To supply the almost naked and famishing soldiers with such articles as they stood most in need of, voluntary associations were established throughout the State. At this period of general distress and suffering, the ladies of Maryland united for the purpose of collecting, by voluntary subscription, additional supplies in money and clothing for the southern army, then at the extreme point of destitution. In Baltimore, and Annapolis, and the counties, districts were apportioned among committees, and the collections amounted to several thousand dollars. Many of the contributions were made in gold, others in produce or clothing, and all ranks of society seem to have given liberally.

The following letter from Washington to Mrs. Mary Lee, the wife of Governor Lee, shows that he appreciated the spirit and exertions of the women of Maryland in this noble work:

"Madam

"Head Quarters, 11th October, 1780.

“I am honored with your letter of the 27th of September, and cannot forbear taking the earliest moment to express the high sense I entertain of the patriotic exertions of the ladies of Maryland in favor of the army. In answer to your inquiry respecting the disposal of the gratuity, I must take the liberty to observe that it appears to me the money which has been or may be collected, cannot be expended in so eligible and beneficial a manner as in the purchase of shirts and black stocks for the use of the troops in the southern army. The polite offer you are pleased to make of your further assistance in the execution of this liberal design, and the generous disposition of the ladies, insure me of its success, and cannot fail to entitle both yourself and them to the warmest gratitude of those who are the objects of it."

ber 30-Benjamin Chalmers, deputy quartermaster-general of forage for Dorchester, Worcester and Somerset Counties, and James Hindman, deputy assistant commissary of pur

chases for Talbot; James Sullivan, the same for Dorchester, and Walter Hanson for Charles Counties.

1 Sparks, vii., p. 243.

CHAPTER XXVI.

DISSATISFIED with the management of the southern department under the command of General Gates, congress on the 5th of October, 1780, passed a resolution subjecting its favorite officer to a court of inquiry, and directing the commander-in-chief to appoint his successor. In compliance with this instruction, Washington recommended Major General Nathaniel Greene. Congress on the 30th, by a formal resolve approved of the appointment of General Greene, and invested him with all the powers conferred on Gates, with the additional one of negotiating an exchange of prisoners in his department, but "subject to the control of the commander-in-chief." Congress also assigned to him all the regular troops, raised or to be raised, in Delaware and in the States south of it. Immediately upon receipt of his appointment, General Greene hastened to Philadelphia to inform himself of the condition of his army, and to make provision for supplying its needs. On his arrival he expressed the "earnest wish to have Dr. James McHenry, of Maryland, one of Washington's aides, to accompany him to the south." As Dr. McHenry already held the rank of major on the staff of the commander-inchief, he could not accept the same position under any other officer, without losing rank. "Nothing but a majority will engage him in this service," writes Greene to the president of congress; and "if the indulgence can be consistently granted, it will lay me under particular obligations." Although this application was endorsed by Washington, it was not acceded to until May, and, in the meanwhile, Major McHenry remained on Washington's staff.

GENERAL GREENE.

Accompanied by Baron Steuben, who had with him Captains Benjamin Walker and Peter S. Duponceau, of his staff, and Colonel Morris and Major Burnet, two of his aides, he commenced his journey south, arriving at Elkton on the 5th of November, and on the 7th, reaching Annapolis, where he intended" to try to put subscriptions on foot" "for the purpose of supplying clothing" to his army. Believing that in all his southern operations he would have to "depend upon the stores coming from the northward." As soon as he arrived at Annapolis he addressed an urgent letter to the Board of War, awakening them to the necessity of prompt action. "General Gist," he writes, "is at this place," and says 'it is idle to expect service from the

southern army unless they receive supplies from the northward, to put them in a condition to act, and that it is equally idle to expect anything south of this, especially clothing; nor will there be anything of consequence to be had in this State." Baltimore was in so "defenceless a state" that "a twenty-gun ship might lay the town under contribution." And in this defenceless place, the State, as if to invite the enemy, had collected a magazine of shot and shell.1

General Greene then waited on Governor Lee, and presented him a letter of introduction from Washington, in which the commander-in-chief warmly eulogised his "abilities, fortitude and integrity," and personally recommended him to Lee "as one whom I rank among the number of my friends." He was cordially received by the governor, who entertained him at his own house. He waited upon the legislature, then in session, and urged the necessity of prompt aid to the southern army before it should be dispersed, and the spirit of the people broken. To Lee he addressed a letter, insisting upon the importance of raising and equipping a regular army, and filling up the regiments to the full standard, to which end he suggests a draft.

In accordance with Greene's views, the legislature, knowing that the Maryland quotas formed the real nucleus, and, indeed, constituted two-thirds of the southern army in the field, passed various Acts to procure recruits and supplies. "They promise me," Greene writes to Washington, "all the assistance in their power; but are candid enough to tell me that I must place but little dependence upon them, as they have neither money nor credit, and from the temper of the people are afraid to push matters to extremity." The "extremity" here alluded to, was, probably, his favorite plan of a draft.

To hasten the reinforcements, and to forward supplies, Greene directed General Gist to take charge of this service in Maryland and Delaware, co-operating with Governor Rodney, of the latter State. Gist was instructed to make all his applications in writing, so "that it may appear hereafter, for our justification, that we left nothing unessayed to promote the public service. Let your applications be as pressing as our necessities are urgent; after which, if the southern States are lost, we shall stand justified. The greatest consequences depend upon your activity and zeal in your service."

Having made all the necessary arrangements in Maryland to supply the necessities of his army, Greene resumed his journey to the scene of action. Passing through Baltimore he secured the services of George Lux to aid him in that town, and travelling by the way of Georgetown, Mount Vernon and Fredericksburg, arrived at Richmond on the 16th of November. Here he found everything in confusion; "the business of government almost at a standstill for want of money and public credit."

After the defeat of General Gates and the advance of Lord Cornwallis into the interior of North Carolina, on the 16th of October, General Leslie sailed from New York with about three thousand troops, with orders to penetrate

1 Greene's Life of Greene, iii., p. 50.

2 Sparks, vii., p, 275.

EXCITEMENT IN THE CHESAPEAKE.

383

into Virginia, and await the orders of Lord Cornwallis. Leslie entered the Chesapeake and took possession of Norfolk and Portsmouth; the latter he fortified very strongly, as the basis of his future operations. The sudden appearance of this large force in the Chesapeake created intense excitement. both in Virginia and Maryland. In Virginia, the militia had been called out, and such preparations for defense as time and circumstances permitted. The British general "after making every preparation for establishing a permanent post at Portsmouth, by fortifying the place strongly, had suddenly drawn in his advanced parties, evacuated the town, embarked his troops, and fallen down to Hampton Roads," where he still lay when Greene reached Richmond.1

He immediately waited upon Governor Jefferson, laid before him the object of his mission, and urged his assistance in keeping the enemy at a distance. There was an abundance of provisions and forage in the State, but as all the continental wagons and teams had been captured in the disaster at Camden, there was no means of transporting it to the army. Governor Jefferson had been endeavoring for more than three weeks to collect a hundred wagons to send supplies to the army, and although with full powers of impressment, he could collect "but fifteen or eighteen."

General Greene, finding that it would be impossible without transportation, to effect anything in his department, and that he must rely upon the States north of Virginia, addressed letters to Generals Washington and Gist, and Colonels Pickering and Matlock, upon the subject. In his letter to General Gist he writes: "I must beg the State of Maryland will speedily comply with my requisition, particularly as to the wagons and the horses for Lee's legion. As soon as you get wagons, forward all the stores from Baltimore. The horse furniture is exceedingly wanted, as cavalry must be our greatest security till we can form a more respectable body of infantry." To Colonel Timothy Matlock, the chairman of the committee appointed by congress to procure clothing for the southern army, he writes:

"I am now fully convinced that the southern army will be entirely without clothing unless you draw bills upon France and provide for us in the way I proposed. . . It may be disagreeable to draw on France, but it is better to do this than to let the army go to ruin. The distress and suffering of the southern army on account of provision is sufficient to render the service so disagreeable as to make it impossible to keep men in the field; but when they are starved with cold as well as hunger, the whole army must become deserters or patients in the hospitals; both policy and humanity call loudly for supplies of clothing. The people of this State and Maryland say they are willing to do all in their power to provide clothing, be the consequences what they may, and I wish that their abilities to supply the army may not be overrated."

A few weeks later, summing up his observations in a letter to his friend, President Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, he says:

1 Greene's Life of Greene, iii., p. 54.

"On my journey I visited the Maryland and Virginia Assemblies, and laid before them the state of this army, and urged the necessity of an immediate support. They both promised to do everything in their power; but such was their poverty, even in their capitals, that they could not furnish forage for my horses."1

Leaving Baron Steuben at Petersburg in command of the army in Virginia, on the 22d of November he resumed his journey, and, as we have stated, arrived at Charlotte, North Carolina, on the afternoon of the 2d of December, and on the following morning assumed command of the army, by affirming and approving Gates' standing orders.

While Greene was travelling to the southward, the enemy, who occupied Norfolk and Portsmouth, were engaged in their usual occupation of plundering and devastating the property of the inhabitants of Maryland along the shores of the Chesapeake. These depredations were so extensive and in such force, that the merchants of Baltimore, who had done so much to suppress the outrages, were compelled in July to petition the governor and council for assistance. Governor Lee, on the 28th of July, 1780, in the following letter to the Maryland delegates in Congress, presents the serious grievances under which the people of Baltimore were at this time laboring:

"The general assembly on the 12th June last, took into consideration the trade of this State, and entered into the following resolution: 'Resolved, that congress be informed that the trade of this State and Virginia, through the Capes of Chesapeake Bay, is very considerable, and that this State and the United States are greatly interested in its preservation, and that this State has always contributed to the expenses of the continental navy, but the state or its trade has never received any benefit or advantage from the marine of the United States, and therefore that congress be earnestly requested to direct one of the continental frigates to be so stationed as to protect the trade from this State and Virginia, and further to order (when the service of the United States will permit), that one of the frigates convoy the fleets from this bay,'-which was transmitted to congress, and by them referred to the board of admiralty, the result of whose deliberations thereon has not yet been communicated to us; nor do we know that the requisition of the assembly will be complied with. Our coast has lately been much infested with the privateers and cruisers of the enemy; our trade and navigation obstructed, and many of our vessels captured, to the great detriment of the public, and ruin of some and distress of many of our merchants: and we can assure you, unless two, or one at least of the continental frigates are so stationed as to afford protection to the trade of Virginia and this State, that there is little or no probability of our providing clothing and other necessaries for our quota of the army. As this State have on every occasion exerted themselves in an extraordinary degree in support of the common cause, and have and do contribute their proportion of the expense of the continental navy, and have not hitherto received any advantage from it; we can but think it reasonable that our request should be gratified. We have just received a letter from the commercial gentlemen of the town of Baltimore, representing that the successes of small armed vessels and boats have invited a very formidable enemy into our bay, and that not less than twenty of their most valuable vessels outward bound, are now blocked up in Patuxent River, and have been for some time past, and that every day they receive accounts of their vessels being taken or destroyed. This representation of the distresses and embarrassments of the trade and navigation of the States of Virginia and Maryland not only merit the immediate notice of congress, but we think

1 Greene's Life of Greene, iii., p. 62.