Dissensions in Congress.-Expedition against the Indians.-The War in the 1779. THE American army was distributed, at the end of the CHAP. Four years had passed since the war commenced; the The enemy held important places, and were watching for opportunities to pillage. In the South, the Tories were specially active. Yet there were other elements at work, more injurious to the cause than even these. Congress was filled with dissensions. The prospect XXXV. CHAP. of assistance from France caused many to relax their efforts, as though the war was virtually ended. Wash1779. ington wrote, at the beginning of the year: "Our affairs are in a more distressed, ruinous, and deplorable condition than they have been since the commencement of the war." A large majority of Congress was carried away with the scheme of joining with the French in an expedition against Canada. But when the matter was laid before the Commander-in-chief, at a glance he saw the difficulties of the undertaking, and, with the comprehensive views of the true statesman, pointed out the disadvantages of having, on this continent, a power different in nation, in religion, and in customs from the Americans. Moreover, he desired the people of the United States to be as little under obligations as possible to other nations. For the ensuing campaign, it was evident the British intended to confine themselves to pillaging expeditions, and to cripple the Union in the South. Washington now recommended an expedition against the Indians, to punish them for their outrages at Wyoming and other places. It was to be conducted on their own plan-to invade and lay waste their territory. In April a body of troops suddenly invaded and desolated the territory of the Onondagas. The principal expedition, under Sullivan, went against the Senecas, to revenge their attack on Wyoming. With five thousand men he penetrated their country, met them under Brant, with their worthy allies, the Tories, Johnson and Butler, at Newtown, now Elmira, and completely routed them. Aug. Without giving them time to recover from their panic, Sullivan pursued them into the valley of the Genesee, and in a few weeks destroyed more than forty of their villages, all their cornfields, gardens, and orchards. It was a terrible vengeance; but the only means to prevent their depredations on the settlements. 29. the CHARLESTON THREATENED. 459 XXXV Want of food compelled the Indians and Tories to CHAP. emigrate to Canada, yet they soon after renewed their depredations, and continued them, with their usual fero- 1779 city, till the end of the war. In the mean while, another successful expedition was conducted against the Indian towns on the Alleghany, above Pittsburg. As in the North, so in the South, the British entered into alliances with the Indians-there they induced the Creeks to join them. The Tories desolated the upper part of Georgia; but as they drew near Augusta, Colonel Pickens suddenly attacked and routed them. Seventyfive were made prisoners and condemned to death, as traitors; however, only five were executed. The next month, General Lincoln sent General Ashe, with two thousand men, to drive Campbell from Augusta. Campbell, hearing of his approach, retreated in haste, and Ashe pursued, but was himself surprised, some days after, and his entire force dispersed. The British now reoccupied Augusta, and opened a communication with the Cherokees and the South Carolina Tories. Feb. While Lincoln recruited his army, Prevost marched slowly in the direction of Charleston; and Lincoln hastened to the aid of that city. The inhabitants were indefatigable in their exertions to give the foe a warm reception. They threw up intrenchments across the neck May. of the peninsula, on which their city stood. Presently, Prevost arrived and summoned them to surrender, but they boldly refused. He prepared to enter upon a regular siege, but hearing of the approach of Lincoln, he first ravaged the plantations in the vicinity, carried off an immense amount of plunder, and three or four thousand slaves, and then retreated toward Savannah, by way of the islands along the coast. As the hot season approached, hostilities ceased. While these events were in progress in the South, Clinton was fulfilling his instructions from the ministry to June XXXV. 8. CHAP send out plundering expeditions. One of these, under General Mathews, he sent from New York, with twenty1779. five hundred men, into Virginia. The fleet entered the May Chesapeake, the troops landed, and plundered the towns of Portsmouth and Norfolk. A little higher up, at Gosport, was established a navy-yard by the State; there they burned one hundred and thirty merchant ships, and several war-vessels on the stocks. The facilities afforded the enemy by the rivers to pass from point to point, and the danger of the slaycs rising, prevented much resistance. 4. When these soldiers returned, Clinton went up the Hudson, against the posts Verplanck's and Stony Points. These forts protected King's Ferry, a very important crossing-place, on the main road from the eastern to the middle States. The works at Stony Point-not yet finished-were abandoned; and the garrison at Verplanck's Point were forced to surrender. The next expedition, of twenty-five hundred men, was under Tryon, whose barbarities, on such occasions, have justly rendered his name infamous. Tryon plundered New Haven, and burned Fairfield and Norwalk. In the July course of a few days, he burned two hundred and twentyfive private dwellings, half as many barns and stores, and five places of worship. Many of the inhabitants were murdered, or subjected to the brutal passions of the soldiers. This "journeyman of desolation," so insensible to the promptings of humanity, contemplated these outrages with pleasure, and afterward even claimed for himself the honor of having exercised mercy, because he did not burn every dwelling on the coast of New England. Clinton had been grossly deceived by the Tories, who assured him that the principal inhabitants of Connecticut were so much dissatisfied because their homes were not protected by the American army, that they were about to withdraw from the cause, and put themselves under Brit enter. CAPTURE OF STONY POINT. 461 ish protection. And it was thought a few more such CHAP. expeditions would accomplish this result. XXXV Washington now devised a plan to recapture Stony 1779. Point. The fort was so situated, that to surprise it seemed an impossibility. He proposed to General Wayne-" Mad Anthony"-to undertake the desperate enterprise. The proposal was accepted with delight. Washington himself, accompanied by Wayne, carefully reconnoitred the Point. The attempt was to be made at the hour of midnight. Every precaution to secure success was taken, even the dogs of the neighborhood were privately destroyed. A negro, who was in the habit of visiting the fort to sell fruit, and also as a spy for the Americans, was to act as guide. The men, with fixed bayonets, and, to remove the possibility of discovery, with unloaded muskets, approached in two divisions, at the appointed hour. The negro, accompanied by two soldiers, disguised as farmers, approached the outer sentinel, and gave the countersign. The sentinel was seized and gagged, and the second treated in the same manner; at the third, the alarm was given, but the impetuosity of the Americans was so great, that in a few minutes the two divisions from the opposite sides of the fort met in the centre. They took more than five hundred prisoners. This was one of the most brilliant exploits of the war. How great was the contrast between the humanity of Wayne and the savage cruelty of the British in their midnight attacks with the bayonet! Stedman, the British historian, records that "the conduct of the Americans upon this occasion was highly meritorious, for they would have been fully justified in putting the garrison to the sword; not one man of which was put to death but in fair combat." When Clinton heard of the taking of Stony Point, he hastily recalled Tryon, who was about to move against New London. The exploit of Wayne was speedily followed by another July 16. |