Chapter IX: The West, (19)

[1167] Rawdon's order which brought on the battle is in _Pol. Mag._, ii. 340. The British commander reported to Cornwallis (_Corn. Corr._, i. 97, and _Remembrancer_, xv. 1); Balfour to Germain (_London Gazette_, June 2-5, 1781; reprinted in _Annual Register_ for the same year under Principal Occurrences, p. 71; _Pol. Mag._, ii. 380; _Remembrancer_, xii. 27; Tarleton, p. 465; etc.). On the 6th Balfour wrote to Clinton, giving a very gloomy account of affairs (Clinton, _Observations on Cornwallis_, etc., App. p. 97). Clinton enclosed several letters of about this time to Germain (_Remembrancer_, xii. 151). In a letter to Cornwallis, dated Monk's Corner, May 24, Rawdon describes his movements after the fight. It is a valuable letter (_London Gazette_, July 31-Aug. 4, 1781; _Remembrancer_, xv. 4, while extracts are in _Ibid._ xii. 151; _Pol. Mag._, ii. 482; Tarleton, 475; Clinton, _Observations on Cornwallis_, etc., App. p. 91; Gibbes, _Doc. Hist._ (1781-82), p. 77, etc.).

[1168] Cf. also Gordon, iv. 81; Ramsay, _Rev. in S. C._; Stedman, ii. 324; Lee, _Memoirs_, ii. 57 (he always spells the name of the battle-ground Hobkick's Hill); Lee, _Campaign of 1781_, 264; Balch's _Maryland Line_, 143. As to numbers, Greene thought that the two armies were about equal,—one thousand on each side. This is probably nearly correct; for Rawdon gave his own number at 960, and Gordon, on the authority of returns not now accessible, rated Greene's force at 1,194 men of all arms. This included 254 North Carolina militia who had just arrived. They were not included in the battle line. Williams reported the American loss at 268; but 133 of these are given as missing, with the remark that they probably had mistaken the order as to a place of rendezvous. Rawdon reported his own loss at 220 men. But Tarleton, on the authority of a return in the _Annual Register_, gives it at 258. The discrepancy is not material.

[1169] His letter to the President of Congress is in _Remembrancer_, xii. 197; Gibbes, _Doc. Hist._ (1781-82), p. 70; etc. Cf. also a letter to Washington in Sparks, _Cor. Rev._, iii. 310.

[1170] Cf. _Remembrancer_, xv. 6, for a _copy_. Cf. also _Remembrancer_, xii. 153; _Pol. Mag._, ii. 483; and Gibbes, p. 89, for _extracts_. A report to Clinton of June 6 is printed, with this, except in Gibbes.

[1171] Substantially the same account is in White's _Hist. Coll. of Georgia_, p. 607; Stevens's _Georgia_, ii. 247; and Jones's _Georgia_, ii. 455.

[1172] See, in addition to the above, _Remembrancer_, xii. 289. There are no plans of any of these sieges, and the statements as to numbers are too vague and contradictory to be made the basis of any accurate estimates.

[1173] There is an account of Cruger in Jones, _New York during the Rev. War_, ii. 376.

[1174] See also Greene, to Marion in Gibbes, _Doc. Hist._ (1781-82), p. 100; to Washington in Sparks, _Cor. Rev._, iii. 341; and to Jefferson in Greene's _Greene_, iii. 555. O. H. Williams sent an interesting description of the siege to his brother (Tiffany's _Williams_, p. 21). Greene's letters to Sumter and Marion and Sumter's letters to Marion are in Greene's _Greene_ (fragmentary) and Gibbes, 93 _et seq._

[1175] Several letters from Balfour to Germain of this period are in _Remembrancer_, xii. 172 and 173; _Polit. Mag._ ii.; and _London Gazette_, Aug. 7-11, 1781. Rawdon gives the loss of the garrison as less than forty, but this is very possibly too low. Cruger had 550 men when the siege began. The British account in Mackenzie rates Greene at 5,000, which estimate is absurd. It was not under 1,000 nor over 1,500, including militia. Williams reported the loss at 57 killed, 70 wounded, and 20 missing. Rawdon had "near 2,000" men. Of these 7 were placed _hors de combat_ on the way up, "50" died of the heat, and Lee captured 250 of the cavalry on the homeward march,—a total loss of 307.

[1176] Something can also be found in Gordon, _American War_, iv. 92; Ramsay,_ Rev. in S. C._; Stedman, _Amer. War_, ii. 364; Johnson's _Greene_, ii. 127 (he apologizes for Sumter's behavior; but see Greene's _Greene_, iii. 319); Greene's _Greene_, iii. 219; Jones, _New York during the Revolutionary War_, ii. 376; Lossing, _Field-Book_, ii. 690; Marshall's _Washington_, iv. 524; etc. Simms has written several romances relating to this time.

Johnson has given a plan of the works in his Greene, ii. 140; a reduced fac-simile is in Greene's _Greene_, iii. 299. The works were planned by Lieutenant Haldane, of Cornwallis's family (cf. Stedman, ii. 364), but Lieutenant Barrette was engineer in charge at the time of the siege. Cf. Hatton in Mackenzie, 163. Also map in Lossing's _Field-Book_, ii. 691.

[1177] Dated near Ferguson's Swamp, Sept. 11, 1781, in Caldwell's _Greene_, p. 441; _Remembrancer_, xiii. 175; _Pol. Mag._, ii. 677; Gibbes, _Doc. Hist._ (1781-82), p. 141; Tarleton, p. 513, etc. Cf. also Marion to P. Horry, in Gibbes, 160.

[1178] It was dated Eutaw, Sept. 9, 1781 (_London Gazette_, Jan. 29-Feb. 2, 1782;) reprinted in whole or in part in _Ann. Reg._, 1782, Principal Occurrences, p. 7; _Remembrancer_, xiii. 152; _Pol. Mag._, iii. 108; Tarleton, 508; Gibbes, p. 136; etc., etc.

[1179] Cf. J. W. De Peyster in _United Service_ (Sept. 1881; _Harper's Mag._, lxvii. 557); Lossing, ii. 699; Dawson, Carrington, etc. On the Eutaw flag, see R. Wilson in _Lippincott's Mag._, xvii. 311. Johnson (_Greene_, ii. 224) gives a plan of two stages of the battle, and it is reproduced by G. W. Greene (iii. 384). Carrington (p. 582) gives a minuter plan. Johnson (ii. 238) gives a map of the country between Eutaw and Charleston.

The journal of Captain Kirkwood, of the Delaware regiment, beginning at Germantown, Sept. 14, 1777, and giving the marches of that regiment in 1777, its course during the Southern campaign of 1780, with a table of the losses at Eutaw, Sept. 8, is in _Sparks MSS._, xxv. (also xlix. vol. 3). Greene's medal is given in Loubat.—ED.

[1180] A notice of Laurens's career, by G. W. P. Custis, is in Littell's Graydon's _Memoirs_ (Appendix, p. 472). See also Hartley's _Heroes_, 310.

[1181] _Remembrancer_, xv. 29; the latter is also in _Corres. of the Rev._, iii. 529. The Delaware troops took part in this action. Cf. C. P. Bennett in _Penna. Mag._, ix. 452 _et seq._ Major Bennett was a lieutenant in the regiment at the time. His account, however, was written fifty years after the war, and cannot be reconciled with contemporary narratives.

[1182] Cf. _Life of Count Rumford_, by George E. Ellis, pp. 123-131, and 666-668. There is absolutely nothing about Rumford's military career in Renwick's so-called _Life of Benjamin Thomson_, in Sparks's _American Biography_, xv. pp. 1-216. A most curious and insufficient reason for this omission is given on p. 59 of the same work.

[1183] See also "Journal of Captain John Davis" in _Penna. Hist. Mag._, v. 300, and Seymour's Journal in _Ibid._ vii. 390.

[1184] The _Maryland Papers_, too, contain several interesting letters, especially one from Roxburgh to Smallwood (p. 186), on the evacuation of Savannah. See also, with regard to the same event, Greene to the President of Congress, in _Remembrancer_, xv. 21.

[1185] Moultrie, _Memoirs_, ii. 343, has devoted considerable space to it. Cf. also _Mag. Am. Hist._, viii. 826.

[1186] Cf. especially on this last campaign Johnson's _Greene_, ii. 238-394, and Lee, _Memoirs_ (2d edition), p. 378 _et seq._

[1187] This table as given in _Charleston Year Book_ (1883), p. 416, is not entirely correct.

[1188] See letter from Clinton, enclosing reports from Mathews of May 16th and 24th, and from Collier of May 16, 1779 (_London Gazette_, June 19-22, and July 6-10, 1779; also in _Remembrancer_, viii. 270, 296, etc.). Collier also wrote three letters to Stephens, secretary of the admiralty (_London Gazette_, as above, and July 10-13, 1779).

[1189] See also Girardin, _Continuation of Burk_, iv. 332-338; Hamilton, _Grenadier Guards_, ii. 236; Stedman, ii. 136; J. E. Cooke in _Harper's Mag._, liii. 1 etc.

[1190] A journal of Baron Steuben in Virginia, Dec. 21, 1780, to Jan. 11, 1781, is among the copies of the Steuben MSS. in the _Sparks MSS._, xv. 182. Cf. Kapp's _Steuben_, and the lives of Jefferson, then governor. Cf. Henry A. Muhlenberg's _Life of Maj.-Gen. Peter Muhlenberg_ (Philad., 1849), who was under Steuben. Cf. also _Deutsch-Amerikanisches Magazin_, 1887; Lossing's _Field-Book_, ii. 383; _Harper's Mag._, lxiii. 333, for portraits and accounts.—ED.

[1191] Clinton, _Observations on Cornwallis_, App. p. 61; _Parliamentary Register_, xxv. 143; and _Germain Corresp._, 75, 79. Arnold's report to Clinton of May 12th—Phillips, who died on the 13th, being too ill to write—is really a diary of events since the 18th of the preceding April, the day on which Phillips began the ascent of the James. It is in _Remembrancer_, xii. 60; _Political Mag._, ii. 390; and _Hist. Mag._, iii. 294. Extracts are given by Ramsay, Tarleton (p. 334), and others. The report (May 16) is given in full in Arnold's _Arnold_, p. 344. Jones in his _New York during the Revolutionary War_ (ii. 463) says that Clinton, distrusting Arnold, gave dormant commissions to Dundas and Simcoe. The commissions were never used; but Simcoe in his _Military Journal_ (ed. of 1787, pp. 108-146; ed. of 1844, pp. 158-208) gave a narrative of the whole movement, in which he figured himself as the principal personage. See also _Memoir of General Graham_, pp. 33-37; Beatson's _Memoirs_, v. 211-225; and Eelking, _Hülfstruppen_, ii. 105.

[1192] Giradin's account is full (_Continuation of Burk_, iv. 418). See also Muhlenberg's _Muhlenberg_, pp. 205-213; Sparks's _Washington_, vii. 269; Lee's _Memoirs_, R. E. Lee's ed., 297, 314; Howison's _Virginia_, ii. 248; Randall's _Jefferson_, i. 283-294, etc. See also, on these movements in Virginia, Wirt's _Henry_; Rives's _Madison_, i. 289; Madison's _Writings_, i. 45; Jefferson's _Writings_, ix. 212; Jones's _New York during the Revolutionary War_, ii. 177; Campbell's _Virginia_, 168; I. N. Arnold's _Life of B. Arnold_, 342-348; Gordon's _Am. War_, iv. 59; Moore's _Diary_, ii. 384; _Va. Hist. Reg._, iv. 195; Marshall's _Washington_, iv. 387; Sparks's _Washington_, vii. 347, 410; Carrington's _Battles_; Lossing's _Field-Book_, ii. 434, 546; and J. A. Stevens's "Expedition of Lafayette against Arnold" in _Maryland Hist. Soc. Proc._ (1878).

[1193] See also Gordon, iv. 107; Lee, _Memoirs_ (2d edition), 285; Stedman, _Am. War_; and Beatson, _Memoirs_, v. 239. On Lafayette's preparations, see _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._, v. 150

[1194] Something may be found in Regnault's _Lafayette_, 190; Kapp's _Steuben_, 420; Eelking, _Hülfstruppen_, ii. 109; Chotteau, _Les Français_, etc. See also _Harper's Monthly_, vii. 145.

[1195] _Mémoires ... du Générale Lafayette publiés par sa Famille_ (Paris, 1837), vol. i. This edition was in six volumes. An English translation in three volumes was published at London in the same year. The first volume of this was reprinted at New York in 1838, with an appendix containing many valuable documents not elsewhere in print. Among these is a report to Greene relating to the affair at the crossing of the James near Jamestown. Wayne, who commanded at the front, also made a report, which is in Sparks's _Corres. of Rev._ Lafayette's letters and narrative of his campaign in Virginia are in the _Sparks MSS._, nos. lxxxiv., lxxxvi.

[1196] See also _The Part of Virginia which was the seat of action_, in Gordon, iv. 116.

[1197] There is an interesting letter from Christian Febiger to T. Bland, dated July 3, 1781, in _Bland Papers_, p. 71. See also _Ibid._, p. 68.

[1198] Cf. also Denny's journal in _Penna. Hist. Soc. Mem._, vii.; Judge Brooks's account in _Va. Hist. Reg._, vi. 197; _Mag. Amer. Hist._, ii. 572. Lafayette always thought that he forced Cornwallis back to take post at Yorktown; but it was really Clinton's message that he could not reinforce Cornwallis that led the latter to fortify himself, according to E. E. Hale (_Franklin in France_, 463).—ED.

[1199] The _Tenth Report of the Royal Commission on Hist. MSS._ (App. i. p. 29) contains two letters still further lessening the responsibility of Clinton for the disaster. In the first, from Lord George Germain to Clinton, the latter is given "positive orders to push the war in the South." The projected withdrawal of Arnold and Phillips is not approved. This is dated May 2, 1781. In the second letter, also from Germain, Clinton is advised that the French fleet will sail to America, and that Rodney will follow it. This letter is dated July 7, 1781. It is not stated whether Clinton ever received these notes. If he did receive them, he certainly must have felt obliged to continue the war in the South.

In the _Fifth Report of the Commission on Hist. MSS._ (p. 235) there are three letters written by "Sir H. Crosby" and "Sir H. C.", which the editor takes to stand for Sir H. Crosby. At least one was written by Clinton, and the probability is that all were written by him. The first (N. Y., July 18, 1781) relates to the proceedings of Cornwallis, and gives a statement of the troops under some of the British generals in America, and an estimate of the number of French troops which Washington has within call. The third (to G. G., dated Dec., 1781) is plainly the work of Clinton, as the author says that, from the tone of Cornwallis's letter of Oct. 20 (his official report), it might be supposed that the author was to blame for the selection of the post at Yorktown. In the last, also written in December, 1781, the writer attributes the disaster to the want of promised naval supremacy under Sir G. Rodney. He also gives Cornwallis's explanation of the passages complained of in his report. Cf. also Jones's _New York during the Rev. War_, ii., notes to pp. 464-470, where the editor gives extracts from Clinton's annotations of a copy of Stedman's _American War_. S. H. Gay (_N. Am. Rev._, Oct., 1881) follows Cornwallis's movements previous to his fortifying at Yorktown.

[1200] On this subject see also Clinton's _Observations on Stedman_, p. 16.

[1201] _London Gazette_, Dec. 15. Among the more accessible books containing it are _Remembrancer_, xiii. 37; Johnston's _Yorktown_, 181; Tarleton, p. 427; Lee, _Memoirs_ (2d ed.), App. p. 457; R. E. Lee's ed., 610, etc.

[1202] Clinton to Cornwallis, Sept. 6, 1781, in _Parl. Reg._, xxv. 189. Clinton also described his endeavors in a letter to Germain in _Remembrancer_, xiii. 57.

[1203] Cf. _Two Letters respecting the conduct of Rear Admiral Graves on the coast of the United States, July-November, 1781, by William Graves, Esq._ Edited by H. B. Dawson, 1865. The original was privately printed. Dawson says "the present edition is as perfect a fac-simile of the original as can now be made."

[1204] _Remembrancer_, xiii. 515, while a letter from Cornwallis to Washington respecting the form of parole is in _Cornwallis Correspondence_, i. 126.

[1205] _Fifth Report of Royal Commission on Hist. MSS._, p. 235 (Lansdown MSS.).

[1206] _Memoirs_, ii. 434, copied in Niles's _Principles_, etc. (ed. 1876). For effect of the news in England, see _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, Nov., 1881, p. 363; and John Fiske on the political consequences, in _Atlantic Monthly_, Jan., 1886. The papers laid before Parliament are in the _Polit. Mag._, iii. 339. Cf. also Walpole's _Last Journals_, ii. 474; Donne's _Corresp. of George III._, etc., ii. 390; Macknight's _Burke_, ii. 457, etc. For the effect in Europe generally, see Parton's _Franklin_, ii. 452; Hale's _Franklin in France_, p. 464.—ED.

[1207] Cf. also two valuable letters written during the siege from Washington to Heath, who commanded on the Hudson, in _5 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll._, iv. 224 _et seq._ We note two early tables of the prisoners taken, one in the Meshech Weare papers in the Mass. Hist. Soc. library, and the other in the _Sparks MSS._, xlix. vol. iii. The vote of thanks given by Congress to Washington, with his reply, is in _Journals of Congress_, iii. 694. Washington's epaulettes worn at the time are in the Mass. Hist. Soc. (_Proc._, iii. 133). For "Cornwallis Burgoyned", see Moore's _Songs and Ballads_, 367.—ED.

[1208] _Orderly-book of the Siege of Yorktown, from September 26th, 1781, to November 2d, 1781_ (Philad., 1865), being Revolutionary series, no. 1, published by Horace W. Smith.

[1209] Lincoln's MS. orderly-book is in possession of Mr. Crosby, of Hingham, Mass. Johnston (_Yorktown_, p. 91, note) gives an order of Lincoln's as copied from the Lamb MSS. An orderly-book of General Gist belongs to the Maryland Hist. Soc. An _Orderly-Book of the Second Battalion of the Penna. Troops before Yorktown_ is in Egle's _Notes and Queries_, 145-156. It runs, however, only to Sept. 14th. See also Feltman to Lieutenant Johnston, dated Yorktown, Oct. 10, 1781, in Egle (p. 132). There is a _Journal of the Campaign by Lieutenant William Feltman_, May, 1781-April, 1782 (_Penn. Hist. Soc. Coll._, 1853, and _Penna. Archives_, 2d ser., vol. xi.); and a _Journal of the Siege of York in Virginia, by a chaplain of the American Army_ (_Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll._, iv. 102-108). From a reference in Thacher's _Journal_, Johnston (_Yorktown_, App., p. 196) infers that the latter appears to have been the work of Chaplain Evans, of Scammell's corps. A portion of the _Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny_ relates to this siege (_Penn. Hist. Soc. Mem._, vii. 237-249). Another valuable journal is the one kept by Capt. John Davis, of the Pennsylvania line (_Westchester Village Record_, 1821, and _Principles and Acts of the Revolution_, 1st ed., p. 465, and 2d ed., p. 293, and entire from May 26, 1781, to June 10, 1782, in _Penna. Hist. Mag._, v. 290-311; vii. 339). Other journals are _Notes of the Siege of Yorktown_, by Dayton, in _New Jersey Hist. Soc. Proc._, ix.-x. 187; Colonel Tilghman's _Diary of the Siege of Yorktown_ in Appendix to _Memoir of Tench Tilghman_; _Journal of the Siege of Yorktown_, by Col. Richard Butler, in _Hist. Mag._, viii. 102; _Extract from the Journal of a Chaplain in the American Army_—Sept. 12-Oct. 22, 1781—in _Potter's American Monthly_, v. 744; _Journal of Colonel Jonathan Trumbull_ in _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._ (April, 1876), vol. xiv. 331; Thacher's _Military Journal_, pp. 334-351; "Siege of York and Gloucester" in _American Museum_, June, 1787,—reprinted in _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vii. 222-224; an anonymous journal in Martin's _Gazetteer of Virginia_, pp. 293-295; and a _Diary of the March from the Hudson to Yorktown and return, by Lieutenant Saunderson_, of the Connecticut line, in Johnston's _Yorktown_, p. 170,—the original being in that author's possession. The diary of David Cobb, Oct.-Nov., 1781, is in _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._, Oct., 1881, p. 67. A journal of Henry Dearborn, ending Nov. 24, 1781, is owned by Dr. T. A. Emmet, of N. Y., having been bought in the J. W. Thornton sale, no. 284. See also letters from Governor Nelson to various persons in the "Nelson Papers" (no. 1 of the New Series of the Publications of the Virginia Historical Society). There are other letters in the _Va. Hist. Reg._, ii. 34; v. 157; Drake's _Knox_, 69, etc.

[1210] It is entitled _Journal of the Operations of the French Corps under the command of Count Rochambeau_ (_Remembrancer_, xiii. 35, and _Pol. Mag._, ii. 707). Portions are also in Tarleton's _Campaigns_, 443, taken, probably, from a diary which was afterwards printed in the _Paris Gazette_, Nov. 20, 1781, as _Journal des Opérations du Corps Français sous le commandement du Comte de Rochambeau_; also found in _Two Letters respecting the conduct of Rear Admiral Graves_, pp. 31, 32, and translated by Dawson, pp. 38, 39. Another translation, _Substance of a French Journal from the Supplement to the Gazette de France of Nov. 20, 1781_, is reprinted in the _Mag. Am. Hist._, vii. 224, from _Pennsylvania Packet_ of Feb. 21, 1782. See also the account in Rochambeau's _Mémoires_, i. 289-302; Wright's translation of above, 65-80; Soulés, _Troubles_, iii. 369-378, and 386-398,—attributed to Rochambeau; and Lauzun, _Mémoires_, 194-205.

[1211] No. 1,886 in his sale catalogue.

[1212] The _Magazine of American History_ contains two other journals which really formed a part of this diary, and were written by M. de Ménonville (vii. p 283-288), and by "the engineers" (vii. 449-452).

[1213] The original _Journal de Campagne de Claude Blanchard_, ed. by Maurice La Chesnais, was published in Paris, 1869.

[1214] _My Campaigns in America. A Journal kept by Count William de Deux-Ponts, 1780-81. Translated from the French Manuscript, with an Introduction by S. A. Green_, Boston, 1868. The original and translation are here printed successively. Dr. S. A. Green came upon this valuable manuscript by chance while in Paris.

[1215] At a later day it was charged that Lafayette had ordered the garrison of the small redoubt to be put to the sword in revenge for the murder of Alexander Scammell. Of course the charge was false. It led to a correspondence between Lafayette and Hamilton. Cf. _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vii. 363 _et seq._, and Hamilton's _Works_, vi. 555. Lafayette's narrative, as he gave it to Sparks, is in the _Sparks MSS._, no. xxxii.

[1216] Ramsay, _Rev. in S. C._, ii. 317; Gordon, iv. 175; Stedman, ii.; Lee, _Memoirs_ (2d ed., p. 307). Lee was present during the siege as the bearer of despatches from Greene, or for some other reason.

[1217] _The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis_, 1781 (N. Y., 1881). Johnston also printed an article in _Harper's Monthly_, lxiii. 323.

[1218] _Yorktown, an Account of the Campaign_ (N. Y., 1882). See also, by the same author, _The Campaign of the Allies_ in _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vii. 241.

[1219] Drake's _Knox_, 62; Hamilton's _Hamilton_, ii. 256-275; Leake's _Lamb_, 276; Williams's _Olney_, 266; Custis's _Recollections_, 229; Kapp's _Steuben_, 453, etc., with the diary of an Anspach sergeant. Cf. Balch, p. 14, for references to another diary of a German.

[1220] See J. A. Stevens, _The Allies at Yorktown_ in _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vi. 1; Page, _Old Yorktown_ in _Scribner's Mag._, xxii. 801; Goldwin Smith, _Naseby and Yorktown_ in _Contem. Rev._, Nov., 1881; _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, Dec., 1881,—a collection of newspaper scraps, some of value; E. M. Stone's _French Allies_, 416; E. E. Hale in _Amer. Antiq. Soc. Proc._, Oct., 1881; _Penna. Mag. of Hist._, v. 290; W. S. Stryker's _New Jersey Continental Line in the Virginia Campaign of 1781_ (Trenton, 1882); Longchamps, _Histoire Impartiale_, iii. 129; Robin, _Nouveau Voyage_, 29; Le Boucher, ii. 26; Chotteau, 267; Regnault's _Lafayette_, 199,—not good for much; Tarleton's _Campaigns_, 351; Clinton, _Observations on Stedman_, 22; Beatson's _Memoirs_, v. 271; _Memoir of General Samuel Graham_, 55; Grant's _British Battles_, 173; Botta, Otis's trans., iii. 374. Lamb's _Journal_, p. 370 _et seq._, is of considerable interest, especially the portion narrating his escape and subsequent recapture. See also Capt. William Mure to Andrew Stuart, dated Yorktown, Oct. 21, 1781, in Mahon's _Hist. of England_, vol. vii. App. xxxviii. There is in the Boston Public Library a MS. orderly-book of the troops under Lord Cornwallis, dated Williamsburgh, 28 June, 1781, to Yorktown, 19 October, 1781, and made up by several officers. The generally received account of the reception of the news in England is probably not correct. Cf. Stockbridge in _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vii. 321.

[1221] The official account of the recent celebration at Yorktown is called a _Report of the Commission for a monument commemorative of the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis_ (Wash., 1883). This contains Robert C. Winthrop's oration, which has also been separately printed. Another notable address was by the Hon. J. L. M. Curry, delivered at Richmond and published. A French account of this anniversary, _Yorktown Centénaire de l'indépendance des Etats-Unis d'Amérique, 1781-1881_ (Paris, 1886), is the work of Rochambeau's descendant. Cf. Stone's _French Allies_, 535; _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, vii. 302; _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._, xix. 101. Another volume called forth by the same celebration is _An Account of General Lafayette's Visit to Virginia in 1824-25_, by Robert D. Ward, Richmond, 1881.

[1222] Liverpool.

[1223] Yet in 1668-9 the colony of Massachusetts had sent a ship-load of masts to Charles II.; and at the end of the century, Bellomont, in one of his despatches home, says that from the port of Boston there sailed more vessels built in New England than belonged to all Scotland and Ireland. Bellomont urged on the home government the importance of making in America their own tar and pitch. New Hampshire was already sending masts, yards, and bowsprits to England, and Bellomont shows the government how they could save by carrying them for themselves. This was in 1700 and 1701.

[1224] Cf. "Ships of the Eighteenth Century", by Admiral Preble, in _United Service_, x. 95, 117.—ED.

[1225] On the capture of the "Margaretta" at Machias, see Kidder's _Military Operations in Eastern Maine_, p. 39; _Maine Hist. Soc. Coll._, ii. 142; _Hist. Mag._, xiii. 251; Com. F. H. Parker in the _Mag. of Amer. Hist._ i. 209; Drisko's _Life of Hannah Weston_ (Machias, 1857), ch. vii. Cf. also _Journal of Mass. Prov. Cong._ (Boston, 1838), pp. 395-96. The account in Dawson's _Battles_ (i. 47) is based on Goldsborough's _Naval Chronicle_ and Cooper's _Naval History_.—ED.

[1226] The steps leading to this action of Washington, who felt authorized to take it by giving a liberal interpretation to his commission, were these: As early as June 7, 1775, the Massachusetts legislature had considered the question of creating a naval force, but moved cautiously (Frothingham's _Siege of Boston_, p. 111). Rhode Island moved first, June 12th, and put two vessels in commission under Abraham and Christopher Whipple, and in July they were cruising. (On this and other early movements in Rhode Island, see Arnold's _Rhode Island_, ii. 351, 363, 369, 386; Staples's _Annals of Providence_, pp. 265-70; _R. I. Hist. Coll._, vol. vi.; Gammell's _Life of Samuel Ward_; and Ward's journal in _Sparks MSS._, lxviii. no. 7.) By July 1st Connecticut had begun to move. Washington's first commission was given to Capt. Nicholas Broughton, of Marblehead, accompanied by instructions, which are given in Sparks's _Washington_, iii. 517, when he took command of the "Hannah" (Frothingham's _Siege of Boston_, 260). John Adams says (_Works_, x. 27; _Letters of Washington to John Langdon_, 1880, p. 19) it was John Manly's application to Washington for authority to fit out a cruiser that led directly to this step, and that Manly was the first to fly a Continental flag, and to have a British flag struck to him.

For the early navy of Pennsylvania, see Wallace's _William Bradford_, p. 130, and in the Appendix of the same work we have an account of the first naval combat on the Delaware, and the first hostile guns heard by Congress, when the "Roebuck" and "Liverpool" were driven down the river by the American flotilla.

On the early movements in Virginia, see _Va. Hist. Reg._, i. 185; _Southern Lit. Messenger_, xxiv. 1-273.—ED.

[1227] Hancock's letter of instructions, October 5, 1775, is in Sparks's _Correspondence of the American Revolution_, i. 56. Cf. _John Adams's Works_, i. 187; x. 31.—ED.

[1228] Selman's own account of this exploit has been printed in the _Salem Gazette_, July 22, 1856. Cf. Sparks's _Writings of Washington_, iii. 193.—ED.

[1229] "Lord Amherst laments the capture of the ordnance vessel,—says her cargo amounted to £10,500. The Board is censured for not putting her stores into a vessel of greater force." Hutchinson's _Diary_ (July 10). Manly continued to gain and deserve the commendation of Washington (Sparks's _Washington_, iii. 266, 271). For an account of Manly's being driven into Plymouth, see _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._ 2d ser., ii. 158.—ED.

[1230] Rhode Island, as she had put the first armed vessel afloat, was also the inciter of the movements in Congress which resulted in this fleet, her members, in Oct., 1775, having urged action (4 Force, iv. 1838). John Adams gives on the successive stages of the movement (_Works_, ii. 463, iii. 7. Cf. Gammell's _Ward_, 316, and the _Journal of Congress_, 1775). A naval committee was instituted Oct. 13th, and in December it was enlarged, to have a member for each colony. John Adams tells on his labors on this committee were the most agreeable he had in Congress; and he always took great credit to himself for being mainly instrumental in committing Congress to naval policy (_Works_, ix. 363, _Familiar Letters_, 166), and it was he who drew up the Rules of the naval service (_Works_, iii. p. 11; _Journal of Congress_, 1775, p. 282). In tracing the official action of Congress towards the navy, beside the _Journals_, use the index of Ben: Perley Poore's _Descriptive Catal. of Government Publications_; the indexes to the _Amer. Archives_, under such heads as "armed vessels", "fleet", "Mass. armed vessels", "marine committee", "navy", "privateers", "prizes", "row galleys", "seamen", "vessels", and the names of naval characters. The incongruous character of Force's indexes increases the labor considerably in using the _Archives_.

The beginnings of the navy, beside being followed in Cooper, Clark, etc., can be traced in W. E. Foster's _Stephen Hopkins_, ii. App. M; in Bancroft, ix. 134, or final revision, v. 50 in Silas Deane's correspondence in _Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll._, ii. Washington ceased to exercise any supervision over the armed fleet after the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776. General Ward, who was then left in command in Boston, commissioned Captain Mugford to cruise, June, 1776, before he received any blank commissions from Congress. _Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc._, i. 203.

In 1775 David Bushnell invented at Saybrook a machine for blowing up the enemy's vessels, called the "American Turtle." It is described in the _Conn. Soc. Coll._, ii. 315, 322, 333, with references.—ED.

[1231] Sparks's _Washington_, i. 36; iii. 77. There is a memoir of Whipple, with a portrait (cf. also E. M. Stone's _Our French Allies_, p. 26), in Hildreth's _Pioneer Settlers of Ohio_ (1852), pp. 120-164. There are letters of Whipple among the _Com. Tucker Papers_ in Harvard College library. Few of the earlier captains made more captures than Samuel Tucker. Washington commissioned him in Jan., 1776. His reputation as a naval officer was mostly made during his command of the frigate "Boston", in one of whose voyages he took John Adams to France in 1778. The log of this voyage is preserved in Harvard College library, where are also a collection of Tucker's papers, embracing his instructions, correspondence, and logs. They have been used in John H. Sheppard's _Life of Samuel Tucker_ (Boston, 1868), which is abridged by the author in the _N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg._, April, 1872 (xxvi. 105). Cf. _New Eng. Mag._, ii. 138; Niles's _Register_, xliv. 140; and Johnston's _History of Bristol and Bremen, Me._—ED.

[1232] See note at the end of this chapter.

[1233] On the fisheries as a school for the navy of the Revolution, see Lorenzo Sabine's _Report on the Fisheries of the U. S._ (Washington, 1853), p. 198, and Babson's _Gloucester_. The histories of the maritime towns of Massachusetts touch this point, like Rich's _Truro_, Roads's _Marblehead_, E. V. Smith's _Newburyport_, etc.—ED.

[1234] Cf. _ante_, ch. ii.

[1235] Adams's _Familiar Letters_, 186. The continued naval exploits of Seth Harding and Samuel Smedley, of the Connecticut armed vessels, are recorded in sundry letters in the _Trumbull Papers_ (MSS.), vol. v., etc.—ED.

[1236] _Journals of Congress_, i. 213.

[1237] Cf. Sparks's _Washington_, iii. 353; _John Adams's Works_, iii. 65. Bancroft, in his orig. ed., ix. 134, charges Hopkins with incompetency, but omits the accusation in his final revision, v. 50.—ED.

[1238] Cf. _United Service_, xii. 411.

[1239] _American Archives_, ii. 1394.

[1240] There is a portrait of Biddle in the Pennsylvania Hist. Soc. gallery. _Catal. of Paintings_, no. 138.

[1241] The government of South Carolina gave him four war-vessels of their own, and early in 1778 he went out to meet the English blockading squadron of four vessels, hoping to find himself of superior force to them. He did not meet the squadron, but east of the Barbadoes, on the 7th of March, he did meet the "Yarmouth", sixty-four guns, and, apparently relying on the four small vessels he had with him, he bravely engaged her. But after an action of twenty minutes the "Randolph" blew up, nor was it until five days after that a part of her crew were picked up by the "Yarmouth" on a piece of the wreck. The other vessels of Biddle's squadron escaped.

[1242] The reader will be interested in his own simple account of the voyage, as contained in his report to Franklin and the other commissioners. We print it from his manuscript as a good illustration of the straightforward loyalty of the man.

PORT LEWIS, _Feb'y 14th, 1777_.

GENTLEMEN,—This will inform you of my safe arrival after a tolerable successful cruise, having captured 3 sail of Brigs, one snow, and one ship. The Snow is a Falmouth Packet bound from thence to Lisbon. She is mounted with 16 guns and had near 50 men on board. She engaged near an hour before she struck. I had one man killed. My first Lieut. had his left arm shot off above the elbow, and the Lieut. of Marines had a musquet ball lodged in his wrist. They had several men wounded, but none killed. I am in great hopes that both my wounded officers will do well, as there are no unfavorable symptoms at present. Three of our Prizes are arrived, and I expect the other two in to-morrow. As I am informed that there has been two American Private ships of war lately taken and carried into England, I think it would be a good opportunity to negotiate and exchange prisoners, if it could be done; but I submit to your better judgment to act as you think proper. I should be very glad to hear from you as soon as possible, and should be much obliged if you would point out some line or mode to proceed by in disposing of prisoners and prizes, as nothing will be done before I receive your answer to this. I hope you'll excuse my being more particular at present.

From, Gentlemen, Your most obliged h'ble serv't, LAMB'T WICKES.

[1243] "This will inform you", he writes on the 12th of August, "of my present unhappy situation. The Judges of the Admiralty have received orders of the 6th inst. from the Minister at Paris, ordering them not to suffer me to take any cannon, powder, or other military stores on board, or to depart from this port on any consideration whatever, without further orders from Paris. In consequence of these orders, they came on board on Saturday to take all my cannon out and to unhang my rudder. I have prevented this for the present by refusing to let them take rudder or cannon without producing an order from the minister for so doing. As I told them, my orders corresponded with theirs in regard to continuing in port, but I had no order to deliver anything belonging to the ship to them, which I would not do without orders, and if the ministers insisted on it, made no doubt but you would give your orders accordingly, which would be readily complied with on my part when such orders were received. My powder is stopped, and they have been contented with taking my written parole not to depart until I receive their permission."

[1244] On the questions arising from the carrying of prisoners by the American cruisers into European ports, see Hale's _Franklin in France_, ch. xi. and xviii. On American prisoners in England, see _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, June, '82, p. 428; _Memoirs of Andrew Sherburne_, p. 81; occupants of Old Mill prison, near Plymouth, _N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg._, 1865, pp. 74, 136, 209; occupants of Forton, and journal of Timothy Connor in _Ibid._, xxx. 3, 175, 343; xxxi. 18, 212, 288; xxxii, 70, 165, 280; xxiii. 36; journal of Samuel Custer, etc., _Ibid._, Jan., 1878; Charles Herbert's _Relics of the Rev., Amer. prisoners in England_ (Boston, 1847), with lists of names and the edition of 1854, called _The Prisoners of 1776, compiled from Herbert's Journal by R. Livesey_; narratives in Moore's _Diary_, ii. 344, 437. In 1780 there was reprinted in London, to be sold for the benefit of the American prisoners then in England, a _Poetical Epistle to George Washington_, by the Rev. Charles Perry Wharton of Maryland, which had been originally printed in Annapolis in 1779. There was prefixed to it an unusual portrait of Washington, "engraved by W. Sharp from an original picture."

Perhaps the most distinguished of the Americans confined in the English prisons was Joshua Barney, and the story of his several confinements and escapes is told in _A Biographical Memoir of the late Commodore Joshua Barney, from autobiographical notes and journals in the possession of his family_, by Mary Barney (Boston, 1832). Cf. Lossing in _Field-Book_, ii. 850; _Harper's Monthly_, xxiv. 161; _Cyclop. U. S. Hist._, i. 105—ED.

[1245] _Almon's Remembrancer._

[1246] Landais survived until the year 1818, when he died at the age of eighty-seven years, in the city of New York.

[1247] See Hutchinson's _Diary_, at the date of D'Estaing's sailing.

[1248] See Notes, following this chapter.

[1249] It is printed in _Franklin in France_.

[1250] For accounts of Barry, see Dennie's _Portfolio_, x.; _United Service Mag._ (xii. 578), May, 1885, by Admiral Preble; Lossing's _Field-Book_, ii. 847; Scharf and Westcott's _Philadelphia_, i. 304. The narrative of Luke Matthewman, one of Barry's lieutenants, is in the _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, ii. 175, copied from the _N. Y. Packet_, 1783.—ED.

[1251] A MS. journal of a cruise on board the brigantine of war "Tyrannicide", in the service of the State of Massachusetts Bay, John Allen Hallet commander, in 1778, is in the Boston Public Library.—ED.

[1252] The log of the "Protector" is in the library of the N. E. Hist. Geneal. Society. Cf. Ebenezer Fox's _Revolutionary Adventures_ (Boston, 1838); _Mem. Hist. Boston_, iii. 187.—ED.

[1253] The following is an official list, sent to Franklin in March, 1780, of the navy of the United States at that time:—

"America" (74 guns), Captain John Barry, on the stocks at Portsmouth, N. H.

"Confederacy" (36 guns), Seth Harding, refitting at Martinico.

"Alliance" (36 guns), Paul Jones, in France.

"Bourbon" (36 guns), Thomas Read, on the stocks in Connecticut.

"Trumbull" (28 guns), James Nicholson, ready for sea in Connecticut.

"Deane" (28 guns), Sam'l Nicholson, on a cruise.

"Providence" (28 guns), Ab'm Whipple; "Boston" (28 guns), Sam'l Tucker; "Queen of France" (20 guns), I. Rathbourne; "Ranger" (18 guns), S. Sampson,—within the Bar at Charleston, S. C., to defend that harbor.

"Saratoga" (18 guns), J. Young, on the stocks at Philadelphia.

Cf. _Sparks MSS._, xlix. vol. iii.

[1254] See chap. vi.

[1255] The table on a later page shows that there were nearly 90,000 Continentals and militia on the rolls at different times during 1776; but it is not probable that 70,000 were in service at any single time, and the terms of service were short.—ED.

[1256] There is a curious difficulty as to the name of this little vessel. In printed histories she is sometimes called the "Penet" and sometimes the "Perch." There is no question that the State owned a vessel called the "Penet", which was named from one of the mercantile agents in Nantes. But, after a careful examination of the manuscript of the journals of Mr. Austin, who carried the news, we are satisfied that the vessel was the "Perch", and that she is called the "Penet" in some of the manuscripts only from an error of the early copyists.

[1257] A third edition was printed at Cooperstown in 1848. Editions with revisions and additions were issued at New York in 1853 and 1856, use being made in part of matter collected by Cooper himself. An abridged edition was published in New York in 1856. There were other editions in London, Paris, and Brussels. Cooper's _Lives of distinguished Naval Officers_ (Philad., 1846) includes only Paul Jones of the Revolutionary period.

[1258] Second ed., London, 1866. The first ed. was in 1863.

[1259] There are a few accessory books: J. Rolfe's _Naval Biography during the Reign of George III._ (London, 1828, in two volumes,—Sabin, xvi. 67,601). _The Detail of some particular services performed in America during the years 1776-1779_ (printed for Ithiel Town, N. Y., 1835,—Sabin, v. 19,775) had previously appeared in _The Naval Chronicle_, and consists, in the main, of a journal supposed to be kept on board his Majesty's ship "Rainbow", while under the command of Sir George Collier, on the American coast. Town says that the book was privately printed from a manuscript obtained by him in London in 1830, and it is said that all but seventy copies were destroyed by fire. There is a copy in Harvard College library, and others are noted in the Brinley (no. 4,002) and Cooke (no. 708) sales.

John Adams sent to Congress in 1780 an account of the naval losses of Great Britain from the beginning of the war (_Diplom. Corresp._, iv. 483, v. 234). A similar statement (1776-1781) on the British side is in the _Political Magazine_, ii. 452.

[1260] In January, 1763, peremptory orders were sent from England to the governor and company of Connecticut to put a stop to the Susquehanna settlement. In September of the same year, Governor Fitch wrote to the board of trade that he had strictly obeyed the orders; that a delegation from the Six Nations had been received, and in the presence of the assembly he had announced the commands of his majesty; that this had apparently satisfied the natives. (_Trumbull MSS._, Mass. Hist. Soc.)

[1261] In Proud's _History of Pennsylvania_, ii. p. 326, there is a note containing an extract from an "authentic publication", entitled _A narrative of the late massacres in Lancaster County, of a member of Indians, friends of this Province_ (Philadelphia, 1764). In this narrative (which was written by Franklin,—cf. Sparks's _Franklin_, i. 273; iv. 56), religious enthusiasm, "chiefly Presbyterian", is the alleged motive for the outbreak. See, also, a reprint of a curious pamphlet on the massacre of the Conestogoe Indians by the Paxton Boys, in the _Hist. Mag._, July, 1865, p. 203. For other tracts see _Carter-Brown Catal._, iii. 1,407-1,415; Field's _Indian Bibliog._, nos. 854, 1,187, 1,193, 1,331; _Brinley Catal._, nos. 3,062-3,070; Hildeburn's _Penna. Press_, ii. nos. 2,029-2,034; cf. _Penna. Hist. Soc. Coll._, i. 73; _Zeisberger_, by Schweinitz, 274; Graydon's _Memoirs_, 49; and letter of Richard Peters in _Aspinwall Papers_, ii. 508.—ED.

[1262] In Reed's _Reed_, i. p. 35, there is a letter from Dr. John Ewing, coolly discussing this transaction, as if it were a laudable attempt on the part of the frontier inhabitants to relieve themselves in a perfectly justifiable way from a source of danger. He says, "there was not a single act of violence, unless you call the Lancaster affair such, although it was no more than going to war with that tribe."

[1263] The Conestogoes belonged to the Five Nations, but had no connection with the Tuscaroras. The Five Nations put in a claim for the land of the Conestogoes, as "their relations and next heirs." (Sir William Johnson to Governor Penn, Feb. 9, 1764, _Penna. Archives_, iv. p. 162.)

[1264] His correspondence with Gage is in the _Doc. Hist. N. Y._, ii. 833 _et seq._

[1265] The question of the rights of Indian women in lands of the tribes forms part of the discussion in the paper by Lucien Carr, entitled "The social and political condition of women among the Huron-Iroquois tribes." (_Report xvi. of the Peabody Museum_, pp. 216-218.) Instances are on record where transfers were compelled by the women in opposition to the wishes of the chiefs, and where they prevented sales, the terms of which had been arranged by the men. At the conference at Canajoharie Castle in 1763, where the Mohawks submitted one of their numerous complaints against settlers for stealing their lands, all the women present interrupted the speaker, and declared that they "did not choose to part with their lands and be reduced to make brooms for a living." The fraudulent transfers alluded to in the text had already attracted the attention of the authorities. By proclamation, dated October 7, 1763, the king had forbidden private individuals to purchase land from Indians.

[1266] "After the peace, numbers of the frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, etc., animated with a spirit of frenzy, under pretext of revenge for past injuries, though in manifest violation of British faith and the strength of the late treaties, robbed and murdered sundry Indians of good character, and still continue to do so, vowing vengeance against all that come in their way; whilst others forcibly established themselves beyond even the limits of their own governments in the Indian country."

[1267] At this date the Mohawk Valley, as far west as the boundary line, was jointly occupied by the whites and the Mohawk tribe. Immediately to the west of that line, in the neighborhood of Oneida Lake, lived the Oneidas. Both Mohawks and Oneidas had extensive hunting-grounds to the north. The Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas severally lived upon the lakes which to-day bear the names of those tribes. The Tuscaroras occupied land which had been allotted them immediately to the south of the Oneida country, and had also a section on the Susquehanna. [See Colden's map in Vol. IV. 491, and the maps in Vol. III. 281, 293.—ED.] The whole number of the confederacy did not exceed 10,000 souls, of whom 2,000 were warriors, more than one half being Senecas. The most conspicuous tribe among the Ohio Indians was the Shawanese. They were a source of terror to the Virginia settlers, and had a hand in most of the invasions of Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They numbered about 300 warriors, and lived in Ohio on the Scioto and its branches. The Delawares, counting 600 warriors, were scattered from the Susquehanna Valley to Lake Erie; 200 Wyandots lived near Sandusky. These and other tribes living on the border or in Canada, who were classified as allies of the Six Nations, numbered in all about 2,000 warriors. The other tribes living east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio, with whom the British had dealings, or of whom they had knowledge, were classified as the "Ottawa Confederacy, comprehending the Twightwees or Miamis", and numbered about 8,000 warriors, of whom 3,000 lived near Detroit. In all, there were, according to this estimate, which is from Sir William Johnson's papers, about 12,000 warriors. [See Sketch map in Vol. IV. 298.—ED.]

A similar computation of the "gun-men or effectives" in the South, made by Sir James Wright in 1773, shows that over 9,500 men could be furnished by the Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and Catawbas. From other sources we have estimates which include tribes omitted by the above authorities, from which it would appear probable that there were about 35,000 warriors east of the Mississippi, in the United States and across the straits at Detroit. There is a difference of opinion as to the proportion of warriors to the total population. Apparently the proportion varied in different tribes. Some observers have placed the number as high as six to one; others, as low as three to one. Between four and five to one appears to be about the number furnished by the averages of the best observers. This will give for a total Indian population east of the Mississippi, in the United States and along the lakes near Detroit, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, 150,000 persons.

[1268] "My intelligence informs me", wrote Governor Penn to Lord Dunmore, March 1, 1775, "that your lordship has set up an office for granting lands far within the limits of this province, and that lands already patented by me have been granted by your lordship."

[1269] Guy Johnson refers to the success of his interference on this occasion in his letter to the magistrates and others of Palatine, Canajoharie, and the upper districts, dated May 20, 1775, quoted in Stone's _Brant_, i. p. 65.

[1270] Accustomed as the inhabitants of the Northern colonies had been to coöperating with Indians in the several wars with the French, the proposition to make use of their services did not excite the universal feeling of horror which would be aroused by the same proposition to-day. On the contrary, it was regarded as a natural and inevitable condition attached to the war that the natives should be engaged upon the one side or the other; and rumors of the friendly disposition of this tribe, and of the number of warriors which that tribe would furnish to the cause, found their way into the journals of that day. It was evident that Indian auxiliaries would be of greater military value to the English than to the Americans. The English army would be practically an army of invasion. There were no English homes exposed to destruction. The use of savages by the Americans would not keep out of the field a single Englishman for the protection of the scalps of his family. Nevertheless, it was felt by the colonists that all the tribes that could be secured would be an advantage gained. Such evidently was the opinion of the men composing the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay, who first met the question, and, even before the battle of Lexington, solved it by employing some of the Stockbridge Indians as minute-men. The records of that body go far towards justifying the statement made by Gen. Gage at Boston (June 12, 1775), that the "rebels" were "bringing as many Indians down here as they could collect."

[1271] In this letter to Kirkland the assertion is made that the step was taken because of information received that "those who are inimical to us in Canada have been tampering with the natives." In the _American Archives_, 4th series, ii. p. 244, is a letter dated Montreal, March 29th, from J. Brown to Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, Committee of Correspondence of Boston, in which Brown's mission is betrayed even without his credentials. He was prospecting the ground with a view to future operations. He reports that "the Indians say they have been repeatedly applied to and requested to join with the king's troops to fight Boston, but have peremptorily refused, and still intend to refuse. They are a simple politick people, and say that if they are obliged, for their own safety, to take up arms on either side, they shall take part on the side of their brethren the English in New-England." In the same letter Brown states as a secret that Ticonderoga must be seized on the beginning of hostilities. Samuel Adams, one of the committee to whom Brown's letter was addressed, was also a member of the committee which drafted the letter to Kirkland. If Brown's letter did not reach Adams in time to inspire the suggestion of "tampering", it indicates at least the character of the rumors. The English writers (like Mahon, vi. 35) look upon the plea of "tampering" as a pretence; and Dartmouth, in July and August, 1775, called his orders retaliatory ones. We know that there was little for the colonists to apprehend from Carleton on this score. His opposition to the enlistment of Indians for service outside Canada drew forth complaints afterward from Guy Johnson (_N. Y. Col. Docs._, viii. p. 636). Still less was there cause for apprehension if the Caughnawagas were going to take sides with the colonists. It was probably understood that the statements of these Canadian Indians could not be implicitly relied upon.