Patrick Coots had no intention of risking his immense fortune
in a rebellion against what was then the strongest nation on earth.
When his young protégé resigned and expressed a desire to join the
Continental Army, Coots tried to talk Richard Anderson out of it.
Professional British soldiers would crush the rebellion in a matter of
months, the merchant reasoned. Leaders like Patrick Henry would
be hanged. The Anderson farm, along with the property of other
disloyal English citizens, would be confiscated.
Revolution promised
ruin. When it became clear that Coots could not change Richard
Anderson’s mind, he recommended the young man to Patrick Henry,
who urged Richard to accept the office of paymaster general. Anderson
refused, instead insisting he serve in the line and fight alongside his
brothers. His commission as captain of the Fifth Battalion, Regiment
of the Virginia Line, arrived in March 1776. By this time, Anderson
had enrolled most of his men from Hanover County.
The twenty-six-year-old captain was well prepared for the rigors
of war. He was of medium height but endowed with broad shoulders
and a muscular frame. His blue eyes sparkled with intelligence,
and his countenance was generally cheerful though serious. Richard
was known for being cool under pressure and braver than most men.
Years spent hunting in the woods of his childhood had made him
strong and resourceful. Life aboard ship had steeled his constitution
to disease and hardship. As he marched his troops north to meet
General Washington, Anderson expected that his men would soon
be tested.
Washington was reeling from the British success following the
Battle of Long Island. Forced repeatedly to retreat, the Continental
Army found itself facing yet another defeat at the Battle of White
Plains, New York, on October 28, 1776. Anderson’s troops saw
limited action. Morale was low, the army poorly trained, and the entire
state of New York about to be lost. Ninety percent of the troops
who had fought at Long Island were gone. Many had deserted.
Washington himself confided to his cousin,
John A. Washington, “I
think the game is pretty near up.” Perhaps Coots was right. This
revolution appeared to be over.
2
Continental troops retreated into New Jersey and Pennsylvania
while
General Washington prepared for one final attempt at reversing
his fortunes. The opportunity came near Trenton in December 1776.
Washington’s bold plan involved crossing the Delaware River in
terrible weather conditions to mount an attack on an inferior force of
Hessians. The main crossing was planned for the night of December
25.
General Adam Stephen had ordered Anderson to cross the previous
evening, scout in various directions for enemy pickets, avoid any
engagement with a superior force, and return via Trenton. It was a
dangerous and risky mission. The company had completed its
reconnaissance and was returning to camp when they passed a Hessian
outpost in the midst of a violent hail storm. Anderson’s troops killed
the sentry, wounded five others, and raised the alarm, which carried
back to the city. A few Hessians made a weak pursuit, but the
Continentals escaped back across the river. Those were the first shots
fired in the
Battle of Trenton.
On the march back to camp, Richard Anderson met Washington’s
main force, then in motion toward its fateful crossing. The
commanding general rode up and was visibly angry when he was told
of Anderson’s recent advance. He sent for General Stephen and
demanded an explanation, reportedly saying, “You sir, may have ruined
all my plans.” After Stephen admitted that he was responsible for the
action, Washington dismissed the general, exonerated Anderson, and
ordered his weary troops to the rear of the column. The young captain
never forgot Washington’s fair treatment during this episode.
Ironically, General Stephen’s poor judgment and Anderson’s
unauthorized scouting expedition actually worked in Washington’s favor.
Hessian colonel Johann Rall, thinking he had repulsed the planned
attack, relaxed his guard thus enabling the surprise attack that
ultimately would defeat him.
3
Washington took nearly nine hundred enemy prisoners that day and
moved back across the Delaware River to prepare for a British
counterattack. To thwart the movements of
General Charles Cornwallis
and his five thousand soldiers, Washington again moved his
six-thousand-man army across the river and established camp south of
the Assunpink Creek near Trenton. The Second Battle of Trenton, as
this contest came to be called, occurred on January 2, 1777. It was
another smashing success for the Americans. Washington’s troops
won this victory, a subsequent battle at Princeton, and then retired
to winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey. When the news of
these unexpected triumphs reached the other colonies, enlistments
swelled and the rebellion was saved.
Captain Anderson did not accompany his troops to their winter
camp. He had taken a ball from a large-bore German Yager musket
in the hip and was transported to a hospital in Philadelphia on a gun
carriage. While he recuperated in Philadelphia, he contracted a severe
case of smallpox. Not a handsome man to begin with, his absurdly
long nose and pock-marked face later earned Anderson the dubious
distinction as one of the ugliest men in the American army. He finally
left the hospital in May and rejoined his regiment at Morristown.
Thanks to General Washington’s heroics at Trenton, the war for
American independence continued, and Anderson was right in the
middle of it.
Richard Anderson served with
General Nathanael Greene at the
ill-fated
Battle of Brandywine Creek in the fall of 1777. There,
Washington made a strategic error, leaving his right flank exposed
and nearly losing his entire army. Greene’s division held off British
general
William Howe’s advance long enough for the Americans to
escape and fight another day. That day came three weeks later at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, when Washington tried in vain to dislodge
the British from their occupation of Philadelphia. Anderson
retired with his troops for a long, hard winter at Valley Forge,
content in the knowledge that the French, Poles, and other Europeans
were supporting their cause. The troops drilled and trained under
the
Marquis de Lafayette and
Friedrich William von Steuben, and
emerged from their winter quarters a much more effective fighting
force.
Anderson was promoted to major of the First Virginia on February
10, 1778. He and his new regiment saw action at the Battle of
Monmouth, New Jersey, in late June. It was a standoff that proved
that the American army was disciplined enough to hold its own in a
protracted, large-scale engagement. As the war continued, Anderson’s
services were always in high demand. In the fall of 1779, an alliance
between more than five hundred white, free black, and slave soldiers
from Saint-Domingue under the command of French Admiral Comte
d’Estaing and American troops commanded by
General Benjamin
Lincoln devised a plan to recapture the port of Savannah from the
British. Lincoln wanted Anderson and the First Virginia to join the
expedition. On the morning of October 9, the attack began.
The First Virginia was ordered to assault the British siege defenses
at the Spring Hill redoubt. The earthworks were soft and between
sixteen and eighteen feet high. Anderson admonished his troops to
refrain from firing until they reached the top of the embrasure. After
the bugle sounded, Anderson led his men in a scramble up the
mountain of soil. Very few made it. Major Anderson scaled the parapet
and was rewarded with a sword through the shoulder. The force
of the blow caused him to slide feet-first down the mound, striking
the ground so hard that he ruptured his abdomen. The attack was
abandoned. It was small consolation when Anderson’s body servant,
Spruce, shot and killed one of the defending grenadiers before
dragging his master from the ditch.
On his retreat, Major Anderson encountered Polish-born brigadier
general
Casimir Pulaski, later called the “father of American
cavalry.” Pulaski was credited with saving the life of
General
Washington as the result of his brave stand at Brandywine. The
Polish hero had been mortally wounded by grape shot as he tried
to defend retreating forces at Savannah. Anderson and Pulaski were
taken to the privateer
Wasp
, where Anderson stayed with him day
and night. Before he died, Pulaski gave his sword to Anderson in
gratitude for his friendship and service. The Savannah campaign was
a dismal failure. French and American forces blamed each other, and
the French admiral sailed away, leaving General Lincoln to his own
devices. The Americans retreated to Charleston to spend the winter,
while Anderson made another journey to the hospital. The major was
still recuperating when British generals Henry Clinton and Charles
Cornwallis and a force of fourteen thousand men and ninety ships
laid siege to Charleston on April 1, 1780.
Lincoln finally surrendered the city and his five thousand troops
on May 12. It was the greatest defeat suffered by the Americans in
the war. The invalid Anderson was thrown into Fort Moultrie and
given only three spoons and a tin plate. British officers gave him a
permit to fish for his own food, but a British guard tore it up, saying
that the fish were “too damned good for any rebel against the king.”
Anderson was finally exchanged after nine months of captivity. He
joined General Daniel Morgan’s command and eventually reached
Richmond, where he received yet another promotion, this time to
lieutenant colonel of Virginia’s Third Regiment.
4
As the focus of the war shifted to Virginia, Richard Anderson’s
knowledge of the countryside became highly valued. Washington appointed
him aide-de-camp to General Lafayette. The French marquis
was under pressure from
Cornwallis, so he abandoned Richmond in
order to protect his stores of supplies at Albemarle Court House. With
more than seven thousand British troops pressing him,
Lafayette called
on
General Anthony Wayne for assistance. “The boy cannot escape
me,” crowed Cornwallis. When Wayne was delayed, Lafayette sent
Anderson to urge him to move faster. Three days passed with no
movement, so the marquis ordered Wayne to move by forced march and
instructed Anderson to send him hourly reports of troop movements.
5
Anderson entered Wayne’s tent and immediately requested a pen,
ink, and paper. He told Wayne that he had been asked to repeat
the order to advance and asked what the contents of his first hourly
report should contain. Wayne was taken aback. “Do you mean to
insult me?” he asked Anderson. The aide replied that he was only
carrying out the orders of a superior officer. “Superior!” Wayne
fumed. “Superior! Do you dare call any damned foreigner, and a
boy, too, my superior?” A torrent of obscenities followed, in which
Wayne impugned Anderson for associating himself with a “fortune-seeking
Frenchman.” The general eventually lost all control, pacing
up and down in a ferocious rage. Little wonder his nickname was
“Mad Anthony.” After four such tirades had concluded, Anderson
suggested that the only hope for success in their cause was for every
officer to obey the orders of a superior. Wayne seemed about to
explode. Suddenly his expression changed from anger to excitement. He
responded to Anderson’s request by shouting, “I’ll jine him! Tell him
I’ll jine him! By God! Tell him I’ll jine him tomorrow!”
Wayne and eight hundred muskets arrived at Lafayette’s headquarters
and the Marquis took the offensive. He forced Cornwallis to retreat
to Yorktown as part of Clinton’s ill-advised attempt to hold both
New York and Virginia. Lafayette wrote to Washington: “It is the
most beautiful sight which I may ever behold.” Anderson had grown
close to Lafayette during six months of service. When Washington
ordered the aide to help Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. organize the
state militia, Anderson and Lafayette said their reluctant goodbyes.
Cornwallis surrendered and the war ended, but Lieutenant Colonel
Anderson stayed with the army until it disbanded in 1783.
6
Richard Anderson had served with great honor and bravery for
seven and a half years. He had witnessed many of the most important
events of the young nation’s fight for independence and was on
intimate terms with many of its most important military leaders. As
significant as his individual contributions to the Revolution were,
Anderson’s greatest legacy was the direction he gave to his children.
He had suffered many hardships to help win freedom for his fellow
Americans. His sons and daughters were expected to honor him by
making their own sacrifices in the service of their country.
R
ICHARD CLOUGH ANDERSON
returned home to Virginia a
changed man. His adventures on the high seas and on
countless battlefields were over. Only thirty-three years old, he
could not see himself leading a quiet life in the Virginia countryside.
His fellow founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati decided
that Anderson was the logical choice to take charge of land grants
due Virginia’s Revolutionary War veterans. In December of 1783,
Anderson signed a contract to become
surveyor-general of two tracts
of land in the west. The first was in Kentucky, between the Green and
Cumberland Rivers. The other tract lay between the Little Miami
and Scioto Rivers in Ohio’s Northwest Territory. When spring came,
Anderson loaded his belongings on seven pack horses and set out for
the Falls of Ohio (now Louisville) accompanied by three slaves. He
built a log cabin at the headwaters of Bear Grass Creek on a grant of
five hundred acres in what later became Jefferson County.
1