entered, and the choice fell upon M. de Lafayette. The Generals Conway
and Stark were placed under him. Hoping to intoxicate and govern
so young a commander, the war-office, without consulting the
commander-in-chief, wrote to him to go and await his further
instructions at Albany.~[25] But after having won over by his arguments
the committee which congress had sent to the camp, M. de Lafayette
hastened to Yorktown, and declared there "that he required
circumstantial orders, a statement of the means to be employed, the
certainty of not deceiving the Canadians, an augmentation of generals,
and rank for several Frenchmen, fully impressed," he added, "with the
various duties and advantages they derived from their name; but the
first condition he demanded was, not to be made, like Gates, independent
of General Washington." At Gates' own house he braved the whole party,
and threw them into confusion by making them drink the health of their
general.~[26] In congress he was supported by President Laurens, and
he obtained all that he demanded. His instructions from the war-office
promised that 2500 men should be assembled at Albany, and a large corps
of militia at Coos; that he should have two millions in paper money,
some hard specie, and, all means supplied for crossing lake Champlain
upon the ice, whence, after having burnt the English flotilla, he was to
proceed to Montreal, and act there as circumstances might require.
Repassing then, not without some danger, the Susquehannah, which was
filled with floating masses of ice, M. de Lafayette set out for
Albany, and, in spite of the obstacles offered by ice and snow, rapidly
traversed an extent of four hundred miles. Whilst travelling thus on
horseback, he became thoroughly acquainted with the simplicity and
purity of the inhabitants, their patriarchal mode of life, and their
republican ideas. Devoted to their household cares, the women are
happy, and afford to their husbands the calmest and truest felicity. The
unmarried women alone is love spoken of, and their modesty enhances the
charm of their innocent coquetry. In the chance marriages which take
place in Paris, the fidelity of the wife is often repugnant to the
voice of nature and of reason, one might almost say to the principles
of justice. In America, a girl marries her lover, and it would be like
having two lovers at the same time if she were to break that valid
agreement; because both parties know equally how and in what manner they
are bound to each other. In the bosom of their own families, the men
occupy themselves with their private affairs, or assemble together to
regulate those of the state. They talk politics over their glasses,
and become animated by patriotism rather than strong liquor. Whilst the
children shed tears at the name of Tory, the old men sent up prayers to
Heaven that they might be permitted to see the end of that war. During
his repeated and rapid journeys, M. de Lafayette, mixing with all
classes of society, was not wholly useless to the good cause, to the
interest of the French, and to the party of General Washington.
M. de Lafayette, on arriving at Albany, experienced some
disappointments. Instead of 2500 men, there were not 1200. Stark's
militia had not even received a summons. Clothes, provisions, magazines,
sledges, all were insufficient for that glacial expedition. By making
better preparations and appointing the general earlier, success would
probably have been secured. Several Canadians began to make a movement,
and from that moment they testified great interest in M. de Lafayette;
but two months were requisite to collect all that was necessary, and
towards the middle of March the lakes begin to thaw. M. de Lafayette,
general, at twenty years of age, of a small army, charged with an
important and very difficult operation, authorized by the orders of
congress, animated by the expectations now felt in America, and which,
he knew, would ere long be felt likewise in Europe, had many motives
for becoming adventurous; but, on the other hand, his resources were
slender, the time allowed him was short, the enemy was in a good
position, and Lieutenant-General Carleton was preparing for him another
Saratoga. Forced to take a decisive step immediately, he wrote a calm
letter to congress, and with a heavy sigh abandoned the enterprise. At
the same period, congress, becoming a little less confident, despatched
to him some wavering counsels, which, arriving too late, only served to
compromise the general and justify the government. But the prudence of
M. de Lafayette was at length rewarded by the approbation of congress
and of the nation; and, until the opening of the campaign, he continued
to command that department.~[27] He found there that intrepid Arnold,
who was still detained by his wound, and who since ...... ; he became
intimately acquainted with Schuyler, the predecessor of Gates, in
disgrace as well as Saint-Clair, but who continued useful to the cause
from the superiority of his talents, his importance in that part of the
country, and the confidence he enjoyed in New York, of which state he
was a citizen.
If Canada did not herself send an offensive army, all the savages
were paid and protected by the English party: the Hurons and Iroquois
committed their devastations on that whole frontier. Some baubles or a
barrel of rum were sufficient to make them seize the tomahawk; they then
rushed upon villages, burnt houses, destroyed harvests, massacred all,
without regard to age or sex, and received on their return the price of
each bloody scalp they could exhibit. A young American girl, whom her
lover, an English, was expecting, that their marriage might take place,
was killed by the very savages he had sent to escort her. Two Americans
were actually eaten up by the Senecas, and a colonel of the English army
was a guest at that horrible repast. "It is thus," was often said to the
savages, whilst drinking with them at the councils, "it is thus we must
drink the blood of rebels." M. de Lafayette, conscious that he could not
protect such an immense extent of frontier, prepared quarters in
every direction, and announced the speedy arrival of troops in all the
counties; and this stratagem stopped the depredations of the savages,
who do not usually attack those places in which they expect to find much
resistance. But he kept the Albany troops close together, satisfied them
a little as to payment, provisioned the forts, which had been hitherto
neglected, and arrested a plot of which any particulars have never been
precisely known. He found in George Clinton, governor of the state of
New York, a firm and an enlightened co-operator.
Soon after, Schuyler and Duane, who were charged with the management of
the affairs of the savages, appointed a general assembly at Johnson's
Town, upon the Mohawk river. Recalling to them their former attachment
to the French, M. de Lafayette repaired thither in a sledge to shew
himself in person to those nations whom the English had endeavoured to
prejudice against him. Five hundred men, women, and children, covered
with various coloured paints and feathers, with their ears cut open,
their noses ornamented with rings, and their half-naked bodies marked
with different figures, were present at the councils. Their old men,
whilst smoking, talked politics extremely well. Their object seemed to
be to promote a balance of power; if the intoxication of rum, as that
of ambition in Europe, had not often turned them aside from it. M.
de Lafayette, adopted by them, received the name of _Kayewla_, which
belonged formerly to one of their warriors; and under this name he is
well known to all the savage tribes. Some louis which he distributed
under the form of medals, and some stuffs from the state of New York,
produced but little effect when compared to the presents they had
received from England. A treaty was entered into, which some of them
rigidly observed; and the course of the evil was at least arrested
for the present. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras, the only real friends the
Americans possessed, requested to have a fort; and M. de Lafayette left
them M. de Gouvion, a French officer, whose talents and virtues rendered
him of great value to the cause. Whenever savages were required at the
army, whenever there was any dealings with these tribes, recourse was
always had to the credit of M. de Lafayette, whose _necklaces_ and
_words_ were equally respected.
On his return, he found that the form of a new oath had been
established, which each civil and military officer was to take,
according to his own religious belief. _An acknowledgment of the
independence, liberty, and sovereignty of the United States; an eternal
renunciation of George III., his successors, and heirs, and every King
of England; a promise to defend the said states against the said George
III_.; this was the purport of the oath administered by him to the whole
northern department.~[28] At the approach of spring, M. de Lafayette was
recalled to the south. The affairs of General Washington were already in
a more flourishing condition. Several of the states recommended him
to their deputies; and from only suspecting one of them of being
unfavourable to him, the New York assembly wished to recal one of their
delegates. Congress had been a little recruited, and they were thinking
of recruiting the army. At Valley-Forge, M. de Lafayette found some
difficulty not from the substance, but merely from the form of the oath;
but that difficulty was easily obviated. A short time after, Simeon
Deane arrived with the treaty of commerce between France and the United
States.
By quitting France in so public a manner, M. de Lafayette had served
the cause of the revolution. One portion of society was anxious for his
success and the attention of the other had become, to say the least,
somewhat occupied in the struggle. If a spirit of emulation made
those connected with the court desirous of war, the rest of the nation
supported the young rebel, and followed with interest all his movements;
and it is well known that the rupture that ensued was truly a national
one. Some circumstances relating to his departure having displeased the
court of London, M. de Lafayette omitted nothing that could draw more
closely together the nations whose union he so ardently desired. The
incredible prejudices of the Americans had been, augmented by the
conduct of the first Frenchmen who had joined them. These men gradually
disappeared, and all those who remained were remarkable for talents, or
at least for probity. They became the friends of M. de Lafayette,
who sincerely sought out all the national prejudices of the Americans
against his countrymen for the purpose of overcoming them. Love and
respect for the name of Frenchman animated his letters and speeches, and
he wished the affection that was granted to him individually to become
completely national. On the other side, when writing to Europe, he
denied the reports made by discontented adventurers, by good officers
who were piqued at not having been employed, and by those men who,
serving themselves in the army, wished to be witty or amusing by the
political contrasts they described in their letters. But, without giving
a circumstantial account of what private influence achieved, it is
certain that enthusiasm for the cause, and esteem for its defenders,
had electrified all France, and that the affair of Saratoga decided the
ministerial commotion. Bills of conciliation passed in the English house
of parliament, and five commissioners were sent to offer far more than
have been demanded until then. No longer waiting to see _how things
would turn out_, M. de Maurepas yielded to the public wish, and what his
luminous mind had projected, the more unchanging disposition of M. de
Vergennes put in execution. A treaty was generously entered into with
Franklin, Deane, and Arthur Lee, and that treaty was announced with more
confidence than had been for some time displayed. But the war was not
sufficiently foreseen, or at least sufficient preparations were not
made. The most singular fact is, that at the very period when the firm
resistance of the court of France had guided the conduct of two courts,
America had fallen herself into such a state of weakness, that she was
on the very brink of ruin. The 2nd of May, the army made a bonfire, and
M. de Lafayette, ornamented with a white scarf, proceeded to the spot,
accompanied by all the French. Since the arrival of the conciliatory
bills, he had never ceased writing against the commission, and against
every commissioner. The advances of these men were ill-received by
congress; and, foreseeing a French co-operation, the enemy began to
think of quitting Philadelphia.
General Washington sent two thousand chosen men across the Schuylkill
to collect intelligence. M. de Lafayette, their commander, repaired, the
18th of May, to Barren Hill, eleven miles from the two armies. On a good
elevation, his right resting upon some rocks and the river, on his left
some excellent stone houses and a small wood, his front sustained by
five pieces of cannon, and with roads in his rear, such was the position
of M. de Lafayette. An hundred dragoons whom he was expecting did not
arrive in sufficient time; but he stationed six hundred militia on his
left at Whitemarsh, and their general, Porter, made himself answerable
for those roads. On the evening of the 19th, Howe, who had just been
recalled, and Clinton, who replaced him, sent out a detachment of seven
thousand men, with fourteen pieces of cannon, under General Grant.
Passing behind the inundation, that corps proceeded on the road to
Francfort, and, by a circuitous movement, fell into that of Whitemarsh,
from which the militia had just thought proper to retire. On the morning
of the 20th, M. de Lafayette was conversing with a young lady, who, on
pretence of seeing her relations, to oblige him had consented to go
to Philadelphia, when he was informed that the red dragoons were at
Whitemarsh. It was the uniform of those he was expecting; he had placed
Porter there; he had promised to pay him a visit, and intended that very
evening to carry thither his detachment. But, for greater security, he
examined carefully into the truth of the report; and, ascertaining that
a column was marching on the left, he changed his front, and covered
it with the houses, the wood, and a small churchyard. Scarcely was that
movement ended, when he found himself cut off by Grant on the Swedes'
Ford road in his rear. It was in the presence of the troops that he
first heard the cry that he was surrounded, and he was forced to smile
at the unpleasant intelligence. Several officers, whom he had despatched
to Valley-Forge, declared that they had been unable to find a passage.
Every moment was precious, and M. de Lafayette proceeded on the road of
Matson Ford, to which the enemy was nearer than himself. General
Poor commanded his advance guard; and to him he sent Gimat, his own
confidential aide-de-camp. He placed himself as the rear guard,
and marched on with rapidity, but without precipitation. Grant had
possession of the heights, and M. de Lafayette's road lay immediately
beneath them. His apparent composure deceived his adversary; and
perceiving that he was reconnoitring him, he presented to him, from
among the trees and behind curtains, false heads of columns. The time
that Grant occupied in reconnoitring, and discovering an imaginary
ambuscade, M. de Lafayette employed in regaining the foreground; at
length he passed by Grant's column. He managed to impose likewise on
Grey's column, which followed him; and when the third division, under
Howe and Clinton, reached Barren Hill, the Americans had already passed
over Matson Ford. Forming themselves on the opposite shore, they awaited
the enemy, who dared not attack them. Advancing on the ground, Howe was
astonished at finding only one red line: the generals quarrelled; and
although the commander in chief had invited some ladies to sup with M.
de Lafayette, although the admiral, (Howe's brother,) knowing him to be
surrounded, had prepared a frigate for him, the whole army, (of which
half had made a march of forty miles,) returned, much fatigued, without
having taken a single man. It was then that fifty savages, friends of
the Americans, encountered fifty English dragoons; and the cries of war
on one side, and the appearance of the cavalry on the other, surprised
the parties so much that they both fled, with equal speed. The alarm had
been likewise great at Valley Forge; and the report of three pieces of
cannon that were there fired appeared an additional mystery to Grant.
The aim of the general being attained, the detachment returned to its
quarters, and M. de Lafayette was well received by the general and
army.~[29]
An exchange of prisoners had long been talked of, and the cruelty of the
English rendered this measure more necessary. Cooped up in a vessel
at New York, and breathing a most noxious atmosphere, the American
prisoners suffered all that gross insolence could add to famine,
dirt, disease, and complete neglect. Their food was, to say the least,
unwholesome. The officers, often confounded with their soldiers,
appealed to former capitulations and to the right of nations; but they
were only answered by fresh outrages. When one victim sunk beneath such
treatment, "Tis well," was said to the survivors; "there is one
rebel less." Acts of retaliation had been but rarely practised by the
Americans; and the English, like other tyrants, mistook their mildness
and generosity for timidity. Five hundred Americans, in a half-dying
state, had been carried to the sea-shore, where the greatest number of
them soon expired, and the general very properly refused to reckon them
in exchange for his own prisoners of war. Another obstacle to the
cartel was the capture of Lee, who had been taken prisoner in 1776; the
congress insisted on his liberation, and, after much debating on both
sides, he was at length exchanged for General Prescot. Lee, who had been
formerly a colonel in the English service, a general in Poland, and a
fellow-soldier of the Russians and Portuguese, was well acquainted with
all countries, all services, and several languages. His features were
plain, his turn of mind caustic, his feelings ambitious and avaricious,
his temper uncomplying, and his whole appearance singular and
unprepossessing. A temporary fit of generosity had induced him to quit
the English service, and the Americans, at that period, listened to
him as to an oracle. In his heart he detested the general, and felt
a sincere affection for himself alone; but, in 1776, his advice had
undoubtedly saved both the general and the army. He made many advances
to M. de Lafayette, but the one was a violent Englishman, and the other
an enthusiastic Frenchman, and their intimacy was often interrupted
by their differences of opinion. Gates, whose great projects had been
frustrated, was at that time commanding a corps at White Plains, upon
the left side of the Hudson, opposite to the island of New York. Conway
had retired from service, and the place of inspector, which had been
created for him, was given to Steuben, an old Prussian, with moderate
talents, but methodical habits, who organized the army and perfected
their tactics. The congress received at that time some conciliatory
epistles, and the sentiments their answers breathed, like all the other
deliberations of that assembly, were nobly felt, and nobly expressed.
Lord Carlisle was president of the commission, and Lord Howe, Sir Henry
Clinton, Mr. Eden, and Governor Johnstone were its members. The last
named person wrote to some friends, who published his letters.
On the 17th of June, Philadelphia was evacuated. The invalids,
magazines, and heavy ammunition of the British were embarked with
the general; the commissioners of conciliation alone remained behind.
Passing over to Gloucester, the army marched in two columns, each
consisting of seven thousand men, commanded by Clinton and Knyphausen,
towards New York. The army of the United States, which was of nearly
equal force, directed itself from Valley Forge to Coryell's Ferry, and
from thence to King's Town, within a march of the enemy; it was thus
left at the option of the Americans, either to follow on their track, or
to repair to White Plains. In a council held on this subject, Lee very
eloquently endeavoured to prove that it was necessary to erect a bridge
of gold for the enemy; that while on the very point of forming an
alliance with them, every thing ought not to be placed at hazard; that
the English army had never been so excellent and so well disciplined;
he declared himself to be for White Plains: his speech influenced the
opinion of Lord Stirling and of the brigadiers-general. M. de Lafayette,
placed on the other side, spoke late, and asserted that it would be
disgraceful for the chiefs, and humiliating for the troops, to allow
the enemy to traverse the Jerseys tranquilly; that, without running, any
improper risk, the rear guard might be attacked; that it was necessary
to follow the English, manoeuvre with prudence, take advantage of
a temporary separation, and, in short, seize the most favourable
opportunities and situations. This advice was approved by many of the
council, and above all by M. du Portail, chief of the engineers, and
a very distinguished officer. The majority were, however, in favour of
Lee; but M. de Lafayette spoke again to the general on this subject in
the evening, and was seconded by Hamilton, and by Greene, who had been
lately named quarter-master in place of Mifflin. Several of the general
officers changed their opinion; and the troops having already begun
their march, they were halted, in order to form a detachment. When
united, there were 3,000 continentalists and 1,200 militia; the command
fell to the share of Lee, but, by the express desire of the general,
M. de Lafayette succeeded in obtaining it. Everything was going on
extremely well, when Lee changed his mind, and chose to command the
troops himself; having again yielded this point, he re-changed once
more; and as the general wished him to adhere to his first decision--"It
is my fortune and honour," said Lee, to M. de Lafayette, "that I place
in your hands; you are too generous to cause the loss of both!" This
tone succeeded better, and M. de Lafayette promised to ask for him
the next day. The enemy, unfortunately, continued their march; M. de
Lafayette was delayed by want of provisions; and it was not until the
26th, at a quarter to twelve at night, that he could ask for Lee, who
was sent with a detachment of one thousand men to Englishtown, on the
left side of the enemy. The first corps had advanced upon the right; and
M. de Lafayette, by Lee's especial order, joined him at midday, within
reach of the enemy from whom he fortunately succeeded in concealing this
movement. The two columns of the English army had united together at
Monmouth Court-house, from whence they departed on the morning of the
28th. Whilst following them, the Americans marched rapidly through the
woods of Freehold; and at eight o'clock the enemy's rear-guard was still
in the vicinity of the court-house. If Lee had continued the direction
he was then taking, he would have placed himself in an excellent
position, especially as the American army was advancing on the road to
Freehold; but the head of his cohort quitted the wood, into which it
was again forced to retreat by the enemy's cannon. Lee then addressing
himself to M. de Lafayette, told him to cross the plain, and attack the
left flank of the enemy; and whilst this manoeuvre, which exposed them
to the fire of the English artillery, was executing, he sent him an
order to fall back into the village in which he had placed the rest of
the troops. From thence he drew back still farther, and, changing
his attack to a retreat, he exposed himself to be driven back by Lord
Cornwallis, and subsequently by the whole English army, to whom good
space of time had been allowed to form themselves in proper order.