Part 28

They begin their march about seven o’clock in the evening of October the third. Gen. Washington is with the divisions of Sullivan and Wayne. He expects, that if the enemy has gained timely intelligence of his march, they will wait for him on Chesnut-hill, and receive him as he comes out of the woods.—When arrived on the hill without any appearance of opposition, he is congratulated upon the persuasion that the British will be completely surprised. About sun-rise on the fourth the attack is begun on the 40th regiment, and the battalion of light-infantry which accompanies it. These corps are overpowered and pursued. In this exigence lieutenant colonel Musgrave throws himself with six compananies of the fortieth regiment, into Mr. Chew’s stone house, lying full in the front of the Americans.—These halt. A discourse ensues between generals Knox and Reed in the presence of the commander in chief, whether or not to advance without first reducing the house. Knox urges, that it is contrary to all military rule to leave a fort possessed by an enemy in their rear. Reed exclaims—“What! call this a fort, and lose the happy moment!” Conway is inquired after to give his judgment but cannot be found. It is agreed to send a flag to the house and summons the British officer to surrender. A young person undertakes to carry it. He approaches, is fired upon, and killed. Mean while gen. Greene gets up with his column, and attacks the right wing of the enemy. The morning being exceeding foggy, prevents the Americans from fully improving the advantages they gain. Col. Matthews of Greene’s column, attacks with uncommon spirit, routs the parties opposed to him, kills a great number, and makes 110 prisoners; but, through the fog, loses sight of the brigade he belongs to, is separated from it, and is taken prisoner with his whole regiment, accampanied with the release of all whom he had captured. A number of Greene’s troops are stopped, by the halt of the division before Chew’s house, where near or quite one half of gen. Washington’s army remains some time inactive. During this inactivity, gen. Gray, bringing the front of a great part of the left wing by a timely movement to German-town, leads on three battalions of the third brigade and attacks with vigor, being supported by gen. Agnew at the head of the fourth brigade. A warm engagement ensues. At the same time two British regiments attacks on the opposite side of the town; while general Grant moves up the 49th regiment, to the aid of the 4th, which is employed in supporting the troops engaged with Greene’s column. The fog is so great that at times you cannot see twenty yards before you, and frequently not more than fifty. It occasions the American parties mistaking each other for the enemy, and prevents their observing the true situation of the latter. Owing hereto in a great measure, the Americans quit every part of the town: and when gen. Grey, having passed it, advances with the British right wing upon their left, they leave the field hastily and entirely, in spite of every effort that can be made to rally them. Lord Cornwallis arrives with a squadron of light-horse just in season to join in the pursuit. Greene with his own and Stephen’s division, happens to form the last column of the retreating Americans. Upon coming to two roads, and thinking it will be safest, and may prevent the enemy’s advancing by either so as to get a head of him; and that the divisions may aid each other upon occasion, he marches one division on the one road, and the second on the other. While continuing his retreat, Pulaski’s cavalry who are in his rear, being fired upon by the enemy, ride over the second divison, and throw them into the utmost disorder as they know not at first but that they are the British dragoons. The men run and scatter, and the general is apprehensive that he shall loss his artillery. He cannot collect a party sufficient to form a rear guard, till he hits upon the device of ordering the men to lay hold of each other’s hands. This answers. He collects a number, and by the help of the artillery, brings the enemy to give over the pursuit, after having continued it near five miles. The Americans then proceed in their march back to Shippach-creek without further disturbance.

The British officers acknowledged soon after this affair, that it was the severest blow they had met with; that it was planned with judgment and executed with spirit; and that they were at a lost for its not being followed up, unless it was for want of ammunition. The Americans lost in killed 25 continental officers commissioned and non-commissioned—wounded 102, and an equal number missing. The militia officers were, 3 killed—4 wounded and 11 missing. Of rank and file, continentals, 109 were killed, and 378 wounded—militia, 7 killed and 19 wounded. They had artillery officers, 2 killed and 11 wounded; and matrosses 6 killed and 7 wounded. The total of their killed was 152; and of their wounded 521.[58] Upward of 400 were made prisoners, among whom were 54 officers. The number of missing among the Americans is no rule by which to judge of the number captured by the enemy, as many of the missing, who do not return to their colours, go home. Gen. Nash of North-Carolina was among the slain, and will be honored by congress with a monument the same as other generals who have fallen in action, bravely contending for the independency of the United States.

The loss of the royal army, including the wounded and a few prisoners, amounted by their own acknowledgment, to 535; but the slain scarcely exceeded 70. Among these however were some distinguished officers, particularly gen. Agnew, and lieut. col. Bird. They suffered probably more than they allowed.[59] The battle, by general Knox’s watch, held two hours and forty minutes.

General Washington is of opinion that the Americans retreated at an instant when victory was declaring in their favor. The royal army was indeed completely surprised; and appearances in the beginning were evidently on the side of the former. But it is said that a certain colonel, not being sufficiently experienced, instead of pressing with fixed bayonets on the enemy whom he had driven, kept ordering his men, as they advanced, to load and fire, by which they expended their ammunition; and that, instead of halting on the ground till furnished afresh, he ordered his regiment to retreat. This retrogade manœuvre enabled and encouraged the enemy to recover themselves, while the other Americans, who were advancing, were disheartened and disconcerted by the retreating regiment, not knowing the occasion of such retreat. It is admitted however, that the colonel behaved boldly, by keeping himself in the rear, next to the enemy. Gen. Stephen was guilty of un-officer like behavior in the retreat, owing to inattention or want of judgment, which might occasion a whisper to be circulated unfavorable to gen. Greene. But upon gen. Reed’s asking the commander in chief whether he was dissatisfied with Greene’s conduct, he candidly answered “No, not at all; the fault lay with ourselves;” referring to the column with which he was, and their stopping to attack Chew’s stone house. Several causes might co-operate to effect the precipitate retreat of the American army. And yet had that column advanced without delay, leaving only a sufficient corps, with a couple of field-pieces, to guard the house, the obstacles to success that afterward offered, might have been removed or prevented, and Howe’s army have been totally defeated, unless the superiority of their discipline and bravery could have hindered.

A general who was in the action, wrote some time after to his correspondent—“At German-town fortune smiled on our arms for hours. The enemy were broke, dispersed and flying on all quarters; we were in possession of their whole encampment, together with their artillery park, &c. A _wind-mill_ attack was made on a house into which six light companies had thrown themselves to avoid our bayonets—this gave time to the enemy to rally—our troops were deceived by this attack; taking it for something formidable, they fell back to assist in what they deemed a serious matter. The enemy finding themselves no further pursued, and believing it to be a retreat, followed.——Confusion ensued, and we ran away from the arms of victory ready to receive us.”

Let us turn our attention for a moment to South-Carolina. The successes of the preceding year had humbled the Cherokees most completely. The Carolinians had built, held and continued to occupy Fort Rutledge, at Seneca, quietly and unopposed. The Indians, finding themselves thus vanquished, sued in the most submissive terms for peace. A treaty between them and South-Carolina took place, at which commissioners from Georgia attended, who concurred in and signed the articles of pacification on the 20th of May. By this treaty the Cherokees ceded a considerable part of their land to South-Carolina. By the eighth and last article, it is agreed—“The hatchet shall be for ever buried, and there shall be an universal peace and friendship re-established between South-Carolina, including the Catawba and Georgia, on the one part, and the Cherokee nation on the other; there shall be a general oblivion of injuries; the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace and friendship now re-established, and the Cherokees shall at all times, apprehend and deliver to the commanding officer at Fort Rutledge, every person, white or red, who in their nation or settlements, shall by any means endeavor to instigate a war by the Cherokee nation, or hostility or robbery by any of their people, against or upon any of the American states, or subjects thereof.”

Before we resume the narrative of military operations, let me mention that the New-York convention, authorised for that purpose the 20th of last April, have established the constitution of that state. When this was done, the freeholders chose for their governor, gen. George Clinton, a gentleman excellently well qualified to be at the head of the state at so interesting and perplexed a period. His namesake, Sir Henry, made an incursion into Jersey, from the 12th to the 16th of September, chiefly to collect cattle. He brought away 400 head, including 20 milch cows, 400 sheep and a few horses; in effecting it, he had 8 rank and file killed, 17 wounded, together with a lieutenant, 9 missing, beside a drummer, and 5 taken prisoners by the different parties of Americans that opposed him. The expedition contributes nothing toward subduing the country. The loss of the inhabitants will be the less felt on account of the uncommonly good crops of Indian corn with which they have been this year favored. It is surprising to find that country in so good order already. The harvest has been truly plentiful. Lest it should be forgotten, let me mention that most of the damage which the college building at Princeton sustained, must be charged to the American troops, who destroyed also the leaden pipes for the organ (which had been spared by the royal army) in order to supply themselves with a few bullets to fire at the enemy.

Now let us return to the northern department.

Lieut. col. St. Leger, whom gen. Burgoyne had early sent off toward the Mohawk river, after combating all the difficulties, natural and artificial, which offered on his way, invested Fort Stanwix, now Fort Scuyler, on the third of August. It was in so poor a state of defence, that an immediate attempt to drive off the enemy and relieve it, was absolutely necessary. Gen. Herkimer, a leading person in Tryon county, marched with more than 800 militia, on this service. St. Leger had with him about 700 Indian warriors, who with their wives, children, other men and women, made up near 1400. He detached Sir John Johnson, with some troops and the Indians, to lie in ambush in the woods and intercept the militia. [August 6.] Herkimer fell into the snare, and was surprised; but several of the chief Indians fell by the first fire he gave them; soon after which the battle was a scene of confusion beyond any thing the Indians had ever seen. The white people, consisting of the militia and Sir John Johnson’s tory troops, as his own corps is called, got together in parties of twenty or thirty, so that they could not fire, but pulled and hauled, drew their knives and stabbed each other. The Indians, who consisted of Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas, and others, after a while conjectured, from their own loss and the confusion which prevailed, that both Sir John’s people and Herkimer’s intended to destroy them; at length some of their chiefs told the young warriors, that it was a plot of the white people to draw them into a scrape and cut them off; and then ordered them to kill all white people whatever. It is thought that near as many of Sir John’s tory party were killed by the Indians as by the militia. A number of Herkimer’s ran off; about a hundred were so surrounded that they could not get away; but they possessed themselves of an advantageous post behind logs, &c. where they continued fighting the Indians with great bravery, till Sir John drew off his men, fearing that the garrison would sally out and fall upon him; near upon seventy of the hundred by this mean escaped. Two hundred and fifty men, under lieutenant-colonel Willet, sallied out about that time, and routed two of the Indian and tory encampments, destroying their provisions and carrying off kettles, blankets, muskets, tomahawks, spears, clothing, deer skins, a variety of Indian affairs, and five colours; which on their return to the fort were displayed under the continental flag. The loss on the side of the militia was 160 killed, beside the wounded. Gen. Herkimer was among the slain; congress have resolved to honor him with a monument. Many of the principal leaders on the American side, were either killed or wounded, so that all expectation of further attempts to relieve the fort by the assistance of militia, was at an end. The Indians however, were greatly disgusted. St. Leger had brought down with him a number who were neutral, to be spectators of the British conquering the Americans; and had engaged to them and the others, that he and his troops would clear the way for them to Albany. The victory gained had been purchased exceeding dear, according to their ideas; for they had more than seventy killed, and among them several of their most distinguished and favorite warriors. St. Leger left no mean untried to make the most of his victory. On the 8th he sent a flag to the fort, and endeavored to intimidate the garrison by magnifying his own strength; telling them that Burgoyne, after destroying every thing in his way, was at Albany; and declaring that the Indians were determined, if they met with further resistance, to destroy all the men, women and children on the Mohawk river, and as soon as they got into the fort, to kill every man belonging to it. Colonel Gansevoort, the commandant, refused making any answer, or to listen to any proposals unless made in writing. The next day St. Leger tried the same scheme by letter, and receiving for answer, that the colonel being entrusted with the charge of the garrison by the United States of America, he would defend the fort at every hazard, and to the utmost extremity. It was shrewdly remarked by those who were within, that not half the pains would have been taken to have displayed the force immediately without or the success at a distance, if they were any wise proportionable to the representation. The night before the letter was sent, col. Willet and lieut. Stockwell, a good woodsman (as they stile him who can steer his wished for course through the shady and pathless woods with a degree of certainty and readiness) undertook to attempt conveying intelligence down into the country, of the danger the fort was in, and of the necessity of relieving it. They left it at night, and crept upon their bellies for near half a mile, ere they could reach the Mohawk river. After passing it, they had to cross the path from the Indian camp, on which the Indians were continually going forward and backward; for a long time they had the Indian yells sounding in their ears on each side of them. They escaped eveery danger, and after travelling thirty miles, breakfasted the next morning upon blackberries, and pursued their journey about twenty miles further to German-flats. Gen. Scuyler, upon receiving the information at Stillwater, forwarded a continental brigade under gen. Learned; when to his great satisfaction Arnold offered to go and conduct the military operations in Tryon county, for the relief of the fort. After Herkimer’s battle, a nephew of his, Mr. Jost Cuyler, was taken and secured on suspicion of being a spy. A scheme was laid to make him serviceable to the business going forward. He was brought to Arnold, and it was settled, that if he would go and alarm the enemy, with representations of great numbers being on their march against them, so as to occasion their retreat, he should be liberated, and have his estate, which was very large, secured to him. He undertook it, being well qualified from his acquaintance with the Indian language and manners, and his possessing a good share of subtilty. The mode of procedure was settled in concert with some friendly Indians; by advice of one of their head men, Cuyler’s coat was shot though in two or three places, that so the tale he had to relate might be the more readily believed. The necessity of aggravating the numbers marching to the relief of Fort Scuyler was apparent, for when gen. Arnold had got to German-flats, he was convinced from the intelligence procured of the enemy’s strength, that it was much superior to his own; so that on the 21st he wrote to gen. Gates, who arrived at Stillwater and re-assumed the command of the northern department on the 19th, to send him a reinforcement of 1000 light troops. Cuyler proceeded immediately to the Indian camp, informed their warriors that vast numbers were coming against them; that major Butlar was taken, (which was a truth) and that several shot passed though his coat though he got off unhurt. When the Indian camp was thoroughly alarmed, one of the American friendly Indians arrived, an hour or two after Cuyler, with a belt, waited upon the chiefs, and confirmed the intelligence, adding, that the Americans did not want to hurt one of them—all they desired was to fall upon the British. An Indian in camp, unknown to Arnold, was secretly prevailed upon to aid the project, by going off unobserved, taking a circuit, and then coming into that part of the camp, where were those Indians who were most inimical, with a similar story to that of Cuyler’s. The Indians were completely frightened, and determined to go off. St. Leger in vain used every art to prevent it. He attempted making them drunk with rum, and then getting them to alter their resolution. Fond as they are of rum, they would not be taken in at this season of apprehending danger. He then would have prevailed with them to keep in the rear, while the other troops retreated. Neither would they do that; but told him—“You mean to sacrifice us. When we marched down, you told us there would be no fighting for us Indians; we might go down and smoke our pipes; whereas numbers of our warriors have been killed.”—Nothing could change their determination. They went off, and St. Leger was obliged to decamp, about noon of the 22d, in such hurry and confusion, as to leave his bombardier asleep in the bomb battery. His tents, with most of the artillery and stores, fell into the hands of the garrison. Some of the Indian Sachems, who were highly disgusted with him, concluded to play upon him, and divert themselves at his expence. In the evening, the flying troops came to a clay soil, pretty soft. St. Leger and Sir John Johnson were in an altercation, St. Leger reproaching Sir John about his Indians, and Sir John blaming St. Leger for not carrying on the siege differently. A couple of Indian chiefs upon a rising hill at a small distance, with light enough to observe their situation, and near enough to notice their wranglings which proceeded almost to fighting, directed an Indian to withdraw some considerable way behind them and then to run after them, crying out with all imaginable earnestness in the Indian language, _they are coming, they are coming_ and to continue it. St. Leger and Sir John, upon hearing the dismal note, made off as fast as they could, but often tumbled into the dirt. The men threw away their packs, and pushed off in the greatest hurry. The Indians renewed the joke; and continued thus and in the like ways to divert themselves, till the royalists arrived at the Oneida lake. The animosity between the two commanders rose at last to such height that they drew upon each other, meaning to settle the contest by the point of the sword. The Indians being fully satisfied that they had carried the jest far enough, and not being in a blood-thirsty humor, approached the parties with much gravity and friendship, interposed their good offices, recommended peace, made them friends, and carried off the secret of their own management, wherewith to entertain themselves and favorites in future[60]. Considering the predominant disposition of the Indians while retreating in consequence of the ill success that had attended St. Leger, and the loss they had sustained, it was not in the least surprising that they plundered several of the boats belonging to the army, and took even from the baggage of the officers what they fancied.