The serious weakness of the Americans was that they were divided; John Adams later estimated that fully a third of 129. The American loyalists the people were opposed to war, and still more strongly opposed to independence. The years 1775 and 1776 were full of commotion, tumult, and violence against the loyalists. Those Americans who still maintained that the British government was not tyrannical were intimidated, arrested, imprisoned, tarred and feathered, and in some cases executed. As the struggle grew fiercer, the colonists passed laws banishing the loyalists or confiscating their property. In many districts the struggle was a civil war in which hundreds of the Tories, as the loyalists were called, were kept down by force. The Tories included in the New England and middle commonwealths most of the well-to-do classes, the former colonial officials and their friends, old officers of the British army, many of the clergy and of the graduates of colleges. In some states nearly half the people were loyalists. Thousands of them entered the British army and fought against their brethren; and thousands of families removed to Nova Scotia, Quebec, and other British colonies. 130. The The British were overwhelmingly superior in the size of their military and naval forces, although much hampered by the necessity of transporting men and materials across rival forces a stormy sea. In 1776 they had 200 ships of war, and for men they drew on 11,000,000 people in Great Britain and Ireland, besides the loyalists. Yet Lord North committed the stupid blunder of hiring 30,000 Hessians, who had no personal interest in the struggle, and were leased by their princes like so many cattle. "Were I an American," said Chatham, "as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms never- never"; and Franklin wrote grimly, "The German auxiliaries are certainly coming; it is our business to prevent their returning." never Out of the 3,000,000 people in the colonies, the Tories and negroes numbered at least 1,200,000. There were from 300,000 to 400,000 able-bodied patriots, of whom perhaps 150,000 served in the army at one time or another; but they probably never numbered more than 40,000 men under arms at one time, and sometimes the total force available for striking a blow was not above 5000. Besides troops of English descent, there were many Germans, Irish, and Scotch, some Dutch, Jews, French, and Welsh, and several thousand negroes, especially from Rhode Island. Both sides made the moral and military mistake of enlisting Indian allies; the Americans were first to seek this dubious aid; the British used it most effectively. The main difficulty with the army was that the states insisted on furnishing militia on short terms of service, instead of allowing Congress to form a sufficient regular force with national officers, enlisted for the war. Washington said of the militia, "The system appears to have been pernicious beyond description. . . . It may be easily shown, that all the misfortunes we have met with in the military line are to be attributed to this cause." Many soldiers of fortune drifted over from Europe to seek employment, besides Lafayette, a French nobleman, who brought his own enthusiasm and the silent support of the French government; the German Baron von Steuben, an excellent soldier, skillfully drilled the troops and introduced improved tactics; the Poles Kosciusko and Pulaski and the French general De Kalb were gallant soldiers. 131. Long Island to After a year of preparation, the British dispatched a fleet to take Charleston, but it was beaten off (June 28, 1776) by the gallantry of Colonel Moultrie, in a fight signalized by the heroism of Sergeant Jasper. The main attack was on New York, near which Sir William Howe landed (1776-1777) with 20,000 men on Long Island (August 22). Washington Trenton had never before maneuvered an army in the field or defended a country; his force of 18,000 men was badly defeated (August STATUE OF SERGEANT JASPER IN CHARLESTON. 27), and only Howe's slowness enabled Washington was forced back across chant of Philadelphia, who raised money on his personal credit to keep the army together, the Revolution might have failed then and there. Washington's indomitable spirit suddenly turned the scale. To prevent the British following him to Philadelphia he recrossed the Delaware in boats (December 26, 1776), struck the British post at Trenton, and captured 1000 Hessians. A few days later he successfully attacked the British at Princeton (January 3, 1777), so that they withdrew to the neighborhood of New York, and Washington fortified himself at Morristown, where at one time he had only 1500 men. A compensating British victory was the capture of Newport. 473 campaign (1777) In the spring of 1777 the British planned three lines of attack, intended to cut New England off from the middle 132. Bur- colonies: (1) from Lake Champlain to the Hudson under goyne's General John Burgoyne; (2) from Lake Ontario to the Mohawk under Colonel St. Leger; (3) from New York up the river under Sir William Howe to join the northern forces. In June, 1777, Burgoyne started southward from Montreal with an army of about 8000 men, including Hessians; and he put forth a bombastic proclamation, in which he said, "I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my direction, . . . and the messengers of justice and wrath await them in the field; and devastation, famine, and every concomitant horror." Moore, Diary of I. 454 Washington was unable to leave Howe's front, and Schuyler was put in command to oppose Burgoyne, who nevertheless easily got as far as Fort Edward. Here he found a hornet's nest. Men poured in from near-by New England until Schuy ler had nearly twice as many troops as Burgoyne, and General Stark of New Hampshire beat part of the British forces at Bennington (August 16). Meanwhile the British expedition to the Mohawk valley under Colonel St. Leger got no farther than the vicinity of Fort Stanwix, because of the skillful preparations of Schuyler and Benedict Arnold and the bravery of General Herkimer at the battle of Oriskany. General Horatio Gates was now put in command of the American northern army, though against Washington's judgment. The expected British army did not appear from the lower Hudson. Most of Burgoyne's Indians deserted, and the British lost men steadily in battle and by capture. Burgoyne was at last confronted by Arnold and others, active subordinates of the apathetic Gates, and, after two hard fights at Freeman's Farm, was obliged to surrender his whole remaining army at Saratoga, October 17, 1777; the prisoners were 3500 British and Hessian troops, with 2300 volunteers and camp followers. The defeat was the turn |