The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5)
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[Sidenote: Battle of Trenton.]
{December 26.}
General Washington accompanied the upper column, and arriving at the
out-post on that road, precisely at eight, drove it in, and, in three
minutes, heard the fire from the column which had taken the river
road. The picket guard attempted to keep up a fire while retreating,
but was pursued with such ardour as to be unable to make a stand.
Colonel Rawle, who commanded in the town, paraded his men, and met the
assailants. In the commencement of the action, he was mortally
wounded, upon which the troops, in apparent confusion, attempted to
gain the road to Princeton. General Washington threw a detachment into
their front, while he advanced rapidly on them in person. Finding
themselves surrounded, and their artillery already seized, they laid
down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. About
twenty of the enemy were killed, and about one thousand made
prisoners. Six field pieces, and a thousand stand of small arms were
also taken. On the part of the Americans, two privates were killed;
two frozen to death; and one officer, Lieutenant Monroe,[50] of the
third Virginia regiment, and three or four privates wounded.
[Footnote 50: Since President of the United States.]
Unfortunately, the ice rendered it impracticable for General Irvine to
execute that part of the plan which was allotted to him. With his
utmost efforts, he was unable to cross the river; and the road towards
Bordentown remained open. About five hundred men, among whom was a
troop of cavalry, stationed in the lower end of Trenton, availed
themselves of this circumstance, and crossing the bridge in the
commencement of the action, escaped down the river. The same cause
prevented General Cadwallader from attacking the post at Mount Holly.
With great difficulty a part of his infantry passed the river, but
returned on its being found absolutely impracticable to cross with the
artillery.
Although this plan failed in so many of its parts, the success
attending that which was conducted by General Washington in person was
followed by the happiest effects.
Had it been practicable for the divisions under Generals Irvine and
Cadwallader to cross the river, it was intended to proceed from
Trenton to the posts at and about Bordentown, to sweep the British
from the banks of the Delaware,[51] and to maintain a position in the
Jerseys. But finding that those parts of the plan had failed, and
supposing the British to remain in force below, while a strong corps
was posted at Princeton, General Washington thought it unadviseable to
hazard the loss of the very important advantage already gained, by
attempting to increase it, and recrossed the river with his prisoners
and military stores. Lieutenant Colonel Baylor, his aid-de-camp, who
carried the intelligence of this success to congress, was presented
with a horse completely caparisoned for service, and recommended to
the command of a regiment of cavalry.
[Footnote 51: A fact has been stated to the author which
shows to what an extent the plan might have been executed
had it been possible to cross the river. Colonel Reed, who
was with the division of Cadwallader, passed the ferry with
the van of the infantry, and immediately despatched some
trusty persons to examine the situation of the troops at
Mount Holly. The report made by his messengers was, that
they had looked into several houses in which the soldiers
were quartered, and had found them generally fast asleep,
under the influence, as was supposed, of the spirituous
liquors they had drunk the preceding day, which was
Christmas-day. That there appeared to be no apprehension of
danger, nor precaution against it.]
Nothing could surpass the astonishment of the British commander at
this unexpected display of vigour on the part of the American General.
His condition, and that of his country, had been thought desperate. He
had been deserted by all the troops having a legal right to leave him;
and, to render his situation completely ruinous, nearly two-thirds of
the continental soldiers still remaining with him, would be entitled
to their discharge on the first day of January. There appeared to be
no probability of prevailing on them to continue longer in the
service, and the recruiting business was absolutely at an end. The
spirits of a large proportion of the people were sunk to the lowest
point of depression. New Jersey appeared to be completely subdued; and
some of the best judges of the public sentiment were of opinion that
immense numbers in Pennsylvania, also, were determined not to permit
the sixty days allowed in the proclamation of Lord and Sir William
Howe, to elapse, without availing themselves of the pardon it
proffered. Instead of offensive operations, the total dispersion of
the small remnant of the American army was to be expected, since it
would be rendered too feeble by the discharge of those engaged only
until the last day of December, to attempt, any longer, the defence of
the Delaware, which would by that time, in all probability, be
passable on the ice. While every appearance supported these opinions,
and the British General, without being sanguine, might well consider
the war as approaching its termination, this bold and fortunate
enterprise announced to him, that he was contending with an adversary
who could never cease to be formidable while the possibility of
resistance remained. Finding the conquest of America more distant than
had been supposed, he determined, in the depth of winter to recommence
active operations; and Lord Cornwallis, who had retired to New York
with the intention of embarking for Europe, suspended his departure,
and returned to the Jerseys in great force, for the purpose of
regaining the ground which had been lost.
Meanwhile, Count Donop, who commanded the troops below Trenton, on
hearing the disaster which had befallen Colonel Rawle, retreated by
the road leading to Amboy, and joined General Leslie at Princeton. The
next day, General Cadwallader crossed the Delaware, with orders to
harass the enemy, but to put nothing to hazard until he should be
joined by the continental battalions, who were allowed a day or two of
repose, after the fatigues of the enterprise against Trenton. General
Mifflin joined General Irvine with about fifteen hundred Pennsylvania
militia, and those troops also crossed the river.
Finding himself once more at the head of a force with which it seemed
practicable to act offensively, the General determined to employ the
winter in endeavouring to recover Jersey.
{December 30.}
With this view, he ordered General Heath to leave a small detachment
at Peekskill, and with the main body of the New England militia, to
enter Jersey, and approach the British cantonments on that side.
General Maxwell was ordered, with all the militia he could collect, to
harass their flank and rear, and to attack their out-posts on every
favourable occasion, while the continental troops, led by himself,
recrossed the Delaware, and took post at Trenton. On the last day of
December, the regulars of New England were entitled to a discharge.
With great difficulty, and a bounty of ten dollars, many of them were
induced to renew their engagements for six weeks.
{1777}
{January 1.}
The British were now collected in force at Princeton under Lord
Cornwallis; and appearances confirmed the intelligence, secretly[52]
obtained, that he intended to attack the American army.
[Footnote 52: In this critical moment, when correct
intelligence was so all important, Mr. Robert Morris raised
on his private credit in Philadelphia, five hundred pounds
in specie, which he transmitted to the Commander-in-chief,
who employed it in procuring information not otherwise to
have been obtained.]
Generals Mifflin and Cadwallader, who lay at Bordentown and Crosswix,
with three thousand six hundred militia, were therefore ordered to
join the Commander-in-chief, whose whole effective force, with this
addition, did not exceed five thousand men.
{January 2.}
Lord Cornwallis advanced upon him the next morning; and about four in
the afternoon, the van of the British army reached Trenton. On its
approach, General Washington retired across the Assumpinck, a creek
which runs through the town. The British attempted to cross the creek
at several places, but finding all the fords guarded, they desisted
from the attempt, and kindled their fires. The Americans kindled their
fires likewise; and a cannonade was kept up on both sides till dark.
The situation of General Washington was again extremely critical.
Should he maintain his position, he would certainly be attacked next
morning, by a force so very superior, as to render the destruction of
his little army inevitable. Should he attempt to retreat over the
Delaware, the passage of that river had been rendered so difficult by
a few mild and foggy days which had softened the ice, that a total
defeat would be hazarded. In any event, the Jerseys would, once more,
be entirely in possession of the enemy; the public mind again be
depressed; recruiting discouraged; and Philadelphia, a second time, in
the grasp of General Howe.
In this embarrassing state of things, he formed the bold design of
abandoning the Delaware, and marching, by a circuitous route, along
the left flank of the British army, into its rear, at Princeton, where
its strength could not be great; and, after beating the troops at that
place, to move rapidly to Brunswick, where the baggage and principal
magazines of the army lay under a weak guard. He indulged the hope
that this manoeuvre would call the attention of the British general to
his own defence. Should Lord Cornwallis, contrary to every reasonable
calculation, proceed to Philadelphia, nothing worse could happen in
that quarter, than must happen should the American army be driven
before him; and some compensation for that calamity would be obtained
by expelling the enemy completely from Jersey, and cutting up, in
detail, all his parties in that state.
{January 3.}
[Sidenote: Of Princeton.]
This plan being approved by a council of war, preparations were made
for its immediate execution. As soon as it was dark, the baggage was
removed silently to Burlington; and, about one in the morning, after
renewing their fires, and leaving their guards to go the rounds as
usual; the army decamped with perfect silence, and took a circuitous
route along the Quaker road to Princeton, where three British
regiments had encamped the preceding night, two of which commenced
their march early in the morning to join the rear of their army at
Maidenhead. At sunrise, when they had proceeded about two miles, they
saw the Americans on their left, advancing in a direction which would
enter the road in their rear. They immediately faced about, and,
repassing Stony Brook, moved under cover of a copse of wood towards
the American van, which was conducted by General Mercer. A sharp
action ensued, which, however, was not of long duration. The militia,
of which the advanced party was principally composed, soon gave way;
and the few regulars attached to them were not strong enough to
maintain their ground. While exerting himself gallantly to rally his
broken troops, General Mercer was mortally wounded, and the van was
entirely routed. But the fortune of the day was soon changed. The main
body, led by General Washington in person, followed close in the rear,
and attacked the British with great spirit. Persuaded that defeat
would irretrievably ruin the affairs of America, he advanced in the
very front of danger, and exposed himself to the hottest fire of the
enemy. He was so well supported by the same troops who, a few days
before, had saved their country at Trenton, that the British, in turn,
were compelled to give way. Their line was broken, and the two
regiments separated from each other. Colonel Mawhood, who commanded
that in front, and was, consequently, nearest the rear division of the
army, under Lord Cornwallis, retired to the main road, and continued
his march to Maidenhead. The fifty-fifth regiment, which was on the
left, being hard pressed, fled in confusion across the fields into a
back road, leading between Hillsborough and Kingston towards
Brunswick. The vicinity of the British forces at Maidenhead secured
Colonel Mawhood, and General Washington pressed forward to Princeton.
The regiment remaining in that place took post in the college, and
made a show of resistance; but some pieces of artillery being brought
up to play upon that building, it was abandoned, and the greater part
of them became prisoners. A few saved themselves by a precipitate
flight to Brunswick.
In this engagement, rather more than one hundred British were killed
in the field, and near three hundred were taken prisoners. The loss of
the Americans, in killed, was somewhat less, but in their number was
included General Mercer, a valuable officer, who had served with the
Commander-in-chief during his early campaigns in Virginia, and was
greatly esteemed by him. Colonels Haslet and Potter, Captain Neal of
the artillery, Captain Fleming, and five other valuable officers, were
also among the slain.
On the return of day-light, Lord Cornwallis discovered that the
American army had decamped in the night; and immediately conceived the
whole plan. Alarmed at the danger which threatened Brunswick, he
marched with the utmost expedition for that place, and was close in
the rear of the American army before it could leave Princeton.
The situation of General Washington was again perilous in the extreme.
His small army was exhausted with fatigue. His troops had been without
sleep, all of them one night, and some of them, two. They were without
blankets, many of them were bare-footed and otherwise thinly clad, and
were eighteen miles from his place of destination. He was closely
pursued by a superior enemy who must necessarily come up with him
before he could accomplish his designs on Brunswick. Under these
circumstances he abandoned the remaining part of his original plan,
and took the road leading up the country to Pluckemin, where his
troops were permitted to refresh themselves. Lord Cornwallis continued
his march to Brunswick, which he reached in the course of that night.
The sufferings of the American soldiers had been so great from the
severity of the season, and the very active service in which they had
been engaged; their complaints, especially on the part of the militia,
were so loud; their numbers were reducing so fast by returning home,
and by sickness; that General Washington found it impracticable to
continue offensive operations. He retired to Morristown, in order to
put his men under cover, and to give them some repose.
The bold, judicious, and unexpected attacks made at Trenton and
Princeton, had a much more extensive influence than would be supposed
from a mere estimate of the killed and taken. They saved Philadelphia
for the winter; recovered the state of Jersey; and, which was of still
more importance, revived the drooping spirits of the people, and gave
a perceptible impulse to the recruiting service throughout the United
States.
The problem, that a nation can be defended against a permanent force,
by temporary armies, by occasional calls of the husbandman from his
plough to the field, was completely disproved; and, in demonstrating
its fallacy, the independence of America had nearly perished in its
cradle. The utmost efforts were now directed to the creation of an
army for the ensuing campaign, as the only solid basis on which the
hopes of the patriot could rest. During the retreat through the
Jerseys, and while the expectation prevailed that no effectual
resistance could be made to the British armies, some spirited men
indeed were animated to greater and more determined exertions; but
this state of things produced a very different effect on the great
mass, which can alone furnish the solid force of armies. In the middle
states especially, the panic of distrust was perceived. Doubts
concerning the issue of the contest became extensive; and the
recruiting service proceeded so heavily and slowly as to excite the
most anxious solicitude for the future.
The affairs of Trenton and Princeton were magnified into great
victories; and were believed by the body of the people to evidence the
superiority of their army and of their general. The opinion that they
were engaged in hopeless contest, yielded to a confidence that proper
exertions would ensure ultimate success.
This change of opinion was accompanied with an essential change of
conduct; and, although the regiments required by congress were not
completed, they were made much stronger than was believed to be
possible before this happy revolution in the aspect of public affairs.
[Sidenote: Firmness of Congress.]
The firmness of congress throughout the gloomy and trying period which
intervened between the loss of fort Washington and the battle of
Princeton, gives the members of that time a just claim to the
admiration of the world, and to the gratitude of their fellow
citizens. Undismayed by impending dangers, they did not, for an
instant, admit the idea of surrendering the independence they had
declared, and purchasing peace by returning to their colonial
situation. As the British army advanced through Jersey, and the
consequent insecurity of Philadelphia rendered an adjournment from
that place a necessary measure of precaution, their exertions seemed
to increase with their difficulties. They sought to remove the
despondence which was seizing and paralyzing the public mind, by an
address to the states, in which every argument was suggested which
could rouse them to vigorous action. They made the most strenuous
efforts to animate the militia, and impel them to the field, by the
agency of those whose popular eloquence best fitted them for such a
service.
{1776}
{December 20.}
When reassembled at Baltimore, the place to which they had adjourned,
their resolutions exhibited no evidence of confusion or dismay; and
the most judicious efforts were made to repair the mischief produced
by past errors.
{December 27.}
Declaring that, in the present state of things, the very existence of
civil liberty depended on the right execution of military powers, to a
vigorous direction of which, distant, numerous, and deliberative
bodies were unequal, they authorized General Washington to raise
sixteen additional regiments, and conferred upon him, for six months,
almost unlimited powers for the conduct of the war.
Towards the close of 1776, while the tide of fortune was running
strongest against them, some few members, distrusting their ability to
make a successful resistance, proposed to authorize their
commissioners at the court of Versailles to transfer to France the
same monopoly of their trade which Great Britain had possessed.[53]
This proposition is stated to have been relinquished, because it was
believed that concessions of this kind would impair many arguments
which had been used in favour of independence, and disunite the
people. It was next proposed to offer a monopoly of certain enumerated
articles; but the unequal operation of this measure gave to the
proposition a speedy negative. Some proposed offering to France an
offensive and defensive league; but this also was rejected. The more
enlightened members argued that, though the friendship of small states
might be purchased, that of France could not. They alleged that, if
she would risk a war with Great Britain by openly espousing their
cause, she would not be induced to that measure by the prospect of
direct advantages, so much as by a desire to lessen the overgrown
power of a dangerous rival.[54] It was therefore urged that the most
certain means of influencing France to interfere, was an assurance
that the United States were determined to persevere in refusing to
resume their former allegiance. Under the influence of this better
opinion, resolutions were again entered into, directing their
commissioners in Europe to give explicit assurances of their
determination at all events to maintain their independence. Copies of
these resolutions were sent to the principal courts of Europe; and
agents were appointed to solicit their friendship to the new formed
states.[55] These despatches fell into the hands of the British, and
were published by them; a circumstance which promoted the views of
congress, who were persuaded that an apprehension of their coming to
an accommodation with Great Britain constituted a material objection
to the interference of foreign courts, in what was represented as
merely a domestic quarrel. A resolution adopted in the deepest
distress, to listen to no terms of reunion with their parent state,
would, it was believed, convince those who wished for the
dismemberment of the British empire, that sound policy required their
interference so far as to prevent the conquest of the United States.
[Footnote 53: Ramsay.]
[Footnote 54: Ramsay.]
[Footnote 55: Secret Journals of Congress, vol. ii. p. 38,
and post.]
CHAPTER VII.
American army inoculated.... General Heath moves to
Kingsbridge.... Returns to Peekskill.... Destruction of
stores at Peekskill.... At Danbury.... Expedition to Sagg
Harbour.... Camp formed at Middlebrook.... Sir William Howe
moves out to Somerset Court House.... Returns to Amboy....
Attempts to cut off the retreat of the American army to
Middlebrook.... Lord Cornwallis skirmishes with Lord
Stirling.... General Prescot surprised and taken.... The
British army embarks.
{1777}
The effect of the proclamation published by Lord and General Howe on
taking possession of New Jersey, was, in a great degree, counteracted
by the conduct of the invading army. Fortunately for the United
States, the hope that security was attainable by submission, was soon
dissipated. Whatever may have been the exertions of their General to
restrain his soldiers, they still considered and treated the
inhabitants rather as conquered rebels than returning friends.
Indulging in every species of licentiousness, the plunder and
destruction of property were among the least offensive of the injuries
they inflicted. The persons, not only of the men, but of that sex
through which indignities least to be forgiven, and longest to be
remembered, are received, were exposed to the most irritating outrage.
Nor were these excesses confined to those who had been active in the
American cause. The lukewarm, and even the loyalists, were the victims
of this indiscriminating spirit of rapine and violence.
The effect of such proceedings on a people whose country had never
before been the seat of war, and whose non-resistance had been
occasioned solely by the expectation of that security which had been
promised as the reward of submission to the royal authority, could not
fail to equal the most sanguine hopes of the friends of the
revolution. A sense of personal wrongs produced a temper which
national considerations had proved too weak to excite; and, when the
battles of Trenton and Princeton relieved the inhabitants from fears
inspired by the presence of their invaders, the great body of the
people flew to arms; and numbers who could not be brought into the
field to check the advancing enemy, and prevent the ravages which
uniformly afflict a country that becomes the seat of war, were prompt
in avenging those ravages. Small bodies of militia scoured the
country, seized on stragglers, behaved unexceptionably well in several
slight skirmishes, and were collecting in such numbers as to threaten
the weaker British posts with the fate which had befallen Trenton and
Princeton.
To guard against that spirit of enterprise which his adversary had
displayed to such advantage, General Howe determined to strengthen his
posts by contracting them. The position taken for the purpose of
covering the country were abandoned; and the British force in New
Jersey was collected at New Brunswick, on the Raritan, and at Amboy, a
small town at the mouth of that river.
Feeble as was the American army, this movement was not effected
without some loss. On the evacuation of Elizabeth town, General
Maxwell attacked the British rear, and captured about seventy men with
a part of their baggage.
The American troops had been so diminished by the extreme severity of
the service, that it was with much difficulty the appearance of an
army could be maintained. Fresh militia and volunteers arrived in
camp, whose numbers were exaggerated by report. These additions to his
small remaining regular force enabled the General to take different
positions near the lines of the enemy, to harass him perpetually,
restrain his foraging parties, and produce considerable distress in
his camp.
{January 12.}
While, with little more than an imaginary army, General Washington
thus harassed and confined his adversary, he came to the hazardous
resolution of freeing himself and his troops from the fear of a
calamity which he found it impossible to elude, and which had proved
more fatal in his camp than the sword of the enemy.