Part 12 (2/2)
The American loss was slight, and they secured nearly six hundred prisoners, with a lot of valuable stores. The fort was destroyed before they left, the ruins being occupied some days later by a British force.
THE INFANT AMERICAN NAVY.
Thus far we have had nothing to tell about the infant American navy. At the beginning of the war, in 1775, Was.h.i.+ngton sent several privateers to cruise along the New England coast, and Congress established a naval department. Thirteen s.h.i.+ps were fitted out and two battalions of seamen enlisted. The opportunity of capturing prizes from the enemy was very alluring to the skillful American seamen, and so many das.h.i.+ng privateers started forth in quest of them that in the course of three years fully five hundred s.h.i.+ps, sailing under the English flag, were captured. Some of the daring cruisers did not hesitate to enter British waters in search of the enemy.
GREAT NAVAL VICTORY OF PAUL JONES.
No braver man than John Paul Jones ever trod the quarter-deck. On the first chance he displayed so much courage and skill that he was made a captain. He was cruising off Solway Firth near his birthplace one night, when he rowed ash.o.r.e on the coast of c.u.mberland, with only thirty-one volunteers, and burned three vessels in the harbor of Whitehaven and spiked a number of cannon in the guard-room of the fort. England was alarmed, declared him a pirate, and put forth every effort to capture him.
In 1779, Paul Jones, as he is more generally known, put to sea in command of the _Bon Homme Richard_, and accompanied by two consorts, the _Alliance_ and the _Pallas_. The _Richard_ was an old East Indiaman, given him by the king of France and named in compliment to Franklin, who had published ”Poor Richard's Almanac” for so many years that he was often identified with the publication.
When Jones was off Scarborough, he sighted the Baltic fleet of merchantmen homeward bound, and escorted by the frigates _Countess of Scarborough_ and the _Serapis_. The latter carried fifty guns and the former twenty-two, while Jones had forty-four guns and three hundred and seventy-five men, two-thirds of whom were prisoners of war, since he had greatly weakened his crew in order to send home the many prizes captured.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PAUL JONES]
The moment Jones identified the enemy, he signaled to his consorts to join him in pursuit. Night had closed in and the moon was s.h.i.+ning, when the captain of the _Serapis_ hailed Jones, who answered by opening fire.
The enemy was equally prompt, and thus one of the most famous fights in naval history began. It is almost past comprehension how Jones fought so terrifically when the disadvantages under which he labored are known.
Firing had scarcely begun when one of the guns on the lower deck exploded, killing several men. The survivors ran above, and the piece was not used again during the fight.
Jones tried to close with the _Serapis_, but, finding he could not bring his guns to bear, he allowed his s.h.i.+p to fall off. The prisoners, who outnumbered his crew, were kept busy extinguis.h.i.+ng the fires that continually broke out, by being told that it was the only way to save themselves from death by burning. In the midst of the terrific fighting, when the _Richard_ seemed doomed, Captain Pearson of the _Serapis_ shouted:
”Have you struck?”
”Struck!” replied Jones; ”I am just beginning to fight.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGHT BETWEEN BON HOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS.]
While the s.h.i.+ps were lurching, one of the enemy's anchors caught the quarter of the _Richard_ and the two held fast, thenceforward fighting side by side. They were so close indeed that the _Serapis_ could not open her starboard ports, and the cannon were fired through the port-lids, which were blown off; but the main deck of the _Richard_ was so high that the broadsides of the enemy injured no one, though they did great damage to the vessel. This tremendous battle lasted for two hours, the muzzles of the guns sc.r.a.ping one another, and the cannon being discharged as fast as they could be loaded. The _Richard_ was soon shattered to that extent that she began sinking. Fire broke out repeatedly on both vessels, and finally Jones was able to work only three of his guns. At this crisis, he found that his consort, the _Alliance_, Captain Landais, was firing into him as well as the _Serapis_; but not heeding him, he continued his battle with the _Serapis_, whose sailors fought as bravely as his own.
The fearful struggle was decided by a sailor in the rigging of the _Richard_, who was engaged in throwing hand-grenades on the deck of the _Serapis_. One of these dropped into the hatchway and exploded a ma.s.s of eighteen-pound cartridges, which killed twenty and wounded twice as many more. Captain Pearson placed himself at the head of his boarders and made a rush for the deck of the _Richard_. Jones, leading his own men, drove them back. The explosion of the grenades silenced the main battery of the _Serapis_, and Captain Pearson himself hauled down his colors, both crews in the awful confusion believing for some minutes that it was the _Richard_ that had surrendered.
When day dawned, the riddled _Richard_ was settling fast, and Jones had barely time to remove his crew to the _Serapis_ when his own vessel went down. Four-fifths of his men had been killed or wounded.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BRITISH CAPTAIN SURRENDERING HIS SWORD TO PAUL JONES.]
Investigation of the conduct of Captain Landais in firing into the _Richard_ led to the conclusion that he was insane, and he was deprived of his command. Jones did no more special service for the Americans. For his unsurpa.s.sable achievement he received the thanks of Congress, and the king of France presented him with a gold sword. After the war he became a rear-admiral in the Russian navy, and died in Paris in 1792.
One of the saddest and most shocking events of the Revolution was the treason of Benedict Arnold, who had won a brilliant reputation for his bravery and generals.h.i.+p. He was quick-tempered, treacherous, and extravagant, and disliked by most of his men, despite his extraordinary daring. His first resentment against Congress was the failure of that body to make him one of the first five major-generals, in the face, too, of Was.h.i.+ngton's urgent recommendation for such promotion, which was made after Arnold's splendid services at Saratoga.
He was placed in command at Philadelphia, while recovering from the wounds received at Saratoga. He married a Tory lady, and his misconduct caused his trial by court-martial, which sentenced him to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. Was.h.i.+ngton performed the unpleasant duty with delicacy, but its memory rankled and was increased by his anger against Congress for its refusal to allow his claims for expenses in the Canadian expedition. Influenced also, no doubt, by the Tory sentiments of his wife, he determined to take the step which has covered his name with everlasting infamy.
On the plea that his wounds were not yet healed, he induced Was.h.i.+ngton to place him in command at West Point, the most important post in the country and the princ.i.p.al depot of supplies. He opened a correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton at New York, and agreed for a stated sum of money and an appointment in the British army to surrender the post to a force which Clinton was to send against it. When a point in the negotiations was reached where it was necessary to send a trusted agent to meet Arnold, Clinton dispatched Major John Andre, who went up the Hudson in a sloop, and, September 22, 1780, met Arnold at the foot of Long Clove Mountain. Everything being agreed upon, Andre started to return to the sloop, but found that, owing to its having been fired upon by a party of Americans, it had dropped down stream. Obliged to make his way to New York by land, he a.s.sumed the dress of a civilian, and, furnished with a pa.s.s by Arnold, he set out on horseback.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAPTURE OF MAJOR ANDRe
Much sympathy was felt in America for Andre, but the justice of his being hung as a spy was never questioned. His three captors, Paulding, Van Wart and Williams, were honored with medals and $200.00 a year each for life, and monuments were erected to their memories by our Government.]
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