Any such offer, if made, would more probably have been made by Lord Howe, Commander of the British fleet, brother to General Howe, Commander of the Army. It is of record that he sent Commodore Hazlewood, of the Pennsylvania Navy, a summons to surrender, to which reply was made that he "would not surrender but defend to the last." A like summons to Barry, Commander of the Continental Navy, doubtless received a similar reply, but there is no known evidence or authoritative record that Barry was tempted to desert his country.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON GIVING COMMISSION TO BARRY]
PRAISE FOR BARRY'S SUCCESS--BRITISH DESTROY BARRY'S "EFFINGHAM" AND OTHER VESSELS ON THE UPPER DELAWARE--APPOINTED TO THE "RALEIGH"--PROTECTS THE COAST FROM NORTH CAROLINA TO MASSACHUSETTS--ENCOUNTER WITH TWO BRITISH FRIGATES--BARRY RUNS THE "RALEIGH" ASHORE--HIS ACTION APPROVED AND HIS BRAVERY DECLARED.
Barry's operations on the Delaware were of foremost importance at this period of gloom and darkness. The British were in possession of Philadelphia, the Capital of "the rebels." Washington's men were suffering the distress of Valley Forge, ill-fed and scantily clothed. Barry was destroying forage and capturing supplies. General Wayne was operating around Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey in a like endeavor.
"For boldness of design and dexterity of execution, Barry's operations were not surpassed, if equaled, during the war," says Frost's _Naval Biography_.
"The gallant action reflects great honor on Captain Barry, his officers and crew," wrote William Ellery, one of Massachusetts' delegates in Congress.
Colonel Laurens wrote his father telling of the deeds of Captain Barry, "to whom great praise is due." Washington reported to Congress "with great pleasure the success" of Captain Barry.
Captain Barry considered the Delaware Bay "the best place for meeting with success where he could use his little squadron." On the upper Delaware where the "Effingham," "Washington" and other Continental vessels had been sunk, near Bordentown, by order of General Washington, in April by his orders, also, the Pennsylvania Navy Board, directed that the galleys, shallops and brigs be dismantled and sunk, shot buried and stores lodged throughout New Jersey. All this after "a rather stubborn insistance on the part of the officers" against so doing, just as Captain Barry had protested. Later in the month Barry's "Effingham," the "Washington" and other Continental vessels were raised "from the soft bottom of the river," but on May 7, 1778, a British force, under Major Maitland, was sent from Philadelphia and burned twenty-one or more vessels and naval stores and destroyed all supplies.