The Battle of the Saintes begins

On this day in history, April 9, 1782, the Battle of the Saintes begins, a battle in which the same French fleet that helped defeat the British at Yorktown was defeated by another British fleet. Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, had brought 3,000 troops to Yorktown and prevented a British fleet from landing with reinforcements.

After this victory, de Grasse sailed for the Caribbean and helped capture several British islands, leaving the British in possession of only Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. Spain and France together then developed a plan to capture Jamaica. On April 7, Admiral de Grasse left Martinique with 35 war ships and over 100 merchant ships bound for France. They were to meet a Spanish fleet with 15,000 soldiers and together they would invade Jamaica.

British Admiral, Sir George Rodney immediately followed with 36 war ships. On April 9, de Grasse saw the British fleet and sent the merchant ships into Guadeloupe, just as the British fleet was reaching the tail of de Grasse’s near the Islands of the Saintes, a small chain just south of Guadeloupe. Several British ships were badly damaged and the fleet pulled away to repair and regroup.

On the 11th, they proceeded and the epic battle began on the morning of the 12th. A fleet of this size had tens of thousands of sailors and soldiers on board. None of the ships had less than 64 cannons. Many had 74, 80… up to 98 cannons! The massive flagship for Admiral de Grasse, the Ville de Paris, was a triple decker with 104 guns. A ship this size would have a few thousand soldiers and sailors on board.

Battle of the Saintes by Thomas Whitcombe, 1783

During the previous night, the French Zele had become disabled and began to straggle. Early in the morning, the British reached the Zele and began to bombard her, causing de Grasse to turn the fleet around to rescue her. This resulted in a line to line battle in which each side formed a single line of ships following the ship ahead of it. As the two lines passed each other, they fired on the other side continually.

Eventually, the winds shifted and it became difficult to see in the smoke from all the cannon fire. Several gaps opened in the French line and the British began to cross through the openings at 90-degree angles. This allowed the British to fire on the French ships, but the French ships were at the wrong angle to fire back. Several French ships were decimated during this maneuver. Both lines fell into disarray at this point and mini-battles took place all over the battlefield.

Some of the French ships were completely dismasted. Others sailed away. The Ville de Paris was surrounded. Admiral de Grasse fought until his last cannonball was used and forced to surrender. In all, 5 French ships were captured, with over 5,000 soldiers and sailors. 2,000 were injured or killed. Over 400 were killed and 700 wounded on the Ville de Paris alone. The powder magazine exploded on the captured Cesar, killing 400 French and 50 British sailors. In all, the British had 243 killed and over 800 wounded.

The massive Battle of the Saintes helped restore British morale after losing the Battle of Yorktown and decimated French hopes to take all of the West Indies. Admiral de Grasse was taken prisoner to London, but released on parole. Admiral Rodney was awarded a peerage for the victory and given an annual pension of 2,000 pounds!

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government."
George Washington (1796)

Captain Joshua Barney wins the Battle of Delaware Bay

On this day in history, April 8, 1782, Lieutenant Joshua Barney wins the Battle of Delaware Bay. Barney was only 23 years old in 1782 and had already been captured 5 times by the British, even once escaping from the notorious Old Mill Prison in Plymouth. Upon returning to America, he was given command of a small fleet of privateers which were to escort several merchant ships into the Delaware Bay.

Barney commanded the Hyder Ally, the most powerful of the ships, with 16 6-pound cannons (meaning they shot six-pound cannonballs). On April 7, low winds forced the fleet to drop its anchors just inside Cape May. During the night, the 32-gun HMS Quebec and the 24-fun HMS General Monk spotted the fleet and prepared to attack in the morning.

In the morning, the British were joined by the privateer Fair American for the attack. Around 10 am, the Americans noticed the British and Lieutenant Barney ordered the merchant ships up the bay. He ordered the Charming Sally and General Greene to follow close by the shoreline to prevent the heavier British ships from catching them.

The General Greene disobeyed and came to engage in the battle. The Charming Sally began up the bay, but soon grounded on a shoal and was abandoned and captured. Meanwhile, the Hyder Ally and the General Greene turned as if to flee, hoping to draw the British into a fight. The Fair American broke off to chase the General Greene, but soon grounded and was out of commission.

The General Monk chased the Hyder Ally and gunfire was exchanged. The General Monk’s crew had recently modified its 6-pound cannons to fire 9-pound balls, but when they shot them off the first time, the cannons ripped from their moorings and fell to the floor. In the confusion, several sailors were burned trying to right the cannons and the Hyder Ally came close enough to lash the two ships together. As soon as they were secured, Barney fired his cannons broadside into the General Monk, killing numerous sailors. The Hyder Ally’s crew hung from the riggings and fired down on the General Monk’s deck. In less than half an hour, the General Monk’s captain was injured and all but one of her officers dead and the ship was taken. More than 50 British sailors were dead or injured, while the Americans lost only 15. The last remaining ship, the HMS Quebec, fled when the General Monk was captured.

Joshua Barney was awarded command of the General Monk for his bravery and sent with dispatches for Ben Franklin in France. After the war, he became a privateer for the French Navy. Later, during the War of 1812, Barney was granted a letter-of-marque to operate a privateer against the British Navy. When the British blockaded the Chesapeake in 1814, Barney was given command of the Chesapeake Flotilla of small boats and barges to protect Baltimore and the capital. When the fleet was overrun, Barney sank the boats and took the cannons overland to join in the defense of Washington DC. The poorly prepared Americans quickly fled the capital, except for Barney and his men. They inflicted heavy damage on the approaching British before their final retreat, leaving the way open for the British to invade and destroy much of the city.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"It is the manners and spirit of a people, which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution." Thomas Jefferson (1787)

Jewish financier Haym Solomon is born

On this day in history, April 7, 1740, Jewish financier Haym Solomon is born. Solomon was a Portuguese Jew born in Poland. He traveled throughout Europe as a young man, learned to speak multiple languages and learned the trade of finance.

Solomon emigrated to America in the early 1770s and started a financial brokerage in New York City, where he acted as the middleman between merchants and their overseas trading partners, in much the same way a house is purchased by using an escrow agent today. In such a transaction, the money from the purchaser and the deed from the seller are given to the escrow agent who verifies that both are good and then delivers them to the appropriate party. Solomon performed a similar service for merchants who took the risk of dealing with overseas partners.

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, Solomon became a close friend of Alexander McDougall, one of the leading members of the Sons of Liberty in New York City, putting him squarely in the middle of the growing anti-British sentiment. When New York was invaded, Solomon was arrested for spying. He spent 18 months in squalid British prison facilities but was eventually released on the condition that he act as a translator for the hired Hessian troops working for the British.

Solomon agreed to this but used the position to arrange the escapes of American prisoners and to encourage as many Hessians as he could to switch sides. In 1778, Solomon was arrested again and sentenced to death, but this time he escaped, possibly with the help of McDougall and the Sons of Liberty.

He made his way to Philadelphia and re-established himself in business. He soon became the paymaster for French troops in America (meaning he acted as the agent of exchange between the French government and the Americans). While in Philadelphia, Solomon became a business associate of Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Continental Congress.

In 1781, with Congress out of money and the Continental Army about to break apart for lack of funds, Morris was appointed Superintendent of Finances for Congress. His job was to raise money and oversee the expenditures. Morris turned to Haym Solomon who acted as an agent for Congress by selling bonds to buyers and quickly raised $20,000. This money was then used to fund the Yorktown campaign which ended the war. Solomon continued in this role for several years and raised over $600,000 for Congress, keeping the government afloat and earning Solomon the title "Financier of the Revolution."

Although Solomon’s role has been somewhat exaggerated, he was nonetheless a critical person in keeping Congress in business during a pivotal period. He personally made loans to leading members of Congress at low rates of interest and never asked for money that was owed to him by Congress. Solomon continued successfully in business after the war, but by the time he died at the age of 45 in 1785, he left his family deeply in debt. His son tried to get Congress to pay the family money owed to Solomon but was never successful.

Solomon became active in the Jewish community in Philadelphia and became known nationally for defending Jews from the typical anti-Semitic slanders of the day. He also helped reverse a Pennsylvania law that forbade non-Christians from serving in public office. Solomon’s role in the Revolution has taken on an almost mythic status partly because he was one of the few Jews in America at the time and later American Jews placed particular focus on him in order to have a Jewish hero from the Revolution.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth."
Thomas Jefferson (1805)

Continental Navy loses the Battle of Block Island

On this day in history, April 6, 1776, the Continental Navy loses the Battle of Block Island, one of the first important naval engagements of the American Revolution. American naval commander, Commodore Esek Hopkins, had taken a fleet of ships to the Bahamas early in the year where they captured Nassau, a large supply of munitions and the Royal Governor, Montfort Browne. Hopkins sailed on the US Navy’s flagship, the Alfred, at the head of six other ships.

On the return voyage, the fleet sailed near Block Island, south of Newport, Rhode Island, the location of a large British fleet. On April 4 and 5, the Americans met and captured two British ships, the HMS Hawk and the HMS Bolton. The Americans then took some of their crews to man the captured ships.

Early on the morning of April 6, the fleet spotted the HMS Glasgow, captained by Tryingham Howe, several miles southeast of Block Island. The Glasgow was heading to Charleston, South Carolina with dispatches for another fleet that was intending to capture Charleston. When the Glasgow saw the fleet, it approached in the dark and hailed the USS Cabot, captained by Commodore Hopkins’ son, John. Just then, one of the sailors on the Cabot threw a grenade onto the deck of the Glasgow and a battle that would last for the next six hours ensued.

The 20 gun Glasgow was a small ship compared to other British ships, but she was still more powerful than the less well-armed American ships. In addition, the American ships were undermanned, having put crew on both of the captured ships. The American ships were also heavily weighed down with the spoils from Nassau and slow in the water, not to mention the fact that the Americans were tired after a long voyage and several days of bad weather.

The Battle of Block Island by Major Charles H. Waterhouse

Both the Cabot and the Alfred were soon disabled and began to drift. The USS Andrew Doria had a hard time coming to their aid because it had to avoid their unpredictable drifting. Continuous musket fire and cannon fire was exchanged between the ships, with all taking heavy damage. The fighting was so fierce that people on shore could hear the cannon fire and see the flashes on the horizon. By 6 am, the USS Providence and the USS Columbus had joined the fight and Captain Howe knew he had to break away. He broke for Newport, chased by the fleet, but Commodore Hopkins soon signaled a retreat. He couldn’t afford to meet the British fleet at Newport. In all, 10 American sailors were killed and 14 wounded, while only 1 British sailor was killed, with 3 wounded.

The Battle of Block Island was a PR disaster for the Continental Congress. It made the American Navy look weak. 9 ships together were not able to capture one British ship. Several of the American captains were accused of cowardice and ineptitude. Captain John Hazard of the Providence was charged with neglect of duty and fired. Captain Abraham Whipple of the USS Columbus was accused of cowardice and demanded a court-martial, which exonerated him.

Commodore Hopkins was censured for insubordination for going to the Bahamas in the first place (he was supposed to go to Virginia) and for delivering some of his captured cargo without orders. This was the beginning of a series of confrontations between Hopkins and Congress that led to his dismissal in 1778. British Captain Howe was awarded with command of the 32 gun HMS Thames for his actions in the battle.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"It is the manners and spirit of a people, which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution." Thomas Jefferson (1787)

Patriot rider William Dawes is born

On this day in history, April 6, 1745, Patriot rider William Dawes is born. He is known for being the "other" rider who rode with Paul Revere to warn the patriots that the British were coming. Dawes was born in Boston, the fifth generation of English immigrants who came early in the 1600s to America. He was a tanner by trade and was a member of the Old South Church in Boston.

Dawes married in 1768 during the height of tensions with Britain and was applauded for wearing a suit at the wedding which was made completely in America, instead of one made in Great Britain. He was involved in the militia prior to the Revolution, but was not as central a figure in the Boston patriot movement as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams or John Hancock. He was well-known enough, however, that when Dr. Joseph Warren learned of British plans to confiscate the patriots’ ammunition stores at Concord, one of the people he turned to was William Dawes.

Dr. Warren was the head of the patriot movement in Boston and had been aware for some weeks that the British were planning a major move. When he learned from his source inside British General Thomas Gage’s inner circle (thought to be Gage’s wife) that the action would take place on April 19, 1775, he acquired the services of Paul Revere and William Dawes to send a message to Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. Paul Revere was to cross the Charles River and ride west, while Dawes was to ride south across Boston Neck, the narrow isthmus connecting the island of Boston to the mainland.

Dawes’ first obstacle was getting past the British sentries on the very narrow Boston Neck. He had used his frequent travels out of Boston to befriend many of the British soldiers and it is believed he persuaded one of his "friends" to let him through. Dawes then rode through the towns of Roxbury, Brookline, Brighton, Cambridge and Menotomy. He did not warn others along the way as Revere did, probably because he did not know the local patriot leaders as well as Revere.

Dawes arrived in Lexington at 12:30 am on April 19, a half hour after Revere. After a short rest, the two rode west to Concord and met Dr. Samuel Prescott along the way. A British patrol spotted them and gave chase. The three broke up and Revere was captured. Prescott escaped to warn Concord of the oncoming British. Dawes was chased by two British soldiers into a local farm where he used a ruse to trick them into leaving. He yelled out, "We’ve got two of them! Surround them boys!" This tricked the soldiers into thinking there were more colonists waiting for them so they sped off. Dawes was then thrown from his horse, which ran off, and he walked back to Lexington.

Dawes joined the Siege of Boston and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. He received a contract to provide supplies for the Continental Army and served as a quartermaster for the army in Massachusetts, meaning he was responsible for procuring supplies.

Little is known about Dawes’ life after the Revolution. He had seven children and ran a grocery business. He died in 1799 at the age of 53. For more than 200 years it was believed that William Dawes was buried in the Dawes’ ancestral plot in the King’s Chapel Burial Ground in Boston, but in 2007, historian Al Maze discovered documents proving Dawes was originally buried with his first wife’s family in Boston’s Central Burying Ground and later moved to Forest Hills Cemetery.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“It was by one Union that we achieved our independence and liberties, and by it alone can they be maintained.”
James Monroe

Dr. John Warren, Continental Army surgeon dies

On this day in history, April 4, 1818, Dr. John Warren, Continental Army surgeon dies. Warren was the founder of Harvard Medical School and the younger brother of Boston patriot Dr. Joseph Warren. John Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts and attended Harvard College at the age of 14. He graduated in 1771 and went into practice with his older brother, Dr. Joseph Warren, as an apprentice and assistant. After his apprenticeship, John stepped out and opened his own practice in Salem.

Before the Revolution began, Warren joined the Roxbury militia under Colonel John Pickering. After the war broke out in Lexington, this regiment marched to Cambridge where Warren served in the military hospital. On June 17, the younger Warren worried about his brother Joseph as the cannon fire rang out from the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Once the battle was over, Joseph was missing and John set about asking everyone he could if they knew what had happened to him. At one point, John attempted to enter the battlefield at Charlestown. A British sentry would not let him pass into the area and stabbed him with his bayonet when John would not give up. He bore the scar for the rest of his life. It was several days before John learned for certain that Joseph was killed at the battle.

After this, John was appointed the senior surgeon in the Continental Army hospital at Cambridge. He was only 22 years old. When the British finally evacuated Boston the following year. John marched with General George Washington to New York to assist in the defenses there. During this period, Warren was heavily involved with small-pox inoculations of civilians and troops and became particularly known for success with this vaccination.

When the British overran Long Island and Manhattan, Warren traveled with the Continental Army in its retreat across New Jersey, staying with them through the Battles of Trenton and Princeton and through the winter of 1776-77. During this time, Warren honed his surgery skills. By July of 1777, the young Dr. Warren had been transferred back to Boston to oversee the military hospital there. Warren became known for his teaching skills at the hospital as he taught other surgeons. This eventually led to him teaching medicine at Harvard and the founding of Harvard Medical School.

Warren achieved several major accomplishments, such as performing the first abdominal surgery in America, teaching anatomy and surgery at Harvard for 30 years and founding the medical school in 1782. Dr. John Warren passed away on April 4, 1815 from heart and lung disease. His son, John Collins Warren, followed his father’s footsteps and became one of the most famed surgeons of the 1800s. He performed the first surgery using anesthesia in history, helped found Massachusetts General Hospital, was a president of the American Medical Association and served as Harvard’s first Dean of the Medical School.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society."
James Madison (1788)

Congress authorizes privateers to capture British ships

On this day in history, April 3, 1776, Congress authorizes privateering vessels to capture British ships during the American Revolution. Because of the heavy dependence on shipping in the 18th century, it was immediately necessary for Congress to create its own navy after the Revolution began. Congress created the Continental Navy in the fall of 1775. Several states created their own navies as well, but these small navies were no match for the gigantic British Royal Navy which had the largest naval force in the world.

To help in the fight against the British Navy, Congress and several states authorized privately owned merchant vessels to combat and capture British owned naval or merchant vessels. This practice was called "privateering" because the vessels were privately owned. Privateering was essentially the same as piracy, but privateers were not considered pirates by the authorizing nation. Privateering vessels would be outfitted with guns and cannons by their owners and could capture vessels flying an enemy flag.

Privateers were issued a "Letter of Marque and Reprisal" which authorized them to engage in privateering. After an enemy vessel was captured, the vessel was brought to an American port and presented to a judge who would look over the Letter and see that the capture had been handled according to the law. If all was well, the spoils captured on the ship were sold and the proceeds split between the ship’s owners and crew, with a small percentage going to the American government as well. The splitting of the spoils in such a capture made privateering quite lucrative, so lucrative in fact that sailors were much more likely to want to serve on a privateer than on a ship run by the Continental Navy.

The contribution of privateers during the American Revolution cannot be overestimated. While the Continental Navy had about 60 ships with 3,000 soldiers during the course of the war, there were two to three thousand privateers with more than 70,000 sailors aboard! Continental Navy vessels carried around 2,800 guns on board, while privateers carried more than 20,000 guns!

With this massive firepower, privateers captured over 3,000 British vessels during the war, while the Continental Navy captured around 200. In addition to the captured vessels and their cargoes, privateers captured more than 10,000 British sailors. Primary locations for privateering included Long Island Sound, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, the Caribbean and even British waters off the coasts of England and Ireland.

How lucrative was privateering? Some estimates put the spoils of American privateers during the Revolution at around $300 million dollars. Clearly, many fortunes were made from the practice. Britain estimated that 10% of all the cargoes it shipped to America were captured by the privateers, earning the privateers the honor of being one of the most influential forces giving America it’s victory in the Revolutionary War.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com   

Jack Manning

President General

2019 – 2021

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org

“The wise and the good never form the majority of any large society and it seldom happens that their measures are uniformly adopted…. [All that wise and good men can do is] to persevere in doing their duty to their country and leave the consequences to him who made men only; neither elated by success, however great, nor discouraged by disappointments however frequent or mortifying.”
John Jay