Lynn in the Revolution
Chapter X.
At West Point

A Very Special Thanks To The Lynn Public Library For The Use Of This Important Resource.

Transcribed by Shaun Cook
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ON the seventh of October, 1777, the second battle of Bemis's Heights was fought, and on the seventeenth of October, when Burgoyne signed the articles of convention drawn up by the still unconquered foe, the British gave up their hold on the Hudson River. Nevertheless there remained the hope, if not the expectation, that by some turn in the fortunes of war they might yet seize this centre, and effect that division of the colonies which had at first been planned. Well realizing this fact, no amount of vigilance was spared by the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces to keep this region well fortified, for even the moving of active hostilities toward the South did not remove the danger which might at any time threaten the posts on the Hudson. The summer of 1780 came near furnishing the opportunity for that turn of affairs which would have thrown this region into the hands of the enemy and changed perhaps the whole course of the war. It was the period which has often been referred to as the darkest, and even the soul of Washington was ready to succumb under the weight of discouragements which he had been obliged to meet. In New York, since 1776, the British had ruled with a high hand. Few inhabitants were there save Royalist sympathizers, the Loyalist merchants, and the great army which was in possession, and the city showed the effects of its alien population. Twice it had been swept by fire, and for nearly three years some of its
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churches and largest buildings had been used to house the unhappy prisoners which the British had taken. In the harbor had been anchored not only the British ships-of-war, but the terrible prison-ships upon which the starved and miserable patriot soldiers perished by hundreds. Impossible as it may be to fully picture to ourselves the misery to our farmer soldiers of confinement in these infamous pens, something of their horror we feel as we read the descriptions which have come down to us, and we scan the records of our own men to see if any perchance suffered this special torture. We find not infrequently the words "taken prisoner" beside their names, and know that in most cases this meant taken to the prisons in New York. More than one died on the most notorious of all the prison-ships, the "Jersey," which was anchored in New York Harbor during the latter years of the war. In view of the fact that it was not always easy to keep their own army supplied with provisions, it is scarcely to be wondered at, perhaps, that prisoners taken by the British should have died of starvation as well as disease, but the cruelty and inhumanity of the treatment which they otherwise received can only be explained by the barbarism of war.
The winter of 1779 and 1780 had been an especially hard one for both armies, marked as it was by such severe cold that for weeks the harbor and rivers were frozen solid enough for teams to drive across. The snow along the Hudson, where the Americans were encamped, was said to have been four feet deep on a level, and it was with great difficulty that communication could be kept open between the posts. Many soldiers that winter suffered from frost-bites, and one man was frozen to death
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on his way from New Windsor to the garrison at West Point. Yet New York streets were brilliant with redcoats and gay uniforms, and balls and dinners beguiled the time for the foreign soldiers, and kept up the courage of the merchant and small trader. There were no military operations at the North during this time, and the spring saw the departure for the South of a portion of the main body of the British army under Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis. Clinton did not remain long at the South, but his army during its short stay effected a notable victory at Charleston, where it captured General Lincoln and his whole army. Leaving Lord Cornwallis in command there, Sir Henry returned to New York just in time to prevent a combined attack against the city by the American and French armies. The arrival of reinforcements from France, under Count Rochambeau, had suggested to Washington the possibility of wresting from the enemy the city which was now the only point held by them in the North with the exception of the post at the mouth of the Penobscot. The plan had to be given up, however, when Clinton appeared with the strong naval force which he was able to gather. There arrived with him from the South at this time, as his adjutant, the young Major John Andre, and at about the same time General Arnold, who had been in command at Philadelphia, was appointed by Washington commander at West Point. Then were brought into close proximity the two men whose names were henceforth to be inseparably united. General Arnold, who had been conspicuous for his bravery in Canada, at Fort Stanwix, in the vicinity of his home in Connecticut, and at Saratoga, admired and eagerly followed by
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the men whom he had commanded, trusted, of Washington, now came to West Point, resentful and revengeful, with the deliberate plan of betraying into the hands of the enemy the forts on the Hudson. In an old colonial mansion at the lower end of Broadway Sir Henry Clinton and his adjutant, Andre, discussed the plot and perfected their plans. In another colonial mansion on the east bank of the Hudson River, a little below West Point, General Arnold made his headquarters, and there brought his beautiful young wife and infant son. There too, he continued his secret and anonymous correspondence which he had already begun with Sir Henry Clinton through Andre. His own identity, however, was now revealed to his correspondent, since he wrote from the house which was known to be the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Army.
Most of the men whose duty it was to hold the posts upon the Hudson were from New England, and some of our Lynn men, whose term of service had not run out, had been for some time in the neighborhood, serving under Colonel Rufus Putnam and Colonel Greaton. Now, however, in response to the call of the state for additional troops for the service on the Hudson, and later to the request of Washington for a reinforcement of militia in addition to the state's regular quota, more than fifty men marched from Lynn to West Point. Under the first resolve, dated June the fifth, 1780, the state had called for men to serve for six months, and the selectmen of Lynn had met accordingly and provided for raising her quota. This body of men under Captains George Webb and Thomas Pritchard arrived at Springfield on the eleventh of July, where they joined General Glover's
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brigade, and proceeded to their destination. In response to the second resolve of June the twenty-second, whereby nearly five thousand men were to be raised, our own men were enlisted in Captain Addison Richardson's company in the Essex County regiment, which was placed under the command of Colonel Nathaniel Wade, and were to serve three months. These men, therefore, together with the six months' men previously enlisted, were in the neighborhood of West Point when General Arnold arrived to take command. Whatever experiences they had during this short service, - and to a few probably it was their first service, since there were some whose ages ranged from sixteen to nineteen years, - all sank into insignificance beside the development and discovery of what General Glover described as that "most infernal plot," the frustration of which, he said, "must be imputed to the interposition of Divine Providence." At the risk of repeating an oft-told tale, it seems necessary to outline the main features of this mournful affair in order to bring before us the event which cast a gloom over the whole army, and caused Washington to exclaim sadly, "Whom can we trust now!"

ington in complaint and sworn to Gates, "By heavens! I am a villain if I seek not a brave revenge for injured honor!" In June, 1778, after the departure of the British from Philadelphia, he had been placed in command there, and for two years lived in a style scarcely less gay and extravagant than had his British predecessor, Sir William Howe. Attractive in appearance and manner, he became a favorite among the moderate Tories of the city, and in the spring of 1779 married the beautiful daughter of one of them. His manner of living was bitterly criticised by the pronounced patriots, who remonstrated with him not only for his expenditures, but also for his apparent friendliness with the Loyalist party. With the accumulation of debts, suspicion became aroused against him, and, finally, charges preferred by the council of Pennsylvania were referred by Congress to a courtmartial. The many months which were allowed to elapse before he was brought to trial served to embitter him the more, and, although he was finally exonerated from the charges which involved his honor, and received only a mild reprimand from the Commander-in-Chief for the acts which were deemed irregular, his decision had already been formed to go over to the British side. For months he had been corresponding with Sir Henry Clinton under an assumed name, representing himself as an American officer, high in rank, who for sufficient considerations would throw in his lot with that of the invading army. In order to carry out his design, he applied to Washington for the command of the post at West Point. Washington would have preferred to give him a command on the right wing of the army, but upon his still pleading disability on account of his wound the
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Commander-in-Chief, with perfect confidence still in his integrity, granted his request. Thus during the first week of August, Arnold established himself on the Hudson.
The correspondence with Clinton now reached a point where only a personal interview was needed to perfect the plan of betraying into British hands the posts which Arnold commanded. The time chosen for such an interview was when Washington, whose headquarters were at Tappan, only a few miles below West Point, was absent in Connecticut in conference with the French Count Rochambeau.
At night, on the twenty-first of September, Major John Andre, wearing the gold-laced uniform of a British officer, covered by a long blue coat, was rowed to the western shore of the Hudson River, and landed at a lonely place a few miles below Stony Point. There he was met by Arnold, and a conference between the two men lasted until nearly dawn, when Arnold proposed that Andre should remain on shore until the next night. Proceeding to the house of Joshua H. Smith, the man who had rowed Andre ashore, their plans were soon completed. Drawings of the fort and an account of its defences were given to Andre, and the following night, clothed in the dress of a citizen, he was conducted by his host across King's Ferry to the eastern side of the river, where the two men spent the night. On the morning of the twenty-third, Smith accompanied Andre to the neutral ground beyond the American lines, and then left him with the assurance that the road to the British lines was plain and safe, although advising him to keep to the left-hand inland route. Andre, however, disregarded this latter advice, and soon after parting with Smith turned off to the right, taking
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the river road. Before noon he was taken, just as he was emerging from Sleepy Hollow, above Tarrytown. The three men who stepped out upon the road to bar his progress, he at first supposed to belong to that class of men called cow-boys - marauders and plunderers - who yet belonged to the British side, and with whom he would be safe. Quickly discovering his mistake, he showed them his pass from Arnold, but too late to allay their suspicions, and he was accordingly searched. The incriminating papers were found in the soles of his stockings. No arguments or offers of money would induce the men to let him go, - "Not for ten thousand guineas," declared the leader, would they release him, - and his horse was accordingly turned about, and he was led to North Castle, where the men delivered their prisoner into the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, who commanded there. The next morning Colonel Jameson ordered Andre to be taken to Arnold's headquarters, the papers being sent to the Commander-in-Chief at Tappan. Had Andre succeeded in reaching Arnold, his own escape, as well as that of Arnold, would have been assured. As it was, he had scarcely set out when Major Tallmadge, next in rank to Colonel Jameson, arrived at North Castle, and, learning what had occurred, immediately suspected Arnold's treachery. By his earnest advice an officer was sent to overtake Andre and return him to North Castle. A letter, however, had been sent to Arnold, apprising him of the capture of "one John Anderson," which was allowed to proceed on its way. This, reaching Arnold just before the return of Washington from his mission at Hartford, enabled the traitor to make good his escape, although too late for any assistance to be given to Andre. The
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latter was taken to Salem and then to headquarters at Tappan.
     The immediate works at West Point were now, in the absence of their commander, Colonel Lamb, in the temporary command of our Massachusetts colonel, Nathaniel Wade, and under the latter were more than half of the Lynn men who had left home that summer. The letter which Washington immediately sent to Colonel Wade contained the following: -

     "General Arnold is gone to the enemy. I have just now received a line from him enclosing one to Mrs. Arnold, dated on board the Vulture. I request that you will be as vigilent as possible, and as the enemy may have it in contemplation to attempt some enterprise, even to-night, against these posts, I wish you to make, immediately after the receipt of this, the best disposition you can of your force, so as to have a proportion of men in each work on the west side of the river."

     This gives us a hint regarding the position which a part of our men occupied at this time.
     At Tappan a court-martial, ordered by Washington, was held, in which sat some of the ablest generals of the war, among them General Glover, of Marblehead. The unanimous report was that Andre, as a spy from the enemy, should suffer death. Yet his interesting personality and manly bearing had drawn to himself the sympathy of both armies, and the sad ending of his career was one which was felt with deep regret by friend and foe.
     On Monday, October the second, 1780, Major Andre was led to the gallows, his request to be shot having been refused. General Glover, in whose brigade were the six
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months' men from Lynn, was officer of the day, and there is little doubt that these Lynn men were present at the execution. One of the men chosen to beat taps with muffled drums was Isaac Organ, of Lynn, a drum-major in Colonel John Greaton's regiment and famous in his day as a drummer. Thus was closed one of the most pathetic incidents of the war, and one which was told beside Lynn firesides for many years by men who were eye-witnesses of the event.
The following lists will give, so far as is known, the men who went from Lynn to West Point that summer: -

SIX MONTHS' MEN DRAFTED FOR SERVICE IN JULY, 1780, FROM THE TOWN OF LYNN.

John Mead
Ebenezer Parsons
Joshua Danforth
Andrew Mansfield
Joseph Burrill
Ezra Moulton
Philip Coats
John Brown
John Flynn
Andrew Newhall
Benjamin Newhall
Samuel Bates
Oliver Walton
James Newhall
Noah Newhall
Allen Newhall
Blaney Newhall
Joseph Lindsey
Theophilus Farrington
Benjamin Jacobs
Daniel Parrott
Thos. Hitchings
Ebenezer Ramsdell
Richard Pappoon

THREE MONTHS' MEN IN CAPTAIN RICHARDSON'S COMPANY, COLONEL NATHANIEL WADE'S ESSEX COUNTY REGIMENT, ENLISTED IN JULY, 1780, FOR SERVICE AT WEST POINT.

Jos. Stocker, 1st Lieut.
Josiah Martin, 2nd Lieut.
Joseph Lewis
Benjamin Massey
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