Part 2 (1/2)
Parker's plan was that the two 50's, _Bristol_ and _Experiment_, and two 28-gun frigates, the _Active_ and the _Solebay_, should engage the main front; while two frigates of the same cla.s.s, the _Actaeon_ and the _Syren_, with a 20-gun corvette, the _Sphinx_, should pa.s.s the fort, anchoring to the westward, up-channel, to protect the heavy vessels against fire-s.h.i.+ps, as well as to enfilade the princ.i.p.al American battery. The main attack was to be further supported by a bomb-vessel, the _Thunder_, accompanied by the armed transport _Friends.h.i.+p_, which were to take station to the southeast of the east bastion of the engaged front of the fort. The order to weigh was given at 10.30 A.M., when the flood-tide had fairly made; and at 11.15 the _Active_, _Bristol_, _Experiment_, and _Solebay_, anch.o.r.ed in line ahead, in the order named, the _Active_ to the eastward. These s.h.i.+ps seem to have taken their places skilfully without confusion, and their fire, which opened at once, was rapid, well-sustained, and well-directed; but their position suffered under the radical defect that, whether from actual lack of water, or only from fear of grounding, they were too far from the works to use grape effectively. The sides of s.h.i.+ps being much weaker than those of sh.o.r.e works, while their guns were much more numerous, the secret of success was to get near enough to beat down the hostile fire by a mult.i.tude of projectiles. The bomb-vessel _Thunder_ anch.o.r.ed in the situation a.s.signed her; but her sh.e.l.ls, though well aimed, were ineffective. ”Most of them fell within the fort,” Moultrie reported, ”but we had a mora.s.s in the middle, which swallowed them instantly, and those that fell in the sand were immediately buried.” During the action the mortar bed broke, disabling the piece.
Owing to the scarcity of ammunition in the fort, the garrison had positive orders not to engage at ranges exceeding four hundred yards.
Four or five shots were thrown at the _Active_, while still under sail, but with this exception the fort kept silence until the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed, at a distance estimated by the Americans to be three hundred and fifty yards. The word was then pa.s.sed along the platform, ”Mind the Commodore; mind the two 50-gun s.h.i.+ps,”--an order which was strictly obeyed, as the losses show. The protection of the work proved to be almost perfect,--a fact which doubtless contributed to the coolness and precision of fire vitally essential with such deficient resources. The texture of the palmetto wood suffered the b.a.l.l.s to sink smoothly into it without splintering, so that the facing of the work held well. At times, when three or four broadsides struck together, the merlons shook so that Moultrie feared they would come bodily in; but they withstood, and the small loss inflicted was chiefly through the embrasures. The flagstaff being shot away, falling outside into the ditch, a young sergeant, named Jasper, distinguished himself by jumping after it, fetching back and rehoisting the colours under a heavy fire.
In the squadron an equal gallantry was shown under circ.u.mstances which made severe demands upon endurance. Whatever Parker's estimate of the worth of the defences, no trace of vain-confidence appears in his dispositions, which were thorough and careful, as the execution of the main attack was skilful and vigorous; but the s.h.i.+ps' companies, expecting an easy victory, had found themselves confronted with a resistance and a punishment as severe as were endured by the leading s.h.i.+ps at Trafalgar, and far more prolonged. Such conditions impose upon men's tenacity the additional test of surprise and discomfiture.
The _Experiment_, though very small for a s.h.i.+p of the line, lost 23 killed and 56 wounded, out of a total probably not much exceeding 300; while the _Bristol_, having the spring shot away, swung with her head to the southward and her stern to the fort, undergoing for a long time a raking fire to which she could make little reply. Three several attempts to replace the spring were made by Mr. James Saumarez,--afterwards the distinguished admiral, Lord de Saumarez, then a mids.h.i.+pman,--before the s.h.i.+p was relieved from this grave disadvantage. Her loss was 40 killed and 71 wounded; not a man escaping of those stationed on the quarter-deck at the beginning of the action. Among the injured was the Commodore himself, whose cool heroism must have been singularly conspicuous, from the notice it attracted in a service where such bearing was not rare. At one time when the quarter-deck was cleared and he stood alone upon the p.o.o.p-ladder, Saumarez suggested to him to come down; but he replied, smiling, ”You want to get rid of me, do you?” and refused to move.
The captain of the s.h.i.+p, John Morris, was mortally wounded. With commendable modesty Parker only reported himself as slightly bruised; but deserters stated that for some days he needed the a.s.sistance of two men to walk, and that his trousers had been torn off him by shot or splinters. The loss in the other s.h.i.+ps was only one killed, 14 wounded. The Americans had 37 killed and wounded.
The three vessels a.s.signed to enfilade the main front of the fort did not get into position. They ran on the middle ground, owing, Parker reported, to the ignorance of the pilots. Two had fouled each other before striking. Having taken the bottom on a rising tide, two floated in a few hours, and retreated; but the third, the _Actaeon_, 28, sticking fast, was set on fire and abandoned by her officers. Before she blew up, the Americans boarded her, securing her colours, bell, and some other trophies. ”Had these s.h.i.+ps effected their purpose,”
Moultrie reported, ”they would have driven us from our guns.”
The main division held its ground until long after nightfall, firing much of the time, but stopping at intervals. After two hours it had been noted that the fort replied very slowly, which was attributed to its being overborne, instead of to the real cause, the necessity for sparing ammunition. For the same reason it was entirely silent from 3.30 P.M. to 6, when fire was resumed from only two or three guns, whence Parker surmised that the rest had been dismounted. The Americans were restrained throughout the engagement by the fear of exhausting entirely their scanty store.
”About 9 P.M.,” Parker reported, ”being very dark, great part of our ammunition expended, the people fatigued, the tide of ebb almost done, no prospect from the eastward (that is, from the army), and no possibility of our being of any further service, I ordered the s.h.i.+ps to withdraw to their former moorings.” Besides the casualties among the crew, and severe damage to the hull, the _Bristol's_ mainmast, with nine cannon-b.a.l.l.s in it, had to be shortened, while the mizzen-mast was condemned. The injury to the frigates was immaterial, owing to the garrison's neglecting them.
The fight in Charleston Harbour, the first serious contest in which s.h.i.+ps took part in this war, resembles generically the battle of Bunker's Hill, with which the regular land warfare had opened a year before. Both ill.u.s.trate the difficulty and danger of a front attack, without cover, upon a fortified position, and the advantage conferred even upon untrained men, if naturally cool, resolute, and intelligent, not only by the protection of a work, but also, it may be urged, by the recognition of a tangible line up to which to hold, and to abandon which means defeat, dishonour, and disaster. It is much for untried men to recognise in their surroundings something which gives the unity of a common purpose, and thus the coherence which discipline imparts.
Although there was in Parker's dispositions nothing open to serious criticism,--nothing that can be ascribed to undervaluing his opponent,--and although, also, he had good reason to expect from the army active cooperation which he did not get, it is probable that he was very much surprised, not only at the tenacity of the Americans'
resistance, but at the efficacy of their fire. He felt, doubtless, the traditional and natural distrust--and, for the most part, the justified distrust--with which experience and practice regard inexperience. Some seamen of American birth, who had been serving in the _Bristol_, deserted after the fight. They reported that her crew said, ”We were told the Yankees would not stand two fires, but we never saw better fellows;” and when the fire of the fort slackened and some cried, ”They have done fighting,” others replied, ”By G.o.d, we are glad of it, for we never had such a drubbing in our lives.” ”All the common men of the fleet spoke loudly in praise of the garrison,”--a note of admiration so frequent in generous enemies that we may be a.s.sured that it was echoed on the quarter-deck also. They could afford it well, for there was no stain upon their own record beyond the natural mortification of defeat; no flinching under the severity of their losses, although a number of their men were comparatively raw, volunteers from the transports, whose crews had come forward almost as one man when they knew that the complements of the s.h.i.+ps were short through sickness. Edmund Burke, a friend to both sides, was justified in saying that ”never did British valour s.h.i.+ne more conspicuously, nor did our s.h.i.+ps in an engagement of the same nature experience so serious an encounter.” There were several death-vacancies for lieutenants; and, as the battle of Lake Champlain gave Pellew his first commission, so did that of Charleston Harbour give his to Saumarez, who was made lieutenant of the _Bristol_ by Parker. Two years later, when the s.h.i.+p had gone to Jamaica, he was followed on her quarter-deck by Nelson and Collingwood, who also received promotion in her from the same hand.
The attack on Fort Moultrie was not resumed. After necessary repairs, the s.h.i.+ps of war with the troops went to New York, where they arrived on the 4th of August, and took part in the operations for the reduction of that place under the direction of the two Howes.
The occupation of New York Harbour, and the capture of the city were the most conspicuous British successes of the summer and fall of 1776.
While Parker and Clinton were meeting with defeat at Charleston, and Arnold was hurrying the preparation of his flotilla on Champlain, the two brothers, General Sir William Howe and the Admiral, Lord Howe, were arriving in New York Bay, invested not only with the powers proper to the commanders of great fleets and armies, but also with authority as peace commissioners, to negotiate an amicable arrangement with the revolted Colonies.
Sir William Howe had awaited for some time at Halifax the arrival of the expected reinforcements, but wearying at last he sailed thence on the 10th of June, 1776, with the army then in hand. On the 25th he himself reached Sandy Hook, the entrance to New York Bay, having preceded the transports in a frigate. On the 29th, the day after Parker's repulse at Fort Moultrie, the troops arrived; and on July 3d, the date on which Arnold, retreating from Canada, reached Crown Point, the British landed on Staten Island, which is on the west side of the lower Bay. On the 12th came in the _Eagle_, 64, carrying the flag of Lord Howe. This officer was much esteemed by the Americans for his own personal qualities, and for his att.i.tude towards them in the present dispute, as well as for the memory of his brother, who had endeared himself greatly to them in the campaign of 1758, when he had fallen near Lake Champlain; but the decisive step of declaring their independence had been taken already, on July 4th, eight days before the Admiral's arrival. A month was spent in fruitless attempts to negotiate with the new government, without recognising any official character in its representatives. During that time, however, while abstaining from decisive operations, cruisers were kept at sea to intercept American traders, and the Admiral, immediately upon arriving, sent four vessels of war twenty-five miles up the Hudson River, as far as Tarrytown. This squadron was commanded by Hyde Parker, afterwards, in 1801, Nelson's commander-in-chief at Copenhagen. The service was performed under a tremendous cannonade from all the batteries on both sh.o.r.es, but the s.h.i.+ps could not be stopped. Towards the middle of August it was evident that the Americans would not accept any terms in the power of the Howes to offer, and it became necessary to attempt coercion by arms.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
In the reduction of New York in 1776, the part played by the British Navy, owing to the nature of the campaign in general and of the enemy's force in particular, was of that inconspicuous character which obscures the fact that without the Navy the operations could not have been undertaken at all, and that the Navy played to them the part of the base of operations and line of communications. Like the foundations of a building, these lie outside the range of superficial attention, and therefore are less generally appreciated than the brilliant fighting going on at the front, to the maintenance of which they are all the time indispensable. Consequently, whatever of interest may attach to any, or to all, of the minor affairs, which in the aggregate const.i.tute the action of the naval force in such circ.u.mstances, the historian of the major operations is confined perforce to indicating the broad general effect of naval power upon the issue. This will be best done by tracing in outline the scene of action, the combined movements, and the Navy's influence in both.
The harbour of New York divides into two parts--the upper and lower Bays--connected by a pa.s.sage called the Narrows, between Long and Staten Islands, upon the latter of which the British troops were encamped. Long Island, which forms the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Narrows, extends to the east-north-east a hundred and ten miles, enclosing between itself and the continent a broad sheet of water called Long Island Sound, that reaches nearly to Narragansett Bay. The latter, being a fine anchorage, entered also into the British scheme of operations, as an essential feature in a coastwise maritime campaign.
Long Island Sound and the upper Bay of New York are connected by a crooked and difficult pa.s.sage, known as the East River, eight or ten miles in length, and at that time nearly a mile wide[15] abreast the city of New York. At the point where the East River joins New York Bay, the Hudson River, an estuary there nearly two miles wide, also enters from the north,--a circ.u.mstance which has procured for it the alternative name of the North River. Near their confluence is Governor's Island, half a mile below the town, centrally situated to command the entrances to both. Between the East and North rivers, with their general directions from north and east-north-east, is embraced a long strip of land gradually narrowing to the southward. The end of this peninsula, as it would otherwise be, is converted into an island, of a mean length of about eight miles, by the Harlem River,--a narrow and partially navigable stream connecting the East and North rivers.
To the southern extreme of this island, called Manhattan, the city of New York was then confined.
As both the East and North rivers were navigable for large s.h.i.+ps, the former throughout, the latter for over a hundred miles above its mouth, it was evident that control of the water must play a large part in warlike operations throughout the district described. With the limited force at Was.h.i.+ngton's disposal, he had been unable to push the defences of the city as far to the front as was desirable. The lower Bay was held by the British Navy, and Staten Island had been abandoned, necessarily, without resistance, thereby giving up the strong defensive position of the Narrows. The lines were contracted thus to the immediate neighbourhood of New York itself. Small detached works skirted the sh.o.r.es of Manhattan Island, and a line of redoubts extended across it, following the course of a small stream which then partly divided it, a mile from the southern end. Governor's Island was also occupied as an outpost. Of more intrinsic strength, but not at first concerned, strong works had been thrown up on either side of the North River, upon commanding heights eight miles above New York, to dispute the pa.s.sage of s.h.i.+ps.
The crucial weakness in this scheme of defence was that the sh.o.r.e of Long Island opposite the city was much higher than that of Manhattan.
If this height were seized, the city, and all below it, became untenable. Here, therefore, was the key of the position and the chief station for the American troops. For its protection a line of works was thrown up, the flanks of which rested upon Wallabout Bay and Gowa.n.u.s Cove, two indentations in the sh.o.r.es of Long Island. These Was.h.i.+ngton manned with nine thousand of the eighteen thousand men under his command. By the arrival of three divisions of Hessian troops, Howe's army now numbered over thirty-four thousand men, to which Clinton brought three thousand more from before Charleston.[16]
On the 22d of August the British crossed from Staten Island to Gravesend Bay, on the Long Island sh.o.r.e of the Narrows. The Navy covered the landing, and the transportation of the troops was under the charge of Commodore William Hotham, who, nineteen years later, was Nelson's commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. By noon fifteen thousand men and forty field-guns had been carried over and placed on sh.o.r.e. The force of the Americans permitted little opposition to the British advance; but General Howe was cautious and easy-going, and it was not till the 27th that the army, now increased to twenty-five thousand, was fairly in front of the American lines, having killed, wounded, and taken about 1,500 men. Hoping that Howe would be tempted to storm the position, Was.h.i.+ngton replaced these with two thousand drawn from his meagre numbers; but his opponent, who had borne a distinguished part at Bunker's Hill, held back his troops, who were eager for the a.s.sault. The Americans now stood with their backs to a swift tidal stream, nearly a mile wide, with only a feeble line of works between them and an enemy more than double their number.
On the morning of the 27th, Sir Peter Parker, with a 64-gun s.h.i.+p, two 50's, and two frigates, attempted to work up to New York, with a view of supporting the left flank of the army; but the wind came out from the north, and, the ebb-tide making, the s.h.i.+ps got no nearer than three miles from the city. Fortunately for the Americans, they either could not or would not go farther on the following two days.
After dark of the 28th, Howe broke ground for regular approaches.
Was.h.i.+ngton, seeing this, and knowing that there could be but one result to a siege under his condition of inferiority, resolved to withdraw. During the night of the 29th ten thousand men silently quitted their positions, embarked, and crossed to Manhattan Island, carrying with them all their belongings, arms, and ammunition. The enemy's trenches were but six hundred yards distant, yet no suspicion was aroused, nor did a single deserter give treacherous warning. The night was clear and moonlit, although a heavy fog towards daybreak prolonged the period of secrecy which shrouded the retreat. When the fog rose, the last detachment was discovered crossing, but a few ineffectual cannon-shot were the only hara.s.sment experienced by the Americans in the course of this rapid and dexterous retirement. The garrison of Governor's Island was withdrawn at the same time.