Part 17 (1/2)
[Sidenote: Clark's conquest of the Northwest, 1778-79. _Hero Tales_, 31-41.]
155. Clark's Western Campaign, 1778-79.--The Virginians had long taken great interest in the western country. Their hardy pioneers had crossed the mountains and begun the settlement of Kentucky. The Virginians now determined to conquer the British posts in the country northwest of the Ohio. The command was given to George Rogers Clark.
Gathering a strong band of hardy frontiersmen he set out on his dangerous expedition. He seized the posts in Illinois, and Vincennes surrendered to him. Then the British governor of the Northwest came from Detroit with a large force and recaptured Vincennes. Clark set out from Illinois to surprise the British. It was the middle of the winter. In some places the snow lay deep on the ground. Then came the early floods.
For days the Americans marched in water up to their waists. At night they sought some little hill where they could sleep on dry ground. Then on again through the flood. They surprised the British garrison at Vincennes and forced it to surrender. That was the end of the contest for the Northwest.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WEST POINT IN 1790.]
[Sidenote: Benedict Arnold.]
[Sidenote: His treason, 1780 _Higginson_, 209-211; _McMaster_, 144]
156. Arnold and Andre, 1780.--Of all the leaders under Was.h.i.+ngton none was abler in battle than Benedict Arnold. Unhappily he was always in trouble about money. He was distrusted by Congress and was not promoted. At Saratoga he quarrelled with Gates and was dismissed from his command. Later he became military governor of Philadelphia and was censured by Was.h.i.+ngton for his doings there. He then secured the command of West Point and offered to surrender the post to the British. Major Andre, of Clinton's staff, met Arnold to arrange the final details. On his return journey to New York Andre was arrested and taken before Was.h.i.+ngton. The American commander asked his generals if Andre was a spy. They replied that Andre was a spy, and he was hanged. Arnold escaped to New York and became a general in the British army.
CHAPTER 16
INDEPENDENCE
[Sidenote: Invasion of the South.]
[Sidenote: Capture of Charleston, 1780.]
157. Fall of Charleston, 1780.--It seemed quite certain that Clinton could not conquer the Northern states with the forces given him.
In the South there were many loyalists. Resistance might not be so stiff there. At all events Clinton decided to attempt the conquest of the South. Savannah was easily seized (1778), and the French and Americans could not retake it (1779). In the spring of 1780, Clinton, with a large army, landed on the coast between Savannah and Charleston. He marched overland to Charleston and besieged it from the land side. The Americans held out for a long time. But they were finally forced to surrender.
Clinton then sailed back to New York, and left to Lord Cornwallis the further conquest of the Carolinas.
[Sidenote: Battle of Camden, 1780.]
158. Gates's Defeat at Camden, 1780.--Cornwallis had little trouble in occupying the greater part of South Carolina. There was no one to oppose him, for the American army had been captured with Charleston.
Another small army was got together in North Carolina and the command given to Gates, the victor at Saratoga. One night both Gates and Cornwallis set out to attack the other's camp. The two armies met at daybreak, the British having the best position. But this really made little difference, for Gates's Virginia militiamen ran away before the British came within fighting distance. The North Carolina militia followed the Virginians. Only the regulars from Maryland and Delaware were left. They fought on like heroes until their leader, General John De Kalb, fell with seventeen wounds. Then the survivors surrendered.
Gates himself had been carried far to the rear by the rush of the fleeing militia.
[Battle of King's Mountain, 1780. _Hero Tales_, 71-78.]
159. King's Mountain, October, 1780.--Cornwallis now thought that resistance surely was at an end. He sent an expedition to the settlements on the lower slopes of the Alleghany Mountains to get recruits, for there were many loyalists in that region. Suddenly from the mountains and from the settlements in Tennessee rode a body of armed frontiersmen. They found the British soldiers encamped on the top of King's Mountain. In about an hour they had killed or captured every British soldier.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGNS.]
[Sidenote: General Greene.]
[Sidenote: Morgan's victory of the Cowpens, 1781.]
160. The Cowpens, 1781.--General Greene was now sent to the South to take charge of the resistance to Cornwallis. A great soldier and a great organizer Greene found that he needed all his abilities. His coming gave new spirit to the survivors of Gates's army. He gathered militia from all directions and marched toward Cornwallis. Dividing his army into two parts, he sent General Daniel Morgan to threaten Cornwallis from one direction, while he threatened him from another direction. Cornwallis at once became uneasy and sent Tarleton to drive Morgan away, but the hero of many hard-fought battles was not easily frightened. He drew up his little force so skillfully that in a very few minutes the British were nearly all killed or captured.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL MORGAN THE HERO OF COWPENS.]
[Sidenote: Greene's retreat.]