CHAPTER XIV

CIVIL WAR BETWEEN WHIGS AND TORIES

(1777-1780)

'HE character of the war was not long in chang

THE

ing after the mission of conciliation proved in vain. The autumn of 1778 witnessed the plundering of Martha's Vineyard, while New Bedford and Fair Haven were burned because they were the "nests of American privateers." The coast of New Jersey was harried in like manner, and small bodies of American troops surprised in out-of-the-way posts were given no quarter.' The new mode of warfare was made no more palatable to the patriots by the report that it was largely the work of Tory refugees, now beginning to take an active part against their countrymen.

By the natural course of events the relations of the loyalists and patriots became greatly embittered. The early attacks upon loyalists increased in severity, until those who did not conceal their sympathies were obliged to flee to the British lines or to foreign lands.

1 Governor Livingston's summary, in Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 21; Acts of New Jersey (1775-1783), 83; Journals of Congress, February 27, 1778; N. J. Archives, 2d series, I., 451., H., passim.

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Still there were left great numbers who had no good will for the patriot cause. Their fellow - loyalists who had fled to the British army well understood their plight, and constantly urged the British commanders to send skeleton regiments into the regions where loyalty was strongest,' giving assurance that many of their brethren would at once flock to the king's standard. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland were regarded as especially promising fields for such recruiting. This advice was usually neglected, and loyalist aid was scorned as of no value. The British officers and soldiers felt a cold tolerance for the loyalists, and never gave them a warm and sincere reception. Loyal as well as rebellious colonists were "our colonists," not equals. The Whigs, however, were well aware of this danger in their midst. The menace of a "Tory insurrection" frequently prevented the local militia coming to the aid of the regular army. Nevertheless, there were but few instances of local uprisings, and such as there were gave little aid to the British military plans.

The refugee loyalists, however, began early to take a part in the struggle by joining the British army. Active leaders with commissions from the crown organized companies of exiled or outlawed loyalists. Such were the regiments raised by Allan McLean and Guy Johnson in New York,2 and that company of fugitives, led by Sir John Johnson, 1 Stevens, Facsimiles, No. 2097. Flick, Loyalism in New York, 101.

which hung on the Canadian frontier, until with another company, known as Butler's "Tory Rangers," they came with St. Leger to aid Burgoyne's invasion by the capture of Fort Stanwix. When they were routed and sent back over the Canadian line, it was only to return and become the terror of the New York frontier.

In company with their Indian allies they entered, in the summer of 1778, into the Wyoming Valley, where dwelt some settlers from Connecticut in territory the ownership of which was disputed by Pennsylvania. No aid was likely to come from that state, and the settlement lay temptingly exposed to the ravages of the partisan bands. They swept through the valley (July 1 to 4), leaving such a scene of desolation and murder that it seems to-day the surpassing horror of the Revolution.1

Late in the fall (November 11) Butler and Brandt, his Indian ally, repeated the terrors of the Wyoming expedition by burning the village of Cherry Valley,' in central New York, and murdering about fifty of the inhabitants. At last Congress was aroused to send them succor. General Sullivan entered the ravaged territory and defeated the Tory forces at Newtown (August 29, 1779), checking them for a time, though they returned and con

1 Pa. Archives, VI., 626, 634, 647, 664.

'Clinton, Papers, IV., 266-300.

'Sullivan's official report, in Cook, Sullivan's Indian Expedition, 296.