University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER II

MILITARY ACTIVITIES—CLARK'S CONQUEST OF
THE NORTHWEST AND THE INVASIONS OF
COLLIER, LESLIE, ARNOLD AND PHILLIPS

Had Governor Henry's administration been distinguished
by no other incident than the campaign of George Rogers
Clark, sent out by him in the year 1778, it would have proved
the absurdity of the charge brought against it recently of "a
mediocre administration!" Upon this episode alone volume
after volume has been written and its brilliant success was
in striking contrast with the failure of the congressional plans
detailed. When we consider the boldness of the conception,
the small force employed, the audacity of the enterprise, the
brilliancy of its execution, and the vast consequences which
resulted from it, this expedition may well challenge all history
for a parallel.[13]

Clark, who suggested the enterprise, had only the safety of
Kentucky from Indian incursions at heart, but Governor
Henry, in sending it out, had greater objects in view, the accomplishment
of which changed the history of the United
States and made it possible for them to extend across the continent.

The British occupation of this country, which was taken
from the French during the French and Indian War, was secured
by a chain of forts reaching from Detroit, at the mouth
of Lake Huron, to Kaskaskia, very near where the river of that

George Rogers Clark

name enters into the Mississippi. These forts were the centers
from which the influences went forth that incited the
savages to numerous raids upon Kentucky. Clark sent two
young hunters as spies, who reported the Indians gone to war
and only small garrisons left in the forts, most of the soldiers
having been withdrawn to defend Detroit from the attack
threatened by Congress. The French population they found
rather friendly to the United States, though the British were
constantly endeavoring to influence their minds in a hostile
way.

With this information[14] Clark set out for Williamsburg in
the fall of 1777, having for his main object the settlement of his
accounts in reference to the Kentucky militia. The capture
of Burgoyne, however, suggested to his mind on his arrival at
Williamsburg that the moment was a favorable one to attack
the British Posts in the Illinois country, and he imparted his
ideas to a few leading spirits in Virginia—George Wythe,
George Mason and Thomas Jefferson. These gentlemen highly
approved of the scheme and communicated with Governor
Henry on the subject. Henry eagerly seized upon the suggestion,
and with the aid of the gentlemen named, got through
the Legislature a bill to empower the Governor, with the advice
of his Council, to employ such number of the militia as he
should judge necessary to act with any troops on "an expedition
that may be undertaken against any of our western enemies."
Following this, on January 2, 1778, the Governor communicated
information of the proposed measure to his Council,
who authorized him to issue his warrant upon the treasurer
for £1200, payable to Col. George Rogers Clark, as commander
of the expedition, and to draw up the necessary instructions.

The instructions which were drawn by Henry were masterly
in conception and showed the whole purpose of the expedition,
but they were kept secret and another paper was also
given by Governor Henry to Clark to be used in recruiting his

army. This authorized him to raise seven companies of militia
in any county in the Commonwealth, which were to proceed
to Kentucky and then obey such orders and directions as Clark
should give them.

In collecting his recruits, Clark found strong opposition in
the country around Pittsburg, where the inhabitants were divided
between Virginia and Pennsylvania, and instead of
seven companies he was only enabled to enlist four, commanded
by Capt. John Montgomery, Capt. Joseph Bowman, Capt.
Leonard Helm and Capt. William Harrod. With a part of these
he went down the Ohio from Pittsburg to the Falls, where he
completed his quota of four companies, and then dropped down
to the mouth of the Tennessee. Here he captured a boat load
of hunters, who were only eight days from Kaskaskia. From
these he learned all he desired about the post.

On July 4, 1778, Clark and his men arrived within a few
miles of Kaskaskia, and that night, under the guidance of a
soldier from the garrison, whom they had captured, they entered
the fort by a gate left open on the river side, surprising
and making prisoner the Commander, Mr. Rocheblave.
The French inhabitants soon came over to the American side,
and among them was Pierre Gibault, a French priest, who
proved to be of the greatest value to them. Meantime, Joseph
Bowman, with 30 men went against the other Illinois towns.
Prairie du Rocher, St. Phillipe, and Cohokia were each surprised
in turn and reduced to submission.

Clark next directed his arms against St. Vincent, now
Vincennes, on the Wabash river, but he was saved the trouble
of an attack by the French priest referred to above, who won
over the inhabitants to Clark's side. After this success, Clark
turned his attention to the Indians, who were greatly impressed
with his unexpected victories, and thirteen tribes sued
for peace.

The time for which his little body of men had enlisted was
about to expire, but by liberal promises and presents, Clark
prevailed upon about one hundred to remain with him for

eight months longer, and he filled the places of those returning
with French recruits as far as possible. He stationed Capt.
Bowman at Cohokia, and Capt Helm at St. Vincent, each with
a small corps, and with the returning force he sent Rocheblave
a prisoner to Williamsburg in charge of Capt. John Montgomery,
and letters from him and Capt. Helm, informing the
Governor of his success, and of the taking of the oath of allegiance
to Virginia by the inhabitants of the captured towns.

The letters reached Williamsburg November 16, 1778, and
the Governor the same day communicated their contents to the
Assembly and the Virginia delegates in Congress.

The Assembly voted a resolution of thanks[15] to Col. Clark
and his men, and passed an act establishing the County of Illinois,
to embrace the territory between the Ohio and the Mississippi,
and the governor was given power to select a county
lieutenant for said county, having authority to appoint as
many deputy commandants, militia officers, and commissaries
as he should think proper. The Governor and his Council were
also authorized to raise 500 men to protect the county and to
supply the inhabitants of the territory with goods and other
necessaries by opening up a trade with New Orleans or in any
other way.

On December 12, 1778, Governor Henry appointed Col. John
Todd, of Kentucky, lieutenant of the new county, Lieutenant
Col. John Montgomery superintendent of the recruiting of
five new companies, Capt. Isaac Shelby to procure the necessary
boats to transport the troops down the Cherokee or Tennessee
river, and James Buchanan to provide the provisions
needed for them. The instructions which accompanied these
appointments were drawn by Governor Henry and are of
marked ability and statesmanship.

In the meantime, Clark's situation became very critical.
Hamilton, the British governor of the territory, marched
against him with a force estimated at from five to eight hundred
men, mostly Indians from the Six Nations, and recaptured

St. Vincent, on December 17, 1778. Instead of pushing
on when he might have recaptured Kaskaskia, Hamilton went
into winter quarters at St. Vincent, determining to open the
campaign in the spring with a sufficient force of Indians to
drive Clark from the country and to destroy all the settlements
west of the Alleghanies. In the meanwhile, he retained only
eighty men about him, dismissing his Indian allies to make war
upon the frontiers and to block up the Ohio.

Clark was informed of these matters by a Spanish merchant,
Col. Francis Vigo, who had visited St. Vincent at the
instance of Clark, and with true genius he determined upon
attacking Hamilton while his Indians were away. He had
not heard a word from Virginia, and could not rely upon re-enforcements
from that quarter. He, therefore, determined to
move with all the forces he could raise of his own troops and
a few militia, amounting in all to 170 men. About fifty of these
he put on board a galley, mounted with several cannons, and
provided with ammunition and provisions, and directed them
to proceed by water and meet him at about ten leagues from
St. Vincent.

On February 5, 1779, he left Kaskaskia and began his desperate
march of 170 miles or more through a wilderness of ice
and water, incurring unexampled hardships from cold and
want of provisions. It took eighteen days to accomplish the
trip, but at last, about one o'clock on February 23, Clark and
his men appeared before St. Vincent, unsuspected and undetected.
No resistance was made by the inhabitants of the
town, and the fort, after sustaining a constant fire of 24
hours, surrendered. On the 25th Clark sent a force up the
Wabash to intercept a party in charge of stores which Hamilton
was expecting. They captured 40 men and with them
seven boatloads of provisions. On the 27th the galley, which
had failed to meet them at the expected point, finally arrived,
bearing William Morris, a messenger sent by Governor Clark
to Williamsburg and who returned with dispatches from Governor

Henry and information of the action of the Assembly on
hearing of Clark's past success.

Clark sullied his victory by putting a party of Indians to
death who visited the fort under the belief that the British
had still control. But his action had its excuse in retaliation
for the savage barbarities committed by the Indians generally.

Clark released most of the English soldiers, but sent Hamilton
and twenty-five others, seven officers and eighteen privates,
in the charge of a guard, as prisoners to Williamsburg.
When they arrived there Henry's term of three years had expired
and the new governor, Thomas Jefferson, ordered
Hamilton and two of his associates to be confined in the State
Prison, which is still standing. This was done because of their
activity in stirring up the Indians to war and because of the
belief entertained by Virginians generally that Hamilton offered
to the Indians rewards for scalps. The governor ordered
fetters to be put upon them, thus treating them as common
criminals. The British authorities at New York strongly protested
and Washington being consulted thought the policy
adopted by Jefferson a doubtful one. So Hamilton and the
other two unfortunates were after some delay relieved of
their fetters, and in the course of a few months were exchanged.
Hamilton himself vigorously denied that he was guilty of
offering rewards for scalps.

Whether we consider the hardships endured, the courage
displayed, or the results obtained by this conquest of the
West, Clark deserves a conspicuous and honorable place in
history. When peace was negotiated, France intrigued with
Great Britain to limit the western boundary of the United
States to the Ohio. But the Mississippi and the Wabash were
held by Virginia soldiers, and so the boundary of the United
States became not the Ohio but the Mississippi and the lakes.
This vast addition was only an extension of that pioneer work
which Virginia had been doing since its settlement, and which
under Virginia presidents, Jefferson, Monroe and Tyler, was

to stretch the empire of republics from ocean to ocean and from
the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

Clark, however, was far from the ideal of a Washington,
whose head could not be turned by success, or of a Lee whose
noble majesty of mind could not be degraded by defeat or disappointment.
Neither Washington nor Lee would have approved
the deception employed by Clark on his soldiers in
leading them on to the fateful campaign. Then in addressing
Lt. Col. Hamilton, the British commander, at St. Vincent as
mere "Mr.," Clark showed a spirit not at all becoming a
successful general. Congress and Virginia neglected his just
demands for advances made by him in the course of the war,
but this was no excuse for taking to strong drink and abusing
his native state, as he appears to have done.

During the last few weeks of Governor Henry's administration
the period of invasion opened. Admiral Sir George
Collier with a fleet carrying 2000 troops under General Matthew
entered Hampton Roads on the ninth of May, 1779. The
fleet was composed in part of light armed vessels, capable of
running up the shallow creeks and rivers. Leaving his flagship,
Raisonable, of 64 guns, in the Roads on account of her
great draught, he proceeded with the rest up the Elizabeth
River, and opened operations against Fort Nelson, which had
been one of the fortifications established by the Legislature for
internal defence and security, and was situated about two miles
from Portsmouth on the north bank of the Elizabeth River.
It was garrisoned by 150 men, commanded by Major Thomas
Matthews.

No defence was practicable as the British, while bombarding
it from the water with their ships, proceeded to attack it
by a land force in the rear. Major Matthews, informed of their
intention, speedily executed a retreat, leaving his colors flying
over the fort and spiking up all his guns except one, a brass
field piece which he removed. Closely pursued, he managed to
save himself by putting the Dismal Swamp between his troops
and the pursuers. Fort Nelson had not been fortified on the

land side, but it would not have made any difference if it
had been.

Portsmouth was occupied by the British, and from this
point they sent out raiding parties in various directions. A
militia force of 200 men had gathered at Suffolk, but it dispersed
at the approach of a superior body of red coats, who
set fire to the town which was both an important depot of
supplies and a terminus to a foreign trade kept open by Virginia
war vessels, by way of the Blackwater River, the
Chowan River, Albemarle Sound and Ocracoke inlet. The
British remained 24 days in Virginia at Portsmouth, where
there was a marine yard, which Collier pronounced the best in
the States. This he destroyed with many ships on the stocks.
In evacuating Fort Nelson, Major Matthews had destroyed the
larger Virginia vessels off Portsmouth and sent the smaller
ones for safety up the Southern Branch. These now fell victims
to the British light armed vessels, and an immense quantity
of naval and military stores, merchandise and provisions
of all kinds was taken or destroyed. The whole number of
vessels taken and destroyed during the brief interval the
King's ships were in Virginia was one hundred and thirty-seven,
and the loss incurred thereby and through supplies
of all kinds destroyed amounted to a million pounds sterling.[16]

The Gazette of that day and oral tradition have preserved
the memory of particular acts of brutality on the part of the
British, but these were largely due, no doubt, to soldiers acting
without authority. Collier, in his narrative, tells us that
his men had positive orders "to do no wanton act of cruelty,
nor burn houses, nor in any shape molest innocent people,"
and there is an interesting instance of his humanity. A house
was burned near Cheriton in Northampton County and several
other houses set on fire and plundered by Tories from New
York engaged in privateering. Admiral Collier, informed of
the outrages, sent an apologetic letter ashore and accompanied
it with a ship's load of salt for the use of the unhappy sufferers,

that article being very scarce and much coveted in those days.
This courtesy was so much appreciated that several gentlemen
in the county sent Collier a present of eight lambs, which the
commander, instead of saving for his own table, turned over
to the sick men of his command.

Suggestive of a similar episode during the war for Southern
Independence was another affair. Upon the arrival of
Collier's fleet, four negroes fled from their master, William
Armistead, of "Hesse," in Matthews Co., then a part of Gloucester
Co., to the protection of the British. Whereupon permission
was granted by Governor Henry and his council to Capt.
Peter Bernard, representing Mr. Armistead, to go with a flag
of truce on board of his Majesty's ship and request the return
of the negroes as private property. But Collier refused the
request, replying that while "the business of his Majesty's
ships in Virginia was neither to entice negroes on board or
to detain them if they were found there," yet "his Majesty's
colors in all places afford an asylum to the distressed and
protection on supplication."[17]

In view of the fact that his Majesty had obstinately turned
a deaf ear to the repeated protests of the Virginians against
the slave trade, the remarks of Collier doubtless did not bring
conviction of their sincerity either to Patrick Henry or his
council, but the words of the British commander sound better
than the answer returned on a similar occasion by the Federal
Commander, Gen. B. F. Butler, in 1861.

In that year three slaves belonging to Col. Charles K. Mallory,
of Hampton, fled from Sewell Point, where they had been
put to work on the fortifications, to the protection of the Federals
at Point Comfort. Major John B. Cary, then in command
of the Virginia militia at Hampton, went under flag of truce
to reclaim them. But General Butler declared the negroes
"contraband of war," and refused to give them up. For this

reply he was much applauded in the North, as establishing a
new rule of international law.[18]

To meet this destructive invasion, the Legislature of Virginia,
which had assembled at Williamsburg on the 3rd of
May, detained the 2000 troops which were on the point of
marching under General Gustavus Scott to the aid of the
Southern Continental army, and on May 14, Governor Henry
issued a proclamation requiring the county lieutenants and
other military officers, especially those on the navigable
waters, to hold their respective militia in readiness to oppose
the attempts of the enemy, wherever they might be made. But
on the 20th of May, in obedience to the recommendation of
Congress and General Washington, the Legislature performed
the astonishing act of self abnegation of ordering the 2,000 recruits
to march to South Carolina, together with Bland's
and Baylor's regiments of horse. The defence of the State
devolved on Gen. Thomas Nelson and the militia, and an act
was passed by the Legislature authorizing the governor and
his council of state to cause a body of cavalry to be raised to
serve during the present invasion. Before, however, any
military measures could be made effective, the enemy had come
and gone.

Thomas Jefferson became governor June 1, 1779, and was
confronted with the demands of the war, which the British
government had instituted against the Southern States. For
more than a year the State was free from invasion, and during
that time no one could have been more active than Jefferson
in using efforts to strengthen the Southern army and furnish
it with supplies. But the interval was a depressing one.
General Lincoln, with all his troops, was captured in Charleston
on May 12, 1780, which was a particular heavy blow to the
state as more than half the continental troops were Virginians.
A few days later, on May 29, 1780, 400 Virginia continentals,
under Col. Buford, who had arrived too late to enter the invested

place, were attacked by Tarleton and destroyed. Virginia
had already lost heavily in prisoners at the capture of
Fort Washington in November, 1776, and at Germantown in
October, 1777, when the Ninth Virginia Regiment and part of
the Sixth were made prisoners.

In August, 1780, occurred the defeat of his successor,
Horatio Gates, at Camden, in which the Virginia militia under
the gallant General Edward Stevens were routed and dispersed.
Not long after, Sumter was defeated by Tarleton and
for a time the British armies were in the ascendant throughout
Georgia and South Carolina. It was under these depressing
conditions that early in September intelligence was brought to
General Gates by spies and deserters that Lord Cornwallis
intended immediately to embark his main force at Georgetown
for Cape Fear and had persuaded Sir Henry Clinton to
send a force to take possession of Portsmouth, in Virginia,
and establish there a strong post. Intelligence of this was
communicated by General Gates and Governor Jefferson to
Congress and to General Washington, but no assistance was
sent by either to Virginia.

Lord Cornwallis divided his army into two columns—one
under Col. Ferguson to march northward along the frontiers
to collect loyalist support, and the main body under himself
to proceed through the Waxhaws on a parallel course. About
the time he reached Charlotte, North Carolina, a British fleet
appeared in Chesapeake Bay carrying 3,000 troops under
General Leslie.[19] On October 20, 800 troops were landed in
the neighborhood of Portsmouth, and some more at the bay
side of Princess Anne. On the 23rd 1,000 infantry were put
on shore at Newport News and immediately took possession of
Hampton. Soon, however, they concentrated their force at
Portsmouth, where they began to fortify themselves. Their
highest post was Suffolk, and to prevent the approach of any
enemy, they occupied the narrow and defensible path between
Nansemond River and the Dismal Swamp. The purpose of

the expedition was to establish a post in Virginia which might
put a stop to the recruits and supplies sent to the aid of the
Southern army.

There can be no question that Governor Jefferson did all
that was in his power to meet the pressing danger. Virginia
had poured thousands of men into the Southern and the Northern
armies, and she had still plenty left. But she had only a
few guns to put in their hands, as most had been sent out of
the State. It would have been useless to keep the whole militia
in the field without arms, so Jefferson called upon Congress
for arms, and sought to oppose General Leslie with as large
a body of troops as he could equip with the scanty supply of
guns remaining in the State. He directed General Nelson to
make every exertion to collect the militia of the lower counties
and secure at least the important pass of the Great Bridge.
Five hundred men raised by General Lawson, who were about
to march to South Carolina, were detained to resist this new
attack at home, and the brave General Edward Stevens, with a
detachment of the Southern army, made ready to march to
the support of the state.

But after a stay in Virginia of exactly a month, Leslie on
November 22, embarked his army on his fleet and sailed for
South Carolina, and joined Lord Cornwallis.

This change of policy was due to the wonderful news which
had come from the South of the battle at King's Mountain,
fought on October 7, 1780, when the hardy backwoodsmen of
Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, under the chief command
of Col, William Campbell, of Montgomery County, Virginia,
won a great victory, destroying or capturing the whole
detachment of the army of Lord Cornwallis under the command
of Colonel Ferguson. This victory caused Cornwallis to
abandon his attack on North Carolina for the present and fall
back from Charlotte to Wynnsborough, near Camden in South
Carolina.

During his stay in Virginia Leslie was much more successful
than Collier and Matthew had been in preventing wanton

and unnecessary devastation. The greatest injury resulting
from this invasion was the loss of a large quantity of cattle
collected in the lower counties for the use of the Southern
army, and seized by the enemy immediately after their debarkation.
It expedited rather than retarded the re-enforcements
intended for Gates, which with other troops had been
collected by Muhlenberg at the head of Pagan Creek, and by
Nelson, on the north side of James River.[20]

However, only a short interval prevailed before another
invasion took place. On the last day of 1780, Mr. Jefferson
received intelligence that 27 ships, under the command of
Benedict Arnold, had entered Chesapeake Bay, and were
starting up towards the mouth of James River. As promptly
as possible the governor dispatched Brigadier-General Nelson
to the lower country, and the militia, the public stores, and
public arms were placed at his disposal. Arnold sailed up
the river and stopped at Burwell's Bay. Resuming his course
he was next reported as at Jamestown, and his object was
supposed to be Williamsburg. Then he proceeded as far as
Westover, and that either Petersburg or Richmond was the
intended point of attack now became sufficiently evident.
Baron Steuben, who was on the south side, organizing the new
recruits for the Southern army, thought that Petersburg
would be the point of attack, but he was not long in finding
that he was mistaken.

Landing his army of 1,500 infantry and 120 cavalry at
Westover on January 4, Arnold drew up his men and took the
road to Richmond, to which the capital of the state had been
moved the year before on account of the exposed condition of
Williamsburg. Richmond was then a hamlet of a few hundred
people, and was nothing suggestive of the splendid city which
now crowns the hills overhanging the James. Mr. Jefferson
had no time to get the militia together, but even given time he
would have had difficulty in arming a force sufficient to cope
with these well-armed British soldiers, so stripped was the

state of all military equipment from the the efforts to supply
the Southern and Northern armies. He did all that any
prudent man could do under the circumstances. As a precautionary
measure he had ordered all the arms and stores to
be transferred to the foundry and laboratory about six miles
above Richmond, near Westham, and he now gave orders that
they should be conveyed directly across the river both from
Richmond and Westham. To Westham he himself repaired
to superintend the operations, and late in the night rode to
Tuckahoe farther up the river. Returning on the morning
of the 5th to Britton's, opposite to Westham, and finding that
the arms had been left heaped on the bank, he had them removed
to a greater distance and proceeded to Manchester
(now South Richmond), whence the enemy and their busy
movements in Richmond were now in full view.

They had left Westover at two o'clock the preceding day,
encamping for the night at Four Mile Creek, and had arrived
at one o'clock on the fifth at Richmond, whence Arnold detached
Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, with a regiment of infantry
and fifty cavalrymen to the foundry near Westham, which
they burnt, together with the boring mill and magazine, and
two other houses. The same party advanced to Westham, but
finding nothing there, returned to Richmond. Here Arnold,
probably not quite the eager plunderer he has been represented,
had waited to learn the answer of Governor Jefferson, then at
Chetwood's, Baron Steuben's headquarters, to a proposal
sent by him not to burn the town if Jefferson would consent to
permit the British vessels to come up the river unmolested and
take away the tobacco deposited there. Jefferson rejected this
proposition without hesitation, and on the 6th Arnold burnt
all the stores, public and private, which he could reach.

Having done all the damage he could, he proceeded to return
to his fleet at Westover, and encamped that evening at
Four Mile Creek. The 7th and 8th he passed at Westover and
Berkeley, the homes respectively of the late Col. William Byrd
and of Speaker Benjamin Harrison, the latter place known in

the war for Southern Independence as Harrison's Landing, to
which McClellan retired after the battle of Malvern Hill.

In the meantime the militia was assembling from all quarters.
Two hundred, drawn from Richmond and the surrounding
territory, under the command of Col. John Nicholas, attacked
Arnold's pickets on the 5th inst. and drove them in, but
were of course too few to venture a battle. One hundred and
fifty assembled at Charles City Court House, about ten miles
from Westover, where on January 8th they were surprised
and dispersed by Simcoe's cavalry. Two or three hundred
militia under General Smallwood had better luck with some
of Arnold's vessels which had sailed up the Appomattox river.
Having possession of one or two four pounders they compelled
the ships to fall hastily down the river to the main fleet at
Westover. Baron Steuben had 800 men and General Gibson
a thousand on the south side of the James.

On January 10, 1781, Arnold embarked all his forces, and
that night landed his troops at Hood's. Here he was attacked
by two hundred and fifty militiamen under Col. George Rogers
Clark, who, at the time of Arnold's invasion, happened to be
at Richmond, preparing for a grand enterprise against Detroit.
Under the sudden fire of the Virginians, who then
prudently beat a retreat, seventeen British soldiers were
killed and thirteen were wounded.

Arnold renewed his retreat, and on January 20, reached
Portsmouth, intending to establish there a permanent camp.
On the way he seized some stores at Cobham, Smithfield, and
Mackay's Mills. With some added forces, separated from
him in a storm between New York and Cape Henry, his army
now amounted to 2,000 men.

It was well that Arnold made haste, for by this short time
the militia embodied amounted to about 4,000, and a battle in
the open might have been fatal to him. The Virginians, however,
were badly equipped, and lacking bayonets and cannon,
were not fit to attack an army of 2,000 behind entrenchments,
so they were divided into three cantonments, one under

General Weeden at Fredericksburg, for the protection of the
important works there,[21] and two others, one under General
Nelson, at and near Williamsburg, and a third at Cabin Point,
under General Steuben, to prevent any further incursions of
the kind from which the state had just suffered. Mr. Jefferson
was eager to capture Arnold and offered 5,000 guineas to any
of the men of General Muhlenberg's corps, who would accomplish
the work. But Arnold knew his danger and kept close
quarters, never stirring beyond them unless with a strong
guard.

The real situation of Virginia is strongly depicted in the
letters of Governor Jefferson. "The fatal want of arms," he
wrote to the President of Congress, on the 8th of February,
"puts it out of our power to bring a greater force into the field
than will barely suffice to restrain the adventures of the pitiful
body of men the enemy have at Portsmouth. Should they be
reinforced, the country will be perfectly open to them by land
as well as by water." "I have been knocking at the door of
Congress," he wrote to a friend on the 17th of the same
month, "for aids of all kinds, but especially of arms, ever since
the middle of summer. The Speaker, Harrison, is gone to be
heard on that subject.[22] Justice, indeed, requires that we
should be aided powerfully. Yet, if they would only repay us
the arms we have lent them, we should give the enemy trouble,
though abandoned to ourselves." On the same day, he addressed
the Commander in Chief, nearly in the same words,

"Arms and a naval force," he observed, "are the only means
of salvation for Virginia."

These protests had some effect. Washington was not unobservant
of affairs in his native state. He had a holy hatred
of Arnold and he organized a land and naval expedition to
effect his capture, if possible. Washington made arrangements
to send to Virginia 1,200 Continental soldiers under LaFayette
and persuaded Destouches, the French admiral at
Newport, to try to blockade Arnold by sea. In pursuance of
this, DeTilly was sent to Chesapeake Bay with a small squadron,
but finding himself by reason of the shallow water unable
to reach Portsmouth, he returned to Newport. Then the
whole French fleet sailed for Virginia, but this expedition
failed too of its object, for the English fleet under Arbuthnot
intercepted the French ships near the entrance of the Chesapeake,
and on March 16, 1781, forced them to a naval action, in
which the material advantage remained with the British. So
Destouches returned to Newport without accomplishing anything.
LaFayette, in the meantime, leaving his troops at
Annapolis, whence they were to proceed down the bay in
French frigates, which he supposed Destouches would send
up, set out in advance with some officers and made his way to
Williamsburg, and on the 19th crossed the James to Suffolk,
and made a reconnoisance of Arnold's position.[23]

Returning to join his troops LaFayette learned of Destouches'
retirement and proceeded to march northward with
his detachment. But at the head of the Elk he received new
and important instructions from General Washington. It
had been ascertained that Clinton had dispatched General
Phillips to take command in the Chesapeake, whose force combined
with Arnold's would number something over 3,000 men.
As this indicated an intention on the part of the enemy to
prosecute operations in Virginia on a large scale, General
Washington ordered him to carry out the former resolve of
marching to the South. LaFayette accordingly faced about

and marched to Baltimore, where he borrowed £2,000 from the
merchants to clothe his troops. These men were chiefly from
New England regiments, who had no relish for a Southern
campaign and showed a mutinous disposition. Many desertions
occurred and LaFayette had to resort to extreme measures.
He hung one and made the rest a speech in which he
shamed them well for their unpatriotic behavior. This had a
good effect and the Yankees turned over a new leaf and gave
no more trouble. "All desertion ceased and not one of my men
would leave me." Leaving his artillery to follow, he made
forced marches by way of Alexandria, Fredericksburg and
Bowling Green, and arrived with his troops at Richmond on
the evening of the 29th of April, 1781.

In the meantime, with his army numbering 2,000 men,
General Phillips arrived from New York and took command
at Portsmouth, much to the relief of the British soldiers who
did not like to be commanded by the traitor Arnold. With
this addition the British forces now became a formidable
army of invasion and until LaFayette arrived there was nothing
to oppose them but a brave and exhausted militia. Phillips
determined on offensive movements, and after still further
strengthening the fortifications at Portsmouth until April 18,
he embarked 2,500 men and commenced ascending the James
River. Two of his divisions landed near Williamsburg, one
entering the city April 20th, and the other, under the dashing
Simcoe, proceeding to Yorktown, where they captured a few
guns. Returning thence this detachment repaired to the State
shipyard on the Chickahominy, where they burnt the stores
and some shipping found there. They re-embarked on the 22nd.,
and two days later Phillips' army landed at City Point, anciently
Charles City, an old settlement established at the mouth
of the Appomattox by Sir Thomas Dale about Christmas, 1613.
On the next day Phillips advanced to Petersburg.

This place was defended by Baron Steuben with a thousand
raw militia, he having sent the regular force training
under his command to the relief of General Greene, who had

succeeded General Gates in command of the Southern army.
Although much inferior in numbers, Steuben's troops greatly
surprised the British. For two hours they contested the
ground on almost even terms, and then slowly retired beyond
the Appomattox, destroying the bridge over which they passed
to prevent pursuit.

Phillips entered Petersburg and destroyed a large quantity
of tobacco and other stores. On the 27th he marched with one
division to Chesterfield Court House, where he burnt the barracks
and stores there. Arnold was dispatched with the other
division to Osborne's, where he destroyed much tobacco, and
shortly afterwards he performed his most brilliant exploit of
destroying the marine force of the State, which had been concentrated
at a point on the river a short distance above
Osborne's.

Near a place called Warwick on James River, not far from
Richmond, Phillips and Arnold united their forces on April
30, 1781, and marched to Manchester, where another considerable
amount of tobacco was destroyed. They would probably
have paid Richmond a second visit, had they not been informed
of the arrival of LaFayette with his small body of Continental
troops the day before. So returning to Warwick, they made
havoc of the tobacco and fine mills at that place and the rope
yard and the tan yard full of hides and bark. Arnold here
crossed the river with 600 British regulars for the purpose of
reconnoitering, but being charged by a patrol of sixteen horsemen
under Major Nelson, they supposed the whole American
army was upon them and fled to their boats. Ill-armed and
untrained militia had often fled before inferior forces of
British veterans, but the laugh was on the British this time by
a reverse of the experience.

From Warwick the whole of the British armament proceeded
to Bermuda Hundred opposite to City Point, at the confluence
of the Appomattox with the James, and then fell down
towards Williamsburg. But when they had reached Burwell's
Ferry and when doubtless most people of the upper James

were congratulating themselves, that they had seen the last
of this British invasion, the whole fleet turned about and came
up the river again. On May 7, the vessels came to anchor
before Brandon, where six days' provisions having been
handed out to every man, the army was landed and began a
second march to Petersburg, which they reached on May 9th,
ten days after LaFayette reached Richmond. This officer, re-enforced
by the militia but not strong enough to attack the
British, took up his position at Wilton, seven miles below
Richmond, where he watched with great eagerness the development
of the British plan of operations.

The disheartening reverse movement of the British under
Phillips had the following explanation: A boat arrived from
Portsmouth conveying information of Lord Cornwallis' march
from the South and bearing instructions for Phillips to wait
for him at Petersburg.

It is not intended to go into the history of the war in the
South. Gates, as we have seen, had been dreadfully defeated
by Cornwallis at Camden, August 16, 1780, and later he had
been succeeded by Nathanael Greene, of Rhode Island, on December
2, 1780. The Americans had gained victories at King's
Mountain (October 7, 1780), and at Cowpens (January 17,
1781), but Greene had not been strong enough to meet Cornwallis
with full forces in the field, so Cornwallis had pursued
him to the Virginia line, and disappointed in not forcing him
to a battle, had returned southward to Hillsborough.

Later he began his march to Wilmington, near the sea coast.
Greene, re-enforced by Virginia militia, followed and sought
a battle with him on March 15, 1781, at Guildford Court House,
where the issue was hotly contested, for though the honors of
the battle fell to Cornwallis, the material benefits fell to
Greene. Cornwallis continued his march to Wilmington and
Greene followed as far as Ramsay's Mills, where the American
commander came to his celebrated determination to turn his
back on Virginia, leave it uncovered, and carry the war into
South Carolina.

His reason for the step, assigned to General Washington,
was that it would compel Cornwallis to follow him, and thus
free North Carolina from invasion, or else sacrifice all his
posts in the interior of South Carolina and Georgia. From
every standpoint this seemed a great military error. Greene
left a hitherto unsubjugated state to recover states more or
less exhausted. He left the center to defend the outskirts.
The conquest of Virginia would have cut the Union in two
and have prevented any assistance reaching the three Southern
states, and had Virginia and the other Southern states
been conquered the Northern states would have soon experienced
a similar misfortune. His action might be compared to
that of General Hood in 1864, when he left Sherman to make
his march to the sea without opposition, while he went north to
recover Tennessee. Both Hood and Greene suffered defeat,
and the only difference was that Hood lost also the campaign,
and Greene gained it. It is probable that but for the aid of
Sumter and Marion, Greene's experience might have easily
been Hood's. Greene's army combined with that of LaFayette
would have made things in Virginia pretty warm for Lord
Cornwallis, and Washington might not have been forced to
abandon his plan of capturing New York and to come to Virginia.
It is possible that two British armies might have been
captured instead of one.

The march of Greene to the South was followed by the
march of Lord Cornwallis in the opposite direction, northward
into Virginia. This was not an element in the original
plan of operations contemplated by Cornwallis and the British
commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Clinton. Writing to Lord
George Germaine of his move to Virginia Cornwallis explained
it by saying that, in his opinion, "until Virginia was reduced
we could not hold the more southern provinces and that after
its reduction they would fall without much difficulty." That
solid operations might be adopted in that quarter, he was induced
to believe, he said, from dispatches of the commander-in-chief,
the substance of which then transmitted to him was that

General Phillips had been detached to the Chesapeake and put
under his orders.

Assuming thus the entire responsibility, and conscious
that he would have at least received the approval of the home
ministry, with whom he was a favorite, Cornwallis marched
from Wilmington on the 25th of April, 1781, and on the 20th
of May arrived at Petersburg, Virginia, where a junction was
effected with the force there commanded lately by General
Phillips, and now by Arnold, next in command, Phillips having
unfortunately fallen a victim to a fever a few days before.[24]