"HOWE'S WAR"
by
Francis H. Straus II
Delivered to The Chicago Literary Club
April 4, 1994
"Howe's War"leaves a considerable amount of leeway for the
scope of this paper. We could develop a detailed biography of John
Howe who lived from 1630 to 1706. His war was the Puritan religious
conflict in England where he served as domestic chaplain to Oliver
Cromwell, Puritan Lord Protector of England, Scotland .and Ireland.
After the collapse of the Puritan commonwealth and the passage of the
Act of Uniformity, John Howe was required to go underground and
preach only to handfuls of trusted believers. This is not the
material for a Literary Club paper.
Moving ahead from the middle 17th century we can push forward
to the 18th century and focus on the two Howe brothers. One, Earl
Richard Howe Howe, lived from 1726 to 1799 and his younger brother
5th Viscount William Howe Howe from 1729-1814. Earl Richard started
in the Royal Navy at 14 years of age and moved steadily up the
officer ladder making lieutenant in 1744, post-captain in 1746,
Admiralty Board member 1763-65, Treasurer of the Navy 1765-70, Rear
Admiral 1770, Vice Admiral 1775, First Lord of the Admiralty 1783-88;
he commanded the Channel fleet and won the battle of the "lst of
June" in 1794 and was given the Knight of the Garter in 1797. His
was a brilliant naval career aided in its earlier years by the fact
that his mother, Mary Sophia Charlotte, after the death of her
husband became King George I's mistress.
Younger brother William Howe joined the cavalry in 1746, was
lieutenant one year later, then captain and major, and became a
lieutenant colonel by 1757. He commanded the 58th regiment of foot,
capturing Louisburg and then landing with Wolfe in the battle for
Quebec in 1758. He marched on Montreal and defended Quebec through
1760. Then as Adjutant General he captured Havana in 1762 He was
promoted to full colonel in Command of the 46th regiment of foot in
1764 and then major general in 1772. He was sent to Boston in 1775
serving second in command under General Gage, whom he did not
respect, and led the troops in storming Bunker Hill. Later he left
Boston for Halifax in the British withdrawal from Boston. In 1776 he
was promoted to Lieutenant General and given command of all the land
forces in North America. At the same time his brother Richard was
placed in command of all the naval forces in North America..
Two years later Lord North's ministry sent a new peace
commission to treat with the leaders of the rebellion and both
Admiral and General Howe resigned their commands in a pique, feeling
their home government had not supported them enough. Unfortunately
Admiral Richard Howe's resignation came only after a strong French
fleet under Count d'Estaing had joined in the American Rebellion
requiring Richard to remain on station to fool the French squadron at
Sandy Hook and then prevent them from landing at Newport, Rhode
Island. General William defended his actions before members of the
House of Commons. He was put in charge of ordinance and in 1790 led
some land forces against Spain. He was made full General in 1793
later retiring to become Governor of Berwick-on-Tweed and later
Governor of Plymouth.
Both of these Howe brothers took part in aspects of the Seven
Years War: Earl Richard as Captain of "Dunkirk" captured the French
warship "Alcide" as the opening engagement of the war, and William
saw action on the Plains of Abraham. Besides this their eldest
brother George Augustus Howe lost his life in the Battle of
Ticonderoga on July 6th, 1758, so by simple numbers this war could be
called Howe's War. However as you have already heard, the two
brothers as more senior officers were leaders of the British military
forces in the American Revolution so that conflict could also
justifiably be designated Howe's War.
The Revolution as you all learned in grammar school stemmed
from Great Britain's desire to receive raw materials from its
colonies and then resell finished products back at considerably
magnified prices. To this basic economic goal was added the
perceived need to get the colonies to pay their share of the British
military costs expended to protect the colonies from France and other
governments. These economic policies were energetically carried
forward by George III.
The King was a prematurely born sensitive introvert who was
slow to learn as a child and later tended to be stubborn and firm
with his subjects. He felt that Great Britain had treated the
Americans with too great a leniency, increasing their pride which
encouraged them to think independently. Now he felt it his duty to
apply these economic policies with firmness to bring the Americans
back into their dependent role. Lord North, Prime Minister from 1770
to 1782, was a total pawn to the King's wishes concerning the
American colonies. Yet there were several members of the House of
Commons who voiced strong arguments against this primitive economic
policy. They were led by Edmund Burke, Charles James Fox, and James
Wilkes whose strong speeches were like a tiny rumble beneath the
royal battering ram. So with minor exceptions Parliament carried out
the King's wishes.
One of the reasons Massachusetts led the way in the American
Revolution was its economic need as a maritime power to oppose the
restrictive "Acts of Trade and Navigation" by using all ports and
trading with England's rivals. New England farm land was not as
fertile as Virginia and there were few furs to collect so ship
building, fishing and trading became of the utmost importance to this
geographic area. New England trading reached out in many directions
but the West Indies was a main focus where agricultural goods and fish
were traded for molasses and sugar causing rum to replace beer as the
most popular beverage in New England. For a while England overlooked
the propensity of New England merchants to trade illegally
("smuggle") but with the King and Parliament making such heavy work
of it, colonial ministers and representatives in the armed forces
began to enforce these rules more stringently. The Townshead Acts of
1767 were imposed placing duty on a long list of imports. Then they
were rescinded leaving only the tax on tea. The colonials responded
with the Boston Tea Party in 1773. This flagrant destruction of the
imported tea confirmed George III's resolve to use force to reduce
Massachusetts to submission. The port of Boston was closed and
Parliament passed the punitive "Intolerable Acts". Troops had been
stationed in Boston since 1768 and they enforced the new legislation.
This effort accomplished what none of the events up until
then had, it brought the thirteen colonies together in Philadelphia
where the "radical" elements took over ordering a boycott of British
goods and a firm statement that Parliament had no constitutional
right to legislate for the American colonies. With this evidence of
togetherness colonists began organizing minutemen and stock piling
guns and arms.
It was almost inevitable that on April 14, 1775, British
soldiers searching for some subversives and brass cannon in Lexington
would engage with the minutemen hastily assembled there. They did
destroy some more arms in Concord, but had to withstand a running
retreat back to Boston, suffering heavy casualties in the process.
Two months later the Americans had built a small defense structure on
Bunker Hill in Charlestown, north of Boston. General Gates' second
in command, William Howe, led the British charge on the hill and
after a very bloody battle managed to dislodge the insurgents but
only after losing an immense number of soldiers. The Americans
retreated, but in fact had won a victory.
Amazingly rapidly Washington was appointed Commander in Chief
of the Continental Army which was now made up of the many small
militia groups that had started preparing for active service. The
first thing General Washington did was order the cannon from Fort
Ticonderoga to be brought 300 miles overland to Boston where they
were set up on the Dorchester Heights. From this location the rebels
could bombard the British fleet supporting the soldiers stationed in
Boston. Besides this there were many small raids constantly
harassing the perimeter of Boston. This led to the British army
withdrawal from Boston on March 17th, 1776, with all their troops and
any loyalists who wished to join them in moving to Halifax.
That was the end of General Gates, he was recalled back to
England and William Howe was elevated to Commander with his brother
Richard in charge of the naval aspects of the war. George III did
not have a large enough armed force so he called on his cousins in
German principalities to provide mercenary "Hessian" solders to
augment the English. No formal declaration of war had yet been made.
The Howe brothers were indeed given strengthened military forces but
at the same time were instructed to try to negotiate a cease fire and
a return of affairs to the previous mother kingdom--colonial
relationship.
Unfortunately for the crown a dyspeptic ex-Londoner by the
name of Thomas Paine had written a pamphlet called Common Sense which
persuasively attacked the monarchy and the monarch. Small committees
throughout the colonies sent men to the continental army and pressed
for a formal declaration of independence.
Almost at the same time that the Continental Congress
appointed several of their members, including Jefferson, Franklin and
Adams, to draw up such a declaration, England decided to attack the
middle colonies separating New England and the South. The Howes
started landing a large military force on Staten Island. Ten days
after the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Congress,
the Howes tried to negotiate with General Washington. He referred
them to the Continental Congress, but this came to nothing.
With that the Howes focused their 32,000 trained professional
soldiers, 30 warships, and l0,000 seamen at Long Island. To deal
with this Washington had at best 20,000 poorly equipped, poorly
trained, poorly led troops. The Americans lost Long Island, then New
York City, then White Plains in Connecticut. The revolutionary
forces were depending on two forts on either side of the Hudson River
at upper Manhattan. The eastern one was Fort Washington and the
western one Fort Lee. This western fort was named after General Lee
an ex-British army officer who came to the colonies and offered to
help in the cause of independence. His rank was just beneath that of
General Washington, a status he did not much appreciate.
Using his troops well General Howe managed to take both
forts, and then sent the American forces in swift retreat southwest
across New Jersey, with General Cornwallis chasing them across the
Passinc River, the Rahway River and then the Raritan River, Millstone
Creek and finally the Delaware River. The continental forces were
despondent, sick and worn out, and their leader Washington was not
much better. He tried to get General Lee up in Connecticut to join
him for a stand against the harassing enemy at his rear but General
Lee was taking his time and in fact never got there as we will hear
later.
Eventually, towards Christmas 1776, General Howe went back to
his mistress in New York City. General Cornwallis also returned to
New York and was about to sail for England when he was called back to
New Jersey after the Battle of Trenton. The English-German troops
were settled in winter quarters strung out between Trenton on the
southwest and New York at the northeast. New Jersey had been good
territory for the British military forces as many residents had given
them intelligence and taken oaths to respect the monarchy.
At Christmas with the one year enlistments running out for
his entire army General Washington decided to attack back across the
Delaware River, taking the German troops completely by surprise.
Trenton and then Princeton were recovered and the British were pushed
back to eastern New Jersey. Then the continental army settled in
Morristown for the winter.
The English leaders were not worried about their cause
because they had a plan for the next year. General Burgogne had a
master plan which would center on the Hudson River valley with a
strong force marching down from Canada, another army marching from
New York up the river, and a third military force coming down the
Mohawk Valley from Oswego. This impressive plan never worked because
Howe decided to attack Philadelphia first and never was in a position
to help General Burgogne and the Oswego force was detained by other
American forces. Burgogne ended up surrendering a large army and its
equipment to the American General Gates near Saratoga, New York.
This essentially ended the Revolutionary War in the north.
The British maintained occupation of New York City. The next year
the Howe brothers resigned their commands, the French entered the
war, and eventually the Americans won the battle of Yorktown,
finishing all hostilities until the peace agreement.
There were another set of How brothers in this time period.
They were Johnathan, James, David and Isaac, all sons of James How, a
farmer in northern Massachusetts near Haverhill. Howe can also be
spelled H-O-W or H-O-W-S. It is an old Anglosaxon name meaning hill
or hollow. Due to the vagaries of English social and economic
interactions, over the years a few Howes made it into the aristocracy
and many Howes were left in the lower classes. Needless to say our
Admiral and General were in the former category. The Massachusetts
family referred to above were in the latter group.
This small branch of Howes came from Hatfield, Broad oak,
Essex, England. They were Puritans and by the early 1600's were
being persecuted for their religious beliefs. They emigrated to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, settling first in Salem. A member
of the second generation married a woman who later was accused of
being a witch and was hung. Some time later the colony gave her
children two pounds 7 shillings each, as a recompense for the
unlawful death of their mother. The next generation moved to Ispwich
and one son two generations later moved to Haverhill. This was the
grandfather of the four boys who all enlisted in the army at the time
of the revolution. Fortunately David How kept a brief journal of his
revolutionary experience. Do not think that this account is a deep
philosophical expression of his beliefs and motivation for fighting
to gain liberty. In fact it is a down to earth account of his
travels and daily chores. He notes a few things he heard from fellow
soldiers and most important to him it records some of his trading, an
occupation which occupied much of his attention. He was very young
and resilient, standing up well to the physical hardships forced upon
him by the war. Above all David How was a young American with little
education, little money, and was very much like many of the Americans
who gained liberty for us. His view of the conflict is the "worm's
eye view", quite different from the history books and the biographies
of famous generals.
David How was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1758, the
third of ten children. He learned the trade of currier (leather
worker) in Andover. As a young "minuteboy" David and two of his
brothers responded to the post-Lexington alarm, headed to Cambridge
and was one of those occupying Bunker Hill the night preceding the
June 17th, 1775, battle. During the attack the solder at his side
was gunned down. David is said to have grabbed and thrown his
comrade's musket at the advancing redcoats and then retreated
undercover of the gun smoke.
He enlisted in the army of the revolution at the end of
December 1775 when he was 17 years old. He became a private in
Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent's regiment of the Massachusetts Line.
First he marched with 1200 other enlistees south to the Mystic River,
but they could not cross because the ice was not strong enough. They
made camp, he sold a blanket for two dollars, had his gun inspected
and five days later walked 28 miles home to Haverhill. He was there
for two days, then returned via Andover to Cambridge to work for a
Mr. Watson. He was not yet officially in the Continental Army but he
writes that on the night of January 8th "this night our soldiers went
over into Charlestown and burnt up eleven houses. Took six
prisoners. None of ours killed." This expedition was designed to
harass the enemy and deprive them of housing. How cut and
transported wood until January 22 when he officially entered the
Continental Army, again in Colonel Sargent's regiment.
Diary entries for the rest of January tell us that How
cooked, bought 3 barrels of cider, 7 bushels of chestnuts, a wild
turkey and 4 bushels of apples, and then sold portions of them to
other soldiers. On February l he moved into lodgings at Harvard
College. He worked making rifle balls and cartridges as well as
participating in the burning of a mill in Charlestown in another
night raid. He tells us that a fellow soldier died from excessive
drinking and another "was found dead in a room with a woman". In the
middle of February he described some British troops leaving Boston by
boat and landing to the south on Dorchester Heights surprising the
guard there, burning some houses and taking one inhabitant prisoner
before they returned to Boston. For the rest of the month he made
cartridges, collected money owed to him and helped to move four
cannon to Lechmere Point during the night. His older brother James
came and spent a night with him.
On March 2nd there was an exchange of mortar and cannon fire
all night between Lechmere Point and Boston. Two continental mortars
burst without loss of life and one British cannonball landed in the
fort at Prospect Hill also without much damage. On March 4 American
General Thomas occupied Dorchester Heights, built a fort there and
set up some artillery. Private How helped in the construction. It
was this artillery position controlling the Boston Harbor that forced
the later British withdrawal from Boston.
James How came to visit on the 5th and brother Jacob How
visited David on the 7th. He bought a pair of leather pants for five
dollars and a new pair of half boots. On the 15th a large barracks
in Cambridge burnt down and David sold his gun for 3 pounds. The
British burned Charlestown as they left and all their troops marched
aboard ships with the American loyalists who wished to accompany them
in the mass pull-out of the army from Boston. The fleet moved out to
the Nantasket Road and sat there for seven days while the American
forces occupied Boston. David was first assigned to Fort Hill.
Several soldiers were punished by whipping for not coming on duty,
for drunkenness or for stealing. The punishment for stealing a
cheese (size unspecified) was 30 lashes.
In early April David packed a lot of cartridges. He was then
chosen to load and carry cartridges, lead balls and filled powder
horns to Norwich. Eight wagons and eight carts made up the
ammunition train. It took seven days to reach Norwich, Connecticutt
where the load was put aboard a ship for New York; it took them five
days to return to Boston. The next task David was assigned to was
tearing down enemy works on Bunker Hill and constructing a new fort
on Charlestown point. He regularly was assigned to guard duty and he
always lists the sentry code word in his diary, such as "Canada",
"Adams", "Ohio", "Virtue", or "Received". In May he was sent to
Noddles Island (now East Boston) to build a fort there. He still got
away to Boston and/or Cambridge every few days and washed his clothes
once a week. May 17th he reports the capture of the large British
transport ship "Hope" by a privateer called "Franklin" out of
Marblehead. The capture included 1500 barrels of gunpowder, l000
rifles, as well as other valuables. Several days later a British
naval force came into Boston harbor attacking the same privateer in
retaliation. The American captain was killed but many British
sailors were drowned and David writes that "the attackers were
obliged to go off ashamed".
June brought rain and on the 3rd David says "I went on for
teag at the fort". This meant fatigue which in modern parlance means
worn out, needing rest, but in his vocabulary meant hard work, enough
to wear you out. He carried rocks, unloaded cannon, moved earth, all
to build this fort protecting Boston harbor. After the first week he
went home to Haverhill on leave, went to church which he calls
"meeting" and stopped at Andover on the way back. Starting in the
middle of June he records several regiments of soldiers being sent by
ship to Nantucket and Long Island to prepare for an expected British
occupation. These troop transports had to run a British warship
blockade getting out to sea. On the 22nd he had time to "make me a
chest this day". He was on guard duty on the 4th and the code sign
was "New York". This of course was the day the Continental
Congress voted to submit the Declaration of Independence to England.
On the 7th and the 17th he went to the small pox hospital at Sewell's
Point, Brookline, to visit patients there. He reported that two more
British ships from the West Indies were captured, one with rum and
one with assorted cargo. Samuel Eliot Morrison points out that
after the British withdrawal from Boston the most important role of
New England in the war was the continued privateer captures of enemy
shipping. This disrupted the British efforts in America and it
provided much of the necessary arms and provisions for a very poorly
equipped army.
On July 15th David's regiment got their orders to march to
New York and on the 18th they left for Norwich, Connecticut.
Apparently David How stayed behind because for the next month he was
still walking around Boston burying a friend who had died of small
pox and visiting at home back in Haverhill. By August 13th he
finally started for Norwich with six teams of horses and wagons
carrying gunpowder. It took five days to reach Norwich and a day to
load the goods on a sailing ship. The trip was a difficult one
because the ship ran aground several times, faced contrary winds and
only reached Hells Gate eight days later. They rejoined their
regiment 6 miles from New York City.
This was August 22, exactly the time that the British left
Staten Island and attacked Long Island routing the Americans from
Brooklyn and to the north towards Long Island Sound. David was in a
skirmish with British scouting parties but by the 29th all the
American troops and baggage were brought to New York in their sad
retreat from defeat on Long Island.
The Americans built a fort at Horns Hook and the British
built one opposite across a short stretch of water. They connonaded
back and forth. David reports that both Corporal Haduc and Isacc
Fowls had their heads shot off. This went on for ten days until the
enemy crossed to York Island and the Americans had to leave the lower
part of town so that ships' cannon could not reach them. Soon the
British followed them up the island of Manhattan and there was a
noteworthy battle on Harlem Heights.
The Americans continued to fall back, many settling into Fort
Washington and Fort Lee built on either side of the Hudson River at
the point just south of where the George Washington Bridge now
stands. David How's regiment marched over Kings bridge at the tip of
Manhattan to Westchester up the Hudson, setting up camp on September
19th. For the next several weeks there were only local travel,
reports of whippings, trading of clothes, fixing and polishing his
musket, listening to general orders and serving on picket guard.
On September 9th the British sent three warships up the
Hudson River to a point above the two forts. The ships did get some
damage as they passed between Forts Washington and Lee. An alarm
went up and David's company was sent to Dobbs Ferry 12 miles up river
to repulse an expected landing there but in fact the warships were
waiting for the main attack on Fort Washington which would come in
early November. The regiment marched several times to Throggs Point
where a group of the enemy had landed and encamped. They also had
guard duty at Fort Independence in Yonkers. On October 22nd the
regiment packed and marched to White Plains, New York, where they
camped until the British regulars came on the 28th. Shots were
exchanged and the Americans moved back a few miles, then on November
6 the British army unaccountably packed up and went south towards New
York. In fact their move was to start the siege on Fort Washington.
David stayed outside White Plains standing guard duty and treating
himself for the itch.
On November 17th they heard of the surrender of Fort
Washington with many Americans captured and the loss of cannon and
provisions. By the 27th Colonel Sargent's regiment was ordered to
pack up and get ready for a march. They moved out the next day for
Peekskill, crossing the Hudson at Stoney Point on December 2nd.
Moving south west they reached Ringwood, New Jersey on the 6th and
Morristown on the l0th.
Two nights southwest of Morristown on December 12th the
portion of the Continental Army under General Lee camped in the
woods. How records in his journal that in the morning "British light
horse took General Lee as he was 3 miles from our army. We went with
a party to pursue them for 8 miles but were too late."
You will recall that Lee was an ex-British regular army
officer who supported American independence in England. He received
a cold shoulder so came to America and offered his services to the
rebelling government. After considerable debate Congress appointed
Washington commander-in-chief and Lee just subordinate to him.
General Lee was convinced he was the better general and told all who
would listen of his superiority.
After the surrender of Fort Washington followed by the
surrender of Fort Lee the remnant of Washington's army beat a hasty
retreat southwest across New Jersey with General Cornwallis chasing
behind. Washington sent message after message to General Lee in
Connecticut and White Plains to join him in order to generate some
resistance to the British invasion toward Philadelphia. General Lee
sat on his heels hoping General Washington would get bogged down in
his own problems. Later, however, he did start his march down
through New Jersey and this included Private How.
At Morristown General Lee considered attacking British
outposts at Brunswick or Princeton on his own to improve his
reputation and diminish Washington's. He also attempted
unsuccessfully to persuade General Gates to join him. On December
11th Lee left Morristown two days after his troops. He had almost
caught up to them when he passed Widow White's tavern. It seemed
much cozier than the cold snowy bivouac of his troops in the woods so
he moved in for the night with about 15 of his personal guard.
British Lieutenant Colonel Harcourt with a troop of light dragoons
was out looking for General Lee and his portion of the continental
army. After capturing one or two advance patrols they soon learned
where General Lee was staying and with little difficulty overcame the
defense force and carried the General away to Brunswick and later New
York.
Lee lived in New York like a prince, put up in a big house
with his personal servant and favorite dog, drinking the best wines
and having only a very light guard. Lee stayed in New York for 16
months before being exchanged. This required the Americans to have
captured an officer of equal rank. Two months after his exchange and
return to duty he was court marshalled for his conduct in the battle
of Monmouth. Cashiered from the service in 1780 he died in 1782 a
bitter and poor man.
When told of Lee's capture Washington only said "unhappy man,
taken by his own imprudence". It was on the surface another enormous
blow to the forces for liberty added to the already long list of
losses but in fact Lee's capture was a blessing in disguise. Now
Washington did not have an arrogant egotistical immediate subordinate
pushing from behind and Washington soon showed improved leadership.
Two days later on December 15th David Howe crossed the
Delaware River at Phillipsburg and made camp at Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, where they stayed until marching south on Christmas
Day. The regiment was in very poor shape with minimal clothes, shoes
and food. There were 14 officers, eight sergeants, five fifes and
drummers, 122 privates fit for duty, six privates present but sick
and 235 privates sick and absent. They were now given stockings and
shoes by the colonel, a ration of rum and on the 23rd were moved into
warm local houses. The 24th found them making cartridges and
provisions for a "scout".
December 25th the regiment marched 12 miles south and crossed
the Delaware with a "large body of men and field pieces" during the
night. How tells us that at 4 a.m. they started the eight mile march
to Trenton "where we were attacked by a number of Hessians and we
captured l000 of them besides the ones killed. Then we marched back
with all the prisoners and got them across the river." In fact How
and his fellow soldiers were the attackers, not the Hessians [but at
the time of a battle this may not be clear to a common soldier.]
The above entry covers the Battle of Trenton, the first
battle victory for the rebels in the American Revolution. It had
been a long year and three quarters during which the American forces
had been beaten in every big armed engagement and had steadily pulled
back or openly retreated in the face of superior British firepower.
All the one year enlistments in the Continental Army were about to
end on January lst which would leave the Army weak and impotent. But
Washington had rallied his forces in time and the British had left
themselves prominently exposed in their inactive winter quarters.
Washington had gotten good
intelligence, acted decisively, and earned a stunning surprise
victory which was badly needed to sustain the independence movement.
It is interesting to me that we have aircraft carriers named
Lexington, Saratoga, and Yorktown, but I do not know of a Trenton.
It is an action that deserves much more notice than it has received.
By December 30th the army was back occupying Trenton and
planning the move on towards Princeton. Meanwhile there was a parade
and energetic officer persuasion of the troops to sign up for an
additional six weeks service for ten dollars of extra pay. General
Washington reporting to Congress said more than half of the soldiers
consented for this extra duty, but not Private How. Jan lst 1777
David collected his pay and vegetable money and started walking back
to New England through Morristown, Peekskill, Waterbury, Hartford,
and Concord to Haverhill. The trip took fifteen days of steady
walking and this ended his third enlistment. His first was as a
minuteman after Concord, the second as a Massachusetts militia man in
the last days of 1775, and the third as a member of the continental
army through 1776.
David must have been a real patriot because on September 29th
1777, a call went out for armed men to enlist, to come to the aid of
American General Gates who was charged with the task of defeating the
British General Burgogne in the Hudson River campaign, in which, as
you recall, Burgogne was coming down from Canada. David How signed
up and started marching to the Hudson River on October lst, his group
moved west across Massachusetts, then into southern Vermont getting
to Bennington on October 9th. There is no mention of crossing the
Hudson River but he reached Saratoga, New York, on October 11th. He
was assigned to Fort Edward getting there the next night, and
building camp on the 12th. The next day David reports that scouts
captured and brought in a number of British soldiers and loyalists.
The following day the scouts brought in 50 Indians who were carrying
silver, gold and blankets much to the financial gain of the
revolutionaries. On the 17th David's corps marched back to Saratoga
getting there just in time to receive the British troops as General
Burgogne surrendered.
By afternoon the same day David and his comrades were drawing
provisions for guarding the new prisoners on the long march back to
Boston. Starting on the 18th and marching through rain and sometimes
snow, having to wait for the wagons carrying the sick and wounded
prisoners, they finally reached Boston and turned over their
prisoners on Prospect Hill on November 6th, an eighteen day journey.
David How reached home in Haverhill the next day. He is not known to
have participated in any further aspects of the American Revolution.
You as recipients of this narrative might reasonably ask why
the deep interest in the revolutionary Hows. The answer is easy. The
author of this revolutionary journal is my great great great
grandfather. His grandson, my great grandfather, Francis Saltonstall
Howe graduated from Harvard Law School and came to Chicago from
Haverhill, Massachusetts, to make his fortune.
You might also be interested to know what happened to this
young patriot thrown back into civilian life at the ripe age of
nineteen years. After the war David How went to New London, New
Hampshire, purchased and cleared land in order to start a farm. He
and his young wife soon realized that they did not like the
wilderness so they sold the farm and moved back to Haverhill. David
began a leather business in the basement of a small shop on Water
Street. He always had shown a propensity to bargain and dicker, and
combining these skills with great industry and strict integrity he
soon developed a firm hold on business. From leather goods he
expanded to textiles, tools, and other articles for sale until he
became the largest trader in Haverhill. First he built a larger
store, then finally he built a whole block of stores. In 1812 he
was offered $l00,000 for the stock then in his stores but he refused.
Mr. How started a wholesale shoe manufacturing business which
may have been the beginning of the New England business enterprise
which still flourishes today. Besides his successful merchantile
activity David spent his extra time buying farm lands around
Haverhill and enjoyed being an intelligent agriculturalist. He
learned the value of liming his fields and loved to plant fruit
trees. He helped to found the local bank and was one of the partners
in building the Haverhill toll bridge over the Merrimack River.
David How died a respected businessman in 1842 in his eighty fifth
year.