500 BURNING OF YOUNG'S HOUSE-ARNOLD IN PHILADELPHIA. The British light infantry and grenadiers invested the mansion; the cavalry posted themselves on a neighboring eminence, to prevent retreat or reinforcement, and the house was assailed. It made a brave resistance, and was aided by some of the yeomanry stationed in an adjacent orchard. The garrison, however, was overpowered; numbers were killed, and ninety were taken prisoners. The house was sacked and set in flames; and thus, having broken up this stronghold of the country, the party hastened to effect a safe return to the lines with their prisoners, some of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left at different farm-houses on the road. The detachment reached King's Bridge by nine o'clock in the same evening, and boasted that, in this enterprise, they had sustained no other loss than two killed and twenty-three wounded. Of the prisoners many were doubtless farmers and farmers' sons, who had turned out in defence of their homes, and were now to be transferred to the horrors of the jail and sugarhouse in New York. We give this affair as a specimen of the petite guerre carried on in the southern part of Westchester County, the NEUTRAL GROUND, as it was called, but subjected from its vicinity to the city, to be foraged by the royal forces, and plundered and insulted by refugees and tories. No part of the Union was more harried and trampled down by friend and foe, during the Revolution, than this debatable region and the Jerseys. CHAPTER II. THE most irksome duty that Washington had to perform during this winter's encampment at Morristown, regarded General Arnold and his military government of Philadelphia in 1778. To explain it requires a glance back to that period. At the time of entering upon this command, Arnold's accounts with government were yet unsettled; the committee appointed by Cougress, at his own request, to examine them, having considered some of his charges dubious, and others exorbitant. Washington, however, still looked upon him with favor, and, but a month previously, had presented him with a pair of epaulettes and a sword-knot, as a testimony of his sincere regard and approba tion." [1780. The command of Philadelphia, at this time, was a delicate and difficult one, and required to be exercised with extreme circumspection. The boundaries between the powers vested in the military commander, and those inherent in the State government, were ill defined. Disaffection to the American cause prevailed both among the permanent and casual residents, and required to be held in check with firmness but toleration. By a resolve of Congress, no goods, wares, or merchandise were to be removed, transferred, or sold, until the ownership of them could be ascertained by a joint committee of Congress and of the Council of Pennsylvania; any public stores belonging to the enemy were to be seized and converted to the use of the army. Washington, in his letter of instructions, left it to Arnold's discretion to adopt such measures as should appear to him most effectual and least offensive in executing this resolve of Congress; in which he was to be aided by an assistant quartermaster-general, subject to his directions. "You will take every prudent step in your power," writes Washington, "to preserve tranquillity and order in the city, and give security to individuals of every class and description, restraining, as far as possible, till the restoration of civil government, every species of persecution, insult, or abuse, either from the soldiery to the inhabitants, or among each other." One of Arnold's first measures was to issue a proclamation enforcing the resolve of Congress. In so doing, he was countenanced by leading personages of Philadelphia, and the proclamation was drafted by General Joseph Reed. The measure excited great dissatisfaction, and circumstances attending the enforcement of it gave rise to scandal. Former instances of a mercenary spirit made Arnold liable to suspicions, and it was alleged that, while by the proclamation he shut up the stores and shops so that even the officers of the army could not procure necessary articles of merchandise, he was privately making large purchases for his own enrichment. His style of living gave point to this scandal. He occupied one of the finest houses in the city; set up a splendid establishment; had his carriage and four horses and a train of domestics; gave expensive entertainments, and indulged in a luxury and parade, which were condemned as little befitting a republican general; especially one whose accounts with gov ET. 48.] ARNOLD'S ASSOCIATIONS-CHARGES AGAINST HIM. 501 ernment were yet unsettled, and who had im- | carry the animosity of the field into the drawputations of mercenary rapacity still hanging over him. Ostentatious prodigality, in fact, was Arnold's besetting sin. To cope with his overwhelming expenses, he engaged in various speculations, more befitting the trafficking habits of his early life than his present elevated position. Nay, he availed himself of that position to aid his speculations, and sometimes made temporary use of the public moneys passing through his hands. In his impatience to be rich, he at one time thought of taking command of a privateer, and making lucrative captures at sea. ing-room; or to proscribe and persecute the wives and daughters of political exiles. In the beginning of December, General Reed became president of the executive council of Pennsylvania, and under his administration the ripening hostility to Arnold was brought to a crisis. Among the various schemes of the latter for bettering his fortunes, and securing the means of living when the war should come to an end, was one for forming a settlement in the western part of the State of New York, to be composed, principally, of the officers and soldiers who had served under him. His In the exercise of his military functions, he scheme was approved by Mr. John Jay, the had become involved in disputes with the presi-pure-minded patriot of New York, at that time dent (Wharton) and executive council of Pennsylvania, and by his conduct, which was deemed arbitrary and arrogant, had drawn upon himself the hostility of that body, which became stern and unsparing censors of his conduct. He had not been many weeks in Philadelphia before he became attached to one of its reigning belles, Miss Margaret Shippen, daughter of Mr. Edward Shippen, in after years chief justice of Pennsylvania. Her family were not considered well affected to the American cause; the young lady herself, during the occupation of the city by the enemy, had been a "toast" among the British officers, and selected as one of the beauties of the Mischianza. Arnold paid his addresses in an open and honorable style, first obtaining by letter the sanction of the father. Party feeling at that time ran high in Philadelphia on local subjects connected with the change of the State government. Arnold's connection with the Shippen family increased his disfavor with the president and executive council, who were whigs to a man; and it was sneeringly observed, that "he had courted the loyalists from the start." General Joseph Reed, at that time one of the executive committee, observes in a letter to General Greene, "Will you not think it extraordinary that General Arnold made a public entertainment the night before last, of which, not only common tory ladies, but the wives and daughters of persons proscribed by the State, and now with the enemy at New York, formed a very considerable number? The fact is literally true." Regarded from a different point of view, this conduct might have been attributed to the courtesy of a gallant soldier; who scorned to President of Congress, and was sanctioned by the New York delegation. Provided with letters from them, Arnold left Philadelphia about the 1st of January (1779), and set out for Albany to obtain a grant of land for the purpose, from the New York Legislature. Within a day or two after his departure, his public conduct was discussed in the executive council of Pennsylvania, and it was resolved unanimously, that the course of his military command in the city had been in many cases oppressive, unworthy of his rank and station, and highly discouraging to the liberties and interests of America, and disrespectful to the supreme executive authority of the State. As he was an officer of the United States, the complaints and grievances of Pennsylvania were set forth by the executive council in eight charges, and forwarded to Congress, accompanied by documents, and a letter from President Reed. Information of these facts with a printed copy of the charges, reached Arnold at Washington's camp on the Raritan, which he had visited on the way to Albany. His first solicitude was about the effect they might have upon Miss Shippen, to whom he was now engaged. In a letter dated February 8th, he entreated her not to suffer these rude attacks on him to give her a moinent's uneasiness-they could do him no injury. On the following day he issued an address to the public, recalling his faithful services of nearly four years, and inveighing against the proceedings of the president and council; who, not content with injuring him in a cruel and unprecedented manner with Congress, had ordered copies of their charges to be printed and dispersed throughout the several States, 502 ARNOLD'S ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC-HIS MARRIAGE. [1780. for the purpose of prejudicing the public mind | short-lived. Congress did not call up and act against him, while the matter was yet in sus- upon the report, as, in justice to him, they pense. "Their conduct," writes he, "appears should have done, whether to sanction it or the more cruel and malicious, in making the not; but referred the subject anew to a joint charges after I had left the city; as my inten- committee of their body and the assembly and tion of leaving the city was known for five council of Pennsylvania. Arnold was, at this weeks before." This complaint, we must ob- time, on the eve of marriage with Miss Shipserve, was rebutted, on their part, by the asser- pen, and, thus circumstanced, it must have been tion that, at the time of his departure, he knew peculiarly galling to his pride to be kept under of the accusation that was impending. the odium of imputed delinquencies. In conclusion, Arnold informed the public that he had requested Congress to direct a court-martial to inquire into his conduct, and trusted his countrymen would suspend their judgment in the matter, until he should have an opportunity of being heard. Public opinion was divided. His brilliant services spoke eloquently in his favor. His admirers repined that a fame won by such daring exploits on the field should be stifled down by cold calumnies in Philadelphia; and many thought, dispassionately, that the State authorities had acted with excessive harshness towards a meritorious officer, in widely spreading their charges against him, and thus, in an unprecedented way, putting a public brand upon him. On the 16th of February, Arnold's appeal to Congress was referred to the committee which had under consideration the letter of President Reed and its accompanying documents, and it was charged to make a report with all convenient despatch. A motion was made to suspend Arnold from all command during the inquiry. To the credit of Congress it was negatived. Much contrariety of feeling prevailed on the subject in the committee of Congress and the executive council of Pennsylvania, and the correspondence between those legislative bodies was occasionally tinctured with needless acrimony. Arnold, in the course of January, had obtained permission from Washington to resign the command of Philadelphia, but deferred to act upon it, until the charges against him should be examined, lest, as he said, his enemies should misinterpret his motives, and ascribe his resignation to fear of a disgraceful suspension in consequence of those charges. About the middle of March, the committee brought in a report exculpating him from all criminality in the matters charged against him. As soon as the report was brought in, he considered his name vindicated, and resigned. Whatever exultation he may have felt was, The report of the joint committee brought up animated discussions in Congress. Several resolutions recommended by the committee were merely of a formal nature, and intended to soothe the wounded sensibilities of Pennsylvania; these were passed without dissent; but it was contended that certain charges advanced by the executive council of that State were only cognizable by a court-martial, and, after a warm. debate, it was resolved (April 3d), by a large majority, that the commander-in-chief should appoint such a court for the consideration of them. Arnold inveighed bitterly against the injustice of subjecting him to a trial before a military tribunal for alleged offences of which he had been acquitted by the committee of Congress. He was sacrificed, he said, to avoid a breach with Pennsylvania. In a letter to Washington, he charged it all to the hostility of President Reed, who, he affirmed, had by his address kept the affair in suspense for two months, and at last obtained the resolution of Congress directing the court-martial. He urged Washington to appoint a speedy day for the trial, that he might not linger under the odium of an unjust public accusation. "I have no doubt of obtaining justice from a court-martial," writes he, "as every officer in the army must feel himself injured by the cruel and unprece dented treatment I have met with. *** When your Excellency considers my sufferings, and the cruel situation I am in, your own humanity and feeling as a soldier will render every thing I can say further on the subject unnecessary." * It was doubtless soothing to his irritated pride, that the woman on whom he had placed his affections remained true to him; for his marriage with Miss Shippen took place just five days after the mortifying vote of Congress. Washington sympathized with Arnold's impatience, and appointed the 1st of May for the trial, but it was repeatedly postponed; first, at the request of the Pennsylvania council, to ET. 48.] ARNOLD COURT-MARTIALED-VERDICT, TO BE REPRIMANDED. 503 allow time for the arrival of witnesses from | vate property, and that of persons who volunthe South; afterwards in consequence of tarily remained with the enemy, and were threatening movements of the enemy, which deemed disaffected to the interests and indeobliged every officer to be at his post. Arnold, pendence of America. in the mean time, continued to reside at Philadelphia, holding his commission in the army, but filling no public office; getting deeper and deeper in debt, and becoming more and more unpopular. Having once been attacked in the street in the course of some popular tumult, he affected to consider his life in danger, and applied to Congress for a guard of Continental soldiers, 66 as no protection was to be expected from the authority of the State for an honest man." He was told in reply, that his application ought to have been made to the executive authority of Pennsylvania; " in whose disposition to protect every honest citizen, Congress had full confidence, and highly disapproved the insinuation of every individual to the contrary." For months, Arnold remained in this anxious and irritated state. His situation, he said, was cruel. His character would continue to suffer until he should be acquitted by a court-martial, and he would be effectually prevented from joining the army, which he wished to do as soon as his wounds would permit, that he might render the country every service in his power in this critical time. "For though I have been ungratefully treated," adds he, "I do not consider it as from my countrymen in general, but from a set of men, who, void of principle, are governed entirely by private interest." At length, when the campaign was over, and the army had gone into winter-quarters, the long-delayed court-martial was assembled at Morristown. Of the eight charges originally advanced against Arnold by the Pennsylvania council, four only came under the cognizance of the court. Of two of these he was entirely acquitted. The remaining two were, First. That while in the camp at Valley Forge, he, without the knowledge of the commander-in-chief, or the sanction of the State government, had granted a written permission for a vessel belonging to disaffected persons, to proceed from the port of Philadelphia, then in possession of the enemy, to any port of the United States. Second. That, availing himself of his official authority, he had appropriated the public waggons of Pennsylvania, when called forth on a special emergency, to the transportation of pri In regard to the first of these charges, Arnold alleged that the person who applied for the protection of the vessel, had taken the oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania required by the laws; that he was not residing in Philadelphia at the time, but had applied on behalf of himself and a company, and that the intentions of that person and his associates with regard to the vessel and cargo appeared to be upright. As to his having granted the permission without the knowledge of the commander-inchief, though present in the camp, Arnold alleged that it was customary in the army for general officers to grant passes and protections to inhabitants of the United States, friendly to the same, and that the protection was given in the present instance, to prevent the soldiery from plundering the vessel and cargo, coming from a place in the possession of the enemy, until the proper authority could take cognizance of the matter. In regard to the second charge, while it was proved that under his authority public waggons had been so used, it was allowed in extenuation, that they had been employed at private expense, and without any design to defraud the public or impede the military service. In regard to both charges, nothing fraudulent on the part of Arnold was proved, but the transactions involved in the first were pronounced irregular, and contrary to one of the articles of war; and in the second, imprudent and reprehensible, considering the high station occupied by the general at the time, and the court sentenced him to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. The sentence was confirmed by Congress on the 12th of February (1780). We have forborne to go into all the particulars of this trial, but we have considered them attentively, discharging from our minds, as much as possible, all impressions produced by Arnold's subsequent history, and we are surprised to find, after the hostility manifested against him by the council of Pennsylvania, and their extraordinary measure to possess the public mind against him, how venial are the trespasses of which he stood convicted. He may have given personal offence by his assuming vanity; by the arrogant exercise of 504 ARNOLD REPRIMANDED-SOUTH CAROLINA THREATENED. [1780. his military authority; he may have displeased | proposed to the Board of Admiralty an expedi- The reprimand adjudged by the court-martial was administered by Washington with consummate delicacy. The following were his words, as repeated by M. de Marbois, the French secretary of legation: "Our profession is the chastest of all: even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. The least inadvertence may rob us of the public favor, so hard to be acquired. I reprehend you for having forgotten, that, in proportion as you had rendered yourself formidable to your enemies, you should have been guarded and temperate in your deportment towards your fellow-citizens. "Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you, as far as it may be in my power, with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your country." A reprimand so mild and considerate, accompanied by such high eulogiumis and generous promises, might have had a favorable effect upon Arnold, had he been in a different frame of tion, requiring several ships of war and three or four hundred land troops, offering to take command of it should it be carried into effect, as his wounds still disabled him from duty on land. Washington, who knew his abilities in either service, was disposed to favor his proposition, but the scheme fell through from the impossibility of sparing the requisite number of men from the army. What Arnold's ultimate designs might have been in seeking such a command, are rendered problematical by his subsequent conduct. On the failure of the project, he requested and obtained from Washington leave of absence from the army for the summer, there being, he said, little prospect of an active campaign, and his wounds unfitting him for the field. CHAPTER III. THE return of spring brought little alleviation to the sufferings of the army at Morristown. All means of supplying its wants or recruiting its ranks were paralyzed by the continued depreciation of the currency. While Washington saw his forces gradually diminishing, his solicitude was intensely excited for the safety of the Southern States. The reader will recall the departure from New York, in the latter part of December, of the fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot with the army of Sir Henry Clinton, destined for the subjugation of South Carolina. mind; but he had persuaded himself that the "The richness of the country," says Colonel court would incline in his favor and acquit Tarleton, in his history of the campaign, “its him altogether; and he resented deeply a sen- vicinity to Georgia, and its distance from Gentence, which he protested against as unmerited. eral Washington, pointed out the advantage His resentment was aggravated by delays in and facility of its conquest. While it would the settlement of his accounts, as he depended be an unspeakable loss to the Americans, the upon the sums he claimed as due to him, for possession of it would tend to secure to the the payment of debts by which he was harass- crown the southern part of the continent which ed. In following the matter up, he became a stretches beyond it." It was presumed that weary, and probably irritable, applicant at the the subjugation of it would be an easy task. halls of Congress, and, we are told, gave great | The population was scanty for the extent of offence to members by his importunity, while the country, and was made up of emigrants, or he wore out the patience of his friends; but public bodies are prone to be offended by the importunity of baffled claimants, and the patience of friends is seldom proof against the reiterated story of a man's prolonged difficulties. In the month of March, we find him intent on a new and adventurous project. He had the descendants of emigrants, from various lands and of various nations: Huguenots, who had emigrated from France after the revocation of the edict of Nantz; Germans, from the Palatinate; Irish Protestants, who had received grants of land from the crown; Scotch Highlanders, transported hither after the disastrous battle of Culloden; Dutch colonists, who |