The Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis

The Revolutionary War, which in its earlier years had been in great part confined to the North, was in its later years transferred to the South, which became the scene of its most important events. During 1779 active operations took place in both regions. In the South the British were endeavoring to reduce South Carolina and Georgia; in the North, Clinton and Washington stood opposed; and in the West Indies the fleets of England and France contended. The fall of Savannah was soon followed by the capture of Sunbury, which gave the British military command of Georgia. They were defeated in an attack upon Port Royal, but soon afterwards General Ash was defeated at Brier Creek, with the loss of nearly his whole army of two thousand men. General Prevost, the British commander, now marched on Charleston, but was compelled to retreat by the advance of the Americans under General Lincoln. In September, the French fleet, under Count D'Estaing, in concert with General Lincoln's army, laid siege to Savannah. The siege continued for a month, when an assault was made, in which the Americans were repulsed with severe loss. This forced them to raise the siege.

Meanwhile, in the North, desultory fighting continued, but no engagements of importance took place. Governor Tryon headed several expeditions, which resulted only in the barbarous plundering and burning of defenceless towns. During one of these occurred General Putnam's famous feat at Horse-Neck, Connecticut, in which he plunged at the full speed of his horse down a precipitous descent, without injury either from the desperate ride or from the bullets of the enemy. Another brilliant exploit was the capture by General Wayne of the fort at Stony Point, on the Hudson, which had some time before been taken by General Clinton. Wayne arrived near this fortress, unperceived by the garrison, on the evening of July 15. Dividing his force into two columns, and forbidding them to load their muskets, he marched them silently against the post. They were forced to wade through a deep morass, and while here were discovered by the English, who opened on them with a terrible fire of musketry and grape-shot. Yet without a moment's check they rushed impetuously forward, forced their way with the bayonet, and the two columns met in the centre of the fort, which instantly yielded. More than six hundred of the British were killed and taken, with a large amount of stores. Another important event of the year was General Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations, of whom only the Oneidas favored the Americans. He penetrated their country, defeated them in a severe encounter, burned their villages and corn, and so intimidated them that they gave much less trouble during the remainder of the war. During the summer Spain declared war against Great Britain, and joined her fleet to that of France.

In September of this year occurred the famous naval battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, which is of sufficient interest to describe in detail. With the exception of this one striking conflict, the naval history of the war is of secondary importance, as compared with the conflict on land. Early in the war the American Congress authorized privateering, and much damage was done to the British shipping by the active rovers of the seas. Efforts were also made to build fleets, and many actions took place at sea, but none of particular interest, during the first half of the war. John Paul Jones, the boldest of American naval commanders of that period, first entered the service on May 10, 1776, in command of the sloop-of-war Providence, one of the American squadron of thirteen war-vessels built in 1776. But he first attained celebrity in 1778, as commander of the Ranger, of eighteen guns. With this vessel, which is described as being crank and slow, he descended on the coasts of England and Scotland and made an effort to burn the shipping in the harbor of Whitehaven. This attempt proved unsuccessful. He afterwards attempted to seize the Earl of Selkirk, landing and taking possession of his house, from which the earl chanced to be absent. These daring operations created the greatest alarm along the English coast. The Ranger afterwards captured the sloop-of-war Drake, after a severe combat, and carried her prize safely into the harbor of Brest, though chased repeatedly.

The exploits of the captain of the Ranger yielded him so much celebrity that the French government soon after gave him command of the Duras, an old Indiaman of some size, which was placed under the American flag and fitted up as a ship of war, being armed with six eighteen-pounders, twenty-eight twelves, and eight nines. The vessel was old-fashioned and clumsy, and had a motley crew, from almost every nation of Europe, with one hundred and thirty-five marines to keep them in order. This ship, in company with four smaller vessels, the Alliance, the Pallas, the Cerf, and the Vengeance, of which only the Alliance and the Cerf were fitted for war, set sail from L'Orient on June 19, 1779. The name of the Duras had previously been changed to the Bon Homme Richard, in compliment to Franklin. After a short cruise the squadron returned, and sailed again on August 14. The Richard had now nearly one hundred Americans on board, gained from some exchanged American seamen.