thousand men, to land at the head of Elk River, and march north through
Philadelphia; while General Burgoyne, starting from Canada with ten
thousand men, should march south to meet Howe, rallying both Tories and
Indians to his standard.
The militia of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Northern Virginia were called
out to defend Philadelphia; and Washington advanced to Wilmington. In
order to impress the Tories of Philadelphia, he marched through the city
at the head of his column, with Lafayette at his side, making an
imposing display that captivated the friends of liberty, and awed the
Tories.
It was in this campaign that an officer of the army dined with
Washington at his headquarters. Several guests graced the occasion.
When, agreeable to the prevailing custom, the general proposed to drink
a glass of wine with him, the officer replied, "You will have the
goodness to excuse me, as I have made it a rule not to take wine."
The other guests were surprised. They regarded the act as a direct
insult to the commander-in-chief. Washington read their feelings in
their faces, and he remarked: "Gentlemen, my friend is right; I do not
wish any of my guests to partake of anything against their inclination,
and I certainly do not wish them to violate any established _principle_
in their social intercourse with me. I honor Mr. ---- for his frankness,
for his consistency in thus adhering to an established rule which can
never do him harm, and for the adoption of which, I have no doubt, he
has good and sufficient reasons."
While Washington was watching the British fleet, General Burgoyne was
advancing from the north, his Hessian soldiers and Indian allies
indulging themselves in terrifying and plundering the defenceless
inhabitants. On the 16th of August the battle of Bennington was fought,
in which the American troops, under the brave General Stark, won a
decisive victory. Stark addressed his troops in words of cheer before
going into battle, and closed by saying:
"Now, my men, there are the red-coats. Before night they must be ours,
or Molly Stark will be a widow."
Stark captured thirty-two British officers, five hundred and sixty-four
privates, four brass field-pieces, a thousand stand of arms, and a large
quantity of ammunition.
The moral effect of this victory was grand. The farmers rushed to the
American camp, to follow up the victory by surrounding Burgoyne, cutting
off his supplies, and driving him to Saratoga.
Washington hailed the victory with great joy, and proclaimed it at the
head of his army to inspire his troops to nobler deeds.
Another bloody battle was fought at Fort Schuyler, where the Americans
bravely defended and held the fort. The Indians conducted so much like
fiends incarnate that even the Hessians were shocked. A Hessian officer
wrote:
"These savages are heathen; huge, warlike, and enterprising, but wicked
as Satan. Some say they are cannibals, but I do not believe it; though,
in their fury, they will tear the flesh of the enemy with their teeth."
A Miss McCrea, daughter of a New Jersey clergyman, was visiting friends
at the North. Her lover was a Tory, and he was in the British army, so
that she felt no anxiety at the approach of Burgoyne.
Early one morning she was startled by the horrid yells of savages, who
had surrounded the house where she was visiting. Before she was scarcely
aware of her peril, they burst into the house, in their wild fury,
seized her, and bore her away in triumph. While they were disputing as
to whom the prize belonged, a drunken chief buried his tomahawk in her
head, whereupon she was scalped and left dead upon the ground.
Nine days after the battle of Bennington, Washington learned that
General Howe was landing his troops in Elk River, seventy miles from
Philadelphia. It was not, however, until the 8th of September that the
two armies met, and the battle of Brandywine was fought.
Washington had eleven thousand men, and Howe eighteen thousand. It was a
sanguinary contest, in which the Americans were defeated, with a loss of
twelve hundred. Lafayette conducted himself with great coolness and
bravery, and was wounded by a bullet that passed through his leg.
The consternation in Philadelphia was now appalling. Many of the
citizens fled; Congress adjourned to Lancaster; confusion and dismay
turned the city into Bedlam.
Washington retreated to Germantown to prepare for another battle. He was
beaten, but not dismayed.
Another instance of the providential care over Washington occurred just
before the battle of Brandywine. In disguise, accompanied by a single
officer in a Hussar dress, he reconnoitered one day. Major Ferguson
beheld him at a distance, and, supposing he belonged to the enemy, he
ordered three riflemen to steal near to him and fire. But, for some
unaccountable reason, he recalled the riflemen before they fired. What
was his surprise on the next day to learn that the supposed enemy, whom
he would have shot, was his own general, Washington!
Howe could not ascend the Delaware to Philadelphia because it was
defended by Forts Mifflin and Mercer. He prepared to attack them.
A large force of British were at Germantown, and on the night of Oct. 2,
Washington performed a march of fifteen miles and attacked them. A quick
and signal victory perched upon his banners, and the enemy fled in
confusion. The victory was turned into defeat, however, by a serious
blunder. The British had been driven three miles, leaving tents and
baggage behind, and were still on the retreat when in the dense fog,
several Jersey and Maryland regiments approaching, were mistaken for
British reinforcements. The cry was raised: "We are surrounded and
retreat cut off!" whereupon the Americans retreated in confusion.
General Sullivan wrote of Washington in that battle:
"I saw, with great concern, our brave commander-in-chief exposing
himself to the hottest fire of the enemy, in such a manner that regard
for my country obliged me to ride to him and beg him to retire. He, to
gratify me and others, withdrew a short distance; but his anxiety for
the fate of the day soon brought him up again, where he remained till
our troops had retreated."
At great sacrifice of men and money, the British removed the
obstructions from the river, and took possession of Philadelphia.
Dr. Franklin was in Paris when the news reached him, "Howe has taken
Philadelphia." "No," replied Franklin, "Philadelphia has taken Howe."
The sequel proved that Franklin had an eye upon the future.
Although the prospect was gloomy in Pennsylvania, glad tidings came to
Washington from the north. The Americans completely surrounded
Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, so that farther retreat was impossible. On
the 16th of October, 1777, after holding a council of war, Burgoyne
surrendered to General Gates, remarking:
"The fortune of war has made me your prisoner."
"I shall always be ready to testify that it has not been through any
fault of your excellency," Gates replied.
Burgoyne's army was reduced from nine thousand men, to five thousand
seven hundred and fifty-two. These prisoners were allowed a free passage
to Europe, under the irrevocable condition not to serve again in the
British ranks. Seven thousand stand of arms, a large number of tents, a
long train of artillery, and a great quantity of clothing and stores
fell into the hands of the victors.
The celebrated Polish patriot Kosciusko was chief engineer in Gates'
command when Burgoyne was captured.
The British made Philadelphia their winter quarters, where the troops
indulged themselves in almost unrestrained revelry. They forced many
sympathizers with the American cause to vacate their dwellings for the
accommodation of their own number; and many were quartered upon
patriotic families, with the express understanding that failure to
supply their wants would be resented.
Washington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, about twenty miles
from Philadelphia. The tale of suffering connected with that place
during that long, dreary winter, is known to the world.
Arriving there, many of the troops without blankets or shoes, ragged,
worn out, and desponding, they were exposed to the snows and blasts of
December until they could cut down trees and build their own huts. Two
days after encamping, General Huntington reported to Washington:
"My brigade are out of provisions, nor can the commissary obtain any
meat."
General Varnum reported:
"Three days successively we have been destitute of bread. Two days we
have been entirely without meat." Against his own judgment, in order to
prevent mutiny in his army, Washington was forced to forage the country
and seize supplies wherever he could find them, paying for them in
money, or certificates redeemable by Congress.
Yet we find Washington writing thus:
"For some days past there has been little less than a famine in the
camp. A part of the army has been a week without any kind of flesh, and
the rest, three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot
enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiers,
that they have not been ere this excited by their suffering to a general
mutiny and desertion."
Sickness and mortality prevailed to an alarming extent among the troops,
while scarcely any medicines were at hand. Even scores of horses
perished by hunger and the severity of the weather.
One day circumstances drew Washington's attention to a hungry soldier
who was on guard. The general had just come from his own table and he
said:
"Go to my table and help yourself."
"I can't; I am on guard," the soldier replied. Immediately taking the
soldier's gun to play the part of sentinel, Washington said, "Go."
The soldier enjoyed the first square meal he had eaten for two days, and
at the same time he learned that his general had true sympathy with the
"boys," and that official distinction did not lift him above the
humblest of their number.
With his army in such a deplorable condition, and his cannon frozen up
and immovable, Washington knew very well that, almost any day, the
British might march out of Philadelphia and capture or annihilate his
entire command. His anxiety and trouble can be more easily imagined than
described.
To add to the trials of that winter, Washington learned of a conspiracy
against him, the object of which was to supersede him by General Gates
as commander-in-chief. His old friend Dr. Craik wrote to him:
"Notwithstanding your unwearied diligence and the unparalleled sacrifice
of domestic happiness and care of mind which you have made for the good
of your country, yet you are not wanting in secret enemies, who would
rob you of the great and truly deserved esteem your country has for you.
Base and villanous men, through chagrin, envy, or ambition, are
endeavoring to lessen you in the minds of the people, and taking
underhand methods to traduce your character," etc.
Generals Gates, Mifflin, and Conway were engaged in this plot; but their
timely and complete exposure redounded to the honor of Washington.
The duel which General Hamilton fought with General Conway, in which the
latter was severely wounded, grew out of this affair. Hamilton could not
endure the presence of an officer who was secretly plotting against his
chief.
In the month of February Mrs. Washington joined her husband at Valley
Forge, to share his winter quarters with him, as she had done at
Cambridge and Morristown. She wrote to a friend:
"The general's apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to
dine in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were
at first.
"The commander-in-chief shared the privations of the camp with his men.
His cabin was like theirs."
The presence of Mrs. Washington at Valley Forge was a blessing to the
army. She occupied her time fully in caring for the sick, sewing and
mending for the "boys," and making herself generally useful.
Again the commander-in-chief interceded with Congress for more liberal
pay for his soldiers. Alluding to the sufferings of his soldiers, he
wrote:
"To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets
to lie on, without shoes (for the want of which their marches might be
traced by the blood from their feet), and almost as often without
provisions as with them, marching through the frost and snow, and at
Christmas taking up their winter quarters within a day's march of the
enemy, without a house or hut to cover them till it could be built,
and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience and obedience
which, in my opinion, cannot be paralleled."
It was during this memorable winter at Valley Forge that a man by the
name of Potts was strolling through the woods, when he heard the sound
of a human voice. Cautiously approaching the spot whence the voice
proceeded, what was his surprise to discover Washington on his knees
engaged in earnest prayer for his country. On returning home, Potts
called to his wife, "Sarah, Sarah, all is well. George Washington will
triumph!"
"What is the matter now, Isaac? Thee seems moved," Mrs. Potts replied.
(They were Quakers.)
"I have this day seen what I never expected to see," Mr. Potts
continued. "Thee knows that I have always thought the sword and the
gospel utterly inconsistent, and that no man could be a soldier and a
Christian at the same time. But George Washington has this day convinced
me of my mistake."
He then described the scene he had witnessed, adding:
"If George Washington be not a man of God, I am greatly deceived; and
still more shall I be deceived if God does not, through him, work out a
great salvation for America."
Baron Steuben, a renowned European general, coming to this country at
this juncture to proffer his services, through the influence of Dr.
Franklin, Washington induced Congress to commit the reorganization of
the army to him. This proved a fortunate arrangement for the future of
the army and country, next to the appointment of General Green
quarter-master-general.
Previously a distinguished Pole, Thaddeus Kosciusko, who was educated in
the military school at Warsaw, had come to him with a letter from Dr.
Franklin.
"And what do you seek here?" inquired Washington.
"To fight for American independence," replied Kosciusko.
"What can you do?"
"Try me."
Washington welcomed him heartily, and throughout the Revolution he
proved to be an able and faithful ally.
Count Pulaski, another famous general of Poland, had joined the American
army at the solicitation of Dr. Franklin, who introduced him by letter
to Washington.
Washington had corresponded with the British general respecting an
exchange of General Lee and Ethan Allen, but he was unable to effect an
exchange until this winter of his trials at Valley Forge. General
Prescott, who captured Allen in Canada, ironed him, and sent him to
England, was himself captured in the summer of 1777; and Washington
proposed to exchange him for General Lee, and Colonel Campbell for
Colonel Allen. It was not, however, until near the close of the long
dreary winter at Valley Forge that his proposition was accepted. Lee
rejoined the army, but Allen returned to his home in Vermont, where he
hung up his sword and retired to private life.
In the spring of 1778, the glad news came that an alliance with France
was accomplished, and henceforth the struggling Colonies might expect
assistance from that country. At the same time a war between France and
England was imminent, a calamity that would prove favorable to the
patriots of America, since the British Government could not keep its
army in Philadelphia and wage a war with France.
Lafayette was instrumental in consummating the alliance with France. For
this purpose he left the United States in 1779, and returned in March,
1780. His own country received him with open arms, and honored him by
appointing him to one of the highest positions in their army.
In the month of May there were some indications that the enemy were
about to evacuate Philadelphia. The news that a French fleet under Count
D'Estaing was about to sail to this country, to aid the Colonies in
their fight for independence, caused Sir Henry Clinton, who had
succeeded Howe in the command of the British army, to fear that he might
be blockaded in the Delaware.
"Shall we allow the enemy to leave the city without attacking them?"
inquired Washington at the council of war.
"Yes," promptly answered General Lee, just restored to his command. "If
they will go, let them go. This army is too weak to attack the British
in their stronghold."
"The two armies are now nearly equal in numbers," said Washington, "and
experience has so far shown that the British have had nothing to boast
whenever they have come in conflict with an equal number of Americans."
"Very true," responded Lee; "but let them evacuate if they will. The
risk of a battle is too great to run. I would build a bridge of gold for
them if they would retreat over it."
Washington, Lafayette, Wayne, and Cadwalader were the only members of
the council who favored an immediate attack. Without deciding the
question, Washington requested each one to furnish his opinion in
writing. Before this was done, however, the city was evacuated. On the
eighteenth day of June the whole British army crossed the Delaware into
New Jersey, eleven thousand strong, with an immense baggage and
provision train, and marched for New York by way of New Brunswick and
Amboy.
The American army was in pursuit as speedily as possible.
"We must compel an engagement," said Washington, eager to give the foe a
sound drubbing before it was too late.
"And we must do it as soon as possible," answered Lafayette.
"There is no time to lose, neither," said Greene.
General Lee was opposed to a general engagement.
They were near Monmouth Court-house, and it was the night of June 27.
General Lee had command of the advance, five thousand picked men, and
his orders were, "Attack the enemy to-morrow."
At midnight a horseman was galloping up to Washington's headquarters,
when the sentinel challenged him.
"Doctor Griffith, chaplain and surgeon in the Virginia line, on business
highly important with the commander-in-chief."
"Officer of the guard!" cried the sentinel. That officer appeared.
Doctor Griffith repeated his errand.
"Impossible; my orders are positive," replied the guard.
"But I must," persisted the doctor.
"You cannot," repeated the guard. "The commander-in-chief is intensely
engaged."
"Present, sir, my humble duty to his excellency, and say that Dr.
Griffith waits upon him with secret and important intelligence, and
craves an audience of only five minutes duration."
He was soon ushered into Washington's presence.
"The nature of the communication I am about to make to your excellency
must be my apology for disturbing you at this hour of the night,"
observed the doctor. "While I am not permitted to divulge the names of
the authorities from which I have obtained my information, I can assure
you they are of the very first order, whether in point of character or
attachment to the cause of American independence. I have sought this
interview to warn your excellency against the conduct of Major-General
Lee in to-morrow's battle. My duty is fulfilled, and I go now to pray to
the God of battles for success to our arms, and that He may always have
your excellency in His holy keeping."
Doctor Griffith retired, and the battle of Monmouth was fought on the
next day. Washington, with his aides, was approaching the scene of
action, when he met a little fifer boy who archly observed:
"They are all coming this way, your honor."
"Who are coming, my little man?" inquired General Knox.
"Why, our boys, your honor; our boys, and the British right after them,"
answered the fifer.
"Impossible!" exclaimed Washington, and put spurs to his horse.
Sure enough, he soon met General Lee's advance in full retreat.
"What is the meaning of all this, sir?" he called out to General Lee.
The latter was dumbfounded, and made no reply.
"I demand, sir, to know the reason of this retreat," shouted Washington
in a tone of anger.
"By my own order," answered Lee, vexed by the commander's sharp address.
"Go to the rear, you cowardly poltroon!" shouted Washington, thoroughly
aroused and indignant over the conduct of the officer.
At that juncture, his favorite aid, Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, leaped
from his horse and, drawing his sword, addressed the general:
"We are betrayed! Your excellency and the army are betrayed! And the
time has come when every true friend of America and her cause must be
ready to die in their defence!"
Under the magic influence of the commander-in-chief the retreat was
speedily arrested, and one of the most glorious victories of the
Revolution achieved.
Washington was almost ubiquitous in his exertions, and his noble white
charger galloped over the battlefield, utterly regardless of danger,
until the splendid beast sank under the excessive heat, and died.
Immediately the general mounted another war-horse of equal spirit, and,
brandishing his sword high in the air, called to the troops:
"Stand fast, my boys, and receive your enemy! The Southern troops are
advancing to support you!"
On the evening before, the officers drew up a memorial to Washington,
entreating him not to expose himself in battle, as he did at Princeton,
Trenton, and other places. Dr. Craik, who was present, remarked:
"It will not have the weight of a feather with him." Then referring to
the Indian chief's prophecy on the banks of the Ohio, "The Great Spirit
protects him; he cannot be shot in battle," he added, "I believe it."
In the bloody contest of the next day, a round shot from the British
artillery ploughed the ground directly in front of the general, throwing
up a cloud of dirt over his person.
"Dat wash very near!" exclaimed Baron Stuben. Dr. Craik and several of
the officers who were together on the previous evening were witnesses.
Pleased by this remarkable confirmation of his faith in the Indian's
prophecy, Dr. Craik smiled and, without uttering a word, pointed his
finger towards heaven, as much as to say, "The Great Spirit protects
him."
At the close of the day the battle-ground was in possession of the
Americans. Washington's orders were to attack the foe again as soon as
they began to move in the morning. But in the morning no enemy could be
found; they had silently retreated during the night.
The Americans lost two hundred and twenty killed and wounded; and the
British two hundred and fifty, and one hundred prisoners.
Major-General Lee was court-martialed for his conduct on the field of
Monmouth, and was suspended from all command for one year. Many believed
that he was an arch-traitor, who deserved a halter, although the
evidence of it was not then conclusive. But eighty years thereafter (in
1858), papers were discovered in Lee's handwriting, in which he
communicated to Lord and Sir William Howe, while he was a prisoner in
New York, a plan for subjugating the Colonies. The only explanation of
his conduct, after the fall of Fort Washington, is found in his
treasonable designs. He never returned to the service.
On the 13th of July Washington received news of the arrival of the
French fleet, consisting of twelve ships of the line and six frigates,
and four thousand men for a land force. Immediate consultation with the
commander, Count D'Estaing, led him to cross the Hudson and establish
his army at White Plains.
Rhode Island was in the possession of the British, and Washington
proposed to recover it by the united action of his army and the French
fleet. After several weeks of rough campaigning, Washington was
compelled to abandon his purpose, because the eccentric D'Estaing
resolved to take his fleet to Boston for rest and repairs.
For the winter of 1778-'79 he stationed his army in cantonments from
Long Island Sound to the Delaware, while his own headquarters were near
Middlebrook. This arrangement was designed to protect the country and
watch the enemy.