University of Virginia Library

1. NEAL NELSON.
BY J. H. INGRAHAM, E Q.,

CHAPTER I.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

It was early in the beginning of that
memorable contest which dismembered
a powerful and splendid empire,' and
to which a brave people were driven by
the oppressive measures of the British
ministry, that the following story opens.

Resistance and revolt had taken the
place of petitions and remonstrances;
councils of advicement had been converted
into councils of war; and men
exchanged the halls of debate upon civil
rights and political oppression for the
tent and the battle field.

The colonies were in arms from Maine
to Georgia.

A national congress had concentrated
into its hand all the authority of government.

To reduce the colonies to obedience,
England had sent over immense fleets
and large armies.

Boston was in the possession of an
English force consisting of nearly ten
thousand men; there being besides in the
city about fifteen hundred Tory families,
whose presence and services were of
advantage to the enemy in his operations.

Washington was encamped upon the
hills around Boston, laying siege to it at
the head of an army of fifteen thousand
men. The investment of the British in
the town became closer and closer every
day. The strict vigilance preserved in
blockading every avenue to the country,
cut off all supplies. Intercourse between
the besieged and the main-land was entirely
suspended, save when a patriot
family, eluding the vigilance of their
English captors, would safely reach the
army and report the increasing distress
of the British army shut up within.

The Americans at length, under cover
of darkness and mist, took possession of
the heights of Dorchester and fortified
them in a single night. The appearance
of these formidable redoubts the next
morning, commanding the city and harbor,
convinced General Howe that his
position was no longer tenable unless he
could take possession of these menacing
elevations, It seemed like another Bunker
Hill pouring down upon him from
the south side of the city; and although
he feared that an attempt to dislodge the
daring Americans from the height might
bring on another sanguinary battle like
that on the attack on Bunker Hill nine
months before, he determined to make
the attack; for there was no alternation
but the instant evacuation of the city.

A storm, however, rendered the embarkation
and passage of his troops across
the intervening space of water impossible;
and before he could safely proceed
on the enterprize the Americans had so
far strengthened their position and approached
the city so near with fresh redoubts,
on which they had mounted cannon,
that he saw that he must soon capitulate
unless he fled to his ships; and this
step he perceived he should speedily have
to take, as the patriots were making preparations
of an alarming character to
command the channel; when to pass out
with his transports he felt would be hazardous
in the extreme, if not impracticable.

A retreat by sea, open as it still was to
him, however presented great obstacles.
General Howe saw that the embarkation
of his troops would bring upon him the
fire of the American artillery, who would

line the shores; and that the intelligence
of his flight would probably expose
the greater portion of his army to
an attack and capture by the van of
Washington's army which would not fail
to press upon his rear.

Under these difficulties Sir William
Howe resolved to call a council of war.
An hour or two after issuing this order,
on the afternoon of the Sabbath, the fourteenth
of March, he was standing upon
a terrace in the garden of a mansion
which he had made his head-quarters.—
It stood[1] upon Beacon street, near the
site of the present State House, and commanded
a view of the whole circuit round
Boston. Upon an elevated terrace in
the garden was an arbor, the favorite resort
of the British General, who was accustomed
to pass most of the day here
with his telescope at his eye watching
the shores of Roxbury, Cambridge and
Charleston; but for the last few days,
since the night of the fourth of March,
when the redoubts were thrown up like
the work of magic on the heights of
Dorchester, his glass had mostly been
directed towards these formidable looking
eminences.

By the side of the English General
stood a stout, bluff, full-faced man, about
forty-eight years of age, in the full dress
of a rear-Admiral. The contrast between
the appearance of Howe and this person
was very striking. The figure of the
other was tall and elegant, and although
he had passed his fiftieth year his air was
singularly youthful and his costume
graceful and gay. Every thing about him
betrayed a close observance of the rules
of taste in dress, even to the beautiful
sword-knot of mingled gold and silken
threads that dangled at the bilt of his
sword. His hair was nicely powdered
and tied in a queue, his ruffles were richly
laced both at the wrists and bosom;
his waistcoat was of the fairest buff and
embroidered with silver; his yellow top-boots
shone like gold and his steel spurs
glittered with their elaborate polish. His
air and address were easy and yet haughty;
and with all his care in dress his
military appearance was striking. He had
served before in America, and had a
distinguished reputation as a soldier as
well as a skilful diplomatist; and had
been selected by the ministry as the fittest
man in England to command in
chief the hostile operations by land
against the revolted colonies. In disposition
he was mild by nature and possessed
that indescribable suavity of manner
that rendered him pleasing in intercourse
even with his foes. Yet his opinion
of the Americans as rebels led him
to pursue against them the war with a
perseverance that exhibited to them only
the sterner military features of his character.

The person standing with him on the
outside of the arbor was Admiral Shuldam
in command of the squadron of ships
of war and transports then lying in Boston
harbor. He was a large, fleshy man,
and might have sat for a picture of Sir
John Falstaff, save that he wanted the
knight's merry humor in his eye; and
that the peculiar fiery complexion of his
countenance was wanting in that oily
smoothness of rubicundity which can
come only from `good sack.' Admiral
Shuldam loved brandy rather than sack,
and this gave a ruddiness to his face that
seemed to invite tapping. His beard had
not been shaven for a week, Sunday
though it was, and his neckcloth had not
been exchanged in the same time, and
so it had got rolled and twisted under his
fat chin, till, though originally white, it
had now nearly the hue and appearance
of a bite of rope. His hair was without
powder, and stood stifly up all over his
head. His forehead was as tanned and
grained as a piece of old canvas, and he
possessed a nose that had a ludicrous
cock in it, which got him the sobriequet
in the fleet of `Old Snub.' When he
looked at any object at a distance, he
would throw back his head and shut the
eye-lids of his little gray eyes so close together
that, but for a faint twinkle, just
perceptible, he seemed to have closed
them altogether. His dress was as slovenly
as his person. His coat was shabby,
and had probably never seen a brush in
the four years and a half that he had
worn it. It had lost a third of its buttons
and half of a cuff. His breeches
were slouching and loose at one knee,
he wore long blue steekings, but so negligently

secured that he had every two or
three minutes to stoop with his hand and
give them a pull upward. His shoes were
worn brown for want of polish, and although
they had each its buckle, the settings
were more than half lost. His shirt
ruffles were stained filthy yellow by
tobacco juice, and his finger nails
hideous with a permanent segment of
black —! His head was surmounted
by a naval chapeau, oily and weather
worn. In his hand he held a clumsy
ship's spy-glass, covered with old leather,
an instrument as strikingly contrasting
the elegant silver-mounted fieldle escope
which General Howe had at his eye, as
the Admiral himself the military chieftain.

`It is very plain, Admiral,' said Howe
after a close scrutiny of the Boston lines
in the curve of the shore, where groups
and parties of men were very busily engaged;
`it is very clear that Washington
has made up his mind to make Boston
too warm for me! The rouges are raising
a new redoubt there a half a mile in
advance of their last!'

`Yes, yes, I see him, confound him,'
observed the Admiral directing his glass
towards the neck. They mean to beat
up until they come fairly along side!'

`I begin to fear the worst, Washington
has shown himself a skilful soldier and a
man by no means to be trifled with, rebel
as he is!'

`If you followed my opinion, Sir William;'
said the Admiral `you would once
more embark your three thousand men
and make a night descent upon the flat
below the Dorchester heights! You
could be aboard of them before they knew
of your being within hail, and my life on
it, you would get the best of it!'

`I have not forgotten Bunker's Hill,—
This would prove an equally disastrous
affair!'

`Do you call Bunker Hill disastrous?'
demanded the Admiral gruffly.

`We lost in killed and wounded over
a thousand men, the flower of the army!'

`And we took possession of their redoubt
driving the rebels from it, killing
and wounding five hundred of them!'

`Yet the victory was dearly purchased.
Besides they would not have retreated if
their amunition had not failed! At Dorchester
they will be better prepared! I
am persuaded that an enterprize like
that attempted against Bunker's Hill will
here fail. The difficulties in the way of
its accomplishment are very numerous
and well nigh insurmountable!'

`If you say the word I will warp three
of my frigates within point blank range
and batter away at them till they are
tired of the sport!'

`The tide would not serve you but
three or four hours as the water is shoal,
and you would probably be grounded before
you could return. This course I
have thought of and have questioned pilots
touching the depth of water and condition
of the tides, and I am satisfied
that it is impossible to do any thing by
such means!'

`You do not then seriously meditate
evacuating the city—the only place of
importance we hold—without making an
effort to maintain it!'

`I see no alternation. I will be governed
however by the decision of the
council of war which I have called together
to meet me this evening. A
second `victory,' as you are pleased to
term it, like that of Bunker's Hill, would
expose the interests of England in America
to great danger.'

`What danger could a successful battle
bring to his majesty, I would like to
learn? Are not we hear to fight the infernal
Yankees when and wherever we
can?'

`True; but we must act with caution.
We must not jeopardize our cause by
rashness. Suppose, even, that I should
embark to night five thousand troops,
(for a man less would not suffice) and
make a successful attack upon the
heights of Dorchester, and the morning
sun should shine upon the flag of Great
Britain waving over its summit?'

`It would be a glorious achievement,
that would crown with honor your command,
Sir William, and place a coronet
upon your brow.'

`Success,' pursued the British General,
`success the most brilliant would be
as disastrous as defeat. It would require
half the army now in Boston to maintain
the heights after we had seized them.
How can I spare four thousand men out
of but eight thousand and three hundred,
which is all I have fit for duty.'

`My sailors and marines! They are
as good men as yours!'

`True, but these would not give me
in all more than ten thousand effective
troops. Of these, half would, as I have
said, have to be detached to take the
heights and then maintain them against
Washington's army of fifteen thousand
men, besides some six thousand of the
provincial militia that have of late flocked
to his standard. And if you give me your
men, it will leave your ships exposed to
a boat attack from the Americans, who
are as alert as foxes and ready to avail
themselves of every opportunity of assailing
us Besides holding the city I have, as
you know, to guard the peninsula of
Charlestown, lest the Americans seize a
second time upon Breed's Hill. How,
pray, my dear Admiral, shall I keep the
Heights of Dorchester, the town of Boston
and the peninsula of Charlestown,
when my present force is hardly sufficient
to keep this place. No, I can't spare a
man!'

`But I tell you, General,' said the Admiral
warmly, as he constantly paced up
and down the path before the arbour as
if walking his quarter-deck, `I tell you
that the attack ought to be made! A
battle is necessary to save the reputation
of his majesty's arms! The rebels are
beginning to laugh at us and to scorn us
for our long inaction. They even openly
twit us with your being afraid to
risk your men out of Boston since the
Bunker Hill affair!'

`A victory might be desirable to save
the credit of the royal arms, but we are
not sure of a victory. Nor even would a
victory decide affairs in the Province.—
It would be risking everything to attempt
the enterprise. If a reinforcement of five
thousand men should enter the harbor to
night in less then twelve hours, I would
possess myself of yonder thronged Heights
or lay my body in its trenchess. As it is
the advantages cannot compensate the
danger! But we will have the whole affair
discussed in Council. If a majority
of the twenty-one officers who shall there
meet me, decide in favor of an attempt
to dislodge the Americans, I shall not
gainsay it; but when they shall have
heard all I have to say, I am satisfied
that they will agree with me that there is
no alternation left but withdrawing from
the city in the best manner and with as
little delay as possible!'

Admiral Shuldam made no reply. He
was engaged looking through his glass in
the direction of Cambridge, where a
prolonged cloud of dust indicated the
passage of horseman. He evidently heard
every word uttered by General Howe, for
his face expressed displeasure and he bit
his lip with vexation. Howe levelled his
glass in the same direction, and discovered
that a large party of horse and flying
artillery were moving along the road from
the centre of Washington's position towards
the left wing at Dorchester. The
cloud of dust extended for full two thirds
of a mile; but only here and there,
through openings in the way-side trees,
were visible the body of men thus moving
onward.

`Washington, you see, Admiral, is
concentrating his troops towards the
Neck. He means to press us closely,
and perhaps try in a day or two to enter
the city by the Roxbury road!'

`More reason that you should make a
movement to meet them!' answered the
seaman, moodily. `But have your own
way. I would sink my ship before I
would surrender or run away from a
Yankee rebel!'

Thus speaking, the Admiral bowed
formally, and began to descend the long
flight of stone steps that led from the terrace
to the level lawn in the rear of the
house.

`You will meet me at the council,
Admiral,' said General Howe, in a tone
perfectly unmoved by the old sailor's
displeasure.

`No. You know my opinions. Tell the
others what I think! But you will have
it all your own way with your smooth
smile. If you want men to do as you
would have them, you smile, and I
swear! but somehow your d—d smile
has the best of it!'

`I see you are convinced I ought not
attack the heights, but don't like to confess
it, my dear Admiral! I am glad
you are not so vexed as you would have
me think! There is, indeed, nothing to
be gained by remaining in possession of
Boston!'

`Where do you expect to go?' asked
the Admiral, stopping on the fifth step,
and looking back.

`To take possession of New York. It
is more central, is wholly undefended,
there is no American army within three
hundred miles of it, and it is everywhere
a more advantageous central position for
our operations. We do not so much fly
from Boston, dear Shuldam,' added
Howe, laughing, `as we vacate our
position for another more favorable!'

`Well, you would convince the devil
London had'nt a sinner in it! If you decide
to give up the ship, just let me know
in time and I'll have the transports
ready.'

`You are very good, Admiral. How
many transports are there in all under
your command?'

`About one hundred and fifty great
and small. They are not enought, but
they will hold all your men if they will
lie close?'

`You had best at once get them ready
for sea and provisioned in the best manner
you are able. I foresee what the decision
of the council of war will be!
There is little probability that we shall
be here five days longer!'

The Admiral continued his way down
the steps of the terrace, and crossing the
area passed through the hall and so down
a still loftier flight of steps leading into
Beacon street. Here, two old tars who
were waiting for him, and who always
attended him as body servants when he
went ashore, touched their hats to him
and fell in his wake as he moved down
the middle of the street at a rolling 'fore
the wind gait, not unlike his own ship of
the line when the wind was aft.

`There is no alternative,' mused General
Howe gravely, as he took a second
look at the moving army in the direction
of Cambridge, `I must retreat on board
the ships ere another week begins.—
`Washington seems the last few days to
be in earnest. The opening of Spring
has warmed them out as it does a hive
of bees! The American chief seems,
from yonder long trail of dust to be
moving his centre towards his left wing
or making from it a large detachment!
The head of war sets towards the southern
quarter of the town! I have no alternative
but to run away or stay and
capitulate. Well, Jocelyn,' he cried
suddenly to a young man in the uniform
the steps of the terrace with rapid strides.
`What news bring you now! From
your looks you have reconnoitred along
the lines to some purpose!'

`The Americans have commenced
constructing a redoubt on Nook's Hill,
in the peninsula of Dorchester, and are
furnishing it with heavy artillery! This
I learned from a Tory who crossed the
lines as I was reconnoitreing. From
him I got also the important information
that the enemy are about to occupy Noddle's
Island, and establish batteries there.'

`Then no time is to be lost!' said
Howe, with deep interest in this information.
`A battery there will sweep the
surface of the water, stop the passage of
the ships, and reduce us to the necessity
of yielding at discretion! I have been
watching the movements on Nook's Hill
the last half hour and suspected what
they were at.' General Howe then took
his glass and levelled it long and earnestly
at Noddle's Island which was in
full view from his position.