ページの画像
PDF
ePub

CHAPTER XV.

THE greater the lethargy of Congress, the more earnest were the solicitations of Washington. Yielding to these, and to the necessity, as indicated in the late campaign, of more efficient measures for the organization of the army, they at last entered effectively upon this duty.

Rarely, indeed, were a people less prepared for a contest of arms than the American colonists at the beginning of the Revolution. Without either soldiers, generals, or engineers, without munitions* or a knowledge of war, all were to be attained by exertion or experience, and every thing to be surmounted by energy or fortitude.

Of the few who had reaped military information in the war with France, Washington was the only American who had obtained an extensive reputation. Eminent as were the soldierly qualities he then displayed, his experience was too limited to entitle him to the chief command; and upon the large scale on which the war was to be conducted, he had almost all its science to learn.

Philip Schuyler, known as Colonel Schuyler, was the only other member of the Congress of seventy-five who had any pretensions to the character of a soldier. The

* May 11, 1776. The lead was torn from the roofs of the Exchange and City Hall for bullets, and every article of brass taken from the houses in N. Y

capacity in which he had previously served, had given him an accurate knowledge of the civil departments of an army, but beyond this his attainments did not extend. Such other information as he possessed were the acquisitions of an active mind, fruitful in resource, and of great vigor. To them the arrangement of the military establishment, as has been stated, was confided by Congress. The first object of attention, after filling the general staff, was the organization of the militia. All the inhabitants of the colonies fit for duty, as related, were recommended to form military associations, one-fourth of whom were to be minute men, distributed into battalions and companies, to be relieved by new drafts, after a tour of four months' duty. The field officers were to be appointed by the conventions of the respective States. Those of each company to be elected by the respective companies.

Such was the embryo of an army destined to win the liberty of an extensive empire. The first enlistments under a resolution of Congress, were of "expert riflemen." In the form of the enlistment they were declared to be soldiers in "The American continental army." The term was one year. In the commission of Washington it was designated as "The army of the United Colonies," and in its organization it assumed the simple national name of "The American army."

66

In the autumn of that year, a new army" was ordered to be raised of twenty thousand three hundred and seventy-two men intended to lie before Boston. The number of each of the twenty-eight regiments was specified, to be organized into eight companies, each with four commissioned and eight non-commissioned officers. The term of the enlistment was to the end of the year seventysix. The previous regulations were modified. A body of

five thousand more was directed to be mustered for the protection of New York; and nine battalions were to be raised and maintained for the defence of Canada. The field-officers of this army were usually recommended by the conventions of the respective States in which the troops were raised, and were elected by Congress. For the support of these troops, Washington was to be empowered by the several States to impress whatever might be necessary, and was authorized to call forth, according to the exigency and nature of the service, the minute men, or militia.

The enlistments under this arrangement gave little assurance of success in creating an efficient force. The spirit of the people brought them into the field upon emergencies, but there were few, in the independent condition of the colonists, of that order of men who would, of choice, endure the privations of a military life, augmented, as they were, by the defects of a new and very imperfect establishment.

The prejudices of the country were strong against any thing in the shape of a standing army. These prejudices, and the hope of an accommodation with Great Britain, had led to a limitation of the term of enlistment to one year. The militia, upon whom the chief dependence was placed, were in vain required to be governed by the arti cles of war. The power conferred upon Washington by Congress of calling forth the militia of the States-a power limited to exigencies was regarded with such jealousy, that within a month after it was granted, Congress found it necessary to declare, that it was only to be exerted with the consent of the colonial authorities.

During the ensuing winter more effective measures were taken; of these, the division of the colonies into military departments was among the first, nor did it prove

to be the wisest, and was virtually abandoned. Those north of Virginia were to compose the northern, the remainder the southern, while from a desire of keeping the operations in that quarter distinct, Canada formed a third department.

The hope of an adjustment with Great Britain having ceased, and looking to independence, Massachusetts and Connecticut were, in the spring of seventy-six, recommended by Congress to endeavor to have their battalions enlisted for a term of two years. New York being menaced, thirteen thousand eight hundred of the militia of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, were called out to reinforce the army there, and a flying camp of ten thousand from Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, was ordered to be immediately established in the middle colonies. This was soon followed by an augmentation, to the number of four thousand, of the men destined for the northern department, and by an order to enlist a regiment of riflemen for a term of three years, who were to receive a bounty. A battalion of Germans was also to be raised, together with a small body of troops for the defence of Georgia.

Wide as was their scope, these were all temporary expedients. The result of the contest on Long Island proved the little reliance to be placed on militia, for any other purpose than as occasional auxiliaries.

After a protracted discussion by the Board of War, Congress on the sixteenth of September of the same year, in the moment of the escape of the army from imminent perils, resolved that eighty-eight battalions be enlisted to serve during the war; that a money bounty be offered, and a grant of land to those serving until its close. The appointment of all, except general officers, was to be left to the government of the several States, though the

commissions were to proceed from Congress; and to each State was confided the provision of arms, clothing, and every necessary for its quota. Soon after, more efficient articles of war were published. The general power granted to Washington at the end of the year,* to raise and maintain a force of sixteen additional battalions of infantry, three thousand light-horse, and a corps of engineers; and to displace and appoint officers under the rank of brigadier, has been alluded to. The grant of such powers indicates the defects of the arrangement which had been made, and the great necessity of an organized, pervading vigorous system.

The troops raised under the new arrangement were few, the progress of discipline slow. The interferences of Congress were frequent. Their measures without method. Insubordination was the inevitable consequence. So prone was the disposition to question his authority, that Washington found it necessary, through the medium of General Greene, to obtain a declaration of Congress, that it never had been their intention that the commanderin-chief should be bound by the decision of a council of Congressional favoritism had also been followed

war.

by its baneful consequences.

In despite of all this, the high military qualifications of the American people were conspicuously exhibited. Inferior to their enemy in discipline; in quickness of evolution, rapidity and certainty of fire, the American soldiers were far their superiors, in courage their equals, in patient endurance of privations they could not be surpassed. Discipline and system were the great wants of the army. Much had been gained to its science by the accessions of foreign officers. The bright spirit of the gallant, generous Frenchman had beamed forth in La Fayette, but in the

* Dec. 27. 1776.

« 前へ次へ »