Plymouth forces marched to Petasquamscot, | ||
+ | on the west shore of Narragansett Bay, where | ||
+ | they made some forty prisoners. Being joined by the | ||
+ | troops from Connecticut, | ||
+ | after a march of fifteen miles through a deep snow, | ||
+ | they approached a swamp in what is now the town of | ||
+ | South Kingston, one of the ancient strongholds of the | ||
+ | Narragansets. Driving the Indian scouts before them, | ||
+ | and penetrating the swamp, the colonial soldiers soon | ||
+ | came in sight of the Indian fort, built on a rising ground | ||
+ | in the morass, a sort of island of two or three acres, fortified | ||
+ | by a palisade, and surrounded by a close hedge a | ||
+ | rod thick. There was but one entrance, quite narrow, | ||
+ | defended by a tree thrown across it, with a block-house | ||
+ | of logs in front and another on the flank. It was the | ||
+ | “Lord’s day,” but that did not hinder the attack. As | ||
+ | the captains advanced at the heads of their companies, | ||
+ | the Indians opened a galling fire, under which many fell. | ||
+ | But the assailants pressed on, and forced the entrance. | ||
+ | A desperate struggle ensued. The colonists were once | ||
+ | driven back, but they rallied and returned to the charge, | ||
+ | and, after a two hours’ fight, became masters of the fort. | ||
+ | Fire was put to the wigwams, near six hundred in number, | ||
+ | and all the horrors of the Pequot massacre were renewed. | ||
+ | The corn and other winter stores of the Indians were | ||
+ | consumed, and not a few of the old men, women, and children | ||
+ | perished in the flames. In this bloody contest, long | ||
+ | remembered as the “Swamp Fight,” the colonial loss was | ||
+ | terribly severe. Six captains, with two hundred and | ||
+ | thirty men, were killed or wounded; and at night, in the | ||
+ | midst of a snow-storm; with a fifteen miles’ march before< | ||
+ | them, the colonial soldiers abandoned the fort, of which | ||
+ | the Indians resumed possession. But their wigwams were | ||
+ | burned; their provisions destroyed; they had no supplies | ||
+ | for the winter; their loss was irreparable. Of those who | ||
+ | survived the fight, many perished of hunger.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was more than doubtful. The starving and infuriated | ||
+ | warriors, scattered through the woods, revenged | ||
+ | themselves by attacks on the frontier settlements. On | ||
+ | February 10, 1676, Lancaster was burned, and forty of | ||
+ | the inhabitants killed or taken; among the rest, Mrs. | ||
+ | Rolandson, wife of the minister, the narrative of whose | ||
+ | captivity is still preserved. Groton, Chelmsford, and | ||
+ | other towns in that vicinity were repeatedly attacked. | ||
+ | Medfield, twenty miles from Boston, was furiously assaulted, | ||
+ | and, though defended by three hundred men, | ||
+ | half the houses were burned. Weymouth, within eighteen | ||
+ | miles of Boston, was attacked a few days after. These | ||
+ | were the nearest approaches which the Indians made to | ||
+ | that capital. For a time the neighborhood of the Narraganset | ||
+ | country was abandoned. The Rhode Island | ||
+ | towns, though they had no part in undertaking the war, | ||
+ | yet suffered the consequences of it. In March, Warwick | ||
+ | was burned, and Providence was partially destroyed. | ||
+ | Most of the inhabitants sought refuge in the islands, | ||
+ | but the aged Roger Williams accepted a commission as | ||
+ | captain for the defence of the town he had founded. | ||
+ | Walter Clarke was presently chosen governor in Coddington’s | ||
+ | place, the times not suiting a Quaker chief | ||
+ | magistrate.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were burned in almost every town, but the inhabitants, | ||
+ | for the most part, saved themselves in their garrisons, a | ||
+ | shelter with which all the towns now found it necessary | ||
+ | to be provided. On March 26 Captain Pierce, with | ||
+ | fifty men and some friendly Indians, while endeavoring | ||
+ | to cover the Plymouth towns, fell into an ambush and<span class=" | ||
+ | was cut off. That same day, Marlborough was set on fire; | ||
+ | two days after Rehoboth was burned. The Indians seemed | ||
+ | to be everywhere. On April 18 Captain Wadsworth, | ||
+ | marching to the relief of Sudbury, fell into an ambush, | ||
+ | and perished with fifty men. The alarm and terror of | ||
+ | the colonists reached again a great height. But affairs | ||
+ | were about to take a turn. The resources of the Indians | ||
+ | were exhausted; they were now making their last efforts.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A body of Connecticut volunteers, under Captain Denison, | ||
+ | and of Mohegan and other friendly Indians, Pequots | ||
+ | and Niantics, swept the entire country of the Narragansets, | ||
+ | who suffered, as spring advanced, the last extremities | ||
+ | of famine. Canonchet, the chief sachem, said | ||
+ | to have been a son of Miantonimoh, | ||
+ | nephew, had ventured to his old haunts to procure seed-corn | ||
+ | with which to plant the rich intervals on the Connecticut, | ||
+ | abandoned by the colonists. Taken prisoner, | ||
+ | he conducted himself with all that haughty firmness esteemed | ||
+ | by the Indians the height of magnanimity. Being | ||
+ | offered his life on condition of bringing about a peace, | ||
+ | he scorned the proposal. His tribe would perish to the | ||
+ | last man rather than become servants to the English. | ||
+ | When ordered to prepare for death, he replied, “I like | ||
+ | it well; I shall die before my heart is soft, or I shall | ||
+ | have spoken anything unworthy of myself.” Two Indians | ||
+ | were appointed to shoot him, and his head was cut | ||
+ | off and sent to Hartford.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and children had perished by the bullets of the Indians, | ||
+ | or fled naked through the wintry woods by the light of | ||
+ | their blazing houses, leaving their goods and cattle a | ||
+ | spoil to the assailants. Several settlements had been destroyed, | ||
+ | and many more had been abandoned; but the | ||
+ | oldest and wealthiest remained untouched. The Indians, | ||
+ | on the other hand, had neither provisions nor ammunition. | ||
+ | On May 12, while attempting to plant corn and | ||
+ | catch fish at Montague Falls, on the Connecticut River,< | ||
+ | they were attacked with great slaughter by the garrison | ||
+ | of the lower towns, led by Captain Turner, a Boston Baptist, | ||
+ | and at first refused a commission on that account, | ||
+ | but as danger increased, pressed to accept it. Yet this | ||
+ | enterprise was not without its drawbacks. As the troops | ||
+ | returned, Captain Turner fell into an ambush and was | ||
+ | slain, with thirty-eight men. Hadley was attacked on a | ||
+ | lecture day, June 12, while the people were at meeting; | ||
+ | but the Indians were repulsed by the bravery of Goffe, | ||
+ | one of the fugitive regicides, long concealed in that town. | ||
+ | Seeing this venerable unknown man come to their rescue, | ||
+ | and then suddenly disappear, the inhabitants took him | ||
+ | for an angel.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | volunteers, English and Indians, energetically hunted | ||
+ | down the hostile bands in Plymouth colony. The interior | ||
+ | tribes about Mount Wachusett were invaded and subdued | ||
+ | by a force of six hundred men, raised for that purpose. | ||
+ | Many fled to the north to find refuge in Canada—guides | ||
+ | and leaders, in after years, of those French and | ||
+ | Indian war parties by which the frontiers of New England | ||
+ | were so terribly harassed. Just a year after the fast | ||
+ | at the commencement of the war, a thanksgiving was | ||
+ | observed for success in it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>No longer sheltered by the River Indians, who now began | ||
+ | to make their peace, and even attacked by bands of | ||
+ | the Mohawks, Philip returned to his own country, about | ||
+ | Mount Hope, where he was still faithfully supported by | ||
+ | his female confederate and relative, Witamo, squaw sachem | ||
+ | of Pocasset. Punham, also, the Shawomet vassal | ||
+ | of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | was presently killed. Philip was watched and followed | ||
+ | by Church, who surprised his camp on August 1st, killed | ||
+ | upward of a hundred of his people, and took prisoners his | ||
+ | wife and boy. The disposal of this child was a subject | ||
+ | of much deliberation. Several of the elders were urgent | ||
+ | for putting him to death. It was finally resolved to send< | ||
+ | him to Bermuda, to be sold into slavery—a fate to which | ||
+ | many other of the Indian captives were subjected. Witamo | ||
+ | shared the disasters of Philip. Most of her people | ||
+ | were killed or taken. She herself was drowned while | ||
+ | crossing a river in her flight; but her body was recovered, | ||
+ | and the head, cut off, was stuck upon a pole at Taunton, | ||
+ | amid the jeers and scoffs of the colonial soldiers, and the | ||
+ | tears and lamentations of the Indian prisoners.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to extremity. Again attacked by Church, he was | ||
+ | killed by one of his own people, a deserter to the colonists. | ||
+ | His dead body was beheaded and quartered, the sentence | ||
+ | of the English law upon traitors. One of his hands was | ||
+ | given to the Indian who had shot him, and on August 17, | ||
+ | the day appointed for a public thanksgiving, | ||
+ | was carried in triumph to Plymouth.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Death or slavery was the penalty for all known or suspected | ||
+ | to have been concerned in shedding English blood. | ||
+ | Merely having been present at the “Swamp Fight” was | ||
+ | adjudged by the authorities of Rhode Island sufficient | ||
+ | foundation for sentence of death, and that, too, notwithstanding | ||
+ | they had intimated an opinion that the origin | ||
+ | of the war would not bear examination. The other captives | ||
+ | who fell into the hands of the colonists were distributed | ||
+ | among them as ten-year servants. Roger Williams | ||
+ | received a boy for his share. Many chiefs were | ||
+ | executed at Boston and Plymouth on the charge of rebellion; | ||
+ | among others, Captain Tom, chief of the Christian | ||
+ | Indians at Natick, and Tispiquin, a noted warrior, | ||
+ | reputed to be invulnerable, | ||
+ | Church on an implied promise of safety. A large body | ||
+ | of Indians, assembled at Dover to treat of peace, were | ||
+ | treacherously made prisoners by Major Waldron, who | ||
+ | commanded there. Some two hundred of these Indians, | ||
+ | claimed as fugitives from Massachusetts, | ||
+ | water to Boston, where some were hanged, and the rest< | ||
+ | shipped off to be sold as slaves. Some fishermen of | ||
+ | Marblehead having been killed by the Indians at the | ||
+ | eastward, the women of that town, as they came out of | ||
+ | meeting on a Sunday, fell upon two Indian prisoners | ||
+ | who had just been brought in, and murdered them on | ||
+ | the spot. The same ferocious spirit of revenge which | ||
+ | governed the contemporaneous conduct of Berkeley in | ||
+ | Virginia toward those concerned in Bacon’s rebellion, | ||
+ | swayed the authorities of New England in their treatment | ||
+ | of the conquered Indians. By the end of the year | ||
+ | the contest was over in the South, upward of two thousand | ||
+ | Indians having been killed or taken. But some | ||
+ | time elapsed before a peace could be arranged with the | ||
+ | Eastern tribes, whose haunts it was not so easy to reach.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In this short war of hardly a year’s duration the | ||
+ | Wampanoags and Narragansets had suffered the fate of | ||
+ | the Pequots. The Niantics alone, under the guidance | ||
+ | of their aged sachem, Ninigret, had escaped destruction. | ||
+ | Philip’s country was annexed to Plymouth, though sixty | ||
+ | years afterward, under a royal order in council, it was | ||
+ | transferred to Rhode Island. The Narraganset territory | ||
+ | remained as before, under the name of King’s Province, | ||
+ | a bone of contention between Connecticut, | ||
+ | the Marquis of Hamilton, and the Atherton claimants. | ||
+ | The Niantics still retained their ancient seats along the | ||
+ | southern shores of Narragansett Bay. Most of the surviving | ||
+ | Narragansets, | ||
+ | abandoned their country, and migrated to the | ||
+ | North and West. Such as remained, along with the | ||
+ | Mohegans and other subject tribes, became more than | ||
+ | ever abject and subservient.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | after such overwhelming proofs of Christian superiority, | ||
+ | with somewhat greater success. A second edition of the | ||
+ | Indian Old Testament, which seems to have been more | ||
+ | in demand than the New, was published in 1683, revised | ||
+ | by Eliot, with the assistance of John Cotton, son of the<span class=" | ||
+ | “great Cotton,” and minister of Plymouth. But not an | ||
+ | individual exists in our day by whom it can be understood. | ||
+ | The fragments of the subject tribes, broken in | ||
+ | spirit, lost the savage freedom and rude virtues of their | ||
+ | fathers, without acquiring the laborious industry of the | ||
+ | whites. Lands were assigned them in various places, | ||
+ | which they were prohibited by law from alienating. But | ||
+ | this very provision, though humanely intended, operated | ||
+ | to perpetuate their indolence and incapacity. Some | ||
+ | sought a more congenial occupation in the whale fishery, | ||
+ | which presently began to be carried on from the islands | ||
+ | of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Many perished | ||
+ | by enlisting in the military expeditions undertaken in | ||
+ | future years against Acadie and the West Indies. The | ||
+ | Indians intermarried with the blacks, and thus confirmed | ||
+ | their degradation by associating themselves with another | ||
+ | oppressed and unfortunate race. Gradually they dwindled | ||
+ | away. A few sailors and petty farmers, of mixed blood, | ||
+ | as much African as Indian, are now the sole surviving | ||
+ | representatives of the aboriginal possessors of southern | ||
+ | New England.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the side of the colonists the contest had also been | ||
+ | very disastrous. Twelve or thirteen towns had been entirely | ||
+ | ruined, and many others partially destroyed. Six | ||
+ | hundred houses had been burned, near a tenth part of | ||
+ | all in New England. Twelve captains and more than | ||
+ | six hundred men in the prime of life had fallen in battle. | ||
+ | There was hardly a family not in mourning. The pecuniary | ||
+ | losses and expenses of the war were estimated | ||
+ | at near a million of dollars. Massachusetts was burdened | ||
+ | with a heavy debt. No aid nor relief seems to have come | ||
+ | from abroad, except a contribution from Ireland of £500 | ||
+ | for the benefit of the sufferers by the war, chiefly collected | ||
+ | by the efforts of Nathaniel Mather, lately successor to his | ||
+ | brother Samuel as minister of the non-conformist congregation | ||
+ | at Dublin.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE DEFEAT OF KING<br /> | ||
+ | PHILIP, 1676, AND THE CAPTURE< | ||
+ | OF QUEBEC, 1759</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Sir William Berkeley.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Duke of Monmouth at Bothwell Bridge.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Crown.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | takes possession of New Castle (Delaware) and founds | ||
+ | the Colony of Pennsylvania. La Salle descends the | ||
+ | Mississippi to its mouth.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | is declared forfeited to the English Crown.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | King of England. Insurrection of the Earl of Argyll and | ||
+ | the Duke of Monmouth. Defeat of Monmouth at Sedgemoor; | ||
+ | his execution.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | England.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | James II.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Queen of England. England declares war against France. | ||
+ | Victory of the Scottish Jacobites at Killiecrankie. Overthrow | ||
+ | of Andros in New England. Beginning of King | ||
+ | William’s War in America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Boyne. Destruction of Schenectady by the French and | ||
+ | Indians. Sir William Phips, commanding a New England | ||
+ | expedition, captures Port Royal, and later makes a fruitless | ||
+ | demonstration against Quebec.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Limerick, the last stronghold of James II. in | ||
+ | Ireland.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Witchcraft delusion at Salem.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | fleet off Cape St. Vincent.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Spain, and England. Close of King William’s War in | ||
+ | America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Anne. Successful campaign of Churchill (Marlborough) | ||
+ | in the Netherlands. Naval triumph of the English and | ||
+ | Dutch over the Spanish and French at Vigo. Queen | ||
+ | Anne’s War in America. French settlement in Alabama.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the battle of Blenheim. Capture of Gibraltar by the English. | ||
+ | Massacre of white settlers by the Indians at Deerfield, | ||
+ | Massachusetts.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at the battle of Ramillies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Oudenarde, over the Dukes of Burgundy and Vendôme.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | England forces under Walker against Canada.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | America. Acadia (Nova Scotia, etc.) ceded to England by | ||
+ | France, which also restores the Hudson Bay region. The | ||
+ | power of the Tuscarora Indians broken by the Carolinians.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | English Crown.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in favor of James Edward Stuart, the Jacobite pretender.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1722. Establishment of the Moravian settlement in | ||
+ | Pennsylvania under Count Zinzendorf.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | divided into the royal provinces of North and South | ||
+ | Carolina.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a settlement in Georgia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | French capture Canseau (afterward Canso), and are repulsed | ||
+ | at Annapolis.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the young Pretender, is victorious at Prestonpans. The | ||
+ | New England troops, under Sir William Pepperell, reduce | ||
+ | the French fortress of Louisburg.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | War of the Austrian Succession and King George’s War | ||
+ | in America. Louisburg restored to France.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | George II.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | tributaries of the Alleghany, along American western | ||
+ | frontier. Washington’s vain protest against the French | ||
+ | seizure of Venango.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | America. Washington’s attack upon Jumonville, near | ||
+ | Great Meadows, the first action. The French compel | ||
+ | Washington to capitulate at Fort Necessity.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and his disastrous defeat. Abortive expeditions by the | ||
+ | English against Niagara and Crown Point.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1756. Formal declaration of hostilities between France | ||
+ | and England, and beginning of the Seven Years’ War. | ||
+ | Capture of Oswego by the French.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | George.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Louisburg, and capture of Forts Frontenac and | ||
+ | Duquesne by the English.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | sixteenth century, the voyages of Cartier to the St. Lawrence in | ||
+ | 1534 and 1541–43, the foundation of Port Royal in Acadia in 1605, | ||
+ | and of Quebec by Champlain in 1608, were the beginnings of a | ||
+ | French occupancy of the northern and central portions of North | ||
+ | America which led inevitably to conflict with England and the | ||
+ | American colonists. The title based upon Marquette’s discovery | ||
+ | of the Mississippi in 1673, and La Salle’s exploration and claim to | ||
+ | the whole vast valley in 1682, would have confined the English to | ||
+ | the Atlantic seaboard. The contact between the wholly different | ||
+ | types represented in English and French colonization caused friction | ||
+ | which became acute when King William’s War broke out in | ||
+ | 1689. The eight years of that war, with its profitless capture of | ||
+ | Port Royal, Nova Scotia, were followed by Queen Anne’s War, | ||
+ | 1702–13, and King George’s War, 1744–48, and the interval after | ||
+ | the Treaty of Utrecht was a truce rather than peace. The French | ||
+ | were strengthening their hold along the western frontier of the | ||
+ | English colonists, at Fort Duquesne, and elsewhere. Braddock’s | ||
+ | defeat in 1755, and attacks upon Crown Point and Niagara, preceded | ||
+ | the formal declaration of hostilities between France and | ||
+ | England in 1756, the beginning of the Seven Years’ War, involving | ||
+ | nearly all Europe, with England and Prussia facing Russia, | ||
+ | France, Austria, Sweden, and Saxony. In America, in 1756–57, | ||
+ | the incompetency of Loudon and Abercrombie, | ||
+ | to attack Louisburg, and Montcalm’s capture of Fort | ||
+ | William Henry, made the first stage of the war a gloomy one. But | ||
+ | Pitt’s entrance into the British cabinet as Secretary of State | ||
+ | brought an intelligent and active prosecution of the war. The | ||
+ | next year, 1758, witnessed the capture of Fort Frontenac on | ||
+ | Ontario, Fort Duquesne, and Louisburg by the English and | ||
+ | American forces.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | at a time when the nation was aglow with enthusiasm | ||
+ | over the successes of the year—Louisburg and Frontenac< | ||
+ | in North America, and the driving of the French from the | ||
+ | Guinea coast as the result of battles at Sénégal (May) and | ||
+ | Gorée (November).< | ||
+ | costly than had been anticipated, | ||
+ | country to the task; but not against its will, and the | ||
+ | necessary funds were freely voted. Walpole wrote to a | ||
+ | friend: “Our unanimity is prodigious. You would as | ||
+ | soon hear ‘No’ from an old maid as from the House of | ||
+ | Commons.” The preparations for the new year were on | ||
+ | a much larger scale than before; both by land and sea | ||
+ | France was to be pushed to the uttermost, and the warlike | ||
+ | spirit of Great Britain seemed wrought to the highest | ||
+ | pitch.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | lacking in activity. He renewed with vigor the project | ||
+ | of invading Great Britain, preparations therefor being | ||
+ | evident quite early in the year 1759. Fifty thousand men | ||
+ | were to land in England, and twelve thousand in Scotland, | ||
+ | where the Stuart cause still lingered. But as usual | ||
+ | the effort came to naught. The Toulon squadron was to | ||
+ | co-operate with one from Brest; Boscawen, who now | ||
+ | commanded the Mediterranean fleet, apprehended the | ||
+ | former while trying to escape through the Straits of | ||
+ | Gibraltar in a thick haze (August 17), and after destroying | ||
+ | several of the ships dispersed the others; while | ||
+ | Sir Edward Hawke annihilated the Brest fleet in a brilliant | ||
+ | sea-fight off Quiberon Bay (November 20).<a id=" | ||
+ | of the possibility of insular invasion, the Channel and | ||
+ | Mediterranean squadrons were now free to raid French | ||
+ | commerce, patrol French ports, and thus intercept communication | ||
+ | with New France, and to harry French—and, | ||
+ | later, Spanish—colonies overseas.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1757 Clive had regained Calcutta and won Bengal | ||
+ | at the famous battle of Plassey. Two years thereafter | ||
+ | the East Indian seas were abandoned by the French after< | ||
+ | three decisive actions won by Pitt’s valiant seamen, and | ||
+ | India thus became a permanent possession of the British | ||
+ | empire.< | ||
+ | Guadeloupe, in the West Indies.< | ||
+ | was impossible for France much longer to hold her colonies; | ||
+ | it was but a question of time when the remainder | ||
+ | should fall into the clutches of the mistress of the | ||
+ | ocean.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | operations were really centred against Canada. The | ||
+ | movement thither was to be along two lines, which eventually | ||
+ | were to meet in co-operation. First, a direct attack | ||
+ | was to be made upon Quebec, headed by Wolfe, who was | ||
+ | to be convoyed and assisted by a fleet under the command | ||
+ | of Admiral Saunders; second, Amherst—now commander-in-chief | ||
+ | in America, Abercrombie having been | ||
+ | recalled—was to penetrate Canada by way of Lakes | ||
+ | George and Champlain. He was to join Wolfe at Quebec, | ||
+ | but was authorized to make such diversions as he found | ||
+ | practicable—principally to re-establish Oswego and to | ||
+ | relieve Pittsburg (Fort Duquesne) with reinforcements | ||
+ | and supplies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | occasioned general surprise in England. Yet it was in | ||
+ | the natural course of events. He had been the life of the | ||
+ | Louisburg campaign of the year before, and when Amherst | ||
+ | was expressing the desire of attacking Quebec after | ||
+ | the reduction of Cape Breton he wrote to the latter: “An | ||
+ | offensive, daring kind of war will awe the Indians and | ||
+ | ruin the French. Block-houses and a trembling defensive | ||
+ | encourage the meanest scoundrels to attack us. If you | ||
+ | will attempt to cut up New France by the roots, I will | ||
+ | come with pleasure to assist.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a captaincy at the age of seventeen and became a<span class=" | ||
+ | major at twenty. He was now thirty-two, a major-general, | ||
+ | and with an excellent fighting record both in Flanders | ||
+ | and America. Quiet and modest in demeanor, although | ||
+ | occasionally using excitable and ill-guarded language, he | ||
+ | was a refined and educated gentleman; careful of and | ||
+ | beloved by his troops, yet a stern disciplinarian; | ||
+ | although frail in body, and often overcome by rheumatism | ||
+ | and other ailments, capable of great strain when | ||
+ | buoyed by the zeal which was one of his characteristics. | ||
+ | The majority of his portraits represent a tall, lank, ungainly | ||
+ | form, with a singularly weak facial profile; but it | ||
+ | is likely that these belie him, for he had an indubitable | ||
+ | spirit, a profound mind, quick intuition, a charming manner, | ||
+ | and was much thought of by women. Indeed, just | ||
+ | before sailing, he had become engaged to the beautiful | ||
+ | and charming Katharine Lowther, sister of Lord Lonsdale, | ||
+ | and afterward the Duchess of Bolton.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On February 17 Wolfe departed with Saunders’ fleet | ||
+ | of twenty-one sail, bearing the king’s secret instructions | ||
+ | to “carry into execution the said important operation | ||
+ | with the utmost application and vigor.”< | ||
+ | was protracted, and after arrival at Louisburg he was | ||
+ | obliged to wait long before the promised troops appeared. | ||
+ | He had expected regiments from Guadeloupe, but these | ||
+ | could not yet be spared, owing to their wretched condition; | ||
+ | and the Nova Scotia garrisons had also been weakened | ||
+ | by disease, so that of the twelve thousand agreed | ||
+ | upon he finally could muster somewhat under nine | ||
+ | thousand.< | ||
+ | although the general still entertained a low opinion of | ||
+ | the value of the provincials, | ||
+ | were, however serviceable in bush-ranging, | ||
+ | efficiency of the regulars in a campaign of this character. | ||
+ | The force was divided into three brigades, under Monckton, | ||
+ | Townsend, and Murray, young men of ability; although | ||
+ | Townsend’s supercilious manner—the fruit of a | ||
+ | superior social connection—did not endear him either to | ||
+ | his men or his colleagues.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On June 1 the fleet began to leave Louisburg. There | ||
+ | were thirty-nine men-of-war, ten auxiliaries, | ||
+ | transports, and a hundred and sixty-two miscellaneous | ||
+ | craft, which were manned by thirteen thousand naval | ||
+ | seamen and five thousand of the mercantile marine—an | ||
+ | aggregate of eighteen thousand, or twice as many as the | ||
+ | landsmen under Wolfe.<a id=" | ||
+ | given credit for the result, it must not be forgotten that | ||
+ | the victory was quite as much due to the skilful management | ||
+ | of the navy as to that of the army, the expedition | ||
+ | being in all respects a joint enterprise, into which the | ||
+ | men of both branches of the service entered with intense | ||
+ | enthusiasm.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | impossibility of great battle-ships being successfully navigated | ||
+ | up the St. Lawrence above the mouth of the | ||
+ | Saguenay without the most careful piloting. This portion | ||
+ | of the river, a hundred and twenty miles in length, | ||
+ | certainly is intricate water, being streaked with perplexing | ||
+ | currents created by the mingling of the river’s strong | ||
+ | flow with the flood and ebb of the tide; the great stream | ||
+ | is diverted into two parallel channels by reefs and islands, | ||
+ | and there are numerous shoals—moreover, | ||
+ | had removed all lights and other aids to navigation. But | ||
+ | British sailors laughed at difficulties such as these, and, | ||
+ | while they managed to capture a pilot, had small use for | ||
+ | him, preferring their own cautious methods. Preceded | ||
+ | by a crescent of sounding-boats, | ||
+ | James Cook, afterward of glorious memory as a pathfinder,< | ||
+ | the fleet advanced slowly but safely, its approach | ||
+ | heralded by beacons gleaming nightly to the fore, upon | ||
+ | the rounded hill-tops overlooking the long thin line of | ||
+ | riverside settlement which extended eastward from Quebec | ||
+ | to the Saguenay.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Lake Ontario and from the south. But receiving early | ||
+ | tidings of Wolfe’s expedition, through convoys with supplies | ||
+ | from France that had escaped Saunders’ patrol of | ||
+ | the gulf, general alarm prevailed, and Montcalm decided | ||
+ | to make his stand at Quebec. To the last he appears to | ||
+ | have shared in the popular delusion that British men-of-war | ||
+ | could not ascend the river; nevertheless, | ||
+ | summoned to the capital the greater part of the militia | ||
+ | from all sections of Canada, save that a thousand whites | ||
+ | and savages were left with Pouchot to defend Niagara, | ||
+ | twelve hundred men under De la Corne to guard Lake | ||
+ | Ontario, and Bourlamaque, | ||
+ | was ordered to delay Amherst’s advance and thus | ||
+ | prevent him from joining Wolfe. The population of | ||
+ | Canada at the time was about eighty-five thousand souls, | ||
+ | and of these perhaps twenty-two thousand were capable | ||
+ | of bearing arms.<a id=" | ||
+ | Quebec aggregated about seventeen thousand, of whom | ||
+ | some ten thousand were militia, four thousand regulars | ||
+ | of the line, and a thousand each of colonial regulars, seamen, | ||
+ | and Indians; of these two thousand were reserved | ||
+ | for the garrison of Quebec, under De Ramezay, while the | ||
+ | remainder were at the disposal of Montcalm for the | ||
+ | general defence.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | narrow triangular promontory, to the north of which lies< | ||
+ | the valley of the St. Charles and to the south that of the | ||
+ | St. Lawrence. The acclivity on the St. Charles side is | ||
+ | lower and less steep than the cliffs fringing the St. Lawrence, | ||
+ | which rise almost precipitously from two to three | ||
+ | hundred feet above the river—the citadel cliff being three | ||
+ | hundred and forty-five feet, almost sheer. Either side | ||
+ | of the promontory was easily defensible from assault, the | ||
+ | table-land being only reached by steep and narrow paths. | ||
+ | Surmounting the cliffs, at the apex of the triangle, was | ||
+ | Upper Town, the capital of New France. Batteries, largely | ||
+ | manned by sailors, lined the cliff-tops within the town, | ||
+ | and the western base, fronting the Plains of Abraham, | ||
+ | was protected by fifteen hundred yards of insecure wall—for, | ||
+ | after all, Quebec had, despite the money spent | ||
+ | upon it, never been scientifically fortified, its commanders | ||
+ | having from the first relied chiefly upon its natural position | ||
+ | as a stronghold.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the base of the promontory, on the St. Lawrence | ||
+ | side, is a wide beach occupied by Lower Town, where were | ||
+ | the market, the commercial warehouses, a large share of | ||
+ | the business establishments, | ||
+ | and laboring classes. A narrow strand, little more than | ||
+ | the width of a roadway, extended along the base of the | ||
+ | cliffs westward, communicating with the up-river country; | ||
+ | another road led westward along the table-land above. | ||
+ | Thus the city obtained its supplies from the interior both | ||
+ | by highway and by river.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | been blocked by booms at the mouth of that river, protected | ||
+ | by strong redoubts; and off Lower Town was a | ||
+ | line of floating batteries. Beyond the St. Charles, for | ||
+ | a distance of seven miles eastward to the gorge of the | ||
+ | Montmorenci, | ||
+ | forces, his position being a plain naturally protected by | ||
+ | a steep slope descending to the meadow and tidal flats | ||
+ | which here margin the St. Lawrence. This plain rises | ||
+ | gradually from the St. Charles, until at the Montmorenci< | ||
+ | cataract it attains a height of three hundred feet, and | ||
+ | along the summit of the slope were well-devised trenches. | ||
+ | The gorge furnished a strong natural defence to the left | ||
+ | wing, for it could be forded only in the dense forest at a | ||
+ | considerable distance above the falls, and to force this | ||
+ | approach would have been to invite an ambuscade. | ||
+ | Wolfe contented himself, therefore, with intrenching a | ||
+ | considerable force along the eastern bank of the gorge, | ||
+ | and thence issuing for frontal attacks on the Beauport | ||
+ | Flats—so called from the name of the village midway. | ||
+ | Montcalm had chosen this as the chief line of defence, | ||
+ | on the theory that the approach by the St. Charles would | ||
+ | be the one selected by the invaders; as, indeed, it long | ||
+ | seemed to Wolfe the only possible path to the works of | ||
+ | Upper Town.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | headed a corps of observation, | ||
+ | to patrol the St. Lawrence cliff-tops and keep communications | ||
+ | open with the interior; but this precaution failed | ||
+ | in the hour of need. The height of Point Lévis, across | ||
+ | the river from the town, on the south bank, was unoccupied. | ||
+ | Montcalm had wished to fortify this vantage-point, | ||
+ | and thus block the river from both sides, but Vaudreuil | ||
+ | had overruled him, and the result was fatal. Other weak | ||
+ | points in the defence were divided command and the | ||
+ | scarcity of food and ammunition, occasioned largely by | ||
+ | Bigot’s rapacious knavery.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On June 26 the British fleet anchored off the Isle of | ||
+ | Orleans, thus dissipating the fond hopes of the French | ||
+ | that some disaster might prevent its approach. Three | ||
+ | days later Wolfe’s men, now encamped on the island at | ||
+ | a safe distance from Montcalm’s guns, made an easy capture | ||
+ | of Point Lévis, and there erected batteries which | ||
+ | commanded the town. British ships were, in consequence, | ||
+ | soon able to pass Quebec, under cover of the | ||
+ | Point Lévis guns, and destroy some of the French shipping | ||
+ | anchored in the upper basin; while landing parties< | ||
+ | harried the country to the west, forcing < | ||
+ | neutrality and intercepting supplies. Frequently the | ||
+ | British forces were, upon these various enterprises, | ||
+ | into three or four isolated divisions, which might | ||
+ | have been roughly handled by a venturesome foe. But | ||
+ | Montcalm rigidly maintained the policy of defence, his | ||
+ | only offensive operations being the unsuccessful dispatch | ||
+ | of fire-ships against the invading fleet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On his part, Wolfe made several futile attacks upon | ||
+ | the Beauport redoubts. The position was, however, too | ||
+ | strong for him to master, and in one assault (July 31) he | ||
+ | lost half of his landing party—nearly five hundred killed, | ||
+ | wounded, and missing.< | ||
+ | Wolfe and at last quite disheartened him, for the season | ||
+ | was rapidly wearing on, and winter sets in early at Quebec; | ||
+ | moreover, nothing had yet been heard of Amherst. There | ||
+ | was, indeed, some talk of waiting until another season. | ||
+ | However, more and more British ships worked their way | ||
+ | past the fort, and, by making frequent feints of landing | ||
+ | at widely separated points, caused Bougainville great | ||
+ | annoyance. Montcalm was accordingly obliged to weaken | ||
+ | his lower forces by sending reinforcements to the plains | ||
+ | west of the city. Thus, while Wolfe was pining, French | ||
+ | uneasiness was growing, for the British were now intercepting | ||
+ | supplies and reinforcements from both above and | ||
+ | below, and Bougainville’s men were growing weary of | ||
+ | constantly patrolling fifteen or twenty miles of cliffs.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | end of June the general assembled five thousand provincials | ||
+ | and sixty-five hundred regulars at the head of Lake | ||
+ | George. He had previously dispatched Brigadier Prideaux | ||
+ | with five thousand regulars and provincials to reduce< | ||
+ | Niagara, and Brigadier Stanwix, who had been of | ||
+ | Bradstreet’s party the year before, to succor Pittsburg, | ||
+ | now in imminent danger from French bush-rangers and | ||
+ | Indians who were swarming at Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, | ||
+ | and Venango.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the army started northward upon the lake. Bourlamaque, | ||
+ | whose sole purpose was to delay the British | ||
+ | advance, lay at Ticonderoga with thirty-five hundred | ||
+ | men, but on the twenty-sixth he blew up the fort and | ||
+ | retreated in good order to Crown Point. On the British | ||
+ | approaching that post he again fell back, this time to a | ||
+ | strong position at Isle aux Noix, at the outlet of Lake | ||
+ | Champlain, where, wrote Bourlamaque to a friend, “we | ||
+ | are entrenched to the teeth, and armed with a hundred | ||
+ | pieces of cannon.”< | ||
+ | yet lacking ship-carpenters, | ||
+ | September before his little navy was ready, and then he | ||
+ | thought the season too far advanced for further operations.< | ||
+ | Amherst’s advance had, however, induced Montcalm | ||
+ | to defend Montreal, Lévis having been dispatched | ||
+ | thither for this purpose.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Oswego, where he left half of his men to cover his retreat, | ||
+ | and then sailed to Niagara. Slain by accident during the | ||
+ | siege, his place was taken by Sir William Johnson, the | ||
+ | Indian commander, who pushed the work with vigor. | ||
+ | Suddenly confronted by a French force of thirteen hundred | ||
+ | rangers and savages from the West, who had been | ||
+ | deflected thither from a proposed attack on Pittsburg, | ||
+ | with the view of recovering that fort, Johnson completely | ||
+ | vanquished them (July 24). The discomfited crew | ||
+ | burned their posts in that region and retreated precipitately< | ||
+ | to Detroit. The following day Niagara surrendered, | ||
+ | and thus, with Pittsburg also saved, the West was | ||
+ | entirely cut off from Canada, and the upper Ohio Valley | ||
+ | was placed in British hands. The work of Stanwix having | ||
+ | been accomplished by Johnson, the former, who had | ||
+ | been greatly delayed by transport difficulties, | ||
+ | as promptly as possible to the Forks of the Ohio, and in | ||
+ | the place of the old French works built the modernized | ||
+ | stronghold of Fort Pitt.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On August 20, Wolfe fell seriously ill. Both he and | ||
+ | the army were discouraged. The casualties had thus far | ||
+ | been over eight hundred men, and disease had cut a wide | ||
+ | swath through the ranks. Desperate, he at last accepted | ||
+ | the counsel of his officers, that a landing be attempted | ||
+ | above the town, supplies definitively cut off from Montreal, | ||
+ | and Montcalm forced to fight or surrender. From | ||
+ | September 3 to 12, Wolfe, arisen from his bed but still | ||
+ | weak, quietly withdrew his troops from the Montmorenci | ||
+ | camp and transported them in vessels which successfully | ||
+ | passed through a heavy cannonading from the | ||
+ | fort to safe anchorage in the upper basin. Reinforcements | ||
+ | marching along the southern bank, from Point | ||
+ | Lévis, soon joined their comrades aboard the ships. For | ||
+ | several days this portion of the fleet regularly floated up | ||
+ | and down the river above Quebec, with the changing tide, | ||
+ | thus wearing out Bougainville’s men, who in great perplexity | ||
+ | followed the enemy along the cliff-tops, through | ||
+ | a beat of several leagues, until from sheer exhaustion they | ||
+ | at last became careless.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the evening of September 12, Saunders—whose admirable | ||
+ | handling of the fleet deserves equal recognition | ||
+ | with the services of Wolfe—commenced a heavy bombardment | ||
+ | of the Beauport lines, and feigned a general | ||
+ | landing at that place. Montcalm, not knowing that the | ||
+ | majority of the British were by this time above the town,< | ||
+ | and deceived as to his enemy’s real intent, hurried to | ||
+ | Beauport the bulk of his troops, save those necessary for | ||
+ | Bougainville’s rear guard. Meanwhile, however, Wolfe | ||
+ | was preparing for his desperate attempt several miles up | ||
+ | the river.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 13), thirty boats containing seventeen hundred picked | ||
+ | men, with Wolfe at their head, floated down the stream | ||
+ | under the dark shadow of the apparently insurmountable | ||
+ | cliffs. They were challenged by sentinels along the | ||
+ | shore; but, by pretending to be a provision convoy which | ||
+ | had been expected from up-country, suspicion was disarmed. | ||
+ | About two miles above Quebec they landed at | ||
+ | an indentation then known as Anse du Foulon, but | ||
+ | now called Wolfe’s | ||
+ | Cove. From the | ||
+ | narrow beach a | ||
+ | small, winding | ||
+ | path, sighted by | ||
+ | Wolfe two days | ||
+ | before, led up | ||
+ | through the trees | ||
+ | and underbrush to | ||
+ | the Plains of Abraham. | ||
+ | The climbing | ||
+ | party of twenty-four | ||
+ | infantrymen | ||
+ | found the path obstructed by an abatis and trenches; | ||
+ | but, nothing daunted, they clambered up the height of | ||
+ | two hundred feet by the aid of stunted shrubs, reached | ||
+ | the top, overcame the weak and cowardly guard of a | ||
+ | hundred men, made way for their comrades, and by sunrise | ||
+ | forty-five hundred men of the British army were | ||
+ | drawn up across the plateau before the walls of Quebec.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Montcalm, ten miles away on the other side of the St. | ||
+ | Charles, was amazed at the daring feat, but by nine | ||
+ | o’clock had massed his troops and confronted his enemy. | ||
+ | The battle was brief but desperate. The intrepid Wolfe | ||
+ | fell on the field—“the only British general,” declared | ||
+ | Horace Walpole, “belonging to the reign of George the | ||
+ | Second who can be said to have earned a lasting reputation.”< | ||
+ | Montcalm, mortally wounded, was carried by | ||
+ | his fleeing comrades within the city, where he died before | ||
+ | morning. During the seven hours’ battle the British | ||
+ | had lost forty-eight killed and five hundred and ninety-seven | ||
+ | wounded, about twenty per cent. of the firing-line; | ||
+ | the French lost about twelve hundred killed, wounded, | ||
+ | and prisoners, of whom perhaps a fourth were killed.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ruins from the cannonading of the British fleet, and Vaudreuil | ||
+ | and his fellows fleeing to the interior, the helpless | ||
+ | garrison of Quebec surrendered, | ||
+ | troops entering the following day. The English flag now | ||
+ | floated over the citadel, and soon there was great rejoicing | ||
+ | throughout Great Britain and her American colonies; | ||
+ | and well there might be, for the affair on the Plains | ||
+ | of Abraham was one of the most heroic and far-reaching | ||
+ | achievements ever wrought by Englishmen in any land | ||
+ | or sea.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE CAPTURE OF<br /> | ||
+ | QUEBEC, 1759, AND THE BATTLE< | ||
+ | OF BUNKER HILL, 1775</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The English capture Montreal.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | by enforcement of navigation laws, acts of trade, | ||
+ | and writs of assistance. Protests of James Otis and | ||
+ | Patrick Henry.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Havana.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | followed by American protests.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | imposes duties on paper, glass, tea, etc., imported into | ||
+ | America.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to pay for quartering British troops. Defeat of Paoli | ||
+ | and subjection of Corsica by the French.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | by citizens, kill three and wound several.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and Prussia. Samuel Adams actively advocates independence | ||
+ | in Boston. British ship, the < | ||
+ | by Rhode Islanders. Virginia Assembly appoints Committee | ||
+ | of Correspondence to keep in touch with other | ||
+ | colonies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | thrown overboard in Boston harbor by disguised Americans.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1774. Five oppressive Acts, including Boston Port | ||
+ | Bill, passed by British Parliament. General Gage, commissioned | ||
+ | as Governor, comes to Boston with additional | ||
+ | British troops. A Congress meets in Philadelphia, | ||
+ | delegates from all colonies except Georgia, and issues a | ||
+ | “Declaration of Rights,” frames Articles of Association, | ||
+ | and indorses opposition of Massachusetts to the Oppressive | ||
+ | Acts of Parliament.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | gathered at Concord. Battles of Lexington and Concord. | ||
+ | North Carolina the first to instruct delegates to Congress | ||
+ | for independence. Battle of Bunker Hill. Seizure of | ||
+ | Ticonderoga and occupation of Crown Point by Americans. | ||
+ | Washington takes command of the army at Cambridge. | ||
+ | The Americans capture Montreal. Arnold repulsed | ||
+ | at Quebec and Montgomery killed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | forth the real and underlying cause of the American | ||
+ | Revolution. The attention of its writer was bent upon | ||
+ | recent events, and he dwelt only upon the immediate | ||
+ | reasons for throwing off allegiance to the British government. | ||
+ | In the dark of the storm already upon them, the | ||
+ | men of the time could hardly look with clear vision back | ||
+ | to ultimate causes. They could not see that the English | ||
+ | kings had planted the seeds of the Revolution when, in | ||
+ | their zeal to get America colonized, they had granted such | ||
+ | political and religious privileges as tempted the radicals | ||
+ | and dissenters of the time to migrate to America. Only | ||
+ | historical research could reveal the fact that from the | ||
+ | year 1620 the English government had been systematically | ||
+ | stocking the colonies with dissenters and retaining | ||
+ | in England the conformers. The tendency of colonization | ||
+ | was to leave the conservatives in England, thus | ||
+ | relatively increasing the conservative force at home, while | ||
+ | the radicals went to America to fortify the radical political | ||
+ | philosophy there. Thus England lost part of her potentiality | ||
+ | for political development.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | because of the privileges granted them there, but | ||
+ | the Crown neglected to enforce in the colonies the same | ||
+ | regulations that it enforced at home. The Act of Uniformity | ||
+ | was not extended to the colonies, though rigidly< | ||
+ | enforced in England; the viceregal officers, the governors, | ||
+ | permitted themselves again and again to be browbeaten | ||
+ | and disobeyed by the colonial legislatures;< | ||
+ | king himself had allowed Massachusetts (1635) to overreach | ||
+ | him by not giving up her charter.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | century in which the colonists were favored by political | ||
+ | privileges shared by no other people of that age; after the | ||
+ | environment had established new social conditions, and | ||
+ | remoteness and isolation had created a local and individual | ||
+ | hatred of restraint; after the absence of traditions | ||
+ | had made possible the institution of representation by | ||
+ | population, and self-government had taken on a new | ||
+ | meaning in the world; after a great gulf had been fixed | ||
+ | between the social, political, and economic institutions | ||
+ | of the two parts of the British empire—only then did the | ||
+ | British government enter upon a policy intended to make | ||
+ | the empire a unity.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | essential matters of colonial life, and the British government | ||
+ | had only to seek to establish its power over the | ||
+ | colonies in order to arouse a desire for formal independence. | ||
+ | The transition in England, therefore, to an imperial | ||
+ | ideal, about the middle of the eighteenth century, | ||
+ | doubtless caused the rending of the empire. Walpole and | ||
+ | Newcastle, whose administrations had just preceded the | ||
+ | reign of George III., had let the colonies alone, and thus | ||
+ | aided the colonial at the expense of the imperial idea; | ||
+ | while their successors, Grenville and Townshend, ruling | ||
+ | not wisely but too well, forced the colonists to realize that | ||
+ | they cared more for America than for England.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | see it, when the union of Great Britain with her colonies< | ||
+ | depended on the offspring’s disposition toward the | ||
+ | mother-country. Good feeling would preserve the union, | ||
+ | but dissatisfaction would make even forcible control impossible. | ||
+ | Social and political and economic ties still | ||
+ | bound the colonists to the home land, but these were | ||
+ | weak ties as compared with an irrepressible desire for | ||
+ | self-growth. The expression of their political ideals unrestrained | ||
+ | by the conservatism of the parent was a desired | ||
+ | end to which they strove, almost unconscious of | ||
+ | their object.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>To understand the American Revolution, therefore, | ||
+ | several facts must be clearly in mind—first, | ||
+ | Britain had for one hundred and fifty years been growing | ||
+ | to the dignity of an empire, and that the thirteen | ||
+ | colonies were a considerable part of that empire; second, | ||
+ | the colonies had interests of their own which were not | ||
+ | favored by the growing size and strength of the empire. | ||
+ | They were advancing to new political ideals faster than | ||
+ | the mother-country. Their economic interests were becoming | ||
+ | differentiated from those of England. They were | ||
+ | coming to have wants and ambitions and hopes of their | ||
+ | own quite distinct from those of Great Britain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the fatal time when the independent spirit of America | ||
+ | had grown assertive, the politically active part of the | ||
+ | British people began unconsciously to favor an imperial | ||
+ | policy, which their ministers suggested, and which to | ||
+ | them seemed the very essence of sound reasoning and | ||
+ | good government. They approved of the proposed creation | ||
+ | of executives who should be independent of the dictation | ||
+ | of the colonial assemblies. There were also to be | ||
+ | new administrative organs having power to enforce the | ||
+ | colonial trade regulations; | ||
+ | the colonies was to be improved by a force of regular | ||
+ | troops, which was in part to be supported by colonial | ||
+ | taxes.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In order to accomplish these objects, the king’s new | ||
+ | minister, the assiduous Grenville, who knew the law better< | ||
+ | than the maxims of statesmanship, | ||
+ | in March, 1764, to resolve upon “certain stamp | ||
+ | duties” for the colonies. A year later the “Gentle Shepherd, | ||
+ | as Pitt had dubbed him, proved his watchfulness | ||
+ | by getting a stamp act passed,< | ||
+ | duplicate of one in force in England, and like one of | ||
+ | Massachusetts’ own laws, nevertheless aroused every | ||
+ | colony to violent wrath.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | embers of discontent with Grenville’s policy of enforcing | ||
+ | the trade or navigation laws—those restrictions upon | ||
+ | colonial industries and commerce which were the outgrowth | ||
+ | of a protective commercial policy which England | ||
+ | had begun even before the discovery of America.< | ||
+ | the colonies grew they began to be regarded as a source | ||
+ | of wealth to the mother-country; | ||
+ | that bounties were given them for raising commodities | ||
+ | desired by England, restrictions were placed upon American | ||
+ | trade.<a id=" | ||
+ | colonies began manufacturing for themselves, their | ||
+ | industry no sooner interfered with English manufactures | ||
+ | than a law was passed to prevent the exportation of the | ||
+ | production and to limit the industry itself. This system | ||
+ | of restrictions, | ||
+ | opposition of interest between America and England, | ||
+ | does not seem on the whole to have been to the disadvantage | ||
+ | of the colonies;< | ||
+ | system a whit more severe than that of other European | ||
+ | countries.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1733, however, the Molasses Act went into effect,< | ||
+ | and, had it been enforced, would have been a serious | ||
+ | detriment to American interests. It not only aimed to | ||
+ | stop the thriving colonial trade with the Dutch, French, | ||
+ | and Spanish West Indies, but was intended to aid English | ||
+ | planters in the British West Indies by laying a prohibitive | ||
+ | duty on imported foreign sugar and molasses. It was not | ||
+ | enforced, however, for the customs officials, by giving | ||
+ | fraudulent clearances, acted in collusion with the colonial | ||
+ | importers in evading the law; but, in 1761, during the war | ||
+ | with France, the thrifty colonists carried on an illegal | ||
+ | trade with the enemy, and Pitt demanded that the restrictive | ||
+ | laws be enforced.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to seize the smuggled goods, and harder still to convict | ||
+ | the smuggler in the colonial courts. Search-warrants | ||
+ | were impracticable, | ||
+ | them made the informer’s name public, and the law was | ||
+ | unable to protect him from the anger of a community | ||
+ | fully in sympathy with the smugglers. The only feasible | ||
+ | way to put down this unpatriotic trade with the enemy | ||
+ | was to resort to “writs of assistance, | ||
+ | the customs officers a right to search for smuggled goods | ||
+ | in any house they pleased.< | ||
+ | had been used in America, and were frequently used in | ||
+ | England;< | ||
+ | of personal liberty that when James Otis, a Boston lawyer, | ||
+ | resisted by an impassioned speech the issue of such | ||
+ | writs his arguments met universal approval.< | ||
+ | good faith he argued, after the manner of the ancient | ||
+ | law-writers, | ||
+ | ignoring the historical fact that since the revolution of | ||
+ | 1688 an act of Parliament was the highest guarantee of | ||
+ | right, and Parliament the sovereign and supreme power. | ||
+ | Nevertheless, | ||
+ | what America believed, and pointed very plainly the | ||
+ | path of wise statesmanship.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the whole West and made necessary a force of soldiers | ||
+ | in Canada, Grenville, in spite of the recent warning, | ||
+ | determined that the colonies should share the burden | ||
+ | which was rapidly increasing in England. He lowered | ||
+ | the sugar and molasses duties,< | ||
+ | their collection by every lawful means. The trouble | ||
+ | which resulted developed more quickly in Massachusetts, | ||
+ | because its harsh climate and sterile soil drove it to a | ||
+ | carrying-trade, | ||
+ | thought to threaten its ruin. It was while American | ||
+ | economic affairs were in this condition that Grenville | ||
+ | rashly aggravated the discontent by the passage of his | ||
+ | Stamp Act.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As the resistance of the colonies to this taxation led | ||
+ | straight to open war and final independence, | ||
+ | worth while to look rather closely at the stamp tax, and | ||
+ | at the subject of representation, | ||
+ | with it. The terms of the Stamp Act are not of great | ||
+ | importance, because, though it did have at least one bad | ||
+ | feature as a law, the whole opposition was on the ground | ||
+ | that there should be no taxation whatever without representation. | ||
+ | It made no difference to its enemies that the | ||
+ | money obtained by the sale of stamps was to stay in | ||
+ | America to support the soldiers needed for colonial protection. | ||
+ | Nothing would appease them while the taxing | ||
+ | body contained no representatives of their own choosing.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>To attain this right, they made their fight upon legal | ||
+ | and historical grounds—the least favorable they could | ||
+ | have chosen. They declared that, under the British | ||
+ | constitution, | ||
+ | known and voted for by the persons taxed. The | ||
+ | wisest men seemed not to see the kernel of the dispute.< | ||
+ | A very real danger threatened the colonies—subject as | ||
+ | they were to a body unsympathetic with the political and | ||
+ | economic conditions in which they were living—but they | ||
+ | had no legal safeguard.< | ||
+ | existing constitutional bond or get Parliament of its | ||
+ | own will to limit its power over the colonies. All unwittingly | ||
+ | the opponents of the Stamp Act were struggling | ||
+ | with a problem that could be solved only by revolution.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | there be a British empire ruled by Parliament in all its | ||
+ | parts, either in England or oversea? or should Parliament | ||
+ | govern at home, and the colonial assemblies in America, | ||
+ | with only a federal bond to unite them? Should the English | ||
+ | understanding of representation be imposed upon | ||
+ | the colonies? or should America’s institution triumph in | ||
+ | its own home? If there was to be a successful imperial | ||
+ | system, Parliament must have the power to tax all parts | ||
+ | of the empire. It was of no use to plead that Parliament | ||
+ | had never taxed the colonies before, for, as Doctor Johnson | ||
+ | wrote, “We do not put a calf into the plough: we | ||
+ | wait till it is an ox.”<a id=" | ||
+ | to stand taxation now, and the reasonable dispute must | ||
+ | be as to the manner of it. To understand the widely different | ||
+ | points of view of Englishmen and Americans, we | ||
+ | must examine their systems of representative government.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In electing members to the House of Commons in England | ||
+ | certain ancient counties and boroughs were entitled | ||
+ | to representation, | ||
+ | of the number of people within its territory. For a century | ||
+ | and a half before the American Revolution only four | ||
+ | new members were added to the fixed number in Parliament. | ||
+ | Meanwhile, great cities had grown up which had | ||
+ | no representation, | ||
+ | properly represented, | ||
+ | lord who owned the ground elected the members to Parliament, | ||
+ | taking them, not from the district represented, | ||
+ | from any part of the kingdom. The franchise was usually | ||
+ | possessed either by the owners of the favored pieces | ||
+ | of land or in the boroughs chiefly by persons who inherited | ||
+ | certain rights which marked them as freemen. | ||
+ | A man had as many votes as there were constituencies in | ||
+ | which he possessed the qualifications.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the colonial assemblies there was a more distinct | ||
+ | territorial basis for representation, | ||
+ | brought changes of representation. New towns | ||
+ | sent new members to the provincial assembly, and held | ||
+ | the right to be of great value. All adult men—even | ||
+ | negroes in New England—owning a certain small amount | ||
+ | of property could vote for these members. In the South | ||
+ | only the landholders voted, but the supply of land was | ||
+ | not limited, as in England, and it was easily acquired. | ||
+ | Finally, the voter and the representative voted for must, | ||
+ | as a rule, be residents of the same district. From the | ||
+ | first the colonial political ideals were affected by new | ||
+ | conditions. When they established representative government | ||
+ | they had no historic places sanctified by tradition | ||
+ | to be the sole breeding-places of members of Parliament.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | parts of the British empire, or, more accurately, the | ||
+ | dominant party in each section of the empire, faced each | ||
+ | other upon a question of principle. Neither could believe | ||
+ | in the honesty of the other, for each argued out of a different | ||
+ | past. The opponents of the Stamp Act could not | ||
+ | understand the political thinking which held them to be | ||
+ | represented in the British Parliament. “No taxation | ||
+ | without representation” meant for the colonist that | ||
+ | taxes ought to be levied by a legislative body in which | ||
+ | was seated a person known and voted for by the person | ||
+ | taxed. An Englishman only asked that there be “no | ||
+ | taxation except that voted by the House of Commons.”< | ||
+ | He was not concerned with the mode of election to that | ||
+ | house or the interests of the persons composing it. The | ||
+ | colonists called the Stamp Act tyranny, but the British | ||
+ | government certainly intended none, for it acted upon | ||
+ | the theory of virtual representation, | ||
+ | representation enjoyed by the great mass of Englishmen | ||
+ | either at home or in the colonies. On that theory nothing | ||
+ | was taxed except by the consent of the virtual representatives | ||
+ | of those taxed. But, replied an American, in | ||
+ | England the interests of electors and non-electors are the | ||
+ | same. Security against any oppression of non-electors | ||
+ | lies in the fact that it would be oppressive to electors | ||
+ | also; but Americans have no such safeguard, for acts | ||
+ | oppressive to them might be popular with English | ||
+ | electors.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | there was apparent apathy. The day of enforcement was | ||
+ | six months away, and there was nothing to oppose but a | ||
+ | law. It was the fitting time for an agitator. Patrick | ||
+ | Henry, a gay, unprosperous, | ||
+ | had been carried into the Virginia House of Burgesses | ||
+ | on the public approval of his impassioned denial, in the | ||
+ | “Parson’s Cause” (1763), of the king’s right to veto a | ||
+ | needed law passed by the colonial legislature. He now | ||
+ | offered some resolutions against the stamp tax, denying | ||
+ | the right of Parliament to legislate in the internal affairs | ||
+ | of the colony.< | ||
+ | and the fiery speech which secured its adoption by an | ||
+ | irresolute assembly, were applauded everywhere. Jefferson | ||
+ | said of Henry, that he “spoke as Homer wrote.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as the names of the appointed stamp-distributers | ||
+ | were made known (August 1, 1765) the masses expressed | ||
+ | their displeasure in a way unfortunately too common | ||
+ | in America. Throughout the land there was rifling | ||
+ | of stamp-collectors’ houses, threatening their lives, burning< | ||
+ | their records and documents, and even their houses. | ||
+ | Their offices were demolished and their resignations compelled—in | ||
+ | one case under a hanging effigy, suggestive | ||
+ | of the result of refusal. The more moderate patriots cancelled | ||
+ | their orders with British merchants, agreed not to | ||
+ | remit their English debts, and dressed in homespun to | ||
+ | avoid wearing imported clothes.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the morning that the act went into effect (November | ||
+ | 1, 1765) bells tolled the death of the nation. Shops were | ||
+ | shut, flags hung at half-mast, and newspapers appeared | ||
+ | with a death’s-head where the stamp should have been. | ||
+ | Mobs burned the stamps, and none were to be had to | ||
+ | legalize even the most solemn and important papers. | ||
+ | The courts ignored them and the governors sanctioned | ||
+ | their omission. None could be used, because none could | ||
+ | be obtained. All America endorsed the declaration of | ||
+ | rights of the Stamp-Act Congress, which met in New | ||
+ | York, October, 1765. It asserted that the colonists | ||
+ | had the same liberties as British subjects. Circumstances, | ||
+ | they declared, prevented the colonists from being | ||
+ | represented in the House of Commons, therefore | ||
+ | no taxes could be levied except by their respective | ||
+ | legislatures.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | government. On the passage of the Stamp Act, Walpole | ||
+ | had written,< | ||
+ | Parliament but one slight day on the American taxes.” | ||
+ | That expressed the common conception of its importance; | ||
+ | and when the Grenville ministry fell (July, 1765), and | ||
+ | was succeeded by that of Rockingham, the American situation | ||
+ | had absolutely nothing to do with the change. | ||
+ | The new ministry was some months in deciding its policy. | ||
+ | The king was one of the first to realize the situation, | ||
+ | which he declared “the most serious that ever came before | ||
+ | Parliament” (December 5, 1765). Weak and unwilling< | ||
+ | to act as the new ministry was, the situation compelled | ||
+ | attention. The king at first favored coercion of | ||
+ | the rebellious colonies, but the English merchants, suffering | ||
+ | from the suspended trade, urged Parliament to | ||
+ | repeal the act. Their demand decided the ministry to | ||
+ | favor retraction, just as formerly their influence had | ||
+ | forced the navigation laws and the restrictions on colonial | ||
+ | manufactures. If the king and landed gentry were responsible | ||
+ | for the immediate causes of the Revolution, | ||
+ | the influence of the English commercial classes on legislation | ||
+ | was the more ultimate cause.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the history of Parliament, under the advice of Benjamin | ||
+ | Franklin, given at the bar of the House of Commons,< | ||
+ | and with the powerful aid of Pitt and Camden, the Stamp | ||
+ | Act was repealed. Another act passed at the same time | ||
+ | asserted Parliament’s power to legislate for the colonies | ||
+ | in all cases whatsoever.< | ||
+ | smouldering amid the inflammable colonial affairs; and | ||
+ | Burke was quick to point out that the right to tax, or | ||
+ | any other right insisted upon after it ceased to harmonize | ||
+ | with prudence and expediency, would lead to disaster.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It is plain to-day that the only way to keep up the | ||
+ | nominal union between Great Britain and her colonies | ||
+ | was to let them alone. The colonies felt strongly the | ||
+ | ties of blood, interest, and affection which bound them | ||
+ | to England.< | ||
+ | of the Stamp Act, that they loved their parent much | ||
+ | more than they loved one another. They felt only the | ||
+ | normal adult instinct to act independently. Could the | ||
+ | British government have given up the imperial idea to | ||
+ | which it so tenaciously clung, a federal union might have | ||
+ | been preserved.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the ministry which next came into power. When illness | ||
+ | withdrew Pitt from the “Mosaic Ministry, | ||
+ | Grafton had formed, Townshend’s brilliant talents gave him | ||
+ | the unquestioned lead. This man, who is said to have | ||
+ | surpassed Burke in wit and Chatham in solid sense, determined | ||
+ | to try again to tax the colonies for imperial | ||
+ | purposes.< | ||
+ | and internal tax; but since the colonists had put stress | ||
+ | on the illegality of the latter he laid the new tax on imported | ||
+ | articles, and prepared to collect at the customhouses. | ||
+ | The income was to pay the salaries of colonial | ||
+ | governors and judges, and thus render them independent | ||
+ | of the tyrannical and contentious assemblies. Writs of | ||
+ | assistance, so effective in enforcing the revenue laws but | ||
+ | so hated by the colonists, were legalized. The collection | ||
+ | of the revenue was further aided by admiralty courts, | ||
+ | which should try the cases without juries, thus preventing | ||
+ | local sympathy from shielding the violators of the law.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and which the agitators so much deplored, at once disappeared. | ||
+ | The right of trial by jury was held to be inalienable. | ||
+ | The control of the judiciary and executive | ||
+ | by the people was necessary to free government, asserted | ||
+ | the pamphleteers. Parliament could not legalize “writs | ||
+ | of assistance, | ||
+ | at an internal tax was forgotten, and they objected to | ||
+ | any tax whatever—a more logical position, which John | ||
+ | Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, | ||
+ | “that any law, in so far as it creates expense, is in reality | ||
+ | a tax.” Samuel Adams drew up a circular letter, which | ||
+ | the Massachusetts assembly dispatched to the other colonial | ||
+ | assemblies, urging concerted action against this new | ||
+ | attack on colonial liberties.< | ||
+ | through the colonial governors, attempted to squelch this | ||
+ | letter, but the Massachusetts assembly refused to rescind, | ||
+ | and the other colonies were quick to embrace its | ||
+ | cause.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | political leaders were aroused. When the customs officials, | ||
+ | in 1768, seized John Hancock’s sloop < | ||
+ | alleged evasion of the customs duties, there was a riot | ||
+ | which so frightened the officers that they fled to the fort | ||
+ | and wrote to England for soldiers.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Parliament to urge the king to exercise a right given him | ||
+ | by an ancient act to cause persons charged with treason | ||
+ | to be brought to England for trial. The Virginia assembly | ||
+ | protested against this, and sent their protest to the | ||
+ | other colonies for approval.< | ||
+ | assembly, but it met and voted a non-importation agreement, | ||
+ | which also met favor in the other colonies. This | ||
+ | economic argument again proved effective, and the | ||
+ | Townshend measures were repealed, except the tax on | ||
+ | tea; Parliament thus doing everything but remove the | ||
+ | offence—“fixing a badge of slavery upon the Americans | ||
+ | without service to their masters.”< | ||
+ | also remained to vex the colonists.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In order that no disproportionate blame may be attached | ||
+ | to the king or his ministry for the bringing on of | ||
+ | the Revolution, it must be noted that the English nation, | ||
+ | the Parliament, and the king were all agreed when the | ||
+ | sugar and stamp acts were passed; and though Parliament | ||
+ | mustered a good-sized minority against the Townshend | ||
+ | acts, nevertheless no unaccustomed influence in its | ||
+ | favor was used by the king. Thus the elements of the | ||
+ | cloud were all gathered before the king’s personality began | ||
+ | to intensify the oncoming storm. The later acts of | ||
+ | Parliament and the conduct of the king had the sole< | ||
+ | purpose of overcoming resistance to established government. | ||
+ | Most of these coercive acts, though no part of | ||
+ | the original policy, were perfectly constitutional even | ||
+ | in times of peace. They must be considered in their | ||
+ | historical setting, however, just as President Lincoln’s | ||
+ | extraordinary acts in a time of like national peril. Henceforth | ||
+ | we are dealing with the natural, though perhaps | ||
+ | ill-judged, efforts of a government to repress a rebellion.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | (June, 1768), two regiments of British soldiers were stationed | ||
+ | in Boston. The very inadequacy of the force | ||
+ | made its relations with the citizens strained, for they | ||
+ | resented without fearing it. After enduring months of | ||
+ | jeering and vilification, | ||
+ | fired upon a threatening mob, and four men were killed. | ||
+ | Much was made of the “massacre, | ||
+ | it symbolized for the people the substitution of | ||
+ | military for civil government. A Boston jury acquitted | ||
+ | the soldiers, and, after a town-meeting, | ||
+ | the two regiments was secured.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A period of quiet followed until the assembly and the | ||
+ | governor got into a debate over the theoretical rights of | ||
+ | the colonists. To spread the results of this debate, | ||
+ | Samuel Adams devised the “committees of correspondence, | ||
+ | which kept the towns of Massachusetts informed | ||
+ | of the controversy in Boston. This furnished a model | ||
+ | for the colonial committees of correspondence, | ||
+ | the most efficient means for revolutionary organization. | ||
+ | They created public opinion, set war itself in | ||
+ | motion, and were the embryos of new governments when | ||
+ | the old were destroyed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | response from the other colonies was appointed by Virginia, | ||
+ | March 12, 1773, to keep its assembly informed of | ||
+ | the “< | ||
+ | revenue-cutter which, while too zealously enforcing the | ||
+ | Navigation Acts, ran aground (June 9, 1772) in Narragansett | ||
+ | Bay. Some Providence men seized and burned | ||
+ | the vessel, and the British government appointed a commission | ||
+ | to inquire into the affair.< | ||
+ | with universal opposition and had to report failure.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | rebellion consists of a series of links so plainly joined | ||
+ | and so well known that they need only the barest mention | ||
+ | in this brief introduction to the actual war. The British | ||
+ | government tried to give temporary aid to the East | ||
+ | India Company by permitting the heavy revenue on tea | ||
+ | entering English ports, through which it must pass before | ||
+ | being shipped to America, and by licensing the company | ||
+ | itself to sell tea in America.< | ||
+ | principle for which they had been contending, they retained | ||
+ | at colonial ports the threepenny duty, which was | ||
+ | all that remained of the Townshend revenue scheme. | ||
+ | Ships loaded with this cheap tea came into the several | ||
+ | American ports and were received with different marks | ||
+ | of odium at different places. In Boston, after peaceful | ||
+ | attempts to prevent the landing proved of no avail, an | ||
+ | impromptu band of Indians threw the tea overboard, so | ||
+ | that the next morning saw it lying like seaweed on | ||
+ | Dorchester beach.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | general demand for repressive measures, and the five | ||
+ | “intolerable acts” were passed and sent oversea to do the | ||
+ | last irremediable mischief.< | ||
+ | until the town should pay for the tea. Massachusetts’ | ||
+ | charter was annulled, its town-meetings irksomely restrained, | ||
+ | and its government so changed that its executive | ||
+ | officers would all be under the king’s control. Two<span class=" | ||
+ | other acts provided for the care and judicial privileges of | ||
+ | the soldiers who soon came to enforce the acts. Finally, | ||
+ | great offence was given the Protestant colonies by granting | ||
+ | religious freedom to the Catholics of Quebec, and the | ||
+ | bounds of that colony were extended to the Ohio River,<a id=" | ||
+ | thus arousing all the colonies claiming Western lands. | ||
+ | Except in the case of Virginia, there was no real attack | ||
+ | on their territorial integrity, but in the excitement there | ||
+ | seemed to be.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | had long been the only thing needed to send the flame of | ||
+ | rebellion along the whole sea-coast. When the British | ||
+ | soldiers began the enforcement of the punishment meted | ||
+ | to Boston, sympathy and fear furnished the common | ||
+ | bond. After several proposals of an intercolonial congress, | ||
+ | the step was actually taken on a call from oppressed | ||
+ | Massachusetts (June 17, 1774).<a id=" | ||
+ | colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia in September, | ||
+ | 1774. Seven of the twelve delegations were chosen not | ||
+ | by the regular assemblies, but by revolutionary conventions | ||
+ | called by local committees; while in Massachusetts, | ||
+ | Rhode Island, and Connecticut, | ||
+ | five states, the assemblies that sent the delegates were | ||
+ | wholly dominated by the revolutionary element. Local | ||
+ | committees may therefore be said to have created the | ||
+ | congress, and they would now stand ready to enforce its | ||
+ | will.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | but their great work was the forming an American association | ||
+ | to enforce a non-importation and non-consumption | ||
+ | agreement.< | ||
+ | traded with England or refused to associate were held up | ||
+ | as enemies of their country. The delegates provided for | ||
+ | a new congress in the following May, and adjourned.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Meanwhile, General Gage and his “pretorian guard” | ||
+ | in Boston were administering the government of Massachusetts | ||
+ | with noteworthy results. A general court of | ||
+ | the colony was summoned by Gage, who, repenting, tried | ||
+ | to put it off; but it met, formed a provincial congress, and, | ||
+ | settling down at Cambridge, governed the whole colony | ||
+ | outside of Boston. It held the new royal government | ||
+ | to be illegal, ordered the taxes paid to its own receiver | ||
+ | instead of Gage’s, and organized a militia. Gage at last | ||
+ | determined to disarm the provincials. His raid to destroy | ||
+ | the stores at Concord (April 19, 1775) resulted in | ||
+ | an ignominious retreat and the loss of two hundred and | ||
+ | seventy-three men, to say nothing of bringing sixteen | ||
+ | thousand patriots swarming about Boston.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | revolution to the stage of open warfare, a Massachusetts | ||
+ | politician had so used these forces that both his friends | ||
+ | and enemies thought the blame or the honor to be his. | ||
+ | Samuel Adams began to desire independence as early as | ||
+ | 1768. From that time it was his unwearying effort to | ||
+ | keep alive the opposition to the British ministry. For | ||
+ | years he sought to instil in the minds of rising youths the | ||
+ | notion of independence. His adroit mind, always awake | ||
+ | and tireless, toiled for but one end; and he was narrow-minded | ||
+ | enough to be a perfect politician. Two opposing | ||
+ | views could never occupy his mind at the same time. For | ||
+ | sharp practices he had no aversion, but he used them for | ||
+ | public good, as he saw it, and not for private gain. He | ||
+ | was a public servant, great or small, from his earliest | ||
+ | manhood—as inspector of chimneys, tax-collector, | ||
+ | moderator of town-meetings. He was ever a failure in<span class=" | ||
+ | business; in politics, shrewd and able. The New England | ||
+ | town-meeting was the theatre of his action;< | ||
+ | the Boston meetings, and the other towns followed. | ||
+ | His tools were men. He was intimate with all | ||
+ | classes, from the ship-yard roustabouts to the ministers | ||
+ | of the gospel. In the canvass and caucus he was supreme. | ||
+ | Others were always in the foreground, thinking that theirs | ||
+ | was the glory. An enemy said that he had an unrivalled | ||
+ | “talent for artfully and fallaciously insinuating” malice | ||
+ | into the public mind. A friend dubbed him the “Colossus | ||
+ | of debate.” He was ready in tact and cool in moments | ||
+ | of excitement; his reasoning and eloquence had a nervous | ||
+ | simplicity, though there was little of fire, and he was sincere | ||
+ | rather than rhetorical.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | moments he attained to a dignity of figure and gesture. | ||
+ | His views were clear and his good sense abundant, so that | ||
+ | he always received profound attention. Prematurely | ||
+ | gray, palsied in hand, and trembling in voice, yet he had | ||
+ | a mental audacity unparalleled. He was dauntless himself, | ||
+ | and thus roused and fortified the people. Nor were | ||
+ | his efforts confined to the town-meeting, | ||
+ | voluminous newspaper writer. He showed no tolerance | ||
+ | for an opponent, and his attacks were keenly felt. “Damn | ||
+ | that Adams. Every dip of his pen stings like a horned | ||
+ | snake,” cried an enemy. Thus he went on canvassing, | ||
+ | caucusing, haranguing, and writing until the maddened | ||
+ | Gage attempted to seize him and the munitions of war | ||
+ | which he and his fellow-politicians had induced the colony | ||
+ | to collect. Concord and Lexington and the pursuit into | ||
+ | Boston were the results.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the close of that long day of fighting (April 19, 1775) | ||
+ | it was plain that war had begun, and the Massachusetts | ||
+ | politicians who had pushed matters to that stage may well | ||
+ | have had misgivings. A single colony could have no hope< | ||
+ | of success, and there was little in the past to make one | ||
+ | believe that the thirteen colonies would unite even to defend | ||
+ | their political liberties. Franklin gave a vivid picture | ||
+ | of their different forms of government, different | ||
+ | laws, different interests, and, in some instances, different | ||
+ | religious persuasions and different manners.< | ||
+ | Their jealousy of one another was, he declared, “so great | ||
+ | that, however necessary a union of the colonies has long | ||
+ | been for their common defence, ... yet they have never | ||
+ | been able to effect such a union among themselves.” | ||
+ | They were more jealous of each other than of England, and | ||
+ | though plans for union had been proposed by their ablest | ||
+ | statesmen, they had refused to consider them.<a id=" | ||
+ | were long-standing disputes between neighboring colonies | ||
+ | over boundaries, over relations with the Indians, and over | ||
+ | matters of trade.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | American cause was political division on the subject of | ||
+ | the relations with England. As the quarrel with the | ||
+ | mother-country grew more bitter, it was seen that the | ||
+ | British government had many friends in America who, | ||
+ | if they did not defend the action of the ministry, at least | ||
+ | frowned upon the violent opposition to it. They believed | ||
+ | that America’s best interests lay in the union with Great | ||
+ | Britain. The aristocracy of culture, of dignified professions | ||
+ | and callings, of official rank and hereditary wealth | ||
+ | tended to side with the central government.< | ||
+ | prosperous and contented men had no grievances, and | ||
+ | conservatism was the character one would expect in them. | ||
+ | They denounced the agitators as demagogues and their | ||
+ | followers as “the mob.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Revolution, these Tories, as they were called, had suffered | ||
+ | at the hands of mobs, and now, when Gage was powerless< | ||
+ | outside of Boston, an active persecution of them began.<a id=" | ||
+ | Millers refused to grind their corn, labor would not serve | ||
+ | them, and they could neither buy nor sell. Men refused | ||
+ | to worship in the same church with them. They were denounced | ||
+ | as “infamous betrayers of their country.” Committees | ||
+ | published their names, “sending them down to | ||
+ | posterity with the infamy they deserve.” After the siege | ||
+ | of Boston had begun, those who were even suspected of | ||
+ | Toryism, as their support of the king was called, were | ||
+ | regarded as enemies in the camp. The Massachusetts | ||
+ | committees compelled them to sign recantations or confined | ||
+ | them in jails for refusal. If they escaped they were | ||
+ | pursued with hue and cry.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | they had some discouraging mark upon them.” In exile | ||
+ | they learned that the patriot wrath visited their property: | ||
+ | their private coaches were burned or pulled in pieces. A | ||
+ | rich importer’s goods were destroyed or stolen, and his | ||
+ | effigy was hung up in sight of his house during the day | ||
+ | and burned at night. Beautiful estates, where was | ||
+ | “every beauty of art or nature, every elegance, which it | ||
+ | cost years of care and toil in bringing to perfection, | ||
+ | laid waste. Looking upon this work of ruin, a despairing | ||
+ | loyalist cried that the Americans were “as blind and mad | ||
+ | as Samson, bent upon pulling the edifice down upon their | ||
+ | heads to perish in the ruins.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | seemed for a time to eliminate the latter from the struggle. | ||
+ | The friends of royal power in America expected too much, | ||
+ | and while the king’s enemies were organizing they waited | ||
+ | for him to crush the rising rebellion. They looked on with | ||
+ | wonder as the signal flew from one local committee to another | ||
+ | over thirteen colonies, who now needed only a glowing | ||
+ | fact like Lexington to fuse them into one defensive | ||
+ | whole. The news reached Putnam’s Connecticut farm in<span class=" | ||
+ | a day; Arnold, at New Haven, had it the next day, and in | ||
+ | four days it had reached New York.<a id=" | ||
+ | carried it through Philadelphia, | ||
+ | Charleston, and within twenty days the news in many | ||
+ | garbled forms was evoking a common spirit of patriotism | ||
+ | from Maine to Georgia. It was commonly believed that | ||
+ | America must be saved from “abject slavery” by the | ||
+ | bands of patriots encompassing Boston.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | work to drive the British from Concord into Boston were | ||
+ | not an army. They settled down in a great half-circle | ||
+ | around the port with a common purpose of compelling | ||
+ | Gage to take to his ships, but with no definite plan. Confusion | ||
+ | was everywhere. Men were coming and going, and | ||
+ | there were no regular enlistments.< | ||
+ | were doing wonders in holding them together.< | ||
+ | them the brave and courteous Joseph Warren, the warm | ||
+ | friend of Samuel Adams and zealous comrade in the recent | ||
+ | work of agitation, was conquering insubordination by the | ||
+ | manly modesty and gentleness of his character. Others | ||
+ | who were old campaigners of the French and Indian wars | ||
+ | worked ceaselessly to bring order out of chaos.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | provincial jealousies. There were as many leaders as there | ||
+ | were colonies represented. New Hampshire men were led | ||
+ | by John Stark, a hero of the French war; Connecticut men | ||
+ | were under Israel Putnam, more picturesque as a wolf-slayer | ||
+ | than able as a leader. Nathanael Greene, the philosophic | ||
+ | and literary blacksmith, commanded the Rhode | ||
+ | Island militia.< | ||
+ | American army,” as the Massachusetts congress called it, | ||
+ | finally intrusted the chief command to General Artemas | ||
+ | Ward, who, in turn, was controlled by the Massachusetts | ||
+ | committee of safety.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Even with some organization and a leader there was | ||
+ | little outward semblance of an army. In the irregular | ||
+ | dress, brown and green hues were the rule. Uniforms like | ||
+ | those of the British regulars, the hunting-shirt of the backwoodsman, | ||
+ | and even the blankets of savages were seen | ||
+ | side by side in the ranks of the first patriot armies. There | ||
+ | was little distinction between officer and private.< | ||
+ | company chose its own officers out of the ranks,<a id=" | ||
+ | private could not understand why he should salute his | ||
+ | erstwhile friend and neighbor or ask his permission to go | ||
+ | home. The principle of social democracy was carried into | ||
+ | military life to the great detriment of the service. Difference | ||
+ | in rank was ignored by the officers themselves, who | ||
+ | in some cases did menial work about camp to curry favor | ||
+ | with their men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of soldiers seasoned and trained in the war with France. | ||
+ | These men led expeditions to the islands of Boston Harbor | ||
+ | in the effort to get the stock before it should be seized by | ||
+ | the British.< | ||
+ | favorably, as a rule, for the patriots, and the new recruits | ||
+ | gained courage with experience. Thus nearly two | ||
+ | months passed away, and an elated patriot wrote that | ||
+ | “danger and war are become pleasing, and injured virtue | ||
+ | is now aroused to avenge herself.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | one of the commanding hill-tops either in Dorchester or | ||
+ | Charlestown, | ||
+ | city. Gage saw this danger, and with the arrival of reinforcements | ||
+ | under Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne a plan | ||
+ | was made to get control of the dangerous hill-tops. With | ||
+ | ten thousand well-equipped soldiers to pit against an ill-trained | ||
+ | and poorly commanded multitude of farmers the<span class=" | ||
+ | task seemed easy. After trying to terrify the rebels by | ||
+ | threatening with the gallows all who should be taken with | ||
+ | arms, and offering to pardon those who would lay them | ||
+ | down, Gage prepared to execute this plan. The patriots | ||
+ | forestalled him by sending twelve hundred men under the | ||
+ | veteran Colonel Prescott to seize Bunker Hill, in Charlestown.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | by fresh arrivals from England and Ireland to ten | ||
+ | thousand men. The man-of-war < | ||
+ | 25th with Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne—three | ||
+ | officers experienced in the military tactics of Europe, but | ||
+ | little prepared for service here. They were surprised at | ||
+ | the aspect of affairs, and Gage was reproached for his | ||
+ | apparent supineness. However, unity of action was necessary, | ||
+ | and the new-comers heartily co-operated with Gage | ||
+ | in his plans, such as they were, for dispersing the rebel host | ||
+ | that hemmed him in. He issued a proclamation on June | ||
+ | 12 insulting in words and menacing in tone. It declared | ||
+ | martial law; pronounced those in arms and their abettors | ||
+ | “rebels, parricides of the Constitution, | ||
+ | pardon to all who would forthwith return to their allegiance, | ||
+ | except John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were outlawed, | ||
+ | and for whose apprehension as traitors a reward | ||
+ | was offered. This proclamation, | ||
+ | served only to exasperate the people. In the mean | ||
+ | while several skirmishes had occurred between parties of | ||
+ | the British regulars and the provincials, | ||
+ | cultivated islands that dot the harbor of Boston.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At this time (May, 1775) but little progress had been | ||
+ | made by the Americans in erecting fortifications. Some | ||
+ | breastworks had been thrown up at Cambridge, near the | ||
+ | foot of Prospect Hill, and a small redoubt had been formed | ||
+ | at Roxbury. The right wing of the besieging army, under | ||
+ | General Thomas, was at Roxbury, consisting of four thousand< | ||
+ | Massachusetts troops, including four artillery companies, | ||
+ | with field-pieces and a few heavy cannon. The Rhode | ||
+ | Island forces, under Greene, were at Jamaica Plains, and | ||
+ | near there was a greater part of General Spencer’s Connecticut | ||
+ | regiment. General Ward commanded the left | ||
+ | wing at Cambridge, which consisted of fifteen Massachusetts | ||
+ | regiments, the battalion of artillery under Gridley, | ||
+ | and Putnam’s regiment, with other Connecticut troops. | ||
+ | Most of the Connecticut forces were at Inman’s farm. | ||
+ | Paterson’s regiment was at the breastwork on Prospect | ||
+ | Hill, and a large guard was stationed at Lechmere’s Point. | ||
+ | Three companies of Gerrish’s regiment were at Chelsea; | ||
+ | Stark’s regiment was at Medford, and Reid’s at Charlestown | ||
+ | Neck, with sentinels reaching to Penny Ferry and | ||
+ | Bunker Hill.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was made known to the Committee of Safety that | ||
+ | General Gage had fixed upon the night of June 18 to | ||
+ | take possession of and fortify Bunker Hill and Dorchester | ||
+ | Heights. This brought matters to a crisis, and measures | ||
+ | were taken to perfect the blockade of Boston. The Committee | ||
+ | of Safety ordered Colonel Prescott, with a detachment | ||
+ | of one thousand men, including a company of artillery, | ||
+ | with two field-pieces, | ||
+ | intrenchments upon Bunker Hill, an eminence just within | ||
+ | the peninsula of Charlestown, | ||
+ | northern road from Boston, as well as a considerable portion | ||
+ | of the town. Bunker Hill begins at the isthmus, and | ||
+ | rises gradually for about three hundred yards, forming a | ||
+ | round, smooth hill, sloping on two sides toward the water, | ||
+ | and connected by a ridge of ground on the south with the | ||
+ | heights now known as Breed’s Hill. This was a well-known | ||
+ | public place, the name, “Bunker Hill,” being found | ||
+ | in the town records and in deeds from an early period. | ||
+ | Not so with “Breed’s Hill,” for it was not named in any | ||
+ | description of streets previous to 1775, and appears to | ||
+ | have been called after the owners of the pastures into | ||
+ | which it was divided, rather than by the common name< | ||
+ | of Breed’s Hill. Thus, Monument Square was called | ||
+ | Russell’s Pasture; Breed’s Pasture lay farther south, and | ||
+ | Green’s Pasture was at the head of Green Street. The | ||
+ | easterly and westerly sides of this height were steep. On | ||
+ | the east, at its base, were brick-kilns, | ||
+ | much sloughy land. On the west side, at the base, was the | ||
+ | most settled part of the town. Moulton’s Point, a name | ||
+ | coeval with the settlement of the town, constituted the | ||
+ | southeastern corner of the peninsula. A part of this tract | ||
+ | formed what is called Morton’s Hill. Bunker Hill was | ||
+ | one hundred and ten feet high, Breed’s Hill sixty-two feet, | ||
+ | and Moulton’s Hill thirty-five feet. The principal street of | ||
+ | the peninsula was Main Street, which extended from the | ||
+ | Neck to the ferry. A road ran over Bunker Hill, around | ||
+ | Breed’s Hill, to Moulton’s Point. The westerly portions | ||
+ | of these eminences contained fine orchards.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A portion of the regiments of Prescott, Frye, and Bridge, | ||
+ | and a fatigue party of two hundred Connecticut troops | ||
+ | with intrenching tools, paraded in the Cambridge camp | ||
+ | at six o’clock in the evening. They were furnished with | ||
+ | packs and blankets, and ordered to take provisions for | ||
+ | twenty-four hours. Samuel Gridley’s company of artillery | ||
+ | joined them, and the Connecticut troops were placed | ||
+ | under the command of Thomas Knowlton, a captain in | ||
+ | Putnam’s regiment, who was afterward killed in the battle | ||
+ | on Harlem Heights. After an impressive prayer from the | ||
+ | lips of President Langdon, of Harvard College, Colonel | ||
+ | Prescott and Richard Gridley, preceded by two servants | ||
+ | with dark lanterns, commenced their march, at the head | ||
+ | of the troops, for Charlestown. It was about nine o’clock | ||
+ | at night, the sky clear and starry, and the weather very | ||
+ | warm. Strict silence was enjoined, and the object of the | ||
+ | expedition was not known to the troops until they arrived | ||
+ | at Charlestown Neck, where they were joined by Major | ||
+ | Brooks, of Bridge’s regiment, and General Putnam. A | ||
+ | guard of ten men was placed in Charlestown, | ||
+ | body marched over Bunker Hill. A council was held, to<span class=" | ||
+ | select the best place for the proposed fortification. The | ||
+ | order was explicit, to fortify Bunker Hill; but Breed’s Hill | ||
+ | being nearer Boston, and appearing to be a more eligible | ||
+ | place, it was concluded to proceed to fortify it, and to | ||
+ | throw up works, also, on Bunker Hill, to cover a retreat, | ||
+ | if necessary, across Charlestown Neck. Colonel Gridley | ||
+ | marked out the lines of the proposed fortifications, | ||
+ | about midnight, the men, having thrown off their packs | ||
+ | and stacked their arms, began their perilous work—perilous, | ||
+ | because British sentinels and British ships-of-war | ||
+ | were almost within sound of their picks.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with pickaxes and spades, and were cheered on in their | ||
+ | work by the distant signals of safety—“All’s well!”—that | ||
+ | came from the shipping and the sentinels at the foot of | ||
+ | Copp’s Hill. It proclaimed that they were still undiscovered; | ||
+ | and at every cry of “All’s well!” they plied their | ||
+ | tools with increased vigor. When the day dawned, at | ||
+ | about four o’clock, they had thrown up intrenchments six | ||
+ | feet high; and a strong redoubt, which was afterward the | ||
+ | admiration of the enemy, loomed up on the green height | ||
+ | before the wondering eyes of the astonished Britons like | ||
+ | a work of magic. The British officers could hardly be | ||
+ | convinced that it was the result of a few hours’ labor only, | ||
+ | but deemed it the work of days. Gage saw at once how | ||
+ | foolish he had been in not taking possession of this strong | ||
+ | point, as advised, while it was in his power to do so.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | watchmen on board the British man-of-war < | ||
+ | waiting for orders, the captain put springs upon his | ||
+ | cables, and opened a fire on the American works. The noise | ||
+ | of the cannon aroused the sleepers in Boston, and when the | ||
+ | sun arose on that bright morning, every eminence and roof | ||
+ | in the city swarmed with people, astonished at the strange | ||
+ | apparition upon Breed’s Hill. The shots from the < | ||
+ | did no harm, and, defended by their intrenchments, | ||
+ | Americans plied their tools in strengthening their works< | ||
+ | within, until called to lay aside the pick and shovel for | ||
+ | gun and knapsack.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On June 17 Admiral Graves, the naval commander at | ||
+ | Boston, ordered the firing to cease; but it was soon renewed, | ||
+ | not only by the shipping, but from a battery of six | ||
+ | guns upon Copp’s Hill in the city. Gage summoned a | ||
+ | council of war early | ||
+ | in the morning. As | ||
+ | it was evident that the | ||
+ | Americans were rapidly | ||
+ | gaining strength, | ||
+ | and that the safety of | ||
+ | the town was endangered, | ||
+ | it was unanimously | ||
+ | resolved to | ||
+ | send out a force to | ||
+ | drive them from the | ||
+ | peninsula of Charlestown | ||
+ | and destroy their | ||
+ | works on the heights. | ||
+ | It was decided, also, | ||
+ | to make the attack | ||
+ | in front, and preparations were made accordingly. The | ||
+ | drums beat to arms, and Boston was soon in a tumult. | ||
+ | Dragoons galloping, artillery trains rumbling, and the | ||
+ | marching and countermarching of the regulars and loyalists, | ||
+ | together with the clangor of the church bells, struck | ||
+ | dismay into many a heart before stout in the presence of | ||
+ | British protectors. It is said that the danger which surrounded | ||
+ | the city converted many Tories into patriots; and | ||
+ | the selectmen, in the midst of that fearful commotion, received | ||
+ | large accessions to their list of professed friends | ||
+ | from the ranks of the timid loyalists.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | men from the British army, under the command of General | ||
+ | Sir William Howe and General Pigot, embarked in | ||
+ | twenty-eight barges, part from the Long Wharf and some< | ||
+ | from the North Battery, in Boston, and landed at Morton’s, | ||
+ | or Moulton’s Point, beyond the eastern foot of Breed’s Hill, | ||
+ | covered by the guns of the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | all the morning, and were greatly encouraged by the | ||
+ | voice and example of Prescott, who exposed himself, without | ||
+ | care, to the random shots of the battery on Copp’s | ||
+ | Hill. He supposed, at first, that the enemy would not | ||
+ | attack him, but, seeing the movements in the city, he was | ||
+ | convinced to the contrary, and comforted his toiling troops | ||
+ | with assurances of certain victory. Confident of such a | ||
+ | result himself, he would not at first send to General Ward | ||
+ | for a reinforcement; | ||
+ | advice of his officers, Major Brooks was dispatched to headquarters | ||
+ | for that purpose. General Putnam had urged | ||
+ | Ward early in the morning to send fresh troops to relieve | ||
+ | those on duty; but only a portion of Stark’s regiment was | ||
+ | allowed to go, as the general apprehended that Cambridge | ||
+ | would be the principal point of attack. Convinced otherwise, | ||
+ | by certain intelligence, | ||
+ | and the whole of Reed’s corps, on the Neck, were | ||
+ | ordered to reinforce Prescott. At twelve o’clock the men | ||
+ | in the redoubt ceased work, sent off their intrenching tools, | ||
+ | took some refreshments, | ||
+ | prepared to fight. The intrenching tools were sent to | ||
+ | Bunker Hill, where, under the directions of General Putnam, | ||
+ | the men began to throw up a breastwork. Some of | ||
+ | the more timid soldiers made the removal of the tools a | ||
+ | pretext for leaving the redoubt, and never returned.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was between twelve and one o’clock when the British | ||
+ | troops, consisting of the fifth, thirty-eighth, | ||
+ | and fifty-second battalions of infantry, two companies of | ||
+ | grenadiers, and two of light infantry, landed, their rich | ||
+ | uniforms and arms flashing and glittering in the noonday | ||
+ | sun, making an imposing and formidable display. General | ||
+ | Howe reconnoitred the American works, and, while waiting | ||
+ | for reinforcements, | ||
+ | allowed his troops to dine. When the intelligence of the | ||
+ | landing of the enemy reached Cambridge, two miles distant, | ||
+ | there was great excitement in the camp and throughout | ||
+ | the town. The drums beat to arms, the bells were | ||
+ | rung, and the people and military were speedily hurrying | ||
+ | in every direction. General Ward used his own regiment, | ||
+ | and those of Paterson and Gardner and a part of Bridge’s, | ||
+ | for the defence of Cambridge. The remainder of the | ||
+ | Massachusetts troops were ordered to Charlestown, | ||
+ | thither General Putnam conducted those of Connecticut.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At about two o’clock the reinforcement for Howe arrived, | ||
+ | and landed at the present navy-yard. It consisted | ||
+ | of the Forty-seventh battalion of infantry, a battalion of | ||
+ | marines, and some grenadiers and light infantry. The | ||
+ | whole force (about four thousand men) was commanded | ||
+ | and directed by the most skilful British officers then in | ||
+ | Boston; and every man preparing to attack the undisciplined | ||
+ | provincials was a drilled soldier, and quite perfect | ||
+ | in the art of war. It was an hour of the deepest anxiety | ||
+ | among the patriots on Breed’s Hill. They had observed | ||
+ | the whole martial display, from the time of the embarkation | ||
+ | until the forming of the enemy’s line for battle. For | ||
+ | the Americans, as yet, very little succor had arrived. | ||
+ | Hunger and thirst annoyed them, while the labors of the | ||
+ | night and morning weighed them down with excessive | ||
+ | fatigue. Added to this was the dreadful suspicion that | ||
+ | took possession of their minds, when only feeble reinforcements | ||
+ | arrived, that treachery had placed them there for | ||
+ | the purpose of sacrifice. Yet they could not doubt the | ||
+ | patriotism of their principal officers, and before the action | ||
+ | commenced their suspicions were scattered to the winds | ||
+ | by the arrival of their beloved Doctor Warren and General | ||
+ | Pomeroy. Warren, who was president of the Provincial | ||
+ | Congress, then sitting at Watertown, seven miles distant, | ||
+ | informed of the landing of the enemy, hastened toward | ||
+ | Charlestown, | ||
+ | He had been commissioned a major-general four< | ||
+ | days before. Putnam, who was at Cambridge, forwarding | ||
+ | provisions and reinforcements to Charlestown, | ||
+ | dissuade him from going into the battle. Warren was not | ||
+ | to be diverted from his purpose, and, mounting a horse, he | ||
+ | sped across the Neck and entered the redoubt, amid the | ||
+ | loud cheers of the provincials, | ||
+ | to advance. Colonel Prescott offered the command to | ||
+ | Warren, as his superior, when the latter replied, “I am | ||
+ | come to fight as a volunteer, and feel honored in being | ||
+ | allowed to serve under so brave an officer.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to march along the Mystic River for the purpose of flanking | ||
+ | the Americans and gaining their rear, the artillery, | ||
+ | with two field-pieces, | ||
+ | Connecticut troops, left the redoubt, took a position near | ||
+ | Bunker Hill, and formed a breastwork seven hundred feet | ||
+ | in length, which served an excellent purpose. A little in | ||
+ | front of a strong stone and rail fence, Knowlton built another, | ||
+ | and between the two was placed a quantity of new-mown | ||
+ | grass. This apparently slight breastwork formed | ||
+ | a valuable defence to the provincials.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was now three in the afternoon. The provincial | ||
+ | troops were placed in an attitude of defence as the British | ||
+ | column moved slowly forward to the attack. Colonel | ||
+ | Prescott and the original constructors of the redoubt, except | ||
+ | the Connecticut troops, were within the works. General | ||
+ | Warren also took post in the redoubt. Gridley and | ||
+ | Callender’s artillery companies were between the breastworks | ||
+ | and rail fence on the eastern side. A few troops, | ||
+ | recalled from Charlestown after the British landed, and | ||
+ | a part of Warner’s company, lined the cart-way on the | ||
+ | right of the redoubt. The Connecticut and New Hampshire | ||
+ | forces were at the rail fence on the west of the redoubt, | ||
+ | and three companies were stationed in the main | ||
+ | street at the foot of Breed’s Hill.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | sent out strong flank guards, and directed his heavy artillery< | ||
+ | to play upon the American line. At the same time a | ||
+ | blue flag was displayed as a signal, and the guns upon | ||
+ | Copp’s Hill and the ships and floating batteries in the | ||
+ | river poured a storm of round-shot upon the redoubt. A | ||
+ | furious cannonade was opened at the same moment upon< | ||
+ | the right wing of the provincial army at Roxbury, to | ||
+ | prevent reinforcements being sent by General Thomas | ||
+ | to Charlestown. Gridley and Callender, with their field-pieces, | ||
+ | returned a feeble response to the heavy guns of the | ||
+ | enemy. Gridley’s guns were soon disabled; while Callender, | ||
+ | who alleged that his cartridges were too large, | ||
+ | withdrew to Bunker Hill. Putnam was there, and ordered | ||
+ | him back to his first position. He disobeyed, and nearly | ||
+ | all his men, more courageous than he, deserted him. In | ||
+ | the meanwhile, Captain Walker, of Chelmsford, with fifty | ||
+ | resolute men, marched down the hill near Charlestown and | ||
+ | greatly annoyed the enemy’s left flank. Finding their position | ||
+ | very perilous, they marched over to the Mystic, and | ||
+ | did great execution upon the right flank. Walker was | ||
+ | there wounded and made prisoner, but the greater part of | ||
+ | his men succeeded in gaining the redoubt.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | army moved up the slope of Breed’s Hill toward the American | ||
+ | works in two divisions, General Howe with the right | ||
+ | wing, and General Pigot with the left. The former was | ||
+ | to penetrate the American lines at the rail fence; the latter | ||
+ | to storm the redoubt. They had not proceeded far before | ||
+ | the firing of their artillery ceased, in consequence of discovering | ||
+ | that balls too large for the field-pieces had been | ||
+ | sent over from Boston. Howe ordered the pieces to be | ||
+ | loaded with grape; but they soon became useless, on account | ||
+ | of the miry ground at the base of the hill. Small | ||
+ | arms and bayonets now became their reliance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | toiled up the ascent toward the redoubt in the heat | ||
+ | of a bright summer’s sun. All was silent within the American | ||
+ | intrenchments, | ||
+ | seen by the approaching battalions; but within those breastworks, | ||
+ | and in reserve behind the hills, crouched fifteen | ||
+ | hundred determined men, ready, at a prescribed signal, to | ||
+ | fall upon the foe. The provincials had but a scanty supply | ||
+ | of ammunition, and, to avoid wasting it by ineffectual shots,< | ||
+ | Prescott gave orders not to fire until the enemy were so | ||
+ | near that the whites of their eyes could be seen. “Then,” | ||
+ | he said, “aim at their waistbands; and be sure to pick off | ||
+ | the commanders, known by their handsome coats!” The | ||
+ | enemy were not so sparing of their powder and ball, but | ||
+ | when within gunshot of the apparently deserted works | ||
+ | commenced a random firing. Prescott could hardly restrain | ||
+ | his men from responding, and a few did disobey his | ||
+ | orders and returned the fire. Putnam hastened to the | ||
+ | spot, and threatened to cut down the first man who should | ||
+ | again disobey orders, and quiet was restored. At length | ||
+ | the enemy reached the prescribed distance, when, waving | ||
+ | his sword over his head, Prescott shouted, “Fire!” Terrible | ||
+ | was the effect of the volley that ensued. Whole | ||
+ | platoons of the British regulars were laid upon the earth | ||
+ | like grass by the mower’s scythe. Other deadly volleys | ||
+ | succeeded, and the enemy, disconcerted, | ||
+ | toward the water. The provincials, | ||
+ | regulars fly, wished to pursue them, and many leaped the | ||
+ | rail fence for the purpose; but the prudence of the American | ||
+ | officers kept them in check, and in a few minutes they | ||
+ | were again within their works, prepared to receive a second | ||
+ | attack from the British troops, that were quickly rallied | ||
+ | by Howe. Colonel Prescott praised and encouraged his | ||
+ | men, while General Putnam rode to Bunker Hill to urge | ||
+ | on reinforcements. Many had arrived at Charlestown | ||
+ | Neck, but were deterred from crossing by the enfilading | ||
+ | fire of the < | ||
+ | causeway. Portions of regiments were scattered upon | ||
+ | Bunker Hill and its vicinity, and these General Putnam, | ||
+ | by entreaties and commands, endeavored to rally. Colonel | ||
+ | Gerrish, who was very corpulent, became completely exhausted | ||
+ | by fatigue; and other officers, wholly unused to | ||
+ | warfare, coward-like kept at a respectful distance from danger. | ||
+ | Few additional troops could be brought to Breed’s | ||
+ | Hill before the second attack was made.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | from Boston, under Major Small, accompanied by Doctor | ||
+ | Jeffries, the army surgeon, advanced toward the redoubt | ||
+ | in the same order as at first, General Howe boldly leading | ||
+ | the van, as he had promised. It was a mournful march | ||
+ | over the dead bodies of scores of their fellow soldiers; but | ||
+ | with true English courage they pressed onward, their | ||
+ | artillery doing more damage to the Americans than at | ||
+ | the first assault. It had moved along the narrow road | ||
+ | between the tongue of land and Breed’s Hill, and when | ||
+ | within a hundred yards of the rail fence, and on a line | ||
+ | with the breastworks, | ||
+ | advance of the other assailants. In the meanwhile, a | ||
+ | carcass and some hot shot were thrown from Copp’s Hill | ||
+ | into Charlestown, | ||
+ | were chiefly of wood, and in a short time nearly two hundred | ||
+ | buildings were in flames, shrouding in dense smoke | ||
+ | the heights in the rear whereon the provincials were posted. | ||
+ | Beneath this veil the British hoped to rush unobserved up | ||
+ | to the breastworks, | ||
+ | out at the point of the bayonet. At that moment a gentle | ||
+ | breeze, which appeared to the provincials like the breath | ||
+ | of a guardian angel—the first zephyr that had been felt | ||
+ | on that sultry day—came from the west and swept the | ||
+ | smoke away seaward, exposing to the full view of the | ||
+ | Americans the advancing columns of the enemy, who | ||
+ | fired as they approached, but with little execution. Colonels | ||
+ | Brener, Nixon, and Buckminster were wounded, | ||
+ | and Major Moore was killed. As before, the Americans | ||
+ | reserved their fire until the British were within the prescribed | ||
+ | distance, when they poured forth their leaden hail | ||
+ | with such sure aim and terrible effect that whole ranks of | ||
+ | officers and men were slain. General Howe was at the | ||
+ | head, and once he was left entirely alone, his aids and all | ||
+ | about him having perished. The British line recoiled, and | ||
+ | gave way in several parts, and it required the utmost | ||
+ | exertion in all the remaining officers, from the generals | ||
+ | down to the subalterns, to repair the disorder which this< | ||
+ | hot and unexpected fire had produced. All their efforts | ||
+ | were at first fruitless, and the troops retreated in great | ||
+ | disorder to the shore.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle with mortified pride, seeing the regulars repulsed a | ||
+ | second time, crossed over in a boat, followed by a small | ||
+ | reinforcement, | ||
+ | Some of the British officers remonstrated against leading | ||
+ | the men a third time to certain destruction; | ||
+ | who had ridiculed American valor, and boasted loudly of | ||
+ | British invincibility, | ||
+ | incautious loudness of speech of a provincial, during the | ||
+ | second attack, declaring that the ammunition was nearly | ||
+ | exhausted, gave the enemy encouraging and important | ||
+ | information. Howe immediately rallied his troops and | ||
+ | formed them for a third attack, but in a different way. | ||
+ | The weakness of the point between the breastwork and the | ||
+ | rail fence had been discovered by Howe, and thitherward | ||
+ | he determined to lead the left wing with the artillery, while | ||
+ | a show of attack should be made at the rail fence on the | ||
+ | other side. His men were ordered to stand the fire of the | ||
+ | provincials, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>So long were the enemy making preparations for a third | ||
+ | attack that the provincials began to imagine that the | ||
+ | second repulse was to be final. They had time to refresh | ||
+ | themselves a little and recover from that complete exhaustion | ||
+ | which the labor of the day had produced. It was | ||
+ | too true that their ammunition was almost exhausted, | ||
+ | and, being obliged to rely upon that for defence, as comparatively | ||
+ | few of the muskets were furnished with bayonets, | ||
+ | they began to despair. The few remaining cartridges | ||
+ | within the redoubt were distributed by Prescott, and those | ||
+ | soldiers who were destitute of bayonets resolved to club | ||
+ | their arms and use the breeches of their guns when their | ||
+ | powder should be gone. The loose stones in the redoubt | ||
+ | were collected for use as missiles if necessary, and all resolved | ||
+ | to fight as long as a ray of hope appeared.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | During this preparation on Breed’s Hill, all was confusion | ||
+ | elsewhere. General Ward was at Cambridge, without | ||
+ | sufficient staff-officers to convey his orders. Henry | ||
+ | (afterward General) Knox was in the reconnoitring service, | ||
+ | as a volunteer, during the day, and upon his reports Ward | ||
+ | issued his orders. Late in the afternoon, the commanding | ||
+ | general despatched his own, with Paterson and Gardner’s | ||
+ | regiments, to the field of action; but to the raw recruits | ||
+ | the aspect of the narrow Neck was terrible, swept as it | ||
+ | was by the British cannon. Colonel Gardner succeeded in | ||
+ | leading three hundred men to Bunker Hill, where Putnam | ||
+ | set them intrenching, | ||
+ | Gardner was advancing boldly at their head, when a | ||
+ | musket-ball entered his groin and wounded him mortally. | ||
+ | His men were thrown into confusion, and very few of them | ||
+ | engaged in the combat that followed, until the retreat | ||
+ | commenced. Other regiments failed to reach the lines. | ||
+ | A part of Gerrish’s regiment, led by Adjutant Christian | ||
+ | Febiger, a Danish officer, who afterward accompanied | ||
+ | Arnold to Quebec and was distinguished at Stony Point, | ||
+ | reached the lines just as the action commenced, and | ||
+ | effectually galled the British left wing. Putnam, in the | ||
+ | mean time, was using his utmost exertions to form the | ||
+ | confused troops on Bunker Hill and get fresh corps with | ||
+ | bayonets across the Neck.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Hill as the enemy advanced. The artillery of the British | ||
+ | swept the interior of the breastwork from end to end, | ||
+ | destroying many of the provincials, | ||
+ | Lieutenant Prescott, a nephew of the colonel commanding. | ||
+ | The remainder were driven within the redoubt, and | ||
+ | the breastwork was abandoned. Each shot of the provincials | ||
+ | was true to its aim, and Colonel Abercrombie | ||
+ | and Majors Williams and Speedlove fell. Howe was | ||
+ | wounded in the foot, but continued fighting at the head | ||
+ | of his men. His boats were at Boston, and retreat he | ||
+ | could not. His troops pressed forward to the redoubt,< | ||
+ | now nearly silent, for the provincials’ last grains of powder | ||
+ | were in their guns. Only a ridge of earth separated the | ||
+ | combatants, and the assailants scaled it. The first that | ||
+ | reached the parapet were repulsed by a shower of stones. | ||
+ | Major Pitcairn, who led the troops at Lexington, ascending | ||
+ | the parapet, cried out, “Now for the glory of the | ||
+ | marines!” and was immediately shot by a negro soldier. | ||
+ | Again numbers of the enemy leaped upon the parapet, | ||
+ | while others assailed the redoubt on three sides. Hand | ||
+ | to hand the belligerents struggled, and the gun-stocks of | ||
+ | many of the provincials were shivered to pieces by the | ||
+ | heavy blows they were made to give. The enemy poured | ||
+ | into the redoubt in such numbers that Prescott, perceiving | ||
+ | the folly of longer resistance, ordered a retreat. Through | ||
+ | the enemy’s ranks the Americans hewed their way, many | ||
+ | of them walking backward and dealing deadly blows with | ||
+ | their musket-stocks. Prescott and Warren were the last | ||
+ | to leave the redoubt. Colonel Gridley, the engineer, was | ||
+ | wounded, and borne off safely. Prescott received several | ||
+ | thrusts from bayonets and rapiers in his clothing, but | ||
+ | escaped unhurt. Warren was the last man that left the | ||
+ | works. He was a short distance from the redoubt, on his | ||
+ | way toward Bunker Hill, when a musket-ball passed | ||
+ | through his head, killing him instantly. He was left on | ||
+ | the field, for all were flying in the greatest confusion, pursued | ||
+ | by the victors, who remorselessly bayoneted those who | ||
+ | fell in their way.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Hill, and, pressing forward with three companies of Ward’s, | ||
+ | and Febiger’s party from Gerrish’s regiment, poured a destructive | ||
+ | fire upon the enemy between Breed’s and Bunker | ||
+ | Hill, and bravely covered the retreat from the redoubt. | ||
+ | The Americans at the rail fence, under Stark, Reed, and | ||
+ | Knowlton, reinforced by Clark, Coit, and Chester’s Connecticut | ||
+ | companies and a few other troops, maintained | ||
+ | their ground, in the meanwhile, with great firmness, and | ||
+ | successfully resisted every attempt of the enemy to turn< | ||
+ | their flank. This service was very valuable, for it saved | ||
+ | the main body, retreating from the redoubt, from being | ||
+ | cut off. But when these saw their brethren, with the | ||
+ | chief commander, flying before the enemy, they too fled. | ||
+ | Putnam used every exertion to keep them firm. He | ||
+ | commanded, pleaded, cursed and swore like a madman, | ||
+ | and was seen at every point in the van trying to rally the | ||
+ | scattered corps, swearing that victory should crown the | ||
+ | Americans. “Make a stand here!” he exclaimed; “we | ||
+ | can stop them yet! In God s name, fire and give them | ||
+ | one shot more!” The gallant old Pomeroy, also, with his | ||
+ | shattered musket in his hand, implored them to rally, but | ||
+ | in vain. The whole body retreated across the Neck, where | ||
+ | the fire from the < | ||
+ | They left five of their six field-pieces and all their intrenching | ||
+ | tools upon Bunker Hill, and they retreated to | ||
+ | Winter Hill, Prospect Hill, and to Cambridge. The British, | ||
+ | greatly exhausted, and properly cautious, did not | ||
+ | follow, but contented themselves with taking possession | ||
+ | of the peninsula. Clinton advised an immediate attack | ||
+ | upon Cambridge, but Howe was too cautious or too timid | ||
+ | to make the attempt. His troops lay upon their arms | ||
+ | all night on Bunker Hill, and the Americans did the same | ||
+ | on Prospect Hill, a mile distant. Two British field-pieces | ||
+ | played upon them, but without effect, and, both sides feeling | ||
+ | unwilling to renew the action, hostilities ceased. The | ||
+ | loss of the Americans in this engagement was one hundred | ||
+ | and fifteen killed and missing, three hundred and five | ||
+ | wounded, and thirty who were taken prisoners; in all, four | ||
+ | hundred and fifty. The British loss is not positively known. | ||
+ | Gage reported two hundred and twenty-six killed, and | ||
+ | eight hundred and twenty-eight wounded; in all, ten | ||
+ | hundred and fifty-four. In this number are included | ||
+ | eighty-nine officers. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | from the best information they could obtain, reported | ||
+ | the British loss at about fifteen hundred. The | ||
+ | number of buildings consumed in Charlestown, | ||
+ | midnight, was about four hundred; and the estimated | ||
+ | loss of property (most of the families, with their effects, | ||
+ | having moved out) was nearly six hundred thousand | ||
+ | dollars.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | writers and eye-witnesses represent it as one | ||
+ | of the most determined and severe on record. There was | ||
+ | absolutely no victory in the case. The most indomitable | ||
+ | courage was displayed on both sides; and when the provincials | ||
+ | had retired but a short distance, so wearied and | ||
+ | exhausted were all that neither party desired more fighting, | ||
+ | if we except Colonel Prescott, who earnestly petitioned to | ||
+ | be allowed to lead a fresh corps that evening and retake | ||
+ | Breed’s Hill. It was a terrible day for Boston and its | ||
+ | vicinity, for almost every family had a representative in | ||
+ | one of the two armies. Fathers, husbands, sons, and | ||
+ | brothers were in the affray, and deep was the mental anguish | ||
+ | of the women of the city, who, from roofs and steeples | ||
+ | and every elevation, gazed with streaming eyes upon the | ||
+ | carnage, for the battle raged in full view of thousands of | ||
+ | interested spectators in the town and upon the adjoining | ||
+ | hills. In contrast with the terrible scene were the cloudless | ||
+ | sky and brilliant sun.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF<br /> | ||
+ | BUNKER HILL, 1775, AND THE<br /> | ||
+ | BATTLE OF SARATOGA, 1777</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Americans take Montreal. Unsuccessful assaults on | ||
+ | Quebec. Settlement of Kentucky by Daniel Boone.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at Charleston, S. C. The Continental Congress | ||
+ | adopts the Declaration of Independence. The British, | ||
+ | under Howe and Clinton, defeat the Americans, under | ||
+ | Putnam and Sullivan, in the battle of Long Island. The | ||
+ | British occupy New York. The Americans defeated at | ||
+ | White Plains. Washington surprises the Hessians at | ||
+ | Trenton.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | takes Ticonderoga. The Americans are victorious at | ||
+ | Bennington. Washington defeated by Howe in the battle | ||
+ | of the Brandywine. Battle of Stillwater. The British | ||
+ | enter Philadelphia. Repulse of Washington at Germantown. | ||
+ | Battle of Saratoga.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | the operations of the main army against Philadelphia, | ||
+ | an invasion from Canada, apprehensions of which had led | ||
+ | the Americans into their late unsuccessful attempt to conquer | ||
+ | that province. Such supplies of men or money as | ||
+ | they asked for were readily voted; but in England, as | ||
+ | well as in America, enlistments were a matter of difficulty. | ||
+ | Lord George Germaine was possessed with an idea, of | ||
+ | which Sir William Howe found it very difficult to disabuse | ||
+ | him, that recruits might be largely obtained among the | ||
+ | American loyalists. In spite, however, of all the efforts | ||
+ | of Tryon, Delancey, and Skinner, the troops of that description | ||
+ | hardly amounted as yet to twelve hundred men; | ||
+ | and Howe complained, not without reason, of the tardiness | ||
+ | of the ministers in filling up his army.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the sole command of Schuyler, had been so bare of troops | ||
+ | during the winter that serious apprehensions had been felt | ||
+ | lest Ticonderoga might be taken by a sudden movement | ||
+ | from Canada over the ice. The Northern army was still | ||
+ | very feeble; and the regiments designed to reinforce it | ||
+ | filled up so slowly, notwithstanding the offer of large additional | ||
+ | bounties, that Massachusetts, | ||
+ | New Hampshire were obliged to resort to a kind of conscription, | ||
+ | a draft of militia men to serve for twelve months | ||
+ | as substitutes till the regiments could be filled. In forming< | ||
+ | the first New England army, the enlistment of negro | ||
+ | slaves had been specially prohibited; but recruits of any | ||
+ | color were now gladly accepted, and many negroes obtained | ||
+ | their freedom by enlistment.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | recruits were principally to come, were still more behind-hand. | ||
+ | Of the men enlisted in those states, many were | ||
+ | foreign-born, | ||
+ | attachment to the cause could not fully be relied upon. | ||
+ | Congress had offered bounties in land to such Germans as | ||
+ | might desert from the British, and Howe now retorted by | ||
+ | promising rewards in money to foreigners deserting the | ||
+ | American service. Congress, as a countervailing measure, | ||
+ | at Washington’s earnest request relinquished a plan they | ||
+ | had adopted of stopping a portion of the pay of the indented | ||
+ | servants in the army as a compensation to their | ||
+ | masters for loss of service. That compensation was left | ||
+ | to be provided for at the public expense, and the enlisted | ||
+ | servants were all declared freemen.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | anxiety the movements of the British. The expected | ||
+ | reinforcements and supplies, especially tents, the want of | ||
+ | which had kept Howe from moving, had at last arrived. | ||
+ | Burgoyne had assumed the command in Canada; but what | ||
+ | his intentions were Washington did not know—whether | ||
+ | he would advance by way of Lake Champlain, or, what | ||
+ | seemed more probable, would take shipping in the St. | ||
+ | Lawrence and join Howe in New York. Nor could he tell | ||
+ | whether Howe would move up the Hudson to co-operate | ||
+ | with Burgoyne, or whether he would attempt Philadelphia; | ||
+ | and if so, whether by land or water.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of attack; and the more effectually to cover that city, | ||
+ | leaving Putnam in the Highlands with a division of Eastern | ||
+ | troops, Washington, on May 28th, moved to a piece of | ||
+ | strong ground at Middlebrook, | ||
+ | Princeton. He had with him forty-three battalions, arranged< | ||
+ | in ten brigades and five divisions; but these battalions | ||
+ | were so far from being full that the whole amounted | ||
+ | to only eight thousand men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On June 13th Howe marched out of New Brunswick | ||
+ | with a powerful army, designing apparently to force his | ||
+ | way to Philadelphia. Washington called to his aid a large | ||
+ | part of the troops in the Highlands; the New Jersey militia | ||
+ | turned out in force; Arnold, to whom had been assigned | ||
+ | the command at Philadelphia, | ||
+ | preparing defences for the Delaware. It was Howe’s real | ||
+ | object, not so much to penetrate to Philadelphia as to draw | ||
+ | Washington out of his intrenchments and to bring on a | ||
+ | general engagement, in which, upon anything like equal | ||
+ | ground, the British general felt certain of victory. With | ||
+ | that intent he made a sudden and rapid retreat, evacuated | ||
+ | New Brunswick even, and fell back to Amboy. The bait | ||
+ | seemed to take; the American van, under Stirling, descended | ||
+ | to the low grounds, and Washington moved with | ||
+ | the main body to Quibbletown. But when Howe turned | ||
+ | suddenly about and attempted to gain the passes and | ||
+ | heights on the American left, Washington, ever on the | ||
+ | alert, fell rapidly back to the strong ground at Middlebrook. | ||
+ | In this retrograde movement Stirling’s division lost a few | ||
+ | men and three pieces of artillery; but the American army | ||
+ | was soon in a position in which Howe did not choose to | ||
+ | attack it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and having made up his mind to approach Philadelphia | ||
+ | by water, the British commander, on June 30th, withdrew | ||
+ | into Staten Island, where he embarked the main body of | ||
+ | his army, not less than sixteen thousand strong, leaving | ||
+ | Clinton, who had been lately honored with the Order of | ||
+ | the Bath, to hold New York with five thousand men, and, | ||
+ | by expeditions up the Hudson and into New Jersey, to | ||
+ | co-operate as well with Burgoyne as with the attack upon | ||
+ | Philadelphia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a number in New York, that a fleet of transports was fitting | ||
+ | out there, but its destination was kept secret. Perhaps | ||
+ | Howe meant to proceed up the Hudson to co-operate | ||
+ | with Burgoyne; and the probability of such a movement | ||
+ | seemed to be increased by the arrival of news that Burgoyne | ||
+ | was advancing up Lake Champlain. Perhaps, with | ||
+ | the same object of aiding Burgoyne, Howe might make an | ||
+ | attempt upon Boston, thus finding employment at home | ||
+ | for the New England militia and preventing any reinforcements | ||
+ | to Schuyler’s army. Under these impressions, | ||
+ | Washington moved slowly toward the Hudson; but when | ||
+ | the British fleet went to sea, he retraced his steps toward | ||
+ | the Delaware; and news arriving that the ships had been | ||
+ | seen off Cape May, he advanced to Germantown. Instead | ||
+ | of entering the Delaware, the British fleet was presently | ||
+ | seen steering to the eastward, and all calculations were | ||
+ | thus again baffled. It was thought that Howe was returning | ||
+ | to New York or had sailed for New England, and | ||
+ | the army was kept ready to march at a moment’s notice. | ||
+ | Washington, in the interval, proceeded to Philadelphia and | ||
+ | there had an interview with Congress.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | good deal underrated by Washington and by Congress; | ||
+ | nor could they be induced to believe that anything was | ||
+ | intended in that quarter beyond a feigned attack upon | ||
+ | Ticonderoga, | ||
+ | Hence the less pains had been taken to fill up | ||
+ | the ranks of the Northern army, which, indeed, was much | ||
+ | weaker than Congress had supposed. At least ten thousand | ||
+ | men were necessary for the defence of Ticonderoga | ||
+ | alone; but St. Clair, who commanded there, had only | ||
+ | three thousand, very insufficiently armed and equipped. | ||
+ | The posts in the rear were equally weak.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was a part of Burgoyne’s plan not merely to take | ||
+ | Ticonderoga, | ||
+ | with the co-operation of the troops at New York, to get<span class=" | ||
+ | possession also of the posts in the Highlands. The British | ||
+ | would then command the Hudson through its whole | ||
+ | extent, and New England, the head of the rebellion, would | ||
+ | be completely cut off from the Middle and Southern | ||
+ | colonies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | army of eight thousand men, partly British and partly | ||
+ | Germans, besides a large number of Canadian boatmen, | ||
+ | laborers, and skirmishers. On the western shore of Lake | ||
+ | Champlain, near Crown Point, he met the Six Nations in | ||
+ | council, and, after a feast and a speech, some four hundred | ||
+ | of their warriors joined his army. His next step, on | ||
+ | June 29th, was to issue a proclamation, | ||
+ | style, setting forth his own and the British power, | ||
+ | painting in vivid colors the rage and fury of the Indians, | ||
+ | so difficult to be restrained, and threatening with all the | ||
+ | extremities of war all who should presume to resist his | ||
+ | arms.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | appeared before Ticonderoga. He occupied a steep | ||
+ | hill which overlooked the fort, and which the Americans | ||
+ | had neglected because they thought it inaccessible to | ||
+ | artillery. Preparations for attack were rapidly making, | ||
+ | and St. Clair saw there was no chance for his troops except | ||
+ | in instant retreat. The baggage and stores, placed | ||
+ | in bateaux, under convoy of five armed galleys, the last | ||
+ | remains of the American flotilla, were despatched, on | ||
+ | July 6th, up the narrow southern extremity of the lake | ||
+ | to Skenesborough, | ||
+ | troops retired by land, in a southeasterly direction, through | ||
+ | the New Hampshire Grants.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | followed by General Riedesel with a corps of Germans, | ||
+ | Burgoyne forced the obstructions opposite Ticonderoga, | ||
+ | and, embarking several regiments, he speedily overtook | ||
+ | the American stores and baggage, all of which fell into | ||
+ | his hands.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The garrison of Skenesborough, | ||
+ | approach, set fire to the works and retreated up Wood | ||
+ | Creek to Fort Anne, a post about half-way to the Hudson. | ||
+ | They had a sharp skirmish with a British regiment which | ||
+ | followed them; but, other troops coming up, they set fire | ||
+ | to the buildings at Fort Anne and retired to Fort Edward.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | day’s march, had reached Castleton, a distance of thirty | ||
+ | miles from Ticonderoga; | ||
+ | many stragglers, and amounted to twelve hundred men, | ||
+ | contrary to St. Clair’s express orders, stopped short at | ||
+ | Hubberton, six miles behind, where they were overtaken | ||
+ | on the morning of July 7th and attacked by Fraser. One | ||
+ | of the regiments fled disgracefully, | ||
+ | officers to be taken prisoners. The two other regiments, | ||
+ | under Francis and Warner, made a stout resistance, but | ||
+ | when Riedesel came up with his Germans they too gave | ||
+ | way. Francis was killed, and many with him; some two | ||
+ | hundred were taken prisoners. Those who escaped, though | ||
+ | dispersed for the moment, reached St. Clair in detached | ||
+ | parties. Warner, with some ninety men, came up two | ||
+ | days after the battle. This was at Rutland, to which place | ||
+ | St. Clair, having heard of the fall of Skenesborough had | ||
+ | continued his retreat. For some time his whereabouts | ||
+ | was unknown, but, after a seven days’ march, he joined | ||
+ | Schuyler at Fort Edward, on the Hudson. Here was | ||
+ | assembled the whole force of the Northern army, amounting | ||
+ | to about five thousand men; but a considerable part | ||
+ | were militia hastily called in, many were without arms, | ||
+ | there was a great deficiency of ammunition and provisions, | ||
+ | and the whole force was quite disorganized.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | an almost unbroken wilderness. Wood Creek was navigable | ||
+ | as far as Fort Anne; from Fort Anne to the Hudson, | ||
+ | over an exceedingly rough country, covered with thick | ||
+ | woods and intersected by numerous streams and morasses, | ||
+ | extended a single military road. While Burgoyne halted< | ||
+ | a few days at Skenesborough to put his forces in order | ||
+ | and to bring up the necessary supplies, Schuyler hastened | ||
+ | to destroy the navigation of Wood Creek by sinking impediments | ||
+ | in its channel, and to break up the bridges and | ||
+ | causeways, of which there were fifty or more on the road | ||
+ | from Fort Anne to Fort Edward. At all those points | ||
+ | where the construction of a side passage would be difficult | ||
+ | he ordered trees to be felled across the road with their | ||
+ | branches interlocking. All the stock in the neighborhood | ||
+ | was driven off, and the militia of New England was summoned | ||
+ | to the rescue.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the subsequent rapid disasters came like a thunderbolt on | ||
+ | Congress and the Northern States. “We shall never be | ||
+ | able to defend a post,” wrote John Adams, President of | ||
+ | the Board of War, in a private letter, “till we shoot a | ||
+ | general.” Disasters, the unavoidable result of weakness, | ||
+ | were ascribed to the incapacity or cowardice of the officers. | ||
+ | Suggestions of treachery even were whispered, and the | ||
+ | prejudices of the New-Englanders against Schuyler broke | ||
+ | out with new violence. In the anger and vexation of the | ||
+ | moment, all the Northern generals were recalled, and an | ||
+ | inquiry was ordered into their conduct; but the execution | ||
+ | of this order was suspended on the representation of | ||
+ | Washington that the Northern army could not be left | ||
+ | without officers. Washington shared the general surprise | ||
+ | and vexation, but he had confidence in Schuyler, and he | ||
+ | did all in his power to reinforce the Northern army. Two | ||
+ | brigades from the Highlands, Morgan with his rifle corps, | ||
+ | the impetuous Arnold, and Lincoln, a great favorite with | ||
+ | the Massachusetts militia, were ordered to the Northern | ||
+ | Department. Washington declined the selection of a new | ||
+ | commander tendered to him by Congress, and that selection, | ||
+ | guided by the New England members, fell upon Gates.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | convention of ten deputies from each township, to assemble | ||
+ | at Castleton, to confer with Governor Skene, and to<span class=" | ||
+ | take measures for the re-establishment of the royal authority. | ||
+ | Schuyler, in a counter-proclamation, | ||
+ | the utmost rigor of the law of treason against all who complied | ||
+ | with Burgoyne’s propositions. Subsequently to the | ||
+ | Declaration of Independence, | ||
+ | had organized themselves into an independent state, had | ||
+ | applied to Congress for admission into the Union, and had | ||
+ | adopted a constitution. A Continental regiment had been | ||
+ | raised and officered in Vermont, of which Warner had been | ||
+ | commissioned as colonel. But Congress, through the influence | ||
+ | of New York, disclaimed any intention to countenance | ||
+ | the pretensions of Vermont to independence; | ||
+ | the Vermont petition for admission into the Union had | ||
+ | been lately dismissed with some asperity. If Burgoyne, | ||
+ | however, founded any hopes of defection upon this circumstance, | ||
+ | he found himself quite mistaken.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | labor and fatigue; but, beyond breaking up the | ||
+ | roads and placing obstacles in their way, Schuyler was | ||
+ | not strong enough to annoy them. These impediments | ||
+ | were at length overcome; and Burgoyne, with his troops, | ||
+ | artillery, and baggage, presently appeared on the banks | ||
+ | of the Hudson. The British army hailed with enthusiasm | ||
+ | the sight of that river, object of their toil, which they | ||
+ | had reached on July 29th with great efforts indeed, but | ||
+ | with an uninterrupted career of success and a loss of not | ||
+ | above two hundred men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It now only remained for the British to force their way | ||
+ | to Albany; nor did it seem likely that Schuyler could | ||
+ | offer any serious resistance. His army, not yet materially | ||
+ | increased, was principally composed of militia without discipline, | ||
+ | the troops from the eastward being very little inclined | ||
+ | to serve under his orders and constantly deserting. Fort | ||
+ | Edward was untenable. As the British approached, the | ||
+ | Americans crossed the river, and retired, first to Saratoga, | ||
+ | and then to Stillwater, a short distance above the mouth | ||
+ | of the Mohawk.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Hardly had Schuyler taken up this position when news | ||
+ | arrived of another disaster and a new danger. While | ||
+ | moving up Lake Champlain, Burgoyne had detached | ||
+ | Colonel St. Leger, with two hundred regulars, Sir John | ||
+ | Johnson’s Royal Greens, some Canadian Rangers, and a | ||
+ | body of Indians under Brant, to harass the New York | ||
+ | frontier from the west. On August 3d St. Leger laid siege | ||
+ | to Fort Schuyler, late Fort Stanwix, near the head of the | ||
+ | Mohawk, then the extreme western post of the State of | ||
+ | New York. General Herkimer raised the militia of Tryon | ||
+ | County, and advanced to the relief of this important post, | ||
+ | which was held by Gansevoort and Willett, with two New | ||
+ | York regiments. About six miles from the fort, owing to | ||
+ | want of proper precaution, Herkimer, on August 6th, fell | ||
+ | into an ambush. Mortally wounded, he supported himself | ||
+ | against a stump and encouraged his men to the fight. | ||
+ | By the aid of a successful sally by Willett, they succeeded | ||
+ | at last in repulsing the assailants, but not without a loss | ||
+ | of four hundred, including many of the leading patriots of | ||
+ | that region, who met with no mercy at the hands of the | ||
+ | Indians and refugees.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Albany, abounded with Tories. It was absolutely necessary | ||
+ | to relieve Fort Schuyler, lest its surrender should be | ||
+ | the signal for a general insurrection. Arnold volunteered | ||
+ | for that service, and was despatched by Schuyler with | ||
+ | three regiments; with the rest of his army he withdrew | ||
+ | into the islands at the confluence of the Mohawk and the | ||
+ | Hudson, a more defensible station than the camp at Stillwater.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | had passed into the hands of the British. That lake | ||
+ | furnished a convenient means of transportation; | ||
+ | quantity of provisions and stores for the British army had | ||
+ | arrived at Fort George, and Burgoyne was exerting every | ||
+ | effort for their transportation to his camp on the Hudson. | ||
+ | The land carriage was only eighteen miles, but the roads< | ||
+ | were so bad and the supply of draught cattle so small that, | ||
+ | after a fortnight’s hard labor, the British army had only | ||
+ | four days’ provisions in advance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Dragoons, to complete Peter’s Corps of Loyalists, | ||
+ | and to obtain a large supply of cattle, horses, and carriages, | ||
+ | so Burgoyne expressed himself in his instructions, | ||
+ | it was resolved to send a strong detachment into the settlements | ||
+ | on the left. Colonel Baum was sent on this | ||
+ | errand, with two pieces of artillery and eight hundred | ||
+ | men, dismounted German dragoons and British marksmen, | ||
+ | with a body of Canadians and Indians, and Skene | ||
+ | and a party of Loyalists for guides.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a member of the New Hampshire council, having patriotically | ||
+ | volunteered the means to put them in motion, | ||
+ | a corps of New Hampshire militia, called out upon news | ||
+ | of the loss of Ticonderoga, | ||
+ | under the command of Stark. Disgusted at not | ||
+ | having been made a brigadier, Stark had resigned his | ||
+ | Continental commission as colonel, and, in agreeing to | ||
+ | take the leadership of the militia, had expressly stipulated | ||
+ | for an independent command. On that ground he had | ||
+ | just declined to obey an order from Lincoln to join the | ||
+ | main army—a piece of insubordination which might have | ||
+ | proved fatal, but which, in the present case, turned out | ||
+ | otherwise. Informed of Baum’s approach, Stark sent off | ||
+ | expresses for militia and for Warner’s regiment, encamped | ||
+ | at Manchester, and joined by many fugitives since the | ||
+ | battle of Hubberton. Six miles from Bennington, on the | ||
+ | appearance of Stark’s forces (August 14th), Baum began to | ||
+ | intrench himself, and sent back to Burgoyne for reinforcements. | ||
+ | The next day was rainy, and Stark, also expecting | ||
+ | reinforcements, | ||
+ | the interval in throwing up intrenchments. Breyman | ||
+ | marched to his assistance, but was delayed by the rain and | ||
+ | the badness of the roads, which also kept back Warner’s< | ||
+ | regiment. Having been joined on August 16th by some | ||
+ | Berkshire militia under Colonel Simmons, Stark drew out | ||
+ | his forces, and about noon approached the enemy. “There | ||
+ | they are!” exclaimed the rustic general—“we beat to-day, | ||
+ | or Molly Stark’s a widow!” The assault was made in | ||
+ | four columns, in front and rear at the same time, and after | ||
+ | a hot action of two hours the intrenchments were carried. | ||
+ | The Indians and provincials escaped to the woods; the | ||
+ | Germans were mostly taken or slain. The battle was | ||
+ | hardly over, and Stark’s men were in a good deal of confusion, | ||
+ | when, about four in the afternoon, Breyman was | ||
+ | seen coming up. Warner’s regiment luckily arrived at | ||
+ | the same time. The battle was renewed and kept up till | ||
+ | dark, when Breyman abandoned his baggage and artillery, | ||
+ | and made the best retreat he could. Besides the killed, | ||
+ | about two hundred in number, the Americans took near | ||
+ | six hundred prisoners, a thousand stand of arms, as many | ||
+ | swords, and four pieces of artillery—a seasonable supply | ||
+ | for the militia now flocking in from all quarters. The | ||
+ | American loss was only fourteen killed and forty-two | ||
+ | wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Northern Department became fully apparent, the two brigades | ||
+ | from the Highlands having arrived, and the militia | ||
+ | fast pouring in, Schuyler, much to his mortification, | ||
+ | superseded by Gates on August 22d. He still remained, | ||
+ | however, at Albany, and gave his assistance toward carrying | ||
+ | on the campaign. The day after Gates assumed the | ||
+ | command, Morgan arrived with his rifle corps, five hundred | ||
+ | strong, to which were presently added two hundred and | ||
+ | fifty picked men under Major Dearborn, of Scammell’s | ||
+ | New Hampshire regiment.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | spirits of the people and the courage of the soldiers. Indignation | ||
+ | was also aroused by the cruelties reported of | ||
+ | Burgoyne’s Indian allies. A most pathetic story was | ||
+ | told of one Jenny McRea, murdered by Indians near Fort< | ||
+ | Edward. Her family were Loyalists; she herself was | ||
+ | engaged to be married to a Loyalist officer. She was | ||
+ | dressed to receive her lover, when a party of Indians burst | ||
+ | into the house, carried off the whole family to the woods, | ||
+ | and there murdered, scalped, and mangled them in the | ||
+ | most horrible manner. Such, at least, was the story as | ||
+ | told in a letter of remonstrance from Gates to Burgoyne. | ||
+ | Burgoyne, in his reply, gave, however, a different account. | ||
+ | According to his version, the murder was committed by | ||
+ | two Indians sent by the young lady’s lover to conduct her | ||
+ | for safety to the British camp. They quarrelled on the | ||
+ | way respecting the division of the promised reward, and | ||
+ | settled the dispute by killing the girl. Even this correction | ||
+ | hardly lessened the effect of the story or diminished | ||
+ | the detestation so naturally felt at the employment of such | ||
+ | barbarous allies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Fort Schuyler, had sent into St. Leger’s camp a very | ||
+ | exaggerated account of his numbers. The Indians, who | ||
+ | had suffered severely in the battle with Herkimer, and | ||
+ | who had glutted their vengeance by the murder of prisoners, | ||
+ | seized with a sudden panic, deserted in large numbers. | ||
+ | On August 22d, two days before Arnold’s arrival, | ||
+ | St. Leger himself precipitately retired, leaving his tents | ||
+ | standing and the greater part of his stores and baggage | ||
+ | to fall into Arnold’s hands. On returning to Gates’ camp, | ||
+ | Arnold received the command of the left wing.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Nations. Burgoyne’s Indians began to desert him—an | ||
+ | example which the Canadians soon followed. The Onondagas | ||
+ | and some of the Mohawks joined the Americans. | ||
+ | Through the influence of the missionary Kirkland, the | ||
+ | Oneidas had all along been favorably disposed. It was | ||
+ | only the more western clans, the Cayugas, Tuscaroras, | ||
+ | and Senecas, which adhered firmly during the war to the | ||
+ | British side.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | strong, besides detached parties of militia under General | ||
+ | Lincoln, which hung upon the British rear, Gates left his | ||
+ | island camp, and presently occupied Behmus’ Heights, | ||
+ | a spur from the hills on the west side of the Hudson, jutting | ||
+ | close upon the river. By untiring efforts, Burgoyne | ||
+ | had brought forward thirty days’ provisions, and, having | ||
+ | thrown a bridge of boats over the Hudson, he crossed to | ||
+ | Saratoga. With advanced parties in front to repair the | ||
+ | roads and bridges, his army slowly descended the Hudson—the | ||
+ | Germans on the left, by a road close along the | ||
+ | river; the British, covered by light infantry, provincials, | ||
+ | and Indians, by the high ground on the right.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a segment of a circle, convex toward the enemy. A deep | ||
+ | intrenchment extended to the river on the right, covered | ||
+ | not only by strong batteries, but by an abrupt and thickly | ||
+ | wooded ravine descending to the river. From the head | ||
+ | of this ravine, toward the left, the ground was level and | ||
+ | partially cleared, some trees being felled and others girdled. | ||
+ | The defences here consisted of a breastwork of logs. On | ||
+ | the extreme left, a distance of three-quarters of a mile from | ||
+ | the river, was a knoll, a little in the rear, crowned by | ||
+ | strong batteries, and there was another battery to the left | ||
+ | of the centre. Between the two armies were two more | ||
+ | deep ravines, both wooded. An alarm being given about | ||
+ | noon of September 19th that the enemy was approaching | ||
+ | the left of the encampment, Morgan was sent forward with | ||
+ | his riflemen. Having forced a picket, his men, in the | ||
+ | ardor of pursuit, fell unexpectedly upon a strong British | ||
+ | column, and were thrown into temporary confusion. | ||
+ | Cilley’s and Scammell’s New Hampshire regiments were | ||
+ | ordered out to reinforce him. Hale’s regiment of New | ||
+ | Hampshire, Van Courtlandt’s and Henry Livingston’s of | ||
+ | New York, and two regiments of Connecticut militia were | ||
+ | successively led to the field, with orders to extend to the | ||
+ | left and support the points where they perceived the<span class=" | ||
+ | greatest pressure. About three o’clock the action became | ||
+ | general, and till nightfall the fire of musketry was incessant. | ||
+ | The British had four field-pieces; | ||
+ | by the Americans, a thick wood on the borders of | ||
+ | an open field, did not admit the use of artillery. On the | ||
+ | opposite side of this field, on a rising ground, in a thin | ||
+ | pine wood, the British troops were drawn up. Whenever | ||
+ | they advanced into the open field, the fire of the American | ||
+ | marksmen drove them back in disorder; but when the | ||
+ | Americans followed into the open ground the British | ||
+ | would rally, charge, and force them to fall back. The | ||
+ | field was thus lost and won a dozen times in the course of | ||
+ | the day. At every charge the British artillery fell into | ||
+ | possession of the Americans, but the ground would not | ||
+ | allow them to carry off the pieces, nor could they be kept | ||
+ | long enough to be turned on the enemy. Late in the | ||
+ | afternoon, the British left being reinforced from the German | ||
+ | column, General Learned was ordered out with four | ||
+ | regiments of Massachusetts and another of New York. | ||
+ | Something decisive might now have occurred, but the | ||
+ | approach of night broke off the contest, and the Americans | ||
+ | withdrew to their camp, leaving the field in possession of | ||
+ | the British. They encamped upon it, and claimed the | ||
+ | victory; but, if not a drawn battle, it was one of those | ||
+ | victories equivalent to a defeat. The British loss was upward | ||
+ | of five hundred, the American less than three hundred. | ||
+ | To have held their ground in the circumstances in | ||
+ | which the armies stood was justly esteemed by the Americans | ||
+ | a decided triumph.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In anticipation of an action, Gates had ordered the | ||
+ | detached corps to join him. Stark, with the victors of | ||
+ | Bennington, had arrived in camp the day before. Their | ||
+ | term of service, however, expired that day; and satisfied | ||
+ | with laurels already won, in spite of all attempts to detain | ||
+ | them, they marched off the very morning of the battle. | ||
+ | In consideration of his courage and good conduct at | ||
+ | Bennington, Congress overlooked the insubordination of<span class=" | ||
+ | Stark, which, in a resolution just before, they had pointedly | ||
+ | condemned, and he was presently elected a brigadier. | ||
+ | Howe and McDougall about the same time were chosen | ||
+ | major-generals.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | party of Lincoln’s militia, led by Colonel Brown, had | ||
+ | surprised the posts at the outlet of Lake George on September | ||
+ | 17th, and had taken three hundred prisoners, also | ||
+ | several armed vessels and a fleet of bateaux employed in | ||
+ | transporting provisions up the lake. Uniting with another | ||
+ | party under Colonel Johnson, they approached Ticonderoga | ||
+ | and beleaguered it for four days. Burgoyne’s | ||
+ | communications thus entirely cut off, his situation became | ||
+ | very alarming, and he began to intrench. His difficulties increased | ||
+ | every moment. Provisions were diminishing, | ||
+ | was exhausted, the horses were perishing. To retreat with | ||
+ | the enemy in his rear was as difficult as to advance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A change of circumstances not less remarkable had | ||
+ | taken place in the American camp. Gates’ army was increasing | ||
+ | every day. The battle of Behmus’ Heights was | ||
+ | sounded through the country as a great victory, and, the | ||
+ | harvest being now over, the militia marched in from all | ||
+ | sides to complete the overthrow of the invaders. Lincoln, | ||
+ | with the greater part of his militia, having joined the army | ||
+ | on September 22d, he received the command of the right | ||
+ | wing. Arnold, on some quarrel or jealousy on the part | ||
+ | of Gates, had been deprived, since the late battle, of his | ||
+ | command of the left wing, which Gates assumed in person. | ||
+ | Gates was neither more able nor more trustworthy than | ||
+ | Schuyler; but the soldiers believed him so, and zeal, | ||
+ | alacrity, and obedience had succeeded to doubts, distrust, | ||
+ | and insubordination. Yet Gates was not without his difficulties. | ||
+ | The supply of ammunition was very short, and | ||
+ | the late change in the commissariat department, taking | ||
+ | place in the midst of the campaign, made the feeding of | ||
+ | the troops a matter of no little anxiety.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | cipher, brought by a trusty messenger from Clinton, at | ||
+ | New York, informed him of an intended diversion up the | ||
+ | Hudson; and, could he maintain his present position, he | ||
+ | might yet be relieved. But his troops, on short allowance | ||
+ | of provisions, were already suffering severely, and it was | ||
+ | necessary either to retreat or to find relief in another | ||
+ | battle. To make a reconnaissance of the American lines, | ||
+ | he drew out fifteen hundred picked men on October 7th | ||
+ | and formed them less than a mile from the American | ||
+ | camp. The two camps, indeed, were hardly cannon-shot | ||
+ | apart. As soon as Burgoyne’s position was discovered | ||
+ | his left was furiously assailed by Poor’s New Hampshire | ||
+ | brigade. The attack extended rapidly to the right, where< | ||
+ | Morgan’s riflemen manœuvred to cut off the British from | ||
+ | their camp. Gates did not appear on the field any more | ||
+ | than in the former battle; but Arnold, though without any | ||
+ | regular command, took, as usual, a leading part. He | ||
+ | seemed under the impulse of some extraordinary excitement, | ||
+ | riding at full speed, issuing orders, and cheering on | ||
+ | the men. To avoid being cut off from the camp, the | ||
+ | British right was already retreating, when the left, pressed | ||
+ | and overwhelmed by superior numbers, began to give way. | ||
+ | The gallant Fraser was mortally wounded, picked off by | ||
+ | the American marksmen; six pieces of artillery were | ||
+ | abandoned; and only by the greatest efforts did the British | ||
+ | troops regain their camp. The Americans followed | ||
+ | close upon them, and, through a shower of grape and | ||
+ | musketry, assaulted the right of the British works. Arnold | ||
+ | forced an entrance; but he was wounded, his horse was | ||
+ | shot under him as he rode into one of the sally-ports, | ||
+ | his column was driven back. Colonel Brooks, at the head | ||
+ | of Jackson’s regiment of Massachusetts, | ||
+ | He turned the intrenchments of a German brigade, | ||
+ | forced them from the ground at the point of the bayonet, | ||
+ | captured their camp equipage and artillery, and, what was | ||
+ | of still more importance, and a great relief to the American | ||
+ | army, an ample supply of ammunition. The repeated | ||
+ | attempts of the British to dislodge him all failed, and he | ||
+ | remained at night in possession of the works. Darkness | ||
+ | at length put an end to the fighting; but the Americans | ||
+ | slept on their arms, prepared to renew it the next morning. | ||
+ | The advantages they had gained were decisive. The | ||
+ | British had lost four hundred men in killed, wounded, and | ||
+ | prisoners; artillery, ammunition, and tents had been captured; | ||
+ | and the possession of a part of the works by the | ||
+ | Americans would enable them to renew the attack the | ||
+ | next day with every chance of success. For the safety | ||
+ | of the British army a change of position was indispensable; | ||
+ | and, while the Americans slept, the British general, with | ||
+ | skill and intrepidity, | ||
+ | troops to some high grounds in the rear, where | ||
+ | the British army appeared the next morning (October 8th) | ||
+ | drawn up in order of battle. That day was spent in skirmishes. | ||
+ | While attempting to reconnoitre, | ||
+ | was severely wounded and disabled from further service. | ||
+ | Fraser was buried on a hill he had designated, amid | ||
+ | showers of balls from the American lines. The Baroness | ||
+ | de Riedesel, who followed the camp with her young children, | ||
+ | and whose quarters were turned into a sort of hospital | ||
+ | for the wounded officers, has left a pathetic account | ||
+ | of the horrors of that day and of the retreat that followed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>To avoid being surrounded, Burgoyne was obliged to abandon | ||
+ | his new position, and, with the loss of his hospitals | ||
+ | and numerous sick and wounded, to fall back to Saratoga | ||
+ | on October 9th. The distance was only six miles; | ||
+ | but the rain fell in torrents, the roads were almost impassable, | ||
+ | the bridge over the Fishkill had been broken down by | ||
+ | the Americans, and this retrograde movement consumed | ||
+ | an entire day. The same obstacles prevented, however, | ||
+ | any serious annoyance from the American troops. During | ||
+ | this retreat, the better to cover the movements of the | ||
+ | army, General Schuyler’s house at Saratoga and extensive | ||
+ | saw-mills were set on fire and destroyed. A body | ||
+ | of artificers, sent forward under a strong escort to repair | ||
+ | the bridge toward Fort Edward, found that road and the | ||
+ | ford across the Hudson already occupied by the Americans. | ||
+ | The fleet of bateaux, loaded with the British supplies | ||
+ | and provisions, was assailed from the left bank of | ||
+ | the river, and many of the boats were taken. The lading | ||
+ | of the others was only saved by a most laborious and difficult | ||
+ | transportation, | ||
+ | steep river-bank to the heights occupied by the British | ||
+ | army. Even the camp itself was not safe; grape and | ||
+ | rifle balls fell in the midst of it.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | heard nothing further from New York, and his effective | ||
+ | force was now reduced to four thousand men, surrounded< | ||
+ | by an enemy three times as numerous, flushed with success, | ||
+ | and rapidly increasing. All the fords and passes | ||
+ | toward Lake George were occupied and covered by intrenchments, | ||
+ | and, even should the baggage and artillery | ||
+ | be abandoned, there was no hope of forcing a passage. | ||
+ | An account of the provisions on hand (October 13th) | ||
+ | showed only three days’ supply. The troops, exhausted | ||
+ | with hunger and fatigue, and conscious of their hopeless | ||
+ | situation, could not be depended on, especially should the | ||
+ | camp be attacked. A council of war, to which not field | ||
+ | officers only, but all the captains commandant were summoned, | ||
+ | advised to open a treaty of capitulation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | but to that Burgoyne would not submit. The American | ||
+ | commander was the less precise about terms, and very | ||
+ | eager to hasten matters, lest he too might be attacked in the | ||
+ | rear. He knew, though Burgoyne did not, that the intended | ||
+ | diversion from New York, delayed for some time | ||
+ | to await the arrival of forces from Europe, had at length | ||
+ | been successfully made, and that all the American posts | ||
+ | in the Highlands had fallen into the hands of the British. | ||
+ | Should Burgoyne continue to hold out, this new enemy | ||
+ | might even make a push on Albany.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Montgomery, on the west bank of the Hudson, separated | ||
+ | from each other by a small stream, and too high to be battered | ||
+ | from the water, were surrounded by steep and rugged | ||
+ | hills which made the approach to them on the land side | ||
+ | very difficult. To stop the ascent of the enemy’s ships, | ||
+ | frames of timber, with projecting beams shod with iron, | ||
+ | had been sunk in the channel. A boom, formed of great | ||
+ | trees fastened together, extended from bank to bank, | ||
+ | and in front of this boom was stretched a huge iron chain. | ||
+ | Above these impediments several armed vessels were | ||
+ | moored. On an island a few miles higher up, and near | ||
+ | the eastern bank of the river, was Fort Constitution, | ||
+ | another boom and chain. Near the entrance of the Highlands,< | ||
+ | and below the other posts, Fort Independence | ||
+ | occupied a high point of land on the east bank of the river. | ||
+ | It was at Peekskill, just below Fort Independence, | ||
+ | commanding officer in the Highlands usually had his | ||
+ | headquarters. The two brigades sent to the Northern | ||
+ | army, and other detachments which Washington had himself | ||
+ | been obliged to draw from the Highlands, had so | ||
+ | weakened the regular garrison that Washington became | ||
+ | much alarmed for the safety of that important post. The | ||
+ | remainder of the New York militia, not under arms in the | ||
+ | Northern Department, had been called out by Governor | ||
+ | Clinton to supply the place of the detached regulars; | ||
+ | other militia had been sent from Connecticut; | ||
+ | signs of immediate attack appeared, and as the harvest | ||
+ | demanded their services at home, Putnam allowed most of | ||
+ | them to return. Half the New York militia were ordered | ||
+ | back again by Clinton, but before they had mustered the | ||
+ | posts were lost. Putnam was at Peekskill with the main | ||
+ | body of the garrison, which amounted in the whole to not | ||
+ | more than two thousand men. While a party of the | ||
+ | enemy amused him with the idea that Fort Independence | ||
+ | was their object, a stronger party landed lower down, on | ||
+ | the other side of the river, and, pushing inland through | ||
+ | the defiles of the Highlands, approached Forts Clinton and | ||
+ | Montgomery, of which the entire garrison did not exceed | ||
+ | six hundred men. Before assistance could be sent by | ||
+ | Putnam—indeed, | ||
+ | much too extensive to be defended by so small a force, | ||
+ | were both taken on October 5th. Governor Clinton, who | ||
+ | commanded, his brother, General James Clinton, and a | ||
+ | part of the garrison availed themselves of the knowledge of | ||
+ | the ground and escaped across the river, but the Americans | ||
+ | suffered a loss of two hundred and fifty in killed and prisoners. | ||
+ | Fort Constitution was immediately evacuated by | ||
+ | the few troops that held it, and two new Continental | ||
+ | frigates, with some other vessels, were set on fire to prevent | ||
+ | their falling into the hands of the enemy. Even< | ||
+ | Peekskill and Fort Independence were abandoned, the | ||
+ | stores being conveyed to Fishkill, whither Putnam retired | ||
+ | with his forces. The booms and chains were removed, | ||
+ | so that ships could pass up; and a British detachment | ||
+ | under Tryon burned Continental Village, a new settlement | ||
+ | on the east side of the river, where many public stores | ||
+ | were deposited.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Informed of these movements, and very anxious to | ||
+ | have Burgoyne’s army out of the way, Gates agreed, on | ||
+ | October 16th, that the British troops should march out | ||
+ | of their camp with the honors of war, should lay down | ||
+ | their arms, and be conducted to Boston, there to embark | ||
+ | for England, under an engagement not to serve against | ||
+ | the United States till exchanged. Having heard from a | ||
+ | deserter of the advance of Clinton, Burgoyne hesitated to | ||
+ | ratify the treaty; but, on consideration and consultation | ||
+ | with his officers, he did not choose to run the risk of breaking | ||
+ | it. The prisoners included in this capitulation were five | ||
+ | thousand six hundred and forty-two; the previous losses | ||
+ | of the army amounted to near four thousand more. The | ||
+ | arms, artillery, baggage, and camp equipage became the | ||
+ | property of the captors. The German regiments contrived | ||
+ | to save their colors by cutting them from the | ||
+ | staves, rolling them up, and packing them away with | ||
+ | Madame de Riedesel’s baggage.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as the garrison of Ticonderoga heard of the | ||
+ | surrender, they hastily destroyed what they could and | ||
+ | retired to Canada. Putnam no sooner heard of it than | ||
+ | he sent pressing despatches for assistance. The British | ||
+ | had proceeded as high up as Esopus, which they burned | ||
+ | about the very time that Burgoyne was capitulating. | ||
+ | Putnam had been already joined by some three thousand | ||
+ | militia, to which a large detachment from Gates’ army | ||
+ | was soon added. As it was now too late to succor Burgoyne, | ||
+ | having dismantled the forts in the Highlands, the | ||
+ | British returned to New York, carrying with them sixty-seven | ||
+ | pieces of heavy artillery and a large quantity of | ||
+ | provisions and ammunition. Before their departure they | ||
+ | burned every house within their reach—a piece of malice | ||
+ | ascribed to Tryon and his Tories.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of so much terror, produced, especially in New England, | ||
+ | an exultation proportionate to the recent alarm. The | ||
+ | military reputation of Gates, elevated to a very high | ||
+ | pitch, rivalled even the fame of Washington, dimmed as | ||
+ | it was by the loss of Philadelphia, | ||
+ | fallen into the enemy’s hands. The youthful Wilkinson, | ||
+ | who had acted during the campaign as deputy adjutant-general | ||
+ | of the American army, and whose < | ||
+ | the best account of its movements, being sent to Congress | ||
+ | with news of the surrender, was henceforth honored | ||
+ | with a brevet commission as brigadier-general; | ||
+ | however, he speedily resigned when he found a remonstrance | ||
+ | against this irregular advancement sent to Congress | ||
+ | by forty-seven colonels of the line. The investigation | ||
+ | into Schuyler’s conduct resulted, a year afterward, in his | ||
+ | acquittal with the highest honor. He insisted, however, | ||
+ | on resigning his commission, though strongly urged by | ||
+ | Congress to retain it. But he did not relinquish the service | ||
+ | of his country, in which he continued as active as | ||
+ | ever, being presently chosen a member of Congress.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF<br /> | ||
+ | SARATOGA, 1777, AND THE BATTLE< | ||
+ | OF YORKTOWN, 1781</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Stars and Stripes adopted. British evacuate New York. | ||
+ | British occupy Philadelphia. American winter-quarters at | ||
+ | Valley Forge, in December.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States. The British evacuate Philadelphia. The battle of<span class=" | ||
+ | Monmouth. France declares war against England. The | ||
+ | Wyoming Valley Massacre. Battle of Rhode Island. The | ||
+ | British enter Savannah. General George Rogers Clark | ||
+ | conquers the “Old Northwest.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Paul Jones, in the < | ||
+ | the British frigate < | ||
+ | of Brier Creek. Spain declares war against Great | ||
+ | Britain. Congress guaranties the Floridas to Spain if she | ||
+ | takes them from Great Britain, provided the United | ||
+ | States should have free navigation on the Mississippi.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Defeat of Gates by Cornwallis in the first battle of Camden. | ||
+ | Treason of Benedict Arnold. Capture and execution | ||
+ | of André. The British are defeated at King’s Mountain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Articles of Confederation by the several states completed. | ||
+ | Greene is defeated by Cornwallis at Guilford | ||
+ | Court-House. The British are victorious at Hobkirk’s | ||
+ | Hill (second battle of Camden). New London burned by | ||
+ | Arnold. Battle of Eutaw Springs. Washington and | ||
+ | Rochambeau, aided by the French fleet under Count de | ||
+ | Grasse, besiege Cornwallis in Yorktown. Surrender of | ||
+ | Cornwallis.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | (1781)</ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the American struggle for independence. New York remained in | ||
+ | the hands of the English. Cornwallis was confident of success in | ||
+ | the South. But Greene’s brilliant campaigning and Lafayette’s | ||
+ | strategy left Cornwallis with a wearied army devoid of any fruits | ||
+ | of victory, and, finally returning to the seaboard, he settled himself | ||
+ | at Yorktown. Washington, before New York, had watched | ||
+ | the Southern campaigns closely. Word came from the Count de | ||
+ | Grasse that the French fleet under his command was ready to | ||
+ | leave the West Indies and join in operations in Virginia. Washington | ||
+ | at once planned a new campaign, destined to prove of | ||
+ | peculiar brilliancy. He was joined by Rochambeau’s French | ||
+ | army from Newport. Clinton, the British commander in New | ||
+ | York, was tricked into believing that the city was to be closely | ||
+ | besieged. But the American and French armies, six thousand | ||
+ | strong, passed by New York in a race through Princeton and | ||
+ | Philadelphia to Chesapeake Bay, which they reached on September | ||
+ | 5th, the day that De Grasse entered with his fleet to join the | ||
+ | other French fleet which had been set free from Newport. De | ||
+ | Grasse maintained his command of Chesapeake Bay in spite of | ||
+ | the futile attack of Admiral Graves and the British fleet. If | ||
+ | Rodney, who had sailed for England, had been in Graves’ place | ||
+ | the outcome might have been different. A defeat of De Grasse | ||
+ | would have meant British control of the water and a support for | ||
+ | Cornwallis, which would have saved his army and ruined Washington’s | ||
+ | plans. Yorktown affords one of the striking illustrations | ||
+ | in Captain Mahan’s < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | at Williamsburg, | ||
+ | and on the 27th there was a besieging army there of sixteen< | ||
+ | thousand men, under the chief command of Washington, | ||
+ | assisted by Rochambeau. The British force, | ||
+ | about half as numerous, were mostly behind intrenchments | ||
+ | at Yorktown. On the arrival of Washington and Rochambeau | ||
+ | at Williamsburg, | ||
+ | De Grasse’s flag-ship, to congratulate the admiral on his | ||
+ | victory over the British admiral Graves on the 5th, which< | ||
+ | had prevented British relief of Yorktown by sea, and to | ||
+ | make specific arrangements for the future. Preparations | ||
+ | for the siege were immediately begun. The allied armies | ||
+ | marched from Williamsburg (September 28th), driving in | ||
+ | the British outposts as they approached Yorktown, and | ||
+ | taking possession of abandoned works. The allies formed | ||
+ | a semicircular line about two miles from the British intrenchments, | ||
+ | each wing resting on the York River, and on | ||
+ | the 30th the place was completely invested. The British | ||
+ | at Gloucester, opposite, were imprisoned by French dragoons | ||
+ | under the Duke de Lauzun, Virginia militia, led | ||
+ | by General Weedon, and eight hundred French marines. | ||
+ | Only once did the imprisoned troops attempt to escape | ||
+ | from that point. Tarleton’s legion sallied out, but were | ||
+ | soon driven back by De Lauzun’s cavalry, who made | ||
+ | Tarleton’s horse a prisoner and came near capturing his | ||
+ | owner.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the besieging lines before Yorktown the French troops | ||
+ | occupied the left, the West India troops of St. Simon being | ||
+ | on the extreme flank. The Americans were on the right; | ||
+ | and the French artillery, with the quarters of the two commanders, | ||
+ | occupied the centre. The American artillery, | ||
+ | commanded by General Knox, was with the right. The | ||
+ | fleet of De Grasse was in Lynn Haven Bay to beat off any | ||
+ | vessels that might attempt to relieve Cornwallis. On the | ||
+ | night of October 6th heavy ordnance was brought up from | ||
+ | the French ships, and trenches were begun at six hundred | ||
+ | yards from the British works. The first parallel was completed | ||
+ | before the morning of the 7th, under the direction | ||
+ | of General Lincoln; and on the afternoon of the 9th several | ||
+ | batteries and redoubts were finished, and a general | ||
+ | discharge of heavy guns was opened by the Americans on | ||
+ | the right. Early on the morning of the 10th the French | ||
+ | opened several batteries on the left. That evening the | ||
+ | same troops hurled red-hot balls upon British vessels in | ||
+ | the river, which caused the destruction by fire of several | ||
+ | of them—one a forty-four-gun ship.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The allies began the second parallel on the night of the | ||
+ | 11th, which the British did not discover until daylight | ||
+ | came, when they brought several heavy guns to bear upon | ||
+ | the diggers. On the 14th it was determined to storm two | ||
+ | of the redoubts which were most annoying, as they commanded | ||
+ | the trenches. One on the right, near the York | ||
+ | River, was garrisoned by forty-five men; the other, on | ||
+ | the left, was manned by about one hundred and twenty | ||
+ | men. The capture of the former was intrusted to Americans | ||
+ | led by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Hamilton, and | ||
+ | that of the latter to French grenadiers led by Count Deuxponts. | ||
+ | At a given signal Hamilton advanced in two columns—one | ||
+ | led by Major Fish, the other by Lieutenant-Colonel | ||
+ | Gimat, Lafayette’s aide, while Lieutenant-Colonel | ||
+ | John Laurens, with eighty men, proceeded to turn the redoubt | ||
+ | to intercept a retreat of the garrison. So agile | ||
+ | and furious was the assault that the redoubt was carried | ||
+ | in a few minutes, with little loss on either side. Laurens | ||
+ | was among the first to enter the redoubt and make the | ||
+ | commander, Major Campbell, a prisoner. The life of every | ||
+ | man who ceased to resist was spared.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | they lost about one hundred men in killed and wounded, | ||
+ | captured the other redoubt. Washington, with Knox and | ||
+ | some others, had watched the movements with intense | ||
+ | anxiety, and when the commander-in-chief saw both redoubts | ||
+ | in possession of his troops he turned and said to | ||
+ | Knox, “The work is done, and well done.” That night | ||
+ | both redoubts were included in the second parallel. The | ||
+ | situation of Cornwallis was now critical. He was surrounded | ||
+ | by a superior force, his works were crumbling, and | ||
+ | he saw that when the second parallel of the besiegers should | ||
+ | be completed and the cannon on their batteries mounted | ||
+ | his post at Yorktown would become untenable, and he | ||
+ | resolved to attempt an escape by abandoning the place, | ||
+ | his baggage, and his sick, cross the York River, disperse | ||
+ | the allies who environed Gloucester, and by rapid marches< | ||
+ | gain the forks of the Rappahannock and Potomac, and, | ||
+ | forcing his way by weight of numbers through Maryland | ||
+ | and Pennsylvania, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | part of the troops passed over, when a furious storm suddenly | ||
+ | arose and made any further attempts to cross too | ||
+ | hazardous to be undertaken. The troops were brought | ||
+ | back, and Cornwallis lost hope. After that the bombardment | ||
+ | of his lines was continuous, severe, and destructive, | ||
+ | and on the 17th he offered to make terms for surrender. | ||
+ | On the following day Lieutenant-Colonel de Laurens and | ||
+ | Viscount de Noailles (a kinsman of Madame Lafayette), | ||
+ | as commissioners of the allies, met Lieutenant-Colonel | ||
+ | Dundas and Major Ross, of the British army, at the house | ||
+ | of the Widow Moore to arrange terms for capitulation. | ||
+ | They were made similar to those demanded of Lincoln at | ||
+ | Charleston eighteen months before. The capitulation | ||
+ | was duly signed, October 19, 1781, and late on the afternoon | ||
+ | of the same day Cornwallis, his army, and public | ||
+ | property were surrendered to the allies.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ships of the line, and the Americans nine. The | ||
+ | Americans furnished nine thousand land troops (of whom | ||
+ | fifty-five hundred were regulars), and the French seven | ||
+ | thousand. Among the prisoners were two battalions of | ||
+ | Anspachers, amounting to ten hundred and twenty-seven | ||
+ | men, and two regiments of Hessians, numbering eight | ||
+ | hundred and seventy-five. The flag of the Anspachers | ||
+ | was given to Washington by the Congress.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | spread great joy throughout the colonies, especially at | ||
+ | Philadelphia, | ||
+ | sent Lieutenant-Colonel Tilghman to Congress with | ||
+ | the news. He rode express to Philadelphia to carry the<span class=" | ||
+ | despatches of the chief announcing the joyful event. He | ||
+ | entered the city at midnight, October 23d, and knocked | ||
+ | so violently at the door of Thomas McKean, the president | ||
+ | of Congress, that a watchman was disposed to arrest him. | ||
+ | Soon the glad tidings spread over the city. The watchman, | ||
+ | proclaiming the hour and giving the usual cry, “All’s | ||
+ | well,” added, “and Cornwallis is taken!” Thousands of | ||
+ | citizens rushed from their beds, half dressed, and filled the | ||
+ | streets. The old State-house bell, that had clearly proclaimed | ||
+ | independence, | ||
+ | Lights were seen moving in every house. The first blush | ||
+ | of morning was greeted with the booming of cannon, and | ||
+ | at an early hour the Congress assembled and with quick-beating | ||
+ | hearts heard Charles Thomson read the despatch | ||
+ | from Washington. At its conclusion it was resolved to | ||
+ | go in a body to the Lutheran church, at 2 <span class=" | ||
+ | thanks to the Almighty God for crowning the allied | ||
+ | armies of the United States and France with success.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | produce a great political effect in England. The war had | ||
+ | assumed such tremendous proportions that accumulated | ||
+ | disaster seemed to threaten the ruin of Great Britain. | ||
+ | From India came news of Hyder Ali’s temporary successes, | ||
+ | and of the presence of a strong French armament which | ||
+ | demanded that England yield every claim except to Bengal.< | ||
+ | That Warren Hastings and Sir Eyre Coote would yet | ||
+ | save the British Empire there, the politicians could not | ||
+ | foresee. Spain had already driven the British forces from | ||
+ | Florida, and in the spring of 1782 Minorca fell before her | ||
+ | repeated assaults and Gibraltar was fearfully beset. De | ||
+ | Grasse’s successes during the winter in the West Indies | ||
+ | left only Jamaica, Barbadoes, and Antigua in British hands. | ||
+ | St. Eustatius, too, was recaptured, and it was not until the | ||
+ | middle of April that Rodney regained England’s naval | ||
+ | supremacy by a famous victory near Marie-Galante.< | ||
+ | England had not a friend in Europe, and was beset at | ||
+ | home by violent agitation in Ireland, to which she was | ||
+ | obliged to yield an independent Irish Parliament.< | ||
+ | victory and the successful repulsion of the Spaniards | ||
+ | from Gibraltar, in the summer of 1782, came too late to | ||
+ | save the North ministry.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | peace envoys dragged on. Congress had instructed the | ||
+ | commissioners not to make terms without the approval | ||
+ | of the French court, but the commissioners became suspicious | ||
+ | of Vergennes, broke their instructions, | ||
+ | directly and solely with the British envoys. Boundaries, | ||
+ | fishery questions, treatment of the American loyalists, | ||
+ | and settlement of American debts to British subjects were | ||
+ | settled one after another, and, November 30, 1782, a provisional | ||
+ | treaty was signed. The definitive treaty was delayed | ||
+ | until September 3, 1783, after France and England | ||
+ | had agreed upon terms of peace.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | After Yorktown the country relapsed into indifference, | ||
+ | and Washington was left helpless to do anything to assure | ||
+ | victory. He could only wait and hope that the enemy | ||
+ | was as exhausted as America. Disorganization was seen | ||
+ | everywhere—in politics, in finance, and in the army.< | ||
+ | Peace came like a stroke of good-fortune rather than a | ||
+ | prize that was won. Congress (January 14, 1784) could | ||
+ | barely assemble a quorum to ratify the treaty.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | would mean the overthrow in England of constitutional | ||
+ | liberty. The defeat, therefore, of the king’s purpose in | ||
+ | America seemed a victory for liberalism in England as | ||
+ | well as in America. Personal government was overthrown, | ||
+ | and no British king has gained such power since. | ||
+ | The dangers to freedom of speech and of the press were | ||
+ | ended. Corruption and daring disregard of public law | ||
+ | received a great blow. The ancient course of English | ||
+ | constitutional development was resumed. England never, | ||
+ | it is true, yielded to her colonies what America had demanded | ||
+ | in 1775, but she did learn to handle the affairs | ||
+ | of her colonies with greater diplomacy, and she does not | ||
+ | allow them now to get into such an unsympathetic state.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | seemed; she was still to be the mother of nations, and | ||
+ | the English race was not weakened, though the empire was | ||
+ | broken. In political, social, and intellectual spirit England | ||
+ | and America continued to be much the same. English | ||
+ | notions of private and public law still persisted in | ||
+ | independent America. The large influence which the | ||
+ | Anglo-Saxon race had long had upon the world’s destiny | ||
+ | was not left with either America or England alone, but | ||
+ | with them both. America only continued England’s | ||
+ | “manifest destiny” in America, pushing her language, | ||
+ | modes of political and intellectual activity, and her social | ||
+ | customs westward and southward—driving back Latin | ||
+ | civilization in the same resistless way as before the Revolution.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Americans had acted together in a great crisis, and Washington’s | ||
+ | efforts in the army to banish provincial distinctions< | ||
+ | did much to create fellow-feeling which would make | ||
+ | real union possible. With laws and governments alike, | ||
+ | and the same predominant language, together with common | ||
+ | political and economic interests, future unity seemed | ||
+ | assured.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | strong foothold in America. Frederick the Great asserted | ||
+ | that the new republic could not endure, because “a republican | ||
+ | government had never been known to exist for | ||
+ | any length of time where the territory was not limited and | ||
+ | concentrated”; | ||
+ | make it a success over a region three times as great as | ||
+ | the territory for which Frederick foretold failure.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE BATTLE OF<br /> | ||
+ | YORKTOWN, 1781, AND THE<br /> | ||
+ | BATTLES ON THE LAKES,< | ||
+ | 1813 AND 1814</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States. The British evacuate Savannah and Charleston. | ||
+ | Signing of the preliminary treaty of peace with Great | ||
+ | Britain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States, France, and Spain. Great Britain acknowledges | ||
+ | the independence of the United States, restores | ||
+ | Florida and Minorca to Spain, and cedes Tobago to | ||
+ | France. Evacuation of New York by the British.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | over the navigation of the Mississippi and the boundaries | ||
+ | of the Floridas.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1787. Suppression of Shays’ Rebellion. Framing of | ||
+ | the Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia. | ||
+ | Congress undertakes the government of the Northwest | ||
+ | Territory.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States. The Continental Congress is superseded | ||
+ | by the first Congress under the Constitution. Beginning | ||
+ | of the French Revolution.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States) ratifies the Constitution. Harmar’s unsuccessful | ||
+ | expedition against the Indians of the Northwest Territory.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of St. Clair by the Miami Indians. Insurrection of the | ||
+ | blacks in Hayti against the French. Canada is divided | ||
+ | into Upper and Lower Canada.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Execution of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. | ||
+ | Napoleon Bonaparte commands the French artillery at the | ||
+ | recapture of Toulon from the English.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Miami Indians defeated by Gen. Anthony Wayne near | ||
+ | Maumee Rapids, Ohio.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Adams elected President. Bonaparte becomes the conspicuous | ||
+ | figure in European warfare.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | removed from Philadelphia to Washington. Thomas | ||
+ | Jefferson elected President. Retrocession of Louisiana | ||
+ | to France by Spain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1801. War between Tripoli and the United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | captures and burns the frigate < | ||
+ | Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804–1806. Napoleon proclaimed | ||
+ | Emperor of France.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | an American coaster off Sandy Hook. Great Britain | ||
+ | issues an “Order in Council” declaring the coast of | ||
+ | Europe from the Elbe to Brest under blockade. Napoleon | ||
+ | issues Berlin Decree. Culmination of Aaron Burr’s conspiracy | ||
+ | and his arrest.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The British man-of-war < | ||
+ | frigate < | ||
+ | British subjects. Aaron Burr tried for conspiracy and | ||
+ | treason, and acquitted. Another British “Order in | ||
+ | Council” forbids neutral nations to deal with France. | ||
+ | Napoleon’s Milan decree forbidding trade with England. | ||
+ | American Embargo Act, prohibiting foreign commerce.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | repealed. Non-intercourse Act passed, forbidding commerce | ||
+ | with Great Britain and France.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | government.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | vessels, worth with their cargoes $8, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Fight between the United States frigate < | ||
+ | and the British sloop-of-war < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States declares war against Great Britain. The | ||
+ | Americans, under Hull, invade Canada. Surrender of | ||
+ | Hull at Detroit. The < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | and the < | ||
+ | re-elected President. General Smyth makes a futile | ||
+ | attempt to invade Canada.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | (Toronto), and the British are repulsed at Sackett’s Harbor. | ||
+ | Capture of the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | the battle of Lake Erie.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Americans are victorious at Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. | ||
+ | Battle of Lake Champlain. In Europe the year was | ||
+ | chiefly notable for the entry of the Allies into Paris, the | ||
+ | abdication of Napoleon, and his withdrawal to Elba.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in which American ideals of a neutral commerce, to be unrestricted | ||
+ | except by incidents of actual war, collided with the | ||
+ | passions of two nations engaged in a death-grapple between “the | ||
+ | elephant and the whale”—the French army and the English | ||
+ | navy. The established principles of international law were set | ||
+ | aside, and fifteen hundred American merchantmen were made | ||
+ | prize under a series of iniquitous Orders in Council and Decrees. | ||
+ | American sailors were seized by British cruisers on the high seas, | ||
+ | even on a duly commissioned American man-of-war. President | ||
+ | Jefferson discovered that great nations at war are not moved by | ||
+ | ideals of permanent self-interest, | ||
+ | friendship of little powers are not trump-cards.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | moment when the snows of Russia were about to overwhelm | ||
+ | Napoleon. In the war the Americans held a talisman which | ||
+ | could sway even proud Albion: the victories of American cruisers, | ||
+ | combined with the heroism of the privateers, convinced the English | ||
+ | that, after all, David was a likely youth, whose sling might | ||
+ | disturb the peace of the nations; and they agreed, in the Peace of | ||
+ | Ghent, in 1814, to terms highly favorable to the United States. | ||
+ | From that time down to the Civil War the United States had the | ||
+ | respect of all European nations.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Americans that free institutions do not of themselves create | ||
+ | trained soldiers or efficient officers. The field of land war was | ||
+ | strewn with the dead reputations of commanding officers, and | ||
+ | the nation underwent the deep humiliation of the destruction of | ||
+ | the national capital, but the magnificent conduct of the American | ||
+ | navy on the lakes and on the ocean showed what Americans | ||
+ | could do in a disciplined service with men properly armed and | ||
+ | supplied. Upon England especially the lesson that, ship against | ||
+ | ship, the Americans were their equals as navigators and fighting-men< | ||
+ | was never lost. The naval victories, combined with the defeat | ||
+ | of the British by Jackson in the closing days of the war, left | ||
+ | on the minds of the Americans the impression of a second national | ||
+ | success.—Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, in < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | inherited from his father a fearless, high-strung disposition, | ||
+ | and early in life showed his longing for adventure. | ||
+ | The elder Perry was a seaman from the time he | ||
+ | could lift a handspike, and fought in the Revolutionary | ||
+ | days, first as a privateersman on a Boston letter-of-marque, | ||
+ | and afterward as a volunteer on board the frigate < | ||
+ | and the sloop-of-war < | ||
+ | imprisoned for eight long months in the famous Jersey | ||
+ | prison-ship, | ||
+ | disease, starvation, and hardship, and at last regained his | ||
+ | liberty. Once more he became a privateersman, | ||
+ | followed him. He was captured in the English | ||
+ | Channel, and confined for eighteen months in a British | ||
+ | prison, whence he again escaped and made his way to | ||
+ | the island of St. Thomas. From thence he sailed to | ||
+ | Charleston, South Carolina, where he arrived about the | ||
+ | time that peace was concluded. After that Perry found | ||
+ | employment in the East Indian trade until 1798, when | ||
+ | he was appointed to the command of the U.S.S. < | ||
+ | Greene</ | ||
+ | in 1783, the oldest of his children being Oliver Hazard. | ||
+ | Of the four other sons, three of them also entered the navy | ||
+ | and served with distinction.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | grew tall at an early age, and his strength was not in keeping | ||
+ | with his inches. Nevertheless, | ||
+ | in favor of taking up the sea as a profession, and in | ||
+ | April of 1799, after his father had been in command of the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | his midshipman’s warrant and joined the same ship.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | father to the West Indies; his health and strength increased | ||
+ | with the life in the open air; he showed capacity | ||
+ | and courage, and participated in the action that resulted | ||
+ | in the reduction of Jacmel in connection with the land | ||
+ | attack of the celebrated General Toussaint’s army. This | ||
+ | was the last active service of the < | ||
+ | sold and broken up, and upon the reduction of the navy | ||
+ | in 1801 the elder Perry left the service. In 1803 his son | ||
+ | returned from a cruise in the Mediterranean and was | ||
+ | promoted to an acting lieutenancy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In our naval history of this time the recurrence of | ||
+ | various names, and the references made over and over | ||
+ | again to the same actions and occurrences, | ||
+ | when we think of the small number of vessels | ||
+ | the United States possessed and the surprisingly few officers | ||
+ | on the pay-rolls. The high feeling of <i xml: | ||
+ | that existed among them came from the fact that they each | ||
+ | had a chance to prove their courage and fidelity. There | ||
+ | was a high standard set for them to reach.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | luckily for us, graduated so many fine officers and sailors—that | ||
+ | of the Tripolitan war. After he returned to America, | ||
+ | at the conclusion of peace with Tripoli, he served in | ||
+ | various capacities along the coast, proving himself an | ||
+ | efficient leader upon more than one occasion. The first | ||
+ | service upon which the young officer was employed after | ||
+ | the commencement of the war with England was taking | ||
+ | charge of a flotilla of gunboats stationed at Newport.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As this service was neither arduous nor calculated to | ||
+ | bring chances for active employment in the way of fighting, | ||
+ | time hung on his hands, and Perry chafed greatly | ||
+ | under his enforced retirement. At last he petitioned the | ||
+ | government to place him in active service, stating plainly | ||
+ | his desire to be attached to the naval forces that were then | ||
+ | gathering under the command of Commodore Chauncey | ||
+ | on the lakes. His request was granted, to his great joy, | ||
+ | and he set out with all despatch.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | It was at an early period of the war that the government | ||
+ | had seen the immense importance of gaining the | ||
+ | command of the western lakes, and in October of 1812 | ||
+ | Commodore Chauncey had been ordered to take seven | ||
+ | hundred seamen and one hundred and fifty marines and | ||
+ | proceed by forced marches to Lake Ontario. There had | ||
+ | been sent ahead of him a large number of ship-builders | ||
+ | and carpenters, and great activity was displayed in building | ||
+ | and outfitting a fleet which might give to the United | ||
+ | States the possession of Lake Ontario. There was no | ||
+ | great opposition made to the American arms by the British | ||
+ | on this lake, but the unfortunate surrender of General | ||
+ | Hull had placed the English in undisputed possession of | ||
+ | Lake Erie.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In March, 1813, Captain Perry having been despatched | ||
+ | to the port of Erie, arrived there to find a fleet of ten | ||
+ | sail being prepared to take the waters against the British | ||
+ | fleet under Commodore Barclay—an old and experienced | ||
+ | leader, a hero of the days of Nelson and the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | place in October of the previous year. Two British vessels, | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | anchored under the guns of the British Fort Erie on the | ||
+ | Canadian side. At that time Lieutenant Elliott was superintending | ||
+ | the naval affairs on Lake Erie, and, the news | ||
+ | having been brought to him of the arrival of the English | ||
+ | vessels on the opposite side, he immediately determined | ||
+ | to make a night attack and cut them out. For a long | ||
+ | time a body of seamen had been tramping their toilsome | ||
+ | march from the Hudson River to the lakes, and Elliott, | ||
+ | hearing that they were but some thirty miles away, despatched | ||
+ | a messenger to hasten them forward; at the | ||
+ | same time he began to prepare two small boats for the | ||
+ | expedition. About twelve o’clock the wearied seamen, | ||
+ | footsore and hungry, arrived, and then it was discovered | ||
+ | that in the whole draft there were but twenty pistols, and | ||
+ | no cutlasses, pikes, or battle-axes. But Elliott was not<span class=" | ||
+ | dismayed. Applying to General Smyth, who was in command | ||
+ | of the regulars, for arms and assistance, he was | ||
+ | supplied with a few muskets and pistols, and about fifty | ||
+ | soldiers were detached to aid him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and manned the two boats, putting about fifty men in | ||
+ | each; but he did not stir until one o’clock on the following | ||
+ | morning, when in the pitch darkness he set out from the | ||
+ | mouth of Buffalo Creek, with a long pull ahead. The | ||
+ | wind was not strong enough to make good use of the | ||
+ | sails, and the poor sailors were so weary that those who | ||
+ | were not rowing lay sleeping, huddled together on their | ||
+ | arms, and displaying great listlessness and little desire for | ||
+ | fighting. At three o’clock Elliott was alongside the British | ||
+ | vessels. It was a complete surprise; in ten minutes | ||
+ | he had full possession of them and had secured the crews | ||
+ | as prisoners. But after making every exertion to get | ||
+ | under sail, he found to his bitter disappointment that the | ||
+ | wind was unfortunately so light that the rapid current | ||
+ | made them gather an increasing sternway every instant. | ||
+ | Another unfortunate circumstance was that he would | ||
+ | have to pass the British fort below and quite close to | ||
+ | hand, for he was on the Canadian shore. As the vessels | ||
+ | came in sight of the British battery, the latter opened a | ||
+ | heavy fire of round and grape, and several pieces of flying | ||
+ | artillery stationed in the woods took up the chorus.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | out of the current, and was beached in as safe a position | ||
+ | as possible under one of the American batteries at Black | ||
+ | Rock, across the river; but Elliott was compelled to drop | ||
+ | his anchor at the distance of about four hundred yards | ||
+ | from two of the British batteries. He was almost at their | ||
+ | mercy, and in the extremity he tried the effect of a ruse, or, | ||
+ | better, made a threat that we must believe he never intended | ||
+ | carrying into effect.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | he hailed him at the top of his voice:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | “Heigh, there, Mr. John Bull! if you fire another gun | ||
+ | at me I’ll bring up all my prisoners, and you can use them | ||
+ | for targets!” he shouted.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Englishman’s guns. But not a single prisoner was brought | ||
+ | on deck to share the fate of the Americans, who felt the | ||
+ | effect of the fire, and who now began to make strenuous | ||
+ | efforts to return it. Elliott brought all of the guns on one | ||
+ | side of his ship, and replied briskly, until he suddenly discovered | ||
+ | that all of his ammunition was expended. Now | ||
+ | there was but one chance left: to cut the cable, drift down | ||
+ | the river out of the reach of the heavy batteries, and | ||
+ | make a stand against the flying artillery with small arms. | ||
+ | This was accordingly done, but as the sails were raised the | ||
+ | fact was ascertained that the pilot had taken French | ||
+ | leave. No one else knew the channel, and, swinging | ||
+ | about, the vessel drifted astern for some ten minutes; | ||
+ | then, fortunately striking a cross-current, | ||
+ | on the shore of Squaw Island, near the American side. | ||
+ | Elliott sent a boat to the mainland with the prisoners first. | ||
+ | It experienced great difficulty in making the passage, being | ||
+ | almost swamped once or twice, and it did not return. | ||
+ | Affairs had reached a crisis, but with the aid of a smaller | ||
+ | boat, and by the exercise of great care, the remainder of | ||
+ | the prisoners and the crew succeeded in getting on shore | ||
+ | at about eight o’clock in the morning. At about eleven | ||
+ | o’clock a company of British regulars rowed over from the | ||
+ | Canadian shore to Squaw Island and boarded the < | ||
+ | their intention being to destroy her and burn up the | ||
+ | munitions with which she was laden. Seeing their purpose, | ||
+ | Major Cyrenus Chapin, a good Yankee from Massachusetts, | ||
+ | called for volunteers to return to the island, and, | ||
+ | despite the difficulties ahead, almost every man signified | ||
+ | his willingness to go. Quickly making his selection, | ||
+ | Major Chapin succeeded in landing with about thirty | ||
+ | men at his back, and drove off the English before they | ||
+ | had managed to start the flames. About three o’clock< | ||
+ | a second attempt was made, but it was easily repulsed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | crew numbered some sixty men. She was worth saving, | ||
+ | but so badly was she grounded on the island that it was | ||
+ | impossible to get her off, and, after taking her stores out, | ||
+ | Elliott set her on fire to get rid of her. The little < | ||
+ | was quite a valuable capture, aside from her armament, | ||
+ | as she had on board a cargo of furs whose value | ||
+ | has been estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand | ||
+ | dollars.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Captain Perry. The fleet that in a few weeks he had | ||
+ | under his command consisted of the brig < | ||
+ | twenty guns, to which he attached his flag; the < | ||
+ | of twenty guns, in command of Elliott; and the schooners | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | There were, besides, six smaller vessels, carrying from one | ||
+ | to two guns each; in all, Perry’s fleet mounted fifty-five | ||
+ | guns. The British fleet, under command of Barclay, consisted | ||
+ | of the < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | nineteen, seventeen, and thirteen guns, in the order named. | ||
+ | The brig < | ||
+ | three; and the schooner < | ||
+ | had sixty-three guns, not counting several swivels—that | ||
+ | is, more than eight guns to the good.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Perry, with his fleet anchored about him, lay in the quiet | ||
+ | waters of Put-in Bay. A light breeze was blowing from | ||
+ | the south. Very early a number of sail were seen out on | ||
+ | the lake beyond the point, and soon the strangers were | ||
+ | discovered to be the British fleet. Everything depended | ||
+ | now upon the speed with which the Americans could prepare | ||
+ | for action. In twelve minutes every vessel was under | ||
+ | way and sailing out to meet the on-comers; the < | ||
+ | led the line. As the two fleets approached, the British< | ||
+ | concentrated the fire of their long and heavy guns upon | ||
+ | her. She came on in silence; at her peak was flying a | ||
+ | huge motto-flag—plain to view were the words of the | ||
+ | brave commander of the < | ||
+ | ship.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | shoulders was great; his position was most precarious. | ||
+ | This was the first action between the fleets of | ||
+ | the two hostile countries; it was a battle for the dominion | ||
+ | of the lakes; defeat meant that the English could land at | ||
+ | any time an expeditionary force at any point they chose | ||
+ | along the shores of our natural northern barrier. The | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | and Perry found that he would have to close, in order to | ||
+ | return the English fire, as at the long distance he was surely | ||
+ | being ripped to pieces.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | all sail and bore down upon the English; but, to quote | ||
+ | from the account in the < | ||
+ | year 1816, “Every brace and bowline of the < | ||
+ | being shot away, she became unmanageable, | ||
+ | the great exertion of the sailing-master. In this | ||
+ | situation she sustained the action within canister distance | ||
+ | upward of two hours, until every gun was rendered useless | ||
+ | and the greater part of her crew either killed or | ||
+ | wounded.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It is easy to imagine the feelings of Perry at this moment. | ||
+ | The smaller vessels of his fleet had not come | ||
+ | within firing distance; there was absolutely nothing for | ||
+ | him to do on board the flag-ship except to lower his flag. | ||
+ | Yet there was one forlorn-hope that occurred to the | ||
+ | young commander, and without hesitation he called away | ||
+ | the only boat capable of floating; taking his flag, he | ||
+ | quitted the < | ||
+ | most wonderful accounts of hair-breadth escapes could | ||
+ | not equal that of Perry upon this occasion. Why his | ||
+ | boat was not swamped, or its crew and commander killed,< | ||
+ | cannot be explained. Three of the British ships fired | ||
+ | broadsides at him at pistol-shot distance as he passed | ||
+ | by them in succession; and, although the water boiled | ||
+ | about him, and the balls whistled but a few inches overhead, | ||
+ | he reached the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In this diagram and the following, A is the British squadron, and its vessels | ||
+ | are designated by Roman numerals: I, < | ||
+ | II, < | ||
+ | IV, < | ||
+ | VI, < | ||
+ | and the vessels are designated by Arabic numerals: | ||
+ | 1, < | ||
+ | 3, < | ||
+ | 5, < | ||
+ | 8, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Champlin, of the United States Navy, the commander of the < | ||
+ | battle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | leaving one ship and transferring his flag to another | ||
+ | in the heat of action.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in the battle of Solebay; and in the battle of Texel, fought | ||
+ | on August 11, 1673, the English Admiral Sprague shifted | ||
+ | his flag from the < | ||
+ | Dutch Admiral Van Tromp shifted his flag from the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | practically destroyed by a concentrated fire. This does | ||
+ | not detract from the gallantry of Perry’s achievement. | ||
+ | The danger he faced was great, and he was probably | ||
+ | closer to the enemy’s vessels than any of the commanders | ||
+ | above mentioned.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was one of the seven other men in the boat. They left< | ||
+ | on board the < | ||
+ | men to look after the numerous wounded. Owing to the | ||
+ | opinions of many of the contemporary writers, who gave | ||
+ | way to an intense feeling of partisanship, | ||
+ | was occasioned and sides were taken in regard to the | ||
+ | actions of Master Commandant Elliott and his superior | ||
+ | officer; but, looking back at it from this day, we can see | ||
+ | little reason for any feeling of jealousy. It is hard to | ||
+ | point the finger at any one on the American side in this | ||
+ | action and say that he did not do his duty. As Perry | ||
+ | reached the side of the < | ||
+ | it was almost calm; the smaller vessels, the sloops and | ||
+ | schooners—the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Upon Perry setting foot on deck, Elliott congratulated him | ||
+ | upon the way he had left his ship, and volunteered to | ||
+ | bring up the boats to windward, if he could be spared. | ||
+ | Upon receiving permission, he jumped into the boat in | ||
+ | which Perry had rowed from the < | ||
+ | to bring up all the forces. Every effort was made to form | ||
+ | a front of battle, and the little gunboats, urged on by | ||
+ | sweeps and oars, were soon engaged in a race for glory. | ||
+ | In the mean time, however, the English had slackened their | ||
+ | fire as they saw the big flag lowered from the < | ||
+ | mast-head; they supposed that the latter had struck, and | ||
+ | set up a tremendous cheering. This was hushed as they | ||
+ | caught sight of the flash of oars and realized what was<span class=" | ||
+ | going forward. In a few minutes, out of the thick smoke | ||
+ | came the < | ||
+ | with such good execution that great confusion followed | ||
+ | throughout the fleet. Two of their larger brigs, | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | and the < | ||
+ | the bow of one ship and the stern of the other, raking | ||
+ | them both with fearful effect; then, squaring away and | ||
+ | running astern of the < | ||
+ | raking fire, and, sheering off, made for the < | ||
+ | the little one-gun and two-gun vessels of the American | ||
+ | fleet were giving good accounts of themselves.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | stood waist-high above the bulwarks, they did no dodging; | ||
+ | their shots were well directed, and they raked the Englishmen | ||
+ | fore and aft, carrying away all the masts of the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A few minutes after 3 <span class=" | ||
+ | boarding-pike was lifted above the bulwarks of the < | ||
+ | At sight of this the < | ||
+ | sail and tried to escape, but in less than a quarter of an | ||
+ | hour they were captured and brought back by the < | ||
+ | and < | ||
+ | Holdup and Sailing-Master Stephen Champlin. With a | ||
+ | ringing cheer the word went through the line that the | ||
+ | British had surrendered. The sovereignty of Lake Erie | ||
+ | belonged to America. The question of supremacy was | ||
+ | settled.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | fight amid the wooded shores and extending arms of the | ||
+ | bay was viewed from shore by hundreds of anxious Americans. | ||
+ | The bright sunlight and calm surface of the lake, | ||
+ | the enshrouding fog of smoke that from shore hid all but | ||
+ | the spurts of flame and the topmasts and occasionally | ||
+ | the flags of the vessels engaged, all had combined to make | ||
+ | a drama of the most exciting and awe-inspiring interest. | ||
+ | Nor was the last act to be a letting-down. Perry determined< | ||
+ | to receive the surrender of the defeated enemy nowhere | ||
+ | else but on the deck of his old flag-ship that was | ||
+ | slowly drifting up into the now intermingled fleets.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | out for the crippled < | ||
+ | with three feeble cheers, the wounded joining in, and a | ||
+ | number of men crawling up from the slaughter-pen of a | ||
+ | cockpit, begrimed and bloody.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On board the < | ||
+ | surgeon, Usher Parsons. He came on deck red to the | ||
+ | elbows from his work below, and the terrible execution | ||
+ | done by the concentrated English fire was evident to the | ||
+ | English officers as they stepped on board the flag-ship. | ||
+ | Dead men lay everywhere. A whole gun’s crew were | ||
+ | littered about alongside of their wrecked piece. From | ||
+ | below came the mournful howling of a dog. The cockpit | ||
+ | had been above the water’s surface, owing to the < | ||
+ | shallow draught, and here was a frightful sight. | ||
+ | The wounded had been killed outright or wounded again | ||
+ | as they lay on the surgeon’s table. Twice had Perry called | ||
+ | away the surgeon’s aids to help work ship, and once his | ||
+ | hail of “Can any wounded men below there pull a rope?” | ||
+ | was answered by three or four brave, mangled fellows | ||
+ | crawling up on deck to try to do their duty. All this was | ||
+ | apparent to the English officers as they stepped over the | ||
+ | bodies of the dead and went aft to where Perry stood | ||
+ | with his arms folded, no vainglorious expression on his<span class=" | ||
+ | face, but one of sadness for the deeds that had been done | ||
+ | that day. Each of the English officers in turn presented | ||
+ | his sword, and in reply Perry bowed and requested that | ||
+ | the side-arms should be retained. As soon as the formalities | ||
+ | had been gone through with, Perry tore off the back | ||
+ | of an old letter he took from his pocket, and, using his | ||
+ | stiff hat for a writing-desk, | ||
+ | which a detractor has charged he cribbed from Julius | ||
+ | Caesar: “We have met the enemy and they are ours:—two | ||
+ | ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with the report to Gen. William Henry Harrison.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A computation has been made by one historian of the | ||
+ | number of guns directed against the < | ||
+ | part of the action. The English had heavier armaments | ||
+ | and more long guns; they could fight at a distance where | ||
+ | the chubby carronade was useless. The < | ||
+ | seven guns whose shots could reach her opponents, while | ||
+ | the British poured into her the concentrated fire of thirty-two. | ||
+ | This accounts for the frightful carnage.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and there were but three guns that could reply to the | ||
+ | enemy’s fire, Lieutenant Yarnell, disfigured by a bad | ||
+ | wound across his face from a splinter, came up to where | ||
+ | Perry was standing. “The officers of my division have | ||
+ | all been cut down,” he said. “Can I have others?” | ||
+ | Perry looked about him and sent three of his aid to help | ||
+ | Yarnell, but in less than a quarter of an hour the lieutenant< | ||
+ | returned again. His words were almost the same | ||
+ | as before, but he had a fresh wound in his shoulder. | ||
+ | “Those officers, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | without them.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | his wounds had been hurriedly dressed he returned to his | ||
+ | post.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the despatch to General Harrison, had a most remarkable | ||
+ | escape. He was a brave lad who had faced death before; | ||
+ | he had seen the splinters fly in the action between the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Captain Perry when a grape-shot that had glanced from | ||
+ | the side of a port struck the mast, and, again deflected, | ||
+ | caught the midshipman in the chest. He fell, gasping, | ||
+ | at Perry’s feet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | as he raised the midshipman on his knee.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | his breath. “But this is my shot, I think.” And with | ||
+ | that he extracted the half-spent ball from his clothing and | ||
+ | slipped it into his pocket.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | after having had a dressing applied to his shattered right | ||
+ | arm. A Narragansett Indian who served as a gunner in | ||
+ | the forward division of the < | ||
+ | same manner.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A summary of the losses on both sides shows that, despite | ||
+ | the death-list of the < | ||
+ | more severe. On board the American flag-ship, twenty-two | ||
+ | were killed and sixty-one were wounded; on board | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | two killed; the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | apiece. In all, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six< | ||
+ | wounded on the American side. The comparison of the | ||
+ | loss of the rest of the fleet and that suffered by the < | ||
+ | makes a remarkable showing. The English lost | ||
+ | forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded altogether. A | ||
+ | number of Canadian Indians were found on board the | ||
+ | English vessels. They had been engaged as marksmen, | ||
+ | but the first shot had taken all the fight out of them, and | ||
+ | they had hidden and skulked for safety.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Everything that would tend to relieve the sufferings of | ||
+ | the wounded was done, and relief was distributed impartially | ||
+ | among the sufferers on both sides. The result | ||
+ | of this action was a restoration of practical peace along the | ||
+ | frontier of the lake. The British evacuated Detroit and | ||
+ | Michigan, and the dreaded invasion of the Indians that | ||
+ | the settlers had feared so long was headed off.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | despite his high-acting rank, was promoted at once | ||
+ | to a captaincy, the date of his commission bearing the | ||
+ | date of his victory. He was given the command of the | ||
+ | frigate < | ||
+ | Baltimore. Gold medals were awarded to him and to | ||
+ | Elliott by Congress, and silver medals to each of the commissioned | ||
+ | officers. A silver medal also was given to the | ||
+ | nearest male relative of Lieutenant Brooks, of the marines, | ||
+ | and swords to the nearest male relatives of Midshipmen | ||
+ | Laub, Claxton, and Clark. Three months’ extra pay was | ||
+ | voted to all the officers, seamen, and marines, and, in addition, | ||
+ | Congress gave $225,000 in prize-money, | ||
+ | among the American forces engaged in the action. | ||
+ | This sum was distributed in the following proportions: | ||
+ | Commodore Chauncey, who was in command on the lakes, | ||
+ | $12,750; Perry and Elliott, $7140 each—besides which Congress | ||
+ | voted Perry an additional $5000; the commanders of | ||
+ | gunboats, lieutenants, | ||
+ | marines received $2295 each; midshipmen, $811; petty officers, | ||
+ | $447 per capita; and marines and sailors, $209 apiece.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | No money, however, could repay the brave men for the | ||
+ | service they had rendered the country. To-day the | ||
+ | dwellers along the shores of Lake Erie preserve the anniversary | ||
+ | of the battle as an occasion for rejoicing. While | ||
+ | the naval actions at sea reflected honor and glory to their | ||
+ | commanders and credit to the service, the winning of Lake | ||
+ | Erie averted a national catastrophe.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Army, and his three sons also possessed desires | ||
+ | for entering the service of their country. The oldest had | ||
+ | been a midshipman under Commodore Truxton, but, being | ||
+ | wounded in the action between the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | amputation of his leg. But his younger brother, Thomas | ||
+ | Macdonough, Jr., succeeded him, and he has rendered his | ||
+ | name and that of Lake Champlain inseparable; | ||
+ | fearlessness and bravery were shown on many occasions | ||
+ | long before he was ordered to the lakes.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1806 he was first-lieutenant of the < | ||
+ | sloop-of-war in the Mediterranean service. On one occasion | ||
+ | when Captain Smith, the commander of the < | ||
+ | had gone on shore, young Lieutenant Macdonough saw a | ||
+ | boat from a British frigate lying in the harbor row up to | ||
+ | an American brig a short distance off, and afterward put | ||
+ | out again with one more man in her than she had originally. | ||
+ | This looked suspicious, and Macdonough sent to the | ||
+ | brig to ascertain the reason, with the result that he found | ||
+ | that an American had been impressed by the English captain’s | ||
+ | orders. Macdonough quietly lowered his own boat | ||
+ | and put after the heavy cutter, which he soon overhauled. | ||
+ | Although he had but four men with him, he took the | ||
+ | man out of the cutter and brought him on board the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | what had occurred—it was right under the bow of his<span class=" | ||
+ | frigate that the affair took place—he waxed wroth, and, | ||
+ | calling away his gig, he rowed to the < | ||
+ | explanation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the life of Macdonough in Frost’s < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | dared to take a man from one of his Majesty’s boats. | ||
+ | The lieutenant, with great politeness, asked him down | ||
+ | into the cabin; this he refused, at the same time repeating | ||
+ | the same demand, with abundance of threats. The Englishman | ||
+ | threw out some threats that he would take the | ||
+ | man by force, and said he would haul the frigate alongside | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | that he supposed his ship could sink the < | ||
+ | as she could swim he should keep the man. The English | ||
+ | captain said to Macdonough:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | young man. Suppose I had been in the boat—what | ||
+ | would you have done? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | now to attempt to impress men from that brig? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | only to make the attempt.’</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | shortly afterward was seen bearing down in the direction | ||
+ | of the American vessel. Macdonough ordered his boat | ||
+ | manned and armed, got into her himself, and was in readiness | ||
+ | for pursuit. The Englishman took a circuit around | ||
+ | the American brig, and returned again to the frigate. | ||
+ | When Captain Smith came on board he justified the conduct | ||
+ | of Macdonough, and declared his intention to protect | ||
+ | the American seaman.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | but that of a lieutenant, people who knew him were not | ||
+ | surprised to hear that he had been appointed to take command | ||
+ | of the little squadron on Lake Champlain. These< | ||
+ | vessels were built of green pine, and almost without exception | ||
+ | constructed in a hurried fashion. They had to | ||
+ | be of light draught, and yet, odd to relate, their general | ||
+ | model was the same as that of ships that were expected | ||
+ | to meet storms and high seas.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | case of Perry, he had a superb self-reliance and was eager | ||
+ | to meet the enemy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were considered of great importance by the English, and, | ||
+ | descending from Canada, large bodies of troops poured | ||
+ | into New York State. But the American government | ||
+ | had, long before the war was fairly started, recognized | ||
+ | the advantage of keeping the water communications on | ||
+ | the northern frontier. The English began to build vessels | ||
+ | on the upper part of the lake, and the small force of ships | ||
+ | belonging to the Americans was increased as fast as possible. | ||
+ | It was a race to see which could prepare the better | ||
+ | fleet in the shorter space of time.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the fall of the year 1814 the English had one fairly | ||
+ | sized frigate, the < | ||
+ | a brig, the < | ||
+ | besides which they possessed thirteen large galleys, aggregating | ||
+ | eighteen guns. In all, therefore, the English fleet | ||
+ | mounted ninety-five guns. The Americans had the < | ||
+ | sloop of war, twenty-six guns; the < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | galleys carrying sixteen; their total armament was nine | ||
+ | guns less than the British.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>By the first week in September Sir George Prevost had | ||
+ | organized his forces and started at the head of fourteen | ||
+ | thousand men to the southward. It was his intention to | ||
+ | dislodge General Macomb, who was stationed at Plattsburg, | ||
+ | where considerable fortifications had been erected. | ||
+ | A great deal of the militia force had been drawn down the | ||
+ | State to the city of New York, owing to the fears then | ||
+ | entertained that the British intended making an attack< | ||
+ | upon the city from their fleet. It was Sir George’s plan | ||
+ | to destroy forever the power of the Americans upon the | ||
+ | lake, and for that reason it was necessary to capture the | ||
+ | naval force which had been for some time under the command | ||
+ | of Macdonough. The English leader arranged a | ||
+ | plan with Captain Downie, who was at the head of the | ||
+ | squadron, that simultaneous attacks should be made by | ||
+ | water and land. At eight o’clock on the morning of September | ||
+ | 11th news was brought to Lieutenant Macdonough | ||
+ | that the enemy was approaching. As his own vessels were | ||
+ | in a good position to repel an attack, he decided to remain | ||
+ | at anchor and await the onslaught in a line formation. | ||
+ | In about an hour the enemy had come within gunshot distance, | ||
+ | and formed a line of his own parallel with that of | ||
+ | the Americans. There was little or no breeze, and consequently | ||
+ | small chance for manœuvring. The < | ||
+ | evidently claimed the honor of exchanging broadsides with | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | and the galleys rowed in and began to fire at the < | ||
+ | and the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the action that it is best to quote from it:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | that our fire was very destructive to her. The < | ||
+ | Lieutenant-Commandant Cassin, gallantly sustained her | ||
+ | full share of the action. At half-past ten the < | ||
+ | being able to bring her guns to bear, cut her cable, and | ||
+ | anchored in a more eligible position, between my ship and | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | but unfortunately leaving me exposed to a galling fire | ||
+ | from the enemy’s brig.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | or unmanageable, | ||
+ | bower-cable cut, and the ship winded with a fresh broadside | ||
+ | on the enemy’s ship, which soon after surrendered.< | ||
+ | Our broadside was then sprung to bear on the brig, which | ||
+ | struck about fifteen minutes afterward. The sloop which | ||
+ | was opposed to the < | ||
+ | drifted down the line. The sloop which was with their | ||
+ | galleys had also struck. Three of their galleys are said | ||
+ | to be sunk; the others pulled off. Our galleys were about | ||
+ | obeying with alacrity the signal to follow them, when all | ||
+ | the vessels were reported to me to be in a sinking state. | ||
+ | It then became necessary to annul the signal to the galleys | ||
+ | and order their men to the pumps. I could only look at | ||
+ | the enemy’s galleys going off in a shattered condition, for | ||
+ | there was not a mast in either squadron that could stand< | ||
+ | to make sail on. The lower rigging, being nearly all shot | ||
+ | away, hung down as though it had just been placed over | ||
+ | the mast-heads.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | passed principally just over our heads, as there were not | ||
+ | twenty whole hammocks in the nettings at the close of | ||
+ | the action, which lasted, without intermission, | ||
+ | and twenty minutes.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Perry left me without the assistance of that able officer. | ||
+ | Much ought fairly to be attributed to him for his great | ||
+ | care and attention in disciplining the ship’s crew as her | ||
+ | first-lieutenant. His place was filled by a gallant young | ||
+ | officer, Lieutenant Peter Gamble, who, I regret to inform | ||
+ | you, was killed early in the action.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | doubted the result being to their advantage, and, before | ||
+ | taking up their positions in the line parallel to Macdonough’s, | ||
+ | Downie had sailed upon the waiting fleet bows | ||
+ | on; thus most of his vessels had been severely raked before | ||
+ | they were able to return the fire. As soon as Sir | ||
+ | George Prevost saw the results of the action out on the | ||
+ | water, he gave up all idea of conquest, and began the retreat | ||
+ | that left New York free to breathe again. The | ||
+ | frontier was saved. The hills and the shores of the lake | ||
+ | had been crowded with multitudes of farmers, and the | ||
+ | two armies encamped on shore had stopped their own | ||
+ | preparations and fighting to watch.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | from the opposite side of the River Saranac, and a brigade | ||
+ | endeavored to ford the river with the intention of attacking | ||
+ | the rear of General Macomb’s position. However, | ||
+ | they got lost in the woods, and were recalled by a mounted | ||
+ | messenger just in time to hear the cheers and shouts of | ||
+ | victory arise from all about them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the battle the < | ||
+ | and twenty-nine wounded, more than a quarter of her | ||
+ | entire crew; the < | ||
+ | wounded; the < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | three wounded. The < | ||
+ | and had caught on fire twice from the hot shot fired by | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | forty-one killed outright and eighty-three wounded. In | ||
+ | all, the British loss was eighty-four killed and one hundred | ||
+ | and ten wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | from the country at large, the Legislature of New | ||
+ | York giving him one thousand acres of land, and the | ||
+ | State of Vermont two hundred. Besides this, the corporations | ||
+ | of Albany and New York City made him the | ||
+ | present of a valuable lot, and from his old command in the | ||
+ | Mediterranean he received a handsome presentation sword.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, IN THE HISTORY OF THE<br /> | ||
+ | UNITED STATES, BETWEEN THE<br /> | ||
+ | BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN,< | ||
+ | 1814, AND THE WAR WITH<br /> | ||
+ | MEXICO, 1846–1847</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Convention. Treaty of Ghent between Great Britain | ||
+ | and the United States terminates the war.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | General Jackson repulses the British attack on New Orleans,< | ||
+ | defeating in a bloody battle veterans who had fought | ||
+ | against Napoleon. Escape of Napoleon from Elba. The | ||
+ | “Hundred Days.” Battle of Waterloo. Second abdication | ||
+ | of Napoleon, who is sent to St. Helena. Commodore | ||
+ | Decatur imposes terms upon the Dey of Algiers, and exacts | ||
+ | reparation from Tunis and Tripoli.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | into the Union.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | into the Union. Act passed establishing the flag | ||
+ | of the United States. General Jackson captures Spanish | ||
+ | fort, St. Mark’s, Florida.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the cession of Florida (formal possession given in 1821). | ||
+ | Admission of Alabama into the Union.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Missouri Compromise, 1820, 1821. James Monroe | ||
+ | re-elected President.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | President recommends recognition of the independence of | ||
+ | the South American States and Mexico.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | presence of Lafayette.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 82° 45´.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 1829. First locomotive tried in the United States, at | ||
+ | Honesdale, Pa.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Mormon Church.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Foxes. Nullification movement in South Carolina. Andrew | ||
+ | Jackson re-elected President.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | removes the public funds from the Bank of the United | ||
+ | States. Formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in Texas against Mexican authority. Great fire in | ||
+ | New York.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Van Buren elected President. Storming of the Alamo | ||
+ | by Santa Anna. Houston defeats the Mexicans on the | ||
+ | San Jacinto. The republic of Texas proclaimed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | panic throughout the United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | death of President Harrison.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Ashburton Treaty between Great Britain and the United | ||
+ | States for the settlement of the Northeastern boundary | ||
+ | line concluded. Dorr’s Rebellion in Rhode Island.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the electric telegraph.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | between the United States and Mexico. The Mexicans< | ||
+ | defeated at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Surrender | ||
+ | of Monterey. Occupation of California and New Mexico | ||
+ | by the American forces. Treaty between Great Britain | ||
+ | and the United States for the settlement of the Northwestern | ||
+ | boundary-line dispute. Discovery of anæsthetics | ||
+ | by Doctor Norton.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Vista. Occupation of Vera Cruz. American victories at | ||
+ | Pueblo, Contreras, and Churubusco. Storming of Molino | ||
+ | del Rey. Storming of Chapultepec and occupation of | ||
+ | the City of Mexico.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | severed her diplomatic relations with the United | ||
+ | States. This result had been foreshadowed by the utterances | ||
+ | of Mexican officials dating from the revival of | ||
+ | the question in 1843. The relations, however, of the two | ||
+ | countries had been difficult to adjust from the time when | ||
+ | Mexico became independent in 1821. The most serious | ||
+ | friction between them arose concerning four subjects: | ||
+ | claims of the United States citizens on the government of | ||
+ | Mexico; assistance given the Texans by the people of the | ||
+ | United States; violation of Mexican territory by United | ||
+ | States troops; and the annexation of Texas.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | diplomatic relations in 1845 was the annexation of Texas. | ||
+ | When rumors of the renewal of the annexation movement | ||
+ | came to the city of Mexico in the summer of 1843, President | ||
+ | Santa Anna gave notice to the United States government, | ||
+ | in a letter dated August 23d, from Secretary of | ||
+ | State Bocanegra to Minister Waddy Thompson, that | ||
+ | “the Mexican government will consider equivalent to a | ||
+ | declaration of war against the Mexican Republic the passage | ||
+ | of an act for the incorporation of Texas with the | ||
+ | territory of the United States; the certainty of the fact< | ||
+ | being sufficient for the immediate proclamation of war, | ||
+ | leaving to the civilized world to determine with regard | ||
+ | to the justice of the cause of the Mexican Nation, in a | ||
+ | struggle which it has been so far from provoking.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | letter, questioning the sources of information of the | ||
+ | Mexican authorities as to the prospect of annexation, but | ||
+ | refusing any explanation whatever. Another letter from | ||
+ | Bocanegra to Thompson asserted that the advices of the | ||
+ | Mexican government on the subject were official and | ||
+ | reliable, and sought to justify the attitude of Mexico as | ||
+ | follows: “but as it may happen that ambition and delusion | ||
+ | may prevail over public propriety, that personal | ||
+ | views may triumph over sane and just ideas, and that the | ||
+ | vigorous reasoning of Mr. John Quincy Adams and his | ||
+ | co-laborers may be ineffectual, | ||
+ | strange and out of the way that Mexico, under such a | ||
+ | supposition, | ||
+ | annexation of Texas as an act of declaration of war? | ||
+ | Secretary of State Upshur approved the course of Thompson, | ||
+ | and instructed him that, in case he were again addressed | ||
+ | in such offensive language, he should demand | ||
+ | either a withdrawal of the letter or a suitable apology.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On November 3, 1843, Almonte, the Mexican minister | ||
+ | at Washington, in accordance with the instructions of his | ||
+ | government, notified Upshur, in a communication whose | ||
+ | terms were hardly less offensive than those used by Bocanegra | ||
+ | to Thompson, that if “the United States should, | ||
+ | in defiance of good faith and of the principles of justice | ||
+ | which they have constantly proclaimed, commit the unheard-of | ||
+ | act of violence (<i xml: | ||
+ | [says the official translator] is much stronger than the | ||
+ | translation) of appropriating to themselves an integrant | ||
+ | part of the Mexican territory, the undersigned, | ||
+ | name of his Nation, and now for them, protests, in the | ||
+ | most solemn manner, against such an aggression; and he | ||
+ | moreover declares, by express order of his Government, | ||
+ | that, on sanction being given by the Executive of the | ||
+ | Union to the incorporation of Texas into the United | ||
+ | States, he will consider his mission ended, seeing that, as | ||
+ | the Secretary of State will have learned, the Mexican | ||
+ | Government is resolved to declare war so soon as it receives | ||
+ | information of such an act.” On November 8th | ||
+ | Upshur replied, in a restrained and dignified way, repelling | ||
+ | both the threats and insinuations of Almonte’s letter | ||
+ | and intimating that the policy of the United States would | ||
+ | not be affected by them.<a id=" | ||
+ | the 11th, suggesting that Upshur had been misled by an | ||
+ | incorrect translation of the letter of November 3d, and | ||
+ | disclaiming any intention to impute to the authorities of | ||
+ | the American Union unworthy views or designs as to | ||
+ | Texas. December 1, 1843, Upshur replied, denying that | ||
+ | he had misunderstood Almonte, and declaring that the | ||
+ | United States regarded Texas as an independent nation | ||
+ | and did not feel called on to consult any other nation in | ||
+ | dealing with it.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the accomplishment of annexation, the threat of | ||
+ | Almonte was carried out. The joint resolution making | ||
+ | the offer was approved March 1, 1845, and on March 6th | ||
+ | he demanded his passports. March 28th the United | ||
+ | States minister in Mexico was officially notified that the | ||
+ | diplomatic intercourse between the two countries was at | ||
+ | an end.<a id=" | ||
+ | the most intense popular excitement in that country, and | ||
+ | those of the government treated the war as already existing.< | ||
+ | Two decrees were passed by the Mexican congress | ||
+ | and approved by President Herrera, one on June 4th and<span class=" | ||
+ | the other on June 7th, providing for an increase of the | ||
+ | available force in order to resist annexation.< | ||
+ | the “supreme government, | ||
+ | to the congress a declaration of war against the United | ||
+ | States from the moment when the government should | ||
+ | know that annexation had been effected or Texas had | ||
+ | been invaded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | on both sides had gone beyond the point of safety and | ||
+ | was threatening appeal to arms. No theory of a conspiracy | ||
+ | is needed to explain the war with Mexico. While | ||
+ | it was strongly opposed and condemned by a bold and | ||
+ | outspoken minority, the votes in Congress and the utterances | ||
+ | of the contemporaneous journals show that it was | ||
+ | essentially a popular movement, both in Mexico and in | ||
+ | the United States. The disagreement reached the verge | ||
+ | of an outbreak in 1837, and the only thing that prevented | ||
+ | a conflict then was that Congress was a bit more conservative | ||
+ | than the President; but neither the aggressiveness of | ||
+ | Jackson nor even that of Polk would have been so likely | ||
+ | to end in actual fighting had it not been well understood | ||
+ | that they were backed by sympathetic majorities. On | ||
+ | the Mexican side, at the critical moment, the pacific tendencies | ||
+ | of the executive were overpowered by the angry | ||
+ | impulse of the people.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the troops in the Southwest, was ordered, in view of the | ||
+ | prospect of annexation, to hold himself in readiness to | ||
+ | advance into Texas with the approval of the Texan authorities, | ||
+ | and to defend that republic from any invasion | ||
+ | of which he should be officially informed after Texas had | ||
+ | consented to annexation on the terms offered. June 15th | ||
+ | he was ordered to advance, with the western frontier of | ||
+ | Texas for his ultimate destination. There he was to | ||
+ | occupy a convenient point “on or near the Rio Grande, | ||
+ | but to limit himself to the defence of the territory of Texas | ||
+ | unless Mexico should declare war against the United States. | ||
+ | He was subsequently directed to protect the territory up | ||
+ | to the Rio Grande, avoiding, however, except in case of | ||
+ | an outbreak of hostilities, | ||
+ | held by Mexicans, but placing at least a part of his forces | ||
+ | west of the Nueces.< | ||
+ | into Texas, and in August he established his camp on the | ||
+ | west bank of the Nueces, near Corpus Christi.< | ||
+ | which he selected could hardly be considered as “near” | ||
+ | the Rio Grande, being, in fact, about one hundred and | ||
+ | fifty miles therefrom. The location was chosen because | ||
+ | of its convenience as a temporary base either for defensive | ||
+ | or offensive operations.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | months. The information Taylor obtained here and reported | ||
+ | to Washington indicated no threatening movement | ||
+ | on the part of the Mexicans; but on October 4th | ||
+ | he suggested that, if the United States government meant | ||
+ | to insist on the Rio Grande as the boundary, it would | ||
+ | gain an advantage by occupying points on that river. He | ||
+ | therefore suggested an advance to Point Isabel and | ||
+ | Laredo.< | ||
+ | diplomatic relations between the United States and | ||
+ | Mexico, which ended in failure. January 13, 1846, when | ||
+ | it was known in Washington that Slidell would probably | ||
+ | not be received by the Mexican government, Taylor was | ||
+ | ordered to advance to the Rio Grande.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Up to the time of this movement the Mexican government | ||
+ | had neglected the distinction in the validity of its | ||
+ | claims to the territory east of the Rio Grande. It strenuously< | ||
+ | asserted the right of Mexico to the whole of Texas, | ||
+ | whatever its limits might be, and declared that annexation | ||
+ | would be tantamount to a declaration of war. From | ||
+ | the Mexican point of view, Taylor invaded Mexico the | ||
+ | moment he entered Texas. But when he advanced to the | ||
+ | Rio Grande the distinction was finally made. April 12, | ||
+ | 1846, he was warned by Ampudia, general in command of | ||
+ | the Mexican forces at Matamoras, to retire in twenty-four | ||
+ | hours—not beyond the Sabine, as one might have expected | ||
+ | from the previous attitude of the Mexican government, | ||
+ | but beyond the Nueces.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A few days later occurred the first conflict. April 24th | ||
+ | a party of dragoons sent out by Taylor was ambushed on | ||
+ | the east side of the river by a large force of Mexicans, and | ||
+ | after a skirmish, in which a number of men were killed | ||
+ | and wounded, was captured.< | ||
+ | affair reached Washington the evening of Saturday, May | ||
+ | 9th.<a id=" | ||
+ | with the judgment of all his cabinet except Bancroft, to | ||
+ | send to Congress a message recommending a declaration | ||
+ | of war. Now, in formulating the reasons for the declaration, | ||
+ | he asserted that “Mexico has passed the boundary | ||
+ | of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed | ||
+ | American blood upon the American soil, | ||
+ | unanimous concurrence of his cabinet he sent the message | ||
+ | to Congress, Monday, May 11th.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the same day a bill providing for the enlistment of | ||
+ | fifty thousand soldiers and the appropriation of ten | ||
+ | million dollars, the preamble to which re-echoed the President’s | ||
+ | assertion that war existed by the act of Mexico | ||
+ | itself, passed the House by a vote of 174 to 14.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was only after Polk felt assured of the refusal to receive | ||
+ | Slidell< | ||
+ | as clearly to challenge war; and from that time forward | ||
+ | it seems to have been his desire to carry the struggle just | ||
+ | far enough to bring Mexico to the point of conceding a | ||
+ | territorial indemnity on the terms which he had intended | ||
+ | to offer through Slidell. In accordance with this policy | ||
+ | he suggested, while the question of Slidell’s reception by | ||
+ | the Paredes government was yet in suspense, that Slidell | ||
+ | should be directed to go on board a United States vessel | ||
+ | and wait for further instructions.< | ||
+ | plan was evidently to be able to resume negotiations, | ||
+ | soon as Mexico had felt the pressure sufficiently, | ||
+ | the delays incident to a correspondence between the two | ||
+ | capitals. The same considerations influenced, at a later | ||
+ | stage of the war, the appointment of Trist.<a id=" | ||
+ | method of pushing on the conflict, with the sword in one | ||
+ | hand and the olive-branch in the other, Polk applied the | ||
+ | peculiar designation of “conquering a peace.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | General Scott, the commander-in-chief of the United States | ||
+ | Army, was appointed to command directly the forces that | ||
+ | were to operate against Mexico. According to a plan of | ||
+ | operations which appears to have originated with President | ||
+ | Polk himself, but which was concurred in by Secretary | ||
+ | of War Marcy and by General Scott, New Mexico and | ||
+ | California, which Polk intended to claim by way of indemnity, | ||
+ | and Chihuahua, were to be occupied and held;< | ||
+ | the United States forces were to be pushed toward the | ||
+ | heart of Mexico in order to force the Mexicans to terms; and | ||
+ | the naval forces in the Gulf and the Pacific were assigned | ||
+ | specific duties in connection with the general scheme.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | war, and was, on the whole, well adapted to insure success. | ||
+ | The northern provinces were far distant from the city of | ||
+ | Mexico; the hold of the central government upon them | ||
+ | was but slight; and, even if its available forces had been | ||
+ | sufficiently strong and effective to send the troops needed | ||
+ | to resist invasion, the difficulties of transportation would | ||
+ | have been hard to overcome. Of course, similar difficulties | ||
+ | were experienced in throwing the United States troops | ||
+ | into the interior of northern Mexico; but such operations | ||
+ | were far easier for a strong government with abundant | ||
+ | resources than for one so ill established and so lacking | ||
+ | in means as that of Herrera or Paredes. The population | ||
+ | of the north Mexican provinces was sparse and unenergetic, | ||
+ | and could not be relied on for its defence; the local governments | ||
+ | were weak and inefficient; | ||
+ | California was disastrously affected by dissensions between | ||
+ | two rival leaders, José Castro and Pio Pico, representing | ||
+ | respectively the northern district and the southern.< | ||
+ | was in the northern district, in the lower valley of the | ||
+ | Sacramento River and near the bay of San Francisco, that | ||
+ | the foreign population, including the Americans, was most | ||
+ | numerous.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was gradually developed as the war went on. The impression | ||
+ | of Polk and his advisers at first was that a vigorous | ||
+ | invasion of Mexico would end the war, without the | ||
+ | necessity of pushing it far into the interior; and, since | ||
+ | operations on the coast in the summer were so dangerous, | ||
+ | the attack was made first in the north. The resistance< | ||
+ | of the Mexicans was, however, more desperate and prolonged | ||
+ | than was expected, and ultimately the change was | ||
+ | made to the shorter and more direct line of advance by | ||
+ | way of Vera Cruz.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | ILLUSTRATING THE | ||
+ | MEXICAN WAR | ||
+ | 1846–1848</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The occupation of New Mexico and California was accomplished | ||
+ | speedily and with little resistance. General | ||
+ | Kearny occupied New Mexico in the summer of 1846, and | ||
+ | the occupation of California under Commodore R. F. Stockton | ||
+ | was completed by January, 1847. The first expeditions | ||
+ | against Mexico from the north under Wool and Doniphan | ||
+ | were inconclusive.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to terms was that operating in the east. The campaign | ||
+ | in this quarter began with an advance from Matamoras | ||
+ | through Tamaulipas and Nuevo León into Coahuila. But | ||
+ | as it progressed the plan was gradually assimilated, | ||
+ | as these states were concerned, to that which had been | ||
+ | followed in dealing with California and New Mexico, and | ||
+ | became one of simple occupation; while the attack was | ||
+ | shifted to the south, and the final advance was made | ||
+ | from Vera Cruz direct on the city of Mexico.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the prosecution of the war, in this part especially, | ||
+ | the administration was much hampered by the character | ||
+ | and conduct of the generals on whom the detailed development | ||
+ | and execution of the plan devolved. The friction | ||
+ | thus arising was increased by mutual suspicions of political | ||
+ | motives between President Polk, certain members of his | ||
+ | cabinet, and the generals themselves.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In this war the United States troops, though always | ||
+ | outnumbered—in some cases heavily—and usually with | ||
+ | the advantage of position against them, enjoyed such | ||
+ | superiority both in <i xml: | ||
+ | almost uniformly victorious. Their victories, however, | ||
+ | were by no means easy; on the contrary, they were obtained | ||
+ | only at the cost of no little bloody fighting and of | ||
+ | great loss of men. And, as is not unusual in like emergencies, | ||
+ | there was much complaint of the extravagance and | ||
+ | inefficiency of the quartermaster’s department.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The attack on Mexico began with the advance of Taylor’s | ||
+ | army. Two battles, Palo Alto, on May 8, 1846, and | ||
+ | Resaca de la Palma, on the following day, were required | ||
+ | to drive the Mexicans across the Rio Grande. Taylor | ||
+ | then advanced from Matamoras through Tamaulipas into | ||
+ | Nuevo León, and, after defeating the Mexicans in a three | ||
+ | days’ battle, September 21–23, at Monterey, the capital | ||
+ | of Nuevo León, he captured that city. Saltillo, the capital | ||
+ | of Coahuila, was occupied by the United States troops on | ||
+ | November 16th, and Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, | ||
+ | December 29th.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | 1846–1847</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It had long before this become a most important question | ||
+ | whether the campaign should be confined to the | ||
+ | occupation and cutting-off of northern Mexico, or whether | ||
+ | the army should be pushed on toward the city of Mexico. | ||
+ | Taylor recommended the first of these two plans; but | ||
+ | when asked his advice as to what should be done further, | ||
+ | and especially whether an expedition should be aimed at | ||
+ | the city of Mexico from near Vera Cruz, he had been | ||
+ | hesitating and non-committal in his answer.< | ||
+ | issued direct from Washington, September 22, 1846, in<span class=" | ||
+ | connection with the scheme before it was fully developed, | ||
+ | to General Patterson, one of Taylor’s subordinates, | ||
+ | from Taylor himself a resentful protest.< | ||
+ | plan of capturing Vera Cruz and marching thence upon | ||
+ | the city of Mexico was adopted by Polk and his cabinet, | ||
+ | with a little objection from Buchanan as to advancing | ||
+ | beyond Vera Cruz,<a id=" | ||
+ | expedition. Soon after his appointment, | ||
+ | and about the end of December he reached Matamoras | ||
+ | and began to make preparations for the attack on | ||
+ | Vera Cruz. Part of Taylor’s men were drawn away for | ||
+ | the southern campaign, and renewed complaints from him | ||
+ | were added to the general chorus of discord and dissatisfaction.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | reached Santa Anna through intercepted despatches, and | ||
+ | he at once conceived the project of a counter-stroke. | ||
+ | Advancing northward with an army of more than twenty | ||
+ | thousand men, he came upon Taylor February 23, 1847, | ||
+ | with only about one-fourth that number at Buena Vista, | ||
+ | a few miles south of Saltillo. The American troops gained | ||
+ | a brilliant victory,< | ||
+ | “army of occupation” was at an end.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | During the month of February, 1847, Scott’s troops were | ||
+ | conveyed by sea from Brazos Santiago and concentrated | ||
+ | on the island of Lobos, about sixty miles south of Tampico. | ||
+ | On March 9th a landing was made without opposition near | ||
+ | Vera Cruz. With the co-operation of the naval forces | ||
+ | under Commodore Conner the city was invested, and,< | ||
+ | after a brief siege culminating in a sharp bombardment, | ||
+ | was captured, March 29, 1847.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | to the City of | ||
+ | MEXICO</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | which began April 8th. The first resistance was met at | ||
+ | Cerro Gordo, where, on April 17th and 18th, Scott’s army | ||
+ | of not more than nine thousand drove thirteen thousand | ||
+ | Mexicans, in disastrous defeat, from a naturally strong | ||
+ | and well-fortified position. Finally there was a series of | ||
+ | battles near the city of Mexico, which culminated in its | ||
+ | capture, and which will be referred to further on.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | an idea which even after the failure of the Slidell mission | ||
+ | had been kept steadily in view.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In answer to the proposition to negotiate which came | ||
+ | through Trist, the American commissioner, | ||
+ | contrived to intimate that, if he were paid ten thousand | ||
+ | dollars down and one million on the conclusion of peace, | ||
+ | negotiations should begin at once. After consulting with | ||
+ | several of his officers, in a conference held late in July | ||
+ | or early in August, Scott paid the ten thousand dollars.< | ||
+ | Still no step was taken by the Mexicans toward negotiation | ||
+ | until they were beaten in the engagements at Contreras, | ||
+ | August 19th and 20th, and Churubusco, August | ||
+ | 20, 1847. Then Scott himself proposed an armistice,< | ||
+ | which was accepted August 24th. Commissioners were | ||
+ | appointed to meet Trist, and the effort to conclude a | ||
+ | treaty began. Whether it could have been accomplished | ||
+ | at that stage of the “conquering” on the basis of his instructions | ||
+ | is uncertain; but Trist’s wavering attitude undoubtedly | ||
+ | served to make the possibility much less. The | ||
+ | Mexican commissioners still refused to come to terms, and | ||
+ | submitted counter-propositions which were in conflict | ||
+ | with those instructions, | ||
+ | authorities at Washington.< | ||
+ | what Trist had done was received there, President Polk, | ||
+ | without waiting to hear from him directly, ordered his recall.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the mean time the armistice had been terminated and | ||
+ | the advance of the United States troops renewed. The | ||
+ | victories of Molino del Rey, September 8th, and Chapultepec, | ||
+ | September 13th, opened the way to the city of | ||
+ | Mexico, which was occupied on September 14th.<a id=" | ||
+ | Anna abdicated, and on November 22d the new government | ||
+ | announced to Trist that it had appointed commissioners | ||
+ | to negotiate. Trist had already received the | ||
+ | letter recalling him; but, in spite of this fact, he listened | ||
+ | to the suggestion of the Mexicans that they were not officially | ||
+ | notified of his recall, and were anxious to negotiate | ||
+ | on the terms of his original instructions.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | signed February 2, 1848. The boundary | ||
+ | agreed upon was to follow the Rio Grande from its mouth | ||
+ | to the line of New Mexico; that line westward and northward | ||
+ | to the first branch of the Gila it should cross; that | ||
+ | branch and the Gila to the Colorado; and the line between | ||
+ | Upper and Lower California thence to the Pacific.< | ||
+ | the territory thus ceded by Mexico the United States was | ||
+ | to satisfy the claims of its citizens on the Mexican government, | ||
+ | and to pay in addition thereto fifteen million | ||
+ | dollars. In spite of the fact that Trist’s authority had | ||
+ | been withdrawn before the final negotiations, | ||
+ | Polk submitted the treaty to the Senate, and after some | ||
+ | opposition and suspense it was ratified, March 10, 1848, | ||
+ | by a vote of 38 to 14.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | northern Mexico, an armistice terminated hostilities | ||
+ | till November 13th, 1846. By that time Santa Anna—who | ||
+ | had returned to Mexico—had mustered a powerful army | ||
+ | at San Luis Potosi, and was expected to march against | ||
+ | Monterey. Taylor, intending to act on the defensive only, | ||
+ | proposed to occupy a line stretching from Saltillo to Tampico, | ||
+ | which fort had been evacuated by the Mexicans; and, | ||
+ | in pursuance of this plan, marched on Saltillo and Victoria, | ||
+ | and occupied them without resistance. His plans were | ||
+ | frustrated by a requisition from General Scott depriving | ||
+ | him of Worth and Twiggs’ divisions of regulars. Thus | ||
+ | reduced to a force of some five thousand men—all of | ||
+ | whom, except a few dragoons and artillery, were volunteers—Taylor | ||
+ | was compelled to abandon his projected line, | ||
+ | and to content himself with one stretching from Saltillo | ||
+ | to the mouth of the Rio Grande. December, January, | ||
+ | and part of February were spent by the army in awaiting | ||
+ | the Mexican attack. It was known that Santa Anna | ||
+ | would advance from San Luis to expel the invaders; his | ||
+ | force was fairly estimated, and the wide disparity, in point | ||
+ | of numbers, between the two armies was not concealed | ||
+ | from the troops. Yet there was no thought of retreating; | ||
+ | on the contrary, when Taylor determined to advance southward | ||
+ | from Saltillo, and to occupy Agua Nueva, eighteen | ||
+ | miles nearer the foe, the whole army marched in high | ||
+ | spirits. It was subsequently found that the force under | ||
+ | Taylor—including Wool’s division, which had joined the<span class=" | ||
+ | main army—was too small to hold Agua Nueva, and a | ||
+ | retrograde movement was ordered to the pass of La | ||
+ | Angostura, a narrow defile near the hacienda of Buena | ||
+ | Vista. There the army awaited Santa Anna’s approach.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was on February 22d—Washington’s birthday—that | ||
+ | the Mexican advance made its appearance, rolling before | ||
+ | it clouds of dust. It had suffered dreadfully on the road | ||
+ | from San Luis from cold and want of supplies; but, allowing | ||
+ | for these sources of loss, the army led by Santa Anna | ||
+ | cannot have numbered less than twenty thousand men, | ||
+ | including four thousand cavalry and twenty pieces of | ||
+ | artillery; and the sufferings of the march made the soldiers | ||
+ | all the more eager for the battle. Disappointed in not | ||
+ | finding Taylor at Agua Nueva, as he had expected, Santa | ||
+ | Anna proclaimed that he had fled, and ordered the cavalry | ||
+ | in pursuit. The Mexicans had already had one experience | ||
+ | of Taylor’s flights—a second was at hand. When the | ||
+ | lancers reached the Angostura, they found the pass guarded | ||
+ | by Washington’s battery of eight pieces, and very properly | ||
+ | halted. The correspondence, | ||
+ | the two generals then took place; and on receipt of Taylor’s | ||
+ | laconic letter Santa Anna commenced the attack.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States army. The pass itself was so narrow that | ||
+ | Washington’s battery could guard it against almost any | ||
+ | force; impassable gullies and ravines flanked it on the | ||
+ | west, and on the east the mountains gradually rose to a | ||
+ | height of some two thousand feet. The only spot on | ||
+ | which a regular battle could be fought was a plateau on | ||
+ | the east of the pass, which stretched from the precipitous | ||
+ | mountain-slope nearly to the road, terminating on that | ||
+ | side in several ridges and ravines. This plateau gained, | ||
+ | the pass might have been turned; and accordingly Santa | ||
+ | Anna’s first thought was to master it. A strong body of | ||
+ | light infantry was despatched, in the afternoon of the 22d, | ||
+ | to climb the mountain-side which commanded the plateau; | ||
+ | but the moment the manœuvre was perceived a party of<span class=" | ||
+ | Taylor’s riflemen ascended the opposite ridge to keep them | ||
+ | in check. The Mexicans opened fire, and the Kentuckians | ||
+ | replied; and thus, as each body strove to overtop the | ||
+ | other, both ridges were soon covered with smoke. Foiled | ||
+ | in his object, Santa Anna awaited the morning to commence | ||
+ | operations in earnest; and Taylor, fearing an attack | ||
+ | on Saltillo, set out to complete the defences of that point | ||
+ | during the night.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At two o’clock in the morning the American pickets were | ||
+ | driven in, and at break of day the Mexican light infantry, | ||
+ | on the ridge above the plateau, led by General Ampudia, | ||
+ | commenced charging down into the ravine which separated | ||
+ | them from the Kentuckians. They had received reinforcements | ||
+ | during the night, and were at least eight to | ||
+ | one. Fortunately, | ||
+ | movement, and Lieutenant O’Brien was ready at the foot | ||
+ | of the hill with a piece of cannon. A very few discharges, | ||
+ | well-aimed, sent the Mexicans back to cover. Then the | ||
+ | main army advanced; two columns, under Pacheco and | ||
+ | Lombardini, supported by lancers and a twelve-pounder | ||
+ | battery in the rear, marching directly toward the plateau, | ||
+ | and a third moving against the pass. Wool had disposed | ||
+ | the army almost in a line across the plateau from the pass | ||
+ | to the mountain: Washington’s battery being on the right, | ||
+ | and O’Brien’s on the left wing, the infantry and a squadron | ||
+ | of dragoons in the centre, and the volunteer cavalry inclined | ||
+ | slightly to the rear on the right and left. About | ||
+ | nine in the morning Pacheco’s column debouched from a | ||
+ | ravine and began to form coolly on a ridge of the plateau. | ||
+ | General Lane hastened forward, skirting the mountains | ||
+ | with the Second Indiana volunteers and O’Brien’s battery, | ||
+ | to meet them. At two hundred yards O’Brien opened | ||
+ | with terrific effect; the close columns of the Mexicans | ||
+ | were ploughed by his shot. But the reply was steady and | ||
+ | almost equally effective. Raked on the left by the twelve-pounder | ||
+ | battery, and assailed by a storm of bullets from | ||
+ | the masses rising out of the ravine, the volunteers fell< | ||
+ | thickly round their colors, and, after some minutes, the | ||
+ | Indiana volunteers could stand it no longer, and fled in | ||
+ | spite of Lane’s efforts to rally them.<a id=" | ||
+ | almost alone with his guns. He fired one last discharge, | ||
+ | then, hastily limbering up, followed the flying infantry over | ||
+ | the plateau.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was an almost fatal movement; for, Lombardini | ||
+ | gaining the southern edge of the plateau at that moment, | ||
+ | the two Mexican columns united, and the lancers, who | ||
+ | swarmed on the flanks, galloped down on the volunteers. | ||
+ | To add to the danger, the Indiana regiment in its flight | ||
+ | became entangled with the Arkansas volunteers, who | ||
+ | caught the panic and fled likewise. Their loss in a fight | ||
+ | where the enemy was over four to one was severely felt. | ||
+ | However, nothing daunted, the Second Illinois, under | ||
+ | Colonel Bissell, received the Mexican fire, and returned | ||
+ | it as fast as the men could load. The dragoons, who | ||
+ | could do no service in such a conflict, were sent to the | ||
+ | rear; but a couple of guns, under Trench and Thomas, | ||
+ | were brought to bear, and every shot cut like a knife | ||
+ | through the Mexican columns. Still, it was impossible | ||
+ | for such a handful of men to check an army of thousands: | ||
+ | the enemy poured down the plateau, and, passing | ||
+ | between the mountain and the Illinoisans, | ||
+ | and poured in a flank as well as a front fire. Eighty men | ||
+ | having fallen in twenty minutes, Colonel Bissell gave the | ||
+ | word of command to face to the rear, and the gallant regiment, | ||
+ | as cool as if on drill, faced about, marched deliberately | ||
+ | a few yards toward the ravine—Churchill walking | ||
+ | his horse before them—then turned and resumed firing.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Arkansas volunteers off the plateau, and cutting off the | ||
+ | riflemen in the mountain from the main army. These, | ||
+ | perceiving the danger, and trusting that the lancers would< | ||
+ | be checked by the Arkansas and Kentucky cavalry, toward | ||
+ | which they were approaching, | ||
+ | and came running down the mountain-side, | ||
+ | view of cutting their way back to the batteries. But the | ||
+ | mounted volunteers made but a brief stand against the | ||
+ | impetuous charge of the lancers, and Ampudia’s light infantry | ||
+ | no sooner saw the riflemen move than they followed | ||
+ | close on their heels, firing as they went. The slaughter | ||
+ | of our poor fellows was dreadful; the Texans were annihilated. | ||
+ | In one confused mass, riflemen and volunteer | ||
+ | cavalry, Arkansans and Kentuckians were driven back | ||
+ | by the advancing columns of the enemy, and little was | ||
+ | wanted to complete the rout. Vainly did the officers try | ||
+ | to rally the fugitives. No sooner had a handful of men | ||
+ | been persuaded to halt and turn than a volley from the | ||
+ | Mexicans scattered them. Thus fell Captain Lincoln—a | ||
+ | chivalrous spirit, who was struck to the earth by two balls | ||
+ | in the act of cheering on a small party of Kentuckians to | ||
+ | hold their ground.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At this perilous moment the rattle of musketry was | ||
+ | drowned by a tremendous roar pf cannon in the direction | ||
+ | of the pass. The Mexicans under Villamil had approached | ||
+ | within range, and Captain Washington, who had sworn to | ||
+ | hold the pass against any odds, was keeping his word. | ||
+ | The gunners had been wild with ardor and suspense all | ||
+ | morning; they were now gratified, and, though three guns | ||
+ | had been taken from the battery, they poured such a murderous | ||
+ | fire upon Villamil’s column as it approached through | ||
+ | the narrow pass that, after wavering a moment, it scattered, | ||
+ | and most of the men sought refuge in the ravines. | ||
+ | The moment they broke the Second Illinoisans, | ||
+ | been stationed at the pass, eagerly followed their colonel, | ||
+ | Hardin, to the plateau, to share the dangers of their comrades. | ||
+ | Almost as soon McKee’s Kentuckians and Bragg’s | ||
+ | battery came plunging through the gullies on the west of | ||
+ | the pass and joined them; while Sherman’s guns were | ||
+ | speedily brought up from the rear. Thus the First Illinoisans< | ||
+ | were saved, and grape and canister mowed down | ||
+ | the Mexican masses at the foot of the mountain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | on by the left to the rear of Wool’s position. In half an | ||
+ | hour the pass might have been turned. Most providentially | ||
+ | at that moment Taylor arrived with Davis’ Mississippi | ||
+ | riflemen and May’s dragoons. The former barely stopped | ||
+ | an instant for the men to fill their canteens, then hastened | ||
+ | to the field. Boiling with rage, Davis called on the Indiana | ||
+ | volunteers to form “behind that wall,” pointing to | ||
+ | his men, and advance against their enemy. Their colonel, | ||
+ | Bowles, the tears streaming down his face, finding all his | ||
+ | appeals fruitless, seized a musket and joined the Mississippians | ||
+ | as a private. Time could not be lost; Ampudia | ||
+ | was close upon them; Davis formed and advanced | ||
+ | with steady tread against a body more than five times his | ||
+ | strength. A rain of balls poured upon the Mississippians, | ||
+ | but no man pulled a trigger till sure of his mark. Then | ||
+ | those deadly rifles blazed and stunned the Mexican advance. | ||
+ | A ravine separated them from the enemy; Davis | ||
+ | gave the word, and, with a cheer, down they rushed and | ||
+ | up the other side; then forming hastily, with one awful | ||
+ | volley they shattered the Mexican head and drove them | ||
+ | back to cover.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were descending on the hacienda. They were Torrejon’s | ||
+ | brigade, splendid fellows, mostly lancers, and brimful of | ||
+ | fight. Opposed to them were Yell’s Arkansas and Marshall’s | ||
+ | Kentucky mounted volunteers—less than half their | ||
+ | number. Hopelessly these brave fellows stood, firing their | ||
+ | carbines as the foe approached; but the last man was still | ||
+ | taking aim when the lancers were upon them like a whirlwind. | ||
+ | The brave Yell was dashed to the earth a corpse, | ||
+ | and Lieutenant Vaughan fell from his horse, pierced by | ||
+ | twenty-four wounds. Huddled together in a confused | ||
+ | mass, Mexicans and Americans dashed side by side toward | ||
+ | the hacienda, engaged in a death-struggle as they galloped< | ||
+ | onward, and enveloped in a cloud of dust. One tall | ||
+ | Mexican was seen, mounted upon a powerful horse, spearing | ||
+ | every one that came within reach, in the drunkenness | ||
+ | of battle; while here and there a Kentuckian, with native | ||
+ | coolness, loaded as he rode, and brought down man after | ||
+ | man. In less time than it takes to read these lines the | ||
+ | horses’ hoofs were rattling over the streets, shrieks and | ||
+ | shouts heralding their approach. Amid the din, the | ||
+ | crack of rifles from the roofs of the houses told that the | ||
+ | little garrison were holding their own. Through and | ||
+ | through the hacienda the Mexicans swept, disengaging | ||
+ | themselves from the volunteers just in time to escape a | ||
+ | charge from May’s dragoons, which came clattering down | ||
+ | the ravine to the rescue. Reynolds followed with two | ||
+ | pieces of flying artillery, and Torrejon himself, badly | ||
+ | wounded and minus several of his best men, was glad to | ||
+ | escape to the mountains.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Second Indiana volunteers from the hands of their bearer, | ||
+ | and bitterly swore that, with God’s help, that standard | ||
+ | should not be disgraced that day. “He would bear it | ||
+ | alone,” he said, “into the thick of the fight.” Roused by | ||
+ | his words, a few men rallied around him and joined the | ||
+ | Mississippi rifles on the plateau. The gallant Third Indiana | ||
+ | were there, and Sherman had brought up a howitzer. | ||
+ | Enraged at the failure of the attack on the hacienda, a | ||
+ | fresh body of lancers now charged these troops, advancing | ||
+ | in close column, knee to knee, and lance in rest. In | ||
+ | breathless haste the volunteers were thrown across the | ||
+ | narrow ridge, in two lines, meeting at an angle near the | ||
+ | centre. Not a whisper broke the silence as the Mexicans | ||
+ | approached, and the intrepid bearing of men whom nothing | ||
+ | could have saved from destruction if the charge had | ||
+ | been vigorous appalled the lancers. Within eighty yards | ||
+ | of the lines they actually halted. At that instant the | ||
+ | rifles were raised: a second—an awful second—elapsed. | ||
+ | Then “Fire!” and a blaze ran round the angle. The<span class=" | ||
+ | Mexican column was destroyed. Horses and men writhed | ||
+ | on the plain. The rear rank stood for a moment, but a | ||
+ | single discharge from the howitzer scattered them too, | ||
+ | and they fell back. For the first time during the day | ||
+ | fortune seemed to favor the Americans. Hemmed in | ||
+ | on two sides, and driven to the base of the mountain, | ||
+ | five thousand Mexicans, horse and foot, with Ampudia’s | ||
+ | division, were being slaughtered by nine guns, which | ||
+ | never slackened fire. Their fate was certain; when a flag | ||
+ | of truce from Santa Anna induced Taylor to silence his | ||
+ | batteries. It was only a ruse. Santa Anna asked, “What | ||
+ | does General Taylor want?” Before the answer reached | ||
+ | him, the Mexicans had made good their escape to the rear.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | its fire upon our troops. This was the eighteen | ||
+ | and twenty-four pounder battery of the battalion of San | ||
+ | Patricio, composed of Irishmen, deserters from our ranks, | ||
+ | and commanded by an Irishman named Riley. Harassed | ||
+ | by this fire, and perceiving the enemy’s treachery, Taylor | ||
+ | sent the Illinoisans and Kentuckians, | ||
+ | of artillery, in pursuit of Ampudia. They hurried forward | ||
+ | along the heads of the ravines; but to their horror, | ||
+ | as they neared the southern edge of the plateau, an overwhelming | ||
+ | force of over ten thousand men, comprising | ||
+ | the whole of Santa Anna’s reserve, emerged from below | ||
+ | and deployed before their firing. To resist was madness. | ||
+ | The volunteers discharged their pieces and rushed precipitately | ||
+ | into the nearest gorge. Its sides were steep, | ||
+ | and many rolled headlong to the bottom. Others were | ||
+ | massacred by a shower of bullets poured from Mexicans | ||
+ | who clustered on both ridges above. In the midst of | ||
+ | the carnage, Hardin, McKee, and many other brave officers | ||
+ | fell, vainly trying to seek an exit for their troops. | ||
+ | At the mouth of the ravine a squadron of lancers were | ||
+ | ready to cut off their escape. Down the sides poured | ||
+ | the Mexican infantry, slaughtering the wounded with | ||
+ | the bayonet and driving the helpless mass before them.< | ||
+ | Above, pale as death, with compressed lips, O’Brien and | ||
+ | Thomas stood to their deserted pieces. Once before that | ||
+ | morning the Mexican shot had left the former alone at | ||
+ | his gun; for the second time the fortune of the day seemed | ||
+ | to depend on his single exertions. If he could hold the | ||
+ | enemy at bay for a few minutes, there would be time for | ||
+ | other batteries to come up. Ball after ball tore ragged | ||
+ | gaps through the advancing host. After each discharge | ||
+ | O’Brien fell back just far enough to load and fire again, | ||
+ | praying in an agony that help might come. He was | ||
+ | wounded himself; all his men were killed or wounded; | ||
+ | but he never flinched before the surging wave of Mexicans | ||
+ | until the clack of whips and the rattle of wheels were | ||
+ | heard behind him. Then—for he knew it was Bragg | ||
+ | urging onward his jaded horses—the brave fellow aimed | ||
+ | one deadly volley of canister and abandoned his piece. | ||
+ | The next moment Bragg unlimbered and opened a telling | ||
+ | fire. Sherman followed, and, Davis and Lane coming up | ||
+ | at a run, the crack of rifles was heard away to the extreme | ||
+ | left. On the right, the well-known roar of Washington’s | ||
+ | guns startled the foe. It was the death-warrant of the | ||
+ | lancers, who were penning our volunteers in the ravine. | ||
+ | Out came the remnant, leaving crowds of dead, and not | ||
+ | one man wounded, in the horrid trap, and hastily scaled | ||
+ | the side of the plateau. Taylor was there, coolly picking | ||
+ | the balls out of his dress, and Wool rode wildly backward | ||
+ | and forward, urging on the rear ranks. But it was needless. | ||
+ | At Bragg’s third discharge the whole body of the | ||
+ | Mexicans broke and dashed pell-mell into the ravine | ||
+ | whence they had come.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the enemy a short distance; but the San Patricio | ||
+ | battery still commanded the southern edge of the plateau, | ||
+ | and the troops were so fagged that they could hardly | ||
+ | walk. Night was coming on, and the firing ceased. The | ||
+ | men lay down where they stood; and a few, overcome by | ||
+ | fatigue, slept side by side with the dead and the wounded.< | ||
+ | It was a dark, gloomy night, and a bitter wind swept | ||
+ | from the mountain. Not far in the distance the wolf’s | ||
+ | howl broke dismally on the ear, and the vultures flapped | ||
+ | their wings overhead. Nothing was known of the Mexican | ||
+ | army; no one could say what the morrow might bring | ||
+ | forth. With anxious eye the officers looked for the dawn.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It came at last; and to their inexpressible delight the | ||
+ | first streaks of light in the eastern sky revealed a deserted | ||
+ | camp. The Mexicans had fled. An army of over twenty | ||
+ | thousand men, comprising the flower of the Mexican | ||
+ | troops, had been beaten by forty-six hundred Americans, | ||
+ | over four thousand of whom were raw volunteers. Such | ||
+ | a cheer as rose from the pass of Angostura on that February | ||
+ | morning never before or since re-echoed through | ||
+ | the dark gorges of the Sierra Madre.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | The stars and stripes floated over the citadel of | ||
+ | Monterey, and the flower of the Mexican army, commanded | ||
+ | by their greatest general, had been repulsed at | ||
+ | Buena Vista. Nothing now remained but to strike a | ||
+ | blow at the vitals of the southern republic. That task | ||
+ | had been imposed on General Scott, whose skill and experience | ||
+ | designated him as the proper man to conduct a | ||
+ | campaign in which the fate of the war was to be decided.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On March 6, 1847, the fleet of transports and men-of-war | ||
+ | was concentrated near Vera Cruz. It bore a small | ||
+ | but well-disciplined force of some twelve thousand men, | ||
+ | comprising the whole standing army of the United States—four | ||
+ | regiments of artillery, eight of infantry, one of | ||
+ | mounted riflemen, and detachments of dragoons—besides | ||
+ | eight volunteer regiments of foot and one of horse. | ||
+ | Major-General Scott commanded the whole, with Worth, | ||
+ | fresh from the brilliant capture of Monterey, Twiggs, and | ||
+ | the volunteer Patterson as his brigadiers. Under the | ||
+ | latter served Generals Quitman, Pillow, and Shields.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | after Quebec. Situated on the border of the Gulf, it was | ||
+ | surrounded by a line of bastions and redans, terminating | ||
+ | at either extremity in a fort of large capacity. A sandy | ||
+ | plain encircled it on the land side, affording no protection | ||
+ | to an assailant within seven hundred yards of the walls; | ||
+ | and toward the sea, on a reef at a distance of rather more | ||
+ | than half a mile, the famous fort of San Juan d’Ulloa | ||
+ | commanded the harbor. In March, 1847, the city< | ||
+ | mounted nearly ninety, the castle one hundred and | ||
+ | twenty-eight guns of various calibers, including several | ||
+ | thirteen-inch mortars and ten-inch Paixhans. So implicit | ||
+ | was the faith of the Mexicans in the strength of the | ||
+ | place that, having rendered it, as they believed, impregnable, | ||
+ | they left its defence to a garrison of five thousand | ||
+ | men, and bade them remember that the city was | ||
+ | named Vera Cruz the Invincible. This was the first mistake | ||
+ | of the enemy; a second was omitting to provision | ||
+ | the place for a siege; a third was allowing women, children, | ||
+ | and non-combatants to remain in the town. In | ||
+ | this instance, as in so many others, the overweening assurance | ||
+ | of the Mexicans was the cause of their ruin. | ||
+ | Monterey and Buena Vista should have taught them to | ||
+ | know better.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and by the 12th a line of troops five miles long surrounded | ||
+ | Vera Cruz. On the 22d the bombardment was begun, | ||
+ | and on the 26th, without an assault, the Mexicans began | ||
+ | negotiations for a surrender, which took place three days | ||
+ | afterward.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On April 8th the army, headed by Twiggs’ division, | ||
+ | moved forward on the national road toward the city | ||
+ | of Mexico. At the mountain-pass of Cerro Gordo the | ||
+ | Mexicans, under Santa Anna, had made a stand. They | ||
+ | had planted batteries to command all the level ground, | ||
+ | and behind them were some twelve thousand infantry | ||
+ | and cavalry. The fighting began on the 17th with an | ||
+ | attack by Twiggs on the Mexican left, which resulted | ||
+ | in driving back the Mexicans, and in the capture of a | ||
+ | strong position on a hill called Atalaya, where some | ||
+ | cannon were mounted in the night. The next day the | ||
+ | desperate assaults of Harney and Riley stormed the | ||
+ | redoubts on the crest of Cerro Gordo, and Riley and<span class=" | ||
+ | Shields charged and captured the Mexican batteries on | ||
+ | the road. On the left Pillow was less successful, but | ||
+ | the guns of Cerro Gordo were turned against the Mexicans, | ||
+ | who, seeing the defeat of Santa Anna, hoisted a white | ||
+ | flag. Three thousand men, including five generals, | ||
+ | surrendered to General Scott, and over a thousand were | ||
+ | killed or wounded. Of the American force of eighty-five | ||
+ | hundred, sixty-three were killed and three hundred | ||
+ | and sixty-eight wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the occupation of the towns of Perote and Puebla were | ||
+ | followed by a delay due to the necessity of waiting for | ||
+ | reinforcements to replace the three thousand volunteers | ||
+ | whose time had expired.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | as it moved from Vera Cruz to the mountains, had | ||
+ | to sustain a running fight with the guerrillas whom | ||
+ | Santa Anna had let loose on the road. All arrived, however, | ||
+ | in safety, and by the beginning of August General | ||
+ | Scott was ready to move on the valley of Mexico with | ||
+ | ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight men, leaving | ||
+ | Colonel Childs with fourteen hundred to garrison Puebla. | ||
+ | On the third day they stood upon the summit of the | ||
+ | ridge which looks down upon the valley of Mexico, with | ||
+ | the city itself glittering in the centre, and bright lakes, | ||
+ | grim forts, and busy causeways dotting the dark expanse | ||
+ | of marsh and lava. That night the troops encamped at | ||
+ | the foot of the mountains and within the valley on the | ||
+ | border of Lake Chalco.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | throughout the war, he had prepared for a desperate | ||
+ | defence. Civil strife had been silenced, funds raised, an | ||
+ | army of twenty-five thousand men mustered, and every | ||
+ | precaution taken which genius could suggest or science | ||
+ | indicate. Nature had done much for him. Directly in | ||
+ | front of the invading army lay the large lakes of Xochimilco | ||
+ | and Chalco. These turned, vast marshes, intersected< | ||
+ | by ditches and for the most part impassable, surrounded | ||
+ | the city on the east and south—on which side | ||
+ | Scott was advancing—for several miles. The only approaches | ||
+ | were by causeways, and these Santa Anna had | ||
+ | taken prodigious pains to guard. The national road to | ||
+ | Vera Cruz—which Scott must have taken had he marched | ||
+ | on the north side of the lakes—was commanded by a fort | ||
+ | mounting fifty-one guns on an impregnable hill called El | ||
+ | Peñon. Did he turn the southern side of the lakes, a | ||
+ | field of lava, deemed almost impassable for troops, interposed | ||
+ | a primary obstacle, and fortified positions at San | ||
+ | Antonio, San Angel, and Churubusco, with an intrenched | ||
+ | camp at Contreras, were likewise to be surmounted before | ||
+ | the southern causeways could be reached. Beyond | ||
+ | these there yet remained the formidable castle of Chapultepec | ||
+ | and the strong enclosure of Molino del Rey to be | ||
+ | stormed before the city gates could be reached. Powerful | ||
+ | batteries had been mounted at all these points, and | ||
+ | ample garrisons detailed to serve them. The bone and | ||
+ | muscle of Mexico were there. Goaded by defeat, Santa | ||
+ | Anna never showed so much vigor; ambition fired Valencia; | ||
+ | patriotism stirred the soul of Alvarez; Canalejo, | ||
+ | maddened by the odium into which he had fallen, was | ||
+ | boiling to regain his sobriquet of “The Lion of Mexico.” | ||
+ | With a constancy equal to anything recorded of the | ||
+ | Roman Senate, the Mexican Congress, on learning the | ||
+ | defeat at Cerro Gordo, had voted unanimously that any | ||
+ | one opening negotiations with the enemy should be | ||
+ | deemed a traitor, and the citizens with one accord had | ||
+ | ratified the vote. Within six months Mexico had lost | ||
+ | two splendid armies in two pitched battles against the | ||
+ | troops now advancing against the capital; but she never | ||
+ | lost heart.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Peñon could not be carried without a loss of one-third the<span class=" | ||
+ | army, Scott decided to move by the south of the lakes; | ||
+ | and Worth accordingly advanced, leading the van, as | ||
+ | far as San Augustin, nine miles from the city of Mexico. | ||
+ | There a large field of lava—known as the Pedregal—barred | ||
+ | the way. On the one side, a couple of miles from | ||
+ | San Augustin, the fortified works at San Antonio commanded | ||
+ | the passage between the field and the lake; on | ||
+ | the other the ground was so much broken that infantry | ||
+ | alone could advance, and General Valencia occupied an | ||
+ | intrenched camp, with a heavy battery, near the village | ||
+ | of Contreras, three miles distant. Scott determined to | ||
+ | attack on both sides, and sent forward Worth on the east | ||
+ | and Pillow and Twiggs on the west. The latter advanced | ||
+ | as fast as possible over the masses of lava on the morning | ||
+ | of the 19th, and by 2 <span class=" | ||
+ | placed in position and opened fire on the Mexican camp.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the same time, General Persifer Smith conceived | ||
+ | the plan of turning Valencia’s left, and hastened along | ||
+ | the path through the Pedregal in the direction of a village | ||
+ | called San Jeronimo. Colonel Riley followed. Pillow | ||
+ | sent Cadwalader’s brigade on the same line, and later in | ||
+ | the day Morgan’s regiment was likewise despatched toward | ||
+ | that point. They drove in the Mexican pickets and | ||
+ | skirmishers, | ||
+ | the village without loss. Seeing the movement, | ||
+ | Santa Anna hastened to Valencia’s support with twelve | ||
+ | thousand men. He was discovered by Cadwalader just | ||
+ | as the latter gained the village road; and, appreciating | ||
+ | the vast importance of preventing a junction between | ||
+ | the two Mexican generals, that gallant officer did not | ||
+ | hesitate to draw up his brigade in order of battle. So | ||
+ | broken was the ground that Santa Anna could not see | ||
+ | the amount of force opposed to him, and declined the | ||
+ | combat. This was all Cadwalader wanted. Shields’ | ||
+ | brigade was advancing through the Pedregal, and the | ||
+ | troops which had already crossed were rapidly moving to | ||
+ | the rear of Valencia’s camp. Night, too, was close at<span class=" | ||
+ | hand. When it fell, Smith’s, Riley’s, and Cadwalader’s | ||
+ | commands had gained the point they sought. Shields | ||
+ | joined them at ten o’clock; and at midnight Captain Lee | ||
+ | crossed the Pedregal, with a message from General Smith | ||
+ | to General Scott, to say that he would commence the | ||
+ | attack at daybreak next morning.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It rained all night, and the men lay in the mud without | ||
+ | fires. At three in the morning (August 20th) the | ||
+ | word was passed to march. Such pitchy darkness covered | ||
+ | the face of the plain that Smith ordered every man | ||
+ | to touch his front file as he marched. Now and then a | ||
+ | flash of lightning lit up the narrow ravine; occasionally | ||
+ | a straggling moonbeam pierced the clouds and shed an | ||
+ | uncertain glimmer on the heights; but these flitting | ||
+ | guides only served to make the darkness seem darker. | ||
+ | The soldiers groped their way, stumbling over stones and | ||
+ | brushwood, and did not gain the rear of the camp till day | ||
+ | broke. Then Riley bade his men look to the priming of | ||
+ | their guns and reload those which the rain had wet. | ||
+ | With the first ray of daylight the firing had recommenced | ||
+ | between the Mexican camp and Ransom’s corps stationed | ||
+ | in front and Shields’ brigade at San Jeronimo. Almost | ||
+ | at the same moment Riley began to ascend the height | ||
+ | in the rear. Before he reached the crest, his engineers, | ||
+ | who had gone forward to reconnoitre, | ||
+ | to say that his advance had been detected, that two | ||
+ | guns were being pointed against him, and a body of infantry | ||
+ | were sallying from the camp. The news braced | ||
+ | the men’s nerves. They gained the ridge, and stood a | ||
+ | tremendous volley from the Mexicans without flinching. | ||
+ | Poor Hanson of the Seventh—a gallant officer and an | ||
+ | excellent man—was shot down with many others; but | ||
+ | the Mexicans had done their worst. With steady aim, | ||
+ | the volley was returned; and ere the smoke rose a cheer | ||
+ | rang through the ravine and Riley fell with a swoop on | ||
+ | the intrenchments. With bayonet and butt of musket, | ||
+ | the Second and Seventh drove the enemy from his guns,< | ||
+ | leaping into his camp and slaughtering all before them. | ||
+ | Up rushed Smith’s own brigade on the left, driving a | ||
+ | party of Mexicans before them, and charging with the | ||
+ | bayonet straight at Torrejon’s cavalry, which was drawn | ||
+ | up in order of battle. Defeat was marked on their faces. | ||
+ | Valencia was nowhere to be found. Salas strove vainly | ||
+ | to rouse his men to defend themselves with energy; Torrejon’s | ||
+ | horse, smitten with panic, broke and fled at the | ||
+ | advance of our infantry. Riley hurled the Mexicans | ||
+ | from their camp after a struggle of a quarter of an hour; | ||
+ | and as they rushed down the ravine their own cavalry | ||
+ | rode over them, trampling down more men than the | ||
+ | bayonet and ball had laid low. On the right, as they | ||
+ | fled, Cadwalader’s brigade poured in a destructive volley; | ||
+ | and Shields, throwing his party across the road, | ||
+ | obstructed their retreat and compelled the fugitives to | ||
+ | yield themselves prisoners of war; The only fight of any | ||
+ | moment had taken place within the camp. There, for | ||
+ | a few minutes, the Mexicans had fought desperately; | ||
+ | two of our regimental colors had been shot down; but | ||
+ | finally Anglo-Saxon bone and sinew had triumphed. To | ||
+ | the delight of the assailants, the first prize of victory | ||
+ | was the guns O’Brien had abandoned at Buena Vista, | ||
+ | which were regained by his own regiment. Twenty | ||
+ | other guns and over one thousand prisoners, including | ||
+ | eighty-eight officers and four generals, were likewise captured, | ||
+ | and some fifteen hundred Mexicans killed and | ||
+ | wounded. The American loss in killed, wounded, and | ||
+ | missing was about one hundred men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in pursuit toward the city. By ten o’clock in the | ||
+ | morning he reached San Angel, which Santa Anna | ||
+ | evacuated as he approached. The general-in-chief and | ||
+ | the generals of division had by this time relieved Smith | ||
+ | of his command; Scott rode to the front, and in a few | ||
+ | brief words told the men there was more work to be done | ||
+ | that day. A loud cheer from the ranks was the reply.< | ||
+ | The whole force then advanced to Coyacan, within a mile | ||
+ | of Churubusco, and prepared to assault the place.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | awaited the attack in perfect confidence with thirty | ||
+ | thousand men. The defences were of a very simple description. | ||
+ | On the west, in the direction of Coyacan, stood | ||
+ | the large stone convent of San Pablo, in which seven heavy | ||
+ | guns were mounted, and which, as well as the wall and | ||
+ | breastworks in front, was filled with infantry. A breastwork | ||
+ | connected San Pablo with the <i xml: | ||
+ | Churubusco River, four hundred yards distant. This was | ||
+ | the easternmost point of defence, and formed part of the | ||
+ | San Antonio causeway leading to the city. It was a | ||
+ | work constructed with the greatest skill—bastions, | ||
+ | and wet ditch, everything was complete and perfect—four | ||
+ | guns were mounted in embrasure and barbette, | ||
+ | and as many men as the place would hold were stationed | ||
+ | there. The reserves occupied the causeway behind Churubusco. | ||
+ | Independently of his defences, Santa Anna’s | ||
+ | numbers—nearly five to one—ought to have insured the | ||
+ | repulse of the assailants.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>By eleven—hardly seven hours having elapsed since | ||
+ | the Contreras camp had been stormed, five miles away—Twiggs | ||
+ | and Pillow were in motion toward the San Antonio | ||
+ | causeway. Nothing had been heard of Worth, | ||
+ | who had been directed to move along the east side of the | ||
+ | Pedregal on San Antonio; but it was taken for granted | ||
+ | he had carried the point, and Scott wished to cut off the | ||
+ | retreat of the garrison. Twiggs was advancing cautiously | ||
+ | toward the convent, when a heavy firing was heard in | ||
+ | advance. Supposing that a reconnoitring party had | ||
+ | been attacked, he hastily sent forward the First Artillery, | ||
+ | under Dimmick, through a field of tall corn, to support | ||
+ | them. No sooner had they separated from the main< | ||
+ | body than a terrific discharge of grape, canister, and | ||
+ | musketry assailed them from the convent. In the teeth | ||
+ | of the storm they advanced to within one hundred yards | ||
+ | of that building, and a light battery under Taylor was | ||
+ | brought up on their right and opened on the convent. | ||
+ | Over an hour the gunners stood firm to their pieces under | ||
+ | a fire as terrible as troops ever endured; one-third of the | ||
+ | command had fallen before they were withdrawn. Colonel | ||
+ | Riley meanwhile, with the stormers of Contreras, had | ||
+ | been despatched to assail San Pablo on the west, and, | ||
+ | like Dimmick, was met by a murderous rain of shot. | ||
+ | Whole heads of companies were mowed down at once. | ||
+ | Thus Captain Smith fell, twice wounded, with every man | ||
+ | beside him; and a single discharge from the Mexican | ||
+ | guns swept down Lieutenant Easley and the section he | ||
+ | led. It was the second time that day the gallant Second | ||
+ | had served as targets for the Mexicans, but not a man | ||
+ | fell back. General Smith ordered up the Third in support, | ||
+ | and these, protecting themselves as best they could | ||
+ | behind a few huts, kept up a steady fire on the convent. | ||
+ | Sallies from the works were constantly made and as | ||
+ | constantly repulsed, but not a step could the assailants | ||
+ | make in advance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>By this time the battle was raging on three different | ||
+ | points. Worth had marched on San Antonio that morning, | ||
+ | found it evacuated, and given chase to the Mexicans | ||
+ | with the Fifth and Sixth Infantry. The causeway leading | ||
+ | from San Antonio to the <i xml: | ||
+ | was thronged with flying horse and foot; our troops | ||
+ | dashed headlong after them, never halting till the advance | ||
+ | corps—the Sixth—were within short range of the | ||
+ | Mexican batteries. A tremendous volley from the <i xml: | ||
+ | de pont</ | ||
+ | them to await the arrival of the rest of the division. This | ||
+ | was the fire which Twiggs heard when he sent Dimmick | ||
+ | against the convent.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Sixth to advance as best they could along the causeway | ||
+ | in the teeth of the <i xml: | ||
+ | and Clarke’s brigades through the fields on the right to | ||
+ | attack it in flank. Every gun was instantly directed | ||
+ | against the assailants; and, though the day was bright | ||
+ | and clear, the clouds of smoke actually darkened the air. | ||
+ | Hoffman, waving his sword, cheered on the Sixth; but | ||
+ | the shot tore and ripped up their ranks to such a degree | ||
+ | that in a few minutes they had lost ninety-seven men. | ||
+ | The brigades on the right suffered as severely. One | ||
+ | hundred men fell within the space of an acre. Still they | ||
+ | pressed on, till the Eighth (of Clarke’s brigade) reached | ||
+ | the ditch. In they plunged, Lieutenant Longstreet bearing | ||
+ | the colors in advance—scrambled out on the other | ||
+ | side—dashed at the walls, without ladders or scaling | ||
+ | implements—bayoneted the defenders as they took aim. | ||
+ | At last officers and men, mixed pell-mell, some through | ||
+ | the embrasures, some over the walls, rushed or leaped | ||
+ | in and drove the garrison helter-skelter upon their reserves.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | convent, whence the Mexicans were still slaughtering our | ||
+ | gallant Second and Third. Duncan’s battery, too, hitherto | ||
+ | in reserve, was brought up, and opened with such | ||
+ | rapidity that a bystander estimated the intervals between | ||
+ | the reports at three seconds. Stunned by this | ||
+ | novel attack, the garrison of San Pablo slackened fire. | ||
+ | In an instant the Third, followed by Dimmick’s artillery, | ||
+ | dashed forward with the bayonet to storm the nearest | ||
+ | bastion. With a run they carried it, the artillery bursting | ||
+ | over the curtain; but at that moment a dozen white | ||
+ | flags waved in their faces. The whole fortified position | ||
+ | of Churubusco was taken.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | these was raging behind the Mexican fortifications. Soon | ||
+ | after the battle commenced, Scott sent Pierce and | ||
+ | Shields’ brigades by the left, through the fields, to attack< | ||
+ | the enemy in the rear. On the causeway, opposed | ||
+ | to them, were planted Santa Anna’s reserves—four | ||
+ | thousand foot and three thousand horse—in a measure | ||
+ | protected by a dense growth of maguey. Shields advanced | ||
+ | intrepidly with his force of sixteen hundred. The | ||
+ | ground was marshy, and for a long distance—having | ||
+ | vainly endeavored to outflank the enemy—his advance | ||
+ | was exposed to their whole fire. Morgan, of the Fifteenth, | ||
+ | fell wounded. The New York regiment suffered fearfully, | ||
+ | and their leader, Colonel Burnett, was disabled. The | ||
+ | Palmettos, of South Carolina, and the Ninth, under Ransom, | ||
+ | were as severely cut up; and after a while all sought | ||
+ | shelter in and about a large barn near the causeway. | ||
+ | Shields, in an agony at the failure of his movement, cried | ||
+ | imploringly for volunteers to follow him. The appeal | ||
+ | was instantly answered by Colonel Butler, of the Palmettos: | ||
+ | “Every South-Carolinian will follow you to the | ||
+ | death!” The cry was contagious, and most of the New-Yorkers | ||
+ | took it up. Forming at angles to the causeway, | ||
+ | Shields led these brave men, under an incessant hail of | ||
+ | shot, against the village of Portales, where the Mexican | ||
+ | reserves were posted. Not a trigger was pulled till they | ||
+ | stood at a hundred and fifty yards from the enemy. | ||
+ | Then the little band poured in their volley, fatally answered | ||
+ | by the Mexican host. Butler, already wounded, | ||
+ | was shot through the head, and died instantly. Calling | ||
+ | to the Palmettos to avenge his death, Shields gives the | ||
+ | word to charge. They charge—not four hundred in all—over | ||
+ | the plain, down upon four thousand Mexicans, | ||
+ | securely posted under cover. At every step their ranks | ||
+ | thinned. Dickenson, who succeeded Butler in command | ||
+ | of the Palmettos, seizes the colors as the bearer falls | ||
+ | dead; the next moment he is down himself, mortally | ||
+ | wounded, and Major Gladden snatches them from his | ||
+ | hand. Adams, Moragne, and nearly half the gallant | ||
+ | band are prostrate. A very few minutes more, and there | ||
+ | will be no one left to bear the glorious flag.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | But at this very moment a deafening roar was heard | ||
+ | in the direction of the <i xml: | ||
+ | grape, rifle-balls and canister came crashing down the | ||
+ | causeway into the Mexican ranks from their own battery. | ||
+ | Worth was there just in time. Down the road and over | ||
+ | the ditch, through the field and hedge and swamp, in | ||
+ | tumult and panic, the Mexicans fled from the bayonets | ||
+ | of the Sixth and Garland’s brigade. A shout, louder | ||
+ | than the cannon’s peal—Worth was on their heels, with | ||
+ | his best men. Before Shields reached the causeway he | ||
+ | was by his side, driving the Mexican horse into their | ||
+ | infantry, and Ayres was galloping up with a captured | ||
+ | Mexican gun. Captain Kearny, with a few dragoons, | ||
+ | rode straight into the flying host, scattered them right | ||
+ | and left, sabred all he could reach, and halted before | ||
+ | the gate of Mexico. Not till then did he perceive that he | ||
+ | was alone with his little party, nearly all of whom were | ||
+ | wounded; but, in spite of the hundreds of escopetas that | ||
+ | were levelled at him, he galloped back in safety to headquarters.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and a defiant metropolis, set at even on a shattered, haggard | ||
+ | band and a city full of woe-stricken wretches who | ||
+ | did nothing all night but quake with terror and cry at | ||
+ | every noise, “Aqui viene los Yanquies!” All along the | ||
+ | causeway, and in the fields and swamp on either side, | ||
+ | heaps of dead men and cattle, intermingled with broken | ||
+ | ammunition-carts, | ||
+ | told. A gory track leading to the <i xml: | ||
+ | dead in the fields on the west of Churubusco, over whose | ||
+ | pale faces some stalks of tattered corn still waved, red | ||
+ | blotches in the marsh next the causeway, where the rich | ||
+ | blood of Carolina and New York soaked the earth, showed | ||
+ | where the fire of the heavy Mexican guns and the countless | ||
+ | escopetas of the infantry had been most murderous. | ||
+ | Scott had lost, in that day’s work, over one thousand men | ||
+ | in killed and wounded, seventy-nine of whom were officers.< | ||
+ | The Mexican loss, according to Santa Anna, was one-third | ||
+ | of his army, equal probably to ten thousand men, one-fourth | ||
+ | of whom were prisoners, the rest killed and wounded. | ||
+ | As the sun went down the troops were recalled to | ||
+ | headquarters; | ||
+ | with straggling parties, seeking some lost comrade in the | ||
+ | cold and rain, and surgeons hurrying from place to place | ||
+ | and offering succor to the wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It would have been easy for Scott to have marched on | ||
+ | the city that night, or next morning, and seized it before | ||
+ | the Mexicans recovered the shock of their defeat. Anxious, | ||
+ | however, to shorten the war, and assured that Santa | ||
+ | Anna was desirous of negotiating; | ||
+ | neutrals and others that the hostile occupation of the | ||
+ | capital would destroy the last chance of peaceable accommodation | ||
+ | and rouse the Mexican spirit to resistance | ||
+ | all over the country, the American general consented, too | ||
+ | generously perhaps, to offer an armistice to his vanquished | ||
+ | foe. It was eagerly accepted, and negotiations were | ||
+ | commenced which lasted over a fortnight. Early in | ||
+ | September the treachery of the Mexicans became apparent. | ||
+ | No progress had been made in the negotiations; | ||
+ | and, in defiance of the armistice, an American wagon, | ||
+ | proceeding to the city for provisions, had been attacked | ||
+ | by the mob and one man killed and others wounded. | ||
+ | Scott wrote to Santa Anna, demanding an apology, and | ||
+ | threatening to terminate the armistice on the 7th if it | ||
+ | were not tendered. The reply was insulting in the extreme; | ||
+ | Santa Anna had repaired his losses and was | ||
+ | ready for another fight.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the evening of the 7th of September Worth and his | ||
+ | officers were gathered in his quarters at Tacubaya. On | ||
+ | a table lay a hastily sketched map showing the position | ||
+ | of the fortified works at Molino del Rey, with the Casa< | ||
+ | Mata on one side and the castle of Chapultepec on the | ||
+ | other. The Molino was occupied by the enemy; there | ||
+ | was reason to believe it contained a foundry in full operation, | ||
+ | and Worth had been directed to storm it next morning. | ||
+ | Over that table bent Garland and Clarke, eager to | ||
+ | repeat the glorious deeds of August 20th at the <i xml: | ||
+ | pont</ | ||
+ | Wright, the leader of the forlorn-hope, | ||
+ | of the morrow; famous Martin Scott and dauntless | ||
+ | Graham, little dreaming that a few hours would see their | ||
+ | livid corpses stretched upon the plain; fierce old McIntosh, | ||
+ | covered with scars; Worth himself, his manly brow | ||
+ | clouded and his cheek paled by sickness and anxiety. | ||
+ | Each officer had his place assigned to him in the conflict; | ||
+ | and they parted to seek a few hours’ rest. At half-past | ||
+ | two in the morning of the 8th the division was astir. | ||
+ | ’Twas a bright, starlight night, whose silence was unbroken | ||
+ | as the troops moved thoughtfully toward the | ||
+ | battle-field. In front, on the right, about a mile from | ||
+ | the encampment, the hewn-stone walls of the Molino del | ||
+ | Rey—a range of buildings five hundred yards long and | ||
+ | well adapted for defence—were distinctly visible, with | ||
+ | drowsy lights twinkling through the windows. A little | ||
+ | farther off, on the left, stood the black pile of the Casa | ||
+ | Mata, the arsenal, crenelled for musketry and surrounded | ||
+ | by a quadrangular field-work. Beyond the Casa Mata | ||
+ | lay a ravine, and from this a ditch and hedge ran, passing | ||
+ | in front of both works to the Tacubaya road. Far | ||
+ | on the right the grim old castle of Chapultepec loomed up | ||
+ | darkly against the sky. Sleep wrapped the whole Mexican | ||
+ | line, and but few words were spoken in the American | ||
+ | ranks as the troops took up their respective positions—Garland, | ||
+ | with Dunn’s battery and Huger’s twenty-four-pounders, | ||
+ | on the right, against the Molino; Wright, at | ||
+ | the head of the stormers, and followed by the light division, | ||
+ | under Captain Kirby Smith, in the centre; McIntosh, | ||
+ | with Duncan’s battery, on the left, near the ravine, looking< | ||
+ | toward the Casa Mata; and Cadwallader, | ||
+ | brigade, in reserve.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | roused from their slumbers by the roar of Huger’s twenty-four-pounders | ||
+ | and the crashing of the balls through the | ||
+ | roof and walls of the Molino. A shout arose within their | ||
+ | lines, spreading from the ravine to the castle; lights | ||
+ | flashed in every direction, bugles sounded, the clank of | ||
+ | arms rang from right to left, and every man girded himself | ||
+ | for the fray. With the first ray of daylight Major | ||
+ | Wright advanced with the forlorn-hope down the slope. | ||
+ | A few seconds elapsed; then a sheet of flame burst from | ||
+ | the batteries, and round-shot, canister, and grape hurtled | ||
+ | through the air. “Charge!” shouted the leader, and | ||
+ | down they went, with double-quick step, over the ditch | ||
+ | and hedge and into the line, sweeping everything before | ||
+ | them. The Mexicans fell from their guns, but soon, seeing | ||
+ | the smallness of the force opposed to them, and reassured | ||
+ | by the galling fire poured from the azoteas and | ||
+ | Molino on the stormers, they rallied, charged furiously, | ||
+ | and drove our men back into the plain. Here eleven out | ||
+ | of the fourteen officers of Wright’s party and the bulk of | ||
+ | his men fell killed or wounded. All of the latter who | ||
+ | could not fly were bayoneted where they lay by the | ||
+ | Mexicans. Captain Walker, of the Sixth, badly shot, | ||
+ | was left for dead; he saw the enemy murdering every | ||
+ | man who showed signs of life, but the agony of thirst | ||
+ | was so insupportable that he could not resist raising his | ||
+ | canteen to his lips. A dozen balls instantly tore up the | ||
+ | ground around him; several Mexicans rushed at him | ||
+ | with the bayonet, but at that moment the light division | ||
+ | under Kirby Smith came charging over the ditch into | ||
+ | the Mexican line and diverted their attention.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with Dunn’s guns, which were drawn by hand, all the | ||
+ | horses having been wounded and become unmanageable. | ||
+ | These soon opened an enfilading fire on the Mexican battery;< | ||
+ | and, some of the gunners flying, the light division | ||
+ | charged, under a hot fire, and carried the guns for a second | ||
+ | time. Their gallant leader was shot dead in the charge. | ||
+ | But the enemy could afford to lose the battery. From | ||
+ | the tops of the azoteas, from the Casa Mata, and the | ||
+ | Molino, a deadly shower of balls was rained crosswise | ||
+ | upon the assailants. Part of the reserve was brought | ||
+ | up, and Dunn’s guns and the Mexican battery were | ||
+ | served upon the buildings without much effect at first. | ||
+ | Lieutenant-Colonel Graham led a party of the Eleventh | ||
+ | against the latter; when within pistol-shot a terrific volley | ||
+ | assailed him, wounding him in ten places. The gallant | ||
+ | soldier quietly dismounted, pointed with his sword | ||
+ | to the building, cried “Charge!” and sank dead on the | ||
+ | field.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | where Duncan and McIntosh had driven in the enemy’s | ||
+ | right toward the Casa Mata. McIntosh started to storm | ||
+ | that fort; and, in the teeth of a tremendous hail of musketry, | ||
+ | advanced to the ditch, only twenty-five yards from | ||
+ | the work. There a ball knocked him down; it was his | ||
+ | luck to be shot or bayoneted in every battle. Martin | ||
+ | Scott took the command, but as he ordered the men | ||
+ | forward he rolled lifeless into the ditch. Major Waite, the | ||
+ | next in rank, had hardly seen him fall before he too was | ||
+ | disabled. By whole companies the men were mowed | ||
+ | down by the Mexican shot; but they stood their ground. | ||
+ | At length some one gave the word to fall back, and the | ||
+ | remnants of the brigade obeyed. Many wounded were | ||
+ | left on the ground; among others Lieutenant Burnell shot | ||
+ | in the leg, whom the Mexicans murdered when his comrades | ||
+ | abandoned him. After the battle his body was | ||
+ | found, and beside it his dog, moaning piteously and | ||
+ | licking his dead master’s face.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the head of four thousand cavalry, Alvarez now | ||
+ | menaced our left. Duncan watched them come, driving | ||
+ | a cloud of dust before them, till they were within close< | ||
+ | range; then, opening with his wonderful rapidity, he shattered | ||
+ | whole platoons at a discharge. Worth sent him | ||
+ | word to be sure to keep the lancers in check. “Tell | ||
+ | General Worth,” was his reply, “to make himself perfectly | ||
+ | easy; I can whip twenty thousand of them.” | ||
+ | So far as Alvarez was concerned, he kept his word.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the American right the fight had reached a crisis. | ||
+ | Mixed confusedly together, men of all arms furiously attacked | ||
+ | the Molino, firing into every aperture, climbing | ||
+ | to the roof, and striving to batter in the doors and gates | ||
+ | with their muskets. The garrison never slackened their | ||
+ | terrible fire for an instant. At length, Major Buchanan, | ||
+ | of the Fourth, succeeded in bursting open the southern | ||
+ | gate, and almost at the same moment Anderson and | ||
+ | Ayres, of the artillery, forced their way into the buildings | ||
+ | at the northwestern angle. Ayres leaped down alone | ||
+ | into a crowd of Mexicans—he had done the same at | ||
+ | Monterey—and fell covered with wounds. In our men | ||
+ | rushed on both sides, stabbing, firing, and felling the | ||
+ | Mexicans with their muskets. From room to room and | ||
+ | house to house a hand-to-hand encounter was kept up. | ||
+ | Here a stalwart Mexican hurled down man after man as | ||
+ | they advanced; there Buchanan and the Fourth levelled | ||
+ | all before them. But the Mexicans never withstood the | ||
+ | cold steel. One by one the defenders escaped by the | ||
+ | rear toward Chapultepec, | ||
+ | out a white flag. Under Duncan’s fire the Casa Mata | ||
+ | had been evacuated, and the enemy was everywhere in | ||
+ | full retreat. Twice he rallied and charged the Molino; | ||
+ | but each time the artillery drove him back toward | ||
+ | Chapultepec, | ||
+ | him down the road. Before ten in the morning the whole | ||
+ | field was won; and, having blown up the Casa Mata, | ||
+ | Worth, by Scott’s order, fell back to Tacubaya.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | received the thanks of his chief for the exploits of the | ||
+ | morning. His heart was with the brave men he had<span class=" | ||
+ | lost: near eight hundred out of less than thirty-five | ||
+ | hundred, and among them fifty-eight officers, many of | ||
+ | whom were his dearest friends. All had fallen in advance | ||
+ | of their men, with sword in hand and noble words | ||
+ | on their lips. They had helped to storm Molino del Rey, | ||
+ | and to cut down near a fifth of Santa Anna’s fourteen | ||
+ | thousand men. Sadly the general returned to his | ||
+ | quarters.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | carefully made, and, the enemy’s strength being gathered | ||
+ | on the southern front of the city. General Scott determined | ||
+ | to assault Chapultepec on the west. By the morning | ||
+ | of the 12th the batteries were completed, and opened | ||
+ | a brisk fire on the castle, without, however, doing any | ||
+ | more serious damage than annoying the garrison and | ||
+ | killing a few men. The fire was kept up all day; and at | ||
+ | night preparations were made for the assault, which was | ||
+ | ordered to be made next morning.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At daybreak on the 13th the cannonade recommenced, | ||
+ | as well from the batteries planted against Chapultepec | ||
+ | as from Steptoe’s guns, which were served against the | ||
+ | southern defences of the city in order to divert the attention | ||
+ | of the enemy. At 8 <span class=" | ||
+ | ceased and the attack commenced. Quitman advanced | ||
+ | along the Tacubaya road, Pillow from the Molino del Rey, | ||
+ | which he had occupied on the evening before. Between | ||
+ | the Molino and the castle lay first an open space, then | ||
+ | a grove thickly planted with trees; in the latter Mexican | ||
+ | sharpshooters had been posted, protected by an intrenchment | ||
+ | on the border of the grove. Pillow sent Lieutenant-Colonel | ||
+ | Johnstone with a party of voltigeurs to turn this | ||
+ | work by a flank movement; it was handsomely accomplished, | ||
+ | and, just as the voltigeurs broke through the | ||
+ | redan, Pillow, with the main body, charged it in front< | ||
+ | and drove back the Mexicans. The grove gained, Pillow | ||
+ | pressed forward to the foot of the rock; for the Mexican | ||
+ | shot from the castle batteries, crashing through the trees, | ||
+ | seemed even more terrible than it really was, and the | ||
+ | troops were becoming restless. The Mexicans had retreated | ||
+ | to a redoubt half-way up the hill; the voltigeurs | ||
+ | sprang up from rock to rock, firing as they advanced, and | ||
+ | followed by Hooker, Chase, and others, with parties of | ||
+ | infantry. In a very few minutes the redoubt was gained, | ||
+ | the garrison driven up the hill, and the voltigeurs, Ninth, | ||
+ | and Fifteenth in hot pursuit after them. Here the firing | ||
+ | from the castle was very severe. Colonel Ransom, of the | ||
+ | Ninth, was killed, and Pillow himself was wounded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | gained. There some moments were lost, owing to the | ||
+ | delay in the arrival of scaling-ladders, | ||
+ | of Quitman’s regiments and Clarke’s brigade reinforced | ||
+ | the storming party. When the ladders came, numbers of | ||
+ | men rushed forward with them, leaped into the ditch, and | ||
+ | planted them for the assault. Lieutenant Selden was the | ||
+ | first man to mount. But the Mexicans collected all their | ||
+ | energies for this last moment. A tremendous fire dashed | ||
+ | the foremost of the stormers in the ditch, killing Lieutenants | ||
+ | Rogers and Smith, and clearing the ladders. Fresh | ||
+ | men instantly manned them, and, after a brief struggle, | ||
+ | Captain Howard, of the voltigeurs, gained a foothold on | ||
+ | the parapet. McKenzie, of the forlorn-hope, | ||
+ | and a crowd of voltigeurs and infantry, shouting and | ||
+ | cheering, pressed after him and swept down upon the | ||
+ | garrison with the bayonet. Almost at the same moment | ||
+ | Johnstone, of the voltigeurs, who had led a small party | ||
+ | round to the gate of the castle, broke it open and effected | ||
+ | an entrance in spite of a fierce fire from the southern | ||
+ | walls. The two parties uniting, a deadly conflict ensued | ||
+ | within the building. Maddened by the recollection of | ||
+ | the murder of their wounded comrades at Molino del Rey, | ||
+ | the stormers at first showed no quarter. On every side< | ||
+ | the Mexicans were stabbed or shot down without mercy. | ||
+ | Many flung themselves over the parapet and down the | ||
+ | hillside, and were dashed in pieces against the rocks. | ||
+ | More fought like fiends, expending their last breath in a | ||
+ | malediction and expiring in the act of aiming a treacherous | ||
+ | blow as they lay on the ground. Streams of blood | ||
+ | flowed through the doors of the college, and every room | ||
+ | and passage was the theatre of some deadly struggle. | ||
+ | At length the officers succeeded in putting an end to the | ||
+ | carnage, and, the remaining Mexicans having surrendered, | ||
+ | the stars and stripes were hoisted over the castle of | ||
+ | Chapultepec by Major Seymour.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | causeway to the east of the castle, after a desperate | ||
+ | struggle, in which Major Twiggs, who commanded the | ||
+ | stormers, was shot dead at the head of his men. The | ||
+ | Mexicans fell back toward the city. General Scott, coming | ||
+ | up at this moment, ordered a simultaneous advance | ||
+ | to be made on the city along the two roads leading from | ||
+ | Chapultepec to the gates of San Cosme and Belen respectively. | ||
+ | Worth was to command that on San Cosme, | ||
+ | Quitman that on Belen. Both were prepared for defence | ||
+ | by barricades, behind which the enemy were posted in | ||
+ | great numbers. Fortunately for the assailants, an aqueduct, | ||
+ | supported on arches of solid masonry, ran along | ||
+ | the centre of each causeway. By keeping under cover | ||
+ | of these arches and springing rapidly from one to another, | ||
+ | Smith’s rifles and the South Carolina regiment | ||
+ | were enabled to advance close to the first barricade on | ||
+ | the Belen road and pour in a destructive fire on the | ||
+ | gunners. A flank discharge from Duncan’s guns completed | ||
+ | the work; the barricade was carried; and, without | ||
+ | a moment’s rest, Quitman advanced in the same manner | ||
+ | on the garita of San Belen, which was held by General | ||
+ | Torres with a strong garrison. It, too, was stormed, though | ||
+ | under a fearful hail of grape and canister; and the rifles | ||
+ | moved forward toward the citadel. But at this moment< | ||
+ | Santa Anna rode furiously down to the point of attack. | ||
+ | Boiling with rage at the success of the invaders, he smote | ||
+ | General Torres in the face, threw a host of infantry into | ||
+ | the houses commanding the garita and the road, ordered | ||
+ | the batteries in the citadel to open fire, planted fresh | ||
+ | guns on the Paseo, and infused such spirit into the Mexicans | ||
+ | that Quitman’s advance was stopped at once. A | ||
+ | terrific storm of shot, shells, and grape assailed the garita, | ||
+ | where Captain Dunn had planted an eight-pounder. | ||
+ | Twice the gunners were shot down, and fresh men sent to | ||
+ | take their places. Then Dunn himself fell, and immediately | ||
+ | afterward Lieutenant Benjamin and his first sergeant | ||
+ | met the same fate. The riflemen in the arches repelled | ||
+ | sallies, but Quitman’s position was precarious till | ||
+ | night terminated the conflict.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the San Cosme causeway, driving the Mexicans from | ||
+ | barricade to barricade till within two hundred and fifty | ||
+ | yards of the garita of San Cosme. There he encountered | ||
+ | as severe a fire as that which stopped Quitman. But | ||
+ | Scott had ordered him to take the garita, and take it he | ||
+ | would. Throwing Garland’s brigade out to the right | ||
+ | and Clarke’s to the left, he ordered them to break into | ||
+ | the houses, burst through the walls, and bore their way | ||
+ | to the flanks of the garita. The plan had succeeded perfectly | ||
+ | at Monterey; nor did it fail here. Slowly but surely | ||
+ | the sappers passed from house to house, until at sunset | ||
+ | they reached the point desired. Then Worth ordered the | ||
+ | attack. Lieutenant Hunt brought up a light gun at a | ||
+ | gallop and fired it through the embrasure of the enemy’s | ||
+ | battery, almost muzzle to muzzle; the infantry at the | ||
+ | same moment opened a most deadly and unexpected fire | ||
+ | from the roofs of the houses, and McKenzie, at the head | ||
+ | of the stormers, dashed at the battery and carried it | ||
+ | almost without loss. The Mexicans fled precipitately into | ||
+ | the city.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At one that night two parties left the citadel and<span class=" | ||
+ | issued forth from the city. One was the remnant of the | ||
+ | Mexican army, which slunk silently and noiselessly | ||
+ | through the northern gate, and fled to Guadalupe-Hidalgo; | ||
+ | the other was a body of officers who came under a white | ||
+ | flag to propose terms of capitulation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 14th. Scores of neutral flags floated from the windows | ||
+ | on the Calle de Plateros, and in their shade beautiful | ||
+ | women gazed curiously on the scene beneath. Gayly | ||
+ | dressed groups thronged the balconies, and at the street-corners | ||
+ | were scowling, dark-faced men. The street resounded | ||
+ | with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of | ||
+ | gun-carriages, | ||
+ | Yanquies!” was the cry, and every neck was stretched to | ||
+ | obtain a glimpse of the six thousand bemired and begrimed | ||
+ | soldiers who were marching proudly to the Gran | ||
+ | Plaza. But six months before, Winfield Scott had landed | ||
+ | on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two | ||
+ | strongest places in the country, won four battles in the | ||
+ | field against armies double, treble, and quadruple his own, | ||
+ | and marched without reverse from Vera Cruz to the city | ||
+ | of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer mistakes, and | ||
+ | creating less devastation, | ||
+ | than any invading general of former times.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE CONQUEST OF<br /> | ||
+ | MEXICO, 1847, AND THE BOMBARDMENT< | ||
+ | OF FORT SUMTER, 1861</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States and Mexico. Admission of Wisconsin into the | ||
+ | Union. Congress passes an act for the organization of | ||
+ | Oregon Territory. Migration of the Mormons to Great | ||
+ | Salt Lake. Zachary Taylor elected President. Formation< | ||
+ | of the Free-Soil party. Discovery of gold in California.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty regarding a water route across | ||
+ | Central America. On the death of Zachary Taylor, | ||
+ | Millard Fillmore succeeds to the Presidency. New | ||
+ | Mexico and Utah are organized as territories, | ||
+ | “Clay Compromise, | ||
+ | California as a free state, is adopted. Slavery in the | ||
+ | District of Columbia is abolished.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | against Cuba. Arrival of Louis Kossuth in the | ||
+ | United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Kane Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | territory in the United States, and passage of the Kansas-Nebraska | ||
+ | bill, making slavery optional in the new territories. | ||
+ | The “Ostend Manifesto” recommends the purchase | ||
+ | of Cuba by the United States. Passage of the | ||
+ | commercial reciprocity treaty between the United States | ||
+ | and Canada (abrogated in 1866). Commodore Perry | ||
+ | concludes a treaty with Japan.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Free-State convention draws up the Topeka Constitution. | ||
+ | William Walker, with a force of filibusters, | ||
+ | Opening of the railway across the Isthmus of Panama.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | President.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Kansas. A Pro-Slavery convention draws up the Lecompton | ||
+ | Constitution. Dred Scott decision. Mormon | ||
+ | rebellion in Utah. Financial panic in the United States | ||
+ | and Europe.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | rejects the Lecompton Constitution. Senator Douglas< | ||
+ | debates. Partial establishment of transatlantic telegraphic | ||
+ | communication.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Brown’s raid into West Virginia. His capture, trial, | ||
+ | and execution. Petroleum discovered in the United | ||
+ | States. San Juan islands occupied by General Harney.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of South Carolina. Kansas prohibits slavery within its | ||
+ | boundaries. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, resigns because | ||
+ | President Buchanan refused to reinforce Major | ||
+ | Anderson at Fort Moultrie, S. C.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | by Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana. | ||
+ | Admission of Kansas into the Union. Jefferson Davis | ||
+ | elected president of the Confederate States of America | ||
+ | on February 7th. Bombardment of Fort Sumter.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Constitution, | ||
+ | perfect union,” and eighty-five years after the declaration | ||
+ | of independence (a space completely covered by the lives | ||
+ | of men still living), a new confederacy of seven Southern | ||
+ | states was formed, and the great political fabric, the | ||
+ | exemplar and hope of every lover of freedom throughout | ||
+ | the world, was apparently hopelessly rent. Of these | ||
+ | seven states but two were of the original thirteen—Louisiana | ||
+ | and Florida had been purchased by the government | ||
+ | of the Union; a war had been fought in behalf of | ||
+ | Texas; two states, Alabama and Mississippi, | ||
+ | original claims of Georgia, but had been ceded to the | ||
+ | Union and organized as Federal territories.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | established for these seven states, with a determination | ||
+ | to form a separate nation, most forcibly | ||
+ | expressed by the presence of an army at Charleston, | ||
+ | South Carolina, which next day was to open fire upon | ||
+ | a feebly manned fort, and thus to begin a terrible civil | ||
+ | war. The eight other slave states were in a turmoil of | ||
+ | anxiety, leaning toward their sisters of the farther South | ||
+ | through the common sympathy which came of slavery, | ||
+ | but drawn also to the Union through tradition and<span class=" | ||
+ | appreciation of benefits, and through a realization by a | ||
+ | great number of persons that their interests in slavery | ||
+ | were much less than those of the states which had already | ||
+ | seceded.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | from a condition of stupefied amazement at a condition | ||
+ | which scarcely any of its statesmen, and practically none | ||
+ | of the men of every-day life, had thought possible. It | ||
+ | was to this crisis that the country had been brought by | ||
+ | the conflicting views of the two great and strongly divided | ||
+ | sections of the Union respecting slavery, and by | ||
+ | the national aspirations which, however little recognized, | ||
+ | were working surely in each section, but upon | ||
+ | divergent lines.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | separation of the North and the South stand out in | ||
+ | strong relief: the Missouri question; the protective tariff | ||
+ | and South Carolina nullification; | ||
+ | which wrought the South into a frenzy suicidal in character | ||
+ | through its impossible demands upon the North | ||
+ | for protection; the action of the Southern statesmen in | ||
+ | the question of petitions; the passage of a fugitive-slave | ||
+ | law which drove the North itself to nullification; | ||
+ | Kansas-Nebraska act and its outcome of civil war in the | ||
+ | former territory; the recognition, | ||
+ | supreme court in the Dred Scott case, of the South’s | ||
+ | contention of its constitutional right to carry slavery | ||
+ | into the territories, | ||
+ | against any further slavery extension. To these visible | ||
+ | conflicts were added the unconscious workings of the | ||
+ | disruptive forces of a totally distinct social organization. | ||
+ | The outward strifes were but the symptoms of a malady | ||
+ | in the body politic of the Union which could have but | ||
+ | one end, unless the deep, abiding cause, slavery, should be | ||
+ | removed.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The president and vice-president of the Southern Confederacy, | ||
+ | in their elaborate defences written after the | ||
+ | war, have endeavored to rest the cause of the struggle | ||
+ | wholly on constitutional questions. Stephens, whose | ||
+ | book, not even excepting Calhoun’s utterances, is the | ||
+ | ablest exposition of the Southern reading of the Constitution, | ||
+ | says: “The struggle or conflict, ... from its | ||
+ | rise to its culmination, | ||
+ | state they lived, were for maintaining our Federal | ||
+ | system as it was established, | ||
+ | consolidation of power in the central head.”< | ||
+ | Davis is even more explicit. “The truth remains,” he | ||
+ | says, “intact and incontrovertible, | ||
+ | African servitude was in no wise the cause of the conflict, | ||
+ | but only an incident. In the later controversies ... | ||
+ | its effect in operating as a lever upon the passions, prejudices, | ||
+ | or sympathies of mankind was so potent that | ||
+ | it has been spread like a thick cloud over the whole | ||
+ | horizon of historic truth.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | view had its weight for the South in 1860 as it had for | ||
+ | New England in the Jefferson-Madison period. Jefferson’s | ||
+ | iron domination of the national government during | ||
+ | his presidency, a policy hateful to New England, combined | ||
+ | with the fear of being overweighted in sectional | ||
+ | influence by the western extension through the Louisiana | ||
+ | purchase, led to pronounced threats of secession by men | ||
+ | of New England, ardently desirous of escaping from what | ||
+ | Pickering, one of its most prominent men, termed the | ||
+ | Virginian supremacy.< | ||
+ | used, <i xml: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As we all know, the movement, which never had any | ||
+ | real popular support and which had its last spasm of life | ||
+ | in the Hartford Convention at the close of the War of<span class=" | ||
+ | 1812, came to naught. Freed by the fall of Napoleon | ||
+ | and the peace with England from the pressure of the | ||
+ | upper and nether mill-stones which had so ground to | ||
+ | pieces our commerce, a prosperity set in which drowned | ||
+ | the sporadic discontent of the previous twenty years. | ||
+ | The fears of the Eastern states no longer loomed so high | ||
+ | and were as imaginary in fact, and had as slight a basis, | ||
+ | as were, in the beginning of the era of discord, those of | ||
+ | the South. Could slavery have been otherwise preserved, | ||
+ | the extreme decentralizing ideas of the South | ||
+ | would have disappeared with equal ease, and Stephens’ | ||
+ | <i xml: | ||
+ | as to the nature of the government of the United States, | ||
+ | and where, under our system, ultimate sovereign power | ||
+ | or paramount authority properly resides,” would have | ||
+ | had no more intensity of meaning in 1860 than to-day.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of government, follow the lines of self-interest; | ||
+ | qualms gave way before the great prize of Louisiana; | ||
+ | one part of the South was ready in 1832 to go to war on | ||
+ | account of a protective tariff; another, Louisiana, was | ||
+ | at the same time demanding protection for her special | ||
+ | industry. The South thus simply shared in our general | ||
+ | human nature, and fought, not for a pure abstraction, | ||
+ | Davis and Stephens, led by Calhoun, would have it, but | ||
+ | for the supposed self-interest which its view of the Constitution | ||
+ | protected. Its section, its society, could not | ||
+ | continue to develop in the Union under the Northern | ||
+ | reading of the document, and the irrepressible and certain | ||
+ | nationalization, | ||
+ | to which the North as a whole was steadily moving.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | liberal movement of the age. The French Revolution; | ||
+ | the destruction of feudalism by Napoleon; the later | ||
+ | popular movements throughout Europe and South | ||
+ | America; the liberalizing of Great Britain; the nationalistic | ||
+ | ideas of which we have the results in the<span class=" | ||
+ | German empire and the kingdom of Italy, and the strong | ||
+ | nationalistic feeling developing in the northern part of | ||
+ | the Union itself had but little reflex action in the South | ||
+ | because of slavery and the South’s consequent segregation | ||
+ | and tendency to a feudalistic nationalization.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | those who appreciated the danger hanging over the | ||
+ | country, and, October 29, 1860, he wrote from New York, | ||
+ | where he had his headquarters, | ||
+ | to the President, which in pompous phrases, conceding | ||
+ | the right of secession, and embodying some absurd ideas, | ||
+ | such as allowing “the fragments of the great republic to | ||
+ | form themselves into new confederacies, | ||
+ | as a smaller evil than war, gave it as his “solemn conviction” | ||
+ | that there was, from his knowledge of the Southern | ||
+ | population, “some danger of an early act of rashness | ||
+ | preliminary to secession, viz.: the seizure of some or all | ||
+ | of the following posts: Forts Jackson and St. Philip on | ||
+ | the Mississippi; | ||
+ | Pickens, McKee at Pensacola, with an insufficient | ||
+ | garrison for one; Pulaski, below Savannah, without a | ||
+ | garrison; Moultrie and Sumter, Charleston harbor, the | ||
+ | former with an insufficient garrison, the latter without | ||
+ | any; and Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads, with an insufficient | ||
+ | garrison.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>He gave it as his opinion that “all these works should | ||
+ | be immediately so garrisoned as to make any attempt to | ||
+ | take any one of them by surprise or <i xml: | ||
+ | He did not state the number of men needed, but | ||
+ | in a supplementary paper the next day (October 30th) | ||
+ | said, “There is one (regular) company in Boston, one | ||
+ | here (at the Narrows), one at Pittsburg, one at Baton< | ||
+ | Rouge—in all, five companies only within reach.”< | ||
+ | five companies, about two hundred and fifty men, were | ||
+ | of course absurdly inadequate to garrison nine such posts, | ||
+ | but, had there been a determination in the President’s | ||
+ | mind to prevent seizures, enough men could have been | ||
+ | brought together to hold the more important points.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | grossly inaccurate, and but serves to show the parlous | ||
+ | state of a war department in which the general-in-chief | ||
+ | can either be so misinformed or allow himself to remain | ||
+ | in ignorance of vital facts. There were but five points | ||
+ | in the farther South of primal importance: the Mississippi, | ||
+ | Mobile, Pensacola, Savannah, and Charleston; two hundred | ||
+ | men at each would have been ample to hold the | ||
+ | positions for the time being, and, being held, reinforcement | ||
+ | in any degree would later have been easy. There | ||
+ | was a total of 1048 officers and men at the Northern | ||
+ | posts,<a id=" | ||
+ | Boston, New York, and Fort Monroe, who could have | ||
+ | been drawn upon. There were already 250 men at | ||
+ | Charleston, Key West, Pensacola, and Baton Rouge. | ||
+ | It is safe to say that a thousand men were available. | ||
+ | There were also some eight hundred marines at the navy-yards | ||
+ | and barracks< | ||
+ | an emergency. The aggregate of the army, June 30, | ||
+ | 1860, was 16,006, of which 14,926 were enlisted men; | ||
+ | and it was in the power of the President to increase this | ||
+ | total aggregate to 18, | ||
+ | actively going on; almost every man at the posts mentioned | ||
+ | could, even much after the date of Scott’s paper, | ||
+ | have been safely withdrawn for the object mentioned and | ||
+ | quickly replaced.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Scott’s inaccurate report gave Buchanan additional | ||
+ | reason for the inaction which was his basic thought. | ||
+ | He says, in his < | ||
+ | these five companies in the eight forts of the | ||
+ | cotton states and Fortress Monroe in Virginia, would | ||
+ | have been a confession of weakness.... It could have | ||
+ | had no effect in preventing secession, but must have | ||
+ | done much to provoke it.”<a id=" | ||
+ | would have been true had these five companies | ||
+ | been the only force available; the second, on the supposition | ||
+ | that the President meant that any attempt with | ||
+ | a force reasonably large would have provoked secession, | ||
+ | was a short-sighted view. To garrison the forts could | ||
+ | not have been more obnoxious than to put them in a | ||
+ | state of defence. At any time before the secession of a | ||
+ | state they could have been garrisoned without bringing | ||
+ | on actual conflict. The statesmen of the South were | ||
+ | well aware that an attack upon an armed force of the | ||
+ | United States, before secession, must place them irretrievably | ||
+ | in the wrong. South Carolina did not secede | ||
+ | until December 20th. To resist the sending of troops | ||
+ | before this date to any of these forts would have been | ||
+ | unqualified treason, and for this no one in the South | ||
+ | was prepared. The safety of the secession movement, | ||
+ | the extension of sympathy throughout the South, rested | ||
+ | very greatly upon strict compliance with the forms of | ||
+ | law and with the theories of the Constitution held by | ||
+ | that section. At least one ardent secessionist, | ||
+ | Longstreet, recognized this when he appealed to South-Carolinians | ||
+ | to refrain from any act of war; “let the first | ||
+ | shot,” he said, “come from the enemy. < | ||
+ | into your hearts.</ | ||
+ | Southern leaders should place themselves, or allow their | ||
+ | people to place them, in the attitude of waging war against | ||
+ | the Union while even in their own view their states still< | ||
+ | remained within it. There was, too, still a very large | ||
+ | Union sentiment in the South, though finally swept into | ||
+ | the vortex by the principle of going with the state, which | ||
+ | would not have been averse to a determined action on | ||
+ | the part of the President and might have upheld it, as | ||
+ | in 1833. Such vigor would have given this sentiment a | ||
+ | working basis, through the evidence that the Federal | ||
+ | authority was to be upheld; and it would have caused | ||
+ | a pause even in the least thoughtful of the secessionists | ||
+ | had they felt that their coast strongholds were to be held | ||
+ | and all their ports to be in the hands of the enemy. In | ||
+ | the dearth of manufactures in the South, the holding of | ||
+ | their ports was an essential to Southern military success. | ||
+ | Their closure by blockade was equally an essential to | ||
+ | the success of the North. The strategy of the situation | ||
+ | was of the clearest and most palpable, and with their | ||
+ | coast forts in Union hands warlike action on the part | ||
+ | of the South is not conceivable. One can thus understand | ||
+ | the importance of spreading the reiterated statements | ||
+ | of “intense excitement” and “danger of attack” | ||
+ | in the event of reinforcement; | ||
+ | circumstances, | ||
+ | used, in the nature of a gigantic and successful “bluff.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | consisted of the armory, covering a few acres, where | ||
+ | were stored twenty-two thousand muskets and a considerable | ||
+ | number of old, heavy guns, and of three forts | ||
+ | named for South-Carolinians of Union-wide fame. The | ||
+ | smallest of these, Castle Pinckney, was a round, brick | ||
+ | structure, in excellent condition, on a small island directly | ||
+ | east of the town and distant from the wharves but half | ||
+ | a mile. It completely commanded the town, and had | ||
+ | a formidable armament of four forty-two-pounders, | ||
+ | fourteen twenty-four-pounders, | ||
+ | howitzers. The powder of the arsenal was here | ||
+ | stored. The only garrison was an ordnance sergeant,< | ||
+ | who, with his family, looked after the harbor light which | ||
+ | was in the fort.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Fort Moultrie, on the south end of Sullivan’s Island, a | ||
+ | low sand-spit forming the north side of the harbor entrance. | ||
+ | The work had an area of one and a half acres, | ||
+ | and mounted fifty-five guns in barbette. The drifting | ||
+ | sands had piled themselves even with the parapet, and | ||
+ | the work was in such condition as to be indefensible | ||
+ | against a land attack. The whole was but of a piece with | ||
+ | the long-continued neglect arising from many years of | ||
+ | peace and the optimistic temperament of a people who | ||
+ | never believe that war can occur until it is upon them; | ||
+ | it was the natural outcome of the almost entire absence | ||
+ | of governmental system and forethought of the time. | ||
+ | The fort was garrisoned by two companies, comprising | ||
+ | sixty-four enlisted men and eight officers, of the First | ||
+ | regiment of artillery; the surgeon, band, a hospital | ||
+ | steward, and an ordnance sergeant brought the total up | ||
+ | to eighty-four.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Morris Island, forming the southern side of the harbor | ||
+ | entrance. Nearly midway between this point and | ||
+ | Moultrie, but a half-mile within the line joining them, | ||
+ | and distant three and a half miles from the nearest part | ||
+ | of the city, was Fort Sumter, begun in 1829, and after | ||
+ | thirty-one years not yet finished. Built on a shoal covered | ||
+ | at most stages of the tide, it rose directly out of the | ||
+ | water, with two tiers of casemates, and surmounted by | ||
+ | a third tier of guns in barbette. In plan it was very | ||
+ | like the transverse section of the ordinary American house, | ||
+ | the apex of the two sides representing the lines of the | ||
+ | roof, looking toward Moultrie. It was intended for a | ||
+ | garrison of six hundred and fifty men and an armament | ||
+ | of one hundred and forty-six guns, of which seventy-eight | ||
+ | were on hand.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On a report made in July by Captain J. G. Foster, repairs< | ||
+ | on Moultrie were begun September 14th, and next day | ||
+ | upon Sumter, some two hundred and fifty men being | ||
+ | employed. The sand about the walls of Moultrie was | ||
+ | removed, a wet ditch dug, a glacis formed, the guardhouse | ||
+ | pierced with loop-holes, and the four field-guns | ||
+ | placed in position for flank attack.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the end of October, Captain Foster, foreseeing events, | ||
+ | requested the issue of arms to the workmen to protect | ||
+ | property, and the Secretary of War approved the issue of | ||
+ | forty muskets, if it should meet the concurrence of the | ||
+ | commanding officer. Colonel Gardner, in reply, November | ||
+ | 5th, doubted the expediency, as most of the laborers | ||
+ | were foreigners, indifferent to which side they took, and | ||
+ | wisely advised, instead, filling up “at once” the two | ||
+ | companies at Moultrie with recruits and sending two | ||
+ | companies from Fort Monroe to the two other forts.<a id=" | ||
+ | The requisition was thus held in abeyance, and the | ||
+ | muskets remained at the arsenal. When, only two days | ||
+ | later, Gardner, urged by the repeated solicitations of his | ||
+ | officers, directed the transfer of musket ammunition to | ||
+ | Moultrie, the loading of the schooner was objected to by | ||
+ | the owner of the wharf, and the military store-keeper, | ||
+ | under apparently very inadequate pressure, returned the | ||
+ | stores to the arsenal. A permit, given by the mayor of | ||
+ | Charleston next day, for the removal was very properly | ||
+ | declined by Gardner, on the ground that the city authorities | ||
+ | could not control his actions.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | process described by the Assistant Secretary of State, | ||
+ | Trescot: “I received a telegram from Charleston, saying | ||
+ | that intense excitement prevailed, ... and that, if the | ||
+ | removal was by orders of the Department of War, it ought | ||
+ | to be revoked, otherwise collision was inevitable. Knowing | ||
+ | the Cabinet were then in session, I went over to the White | ||
+ | House.... I took Governor Floyd aside, and he was<span class=" | ||
+ | joined, I think, by Messrs. Cobb and Toucey, and showed | ||
+ | them the telegram. Governor Floyd replied, ‘Telegraph | ||
+ | back at once; say that you have seen me, that no such | ||
+ | orders have been issued, and none such will be issued, | ||
+ | under any circumstances.’” Floyd, a day or so later, | ||
+ | gave Trescot “his impressions of the folly of Colonel | ||
+ | Gardner’s conduct, and his final determination to remove | ||
+ | him and supply his place with Major Robert Anderson, | ||
+ | in whose discretion, coolness, and judgment he | ||
+ | put great confidence. He also determined to send Colonel | ||
+ | Ben. Huger to take charge of the arsenal, believing that | ||
+ | his high reputation, his close association with many of | ||
+ | the most influential people in Charleston, and the fact of | ||
+ | his being a Carolinian, would satisfy the state of the | ||
+ | intention of the government.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | is shown by his willingness to begin and continue the | ||
+ | work upon the forts; that his mental state did not permit | ||
+ | logical action is clear from his temper and attitude | ||
+ | regarding the transfer of musket ammunition November | ||
+ | 7th, though but the week before (October 31st) he had | ||
+ | authorized the transfer of the muskets themselves.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | later the able and ill-treated general, was sent to Charleston | ||
+ | to inspect the conditions. His report, made November | ||
+ | 11th, revealed the military inefficiency almost inseparable | ||
+ | from a post so neglected and ill-manned, and | ||
+ | subject to the lazy peace conditions of the period. He | ||
+ | said: “The unguarded state of the fort invites attack, | ||
+ | if such design exists, and much discretion and prudence | ||
+ | are required on the part of the commander to restore the | ||
+ | proper security without exciting a community prompt to | ||
+ | misconstrue actions of authority. I think this can be | ||
+ | effected by a proper commander without checking in the | ||
+ | slightest the progress of the engineer in completing the<span class=" | ||
+ | works of defence.” Major Porter continues with a most | ||
+ | significant phrase, “All could have been easily arranged | ||
+ | a few weeks since, when the danger was foreseen by the | ||
+ | present commander.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | A Kentuckian by birth, his wife a Georgian, his views in | ||
+ | sympathy with those of General Scott, he appeared to be | ||
+ | and, as results proved, was in many respects particularly | ||
+ | fitted for the post; by November 23d he was able to | ||
+ | report that in two weeks the outer defences of Moultrie | ||
+ | would be finished and the guns mounted, and that Sumter | ||
+ | was ready for the comfortable accommodation of one | ||
+ | company, and, indeed, for the temporary reception of | ||
+ | its proper garrison. “This,” he said, “is the key to the | ||
+ | entrance to this harbor; its guns command this work | ||
+ | [Moultrie] and could drive out its occupants. It should | ||
+ | be garrisoned at once.... So important do I consider the | ||
+ | holding of Castle Pinckney by the government that I | ||
+ | recommend, if the troops asked for cannot be sent at | ||
+ | once, that I be authorized to place an engineer detachment | ||
+ | [of an officer and thirty workmen] ... to make the | ||
+ | repairs needed there.... If my force was not so very | ||
+ | small, I would not hesitate to send a detachment at once | ||
+ | to garrison that work. Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | determines to keep command of this harbor.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and every sentiment of national honor demanded. | ||
+ | After mentioning his anxiety to avoid collision with the | ||
+ | citizens of South Carolina, he said: “Nothing, however, | ||
+ | will be better calculated to prevent bloodshed than our | ||
+ | being found in such an attitude that it would be madness | ||
+ | and folly to attack us. There is not so much feverish | ||
+ | excitement as there was last week, but that there is a | ||
+ | settled determination to leave the Union, and obtain< | ||
+ | possession of this work, is apparent to all.... The clouds | ||
+ | are threatening, | ||
+ | any moment. I do, then, most earnestly entreat that a | ||
+ | reinforcement be immediately sent to this garrison, and | ||
+ | that at least two companies be sent at the same time to | ||
+ | Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney.” Anderson also | ||
+ | stated his belief that as soon as the people of South | ||
+ | Carolina learned that he had demanded reinforcements | ||
+ | they would occupy Pinckney and attack Moultrie; and | ||
+ | therefore it was vitally important to embark the troops | ||
+ | in war steamers and designate them for other duty as a | ||
+ | blind.<a id=" | ||
+ | whole of the barbette tier of Sumter ready for its armament | ||
+ | and as presenting an excellent appearance of preparation | ||
+ | and strength equal to seventy per cent. of its | ||
+ | efficiency when finished.< | ||
+ | think more troops should have been sent here to guard | ||
+ | the forts, and I believe that no serious demonstration on | ||
+ | the part of the populace would have met such a course.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the people of Charleston, and that at Moultrie, at least, | ||
+ | subject to daily inspection by many visitors. There was | ||
+ | still no restriction “upon any intercourse with Charleston, | ||
+ | many of whose citizens were temporary residents of | ||
+ | Sullivan’s Island. The activity about the fort drew to | ||
+ | it a large number of visitors daily, and the position of | ||
+ | the garrison and the probable action of the state in | ||
+ | regard to the forts were constant subjects of discussion. | ||
+ | There was as yet no unfriendly feeling manifested, and | ||
+ | the social intercourse between the garrison and their | ||
+ | friends in Charleston was uninterrupted. But as the | ||
+ | days went on the feeling assumed a more definite shape, | ||
+ | and found expression in many ways.... It was openly | ||
+ | announced, both to the commanding officer and to his | ||
+ | officers, that as soon as the state seceded a demand for<span class=" | ||
+ | the delivery of the forts would be made, and, if resisted, | ||
+ | they would be taken.... Meantime, all of the able-bodied | ||
+ | men in Charleston were enrolled, military companies | ||
+ | were formed everywhere, and drilling went on by night | ||
+ | and day, and with the impression among them that they | ||
+ | were to attack Fort Moultrie.”< | ||
+ | December 1st, Anderson again pressed for troops or for | ||
+ | ships of war in the harbor;< | ||
+ | in a letter of the same date, when he was informed | ||
+ | by the War Department, “from information | ||
+ | thought to be reliable, that an attack will not be made | ||
+ | on your command, and the Secretary has only to refer | ||
+ | to his conversation with you and to caution you that, should | ||
+ | his convictions unhappily prove untrue, your actions | ||
+ | must be such as to be free from the charge of initiating a | ||
+ | collision. If attacked, you are of course expected to | ||
+ | defend the trust committed to you to the best of your | ||
+ | ability.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A demand being made by the adjutant of a South | ||
+ | Carolina regiment on the engineer officer at Moultrie for | ||
+ | a list of his workmen, “as it was desired to enroll the men | ||
+ | upon them for military duty, | ||
+ | The War Department replied, December 14th, | ||
+ | “If the state authorities demand any of Captain Foster’s | ||
+ | workmen on the ground of their being enrolled into the | ||
+ | service of the state, ... you will, after fully satisfying | ||
+ | yourself that the men are subject to enrolment, and have | ||
+ | been properly enrolled, ... cause them to be delivered up | ||
+ | or suffer them to depart.” Banality could go no further, | ||
+ | and Anderson, December 18th, informed the department | ||
+ | that, as he understood it, “the South Carolina authorities | ||
+ | sought to enroll as a part of their army intended to act | ||
+ | against the forces of the United States men who are | ||
+ | employed by and in the pay of that government, and<span class=" | ||
+ | could not, as I conceived, be enrolled by South Carolina | ||
+ | ‘under the laws of the United States and of the state of | ||
+ | South Carolina.’” No answer was vouchsafed to this, | ||
+ | and the request was not complied with.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | occupancy of Sumter, without which his own position | ||
+ | was untenable, led to the despatch of Major Buell, a Kentuckian, | ||
+ | and later a major-general of United States | ||
+ | volunteers, with verbal instructions, | ||
+ | Buell’s own motion, and with the thought that Anderson | ||
+ | should have written evidence, were reduced, December | ||
+ | 11th, to writing. This memorandum is of such importance | ||
+ | that it must be given in full.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of War that a collision of the troops with the people of | ||
+ | this state shall be avoided, and of his studied determination | ||
+ | to pursue a course with reference to the military | ||
+ | force and forts in this harbor which shall guard against | ||
+ | such a collision. He has therefore carefully abstained | ||
+ | from increasing the force at this point, or taking any | ||
+ | measures which might add to the present excited state | ||
+ | of the public mind, or which would throw any doubt on | ||
+ | the confidence he feels that South Carolina will not | ||
+ | attempt, by violence, to obtain possession of the public | ||
+ | works or interfere with their occupancy. But as the | ||
+ | counsels and acts of rash and impulsive persons may | ||
+ | possibly disappoint those expectations of the government, | ||
+ | he deems it proper that you should be prepared | ||
+ | with instructions to meet so unhappy a contingency. | ||
+ | He has therefore directed me verbally to give you such | ||
+ | instructions. You are carefully to avoid every act which | ||
+ | would needlessly tend to provoke aggression; and for | ||
+ | that reason you are not without evident and imminent | ||
+ | necessity to take up any position which could be construed | ||
+ | in the assumption of a hostile attitude. But | ||
+ | you are to hold possession of the forts in the harbor, | ||
+ | and if attacked you are to defend yourself to the last< | ||
+ | extremity. The smallness of your force will not permit | ||
+ | you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of the three forts, | ||
+ | but an attack on, or attempt to take possession of, any | ||
+ | one of them will be regarded as an act of hostility, and | ||
+ | you may then put your command into either of them | ||
+ | which you may deem most proper to increase its power | ||
+ | of resistance. You are also authorized to take similar | ||
+ | steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design | ||
+ | to proceed to a hostile act.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | knowledge until December 21st, though a despatch from | ||
+ | Washington, December 13th, published in the < | ||
+ | Courier</ | ||
+ | known to the President, he directed them to be modified, | ||
+ | ordering that if “attacked by a force so superior that resistance | ||
+ | would, in your judgment, be a useless waste of | ||
+ | life, it will be your duty to yield to necessity and make | ||
+ | the best terms in your power.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Davis with thirty men in Castle Pinckney, and began | ||
+ | work there. Action upon a request for arms for the | ||
+ | workmen at Sumter and Pinckney was deferred by the | ||
+ | War Department “for the present,” but Captain Foster | ||
+ | going to the arsenal, December 17th, for two gins for | ||
+ | hoisting, “to the transmission of which there was no | ||
+ | objection, | ||
+ | order of the Ordnance Department of November 1st, for | ||
+ | forty muskets, should be complied with, which was done. | ||
+ | “Intense excitement” as usual was reported the next | ||
+ | day to have occurred; there was the reiteration of great | ||
+ | danger of “violent demonstration” from a military official | ||
+ | of the state who called upon Foster, and who stated that | ||
+ | Colonel Huger had informed the governor that no arms | ||
+ | should be removed. Foster declined to return the arms, | ||
+ | stating that he knew nothing of Huger’s pledge, but was<span class=" | ||
+ | willing to refer the matter to Washington. Trescot was | ||
+ | informed by telegraph that “not a moment’s time should | ||
+ | be lost.” The Secretary of War was aroused in the | ||
+ | depths of the night, and the result was a telegraphic order | ||
+ | from Floyd himself to “return [the arms] instantly.”< | ||
+ | The go-between Assistant Secretary of State, so busily | ||
+ | engaged with affairs not his own, received from the aide-de-camp | ||
+ | of Governor Pickens the telegram: “The Governor | ||
+ | says he is glad of your despatch, for otherwise there | ||
+ | would have been imminent danger. Earnestly urge that | ||
+ | there be no transfer of troops from Fort Moultrie to Fort | ||
+ | Sumter and inform Secretary of War.”< | ||
+ | explaining to the War Department, December 20, 1860, | ||
+ | says, “when in town to see General Schnierle and allay | ||
+ | any excitement relative to the muskets, I found to my | ||
+ | surprise that there was no excitement except with a | ||
+ | very few who had been active in the matter, and the | ||
+ | majority of the gentlemen whom I met had not even | ||
+ | heard of it.”<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 17th, the day after his inauguration, | ||
+ | state had passed the ordinance of secession, made a demand | ||
+ | on the President for the delivery of Fort Sumter. | ||
+ | The letter, drawn in the most offensive terms, and marked | ||
+ | “strictly confidential, | ||
+ | and that no more troops be ordered. It continued: “It | ||
+ | is not improbable that, under orders from the commandant, | ||
+ | or, perhaps, from the commander-in-chief of the | ||
+ | army, the alteration and defences of the posts are progressing | ||
+ | without the knowledge of yourself or the Secretary | ||
+ | of War. The arsenal in the city of Charleston, with | ||
+ | the public arms, I am informed, was turned over very | ||
+ | properly to the keeping and defence of the state force at<span class=" | ||
+ | the urgent request of the Governor of South Carolina. | ||
+ | I would most respectfully, | ||
+ | to the public peace, request that you would allow me to | ||
+ | send a small force, not exceeding twenty-five men and | ||
+ | an officer, to take possession of Fort Sumter immediately, | ||
+ | in order to give a feeling of safety to the community.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | 20th with the President for the delivery of the letter. | ||
+ | The President stated that he would give an answer the | ||
+ | next day. In the mean time Trescot, seeing the difficulties | ||
+ | to which it led, consulted both Senators Davis | ||
+ | and Slidell, who thought the demand “could do nothing | ||
+ | but mischief”; | ||
+ | South Carolina delegation in Washington, Governor | ||
+ | Pickens was advised by telegraph to withdraw the | ||
+ | letter, which was done. Trescot’s letter to Governor | ||
+ | Pickens, returning that of the latter, after mentioning | ||
+ | all that had been done by the executive to refrain from | ||
+ | injuring the sensibilities of South Carolina, said: The | ||
+ | President’s “course had been violently denounced by | ||
+ | the Northern press, and an effort was being made to | ||
+ | institute a Congressional investigation. At that moment | ||
+ | he could not have gone to the extent of action you desired, | ||
+ | and I felt confident that, if forced to answer your | ||
+ | letter then, he would have taken such ground as would | ||
+ | have prevented his even approaching it hereafter; ... | ||
+ | you had all the advantage of knowing the truth, without | ||
+ | the disadvantage of having it put on record.... I was | ||
+ | also perfectly satisfied that the status of the garrison | ||
+ | would not be disturbed.... I have had this morning an | ||
+ | interview with Governor Floyd, the Secretary of War; ... | ||
+ | while I cannot even here venture into details, which are | ||
+ | too confidential to be risked in any way, I am prepared to | ||
+ | say ... that nothing will be done which will either do | ||
+ | you injury or properly create alarm.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The President’s painful weakness is but too clear in | ||
+ | the fact that he had not only given his confidence so | ||
+ | largely to such a man, whose position and attitude he | ||
+ | knew, but saw nothing derogatory in such a letter as | ||
+ | that of Governor Pickens, and could draft a reply | ||
+ | (December 20th) in which, while stating that no authority | ||
+ | had been given to Governor Gist to guard the | ||
+ | Charleston arsenal, he said: “I deeply regret to observe | ||
+ | that you seem entirely to have misapprehended my | ||
+ | position, which I supposed had been clearly stated in | ||
+ | my message. I have incurred, and shall incur, any | ||
+ | reasonable risk ... to prevent a collision.... Hence I | ||
+ | have declined for the present to reinforce these forts, | ||
+ | relying upon the honor of the South-Carolinians that they | ||
+ | will not be assaulted whilst they remain in their present | ||
+ | condition; but that commissioners will be sent by the | ||
+ | convention < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a letter to Governor Pickens, with the idea of inducing | ||
+ | the authorities and people of South Carolina to await the | ||
+ | action of Congress and the development of opinion in the | ||
+ | North as to the recommendation of his message. Governor | ||
+ | Pickens told Cushing, December 20th, the day of | ||
+ | the passage of the ordinance of secession, that he would | ||
+ | make no reply to the letter, and stated “very candidly | ||
+ | that there was no hope for the Union, and that, as far as | ||
+ | he was concerned, he intended to maintain the separate | ||
+ | independence of South Carolina.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and upon the action regarding them hung war or<span class=" | ||
+ | peace. Three commissioners—Robert W. Barnwell, | ||
+ | James H. Adams, and James L. Orr—were appointed by | ||
+ | South Carolina to lay the ordinance of secession before | ||
+ | the President and Congress, and were empowered as | ||
+ | agents of the state to treat for the delivery of the forts | ||
+ | and other real estate, for the apportionment of the | ||
+ | public debt, and for a division of all the property of the | ||
+ | United States.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In apprehension of the occupation of Sumter by Anderson, | ||
+ | a patrol by two small steamers, the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | such action at all hazards and seize Fort Sumter if it | ||
+ | should be attempted. A Lieutenant-Colonel Green was | ||
+ | sent to Fort Monroe to observe any movements; and | ||
+ | one Norris, at Norfolk, was employed to give information | ||
+ | of any action at the Norfolk navy-yard. A committee of | ||
+ | prominent men was sent to Fort Sumter, who thoroughly | ||
+ | inspected the works and reported upon them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | great caution and foresight, to move his command. For | ||
+ | some ten days the officers had been apprised that it was | ||
+ | advisable to send the families of the men to the unoccupied | ||
+ | barracks on James’ Island, known as Fort Johnson, | ||
+ | a mile and a quarter west of Sumter. The work of | ||
+ | mounting guns at Sumter had been discontinued for | ||
+ | three days, and the elevating-screws and pintle-bolts | ||
+ | sent to Moultrie so that the guns should not be used if | ||
+ | the South-Carolinians should anticipate his action, and | ||
+ | also to give the impression that occupancy of the fort | ||
+ | was not designed. All stores and provisions at Fort | ||
+ | Moultrie which could be carried, and personal belongings, | ||
+ | except what the men could carry in their knapsacks, | ||
+ | were loaded as for Fort Johnson in the two small | ||
+ | sailing-vessels which were to carry the women and children.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | heavy rains prevented. The delay might have had | ||
+ | other consequences, | ||
+ | of December 26th, Colonel R. B. Rhett, Jr., waited | ||
+ | upon the governor, with a private warning letter from | ||
+ | Washington to the effect that Anderson was about to | ||
+ | seize Sumter, and urged the governor to secure it.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | who was to have charge of the little flotilla, loaded | ||
+ | with “everything in the household line from boxes and | ||
+ | barrels of provisions to cages of canary-birds, | ||
+ | to go to Fort Johnson, but not to land anything. | ||
+ | Upon a signal of two guns from Moultrie he was to go to | ||
+ | Sumter on the plea that he had to report to Anderson | ||
+ | that he could not find accommodations. Five pulling-boats | ||
+ | in customary use were available for the transportation | ||
+ | of the men. Only one officer had been thus far informed, | ||
+ | and the men had no suspicion where they were | ||
+ | to go when they fell in at retreat roll-call with packed | ||
+ | knapsacks and filled cartridge-boxes, | ||
+ | under a general standing order. So little was the movement | ||
+ | suspected that Captain Doubleday, second in command, | ||
+ | came at sunset to Anderson in the midst of the | ||
+ | officers to invite the major to tea. He was then informed | ||
+ | of Anderson’s intentions, and was directed to | ||
+ | have his company in readiness in twenty minutes, an | ||
+ | order met by an “eager obedience.” Part of this time | ||
+ | was taken in arranging for the safety of Mrs. Doubleday | ||
+ | in the village outside of the fort, whither the families of | ||
+ | the other officers were also sent. The men were ready | ||
+ | promptly, and the first detachment of twenty, led by | ||
+ | Anderson himself, marched over the quarter of a mile of | ||
+ | sand to the landing-place with the good-fortune of encountering, | ||
+ | no one.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Meade, the engineer in charge of the works at Castle< | ||
+ | Pinckney, had charge of the second, and Captain Doubleday | ||
+ | of the third. When half-way across, Doubleday’s | ||
+ | boat came unexpectedly in the path of one of the patrol | ||
+ | boats, the < | ||
+ | to sea. The men were ordered to take off their coats | ||
+ | and cover their muskets. The steamer stopped, but in | ||
+ | the twilight, and with the resemblance of the boat and | ||
+ | its load of men to the usual parties of workmen, suspicion | ||
+ | was not aroused, and the steamer resumed her | ||
+ | way without questioning. She had been anxiously | ||
+ | watched from Moultrie, and had she interfered would | ||
+ | have been fired upon by a thirty-two-pounder, | ||
+ | which had been loaded with that intent. Captain Foster, | ||
+ | with Assistant Surgeon Crawford, a Mr. Moall, four non-commissioned | ||
+ | officers, and seven privates, had been left | ||
+ | at Moultrie to spike the guns, burn the gun-carriages, | ||
+ | hew down the flag-staff.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On reaching Sumter, the workmen, some hundred and | ||
+ | fifty, swarmed to the wharf, some feebly cheering, many | ||
+ | angrily demanding the reason for the presence of the | ||
+ | soldiers; many of the workmen wore the secession cockade; | ||
+ | the malecontents (a number of whom shortly returned | ||
+ | to Charleston) quickly gave way before the bayonets | ||
+ | of Doubleday’s men, who at once occupied the | ||
+ | main entrance and guard-room; sentries were posted | ||
+ | and the fort was under military control. Boats were | ||
+ | now sent back for Captain Seymour’s company, which | ||
+ | arrived without interference, | ||
+ | the few detailed to remain at Moultrie, was in Sumter | ||
+ | before eight o’clock, at which hour Anderson wrote the | ||
+ | Adjutant-General, | ||
+ | by the blessing of God, the removal to this fort of all | ||
+ | my garrison.... The step which I have taken was, in | ||
+ | my opinion, necessary to prevent the effusion of blood.”< | ||
+ | On the firing of the signal-guns at Moultrie, Lieutenant< | ||
+ | Hall left the west side of the bay with the two lighters | ||
+ | carrying the men’s families and stores, and reached | ||
+ | Sumter under sail.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the boats were loaded during the night with part of the | ||
+ | impedimenta of every sort which had to be left in the | ||
+ | first crossing, and reached Sumter in the early dawn. | ||
+ | The following day, December 27th, was passed like the | ||
+ | preceding night, in transferring ammunition and other | ||
+ | stores to Sumter; but a month and a half’s supply of | ||
+ | provisions, some fuel, and personal effects had to be left. | ||
+ | All the guns at Moultrie were spiked, and the carriages | ||
+ | of those bearing on Sumter burned, the smoke from these | ||
+ | bearing to Charleston the first indication of what had | ||
+ | happened. At fifteen minutes before noon the command | ||
+ | and one hundred and fifty workmen were formed | ||
+ | in a square near the flag-staff of Sumter; the chaplain | ||
+ | offered a prayer expressing gratitude for their safe arrival, | ||
+ | and prayed that the flag might never be dishonored, but | ||
+ | soon float again over the whole country, a peaceful and | ||
+ | prosperous nation. “When the prayer was finished, | ||
+ | Major Anderson, who had been kneeling, arose, the battalion | ||
+ | presented arms, the band played the national air, | ||
+ | and the flag went to the head of the flag-staff, amid the | ||
+ | loud and earnest huzzas of the command.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | SUMTER</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Anderson’s action, and the morning of the 27th | ||
+ | the governor sent his aide-de-camp, | ||
+ | accompanied by Major Capers, with a peremptory demand | ||
+ | that Anderson should return with his garrison to | ||
+ | Moultrie, to which Anderson replied, “Make my compliments | ||
+ | to the governor and say to him that I decline to | ||
+ | accede to his request; I cannot and will not go back.” | ||
+ | The governor’s messenger mentioned that when Governor | ||
+ | Pickens came into office he found an understanding< | ||
+ | between his predecessor (Gist) and the President, by | ||
+ | which the status in the harbor was to remain unchanged. | ||
+ | Anderson stated “that he knew nothing of it; that he | ||
+ | could get no information or positive orders from Washington; | ||
+ | ... that he had reason to believe that [the state | ||
+ | troops] meant to land and attack him from the north; | ||
+ | that the desire of the governor to have the matter settled | ||
+ | peaceably and without bloodshed was precisely his own | ||
+ | object in transferring his command; ... that he did it | ||
+ | upon his own responsibility alone,” as safety required it, | ||
+ | “and as he had the right to do.” He added that, “In | ||
+ | this controversy between the North and the South, my | ||
+ | sympathies are entirely with the South,” but that a | ||
+ | sense of duty to his trust was first.<a id=" | ||
+ | was the occupancy by the state forces, December | ||
+ | 27th, of Pinckney and Moultrie; the seizure, December | ||
+ | 30th, of the unoccupied barracks known as Fort Johnson, | ||
+ | and of the arsenal, with its ordnance and ordnance stores, | ||
+ | valued at four hundred thousand dollars.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | act, one for which the country owes a debt to the memory | ||
+ | of this upright and excellent commander, brought consternation | ||
+ | to the President and Secretary of War, who | ||
+ | learned it through the indefatigable Trescot, who had, | ||
+ | on the 26th, arranged for the three commissioners of | ||
+ | South Carolina an interview with the President for December | ||
+ | 27th, at one o’clock. The news of the morning | ||
+ | brought a complete change of circumstances. A telegram | ||
+ | to Wigfall was brought by him to the commissioners | ||
+ | and to the Secretary of War, who at once went to the | ||
+ | commissioners. Trescot was present, and could not believe | ||
+ | in an “act not only without orders but in the face | ||
+ | of orders.” Floyd at once telegraphed, | ||
+ | of the report. “It is not believed, because | ||
+ | there is no order for any such movement.” A telegram< | ||
+ | in reply from Anderson assured him of the truth, and a | ||
+ | written report gave as reasons that “many things convinced | ||
+ | me that the authorities of the state designed to | ||
+ | proceed to a hostile act. Under this impression I could | ||
+ | not hesitate that it was my solemn duty to move my | ||
+ | command from a fort which we could not have held | ||
+ | probably longer than forty-eight or sixty hours to this | ||
+ | one where my power of resistance is increased to a very | ||
+ | great degree.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | made by sending from New York two hundred troops in | ||
+ | an unarmed steamer, < | ||
+ | fired upon by the secessionists in Fort Moultrie, and, | ||
+ | receiving no support from Fort Sumter, returned to | ||
+ | New York.]</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Anderson and to the Confederate authorities an impression | ||
+ | that Sumter would surely be evacuated; hence | ||
+ | Beauregard, March 26th, wrote to Anderson offering | ||
+ | facilities for removal, but asking his word of honor that | ||
+ | the fort would be left without any preparation for its | ||
+ | destruction or injury. This demand deeply wounded | ||
+ | Anderson, and he resented it in a letter of the same date, | ||
+ | saying, “If I can only be permitted to leave on the pledge | ||
+ | you mention, I shall never, so help me God, leave this | ||
+ | fort alive.”< | ||
+ | only alluded to the “pledge” on account of the “high | ||
+ | source” from which the rumors appeared to come, and<span class=" | ||
+ | made a full amend, which re-established their usual | ||
+ | relations.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | on a short allowance, he could make the provisions | ||
+ | last until after April 10th; but not receiving instructions | ||
+ | from the War Department that it was desirable to do so, | ||
+ | it had not been done.<a id=" | ||
+ | 31st, that his last barrel of flour had been issued two | ||
+ | days before.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | April 1st, would now face starvation should the | ||
+ | daily supply of fresh meat and vegetables, still allowed | ||
+ | from Charleston, be cut off. Being in daily expectation, | ||
+ | since the return of Colonel Lamon to Washington, of receiving | ||
+ | orders to vacate the post, he had, to the great | ||
+ | disadvantage of the food supply, kept the engineer laborers | ||
+ | as long as he could. He now asked permission to | ||
+ | send them from Sumter; but the request, referred to | ||
+ | Montgomery April 2d by Beauregard, was refused, unless | ||
+ | all the garrison should go.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | entered Charleston harbor by mistake, and was fired | ||
+ | upon by a Morris Island battery. Again the Sumter | ||
+ | batteries were manned and a consultation held, at which | ||
+ | five of the eight officers declared in favor of opening fire, | ||
+ | but no action was taken by Anderson beyond sending an | ||
+ | officer to the offending battery, from which word was | ||
+ | returned by its commanding officer that he was simply | ||
+ | carrying out his orders to fire upon any vessel carrying | ||
+ | the United States colors which attempted to enter.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On April 4th Anderson assembled his officers, and for | ||
+ | the first time made known to them the orders of January | ||
+ | 10th and February 23d, directing him to act strictly on | ||
+ | the defensive. As Lieutenant Talbot had just been promoted | ||
+ | captain and ordered to Washington, Anderson< | ||
+ | determined to send by him his despatches. In order to | ||
+ | arrange for his departure, Talbot, April 4th, accompanied | ||
+ | Lieutenant Snyder, under a white flag, to call the attention | ||
+ | of the governor to the fact that the schooner fired | ||
+ | upon had not been warned by one of their own vessels, | ||
+ | as had been arranged. It developed that the guard-vessel | ||
+ | on duty had come in on account of heavy weather, | ||
+ | and the commanding officer was consequently dismissed. | ||
+ | The request to allow Talbot to proceed brought out the | ||
+ | fact that orders had been received from Montgomery not | ||
+ | to allow any portion of the garrison to leave the fort | ||
+ | unless all should go<a id=" | ||
+ | for the benefit of Talbot, to apply more particularly | ||
+ | to laborers and enlisted men<a id=" | ||
+ | telegram from Commissioner Crawford had reached | ||
+ | Charleston April 1st: “I am authorized to say that this | ||
+ | government will not undertake to supply Sumter without | ||
+ | notice to you. My opinion is that the President has | ||
+ | not the courage to execute the order agreed upon in | ||
+ | Cabinet for the evacuation of the fort, but that he intends | ||
+ | to shift the responsibility upon Major Anderson by suffering | ||
+ | him to be starved out. Would it not be well to aid | ||
+ | in this by cutting off all supplies? | ||
+ | the same day, sent the message to the Confederate Secretary | ||
+ | of War, with the remark, “Batteries here ready | ||
+ | to open Wednesday or Thursday. What instructions? | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | April 5th, a pathetic despatch to the War Department: | ||
+ | “I cannot but think Mr. Crawford has misunderstood | ||
+ | what he has heard in Washington, as I cannot think | ||
+ | the government could abandon, without instructions and | ||
+ | without advice, a command which has tried to do all | ||
+ | its duty to our country.” He ended a fervent appeal | ||
+ | for this act of justice with, “Unless we receive supplies< | ||
+ | I shall be compelled to stay here without food or to | ||
+ | abandon this post very early next week.”< | ||
+ | time,” says Doubleday, “the seeming indifference of the | ||
+ | politicians to our fate made us feel like orphan children | ||
+ | of the Republic, deserted by both the State and Federal | ||
+ | administration.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | from the Secretary of War, informing him of the government’s | ||
+ | purpose to send the Fox expedition, and hoping | ||
+ | that he would be able to sustain himself until the 11th | ||
+ | or 12th.<a id=" | ||
+ | authorities that the supply of provisions had | ||
+ | been stopped, and late that evening that no mails coming | ||
+ | or going would be allowed to pass. The fort was to be | ||
+ | “completely isolated.” This action was undoubtedly | ||
+ | taken at this moment in consequence of a telegram from | ||
+ | Washington sent Magrath April 6th, as follows: “Positively | ||
+ | determined not to withdraw Anderson. Supplies | ||
+ | go immediately, | ||
+ | if their landing be resisted.” This telegram, signed | ||
+ | “A Friend,” was, as later became known, from James E. | ||
+ | Harvey, who was about to go as United States minister | ||
+ | to Portugal. It was sent to Montgomery, and had its | ||
+ | full effect.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the stoppage of mails, Anderson had posted his acknowledgment | ||
+ | of the War Department’s letter of the 4th and | ||
+ | a report by Foster to the chief-engineer of the army; | ||
+ | both letters were opened by the Confederate authorities, | ||
+ | and gave full confirmation of the accuracy of the telegram | ||
+ | from “A Friend.” Anderson said that “the resumption | ||
+ | of work yesterday (Sunday) at various points | ||
+ | on Morris Island, and the vigorous prosecution of it this< | ||
+ | morning, ... shows that they have either received some | ||
+ | news from Washington which has put them on the <i xml: | ||
+ | vive</ | ||
+ | to commence operations here. I fear” that Fox’s attempt | ||
+ | “cannot fail to be disastrous to all concerned.... We | ||
+ | have not oil enough to keep a light in lanterns for one | ||
+ | night. The boats will have therefore to rely at night | ||
+ | entirely upon other marks. I ought to have been informed | ||
+ | that this expedition was to come. Colonel Lamon’s | ||
+ | remark convinced me that the idea merely hinted | ||
+ | at to me by Captain Fox would not be carried out. We | ||
+ | shall strive to do our duty, though I frankly say that | ||
+ | my heart is not in the war which I see is to be thus | ||
+ | commenced.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As shown by despatches which Anderson had no | ||
+ | means of sending, and carried north, eight guard-boats | ||
+ | and signal-vessels were on duty out far beyond the bar; | ||
+ | a fourth gun had been added to the new battery on Sullivan’s | ||
+ | Island, which had until the 8th been masked by | ||
+ | a house now torn down, and which bore directly upon | ||
+ | any boat attempting to land stores on the left bank. | ||
+ | There was bread enough to last, using half-rations, | ||
+ | dinner-time Friday (12th). Anderson reported the command | ||
+ | in fine spirits. It was evident that a hostile force | ||
+ | was expected. The iron-clad floating battery appeared | ||
+ | the morning of the 11th at the west end of Sullivan’s | ||
+ | Island. Anderson, in ignorance that his own intercepted | ||
+ | letter and Harvey’s telegram had given them all they | ||
+ | needed to know, said: “Had they been in possession of | ||
+ | the information contained in your letter of the 4th instant | ||
+ | they could not have made better arrangements | ||
+ | than these they have made and are making to thwart | ||
+ | the contemplated scheme.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | messenger to carry to Charleston the notice of the President’s< | ||
+ | intention to attempt to provision Sumter, left | ||
+ | Washington Saturday, April 6th, at 6 <span class=" | ||
+ | with Captain Talbot, and reached Charleston forty-eight | ||
+ | hours later; finding no action taken against Sumter, | ||
+ | he delivered a copy of his memorandum to the governor, | ||
+ | who called General Beauregard into the consultation. | ||
+ | Captain Talbot’s request to join the garrison at Sumter | ||
+ | was referred to Beauregard, and peremptorily refused, | ||
+ | Beauregard remarking that the instructions from Montgomery | ||
+ | required that no communication whatever should | ||
+ | be permitted with Anderson except to convey an order for | ||
+ | the evacuation of the fort.<a id=" | ||
+ | to Washington was much delayed by disarrangement of | ||
+ | trains by order of Beauregard, who also held all telegrams | ||
+ | from Chew to Lincoln.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the heaviest of which were in barbette (the upper | ||
+ | and open tier). In the lowest tier there were also twenty-seven, | ||
+ | four of which were forty-two-pounders and the remainder | ||
+ | thirty-two’s. The ports of the second (or middle | ||
+ | tier), eight feet square, were closed by a three-foot brick | ||
+ | wall, laid in cement and backed in twenty-seven of the | ||
+ | more exposed by two feet of sand kept in place by planks | ||
+ | or barrels. On the parade were one 10-inch and four 8-inch | ||
+ | guns, mounted as howitzers, the former to throw shells | ||
+ | into Charleston, the latter into the batteries on Cummings | ||
+ | Point. The guns bearing upon the three batteries on | ||
+ | the west end of Sullivan’s Island were ten thirty-two-pounders; | ||
+ | on Fort Moultrie, two forty-three-pounders. | ||
+ | Five guns bore upon the mortar battery at Fort Johnson. | ||
+ | Seven hundred cartridges had been made up, material of | ||
+ | every kind, even the woollen shirts of the men, being used.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | three 8-inch, two thirty-two-pounders, | ||
+ | in Fort Moultrie; two thirty-two-pounders and | ||
+ | two twenty-four-pounders in the new enfilade battery; one | ||
+ | 9-inch, two forty-two-pounders, | ||
+ | at the Point and aboard the floating battery, and six | ||
+ | 10-inch mortars; on Morris Island, two forty-two-pounders, | ||
+ | one twelve-pounder Blakely rifle, three 8-inch guns, and | ||
+ | seven 10-inch mortars; at Fort Johnson, one twenty-four-pounder | ||
+ | and four 10-inch mortars; at Mount Pleasant, one | ||
+ | 10-inch mortar: a total of twenty-seven guns and eighteen | ||
+ | mortars.< | ||
+ | mortar fire under the conditions of a fixed target and perfectly | ||
+ | established distances is extremely accurate. The interior | ||
+ | of the fort was thus as vulnerable as the exterior.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | reporting the visit of the President’s messenger. | ||
+ | A lengthy discussion ensued in the Confederate Cabinet. | ||
+ | Toombs, the Secretary of State, said: “The firing upon | ||
+ | that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the | ||
+ | world has yet seen; and I do not feel competent to advise | ||
+ | you.”< | ||
+ | the only thing possible was for Secretary Walker to order | ||
+ | Beauregard, April 10th, “If you have no doubt of the | ||
+ | authorized character of the agent who communicated to | ||
+ | you the intention of the Washington government to | ||
+ | supply Sumter by force, you will at once demand its | ||
+ | evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such manner | ||
+ | as you may determine, to reduce it.”<a id=" | ||
+ | the same day, “The demand will be made to-morrow | ||
+ | at twelve o’clock.” To this came reply from Montgomery, | ||
+ | “Unless there are special reasons connected with | ||
+ | your own condition, it is considered proper that you | ||
+ | should make the demand at an earlier date.” Beauregard | ||
+ | replied (all these of the same date, the 10th), “The< | ||
+ | reasons are special for twelve o’clock.”< | ||
+ | “reasons” proved to be shortness of powder, then on | ||
+ | its way, and which arrived from Augusta, Georgia, that | ||
+ | evening,< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | flag and three officers, the senior being Colonel James | ||
+ | Chesnut, recently a United States senator, pushed off | ||
+ | from a Charleston wharf and arrived at Sumter at half-past | ||
+ | three. The officers being conducted to Anderson, | ||
+ | a demand for the evacuation of the work was delivered. | ||
+ | The officers of the fort were summoned, and after an | ||
+ | hour’s discussion it was determined, without dissent, to | ||
+ | refuse the demand, and a written refusal was sent, in | ||
+ | which Anderson regretted that his sense of honor and | ||
+ | his obligations to his government prevented his compliance.< | ||
+ | Anderson accompanied the messengers as far | ||
+ | as the main gate, where he asked, “Will General Beauregard | ||
+ | open his batteries without further notice to me?” | ||
+ | Colonel Chesnut replied, “I think not,” adding, “No, I | ||
+ | can say to you that he will not, without giving you | ||
+ | further notice.” On this Anderson unwisely remarked | ||
+ | that he would be starved out anyway in a few days if | ||
+ | Beauregard did not batter him to pieces with his guns. | ||
+ | Chesnut asked if he might report this to Beauregard. | ||
+ | Anderson declined to give it such character, but said it | ||
+ | was the fact.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the reply: “Do not desire needlessly to bombard Fort | ||
+ | Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at which, | ||
+ | as indicated by him, he will evacuate, and agree that in | ||
+ | the mean time he will not use his guns against us unless | ||
+ | ours should be employed against Sumter, you are authorized | ||
+ | thus to avoid the effusion of blood. If this or<span class=" | ||
+ | its equivalent be refused, reduce the fort as your judgment | ||
+ | decides to be most practicable.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A second note from Beauregard was presented that | ||
+ | night, and after a conference with his officers of three | ||
+ | hours, in which the question of food was the main consideration, | ||
+ | Anderson replied, “I will, if provided with | ||
+ | proper and necessary means of transportation, | ||
+ | Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant ... should I | ||
+ | not receive prior to that time controlling instructions | ||
+ | from my government or additional supplies.” The | ||
+ | terms of the reply were considered by the messengers | ||
+ | “manifestly futile,” and at 3.20 <span class=" | ||
+ | note was handed by Beauregard’s aides, Chesnut | ||
+ | and Lee, to Anderson: “By authority of Brigadier-General | ||
+ | Beauregard, commanding the provisional forces | ||
+ | of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify | ||
+ | you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort | ||
+ | Sumter in one hour from this time.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the relief expedition, was sent by the President, March | ||
+ | 30th, to New York, with verbal instructions to prepare | ||
+ | for the voyage but to make no binding engagements. | ||
+ | Not having received the written authority expected, he | ||
+ | returned to Washington April 2d, and on the 4th the | ||
+ | final decision was reached, and Fox was informed that | ||
+ | a messenger would be sent to the authorities at Charleston | ||
+ | to notify them of the President’s action. Fox mentioned | ||
+ | to the President that he would have but nine | ||
+ | days to charter vessels and reach Charleston, six hundred | ||
+ | and thirty-two miles distant. He arrived at New York | ||
+ | April 5th, bearing an order from General Scott to Lieutenant-Colonel | ||
+ | H. L. Scott (son-in-law and aide-de-camp | ||
+ | to the general-in-chief), | ||
+ | Colonel Scott to give in his name all necessary | ||
+ | instructions. Colonel Scott ridiculed the idea of relief,< | ||
+ | and his indifference caused the loss of half a day of | ||
+ | precious time, besides furnishing recruits who, Fox complained, | ||
+ | were “totally unfit” for the service they were | ||
+ | sent on.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and stores, and, after great difficulty, obtained three | ||
+ | tugs, the < | ||
+ | to throw hot water. The < | ||
+ | revenue-cutter < | ||
+ | to be a part of the force, which thus, with the < | ||
+ | included four armed vessels, the last being of considerable | ||
+ | power. The < | ||
+ | Washington the 9th; the < | ||
+ | from Norfolk the 10th; the < | ||
+ | from New York the 8th; the < | ||
+ | 9th. The < | ||
+ | Pensacola.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of Charleston bar, at 3 <span class=" | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | was not visible. The < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | guns were heard and the smoke and shells from the batteries | ||
+ | which had opened that morning on Sumter were | ||
+ | distinctly visible. Fox stood out to inform Rowan, of | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | of going in and sharing the fate of his brethren | ||
+ | of the army. Fox went aboard the < | ||
+ | him that he would answer for it that the government did | ||
+ | not expect such a sacrifice, having settled maturely upon | ||
+ | the policy in instructions to Captain Mercer and himself. | ||
+ | The < | ||
+ | vessels off the bar, gave the appearance of the presence of | ||
+ | a large naval fleet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | No tugboats had arrived; the tug < | ||
+ | New York; the < | ||
+ | by the gale; the < | ||
+ | until April 15th, too late for any service; neither the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | supplies; the < | ||
+ | signalled all night for the expected < | ||
+ | morning, the 13th, was thick and foggy, with a heavy | ||
+ | ground-swell, | ||
+ | on Rattlesnake Shoal, but without damage; a great | ||
+ | volume of black smoke was seen from Sumter. No tugboats | ||
+ | had yet arrived, and a schooner near by, loaded | ||
+ | with ice, was seized and preparations made to load her | ||
+ | for entering the following night. Going aboard the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Mercer of the < | ||
+ | detached by superior authority and that the ship | ||
+ | had gone elsewhere; though Fox had left New York | ||
+ | two days later than the < | ||
+ | of the change. At 2 <span class=" | ||
+ | arrived, and the squadron, powerless for relief, | ||
+ | through the absence of the < | ||
+ | was obliged to witness the progress of the bombardment.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was awakened by some one groping about my room in | ||
+ | the dark and calling out my name.” This was Anderson, | ||
+ | who had come to inform his second in command of | ||
+ | the information just received of the intention of the | ||
+ | Confederates to open fire an hour later.<a id=" | ||
+ | Confederates being able to make out the outline of the | ||
+ | fort, a gun at Fort Johnson was fired as the signal to | ||
+ | open; the first shotted gun was then fired from Morris | ||
+ | Island by Edmund Ruffin, an aged secessionist from Virginia, | ||
+ | who had long, in pamphlet and speech, advocated< | ||
+ | separation from the Union. The fire from the batteries | ||
+ | at once became general.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | officers and men, including the engineers, had been divided | ||
+ | into three reliefs of two hours each, and the forty-three | ||
+ | workmen yet remaining all volunteered for duty. | ||
+ | It was, however, an absurdly meagre force to work such | ||
+ | a number of guns and to be pitted against the surrounding | ||
+ | batteries, manned by more than six thousand men. | ||
+ | The number of cartridges was so reduced by the middle | ||
+ | of the day, though the six needles available were kept | ||
+ | steadily at work in making cartridge-bags, | ||
+ | firing had to slacken and be confined to the six guns | ||
+ | bearing toward Moultrie and the batteries on the west | ||
+ | end of Sullivan’s Island. The mortar fire had become | ||
+ | very accurate, so that, when the 13-inch shells “came | ||
+ | down in a vertical direction and buried themselves in | ||
+ | the parade-ground, | ||
+ | an earthquake.”< | ||
+ | and Anderson, to save his men, withdrew them | ||
+ | from the barbette guns and used those of the lower tiers | ||
+ | only. Unfortunately, | ||
+ | be effective against the Morris Island batteries, the shot | ||
+ | rebounding without effect from the face of the iron-clad | ||
+ | battery there, as well as from the floating iron-clad battery | ||
+ | moored behind the sea-wall at Sullivan’s Island. | ||
+ | The withdrawal of the men from the heavier battery could | ||
+ | only be justified by the already foregone result, and no | ||
+ | doubt this was in Anderson’s mind. The garrison was | ||
+ | reduced to pork and water, and, however willing, it could | ||
+ | not with such meagre food withstand the strain of the | ||
+ | heavy labor of working the guns; to add to the difficulties, | ||
+ | the guns, strange to say, were not provided with breech-sights, | ||
+ | and these had to be improvised with notched sticks.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | three times during the day, and the precision of the vertical | ||
+ | fire was such that the four 8-inch and one 10-inch | ||
+ | columbiad, planted in the parade, could not be used. | ||
+ | Half the shells fired from the seventeen mortars engaged | ||
+ | came within, or exploded above, the parapet of | ||
+ | the fort, and only about ten buried themselves in the | ||
+ | soft earth of the parade without exploding. Two of the | ||
+ | barbette guns were struck by the fire from Moultrie, | ||
+ | which also damaged greatly the roof of the barracks and | ||
+ | the stair towers. None of the shot came through. The | ||
+ | day closed stormy and with a high tide, without any | ||
+ | material damage to the strength of the fort. Throughout | ||
+ | the night the Confederate batteries threw shell every | ||
+ | ten or fifteen minutes. The garrison was occupied until | ||
+ | midnight in making cartridge-bags, | ||
+ | extra clothing was cut up and all the coarse paper and | ||
+ | extra hospital sheets used.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At daylight, April 13th, all the batteries again opened, | ||
+ | and the new twelve-pounder Blakely rifle, which had | ||
+ | arrived but four days before from abroad,< | ||
+ | wounding of a sergeant and three men by the fragments | ||
+ | thrown off from the interior of the wall by its deep penetration. | ||
+ | An engineer employed was severely wounded | ||
+ | by a fragment of shell. Hot shot now became frequent, | ||
+ | and at nine o’clock the officers’ quarters were set afire. | ||
+ | As it was evident the fire would soon surround the magazine, | ||
+ | every one not at the guns was employed to get out | ||
+ | powder; but only fifty barrels could be removed to the | ||
+ | casements, when it became necessary from the spread | ||
+ | of the flames to close the magazine. The whole range | ||
+ | of the officers’ quarters was soon in flames, and the | ||
+ | clouds of smoke and cinders sent into the casements set | ||
+ | on fire many of the men’s beds and boxes, making the | ||
+ | retention of the powder so dangerous that all but five | ||
+ | barrels were thrown into the sea.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | By eleven o’clock the fire and smoke were driven by | ||
+ | the wind in such masses into the point where the men | ||
+ | had taken refuge that suffocation appeared imminent. | ||
+ | “The roaring and crackling of the flames, the dense | ||
+ | masses of whirling smoke, the bursting of the enemy’s | ||
+ | shells, and our own, which were exploding in the burning | ||
+ | rooms, the crashing of the shot and the sound of masonry | ||
+ | falling in every direction made the fort a pandemonium.... | ||
+ | There was a tower at each angle of the fort. One of | ||
+ | these, containing great quantities of shells, ... was almost | ||
+ | completely shattered by successive explosions. The | ||
+ | massive wooden gates, studded with iron nails, were | ||
+ | burned, and the wall built behind them was now a heap | ||
+ | of débris, so that the main entrance was wide open for | ||
+ | an assaulting party.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and danger while the fire lasted, the firing could | ||
+ | have been resumed “as soon as the walls cooled sufficiently | ||
+ | to open the magazines, and then, having blown down | ||
+ | the wall projecting above the parapet, so as to get rid | ||
+ | of the flying bricks, and built up the main gates with | ||
+ | stones and rubbish, the fort would actually have been | ||
+ | in a more defensible condition than when the action | ||
+ | commenced.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | together made a <i xml: | ||
+ | strife was useless; and when, about 1 <span class=" | ||
+ | was shot away, though the flag was at once flown | ||
+ | from an improvised staff, a boat was sent from the commanding | ||
+ | officer at Morris Island, bringing Colonel (Ex-Senator) | ||
+ | Wigfall and a companion bearing a white flag, | ||
+ | to inquire if the fort had surrendered.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | for, and Wigfall, using Beauregard’s name, offered Anderson | ||
+ | his own terms. Wigfall exhibited a white handkerchief< | ||
+ | from the parapet, and this being noticed brought | ||
+ | from Beauregard himself Colonel Chesnut, Colonel Roger | ||
+ | A. Pryor, Colonel William Porcher Miles, and Captain | ||
+ | Lee, followed soon by Beauregard’s adjutant-general, | ||
+ | Jones, Ex-Governor Manning, and Colonel Alston. It | ||
+ | transpired that Wigfall had not seen Beauregard for | ||
+ | two days, and that his visit was wholly unauthorized. | ||
+ | The proper authorities, | ||
+ | were concluded at 7 <span class=" | ||
+ | (after some correspondence), | ||
+ | to salute the flag as it was hauled down, to march out | ||
+ | with colors flying and drums beating and with arms | ||
+ | and private baggage.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was sent in from the squadron outside, and arrangements | ||
+ | made for carrying the garrison north. Next morning, | ||
+ | Sunday, April 14th, with a salute of fifty guns, the flag | ||
+ | was finally hauled down. It had been Anderson’s intention | ||
+ | to fire a hundred guns, but a lamentable accident | ||
+ | occurred in the premature discharge of one, by which | ||
+ | one man was killed, another mortally wounded, and four | ||
+ | others seriously injured. This accident delayed the departure | ||
+ | until 4 <span class=" | ||
+ | eighty men, accompanied by the forty laborers,< | ||
+ | out of the gate with their flags flying and drums beating. | ||
+ | The steamer < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | issued his proclamation calling “forth the militia of the | ||
+ | several states of the Union” to the number of seventy-five | ||
+ | thousand men, in order to suppress “combinations | ||
+ | too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of | ||
+ | judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the | ||
+ | marshals by law,” and “to cause the laws to be duly< | ||
+ | executed.” Congress was called to convene July 4th. | ||
+ | An immediate effect of the proclamation was the secession | ||
+ | of Virginia, April 17th, the conservative elements of the | ||
+ | state convention, although in the majority, being overwhelmed | ||
+ | by the enthusiasm and impetus of the secession | ||
+ | attack. Another prompt result was the formation | ||
+ | of the northwestern counties into what is now West | ||
+ | Virginia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | sense, did much more than attempt to succor Sumter; | ||
+ | it was the instrument through which the fort was held | ||
+ | to the accomplishment of the fateful mistake of the | ||
+ | Confederacy in striking the first blow. It prevented the | ||
+ | voluntary yielding of the fort, and was an exhibition of | ||
+ | the intention of the government to hold its own. It was | ||
+ | thus elemental in its effects. Had Anderson withdrawn | ||
+ | and hauled down his flag without a shot from the South, | ||
+ | it would have been for the Federal government to strike | ||
+ | the first blow of war; and its call for men would have | ||
+ | met with a different response to that which came from | ||
+ | the electric impulse which the firing upon the flag caused | ||
+ | to vibrate through the North. This expectation was the | ||
+ | basis of Lincoln’s determination. Almost alone, unmovable | ||
+ | by Cabinet or War Department, he saw with the certainty | ||
+ | of the seer what holding Sumter meant, and continued | ||
+ | on the unchangeable way which from the first | ||
+ | he had taken. In his letter of sympathy to Fox, May 1st, | ||
+ | he said: “You and I both anticipated that the cause of | ||
+ | the country would be advanced by making the attempt | ||
+ | to provision Fort Sumter, even if it should fail, and it is | ||
+ | no small consolation now to feel that our anticipation is | ||
+ | justified by the result.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was witness to the truth of Lincoln’s view, as | ||
+ | well as to the North’s determination that the offended< | ||
+ | dignity of the Union should be avenged, its strongholds | ||
+ | regained, its boundaries made intact, and that the United | ||
+ | States be proved to be a nation. It was for this the | ||
+ | Union fought; the freeing of the blacks was but a natural | ||
+ | and necessary incident. The assault upon Sumter was | ||
+ | the knife driven by the hand of the South itself into the | ||
+ | vitals of slavery.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE BOMBARDMENT< | ||
+ | OF FORT SUMTER, 1861, AND THE BATTLE< | ||
+ | OF THE < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | militia to suppress the rebellion of the Southern | ||
+ | States. Secession of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and | ||
+ | North Carolina. Formal division of Western Virginia | ||
+ | from Virginia. The Massachusetts militia attacked in | ||
+ | Baltimore. The Congress of the Confederate States assembles | ||
+ | at Montgomery and is later transferred to Richmond. | ||
+ | The first battle of Bull Run results in a Federal | ||
+ | repulse. Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Repulse of the Federals | ||
+ | at Ball’s Bluff. McClellan succeeds Scott as commander-in-chief | ||
+ | of the Federal armies. The Federals | ||
+ | gain possession of Port Royal. The Confederate commissioners, | ||
+ | Mason and Slidell, are intercepted on the | ||
+ | British steamer < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Mason and Slidell, to the British government. The | ||
+ | Federals capture Roanoke Island. Fort Henry and Fort | ||
+ | Donelson surrender to General Grant. Federal victory | ||
+ | at Pea Ridge. Engagement between the < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | 1862</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | proper objective in the offensive campaign in the | ||
+ | East for which McClellan had been so long preparing. | ||
+ | The selection of that city by the Confederacy for the | ||
+ | seat of government caused all its interests to centre | ||
+ | there; the maintenance of its capital, moreover, was | ||
+ | essential to the good standing of the Confederacy before | ||
+ | Europe, recognition from which was so earnestly desired. | ||
+ | If the North could capture Richmond, quite | ||
+ | possibly nothing more would be necessary to crush the | ||
+ | South. The protection of Washington, too, could not | ||
+ | be left at all in doubt. Should that city be lost to the | ||
+ | Union, England and France might justly feel that the | ||
+ | cause of the North was hopeless, and no longer refrain | ||
+ | from intervention.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | other throughout the fall of 1861, the latter having, in | ||
+ | October, a force of 41,000, which later grew to 57, | ||
+ | Under Johnston at the end of the year were three subordinates—Jackson,< | ||
+ | in the Valley of Virginia; Beauregard, | ||
+ | about Leesburg, near the Potomac; and Holmes, | ||
+ | below Washington, about Acquia Creek, where Confederate | ||
+ | batteries closed the Potomac. McClellan had fully | ||
+ | twice as many men, an army well disciplined and equipped, | ||
+ | devoted to their leader, and of fine <i xml: | ||
+ | the army not be used? Because the general always | ||
+ | imagined before him a host of enemies that greatly outnumbered | ||
+ | his own, and insisted on more men and a more | ||
+ | perfect training before setting out. Meantime he grew | ||
+ | cavalier in his treatment of his superiors. The venerable | ||
+ | Scott, who now retired at seventy-five, | ||
+ | embittered by the scant courtesy of the new commander, | ||
+ | and even the President was slighted. “I will hold | ||
+ | McClellan’s horse for him if he will only win us victories, | ||
+ | said Lincoln, with good-natured patience. In December, | ||
+ | McClellan fell ill, and all was in doubt. With the new | ||
+ | year, 1862, prospects brightened for the Union. The | ||
+ | great successes in the West and South, ending with the | ||
+ | capture of New Orleans, brought cheer; at last the army | ||
+ | of the Potomac was in motion.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In March, Johnston withdrew southward; and McClellan, | ||
+ | his command now restricted to the “Army of the | ||
+ | Potomac,” as he had baptized his splendid creation, was | ||
+ | ready for the long-delayed advance. Lincoln, whose | ||
+ | good sense when applied to warfare often, though not | ||
+ | always, struck true, earnestly desired that Richmond | ||
+ | should be approached by a direct southward movement, | ||
+ | Washington being covered, while at the same time Richmond | ||
+ | was threatened. But McClellan judged it better | ||
+ | to proceed by the Chesapeake, landing at the end of the | ||
+ | peninsula running up between the York and James rivers, | ||
+ | and marching against Richmond from the east. Much | ||
+ | could be said in favor of this route: troops and supplies | ||
+ | could be carried by water to the neighborhood of Richmond | ||
+ | without fatigue or danger. Yet the President | ||
+ | yielded reluctantly, | ||
+ | it down as fundamental that the capital must be | ||
+ | protected by forty thousand men.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | necessary condition was a command of the waters, which | ||
+ | was secured in early March by an event that startled the | ||
+ | world. Among the many disadvantages under which | ||
+ | the South labored in her struggle with the North was a | ||
+ | painful lack, as compared with her opponent, of factories, | ||
+ | machine-shops, | ||
+ | and ingenuity brought about several wonderful | ||
+ | fighting contrivances, | ||
+ | was the < | ||
+ | thirty-five hundred tons and forty guns, one of the most | ||
+ | formidable vessels of the old navy, partly burned and | ||
+ | afterward sunk at the evacuation of Norfolk by the | ||
+ | Federals in April, 1861, was raised, and found to be | ||
+ | sound enough for further use. Good heads, among whom | ||
+ | John M. Brooke, manager of the Tredegar Iron Works | ||
+ | at Richmond, was prominent, fitted to the hull a casemate, | ||
+ | or box, pierced for cannon, and heavily plated with | ||
+ | iron—the first effective armored ship. There was a | ||
+ | frank farewell to masts, sails, and other former appliances | ||
+ | for motion and management. The winds were superseded | ||
+ | by steam, applied for the first time in naval warfare, | ||
+ | not as auxiliary, but as the sole motive-power. One | ||
+ | appliance of the < | ||
+ | but a revival of a fighting arm common in the | ||
+ | days of Salamis and Actium—a ram, projecting from the | ||
+ | prow like that of an ancient galley.< | ||
+ | hard to steer, and provided with engines far too | ||
+ | weak for her immense weight, but she had marvellous | ||
+ | defensive power and was fast enough to approach and | ||
+ | destroy any resisting sailing-ship.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On March 8th, from the direction of Norfolk, the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | before the astonished eyes of the Federal onlookers | ||
+ | in Hampton Roads.<a id=" | ||
+ | lay at anchor off Hampton, and they gallantly discharged | ||
+ | their broadsides at this strange assailant, but the balls | ||
+ | glanced harmless from her impenetrable back. She | ||
+ | turned and pierced the < | ||
+ | the frigate to the bottom; then she assailed the < | ||
+ | which presently went up in flames; the brave crews as | ||
+ | helpless as if their means of defence were bows and | ||
+ | arrows. Mistress of the situation, with three more | ||
+ | frigates—< | ||
+ | on the shoals or offering a futile defiance, the < | ||
+ | then withdrew for the day; she was certain of her prey and | ||
+ | could afford to wait for a few hours, meanwhile making | ||
+ | some changes which would render her more effective. | ||
+ | Vivid terror overspread the North as the news was despatched< | ||
+ | in the evening; and it was nowhere greater than | ||
+ | in the cabinet-room at the White House, where Lincoln | ||
+ | anxiously studied upon means to meet the exigency; and | ||
+ | Stanton, pacing the room “like a caged lion,” predicted | ||
+ | she would come up the Potomac and shell Washington.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the forenoon of March 9th, doing all things deliberately, | ||
+ | as one that has no reason to hasten, the < | ||
+ | again appeared and moved toward the < | ||
+ | aground and apparently certain to become a helpless | ||
+ | victim. Suddenly in the path appeared a little craft | ||
+ | scarcely one-fourth the size of the < | ||
+ | on a raft,” as it will go down in history, the < | ||
+ | an iron-clad of another pattern. This vessel, undertaken | ||
+ | as an experiment, and completed in one hundred days, | ||
+ | was due to the genius and indomitable zeal of John | ||
+ | Ericsson, its designer. That it should have arrived from | ||
+ | New York at this moment is one of the fateful accidents | ||
+ | of history. A multitude beheld the encounter, from | ||
+ | the ships close at hand, from the shores near and far. | ||
+ | The superior size and armament of the < | ||
+ | neutralized by her unwieldiness and depth of draught. | ||
+ | The < | ||
+ | shoal or through channel, could elude or strike as she | ||
+ | chose. Neither had much power to harm the other; | ||
+ | each crew behind its shield manœuvred and fired for the | ||
+ | most part uninjured. Worden, commander of the < | ||
+ | in his pilot-house at the bow, built of iron bars log-cabin | ||
+ | fashion, received in the face, as he peered through | ||
+ | the interstice, the blinding fire and smoke from a shell | ||
+ | that struck within a few inches, but he escaped death. | ||
+ | The casualties on the < | ||
+ | of that day both North and South believed that the | ||
+ | Confederacy was about to control the sea. The anticipation, | ||
+ | whether hope or fear, vanished in the smoke of that | ||
+ | day’s battle. With it, too, passed away the traditional | ||
+ | beauty and romance of the old sea-service—the oakribbed< | ||
+ | and white-winged navies, whose dominion had | ||
+ | been so long and picturesque, | ||
+ | way to steel and steam.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | GREENE OF THE < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | 9, 1862, the former vessel came to the Washington navy-yard | ||
+ | unchanged, in the same condition as when she discharged | ||
+ | her parting shot at the < | ||
+ | lay until her heroic commander had so far recovered from | ||
+ | his injuries as to be able to rejoin his vessel. All leaves | ||
+ | of absence had been revoked, the absentees had returned | ||
+ | and were ready to welcome their captain. President | ||
+ | Lincoln, Captain Fox, and a limited number of Captain | ||
+ | Worden’s personal friends had been invited to his informal | ||
+ | reception. Lieutenant Greene received the President | ||
+ | and the guests. He was a boy in years—not too | ||
+ | young to volunteer, however, when volunteers were | ||
+ | scarce, and to fight the < | ||
+ | the battle, after the captain was disabled.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | near the turret. The men were formed in lines, with | ||
+ | their officers a little in advance, when Captain Worden | ||
+ | ascended the gangway. The heavy guns in the navy-yard | ||
+ | began firing the customary salute when he stepped | ||
+ | upon the deck. One side of his face was permanently | ||
+ | blackened by the powder shot into it from the muzzle of | ||
+ | a cannon carrying a shell of one hundred pounds weight, | ||
+ | discharged less than twenty yards away. The President< | ||
+ | advanced to welcome him, and introduced him to the | ||
+ | few strangers present. The officers and men passed in | ||
+ | review and were dismissed. Then there was a scene | ||
+ | worth witnessing. The old tars swarmed around their | ||
+ | loved captain, they grasped his hand, crowded to touch | ||
+ | him, thanked God for his recovery and return, and invoked | ||
+ | blessings upon his head in the name of all the | ||
+ | saints in the calendar. He called them by their names, | ||
+ | had a pleasant word for each of them, and for a few moments | ||
+ | we looked upon an exhibition of a species of affection | ||
+ | that could only have been the product of a common | ||
+ | danger.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | sketch of Captain Worden’s career. Commodore Paulding | ||
+ | had been the first, Captain Worden the second officer | ||
+ | of the navy, he said, to give an unqualified opinion in | ||
+ | favor of armored vessels. Their opinions had been influential | ||
+ | with him and with the Board of Construction. | ||
+ | Captain Worden had volunteered to take command of | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | her keel was laid. He had watched her construction, | ||
+ | his energy had made it possible to send her to sea in time | ||
+ | to arrest the destructive operations of the < | ||
+ | What he had done with a new crew, and a vessel of novel | ||
+ | construction, | ||
+ | acknowledged his indebtedness to Captain Worden, and | ||
+ | he hoped the whole country would unite in the feeling of | ||
+ | obligation. The debt was a heavy one, and would not | ||
+ | be repudiated when its nature was understood. The | ||
+ | details of the first battle between iron-clads would interest | ||
+ | every one. At the request of Captain Fox, Captain Worden | ||
+ | had consented to give an account of his voyage from | ||
+ | New York to Hampton Roads, and of what had afterward | ||
+ | happened there on board the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In an easy, conversational manner, without any effort | ||
+ | at display, Captain Worden told the story, of which the | ||
+ | following is the substance:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | “I suppose,” he began, “that every one knows that we | ||
+ | left New York Harbor in some haste. We had information | ||
+ | that the < | ||
+ | were to fight her on her first appearance we must be on | ||
+ | the ground. The < | ||
+ | laying of her keel. Her engines were new, and her machinery | ||
+ | did not move smoothly. Never was a vessel | ||
+ | launched that so much needed trial-trips to test her | ||
+ | machinery and get her crew accustomed to their novel | ||
+ | duties. We went to sea practically without them. No | ||
+ | part of the vessel was finished; there was one omission | ||
+ | that was serious, and came very near causing her failure | ||
+ | and the loss of many lives. In heavy weather it was intended | ||
+ | that her hatches and all her openings should be | ||
+ | closed and battened down. In that case all the men | ||
+ | would be below, and would have to depend upon artificial | ||
+ | ventilation. Our machinery for that purpose proved | ||
+ | wholly inadequate.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Sandy Hook. The vessel behaved splendidly. The seas | ||
+ | rolled over her, and we found her the most comfortable | ||
+ | vessel we had ever seen, except for the ventilation, | ||
+ | gave us more trouble than I have time to tell you about. | ||
+ | We had to run into port and anchor on account of the | ||
+ | weather, and, as you know, it was two o’clock in the | ||
+ | morning of Sunday before we were alongside the < | ||
+ | Captain Van Brunt gave us an account of Saturday’s | ||
+ | experience. He was very glad to make our acquaintance, | ||
+ | and notified us that we must be prepared to | ||
+ | receive the < | ||
+ | hard trip down the coast, and officers and men were weary | ||
+ | and sleepy. But when informed that our fight would probably | ||
+ | open at daylight, and that the < | ||
+ | in order, every man went to his post with a cheer. That | ||
+ | night there was no sleep on board the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | approaching which our friends on the < | ||
+ | was the < | ||
+ | machinery started, and we moved out to meet her half-way. | ||
+ | We had come a long way to fight her, and did | ||
+ | not intend to lose our opportunity.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | there were three possible points of weakness in the < | ||
+ | two of which might have been guarded against in her | ||
+ | construction if there had been more time to perfect her | ||
+ | plans. One of them was in the turret, which, as you see, | ||
+ | is constructed of eight plates of inch iron—on the side | ||
+ | of the ports, nine—set on end so as to break joints, and | ||
+ | firmly bolted together, making a hollow cylinder eight | ||
+ | inches thick. It rests on a metal ring on a vertical shaft, | ||
+ | which is revolved by power from the boilers. If a projectile | ||
+ | struck the turret at an acute angle, it was expected | ||
+ | to glance off without doing damage. But what would | ||
+ | happen if it was fired in a straight line to the centre of | ||
+ | the turret, which in that case would receive the whole | ||
+ | force of the blow? It might break off the bolt-heads on | ||
+ | the interior, which, flying across, would kill the men at | ||
+ | the guns; it might disarrange the revolving mechanism, | ||
+ | and then we would be wholly disabled.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | gave her a shot. She returned our compliment by a | ||
+ | shell, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, fired when | ||
+ | we were close together, which struck the turret so squarely | ||
+ | that it received the whole force. Here you see the scar, | ||
+ | two and a half inches deep in the wrought iron, a perfect | ||
+ | mould of the shell. If anything could test the turret, | ||
+ | it was that shot. It did not start a rivet-head or a nut! | ||
+ | It stunned the two men who were nearest where the | ||
+ | ball struck, and that was all. I touched the lever—the | ||
+ | turret revolved as smoothly as before. The turret had | ||
+ | stood the test; I could mark that point of weakness off | ||
+ | my list forever.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | hull by a right angle, at what sailors call the ‘plank-shear.’< | ||
+ | If a projectile struck that angle, what would happen? | ||
+ | It would not be deflected; its whole force would be expended | ||
+ | there. It might open a seam in the hull below | ||
+ | the water-line, or pierce the wooden hull, and sink us. | ||
+ | Here was our second point of weakness.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | would keep the < | ||
+ | enough to give time for loading the guns. At the point | ||
+ | where the circle impinged upon the < | ||
+ | should be fired, and loaded while we were moving around | ||
+ | the circuit. Evidently the < | ||
+ | compliment every time. At our second exchange of | ||
+ | shots, she returning six or eight to our two, another of | ||
+ | her large shells struck our ‘plank-shear’ at its angle, and | ||
+ | tore up one of the deck-plates, | ||
+ | struck what I believed to be the weakest point in the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | swarmed with sharpshooters, | ||
+ | spattering against our turret and our deck. If | ||
+ | a man showed himself on deck he would draw their fire. | ||
+ | But I did not much consider the sharpshooters. It was | ||
+ | my duty to investigate the effects of that shot. I ordered | ||
+ | one of the pendulums to be hauled aside, and, | ||
+ | crawling out of the port, walked to the side, laid down | ||
+ | upon my chest, and examined it thoroughly. The hull | ||
+ | was uninjured, except for a few splinters in the wood. | ||
+ | I walked back and crawled into the turret—the bullets | ||
+ | were falling on the iron deck all about me as thick as | ||
+ | hailstones in a storm. None struck me, I suppose because | ||
+ | the vessel was moving—and at the angle, and when | ||
+ | I was lying on the deck, my body made a small mark | ||
+ | difficult to hit. We gave them two more guns, and then | ||
+ | I told the men, what was true, that the < | ||
+ | not sink us if we let her pound us for a month. The | ||
+ | men cheered; the knowledge put new life into all.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | new tactics. She endeavored to ram us, to run us down.< | ||
+ | Once she struck us about amidships with her iron ram. | ||
+ | Here you see its mark. It gave us a shock, pushed us | ||
+ | around, and that was all the harm. But the movement | ||
+ | placed our sides together. I gave her two guns, which I | ||
+ | think lodged in her side, for, from my lookout crack, I | ||
+ | could not see that either shot rebounded. Ours being | ||
+ | the smaller vessel, and more easily handled, I had no | ||
+ | difficulty in avoiding her ram. I ran around her several | ||
+ | times, planting our shot in what seemed to be the most | ||
+ | vulnerable places. In this way, reserving my fire until | ||
+ | I got the range and the mark, I planted two more shots | ||
+ | almost in the very spot I had hit when she tried to ram | ||
+ | us. Those shots must have been effective, for they were | ||
+ | followed by a shower of bars of iron.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | that it is built a little more than three feet above the | ||
+ | deck, of bars of iron, ten by twelve inches square, built | ||
+ | up like a log-house, bolted with very large bolts at the | ||
+ | corners where the bars interlock. The pilot stands upon | ||
+ | a platform below, his head and shoulders in the pilot-house. | ||
+ | The upper tier of bars is separated from the | ||
+ | second by an open space of an inch, through which the | ||
+ | pilot may look out at every point of the compass. The | ||
+ | pilot-house, | ||
+ | with no means of deflecting a ball. I expected | ||
+ | trouble from it, and I was not disappointed. Until my | ||
+ | accident happened, as we approached the enemy I stood | ||
+ | in the pilot-house and gave the signals. Lieutenant | ||
+ | Greene fired the guns, and Engineer Stimers, here, revolved | ||
+ | the turret.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was first struck by a shot or a shell. It either burst | ||
+ | or was broken, and no harm was done. A short time | ||
+ | after I had given the signal, and, with my eye close against | ||
+ | the lookout crack, was watching the effect of our shot, | ||
+ | when something happened to me—my part in the fight | ||
+ | was ended. Lieutenant Greene, who fought the < | ||
+ | until she had no longer stomach for fighting, will tell you | ||
+ | the rest of the story.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the historic battles of the world? This was the thought | ||
+ | of every one as the modest, diffident young Greene was | ||
+ | half pushed forward into the circle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | “He had cut out the work for us, and we had only | ||
+ | to follow his pattern. I kept the < | ||
+ | around the circle or around the enemy, and endeavored | ||
+ | to place our shots as near her amidships as possible where | ||
+ | Captain Worden believed he had already broken through | ||
+ | her armor. We knew that she could not sink us, and I | ||
+ | thought I would keep right on pounding her as long as | ||
+ | she would stand it. There is really nothing new to be | ||
+ | added to Captain Worden’s account. We could strike | ||
+ | her wherever we chose; weary as they must have been, | ||
+ | our men were full of enthusiasm, and I do not think we | ||
+ | wasted a shot. Once we ran out of the circle for a moment | ||
+ | to adjust a piece of machinery, and I learn that | ||
+ | some of our friends feared that we were drawing out of | ||
+ | the fight. The < | ||
+ | for Norfolk. As soon as our machinery was adjusted we | ||
+ | followed her, and got near enough to give her a parting | ||
+ | shot. But I was not familiar with the locality; there | ||
+ | might be torpedoes planted in the channel, and I did not | ||
+ | wish to take any risk of losing our vessel, so I came back | ||
+ | to the company of our friends. But except that we were, | ||
+ | all of us, tired and hungry when we came back to the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | well prepared to fight as she was at eight o’clock in the | ||
+ | morning when she fired the first gun.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>We were then shown the injury to the pilot-house. | ||
+ | The mark of the ball was plain upon the two upper bars, | ||
+ | the principal impact being upon the lower of the two. | ||
+ | This huge bar was broken in the middle, but held firmly | ||
+ | at either end. The farther it was pressed in, the stronger< | ||
+ | was the resistance on the exterior. On the inside the | ||
+ | fracture in the bar was half an inch wide. Captain Worden’s | ||
+ | eye was very near to the lookout crack, so that | ||
+ | when the gun was discharged the shock of the ball knocked | ||
+ | him senseless, while the mass of flame filled one side of | ||
+ | his face with coarse grains of powder. He remained insensible | ||
+ | for some hours.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was when he recovered his senses after the general shock | ||
+ | to his system?” asked Captain Fox of the President.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | relating to these gentlemen.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | becomes of me.’”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | history to which we have listened is new to me. I saw | ||
+ | this battle from eight o’clock until mid-day. There was | ||
+ | one marvel in it which has not been mentioned—the | ||
+ | splendid handling of the < | ||
+ | The first bold advance of this diminutive vessel against | ||
+ | a giant like the < | ||
+ | seemed inspired by Nelson’s order at Trafalgar: ‘He will | ||
+ | make no mistake who lays his vessel alongside the enemy.’ | ||
+ | One would have thought the < | ||
+ | No man was visible. You saw her moving around that | ||
+ | circle, delivering her fire invariably at the point of contact, | ||
+ | and heard the crash of the missile against her | ||
+ | enemy’s armor above the thunder of her guns, on the | ||
+ | bank where we stood. It was indescribably grand!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | this battle-scarred vessel, the first genuine iron-clad—the | ||
+ | victor in the first fight of iron-clads—let me make | ||
+ | a confession and perform an act of simple justice. I<span class=" | ||
+ | never fully believed in armored vessels until I saw this | ||
+ | battle. I know all the facts which united to give us the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | her inventor, but I know that the country is principally | ||
+ | indebted for the construction of this vessel to President | ||
+ | Lincoln, and for the success of her trial to Captain Worden, | ||
+ | her commander.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | armies and the sound of strife, the East had been | ||
+ | experiencing its share of activity by land and sea, and the | ||
+ | navy must first engage us. The blockade became steadily | ||
+ | more effective as new ships, purchased, chartered, or | ||
+ | built for the purpose, gathered at the various rendezvous. | ||
+ | Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal, seized in the fall of 1861,<a id=" | ||
+ | became bases for coast and inland expeditions which narrowed | ||
+ | the Confederate hold on the shore of the Atlantic. | ||
+ | In January, 1862, a fleet and army, braving the mid-winter | ||
+ | storms which were more formidable than human | ||
+ | opposition, entered by Hatteras Inlet, in order to dominate | ||
+ | more completely the North Carolina sounds. The | ||
+ | fortifications on Roanoke Island, lying between Albemarle | ||
+ | and Pamlico sounds, were easily captured, February | ||
+ | 8th. New-Berne and other towns were soon after | ||
+ | occupied, and the inlets and river-mouths so occupied | ||
+ | and threatened that the outlets to the sea became for | ||
+ | the Confederates few and perilous. This successful course | ||
+ | was interrupted during the Virginia campaign of the | ||
+ | summer; the troops were to a large extent withdrawn to | ||
+ | places where reinforcements were demanded. The Roanoke | ||
+ | Island expedition is noteworthy, among other reasons, | ||
+ | for bringing to the front Ambrose E. Burnside, its<span class=" | ||
+ | commander,< | ||
+ | inadequate, however, for large responsibilities, | ||
+ | later came upon him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | equally busy in expeditions from Port Royal. Fort | ||
+ | Pulaski, the strong work which commanded the approaches | ||
+ | to Savannah, a post environed by swamps and | ||
+ | watercourses, | ||
+ | rather to the engineering skill than to the bravery of its | ||
+ | assailants, April 11, 1862; therefore, most of the littoral | ||
+ | of Georgia, in addition to that of North and South Carolina, | ||
+ | was in Federal hands.<a id=" | ||
+ | supplemented by the occupation of the Atlantic | ||
+ | ports of Florida. On the Gulf side, the retention of Fort | ||
+ | Pickens by Union forces from the beginning had put | ||
+ | Pensacola Harbor under Federal control. The blockade, | ||
+ | at first deemed impracticable, | ||
+ | was throttling the foreign commerce which was | ||
+ | vital to the Confederacy. On the Atlantic scarcely any | ||
+ | important ports were left except Charleston and Wilmington; | ||
+ | and before the thresholds of these places lay, | ||
+ | night and day, the fierce and watchful war-dogs of the | ||
+ | Union.<a id=" | ||
+ | of Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston, and Matagorda still | ||
+ | remained to the Confederacy. How long could these | ||
+ | maintain themselves?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | by the Union, however important, lacked the wholesale | ||
+ | excitement of great and bloody battles, and was a | ||
+ | game little appreciated. But in the midst of it came an | ||
+ | incident dramatic and startling in the highest degree, its | ||
+ | hero being a naval officer, David Glasgow Farragut, son | ||
+ | of a Spaniard from the island of Minorca, who had married | ||
+ | a girl of Scotch strain and settled in the Tennessee< | ||
+ | mountains. After the birth of David the family removed | ||
+ | to Louisiana, the father receiving a naval command. | ||
+ | David as a boy of thirteen was on the < | ||
+ | in 1814, in her famous fight against the < | ||
+ | He had done good service on the seas and in port for | ||
+ | almost fifty years, but his opportunity did not come until | ||
+ | he was sixty years old.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | obvious: the place commanded the lower Mississippi, | ||
+ | was the most populous and important city of the Confederacy.< | ||
+ | The government, therefore, early gave thought | ||
+ | to its capture, assigning for that end a land force of | ||
+ | eighteen thousand men, under General Benjamin F. Butler, | ||
+ | and a powerful fleet. It was recognized that the | ||
+ | navy must play the larger part in the operations: eighty-two | ||
+ | ships, therefore, were assigned to the West Gulf | ||
+ | Squadron, ranging from tugs, mortar-schooners, | ||
+ | chartered ferry-boats to the most powerful man-of-war | ||
+ | which the nation owned.<a id=" | ||
+ | was chosen Farragut, whose force and capacity had been | ||
+ | recognized, especially by Welles, Secretary of the Navy.<a id=" | ||
+ | He hoisted his flag on the < | ||
+ | nineteen hundred tons and twenty-four guns, and February | ||
+ | 2, 1862, sailed southward from Hampton Roads to | ||
+ | Ship Island, midway between the mouth of the Mississippi | ||
+ | and Mobile, the rendezvous for the army and squadron.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in great part was the motive-power, | ||
+ | Even as Farragut was concentrating in the Gulf, | ||
+ | an event, to be described presently, took place in Hampton | ||
+ | Roads which revolutionized naval warfare. But the | ||
+ | enterprises in the Gulf were well started, and some | ||
+ | triumphs still remained for the old-fashioned sailor and | ||
+ | the old-fashioned ship.<a id=" | ||
+ | cross the bar and enter the Mississippi, | ||
+ | difficulty in the case of the heavier vessels. The < | ||
+ | was left outside, the < | ||
+ | through a foot of mud, and the < | ||
+ | scarcely less embarrassed. At last the squadron of attack | ||
+ | was for the most part within the branches of the | ||
+ | river; at the head of the passes they stripped like gladiators | ||
+ | for a final struggle, and proceeded to attack the | ||
+ | main obstructions twenty miles above. Farragut had<span class=" | ||
+ | seventeen ships for the attack, mounting one hundred | ||
+ | and fifty guns, besides twenty mortar-schooners, | ||
+ | six attendant gunboats, under Commodore David D. | ||
+ | Porter.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | equipped, guarded the river on the west and east. An | ||
+ | enormous chain, supported on anchored hulks, stretched | ||
+ | across the half-mile of current to hold any approaching | ||
+ | hostile vessels at a point where the fire of the forts could | ||
+ | converge. Above the forts, a formidable flotilla of craft | ||
+ | variously armed with rams and guns, some heaped with | ||
+ | pitch-pine knots to serve as fire-ships, stood ready to | ||
+ | take part.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ascend. Farragut ordered two gunboats to this dangerous | ||
+ | task. Stealing up at night, they accomplished it. | ||
+ | On the night of April 23d, the ships advanced, a column | ||
+ | led by the < | ||
+ | himself, in the < | ||
+ | pass close to Fort Jackson. Now came a rare blending< | ||
+ | of the splendid and the terrible. The night was calm, | ||
+ | with starlight and a waning moon; but in the fiercer | ||
+ | flashings of the combat the world seemed on fire. In | ||
+ | arcs rising far toward the zenith the shells of the mortars | ||
+ | mounted and fell; broadsides thundered; from barbette | ||
+ | and casemate rolled an incessant reply. Suddenly above | ||
+ | the flashes of guns came a steady glare: fire-ships, their | ||
+ | pitch-pine cargoes all ablaze, swept into the midst of | ||
+ | the struggling fleet. The attacking lines became confused | ||
+ | in the volumes of smoke settling down upon the | ||
+ | stream. In the blinding vapor friend could scarcely be | ||
+ | told from foe. The captain of the Confederate < | ||
+ | Moore</ | ||
+ | with the aim of his gun, coolly blew the bow to pieces | ||
+ | with a discharge, then through the shattered opening | ||
+ | renewed the battle. A Confederate tug pluckily pushed | ||
+ | a fire-raft directly upon the < | ||
+ | crew disappeared and the < | ||
+ | sailors, undaunted, stuck to their work; the ship was | ||
+ | pulled off by her own engines, while a deluge from the | ||
+ | pumps put out the fire. For an hour and a half the roar | ||
+ | and the flashings continued; as the dawn came, the | ||
+ | battle was hushed. Three Federal gunboats had been | ||
+ | driven back and one sunk, but the main fleet was above | ||
+ | the forts. The ships in general were scarred and battered | ||
+ | in the night’s encounter, but little harmed, and Farragut | ||
+ | made ready at once to go on his way.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Orleans. The small Confederate army under General | ||
+ | Mansfield Lovell was at once withdrawn and the city | ||
+ | left to its fate. Farragut appeared before it, after passing | ||
+ | rapidly up the intervening seventy miles, at noon, | ||
+ | April 25th. The population of one hundred and fifty | ||
+ | thousand souls, seething with natural mortification and | ||
+ | passion, lay under the broadsides of the fleet, and, after< | ||
+ | one outburst, in which a mob trampled on the United | ||
+ | States flag, they sullenly submitted. With all possible | ||
+ | expedition, the forts having given up, the land forces | ||
+ | ascended the river and, on May 1st, took possession.< | ||
+ | Farragut soon ascended the river to Vicksburg with a | ||
+ | large part of his fleet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN FARRAGUT’S CAPTURE< | ||
+ | OF NEW ORLEANS, 1862, AND THE<br /> | ||
+ | BATTLES OF GETTYSBURG< | ||
+ | AND VICKSBURG, 1863</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Battle of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. “Seven Days’ | ||
+ | Battle” between the armies of McClellan and Lee before | ||
+ | Richmond. Repulse of the Confederates at Malvern | ||
+ | Hill, and a constant succession of battles. Halleck appointed | ||
+ | Federal commander-in-chief. Confederate victory | ||
+ | at Cedar Mountain. Second battle of Bull Run and | ||
+ | defeat of the Federals. Battle of South Mountain. Battle | ||
+ | of Antietam Creek. Proclamation of Emancipation. | ||
+ | The Confederate cavalry under General Stuart makes | ||
+ | a successful raid into Pennsylvania. Burnside succeeds | ||
+ | McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. | ||
+ | Battle of Fredericksburg and repulse of the Federals.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | states. Hooker commands Army of the Potomac. West | ||
+ | Virginia admitted (by proclamation) into the Union. | ||
+ | Confederate victory at Chancellorsville. General Grant | ||
+ | invests Vicksburg. Lee occupies Winchester, crosses the | ||
+ | Potomac, and enters Pennsylvania. Meade appointed | ||
+ | commander of the Army of the Potomac. Battle of | ||
+ | Gettysburg, July 1–3. Fall of Vicksburg, July 4th.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the American Civil War, 1861–65, the capture of Vicksburg, | ||
+ | on the Mississippi, | ||
+ | Gettysburg proved a Confederate invasion of the North impossible. | ||
+ | Out of the many great battles of that war it is historically | ||
+ | essential that these two should be emphasized.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | efficiency of the South and the unpreparedness of the North were | ||
+ | soon illustrated in the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. In the | ||
+ | East, where the main objective point of the Northern attack was | ||
+ | Richmond, there followed McClellan’s organization of the Army | ||
+ | of the Potomac. In the West were Halleck and Buell, with headquarters | ||
+ | at St. Louis and Louisville, and the main end in view in | ||
+ | the Western campaign was the control of the Mississippi. February, | ||
+ | 1862, brought Northern successes in the Western campaign | ||
+ | in Grant’s capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, followed by | ||
+ | Shiloh, Corinth, and Memphis, which opened the Mississippi to | ||
+ | Vicksburg. At the same time Farragut’s fleet in the South captured | ||
+ | New Orleans, a victory which, like the effect of the blockade | ||
+ | throughout the war, was a weighty demonstration of the influence | ||
+ | of sea power upon history. After Farragut had cleared | ||
+ | the lower river, it was practically Vicksburg alone which remained | ||
+ | to unite the eastern and western territory of the Confederacy. | ||
+ | But in the East there had been a series of Northern disasters, culminating | ||
+ | in Chancellorsville.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | May 5, 1863, after Chancellorsville, | ||
+ | fortunes of the North were at the lowest ebb. Then | ||
+ | came the turning of the tide, and in an unexpected quarter. | ||
+ | General Grant had shot up into fame through his | ||
+ | capture of Fort Donelson, early in 1862, but had done | ||
+ | little thereafter to confirm his reputation. Though in | ||
+ | responsible command in northern Mississippi and southwestern< | ||
+ | Tennessee, the few successes there which the | ||
+ | country could appreciate went to the credit of his subordinate, | ||
+ | Rosecrans. The world remembered his shiftlessness | ||
+ | before the war, and began to believe that his success | ||
+ | had been accidental. All things considered, it is strange | ||
+ | that Grant had been kept in place. The pressure for his | ||
+ | removal had been great everywhere, but his superiors | ||
+ | stood by him faithfully, though Lincoln’s persistence was | ||
+ | maintained in the midst of misgivings.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the fall of 1862, Grant, in command of fifty thousand | ||
+ | men, purposed to continue the advance southward | ||
+ | through Mississippi, | ||
+ | certainly fall. His supplies must come over the Memphis | ||
+ | & Charleston road and the two weak and disabled lines | ||
+ | of railroad, the Mississippi Central and the Mobile & Ohio. | ||
+ | To guard one hundred and fifty miles of railroad in a | ||
+ | hostile country the army must necessarily be scattered, | ||
+ | as every bridge, culvert, and station needed a detail. | ||
+ | From Washington came unwise interference; | ||
+ | moved on with vigor. As winter approached, he pushed | ||
+ | into Mississippi toward Jackson. If that place could be | ||
+ | seized, Vicksburg, fifty miles west, must become untenable, | ||
+ | and to this end Grant desired to unite his whole | ||
+ | force. He was overruled, and the troops divided: while | ||
+ | he marched on Jackson, Sherman, with thirty-two thousand, | ||
+ | was to proceed down the river from Memphis. | ||
+ | Grant’s hope was that he and Sherman, both near Vicksburg, | ||
+ | and supporting each other, might act in concert.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | operating in a friendly country, tore up the railroads in | ||
+ | Grant’s rear for scores of miles, capturing his detachments | ||
+ | and working destruction. On December 20th, | ||
+ | also, Van Dorn, now a cavalry leader, surprised Holly | ||
+ | Springs, Grant’s main depot in northern Mississippi, | ||
+ | off and burning stores to the amount of $1, | ||
+ | Grant’s movement southward became impossible: the | ||
+ | army stood stripped and helpless, saving itself only by | ||
+ | living off the country, an experience rough at the time, | ||
+ | but out of which, later, came benefit.< | ||
+ | Sherman could no longer be thought of. Nor could news | ||
+ | of the disaster be sent to Sherman, who, following his | ||
+ | orders, punctually embarked and steamed down to the | ||
+ | mouth of the Yazoo; this he entered, and on December | ||
+ | 29th, believing that the garrison of Vicksburg had been | ||
+ | drawn off to meet Grant, he flung his divisions against | ||
+ | the Confederate lines at Chickasaw Bayou, with a loss of | ||
+ | eighteen hundred men and no compensating advantage.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | were increased by a measure which strikingly reveals the | ||
+ | effect in war of political pressure at the capital. At the | ||
+ | outbreak of the war, John A. McClernand was a member | ||
+ | of Congress from Illinois, and later commanded a division | ||
+ | at Donelson and Shiloh. Returning to Washington, he | ||
+ | stood out as a War Democrat, a representative of a class | ||
+ | whose adherence to the administration was greatly | ||
+ | strained by the Emancipation Proclamation, | ||
+ | loyalty Lincoln felt it was almost vital to preserve. | ||
+ | When, therefore, he laid before Lincoln a scheme<a id=" | ||
+ | raise by his own influence a large force in the West, over | ||
+ | which he was to have military command, with the intention | ||
+ | of taking Vicksburg, Lincoln and Stanton yielded, | ||
+ | the sequel showing that McClernand was a soldier of little | ||
+ | merit....</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | into the service, chiefly through his personal influence, | ||
+ | some thirty regiments, a welcome recruitment in | ||
+ | those dark days. With this new army McClernand appeared | ||
+ | at the mouth of the Yazoo just at the moment | ||
+ | when Sherman emerged from the swamps with his crestfallen< | ||
+ | divisions. McClernand assumed command, Sherman | ||
+ | subsiding into a subordinate place; but he had influence | ||
+ | enough with his new superior to persuade him to | ||
+ | proceed at once to an attack upon Arkansas Post, not far | ||
+ | away.<a id=" | ||
+ | January 11, 1863, with five thousand men and | ||
+ | seventeen guns. Though the victory was due in great | ||
+ | part to the navy, Sherman alone in the army having rendered | ||
+ | conspicuous service, yet before the country the | ||
+ | credit went to McClernand, nominally the commander, | ||
+ | giving him an undeserved prestige which made the situation | ||
+ | worse.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | present exigency the superior stood stoutly by him, and | ||
+ | probably saved to him his position. The military sense | ||
+ | of the general-in-chief saw clearly the folly of a divided | ||
+ | command, and he enlightened the President, who made | ||
+ | Grant major-general in command of operations on the | ||
+ | Mississippi, | ||
+ | January 30th, therefore, Grant, suppressing a scheme entertained | ||
+ | by McClernand for a campaign in Arkansas, set | ||
+ | to work to solve the problem of opening the great river.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | more difficult, or one in which military precedents | ||
+ | helped so little. The fortress occupied a height commanding | ||
+ | on the north and west, along the river, swampy bottom-lands, | ||
+ | at the moment largely submerged or threaded | ||
+ | with channels. These lowlands were much overgrown | ||
+ | with canebrake and forest; roads there were almost none, | ||
+ | the plantations established within the area being approached | ||
+ | most conveniently by boats. But it was from | ||
+ | the north and west, apparently, that Vicksburg must be | ||
+ | assailed, for the region south of the city appeared quite | ||
+ | beyond reach, since the batteries closed the river, which | ||
+ | seemed the sole means of approach for Northern forces.< | ||
+ | The surest approach to the stronghold was from the east; | ||
+ | but there Grant had tried and failed; public sentiment | ||
+ | would not sustain another movement from that side. | ||
+ | There was nothing for it but to try by the north and west, | ||
+ | and Grant grappled with the problem.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | his own forces, and the strength and character of his adversary. | ||
+ | In November, 1862, Johnston, not yet recovered | ||
+ | from the wounds received at Fair Oaks in May, was | ||
+ | ordered to assume command in the West, taking the | ||
+ | troops of Kirby Smith, Bragg, and the army defending | ||
+ | the Mississippi. The latter force, up to that time under | ||
+ | Van Dorn, was transferred to John C. Pemberton, of an | ||
+ | old Pennsylvania family, before and after the war a | ||
+ | citizen of Philadelphia. Though a Northerner, he had | ||
+ | the entire confidence of both Jefferson Davis and Robert | ||
+ | E. Lee. His record in the old army was good; he was | ||
+ | made lieutenant-general by the Confederacy, | ||
+ | most weighty responsibilities. He served bravely | ||
+ | and faithfully the cause he had espoused; though outclassed | ||
+ | in his campaign, he did not lack ability. Pemberton | ||
+ | commanded some fifty thousand men, comprising | ||
+ | not only the garrison of Vicksburg, but also that of Port | ||
+ | Hudson and detachments posted in northern Mississippi. | ||
+ | On the watch at such a point as Jackson, the state capital, | ||
+ | he could, on short notice, concentrate his scattered command | ||
+ | to meet whatever danger might threaten.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | about an equal number of men, comprised in four corps—the | ||
+ | Thirteenth (McClernand), | ||
+ | Sixteenth (Hurlbut), Seventeenth (McPherson). Hurlbut | ||
+ | was of necessity retained at and near Memphis, to preserve | ||
+ | communications and hold western Tennessee; the | ||
+ | three other corps could take the field with about forty-three | ||
+ | thousand. Among Grant’s lieutenants, | ||
+ | soldiers of the best quality—Sherman and James B. | ||
+ | McPherson, the latter a young officer of engineers, who<span class=" | ||
+ | during the preceding months had been coming rapidly | ||
+ | to the front.<a id=" | ||
+ | auxiliary in the fleet, which now numbered seventy craft, | ||
+ | large and small, manned by fifty-five hundred sailors | ||
+ | and commanded by David D. Porter, an indefatigable chief.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | plan. Throughout February and March his operations | ||
+ | were tentative; and though the country murmured at | ||
+ | his “inactivity, | ||
+ | work. Might not Vicksburg perhaps be isolated on the | ||
+ | west, and a way be found beyond the reach of its cannon | ||
+ | to that vantage-ground south of it which seemed so inaccessible? | ||
+ | Straightway the army tried, with spade, | ||
+ | pick, and axe, to complete the cut-off which Williams had | ||
+ | begun the previous summer; also to open a tortuous and | ||
+ | embarrassed passage far round through Lake Providence | ||
+ | and the Tensas and Washita rivers. Might not some | ||
+ | insufficiently guarded approach be found through the | ||
+ | Yazoo bottom<a id=" | ||
+ | Vicksburg from the northeast, which Sherman had sought | ||
+ | to seize at Chickasaw Bayou? Straightway there were | ||
+ | enterprises seldom attempted in war.<a id=" | ||
+ | Yazoo Pass was cut, far up the river, so that the swollen | ||
+ | Mississippi flooded the wide region below. Through the | ||
+ | crevasse plunged gunboat and transport, to engage in | ||
+ | amphibious warfare; soldiers wading in the mire or | ||
+ | swimming the bayous; divisions struggling to <i xml: | ||
+ | only to find that Pemberton was there before them behind | ||
+ | unassailable parapets; gunboats wedged in ditches, | ||
+ | unable to turn, with hostile axemen blocking both advance | ||
+ | and retreat by felling trees across the channel; | ||
+ | Porter sheltering himself from sharpshooters within a | ||
+ | section of broken smokestack and meditating the blowing-up | ||
+ | of his boats; Sherman now paddling in a canoe,< | ||
+ | now riding bareback, now joining the men of a rescue-party | ||
+ | in a double-quick—all in cypress forests draped | ||
+ | with funereal moss, as if Death had made ready for a | ||
+ | calamity that seemed certain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | north or west. To try again from the east meant summary | ||
+ | removal for the commander. Was an attack from | ||
+ | the south, after all, out of the question, as all his lieutenants | ||
+ | urged? Grant resolved to try; the river-bank to | ||
+ | the west was so far dried that the passage of a column | ||
+ | through the swamp-roads became possible. Porter was | ||
+ | willing to attempt to run the batteries, though sure that, | ||
+ | if once below, he could never return. The night of April | ||
+ | 16th was one of wild excitements. The fleet was discovered | ||
+ | as soon as it got under way, and conflagrations, | ||
+ | blazing right and left, clearly revealed it as it swept down | ||
+ | the stream. The Confederate fire could not be concentrated,< | ||
+ | and hence the injury was small to the armored | ||
+ | craft; and even the transports in their company, protected | ||
+ | only by baled hay or cotton, escaped with one | ||
+ | exception. A few days later transports and barges again | ||
+ | passed down.<a id=" | ||
+ | road, was met, when at last it reached a point well below | ||
+ | the town, by an abundance of supplies and ample means | ||
+ | for placing it on the other bank. April 29th, Grand Gulf, | ||
+ | the southern outpost of Vicksburg, was cannonaded, with | ||
+ | ten thousand men on transports at hand for an assault, | ||
+ | if the chance came. High on its bluff, it defied the bombardment, | ||
+ | as the main citadel had done. Then it was | ||
+ | that Grant turned to his last resource.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It requires attention to comprehend how a plan so | ||
+ | audacious as that now adopted could succeed. First, the | ||
+ | watchful Pemberton was bewildered and misled as to the | ||
+ | point of attack. About the time the batteries were run, | ||
+ | Grierson, an Illinois officer, starting with seventeen hundred< | ||
+ | cavalry from La Grange, Tennessee, raided completely | ||
+ | through Mississippi, | ||
+ | creating an impression of large numbers, so effectively | ||
+ | wrecking railroads and threatening incursion now here | ||
+ | and now there, that the back-country was thrown into | ||
+ | a panic, and Pemberton thought an attack in force from | ||
+ | that direction possible. Following close upon Grierson’s | ||
+ | raid, Sherman demonstrated with such noise and parade | ||
+ | north of the city that Pemberton sent troops to meet a | ||
+ | possible assault there. Meantime, the Thirteenth and | ||
+ | Seventeenth corps were ferried rapidly across the river | ||
+ | below Grand Gulf, and, a footing on the upland having | ||
+ | been obtained unopposed, Grant stood fairly on the left | ||
+ | bank. He now sent word to Halleck that he felt this | ||
+ | battle was more than half won.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | An easy victory at Port Gibson, over a brave but inferior | ||
+ | force, gave him Grand Gulf. Joined now by Sherman, | ||
+ | he plunged with his three corps into the interior, cutting | ||
+ | loose from his river base, and also from his hampering | ||
+ | connection with Washington. The previous fall he had | ||
+ | learned to live off the country. Two more easy victories, | ||
+ | at Raymond and Jackson, gave him the state capital, | ||
+ | and placed him, fully concentrated, | ||
+ | of Pemberton and Johnston. The number of his foes | ||
+ | was swelling fast—from Port Hudson, from South Carolina, | ||
+ | from Tennessee; but Grant did not let slip his advantage. | ||
+ | Johnston, not yet recovered from his Fair | ||
+ | Oaks wound, was not at his best. Pemberton, confused | ||
+ | by an adversary who could do so unmilitary a thing as | ||
+ | to throw away his base, vacillated and blundered. A | ||
+ | heavy battle at Champion’s Hill, May 16th, in which the | ||
+ | completeness of Grant’s victory was prevented by the | ||
+ | bad conduct of McClernand, nevertheless resulted in | ||
+ | Pemberton’s precipitate flight. Next day the Federals< | ||
+ | seized the crossing of the Big Black River, after which | ||
+ | all the outposts of Vicksburg, from Haines’ Bluff southward, | ||
+ | fell without further fighting, and Pemberton, with | ||
+ | the army that remained to him, was shut up within the | ||
+ | works. The Federals held all outside, looking down | ||
+ | from those heights, which for so long had seemed to them | ||
+ | impregnable, | ||
+ | and reinforcements could now come unhindered and were | ||
+ | already pouring in. The fall of Vicksburg was certain....</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The siege once begun, the fortress was doomed without | ||
+ | recourse. Pemberton, to be sure, did not lose heart, and | ||
+ | drove back the repeated Federal assaults with skill and | ||
+ | courage. Johnston, from the rear, mustered men as he | ||
+ | could, tried to concert with the besieged army a project | ||
+ | of escape, and at last advanced to attack. But within | ||
+ | the city supplies soon failed, and outside no resources | ||
+ | were at hand for the city’s succor. Johnston’s request | ||
+ | for twenty thousand men, lying idle in Arkansas had | ||
+ | been slighted;< | ||
+ | Kirby Smith and Dick Taylor attempted a diversion on | ||
+ | the west bank of the river; and still later, at Helena, | ||
+ | Arkansas, a desperate push was made to afford relief. | ||
+ | It was all in vain. The North, made cheerful by long-delayed | ||
+ | success, poured forth to Grant out of its abundance | ||
+ | both men and means. His army was in size nearly | ||
+ | doubled; food and munitions abounded. The starving | ||
+ | defenders were inexorably encircled by nearly three times | ||
+ | their number of well-supplied and triumphant foes. | ||
+ | Grant’s assaults, bold and bloody though they were, had | ||
+ | little effect in bringing about the result; the close investment | ||
+ | would have sufficed.< | ||
+ | surrender. The Confederate losses before the | ||
+ | surrender were fully 10,000; now 29,491, became prisoners, | ||
+ | while in the fortress were 170 cannon and 50,000 small | ||
+ | arms. Grant’s loss during the whole campaign was 9362.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | To this triumph, a week later, was added the fall of | ||
+ | Port Hudson,< | ||
+ | stubbornly for six weeks against the Federals. N. P. | ||
+ | Banks, who after his tragical Virginia experiences succeeded, | ||
+ | in December, 1862, Butler in Louisiana, was set, | ||
+ | as in the valley, to meet a difficult situation with inadequate | ||
+ | means. With an army of little more than thirty | ||
+ | thousand, in part nine-months men, he was expected to | ||
+ | hold New Orleans and such of Louisiana as had been conquered, | ||
+ | and also to co-operate with Grant in opening the | ||
+ | Mississippi. When his garrisons had been placed he had | ||
+ | scarcely fifteen thousand men left for service in the field, | ||
+ | a number exceeded at first by the Port Hudson defenders, | ||
+ | strongly placed and well commanded. West of the river, | ||
+ | moreover, was still another force under an old adversary | ||
+ | in the Shenandoah country—Dick Taylor, a general well-endowed | ||
+ | and trained in the best school. That Banks, | ||
+ | though active, had no brilliant success was not at all | ||
+ | strange; yet Halleck found fault. He could not extend | ||
+ | a hand to Grant; but, risking his communications—risking, | ||
+ | indeed, the possession of New Orleans—he concentrated | ||
+ | at Port Hudson, which fortress, after a six weeks’ | ||
+ | siege, marked by two spirited assaults, he brought to great | ||
+ | distress. Its fate was sealed by the fall of Vicksburg—Gardner, | ||
+ | the commander, on July 9th, surrendering the | ||
+ | post with more than six thousand men and fifty-one guns.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | such as had not been achieved before during our Civil War, | ||
+ | and was not paralleled afterward until Appomattox. In | ||
+ | military history there are few achievements which equal | ||
+ | it; and the magnitude of the captures of men and resources | ||
+ | is no more remarkable than are the unfailing courage of | ||
+ | the soldiers and the genius and vigor of the general.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In the Eastern field of operations in the American Civil War, | ||
+ | McClellan’s organization of the Army of the Potomac had given | ||
+ | him a well-disciplined force, with which he was facing General | ||
+ | Joseph Johnston at the opening of 1862. But the Peninsular | ||
+ | Campaign which McClellan entered upon early in the year, with | ||
+ | the bloody fighting at Fair Oaks in May, and the Seven Days’ | ||
+ | Battles in May and June, resulted in the withdrawal of the | ||
+ | Northern forces. There followed Pope’s defeat near Bull Run. | ||
+ | The forward movement was a failure. The Northern forces, only | ||
+ | four miles from Richmond in June, were practically defending | ||
+ | Washington in September. The desperate battle of Antietam | ||
+ | checked Lee’s movement into Maryland, but was not decisive. | ||
+ | Burnside’s costly defeat at Fredericksburg in December closed a | ||
+ | gloomy year in the East, which to many seemed to show that the | ||
+ | South could more than hold its own. The new year brought a | ||
+ | renewal of disaster to the Northern arms in Hooker’s defeat in | ||
+ | the hard-fought battle of Chancellorsville. But the tide was to | ||
+ | be turned by one of the crucial events of military history, which | ||
+ | was close at hand.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | South, was not a sudden one: to all intelligent eyes | ||
+ | it had for some weeks been impending; but that Lee | ||
+ | could be defeated seemed a thing impossible. Because | ||
+ | so long unconquered, | ||
+ | was unconquerable.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | had been thrown at Chancellorsville. His confidence in | ||
+ | himself was not broken by his misfortune. Instead of, | ||
+ | like Burnside, manfully shouldering most of the responsibility | ||
+ | of his failure, Hooker vehemently accused his<span class=" | ||
+ | lieutenants of misconduct, and faced the new situation | ||
+ | with as much resolution as if he had the prestige of a | ||
+ | victor. The Army of the Potomac, never down in heart | ||
+ | except for a moment, plucked up courage forthwith and | ||
+ | girded itself for new encounters.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | for the cloud on the southwestern horizon | ||
+ | was at first no bigger than a man’s hand. Longstreet | ||
+ | joined Lee from Suffolk with two divisions, swelling the | ||
+ | Army of Northern Virginia to eighty thousand or more. | ||
+ | Never before had it been so numerous, so well appointed, | ||
+ | or in such good heart. The numerical advantage which | ||
+ | the Federals had heretofore enjoyed was at this time | ||
+ | nearly gone, because thousands of enlistments expired | ||
+ | which could not immediately be made good; volunteering | ||
+ | had nearly ceased, and the new schemes for recruiting | ||
+ | were not yet effective.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the advantage to be gained from a campaign on | ||
+ | Northern soil. War-worn Virginia was to receive a | ||
+ | respite; Baltimore, Philadelphia, | ||
+ | Washington, might be terrorized, and perhaps captured. | ||
+ | If only the good-fortune so far enjoyed would continue, | ||
+ | the Union’s military strength might be completely | ||
+ | wrecked, hesitating Europe won over to recognition, | ||
+ | the cause of the South made secure.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Lee put in motion his three great corps under the | ||
+ | lieutenant-generals Ewell (Jackson’s successor), Longstreet, | ||
+ | and A. P. Hill. Longstreet was ill at ease. Vicksburg, | ||
+ | now in great danger, he thought could only be saved | ||
+ | by reinforcing Bragg and advancing rapidly on Cincinnati, | ||
+ | in which case Grant might be drawn north. Notwithstanding | ||
+ | Longstreet’s urgency, Lee persisted.< | ||
+ | pouring suddenly down the Shenandoah Valley, “gobbled | ||
+ | up,” as Lincoln put it, Milroy and his whole command | ||
+ | of some four thousand, June 13th, and presently from | ||
+ | Maryland invaded Pennsylvania. Longstreet was close | ||
+ | behind: while the head of Ewell’s column had been nearing | ||
+ | the Potomac, A. P. Hill, who had remained at Fredericksburg | ||
+ | to watch Hooker, as yet inactive on Stafford | ||
+ | Heights, broke camp and followed northwestward. | ||
+ | Ewell seized Chambersburg a few days later, then appeared | ||
+ | at Carlisle, and even shook Harrisburg with his | ||
+ | cannon. The North had, indeed, cause for alarm; the | ||
+ | farmers of the invaded region were in a panic. “Emergency | ||
+ | men,” enlisted for three months, gathered from | ||
+ | New York, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to | ||
+ | the threatened points. The great coast cities were face | ||
+ | to face with a menace hitherto unexperienced. Were | ||
+ | they really about to be sacked? What was to be done?</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln’s horse-sense, | ||
+ | tripping, but oftener adequate to deal with unparalleled | ||
+ | burdens, homely, terse, and unerring in its expression, | ||
+ | was at its best in these days. To Hooker, | ||
+ | meditating movements along and across the Rappahannock, | ||
+ | he wrote: “I would not take any risk of being | ||
+ | entangled upon the river like an ox jumped half over a | ||
+ | fence, and liable to be torn by dogs in front and rear | ||
+ | without a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other.”< | ||
+ | And again: “If the head of Lee’s army is at Martinsburg | ||
+ | (near the Potomac), and the tail of it on the plank-road | ||
+ | between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, | ||
+ | must be very slim somewhere. Could you not break | ||
+ | him?” “Fret him and fret him,” was the President’s | ||
+ | injunction to Hooker, regarding the advance of Lee. | ||
+ | Well-poised, | ||
+ | counsel to Hooker in these days that was not sound.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Indeed, at this time, Hooker needed little admonition. | ||
+ | Alert and resourceful, | ||
+ | of Lee than he suggested an advance upon Richmond, | ||
+ | which was thus left unguarded. Lee, of course, | ||
+ | had contemplated the possibility of such a move, and, | ||
+ | with a nod toward Washington, had joked about “swapping | ||
+ | queens.” The idea, which Hooker did not press, | ||
+ | being disapproved, | ||
+ | to “fret him and fret him,” his conduct comparing | ||
+ | well with his brilliant management at the opening of | ||
+ | the campaign of Chancellorsville. The cavalry, greatly | ||
+ | improved by him, under Pleasonton, with divisions commanded | ||
+ | by Buford, Duffie, and Gregg, was serviceable | ||
+ | as never before, matching well the troopers of Stuart at | ||
+ | Brandy Station, Aldie, and Middleburg. Screened on | ||
+ | his left flank by his cavalry, as, on the other hand, Lee | ||
+ | was screened by a similar body on his right, Hooker | ||
+ | marched in columns parallel to those of his foe and farther | ||
+ | east, yet always interposing between the enemy and | ||
+ | Washington. As June drew to its end the Confederate | ||
+ | advance was near Harrisburg, but the Federals were not | ||
+ | caught napping. Hooker stood at Frederick, in Maryland, | ||
+ | his corps stretched on either hand to cover Washington | ||
+ | and Baltimore, touching hands one with the | ||
+ | other, and all confronting the foe.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of military rules he could act, a recklessness up to | ||
+ | this time justified by good luck and the ineptitude of his | ||
+ | adversaries. Still contemptuous of risks, he made just | ||
+ | here an audacious move which was to result unfortunately.< | ||
+ | He ordered, or perhaps suffered, Stuart, whom as he drew | ||
+ | toward the Potomac he had held close on his right flank, | ||
+ | to undertake with the cavalry a raid around the Federal< | ||
+ | army, after the precedents of the Peninsular and Second | ||
+ | Bull Run campaigns. Casting loose from his chief, June | ||
+ | 25th, Stuart sallied out eastward and penetrated close to | ||
+ | the neighborhood of Washington. He did no harm beyond | ||
+ | making a few small captures and causing a useless | ||
+ | scare; on the other hand, he suffered terrible fatigue, his | ||
+ | exhausted men falling asleep almost by squadrons in | ||
+ | their saddles. He could get no news from his friends, nor | ||
+ | could he find Ewell’s corps, which he had hoped to meet. | ||
+ | Quite worn out with hardship, he did not become available | ||
+ | to Lee until the late afternoon of July 2d. A critical | ||
+ | battle might have had a different issue<a id=" | ||
+ | cavalry been in its proper place. It was almost a | ||
+ | chance, through a scout of Longstreet’s, | ||
+ | Chambersburg, | ||
+ | heard at last that his enemy was close at hand and threatening | ||
+ | his communications. At once he withdrew Ewell | ||
+ | southward, so that he might face the danger with his | ||
+ | three divisions together.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | camp of his foes. Hooker, on ill terms with Halleck, | ||
+ | and engaged in controversy with him over Halleck’s refusal | ||
+ | to authorize the withdrawal of the garrison of Harper’s | ||
+ | Ferry, rather petulantly asked to be relieved of | ||
+ | command, and the President complied at once. Such | ||
+ | promptness was to be expected. Hooker had been doing | ||
+ | well; but he had done just as well before Chancellorsville; | ||
+ | he was generally distrusted; his best subordinates were | ||
+ | outspoken as to his lamentable record. The unsparing | ||
+ | critic of Burnside had now to take his own medicine. A | ||
+ | battle with Lee could not be ventured upon under a | ||
+ | commander who could not keep on good terms with the | ||
+ | administration, | ||
+ | perilous swapping of horses in the midst of the stream,< | ||
+ | but Lincoln was forced to do it. Some cried out for the | ||
+ | restoration of McClellan, and others for that of Frémont. | ||
+ | The appointment fell to George Gordon Meade, commander | ||
+ | of the Fifth Corps, who, with soldierly dignity, | ||
+ | obeyed orders, assuming the burden June 28th, with a | ||
+ | pledge to do his best.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | experience, thoroughly trained in war. He had first risen | ||
+ | leading a brigade of the Pennsylvania reserves at Mechanicsville, | ||
+ | just a year earlier. The good name then | ||
+ | won he confirmed at Antietam, and still more at Fredericksburg. | ||
+ | He was tall and spare, with an eagle face | ||
+ | which no one that saw it can forget, a perfect horseman, | ||
+ | and, though irascible, possessed of strong and manly | ||
+ | character. In that momentous hour the best men were | ||
+ | doubtful on what footing they stood. When Lincoln’s | ||
+ | messenger, with a solemn countenance, | ||
+ | the appointment, | ||
+ | Placed in command, he hesitated not a moment, building | ||
+ | his strategy upon the foundation laid by his predecessor.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the First, commanded temporarily by Doubleday; | ||
+ | the Second, by Hancock, recently promoted; the | ||
+ | Third, by Sickles; the Fifth, his own corps, now turned | ||
+ | over to Sykes; the Sixth, Sedgwick, fortunately not displaced, | ||
+ | though so unjustly censured for his noble work | ||
+ | on May 3d; the Eleventh, Howard; and the Twelfth, | ||
+ | Slocum. The excellent cavalry divisions were under Buford, | ||
+ | Kilpatrick, and Gregg; and in the lower places | ||
+ | capable young officers—Custer, | ||
+ | Devin, Gamble—were pushing into notice. Of field-guns | ||
+ | there were three hundred and forty. It was a fault of | ||
+ | the Union organization that corps, divisions, and brigades | ||
+ | were too small, bringing about, among other evils, too | ||
+ | large a number of general and staff officers.< | ||
+ | here were wiser. Lee faced Meade’s seven corps | ||
+ | with but three, and two hundred and ninety-three guns; | ||
+ | but each Confederate corps was nearly or quite twice as | ||
+ | large as a Union corps; divisions and brigades were in | ||
+ | the same relative proportion. The Army of the Potomac | ||
+ | numbered 88,289 effectives; the Army of Northern Virginia, | ||
+ | 75, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | on Pipe Creek, just south of the Maryland line, as a | ||
+ | field suitable to be held should the enemy come that | ||
+ | way. He marched, however, northwestward cautiously, | ||
+ | his corps in touch but spread wide apart, ready for battle | ||
+ | and protecting as ever the capital and cities of the coast.<a id=" | ||
+ | His especial reliance in this hour of need was John F. | ||
+ | Reynolds, hand in hand with whom he had proceeded in<span class=" | ||
+ | his career from the day when, as fellow-brigadiers, | ||
+ | repulsed A. P. Hill at Beaver Dam Creek. This man he | ||
+ | trusted completely and loved much. He warmly approved | ||
+ | Hooker’s action in committing to Reynolds the | ||
+ | left wing nearest the enemy, made up of the First, Third, | ||
+ | and Eleventh corps. This made Reynolds second in | ||
+ | command. Meade, commander-in-chief, | ||
+ | and right. So the armies hovered, each uncertain | ||
+ | of the other’s exact whereabouts, | ||
+ | June.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | GETTYSBURG, JULY 1, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On July 1st, though Stuart for the moment was out of | ||
+ | the campaign, the Federal cavalry was on hand. Buford’s | ||
+ | division, thrown out from the Federal left, moved | ||
+ | well forward north of the town | ||
+ | of Gettysburg, and were met | ||
+ | by Heth’s division of Hill’s | ||
+ | corps, marching forward, it is | ||
+ | said, with no more hostile purpose | ||
+ | at the time than that of | ||
+ | getting shoes.<a id=" | ||
+ | line valiantly, being presently | ||
+ | joined by Reynolds. The two, | ||
+ | from the cupola of the seminary | ||
+ | near by, studied the prospect | ||
+ | hurriedly. A stand must | ||
+ | be made then and there, and the First Corps, close at | ||
+ | hand, was presently in support of the bold horsemen, | ||
+ | who, dismounted, were with their carbines blocking the | ||
+ | advance of the hostile infantry.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battle now occurred at the very outset. Reynolds fell | ||
+ | dead at the front, leaving the left divisions without a | ||
+ | leader in the most critical hour. Heth’s advance was | ||
+ | roughly handled; one brigade was mostly captured, | ||
+ | Doubleday nodding, with a pleasant “Good-morning, | ||
+ | am glad to see you,” to its commander, his old West Point | ||
+ | chum Archer, as the latter was passed to the rear among | ||
+ | the prisoners.< | ||
+ | fighting; but Ewell was fast arriving by the roads from | ||
+ | the north; and although Howard, with the Eleventh | ||
+ | Corps, came up from the south at the same time, the | ||
+ | heavier Confederate battalions could not be held. Barlow, | ||
+ | thrown out far forward into Ewell’s path, was at | ||
+ | once badly wounded, whereupon his division was repulsed. | ||
+ | The Eleventh Corps in general gave way before Ewell’s | ||
+ | rush, rolling back disordered through the town, where | ||
+ | large numbers were captured. Fortunately, | ||
+ | crest of Cemetery Hill, Howard had stationed in reserve | ||
+ | the division of Steinwehr. What broken brigades and | ||
+ | regiments, fleeing through the town, could reach this | ||
+ | point were forthwith rallied and reorganized. Thus, at | ||
+ | mid-day of July 1st, things were hopeful for Lee. The | ||
+ | First Corps, its flank exposed by the retirement of the | ||
+ | Eleventh Corps, fell back fighting through Gettysburg to | ||
+ | Cemetery Hill during the afternoon. Lee swept the | ||
+ | Federals from the town and the fields and ridges beyond. | ||
+ | Had Ewell stormed Cemetery Hill at once, Lee might | ||
+ | have won a great success.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the power to choose men, and Meade now showed this | ||
+ | conspicuously. He had lost Reynolds, his main dependence, | ||
+ | a loss that no doubt affected greatly the fortunes of | ||
+ | the first day’s battle; he replaced Reynolds with a young | ||
+ | officer whom it was necessary to push over the heads of | ||
+ | several seniors; but a better selection could not have | ||
+ | been made. Of the splendid captains whom the long | ||
+ | agony of the Army of the Potomac was slowly evolving, | ||
+ | probably the best as an all-round soldier was Winfield | ||
+ | Scott Hancock. Since his West Point training, finished | ||
+ | in 1844,<a id=" | ||
+ | climbing laboriously from colonel to corps commander, | ||
+ | winning out from each grade to the next higher | ||
+ | through faithful and able service. He could deal with | ||
+ | figures; was diligent over papers and office drudgery; he | ||
+ | was a patient drill-master—all these, and at the same | ||
+ | time so dashing and magnetic in the field that he early | ||
+ | earned the title “The Superb.”< | ||
+ | was tempered by judgment.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | INFANTRY ENGAGEMENT, | ||
+ | JULY 1, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Taneytown, thirteen miles away, when he was anxiously | ||
+ | gathering in his host, to lead the | ||
+ | hard-pressed left wing; he was to | ||
+ | judge whether the position should | ||
+ | be held, as Reynolds had thought, | ||
+ | or a retirement attempted toward | ||
+ | the surveyed lines of Pipe Creek. | ||
+ | The apparition on Cemetery Hill, | ||
+ | just before four o’clock, July 1st, of | ||
+ | Hancock upon his sweating charger, | ||
+ | was equal to a reinforcement by an | ||
+ | army corps. Fugitives halted; fragments | ||
+ | of formations were welded | ||
+ | into proper battle-lines. In the respite | ||
+ | given by Ewell, so ill-timed for Lee, the shattered | ||
+ | First and Eleventh corps found breathing-space and | ||
+ | plucked up heart. At six o’clock they were joined by | ||
+ | the Twelfth Corps, that of the steadfast Slocum. Hancock, | ||
+ | now feeling that there were troops enough for the | ||
+ | present, and resolute leaders, galloped back to report to | ||
+ | his chief. Upon his report Meade concentrated everything | ||
+ | toward Cemetery Hill, the troops plodding through | ||
+ | the moonlit night. Meade himself reached the field an | ||
+ | hour past midnight, gaunt and hollow-eyed through want | ||
+ | of sleep,<a id=" | ||
+ | of July 2d the Second Corps, at the head of which Gibbon | ||
+ | had taken Hancock’s place, and the Third Corps, Sickles, | ||
+ | were at hand. At noon arrived the Fifth, and soon after | ||
+ | the Sixth, Sedgwick having marched his men thirty-four | ||
+ | miles in eighteen hours.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of not quite a mile, extend at Gettysburg north and | ||
+ | south. The more westerly of these, called, from the | ||
+ | Lutheran College there, Seminary Ridge, was the scene | ||
+ | of the first attack on July 1st, but on the second day | ||
+ | became the main Confederate position. The eastern | ||
+ | ridge, terminated at its northern end by the town cemetery, | ||
+ | close to which Howard so fortunately stationed | ||
+ | Steinwehr on the first day, became the Federal stronghold. | ||
+ | Cemetery Ridge was really shaped like a fishhook, | ||
+ | its line curving eastward to the abrupt and wooded Culp’s | ||
+ | Hill, the barb of the hook. At the curve the ridge was | ||
+ | steep and rough with ledges and bowlders; as it ran | ||
+ | southward its height diminished until, after a mile or so, | ||
+ | it rose again into two marked elevations—Round Top, | ||
+ | six hundred feet high, with a spur, Little Round Top, | ||
+ | just north.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On the morning of July 2d the Federals lay along this< | ||
+ | ridge in order as follows: at the extreme right, on Culp’s | ||
+ | Hill (the fishhook’s barb), the Twelfth Corps, Slocum; at | ||
+ | the bend, near the cemetery, the Eleventh Corps, Howard, | ||
+ | reinforced from other bodies; on their left the First, | ||
+ | now under Newton, and the Second, Gibbon. The First | ||
+ | and Second corps formed, as it were, the shank of the | ||
+ | hook, which the Third, Sickles, was expected to prolong. | ||
+ | The Fifth, on arriving, took place behind the Third; and | ||
+ | the Sixth, when it appeared from the east, helped to make | ||
+ | secure the trains and sent aid elsewhere. The convex | ||
+ | formation presently proved to be of incalculable value, | ||
+ | enabling Meade to strengthen rapidly any threatened | ||
+ | point. Fronting their foe, the Confederates lay in a | ||
+ | parallel concave line, Ewell close at the curve and in the | ||
+ | town, and A. P. Hill on Seminary Ridge; this line Longstreet | ||
+ | prolonged southward, his right flank opposed to | ||
+ | Round Top. The concave formation was an embarrassment | ||
+ | to Lee—no reinforcements could reach threatened | ||
+ | points without making a wide circuit.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with the Third Corps the southward-stretching line, reviewed | ||
+ | the field, he found the Third Corps thrown out far | ||
+ | in advance, to the Emmittsburg road, which here passed | ||
+ | along a dominating ridge; the break in the continuity of | ||
+ | his line filled the general with alarm, but it was too late | ||
+ | to change. Whether or not Sickles blundered will not | ||
+ | be argued here. Meade condemned; other good authorities | ||
+ | have approved, among them Sheridan, who regarded | ||
+ | as just Sickles’ claim that the line marked out by | ||
+ | Meade was untenable.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | second; and the first matter in dispute was the expediency | ||
+ | of fighting at all at Gettysburg. When Longstreet, | ||
+ | coming from Chambersburg, | ||
+ | he urged upon Lee, bent upon his battle, a turning of the | ||
+ | Federal left as better strategy, by which the Confederates | ||
+ | might interpose between Meade and Washington and | ||
+ | compel Meade to make the attack. Longstreet held Lee | ||
+ | to be perfect in defensive warfare; on the offensive, however, | ||
+ | he thought him “over-combative” and liable to | ||
+ | rashness.< | ||
+ | and when Longstreet, acquiescing, | ||
+ | suggestion—namely, | ||
+ | left instead of a direct assault—Lee pronounced for the | ||
+ | assault in a manner so peremptory that Longstreet could | ||
+ | say no more. From first to last at Gettysburg, Longstreet | ||
+ | was ill at ease, in spite of which his blows fell like | ||
+ | those from the hammer of a war-god. The friends of | ||
+ | Lee have denounced him for a sluggishness and insubordination | ||
+ | that, as they claim, lost for them the | ||
+ | battle.< | ||
+ | of great weight as coming from one of the most | ||
+ | able and manful figures on either side in the Civil | ||
+ | War.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Of Longstreet’s three divisions, only one, that of | ||
+ | McLaws, was on hand with all its brigades on the forenoon | ||
+ | of July 2d. At noon arrived Law, completing | ||
+ | Hood’s division. Pickett’s division was still behind; | ||
+ | but in mid-afternoon, | ||
+ | attacked—Hood, | ||
+ | Sickles in his far-advanced position and working dangerously | ||
+ | around his flank toward the Round Tops. Longstreet’s | ||
+ | generals, Hood and afterward Law (Hood falling | ||
+ | wounded in the first attack), though men of courage and | ||
+ | dash, assaulted only after having filed written protests, | ||
+ | feeling sure that the position could be easily turned and<span class=" | ||
+ | gained with little fighting. But Lee had been peremptory, | ||
+ | and no choice was left.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Potomac, despatched by Meade to the left during | ||
+ | the afternoon, found the Round Tops undefended. They | ||
+ | were plainly the key to the Federal position, offering | ||
+ | points which, if seized by the enemy, would make possible | ||
+ | an enfilading of the Federal line. Troops of the Twelfth< | ||
+ | Corps, at first stationed there, had been withdrawn and | ||
+ | their places not supplied. There was not a moment to | ||
+ | lose. Even as he stood, Warren beheld in the opposite | ||
+ | woods the gleam of arms from Longstreet’s swift advance. | ||
+ | Leaping down from ledge to ledge, he met a brigade of | ||
+ | the Fifth Corps, just arrived and marching to the aid of | ||
+ | Sickles. These he diverted to the eyrie he had so lately | ||
+ | left; a battery, too, was dragged up over the rocks, and | ||
+ | none too soon. At that very moment the men of Hood | ||
+ | charged out of the valley, and the height was held only | ||
+ | by the most obstinate combat.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | which, as the sun threw its rays aslant, spread wider | ||
+ | and louder. Longstreet and A. P. Hill threw in upon | ||
+ | the Third Corps every man available; while, on the other | ||
+ | hand, Meade poured in to its support division after division | ||
+ | from the Fifth, and at last from the Second and Twelfth.< | ||
+ | About six o’clock Sickles fell wounded; by sunset his line | ||
+ | was everywhere forced back, though not in rout. By | ||
+ | dusk the Confederates had mastered all resistance in the | ||
+ | valley. But the line once reached which Meade had | ||
+ | originally designed, running north from Little Round | ||
+ | Top to Cemetery Ridge, retreat went no farther. That | ||
+ | line was not crossed by foot of foe. When night fell the | ||
+ | Round Tops were held firmly, while troops from the | ||
+ | Sixth Corps guarded the Union left. Nearer the centre | ||
+ | stood the Third and Fifth, much shattered but still defiant. | ||
+ | In a way, what had happened was but a rectification | ||
+ | of Meade’s line: the Confederates, | ||
+ | ground, but the losses they had inflicted were no more | ||
+ | appalling than those they had received.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | had taken place at the cemetery and Culp’s Hill. Lee’s | ||
+ | plan contemplated a simultaneous attack at the north | ||
+ | and south; but Ewell, at the north, was late in his<span class=" | ||
+ | advance, and the intended effect of distracting the | ||
+ | Federals was wellnigh lost. The Louisiana brigade | ||
+ | dashed itself in vain against the height just above the | ||
+ | town. The Stonewall division fared better; for, the | ||
+ | Federal defenders being for the most part withdrawn, | ||
+ | they seized intrenchments on Culp’s Hill, penetrating far—for | ||
+ | Meade a most critical advance, since they came | ||
+ | within thirty rods of the Baltimore turnpike, where lay | ||
+ | his trains and reserve ammunition. The South has always | ||
+ | believed that, had Stonewall Jackson been there, | ||
+ | the Federal rear would have been reached, and rout and | ||
+ | capture made certain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and for the Federals the outlook was perhaps more gloomy | ||
+ | than for their foes. On each flank the Confederates had | ||
+ | gained an advantage, and Lee probably felt a hopefulness | ||
+ | which the circumstances did not really justify. Meade | ||
+ | gathered his generals at midnight in council. It was in | ||
+ | a little room, but ten or twelve feet square, a group dust-covered | ||
+ | and sweat-stained, | ||
+ | Some sat on the bed; some stood; Warren, wounded, | ||
+ | stretched out on the floor, was overcome by sleep. There | ||
+ | was no vote but to fight it out on the morrow. In this | ||
+ | Meade acquiesced, carefully planning for a retreat, however, | ||
+ | should the need arise. To Gibbon, commanding the | ||
+ | Second Corps, placed between the wings, he said: “Your | ||
+ | turn will come to-morrow. To-day he has struck the | ||
+ | flanks; next, it will be the centre.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | fight again on the second; his success on the second induced | ||
+ | him to try for the third time; but he had exhausted | ||
+ | his good-fortune. At earliest dawn of July 3, 1863, began | ||
+ | a wrestle for the possession of Culp’s Hill, Ewell | ||
+ | heavily reinforcing the Stonewall division which had | ||
+ | won footing there the night before, and the Twelfth< | ||
+ | Corps as stubbornly struggling for the ground it had | ||
+ | lost. It was a fight of six hours, in which the extreme | ||
+ | northern wings of the two armies only were concerned. | ||
+ | The Federals won, at a heavy sacrifice of life.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | reigning on the trampled and bloody field under the mid-day | ||
+ | sun. Meade and his soldiers knew that it portended | ||
+ | danger, and with a sure intuition the army chief was | ||
+ | watching with especial care the centre, as yet unassailed. | ||
+ | On the Confederate side, the unhappy Longstreet, at | ||
+ | odds with his chief as to the wisdom of the campaign | ||
+ | from the start, and disapproving both its strategy and | ||
+ | tactics, was now in deeper gloom than ever. Lee had | ||
+ | determined to assault the Federal centre, and by a cruel< | ||
+ | turn of fate the blow must be struck by the reluctant | ||
+ | Longstreet. Of the three great Confederate corps, it | ||
+ | was only in Longstreet’s that a force remained as yet unwrung | ||
+ | by the fearful agonies of the last two days. Pickett’s | ||
+ | division, solidly Virginian, and in the eyes of Lee a Tenth | ||
+ | Legion in its valor, as yet had done nothing, and was to | ||
+ | bear the brunt of the attack. “What troops do you design | ||
+ | for the assault?” Longstreet had asked. Lee, having | ||
+ | indicated Pickett’s division of five thousand, with auxiliary | ||
+ | divisions, making an entire number in the charging | ||
+ | column of fifteen thousand, the Georgian burst out: “I | ||
+ | have been a soldier from the ground up. I have been | ||
+ | with soldiers engaged in fights by couples, by squads, | ||
+ | companies, regiments, armies, and should know as well | ||
+ | as any one what soldiers can do. It is my opinion that | ||
+ | no fifteen thousand men ever arrayed for battle can take | ||
+ | that position.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Stuart, arrived at last after his raid, so long | ||
+ | and futile, around beyond the Federal right. When the | ||
+ | Union centre should be broken and Meade thrown into | ||
+ | retreat, Stuart was to seize its only practicable route for | ||
+ | retreat, the Baltimore pike, and make the defeat decisive.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | his centre stood Hancock, his best lieutenant. There were | ||
+ | massed the First and Second corps, with reserve troops at | ||
+ | hand ready to pour in at the word, with batteries bearing | ||
+ | upon front and flank, every approach guarded, every | ||
+ | man and horse on the alert. The provost guards, and in | ||
+ | the rear of all a regiment of cavalry, formed in line behind, | ||
+ | had orders to shoot any faint-hearts who, in the | ||
+ | crisis, should turn from the foe to flee.<a id=" | ||
+ | two signal-guns were heard on Seminary Ridge, upon | ||
+ | which followed a terrible cannonade, appalling but only | ||
+ | slightly harmful, for the waiting ranks found cover from< | ||
+ | the missiles. Feeling sure that this was a prelude to | ||
+ | something more serious, the Federal chief relaxed his fire | ||
+ | to spare his ammunition. It was understood on the | ||
+ | other side that the Federal guns were silenced; and that | ||
+ | moment having been appointed as the time for the onset, | ||
+ | Pickett inquired of Longstreet if he should go forward. | ||
+ | Longstreet, convinced that the charge must fail, made | ||
+ | no reply, though the question was repeated. “I shall go | ||
+ | forward,” said Pickett, to which his general bowed his | ||
+ | head. Instantly was heard the footbeat of the fifteen | ||
+ | thousand, and the heavy-hearted Longstreet, mounting | ||
+ | his horse, rode out to behold the sacrifice. He has recorded | ||
+ | that the column passed him down the slope high-hearted, | ||
+ | buoyant, hopeful, Pickett riding gracefully, like | ||
+ | a holiday soldier, with cap set jauntily on his long, auburn | ||
+ | locks.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | As Pickett’s men appeared there was a sudden reopening | ||
+ | of their tumult; a deadly sequence from round-shot to | ||
+ | canister, and thence to the Minié-balls of the infantry. | ||
+ | The defenders now saw before them, as they peered | ||
+ | through the battle smoke from their shelter, a solid wedge | ||
+ | of men, the division of Pickett, flanked by masses on the | ||
+ | right and left commanded by Pettigrew and Wilcox. | ||
+ | The column approached, and visibly melted away. Of | ||
+ | Pickett’s commanders of brigades every one went down, | ||
+ | and their men lay literally in heaps beside them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | his sword-point, | ||
+ | reached the “clump of trees” just beyond, holding for a | ||
+ | few moments a battery. Pettigrew and Trimble, just | ||
+ | north, struggled also for a footing. But the foothold | ||
+ | was only for a moment; on front and flank the Federals | ||
+ | converged, and the tide rolled slowly and heavily | ||
+ | rearward. For the South all hope of victory was | ||
+ | gone.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As the broken and diminished multitude fell back to | ||
+ | Seminary Ridge, Lee rode out to meet them. He was | ||
+ | alone, his staff being all absent, in that supreme moment, | ||
+ | on desperate errands. His face was calm and resolute, | ||
+ | his voice confident but sympathetic as he exclaimed, “It | ||
+ | was all my fault; now help me to do what I can to save | ||
+ | what is left.” It casts a light on his character that even | ||
+ | in that hour he chided a young officer near for chastising | ||
+ | his horse: “Don’t whip him, captain. I’ve got just such | ||
+ | another foolish horse myself, and whipping does no good.”< | ||
+ | Longstreet declares Lee said again that night, about the | ||
+ | bivouac-fire: | ||
+ | have made that last attack”; and that still again Lee | ||
+ | wrote to him at a later time, “If I had only taken your | ||
+ | advice, even on the 3d, and moved around the Federal | ||
+ | left, how different all might have been!”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at once, and looked to his batteries, only to find the | ||
+ | ammunition exhausted; but they were his only reliance | ||
+ | for defence. The Federal cavalry, at that moment attacking | ||
+ | his right, occupied troops who might otherwise | ||
+ | have been brought to the centre.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | lying wounded almost to death in an ambulance, reasoned | ||
+ | that, because he had been struck by a tenpenny nail, the | ||
+ | Confederate ammunition must be exhausted; he had | ||
+ | strength to dictate an approval if the charge should be<span class=" | ||
+ | ordered.< | ||
+ | made, and lamented that he did not go to Gettysburg | ||
+ | himself and push matters on the field, as the crisis required.< | ||
+ | We can surmise what Grant would have done | ||
+ | had he instead of Meade, as the sun lowered, looked across | ||
+ | the valley from Cemetery Ridge. But the case may be | ||
+ | put strongly for Meade: with his best lieutenants dead | ||
+ | or wounded, worn out himself, whom else could he trust? | ||
+ | And, in the disorder of his line, how could he tell how | ||
+ | far his own army had been shattered in the desperate | ||
+ | fights, or what was Lee’s condition? It was only prudent | ||
+ | to let well enough alone. Nevertheless, | ||
+ | imprudence as his adversary was constantly showing | ||
+ | might perhaps have led to Lee’s complete destruction.< | ||
+ | During the three fearful days the Federals had lost 3155 | ||
+ | killed, 14,529 wounded, 5365 missing—a total of about | ||
+ | 23,000; the Confederates, | ||
+ | 5425 missing—a total of about 28, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As it was, Lee stood defiantly on Seminary Ridge full | ||
+ | twenty-four hours longer. Then, gathering his army | ||
+ | about him, and calling in the cavalry which, during | ||
+ | Pickett’s charge, was receiving severe punishment on its | ||
+ | own account at the hands of Gregg and his division, he | ||
+ | slowly withdrew. Practically undisturbed, | ||
+ | the Potomac, followed with great deliberation by the army | ||
+ | that had conquered but failed to crush.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the lame outcome of Gettysburg. “We had them within | ||
+ | our grasp,” he cried. “We had only to stretch forth our | ||
+ | hands and they were ours, and nothing I could say or do<span class=" | ||
+ | could make the army move. Our army held the War in | ||
+ | the hollow of their hand and they would not close it.” | ||
+ | The honor that fell to Meade for his splendid service was | ||
+ | deserved. While the criticism was violent he asked to | ||
+ | be relieved. But the better nature of the North made | ||
+ | itself evident at last, and he was retained. It was felt | ||
+ | that he had served his country most nobly, and, though | ||
+ | possibly falling short of the highest, deserved to be forever | ||
+ | cherished among the immortals.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN THE BATTLES OF<br /> | ||
+ | GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBURG, 1863,<br /> | ||
+ | AND APPOMATTOX, 1865</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in New York. The Confederate cavalry leader, General | ||
+ | Morgan, makes a raid into Indiana. Confederate victory | ||
+ | at Chickamauga. Federal victories of Chattanooga, | ||
+ | Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. Admission | ||
+ | of Nevada into the Union. The Archduke Maximilian, | ||
+ | of Austria, lands at Vera Cruz and assumes the crown of | ||
+ | Mexico, with the support of French troops.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Halleck as commander-in-chief of the Federal armies. | ||
+ | Storming of Fort Pillow by the Confederates. General | ||
+ | Sherman begins his march on Atlanta. Battle of the | ||
+ | Wilderness. Battle of Spottsylvania Court-house. Second | ||
+ | battle of Cold Harbor. Siege of Petersburg. Sinking | ||
+ | of the Confederate cruiser < | ||
+ | Confederate raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania. | ||
+ | Federal naval victory of Mobile Bay. The Federals | ||
+ | occupy Atlanta. Battle of Winchester and Cedar Creek. | ||
+ | Abraham Lincoln re-elected President. Federal occupation | ||
+ | of Savannah.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | occupies Charleston. Organization of the Freedmen’s | ||
+ | Bureau. Battle of Five Forks. Occupation of | ||
+ | Petersburg and Richmond by the Federals, April 3rd. | ||
+ | Surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court-House, | ||
+ | April 9th. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 14th. | ||
+ | Andrew Johnson succeeds to the Presidency. Capture of | ||
+ | Jefferson Davis in Georgia. End of the Civil War. | ||
+ | Proclamation of amnesty. The Thirteenth Amendment, | ||
+ | abolishing slavery in the United States, becomes a part | ||
+ | of the Constitution.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac reached | ||
+ | the two or three little houses that made up the settlement | ||
+ | at Appomattox Depot—the station on the South-side | ||
+ | Railroad that connects Appomattox Court-house with | ||
+ | the travelling world—it must have been nearly or quite | ||
+ | dark. At about nine o’clock or half-past, while standing | ||
+ | near the door of one of the houses, it occurred to me that | ||
+ | it might be well to try and get a clearer idea of our immediate | ||
+ | surroundings, | ||
+ | might have hot work here or near here before the next | ||
+ | day fairly dawned upon us.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>My “striker” had just left me with instructions to | ||
+ | have my horse fed, groomed, and saddled before daylight. | ||
+ | As he turned to go he paused and put this question, “Do | ||
+ | you think, Colonel, that we’ll get General Lee’s army | ||
+ | to-morrow? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | savage fighting if we don’t.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As the sturdy young soldier said “Good-night, | ||
+ | and walked away, I knew that if the enlisted men of our | ||
+ | army could forecast the coming of the end so plainly, | ||
+ | there was little hope of the escape of the Army of Northern | ||
+ | Virginia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I walked up the road a short distance, and looked carefully | ||
+ | about me to take my bearings. It was a mild spring | ||
+ | night, with a cloudy sky, and the soft, mellow smell of | ||
+ | earthiness in the atmosphere that not infrequently portends< | ||
+ | rain. If rain came, then it might retard the arrival | ||
+ | of our infantry, which I knew General Sheridan was most | ||
+ | anxious should reach us at the earliest possible moment. | ||
+ | A short distance from where I stood was the encampment | ||
+ | of our headquarters escort, with its orderlies, grooms, | ||
+ | officers’ servants, and horses. Just beyond it could be | ||
+ | seen the dying camp-fires of a cavalry regiment, lying | ||
+ | close in to cavalry corps headquarters. This regiment | ||
+ | was in charge of between six and eight hundred prisoners, | ||
+ | who had fallen into our hands just at dark, as Generals | ||
+ | Custer and Devin, at the head of their respective cavalry | ||
+ | commands, had charged into the station and captured | ||
+ | four railway trains of commissariat supplies, which had | ||
+ | been sent here to await the arrival of the Confederate | ||
+ | army, together with twenty-six pieces of artillery. For | ||
+ | a few moments the artillery had greatly surprised and | ||
+ | astonished us, for its presence was entirely unexpected, | ||
+ | and as it suddenly opened on the charging columns of | ||
+ | cavalry it looked for a short time as though we might | ||
+ | have all unwittingly fallen upon a division of infantry. | ||
+ | However, it turned out otherwise. Our cavalry, after | ||
+ | the first recoil, boldly charged in among the batteries, | ||
+ | and the gunners, being without adequate support, sensibly | ||
+ | surrendered. The whole affair was for us a most gratifying | ||
+ | termination of a long day’s ride, as it must have | ||
+ | proved later on a bitter disappointment to the weary and | ||
+ | hungry Confederates pressing forward from Petersburg | ||
+ | and Richmond in the vain hope of escape from the | ||
+ | Federal troops, who were straining every nerve to overtake | ||
+ | them and compel a surrender. To-night the cavalry | ||
+ | corps was in their front and squarely across the road to | ||
+ | Lynchburg, and it was reasonably certain, should our | ||
+ | infantry get up in time on the morrow, that the almost | ||
+ | ceaseless marching and fighting of the last ten days | ||
+ | were to attain their legitimate result in the capitulation | ||
+ | of General Lee’s army.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As I stood there in the dark thinking over the work< | ||
+ | of the twelve preceding days, it was borne in upon me | ||
+ | with startling emphasis that to-morrow’s sun would rise | ||
+ | big with the fate of the Southern Confederacy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | April, I sat down to a cup of coffee, but had hardly begun | ||
+ | to drink it when I heard the ominous sound of a<span class=" | ||
+ | scattering skirmish fire, apparently in the direction of | ||
+ | Appomattox Court-house. Hastily swallowing what remained | ||
+ | of the coffee, I reported to General Sheridan, who | ||
+ | directed me to go to the front at once. Springing into | ||
+ | the saddle, I galloped up the road, my heart being greatly | ||
+ | lightened by a glimpse of two or three infantrymen standing | ||
+ | near a camp-fire close by the depot—convincing proof | ||
+ | that our hoped-for reinforcements were within supporting | ||
+ | distance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was barely daylight as I sped along, but before I | ||
+ | reached the cavalry brigade of Colonel C. H. Smith, that | ||
+ | held the main road between Appomattox Court-house | ||
+ | and Lynchburg, a distance of about two miles northeast | ||
+ | from Appomattox Depot, the enemy had advanced to | ||
+ | the attack, and the battle had opened. When ordered | ||
+ | into position late the preceding night, Colonel Smith had | ||
+ | felt his way in the dark as closely as possible to Appomattox | ||
+ | Court-house, | ||
+ | on a ridge, on which he had thrown up a breastwork of | ||
+ | rails. This he occupied by dismounting his brigade, and | ||
+ | also with a section of horse-artillery, | ||
+ | protecting both his flanks by a small mounted force. As | ||
+ | the enemy advanced to the attack in the dim light of | ||
+ | early dawn he could not see the led horses of our cavalry, | ||
+ | which had been sent well to the rear, and was evidently | ||
+ | at a loss to determine what was in his front. The result | ||
+ | was that after the first attack he fell back to get his artillery | ||
+ | in position, and to form a strong assaulting column | ||
+ | against what must have seemed to him a line of infantry. | ||
+ | This was most fortunate for us, for by the time he again | ||
+ | advanced in full force, and compelled the dismounted | ||
+ | cavalry to slowly fall back by weight of numbers, our infantry | ||
+ | was hurrying forward from Appomattox Depot | ||
+ | (which place it had reached at four o’clock in the morning), | ||
+ | and we had gained many precious minutes. At | ||
+ | this time most of our cavalry was fighting dismounted, | ||
+ | stubbornly retiring. But the Confederates at last realized< | ||
+ | that there was nothing but a brigade of dismounted | ||
+ | cavalry and a few batteries of horse-artillery in their | ||
+ | immediate front, and pushed forward grimly and determinedly, | ||
+ | driving the dismounted troopers slowly | ||
+ | ahead of them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I had gone to the left of the road, and was in a piece | ||
+ | of woods with some of our cavalrymen (who by this time | ||
+ | had been ordered to fall back to their horses and give | ||
+ | place to our infantry, which was then coming up), when | ||
+ | a couple of rounds of canister tore through the branches | ||
+ | just over my head. Riding back to the edge of the woods | ||
+ | in the direction from which the shots came, I found myself | ||
+ | within long pistol range of a section of a battery of | ||
+ | light artillery. It was in position near a country road | ||
+ | that came out of another piece of woods about two hundred | ||
+ | yards in its rear, and was pouring a rapid fire into | ||
+ | the woods from which I had just emerged. As I sat on | ||
+ | my horse quietly watching it from behind a rail fence, | ||
+ | the lieutenant commanding the pieces saw me, and, riding | ||
+ | out for a hundred yards or more toward where I was, | ||
+ | proceeded to cover me with his revolver. We fired together—a | ||
+ | miss on both sides. The second shot was uncomfortably | ||
+ | close, so far as I was concerned, but as I took | ||
+ | deliberate aim for the third shot I became aware that in | ||
+ | some way his pistol was disabled; for using both hands | ||
+ | and all his strength I saw that he could not cock it. I | ||
+ | had him covered, and had he turned I think I should | ||
+ | have fired. He did nothing of the sort. Apparently | ||
+ | accepting his fate, he laid his revolver across the pommel | ||
+ | of his saddle, fronted me quietly and coolly, and looked | ||
+ | me steadily in the face. The whole thing had been | ||
+ | something in the nature of a duel, and I felt that to fire | ||
+ | under the circumstances savored too much of murder. | ||
+ | Besides, I knew that at a word from him the guns would | ||
+ | have been trained on me where I sat. He, too, seemed | ||
+ | to appreciate the fact that it was an individual fight, and | ||
+ | manfully and gallantly forbore to call for aid; so, lowering< | ||
+ | and uncocking my pistol, I replaced it in my holster, and | ||
+ | shook my fist at him, which action he cordially reciprocated, | ||
+ | and then, turning away, I rode back into the | ||
+ | woods.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | I again rode rapidly to the edge of the woods, just in time | ||
+ | to see the guns limber up and retire down the wood road | ||
+ | from which they had come. The lieutenant in command | ||
+ | saw me and stopped. We simultaneously uncovered, | ||
+ | waved our hats to each other, and bowed. I have always | ||
+ | thought he was one of the bravest men I ever faced.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I rode back again, passing through our infantry line, | ||
+ | intending to go to the left and find the cavalry, which I | ||
+ | knew would be on the flank somewhere. Suddenly I became | ||
+ | conscious that firing had ceased along the whole | ||
+ | line.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I had not ridden more than a hundred yards when I | ||
+ | heard some one calling my name. Turning, I saw one of | ||
+ | the headquarters aides, who came galloping up, stating | ||
+ | that he had been hunting for me for the last fifteen minutes, | ||
+ | and that General Sheridan wished me to report to | ||
+ | him at once. I followed him rapidly to the right on the | ||
+ | wood path in the direction from which he had come.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as I could get abreast of him I asked if he | ||
+ | knew what the general wanted me for.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | said: “Why, don’t you know? A white flag.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>He answered by a nod; and then we leaned toward | ||
+ | each other and shook hands; but nothing else was said.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A few moments more and we were out of the woods in | ||
+ | the open fields. I saw the long line of battle of the | ||
+ | Fifth Army Corps halted, the men standing at rest, the | ||
+ | standards being held butt on earth, and the flags floating | ||
+ | out languidly on the spring breeze. As we passed them I | ||
+ | noticed that the officers had generally grouped themselves | ||
+ | in front of the centre of their regiments, sword in<span class=" | ||
+ | hand, and were conversing in low tones. The men were | ||
+ | leaning wearily on their rifles, in the position of parade | ||
+ | rest. All were anxiously looking to the front, in the | ||
+ | direction toward which the enemy’s line had withdrawn, | ||
+ | for the Confederates had fallen back into a little swale | ||
+ | or valley beyond Appomattox Court-house, | ||
+ | not then visible from this part of our line.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>We soon came up to General Sheridan and his staff. | ||
+ | They were dismounted, sitting on the grass by the side | ||
+ | of a broad country road that led to the Court-house. This | ||
+ | was about one or two hundred yards distant, and, as we | ||
+ | afterward found, consisted of the court-house, | ||
+ | tavern, and eight or ten houses, all situated on this same | ||
+ | road or street.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | told of the blunder of one of the Confederate regiments | ||
+ | in firing on the general and staff after the flag of truce | ||
+ | had been accepted. I also heard that General Lee was | ||
+ | then up at the little village awaiting the arrival of General | ||
+ | Grant, to whom he had sent a note, through General | ||
+ | Sheridan, requesting a meeting to arrange terms of surrender. | ||
+ | Colonel Newhall, of our headquarters staff, had | ||
+ | been despatched in search of General Grant, and might | ||
+ | be expected up at almost any moment.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It was, perhaps, something more than an hour and a | ||
+ | half later, to the best of my recollection, | ||
+ | Grant, accompanied by Colonel Newhall, and followed | ||
+ | by his staff, came rapidly riding up to where we were | ||
+ | standing by the side of the road, for we had all risen at | ||
+ | his approach. When within a few yards of us he drew | ||
+ | rein, and halted in front of General Sheridan, acknowledged | ||
+ | our salute, and then, leaning slightly forward in | ||
+ | his saddle, said, in his usual quiet tone, “Good-morning, | ||
+ | Sheridan; how are you? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | “How are you? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Lee up there?” indicating the court-house by a | ||
+ | glance.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | followed something about the Confederate Army, but I | ||
+ | did not clearly catch the import of the sentence.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of his staff, mounted and joined General Grant and staff. | ||
+ | Together they rode to Mr. McLean’s house, a plain two-story | ||
+ | brick residence in the village, to which General Lee | ||
+ | had already repaired, and where he was known to be | ||
+ | awaiting General Grant’s arrival. Dismounting at the | ||
+ | gate, the whole party crossed the yard, and the senior | ||
+ | officers present went up onto the porch which protected | ||
+ | the front of the house. It extended nearly across the | ||
+ | entire house and was railed in, except where five or six | ||
+ | steps led up the centre opposite the front door, which was | ||
+ | flanked by two small wooden benches, placed close against | ||
+ | the house on either side of the entrance. The door | ||
+ | opened into a hall that ran the entire length of the house, | ||
+ | and on either side of it was a single room with a window | ||
+ | in each end of it, and two doors, one at the front and | ||
+ | one at the rear of each of the rooms, opening on the hall. | ||
+ | The room to the left, as you entered, was the parlor, and | ||
+ | it was in this room that General Lee was awaiting General | ||
+ | Grant’s arrival.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As General Grant stepped onto the porch he was met | ||
+ | by Colonel Babcock, of his staff, who had in the morning | ||
+ | been sent forward with a message to General Lee. He | ||
+ | had found him resting at the side of the road, and had | ||
+ | accompanied him to Mr. McLean’s house.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | General Rawlins, his chief of staff; General Seth Williams, | ||
+ | his adjutant-general; | ||
+ | and his two aides, General Horace Porter | ||
+ | and Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock. After a little time General | ||
+ | Sheridan; General M. R. Morgan, General Grant’s< | ||
+ | chief commissary; Lieutenant-Colonel Ely Parker, his | ||
+ | military secretary; Lieutenant-Colonel T. S. Bowers, one | ||
+ | of his assistant adjutant-generals; | ||
+ | T. Lincoln and Adam Badeau, aides-de-camp, | ||
+ | the house at General Grant’s express invitation, sent out, | ||
+ | I believe, through Colonel Babcock, who came to the | ||
+ | hall-door for the purpose, and they were, I was afterward | ||
+ | told, formally presented to General Lee. After a | ||
+ | lapse of a few more minutes quite a number of these | ||
+ | officers, including General Sheridan, came out into the | ||
+ | hall and onto the porch, leaving General Grant and | ||
+ | General Lee, Generals Rawlins, Ingalls, Seth Williams, | ||
+ | and Porter, and Lieutenant-Colonels Babcock, Ely Parker, | ||
+ | and Bowers, together with Colonel Marshall, of | ||
+ | General Lee’s staff, in the room, while the terms of the | ||
+ | surrender were finally agreed upon and formally signed. | ||
+ | These were the only officers, therefore, who were actually | ||
+ | present at the official surrender of the Army of Northern | ||
+ | Virginia.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the door again, opened it, and glanced out. As he did | ||
+ | so he placed his forage-cap on one finger, twirled it | ||
+ | around, and nodded to us all, as much as to say, “It’s all | ||
+ | settled,” and said something in a low tone to General | ||
+ | Sheridan. Then they, accompanied by General E. O. C. | ||
+ | Ord, the commanding-general of the Army of the James, | ||
+ | who had just ridden up to the house, entered the house | ||
+ | together, the hall-door partly closed again after them, | ||
+ | leaving quite a number of us staff-officers upon the porch.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was still in progress, Generals Merritt and Custer, of the | ||
+ | Cavalry Corps, and several of the infantry generals, together | ||
+ | with the rest of General Sheridan’s staff-officers, | ||
+ | came into the yard, and some of them came up on the | ||
+ | porch. Colonel Babcock came out once more, and General | ||
+ | Merritt went back to the room with him at his request; | ||
+ | but most, if not all, of the infantry generals left< | ||
+ | us and went back to their respective commands while | ||
+ | the conference was still in progress and before it ended.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | stood a soldierly looking orderly in a tattered gray | ||
+ | uniform, holding three horses—one a fairly well-bred-looking | ||
+ | gray, in good heart, though thin in flesh, which, | ||
+ | from the accoutrements, | ||
+ | Lee; the others, a thoroughbred bay and a fairly | ||
+ | good brown, were undoubtedly those of the staff-officer | ||
+ | who had accompanied General Lee and of the orderly | ||
+ | himself. He was evidently a sensible soldier, too, for | ||
+ | as he held the bridles he baited the animals on the young | ||
+ | grass, and they ate as though they needed all they had | ||
+ | a chance to pick up.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>I cannot say exactly how long the conference between | ||
+ | Generals Grant and Lee lasted, but after quite a while, | ||
+ | certainly more than two hours, I became aware from the | ||
+ | movement of chairs within that it was about to break | ||
+ | up. I had been sitting on the top step of the porch, | ||
+ | writing in my field note-book, but I closed it at once, | ||
+ | and, stepping back on the porch, leaned against the railing | ||
+ | nearly opposite and to the left of the door, and expectantly | ||
+ | waited. As I did so the inner door slowly | ||
+ | opened, and General Lee stood before me. As he paused | ||
+ | for a few seconds, framed in by the doorway, ere he slowly | ||
+ | and deliberately stepped out upon the porch, I took | ||
+ | my first and last look at the great Confederate chieftain. | ||
+ | This is what I saw: A finely formed man, apparently | ||
+ | about sixty years of age, well above the average height, | ||
+ | with a clear, ruddy complexion—just then suffused by | ||
+ | a deep-crimson flush that, rising from his neck, overspread | ||
+ | his face and even slightly tinged his broad forehead, | ||
+ | which, bronzed where it had been exposed to the | ||
+ | weather, was clear and beautifully white where it had | ||
+ | been shielded by his hat—deep-brown eyes, a firm but | ||
+ | well-shaped Roman nose, abundant gray hair, silky and | ||
+ | fine in texture, with a full gray beard and mustache,< | ||
+ | neatly trimmed and not over-long, but which, nevertheless, | ||
+ | almost completely concealed his mouth. A | ||
+ | splendid uniform of Confederate gray cloth, that had | ||
+ | evidently seen but little service, was closely buttoned | ||
+ | about him and fitted him to perfection. An exquisitely | ||
+ | mounted sword, attached to a gold-embroidered Russia-leather | ||
+ | belt, trailed loosely on the floor at his side, and | ||
+ | in his right hand he carried a broad-brimmed, | ||
+ | felt hat, encircled by a golden cord, while in his left he | ||
+ | held a pair of buckskin gauntlets. Booted and spurred, | ||
+ | still vigorous and erect, he stood bareheaded, looking out | ||
+ | of the open doorway, sad-faced and weary—a soldier and | ||
+ | a gentleman, bearing himself in defeat with an all-unconscious | ||
+ | dignity that sat well upon him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | commander, each officer present sprang to his feet, and | ||
+ | as General Lee stepped out onto the porch every hand | ||
+ | was raised in military salute. Placing his hat on his | ||
+ | head, he mechanically but courteously returned it, and | ||
+ | slowly crossed the porch to the head of the steps leading | ||
+ | down to the yard, meanwhile keeping his eyes intently | ||
+ | fixed in the direction of the little valley over beyond the | ||
+ | Court-house in which his army lay. Here he paused | ||
+ | and slowly drew on his gauntlets, smiting his gloved | ||
+ | hands into each other several times after doing so, evidently | ||
+ | utterly oblivious of his surroundings. Then, apparently | ||
+ | recalling his thoughts, he glanced deliberately | ||
+ | right and left, and, not seeing his horse, he called, in a | ||
+ | hoarse, half-choked voice, “Orderly! Orderly!”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | alert young soldier was holding the general’s horse near | ||
+ | the side of the house. He had taken out the bit, slipped | ||
+ | the bridle over the horse’s neck, and the wiry gray was | ||
+ | eagerly grazing on the fresh young grass about him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the house and stood in front of his horse’s head while | ||
+ | he was being bridled. As the orderly was buckling the<span class=" | ||
+ | throat-latch, | ||
+ | out from under the brow-band, parted and smoothed | ||
+ | it, and then gently patted the gray charger’s forehead in | ||
+ | an absent-minded way, as one who loves horses but | ||
+ | whose thoughts are far away might all unwittingly do. | ||
+ | Then, as the orderly stepped aside, he caught up the | ||
+ | bridle-reins in his left hand, and, seizing the pommel of | ||
+ | the saddle with the same hand, he caught up the slack | ||
+ | of the reins in his right hand, and placing it on the cantle | ||
+ | he put his foot in the stirrup and swung himself slowly | ||
+ | and wearily, but nevertheless firmly, into the saddle (the | ||
+ | old dragoon mount), letting his right hand rest for an | ||
+ | instant or two on the pommel as he settled into his seat, | ||
+ | and as he did so there broke unguardedly from his lips a | ||
+ | long, low, deep sigh, almost a groan in its intensity, while | ||
+ | the flush on his neck and face seemed, if possible, to take | ||
+ | on a little deeper hue.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was followed by an erect, slightly built, soldierly looking | ||
+ | officer, in a neat but somewhat worn gray uniform, a | ||
+ | man with an anxious and thoughtful face, wearing spectacles, | ||
+ | who glanced neither to the right nor left, keeping | ||
+ | his eyes straight before him. Notwithstanding this, I | ||
+ | doubt if he missed anything within the range of his vision. | ||
+ | This officer, I was afterward told, was Colonel Marshall, | ||
+ | one of the Confederate adjutants-general, | ||
+ | General Lee’s staff whom he had selected to accompany | ||
+ | him.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as the colonel had mounted, General Lee drew | ||
+ | up his reins, and, with the colonel riding on his left and | ||
+ | followed by the orderly, moved at a slow walk across the | ||
+ | yard toward the gate.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | house, crossed the porch, and passed down the steps into | ||
+ | the yard. At this time he was nearly forty-two years of | ||
+ | age, of middle height, not over-weighted with flesh, but, | ||
+ | nevertheless, | ||
+ | mild, gray-blue eyes, finely formed Grecian nose, | ||
+ | an iron-willed mouth, brown hair, full brown beard with | ||
+ | a tendency toward red rather than black, and in his | ||
+ | manner and all his movements there was a strength of | ||
+ | purpose, a personal poise, and a cool, quiet air of dignity, | ||
+ | decision, and soldierly confidence that were very good | ||
+ | to see. On this occasion he wore a plain blue army | ||
+ | blouse, with shoulder-straps set with three silver stars | ||
+ | equidistant, | ||
+ | commanding the armies of the United States; it was unbuttoned, | ||
+ | showing a blue military vest, over which and | ||
+ | under his blouse was buckled a belt, but he was without | ||
+ | a sword. His trousers were dark blue and tucked into | ||
+ | top-boots, which were without spurs, but heavily splashed | ||
+ | with mud, for, once he knew that General Lee was waiting | ||
+ | for him at Appomattox Court-house, | ||
+ | across the country, over road and field and through | ||
+ | woods, to meet him. He wore a peculiar, stiff-brimmed, | ||
+ | sugar-loaf-crowned, | ||
+ | uniform was partly covered by a light-weight, | ||
+ | waterproof, semi-military cloak, with a full cape, unbuttoned | ||
+ | and thrown back, showing the front of his uniform, | ||
+ | for while the day had developed into warm, bright, and | ||
+ | beautifully sunny weather, the early morning had been | ||
+ | damp, slightly foggy, and presaged rain.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As he reached the foot of the steps and started across | ||
+ | the yard to the fence where, inside the gate, the orderlies | ||
+ | were holding his horse and those of several of his staff-officers, | ||
+ | General Lee, on his way to the gate, rode across | ||
+ | his path. Stopping suddenly, General Grant looked up, | ||
+ | and both generals simultaneously raised their hands in | ||
+ | military salute. After General Lee had passed, General | ||
+ | Grant crossed the yard and sprang lightly and quickly | ||
+ | into his saddle. He was riding his splendid bay horse | ||
+ | Cincinnati, and it would have been difficult to find a | ||
+ | firmer seat, a lighter hand, or a better rider in either army.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As he was about to go out of the gate he halted, turned< | ||
+ | his horse, and rode at a walk toward the porch of the | ||
+ | house, where, among others, stood General Sheridan and | ||
+ | myself. Stopping in front of the general, he said, “Sheridan, | ||
+ | where will you make your headquarters to-night? | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | was the reply.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | I wish to communicate. Good-day.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | military salute General Grant turned and rode away.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As he rode forward and halted at the porch to make | ||
+ | this inquiry, I had my wished-for opportunity, | ||
+ | eyes sought his face in vain for any indication of what | ||
+ | was passing in his mind. Whatever may have been | ||
+ | there, as Colonel Newhall has well written, “not a muscle | ||
+ | of his face told tales on his thoughts”; | ||
+ | elation, neither his voice, features, nor his eyes betrayed | ||
+ | it. Once out of the gate, General Grant, followed by his | ||
+ | staff, turned to the left and moved off at a rapid trot.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at a walk, to be received by his devoted troops with | ||
+ | cheers and tears, and to sit down and pen a farewell order | ||
+ | that, to this day, no old soldier of the Army of Northern | ||
+ | Virginia can read without moistening eyes and swelling | ||
+ | throat.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | this eventful Sunday evening, dismounted, sat quietly | ||
+ | down by the roadside, and wrote a short and simple despatch, | ||
+ | which a galloping aide bore at full speed to the | ||
+ | nearest telegraph station. On its reception in the nation’s | ||
+ | capital this despatch was flashed over the wires to every | ||
+ | hamlet in the country, causing every steeple in the | ||
+ | North to rock to its foundation, and sending one tall, | ||
+ | gaunt, sad-eyed, weary-hearted man in Washington to | ||
+ | his knees, thanking God that he had lived to see the | ||
+ | beginning of the end, and that he had at last been vouchsafed | ||
+ | the assurance that he had led his people aright.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <h3 class=" | ||
+ | MILITARY, BETWEEN APPOMATTOX, 1865,<br /> | ||
+ | AND THE BATTLES OF MANILA BAY<br /> | ||
+ | AND SANTIAGO DE CUBA, 1898</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Johnson’s veto. Adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment | ||
+ | granting political rights to the negro. (This amendment | ||
+ | was proclaimed part of the Constitution in 1868.) | ||
+ | Successful establishment of ocean telegraphy between | ||
+ | Europe and America. Fenian raid into Canada.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Reconstruction Act. Purchase of Alaska from | ||
+ | Russia. Dominion of Canada constituted. Maximilian, | ||
+ | abandoned by the French in Mexico, is captured and | ||
+ | shot.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The impeachment fails. Ulysses S. Grant elected President. | ||
+ | Outbreak of Cuban insurrection.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the States from denying the right to vote to any citizen | ||
+ | of the United States on account of race or color. | ||
+ | (This amendment was proclaimed a part of the Constitution | ||
+ | in 1870.) Completion of the Pacific Railway.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States. Death of Lee and Farragut.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | “Alabama” Claims. Great Fire in Chicago. Hall’s Arctic | ||
+ | Expedition reaches lat. 82° 16´.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | United States on account of the “Alabama” Claims. | ||
+ | The Emperor of Germany decides San Juan boundary | ||
+ | question. Ulysses S. Grant re-elected President. Outbreak | ||
+ | of the Modoc War.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | steamer < | ||
+ | of the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | in the Southern States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Admission of Colorado into the Union. Disputed Presidential | ||
+ | Election (Hayes, Republican, and Tilden, | ||
+ | Democrat). The Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. | ||
+ | Invention of the Telephone.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to Rutherford B. Hayes. Great Labor Strike throughout | ||
+ | the United States. Campaign against the Nez Percé | ||
+ | Indians.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a minister to Washington for the first time.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with China relative to the restriction of Chinese Immigration.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Arthur succeeds to the Presidency. Construction of the | ||
+ | Panama Canal begun by the French.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Pacific Railroad opened.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | across Isthmus of Panama threatened by insurgents, and | ||
+ | enforces this with troops.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The “Haymarket” Anarchists’ riot at Chicago. Earthquake | ||
+ | at Charleston. Anti-Chinese riots in Seattle. Railroad | ||
+ | riots in the West. United States troops ordered to | ||
+ | St. Louis. Act passed to increase navy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of the Constitution. Execution of the Chicago | ||
+ | “Haymarket” Anarchists. Blizzard throughout the | ||
+ | northwestern section of the United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | President. Dakota divided into North and South Dakota.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | and < | ||
+ | Oklahoma opened for settlement. Flood at Johnstown, | ||
+ | Pennsylvania. Centennial celebration of Washington’s | ||
+ | inauguration. Admission of North and South Dakota | ||
+ | into the Union; also of Montana and Washington. Department | ||
+ | of Agriculture created.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Wyoming into the Union. The Mormon Church formally | ||
+ | abandons Polygamy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Chilian insurgent steamer < | ||
+ | of the U. S. Cruiser < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | country makes an apology and pays an indemnity. The | ||
+ | Homestead Labor Riots in Pennsylvania. Railroad | ||
+ | riots at Buffalo. National Guard ordered out. Grover | ||
+ | Cleveland elected President.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at Chicago. Admission of Utah and Arizona into the | ||
+ | Union.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Cleveland recognizes the new Republic of Hawaii. < | ||
+ | lost on Roncador Reef.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Cruiser. Spain apologizes. Spain declares martial law | ||
+ | in Cuba. Cuban revolutionists proclaim independence, | ||
+ | adopt a constitution, | ||
+ | and unfurl the flag of the revolution of 1868–78. Message | ||
+ | of President Cleveland regarding the boundary dispute | ||
+ | between Great Britain and Venezuela.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Cleveland issues a proclamation against the Cuban | ||
+ | Filibusters. International Arbitration Congress meets | ||
+ | at Washington.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the Cuban insurgents. Venezuela boundary treaty ratified. | ||
+ | Hawaii annexed to the United States.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Harbor, with great loss of life, on the night of February 15th. | ||
+ | On April 20th Congress directs the President to intervene | ||
+ | between Spain and Cuba. On April 23d the President | ||
+ | issues a call for one hundred and twenty-five thousand | ||
+ | volunteers, and on April 26th Congress authorizes an increase | ||
+ | of the regular army to 61,919 officers and men. | ||
+ | On April 25th Congress declares war between Spain and | ||
+ | the United States as existing since April 21st.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | an object of peculiar interest and concern to the | ||
+ | United States.< | ||
+ | century the fear was that Cuba might be acquired by | ||
+ | Great Britain or France, and thus a strong European | ||
+ | power would be established at the very gate of the | ||
+ | American republic. Manifestly, it was then the policy | ||
+ | of the United States to guarantee the possession of the | ||
+ | island to Spain. But after the Mexican War the idea of | ||
+ | exterritorial expansion entered more and more largely | ||
+ | into American statesmanship. The South looked upon | ||
+ | Cuba as a desirable addition to slave-holding territory, | ||
+ | and it was apparent to every eye that the island occupied | ||
+ | an all-important strategic position in relation to the proposed | ||
+ | canal routes across the Isthmus of Panama.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In 1822 propositions for annexation came from Cuba | ||
+ | to the United States, and Monroe sent an agent to investigate. | ||
+ | Later, annexation was a recurrent subject | ||
+ | favored by the South, which saw a field for the extension | ||
+ | of slavery. In 1848 the American minister at Madrid | ||
+ | was instructed by President Polk to sound the Spanish | ||
+ | government upon the question of sale or cession. But | ||
+ | Spain declined even to consider such a proposition. In | ||
+ | 1854 the so-called “Ostend Manifesto, | ||
+ | James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soulé (respectively | ||
+ | United States ministers to England, France, | ||
+ | and Spain), declared in plain language that the “Union | ||
+ | can never enjoy repose nor possess reliable security as | ||
+ | long as Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries.” It | ||
+ | went on to advise the seizing of the coveted territory in | ||
+ | case Spain refused to sell. The administration of President | ||
+ | Pierce never directly sanctioned the proposition | ||
+ | advanced in such extraordinary terms, and Marcy, the | ||
+ | Secretary of State, repudiated it unqualifiedly. So the | ||
+ | matter fell again into abeyance until in 1873 the < | ||
+ | an American schooner suspected of conveying | ||
+ | arms and ammunition to the Cuban insurgents, was captured | ||
+ | by a Spanish gunboat and taken to Havana. As a | ||
+ | result of the trial, many insurgents, together with six British | ||
+ | subjects and thirty American citizens, were executed. | ||
+ | For a time international complications seemed certain, | ||
+ | but finally Spain made proper apologies and surrendered | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | characterized by great cruelty and destructive losses of | ||
+ | life and property in which American interests were now | ||
+ | deeply involved. President Grant seriously considered | ||
+ | and even threatened intervention, | ||
+ | meant annexation; but Spain promised definite reforms, | ||
+ | and the old conditions were continued.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | owned at least fifty millions of property in the island, | ||
+ | and American commerce amounted to a hundred millions | ||
+ | annually. Both on the Spanish and Cuban side outrages | ||
+ | were of daily occurrence, and the situation quickly became | ||
+ | intolerable. The McKinley administration ventured | ||
+ | upon a mild remonstrance against the inhumanities | ||
+ | of Captain-General Weyler, and the Spanish authorities | ||
+ | replied evasively. Finally the United States formally | ||
+ | offered its good offices for the adjustment of Cuban affairs, | ||
+ | presumably on a basis of independence. Spain declared< | ||
+ | that it was her intention to grant autonomy to the island, | ||
+ | and the decree was actually published on November 27, | ||
+ | 1897. But it was now too late, and the unhappy conditions | ||
+ | grew worse day by day.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | thought advisable to send the United States cruiser < | ||
+ | on a friendly visit to that port. The < | ||
+ | Havana on January 25, 1898. On the night of February | ||
+ | 15th the < | ||
+ | moorings, with a ghastly loss of life. The American Court | ||
+ | of Inquiry found that the ship was destroyed from the | ||
+ | outside; the Spanish inquiry resulted in a verdict that | ||
+ | the ship was destroyed from causes within herself. At | ||
+ | the time there was an outburst of passion throughout | ||
+ | the United States, and Spain was held guilty of an atrocious | ||
+ | crime. While the exact cause of the disaster has never | ||
+ | been finally determined, it is the verdict of calmer and | ||
+ | more distant consideration that official Spain must be | ||
+ | acquitted, although the belief remains on the part of | ||
+ | the American naval authorities that the < | ||
+ | up from outside. At the time, however, this tragedy | ||
+ | powerfully reinforced the efforts of Cubans and the pressure | ||
+ | of financial interests to secure American support. | ||
+ | When Senator Redfield Proctor, of Vermont, a man of | ||
+ | peculiarly dispassionate temperament, | ||
+ | account of the suffering which he had witnessed among the | ||
+ | <i xml: | ||
+ | women and children, herded together by Spanish troops), | ||
+ | the sympathies of Americans were stirred even more | ||
+ | deeply. Ministers preached intervention from their pulpits. | ||
+ | Many newspapers demanded intervention. Yellow | ||
+ | journals clamored for an ultimatum backed by arms. | ||
+ | Congress was carried away by the wave of intense feeling, | ||
+ | although President McKinley thought that a solution | ||
+ | could be reached without an appeal to arms—a belief in | ||
+ | which the final verdict of history will probably agree, although | ||
+ | it was inevitable that Spain should resign control< | ||
+ | of Cuba. But the President was powerless against | ||
+ | the popular sentiment.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On April 25th war with Spain was formally declared, | ||
+ | and for the first time in over three-quarters of a century | ||
+ | the republic of the West found itself arrayed in arms | ||
+ | against a European nation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | assumed that the principal theatre of conflict would be | ||
+ | the island of Cuba, and consequently the American campaign | ||
+ | must be one of invasion. But the Spaniards, owing | ||
+ | to the civil war in the colony, were in virtually the same | ||
+ | position—fighting at a distance from their base of supplies.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In material resources the United States ranked immeasurably | ||
+ | superior. True, the numerical strength of the regular | ||
+ | army was small, but behind it stood thousands of | ||
+ | State militia and millions of available reserves. Moreover, | ||
+ | the United States was classed among the richest of nations | ||
+ | and Spain among the poorest. So far as the land operations | ||
+ | were concerned, the final issue could not be doubtful.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>In naval strength, however, there was less disparity. | ||
+ | On paper the United States ranked sixth among the | ||
+ | world powers, while Spain occupied eighth place. But | ||
+ | the United States, with its thousands of miles of coast on | ||
+ | both the Atlantic and the Pacific seaboards, was unquestionably | ||
+ | vulnerable. Coast defences were admittedly | ||
+ | inadequate, and it was conceivable that one swift dash | ||
+ | by a Spanish squadron might endanger millions of property | ||
+ | at Boston, New York, and Baltimore; at San | ||
+ | Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | delicate than that on the Eastern seaboard. There was a | ||
+ | formidable Spanish squadron at Manila in the Philippine | ||
+ | Islands, and all depended upon the fighting ability of the | ||
+ | American Pacific fleet; if Dewey failed, the Western States | ||
+ | of America were absolutely at the mercy of the enemy.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | with his fleet in the harbor of Hong-Kong, waiting for<span class=" | ||
+ | events to shape themselves. In anticipation of the coming | ||
+ | strife, and the consequent declaration of neutrality | ||
+ | on the part of Great Britain, the American commander | ||
+ | had purchased two transport steamers, together with | ||
+ | ten thousand tons of coal. He was thus prepared for | ||
+ | prompt and decisive action.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | squadron immediately left Hong-Kong for Mirs Bay, | ||
+ | some thirty miles away. On April 26th Commodore | ||
+ | Dewey received the following despatch:</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | “<span class=" | ||
+ | </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | once, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must capture | ||
+ | or destroy them.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On April 27th the American fleet sailed for Manila, six | ||
+ | hundred and twenty-eight miles away, and on the morning | ||
+ | of Saturday, April 30th, Luzon was sighted, and the | ||
+ | ships were ordered to clear for action.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | being around the turret guns. The auxiliary force was | ||
+ | made up of the revenue-cutter < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | American fighting force included four cruisers, two gunboats, | ||
+ | fifty-seven classified big guns, seventy-four rapid-fire | ||
+ | and machine guns, and 1808 men. On the other side, | ||
+ | Rear-Admiral Montojo commanded seven cruisers, five | ||
+ | gunboats, two torpedo-boats, | ||
+ | guns, eighty-three rapid-fire and machine guns, and 1948 | ||
+ | men. It will thus be seen that the Americans mounted | ||
+ | a few more heavy guns, but the Spanish had several | ||
+ | more ships and over a hundred more men. Moreover, | ||
+ | the Spanish ships were assisted by the fort and land batteries< | ||
+ | at Manila, and they also possessed the great advantage | ||
+ | of range-marks. Finally, the ship-channels were | ||
+ | supposed to be amply protected by mines and submarine | ||
+ | batteries. After satisfying himself that the ships of the | ||
+ | enemy were not in Subig Bay, Commodore Dewey resolved | ||
+ | to enter Manila Bay the same night. It was | ||
+ | known that the channel had been mined, but that risk | ||
+ | must be taken. With all lights except the stern ones | ||
+ | extinguished, | ||
+ | finally, Corregidor Island, with its lofty light-house, | ||
+ | came into view, and the fleet swept into the main ship-channel | ||
+ | known as the Boca Grande.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Up to this point no sign had been made by the enemy | ||
+ | that the approach of the American ships had been discovered, | ||
+ | although the night was moonlit and it was only | ||
+ | a little after eleven o’clock. Then a fireman on the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | shower of sparks flew from the cutter’s funnel. A solitary | ||
+ | rocket ascended from Corregidor, and there was an answering | ||
+ | light from the mainland. At a quarter-past | ||
+ | eleven a bugle sounded, and from the shore batteries | ||
+ | came a blinding glare, followed by the boom of a heavy | ||
+ | gun—the first shot of the Spanish-American War.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | side, and the < | ||
+ | shell from the < | ||
+ | fort; there was a crash and a cry, and all was still. The | ||
+ | forts had been silenced.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At slow speed the squadron moved onward, for Commodore | ||
+ | Dewey did not wish to arrive at Manila before | ||
+ | dawn. Some of the men managed to get a little sleep, | ||
+ | but the ever-present danger of torpedoes and the excitement | ||
+ | of the approaching battle were not conducive to | ||
+ | peaceful slumbers.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | beautiful, although the day promised to be hot. The | ||
+ | squadron found itself directly across the bay from the<span class=" | ||
+ | city of Manila; and there, under the guns of Cavité, lay | ||
+ | the Spanish fleet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | batteries began firing at a quarter-past five. The < | ||
+ | flying the signal “Remember the Maine,” led the American | ||
+ | column, followed closely by the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | ships came on in a line approximately parallel to that | ||
+ | of the enemy, reserving their fire until within effective | ||
+ | range. As the fleet advanced two submarine mines were | ||
+ | exploded, but neither did any damage. At twenty minutes | ||
+ | to six Commodore Dewey shouted to Captain Gridley | ||
+ | in the conning-tower of the flag-ship: “Fire as soon as you | ||
+ | get ready, Gridley.” Instantly the < | ||
+ | her broadside, the < | ||
+ | successive ship in turn discharged every gun that could | ||
+ | be brought to bear. The Spanish returned the fire with | ||
+ | great energy, but with inconclusive results. Several of<span class=" | ||
+ | the American ships were struck, but no casualties followed. | ||
+ | Lieutenant Brumby, of the flag-ship, had the signal halliards | ||
+ | shot out of his hands; a shot passed clean through | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | past the whole length of the stationary Spanish fleet, | ||
+ | then swung slowly around and began the countermarch. | ||
+ | Once Montojo’s flag-ship, the < | ||
+ | desperate attempt to leave the line and engage at close | ||
+ | quarters, but she was quickly driven back.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A little after half-past seven the American commander | ||
+ | ordered the firing to be stopped, and the fleet headed for | ||
+ | the eastern side of the bay for breakfast and a redistribution | ||
+ | of ammunition for the big guns. The Spaniards, | ||
+ | seeing the withdrawal of the American vessels, rashly | ||
+ | concluded that the enemy had been repulsed and raised | ||
+ | a feeble cheer. In reality they were hopelessly beaten: several | ||
+ | of their ships were on fire, the decks of all were covered | ||
+ | with dead and dying men, and ammunition was running low.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At a quarter-past eleven the battle was renewed. Several | ||
+ | of the Spanish ships were now disabled and on fire, | ||
+ | and Admiral Montojo had been forced to transfer his flag | ||
+ | to the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A few minutes later the < | ||
+ | was blazing from end to end, and the explosion of | ||
+ | her magazine completed the destruction of the vessel. | ||
+ | One after another the Spanish ships succumbed under the | ||
+ | storm of shot and shell, and either surrendered or were | ||
+ | cut to pieces. The < | ||
+ | sieve and on fire in a dozen places, refused to acknowledge | ||
+ | defeat, and went down with colors flying. Finally, | ||
+ | Admiral Montojo hauled down his flag, and, leaving the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | at Cavité ran up the white flag, and at half-past one | ||
+ | Commodore Dewey signalled to his ships that they might | ||
+ | anchor at discretion.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | been killed on the American side, and but four men were | ||
+ | wounded—this through the explosion of a Spanish shell | ||
+ | on the < | ||
+ | any material damage. On the other hand, the following | ||
+ | Spanish ships were completely destroyed: < | ||
+ | (flag-ship), | ||
+ | Austria</ | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | The casualties on the Spanish side amounted to about | ||
+ | four hundred men. Moreover, the water-batteries of | ||
+ | Cavité had been demolished, the arsenal had been captured, | ||
+ | and the city of Manila lay defenceless under the | ||
+ | guns of the American fleet.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | at an end. He had immediately proclaimed a blockade | ||
+ | of the port. The German Pacific squadron, under Vice-Admiral | ||
+ | von Diederich, had arrived at Manila shortly after | ||
+ | the battle, and were, of course, in the position of neutrals, | ||
+ | having access to the harbor merely on the ground of | ||
+ | international courtesy. This privilege the Germans | ||
+ | quickly began to abuse, disregarding Commodore Dewey’s | ||
+ | regulations at will, and committing various acts inconsistent | ||
+ | with the neutrality laws. Their attitude was both | ||
+ | annoying and insolent, and it was evident that it must | ||
+ | be promptly and effectually checked if the American | ||
+ | supremacy were to be maintained.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At last the opportunity came. Commodore Dewey | ||
+ | learned, on unquestionable authority, that one of the | ||
+ | German vessels had been landing provisions at Manila, | ||
+ | thereby violating neutrality. He immediately sent a | ||
+ | vigorous protest to Admiral von Diederich—a message | ||
+ | that ended with these significant words: “And, Brumby, | ||
+ | tell Admiral von Diederich that if he wants a fight he | ||
+ | can have it right now.”</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ready to involve his country in a war with the United States; | ||
+ | he made an apology, and the incident was closed.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | On June 30th the first army expedition from the United | ||
+ | States arrived at Manila, and Commodore Dewey’s long | ||
+ | vigil was at an end, the succeeding operations in the | ||
+ | Philippines being almost exclusively military, and consisting | ||
+ | of the capture of the city of Manila by the Americans | ||
+ | and subsequent warfare with Aguinaldo and insurgent | ||
+ | Filipinos.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Foreign critics have derided American enthusiasm on the | ||
+ | ground that the American fleet was far superior, that the | ||
+ | Spanish vessels, many of them mere gunboats, lacked | ||
+ | armor and adequate guns, and that they were imperfectly | ||
+ | manned. Yet the same critics ranked the naval forces | ||
+ | of Spain as quite equal to the American at the outset of | ||
+ | the war. Furthermore, | ||
+ | single battle-ship or torpedo-boat under his command, | ||
+ | in entering a mined harbor without waiting to countermine, | ||
+ | and in attacking a fleet whose strength was not | ||
+ | accurately known, under the guns of land batteries, must | ||
+ | be classed among the distinctive achievements of naval | ||
+ | history. The battle was decisive in its immediate outcome, | ||
+ | far-reaching in its ultimate consequences. Dewey’s | ||
+ | victory but presaged the final triumph of American arms. | ||
+ | The Battle of Manila Bay meant the expulsion of Spain | ||
+ | from the Pacific and the succession of the United States | ||
+ | to Spain’s heritage of Asiatic power. Politically, | ||
+ | in its establishment of the United States as a power | ||
+ | in the Orient, Manila Bay is to be placed among the | ||
+ | decisive battles of history.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <hr /> | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span id=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | WEST INDIES</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | most striking thing about the war with Spain was | ||
+ | the preparedness of the navy and the unpreparedness of | ||
+ | the army. For fifteen years the United States had been | ||
+ | building up a navy, and for months preceding the war | ||
+ | every effort was made, with the resources at the command | ||
+ | of the Navy Department, to put it in a state of | ||
+ | first-class efficiency. As early as January 11, 1898, instructions | ||
+ | were sent to the commanders of the several | ||
+ | squadrons to retain in the service men whose terms of | ||
+ | enlistment were about to expire. As the Cuban situation | ||
+ | grew more threatening, | ||
+ | a torpedo-boat flotilla were rapidly assembled in Florida | ||
+ | waters; and immediately after the destruction of the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | stations were ordered to Key West....</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | blockade of Cuba was the first step for the American government | ||
+ | to take, and the surest and quickest means of | ||
+ | bringing things to an issue. Cuba was the point in dispute | ||
+ | between the United States and Spain, and a blockade | ||
+ | would result in one of two things—the surrender of the | ||
+ | island or the despatch of a Spanish naval force to its<span class=" | ||
+ | relief. The Navy Department had very little apprehension | ||
+ | of an attack on our coast, as no squadron could hope | ||
+ | to be in condition after crossing the Atlantic for offensive | ||
+ | operations without coaling, and the only places where | ||
+ | Spain could coal were in the West Indies. The public, | ||
+ | however, took a different view of the situation, and no | ||
+ | little alarm was felt in the Eastern cities. A few coast-defence | ||
+ | guns of modern pattern would have relieved the | ||
+ | department of the necessity of protecting the coast, and | ||
+ | enabled it to concentrate the whole fighting force around | ||
+ | Cuba. To meet popular demands, however, a Northern | ||
+ | Patrol Squadron was organized April 20th, under command | ||
+ | of Commodore Howell, to cover the New England | ||
+ | coast; and a more formidable Flying Squadron, under | ||
+ | Commodore Schley, was assembled at Hampton Roads, | ||
+ | and kept there until the appearance of the Spanish fleet | ||
+ | in the West Indies. The main squadron was stationed | ||
+ | at Key West under Rear-Admiral William T. Sampson, | ||
+ | who had just been promoted to that grade, and given | ||
+ | command of the entire naval force in North Atlantic | ||
+ | waters. His appointment over the heads of Schley and | ||
+ | other officers of superior rank and longer service created | ||
+ | a great deal of criticism, although he was everywhere | ||
+ | conceded to be one of the most efficient and progressive | ||
+ | officers of the new navy.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | revenue-cutters, | ||
+ | ocean liners] were added to the navy, and the government | ||
+ | yards were kept busy transforming them. To man | ||
+ | these ships the number of enlisted men was raised from | ||
+ | 12,500 to 24,123, and a number of new officers appointed.< | ||
+ | The heavy fighting force consisted of four first-class | ||
+ | battle-ships, | ||
+ | one second-class battle-ship, | ||
+ | cruisers, the < | ||
+ | these seven armored ships Spain had five armored cruisers | ||
+ | of modern construction and of greater reputed speed than | ||
+ | any of ours except the < | ||
+ | one battle-ship of the < | ||
+ | type of vessel unknown to our navy and greatly feared by | ||
+ | us—namely, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Spanish navy was somewhat superior to the American.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as the Spanish minister withdrew from Washington, | ||
+ | a despatch was sent to Sampson at Key West | ||
+ | directing him to blockade the coast of Cuba immediately | ||
+ | from Cardenas to Bahia Honda, and to blockade Cienfuegos | ||
+ | if it was considered advisable. On April 29th, | ||
+ | Admiral Cervera’s division of the Spanish fleet left the | ||
+ | Cape de Verde Islands for an unknown destination, | ||
+ | disappeared for two weeks from the knowledge of the | ||
+ | American authorities. This fleet was composed of four | ||
+ | armored cruisers, the < | ||
+ | Colon</ | ||
+ | destroyers. Its appearance in American waters was | ||
+ | eagerly looked for, and interest in the war became intense....</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Islands and adjacent waters, and his visit to San | ||
+ | Juan, Porto Rico, produced no discoveries, | ||
+ | to return to the blockade of Havana. At midnight, | ||
+ | May 12th–13th, | ||
+ | Department learned that Cervera had appeared off Martinique. | ||
+ | Sampson, with his fleet, and Schley, with the | ||
+ | Flying Squadron, were ordered to Key West, which they | ||
+ | reached on May 18th.]</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of war essential to the defence of Havana, and that his | ||
+ | orders were to reach Havana, Cienfuegos, or a port connected | ||
+ | with Havana by rail. As Cienfuegos seemed the | ||
+ | only place he would be likely to choose, Schley was ordered | ||
+ | there with the < | ||
+ | 19th. He was joined later by the < | ||
+ | Evans, and by several cruisers. The Spanish squadron | ||
+ | slipped into Santiago, unobserved by the cruisers on | ||
+ | scouting duty, May 19th, two days before Schley arrived | ||
+ | at Cienfuegos, so that had Cervera known the conditions | ||
+ | he could easily have made the latter port. On the same | ||
+ | day the department received from spies in Havana probable | ||
+ | information, | ||
+ | allowed to remain in operation, that Cervera had entered | ||
+ | Santiago. As we now know, he had entered early that | ||
+ | morning. Several auxiliary cruisers were immediately | ||
+ | ordered to assemble before Santiago in order to watch | ||
+ | Cervera and follow him in case he should leave.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At the same time the department “strongly advised” | ||
+ | Sampson to send Schley to Santiago at once with his | ||
+ | whole command. Sampson replied that he had decided | ||
+ | to hold Schley at Cienfuegos until it was certain that | ||
+ | the Spanish fleet was in Santiago. Later he sent a despatch | ||
+ | to Schley, received May 23d, ordering him to | ||
+ | proceed to Santiago if satisfied that the enemy were not | ||
+ | at Cienfuegos.< | ||
+ | on the run much rain and rough weather, which | ||
+ | seriously delayed the squadron. At 5.30 <span class=" | ||
+ | he reached a point twenty-two miles south of Santiago, | ||
+ | where he was joined by several of the auxiliary cruisers | ||
+ | on scouting duty. Captain Sigsbee, of the < | ||
+ | him that the scouts knew nothing positively | ||
+ | about the Spanish fleet. The collier < | ||
+ | disabled, which increased the difficulty of coaling. At | ||
+ | 7.45 <span class=" | ||
+ | without explanation signalled to the squadron: “Destination, | ||
+ | Key West, < | ||
+ | Channel, as soon as collier is ready; speed, nine knots.”< | ||
+ | Thus began the much-discussed retrograde movement | ||
+ | which occupied two days. Admiral Schley states in his | ||
+ | book that. Sigsbee’s report and other evidence led him | ||
+ | to conclude that the Spanish squadron was not in Santiago; | ||
+ | hence the retrograde movement to protect the | ||
+ | passage west of Cuba.<a id=" | ||
+ | satisfactory explanation why he did not definitely ascertain | ||
+ | the facts before turning back. Fortunately the | ||
+ | squadron did not proceed very far; the lines towing the | ||
+ | collier parted and other delays occurred. The next morning | ||
+ | Schley received a despatch from the department | ||
+ | stating that all the information at hand indicated that | ||
+ | Cervera was in Santiago, but he continued on his westward | ||
+ | course slowly and at times drifting while some of | ||
+ | the ships coaled. The next day, May 28th, Schley returned | ||
+ | to Santiago, arriving before that port about dusk, | ||
+ | and established a blockade.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | assumed direct command of the squadron. The blockade, | ||
+ | which lasted for over a month, was eagerly watched | ||
+ | by the whole American people. The most thrilling incident | ||
+ | was the daring but unsuccessful attempt made by | ||
+ | Lieutenant Richmond Pearson Hobson to sink the collier | ||
+ | Merrimac across the entrance to Santiago harbor, undertaken | ||
+ | by direction of Admiral Sampson. Electric torpedoes | ||
+ | were attached to the hull of the ship, sea-valves | ||
+ | were cut, and anchor chains arranged on deck so that | ||
+ | she could be brought to a sudden stop. Early on the | ||
+ | morning of June 3d, Hobson, assisted by a crew of seven | ||
+ | seamen, took the collier into the entrance of the harbor | ||
+ | under heavy fire and sunk her. The unfortunate shooting | ||
+ | away of her steering-gear and the failure of some of | ||
+ | the torpedoes to explode kept the ship from sinking at | ||
+ | the place selected, so that the plan miscarried. Hobson< | ||
+ | and his men escaped death as by a miracle, but fell into | ||
+ | the hands of the Spaniards.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>As soon as Cervera was blockaded in Santiago and the | ||
+ | government was satisfied that all his ships were with | ||
+ | him, it was decided to send an army to co-operate with | ||
+ | the navy. Hitherto the war had been a naval war exclusively, | ||
+ | and the two hundred thousand volunteers | ||
+ | who had responded to the calls of the President in May | ||
+ | had been kept in camp in different parts of the country. | ||
+ | Most of the regular infantry and cavalry, together with | ||
+ | several volunteer regiments, had been assembled at | ||
+ | Tampa and organized as the Fifth Army Corps, in readiness | ||
+ | to land in Cuba as soon as the navy had cleared the | ||
+ | way. Conspicuous among these troops was the First | ||
+ | Volunteer Cavalry, popularly known as Roosevelt’s | ||
+ | Rough Riders, a regiment which through the energetic | ||
+ | efforts of Dr. Leonard Wood, an army surgeon, who | ||
+ | became its colonel, and Theodore Roosevelt, who resigned | ||
+ | the position of assistant secretary of the navy | ||
+ | to become its lieutenant-colonel, | ||
+ | and equipped in fifty days. It was recruited largely | ||
+ | from Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and had in | ||
+ | its ranks cowboys, hunters, ranchmen, and more than | ||
+ | one hundred and sixty full-blooded Indians, together | ||
+ | with a few graduates of Harvard, Yale, and other Eastern | ||
+ | colleges.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | preparations made by the department for the accommodation | ||
+ | and provisioning of such large bodies of men were< | ||
+ | wholly inadequate. One of the main difficulties was the | ||
+ | inability of the Commissary and Quartermaster departments, | ||
+ | hampered by red tape, senseless regulations, | ||
+ | political appointees, to distribute the train-loads of supplies | ||
+ | which blocked the tracks leading to Tampa; so | ||
+ | great was the congestion that the soldiers could not even | ||
+ | get their mail. This condition continued for weeks. The | ||
+ | great majority of the troops were finally sent to Santiago | ||
+ | to fight under a tropical sun in heavy woollen clothes; | ||
+ | lighter clothing was not supplied to them until they were | ||
+ | ready to return to Montauk Point, where they needed | ||
+ | the woollen. The sanitation of the camp was poor and | ||
+ | the water-supply bad; dysentery, malaria, and typhoid | ||
+ | soon made their appearance. Similar conditions prevailed | ||
+ | at the other camps. The administrative inefficiency | ||
+ | of the War Department was everywhere revealed | ||
+ | in striking contrast with the fine record of the Navy Department. | ||
+ | Secretary Alger had been too much occupied | ||
+ | with questions of patronage to look after the real needs | ||
+ | of the service. Although war had been regarded for | ||
+ | months as inevitable, when it finally came the department | ||
+ | was found to be utterly unprepared to equip troops | ||
+ | for service in Cuba. As the result of this neglect, for | ||
+ | which it should be said Congress was partly responsible, | ||
+ | it was necessary to improvise an army—a rather serious | ||
+ | undertaking!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>It had been the original intention to land the Fifth | ||
+ | Army Corps at Mariel, near Havana, and begin operations | ||
+ | against the capital city under the direct supervision | ||
+ | of General Miles; but the bottling-up of Cervera at | ||
+ | Santiago caused a change of plan, and General Miles, | ||
+ | who still expected the heavy fighting to take place at | ||
+ | Havana, selected Major-General William R. Shafter for | ||
+ | the movement against Santiago. By June 1st the battle-ship | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | dozen smaller vessels, was ready to convoy the expedition. | ||
+ | The army was very slow in embarking, and it<span class=" | ||
+ | was not until June 8th that the force was ready to depart. | ||
+ | Further delay was caused by the unfounded rumor that | ||
+ | a Spanish cruiser and two torpedo-boat destroyers had | ||
+ | been sighted off the north coast of Cuba.<a id=" | ||
+ | ascertain whether all the Spanish ships were at Santiago, | ||
+ | Lieutenant Victor Blue, of the navy, landed, and by personal | ||
+ | observation from the hills back of the city located | ||
+ | Cervera’s entire division in the harbor. On June 14th | ||
+ | the transports, about thirty in number, sailed from | ||
+ | Tampa with their convoy. They were crowded and ill-provided | ||
+ | with supplies, the whole movement showing | ||
+ | lack of experience in handling large bodies of men. The | ||
+ | expedition consisted of 815 officers and 16,072 enlisted | ||
+ | men, regulars except the Seventy-first New York, Second | ||
+ | Massachusetts, | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Daiquiri on the morning of June 22d, and by night six | ||
+ | thousand men had with great difficulty been put ashore. | ||
+ | No lighters or launches had been provided, and the only | ||
+ | wharf, a small wooden one, had been stripped of its | ||
+ | flooring: the War Department expected the navy to look | ||
+ | after these matters. In addition, the troops had been | ||
+ | crowded into the transports without any reference to | ||
+ | order, officers separated from their commands, artillery-pieces | ||
+ | on one transport, horses on another, harness on a | ||
+ | third, and no means of finding out where any of them | ||
+ | were. By the aid of a few launches borrowed from the | ||
+ | battle-ships, | ||
+ | to wade through the surf, but the animals had to be | ||
+ | thrown into the sea, where many of them perished, some | ||
+ | in their bewilderment swimming out to sea instead of | ||
+ | to shore.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | day, and Kent’s division landed here, eight miles nearer | ||
+ | Santiago. General Wheeler pushed on with part of<span class=" | ||
+ | Young’s brigade, and on the morning of the 24th defeated | ||
+ | the Spanish force at Las Guasimas, with a loss of one officer | ||
+ | and fifteen men killed, six officers and forty-six men | ||
+ | wounded.< | ||
+ | Garcia’s Cuban command, was concentrated at Sevilla. | ||
+ | These were trying days. The troops suffered from the | ||
+ | heavy rains, poor rations, and bad camp accommodations. | ||
+ | No adequate provision had been made for landing supplies | ||
+ | or for transporting them to the camps, so that with | ||
+ | an abundance, such as they were, aboard the transports, | ||
+ | the soldiers were in actual want.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On June 30th it was decided to advance. San Juan | ||
+ | Hill, a strategic point on the direct road to Santiago, | ||
+ | could not be taken or held while the Spaniards occupied | ||
+ | El Caney, on the right of the American advance. The | ||
+ | country was a jungle, and the roads from the coast little | ||
+ | more than bridle-paths. Lawton moved out to a position | ||
+ | south of El Caney that afternoon, so as to begin the | ||
+ | attack early next morning. Wheeler’s division of dismounted | ||
+ | cavalry and Kent’s division of infantry advanced | ||
+ | toward El Poso, accompanied by Grimes’ battery, | ||
+ | which was to take position early in the morning and open | ||
+ | the way for the advance toward San Juan. The attack | ||
+ | at this point was to be delayed until Lawton’s infantry | ||
+ | fire was heard at El Caney. After forcing the enemy | ||
+ | from this position, Lawton was to move toward Santiago | ||
+ | and take position on Wheeler’s right. Little was known | ||
+ | of the ground over which the troops were to move or | ||
+ | the position and strength of the forces they were to meet, | ||
+ | consequently they went into battle without knowing | ||
+ | what they were about and fought without any generalship | ||
+ | being displayed. General Shafter was too ill to | ||
+ | leave his headquarters in the rear.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>At El Caney, which was surrounded by trenches | ||
+ | and block-houses, | ||
+ | strength, and held Lawton in check until late in the | ||
+ | afternoon, when he finally carried the position. In this | ||
+ | fight about thirty-five hundred Americans were engaged, | ||
+ | and not more than six hundred or one thousand Spaniards. | ||
+ | The American loss was four officers and seventy-seven | ||
+ | men killed, and twenty-five officers and three hundred and | ||
+ | thirty-five men wounded. About one hundred and fifty | ||
+ | Spaniards were captured, and between three hundred and | ||
+ | four hundred killed and wounded.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Juan Hill. As soon as Lawton’s musket-fire was heard | ||
+ | at El Caney, Grimes’ battery opened fire from El Poso | ||
+ | on the San Juan block-house. This fire was immediately | ||
+ | returned by the enemy’s artillery, who had the range, | ||
+ | and a number of men were killed. The Spaniards used | ||
+ | smokeless powder, which made it difficult to locate | ||
+ | them, while some of the Americans had black powder, | ||
+ | which quickly indicated their position. The road along | ||
+ | which the troops had to advance was so narrow and | ||
+ | rough that at times they had to proceed in column of | ||
+ | twos. The progress made was very slow, and the long-range | ||
+ | guns of the enemy killed numbers of men before | ||
+ | they could get into position to return the fire. By | ||
+ | the middle of the day the advance had crossed the | ||
+ | river, the cavalry division under Sumner deploying | ||
+ | to the right in front of Kettle Hill, and Kent’s division | ||
+ | of infantry deploying to the left directly in front | ||
+ | of San Juan Hill. During this movement the troops | ||
+ | were exposed to a galling artillery and rifle fire and suffered | ||
+ | greatly, especially the third brigade of Kent’s | ||
+ | division, which lost three commanders in fifteen minutes, | ||
+ | General Wikoff being killed and Colonels Worth | ||
+ | and Liscum disabled. The suffering of the wounded,< | ||
+ | many of whom lay in the brush for hours without succor, | ||
+ | was the most terrible feature of the situation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | The First Regular Cavalry, the Rough Riders, and the | ||
+ | Negro troopers of the Ninth and a part of the Tenth | ||
+ | advanced up Kettle Hill and drove the Spaniards from | ||
+ | the ranch-house, | ||
+ | Sixth and Sixteenth regiments under Hawkins in the | ||
+ | lead charged up San Juan Hill in the face of a destructive | ||
+ | fire and captured the block-house. Then the | ||
+ | cavalry under Sumner and Roosevelt advanced from | ||
+ | Kettle Hill and occupied the trenches on San Juan | ||
+ | Hill north of the block-house. The Spaniards fled to | ||
+ | their second line of trenches, six or eight hundred yards | ||
+ | in the rear.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | to a constant fire, and many were discouraged and | ||
+ | wanted to retire, but General Wheeler, who, though ill, | ||
+ | had come to the front early in the afternoon, put a stop | ||
+ | to this and set the men to work fortifying themselves. | ||
+ | The next day Lawton came up and advanced to a strong | ||
+ | position on Wheeler’s right. The fighting was resumed | ||
+ | on the two following days, but about noon, July 3d, the | ||
+ | Spaniards ceased firing. The losses in the three days’ | ||
+ | fight were eighteen officers and one hundred and twenty-seven | ||
+ | men killed, sixty-five officers and eight hundred | ||
+ | and forty-nine men wounded, and seventy-two men | ||
+ | missing.< | ||
+ | was very bad; many of them were down with fever, and | ||
+ | all were suffering from lack of suitable equipment and | ||
+ | supplies. General Shafter cabled to the secretary of | ||
+ | war, July 3d, that it would be impossible to take Santiago | ||
+ | by storm with the forces he then had, and that he was | ||
+ | “seriously considering withdrawing about five miles and | ||
+ | taking up a new position on the high ground between< | ||
+ | the San Juan River and Siboney.”< | ||
+ | Cervera’s fleet the same day materially changed the | ||
+ | situation.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Santiago on July 1st and 2d forced the Spanish authorities | ||
+ | to come to a decision in regard to Cervera’s fleet. Captain-General | ||
+ | Blanco insisted that the fleet should not be | ||
+ | captured or destroyed without a fight. Cervera refused | ||
+ | to assume the responsibility of leaving the harbor, and | ||
+ | when ordered to do so went out with consummate bravery, | ||
+ | knowing that he was leading a forlorn-hope. Sampson | ||
+ | seems to have been under the impression all along that | ||
+ | the Spanish squadron would attempt to escape at night, | ||
+ | but the American ships kept in so close to the shore, | ||
+ | with dazzling search-lights directed against the entrance | ||
+ | of the harbor, as to render it almost impossible to steer | ||
+ | a ship out. On the morning of July 3d, at 8.55, Sampson | ||
+ | started east to meet General Shafter in conference at | ||
+ | Siboney, signalling to the fleet as he left: “Disregard | ||
+ | movements commander-in-chief.” The < | ||
+ | had also left her place in the blockade to go to Guantanamo | ||
+ | for coal. The remaining ships formed a semicircle | ||
+ | around the entrance of the harbor, the < | ||
+ | to the west, holding the left of the line, then the < | ||
+ | next the < | ||
+ | then, as the line curved in to the coast on the right, the | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | holding the left and the right of the line, were about | ||
+ | two miles and one and a half miles respectively from the | ||
+ | shore, and near them, closer in, lay the converted gunboats | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | At 9.35 <span class=" | ||
+ | inspection, the enemy’s ships were discovered slowly | ||
+ | steaming down the narrow channel of the harbor. In the | ||
+ | lead was the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | The < | ||
+ | escaping, though the fact was noted on several ships at | ||
+ | almost the same moment, and no orders were necessary. | ||
+ | The American ships at once closed in and directed their | ||
+ | fire against the < | ||
+ | as to whether the Spanish ships would separate and try | ||
+ | to scatter the fire of our fleet or whether they would stick | ||
+ | together. This was quickly settled when Cervera turned | ||
+ | west, followed by the remainder of his command. At | ||
+ | this point Commodore Schley’s flag-ship, the < | ||
+ | which was farthest west, turned to the eastward, away | ||
+ | from the hostile fleet, making a loop, at the end of which | ||
+ | she again steamed westward farther out to sea but still | ||
+ | ahead of any of the American vessels. The sudden and | ||
+ | unexpected turn of the < | ||
+ | was behind her, to reverse her engines in order to avoid | ||
+ | a collision and to come to a standstill, thus losing position, | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | two destroyers, which came out last, were attacked by | ||
+ | the < | ||
+ | latter, Wainwright, dashing toward them in utter disregard | ||
+ | of the fragile character of his vessel. The < | ||
+ | was sunk and the < | ||
+ | struck by several shells which exploded and set her on | ||
+ | fire, turned to the shore at 10.15 and was beached about | ||
+ | six miles west of the Morro. The < | ||
+ | shell and likewise soon on fire. She was beached about | ||
+ | half a mile west of the < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | ships, which were practically uninjured. In this | ||
+ | running fight the < | ||
+ | defective condition of her machinery, but kept up her<span class=" | ||
+ | fire. At 11.05 the < | ||
+ | miles west of the Morro. The < | ||
+ | followed at some distance by the < | ||
+ | chase of the < | ||
+ | order of Sampson, who had come up, went back to guard | ||
+ | the transports. At 1.15 <span class=" | ||
+ | thirty miles west of the < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | B., < | ||
+ | O., < | ||
+ | H., < | ||
+ | C., < | ||
+ | P., < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | battles on record. On the American side, though the | ||
+ | ships were struck many times, only one man was killed | ||
+ | and one wounded. These casualties both occurred on | ||
+ | Commodore Schley’s flag-ship, the < | ||
+ | lost about six hundred in killed and wounded. The | ||
+ | American sailors took an active part in the rescue of | ||
+ | the officers and crews of the burning Spanish ships.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | thousand American projectiles hit the Spanish ships.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>On July 3d, General Shafter demanded the surrender | ||
+ | of the Spanish forces in Santiago. This being refused, he | ||
+ | notified General Toral that the bombardment of Santiago | ||
+ | would begin at noon of the 5th, thus giving two days for | ||
+ | the women and children to leave the city. Nearly twenty | ||
+ | thousand people came out and filled the villages and | ||
+ | roads around. They were in an utterly destitute condition, | ||
+ | and had to be taken care of largely by the American | ||
+ | army—a great drain on their supplies. On the 10th and | ||
+ | 11th the city was bombarded by the squadron. At this | ||
+ | point General Miles arrived off Santiago with additional | ||
+ | troops intended for Porto Rico. He and Shafter met | ||
+ | General Toral under a flag of truce and arranged terms | ||
+ | for the surrender, which took place on the 17th. Shafter’s< | ||
+ | command was by this time in a serious state of health and | ||
+ | anxious to return home. Malarial fevers had so weakened | ||
+ | the men that an epidemic of yellow-fever, | ||
+ | sporadically throughout the command, was greatly | ||
+ | feared. The situation was desperate, and the War Department | ||
+ | apparently deaf to all representations of the | ||
+ | case. Under these circumstances the division and brigade | ||
+ | commanders and the surgeons met at General Shafter’s | ||
+ | headquarters early in August and signed a round-robin | ||
+ | addressed to the secretary of war urging the immediate | ||
+ | removal of the corps to the United States. This | ||
+ | action was much criticised at the time, but it had the | ||
+ | desired effect, and on August 4th orders were given to | ||
+ | remove the command to Montauk Point, Long Island. | ||
+ | The movement was begun at once and completed before | ||
+ | the end of the month.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div id=" | ||
+ | <img src=" | ||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | carry out plans already matured for the invasion of | ||
+ | Porto Rico. He left Guantanamo, July 21st, with 3415 | ||
+ | men, mostly volunteers, convoyed by a fleet under the | ||
+ | command of Captain Higginson, and landed at Guanica | ||
+ | on the 25th. Early next morning General Garretson pushed | ||
+ | forward with part of his brigade and drove the Spanish | ||
+ | forces from Yauco, thus getting possession of the railroad | ||
+ | to Ponce. General Miles was reinforced in a few days by | ||
+ | the commands of Generals Wilson, Brooke, and Schwan, | ||
+ | raising his entire force to 16,973 officers and men. In | ||
+ | about two weeks they had gained control of all the southern | ||
+ | and western portions of the island, but hostilities were | ||
+ | suspended by the peace protocol before the conquest of | ||
+ | Porto Rico was completed. The American losses in this | ||
+ | campaign were three killed and forty wounded.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | Manila, which was captured August 13, 1898, by the | ||
+ | forces under General Merritt, assisted by Admiral Dewey’s< | ||
+ | squadron. This occurred the day after the signing of | ||
+ | the peace protocol, the news of which did not reach the | ||
+ | Philippines until several days later.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | assumed such importance that they cannot be passed | ||
+ | by. The first related to the conduct of the War Department, | ||
+ | which was charged with inefficiency resulting from | ||
+ | political appointments and corruption in the purchase of | ||
+ | supplies. The most serious charge was that made by | ||
+ | Major-General Miles, commanding the army, who declared | ||
+ | that much of the refrigerated beef furnished the | ||
+ | troops was “embalmed beef,” preserved with secret | ||
+ | chemicals of an injurious character. In September, 1898, | ||
+ | President McKinley appointed a commission to investigate | ||
+ | these charges, and the hearings held were sensational | ||
+ | in the extreme. Commissary-General Eagan read a statement | ||
+ | before the commission which was so violent in its | ||
+ | abuse of the commanding general that he was later court-martialled | ||
+ | and sentenced to dismissal for conduct unbecoming | ||
+ | an officer and a gentleman, though this sentence | ||
+ | was commuted by the President to suspension from | ||
+ | rank and duty, but without loss of pay. The report of | ||
+ | the commission< | ||
+ | charges, but it was not satisfactory or convincing. In | ||
+ | spite of its efforts to whitewash things, the commission | ||
+ | had to report that the secretary of war had failed to | ||
+ | “grasp the situation.” Many leading newspapers demanded | ||
+ | Alger’s resignation, | ||
+ | feared to discredit the administration by dismissing him.< | ||
+ | Nevertheless, | ||
+ | several months later, when Alger became a candidate | ||
+ | for the Michigan senatorship, | ||
+ | elements distinctly hostile to the administration, | ||
+ | President asked for his resignation, | ||
+ | July 19, 1899.<a id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | months, was as to whether Sampson or Schley was in | ||
+ | command at the battle of Santiago. As a reward for | ||
+ | their work on that day, the President advanced Sampson | ||
+ | eight numbers, Schley six, Captain Clark of the Oregon | ||
+ | six, and the other captains five. These promotions were | ||
+ | all confirmed by the Senate save those of Sampson and | ||
+ | Schley, a number of senators holding that Schley should | ||
+ | have received at least equal recognition with Sampson. | ||
+ | The controversy was waged inside and outside of Congress | ||
+ | for three years. The officials of the Navy Department | ||
+ | were for the most part stanch supporters of Sampson, | ||
+ | while a large part of the public, under the impression | ||
+ | that the department was trying to discredit Schley, | ||
+ | eagerly championed his cause. Finally, at the request | ||
+ | of Admiral Schley, who was charged in certain publications | ||
+ | with inefficiency and even cowardice, a court of | ||
+ | inquiry was appointed July 26, 1901, with Admiral Dewey | ||
+ | as president, for the purpose of inquiring into the conduct | ||
+ | of Schley during the war with Spain. The opinion | ||
+ | of the court was that his service prior to June 1st was | ||
+ | “characterized by vacillation, | ||
+ | enterprise.” Admiral Dewey differed from the opinions | ||
+ | of his colleagues on certain points, and delivered a separate | ||
+ | opinion, in the course of which he took up the question | ||
+ | as to who was in command at Santiago, a point which | ||
+ | had not been considered by the court. His conclusion | ||
+ | was that Schley “was in absolute command and is entitled | ||
+ | to the credit due to such commanding officer for<span class=" | ||
+ | the glorious victory which resulted in the total destruction | ||
+ | of the Spanish ships.” This made matters worse | ||
+ | than ever. Secretary Long approved the findings of the | ||
+ | majority of the court, and disapproved Dewey’s separate | ||
+ | opinion. Schley appealed from the findings of the court | ||
+ | to the President. February 18, 1902, President Roosevelt’s | ||
+ | memorandum, in which he reviewed the whole controversy, | ||
+ | was made public. He declared that the court | ||
+ | had done substantial justice to Schley. As regards the | ||
+ | question of command at Santiago, he said that technically | ||
+ | Sampson commanded the fleet, and Schley the | ||
+ | western division, but that after the battle began not | ||
+ | a ship took orders from either Sampson or Schley, except | ||
+ | their own two vessels. “It was a captains’ | ||
+ | fight.”< | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | American military system, some of which have been | ||
+ | remedied by the reorganization of the army and the | ||
+ | creation of a general staff.<a id=" | ||
+ | of military evolutions on a large scale in time of | ||
+ | peace, so as to give the general officers experience in | ||
+ | handling and the Quartermaster and Commissary departments | ||
+ | experience in equipping and supplying large bodies | ||
+ | of troops; it showed the folly and danger of appointing | ||
+ | men from civil life through political influence to positions | ||
+ | of responsibility in any branch of the military or naval | ||
+ | service; it showed the value of field-artillery, | ||
+ | powder, and of high-power rifles of the latest model; | ||
+ | it also showed the necessity of having on hand a large | ||
+ | supply of the best war material ready for use. While | ||
+ | every American is proud of the magnificent record of the | ||
+ | navy, it must not be imagined that the war with Spain | ||
+ | was a conclusive test of its invincibility, | ||
+ | formidable the Spanish cruisers appeared at the time, | ||
+ | later information revealed the fact that through the | ||
+ | neglect of the Spanish government they were very far | ||
+ | from being in a state of first-class efficiency.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | <h2 id=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | VIII), chap. i.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | chaps. vii, viii.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | chap. v.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | the conversion, enslavement, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | part that was to be played in the approaching conflict by the | ||
+ | most powerful military force among the Indians of North America. | ||
+ | It had made the confederacy of the Iroquois and all its | ||
+ | nations and dependencies the implacable enemies of the French | ||
+ | and the fast friends of the English for all the long struggle that | ||
+ | was to come.” [This quotation is from Senator Elihu Root’s | ||
+ | eloquent address at the Champlain tercentenary celebration in | ||
+ | 1909. Influential as Champlain’s act proved to be, it is well to | ||
+ | remember that it was the Dutch treatment of the Iroquois that | ||
+ | gained the latter’s friendship for the English, the successors of | ||
+ | the Dutch, and also that the Iroquois, as Doctor Thwaites points | ||
+ | out in his < | ||
+ | with the French. But the historic consequence of Champlain’s act | ||
+ | is of course obvious, although it is not necessary to accept unreservedly | ||
+ | one tercentenary dictum to the effect that “Few | ||
+ | decisive battles from Marathon to Waterloo had larger consequences.” | ||
+ | Cartier’s first voyage to the St. Lawrence decided the | ||
+ | immediate association of the French with their Algonquian neighbors. | ||
+ | It would have been impossible for them to be friends of | ||
+ | both Algonquians and Iroquois. The consequences of immediate | ||
+ | and prolonged hostility on the part of the Algonquians invite | ||
+ | curious speculation.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | a sergeant-major of grenadiers, in Doughty and Parmelee, < | ||
+ | of Quebec</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 234. For details, consult Doughty and Parmelee, < | ||
+ | II, chap. vi.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | II, 249.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 379–383.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Office.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | the “Royal Americans, | ||
+ | battalions. One battalion was left to guard the landing. The | ||
+ | superior officers of this regiment were English. There seem to | ||
+ | have been also some provincial rangers, although the famous | ||
+ | Robert Rogers was not present.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Canada</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | of the Revolution</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 281.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Navigation Laws</ | ||
+ | VI. For discussion, see Andrews, < | ||
+ | i; Greene, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Charters</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 4th series, I, 216.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | August, 1895.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | than most victories—namely, | ||
+ | British army for two hours, they themselves being under so little | ||
+ | organization that it is impossible to tell even at this day who was | ||
+ | their commander; that they did this with only the protection of | ||
+ | an unfinished earthwork and a rail fence, retreating only when | ||
+ | their powder was out.... The newspapers of England, instead of | ||
+ | being exultant, were indignant or apologetic.”—< | ||
+ | Higginson.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Americans so far as the judgment of Europe was concerned.... | ||
+ | The first treaty with France—which was also the first treaty of | ||
+ | the United States with any foreign government—was signed February | ||
+ | 6, 1778, two months after the news of Burgoyne’s surrender | ||
+ | had reached Paris.”—Higginson’s < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | return of the officers and privates surrendered, | ||
+ | Encyclopædia of United States History</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Yorktown campaign is afforded in Lossing’s < | ||
+ | of the Revolution</ | ||
+ | study from a military point of view is provided in < | ||
+ | Campaign</ | ||
+ | by Harper & Brothers.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | see Professor Van Tyne’s < | ||
+ | in < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | supremacy on Lake Erie and compelled the abandonment of | ||
+ | Malden and Detroit; it recovered Michigan, and made a real invasion | ||
+ | of Canada once more a possibility, | ||
+ | control of the lakes thus given Harrison was enabled to enter | ||
+ | at once upon an aggressive campaign on the Canadian side of | ||
+ | Lake Erie. His men were easily transported to the north side, | ||
+ | and his line of communication was no longer threatened by a | ||
+ | British fleet. Its effect, too, upon the American people was decidedly | ||
+ | important; for the first time an American fleet had met a | ||
+ | British fleet and defeated it. Nor was it fair to discount the | ||
+ | significance of the victory by saying that the vessels were small | ||
+ | and of hasty construction. The charm of British invincibility | ||
+ | had been broken in the great ship duels which made the names of | ||
+ | Decatur, Bainbridge, and Hull household words. To this list | ||
+ | was now added the name of Perry, who was looked upon by the | ||
+ | Americans as a hero of the same class as Nelson.”—Prof. Kendric | ||
+ | Charles Babcock in < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | British. Hardly was the result known, when measures were | ||
+ | taken for the retreat of Prevost’s army into Canada. At best, | ||
+ | Prevost’s assault upon the land forces had been so poor as to | ||
+ | give little aid to the fleet; and for this failure and his prompt | ||
+ | retreat Prevost was ordered to trial by court-martial, | ||
+ | before the trial could take place. The war was practically | ||
+ | ended by this retreat of the British army from Plattsburg into | ||
+ | Canada. It would seem as though the persistent mismanagement | ||
+ | of the American forces in northern New York, the incompetency | ||
+ | of Dearborn and Wilkinson, the strange interference | ||
+ | of Secretary Armstrong, the diversion of the forces of Izard from | ||
+ | the front of Prevost’s army, were all atoned for by the brilliancy | ||
+ | of the accomplishment of Commodore Macdonough and his | ||
+ | handful of sailors and soldiers on Lake Champlain.”—Prof. | ||
+ | Kendric Charles Babcock in < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 1 Sess., VII, No. 60, pp. 7, 79–82.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Mexico in 1845 to endeavor to adjust the boundary and re-establish | ||
+ | relations.]</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 16, 1846.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 298; Polk, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 353, especially Taylor to Adjutant-General, | ||
+ | pp. 329–332; cf. Polk, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Docs.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Docs.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 30 Cong., 1 Sess., I, No. 1, pp. 132–141.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
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+ | December 28, 1847.</ | ||
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+ | < | ||
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+ | Cong., 1 Sess., I, No. 1, pp. 354–471.</ | ||
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+ | the battle, furnishes a vigorous defence of the Indiana volunteers | ||
+ | in his < | ||
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+ | Intelligencer</ | ||
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+ | Sess., No. 1, pp. 214, 216.</ | ||
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+ | 77.</ | ||
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+ | Sumter</ | ||
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+ | who visited Charleston at this time and assumed to be a representative | ||
+ | of the President.—[< | ||
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+ | Crawford, < | ||
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+ | appear.</ | ||
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+ | Scharf, < | ||
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+ | Mahan, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | 76, criticises severely the management of the Confederate ships.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | Waters</ | ||
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+ | forty days. Seven thousand mortar shells and forty-five hundred | ||
+ | shells from the gunboats were discharged at the city. As Grant | ||
+ | drew his lines closer, his cannonade was kept up day and night. | ||
+ | The people of Vicksburg had taken shelter in caves dug in the | ||
+ | clay hills on which the city stands. In these caves families lived | ||
+ | day and night, and children were born. Famine attacked the | ||
+ | city, and mule-meat made a savory dish. Grant mined under | ||
+ | some of the Confederate works, and one of them, Fort Hill Bastion, | ||
+ | was blown up on June 25th with terrible effect.—< | ||
+ | of United States History</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | campaign).</ | ||
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+ | Gettysburg, see < | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | management of the Confederate cavalry, < | ||
+ | 251.</ | ||
+ | |||
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+ | Federal and Confederate Commanders, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | of the Confederate Government</ | ||
+ | 299; William Allan, in < | ||
+ | impartial is G. F. R. Henderson, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | < | ||
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+ | Confirmed to the writer by General E. P. Alexander, who heard | ||
+ | the rebuke.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | 408 et seq.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | testimony, see Committee on Conduct of the War, < | ||
+ | (1864–1865), | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | New West</ | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | Nation</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | War</ | ||
+ | Both are published by Harper & Brothers. Harper’s | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | account of the battle of Manila Bay, by Ramon Reyes Lala, | ||
+ | a Filipino author and lecturer. Professor Latané’s account of | ||
+ | the war, in his < | ||
+ | offers an excellent example of judicial historical treatment.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | appeared off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, ready for action, after a voyage | ||
+ | of fourteen thousand miles from San Francisco.—[< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 169, 171, 319, 366, 381. [General Vara el Rey, one of the bravest | ||
+ | of the Spanish officers, was the leader in this desperate resistance, | ||
+ | and was killed while rallying his men in the village.—< | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | Long, < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | 226–243, 246–266.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
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+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | Cong., I Sess., No. 485.</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | p. 830.</ | ||
+ | </ | ||
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+ | < | ||
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+ | <li class=" | ||
+ | <li class=" | ||
+ | <li class=" | ||
+ | <li class=" | ||
+ | </ul> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p class=" | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ |
decisive_battles_of_america.txt · Last modified: 2020/10/04 01:18 by briancarnell