DESOLATION OF THE HAPPY VALLEY. 391 relative of the Tory leader-being then at home on a brief visit from the army, had hastily gathered together what fragments of the shattered and broken militia he could, and he advanced to the unequal struggle. Desperate as were the chances, and fearful the odds, the betrayed colonists resisted the onset with unparalleled heroism; but, overwhelmed by numbers, the defenders, amounting perhaps to four hundred, were hopelessly cut down. The spear and the tomahawk did their dreadful work. But the battle, which began at four o'clock, was desperately contested till dark. Night revealed still greater horrors. Those who had escaped immediate Jeath fled to Fort Wyoming and Old Forty, two feeble stockade defences, where the old men, the women and their children, with the sick, the infirm and the dying, had ere this sought shelter. 'Naked, panting and bloody, the few who had escaped came rushing into Wilkesbarré Fort, where, trembling with anxiety, the women and children were gathered, waiting the dread issue. The appalling "all is lost" proclaimed their utter helplessness. They fly to the mountains-the evening is approaching. The dreary swamp and the "Shades of Death" [the name of the morass where so many dragged themselves to die] before them-the victorious hell-hounds are opening on their track. They look back on the valley-all around the flames of desolation are kindling. They cast their eyes in the range of the battle-field-numerous fires speak their own horrid purpose. They listen! The exulting yell of the savage strikes the ear! Again a shriek of agonizing woe! Who is the sufferer? It is the husband of one who is gazing!—the father of her children.'' The prisoners who had not fallen dead on the field were reserved for torture. On a flat rock, two miles north of Fort Forty, twenty-five of them were enclosed by a circle of Indians, and their squaws rushed up and struck their heads open with the tomahawk, while over their warm, bleeding bodies these priestesses of the sacrifice chanted their horrible incantations; and the victorious warsongs of the chiefs rang out on the night-mantled mountains. The brutal vengeance of the savages was glutted for the night. Fort Wyoming, which had been the chief place of refuge, was spared till the next morning, when the savage band came up with their petrifying yells, throwing down before horrified innocence and affection, upwards of two hundred scalps of the beings best loved on earth. Scenes followed too frightful to relate. Every dwelling in the vale was a smoking ruin; and the mangled corpses of over three hundred of the late dwellers of the happy valley lay scattered on the plain. Indian Slaughter the Policy of the War.-This Wyoming Massacre was a part of the policy of the British ministry, settled in the councils of the king in his own palace, and persisted in by him from the beginning to the close of the war. It was not an inspiration of mere slaughter for an emergency, nor was the ministry ever able to fasten the responsibility of these deeds upon their subordinates. As I have already shown, it was as much a part of the machinery for subjugating the Colonies, as regular troops, munitions of war 1 Hon. Charles Miner's Letters. 392 INDIAN SLAUGHTER-British POLICY. or a commissariat. The Colonies would not be taxed without representation and they must be made to do it. When it could not be done by a regular army, with brave men well managed in battle, the wives and mothers, the babes and daughters of Americans must be scalped and brained by the tomahawk in their defenceless dwellings along unprotected settlements. No fur. ther proof is needed than official documents thickly strewn through the records of that period.' Revolting as it is, the same record must be repeated in every impartial history. The sentimentalism of the present age may plead that such recitals should not be revived. But when we read that these atrocities were conceived by a great sovereign, and the ministers of a great empire, and their execution made imperative upon their officers,-when instructions were sent to 'spare neither age, sex, nor condition'—that the infant that had not yet learned to speak its mother's name, and the aged, standing by the grave, were stricken down by the same tomahawk-that young girls were butchered in the presence of their mothers, and wherever the savages were attended, as they generally were, by British soldiers, or Tories, or other allies in their employment, the persons of the maidens were first violated and then killed-I know of no reason why this record should be blotted out on the contrary, I think it should be preserved for two reasons-first, to show the atrocities of war, and second, how exacting and merciless is despotism in its outrages on human rights. It has indeed, often been attempted by English apologists to extenuate the guilt of the crime; they have spoken of the mistakes that were committed, and that even English women were killed by the Indian allies of Great Britain. But these heartless cruelties admit of no defence. There was here no Cawnpore massacre to avenge; America had no Nana Sahib; nor had any cruelties been perpetrated upon Romans by Carthaginian conquerors in some Punic war. Nor would we recur to such records to inflame a spirit of patriotism. We have no Hannibals to lead to the altar to swear eternal vengeance on our enemies. But it does no harm to have some millions of the descendants of those victims of British tyranny sometimes remember the names, or the deeds of ancestors who died such fearful deaths. They will love their country none the less, nor will they on the land or the sea love the enemies of their country any better, if they should ever be called to meet them in battle. It is estimated by careful computation, that during the Revolutionary War, not less than thirty thousand Indian warriors were hired to butcher our people, to burn their dwellings, and desolate their homes. It has even been supposed by judicious writers, that more persons died by this species of murder, than were slain in open battle. I am well aware that ministers were in Col. Gansevoort, in a letter under date of July 29th, confirms the statement, that St. Leger had offered twenty dollars for every American scalp. Small parties of Indians were then lurking around. A few days before, he adds, a firing was heard in the woods about five hundred yards from the fort. On sallying out, it was found that the Indians had fired upon three young girls who were engaged picking berries. Two of them were killed and scalper, and the third made her es cape, wounded by two balls shot through her shoulder. The foregoing statements need no comment. The men who employed such instruments, and who stimulated them by promises and rewards, have received the just execration of an indignant people. I shall leave it tc the reader to compare their conduct with their professions.-Border Warfare of New York, by William W. Campbell. FRENCH FLEET IN AMERICAN WATERS. 393 lignantly rebuked in the House of Commons, and in the House of Lords, as well as by humane and just Englishmen everywhere, for this atrocious policy But when we were forced in 1812, into the Second War for Independence, these rebukes proved to have been unheeded; for the same means were re sorted to then; and if a collision at this late day should come with the British empire, it would doubtless be resorted to once more. True, such a contingency may not now seem probable; for British statesmen in cur immediate times, seem more disposed to achieve conquests by the peaceful and omnipotent sway of commerce, than by the old instruments of savagery which have so often darkened the history of their former conquests. The French Fleet in American Waters. - The destination of Count D'Estaing's fleet had been the mouth of the Delaware. Learning however, that the British fleet was safe in Raritan Bay-because the heavy French menof war could not pass the bar at Sandy Hook-the French admiral, with the concurrence of Washington, spread his sails for Newport to assist the Americans in driving the British from Rhode Island, where preparations were made for attacking them by land and sea.' Closing of the Year 1778.—The war of the Revolution had now been going on nearly four years, and when the campaign of 1778 was closed, our enemies. found little cause for congratulation. After all their expenditure of life and treasure, they were still hemmed in on two islands-New York and Rhode Island—two hundred miles apart, while the Republicans held every other stronghold in the country. On the third of November, D'Estaing had sailed for the West Indies to attack the British possessions, and the English fleet was obliged to follow him to defend them. A Campaign against the Southern States. Utterly defeated in some places, and foiled in others, and seeing little hope of striking an effectual blow at the North, their armies were directed towards the Southern States. Henry Clinton sent three thousand men to Georgia, under Colonel Campbell. Lafayette describes the position: General Washington, wishing to make a diversion on Rhode Island, ordered General Sullivan, who commanded in that State, to assemble his troops. The fleet stationed itself in the channel which leads to Newport, and I was ordered to conduct a detachment of the great army to General Sullivan, who is my senior in command. After many delays which were very annoying to the fleet, and many circumstances which it would be too long to relate, all our preparations were made, and we landed on the island with twelve thousand men, many of them militia, of whom I commanded one-half upon the left side. M. D'Estaing had entered the channel the day before in spite of the English batteries. General Pigot had enclosed himself in the respectable fortifications of Newport. The evening of our arrival, the English fleet appeared before the channel with all the vessels that Lord Howe had been able to collect, and a reinforcement of four thousand men for the enemy, who had already from five to six thousand men. A north wind blew most fortunately for us the next day, and the French fleet, passing gallantly under a sharp fire from the batteries, to which they replied with broadside shot, prepared themselves to accept the conflict which Lord Howe was apparently proposing to them. The Sir English admiral suddenly cut his cables and fled at full sail, warmly pursued by all our vessels with the admiral at the head. This spectacle was given dur ing the finest weather possible, and within sight of the English and American armies. I never felt so proud as on that day. The next day when the victory was on the point of being completed, and the guns of the Languedoc were directed towards the English fleet, at this most glori ous moment for the French navy, a sudden gale, fol lowed by a dreadful storm, separated and dispersed the French vessels, Howe's vessels, and those of Biron, which, by a singular accident, had just arrived there. The Languedoc and the Marseillaise were dismasted, and the Cæsar was afterwards unheard of for some time. To find the English fleet was impossible. M. D'Estaing returned to Rhode Island, remained two days to ascertain whether General Sullivan wished to retire, and then entered the Boston harbor. Dur ing these various cruises, the fleet took or burnt six English frigates, and a large number of vessels of which several were armed; and they also cleared the coast and opened the harbors.'—Lafayette's Memoirs, vol. i., pp. 208-209. 394 A MARAUDING EXPEDITION TO VIRGINIA. An attack was made upon Savannah, December 29, 1778, which, being in ar unprotected condition, fell into the hands of the enemy after an obstinate resistance. The Americans were obliged to retire, and they hurried on by forced marches to South Carolina. Georgia was then one of the feeblest of the Colonies; and it is doubtful if, even with larger means of resistance at her disposal, she would have felt prepared to go into the Revolution with so much decision, and at so early a period as South Carolina, and the other States. She was the only colony in which a legislature assembled under royal authority, after the Declaration of Independence. Her devotion, however, to the national cause was afterwards signally demonstrated. General Lincoln takes Command of the Southern Forces.-St. Augustine was held by the British troops under the command of General Prevost. He received orders from Clinton to march to Savannah, where, by efficient action, he soon unfurled the royal standard from every important post, and all Georgia fell into the hands of the royalists. The British believed that the Tories of the South constituted a leading portion of the entire community; and acting upon this belief, they moved up the river to Augusta, where emissaries were sent out, to stir up the royalists to arms, by promise of great rewards, and the gratification of every personal revenge. Colonel Boyd got together a formidable force, and commenced the work of pillage and destruction on his march; but he was met by a detachment of brave Carolinians, under Colonel Pickens, who, after a hard contest, put them to utter rout. General Lincoln, with his headquarters at Charleston, sent his detachment of two thousand of the Carolina militia, to take one of the strongest positions the British held in Georgia; but he was surprised by General Prevost, and his raw recruits were put to flight. They fled almost without firing a gun, and many of them in their precipitation were lost in the marshes, or drowned in the river. Having thus succeeded in establishing the royal authority in Georgia, a colonial government was organized by General Prevost, who carried the war into South Carolina, succeeded in driving the Americans, under General Moultrie, from Black Swamp and Puryburg, and appeared before Charleston on the 11th of May. But that city was too bravely defended by General Lincoln and Governor Rutledge, to be taken. Clinton sends a Marauding Expedition to Virginia.—Irritated at the partial failure of the British attempts in the South, Sir Henry Clinton sent, in May, a fleet from New York, with two thousand men under Gen. Matthews, to ravage and conquer Virginia. Every town they could reach, they reduced to ashes-Portsmouth, Norfolk, Gosport, and Suffolk were indiscriminately and barbarously burned. But no impression was made upon the mass of the people, except to inspire them with a still more determined spirit of opposition to their barbarous foe. Clinton recalled his troops to New York. Once more the British commanders attempted to carry out their favorite ANTHONY WAYNE STORMS STONY POINT. 395 зcheme of establishing a line of posts along the Hudson, from New York to Canada, to cut off communication between the Eastern and Southern States. Gen. Clinton advanced and got possession, June 1st, of the important forts of Stony, and Verplank's Points. Mad Anthony Wayne storms Stony Point.-It commands the Hudson from the west side of the river, and was one of the most important positions in the whole country. After its works had been completed by the British, it was regarded as almost impregnable. Standing where it was washed by the river on two sides, and protected by a swamp overflowed by the tide on the other side, garrisoned by six hundred men and two rows of abattis, it was a bold enterprise to undertake its reduction. But Washington deemed Gen. Wayne equal to the enterprise,' and with twelve hundred men, on the 15th of July, 1779, he marched fourteen miles through a wild, rugged country, passing lofty heights, narrow defiles, and deep morasses till evening, when he found himself within a mile of the fort. Success depended now chiefly on silence and secrecy, and the entire body marched with unloaded muskets, and fixed bayonets, approaching the fort in two divisions on opposite sides. In the mean time the tide had overflown the marsh ; but these determined men went straight through it. At last the advance-guard reached the palisade, and began their attack. The shout of alarm was set up by the sentinels, but from the advance column rang the clear voice of the gallant Wayne, 'On to the fort.' Balls, shells, and bullets were poured down upon them, but they pressed on. As they were scaling the fort, Wayne fell, shot in the head; but he had time still to cry-On, my brave men-carry me to the fort, for I will die at the head of my column.' They bore him into the fort, where, still bleeding, he gave his orders till the garrison surrendered, when he was laid senseless on the ground. But the wound not being mortal, he soon revived, and calling for a sheet of paper, he wrote and instantly despatched the following words to Washington: The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours. Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined to be free.'" 6 The achievement elicited the warmest praises from Washington, and the affair at Stony Point has always been regarded as one of the most brilliant of But Washington was too short of men to hold the place as a garri the war. 1 In proposing this to Wayne -the only man in the army he would choose for so desperate an enterprise he asked him if he would undertake it-' General,' was the reply, if you will only plan it, I will storm h-ll.' Wayne's wound proved not to be severe-the ball having only grazed the skull for two inches, and he lived to wear the laurels a grateful nation placed on his brow. The country rung with his name, and Congress presented him with a gold medal. The whole plan of the assault was most skillfully laid, and the bearing of Wayne throughout gallant in the extreme. He chose the post of danger at the head of his column, and led his men where even the bravest might shrink to follow, and when struck and apparently dying, heroically demanded to be carried forward, that he might die in the arms of victory, or be left where the last stand was made. His troops were worthy of such a leader, and more gallant offices never led men into battle. Their humanity was equal to their bravery, for notwithstand ng the barbarous massacres, perpetrated by the Eng lish, they did not kill a single man after he had asked for quarter. Eulogiums came pouring in upon from every direction. His was one of those stormy natures that delight in dangers, and find their appropriate life in scenes of great action and excitement. This perhaps amounted to a fault in him, for, Cæsar-like, he could never refuse an offered battle, whatever the terms might be. He seemed to look upon it as a privilege he might not soon enjoy again, and hence was inclined to take the best advantage of it he could still, there was nothing ferocious in his character, and none of those sordid quali ties which so often dim the lustre of a great warrior. Generous, frank, and cordial, he loved two things su premely-his country and glory. For these he would undergo any toil, submit to any privation, and risk any death. He fought nobly, maintained nis honor untar nished to the last, and stands in the front rank of the defenders of their country.-J. T. Headley's Was ington and his Generals, pp. 328, 340. |