12:19 PM EDT on Wednesday, June 14, 2006

BY GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer

The news spread as quickly as a horse could gallop: a group of Rhode Island militiamen led by the Providence hatter, William Barton, had captured a British general on Aquidneck Island.

Within a week of the July 9, 1777, capture, Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene heard the news at his army camp in Smith's Clove, N.J. Greene and his 23-year-old wife, Caty, had reunited in New Jersey; she had left their two babies in Rhode Island with Greene's brother, Jacob, and had ridden a rickety coach to be with her husband. She lodged about 18 miles from Greene's camp at the elegant country house of Abraham Lott, a wealthy New York merchant who fled to his estate before the British invasion. You may learn musick and French, too, there, Greene told Caty while enticing her to move in with the Lotts.

Col. [William] Livingston has doubtless informd you of Lt Col Bartons noble exploit in captivating Major General Prescot, one of the boldest attempts of the War, Greene wrote from camp to his wife.

Now that they had Gen. Richard Prescott, the Americans had a bargaining chip to win the release of their most highly ranked prisoner of war, the eccentric Gen. Charles Lee.

During his time as a British captive, Lee proved to be a most accommodating guest. After some tussling over his treatment -- and a stay aboard the prison ship Centurion -- the British eventually treated Lee well. He had three rooms in New York's City Hall, an Italian servant and some of his dogs. Over dinner with British officers Lee offered a critique of their campaign so far, observing that they'd nearly had Washington bagged at White Plains. Lee crossed the line from observer to traitor when he advised the Howe brothers, Gen. William Howe and Adm. Richard Howe, on the best way to defeat Washington's troops: "unhinge or dissolve" the Continental Congress, and within two months "not a spark of this desolating war" would burn "unextinguished in any part of this continent."

To dissolve the Congress, the Howe brothers would have to attack Philadelphia. Lee gave them explicit instructions on the best way to do this, right down to the required troop strength -- 14,000 men -- "to clear the Jersies" on a path to the capital city.

Whether the Howe brothers acted on Lee's advice is debatable, but late in the summer of 1777 they did embark 18,000 troops on 260 ships for an amphibious assault of Philadelphia.

Welcoming Lafayette

His full name is a mouthful: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette for short.

He sailed to this country from France, arriving in June 1777, a teenage nobleman with romantic ideals of revolution and revenge. His father, a colonel of the French grenadiers, had been killed fighting the British. His mother had died when he was 13; his grandfather died a few weeks later, leaving him a wealthy orphan. At 16 he married a woman as rich as himself.

When Lafayette arrived, Congress and the Army had had their fill of French noblemen seeking commissions as high-ranking officers. But Lafayette was different. Though he spoke almost no English, his sincerity and affability made a good impression on Gen. George Washington. In recommending Lafayette for a congressional commission, Washington called him "sensible, discrete in his manners" and noted he had "made great proficiency in our language."

For his part, Greene found Lafayette a most sweet temperd young gentleman.

The trio of Washington, Greene and Lafayette -- accompanied by "a large body of horse [cavalry]" -- split off from Greene's division on Aug. 26, 1777, in order to spy on the British coming ashore at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. They rode within a few miles of General Howe's troops, peering down from Grey's Hill, Md., at the soldiers disembarking from longboats. A storm drove the little party into a farmhouse owned by a family loyal to the British crown. The three spent an uneasy night there, fearing that a tip to Howe on the location of three high-ranking officers might lead to their capture. But at dawn the next day they rode off unmolested to join the main part of the Army at Wilmington, Del., where Washington steeled himself to meet the British head-on when they marched toward Philadelphia.

Strategically, Philadelphia was not that important to the defense of the United States; symbolically, defense of that city was critical.

Philadelphia was, in 1777, America's biggest city, with 30,000 people; it was also the most prosperous. Here the Continental Congress met in the State House, a two-story bulding of red brick capped with a bell tower. Rhode Island delegate Stephen Hopkins, for whom the town of Hopkinton was named, counted 70 farm carts loaded with produce for sale on market day.

There is great affection paid to this city, Greene wrote to Gen. James Varnum, his former commander in the Kentish Guards. It is true it is one of the finest upon the continent, but in my opinion is an object of far less importance than the North River. . . . [B]ut the cry was so great for the salvation of Philadelphia that the General was prevailed to leave Coryell's Ferry contrary to his judgment, and march down to the city, and I expect to have our labour for our pains.

When 13,000 British troops began their march toward Philadelphia on Sept. 8, an understandable panic spread:

Here are some of the most distressing scenes immaginable, Greene wrote to his wife from a camp on the Brandywine Creek. The Inhabitants generally desert their houses, furniture moveing, Cattle driving and women and children traveling off on foot. The country all resounds with the cries of the people. . . .

I am exceedingly fatigued. I was on Horse back for upwards of thirty hours and never closd my Eyes for near forty. Last night I was in hopes of a good nights rest, but a dusty bed gave me Astma and I had very little sleep the whole night, but little as it was I feel finely refreshd this morning.

In that same letter of Sept. 10, Greene told Caty, A general action must take place in a few days. His timing was off; the action ensued the next day with the Battle of Brandywine, one of the biggest battles in the eight years of the American Revolution.

gcarbone@projo.com / (401) 277-7434

A continuing series.