Chapter XVII: Letter VI: Roxbury, April 16, 1777 (2)

The American recruiting service went on most wretchedly.—The returns which gen. Washington received from different quarters, were of so extraordinary a nature, that he suspected the most abominable fraud and embezzlement of the public money. The accounts of desertion almost surpassed belief, and afforded him the highest probability that officers were tempted, by the great bounty allowed, to exhibit a number of pretended recruits, that were never in reality inlisted. But the evil he complained of, was owing greatly to the prevailing method of inlisting men, viz. the paying of them the bounty, and then suffering them to ramble about the country, by which means they inlisted with half a dozen officers. Instead of being formidable by the middle or March, he wrote, [March 6.] “After the fifteenth, when gen. Lincoln’s militia leave us, we shall only have the remains of the five Virginia regiments, who do not amount altogether to more than five or six hundred men, and two of the other continental battalions very weak. The rest of our army is composed of small parties of militia from this state and Pennsylvania; and little dependence can be put upon the militia, as they come and go when they please, if the enemy do not move it will be a miracle; nothing but ignorance of our numbers, and situation, can protect us.” He has since owned, that during the latter part of this last winter, he and his army have remained at the mercy of the royal troops, with sometimes scarcely a sufficient body of men to mount the ordinary guards, liable every moment to be dissipated, if the enemy had only thought proper to march against them. The general’s whole force, including militia, at Morristown and the several out-posts, amounted often to not more than 1500 men; and it has been asserted, upon apparently good authority, that he repeatedly could not muster more at Morristown than between three and four hundred. In writing officially upon the subject to the governor and council of Connecticut the representation he gave of affairs drew tears from the eyes of those who heard the letter read. While gen. Washington was at this low ebb with his army, gentlemen of five thousand pounds fortune or more, and many others who were men of substance, though not equal to that, did duty as centinels at his doors and elsewhere.

Though gen. Howe made no capital stroke at the commander in chief of the Americans; yet he concerted an operation against the post which gen. M’Dougall occupied, and where a considerable quantity of provisions and stores was deposited. A detachment of 500 men under col. Bird was convoyed by the Brunc frigate to Peek’s-kill, near fifty miles from New-York. They landed on the 23d of March. As the general had but 250 men fit for duty, insted of 600 to guard the place, which lay in a bottom and was not tenable, he fired the principal store-houses, and then quitted the town in order to occupy the important pass through the highlands, on the east side of the river, about two miles and a half distant. The fire rendered useless the only wharf where it was practicable to embark the remaining stores in convenient time, which made it expedient to destroy the greater part. Col. Bird having done it, and hearing a reinforcement was expected by the Americans, re-embarked the same day. The loss of rum, molasses, flour, biscuit, pork, beef, wheat, oats, hay, tallow, iron pots, camp kettles, canteens, bowls, nails, waggons and carts, barracks, store-houses, sloops and pettiaugers laden with provisions, was very considerable, far beyond what was given out by the Americans, though not of that importance and magnitude, as to answer the expectations of gen. Howe. Gen. Washington had repeatedly guarded the commissary against suffering any large quantities of provisions to lie near the water, in such places as were accessable to the enemy’s shipping; but he had not been properly attended to.

The want of muskets occasioned a delay in forwarding the new troops from the Massachusetts: but many of the militia from that state were persuaded to remain at Morristown for some weeks longer than the fixed time of service. Fifteen hundred of the new troops would have been upon their march, but the general court could not supply them with arms. The perplexity occasioned by this circumstance was however of short continuance. On the day of its commencement or the following, a vessel of fourteen guns from France arrived at Portsmouth with 364 cases, containing 11,987 stand: she had also on board a thousand barrels of powder, 11,000 gun-flints, 48 bales of woollens, and a small quantity of handkerchiefs, cottons, linens, and other articles. Congress were under a similar distress with the Massachusetts general court, as to the procuring of arms for gen. Washington’s army; but obtained a similar relief, by the arrival of a vessel, [March 24.] with 10,000 stand, beside a great number of gun-locks. These seasonable arrivals will furnish an ample supply of arms: the main difficulty will now be to get men to use them. Dr. Franklin arrived at Nantz the 13th of December.

The brilliancy of the successes, which have attended the American army since last Christmas, and their most happy consequences in changing the complexion of the times, must raise the character of gen. Washington as highly in Europe as it had done in America; and may lead sanguine spirits, who are strangers to the real circumstances of the country, to imagine that he will soon be able to drive all before him; but it will require his utmost abilities to act in so defensive a manner, as to secure himself from injury, and at the same time frustrate the offensive plans of the enemy. He is indeed to have the assistance of a body of cavalry, which will be of considerable advantage.

You will scarce think it beneath remarking, that when the royal army had possessed themselves of the Jerseys, and the American affairs were at the lowest ebb, there was not a single state, or capital town or city (if not wholly in the power of the enemy) that made advances toward submission. But in the month of January, the tories rose to a great head, in the counties of Somerset and Worcester, in the state of Maryland; so that in the beginning of February, the congress were obliged to employ several battalions (before they could march forward to join gen. Washington) in suppressing the insurgents.

Committees, from the four New-England states, had a meeting; since which their proceedings were laid before congress; and the last have resolved, [Feb. 15.] “That the plan for regulating the price of labor, of manufactures, and internal produce within those states, and of goods imported from foreign parts, except military stores, be referred to the consideration of the other United States; and that it be recommended to them to adopt such measures, as they shall think most expedient to remedy the evils occasioned by the present fluctuating and exorbitant prices of the articles aforesaid:—That for this purpose it be recommended to the legislatures, or in their recess, to the executive powers of the states of New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, to appoint commissioners to meet at Yorktown in Pennsylvania, on the third Monday in March next, to consider of and form a system of regulation adapted to those states, to be laid before the respective legislatures of each states, for their approbation:—That for the like purpose it be recommended to the legislatures, or executive powers in the recess of the legislatures of the states of North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, to appoint commissioners to meet at Charleston in South-Carolina on the first Monday in May next.” Some of the New-England states had passed acts for regulating prices, before these resolutions.

On the 27th, congress adjourned to meet at Philadelphia the following Wednesday. Before adjourning they recommended to the several states, the passing of laws to put a stop to the distilling of grain.

Congress having dismissed doctor Samuel Stringer, director of the hospital in the northern department of the army, (at the same day they dismissed Dr. Morgan) gen. Scuyler took offence at it, and expressed himself unguardedly in some of his official letters: upon that it was “Resolved, [Mar. 15.] That as congress proceeded to the dismission of Dr. Stringer, upon reasons satisfactory to themselves, gen. Scuyler ought to have known it to be his duty to have acquiesced therein:—That the suggestion in gen. Scuyler’s letter to congress, that it was a compliment due to him to have been advised of the reasons of Dr. Stringer’s dismission, is highly derogatory to the honor of congress; and that the president be desired to acquaint gen. Scuyler, that it is expected his letters for the future, be written in a style more suitable to the dignity of the representative body of those free and independent states, and to his own character of their officer:—Resolved, That it is altogether improper and inconsistent with the dignity of this congress, to interfere in disputes subsisting among the officers of the army, which ought to be settled, unless they can be otherwise accommodated, in a court martial, agreeable to the rules of the army; and that the expression in gen. Scuyler’s letter of the fourth of February—“That he confidently expected congress would have done him that justice, which it was in their power to give, and which he humbly conceives they ought to have done”—were to say the least, ill-advised and highly indecent.”

[Jan. 24.] “Resolved, That gen. Washington be informed that it never was the intention of congress that he should be bound by the majority of voices in a council of war contrary to his own judgment:—That the commander in chief in every department be made acquainted, that though he may consult the general officers under him, yet he is not bound by their opinion; but ought finally to direct every measure according to his own judgment.”

In the month of January gen. Howe discharged all the privates who were prisoners in New-York. Great complaints were made of the horrid usage the Americans met with after they were captured. The garrison of Fort Washington surrendered by capitulation to gen. Howe the 16th of November. The terms were, that the fort should be surrendered, the troops be considered prisoners of war, and that the American officers should keep their baggage and side arms. These articles were signed, and afterward published in the New-York papers. Major Otho Holland Williams, of Rawlings’s rifle regiment, in doing his duty that day, unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. The haughty, imperious deportment of the officers, and the insolent scurrility of the soldiers of the British army soon dispelled his hopes of being treated with lenity. Many of the American officers were plundered of their baggage and robbed of their side arms, hats, cockades, &c. and otherwise grossly ill-treated. He and three companions were (on the third day) put on board the Baltic Merchant, an hospital ship, then lying in the Sound. The wretchedness of his situation was in some degree alleviated by a small pittance of pork and parsnip, which a good natured sailor spared him from his own mess. The fourth day of their captivity, Rawlings, Hanson, M’Intire, and himself, all wounded officers, were put into one common dirt cart, and dragged through the city of New-York, as objects of derision, reviled as rebels, and treated with the utmost contempt. From the cart they were set down at the door of an old _waste_ house (the remains of Hamden-hall) near Bridewell, which because of the openness and filthiness of the place, he had a few months before refused as barracks for his privates; but now was willing to accept for himself and friends, in hopes of finding an intermission of the fatigue and persecution they had perpetually suffered. Some provisions were issued to the prisoners in the afternoon of that day; what quantity he could not declare; but it was of the worst quality he ever, till then, saw made use of. He was informed the allowance consisted of six ounces of pork, one pound of biscuit and some peas per day for each man, and two bushels and a half of sea-coal per week for the officers, to each fire-place. These were admitted on parole, and lived generally in waste houses. The privates, in the coldest season of the year, were close confined in churches, sugar-houses and other open buildings which admitted all kinds of weather and consequently were subjected to the severest kind of persecution that ever unfortunate captives suffered. Officers were insulted, and often struck for attempting to afford some of the miserable privates a small relief. In about three weeks he was able to walk, and was himself a witness of the extreme wretchedness his countrymen suffered. He could not describe their misery. Their constitutions were not equal to the rigor of the treatment they received, and the consequence was the death of many hundreds. The officers were not allowed to take muster-rolls, nor even to visit their men, so that it was impossible to ascertain the numbers that perished; but from frequent reports and his own observations, he verily believed, as well as had heard many officers give it as their opinion, that not less than fifteen hundred prisoners perished in the course of a few weeks in the city of New-York, and, that this dreadful mortality was principally owing to the want of provisions and extreme cold. If they computed too largely, it must be ascribed to the shocking, brutal manner of treating the dead bodies, and not to any desire of exaggerating the account of their sufferings. When the king’s commissary of prisoners intimated to some of the American officers, gen. Howe’s intention of sending the privates home on parole, they all earnestly desired it; a paper was signed expressing that desire; the reason for signing was, they well knew the effects of a longer confinement; and the great numbers that died when on parole, justified their pretensions to that knowledge. In January almost all the officers were sent to Long-Island on parole, and there billeted on the inhabitants at two dollars per week.[42]

The filth in the churches (in consequence of fluxes) was beyond description. Seven dead have been seen in one of them, at the same time, lying among the excrements of their bodies. The British soldiers were full of their low and insulting jokes on those occasions, but less malignant than the tories. The provision dealt out to the prisoners was not sufficient for the support of life; and was deficient in quantity, more so in quality. The bread was loathsome and not fit to be eaten, and was thought to have been condemned. The allowance of meat was trifling, and of the baser sort. The consequence was, a suspicion of a premeditated and systematical plan to destroy the youths of the land, thereby to deter the country. The integrity of these suffering prisoners was hardly credible. Hundreds submitted to death, rather than enlist in the British service, which they were most generally pressed to do. It was the opinion of the Ameaican officers that gen. Howe perfectly understood the condition of the private soldiers; and they from thence argued, that it was exactly such as he and his council had devised. After general Washington’s success in the Jerseys, the obduracy and malevolence of the royalists subsided in some measure. The surviving prisoners were ordered to be sent out for an exchange; but several of them fell down dead in the streets, while attempting to walk to the vessels.[43]

Gen. Washington wrote to gen. Howe in the beginning of April, “It is a fact not to be questioned, that the usage of our prisoners while in your possession, the privates at least, was such as could not be justified. This was proclaimed by the concurrent testimony of all who came out. Their appearance sanctified the assertion, and melancholy experience, in the speedy death of a large part of them, stamped it with infallible certainty.” The cruel treatment of the prisoners being the subject of conversation among some officers captured by Sir Guy Carleton, gen. Parsons, who was of the company, said, “I am very glad of it.” They expressed their astonishment, and desired him to explain himself. He thus addressed them. “You have been taken by gen. Carleton, and he has used you with great humanity; would you be inclined to fight against him?” The answer was no. “So,” added Parsons, “would it have been, had the troops taken by Howe been treated in like manner; but now, through his cruelty, we shall get another army.” The hon. William Smith, esq.[44] now at Haverstraw, learning how the British used the prisoners, and concluding it would operate to that end by enraging the Americans, applied to the committee of the New-York state, for leave to go into the city, and remonstrate with the British upon such cruel treatment, which he doubted not but that he should put a stop to. The committee, however, either from knowing what effect the cruelties would have in strengthening the opposition to Britain, or from jealousies of his being in some other way of disservice to the American cause, or from these united, would not grant his request. Gen. Gates has been repeatedly heard to say to the following purport—“Had gen. Howe seen to it, that the prisoners and Jersey inhabitants, when subdued, were treated with as much humanity and kindness as Sir Guy Carleton exercised toward his prisoners, it would have been all up with the Americans.”

The congress commissioners for treating with the Indians of the Six Nations, and their brethren on the Susquehanna, have had repeated meetings with them. They had one the last August at the German Flats; when Adam, an Oghuaga Sachem, made mention of the line that was settled between the Indians and whites at the treaty at Fort Stanwix; and observed, that by the agreement the whites were not to encroach upon their lands; but that of late some of the white people had made encroachments, by surveying their hunting grounds, close up to their habitations. He desired the commissioners to consider it, and hoped for redress. They assured the Indians, that the great council at Philadelphia would effectually put a stop to such wicked practices, and punish every person that should offend against their orders. “If any persons (say they) shall come upon your lands, we desire you will immediately bring them to the minister, that he may write down their names, and inform us of it, and then we shall immediately proceed against them. Brothers, you may all rest assured, that no white people will be suffered to pass the line settled at Fort Stanwix; for although that agreement was made with the king, yet as you are satisfied with it, we shall take care that it is complied with.” Since then, some of the Indians have complained of a number of people who have gone over the line, and settled on the west branch of the Susquehanna, contrary to the Fort Stanwix treaty, and threatened they would not suffer them to stay. The people have not any legal claim to the ground in the opinion of the commissioners; who suppose that col. Butler, upon coming to Niagara, seized upon this affair as a fit instrument to foment a difference. But the difference, it is hoped, will be prevented by a late treaty at Easton, which ended February the sixth, to mutual satisfaction. The commissioners say, “We remember the agreement at Fort Stanwix. Our people ought not to have bought, and your people not to have sold lands contrary to the former agreement. We blame both. We will tell this matter to congress, who will enquire, and not suffer the old agreement to be broken by any of their people. They will call the intruders back, and do strict justice to both sides.” The Indians seemingly mean to adhere steadily to their engagements of neutrality; and absolutely protest against either the enemy marching through their country by way of Niagara, to attack the United States, or the army of the latter marching that way to attack their enemy.

The Americans were not in readiness to begin their naval hostilities at a distance from their own coasts till late in the last year. That circumstance however, was of no great disadvantage, by reason of an unexpected occurrence. The discovery of an intended conspiracy among the negroes of Jamaica, detained the fleet till after the customary time of sailing. Through this detention, it sailed at a season that was accompanied with much tempestuous weather, which scattered the ships, and exposed them to such American cruisers, as lay in wait for them in the latitudes through which they were to pass in their voyage homeward. The consequence was, that many of them were taken by the American privateers. The trade from the other islands suffered proportionably; so that by the close of the year, the British loss in captures, exclusive of transports and government store-ships, was considerable higher than a million sterling. The privateers were at no difficulty as to the disposal of their prizes. The ports of France and Spain especially the first, were open to them, both in Europe, and in their American dominions. In the last the captors sold them openly, without any colours of disguise. On remonstrances from the British court, a little more decorum was observed in Europe, and a check given to the avowed sale of them; for a while they were obliged to quit the harbours, and were purchased at the entrance or in the offing. But in the West-India islands the real inclinations of the French were undisguised. They not only purchased the prizes as fast as they could be brought into port; they moreover fitted our privateers, under American colours and commissions, and with a few American seamen on board (at times probably not any) carried on a war upon the British commerce.

Though many have been the captures made by the ships and armed vessels of the British navy, they have not counterbalanced, either in number or value those taken by the Americans from Great-Britain. Several of them indeed were laden with flour, and other articles for the trade in the West-Indies; and so proved a timely relief to the British islands, which were suffering much, through the depravation they lay under, of those various supplies with which they had been before furnished from the American continent.

The ministerialists at New-York will undoubtedly amuse the nation with accounts of the thousands, who have formed themselves into military corps under the auspices of gen. Sir William Howe, as he is now to be stiled from the honor conferred upon him, for his success on Long-Island. But when the campaign comes to be opened by Sir William, you will find that they are reduced to hundreds; and that the acquisition of strength derived from the country, whatever flattering appearance it may have upon paper, is no wise answerable to the report. Governor Tryon made a parade in black and white before lord George Germain, with his two thuosand [typo: thousand] nine hundred and seventy inhabitants of New-York, who have qualified by taking an oath of allegience and fidelity to his majesty. By the aid of the mayor, he may increase them to three thousand and twenty. He may add those attested on Staten-Island and elsewhere, and make the whole amount to five thousand six hundred men. He may also tell of the loyal inhabitants of Queen’s county, who have received eight hundred stand of arms, with demonstrations of joy, and with a professed resolution to use them in defence of the island[45]. But the service they will be of to government, in the great American contest, will be next to nought.

The _Georgia_ representatives, met in convention, unanimously agreed in a constitution for that state, on the 5th of Februray.