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OF THE

WAR OF THE INDEPENDENCE

OF

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

BY CHARLES BOTTA.

VOL. II.

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN,

BY GEORGE: ALEXANDER OTIS, ESQ.

SECOND EDITION, IN TWO VOLUMES, REVISED AND CORRECTED.

Checked
May 1813

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY HARRISON GRAY.

William L. Lewis, Printer.

1826.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit:

District Clerk's Office.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the sixth day of March, A.D. 1826, in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, GEORGE ALEXANDER OTIS, Esq. of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"History of the War of the Independence of the United States of America. By Charles Botta. Vol. II. Translated from the Italian, by George Alexander Otis, Esq. edition, in two volumes, revised and corrected.'

Second

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, ‘An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and also to an act entitled, 'An act supplementary to an act entitled, an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.

JNO. W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

SUMMARY.-Effects produced in England by the events of the war. The earl of
Chatham proposes a plan of conciliation, but is unable to procure its adoption. De-
signs of the ministers. Negotiations of Congress in France. Interested policy of the
French government. Lewis XVI. acknowledges the Independence of the United States.
Lord North makes a motion in favor of an arrangement. Declaration of the French
ambassador. Independence of America. Pownal advocates in Parliament the ac-
knowledgment of American Independence. Jenkinson speaks in opposition to it, and
obtains the majority of votes. The earl of Chatham dies; his character. War is
declared between France and England. Naval battle of Ouessant

SUMMARY.-The conciliatory plan of the ministry arrives in America. Effects it pro-
duced there. Deliberations of Congress. The treaties concluded with France arrive in
the United States. Joy of the inhabitants. The Congress ratify the treaties. The com-
missioners sent by George third with proposals of peace arrive in America. The Ame-
ricans refuse all arrangement. The English evacuate Philadelphia. Battle of Mon-
mouth. The count D'Estaing arrives with a fleet in the waters of America, the projects
of that admiral. Other operations of the British commissioners. They are without
effect, and the commissioners depart from America. The Congress give a solemn
audience to the minister of the king of France. Operations in Rhode Island. Engage-
ment between the count D'Estaing and Howe. Discontent of the Americans against
the French, and quarrels which result from it. Horrible Excision of Wyoming. The
count D'Estaing sails for the West Indies. Byron follows him.
The royal army
moves to attack the southern provinces of the confederation.

SUMMARY.-The French capture Dominica, the English St. Lucia. The British
troops land in Georgia, and occupy Savannah. They attempt to carry Charleston, in
South Carolina. Their depredations. Different military events. The islands of St.
Vincent and Grenada are conquered by the French. Naval action between the count
D'Estaing and admiral Byron. The count D'Estaing arrives in Georgia. Savannah
besieged by the Americans and French. Count D'Estaing returns to Europe. Political
revolution among the Americans. Spain joins the coalition against England. The
combined fleets of France and Spain present themselves upon the coasts of Great
Britain. They retire. Causes of their retreat. Discontents in Holland against England.
Armed neutrality of the northern powers. The British ministry send reenforcements
to America. The English obtain great advantages over the Spaniards, and throw
succours into Gibraltar. Firmness of the British court.

BOOK TWELFTH.

SUMMARY-Campaign of the south. The English besiege and take Charleston. Tarle-
fon defeats the republicans at Wacsaw. Submission of South Carolina, and proclama-
tions of lord Cornwallis for the reestablishment of tranquillity in that province. New
York menaced. New devastations committed by the English. Washington defeats the
plan of Clinton. Variations of bills of credit. New efforts of the republicans in South
Carolina. Magnanimity of the women of that province. Campaign by sea. Engage-
ments between the count de Guichen and admiral Rodney. Dreadful hurricane in the
West Indies. The English capture a French convoy, and the Spaniards, a British con-
voy. Siege of Gibraltar. Parties in Holland. Secret treaty between the Congress
and the city of Amsterdam. Rupture between England and Holland. Revival of
ardor among the Americans. M. de la Fayette arrives from France in America, and
brings good news. Bank of Philadelphia. Academy of Massachusetts. The count
de Rochambeau, arrives in Rhode Island, with French troops War rekindles in South
Carolina. General Gates takes the command of the southern ariny. Battle of Camb-
den between Gates and Cornwallis. Bloody executions in South Carolina. Conspiracy
and treason. Deplorable death of Major Andre. Hostilities in the Carolinas. Battle
of King's mountain. Affair of Blackstocks. Gates succeeded by general Green. Battle
of Cowpens. Admirable pursuit of the English, and no less admirable retreat of the
Americans Battle of Guildford between Green and Cornwallis. Green marches upon
the Carolinas; Cornwallis upon Virginia.

BOOK THIRTEENTH.

SUMMARY-Losses of the Dutch. Depredations of the English at St. Eustatius. The
Spaniards seize West Florida. Plans of the belligerent powers. The English revictual
Gibraltar. The Spaniards attack that fortress with fury. M. de la Motte Piquet takes
from the English the booty they had made at St. Eustatius. Naval battle of the bay of
Praya. M. de Suffren succours the Cape of Good Hope. General Elliot, governor of Gib-
raltar, destroys the works of the Spaniards. Attack upon Minorca. The combined fleets
show themselves upon the coast of England. Fierce combat between the English and
Dutch. The count de Grasse arrives in the West Indies with a formidable fleet. Com-
bat between him and admiral Hood. The French take Tobago. The count de Grasse
and admiral Hood prepare themselves for the execution of their plans of campaign.
Intestine dissentions in the United States. Insurrection in the army of Pennsylvania.
Battle of Hobkirk. Battle of Eutaw Springs, and end of the campaign of the south.
Campaign of Virginia. Cornwallis takes post at Yorktown. The combined troops
besiege him there, and constrain him to surrender with all his army. The French
make themselves masters of St. Christopher's. Minorca falls into the power of the
allies. Change of ministry in England.

•BOOK FOURTEENTH.

SUMMARY.-Plans of the belligerent powers. The combined fleets menace the coasts
of England. Intrigues of the new ministers Campaign of the West Indies. Memora-
ble engagement of the twelfth of Apr 1782, between the count de Grasse and admiral
Rodney. Siege of Gibraltar. Description of that fortress. Floating batteries. Gene-
ral attack. Victory of Elioj: Admin Howe revictuals Gibraltar. Negotiations of
peace. Signature of treaties. Alarming agitation in the army of Congress. It is dis-
banded. Washington divests himself of the supreme command, and retires to his seat
at Mount Vernon.

HISTORY

OF

THE AMERICAN WAR.

BOOK EIGHTH.

1777. THE British ministers, as we have before related, had long since formed the scheme of opening a way to New York by means of an army, which should descend from the lakes to the banks of the Hudson, and unite in the vicinity of Albany with the whole, or with a part, of that commanded by general Howe. All intercourse would thus have been cut off between the eastern and western provinces, and it was believed that victory, from this moment, could no longer be doubtful. The former, where the inhabitants were the most exasperated, crushed by an irresistible force, would have been deprived of all means of succouring the latter. These consequently, however remote from the Hudson, would also have been constrained to submit to the fortune of the conqueror, terrified by the reduction of the other provinces, abounding with loyalists, who would have joined the victor, and also swayed perhaps by a jealousy of the power of New England, and irritated by the reflection that it was her obstinacy which had been the principal cause of their present calamities. This expedition, besides, presented few difficulties, since with the exception of a short march, it might be executed entirely by water. The French themselves had attempted it in the course of the last war. It was hoped that it would have been already effected by the close of the preceding year; but it had failed in consequence of the obstacles encountered upon the lakes, the lateness of the season, and especially because while general Carleton advanced upon Ticonderoga and consequently towards the Hudson, general Howe, instead of proceeding up the river to join him, had carried his arms to the west, against New Jersey.

At present, however, this scheme had acquired new favor, and what in preceding years had been only an incidental part of the plan of campaign, was now become its main object. The entire British

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