The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1876-02-17
JANUARY, lz7O.
Its Resemblance 10 January of
this Year---Ihe Opening Of the
Revolutionary Campaign.

month oil this centennial year close
ly resemblod that of 177G. The jour
nails of that year speak of the unusu-
al mildness of the season. 1t was
even said that the lack of the usual
ice in Boston harbor prevented Gen.
Washington from crossing his forces
and attempting Il surprise Of the city,
and the Americans were enabled to
send forth vessels from all parts of
the harbor to the West Indies for
munitions of war. The mild season
enabled Gen. Schuyler, in these first
days of January, to dispatch his we'll
planned little expedition up the Mo
hawk valley to surprise the High
landers, under johnson. This officer,
one of the ablest in our history, was
then exceedingly popular, but a
combination Of unlucky circumstan-
ces and of sectional prejudice depri-
we'd him subsequently of the glory,
which yas.entirely his, of the first
; great victory of the war.
The first of January, 1776, had
been signalized by the barbarous
burning of an old historic colonial
town, Norfolk, in Virginia, by Lord
Dunmore. This had only intensified
the bitterness of the feelings of the
citizens against the British govern
mont. All parts of the country were
in much the same state of feeling to-
ward the royal administration which
the border States were in here toward
the central government in 1861. Ma
ny of the conservative and the loyal
dreaded to break the old ties with
the parent country, The interests of
law and order seemed to many on
the side of the crown. The senti-
ments, from long tradition and from
family and historical connection with
the old country, bound them to the
royal party, Families like the De
lanceys and the Phillipses, in New
York State, the latter of whom own
ed land almost from Yonkers to the
Highlands, feared to risk their large
property interests in a rebellion
which seemed to have no chance of
success. In New York city many of
the wealthy families stood by the
crown; Queens county remained 10y
al; the Old Dutch families around the
city were often averse to joining the
revolutionary movement of the men
of New England. Even in New
England, itself, one town, Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, refused to join the
popular movement, and set upa gov
eminent .of its own. 1t looked at
one time as if the future Of the re-
public, which should declare itself
Independent of Great Britain, would
consist of New England; and Frank
lin even had the courage to write
that, if New England formed a sep
arate confederation against the crown
he would throw in his fortunes with
her. New York, during this first
winter of the century, remained ina
condition of scmi-neutrality, the
British ships lying in the harbor
without molosting the city, and the
Americans sending out, unimpeded
their small craft to obtain supplies
from the West Indies.
The more revolutionary spirits Of
New England were indignant at this
apathy, and Lee with one of his rat
tle-brained expeditions from Con-
necticut to New York city, came
very near exposing the town to the
horrors of battle. The his toric
names of the State begin already to
appear on the side of the most deter
mined rcyolutionists-tho Jays, Liv-
ingstons, Van Renselaers, Schuylers,
Hamiltons, and others; and as a gen
eral thing those with the largest in
terost in the country were found rea-
dy to risk the most,
1t was in these January days that
the letters of the time relate the in
cident of a farce played by the Brit
ish officers in Boston, called "Forcc-
ing the Blockade" wherein Wash
ington was pictured in very ludic-
rous garb, but which was suddenly
iuterruptcdby the hurried announce
ment by the sergeant that the
"Robels were certifying the hills ar
ound the city" This was supposed
by the audience to be u wcll.acted
part of the farce, and it was only the