Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/34

 22 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

English fort. It was a hazardous undertaking. The sycophants of Went- worth thronged the town, who would consider the capture of the patriots as a good passport to the governor's favor. Besides there was danger from the fort. If the captain became aware of their design, he was sure to turn the guns upon them and destroy them. But no alarm was given, and in silence Sullivan and his little band approached the works. With a rush they gained the gate, captured the sentry, and before a challenge could be given had the captain and every man in the fort prisoners. The British flag was hauled down. The gunpowder, of which there was one hundred barrels in the fort, was immediately taken away and hid in the houses of the patriots. Sullivan concealed a portion of it under the pulpit of the Durham meeting-house. A large part of this plunder afterwards did good service at Bunker Hill. Next day fifteen of the lighter cannon and all the small arms were carried away. The governor and his officers received no intelligence of the affair until it was too late to remedy it, and when the British troops arrived they found only a dismantled fortress. The affair, which in itself may appear to be of no great moment, assumes a different aspect when we consider the time at which it occurred. It was the first act of armed hostility committed against the crown of Great Britain by an American.

The following June, John Sullivan was appointed by Congress a brigadier- general. Many have wondered how it happened that a young lawyer who knew nothing of military affiiirs save what he had learned while holding a provincial commission as major, should have received such an appointment over the heads of veterans like Stark and Folsom. It was for this reason : — John Stark and Nathaniel Folsom were sworn rivals, and each pressed his claims so strenuously that Congress saw no better way to settle the difficulty than to appoint a new man. Sullivan was well known. He had sat in that body the preceding year, and his bold enterprise at Fort William and Mary had blazed his name far and wide as that of a bold and able patriot. That he had capabilities for the place no one will deny. He was not a great general, but he was a brave and dashing officer. Washington and Lafayette, who had means of knowing, considered him one of the most useful men in the service. Like Peter the Great, and Frederick of Prussia, he learned by experience, and his last military conduct was his most brilliant.

Mrs. John Adams, whose letters have been read with a great deal of interest, has left some admirable portraits of the distinguished characters of the Revo- lution. Of General Sullivan she says : —

"I drank coffee one day with General Sullivan upon Winter Hill. He appears to be a man of sense and spirit. His countenance denotes him of a warm constitution, not to be very suddenly moved, but, when once roused, not very easily lulled ; easy and social ; well calculated for a military station, as he seemed to be possessed of those popular qualities necessary to attach men to him."

It is well known how many ridiculous reports were circulated by the British during the war regarding our soldiers and officers. Here are two of them about Sullivan. In 1777 a London paper in speaking of him said : — "Gen- eral Sullivan, taken prisoner by the king's troops at the battle of Long Island, was an attorney, and only laid down the pen for the sword about eight months ago, though now a general." He had been two years in the field.

One of the Hessian officers, Hieringen by name, gave a home correspond- ent the following valuable information : — "John Sullivan is a lawyer, but before has been a footman. He is, however, a man of genius, whom the rebels will very much miss." The same writer calls General Putnam a butcher by trade.

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