CHAPTER III.
Lulu woke early the next morning and was dressed and on deck before anyother of the _Dolphin's_ passengers. Day had dawned and the eastern skywas bright with purple, orange, and gold, heralding the near approach ofthe sun which, just as she set her foot on the deck, suddenly showed hisface above the restless waves, making a golden pathway across them.
"Oh, how beautiful!" was her involuntary exclamation. Then catchingsight of her father standing with his back toward her, and apparentlyabsorbed in gazing upon the sunrise, she hastened to his side, caughthis hand in hers, and carried it to her lips with a glad, "Good-morning,you dear papa."
"Ah! good-morning, my darling," he returned, bending down to press akiss on the bright, upturned face.
"Such a lovely morning, papa, isn't it?" she said, standing with herhand fast clasped in his, but turning her eyes again upon sea and sky."But where are we now? Almost at Fortress Monroe?"
"Look and tell me what you see," was his smiling rejoinder, as, with ahand on each of her shoulders, he turned her about so that she caughtthe view from the other side of the vessel.
"O papa, is that it?" she exclaimed. "Why, we're almost there, aren'twe?"
"Yes; we will reach our anchorage within a few minutes."
"Oh, are we going to stop to see the old fort, papa?" she asked eagerly.
"I think we are," was his smiling rejoinder. "But you don't expect tofind in it a relic of the Revolution, do you?" he asked laughingly,pinching her cheek, then bending down to kiss again the rosy faceupturned to his.
"Why yes, papa; I have been thinking there must have been a fight there.Wasn't that the case?"
"No, daughter; the fortress was not there at that time."
"Was it in the war of 1812-14, then, papa?"
"No," he returned, smiling down on her. "The building of Fortress Monroewas not begun until 1817. However, there was a small fort built on PointComfort in 1630; also, shortly before the siege of Yorktown, Count DeGrasse had some fortifications thrown up to protect his troops inlanding to take part in that affair."
But just then the talk was interrupted by the coming on deck of oneafter another of their party and the exchange of morning greetings;then followed the interest and excitement of the approach to thefortress and anchoring in its vicinity.
Next came the call to breakfast. But naturally, and quite to Lulu'ssatisfaction, the talk at the table turned upon the building of thefort, its history and that of the adjacent country, particularlyHampton, two and a half miles distant.
The captain pointed it out to them all as they stood upon the deckshortly afterward.
"Which is Old Point Comfort, papa?" asked Grace.
"That sandy promontory on the extremity of which stands FortressMonroe," he answered. "Yonder, on the opposite side, is PointWilloughhy, the two forming the mouth of the James River; and these arethe Rip Raps between the two. You see that there the ocean tides and thecurrents of the river meet and cause a constant ripple. There is anarrow channel of deep water through the bar, but elsewhere between thecapes it is shallow.
"Beyond the Rip Raps we see the spacious harbor which is called HamptonRoads. It is so large that great navies might ride there together."
"And I think some have ridden there in our wars with England?" remarkedRosie, half inquiringly.
"You are quite right," replied the captain; "that happened in both theRevolution and the last war with England.
"In October, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia,--whohad, however, abdicated some months earlier by fleeing on board aman-of-war, the _Fowey_,--driven by his fears, and his desire forrevenge, to destroy the property of the patriots, sent Captain Squires,of the British navy, with six tenders, into Hampton Creek.
"He reached there before the arrival of Colonel Woodford--who, witha hundred Culpepper men, had been sent to protect the people ofHampton--and sent armed men in boats to burn the town; protectingthem by a furious cannonade from the guns of the tenders.
"But they were baffled in the carrying out of their design; being drivenoff by Virginia riflemen, concealed in the houses. Excellent marksmenthose Virginians were, and picked off so many of the advancing foe thatthey compelled them to take ignominious flight to their boats and returnto the vessels, which then had to withdraw beyond the reach of therifles to await reinforcements."
"What is a tender, papa?" asked Grace, as her father paused in hisnarrative.
"A small vessel that attends on a larger one to convey intelligence andsupply stores," he replied; then went on with his account of Dunmore'srepulse.
"Woodford and his men reached Hampton about daybreak of the succeedingmorning. At sunrise they saw the hostile fleet approaching; it came sonear as to be within rifle shot, and Woodford bade his men fire withcaution, taking sure aim. They obeyed and picked off so many from everypart of the vessels that the seamen were soon seized with a greatterror. The cannons were silenced,--the men who worked them being shotdown,--and their commander presently ordered a retreat; but that wasdifficult to accomplish, for any one seen at the helm, or aloft,adjusting the sails, was sure to become a target for the sharpshooters;in consequence many of the sailors retreated to the holds of thevessels, and when their commander ordered them out on the dangerousduty, refused to obey.
"The victory for the Americans was complete; before the fleet couldescape, the Hampton people, with Woodford and his soldiers, had sunkfive vessels."
"And such a victory!" exclaimed Rosie, in an exultant tone.
"Yes," the captain said, smiling at her enthusiasm.
"Were the houses they fired on the very ones that are there now, papa?"asked Lulu.
"Some few of them," he replied. "Nearly all were burned by Magruder inthe Civil War; among them St. John's Episcopal Church, which was builtprobably about 1700. Before the Revolution it bore the royal arms carvedupon its steeple; but soon after the Declaration of Independence--so itis said--that steeple was struck by lightning and those badges ofroyalty were hurled to the ground."
"Just as the country was shaking off the yoke they represented," laughedRosie. "A good omen, wasn't it, Brother Levis?"
"So it would seem, viewed in the light of after events," he answeredwith a smile.
"Papa, can't we visit Hampton?" asked Lulu eagerly.
"Yes, if you would all like to do so," was the reply, in an indulgenttone and with an inquiring glance at the older members of the party.
Everyone seemed to think it would be a pleasant little excursion,especially as the _Dolphin_ would carry them all the way to the town;but first they must visit the fortress. They did not, however, set outthither immediately, but remained on deck a little longer gazing aboutand questioning the captain in regard to the points of interest.
"Papa," asked Grace, pointing in a southerly direction, "is that anotherfort yonder?"
"Yes," he replied, "that is Fort Wool. It is a mile distant, and withFortress Monroe defends Hampton Roads, the Gosport navy yard, andNorfolk."
"They both have soldiers in them?" she said inquiringly.
"Yes, daughter; both contain barracks for soldiers, and Fortress Monroehas also an arsenal, a United States school of artillery, chapel, and,besides the barracks for the soldiers, storehouses and other buildings,and covers eighty acres of ground."
"And when was it finished, papa? How long did it take to build it?"
"It is not finished yet," he answered, "and has already cost nearlythree million dollars. It is an irregular hexagon--that is has six sidesand six angles--surrounded by a tide-water ditch eight feet deep at highwater."
"I see trees and flower gardens, papa," she remarked.
"Yes," he said, "there are a good many trees, standing singly and ingroves. The flower gardens belong to the officers' quarters. Now, if youwill make yourselves ready for the trip, ladies, Mr. Dinsmore, and anyof you younger ones who care to go," he added, smoothing Grace's goldencurls with caressing hand and smiling down into her face, "we will takea nearer view."
No one felt disposed to decline the invitation and they were soon ontheir way to the fortress.
It did not take very long to look at all they cared to see; then theyreturned to their vessel, weighed anchor, and passed through the narrowchannel of the Rip Raps into the spacious harbor of Hampton Roads.
It was a lovely day and all were on deck, enjoying the breeze and theprospect on both land and water.
"Papa," said Lulu, "you haven't told us yet what happened here in thelast war with England."
"No," he said. "They attacked Hampton by both land and water, a force oftwo thousand five hundred men under General Beckwith landing at OldPoint Comfort, and marching from there against the town, while at thesame time Admiral Cockburn assailed it from the water.
"The fortification at Hampton was but slight and guarded by only fourhundred and fifty militiamen. Feeling themselves too weak to repel anattack by such overwhelming odds, they retired, and the town was givenup to pillage."
"Didn't they do any fighting at all, papa?" asked Lulu in a tone ofregret and mortification. "I know Americans often did fight when theirnumbers were very much smaller than those of the enemy."
"That is quite true," he said, with a gleam of patriotic pride in hiseye, "and sometimes won the victory in spite of the odds against them.That thing had happened only a few days previously at Craney Island, andthe British were doubtless smarting under a sense of humiliating defeatwhen they proceeded to the attack of Hampton."
"How many of the British were there, Captain?" asked Evelyn Leland."I have forgotten, though I know they far outnumbered the Americans."
"Yes," he replied, "as I have said there were about four hundred andfifty of the Americans, while Beckwith had twenty-five hundred men andwas assisted by the flotilla of Admiral Cockburn, consisting of armedboats and barges, which appeared suddenly off Blackbeard's Point at themouth of Hampton Creek, at the same time that Beckwith's troops movedstealthily forward through the woods under cover of the _Mohawk's_ guns.
"To draw the attention of the Americans from the land force comingagainst them was Cockburn's object, in which he was partly successful,his flotilla being seen first by the American patrols at Mill Creek.
"They gave the alarm, arousing the camp, and a line of battle wasformed. But just then some one came in haste to tell them of the largeland force coming against the town from the rear, and presently in thewoods and grain fields could be seen the scarlet uniforms of the Britishand the green ones of the French."
"Oh, how frightened the people in the town must have been!" exclaimedGrace. "I should think they'd all have run away."
"Most of them did," replied her father; "but some sick and feeble oneshad to stay behind--others also in whose care they were--and trust tothe supposed humanity of the British; a vain reliance it proved, atleast so far as Admiral Cockburn was concerned. He gave up the town topillage and rapine, allowing the doing of such deeds as have consignedhis name to well-merited infamy.
"But to return to my story: Major Crutchfield, the American commander,resolved that he and his four hundred and fifty men would do what theycould to defend the town. They were encamped on an estate called 'LittleEngland,' a short distance southwest of Hampton, and had a heavy batteryof seven guns, the largest an eighteen-pounder cannon.
"Major Crutchfield was convinced that the intention of the British wasto make their principal attack in his rear, and that Cockburn's was onlya feint to draw his attention from the other. So he sent Captain Servantout with his rifle company to ambush on the road by which Beckwith'stroops were approaching, ordering him to attack and check the enemy.Then when Cockburn came round Blackbeard's Point and opened fire on theAmerican camp he received so warm a welcome from Crutchfield's heavybattery that he was presently glad to escape for shelter behind thePoint, and content himself with throwing an occasional shot or rocketinto the American camp.
"Beckwith's troops had reached rising ground and halted for breakfastbefore the Americans discovered them. When that happened SergeantParker, with a field-piece and a few picked men, went to the assistanceof Captain Servant and his rifle company, already lying in ambush.
"Parker had barely time to reach his position and plant his cannon whenthe British were seen rapidly advancing.
"At the head of the west branch of Hampton Creek, at the Celey road,there was a large cedar tree behind which Servant's advancedcorps--Lieutenant Hope and two other men--had stationed themselves, andjust as the British crossed the creek--the French column in front, ledby the British sergeant major--they opened a deadly fire upon them. Anumber were killed, among them the sergeant major--a large, powerfulman.
"This threw the British ranks into great confusion for the time, andthe main body of our riflemen delivered their fire, killing the braveLieutenant-Colonel Williams of the British army. But the otherspresently recovered from their panic and pushed forward, while ourriflemen, being so few in number, were compelled to fall back.
"But Crutchfield had heard the firing, and hastened forward with nearlyall his force, leaving Pryor and his artillerymen behind to defend theLittle England estate from the attack of the barges. But while he wasmoving on along the lane that led from the plantation toward Celey'sroad and the great highway, he was suddenly assailed by an enfiladingfire from the left.
"Instantly he ordered his men to wheel and charge upon the foe, who werenow in the edge of the woods. His troops obeyed, behaving like veterans,and the enemy fell back; but presently rallied, and, showing themselvesdirectly in front of the Americans, opened upon them in a storm of grapeand canister from two six-pounders and some Congreve rockets.
"The Americans stood the storm for a few minutes, then fell back, brokeranks, and some of them fled in confusion.
"In the meantime Parker had been working his piece with good effect tillhis ammunition gave out. Lieutenant Jones, of the Hampton artillery,perceiving that to be the case, hurried to his assistance; but seeing anoverwhelming force of the enemy approaching, they--Parker's men--fellback to the Yorktown Pike.
"Jones, who had one cannon with him, found that his match had gone out,and rushing to a house near by he snatched a burning brand from thefire, hurried back, and hid himself in a hollow near a spring.
"The British supposed they had captured all the cannon, or that if anywere left they had been abandoned, and drawing near they presentlyfilled the lane; then Jones rose and discharged his piece with terribleeffect, many of the British were prostrated by the unexpected shot, andduring the confusion that followed Jones made good his retreat,attaching a horse to his cannon, and bearing it off with him.
"He hastened to the assistance of Pryor, but on drawing near his campsaw that it had fallen into the possession of the foe.
"Pryor had retreated in safety, after spiking his guns. He and hiscommand fought their way through the enemy's ranks with their guns, swamthe west branch of Hampton Creek, and, making a circuit in the enemy'srear, fled without losing a man or a musket.
"Jones had seen it all, and spiking his gun followed Pryor's men to thesame place.
"In the meantime Crutchfield had rallied his men, those who stillremained with him, on the flank of Servant's riflemen, and was againfighting vigorously.
"But presently a powerful flank movement of the foe showed him that hewas in danger of being out off from his line of retreat. He thenwithdrew in good order and escaped, though pursued for two miles by theenemy.
"That ended the battle, in which about thirty Americans and fifty of theBritish had fallen. Then presently followed the disgraceful scenes inHampton of which I have already told you as having brought lastinginfamy upon the name of Sir George Cockburn."
"I think he was worse than a savage!" exclaimed Lulu hotly.
"Certainly, far worse; and more brutal than some of the Indianchiefs--Brant, for instance," said Rosie, "or Tecumseh."
"I cannot see in what respect he was any better than a pirate," addedEvelyn, in a quiet tone.
"Nor can I," said Captain Raymond; "
so shameful were his atrocities thateven the most violent of his British partisans were constrained todenounce them."