Your affectionate husband.

The preparation of his will is expressive of his thoughts and feelings at the time, and it magnifies, also, the sacrifice he was making for his country.

It will be noticed that the letter to his wife is dated June 18, the day after the battle of Bunker Hill. He knew nothing of that battle, of course; and the fact shows all the more how rapidly public affairs were hastening to a crisis.

It was the 23d of June when he left Philadelphia, and just before leaving he addressed another brief letter to his wife, that furnishes a key to his heart:

PHILADELPHIA, June 23, 1775.

MY DEAREST,—As I am within a few minutes of leaving this city, I could not think of departing from it without dropping you a line, especially as I do not know whether it will be in my power to write again until I get to the camp at Boston. I go fully trusting in that Providence which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve, and in full confidence of a happy meeting with you in the fall. I have not time to add more, as I am surrounded by company to take leave of me. I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time nor distance can change. My best love to Jack and Nelly, and regards to the rest of the family, concludes me, with the utmost sincerity,

Your entire GEO. WASHINGTON.

Two thousand troops had gathered in Philadelphia, and he reviewed them before leaving. The whole two thousand escorted him out of the city, and a company of light-horse escorted him to New York, together with Generals Lee and Schuyler.

Twenty miles from Philadelphia he was met by a courier on horseback, bringing particulars of the battle of Bunker Hill.

"How many Americans were engaged in it?" Washington inquired.

"About twelve hundred only."

"Who led them?"

"General Prescott."

"How many were killed?"

"About four hundred and fifty were killed and wounded. The British lost more than half of their men."

"What officers fell?"

"The brave General Warren was one."

"Did the men fight well?"

"Never braver men met a foe."

"Then the liberties of our country are safe," added Washington.

As grand a welcome as could possibly be given, without the burning of powder, was tendered by the Provincial Assembly of New York and New Jersey. They could burn no powder because the Colony possessed but four barrels, having forwarded a thousand barrels to Cambridge for the use of the army.

Washington left General Schuyler in command at New York and hastened forward to Cambridge, for at New York he received a more detailed account of the battle of Bunker Hill. This information caused him to hasten his journey; and he reached Watertown, where the Legislature was sitting, on the second day of July. That body gave him an enthusiastic welcome, and presented a lengthy address to him, in which they spread out the deplorable condition of the army, pledging their prompt aid in its organization and discipline.

On the third day of July he was escorted by an imposing cavalcade to Cambridge, four miles distant, to take immediate command of the army. Notwithstanding the scarcity of powder, his arrival was announced by salvos of artillery; and the sight of him, in his splendid bearing, drew from the admiring thousands the heartiest cheers. The general of whom they had heard so much even more than met their expectations, and their joy knew no bounds.

Washington wheeled his noble charger under the shadow of the "Great Elm," where he formally took command of the Continental Army, thereby making the tree historic to this day. He was forty-three years of age at that time.

Mrs. John Adams was in Cambridge when Washington arrived, and she wrote of him as follows:

"Dignity, ease, and complacency, the gentleman and the soldier look, agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line and feature of his face. These lines of Dryden instantly occurred to me:

"'Mark his majestic fabric! He's a temple Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine; His soul's the deity that lodges there, Nor is the pile unworthy of the God.'"

Washington found General Artemas Ward in command, who informed him that, "We have fourteen thousand five hundred men, including the sick."

"How many troops of the king hold Boston?" Washington inquired.

"About eleven thousand of the best disciplined troops that England could send over."

"And how many inhabitants of Boston are there in the city now?"

"Seventeen thousand; and it is said that they are treated as rebels, except the Tories, who support the cause of the Crown. General Gage is in command, and Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne arrived with their last reinforcements."

"Gage was with me twenty years ago in the expedition against Duquesne," said Washington. "Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne are the best generals the king can send, I suppose."

"I judge so. At any rate this army is a mob compared to the royal army in Boston. Very few of them were ever in the service before. They know nothing about order and discipline, and care as little."

"They must learn both as quickly as possible," responded Washington. "An army without discipline can be little more than a mob. My first step will be to bring the army under rigid military discipline."

Washington, accompanied by General Lee, took immediate measures to acquaint himself with the condition of the army, and in an incredibly short time had it distributed thus: The right wing was stationed on the heights of Roxbury, under the command of Major-General Ward; the left wing was stationed on Winter and Prospect Hills, in what is now the city of Somerville, under command of Major-General Lee; while the centre, under Major-General Putnam, occupied Cambridge. The army was thus distributed over a line of some twelve miles in length.

The army was destitute of clothing, ammunition, and nearly everything for its comfort. The mass of them were dressed as they were clad when they left their farms and work-shops, a dirty, ragged collection of armed men, though resolute and brave. Their cry against the king's troops in Boston was:

"Shut them up! Starve them out! Drive them into their ships, and send their ships out to sea!"

To add to the disheartening situation, Charlestown lay in ashes, having been set on fire by the enemy's shells at the battle of Bunker Hill; there were no well-constructed works throughout the whole line of fortifications; insubordination was popular among the troops, who called it independence; and still worse, jealousies prevailed among the troops of different Colonies.

The larger part of the army, nearly ten thousand, belonged to Massachusetts, and they were in the worst plight of all. Washington made the following magnanimous apology for them:

"This unhappy and devoted province has been so long in a state of anarchy, and the yoke has been laid so heavily on it, that great allowances are to be made for troops raised under such circumstances. The deficiency of members, discipline, and stores can only lead to this conclusion: that their spirit has exceeded their strength."

A British officer wrote home:

"The rebel army are in so wretched a condition as to clothing and accoutrements, that I believe no nation ever saw such a set of tatterdemalions. There are few coats among them but what are out at elbows, and in a whole regiment there is scarce a whole pair of breeches."

Nevertheless, the material for an army in such a crisis was good. The famous General Nathaniel Greene of Rhode Island organized three regiments in that province after the Concord fight, and he was there with his men, "the best disciplined and appointed troops in the army." Connecticut also raised a respectable force, and put them under the command of General Israel Putnam, who left his plough in the furrow, and galloped off to Boston; and they were there. The brave Colonel Stark of New Hampshire, with his "Green Mountain boys," was there also. Other officers of ability were doing all they could with an undisciplined army, while the rank and file were eager to drive the foe out of Boston. A leader like Washington was needed to organize and manipulate this rough mass of material. A chief like him, too, was indispensable to elevate their moral condition; for drunkenness, revelry, lewdness, profanity, gambling, not to mention other evils, abounded.

The following was Washington's first order to the army:

"The Continental Congress having now taken all the troops of the several Colonies which have been raised, or which may be hereafter raised, for the support and defence of the liberties of America, into their pay and service, they are now the troops of the United Provinces of North America; and it is hoped that all distinctions of Colonies will be laid aside, so that one and the same spirit may animate the whole, and the only contest be, who shall render, on this great and trying occasion, the most essential service to the great and common cause in which we are all engaged. It is required and expected that exact discipline be observed, and due subordination prevail, through the whole army, as a failure in these most essential points must necessarily produce extreme hazard, disorder, and confusion, and end in shameful disappointment and disgrace. The general most earnestly requires and expects a due observance of those articles of war established for the government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing, and drunkenness. And in like manner he requires and expects of all officers and soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine service, to implore the blessing of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence."

Rev. William Emerson was a chaplain in the army, and he wrote as follows of the wonderful change Washington wrought in a short time:

"There is great overturning in the camp as to order and regularity. New lords, new laws. The Generals Washington and Lee are upon the lines every day. New orders from his Excellency are read to the respective regiments every morning after prayers. The strictest government is taking place, and great distinction is made between officers and soldiers.

"Every one is made to know his place and keep in it, or be tied up and receive thirty or forty lashes, according to his crime. Thousands are at work every day from four to eleven o'clock in the morning. It is surprising how much work has been done. The lines are extended almost from Cambridge to Mystic River, so that very soon it will be morally impossible for the enemy to get between the works, except in one place, which is supposed to be left purposely unfortified to entice the enemy out of their fortresses."

"The British army in Boston understand their business," remarked Washington to his secretary, Mr. Reed. "Their works are thoroughly constructed, and they seem to be provided with every thing that war requires." At that time he had reconnoitered until he had acquired quite a thorough knowledge of their defences.

"King George would not be likely to send over others," answered Reed. "He is too anxious to awe his rebellious subjects into submission to pursue another course."

"Well, they are in close quarters now," continued Washington, "although, if they understood our weakness, they might fight their way out, and annihilate the American army. I have just discovered that all the powder in the camp will not furnish the soldiers nine cartridges apiece."

"No more?" exclaimed Reed. "You surprise me!"

"You cannot be more surprised than I am. It is a fearful condition for this army to be in."

"How can it be so?" added Reed, still more surprised. "According to that, powder is scarcer than clothing."

"It is true, if my investigation does not mislead," responded Washington. "No army was ever in a condition so deplorable; and I would not dare to let my soldiers know the actual state of things, lest they become demoralized."

"Fortunate for us that so far they are in blissful ignorance of our condition," said Reed; "but this state of affairs must not be suffered to continue."

"Certainly not; I shall take immediate measures to remedy the evil."

And he did. Agents were sent in different directions to procure ammunition. A vessel was sent to the Bermudas for this purpose. Expeditions to capture British forts in this country and Canada were set on foot. The manufacture of powder was recommended by Congress.

At that time, the transportation of supplies for an army was a slow and tedious work. There were no railroads, and the facilities for transportation by horses and cattle were far inferior to those of the present day. For example, a little later, Henry Knox, who was a thriving book-seller in Boston when the British took possession of the city, and who fought bravely at Bunker Hill, was sent to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which the Americans had captured, to bring such artillery and ordnance stores as could be spared. He was instructed, also, to proceed to St. John and Montreal, both of which had just been captured by American expeditions under Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. It was in the depth of winter when Knox returned with over fifty cannon, mortars, and howitzers, and a quantity of lead and flints, loaded upon forty sleds, drawn by eighty yoke of cattle. Washington procured for Knox the commission of colonel soon after he undertook the enterprise.

Washington's headquarters were established at the CRAGIE HOUSE, a spacious building, favorably situated for the commander-in-chief. For many years it was owned by Professor Longfellow the poet, who died there some years since.

Order, sobriety, and religion regulated his headquarters. Morning and evening prayers were scrupulously maintained, and the whole appearance of the place indicated that the renowned occupant was a Christian.

Washington required the chaplains of all his regiments to conduct prayers morning and evening, and religious services on the Sabbath. The officers were required to see that their men attended all these services, since they were observed "for their good."

Early in the siege of Boston, when he felt that "if success ever crowns the American cause, it will be because an All-wise Providence controls the affairs of men," Washington advised the appointment of a day of fasting and prayer, to intercede for the blessing of God upon the little army at Cambridge. Congress appointed the day, and the commander-in-chief required its observance throughout the army. Religious services were held, all business suspended, and the day was made as quiet and religious as Sunday.

One of the earliest arrivals at the camp in Cambridge, after Washington took command, was from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, fourteen hundred sharp-shooters, as we should call them now. They were tall, stalwart men, dressed in fringed hunting shirts and round caps. They were received in camp with the wildest demonstrations of joy. A few weeks later a long, lumbering train of wagons, laden with military stores captured on the sea, came into camp. Washington had been forced to send out cruisers, by the action of General Gage in arming vessels to capture supplies along the American coast. One of his cruisers captured a brigantine ladened with munitions of war,—two thousand stand of arms, one hundred thousand flints, thirty thousand round shot, and thirty-two tons musket balls,—which were taken into Cape Ann, and transported from thence on wagons to Cambridge.

In this way, as well as by the action of Congress and the Provincial Legislatures, the army of Washington was strengthened and equipped. The British were so thoroughly entrenched in Boston, and their army so well disciplined and powerful, that it would have been foolhardy for Washington to attack them; besides, an attack would have resulted in burning the city and sacrificing the lives of many friends who lived there.

"British officers must understand that men fighting for their country are patriots, and not malefactors," remarked Washington to Mr. Reed, his secretary. "Cruelty to prisoners anyway is contrary to all the rules of civilized warfare."

"Well, we are 'rebels,' you know," replied Reed sarcastically, "and General Gage thinks that 'rebels' have no claim upon his clemency."

"Cruelty to prisoners is not confined to General Gage," responded Washington. "There is no doubt that the king holds Allen [Ethan] in irons, and his fellow-captives, which is treating prisoners of war as savages do."

Ethan Allen was the famous patriot who led two hundred and thirty men against Fort Ticonderoga, and captured it in May, 1775. He surprised the commander, and demanded an immediate surrender.

"By whose authority do you make this demand?" inquired the officer in charge.

"In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" shouted Allen.

He was captured by General Prescott in Canada.

"Were the king's forces in Boston to sally forth and conquer our army, the rules of civilized warfare would be of no account to them, I am thinking;" suggested Mr. Reed. "It behooves us to keep out of their clutches, or die in the attempt."

The cruelty of British officers to prisoners was the subject of frequent discussion between Washington and his advisers, and finally he wrote to General Gage as follows:

"I understand that the officers engaged in the cause of liberty and their country, who, by the fortune of war have fallen into your hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into a common jail, appropriated to felons; that no consideration has been had for those of the most respectable rank, when languishing with wounds and sickness, and that some have been amputated in this unworthy situation.... The obligations arising from the rights of humanity and claims of rank are universally binding and extensive, except in case of retaliation. These, I should have hoped, would have dictated a more tender treatment of those individuals whom chance or war had put in your power.... My duty now makes it necessary to apprise you that, for the future, I shall regulate all my conduct towards those gentlemen who are, or may be, in our possession, exactly by the rule you shall observe toward those of ours now in your custody.

"If severity and hardships mark the line of your conduct, painful as it may be to me, your prisoners will feel its effects. But if kindness and humanity are shown to us, I shall with pleasure consider those in our hands only as unfortunate, and they shall receive from me that treatment to which the unfortunate are ever entitled."

The reply of General Gage was characteristic of a conceited, ambitious, and domineering officer of the king, and Washington closed his reply to it with these words:

"I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with you, perhaps forever. If your officers, our prisoners, receive a treatment from me different from that which I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion of it."

Subsequently, Washington ordered British officers at Watertown and Cape Ann, who were at large on parole, to be confined in the jail at Northampton, explaining to them that it was not agreeable to his feelings of humanity, but according to the treatment of Americans whom the officers of the crown held as prisoners. But he could not tolerate even this mild form of retaliation, and therefore in a short time he revoked the order, and the prisoners were at large again.

"I was never more distressed in mind than I am now," remarked Washington to a member of his staff.

"Why so?"

"Within a few days this army will be reduced to less than ten thousand men by the expiration of enlistments," answered Washington; "and when we can ever attack Boston is a problem. For six months I have been waiting for powder, fire-arms, recruits, and what-not; and here we are with the 1st of January, 1776, right upon us, when several thousand soldiers will leave."

"A very discouraging fact indeed," answered the staff officer; "and how will you fill the breach created by their going?"

"That is what troubles me. We shall be forced to require soldiers whose term of enlistment expires, to leave their muskets, allowing them fair compensation for the same. And to encourage their successors to bring arms, we must charge each one of them who fails to bring his gun one dollar for the use of the one we provide."

"A novel way of recruiting and supplying an army, truly," said the staff officer.

"The only way left to us," remarked Washington.

"Yes; and I suppose that any way is better than none."

Washington wrote to a friend on the 4th of January:

"It is easier to conceive than to describe the situation of my mind for some time past and my feelings under our present circumstances. Search the volume of history through, and I much question whether a case similar to ours can be found; namely, to maintain a post against the power of the British troops for six months together without powder, and then to have one army disbanded and another raised within the same distance (musket shot) of a reinforced enemy.... For two months past I have scarcely emerged from one difficulty before I have been plunged into another. How it will end, God, in His great goodness, will direct. I am thankful for His protection to this time."

A few days later he wrote:

"The reflection of my situation and that of this army produces many an unhappy hour, when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in on a thousand accounts; fewer still will believe, if any disaster happens to these lines, from what cause it flows. I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if, instead of accepting the command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder and entered the ranks; or, if I could have justified the measure to posterity and my own conscience, had retired to the back country and lived in a wigwam."

Still, through his tact and indomitable perseverance, Washington found his army in a condition to attack Boston in March. He had vainly tried to induce the British troops to leave their comfortable quarters and come out to battle. He had so effectually cut off their supplies by his determined siege that the British Government was compelled to send supplies from home. But now he felt that the time for action had come. He called a council of war.

"Our situation compels action of some kind to save ourselves, even at great risk," he said to his advisers. "There is a cloud over the public mind, and there is danger on the north and on the south. Montgomery has fallen before Quebec, and our little army in Canada is depleted and broken. Tryon and the Tories are plotting mischief in New York, and Dunmore in Virginia. Clinton, too, is making depredations along the coast."

"And what do you propose?" inquired one.

"To attack Boston."

"And take the risk?"

"Yes; and take the risk, which will prove less, I believe, that the risk incurred by continual inaction."

"Do you propose an immediate movement?"

"On the 4th of March, the anniversary of the 'Boston Massacre.' It is a good time to avenge that wrong."

On the 4th of March, 1775, the British troops, who were often insolent and overbearing to the citizens of Boston, were attacked and stoned by indignant parties. A brief contest followed, in which four Americans were killed and several wounded. This was called the "Boston Massacre."

"I hope that your movement will be successful, but it is a hazardous one," suggested one of the council. "An attack all along the line?"

"By no means," answered Washington. "The project is hazardous indeed, but that is inevitable. On the night of March 3 I propose to take possession of Dorchester Heights, throw up breastworks, and by the time the enemy can see the Heights in the morning, be prepared to hold the position."

"And if the whole British army attack us, what then?"

"General Putnam shall have a force of four thousand men on the opposite side of the town, in two divisions, under Generals Sullivan and Greene. At a given signal from Roxbury, they shall embark at the mouth of Charles River, cross under cover of three floating batteries, land in two places in Boston, secure its strong posts, force the gates and works at the neck, and let in the Roxbury troops. This, in case they make a determined attempt to dislodge us."

Washington waited for a reply. The bold plan somewhat perplexed his advisers at first, and there was silence for a moment. At length one spoke, and then another, and still another, until every objection was canvassed. The plan was finally adopted, but kept a profound secret with the officers who were to conduct the enterprise.

We cannot dwell upon details. Agreeable to Washington's arrangement, when the expedition with tools, arms, supplies, and other necessaries was ready to move on the evening of March 3, a terrible cannonading of the British by the American army, at two different points, commenced, under the cover of which our troops reached Dorchester Heights without attracting the attention of the enemy. The reader may judge of the cannonading by the words of Mrs. John Adams, who wrote to her husband thus:

"I have just returned from Penn's Hill, where I have been sitting to hear the amazing roar of cannon, and from whence I could see every shell that was thrown. The sound, I think, is one of the grandest in nature, and is of the true species of the sublime. It is now an incessant roar.

"I went to bed about twelve, and rose again a little after one. I could no more sleep than if I had been in the engagement; the rattling of the windows, the jar of the house, the continual roar of twenty-four pounders, and the bursting of shells, give us such ideas, and realize a scene to us of which we could scarcely form any conception. I hope to give you joy of Boston, even if it is in ruins, before I send this away."

What the British beheld on the morning of March 4, to their surprise and alarm, is best told in the words of one of their officers.

"This morning at daybreak we discovered two redoubts on Dorchester Point, and two smaller ones on their flanks. They were all raised during last night, with an expedition equal to that of 'the genii' belonging to Alladin's wonderful lamp. From these hills they command the whole town, so that we must drive them from their post or desert the place."

The British general, Howe, exclaimed:

"The rebels have done more work in one night than my whole army would have done in a month."

General Howe had superseded General Gage some time before this exploit.

Quickly as possible, General Howe began to bombard the new fortifications on Dorchester Heights. All through the day he cannonaded the little American army, and, under the cover of the bombardment, prepared to land twenty-five hundred picked men at night, and carry the Heights by storm. His guns did little damage, however, through the day. Washington was present in person, encouraging the soldiers, and directing them in strengthening the fortifications.

Under the darkness of night General Howe sent twenty-five hundred of his best soldiers, in transports, to capture the "rebel works." But a furious northeast storm arose, and beat upon them with such violence that it was impossible to land. They were compelled to postpone the attack until the next night. But the storm continued, and even increased. The wind blew a gale and the rain descended in torrents all through the following day and night, shutting up the enemy within their own quarters, and allowing the Americans time to multiply their works and render them impregnable.

When the storm ceased, an English officer declared that the Americans were invincible in their strong position. That General Howe was of the same opinion is evident from the fact that he decided to evacuate Boston.

Had General Howe been able to land his troops on the first night, as he planned, there is little doubt that Washington would have been driven from the Heights as the Americans were driven from Bunker Hill, so that the intervention of the storm seemed peculiarly providential. When Washington issued his order, months before, for the strict observance of the Sabbath and daily religious service by the army, General Lee, who was a godless scoffer, remarked, derisively, "God is on the side of the heaviest battalions."

But in this case the storm favored the weakest battalions.

General Howe conferred with the authorities of Boston, and promised to evacuate the city without inflicting harm upon it if the Americans would not attack him. Otherwise he would commit the city to the flames, and leave under cover of the mighty conflagration. Washington wrote to him:

"If you will evacuate the city without plundering or doing any harm, I will not open fire upon you. But if you make any attempt to plunder, or if the torch is applied to a single building, I will open upon you the most deadly bombardment."

Howe promised: yet such was the disposition of the British soldiers to acts of violence, that he was obliged to issue an order that soldiers found plundering should be hanged on the spot; and he had an officer, with a company of soldiers and a hangman, march through the streets, ready to execute his order.

It was not, however, until the 17th of March that the embarkation of the British army commenced. About twelve thousand soldiers and refugees embarked in seventy-eight vessels. The refugees were Americans who favored the British cause (called Tories), and they did not dare to remain in this country. Washington wrote about these refugees:

"By all accounts there never existed a more miserable set of beings than those wretched creatures now are. Taught to believe that the power of Great Britain was superior to all opposition, and that foreign aid was at hand, they were even higher and more insulting in their opposition than the regulars. When the order was issued, therefore, for embarking the troops in Boston, no electric shock, no sudden clap of thunder, in a word, the last trump, could not have struck them with greater consternation. They were at their wits' end; chose to commit themselves, in the manner I have above described, to the mercy of the waves at a tempestuous season, rather than meet their offended countrymen."

With exceeding joy Washington beheld the "precipitate retreat" of the British army from Boston, but fired not a gun. One of General Howe's officers wrote afterwards:

"It was lucky for the inhabitants now left in Boston that they did not, for I am informed that everything was prepared to set the town in a blaze had they fired one cannon."

We have intentionally passed over several incidents, with the rehearsal of which we will bring this chapter to a close.

When Washington assumed the command of the American army, he left his Mount Vernon estate in charge of Mr. Lund Washington, continuing to direct its management by correspondence. He expected to return to his home in the autumn, and so encouraged his wife to believe. But in this he was sorely disappointed. His thoughtful and benevolent character appears in one of his early letters to his agent:

"Let the hospitality of the house with respect to the poor be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessaries, provided it does not encourage them to idleness; and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year, when you think it is well bestowed. What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire that it should be done."

Many Americans feared that the enemy might send a war vessel up the Potomac and destroy the Mount Vernon residence and capture Mrs. Washington. She was earnestly advised to leave, and repair to a place of safety beyond the Blue Ridge. But Washington sent for her to come to him at Cambridge.

She was four weeks travelling from Mount Vernon to Cambridge. She performed the journey in her own carriage, a chariot drawn by four fine horses, with black postilions in scarlet and white liveries. This was an English style of equipage, and the public sentiment of that day demanded that the commander-in-chief should adopt it. She was accompanied by her son, and was escorted from place to place by guards of honor. Her arrival in Cambridge was the signal for great rejoicing. The army received her with the honors due to her illustrious husband.

She immediately took charge of Washington's headquarters, and soon became as popular in the domestic and social circle as her husband was in camp and field. It was at Cambridge that she was first called "Lady Washington."

As an illustration of Washington's rigid discipline, an incident is related of his manner of suppressing a disturbance. It was during the winter he was besieging Boston.

A party of Virginia riflemen met a party of Marblehead fishermen. The dress of the fishermen was as singular to the riflemen as that of the riflemen was to the fishermen, and they began to banter each other. Snow-balls soon began to fly back and forth, and finally hard blows were interchanged. A melee occurred, in which a thousand soldiers participated.

Hearing of the disturbance, Washington hastened to the scene, and, leaping from his horse, he seized two burly Virginians by the neck, and held them out at arm's length, at the same time administering a rebuke in words that scattered the combatants as suddenly as a cannonade would have done.

The British army committed many depredations in Boston during the year they held possession of it. They tore out the pulpit and pews of the Old South Church, and converted it into a riding-school for General Burgoyne's light-horse regiment. They took down the North Church and used it for fuel. They used up about three hundred wooden houses in the same way.

In the winter a theatre was established for the entertainment of the British soldiers. At one time a British officer wrote a farce entitled, "The Blockade of Boston," to be played on a given evening. It was a burlesque upon Washington and the American army. It represented the commander-in-chief of the American army as an awkward lout, equipped with a huge wig, and a long, rusty sword, attended by a country booby as orderly sergeant, in a rustic garb, with an old fire-lock seven or eight feet long.

The theatre was filled to overflowing on the night the farce was announced. It happened that, on the same night, General Putnam sent a party of two hundred men to surprise and capture a British guard stationed at Charlestown. His daring exploit was successful, though his men were fired upon by the garrison of the fort. The thunder of artillery caused a British officer to believe that the Yankees were in motion, and he rushed into the theatre, crying, "The Yankees are attacking Bunker Hill!"

At first the audience supposed that this announcement was part of the play. But General Howe, who was present, undeceived them by calling out, "Officers, to your alarm posts!"

The farce turned out to be tragedy, and the curtain fell upon the scene. The audience scattered like a flock of sheep.

The failure of the British to hold Boston was extremely mortifying to General Howe and the English Government. When the king's regiments first took possession of the city, one of the officers wrote home:

"Whenever it comes to blows, he that can run the fastest will think himself well off, believe me. Any two regiments here ought to be decimated if they did not beat in the field the whole force of the Massachusetts Province."

General Gage said to the king, before leaving England to take command of the forces in Boston, "The Americans will be lions so long as the English are lambs. Give me five regiments and I will keep Boston quiet."

When General Burgoyne was sailing into Boston Harbor to join his king's army, and his attention was called to the fact that a few thousand undisciplined "rebels" were besieging a town garrisoned by five or six thousand British regulars, he exclaimed in derision:

"What! ten thousand peasants keep five thousand king's troops shut up? Well, let us get in and we'll soon find elbow-room."

He failed to find "elbow room" until he put out to sea.

To be driven out of Boston, when such a result was considered impossible by the foe, was doubly humiliating to the sons of Great Britain. It was proportionably glorious to American patriots, and they took possession of the city with exultation and devout thanksgivings to God.

Congress unanimously adopted a eulogistic resolution, rehearsing the valor and achievements of the commander-in-chief, and ordered a gold medal, with appropriate inscription, to be struck off, and presented to him as a token of the country's gratitude.



XVIII.

DEFENDING NEW YORK.

"What next?" inquired General Putnam.

"That is a difficult question to answer until I know General Howe's destination," replied Washington.

"Then you don't think he is going home?" continued Putnam facetiously.

"Not yet, though I wish he might; then I would go home, too."

"But seriously, where do you think he is going?" urged Putnam.

"I fear that he is bound to New York, for that is a port more important to him than even Boston." Washington spoke as if he were greatly perplexed.

"Well," added Putnam in his resolute way, "if he is bound for New York it won't do for us to be fooling about here long."

"No; and if I were certain that his destination were there, I should put you in command of that post at once," said Washington. "Besides the importance of the position to him, the large number of Tories in that town is a great inducement for him to strike there. Governor Tryon has been plotting something with them, and who knows but his appearance there will be the signal for them to rise against their own country."

"Just like 'em," answered Putnam. "A man who will turn against his own country ought to dangle at the end of a halter. With the British army outside, and hundreds of traitors inside, New York will make a poor show."

"There is no telling what a strong defence of the town can be made with the Lord on our side. My hope is in the righteousness of our cause."

Washington called a council of war in his perplexity. He laid before his military advisers his reasons for supposing that the foe, driven from Boston, had sailed for New York.

"The English will be chagrined over their defeat here, after all their boasting," said Washington, "and we may expect heavier blows in future somewhere. The king will not suffer 'rebels' to remain unmolested. We do well to expect that in future the king will concentrate the military power of his government and hurl it upon us to bring us to terms."

It was finally determined to put General Putnam in command at New York, and he was hurried away, with all the troops in Boston but five regiments, and instructions to complete the fortifications commenced by General Lee. Two or three months before, in consequence of the appearance of a British fleet, under Clinton, in the harbor of New York, and the secret plottings of Governor Tryon and the Tories, Washington placed General Lee in command there. Lee at once arrested leading Tories, and sent them to prison, threatening all the rest, in his fiery way, with similar punishment if they continued to aid the enemy. Governor Tryon fled to a British man-of-war in the harbor, accompanied by several of his political advisers, and from those new headquarters he continued secret intercourse with the Tories. New dangers soon arising farther south, General Lee was transferred to the Southern Military Department, with headquarters at Williamsburg.

Such was the state of affairs in New York when General Putnam took command, with not more than eight thousand available troops in the town and vicinity.

Washington ordered three thousand militia to go to his aid from Connecticut, and as soon as he could arrange affairs in Boston he himself hastened to New York with his body-guard, where he arrived on the thirteenth day of April.

Before this time he had learned that General Howe proceeded to Halifax, to await large reinforcements from Great Britain; that his brother, Admiral Howe, with his naval fleet, would join him there, and then the great army would sail for New York.

He did not know, however, at that time, what the British Government was doing "to crush the rebels in North America." He learned afterwards that the king, stung to madness by the failure of his army in Boston, resolved to avenge the defeat by a terrible blow upon New York. He hired seventeen thousand Hessians to join the army, paying them liberally for their services, and these hirelings would swell the invading army to startling proportions.

Notwithstanding the evacuation of Boston, the cause of the patriots never seemed more hopeless than it did when the British army, under the two Howes, appeared below New York.

"Our army in Canada is beaten and shattered," Washington said, "and our cause is lost there. Here it is difficult to tell friend from foe. It is claimed that half of the people in New York are Tories, and what communications they may have with the British army, through Tryon, it is impossible to tell. We have not half the men absolutely required to hold this position, and what we have are poorly clad and equipped, and not half fed. Then we have reason to suspect that the enemy will come with greater inhumanity to man, and that fire and sword will do a more fearful work than ever. What some of the British officers are capable of doing in the way of fiendish devastation was shown in Boston, when the burning of every town between that city and Halifax was ordered, and Portland was laid in ashes."

Washington wrote to his brother:

"We expect a bloody summer in New York and Canada; and I am sorry to say that we are not, either in men or arms, prepared for it. However, it is to be hoped that, if our cause is just, as I most religiously believe, the same Providence which has in many instances appeared for us will still go on to afford us its aid."

Congress was in session at Philadelphia, and Washington went thither to confer with members concerning the summer campaign, and to plead for aid. Through his influence, Congress added twenty-three thousand militia to the army, including a flying camp of ten thousand.

In the midst of these troubles a conspiracy of startling magnitude was discovered. "A part of the plot being," says Sparks, "to seize General Washington and carry him to the enemy." Rev. John Marsh of Wethersfield, Conn., wrote and published the following account of the affair:

"About ten days before any of the conspirators were taken up, a woman went to the general and desired a private interview. He granted it to her, and she let him know that his life was in danger, and gave him such an account of the conspiracy as gained his confidence. He opened the matter to a few friends on whom he could depend. A strict watch was kept night and day, until a favorable opportunity occurred, when the general went to bed as usual, arose about two o'clock, told his lady that he was going with some of the Provincial Congress to order some Tories seized, desired she would make herself easy and go to sleep. He went off without any of his aides-de-camp, except the captain of his life-guard; was joined by a number of chosen men, with lanterns and proper instruments to break open houses; and before six o'clock next morning had forty men under guard at the City Hall, among whom was the mayor of the city, several merchants, and five or six of his own life-guard. Upon examination, one Forbes confessed that the plan was to assassinate the general and as many of the superior officers as they could, and to blow up the magazine upon the appearance of the enemy's fleet, and to go off in boats prepared for that purpose to join the enemy."

Thomas Hickey, one of Washington's own guard, was proved to be a leader in the plot, and he was sentenced to be hung. The sentence was executed on the twenty-eighth day of June, in a field near Bowery Lane, in the presence of twenty thousand people.

On the same day four of the enemy's warships dropped anchor in the bay. The next morning there were forty ships, and they continued to arrive until one hundred and thirty vessels of war and transports could be distinctly seen with a glass. The British troops were landed on Staten Island, where nearly all the people were Tories, although they had professed to be patriots.

While these warlike preparations were going forward, the American Congress was discussing the most important subject ever considered by a legislative body—that of American independence; and on the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

The discussion upon the adoption of this important document was conducted in secret session. The people outside knew what was before the Assembly, and there was great excitement. For hours citizens gathered about the State House, awaiting the decision with the utmost anxiety. A man was stationed in the steeple of the building to ring the bell when the decisive vote was declared. The bell was imported from England twenty-three years before, and bore this inscription:

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof."

When the bell pealed forth the glad news that the Declaration of Independence was adopted, the joy of the people knew no bounds. The tidings spread from town to town, and awakened the most hearty response. On the ninth day of July, Washington caused the Declaration to be read at the head of each regiment, and it revived their drooping hopes more than the arrival of ten thousand recruits.

In their outburst of gladness, the soldiers indulged themselves in some excesses. There was a leaden statue of George III, in the Bowling Green, which they tore from its pedestal, and cut up, to run into bullets. Washington thought it was an unnecessary act of violence, denoting insubordination and recklessness, and he rebuked the deed by an order, in which he said:

"The general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country."

One day, before the engagement came on, General Putnam was crossing a field, which is now the "Park," when his attention was called to a company of artillery on drill. Observing the company for several minutes, he remarked to the commander:

"A well-disciplined company!"

"With some more practice they will be," the commander replied modestly.

"Have they attained to this excellence of drill under your command?" General Putnam asked, noticing that the officer could not be more than twenty years of age.

"Yes, sir; I have enjoyed some opportunities to study military science."

"Where?"

"First in the West Indies, where I was born. I was a merchant's clerk there, but longed for a military life, and finally I seized upon the first opportunity to study such books as I could find. After I came to this country my desire for military service did not abate, and I joined Captain Fleming's company."

"General Washington must know you," responded Putnam as he moved on.

We have introduced this incident here because the young commander was Alexander Hamilton, who became identified with the history of our country. He came to this country at fifteen; entered King's College, where he was the best scholar; joined one of the first volunteer companies organized in New York, and became so efficient that he was made captain of the artillery company he was drilling when General Putnam met him. He was not twenty years old at that time. Subsequently he became one of Washington's wisest counsellors. "In him were united," says another, "the patriot, the soldier, the statesman, the jurist, the orator, and philosopher, and he was great in them all."

British ships of war continued to arrive, bringing Hessians and Scotch Highlanders to swell the king's army. Still no particular movement to capture the city was made.

On the 21st of July, Washington heard from Sir Henry Clinton's fleet. Clinton left the British army in Boston, in December, 1775, and unexpectedly appeared in the harbor of New York, as we have stated. However, after a conference with Governor Tryon, he sailed south, saying that he had no intention of attacking New York.

Clinton soon appeared in Charleston Harbor, part of an expedition against South Carolina, under Sir Peter Parker, and in a few days joined in attacking the fort, six miles below the city. The fort was commanded by Sir William Moultrie. It was attacked with both fleet and army, on the twenty-eighth day of June, by one of the most terrible bombardments ever known at that time. An experienced British officer said, "It was the most furious fire I ever heard or saw."

A few days before, General Charles Lee advised abandoning the fort.

"A mere slaughter-house!" he exclaimed to Governor Rutledge, who was a true patriot. "A mere slaughter-house! A British man-of-war will knock it to pieces in half an hour!"

"Nevertheless, holding that fort is necessary to the defence of the city and State," answered Rutledge. "The fort must be held." He sent for Moultrie.

"General Moultrie, what do you think about giving up the fort?" he inquired, repeating the advice of General Lee.

Moultrie was indignant, and he replied:

"No man, sir, can have a higher opinion of British ships and seamen than I have. But there are others who love the smell of gunpowder as well as they do. Give us a plenty of powder and ball, sir, and let them come on as soon as they please."

"You shall have plenty of powder and ball," answered Rutledge, as he sent Moultrie back to his post.

The guns of Fort Moultrie riddled the British ships, and covered their decks with the dead and dying. One hundred and seventy-five men were killed on board the fleet, and as many more wounded. The Americans lost but thirty-five, and held the fort. A braver garrison never met a foe. Sergeant Jaspar saw the flag shot away, and leaped down upon the beach, snatched it up, and returned it to its place, shouting:

"Hurrah, boys! Liberty and America forever!" Governor Rutledge rewarded him with a sword.

Sergeant McDonald was terribly shattered by a cannon-ball, and he called out with his dying breath, "I die, but don't let the cause of liberty die with me!"

The enemy's fleet was driven off in a shattered condition. The commander was so deeply humiliated that even his black pilots insulted him. Weems says that he called to one of them:

"Cudjo, what water have you there?"

"What water, massa? what water? Why, salt water, sure sir! sea water always salt water, ain't he, massa?"

"You black rascal, I knew it was salt water; I only wanted to know how much water you have there?"

"How much water here, massa? how much water here? God bless me, massa! Where I going get quart pot for measure him?"

The commander, even in his chagrin and trouble, could not but laugh at Cudjo's idea of measuring the Atlantic ocean with a quart pot.

This discomfited fleet returned to New York and joined the British army.

When the news of the signal victory of the patriots at Moultrie reached Washington, he announced it to the army, and said:

"With such a bright example before us of what can be done by brave men fighting in defence of their country, we shall be loaded with a double share of shame and infamy if we do not acquit ourselves with courage, and manifest a determined resolution to conquer or die."

A detachment of the army was sent to construct works from Wallabout Bay to Red Hook. Washington rode out one day to inspect the defences, when he approached a subaltern officer who was directing his men to raise a heavy timber to its place. Instead of lending a helping hand, the conceited fellow stood, shouting:

"Hurrah, boys, n-o-w, right up, h-e-a-v-e," etc.

"Why do you not lend a helping hand?" said Washington, whom the officer did not know.

"What, sir! I lend a helping hand?" exclaimed the official sprig. "Why, sir, I'll have you know that I am corporal!"

Washington leaped from his saddle, laid hold of the timber with the men, and helped lift it to its place. Then turning to the "corporal," he said sarcastically:

"Mr. Corporal, my name's George Washington. I have come over from New York to inspect the works here; so soon as you have done this piece of work, you will meet me at your commander's, General Sullivan's quarters."

Washington despised officers who felt above their business.

On a flying visit to Connecticut, he failed to reach his destination on Saturday night. Early Sunday morning he completed the few remaining miles of his journey. On his way, a tithing man came out of a house and inquired of the coachman:

"Is there any necessity of your travelling on the Lord's Day?"

Washington ordered his coachman to stop, and replied:

"I have no intention of breaking the laws of Connecticut; they meet my most cordial approbation. But I was disappointed in not being able to reach my destination last night, where I shall attend church."

Washington waited and waited for the enemy to move, and wondered that he did not. Putnam wrote to Gates:

"Is it not strange that those invincible troops who were to lay waste all the country, with their fleets and army, dare not put their feet on the main?"

About this time General Washington made the following address to his army:

"The time is now near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness, from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of a brave resistance or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die. Our own, our country's, honor calls upon us for a vigorous and manly action; and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us then rely upon the goodness of our cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions."

The American army had grown by this time to over twenty thousand men poorly equipped and fed, though not more than fifteen thousand were available for immediate action. Congress was slow to provide supplies, and everything dragged. Many of the men carried only a spade, shovel or pick-axe. At the call of the country, they responded with shovels in hand, having no guns. They could throw up works, though destitute of arms to repel the foe. It was this destitute condition of our army that led a British officer to write home derisively:

"The rebels are armed with scythes and pitchforks."

To rebuke the growing vice and recklessness of the army, Washington issued the following order:

"The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will by example, as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impiety and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it."

On the 17th of August Washington observed a movement of the enemy.

"They are embarking," he said to one of his aides, "bound for some point. Thirty thousand of them will be able to crush us if, as General Lee says, 'God is on the side of heavy battalions.'"

He was not long in doubt concerning their destination, for they landed at Long Island.

"They mean to capture Brooklyn Heights," exclaimed Washington; "their designs are clear enough now."

"The city is at their mercy if they once capture that position," replied "Old Put," as the soldiers called General Putnam. "They must not be suffered to gain that position."

"You must go to General Sullivan's aid with six battalions, all the force we can spare," said Washington. "There is no time to be lost."

In anticipation of such a movement, Washington had stationed a body of troops on Brooklyn Heights under General Greene; but the latter was taken sick, and General Sullivan succeeded him, and now General Putnam was placed in command. No more men could be sent to Brooklyn Heights, because Washington expected the British fleet would attack the city.

He received the following message from General Livingston of New Jersey:

"I saw movements of the enemy on Staten Island, and sent over a spy at midnight, who brought back the following intelligence: Twenty thousand men have embarked to make an attack on Long Island, and up the Hudson. Fifteen thousand remained on Staten Island, to attack Bergen Point, Elizabethtown Point, and Amboy." The spy heard the orders read and the conversation of the generals. "They appear very determined," added he, "and will put all to the sword."

Again, in expectation of an immediate attack, he addressed the army to inspire them with determined valor, and said:

"The enemy have landed upon Long Island, and the hour is fast approaching on which the honor and success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding country, depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of liberty; that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men. It is the general's express orders that, if any man attempt to skulk, lie down, or retreat without orders, he be instantly shot down for an example."

Fifteen thousand British troops landed and advanced to seize the Heights. It was on the twenty-first day of August, 1776. A terrific battle of seven days followed, in which the slaughter and suffering were fearful. Alternate victory and defeat were experienced by both sides. Sometimes it was a hand-to-hand fight with bayonets. As Washington beheld a detachment of his heroic men pierced to death by Hessian bayonets, he wrung his hands in an agony of spirit, and exclaimed:

"O good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose!"

There were but five thousand Americans pitted in this battle against fifteen thousand British, and yet they fought seven days.

On the twenty-eighth day of August, the British moved their line of battle to within a mile of the Yankee breast-works on the Heights. The capture of the Heights, with all the American soldiers, seemed inevitable. Between them and New York was the East River, which the enemy's fleet commanded. Before them was the foe, numbering three to one. To human view there was no hope for the brave little army of patriots.

But on that night a storm arose, and a dense fog enveloped the Heights. Early in the evening the rain began to fall, and, together, fog and rain created a dismal scene. At the same time a brisk breeze sprang up, sufficient to waft the boats across to the New York side. If anything more were needed to prove that God was favoring the smallest battalions, it was the fact that the night was clear on the New York side of the river.

"God is propitious to-night," said Washington to Putnam in a hopeful tone. "Under cover of this darkness we must cross the river and save our army."

"Our only salvation," replied Putnam.

Washington superintended the retreat personally, and, as the fog did not clear away until ten o'clock on the following day, his whole force, with guns and ammunition, were carried across the river before the enemy discovered the retreat. This retreat was regarded as one of the most signal achievements of the war. Sparks says, in his "Life of Washington:"

"The retreat, in its plan, execution, and success, has been regarded as one of the most remarkable military events in history, and as reflecting the highest credit on the talents and skill of the commander. So intense was the anxiety of Washington, so unceasing his exertions, that for forty-eight hours he did not close his eyes, and rarely dismounted from his horse."

"We cannot hold New York," said Washington, at a council of war he called immediately. "We are at the mercy of the enemy on every hand."

"From Brooklyn Heights British guns can lay this city in ashes," added Putnam.

"That is true; but the Howes will never order that destruction so long as half the citizens are Tories," replied Washington.

"Sure enough; that is a voucher against such a measure," responded Putnam. "But if thirty thousand well-armed and well-fed British troops, having possession of all the land and water around Manhattan Island, can't capture this small and undisciplined army, they don't deserve the name of soldiers."

"And now our men are disheartened," continued Washington. "We lost nearly two thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing, on Brooklyn Heights, and many of those who escaped have deserted. We must evacuate the city."

"And leave it in flames," added Putnam.

"Yes, apply the torch," said another; "we must do it in self-defence. What a strong position against us it will afford to the enemy!"

Washington saw reasons for adopting this extreme measure, but he could not take the responsibility. He did write to Congress about it, however, as follows:

"If we should be obliged to abandon the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy? They would derive great convenience from it on the one hand, and much property would be destroyed on the other. At the present, I dare say, the enemy mean to preserve it if they can."

On the tenth day of September, Congress voted to leave the fate of the city in Washington's hands, and he left it unharmed.

Concerning the alarming desertions after the retreat from Brooklyn Heights, he wrote, in humane extenuation of the deserters' offence:

"Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, and unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill, are timid, and ready to fly from their own shadows. Besides, the sudden change in their manner of living brings on an unconquerable desire to return to their homes."

Establishing his headquarters at King's Bridge, Washington superintended the retreat from New York, which was accomplished without the loss of anything except his heaviest cannon.

Colonel Humphreys wrote: "I had frequent opportunities that day of beholding Washington issuing orders, encouraging the troops, flying on his horse covered with foam, wherever his presence was most necessary. Without his extraordinary exertions the guards must have been inevitably lost, and it is possible the entire corps would have been cut in pieces."

He made a noble stand at Harlem Heights for three weeks, where he had several encounters with the foe. In one of these, two of his most brilliant officers were killed, Colonel Knowlton and Major Leith. Knowlton's last words were, "Did we drive the enemy in?" Speaking of Colonel Knowlton reminds us of an incident.

Soon after the retreat from Brooklyn, Washington said to Knowlton:

"It is important for me to know the strength of the enemy on Long Island. Can you name a trusty man who will find out?"

"I can," answered Knowlton. "If he will consent, he is just the man for such service."

"Send him to me immediately."

Within a short time Nathan Hale of Connecticut, one of the bravest and most promising young officers in the army, presented himself to the general.

"Can you ascertain for me the number and strength of the British on Long Island?" asked Washington.

"I think I can," replied Hale; "I am willing to try."

"You understand that it will cost your life if the enemy capture you. It is serious business."

"I understand. I understood that when I entered the army," was young Hale's cool and heroic reply.

"Go, then, and quickly as possible obtain the information I so much need."

Hale went to Long Island in the capacity of a schoolmaster, obtained the information that Washington desired, and on his return was discovered and arrested as a spy. Without trial or court-martial he was executed, in extremely aggravating circumstances.

"A clergyman, whose attendance he desired, was refused him; a Bible, for a moment's devotion, was not procured though he requested it. Letters which on the morning of his execution, he wrote to his mother and sister, were destroyed; and this very extraordinary reason was given by the provost-martial, 'that the rebels should not know that they had a man in the army who could die with so much firmness.' Unknown to all around him, without a single friend to offer him the least consolation, as amiable and as worthy a young man as America could boast was thus hung as a spy." His last words were:

"I lament only that I have but one life to give to the cause of liberty and the rights of man."

Soon after Washington withdrew his defeated army to Harlem Heights, he heard cannonading at the landing, where breastworks had been thrown up. Springing upon his horse, he galloped away in the direction of the firing, and, before he reached the place, he met his soldiers in full retreat before a squad of British, numbering not more than sixty or seventy. He drew his sword, and with threats, endeavored to rally them; but in vain. He was so shocked by their cowardice, and so determined to repel the foe, that he would have dashed forward to his death, had not his aides seized the reins of his charger, and turned him in the other direction.

On the 20th of September, after the British took possession of New York, a fire started one night in a drinking saloon, where soldiers were revelling (perhaps celebrating their triumphal entry into the city), and it spread with great rapidity. The buildings were mostly of wood, so that the devouring flames licked them up as tinder; and although the thousands of British soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost to extinguish the fire, one quarter of the city, about one thousand buildings, was laid in ashes.

At this time the army in Canada had withdrawn to Crown Point, numbering about six thousand, one half of them being sick and the other half disheartened and disaffected. General Washington ordered them to retire to Ticonderoga for safety and rest. The small-pox was spreading among them to an alarming degree.

Jealousies among officers, dissatisfaction among soldiers, clashing interests among the Colonies, and a growing distrust of Washington, added to the complications of the American cause, and to the trials of Congress and the commander-in-chief.

Referring to the discordant interests throughout most of the Colonies, John Adams wrote: "It requires more serenity of temper, a deeper understanding, and more courage than fell to the lot of Marlborough, to ride in this whirlwind."

By request, General Lee returned from the South at this time. He was an accomplished military officer, and his successes at the South added much to his laurels. Many regarded him superior to Washington. The latter esteemed him highly as an officer of skill and experience. At a council of war held soon after his arrival, General Lee said:

"A position is not a good one simply because its approaches are difficult. No army can maintain itself with the enemy in front and rear, especially when the enemy's ships command the water on each side, as they do here. Your recent experience on Long Island and in New York shows the danger of such position."

"That is very true," answered Washington. "We cannot afford to hazard too much in the present condition of the army. I have satisfactory evidence that General Howe's purpose is to surround our camp, and capture the whole American army."

"And he is not much of a general if he does not do it," responded Lee. "For my part, I would have nothing to do with the islands to which you have been clinging so pertinaciously. I would give Mr. Howe a fee-simple of them."

"Where and when shall we be in a better condition to meet the enemy?" inquired General George Clinton, a brave but inexperienced officer. "We must fight the enemy somewhere; why not here?"

"I will answer your inquiry," replied Washington. "We shall be in a better condition to meet the foe when the Colonies have had time to furnish their quotas of recruits, as recently ordered by Congress."

At the earnest solicitation of Washington, Congress had voted that the Colonies should furnish eighty-eight battalions, in quotas, according to their abilities; that the pay of officers should be raised; troops serving throughout the war should receive a bounty of twenty dollars and one hundred acres of land, with a new suit of clothes annually. Those enlisting for three years were to receive twenty dollars bounty, but no land. This provision was a response to Washington's frequent protests against short enlistments and small pay, and it pointed to a reorganization of the army, on a permanent footing, according to Washington's frequently expressed ideas. The general had great expectations of relief from this more liberal policy.

"Our present action should look solely to the safety of the army," interjected Lee. "To save it from annihilation or capture is our first duty."

"Certainly," rejoined Washington; "and now let this question be answered definitely: whether (considering that the obstructions in the North River have proved insufficient, and that the enemy's whole force is in our rear on Grog Point), it is now deemed possible, in our situation, to prevent the enemy from cutting off the communication with the country, and compelling us to fight them at all disadvantages or surrender prisoners at discretion?"

Every number of the council except General Clinton decided that it was impossible to occupy the present position without exposing the army to destruction or capture; hence, another retreat followed.



XIX.

FROM HARLEM TO TRENTON.

Washington withdrew his army to White Plains, leaving nearly three thousand of his best troops to garrison Fort Washington. Congress believed that Fort Washington could hold the Hudson secure, and therefore ordered that a strong garrison be left there. It was not according to General Washington's idea, after he decided to retreat to White Plains, but he yielded to the request of Congress. General Putnam's obstructions in the river amounted to little. Four galleys, mounted with heavy guns and swivels; two new ships, filled with stones, to be sunk at the proper moment; a sloop at anchor, having on board an infernal machine for submarine explosion, with which to blow up the men-of-war; these were among the aids to the Fort, together with batteries on either shore, to prevent the enemy ascending the Hudson. Yet, on the ninth day of October, three British war-ships sailed triumphantly up the river, sweeping through the obstructions, with little damage to themselves.

The British pursued the American army. Washington threw up intrenchments hastily, designing to make but a temporary stay there. General Lee arrived with the rear division of the army, after the temporary fortifications were well under way.

"This is but a temporary camp," remarked Washington to Lee. "Yonder height (pointing to the north) is a more eligible location."

"I judge so," General Lee answered, taking in the situation at once.

"Let us ride out and inspect the ground for ourselves," proposed Washington. And they galloped away. On arriving at the spot, General Lee pointed to still another height farther north.

"That is the ground we ought to occupy," he said.

"Well, let us go and view it," replied Washington.

They had not reached the location when a courier came dashing up to them.

"The British are in the camp, sir!" he exclaimed to Washington.

"Then we have other business to attend to than reconnoitering," quickly and coolly replied the general, putting spurs to his horse and returning to camp.

"The pickets are driven in, but our army is in order of battle," Adjutant-General Reed informed him, as he reached headquarters.

"Gentlemen, return to your respective posts, and do the best you can," the general responded, without the least excitement.

By this time the British army was discovered upon the high ground beyond the village, advancing in two columns, "in all the pomp and circumstance of war." General Heath wrote afterwards:

"It was a brilliant but formidable sight. The sun shone bright, their arms glittered, and perhaps troops never were shown to more advantage."

A brief but hard-fought battle followed, in which there was a loss of about four hundred men on each side.

The enemy waited for reinforcements, and Washington improved the time to fall back to Northcastle, five miles, where, in the rocky fastness, he could defy the whole British army. To add to his advantages, the day on which the British commander decided upon an attack, after the arrival of reinforcements, a violent rain set in, and continued through the day, rendering an attack impossible, so that the Americans had still more time to strengthen their position.

On the night of Nov. 4, a heavy rumbling sound was heard in the direction of the British camp. It continued all through the night, and resembled the noise of wagons and artillery in motion. Day break disclosed the cause: the enemy was decamping. Long trains were seen moving over the hilly country towards Dobb's Ferry on the Hudson.

"A feint!" said General Lee, as soon as he discovered the situation.

"A retreat, more like," replied another officer. "The enemy sees little hope in attacking this stronghold."

"I can hardly believe that so large and well-disciplined an army is going to withdraw without giving battle," responded Washington. "No doubt an attack upon Fort Washington is the immediate purpose; and then, perhaps an invasion into the Jerseys."

There was much speculation among the officers as to the meaning of this manoeuvre, and all of them were in more or less perplexity. Washington wrote immediately to Governor Livingston of New Jersey and hurried a messenger away with the letter:

"They have gone towards North River and King's Bridge. Some suppose they are going into winter quarters, and will sit down in New York without doing more than investing Fort Washington. I cannot subscribe wholly to this opinion myself. That they will invest Fort Washington is a matter of which there can be no doubt, and I think there is a strong probability that General Howe will detach a part of his force to make an incursion into the Jerseys, provided he is going to New York. He must attempt something on account of his reputation, for what has he done as yet with his great army?"

Satisfied that General Howe intended to capture Fort Washington, he advised its evacuation. He wrote to General Greene:

"If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up the river, and the enemy are possessed of all the surrounding country, what valuable purpose can it answer to hold a post from which the expected benefit cannot be had? I am, therefore, inclined to think that it will not be prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount Washington; but as you are on the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders as to evacuating Mount Washington as you may judge best, and so far revoking the orders given to Colonel Morgan, to defend it to the last."

General Greene took the responsibility to hold the fort; and when Colonel Morgan received a demand from the enemy to surrender, he replied: "I shall defend the fort to the last."

After a manly resistance, however, he was forced to surrender; and the fort, with its garrison of twenty-eight hundred men, and abundant stores, passed into the hands of the enemy. The prisoners were taken to New York and confined in the notorious British prison-ship, where they suffered long and terribly.

This was a very unfortunate affair for the American cause, and caused the commander-in-chief great anxiety. He wrote to his brother about it in a gloomy mood, and said:

"In ten days from this date there will not be above two thousand men, if that number, of the fixed, established regiments on this side of the Hudson River, to oppose Howe's whole army; and very little more on the other, to secure the eastern Colonies, and the important passes leading through the Highlands to Albany, and the country about the lakes.... I am wearied almost to death with the retrograde movement of things, and I solemnly protest that a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year would not induce me to undergo what I do, and, after all, perhaps to lose my character; as it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing circumstances, to conduct matters agreeably to public expectation."

Washington's command was now at Fort Lee (formerly Fort Constitution). The next movement of the enemy was designed to hem them in between the Hudson and Hackensack, and capture them. The commander-in-chief ordered a hasty retreat, the want of horses and wagons making it necessary to abandon a large quantity of baggage, stores, and provisions, and even the tents and all the cannon except two twelve pounders. The retreat over the Hackensack was successfully performed, and here Washington ordered Colonel Greyson to send the following message to General Lee:

"Remove the troops under your command to this side of the North River, and there wait for further orders."

The next day Washington wrote to Lee:

"I am of opinion, and the gentlemen about me concur in it, that the public interest requires your coming over to this side of the Hudson with the Continental troops."

Not more than three thousand soldiers were with Washington at Hackensack, without intrenching tools, tents, and necessary supplies. To risk an engagement in these circumstances was hazardous in the extreme, and a further retreat became inevitable. Leaving three regiments to guard the passages of the Hackensack, and to serve as covering parties, he withdrew to Newark, on the west bank of the Passaic.

To add to the perils of his situation, the term of enlistment of General Mercer's command was about to expire. He must have reinforcements, or his entire army would be destroyed. He hurried away Colonel Reed to Governor Livingston of New Jersey, and General Mifflin to Philadelphia, to implore aid. At the same time he depended upon General Lee for immediate reinforcements, not doubting that the latter was obeying his orders; but, to his amazement, a letter from Lee revealed the startling fact that he had not moved from Northcastle.

Washington renewed his orders to Lee to move with all possible despatch and come to his rescue. He said:

"The enemy are pushing on, and part of them have crossed the Passaic. Their plans have not entirely unfolded, but I shall not be surprised to find that Philadelphia is the object of their movement."

"We cannot make a stand here," said General Greene.

"By no means," answered Washington. "My hope is to make a stand at Brunswick, on the Raritan; or, certainly, to dispute the passage of the Delaware."

"Our retreat to Brunswick must be hastened, or the enemy will be upon us," added Greene.

The retreat was precipitated; and when the rear-guard of Washington's command was leaving one end of Newark, the vanguard of the British army was entering at the other.

On reaching Brunswick, Washington wrote at once to Governor Livingston, instructing him to collect all the boats and river craft on the Delaware for seventy miles, remove them to the western bank of the river, away from the enemy, and guard them.

He was doomed to additional disappointment at Brunswick. Colonel Reed raised no troops in New Jersey, and many of those raised by General Mifflin in Pennsylvania were deserting. The term of enlistment of General Mercer's command had expired, and no inducement or entreaties could prevail upon them to remain. He could not muster over four thousand men.

Still worse, a letter from General Lee to Colonel Reed disclosed the fact that the former had not given heed to the orders of his chief, and he was still at Northcastle. Moreover, the letter revealed that General Lee was plotting against him. Colonel Reed was absent when the letter arrived, and, according to his custom, Washington opened the letter, supposing it related to military business. What was his surprise to find that the letter contained insinuations against himself, and also implicated Colonel Reed, his old friend, in a plot to make Lee commander-in-chief.

We will say here, once for all, that, while General Lee was an able military officer, he was an ambitious, arrogant, and deceitful man. On his return from the South, his fame had reached the zenith, and some thought he ought to lead the American army. Washington's continued retreats increased this feeling, until General Lee evidently thought there was a fair prospect of the removal of Washington, and his own promotion to commander-in-chief. Even Colonel Reed entertained this opinion, though afterwards he saw his mistake, and made suitable amends. This explains Lee's conduct before and after Washington retired from Brunswick.

Judge Jay related the following incident: "A short time before the death of John Adams, I was conversing with my father about the American Revolution. Suddenly he remarked:

"'Ah, William! The history of that Revolution will never be known. Nobody now alive knows it but John Adams and myself.'

"'You surprise me, father; to what can you refer?'

"'The proceedings of the old Congress.'

"'What proceedings?'

"'Those against Washington; from first to last there was a bitter party against him.'"

The "old Congress" sat with closed doors, so that the public learned only what it was wise to disclose.

Washington waited for recruits at Brunswick until the 1st of December. On that day the vanguard of the British army appeared on the opposite side of the Raritan. Washington destroyed the end of the bridge next to the village, to intercept the pursuit of the enemy, and retreated. Stopping at Princeton temporarily, he left twelve hundred troops there, under Lord Stirling and General Stephens, to keep an eye on the foe, and continued his retreat to Trenton.

While the American army decreased from week to week, the British army in pursuit was augmented; for, through the Jerseys, General Howe impressed men, horses, and wagons, and at the same time many Tories flocked to his standard. He issued a proclamation, also, offering pardon and protection to all citizens who would take the oath of allegiance to the king. There was so little hope of the American cause at that time, and Washington's army appeared so plainly to be near destruction, that many citizens took the oath and joined the British army, as they thought, from absolute necessity. "Many who had been prominent in the cause, hastened to take advantage of this proclamation," says Irving. "Those who had the most property to lose were the first to submit; the middle ranks remained generally steadfast in this time of trial."

A British officer wrote to his friends in London:

"The rebels continue flying before our army. Lord Cornwallis took the fort opposite Brunswick, plunged into Raritan River, and seized the town.... Such a panic has seized the rebels that no part of the Jerseys will hold them, and I doubt whether Philadelphia itself will stop their career. The Congress have lost their authority.... They are in such consternation that they know not what to do. The two Adamses are in New England; Franklin gone to France; Lynch has lost his senses; Rutledge has gone home disgusted; Dana is persecuting at Albany; and Jay is in the country, playing as bad a part, so that the fools have lost the assistance of the knaves."

"This," says Sparks, "was the gloomiest period of the war. The campaign had been little else than a series of disasters and retreats. The enemy had gained possession of Rhode Island, Long Island, the city of New York, Staten Island, and nearly the whole of the Jerseys, and seemed on the point of extending their conquests into Pennsylvania. By the fatal scheme of short enlistments, and by sickness, the effective force with General Washington had dwindled away, till it hardly deserved the name of an army."

Still Washington was hopeful, and expected that the cause of right would triumph. When and how he could not tell; but he continued to say, "That Providence which has brought us out of many difficulties will yet crown our righteous cause with success."

"I expected substantial aid from the Jerseys," he said to General Mercer. "I am disappointed that the people have not flocked to our standard."

"I am more than disappointed," replied Mercer; "I am shocked and vexed at the cowardice of the people."

"What think you," continued Washington, "if we should retreat to the back part of Pennsylvania, would the Pennsylvanians support us?"

The mountainous regions of Pennsylvania were the field of his early exploits against the French and Indians, and Mercer was with him there.

"If the lower counties give up, the back counties will do the same," Mercer answered in a desponding way.

"We must then retire to Augusta County, Virginia," responded Washington, his indomitable spirit rising superior to all discouragements. "Numbers will repair to us for safety, and we will try a predatory war. If overpowered, we must cross the Alleghanies."

Before this time, Colonel Reed said to him one day, "When shall we stop this everlasting retreating and make a stand?"

Washington answered, without the least show of resentment:

"If it becomes necessary, we will retreat over every river and mountain in America."

Such an unconquerable spirit receives its reward at last.

Lee did not leave Northcastle until the last of November. True, he ordered General Heath to a movement that he claimed would support Washington; but when General Heath found that Lee was not obeying the orders of the commander-in-chief, he refused to entertain his commands.

"I am amenable to the commander-in-chief, and cannot supply you with troops as you order," he said.

"In point of law you are right," said Lee, "but in point of policy I think you are wrong. I am going into the Jerseys for the salvation of America; I wish to take with me a larger force than I now have, and request you to order two thousand of your men to march with me."

"I cannot spare that number."

"Then order one thousand."

"No, not a thousand."

"How many, then?" continued Lee.

"Not one," answered Heath. "I may as well bring this matter to a point at once; not a single man will I furnish from this post by your order."

"Then," exclaimed Lee in an excited manner, "I will order them myself."

"That makes a wide difference," rejoined Heath. "You are my senior, but I have received positive written instructions from him who is superior to us both, and I will not myself break those orders. Read them."

He handed Washington's letter to Lee, in which he positively forbade the removal of any troops from that post.

"The commander-in-chief is now at a distance," said Lee, after reading the letter, "and he does not know what is necessary here as well as I do."

Turning to Major Huntington, Lee said authoritatively:

"You will order two regiments (designating the two) to march early to-morrow morning to join me."

General Heath was surprised and indignant at Lee's assumption of authority, and he said to the major, "Issue such orders at your peril!"

Then turning to Lee, he added:

"Sir, if you come to this post, and mean to issue orders here which will break the positive ones I have received I pray you do it completely yourself, and through your own deputy adjutant-general, who is present, and not draw me or any of my family in as partners in the guilt."

"It is right," answered Lee. "Colonel Scammel, do you issue the order."

"I have one more request to make," interrupted General Heath, "and that is, that you will be pleased to give me a certificate that you exercise command at this post, and order from it these regiments."

Lee objected, but General George Clinton, who was present, said:

"That is a very reasonable request, General Lee, and surely you cannot refuse it."

Without replying, he immediately wrote the following:

"For the satisfaction of General Heath, and at his request, I do certify that I am commanding officer, at this present writing, in this post, and that I have, in that capacity, ordered Prescott's and Wyllis' regiments to march."

The next morning General Lee rode up to Heath's door, and said:

"Upon further consideration I have concluded not to take the two regiments with me. You may order them to return to their former post."

Evidently the ambitious and conceited general had come to the conclusion that "discretion is the better part of valor."

General Lee did not cross the Hudson until the 4th of December, moving snail-like, although he knew that Washington's army was in imminent peril.

"Do come on," Washington's last plea was; "your arrival may be fortunate, and, if it can be effected without delay, it may be the means of preserving a city whose loss must prove of the most fatal consequence to the cause of America."

The "city" referred to was Philadelphia. Washington had written to him that the enemy was designing to capture Philadelphia, a calamity that must be prevented if possible.

At this time Washington had removed the baggage and stores of his army across the Delaware. Being reinforced, however, by fifteen hundred Pennsylvania militia, he resolved to march back to Princeton and await developments. On his way he met General Stirling, who had evacuated Princeton, as Cornwallis was marching upon it with a large force. Returning to Trenton, he hastily collected all the boats possible, and conveyed his whole force over the Delaware, including General Stirling's command from Princeton. The rear-guard had scarcely crossed the river when Cornwallis appeared in the distance with his "bannered hosts." As Washington had taken possession of all the boats and transports, the enemy could not cross.

The tact and skill of Washington as a general were as conspicuous in his retreat through the Jerseys as they were on any battlefield. Thomas Paine accompanied the army, and he wrote:

"With a handful of men we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field-pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out until dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp; and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged."

On the 12th of December, General Lee had marched no farther than Vealtown, eight miles from Morristown. He continued to disregard Washington's appeals and instructions, receiving one almost every day. In some of them the commander-in-chief showed that his patience was well nigh exhausted.

"I am surprised that you should be in doubt about the route you are to take after my definite instructions," he wrote on the 11th of December.

"I have so frequently mentioned our situation, and the necessity of your aid, that it is painful for me to add a word on the subject," he wrote on the same day.

At Vealtown Lee left his troops in command of General Sullivan, and took up his own quarters at a "tavern" in Baskingridge, three miles off. He was very partial to "taverns" especially if well stocked with certain articles to please his palate.

On the next morning, about 11 o'clock, General Lee was writing at the table, and Major Wilkinson was looking out of the window. The latter arrived early in the morning with a letter from his commander, General Gates, and General Lee was replying to it.

"The British cavalry are upon us!" shouted Wilkinson in consternation.

"Where?" exclaimed Lee, springing from his chair.

"Right here, around the house," answered Wilkinson, who beheld a detachment of British cavalry surrounding the tavern.

"Where are the guards?" cried out Lee, in his surprise and horror. "Why don't they fire?"

It was a cold morning, and the guards had stacked their arms, and passed around to the south side of the house to sun themselves. They scarcely observed the enemy's presence until they heard the demand to surrender.

"If General Lee does not surrender in five minutes I will set fire to the house!"

At the same time the guards were chased in different directions. The demand for Lee to surrender was repeated, and he did surrender. Hastily he was put upon Wilkinson's horse, which stood at the door, and within three hours the enemy were exulting over him at Brunswick.

"No one to blame but himself," remarked Heath.

"Good enough for him," said many Americans.

General Sullivan was now in command, and he joined the commander-in-chief as soon as possible.

In Wilkinson's memoir it is said that Lee delayed so strangely in order to intercept the enemy in pursuit of Washington; and it is added:

"If General Lee had anticipated General Washington in cutting the cordon of the enemy between New York and the Delaware, the commander-in-chief would probably have been superseded. In this case Lee would have succeeded him."

Washington was too magnanimous to exult over the fall of Lee. Notwithstanding his knowledge of Lee's plans to supersede him, he wrote to his brother:

"Before you receive this letter, you will undoubtedly have heard of the capture of General Lee. This is an additional misfortune; and the more vexatious, as it was by his own folly and imprudence, and without a view to effect any good, that he was taken. As he went to lodge three miles out of his own camp, and within twenty miles of the enemy, a rascally Tory rode in the night to give notice of it to the enemy, who sent a party of light-horse, who seized him, and carried him off with every mark of triumph and indignity."



XX.

BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON.

Washington was so anxious for the safety of Philadelphia, that he appointed General Putnam to command the post, with instructions to fortify the city at once. At the same time he advised Congress to remove to Baltimore; and that body, after hastily completing the business before them, adjourned to meet in the latter city on the 20th of December.

By this time his army numbered about five thousand available men. One thousand militia from New Jersey, and fifteen hundred from Pennsylvania, with five hundred Germans from the latter State, was a very encouraging increase of his worn and wasted army. Then he had word that General Gates was coming on with seven regiments detached by Schuyler from the northern department. Washington was hopeful again, and began to plan an attack upon the enemy.

Before Congress adjourned to meet at Baltimore, they clothed Washington with unusual powers. They voted: