The American army as Lafayette first saw it must have seemed a strange
body of men to eyes accustomed to holiday parades in Paris. The memory
of it remained with him years afterward when he wrote that it consisted
of "about eleven thousand men, rather poorly armed, and much worse
clad." There was a great variety in the clothing, some unmistakable
nakedness, and the best garments were only loose hunting-shirts of gray
linen, of a cut with which he had already become familiar in Carolina.
The soldiers were drawn up in two lines, the smaller ones in front,
"but with this exception there was no distinction made as to size." It
was while reviewing these troops that Washington said, "it is somewhat
embarrassing to us to show ourselves to an officer who has just come
from the army of France," to which Lafayette made the answer that won
the hearts of all, "I am here to learn, not to teach." He speedily
learned that in spite of their appearance and their way of marching and
maneuvering, which seemed to him childishly simple, they were "fine
soldiers led by zealous officers," in whom "bravery took the place of
science."
[Pg 73]Judging by what they had accomplished, they were indeed wonders.
It was now August, 1777. Lexington had been fought in April, 1775,
and in that space of more than two years England had been unable to
make real headway against the insurrection which General Gage had at
first thought could be thoroughly crushed by four British regiments.
That mistake had soon become apparent. Large reinforcements had been
sent from England with new generals. At present there were two British
armies in the field. Time and again the ragged Continentals had
been beaten, yet in a bewildering fashion they continued to grow in
importance in the eyes of the world.
The first part of the struggle had all taken place in the neighborhood
of Boston; hence the name "Bostonians" by which the Americans had
been applauded in Paris. But after General Howe was held for a whole
winter in Boston in a state of siege he sailed away for Halifax in
March, 1776, with all his troops and all the Tories who refused to stay
without him. This was nothing less than an admission that he was unable
to cope with the Americans. He sent word to England that it would
require at least 50,000 men to do it--10,000 in New England, 20,000
in the Middle States, 10,000 in the South, and 10,000 to beat General
Washington, who had developed such an uncanny power of losing battles,
yet gaining prestige.
The War Office in London refused to believe General Howe. It reasoned
that New England was, after all, only a small section of country which
[Pg 74]could be dealt with later; so it let it severely alone and
concentrated attention upon New York with a view to getting command
of the Hudson River. The Hudson would afford a direct route up to the
Canadian border, and Canada was already British territory. It ought
not to be difficult to gain control of one Atlantic seaport and one
river. That accomplished, the rebellion would be cut in two as neatly
as though severed with a knife, and it would be easy enough to dispose
of New England and of the South in turn.
So General Howe was ordered back to carry out this plan. He appeared
off Staten Island with twenty-five thousand men on the day after the
Declaration of Independence was signed. In the thirteen months that
elapsed between his coming and the day Lafayette first reviewed the
American army General Washington had been able to keep Howe and all
his forces at bay. He had marched and retreated and maneuvered. He had
lost battles and men. Lost New York, as had been reported in Paris; had
indeed lost most of his army, as the American commissioners admitted
to Lafayette; yet in some mysterious way he continued to fight. By
brilliant strategy he had gained enough victory to rekindle hope after
hope seemed dead; and never, even when the outlook was darkest, had the
British been able to get full control of the Hudson River.
The British government, annoyed by Howe's delay, sent over another army
under General Burgoyne in the spring of 1777, with orders to go down
[Pg 75]from Canada and end the matter. When last heard from, this army
had taken Ticonderoga and was pursuing General Schuyler through eastern
New York. General Howe, meanwhile, appeared to have dropped off the
map. He was no longer in force near New York, nor had Washington any
definite news of his whereabouts. This was the situation when Lafayette
became a member of Washington's military family; a major-general
without pay, experience, or a command.
He took his commission seriously enough to cause his general some
misgiving; for, after all, Washington knew nothing about his ability,
only that he liked him personally. Lafayette frankly admitted his youth
and inexperience, but always accompanied such admissions with a hint
that he was ready to assume command as soon as the general saw fit to
intrust him with it. On the 19th of August Washington wrote to Benjamin
Harrison, a member of Congress, telling him his perplexity and asking
him to find out how matters really stood. If Lafayette's commission had
been merely honorary, as Washington supposed, the young man ought to
be made fully aware of his mistake; if not, Washington would like to
know what was expected of him. The answer returned was that Washington
must use his own judgment; and for a time matters drifted. Lafayette
meanwhile took gallant advantage of every small opportunity that came
his way, both for assuming responsibility and for doing a kindness.
He proved himself ready to bear a little more than his full share of
hardship, and, by constant cheerfulness and willingness to accept
[Pg 76]whatever duty was assigned him, came to be regarded as by far
the best foreigner in the army--though of course hopelessly and forever
a foreigner. In his letters home he often touched upon the discontent
of other men of European birth "who complain, detest, and are detested
in turn. They do not understand why I alone am liked.... For my part I
cannot understand why they are so heartily detested.... I am happy in
being loved by everybody, foreign and American. I like them all, hope
to merit their esteem, and we are well content with each other."
It was on the 21st of August, two days after Washington's letter to
Mr. Harrison, that Lafayette was called to attend the first council of
war--that duty about which he had playfully written to his wife. The
question was what to do next, for General Howe and his army had not
been seen or heard of for weeks. That meant that he was planning some
surprise; but from which direction would it come?
The truth was that General Howe had allowed himself to be lured away
from the Hudson by his ambition to capture Philadelphia, knowing what
a blow it would be to the Americans to lose their chief town where
Congress was sitting. As soon as this was accomplished he meant to
return to his former duty. To the American officers gathered around
the map on the council table his whereabouts was a great mystery, for
they thought ample time had elapsed for him to appear in Chesapeake
Bay if Philadelphia was indeed his objective. Presumably he meant to
attack some other place, and Charleston seemed to be the only other
[Pg 77]place of sufficient importance to merit his attention. As it
was manifestly impossible to get Washington's army that far south in
time to be of assistance, it was determined to leave Charleston to its
fate and to move nearer to New York to guard the Hudson. With Burgoyne
descending from the north and Howe in hiding, it was quite possible
that the river might soon be menaced from two directions. The battle
of Bennington, a severe check for Burgoyne, had in fact occurred three
days before, but it is probable they had not yet heard of it.
The day after the council, ships carrying Howe's army were sighted
in Chesapeake Bay, which proved without doubt that Philadelphia was
his goal. Washington faced his men about, and, in order to cheer
Philadelphians and give his soldiers a realization of what they were
defending, marched the army through the city "down Front Street to
Chestnut, and up Chestnut to Elm," riding, himself, at the head of
his troops, a very handsome figure on his white horse, Lafayette
conspicuous among the staff-officers, and the privates wearing
sprigs of green in their hats as they marched to a lively air. They
were joined as they went along by Pennsylvania militia and by other
volunteers who hastened forward, American fashion, at prospect of a
battle. Thus Washington's force was increased to about fifteen thousand
by the time he neared the enemy. Most of these new arrivals were,
however, worse off for clothing and arms--and discipline--than the
original army, so his force by no means matched either in numbers or
[Pg 78]equipment the eighteen thousand British soldiers, thoroughly
supplied according to the best standards of the day, which were
disembarked by Cornwallis "at the Head of Elk," the inlet of Chesapeake
Bay nearest to the city.
There were several preliminary skirmishes, during which Lafayette
learned that Washington could be as personally reckless as the youngest
lieutenant. On the day the British landed he exposed himself in a
reconnaissance and was forced to remain through a night of storm, with
Lafayette and Gen. Nathanael Greene, in a farm-house very near the
enemy lines.
The main battle for the defense of Philadelphia occurred on the 11th
of September, on the banks of a little stream called the Brandywine,
about twenty-five miles from the city. Washington intrenched his force
upon the hilly ground of its east bank, but, owing to woods which made
it hard to observe the enemy, to the ease with which the stream could
be forded, and to the superior numbers of the British, this position
was turned and his army forced back toward Chester. It was Lafayette's
first battle, and the zeal with which he threw himself into the unequal
contest, the quickness of his perceptions, and the courage he showed in
following up his instinct of the thing to do with the act of doing it,
won the admiration of all who saw him. After that day the army forgot
he was a foreigner and looked upon him as one of themselves. "Never,"
he says, "was adoption more complete."
During the hottest of the fight he had leaped from his horse down
among the men, striving by voice and example to rally them to make
[Pg 79]a stand against Cornwallis's fast-approaching column. Lord
Sterling and General Sullivan had come to his aid and the three had
held their ground until the British were only twenty yards away, when
they took refuge in a wood. Lafayette's left leg had been struck by
a musket-ball, but he was unconscious of this until another officer
called attention to the blood running from his boot. With the help of
his French aide-de-camp, Major de Gimat, who had come with him on _La
Victoire_, he remounted his horse, but remained with the troops and
was borne along in the general retreat toward Chester, which became
very like a rout as night approached; men and guns hurrying on in
ever-increasing confusion. Near Chester there was a bridge, and here,
though Lafayette was weak from loss of blood, he placed guards and,
halting the fugitives as they came up, managed to bring something like
order into the chaos. It was only after Washington and other generals
reached the spot that he consented to have his wound properly dressed.
Washington's midnight report to Congress mentioned the gallantry of the
young Frenchman.
Lafayette's injury was not at all dangerous, but it was quite
serious enough to keep him in bed for a month or more. He was taken
to Philadelphia, and Washington sent his most skilful surgeon to
attend him, with orders to care for him as he would for his own son.
Later, when Howe's continued approach made it certain the city must
pass into British hands, he was sent by water to Bristol on the
[Pg 80]Delaware River, and from that point Mr. Henry Laurens, the new
President of Congress, on the way to join his fleeing fellow-members,
who were to resume their sessions at York, gave him a lift in his
traveling-carriage as far as Bethlehem, where the Moravians nursed him
back to health.
De Kalb and other military friends took a real, if humorously
expressed, interest in his "little wound," and on his part he declared
that he valued it at more than five hundred guineas. He had hastened to
write his wife all about it, not too seriously, "for fear that General
Howe, who sends his royal master rather exaggerated details of his
exploits in America, may report that I am not only wounded, but dead.
It would cost him no more." Reports of Lafayette's death were indeed
circulated in France, but Madame d'Ayen managed to keep them from her
daughter. Lafayette assured his wife that his injury was "only a flesh
wound, touching neither bone nor nerves. The surgeons are astonished at
the rapidity with which it heals, and fall into ecstasies every time
it is dressed, pretending it is the loveliest thing in the world. For
myself, I find it very dirty, very much of a bore, and quite painful
enough; but in truth, if a man wanted a wound merely for diversion's
sake he could not do better than come and examine mine, with a view to
copying it. There, dear heart, is the true history of this thing that I
give myself airs about and pompously call 'my wound' in order to appear
interesting."
[Pg 81]X