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Chronicles of America Volume 12 - Washington and his Comrades in Arms

<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> <h3>Yorktown</h3> The critical stroke of the war was near. In the South, after General Greene superseded Gates in the command, the tide of war began to turn. Cornwallis now had to fight a better general than Gates. Greene arrived at Charlotte, North Carolina, in December. He found an army badly equipped, wretchedly clothed, and confronted by a greatly superior force. He had, however, some excellent officers, and he did not scorn, as Gates, with the stiff military traditions of a regular soldier, had scorned, the aid of guerrilla leaders like Marion and Sumter. Serving with Greene was General Daniel Morgan, the enterprising and resourceful Virginia rifleman, who had fought valorously at Quebec, at Saratoga, and later in Virginia. Steuben was busy in Virginia holding the British in check and keeping open the line of communication with the North. The mobility and diversity of the 248 American forces puzzled Cornwallis. When he marched from Camden into North Carolina he hoped to draw Greene into a battle and to crush him as he had crushed Gates. He sent Tarleton with a smaller force to strike a deadly blow at Morgan who was threatening the British garrisons at the points in the interior farther south. There was no more capable leader than Tarleton; he had won many victories; but now came his day of defeat. On January 17, 1781, he met Morgan at the Cowpens, about thirty miles west from King's Mountain. Morgan, not quite sure of the discipline of his men, stood with his back to a broad river so that retreat was impossible. Tarleton had marched nearly all night over bad roads; but, confident in the superiority of his weary and hungry veterans, he advanced to the attack at daybreak. The result was a complete disaster. Tarleton himself barely got away with two hundred and seventy men and left behind nearly nine hundred casualties and prisoners. Cornwallis had lost one-third of his effective army. There was nothing for him to do but to take his loss and still to press on northward in the hope that the more southerly inland posts could take care of themselves. In the early spring of 1781, 249 when heavy rains were making the roads difficult and the rivers almost impassable, Greene was luring Cornwallis northward and Cornwallis was chasing Greene. At Hillsborough, in the northwest corner of North Carolina, Cornwallis issued a proclamation saying that the colony was once more under the authority of the King and inviting the Loyalists, bullied and oppressed during nearly six years, to come out openly on the royal side. On the 15th of March Greene took a stand and offered battle at Guilford Court House. In the early afternoon, after a march of twelve miles without food, Cornwallis, with less than two thousand men, attacked Greene's force of about four thousand. By evening the British held the field and had captured Greene's guns. But they had lost heavily and they were two hundred miles from their base. Their friends were timid, and in fact few, and their numerous enemies were filled with passionate resolution. Cornwallis now wrote to urge Clinton to come to his aid. Abandon New York, he said; bring the whole British force into Virginia and end the war by one smashing stroke; that would be better than sticking to salt pork in New York and sending only enough men to Virginia to steal tobacco. 250 Cornwallis could not remain where he was, far from the sea. Go back to Camden he would not after a victory, and thus seem to admit a defeat. So he decided to risk all and go forward. By hard marching he led his army down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington on the sea, and there he arrived on the 9th of April. Greene, however, simply would not do what Cornwallis wished—stay in the north to be beaten by a second smashing blow. He did what Cornwallis would not do; he marched back into the South and disturbed the British dream that now the country was held securely. It mattered little that, after this, the British won minor victories. Lord Rawdon, still holding Camden, defeated Greene on the 25th of April at Hobkirk's Hill. None the less did Rawdon find his position untenable and he, too, was forced to march to the sea, which he reached at a point near Charleston. Augusta, the capital of Georgia, fell to the Americans on the 5th of June and the operations of the summer went decisively in their favor. The last battle in the field of the farther South was fought on the 8th of September at Eutaw Springs, about fifty miles northwest of Charleston. The British held their position and thus could claim a victory. But it was fruitless. 251 They had been forced steadily to withdraw. All the boasted fabric of royal government in the South had come down with a crash and the Tories who had supported it were having evil days. While these events were happening farther south, Cornwallis himself, without waiting for word from Clinton in New York, had adopted his own policy and marched from Wilmington northward into Virginia. Benedict Arnold was now in Virginia doing what mischief he could to his former friends. In January he burned the little town of Richmond, destined in the years to come to be a great center in another civil war. Some twenty miles south from Richmond lay in a strong position Petersburg, later also to be drenched with blood shed in civil strife. Arnold was already at Petersburg when Cornwallis arrived on the 20th of May. He was now in high spirits. He did not yet realize the extent of the failure farther south. Virginia he believed to be half loyalist at heart. The negroes would, he thought, turn against their masters when they knew that the British were strong enough to defend them. Above all he had a finely disciplined army of five thousand men. Cornwallis was the more confident when he knew by whom he was opposed. In April Washington had placed La 252 Fayette in charge of the defense of Virginia, and not only was La Fayette young and untried in such a command but he had at first only three thousand badly-trained men to confront the formidable British general. Cornwallis said cheerily that <q>the boy</q> was certainly now his prey and began the task of catching him. An exciting chase followed. La Fayette did some good work. It was impossible, with his inferior force, to fight Cornwallis, but he could tire him out by drawing him into long marches. When Cornwallis advanced to attack La Fayette at Richmond, La Fayette was not there but had slipped away and was able to use rivers and mountains for his defense. Cornwallis had more than one string to his bow. The legislature of Virginia was sitting at Charlottesville, lying in the interior nearly a hundred miles northwest from Richmond, and Cornwallis conceived the daring plan of raiding Charlottesville, capturing the Governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, and, at one stroke, shattering the civil administration. Tarleton was the man for such an enterprise of hard riding and bold fighting and he nearly succeeded. Jefferson indeed escaped by rapid flight but Tarleton took the town, burned the public records, and captured 253 ammunition and arms. But he really effected little. La Fayette was still unconquered. His army was growing and the British were finding that Virginia, like New England, was definitely against them. At New York, meanwhile, Clinton was in a dilemma. He was dismayed at the news of the march of Cornwallis to Virginia. Cornwallis had been so long practically independent in the South that he assumed not only the right to shape his own policy but adopted a certain tartness in his despatches to Clinton, his superior. When now, in this tone, he urged Clinton to abandon New York and join him Clinton's answer on the 26th of June was a definite order to occupy some port in Virginia easily reached from the sea, to make it secure, and to send to New York reinforcements. The French army at Newport was beginning to move towards New York and Clinton had intercepted letters from Washington to La Fayette revealing a serious design to make an attack with the aid of the French fleet. Such was the game which fortune was playing with the British generals. Each desired the other to abandon his own plans and to come to his aid. They were agreed, however, that some strong point must be held in Virginia as a naval base, and on the 2d of August 254 Cornwallis established this base at Yorktown, at the mouth of the York River, a mile wide where it flows into Chesapeake Bay. His cannon could command the whole width of the river and keep in safety ships anchored above the town. Yorktown lay about half way between New York and Charleston and from here a fleet could readily carry a military force to any needed point on the sea. La Fayette with a growing army closed in on Yorktown, and Cornwallis, almost before he knew it, was besieged with no hope of rescue except by a fleet. Then it was that from the sea, the restless and mysterious sea, came the final decision. Man seems so much the sport of circumstance that apparent trifles, remote from his consciousness, appear at times to determine his fate; it is a commonplace of romance that a pretty face or a stray bullet has altered the destiny not merely of families but of nations. And now, in the American Revolution, it was not forts on the Hudson, nor maneuvers in the South, that were to decide the issue, but the presence of a few more French warships than the British could muster at a given spot and time. Washington had urged in January that France should plan to have at least 255 temporary naval superiority in American waters, in accordance with Rochambeau's principle, <q>Nothing without naval supremacy.</q> Washington wished to concentrate against New York, but the French were of a different mind, believing that the great effort should be made in Chesapeake Bay. There the British could have no defenses like those at New York, and the French fleet, which was stationed in the West Indies, could reach more readily than New York a point in the South. Early in May Rochambeau knew that a French fleet was coming to his aid but not yet did he know where the stroke should be made. It was clear, however, that there was nothing for the French to do at Newport, and, by the beginning of June, Rochambeau prepared to set his army in motion. The first step was to join Washington on the Hudson and at any rate alarm Clinton as to an imminent attack on New York and hold him to that spot. After nearly a year of idleness the French soldiers were delighted that now at last there was to be an active movement. The long march from Newport to New York began. In glowing June, amid the beauties of nature, now overcome by intense heat and obliged to march at two o'clock in the morning, now drenched by heavy rains, the French plodded 256 on, and joined their American comrades along the Hudson early in July. By the 14th of August Washington knew two things—that a great French fleet under the Comte de Grasse had sailed for the Chesapeake and that the British army had reached Yorktown. Soon the two allied armies, both lying on the east side of the Hudson, moved southward. On the 20th of August the Americans began to cross the river at King's Ferry, eight miles below Peekskill. Washington had to leave the greater part of his army before New York, and his meager force of some two thousand was soon over the river in spite of torrential rains. By the 24th of August the French, too, had crossed with some four thousand men and with their heavy equipment. The British made no move. Clinton was, however, watching these operations nervously. The united armies marched down the right bank of the Hudson so rapidly that they had to leave useful effects behind and some grumbled at the privation. Clinton thought his enemy might still attack New York from the New Jersey shore. He knew that near Staten Island the Americans were building great bakeries as if to feed an army besieging New York. Suddenly on the 29th of August the armies turned away 257 from New York southwestward across New Jersey, and still only the two leaders knew whither they were bound. American patriotism has liked to dwell on this last great march of Washington. To him this was familiar country; it was here that he had harassed Clinton on the march from Philadelphia to New York three long years before. The French marched on the right at the rate of about fifteen miles a day. The country was beautiful and the roads were good. Autumn had come and the air was bracing. The peaches hung ripe on the trees. The Dutch farmers who, four years earlier, had been plaintive about the pillage by the Hessians, now seemed prosperous enough and brought abundance of provisions to the army. They had just gathered their harvest. The armies passed through Princeton, with its fine college, numbering as many as fifty students; then on to Trenton, and across the Delaware to Philadelphia, which the vanguard reached on the 3d of September. There were gala scenes in Philadelphia. Twenty thousand people witnessed a review of the French army. To one of the French officers the city seemed <q>immense</q> with its seventy-two streets all <q>in a straight line.</q> The shops appeared to be 258 equal to those of Paris and there were pretty women well dressed in the French fashion. The Quaker city forgot its old suspicion of the French and their Catholic religion. Luzerne, the French Minister, gave a great banquet on the evening of the 5th of September. Eighty guests took their places at table and as they sat down good news arrived. As yet few knew the destination of the army but now Luzerne read momentous tidings and the secret was out: twenty-eight French ships of the line had arrived in Chesapeake Bay; an army of three thousand men had already disembarked and was in touch with the army of La Fayette; Washington and Rochambeau were bound for Yorktown to attack Cornwallis. Great was the joy; in the streets the soldiers and the people shouted and sang and humorists, mounted on chairs, delivered in advance mock funeral orations on Cornwallis. It was planned that the army should march the fifty miles to Elkton, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, and there take boat to Yorktown, two hundred miles to the south at the other end of the Bay. But there were not ships enough. Washington had asked the people of influence in the neighborhood to help him to gather transports but few of them 259 responded. A deadly apathy in regard to the war seems to have fallen upon many parts of the country. The Bay now in control of the French fleet was quite safe for unarmed ships. Half the Americans and some of the French embarked and the rest continued on foot. There was need of haste, and the troops marched on to Baltimore and beyond at the rate of twenty miles a day, over roads often bad and across rivers sometimes unbridged. At Baltimore some further regiments were taken on board transports and most of them made the final stages of the journey by water. Some there were, however, and among them the Vicomte de Noailles, brother-in-law of La Fayette, who tramped on foot the whole seven hundred and fifty-six miles from Newport to Yorktown. Washington himself left the army at Elkton and rode on with Rochambeau, making about sixty miles a day. Mount Vernon lay on the way and here Washington paused for two or three days. It was the first time he had seen it since he set out on May 4, 1775, to attend the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, little dreaming then of himself as chief leader in a long war. Now he pressed on to join La Fayette. By the end of the month an army of sixteen thousand men, of whom about one-half 260 were French, was besieging Cornwallis with seven thousand men in Yorktown. Heart-stirring events had happened while the armies were marching to the South. The Comte de Grasse, with his great fleet, arrived at the entrance to the Chesapeake on the 30th of August while the British fleet under Admiral Graves still lay at New York. Grasse, now the pivot upon which everything turned, was the French admiral in the West Indies. Taking advantage of a lull in operations he had slipped away with his whole fleet, to make his stroke and be back again before his absence had caused great loss. It was a risky enterprise, but a wise leader takes risks. He intended to be back in the West Indies before the end of October. It was not easy for the British to realize that they could be outmatched on the sea. Rodney had sent word from the West Indies that ten ships were the limit of Grasse's numbers and that even fourteen British ships would be adequate to meet him. A British fleet, numbering nineteen ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Graves, left New York on the 31st of August and five days later stood off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. On the mainland across the Bay lay Yorktown, the 261 one point now held by the British on that great stretch of coast. When Graves arrived he had an unpleasant surprise. The strength of the French had been well concealed. There to confront him lay twenty-four enemy ships. The situation was even worse, for the French fleet from Newport was on its way to join Grasse. On the afternoon of the 5th of September, the day of the great rejoicing in Philadelphia, there was a spectacle of surpassing interest off Cape Henry, at the mouth of the Bay. The two great fleets joined battle, under sail, and poured their fire into each other. When night came the British had about three hundred and fifty casualties and the French about two hundred. There was no brilliant leadership on either side. One of Graves's largest ships, the Terrible, was so crippled that he burnt her, and several others were badly damaged. Admiral Hood, one of Graves's officers, says that if his leader had turned suddenly and anchored his ships across the mouth of the Bay, the French Admiral with his fleet outside would probably have sailed away and left the British fleet in possession. As it was the two fleets lay at sea in sight of each other for four days. On the morning of the tenth the squadron from Newport under Barras arrived 262 and increased Grasse's ships to thirty-six. Against such odds Graves could do nothing. He lingered near the mouth of the Chesapeake for a few days still and then sailed away to New York to refit. At the most critical hour of the whole war a British fleet, crippled and spiritless, was hurrying to a protecting port and the fleurs-de-lis waved unchallenged on the American coast. The action of Graves spelled the doom of Cornwallis. The most potent fleet ever gathered in those waters cut him off from rescue by sea. Yorktown fronted on the York River with a deep ravine and swamps at the back of the town. From the land it could on the west side be approached by a road leading over marshes and easily defended, and on the east side by solid ground about half a mile wide now protected by redoubts and entrenchments with an outer and an inner parallel. Could Cornwallis hold out? At New York, no longer in any danger, there was still a keen desire to rescue him. By the end of September he received word from Clinton that reinforcements had arrived from England and that, with a fleet of twenty-six ships of the line carrying five thousand troops, he hoped to sail on the 5th of October to the rescue of Yorktown. There was delay. Later Clinton wrote that 263 on the basis of assurances from Admiral Graves he hoped to get away on the twelfth. A British officer in New York describes the hopes with which the populace watched these preparations. The fleet, however, did not sail until the 19th of October. A speaker in Congress at the time said that the British Admiral should certainly hang for this delay. On the 5th of October, for some reason unexplained, Cornwallis abandoned the outer parallel and withdrew behind the inner one. This left him in Yorktown a space so narrow that nearly every part of it could be swept by enemy artillery. By the 11th of October shells were dropping incessantly from a distance of only three hundred yards, and before this powerful fire the earthworks crumbled. On the fourteenth the French and Americans carried by storm two redoubts on the second parallel. The redoubtable Tarleton was in Yorktown, and he says that day and night there was acute danger to any one showing himself and that every gun was dismounted as soon as seen. He was for evacuating the place and marching away, whither he hardly knew. Cornwallis still held Gloucester, on the opposite side of the York River, and he now planned to cross to that place with his best troops, leaving behind his sick and 264 wounded. He would try to reach Philadelphia by the route over which Washington had just ridden. The feat was not impossible. Washington would have had a stern chase in following Cornwallis, who might have been able to live off the country. Clinton could help by attacking Philadelphia, which was almost defenseless. As it was, a storm prevented the crossing to Gloucester. The defenses of Yorktown were weakening and in face of this new discouragement the British leader made up his mind that the end was near. Tarleton and other officers condemned Cornwallis sharply for not persisting in the effort to get away. Cornwallis was a considerate man. <q>I thought it would have been wanton and inhuman,</q> he reported later, <q>to sacrifice the lives of this small body of gallant soldiers.</q> He had already written to Clinton to say that there would be great risk in trying to send a fleet and army to rescue him. On the 19th of October came the climax. Cornwallis surrendered with some hundreds of sailors and about seven thousand soldiers, of whom two thousand were in hospital. The terms were similar to those which the British had granted at Charleston to General Lincoln, who was now charged with carrying out the surrender. 265 Such is the play of human fortune. At two o'clock in the afternoon the British marched out between two lines, the French on the one side, the Americans on the other, the French in full dress uniform, the Americans in some cases half naked and barefoot. No civilian sightseers were admitted, and there was a respectful silence in the presence of this great humiliation to a proud army. The town itself was a dreadful spectacle with, as a French observer noted, <q>big holes made by bombs, cannon balls, splinters, barely covered graves, arms and legs of blacks and whites scattered here and there, most of the houses riddled with shot and devoid of window-panes.</q> On the very day of surrender Clinton sailed from New York with a rescuing army. Nine days later forty-four British ships were counted off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The next day there were none. The great fleet had heard of the surrender and had turned back to New York. Washington urged Grasse to attack New York or Charleston but the French Admiral was anxious to take his fleet back to meet the British menace farther south and he sailed away with all his great array. The waters of the Chesapeake, the scene of one of the decisive events in human history, 266 were deserted by ships of war. Grasse had sailed, however, to meet a stern fate. He was a fine fighting sailor. His men said of him that he was on ordinary days six feet in height but on battle days six feet and six inches. None the less did a few months bring the British a quick revenge on the sea. On April 12, 1782, Rodney met Grasse in a terrible naval battle in the West Indies. Some five thousand in both fleets perished. When night came Grasse was Rodney's prisoner and Britain had recovered her supremacy on the sea. On returning to France Grasse was tried by court-martial and, though acquitted, he remained in disgrace until he died in 1788, <q>weary,</q> as he said, <q>of the burden of life.</q> The defeated Cornwallis was not blamed in England. His character commanded wide respect and he lived to play a great part in public life. He became Governor General of India, and was Viceroy of Ireland when its restless union with England was brought about in 1800. <hr class="break" /> Yorktown settled the issue of the war but did not end it. For more than a year still hostilities continued and, in parts of the South, embittered faction led to more bloodshed. In England 267 the news of Yorktown caused a commotion. When Lord George Germain received the first despatch he drove with one or two colleagues to the Prime Minister's house in Downing Street. A friend asked Lord George how Lord North had taken the news. <q>As he would have taken a ball in the breast,</q> he replied; <q>for he opened his arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and down the apartment during a few minutes, 'Oh God! it is all over,' words which he repeated many times, under emotions of the deepest agitation and distress.</q> Lord North might well be agitated for the news meant the collapse of a system. The King was at Kew and word was sent to him. That Sunday evening Lord George Germain had a small dinner party and the King's letter in reply was brought to the table. The guests were curious to know how the King took the news. <q>The King writes just as he always does,</q> said Lord George, <q>except that I observe he has omitted to mark the hour and the minute of his writing with his usual precision.</q> It needed a heavy shock to disturb the routine of George III. The King hoped no one would think that the bad news <q>makes the smallest alteration in those principles of my conduct which have directed me in past time.</q> Lesser men might 268 change in the face of evils; George III was resolved to be changeless and never, never, to yield to the coercion of facts. Yield, however, he did. The months which followed were months of political commotion in England. For a time the ministry held its majority against the fierce attacks of Burke and Fox. The House of Commons voted that the war must go on. But the heart had gone out of British effort. Everywhere the people were growing restless. Even the ministry acknowledged that the war in America must henceforth be defensive only. In February, 1782, a motion in the House of Commons for peace was lost by only one vote; and in March, in spite of the frantic expostulations of the King, Lord North resigned. The King insisted that at any rate some members of the new ministry must be named by himself and not, as is the British constitutional custom, by the Prime Minister. On this, too, he had to yield; and a Whig ministry, under the Marquis of Rockingham, took office in March, 1782. Rockingham died on the 1st of July, and it was Lord Shelburne, later the Marquis of Lansdowne, under whom the war came to an end. The King meanwhile declared that he would return to Hanover rather than yield the independence 269 of the colonies. Over and over again he had said that no one should hold office in his government who would not pledge himself to keep the Empire entire. But even his obstinacy was broken. On December 5, 1782, he opened Parliament with a speech in which the right of the colonies to independence was acknowledged. <q>Did I lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?</q> George asked afterwards. He might well speak in a subdued tone for he had brought the British Empire to the lowest level in its history. In America, meanwhile, the glow of victory had given way to weariness and lassitude. Rochambeau with his army remained in Virginia. Washington took his forces back to the lines before New York, sparing what men he could to help Greene in the South. Again came a long period of watching and waiting. Washington, knowing the obstinate determination of the British character, urged Congress to keep up the numbers of the army so as to be prepared for any emergency. Sir Guy Carleton now commanded the British at New York and Washington feared that this capable Irishman might soothe the Americans into a false security. He had to speak sharply, for the people seemed indifferent to further effort and Congress was slack 270 and impotent. The outlook for Washington's allies in the war darkened, when in April, 1782, Rodney won his crushing victory and carried De Grasse a prisoner to England. France's ally Spain had been besieging Gibraltar for three years, but in September, 1782, when the great battering-ships specially built for the purpose began a furious bombardment, which was expected to end the siege, the British defenders destroyed every ship, and after that Gibraltar was safe. These events naturally stiffened the backs of the British in negotiating peace. Spain declared that she would never make peace without the surrender of Gibraltar, and she was ready to leave the question of American independence undecided or decided against the colonies if she could only get for herself the terms which she desired. There was a period when France seemed ready to make peace on the basis of dividing the Thirteen States, leaving some of them independent while others should remain under the British King. Congress was not willing to leave its affairs at Paris in the capable hands of Franklin alone. In 1780 it sent John Adams to Paris, and John Jay and Henry Laurens were also members of the American Commission. The austere Adams disliked 271 and was jealous of Franklin, gay in spite of his years, seemingly indolent and easygoing, always bland and reluctant to say No to any request from his friends, but ever astute in the interests of his country. Adams told Vergennes, the French foreign minister, that the Americans owed nothing to France, that France had entered the war in her own interests, and that her alliance with America had greatly strengthened her position in Europe. France, he added, was really hostile to the colonies, since she was jealously trying to keep them from becoming rich and powerful. Adams dropped hints that America might be compelled to make a separate peace with Britain. When it was proposed that the depreciated continental paper money, largely held in France for purchases there, should be redeemed at the rate of one good dollar for every forty in paper money, Adams declared to the horrified French creditors of the United States that the proposal was fair and just. At the same time Congress was drawing on Franklin in Paris for money to meet its requirements and Franklin was expected to persuade the French treasury to furnish him with what he needed and to an amazing degree succeeded in doing so. The self interest which Washington believed to be the dominant 272 motive in politics was, it is clear, actively at work. In the end the American Commissioners negotiated directly with Great Britain, without asking for the consent of their French allies. On November 30, 1782, articles of peace between Great Britain and the United States were signed. They were, however, not to go into effect until Great Britain and France had agreed upon terms of peace; and it was not until September 3, 1783, that the definite treaty was signed. So far as the United States was concerned Spain was left quite properly to shift for herself. Thus it was that the war ended. Great Britain had urged especially the case of the Loyalists, the return to them of their property and compensation for their losses. She could not achieve anything. Franklin indeed asked that Americans who had been ruined by the destruction of their property should be compensated by Britain, that Canada should be added to the United States, and that Britain should acknowledge her fault in distressing the colonies. In the end the American Commissioners agreed to ask the individual States to meet the desires of the British negotiators, but both sides understood that the States would do nothing, that the confiscated property would never be 273 returned, that most of the exiled Loyalists would remain exiles, and that Britain herself must compensate them for their losses. This in time she did on a scale inadequate indeed but expressive of a generous intention. The United States retained the great Northwest and the Mississippi became the western frontier, with destiny already whispering that weak and grasping Spain must soon let go of the farther West stretching to the Pacific Ocean. When Great Britain signed peace with France and Spain in January, 1783, Gibraltar was not returned; Spain had to be content with the return of Minorca, and Florida which she had been forced to yield to Britain in 1763. Each side restored its conquests in the West Indies. France, the chief mainstay of the war during its later years, gained from it really nothing beyond the weakening of her ancient enemy. The magnanimity of France, especially towards her exacting American ally, is one of the fine things in the great combat. The huge sum of nearly eight hundred million dollars spent by France in the war was one of the chief factors in the financial crisis which, six years after the signing of the peace, brought on the French Revolution and with it the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy. Politics bring strange 274 bedfellows and they have rarely brought stranger ones than the democracy of young America and the political despotism, linked with idealism, of the ancient monarchy of France. The British did not evacuate New York until Carleton had gathered there the Loyalists who claimed his protection. These unhappy people made their way to the seaports, often after long and distressing journeys overland. Charleston was the chief rallying place in the South and from there many sad-hearted people sailed away, never to see again their former homes. The British had captured New York in September, 1776, and it was more than seven years later, on November 25, 1783, that the last of the British fleet put to sea. Britain and America had broken forever their political tie and for many years to come embittered memories kept up the alienation. It was fitting that Washington should bid farewell to his army at New York, the center of his hopes and anxieties during the greater part of the long struggle. On December 4, 1783, his officers met at a tavern to bid him farewell. The tears ran down his cheeks as he parted with these brave and tried men. He shook their hands in silence and, in a fashion still preserved in France, kissed each 275 of them. Then they watched him as he was rowed away in his barge to the New Jersey shore. Congress was now sitting at Annapolis in Maryland and there on December 23, 1783, Washington appeared and gave up finally his command. We are told that the members sat covered to show the sovereignty of the Union, a quaint touch of the thought of the time. The little town made a brave show and <q>the gallery was filled with a beautiful group of elegant ladies.</q> With solemn sincerity Washington commended the country to the protection of Almighty God and the army to the special care of Congress. Passion had already subsided for the President of Congress in his reply praised the <q>magnanimous king and nation</q> of Great Britain. By the end of the year Washington was at Mount Vernon, hoping now to be able, as he said simply, to make and sell a little flour annually and to repair houses fast going to ruin. He did not foresee the troubled years and the vexing problems which still lay before him. Nor could he, in his modest estimate of himself, know that for a distant posterity his character and his words would have compelling authority. What Washington's countryman, Motley, said of William of Orange is true of Washington himself: <q>As long as he lived he was the guiding 276 star of a brave nation and when he died the little children cried in the streets.</q> But this is not all. To this day in the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States the words of Washington, the policies which he favored, have a living and almost binding force. This attitude of mind is not without its dangers, for nations require to make new adjustments of policy, and the past is only in part the master of the present; but it is the tribute of a grateful nation to the noble character of its chief founder. <div class="chapterhead"> 277 </div> <h2>Bibliographical Note</h2> In Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. VI (1889), and in Larned (editor), Literature of American History, pp. 111-152 (1902), the authorities are critically estimated. There are excellent classified lists in Van Tyne, The American Revolution (1905), vol. V of Hart (editor), The American Nation, and in Avery, History of the United States, vol. V, pp. 422-432, and vol. VI, pp. 445-471 (1908-09). The notes in Channing, A History of the United States, vol. III (1913), are useful. Detailed information in regard to places will be found in Lossing, The Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, 2 vols. (1850). In recent years American writers on the period have chiefly occupied themselves with special studies, and the general histories have been few. Tyler's The Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1897), is a penetrating study of opinion. Fiske's The American Revolution, 2 vols. (1891), and Sydney George Fisher's The Struggle for American Independence, 2 vols. (1908), are popular works. The short volume of Van Tyne is based upon extensive research. The attention of English writers has been drawn in an increasing degree to the Revolution. Lecky, A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, chaps. XIII, XIV, and XV (1903), is impartial. The most elaborate and 278 readable history is Trevelyan, The American Revolution, and his George the Third and Charles Fox (six volumes in all, completed in 1914). If Trevelyan leans too much to the American side the opposite is true of Fortescue, A History of the British Army, vol. III (1902), a scientific account of military events with many maps and plans. Captain Mahan, U. S. N., wrote the British naval history of the period in Clowes (editor), The Royal Navy, a History, vol. III, pp. 353-564 (1898). Of great value also is Mahan's Influence of Sea Power on History (1890) and Major Operations of the Navies in the War of Independence (1913). He may be supplemented by C. O. Paullin's Navy of the American Revolution (1906) and G. W. Allen's A Naval History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1913). <hr class="break" /> <h2> CHAPTERS I AND II. </h2> Washington's own writings are necessary to an understanding of his character. Sparks, The Life and Writings of George Washington, 2 vols. (completed 1855), has been superseded by Ford, The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols. (completed 1898). The general reader will probably put aside the older biographies of Washington by Marshall, Irving, and Sparks for more recent Lives such as those by Woodrow Wilson, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Paul Leicester Ford. Haworth, George Washington, Farmer (1915) deals with a special side of Washington's character. The problems of the army are described in Bolton, The Private Soldier under Washington (1902), and in Hatch, The Administration of the American Revolutionary Army (1904). For military operations Frothingham, The 279 Siege of Boston; Justin H. Smith, Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony, 2 vols. (1907); Codman, Arnold's Expedition to Quebec (1901); and Lucas, History of Canada, 1763-1812(1909). <h2> CHAPTER III. </h2> For the state of opinion in England, the contemporary Annual Register, and the writings and speeches of men of the time like Burke, Fox, Horace Walpole, and Dr. Samuel Johnson. The King's attitude is found in Donne, Correspondence of George III with Lord North, 1768-83, 2 vols. (1867). Stirling, Coke of Norfolk and his Friends, 2 vols. (1908), gives the outlook of a Whig magnate; Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl of Shelburne, 2 vols. (1912), the Whig policy. Curwen's Journals and Letters, 1775-84 (1842), show us a Loyalist exile in England. Hazelton's The Declaration of Independence, its History (1906), is an elaborate study. <h2> CHAPTERS IV, V, AND VI. </h2> The three campaigns—New York, Philadelphia, and the Hudson—are covered by C. F. Adams, Studies Military and Diplomatic (1911), which makes severe strictures on Washington's strategy; H. P. Johnston's <q>Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn,</q> in the Long Island Historical Society's Memoirs, and Battle of Harlem Heights (1897); Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution (1904); Stryker, The Battles of Trenton and Princeton (1898); Lucas, History of Canada (1909). Fonblanque's John Burgoyne (1876) is a defense of that leader; while Riedesel's 280 Letters and Journals Relating to the War of the American Revolution (trans. W. L. Stone, 1867) and Anburey's Travels through the Interior Parts of America (1789) are accounts by eye-witnesses. Mereness' (editor) Travels in the American Colonies, 1690-1783 (1916) gives the impressions of Lord Adam Gordon and others. <h2> CHAPTERS VII AND VIII. </h2> On Washington at Valley Forge, Oliver, Life of Alexander Hamilton (1906); Charlemagne Tower, The Marquis de La Fayette in the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1895); Greene, Life of Nathanael Greene (1893); Brooks, Henry Knox (1900); Graham, Life of General Daniel Morgan (1856); Kapp, Life of Steuben (1859); Arnold, Life of Benedict Arnold (1880). On the army Bolton and Hatch as cited; Mahan gives a lucid account of naval effort. Barrow, Richard, Earl Howe (1838) is a dull account of a remarkable man. On the French alliance, Perkins, France in the American Revolution (1911), Corwin, French Policy and the American Alliance of 1778 (1916), and Van Tyne on <q>Influences which Determined the French Government to Make the Treaty with America, 1778,</q> in The American Historical Review, April, 1916. <h2> CHAPTER IX. </h2> Fortescue, as cited, gives excellent plans. Other useful books are McCrady, History of South Carolina in the Revolution (1901); Draper, King's Mountain and its Heroes (1881); Simms, Life of Marion (1844). Ross 281 (editor), The Cornwallis Correspondence, 3 vols. (1859), and Tarleton, History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America (1787), give the point of view of British leaders. On the West, Thwaites, How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest (1903); and on the Loyalists Van Tyne, The Loyalists in the American Revolution (1902), Flick, Loyalism in New York (1901), and Stark, The Loyalists of Massachusetts (1910). <h2> CHAPTERS X AND XI. </h2> For the exploits of John Paul Jones and of the American navy, Mrs. De Koven's The Life and Letters of John Paul Jones, 2 vols. (1913), Don C. Seitz's Paul Jones, and G. W. Allen's A Naval History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. (1913), should be consulted. Jusserand's With Americans of Past and Present Days (1917) contains a chapter on <q>Rochambeau and the French in America</q>; Johnston's The Yorktown Campaign (1881) is a full account; Wraxall, Historical Memoirs of my own Time (1815, reprinted 1904), tells of the reception of the news of Yorktown in England. The Encyclop&oelig;dia Britannica has useful references to authorities for persons prominent in the Revolution and The Dictionary of National Biography for leaders on the British side. <hr class="main" /> <div class="chapterhead"> 283 </div> <h2>Index</h2> <h3>A</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Abraham, Plains of (QC), American army on, 50. Adams, Abigail, 49. Adams, John, in Continental Congress, 8; journey from Boston to Philadelphia, 9-10; on committee to draft Declaration of Independence, 75-76; excepted from British offer of pardon, 86, 92; opinion of Philadelphia, 120, 165; criticism of Washington, 149; sent to Paris on American Commission, 270-271. Albany (NY), plan to concentrate British forces at, 133. Allen, Colonel Ethan, 40. André, Major John, at Philadelphia, 195; treats with Arnold, 241-242; capture, 242-243; hanged as spy, 243. Annapolis (MD), Congress at, 275. Anne, Fort (NY), 129. Armed neutrality, 206. Army, American, camp at Cambridge, 27-28; Washington reorganizes, 30-35; food and clothing, 30-31, 32 153-156, 166; composition, 31-32, 43; officers, 32-35, 43-44; after Canadian campaign, 51; desertions, 100, 159-160; plundering by, 111; pay, 111, 158-159, 209; in 1777, 112; condition under Gates, 145; Washington wishes national, 151; needs of engineers, 152; hospital service, 152-153, 166-167; weapons and artillery, 156-158; religion in, 160-161; supplies from France, 184; after Valley Forge, 197; mutinous, 209, 246. Army, British, food for, 36; press-gangs, 176; flogging, 176; relations between officers and men, 176-177; difficulties of raising, 178; see also Germans. Army, French, in America, 235-236. Arnold, Benedict, at Ticonderoga, 40; through Maine to Canada, 43, 44-45; at Quebec, 45-46; at Crown Point, 52-53; Coke denounces King's reception of, 71; Washington's trust in, 110, 172-173; at Stillwater, 143; describes American Army, 155; treason, 173, 195, 240-243; at West Point, 238; life at Philadelphia, 239; tried by court-martial, 239; reprimanded by Washington, 239-240; in Virginia, 251. Articles of Confederation, 163. Assanpink River (NJ), Washington on, 105. Atrocities, 180, 212; see also Indians, Prisons. 284 Augusta (GA), British take, 211-212; falls to Americans, 250.</div> <h3>B</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Baltimore (MD), Congress flees to, 100. Barbados, Washington visits, 22. Barras, French naval commander, 261. Baum, Colonel, at Bennington, 131, 132. Beaumarchais sends munitions to America, 183-184. Bemis Heights (NY), battle, 143. Bennington (VT), battle of 131-132. Berthier, French officer, 231. Biggins Bridge (SC), Tarleton's victory at, 216. Bordentown (NJ), Germans at, 102. Boston (MA), defiance of British in, 2; seige, 3, 4, 35-36; Washington's journey to, 9-10; American camp, 27-28; evacuated by British, 48-49; effect of Washington's success at, 81; Howe feigns setting out for, 114; safe, 116; Burgoyne's force at, 146; Loyalists in, 212. Braddock, General Edward, Washington with, 22-23. Brandywine (PA) battle of, 119-120, 133, 148; La Fayette at, 169; Greene at, 171. Brant, Joseph (Thayendanegea), 134. Breed's Hill (MA) 4-5; see also Bunker Hill. Broglie, Comte de, suggested as commander of American army, 185. Borglie, Prince de, with French armies in America, 232. Brooklyn Heights (NY), Washington on, 88-91. Buford, Colonel Tarleton attacks, 217. Bunker Hill (MA), battle of, 4-7, 33; Washington learns of, 10; significance, 21; officers at, 33, 35. Burgoyne, General John, on British behavior at Bunker Hill, 7; ordered to meet Howe, 68, 112, 113, 124-125; Howe deserts, 116, 130; life and character, 123-124; at Lake Champlain, 125 et seq.; Indian Allies, 125-126, 138-140, 144; takes Fort Ticonderoga, 127; lack of supplies, 129-130; at Fort Edward, 129; 130, 141; and Bennington, 131-132; at Saratoga, 132, 141, 143; learns of failure of St. Leger, 136; crosses Hudson, 141; at Stillwater (Freeman's Farm), 142-143; surrender at Saratoga, 68, 122, 143-147, 149; effect on France of surrender of, 186; effect of surrender in England, 190, 192. Burke, Edmund, and conciliation, 69; and Independence, 190. Byron, Admiral, sent to aid Howe, 200. </div> <h3>C</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Cahokia (IL), Clark at, 223. Cambridge (MA), American camp, 3, 27-28; Washington at, 10, 30-31, 34, 35, 146. Camden (SC), battle of, 219-220, 236. Canada, campaign against, 37, 38-47; Washington's idea of, 40 France and, 188; Loyalists take refuge in, 227-228. Carleton, Sir Guy, Governor of Canada, 42; commands at Quebec, 45-46; operations on Lake Champlain, 52-53; Howe and, 95; superseded by 285 Burgoyne, 124; commands at New York, 269; and Loyalists, 274. Carroll, Charles, of Carrollton, on commission to Montreal, 50. Carroll, John, on commission to Montreal, 50. Catherine II advises England against war, 179. Catholics, Quebec Act, 38-39, 41; disabilities in England, 208. Chadd's Ford (PA), Washington at, 118, 119. Champlain, Lake (NY), plan for conquest of Canada by way of, 43; operations on, 52-53, 95; Burgoyne at, 125 et seq.; Arnold at, 238. Charleston (SC), on side of Revolution, 37; British expedition to, 82-83; Prevost demands surrender, 213-214; Lincoln at, 215-217; surrenders, 217. Charlestown (MA), location, 3; burned, 5, 7. Charlotte (NC), Greene at, 247. Charlottesville (VA), Cornwallis plans raid of, 252. Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, and conciliation with America, 69, 190; political status, 192, 193. Cherry Valley, massacre, 229. Chesapeake Bay, Howe on, 116, 117; see also Yorktown. Chew, Benjamin, house as central point in battle at Germantown, 122. Clark, G.R., expedition, 223. Clinton, General Sir Henry, 236; at Charleston, 82, 215; at New York, 116, 130, 133; up the Hudson, 143, 145; succeeds Howe in command, 195; march from Philadelphia, 196, 197, 198; retreats at Monmouth Court House, 199; reaches Newport, 202; sails for Charleston, 217-218; proclamation, 218; Rodney relieves, 237; and Cornwallis, 253; delay in reinforcing Cornwallis, 262-263, 265. Coke, of Norfolk, wealth, 20, 69-70; and Toryism, 70-71; on American question, 71-72; and Washington, 71, 72, 189. Colonies, attitude toward England, 55 et seq.; state of society in, 60; population, 177-178; see also names of colonies. Continental Congress, Washington at, 1, 259; selects leader for army, 7-9; Howe's conciliation, 92-93; flees to Baltimore, 100; loses able men, 110; hampers Washington, 100; Gates and, 142; repudiates Gates terms to Burgoyne, 146; Gates lays quarrel with Washington before, 150; and enlistment, 151; at York, 162, 163; ineptitude, 163-164, 236, 269-270, gives Southern command to Gates, 219; Test Acts, 226; and French alliance, 244; borrows money from France, 271; at Annapolis, 275. Conway, General, and Stamp Act, 69. Conway, General Thomas, 110; <q>Conway Cabal</q> against Washington, 149, 150; leaves America, 151. Cornwallis, Lord, 230; at Charleston, 82, crosses Hudson, 97; goes to Trenton, 104-105; at Princeton, 106; and 286 Howe, 115; at the Brandywine, 119; goes to Charleston, 216; at Camden, 219; in North Carolina, 221, 247-248; proclamation, 249; Guilford Court House, 249; advance down Cape Fear River, 250; in Virginia, 251-252; and Clinton, 253; Yorktown, 254 et seq.; surrender, 264-266. Countess of Scarborough (ship), Jones captures, 205. Cowpens (SC), battle of, 172, 248. Cromwell, Oliver, as military leader, 170. Crown Point (NY), capture of, 52-53; Burgoyne at, 126. </div> <h3>D</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Dartmouth, Earl of, Minister of England, 63. Deane, Silas, envoy to France, 184-185. Declaration of Independence, 75-80. Delaware Bay, British fleet in, 116. Delaware River, Washington crosses, 102. Denmark and armed neutrality, 206-207. Detroit (MI), force to check Clark from, 223. Devonshire, Duke of, costly residence, 18. Dickinson, John, of Pennsylvania, on Declaration of Independence, 78. Dilworth, Cornwallis marches on, 119. Dinwiddie, Governor, Washington and, 16. Donop, Count von, at Trenton, 102, 104. Dorchester Heights (MA), American troops on, 47-48. Dumas, French officer with Rochambeau, 231. Dunmore, Lord, Governor of Virginia, 224. </div> <h3>E</h3> <div class="letterdate"> East River (NY), location, 87; British on, 93. Edward, Fort, St. Clair retires to, 127; Burgoyne at, 129, 130-141; Indian raids at, 140; Burgoyne seeks to return to, 143. Elkton (MD), Howe at, 116, 118; American army at, 258. Emerson, chaplain, diary quoted, 35. England, in eighteenth century, 16-19; state of society, 19, 59; Parliament votes tax on colonies, 23; politics, 24-25, 64 et seq., 268; attitude toward the colonies, 54-55, 58; prosperity, 59; difficulties in raising army, 178; France and, 182-183, 187-188, 191-192, 195-196, 206, 270; Whig attitude after French intervention, 189-190; and Spain, 187, 203-204, 206; navy in 1779, 204; domestic affairs, 207; treaty of peace, 272; see also Army, British. Estaing, Count d', French admiral, 195; at the Delaware, 196-197; at Sandy Hook, 200-201; at Newport, 201-202; at Savannah, 214-215. Eutaw Springs (SC), battle of, 250. </div> <h3>F</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Falmouth (Portland, ME), destroyed, 81. Ferguson, Major Patrick, 216; King's Mountain, 221-222; 287 killed, 222. Fersen, Count, with French army, 232. Finance, value of continental money, 209; Franklin procures money in France, 271. Florida returned to Spain, 273. Foch, general, quoted, 101. Fox, C.J., and carelessness of ministers, 68; urges conciliation, 69. France, French in Canada, 38; alliance with, 182 et seq.; and England, 182-183, 187-188, 191-192, 195-196, 206, 270; treaty of friendship with America (1778), 187; and Canada, 188; and Spain, 203; promises soldiers to Washington, 210; help in 1780, 230 et seq.; bibliography of alliance, 280. Franklin, Benjamin, on Lexington, 2; on George III, 25; member of commission to Montreal, 50; on committee to meet Howe, 93; satirizes British ignorance, 138; in Congress, 164; induces Hessians to desert, 180; sent to Paris, 185; and Loyalists, 225, 270, 271. Fraser, General, killed, 143. Frederick the Great, of Prussia, estimate of Washington, 105; urges France against England, 187. </div> <h3>G</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Gage, General Thomas, 72; at Boston, 3, 4-5. Gates, General Horatio, 98, 110, 172, 173; in command of Lee's army, 99-100; joins Washington, 100; discourages Washington, 103; against Burgoyne, 142-145; intrigue, 149-151; menaces Clinton in New Jersey, 198; command in the South, 219; Camden, 219; Greene supersedes, 247. George III, American opinions of, 25; Hamilton on, 39; character, 60-62; speech in Parliament, 62-63; Washington and, 63, 86; statue destroyed in New York, 80; ready to give guarantees of liberty, 115; effect of news of Ticonderoga on, 127-128; on taxing of America, 190; and Chatham, 193; news of Yorktown, 267-268. George, Fort (NY), Burgoyne's supplies from, 129. Georgia, British in, 211-212, 217. Germain, Lord George, failure to send orders to Howe, 68, 125; instructions to Burgoyne, 112; plans campaign from England, 130-131; censures Howe, 194; in Seven Years' War, 230; news of Yorktown, 267. Germans, hold line of the Delaware, 102; plundering, 111; at Bennington, 131-132; with Burgoyne, 144, 145; Steuben's part in Revolutionary War, 174-176; benefit to British, 179-180; desertions, 180-181, 199. Germantown (PA), Howe's camp at, 121; battle of, 122, 148; Greene at, 171. Gibraltar, Spain besieges, 270; not returned to Spain, 273. Gloucester, Cornwallis holds, 263. Gordon, Lord Adam, on Philadelphia, 215; opinion of Charleston, 215. Gordon, Lord George, leads London riot, 208. Grasse, Comte de, commands French fleet, 256; at 288 Chesapeake Bay, 260, 261-262; sails south, 265; Rodney captures, 266, 270. Great Britain, see England. Greene, General Nathanael, 110; at Bunker Hill, 4; advocates independence, 75; commands Fort Washington, 96-97; harasses Cornwallis, 105; at Germantown, 122; at Valley Forge, 170-171; in Rhode Island, 201; on Congress, 236; supersedes Gates in South, 247; Guilford Court House, 249; at Hobkirk's Hill, 250. Grey, Sir Charles, Howe and, 115. Guilford Court House (NC), 249. </div> <h3>H</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Hamilton, Alexander, 238; and Washington, 16, 168; on Quebec Act, 39. Hancock, John, desires post as Commander-in-Chief, 8. Harlem River (NY), location, 87. Hastings, Marquis of, 6; see also Rawdon, Lord. Henry, Patrick, speech, 57. Henry, Cape (VA), naval battle off, 261. Herkimer, General Nicholas, battle of Oriskany, 135. Hessians, see Germans. Hillsborough (NC), Cornwallis issues proclamation at, 249. Hobkirk's Hill (SC), Rawdon defeats Greene at, 250. Holkham, Lord Leicester's residence at, 18; Coke's residence at, 69-70, 71. Holland joins England's enemies 206, 246. Hood, Sir Samuel, British admiral, 261. Howe, Richard, Lord, commands fleet reaching New York, 84, 86; Whig sympathy, 85; personal characteristics, 85; letter to Washington, 86-87; seeks peace, 92-93; takes fleet to Newport, 100; proclamation, 101; and evacuation of Philadelphia, 196-197; expects naval flight off Sandy Hook, 200-201; at Newport, 202; refuses to serve Tory Admiralty, 207. Howe, General Sir William, at Bunker Hill, 5; succeeds Gage in command, 5, 36; evacuates Boston, 47-48; and Burgoyne, 68, 112, 116-117, 130, 142; personal characteristics, 84; attitude toward Revolution, 84; lands army on Staten Island, 86; battle of Long Island, 87-90; in New York, 93-95; plans to meet Carleton, 95; battle of White Plains, 96; Fort Washington, 96-97; takes Fort Lee, 98; and Lee, 99, 112-113; at Trenton, 100; proclamation, 101, 111; goes to New York for Christmas, 102; dilatoriness, 109, 110; takes Philadelphia, 109, 112, 120, 149; plan for 1777, 112-113; sails for Chesapeake Bay, 115-116; at the Brandywine, 118-119, 133; and Pennsylvanians, 120-121; at Germantown, 121-122; leaves Philadelphia, 194; Clinton succeeds, 195. Hudson River (NY), advantages of plan to sail up, 82; location of mouth, 87; British on, 93, 96-98; Washington guards, 209-210, 211, 236, 237-238, see also West Point. 289</div> <h3>I</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Independence, 54 et seq.; see also Declaration of Independence. Independence, Fort 127. India, France against British in, 206. Indians, allies of Burgoyne, 125, 133, 138, 139-140, 144; with St. Leger, 134-136; aid loyalists in Wyoming massacre, 229. Ireland, Declaration of Independence, 208. </div> <h3>J</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Jay, John, on Declaration of Independence, 78; opinion of Congress, 162; on American Commission, 270. Jefferson, Thomas, and Declaration of Independence, 75-77; on Lafayette, 170; British plan to capture, 252. Johnson, Sir John, with St. Leger, 133-134, 135. Johnson, Samuel, quoted, 58. Johnson, Sir William, 134. Jones, John Paul, 204-206; bibliography, 281. </div> <h3>K</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Kalb, Baron de, part in Revolutionary War, 173-174; killed, 220. Kaskaskia (IL), Clark at 223. <ins title="Transcriber's Note: Corrected Kenneth Square to Kennett Square."> Kennett Square (PA),</ins> British camp at, 118. Keppel, Admiral, and London riots, 207. King's Mountain (SC), battle of, 221-222. Knox, Henry,Washington values service of, 110, 171-172. Knyphausen, General, and Howe, 115; at the Brandywine, 118; effective service, 179-180. Kosciuszko, in American army, 173 </div> <h3>L</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Lafayette, Marquis de, 182, 230, 238; and Washington, 13, 168, 169; and independence of America, 30; personal characteristics, 169-170; volunteers through Deane's influence, 185; with Lee at Monmouth Court House, 198-199; sent to France (1779), 210; as interpreter for Washington and Rochambeau, 234; in Virginia, 251-252. Lansdowne, Marquis of, see Shelburne, Lord. Laurens, Henry, on American Commission, 270. Lauzun, Duc de, with French army in America, 231-232, 233. Laval-Montmorency, French officer in America, 232. Lee, Arthur, on commission to Paris, 185. Lee, General Charles, 150, 172; Washington writes to, 30; at Fort Washington, 98; disobeys Washington, 98-99; letter to Gates, 99; captured, 99; and Howe, 99, 112-113; freed by exchange of prisoners, 173; personal characteristics, 173; and training of recruits, 176; at Monmouth Court House, 198-199; court-martialed, 199; suspended, 199; dismissed from army, 199. Lee. R.H., and Declaration of Independence, 75. 290 Lee, Fort (NJ) 96; Washington at, 97; falls to British, 97, 98. Leicester, Lord , costly residence at Holkham, 18. Lexington (MA), Battle of, 2, 21. Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 29; and Declaration of Independence, 76, 77-78. Lincoln, General Benjamin, at Ticonderoga, 142; southern campaign, 214, 215, 217, 264. Long Island (NY),battle of, 87-90, 91. Loyalists, Howe and Pennsylvania, 162; plundering, 203, 228; in South, 212-213; Clinton's proclamation to, 218; decline in strength, 224; punishments, 225-226; Test Acts, 226; question of compensation of, 272; gather in New York to claim British protection, 274; bibliography, 281. Luzerne, French minister, 258. </div> <h3>M</h3> <div class="letterdate"> McCrae, Jennie, carried off by Indians, 140. McNeil, Mrs., carried off by Indians, 140. Maine, Arnold's expedition, 43, 44. Marie Antoinette, Queen, zeal for liberal ideas, 183; Fersen friend of, 232. Marion, Francis, guerrilla leader, 220, 247. Marlborough, Duke of, costly residence, 18. Martha's Vineyard (MA), Loyalist refugees plunder, 228. Maryland, and independence, 75; Howe plans to secure control of, 113. Massachusetts, Suffolk County defies England, 28-29; North and constitution of, 191; list of Loyalists, 226. Minorca returned to Spain, 273. Mirabeau, French officer in America, 232. Mississippi River becomes western frontier of United States, 273. Monmouth Court House (NJ), battle of, 198-199; Lee at, 176. Montgomery, General Richard, expedition to Canada, 43; at Quebec, 45-46; death, 46-47, 48. Montreal, Montgomery enters, 44; Commission sent to, 50; evacuated, 51; St. Leger reaches, 136. Morgan, Captain Daniel, at Quebec, 46; with Greene, 247; at Cowpens, 248. Morris, Gouveneur, opinion of Congress, 162. Morristown (NJ), American headquarters at, 99, 106, 110. Moultrie, Fort (SC), battle at, 83. Mount Vernon (VA), Washington's estate, 20, 259, 275. Murray, Mrs., saves Putnam's army, 94. </div> <h3>N</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Narragansett Bay (RI), British blockade French fleet in, 234. Navy, American, Jones and, 204-206; need for supremacy, 231. Necessity, Fort (PA), surrender of, 148. New Bedford (MA), Loyalists burn, 228. New England, question of leader from, 8; and Washington, 11; character of people, 29; 291 equality in, 33; on independence, 75; revolutionary, 81; and Indians, 137; and Burgoyne, 145; States jealous of, 164-165. New Hampshire offers bounty for Indian scalps, 137-138. New Jersey, Washington's flight across, 97, 100; Lee retreats to, 99; loyalty, 110; Howe's proclamation, 110; Washington recovers, 106; Howe moves across, 110, 114; Clinton crosses, 196, 197. New York, on independence, 75; Howe's proclamation, 101; Howe's plan to hold, 113; acquires Loyalist lands, 228. New York City (NY), on side of Revolution, 37; Washington plans to hold, 37-38; loss of, 53, 81 et seq., 108, 148; statue of King destroyed, 80; burned, 94-95; Washington plans march to, 116; for naval defence, 195; Loyalists take refuge in, 227; French army moves toward, 253; Washington returns to, 269; Washington bids farewell to army at, 274. Newgate jail burned, 208. Newport (RI), Lord Howe's fleet at, 100; British hold, 201; French fleet sails into, 233; French army leaves, 253. Noailles, Vicomte de, on foot from Newport to Yorktown, 259. Norfolk (VA), destroyed, 81. North, Lord, Prime Minister, 63-64, 190-191; George III writes to, 61; seeks to retire, 192, 193; and news of Yorktown, 267; resigns, 268. North Carolina, and independence, 75; campaign in, 247-251. Northwest, United States retains, 273. Nova Scotia, Washington's belief of sympathy in, 42; Loyalists go to, 227. </div> <h3>O</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Ogg, F.A. The Old Northwest, cited, 224. Oriskany (NY), battle of, 135. </div> <h3>P</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Paine, Thomas, 74; Common Sense, 75. Palliser, Sir Hugh, and British naval quarrel, 207, Panther, Wyandot chief, shows scalp of Miss McCrae, 140. Parker, Admiral Sir Peter, before Fort Moultrie, 82-83. Pennsylvania, and independence, 75; loyalty, 101; Howe plans to secure control of, 113; <q>Black Lists</q> of Loyalists, 226. Percy, Earl, opinion of rebels in America, 32. Petersburg (VA), Arnold at, 251. Philadelphia (PA), second Continental Congress at, 1, 7-9; Washington sets out from, 9; on side of Revolution, 37; Paine in, 74; Howe plans to secure, 100, 101; loss of, 108 et seq., 148; Howe leaves, 194; Mischianza in, 194-195; British abandon, 196; Loyalists hanged in, 226; Arnold in command at, 238; French army reviewed in, 257-258. Pigot, General, at Newport, 201. Pitt, William, see Chatham, Earl of. 292 Politics, see England. Prescott, Colonel, at Bunker Hill, 4; Preston, Major, British officer at St. Johns, 44. Prevost, General Augustine, at Charleston, 213-214. Prices, 167. Princeton (NJ), Cornwallis at, 106. Prisons, British prison-ships, 153; London riots, 208. Privateers, checked at Newport, 100; France and, 186. Providence (RI), Greene and Sullivan at, 201. Putnam, Israel, at Bunker Hill, 4,6; leaves New York, 94. </div> <h3>Q</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Quebec (QC), Arnold and Montgomery before, 45-46, 49-50, 82, 98, 238; Morgan at, 172, 247. Quebec Act, 38-39, 41. </div> <h3>R</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Rahl, Colonel, at Trenton, 102; killed, 104. Rawdon, Lord Francis, at Bunker Hill, 6; at Camden, 219, 250. Reed, Joseph, charge against Arnold, 239. Revolutionary War, bibliography, 277-278. Rhode Island, British control, 100; Washington's campaign against, 201-202; British evacuate, 211. Richmond, Duke of, opinion of Revolution, 69. Richmond (VA), Arnold burns, 251. Riedesel, General, at Lake Champlain, 125; effective service to British, 179-180. Riedesel, Baroness, reports conditions in New England, 137. Rochambeau, Comte de, leader of French army in America, 230-231; idea of naval supremacy, 231, 255; and Washington, 234, 236, 237; on American situation (1781), 246; goes to Yorktown, 258; in Virginia, 269. Rockingham, Marquis of, Prime Minister, 268. Rodney, Admiral, arrives in America, 236; captures St. Eustatius, 246; captures Grasse, 266, 270. Russia, British endeavor to get troops in, 179; Armed Neutrality, 206. </div> <h3>S</h3> <div class="letterdate"> St. Clair, General Arthur, at Fort Ticonderoga, 127. St. Eustacius, captured by Rodney, 246. St. Johns, Montgomery captures, 44. St. Leger, General Barry, at Fort Stanwix, 133-134; at Oriskany, 135-136. Saint-Simon, French officer in America, 232. Sandy Hook (NY), French fleet at, 200, 201. Saratoga (NY), Burgoyne at, 132, 141, 143; Burgoyne's surrender, 68, 122, 143-147, 149, 186; Arnold at, 238; Morgan at, 247. Savannah (GA), British land at, 211. Savile, Sir George, opinion of the Revolution, 69. Schuyler, General Philip, goes to Canada by way of Lake Champlain, 43; Gates supersedes, 142. Serapis (ship), Jones captures, 205. Shelburne, Lord, Prime minister, 268. Shippen, Margaret, 195; marries Arnold, 239. Simcoe, General J.G., with Clinton at Charleston, 216; Governor of Upper Canada, 228. Skinner, C. L., Pioneers of the Old Southwest, cited 222. Slavery, Washington as a slave-owner, 21. Slave-trade, Declaration of Independence makes King responsible for, 77. South, war in the, 211 et seq. South Carolina, neutrality proposed, 213; British control, 217. Spain, against England, 187, 203-204, 206; navy, 187; and Gibraltar, 270; and peace treaty, 272. Stamp Act, 69, 183, 192. Stanwix (NY), Fort, St. Leger before, 133-134. Staten Island (NY), Howe on, 86, 87, 115. States, Congress and, 163. Steuben, Baron von, service in Revolution, 174-175; in Virginia, 247. Stillwater (NY), American camp at, 141; Burgoyne attacks Gates at, 142-143; Burgoyne's defeat, 143. Stirling, Lord, prisoner, 89. Stony Point (NY), 99. Stuart, Gilbert, and Washington, 16. Sullivan, General John, takes prisoner at battle of Long Island, 89; sent by Howe to interview Congress, 92; exchanged, 99; at Morristown, 99; and Washington, 110-111; at Germantown, 122; at Providence, 201. Sumter, Thomas, guerrilla leader, 220, 247. Sweden, Armed Neutrality, 206. </div> <h3>T</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Talleyrand, French officer in America, 232. Tarleton, Colonel Banastre, raids, 216, 217; at Camden, 219-220; and Marion, 221; King's Mountain, 248; takes Charlottesville (VA), 252-253; in Yorktown, 263; and Cornwallis, 264. Terrible (ship), 261. Test Acts, 226. Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), 134. Thomas, General, on Plains of Abraham, 50. Thompson, General, attacks Three River, 51. Three Rivers (QC), attack on, 51. Throg's Neck (NY), Howe at, 95. Ticonderoga (NY), Fort, captured by Allen, 39-40, 42; Arnold retreats to, 53; Burgoyne lays siege to, 126-127; Lincoln besieges, 142. Tories, plundering of, 111; see also Loyalists. Toronto (ON), Loyalists in, 228. Transportation, need of military engineers for, 152. Trenton (NJ), Howe at, 100; attack on, 101-107, 109; Greene at, 171. Tryon, Governor of New York, 225. </div> <h3>V</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Valley Forge (PA) Washington at, 148 et seq.; Washington leaves, 196. 294 Vergennes, French Foreign Minister, 182-183, 184, 197, 271. Vincennes, Clark at, 223. Virginia, choice of a commander from, 8; state of society, 19-20, 32-33; on independence, 73; Convention changes church service, 79; Burgoyne's force in, 146; covets lands in Northwest, 222; Steuben in, 247; Cornwallis in, 251. Vulture (sloop of war), 241, 242, 243. </div> <h3>W</h3> <div class="letterdate"> Walpole, Horace 59, 64, 73-74; Gates godson of, 142; quoted, 217. Ward, General Artemus, and siege of Boston, 3. Washington, George, at second Continental Congress, 1, 259; champion of colonial cause, 1-2, 23-24, 59; chosen Commander-in-Chief, 8-9; journey to Boston, 9-11; personal characteristics, 11, 13-16, 109; life, 11; as a landowner, 12; education, 13; contrasted with English country gentlemen, 17-20; wealth; 20, 56; as a farmer, 20-21; a slave-owner, 21; with Braddock, 22-23; opinion of George III, 25, 63; not a professional soldier, 27; reorganizes army, 30-35; favors conscription, 34; at Boston, 36; plans against Canada, 40-43; mourns Montgomery, 47; hated of British, 57-58; Coke and, 71, 72, 189; advocates independence, 75; headquarters in New York, 82, 87; Howe's letter to, 86-87; at Brooklyn Heights, 88-91; exposed to enemy in New York, 93; and Congress, 96, 146, 163-164; Lee and, 98-99, 199; retreats across New Jersey, 100; attack upon Trenton, 101-107, 109; on Howe's dilatoriness, 109; in New Jersey, 110; and Sullivan, 111; policy toward Loyalists, 111; on plundering, 111; need of maps, 111; and Howe, 113-115, 118, 120, 142; and Burgoyne, 116; at the Brandywine, 118-119; Germantown, 121-122; at Valley Forge, 148 et seq.; religion, 161; relations with staff, 167-168; as military leader, 170; volunteers come to, 174; distrustful of France, 188-189; celebrates French alliance, 193; army occupies Philadelphia, 196; follows Clinton across New Jersey, 197-198; Monmouth Court House, 199; despair of, 1779-1780, 208-209; guards Hudson, 209-210; French under, 210; opinion of Tories, 227; and Rochambeau, 234, 236, 237, 255; reprimands Arnold, 239-240; and Andre, 243; plan differs from French, 255; march to Yorktown, 255 et seq.; and Carleton, 269; believes self-interest dominant in politics, 271-272; bids farewell to army, 274; gives up command, 275; at Mount Vernon, 275; influences upon future, 275-276; bibliography, 278. Washington, Fort (NY), held by Americans, 96-97; British take, 97. West Indies, conquests restored, 273. 295 West Point (NY), fortification, 236, 237-238; Arnold in command, 238; plot to surrender, 240-244. White Plains (NY), battle of, 96. Wight, Isle of, plan to seize, 204. Wilkes, John, introduces bill into Parliament, 191. Wilmington (NC), British fleet reaches, 82; Cornwallis in, 250. Winslow, Edward, quoted, 49. Wyoming (PA) massacre, 229. </div> <h3>Y</h3> <div class="letterdate"> York (PA), Congress at, 162, 163. Yorktown, Cornwallis surrenders at, 228, 247 et seq. </div> <hr class="main" /> <div class="chapterhead"> </div> <h2>The Chronicles of America Series</h2> <ol style="list-style-type:decimal; font-size:small; margin-left:8%;"> <li>The Red Man's Continent by Ellsworth Huntington</li> <li>The Spanish Conquerors by Irving Berdine Richman</li> <li>Elizabethan Sea-Dogs by William Charles Henry Wood</li> <li>The Crusaders of New France by William Bennett Munro</li> <li>Pioneers of the Old South by Mary Johnson</li> <li>The Fathers of New England by Charles McLean Andrews</li> <li>Dutch and English on the Hudson by Maud Wilder Goodwin</li> <li>The Quaker Colonies by Sydney George Fisher</li> <li>Colonial Folkways by Charles McLean Andrews</li> <li>The Conquest of New France by George McKinnon Wrong</li> <li>The Eve of the Revolution by Carl Lotus Becker</li> <li>Washington and His Comrades in Arms by George McKinnon Wrong</li> <li>The Fathers of the Constitution by Max Farrand</li> <li>Washington and His Colleagues by Henry Jones Ford</li> <li>Jefferson and his Colleagues by Allen Johnson</li> <li>John Marshall and the Constitution by Edward Samuel Corwin</li> <li>The Fight for a Free Sea by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> <li>Pioneers of the Old Southwest by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> <li>The Old Northwest by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> <li>The Reign of Andrew Jackson by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> <li>The Paths of Inland Commerce by Archer Butler Hulbert</li> <li>Adventurers of Oregon by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> <li>The Spanish Borderlands by Herbert E. Bolton</li> <li>Texas and the Mexican War by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> <li>The Forty-Niners by Stewart Edward White</li> <li>The Passing of the Frontier by Emerson Hough</li> <li>The Cotton Kingdom by William E. Dodd</li> <li>The Anti-Slavery Crusade by Jesse Macy</li> <li>Abraham Lincoln and the Union by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> <li>The Day of the Confederacy by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> <li>Captains of the Civil War by William Charles Henry Wood</li> <li>The Sequel of Appomattox by Walter Lynwood Fleming</li> <li>The American Spirit in Education by Edwin E. Slosson</li> <li>The American Spirit in Literature by Bliss Perry</li> <li>Our Foreigners by Samuel Peter Orth</li> <li>The Old Merchant Marine by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> <li>The Age of Invention by Holland Thompson</li> <li>The Railroad Builders by John Moody</li> <li>The Age of Big Business by Burton Jesse Hendrick</li> <li>The Armies of Labor by Samuel Peter Orth</li> <li>The Masters of Capital by John Moody</li> <li>The New South by Holland Thompson</li> <li>The Boss and the Machine by Samuel Peter Orth</li> <li>The Cleveland Era by Henry Jones Ford</li> <li>The Agrarian Crusade by Solon Justus Buck</li> <li>The Path of Empire by Carl Russell Fish</li> <li>Theodore Roosevelt and His Times by Harold Howland</li> <li>Woodrow Wilson and the World War by Charles Seymour</li> <li>The Canadian Dominion by Oscar D. Skelton</li> <li>The Hispanic Nations of the New World by William R. Shepherd</li> </ol> <hr class="main" /> <div class="chapterhead"> </div> <h2>Transcriber Notes</h2> This document was transcribed from the Abraham Lincoln Edition of Volume 12 of the Chronicles of America series, but more closely matches the Textbook Edition. The Abraham Lincoln edition has eight pages of photos and two maps depicting the northern and southern campaigns of The Revolutionary War. The Textbook Edition of The Chronicles of America series omits the illustrations available in the Abraham Lincoln Edition. The illustrations have not been scanned in, so consider this book the equivalent of the Textbook Edition. We have also transcribed the index and added hyperlinks to the pages for ease of use. You will not see the page numbers in epub or Kindle books, but the anchors should still remain. P289 - The author misspelled Kennett Square, PA. The mushroom capital of the world was the home of Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Herb Pennock, who was in the starting rotation for the Boston Red Sox when this book was written, but not yet a star. Pennock earned his Hall of Fame stripes starting for the Murderer's Row Yankees. The left-handed pitcher was nick-named The Knight of Kennett Square because his descendants migrated with William Penn. The author spelled the town Kenneth Square. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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