Radio Script #339
Little Talks On Common Things
May 26, 1957
Watervi lie has a right to be proud of its foremost Revolutionary soldier, and I promised to tel I you tonight about that man who served longer in the Revolutionary armies than any other man who ever settled in Central Maine.
Two weeks ago I told you about Asa Redington’s boyhood, the tragic death of his fa~her, his separation from his brothers and sisters, his hard lot as a bound-out boy, and his later achievements and financial success after he came to the Kennebec Valley and made himself a leading citizen of \~atervi lie. I told you that he enlisted in June, 1778. Let’s pick him up from that date and follow him through his three enlistments in the armies of the Revolution.
As I am sure most of you know, the Continental troops that fought the Revolution were not organized into a coordinated force, as was the Army of the United States, which augmented the regular U. S. Army in the Second World War.
The troops were made up of local mi litia companies, usually recruited by local leaders like Ethan AI len and Jonathan Stark, then later grouped under a commander who had more or less authority over several regiments. In the beginning that was true of the soldiers under Washington’s immediate command; but after the dri II and maneuver tactics instituted by Baron Steuben, ~/ashin9ton had by 1778 a sma I I army under his direct personal command, which came nearer being trained soldiers than simple, untrained yeomen. But that wasn’t the kind of regiment that Asa Redington first joined. He became a member of Colonel Peabody’s New Hampshire regiment with an enlistment of only six months. That regiment, along with many others from various parts of New England, was hastily recruited for the express purpose of raising a force large enough to attempt to drive the British out of their strategic position On Rhode Island; and on August 1, 1778 Asa Redington found himself in Providence, a part of the continenta I army of Genera I Su II ivan.
Now, before we relate what Asa had to say in his memoirs about that Rhode Island campaign, let us see what a professional historian has told us about it, So that we may seT Asa’s intimate account against the record of history~ In the firsT place we must not confuse the Rhode Island of Asa Redington’s memoirs wiTh the present state of that name, but rather with the actual is I and wh i ch gave the state its name. I n Narragansett Bay, east of the ma in part of the present state of Rhode I s I and, there are three is lands, Prudence, Conanicut and Rhode, the latter being the largest and containing the wei ,known city of Newport which in colonial times was the largest town in the province and one of the principal seaports of the North Atlantic coast. It was that big island which the British held in the summer of 1778, with their headquarters at Newport. PrOVidence, on the mainland, was in colonial hands. Now let us see what the noted historian John Fiske says about that campaign for Rhode I sland in which Asa Redington took part in that summer of 1778.
Fiske says: “In December, 1776 the island which gives its name to the state of Rhode Island, had been seized by Lord Percy and had ever since been occupied by the British. From its commanding position at the entrance to Long Island Sound, it threatened the Connecticut coast and stood as the constant threat of a source of overland attack upon Boston. To rout this British post the New England mi litia mustered in force, Massachusetts sending a strong contingent under John Hancock. General Sui livan took command at Providence in Apri I. Washington sent 1,500 of his trained continental troops under General Greene, who had been born nearby and knew every inch of the region. The New England yeomanry soon swel led this initial force to 9,000, and with the 4,000 French regu I ars and Esti ang r S fleet, vi ctory seemed certa in. !!
At some lengTh Fiske explains why the campaign fai led, and why the colonial troops rather than the British were driven from the region. He says that the French landed on Conanicut~ another of the three islands, planning to cross to the north of Newport on Rhode Is land, whi Ie General Sui I ivan landed to the east.
Seeing that the British had abandoned the commanding position on Butts Hi I I ~ in order to strengthen Newport itself, Sui livan, without waiting for the French,h astened across the channel and occupied the undefended hi II, at the same time notifying Estiang, the French commander, about what he was doing. The Frenchman was offended by what he cons i dered S u II ivan’s undue haste and breach of agreement. The next day Lord Howe, the British admiral, appeared off Block Island with 13 sh ips. of the line and seven fri gates. Esti ang at once remembe red his troops and put out to sea to engage Howe. A terrific storm arose, and instead of tryi ng to destroy each other, both fleets had to bend every effort to save themselves.
When Estiang brought his crippled ships into harbor, he insisted on taking them on to Boston for repairs and taking his 4,000 French soldiers with him. The Americans pointed out that there were both workmen and materials ri ght at hand to make the repa i rs, and that even i f they had to be made in 30ston, there was no reason for the Frenchman to take along the 4,000 soldiers, so badly needed right where they were. But Estiang was too peeved at General Su II i van to listen to reason. So on August 23 he left the Ameri can genera lin the lurch.
Then, to complicate matters, came insubordination among the colonial volunteers. Some 3,000 of them, despairing of an early finish to the campaign to capture Newport, and especially impatient at being kept from home at harvest time, marched away in disgust, thus reducing Sullivan’s army to the same size as the enemy’s and leaving him in no position to launch a bloody attack on a strongly fortified position.
On the scene at Rhode Island, on Butts Hil I, now held by the Americans, was The gallant Frenchman, Lafayette. After Estiang’s departure, Lafayette mounted his horse and rode the 70 mi les to Boston in seven hours, to beg his kinsman Estiang to return as soon as possible. So contagious was Lafayette’s enthusiasm and so persuasive his plea that Estiang agreed to bring his troops back by land. Fired with this fresh hope, Lafayette spurred back the way he had come, but when he arrived on the scene, all was over.
After the Americans had retired to their lines on Butts Hi II, the British “tried to carry the position by sTorm. The fight resembled that at Bunker Hi II, except that this time the American powder did not give out and the British were beaten back. The next day Sui livan received a dispatch from Washington with “the news that Clinton, the British commander, had started from New York with 5,000 men, to re i nforce the Bri ti sh at Newport. There was noth in 9 for S u II ivan to do but abandonf the island. AI I the men and stores were ferried safely to the mainland. The next day Clinton and his 5,000 men arrived, and the siege of Newport was over.
That is the historical background against which we must view what Asa Redi ngton, many years afterward, wrote concerni ng his own reco Ilecti on of that siege of Newport. So let us now turn to that part of Asa’s memoirs which deals with that campaign. Asa wrote: “The regiment was quartered in Providence College, and there I took my first degree in the science of war. About the first of August we marched to attack the British on Rhode Island. crossed with the army on Howland’s ferry on to the island and encamped about four mi les from Newport, the stronghold of the enemy.
HThe French fleet, under Esti ang, set out to engage the Bri ti sh fleet. As those heavy ships of the line passed the enemy batteries at Newport, they fired broadside after broadside at the fortifications and into the town. The British kept up a constant return fire. There was a continuous roar of arti Ilery like heavy thunder for nearly half an hour. I witnessed nothing to its equal during the who Ie war.”
Asa’s account conti nues: tt I n a few days the Ameri cans opened the i r batteries against the town, and a cannonading was kept up by both parties for some days. But the French fleet fa i led to make the attack by water as agreed. In fact they had put into Boston for repai rs • Genera I Su II ivan, fi ndi ng he cou I d not carry the place, especially after the British threw reinforcements into Newport, made preparations to abandon the enterprise, and retreated by night to the upper end of the island. The next day a severe action took place, which ended by the enemy abandoning the field and retiring to a large eminenee called Yankee Hi II. I!
At thi s point the Redington memoir becomes definite Iy personal. fo..sa wrote:
“Soon after the battle ceased, my regiment was ordered to take post on the ground where the batt Ie was fought. Passi ng over the batt Ie ground, I saw the blood of the slain and wounded. I was posted as a sentinel at the corner of a farm house i nhab i ted by Quakers who had taken she Iter in the i r ce I I ar. About 11 P.M. they came out of hiding, made a fire and cooked their supper. They brought some of the food to me at my post, then they returned to the eel lar. observed that musket ba lis th i ck Iy perforated the wa lis of the house. Early the next morning, the British got their cannon to bear on us and opened a heavy fire. The shot fell thickly about us and did considerable execution. Lt. Dearborn of my company had his head carried away by a cannon ball and fel I dead at my feet. A young man, a messmate of mine named Hastings, had his leg carried away by one of those missiles of destruction. Orders were soon given for us to leave the ground and retire to the main body of our army. In doing this we had to ascend a long stretch of rising ground in plain view of the enemy batteries, whi ch poured a destructi ve fi re upon us unti I we passed over the high ground and descended into a va Iley.”
Then Asa Redington tells the experience of being again under direct enemy fire. He wrote: “Whi Ie we were marching up the ascending ground, a cannon bal I struck a few feet behind me and threw a column of earth with such force against me that I was hurled prostrate on my face. For a moment I hardly knew whethe r I was a live or dead. I heard someone sing out ‘that fe I low i s dead’. I soon convinced him of his error by springing up and resuming my place in the ranks. ”
Then Asa tel Is about the final abandonment of the island and the end of the attempt to take Newport. He wrote: nAt the app roach of night, our forces s i – lently removed their arti fiery and passed guns and men over Howland’s fe1rry to the mainland. By daylight our whole army had left the island, and I sadly saw the Sri ti sh take possessi on of the works we had abandoned.”
After the unsuccessful attempt to drive the British from Rhode Island, General Sullivan’s -troops were dispersed to various places. Asa Redington’s New Hampshire regiment was sent to East Kingston to guard the Narragansett. There~ with Conanicut Island between them and Newport, they remained, without firing a shot at the enemy, unti I the middle of December, when the regiment was sent to Providence, where most of the men were discharged, since their six months’ enlistment had now expired. Asa Redington quickly made his way home to Wi Iton, New Hampshi re, where he spent the winter and spring. But the war fever was now in hi s b food. In June, 1779 he was back in the army agai n, for a second si x months’ enlistment. But we must leave hi s experi ences on that second stretch to next week’s program. Then we sha II resume the story of what Watervi lie’s early settler, Asa Redington, did in the Revolutionary War.
Let us close tonight with an item selected from the Waldo Patriot of Apri I 20, 1838. The item concerns what has, to this day, continued to be the most controversi a I plum of po I iti cs in Ameri can towns, the choi ce of postmaster. !’To the victor be long the spo i Is tt, 0 I d Hickory had preached, and that Jackson i an dictrine dictated a change of local postmaster every time the dominant party changed in the White House. It is only in very recent times that large numbers of postmasters have come under the Civil Service. Well, anyhow, the editor of the Waldo Patriot was indignant about the situation in Vassalboro. He editorialized thus: “By some strange oversight of the Post Office Cepartment in Washington, the East Vassalboro post office has ~ad a Whig postmaster unti I re~ cently. Amos Stickney has held the office for many years, to universal satisfaction.
Several attempts have been made to get up a petition against him, but even his Democratic neighbors refused to sign it. The present incumbent, Mr. Collins, went around privately and got three or four names for his own appointment, and that petition, if it may be called such, prevai Jed in WaShington. Congressman Evans, who represents the Kennebec district in Congress, has been to the Post Offi ce Department and has asked to see the grounds for Sti ckney’ s removaI, but the Postmaster Genera I refuses to let him see the papers. That procedure may be thought by some people to be new, but it is not so. It was practiced for a long time by the Spanish Inquisition.”
Year: 1957