The horses were in pitiful condition, lacking both forage and fresh water. Each day saw more pathetic carcasses heaved into the bay. “This day we spared a Horse Sloop in Quarter Master Genl's Department, one But[t] of Water or they must have thrown their horses overboard,” Montrésor reported on the sixteenth. Three days later, he observed, “The fleet and army much distressed for the want of fresh water…but not so much so as the horse vessels, having been obliged to throw numbers of their horses overboard.”190
The fleet left a grisly trail up the Chesapeake, as Congress later found out. “In a Letter from good Authority, Mr. [William] Paca,” John Adams wrote to Abigail, “we are informed that many dead Horses have been driven on the Eastern shore of Maryland.—Horses thrown overboard, from the fleet, no doubt.”191 Maj. Charles Stuart of the 43rd told his father, “The Voyage had destroyed more than a hundred.”192
The heat wave slowly began to relent. “Tuesday 19th…The Weather was this Day more moderate in Heat, than any we have felt for these 3 Weeks,” Ambrose Serle wrote as the Fanny left the mouth of the Potomac River, where “the Bay begins to contract itself, and the Shores become distinctly visible on both Sides.” Gasping in near disbelief at the torrid conditions, he noted, “Several of our People, who have been on the Coast of Guinea & in the West Indies, assured me, they never felt in either of those Countries such an intense suffocating heat, which we have experienced for several Days and Nights together.” He added, “If possible, the Nights were more disagreeable than the days.”193
Early on August 21, Howe's flotilla passed Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, located on the western shore of the bay at the mouth of the Severn River. Here the militia “formed a Battery from Mr. Walter Dulany's Lot round the Water's Edge to the Granary…. The Cannon are mostly 18 Pounders, and the Works appear strong…. They have another Fortification on Hill's Point, & a Third on Mr. Ker's Land, on the North Side of Severn, on a high cliff called Beaumont's Point.”194 As His Majesty's ships sailed by, Sir George Osborn noticed that two forts guarding the harbor “had the impudence to hoist rebel colours in the sight of our fleet,” a defiant display that provoked much commentary.195 “In the city and on the fort are flown big rebel flags (Union flags, as they call them),” Captain von Münchhausen explained. “They are white with purple stripes.”196 A British officer was quoted in the London Chronicle as saying, “Notwithstanding we could have battered it to pieces in half an hour, they had the impudence to display the thirteen stripes upon the two forts; but it was an object of little importance, it was looked at with contempt, and passed by without firing a shot.”197
The display of flags was sheer bravado; the government of Maryland was fully prepared to evacuate the capital. “The British Fleet having this morning passed Annapolis and consisting of upwards of two hundred and Sixty sail,” the Council minutes recorded, “The Governor and Council were unanimously of opinion that Annapolis cannot be defended by any force which may probably be collected against the force the Enemy may at any Time bring against it and that therefore the Town and Forts ought to be evacuated.”198 Rev. Francis Asbury, a tireless English Methodist missionary who “rode the circuit” that year in Maryland, wrote, “A report that a British fleet was sailing up the Chesapeake Bay, has induced many people to quit Annapolis. Lord, give thy people faith and patience sufficient for their day of trial!”199
Farther up the bay on the Patapsco River, Baltimore braced for an attack. A rapidly growing town of 600 houses and several thousand citizens, it was defended by a small, unnamed fort on Whetstone Point, commanded by Col. Nathaniel Smith of the Baltimore Artillery. The river was partially blocked by a boom of three large, floating chains. Colonel Smith told Governor Johnson the following day, “The Fleet Appeard off the mouth of this River…cant yet tell what their intentions is. the headmost Ship, which from her Carrying a Flagg at her main-topmast head, Supposed to be the Admiral, has come too in the mouth of the Channel.” He went on to say that “Capt. Nicholson is down here with all his men which has nearly man'd Our Lower Battery.”
The “Fort at Whetstone” defenses were pathetic. “I am very week as to guns[,] having only six 18-pounders,” the militia colonel wrote. “[I] think if the Gallies had their Guns & I had Ten 18 pounders more with the Assistance of the Frigate & Defence we cou'd prevent them from taking this place by water.” Smith bravely reassured the governor, “I am not so well prepared as I coud wish but shant give up the Fort, without giving them some trouble.”200 (During another British invasion in 1814, the defense of this post, enlarged and named Fort McHenry in the 1790s, was immortalized in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”)
Gen. Andrew Buchanan was the field commander of the Maryland Militia. “General Buchanan is doing all he can to git the Militia togeather, hope they will turn out well,” Smith told the governor. In the town itself, the “mechanicks,” as artisans and skilled laborers were called, had formed the “Mechanical Melitia Company” of the Baltimore Town Battalion and turned out to a man. Their commander was thirty-eight-year-old Capt. James Cox, “the most fashionable tailor in Baltimore town.”201 Father of five children, “three Sons & two Daughters, all Promising Children,” ranging in age from two to ten years old, Cox was “the best of husbands,” according to his wife, Mary.202 Governor Johnson directed General Buchanan to issue a commendation to the company on August 24. “The Commander-in-Chief desires Capt. Cox at the Head of his Company to return them his sincere thanks for the readiness and Zeal which they have manifested on the present Important Occasion, in turning out unanimously as Volunteers to reinforce Genl. Washington. The noble Example he hopes will animate every Battallion cheerfully to turn out in defence of all that is dear and Valuable to Man.”203
Cox's company was singled out as a “noble example” because it was the exception; the overall situation of the Maryland Militia was chaotic almost beyond belief. Col. Benjamin Rumsey wrote to the governor from the old port of Joppa, north of Baltimore, that one of the two companies there “had not above five Guns among forty men.” He wryly commented, “Your Excellency will no Doubt conclude that Men unarmed can be of no Service to repel an Enemy…. They march with great Alacrity without Arms in full Confidence you will supply them at least to do all they can.” In the face of the British invasion, “a little Fort is throwing up at this Place and We have got four 4-pounders and We hope to be able for a Tender if She comes but we have got but 13 Musketts[;] if your Excellency can spare a few for this Place it will contribute more to our Safety[:] We could arm 20 men more.”204
Out in the fleet, Maj. Charles Stuart noted how the Chesapeake divided Maryland politically as well as physically. Off the starboard was the Eastern Shore of the Delmarva Peninsula, an area of strong Loyalist activity. “Our movements to the Chesapeake seem to indicate that Gen. Howe has hopes, or assurances, that Maryland will return to obedience,” Stuart told his father. “It is probable that that part of Maryland, Virginia, and the lower Delaware Counties [the state of Delaware] situated on the peninsula form'd by the Delaware and Chesapeake, may answer these expectations.” Across the bay, the large Continental flags of thirteen stripes flying over the forts told a different story: “The Western Coast of this Bay, from all I can learn, are very averse to a reconciliation. They have hoisted the rebel Colours, and the arm'd vessels we have observed are too strong proofs of this unreasonable enmity.”205
The higher up the bay the fleet moved, the shallower and more dangerous the waters became for the larger ships. Just above Baltimore, the flagship Eagle came to anchor, as did the largest ships of the line, so the frigate Roebuck took the lead to the Elk River at the head of the Bay.
Lord Howe's seamanship achieved new levels of respect and high esteem as he personally took soundings ahead of the warships near the Elk River. No ships of this size had ever been known to have come so far up the Chesapeake, and the admiral showed that it could be done. “Lord Howe has great credit in the Care of this fleet, not one Vessel missing since we left New York; tho t
he Passage was unavoidably longer than common,” wrote James Parker. He noted that “Capt. Hammond led the Van of the fleet in the Roebuck Marking out the chanel which was of Outmost Concequence. I am told by some of the Country people that there never was any very large Merchant ship above Swan point before this.”206 Montrésor observed with admiration that “the Shoalness of the Elk convinced the Rebels that our fleet would never navigate it, but through the great abilities of our Naval officers it was happily effected as the bottom was muddy and the ships on it were cutting channels through it for each other.”207
Gen. James Grant, by no means easy to please, paid His Lordship a very high compliment, noting that “as the Navigation is extremely difficult, the Chanel in many places narrow and intricate—Lord Howe has great Merit in conducting the Fleet which he certainly did with Ability. The Dispositions he made with his Sloops Boats & Tenders prevented any Accident happening to the Transports, to the great Astonishment of us Land Men.” Momentarily humble, he told General Harvey, “I am no Judge but I look up to His Lordship exceedingly as I think few officers would have risked such a Navigation & I said at the time that Fleet & Army must be united under the Command of two Brothers to bring 64 Gun Ships into an American Forrest.”208
On August 23, the Howe brothers together explored the upper reaches of the Chesapeake near the Susquehanna River and scouted about for landing places. Their personal bravery and leadership skills shone brilliantly in this expedition as they maneuvered around Spesutie Island in the waters near the mouth of one of the widest and shallowest rivers in America. Captain Montrésor accompanied them: “At 7 this morning I attended Sir Wm. Howe and Lord Howe with my armed Schooner, an armed Sloop and a Galley to the mouths of the Rivers Rappahannock [sic; Susquehanna] and the Elk and Turkey Point, the different vessels and Boats attending, sounding the Channel.”209
The local patriot militia was desperately trying to remove livestock with the few available men, and they came under fire from the Howe expedition. Col. Aquila Hall, commander of the Harford County Militia, reported, “Captn. Francis Holland with two of my sons, Two of the Paca's and two or three more passed over to Spesuti Island with intent to drive off what Stock they could, but before they return'd with a Parcel of Cattle there came a Sloop and Schooner two Armed Vessels and Anchored.” He told Governor Johnson, “as soon as the Enimy saw Captn. Holland enter the beach they sent off a boat with men to head him, and at the same [time] began to play on him & men with Cannon ball & Grape shott which drove the Cattle back and then Captn. Holland was Obliged to retreat down the island where I sent Canoes to take them off…. There is a fine Parcel of Stock on the Island and it's a Pity it should fall into their hands.”210 Montrésor noted, “The whole returned in the afternoon to the fleet. George Ford, principal tenant of Pasoosy [Spesutie] Island came off to offer his Services to supply the Troops and Fleet with Stock &c.”211
Yet another violent thunderstorm struck the fleet on the night of the twenty-fourth. This time, the Isis was hit while Lord Cornwallis and General Grant were still on board. The ship was anchored on the south side of the Sassafras River, along with the Nonsuch, Augusta, and Somerset, all sixty-four-gun ships-of-the-line. The flagship Eagle, with Lord Howe and General Howe, was four miles ahead near Turkey Point. “The Isis was struck with Lightning, the night before we left her—the Main Mast damaged, & on Fire for a time,” Grant wrote. “Lord Cornwallis & I were reading in the Cabin when it happened, which was filled in a Moment, with a Sulphureous Smell.”212 In the logbook of the fifty-gun frigate is recorded:
From 7 to 11 thunder lightning & heavy rain. at ½ after 8 a flash of lightning struck the mn. T. G. Mt. [main topgallant mast] shiverd it to pices, rent the Mn. topmt. [main topmast] from head to heel, split several pieces of the mainmast, & burnt one of the Mn. topmt. shrowds in two…. At 11 [the next morning] the Right Hon. Charles Earl Cornwallis Lieut. Genl., Major Genl. Grant & their aid de camps went on board the Charming Nelly transport.213
Thus, amidst thunder and lightning, phase two of the British campaign to Philadelphia, the voyage to the Chesapeake, came to a conclusion. Phase three, the march to Philadelphia, was about to begin.
CHAPTER 3
“But is this conquering America?”
PHILADELPHIA AND POINTS SOUTH, LATE AUGUST–EARLY SEPTEMBER 1777
“An express came in today, which brings an account that the fleet are in Chesapeake Bay, nearly as high as the Head of the Elk, & it supposed they will soon attempt to land,” Sarah Logan Fisher wrote on August 21, “but where their intention is to march to we are greatly at a loss to guess.” Sarah's Loyalist sympathies compelled her to confide in her diary, “In consequence of this news we hear General Washington is to march with his army to oppose them, & prevent if possible their penetrating into the country, but vain will be his expectations & fruitless his attempts of that kind.”1
It was the first reliable news of the fleet to arrive in Philadelphia for nearly two weeks, and the waiting had worn heavily on the army and on Congress. “Not a Word, yet, from Hows Fleet,” John Adams had written to Abigail at 5 P.M. the previous day. “The most general Suspicion, now, is that it is gone to Charlestown S. C. But it is a wild Supposition. It may be right however, for Howe is a wild General.”2
Washington's army was preparing to move on August 21—somewhere. Since leaving Germantown on August 10, the main camp was along Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, with headquarters in Warwick Township. The camp was growing more foul each day and had to be moved before major epidemics broke out.
Much of the force was far-flung: Nash's Carolina Brigade was across the Delaware at Trenton, Sullivan's two Maryland brigades and half of Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade were in North Jersey at Chatham, and Putnam was still holding the Hudson Highlands with Connecticut troops at Peekskill. In Pennsylvania, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln's Division of two Pennsylvania brigades was at Graeme Park, ten miles west of the Neshaminy Camp. Lincoln was sent to the Northern Army along with General Gates, so the division was now commanded by Anthony Wayne.
Down in Philadelphia, one troublesome regiment, the 4th Georgia Battalion, the same troops who had fired volleys for Congress on the Fourth of July, were moved out of the city after one of their number was murdered in early August. This unit, composed of British deserters, left a trail of destruction everywhere it went. No sooner did the 4th Georgia relocate than some of its men began to terrorize farmers along the Lancaster Road six miles west of town. “The Petition of divers Inhabitants of the Townships of Lower Merrion & Blockley” was sent to President Wharton on August 15.3 “That the repeated injuries, insults & abuses daily received & increasing, so as to render it a matter of the most alarming nature, to our lives and properties, from the Battalion of the State of Georgia, Commanded by Coll'l John White, now incamped in said Township, renders it our indispensable duty, & constrains us (tho’ with reluctance) to lay our distressed situation before your Excellency.” Thirty-six leading property holders, mostly farmers from the two townships, had signed the petition telling Wharton:
It is notorious that from the first day of their incamping they began to shew their aversion for all Law, Divine or Human, abusing travellers, Robbing the neighbourhood of everything they could lay their hands on, pillaging their dwelling Houses, Spring Houses and Barns, Burning their Fence rails, Cutting down their Timber, Robbing Orchards and Gardens, Stealing their Piggs, Poultry & Lambs, and sometimes killing them through wantonness or bravado, & when complaints were made, they, with the most unparalleled impudence, would threaten the lives of the Complainants or their Houses with fire, frequently damning the Congress, and Swearing they will never fight against King George, &c., &c.4
The 4th Georgia was moved shortly thereafter to Lancaster, where by the end of the month, not even the commander was safe. “A great stir this morning in Town Occasioned by some of Col. White of the Georgia Regiment Robing of him Last night,” Christopher Marshall wrote. “They were pursued & taken; part of the cash was recoverd but
his trunk with all his papers, more money, his Commission &c. not to be found.” The perpetrators were sentenced to death but reprieved by Mrs. White's intercession; instead, they were given 300 lashes each.5 Though this desperate bunch was an extreme case, discipline in the Continental Army continued to be a problem, especially when it came to camp sanitation and property damage. It also did not help win support for the American cause.
The strain of so much marching in the blaze of the dog days had also taken its toll on the men. “I arrived here in good health yesterday morning,” Percy Frazer told Polly on August 13, “but never endur'd more with the heat.”6 The same day, Col. Walter Stewart of the Pennsylvania State Regiment wrote to his friend and former commander, Gen. Horatio Gates, who had left Philadelphia the previous week to take command of the Northern Army, “After you left us, we were Order'd to March to, & Cross the Delaware, and I believe should have Continued our Rout[e] to the Eastward, but luckily for us, an Express Overtook the General at this place, Informing him of the Fleets being again seen off Sinepuxent, forty Miles to the Southward of the Capes of Delaware; it then consisted of two hundred and fifty sail, but where they have since gone is yet a secret here.” Of the army's constant shifting, he speculated, “We expect however to change our situation very shortly, as it appears against the decrees of Fate our staying more than three or Four days at one place.” He then remarked to Gates, “For my part, I must say, I would not wish to move until we know with a certainty where the Enemy Intend operating, as we have Certainly for some time past been Marching and Counter Marching to very little purpose.”
The political tension between the army and Congress continued to simmer beneath the surface. Walter Stewart had served as Gates's aide-de-camp for more than a year in the Northern Department. Gates was superseded by General Schuyler in early 1777, and Stewart was appalled by Congress's treatment of his former commander. Now Schuyler was in disgrace and Gates was back in charge. “You can't Imagine my Dear Sir, the Satisfaction it gives me your being sent back to your proper Command,” Stewart told his friend. “It is so great a thing, to get the better so Nobly of that petty party, for I can call them by no other Name.” Disgusted by the political manipulation that seemed to dominate every decision, the “Irish beauty” wrote venomously, “Some of the Caitiffs, as our friend Wayne calls them, I have since seen,” alluding to political enemies in Congress. “They dislike the Subject, and do not by any means wish to enter upon it.” Referring to Schuyler, the young colonel commented, “[I] hope your Eastern friends will support you in a very different manner from what they did your predecessor, but what is to be expected, when a General has not the Confidence of the people he has under his Command?”7
The Philadelphia Campaign Page 15