burg soon was heard "the sound of revelry by night," where "all went merry as the marriage bell." Private and public balls became the order of the day, and there were, but a few years since, many survivors of those happy hours, whose pleasure it was to recall the gay scenes in which they themselves had taken part. They well remembered the presence, on those occasions of many, in their worn and faded uniforms, who had safely passed through the storms of the Revolution, and others who had been honored with wounds in the service of their country. They delighted to dwell upon the memories of these occasions, when Virginia gathered together "her beauty and her chivalry," and when, we doubt not, there were abundant proofs given, that “ peace hath her victories as well as war." As has been hinted before, at the close of hostilities, Virginia had but a single vessel left, actually in service, which had taken part in the struggles of the Revolution. The Schooner "Liberty" whose name seems to have been prophetic of her gallant and successful career, had alone survived the storms of many winters, and many battles. According to the authority of the late Commodore Jas. Barron of the U. S. Navy, she had been present in more than twenty actions. She had been in the service since the Spring of 1775, having been the very first vessel put in commission and sent out by the State. She was therefore, now the veteran survivor of all her unfortunate consorts, and should have been retained by the authorities of the State, to doze away her remaining days in honor and peace, upon the bosom of some quiet water retreat. She should have thus become to Virginia, what the veteran "Ironsides" was once to the United States, or what the proud old "Victory" is now, to the whole English people. Instead of this, with shame be it kept upon record, that dismantled of the flag she had so long borne, and of the armament with which she had so gallantly defended it, she was sold to become a trader in the waters of the West Indies, and never again returned to "old Virginia's shore." Here we might with propriety bring to a close this sketch of some of the doings of the Virginia Navy. But that the reader may fully appreciate what were the sufferings and hardships endured by many who served under its flag, it has been thought proper to add something special, on this point. Indeed there are other matters of interest, relative to those times, which may be noticed in this connection, as illustrative of the troubles and privations, to which the people along the shores were subjected, from the frequent attacks of the enemy in their boats; and of the wantonness with which the latter carried on the war. As evidence of the truth of this, we here enumerate some of the losses sustained by one John Harvey, Esq., of Northumber land County, from the depredations of the crew of the British ship "Otter." This gentleman was living near the mouth of Great Wiccomoco River, when his house was plundered, and he afterwards applied to the State for indemnity: he furnished a list of his losses, from which we have taken the following items. The marauders first broke all the glass in his windows, tore off the shutters, and then battered down his doors. Having entered the house, they demolished every piece of furniture which could not be carried off, and then proceded to secure for themselves the remainder of his property. So complete was the robbery, that nothing seems to have escaped their thievish hands. The following list will speak for itself. They bore away “five feather beds, three looking-glasses, paper currency taken out of pocket £50, velvet jacket, and breeches, irish linen shirts, shoes and silver knee-buckles, all the silver in the house, bundles of jeans, all the sugar, tea, &c., razors, one large London Bible and a small one!! prayer books, coffee-mill and spice-mortar, Virginia cotton and cards, steelyards, augers, gimblets, nutmegs, brass candle-sticks, cambric handkerchiefs, petty-coats, and guns," his daughter's whole wardrobe, wool, hogs, geese, a wig and other articles too numerous to mention. The wonder is that they left him his house standing; for it was a common occur rence to set the building on fire after having sacked the premises-other cases, perhaps worse than this might be given, but a single one is sufficient to show the grounds for the exasperated state of feeling which existed throughout the whole war, against the British forces. The forbearance of the Americans to such of the enemy as fell into their hands during the Revolution, was certainly to be commended; but the perpetration of outrages, such as the one we have just recorded, was enough to have brought about the most terrible acts of retaliation on their part. and cast into loathsome and pestilential prisons, from which a few sometimes managed to escape, at the peril of their lives. Respect of position and rank, found no favour in the eyes of their ungenerous captors, and no appeal could reach their hearts except through the promises of bribes. Many languished and died in these places, away from country and friends; whose fate was not known until long after they had passed away. But it was not altogether abroad that they were so cruelly maltreated. The record of their sufferings in the prisons of the enemy in our own country is left to testify against their relentless persecutors. In New York and Halifax many of the Virginia officers and seamen were relieved of their pains, alone by the hand of death. And in their own State, at Portsmouth, the like fate overtook many more, who had endured horrors rivalled only by the terrors of the BlackHole of Calcutta inflicted upon his captive Englishmen by the relentless nabob of the East. The reader will agree that we do not exaggerate the case, when he shall have seen the truth as given under oath, by one who was in every respect a competent witness. It will be remembered, that in another part of this narrative, mention was made of the loss in Lynhaven Bay of the Galley "Dasher," and the capture of the officers and crew— Capt. Willis Wilson was her unfortnate commander on that occasion. He and his men were confined in the Provost Jail at Portsmouth, and after his release, he made public the "secrets" of that "Prison House" by the following deposition, which is copied from the original document: But of all the sufferers in these troublous times, none endured such horrors, as did those Americans who were so unfortunate as to become prisoners of war to the British. They were treated more as felons, than as honorable enemies. It can scarcely be credited than an enlightened people would thus have been so lost to the common instincts of humanity, as were they in their conduct towards men of the same blood, and speaking the same language with themselves. True it is, that they sometimes excused the cruelty of their procedures, by avowing in many instances their captives were deserters from the English flag, and were to be dealt with accordingly. Be this as it may, no instance is on record where a tory, whom the Americans had good cause to regard as a traitor, was visited with the severities, which characterized the treatment of the ordinary military captives, on the part of the English authorities. Prisoners ship-board are generally subjected to more hardships than are captives from the land service. This seems to be the result of that habit of discipline, and love of the exercise of power which largely into the characters of Naval commanders. Hence come the groans and griefs of the galley-slave, and the terrors of the dismal Prison taken on enter so Ships. more powerful lords of the ocean. They were carried in numbers to England, to Bermuda, and to the West India Islands, "The deposition of Willis Wilson, being first sworn, deposeth and saith. That about the 23d July last, the deponent was taken a prisoner of war-was conducted to Portsmouth, (after being plundered of his cloathing, &c.,) and there lodged with about 190 other prisoners, in the Provost. This deponent, during twenty-odd days, was a spectator of the most savage cruelty with which the unhappy prisoners were treated by the English. The deponent has every reason to believe, there was a premeditated scheme to infect all the prisoners who had not been infected with the small-pox. There were upwards of one hundred of the prisoners who never had that disorder, notwithstanding which, negroes, with the infection upon them, were lodged under the same roof of the Provost. Others were sent in to attend upon the prisoners, with the scabs of that disorder upon them. Some of the prisoners soon caught the disorder, others were down with the flux. And some with fevers. From such a complication of disorders, 'twas thought expedient to petition Gen. O'Harra, who was then commanding officer, for a removal of the sick, or those who was not as yet infected with the small-pox. "Accordingly a petition was sent by Doctor Smith, who shortly returned with a verbal answer (as he said) from the General-He said, the General desired him to inform the prisoners, that the law of nations was annihilated,-that he had nothing then to bind them but bolts and bars, and they were to continue where they were, but that they were free agents to inoculate, if they chose. About thirty agreed with the said Smith, to inoculate them at a guinea a man; he performed the operation, received his guinea from many, and then left them to shift for themselves, though he had agreed to attend them through the disorder. Many of them, as well as those who took it the natural way, died. Col. Gee, with many respectable characters, fell victims to the unrelenting cruelty of O'Harra, who would admit of no discrimination between the officers, privates, negroes and felons, but promiscuously confined the whole in one house. Wilson, and made oath that the above is true. Signed, "SAM'L THOROGOOD." Although disposed in the main to respect the British Government, and to admire the characteristics of her great people, when we read such a statement as the one just made, we have to confess to emotions far from charitable toward the ancient enemies of America, even at this remote period from the time when they so basely dealt with their brave but unfortunate adversaries. In addition to these things it frequently occurred that the British commanders refused to exchange prisoners, and compelled many Americans to serve against their country. These officers knew that the Americans, for many reasons, could not well afford to detain very long, such of their men as had become prisoners; and that when these latter were freed they would either return to their own standard, or become greater annoyances as tories. Indeed the enemy seemed to leave nothing undone, no opportunity unimproved upon which to annoy and insult this unfortunate class cf non-combatants. On one occasion as the ship "Favorite" bearing a flag of truce, was returning to Virginia with a number of Americans who had just been liberated or exchanged in Bermuda, she was overhauled, and both her crew and passengers robbed of all they had, by the British "Tiger" of 14 guns, and the Schooner Surprise of 10 guns. Very appropriate names for two such miscre ants. For some of their unfortunate countrymen, great interest seems to have been often manifested by the Virginians, for amongst these prisoners were frequently found persons who had done essential service, or had been distinguished for their gallantry. Thus we find, that on one occasion a most urgent appeal was made to the Govornor, for his aid in procuring the exchange of the youthful son of a Mr. Godfrey, who in the language of the petitioners was taken on board a vessel, which was defended with the greatest bravery," and who according to the same authority had distinguished himself in her defence. And at another time Commodore Barron volunteered to urge the claims of Lieutenant Chandler, and some thirty men upon the Executive favour, inasmuch as they had from time to time served on board the "Liberty" and the "Patriot," and as he stated, had assisted in capturing at least five hundred men. This will serve to show us what were the services of those two active little craisers. Among other captives of note was George Goosley, a patriot indeed of the genuine stamp: he was a pioneer in the cause, having been one of the party who threw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor. Not only at home, but abroad also our suffering countrymen had succeeded in making for themselves friends. We have said that many were languishing in the jails of England. Some managed to escape, and making their way in hired fishing boats across the channel to France, had their wants supplied by the kindness of Arthur Lee and others. Many of them had, at last, after resorting to every other expedient, been forced to make an appeal to the humanity of the British Government itself. Thus we find Mr. Fox, during the session of the Parliament of 1781, presenting the petition. of the captives confined in Mill-Prison, Plymouth, (where had been carried many Virginians) setting forth "that they had been treated with less humanity than the French and Spanish prisoners, because they had no authorized agent to protect them," and claiming an equal amount of clemency. The Duke of Richmond presented one of the same purport in the House of Lords. Strange as it may appear, these petitions elicited a long and excited debate. An investigation of the facts, proved the representations of the petitioners to be true in every respect. They had not even been allowed an equal amount of food with the other prisoners. The public soon became aware of these things, and siding with the sufferers, the "outside pressure" became so great, that fall redress was obtained, at the Bar of the Peers themselves. But before taking leave of the Virgin ia Marine of the Revolution, it will not be amiss to add other evidence of its efficiency during that struggle, to what has been furnished on this point. It is from authority which cannot be doubted. The learned successor to Hume, in his history of the British Empire, speaks of the energy and activity of the American cruisers in the West Indies, of their great success, and of the losses to the English of "their richly laden merchantmen trading in those parts." It is well known that most of the Virginia vessels frequented the waters of those Islands, and did much damage to the enemy, though they were in many instances captured at last by their larger cruisers. In another place the same authority, after dwelling upon the financial embarrassments attending the American cause, gives stronger testimony in the following language, "By the export of tobacco from the Chesapeake, the credit of the Colonies with the foreign nations was chiefly if not wholly supported: and by the inland navigation of that Bay, large quantities of salt provisions, the produce, both of Virginia and North Carolina were conveyed to the middle Colonies for the subsistence of the American Army." In addition to this, it was through the expeditions of those agile little cruisers that the supply of powder, of salt-petre, and other munitions of war, was regularly kept up. There were periods, when but for such timely God-sends, our troops would, if attacked, have been forced to defend themselves with naught but their strong arms and bayonets. But with all that has been said, it must by this time have become apparent to the reader of this narrative, that the record left of the Virginia Navy of the Revolution is very far from being a complete one, when we come to compare it with the number and power of the forces possessed by the State at that period. With regard to its vessels, we doubt not, that there are numerous points along the shores and far up the rivers of the State, where relics of them have been left, and where they now rest from their toils. Within sight almost of Richmond, at Warwick, at Osborne's Ferry, and further down, at Hood's, lie buried at the bottom of the James River, the wrecks and armaments of the Tempest, the Jefferson, the Renown and many others, which will probably there sleep the sleep of ages, unless disturbed by the hand of the modern engineer, when commerce shall have demanded a deeper and a safer high-way to the waters of the ocean. In looking back over the remains, and over the wrecks which also lie buried in the sands of the sea and in the solitary depths of the Chesapeake Bay, one is not willing to suppress a lament over such "a grave with its tenants unwept and forgot." And then, when we return to the consideration of the achievements of those who fought under its modest, but significant emblem, it is still sadder to record, that there is scarce a single memorial left, "to mark the lone scene of their shame, or their pride." We look in vain for connected accounts of its battles fought; its victories lost and won. True it is, that now and then, in groping through the mazes and obscurities of its almost forgotten history, our attention is arrested by the indistinct mutterings of distant cannonades, and we think we hear faintly the shouts of those who seem to be either the excited witnesses of, or the fierce participants in the deadly fray. Thus it is that we are tantalized with but the shadows of events, that once were stern realities. We know indeed that there were heroes in its service, men who has entered upon sealife so young that they might with truth be said to have been "rocked in the cradle of the deep." It were useless to dwell upon the names of some of these, so little is left to give their memories the benefit of historical renown. Of Commodore Burcher, for instance, the first Commodore-in-chief, we know nothing, except that he had once been in the service of the Maryland Marine, and that upon being offered the command of the Virginia fleets in the Upper Bay and Potomac, he accepted it. Of Commodore Walter Brooke, his successor, even less is left on record. He served but for a few months, and whether his career was as brilliant as it was short, or whether he retired, disgusted with the sea and its service, are equally matters of doubt. It was left to the name of Barron to have clustering around it most of the memories of the heroic corps over which the gallant gentleman was called to preside after the resignation of Commodore Brooke. James Barron was essentially the master-spirit of the service. His youth, like that of Cropper of Accomac, had also been devoted to the cause of Virginia liberty. He had, at Hampton, and at other places, resisted the attempts of the enemy on the land, and in these encounters had exhibited the qualities and bearing of an intrepid patriot. But the water was the element he loved, the theatre upon which he preferred to court the dangers and self-denials peculiar to a seaman's life. His sympathetic spirit sighed for the songs of the deep, whenever the calls of duty had separated him from those endearments with which the sea attracts her admirers, and with which she, forever afterwards, continues to hold their affections tributary to her wild and capricious charms. It was from such tastes, that immediately upon the organization of the Virginia Navy, he was not only amongst the first to enter the service, but continued at his post so long as there was a plank to stand upon, or a flag to follow. He may, with truth, be said to have been the Andrew Doria of Virginia, having devoted his energies, his courage and his life to her interests, as did his renowned prototype to his own country, when with a fleet of galleys in his native waters, he, more than two centuries before, established the liberties of the Genoese Republic. With the exceptions then, of Barron, his brother Richard, and Captains Taylor and Cowper, the deeds of but few have survived the oblivion which alike rests upon them and the vessels they commanded. The cause of this unfortu nate state of things has been fully pointed out in another place, and we are left not only to the painful regret that such is the case, but to the more ungrateful apprehension, that probably little more |