RHODE ISLAND BLOCKADED.—DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE INDORSED BY THE ASSEMBLY.—NEW TROOPS RAISED.—FRENCH ALLIANCE.—UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THE BRITISH FROM RHODE ISLAND.

From the 4th of May, 1776, the Declaration of Independence of Rhode Island, to the battle of Tiverton Heights, on the 29th of August, 1778, she lived with the enemy at her door, constantly subject to invasion by land and by water, and seldom giving her watch-worn inhabitants the luxury of a quiet pillow. For months, as we already have seen, British ships of war had infested her shores, driving off the stock, plundering the inhabitants and burning their houses and barns. In November a still greater calamity befell her, a British fleet took possession of her waters, a British army of her principal island. The seat of government was removed to Providence. The points most exposed had already been fortified as well as the means and military science of the Colony permitted. These were strengthened and other points fortified. A battery was erected on the southern projection of Warwick Neck, commanding the entrance of Coweset Bay. The women and children of the seaboard towns were advised to take refuge in the interior. The militia were called out. The troops on the island, about seven hundred in number, were removed to the main land, part under Colonel Cook taking post at Tiverton, part under General West at Bristol. Massachusetts and Connecticut sent immediate aid to their imperilled sister. And thus Rhode Island entered upon the humiliating life of a district held by its enemy.

The story of these three years should either be told in detail, or told very briefly. In detail it presents some striking pictures and some important lessons. The pictures are for the chief part marine views, most of the fighting having taken place on the water. The lessons are to be found in the skill or want of skill with which legislation adapted itself to new wants and new means. Our limits do not admit of detail. We shall glean sparingly from the statute book.

The first duty of the Assembly was to draw out the resources of the State and give them efficiency. The census of Providence in February gave a return of four thousand three hundred and fifty-five souls, with about five hundred stand of arms. Of this population one-sixth were effective men. The other towns furnished their proportion, and the distribution and equipment of them received the constant attention of the Assembly and fills a large space in the schedules. In the new arrangement of the Continental Army the three Rhode Island regiments were formed into two battalions. We shall not attempt to follow the schedule through the various changes which were made in the quota furnished by Rhode Island to the main army. The fuller page of history gives it a noble record, and the names of Christopher Greene, of Angell, of Thayer, of the two Olneys, of Samuel Ward and their companions, stand very high in the regimental history of the war.

Another subject which occupied from time to time the anxious attention of the Assembly was the treatment of the small-pox. How could its ravages be staid? How could the prejudice against inoculation, which still prevailed so widely even among the intelligent and well informed, be overcome? The question was brought before the Assembly in June, when it was resolved, though not without opposition, to establish an hospital for inoculation in each county. It was resolved also to ask Congress to establish a uniform system of inoculation in the army and navy.

There could no longer be any doubt as to the treatment of Tories. Rhode Island was an independent state, and justifiable in employing, to protect herself against treason, the same means which other independent states employed. A test oath was framed, which all who were suspected of Toryism were required to subscribe. Yet, even in this dark day of trial she did not forget her fundamental principle, and the conscientious scruples of the Quakers were respected. Commerce was permitted with all parts of the world except England and her dependencies.

The Declaration of Independence by Congress was received with general satisfaction, and proclaimed with a national salute and military display. At Providence the King’s arms were burned, and the Legislature assumed its legal title, “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” and voted that “we do approve the said resolution, and do most solemnly engage that we will support the said General Congress with our lives and fortunes.”

Congress, as we have seen, had voted to build a navy at the original suggestion of Rhode Island, and directed that two of the thirteen frigates that were to compose it should be built there. Ship building was one of the arts to which the Colony had directed its attention on its first planting, and Rhode Island workmen had grown skillful therein. The direction first taken by her maritime enterprise was privateering, which not only made the fortunes of individuals, but met many wants which the regular commerce of the country was unable to meet. To this great fleet Rhode Island contributed sixteen vessels, manned by men in the prime of life, and animated by love of adventure, love of country, and love of gain. Sometimes their numbers were kept full at the expense of the army, and it was found necessary to lay a general embargo till the Continental quotas were filled. In December the Assembly met at Greenwich, but finding that place too exposed, adjourned to Providence. The chief subject of discussion was how to raise an army, and the New England States were invited to send committees to Providence to concert some general plan of action. The Recess Committee gave place to a Council of War, composed of ten members. The dangerous system of short enlistments still prevailed and a brigade of three regiments, two of infantry, each composed of seven hundred and fifty men in eight companies, and one of artillery composed of three hundred men in five companies, were voted for fifteen months. The command was given to General Varnum, and Malmedy, a French officer, recommended by General Lee, was appointed “Chief Engineer and Director of the works of defence in this State, with the rank of Brigadier.” When brought to the test of enlistment its roll filled up very slowly.

The Convention of the Eastern States met in Providence. Each state was represented by three delegates. Stephen Hopkins was chosen President. After long and frequent consultations with the Assembly, it was recommended that an army of six thousand men should be concentrated in Rhode Island, of which Massachusetts was to furnish nineteen hundred men, Connecticut eleven hundred, New Hampshire three hundred, and Rhode Island eighteen hundred and a thousand Continental troops. Other questions called for equal attention. Men no longer dared to look to paper and a printing-press for their money, but to taxing and borrowing. A loan of forty thousand pounds at five per cent. was voted. But the borrowers were many, the lenders few, and taxes hard to collect. With less wisdom it was voted to prevent monopolies and regulate prices. All of these questions recur from time to time till men grow weary of contending with the natural laws of trade. Meanwhile the army was almost naked, and more than once on the brink of starvation and mutiny. The plans of the convention for concentrating a large force were never wholly carried out, and the army of the State, like the army of Congress, was too often an army on paper.

Yet one great step was taken at the suggestion of General Varnum. Colonel Christopher Greene, Lieutenant-Colonel Olney and Major Ward were sent home to enlist a battalion of negroes for the Continental service. When the question came before the Assembly in the form of a resolution to enroll slaves, compensate their masters and give them their freedom, it met with some opposition upon the ground that it would be disapproved of in other states, that the masters would not be satisfied with the compensation, and that there were not slaves enough to make a regiment. But the wiser opinion prevailed, the regiment was raised, and when the day of trial came the freedman proved himself an excellent soldier. In February, 1778, the Articles of Confederation were adopted, not as perfectly satisfactory, but as the best that could be had. Certain modifications were proposed. “Obtain them if you can,” were the instructions to the Rhode Island delegates, “but in all events sign the articles.”

In April came the happy tidings of the French alliance, joyfully received everywhere with ringing of bells and firing of salutes and military display. The 22d of April had been appointed for a fast day. It was changed to a thanksgiving. The hopes of the country were raised very high. “Surely,” men said to one another, “now that France has declared for us, the end must be near.”

In May Governor Cooke, who had served diligently since the beginning of the war, withdrew from his laborious office, and William Greene, son of the late Governor Greene, was elected in his stead, and with such general acceptance that he continued to be reËlected eight years in succession. Four delegates instead of two were sent to Congress.

We have seen how the islands of the bay had suffered. In the same month of May an expedition was sent by the British commander at Newport against Warren and Bristol on the main. Three churches and several private houses were burnt, and seventy flat-boats, together with the galley Washington and a grist-mill, were destroyed. There was loss of life and destruction of property, but not a step made towards the decision of the contest. Soon after an attempt was made on Fall River, but repulsed by the judicious choice of position and gallantry of Colonel Joseph Durfee.

The presence of the enemy in Narragansett Bay was a constant menace to the Eastern States, and to drive them out was the constant aim of the commander of that department. Under General Spencer great preparations had been made and great hopes entertained of success. But one of the brigades failed to be up with their boats in time, and a second attempt was prevented by the weather.

At last the favorable moment came. Sullivan, an active and intelligent officer, was in command of the Continental forces, and the coÖperation of D’Estaing with the French fleet was secured. On the 29th of July twelve French ships of the line and four frigates arrived off Newport. The English were effectually blockaded, driven from their outposts, and compelled to destroy their vessels.

Preparations were made for an immediate advance. At no period of the war had greater enthusiasm prevailed. Volunteers came pouring in from Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth—not merely those whom pay or bounty could call out, but men of wealth and position. John Hancock led the militia of Massachusetts. Greene and Lafayette came on from the main army. By the 8th of August Sullivan found himself at the head of ten thousand men. The right wing took post at Tiverton. The French fleet under D’Estaing held the outer harbor. The morning of the 10th was fixed upon for the attack. On the 8th the fleet ran up the middle passage in face of a heavy fire from the enemy’s batteries, and secured the command of the bay. Sir Robert Pigot drew in his forces and stationed them in strong positions near the town. They numbered about six thousand in all.

Sullivan seeing that the British commander had abandoned his strong works at the head of the island, thought that no time was to be lost in securing them, and without waiting for the day agreed upon with the French admiral, set his right wing under Greene, in motion on the morning of the 9th and began to cross over to the island. D’Estaing felt the breach of etiquette, but had little time to dwell upon it. For about two in the afternoon a fleet of nearly twenty-five sail came in sight, standing in for Newport. It was the fleet of Lord Howe. He lay to off Point Judith for the night, and next morning began a trial of seamanship with D’Estaing for the weather-gage. The Englishman stood out to sea; a sudden change of wind enabled the Frenchman to follow him, and the whole of the first day and part of the second were passed in manoeuvring. Meanwhile the wind kept rising, and in a few hours it blew a gale. Soon it was no longer a question of victory, but of life. The work of destruction by mortal hands ceased. The big ships were tossed helplessly about by the yawning billows. The invisible winds snapped the strong masts—once the pride of centennial forests—asunder. The Languedoc, with her ninety guns, the French admiral’s own ship, lost masts and rudder. The shattered fleets made their way to port as best they might, the English to New York, the French to Newport, with occasional encounters on their way.

The tempest had raged with as much violence on shore as at sea. Nothing could withstand its rage. Trees were torn up by the roots. Tent poles were snapped asunder like reeds. Marquees were torn and dashed to the ground. The rain fell in torrents, swelling the brooks till they overflowed their banks and spread over the fields in ponds and pools. Men crouched under the stone walls. When the tempest ceased, horses and men were found dead together. Then was the time for Pigot to draw out his men from their snug quarters in the town and lead them against the exhausted Americans. The American general feared this, and anxiously watched the dangerous hours go by. But the Englishman let slip the golden occasion and it never returned.

It was not without many misgivings that Sullivan had seen the French fleet make sail and stand out to sea. But D’Estaing had pledged himself to return, and when on the 20th a swift frigate, and soon the Languedoc herself, hove in sight, he dispatched Greene and Lafayette to confer with the French admiral and his officers and secure their coÖperation. But whatever D’Estaing’s own wishes may have been, his officers, who were jealous of him as a landsman, pointed to his instructions and called upon him to repair to Boston. The Americans felt themselves deserted, for it was only by the aid of the fleet that the town could be taken. “There never,” they said, “was a prospect so favorable blasted by such a shameful desertion.”

Still Sullivan resolved to persevere in his attempt, and giving partial vent to his indignation in the order of the day, took up a position within three miles of the town and began to erect batteries. It was soon evident that it would be hazardous to attempt to hold it. On the 28th it was resolved to fall back and establish a fortified camp at the north end of the island. But already the army was melting away. Three thousand militiamen and volunteers went off in twenty-four hours, and presently the assailants scarcely outnumbered the assailed. The British fleet also would soon be back, while the French fleet could no longer be counted upon. D’Estaing indeed gallantly offered to bring up his land forces to the support of his allies. But now the only question was how to retreat without loss. A sharp battle was fought on the 29th, in which both sides contended obstinately for the victory. Then in the night, men, baggage, artillery and stores, were transported across the ferry without the loss of a man or beast, or a single munition of war.