Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/240

 218 and Clinton had abandoned it; the King of France had declared war, and an anxious hour for the little army at Newport was approaching.

On the 15th of July, 1778, General Prescott, who had been exchanged since his capture, arrived from New York with reinforcements. Among these were the two regiments of Anspach. He announced that the French fleet was coming to America, and on the 29th that fleet appeared off Newport. It was commanded by Count d'Estaing, and consisted of five ships of seventy-four guns, six of sixty-four, and three of twenty-six. At eleven o'clock in the morning these vessels were lying at anchor before the harbor. The island of Connanicut was immediately evacuated by the Germans and occupied by the French, who took some provisions which there had not been time to remove. The English and Hessian soldiers expected an immediate landing of the enemy on Rhode Island. The town was in confusion, and the Tories in despair.

The French admiral, however, did not immediately follow up his advantage. It was not until the 8th of August that he forced his way into the harbor, past batteries at Brenton's Neck, King's Fort, Goat Island, and North Point. The cannonade lasted an hour and a half, at the end of which time the fleet anchored near Connanicut. Not a man was wounded in the town, but the ships had suffered some damage.

The regiments that had been outside of Newport were now called back within the lines. General Sullivan had landed on Rhode Island with a rebel army. The British and German soldiers were crowded like sheep in the town. They were worn out with