CHAPTER XVIII.
For some days the "Dolphin" rode at anchor in Bar Harbour, MountDesert, while its passengers found great enjoyment in trips here andthere about the island, visiting the Ovens, Otter Cliffs, SchoonerHead, and other points of interest.
But the time was drawing near when Max must show himself to theexaminers of applicants for cadetship in Annapolis, and early onebright morning, a favourable land breeze springing up, the yachtweighed anchor and started southward.
They were to touch at Newport on their way and take on board any oftheir party left there who might care to visit Annapolis with them.
As usual all gathered upon deck shortly after breakfast, and again theyoung people besieged the Captain with requests for something moreabout the doings of Revolutionary days.
"You know, Papa," said Lulu, "we've been so busy visiting all thoselovely places on Mount Desert that we haven't had time for anythingabout the wars since you told us how Arnold fought the British on LakeChamplain."
"Yes, I remember," he said. "How would you like now to hear of some ofthe doings and happenings of those times in and about Newport?"
"Oh, please do tell of them! We'd like it ever so much," answeredseveral young voices, and the Captain good-naturedly complied.
"I will begin," he said, "with a bold and brave exploit of Major SilasTalbot, in the fall of 1778. The British had converted a strong vesselinto a galley, named it the 'Pigot,' in honour of their general of thatname, and anchored it in the channel between the eastern side of theisland bearing the same name as the State, and the main land. It wasarmed with twelve eight-pounders and ten swivels, making a formidablefloating battery, the object of which was to close up the channelagainst the French fleet which lay off Newport.
"It also effectually broke up the local trade of that section;therefore its destruction was very desirable, and Major Talbot proposedto head an expedition to accomplish that, or its capture. GeneralSullivan thought the thing could not be done, but finally gave consentthat the effort should be made.
"Sixty resolute patriots were drafted for the purpose and on the 10thof October they set sail in a coasting-sloop called the 'Hawk,' armedwith only three three-pounders, beside the small arms carried by themen.
"They passed the British forts at Bristol Ferry and anchored within afew miles of the 'Pigot.' Major Talbot then procured a horse, rode downthe east bank and reconnoitred. He saw that the 'Pigot' presented aformidable appearance, but he was not too much alarmed thereby to makethe proposed attempt to capture her.
"At nine o'clock that same evening he hoisted his anchor, and favouredby a fair wind, started on his perilous errand. He had with himLieutenant Helm, of Rhode Island, with a small reinforcement. He hadalso a kedge-anchor, lashed to his jib-boom, with which to tear thenettings of the 'Pigot.' The darkness of the night enabled him to driftpast Fogland Ferry Fort under bare poles, without being discovered; hethen hoisted sail and ran partly under the stern of the 'Pigot.'
"The sentinels hailed him, but no answer was returned; and they fired avolley of musketry at the 'Hawk,' which fortunately hit no one, whileher kedge-anchor tore the 'Pigot's' nettings and grappled her, and sogave the Americans a free passage to her deck. They poured on it fromthe 'Hawk,' with loud shouts, and drove every man from the deck exceptthe captain. He, in shirt and drawers, fought desperately till he foundthat resistance was useless, when he surrendered his vessel with theofficers and crew.
"The Americans secured the prisoners below by coiling the cablesover the hatchways, weighed anchor, and started for the harbour ofStonington, which they entered the next day with their prize."
"Good!" cried Max. "I'd have liked to be one of those brave fellows,and I hope Congress rewarded them for their gallant deed."
"It did," said the Captain; "presented Talbot with a commission oflieutenant-colonel in the army of the United States, and complimentedboth him and his men."
"I suppose they'd have given them some money if they'd had it tospare," remarked Lulu; "but of course they hadn't, because the countrywas so dreadfully poor then."
"Yes," said her father, "it was poor, and Newport, Rhode Island,was suffering greatly from the long-continued occupation of theBritish. The people of that colony had from the first taken a bold anddetermined stand in opposition to the usurpations of King George andhis ministers, and the oppressions of their tools in this country.
"In the summer of 1769 a British armed sloop, sent there by thecommissioners of customs, lay in Narragansett Bay, she was called'Liberty,' certainly a most inappropriate name. Her errand was similarto that of the 'Gaspee' about the destruction of which I have alreadytold you,--though that occurred some three years later. The commanderof the 'Liberty,' was a Captain Reid. A schooner and brig belonging toConnecticut had been seized and brought into Newport; also the clothingand the sword of the captain, Packwood, commander of the brig, had beentaken, and carried aboard the 'Liberty.' He went there to recover them,was badly maltreated, and as he left the sloop in his boat, was firedupon with a musket and a brace of pistols.
"This occurrence greatly exasperated the people of Newport, whodemanded of Reid that the man who had fired upon Captain Packwoodshould be sent ashore.
"Reid again and again sent the wrong man, which of course exasperatedthe people, and they determined to show him that they were not to betrifled with. Accordingly, a number of them boarded the 'Liberty,' cuther cables, and set her adrift. The tide carried her down the bay anddrifted her to Goat Island, where the people, after throwing her storesand ammunition into the water, scuttled her, and set her on fire. Herboats were dragged to the common, and burned there."
"Was she entirely burned, Papa?" asked Gracie.
"Almost, after burning for several days."
"And that was nearly six years before the battle of Lexington," Evelynremarked in a half musing tone. "How wonderfully patient and forbearingthe Americans were, putting up for years with so much of Britishinsolence and oppression!"
"I think they were," responded the Captain. "Nor was it from cowardice,as they plainly showed when once war with Great Britain was fairlyinaugurated.
"And the little State of Rhode Island had her full share in thestruggle and the suffering it brought. Let us see what Bancroft says inregard to the action of her citizens at the beginning of the conflict,immediately after the battles of Lexington and Concord," he added,taking up and opening a book lying near at hand. All waited in silenceas he turned over the leaves and began to read,--
"The nearest towns of Rhode Island were in motion before the British had finished their retreat. At the instance of Hopkins and others, Wanton, the governor, though himself inclined to the royal side, called an assembly. Its members were all of one mind; and when Wanton, with several of the council, showed hesitation, they resolved, if necessary, to proceed alone. The council yielded and confirmed the unanimous vote of the assembly for raising an army of fifteen hundred men. 'The colony of Rhode Island,' wrote Bowler, the speaker, to the Massachusetts congress, 'is firm and determined; and a greater unanimity in the lower house scarce ever prevailed.' Companies of the men of Rhode Island preceded this early message."
"The little State took a noble stand," remarked Violet, as her husbandfinished reading and closed the book.
"Yes," he said, "and their consequent sufferings from Britishaggressions promptly began. Admiral Wallace, an inhuman wretch, thatsummer commanded a small British fleet lying in Newport harbour. It washe who promised to hang Abraham Whipple, but never caught him. It wasdiscovered by the Americans that he (Wallace) was planning to carry offthe livestock from the lower end of the island to supply the Britisharmy at Boston."
"Going to steal them, Papa?" asked Gracie.
"Yes; but the people were too quick for him. Some of them went downone dark night in September and brought off a thousand sheep and fiftyhead of cattle; and three hundred minute-men drove a good many more toNewport, so saving them from being taken by Wallace and his men.
"Wallace
was very angry, ordered the people to make contributions tosupply his fleet with provisions, and to force them to do so tookcare to prevent them from getting their usual supplies of fuel andprovisions from the mainland.
"The people were much alarmed, and about half of them left the town.Shortly afterward a treaty was made by which they engaged to supply thefleet with provisions and beer, and Wallace allowed them to move aboutas they pleased. But soon, however, he demanded three hundred sheepof the people of Bristol, and upon their refusal to comply, bombardedtheir town.
"He began the bombardment about eight o'clock in the evening. The rainwas pouring in torrents; and the poor women and children fled throughthe darkness and storm, out to the open fields to escape from theflying shot and shell of the invaders."
"Oh, how dreadful for the poor things!" exclaimed Gracie.
"Yes, there was great suffering among them," replied her father. "Thehouse of Governor Bradford was burned, as also were many others.Wallace played the pirate in Narragansett Bay for a month, wantonlydestroying the people's property, seizing every American vessel thatentered Newport harbour and sending it to Boston,--which, as you willremember, was then occupied by the British general, Gage, and histroops,--plundering and burning all the dwellings on the beautifulisland of Providence, and all the buildings near the ferry at Canonicut.
"He kept possession of the harbour till the spring of 1776; but inApril of that year some American troops came to try to drive himaway. Captain Grimes brought two row-galleys, each carrying twoeighteen-pounders, from Providence. Provincial troops brought two moreeighteen-pounders and planted them on shore where the British, who wereanchored about a mile above Newport, could see them.
"Wallace evidently thought the danger too great and immediate, for heweighed anchor, and with his whole squadron sailed out of the harbourwithout firing a shot."
"He must have been a coward like most men who revel in such cruelty,"remarked Max sagely. "Not much like the Wallace of Scotland who foughtthe English so bravely in early times."
"I quite agree with you in that thought, Max," his father said witha slight smile. "This Wallace was the same who, later in the war,plundered and destroyed the property of the Americans on the Hudson,desolating the farms of innocent men because they preferred freedom tothe tyrannical rule of the English government, and laying the town ofKingston in ashes.
"Soon after he sailed out of Narragansett Bay another British vesselcalled the 'Glasgow,' carrying twenty-nine guns, came into the harbourand anchored near Fort Island. She had just come out of a severefight with some American vessels, held the same day that Wallace leftNewport. Probably her officers thought he was still there so thattheir vessel would be safe in that harbour, but they soon discoveredtheir mistake. The Americans threw up a breast-work on Brenton's Point,placed some pieces of heavy artillery there, and the next morningopened upon her and another vessel so vigorous a fire from theirbattery that they soon cut their cables and went out to sea again."