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EXCITEMENT IN THE CHESAPEAKE. 383
into Virginia, and await the orders of Lord Cornwallis. Leslie entered the
Chesapeake and took possession of Norfolk and Portsmouth; the latter he
fortified very strongly, as the basis of his future operations. The sudden
appearance of this large force in the Chesapeake created intense excitement
both in Virginia and Maryland. In Virginia, the militia had been called out,
and such preparations for defense as time and circumstances permitted. The
British general " after making every preparation for establishing a permanent
post at Portsmouth, by fortifying the place strongly, had suddenly drawn in
his advanced parties, evacuated the town, embarked his troops, and fallen
down to Hampton Roads," where he still lay when Greene reached Richmond. x
He immediately waited upon Governor Jefferson, laid before him the object
of his mission, and urged his assistance in keeping the enemy at a distance.
There was an abundance of provisions and forage in the State, but as all the
continental wagons and teams had been captured in the disaster at Camden,
there was no means of transporting it to the army. Governor Jefferson had
been endeavoring for more than three weeks to collect a hundred wagons to
send supplies to the army, and although with full powers of impressment, he
could collect " but fifteen or eighteen."
General Greene, finding that it would be impossible without transportation, to effect anything in his department, and that he must rely upon the
States north of Virginia, addressed letters to Generals Washington and Gist,
and Colonels Pickering and Matlock, upon the subject. In his letter to
General Gist he writes: " I must beg the State of Maryland will speedily
comply with my requisition, particularly as to the wagons and the horses for
Lee's legion. As soon as you get wagons, forward all the stores from Baltimore. The horse furniture is exceedingly wxanted, as cavalry must be our
greatest security till we can form a more respectable body of infantry." To
Colonel Timothy Matlock, the chairman of the committee appointed by congress to procure clothing for the southern army, he writes:
" I am now fully convinced that the southern army will be entirely without clothing
unless you draw bills upon Prance and provide for us in the way I proposed. ... It
may be disagreeable to draw on France, but it is better to do this than to let the army go
to ruin. The distress and suffering of the southern army on account of provision is sufficient to render the service so disagreeable as to make it impossible to keep men in the
field; but when they are starved with cold as well as hunger, the whole army must
become deserters or patients in the hospitals; both policy and humanity call loudly for
supplies of clothing. The people of this State and Maryland say they are willing to do
all in their power to provide clothing, be the consequences what they may, and I wish
that their abilities to supply the army may not be overrated."
A few weeks later, summing up his observations in a letter to his friend,
President Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, he says :
1 Greene's Life of Greene, iii., p. 54.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000420 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | EXCITEMENT IN THE CHESAPEAKE. 383 into Virginia, and await the orders of Lord Cornwallis. Leslie entered the Chesapeake and took possession of Norfolk and Portsmouth; the latter he fortified very strongly, as the basis of his future operations. The sudden appearance of this large force in the Chesapeake created intense excitement both in Virginia and Maryland. In Virginia, the militia had been called out, and such preparations for defense as time and circumstances permitted. The British general " after making every preparation for establishing a permanent post at Portsmouth, by fortifying the place strongly, had suddenly drawn in his advanced parties, evacuated the town, embarked his troops, and fallen down to Hampton Roads," where he still lay when Greene reached Richmond. x He immediately waited upon Governor Jefferson, laid before him the object of his mission, and urged his assistance in keeping the enemy at a distance. There was an abundance of provisions and forage in the State, but as all the continental wagons and teams had been captured in the disaster at Camden, there was no means of transporting it to the army. Governor Jefferson had been endeavoring for more than three weeks to collect a hundred wagons to send supplies to the army, and although with full powers of impressment, he could collect " but fifteen or eighteen." General Greene, finding that it would be impossible without transportation, to effect anything in his department, and that he must rely upon the States north of Virginia, addressed letters to Generals Washington and Gist, and Colonels Pickering and Matlock, upon the subject. In his letter to General Gist he writes: " I must beg the State of Maryland will speedily comply with my requisition, particularly as to the wagons and the horses for Lee's legion. As soon as you get wagons, forward all the stores from Baltimore. The horse furniture is exceedingly wxanted, as cavalry must be our greatest security till we can form a more respectable body of infantry." To Colonel Timothy Matlock, the chairman of the committee appointed by congress to procure clothing for the southern army, he writes: " I am now fully convinced that the southern army will be entirely without clothing unless you draw bills upon Prance and provide for us in the way I proposed. ... It may be disagreeable to draw on France, but it is better to do this than to let the army go to ruin. The distress and suffering of the southern army on account of provision is sufficient to render the service so disagreeable as to make it impossible to keep men in the field; but when they are starved with cold as well as hunger, the whole army must become deserters or patients in the hospitals; both policy and humanity call loudly for supplies of clothing. The people of this State and Maryland say they are willing to do all in their power to provide clothing, be the consequences what they may, and I wish that their abilities to supply the army may not be overrated." A few weeks later, summing up his observations in a letter to his friend, President Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, he says : 1 Greene's Life of Greene, iii., p. 54. |
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