Battles of the American Revolution. 1775-1781. Histotical and military criticism, with topographical illustration

Front matter

BATTLES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775-1781. HISTORICAL AND MILITARY CRITICISM, WITH TOPOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATION. JUSTITIA ET PRÆTEREA NIL. BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON, M.A., LL.D., colonel united states army, A,. PROFESSOR OF MILITARY SCIENCE AND DYNAMIC ENGINEERING, WABASH COLLEGE, STATE OF INDIANA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A. S. BARNES & COMPANY, NEW YOKE, CHICAGO, NEW OKLEANS. 1877. COPYRIGHT, 1876, A. S. BARNES & CO. PERSONAL TRIBUTE. THIS VOLUME, WHICH SEEKS TO INSPIRE FRESH INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES WHICH UNDERLIE NATIONAL DEFENSE, AND TO ILLUSTRATE THOSE PRINCIPLES BY REFERENCE TO THE WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, IS, BY PERMISSION, DEDICATED TO WILLIAM T. SHERMAN, GENERAL OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. CONTENTS. MM Personal Tribute iii Greeting i I. — The Revolutionary Epoch 3 II. — Lexington and Concord.

Their Lessons 8 III. — Military Science the Key to Military History 13 IV. — Apology for the Military Art 18 V. — Wars between Nations 24 VI. — Civil War. Distinction between Insurrection, Rebellion and Revolution. 29 VII. — Providence in War illustrated 35 VIII. — Statesmanship in War illustrated 40 IX. — Principles defined. Strategy illustrated 46 X. — Strategy in War continued 53 XL — Grand Tactics illustrated 60 XII. — Logistics 68 XIII. — Miscellaneous Considerations 73 XIV.— The Hour of Preparation 82 XV. — Bunker Hill. The Occupation 92 XVI. — " " Preparation 99 XVII.— ' Battle 104 XVIIL— Battle of Bunker Hill. Notes 112 XIX. — The Northern Campaign. Preliminary Operations 117 XX. — Expeditions to Quebec and Montreal. Their Value 122 XXI. — The Assault upon Quebec 130 XXII. — Campaign of 1775.

Brief Mention 138 XXIII. — Campaign of 1776. Boston evacuated. Concurrent Events 146 XXIV. — Washington at New York. April to July, 1776 ■ 155 XXV. — American Army driven from Canada 161 XXVI. — British Preparations. Clinton's Expedition unfolded 170 XXVII. — The Republic of South Carolina. Preparations for Defense 176 XXVIIL— Clinton's Expedition. Attack on Fort Moultrie 185 XXIX. — The two armies in July and August, 1776 191 XXX. — Battle of Long Island. Preparations 199 XXXI.— Battle of Long Island 207 XXXII. — Retreat from Long Island 214 XXXIII. — The American Army retires from New York 220 XXXIV. — Harlem Heights and Vicinity, 1776 228 XXXV. — Operations near New York, White Plains, Chatterton Hill vi CONTENTS. PAGE XXXVL— Operations near New York. White Plains to Fort Washington 242 XXXVIL— Plans and Counter Plans.

Chapter I. The Revolutionary Epoch

THE soldiers of 1775-1781 were not deficient in military skill and ready appliance of the known enginery and principles of war. In spite of modern improvements in gunnery, transportation, and hospital adjustments, and in all that relates to pure Logistics, there has been no substitution of agencies that has involved other prin ciples than those which belonged to those campaigns. Then, as now, every contest was largely determined by the skillful application of the laws which underlie all human success. Even the introduction of steam-propulsion has not suspended the laws of Nature, which laws, for all time, have made sport of those who go upon the sea in ships. The repeated storms which diverted British and French fleets from their projected course, or those which affected the operations on land at times of real crisis, are not without their equally decisive counterparts in all wars of early or later date.

It is an instructive fact, in military as in civil life, to illustrate the inability of human fore sight to force the future to its feet and then compel its issues. No more then than since did the negligence of a picket-guard, the reck lessness of a rash leader, or the waste of a commissary, prove fatal to well-advised movements and blast a fair promise of real fruit. Then as since, one gallant defense at an unexpected point, one error of guides, one precipitancy of an issue not fully ripe, determined that issue adversely. Then, as since, injustice to an antagonist, or an undue confidence in attack or defense, brought dismal defeat. Then, as ever, the violation of the claims of humanity, contempt for conscientious oppo nents and attempts to use force beyond a righteous limit, worked its fatal reaction ; and then, as since, the interference of cabinets, or the [1775.

THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH. 4 substitution of extrinsic for vital issues, worked the discomfiture of wise military plans on either side of the struggle. It is equally true that in the face of the more sharply defined social grades then exist ing the general spirit of the warfare was honorable to both parties ; and the issues between Washington and Howe, or other generals of responsible command, as disclosed in their correspondence, were as courteously discussed as are like issues now. Even with the modern miracle of journalism, which fastens its imprint upon the minutest word or fact in the career of men and nations, there is as much of license, of hyperbole and partisan abuse, as in those days when the mother country and the colonies engaged in a deadly wrestle. Jealousies of rank, thirst for office, aspersions of character, and suspicions of all who attained success, had their place then, as since ; and as a century of time has revived only the more agreeable features of that struggle, it is not to be overlooked that Howe and Clinton and Cornwallis, as well as Washington and his generals, had their heartaches as well as their laurels, and administered their trusts under responsibilities and burdens never surpassed.

The war itself was no sudden rebellion against authority, nor a merely captious and arbitrary assertion of the popular will. It was even then admitted by the noblest of English statesmen that the English government, as so tersely stated by Mr. Bancroft, " made war on the life of her own life." The era of facts, therefore, which marks this volume, was the fruit of English thought relating back to Magna-Charta. Humanity made constant progress in the assertion of normal rights, and the passing issues which ripened into American independence only indicated the culmination of those issues to a more substan tial vindication. Prerogative of church and state, the centralization of property and authority, the irresponsibility to the people of men who asserted absolutism by virtue of ancestry, or the so-called divine right, had involved England in bloody wars, alienated faithful subjects, induced domestic disorders, and made natural, as certain, the separa tion of the American colonies.

Emancipation from Papal dictation did not bring a corresponding grant of genuine religious liberty to the earnest people. Human conscience, bound to its Author by intrinsic obligation, which no human authority can long control or evade, asserted its power over the lives and conduct of sober-minded men. The bonds which confined its expression, and drove devout Chris- I775-J THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH. 5 tian men and women to secret conclave and worship, became too stringent for those who obeyed God as the Supreme Arbiter of life present and life future. The presumption that the governed should have a voice in shap ing the policy which exercised control, was solved by its positive averment as a principle; and the reluctance of authority to bend its measures to meet this human craving and rightful demand, only quickened the sentiment of resistance to every evasion or defiance of the right.

Every domestic struggle which marked the centuries of British growth, had this warp for every woof. Invisible, but present! despised, but quick with life, the new ele ment was giving robustness and nerve to the British people, and both shape and endurance to the British constitution. The state itself, as it began to feel the spur of the new impulse, began also to render tribute to the true patriotism which a high moral and religious obligation alone develops. The interregnum of Cromwell was resplendent with national glory; and the enthusiasm of free men began to testify in clear and significant tones of the greatness of a people, who so freely con tributed of life and treasure to dignify and maintain a genuine national liberty. Ripe statesmen and hereditary officials, alike, saw the drift of human thought ; but, as this pulse-beat strengthened, the hatred of innovation, and cultivated doubt of the capacity and nerve of the commons to mingle with and share the control of public affairs pro longed the established contempt for the commons, while intensify ing the popular purpose to resist the presumption of caste and undele gated authority.

The exodus of colonists to America, was the combined fruit of this misconception of the rights of the people, and of the latent resistance which rules the life whenever the human soul makes duty its purpose, and conscience its guide. The Puritans of New England, the Huguenots of South Carolina, and the emigrants to Maryland, alike shared in the impulse to escape from hierarchical control, and work for freedom, self-government, and the best interests of the governed. The emigration to Maryland had its small element which maintained the obligation of conscience to superior, foreign control ; but the majority, who were laboring men, and independent of every such obligation, asserted their due share in giving shape to the colony, and thus its birth-hour was [1775- 6 THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH. accompanied by the same birth-rights which made the New England colonies memorable for all time.

A century, and then a half century more, passed by, while the dynastic element persistently failed to realize the fact, that the colonies were energized by principles which belonged to man by right, and which no physical forms could long restrain. They were the principles which, in fact, made Great Britain great. The Anglo-Saxon blood was directing the heart-beats, but it had the oxygen oj a higher life, and a bolder, if not a fiercer, activity. Prompt to meet obligation and render legitimate homage to lawful authority, it brooked no trammels which partook of oppression or injustice ; still hopeful, and for a long time confident, that sagacious statesmen would so control and shape dynastic power as to admit of genuine loyalty without the loss of self-respect. The old French war of 1756, brought home to the colonies some very heavy responsibilities, and these they met with a free expendi ture of blood and treasure.

But it taught them how much they must cultivate their own resources, and how little could be realized from the throne, in the assurance of a pervasive and lasting peace. Sacrifices brought only partial equivalents, so that ordinary taxes took the color of enforced tribute. Slowly but surely the procrasti nation, uncertainty, and prevarications of officials compelled the sub jects to repeated demonstrations of their wishes, and of their claim to be represented in the councils of the nation, until the Revolution enforced their will and determined their future. After the lapse of more than a century, the great English Nation and the American Republic review that period of struggle with equal satisfaction, as the evidence of the superintending control of a Higher Authority, and both nations accept the results of the war and the developments since realized, as the best possible conclusion of the ordeal undergone, and the best pledge to the world of the spirit with which both nations shall aim to dignify national life, while honoring the rights and highest interests of every individual life.

The power and glory of England, are not in her army or navy, or her displays of physical force, so much as in the development of all her people of all classes, in the culture and ripeness which peace and freedom involve. And the American Republic, which dismissed to their farms and merchandise a million men, when their use was needless, while unarmed, is, by the compensations of intelligence and industry, armed to the teeth against all unrighteous intervention or violence. THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH. 7 It is the earnest man of peace, calmly pursuing life's ends, render ing justice and thus deserving justice, who, in the aggregate, makes a state respected ; and thus let the future develop both mother country and its first born, so that the world shall render to each the homage which every true man deserves !

Chapter II. Lexington And Concord

THEIR LESSONS. THE skirmishes of Lexington and Concord were such pulsations of an excited people as not to have a proper place in a strict Battle Record, except as they mark the progress of public sentiment toward the maturing issue of general war. Raw militia, jealous of the right to bear arms, and thoroughly set in purpose, to vindicate that right and all the franchises of a free peo ple, by the extreme test of liberty or life, had faced the disciplined troops of Great Britain, without fear or penalty. The quickening sentiment which gave nerve to the arm, steadiness to the heart, and force to the blow, was one of those historic expres sions of human will, which over-master discipline itself. It was the method of an inspired madness. The onset swept back a solid column of trained soldiers, because the moral force of the energizing passion was imperative and supreme.

No troops in the world could have resisted that movement. Discipline, training, and courage are expo nents of real power ; but there must be something more than these to enable any moderate force of armed men to cope with a people already on fire with the conviction, that the representatives of national force are employed to smother the national life. The troops them selves had a hard ordeal to undergo. Sent out to collect or destroy some munitions of war, and not to engage an enemy, they were under a restraint that stripped them of real fitness to meet so startling an issue as one of open resistance and active assault. There was a clear reluctance on their part, to use force until the first hasty delivery of fire opened hostilities. The ill-judged policy which precipitated these memorable skirmishes was directly in the way of military success.

It impaired the confidence of soldiers in their ability to maintain the impending LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. I775-] 9 struggle, while at the same time intensifying the fever and strength ening the nerve of the uprising commons. Lexington and Concord were the exponents of that daring which made the resistance on Breed's Hill possible. The invincibility of discipline was shattered, when the prestige of the army went down before the rifles of farmers. The first tendency was to make those farmers too confident of the physical strength of moral opinions, and to underrate the value of an organized force. Years of sacrifice and waste, enforced an appreciation of its value; and the failures, flights, and untoward vicissitudes of many battle-fields were made their instructors in the art of war. The military demonstration of April 19th, 1775, was but supple mental to similar movements for the suppression of the general arm ing, and for the seizure of guns and powder, which began in 1774.

A battery had been established on Boston Neck as early as Au gust of that year. The citizens had refused to furnish quarters for the royal troops, and when the government, during the month of Sep tember, attempted to build public barracks, the mechanics of Boston refused to work at any price, and both artisans and laborers had to be brought from the colony of New York. Under date of August twenty-seventh, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren wrote as follows : " As yet, we have been preserved from action with the soldiery, and we shall endeavor to avoid it until we see that it is necessary, and a settled plan is fixed on for that purpose." The Provincial Congress that .organized October twenty-sixth adopted a plan for the organization of the militia, with the express understanding that one-fourth of the aggregate force should be in readiness for service at the shortest notice.

The "minute men" of the Revolution, were thus called into being. Artemas Ward and Seth Pomerov were chosen creneral officers. A concentration of military stores and arms at Concord and Worces ter was formally authorized. Under date of November tenth, Gen eral Gage denounced as treasonable the proceedings of that body. On the ninth day of February, 1776, a second Provincial Congress, "empowered and directed the Committee of Public Safety, to assemble the militia whenever it was required, to resist the execution of certain Acts of Parliament," just then promulged. The following citizens composed that committee, viz., John Han cock, Joseph Warren, Benjamin Church, Richard Devens, Benjamin White; Joseph Palmer, Abraham Watson, Azor Orne, John Pigeon, William Heath, and Thomas Gardner. [1775- LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 10 The following " Committee of Supplies," was announced, viz., Elbridge Gerry, David Cheever, Benjamin Lincoln, Moses Gill, and Benjamin Hall.

At the same time, John Thomas and William Heath were added to the list of general officers. That legislative body went so far as to warn the people that it was, " The Christian and social duty of each individual, with a proper sense of dependence on God, to defend those rights which heaven gave them, and no one ought to take from them." By the first day of January, 1775, the garrison of Boston had been increased to thirty-five hundred men, and mounted three hundred and seventy men as a daily guard-detail, besides a field-officers' guard of one hundred and fifty men on Boston Neck. Three brigades were organized and were officered, respectively, by Generals Lord Percy, Pigott and Jones. In November of 1774, General Gage had advised the British government, that he, " was confident, that to begin with an army twenty thousand strong, would in the end save Great Britain blood and treasure."

Meanwhile, the militia drilled openly, rapidly completed company organizations, and made many sacrifices to procure arms, powder and other materials of war. The Home government, in view of the serious aspect of affairs, ordered Generals Howe, Clinton, and Bur goyne to join General Gage, and announced that " ample reinforce ments would be sent out, and the most speedy and effectual measures would be taken to put down the rebellion," then pronounced to already exist. On the eighth of April, the Provincial Congress resolved to take effectual measures to raise an army, and requested the cooperation of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. On the thir teenth, it voted to raise six companies of artillery, to pay them, and keep them at drill. On the fourteenth, it advised citizens to leave Boston and to remove to the country.

On the fifteenth, it solemnly appointed a day for " Public Fasting and Prayer," and adjourned to the tenth day of May. The Committee of Public Safety at once undertook the task of securing powder, cannon and small arms. A practical embargo was laid upon all trade with Boston. The garrison could obtain supplies only with great difficulty, and, as stated by Gordon, " nothing was wanting but a spark, to set the whole continent in a flame." As a matter of military policy, the statesmanship of war, the '775] LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 11 whole drift of the Governor's conduct was not to placate, but to excite the people. It was the precursor of military failure. All demonstrations were those of force, and not those of wisdom, or comity. His purpose to seize the stores then accumulating at Con cord had no indorsement of his officers or council, for he advised with neither.

It was predicated upon his individual opinion, by which he afterwards sought to justify his conduct, that the show of force in the field and the arrest of leading patriots would extinguish the rebellion. This rapid and very partial outline of events which immediately preceded the skirmishes of Concord and Lexington, is important in order to disclose the circumstances which so quickly culminated in the siege of Boston, the action on Breed's Hill, and the evacuation of the city. General Gage, as he said, communicated his plan for seizure of the stores at Concord to but one person, and yet it was soon known to Hancock and Adams, so that the colonists took prompt measures to meet the issue. When Lord Percy left Head quarters on the evening of April eighteenth, he passed a group of men, on Boston Common, and heard one man say : " The British troops have marched, but they will miss their aim."

"What aim ?" in juired Lord Percy, " Why, the cannon at Concord," was the reply. The detachment, consisting of the Grenadiers of the garrison, the Light Infantry, and Major Pitcairn, of the Marines, all under com mand of Lieutenant Colonel Smith of the Tenth regiment of infantry, started on the night of the eighteenth, with every reason to believe that their movement was a secret to all but the Governor and them selves. Taking boats up the Charles river as far as Phipps farm, now Lechmere Point, they landed promptly, and pushed for Con cord, twenty miles from Boston. The ringing of bells and the firing of small arms soon showed that the country was aroused. A mes senger was sent for reinforcements. Sixteen companies of foot, and a detachment of marines, under. Lord Percy, was promptly advanced to their support, uniting with them at about two o'clock in the afternoon, on their return from Concord, and making the aggre gate of the entire command about eighteen hundred men.

This eventful day closed. The stores at Concord, which had not been removed, were destroyed. The casualties on the British side were seventy-three killed, one hundred and seventy four wounded, twenty six missing. The colonists lost forty-nine killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five missing. [1775- LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 12 Stedman thus sums up the result. " The events of the day on which blood was first shed, in the contest between Great Britain and her colonies, served to show that if the Americans were unacquainted with military discipline, they were not destitute of either courage or conduct, but knew well how, and dared, to avail themselves of such advantages as they possessed. A kind of military furor had by this time seized the inhabitants of the colonies. They were willing to risk the consequences of opposing in the field, their juvenile ardor to the matured strength of the parent state, and in this resolution they were encouraged to persist, by recollecting the events of the nineteenth of April, by which it appeared, according to their manner of reasoning, that in such a country as America, abounding in dangerous passes and woody defiles, the British troops, with all their valor, discipline and military skill, were not, when opposed to the Ameri cans, so formidable as had been generally apprehended."

The promptness, coolness and moderation of Lord Percy saved the command of Lieutenant Colonel Smith. It was worn out by hard marching, and the fretful kind of warfare which decimated its ranks, and only under the escort of his command were they enabled to reach Boston in safety. It is a historical fact, that Major Pitcairn, whose reputation and character were of a high order, deeply felt the misfortune which so intimately associated his name with the affair at Lexington. Dr. Dwight says that the expedition to Concord, " was one which in other circumstances would have been merely of little tales of wonder and woe, but it became the preface to the history of a nation, the beginning of an empire, and a theme of disquisition and astonishment to the civilized world-" The issue was joined- The siege of Boston followed.

The beginning of the end began to appear in full view of many English states men, and thenceforth their disregarded warnings, and their unex ampled assurance of sympathy with the American people, were among the most inspiring elements which sustained the strusele and o_s assured the ultimate result. And now, that the presentation of some of the principles which distinguished the epoch of the American Revolution and gave character as well as strength to the new State, and a brief statement as to the issue at arms which introduced the struggle have been made, the discussion of the art of war is next in order, to be followed by its application to the battle-issues themselves.

Chapter III. Military Science The Key To Military History

IT is a prime factor in the right estimate of any historical epoch, or issue, that the data command confidence; and the value of all conclusions will be determined by the fitness with which cognate principles are applied to the events or characters unfolded. The integrity of a narrative may indeed be verified through the absolute want of conformity to another version ; but the consistency of either with a sound final judgment must depend upon the success of the effort to clear the story of all extrinsic color and stage-effect which the locus, or animus of the author has cast upon the scenes and actors. To review the battles of the American Revolution and so test their record as to impart lessons of value to the student of mili tary science, is equally an effort to interest the general scholar ; and the earnest youth who struggles to attain ripeness for true citizenship by æsthetic culture and faithful brain-work, cannot afford to break away from the examination, as from some cold and barren sphere of thought.

More than this is involved in the present discussion. History is the life-record of man, and its fruitage matures in proportion as experience evolves wisdom for the future. National history is there fore not the exclusive possession of its subject ; but stands as a witness to all nations, and it is their right as well as duty to demand a just interpretation of its facts. Patriotism that is mature and abiding, is linked with charity. Justice is embosomed with love of country. Both elements attach to an abiding record. We measure a painting by the rules of art, and gauge a freshly invented motor by the principles applied. Thus, also, and in a truly catholic spirit, are battles and battle-direction to be estimated, and MILITARY SCIENCE THE KEY TO MILITARY HISTORY. [i775- 14 thus alone can there be developed out of human conflict some enduring product for the instruction and benefit of succeeding gen erations.

While all axiomatic truth is but indifferently served by many who, of necessity bow to its dicta; so a worthy purpose may fail of standard fruition through fault of the agent. The proposed discus sion seeks to analyze all accessible data, and thus afford to the gen eral student some basis for sound judgment as to the battle-fields and battle-direction of the war of the American Revolution, while applying to their elucidation those accepted principles of military science which impart value to military action. The consideration of minor issues and isolated skirmishes is foreign to the purpose; but it is requisite, that the annual campaigns of the struggle shall obtain their legitimate sequence, and hold their intrinsic relations to the ultimate achievement of American Inde pendence. The swift progress of international courtesy in the direction of closer national affinities imparts signal interest to the investi gation ; and although an era of universal peace is not already over lapped by the hastening present, it is safe to assert that the time has come when Great Britain and the United States can pleasantly do justice to old-time valor, and welcome, as already assured, a future identity of aspiration and progress.

Other incidents peculiar to this age of general education, force the people themselves to a closer view, and wiser appreciation of military art. Great Britain already depends largely upon her organized militia for national defense. Her regular army, the nucleus for efficient expansion, is but a national police, to watch over her world-wide interests, and assure her subjects that the mother country does not neglect the rights of any who render homage. The mobilization of Germany and the conscript system of France bear home to every household the consideration of military contin gencies and military antecedents. But it is true of the United States, as of Great Britain, that the regular army has but light responsibility for domestic peace. The conservation of resources, attended by education of the masses and the wise development of industrial labor, furnish a basis of resistance to assault from without, that will wear out any antagonist which estimates its means of aggression by the numerical list of bristling bayonets which it holds in position, at the expense of civil growth.

I775-] MILITARY SCIENCE THE KEY TO MILITARY HISTORY. 15 Continental army budgets, and continental military dilation have involved one error ; and the American militia system, notwithstanding its elasticity and its prodigious expenditures of vital force in an extreme hour of national pf ril, has involved an equally serious error. The responsibility for military direction has been cast upon military experts exclusively ; or the attainment of high positions by the adventurer has developed the idea that any good patriot might, by easy transition, leap to a place of honorable command, and discharge its functions with eminent success. But the philosophy of war is not exclusively within the province of the military man, and. there are governing laws which translate the events of battle history, and impart to them a life and meaning well worthy the sober thought of the citizen and scholar.

Hitherto, the literature of military science has been addressed to experts only, and the world at large has been satisfied with some graphic narrative, regardless of the mental processes which evolved the results and made success possible, or assured defeat. While physics and physiology are deemed indispensable to every sound curriculum of study, the logic of war has been as listlessly and coolly ignored, as if its precepts imposed upon the time of the general scholar, and were utterly foreign to a sound education of the young men of Great Britain and the United States. In Continental Europe, however, with a little more of theoretical instruction, the physical drill in arms has largely absorbed that indus trial labor which is the life-blood of a civilized state, and the individ ■ uality of the citizen has been merged in the military martinet.