Page 232 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

232 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

vanguard of a relief force coming from New York City.
On 29 August 1778, Hessian Private Johann Dohla noticed that the Americans no longer
returned cannon fire launched on their lines on nearby Honeyman Hill. Pigot ordered an im-
mediate counterattack with 2000 men in order to see if he could catch or damage the Ameri-
can army as it tried to make its escape off the island. Fighting a day long battle with American
forces as they withdrew up the island, the Americans fought a successful rear guard action
and were able get their forces completely off the island the following evening. The Hessians,
in particular, suffered heavy casualties in the fighting. Fleet Greene reported that the British
and Hessian troops further plundered the up-island inhabitants so that “families are destitute
of a bed to lie on.” 31
While recriminations flew back and forth as to whom was to blame for the Franco-Amer-
ican failure to take vulnerable Newport, life for the troops in the town and on the island
returned to mind-numbing routine once again. In fact, the British increased their number of
troops there to over 9000 men. In October 1778, Major Mackenzie observed that “we are left
in a Strange situation: Two of the three passages [in Narragansett Bay] are entirely open to
the enemy. The winter advancing & no provision made for the supplying the Garrison with
firing [wood]….No barracks provided, no materials to fit up any, nor any Straw for the troops
either while in the field, or when they come into quarters.” Fleet Green noted that the dearth
of winter fire wood forced many residents to leave town because the British refused to allow
the locals to buy wood or have it brought in from the countryside. 32
During December 1778, Newport was hit by a massive snowstorm that forever afterward was
known locally as the “Hessian storm.” The snow fell so fast and was so deep that Hessian guards
froze to death at their posts. Hessian Private Stephen Popp stated that the snow was 3 or 4 feet
deep, that 9 Hessians had froze to death and the regiments had numerous cases of frostbite. 33
On the last day of the year, 1778, Private Dohla noted that most of the town’s provisions
and food magazines for the troops had been exhausted. The “Hessian” storm had simply
exacerbated an increasingly desperate situation for soldiers and townsmen alike. Now, Major
General Prescott, exchanged as a prisoner of war, urged the local population to leave if they
had a place to go on the mainland. Dohla noted that “all of the trees that stood on this island,
and all of the garden fences, have been chopped down in order to supply the watches and the
troops stationed here with wood to ensure their lives. at present nothing can be brought here
from Long Island and Block Island because the French fleet has cut off all wood from the old
ferryboats. These were torn apart and the wood chopped out. We received only half wood
and half peat to burn.” Dohla also noted that throughout January 1779, his rations, due to
34
scarcity, had been severely reduced. It also may have been better if the locals had taken up
on his earlier offer to leave the city. On 9 February 1779, a number of locals were “pressed”
[forced] by sailors to serve in the Royal Navy.

31 Rockwell Stensrud, Newport: A Lively Experiment, 1639-1969, (Newport, RI: The Redwood Library, 2006),
213-217; Fleet Greene quoted in Stensrud, 217.
32 Mackenzie, Vol. II, 414; Stensrud, 219-220.
33 Stephen Popp, “Popp Journal, 1777 – December 1783,” translated by Joseph G. Rosengarten, in Pennsylva-
nia Magazine of History and Biography, 26, (Philadelphia, 1902), 25-41, 245-54.
34 Johann Dohla, 31 December 1778, 96.