American Aurora

by Richard N. Rosenfeld

  [F]or a General to be surprized by an Enemy, just under his nose, in open day and caught in a State of wanton Security, from an overweening presumption in his own Strength, is a crime of so capital a nature as to admit of neither Alleviation nor Pardon …

  Be this as it may, I think the Enemy have reached their Ne plus for this Year. I have drawn this Conclusion from the Example of Hannibal …861

  Thursday, October 3, 1776. Today, American General Anthony Wayne writes Benjamin Franklin that Washington mishandled the defense of New York:

  We are not a little Surprized at the Avacuation of Long Island, the Surrender of that was Opening the door to the Island of New York. Our people can’t possibly hold that place, when the North [Hudson] and East Rivers are free for the Enemies fleet, as by that means they can at any time land troops on the back of our Posts, a Circumstance which I fear has not been sufficiently guarded against …862

  Friday, October 4, 1776. Today, John Adams writes Abigail of his unhappiness with Ben Franklin’s new Pennsylvania Constitution:

  I am seated in a large Library Room with Eight Gentlemen round about me, all engaged in Conversation … The proceedings of the late [Pennsylvania] Convention are not well liked … Their Constitution is reprobated …

  We live in the Age of political Experiments. Among many that will fail, some, I hope, will succeed—But Pensilvania will be divided and weakend and rendered much less vigorous in the Cause, by the wretched Ideas of Government which prevail in the Minds of many People in it.863

  Friday, October 11, 1776. Today, from London, the French charge d’affaires in London, M. Garnier, writes to French Foreign Minister the Comte de Vergennes at the court of Versailles in France:

  The [British] royal army in America is in possession of Long Island. The enclosed letters from General Howe detail his operations …

  [Y]ou will be undoubtedly astonished, Sir, that [Howe] has carried it out at so small a cost, since he computes only about 400 [British] men, as many dead as injured, or taken in his army, while one sees the loss of the Americans at 3,300 men, including 1,000 prisoners, among whom are three generals. They have also lost 32 pieces of artillery.

  You should very much believe that they speak with the greatest contempt of the defence of these last items. They claim that the American retreats were poorly executed, and that they allowed the British to surprise the fortified emplacement they could have defended to their best advantage …

  To hear the consequences that [British] Government supporters draw from this, it may appear that everything is done and that the entire of America is enclosed on Long Island. The Americans can no longer hold any part, and it is inevitable that they will surrender …864

  Tuesday, October 22, 1776. Today, the Continental Congress gives Ben Franklin his instructions for the mission to France:

  You will solicit the Court of France for an immediate supply of twenty or thirty thousand Muskets and bayonets, and a large supply of Ammunition, and Brass Field Pieces to be sent under convoy by France. The United States engage for the Payment of the Arms, Artillery and Ammunition and to indemnify France for the Expence of the Convoy …865

  Thursday, October 24, 1776. Today, the Committee of Secret Correspondence of the Continental Congress writes a secret letter to Charles W. F. Dumas, Ben Franklin’s friend and correspondent in The Hague (Netherlands):

  Our Worthy Friend Doctor Franklin being indefatigueable in the Service of his Country and few Men so qualify’d to be useful to the Community of which he is a Member, You will not be surprized that the Unanimous Voice of the Congress of Delegates from the United States of America has called upon him to Visit the Court of France in the Character of one of their Commissioners for Negociating a Treaty of Alliance &c with that Nation … We request to hear from you frequently, … make use of the Cypher [secret code]. The Doctor has communicated the knowledge of it to one of our Members.866

  Today, the committee prepares Secret Orders for Captain Lambert Wickes of the Continental warship Reprisal, which will carry Franklin to France:

  The Honourable Congress having thought proper to Submit the Ship Reprisal under your command to our direction for the present voyage or Cruize. You are to be governed by the following orders.

  The Honble Doctor Franklin being appointed by Congress one of their Commissioners for negociating some publick business at the Court of France. You are to receive him and his Suite aboard the Reprisal…

  When they are on board you are to proceed with the utmost diligence for the port of Nantes in France where they will land … It is of more important that you get Safe and Soon to France than any prizes that you cou’d take, therefore you are not to delay time on this outward passage for the Sake of Cruizing, but if … Doctor Franklin may approve of your Speaking any Vessels you see, do therein as he shall direct …867

  Today, the Committee of Secret Correspondence writes U.S. commissioner Silas Deane in Paris that Benjamin Franklin is coming:

  The Congress having committed to our charge and management their ship-of-war called the Reprisal, commanded by Lambert Wickes, esq., carrying sixteen six-pounders and about one hundred and twenty men, we have allotted her to carry Doctor Franklin to France and directed Captain Wickes to proceed to the Port of Nantes where the doctor will land and from thence proceed to Paris …868

  Saturday, October 26, 1776. Tonight, under cover of darkness, seventy-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his seven-year-old grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache, slip out of Philadelphia by carriage, heading south along the Delaware River to Chester, Pennsylvania, where they spend the night.869

  Sunday, October 27, 1776. This morning, Dr. Franklin and Benny Bache travel three miles south of Chester, along the Pennsylvania coast to Marcus Hook, where the sixteen-gun, 130-man United States Sloop-of-War Reprisal waits, under orders from the Continental Congress, to transport them on a secret mission to France. Captain Lambert Wickes, the Reprisal’s commander, sets sail today for France.870

  Wednesday, November 6, 1776. Today, in Paris, Silas Deane writes the Continental Congress,

  Two hundred pieces of brass cannon, and arms, tents and accoutrements for thirty thousand men, with ammunition in proportion, and between twenty and thirty brass mortars, have been granted to my request, but the unaccountable silence on your part has delayed the embarkation some weeks already. I yesterday got them in motion … but I am hourly trembling for fear of counter orders …871

  News of Washington’s defeats will cause France to retreat. Orders will soon come to prevent those arms from departing.

  Saturday, November 16, 1776. To bar passage of British men-of-war up the North (Hudson) River, George Washington relies on Fort Washington (which faces the river on the northernmost end of New York Island) and Fort Lee (on the opposite New Jersey shore). Today, Washington loses Fort Washington. George Washington:

  [T]he Attack began about Ten O’Clock which our Troops stood and returned the Fire in such a Manner as gave me great Hopes the enemy was intirely repulsed. But at this Time a Body of [British] Troops cross’d the Harlem River in boats and landed inside of the second Lines, our Troops being then engaged in the first … Colo. Cadwallader ordered his Troops to retreat in order to gain the Fort. It was done with much Confusion; and the Enemy crossing over came in upon them in such a Manner that a number of them surrendered.

  At this time the Hessians advanced on the North Side of the Fort in very large Bodies … At this time I sent a Billet to Col Magaw, directing him to hold out … But before this reached him, he had entered too far into a Treaty to retract. After which Colo. Cadwallader told another messenger, who went over, that they had been able to obtain no other Terms than to surrender as Prisoners of War [giving up their arms, ammunition, and stores of every kind] …872

  Sunday, November 17, 1776. Today, General Nathanael Greene, who commands Forts Washington and Lee, writes Colonel Henry Knox:

  The misfortune of losing Fort Washington, with between two and three thousand men, will reac
h you before this, if it has not already. His Excellency General Washington has been with me for several days. The evacuation or reinforcement of Fort Washington was under consideration, but finally nothing concluded on …

  General Washington, General Putnam, General Mercer, and myself went to the island to determine what was best to be done, but just at the instant we stepped on board the boat, the enemy made their appearance on the hill … This was done while we were crossing the river … There we all stood in a very awkward situation. As the disposition was made, and the enemy advancing, we durst not attempt to make any new disposition …873

  Tuesday, November 19, 1776. Today, George Washington laments the loss of Fort Washington:

  This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great Mortification as we have lost not only two thousand Men that were there, but a good deal of artillery, and some of the best Arms we had. And what adds to my Mortification is that this Post, after the last Ships went past it, was held contrary to my Wishes and Opinion as I conceived it was to be a dangerous one; but being determined on by a full Council of General Officers … I did not care to give an absolute order for withdrawing the Garrison till I could get round and see the Situation of things and then it became too late as the Fort was Invested. I had given it, upon the passing of the last Ships, as my opinion to Genl. Greene, under whose care it was, that it would be best to evacuate the place; but, as the order was discretionary, and his opinion differed from mine, it unhappily was delayed too long …

  It is a matter of great grief and surprize to me to find the different States so slow and inattentive to … levying their quotas of Men. In ten days from this date, there will not be above 2000 men …

  I am wearied almost to death with the retrograde Motions of things, and I solemnly protest that a pecuniary reward of 20,000$pD a year would not induce me to undergo what I do …874

  In his defeat at Fort Washington, George Washington has lost more than 2,900 troops (most captured), which is one third to one half of his army.875

  Thursday, November 21, 1776. Today, Washington’s former aide-de-camp Joseph Reed writes Washington’s second in command, Major General Charles Lee, concerning Washington’s indecisiveness:

  I do not mean to flatter, nor praise you at the Expence of any other, but I confess I do think that it is entirely owing to you that this Army & the Liberties of America (so far as they are dependent on it) are not totally cut off. You have Decision, a Quality often wanting in Minds otherwise valuable & I ascribe to this our escape from York Island … & I have no Doubt [that,] had you been here, the Garrison at Mount Washington would now have composed a Part of this Army …

  Col. Cadwallader … informs that the Enemy have a Southern Expedition in View—that they hold us very cheap in Consequence of the late Affair at Mount Washington where both the plan of Defence & Execution were contemptible …

  George Washington’s own judgment … would, I believe, have saved the men and their arms, but, unluckily, General Greene’s judgment was contrary. This kept the General’s [Washington’s] mind in a state of suspense till the stroke was struck. Oh! General—an indecisive Mind is one of the greatest Misfortunes that can befall an Army—how often I lamented it this Campaign.876

  The news continues bad. Today, George Washington loses Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. He must now abandon New Jersey. George Washington reports:

  The unhappy affair of the 16th has been succeeded by further Misfortunes. Yesterday Morning a large body of the Enemy landed between Dobb’s Ferry and Fort Lee … [O]ur men were ordered to meet them, but finding their numbers greatly superior and that they were extending themselves to seize on the passes over the River, it was thought proper to withdraw … We lost the whole of the Cannon that was at the Fort, except two twelve pounders …877

  [W]e have not an Intrenching Tool and not above 3000 Men, and they much broken and dispirited, not only with our ill success but the Loss of their Tents and Baggage, I have resolved to avoid any Attack, tho’ by so doing I must leave a very fine Country [New Jersey] open to their Ravages or a plentiful Store House from which they will draw voluntary Supplies …878

  Tom Paine, serving at Fort Lee as an aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene, flees with the rest of the troops.879 Tom Paine:

  [T]he injudicious choice of positions taken by [General Washington] in the campaign of 1776 … necessarily produced the losses and misfortunes that marked that gloomy campaign. The positions taken were either islands or necks of land. In the former, the enemy, by the aid of their ships, could bring the whole force against a part of General Washington’s, as in the affair of Long Island; and, in the latter, he might be shut up as in the bottom of a bag.

  This had nearly been the case at New York, and it was so in part; it was actually the case at Fort Washington; and it would have been the case at Fort Lee, if General Greene had not moved precipitately off, leaving everything behind, and by gaining Hackensack bridge, got out of the bag of Bergen Neck.880

  Adjutant General Timothy Pickering will recall:

  Some who have been taught to believe [George Washington] to have been a great commander … think it scarcely possible that it was left to [a] late period … to make the discovery of his military deficiencies. In truth it was not. They had become perfectly apparent … at a very early period of our revolution. The second campaign had not passed away before they were manifest … to the few officers nearest to him … who were witnesses of his conduct on occasions calling for prompt discernment and decision …881

  Sunday, November 24, 1776. Today, General Charles Lee responds to Adjutant General Joseph Reed’s letter of November 21st:

  I receiv’d your most obliging flattering letter—lament with you that fatal indecision of mind which in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity or even want of personal courage—but eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend the man of the best parts if curs’d with indecision.882

  Wednesday, November 27, 1776. Today, George Washington writes from Newark, New Jersey:

  The force here … is weak and it has been more owing to the badness of the weather that the Enemy’s progress has been checked than any resistance we could make … Their plan is not entirely unfolded, but I shall not be surprized, if Philadelphia should turn out the object of their Movement …883

  Today, off the coast of France and despite congressional instructions not to delay his mission by taking prizes, Dr. Franklin allows Captain Lambert Wickes of the sloop Reprisal to engage and capture two British prizes. Benny’s cousin, William Temple Franklin, writes:

  The sloop [Reprisal] was frequently chased during the voyage by British cruisers and several times prepared for action; but being a good sailer and the captain having received orders not unnecessarily to risk an engagement, she as often escaped her pursuers … [O]n the 27th of November, being near the coast of France though out of soundings … [s]everal sail were seen about noon, and the sloop brought to and took a brig from Bordeaux bound to Cork (being Irish property), loaded with lumber and some wine … In the afternoon of the same day, he came up with and took another brig, from Rochfort, belonging to Hull, bound to Hamburgh, with brandy and flax-seed …884

  The day after tomorrow, Benjamin Franklin will arrive in Quiberon Bay (France) with these prizes, an Irish-owned brigantine, the George, and another vessel, La Vigne, from Hull.885

  Tuesday, December 3, 1776. Today, from Paris, American commissioner Silas Deane writes the Committee of Secret Correspondence:

  The late affairs at Long Island, of which we had intelligence in October, and the burning of New York, the report of Carleton’s having crossed the lakes [from Canada], and that you were negotiating has absolutely ruined our credit with the greater part of individuals … I have attended the closer to dispatch the supplies of the army …886

  Wednesday, December 4, 1776. Today, with his ship resting at Auray on the French coast of Brittany, Benjamin Franklin writes Silas Deane in Paris:

&nb
sp; I have just arrived on board the Reprisal, Captain Wickes, a small vessel of war belonging to Congress. We are at Quiberon Bay, awaiting a favorable wind to go on to Nantes … Congress in September named you, Mr. Jefferson, and myself to negociate a treaty of commerce and friendship with the court of France. Mr. Jefferson, then in Virginia, declined. Thereupon, [my former deputy in London] Mr. Arthur Lee, at present in London, was named in his place …

  We fell in with two brigantines at sea, one Irish and the other English, which we captured and brought into Nantes. I do not know that the captain can get permission to sell them there, as that would be in contradiction of the treaties between the two crowns [of Britain and France] …

  If you could find some means to notify Mr Lee of his nomination it would be well to do so.887

  Thursday, December 5, 1776. Today, George Washington writes:

  As nothing but necessity obliged me to retire before the Enemy and leave so much of the Jerseys unprotected, I conceive it to be my duty … to make head against them so soon as there be the least probability of doing it with propriety … [S]orry I am to observe, however, that the frequent calls upon the Militia of this State, the want of exertion in the principal Gentlemen of the Country, or a fatal supiness and insensibility of danger … have been the causes of our late disgraces … My first wish is that Congress may be convinced of the propriety of relying as little as possible upon Militia …888