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Chapter 9 - part 2 · History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution

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  Section thirty one of History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American
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  Revolution, Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are
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  in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox
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  dot org. Read by Ted Liinhardt. History of the Rise, Progress and
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  Termination of the American Revolution, Volume one by Mercy Otis Warren, Chapter nine,
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  Part two. General Washington had rather incautiously encamped the bulk of his army
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  on Long Island, a large and plentiful district about two miles from the city
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  of New York. This island contained many settlements, to an extent of one
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  hundred and twenty miles in length. It was inhabited principally by loyalists and persons
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  generally disaffected to the American cause. Many were at a loss for reason,
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  nor indeed, could any conjecture why the commander of the American Army should hazard
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  as troops on an island liable at any moment to be surrounded by the British
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  Navy. However it was several thousand Americans were there, posted under the command
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  of the generals Putnam, Sullivan and William Alexander Lord Sterling. Sir William Howe
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  very wisely judged that it was a less arduous and a more promising undertaking to
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  dislodge the Americans from their encampment on the island than a direct attempt to reduce
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  New York. The Royal Army at that time consisted of about thirty thousand men.
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  These, he found no difficulty in landing from Staten Island, and in
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  detachments posted them from one end of Long Island to the other, separated from
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  the Americans by a ridge of hills covered with woods. Very fortunately for the
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  enterprise of the British, one of Themerican outguards early fell into the hands of
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  General Clinton. In consequence of some intelligence gained by this accident, he before
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  daylight on the morning of the twenty seventh of August, possessed himself of some
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  very advantageous heights, and made such a judicious arrangement of his troops as might
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  have ensured success even had the Americans been better prepared for the attack, which
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  at that time was rather unexpected. The assault was begun by the Hessian general
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  de Heister. He opened the cannonade in front of the American lines early on
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  the morning of the twenty eighth, a general engagement speedily ensued. Nearly the
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  whole of the British forces were called into action under the command of Sir Henry
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  Clinton, Earl Percy and Lord Cornwallis. By some fatal neglect, a very
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  important post was left unguarded by the American which was seized by the British troops,
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  who fought on this occasion with a spirit and bravery, becoming the experienced
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  commander and the hardy veteran. The American troops were early deranged. Apprized of
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  their danger, they with great resolution endeavored to recover their camp, But nearly
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  surrounded by the British, and pushed in the center by the Hessians, they
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  were so far from affecting their design that their retreat was nearly cut off.
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  Yet many of them desperately fought their way through some of the British lines,
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  and again bravely stood on their defense. Others, entangled in the woods and
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  marshes through which they endeavored to escape, were either captured or perished in the
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  attempt. In the midst of the general anxiety for the danger and distress of
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  the little army on Long Island, General Washington undoubtedly anxious to retrieve his mistake
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  in thus exposing them, passed over from New York to endeavor to secure the
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  retreat of the surviving troops. This was executed in the night of the twenty
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  ninth, without noise or tumult. The remainder of the broken regiments that had
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  outlived the fatal action abandoned the island with a considerable part of their baggage,
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  some artillery and military stores, and without no lestation, reached the city of
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  New York. They had made a bold and resolute stand against far superior numbers
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  and discipline, and it may be deemed fortunate that any of them escaped,
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  as on an island they might easily have been hemmed in by a small number
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  of British ships. Perhaps the commanders on both sides were afterwards sensible of their
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  error, the one in hazarding as troops in such an exposed situation, the
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  other in suffering a single American to escape either captivity or death. The loss
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  of men in this action was not inconsiderable on either side, but it fell
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  heavily on the Americans. Many brave men perished by the sword. Others,
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  as was observed, were lost in the morasses and swamps to which they had
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  fled. On the defeat, three general officers and the large number of inferior
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  rank were made prisoners. A regiment of valiant young men from Maryland, many
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  of them of family and fortune, commanded by the gallant Colonel Smallwood, were
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  almost to a man cut off. The misfortune of the day was severely felt
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  by them. But without checking the ardor of the American Army, the people,
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  or the Continental Congress. The same uniform dignity and unruffled superiority of mind
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  appeared in the judicious determinations of the United Delegates, in the conduct of the
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  state departments, and in the subsequent firmness of most of the military officers,
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  as before this defeat. But the success of their arms and the acquisition of
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  Long Island and exhilarated the spirits of the British, and gave hopes of more
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  compliant dispositions and a more ready acquiescence in the requisitions of ministers or the veto
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  of kings, and that the business of the Commissioners might now be brought forward
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  without further impediment. Not many days after the retreat from Long Island, Congress
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  was called upon to exhibit a new proof of their firmness. General Sullivan,
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  one of the captured officers, was dispatched on parole with a message to that
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  Assembly and the joint names of Lord and General Howe. The purport of the
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  message was that they had full powers and that they were disposed to treat on
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  terms of accommodation and peace. At the same time, they intimated that as
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  Congress was not considered in the eye of Majesty as a legal assembly, they
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  only desired a private conference with a few individuals belonging to that body. The
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  character and capacity of private gentlemen. To this extraordinary request, which threw them
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  into a very delicate situation, Congress replied that, as delegates of a free
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  and independent people, they could, with no propriety send any of the members
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  of Congress in a private capacity on an errand so replete with public consequences,
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  but they would depute a committee from their body to inquire by what authority and
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  on what terms His Lordship and brother were empowered to negotiate. The insidious message
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  received had no tendency to eradicate the previous opinion of Congress that this was but
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  a ministerial pretext to palliate their injurious designs. They were convinced that the commission
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  of the Agents was derogatory to the great National Councils and to that high authority
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  which advested the British Commissioners with no powers but to pardon those who deemed themselves
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  guiltless, and with no conciliatory proposals at which Freeman would not spurn unless driven
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  to despair. Yet they condescended so far to this political trifling as to depute
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  a very respectable committee to meet Lord Howe and confer on the subject. The
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  celebrated Doctor Franklin, the honorable mister Rutledge of South Carolina, and John Adams,
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  Esquire of the Massachusetts were the persons chosen for this singular interview. On
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  a stipulated day, they met his lordship on Staten Island, accompanied only by
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  mister Streiche as secretary. He received them with much civility, but conversed equivocally,
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  and, though careful not to be explicit, it did not require the
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  penetration of men of far less superior abilities to discover that he was restricted to
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  very narrow limits for a negotiator between contendernations. It was evident that he had
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  no plan of accommodation or any proposals for amity on any terms but those of
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  absolute and unconditional submission. Yet these gentlemen patiently attended to the circumvolutions of his
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  lordship, who observed neither precision or perspecuity in his modes of conversing, nor
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  could he disguise an apparent embarrassment under the display of affability and good humor.
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  It was even painful to see a British nobleman, endowed with talents for the
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  most honorable employments, thus reduced to act under a veil of intrigue, inconsistent
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  with the character of the gentleman or the man of business. Note the above
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  detail of the interview on Staten Island was soon after verbally related to the author
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  of these annals by one of the committee of conference. And note this conference
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  continued three or four hours when a short and frugal repassed concluded a negotiation that
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  had fed many well meaning people with delusory hopes, and for several months had
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  been the subject of political speculation both in Europe and America. This singular interview
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  had indeed little other effect than on the one side to rivet that strong disgust
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  which before existed against the treacherous councils of the British Ministry in Parliament, and
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  on the other, to convince more perfectly the agents of monarchy of the determined
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  spirit of America and the ability of the men with whom she had entrusted the
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  security of her rights. However, when the parties took leave of each other,
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  it was not without some tender emotions. Doctor Franklin had been in long
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  habits of friendship and intimacy with Lord Howe. They had in England frequently conversed
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  and afterwards corresponded on the parliamentary dispute with America. Their regard for each other
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  was mutual, and as it was now every reason to suppose this would be
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  the last personal interview between them, the idea was painful that this political storm
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  might sweep away all remains of private friendship. Note. In the familiar conversation
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  between Lord Howe and Doctor Franklin, his Lordship expressed a regard for the Americans
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  and the pain he felt for their approaching sufferings. Doctor Franklin, in his
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  easy, sententious manner, thanked him for his regards and assured him that quote
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  the Americans would show their gratitude by endeavoring to lessen as much as possible all
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  pain he might feel on their account by exerting their utmost abilities and taking good
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  care of themselves end quote. And note it was not long after all ideas
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  of negotiation were relinquished before the Commissioners and their sovereign had the most positive proofs
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  that though the villages might be disdained with a crimson tide that threatened to deluge
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  the land, yet Freedom, in her last asylum, would resist the designs
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  of all who had sighed for her annihilation to the last moment of her existence.
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  The late defeat of the Americans and the entire possession of Long Island through
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  accumulated advantages into the hand of the British commander, who made immediate preparation to
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  attack and take possession of the city of New York. In consequence of these
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  movements, General Washington, advised by the most judicious of his officers, thought
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  it prudent to evacuate the city without further delay. Note General Lee, particularly
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  who had just arrived from Georgia. He, by urging this advice, may
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  be said to share in the merit of saving the American army. Note it
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  would indeed have been madness to have attempted a longer defense with his diminished numbers
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  against a potent army flushed with recent success. The American Army was drawn off
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  from above Kingsbridge on the twenty first of October, but a day before the
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  British took possession of the city. General Washington encamped his retreating troops on the
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  heights of Harlem, about nine miles distance from Kingsbridge. When General Howe took
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  possession of the evacuated post, he must, from this event undoubtedly have felt
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  some consolation for the mortification he had suffered on recollecting the circumstances of his flight
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  from Boston. The alternate triumph or chagrin from the uncertain chances and events of
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  war are generally of short duration. The Americans now, in their turn,
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  experienced the pains of anxiety, disappointment, and want through a rapid flight from
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  post to post before a victorious army who despised their weakness and ridiculed their want
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  of discipline. General Howe placed a strong detachment in the garrison for the defense
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  of the city of New York, and immediately marched with the main body of
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  his army in pursuit of Washington. He crossed East River, seized a point
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  of land near Westchester, and made himself master of the lower Road to Connecticut,
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  with design to impede the intercourse between the Northern and Southern States. By
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  this movement, he also hoped to impel the American commander at every hazard,
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  to risk an engagement that might probably have been decisive. But General Washington was
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  too well acquainted with human nature to suffer his troops, though ardent for action
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  and impatient of delay, to trust to the impulse of constitutional courage, and
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  expose the reputation of the American arms and the decision of the great contest to
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  the uncertain events of a day. Under the present disadvantages of number and discipline,
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  a second defeat in so short a time would undoubtedly have spread dismay,
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  and perhaps a defection that might have been fatal to the independence of America.
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  Note this opinion was corroborated by the behavior of the Americans. When the British
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  landed from keps Bay September fifteenth, they discovered a timidity that nothing can excuse,
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  but their recent sufferings on Long Island, their inferior numbers, and their
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  dread of the superior discipline of British troops. And note he was sensible as
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  troops, though naturally brave, were not sufficiently inured to danger and hardened by
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  experience to raise the mind to that sublime pitch of enthusiasm and inflexibility necessary to
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  stand their ground against superior strength, discipline, and numbers. He therefore determined,
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  by cautious and guarded marches, to keep in flank with the British Army
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  until circumstances might put it in his power to combat on more equal terms.
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  End of Section thirty one.