XXXII.

arm the Long Island Tories, and to arrest some of the CHAPTER principal delinquents. Tryon threatened a bombardment in case the Connecticut troops entered the city. 1776. The Provincial Congress begged Lee to forbear; but he persisted in sending forward his volunteers; and a com- Feb mittee of the Continental Congress supported his plans, and agreed with him on a scheme of fortifications. He was soon joined by Lord Stirling's New Jersey regi ment. But neither Lee, nor Stirling, who succeeded to the command on Lee's removal to the South, could stop March the communication with the British ships. Tryon kept up a constant correspondence with his adherents. even had spies in Philadelphia, who gave him accurate information, in spite of the injunction of secrecy, of all the doings of Congress.

He

Nor was it only in the city of New York and its environs that the Loyalists were formidable. Thirty miles northwest of Albany, on the extreme frontier of the province, at Johnstown and the neighborhood, was a colony of Scotch Highlanders, established there by Sir William Johnson, whose son and heir, Sir John Johnson, as well as Guy Johnson, the new Indian agent, both adhered to the British rule. The whole district west of the Schoharie had been erected two or three years before into the new county of Tryon. There were firm Whigs among the inhabitants, but many Tories also; and Schuyler found it necessary to send a detachment from Jan. 20 Albany to disarm the Johnsons and the Highlanders, and to compel them to give hostages. Guy Johnson had already retired to Canada, drawing after him most of the Mohawks, who were received into British pay and service. Sir John Johnson gave his parole to Schuyler not to take up arms against America. But he presently fell again under suspicion, and a party being sent to ar

Mav.

CHAPTER rest him, he fled to Canada, where he was comn:issioned XXXII. as colonel, and raised from among his tenants and others 1776. two battalions of "Royal Greens," well known afterward,

1775.

Sept.

and not a little dreaded, on the frontiers of New York The celebrated chief, Brant, who had been educated in Wheelock's school, served Guy Johnson as secretary, and was very active on the British side.

Lord Dunmore, after his departure from Williamsburg, being joined by several British armed vessels in the Chesapeake, began to threaten Lower Virginia. The settlers west of the Laurel Ridge had met at Pittsburg, had agreed to support the American Association, and had chosen delegates to the Virginia Convention. Dunmore, however, not without hopes of making some impression in that quarter, gave to Conolly, formerly his agent in that region, a lieutenant colonel's commission, and sent him to visit Gage at Boston. After his return, Conolly proceeded up the Chesapeake, landed near its head, and set off with several companions on his way across the mountains, in hopes, by his personal influence with the western settlers, to raise a regiment, and, in conjunction with some regulars from Detroit, to operate against the back part of Virginia. It was even said to be a part of his plan to stimulate the Indians to hostilities. But the whole scheme was cut short by Conolly's arrest at Fredericton, in Maryland, whence he and his companions were sent prisoners to Philadelphia.

Meanwhile Dunmore landed at Norfolk, and seized and carried off a printing press, on which he printed a proclamation, which he dispersed abroad, declaring martial law, calling upon all persons able to bear arms to join him, and offering freedom to all slaves and indented servants of rebels who would enlist under his banner. Having drawn together a considerable force, Dunmore

XXXII.

ascended Elizabeth River to the Great Bridge, the only CHAPTER pass by which Norfolk can be approached from the land side; dispersed some North Carolina militia collected 1775. there; made several prisoners; and then, descending the river, took possession of Norfolk. The rise of that town Nov. 23. had been very rapid. Within a short time past it had become the principal shipping port of Virginia. Its population amounted to several thousands, among whom were many Scotch traders not well disposed to the American cause.

Fugitive slaves and others began now to flock to Dunmore's standard. A movement was made in his favor on the east shore of Maryland, which it required a thousand militia to suppress. The Convention of Virginia, not a little alarmed, voted four additional regiments, afterward increased to seven, all of which were presently taken into continental pay. Among the colonels of the new regiments were Mercer, Stephen, and Muhlenberg, the latter a clergyman, who laid aside the surplice to put on a uniform. The Committee of Safety were authorized to imprison all persons guilty of taking up arms against the colony, and to appropriate the produce of their estates to the public service. Woodford, with the second Virginia regiment, took possession of the causeway leading to the Great Bridge, which was still held by Dunmore's troops. An attempt to dislodge the Virginians having failed with loss, Dunmore aban- Dec doned the bridge and the town, and again embarked. Norfolk was immediately occupied by Woodford, who was promptly joined by Howe's regiment from North Carolina.

Jan.

After a descent on the eastern shore of Virginia, to 177 whose aid marched two companies of Maryland minute men, Dunmore, re-enforced by the arrival of a British

CHAPTER frigate, bombarded Norfolk. A party also landed and set XXXII. it on fire. The town was mostly built of wood, and that 1776. part of it nearest the water was rapidly consumed. The part which escaped was presently burned by the provin cials, to prevent it from becoming a shelter to the enemy. Thus perished, a prey to civil war, the largest and richest of the rising towns of Virginia. Dunmore continued, during the whole summer, a predatory warfare along the rivers, of which his naval superiority gave him the command, burning houses and plundering plantations, from which he carried off upward of a thousand slaves. He was constantly changing his place to elude attack; but watched, pursued, and harassed, he finally found it necessary to retire to St. Augustine with his adherents and his plunder

Fet

The squadron from Boston, which had alarmed Washington for the safety of New York, was destined, in fact, for the coast of Carolina. General Clinton was on board with a small body of troops. Clinton, like Howe, was not wholly disconnected with America, being an offshoot of that Lincoln family so intimately associated with the early history of Massachusetts. His father, also, had been governor of New York, After touching at New York, where he arrived the same day with General Lee, having held a conference with Tryon, who had formerly been governor of North Carolina, Clinton sailed again for that coast. Governor Martin, aware of his approach, and anticipating aid also from an armament to be dispatched from Ireland, had kept up a constant intercourse with the Regulators, and especially with the Scotch Highlanders, settled in great numbers in the southern counties. He had given commissions, as general and colonel, to two recent immigrants, officers of the British army, leading persons of the clans M'Donald and M.Leod,

whose members were numerous in North Carolina.

In CHAPTER

XXXII.

the settlements about Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), and among the Regulators in the more northern counties, 1776. M'Donald enlisted some fifteen hundred men, with whom

he attempted to reach the coast. Informed of this move- I'eb. ment, Moore marched from Wilmington with his regiment and some detachments of militia, amounting in the whole to about a thousand men. When the two parties had approached within four miles of each other, M'Donald sent a letter to Moore, requiring him to join the royal standard, under pain of being treated as an enemy. Moore, who was hourly expecting re-enforcements, politely declined, but promised a more explicit answer the next day. Accordingly, the next day, he sent to M'Donald, requiring him to sign the Association agreed upon by the North Carolina Congress. Without returning any answer, M'Donald marched hastily off toward the coast. Moore sent one detachment to Cross Creek, to cut off his retreat in that direction, and another to join and reenforce Caswell, who was marching from Newbern with the militia of that district, and who presently took post at Moore's Creek Bridge, about sixteen miles from Wilmington. With the rest of his troops, to which considerable accessions had been made, Moore marched in pursuit. To reach Wilmington, M'Donald must cross Moore's Creek Bridge. Finding it occupied by Caswell, he ordered an attack. M'Leod advanced bravely at the head of the column; but, at the first fire, he fell, pierced with twenty balls, and his followers, seized with a sudden panic, fled in the greatest disorder. Moore was just behind; and not less than eight hundred and fifty of the Loyalists were made prisoners. The common men were disarmed and dismissed; M'Donald and his officers were detained, and presently were sent northward for safe keeping.