vercoming the violence of man. Greene being joined by Marion and the reft, took poft on the high hills of Santee, to the eastward of that river. The Santee, the Congaree, and the Edifto, were the eftablished boundaries on the British fide. It is impoffible to do justice to the fpirit, patience, and invincible fortitude, difplayed by the commanders, officers, and foldiers, during thefe dreadful campaigns in the two Carolinas. They had not only to contend with men, and thefe by no means deficient in bravery and enterprize, but they encountered and furmounted difficulties and fatigues from the climate and country, which would appear infuperable in theory, and almoft incredible in the relation. They difplayed military, and, we may add, moral virtues, far above all praife. During renewed fucceffions of forced marches, under the rage of a burning fun, and in a climate, at that feafon, peculiarly inimical to man, they were frequently, when finking under the moft exceffive fatigue, not only deftitute of every comfort, but almoft of every neceffary, which feems effential to his exiftnce. During the greater part of the time, they were totally deftitute of bread, and the country af forded no vegetables for a fubftitute. Salt at length failed; and their only refources were water, and the wild cattle which they found in the woods. Above fifty men, in this laft expedition, funk under the vigour of their exertions, and perifhed through mere fatigue. We muft not, however, confine the praise entirely to the British troops, as a detachment of Heffians, which had been lent upon this occafion by General de Bofe, defervedly come in for their proper share. The fame juftice requires, that the Americans fhould not be deprived of their share of this fatal glory. They had the fame difficulties to encounter, joined to a fortune in the field generally adverse. Yet, on the whole, the campaign terminated in their favour. General Greene having recovered the far greater part of Georgia, and of the two Carolinas. It is a melancholy confideration, that fuch talents, bravery, and military virtue, fhould have been exercifed in vain. This inaufpicious war, was the only one, in which they would not have produced their proper effect. VOL. XXIV. [G] CHAP. CHA P. VI. Great lofs fuftained by the Spanish fleet in a hurricane, on its way to the attack of West Florida. Is refitted, and again proceeds from the Havanna. Penfacola invefted by fea and land. Gallant defence. Principal redoubt blown up by accident, which compels Governor Chefter, and General Campbell, to a furrender. Weft Indies. Ineffectual attempt on the Ifland of St. Vincent. Dutch ifland of St. Eustatius taken by the Brith fleet and army, under Sir George Rodney and General Vaughan." Prodigious booty. Iflands of St. Martin and Saba furrender. Dutch man of war and convoy, on their return to Europe, pursued and taken. The fettlements of Demerary, Iffequibo, and the Berbices, on the coast of Surinam, make a tender of fubmiffion to the British government, and are granted favourable conditions. Difcontents, complaints, and law fuits, occafioned by the confifcation of private property at St. Eustatius. M. de Graffe arrives with a fleet and great convoy in the Weft-Indies from Europe. Engagement between him and the Admirals Sir Samuel Hood and Drake, in the Channel of St. Lucia. Sir George Rodney departs from St. Eustatius to oppose the progress of the enemy. Ineffective attempt made by the Marquis de Bouille on the island of St. Lucia. French invafion of the island of Tobago. Vigorous defence. Public fpirit of the planters. Surrendered by capitulation. M. de Graffe, having escorted a vaft convoy on its way to Europe, proceeds with his fleet to the Chefapeak. Sir George Rodney returns to England; and Sir Samuel Hood fails with a fquadron to counteract the defigns of De Graffe at the Chefapeak. HILST Englishman was thus fighting against Englifhman in the Carolina's and Virginia; ftill farther to the fouthward, Spain was profecuting her views with effect against England in Weft Florida. We have al ready fhewn the fuccefs that had attended Don Bernardo de Galvez, Governor of Louisiana, in his different expeditions, in the years 1779, and 1780, first against the British fettlements on the Miffiffippi, and afterwards against the town and fort of Mobille. Thefe fucceffes, and the confequent reduction of General Campbell's fmall force, naturally extended his views to the taking of Pensacola, and thereby completing the con queft of the province. The involved ftate of the British affairs, (which were every day, and in every part of the globe, becoming more embarraffed) afforded every encouragement that could quicken him in the profecution of that defign. After fome unfuccessful attempts in the last year, which had failed in the outfet, Don Galvez went himself to the Havannah, in order to forward, and take upon him the command, of a great expedition from thence, which was intended for the beginning of the prefent. Fortune feemed at firft to fmile upon Penfacola; but unluckily, no means were, or probably could be afforded, to profit of the occa fion. A violent hurricane had nearly ruined the Spanish fleet. Four capital fhips, befides others of different denominations, were totally loft, and all on board perifhed. The lofs of lives was rated confiderably above two thoufand. The remainder of the fhattered fleet put back to the Havannah; feveral of them being much torn and difmafted, and the whole confiderably injured. The critical arrival of four fore ships from Spain during their abfence, enabled them to rent speedily; and knowing there was no British naval force in the way to oppofe them, without waiting till the whole fleet was in condition, they dispatched five fail of the line, with feveral fmaller veffels of war, to conduct Don Galvez, with between feven and eight thoufand land forces, on the expedition. This force arrived before Penfacola on the 9th of March, 1781; and were followed in time by Don Solano, with the remainder of the fleet, the whole amounting to 15 fail of the line. The principal ftrength of the place feems to have lain in the defence of the harbour; for while that was made good, the enemy would not only be exposed to great difficulties and difadvantages in their landing, but afterwards in the covering and carrying on of their approaches; and which would ftill be too distant from the works to produce much effect. But the land batteries were not fufficient to guard the entrance without fome naval fupport; and that which they now had was weak indeed, confifting only of two floops, or other fmall veffels of war. Thefe, however, gallantly feconded the batteries; and both together gave much trouble, and caufed no fmall delay to the enemy. Their vaft fuperiority of force, when it could be brought properly to bear, was, however, irrefiftable. The paffage was ac"cordingly at length forced; the landing effected; ground broken; and the fiege commenced in form by fea and land. The garrifon was weak; and compofed of almoft all forts of men. Detachments from, or rather the remains of different British regiments; Maryland and Penfylvania loyal ifts; fome of the German troops of Waldeck; together with failors, marines; inhabitants, (for every man was of neceflity a foldier); negroes; and, before the place was clofely invefted, a few Indians, formed the motley affemblage, who were to defend Penfacola against fo formidable a force. It was much to the honour of Gen. Campbell, the governor, that there was not the smallest discordance in fo various a garrifon; and it was no lefs praife to themfelves, that the whole behaved bravely, patiently, and obediently, through every part of the fiege. It would be unneceffary to mention, only that their fate might otherwife appear doubtful, that the captains, officers, and crews of the two royal floops of war, after burning their veffels, bore a diftinguished part in the defence of the fort. Indeed every part of the defence was vigorous; and notwithstanding the weaknefs of the garrifon, fome well directed fallies were gallantly made, and fuccefsfully executed. In the firft week of May, the befiegers had yet done nothing that looked to a [G] z decifion decifion. They were not, however, at all flack in advancing their works, and the fate of the place was inevitable; but it would ftill have coft them confiderably more time and trouble, if an untoward accident had not fruftrated the hopes of the befieged. The principal defence of the place confifted in a ftrong advanced redoubt, by which it was covered, and which commanded the narrow approach to it on the land fide. This was accordingly to be fupported to the laft; which had hitherto been done with great fpirit, and the works had fuffered lefs than might have been expected. The accidental fallMay 8th. ing of a bomb, near the door of the magazine belonging to the redoubt, and which lay-under its center, decided the fate of Pensacola. The bursting of the bomb forced open the door, fet fire to the powder within, and in an inftant, the whole body of the redoubt prefented nothing but a heap of rubbish. Of about an hundred men who fuffered by this explosion, three parts loft their lives, and the fourth were miferably maimed and wounded. Two flank works ftill remained entire ; and through the extraordinary coolness and intrepidity of the officers who commanded in these, and the excellent ufe they made of their artillery, the befiegers, who rushed on pellmell to take advantage of the confufion, and to itorm the place, were, in their firft onfet, repulfed. By this brave exertion, time was obtained to carry off the wounded, and fuch artillery as were not buried in the ruins. But the enemy now bringing up their whole force to attack the flank redoubts, they were of neceffity abandoned. The enemy then made a fhew of advancing to ftorm the body of the place; but the countenance they obferved, and the ftate of preparation they perceived, induced them to relinquish the defign. They, however, now derived fuch advantages from the poffeffion of the ruined redoubt, and of the flank works, that the place was no longer tenable; for they commanded fome of the principal batteries fo effectually with their small arms, that the foldiers and feamen could no longer ftand to their guns. In thefe circumftances, and without the most dif tant hope of relief, it would have been madnefs to contend longer. It was fingular, that in this state of imminent and apparent danger, and with all the horrors of the recent deftruction before their eyes, not a fingle word about a furrender was heard in the garrison. An honourable capitulation was obtained, by Mr. Chefter, the governor of the province, and Major Gen. Campbell; and that was all that could have been expected, or even hoped. The place was delivered up, on the day two months, that the enemy had first made their appearance. May 9th. Thus fell the province of Weft Florida, which had been held among the principal acquifitions obtained to Great Britain by the treaty of Paris. Whilft the war thus alternately raged and languifhed in different parts of the continent of North America, it will be neceffary to take a view of thofe tranfactions in the Wet-Indies, which led in no fmall degree in their con fequences, fequences, to that fatal event which was to close the campaign in Virginia, and feemed to threaten no less than the total extinction of the British power in that part of the world. Upon the return of Admiral Sir George Rodney from New York to St. Lucia, towards the clofe of the year 1780, the reports which were received, of the ruinous and difmantled ftate of the island of St. Vincent, through the effects of the late hurricane, induced that commander and Gen. Vaughan, to undertake an expedition for the recovery of that ifland. Some troops, with the marines of the fleet, were accordingly landed; but after a day's continuance on the island, the enemy were found in fuch force, and their works in fuch condition, that the commanders fuffered the mortification of being obliged to re-embark the troops, without venturing to hazard an attack. It was not much more than a month after this ineffective attempt, when the commanders in chief by fea and land, in confequence of inftructions from England, directed their views to the reduction of the Dutch ifland of St. Eustatius. This ifland, barren and contemptible in itself, has long been the feat of a lucrative and prodigious commerce; and indeed might be confidered as the grand free port of the Weft-Indies and America, and as a general market, and magazine, to all nations. Its richest harvests were, however, during the feafons of warfare amongst its neighbours; owing to its neutrality and fituation, with its unbounded and unclogged freedom of trade, So ftrong was the spirit of commerce, and fo immerfed were its checkered and tranfient inhabitants in traffick and gain, that when Holland herfelf was engaged in a war, the fame freedom of trade continued, and the enemy were not only fupplied with all manner of common neceffaries, but even with naval and military ftores, as if no rupture with the parent ftate had taken place. This ifland is a natural fortification; and has but one landing place, which might be eafily rendered impracticable to an enemy. But hoftility and war, with refpect to themselves, being totally out of the ideas of fuch a people, defence could not be thought of. It will be easily conceived, that the inhabitants of fuch a barren rock were not very numerous; and from the circumftances we have related it will not appear furprizing, that they fhould notwithftanding include in their number, fome lefs or greater portion of the natives of almost all trading countries. 1781. The British fleet and army, after exciting an alarm on the coafts of Martinique, with a view only of difguifing their real defign, fuddenly appeared before Feb. 3d. and furrounded the island of St. Euftatius with a great force; when Sir George Rodney, and General Vaughan, fent a peremptory fummons to the governor, to furrender the island' and its dependencies within an hour; accompanied with a declaration or threat, that if any reliftance was made, he must abide by the confequences. Mr. de Graaff, the governor, totally ignorant of the rupture between England and Holland, [G] 3 |