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Revolutionary War Historical Article
The American Revolution Month-by-Month November 1779
By Compatriot Andrew "Andy" Stough
Editor's Note: This article was reprinted by Permission of the Gold Country Chapter No. 7 of the CSSAR and was slightly edited by the Sons of Liberty Chapter of the CSSAR
In October, British General Prevost had commanded two forces; those defending Savannah and the unit holding Port Royal. With the Royal Navy busy elsewhere and the two British garrisons miles apart, American General Benjamin Lincoln and his staff felt the time was ripe for an attack on Savannah. Their reasoning was that if Admiral D'Estaing could be persuaded to support the Americans that it would require no more than 10 days to defeat Prevost. If Savannah were regained d'Estaing could bring his naval and ground forces to assist Washington in an assault on New York City. It was 4 years and 7 months since that day in 1775 at Lexington and Concord when the first shot had been fired in what would become the American War for Independence. The nation was "war weary", especially so since the loss of the siege at Savannah. John Paul Jones' victory and the expedition against the Indians were the only bright spots in what had become a dreary year even for the Tories, who if anyone, had a reason to rejoice at the fortunes of war. Winter approached and Washington had badly needed a victory at one or both places to encourage both the army and civilian population to look forward to a better year in 1780.
On the books, British Commander-in-Chief General Sir Henry Clinton had a victory at Savannah, inasmuch as General Prevost had not lost the siege. Still there was no clear cut victory, nothing decisive. General Benjamin Lincoln had not been driven away, he simply had picked up and gone home. In the North, British General Clinton was suffering from the constant drain on his resources. What resources he had were divided, neither New York nor Newport had the assured capability of successfully resisting a possible attack by General Washington. Additionally, both were too far apart to support the other. Washington desperately wanted to retake New York. He even considered attempting the assault without naval support. Clinton must have read Washington's mind or had intelligence through Tories that Washington planned a move against him. By withdrawing all naval and ground forces from Newport, Rhode Island, to New York he bolstered his troop strength in New York City to a point where he could reasonably expect to be capable of withstanding such an assault.
After the long siege at Savannah, General Lincoln returned his army to Charleston leaving Savannah and Port Royal safely in Prevost’s hands. The northward movement of Admiral Byron's West Indies fleet caused d 'Estaing to withdraw from the Georgia coast, splitting his fleet. He sent some ships to the West Indies while he set sail for France with the remainder. The defeat of Lincoln and the dual liability of d’Estaing's departure along with the arrival of Admiral Byron in the area dashed any hope that an American offensive against New York could succeed. Reluctantly, Washington gave up plans for an offensive in the North and proceeded to move toward winter camp at Morristown.
The winter of 1778-79 had been unusually mild and gave no hint as to what was to come. The winter of 1779-1780 would abound with problems for the northern army. Not only would the winter be unusually severe ( New York harbor froze over) but quarters were not available to protect the men from the cold. Nor was there adequate food, clothing or even blankets on hand, nor the hard cash to purchase these items locally. The result was poor morale, frost bite, sickness and death, and some mutinous actions.
Disposition of the Patriot Armies for the winter was made by Washington in the North and Lincoln in the South. The main army under Washington went to Morristown. A lesser force was assigned to Danbury, Connecticut, for the winter. They were to protect the area from sea borne ground forces as had previously occurred at New Haven and other coastal towns. A third force remained to protect West Point and the river passage while General Lincoln remained in Charleston with his army.
Let us now return to Holland where Commodore Paul Jones is still trying to repair Serapis despite the refusal of Dutch ship’s carpenters to work due to the cold and stormy weather off the North Sea during the early part of November.
Having previously spoken of Captain Conyngham and his capture and incarceration as a pirate he again enters our story. Jones had been holding Captain Pearson of Serapis as an exchange for Captain Coyngham, however this became a moot subject as sometime in October Coyngham had "dug his way out" of Mill Prison in England. He arrived in Holland in November and Jones, jubilant at his escape put him aboard Alliance to serve temporarily during Landais' absence in Paris or until another command could be found for him.
Britain constantly pressured the Netherlands to return Serapis and Countess to England and to force Jones to sea. In response, the Netherlands pressured Jones to leave Texel. To avoid any British claim to any of the ships, the French government placed all ships in Jones' Squadron except Alliance under French responsibility and it’s flag. Left without a ship, Jones transferred to Alliance, along with his personal belongings and some equipment from Serapis. Jones left Serapis reluctantly; it was the fastest and most responsive ship that he had sailed in. It was of a new design and fresh from the builder who had installed what at that time was a newly discovered, anti-barnacle bottom, created by sheathing her from the water line down with copper.
Jones transferred his crew along with him thus creating a double crew on Alliance. Captain Landais had been as sloppy in his ship’s administration as he had been insolent to the Commodore. He left Alliance a "pig pen" under officers who were no more responsible than Landais. The crew had grown accustomed to the filth and many were sick from the unsanitary conditions. Jones immediately set about to bring about the spit and polish routine that was typical of ships under his command. It didn’t make the holdover officers happy to have a new captain, nor were they pleased with his methods. Jones found Alliance’s officers a drunken and surly lot who resisted taking orders from Jones or the officers brought over from Serapis. The problems with the crew while remaining in port was a bad omen for Alliance’s coming voyage.
On November 12th, Jones was instructed by the French Ambassador not to sail until further notice. Later the same day, the Netherlands government ordered him to sail as soon as he had favorable weather and on the 17th they voted to force Jones to put to sea. Finding the weather unfavorable and a British Squadron patrolling offshore, Jones bade his time. The people of Holland might consider Jones a hero and welcome to a haven at Texel, but their government found him a liability. Holland’s position as a neutral was profitable. The Dutch government was, at that time, unwilling to offend Britain for fear of losing their neutral status. To show their cooperation with Britain, the government decided on a show of force to push Jones out to sea. (Britain appears not to have minded the other ships remaining under a French flag in a neutral port. The only purpose of harassing the Netherlands government appears to have been "to get Jones." ) Alliance was then surrounded by a Dutch squadron in an attempt to coerce him into leaving Texel. Jones refused to leave until conditions were at least reasonable for a successful escape.
Serapis, Countess and Vengeance, now under the French flag, took their orders directly from the French ambassador. Jones, unhappy with the way things had gone so far, was even more disturbed when Vengeance in the company of two French cutters were chosen to transport 191 of his prisoners to England. Jones had intended an exchange of English prisoners captured on September 23rd for American seamen. He was even more deeply disturbed when he learned that the exchange had been made for French prisoners instead of Americans.
November neared a close but not before Congress' decision to stop printing paper money was implemented. On November 29th the presses finally stopped after a last printing of 10 million more Continental dollars. The total dollars printed since the first printing order had been given in 1775 had now reached 242 million.
References: Arthur Meier Schlesinger's"The Almanac of American History"; Christopher Ward's "The War of the Revolution"; Encyclopedia Britannica "The Revolutionary Years";Samuel Elliott Morison's "John Paul Jones".
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