Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1862-03-20
From the Richmond wbIr


veiy similar to that In which we are engaged in e.
ripin we'll as its incidents S
he of the Revolution was one in which tba j.;
paliy of the conending powers was far greater thar =.
preset. The British had every advantage that nm
bes, expe in warfare and unlimited resourcoa
could give them. The colonists in awe of the %
perior skill and force of their enemies. They were 81
most without artillery their small arms were Of the MOI
ind # rent description, and insufficient for their roo
Their armies badly clad and badly provided WIN
stores. They were enlisted for very short terms and
therefore badly disciplined and drilled The people If
every colony were more or less divided in opinion as r.
the rightfuness of the contest and some, New YorL
furnished as many troops to one side as the other
The course of the contest sufficient to have dis
couraged any but the most resolute natures
The British had taken months for the most elaborate
preparations to subdue the colonies. hey were on
pre- me by Gen. Washington bad concentrated his
forces at New York. He had u coo men. The enemu
had 1000. He undertook to defend Long Island upon
which be erected defences and stationed troops Tbs
British loaded troops turned his left flank routed hi;
army, ard captured 1000 men. The remainder wero
fortunate enough to escape to the mainland.
| The American army was then, in great part with
drawn from the city, but such the terror insnrod
by the superior military skill attributed to the British
that the force stationed for the defence of water hat
terry fed from the bombardment of the enemy and two
brigades sent to their aid infected with manic
that they rereated without firing gun or seeing the
enemy and in spite of the circumstances of Gen. Wash
| iOgon and their own officers.
|
of artillery, much of army stores, provisions
tents &C.
The American army behaved better at White Plains
But it pursued by other disasters. Fort Washing
ton-rather against the advice of Gen. Washington
defended. The garrison made gallant defense
killing several hundred Hessians; but the British ad
vaDced in three columns and drove the garrison within
the fort, where it surrendered The British captured
two thousand five hundred men, with military stores
and Strong position. This was considered the great
est calamity of the Fort Lee fell next-the troops
withdrawn, but all the armament and supplies in
GLIDING three hundred tents, fell into the hands of the
enemy.
The effect of these blows falling with such weight
and rapdy, intense he historian says the troops
quilted the army by regiments, half regiments and
companies" Gen. Washington crossed into the Jer.
seys, into which be was followed by victorious enemy
He then headed an army of only three thousand men
besides some detachments under Lee and Others
New Jersey yielded without resistance, and no enc
who looked on the ragged handful of Americans as
they retreaed before the superior force of the dscpn.
ed and well appointed army which pursued them, could
doubt that the contest approached its termination"
1t is unnecessary to follow the narrative of reverses
which ought to be read by every one and published for
the inspection of the people.
Washington, undismayed turned in his celebrated
night march across the Delaware, captured 1000 men,
with arms and stores and returned in safety But moth
ing else occurred for months to break the current OF
British successes Their army embarked in the next
campaign and for weeks Washington was ignorant OF
their destination. To avoid the forts which he had
erected on the Delaware, they had assembled the Ohesa
peake ID march overland upon Philadelphia. Wash
in ton, who had again recruited his temporary army
resisted their advance at Brandywine Here leaving
force to threaten the fords in 'front.' the enemy made
" detour and turned our right flank" The Americans
after short resistance withdrew. Washington made
yet another stand to Philadelphia but violent
rain so completely drenched his men that their whole
stock of ammunition rendered unfit for use" and
the army compelled to fall back 1t is stated that
at this time there scarcely guns of the same
calibre in the army. One regiment reviewed ninety
muskets and seven bayonets.
Our night attack on Germantown was failure. and
the enemy held Philade phia without further moesta
ton. Their next object was to open the Delaware
Washington wished to preserve bis forts We strength
ened and threw men into them. The enemy were re-
pulsed in land attack on one of them Then they
brought their ships to BEAR and sheled" the forts un
til they logger tenabe, and were abandoned
Washington seemed afterwards to have resisted
the British the water- weexcept the surrender of
CORVALLIS. The British supreme on that element
In his own words To protect the coast from an enc
my entirely in possession of the is impracticabe"
But Washington never disbanded his army, and his
victories chiefly in the Interior where the enemy
was compelled to pursue him their theory of subu-
cation.
We look with apprehension upon the numerous ex.
petitions of the enemy How it with the invasion
f of our ancestors. A large British army held New
York and the Jerseys Another lay unmolested at
' Philadelphia. An expedition, under Burgoyne, came
IN from Canada. To the CONSERVATION of ALL Tcon-
desoga-reported impregnabe-fel its capture due in
great part to the shipping which accompanied Bur-
goyne Our stores and artillery fell into the hands of
the enemy. Another expedition advanced from the
Canadian border. 1t was composed of loyalst Cana
diaus, with large force of Indians Yet Burgoyne
was captured with his army when he penetrated the
centre OF New York, and the Indian expedition
to naught.
We shall not at present take up the Southern cam
paign, to show Virginia invaded her capitol occupied
by the enemy, aud Carolina and Georgia incapable of
resistance. We only remind our readers that in the
of the war, New York and Philadelphia fell into
the hands OF the enemy, that Norfolk burned and
s Charleston and Savannah captured
If it within limits to describe the condition
Of the army and country at that PERIOD readers
would be astonished at the picture.
: The Confederate Treasury without money or
credit The troops without arms, ammunition clothes
The people without accumulated wealth current sup
plies OF the most necessary character The country
divided in opinion The temptations of safety and
comfort were held out to the timid and mercenary-
Threats of death and confscasion published against
: those who persisted.
Yet the approval of Providence the resolute and on
yielding resistance Of the people, and mode of warfare
appropriate to the emergency, bore ancestors tr
umphanty out OF the most unequal and terrible strife
When we review the present of country
the many advantages which possess, the infinitely
greater difference between submitting the hereditary
rule OF distant government and the domination of pres
ent abotonlsts ignorant and vicious aliens and the
cumulaed abominaton which Northern wickedness will
pour upon us-when know that subiugation implies
the confscaton of our property with the deliberate
tlrpaton of everything OF which Vrgnian is proud
and the substitution OF all he has been taught to apprehend
and abhor-we see that while cause is far more hope
uI than that OF ancestors we have thousand fold
more motives to resist our Infamous invader to