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THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 W A S H I IT G T O l:^ 
 
 BY 
 
 WASHINGTON lEVING 
 
 11 
 
 Vol. I 
 
 , Chicago, New York, and San Francisco : 
 BELFORD, CLARKE & COMPANY 
 Publish EBS. 
 

 V. 
 
 GIFT OP 
 
 R.fT PI ^^AtSa 'f 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following work was commenced several years ago, but 
 the prosecution of it has been repeatedly interrupted by other 
 occupations, by a long absence in Europe, and by occasional 
 derangement of health. It is only within the last two or three 
 years that I have been able to apply myself to it steadily. This 
 is stated to account for the delay in its publication. 
 
 The present volume treats of the earlier part of Washington's 
 life previous to the war of the Eevolution, giving his expedi- 
 tions into the wilderness, his campaigns on the frontier in the 
 old French war ; and the other " experiences," by which his 
 character was formed, and he was gradually trained up and 
 prepared for his great destiny. 
 
 Though a biography, and of course admitting of familiar 
 anecdote, excursive digression, and a flexible texture of narra- 
 tive, yet, for the most part, it is essentially historic. Wash- 
 ington, in fact, had very little private life, but was eminently 
 a public character. All his actions and concerns almost from 
 boyhood were connected with the. history of his country. In 
 writing his biography, therefore, I am obliged to take glances 
 over collateral history, as seen from his point of view and in- 
 fluencing his plans, and to narrate distant transactions appar- 
 ently disconnected with his concerns, but eventually bearing 
 upon the great drama in which he was the principal actor. 
 
 I have endeavored to execute my task with candor and 
 fidelity ; stating facts on what appeared to be good authority, 
 and avoiding as much as possible all false coloring and exag- 
 geration. My work is founded on the correspondence of Wash- 
 ington, which, in fact, affords the amplest and surest ground- 
 work for his biography. This I have consulted as it exists in 
 manuscript in the archives of the Department of State, to which 
 I have had full and frequent access. I have also made frequent 
 use of " Washington's Writings," as published by Mr. Sparks ; 
 a careful collection of many of them with the originals having 
 convinced me of the general correctness of the collection, and 
 
iy PREFACE, 
 
 of the safety with which it ma;f be relied upon for historical 
 purposes ; and I am happy to bear this testimony to the essential 
 accuracy of one whom I consider among the greatest benefactors 
 to our national literature ; and to whose writings and researches 
 I acknowledge myself largely indebted throughout my work. 
 
 W.I. 
 
 SUNNYSIDB, 1855. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY. 
 
 The Washington family is of an ancient English stock, the 
 genealogy of which has been traced up to the century immedi- 
 ately succeeding the Conquest. At that time it was in posses- 
 sion of landed estates and manorial privileges in the county of 
 Durham, such as were enjoyed only by those, or their descend- 
 ants, who had come over from Normandy with the Conqueror, 
 or fought under his standard. When William the Conqueror 
 laid waste the whole country north of the Humber, in punish- 
 ment of the insurrection of the Northumbrians, he apportioned 
 the estates among his followers, and advanced Normans and 
 other foreigners to the principal ecclesiastical dignities. One 
 of the most wealthy and important sees was that of Durham. 
 Hither had been transported the bones of St. Cuthbert from 
 their original shrine at Lindisfarne, when it was ravaged by 
 the Danes. That saint, says Camden, was esteemed by princes 
 and gentry a titular saint against the Scots."* His shrine, 
 therefore, had been held in peculiar reverence by the Saxons, 
 and the see of Durham endowed with extraordinary privileges. 
 
 William continued and increased those privileges. He needed 
 a powerful adherent on this frontier to keep the restless North- 
 umbrians in order, and check Scottish invasion ; and no doubt 
 considered an enlightened ecclesiastic, appointed by the crown, 
 a safer depositary of such power than an hereditary noble. 
 
 Having placed a noble and learned native of Loraine in the 
 diocese, therefore, he erected it into a palatinate, over which 
 the bishop, as Count Palatine, had temporal as well as spiritual 
 * Camden, Brit. iv. 349. 
 
2 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 jurisdiction. He built a strong castle for his protection, and 
 to serve as a barrier against the Northern foe. He made him 
 lord high admiral of the sea and waters adjoining his palatinate, 
 lord^^wafden of 'the inarches, and conservator of the league 
 betw^ei? En^an^^ap^Srcotland. Thenceforth, we are told, the 
 pi^elates of Durham owned no earthly superior within their 
 'dibcese, b'^t continued for \3enturies to exercise every right 
 attaclied io a^n independent Sovereign.* 
 
 The bishop, as Count Palatine, lived in almost royal state 
 and splendor. He had his lay chancellor, chamberlains, secre- 
 taries, steward, treasurer, master of the horse, and a host of 
 minor officers. Still he was under feudal obligations. All 
 landed property in those warlike times implied military service. 
 Bishops and abbots, equally with great barons who held estates 
 immediately of the crown, were obliged, when required, to 
 furnish the king with armed men in proportion to their do- 
 mains ; but they had their feudatories under them, to aid them 
 in this service. 
 
 The princely prelate of Durham had his barons and knights, 
 who held estates of him on feudal tenure, and were bound to 
 serve him in peace and war. They sat occasionally in his 
 councils gave martial splendor to his court, and were obliged 
 to have horse and weapon ready for service, for they lived in a 
 belligerent neighborhood, disturbed occasionally by civil war, 
 and often by Scottish foray. When the banner of St. Cuthbert, 
 the royal standard of the province, was displayed, no armed 
 feudatory of the bishop could refuse to take the field.f 
 
 Some of these prelates, in token of the warlike duties of their 
 diocese, engraved on their seals a knight on horseback, armed 
 at all points, brandishing in one hand a sword, and holding 
 forth in the other the arms of the see.$ 
 
 Among the knights who held estates in the palatinate on 
 these warlike conditions was William de Hertburn, the 
 progenitor of the Washingtons. His Norman name of William 
 would seem to point out his national descent ; and the family 
 long continued to have Norman names of baptism. The sur- 
 name of De Hertburn was taken from a village on the palati- 
 nate, which he held of the bishop in knight's fee ; probably the 
 same now called Hartburn, on the banks of the Tees. It had 
 become a custom among the Norman families of rank, about the 
 time of the Conquest, to take surnames from their castles or es- 
 
 * Annals of Roger deHoTodoen. Hutchinson's I>urAawi, voL ii Col- 
 lectanea Curiosa, vol. ii. 83. 
 t Kobert de Graystanes, Aug. Sac. p. 746, 
 } Camjlen, Brit. iv. 349. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 3 
 
 ates ; it was not until some time afterwards that surnamest 
 became generally assumed by the people.^ 
 
 How or when the De Hertburns first acquired possession 
 of their village is not known. They may have been companions 
 in arms with Robert de Brus (or Bruce), a noble knight of 
 JSTormandy, rewarded by William the Conqueror with great 
 possessions in the North, and among others, with the lordships 
 of Hert a];id Hertness in the county of Durham. 
 
 The first actual mention we find of the family is in the 
 ^^ Bolden Book," a record of all the lands appertaining to the 
 diocese in 1183. In this it is stated that William de Hertburn 
 had exchanged his village of Hertburn for the manor and 
 village of Wessyngton, likewise in the diocese ; paying the 
 bishop a quit-rent of four pounds, and engaging to attend him 
 with two greyhounds in grand hunts, and to furnish a man-at- 
 arms whenever military aid should be required of the palatinate.^ 
 
 The family changed its surname with its estate, and thence- 
 forward assumed that of De Wessyngton. t The condition 
 of military service attached to its manor will be found to have 
 been often exacted, nor was the service in the grand hunt an 
 idle form. Hunting came next to war in those days, as the 
 occupation of the nobility and gentry. The clergy engaged in 
 it equally with the laity. The hunting establishment of the 
 Bishop of Durham was on a princely scale. He had his for- 
 
 * Lower, On Surnames , vol. i. p. 43. Fuller says that the custom of 
 surnames was brought from France in Edward the Confessor's time, 
 about fifty years before the Conquest; but did not become universally 
 settled until some hundred years afterwards. At first they did not de- 
 scend hereditarily on the family. Fuller, Church History. Boll Battle 
 Abbey. 
 
 t The Bolden Book. As this ancient document gives the first trace 
 of the Washington family, it merits especial mention. In 1183 a survey 
 was made, by order of Bishop de Pusaz, of all the lands of the see held 
 in demesne, or by tenants in villanage. The record was entered in a 
 book called the Bolden Buke; the parish of Bolden occurring first in al- 
 phabetical arrangement. The document commences in the following 
 manner; " Incipit liber qui vocatur ' Bolden Book. ' Anno Dominice 
 Incarnationis, 1183," etc. 
 
 The following is the memorandum in question : — 
 
 *' Willus de Herteburn habet Wessyngton (excepta ecclesia et terra 
 ecclesie partinen) ad examb. pro villa de Herteburn quam pro hac qui- 
 etam clamavit: Et reddit 4 L. Et vadit in magna caza cum 2 Leporar. 
 Et quando commune auxilium venerit debet dare 1 Militem ad plus de 
 auxilio," etc. Collectanea Curiosa, vol. ii. p. 89. 
 
 The Bolden Buke is a small folio, deposited in the office of the 
 bishop's auditor of Durham. 
 
 t The name is probably of Saxon origin. It existed in England prior 
 to the Conquest. The village of Wassengtone is mentioned in a Saxon 
 charter as granted by King Edgar in 973 to Thorney abbey. Collectanea 
 Topographica, iv. 55, 
 
4 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ests, chases, and parks, with their train of foresters, rangers, 
 and park-keepers. A grand hunt was a splendid pageant, in 
 which all his barons and knights attended him, with horse and 
 hound. The stipulations with the Seignior of Wessyngton 
 show how strictly the rights of the chase were defined. All the 
 game taken by him in going to the forest belonged to the 
 bishop ; all taken on returning belonged to himself.^ 
 
 Hugh de Pusaz (or De Pudsay) during whose episcopate we 
 meet with this first trace of the De Wessyngtons, was a nephew 
 of King Stephen, and a prelate of great pretensions ; fond of 
 appearing with a train of ecclesiastics and an armed retinue. 
 When Richard Coeur de Lion put everything at pawn and sale 
 to raise funds for a crusade to the Holy Land, the bishop re- 
 solved to accompany him. More wealthy than his sovereign, 
 he made magnificent preparations. Besides ships to convey 
 his troops and retinue, he had a sumptuous galley for himself, 
 fitted up with a throne or episcopal chair of silver, and all the 
 household, and even culinary utensils, were of the same costly 
 material. In a word, had not the prelate been induced to stay 
 at home, and aid the king with his treasures, by being made 
 one of the regents of the kingdom, and earl of Northumberland 
 for life, the De Wessyngtons might have followed the banner 
 of St. Cuthbert to the holy wars. 
 
 Nearly seventy years afterwards we find the family still re- 
 taining its manorial estate in the palatinate. The names of 
 Bondo de Wessyngton and William his son appear on charters 
 of land, granted in 1257 to religious houses. Soon after oc- 
 curred the wars of the barons, in which the throne of Henry 
 III. was shaken by the De Mountforts. The chivalry of the 
 palatinate rallied under the royal standard. On the list of 
 loyal knights who fought for their sovereign in the disastrous 
 battle of Lewes (1264), in which the king was taken prisoner, 
 we find the name of William Weshington, of Weshington.f 
 
 During the splendid pontificate of Anthony Beke (or Beak), 
 the knights of the palatinate had continually to be in the sad- 
 dle, or buckled in armor. The prelate was so impatient of 
 rest that he never took more than one sleep, saying it was un- 
 becoming man to turn from one side to another in bed. He 
 was perpetually, when within his diocese, either riding from 
 one manor to another, or hunting and hawking. Twice he 
 assisted Edward I. with all his force in invading Scotland. In 
 
 * Hutcliinson's Durham, vol. ii. p. 489. 
 
 * This list of knights was inserted in the Bolden Book as an additional 
 entry. It is cited at full length by Hutchinson, Hist. Durham, vol. i. 
 p. 220, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 5 
 
 the progress northward with the king, the bishop led the van, 
 marching a day in advance of the main body, with a mercenary 
 force, paid by himself, of one thousand foot and five hundred horse. 
 Besides these he had his feudatories of the palatinate ; six 
 bannerets and one hundred and sixty knights, not one of 
 whom, says an old poem, but surpassed Arthur himself, though 
 endowed with the charmed gifts of Merlin.* We presume the 
 De Wessyngtons were among those preux chevaliers, as the 
 banner of St. Cuthbert had been taken from its shrine on the 
 occasion, and of course all the armed force of the diocese was 
 bound to follow. It was borne in front of the army by a monk 
 of Durham. There were many rich caparisons, says the old 
 poem, many beautiful pennons, fluttering from lances, and 
 much neighing of steeds. The hills and valleys were covered 
 with sumpter horses and wagons laden with tents and provis- 
 ions. The Bishop of Durham in his warlike state appeared, 
 we are told, more like a powerful prince, than a priest or 
 prelate.! 
 
 At the surrender of the crown of Scotland by John Baliol, 
 which ended this invasion, the bishop negotiated on the part 
 of England. As a trophy of the event, the chair of Scone, 
 used on the inauguration of the Scottish monarchs, and con- 
 taining the stone on which Jacob dreamed, the palladium of 
 Scotland, was transferred to England and deposited in West- 
 minster Abbey. $ 
 
 * "Onques Artous pour touz ces charmes, 
 Si beau prisent ne ot de Merlin." 
 
 Siege of Karlavarock ; an old Poem in Norman 
 French. 
 t Robert de Graystanes, Ang. Sac. p. *746, cited by Hutchinson, vol. i. 
 p. 239. 
 
 t An extract from an inedited poem, cited by Nicolas in his transla- 
 tion of the Siege of Carlavarock, gives a striking picture of the palati- 
 nate in those days of its pride and splendor : — 
 
 '' There valor bowed before the rood and book. 
 
 And kneeling knighthood served a prelate lord, 
 Yet little deigned he on such train to look. 
 Or glance of ruth or pity to afford. 
 
 " There time has heard the peal rung out at night, 
 Has seen from every tower the cressets stream, 
 When the red bale-fire, on yon western height. 
 Had roused the warder from his fitful dream. 
 
 " Has seen old Durham's lion banner float 
 
 O'er the proud bulwark, that, with giant pride 
 And feet deep plunged amidst the circling moat, 
 The efforts of the roving Scot defied." 
 
6 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 In the reign of Edward III. we find the De Wessyngtons 
 still mingling in chivalrous scenes. The name of Sir Stephen 
 de Wessyngton appears on the list of knights (nobles cheva- 
 liers) who were to tilt at a tournament at Dunstable in 1334. 
 He bore for his device a golden rose on an azure field.* 
 
 He was soon called to exercise his arms on a sterner field. 
 In 1346, Edward and his son, the Black Prince, being absent 
 with the armies in France, King David of Scotland invaded 
 Northumberland with a powerful army. Queen Philippa, who 
 had remained in England as regent, immediately took the field, 
 calling the northern prelates and nobles to join her standard. 
 They all hastened to obey. Among the prelates was Hatfield, 
 the Bishop of Durham. The sacred banner of St. Cuthbert 
 was again displayed, and the chivalry of the palatinate assisted 
 at the famous battle of Nevil's Cross, near Durham, in which 
 the Scottish army was defeated and King David taken prisoner. 
 
 Queen Philippa hastened with a victorious train to cross the 
 sea at Dover, and join King Edward in his camp before Calais. 
 The prelate of Durham accompanied her. His military train 
 consisted of three bannerets, forty-eight knights, one hundred 
 and sixty-four esquires, and eighty archers, on horseback.f 
 They all arrived to witness the surrender of Calais (1346), on 
 which occasion Queen Philippa distinguished herself by her 
 noble interference in saving the lives of its patriot citizens. 
 
 Such were the warlike and stately scenes in which the De 
 Wessyngtons were called to mingle by their feudal duties as 
 knights of the palatinate. A few years after the last event 
 (1350), William, at that time lord of the manor of Wessyng- 
 ton, had licence to settle it and the village upon himself, his 
 wife, and ^' his own right heirs." He died in 1367, and his 
 son and heir, William, succeeded to the estate. The latter is 
 mentioned under the name of Sir William de Weschington, as 
 one of the knights who sat in the privy council of the county 
 during the episcopate of John Eordham.$ During this time 
 the whole force of the palatinate was roused to pursue a foray 
 of Scots, under Sir William Douglas, who, having ravaged 
 the country, were returning laden with spoil. It was a fruit 
 of the feud between the Douglases and the Percys. The 
 marauders were overtaken by Hotspur Percy, and then took 
 place the battle of Otterbourne, in which Percy was taken 
 prisoner and Douglas slain. § 
 
 * Collect. Topog. et Genealog. torn. iv. p. 395. 
 t Collier's Eccles. Hist, book vi. cent. xiv. 
 i Hutchinson, vol. ii. 
 
 § '' Theare the Dowglas lost his life, . 
 And the Percye was led away." 
 Fordun, quoted by Surtee's Hist. Durham, vol, 1. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 7 
 
 For upwards of two hundred years the De Wessyngtons had 
 now sat in the councils of the palatinate ; had mingled with 
 horse and hound in the stately hunts of its prelates, and fol- 
 lowed the hanner of St. Cuthhert to the field ; but Sir William, 
 just mentioned, was the last of the family that rendered this 
 feudal service. He was the last male of the line to which the 
 inheritance of the manor, by the licence granted to his father, 
 was confined. It passed away from the De Wessyngtons, 
 after his death, by the marriage of his only daughter and heir, 
 Dionisia, with Sir William Temple of Studley. By the year 
 1400 it had become the property of the Blaykestons."*^ 
 
 But though the name of De Wessyngton no longer figured on 
 the chivalrous roll of the palatinate, it continued for a time to 
 flourish in the cloisters. In the, year 1416, John de Wessyng- 
 ton was elected prior of the Benedictine convent attached to 
 the cathedral. The monks of this convent had been licensed 
 by Pope Gregory VII. to perform the solemn duties of the 
 cathedral in place of secular clergy, and William the Con- 
 queror had ordained that the priors of Durham should enjoy 
 all the liberties, dignities, and honors of abbots ; should hold 
 their lands and churches in their own hands and free disposi- 
 tion and have the abbot's seat on the left side of the choir — 
 thus taking rank of every one but the bishop. f 
 
 In the course of three centuries and upwards, which had 
 since elapsed, these honors and privileges had been subject to 
 repeated dispute and encroachment, and the prior had nearly 
 been elbowed out of the abbot's chair by the archdeacon. John 
 de Wessyngton was not a man to submit tamely to such in- 
 fringements of his rights. He forthwith set himself up as the 
 champion of his priory, and in a learned tract, ^' De Juribus et 
 Possessionibus Ecclesiae Dunelm," established the validity of 
 the long controverted claims, and fixed himself firmly in the 
 abbot's chair. His success in this controversy gained him 
 much renown among his brethren of the cowl, and in 1426 he 
 presided at the general chapter of the order of St. Benedict, 
 held at Northampton. 
 
 The stout prior of Durham had other disputes with the 
 bishop and the secular clergy touching his ecclesiastical func- 
 tions, in which he was equally victorious, and several tracts 
 remain in manuscript in the dean and chapter's library — 
 weapons hung up in the church armory as memorials of his 
 polemical battles. 
 
 Finally, after fighting divers good fights for the honor of hia 
 
 * Hutchinson's Durham, vol. ii. p. 489. 
 
 t Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, tom. i. p. 231. London, ed. 1846« 
 
8 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 priory, and filling the abbott's chair for thirty years, he died, 
 to use an ancient phrase, " in all the odor of sanctity," in 1446, 
 and was buried like a soldier on his battle-field, at the door of 
 the north aisle of his church, near to the altar of St. Benedict. 
 On his tombstone was an inscription in brasS; now unfortunately 
 obliterated, which may have set forth the valiant deeds of this 
 Washington of the cloisters.^ 
 
 By this time the primitive stock of the De Wessyngtons had 
 separated into divers branches, holding estates in various parts 
 of England ; some distinguishing themselves in the learned 
 professions, others receiving knighthood for public services. 
 Their names are to be found honorably recorded in county 
 histories, or engraved on monuments in time-worn churches 
 and cathedrals, those garnering places of English worthies. By 
 degrees the seignorial sign of de disappeared from before the 
 family surname, which also varied from Wessyngton to Was- 
 sington, Wasshington, and finally, to Washington.! A parish 
 in the county of Durham bears the name as last written, and 
 in this probably the ancient manor of Wessyngton was situated. 
 There is another parish of the name in the county of Sussex. 
 
 The branch of the family to which our Washington imme- 
 diately belongs sprang from Laurence Washington, Esquire, of 
 Gray's Inn, son of John Washington, of Warton, in Lancashire. 
 This Laurence Washington was for some time mayor of North- 
 ampton, and on the dissolution of the priories by Henry VIII. 
 he received, in 1538, a grant of the manor of Sulgrave, in North- 
 amptonshire, with other lands in the vicinity, all confiscated 
 property formerly belonging to the monastery of St. Andrew's. 
 
 Sulgrave remained in the family until 1620, and was com- 
 monly called "Washington's manor." $ 
 
 * Hutchinson's Durham, vol. 11. passim. • 
 
 t *' The de came to be omitted," says an old treatise, "when English- 
 men and English manners began to prevail upon the recovery of lost 
 credit." — Bestitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities. Lend. 
 1634. 
 
 About the time of Henry YI. , says another treatise, the de or d' was 
 generally dropped from surnames, when the title of armiger, esquier, 
 amongst the heads of families, and generosus, or gentylman, among 
 younger sons was substituted. Lower, on Surnames, vol. i. 
 
 J The manor of Garsdon in Wiltshire has been mentioned as the liome- 
 stead of the ancestors of our Washington. This was the residence of 
 Sir Laurence Washington, second son of the above-mentioned grantee 
 of Sulgrave. Elizabeth, granddaughter of this Sir Laurence, married 
 Kobert Shirley, Earl Ferrars and Viscount of Tamworth. Washington 
 became a baptismal name among the Shirleys ; several of the Earls 
 Ferrers have borne it. 
 
 The writer of these pages visited Sulgrave a few years since. It was 
 
LTFE OF WASHINGTON. 9 
 
 One of the direct descendants of the grantee of Sulgrave was 
 Sir William Washington, of Packington, in the county of Kent. 
 He married a sister of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, 
 the unfortunate favorite of Charles I. This may have attached 
 the Sulgrave Washingtons to the Stuart dynasty, to which they 
 adhered loyally and generously throughout all its vicissitudes. 
 One of the family, Lieutenant-colonel James Washington, took 
 up arms in the cause of King Charles, and lost his life at the 
 siege of Pontefract castle. Another of the Sulgrave line, Sir 
 Henry Washington, son and heir of Sir William, before men- 
 tioned, exhibited in the civil wars the old chivalrous spirit of 
 the knights of the palatinate. He served under Prince Rupert 
 at the storming of Bristol, in 1643, and when the assailants 
 were beaten off at every point, he broke in with a handful of 
 infantry at a weak part of the wall, made room for the horse to 
 follow, and opened a path to victory.* 
 
 He distinguished himself still more in 1646, when elevated 
 to the command of Worcester, the governor having been cap- 
 tured by the enemy. It was a time of confusion and dismay. 
 The king had fled from Oxford in disguise and gone to the 
 parliamentary camp at Newark. The royal cause was desper- 
 ate. In this crisis Sir Henry received a letter from Fairfax, 
 who, with his victorious army was at Haddington, demanding 
 the surrender of Worcester. The following was Colonel Wash- 
 ington's reply : — 
 
 " Sir, — It is acknowledged by your books and by report of 
 your own quarter, that the king is in some of your armies. 
 That granted, it may be easy for you to procure his Majesty's 
 commands for the disposal of this garrison. Till then I shall 
 make good the trust reposed in me. As for conditions, if I shall 
 be necessitated, I shall make the best I can. The worst I know 
 and fear not ; if I had, the profession of a soldier had not been 
 
 in a quiet rural neighborhood, where the farm-houses were quaint and 
 antiquated. A part only of the manor house remained, and was in- 
 habited by a farmer. The Washington crest, in colored glass, was to 
 be seen in a window of what was now the buttery. A window on which 
 the whole family arms were emblazoned liad been removed to the resi- 
 dence of the actual proprietor of the manor. Another relic of the an- 
 cient manor of the Washingtons was a rookery in a venerable grove hard 
 by. Tlie rooks,- those stanch adherents to old family abodes, still 
 hovered and cawed about their hereditary nests. In the pavement of 
 the parish church we were shown a stone slab bearing effigies on plates 
 of brass of Laurence Washington, gent. , and Anne his wife, and their 
 four sons and eleven daughters. The inscription in black letters was 
 dated 1564. 
 * Clarendon, book vii. 
 
10 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 begun, nor so long continued by your Excellency's humble 
 servant, 
 
 " Henry Washington."* 
 
 In a few days Colonel Wballey invested the city with five 
 thousand troops. Sir Henry despatched messenger after mes- 
 senger in quest of the king to know his pleasure. None of 
 them returned. A female emissary was equally unavailing. 
 Week after week elapsed, until nearly three months had ex- 
 pired. Provisions began to fail. The city was in confusion. 
 The troops grew insubordinate. Yet Sir Henry persisted in 
 the defense. General Fairfax, with 1,500 horse, and foot, was 
 daily expected. There was not powder enough for an hour's 
 contest should the city be stormed Still Sir Henry " awaited 
 His Majesty's commands." 
 
 At length news arrived that the king had issued an order 
 for the surrender of all towns, castles, and forts. A printed 
 copy of the order was shown to Sir Henry, and on the faith of 
 that document he capitulated (19th July, 1646) on honorable 
 terms, won by his fortitude and perseverance. Those who be- 
 lieve in hereditary virtues may see foreshadowed in the con- 
 duct of this Washington of Worcester, the magnanimous con- 
 stancy of purpose, the disposition to "hope against hope," which 
 bore our Washington triumphantly through the darkest days of 
 our Revolution. 
 
 We have little note of the Sulgrave branch of the family 
 after the death of Charles I. and the exile of his successor. 
 England, during the Protectorate, became an uncomfortable 
 residence to such as had signalized themselves as adherents to 
 the house of Stuart. In 1655, an attempt at a general insur- 
 rection drew on them the vengeance of Cromwell. Many of 
 their party who had no share in the conspiracy, yet sought 
 refuge in other lands, where they might live free from moles- 
 tation. This may have been the case with the two brothers, 
 John and Andrew Washington, great-grandsons of the grantee 
 of Sulgrave, and uncles of Sir Henry, the gallant defender of 
 Worcester. John had for some time resided at South Cave, in 
 the East Riding of Yorkshire ; * but now emigrated with his 
 brother to Virginia, which colony, from its allegiance to the 
 exiled monarch and the Anglican Church, had become a 
 favorite resort of the Cavaliers. The brothers arrived in 
 
 * Greene's Antiquities of Worcester, p. 273. 
 
 t South Cave is near the Humber. " In the vicinity is Cave Castle, 
 an embattled edifice. It has a noble collection of paintings, including 
 a portrait of General Washington, whose ancestors possessed a portion 
 of the estate." — Lewes, Topog. Diet, vol. i. p. 530, 
 
LIFE OP WA SHtNGTON. 11 
 
 Virginia in 1657, and purchased lands in Westmoreland 
 County, on the Northern Neck, between the Potomac and Eap- 
 pahannock rivers. John married a Miss Anne Pope, of the 
 same county, and took up his residence on Bridges Creek, near 
 where it falls into the Potomac. He became an extensive 
 planter, and, in process of time, a magistrate and member of 
 the House of Burgesses. Having a spark of the old military 
 fire of the family, we find him, as Colonel Washington, leading 
 the Virginia forces, in cooperation with those of Maryland, 
 against a band of Seneca Indians, who were rataging the 
 settlements along the Potomac. In honor of his public services 
 and private virtues the parish in which he resided was called 
 after him, and still bears the name of Washington. He lies 
 buried in a vault on Bridges Creek, which, for generations, was 
 the family place of sepulture. 
 
 The estate continued in the family. His grandson Augus- 
 tine, the father of our Washington, was born there in 1694. 
 He was twice married; first (April 20th, 1715), to Jane, 
 daughter of Caleb Butler, Esq., of Westmoreland County, by 
 whom he had four children, of whom only two, Lawrence and 
 Augustine,, survived the years of childhood ; their mother died 
 November 24th, 1728, and was buried in the family vault. 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1730, he married in second nuptials, 
 Mary, the daughter of Colonel Ball, a young and beautiful girl, 
 said to be the belle of the Northern Neck. By her he had four 
 sons, George, Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles ; and two 
 daughters, Elizabeth, or Betty, as she was commonly called, 
 and Mildred, who died in infancy. 
 
 George, the eldest, the subject of this biography, was born 
 on the 22d of February (11th, 0. S.) 1732,, in the homestead 
 on Bridges Creek. This house commanded a view over many 
 miles of the Potomac, and the opposite shore of Maryland. It 
 had probably been purchaseti with the property, and was one of 
 the primitive farmhouses of Virginia. The roof was steep, and 
 sloped down into low projecting eaves. It had four rooms on 
 the ground floor, and others in the attic, and an immense chim- 
 ney at each end. Not a vestige of it remains. Two or three 
 decayed fig-trees, with shrubs and vines, linger about the place, 
 and here and there a flower grown wild serves " to mark where 
 a garden has been." Such, at least, was the case a few years 
 since ; but these may have likewise passed away. A stone * 
 marks the site of the house, and an inscription denotes its be- 
 ing the birth-place of Washington. 
 
 We have entered with some minuteness into this genealogi- 
 * Placed there by George W. P. Custis, Esq. 
 
12 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 cal detail, tracing the family step by step through the pages of 
 historical documents for ujjwards of six centuries ; and we have 
 been tempted to do so. by tlie documentary proofs it gives of 
 the lineal and enduring worth of the race. We have shown 
 that, for many generations, and through a variety of eventful 
 scenes, it has maintained an equality of fortune and respect- 
 ability, and whenever brought to the test has acquitted itself 
 with honor and loyalty. Hereditary rank may be an illusion ; 
 but hereditary virtue gives a patent of innate nobleness beyond 
 all the blazonry of the Heralds' College. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE HOME OP WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD. HIS EARLY EDUCA- 
 TION. LAWRENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS CAMPAIGN IN THE 
 
 WEST INDIES. DEATH OF WASHINGTON'S FATHER. THE 
 
 WIDOWED MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN. SCHOOL EXER- 
 CISES. 
 
 KoT long after the birth of George, his father removed to an 
 estate in Stafford County, opposite Fredericksburg. The house 
 was similar in st^de to the one at Bridges Creek, and stood on 
 a rising ground overlooking a meadow which bordered the 
 Rappahannock. This was the home of George's boyhood ; the 
 meadow was his play-ground, and the scene of his early ath- 
 letic sports ; but this home, like that in which he was born, has 
 disappeared; the site is only to be traced by fragments of 
 bricks, china, and earthenware. 
 
 In those days the means of instruction in Virginia were limited, 
 and it was the custom among the wealthy planters to send 
 their sons to England to complete their education. This was 
 done by Augustine Washington with his eldest son Lawrence, 
 then about fifteen years of age, and whom he no doubt con- 
 sidered the future head of the family, George was yet in early 
 childhood : as his intellect dawned he received the rudiments 
 of education in the best establishment for the purpose that the 
 neighborhood afforded. It was what was called, in popular par- 
 lance, an " old field school-house ; " humble enough in its pre- 
 tensions; and kept by one of his father's tenants named Hobby, 
 who, moreover, was sexton of the parish. The instruction 
 doled out by him must have been of the simplest l^ind, read- 
 ing, writing, and ciphering, perhaps ; but George had the 
 benefit of mental and moral culture at home, from an excellent 
 father. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 13 
 
 Several traditional anecdotes have been given to the world 
 somewhat prolix and trite, but illustrative of the familiar and 
 practical manner in which Augustine Washington, in the daily- 
 intercourse of domestic life, impressed the ductile mind of his 
 child with high maxims of religion and virtue, and imbued him 
 with a spirit of justice and generosity, and, above all, a scru- 
 pulous love of truth. 
 
 When George was about seven or eight years old his brother 
 Lawrence returned from England, a well-educated and accom- 
 plished youth. There was a difference of fourteen years in 
 their ages, which may have been one cause of the strong at- 
 tachment which took place between them. Lawrence looked 
 down with a protecting eye upon the boy whose dawning in- 
 telligence and perfect rectitude won his regard ; while George 
 looked up to his manly and cultivated brother as a model in 
 mind and manners. We call particular attention to this 
 brotherly interchange of affection, from the influence it had 
 on all the future career of the subject of this memoir. 
 
 Lawrence Washington had something of the old military 
 spirit of the family, and circumstances soon called it into action. 
 Spanish depredations on British commerce had recently provoked 
 reprisals. Admiral Vernon, commander-in-chief in the West 
 Indies, had accordingly captured Porto Bello, on the Isthmus 
 of Darien. The Spaniards were preparing to revenge the blow ; 
 the French were fitting out ships to aid them. Troops were 
 embarked in England for another campaign in the West Indies ; 
 a regiment of four battalions was to be raised in the colonies and 
 sent to join them at Jamaica. There was a sudden outbreak of mili- 
 tary ardor in the province ; the sound of drum and fife was heard 
 in the villages, with the parade of recruiting parties. Lawrence 
 Washington, now twentj^-two years of age, caught the infection. 
 He obtained a captain's commission in the newly raised regiment, 
 and embarked with it for the AVest Indies in 1740. He served 
 in the joint expeditions of Admiral Vernon and General Went- 
 worth, in the land forces commanded by the latter, and acquired 
 the friendship and confidence of both of those officers. He 
 was present at the siege of Carthagena, when it was bombarded 
 by the fleet, and when the troops attempted to escalade the 
 citadel. It was an ineffectual attack ; the slkips could not get 
 near enough to throw their shells into the town, and the scaling- 
 ladders proved too short. That part of the attack, however, 
 with which Lawrence was concerned, distinguished itself by 
 its bravery. The troops sustained unflinching a destructive 
 fire for several hours, and at length retired with honor, their 
 small force having sustained a loss of about six hundred in 
 killed and wounded. 
 
14 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 We have here the secret of that martial spirit so often cited 
 of George in his boyish days. He had seen his brother fitted 
 out for the wars. He had heard by letter and otherwise of the 
 warlike scenes in which he was mingling. All his amusements 
 took a military tur*li. He made soldiers of his schoolmates ; 
 they had their mimic parades, reviews, and sham fights ; a boy 
 named William Bustle was sometimes his competitor, but 
 George was commander-in-chief of Hobby's school. 
 
 Lawrence Washington returned home in the autumn of 1742, 
 the campaigns in the West Indies being ended, and Admiral 
 Vernon and General Wentworth being recalled to England. 
 It was the intention of Lawrence to rejoin his regiment in that 
 country, and seek promotion in the army, but circumstances 
 completely altered his plans. He formed an attachment to 
 Anne, the eldest daughter of the Honorable William Fairfax of 
 Fairfax County; his addresses were well received, and they became 
 engaged. Their nuptials were delayed by the sudden and un- 
 timely death of his father, which took place on the 12th of April, 
 1743, after a short but severe attack of gout in the stomach, 
 and when but forty-nine years of age. George had been absent 
 from home on a visit during his father's illness, and iust 
 returned in time to receive a parting look of affection. 
 
 Augustine Washington left large possessions, distributed 
 by will among his children. To Lawrence, the estate on the 
 banks of the Potomac, with other real property, and several 
 shares in iron works. To Augustine, the second son by the 
 first marriage, the old homestead and estate in Westmoreland. 
 The children by the second marriage were severally well provided 
 for, and George, when he became of age, was to have the house 
 and lands on the Rappahannock. 
 
 In the month of July the marriage of Lawrence with Miss 
 Fairfax took place. He now gave up all thoughts of foreign 
 service, and settled himself on his estate on the banks of the 
 Potomac, to which he gave the name of Mount Vernon, in 
 honor of the Admiral. 
 
 Augustine took up his abode at the homestead on Bridges 
 Creek, and married Anne, daughter and coheiress of William 
 Aylett, Esquire, of Westmoreland County. 
 
 George, now eleven years of age, and the other children of 
 the second marriage, had been left under the guardianship of 
 their mother, to whom was intrusted the proceeds of all their 
 property until they should severally come of age. She proved 
 herself worthy of the trust. Endowed with plain, direct good 
 sense, thorough conscientiousness, and prompt decision, she 
 governed her family strictly, but kindly, exacting deference while 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 15 
 
 she inspired affection. George, being lier eldest son, was 
 thought to be her favorit, yet she never gave him undue prefer- 
 ence, and the implicite deference exacted from him in childhood 
 continued to be habitually observed by to him to the day of her 
 death. He inherited from her a high temper and a spirit of 
 command, but her early precepts and example taught him to 
 restrain and govern that temper, and to square his conduct on 
 the exact principles of equity and justice. 
 
 Tradition gives an interesting picture of the widow, with her 
 little flock gathered round her, as was her daily wont, reading 
 to them lessons of religion and morality out of some standard 
 work. Her favorite volume was Sir Matthew Hale's Contem- 
 plations, moral and divine. The admirable maxims therein 
 contained, for outward action as well as self-government, sank 
 deep into the mind of George, and, doubtless, had a great in- 
 fluence informing his character. They certainly were exempli- 
 fied in his conduct throughout life. This mother's manual, 
 bearing his mother's name, Mary Washington, written with 
 her own hand, was ever preserved by him with filial care, and 
 may still be seen in the archives of Mount Vernon. A precious 
 document I Let those who wish to know the moral foundation 
 of his character consult its pages. 
 
 Having no longer the benefit of a father's instructions at 
 home, and the scope of tuition of Hobby, the sexton, being too 
 limited for the growing wants of his pupil, George was now sent 
 to reside with Augustine Washington, at Bridges Creek, and 
 enjoy the benefit of a superior school in that neighborhood,kept 
 by a Mr. Williams. His education, however, was plain and 
 practical. He never attempted the learned languages, nor 
 manifested any inclination for rhetoric or belles-lettres. His 
 object or the object of his friends, seems to have been confined 
 to fitting him for ordinary business. His manuscript school- 
 books still exist, and are models of neatness and accuracy. 
 
 One of them, it is true, a ciphering-book, preserved in the libra- 
 ry at MountVernon, has some school-boy attempts at calligraphy: 
 nondescript birds, executed with a flourish of the pen, or profiles 
 of faces, probably intended for those of his schoolmates the rest 
 are all grave and business-like. Before he was thirteen years 
 of age he had copied into a volume forms for all kinds of mercan- 
 tile and legal papers ; bills of exchange, notes of hand, deeds, 
 bonds, and the like. This early self-tuition, gave him through- 
 out life a lawyer's skill in drafting documents, and a merchant's 
 exactness in keeping accounts ; so that all the concerns of his 
 various estates, his dealings with his domestic stewards and 
 foreign agents, his accounts with government, and all his finan- 
 
16 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 cial transactions are to this day to be seen pasted up in books, 
 in his own handwriting, monuments of his method and unwearied 
 accuracy. 
 
 He was a self-disciplinarian in physical as well as mental 
 matters, and practiced himself in all kinds of athletic exercises, 
 such as running, leaping, wrestling, pitching quoits, and tossing 
 bars. His frame even in infancy had been large and powerful, 
 and he now excelled most of his playmates in contests of agility 
 and strength. As a proof of his muscular power, a place is still 
 pointed out at Fredericksburg, near the lower ferry, where, when 
 a boy, he flung a stone across the Rappahannock. In horse- 
 manship, too, he already excelled, and was ready to back and 
 able to manage the most fiery steed. Traditional anecdotes re- 
 main of his achievements in this respect. 
 
 Above all, his inherent probity and the principles of justice 
 on which he regulated all his conduct, even at this early period 
 of life, were soon appreciated by his schoolmates ; he was re- 
 ferred to as an umpire in their disputes, and his decisions were 
 never reversed. As he had formerly been military chieftain, 
 he was now legislator of the school ; thus displaying in boyhood 
 a> type of the future man. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PATERNAli CONDUCT OF AN ELDER BROTHER. THE FAIRFAX 
 
 FAMILY. — Washington's code of morals and manners. — 
 
 soldiers' tales. THEIR INFLUENCE. — WASHINGTON PRE- 
 PARES FOR THE NAVY. A MOTHER^S OBJECTIONS. RETURN 
 
 TO SCHOOL. STUDIES AND EXERCISES. — A SCHOOL-BOY PAS- 
 SION. THE LOWLAND BEAUTY. LOVE DITTIES AT MOUNT 
 
 VERNON. VISIT TO BELVOIR. LORD FAIRFAX. HIS CHAR- 
 ACTER. FOX-HUNTING A REMEDY FOR LOVE. PROPOSITION 
 
 FOR A SURVEYING EXPEDITION. 
 
 The attachment of Lawrence Washington to his brother 
 George seems to have acquired additional strength and tender- 
 ness on their father's death ; he now took a truly paternal in- 
 terest in his concerns, and had him as frequently as possible a 
 guest at Mount Yernon. Lawrence had deservedly become 
 a popular and leading personage in the country. He was 
 a member of the House of Burgesses, and Adjutant-general of 
 the district, with the rank of major, and a regular salary. A 
 frequent sojourn with him brought George into fatniliar inter- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 17 
 
 course with the family of his father-in-law, the Hon. William 
 Fairfax, w^ho resided at a beautiful seat called Belvoir, a few 
 miles below Mount Vernon, and on the same woody ridge bor- 
 dering the Potomac. 
 
 William Fairfax was a man of liberal education and intrinsic 
 worth ; he had seen much of the world, and his mind had been 
 enriched and ripened by varied and adventurous experience. 
 Of an ancient English family in Yorkshire, he had entered the 
 army at the age of twenty-one ; had served with honor both in 
 the East and West Indies, and officiated as Governor of New 
 Providence, after having aided in rescuing it from pirates. For 
 some years past he had resided in Virginia, to manage the im- 
 mense landed estates of his cousin, Lord Fairfax, and lived at 
 Belvoir in the style of an English country gentleman, sur- 
 rounded by an intelligent and cultivated family of sons and 
 daughters. 
 
 An intimacy with a family like this, in which the frankness 
 and simplicity of rural and colonial life were united with Euro- 
 pean refinement, could not but have a beneficial effect in 
 moulding the character and manners of a somewhat home-bred 
 school-boy. It was probably his intercourse with them, and 
 his ambition to acquit himself well in their society, that set 
 him upon compiling a code of morals and manners which still 
 exists in a manuscript in his own handwriting, entitled " Rules 
 for Behavior in Company and Conversation." It is extremely 
 minute and circumstantial. Some of the rules for personal de- 
 portment extend to such trivial matters, and are so quaint and 
 formal as almost to provoke a smile ; but, in the main, a better 
 manual of conduct could not be put into the hands of a youth. 
 The whole code evinces that rigid propriety and self control to 
 which he subjected himself, and by which he brought all the 
 impulses of a somewhat ardent temper under conscientious 
 government. 
 
 Other influences were brought to bear on George during his 
 visit at Mount Vernon. His brother Lawrence still retained 
 some of his military inclinations, fostered, no doubt, by his 
 post of Adjutant-general. William Fairfax, as we have shown, 
 had been a soldier, and in many trying scenes. Some of Law- 
 rence's comrades, of the provincial regiment, who had served 
 with him in the West Indies, were occasional visitors at Mount 
 Vernon ; or a ship of war, possibly one of Vernon's old fleet, 
 would anchor in the Potomac, and its officers be welcome guests 
 at the tables of Lawrence and his father-in-law. Thus military 
 scenes on sea and shore would become the topics of conversation. 
 The capture of Porto Bello j the bombardment of Carthagena ; 
 
18 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 old stories of cruisings in the East and West Indies, and cam- 
 paigns against the pirates. We can picture to ourselves George, 
 a grave and earnest boy, with an expanding intellect, and a deep- 
 seated passion for enterprise, listening to such conversations 
 with a kindling spirit and a growing desire for military life. 
 In this way most probably was produced that desire to enter 
 the navy which he evinced when about fourteen years of age. 
 The opportunity for gratifying it appeared at hand. Ships of 
 war frequented the colonies, and at times, as we have hinted, 
 were anchored in the Potomac. The inclination was encourag- 
 ed by Lawrence Washington and Mr. Fairfax. Lawrence re- 
 tained pleasant recollections of his cruisings in the fleet of Ad- 
 miral Vernon, and considered the naval service a popular path 
 to fame and fortune. George was at a suitable age to enter 
 the navy. The great difficulty was to procure the assent of 
 his mother. She was brought, however, to acquiesce ; a mid- 
 shijjman's warrant was obtained, and it is even said that the 
 luggage of the youth was actually on Board of a man of 
 war, anchored in the river just below Mount Vernon. 
 
 At the eleventh hour the mother's heart faltered. This was 
 her eldest born. A son, whose strong and steadfast character 
 promised to be a support to herself and a protection to her other 
 children. The thought of his being comjDletely severed from 
 her and exposed to the hardships and perils of a boisterous pro- 
 fession, overcame even her resolute mind, and at her urgent 
 remonstrances the nautical scheme was given up. 
 
 To school, therefore, George returned, and continued his studies 
 for nearly two years longer, devoting himself especially to math- 
 ematics, and accomplishing himself in those branches calculated 
 to fit him either for civil or military service. Among these, 
 one of the most important in the actual state of the country 
 was land surveying. In this he schooled himself thoroughly, 
 using the highest processes of the art ; making surveys about the 
 neighborhood, and keeping regular field books, some of which 
 we have examined, in which the boundaries and measurements 
 of the fields surveyed were carefully entered, and diagrams 
 made, with a neatness and exactness as if the whole re- 
 lated to important land transactions instead of being mere 
 school exercises. Thus, in his earliest days, there was perseve- 
 rance and completness in all his undertakings. Nothing was 
 left half done, or done in a hurried and slovenly manner. The 
 habit of mind thus cultivated continued throughout life ; so 
 that however complicated his tasks and overwhelming his cares, 
 in the arduous and hazardous situations in which he was often 
 placed, he found time to do evey thing, and to do it well. - Hq 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 19 
 
 had acquired the magic of method, which of itself works 
 wonders. 
 
 In one of these manuscript memorials of his practical studies 
 and exercises, we have come upon some documents singularly 
 in contrast with all that we have just cited, and with his ap- 
 parently unromantic character. In a word, there are evidences 
 in his own handwriting, that, before he was fifteen years of 
 age, he had conceived a passion for some unknown beauty, so 
 serious as to disturb his otherwise well-regulated mind, and to 
 make him really unhappy. Why this juvenile attachment was 
 a source of unhappiness we have no positive means of ascertain- 
 ing. Perhaps the object of it may have considered him a mere 
 school-boy, and treated him as such ; or his own shyness may 
 have been in his way, and his " rules for behavior and conver- 
 sation " may as yet have sat awkwardly on him, and rendered 
 him formal and ungainly when he most sought to please. Even 
 in later years he was apt to be silent and embarrassed in female 
 society. " He was a very bashful young man,^' said an old 
 lady, whom he used to visit when they were both in their non- 
 age. " I used often to wish that he would talk more.^' 
 
 Whatever may have been the reason, this early attachment 
 seems to have been a source of poignant discomfort to him. It 
 clung to him after he took a final leave of school in the autumn 
 of 1747, and went to reside with his brother Lawrence at 
 Mount Vernon. Here he continued his mathematical studies 
 and his practice in surveying disturbed at times by recurrences 
 of his unlucky passion. Though by no means of a poetical 
 temperament, the waste pages of his journal betray sev- 
 eral attempts to pour forth his amorous sorrows in verse. They 
 are mere commonplace rhymes, such as lovers at his age are 
 apt to write, in which he bewails his " poor restless heart, 
 wounded by Cupid's dart,'' and ''bleeding for one who remains 
 pitiless of his griefs and woes." 
 
 The tenor of some of his verses induce us to believe that he 
 never told his love ; but, as we have already surmised, was pre- 
 vented by his bashfulness. 
 
 " Ah, woe is me, that I should love and conceal ; 
 Long have I wished and never dare reveal." 
 
 It is difficult to reconcile one's self to the idea of cool and se- 
 date Washington, the great ^champion of American liberty, a 
 woe-worn lover in his youthful days, " sighing like furnace," 
 and inditing plaintive verses about the groves of Mount Ver- 
 non. \ We are glad of an opportunity, however, of penetrating 
 to his native feelings^ and finding that under his studied de- 
 
20 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 corum and reserve he had a heart of flesh throbbing with the 
 warm impulses of human nature. 
 
 Being a favorite of Sir William Pairfax, he was now an oc- 
 casional inmate of Belvoir. Among the persons at present re- 
 siding there was Thomas, Lord Fairfax, cousin of William Fair- 
 fax, and of whose immense landed property the latter was the 
 agent. As this nobleman was one of Washington's earliest 
 friends, and in some degree the founder of his fortunes, his 
 character and history are worthy of especial note. 
 
 Lord Fairfax was now nearly sixty years of age, upwards of 
 six feet high, gaunt and raw-boned, near-sighted, with light 
 gray eyes, sharp features, and an aquiline nose. However un- 
 gainly his present appearance, he had figured to advantage in 
 London life in his younger days. He had received his educa- 
 tion at the University of Oxford, where he acquitted himself 
 with credit. He afterwards held a commission, and remained 
 for some time in a regiment of horse called the Blues. His title 
 and connections, of course, give him access to the best society, 
 in which he acquired additional currency by contributing a 
 paper or two to Addison's " Spectator," then in great vogue. 
 
 In the height of his fashionable career, he became strongly 
 attached to a young lady of rank ; paid his addresses, and was 
 accepted. The wedding day was fixed ; the wedding dresses 
 were provided, together with servants and equipages for the 
 matrimonial establishment. Suddenly the lady broke her en- 
 gagement. She had been dazzled by the superior brilliancy of 
 a ducal coronet. 
 
 It was a cruel blow, alike to the affection and pride of Lord 
 Fairfax, and wrought a change in both character and conduct. 
 From that time he almost avoided the sex, and became shy and 
 embarrassed in their society, excepting among those with whom 
 he was connected or particularly intimate. This may have 
 been among the reasons which ultimately induced him to aban- 
 don the gay world and bury himself in the wilds of America. 
 He made a voyage to Virginia about the year 1739, to visit his 
 vast estates there. These he inherited from his mother, Cath- 
 arine, daughter of Thomas, Lord Culpepper, to whom they had 
 been granted by Charles II. The original grant was for all the 
 lands lying between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers ; 
 meaning thereby, it is said, merely the territory on the North- 
 ern Neck, east of the Blue Bidge. His lordship, however, dis- 
 covering that the Potomac headed in the Alleghany Mountain's 
 returned to England and claimed a correspondent definition of 
 his grant. It was arranged by compromise ; extending his 
 domain into tlie Alleghany Mountains, and comprising, 
 among other lands, a great portion of the Shenandoah Valley. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 21 
 
 Lord Fairfax had been delighted with his visit to Virginia. 
 The amenity of the climate^ the magnificence of the forest 
 scenery, the abundance of game, — all pointed it out as a favored 
 land. He was pleased, too, with the frank, cordial character of 
 the Virginians, and their independent mode of life ; and re- 
 turned to it with the resolution of taking up his abode there 
 for the remainder of his days. His early disappointment in 
 love was the cause of some eccentricities in his conduct ; yet 
 he was amiable and courteous in his manners, and of a liberal 
 and generous spirit. 
 
 Another inmate of Belvoir at this time was George William 
 Fairfax, about twenty-two years of age, the eldest son of the 
 proprietor. He had been educated in England, and since his 
 return had married a daughter of Colonel Carey, of Hampton, 
 on James Eiver. He had recently brought home his bride and 
 her sister to his father's house. 
 
 The merits of Washington were known and appreciated by 
 tho Fairfax family. Though not quite sixteen years of age, he 
 no longer seemed a boy, nor was he treated as such. Tall, 
 athletic, and manly for his years, his early self -training, and 
 the code of conduct he had devised, gave a gravity and decision 
 to his conduct ; his frankness and modesty inspired cordial 
 regard, and the melancholy, of which he speaks, may have pro- 
 duced a softness in his manner calculated to win favor in ladies' 
 eyes. According to his own account, the female society by 
 which he was surrounded had a soothing effect on that melan- 
 ancholy. The charms of Miss Carey, the sister of the bride, 
 seemed even to have caused a slight fluttering in his bosom, 
 which, however, was constantly rebuked by the remembrance 
 of his former passion — so at least we judge from letters to his 
 youthful confidants, rough drafts of which are still to be seen 
 in his tell-tale journal. 
 
 To one whom he addresses as his dear friend E-obin, he 
 writes : " My residence is at present at his lordship's, where I 
 might, was my heart disengaged, pass my time very pleasantly, 
 as there's a very agreeable young lady lives in the same house 
 (Col. George Fairfax's wife's sister); but as that's only adding fuel 
 to fire, it makes me the more uneasy, for by often and unavoid- ' 
 ably being in company with her, revives my former passion for 
 your Lowland Beauty ; whereas was I to live more retired 
 from young women, I might in some measure alleviate my 
 sorrows, by burying that chaste and troublesome passion in the 
 grave of oblivion," etc. 
 
 Similar avowals he makes to another of his young corre- 
 spondents, whom he styles, " Dear friend John ; " as also to a 
 
22 T^I^^ OF WASUiNGfON. 
 
 female confidant, styled, " Dear Sally," to whom he acknowl- 
 edges t?iat the company of the "very agreeable young lady, 
 sister-in-law of Col. Greorge Fairfax," in a great measure cheers 
 his sorrow and dejectedness. 
 
 The object of this early passion is not positively known. 
 Tradition states that the " lowland beauty " was a Miss Grimes, 
 of Westmoreland, afterwards Mrs. Lee, and mother of General 
 Henry Lee, who figured in revolutionary history as Light 
 Horse Harry, and was always a favorite with Washington, prob- 
 ably from the recollections of his early tenderness for the 
 mother. 
 
 Whatever may have been the soothing effect of the female 
 society by which he was surrounded at Belvoir, the youth 
 found a more effectual remedy for his love melancholy in the 
 company of Lord Fairfax. His lordship was a staunch fox- 
 hunter, and kept horses and hounds in the English st^^e. The 
 hunting season had arrived. The neighborhood abounded with 
 sport ; but fox-hunting in Virginia required bold and skillful 
 horsemanship. He found Washington as bold as himself in 
 the saddle, and as eager to follow the hounds. He forthwith 
 took him into peculiar favor ; made him his hunting compan- 
 ion ; and it was probably under the tuition of this hard-riding 
 old nobleman that the youth imbibed that fondness for the 
 chase for which he was afterwards remarked. 
 
 Their fox-hunting intercourse was attended with more im- 
 portant results. His lordship's possessions beyond the Blue 
 Ridge had never been regularly settled nor surveyed. Law- 
 less intruders — squatters as they were called, were planting 
 themselves along the finest streams and in the richest valleys, 
 and virtually taking possession of the country. It was the 
 anxious desire of Lord Fairfax to have these lands examined, 
 surveyed, and portioned out into lots, preparatory to ejecting 
 these interlopers or bring them to reasonable terms. In 
 Washington, notwithstanding his youth, he beheld one fit for 
 the task — having noticed the exercises in surveying which he 
 kept up while at Mount Vernon, and the aptness and exactness 
 with which every process was executed. He was well calcu- 
 lated, too, by his vigor and activity, his courage and hardihood, 
 to cope with the wild country to be surveyed, and with its still 
 wilder inhabitants. "The proposition had only to be offered to 
 Washington to be eagerly accepted. It was the very kind of 
 occupation for which he* had been diligently training himself. 
 All the preparations required by one of his simple habits were 
 soon made, and in a very few days he was ready for his first 
 expedition into the wilderness. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTOJ^, 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXPEDITION BEYOND THE BLUE RIDGE. THE VALLEY OF THE 
 
 SHENANDOAH. LORD FAIRFAX. LODGE IN THE WILDER- 
 NESS. SURVEYING. LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS. INDIANS. 
 
 WAR DANCE. GERMAN SETTLERS. RETURN HOME. 
 
 WASHINGTON AS PUBLIC SURVEYOR. SOJOURN AT GREEN- 
 WAY COURT. — HORSES, HOUNDS, AND BOOKS. RUGGED EX- 
 PERIENCE AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 It was in the month of March (1748), and just after he had 
 completed his sixteenth year, that Washington set out on horse- 
 back on this surveying expedition, in company with George 
 "William Fairfax. Their route lay by Ashley's Gap, a pass 
 through the Blue Ridge, that beautiful line of mountains which 
 as yet, almost formed the western frontier of inhabited Virginia. 
 Winter still lingered on the tops of the mountains, whence 
 melting snows sent down torrents, which swelled the rivers and 
 occasionally rendered them almost impassable. Spring, how- 
 ever, was softening the lower parts of the landscape and smiling 
 in the valleys. 
 
 They entered the great Valley of Virginia, where it is about 
 twenty-five miles wide ; a lovely and temperate region, diversi- 
 fied by gentle swells and slopes, admirably adapted to culti- 
 vation. The Blue Ridge bounds it on one side, the North 
 Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghanies, on the other; while 
 through it flows that bright and abounding river, which, on ac- 
 count of its surpassing beauty, was named by the Indians the 
 Shenandoah — that is to say, '^ the daughter of the stars." 
 
 The first station of the travellers was at a kind of lodge in 
 the wilderness, where the steward or land-bailiff of Lord Fair- 
 fax resided, with such negroes as were required for farming pur- 
 poses, and which Washington terms " his lordship's quarters.". 
 It was situated not far from the Shenandoah, and about twelve 
 miles from the site of the present town of Winchester. 
 
 In a diary kept with his usual minuteness, Washington 
 speaks with delight of the beauty of the trees and the richness 
 of the land in the neighborhood, and of his riding through a 
 noble grove of sugar maples on the banks of the Shenandoah ; 
 and at the present day the magnificence of the forest which, 
 still exist in this favored region justifies his eulogium. 
 
24 ^ LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 He looked around, however, with an eye to the profitable 
 rather than the poetical. The gleam of poetry and romance, 
 inspired by his " lowland beauty," occurs no more. The real 
 business of life has commenced with him. His diary affords 
 no food for fancy. Everything is practical. The qualities of 
 the soil, the relative value of sites and localities, are faithfully 
 recorded. In these his early habits of observation and his ex- 
 ercises in surveying had already made him a proficient. 
 
 His surveys commenced in the lower part of the valley, some 
 distance above the junction of the Shenandoah with the Poto- 
 mac, and extended for many miles along the former river. Here 
 and there partial " clearings " had been made by squatters and 
 hardy pioneers, and their rude husbandry had produced 
 abundant crops of grain, hemp, and tobacco ; civilization, how- 
 ever, had hardty yet entered the valley, if we may judge from 
 the note of a night's lodging at the house of one of the settlers 
 — Captain Hite, near th^ site of the present town of Winches- 
 ter. Here, after supper, most of the company stretched them- 
 selves in backwoods style, before the fire ; but Washington was 
 shown into a bedroom. Fatigued with a hard day's work at 
 surveying, he soon undressed; but instead of being nestled 
 between sheets in a comfortable bed, as at the maternal home 
 or at Mount Vernon, he found himself on a couch of matted 
 straw, under a threadbare blanket, swarming with unwelcome 
 bedfellows. After tossing about for a few moments, he was 
 glad to put on his clothes again, and rejoin his companions 
 before the fire. 
 
 Such was his first experience of life in the wilderness ; he 
 soon, however, accustomed himself to " rough it," and adapt 
 himself to fare of all kinds, though he generally preferred a 
 bivouac before a fire, in the open air, to the accommodations of 
 a woodman's cabin. Proceeding down the valley to the banks 
 of the Potomac, they found that river so much swollen by the 
 rain which had fallen among the Alleghanies, as to be unford- 
 able. To while away the time until it should subside, they 
 made an excursion to examine certain warm springs in a valley 
 among the mountains, since called the Berkeley Springs. There 
 they camped out at night, under the stars ; the diary makes no 
 complaint of their accommodations ; and their camping-ground 
 is now known as Bath, one of the favorite watering-places of 
 Virginia. One of the warm springs was subsequently appropri- 
 ated by Lord Fairfax to his own use, and still bears his name. 
 
 After watching in vain for the river to subside, they procured 
 a canoe^ on which they crossed to the Maryland side, swimming 
 their horses. A weary day's ride of forty miles up to the left 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 25 
 
 side of the river, in a continual rain, Yind over what Washington 
 pronounces the worst road ever trod by man or beast, brought 
 them to tlie house of a Colonel Cresap, opposite the south 
 branch of the Potomac, where they put up for the night. 
 
 Here they were detained three or four days by inclement 
 weather. On the second day they were surprised by the ap- 
 pearance of a war party of thirty Indians, bearing a scalp as a 
 trophy. A little liquor procured the spectacle of a war dance. 
 A large space was cleared, and a fire made in the centre, round 
 which the warriors took their seats. The principal orator made 
 a speech, reciting their recent exploits, and rousing them to 
 triumph. One of the warriors started up as if from sleep, and 
 began a series of movements, half-grotesque, half-tragical ; the 
 rest followed. For music, one savage drummed on a deer-skin, 
 stretched over a pot half-filled with water ; another rattled a 
 gourd, containing a few shot, and decorated with a horse's tail. 
 Their strange outcries, and uncouth forms and garbs, seen by 
 the glare of the fire, and their whoops and yells, made them ap- 
 pear more like demons than human beings. AH this savage 
 gambol was no novelty to Washington's companions, experi- 
 enced in frontier life ; but to the youth, fresh from school, it 
 was a strange spectacle, which he sat contemplating with deep 
 interest, and carefully noted down in his journal. It will be 
 found that he soon made himself acquainted with the savage 
 character, and became expert at dealing with these inhabitants 
 of the wilderness. 
 
 From this encampment the party proceeded to the mouth of 
 Patterson's Creek, where they recrossed the river in a canoe, 
 swimming their horses as before. More than two weeks were 
 now passed by them in the wild mountainous regions of Fred- 
 erick County, and about the south branch of the Potomac, sur- 
 veying lands and laying out lots, camped out the greater part 
 of the time, and subsisting on wild turkeys and other game. 
 Each one was his own cook ; forked sticks served for spits, and 
 chips of wood for dishes. The weather was unsettled. At one 
 time their tent was blown down ; at another they were driven 
 out of it by smoke ; now they were drenched with rain, and 
 now the straw on which Washington was sleeping caught fire, 
 and he was awakened by a companion just in time to escape a 
 scorching. 
 
 The only variety to this camp life was a supper at the house 
 of one Solomon Hedge, Esquire, His Majesty's justice of the 
 peace, where there were no forks at table, nor any knives but 
 such as the guests brought in their pockets. During their sur- 
 veys they were followed by numbers of people, some of them 
 
26 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 squatters, anxious, doubtless, to procure a cheap title to the 
 land they had appropriated ; others, German emigrants, with 
 their wives and children, seeking a new home in the wilderness. 
 Most of the latter could not speak English ; but when spoken 
 to, answered in their native tongue. They appeared to Wash- 
 ington ignorant as Indians, and uncouth, but " merry, and full 
 of antic tricks." Such were the progenitors of the sturdy yeo- 
 manry now inhabiting those parts, many of whom still preserve 
 their strong German characteristics. 
 
 "I have not slept above three or fournights in a bed," writes 
 Washington to one of his young friends at home ; " But after 
 walking a good deal all the day I have lain down before the 
 fire upon a little straw or fodder, or a bear skin, whichever was 
 to be had, with man, wife, and children, like dogs and cats ; 
 and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the fire." 
 
 Having completed his surveys, he set forth from the south 
 branch of the Potomac on his return homeward, crossed the 
 mountains to the great Cacapehon, traversed the Shenandoah 
 Valley, passed through the Blue Ridge, and on the 12th of 
 April found himself once more at Mount Vernon. Por his ser- 
 vices he received, according to his note-book, a doubloon per 
 day when actively employed, and sometimes six pistoles.* 
 
 The manner in which he had acquitted himself in this ardu- 
 ous expedition, and his accounts of the country surveyed, gave 
 great satisfaction to Lord Fairfax, who shortly afterwards 
 moved across the Blue Ridge, and took up his residence at the 
 place heretofore noted as his " quarters." Here he laid out a 
 manor, containing ten thousand acres of arable grazing lands, 
 vast meadows, and noble forests, and projected a spacious manor 
 house, giving to the place the name of Green way Court. 
 
 It was probably through the influence of Lord Fairfax that 
 Washington received the appointment of public surveyor. This 
 conferred authority on his surveys, and entitled them to be re- 
 corded in the county offices ; and so invariably correct have 
 these surveys been found that, to this day, wherever any of 
 them stand on record, they receive implicit credit. 
 
 For three years he continued in this occupation, which proved 
 extremely profitable, from the vast extent of country to be sur- 
 veyed and the very limited number of public surveyors. It 
 made him acquainted, also, with the country, the nature of the 
 soil in various parts, and the value of localities; all which 
 proved advantageous to him in his purchases in after years. 
 Many of the finest parts of the Shenandoah Valley are yet 
 owned by members of the Washington family. 
 * A pistole is $3.60. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 27 
 
 While thus employed for months at a time surveying the 
 lands beyond the Blue Eidge, he was often an inmate of Green- 
 way Court. The projected manor house was never even com- 
 menced. On a green knoll overshadowed by trees was a long 
 stone building one story in height, with dormer windows, two 
 Avooden belfries, chimneys studded with swallow and martin 
 coops, and a roof sloping down in the old Virginia fashion, into 
 low projecting eaves that formed a verandah the whole length 
 of the house. It was probably the house originally occupied 
 by his steward or land agent, but was now devoted to hospitable 
 purposes, and the reception of guests. As to his lordship, it 
 was one of his many eccentricities, that he never slept in the 
 main edifice, but lodged apart in a wooden house not much 
 above twelve feet square. In a small building was his office, 
 where quit-rents were given, deeds drawn, and business trans- 
 acted with his tenants. 
 
 About the knoll were out-houses for his numerous servants, 
 black and white, with stables for saddle-horses and hunters, and 
 kennels fur his hounds ; for his lordship retained his keen hunt- 
 ing propensities, and the neighborhood abounded in game. 
 Indians, half-breeds, and leathern-clad woodsmen loitered about 
 the place, and partook of the abundance of the kitchen. His 
 lordship's table was plentiful but plain, and served in the Eng- 
 lish fashion. 
 
 Here Washington had full opportunity, in the proper seasons, 
 of indulging his fondness for field sports, and once more ac- 
 companying his lordship in the chase. The conversation of 
 Lord Fairfax, too was full of interest and instruction to an 
 inexperienced youth, from his cultivated talents, his literary 
 taste, and his past intercourse with the best society of Europe, 
 and its most distinguished authors. He had brought books, 
 too, with him into the wilderness, and from Washington's diary 
 we find that during his sojourn here he was diligently reading 
 the history of England, and the essays of the " Spectator.'' 
 
 Such was Greenway Court in these its palmy days. We 
 visited it recently and found it tottering to its fall, mouldering 
 in the midst of a magnificent country where nature still flour- 
 ishes in full luxuriance and beauty. 
 
 Three or four years were thus passed by Washington, the 
 greater part of the time beyond the Blue Ridge, but occasionally 
 with his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. His rugged 
 and toilsome expeditions in the mountains, among rude scenes 
 and rough people, inured him to hardships, and made him apt 
 at expedients ; while his intercourse with his cultivated brother, 
 and with the various members of the Fairfax family, had a 
 
28 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 happy effect in toning up his mind and manners, and counter- 
 acting the careless and self-indulgent habitudes of the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENGLISH AND FRENCH CLAIMS TO THE OHIO VALLEY. WILD 
 
 STATE OF THE COUNTRY. PROJECTS OF SETTLEMENTS. THE 
 
 OHIO COMPANY. ENLIGHTENED VIEWS OF LAWRENCE WASH- 
 INGTON. FRENCH RIVALRY. CELERON DE BIENVILLE. HIS 
 
 SIGNS OF OCCUPATION. HUGH CRAWFORD. GEORGE CRO- 
 
 GHAN, A VETERAN TRADER, AND MONTOUR, HIS INTERPRETER. 
 
 THEIR MISSION FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO THE OHIO TRIBES. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER GIST, THE PIONEER OF THE YADKIN. AGENT 
 
 OF THE OHIO COMPANY. HIS EXPEDITION TO THE FRONTIER. 
 
 REPROBATE TRADERS AT LOGSTOWN. NEGOTIATIONS WITH 
 
 THE INDIANS. SCENES IN THE OHIO COUNTRY. DIPLOMACY 
 
 AT PIQUA. KEGS OF BRANDY AND ROLLS OF TOBACCO. 
 
 gist's return across KENTUCKY. A DESERTED HOME. 
 
 FRENCH SCHEMES. CAPTAIN JONCAIRE, A DIPLOMAT OF THE 
 
 wilderness. HIS SPEECH AT LOGSTOWN. THE INDIAn's 
 
 LAND. " WHERE ? " 
 
 During the time of Washington's surveying campaigns among 
 the mountains, a grand colonizing scheme had been set on foot, 
 destined to enlist him in hardy enterprises, and in some degree 
 to shape the course of his future fortunes. 
 
 The treaty of peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, which had 
 put an end to the general war of Europe, had left undefined 
 the boundaries between the British and French possessions in 
 America ; a singular remissness, considering that they had 
 long been a subject in dispute, and a cause of frequent conflicts 
 in the colonies. Immense regions were still claimed by both 
 nations, and each was now eager to forestall the other by getting 
 possession of them, and strengthening its claim by occupancy. 
 
 The most desirable of these regions lay west of the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains, extending from the lakes to the Ohio, and em- 
 bracing the valley of that river and its tributary streams. An 
 immense territory, possessing a salubrious climate, fertile soil, 
 fine hunting and fishing grounds, and facilities by lakes and 
 rivers for a vast internal commerce. 
 
 The French claimed all this country quite to the Alleghany 
 Mountains by the right of discovery. In 1673^ Pa^re Mar- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 29 
 
 quette, with his companion, Joliet, of Quebec, both subjects of 
 the crown of France, had passed down the Mississippi in a canoe 
 quite to the Arkansas, thereby, according to an alleged maxim 
 in the law of nations, establishing the right of their sovereign, 
 not merely to the river so discovered and its adjacent lands, 
 but to all the country drained by its tributary streams, of which 
 the Ohio was one ; a claim, the ramifications of which might 
 be spread, like the meshes of a web, over half the continent. 
 
 To this illimitable claim the English opposed a right derived, 
 at second hand, from a traditionary Indian conquest. A treaty, 
 they said, had been made at Lancaster, in 1741, between com- 
 missioners from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and 
 the Iroquois or Six Nations, whereby the latter, for four hund- 
 red pounds, gave up all right and title to the land west of the 
 Alleghany Mountains, even to the Mississippi, which land, accord- 
 ing to their traditions, had been conquered l3y their forefathers. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that such a treaty was made, and such 
 a pretended transfer of title did take place, under the influence 
 of spirituous liquors ; but it is equally true that the Indians in 
 question did not, at the time, possess an acre of the land conveyed ; 
 and that the tribes actually in possession scoffed at their pre- 
 tensions, and claimed the country as their own from time imme- 
 morial. 
 
 Such were the shadowy foundations of claims which the two 
 nations were determined to maintain to the uttermost, and 
 which ripened into a series of wars, ending in a loss to Eng- 
 land of a great part of her American possessions and to France 
 of the whole. 
 
 As yet in the region in question there was not a single white 
 settlement. Mixed Iroquois, tribes of Delawares, Shawnees, 
 and Mingoes, had migrated into it early in the century from the 
 French settlements in Canada, and taken up their abodes about 
 the Ohio and its branches. The French pretended to hold them 
 under their protection ; but their allegiance, if ever acknowl- 
 edged, had been snapped of late years by the influx of fur 
 traders from Pennsylvania. These were often rough lawless men, 
 half Indians in dress and habits, prone to brawls, and some- 
 times deadly in their feuds. They were generally in the 
 employ of some trader, who, at the head of his retainers and a 
 string of pack-horses, would make his way over mountains and 
 through forests to the banks of the Ohio, establish his head- 
 quarters in some Indian town, and disperse his followers to traffic 
 among the hamlets, hunting-camps and wigwams, exchanging 
 blarikets, gaudy-colored cloth, trinketry, powder, shot, and rum, 
 for valuable furs and peltry. In this way a lucrative trade 
 
30 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 with these western tribes was springing up and becoming mono- 
 polized by the Pennsylvanians. 
 
 To secure a participation in this trade, and to gain a foot- 
 hold in this desirable region, became now the wish of some of 
 the most intelligent and enterprising men of Virginia and 
 Maryland, among whom were Lawrence and Augustine Wash- 
 ington. With these views they projected a scheme, in con- 
 nection with John Hanbury, a wealthy London merchant to 
 obtain a grant of land from the British government, for the 
 purpose of forming settlements or colonies beyond the Alle- 
 ghanies. Government readily countenanced a scheme by which 
 French encroachments might be forestalled, and prompt and 
 quiet possession secured of the great Ohio Valley. An as- 
 sociation was accordingly chartered in 1749, by the name of 
 " the Ohio Company," and five hundred thousand acres of land 
 was granted to it west of the Alleghanies, between the Mon- 
 ongahela and Kanawha rivers, though part of the land might 
 be taken up north of the Ohio, should it be deemed expedient. 
 The Company were to pay no quit-rent for ten years ; but they 
 were to select two fifths of their lands immediately ; to settle 
 one hundred families upon them within seven years ; to build 
 a fort at their own expense, and maintain a sufficient garrison 
 in it for defense against the Indians. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Lee, president of the council of Virginia, took 
 the lead in the concerns of the company at the outset, and by 
 many has been considered its founder. On his death, which 
 soon took place, Lawrence Washington had the chief manage- 
 ment. His enlightened mind and liberal spirit shone forth in 
 its earliest arrangements. He wished to form the settlements 
 with Germans from Pennsylvania. Being dissenters, how- 
 ever, they would be obliged, on becoming residents within the 
 jurisdiction Of Virginia, to pay parish rates, and maintain a 
 clergyman of the Church of England, though they might not 
 understand his language nor relish his doctrines. Lawrence 
 sought to have them exempted from this double tax on purse 
 and conscience. 
 
 " It has ever been my opinion," said he, " and I hope it 
 ever will be, that restraints on conscience are cruel in regard 
 to those on whom they are imposed, and injurious to the coun- 
 try imposing them. England, Holland, and Prussia I may 
 quote as examples, and much more Pennsylvania, which has 
 flourished under that delightful liberty, so as to become the 
 admiration of every man who considers the short time it has 
 
 been settled This colony (Virginia) was greatly 
 
 settled in the latter part of Charles the First's time, and during 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 31 
 
 tlie usurpation, by tlie zealous churchmen ; and that spirit, 
 which was brought in, has ever since continued ; so that, ex- 
 cept a few Quakers, we have no dissenters. But what has 
 been the consequence ? We have increased by slow degrees, 
 whilst our neighboring colonies, whose natural advantages are 
 greatly inferior to ours, have become populous." 
 
 Such were the enlightened views of this brother of our 
 Washington, to whom the latter owed much of his moral and 
 mental training. The Company proceeded to make prepara- 
 tions for their colonizing scheme. Goods were imported from 
 England suited to the Indian trade, or for presents to the 
 chiefs. Rewards were promised to veteran warriors and hunters 
 among the natives acquainted with the woods and mountains, 
 for the best route to the Ohio. Before the Company had re- 
 ceived its charter, however, the French were in the field. 
 Early in 1749, the Marquis de la Galisonnierre, Governor of 
 Canada, despatched Celeron de Bienville, an intelligent 
 officer, at the head of three hundred men, to the banks of the 
 Ohio, to make peace, as he said, between the tribes that had 
 become embroiled with each other during the late war, and to 
 renew the French possession of the country. Celeron de 
 Bienville distributed presents among the Indians, made speeches 
 reminding them of former friendship, and warned them not to 
 trade with the English. 
 
 He furthermore nailed leaden plates to trees, and buried 
 others in the earth, at the confluence of the Ohio and its 
 tributaries, bearing inscriptions purporting that all the lands 
 on both sides of the rivers to their sources appertained, as in 
 foregone times, to the crown of France."* The Indians gazed 
 at these mysterious plates with wondering eyes, but surmised 
 their purport. '' They mean to steal our country from us," 
 murmured they ; and they determined to seek protection from 
 the English. 
 
 Celeron finding some traders from Pennsylvania trafficking 
 among the Indians, he summoned them to depart, and wrote 
 by them to James Hamilton, Governor of Pennsylvania, 
 telling him the object of his errand to those parts, and his 
 surprise at meeting with English traders in a country to which 
 England had no pretensions ; intimating that in future any 
 intruders of the kind would be rigorously dealt with. 
 
 His letter, and a report of his proceedings on the Ohio, 
 roused the solicitude of the Governor and council of Pennsyl- 
 vania, for the protection of their Indian trade. Shortly after. 
 
 * One of these plates, bearing date August 16, 1749, was found in re- 
 cent years at the confluence of the Muskingum with the Ohio. 
 
32 I^IFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 wards, one Hugh Crawford, who had been trading with the 
 Miami tribes on the Wabash, brought a message from them, 
 speaking of the promises and threats with which the French 
 were endeavoring to shake their faith, but assuring the gov- 
 ernor that their friendship for the English " would last while 
 the sun and moon ran round the world/' This message was 
 accompanied by three strings of wampum. 
 
 Governor Hamilton knew the value of Indian friendship, and 
 suggested to the Assembly that it would be better to clinch it 
 with presents, and that as soon as possible. An envoy accord- 
 ingly was sent off early in October, who was supposed to have 
 great influence among the western tribes. This was one 
 George Croghan, a veteran trader, shrewd and sagacious, who 
 had been frequently to the Ohio country with pack-horses and 
 followers, and made himself popular among the Indians by 
 dispensing presents with a lavish hand. He was accompanied 
 by Andrew Montour, a Canadian of half Indian descent, who 
 was to act as interpreter. They were provided with a small 
 present for the emergency ; but were to convoke a meeting of 
 all the tribes at Logstown, on the Ohio, early in the ensuing 
 spring, to receive an ample present which would be provided 
 by the Assembly. 
 
 It was some time later in the same autumn that the Ohio 
 Company brought their plans into operation, and despatched 
 an agent to explore the lands upon the Ohio and its branches 
 as low as the Great Falls, take note of their fitness for cultiva- 
 tion, of the passes of the mountains, the courses and bearings 
 of the rivers, and the strength and disposition of the native 
 tribes. The man chosen for the purpose was Christopher Gist, 
 a hardy pioneer, experienced in woodcraft and Indian life, who 
 had his home on the banks of the Yadkin, near the boundary 
 line of Virginia and North Carolina. He was allowed a woods- 
 man or two for the service of the expedition. He set out on 
 the 31st of October, from the banks of the Potomac, by an In- 
 dian path which the hunters had pointed out, leading from 
 Wills' Creek, since called Fort Cumberland, to the Ohio. 
 Indian paths and buffalo tracks are the primitive highways of 
 the wilderness. Passing the Juniata, he crossed the ridges 
 of the Alleghany, arrived at Shannopin, a Delaware village on 
 the southeast side of the Ohio, or rather of that upper branch 
 of it now called the Alleghany, swam his horses across that 
 river, and descending along its valley arrived at Logstown, an 
 important Indian village a little below the site of the present 
 city of Pittsburgh. Here usually resided Tanacharisson, a 
 Seneca chief of great note, being head sachem of the mixed 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTOK. S3 
 
 tribes wliich had migrated to the Ohio and its branches. He 
 was generally surnamed the Half-king, being subordinate to 
 the Iroquois confederacy. The chief was absent at this time, 
 as were most of his people, it being the hunting season. George 
 Croghan, the envoy from Penns^dvania, with Montour his 
 interpreter, had passed through Logstown a week previousl}^, 
 on his way to the Twightwees and other tribes, on the Miami 
 branch of the Ohio. Scarce any one was to be seen about the 
 village but some of Croghan's rough people, whom he had left 
 behind — "reprobate Indian traders," as Gist terms them. 
 They regarded the latter with a jealous eye, suspecting him of 
 some rivalship in trade, or designs on the Indian lands ; and 
 intimated significantly that " he would never go home safe." 
 
 Gist knew the meaning of such hints from men of this stamp 
 in the lawless depths of the wilderness ; but quieted their 
 suspicions by letting them know that he was on public busi- 
 ness, and on good terms with their great man, George Croghan, 
 to whom he despatched a letter. He took his departure from 
 Logstown, however, as soon as possible, preferring, as he said, 
 the solitude of the wilderness to such company. 
 
 At Beaver Creek, a few miles below the village, he left the 
 river and struck into the interior of the present State of Ohio. 
 Here he overtook George Croghan at Muskingum, a town of 
 Wyandots and Mingoes. He had ordered all the traders in his 
 employ who were scattered among the Indian villages, to rally 
 at this town, where he had hoisted the English flag over his 
 residence, and over that of the sachem. This was in conse- 
 quence of the hostility of the French, who had recently cap- 
 tured, in the neighborhood, three white men in the employ of 
 Frazier, an Indian trader, and had carried them away prisoners 
 to Canada. 
 
 Gist was well received by the people of Muskingum. They 
 were indignant at the French violation of their territories, and 
 the capture of their " English brothers." They had not for- 
 gotten the conduct of Celeron de Bienville in the previous 
 year, and the mysterious plates which he had nailed against 
 trees and sunk in the ground. " If the French claim the 
 rivers which run into the lakes," said they, " those which run 
 into the Ohio belong to us and to our brothers the English." 
 And they were anxious that Gist should settle among them, 
 and build a fort for their mutual defense. 
 
 A council of the nation was now held, in which Gist invited 
 them, in the name of the Governor of Virginia, to visit that 
 province, where a large present of goods awaited them, sent by 
 their father, the great king, over the water to his Ohio children. 
 
34 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The invitation was graciously received, but no answer could he 
 given until a grand council of the western tribes had been held, 
 which was to take place at Logstown in the ensuing spring. 
 
 Similar results attended visits made by Gist and Croghan 
 to the Delawares and the Shawnees at their villages about the 
 Scioto Biver ; all promised to be at the gathering at Logstown. 
 From the Shawnee village, near the mouth of the Scioto, the 
 two emissaries shaped their course north two hundred miles, 
 crossed the Great Moneami, or Miami River, on a raft, swim- 
 ming their horses ; and on the 17th of February arrived at the 
 Indian town of Piqua. 
 
 These journeyings had carried Gist about a wide extent of 
 country beyond the Ohio. It was rich and level, watered with 
 streams and rivulets, and clad with noble forests of hickory, 
 walnut, ash, poplar, sugar-maple, and wild cherry trees. Oc- 
 "casionally there were spacious plains covered with wild rye ; 
 natural meadows, with blue grass and clover ; and buffaloes, 
 thirty and forty at a time, grazing on them as in a cultivated 
 pasture. Deer, elk, and wild turkeys abounded. "Nothing 
 is wanted but cultivation," said Gist, "to make this a most 
 delightful country." Cultivation has since proved the truth of 
 his words. The country thus described is the present State of 
 Ohio. 
 
 Piqua, where Gist and Croghan had arrived, was the princi- 
 pal town of the Twightwees or Miamis ; the most powerful 
 confederacy of the West, combining four tribes, and extending 
 its influence even beyond the Mississippi. A king or sachem 
 of one or other of the different tribes presided over the whole. 
 The head chief at present was the king of the Piankeshas. 
 
 At this town Croghan formed a treaty of alliance in the name 
 of the Governor of Pennsylvania with two of the Miami tribes. 
 And Gist was promised by the king of the Piankeshas that the 
 chiefs of the various tribes would attend the meeting at Logs- 
 town to make a treaty with Virginia. 
 
 In the height of these demonstrations of friendship, two 
 Ottawas entered the council-house, announcing themselves as 
 envoys from the French Governor of Canada to seek a renewal 
 of ancient alliance. They were received with all due cere- 
 monial ; for none are more ceremonious than the Indians. The 
 French colors were set up beside the English, and the ambas- 
 sadors opened their mission. " Your father, the French king," 
 said they, "remembering his children on the Ohio, has sent 
 them these two kegs of milk," — here with great solemnity, 
 they deposited two kegs of brandy, — "and this tobacco" — here 
 they deposited a roll ten pounds in weight. "He has made a 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON: 35 
 
 clean road for you to come and see him and his officers ; and 
 urges you to come, assuring you that all past differences will 
 be forgotten/' 
 
 The Piankesha chief replied in the same figurative style. 
 " It is true our father has sent for us several times, and has 
 said the road was clear ; hut I understand it is not clear — it is 
 foul and bloody, and the French have made it so. We have 
 cleared a road for our brothers, the English ; the French have 
 made it bad, and have taken some of our brothers prisoners. 
 This we consider as done to ourselves." So saying, he turned 
 his back upon the ambassadors, and stalked out of the council- 
 house. 
 
 In the end the ambassadors were assured that the tribes of 
 the Ohio and the Six Nations were hand in hand with their 
 brothers, the English ; and should war ensue with the French, 
 they were ready to meet it. 
 
 So the French colors were taken down ; the " kegs of milk " 
 and roll of tobacco were rejected; the grand council broke up 
 with a war dance, and the ambassadors departed, weeping and 
 howling, and predicting ruin to the Miamis. 
 
 When Gist returned to the Shawnee town, near the mouth 
 of the Scioto, and reported to his Indian friends there the alli- 
 ance he had formed with the Miami confederacy, there was 
 great feasting and speech-making, and firing of guns. He had 
 now happily accomplished the chief object of his mission — 
 nothing remained but to descend the Ohio to the Great Falls. 
 This, however, he was cautioned not to do. A large party of 
 Indians, allies of the French, were hunting in that neighbor- 
 hood, who might kill or capture him. He crossed the river, at- 
 tended only by a lad as a travelling companion and aid, and 
 proceeded cautiously down the east side until within fifteen 
 miles of the Falls. Here he came upon traps newly set, and 
 Indian footprints not a day old, and heard the distant report of 
 guns. The story of Indian hunters then was true. He was in a 
 dangerous neighborhood. The savages might come upon the 
 tracks of his horses, or hear the bells put about their necks, 
 when turned loose in the wilderness to graze. 
 
 Abandoning all idea, therefore, of visiting the Falls, and con- 
 tenting himself with the information concerning them which 
 he had received from others, he shaped his course on the 18th 
 of March for the Cuttawa, or Kentucky Kiver. From the top 
 of a mountain in the vicinity he had a view to the southwest 
 .as far as the eye could reach, over a vast woodland country in 
 the fresh garniture of spring, and watered by abundant streams; 
 but as yet only the hunting-ground of savage tribes, and the 
 
36 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 scene of their sanguinax}^ combats. In a word, Kentucky lay 
 spread out before him in all its wild magnificence, long before 
 it was beheld by Daniel Boone. 
 
 For six weeks was this hardy pioneer making his toilful way 
 up the valley of the Cuttawa, or Kentucky E-iver, to the banks 
 of the Blue Stone ; often checked by precij)ices, and obliged to 
 seek fords at the heads of tributary streams ; and happy when 
 he could find a buffalo path broken through the tangled forests, 
 or worn into the everlasting rocks. 
 
 On the 1st of May he climbed a rock sixty feet high, crown- 
 ing a lofty mountain, and had a distant view of the Great 
 Kanawha, breaking its way through a vast sierra ; crossing that 
 river on a raft of his own construction, he had many more 
 weary days before him, before he reached his frontier abode on 
 the banks of the Yadkin. He arrived there in the latter part 
 of May, but there was no one to welcome the wanderer home. 
 There had been an Indian massacre in the neighborhood, and 
 he found his house silent and deserted. His heart sank within 
 him, until an old man whom he met near the place assured 
 him his family were safe, having fled for refuge to a settle- 
 ment thirty-five miles off, on the banks of the Koanoke. There 
 he rejoined them on the following day. 
 
 While Gist had been making his painful way homeward, 
 the two Ottawa ambassadors had returned to Fort Sandusky, 
 bringing word to the French that their flag had been struck in 
 the council-house at Piqua, and their friendship rejected and 
 their hostility defied by the Miamis. They informed them 
 also of the gathering of the western tribes that was to take 
 place at Logstown, to conclude a treaty with the Virginians. 
 
 It was a great object with the French to prevent this treaty, 
 and to spirit up the Ohio Indians against the English. This 
 they hoped to effect through the agency of one Captain Joncaire, 
 a veteran diplomatist of the wilderness, whose character and 
 story deserve a passing notice. 
 
 He had been taken prisoner when quite young by the Iroquois, 
 and adopted into one of their tribes. This was the making of 
 his fortune. He had grown up among them, acquired their 
 language, adapted himself to their habits, and was considered 
 by them as one of themselves. On returning to civilized life 
 he became a prime instrument, in the hands of the Canadian 
 government, for managing and cajoling the Indians. Some- 
 times he was an ambassador to the Iroquois ; sometimes a 
 mediator between the jarring tribes ; sometimes a leader of 
 their warriors when employed by the French. When in 1728 
 the Delawares and Shawnees migrated to the banks of the 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 37 
 
 Ohio, Joncaire was the agent who followed them, and prevailed 
 on them to consider themselves under French protection. When 
 the French wanted to get a commanding site for a post on the 
 Iroquois lands, near Niagara, Joncaire was the man to manage 
 it. He craved a situation where he might put up a wigwam, 
 and dwell among his Iroquois brethren. It was granted, of 
 course, " for was he not a son of the tribe — was he not one of 
 themselves ? " By degrees his wigwam grew into an important 
 trading post : ultimately it became Fort Niagara. Years and 
 years had elapsed ; he had grown gray in Indian diplomacy, and 
 was now sent once more to maintain French sovereignty over 
 the valley of the Ohio. 
 
 He appeared at Logstown accompanied by another French- 
 man, and forty Iroquois warriors. He found an assemblage of 
 the western tribes, feasting and rejoicing, and firing of guns, 
 for George Croghan and Montour the interpreter were there, 
 and had been distributing presents on behalf of the Governor 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Joncaire was said to have the wit of a Frenchman and the 
 eloquence of an Iroquois. He made an animated speech to 
 the chiefs in their own tongue, the gist of which was that 
 their father Onontio (that is to say, the Governor of Canada) 
 desired his children of the Ohio to turn away the Indian 
 traders, and never to deal with them again on pain of his dis- 
 pleasure ; so saying, he laid down a wampum belt of uncommon 
 size, by way of emphasis to his message. 
 
 For once his eloquence was of no avail ; a chief rose indig- 
 nantly, shook his finger in his face, and stamping on the 
 ground, " This is our land," said he. " What right has 
 Onontio here ? The English are our brothers. They shall live 
 among us as long as one of us is alive. We will trade with 
 them and not with you : " and so saying he rejected the belt of 
 wampum. 
 
 Joncaire returned to an advanced post recently established 
 on the upper part of the river, whence he wrote to the Governor 
 of Pennsylvania : " The Marquis de la Jonquiere, Governor 
 of New France, having ordered me to watch that the English 
 make no treaty in the Ohio country, I have signified to the 
 traders of your government to retire. You are not ignorant that 
 all these lands belong to the King of France, and that the 
 English have no right to trade in them." He concluded by 
 ■ reiterating the threat made two years previously by feleron 
 de Bienville against all intruding fur traders. 
 
 In the meantime, in the face of all these protests and men- 
 aces, Mr. Gist^ under sanction of the Virginia Legislature, 
 
38 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 proceeded in the same year to survey the lands within the grant 
 of the Ohio Company, lying on the south side of the Ohio 
 River, as far down as the Great Kanawha. An old Delaware 
 sachem, meeting him while thus employed, propounded a 
 somewhat puzzling question. " The French," said he, " claim 
 all the land on one side of the Ohio, the English claim all the 
 land on the other side — now where does the Indians' land lie ? " 
 Poor savages ! Between their " fathers," the French, and 
 their " brothers," the English, they were in a fair way of being 
 most lovingly shared out of the whole country. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PKEPARATIONS TOR HOSTILITIES. WASHINGTON APPOINTED 
 
 DISTRICT ADJUTANT-GENERAL. MOUNT VERNON A SCHOOL 
 
 OF ARMS.— AD JUTANT MUSE, A VETERAN CAMPAIGNER.— JACOB 
 VAN BRAAM, THE MASTER OF FENCE. ILL HEALTH OF WASH- 
 INGTON'S BROTHER LAWRENCE. VOYAGE WITH HIM TO THE 
 
 WEST INDIES. SCENES AT BARBADOES. TROPICAL FRUITS. 
 
 BEEFSTEAK AND TRIPE CLUB. RETURN HOME OF WASH- 
 INGTON. DEATH OF LAWRENCE. 
 
 The French prepared for hostile contingencies. They 
 launched an armed vessel of unusual size on Lake Ontario, 
 fortified their trading house at Niagara, strengthened their 
 outposts, and advanced others on the upper waters of the Ohio. 
 A stir of warlike preparations was likewise to be observed 
 among the British colonies. It was evident that the adverse 
 claims to the disputed territories, if pushed home, could only 
 be settled by the stern arbitrament of the sword. 
 
 In Virginia, especially, the war spirit was manifest. The 
 province was divided into military districts, each having an 
 adjutant-general, with the rank of major, and the pay of one 
 hundred and fifty pounds a year, whose duty was to attend to 
 the organization and equipment of the militia. 
 
 Such an appointment was sought by Lawrence Washington 
 for his brother George. It shows what must have been the 
 maturity of mind of the latter, and the confidence inspired by 
 his judicious conduct and aptness for business, that the post 
 should not only be sought for him, but readily obtained, though 
 he was yet but nineteen years of age. He proved himself 
 worthy of the appointment. 
 
 He now set about preparing himself, with his usual metlio4 
 
LIFE OF WASSINGTOK. 39 
 
 and assicliiit}^, for his new duties. Virginia Lad among its 
 floating population some military relics of the late Spanish war. 
 Among these was a certain Adjutant Muse, a Westmoreland 
 volunteer, who had served with Lawrence Washington in the 
 campaigns in the West Indies, and had been with him in the 
 attack on Carthagena. He now undertook to instruct his 
 brother George in the art of war, lent him treatises on military 
 tactics, put him through the manual exercise, and gave him 
 some idea of evolutions in the field. . Another of Lawrence's 
 campaigning comrades was Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman by 
 birth, a soldier of fortune of the Dalgetty order ; who had been 
 in the British army, but was now out of service, and, professing 
 to be a complete master of fence, recruit^ his slender purse in 
 this time of military excitement, by giving the Virginian youth 
 lessons in the sword exercise. 
 
 Under the instructions of these veterans. Mount Vernon, 
 from being a quiet rural retreat, where Washington, three years 
 previously, had indited love ditties to his "lowland beauty," 
 was suddenly transformed into a school of arms, as he practiced 
 the manual exercise with Adjutant Muse, or took lessons on 
 the broadsword from Van Braam. 
 
 His martial studies, however, were interrupted for a time by 
 the critical state of his brother's health. The constitution of 
 Lawrence had always been delicate, and he had been obliged 
 repeatedly to travel for a change of air. There were now pul- 
 monary sj^mptoms of a threatening nature, and by advice of his 
 physicians he determined to pass a winter in the West Indies, 
 taking with him his favorite brother George as a companion. 
 
 They accordingly sailed for Barbadoes on the 28th of Sep- 
 tember, 1751. George kept a journal of the voyage with log- 
 book brevity ; recording the wind and weather, but no events 
 worth citation. They landed at Barbadoes on the 3d of N"ovem- 
 ber. The resident physician of the place gave a favorable re- 
 port of Lawrence's case, and held out hopes of a cure. The 
 brothers were delighted with the aspect of the country, as they 
 drove out in the cool of the evening, and beheld on all sides 
 fields of sugar cane and Indian corn and groves of tropical trees, 
 in full fruit and foliage. 
 
 They took up their abode at a house pleasantly situated about 
 a mile from town, commanding an extensive prospect of sea and 
 land, including Carlyle Bay and its shipping, and belonging to 
 Captain Crofton, commander of James Fort. 
 
 Barbadoes had its theatre, at which Washington witnessed 
 for the first time a dramatic representation, a species of amuse- 
 
40 LIFE OF WASTItNGTON. 
 
 ment of which he afterwards became fond. It was in the 
 present instance the doleful tragedy of George Barnwell. " The 
 character of Barnwell, and several others," notes he in his 
 journal, "were said to be well performed. There was music 
 adapted and regularly conducted." A safe but abstemious crit- 
 'icism. 
 
 Among the hospitalities of the place the brothers were invited 
 to the house of a Judge Maynards, to dine w4th an association 
 of the first people of the place, who met at each other's house 
 alternately every Saturday, under the incontestably English 
 title of '• The Beefsteak and Tripe Club." Washington notes 
 with admiration the profusion of tropical fruits with which the 
 table was loaded, " the granadilla, sapadella, pomegranate, 
 sweet orange, water-lemon, forbidden fruit, and guava." The 
 homely prosaic beefsteak and tripe must have contrasted 
 strangely, though sturdily, with these magnificent poetical 
 fruits of the tropics. But John Bull is faithful to his native 
 habits and native dishes, whatever may be the country or clime, 
 and would set up a chop-house at the very gates of paradise. 
 
 The brothers had scarcely been a fortnight at the island when 
 George was taken down by a severe attack of small-pox. Skill- 
 ful medical treatment, with the kind attentions of friends, and 
 especially of his brother restored him to health in about three 
 weeks ; but his face always remained slightly marked. 
 
 After his recovery he made excursions about the island, 
 noticing its soil, productions, fortifications, public works, and 
 the manners of its inhabitants. While admiring the productive- 
 ness of the sugar plantations, he was shocked at the spend- 
 thrift habits of the planters, and their utter want of manage- 
 ment. 
 
 " How wonderful," writes he, " that such people should be in 
 debt, and not be able to indulge themselves in all the luxuries, 
 as well as the necessaries of life. Yet so it happens. Estates 
 are often alienated for debts. How persons coming to estates 
 of two, three, and four hundred acres can want, is to me most 
 wonderful." How much does this wonder speak for his own 
 scrupulous principle of always living within compass. 
 
 The residence at Barbadoes failed to have the anticipated 
 effect on the health of Lawrence, and he determined to seek the 
 sweet climate of Bermuda in the spring. He felt the absence 
 from his wife, and it was arranged that George should return 
 to Virginia, and bring her out to meet him at that island. 
 Accordingly, on the 22d of December, George set sail in the 
 Industry, bound to Virginia, where he arrived on the 1st of 
 Tebruary, 1752, after five weeks of stormy winter seafaring. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. ^\ 
 
 Lawrence remained through, the winter at Barbadoes ; but 
 the very mildness of the climate relaxed and enervated him. 
 He felt the want of the bracing winter weather to which 
 he had been accustomed. Even the invariable beauty of 
 the climate, the perpetual summer, wearied the restless invalid. 
 "This is the finest island of the West Indies," said he ; "but 
 I own no place can please me without a change of seasons. We 
 soon tire of the same prospect." A consolatory truth for the 
 inhabitants of more capricious climes. 
 
 Still some of the worst symptoms of his disorder had disap- 
 peared, and he seemed to be slowly recovering ; but the nervous 
 restlessness and desire of change, oftenincidental to his malady, 
 had taken hold of him, and early in March he hastened to Ber- 
 muda. He had come too soon. The keen air of early spring 
 brought on an aggravated return of his worst symptoms. "I 
 have now got to my last refuge," writes he to a friend, " where 
 I must receive my final sentence, which at present Dr. Forbes 
 will not pronounce. He leaves me, however, I think, like a 
 criminal condemned, though not without hopes of reprieve. But 
 this I am to obtain by meritoriously abstaining from flesh of 
 every sort, and all strong liquors, and by riding as much as I 
 can bear. These are the only terms on which I am to hope for 
 life." 
 
 He was now afilicted with painful indecision, and his letters 
 perplexed his family, leaving them uncertain as to his move- 
 ments, and at a loss how to act. At one time he talked of re- 
 maining a year at Bermuda, and wrote to his wife to come out 
 with George and rejoin him there ; but the very same letter 
 shows his irresolution and uncertainty, for he leaves her com- 
 ing to the decision of herself and friends. As to his own move- 
 ments, he says, " Six weeks will determine me what to resolve 
 on. Forbes advises the south of France, or else Barbadoes." 
 The very next letter, written shortly afterwards in a moment 
 of despondency, talks of the possibility of " hurrying home to 
 his grave ! " 
 
 The last was no empty foreboding. He did indeed hasten 
 back, and just reached Mount Vernon in time to die under his 
 own roof, surrounded by his family and friends, and attended 
 in his last moments by that brother on whose manly affection 
 his heart seemed to repose. His death took place on the 26th 
 July, 1752, when but thirty-four years of age. He was a noble- 
 spirited, pnre-minded, accomplished gentleman ; honored by 
 the public, and beloved by his friends. The paternal care ever 
 manifested by him for his youthful brother, George, and the 
 influence his own character and conduct must have had upon 
 
42 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 liim in his ductile years, should link their memories together in 
 history, and endear the name of Lawrence Washington to every 
 American. 
 
 Lawrence left a wife and an infant daughter to inherit his 
 ample estates. In case his daughter should die without issue, 
 the estate of Mount Vernon, and other lands specified in his 
 will, were to be enjoyed by her mother during her lifetime, and 
 at her death to be inherited by his brother George. The latter 
 was appointed one of the executors of the will ; but such was 
 the implicit confidence reposed in his judgment and integrity, 
 that, although he was but twenty years of age, the management 
 of the affairs of the deceased was soon devolved upon him almost 
 entirely. It is needless to say that they were managed with 
 consummate skill and scrupulous fidelity. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 COUNCIL OF THE OHIO TRIBES AT LOGSTOWN. TREATY WITH 
 
 THE ENGLISH. GIST'S SETTLEMENT. SPEECHES OF THE HALF- 
 KING AND THE FRENCH COMMANDANT. FRENCH AGGRES- 
 SIONS. THE RUINS OF PIQUA. WASHINGTON SENT ON A 
 
 MISSION TO THE FRENCH COMMANDER. JACOB VAN BRAAM, 
 
 HIS INTERPRETER. CHRISTOPHER GIST, HIS GUIDE. HALT 
 
 AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE MONONGAHELA AND ALLE- 
 GHANY. PROJECTED FORT. SHINGISS, A DELAWARE SACHEM. 
 
 LOGSTOWN. THE HALF-KING. INDIAN COUNCILS. IN- 
 DIAN DIPLOMACY. RUMORS CONCERNING JONCAIRE. IN- 
 DIAN ESCORTS. THE HALF-KING, JESKAKAKE, AND WHITE 
 
 THUNDER. 
 
 The meeting of the Ohio tribes, Delawares, Shawnees, and 
 Mingoes, to form a treaty of alliance with Virginia, took place 
 at Logstown, at the appointed time. The chiefs of the Six 
 Nations declined to attend. '^ It is not our, custom," said they 
 proudly, " To meet to treat of affairs in the woods and weeds. 
 If the Governor of Virginia wants to speak with us, and de- 
 liver us a present from our father (the king), we will meet him 
 at Albany, where we expect the Governor of New York will be 
 present." * 
 
 At Logstown, Colonel Fry and two other commissioners from 
 Virginia concluded a treaty with the tribes above named, by 
 which the latter engaged not to molest any English settlers 
 
 * Letter of Col. Johnson to Gov. Clinton, Doc. Hist. N. Y., ii. 624. 
 
LTFE OF WASHINGTON. 43 
 
 soutli of the Ohio. Tanacharisson, the half-king, now advised 
 that his brothers of Virginia should build a strong house at the 
 forks of the Monongahela, to resist the designs of the French. 
 Mr. Gist was accordingly instructed to layout a town and build 
 a fort at Chartier's Creek, on the east side of the Ohio, a little 
 below the site of the present city of Pittsburg. He commenced 
 a settlement, also, in a valley just beyond Laurel Hill, not far 
 from the Youghiogheny, and prevailed on eleven families to 
 join him. The Ohio Company, about the same time, established 
 a trading-post, well-stocked with English goods, at Wills' 
 Creek (now the town of Cumberland.) 
 
 The Ohio tribes were greatl}^ incensed at the aggressions of 
 the French, who were erecting posts within ' their territories, 
 and sent deputations to remonstrate, but without effect. The 
 half-king, as chief of the western tribes, repaired. to the French 
 post on Lake Erie, where he made his complaint in person. 
 
 " Fathers," said he, " jow. are the disturbers of this land by 
 building towns, and taking the country from us by fraud and 
 force. We kindled a fire a long time ago at Montreal, where 
 we desired you to stay and not to come and intrude upon our 
 land. I now advise you to return to that place, for this land 
 is ours. 
 
 " If you had come in a peaceful manner, like our brothers 
 the English, we should have traded with you as we do with 
 them ; but that you should come and build houses on our land, 
 and take it by force, is what we cannot submit to. Both you 
 and the English are white. We live in a countrj^ between you 
 both ; the land belongs to neither of you. The Great Being 
 allotted it to us as a residence. So, fathers, I desire you, as I 
 have desired our brothers the English, to withdraw, for I will 
 keep you both at arm's length. Whichever most regards this 
 request, that side will we stand by and consider friends. Our 
 brothers the English, have heard these, and I now come to tell 
 it to you, for I am not afraid to order you off this land." 
 
 " Child," replied the French commandant, ^^ you talk foolishly. 
 You say this land belongs to you ; there is not the black of 
 my nail yours. It is my land, and I will have it, let who will 
 stand up against me. I am not afraid of flies and mosquitoes, 
 for as such I consider the Indians. I tell you that down the 
 river I will go, and build upon it. If it were blocked up I have 
 forces sufficient to burst it open and trample down all who 
 oppose me. My force is as the sand upon the sea-shore. 
 Therefore here is joux wampum ; I fling it at you." 
 
 Tanacharisson returned, wounded at heart, both by the 
 language and the haughty manner of the French commandant. 
 
44 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 He saw the ruin impending over his race, but looked with hope 
 and trust to the English as the power least disposed to wrong 
 the red man. 
 
 French influence was successful in other quarters. Some of 
 the Indians who had been friendly to the English showed signs 
 of alienation. Others menaced hostilities. There were reports 
 that the French were ascending the Mississippi from Louisiana. 
 France, it was said, intended to connect Louisiana and Canada 
 by a chain of military posts, and hem the English within the 
 Alleghany Mountains. 
 
 The Ohio Company complained loudly to the Lieutenant- 
 governor of Virginia, the Hon. Robert Dinwiddle, of the hostile 
 conduct of the French and their Indian allies. They found in 
 Dinwiddle a ready listener ; he was a stockholder in the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 A commissioner, Captain William Trent, was sent to expost- 
 ulate with the French commander on the Ohio for his aggres- 
 sions on the territory of His Britannic Majesty; he bore pres- 
 ents also of guns, powder, shot, and clothing for the friendly 
 Indians. 
 
 Trent was not a man of the true spirit for a mission to the 
 frontier. He stopped a short time at Logstown, though the 
 French were one hundred and fifty miles further up the river, 
 and directed his course to Piqua, the great town of the Twight- 
 wees, where Gist and Croghan had been so well received by the 
 Miamis, and the French flag struck in the council-house. All 
 now was reversed. The place had been attacked by the French 
 and Indians ; the Miamis defeated with great loss ; the Eng- 
 lish traders taken prisoners ; the Piankesha chief, who had so 
 proudly turned his back upon the Ottawa ambassadors, had 
 been sacrificed by the hostile savages, and the French flag 
 hoisted in triumph on the ruins of the town. The whole 
 aspect of affairs was so threatening on the frontier, that Trent 
 lost heart, and returned home without accomplishing his 
 errand. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddle now looked round for a person more 
 fitted to fulfill a mission which required physical strength and 
 moral energy, a courage to cope with savages, and a sagacity to 
 negotiate with white men. Washington w^as pointed out as 
 possessed of those requisities. It is true he was not yet 
 twenty-two years of age, but public confidence in his judgment 
 and abilities had been manifested a second time, by renewing 
 his appointment of adjutant-general, and assigning him the 
 northern division. He was acquainted, too, with the matters 
 in litigation, having been in the bosom councils of his deceased 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 45 
 
 brother. " His woodland experience litted him for an expedi- 
 tion through the wilderness, and his great discretion and self- 
 command for a negotiation with wily commanders and fickle 
 savages. He was accordingly chosen for the expedition. 
 
 By his letter of instructions he was directed to repair to 
 Logstown, and hold a communication with Tanacharisson, 
 Monacatoocha, alias Scarooyadi, the next in command, and the 
 other sachems of the mixed tribes friendly to the English, in- 
 form them of the purport of his errand, and request an escort 
 to the head-quarters of the French commander. To that com- 
 mander he was to deliver his credentials, and . the letter of 
 Governor Dinwiddie, and demand an answer in the name of 
 His Britannic Majesty; but not to wait for it beyond a week. 
 On receiving it, he was to request a sufficient escort to protect 
 him on his return. 
 
 He was, moreover, to acquaint himself with the iiumbers and 
 force of the French stationed on the Ohio and in its vicinity ; 
 their capability of being reinforced from Canada ; the forts they 
 had erected; where situated, how garrisoned; the object of 
 their advancing into those parts, and how they were likely to 
 be supported. 
 
 Washington set off from Williamsburg on the 30th of Octo- 
 ber (1753), the very day on which he received his credentials. 
 At Fredericksburg he engaged his old " master of fence," Jacob 
 Van Braam, to accompany him as interpreter ; though it would 
 appear from subsequent circumstances, that the veteran swords- 
 man was but indifferently versed either in French or English. 
 
 Having provided himself at Alexandria with necessaries for 
 the journey, he proceeded to Winchester, then on the frontier, 
 where he procured horses, tents, and other travelling equip- 
 ments, and then pushed on by a road newly opened to Wills' 
 Creek (town of Cumberland), where he arrived on the 14th of 
 November. 
 
 Here he met with Mr. Gist, the intrepid pioneer, who had 
 explored the Ohio in the employ of the Company, and whom 
 he engaged to accompany and pilot him in the present expedi- 
 tion. He secured the services also of one John Davidson as 
 Indian interpreter, and of four frontiersmen, two of whom were 
 Indian traders. With this little band, and his swordsman and 
 interpreter, Jacob Van Braam, he set forth on the 15th of 
 November, through a wild country rendered almost impassable 
 by recent storms of rain and snow. 
 
 At the mouth of Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela, he found 
 John Frazier, the Indian trader, some of whose people, as here- 
 tofore stated, had been sent off prisoners to Canada. Frazier 
 
46 LIFE OF WASHINGTOm 
 
 himself had recently been ejected by the French from the 
 Indian village of Venango, where he had a gunsmith's estab- 
 lishment. According to his account the French general who 
 had commanded on this frontier was dead, and the greater part 
 of the forces were retired into winter quarters. 
 
 As the rivers were all swollen so that the horses had to swim 
 them, Washington sent all the baggage down the Monongahela 
 in a canoe under care of two of the men, who had orders to 
 meet him at the confluence of that river with the Alleghany, 
 where their united waters form the Ohio. 
 
 "As I got down before the canoe," writes he in his journal, 
 " I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land at the 
 Fork, which I think extremely well situated for a fort, as it has 
 the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is 
 twenty or twenty-five feet above the common surface of the 
 water, and a considerable bottom of fl'at, well-timbered land all 
 around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are each a 
 quarter of a mile or more across, and run here very nearly at 
 right angles ; Alleghany bearing northeast, and Monongahela 
 southeast. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift- 
 running water, the other deep and still, without any perceptible 
 fall." The Ohio Company had intended to build a fort about 
 two miles from this place, on the southeast side of the river ; 
 but Washington gave the fork the decided preference. French 
 engineers of experience jjroved the accuracy of his military eye, 
 b}'- subsequently choosing it for the site of Fort Duquesne, noted 
 in frontier history. 
 
 In this neighborhood lived Shingiss, the king or chief sachem 
 of the Delawares. Washington visited him at his village, to 
 invite him to the council at Logstown. He was one of the 
 greatest warriors of his tribe, and subsequently took up the 
 hatchet at various times against the English, though now he 
 seemed favorably disposed, and readily accepted the invitation. 
 
 They arrived at Logstown after sunset on the 24th of ISTov- 
 ember. The half-king was absent at his hunting lodge on 
 Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles distant ; but Washington had 
 runners sent out to invite him and all the other chiefs to a 
 grand talk on the following day. 
 
 In the morning four French deserters came into the village. 
 They had deserted from a company of one hundred men, sent up 
 from New Orleans with eight canoes laden with provisions. Wash- 
 ington drew from them an account of the French force at New Or- 
 leans, and of the forts along the Mississippi, and at the mouth 
 of the Wabash, by which they kept up a communication with the 
 lakes ; all which he carefully noted down. The deserters were on 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 47 
 
 their way to Philadelphia, conducted by a Pennsylvania trader. 
 
 About three o'clock the half-king arrived. Washington had 
 a private conversation with him in his tent, through Davidson, 
 the interpreter. He found him intelligent, patriotic, and 
 proudly tenacious of his territorial rights. • We have already- 
 cited from Washington's papers, the account given by this 
 chief in this conversation^ of his interview with the late French 
 commander. He stated, moreover, that the French had built 
 two forts, differing in size, but on the same model, a plan of 
 which he gave, of his own drawing. The largest was on Lake 
 Erie, the other on French Creek, fifteen miles apart, with a 
 wagon road between them. The nearest and levelest way to 
 them was now impassable, lying through large and miry savan- 
 nas ; they would have, therefore, to go by Venango, and it 
 would take five or six sleeps (or days) of good travelling to 
 reach the nearest fort. 
 
 On the following morning at nine o'clock the chiefs assembled 
 in the council-house ; where Washington, according to his in- 
 structions, informed them that he was sent by their brother, 
 the Governor of Virginia, to deliver to the French commandant 
 a letter of great importance, both to their brothers the English 
 and to themselves ; and that he was to ask their advice and as- 
 sistance, and some of their young men to accompany and pro- 
 vide for him on the way, and be his safeguard against the 
 " French Indians " who had taken up the hatchet. He con- 
 cluded by presenting the indispensable document in Indian di- 
 plomacy, a string of wampum. 
 
 The chiefs, according to etiquette, sat for some moments 
 silent after he had concluded, as if ruminating on what had 
 been said, or to give him time for further remark. 
 
 The half-king then rose and spoke in behalf of the tribes, 
 assuring him that they considered the English and themselves 
 brothers, and one people ; and that they intended to return the 
 French the " speech-belts," or wampums, which the latter had 
 sent them. This, in Indian diplomacy, is a renunciation of all 
 friendly relations. An escort would be furnished to Washing- 
 ton composed of Mingoes, Shannoahs, and Delawares, in token 
 of the love and loyalty of those several tribes ; but three days 
 would be required to prepare for the journey. 
 
 Washington remonstrated against such delay ; but was in- 
 formed that an affair of such moment, where three speech-belts 
 were to be given up, was not *to be entered into without due 
 consideration. Besides, the young men who were to form the 
 escort were absent hunting, and the half-king could not suffer 
 the party to go without sufficient protection. His own French 
 
48 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 speech-belt, also, was at his hunting lodge, whither he must go 
 in quest of it. Moreover, the Shannoah chiefs were yet absent 
 and must be waited for. In short, Washington had his first 
 lesson in Indian diplomacy, which for punctilio, ceremonial, 
 and secret maneuvering, is equal at least to that of civilized 
 life. He soon found that to urge a more speedy departure 
 would be offensive to Indian dignity and decorum, so he was 
 fain to await the gathering together of the different chiefs with 
 their speech-belts. 
 
 In fact there was some reason for all this caution. Tidings 
 had reached the sachems that Captain Joncaire had called a 
 meeting at Venango, of the Mingoes, Delawares and other 
 tribes, and made them a speech, informing them that the 
 French, for the present, had gone into winter quarters, but 
 intended to descend the river in great force, and fight the 
 English in the spring. He had advised them, therefore, to 
 stand aloof, for should they interfere, the French and English 
 would join, cut them all off, and divide their land between 
 them. 
 
 With these rumors preying on their minds, the half-king 
 and three other chiefs waited on Washington in his tent in the 
 evening, and after representing that they had complied with 
 all the requisitions of the Governor of Virginia, endeavored to 
 draw from the youthful ambassador the true purport of his 
 mission to the French commandant. Washington had antici- 
 pated an inquiry of the kind, knowing how natural it was that 
 these poor people should regard with anxiety and distrust 
 every movement of two formidable powers thus pressing upon 
 them from oppposite sides ; he managed, however, to answer 
 them in such a manner as to allay their solicitude without 
 transcending the bounds of diplomatic secrecy. 
 
 After a day or two more of delay and further consultations 
 in the council house, the chiefs determined that but three of 
 their number should accompany the mission, as a greater 
 number might awaken the suspicions of the French. Accord- 
 ingly, on the 30th of ]N"ovember Washington set out for the 
 French post, having his usual party augmented by an Indian 
 hunter, and being accompanied by the half-king, an old Shan- 
 noah sachem named Jeskakake, and another chief, called some- 
 times Belt of Wampum, from being the keeper of the speech- 
 belts, but generally bearing the sounding appellation of White 
 Thunder. 
 
LIFE OF WAJSHIJ^GTON. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A.RRIVAL AT VENANGO. CAPTAIN JONCAIRE. FRONTIER REV- 
 ELRY. DISCUSSIONS OVER THE BOTTLE. THE OLD DIPLOMA- 
 TIST AND THE YOUNG. THE HALF-KING, JESKAKAKE, AND 
 
 WHITE THUNDER STAGGERED. THE SPEECH-BELT.— DEPART- 
 URE. LA FORCE, THE W-ILY COMMISSARY. FORT AT FRENCH 
 
 CREEK. THE CHEVALIER LEG ARDEURDE ST. PIERRE, KNIGHT 
 
 OF ST. LOUIS. CAPTAIN REPARTI. TRANSACTIONS AT THE 
 
 FORT. ATTEMPTS TO SEDUCE THE SACHEMS. MISCHIEF 
 
 BREWING ON THE FRONTIER. DIFFICULTIES AND DELAYS 
 
 IN PARTING. DESCENT OF FRENCH CREEK. ARRIVAL AT 
 
 VENANGO. 
 
 Although the distance to Venango, by the route taken, was 
 not above seventy miles, yet such was the inclemency of the 
 weather and the difficulty of travelling, that Washington and 
 his party did not arrive there until the 4th of December. The 
 French colors were flying at a house whence John Frazier, the 
 English trader, had been driven. Washington repaired thither, 
 and inquired of three French officers whom he saw there where 
 the commandant resided. One of them promptly replied that 
 he " had the command of the Ohio." It was, in fact, the re- 
 doubtable Captain Joncaire, the veteran intriguer of the fron- 
 tier. On being apprised, however, of the nature of Washing- 
 ton's errand, he informed him that there was a general officer 
 at the next fort, where he advised him to apply for an answer 
 to the letter of which he was the bearer. 
 
 In the meantime, he invited Washington and his party to a 
 supper at head-quarters. It proved a jovial one, for Joncaire 
 appears to have been somewhat of a boon companion, and there 
 is always ready though rough hospitality in t}\e wilderness. 
 It is true, Washington, for so young a man, may not have had 
 the most convivial air, but there may have been a moist look of 
 promise in the old soldier Van Braam. 
 
 Joncaire and his brother officers pushed the bottle briskly. 
 "The wine," says Washington, "as they dosed themselves 
 pretty plentifully with it, soon banished the restraint which at 
 first appeared in their conversation, and gave a license to their 
 tongues to reveal their sentiments more freely. They told me 
 that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, 
 
50 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and by G — they would do it ; for that although they were sen- 
 sible the English could raise two men for their one, yet they 
 knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any 
 uiidertaking. They pretend to have an unbounded right to the 
 river from a discovery made by one La Salle sixty years ago, 
 and the rise of this expedition is to prevent our settling on the 
 river or the waters of it, as they heard of some families moving 
 out in order thereto." 
 
 Washington retained his sobriety and his composure through 
 out all the rodomontade and bacchanalian outbreak of the mer- 
 curial Frenchmen ; leaving the task of pledging them to his 
 master of fence, Van Braam, who was not a man to flinch from 
 potations. He took careful note, however, of all their revelations, 
 and collected a variety of information concerning the Erench 
 forces ; how and where they were distributed ; the situations 
 and distances of their forts, and their means and mode of ob- 
 taining supplies. If the veteran diplomatist of the wilderness 
 had intended this revel for a snare, he was completely foiled by 
 his youthful competitor. 
 
 On the following day there was no travelling on account of 
 excessive rain. Joncaire, in the meantime, having discovered 
 that the half-king was with the mission, expressed his surprise 
 that he had not accompanied it to his quarters, on the preceding 
 day. Washington, in truth, had feared to trust the sachem 
 within the reach of the polite Erenchman. Nothing would do 
 now but Joncaire must have the sachems at head-quarters. 
 Here his diplomacy was triumphant. He received them with 
 open arms. He was enraptured to see them. His Indian 
 brothers ! How could they be so near without coming to visit 
 him ? He made them presents : but, above all, plied them so 
 potently with liquor, that the poor half-king, Jeskakake, and 
 White Thunder forgot all about their wrongs, their speeches, 
 their speech-belts, and all the business they had come upon ; 
 paid no heed to the cautions of their English friends, and were 
 soon in a complete state of frantic extravagance or drunken 
 oblivion. 
 
 The next day the half-king made his appearance at Washing- 
 ton's tent, perfectly sober and very much crestfallen. He de- 
 clared, however, that he still intended to make his speech to 
 the Erench, and offered to rehearse it on the spot ; but Washing- 
 ton advised him not to waste his ammunition on inferior game 
 like Joncaire and his comrades, but to reserve it for the com- 
 mandant. The sachem was not to be persuaded. Here, he 
 said, was the place of the council-fire, where they were accus- 
 tomed to transact their business with the Erenqhj and as tQ 
 
LIFE OF WAsnmGfojsr. 51 
 
 Joncalre, lie had all the management of French affairs with 
 the Indians. 
 
 Washington was fain to attend the council-fire and listen to 
 the speech. It was much the same in purport as that which he 
 had made to the Trench general, and he ended by offering to 
 return the French speech-belt ; but this Joncaire refused to re- 
 ceive, telling him to carry it to the commander at the fort. 
 
 All that day and the next was the party kept at Venango by 
 the stratagems of Joncaire and his emissaries to detain and se- 
 duce the sachems. It was not until 12 o'clock on the 7tli of 
 December, that Washington was able to extricate them out of 
 their clutches and commence his journey. 
 
 A French commissary by the name of La Force, and three 
 soldiers, set off in company with him. La Force went as if on 
 ordinary business, but he proved one of the most active, daring, 
 and mischief-making of those anomalous agents employed by 
 the French among the Indian tribes. It is probable that he 
 was at the bottom of many of the perplexities experienced by 
 Washington at Venango, and now travelled with him for the 
 prosecution of his wiles. He will be found, hereafter, acting 
 a more prominent part, and ultimately reaping the fruit of his 
 evil doings. 
 
 After four days of weary travel through snow and rain, and 
 mire and swamp, the party reached the fort. It was situated 
 on a kind of island on the west fork of French Creek, about 
 fifteen miles south of Lake Erie, and consisted of four houses, 
 forming a hollow square, defended by bastions made of palis- 
 ades twelve feet high, picketed, and pierced for cannon and 
 small arms. Within the bastions were a guard-house, chapel, 
 and other buildings, and outside were stables, a smith's forge, 
 and Jog-houses covered with bark, for the soldiers. 
 
 On the death of the late general, the fort had remained in 
 charge of one Captain Heparti until within a week past, when 
 the Chevalier Legardeur de St. Pierre had arrived, and taken 
 command. 
 
 The reception of Washington at the fort was very different 
 from the unceremonious one experienced at the outpost of 
 Joncaire and his convivial messmates. When he presented 
 himself at the gate, accompanied by his interpreter. Van Braam 
 he was met by the officer second in command and conducted 
 in due military form to his superior, an ancient and silver-hair- 
 ed chevalier of the military order of St. Louis, courteous but 
 ceremonious, mingling the polish of the French gentleman of 
 the old school with the j>recision of the soldier. 
 
 Having announced his errand through his interpreter, Van 
 
52 ZIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 •Braam, Wasliington offered liis credentials and the letter of 
 Governor Dinwiddie, and was disposed to proceed at once to 
 business with the prompt frankness of a young man unhack- 
 neyed in diplomacy. The chevalier, however, politely requested 
 him to retain the documents in his possession until his prede- 
 cessor. Captain Reparti, should arrive, who was hourly expected 
 from the next post. 
 
 At two o'clock the captain arrived. The letter and its ac- 
 companying documents were then offered again, and received 
 in due form, and the chevalier and his officers retired with 
 them into a private apartment, where the captain, who under- 
 stood a little English, officiated as a translator. The transla- 
 tion being finished, Washington was requested to walk in and 
 bring his translator Van Braam, with him, to peruse and cor- 
 rect it, which he did. 
 
 In this letter, Dinwiddle complained of the intrusion of 
 French forces into the Ohio country, erecting forts and making 
 settlements in the western parts of the colony of Virginia, so 
 notoriously known to be the property of the crown of Great 
 Britain. He inquired by whose authority and instructions the 
 French Commander-general had marched this force from Canada, 
 and made this invasion ; intimating that his own action would 
 be regulated by the answer he should receive, and the tenor of 
 the commission with which he was honored. At the same time 
 he required of the commandant his peaceable departure, and 
 that he would forbear to prosecute a purpose " so interruptive 
 of the harmony and good understanding which His Majesty 
 was desirous to continue and cultivate with the most catholic 
 king." 
 
 The latter part of the letter related to the youthful envoy. 
 "I persuade myself you will receive and entertain Major Wash- 
 ington with the candor and politeness natural to your nation, 
 and it will give me the greatest satisfaction if you can return 
 him with an answer suitable to my wishes for a long and last- 
 ing peace between us." * 
 
 The two following days were consumed in councils of the 
 chevalier and his officers over the letter and the necessary reply. 
 Washington occupied himself in the meantime in observing 
 and taking notes of the plan, dimensions, and strength of the 
 fort, and of everything about it. He gave orders to his people, 
 also, to take an exact account of the canoes in readiness, and 
 others in the process of construction, for the conveyance of 
 troops down the river in the ensuing spring. 
 
 As the weather continued stormy, wnth much snow, and the 
 horses were daily losing strength, he sent them down, unladen 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 53 
 
 to Venango, to await his return by water. In the meantime, 
 he discovered that busy intrigues were going on to induce the 
 half-king and the other sachems to abandon him, and renounce 
 all friendship with the English. Upon learning this, he urged 
 the chiefs to deliver up their " speech-belts " immediate^, as 
 they had promised, thereby shaking off all dependence upon 
 the French. They accordingly pressed for an audience that 
 very evening. A private one was at length granted them by 
 the commander, in presence of one or two of his officers. The 
 half-king reported the result of it to Washington. The vener- 
 able but astute chevalier cautiously evaded the acceptance of 
 the proffered wampum ; made many professions of love and 
 friendship, and said he wished to live in peace and trade amic- 
 ably with the tribes of the Ohio, in proof of which he would send 
 down some goods immediately for them to Logstown. 
 
 As Washington understood, privately, that an officer was to 
 accompany the man employed to convey these goods, he sus- 
 pected that the real design was to arrest and bring off all 
 straggling English traders they might meet Avith. What 
 strengthened this opinion was a frank avowal which had been 
 made to him by the chevalier, that he had orders to capture 
 every British subject who should attempt to trade upon the 
 Ohio or its waters. 
 
 Captain Beparti, also, in reply to his inquiry as to what had 
 been done with two Pennsylvania traders, who had been taken 
 with all their goods, informed him that they had been sent to 
 Canada, but had since returned home. He had stated, further- 
 more, that during the time he held command, a white boy had 
 been carried captive past the fort by a party of Indians, who 
 had with them, also, two or three white men's scalps. 
 
 All these circumstances showed him the mischief that was 
 brewing in these parts, and the treachery and violence that 
 pervaded the frontier, and made him the more solicitous to ac- 
 complish his mission successfully, and conduct his little band 
 in safety out of a wily neighborhood. 
 
 On the evening of the 14th, the Chevalier de St. Pierre de- 
 livered to Washington his sealed reply to the letter of Governor 
 Dinwiddle. The purport of previous conversations with the 
 chevalier, and the whole complexion of affairs on the frontier, 
 left no doubt of the nature of that reply 
 
 The business of his mission being accomplished, Washington 
 prepared on the 15th to return by water to Venango ; but a 
 secret influence was at work which retarded every movement. 
 
 " The commandant," writes he, " ordered a plentiful store of 
 liquor and provisions to be put on board our canoes, and ap- 
 
54 LIFE OF WASim-'GTOK. 
 
 peared to be extremely complaisant, though he was exerting 
 every artifice which he could invent to set our Indians at 
 variance with us, to prevent their going until after our depart- 
 ure — presents, rewards, and everything which could be sug- 
 gested by him or his officers. I cannot say that ever in my 
 life I suffered so much anxiety as I did in this affair. I saw 
 that every stratagem which the most fruitful brain could in- 
 vent was practiced to win the half-king to their interest, and 
 that leaving him there was giving them the opportunity they 
 aimed at. I went to the half-king, and pressed him in the 
 strongest terms to go ; he told me that the commandant would 
 not discharge him until the morning. I then went to the 
 commandant and desired him to do their business, and com- 
 plained to him 'of ill treatment ; for, keeping them, as they 
 were a part of my company, was detaining me. This he prom- 
 ised not to do, but to forward my journey as much as he could. 
 He protested he did not keep them, but was ignorant of the 
 cause of their stay ; though I soon found it out. He had prom- 
 ised them a present of guns if they would wait until the morn- 
 ing. As I was very much pressed by the Indians to wait this 
 day for them, I consented, on the promise that nothing should 
 hinder them in the morning." 
 
 The' next morning (16th) the French, in fulfillment of their 
 promise, had to give the present of guns. They then endeav- 
 ored to detain the sachems with liquor, which at any other 
 time might have prevailed, but Washington reminded the half- 
 king that his royal word was pledged to depart, and urged it 
 upon him so closely that exerting unwonted resolution and 
 self-denial, he turned his back upon the liquor and embarked. 
 
 It was rough and laborious navigation. French Creek was 
 swollen and turbulent, and full of floating ice. The frail canoes 
 were several times in danger of being staved to pieces against 
 the rocks. Often the voyagers had to leap out and remain in 
 the water half an hour at a time, drawing the canoes over 
 shoals, and at one place to carry them a quarter of a mile across 
 a neck of land, the river being completely dammed by ice. It 
 was not until the 22d that they reached Venango. 
 
 Here Washington was obliged, most unwillingly, to part 
 company with the sachems. White Thunder had hurt himself 
 and was ill and unable to walk, and the others determined to 
 remain at Venango for a day or two and convey him down the 
 river in a canoe. There was danger that the smooth-tongued 
 and convivial Joncaire would avail himself of the interval to ply 
 the poor monarchs of the woods with flattery and liquor. 
 Washington endeavore<i to put the worthy half-king on his 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 55 
 
 guard, knowing that he had once before shown himself but lit- 
 tle proof against the seductions of the bottle. The sachem, 
 however, desired him not to be concerned ; he knew the French 
 too well for anything to engage him in their favor ; nothing 
 should shake his faith to his English brothers ; and it will be 
 found that in these assurances he was sincere. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RETURN FROM VENANGO. A TRAMP ON FOOT. MURDERING 
 
 TOWN. THE INDIAN GUIDE. TREACHERY. AN ANXIOUS 
 
 NIGHT. PERILS ON THE ALLEGHANY RIVER. QUEEN ALI- 
 
 QUIPPA. THE OLD WATCH-COAT. RETURN ACROSS THE BLUE 
 
 RIDGE. 
 
 On the 25th of December, Washington and his little party 
 set out by land from Venango on their route homeward. They 
 had a long winter's journey before them, through a wilderness 
 beset with dangers and difficulties. The pack-horses, laden 
 with tents, baggage, and provisions, were completely jaded; it 
 was feared they would give out. Washington dismounted, 
 gave up his saddle-horse to aid in transporting the baggage, 
 and requested his companions to do the same. None but the 
 drivers remained in the saddle. He now equipped himself in 
 an Indian hunting-dress, and with Van Br aam. Gist, and John 
 Davidson, the Indian interpreter, proceeded on foot. 
 
 The cold increased. There was deep snow that froze as it 
 fell. The horses grew less and less capable of travelling. Eor 
 three days they toiled on slowly and wearily. Washington 
 was impatient to accomplish his journey, and make his report 
 to the governor ; he determined, therefore, to hasten some dis- 
 tance in advance of the party, and then strike for the Fork of 
 the Ohio by the nearest course directly through the woods. 
 He accordingly put the cavalcade under the command of Van 
 Braam, and furnished him with money for expenses ; then dis- 
 encumbering himself of all superfluous clothing, buckling him- 
 self up in a watch-coat, strapping his pack on his shoulders, 
 containing his papers and provisions, and taking gun in hand, 
 he left the horses to flounder on, and struck manfully ahead, 
 accompanied only by Mr. Gist, who had equipped himself in 
 like manner. 
 
56 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 At night they lit a fire, and " camped " by it in the woods. 
 At two o'clock in the morning they were again on foot, and 
 pressed forward until they struck the southeast fork of Beaver 
 Creek, at a place bearing the sinister name of Murdering Town 
 — probably the scene of some Indian massacre. 
 
 Here Washington, in planning his route, had intended to . 
 leave the regular path, and strike through the woods for 
 Shannopins Town, two or three miles above the Fork of the 
 Ohio, where he hoped to be able to cross the Alleghany E-iver 
 on the ice. 
 
 At Murdering Town he found a party of Indians, who ap- 
 peared to have known of his coming, and to have been waiting 
 for him. One of them accosted Mr. Gist, and expressed great 
 joy at seeing him. The wary woodsman regarded him narrowly, 
 and thought he had seen him at Joncaire's. If so, he and his 
 comrades were in the French interest, and their lying in wait 
 boded no good. The Indian was very curious in his inquiries 
 as to when they had left Venango ; how they came to be traveh 
 ling on foot ; where they had left their horses, and when it was 
 probable the latter would reach this place. All these questions 
 increased the distrust of Gist, and rendered him extremely 
 cautious in reply. 
 
 The route hence to Shannopins Town lay through a track- 
 less wild, of which the travellers knew nothing ; after some con- 
 sultation, therefore, it was deemed expedient to engage one of 
 the Indians as a guide. He entered upon his duties with alac- 
 rity, took Washington's pack upon his back, and led the way 
 by what he said was the most direct course. After travelling 
 briskly for eight or ten miles Washington became fatigued, and 
 his feet were chafed ; he thought, too, they were taking a di- 
 rection too much to the northeast ; he came to a halt, therefore, 
 and determined to light a fire, make a shelter of the bark and 
 branches of trees, and encamp there for the night. The Indian 
 demurred ; he offered, as Washington was fatigued, to carry 
 his gun, but the latter was too wary to part with his weapon. 
 The Indian now grew churlish. There were Ottawa Indians in 
 the woods, he said, who might be attracted by their fire, and sur- 
 prise and scalp them ; he urged, therefore, that they should con- 
 tinue on; he would take them to his cabin, where they would be 
 safe. 
 
 Mr. Gist's suspicions increased, but he said nothing. Wash- 
 ington's also were awakened. They proceeded some distance 
 further : the guide paused and listened. He had hea.d, he 
 said, the report of a gun toward the north ; it must be from 
 tis cabin ; he accordingly turned his steps in that direction. 
 
LIFM OF WASHINGTON. 67 
 
 Washington tegan to apprehend an ambuscade of savages. 
 He knew the hostility of many of them to the English, and 
 what a desirable troj^hy was the scalp of a white man. The 
 Indian still kept on toward the north; he pretended to hear 
 two whoops — they were from his cabin — it could not be far 
 off. 
 
 They went on two miles further, when Washington signified 
 his determination to encamp at the first water they should find. 
 The guide said nothing, but kept doggedly on. After a little 
 while they arrived at an opening in the woods, and emerging 
 from the deep shadows in which they had been travelling, 
 found themselves in a clear meadow, rendered still more light 
 by the glare of the snow upon the ground. Scarcely had they 
 emerged when the Indian, who was about fifteen paces ahead, 
 suddenly turned, leveled his gun, and fired. Washington was 
 startled for an instant, but, feeling that he was not wounded, 
 demanded quickly of Mr. Gist if he was shot. The latter an- 
 swered in the negative. The Indian in the meantime had run 
 forward, and screened himself behind a large white oak, where 
 he was reloading his gun. They overtook and seized him. 
 Gist would have put him to death on the spot, but Washington 
 humanely prevented him. They permitted him to finish the 
 loading of his gun ; but, after he had put in the ball, took the 
 weapon from him, and let him see that he was under guard. 
 
 Arriving at a small stream they ordered the Indian to make 
 a fire, and took turns to watch over the guns. While he was 
 thus occupied. Gist, a veteran woodsman, and accustomed to 
 hold the life of an Indian rather cheap, was somewhat incom- 
 moded by the scruples of his youthful commander, which might 
 enable the savage to carry out some scheme of treachery. He 
 observed to Washington that, since he would not suffer the 
 Indian to be killed, they must manage to get him out of the 
 way, and then decamp with all speed, and travel all night to 
 leave this perfidious neighborhood behind them; but first it 
 was necessary to blind the guide as to their intentions. He 
 accordingly addressed him in a friendly tone, and adverting to 
 the late circumstance, pretended to suppose that he had lost 
 his way, and fired his gun merely as a signal. The Indian, 
 whether deceived or not, readily chimed in with the explana- 
 tion. He said he now knew the way to his cabin, which was 
 at no great distance. ^^ Well, then," replied Gist, "you can go 
 home, and as we are tired we will remain here for the night, 
 and follow your track at daylight. In the meantime here is a 
 cake of bread for you, and you must give us some meat in the 
 morning." 
 
B8 LIFE OF WASniNGTOy. 
 
 Whatever might have been the original designs of the sar* 
 age, he was evidently glad to get off. Gist followed him 
 cautiously for a distance, and listened until the sound of his 
 footsteps died away ; returning then to Washington, they pro- 
 ceeded about half a mile, made another fire, set their compass 
 and fixed their course by the light of it, then leaving it burn- 
 ing, pushed forward, and travelled as fast as possible all night, 
 so as to gain a fair start should any one pursue them at day- 
 light. Continuing on the next day, they never relaxed their 
 speed until nightfall, when they arrived on the banks of the 
 Alleghany Kiver, about two miles above Shannopins Town. 
 
 Washington had expected to find the river frozen complete- 
 ly over ; it was so only for about fifty yards from each shore, 
 while great quantities of broken ice were driving down the 
 main channel. Trusting that he had out-travelled pursuit, he 
 encamped on the border of the river ; still it was an anxious 
 night, and he was up at daybreak to devisa some means of 
 reaching the opposite bank. No other mode presented itself 
 than by a raft, and to construct this they had but one poor 
 hatchet. With this they set resolutely to work and labored all 
 day, but the sun went down before their raft was finished. 
 Thej" launched it, however, and getting on board, endeavored 
 to propel it across with setting poles. Before they were half 
 way over the raft became jamlned between cakes of ice, and 
 they were in imminent peril. Washington planted his pole on 
 the bottom of the stream, and leaned against it with all his 
 might, to stay the raft until the ice should pass by. The rapid 
 current forced the ice against the pole with such violence that 
 he was jerked into the water, where it was at least ten feet 
 deep, and only saved himself from being swept away and 
 drowned by catching hold of one of the raft logs. 
 
 It was now impossible, with all their exertions, to get to 
 either shore ; abandoning the raft, therefore, they got upon an 
 island, near which they were drifting. Here they passed the 
 night exposed to intense cold, by which the hands and feet of Mr. 
 Gist were frozen. In the morning they found the drift ice 
 wedged so closely together, that they succeeded in getting from 
 the island to the opposite side of the river; and before night 
 were in comfortable quarters at the house of Frazier, the In- 
 dian trader, at the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monon- 
 gahela. 
 
 Here they learned from a war party of Indians that a band 
 of Ottawas, a tribe in the interest of the French, had massacred 
 a whole family of whites on the banks of the Great Kanawha 
 Biver. 
 
LIFEJ)F^WASHINGTON. 59 
 
 At Frazier's they were detained two or three days, endeavor- 
 ing to procure horses. In this interval Washington had again 
 occasion to exercise Indian diplomacy. About three miles 
 distant, at the mouth of the Youghiogheny E-iver, dwelt a 
 female sachem, Queen Alrquippa, as the English called her, 
 whose sovereign dignity had been aggrieved, that the party, 
 on their way to the Ohio, had passed near her royal wigwam 
 without paying their respects to her. 
 
 Aware of the importance, at this critical juncture, of securing 
 the friendship) of the Indians, Washington availed himself of 
 the interruption of his journey, to pay a visit of ceremony to 
 this native princess. Whatever anger she may have felt at 
 past neglect, it was readily appeased by a present of his old 
 watch-coat ; and her good graces were completely secured by 
 a bottle of rum, which, he intimates, appeared to be peculiarly 
 acceptable to her majesty. 
 
 Leaving Frazier's on the 1st of January, they arrived on the 
 2d at Gist's residence, sixteen miles from the Monongahela. 
 Here they separated, and Washington, having purchased a 
 horse, continued his homeward course, passing horses laden 
 with materials and stores for the fort at the Fork of the Ohio, 
 and families going out to settle there. 
 
 Having crossed the Blue Kidge and stopped one day at 
 Eelvoir to rest, he reached Williamsburg on the 16th of 
 January, where he delivered to Governor Dinwiddle the letter 
 of the French commandant, and made him a full report of the 
 events of his mission. 
 
 We have been minute in our account of this expedition, as 
 it was an early test and development of the various talents and 
 characteristics of Washington. 
 
 The prudence, sagacity, resolution, firmness, and self-devotion 
 manifested by him throughout; his admirable tact and self- 
 possession in treating with fickle savages and crafty white men ; 
 the soldier's eye with which he had noticed the commanding and 
 defensible points of the country, and everything that would 
 bear upon military operations ; and the hardihood with which 
 he had acquitted himself during a wintry t^;amp through the 
 wilderness, through constant storms of rain and snow, often 
 sleeping on the ground, without a tent, in the open air, and in 
 danger from treacherous foes, — all pointed him out, not merely 
 to the governor, but to the public at large, as one eminently 
 fitted, notwithstanding his youth, for important trusts, involving 
 civil as well as military duties. It is an expedition that may 
 be considered the foundation of his fortunes. From tha^ 
 moment he was the rising hope of Virginia, 
 
60 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 REPLY OF THE CHEVALIER DE ST. PIERRE. TRENT's MISSION 
 
 to the frontier. washington recruits troops. 
 
 dinwiddie and the house of burgesses. independent 
 
 conduct of the virginians. expedients to gain re- 
 cruits. jacob van braam in service. toilful march to 
 
 wills* creek. contrecceur at the fork of the ohio. 
 
 Trent's refactory troops 
 
 The reply of the Chevalier de St. Pierre was such as might 
 have been expected from that courteous but wary commander. 
 He should transmit, he said, the letter of Governor Dinwiddie 
 to his General, the Marquis Duquesne, " to whom," observed 
 he, " it better belongs than to me to set forth the evidence 
 and reality of the rights of the king, my master, upon the lands 
 situated along the river Ohio, and to contest the pretensions 
 of the king of Great Britain thereto. His answer shall be a 
 law to me. ... As to the summons you send me to retire, I 
 do not think myself obliged to obey it. Whatever may be 
 your instructions, I am here by virtue of the orders of my 
 general ; and I entreat you, sir, not to doubt one moment but 
 that I am determined to conform myself to them with all the 
 exactness and resolution which can be expected from the best 
 officer.". . . 
 
 " I made it my particular care," adds he, " to receive Mr. 
 "Washington with a distinction suitable to your dignity, as well 
 as his own quality and great merit. I flatter myself that he 
 will do me this justice before you, sir, and that he will signify 
 to you, in the manner I do myself, the profound respect with 
 which I am, sir," etc.^ 
 
 This soldier-like and punctilious letter of the chevalier was 
 considered evasive, and only intended to gain time. The in- 
 formation given by Washington of what he had observed on the 
 frontier convinced Governor Dinwiddie and his council that the 
 Prench were preparing to descend the Ohio in the spring, and 
 take military possession of the country. Washington's 
 journal was printed and widely promulgated throughout the 
 polonies and England, and awakened the nation to a sense o| 
 
 * London Mag., June 1754, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 61 
 
 the impending danger, and the necessity of prompt measures 
 to anticipate the French movements. 
 
 Captain Trent was despatched to the frontier, commissioned 
 to raise a company of one hundred men, march with all speed 
 to the Fork of the Ohio, and finish as soon as possible the fort 
 commenced there by the Ohio Company. He was enjoined to 
 act only on the defensive, but to capture or destroy whoever 
 should oppose the construction of the works, or disturb the 
 settlements. The choice of Captain Trent for this service, 
 notwithstanding his late inefficient expedition, was probably 
 owing to his being brother-in-law to George Croghan, who had 
 grown to be quite a personage of consequence on the frontier, 
 where he had an establishment or trading-house, and was sup- 
 posed to have great influence among the western tribes, so as 
 to able at any time to persuade many of them to take up the 
 hatchet. 
 
 Washington was empowered to raise a company of like force 
 at Alexandria ; to procure and forward munitions and supplies 
 for the projected fort at the Fork, and ultimately to have com- 
 mand of both companies. When on the frontier he was to take 
 counsel of George Croghan and Andrew Montour the interpre- 
 ter, in all matters relating to the Indians, they being esteemed 
 perfect oracles in that department. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie in the meantime called upon the gover- 
 nors of the other provinces to make common cause against the 
 foe ; he endeavored, also, to effect alliances with the Indian 
 tribes of the south, the Catawbas and Cherokees, by way of 
 counterbalancing the Chippewas and Ottawas, Avho Avere 
 devoted to the French. 
 
 The colonies, however, felt as yet too much like isolated ter- 
 ritories ; the spirit of union was wanting. Some pleaded a 
 want of military funds ; some questioned the justice of the 
 cause ; some declined taking any hostile step that might involve 
 them in a war, unless they should have direct orders from the 
 crown. 
 
 Dinwiddie convened the House of Burgesses to devise meas- 
 ures for the public security. Here his high idea of prerogative 
 and of gubernatorial dignity met with a grievous countercheck 
 from the dawning spirit of independence. High as were the 
 powers vested in the colonial government of Virginia, of which, 
 though but lieutenant-governor, he had the actual control ; 
 they were counterbalanced by the power inherent in the people, 
 growing out of their situation and circumstances, and acting 
 through their representatives. 
 
 TherQ was no turbulent factious opposition to government ij) 
 
62 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 Virginia ; no " fierce domocracy/' tlie rank growth of crowded 
 cities, and a fermenting populace ; but there was the independ- 
 ence of men, living apart in patriarchal style on their own rural 
 domains ; surrounded by their families, dependants, and slaves, 
 among whom their will was law, — and there was the individual- 
 ity in character and action of men prone to nurture peculiar 
 notions and habits of thinking, in the thoughtful solitariness 
 of country life. 
 
 When Dinwiddle propounded his scheme of operations on the 
 Ohio, some of the burgesses had the hardihood to doubt the 
 claims of *the king to the disputed territory ; a doubt which 
 the governor reprobated as savoring strongly of a most dis- 
 loyal French spirit ; he fired, as he says, at the thought " that 
 an English legislature should presume to doubt the right of 
 His Majesty to the interior parts of this continent, the back 
 part of his dominions ! '^ 
 
 Others demurred to any grant of means for military purposes 
 which might be construed into an act of hostility. To meet 
 'this scruple it was suggested that the grant might be made for 
 the purpose of encouraging and protecting all settlers on the 
 waters of the Mississippi. And under this specious plea ten 
 thousand pounds were grudgingly voted ; but even this mod- 
 erate sum was not put at the absolute disposition of the govern- 
 or. A committee was appointed with whom he was to confer 
 as to its appropriation. 
 
 This precaution Dinwiddle considered an insulting invasion 
 of the right he possessed as governor to control the purse as 
 well as the sword ; and he complained bitterly of the Assembly, 
 as deeply tinctured with a republican way of thinking, and 
 disposed to encroach on the prerogative of the crown, " which 
 he feared would render them more and more difficult to be 
 brought to order.^^ 
 
 Ways and means being provided, Governor Dinwiddle aug- 
 mented the number of troops to be enlisted to three hundred, 
 divided into «ix companies. The command of the whole, as 
 before, was offered to Washington, but he shrank from it, as a 
 charge too great for his youth and inexperience. It was given, 
 therefore, to Colonel Joshua Fry, an English gentleman of worth 
 and education, and Washington was made second in command, 
 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 The recruiting, at first, went on slowly. Those who offered 
 to enlist, says Washington, were for the most part loose, idle 
 persons without house or home, some without shoes or stockings, 
 some shirtless, and many without coat or waistcoat. 
 
 JJe was ^oun^ in the recruiting service^ or he would havQ 
 
LIFE OF WASntNGT02^. Q,^ 
 
 known that sncli is generally the stuff of which armies are 
 made. In this country, especially, it has always been difficult 
 to enlist the active yeomanry by holding out merely the pay 
 of a soldier. The means of subsistence are too easily obtained 
 by the industrious, for them to give up home and personal in- 
 dependence for a mere daily suj^port. Some may be tempted 
 by a love of adventure ; but in general, they require some 
 prospect of ultimate advantage that may " better their condi- 
 tion." 
 
 Governor Dinwiddle became sensible of this, and resorted to 
 an expedient rising out of the natural resources of the country, 
 which has since been frequently adopted, and always' with 
 efficacy. He proclaimed a bounty of two hundred thousand 
 acres of land on the Ohio E-iver, to be divided among the offi- 
 cers and soldiers who should engage in this expedition ; one 
 thousand to.be laid off contiguous to the fort on the Fork, for 
 the use of the garrison. This was a tempting bait to the 
 sons of farmers, who readily enlisted in the hope of having, at 
 the end of a short campaign, a snug' farm of their own in this 
 land of promise. 
 
 It was a more difficult matter to get officers than soldiers. 
 Very few of those appointed made their appearance ; one of the 
 captains had been promoted ; two declined ; Washington found 
 himself left, almost alone, to manage a number of self-willed, 
 undisciplined recruits. Happily he had with him, in the rank 
 of lieutenant, that soldier of fortune, Jacob Van Braam, his 
 old "master of fence," and travelling interpreter. 
 
 In his emergency he forthwith nominated him captain, and 
 wrote to the governor to confirm the appointment, represent- 
 ing him as the oldest lieutenant and an experienced officer. 
 
 On the 2d of April Washington set off from Alexandria for 
 the new fort, at the Fork of the Ohio. He had but two com- 
 panies with him, amounting to about one hundred and fifty 
 men : the remainder of the regiment was to follow under Colonel 
 Fry with the artillery, which was to be conveyed up the Poto- 
 mac. While on the march he was joined by a detachment 
 under Captain Adam Stephen, an officer destined to serve with 
 him at distant periods of his military career. 
 
 At Winchester he found it impossible to obtain conveyances 
 by gentle means, and was obliged reluctantly to avail himself 
 of the militia law of Virginia, and impress horses and wagons 
 for service ; giving the owners orders on government for their 
 appraised value. Even then, out of a great number impressed, 
 he obtained but ten, after waiting a week ; these, too, were 
 grudgingly furnished by farmers with their worst horses, so 
 
64 LIFE OF WASIIINGTOJ^. 
 
 that in stsep and difficult passes, they were incompetent to the 
 draught, and the soldiers had continually to put their shoulders 
 to the wheels. 
 
 Thus slenderly fitted out, Washington and his little force 
 made their way toilfullj^ across the mountains, having to pre- 
 pare the roads as they went for the transportation of the cannon, 
 which were to follow on with the other division under Colonel Fry. 
 They cheered themselves with the thoughts that this hard 
 work would cease when they should arrive at the company's 
 trading-post and storehouse at Wills' Creek, where Captain 
 Trent was to have pack-horses in readiness, with which they 
 might make the rest of the way by light stages. Before 
 arriving there they were startled by a rumor that Trent and 
 all his men had been captured by the French. With regard to 
 Trent, the news soon proved to be false, for they found him at 
 Wills' Creek on the 20th of April. With regard to his men 
 there was still an uncertainty. He had recently left them at 
 the Fork of the Ohio, busily at work on the fort, under the 
 command of his lieutenant, Frazier, late Indian trader and 
 gunsmith, but now a provincial officer. If the men had been 
 captured, it must have been since the captain's departure. 
 Washington was eager to press f orwa,rd and ascertain the truth, 
 but it was impossible. Trent, inefficient as usual, had failed 
 to provide pack-horses. It was necessary to send to Winches- 
 ter, sixty miles distant, for baggage wagons, and await their 
 arrival. All uncertainty as to the fate of the men, however, 
 M^as brought to a close by their arrival, on the 25th, conducted 
 by an ensign, and bringing with them their working imple- 
 ments. The French might well boast that they had again been 
 too quick for the English. Captain Contrecoeur, an alert offi- 
 cer, had embarked about a thousand men with field-pieces, in a 
 fleet of sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, dropped down 
 the river from Venango, and suddenly made his appearance 
 before the fort, on which the men were working, and which 
 was not half completed. Landing, drawing up his men, and 
 planting his artillery, he summoned the fort to surrender, 
 allowing one hour for a written reply. 
 
 What was to be done ! The whole garrison did not exceed 
 fifty men. Captain Trent was absent at Wills' Creek ; Frazier, 
 his lieutenant, was at his own residence at Turtle Creek, ten 
 miles distant. There was no officer to reply but a young ensign 
 of the name of Ward. In his perplexity he turned for council 
 to Tanacharisson, the half-king, who was present in the fort. 
 The chief advised the ensign to plead insufficiency of rank and 
 powers, and crave delay until the arrival of his superior officer. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 65l 
 
 The ensign repaired to the French camp to offer this excuse in 
 person, and was accompanied by the half-king. They were 
 courteously received, but Contrecoeur was inflexible. There 
 must be instant surrender, or he would take forcible possession. 
 All that the ensign could obtain was permission to depart with 
 his men, taking with them their working tools. The capitula- 
 tion ended. Contrecoeur, with true Erench gayety, invited the 
 ensign to sup with him ; treated him with the utmost polite- 
 ness, and wished him a pleasant journey, as he set off the next 
 morning with his men laden with their working tools. 
 
 Such was the ensign's story. He was accompanied by two 
 Indian warriors, sent by the half-king to ascertain where the 
 detachment was, what w^as its strength, and when it might be ex- 
 pected at the Ohio. They bore a speech from that sachem to 
 Washington, and another, with a belt of wampum for the 
 Governor of Virginia. In these he plighted his steadfast faith 
 to the English, and claimed assistance from his brothers of Vir- 
 ginia and Pennsylvania. 
 
 One of these warriors Washington forwarded on with the 
 speech and wampum to Governor Dinwiddle. The other he 
 prevailed on to return to the half-king, bearing a speech from 
 him, addressed to the " sachems, warriors of the Six United 
 Nations, Shannoahs and Delawares, our friends and brethren.'' 
 In this he informed them that he was on the advance with a 
 part of the army, to clear the road for a greater force coming 
 with guns, ammunition, and provisions ; and he invited the 
 half-king and another sachem to meet him on the road as soon 
 as possible to hold a council. 
 
 In fact, his situation was arduous in the extreme. Regard- 
 ing the conduct of the Erench in the recent occurrence an overt 
 act of war, he found himself thrown with a handful of raw re- 
 cruits far on a hostile frontier, in the midst of a. wilderness, 
 with an enemy at hand greatly superior in number and disci- 
 pline ; provided with artillery, and all the munitions of war, and 
 within reach of constant supplies and reinforcements. Beside 
 the Erench that had come from Venango, he had received credi- 
 "ble accounts of another party ascending the Ohio ; and of six 
 hundred Chippewas and Ottawas marching down Scioto Creek 
 to join the hostile camp. Still, notwithstanding the accumulat- 
 ing danger, it would not do to fall back, nor show signs of ap- 
 prehension. His Indian allies in such case might desert him. 
 The soldiery, too, might grow restless and dissatisfied. He 
 was already annoyed by Captain Trent's men, who, having en- 
 listed as volunteers, considered themselves exempt from the 
 rigor of martial law ; and by their example of loose and re- 
 
ee LIFK OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 fractory conduct, threatened to destroy the subordination of his 
 own troops. 
 
 In this dilemma he called a council of war, in wdiich it was 
 determined to proceed to the Ohio Company storehouse, at the 
 mouth of Redstone Creek ; fortify themselves there, and wait 
 for reinforcements. Here they might keep up a vigilant watch 
 upon the enemj'', and get notice of any hostile movement in 
 time for defense, or retreat ; and should they be reinforced suf- 
 ficiently to enable them to attack the fort, they could easily 
 drop down the river with their artillery. 
 
 With these alternatives in view, Washington detached sixty 
 men in advance to make a road ; and at the same time wrote to 
 Governor Dinwiddle for mortars and grenadoes, and cannon of 
 heav}'" metal. 
 
 Aware that the Assembly of Pennsylvania was in session, 
 and that the Maryland Assembly would also meet in the course 
 of a few days, he wrote directly to the governors of those pro- 
 vinces, acquainting them with the hostile acts of the French, 
 and with his perilous situation ; and endeavoring to rouse them 
 to cooperation in the common cause. We will here note in ad- 
 vance that his letter was laid before the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and a bill was about to be passed making appropriations 
 for the service of the king ; but it fell through, in consequence 
 of a disagreement between the Assembly and the governor as 
 to the mode in which the money should be raised ; and so no 
 assistance was furnished to Washington from that quarter. 
 The youthful commander had here a foretaste, in these his in- 
 cipient campaigns, of the perils and perplexities which awaited 
 him from enemies in the field, and lax friends in legislative 
 councils in the grander operations of his future years. Before 
 setting off for Redstone Creek, he discharged Trent's refractory 
 men from his detachment, ordering them to wait Colonel Pry's 
 commands ; they, however, in true spirit of volunteers from the 
 backwoods, dispersed to their several homes. 
 
 It may be as well to observe, in this place, that both Captain 
 Trent and Lieutenant Prazier were severely censured for being 
 absent from their post at the time of the Prench summons. 
 " Trent's behavior," said Washington, in a letter to Governor 
 Dinwiddle, " has been yq^vj tardy, and has convinced the world 
 of what they before suspected — his great timidity. Lieutenant 
 Prazier, though not altogether blameless, is much more excus- 
 able, for he would not accept of the commission until he had a 
 promise from his captain that he should not reside at the fort, 
 nor visit it above once a w^eek, or as he saw necessity." In 
 fact, Washington subsequently recommended Prazier for the 
 office of adjutant. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 67 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 MARCH TO THE LITTLE MEADOWS. RUMORS FROM THE OHIO. — 
 
 CORRESPOXDEXCE FROM THE BANKS OF THE YOUGHIOGHENY. 
 
 ATTEMPT TO DESCEXD THAT RIVER. ALARMING REPORTS. 
 
 SCOUTING PARTIES. PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE CAMP. 
 
 GIST AND LA FORCE. MESSAGE FROM THE HALF-KING. 
 
 FRENCH TRACKS. THE JUMONVILLE SKIRMISH. TREATMENT 
 
 OF LA FORCE. POSITION AT THE GREAT MEADOWS. BELLI- 
 GERENT FEELINGS OF A YOUNG SOLDIER. 
 
 On the 29th of April Washington set out from Wills' Creek 
 at the head of one hundred and sixty men. He soon overtook 
 those sent in advance to work the road ; they had made but 
 little progress. It was a difficult task to break a road through 
 the wilderness sufficient for the artillery coming on with Col- 
 onel Fry's division. All hands were now set to work, but with 
 all their labor they could not accomplish more than four miles 
 a day. They were toiling through Savage Mountain and that 
 dreary forest region beyond it, since bearing the sinister name 
 of " The Shades of Death." On the 9th of May they were not 
 further than twenty miles from Wills' Creek, at a place called 
 the Little Meadows. 
 
 Every day came gloomy accounts from the Ohio ; brought 
 chiefly by traders, who, with pack-horses bearing their effects, 
 were retreating to the more settled parts of the country. Some 
 exaggerated the number of the French, as if strongly rein- 
 forced. All represented them as diligently at work construct- 
 ing a fort. By their account Washington perceived the 
 French had chosen the very place which he had noted in his 
 journal as best fitted for the purpose. 
 
 One of the traders gave information concerning La Force, 
 the French- emissary who had beset Washington when on his 
 mission to the frontier, and acted, as he thought, the part of a 
 spy. He had been at Gist's new settlement beyond Laurel 
 Hill, and was prowling about the country with four soldiers at 
 his heels on a pretended hunt after deserters. Washington 
 suspected him to be on a reconnoitering expedition. 
 
 It was reported, moreover, that the French were lavishing 
 presents on the Indians about the lower part of the river, to 
 draw them to their standard. Among all these flying reports 
 
eS LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and alarms "Washington was gratified to learn that the half- 
 king was on his way to meet him at the head of fifty warriors. 
 
 After infinite toil through swamps and forests, and over rug- 
 ged mountains, the detachment arrived at the Youghiogheny 
 River, where they were detained some days constructing a 
 bridge to cross it. 
 
 This gave Washington leisure to correspond with Governor 
 Dinwiddie, concerning matters which had deeply annoyed him. 
 By an ill-judged economy of the Virginia government at this 
 critical juncture, its provincial officers received less pay than 
 that allowed in the regular army. It is true the regular 
 officers were obliged to furnish their own table, but their 
 superior pay enabled them to do it luxuriously ; whereas the 
 provincials were obliged to do hard duty on salt provisions and 
 water. The provincial officers resented this inferiority of pay 
 as an indignity, and declared that nothing prevented them 
 from throwing up their commissions but unwillingness to re- 
 cede before approaching danger 
 
 Washington shared deeply this feeling. " Let him serve 
 voluntarily, and he would with the greatest pleasure in life de- 
 vote his services to the expedition — but to be slaving through 
 woods, rocks, and mountains, for the shadow of pay — " writes 
 he, " I would rather toil like a day laborer for a maintenance, 
 if reduced to the necessity, than serve on such ignoble terms." 
 Parity of pay was indispensable to the dignity of the service. 
 
 Other instances of false economy were pointed out by him, 
 forming so many drags upon the expedition that he quite 
 despaired of success. " Be the consequence what it will, how- 
 ever," adds he, " I am determined not to leave the regiment, 
 but to be among the last men that leave the Ohio ; even if I 
 serve as a private volunteer, which I greatly prefer to the es- 
 tablishment we are upon .... I have- a constitution hardy 
 enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials, and I 
 flatter myself resolution to face what any man dares, as shall 
 be proved when it comes to the test. 
 
 And in a letter to his friend Colonel Fairfax — ^' For my own 
 part," writes he, " it is a matter almost indifferent whether 1 
 serve for full pay or as a generous volunteer ; indeed, did my 
 circumstances correspond with my inclinations, I should not 
 hesitate a moment to prefer the latter ; for the motives that 
 have led me here are pure and nolle. I had 710 view of ac- 
 quisition hut that of honor, by servijig faithfully my king and 
 country.'''' 
 
 Such were the noble impulses of Washington at the age of 
 twenty-two, and such continiied to actuate hiin throughout life. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 69 
 
 We have put the latter part of the quotation in italics, as ap 
 plicahle to the motives which in after life carried him into the 
 E-evolution. 
 
 While the bridge over the Youghiogheny was in the course 
 of construction, the Indians assured Washington he would 
 never be able to open a wagon-road across the mountains to 
 Redstone Creek ; he embarked, therefore, in a canoe with a 
 lieutenant, three soldiers, and an Indian guide, to try whether 
 it was possible to descend the river. They had not descended 
 above ten miles before the Indian refused to go further. Wash- 
 ington soon ascertained the reason. " Indians," said he, " ex- 
 pect presents — nothing can be done without them. The French 
 take this method. If you want one or more to conduct a party, 
 to discover the country, to hunt, or for any particular purpose, 
 they must be bought ; their friendship is not so warm as to 
 prompt them to these services gratis." The Indian guide in 
 the present instance was propitiated by the promise of one of 
 Washington's ruffled shirts and a watch-coat. 
 
 The river was bordered by mountains and obstructed by 
 rocks and rapids. Indians might thread such a labyrinth in 
 their light canoes, but it would never admit the transportation 
 of troops and military stores. Washington kept on for thirty 
 miles, until he came to a place where the river fell nearly forty 
 feet in the space of fifty yards. There he ceased to explore, 
 and returned to camp, resolving to continue forward by land. 
 
 On the 23d Indian scouts brought word that the French 
 were not above eight hundred strong, and that about half their 
 number had been detached at night on a secret expedition. 
 Close upon this report came a message from the half-king, ad- 
 dressed '^ to the first of His Majesty's ofHcers whom it may 
 concern." 
 
 "It is reported," said he, "that the French army is coming 
 to meet Major Washington. Be on your guard against them 
 my brethren, for they intend to strike the first English they 
 shall see. They have been on their march two days. I know 
 not their number. The half-king and the rest of the chiefs 
 will be with you in five days to hold a council." 
 
 In the evening Washington was told that the French were 
 crossing the ford of the Youghiogheny about eighteen miles 
 distant. He now hastened to take a position in a place called 
 the Great Meadows, where he caused the bushes to be cleared 
 away, made an intrenchment, and prepared what he termed 
 " a charming field for an encounter." 
 
 A party of scouts were mounted on wagon horses, and sent 
 out to reconnoiter. They returned without having seen au 
 
70 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 enemy. A sensitiveness prevailed in the camp. They were 
 surrounded hy forests, threatened by unseen foes, and hourly 
 in danger of surprise. There was an alarm about two o'clock 
 in the night. The sentries fired upon what they took to be 
 prowling foes. The troops sprang to arms, and remained on 
 the alert until daybreak. Not an enemy was to be seen. The 
 roll was called. Six men were missing, who had deserted. 
 
 On the 25th Mr. Gist arrived from his place, about fifteen 
 miles distant. La Force had been there at noon on the pre- 
 vious day, with a detachment of fifty men, and Gist had since 
 come upon their track within five miles of the camp. Wash- 
 ington considered La Force a bold, enterprising man, subtle 
 and dangerous ; one to be particularly guarded against. He 
 detached seventy-five men in pursuit of him and his prowling 
 band. 
 
 About nine o'clock at night came an Indian messenger from 
 the half-king, who was encamped with several of his people 
 about six miles off. The chief had seen tracks of two French- 
 men, and was convinced their whole body must be in ambush 
 near by. 
 
 Washington considered this the force which had been hover- 
 ing about him for several days, and determined to forestall 
 their hostile designs. Leaving a guard with the baggage and 
 ammunition, he set out before ten o'clock, with forty men, to 
 join his Indian ally. They groped their way in single file, by 
 footpaths through the woods, in a heavy rain and murky dark- 
 ness, tripping occasionally and stumbling over each other, 
 sometimes losing the track for fifteen or twenty minutes, so 
 that it was near sunrise when they reached the camp of the 
 half-king. 
 
 That chieftain received the youthful commander with great 
 demonstrations of friendship, and engaged to go hand in hand 
 with him against the lurking enemy. He set out accordingly, 
 accompanied by a few of his warriors and his associate 
 sachem Scarooyadi or Monacatoocha, and conducted Wash- 
 ington to the tracks which he had discovered. Upon these 
 he put two of his Indians. They followed them up like 
 hounds, and brought back word that they had traced them to 
 a low bottom surrounded by rocks and trees, where the French 
 were encamped, having built a few cabins for shelter from the 
 rain. 
 
 A plan was now concerted to come upon them by surprise; 
 Washington with his men on the right; the half-king with his 
 warriors on the left ; all as silentl}^ as possible. Washington 
 was the first upon the ground. As liQ advanced from among 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 71 
 
 the rocks and trees at the head of his men, the French caught 
 sight of him and ran to their arms. A sharp firing instantly 
 took place, and was kept up on hoth sides for about fifteen 
 minutes. Washington and his party were most exposed and re- 
 ceived all the enemy's fire. The balls whistled around him ; 
 one man was killed close by him, and three others wounded. 
 The French at length, having lost several of their number, 
 gave way and ran. They were soon overtaken; twenty-one 
 were captured, and but one esca^Ded, a Canadian, who carried 
 the tidings of the affair to the fort on the Ohio. The Indians 
 would have massacred the prisoners had not Washington pre- 
 vented them. Ten of the French had fallen in the skirmish, 
 and one had been wounded. Washington's loss was the one killed 
 and three wounded which we have mentioned. He had been 
 in the hottest fire, and having for the first time heard balls 
 whistle about him, considered his escape miraculous. Jumon- 
 ville, the French leader, had been shot through the head at the 
 first fire. He was a young officer of merit, and his fate was 
 made the subject of lamentation in prose and verse — chiefly 
 through political motives. 
 
 Of the twenty-one prisoners, the two most important were 
 an officer of some consequence named Drouillon, and the subtle 
 and redoubtable La Force. As Washington considered the 
 latter an arch mischief-maker, he was rejoiced to have him in 
 his power. La Force and his companion would fain have as- 
 sumed the sacred characters of ambassadors, pretending they 
 were coming with a summons to him to depart from the ter- 
 ritories belonging to the crown of France. 
 
 Unluckily for their pretensions, a letter of instructions, 
 found on Jumonville, betrayed their real errand, which was to 
 inform themselves of the roads, rivers, and other features of 
 the country as far as the Potomac ; to send back from time to 
 time, by fleet messengers, all the information they could collect, 
 and to give word of the day on which they intended to serve 
 the summons. 
 
 Their conduct had been conformable. Instead of coming in 
 a direct and open manner to his encampment, when they had 
 ascertained where it was, and delivering their summons, as they 
 would have done had their designs been frank and loyal, they 
 had moved back two miles, to one of the most secret retire- 
 ments, better for a deserter than an ambassador to encamp in, 
 and stayed there, within five miles of his camp, sending spies 
 to reconnoiter it, and despatching messengers to Contrecoeur to 
 inform him of its position and numerical strength, to the end, 
 no doubt, that he might send a sufficient detachment to enforce 
 
72 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the summons as soon as it should he given. In fact, the foot 
 prints which had first led to the discovery of the French lurk- 
 ing-place, were those of two " runners " or swift messengers, 
 sent by Jumonville to the fort on the Ohio. 
 
 It would seem that La Force, after all, was hut an instru- 
 ment in the hands of his commanding officers, and not in their 
 full confidence ; for when the commission and instructions found 
 on Jumonville were read before him, he professed not to have 
 seen them before, and acknowledged, with somewhat of an air 
 of ingenuousness, that he believed they had a hostile ten- 
 dency.* 
 
 Upon the whole, it was the opinion of Washington and his 
 officers that the summons, on which so much stress was laid, 
 was a mere specious pretext to mask their real designs and be 
 used as occasion might require. " That they were spies rather 
 than anything else,'' and were to be treated as prisoners of 
 war. 
 
 The half -king joined heartily in this opinion : indeed, had 
 the fate of the prisoners been in his hands, neither diplomacy 
 nor anything else would have been of avail. " They came with 
 hostile intentions," he said ; " they had bad hearts, and if his 
 English brothers were so foolish as to let them go, he would 
 never aid in taking another Frenchman." 
 
 The prisoners were accordingly conducted to the camp at the 
 Great Meadows, and sent on the following day (29th), under a 
 strong escort to Governor Dinwiddle, then at Winchester. 
 Washington had treated them with great courtesy; had 
 furnished Drouillon and La Force with clothing from his own 
 scanty stock, and, at their request, given them letters to the 
 governor, bespeaking for them " the respect and favor due to 
 their character and personal merit." 
 
 A sense of duty, however, obliged him, in his general de- 
 spatch, to put the governor on his guard against La Force. "I 
 really think, if released, he would do more to our disservice than 
 fifty other men, as he is a person whose active spirit leads him 
 into all parties, and has brought him acquainted with all parts 
 of the country. Add to this a perfect knowledge of the Indian 
 tongue, and great influence with the Indians." 
 
 After the departure of the prisoners, he wrote again respect- 
 ing them : " I have still stronger presumption, indeed almost 
 confirmation, that they were sent as spies, and were ordered to 
 wait near us, till they were full}^ informed of our intentions, 
 situation and strength, and were to have acquainted their com- 
 
 * Washington's letter to Dinwiddle, 29th May, 1754. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 73 
 
 mander tlierevvitli, and to have been lurking here for reinforce- 
 ments before they served the summons, if served at alL 
 
 " I doubt not but they will endeavor to amuse you with 
 many smooth stories, as they did me ; but they were confuted in 
 them all, and, by circumstances too plain to be denied, almost 
 made ashamed of their assertions. 
 
 " I have heard since they went away, they should say they 
 called on us not to fire ; but that I know to be false, for I was 
 the first man that approached them, and the first whom they 
 saw, and immediately they ran to their arms, and fired briskly 
 till they were defeated." . ..." I fancy they will have 
 the assurance of asking the privileges due to an embassy, when 
 in strict justice they ought to be hanged as spies of the worst 
 sort." 
 
 The situation of Washington was now extremely perilous. 
 Contrecoeur, it was said, had nearly a thousand men with him 
 at the fort, besides Indian allies ; and reinforcements were on 
 the way to join him. The messengers sent by Jumonville, 
 previous to the late affair, must have apprised him of the weak- 
 ness of the encampment on the Great Meadows. Washington 
 hastened to strengthen it. He wrote by express also to Col- 
 onel Fry, who lay ill at Wills' Creek, urging instant reinforce- 
 ments ; l3ut declaring his resolution to "fight with very un- 
 equal numbers rather than give up one inch of what he had 
 gained. 
 
 The half-king was full of fight. He sent the scalps of the 
 Frenchmen slain in the late skirmish, accompanied by black 
 wampum hatchets, to all his allies, summoning them to take 
 up arms and join him at Redstone Creek, "for their brothers, 
 the English, had now begun in earnest." It is said he would 
 even have sent the scalps of the prisoners had not Washington 
 interfered.* He went off for his home, promising to send down 
 the river for all the Mingoes and Shawnees, and to be back at 
 the camp on the 30th, with thirty or forty warriors, accompanied 
 by their wives and children. To assist him in the transporta- 
 tion of his people and their effects thirty men were detached, 
 and twenty horses. 
 
 " I shall expect every hour to be attacked," writes Washington 
 to Governor Dinwiddle, on the 29th, " and by unequal numbers, 
 which I must withstand, if there are five to one, for I fear the 
 consequence will be that we shall lose the Indians if we suffer 
 ourselves to be driven back. Your honor may depend I will 
 not be surprised, let them come at what hour they will, and 
 
 * Letter from Virginia. London Mag. 1754. 
 
74 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 this is as much as I can promise ; but my best endeavors shall 
 not be wanting to effect more. I doubt not, if you hear I am 
 beaten, but you will hear at the same time that we have done 
 our duty in fighting as long as there is a shadow of hope." 
 
 The fact is, that Washington was in a high state of military 
 e:S:citement. He was a young soldier ; had been for the first 
 time in action, and been successful. The letters we have 
 already quoted show, in some degree, the fervor of his mind, 
 and his readiness to brave the worst ; but a short letter written 
 to one of his brothers, on the 31st, lays open the recesses of his 
 heart. 
 
 " We expect every hour to be attacked by superior force ; but 
 if they forbear but one day longer we shall be prepared for 
 
 them We have already got intrenchments, and are 
 
 about a palisade, which, I hope, will be finished to-day. The 
 Mingoes have struck the French, and, I hope, will give a good 
 blow before they have done. I expect forty odd of them here 
 to night, which, with our fort and some reinforcements from 
 Colonel Fry, will enable us to exert our noble courage with 
 spirit." 
 
 Alluding in a postcript to the late affair, he adds : *^ I fort- 
 unately escaped without any wound ; for the right wing, where 
 I stood, was exposed to, and received all the enemy's fire ; and 
 it was the part where the man was killed and the rest wounded. 
 1 heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something 
 charming in the soundP 
 
 This rodomontade, as Horace Walpole terms it, reached the 
 ears of George II. " He would not say so," observed the king, 
 dryly, ^^ if he had been used to hear many." ^ 
 
 Washington himself thought so when more experienced in 
 warfare. Being asked, many years afterwards, whether he 
 really had made such a speech about the whistling of bullets, 
 "If I said so," replied he quietly, "it was when I was young,"t 
 He was, indeed, but twenty-two years old when he said it ; it 
 was just after his first battle ; he was flushed with success, 
 and was writing to a brother. 
 
 * This anecdote has hitherto rested on the authority of Horace Wal- 
 pole, who gives it in his memoirs of George II., and in his correspond- 
 ence. He cites the rodomontade as contained in the express despatched 
 by Washington, whom he pronounces a "brave braggart." As no de- 
 spatch of Washington contains any rodomontade of the kind, as it is 
 quite at variance with the general tenor of his character, and as Horace 
 Walpole is well known to have been a "great gossip dealer," apt to 
 catch up any idle rumor that would give piquancy to a paragraph, the 
 story has been held in great distrust. We met with the letter recently, 
 however, in a column of the London Magazine for 1754, page 370, into 
 which it must have found its way not long after it was written, 
 
 i drn-rtinn TTisf Am Wnv vnl ii r> 905? 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 75 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 SCARCITY IN THE CAMP. DEATH OF COLONEL FRY. PROMO- 
 TIONS. MACKAY AND HIS INDEPENDENT COMPANY. MAJOR 
 
 MUSE. — INDIAN CEREMONIALS. PUBLIC PRAYERS IN CAMP. 
 
 ALARMS. INDEPENDENCE OF AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY. 
 
 AFFAIRS AT THE GREAT MEADOWS. DESERTION OF THE 
 
 INDIAN ALLIES. CAPITULATION OF FORT NECESSITY. VAN 
 
 BRAAM AS AN INTERPRETER. INDIAN PLUNDERERS. RE- 
 TURN TO WILLIAMSBURG. VOTE OF THANKS OF THE HOUSE 
 
 OF BURGESSES. SUBSEQUENT FORTUNES OF THE HALF-KING. 
 
 COMMENTS ON THE AFFAIR OF JUMONVILLE AND THE CON- 
 DUCT OF VAN BRAAM. 
 
 Scarcity began to prevail in the camp. Contracts had been 
 made with George Croghan for flour, of which he had large 
 quantities at his frontier establishment ; for he was now trad- 
 ing with the army as well as with the Indians. None, how- 
 ever, made its appearance. There was mismanagement in the 
 commissariat. At one time the troops were six days without 
 flour: and even then had only a casual supply from an Ohio 
 trader. In this time of scarcity the half-king, his fellow-sachem 
 Scarooyadi, and thirty or forty warriors, arrived, bringing with 
 them their wives and children — so many more hungry mouths 
 to be supplied. Washington wrote urgently to Croghan to send 
 forward all the flour he could furnish. 
 
 News came of the death of Colonel Fry at Wills' Creek, and 
 that he was to be succeeded in command of the expedition by 
 Colonel James Innes of North Carolina, who was actually at 
 Winchester with three hundred and fifty North Carolina troops. 
 Washington, who felt the increasing responsibilities and diffi- 
 culties of his situation, rejoiced at the prospect of being under 
 the command of an experienced officer, who had served in com- 
 pany with his brother Lawrence at the siege of Carthagena. 
 The colonel, however, never came to the camp, nor did the 
 North Carolina troops render any service in the campaign — the 
 fortunes of which might otherwise have been very different. 
 
 By the death of Fry the command of the regiment devolved 
 on Washington. Finding a blank major's commission among 
 Fry's papers, he gave it to Captain Adam Stephen, who had 
 
76 LIFE OF WASIItNGTON. 
 
 conducted himself with spirit. As there would necessarily be 
 other changes, he wrote to Governor Dinwiddle in behalf of 
 Jacob Van Braam. "He has acted as captain ever since we 
 left Alexandria. He is an experienced officer, and worthy of 
 the command he has enjoyed." 
 
 The palisaded fort was now completed, and was named Fort 
 Necessity, from the pinching famine that had prevailed during 
 its construction. The scanty force in camp was augmented to 
 three hundred, by the arrival from Wills' Creek of the men 
 who had been under Colonel Fry. With them came the surgeon 
 of the regiment. Dr. James Craik, a Scotchman by birth, and 
 one destined to become a faithful and confidential friend of 
 Washington for the remainder of his life. 
 
 A letter from Governor Dinwiddle announced, however, that 
 Captain Mackay would soon arrive with an independent com- 
 pany of one hundred men, from South Carolina. 
 
 The title of independent company had a sound ominous of 
 trouble. Troops of the kind, raised in the colonies, under di- 
 rection of the governors, were paid by the Crown, and the offi- 
 cers had king's commissions ; such, doubtless, had Captain 
 Mackay. "I should have been particularly obliged," writes 
 Washington to Governor Dinwiddle, "if you had declared 
 whether he was under my command, or independent of it. I 
 hope he will have more sense than to insist upon any unreason- 
 able distinction, because he and his officers have commissions 
 from His Majesty. Let him consider, though we are greatly 
 inferior in respect to advantages of profit, yet we have the 
 same spirit to serve our gracious king as they have, and are as 
 ready and willing to sacrifice our lives for our country's good. 
 And here, once more, and for the last time, I must say, that it 
 will be a circumstance which will act upon some officers of this 
 regiment, above all measure, to be obliged to serve upon such 
 difierent terms, when their lives, their fortunes, and their oper- 
 ations are equally, and, I dare say, as effectually exposed as 
 those of others, who are happy enough to have the king's com- 
 mission." 
 
 On the 9th arrived Washington's early instructor in military 
 tactics, Adjutant Muse, recently appointed a major in the regi- 
 ment. He was accompanied by Montour, the Indian interpre- 
 ter, now a provincial captain, and brought with him nine 
 swivelSj and a small supply of powder and ball. Fifty or sixty 
 horses, were forthwith sent to Wills' Creek, to bring on further 
 supplies, and Mr. Gist was urged to hasten forward the artillery. 
 
 Major Muse was likewise the bearer of a belt of wampum 
 and a speech, from Governor Dinwiddle to the half-king ; with 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 77 
 
 medals for the chiefs, and goods for presents among the friendly 
 Indians, a measure which had been suggested by Washington. 
 They were distributed with that grand ceremonial so dear to 
 the red man. The chiefs assembled, painted and decorated in 
 all their savage finery ; Washington wore a medal sent him by 
 the governor for such occasions. The wampum and speech 
 having been delivered, he advanced, and with all due solemnity 
 decorated the chiefs and warriors with the medals, which they 
 were to wear in remembrance of their father the king of 
 England. 
 
 Among the warriors thus decorated was a son of Queen Ali- 
 quippa, the savage princess whose good graces Washington had 
 secured in the preceding year by the present of an old watch- 
 coat, and whose friendship was important, her town being at 
 no great distance from the French fort. She had requested that 
 her son might be admitted into the war councils of the camp, 
 and receive an English name. The name of Fairfax was ac- 
 cordingly given to him, in the customary Indian form ; the 
 half-king being desirous of like distinction, received the name 
 of Dinwiddle. The sachems returned the compliment in kind, 
 by giving Washington the name of Connotaucarius ; the mean- 
 ing of which is not explained. 
 
 William Fairfax, Washington's paternal adviser, had recently 
 counselled him, by letter, to have public prayers in his camp ; 
 especially when there were Indian families there ; this was ac- 
 cordingly done at the encampment in the Great Meadows, and 
 it certainly was not one of the least striking pictures presented 
 in this wild campaign — the youthful commander, presiding 
 with calm seriousness over a motley assemblage of half-equipped 
 soldiery, leathern-clad hunters and woodsmen, and painted 
 savages with their wives and children, and uniting them" all in 
 solemn devotion by his own example and demeanor. 
 
 On the 10th there w^as agitation in the camp. Scouts hurried 
 in with word, as Washington understood them, that a party of 
 ninety Frenchmen were approaching. He instantly ordered 
 out a hundred and fifty of his best men ; put himself at their 
 head, and leaving Major Muse with the rest, to man the fort 
 and mount the swivels, sallied forth " in the full hope,'' as he 
 afterwards wrote to Governor Dinwiddle, '^ of procuring him 
 another present of French prisoners." 
 
 It was another effervescence of his youthful military ardor, 
 and doomed to disappointment. The report of the scouts had 
 been either exaggerated or misunderstood. The ninety 
 Frenchmen in military array dwindled down into nine French 
 deserters. 
 
78 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 According to their account, the fort at the Fork was com- 
 pleted, and named Duquesne, in honor of the Governor of Can- 
 ada. It was proof against all attack, excepting with bombs, on 
 the land side. The garrison did not exceed five hundred, but 
 two hundred more were hourly expected, and nine hundred in 
 the course of a fortnight. 
 
 Washington's suspicions with respect to La Force's party were 
 justified by the report of these deserters ; they had been sent 
 out as spies, and were to show the summons if discovered or 
 overpowered. The French commander, they added, had been 
 blamed for sending out so small a party. 
 
 On the same day Captain Mackay arrived, with his independ- 
 ent company of South Carolinians. The cross-purposes which 
 Washington had apprehended, soon manifested themselves. 
 The captain was civil and well disposed, but full of formalities 
 and points of etiquette. Holding a commission direct from the 
 king, he could not bring himself to acknowledge a provincial 
 officer as his superior. He encamped separately, kept separate 
 guards, would not agree that Washington should assign any 
 rallying place for his men in case of alarm, and objected to 
 receive from him the parole and countersign, though necessary 
 for their common safety 
 
 Washington conducted himself with circumspection, avoiding 
 everything that might call up a question of command, and 
 reasoning calmly whenever such question occurred ; but he 
 urged the governor, by letter, to prescribe their relative rank 
 and authority. " He tliinks you have not a power to give com- 
 missions that will command him. If so, I can very confidently 
 say that his absence would tend to the public advantage." 
 
 On the 11th of June, Washington resumed the laborious 
 march' for Redstone Creek. As Captain Mackay could not 
 oblige his men to work on the road unless they were allowed 
 a shilling sterling a day, and as Washington did not choose 
 to pay this, nor to suffer them to march at their ease while 
 his own faithful soldiers were laboriously employed, he left 
 the captain and his independent company as a guard at Fort 
 Necessity, and undertook to complete the military road with 
 his own men. 
 
 Accordingly, he and his Virginia troops toiled forward 
 through the narrow defiles of the mountains, working on the 
 road as they went. Scouts were sent out in all directions, to 
 prevent surprise. While on the march he was continually beset 
 by sachems, with their tedious ceremonials and speeches, all 
 to very little purpose. Some of these chiefs were secretly in 
 the French interest ; few rendered any real assistance, and all 
 expected presents. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 79 
 
 At Grist's establishment, about thirteen miles from Fort 
 ISTecessity, Washington received certain intelligence that ample 
 reinforcements had arrived at Fort Duquesne, and a large force 
 would instantly be detached against him. Coming to a halt, 
 he began to throw up intrench ments, calling in two foraging 
 parties, and sending word to Captain Mackay to join him with 
 all speed. The captain and his company arrived in the even- 
 ing ; the foraging parties the next morning. A council of war 
 was held, in which the idea of awaiting the enemy at this 
 place was unanimously abandoned. 
 
 A rapid and toilsome retreat ensued. There was a defi- 
 ciency of horses. Washington gave up his own to aid in trans- 
 porting the military munitions, leaving his baggage to be 
 brought on by soldiers, whom he paid liberally. The other 
 officers followed his example. The weather was sultry; the 
 roads were rough ; provisions were scanty, an4 the men 
 dispirited by hunger. The Virginia soldiers took turns to 
 drag the swivels, but felt almost insulted by the conduct of the 
 South Carolinians, who, piquing themselves upon their as- 
 sumed privileges as '• king's soldiers," sauntered along at their 
 ease; refusing to act as pioneers, or participate in the extra 
 labors incident to a hurried retreat. 
 
 On the 1st of July they reached the Great Meadows. Here 
 the Virginians, exhausted by fatigue, hunger, and vexation, 
 declared they would carry the baggage and drag the swivels 
 no further. Contrary to his original intentions, therefore, 
 Washington determined to halt here for the present, and 
 fortify, sending off expresses to hasten supplies and reinforce- 
 ments from Wills' Creek, where he had reason to believe that 
 two independent companies from New York were by this time 
 arrived. 
 
 The retreat to the Great Meadows had not been in the least 
 too precipitate. Captain de Villiers, a brother-in-law of Jumon- 
 A'ille, had actually sallied forth from Fort Duquesne at the 
 head of upwards of five hundred French, and several hundred 
 Indians, eager to avenge the death of his relative. Arriving 
 about dawn of day at Gist's plantation, he surrounded the 
 Avorks which Washington had hastily thrown up there, and 
 fired into them. Finding them deserted, he concluded that 
 those of whom he came in search had made good their retreat to 
 the settlements, and it was too late to pursue them. He was 
 on the point of returning to Fort Duquesne, when a deserter 
 arrived, who gave word that Washington had come to a 
 halt in the Great Meadows, where his troops were in a starv- 
 ing condition ; for his own part, he added, hearing that 
 
80 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the French were coming, he had deserted to them to escape 
 starvation. 
 
 De Villiers ordered the fellow into confinement; to be re- 
 warded if his words proved true, otherwise to be hanged. He 
 then pushed forward for the Great Meadows.* 
 
 In the meantime Washington had exerted himself to en- 
 large and strengthen Fort Necessity, nothing of which had 
 been done by Captain Mackay and his men, while encamped 
 there. The fort was about a hundred feet square, protected 
 by trenches and palisades. It stood on the margin of a small 
 stream, nearly in the centre of the Great Meadows, which is a 
 grassy plain, perfectly level, surrounded by wooded hills of a 
 moderate height, and at that place about two hundred and 
 fifty yards wide. Washington asked no assistance from the 
 South Carolina troops, but set to work with his Virginians, 
 animating them by word and example ; sharing in the labor of 
 felling trees, hewing off the branches, and rolling up the trunks 
 to form a breastwork. 
 
 At this critical juncture he was deserted by his Indian 
 allies. They were disheartened at the scanty preparations for 
 defense against a superior force, and offended at being sub- 
 jected to military command. The half-king thought he had 
 not been sufficiently consulted, and that his advice had not 
 been sufficiently followed ; such, at least, were some of the 
 reasons which he subsequently gave for abandoning the youth- 
 ful commander on the approach of danger. The true reason 
 was a desire to put his wife and children in a place of safety. 
 Most of his warriors followed his example ; very few, and 
 those probably who had no families at risk, remained in the 
 camp. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 3d, while Washington and his 
 men were working on the fort, a sentinel came in wounded and 
 bleeding, having been fired upon. Scouts brought word shortly 
 afterwards that the French were in force, about four miles off. 
 Washington drew up his men on level ground outside of the 
 works, to await their attack. About 11 o'clock there was a 
 firing of musketry from among trees on rising ground, but so 
 distant as to do no harm ; suspecting this to be a stratagem 
 designed to draw his men into the woods, he ordered them to 
 keep quiet and refrain from firing until the foe • should show 
 themselves, and draw near. 
 
 The firing was kept up, but still under cover. He now fell 
 back with his men into the trenches, ordering them to fire 
 whenever they could get sight of an enemy. In this way there 
 ^ Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania ^ vol, iv, p. 22. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 81 
 
 was skirmislnng throughout the day ; the French and Indians 
 advancing as near as the covert of the woods would permit, 
 Avhich in the nearest place was sixty yards, hut never into open 
 sight. In the meanwhile the rain fell in torrents ; the harassed 
 and jaded troops were half drowned in their trenches, and many 
 of their muskets were rendered unfit for use. 
 
 Ahout eight at night the Trench requested a parley. Wash- 
 ington hesitated. It might be a stratagem to gain admittance 
 for a spy into the fort. The request was repeated, with the 
 addition that an officer might be sent to treat with them, under 
 their parole for his safety. Unfortunately the Chevalier de 
 Peyrouney, engineer of the regiment, and the only one who 
 could speak French correct!}^, was wounded and disabled. 
 Washington had to send, therefore, his ancient swordsman and 
 interpreter, Jacob Van Braam. The captain returned twice 
 with separate terms, in which the garrison was required to sur- 
 render ; both were rejected. He returned a third time, with 
 written articles of capitulation. They were in French. As no 
 implements for writing were at hand. Van Braam undertook to 
 translate them by word of mouth. A candle was brought, and 
 held close to the paper while he read. The rain fell in torrents y 
 it was difficult to keep the light from being extinguished. The 
 captain rendered the capitulation, article by article, in mongrel 
 English, while Washington and his officers stood listening, 
 endeavoring to disentangle the meaning. One article stipu- 
 lated that on surrendering the fort they should leave all their 
 military stores, munitions, and artillery in possession of the 
 French. This was objected to, and was readily modified. 
 
 The main articles, as Washington and his officers understood 
 them, were, that they should be allowed to return to the set- 
 tlements without molestation from French or Indians. That 
 they should march out of the fort with the honors of war, 
 drums beating and colors flying, and with all their effects and 
 military stores excepting the artillery, which should be de- 
 stroyed. That they should be allowed to deposit their effects in 
 some secret place, and leave a guard to protect them until they 
 could send horses to bring them away — their horses having 
 been nearly all killed or lost during the action. That they 
 should give their word of honor not to attempt any buildings 
 or improvements on the lands of His Most Christian Majesty, 
 for the space of a year. That the prisoners taken in the skir- 
 mish of Jumonville should be restored, and until their delivery 
 Captain Van Braam and Captain Stobo should remain with the 
 French as hostages. "^ 
 
 * Horace Walpole J in a flippant notice of this capitulation, says: " The 
 
82 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The next morning, accordingly, Washington and his men 
 marched out of their forlorn fortress with the honors of war, 
 bearing with them their regimental colors, but leaving behind 
 a large flag, too cumbrous to be transported. Scarcely had they 
 begun their march, however, when in defiance of the terms of 
 capitulation, they were beset by a large body of Indians, allies 
 to the French, who began plundering the baggage, and commit- 
 ting other irregularities. Seeing that the French did not, or 
 could not, prevent them, and that all the baggage which could 
 not be transported on the shoulders of his troops would fall into 
 the hands of these savages, Washington ordered it to be de- 
 stroyed, as well as the artillery, gunpowder, and other military 
 stores. All this detained him until ten o'clock, when he set 
 out on his melancholy march. He had not proceeded above a 
 mile when two or three of the wounded men were reported to 
 be missing. He immediately detached a few men back in quest 
 of them, and continued on until three miles from Fort Neces- 
 sity, where he encamped for the night, and was rejoined by 
 the stragglers. 
 
 In this affair, out of the Virginia regiment, consisting of 
 three hundred and five men, officers included, twelve had been 
 killed, and forty-three wounded. The number killed and 
 wounded in Captain Mackay's company is not known. The 
 loss of the French and Indians is supposed to have been much 
 greater. 
 
 In the following day's march the troops seemed jaded and 
 disheartened; they were encumbered and delayed by the 
 wounded ; provisions were scanty, and they had seventy weary 
 miles to accomplish before they could meet with supplies. 
 Washington, however, encouraged them by his own steadfast 
 and cheerful demeanor, and by sharing all their toils and pri- 
 vations ; and at length conducted them in safety to Wills' 
 Creek, where they found ample provisions in the military maga- 
 zines. Leaving them here to recover their strength, he pro- 
 ceeded with Captain Mackay to Williamsburg, to make his 
 military report to the governor. 
 
 A copy of the capitulation was subsequently laid before the 
 Virginia House of Burgesses, with explanations. Notwith- 
 standing the unfortunate result of the campaign, the conduct 
 of Washington and his officers was properly appreciated, and 
 they received a vote of thanks for their bravery, and gallant 
 defense of their country. Three hundred pistoles (nearly 
 
 French have tied up the hands of an excellent /an/arow, a Major Wash- 
 ington, whom they took and engaged not to serve for one year." {Cor- 
 respondence, vol. iii. p. 73.) \Valpole, at this early date, seems to have 
 considered Washington a perfect fire-eater. 
 
LIFE OF WASTTINGTON. 83 
 
 eleven hundred dollars) also were voted to be distributed among 
 the privates who had been in action. 
 
 From the vote of thanks two officers were excepted ; Major 
 Muse, who was charged with cowardice, and Washington's un- 
 fortunate master of fence and blundering interpreter, Jacob 
 Van Braam, who was accused of treacher}'-, in purposely mis- 
 interpreting the articles of capitulation. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, we will anticipate dates to record 
 the fortunes of the half -king after his withdrawal from the camp. 
 Pie and several of his warriors, with their wives and children, 
 retreated to Aughquick, in the back part of Pennsylvania, where 
 George Croghan had an agency, and was allowed money from 
 time to time for the maintenance of Indian allies. By the by, 
 Washington, in his letter to William Fairfax, expressed himself 
 much disappointed in Croghan and Montour, who proved, he 
 said, to be great pretenders, " and by vainly boasting of their 
 interest with the Indians, involved the country in greiat calam- 
 ity, causing dependence to be placed where there was none." * 
 For, with all their boast, they never could induce above thirty 
 fighting men to join the camp, and not more than half of those 
 rendered any service. 
 
 As to the half-king, he expressed himself perfectly disgusted 
 with the white man's mode of warfare. The French, he said, 
 were cowards ; the English, fools. Washington was a good 
 man, but wanted experience : he would not take advice of the 
 Indians, and was always driving them to fight according to his 
 notions. For this reason he (the half-king) had parried off his 
 wife and children to a place of safety. 
 
 After a time the chieftain fell dangerously ill, and a conjuror 
 or " medicine man " was summoned to inquire into the cause 
 or nature of his malady. He gave it as his opinion that the 
 French had bewitched him, in revenge for the great blow he 
 had struck them in the affair of Jumonville ; for the Indians 
 gave him the whole credit of that success, he having sent round 
 the French scalps as trophies. In the opinion of the conjurer 
 all the friends of the chieftain concurred, and on his death, 
 which took place shortly afterwards, there was great lamenta- 
 tion, mingled with threats of immediate vengeance. The fore- 
 going particulars are gathered from a letter written by John 
 Harris, an Indian trader, to the Governor of Pennsylvania, at 
 the request of the half-king's friend and fellow-sachem, Mona- 
 catoocha, otherwise called Scarooyadi. " I humbly presume," 
 concludes John Harris, " that his death is a very great loss, 
 especially at this critical time." 
 
 * Letter to W. Fairfax, Aug. 11 Lb, 1754. 
 
 * Pennsylvania Archives vol. ii. p. 178. 
 
84 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 We have been thus particular in tracing the affair of the Great Mead- 
 ows, step by step, guided by the statements of Washington himself and 
 of one of his officers present in the engagement, because it is another 
 of the events in the early stage of his military career, before the justice 
 and magnanimity of his character were sufficiently established, Avhicli 
 has been subject to misrepresentation. When the articles of capitula- 
 tion came to be correctly translated and published, there were passages 
 in them derogatory to the honor of Washington and his troops, and which, 
 it would seem, had purposely been inserted for their humiliation by the 
 French commander ; but which, they protested, had never been rightly 
 translated by Yan Braam. For instance, in the written articles, they 
 were made to stipulate that for the space of a year, they would not work 
 on any establishment beyond the mountains; whereas it had been trans- 
 lated by Van Braam " on any establishment on the lands of the king of 
 France,^' which was quite another thing, as most of the land beyond the 
 mountains was considered by them as belonging to the British crown. 
 There were other points, of minor importance, relative to the disposi- 
 tion of the artillery; but the most startling and objectionable one was 
 that concerning the previous skirmish in the Great Meadows. This was 
 mentioned in the written articles as Vassasslnat du Sieur de Jumonville, 
 that is to say, the murder of De Jumonville: an expression from which 
 Washington and his officers would have revolted with scorn and indig- 
 nation; and which, if truly translated, would in all probability have 
 caused the capitulation to be sent back instantly to the French com- 
 mander. On the contrary, they declared it had been translated to them 
 by Van Braam the death of De Jumonville, 
 
 M. de Villiers, in his account of this transaction to the French gov- 
 ernment, avails himself of these passages in the capitulation to cast a slur 
 on the conduct of Washington. He says: "We made the English 
 consent to sign that they had assassinated my brother in his camp." — 
 ''We caused them to abandon the lands belonging to the king. — We 
 obliged them to.leave their cannon, which consisted of nine pieces," 
 etc. He further adds: " The English, struck with panic, took to flight, 
 and left their flag and one of their colors." We have shown that the 
 flag left was the unwieldy one belonging to the fort, too cumbrous to be 
 transported by troops who could not carry their own necessary baggage. 
 The regimental colors, as honorable symbols, were scrupulously carried 
 off by Washington, and retained by him in after years. 
 
 M. de Villiers adds another incident intended to degrade his enemy. 
 He says, " One of my Indians took ten Englishmen, whom he brought 
 to me, and whom I sent back by another." These, doubtless, were the 
 men detached by Washington in quest of the wounded loiterers; and 
 who, understanding neither French nor Indian, found a difficulty in 
 explaining their peaceful errand. That they were captured by the 
 Indian seems too much of a gasconade. 
 
 The public opinion at the time was that Yan Braam had been sub- 
 orned by De Villiers to soften the offensive articles of the capitulation 
 in translating them, so that they should not wound the pride nor awaken 
 the scruples of Washington and his officers, yet should stand on record 
 against him. It is not probable that a French officer of De Villiers' 
 rank would practice such a base perfidy, nor does the subsequent treat- 
 ment experienced by Van Braam from the French corroborate the 
 charge. It is more than probable the inaccuracy of translation origin- 
 ated in the ignorance of the precise weight and value of words in the 
 two languages, neither of which was native to him, and between which 
 he was the blundering agent of exchange. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 85 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FOUNDING OF FORT CUMBERLAND. SECRET LETTER OF STOBO. 
 
 THE INDIAN MESSENGER. PROJECT OF DINWIDDIE. HIS 
 
 PERPLEXITIES. A TAINT OF REPUBLICANISM IN THE COL- 
 ONIAL ASSEMBLIES. DINWIDDIE's MILITARY MEASURES. 
 
 WASHINGTON QUITS THE SERVICE. OVERTURES OF GOVERNOR 
 
 SHARPE OF MARYLAND. WASHINGTON'S DIGNIFIED REPLY. 
 
 QUESTIONS OF r'ANK BETWEEN ROYAL AND PROVINCIAL 
 
 TROOPS. TREATMENT OF THE FRENCH PRISONERS. FATE OF 
 
 LA FORCE. ANECDOTES OF STOBO AND VAN BRAAM. 
 
 Early in August Washington rejoined his regiment, which 
 had arrived at Alexandria by the way of Winchester. Letters 
 from Governor Dinwiddie urged him to recruit it to the former 
 number of three hundred men, and join Colonel Innesat Wills' 
 Creek, where that officer was stationed with Mackay's inde- 
 pendent company of South Carolinians, and two independent 
 companies from New York ; and had been employed in erect- 
 ing a work to serve as a frontier post and rallying point ; which 
 work received the name of Fort Cumberland, in honor of the 
 Duke df Cumberland, captain-general of the British army. 
 
 In the meantime the Erench, elated by their recent triumph, 
 and thinking no ,danger at hand, relaxed their vigilance at Fort 
 Duquesne. Stobo, who was a kind of prisoner at large there, 
 found means to send a letter secretly by an Indian, dated July 
 28, and directed to the commander of the English troops. It 
 was accompanied by a plan of the fort. " There are two hun- 
 dred men here," writes he, " and two hundred expected ; the 
 rest have gone off in detachments to the amount of one thou- 
 sand, besides Indians. None lodge in the fort but Contrecoeur 
 and the guard, consisting of forty men and five officers ; the 
 rest lodge in bark cabins around the fort. The Indians have 
 access day and night, and come and go when they please. If 
 one hundred trusty Shawnees, Mingoes, and Delawares were 
 picked out, they might surprise the fort, lodging themselves 
 under the palisades by day, and at night secure the guard with 
 their tomahawks, shut the sally-gate, and the fort is ours." 
 
 One part of Stobo's letter breathes a loyal and generous 
 spirit of self-devotion. Alluding to the danger in which he and 
 
86 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Van Braam, his fellow-hostage, might be involved, he says, 
 " Consider the good of the exjjedition without regard to us. 
 When we engaged to serve the country it was expected we 
 were to do it with our lives. Eor my part, I would die a hun- 
 dred deaths to have the pleasure of possessing this fort but one 
 day. They are so vain of their success at the Meadows it is 
 worse than death to hear them. Haste to strike." * 
 
 The Indian messanger carried the letter to Aughquick and 
 delivered it into the hands of George Croghan. The Indian 
 chiefs who were with him insisted upon his opening it. He 
 did so, but on finding the tenor of it, transmitted it to the Gov- 
 ernor of Pennsylvania. The secret information communicated 
 by Stobo, may have been the cause of a project suddenly con- 
 ceived by Governor Dinwiddie, of a detachment which, by a 
 forced march across the mountains, might descend upon the 
 French and take Fort Duquesne at a single blow ; or, failing 
 that, might build a rival fort in its vicinity. He accordingly 
 wrote to Washintgon to march forthwith for Wills' Creek, with 
 such companies as were complete, leaving orders with the of- 
 ficers to follow as soon as they should have enlisted men suf- 
 ficient to make up their companies. "The season of the year," 
 added he, " calls for despatch. I depend upon your usual dili- 
 gence and spirit to encourage your people to be active on this 
 occasion." 
 
 The ignorance of Dinwiddle in military affairs, and his want 
 of forecast, led him perpetually into blunders. Washington 
 saw the rashness of an attempt to dispossess the French with 
 a force so inferior that it could be harassed and driven from 
 place to place at their pleasure. Before the troops could be 
 collected, and munitions of war provided, the season would be 
 too far advanced. There would be no forage for the horses ; 
 the streams Avould be swollen and unfordable ; the mountains 
 rendered impassable by snow, and frost, and slippery roads. 
 The men, too, unused to campaigning on the frontier, would 
 not be able to endure a winter in the wilderness, with no better 
 shelter than a tent ; especially in their present condition, des- 
 titute of almost everything. Such are a few of the cogent 
 reasons urged by Washington in a letter to his friend William 
 Fairfax, then in the House of Burgesses, which no doubt was 
 shown to Governor Dinwiddle, and probably had an effect in 
 causing the rash project to be abandoned. 
 
 The governor, in truth, was sorely perplexed about this time 
 
 * Hazard's i2egf^ster of Penn, iv. 329. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 87 
 
 by contradictions and cross-purposes, both in military and civil 
 affairs. A body of three hundred and fifty North Carolinian 
 troops had been enlisted at high pay, and were to form the chief 
 reinforcement of Colonel Innes at Wills' Creek. By the time 
 they reached Winchester, however, the provincial military 
 chest was exhausted, and future pay seemed uncertain ; where- 
 upon they refused to serve any longer, disbanded themselves 
 tumultuousl}^, and set off for their homes without taking leave. 
 
 The governor found the House of Burgesses equally unman- 
 ageable. His demands for supplies were resisted on what he 
 considered presumptuous pretexts ; or granted sparingly, un- 
 der mortifying restrictions. His high Tory notions were out- 
 raged by such republican conduct. " There appears to me," 
 said he, " an infatuation in all the assemblies in this part of 
 the world." In a letter to the Board of Trade he declared that 
 the only way effectually to check the progress of the French, 
 would be an act of parliament requiring the colonies to contrib- 
 ute to the common cause, independently of assemblies ; and in 
 another, to the Secretary of State, he urged the policy of com- 
 pelling the colonies to their duty to the king by a general poll- 
 tax of two and sixpence a head. The worthy governor would 
 have made a fitting counselor for the Stuart dynasty. Subse- 
 quent events have shown how little his policy was suited to 
 compete with the dawning republicanism of America. 
 
 In the month of October the House of Burgesses made a 
 grant of twenty thousand pounds for the public service ; and 
 ten thousand more were sent out from England, beside a sup- 
 ply of fire-arms. The governor now applied himself to military 
 matters with renewed spirit ; increased the actual force to ten 
 companies ; and, as there had been difficulties among the 
 different kinds of troops with regard to precedence, he reduced 
 them all to independent companies ; so that there would be no 
 officer in a Virginia regiment above the rank of captain. 
 
 This shrewd measure, upon which Dinwiddle secretly prided 
 himself as calculated to put an end to the difficulties in ques- 
 tion, immediately drove Washington out of the service ; con- 
 sidering it derogatory to his character to accept a lower com- 
 mission than that under which his conduct had gained him a 
 vote of thanks from the Legislature. 
 
 Governor Sharpe of Maryland, appointed by the king com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the forces engaged against the French, 
 sought to secure his valuable services, and authorized Colonel 
 Fitzhugh, whom he had placed in temporary command of the 
 army, to write to him to that effect. The reply of Washing- 
 
88 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ton (lotli Nov.) is full of dignity and spirit, and shows how 
 deeply he felt his military degradation. 
 
 ^' You make mention," says he, " of my continuing in the 
 service and retaining my colonel's commission. This idea has 
 filled me with surj^rise 5 for if you think me capable of holding 
 a commission that has neither rank nor emolument annexed to 
 it, you must maintain a very contemptible opinion of my weak- 
 ness, and believe me more empty than the commission itself." 
 After intimating a suspicion that the project of reducing the 
 regiment into independent companies, and thereby throwing 
 out the higher officers, "was generated and hatched at Wills' 
 Creek," — in other words, was an expedient of Governor Din- 
 widdle, instead of being a peremptory order from England, he 
 adds, "Ingenuous treatment and plain dealing I at least ex- 
 pected. It is to be hoped the project will answer; it shall 
 meet with my acquiescence in everything except personal ser- 
 vices. I herewith inclose Governor Sharpe's letter, which I 
 beg you will return to him with my acknowledgments for the 
 favor he intended me. Assure him, sir, as you truly may, of 
 my reluctance to quit the service, and the pleasure I should 
 have received in attending his fortunes. Inform him, also, that 
 it was to obey the call of honor and the advice of my friends 
 that I declined it, and not to gratify any desire I had to leave 
 the military line. My feelings are strongly bent to arms." 
 
 Even had Washington hesitated to take this step, it would 
 have been forced upon him by a further regulation of govern- 
 ment, in the course of the ensuing winter, settling the rank of 
 officers of His Majesty's forces when joined or serving with the 
 provincial forces in North America, " which directed that all 
 such as were commissioned by the king, or by his general com- 
 mander-in-chief in North America, should take rank of all 
 officers commissioned by the governors of the respective pro- 
 vinces. And further, that the general and field officers of the 
 provincial troops should have no rank when serving with the 
 general and field officers commissioned by the crown ; but that 
 all captains and other inferior officers of the royal troops should 
 take rank over provincial officers of the same grade, having 
 older commissions." 
 
 These regulations, originating in that su^Dercilious assump- 
 tion of superiority which sometimes overruns and degrades 
 true British pride, would have been spurned by Washing- 
 ton, as insulting to the character and conduct of his 
 high-minded brethren of the colonies. How much did this open 
 disparagement of colonial honor and understanding, contribute 
 to wean from England the affection of her American subjects. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 89 
 
 and prepare the way for tlieir ultimate assertion of independ- 
 ence. 
 
 Another cause of vexation to Washington was the r^usal of 
 Governor Dinwiddie to give up the French prisoners, taken in 
 the affair of De JumonvillCj in fulfillment of the articles of 
 capitulation. His plea was, that, since the capitulation, the 
 French had taken several British subjects, and sent them pris- 
 oners to Canada, he considered himself justifiable in detaining 
 those Frenchmen which he had in his custody. He sent a 
 flag of truce, however, offering to returning the officer Drouillon, 
 and the two cadets, in exchange for Captains Stobo and Van 
 Braam, whom the French held as hostages ; but his offer was 
 treated with merited disregard. Washington felt deeply 
 mortified by this obtuseness of the governor on a point of 
 military punctilio and honorable faith, but his remonstrances 
 were unavailing. 
 
 The French prisoners were clothed and maintained at the 
 public expense, and Drouillon and the cadets were allowed to 
 go at large ; the private soldiers were kept in confinement. 
 La Force, also, not having acted in a military capacity, and 
 having oifended against the peace and security of the frontier, 
 by his intrigues among the Indians, was kept in close durance. 
 Washington, who knew nothing of this, was shocked on visit- 
 ing Williamsburg to learn that La Force was in prison. He 
 expostulated with the governor on the subject, but without 
 effect ; Dinwiddie was at all times pertinacious, but particu- 
 larly so when he felt himself to be a little in the wrong. 
 
 As we shall have no further occasion to mention La Force, 
 in connection with the subject of this work, we will anticipate 
 a page of his fortunes. After remaining two years in confine- 
 ment he succeeded in breaking out of prison, and escaping into 
 the country. An alarm was given, and circulated far and wide, 
 for such was the opinion of his personal strength, desperate 
 courage, wily cunning, and great influence over the Indians, 
 that the most mischievous results were apprehended should he 
 regain the frontier. In the meantime he was wandering about 
 the country, ignorant of the roads, and fearing to make inquir- 
 ies, lest his foreign tongue should betray him. He reached 
 King and Queen Court House,about thirty miles from Williams- 
 burg, when a countryman was struck with his foreign air and 
 aspect. La Force ventured to put a question as to the dis- 
 tance and direction of Fort Duquesne, and his broken English 
 convinced the countryman of his being the French prisoner, 
 whose escape had been noised about the country. Watch- 
 ing an opportunity he seized him, and regardless of offers 
 
90 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of great bribes, conducted bim back to the prison of Williams- 
 burg, where he was secured with double irons, and chained to 
 he floor, of his dungeon. 
 
 The refusal of Governor Dinwiddle to fulfill the article of 
 the capitulation respecting the prisoners, and the rigorous 
 treatment of La Force, operated hardly upon the hostages, 
 Stobo and Van Braam, who, in retaliation, were confined in 
 prison in Quebec, though otherwise treated with kindness. 
 They, also, by extraordinary efforts, succeeded in breaking 
 prison, but found it more difficult to evade the sentries of a 
 fortified place. Stobo managed to escape into the country ; 
 but the luckless Van Braam sought concealment under an arch 
 of a causeway leaning from the fortress. Here he remained 
 until nearly exhausted by hunger. Seeing the Governor of 
 Canada passing by, and despairing of being able to effect his 
 escape, he came forth from his hiding-place, and surrendered 
 himself, invoking his clemency. He was remanded to prison, 
 but experienced no additional severity. He was subsequently 
 shipped by the governor from Quebec to England, and never 
 returned to Virginia. It is this treatment of Van Braam, 
 more than anything else, which convinces us that the suspi- 
 cion of his being in collusion with the French in regard to the 
 misinterpretation of the articles of capitulation, was groundless. 
 He was simply a blunderer. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 91 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN TO QUIET LIFE. FRENCH AND ENGLISH PREPARE FOR 
 
 HOSTILITIES. PLAN OF A CAMPAIGN. GENERAL BRADDOCK. 
 
 HIS CHARACTER. SIR JOHN ST. CLAIR, QUARTERMASTER- 
 GENERAL. — HIS TOUR OF INSPECTION. PROJECTED ROADS. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF BRADDOCK. MILITARY CONSULTATIONS AND 
 
 PLANS. COMMODORE KEPPEL AND HIS SEAMEN. SHIPS AND 
 
 TROOPS AT ALEXANDRIA. EXCITEMENT OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 INVITED TO JOIN THE STAFF OF BRADDOCK. A MOTHEr's 
 
 OBJECTIONS. WASHINGTON AT ALEXANDRIA. GRAND COUN- 
 CIL OF GOVERNORS. MILITARY ARRANGEMENTS. COLONEL 
 
 WILLIAM JOHNSON. SIR JOHN ST. CLAIR AT FORT CUMBER- 
 LAND. HIS EXPLOSIONS OF WRATH. THEIR EFFECTS. 
 
 INDIANS TO BE ENLISTED. CAPTAIN JACK AND HIS BAND OF 
 
 BUSH-BEATERS. 
 
 Having resigned his commission, and disengaged himself 
 from public a:ffairs, Washington's first care was to visit his 
 mother, inquire into the state of domestic concerns, and attend 
 to the welfare of his brothers and sisters. In these matters he 
 was ever his mother's adjunct and counselor, discharging faith- 
 fully the duties of an eldest son, who should consider himself 
 a second father to the family. 
 
 He now took up his abode at Mount Vernon, and prepared 
 to engage in those agricultural pursuits, for which, even in his 
 youthful days, he had as keen a relish as for the profession of 
 arms. Scarcely had he entered upon his rural occupations, 
 however, when the service of his country once more called 
 him to the field. 
 
 The disastrous affair at the Great Meadows, and the other 
 acts of Prench hostility on the Ohio, had roused the attention 
 of the British ministry. Their ambassador at Paris was in- 
 structed to complain of those violations of the peace. The 
 court of Versailles amused him with general assurances of amity, 
 and a strict adherence to treaties. Their ambassador at the 
 court of St. James, the Marquis de Mirepoix, on the faith of 
 his instructions, gave the same assurances. In the meantime, 
 however, French ships were fitted out, and troops embarked, to 
 carry out the schemes of the government in America. So pro- 
 found was the dissimulation of the court of Versailles, that 
 
92 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 even their own ambassador is said to have been kept in ignor- 
 ance of their real designs, and of the hostile game they were 
 playing, while he was exerting himself in good faith to lull the 
 suspicions of England, and maintain the international peace. 
 "When his e3^es, however, were opened, he returned indignantly 
 to France, and upbraided the cabinet with the duplicity of which 
 he had been made the unconscious instrument. 
 
 The British government now prepared for military operations 
 in America ; none of them jDrofessedly aggressive, but rather to 
 resist and counteract aggressions. A plan of campaign was 
 devised for 1755, having four objects. 
 
 To eject the French from lands which they held unjustly, in 
 the province of Nova Scotia. 
 
 To dislodge them from a fortress which they had erected at 
 Crown Poinjb, on Lake Champlain, within what was claimed as 
 British territory. 
 
 To dispossess them of the fort which they had constructed 
 at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake Eri 
 
 To drive them from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and 
 Virginia, and recover the valley of the Ohio. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland, captain-general of the British 
 army, had the organization of this campaign ; and through his 
 patronage Major-general Edward Braddock was intrusted with 
 the execution of it, being appointed generalissimo of all the 
 forces in the colonies. 
 
 Braddock was a veteran in service, and had been upwards 
 of forty years in the Guards, that school of exact discipline 
 and technical punctilio. Cumberland, who held a commission 
 in the Guards, and was bigoted to its routine, may have con- 
 sidered Braddock fitted, by his skill and preciseness as a 
 tactician, for a command in a new country, inexperienced in 
 military science, to bring its raw levies into order, and to settle 
 those questions of rank and etiquette apt to arise where regular 
 and provincial troops are to act together. 
 
 The result proved the error of such an opinion. Braddock 
 was a brave and experienced officer ; but his experience was 
 that of routine, and rendered him pragmatical and obstinate, 
 impatient of novel expedients " not laid down in the books," 
 but dictated by emergencies in a " new country,'^ and his 
 military precision, which would have been brilliant on parade, 
 was a constant obstacle to alert action in the wilderness."* 
 
 * Horace Walpole, in his letters, relates some anecdotes of Braddock, 
 which give a familiar picture of him in the fashionable life in which he 
 had mingled in London, and are of value, as letting ns into the private 
 character of a ra^-n whose name has become proverbial in. American his- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 93 
 
 Braddock was to lead in person the grand enterprise of the 
 campaign, that destined for the frontiers of Virginia and Penn- 
 sylvania ; it was the enterprise in which Washington became 
 enlisted, and, therefore, claims our especial attention. 
 
 Prior to the arrival of Braddock, came out from England 
 Lieutenant-colonel Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster- 
 general, eager to make himself acquainted with the field of 
 operations. He made a tour of inspection, in company with 
 Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, and appears to have been dis- 
 mayed at sight of the impracticable wilderness, the region of 
 Washington's campaign. Prom Port Cumberland, he wrote in 
 Pebruary to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, to have the 
 road cut, or repaired, toward the head of the river Youghio- 
 gheny, and another opened from Philadelphia for the transporta- 
 tion of supplies. "ISTo^ general," writes he, "will advance with 
 an army without having a communication open to the prov- 
 inces in his rear, both for the security of retreat, and to facili- 
 tate the transport of provisions, the supplying of which must 
 greatly depend on your province." * 
 
 Unfortunately the Governor of Pennsylvania had no money 
 at his command, and was obliged, for expenses, to apply to 
 his Assembly, " a set of men," writes he, " quite unacquainted 
 with every kind of military service, and exceedingly unwilling 
 to part with money on any terms." However, by dint of ex- 
 ertions, he procured the appointment of commissioners to 
 explore the country, and survey and lay out the roads required. 
 At the head of the commission was George Croghan, the Indian 
 trader, whose mission to the Twightwees we have already 
 spoken of. Times had gone hard with Croghan. The Prench 
 had seized great quantities of his goods. The Indians, with 
 whom he traded, had failed to pay their debts, and he hp4 be- 
 come a bankrupt. Being an efficient agent on the f?-ontier, 
 
 tory. ''Braddock," says Walpole, " is a very Iroquois in disposition. 
 He had a sister, who, having gamed away all her little fortune at Bath, 
 hanged herself with a truly lEnglish deliberation, leaving a 2iote on the 
 table with these lines : ' To die is landing on some siler^t shore,' etc. 
 When Braddock was told of it, he only said : ' PoorFapxiy I I always 
 thought she would play till she would be forced to tuck herself up.' " 
 
 Braddock himself had been somewhat of a spendthrift He was touchy 
 also, and punctilious. '' He once had a duel," says Walpole, " with Col- 
 onel Glumley, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend. As 
 they were going to engage, Glumley, who had good \umor and wit 
 (Braddock had the latter) said : ' Braddock, you are a ])oor dog ! here, 
 take my purse ; if you kill me you will be forced to ru:2 away, and then 
 you will not have a shilling to support you.' Brad^^ock refused the 
 purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask for 
 his life," 
 
 * Colonial Jiccords, yj. 300. 
 
94 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and among the Indians, lie still enjoyed the patronage of the 
 Pennsylvania government. 
 
 When Sir John St. Clair had finished his tour of inspection, 
 he descended Wills' Creek and the Potomac for two hundred 
 miles in a canoe to Alexandria, and repaired to Virginia to 
 meet General Braddock. The latter had landed on the 20th of 
 February at Hampton, in Virginia, and proceeded to Williams- 
 burg to consult with Governor Dinwiddie. Shortly afterwards 
 he was joined there by Commodore Keppel, whose squadron of 
 two ships of war, and several transports, had anchored in the 
 Chesapeake. On board of these ships were two prime regi- 
 ments of about five hundred men each; one commanded by Sir 
 Peter Halket, the other by Colonel Dunbar ; together with a 
 train of artillery, and the necessary munitions of war. The reg- 
 iments were to be augmented to seven hundred men each, by 
 men selected by Sir John St. Clair from Virginia companies 
 recently raised. 
 
 Alexandria was fixed upon as the place where the troops 
 should disembark, and encamp. The ships were accordingly 
 ordered up to that place, and the levies directed to repair 
 thither. 
 
 The plan of the campaign included the use of Indian allies. 
 Governor Dinwiddie had already sent Christopher Gist, the 
 pioneer, Washington's guide in 1753, to engage the Cherokees 
 and Catawbas, the bravest of the Southern tribes, who he had 
 no doubt would take up the hatchet for the English, peace being 
 first concluded, through the mediation of his government, be- 
 tween them and the Six Nations ; and he gave Braddock reason 
 to expect at least four hundred Indians to join him at Fort 
 Cumberland. He laid before him also contracts that he had 
 made for cattle, and promises that the Assembly of Pennsyl- 
 vania had made of flour; these, with other supplies, and a 
 thousand barrels of beef on board of the transports, would 
 furnish six months' provisions for four thousand men. 
 
 General Braddock apprehended difficulty in procuring 
 wagons and horses sufficient to attend him in his march. Sir 
 John St. Clair, in the course of his tour of inspection, had met 
 wdth two Dutch settlers, at the foot of the Blue Pidge, who 
 engaged to furnish two hundred wagons, and fifteen hundred 
 carrying horses, to be at Fort Cumberland early in May. 
 
 Governor Sharpe was to furnish above a hundred wagons for 
 the transportation of stores, on the Maryland side of tlie 
 Potomac. 
 
 Keppel furnished four cannons from his ships, for the attack 
 on Fort Duquesne^ and thirty picked seamen to assist in drag- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 95 
 
 glng the mover the mountains ; for "soldiers," said he, "cannot 
 be as. well acquainted with the nature of purchases, and making 
 use of tackles, as seamen." They were to aid also in pass- 
 ing the troops and artillery on floats or in boats, across the 
 rivers, and were under the command of a midshipman and 
 lieutenant.* 
 
 " Everything," writes Captain Robert Orme, one of the 
 general's aides-de-camp, " seemed to promise so far the greatest 
 success. The transports were all arrived safe, and the men in 
 health. Provisions, Indians, carriages, and horses were already 
 provided ; at least were to be esteemed so, considering the au- 
 thorities on which they were promissed to the general." 
 
 Trusting to these arrangements, Braddock proceeded to 
 Alexandria. The troops had all been disembarked before his 
 arrival, and the Virginia levies selected by Sir John St. 
 Clair, to join the regiments of regulars, were arrived. There 
 were beside two companies of hatchet men, or carpenters ; 
 six of rangers ; and one troop of light horse. The levies having 
 been clothed, were ordered to march immediately for Win- 
 chester, to be armed, and the general gave them in charge, 
 of an ensign of the 44th, " to make them as like soldiers as 
 possible."! The light horse were retained by the general as 
 his escort and body-guard. 
 
 The din and stir of warlike preparation disturbed the quiet of 
 of Mount Vernon. Washington looked down from his rural 
 retreat upon the ships of war and transports, as they passed up 
 the Potomac, with the array of arms gleaming along their decks. 
 The booming of cannon echoed among his groves. Alexandria 
 was but a few miles distant. Occasionally he mounted his 
 horse, and rode to that place ; it was like a garrisoned town, 
 teeming with troops, and resounding with the drum and fife. 
 A brilliant campaign was about to open under the auspices of an 
 experienced general, and'with all the means and appurtenances 
 of European warfare. How different from the starveling ex- 
 peditions he had hitherto been doomed to conduct ! What an 
 opportunity to efface the memory of his recent disaster ! All 
 his thoughts of rural life were put to flight. The military part 
 of his character was again in the ascendant ; his great desire 
 was to join the expedition as a volunteer. 
 
 It was reported to General Braddock. The latter was 
 apprised by Governor Dinwiddle and others, of Washington's 
 personal merits, his knowledge of the country, and his ex- 
 perience in frontier service. The consequence was, a letter 
 
 * Keppel's Life of Keppel, p. 205 
 t Orme's Journal, 
 
96 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 from Captain Eobert Orme, one of Braddock's aides-de-camp, 
 written by the general's order, inviting Washington to join 
 his staff ; the letter concluded with frank and cordial expres- 
 sions of esteem on the part of Orme, which were warmly re- 
 ciprocated, and laid the foundation of a soldierlike friendship 
 between them. 
 
 A volunteer situation on the staff of General Braddock offered 
 no emolument nor command and would be attended with con- 
 siderable expense, beside a sacrifice of his private interests, 
 having no person in whom he had confidence, to take charge of 
 his affairs in his absence ; still he did not hesitate a moment 
 to accept the invitation. In the position offered to him, all 
 the questions of military rank which had hitherto annoyed him 
 would be obviated. He could indulge his passion for arms 
 without any sacrifice of dignity, and he looked forward with 
 high anticipation to an opportunity of acquiring military ex- 
 perience in a corps well organized, and thoroughly disciplined, 
 and in the family of a commander of acknowledged skill as a 
 tactician. 
 
 His mother heard with concern of another projected ex- 
 pedition into the wilderness. Hurrying to Mount Vernon, she 
 entreated him not again to expose himself to the hardships and 
 perils of these frontier campaigns. She doubtless felt the value 
 of his presence at home, to manage and protect the complicated 
 interests of the domestic connection, and had watched with 
 solicitude over his adventurous campaigning, where so much 
 family welfare was at hazard. However much a mother's pride 
 may have been gratified by his early advancement and renown, 
 she had rejoiced on his return to the safer walks of peaceful life. 
 She was thoroughly practical and prosaic in her notions, and 
 was not to be dazzled by military glory. The passions for arms 
 which mingled with the more sober elements of Washington's 
 character, would seem to have been inherited from his father's 
 side of his house; it was, in fact, the old chivalrous spirit of the 
 De Wessyngtons. 
 
 His mother had once prevented him from entering the navy, 
 when a gallant frigate was at hand, anchored in the waters of 
 the Potomac ; with all his deference for her, which he retained 
 through life, he could not resist the appeal to his martial 
 sympathies, which called him to the head-quarters of General 
 Braddock at Alexandria. 
 
 His arrival was hailed by. his young associates. Captains 
 Orme and Morris, the general's aides-de-camp, who at once re- 
 ceived him into frank companionship, and a cordial intimacy 
 
ItFE OP WAsmiTGTOK. 07 
 
 commenced between them, that continued throughout the cam- 
 paign. 
 
 He experienced a courteous reception from the general, who 
 expressed in flattering terms the impression he had received of 
 his merits. Washington soon appreciated the character of the 
 general. He found him stately and somewhat haughty, exact 
 in matters of military etiquette and discipline, positive in giv- 
 ing an opinion, and obstinate in maintaining it; but of an hon- 
 orable and generous, though somewhat irritable nature. 
 
 There were at that time four governors, besides Dinwiddle, 
 assembled at Alexandria, at Braddock's request, to concert a 
 plan of military operations — Governor Shirley of Massachu- 
 setts, Lieutenant-governor Delancey of Kew York, Lieutenant- 
 governor Sharpe of Maryland, Lieutenant-governor Morris of 
 Pennsylvania. Washington was presented to them in a man- 
 ner that showed how well his merits were already appreciated. 
 Shirley seems particularly to have struck him as the model of 
 a gentleman and statesman. He was originally a lawyer, and 
 had risen not more by his talents, than by his implicit devo- 
 tion to the crown. His son William was military secretary to 
 Braddock. 
 
 A grand council was held on the 14th of April, composed of 
 General Braddock, Commodore Keppel, and the governors, at 
 which the general's commission was read, as were his instruc- 
 tions from the king, relating to a common fund, to be estab- 
 lished by the several colonies, toward defraying the expenses of 
 the campaign. 
 
 The governors were prepared to answer on this head, letters 
 to the same purport having been addressed to them by Sir 
 Thomas Bobinson, one of the king's secretaries of state, in the 
 preceding month of October. They informed Braddock that 
 they had applied to their respective Assemblies for the establish- 
 ment of such a fund, but in vain, and gave it as their unanimous 
 opinion, that such a fund could never be established in the colonies 
 without the aid of Parliament. They had found it impractica- 
 ble, also, to obtain from their respective governments the pro- 
 portions expected from them by the crown toward military ex- 
 penses in America; and suggested that ministers should find 
 out some mode of compelling them to do it ; and that, in the 
 meantime, the general should make use of his credit upon gov- 
 ernment, for current expenses, lest the expedition should come 
 to a stand.* 
 
 In discussing the campaign, the governors were of opinion 
 that New York should be made the centre of operations, as it 
 * Colonial Becords, vol. vi. p. 366. 
 
08 ItFE o:f wAsiimGToif. 
 
 afforded easy access by water to the heart of the French pos- 
 sessions in Canada. Braddock, however, did not feel at liberty 
 to depart from his instructions, which specified the recent es- 
 tablishments of the French on the Ohio as the objects of his 
 expedition. 
 
 Niagara and Crown Point were to be attacked about the same 
 time with Fort Duquesne, the former by Governor Shirley, with 
 his own and Sir William Pepperell's regiments, and some New 
 York companies ; the latter by Colonel William Johnson, sole 
 manager and director of Indian affairs ; a personage worthy of 
 especial note. 
 
 He was a native of Ireland, and had come out to this country 
 in 1734, to manage the landed estates owned by his uncle. Com- 
 modore Sir Peter Warren, in the Mohawk country. He had 
 resided ever since in the vicinity of the Mohawk Kiver, in the 
 province of New York. By his agency, and his dealings with 
 the native tribes, he had acquired great wealth, and become a 
 kind of potentate in the Indian country. His influence over 
 the Six Nations was said to be unbounded ; and it was prin- 
 cipally with the aid of a large force of their warriors that it 
 was expected he would accomplish his part of the campaign. 
 The end of June, " nearly in July," was fixed upon as the time 
 when the several attacks upon Forts Duquesne, Niagara, and 
 Crown Point should be carried into execution ; and Braddock 
 anticipated an easy accomplishment of his plans. 
 
 The expulsion of the French from the lands wrongfully held 
 by them in Nova Scotia, was to be assigned to Colonel Law- 
 rence, lieutenant-governor of that province ; we will briefly add, 
 in anticipation, that it was effected by him with the aid of troops 
 from Massachusetts and elsewhere, led by Lieutenant-colonel 
 Monckton. 
 
 The business of the Congress being finished. General Brad- 
 dock would have set out for Fredericktown, in Maryland, but 
 few wagons or teams had yet come to remove the artillery. 
 Washington had looked with wonder and dismay at the huge 
 paraphernalia of war, and the world of superfluities to be trans- 
 ported across the mountains, recollecting the difficulties he 
 had experienced in getting over them with his nine swivels, 
 and scanty supplies. "If our march is to be regulated by the 
 slow movements of the train," said he, " it will be tedious, 
 very tedious, indeed." 
 
 His predictions excited a sarcastic smile in Braddock, as be- 
 traying the limited notions of a young provincial officer, little 
 acquainted with the march of armies. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Sir John St. Clair, who had returned to 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 99 
 
 the frontier, was storming at the camp at Fort Cumherland. 
 The road required of the Pennsylvania government had not 
 been commenced. George Croghan and the other commission- 
 ers were but just arrived in camp. Sir John, according to 
 Croghan, received them in a very disagreeable manner : would 
 not look at their draughts, nor suffer any representations to be 
 made to him in regard to the province, " but stormed like a 
 lion rampant ; " declaring that the want of the road and of the 
 provisions promised by Pennsylvania had retarded the expedi- 
 tion, and might cost them their lives from the fresh numbers 
 of French that might be poured into the » country. — " That 
 instead of marching to the Ohio, he would in nine days march 
 his army into Cumberland County to cut the roads, press 
 horses, wagons, etc. — That he would not suffer a soldier to 
 handle an axe, but by fire and sword oblige the inhabitants to 
 
 do it That he would kill all kinds of cattle, and carry 
 
 away the horses, burn the houses, etc. ; and that if the French 
 defeated them, by the delays of Pennsylvania, he would, with 
 his sword drawn, pass through the province and treat the in- 
 habitants as a parcel of traitors to his master. That he would 
 write to England by a man-of-war ; shake Mr. Penn's proprie- 
 taryship, and represent Pennsylvania as a disaffected province. 
 .... He told us to go to the general, if we pleased, who would 
 give us ten bad words for one that he had given.^^ 
 
 The explosive wrath of Sir John, which was not to be ap- 
 peased, shook the souls of the commissioners, and they wrote 
 to Governor Morris, urging that jjeople might be set at work 
 upon the road, if the Assembly had made provision for opening 
 it ; and that flour might be sent without delay to the mouth of 
 Canococheague Kiver, " as being the only remedy left to pre- 
 vent these threatened mischiefs." * 
 
 In reply, Mr. Eichard Peters, Governor Morris' secretary, 
 wrote in his name : ^^ Get a number of hands immediately, and 
 further the work by all possible methods. Your expenses will 
 be paid at the next sitting of Assembly. Do your duty, and 
 oblige the general and quartermaster if possible. Finish the 
 road that will be wanted first, and then T)roceed to any other 
 that may be thought necessary." 
 
 An additional commission, of a different kind, was intrusted 
 to George Croghan. Governor Morris by letter requested him 
 to convene at Aughquick, in Pennsylvania, as many warriors 
 as possible of the mixed tribes of the Ohio, distribute among 
 them wampum belts sent for the purpose, and engage them to 
 
 * Colonial Records, vol. vi. p. 368, 
 
100 LIFE OF WASUtNGTON. 
 
 meet General Braddock when on the march, and render him all 
 the assistance in their power. 
 
 In reply, Croghan engaged to enlist a strong body of Indians, 
 being sure of the influence of Scarooyadi, successor to the half- 
 king, and of his adjunct, White Thunder, keeper of the speech- 
 belts.* At the instance of G-overnor Morris, Croghan secured 
 the services of another kind of force. This was a band of 
 hunters, resolute men, well acquainted with the country, and 
 inured to hardships. They were under the command of Captain 
 Jack, one of the most remarkable characters of Pennsylvania, 
 a complete hero of the wilderness. He had been for many 
 years a captive among the Indians ; and, having learnt their 
 ways, had formed this association for the protection of the 
 settlements, receiving a commission of captain from the Gover- 
 nor of Pennsylvania. The band had become famous for its ex- 
 ploits, and was a terror to the Indians. Captain Jack was at 
 present protecting the settlements on the Canococheague ; but 
 promised to march by a circuitous route and join Braddock with 
 his hunters. "They require no shelter for the night," writes 
 Croghan ; "they ask no pay. If the whole army was composed 
 of such men there would be no cause of apprehension. I shall 
 be with them in time for duty."* 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The following extract of a letter, dated August, 1750, gives one of the 
 stories relative to this individual: — 
 
 " The 'Black Hunter,' the 'Black Rifle,' the 'Wild Hunter of Juni- 
 ata,' is a white man; his history is this: He entered the woods with a 
 few entei-prising companions ; built his cabin ; cleared a little land, and 
 amused himself with the pleasures of fishing and hunting. He felt 
 happy, for then he had not a care. But on an evening when he re- 
 turned from a day of sport, he found his cabin burnt, his wife and 
 children murdered. From that moment he forsakes civilized man; 
 hunts out caves, in which he lives; protects the frontier inhabitants 
 from the Indians; and seizes every opportunity of revenge that offers. 
 He lives the terror of the Indians and the consolation of the whites. On 
 one occasion, near Juniata, in the middle of a dark night, a family were 
 suddenly awakened from sleep by the report of a gun ; they jumped from 
 their huts, and by the ghmmering light from the chimney saw an In- 
 dian fall to rise no more. The open door exposed to view the wild hun- 
 ter. ' I have saved your lives,' he cried, then turned and was buried in 
 the gloom of night." — Hazard's Eegister of Penn, vol. iv. p. 389. 
 
 ^Colonial Records, vol. vi. p. 375. 
 Haz3,rd's Begister of Penn. vol. iv. p. 41^ 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. lOJ, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WASHINGTON PKOCLAIMED AIDE-DE-CAMP. DISAPPOINTMENTS 
 
 AT FREDERICKTOWN. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND BRAD- 
 DOCK. CONTRACTS. DEPARTURE FOR WILLS' CREEK. 
 
 ROUGH ROADS. THE GENERAL IN HIS CHARIOT. CAMP 
 
 AT FORT CUMBERLAND. HUGH MERCER. DR. CRAIK. 
 
 MILITARY TACTICS. CAMP RULES. SECRETARY PETERS. 
 
 INDIANS IN CAMP. INDIAN BEAUTIES. THE PRINCESS 
 
 BRIGHT LIGHTNING. ERRAND TO WILLIAMSBURG. BRAD- 
 
 DOCk's opinion of contractors and INDIANS. ARRIVAL 
 
 OF CONVEYANCES. 
 
 General Braddock set out from Alexandria on tlie 20th 
 of April. Washington remained behind a few days to arrange 
 his affairs, and then rejoined him at Fredericktown, in Mary- 
 land, where, on the 10th of May, he was proclaimed one of the 
 general's aides-de-camp. The troubles of Braddock had already 
 commenced. The Virginian contractors failed to fulfill their 
 engagements ; of all the immense means of transportation so 
 confidently promised, but fifteen wagons and a hundred draught- 
 horses had arrived, and there was no prospect of more. There 
 was equal disappointment in provisions, both as to quantity and 
 quality ; and he had to send round the country to buy cattle for 
 the subsistence of the troops. 
 
 Fortunatel}^ while the general was venting his spleen in an- 
 athemas against army contractors, Benjamin Franklin arrived 
 at Fredericktown. That eminent man, then about forty-nine 
 years of age, had been for many years member of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Assembly, and was now postmaster-general for America. 
 The Assembly understood that Braddock was incensed against 
 them, supposing them adverse to the service of the war. They 
 had procured Franklin to wait upon him, not as if sent by 
 them, but as if he came in his capacity of postmaster-general, 
 to arrange for the sure and sjDeedy transmission of despatches 
 between the commander-in-chief and the governors of the 
 provinces. 
 
 He was well received, and became a daily guest at the 
 general's table. In his autobiography, he gives us an instance 
 of the blind confidence and fatal prejudices by which Braddock 
 was deluded throughout this expedition. " In conversation with 
 
102 J^IF^E OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 iiim one ddy,"^writeS"Fraiililiii, "he was giving me some account 
 of his intended progress. ^ After taking Fort Duquesne/ said 
 he, ' I am to proceed to Niagara ; and, having taken that, to 
 Frontenac, if the season will allow time : and I suppose it will, 
 for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days ; 
 and then I can see nothing that can obstruct my march to 
 Niagara/ 
 
 ^' Having before revolved in my mind," continues Franklin, 
 "the long line his armj^ must make in their march by a very 
 narrow road, to be cut for them through the woods and bushes, 
 and also what I had heard of a former defeat of fifteen hundred 
 French, who invaded the Illinois country, I had conceived some 
 doubts and some fears for the event of the campaign ; but I 
 ventured only to say, ' To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before 
 Duquesne with these fine troops, so well provided Avith artillery, 
 the fort, though completely fortified and assisted with a very 
 strong garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. 
 The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march, is 
 from the ambuscades of the Indians, who, by constant practice, 
 are dexterous in laying and executing them ; and the slender 
 line, nearly four miles long, which your army must make, may 
 expose it to be attacked by surprise on its flanks, and to be cut 
 like thread into several pieces, which, from their distance, 
 cannot come up in time to support one another." 
 
 " He smiled at my ignorance, and replied : ' These savages 
 may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, 
 but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is 
 impossible they should make an impression.' I was conscious 
 of an impropriety in my disputing with a military man in 
 matters of his profession, and said no more." * 
 
 As the whole delay of the army was caused by the want of 
 conveyances, Franklin observed one da}^ to the general that it 
 was a pity the troops had not been landed in Pennsylvania, 
 where almost every farmer had his wagon. " Then, sir," re- 
 plied Braddock, " you who are a man of interest there can prob- 
 ably procure them for me, and I beg you will." Franklin con- 
 sented. An instrument in writing was drawn up, empowering 
 him to contract for one hundred aud fifty Avagons, with four 
 horses to each wagon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack-horses 
 for the service of His Majesty's forces, to be at Wills' Creek 
 on or before the 20th of May ; and he promptly departed for 
 Lancaster to execute the commission. 
 
 After his departure, Braddock, attended by his staff and his 
 
 * Autobiography of Franklin, Sparks' edition, p. lUO. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 108 
 
 guard of light horse, set off for Wills' Creek by the way of 
 Winchester, the road along the north side of the Potomac not 
 being yet made. " This gave him," writes Washington, " a good 
 opportunity to see the absurdity of the route, and of damning 
 it very heartily." * 
 
 Three of Washington's horses were knocked up before they 
 reached Winchester, and he had to purchase others. This was 
 a severe drain of his campaigning purse ; fortunately^ he was 
 in the neighborhood of Greenway Court, and was enabled to 
 replenish it by a loan from his old friend Lord Fairfax. 
 
 The discomforts of the rough road were increased with the 
 general, by his travelling with some degree of state in a chariot 
 which he had purchased of Governor Sharpe. In this he 
 dashed by Dunbar's division of the troops, which he overtook 
 near Wills' Creek ; his body guard of light horse galloping on 
 each side of his chariot, and his staff accompanying him ; the 
 drums beating the Grenadiers' March as he passed. In this 
 style, too, he arrived at Fort Cumberland, amid a thundering 
 salute of seventeen guns.f 
 
 By this time the general discovered that he was not in a 
 region fitted for such display, and his travelling chariot was 
 abandoned at Fort Cumberland ; otherwise it would soon have 
 become a wreck among the mountains beyond. 
 
 By the 19th of May, the forces were assembled at Fort Cum- 
 berland. The two royal regiments, originally one thousand 
 strong, now increased to fourteen hundred, by men chosen from 
 the Maryland and Virginia levies ; two provincial companies of 
 carpenters, or pioneers, thirty men each, with subalterns and 
 captains ; a company of guides, composed of a captain, two aids, 
 and ten men ; the troop of Virginia light horse, commanded by 
 Captain Stewart ; the detachment of thirty sailors with their 
 officers, and the remnants of two independent companies from 
 New York, one of which was commanded by Captain Horatio 
 Gates, of whom we shall have to speak much hereafter, in the 
 course of this biography. 
 
 Another person in camp, of subsequent notoriety, and who 
 became a warm friend of Washington, was Dr. Hugh Mercer, 
 a Scotchman, about thirty-three years of age. About ten years 
 previously he had served as assistant surgeon in the forces of 
 Charles Edward, and followed his standard to the disastrous 
 field of Culloden. After the defeat of the "chevalier," Mercer 
 had escaped by the way of Inverness to America, and taken up 
 
 * Draft of a letter, among Washington's papers, addressed to Major 
 John Carlyle. 
 t Journal of the Seamen's detachment. 
 
104 /^?^^ OF WASUINGTOK. 
 
 his residence in Virginia. He was now witli the Virginia 
 troops, rallying under the standard of the House of Hanover, 
 in an expedition led by a general who had aided to drive the 
 chevalier from Scotland.^ 
 
 Another young Scotchman in the camp was Dr. James 
 Craik, who had become strongly attached to Washington, being 
 about the same age, and having been with him in the affair of 
 the Great Meadows, serving as surgeon in the Virginia regi- 
 ment, to which he still belonged. 
 
 At Fort Cumberland, Washington had an opportunity of 
 seeing a force encamped according to the plan approved of by 
 the council of war ; and military tactics, enforced with all the 
 precision of a martinet. 
 
 The roll of each company was called over morning, noon, 
 and night. There was strict examination of arms and accou- 
 trements ; the commanding officer of each company being an- 
 swerable for their being kept in good order. 
 
 The general was very particular \n regard to the appearance 
 and drill of the Virginia recruits and companies, whom he had 
 put under the rigorous discipline of Ensign Allen. " They, 
 performed their evolutions and firing as well as could be ex- 
 pected," writes Captain Orme, " but their languid, spiritless, 
 and unsoldier-like appearance, considered with the lowness and 
 ignorance of most of their officers, gave little hopes of their 
 future good behavior." f He doubtless echoed the opinion of 
 the general ; how completely were both to be undeceived as to 
 their estimate of these troops ! 
 
 The general held a levee in his tent every morning, from 
 ten to eleven. He was strict as to the morals of the camp. 
 Drunkenness was severely punished. A soldier convicted of 
 theft was sentenced to receive one thousand lashes, and to be 
 drummed out of his regiment. Part of the first part of the 
 sentence was remitted. Divine service was performed every 
 Sunday, at the head of the colors of each regiment, by the 
 chaplain. There was the funeral of a captain who died at this 
 encampment. A captain's guard marched before the corpse, 
 the captain of it in the rear, the firelocks reversed, the drums 
 beating the dead march. When near the grave, the guard 
 formed two lines, facing each other ; rested on their arms, 
 muzzles downwards, and leaned their faces on the butts. The 
 corpse was carried between them, the sword and sash on the 
 coffin, and the officers following two and two. After the chaplain 
 
 * Braddock had been an officer under the Duke of Cumberland in his 
 campaign against Charles Edward. 
 t Orme's Journal. 
 
LIFE OF WASUINGTON. 105 
 
 of the regiment had read the service, the guard fired three 
 volleys over the grave, and returned."*" 
 
 Braddock's camp, in a word, was a complete study for 
 Washington, during the halt at Fort Cumberland, where he 
 had an opportunity of seeing military routine in its strictest 
 forms. He had a specimen, too, of convivial life in the camp, 
 which the general endeavored to maintain, even in the wilder- 
 ness, keeping a hospitable table ; for he is said to have been 
 somewhat of a bon vivant, and to have had with him " two 
 good cooks, who could make an excellent ragout out of a pair 
 of boots, had they but materials to toss them up with." f 
 
 There was great detention at the fort, caused by the want 
 of forage and supplies, the road not having been finished 
 from Philadelphia. Mr. Richard Peters, the „ secretary of 
 Governor Morris, was in camp, to attend to the matter. He 
 had to bear the brunt of Braddock's complaints. The general 
 declared he would not stir from Wills' Creek until he had the 
 governor's assurance that the road would be open in time. 
 Mr. Peters requested guards to protect the men while at work, 
 from attacks by the Indians. Braddock swore he would not 
 furnish guards for the wood-cutters — " let Pennsylvania do 
 it ! " He scoffed at the talk about danger from Indians. 
 Peters endeavored to make him sensible of the peril w^hich 
 threatened him in this respect. Should an army of them 
 led by French officers, beset him in his march, he would not 
 be able, with all his strength and military skill, to reach Fort 
 Duquesne without a body of rangers, as well on foot as horse- 
 back. The general, however, *' despised his observationt." % 
 Still, guards had ultimately to be provided, or the work on the 
 road would have been abandoned. 
 
 Braddock, in fact, was completely chagrined and disap- 
 pointed about the Indians. The Cherokees and Catawbas, 
 whom Dinwiddle had given him reason to expect in such 
 numbers, never arrived. 
 
 George Croghan reached the camp with but about fifty 
 warriors, whom he had brought from Aughquick. At the 
 general's request he sent a messenger to invite the Delawares 
 and Shawnees from the Ohio, who returned with two chiefs of 
 the former tribe. Among the sachems thus assembled were 
 some of Washington's former allies, Scarooyadi, alias Mona- 
 catoocha, successor to the half-king. White Thunder, the keeper 
 of the speech-belts, and Silver Heels, so called, probably, from 
 being swift of foot. 
 
 * Orme's Journal. Journal of the Seamen's detachment. 
 t Preface to Wirithrop Sargent's Introductory Memoir. 
 X Colonial Becords, vi. 396. 
 
106 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Notwithstanding his secret contempt for the Indians, Brad- 
 dock, agreeably to his instructions, treated them with great 
 ceremony. A grand council was held in his tent, where all his 
 officers attended. The chiefs, and all the warriors, came 
 painted and decorated for war. They were received with mili- 
 tary honors, the guards resting on their fire-arms. The gen- 
 eral made them a speech through his interpreter, expressing 
 the grief of their father, the great king of England, at the 
 death of the half-king, and made them presents to console 
 them. They in return promised their aid as guides and 
 scouts, and declared eternal enmity to the French, following 
 the declaration with the war song, "making a terrible noise." 
 
 The general, to regale and astonish them, ordered all the 
 artillery to be fired, " the drums and fifes playing and beating 
 the point of war ; " the fete ended by their feasting, in their 
 own camp, on a bullock which the general had given them, fol- 
 lowing up their repast by dancing the war dance round a fire, 
 to the sound of their uncouth drums and rattles, " making night 
 hideous " by howls and yellings. 
 
 " I have engaged between forty and fifty Indians from the 
 frontiers of your province to go over the mountains with me," 
 writes Braddock to Governor Morris, " and shall take Croghan 
 and Montour into service." Croghan was in effect, put in 
 command of the Indians, and a warrant given to him of 
 captain. 
 
 For a time all went welL The Indians had their separate 
 camp, where they passed half the night singing, dancing, and 
 howling. The British were amused by their strange cere- 
 monies, their savage antics, and savage decorations. The 
 Indians, on the other hand, loitered by day about the English 
 camp, fiercely painted and arrayed, gazing with silent admira- 
 tion at the parade of the troops, their marchings and evolu- 
 tions, and delighted with the horse-races, with which the 
 young officers recreated themselves. 
 
 Unluckily the warriors had brought their families with them, 
 to Wills' Creek, and the women were even fonder than the men 
 of loitering about the British camp. They were not destitute 
 of attractions ; for the young squaws resemble the gypsies, 
 having seductive forms, small hands and feet, and soft voices. 
 Among those who visited the camp was one who no doubt 
 passed for an Indian princess. She was the daughter of the 
 sachem White Thunder, and bore the dazzling name of Bright 
 Lightning.* The charms of these wild-wood beauties were 
 igoon acknowledged. " The squaws," writes Secretary Peters^ 
 * Seamen's Journal, 
 
LIPE OP WASBtNGTON. 107 
 
 " bring in money plenty ; the officers are scandalously fond of 
 them."^ 
 
 The jealousy of the warriors was aroused; some of them be- 
 came furious. To prevent discord, the squaws were forbidden 
 to come into the British camp. This did not prevent their 
 being sought elsewhere. It was ultimately found necessary, 
 for the sake of quiet, to send Bright Lightning, with all the 
 other women and children, back to Aughquick. White Thun- 
 der and several of the warriors, accompanied them for their 
 protection. 
 
 As to the three Delaware chiefs, they returned to the Ohio, 
 promising the general they would collect their warriors together, 
 and meet him on his march. They never kept their word. 
 " These people are villains, and always side with the strongest," 
 ssijs a slirewd journalist of the expedition. 
 
 During the halt of the troops at Wills' Creek, Washington 
 had been sent to AVilliamsburg to bring on four thousand 
 pounds for the military chest. He returned, after a fortnight's 
 absence, escorted from Winchester by eight men, "which 
 eight men," writes he, " were two days assembling, but I be- 
 lieve would not have been more than as many seconds dispers- 
 ing if I had been attacked." 
 
 He found the general out of all patience and temper at the 
 delays and disappointments in regard to horses, wagons, and 
 forage, making no allowance for the difficulties incident to a 
 new country, and to the novel and great demands upon its 
 scanty and scattered resources. He accused the army contract- 
 ors of want of faith, honor, and honesty ; and in his moments 
 of passion, which were many, extended the stigma to the whole 
 country. This stung the patriotic sensibility of Washington, 
 and overcame his usual self-command, and the proud and pas- 
 sionate commander was occasionally surprised by a well-merited 
 rebuke from his aide-de-camp. " We have frequent disputes 
 on this head," writes Washington, " which are maintained with 
 warmth on both sides, especially on his, as he is incapable of 
 arguing without it, or of giving up any point he asserts, be it 
 ever so incompatible with reason or common sense. 
 
 The same pertinacity was maintained with respect to the 
 Indians. George Croghan informed Washington that the 
 sachems considered themselves treated with slight, in never 
 being consulted in war matters. That he himself had repeatedly 
 offered the services of the warriors under his command as scouts 
 and outguards, but his offers had been rejected. Washington 
 ventured to interfere, and to urge their importance for such 
 * Letter of Peters to Governor Morris. 
 
108 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 purposes, especially now, when they were approaching the 
 stronghold of the enemy. As usual, the general remained 
 higoted in his helief of the all-sufficiency of well-disciplined 
 troops. 
 
 Either from disgust thus caused, or from heing actually dis- 
 missed, the warriors began to disappear from the camp. It is 
 said that Colonel Innes, whowas to remain in command at Fort 
 Cumberland, advised the dismissal of all but a few to serve as 
 guides ; certain it is, before Braddock recommenced his march, 
 none remained to accompany him but Scarooyadi, and eight of 
 his warriors.* 
 
 Seeing the general's impatience at the non-arrival of convey- 
 ances, Washington again represented to him the difficulties he 
 would encounter in attempting to traverse the mountains with 
 such a train of wheel-carriages, assuring him it would be the 
 most arduous part of the campaign ; and recommended, from 
 his own experience, the substitution, as much as possible, of 
 pack-horses. Braddock, however, had not been sufficiently 
 harassed by frontier campaigning to depart from his European 
 modes, or to be swayed in his military operations by so green 
 a counselor. 
 
 At length the general was relieved from present perplexities 
 by the arrival of the horses and wagons which Franklin had 
 undertaken to procure. That eminent man, with his charac- 
 teristic promptness and unwearied exertions, and by his great 
 personal popularity, had obtained them from the reluctant 
 Pennsylvania farmers, being obliged to pledge his own respon- 
 sibility for their being fully remunerated. He performed this 
 laborious task out of pure zeal for the public service, neither 
 expecting nor receiving emolument ; and, in fact, experiencing 
 subsequently great delay and embarrassment before he was re- 
 lieved from the pecuniary responsibilities thus patriotically in- 
 curred. 
 
 The arrival of the conveyances put Braddock in good humor 
 with Pennsylvania. In a letter to Governor Morris, he alludes 
 to the threat of Sir John St. Clair to go through that province 
 with a drawn sword in his hand. " He is ashamed of his having 
 talked to you in the manner he did." Still the general made 
 
 * Braddock's own secretary, William Shirley, was disaffected to him. 
 Writing about him to Governor Morris, he satirically observes; "We 
 have a general most judiciously chosen for being disqualitied for the ser- 
 vice he is employed in, in almost every respect." And of the secondary 
 oflBcers: " As to them, I don't think we have much to boast. Some are 
 insolent and ignorant; others capable, but rather aiming at showing 
 their own abilities than making a proper use of WiQm.— Colonial 
 Becords, vi. 405. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 109 
 
 Franklin's contract for wagons the sole instance in which he 
 liad not experienced deceit and villainy. "I hope, however, 
 in spite of all this," adds he, " that we shall pass a merry 
 Christmas together." 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 MARCH FROM FORT CUMBERLAND. THE GREAT SAVAGE MOUN- 
 TAIN. CAMP AT THE LITTLE MEADOWS. DIVISION OF THE 
 
 FORCES. CAPTAIN JACK AND HIS BAND. SCAROOYADI IN" 
 
 DANGER. ILLNESS OF WASHINGTON. HIS HALT AT THE 
 
 TOUGHIOGHENY. MARCH OF BRADDOCK. THE GREAT MEAD- 
 OWS. LURKING ENEMIES. THEIR TRACKS. PRECAUTIONS 
 
 THICKETTY RUN. SCOUTS. INDIAN MURDERS. FUNERAL 
 
 OF AN INDIAN WARRIOR. CAMP ON THE MONONGAHELA. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S ARRIVAL THERE. MARCH FOR FORT DU- 
 
 QUESNE. THE FORDING OP THE MONONGAHELA. THE 
 
 BATTLE. THE RETREAT. DEATH OF BRADDOCK. 
 
 On the 10th of June, Braddock set off from Fort Cumher- 
 land with his aides-de-camp, and others of his staff, and his 
 body-guard of light horse. Sir Peter Halket, with his brigade, 
 had marched three days previously ; and a detachment of six 
 hundred men, under the command of Colonel Chapman, and 
 the supervision of Sir John St. Clair, had been employed up- 
 ward's of ten days in cutting down trees, removing rocks, and 
 opening a road. 
 
 The march over the mountain proved, as Washington had 
 foretold, a " tremendous undertaking." It was with difficulty 
 the heavily laden wagons could be dragged up the steep and 
 rugged roads, newly made, or imperfectly repaired. Often 
 they extended for three or four miles in a straggling and broken 
 line, with the soldiers so dispersed, in guarding them, that an 
 attack on any side would have thrown the whole in confusion. 
 It was the dreary region of the great Savage Mountain, and the 
 " Shades of Death " that was again made to echo with the din 
 of arms. 
 
 What outraged'Washington's notions of the abstemious fru- 
 gality suitable to campaigning in the " backwoods," was the 
 great number of horses and wagons required by the officers for 
 the transportation of their baggage, camp equipage, and a 
 thousand articles of artificial necessity. Simple himself in his 
 
110 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tastes and habits, and manfully indifferent to personal indul- 
 gences, he almost doubted whether such sybarites in the camp 
 could be efficient in the field. 
 
 By the time the advanced corps had struggled over two 
 mountains, and through the intervening forest, and reached 
 (16th June) the Little Meadows, where Sir John St. Clair had 
 made a temporary camp, General Braddock had become aware 
 of the difference between campaigning in a new country, or on 
 the old well-beaten battle-grounds of Europe. He now of his 
 own accord turned to Washington for advice, though it must 
 have been a sore trial to his pride to seek it of so young a man ; 
 but he had by this time sufficient proof of his sagacity, and his 
 knowledge of the frontier. 
 
 Thus unexpectedly called on, Washington gave his counsel 
 with becoming modesty, but with his accustomed clearness. 
 There was just now an opportunity to strike an effective blow 
 at Fort Duquesne, but it might be lost by delay. The garrison, 
 according to credible reports, was weak ; large reinforcements 
 and supplies, which were on their way, wpuld be detained by 
 the drought, which rendered the river by which they must come 
 low and unnavigable. The blow must be struck before they 
 could arrive. He advised the general, therefore, to divide his 
 forces ; leave one part to come on with the stores and baggage, 
 and all the cumbrous appurtenances of an army, and to throw 
 himself in the advance with the other part, composed of his 
 choicest troops, lightened of everything superfluous that might 
 impede a rapid march. , 
 
 His advice was adopted. Twelve hundred men selected out 
 of all the companies, and furnished with ten field-pieces,* were 
 to form the first division, their provisions and other necessaries 
 to be carried on pack-horses. The second division, with all the 
 stores, munitions, and heavy baggage, was to be brought on 
 by Colonel Dunbar. 
 
 The least practicable part of the arrangement was with re- 
 gard to the officers of the advance. Washington had urged a 
 retrenchment of their baggage and camp equipage, that as many 
 of their horses as possible might be used as pack-horses. Here 
 was the difficulty. Brought up,^ many of them, in fashionable 
 and luxurious life, or the loitering indulgence of country quar- 
 ters, they were so encumbered with what they considered in- 
 dispensable necessaries, that out of two hundred and twelve 
 horses generally appropriated to their use, not more than a 
 dozen could be spared by them for the public service. Wash- 
 ington, in his own case, acted up to the advice he had given. 
 He retained no more clothing and effects with him than would 
 
LIFE OF yVASUlNGTON. • HI 
 
 about half fill a portmanteau, and gave up his best steed as a 
 pack-horse — which he never heard of afterwards."* 
 
 During the halt at the Little Meadows, Captain Jack and 
 his band of forest rangers, whom Croghan had engaged at 
 Governor Morris' suggestion, made their appearance in the 
 camp; armed and equipped with rifle, knife, hunting-shirts, 
 leggings, and moccasins, and looking almost like a band of 
 Indians as they issued from the woods. 
 
 The captain asked an interview with the general, by whom, 
 it would seem, he was not expected. Braddock received him in 
 his tent, in his usual stiff and stately manner. The "Black 
 Rifle " spoke of himself and his followers as men inured to 
 hardships, and accustomed to deal with Indians, who preferred 
 stealth and stratagem to open warfare. He requested his com- 
 pany should be employed as a reconnoitering party to beat tip 
 the Indians in their lurking-places and ambuscades. 
 
 Braddock, who had a sovereign contempt for the chivalry of 
 the woods, and despised their boasted strategy, replied to the 
 hero of the Pennsylvania settlements in a manner to which he 
 had not been accustomed. " There was time enough," he said, 
 "for making arrangements ; and he had experienced troops, on 
 whom he could completely rely for all purposes." 
 
 Captain Jack withdrew, indignant at so haughty a reception, 
 and informed his leathern-clad followers of his rebuff. They 
 forthwith shouldered their rifles, turned their backs upon the 
 camp, and, headed by the captain, departed in Indian file 
 through the woods, for the usual scenes of their exploits, where 
 men knew their value, the banks of the Juniata or the Con- 
 ococheague.f 
 
 On the 19th of June Braddock's first division set out, with 
 less than thirty carriages, including those that transported am- 
 munition for the artillery, all strongly horsed. The Indians 
 marched with the advanced party. In the course of the day, 
 Scarooyadi and his son being at a small distance from the line 
 of march, were surrounded and taken by some French and In- 
 dians. His son escaped, and brought intelligence to his war- 
 riors ; they hastened to rescue or revenge him, but found him 
 tied to a tree. The French had been disposed to shoot him, but 
 their savage allies declared they would abandon them should 
 
 * Letter to J. Augustine Washington. Sparks, ii. 81. 
 
 t On the Conococheague and Juniata is left the history of their ex- 
 ploits. At one time you may hear of the band neai- Fort Augusta, next 
 at Fort Franklin, then at London, then at Juniata, '--rapid were the 
 movements of this hardy band.— Hazard's Rerj, ^mn, \y, 390; also^ Y, 
 iv4< 
 
112 ♦ LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 they do so ; having some tie of friendship or kindred with the 
 chieftain, who thus rejoined the troops unharmed. 
 
 Washington was disappointed in his anticipations of a rapid 
 march. The general, though he had adopted his advice in the 
 main, could not carry it out in detail. His military education 
 was in the way ; higoted to the regular and elaborate tactics of 
 Europe, he could not stoop to the make-shift expedients of a 
 new country, where every difficulty is encountered and mastered 
 in a rough-and-ready style. "I found," said Washington, 
 " that instead of pushing on with vigor, without regarding a 
 little rough road, they were halting to level every molehill, and 
 to erect bridges over every brook, by which means we were four 
 days in getting twelve miles." 
 
 Eor several days Washington had suffered from fever, ac- 
 companied by intense headache, and his illness increased in 
 violence to such a degree that he was unable to ride, and had 
 to be conveyed for a part of the time in a covered wagon. His 
 illness continued without intermission until the 23d, " when I 
 was relieved," says he, " by the general's absolutely ordering 
 the physician to give me Dr. James' powders : one of the most 
 excellent medicines in the world. It gave me immediate relief, 
 and removed my fever and other complaints in four days' 
 time." 
 
 He was still unable to bear the jolting of the wagon but it 
 needed another interposition of the kindly-intended authority 
 of General Braddock, to bring him to a halt at the great cross- 
 ings of the Youghiogheny. There the general assigned him a 
 guard, provided him with necessaries, and requested him to re- 
 main, under care of his physician. Dr. Craik, until the arrival 
 of Colonel Dunbar's detachment, which was two days' march in 
 the rear ; giving him his word of honor that he should, at all 
 events, be enabled to rejoin the main division before it reached 
 the Erench fort.* 
 
 This kind solicitude on the part of Braddock, shows the real 
 estimation in which he was held by that officer. Doctor Craik 
 backed the general's orders, by declaring that should Washing- 
 ton persevere in his attempts to go on in the condition he then 
 was, his life would be in danger. Orme also joined his entreat- 
 ies, and promised, if he would remain, he would keep him in- 
 formed by letter of every occurrence of moment. 
 
 Notwithstanding all kind assurances of Braddock and his 
 aide-de-camp Orme, it was with gloomy feelings that Washing- 
 ton saw the troops depart, fearful he might not be able to re- 
 join them in time for the attack upon the fort, which, he as- 
 * Letter to John Augustine Washington. Sparks, ii. 80. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 113 
 
 sured his brother aide-de-camp, he would not miss for five 
 hundred pounds. 
 
 Leaving Washington at the Youghiogheny, we will follow the 
 march of Braddock. In the course of the first day (June 24th,) 
 he came to a deserted Indian camp ; judging from the number 
 of wigwams, there must have been about one hundred and 
 seventy warriors. Some of the trees about it had been stripped, 
 and painted with threats, and bravadoes, and scurrilous taunts 
 written on them in the French language, showing that there 
 were white men with the savages. 
 
 The next morning at daybreak, three men venturing beyond 
 the sentinels were shot and scalped ; parties w^ere immediately 
 sent out to scour the woods, and drive in the stray horses. 
 
 The day's march passed by the Great Meadows and Fort 
 Necessity, the scene of Washington's capitulation. Several 
 Indians were seen hovering in the woods, and the light horse 
 and Indian allies were sent out to surround them, but did not 
 succeed. In crossing a mountain beyond the Great Meadows, 
 the carriages had to be lowered with the assistance of the 
 sailors, by means of tackle. The camp for the night was about 
 two miles beyond Fort Necessity. Several French and Indians 
 endeavored to reconnoiter it, but were fired upon by the ad- 
 vanced sentinels. 
 
 The following day (26th) there was a laborious march of but 
 four miles, owing to the difficulties of the road. The evening 
 halt was at another deserted Indian camp, strongly posted on 
 a high rock, with a steep and narrow ascent ; it had a spring 
 in the middle, and stood at the termination of the Indian path 
 to the Monongahela. By this pass the party had come which 
 attacked Washington the year before, in the Great Meadows. 
 The Indians and French too, who were hovering about the 
 army, had just left this camp. The fires they had left were 
 yet burning. The French had inscribed their names on some 
 of the trees with insulting bravadoes, and the Indians had des- 
 ignated in triumph the scalps they had taken two days pre- 
 viously. A party was sent out with guides, to follow their 
 tracks and fall on them in the night, but again without success. 
 In fact, it was the Indian boast, that throughout this march of 
 Braddock, they saw him every day from the mountains, and 
 expected to be able to shoot down his soldiers " like pigeons." 
 
 The march continued to be toilful and difficult ; on one day 
 it did not exceed two miles, having to cut a passage over a 
 mountain. In cleaning their guns the men were ordered to 
 draw the charge, instead of firing it off. No fire was to be 
 lighted in front of the pickets. At night, the men were t© 
 take their arms into the tents with them. 
 
114 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Further on the precautions became still greater. On the ad- 
 vanced pickets the men were in two divisions, relieving each 
 other every two hours. Half remained on guard with fixed 
 bayonets, the other half lay down by their arms. The picket 
 sentinels were doubled. 
 
 On the 4th of July they encamped at Thicketty Kun. The 
 country was less mountainous and rocky, and the woods, con- 
 sisting chiefly of white pine, were more open. The general 
 now supposed himself to be within thirty miles of Fort Duquesne. 
 Ever since his halt at the deserted camp on the rock beyond 
 the Great Meadows, he had endeavored to prevail upon the 
 Croghan Indians to scout in the direction of the fort, and bring 
 him intelligence, but never could succeed. They had probably 
 been deterred by the number of French and Indian tracks, and 
 by the recent capture of Scarooyadi. This day, however, two 
 consented to reconnoiter ; and shortly after their departure, 
 Christopher Gist, the resolute pioneer, who acted as guide to 
 the general, likewise set off as a scout. 
 
 The Indians returned on the 6th. They had been close to 
 Fort Duquesne. There were no additional works there ; they 
 saw a few boats under the fort, and one with a white flag com- 
 ing down the Ohio; but there were few men to be seen, and 
 few tracks of any. They came upon an unfortunate officer, 
 shooting within half a mile of the fort, and brought a scalp as a 
 trophy of his fate. Kone of the passes between the camp and 
 fort were occupied ; they believed there were few men abroad 
 reconnoitering. 
 
 Gist returned soon after them. His account corroborated 
 theirs ; but he had seen a smoke in a valley between the camp 
 and the fort, made probably by some scouting party. He had 
 intended to prowl about the fort at night, but had been dis- 
 covered and pursued by two Indians, and narrowly escaped with 
 his life. 
 
 On the same day, during the march, three or four men loiter- 
 ing in the rear of the grenadiers were killed and scalped. 
 Several of the grenadiers set off to take revenge. They came 
 upon a party of Indians, who held up boughs and grounded 
 their arms, the concerted sign of amity. Not perceiving or 
 understanding it, the grenadiers fired upon them, and one fell. 
 It proved to be the son of Scarooyadi. Aware too late of 
 their error, the grenadiers brought the body to the camp. The 
 conduct of Braddock was admirable on the occasion. He sent 
 for the father and the other Indians, and condoled with them 
 on the lamentable occurrence ; making them the customary 
 jxiesents of expiation. But what was more to the point, he 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. Ho 
 
 caused the youth to be buried with the honors of war ; at his 
 request the officers attended the funeral, and a volley was fired 
 over the grave. 
 
 These soldierlike tributes of respect to the deceased, and 
 sympathy with the survivors, soothed the feelings and gratified 
 the pride of the father, and attached him more firmly to the 
 service. We are glad to record an anecdote to the contrary to the 
 general contempt for the Indians with which Braddock stands 
 charged. It speaks well for the real kindness of his heart. 
 
 We will return now to Washington in his sick encampment 
 on the banks of the Youghiogheny, where he was left repining 
 at the departure of the troops without him. To add to his an- 
 noyances, his servant, John Alton, a faithful Welshman, was 
 taken ill with the same malady, and unable to render him any 
 services. Letters from his fellow aides-de-camp showed him 
 the kind solicitude that was felt concerning him. At the gen- 
 eral's desire. Captain Morris wrote to him, informing him of 
 their intended halts. 
 
 " It is the desire of every individual in the family," adds he, 
 " and the general's positive commands to you, not to stir, but 
 by the advice of the person [Dr. Craik] under whose care you 
 are, till you are better, which we all hope will be very soon." 
 
 Orme, too, according to promise, kept him informed of the in- 
 cidents of the march ; the frequent night alarms, and occasional 
 scalping parties. The night alarms Washington considered 
 mere feints designed to harass the men and retard the march ; 
 the enemy, he was sure, had not sufficient force for a serious at- 
 tack ; and he was glad to learn from Orme that the men were 
 in high spirits and confident of success. 
 
 He now considered himself sufficiently recovered to rejoin 
 the troops, and his only anxiety was that he should not be able 
 to do it in time for the great blow. He was rejoiced, therefore, 
 on the 3d of July, by the arrival of an advanced party of one 
 hundred men convoying provisions. Being still too weak to 
 mount his horse, he set off with the escort in a covered wagon ; 
 and after a most fatiguing journey, over mountain and through 
 forest, reached Braddock's camp on the 8th of July. It was on 
 the east side of the Monongahela, about two miles from the 
 river, in the neighborhood of the town of Queen Aliquippa, 
 and about fifteen miles from Fort Duquesne. 
 
 In consequence of adhering to technical rules and military 
 forms, General Braddock had consumed a month in marching 
 little more than a hundred miles. The tardiness of his pro- 
 gress was regarded with surprise and impatience even in 
 Europe ; where his patron, the Duke of Brunswick, was watch- 
 
'lie lif:e of WAsmNQTON. 
 
 ing the events of the campaign he had planned. " The Duke/* 
 writes Horace Walpole, " is much dissatisfied at the slowness 
 of General Braddock, who does not march as if he was at all 
 inpatient to he scalped.^'' The insinuation of the satirical wit 
 was unmerited. Braddock was a stranger to fear ; hut in his 
 movements he was fettered hy system. 
 
 Washington was warmly received on his arrival, especially 
 hy his fellow aides-de-camp, Morris and Orme. He was just in 
 time, for the attack upon Fort Duquesne was to he made on the 
 following day. The neighboring country had been reconnoi- 
 tered to determine upon a plan of attack. The fort stood on 
 the same side of the Monongahela with the camp ; but there 
 was a narrow pass between them of about two miles, with the 
 river on the left and a very high mountain on the right, and in 
 its present state quite impassable for carriages. The route de- 
 dermined on was to cross the Monongahela by a ford immedi- 
 ately opposite to the camp ; proceed along the west bank of the 
 river, for about five miles, then recross by another ford to the 
 eastern side, and push on to the fort. The river at these fords 
 was shallow, and the banks were not steep. 
 
 According to the plan of arrangement. Lieutenant-colonel 
 Gage, with the advance, was to cross the river before daybreak, 
 march to the second ford, and recrossing there, take post to 
 secure the passage of the main force. The advance was to be 
 composed of two companies of grenadiers, one hundred and sixty 
 infantry, the independent company of CaT)tain Horatio Gates, 
 and two six-pounders. 
 
 Washington, who had already seen enough of regular troops 
 to doubt their infallibility in wild bush-fighting, and who knew 
 the dangerous nature of the ground they were to traverse, ven- 
 tured to suggest, that on the following day the Virginia ran- 
 gers, being accustomed to the country and to Indian warfare, 
 might be thrown in the advance. The proposition drew an 
 angry reply from the general, indignant very probably, that a 
 young provincial ofiicer should presume to school a veteran like 
 himself. 
 
 Early next morning (July 9th), before daylight. Colonel 
 Gage crossed with the advance. He was followed, at some 
 distance, by Sir John St. Clair, quartermaster-general, with a 
 working party of two hundred and fifty men, to make roads for 
 the artillery and baggage. They had with them their wagons 
 of tools, and two six-pounders. A party of about thirty savages 
 rushed out of the woods as Colonel Gage advanced, but were 
 put to flight before they had done any harm. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 117 
 
 By sunrise tlie main body turned out in full uniform. At 
 the beating of "the general/' their -arms, which had been 
 cleaned the night before, were charged with fresh cartridges. 
 The officers were perfectly equipped. All looked as if arrayed 
 for a fete, rather than a battle. Washington, who was still 
 weak and unwell, mounted his horse, and joined the staff of 
 the general, who was scrutinizing everything with the eye of a 
 martinet. As it was supposed the enemy would be on the 
 watch for the crossing of the troops, it had been agreed that 
 they should do it in the greatest order, with bayonets fixed, 
 colors flying, and drums and fifes beating and playing."* They 
 accordingly made a gallant appearance as they forded the 
 Monongahela, and wound along its banks, and through the 
 open forests, gleaming and glittering in morning sunshine, 
 and stepping buoyantly to the " Grenadiers' March." 
 
 Washington, with his keen and youthful relish for military 
 affairs, was delighted with their perfect order and equipment, 
 so different from the rough bush-nghters, to which he had been 
 accustomed. E-oused to new life, he forgot his recent ailments, 
 and broke forth in expressions of enjoyment and admiration, 
 as he rode in company with his fellow aides-de-camp, Orme and 
 Morris. Often, in after life, he used to speak of the effect 
 upon him of the first sight of a well-disciplined European army, 
 marching in high confidence and bright array, on the eve of a 
 battle. 
 
 About noon they reached the second ford. G-age, with the 
 advance, was on the opposite side of the Monongahela, posted 
 according to orders ; but the river bank had not been sufficiently 
 sloped. The artillery and baggage drew up along the beach 
 and halted until one, when the second crossing took place, 
 drums beating, fifes playing, and colors flying as before. 
 When all had passed, there was again a halt close by a small 
 stream called Frazier's Eun, until the general arranged the 
 order of march. 
 
 First went the advance, under Gage, preceded by^the engi- 
 neers and guides, and six light horsemen. 
 
 Then, Sir John St. Clair and the working partj^, with their 
 wagons and the two six-pounders. On each side were thrown 
 out four flanking parties. 
 
 Then, at some distance, the general was to follow with the 
 main body, the artillery and baggage were preceded and flanked 
 by light horse and squads of infantry ; while the Virginian 
 and other provincial troops, were to form the rear-guard. 
 
 The ground before them was level until about half a mile 
 from the river, where a rising ground, covered with long grass^ 
 
 * Orme's Journal. 
 
118 LIFi: OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 low Ibuslies, and scattered trees, sloped gently up to a range Gi\ 
 hills. The whole country, generally speaking, was a forest, 
 with no clear opening but the road, which was about twelve 
 feet wide and flanked by two ravines concealed by trees and 
 thickets. 
 
 Had Braddock been schooled in the warfare of the woods, or 
 had he adopted the suggestions of Washington, which he re- 
 jected so impatiently, he would have thrown out Indian scouts 
 or Virginian rangers in the advance, and on the flanks, to beat 
 up the woods and ravines ; but, as has been sarcastically ob- '\ 
 served, he suffered his troops to march forward through the 
 centre of the plain, with merely their usual guides and flanking 
 parties, " as if in a review in St. James's Park." 
 
 It was now near two o'clock. The advanced party and the. 
 working party had crossed the plain and were ascending the 
 rising ground. Braddock was about to follow with the main 
 body, and had given the word to march, when he heard an ex- 
 cessively quick and heavy firing in front. Washington, who 
 was with the general, surmised that the evil he had apprehended 
 had come to pass. For want of scouting parties ahead, the ad- 
 vance parties were suddenly aud warmly attacked. Braddock 
 ordered Lieutenant-colonel Burton to hasten to their assistance' 
 with the vanguard of the main body, eight hundred strong. 
 The residue, four hundred, were halted, and posted to protect 
 the artillery and baggage. 
 
 The firing continued with fearful yelling. There was a ter- 
 rible uproar. By the general's orders an aide-de-camp spurred 
 forward to bring him an account of the natnre of the attack. 
 Without waiting for his return the general himself, finding the 
 turmoil increase, moved forward, leaving Sir Peter Halket with 
 the command of the baggage.* 
 
 The van of the advance had indeed been taken by surprise.. 
 It was composed of two companies of pioneers to cut the road, 
 and two flank companies of grenadiers to protect them. Sud- 
 denly the engineer who preceded them to mark out the road 
 gave the alarm, " French and Indians ! " A body of them was : 
 approaching rapidly, cheered on by a Frenchman in gayly 
 fringed hunting-shirt, whose gorget showed him to be an officer. 
 There was sharp firing on both sides at first. Several of the 
 enemy fell; among them their leader; but a murderous fire' 
 broke out from among trees and a ravine on the right, and the 
 woods resounded with unearthly whoops and yellings. The 
 Indian rifle was at work, leveled by unseen hands. Most of 
 
 *Orme's Journal. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 119 
 
 the grenadiers and many of the pioneers were shot down. The 
 survivors were driven in on the advance. 
 
 Gage ordered his men to fix bayonets and form in order of 
 battle. They did so in hurry and trepidation. He would 
 have scaled a hill on the right whence there was the severest 
 firing. Not a platoon would quit the line of march. They 
 were more dismayed by the yells than by the rifles of the unseen 
 savages. The latter extended themselves along the hill and in 
 the ravines ; but their whereabouts was only known by their 
 demoniac cries and the puffs of smoke from their rifles. The 
 soldiers fired wherever they saw the smoke. Their officers 
 tried in vain to restrain them until they should see their foe. 
 All orders were unheeded ; in their fright they shot at random, 
 [killing some of their own flanking parties, and of the vanguard, 
 LS they came running in. The covert fire grew more intense. 
 \%n a short time most of the officers and many of the men of the 
 Ivance were killed or wounded. Colonel Gage himself re- 
 ceived a wound. The advance fell back in dismay upon Sir 
 ^ohn St. Clair's corps, which was equally dismayed. The can- 
 ion belonging to it were deserted. 
 Colonel Burton had come up with the reinforcement, and 
 |"was forming his men to face the rising ground on the right, 
 ^when both of the advanced detachments fell back upon him, 
 and all now was confusion. 
 
 By this time the general was upon the ground. He tried to 
 
 rally the men. " They would fight," they said, " if they could 
 
 see their enemy ; but it was useless to fire at trees and bushes, 
 
 ind they could not stand to be shot down by an invisible foe." 
 
 The colors were advanced in different places to separate the 
 
 len of the two regiments. The general ordered the officers to 
 
 form the men, tell them off into small divisions, and advance 
 
 qth them ; but the soldiers could not be prevailed upon either 
 
 \hy threats or entreaties. The Virginia troops, accustomed to 
 
 |the Indian mode of fighting, scattered themselves, and took 
 
 )ost behind trees, whence they could pick off the lurking foe. 
 
 ]n this way they, in some degree, protected the regulars. 
 
 f-Washington advised General Braddock to adopt the same plan 
 
 dth the regulars ; but he persisted in forming them into pla- 
 
 boons ; consequently they were cut down from behind logs and 
 
 krees as fast as they could advance. Several attempted to take 
 
 ^to the trees, without orders, but the general stormed at them, 
 
 called them cowards, and even struck them with the flat of his 
 
 sword. Several of the Virginians, who had taken post and 
 
 were doing good service in this manner, were slain by the fire 
 
 of the regulars, directed wherever a smoke appeq,red among the 
 
 trees, 
 
120 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The officers behaved with consummate bravery ; and Wash- 
 ington beheld with admiration those who, in camp or on the 
 march, had appeared to him to have an almost effeminate regard 
 for personal ease and convenience, now exposing themselves to 
 imminent death, with a courage that kindled with the thicken- 
 ing horrors. In the vain hope of inspiriting the men to drive 
 off the enemy from the flanks and regain the cannon, they 
 would dash forward singly or in groups. They were invariably 
 shot down ; for the Indians aimed from their coverts at every 
 one on horseback, or who appeared to have command. 
 
 Some were killed by random shots of their own men, who, 
 crowded in masses, fired with affrighted rapidity, but without 
 aim. Soldiers in the front ranks were killed by those in the 
 rear. Between friend and foe, the slaughter of the officers was 
 terrible. All this while the woods resounded with the un- 
 earthly yellings of the savages, and now and then one of them, 
 hideously painted, and ruffling with feathered crest, would rush 
 forth to scalp an officer who had fallen, or seize a horse gallop- 
 ing wildly without a rider. 
 
 Throughout this disastrous day, Washington distinguished 
 himself by his courage and presence of mind. His brother 
 aids, Orme and Morris, were wounded and disabled early in the 
 action, and the whole duty of carrying the orders of the general 
 devolved on him. His danger was imminent and incessant. 
 He was in every part of the field, a conspicuous mark for the 
 murderous rifle. Two horses were shot under him. Four 
 bullets passed through his coat. His escape without a wound 
 was almost miraculous. Dr. Craik, who was on the field at- 
 tending to the wounded, watched him with anxiety as he rode 
 about in the most exposed manner, and used to say that he ex- 
 pected every moment to see him fall. At one time he was sent 
 to the main body to bring the artillery into action. All there 
 was likewise in confusion ; for the Indians had extended them- 
 selves along the ravine so as to flank the reserve and carry 
 slaughter into the ranks. Sir Peter Halket had been shot 
 down at the head of his regiment. The men who should have 
 served the guns were paralyzed. Had they raked the ravines 
 with grape-shot the day might have been saved. In his ardor 
 Washington sprang from his horse, wheeled and pointed a 
 brass field-piece with his own hand, and directed an effective 
 discharge into the woods ; but neither his efforts nor example 
 were of avail. The men could not be kept to the guns. 
 
 Braddock still remained in the centre of the field, in the 
 desperate hope of retrieving the fortunes of the day. The 
 Virginia rangers, who had been most efficient in covering his 
 
LIFE OF WASBmOTOm 121 
 
 position, were nearly all killed or wounded. His secretary, 
 Shirley, had fallen by his side. Many of his officers had been 
 slain within his sight, and many of his guard of Virginia light 
 horse. Five horses had been killed under him; still he kept 
 his ground, vainly endeavoring to check the flight of his men, 
 or at least to effect their retreat in good order. At length a 
 bullet passed through his right arm, and lodged itself in his 
 lungs. He fell from his horse, but was caught by Captain 
 Stewart of the Virginia guards, who, with the assistance of 
 another American, and a servant, placed him in a tumbril. It 
 was with much difficulty they got him out of the field — in his 
 despair he desired to be left there."*^ 
 
 The rout now became complete. Baggage, stores, artillery, 
 everything was abandoned. The wagoners took each a horse 
 out of his team, and fled. The officers were swept off with il^e 
 men in this headlong flight. It was rendered more precipitate 
 by the shouts and yells of the savages, numbers of whom rushed 
 forth from their coverts, and pursued the fugitives to the river' 
 side, killing several as they dashed across in tumultuous con- 
 fusion. Fortunately for the latter, the victors gave up the pur- 
 suit in their eagerness to collect the spoil. 
 
 The shattered army continued its flight after it had crossed 
 the Monongahela, a wretched wreck of the brilliant little force 
 that had recently gleamed along its banks, confident of victory. 
 Out of eighty-six officers, twenty-six had been killed, and thirty- 
 six wounded. The number of rank and file killed and wounded 
 was upwards of seven hundred. The Virginia corps had suf- 
 fered the most ; one company had been almost annihilated, an- 
 other, beside those killed and wounded in the ranks, had lost 
 all its officers, even to the corporal. 
 
 About a hundred men were brought to a halt about a quarter 
 of a mile from the ford of the river. Here was Braddock, with 
 his wounded aides-de-camp and some of his officers. Dr. Craik 
 dressing his wounds, and Washington attending him with 
 faithful assiduity. Braddock was still able to give orders, and 
 had a faint hope of being able to keep possession of the ground 
 until reinforced. Most of the men were stationed in a very ad- 
 vantageous spot about two hundred yards from the road ; and 
 Lieutenant-colonel Burton posted out small parties and senti- 
 nels. Before an hour had elapsed most of the men had stolen 
 off. Being thus deserted, Braddock and his officers continued 
 their retreat ; he would have mounted his horse, but was unable, 
 and had to be carried by soldiers. Orme and Morris were 
 
 * Journal of the Seamen^ s detachmenU 
 
122 TAFE OF WASBIN^TOK. 
 
 placed on litters borne by horses. They were subsequently 
 joined by Colonel Gage with eighty men whom he had rallied. 
 
 Washington in the meantime, notwithstanding his weak 
 state, being found most efficient in frontier service, was sent to 
 Colonel Dunbar's camp, forty miles distant, with orders for 
 him to hurry forward provisions, hospital stores, and wagons 
 for the wounded, under the escort of two grenadier companies. 
 It was a hard and a melancholy ride throughout the night and 
 the following day. The tidings of the defeat preceded him, 
 borne by the wagoners, who had mounted their horses, on 
 Braddock's fall, and fled from the field of battle. They had 
 arrived, haggard, at Dunbar's camp at mid-day ; the Indian 
 yells still ringing in their ears. " All was lost ! " they cried. 
 *^ Braddock was killed ! They had seen wounded officers borne 
 off from the field in bloody sheets ! The troops were all cut to 
 pieces ! " A panic fell upon the camp. The drums beat to 
 arms. Many of the soldiers, wagoners, and attendants, took to 
 flight ; but most of them were forced back by the sentinels. 
 
 Washington arrived at the camp in the evening, and found 
 the agitation still prevailing. The orders which he brought 
 were executed during the night, and he was in the saddle 
 early in the morning accompanying the convoy of supplies. 
 At Grist's plantation, about thirteen miles off, he met Gage and 
 his scanty force escorting Braddock and his wounded officers. 
 Captain Stewart and a sad remnant of the Virginia light horse 
 still accompanied the general as his guard. The captain had 
 been unremitting in his attentions to him during the retreat. 
 There was a halt of one day at Dunbar's camp for the repose 
 and relief of the wounded. On the 13th they resumed their 
 melancholy march, and that night reached the Great Meadows. 
 
 The proud spirit of Braddock was broken by his defeat. He 
 remained silent the first evening after the battle, only ejaculat- 
 ing at night, ^' Who would have thought it ! " He was equally 
 silent the following day ; yet hope still seemed to linger in his 
 breast, from another ejaculation: "We shall better know how 
 to deal with them another time ! " * 
 
 He was grateful for the attentions paid to him by Captain 
 Stewart and Washington, and more than once, it is said, ex- 
 pressed his admiration of the gallantry displayed by the Vir- 
 ginians in the action. It is said, moreover, that in his last 
 
 * Captain Orme, who gave these particulars to Dr. Franklin, says 
 that Braddock "died a few minutes after." This, according to his ac- 
 count, was on the second day; whereas the general survived upwards of 
 four days. Orme, being conveyed on a litter at some distance from the 
 general, could only sneak of his moods from hearsay. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 123 
 
 moments, he apologized to Washington for the petulance with 
 which he had rejected his advice, and bequeathed to him his 
 favorite charger, and his faithful servant, Bishop, who had 
 helped to convey him from the field. 
 
 Some of these facts, it is true, rest on tradition, yet we 
 are willing to believe them, as they impart a gleam of just 
 and generous feeling to his closing scene. He died on the 
 night of the 13th, at the Great Meadows, the place of Wash- 
 ington's discomfiture in the previous year. His obsequies were 
 performed before break of day. The chaplain having been 
 wounded, Washington read the funeral service. All was done 
 in sadness, and without parade, so as not to attract the atten- 
 tion of lurking savages, who might discover and outrage his 
 grave. It is doubtful even whether a volley was fired over it, 
 that last military honor which he had recently paid to the re- 
 mains of an Indian warrior. The place of his sepulture, how- 
 ever, is still known, and pointed out. 
 
 Reproach spared him not, even when in his grave. The 
 failure of the expedition was attributed, both in England and 
 America, to his obstinacy, his technical pedantry, and his mili- 
 tary conceit. He had been continually warned to be on his 
 guard against ambush and surprise, but without avail. Had 
 he taken the advice urged on him by Washington and others, to 
 employ scouting parties of Indians and rangers, he would never 
 have been so signally surprised and defeated. 
 
 Still his dauntless conduct on the field of battle shows him 
 to have been a man of fearless spirit ; and he was universally 
 allowed to be an accomplished disciplinarian. His melancholy 
 end, too, disarms censure of its asperity. Whatever may have 
 been his faults and errors, he in a manner expiated them by the 
 hardest lot that can befall a brave soldier, ambitious of renown 
 — an unhonored grave in a strange land ; a memory clouded by 
 misfortune and a name forever coupled with defeat. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In narrating the expedition of Braddock, we have frequently cited 
 the journals of Captain Orme and of the " Seamen's detachment." 
 They were procured in England by the Hon. Joseph K. Ingersoll, while 
 Minister at the Court of St. James, and recently published by the His- 
 torical Society of Pennsylvania, ably edited and illustrated with an ad- 
 mirable Introductory Memoir by Winthrop Sargent, Esq., member of 
 that Society, 
 
124 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT FORT CUMBERLAND. LETTERS OF WASHINGTON 
 
 TO HIS FAMILY. PANIC OF DUNBAR. 
 
 The obsequies of the unfortunate Braddock being finished, 
 the escort continued its retreat with the sick and wounded. 
 Washington, assisted by Dr. Craik, watched with assiduity 
 over his comrades, Orme and Morris. As the horses which 
 bore their litters were nearly knocked up, he despatched mes- 
 sengers to the commander of Fort Cumberland requesting that 
 others might be sent on, and that comfortable quarters might 
 be prepared for the reception of those officers. 
 
 On the 17th, the sad cavalcade reached the fort, and were 
 1-elieved from the incessant apprehension of pursuit. Here, 
 too, flying reports had preceded them, brought by fugitives 
 from the battle ; who with the disposition usual in such cases 
 to exaggerate, had represented the whole army as massacred. 
 Fearing these reports might reach home, and affect his family, 
 Washington wrote to his mother, and his brother, John Augus- 
 tine, apprising them of his safety. "The Virginia troops," 
 says he, in a letter to his mother, " showed a good deal of 
 bravery, and were nearly all killed The dastardly be- 
 havior of those they called regulars exposed all others, that 
 were ordered to do their duty, to almost certain death ; and, at 
 last, in despite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, 
 they ran, as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to 
 rally them." 
 
 To his brother he writes: "As I have heard, since my 
 arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and 
 dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting 
 the first, and of assuring you that I have not composed the 
 latter. But, by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I 
 have been protected beyond all human probability, or expecta- 
 tion ; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses 
 shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, though death was leveling 
 my companions on every side of me ! 
 
 " We have been most scandalously beaten by a trifling 
 body of men ; but fatigue and want of time prevent me from 
 giving you any of the details, until I have the happiness of 
 peeing you at Mount Vernon, which I now most earnestly wish 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. . 125 
 
 for, since we are driven in thus far. A feeble state of health 
 obliges me to halt here for two or three days to recover a little 
 strength, that I may thereby be enabled to proceed homeward 
 with more ease." 
 
 Dunbar arrived shortly afterward with the remainder of the 
 army. No one seems to have shared more largely in the panic 
 of the vulgar than that officer. From the moment he received 
 tidings of the defeat, his camp became a scene of confusion. 
 All the ammunition, stores, and artillery were destroyed, to 
 prevent, it was said, their falling into the hands of the enemy ; 
 but as it was afterwards alleged, to relieve the terror-stricken 
 commander from all incumbrances, and furnish him with more 
 horses in his flight toward the settlements.'*' 
 
 At Cumberland his forces amounted to fifteen hundred 
 effective men ; enough for a brave stand to protect the frontier, 
 and recover some of the lost honor ; but he merely paused to 
 leave the sick and wounded under care of two Virginia and 
 Maryland companies, and some of the train, and then continued 
 his hasty march, or rather flight, through the country, not 
 thinking himself safe, as was sneeringly intimated, until he 
 arrived in Philadelphia, where the inhabitants could protect 
 him. 
 
 The true reason why the enemy did not pursue the retreat- 
 ing army was not known until some time afterwards, and 
 added to the disgrace of the defeat. They were not the main 
 force of the French, but a mere detachment of 72 regulars, 146 
 Canadians, and 637 Indians, 855 in all, led by Captain de 
 Beaujeu. De Contrecoeur, the commander of Fort Duquesne, 
 had received information, through his scouts, that the English, 
 three thousand strong, were within six leagues of his fort. 
 Despairing of making an effectual defense against such a 
 superior force, he was balancing in his mind whether to abandon 
 his fort without awaiting their arrival, or to capitulate on 
 honorable terms. In this dilemma Beaujeu prevailed on him 
 to let him sally forth with a detachment to form an ambush, 
 and give check to the enemy. De Beaujeu was to have taken 
 post at the river, and disputed the passage at the fort. For 
 that purpose he was hurrying forward when, discovered by 
 the pioneers of Gage's advance part}^ He was a gallant 
 officer, and fell at the beginning of the fight. The whole 
 number of killed and wounded of French and Indians, did not 
 exceed seventy. 
 
 Such was the scanty force which the imagination of the 
 panic-stricken army had magnified into a great host, and from 
 * Franklin's Autobiography, 
 
126 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 which they had fled in breathless terror, abandoning the whole 
 frontier. No one could be more surprised than the French 
 commander himself, when the ambuscading party returned in 
 triumph with a long train of pack-horses laden with booty, the 
 savages uncouthly clad in the garments of the slain, grenadier 
 caps, officers' gold-laced coats, and glittering epaulettes ; 
 flourishing swords and sabres, or firing off muskets, and utter- 
 ing fiendlike yells of victory. But when De Contrecoeur was 
 informed of the utter rout and destruction of the much dreaded 
 British army, his joy was complete. He ordered the guns of 
 the fort to be fired in triumph, and sent out troops in pursuit 
 of the fugitives. 
 
 The affair of Braddock remains a memorable event in Ameri- 
 can history, and has been characterized as ^'the most extraor- 
 dinary victory ever obtained, and the furthest flight ever 
 made." It struck a fatal blow to the deference for British 
 prowess, which once amounted almost to bigotry throughout 
 the provinces. "This whole transaction," observes Franklin, 
 in his autobiography, "gave us the first suspicion that our 
 exalted ideas of the prowess of British regular troops had not 
 been well foundc^ 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 COSTS OF CAMPAIGNING. MEASURES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY. 
 
 WASHINGTON IN COMMAND. HEAD-QUARTERS AT WINCHES- 
 TER. LORD FAIRFAX AND HIS TROOP OF HORSE. INDIAN 
 
 RAVAGES. PANIC AT WINCHESTER. CAUSE OF THE ALARM. 
 
 OPERATIONS ELSEWHERE. SHIRLEY AGAINST NIAGARA. 
 
 JOHNSON AGAINST CROWN POINT. AFFAIR AT LAKE GEORGE. 
 
 DEATH OF DIESKAU. 
 
 Washington arrived at Mount Vernon on the 26th of July, 
 still in feeble condition from his long illness. His campaigning, 
 thus far, had trenched upon his private fortune, and impaired 
 one of the best of constitutions. 
 
 In a letter to his brother Augustine, then a member of 
 Assembly at Williamsburg, he casts up the result of his fron- 
 tier experience. " I was employed," he writes, " to go a jour- 
 ney in the winter, when I believe few or none would have 
 undertaken it and what did I get by it ? — my expenses borne \ 
 I w^s then appointed, with trifling pay^ to conduct a handful 
 
UFE OF WASHWaTOK. 127 
 
 of men to the Ohio. What did I get by that ? Why, after 
 putting myself to a considerable expense in equipping and 
 providing necessaries for the campaign, I went out, was soundly 
 beaten, and lost all ! Came in, and had my commission taken 
 from me, or, in other words, my command reduced, under pre- 
 tense of an order from home (England). I then went out a 
 volunteer with General Braddock, and lost all my horses, and 
 many other things. But this being a voluntary act, I ought 
 not to have mentioned it ; nor should I have done it, were 
 it not to show that I have been on the losing order ever since 
 I entered the service, which is now nearly two years." 
 
 What a striking lesson is furnished by this brief summary ! 
 How little was he aware of the vast advantages he was acquir- 
 ing in this school of bitter experience ! " In the hand of 
 Heaven he stood," to be shaped and trained for its great pur- 
 pose ; and every trial and vicissitude of his early life but fitted 
 him to cope with one or other of the varied and multifarious 
 duties of his future destiny. 
 
 But though under the saddening influence of debility and 
 defeat, he might count the cost of his campaigning, the martial 
 spirit still burned within him. His connection with the army, 
 it is true, had ceased at the death of Braddock, but his mili- 
 tary duties continued as adjutant-general of the northern di- 
 vision of the province, and he immediately issued orders for 
 the county lieutenants to hold the militia in readiness for parade 
 and exercise, foreseeing that, in the present defenseless state 
 of the frontier, there would be need of their services. 
 
 Tidings of the rout and retreat of the army had circulated 
 far and near, and spread consternation throughout the country. 
 Immediate incursions both of Erench and Indians were appre- 
 hended ; and volunteer companies began to form, for the pur- 
 pose of marching across the mountains to the scene of danger. 
 It was intimated to Washington that his services would again 
 be wanted on the frontier. He declared instantly that he was 
 ready to serve his country to the extent of his powers ; but 
 never on the same terms as heretofore. 
 
 On the 4th of August, Governor Dinwiddle convened the 
 Assembly to devise measures for the public safety. The sense 
 of danger had quickened the slow patriotism of the burgesses ; 
 they no longer held back si\pplies; forty thousand pounds 
 were promptly voted, and orders issued for the raising of a 
 regiment of one thousand men. 
 
 Washington's friends urged him to present himself at Wil- 
 liamsburg as a candidate for the command ; they were confident 
 
128 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of Ills success, notwithstanding that strong interest was making 
 for the governor's favorite, Colonel Innes. 
 
 With mingled modesty and pride, Washington declined to 
 be a solicitor. The only terms, he said, on which he would 
 accept a command, were a certainty as to rank and emoluments, 
 a right to appoint his field-officers, and the supply of a sufficient 
 military chest ; but to solicit the command, and, at the same 
 time, to make stipulations, would be a little incongruous, and 
 carry with it the face of self-sufficiency. "If," added he, "the 
 command should be offered to me, the case will then be altered, 
 as I should be at liberty to make such objections as reason, and 
 my small experience, have pointed out." 
 
 While this was in agitation, he received letters from his 
 mother, again imploring him not to risk himself in these 
 frontier wars. His answer was characteristic, blending the 
 filial deference with which he was accustomed from childhood 
 to treat her, with a calm patriotism of the Koman stamp. 
 
 " Honored Madam : If it is in my power to avoid going to 
 the Ohio again, I shall ; but if the command is pressed upon me 
 by the general voice of the country, and offered upon such terms 
 as cannot be objected against, it would reflect dishonor on me 
 to refuse it ; and that, I am sure, must, and ought, to give you 
 greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable command. 
 Upon no other terms will I accept it. At present I have no 
 proposals made to me, nor have I any ad\ice of such an inten- 
 tion, except from private hands." 
 
 On the very day that this letter was despatched (Aug. 14th), 
 he received intelligence of his appointment to the command on 
 the terms specified in his letters to his friends. His commis- 
 sion nominated him commander-in-chief of all the»forces raised 
 or to be raised in the colony. The Assembly also voted three 
 hundred pounds to him, and proportionate sums to the other 
 officers, and to the privates of the Virginia companies, in con- 
 sideration of their gallant conduct, and their losses in the late 
 battle. 
 
 The officers next in command under him were Lieutenant- 
 colonel Adam Stephen, and Major Andrew Lewis. The former, 
 it will be recollected, had been with him in the unfortunate 
 affair at the Great Meadows ; his advance in rank shows that 
 his conduct had been meritorious. 
 
 The appointi^ent of Washington to his present station was 
 the more gratifying and honorable from being a popular one, 
 made in deference to public sentiment ; to which Governor 
 Dinwiddle w^as obliged to sacrifice his strong inclination in favor , 
 of Colonel Innes. It is thought that the governor never after- ; 
 
LIFE OF WASHlNGTOn. 129 
 
 wards regarded Washington with a friendly eye. His conduct 
 towards him subsequently was on various occasions cold and 
 ungracious. * 
 
 It is worthy of note that the early popularity of Washington 
 was not the result of brilliant achievements nor signal success ; 
 on the contrary, it rose among trials and reverses, and may 
 almost be said to have been the fruit of defeats. It remains an 
 honorable testimony of Virginian intelligence, that the ster- 
 ling, enduring, but undazzling qualities of Washington were 
 thus early discerned and appreciated, though only heralded by 
 misfortunes. The admirable manner in which he had conducted 
 himself under these misfortunes, and the sagacity and practical 
 wisdom he had displayed on all occasions, were universally 
 acknowledged ; and it was observed that, had his modest coun- 
 sels been adopted by the unfortunate Braddock, a totally dif- 
 ferent result might have attended the late campaign. 
 
 An instance of this high appreciation of his merits occurs 
 in a sermon preached on the 17th of August by the E,ev. Samuel 
 Davis, wherein he cites him as "that heroic youth. Colonel 
 Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto 
 preserved in so signal a manner for some important service 
 to his country." The expressions of the worthy clergyman 
 may have been deemed enthusiastic at the time j viewed in 
 connection with subsequent events they appear almost pro- 
 phetic. 
 
 Having held a conference with Governor Dinwiddle at Wil- 
 liamsburg, and received his instructions, Washington repaired, 
 on the 14th of September, to Winchester, where he fixed his 
 head-quarters. It was a place as yet of trifling magnitude, but 
 important from its position ; being a central point where the 
 main roads met, leading from north to south, and east to west, 
 and commanding the channels of traffic and communication be- 
 tween some of the most important colonies and a great extent 
 of frontier. 
 
 Here he was brought into frequent and cordial communica- 
 tion with his old friend Lord Fairfax. The stir of war had re- 
 vived a spark of that military fire which animated the veteran 
 nobleman in the days of his youth, when an officer in the 
 cavalry regiment of the Blues. He was a lord-lieutenant of 
 the county. Greenway Court was his head-quarters. He had 
 organized a troop of horse, which occasionally was exercised 
 about the lawn of his domain, and he was now as prompt to 
 mount his steed for a cavalry parade as he ever was for a fox 
 
 * Spark's Writings of Washington, vol. ii. p. 61, note. 
 
130 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 chase. The arrival of Washington frequently brought the old 
 nobleman to Winchester to aid the young commander with his 
 counsels or his sword. 
 
 His services were soon put in requisition. Washington, 
 having visited the frontier posts, established recruiting places, 
 and taken other measures of security, had set off for Williams- 
 burg on military business, when an express arrived at Winches- 
 ter from Colonel Stephen, who commanded at Fort Cumberland, 
 giving the alarm that a body of Indians were ravaging the 
 country, burning the houses, and slaughtering the inhabitants, 
 the express was instantly forwarded after Washington ; in the 
 meantime. Lord Fairfax sent out orders for the militia of Fair-* 
 fax and Prince William counties to arm and hasten to the de- 
 fense of Winchester, where all was confusion and affright. 
 One fearful account followed another. The whole country be- 
 yond it was said to be at the mercy of the savages. They had 
 blockaded the rangers in the little fortresses or outposts pro- 
 vided for the protection of neighborhoods. They were advanc- 
 ing upon Winchester with fire, tomahawk, and scalping-knife. 
 The country people were flocking into the town for safety — -the 
 townspeople were moving off to the settlements beyond the 
 Blue Kidge. The beautiful valley of the Shenandoah was likely 
 to become a scene of savage desolation. 
 
 In the height of the confusion Washington rode into the 
 town. He had been overtaken by Colonel Stephen's express. 
 His presence inspired some degree of confidence, and he suc- 
 ceeded in stopping most of the fugitives. 'He would have taken 
 the field at once against the savages, believing their numbers 
 to be few; but not more than twenty-five of the militia could 
 be mustered for the service. The rest refused to stir — they 
 would rather die with their wives and children. 
 
 Expresses were sent off to hurry up the militia ordered out 
 by Lord Fairfax. Scouts were ordered out to discover the 
 number of the foe, and convey assurances of succor to 
 the rangers said to be blocked up in the fortresses, though 
 Washington suspected the latter to be " more encompassed by 
 fear than by the enemy." Smiths were set to work to furbish 
 up and repair such fire-arms as were in the place, and wagons 
 were sent off for musket balls, flints, and provisions. 
 
 Instead, however, of animated cooperation, Washington was 
 encountered by difficulties at every step. The wagons in 
 question had to be impressed, and the wagoners compelled by 
 force to assist. " No orders," writes he, " are obeyed, but such 
 as a party of soldiers or my own drawn sword enforces. With- 
 out this, not a single horse, for the most earnest occasion, can 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 131 
 
 be had — to such a pitch has the insolence of these people ar- 
 rived, by having every point hitherto submitted to them. 
 However, I have given up none, where his Majesty's service 
 requires the contrary, and where my proceedings are justified 
 by my instructions ; nor will I, unless they execute what they 
 threaten — that is, blow out our brains." 
 
 One is tempted to smile at this tirade about the " insolence 
 of the people," and this zeal for "His Majesty's service," on 
 the part of Washington ; but he was as yet a young man and a 
 young officer ; loyal to his sovereign, and with high notions 
 of military authority, which he had acquired in the camp of 
 Braddock. 
 
 What he thus terms insolence was the dawning spirit of in- 
 ependence, which he was afterwards the foremost to cherish 
 and promote ; and which, in the present instance, had been 
 provoked by the rough treatment from the military, which the 
 wagoners and others of the yeomanry had experienced when 
 employed in Braddock's campaign, and by the neglect to pay 
 them for their services. Much of Washington's difficulties also 
 arose, doubtlessly, from the inefficiency of the military laws, 
 for an amendment of which he had in vain made repeated ap- 
 plications to Governor Dinwiddie. 
 
 In the meantime the panic and confusion increased. On 
 Sunday an express hurried into town, breathless with haste and 
 terror. The Indians, he said, were but twelve miles off ; they 
 had attacked the house of Isaac Julian ; the inhabitants were 
 flying for their lives. Washington immediately ordered the 
 town guards to be strengthened ; armed some recruits who had 
 just arrived, and sent out two scouts to reconnoiter the enemy. 
 It was a sleepless night in Winchester. Horror increased with 
 the dawn ; before the men could be paraded a second express 
 arrived, ten times more terrified than the former. The Indians 
 were within four miles of the town, killing and destroying all 
 before them. He had heard the constant firing of the savages 
 and the shrieks of their victims. 
 
 The terrorof Winchester now passed all bounds. Washington 
 put himself at the head of about forty men, militia and recruits, 
 and pushed for the scene of carnage. 
 
 The result is almost too ludicrous for record. The whole 
 cause of the alarm proved to be three drunken troopers, carous- 
 ing, hallooing, uttering the most unheard of imprecations, and 
 ever and anon firing off their pistols. Washington interrupted 
 them in the midst of their revel and blasphemy, and conducted 
 them prisoners to town. 
 
 The reported attack on the house of Isaac Julian proved 
 
132 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 equally an absurd exaggeration. The ferocious party of Indians 
 turned out to be a mulatto and a negro inquest of cattle. They 
 had been seen by a child of Julian, who alarmed his father, who 
 alarmed the neighborhood. 
 
 " These circumstances,'' says Washington, " show what a 
 panic prevails among the people ; how much thev are all 
 alarmed at the most usual and customary cries ; and yet how 
 impossible it is to get them to act in any respect for their com- 
 mon safety." 
 
 They certainly present a lively picture of the feverish state of 
 a frontier community, hourly in danger of Indian ravage and 
 butchery ; than which no kind of warfare is more fraught with 
 real and imaginary horrors. 
 
 The alarm thus originating had spread throughout the country. 
 A captain, who arrived with recruits from Alexandria, reported 
 that he had found the road across the Blue Eidge obstructed by 
 crowds of people flying for their lives, whom he endeavored in 
 vain to stop. They declared that Winchester was in flames ! 
 
 At length the band of Indians, whose ravages had produced 
 this consternation throughout the land, and whose numbers 
 did not exceed one hundred and fifty, being satiated with car- 
 nage, conflagration, and plunder, retreated, bearing off spoils 
 and captives. Intelligent scouts sent out by Washington, 
 followed their traces, and brought back certain intelligence 
 that they had recrossed the Alleghany Mountains and returned 
 to their homes on the Ohio. This report allayed the public 
 panic, and restored temporary quiet to the harassed frontier. 
 
 Most of the Indians engaged in these ravages were Delawares 
 and .Shawnees, who, since Braddock's defeat, had been gained 
 over by the French. A prinViipal instigator was said to be 
 Washington's old acquaintance, Shengis, and a reward was 
 offered for his head. 
 
 Scarooyadi, successor to the half-king, remained true to the 
 English, and vindicated his people to the Governor and Coun- 
 cil of Pennsylvania from the charge of having had any share in 
 the late massacres. As to the defeat at the Monongahela, " it 
 was owing," he said, " to the pride and ignorance of that great 
 general (Braddock) that came from England. He is now dead ; 
 but he was a bad man when he was alive. He looked upon us 
 as dogs, and would never hear anything that was said to him. 
 We often endeavored to advise him, and tell him of the danger 
 he was in with his soldiers ; but he never appeared pleased with 
 us, and that was the reason that a great many of our warriors 
 left him."* 
 
 * p:azard's Register of Penn. v. 252,266, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 133 
 
 Scarooyadi was ready witli Hs warriors to take up the hatchet 
 again with their English brothers against the French. " Let 
 us unite our strength," said he ; " you are numerous, and all 
 the English governors along your sea-shore can raise men 
 enough ; but don^t let those that come from over the great seas 
 be concerned any more. T/iei/ are unfit to fight in the woods. 
 Let us go ourselves — we that came out of this ground,^' 
 
 No one felt more strongly than Washington the importance, 
 at this trying juncture, of securing the assistance of these 
 forest warriors. " It is in their power," said he, " to be of infinite 
 use to us ; and without Indians, we shall never be able to cope 
 with these cruel foes to our country." * 
 
 Washington had now time to inform himself of the fate of 
 the other enterprises included in this' year's plan of military 
 operations. We shall briefly dispose of them, for the sake of 
 carrying on the general course of events. The history of 
 Washington is linked with the history of the colonies. The 
 defeat of Braddock paralyzed the expedition against Niagara. 
 Many of General Shirley's troops, which were assembled 
 at Albany, struck with the consternation which it caused 
 throughout the country, deserted. Most of the bateau men, 
 who were to transport stores by various streams, returned 
 home. It was near the end of August before Shirley was in 
 force at Oswego. Time was lost in building boats for the lake. 
 Storms and head winds ensued ; then sickness : military inca- 
 pacity in the general completed the list of impediments. De- 
 ferring the completion of the enterprise until the following 
 year, Shirley returned to Albany with the main part of his 
 forces in October, leaving about seven hundred men to garrison 
 the fortifications he had commenced at Oswego. 
 
 To General William Johnson, it will be recollected, had been 
 confided the expedition against Crown Point, on Lake Cham- 
 plain. Preparations were made for it in Albany, whence the 
 troops were to march, and the artillery, ammunition, and stores 
 to be conveyed up the Hudson to the carrying-place between 
 that river and Lake St. Sacrament, as it was termed by the 
 French, but Lake George, as Johnson named it, in honor of his 
 sovereign. At the carrying-place a fort was commenced, sub- 
 sequently called Fort Edward. Part of the troops remained 
 under General Lyman to complete and garrison it ; the main 
 force proceeded under General Johnson to Lake George, the 
 plan being to descend that lake to its outlet at Ticonderoga, in 
 Lake Champlain. Having to attend the arrival of bateaux for- 
 warded for the purpose from Albany by the carrying-place, 
 Letter to Dlnwiddie. 
 
134 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 Johnson encamped at the south end of the lake. He had with 
 him hetween five and six thousand troops of 'New York and 
 New England, and a cost of Mohawk warriors, loyally devoted 
 to him. 
 
 It so happened that a French force of upwards of three thou- 
 sand men, under the Baron de Dieskau, an old general of high 
 reputation, had recently arrived at Quebec, destined against 
 Oswego. The baron had proceeded to Montreal, and sent for- 
 ward thence seven hundred of his troops, when news arrived of 
 the army gathering on Lake George for the attack on Crown 
 Point perhaps for an inroad into Canada. The public were in 
 consternation ; yielding to their importunities, the baron took 
 post at Crown Point for its defense. Beside his regular troops, 
 he had with him eight hundred Canadians, and seven hun- 
 dred Indians of different tribes. The latter were under the 
 general command of the Chevalier Legardeurde de St Pierre, 
 the verteran officer to whom Washington had delivered the 
 despatches of Governor Dinwiddie on his diplomatic mission 
 to the frontier. The chevalier was a man of great influence 
 among the Indians. 
 
 In the meantime Johnson remained encamped at the south 
 end of Lake George, awaiting the arrival of his bateaux. The 
 camp was protected in the rear by the lake, in front by a bul- 
 wark of felled trees ; and was flanked by thickly wooded swamps. 
 
 On the 7th of September, the Indian 'scouts brought word 
 that they had discovered three large roads made tlirough the 
 forests toward Fort Edward. An attack on that post was ap- 
 prehended. Adams, a hardy wagoner, rode express with orders 
 to the commander to draw all the troops within the works. 
 About midnight came other scouts. They had seen the French 
 within four miles of the carrying-place. They had heard the 
 report of a musket, and the voice of a man crying for mercy, 
 supposed to be the unfortunate Adams. In the morning Col- 
 onel Williams was detached with one thousand men, and two 
 hundred Indians, to intercept the enemy in their retreat. 
 
 Within two hours after their departure a heavy fire of musk- 
 etry, in the midst of the forest, about three or four miles off, 
 told of a warm encounter. The drums beat to arms ; all were 
 at their posts. The firing grew sharper and sharper, and 
 nearer and nearer. The detachment under Williams was 
 evidently retreating. Colonel Cole was sent with three hundred 
 men to cover their retreat. The breastwork of trees was man- 
 ned. Some heavy cannon were dragged up to strengthen the 
 fort. A number of men were stationed with a field-piece on an 
 eminence on the left flank. 
 
LIFE OF WASIItNGTOn. 135 
 
 In a short time fugitives made their appearance ; first singly 
 then in masses, flying in confusion, with a rattling fire behind 
 them, and the horrible Indian war-whoop. Consternation seized 
 upon the camp, especially when the French emerged from the 
 forest in battle array, led on by the Baron Dieskau, the gallant 
 commander of Crown Point. Had all his troops been as daring as 
 himself, the camp might have been carried by assault ; but the 
 Canadians and Indians held back, posted themselves behind 
 trees, and took to bush-fighting. 
 
 The baron was left with his regulars (two hundred grena- 
 diers) in front of the camp. He kept up a fire by platoons, but 
 at too great a distance to do much mischief ; the Canadians and 
 Indians fired from their coverts. The artillery played on them 
 in return. The camp, having recovered from its panic, opened 
 a fire of musketry. The engagement became general. The 
 French grenadiers stood their ground bravely for a long time, 
 but were dreadfully cut up by the artillery and small arms. 
 The action slackened on the part of the French, until, after a 
 long contest, they gave way. Johnson's men and the Indians 
 then leaped over the breastwork, and a chance-medley fight 
 ensued, that ended in the slaughter, rout, or capture of the 
 enemy. 
 
 The Baron de Dieskau had been disabled by a wound in the 
 leg. One of his men, who had endeavored to assist him, was 
 shot down by his side. The baron, left alone in the retreat, 
 was found by the pursuers leaning against the stump of a tree. 
 As they approached, he felt for his watch, to insure kind treat- 
 ment by delivering it up. A soldier, thinking he was drawing 
 forth a pistol to . defend himself, shot him through the hips. 
 He was conveyed a prisoner to the camp, but ultimatelj^ died 
 of his wounds. 
 
 The baron had really set off from Crown Point to surprise 
 Fort Edward, and, if successful, to push on to Albany and 
 Schenectady, lay them in ashes, and cut off all communication 
 with Oswego. The Canadians and Indians, however, refused 
 to attack the fort, fearful of its cannon; he had changed his 
 plan, therefore, and determined to surprise the camp. In the 
 encounter with the detachment under Williams, the brave Cheva- 
 lier Legardeur de St. Pierre lost his life. On the part of the 
 Americans, Hendrick, a famous old Mohawk sachem, grand ally 
 of General Johnson, was slain. 
 
 Johnson himself received a slight wound early in the action, 
 and retired to his tent. He did not follow up the victory as he 
 should have done, alleging that it was first necessary to build 
 a strong fort at his encampment, by way of keeping up a com- 
 
136 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 munication with Albany, and by the time this was completed, 
 it would be too late to advance against Crown Point. He ac- 
 cordingly erected a stockaded fort, which received the name of 
 William Henry ; and, having garrisoned it returned to Albany. 
 His services, although they gained him no laurel-wreath, were 
 rewarded by government with five thousand pounds, and a bar- 
 onetcy ; and he was made superintendent of Indian Affairs.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 REFORM IN THE MILITIA LAWS. DISCIPLINE OF THE TROOPS. 
 
 DAGWORTHY AND THE QUESTION OF PRECEDENCE. WASH- 
 INGTON'S JOURNEY TO BOSTON. STYLE OF TRAVELLING. 
 
 CONFERENCE WITH SHIRLEY. THE EARL OF LOUDOUN. 
 
 MILITARY RULE FOR THE COLONIES. WASHINGTON AT NEW 
 
 YORK. MISS MARY PHILIPSE. 
 
 Mortifying experience had convicted Washington of the 
 inefficency of the militia laws, and he now set about effecting 
 a reformation. Through his great and persevering efforts, 
 an act was passed in the Virginia Leigislature giving prompt 
 operation to courts-martial ; punishing insubordination, mutiny, 
 and desertion with adequate severity ; strengthening the au- 
 thority of a commander, so as to enable him to enforce order 
 and discipline among officers as well as privates ; and to avail 
 himself, in time of emergency, and for the common safety, of 
 the means and services of individuals. 
 
 This being effected, he proceeded to fill up his companies, 
 and to enforce this newly defined authority within his camp. 
 All gaming, drinking, quarreling, swearing, and similar ex- 
 cesses, were prohibited under severe penalties. 
 
 In disciplining his men, they were instructed not merely in 
 ordinary and regular tactics, but in all the strategy of Indian 
 warfare, and what is called " bush-fighting," — a knowledge 
 indispensable in the wild wars of the wilderness. Stockaded 
 forts, too, were constructed at various points, as places of refuge 
 and defense, in exposed neighborhoods. Under shelter of these, 
 the inhabitants began to return to their deserted homes. A 
 shorter and better road, also, was opened by him between Win- 
 
 * Johnson's Letter to the Colonial Governors, Sep. 9th, 1753. London 
 Mag. 1755, p. 544. Holmes' Am. Annals, vol. ii. p. 63. 4th ed. 1829. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 137 
 
 Chester and Cumberland^ for the transmission of reinforcements 
 and supplies. 
 
 His exertions, however, were impeded by one of those 
 questions of precedence, which had so often annoyed him, 
 arising from the difference between crown and provincial 
 commissions. Maryland having by a scanty appropriation 
 raised a small militia force, stationed Captain Dagworthy, with 
 a company of thirty men, at Fort Cumberland, which stood 
 within the boundaries of that province. Dagworthy had served 
 in Canada in the preceding war^ and had received a king's 
 commission. This he had since commuted for half-pay, and, 
 of course, had virtually parted with its privileges. He was 
 nothing more, therefore, than a Maryland provincial captain, at 
 the head of thirty men. He now, however, assumed to act 
 Under his royal commission, and refused to obey the orders of 
 any officer, however high his rank, who merely held his com- 
 mission from a governor. Nay, when Governor, or rather 
 Colonel Innes, who commanded at the fort, was called away to 
 North Carolina by his private affairs, the captain took upon 
 himself the command, and insisted upon it as his right. 
 
 Parties instantly arose, and quarrels ensued among the infe- 
 rior officers ; grave questions were agitated between the gov- 
 ernors of Maryland and Virginia, as to the fort itself ; the for- 
 mer claimimg it as within his province, the latter insisting that, 
 as it had been built according to orders sent by the king, it 
 was the king's fort, and could not be subject to the authority 
 of Maryland. 
 
 Washington refrained from mingling in this dispute ; but 
 intimated that if the commander-in-chief of the forces of Vir- 
 ginia must yield precedence to a Maryland captain of thirty 
 men, he should have to resign his commission, as he had been 
 compelled to do before, by a question of military rank. 
 
 So difficult was it, however, to settle these disputes of pre- 
 cedence, especially where the claims of two governors came in 
 collision, that it was determined to refer the matter to Major- 
 general Shirley, who had succeeded Braddock in the general 
 command of the colonies. For this purpose Washington was 
 to go to Boston, obtain a decision from Shirley of the point in 
 dispute, and a general regulation by which these difficulties could 
 be prevented in future. It was thought, also, that in a conference 
 with the commander-in-chief he might inform himself of the 
 military measures in contemplation. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 4th of February (1756), leaving Colonel 
 Adam Stephen in command of the troops, Washington set out 
 on his mission, accompanied by his aide-de-camp. Captain 
 
138 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 George Mercer of Virginia, and Captain Stewart of the Virginia 
 light horse ; the officer who had taken care of General Braddock 
 in his last moments. 
 
 In those days the conveniences of travelling, even between 
 our main cities, were few, and the roads execrable. The party 
 therefore, travelled in Virginia style, on horseback, attended 
 by their back servants in livery.^ In this way they accom- 
 plished a journey of five hundred miles in the depth of winter, 
 stopping for some days at Philadelphia and New York. Those 
 cities were then comparatively small, and the arrival of a party 
 of young Southern officers ottracted attention. The late disas- 
 trous battle was still the theme of every tongue, and the honor- 
 able way in which these young officers had acquitted themselves 
 in it, made them objects of universal interest. Washington's 
 fame, especially, had gone before him, having been spread by 
 the officers who had served with him, and by the public honors 
 decreed him by the Virginia Legislature. " Your name," wrote 
 his former fellow-campaigner. Gist, in a letter dated in the 
 preceding autumn, " is more talked of in Philadelphia than that 
 of any other person in the army, and every body seems willing 
 to venture under your command." 
 
 With these prepossessions in his favor, when we consider 
 Washington's noble person and demeanor, his consummate 
 horesmanship, the admirable horses he was accustomed to ride, 
 and the aristocratical style of his equipments, we may imagine 
 the effect produced by himself and his little cavalcade, as they 
 clattered through the streets of Philadelphia, and New York, 
 and Boston. It is needless to say, their sojourn in each city 
 was a continual fete. 
 
 * We have hitherto treated of Washington in his campaigns in the 
 wilderness, frugal and scanty in his equipments, often, very probably, 
 in little better than hunter's garb. His present excursion through some 
 of the Atlantic cities presents him in a different aspect. His recent inter- 
 course with young British officers had probably elevated his notions as 
 to style in dress and appearance ; at least we are inclined to suspect so 
 from the following aristocratical order for clothes, sent shortly before 
 the time in question, to his correspondent in London. 
 
 "2 complete livery suits for servants ; with a spare cloak, all other 
 necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you choose the 
 livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white, I think the 
 clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the inclosed. The 
 trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waistcoat. If livery lace 
 is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the cloaks laced. I like 
 that fashion best, and two silver-laced hats for the above servants. 
 
 "1 set of horse furniture, with livery lace, with the Washington crest 
 on the housings, &c. The cloak to be of the same piece and color of the 
 clothes. 
 
 *'3 gold and scarlet sword-knots. 4 silver and blue do. 1 fashionable 
 gold-laced hat." 
 
LIFE OF WASHtNQTOI^. l39 
 
 The mission to General Shirley was entirely successful as to 
 the question of rank. A written order from the commander-in- 
 chief determined that Dagworthy was entitled to the rank of a 
 provincial captain only, and of course, must on all occasions 
 give precedence to Colonel Washington, as a provincial field- 
 officer. The latter was disappointed, however, in the hope of 
 getting himself and his officers put upon the regular establish- 
 ment, with commissions from the king, and had to remain sub- 
 jected to mortifying questions of rank and etiquette, when serv- 
 ing in company with regular troops. 
 
 From General Shirley he learnt that the main objects of the 
 ensuing campaign would be the reduction of Fort Niagara, so 
 as to cut off the communication between Canada and Louisiana, 
 the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, as a measure of 
 safety for New York, the besieging of Fort Duquesne, and the 
 menacing of Quebec by a body of troops which were to advance 
 by the Kennebec River. 
 
 The official career of General Shirley was drawing to a close. 
 Though a man of good parts, he had always, until recently, 
 acted in a civil capacity, and proved incompetent to conduct 
 military operations. He was recalled to England, and was to 
 be superseded by General Abercrombie, who was coming out 
 with two regiments. 
 
 The general command in America, however, was to be held 
 by the Earl of Loudoun, who was invested with powers almost 
 equal to those of a viceroy, being placed above all the colonial 
 governors. These might claim to be civil and military repre- 
 sentatives of their sovereign within their respective colonies ; 
 but even there, were bound to defer and yield precedence to 
 this their official superior. This was part of a plan devised 
 long ago, but now first brought into operation, by which the 
 ministry hoped to unite the colonies under military rule, and 
 oblige the assemblies, magistrates, and people to furnish quar- 
 ters and provide a general fund subject to the control of this 
 military dictator. 
 
 Beside his general command, the Earl of Loudoun was to be 
 governor of Virginia and colonel of a royal American regiment 
 of four battalions, to be raised in the colonies, but furnished 
 with officers who, like himself, had seen foreign service. The 
 campaign would open on his arrival, which, it was expected, 
 would be early in the spring ; and brilliant results were anti- 
 cipated. 
 
 Washington remained ten days in Boston, attending, with 
 great interest, the meetings of the Massachusetts Legislature, 
 in which the plan of military operations was ably discussed ; 
 
146 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and receiving the most hospitable attentions from the polite 
 and intelligent society of the place, after which he returned to 
 New York. 
 
 Tradition gives very different motives from those of business 
 for his two sojourns in the latter city. He found there an early 
 friend and schoolmate, Beverly Robinson, son of John Robin- 
 son, Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was 
 living happily and prosperously with a young and wealthy 
 bride, having married one of the nieces and heiresses of Mr. 
 Adolphus Philipse, a rich land-holder, whose manor-house is 
 still to be seen on the banks of the Hudson. At the house of 
 Mr. Beverly Robinson, where AVashington was an honored 
 guest, he met Miss Mary Philipse, sister of and co-heiress with 
 Mrs. Robinson, a young lady whose personal attractions are 
 said to have rivaled her reputed wealth. 
 
 We have already given an instance of Washington's early 
 sensibility to female charms. A life, however, of constant ac- 
 tivity and care, passed for the most part in the wilderness and 
 on the frontier, far from female society, had left little mood or 
 leisure for the indulgence of the tender sentiment ; but made 
 him more sensible, in the present brief interval of gay and so- 
 cial life, to the attractions of an elegant woman, brought up in 
 the polite circle of New York. 
 
 That he was an open admirer of Miss Philipse is an histori- 
 cal fact ; that he sought her hand, but was refused, is tradi- 
 tional, and not very probable. His military rank, his early 
 laurels, and distinguished presence, were all calculated to win 
 favor in female eyes ; but his sojourn in New York was brief ; 
 he may have been diffident in urging his suit with a lady ac- 
 customed to the homage of society and surrounded by ad- 
 mirers. The most probable version of the story is, that he was 
 called away by his public duties before he had made sufficient 
 approaches in his siege of the lady's heart to warrant a sum- 
 mons to surrender. In the latter part of March we find him 
 at Williamsburg attending the opening of the Legislature of 
 Virginia, eager to promote measures for the protection of the 
 frontier and the capture of Fort Duquesne, the leading object 
 of his ambition. Maryland and Pennsylvania were erecting 
 forts for the defense of their own borders, but showed no dis- 
 position to cooperate with Virginia in the field ; and artillery, 
 artillerymen, and engineers were wanting for an attack on 
 fortified places. Washington urged, therefore, an augmenta- 
 tion of the provincial forces, and various improvements in the 
 militia laws. 
 
 While thus engaged, he received a letter from a friend and 
 
LIFE OF WASBINGTON, 141 
 
 confidant in New York, warning liim to hasten back to that 
 city before it was too late, as Captain Morris, who had been 
 his fellow aide-de-camp under Braddock, was laying close siege 
 to Miss Philipse. Sterner alarms, however, summoned him in 
 another direction. Expresses from Winchester brought word 
 that the French had made another sortie from Fort Duquesne, 
 accompanied by a band of savages, and were spreading terror 
 and desolation through the country. In this moment of ex- 
 igency all softer claims were forgotten ; Washington repaired 
 in all haste to his post at Winchester, and Captain Morris was 
 left to urge his suit unrivaled and carry off the prize. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TROUBLES IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. — GREENWAY COURT 
 
 AND LORD FAIRFAX IN DANGER. ALARMS AT WINCHESTER. 
 
 WASHINGTON APPEALED TO FOR PROTECTION. ATTACKED 
 
 BY THE VIRGINIA PRESS. HONORED BY THE PUBLIC. PRO- 
 JECTS FOR DEFENSE. SUGGESTIONS OF WASHINGTON. THE 
 
 GENTLEMEN ASSOCIATORS.— RETREAT OF THE SAVAGES. EX- 
 PEDITION AGAINST KITTANNING.— CAPTAIN HUGH MERCER. 
 SECOND STRUGGLE THROUGH THE WILDERNRSS. 
 
 Keport had not exaggerated the troubles of the frontier. It 
 was marauded by merciless bands of savages, led in some in- 
 stances by Frenchmen. Travellers were murdered, farm-houses, 
 burnt down, families butchered, and even stockaded forts, or 
 houses of refuge, attacked in open day. The marauders had 
 crossed the mountains and penetrated the valley of the Shen- 
 andoah ; and several persons had fallen beneath the tomahawk 
 in the neighborhood of Winchester. 
 
 Washington's old friend. Lord Fairfax, found himself no 
 longer safe in his rural abode. Greenway Court was in the 
 midst of a woodland region, affording a covert approach for the 
 stealthy savage. His lordship was considered a great chief, 
 whose scalp would be an inestimable trophy for an Indian war- 
 rior. Fears were entertained, therefore, by his friends, that 
 an attempt would be made to surprise him in his greenwood 
 castle. His nephew, Colonel Martin of the militia, who resided 
 with him, suggested the expediency of a removal to the lower 
 settlements, beyond the Blue Eidge. The high-spirited old 
 
142 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 nobleman demurred ; his heart cleaved to the home which he 
 had formed for himself in the wilderness. " I am an old man/' 
 said he, " and it is of little importance whether I fall by the 
 tomahawk or die of disease and old age ; but you are young, 
 and, it is to be hoped, have many years before you, therefore 
 decide for us both ; my only fear is, that if we retire, the whole 
 district will break up and take to flight ; and this fine countr}^, 
 which I have been at such cost and trouble to improve, will 
 again become a wilderness." 
 
 Colonel Martin took but a short time to deliberate. He 
 knew the fearless character of his uncle, and perceived what 
 was his inclination. He considered that his lordship had nu- 
 merous retainers, white and black, with hardy huntsmen and 
 foresters to rally round him, and that Greenway Court was at 
 no great distance from Winchester ; he decided, therefore, that 
 they should remain and abide the course of events. 
 
 Washington, on his arrival at Winchester, found the inhabi- 
 tants in great dismay. He resolved immediately to organize a 
 force, composed partly of troops from Fort Cumberland, partly 
 of militia from Winchester and its vicinity, to put himself at 
 its head, and " scour the woods and suspected places in all the 
 mountains and valleys of this part of the frontier, in quest of 
 the Indians and th^ir more cruel associates." 
 
 He accordingly despatched an express to Fort Cumberland 
 with orders for a detachment from the garrison ; " but how," 
 said he "are men to be raised at Winchester, since orders are 
 no longer regarded in the county ? " 
 
 Lord Fairfax, and other militia officers with whom he con- 
 sulted, advised that each captain should call a private muster 
 of his men, and read before them an address, or " exhortation " 
 as it was- called, being an appeal to their patriotism and fears, 
 and a summons to assemble on the 15th of April to enroll them- 
 selves for the projected mountain foray. 
 
 This measure was adopted ; the private musterings occurred; 
 the exhortation was read ; the time and place of assemblage 
 appointed ; but, when the day of enrollment arrived, not more 
 than fifteen men appeared upon the ground. In the meantime 
 the express returned with sad accounts from Fort Cumberland. 
 No troops could be furnished from that quarter. The garrison 
 was scarcely strong enough for self-defense, having sent out 
 detachments in different directions. The express had narrow- 
 ly escaped with his life, having been fired upon repeatedly, his 
 horse shot under him, and his clothes riddled with bullets. 
 The roads, he said, were infested by savages ; none but hunters, 
 who knew how to thread the forests at night, could travel with 
 safety. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 143 
 
 Horrors accumulated at Winchester. Every hour brought 
 its tale of terror, true or false, of houses burnt, families mas- 
 sacred, or beleaguered and famishing in stockaded forts. The 
 danger approached. A scouting party had been attacked in the 
 Warm Spring Mountain, about twenty miles distant, by a large 
 body of French and Indians, mostly on horseback. The cap- 
 tain of the scouting party and several of his men had been 
 slain, and the rest put to flight. 
 
 An attack on Winchester was apprehended, and the terrors 
 of the people rose to agony. They now turned to Washington 
 as their main hope. The women surrounded him, holding up 
 their children, and imploring him with tears and cries to save 
 them from the savages. The youthful commander looked 
 round on the suppliant crowd with a countenance beaming with 
 pity, and a heart wrung with anguish. A letter to Governor 
 Dinwiddie shows the conflict of his feelings. " I am too little 
 acquainted with pathetic language to attempt a description of 
 these people's distresses. But what can I do ? I see their 
 situation : I know their danger, and participate their sufferings, 
 without having it in my power to give them further relief than 
 uncertain promises." — " The supplicating tears of the women, 
 and moving petitions of the men, melt me into such deadly 
 sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if know my own mind, I could 
 offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy pro- 
 vided that would contribute to the people's ease." 
 
 The unstudied eloquence of this letter drew from the govern- 
 or an instant order for a militia force from the upper counties 
 to his assistance; but the Virginia newspapers, in descanting 
 on the frontier troubles, threw discredit on the army and its 
 officers, and attached blame to its commander. Stung to the 
 quick by this injustice, Washington publicly declared that 
 nothing but the imminent danger of the times prevented him 
 from instantly resigning a command from which he could never 
 reap either honor or benefit. His sensitiveness called forth 
 strong letters from his friends, assuring him of the high sense 
 entertained at the seat of government, and elsewhere, of his 
 merits and services. "Your good health and fortune are the 
 toast of every table," wrote his early friend. Colonel Fairfax, at 
 that time a member "of the governor's council. "Your en- 
 deavors in the service and defense of your country must re- 
 dound to your honor." 
 
 " Our hopes, dear George," wrote Mr. Kobinson, the Speaker 
 of the House of Burgesses, " are all fixed on you for bringing 
 our affairs to a happy issue. Consider what fatal consequences 
 to your country your resigning the command at this time may 
 
144 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 he, especially as there is no doubt most of the officers will follow 
 your example." 
 
 In fact, the situation and services of the youthful commander, 
 shut up in a frontier town, destitute of forces, surrounded by 
 savage foes, gallantly, though despairingly, devoting himself 
 to the safety of a suffering people, were properly understood 
 throughout the country, and excited a glow of enthusiasm in 
 his favor. The Legislature, too, began at length to act, but 
 timidly and inefficiently. " The country knows her danger," 
 writes one of the members, "but such is her parsimony that 
 she is willing to wait for the rains to wet the powder, and the 
 rats to eat the bowstrings of the enemy, rather than attempt to 
 drive them from her frontiers." 
 
 ^ The measure of relief voted by the Assembly was an addi- 
 tional appropriation of twenty thousand pounds, and an increase 
 of the provincial force to fifteen hundred men. With this it 
 was proposed to erect and garrison a chain of frontier forts, ex- 
 tending through the ranges of the Alleghany Mountains, from 
 the Potomac to the borders of North Carolina ; a distance of 
 between three and four hundred miles. This was one of the 
 inconsiderate projects devised by Governor Dinwiddle. 
 
 Washington, in letters to the governor and to the speaker of 
 the House of Burgesses, urged the impolicy of such a plan, 
 with their actual force and means. The forts, he observed, 
 ought to be within fifteen or eighteen miles of each other, that 
 their spies might be able to keep watch over the intervening 
 country, otherwise the Indians would pass between them un- 
 perceived, effect their ravages, and escape to the mountains, 
 swamps, and ravines, before the troops from the forts could be 
 assembled to pursue them. They ought each to be garrisoned 
 with eighty or a hundred men, so as to afford detachments of 
 sufficient strength, without leaving the garrison too weak ; for 
 the Indians are the most stealthy and patient of spies and 
 lurkers ; will lie in wait for days together about small forts of 
 the kind, and, if they find, by some chance prisoner, that the 
 garrison is actually weak, will first surprise and cut off its 
 scouting parties, and then attack the fort itself. It was evi- 
 dent, therefore, observed he, that to garrison properly such a 
 line of forts, would require, at least, two thousand men. And 
 even then, a line of such extent might be broken through at 
 one end before the other end could yield assistance. Feint 
 attacks, also, might be made at one point, while the real attack 
 was make at another, quite distant ; and the country be over- 
 run before its widely-posted defenders could be alarmed and 
 concentrated, Then mu^t be taken into consideration the.im- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 145 
 
 mense cost of building so many forts, and the constant and con- 
 suming expense of supplies and transportation. 
 
 His idea of a defensive plan was to build a strong fort at 
 Winchester, the central point, where all the main roads met, 
 of a wide range of scattered settlements, where tidings could 
 soonest be collected from every quarter, and whence reinforce- 
 ments and supplies could most readily be forwarded. It was 
 to be a grand deposit of military stores, a residence for com- 
 manding officers, a place of refuge for the women and children 
 in time of alarm, when the men had suddenly to take the field ; 
 in a word, it was to be the citadel of the frontier. 
 
 Beside this, he would have three or four large fortresses 
 erected at convenient distances upon the frontiers, with power- 
 ful garrisons, so as to be able to throw out, in constant succes- 
 sion, strong scouting parties, to range the country. Fort Cum- 
 berland he condemned as being out of the province, and out of 
 the track of Indian incursions ; insomuch that it seldom received 
 an alarm until all the mischief had been effected. 
 
 His representations with respect to military laws and regula- 
 tions were equally cogent. In the late act of the Assembly for 
 raising a regiment, it was provided that, in cases of emergency, 
 if recruits should not offer in sufficient number, the militia 
 might be drafted to supply the deficiencies, but only to serve 
 until December, and not to be marched out of the province. In 
 this case, said he, before they have entered upon service, or got 
 the least smattering of duty, they will claim a discharge ; if they 
 are pursuing an enemy who has committed the most unheard- 
 of cruelties, he has only to step across the Potomac, and he is 
 safe. Then as to ' the limits of service, they might just as 
 easily have been enlisted for sef-enteen months as seven. They 
 would then have been seasoned as well as disciplined ; " for we 
 find by experience,'' says he, "that our poor ragged soldiers 
 would kill the most active militia in five days' marching." 
 
 Then as to punishments : death it was true, had been decreed 
 for mutiny and desertion ; but there was no punishment for 
 cowardice ; for holding correspondence with the enemy ; for 
 quitting or sleeping on one's post — all capital offenses, accord- 
 ing to the military codes of Europe. Neither were there pro- 
 visions for quartering or billeting soldiers, or impressing wagons 
 and other conveyances, in times of exigency. To crown all, no 
 court-martial could sit out of Virginia ; a most embarrassing 
 regulation, when troops were fifty or a hundred miles beyond 
 the frontier. He earnestly suggested amendments on all these 
 points, as well as with regard to the soldiers' pay ; which was 
 less than that of the regular troops, or the troops of most of the 
 other provinces. 
 
146 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 All these suggestions, showing at this youthful age that fore- 
 thought and circumspection which distinguished him through- 
 out life, were repeatedly and eloquently urged upon Governor 
 Dinwiddle, with very little effect. The plan of a frontier 
 line of twenty-three forts was persisted in. Fort Cumberland 
 was pertinaciously kept up at a great and useless expense of 
 men and money, and the militia laws remained lax and in- 
 efficient. It was decreed, however, that the great central fort 
 at Winchester recommended by Washington, should be erected. 
 
 In the height of the alarm, a company of one hundred gentle- 
 men, mounted and equipped, volunteered their services to 
 repair to the frontier. They were headed by Peyton Randolph, 
 attorney-general, a man deservedly popular throughout the 
 province. Their offer was gladly accepted. They were de- 
 nominated the "Gentlemen Associators," and great expecta- 
 tions, of course, were entertained from their gallantry and de- 
 votion. They were empowered, also, to aid with their judg- 
 ment in the selection of places for frontier forts. 
 
 The " Gentlemen Associators," like all gentlemen associators 
 in similar emergencies, turned out with great zeal and spirit, 
 and immense popular effect, but wasted their fire in preparation, 
 and on the march. Washington, who well understood the 
 value of such aid, observed dryly in a letter to Governor Din- 
 widdle, " I am heartily glad that you have fixed upon these 
 gentlemen to point out the places for erecting forts, but regret 
 to find their motions so slow." There is no doubt that they 
 would have conducted themselves gallantly, had they been put 
 to the test ; but before they arrived near the scene of danger 
 the alarm was over. About the beginning of May, scouts 
 brought in word that the tracks of the marauding savages 
 tended toward Fort Duquesne, as if on the return. In a little 
 while it was ascertained that they had recrossed the Alleghany 
 Mountains to the Ohio in such numbers as to leave a beaten 
 track, equal to that made in the preceding year by the army of 
 Braddock. 
 
 The repeated inroads of the savages called for an effectual 
 and permanent check. The idea of being constantly subject to 
 the irruptions of a deadly foe, that moved with stealth and 
 mystery, and was only to be traced by its ravages, and counted 
 by its footprints, discouraged all settlement of the country. 
 The beautiful valley of the Shenandoah was fast becoming a 
 deserted and a silent place. Her people, for the most part, had 
 fled to the older settlements south of the mountains, and the 
 Blue Ridge was likely soon to become virtually the frontier line 
 of the province. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 147 
 
 We have to record one signal act of retaliation on the per- 
 fidious tribes of the Ohio, in which a person whose name subse- 
 quently became dear to Americans, was concerned. Prisoners 
 who had escaped from the savages reported that Shingis, Wash- 
 ington's faithless ally, and another sachem, called Captain 
 Jacobs, were the two heads of the hostile bands that had deso- 
 lated the frontier. That they lived at Kittanning, an Indian 
 town, about forty miles above Fort Duquesne ; at which their 
 warriors were fitted out for incursions, and whither they returned 
 with their prisoners and plunder. Captain Jacobs was a dar- 
 ing fellow, and scoffed at palisaded forts. "He could take 
 any fort," he said, " that would catch fire." 
 
 A party of two hundred and eighty provincials, resolute 
 men, undertook to surprise and destroy this savage nest. It 
 was commanded by Colonel John Armstrong ; and with him 
 went Dr. Hugh Mercer, of subsequent renown, who had re- 
 ceived a captain's commission from Pennslyvania, on the 6th 
 of March, 1756. 
 
 Armstrong led his men rapidly, but secretly, over mountain 
 and through forest, until, after a long and perilous march, 
 they reached the Alleghany. It was a moonlight night when 
 they arrived in the neighborhood of Kittanning. They were 
 guided to the village by whoops and yells, and the sound of the 
 Indian drum. The warriors were celebrating their exploits by 
 the triumphant scalp-dance. After a while the revel ceased, 
 and a number of fires appeared here and there in a corn-field. 
 They were made by such of the Indians as slept in the open 
 air, and were intended to drive off the gnats. Armstrong and 
 his men lay down " quiet and hush," observing everything nar- 
 rowly, and waiting until the moon should set, and the warriors 
 be asleep. At length the moon went down, the fires burned 
 low ; all was quiet. Armstrong now roused his men, some of 
 whom, wearied by their long march, had fallen asleep. He 
 divided his forces ; part were to attack the warriors in the corn- 
 field, part were despatched to the houses, which were dimly 
 seen by the first streak of day. There was sharp firing in both 
 quarters, for the Indians, though taken by surprise, fought 
 bravely, inspired by the war-whoop of their chief. Captain 
 Jacobs. The women and children fled to the woods. Several 
 of the provincials were killed and wounded. Captain Hugh 
 Mercer received a wound in the arm, and was taken to the top 
 of a hill. The fierce chieftain. Captain Jacobs, was besieged in 
 his house, which had port-holes ; whence he and his warriors 
 made havoc among the assailants. The adjoining houses were 
 set on fire. The chief was summoned to surrender himself. 
 
148 LIFE OF WASHIKGTOir. 
 
 He replied he was a man, and would not be a prisoner. He 
 was told he would be burnt. His reply was, " he would kill 
 four or five before he died." The flames and smoke approached. 
 " One of the besieged warriors, to show his manhood, began to 
 sing. A squaw at the same time was heard to cry, but was 
 severely rebuked by the men." * 
 
 In the end, the warriors were driven out by the flames ; some 
 were shot. Among the latter was Captain Jacobs, and his 
 gigantic son, said to be seven feet high. Fire was now set to 
 all the houses, thirty in number. " During the burning of the 
 houses,'^ says Colonel Armstrong, "we were agreeably enter- 
 tained with a quick succession of charged guns, gradually firing 
 off as reached by the fire, but much more so with the vast ex- 
 plosion of sundry bags, and large kegs of powder, wherewith 
 almost every house abounded." The colonel was in a strange 
 condition to enjoy such an entertainment, having received a 
 wound from a large musket-ball in the shoulder. 
 
 The object of the expedition was accomplished. Thirty or 
 forty of the warriors were slain ; their stronghold was a smok- 
 ing ruin. There was danger of the victors being cut off by a 
 detachment from Fort Duquesne. They made the best of their 
 way, therefore, to their horses, which had been left at a dis- 
 tance, and set off rapidly on their march to Fort Lyttleton, 
 about sixty miles north of Fort Cumberland. 
 
 Colonel Armstrong had reached Fort Lyttleton on the 14th 
 of September, six days after the battle, and fears were enter- 
 tained that he had been intercepted by the Indians and was 
 lost. He, with his ensign and eleven men, had separated from 
 the main body when they began their march and had taken 
 another and what was supposed a safer road. He had with 
 him a woman, a boy, and two little girls, recaptured from the 
 Indians. The whole party ultimately arrived safe at Fort 
 Lyttleton, but it would seem that Mercer, weak and faint from 
 his fractured arm, must have fallen behind, or in some way be- 
 come separated from them, and had a long, solitary, and pain- 
 ful struggle through the wilderness, reaching the fort sick, 
 weary, and half famished. f We shall have to speak hereafter 
 of his services when under the standard of Washington, whose 
 friend and neighbor he subsequently became. $ 
 
 * Letter from Col. Armstrong. 
 
 t '' We hear that Captain Mercer was fourteen days in getting to Fort 
 Lyttleton. He had a miraculous escape, living ten days on two dried 
 clams and a rattlesnake, with the assistance of a few berries." New 
 York Mercury for October 4, 1756. 
 
 t Mercer was a Scotchman, about thirty-four years of age. About ten 
 years previously he had sarved as assistant-surgeon inthe forces of Charles 
 Edward, and followed his standard to the disastrous field of CuUoden. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 149 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SPECTION. INEFFICIENCY OF THE MILITIA SYSTEM. GEN- 
 TLEMEN SOLDIERS. CROSS-PUKPOSES WITH DINWIDDIE. 
 
 MILITARY AFFAIRS IN THE NORTH. DELAYS OF LORD LOU- 
 DOUN. ACTIVITY OF MONTCALM. LOUDOUN IN WINTER 
 
 QUARTERS. 
 
 Throughout the summer of 1756, Wasliington exerted him- 
 self diligently in carrying out measures determined upon for 
 frontier security. The great fortress at Winchester was com- 
 menced, and the work urged forward as expeditiously as the 
 delays and perplexities incident to a badly organized service 
 would permit. It received the name of Fort Loudoun, in honor 
 of the commander-in-chief, whose arrival in Virginia was hope- 
 fully anticipated. 
 
 As to the sites of the frontier posts, they were decided upon 
 hy Washington and his officers, after frequent and long consul- 
 tations ; parties were sent out to work on them, and men re- 
 cruited, and militia drafted to garrison them. Washington 
 visited occasionally such as were in progress, and near at hand. 
 It was a service of some peril, for the mountains and forests 
 were still infested by prowling savages, especially in the neigh- 
 borhood of these new forts. At one time when he was recon- 
 noitering a wild part of the country, attended merely by a ser- 
 vant and a guide, two men were murdered by the Indians in a 
 solitary defile shortly after he had passed through it. 
 
 In the autumn, he made a tour of inspection along the whole 
 line, accompanied by his friend, Captain Hugh Mercer, who 
 had recovered from his recent wounds. This tour furnished 
 repeated proofs of the inefficiency of the militia system. In 
 one place he attempted to raise a force with which to scour a 
 region infested by roving bands of savages. After waiting 
 several days, but five men answered to his summons. In 
 another place, where three companies had been ordered to the 
 
 After the defeat of the " Chevalier," he had escaped by the way of In- 
 verness to America, and taken up his residence on the frontier of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
150 LIFE OF WASHINGTOl^. 
 
 relief of a fort, attacked by the Indians, all that could be mus- 
 tered were a captain, a lieutenant, and seven or eight men. 
 
 When the militia were drafted, and appeared under arms, 
 the case was not much better. It was now late in the autumn ; 
 their term of service, by the act of the legislature, expired in 
 December — half of the time, therefore, was lost in marching 
 out and home. Their waste of provisions was enormous. To 
 be put on allowance, like other soldiers, they considered an in- 
 dignity. They would sooner starve than carry a few days' 
 provisions on their backs. On the march, when breakfast was 
 wanted, they would knock down the first beeves they met with 
 and, after regaling themselves, march on till dinner, when they 
 would take the same method ; and so for supper, to the great 
 oppression of the people. For the want of proper military 
 laws, they were obstinate, self-willed, and perverse. Every in- 
 dividual had his own crude notion of things, and would under- 
 take to direct. If his advice were neglected, he would think 
 himself slighted, abused, and injured, and, to redress himself, 
 would depart for his home. 
 
 The garrisons were weak for want of men, but more so from 
 indolence and irregularity. Not one was in a posture of de- 
 fense ; few but might be surprised with the greatest ease. At 
 one fort, the Indians rushed from their lurking-place, pounced 
 upon several children playing under the walls, and bore them 
 off before they were discovered. Another fort was surprised, 
 and many of the people massacred in the same manner. In 
 the course of his tour, as he and his party approached a fort, 
 he heard a quick firing for several minutes ; concluding that 
 it was attacked, they hastened to its relief, but found the gar- 
 rison were merely amusing themselves firing at a mark or for 
 wagers. In this way they would waste their ammunition as 
 freely as they did their provisions. In the meantime, the in- 
 habitants of the country were in a wretched situation, feeling 
 the little dependence to be put on militia, who were slow in 
 coming to their assistance, indifferent about their preservation, 
 unwilling to continue, and regardless of everything but of their 
 own ease. In short, they were so apprehensive of approaching 
 "'ruin, that the whole back country was in a general motion to- 
 wards the southern colonies. 
 
 From the Catawba, he was escorted along a range of forts by 
 a colonel, and about thirty men, chiefly officers. " With this 
 small company of irregulars,^' says he, " with whom order, reg- 
 ularity, circumspection, and vigilance were matters of derision 
 and contempt, we set out, and, by the protection of Providence, 
 reached Augusta Court-house in seven days, without meeting 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 151 
 
 the enemy ; otherwise, we must have fallen a sacrifice, through 
 the indiscretion of these whooping, hallooing, gentlemen sol- 
 diers ! " 
 
 How lively a picture does this give of the militia system at 
 all times, when not subjected to strict military law. 
 
 What rendered this year's service peculiarly irksome and 
 embarrassing to Washington, was the nature of his correspond- 
 ence with Grovernor Dinwiddie. That gentleman, either from 
 the natural hurry and confusion of his mind, or from a real dis- 
 position to perplex, was extremely ambiguous and unsatisfac- 
 tory in most of his orders and replies. " So much am I kept 
 in the dark,'' says Washington, in one .of his letters, " that I 
 do not know whether to prepare for the offensive or defensive. 
 What would be absolutely necessary for the one would be quite 
 useless for the other." And again : ^'The orders I receive are 
 full of ambiguity. I am left like a wanderer in the wilderness, 
 to proceed at hazard. I am answerable for consequences, and 
 blamed, without the privilege of defense." 
 
 In nothing was this disposition to perplex more apparent 
 than in the governor's replies respecting Port Cumberland. 
 Washington had repeatedly urged the abandonment of this 
 fort as a place of frontier deposit, being within the bounds of 
 another province, and out of the track of Indian incursion ; so 
 that often the alarm would not reach there until after the mis- 
 chief had been effected. He applied, at length, for particular 
 and positive directions from the governor on this head. " The 
 following," says he, " is an exact copy of his answer : ^ Fort 
 Cumberland is a king^s fort, and built chiefly at the charge of 
 the colony, therefore properly under our direction until a new 
 governor is appointed.' Now, whether I am to understand this 
 aye or no to the plain simple question asked, Is the fort to be 
 continued or not ? I know not. But in all important matters 
 I am directed in this ambiguous and uncertain way." 
 
 Governor -Dinwiddie subsequently made himself explicit on 
 this point. Taking offense at some of Washington's comments 
 on the military affairs of the frontier, he made the stand of a 
 self-willed, and obstinate man, in the case of Fort Cumberland ; 
 and represented it in such light to Lord Loudoun, as to draw 
 from his lordship an order that it should be kept up : and an 
 implied censure of the conduct of Washington in slighting a 
 post of such paramount importance. "I cannot agree with 
 Colonel Washington," writes his lordship, " in not drawing in 
 the posts from the stockade forts, in order to defend that ad- 
 vanced one ; and I should imagine much more of the frontier 
 will be exposed by retiring your advanced posts near Win- 
 
152 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Chester, where I understand he is retired; for, from your letter 
 I take it for granted he has before this executed his plan, with 
 out waiting for any advice. If he leaves any of the great quan- 
 tity of stores behind, it will be very unfortunate, and he ought 
 to consider that it must lie at his own door." 
 
 The powerfully supported Dinwiddle went so far as to order 
 that the garrisons should be withdrawn from the stockades and 
 small frontier forts, and most of the troops from Winchester, to 
 strengthen Fort Cumberland, which was now to become head- 
 quarters ; thus weakening the most important points and places, 
 to concentrate a force where it was not wanted, and would be 
 out of the way in most cases of alarm. By these meddlesome 
 moves, made by Governor Dinwiddle from a distance, without 
 knowing anything of the game, all previous arrangements were 
 reversed, everything was thrown into confusion, and enormous 
 losses and expenses were incurred. 
 
 "Whence it arises, or why, I am truly ignorant," writes 
 Washington to Mr. Speaker E-obinson, " but my strongest rep- 
 resentations of matters relative to the frontiers are disregarded 
 as idle and frivolous ; my propositions and measures as partial 
 and selfish ; and all my sincerest endeavors for the service of 
 my country are perverted to the worst purposes. My orders 
 are dark and uncertain ; to-day approved, to-morrow disap- 
 proved." 
 
 Whence all this contradiction and embarrassment arose has 
 since been explained, and with apparent reason. Governor 
 Dinwiddle had never recovered from the pique caused by the 
 popular elevation of Washington to the command in preference 
 to his favorite, Colonel Innes. His irritation was kept alive by 
 a little Scottish faction, who were desirous of disgusting Wash- 
 ington with the service, so as to induce him to resign, and make 
 way for his rival. They might have carried their point during 
 the panic at Winchester, had not his patriotism and his sympa- 
 thy with the public distress been more powerful than his self- 
 love. He determined, he said, to bear up under these embar- 
 rassments in the hope of better regulations when Lord Loudoun 
 should arrive ; to whom he looked for the future fate of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 While these events were occurring on the Virginia frontier, 
 military affairs went on tardily and heavily at the north. The 
 campaign against Canada, which was to have opened early in 
 the year, hung fire. The armament coming out for the purpose 
 under Lord Loudoun, was delayed through the w^ant of energy 
 and union in the British cabinet. General Abercrombie, who 
 was to be next in command to his lordship, and to succeed to 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. . 153 
 
 General Sliirle}^, set sail in advance for New York with two 
 regiments, but did not reach Albany, the head-quarters of mili- 
 tary oj^eration, until the 25th of June. He billeted his soldiers 
 upon the town, much to the disgust of the inhabitants, and 
 talked of ditching and stockading it, but postponed all exterior 
 enter^irises until the arrival of Lord Loudoun ; then the cam- 
 paign was to open in earnest. 
 
 On the 12th of July, came word that the forts Ontario and 
 Oswego, on each side of the mouth of the Oswego River, were 
 menaced by the French. They had been imperfectly construc- 
 ted by Shirley, and were insufficiently garrisoned, yet contained 
 a great amount of military and naval stores, and protected the 
 vessels which cruised on Lake Ontario. 
 
 Major-general Webb was ordered by Abercrombie to hold 
 himself in readiness to march with one regiment to the relief 
 of these forts, but received no further orders. Everything 
 awaited the arrival at Albany of Lord Loudoun, which at length 
 took place, on the 29th of July. There were now at least ten 
 thousand troops, regulars and provincials, loitering in an idle 
 camp at Albany, yet relief to Oswego was still delayed. Lord 
 Loudoun was in favor of it, but the governments of ISTew York 
 and New England urged the immediate reduction of Crown 
 Point, as necessary for the security of their frontier. After 
 much debate, it was agreed that General Webb should march 
 to the relief of Oswego. He left Albany on the 12th of August, 
 but had scarce reached the carrying-place, between the Mohawk 
 Eiver and Wood Creek, when he received news that Oswego 
 was reduced, and its garrison captured. While the British 
 commanders had debated, Field-marshal the Marquis de Mont- 
 calm, newly arrived from France, had acted. He was a dif- 
 ferent kind of soldier from Abercrombie or Loudoun. A capa- 
 cious mind and enterprising spirit animated a small, but active 
 and untiring frame. Quick in thought, quick in speech, 
 quicker still in action, he comprehended everything at a glance, 
 and moved from point to point of the province with a celerity and 
 secrecy that completely baffled his slow and pondering antagon- 
 ists. Crown Point and Ticonderoga were visited, and steps 
 taken to strengthen their works, and provide for their security ; 
 then hastening to Montreal, he put himself at the head of a 
 force of regulars, Canadians, and Indians ; ascended the St. 
 Lawrence to Lake Ontario ; blocked up the mouth of the Os- 
 wego by his vessels, landed his guns, and besieged the two 
 forts ; drove the garrison out of one into the other ; killed the 
 commander, Colonel Mercer, and compelled the garrisons to 
 surrender, prisoners of war. With the forts was taken an im- 
 
154 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 mense amount of military stores, ammunition, -and provisions *, 
 one hundred and twenty-one cannon, fourteen mortars, six ves- 
 sels of war, a vast number of bateaux, and three chests of money. 
 His blow achieved, MontcaliA returned in triumph to Montreal, 
 and sent the colors of the captured forts to be hung up as tro- 
 phies in the Canadian churches. 
 
 The season was now too far advanced for Lord Loudoun to 
 enter upon any great military enterprise ; he postponed, there- 
 fore, the great northern campaign, so much talked of and de- 
 bated, until the following year ; and having taken measures for 
 the protection of his frontiers, and for more active operations in 
 the spring, returned to New York, hung up his sword, and 
 went into comfortable winter quarters. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 WASHINGTON VINDICATES HIS CONDUCT TO LORD LOUDOUN. 
 
 HIS RECEPTION BY HIS LORDSHIP. MILITARY PLANS. 
 
 LORD LOUDOUN AT HALIFAX. MONTCALM ON LAKE GEORGE. 
 
 HIS TRIUMPHS. LORD LOUDOUN's FAILURES. WASHING- 
 TON AT WINCHESTER. CONTINUED MISUNDERSTANDINGS 
 
 WITH DINWIDDIE. RETURN TO MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 Circumstances had led Washington to think that Lord 
 Loudoun " had received impressions to his prejudice by false 
 representations of facts," and that a wrong idea prevailed at 
 head-quarters respecting the state of military affairs in Virginia. 
 He was anxious, therefore, for an opportunity of placing all 
 these matters in a proper light ; and understanding that there 
 was to be a meeting in Philadelphia in the month of March, 
 between Lord Loudoun and the southern governors, to consult 
 about measures of defense for their respective provinces, he 
 wrote to Governor Dinwiddie for permission to attend it. 
 
 '^ I cannot conceive," writes Dinwiddie in reply, " what ser- 
 vice you can be of in going there, as the plan concerted will, in 
 course, be communicated to you and the other officers. How- 
 ever, as you seem so earnest to go, I now give you leave.'' 
 
 This ungracious reply seemed to warrant the suspicions en- 
 tertained by some of Washington's friends, that it was the busy 
 pen of Grovernor Dinwiddie which had given the " false repre- 
 sentation of facts " to Lord Loudoun. About a month, there- 
 fore, before the time of the meeting, Washington addressed a 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 155 
 
 long letter to his lordship, exj^lanatory of military affairs in the 
 quarter where he had commanded. In this he set forth the 
 various defects in the militia laws of Virginia ; the errors in 
 its system of defense, and the inevitable confusion which had 
 thence resulted. 
 
 Adverting to his own conduct : " The orders I receive," said 
 he, " are full of ambiguity. I am left like a wanderer in the 
 wilderness to proceed at hazard. I am answerable for conse- 
 quences, and blamed, without the privilege of defense. . . . 
 It is not to be wondered at if, under such peculiar circumstances, 
 I should be sick of a service which promises so little of a 
 soldier's reward. 
 
 " I have long been satisfied of the impossibility of continu- 
 ing in this service without loss of honor. Indeed, I was fully 
 convinced of it before I accepted the command the second time, 
 seeing the cloudy prospect before me ; and I did, for this 
 reason, reject the ojfter, until I was ashamed any longer to re- 
 fuse, not caring to expose my character to public censure. The 
 solicitations of the country overcame my objections, and in- 
 duced me to accept it. Another reason has of late operated to 
 continue me in the service until now, and that is, the dawn of 
 hope that arose, when I heard your lordship was destined, by 
 His Majesty, for the important command of his armies in 
 America, and appointed to the government of his dominion of 
 Virginia. Hence it was that I drew my hopes, and fondly pro- 
 nounced your lordship our patron. Although I have not the 
 honor to be known to your lordship, yet your name was familiar 
 to my ear, on account of the important services rendered to His 
 Majesty in other parts of the Avorld." 
 
 The manner in which Washington was received by Lord 
 Loudoun, on arriving in Philadelphia, showed him at once, 
 that his long, explanatory letter had produced the desired 
 effect, and that his character and conduct were justly appre- 
 ciated. During his sojourn in Philadelphia, he was frequently 
 consulted on points of frontier service, and his advice was 
 generally adopted. On one point it failed. He advised that 
 an attack should be made on Fort Duquesne, simultaneous with 
 the attempts on Canada. At such time a great part of the 
 garrison would be drawn away to aid in the defense of that 
 province, and a blow might be struck more likely to insure the 
 peace and safety of the southern frontier, than all its forts and 
 defenses. 
 
 Lord Loudoun, however, was not to be convinced, or at least 
 persuaded. According to his plan, the middle and southern 
 provinces were to maintain a merely defensive warfare ; and 
 
156 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 as Virginia would be required to send four hundred of her 
 troops to the aid of South Carolina, she would, in fact, be left 
 weaker than before. 
 
 Washington was also disappointed a second time, in the hope 
 of having his regiment placed on the same footing as the reg- 
 ular army, and of obtaining a king's commission ; the latter he 
 was destined never to hold. 
 
 His representations with respect to Fort Cumberland had the 
 desired effect in counteracting the mischievous intermeddling 
 of Dinwiddle. The Virginia troops and stores were ordered to 
 be again removed to Fort Loudoun, at Winchester, which once 
 more became head-quarters, while Fort Cumberland was left to 
 be occupied by a Maryland garrison. Washington was in- 
 structed, likewise, to correspond and co-operate, in military 
 affairs, with Colonel Stanwix, who was stationed on the Pennsyl- 
 vania frontier, with five hundred men from the Royal American 
 regiment, and to whom he would be, in some measure, subordi- 
 nate. This proved a correspondence of friendship, as well as 
 duty ; Colonel Stanwix being a gentleman of high moral worth, 
 as well as great ability in military affairs. 
 
 The great plan of operations at the north was again doomed 
 to failure. The reduction of Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, 
 which had long been meditated, was laid aside and the capture 
 of Louisburg substituted, as an acquisition of far greater im- 
 portance. This was a place of great consequence, situated on 
 the isle of Cape Breton, and strongly fortified. It commanded 
 the fisheries of Newfoundland, overawed New England, and was 
 a main bulwark to Acadia. 
 
 In the course of July, Lord Loudoun set sail for Halifax 
 with all the troops he could collect, amounting to about six 
 thousand men, to join with Admiral Holbourne, who had just 
 arrived at that port with eleven ships of the line, a fire-ship, 
 bomb-ketch, and fleet of transports, having on board six thousand 
 men. With this united force Lord Loudoun anticipated the 
 certain capture of Louisburg. 
 
 Scarce had the tidings of his lordship's departure reached 
 Canada, when the active Montcalm again took the field, to 
 follow up the successes of the preceding year. Fort William 
 Henry, which Sir Wm. Johnson had erected on the southern 
 shore of Lake George, was now his object ; it commanded the 
 lake, and was an important protection to the British frontier. 
 A brave old officer. Colonel Monro, with about five hundred 
 men, formed the garrison ; more than three times that number 
 of militia were intrenched near by. Montcalm had, early in 
 the season, made three ineffectual attempts upon the fort ; he 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 157 
 
 now trusted to be more successful. Collecting his forces from 
 Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and the adjacent posts, with a con- 
 siderable number of Canadians and Indians, altogether nearly 
 eight thousand men, he advanced up the lake, on the 1st of 
 August, in a fleet of boats, with swarms of Indian canoes in the 
 advance. The fort came near being surprised ; but the troops 
 encamped without it abandoned their tents and hurried within 
 the works. A summons to surrender was answered by a brave 
 defiance. Montcalm invested the fort, made his approaches, 
 and battered it with his artillery. For five days its veteran 
 commander kept up a vigorous defense, trusting to receive 
 assistance from General Webb, who had failed to relieve Fort 
 Oswego in the preceding year, and who was now at Fort Edward, 
 about fifteen miles distant, with upwards of five thousand men. 
 Instead of this, Webb, who overrated the French forces, sent 
 him a letter, advising him to capitulate. The letter was in- 
 tercepted by Montcalm, but still forwarded to Monro. The 
 obstinate old soldier, however, persisted in his defense, until 
 most of his cannon were burst, and his ammunition expended. 
 At length, in the month of August, he hung out a flag of truce, 
 and obtained honorable terms from an enemy who knew how to 
 appreciate his valor. Montcalm demolished the fort, carried 
 off all the artillery and munitions of war, with vessels employed 
 in the navigation of the lake, and having thus completed his 
 destruction of the British defences on this frontier, returned 
 once more in triumph with the spoils of victory, to hang up 
 fresh trophies in the churches of Canada. 
 
 Lord Loudoun in the meantime formed his junction with 
 Admiral Holbourne at Halifax, and the troops were embarked 
 with all diligence on board of the transports. Unfortunately, 
 the French were again too quick for them. Admiral de Bois 
 de la Mothe had arrived at Louisburg, with a large naval and 
 land force ; it was ascertained that he had seventeen ships of 
 the line, and three frigates, quietly moored in the harbor ; that 
 the place was well fortified and supplied with provisions and 
 ammunition, and garrisoned with six thousand regular troops, 
 three thousand natives, and thirteen hundred Indians. 
 
 Some hot-heads would have urged an attempt against all such 
 array of force, but Lord Loudoun was aware of the probability 
 of defeat, and the disgrace and ruin that it would bring upon 
 British arms in America. He wisely, though ingloriously, re- 
 turned to New York. Admiral Holbourne made a silly de- 
 monstration of his fleet off the harbor of Louisburg, approach- 
 ing within two miles of the batteries, but retired on seeing the 
 French admiral preparing to unmoor. He afterwards returned 
 
158 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 with a reinforcement of four ships of the line ; cruised before 
 Louisburg, endeavoring to draw the enemy to an engagement, 
 which De la Mothe had the wisdom to decline ; was overtaken 
 by a hurricane, in which oiie of his ships was lost, eleven were 
 dismasted, others had to throw their guns overboard, and all 
 returned in a shattered condition to England. Thus ended 
 the northern campaign by land and sea, a subject of great mor- 
 tification to the nation, and ridicule and triumph to the enemy. 
 
 During these unfortunate operations to the north, Washing- 
 ton was stationed at Winchester, shorn of part of his force by 
 the detachment to South Carolina, and left with seven hundred 
 men to defend a frontier of more than three hundred and fifty 
 miles in extent. The capture and demolition of Oswego by 
 Montcalm had produced a disastrous effect. The whole country 
 of the Five Nations was abandoned to the French. The fron- 
 tiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were harassed 
 by repeated inroads of French and Indians, and Washington 
 had the mortification to see the noble valley of the Shenandoah 
 almost deserted by its inhabitants, and fast relapsing into a 
 wilderness. 
 
 The year wore away on his part in the harassing service of 
 defending a wide frontier with an insufficient and badly organ- 
 ized force, and the vexations he experienced were heightened 
 by continual misunderstandings with Governor Dinwiddle. 
 From the ungracious te^lor of several of that gentleman's let- 
 ters, and from private information, he was led to believe that 
 some secret enemy had been making false representations of 
 his motives and conduct, and prejudicing the governor against 
 him. He vindicated himself warmly from the alleged aspersions, 
 proudly appealing to the whole course of his public career in 
 proof of their falsity. " It is uncertain," said he, " in what 
 light my services may have appeared to your honor ; but this I 
 know, and it is the highest consolation I am capable of feeling, 
 that no man that ever was employed in a public capacity has 
 endeavored to discharge the trust reposed in him with greater 
 honesty and more zeal for the country's interest than I have 
 done ; and if there is any person living who can say, with jus- 
 tice, that I have offered any intentional wrong to the public, I 
 will cheerfully submit to the most ignominious punishment 
 that an injured people ought to inflict. On the other hand, it 
 is hard to.have my character arraigned, and my actions con- 
 demned, without a hearing." 
 
 His magnanimous appeal had but little effect. Dinwiddie 
 was evidently actuated by the petty pique of a narrow and illib- 
 eral mind, impatient of contradiction, even when in Qrror, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 159 
 
 He took advantage of his official station to vent his spleen and 
 gratify his petulance in a variety of ways incompatible with 
 the courtesy of a gentleman. It may excite a grave smile at 
 the present day to find Washington charged by this very small- 
 minded man with looseness in his way of writing to him ; with 
 remissness in his duty towards him ; and even with imperti- 
 nence in the able and eloquent representations which he felt 
 compelled to make of disastrous mismanagement in military 
 affairs ; and still more, to find his reasonable request, after a 
 long course of severe duty, for a temporary leave of absence to 
 attend to his private concerns, peremptorily refused, and that 
 with as little courtesy as though he were a mere subaltern 
 seeking to absent himself on a party of pleasure. 
 
 The multiplied vexations which Washington had latterly 
 experienced from this man, had preyed upon his spirits, and 
 contributed, with his incessant toils and anxieties, to under- 
 mine his health. For some time he struggled with repeated 
 attacks of dysentery and fever, and continued in the exercise of 
 his duties ; but the increased violence of his malady, and the 
 urgent advice of his friend Dr. Craik, the army surgeon, in- 
 duced him to relinquish his post towards the end of the year 
 and retire to Mount Vernon. 
 
 The administration of Dinwiddle, however, was now at an 
 end. He set sail for England in January, 1758, very little re- 
 gretted, excepting by his immediate hangers-on, and leaving 
 a character overshadowed by the imputation of avarice and 
 extortion in the exaction of illegal fees, and of downright de- 
 linquency in regard to large sums transmitted to him by gov- 
 ernment to be paid over to the province in indemnification of 
 its extra expenses ; for the disposition of which sums he failed 
 to render an account. 
 
 He was evidently a sordid, narrow-minded, and somewhat 
 arrogant man ; bustling rather than active ; prone to meddle 
 with matters of which he was profoundly ignorant, and ab- 
 surdly unwilling to have his ignorance enlightened. 
 
160 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WASHINGTON RECOVERS HIS HEALTH. AGAIN IN COMMAND AT 
 
 FORT LOUDOUN. ADMINISTRATION OF PITT. LOUDOUN SUC- 
 CEEDED BY GENERAL ABERCROMBIE. MILITARY ARRANGE- 
 MENTS. WASHINGTON COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE VIR- 
 GINIA FORCES. AMHERST AGAINST LOUISBURG. GENERAL 
 
 WOLFE. MONTGOMERY. CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. ABER 
 
 CROMBIE ON LAKE GEORGE. DEATH OF LORD HOWE. RE- 
 PULSE OF ABERCROMBIE. SUCCESS OF BRADSTREET AT 
 
 OSWEGO. 
 
 For several months Washington was afflicted hy returns of 
 his malady, accompanied by symptoms indicative, as he thought, 
 of a decline. " My constitution,'^ writes he to his friend Colonel 
 Stanwix, " is much impaired, and nothing can retrieve it but 
 the greatest care and the most circumspect course of life. This 
 being the case, as I have now no prospect left of preferment in 
 the military way, and despair of rendering that immediate ser- 
 vice which my country may require from the person command- 
 ing its troops, I have thoughts of quitting my command and 
 retiring from all public business, leaving my post to be filled 
 by some other person more capable of the task, and who may, 
 perhaps, have his endeavors crowned with better success than 
 mine have been.'' 
 
 A gradual improvement in his health, and a change in his 
 prospects, encouraged him to continue in what really was his 
 favorite career, and at the beginning of April he was again in 
 command at Port Loudoun. Mr. Francis Fauquier had been 
 appointed successor to Dinwiddie, and, until he should arrive, 
 Mr. John Blair, president of the council, had, from his office, 
 charge of the government. In the latter Washington had a 
 friend who appreciated his character and services, and was dis- 
 posed to carry out his plans. 
 
 The general aspect of affairs, also, was more animating. 
 Under the able and intrepid administration of William Pitt, 
 who had control of the British cabinet, an effort was made to 
 retrieve the disgraces of the late American campaign, and to 
 carry on the war with greater vigor. The instructions for a 
 common fund were discontinued ; there was no more talk of 
 taxation by parliament. Lord Loudoun, from whom so much 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 161 
 
 liad been anticipated, had disappointed by his inactivity, and been 
 relieved from a command in which he had attempted much and 
 done so little. His friends alleged that his inactivity was 
 owing to a want of unanimity and cooperation in the colonial 
 governments, which paralyzed all his well-meant efforts. 
 Franklin, it is probable, probed the matter with his usual sagac- 
 ity when he characterized him as a man " entirely made up of 
 indecision." — " Like St. George on the signs, he was always on 
 horseback, but never rode on." 
 
 On the return of his lordship to England, the general com- 
 mand in America devolved on Major-general Abercrombie, and 
 the forces were divided into three detached bodies ; one, under 
 Major-general Amherst, was to operate in the north with the 
 fleet under Boscawen, for the reduction of Louisburg and the 
 island of Cape Breton ; another, under Abercrombie himself, 
 was to j^roceed against Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake 
 Champlain ; and the third, under Brigadier-general Forbes, 
 who had the charge of the middle and southern colonies, was 
 to undertake the reduction of Fort Duquesne. The colonial 
 troops were to be supplied, like the regulars, with arms, ammu- 
 nition, tents and provisions, at the expense of government, but 
 clothed and paid by the colonies ; for which the king would rec- 
 ommend to Parliament a proper compensation. The provin- 
 cial officers appointed by the governors, and of no higher rank 
 than colonel, were to be equal in command, when united in 
 service with those who held direct from the king, according to 
 the date of their commissions. By these wise provisions of Mr. 
 Pitt, a fertile cause of heartburnings and dissensions was re- 
 moved. 
 
 It was with the greatest satisfaction Washington saw his 
 favorite measure at last adopted, the reduction of Fort Du- 
 quesne ; and he resolved to continue in the service until that 
 object was accomplished. In a letter to Stanwix, who was now 
 a brigadier-general, he modestly requested to be mentioned 
 in favorable terms to General Forbes, " not," said he, " as a 
 person who would depend upon him for further recommendation 
 to military preferment (for I have long conquered all such in- 
 clinations, and shall serve this campaign merely for the pur- 
 pose of affording my best endeavors to bring matters to a con- 
 clusion), but as a person who would gladly be distinguished in 
 some measures from the common run of provincial officers, as 
 I understand there will be a motley herd of us." He had the 
 satisfaction subsequently, of enjoying the fullest confidence of 
 General Forbes, who knew too well the sound judgment and 
 practical ability evinced by him in the unfoitunate campaign 
 
1^2 LtF^ OF WASBlNGTOX. 
 
 of Braddock not to be desirous of availing himself of liis 
 counsels. 
 
 Washington still was commander-in-chief of the Virginia 
 troops, now augmented, by an act of the Assembly, to two reg- 
 iments of one thousand men each ; one led by himself, the 
 other by Colonel Byrd ; the whole destined to make a part of 
 the army of General Forbes in the expedition against Fort 
 Duquesne. 
 
 Of the animation which he felt at the prospect of serving in 
 this long-desired campaign, and revisiting with an effective 
 force the scene of past disasters, we have a proof in a short 
 letter, written during the excitement of the moment, to Major 
 Francis Halket, his former companion in arms. 
 
 " My dear Halket, — Are we to have you once more among 
 us ? And shall we revisit-together a hapless spot, that proved 
 so fatal to many of our former brave companions ? Yes ; 
 and I rejoice at it, hoping it will now be in our power to 
 testify a just abhorrence of the cruel butcheries exercised on 
 our friends in the unfortunate day of General Braddock's de- 
 feat ; and, moreover, to show our enemies that we can practice 
 all that lenity of which they only boast, without affording any 
 adequate proof.'' 
 
 Before we proceed to narrate the expedition against Fort 
 Duquesne, however, we will briefly notice the conduct of the 
 two other expeditions, which formed important parts in the 
 plan of military operations for the year. And first, of that 
 against Louisburg and the Island of Cape Breton. 
 
 Major-general Amherst, who conducted this expedition, em- 
 barked with between ten and twelve thousand men, in the fleet 
 of Admiral Boscawen, and set sail about the end of May, from 
 Halifax, in Nova Scotia. Along with him went Brigadier- 
 general James Wolfe, an officer young in years, but a veteran 
 in military experience, and destined to gain an almost romantic 
 celebrity. He may almost be said to have been born in the 
 camp, for he was the son of Major-general Wolfe, a veteran 
 officer of merit, and when a lad had witnessed the battles of 
 Dettingen and Fontenoy. While a mere youth he had dis- 
 tinguished himself at the battle of Laffeldt, in the Netherlands ; 
 and now, after having been eighteen years in the service, he 
 was but thirty-one years of age. In America, however, he was 
 to win his lasting laurels. 
 
 On the 2d of June, the fleet arrived at the Bay of Gabarus, 
 about seven miles to the west of Louisburg. The latter place 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 163 
 
 was garrisoned by two thousand five hundred regulars, and 
 three hundred militia, and subsequently reinforced by upwards 
 of four hundred Canadians and Indians. In the harbor were 
 six ships-of-the-line, and five frigates ; three of which were 
 sunk across the mouth. For several days the troops were pre- 
 vented from landing by boisterous weather, and a heavy surf. 
 The French improved that time to strengthen a chain of forts 
 along the shore, deepening trenches, and constructing bat- 
 teries. 
 
 On the 8th of June, preparations for landing were made before 
 daybreak. The troops were embarked in boats in three divi- 
 sions, under Brigadiers Wolfe, Whetmore, and Laurens. The 
 landing was to be attempted west of the harbor, at a place feebly 
 secured. Several frigates and sloops previously scoured the 
 beach with their shot, after which Wolfe pulled for shore with 
 his division ; the other two divisions distracting the attention 
 of the enemy, by making a show of landing in other parts. 
 The surf still ran high, the enemy pened a fire of cannon and 
 musketry from their batteries, many boats were upset, many 
 men slain, but Wolfe pushed forward, sprang into the water 
 when the boats grounded, dashed through the surf with his 
 men, stormed the enemy's breastworks and batteries, and drove 
 them from the shore. Among the subalterns who stood by 
 Wolfe on this occasion, was an Irish youth, twenty-one years 
 of age, named Eichard Montgomery, whom, for his gallantry, 
 Wolfe promoted to a lieutenancy, and who was destined, in 
 after years, to gain an imperishable renown. The other divis- 
 ions effected a landing after a severe conflict; artillery and 
 stores were brought, on shore, and Louisburg was formally 
 invested. 
 
 The weather continued boisterous ; the heavy cannon, and the 
 various munitions necessary for a siege, were landed with dif- 
 ficulty. Amherst, moreover, was a cautious man, and made 
 his approaches slowly, securing his camp by redoubts and 
 epaulements. The Chevalier Drucour, who commanded at Louis- 
 burg, called in his outposts, and prepared for a desperate de- 
 fense ; keeping up a heavy fire from his batteries, and from the 
 ships in the harbor. 
 
 Wolfe, with a strong detachment, surprised at night and 
 took possession of Light-house Point, on the northeast side of 
 the entrance to the harbor. Here he threw up batteries in 
 addition to those already there, from which he was enabled 
 greatly to annoy both town and shipping, as well as to aid 
 Amherst in his slow, but regular and sure approaches. 
 
 On the ^Ist of July, the three largest of the enemy's ships 
 
164 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 were set on fire by a bombshell. On the night of the 25th 
 two others of the ships were boarded, sword in hand, from boats 
 of the squadron ; one, being aground, was burnt, the other was 
 towed out of the harbor in triumph. The brave Drucour kept 
 up the defense until all the ships were either taken or destroyed ; 
 forty, out of fifty-two pieces of cannon dismounted, and his 
 works mere heaps of ruins. When driven to capitulate, he re- 
 fused the terms proposed, as being too severe, and when 
 threatened with a general assault, by sea and land, determined 
 to abide it, rather than submit to what he considered a humilia- 
 tion. The prayers and petitions of the inhabitants, however, 
 overcame his obstinacy. The place was surrendered, and he 
 and his garrison became prisoners of war. Captain Amherst, 
 brother to the general, carried home the news to England, 
 with eleven pairs of colors, taken at Louisburg. There were 
 rejoicings throughout the kingdom. The colors were borne in 
 triumph through the streets of London, with a parade of horse 
 and foot, kettle drums and trumpets, and the thunder of artil- 
 lery, and were put up as trophies in St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 Boscawen, who was a member of Parliament, received a un- 
 animous vote of praise from the House of Commons, and the 
 youthful Wolfe, who returned shortly after the victory to Eng- 
 land, was hailed as the hero of the enterprise. 
 
 We have disposed of one of the three great expeditions con- 
 templated in the plan of the year's campaign. The second was 
 that against the Erench forts on Lakes George and Champlain. 
 At the beginning of July, Abercrombie was encamped on the 
 borders of Lake George, with between six and seven thousand 
 regulars, and upwards of nine thousand provincials from New 
 England, New York, and New Jersey. Major Israel Putnam 
 of Connecticut, who had served on this lake, under Sir William 
 Johnson, in the campaign in which Dieskau was defeated and 
 slain, had been detached with a scouting party to reconnoiter 
 the neighborhood. After his return and report, Abercrombie 
 prepared to proceed against Ticonderoga, situated on a tongue 
 of land in Lake Champlain, at the mouth of the strait com- 
 municating with Lake George. 
 
 On the 5th of July, the forces were embarked in one hundred 
 and twenty-five whale-boats, and nine hundred bateaux, with 
 the artillery on rafts. The vast flotilla proceeded slowly down 
 the. lake, with banners and pennons fluttering in the summer 
 breeze ; arms glittering in the sunshine, and martial music 
 echoing along the wood-clad mountains. With Abercrombie 
 went Lord Howe, a young nobleman, brave and enterprising, 
 full of martial enthusiasm, and endeared to the soldiery by the 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 165 
 
 generosity of his disposition, and the sweetness of his manners. 
 
 On the first night they bivouacked for some hours at Sab- 
 bath-day Point, but reembarked before midnight. The next 
 day they landed on a point on the western shore just at the en- 
 trance of the strait leading to Lake Champlain. Here they 
 were formed into three columns, and pushed forward. 
 
 The}' soon came upon the enemy's advanced guard, a bat- 
 talion encamped behind a log breastwork. The French set fire 
 to their camp, and retreated. The columns kept their form, 
 and pressed forward, but, through ignorance of their guides, 
 became bewildered in a dense forest, fell into confusion, and 
 blundered upon each other. 
 
 Lord Howe urged on with the van of the right centre column. 
 Putnam, who was with him, and more experienced in forest 
 warfare, endeavored in vain to inspire him with caution. After 
 a time they came upon a detachment of the retreating foe, who, 
 like themselves, had lost their way. A severe conflict en- 
 sued. Lord Howe, who gallantly led the van, was killed at the 
 onset. His fall gave new ardor to his troops. The enemy 
 were routed, some slain, some drowned, about one hundred and 
 fifty taken prisoners, including five ofiicers. Nothing further 
 was done that dayi The death of Lord Howe more than counter- 
 balanced the defeat of the enemy. His loss was bewailed not 
 merely by the army, but by the American people ; for it is 
 singular how much this young nobleman, in a short time, had 
 made himself beloved. The point near which the troops had 
 landed still bears his name ; the place where he fell is still 
 pointed out ; and Massachusetts voted him a monument in 
 Westminster Abbey 
 
 With Lord Howe expired the master-spirit of the enterprise. 
 Abercrombie fell back to the landing-place. The next day he 
 sent out a strong detachment of regulars, royal provincials, and 
 bateaux men, under Lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet of New York, 
 to secure a saw-mill, which the enemy had abandoned. This 
 done, he followed on the same evening with the main forces, 
 and took post at the mill, within two miles of the ford. Here 
 he was joined by Sir William Johnson, with between four and 
 five hundred savage warriors from the Mohawk River. 
 
 Montcalm had called in all his forces, between three and four 
 thousand men, and was strongly posted behind deep intrench- 
 ments and breastworks eight feet high ; with an abatis, of 
 felled trees, in front of his lines, presenting a horrid barrier, 
 with their jagged boughs pointing outward. Abercrombie was 
 deceived as to the strength of the French works ; his engineers 
 persuaded him they were formidable only in appearance, but 
 
166 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 really weak and flimsy. Without waiting for the arrival of his 
 cannon, and against the opinion of his most judicious officers, 
 he gave orders to storm the works. Never were rash orders 
 more gallantly obeyed. The meji rushed forward with fixed 
 bayonets, and attempted to force their way through, or scramble 
 over the abatis, under a sheeted fire of swivels and musketry. 
 In the desperation of the moment, the officers even tried to cut 
 their way through with their swords. Some even reached the 
 parapet, where they were shot down. The breastwork was too 
 high to be surmounted, and gave a secure cover to the enemy. 
 E-epeated assaults were made, and as often repelled, with dread- 
 ful havoc. The Iroquois warriors, who had arrived with Sir 
 William Johnson, took no part, it is said, in this fierce conflict, 
 but stood aloof as unconcerned spectators of the bloody strife 
 of white men. 
 
 After four hours of desperate and fruitless fighting. Aber- 
 crombie, who had all the time remained aloof at the saw-mill, 
 gave up the ill-judged attempt, and withdrew once more to 
 the landing-place, with the loss of nearly two thousand in 
 killed and wounded. Had not the vastly inferior force of 
 Montcalm prevented him from sallying beyond his trenches, 
 the retreat of the British might have be^n pushed to a head- 
 long and disastrous flight. 
 
 Abercombie had still nearly four times the number of the 
 enemy, with cannon, and all the means of carrying on a siege 
 with every prospect of success ; but the failure of this rash 
 assault seems completely to have dismayed him. The next day 
 he reembarked all his troops, and returned across that lake where 
 his disgraced banners had recently waved so proudly. 
 
 While the genqral was planning fortifications on Lake 
 George, Colonel Bradstreet obtained permission to carry into 
 effect an expedition which he had for some time meditated, 
 and which had been a favored project with the lamented Howe. 
 This was to reduce Fort Frontenac, the stronghold of the French 
 on the north side of the entrance of Lake Ontario, commanding 
 the mouth of the St. Lawrence. This post was a central 
 point of Indian trade, whither the tribes resorted from all parts 
 of a vast interior, sometimes a distance of a thousand miles, to 
 traffic away their peltries with the fur-traders. It was, more- 
 over, a magazine for the more southern posts, among which 
 was Fort Duquesne on the Ohio. 
 
 Bradstreet was an officer of spirit. Pushing his way along 
 the valley of the Mohawk and by the Oneida, where he was 
 joined by several warriors of the Six Nations, he arrived at 
 Oswego in August, with nearly three thousand men, the greater 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. l67 
 
 part of them provincial troops of ISTew York and Massachusetts. 
 Emharking at Oswego in open hoats, he crossed Lake Ontario, 
 and landed within a mile of Frontenac. The fort mounted 
 sixty guns, and several mortars, yet, though a place of such 
 importance, the garrison consisted of merely one hundred and 
 ten men, and a few Indians. These either fled, or surrendered 
 at discretion. In the fort was an immense amount of mer- 
 chandise and military stores, part of the latter intended for the 
 supply of Fort Duquesne. In the harbor were nine armed 
 vessels, some of them carrying eighteen guns, the whole of the 
 enemy's shipping on the lake. Two of these Colonel Bradstreet 
 freighted with part of the spoils of the fort, the others he de- 
 stroyed ; then having dismantled fhe fortifications, and laid 
 waste everything which he could not carry away, he recrossed 
 the lake to Oswego, and returned with his troops to the army 
 on Lake George. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SLOW OPERATIONS. WASHINGTON ORDERS OUT THE MILITIA. 
 
 MISSION TO WILLIAMSBURG. HALT AT MR. CHAMBERLAYNe's. 
 
 MRS. MARTHA CUSTIS. A BRIEF COURTSHIP. AN ENGAGE- 
 MENT. RETURN TO WINCHESTER. THE RIFLE DRESS. IN- 
 DIAN SCOUTS.— WASHINGTON ELECTED TO THE HOUSE OF BUR- 
 GESSES. — TIDINGS OP Amherst's success. — the new road 
 
 TO FORT DUQUESNE. MARCH FOR THE FORT. INDISCREET 
 
 CONDUCT OP MAJOR GRANT. DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 WASHINGTON ADVANCES AGAINST FORT DUQUESNE. END OF 
 
 THE EXPEDITION. WASHINGTON RETURNS HOME. HIS MAR- 
 RIAGE. 
 
 Operations went on slowly in that part of the year's cam- 
 paign in whicli Washington was immediately engaged — the 
 expedition against Fort Dnquesne. Brigadier-general Forbes, 
 who was commander-in-chief, was detained at Philadelphia by 
 those delays and cross-purposes incident to military affairs in 
 a new country. Colonel Bouquet, who was to command the 
 advanced division, took his station, with a corps of regulars, 
 at llaystown, in the centre of Pennsylvania. There slowly 
 assembled troops from various parts. Three thousand Penn- 
 sylvanians, twelve hundred and fifty South Carolinians, and a 
 few hundred men from elsewhere. 
 
 Washington, in the meantime, gathered together his scattered 
 
leg LIFE OF WASHINGrON. 
 
 regiments at Wincliester, some from a distance of two hundred 
 miles, and diligently disciplined his recruits. He had two 
 Virginia regiments under him, amounting, when complete, 
 to about nineteen hundred men. Seven hundred Indian war- 
 riors, also, came lagging into his camp, lured by the prospect 
 of a successful campaign. 
 
 The president of the council had given Washington a dis- 
 cretionary power in the present juncture to order out militia 
 for the purpose of garrisoning the fort in the absence of the 
 regular troops. Washington exercised the power with extreme 
 reluctance. He considered it, he said, an affair of too im- 
 portant and delicate a nature for him to manage, and appre- 
 hended the discontent it might occasion. In fact, his sym- 
 pathies were always with the husbandmen and the laborers of 
 the soil, and he deplored the evils imposed upon them by 
 arbitrary drafts for military service — a scruple not often indulged 
 by youthful commanders. 
 
 The force thus assembling was in want of arms, tents, field- 
 equipage, and almost every requisite. Washington had made 
 repeated representations, by letter, of the destitute state of the 
 Virginia troops, but without avail ; he was now ordered by Sir 
 John St. Clair, the quartermaster-general of the forces, under 
 General Forbes, to repair to Williamsburg, and lay the state of 
 the case before the council. He set off promptly on horseback, 
 attended by Bishop, the well-trained military servant, who 
 had served the late General Braddock. It proved an eventful 
 journey, though not in a military point of view. In cross- 
 ing a ferry of the Pamunkey, a branch of York River, he fell 
 in company with a Mr. Chamberlayne, who lived in the neigh- 
 borhood, and w^ho, in the spirit of Virginia hospitality, claimed 
 him as a guest. It was with difficulty Washington could be 
 prevailed on to halt for dinner, so impatient was he to arrive 
 at Williamsburg, and accomplish his mission. 
 
 Among the guests at Mr. Chamberlayne's was a young and 
 blooming widow, Mrs. Martha Custis, daughter of Mr. Jolm 
 Dandridge, both patrician names in the province. Her hus- 
 band, John Parke Custis, had been dead about three years, 
 leaving her with two young children, and a large fortune. She 
 is represented as being rather below the middle size, but ex- 
 tremely well shaped, w?th an agreeable countenance, dark hazel 
 eyes and hair, and those frank, engaging manners, so captivat- 
 ing in Southern women. We are not informed whether Wash- 
 ington had met with her before ; probably not during her 
 widowhood, as during that time he had been almost continually 
 on the frontier. We have shown that, with all his gravity and 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 169 
 
 reserve, he was quickly susceptible to female charms ; and they 
 may have had a greater effect upon him when thus casually 
 encountered in fleeting moments snatched from the cares and 
 perplexities and rude scenes of frontier warfare. At any rate, 
 his heart appears to have been taken by surprise. 
 
 The dinner, which in those days was an earlier meal than at 
 present, seemed all too short. The afternoon passed away like 
 a dream. Bishop Avas punctual to the orders he had received 
 on halting; the horses pawed at the door; but for once Wash- 
 ington loitered in the path of duty. The horses were counter- 
 manded, and it was not until the next morning that he was 
 again in the saddle, spurring for Williamsburg. Happily the 
 White House, the residence of Mrs. Custis, was in New Kent 
 County, at no great distance from that city, so that he had op- 
 portunities of visiting her in the intervals of business. His time 
 for courtship, however, was brief. Military duties called him 
 back almost immediately to Winchester ; but he feared, should 
 he leave the matter in suspense, some more enterprising rival 
 might supplant him during his absence, as in the case of Miss 
 Philipse, at New York. He improved, therefore, his brief op- 
 portunity to the utmost. The blooming widow had many 
 suitors, but Washington was graced with that renown so en- 
 nobling in the eyes of women. In a word, before they separat- 
 ed, they had mutually plighted their faith, and the marriage 
 was to take place as soon as the campaign against Fort Duquesne 
 was at an end. 
 
 Before returning to Winchester, Washington was obliged to 
 hold conferences with Sir John St. Clair and Colonel Bouquet, 
 at an intermediate rendezvous, to give them information re- 
 specting the frontiers, and arrange about the marching of his 
 troops. His constant word to them was forward! forward! 
 For the precious time for action was slipping away, and he 
 feared their Indian allies, so important to their security while 
 on the march, might, with their usual fickleness, lose patience 
 and return home. 
 
 On arriving at Winchester, he found his troops restless and 
 discontented from prolonged inaction ; the inhabitants impa- 
 tient of the burdens imposed on them, and of the disturbances 
 of an idle camp; while .the Indians, as he apprehended, had 
 deserted outright. It was a great relief, therefore, when he 
 received orders from the commander-in-chief to repair to Fort 
 Cumberland. He arrived there on the 2d of July, and pro- 
 ceeded to open a road between that post and head-quarters, at 
 Raystown, thirty miles distant, where Colonel Bouquet was 
 stationed. 
 
170 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 His troops were scantily supplied with regimental clothing. 
 The weather was oppressively warm. He now conceived the 
 idea of equipping them in the light Indian hunting garb, and 
 even of adopting it himself. Two companies were accordingly 
 equipped in this style, and sent under the command of Major 
 Lewis to head-quarters. ^' It is an unbecoming dress, I own, 
 for an officer," writes Washington, "but convenience rather 
 than show, I think, should be consulted. The reduction of bat- ' 
 horses alone would be sufficient to recommend it, for nothing is 
 more certain than that less baggage would be required." 
 
 The experiment was successful. " The dress takes very 
 well here," writes Colonel Bouquet ; " and, thank God, we see 
 nothing but shirts and blankets. . . . Their dress should 
 be one pattern for this expedition." Such was probably the 
 origin of the American rifle dress, afterwards so much worn in 
 warfare, and modeled on the Indian costume. 
 
 The army was now annoyed by scouting parties of Indians 
 hovering about the neighborhood. Expresses passing between 
 the posts were fired upon ; a wagoner was shot down. Wash- 
 ington sent out counter-parties of Cherokees. Colonel Bouquet 
 required that each party should be accompanied by an officer 
 and a number of white men. Washington complied with the 
 order, though he considered them an encumbrance rather than 
 an advantage. "Small parties of Indians," said he, "will more 
 effectually harass the enemy by keeping them under continual 
 alarms, than any parties of white men can do. For small 
 parties of the latter are not equal to the task, not being so 
 dexterous at skulking as Indians; and large parties will be dis- 
 covered by their spies early enough to have a su2)erior force 
 opposed to them." With all his efforts, however, he was never 
 able fully to make the officers of the regular army appreciate 
 the importance of Indian allies in these campaigns in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 On the other hand, he earnestly discountenanced a proposi- 
 tion of Colonel Bouquet, to make an irruption into the enemy's 
 country with a strong party of regulars. Such a detachment 
 he observed, could not be sent without a cumbersome train of 
 supplies, which would discover it to the enemy, who must at 
 that time be collecting his whole force at Tort Duquesne ; the 
 enterprise, therefore, would be likely to terminate in a mis- 
 carriage, if not in the destruction of the party. We shall see 
 that his opinion was oracular. 
 
 As Washington intended to retire from military life at the 
 close of this campaign, he had proposed himself to the electors 
 of Frederick County as their representative in the House of 
 
IIFM OP WASIlimTOK 171 
 
 Burgesses. The election was coming on at Winchester ; his 
 friends pressed him to attend it, and Colonel Bouquet gave 
 him leave of absence ; but he declined to absent himself from 
 his post for the promotion of his political interests. There 
 were three competitors in the field, yet so high was the public 
 opinion of his merit, that, though Winchester had been his 
 head-quarters for two or three years past, and he had occa- 
 sionally enforced martial law with a rigorous hand, he was 
 elected by a large majorit}^ The election was carried on some- 
 what in the English style. There was much eating and drink- 
 ing at the expense of tlie candidate. Washington appeared on 
 the hustings by proxy, and his representative was chaired 
 about the town with enthusiastic applause and huzzaing for 
 Colonel Washington. 
 
 On the 21st of July arrived tidings of the brilliant success 
 of that part of the scheme of the year's campaign conducted 
 by General Amherst and Admiral T3oscawen, who had reduced 
 the strong town of Louisburg and gained possession of the 
 island of Cape Breton. This intelligence increased Washing- 
 ton's impatience at the delays of the expedition with which he 
 was connected. He wished to rival these successes by a bril- 
 liant blow in the South. Perhaps a desire for personal dis- 
 tinction in the eyes of the lady of his choice may have been at 
 the bottom of this impatience ; for we are told that he kept 
 up a constant correspondence with her throughout the cam- 
 paign 
 
 Understanding that the commander-in-chief had some 
 thoughts of throwing a body of light troops in the advance, he 
 wrote to Colonel Bouquet, earnestly soliciting his influence to 
 have himself and his Virginia regiment included in the detach- 
 ment. " If any argument is needed to obtain this favor," said 
 he, ^' I hope, without vanity, I may be allowed to say, that 
 from long intimacy with these woods, and frequent scouting in 
 them, my men are at least as well acquainted with all the 
 passes and difficulties as any troops that will be employed." 
 
 He soon learnt to his surprise, however, that the road to 
 which his men were accustomed, and which had been worked 
 by Braddock's troops in his campaign, was not to be taken in 
 the present expedition, but a new one opened through the 
 heart of Pennsylvania, from Kaystown to Fort Duquesne, on 
 the track generally taken by the northern traders. He in- 
 stantly commenced long and repeated remonstrances on the 
 subject ; representing that Braddock's road, from recent ex- 
 amination, only needed partial repairs, and showing by clear 
 calculation that an army could reach Fort Duquesne by that 
 
if 2 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 route ill thirty-four days, so that the whole campaign might he 
 effected by the middle of October; whereas the extreme labor 
 of opening a new road across mountains, swamps, and through 
 a densely wooded country, would detain them so late, that the 
 season would be over before they could reach the scene of ac- 
 tion. His representations were of no avail. The officers of 
 the regular service had received a fearful idea of Braddock's 
 road from his own despatches, wherein he had described it as 
 lying " across mountains and rocks of an excessive height, 
 vastly steep, and divided by torrents and rivers," whereas the 
 Pennsylvania traders, who were anxious for the opening of the 
 new road through their province, described the country through 
 which it would pass as less difficult, and its streams less sub- 
 ject to inundation ; above all, it was a direct line, and fifty 
 miles nearer. This route, therefore, to the great regret of 
 Washington and the indignation of the Virginia Assembly, 
 was definitely adopted, and sixteen hundred men were im- 
 mediately thrown in the advance from Raystown to work 
 upon it. 
 
 The first of September found Washington still encamped at 
 Fort Cumberland, his troops sickly and dispirited, and the 
 brilliant expedition which he had anticipated dwindling down 
 into a tedious operation of road-making. In the mean time, 
 his scouts brought him word that the whole force at Fort 
 Duquesne on the 13th of August, Indians included, did not 
 exceed eight hundred men : had an early campaign been 
 pressed forward, as he recommended, the place by this time 
 would have been captured. At length, in the month of Sep- 
 tember, he received orders from General Forbes to join him 
 with his troops at E-aystown, where he had just arrived, hav- 
 ing been detained by severe illness. He was received by the 
 general with the highest marks of respect. On all occasions, 
 both in private and at councils of war, that commander treated 
 his opinions with the greatest deference. He, moreover, 
 adopted a plan drawn out by Washington for the march of the 
 army ; and an order of battle which still exists^ furnishing a 
 proof of his skill in frontier warfare. 
 
 It was now the middle of September ; yet the great body of 
 men engaged in opening the new military road, after incredible 
 toil, had not advanced above forty-five miles, to a place called 
 Loyal Hannan, a little beyond Laurel Hill. Colonel Bouquet, 
 who commanded the division of nearly two thousand men sent 
 forward to open this road, had halted at Loyal Hannan to 
 establish a military post and deposit. 
 
 He was upwards of fifty miles from Fort Duquesne, and was 
 
L1F:E of WASHINGTON. 173 
 
 tempted to adopt the measure, so strongly discountenanced by 
 Washington, of sending a party on a foray into the enemy's 
 country. He accordingly detached Major Grant with eight 
 hundred picked men, some of them Highlanders, others, in 
 Indian garb, the part of Washington's Virginian regiment sent 
 forward by him from Cumberland under command of Major 
 Lewis. 
 
 The instructions given to Major Grant were merely to recon- 
 noiter the country in the neighborhood of Fort Duquesne, and 
 ascertain the strength and position of the enemy. He con- 
 ducted the enterprise with the foolhardiness of a man eager for 
 personal notoriety. His whole object seems to have been by 
 open bravado to provoke an action. The enemy were apprised, 
 through their scouts, of his approach, but suffered him to ad- 
 vance unmolested. Arriving at night in the neighborhood of 
 the fort, he posted his men on a hill, and sent out a party of 
 observation, who set fire to a log house near the walls and re- 
 turned to the encampment. As if this were not sufficient to 
 put the enemy on the alert, he ordered the reveille to be beaten 
 in the morning in several places ; then, posting Major Lewis 
 with his provincial troops at a distance in the rear to protect . 
 the baggage, he marshalled his regulars in battle array, and sent 
 an engineer, with a covering party, to take a plan of the works 
 in full view of the garrison. 
 
 Not a gun was fired by the fort; the silence which was 
 maintained was mistaken for fear, and increased the arrogance 
 and blind security of the British commander. At length, 
 when he was thrown off his guard, there was a sudden sally of 
 the garrison, and an attack on the flanks by Indians hid in 
 ambush. A scene now occurred similar to that at the defeat of 
 Braddock. The British officers marshaled their men according 
 to European tactics, and the Highlanders for some time stood 
 their ground bravely ; but the destructive fire and horrid yells 
 of the Indians soon produced panic and confusion. Major 
 Lewis, at the first noise of the attack, left Captain Bullitt, 
 with fifty Virginians, to guard the baggage, and hastened with 
 the main part of his men to the scene of action. The contest 
 was kept up for some time, but the confusion was irretrievable. 
 The Indians sallied from their concealment, and attacked with 
 the tomahawk and scalping-knife. Lewis fought hand to hand 
 with an Indian brave, whom he laid dead at his feet, but was 
 surrounded by others, and only saved his life by surrendering 
 himself to a French officer. Major Grant surrendered himself 
 in like manner. The whole detachment was put to the rout 
 with dreadful carnage. 
 
174 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Captain Bullitt rallied several of the fugitives, and prepared 
 to make a forlorn stand; as the only chance where the enemy 
 was overwhelming and merciless. Despatching the most valu- 
 able baggage with the strongest horses, he made a barricade 
 with the baggage wagons, behind which he posted his men, 
 giving them orders how they were to act. All this was the 
 thought and the work almost of a moment, for the savages, hav- 
 ing finished the havoc and plunder of the field of battle, were 
 hastening in pursuit of the fugitives. Bullitt suffered them to 
 come near, when, on a concerted signal, a destructive fire was 
 opened from behind the baggage wagons. They were checked 
 for a time ; but were again pressing forward in greater num- 
 bers, when Bullitt and his men held out the signal of capitula- 
 tion, and advanced as if to surrender. When within eight 
 yards of the enemy, they suddenly leveled their arms, poured 
 a most effective volley, and then charged with the bayonet. 
 The Indians fled in dismay, and Bullitt took advantage of this 
 check to retreat with all speed, collecting the wounded and the 
 scattered fugitives as he advanced. The routed detachment 
 came back in fragments to Colonel Bouquet's camp at Loyal 
 Hannan, with the loss of twenty-one officers and two hundred 
 and seventy-three privates killed and taken. The Highlanders 
 and the Virginians were those that fought the best and suffered 
 the most in this bloody battle. Washington's regiment lost six 
 officers and sixty-two privates. 
 
 If Washington could have taken any pride in seeing his pres- 
 ages of misfortune verified, he might have been gratified by 
 the result of this rash ^^ irruption into the enemy's country," 
 which was exactly what he had predicted. In his letters to 
 Governor Fauquier, however, he bears lightly on the error of 
 Col. Bouquet. " From all accounts I can collect," says he, " it 
 appears very clear that this was a very ill-concerted, or a very 
 ill-executed plan, perhaps both ; but it seems to be generally 
 acknowledged that Major Grant exceeded his orders, and that 
 no disposition was made for engaging." 
 
 Washington, who was at K-aystown when the disastrous 
 news arrived, was publicly complimented by General Forbes, 
 on the gallant conduct of his Virginian troops, and Bullitt's 
 behavior was " a matter of great admiration." The latter was 
 soon after rewarded with a major's commission. 
 
 As a further mark of the high opinion now entertained of 
 provincial troops for frontier service, Washington was given 
 the command of a division, partly composed of his own men, to 
 keep in the advance of the main body, clear the roads, throw 
 out scouting parties, and repel Indian attacks. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 175 
 
 It was the 5tli of November before the whole army assembled 
 at Loyal Hannan. Winter was now at hand, and upwards of 
 fifty miles of wilderness were yet to be traversed, by a road 
 not yet formed, before they could reach Fort Duquesne. Again, 
 Washington's predictions seemed likely to be verified, and the 
 expedition to be defeated by delay ; for in a council of war it 
 was determined to be impracticable to advance further with 
 the army that season. Three prisoners, however, who were 
 brought in, gave such an account of the weak state of the gar- 
 rison at Fort Duquesne, its want of provisions, and the defec- 
 tion ot the Indians, that it was determined to push forward. 
 The march was accordingly resumed, but without tents or bag- 
 gage, and with only a light train of artillery. 
 
 Washington still kept the advance. After leaving Loyal 
 Hannan, the road presented traces of the late defeat of Grant ; 
 being strewed with human bones, the sad relics of fugitives cut 
 down by the Indians, or of wounded soldiers who had died on 
 the retreat ; they lay mouldering in various stages of decay, 
 mingled with the bones of horses and of oxen. As they ap- 
 proached Fort Duquesne these mementos of former disasters 
 became more frequent ; and the bones of those massacred in 
 the defeat of Braddock, still lay scattered about the battlefield, 
 whitening in the sun. 
 
 At length the army arrived in sight of Fort Duquesne, ad- 
 vancing with great precaution, and expecting a vigorous de- 
 fense ; but that formidable fortress, the terror and scourge of 
 the frontier, and the object of such warlike enterprise, fell with- 
 out a blow. The recent successes of the English forces in 
 Canada, particularly the capture and destruction of Fort Fronte- 
 nac, had left the garrison without hope of reinforcements and 
 supplies. The whole force, at the time, did not exceed five 
 hundred men, and the provisions were nearly exhausted. The 
 commander, therefore, waited only until the English army was 
 within one day's march, when he embarked his troops at night 
 in bateaux, blew up his magazines, set fire to the fort, and re- 
 treated down the Ohio, by the light of the flames. On the 25th 
 of November, Washington, with the advanced guard, marched 
 in, and planted the British flag on the yet smoking ruins. 
 
 One of the first ofiices of the army was to collect and bury, 
 in one common tomb, the bones of their fellow soldiers who had 
 fallen in the battles of Braddock and Grant. In this pious 
 duty it is said every one joined, from the general down to the 
 private soldier ; and some veterans assisted, with heavy hearts 
 and frequent ejaculations of poignant feeling^ who had beei^ 
 present in the scenes of defeat and carnage, 
 
176 LIFJ^ OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The ruins of the fortress were now put in a defensible state^ 
 and garrisoned by two hundred men from AVashington's regi- 
 ment ; the name was changed to that of Fort Pitt, in honor of 
 the illustrious British minister, wdiose measures had given vigor 
 and effect to this year's campaign ; it has since been modified 
 into Pittsburgh, and designates one of the most busy and popu- 
 lous cities of the interior. 
 
 The reduction of Fort Duquesne terminated, as Washington 
 had foreseen, the troubles and dangers of the southern frontier. 
 The French dominion of the Ohio was at an end ; the In- 
 dians, as usual, paid homage to the conquering power, and a 
 treaty of peace was concluded with all the tribes between the 
 Ohio and the lakes. 
 
 With this campaign ended, for the present, the military 
 career of Washington. His great object was attained, the res- 
 toration of quiet and security to his native province; and, 
 having abandoned all hope of attaining rank in the regular 
 army, and his health being much impaired, he gave up his 
 commission at the close of the year, and retired from the ser- 
 vice, followed by the applause of his fellow-soldiers, and the 
 gratitude and admiration of all his countrymen. 
 
 His marriage with Mrs. Custis took place shortly after his 
 return. It was celebrated on the 6th of January, 1759, at the 
 White House, the residence of the bride, in the good old hospi- 
 table style of Virginia, amid a joyous assemblage of relatives 
 and friends. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PLAN OF OPERATIONS FOR 1759. INVESTMENT OF FORT 
 
 NIAGARA. DEATH OF PRIDEAUX. SUCCESS OF SIR WIL- 
 LIAM JOHNSON. AMHERST AT TICONDEROGA. WOLFE AT 
 
 QUEBEC. HIS TRIUMPH AND DEATH. FATE OF MONT- 
 CALM. CAPITULATION OF QUEBEC. ATTEMPT OF DE LEVI 
 
 TO RETAKE IT. ARRIVAL OF A BRITISH FLEET. LAST 
 
 STAND OF THE FRENCH AT MONTREAL. SURRENDER OF 
 
 CANADA. 
 
 Before following Washington into the retirement of domes- 
 tic life, we think it proper to notice the events w^hich closed 
 the great struggle between England and France for empire in 
 America. In that struggle he had first become practiced in 
 
LIFE OF WASIIINGTOX. 177 
 
 arms, and schooled in the ways of the work! ; and its results 
 will be found connected with the history of his later years. 
 
 General Abercrombie had been superseded as commander-in- 
 chief of the forces in America by Major-general Amherst, who 
 had gained great favor l)y the reduction of Louisburg. Ac- 
 cording to the plan of operations for 1759, General Wolfe, who 
 had risen to fame by his gallant conduct in the same affair, 
 was to ascend the St. Lawrence in a fleet of ships of war, with 
 eight thousand men, as soon as the river should be free of ice, 
 and lay siege to Quebec, the capital of Canada. General Am- 
 herst, in the meantime, was to advance, as Abercrombie had 
 done, by Lake George, against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
 reduce those forts, cross Lake Champlain, push on to the St. 
 Lawrence, and cooperate with Wolfe. 
 
 A third expedition, under Brigadier-general Prideaux, aided 
 by Sir William Johnson and his Indian warriors, was to attack 
 Fort Niagara, which controlled the whole country of the Six 
 Nations, and commanded the navigation of the great lakes, and 
 the intercourse between Canada and Louisiana. Having re^ 
 duced this fort, he was to traverse Lake Ontario, descend the 
 St. Lawrence, capture Montreal, and join his forces with those 
 of Amherst. 
 
 The last-mentioned expedition was the first executed. Gen- 
 eral Prideaux embarked at Oswego on the first of July, with a 
 large body of troops, regulars and provincials — the latter partly 
 from New York. He was accompanied by Sir William John- 
 son, and his Indian braves of the Mohawk. Landing at an 
 inlet of Lake Ontario, within a few miles of Fort Niagara, he 
 advanced, without being opposed, and proceeded to invest it. 
 The garrison, six hundred strong, made a resolute defense. 
 The siege was carried on by regular approaches, but pressed 
 with vigor. On the 20th of July, Prideaux, in visiting his 
 trenches, was killed by the bursting of a cohorn. Informed 
 by express of this misfortune. General Amherst detached from 
 the main army Brigadier-general Gage, the officer who had led 
 Braddock's advance, to take the command. 
 
 In the meantime, the siege had been conducted by Sir 
 William Johnson with courage and sagacity. He was destitute 
 of military science, but had a natural aptness for warfare, 
 especially for the rough kind carried on in the wilderness. 
 Being informed by his scouts that twelve hundred regular 
 troops, drawn from Detroit, Venango, and Presque Isle, and 
 led by D'Aubry, with a number of Indian auxiliaries, were 
 hastening to the rescue, he detached a force of grenadiers and 
 light infantry, with some of his Mohawk warriors, to inter- 
 
178 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 cept them. They came in sight of each other on the road, be- 
 tween ISTiagara Falls and the fort, within the thundering sound 
 of the one, and the distant view of the other. Johnson's 
 " braves " advanced to have a parley with the hostile redskins. 
 The latter received them with a war-whoop, and Frenchman 
 and savage made an impetuous onset. Johnson's regulars and 
 provincials stood their ground firmly, while his red warriors 
 fell on the flanks of the enemy. After a sharp conflict, the 
 French were broken, routed, and pursued through the woods, 
 with great carnage. Among the prisoners taken were seven- 
 teen ofiicers. The next day Sir William Johnson sent a 
 trumpet, summoning the garrison to surrender, to spare the 
 effusion of blood, and prevent outrages by the Indians. They 
 had no' alternative ; were permitted to march out with the 
 honors of war, and were protected by Sir William from his 
 Indian allies. Thus was secured the key to the communication 
 between Lakes Ontario and Erie, and to the vast interior re- 
 gion connected with them. The blow alarmed the French for 
 the safety of Montreal, and De Levi, the second in command 
 of their Canadian forces, hastened up from before Quebec, and 
 took post at the fort of Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburg), to de- 
 fend the passes of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 We now proceed to notice the expedition against Ticonderoga 
 and Crown Point. In the month of July, General Amherst 
 embarked with nearly twelve thousand men, at the upper part of 
 Lake George, and proceeded down it, as Abercrombie had done 
 in the preceding year, in a vast fleet of whale-boats, bateaux, 
 and rafts, and all the glitter and parade of war. On the 22d, 
 the army debarked at the lower part of the lake, and advanced 
 toward Ticonderoga. After a slight skirmish with the advanced 
 guard, they secured the old post at the saw-mill. 
 
 Montcalm was no longer in the fort ; he was absent for the 
 protection of Quebec. The garrison did not exceed four hun- 
 dred men. Bourlamarque, a brave officer, who commanded, at 
 first seemed disposed to make defense ; but, against such over- 
 whelming force, it would have been madness. Dismantling the 
 fortifications, therefore, he abandoned them, as he did likewise 
 those at Crown Point, and retreated down the lake. to assemble 
 forces, and make a stand at the Isle Aux Noix, for the protec- 
 tion of Montreal and the province. 
 
 Instead of following him up, and hastening to cooperate with 
 Wolfe, General Amherst proceeded to repair the works at Ti-' 
 conderoga, and erect a new fort at Crown Point, though neither ; 
 were in present danger of being attacked, nor would be of use; 
 if Canada were conquered. Amherst, however, was one of thosa' 
 
LiPE OF wAsumoTom 179 
 
 cautious men, who in seeking to be sure, are apt to be fatally 
 slow. His delay enabled the enemy to rally their forces at Isle 
 Aux Noix, and call in Canadian reinforcements, while it de- 
 prived Wolfe of that cooperation which, it will be shown, was 
 most essential to the general success of the campaign. 
 
 Wolfe, with his eight thousand men, ascended the St. Law- 
 rence in the fleet in the month of June. With him came 
 Brigadiers Monckton, Townshend, and Murray, youthful and 
 brave like himself, and, like himself, already schooled in arms. 
 Monckton, it will be recollected, had signalized himself, when a 
 colonel, in the expedition in 1755, in which the French were 
 driven from Nova Scotia. The grenadiers of the army were 
 commanded by Colonel Guy Carleton, and part of the light in- 
 fantry by Lieutenant-colonel William Howe, both destined to 
 celebrity in after years, in the annals of the American Revolu- 
 tion. Colonel Howe was brother of the gallant Lord Howe, 
 whose fall in the preceding year was so generally lamented. 
 Among the officers of the fleet, was Jervis, the future admiral, 
 and ultimately Earl St. Vincent, and the master of one of the 
 ships was James Cook, afterwards renowned as a discoverer. 
 
 About the end of June, the troops debarked on the large, 
 populous, and well-cultivated Isle of Orleans, a little below 
 Quebec, and encamped in its fertile fields. Quebec, the citadel 
 of Canada, was strong by nature. It was built round the point 
 of a rocky promontory, and flanked by precipices. The crystal 
 current of the St. Lawrence swept by it on the right, and the 
 River St. Charles flowed along on the left, before mingling 
 with that mighty stream. The place was tolerably fortified, 
 but art had not yet rendered it, as at the present day, impreg- 
 nable. 
 
 Montcalm commanded the post. His troops were more nu- 
 merous than the assailants ; but the greater part were Cana- 
 dians, many" of them inhabitants of Quebec ; and he had a host 
 of savages. His forces were drawn out along the northern 
 shore below the city, from the river St. Charles to the Falls of 
 Montmorency, and their position was secured by deep intrench- 
 ments. 
 
 The night after the debarkation of Wolfe's troops a furious 
 storm caused great damage to the trans2)orts, and s^nk some of 
 the small craft. While it was still raging, a number of fire- 
 ships, sent to destroy the fleet, came driving down. They 
 were boarded intrepidly by the British seamen, and towed out 
 of the way of doing harm. After much resistance, Wolfe es- 
 tablished batteries at the west point of the Isle of Orleans, and 
 at Point Levi; on the right (or south) bank of the St. Lawrence 
 
180 
 
 LIFl: OF WASTltNGTOn. 
 
 within cannon range of the city — Colonel Guy Carleton, com- 
 mander at the former battery ; Brigadier Monckton at the latter. 
 From Point Levi bombshells and red-hot shot were discharged 
 many houses were set on fire in the upper town, the lower town 
 was reduced to rubbish ; the main fort, however, remained un- 
 harmed. 
 
 Anxious for a decisive action, Wolfe, on the 9th of July, 
 crossed over in boats from the Isle of Orleans, to the north bank 
 of the St. Lawrence, and encamped below the Montmorency. 
 It was an ill-judged position, for there was still that tumultuous 
 stream, with its rocky banks, between him and the camp of 
 Montcalm ; but the ground he had chosen was higher than that 
 occupied by the latter, and the Montmorency had a ford below 
 the falls, passable at low tide. Another ford was discovered, 
 three miles within land, but the banks were steep, and shagged 
 with forest. At both fords the vigilant Montcalm had thrown 
 up breastworks, and posted troops. 
 
 On the 18th of July, Wolfe made a reconnoitering expedi- 
 tion up the river with two armed sloops, and two transports 
 with troops. He passed Quebec unharmed, and carefully noted 
 the shores above it. Rugged cliffs rose almost from the water's 
 edge. Above them, he was told, was an extent of level ground, 
 called the Plains of Abraham, by which the upper town might 
 be approached on its weakest side ; but how was that plan to 
 be attained, when the cliffs, for the most part, were inaccessible 
 and every practicable place fortified ? 
 . He returned to Montmorency disappointed, and resolved to 
 attack Montcalm in his camp, however difiicult to be approach- 
 ed, and however strongly posted. Townshend and Murray, 
 with their brigades, were to cross the Montmorency at low tide, 
 below the falls, and storm the redoubt thrown up in front of 
 the ford. Monckton, at the same time, was to cross with part 
 of his brigade, in boats from Point Levi. The ship Centurion, 
 stationed in the channel, was to check the fire of a battery 
 which commanded the ford ; a train of artillery, planted on an 
 eminence, was to enfilade the enemy's entrenchments ; and two 
 armed, flat-bottomed boats, were to be run on shore, near the 
 redoubt, and favor the crossing of the troops. 
 
 As usual, in complicated orders, part were misunderstood or 
 neglected, a\id confusion was the consequence. Many of the 
 boats from Point Levi ran aground on a shallow in the river, 
 where they were exposed to a severe fire of shot and shells. 
 Wolfe, who was on the shore, directing everything, endeavored'! 
 to stop his impatient troops until the boats could be got afloat,; 
 and the men landed. Thirteen companies of grenadiers andj 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 181 
 
 two hundred provincials were the first to land. Without wait- 
 ing for Brigadier Monckton and his regiments ; without waiting 
 for the cooperation of the troops under Townshend ; without 
 waiting even to be drawn up in form, the grenadiers rushed 
 impetuously towards the enemy's entrenchments. A sheeted 
 fire mowed them down, and drove them to take shelter behind 
 the redoubt, near the ford, which the enemy had abandoned. 
 Here they remained, unable to form under the galling fire to 
 which they were exposed, whenever they ventured from their 
 covert. Monckton's brigade at length was landed, drawn up in 
 order, and advanced to their relief, driving back the enem3^ 
 Thus protected, the grenadiers retreated as precipitately as 
 they had advanced, leaving many of their comrades wounded 
 on the field, who were massacred and scalped in their sight by 
 the savages. The delay thus caused w^as fatal to the enterprise. 
 The day was advanced ; the weather became stormy ; the tide 
 began to make ; at a later hour, retreat, in the case of a second 
 repulse, would be impossible. Wolfe, therefore, gave up the 
 attack, and withdrew across the river, having lost upwards of 
 four hundred men, through this headlong impetuosity of iJhe 
 grenadiers. The two vessels which had been run aground, 
 were set on fire, lest they should fall into the hands of the 
 enemy. * 
 
 Brigadier Murray was now detached with twelve hundred 
 men, in transports, to ascend above the town, and cooperate 
 with Rear Admiral Holmes, in destroying the enemy's shipping 
 and making descents upon the north shore. The shipping 
 were safe from attack ; some stores and ammunition were de- 
 stroyed, some prisoners taken, and Murray returned with the 
 news of the capture of Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown 
 Point, and that Amherst was preparing to attack the Isle Aux 
 Noix. 
 
 Wolfe,* of a delicate constitution and sensitive nature, had 
 been deeply mortified by the severe check sustained at the 
 Falls of Montmorency, fancying himself disgraced ; and these 
 successes of his fellow-commanders in other parts increased his 
 self -upbraiding. The difficulties multiplying around him, and 
 the delay of General Amherst in hastening to his aid, preyed 
 incessantly on his spirits ; he was dejected even to despondency^, 
 and declared he would never return without success, to be ex- 
 posed, like other unfortunate commanders, to the sneers and re- 
 proaches of the populace. The agitation of his mind, and his 
 acute sensibility, brought on a fever, which for some time in- 
 capacitated him from taking the field. 
 
 * Wolfe's Letter to Pitt, Sept. 2d, 1759. 
 
1§2 LtF^ OP WAstimOTOK. 
 
 In the midst of his illness he called a council of war, in which 
 the whole plan of operations was altered. It was determined 
 to convey troops above the town, and endeavor to make a 
 diversion in that direction, or draw Montcalm into the open 
 field. Before carrying this plan into effect, Wolfe again re- 
 connoitered the town in company with Admiral Saunders, but 
 nothing better suggested itself. 
 
 The brief Canadian summer was over ; they were in the 
 month of September. The camp at Montmorency was broken, 
 up. The troops were transported to Point Levi, leaving a 
 sufficient number to man the batteries on the Isle of Orleans. 
 On the fifth and sixth of September the embarkation took place 
 above Point Levi, in transports which had been sent up for 
 the purpose. Montcalm detached De Bougainville with fifteen 
 hundred men to keep along the north shore above the town, 
 watch the movements of the squadron, and prevent a landing. 
 To deceive him. Admiral Holmes moved with the ships of war 
 three leagues beyond the place where the landing was to be 
 attempted. He was to drop down, however, in the night, and 
 protect the landing. Cook, the future discoverer, also, was 
 employed with others to sound the river and place buoys op- 
 posite the camp of Montcalm, as if an attack were meditated 
 in that quarter. 
 
 Wolfe was still suffering under the effects of his late fever. 
 "My constitution," writes he to a friend, ''is entirely ruined, 
 without the consolation of having done any considerable service 
 to the state, and without any prospect of it." Still he was un- 
 remitting in his exertions, seeking to wipe out the fancied dis- 
 grace incurred at the Falls of Montmorency. It was in this 
 mood he is said to have composed and sung at his evening mess 
 that little campaigning song still linked with his name : 
 
 " Why, soldiers, why 
 Should we be melancholy, boys ? 
 Why, soldiers, why ? 
 Whose business 'tis to die." 
 Even when embarked in his midnight enterprise, the pre- 
 sentiment of death seems to have cast its shadow over him. A 
 midshipman, who was present,* used to relate that, as Wolfe 
 sat among his officers, and the boats floated down silently with 
 the current, he recited, in low and touching tones, Gray's Elegy 
 in a Country Churchyard, then just published. One stanza 
 may especially have accorded with his melancholy mood ; 
 
 " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
 
 And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave 
 Await alike the inevitable hour, 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 * Afterwards Professor John Robinson of Edinburgh. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 183 
 
 " Xow, gentlemen," said he, when he had finished, '^ I would 
 rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec." 
 
 The descent was made in flat-bottomed boats, past midnight, 
 on the 13th of September. They dropped down silently with 
 the swift current. " Qici va la f " (who goes there ? ) cried a 
 sentinel from the shore. "X« France^'' replied a captain in 
 the first boat, who understood the French language. ^' A quel 
 regiment? ^^ was the demand. "7)e La Heine ^^ (the queen's), 
 replied the captain, knowing that regiment was in De Bougain- 
 ville's detachment. Fortunately, a convoy of provisions was 
 expected down from De Bougainville, which the sentinel sup- 
 posed this to be. " Passe^'' cried he, and the boats glided on 
 without further challenge. The landing took place in a cove 
 near Cape Diamond, which still bears Wolfe's name. He had 
 marked it in reconnoitering, and saw that a cragged path strag- 
 gled up from it to the Heights of Abraham, which might be 
 climbed, though with difficulty, and that it appeared to be 
 slightly guarded at top. Wolfe was among the first that landed 
 and ascended up the steep and narrow path, where not more 
 than two could go abreast, and which had been broken up by 
 cross ditches. Colonel Howe, at the same time, with the light 
 infantry and Highlanders, scrambled up the woody precipices, 
 helping themselves by the roots and branches, and putting to 
 flight a sergeant's guard posted at the summit. Wolfe drew 
 up the men in order as they mounted ; and by the break of day 
 found himself in possession of the fateful Plains of Abraham. 
 
 Montcalm was thunderstruck when word was brought to him 
 in his camp that the English were on the heights, threatening 
 the weakest part of the town. Abandoning his intrenchments, 
 he hastened across the river St. Charles and ascended the 
 heights which slope up gradually from its banks. His force 
 was equal in number to that of the English, but a great part 
 was made up of colony troops and savages. When he saw the 
 formidable host of regulars he had to contend with, he sent off 
 swift messengers to summon De Bougainville with his detach- 
 ment to his aid ; and De Vaudreuil to reinforce him with fifteen 
 hundred men from the camp. In the meantime he prepared to 
 flank the left of the English line and force them to the opposite 
 precipices. Wolfe saw his aim, and sent Brigadier Townshend 
 to counteract him with a regiment which was formed enpoteiice, 
 and supported by two battalions, presenting on the left a double 
 front. 
 
 The French, in their haste, thinking they were to repel a mere 
 scouting party, had brought but three light field-pieces witli 
 them 5 the English had but a single gun, which the sailors had 
 
jg4 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 dragged up the heights. With these they cannonaded each 
 other for a time, Montcalm still waiting for the aid he had 
 summoned. At length, about nine o'clock, losing all patience, 
 he led on his disciplined troops to a close conflict with small 
 arms, the Indians to support them by a galling fire from 
 thickets and corn-fields. The French advanced gallantly, but 
 irregularly ; firing rapidly, but with little effect. The Eng- 
 lish reserved their fire until their assailants were within forty 
 yards, and then delivered it in deadly volleys. They suffered, 
 however, from the lurking savages, who singled out the officers. 
 Wolfe, who was in front of the line, a conspicuous mark, was 
 wounded by a ball in the wrist. He bound his handkerchief 
 round the wound and led on the grenadiers, with fixed 
 bayonets, to charge the foe, who began to waver. Another 
 ball struck him in the breast. He felt the wound to be mortal, 
 and feared his fall might dishearten the troops. Leaning on a 
 lieutenant for support, " Let not m}'- brave fellows see me 
 drop," said he faintly. He was borne off to the rear ; water 
 was brought to quench his thirst, and he was asked if he would 
 have a surgeon. "It is needless," he replied; "it is all over 
 with me." He desired those about him to lay him down. The 
 lieutenant, seated himself upon the ground, and supported 
 him in his arms. " They run ! they run ! see how they run ! " 
 cried one of the attendants. " Who run ? " demanded Wolfe, 
 earnestly, like one aroused from sleep. " The enemy, sir ; 
 they give way everywhere." The spirit of the expiring hero 
 flashed up. " Go, one of you, my lads, to Colonel Burton ; tell 
 him to march Webb's regiment with all speed down to Charles' 
 E-iver, to cut off the retreat by the bridge." Then turning 
 on his side, " Now, God be praised, I will die in peace ! " 
 said he, and expired,* — soothed in his last moments by the 
 idea that victory would obliterate the imagined disgrace of 
 Montmorency. 
 
 Brigadier Murray had indeed broken the centre of the enemy, 
 and the Highlanders were making deadly havoc with their 
 claymores, driving the French into the town or down to their 
 works on the river St. Charles. Monckton, the first brigadier, 
 was disabled by a wound in the lungs, and the command de- 
 volved on Townshend, who hastened to re-form the troops of 
 the centre, disordered in pursuing the enemy. By this time 
 De Bougainville appeared at a distance in the rear, advancing 
 with two thousand fresh troops, but he arrived too late to re- 
 trieve the day. The gallant Montcalm had received his death- 
 wound near St. John's Gate, while endeavoring to rally his 
 flying troops, and had been borne into the town. 
 
 * Hist Jour, of Capt. John Knox, vol, i. p. 79. 
 
liPE OF \VASinNGT02^. ±SB 
 
 Townsbend advanced with a force to receive De Bougain- 
 ville ; but tbe latter avoided a combat, and retired into woods 
 and swamps, where it was not thought prudent to follow him. 
 The English had obtained a complete victory, slain about five 
 hundred of the enemy, taken above a thousand prisoners and 
 among them several officers, and had a strong position on the 
 Plains of Abraham, which they hastened to fortify with re- 
 doubts and artillery, drawn up the heights. 
 
 The brave Montcalm wrote a letter to General Townshend, 
 recommending the prisoners to British hlimanity. When told 
 by his surgeon that he could not survive above a few hours ; 
 '' So much the better," replied he ; I shall not live to see the 
 surrender of Quebec." To De K-amsey, the French king's 
 lieutenant, who commanded the garrison, he consigned the 
 defense of the city. " To your keeping," said he, " I com- 
 mend the honor of France. Fll neither give orders, nor inter- 
 fere anj^ further. I have business to attend to of greater mo- 
 ment than your ruined garrison, and this wretched country. 
 My time is short — I shall pass this night with God, and pre- 
 pare myself for death. I wish you all comfort ; and to be 
 happily extricated from your present perplexities." He then 
 called for his chaplain, who, with the bishop of the colony, 
 remained with him through the night. He expired early in 
 the morning, dying like a brave soldier and a devout Catholic. 
 JSTever did two worthier f cfes mingle their life-blood on the battle- 
 field than Wolfe and Montcalm.* 
 
 Preparations were now made by the army and the fleet to 
 make an attack on both upper and lower town ; but the spirit 
 of the garrison was broken, and the inhabitants were clamorous 
 for the safety of their wives and children. On the 17th of 
 September, Quebec capitulated, and was taken possession of 
 by the British, who hastened to put it in a complete posture of 
 defense. A garrison of six thousand effective men was placed 
 in it, under the command of Brigadier-general Murray, and 
 victualed from the fleet. General Townshend embarked with 
 Admiral Saunders, and returned to England ; and the wounded 
 General Monckton was conveyed to New York, of which he 
 afterwards became governor. 
 
 Had Amherst followed up his success at Ticonderoga the 
 preceding summer, the year's campaign would have ended, as 
 had been jDrojected, in the subjugation of Canada. His cau- 
 tious delay gave De Levi, the successor of Montcalm, time to 
 rally, concentrate the scattered French forces, and struggle for 
 the salvation of the province. 
 
 * Knox, Hist Jour. vol. i. p. 77. 
 
186 LIFE OF WASmNGT02^. 
 
 In the following spring, as soon as the river St. Lawrence 
 opened, he approached Quebec, and landed at Point au Tremble, 
 about twelve miles off. The garrison had suffered dreadfully 
 during the winter from excessive cold, want of vegetables and 
 of fresh provisions. Many had died of scurvy, and many more 
 w^ere ill. Murray, sanguine and injudicious, on hearing that 
 De Levi was advancing with ten thousand men, and five hundred 
 Indians, sallied out with his diminished forces of not more than 
 three thousand. English soldiers, he boasted, were habituated 
 to victory ; he had a fine train of artillery, and stood a better 
 chance in the field than cooped up in a wretched fortification. 
 If defeated, he would defend the place to the last extremity, 
 and then retreat to the Isle of Orleans, and wait for reinforce- 
 ments. More brave than discreet, he attacked the vanguard of 
 the enemy ; the battle which took place was fierce and san- 
 guinary. Murray's troops had caught his own headlong valor, 
 and fought until near a third of their number were slain. They 
 were at length driven back into the town, leaving their boasted 
 train of artillery on the field. 
 
 De Levi opened trenches before the town the very evening of 
 the battle. Three French ships, which had descended the 
 river, furnished him with cannon, mortars, and ammunition. 
 By the 11th of May, he had one bomb battery, and three bat- 
 teries of cannon. Murray, equally alert within the walls, 
 strengthened his defenses, and kept up a vigorous fire. His 
 garrison was now reduced to two hundred and twenty effective 
 men, and he himself, with all his vaunting spirit, was driven 
 almost to despair, when a British fleet arrived in the river. 
 The whole scene was now reversed. One of the French frigates 
 was driven on the rocks above Cape Diamond ; another ran on 
 shore, and was burnt ; the rest of their vessels were either taken 
 or destroyed. The besieging army retreated in the night, 
 leaving provisions, implements, and artillery behind them ; and 
 8S0 rapid was their flight, that Murray, who sallied forth on the 
 following day, could not overtake them. 
 
 A last stand for the preservation of the colony was now made 
 by the French at Montreal, where De Vaudreuil fixed his head- 
 quarters, fortified himself, and called in all possible aid. Cana- 
 dian and Indian. 
 
 The cautious, but tardy Amherst was now in the field to 
 carry out the plan in which he had fallen short in the previous 
 year. He sent orders to General Murray to advance by water 
 against Montreal, with all the forces that could be spared from 
 Quebec ; he detached a body of troops under Colonel Haviland 
 from Crown Point, to cross Lake Champlain, take possession of 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 187 
 
 the Isle Aux Noix, and push on to the St. Lawrence, while he 
 took the roundabout way with his main army by the Mohawk 
 and Oneida rivers to Lake Ontario ; thence to descend the St. 
 Lawrence to Montreal. 
 
 Murray, according to orders, embarked his troops in a great 
 number of small vessels, and ascended the river in characteristic 
 style, publishing manifestoes in the Canadian villages, dis- 
 arming the inhabitants, and exacting the oath of neutrality. 
 He looked forward to ne>v laurels at Montreal, but the slow and 
 sure Amherst had anticipated him. That worthy general, after 
 delaying on Lake Ontario to send out cruisers, and stopping to 
 repair petty forts on the upper part of the St. Lawrence, which 
 had been deserted by their garrisons, or surrendered without 
 firing a gun, arrived on the 6th of September at the island of 
 Montreal, routed some light skirmishing parties, and presented 
 himself before the town. Vaudreuil found himself threatened 
 by an army of nearly ten thousand men, and a host of Indians, 
 ^for Amherst had called in the aid of Sir William Johnson, and 
 :his Mohawk braves. To withstand a siege in an almost open 
 ^town against such superior force, was out of the question, 
 [especially as Murray from Quebec, and Haviland from Crown 
 '^Point, were at hand with additional troops. A capitulation 
 ^^accordingly took place on the 8th of September, including the 
 surrender not merely of Montreal, but of all Canada. 
 
 Thus ended the contest between France and England for 
 [dominion in America, in which, as has been said, the first gun 
 •was fired in Washington's encounter with De Jumonville. A 
 French statesman and diplomatist consoled himself by the per- 
 suasion that it would be a fatal triumph to England. It would 
 Jiemove the only check by which her colonies were kept in awe. 
 f" They will no longer need her protection," said he ; " she will 
 [call on them to contribute toward supporting the burdens they 
 'have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking 
 off all dependence.''^ * 
 
 * Count de Vergennes, French ambassador at Constantinople. 
 
188 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 Washington's installation in the house of burgesses. — 
 
 his rural life. mount vernon and its vicinity. 
 
 aristocratical days of virginia. washington's man- 
 agement of his estate. domestic habits. fox hunt- 
 ing. lord fairfax. fishing and duck-shooting. the 
 
 poacher. lynch law. aquatic state. life at anna- 
 polis. ^washington in the dismal swamp. 
 
 For three months after his marriage, Washington resided 
 with his bride at the " White House." During his sojourn there 
 he repaired to WilliaAisburg, to take his seat in the House of 
 Burgesses. By a vote of the House, it had been determined 
 to greet his installation by a signal testimonial of respect. 
 Accordingly, as soon as he took his seat, Mr. Robinson, the 
 Speaker, in eloquent language, dictated by the warmth of pri- 
 vate friendship, returned thanks, on behalf of the colony, for 
 the distinguished military services he had rendered to his 
 country. 
 
 Washington rose to reply ; blushed — stammered — trembled, 
 and could not utter a word. " Sit down, Mr. Washington," 
 said the Speaker, with a smile ; " your modesty equals your 
 valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess.'^ 
 
 Such was Washington's first launch into civil life, in which 
 he was to be distinguished by the same judgment, devotion, 
 courage, and magnanimity exhibited in his military career. 
 He attended the House frequently during the remainder of the 
 session, after which he conducted his bride to his favorite abode 
 of Mount Yernon. 
 
 Mr. Custis, the first husband of Mrs. Washington, had left 
 large landed property, and forty-five thousand pounds sterling 
 in money. One third fell to his widow in her own right ; two 
 thirds were inherited equally by her two children, — a boy of 
 six, and a girl of four years of age. By a decree of the General 
 Court, Washington was intrusted with the care of the property 
 inherited by the children ; a sacred and delicate trust, which 
 he discharged in the most faithful and judicious manner ; be- 
 coming more like a parent, than a mere guardian to them. 
 
 From a letter to his correspondent in England, it would ap- 
 pear that he had long entertained a desire to visit that countrv. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 189 
 
 Had he done so, his acknowledged merit and military services 
 would have insured him a distinguished reception ; and it has 
 been intimated, that the signal favor of government might 
 have changed the current of his career. We believe him, how- 
 ever, to have been too pure a patriot, and too clearly possessed 
 of the true interests of his country, to be diverted from the 
 course which he ultimately adopted. His marriage, at any 
 rate, had put an end to all travelling inclinations. In his let- 
 ter from Mount Vernon, he writes : " I am now, I believe, 
 fixed in this seat, with an agreeable partner for life, and I hope 
 to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced 
 in the wide and bustling world." 
 
 This was no Utopian dream transiently indulged, amid the 
 charms of novelty. It was a deliberate purpose with him, the 
 result of innate and enduring inclinations. Throughout the 
 whole course of his career, agricultural life appears to have been 
 his beau ideal of existence, which haunted his thoughts even 
 amid the stern duties of the field, and to which he recurred 
 with unflagging interest whenever enabled to indulge his nat- 
 ural bias. 
 
 Mount Vernon was his harbor of repose, where he repeatedly 
 furled his sail, and fancied himself anchored for life. No im- 
 pulse of ambition tempted him hence ; nothing but the call of 
 his country, and his devotion to the public good. The place 
 was endeared to him by the remembrance of his brother Law- 
 rence, and of the happy days he had passed here with that 
 brother in the days of boyhood ; but it was a delightful place 
 in itself, and well calculated to inspire the rural feeling. 
 
 The mansion was beautifully situated on a swelling height, 
 crowned with wood, and commanding a magnificent view up 
 and down the Potomac. The grounds immediately about it 
 were laid out somewhat in the English taste. The estate was 
 apportioned into separate farms, devoted to different kinds of 
 culture, each having its allotted laborers. Much, however, was 
 still covered with wild woods, seamed with deep dells and 
 runs of water, and indented with inlets ; haunts of deer, and 
 lurking-places of foxes. The whole woody region along the 
 Potomac from Mount Vernon to Belvoir, and far beyond, with 
 its range of forest and hills, and picturesque promontories, 
 afforded sport of various kinds, and was a noble hunting-ground. 
 Washington had hunted through it with oid Lord Fairfax in 
 his stripling days; we do not wonder that his feelings through- 
 out life incessantly reverted to it. 
 
 " No estate in United America," observes he, in one of his 
 letters^ " is more pleasantly situated. In a high and healthy 
 
190 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 country ; in a latitude between the extremes of heat and cold ; 
 on one of the finest rivers in the Avorld ; a river well stocked 
 with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, and in the 
 spring with shad, herrings, bass, carp, sturgeon, etc., in great 
 abundance. The borders of the estate are washed by more than 
 ten miles of tide-water : several valuable fisheries appertain to 
 it ; the whole shore, in fact, is one entire fishery." 
 
 These were, as yet, the aristocratical days of Virginia. 
 The estates were large, and continued in the same families by 
 entails. Many of the wealthy planters were connected with 
 old families in England. The young men, especially the 
 elder sons, were often sent to finish their education there, and 
 on their return brought out the tastes and habits of the mother 
 country. The governors of Virginia were from the higher 
 ranks of society, and maintained a corresponding state. The 
 " Established," or Episcopal Church, predominated throughout 
 the ancient " dominion," as it was termed ; each county was 
 divided into j)arishes, as in England, — each with its parochial 
 church, its parsonage and glebe. Washington was vestryman 
 of two parishes, Fairfax and Truro ; the parochial church of the 
 former was at Alexandria, ten miles from Mount Vernon ; of 
 the latter, at Pohick, about seven miles. The church at Po- 
 hick was rebuilt on a plan of his own, and in a great measure 
 at his expense. At one or other of these churches he attended 
 every Sunday, when the weather and the roads permitted. 
 His demeanor was reverential and devout. Mrs. Washington 
 knelt during the prayers ; he always stood, as was the custom 
 at that time. Both were communicants. 
 
 Among his occasional visitors and associates were Captain 
 Hugh Mercer and Dr. Craik ; the former, after his narrow es- 
 capes from the tomahawk and scalping-knife, was quietly 
 settled at Fredericksburg ; the latter, after the campaigns on 
 the frontier were over, had taken up his residence at Alexan- 
 dria, and was now Washington's family physician. Both were 
 drawn to him by campaigning ties and recollections, and were 
 ever welcome at Mount Vernon. 
 
 A style of living prevailed among the opulent Virginian fami- 
 lies in those days that has long since faded away. The houses 
 were spacious, commodious, liberal in all their appointments, 
 and fitted to cope with the free-handed, open-hearted hospitality 
 of the owners. No'thing was more common than to see hand- 
 some services of plate, elegant equipages, and superb carriage 
 horses — all imported from England. 
 
 The Virginians have always been noted for their love of 
 Jiorses, a manly passion which, in those days of opulence; they 
 
LIT'E OF WASHINGTON. 191 
 
 indulged without regard to expense. The rich planters vied 
 with each other in their studs, importing the best English 
 stocks. Mention is made of one of the Randolphs of Tuckahoe, 
 who built a stable for his favorite dapple-gray horse, Shakes- 
 peare, with a recess for the bed of the negro groom, who always 
 slept beside him at night. 
 
 Washington, by his marriage, had added above one hundred 
 thousand dollars to his already considerable fortune, and was 
 enabled to live in ample and dignified style. His intimacy 
 with the Fairfaxes, and his intercourse with British officers of 
 rank, had perhaps had their influence on his mode of living. 
 He had his chariot and four, with black postilions in livery, 
 for the use of Mrs. Washington and her lady visitors. As for 
 himself, he always appeared on horseback. His stable was well 
 filled and admirably regulated. His stud was thoroughbred 
 and in excellent order. His household books contain registers 
 of the names, ages, and marks of his various horses ; such as 
 Ajax, Blueskin, Valiant, Magnolia (an Arab), etc. Also his 
 dogs, chiefly fox-hounds, Yulcan, Singer, Ringwood, Sweetlips, 
 Forester, Music, E,ockwood, Truelove, etc.* 
 
 A large Virginia estate, in those days, was a little empire. 
 The mansion-house was the seat of government, with its numer- 
 ous dependencies, such as kitchens, smoke-houses, workshops, 
 and stables. In this mansion the planter ruled supreme ; his 
 steward or overseer was his prime minister and executive offi- 
 cer ; he had his legion of house negroes for domestic service, 
 and his host of field negroes for the culture of tobacco, Indian 
 corn, and other crops, and for other out-of-door labor. Their 
 quarter formed a kind of hamlet apart, composed of various , 
 huts, with little gardens and poultry yards, all well stocked, 
 and swarms of little negroes gamboling in the sunshine. Then 
 there were large wooden edifices for curing tobacco, the staple 
 and most profitable production, and mills for grinding wheat 
 and Indian corn, of which large fields were cultivated for the 
 supply of the family and the maintenance of the negroes. 
 
 * In one of his letter-books we find orders on his London agent for 
 riding equipments. For example: — 
 
 1 man's riding-saddle, hogskin seat, large plated stirrups and every- 
 thing complete. Double-reined bridle and Pelham bit, plated. 
 
 A very neat and fashionable Newmarket saddle-cloth. 
 
 A large and best portmanteau, saddle, bridle, and pillion. 
 
 Cloak-bag, surcingle; checked saddle-cloth, holsters, etc. 
 
 A riding-frock of a handsome drab-colored broadcloth, with plain 
 double gilt buttons. 
 
 A riding-waistcoat of superfine scarlet cloth and gold lace, with but- 
 tons like those of the coat. 
 
 A blue surtout coat. 
 
 A neat switch whip, silver cap. . i 
 
 Black velvet cap for servant. 
 
192 Lt^E OF WASntNOTON, 
 
 Among the slaves were artificers of all kinds, tailors, stoe- 
 inakers, carpenters, smiths, wheelwrights, and so forth; so that 
 a plantation produced everything within itself for ordinary use ; 
 as to articles of fashion and elegance, luxuries and expensive 
 clothing, they were imported from London ; for the planters 
 on the main rivers, especially the Potomac, carried on an im- 
 mediate trade with England. Their tobacco was put up by 
 their own negroes, bore their own marks, was shipped on board 
 of vessels which came up the rivers for the purpose, and con- 
 signed to some agent in Liverpool or Bristol, with whom the 
 planter kept an account. 
 
 The Virginia planters were prone to leave the care of their 
 estates too much to their overseers, and to think personal labor 
 a degradation. Washington carried into his rural affairs the 
 same method, activity, and circumspection that had distin- 
 guished him in military life. He kept his own accounts, posted 
 up his books and balanced them with mercantile exactness. 
 We have examined them, as well as his diaries recording his 
 daily occupation, and his letter-books, containing entries of 
 shipments of tobacco, and correspondence with his London 
 agents. They are monuments of his business habits.* 
 
 The products of his estate also became so noted for the faith- 
 fulness, as to quality and quantity, with which they were put 
 up, that it is said any barrel of flour that bore the brand of 
 George Washington, Mount Vernon, was exempted from the 
 customary inspection in the West India ports. f 
 
 He was an early riser, often before daybreak in the winter 
 when the nights were long. On such occasions he lit his own 
 fire and wrote or read by candle-light. He breakfasted at seven 
 in summer, at eight in winter. Two small cups of tea and 
 three or four cakes of Indian meal (called hoe-cakes), formed his 
 
 * The following letter of Washington to his London correspondents 
 will give an idea of the early intercourse of the Virginian planters with 
 the mother country : 
 
 " Our goods by the Liberty^ Capt. Walker, came to hand in good 
 order, and soon after his arrival, as they generally do when shipped in a 
 vessel to this river [the Potomac], and scarce ever when they go to any 
 others; for it don't often happen that a vessel bound to one river has 
 goods of any consequence to another ; and the masters, in these cases, 
 keep the packages till an accidental conveyance offers, and for want of 
 better opportunities frequently commit them to boatmen who care very 
 little for the goods so they get their freight, and often land them wher- 
 ever it suits their convenience, not where they have engaged to do so. 
 A ship from London to Virginia may be in Rappahan- 
 nock or any of the other rivers three months before I know anything of 
 their arrival, and may make twenty voyages without my seeing or even 
 hearing of the captain." 
 
 t Speech of the Hon. Robert C Wlnthrop, on laying the corner-stone 
 
LIF:B of WASHINGTON. 193 
 
 frugal repast. Immediately after breakfast lie mounted his 
 horse and visited those parts of the estate where any work was 
 going on, seeing to everything with his own eyes, and often 
 aiding with his own hand. 
 
 Dinner was served at two o'clock. He ate heartily, but was 
 no epicure, nor critical about his food. His beverage was small 
 beer or cider, and two glasses of old Madeira. He took tea, of 
 which he was very fond, early in the evening, and retired 
 for the night about nine o'clock. 
 
 If confined to the house by bad weather, he took that occa- 
 sion to arrange his papers, post up his accounts, or write letters ; 
 passing part of his time in reading, and occasionally reading 
 aloud to the family. 
 
 He treated his negroes with kindness ; attended to their 
 .comforts ; was particularly careful of them in sickness ; but 
 never tolerated idleness, and exacted a faithful performance of 
 all their allotted tasks. He had a quick eye at calculating each 
 man's capabilities. An entry in his diary gives a curious in- 
 stance of this. Four of his negroes, employed as carpenters, 
 were hewing and shaping timber. It appeared to him, in notic- 
 ing the amount of work accomplished between two succeeding 
 mornings, that they loitered at their labor. Sitting down 
 quietly he timed their operations ; how long it took them to get 
 their cross-cut saw and other implements ready ; how long to 
 clear away the branches from the trunk of a fallen tree ; how 
 long to hew and saw it ; what time was expended in considering 
 and consulting, and after all, how much work was effected dur- 
 ing the time he looked on. From this he made his computation 
 how much they could execute in the course of a day, working 
 entirely at their ease. 
 
 At another time we find him working for a part of two 
 days with Peter, his smith, to make a plough on a new inven- 
 tion of his own. This after two or three failures, he accom- 
 plished. Then, when less then his usual judgment, he put his 
 two chariot horses to the plough, and ran a great risk of spoil- 
 ing them, in giving his new invention a trial over ground 
 thickly swarded. 
 
 Anon, during a thunderstorm, a frightened negro alarms the 
 house with word that the mill is giving way, upon which there 
 is a general turn-out of all the forces, with Washington at their 
 head, wheeling and shoveling gravel, during a pelting rain, to 
 check the rushing water. 
 
 Washington delighted in the chase. In the hunting season, 
 when he rode out early in the morning to visit distant parts of 
 the estate, where work was going on, he often took some of the 
 
194 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 dogs with him for the chance of starting a fox, which he oc- 
 casionally did, though he was not always successful in killing 
 him. He was a bold rider and an admirable horseman, though 
 he never claimed the merit of being an accomplished fox-hunter. 
 In the height of the season, however, he would be out with the 
 foxhounds two or three times a week, accompanied by his 
 guests at Mount Vernon and the gentlemen of the neighbor- 
 hood, especially the Fairfaxes of Belvoir, of which estate his 
 friend George William Fairfax was now the proprietor. On 
 such occasions there would be a hunting dinner at one or other 
 of those establishments, at which convivial repasts Washington 
 is said to have enjoyed himself with unwonted hilarity. 
 
 Now and then his old friend and instructor in the noble art 
 of venery. Lord Fairfax, would be on a visit to his relatives at 
 Belvoir, and then the hunting was kept up with unusual spirit.* 
 
 His lordship, however, since the alarms of Indian war had 
 ceased, lived almost entirely at Greenway Court, where Wash- 
 ington was occasionally a guest, when called by public business 
 to Winchester. Lord Fairfax had made himself a favorite 
 throughout the neighborhood. As lord-lieutenant and custos 
 rotulorum of Frederick County, he presided at county courts 
 held at Winchester, where, during the sessions, he kept open 
 table. He acted also as surveyor and overseer of the public 
 roads and highways, and was unremitting in his exertions and 
 plans for the improvement of the country. Hunting, however, 
 was his passion. When the sport was poor near home, he 
 would take his hounds to a distant part of the country, establish 
 himself at an inn, and keep open house and open table to every 
 person of good character and respectable appearance who chose 
 to join him in following the hounds. 
 
 It was probably in quest of sport of the kind that he now 
 and then, in the hunting season, revisited his old haunts and 
 former companions on the banks of the Potomac, and then the 
 beautiful woodland region about Belvoir and Mount Vernon 
 was sure to ring at early morn with the inspiring music of the 
 hound. 
 
 The waters of the Potomac also afforded occasional amuse- 
 
 * Hunting memoranda from Washington's journal, Mount Vernon : — 
 
 NoVo 22. — Hunting with Lord Fairfax and his brother, and Colonel 
 Fairfax. 
 
 NoVo 25. — Mr. Bryan Fairfax, Mr. Grayson, and Phil. Alexander came 
 here by sunrise. Hunted and catched a fox with these, Lord Fairfax, 
 his brother, and Col. Fairfax — all of whom, with Mr. Fairfax and Mr. 
 Wilson of England, dined here. 26th and 29th.— Hunted again with 
 the same company. 
 
 Dec. 5. — Fox-hunting with Lord Fairfax and his brother, and Colonel 
 Fairfax. Started a fox and lost it. Dined at Belvoir, and returned in 
 the evening. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 195 
 
 ment in fisliing and shooting. The fishing was sometimes on 
 a grand scale, when the herrings came up the river in slioals, 
 and the negroes of Mount Vernon were marshaled forth to draw 
 the seine, which was generally done with great success. Canvas- 
 hack ducks abounded at the proper season, and the shooting of 
 them was one of Washington's favorite recreations. The river 
 border of his domain, however, was somewhat subject to invasion. 
 An oysterman once anchored his craft at the landing-place, and 
 disturbed the quiet of the neighborhood by the insolent and 
 disorderly conduct of himself and crew. It took a campaign 
 of three days to expel these invaders from the premises. 
 
 A more summary course was pursued with another interloper. 
 This was a vagabond who infested the creeks and inlets which 
 bordered the estate, lurking in a canoe among the reeds and 
 bushes, and making great havoc among the canvas-back ducks. 
 He had been warned off repeatedly, but without effect. As 
 Washington was one day riding about the estate he heard the 
 report of a 'gun from the margin of the river. Spurring in 
 that direction he dashed through the bushes and came upon the 
 culprit just as he was pushing his canoe from shore. The latter 
 raised his gun with a menacing look ; but Washington rode 
 into the stream, seized the painter of the canoe, drew it to 
 shore, sprang from his horse, wrested the gun from the hands 
 of the astonished delinquent, and inflicted on him a lesson in 
 " lynch law " that effectually cured him of all inclination to 
 trespass again on these forbidden shores. 
 
 The Potomac, in the palmy days of Virginia, was occasionally 
 the scene of a little aquatic state and ostentation among the 
 rich planters who resided on its banks. They had beautiful 
 barges, which, like their land equipages, were imported from 
 England ; and mention is made of a Mr. Digges who always 
 received Washington in his barge, rowed by six negroes, ar- 
 rayed in a kind of uniform of check shirts and black velvet 
 caps. At one time, according to notes in Washington's diary, 
 the whole neighborhood is thrown into a paroxysm of festivity, 
 by the anchoring of a British frigate (the JBoston) in the river, 
 just in front of the hospitable mansion of the Fairfaxes. A 
 succession of dinners and breakfasts takes place at Mount 
 Vernon and Belvoir, with occasional tea parties on board of the 
 frigate. The commander, Sir Thomas Adams, his officers, and 
 his midshipmen, are cherished guests, and have the freedom of 
 both establishments. 
 
 Occasionally he and Mrs. Washington would pay a visit to 
 Annapolis, at that time seat of government of Maryland, and 
 partake of the gayeties which prevailed during the session of 
 
196 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, m 
 
 the legislature. The society of these seats of provincial govern- 
 ment was always polite and fashionable, and more exclusive 
 than in these republican days, being, in a manner, the outposts 
 of the English aristocracy, where all places of dignity or profit 
 were secured for younger sons, and poor, but proud relatives. 
 During the session of the legislature, dinners and balls abounded, 
 and there were occasional attempts at theatricals. The latter 
 was an amusement for which Washington always had a relish, 
 though he never had an opportunity of gratifying it effectually. 
 Neither was he disinclined to mingle in the dance, and we 
 remember to have heard venerable ladies, who had been belles 
 in his day, pride themselves on having had him for a partner, 
 though, they added, he was apt to be a ceremonious and grave 
 one.* 
 
 In this round of rural occupation, rural amusements, and 
 social intercourse, Washington passed several tranquil years, 
 the halcyon season of his life. His already established repu- 
 tation drew many visitors to Mount Vernon ; «ome of his 
 early companions in arms were his occasional guests, and his 
 friendships and connections linked him with some of the most 
 prominent and worthy people of the country, who were sure to 
 be received with cordial, but simple and unpretending hos- 
 pitality. His marriage was unblessed with children ; but those 
 of Mrs. Washington experienced from him parental care and 
 affection, and the formation of their minds and manners was 
 one of the dearest objects of his attention. His domestic con- 
 cerns and social enjoyments, however, were not permitted to 
 interfere with his public duties." He was active by nature, and 
 eminently a man of business by habit. As judge of the county 
 court, and member of the House of Burgesses, he had numer- 
 ous calls upon his time and thoughts, and was often drawn from 
 home ; for whatever trust he undertook, he was sure to fulfill 
 with scrupulous exactness. 
 
 About this time we find him engaged with other men of 
 enterprise, in a project to drain the great Dismal Swamp, and 
 render it capable of cultivation. This vast morass was about 
 
 * We have had an amusing picture of Annapolis, as it was at this 
 period, furnished to us, some years since, by an octogenarian who had 
 resided there in his boyhood- '^ In those parts of the country," said he, 
 " where the roads were too rough for carriages, the ladies used to ride 
 on ponies, followed by black servants on horseback ; *' in this way his 
 mother, then advanced in life, used to travel, in a scarlet cloth riding- 
 habit, which she had procured from England. Nay, in this way, on 
 emergencies," he added, "the young ladies from the country used to 
 come to the balls at Annapolis, riding with their hoops arranged ' fore 
 and aft, like lateen sails ; and after dancing all night, would ride home 
 again in the morning." 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 197 
 
 thirty miles long, and ten miles wide, and its interior but little 
 known. With his usual zeal and hardihood he explored it on 
 horseback and on foot. In many parts it was covered with 
 dark and gloomy woods of cedar, cypress, and hemlock, or de- 
 ciduous trees, the branches of which were hung with long droop- 
 ing moss. Other parts were almost inaccessible, from the 
 density of brakes and thickets, entangled with vines, briers, 
 and creeping plants, and intersected by creeks and standing 
 pools. Occasionally the soil composed of dead vegetable fibre, 
 was over his horse's fetlocks, and sometimes he had to dismount 
 and make his way on foot over a quaking bog. that shook be- 
 neath his tread. 
 
 In the centre of the morass he came to a great piece of water, 
 six miles long, and three broad, called Drummond's Pond, but 
 more poetically celebrated as the Lake of the Dismal Swamp. 
 It was more elevated than any other part of the swamp, and 
 capable of feeding canals, by which the whole might be trav- 
 ersed. Having made the circuit of it, and noted all its char- 
 acteristics, he encamped for the night upon the firm land which 
 bordered it, and finished his explorations on the following day. 
 
 In the ensuing session of the Virginia Legislature, the asso- 
 ciation in behalf of which he had acted, was chartered under 
 the name of the Dismal Swamp Company ; and to his observa- 
 tions and forecast may be traced the subsequent improvement 
 and prosperity of that once desolate region. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 TREATY OF PEACE. PONTlAo's WAR. COURSE 0.F PUBLIC 
 
 EVENTS. BOARD OF TRADE AGAINST PAPER CURRENCY. RE- 
 STRICTIVE POLICY OF ENGLAND. NAVIGATION LAWS. DIS- 
 CONTENTS IN NEW ENGLAND. OF THE OTHER COLONIES. 
 
 PROJECTS TO RAISE REVENUE BY TAXATION. BLOW AT THE 
 
 INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY. NAVAL COMMANDERS 
 
 EMPLOYED AS CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICERS. RETALIATION OP 
 
 THE COLONISTS. TAXATION RESISTED IN BOSTON. PASS- 
 ING OF THE STAMP ACT. BURST OF OPPOSITION IN VIR- 
 GINIA. SPEECH OF PATRICK HENRY. 
 
 Tidings of peace gladdened the colonies in the spring of 1763. 
 The definitive treaty between England and Erance had been 
 signed at Eontainebleau. Now, it was trusted, there would be 
 fin end to those horrid ravages that had desolated the interior 
 
198 LIFE OF WASRIJSrGTON. 
 
 of the country. ^^The desert and 'the silent place would rejoice, 
 and the wilderness would blossom like the rose." 
 
 The month of May proved the fallacy of such hopes. In 
 that month the famous insurrection of the Indian tribes broke 
 out, which, from the name of the chief who was its prime mover 
 and master spirit, is commonly called Pontiac's War. The 
 Delawares and Shawnees, and other of those emigrant tribes of 
 the Ohio, among whom Washington had mingled, were foremost 
 in this conspiracy. Some of the chiefs who had been his allies, 
 had now taken up the hatchet against the English. The plot 
 was deep laid, and conducted with Indian craft and secrecy. 
 At a concerted time an attack was made upon all the posts 
 from Detroit to Fort Pitt (late Port Duquesne). Several of 
 the small stockaded forts, the places of refuge of woodland 
 neighborhoods, were surprised and sacked with remorseless 
 butchery. The frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia were laid waste ; traders in the wilderness were plundered 
 and slain ; hamlets and farm-houses were wrapped in flames, 
 and their inhabitants massacred. Shingiss, with his Delaware 
 warriors blockaded Port Pitt, which, for some time, was in 
 imminent danger. Detroit, also, came near falling into the 
 hands of the savages. It needed all the influence of Sir 
 William Johnson, that potentate in savage life, to keep the 
 Six Nations from joining this formidable conspiracy; had they 
 done so, the triumph of the tomahawk and scalping knife would 
 have been complete ; as it was, a considerable time elapsed be- 
 fore the frontier was restored to tolerable tranquillity. 
 
 Fortunately, Washington's retirement from the army prevent- 
 ed his being entangled in this savage war, which raged through- 
 out the regions he had repeatedly visited ; or rather his active 
 spirit had been diverted into a more peaceful channel, for he 
 was at this time occupied in the enterprise just noticed, for 
 draining the great Dismal Swamp. 
 
 Public events were now taking a tendency which, without 
 any political aspiration or forethought of his own, was destined 
 gradually to bear him away from his quiet home and individual 
 pursuits, and launch him upon a grander and wider sphere of 
 action than any in which he had hitherto been engaged. 
 
 The prediction of the Count de Vergennes was in the process 
 of fulfillment. The recent war of Great Britain for dominion 
 in America, though crowned with success, had engendered a 
 a progeny of discontents in her colonies, Washington was 
 among the first to perceive its bitter fruits. British merchants 
 had complained loudly of losses sustained by the depreciation 
 of the colonial paper, ■ issued during the late war, in times of 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 199 
 
 emergency, and had addressed a memorial on the subject to 
 the Board of Trade. Scarce was peace concluded, when an 
 order from the board declared that no paper, issued by colonial 
 assemblies, should thenceforward be a legal tender in the pay- 
 ment of debts. Washington deprecated this " stir of the mer- 
 chants " as peculiarly ill-timed ; and expressed an apprehension 
 that the orders in question " would set the whole country in 
 flames." 
 
 We do not profess, in this personal memoir, to enter into a 
 wide scope of general history, but shall content ourselves with 
 a glance at the circumstances and events which gradually 
 kindled the conflagration thus apprehended by the anxious mind 
 of Washington. 
 
 Whatever might be the natural affection of the colonies for 
 the mother country, — and there are abundant evidences to prove 
 that it was deep-rooted and strong, — it had never been properly 
 reciprocated. They yearned to be considered as children ; they 
 were treated by her as changelings. Burke testifies that her 
 policy toward them from the beginning had been purely com- 
 mercial, and her commercial policy wholly restrictive. It was 
 the system of a monopoly." 
 
 Her navigation laws had shut their ports against foreign 
 vessels ; obliged them to export their productions only to coun- 
 tries belonging to the British crown ; to import European goods 
 solely from England, and in English ships ; and had subjected 
 the trade between the colonies to duties. All manufactures, 
 too, in the colonies that might interfere with those of the mother 
 country had been either totally prohibited, or subjected to in- 
 tolerable restraints. 
 
 The acts of Parliament, imposing these prohibitions and re- 
 strictions, had at various times produced sore discontent and 
 opposition on the part of the colonies, especially among those 
 of New England. The interests of these last were chiefly com- 
 mercial, and among them the republican spirit predominated. 
 They had sprung into existence during that part of the reign of 
 James I. when disputes ran high about kingly prerogatives and 
 popular privilege. 
 
 The Pilgrims, as they styled themselves, who founded Ply- 
 mouth colony in 1620, had been incensed while in England by 
 what they stigmatized as the oppressions of the monarchy, and 
 the Established Church. They had sought the wilds of America 
 for the indulgence of freedom of opinion, and had brought with 
 them the spirit of independence and self-government. Those 
 who followed them in the reign of Charles I., were imbued with 
 the same spirit, and gave a lasting character to the people of 
 New England. 
 
200 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Other colonies, having been formed under other circumstances, 
 might be inclined toward a monarchical government, and dis- 
 posed to acquiesce in its exactions ; but the republican spirit 
 was ever alive in New England, watching over " natural and 
 chartered rights,'^ and prompt to defend them against any in- 
 fringement. Its example and instigation had gradually an ef- 
 fect on tlire other colonies ; a general impatience was evinced 
 irom time to time of parliamentary interference in colonial af- 
 fairs, and a disposition in the various provincial legisl atures to 
 think and act for themslves in matters of civil and religious, as 
 well as commercial polity. 
 
 There was nothing, however, to which the jealous sensibilities 
 of the colonies were more alive than to any attempt of the 
 mother country to draw a revenue from them by taxation. 
 From the earliest period of their existence, they had maintained 
 the principle that they cculd only be taxed by a legislature in 
 which they were represented. Sir E-obert Walpole, when at 
 the head of the British Grovernment, was aware of their jealous 
 sensibility on tliis point, and cautious of provoking it. When 
 American taxation was suggested, " it must be a bolder man 
 than himself," he replied, " and one less friendly to commence, 
 who should venture on such an expedient. For his part, he 
 would encourage the trade of the colonies to the utmost ; one 
 half of the profits would be sure to come into the royal ex- 
 chequer through the increased demand for British manufactures. 
 This/' said he sagaciously, " is taxing them more agreeably to 
 their own constitution and laios.''^ 
 
 Subsequent ministers adopted a widely different policy. 
 During the progress of the French war, various projects were 
 discussed in England with regard to the colonies, which were 
 to be carried into effect on the return of peace. The open 
 avowal of some of these, plans and vague rumors of others, more 
 than ever irritated the jealous feelings of the colonists, and put 
 the dragon spirit of New England on the alert. 
 
 In 1760, there was an attempt in Boston to collect duties on 
 foreign sugar and molasses imported into the colonies. Writs 
 of assistance were applied for by the custom-house officers, 
 authorizing them to break open ships, stores, and private 
 dwellings, in quest of articles that had paid no duty ; and to 
 call the assistance of others in the discharge of their odious 
 task. The merchants opposed the execution of the writ on 
 constitutional grounds. The question was argued in court, 
 where James Otis spoke so eloquently in vindication of American 
 rights, that all his hearers went away ready to take arms against 
 writs of assistance. " Then and there," says John Adams, who 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 201 
 
 was present, " was the first scene of opposition to the arbitrary 
 claims of Great Britain. Then and there American Indepen- 
 dence was born." 
 
 Another ministerial measure was to instruct the provincial 
 governors to commission judges, not as theretofore " during 
 good behavior," but " during the king's pleasure." New York 
 was the first to resent this blow at the independence of the 
 judiciary. The lawyers appealed to the public through the 
 press against an act which subjected the halls of justice to the 
 prerogative. Their appeals were felt beyond the bounds of the 
 province, and awakened a general spirit of resistance. 
 
 Thus matters stood at the conclusion of the war. One of the 
 first measures of ministers, on the return of peace, was to en- 
 join on all naval officers stationed on the coasts of the American 
 colonies the performance, under oath, of the duties of custom- 
 house officers, for the suppression of smuggling. This fell 
 ruinously upon a clandestine trade which had long been con- 
 nived at between the English and Spanish colonies, profitable 
 to both, but especially to the former, and beneficial to the 
 mother country, opening a market to her manufactures. 
 
 "Men-of-war," says Burke, ^^were for the first time armed 
 with the regular commissions of custom-house officers, invested 
 the coasts, and gave the collection of revenue the air of hosile 
 
 contribution They fell so indiscriminately on all sorts 
 
 of contraband, or supposed contraband, that some of the most 
 valuable branches of trade were driven violently from our 
 ports, which caused an universal consternation throughout 
 the colonies."* 
 
 As a measure of retaliation, the colonists resolved not to 
 purchase British fabrics, but to clothe themselves as much as 
 possible in home manufactures. The demand for British goods 
 in Boston alone was diminished upwards of £10,000 sterling in 
 the course of a year. 
 
 In 1764, George Grenville, now at the head of government, 
 ventured upon the policy from which Walpole had so wisely 
 abstained. Early in March the eventful CiUestion was debated, 
 " whether they had a right to tax America." It was decided 
 in the affirmative. Next followed a resolution, declaring it 
 proper to charge certain stamp duties in the colonies and plan- 
 tations, but no immediate step was taken to carry it into effect. 
 Mr. Grenville, however, gave notice to the American agents in 
 London, that he should introduce such a measure on the ensu- 
 ing session of Parliament. In the meantime Parliament per- 
 petuated certain duties on sugar and molasses- — heretofore sub- 
 * Burke on the State of the I^ation. 
 
202 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 jects of complaint and opposition — now reduced and modified so 
 as to discourage smuggling, and thereby to render them more 
 productive. Duties, also, were imposed on other articles of 
 foreign produce or manufacture imported into the colonies. 
 To reconcile the latter to these impositions, it was stated that 
 the revenue thus raised was to be appropriated to their protection 
 and security ; in other words, to the support of a standing 
 army, intended to be quartered upon them. 
 
 We have here briefly stated but a part of what Burke terms 
 an " infinite variety of paper chains,'' extending through no 
 less than twenty-nine acts of Parliament, from 1660 to 1764, 
 by which the colonies had been held in thraldom. 
 
 The New Englanders were the first to take the field against 
 the project of taxation. They denounced it as a violation of 
 their rights as freemen ; of their chartered rights, by which 
 they were to tax themselves for their support and defense ; of 
 their rights as British subjects, who ought not to be taxed but 
 by themselves or their representatives. They sent petitions 
 and remonstrances on the subject to the king, the lords, and 
 the commons, in which they were seconded by New York and 
 Virginia. Franklin appeared in London at the head of agents 
 from Pennsylvania, Connecticut and South Carolina, to depre- 
 cate, in person, measures so fraught with mischief. The most 
 eloquent arguments were used by British orators and statesmen 
 to dissuade Grenville from enforcing them. He was warned of 
 the sturdy independence of the colonists and the spirit of re- 
 sistance he might provoke. All was in vain. Grenville, ^^ great 
 in daring and little in views" says Horace Walpole, '^ was charm- 
 ed to have an untrodden field before him of calculation and ex- 
 periment." In March, 1765, the act was passed, according to 
 which all instruments in writing were to be executed on stamp- 
 ed paper, to be purchased from the agents of the British gov- 
 ernment. What was more: all offenses against the act could 
 be tried in any royal, marine, or admiralty court throughout the 
 colonies, however distant from the place where the offense had 
 been committed ; thus interfering with that most inestimable 
 right, a trial by jury. 
 
 It was an ominous sign that the first burst of opposition to 
 this act should take place in Virginia. That colony had hither- 
 to been slow to accord with the republican spirit of New Eng- 
 land. Founded at an earlier period of the reign of James I., 
 before kingly prerogative and ecclesiastical supremacy had been 
 made matters of doubt and fierce dispute, it had grown up in 
 loyal attachment to king, church, and constitution j was aristo- 
 cratical in its tastes and habits, and had been remarked above 
 
LTFJS OF WASHINGTON. 203 
 
 all the other colonies for its sympathies with the mother coun- 
 try. Moreover, it had not so many pecuniary interests involv- 
 ed in these questions as had the people of New England, being 
 an agricultural rather than a commercial province ; but the 
 Virginians are of a quick and generous spirit, readily aroused 
 on all points of honorable pride, and they resented the stamp 
 act as an outrage on their rights. 
 
 Washington occupied his seat in the House of Burgesses, 
 when, on the 29th of May, the stamp act became a subject of 
 discussion. We have seen no previous opinions of his on the 
 subject. His correspondence hitherto had not turned on politi- 
 cal or speculative themps ; being engrossed by either military 
 or agricultural matters, and evincing little anticipation of the 
 vortex of public duties into which he was about to be drawn. 
 All his previous conduct and writings show a loyal devotion 
 to the crown, with a patriotic attachment to his country. 
 It is probable that on the present occasion that latent patriot- 
 ism received its first electric shock. 
 
 Among the burgesses sat Patrick Henry, a young lawyer who 
 had recently distinguished himself by pleading against the 
 exercise of the royal prerogative in church matters, and who 
 was now for the first time a member of the House. Rising in 
 his place, he introduced his celebrated resolutions, declaring 
 that the General Assembly of Virginia had the exclusive right 
 and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants, 
 and that whoever maintained the contrary should be deemed 
 an enemy to the colony. 
 
 The Speaker, Mr. Kobinson, objected to the resolutions, as 
 inflammatory. Henry vindicated them, as justified by the nat- 
 ture of the case ; went into an able and constitutional discus^ 
 sionof colonial rights, and an eloquent exposition of the manner 
 in which they had been assailed ; wound up by one of those 
 daring flights of declamation for which he was remarkable, and 
 startled the House by a warning flash from history : "Csesar 
 had his Brutus, Charles his Cromwell, and George the Third — 
 Q Treason ! treason ! ^ resounded from the neighborhood of the 
 Chair) — may profit by their examples," added Henry. " Sir, if 
 this be treason (bowing to the Speaker), make the most of it ! ^' 
 The resolutions were modified, to accommodate them to the 
 scruples of the Speaker and some of the members, but their 
 spirit was retained. The Lieutenant-governor (Fauquier), 
 startled by this patriotic outbreak, dissolved the Assembly and 
 issued writs for a new election ; but the clarion had sounded. 
 " The resolves of the Assembly of Virginia," says a correspon- 
 dent of the ministry, " gave the signal for a general outcry 
 
204 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 over the continent. Tlie movers and supporters of them were 
 applauded as the protectors and asserters of American liberty/' * 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 "Washington's ideas concerning the stamp act. — opposi- 
 tion TO IT IN THE COLONIES. PORTENTOUS CEREMONIES AT 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK. NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT 
 
 AMONG THE MERCHANTS. — WASHINGTON AND GEORGE MASON. 
 
 DISMISSAL OF GRENVILLE FROM THE BRITISH CABINET. 
 
 FRANKLIN BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. REPEAL OP 
 
 THE STAMP ACT. JOY OF WASHINGTON. — FRESH CAUSES OF 
 
 COLONIAL DISSENSIONS.^ — CIRCULAR OF THE GENERAL COURT 
 OF MASSACHUSETTS. EMBARKATION OF TROOPS FOR BOS- 
 TON. — MEASURES OF THE BOSTONIANS. 
 
 Washington returned to Mount Vernon full of anxious 
 thoughts inspired by the political events of the day, and the 
 legislative scene which he witnessed. Hip recent letters had 
 spoken of the state of peaceful tranquillity in which he was 
 living ; those now written from his rural home show that he 
 fully participated in the popular feeling, and that while he had 
 a presentiment of an arduous struggle, his patriotic mind was 
 revolving means of coping with it. Such is the tenor of a 
 letter written to his wife's uncle, Francis Dandridge, then in 
 London. " The stamp act," said he, " engrosses the conversa- 
 tion of the speculative part of the colonists, who look upon 
 this unconstitutional method of taxation as a direful attack 
 upon their liberties, and loudly exclaim against the violation. 
 What may be the result of this, and of some other (I think I 
 may add ill-judged) measures, I will not undertake to deter- 
 mine ; but this I may venture to affirm, that the advantage 
 accruing to the mother country will fall greatly short of the 
 expectation of the ministry ; for certain it is, that our whole 
 substance already in a manner flows to Great Britain, and that 
 whatsoever contributes to lessen our importations must be 
 hurtful to her manufactures. The eyes of our people already 
 begin to be opened ; and they will perceive that many luxuries, 
 for which we lavish our substance in Great Britain, can well 
 be dispensed with. This, consequently, will introduce frugal- 
 ity, and be a necessary incitement to industry 
 
 * Letter to Secretary Conway, New York, Sept. 23. Parliamentary 
 Begister. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. ^05 
 
 As to the stamp act, regarded in a single view, one of tlie first 
 bad consequences attending it, is, that our co'urts of judicature 
 must inevitably be shut up ; for it is impossible, or next to im- 
 possible, under our present circumstances, that the act of 
 Parliament can be complied with, were we ever so willing to 
 enforce its execution. And not to say (which alone would be 
 sufficient) that we have not money enough to pay for the 
 stamps, there are many other cogent reasons which prove that 
 it would be ineffectual.'^ 
 
 A letter of the same date to his agents in London, of ample 
 length and minute in its details, shows that, while deeply in- 
 terested in the course of public affairs, his practical mind was 
 enabled thoroughly and ably to manage the financial concerns 
 of his estate and of the estate of Mrs. Washington's son, John 
 Parke Curtis, towards whom he acted the part of a faithful 
 and affectionate guardian. In those days, Virginia planters 
 were still in direct and frequent correspondence with their 
 London factors ; and Washington's letters respecting his ship- 
 ments of tobacco, and the returns required in various articles 
 for household and personal use, are perfect models for a man 
 of business. And this may be remarlved throughout his whole 
 career, that no pressure of events nor multiplicity of cares 
 prevented a clear, steadfast, under-current of attention to 
 domestic affairs and the interest and well-being of all depend- 
 ent upon him. 
 
 In the meantime, from his quiet abode at Mount Vernon, he 
 seemed to hear the patriotic voice of Patrick Henry, which had 
 startled the House of Burgesses, echoing throughout the land, 
 and rousing one legislative body after another to follow the ex- 
 ample of that of Virginia. At the instigi^tion of the General 
 Court or Assembly of Massachusetts, a Congress was held in 
 New York in October, composed of delegates from Massa- 
 chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. In 
 this they denounced the acts of Parliament imposing taxes 
 on them without their consent, and extending the jurisdiction 
 of the courts of admiralty, as violations of their rights and 
 liberties as natural-born subjects of Great Britain, and pre- 
 pared an address to the king and a petition to both Houses 
 of Parliament, praying for redress. Similar petitions were 
 forwarded to England by the colonies not represented in the 
 Congress. 
 
 The very preparations for enforcing the stamp act called 
 forth popular tumults in various places. In Boston the stamp 
 distributer was hanged in Q^^j, his windows were broken j a 
 
206 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 house intended for a stamp office was pulled down, and the 
 effigy burnt in a bonfire nicide of the fragments. The lieuten- 
 ant-governor, chief-justice, and sheriff, attempting to allay the 
 tumult, were pelted. The stamp officer thought himself happy 
 to be hanged merely in Q^^j, and next day publicly renounced 
 the perilous office. 
 
 Various were the proceedings in other places, all manifest- 
 ing public scorn and defiance of the act. In Virginia, Mr. 
 George Mercer had been appointed distributer of stamps, but 
 on his arrival at Williamsburg publicly declined officiating. 
 It was a fresh triumph to the popular cause. The bells were 
 rung for joy ; the town was illuminated, and Mercer was hailed 
 with acclamations of the people.* 
 
 The 1st of November, the day when the act was to go into 
 operation, was ushered in with portentous solemnities. There 
 was great tolling of bells and burning of effigies in the New 
 England colonies. At Boston the ships displayed their colors, 
 but half-mast high. Many shops were shut ; funeral knells 
 resounded from the steeples, and there was a grand auto-da-fe, 
 in which the promoters of the act were paraded, and suffered 
 martyrdom in Q^^j. 
 
 At New York the printed act was carried about the streets 
 on a pole, surmounted by a death's head, with a scroll bearing 
 the inscription, " The folly of England and ruin of America." 
 Colden, the lieutenant-governor, who acquired considerable 
 odium by recommending to government the taxation of the 
 colonies, the institution of hereditary Assemblies, and other 
 Tory measures, seeing that a popular storm was rising, retired 
 into the fort, taking with him the stamp papers, and garri- 
 soned it with marines from a ship of a war. The mob broke 
 into his stable ; drew put his chariot, put his effigy into it ; 
 paraded it through the streets to the common (now the Park), 
 where they hung it on a gallows. In the evening it was taken 
 down, put again into the chariot, with the devil for a com- 
 panion, and escorted back by torchlight to the Bowling Green ; 
 where the whole pageant, chariot and all, was burnt under the 
 very guns of the fort. 
 
 These are specimens of the marks of popular reprobation 
 with which the stamp act was universally nullified. No one 
 would venture to carry it into execution. In fact no stamped 
 paper was to be seen ; all had been either destroyed or con- 
 cealed. All transactions which required stamps to give them 
 validity were suspended, or were executed by private compact. 
 The courts of justice were closed, until at length some coU' 
 
 vol. ii. p. 138. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 207 
 
 ducted their business without stamps. Union was becoming 
 the watchword. The merchants of New York, Philadelphia, 
 Boston, and such other colonies as had ventured publicly to 
 oppose the stamp act, agreed to import no more British manu- 
 factures after the 1st of January unless it should be repealed. 
 So passed away the year 1765, 
 
 As yet Washington took no prominent part in the public 
 agitation. Indeed he was never disposed to put himself for- 
 ward on popular occasions, his innate modesty forbade it ; it 
 was others who knew his worth that called him forth ; but 
 when once he engaged in any public measure, he devoted him- 
 self to it with conscientiousness and persevering zeal. At 
 present he remained a quiet but vigilant observer of events 
 'from his eagle nest at Mount Vernon. He had some few in- 
 timates in his neighborhood who accorded with him in senti- 
 ment. One of the ablest and most efficient of these was Mr. 
 George Mason, with whom he had occasional conversations on 
 the state of affairs. His friends the Fairfaxes, though liberal 
 in feelings and opinions, were too strong in their devotion to 
 the crown not to regard with an uneasy eye the tendency of the 
 popular bias. From one motive or other, the earnest attention 
 of all the inmates and visitors at Mount Vernon, was turned to 
 England, watching the movements of the ministry. 
 
 The dismissal of Mr. Grenville from the cabinet gave a 
 temporary change to public alKairs. Perhaps nothing had a 
 greater effect in favor of the colonies than an examination of 
 T>T. Franklin before the House of Commons, on the subject of 
 the stamp act. 
 
 ^^ What," he was asked, " was the temper of America towards 
 Great Britain, before the year 1763 ? " 
 
 " The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the 
 government of the crown, and paid, in all their courts, obedi- 
 ence to the acts of Parliament. Numerous as the people are 
 in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, 
 citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in subjection. They 
 were governed by this country at the expense only of a little 
 pen, and ink, and paper. They were led by a thread. They 
 had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain, for 
 its laws, its customs, and manners, and even a fondness for its 
 fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of 
 Great Britain were always treated with particular regard ; to 
 be an Old-England man was, of itself, a character of some re- 
 spect, and gave a kind of rank among us." 
 
 " And what is their temper now ? " 
 
 " ! very much altered." 
 
208 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 " If the act is not repealed, what do you think will be the 
 consequences ? " 
 
 "A total loss of the respect and affection the people of 
 America bear to this country, and of all the commerce that de- 
 pends on that respect and afiection." 
 
 " Do you think the people of America would submit to pay 
 the stamp duty if it was moderated ? " 
 
 " No, never, unless compelled by force of arms." * 
 
 The act was repealed on the 18th of March, 1766, to the 
 great joy of the sincere friends of both countries, and to no one 
 more than to Washington. In one of his letters he observes : 
 " Had the Parliament of Great Britain resolved upon enforcing 
 it, the consequences, I conceive, would have been more direful 
 than is generally apprehended, both to the mother country and 
 her colonies. All, therefore, who were instrumental in procur- 
 ing the repeal, are entitled to the thanks of every British sub- 
 ject, and have mine cordially." f 
 
 Still there was a fatal clause in the repeal, which declared 
 that the king, with the consent of Parliament, had power 
 and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and 
 validity to " bind the colonies, and people of America, in all 
 cases whatsoever." 
 
 As the people of America were contending for principles, 
 not mere pecuniary interests, this reserved power of the crown 
 and Parliament left the dispute still open, and chilled the feel- 
 ing of gratitude which the repeal might otherwise have in- 
 spired. Further aliment for public discontent was furnished 
 by other acts of Parliament. One imposed duties on glass, 
 pasteboard, white and red lead, painters' colors, and tea ; the 
 duties to he collected on the arrival of the articles in the col- 
 onies ; another empowered naval officers to enforce the acts of 
 trade and navigation. Another, wounded to the quick the 
 pride and sensibilities of New York. The mutiny act had re- 
 cently been extended to America, with an additional clause, 
 requiring the provincial assemblies to provide the troops sent 
 out with quarters, and to furnish them with fire, beds, candles, 
 and other necessaries, at the expense of the colonies. The 
 governor and Assembly of New York refused to comply with 
 this requisition as to stationary forces, insisting that it applied 
 only to troops on a march. An act of Parliament now sus- 
 pended the powers of the governor and Assembly until they 
 should comply. Chatham attributed this opposition of the col- 
 onists %o the mutiny act to "their jealousy of being somehow 
 
 * Parliamentary Register, 1766. 
 
 t Sparks, Writings of Washington^ 11. 345, npte. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 209 
 
 or other taxed internally by the Parliament ; the act," said he, 
 " asserting the right of Parliament, has certainly spread a most 
 unfortunate jealousy and diffidence of government here through- 
 out America, and makes them jealous of the least distinction 
 between this country and that, lest the same principle may be 
 extended to taxing them." * 
 
 Boston continued to be the focus of what the ministerialists 
 termed sedition. The General Court of Massachusetts, not 
 content with ^petitioning the king for relief against the recent 
 measures of Parliament, especially those imposing taxes as a 
 means of revenue, drew up a circular, calling on the other 
 colonial legislatures to join with them in suitable efforts to ob- 
 tain redress. In the ensuing session. Governor Sir Francis 
 Bernard called upon them to rescind the resolution on which 
 the circular was founded, — they refused to comply, and the 
 General Court was consequently dissolved. The governors of 
 other colonies required of their legislatures an assurance that 
 they would not reply to the Massachusetts circular, — these 
 legislatures likewise refused compliance, and were dissolved. 
 All this added to the growing excitement. 
 
 Memorials were addressed to the lords, spiritual and tem- 
 poral, and remonstrances to the House of Commons, against 
 taxation for revenue, as destructive to the liberties of the col- 
 onists ; and against the act suspending the legislative power of 
 the province of New York, as menacing the welfare of the col- 
 onies in general. 
 
 Nothing, however, produced a more powerful effect upon the 
 public sensibilities throughout the country, than certain mili- 
 tary demonstrations at Boston. In consequence of repeated 
 collisions between the people of that place and the commission- 
 ers of customs, two regiments were held in readiness at Halifax 
 to embark for Boston in the ships of Commodore Hood when- 
 ever Governor Bernard, or the general, should give the word. 
 "Had this force been landed in Boston six months ago," writes 
 the commodore, "I am perfectly persuaded no address or re- 
 monstrances would have been sent from the other colonies, and 
 that all would have been tolerably quiet and orderly at this 
 time throughout America." f 
 
 Tidings reached Boston that these troops were embarked and 
 that they were coming to overawe the people. What was to 
 be done ? The General Court had been dissolved, and the 
 governor refused to convene it without the royal command. A 
 convention, therefore, from various towns met at Boston, on 
 
 * Chatham's Correspondence, vol. iii. pp. 186-192, 
 t Grenville Papers, vol. iv. p', 362. 
 
210 ^-IFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the 22d of September, to devise measures for the public safety; 
 but disclaiming all pretensions to legislative powers. While 
 the convention was yet in session (September 28tb), the two 
 regiments arrived, with seven armed vessels. " I am very con- 
 fident," writes Commodore Hood from Halifax, ^^ the spirited 
 measures now pursuing will soon effect order in America." 
 
 On the contrary, these *^ spirited measures" added fuel to 
 the fire they were intended to quench. It was resolved in a 
 town meeting that the king had no right to send troops thither 
 without the consent of the assembly ; that Great Britain had 
 broken the original compact, and that, therefore, the king's of- 
 ficers had no longer any business there.* 
 
 The " selectmen " accordingly refused to find quarters for 
 the soldiers in the town ; the council refused to find barracks 
 for them, lest it should be construed into a compliance with the 
 disputed clause of the mutiny act. Some of the troops, there- 
 fore, which had tents, were encamped on the common ; others 
 by the governor's orders, were quartered in the state-house, and 
 others in Faneuil Hall, to the great indignation of the public, 
 who were grievously scandalized at seeing field-pieces planted in 
 front of the state-house ; sentinels stationed at the doors, chal- 
 lenging every one who passed; and, above all, at having the 
 sacred quiet of the Sabbath disturbed by drum and fife, and 
 other military music. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 CHEERFUL LIFE AT MOUNT VERNON. — WASHINGTON AND 
 GEORGE MASON. CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THE NON- 
 IMPORTATION AGREEMENT. FEELING TOWARD ENGLAND. — 
 
 OPENING OF THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION.— *-SEMI-REGAL STATE 
 
 OF LORD BOTETOURT. HIGH-TONED PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 HOUSE. SYMPATHY WITH NEW ENGLAND. DISSOLVED BY 
 
 LORD BOTETOURT. — WASHINGTON AND THE ARTICLES OF AS- 
 SOCIATION. 
 
 Throughout these public agitations, Washington endeavor^ 
 ed to preserve his equanimity, Eemoved from the heated 
 throngs of cities, his diary denotes a cheerful and healthful life 
 at Mount Vernon, devoted to those rural occupations in which 
 he delighted, and varied occasionally by his favorite field sports 
 Sometimes he is duck-shooting on the Potomac. Repeatedly 
 * Whately to Grenville. Gren, Papers^ vol. iv. p. 389. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 211 
 
 we find note of his being out at sunrise with the hounds, in 
 company with old Lord Fairfax, Bryan Fairfax, and others ; 
 and ending the day's sport by a dinner at Mount Vernon, or 
 Belvoir. 
 
 Still he was too true a patriot not to sympathize in the 
 struggle for colonial rights which now agitated the whole coun- 
 try, and we find him gradually carried more and more into the 
 current of political affairs. 
 
 A letter written on the fifth of April, 1769, to his friend 
 George Mason, shows the important stand he was disposed, 
 to take. In the previous year, the merchants and traders of 
 Boston, Salem, Connecticut, and Kew York, had agreed to sus- 
 pend for a time the importation of all articles subject to taxa- 
 tion. Similar resolutions had recently been adopted by the 
 merchants of Philadelphia. Washington's letter is emphatic 
 in support of the measure. "At a time," writes he, "when 
 our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with noth- 
 ing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems 
 highly necessary that something should be done to avert the 
 stroke, and maintain the liberty which we have derived from 
 our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the 
 purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man 
 should scruple, or hesitate a moment in defense of so valuable 
 a blessing, is clearly my opinion yet arms should be the last 
 resource — the dernier ressort. We have already, it is said, 
 proved the inefficacy of addresses to the throne, and remon- 
 strances to Parliament. How far their attention to our rights 
 and interests is to be awakened, or alarmed, by starving their 
 trade and manufactures, remains to be tried. 
 
 " The northern colonies, it appears, are endeavoring to adopt 
 this scheme. In my opinion, it is a good one, and must be 
 attended with salutary effects, provided it can be carried pretty 
 
 generally into execution That there will be a 
 
 difficulty attending it everywhere from clashing interests, and 
 selfish, designing men, ever attentive to their own gain and 
 watchful of every turn that can assist their lucrative views, 
 cannot be denied, and in the tobacco colonies, where the trade 
 is so diffused, and in a manner wholly conducted by factors for 
 their principals at home, these difficulties are certainly en- 
 hanced, but I think not insurmountably increased, if the gen- 
 tlemen in their several counties will be at some pains to explain 
 matters to the people, and stimulate them to cordial agreements 
 to purchase none but certain enumerated articles out of any of 
 the stores, after a definite period, and neither import, nor pur- 
 chase any themselves. . » . * I can see but one class of 
 
212 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 people, the mercliants excepted, who will not, or ought not, to 
 wish well to the scheme, — namely, they who live genteelly and 
 hospitably on clear estates. Such as these, were they not 
 to consider the valuable object in view, and the good of others, 
 might think it hard to be curtailed in their living and enjoy- 
 ment." 
 
 This was precisely the class to which Washington belonged ; 
 but he was ready and willing to make the sacrifices required. 
 " I think the scheme a good one," added he, " and that it ought 
 to be tried here, with such alterations as our circumstances 
 render absolutely necessary." 
 
 Mason, in his reply, concurred with him in opinion. "Our 
 all is at stake," said he, " and the little conveniences and com- 
 forts of life, when set in competition with our liberty, ought to 
 be rejected, not with reluctance, but with pleasure. Yet it is 
 plain that, in the tobacco colonies, we cannot at present confine 
 our importations within such narrow bounds as the northern 
 colonies. A plan of this kind, to be practicable, must be 
 adapted to our circumstances ; for, if not steadily executed, it 
 had better have remained unattempted. We may retrench all 
 manner of superfluities, finery of all descriptions, and confine 
 ourselves to linens, woolen, etc., not exceeding a certain price. 
 It is amazing how much this practice, if adopted in all the 
 colonies, would lessen the American imports, and distress the 
 various trades and manufactures of Great Britain. This would 
 awaken their attention. They would see, they would feel the 
 oppressions we groan under, and exert themselves to procure 
 us redress. This, once obtained, we should no longer discon- 
 tinue our importations, confining ourselves still not to import 
 any article that should hereafter be taxed by act of Parliament 
 for raising a revenue in America ; for, however singular I may 
 be in the opinion, 1 am thoroughly convinced, that, justice 
 and harmony happily restored, it is not the interest of these 
 colonies to refuse British manufactures. Our supplying our 
 mother country with gross materials, and taking her manu<- 
 factures in return, is the true chain of connection between us. 
 These are the hands which, if not broken by oppression must 
 long hold us together, by maintaining a constant reciprocor 
 tion of hiterest.^^ 
 
 The latter part of the above quotation shows the spirit which 
 actuated Washington and the friends of his confidence ; as yet 
 there was no thought nor desire of alienation from the mother 
 country, but only a fixed determination to be placed on an 
 equality of rights and privileges with her other children. 
 
 A single word in the passage cited from Washington's letter, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 213 
 
 evinces the chord which still vibrated in the American bosom ; 
 he incidentally speaks of England as home. It was the fam- 
 iliar term with which she was usually indicated by those of 
 English descent; and the writer of these pages remembers 
 when the endearing phrase still lingered on Anglo-American 
 lips even after the Eevolution. How easy would it have been 
 before that era for the mother country to have rallied back the 
 affections of her colonial children, by a proper attention to 
 their complaints ! They asked for nothing but what they 
 were entitled to, and what she had taught them to prize as 
 their dearest inheritance. The spirit of liberty which they 
 manifested had been derived from her own precept and ex- 
 ample. 
 
 The result of the correspondence between Washington and 
 Mason was the draft by the latter of a plan of association, the 
 members of which were to pledge themselves not to import or 
 use any articles of British merchandise or manufacture subject 
 to duty. This paper Washington was to submit to the con- 
 sideration of the House of Burgesses, at the approaching ses- 
 sion in the month of May. 
 
 The Legislature of Virginia opened on this occasion with a 
 brilliant pageant. While military force was arrayed to over- 
 awe the republican Puritans of the east, it was thought to 
 dazzle the aristocratical descendants of the cavaliers by the reflex 
 of regal splendor. Lord Botetourt, one of the king's lords of the 
 bed-chamber, had recently come out as governor of the province. 
 Junius described him as "a cringing, bowing, fawning, sword- 
 bearing courtier." Horace Walpole predicted that he would 
 turn the heads of the Virginians in one way or other. ^' If his 
 graces do not captivate them he will enrage them to fury ; for 
 I take all his douceur to be enameled on iron." * The words 
 of political satirists and court wits, however, are always to be 
 taken with great distrust. However his lordship may have 
 bowed in presence of royalty, he elsewhere conducted himself 
 with dignity, and won general favor by his endearing manners. 
 He certainly showed promptness of spirit in his reply to the 
 king on being informed of his appointment. " When will you 
 be ready to go ? " asked George III. " To-night, sir." 
 
 He had come out, however, with a wrong idea of the Ameri- 
 cans. They had been represented to him as factious, immoral, 
 and prone to sedition ; but vain and luxurious, and easily cap- 
 tivated by parade and splendor. The latter foibles were aimed 
 at in his appointment and fitting out. It was supposed that 
 his titled rank would have its effect. Then to prepare him for 
 *^Grenmlle Papers, iv. note to p. 330, 
 
214 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 occasions of ceremony-; a coach of state was presented to him 
 by the king. He was allowed, moreover, the quantity of plate 
 usually given to ambassadors, whereupon the joke was circulated 
 that he was going " plenipo to the Cherokees.'' ^ 
 
 His opening of the session was in the style of the royal open- 
 ing of Parliament. He proceeded in due parade from his dwell- 
 ling to the capitol, in his state coach, drawn by six milk-white 
 horses. Having delivered his speech according to royal form, 
 he returned home with the same pomp and circumstance. 
 
 The time had gone by, however, for such display to have the 
 anticipated effect. The Virginian legislators penetrated the 
 intention of this pompous ceremonial, and regarded it with a 
 depreciating smile. Sterner matters occupied their thoughts ; 
 they had come prepared to battle for their rights, and 
 their proceedings soon showed Lord Botetourt how much 
 he had mistaken them. Spirited resolutions were passed, 
 denouncing the recent act of Parliament imposing taxes ; the 
 power to do which, on the inhabitants of this colony, " was 
 legally and constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses, 
 with consent of the council and of the king, or of his governor 
 for the time being." Copies of these resolutions were ordered 
 to be forwarded by the speaker to the legislatures of the other 
 colonies, with a request for their concurrence. 
 
 Other proceedings of the burgesses showed their sympathy 
 with their fellow-patriots of New England. A joint address of 
 both Houses of Parliament had recently been made to the king, 
 assuring him of their support in anv further measures for the 
 due execution of the laws in Massachusetts, and beseeching him 
 that all persons charged with treason, or misprision of treason, 
 committed within that colony since the 30th of December, 1767, 
 might be sent to Great Britain for trial. 
 
 As Massachusetts had no General Assembly at this time, 
 having been dissolved by government, the Legislature of Vir- 
 ginia generously took up the cause. An address to the king was 
 resolved on, stating that all trials for treason, or misprision of 
 treason, or for any crime whatever committed by any person re- 
 siding in a colony, ought to be in and before His Majesty's courts 
 within said colony; and beseeching the king to avert from his 
 ioyal subjects those dangers and miseries which would ensue from 
 seizing and carrying beyond sea any person residing in America 
 suspected of any crime whatever, thereby depriving them of the 
 inestimable privilege of being tried by a. jury from the vicinage, 
 as well as the liberty of producing witnesses on such trial. 
 
 Disdaining any further application to Parliament, the House 
 * Whately to Geo. Grenville. Grenville Papers. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 215 
 
 ordered tLe speaker to transmit this address to the colonies' 
 agent in England, with directions to cause it to be presented 
 to the king, and afterwards to be printed and published in the 
 English papers. 
 
 Lord Botetourt was astonished and dismayed when he heard 
 of these high-toned proceedings. Repairing to the capitol next 
 day at noon, he summoned the speaker and members to the 
 council chamber and addressed them in the following words : 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, and gentleman of the House of Burgesses, I 
 have learned of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects. 
 You have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are dis- 
 solved accordingly." 
 
 The spirit conjured up by the late decrees of Parliament was 
 not so easily allayed. The burgesses adjourned to a private 
 house. Peyton Randolph, their late speaker, was elected mod- 
 erator. Washington now brought forward a draft of the articles 
 of association, concerted between him and George Mason. They 
 formed the groundwork of an instrument signed by all present, 
 pledging themselves neither to import nor use any goods, mer- 
 chandise, or manufactures taxed by Parliament to raise a 
 revenue in America. This instrument was sent throughout 
 the country for signature, and the scheme of non-importation, 
 hitherto confined to a few northern colonies, was soon univer- 
 sally adopted. Eor his own part, Washington adhered to it 
 rigorously throughout the year. The articles proscribed by it 
 were never to be seen in his house, and his agent in London 
 was enjoined to ship nothing for him while subject to taxation. 
 
 The popular ferment in Virginia was gradually allayed by 
 the amiable and conciliatory conduct of Lord Botetourt. His 
 lordship soon became aware of the erroneous notions with which 
 he had entered upon office. His semi-royal equipage and state 
 were laid aside. He examined into public grievances ; became a 
 strenuous advocate for the repeal of taxes ; and, authorized by 
 his despatches from the ministry, assured the public that such 
 repeal would speedily take place. His assurance w^as received 
 with implicit faith, and for a while Virginia was quieted. 
 
216 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 I 
 
 HOOD AT BOSTON. — THE GENERAL COURT REFUSES TO DO BUSI- 
 NESS UNDER MILITARY SWAY. RESISTS THE BILLETING ACT. 
 
 EFFECT OF THE NON-IMPORTATION ASSOCIATION. LORD 
 
 NORTH PREMIER. DUTIES REVOKED EXCEPT ON TEA. THE 
 
 BOSTON MASSACRE. DISUSE OF TEA. CONCILIATORY CON- 
 DUCT OF LORD BOTETOURT. HIS DEATH. 
 
 " The worst is past, and tbe spirit of sedition broken/' writes 
 Hood to Grenville, early in the spring of 1769.^ When the 
 commodore wrote this, his ships were in the harbor, and troops 
 occupied the town, and he flattered himself that at length 
 turbulent Boston was quelled. But it only awaited its time 
 to be seditious according to rule ; there was always an irresist- 
 ible " method in its madness." 
 
 In the month of May, the General Court, hitherto prorogued, 
 met according to charter. A committee immediately' waited 
 on the governor, stating it was impossible to do business with 
 dignity and freedom while the town was invested by sea and 
 land, and a military guard was stationed at the state-house, 
 with cannon pointed at the door ; and they requested the 
 governor, as His Majesty's representative, to have such forces 
 removed out of the port and gates of the city during the ses* 
 sion of the Assembly. 
 
 The governor replied that he had no authority over either 
 the ships or troops. The court persisted in refusing to tran- 
 sact business while so circumstanced, and the governor was 
 obliged to transfer the session to Cambridge. There he ad- 
 dressed a message to that body in July, requiring fund^ for the 
 payment of the troops, and quarters for their accommodation. 
 The Assembly, after ample discussion of past grievances, re- 
 solved, that the establishment of a standing army in the colony 
 in a time of peace was an invasion of natural rights ; that a 
 standing army was not known as a part of the British constitu- 
 tion, and that the sending an armed force to aid the civil 
 authority was unprecedented, and highly dangerous to the 
 people. 
 
 After waiting some days without receiving an answer to his 
 * Grenville Papers, vol. ill. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 217 
 
 message, the governor sent to know whether the Assembly 
 would, or would not, make provision for the troops. In their 
 reply, they followed the example of the legislature of New 
 York, in commenting on the mutiny, or billeting act, and ended 
 by declining to furnish funds for the purposes specified, "being 
 incompatible with their own honor and interest, and their duty 
 to their constituents." They were in consequence again pro- 
 rogued, to meet in Boston on the 10th of January. 
 
 So stood affairs in Massachusetts. In the meantime, the 
 non-importation associations, being generally observed through- 
 out the colonies, produced the effect on British commerce which 
 Washington had anticipated, and Parliament was incessantly 
 importuned by petitions from British merchants, imploring its 
 intervention to save them from ruin. 
 
 Early in 1770, an important change took place in the British 
 cabinet. The Duke of Grafton suddenly resigned, and the 
 reins of government passed into the hands of Lord North. He 
 was a man of limited capacity, but a favorite of the king, and 
 subservient to his narrow colonial policy. His administration, 
 so eventful to America, commenced with an error. In the 
 month of March, an act was passed, revoking all the duties laid 
 in 1767, excepting that on tea. This single tax was continued, 
 as he observed, "to maintain the parliamentary right of taxa- 
 tion," — the very right which was the grand object of contest, 
 In this, however, he was' in fact yielding, against his better 
 judgment, to the stubborn tenacity of the king. 
 
 He endeavored to reconcile the opposition, and perhaps him- 
 self, to the measure, by plausible reasoning. An impost of 
 threepence on the pound could never, he alleged, be opposed by 
 the colonists, unless they were determined to rebel against 
 Great Britain. Besides, a duty on that article, payable in 
 England, and amounting to nearly one shilling on the pound, 
 was taken off on its exportation to America, so that the inhabit- 
 ants of the colonies saved ninepence on the pound. 
 
 Here was the stumbling-block at the threshold of Lord 
 North's administration. In vain the members of the opposition 
 urged that this single exception, while it would produce no 
 revenue, would keep alive the whole cause of contention ; that 
 so long as a single external duty was enforced, the colonies 
 would consider their rights invaded and would remain unap- 
 peased. Lord North was not to be convinced ; or rather, he 
 knew the royal will was inflexible, and he complied with its be- 
 hests. " The properest time to exert our right to taxation,'' 
 said he, " is when the right is refused. To temporize is to 
 yield j and the authority of the mother country^ if it is now 
 
218 'LIFE OF WASHINGTON. gj 
 
 unsupported, will be relinquished forever : atotal repeal cannot 
 he thought of till America is prostrate at our feet. ^^ * 
 
 On the very day in which this ominous bill was passed in 
 Parliament, a sinister occurrence took place in Boston. Some 
 of the young men of the place insulted the military while under 
 arms ; the latter resented it ; the young men, after a scuffle, 
 were put to flight, and pursued. The alarm bells rang j a mob 
 assembled ; the custom-house was threatened ; the troops in 
 protecting it were assailed with clubs and stones, and obliged 
 to use their fire-arms, before the tumult could be quelled. Four 
 of the populace were killed, and several wounded. The troops 
 were now removed from the town, which remained in the high- 
 est state of exasperation j and this untoward occurrence 
 received the opprobrious and somewhat extravagant name of 
 " the Boston massacre." 
 
 The colonists, as *a matter of convenience, resumed the con- 
 sumption of those articles on which the duties had been re- 
 pealed ; but continued, on principle, the rigorous disuse of tea, 
 excepting such as had been smuggled in. New England was 
 particularly earnest in the matter ; many of the inhabitants, 
 in the spirit of their Puritan progenitors, made a covenant, to 
 drink no more of the forbidden beverage, until the duty on tea 
 should be repealed. 
 
 In Virginia the public discontents, which had been allayed 
 by the conciliatory conduct of Lord Botetourt, and by his as- 
 surances, made on the strength of letters received from the 
 ministry, that the grievances complained of would be speedily 
 redressed, now broke out with more violence than ever. The 
 Virginians spurned the mock-remedy which left the real cause 
 of complaint untouched. His lordship also felt deeply wounded 
 by the disingenuousness of ministers which led him into such 
 a predicament, and wrote home demanding his discharge. Be- 
 fore it arrived, an attack of bilious fever, acting upon a delicate 
 and sensitive frame, enfeebled by anxiety and chagrin, laid him 
 in his grave. He left behind him a name endeared to the Vir- 
 ginians by his amiable manners, his liberal patronage of the 
 arts, and, above all, by his zealous intercession for their rights. 
 Washington himself testifies that he was inclined " to render 
 every just and reasonable service to the people whom he gov- 
 erned." A statue to his memory was decreed by the House of 
 Burgesses, to be erected in the area of the capitol. It is still 
 to be seen, though in a mutilated condition, in Williamsburg, 
 the old seat of government, and a county in Virginia continues 
 to bear his honored name. 
 
 * Holmes's J.mer. Annals^ vol. ii. p. 173. 
 
LIFU OF WASHINGTON. 219 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 EXPEDITION OF WASHINGTON TO THE OHIO, IN BEHALF OF SOL- 
 DIERS' CLAIMS. UNEASY STATE OF THE FRONTIER. VISIT TO 
 
 FORT PITT. GEORGE CROGHAN. HIS MISHAPS DURING PONTI- 
 
 AC''s WAR. WASHINGTON DESCENDS THE OHIO. SCENES ANf) 
 
 ADVENTURES ALONG THE RIVER. INDIAN HUNTING CAMP. 
 
 INTERVIEW WITH AN OLD SACHEM AT THE MOUTH OF THE KA^ 
 
 NAWHA. RETURN. CLAIMS OF STOBO AND VAN BRAAM. 
 
 LETTER TO COLONEL GEORGE MUSE. 
 
 In the midst of these popular turmoils, Washington was in- 
 duced, by public as well as private considerations, to make 
 another expedition to the Ohio. He was one of the Virginia 
 Board of Commissioners, appointed, at the close of the late war, 
 to settle the military accounts of the colony. Among the 
 claims which came before the board, were those of the officers 
 and soldiers who had engaged to serve until peace, under the 
 proclamation of Governor Dinwiddle, holding forth a bounty of 
 two hundred thousand acres of land, to be apportioned among 
 them according to rank. Those claims were yet unsatisfied, 
 for governments, like individuals, are slow to pay off in peace- 
 ful times the debts incurred while in the fighting mood. 
 Washington became the champion of those claims, and an op- 
 portunity now presented itself for their liquidation. The Six 
 JSTations, by a treaty in 1768, had ceded to the British crown, 
 in consideration of a sum of money, all the lands possessed by 
 them south of the Ohio. Land offices would soon be opened 
 for the sale of them. Squatters and speculators were already 
 preparing to swarm in, set up their marks on the choicest spots, 
 and establish what were called pre-emption rights. Washington 
 determined at once to visit the lands thus ceded, affix his mark 
 on such tracts as he should select, and apply for a grant from 
 government in behalf of the " soldier's claim." 
 
 The expedition would be attended with some degree of 
 danger. The frontier was yet in an uneasy state. It is true 
 some time had elapsed since the war of Pontiac, but some of 
 the Indian tribes were almost ready to resume the hatchet. 
 The Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes complained that the 
 Six l^ations had not given them their full share of the qon- 
 
220 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 sideration money of tlie late sale, and they talked of exacting 
 the deficiency from the white men who came to settle in what 
 had been their hunting-grounds. Traders, squatters, and other 
 adventurers into the wilderness, were occasionally murdered, 
 and further troubles Avere apprehended. 
 
 Washington had for a companion in this expedition his friend 
 and neighbor, Doctor Craik, and it was with strong community 
 of feeling they looked forward peaceably to revisit the scenes 
 of their military experience. They set out on the 5th of Octo- 
 ber with three negro attendants, two belonging to Washington, 
 and one to the doctor. The whole party was mounted, and 
 there was a led horse for the baggage. 
 
 After twelve days' travelling they arrived at Fort Pitt (late 
 Fort Duquesne). It was garrisoned by two companies of Royal 
 Irish, commanded by a Captain Edmonson. A hamlet of about 
 twenty log-houses, inhabited by Indian traders, had sprung 
 up within three hundred yards of the fort, and was called 
 " the town." It was the embryo city of Pittsburg, now so 
 populous. At one of the houses, a tolerable frontier inn, they 
 took up their quarters ; but during their brief sojourn they 
 were entertained with great hospitality at the fort. 
 
 Here at dinner Washington met his old acquaintance, 
 George Croghan, who had figured in so many capacities and ex- 
 perienced so many vicissitudes on the frontier. He was now 
 Colonel Croghan, deputy-agent to Sir William Johnson, and 
 had his residence — or seat, as Washington terms it — on the 
 banks of the Alleghany river, about four miles from the fort. . 
 
 Croghan had experienced troubles and dangers during the 
 Pontiac war, both from white man and savage. At one time, 
 .while he was convoying presents from Sir William to the Dela- 
 wares and Shawnees, his caravan was set upon and plundered 
 by a band of backwoodsmen of Pennsylvania — men resembling 
 Indians in garb and habits, and fully as lawless. At another 
 time, when encamped at the mouth of the Wabash with some of 
 his Indian allies, a band of Kickapoos, supposing the latter to 
 be Cherokees, their deadly enemies, rushed forth from the 
 woods with horrid yells, shot down several of his companions, 
 and wounded himself. It must be added, that no white men 
 could have made more ample apologies than did the Kickapoos 
 when they discovered that they had fired upon friends. 
 
 Another of Croghan's perils was from the redoubtable Pontiac 
 himself. The chieftain had heard of his being on a mission to 
 win off, by dint of presents, the other sachems of the conspir- 
 acy^ and declared, significantly, that he had a large kettle boil- 
 ing in which he intended to seethe the ambassador. It was 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON 221 
 
 fortunate for Croghan that he did not meet with the formidable 
 chieftain while in this exasperated mood. He subsequently- 
 encountered him when Pontiac's spirit was broken by reverses. 
 They smoked the pipe of peace together, and the colonel claim- 
 ed the credit of having, by his diplomacy, persuaded the sachem 
 to bury the hatchet. 
 
 On the day following the repast at the fort, Washington 
 visited Croghan at his abode on the Alleghany E,iver, where he 
 found several of the chiefs of the Six Nations assembled. One 
 of them, the White Mingo by name, made him a speech, accom- 
 panied, as usual, by a belt of wampum. Some of his companions, 
 he said, remembered to have seen him in 1753, when he came 
 on his embassy to the French commander ; most of them had 
 heard of him. They had now come to welcome him to their 
 country. They wished the people of Virginia to consider them 
 as friends and brothers, linked together in one chain, and re- 
 quested him to inform the governor of their desire to live in 
 peace and harmony with the white men. As to certain unhappy 
 differences which had taken place between them on the frontiers 
 they were all made up, and, they hoped, forgotten. 
 
 Washington accepted the " speech-belt," and made a suitable 
 reply, assuring the chiefs that nothing was more desired by the 
 people of Virginia than to live with them, on terms of the 
 strictest friendship. 
 
 At Pittsburg the travellers left their horses, and embarked 
 in a large canoe, to make a voyage down the Ohio as far as the 
 Great Kanawha. Colonel Croghan engaged two Indians for 
 their services, and an interpreter named John Nicholson. The 
 colonel and some of the officers of the garrison accompanied 
 them as far as Logstown, the scene of Washington's early di- 
 plomacy^ and his first interview with the half-king. Here they 
 breakfasted together ; after which they separated, the colonel 
 and his companions cheering the voyagers from the shore, as 
 the canoe was borne off by the current of the beautiful Ohio. 
 
 It was now the hunting season, when the Indians leave their 
 towns, set off with their families, and lead a roving life in 
 cabins and hunting-camps along the river. Shifting from place 
 to place, as game abounds or decreases, and often extending 
 their migrations two or three hundred miles down the stream. 
 The women were as dexterous as the men in the management 
 of the canoe, but were generally engaged in the domestic labors 
 of the lodge while their husbands were abroad hunting. 
 
 Washington's propensities as a sportsman had here full play. 
 Deer were continually to be seen coming down to the water's 
 edge to drink^ or browsing along the shore j there were innur 
 
222 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 merable flocks of wild turkeys, and streaming flights of ducks and 
 geese ; so that as the voyagers floated along, they were enabled 
 to load their canoe with game. At night they encamped on 
 the river bank, lit their fire and made a sumptuous hunter's re- 
 past. Washington always relished this wild-wood life ; and 
 the present had that spice of danger in it which has a peculiar 
 charm for adventurous minds. The great object of his expedi- 
 tion, however, is evinced in his constant notes on the features 
 and character of the country, the quality of the soil as indicated by 
 the nature of the trees, and the level tracts fitted for settlements. 
 
 About seventy-five miles below Pittsburg the voyagers landed 
 at a Mingo town, which they found in a stir of warlike prepa- 
 ration — sixty of the warriors being about to set off on a foray 
 into the Cherokee country against the Catawbas. 
 
 Here the voyagers were brought to a pause by a report that 
 two white men, traders, had been murdered about thirty-eight 
 miles further down the river. Eeports of the kind were not to 
 be treated lightly. Indian faith was uncertain along the fron- 
 tier, and white men were often shot down in the wilderness for 
 plunder or revenge. On the following day the report moder- 
 ated. Only one man was said, to have been killed, and that 
 not by Indians ; so Washington determined to continue 
 forward until he could obtain correct information in the 
 matter. 
 
 On the 24th, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the voyagers 
 arrived at Captema Creek, at the mouth of which the trader 
 was said to have been killed. As all was quiet and no one to 
 be seen, they agreed to encamp, while Nicholson the interpreter, 
 and one of the Indians, repaired to a village a few miles up the 
 creek to inquire about the murde-r. They found but two old 
 women at the village. The men were all absent, hunting. The 
 interpreter returned to camp in the evening, bringing the truth 
 of the murderous tale. A trader had fallen a victim to his tem- 
 erity, having been drowned in attempting, in company with 
 another, to swim his horse across the Ohio. 
 
 Two days more of voyaging brought them to an Indian hunt- 
 ing camp, near the mouth of the Muskingum. Here it was 
 necessary to land and make a ceremonious visit, for the chief of 
 the hunting party was Kiashuta, a Seneca sachem, the head of 
 the river tribes. He was noted to have been among the first 
 to raise the hatchet in Pontiac's conspiracy, and almost equally 
 vindictive with that potent warrior. As Washington ap- 
 proached the chieftain, he recognized him for one of the Indians 
 who had accompanied him on his mission to the French in 
 1753, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 223 
 
 Kiashuta retained a perfect recollection of the youthful am- 
 bassador, though seventeen years had matured him into 
 thoughtful manhood. With hunter's hospitality he gave him 
 a quarter of a fine buffalo just slain, but insisted that they 
 should encamp together for the night ; and in order not to re- 
 tard him, moved with his own party to a good camping place 
 some distance down the river. Here they had long talks and 
 council-fires over night and in the morning, with all the 
 "tedious ceremony," says Washington, "which the Indians ob- 
 serve in their counselings and speeches." Kiashuta had heard 
 of what had passed between Washington and the "White 
 Mingo," and other sachems, at Colonel Croghan's, and was 
 eager to express his own desire for peace and friendship with 
 Virginia, and fair dealings with her traders ; all which Wash- 
 ington promised to report faithfully to the governor. It was 
 not until a late hour in the morning that he was enabled to 
 bring these conferences to a close, and pursue his voyage. 
 
 At the mouth of the Great Kanawha the voyagers encamped 
 for a day or two to examine the lands in the neighborhood, and 
 Washington set up his mark upon such as he intended to claim 
 'on behalf of the soldiers' grant. It was a fine sporting country, 
 having small lakes or grassy ponds abounding with water-fowl, 
 such as ducks, geese, and swans ; flocks of turkeys, as usual ; 
 and, for larger game, deer and buffalo; so that their camp 
 abounded with provisions. 
 
 Here Washington was visited by an old sachem who ap- 
 proached him with great reverence, at the head of several of his 
 tribe, and addressed him through Nicholson, the interpreter. 
 He had heard, he said, of his being in that part of the country, 
 and had come from a great distance to see him. On further 
 discourse, the sachem made known that he was one of the war- 
 riors in the service of the French, who lay in ambush on the 
 banks of the Monongahela and wrought such havoc in Brad- 
 dock's army. He declared that he and his young men had sin- 
 gled out Washington, as he made himself conspicuous riding 
 about the field of battle with the general's orders, and had fired 
 at him repeatedly, but without success ; whence they had con- 
 cluded that he was under the protection of the Grreat Spirit, 
 had a charmed life, and could not be slain in battle.. 
 
 At the Great Kanawha Washington's expedition down the 
 Ohio terminated, having visited all the points he wished to ex- 
 amine. His return to Fort Pitt, and thence homeward, affords 
 no incident worthy of note. The whole expedition, however, 
 was one of that hardy and adventurous kind, mingled 
 with practical purposes, in which he delighted. This winter 
 
224 LIFE OF WASHtNGTON. 
 
 voyage down the Ohio in a canoe^ with the doctor for a com- 
 panion and two Indians for crew^ through regions yet insecure, 
 from the capricious hostility of prowling savages, is not one of 
 the least striking of his frontier " experiences.^^ The hazardous 
 nature of it was made apparent shortly afterwards by another 
 outbreak of the Ohio tribes : one of its bloodiest actions took 
 place on the very banks of the Great Kanawha, in which Col- 
 onel Lewis and a number of brave Virginians lost their lives. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In the final adjustment of claims under Governor Dinwiddle's procla- 
 mation, Washington, acting on behalf of the officers and soldiers, ob- 
 tained grants for the lands he had marked out in the course of his visit 
 to the Ohio. Fifteen thousand acres were awarded to a field-oJ9Eicer, nine 
 thousand to a captain, six thousand to a subaltern, and so on. Among 
 the claims which he entered were those of Stobo and Van Braam, the 
 hostages in the capitulation of the Great Meadows. After many vicissi- 
 tudes they were now in London, and nine thousand acres were awarded 
 to each of them. Their domains were ultimately purchased by Wash- 
 ington through his London agent. 
 
 Another claimant was Col. George Muse, Washington's early in- 
 structor in military science. His claim was admitted with difficulty, for 
 he stood accused of having acted the part of a poltroon in the campaign, 
 and Washington seems to have considered the charge well founded. 
 Still he appears to have been dissatisfied with the share of land assigned 
 him, and to have written to Washington somewhat rudely on the sub- 
 ject. His letter is not extant, but we subjoin Washington's reply al- 
 most entire, as a specimen of the caustic pen he could wield under a 
 mingled emotion of scorn and indignation. 
 
 " SiK, — Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As 
 I am not accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have 
 taken the same language from you personally, without letting you feel 
 some marks of my resentment, I advise you to be cautious in writing me 
 a second of the same tenor; for though I understand you were drunk 
 when you did it, yet give me leave to tell you that drunkenness is no 
 excuse for rudeness. But for your stupidity and sottishness you might 
 have known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your full 
 quantity of ten thousand acres of land allowed you; that is, nine thou- 
 sand and seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder in the 
 small tract. 
 
 " But suppose you had really fallen short, do you think your superla- 
 tive merit entitles you to greater indulgence than others ? Or, if it did, 
 that I was to make it good to you, when it was at the option of the gov- 
 ernor and council to allow but five hundred acres in the whole, if they 
 had been so inclined ? If either of these should happen to be your opi^n- 
 ion, I am very well convinced that you will be singular in it; and all 
 my concern is that I ever engaged myself in behalf of so ungrateful and 
 dirty a fellow as you are." 
 
 N. B.— The above is from the letter as it exists in the archives of the 
 Department of State at Washington. It differs in two or three particu- 
 lars from that published among Washington's writings. 
 
 J 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 22S 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 LORD DUNMORE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. — PIQUES THE PRIDE 
 OF THE VIRGINIANS. OPPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY. COR- 
 RESPONDING COMMITTEES. — DEATH OF MISS CUSTIS. WASH- 
 INGTON'S GUARDIANSHIP OF JOHN PARKE CUSTIS. HIS 
 
 OPINIONS AS TO PREMATURE TRAVEL AND PREMATURE 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 The discontents of Virginia, which had been partially soothed 
 by the amiable administration of Lord Botetourt, were irritated 
 anew under his successor, the Earl of Dunmore. This noble- 
 man had for a short time held the government of New York. 
 When appointed to that of Virginia, he lingered for several 
 months at his former post. In the meantime, he sent his mili- 
 tary secretary. Captain Foy, to attend to the dispatch of busi- 
 ness until his arrival, awarding to him a salary and fees to be 
 paid by the colony. 
 
 The pride of the Virginians was piqued at his lingering at 
 ISTew York, as if he preferred its gayety and luxury to the com- 
 parative quiet and simplicity of Williamsburg. Their pride 
 was still more piqued on his arrival, by what they considered 
 haughtiness on his part. The spirit of the " Ancient Domin- 
 ion" was roused, and his lordship experienced opposition at 
 his very outset. 
 
 The first measure of the Assembly, at its opening, was to 
 demand by what right he had awarded a salary and fees to his 
 secretary without consulting it ; and to question whether it was 
 authorized by the crown. 
 
 His lordship had the good policy to rescind the unauthorized 
 act, and in so doing mitigated the ire of the Assembly ; but he 
 lost no time in proroguing a body, which, from various symp- 
 toms, appeared to be too independent, and disposed to be un- 
 tractable. 
 
 He continued to prorogue it from time to time, seeking in 
 the interim to conciliate the Virginians, and soothe their irri- 
 tated pride. At length, after repeated prorogations, he was 
 compelled by circumstances to convene it on the 1st of March, 
 X773. 
 
 Washington was prompt in his attendance on the occasion ; 
 . and foremost among the patriotic members, who eagerly^vailed 
 
226 i^I^^ OF WAlsHINaTOl^. 
 
 themselves of this long wished-for opportunity to legislate upon 
 the general affairs of the colonies. One of their most important 
 measures was the appointment of a committee of eleven persons, 
 *^ whose business it should be to obtain the most clear and au- 
 thentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the Brit- 
 ish Parliament, or proceedings of administration, as may relate 
 to or affect the British colonies, and to maintain with their 
 sister colonies a correspondence and communication.'' 
 
 The plan thus proposed by their " noble, patriotic sister col- 
 ony of Virginia." * was promptly adopted by the people of 
 Massachusetts, and soon met with general concurrence. These 
 corresponding committees, in effect, became the executive power 
 of the patriot party, producing the happiest concert of design 
 and action throughout the colonies. 
 
 Notwithstanding the decided part taken by Washington in 
 the popular movement, very friendly relations existed between 
 him and Lord Dunmore. The latter appreciated his character, 
 and sought to avail himself of his experience in the affairs of 
 the province. It was even concerted that Washington should 
 accompany his lordship on an extensive tour, which the latter 
 intended to make in the course of the summer along the western 
 frontier. A melancholy circumstance occurred to defeat this 
 arrangement. 
 
 We have spoken of Washington's paternal conduct towards 
 the two children of Mrs. Washington. The daughter. Miss 
 Custis, had long been an object of extreme solicitude. She was 
 of a fragile constitution, and for some time past had been in 
 very declining health. Early in the present summer, symp- 
 toms indicated a rapid change for the worse. Washington was 
 absent from home at the time. On his return to Mount Ver- 
 non, he found her in the last stage of consumption. 
 
 Though not a man given to bursts of sensibility, he is said 
 on the present occasion to have evinced the deepest affliction, 
 kneeling by her bedside and pouring out earnest prayers for 
 her recovery. She expired on the 19th of June, in the seven- 
 teenth year of her age. This, of course, put an end to Wash- 
 iugton's intention of accompanying Lord Dunmore to the fron- 
 tier ; he remained at home to console Mrs. Washington in her 
 affliction — ^furnishing his lordship, however, with travelling hints 
 and directions, and recommending proper guides. And here we 
 will take occasion to give a few brief particulars of domestic 
 affairs at Mount Vernon. 
 
 For a long time previous to the death of Miss Custis, her 
 
 *, Boston Town Kecords, - /^ 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 227 
 
 mother, despairing of her recovery, had centered her hopes in 
 her son, John Parke Custis. This rendered Washington's 
 guardianship of him a delicate and difficult task. He was 
 lively, susceptible, and impulsive ; had an independent for- 
 tune in his own right, and an indulgent mother, ever ready 
 to plead in his behalf against wholesome discipline. He had 
 been placed under the care and instruction of an Episcopal 
 clergyman at Annapolis, but was occasionally at home, mount- 
 ing his horse, and taking a part, while yet a boy, in the fox- 
 hunts at Mount Vernon. His education had consequently 
 been irregular and imperfect, and not such as Washington 
 would have enforced had he possessed over him the absolute 
 authority of a father. Shortly after the return of the latter 
 from his tour to the Ohio, he was concerned to find that there 
 was an idea entertained of sending the lad abroad, though but 
 little more than sixteen years of age, to travel under the care 
 of his clerical tutor. Through his judicious interference, the 
 travelling scheme was postponed, and it was resolved to give 
 the young gentleman's mind the benefit of a little preparatory 
 home culture. 
 
 Little more than a year elapsed before the sallying impulses 
 of the youth had taken a new direction. He was in love ; what 
 was more, he was engaged to the object of his passion, and on 
 the high road to matrimony. 
 
 Washington now opposed himself to premature marriage as 
 he had done to premature travel. A correspondence ensued 
 between him and the young lady's father, Benedict Calvert, 
 Esq. The match was'a satisfactory one to all parties, but it was 
 agreed that it was expedient for the youth to pass a year or two 
 previously at college. Washington accordingly accompanied him 
 to New York, and placed him under the care of the E-ev. Dr. 
 Cooper, president of King's (now Columbia) College, to pursue his 
 studies in that institution. All this occurred before the death 
 of his sister. Within a year after that melancholy event, he 
 became impatient for a union with the object of his choice. His 
 mother, now more indulgent than ever to this, her only child, 
 yielded her consent, and Washington no longer made opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 " It has been against my wishes," writes the latter to Pres- 
 ident Cooper, "that he should quit college in order that he 
 may soon enter into a new scene of life, which I think he would 
 be much fitter for some years hence than now. But having his 
 own inclination, the desires of his mother, and the acquiescence 
 of almost all his relatives to encounter, I did not care, as he is 
 
228 LIFE OF WASHINGTON". 
 
 the last of the family, to push my opposition too far ; I have, 
 therefore, submitted to a kind of necessity/' 
 
 The marriage was celebrated on the 3d of February, 1774, be- 
 fore the bridegroom was twenty-one years of age. 
 
 We are induced to subjoin extracts of two letters from Washington 
 relative to young Custis. The first gives his objections to premature 
 travel ; the second to premature matrimony. Both are worthy of con- 
 sideration in this country, where our young people have such a general 
 disposition to "go ahead." 
 
 To the Beverend Jonathan Boucher {the tutor of young Custis). 
 
 . . . . " I cannot help giving it as my opinion, that his educa- 
 tion, however advanced it may be for a youth of his age, is by no means 
 ripe enough for a travelling tour; not that I think his becoming a mere 
 scholar is a desirable education for a gentleman, but I conceive a knowl- 
 edge of books is the basis upon which all other knowledge is to be 
 built, and in travelling he is to become acquainted witlimen and things, 
 rather than books. At present, however well versed he may be in the 
 principles of the Latin language (which is not to be wondered at, as he 
 began the study of it as soon as he could speak), he is unacquainted 
 with several of the classic authors that might be useful to him. He is 
 ignorant of Greek, the advantages of learning which I do not pretend 
 to judge of; and he knows nothing of French, whicli is absolutely nec- 
 essary to him as a traveller. He has little or no acquaintance with 
 arithmetic, and is totally ignorant of the mathematics — than which, at 
 least, so much of them as relates to surveying, nothing can be more 
 essentially necessary to any man possessed of a large landed estate, the 
 bounds of some part or other of which are always in controversy. Now 
 whether he has time between this and next spring to acquire a sufficient 
 knowledge of these studies, I leave you to judge; as, also, whether a 
 boy of seventeen years old (which will be his age next November), can 
 have any just notions of the end and design of travelling. I have al- 
 ready given it as my opinion that it would be precipitating this event, 
 unless he were to go immediately to the university for a couple of years; 
 in which case he could see nothing of America, which might be a dis- 
 advantage to him, as it is to be expected that every man, who travels 
 with a view of observing the laws and customs of other countries, 
 should be able to give some description of the situation and government 
 of his own." 
 
 The following are extracts from the letter to Benedict Calvert, Esq., 
 the young lady's father: — 
 
 " I write to you on a subject of importance, and of no small emba; 
 rassraent to me. My son-in-law and ward, Mr. Custis, has, as I hav( 
 been informed, paid his addresses to your second daughter; and haviu] 
 made some progress in her affections, has solicited her in marriagi 
 How far a union of this sort may be agreeable to you, you best can tell; 
 but I should think myself wanting in candor, were ijiiot to confess that 
 Miss Nelly's amiable qualities are acknowledged on-all hands, and^that, 
 an alliance with your family will be. pleasing to.his. 
 
 i 
 
 iiS 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 229 
 
 " This acknowledgment, being made, you must permit me to add, sir, 
 that at this, or in any short time, liis youth, inexperience, and unri- 
 pened education are, and will be, insuperable obstacles, in my opinion, 
 to the completion of the marriage. As his guardian, I conceive it my 
 indispensable duty to endeavor to carry liim through a regular course 
 of education (many branches of which, I am sorry to say, he is totally 
 deficient in), and to guide his youth to a more advanced age, before an 
 event, on which his own peace and the happiness of another are to de- 
 pend, takes place If the affection which they have avowed 
 
 for each other is fixed upon a solid basis, it will receive no diminution 
 in the course of two or three years; in which time he may prosecute 
 his studies, and thereby render himself more deserving of the lady, and 
 useful to society. If, unfortunately, as they are both young, there 
 should be an abatement of affection on either side, or both, it had bet- 
 ter precede than follow marriage. 
 
 '•Delivering my sentiments thus freely, will not, I hope, lead you in- 
 to a belief that I am desirous of breaking off the match. To postpone 
 it is all I have in view; for I shall recommend to the young gentleman 
 with the warmth that becomes a man of lionor, to consider himself as 
 much engaged to your daughter, as if the indissoluble knot were tied; 
 and as the surest means of effecting this, to apply himself closely to his 
 studies, by which he will, in a great measure, avoid those little flirta- 
 tions with other young ladies, that may, by dividing the attention, con- 
 tribute not a little to divide the affection." 
 
230 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIII. 
 
 LORD north's bill FAVORING THE EXPORTATION OF TEAS. — • 
 
 SHIPS FREIGHTED WITH TEA TO THE COLONIES. SENT BACK 
 
 FROM SOME OF THE PORTS. TEA DESTROYED AT BOSTON. — 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE BOSTON PORT BILL. SESSION OF THE HOUSE 
 
 OF BURGESSES. SPLENDID OPENING. BURST OF INDIGNA- 
 TION AT THE PORT BILL. HOUSE DISSOLVED. RESOLUTIONS 
 
 AT THE RALEIGH TAVERN. PROJECT OF A GENERAL CON- 
 GRESS. WASHINGTON AND LORD DUNMORE. THE PORT 
 
 BILL GOES INTO EFFECT. GENERAL GAGE AT BOSTON — 
 
 LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 
 
 The general covenant throughout the colonies against the 
 use of taxed tea, had operated disastrously against the interests 
 of the East India Company, and produced an immense accumula- 
 tion of the proscribed article in their warehouses. To remedy 
 tl^^s, Lord North brought in a bill (1773), by which the com- 
 pany were allowed to export their teas from England to any 
 part whatever, without paying export duty. This, by enabling 
 them to offer their teas at a low price in the colonies would, he 
 supposed, tempt the Americans to purchase large quanities, thiis 
 relieving the Company, and at the same time benefiting the 
 revenue by the impost duty. Confiding in the wisdom of this 
 policy, the Company disgorged their warehouses, freighted 
 several ships with tea, and sent them to various parts of the 
 colonies. This brought matters to a crisis. One sentiment, 
 one determination, pervaded the whole contiment. Taxation 
 was to receive its definite blow. Whoever submitted to it was 
 an enemy to his country. Erom New York and Philadelphia 
 the ships were sent back, unladen, to London. In Charleston 
 the tea was unloaded, and stored away in cellars and other 
 places, where it perished. At Boston the action was still more 
 decisive. The ships anchored in the harbor. Some small 
 parcels of tea were brought on shore, but the sale of them was 
 prohibited. The captains of the ships, seeing the desperate 
 state of the case, would have made sail back for England 
 but they could not obtain the consent of the consignees, a 
 clearance at the custom-house, or a passport from the governor 
 
LIF:E of* WASHINGTON. 231 
 
 to clear the fort. It was evident the tea was to be forced upon 
 lie people of Boston, and the principle of taxation established. 
 
 To settle the matter completely, and prove that, on a point 
 of principle, they were not to be trifled with a number of the 
 inhabitants, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships in the night 
 (18th December), broke open all the chests of tea, and emptied 
 the contents into the sea. This was no rash and intemper- 
 ate proceeding of a mob, but the well-considered, though re- 
 solute act of sober, respectable citizens, men of reflection, but 
 determination. The whole was done calmly, and in perfect 
 order ; after which the actors in the scene dispersed without 
 tumult, and returned quietly to their homes. 
 
 The general oppositon of the colonies to the principle of taxation 
 had given great annoyance to government, but this individual 
 act concentrated all its wrath upon Boston. A bill was forth- 
 with passed in Parliament (commonly called the Boston port 
 bill), by which all lading and unlading of goods, wares, and mer- 
 chandise, were to cease in that town and harbor, on and after 
 the 4th of June, and the oflicers of the customs to be transfer- 
 red to Salem. 
 
 Another law, passed soon after, altered the charter of the prov- 
 ince, decreeing that all counselors, judges and magistrates, 
 should be appointed by the crown, and hold office during the 
 royal pleasure. 
 
 This was followed by a third, intended for the suppressiorf of 
 riots ; and providing that any person indicted for murder, or 
 other capital offence, committed in aiding the magistracy, 
 might be sent by the governor to some other colony, or to Great 
 Britain, for trial. 
 
 Such was the bolt of Parliamentary wrath fulminated against 
 the devoted town of Boston. Before it fell there was a session 
 in May, of the Virginia House of Burgesses. The social posi- 
 tion of Lord Dunmore had been strengthened in the province 
 by the arrival of his lady, and a numerous family of sons and 
 daughters. The old Virginia aristocracy had vied with each 
 other in hospitable attention to the family. A court circle had 
 sprung up. E-egulations had been drawn up by a herald, and 
 published officially, determining the rank and precedence of 
 civil and military officers and their wives. The aristocracy of 
 the Ancient Dominion was furbishing up its former splendor. 
 Carriages and four rolled into the streets of Williamsburg, with 
 horses handsomely caparisoned, bringing the wealthy planters 
 and their families to the seat of government. 
 
 Washington arrived in Williamsburg on the 16th, and dined 
 with the governor on the day of his arrival, having a dis- 
 
23^ LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 tinguished pdsition in the court circle, and being still on terms 
 of intimacy with his lordship. The House of Burgesses was 
 opened in form, and one of its first measures was an address of 
 congratulation to the governor, on the arrival of his lady. It 
 was followed up by an agreement among the members to give 
 her ladyship a splendid ball, on the 27th of the month. 
 
 All things were going on smoothly and smilingly, when a 
 letter, received through the corresponding committee, brought 
 intelligence of the vindictive measure of Parliament, by which 
 the port of Boston was to be closed on the approaching 1st of 
 June. 
 
 The letter was read in the House of Burgesses, and produced 
 a general burst of indignation. All other business was thrown 
 aside, and this became the sole subject of discussion. A protest 
 against this and other recent acts of Parliament was entered 
 upon the journal of the House, and a resolution was adopted, 
 on the 24th of May, setting apart the 1st of June as a day of 
 fasting, prayer, and humiliation ; in which the divine interposi- 
 tion was to be implored, to avert the heavy calamity threaten- 
 ing destruction to their rights, and all the evils of civil war ; 
 and to give the people one heart and one mind in firmly oppos- 
 ing every injury to American liberties. 
 
 On the following morning, while the Burgesses were engaged 
 in animated debate, they were summoned to attend Lord Dun- 
 more in the council chamber, where he made them the following 
 laconic speech : " Mr. Sj^eaker, and Gentlemen of the House of 
 Burgesses : I have in my hand a paper, published by order of 
 your House, conceived in such terms as reflect highly upon His 
 Majesty, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which makes it 
 necessary for me to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 As on a former occasion, the assembly, though dissolved, was 
 not dispersed. The members adjourned to the long room of the 
 old Kaleigh tavern, and passed resolutions, denouncing the 
 Boston port bill as a most dangerous attempt to destroy the 
 constitutional liberty and rights of all North America ; recom- 
 mending their countrymen to desist from the use, not merely 
 of tea, but of all kinds of East Indian commodities ; pronouncing 
 an attack on one of the colonies, to enforce arbitrary taxes, an 
 attack on all ; and orde.ring the committee of corespondence to 
 communicate with the other corresponding committees, on the 
 expediency of appointing deputies from the several colonies of 
 British America, to meet annually in General Congress, at such 
 place as might be deemed expedient, to deliberate on such 
 measures as the united interests of the colonies might require. 
 
LIFE OF WASBINGTOK. 233 
 
 This was the first i;ecomniendation of a Croneral Congress by 
 any public assembly, though it had been previously proposed in 
 town meetings at New York and Boston. A resolution to the 
 same effect was passed in the Assembly of Massachusetts before it 
 was aware of the proceedings of the Virginia Legislature. The 
 measure recommended met with prompt and general concurrence 
 throughout the colonies, and the fifth day of September next en- 
 suing was fixed upon for the first Congress, which was to be 
 held at Philadelphia. 
 
 Notwithstanding Lord Dunmore's abrupt dissolution of the 
 House of Burgesses, the members still continued on courteous 
 terms with him, and the ball which they had decreed early in 
 the session in honor 'of Lady Dunmore, was celebrated on the 
 27th with unwavering gallantry. 
 
 As to Washington, widely as he differed from Lord Dunmore 
 
 on important points of policy, his intimacy with him remained 
 
 ^uninterrupted. By memorandums in his diary it appears that 
 
 iJie dined and passed the evening at his lordship's on the 25th, 
 
 the very day of the meeting at the Raleigh tavern ; that he 
 
 rode out with him to his farm, and breakfasted there with him 
 
 [on the 26th, and on the evening of the 27th attended the ball 
 
 Igiven to her ladyship. Such was the well-bred decorum that 
 
 [seemed to quiet the turbulence of popular excitement, without 
 
 [checking the full and firm expression of popular opinion. 
 
 On the 29th, two days after the ball, letters arrived from 
 Boston giving the proceedings of a town-meeting, recommend- 
 ing that a general league should be formed throughout the 
 jolonies suspending all trade with Great Britain. But twenty- 
 Ive members of the late House of Burgesses, including Wash- 
 fington, were at that time remaining in Williamsburg. They 
 held a meeting on the following day, at which Peyton Randolph 
 presided as moderator. After some discussion it was deter- 
 mined to issue a printed circular, bearing their signatures, and 
 calling a meeting of all the members of the late House of Bur- 
 gesses, on the 1st of August, to take into consideration this 
 measure of a general league. The circular recommended them 
 also, to collect, in the meantime, the sense of their respective 
 counties. 
 
 Washington was still at Williamsburg on the 1st of June, 
 the day when the port bill was to be enforced at Boston. It 
 was ushered in by the tolling of bells, and observed by all true 
 patriots as a day of fasting and humiliation. Washington notes 
 in his diary that he fasted rigidly, and attended the services 
 appointed in the church. Still his friendly intercourse with 
 the Dunmore family was continued during the remainder of 
 
234 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 his sojourn in "Williamsburg, where he* was detained by busi- 
 ness until the 20th, when he set out on his return to Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 In the meantime the Boston port bill had been carried into 
 effect. On the 1st of June the harbor of Boston was closed at 
 noon, and all business ceased. The two other Parliamentary 
 acts altering the charter of Massachusetts were to be enforced. 
 No public meetings, excepting the annual town meetings in 
 March and May, were to be held without permission of the 
 governor. 
 
 General Thomas Gage had recently been appointed to the 
 military command of Massachusetts, and the carrying out of 
 these offensive acts. He was the same officer who, as lieutenant- 
 colonel, had led the advance guard on the field of Braddock's 
 defeat. Fortune had since gone well with him. Rising in the 
 service, he had been governor of Montreal, and had succeeded 
 Amherst in the command of the British forces on this continent. 
 He was linked to the country also by domestic ties, having 
 married into one of the most respectable families of New 
 Jersey. In the various situations in which lie had hitherto 
 been placed he had won esteem, and rendered himself popular. 
 Not much was expected from him in his present post by those 
 who knew him well. William Smith, the historian, speaking of 
 him to Adams, " Gage," said he, "was a good-natured, peaceable, 
 sociable man while here (in New York), but altogether unfit 
 for a governor of Massachusetts. He will lose all the character 
 he has acquired as a man, a gentleman, and a general, and 
 dwindle down into a mere scribbling governor — a mere Bernard 
 or Hutchinson. 
 
 With all Gage's experience in America, he had formed a 
 most erroneous opinion of the character of the people. " The 
 Americans," said he to the king, " will be lions only as long as 
 the English are lambs ;" and he engaged, with five regiments, 
 to keep Boston quiet ! 
 
 The manner in which his attempts to enforce the recent acts 
 of Parliament were resented, showed how egregiously he was 
 in error. At the suggestion of the Assembly, a paper was cir- 
 culated through the province by the committee of correspond-, 
 ence, entitled " a solemn league and covenant," the subscribers 
 to which bound themselves to break off all intercourse with 
 Great Britain from the 1st of August, until the colony should, 
 be restored to the enjoyment of its chartered rights ; and to re-^ 
 nounce all dealings with those who should refuse to enter inl 
 this compact. 
 
 The very title of league an4 covenant had an ominous sounc 
 
LIFE 01^ WASBH^QTON. 235 
 
 and startled General Gage. He issued a proclamation, denounc- 
 ing it as illegal and traitorous. Furthermore, he encamped a 
 force of infantry and artillery on Boston Common, as if pre- 
 pared to enact the lion. An alarm spread through the adjacent 
 country. " Boston is to be blockaded ! Boston is to be reduced 
 to obedience by force or famine ! " The spirit of the yeomanry 
 was aroused. They sent in word to the inhabitants promising 
 to come to their aid if necessary ; and urging them to stand 
 fast to the faith. Affairs were coming to a crisis. It was pre- 
 dicted that the new acts of Parliament would bring on " a most 
 important and decisive trial." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 ^WASHINGTON CHAIRMAN OF A POLITICAL MEETING. CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE WITH BRYAN FAIRFAX. PATRIOTIC RESOLU- 
 TIONS. — Washington's opinions on public affairs. — non- 
 importation SCHEME. CONVENTION AT WILLIAMSBURG. 
 
 WASHINGTON APPOINTED A DELEGATE TO THE GENERAL CON- 
 GRESS. LETTER FROM BRYAN FAIRFAX. PERPLEXITIES OF 
 
 GENERAL GAGE AT BOSTON. 
 
 Shortly after Washington's return to Mount Vernon, in the 
 [latter part of June, he presided as a moderator at a meeting of 
 [the inhabitants of Fairfax County, wherein, after the recent 
 acts of Parliament had been discussed, a committee was ap- 
 ' .pointed, with himself as chairman, to draw up resolutions ex- 
 'pressive of the sentiments of the present meeting, and to report 
 I the same at a general meeting of the county, to be held in the 
 court-house on the 18th of July. 
 
 The course that public measures were taking shocked the 
 loyal feelings of Washington's valued friend, Bryan Fairfax, of 
 Tarlston Hall, a younger brother of George William, who was 
 absent in England. He was a man of liberal sentiments, but 
 attached to the ancient rule ; and, in a letter to Washington, 
 advised a petition to the throne, which would give Parliament 
 an opportunity to repeal the offensive acts. 
 
 " I would heartily join you in your political sentiments," 
 writes Washington in reply, as far as relates to a humble and 
 dutiful petition to the throne, provided there was the most dis- 
 tant hope of success. But have we not tried this already ? 
 
^36 LIFE OP WASHINGTON, 
 
 Have we not addressed the lords, and remonstrated to the com- 
 mons ? And to what end ? Does it not appear as clear as the 
 sun in its meridian brightness that there is a regular, system- 
 atic plan to fix the right and practice of taxation upon us ? . . . . 
 Is not the attack upon the liberty and property of the people of 
 Boston, before restitution of the loss to the India Compan}^ was 
 demanded, a plain and self-evident proof of what they are aim- 
 ing at ? Do not the subsequent bills for depriving the Massa- 
 chusetts Bay of its charter, and for transporting offenders to 
 other colonies or to Great Britain for trial, where it is impossi- 
 ble, from the nature of things, that justice can be obtained, 
 convince us that the administration is determined to stick at 
 nothing to carry its point ? Ought we not, then, to par our 
 virtue and fortitude to the severest tests ? " 
 
 The committee met according to appointment, with Wash- 
 ington as chairman. The resolutions framed at the meeting in- 
 sisted, as usual, on the right of self-government, and the prin- 
 ciple that taxation and representation were in their nature in- 
 separable. That the various acts of Parliament for raising 
 revenue ; taking away trials by jury ; ordering that persons 
 might be tried in a different country than that in which the 
 cause of accusation originated ; closing the port of Boston ; ab- 
 rogating the charter of Massachusetts Bay, etc., etc., — were all 
 part of a premeditated design and system to introduce arbitrary 
 government into the colonies. That the sudden and repeated 
 dissolutions of Assemblies whenever they presumed to examine 
 the illegality of ministerial mandates, or deliberated on the vio- 
 lated rights of their constituents, were part of the same system, 
 and calculated and intended to drive the people of the colonies 
 to a state of desperation, and to dissolve the compact by which 
 their ancestors bound themselves and their posterity to remain 
 dependent on the British crown. The resolutions, furthermore, 
 recommended the most perfect union and co-operation among 
 the colonies ; solemn covenants with respect to non-importation 
 and non-intercourse, and a renunciation of all dealings with any 
 colony, town, or province, that should refuse to agree to the 
 plan adopted by the General Congress. 
 
 They also recommended a dutiful petition and remonstrance 
 from the Congress to the king, asserting their constitutional 
 rights and privileges ; lamenting the necessity of entering into 
 measures that might be displeasing ; declaring their attachment 
 to his person, family, and government, and their desire to con- 
 tinue in dependence upon Great Britain ; beseeching him not 
 to reduce his faithful subjects of America to desperation, and to 
 reflect, that/rom our sovereign there can he but one appeal. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 23t 
 
 These resolution are the more worthy of note as expressive of 
 the opinions and feelings of Washington at this eventful tiniQ, 
 if not being entirely dictated by him. The last sentence is of 
 awful import, suggesting the possibility of being driven to an 
 appeal to arms. 
 
 Bryan Pairfax, who was aware of their purport, addressed a 
 long letter to Washington, on the 17th of July, the day pre- 
 ceding that in which they were to be reported by the commit- 
 tee, stating his objections to several of them, and requesting 
 that his letter might be publicly read. The letter was not re- 
 ceived until after the committee had gone to the court-house on 
 the 18th, with the resolutions revised, corrected, and ready to 
 be reported. Washington glanced over the letter hastily, and 
 handed it round to several of the gentlemen present. They, 
 with one exception, advised that it should not be publicly read, 
 as it was not likely to make any converts, and was repugnant, 
 as some thought, to every principle they were contending for. 
 Washington forbore, therefore, to give it any further publicity. 
 
 The resolutions reported by the committee were adopted, and 
 Washington was chosen a delegate to represent the county at 
 the General Convention of the province, to be held at Williams- 
 burg on the 1st of August. After the meeting had adjourned, 
 he felt doubtful whether Fairfax might not be dissatisfied that 
 his letter had not been read, as he requested, to the county at 
 large ; he wrote to him, therefore, explaining the circumstances 
 which prevented it ; at the same time replying to some of the 
 objections which Fairfax had made to certain of the resolutions. 
 He reiterated his belief that an appeal would be ineffectual. 
 " What is it we are contending against ? " asked he. . " Is it 
 against paying the duty of threepence per pound on tea because 
 burdensome ? No, it is the right only, that we have all along 
 disputed ; and to this end, we have already petitioned His Maj- 
 esty in as humble and dutiful a manner as subjects could do. 
 Kay, more, we applied to the House of Lords and House of 
 Commons in their different legislative capacities, seating forth 
 that, as Englishmen, we could not be deprived of this essential 
 and valuable part of our constitution 
 
 The conduct of the Boston people could not justify the rigor 
 of their measures, unless there had been a requisition of pay- 
 ment, and refusal of it ; nor did that conduct require an act to 
 deprive the government of Massachusetts Bay of their charter, 
 or to exempt offenders from trial in the places where offenses 
 were committed, as there was not, nor could there be, a single 
 instance produced to manifest the necessity of it. Are not all 
 these things evident proofs of a fixed and uniform plan to tax 
 
238 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 us ? If we want further proofs, do not all the debates in the 
 House of Commons serve to confirm this ? And has not Gen- 
 eral Gage's conduct since his arrival, in stopping the address of 
 his council, and publishing a proclamation, more becoming a 
 Turkish bashaw than an English governor, declaring it treason 
 to associate in any manner by which the commerce of Great 
 Britain is to be affected, — has not this exhibited an unexampled 
 testimony of the most despotic system of tyranny that ever was 
 practiced in a free government ? " 
 
 The popular measure on which Washington laid the greatest 
 stress as a means of obtaining redress from government, was 
 the non-importation scheme ; " for I am convinced," said he, 
 " as much as of my existence, that there is no relief for us but 
 in their distress ; and I think — at least I hope — that there is 
 public virtue enough left among us to deny ourselves everything 
 but the bare necessaries of life to accomplish this end." At the 
 same time, he forcibly condemned a suggestion that remittances 
 to England should be withheld. " While we are accusing others 
 of injustice," said he, " we should be just ourselves ; and how 
 this can be whilst we owe a considerable debt, and refuse pay- 
 ment of it to Great Britain is to me inconceivable :' nothing but 
 the last extremity can justify it." 
 
 On the 1st of August the convention of representatives from 
 all parts of Virginia assembled at Williamsburg. Washington 
 appeared on behalf of Fairfax County, and presented the resolu- 
 tions already cited, as 'the sense of his constituents. He is said, 
 by one who was present, to have spoken in support of them in 
 a strain of uncommon eloquence, which shows how his latent 
 ardor had been excited on the occasion, as eloquence was not in 
 general among his attributes. It is evident, however, that he 
 was roused to an unusual pitch of enthusiasm, for he is said to 
 have declared that he was ready to raise one thousand men, sub- 
 sist them at his own expense, and march at their head to the 
 relief of Boston."* 
 
 The Convention was six days in session. Resolutions, in the 
 same spirit with those passed in Fairfax County, were adopted, 
 and Peyton Bandolph, Eichard Henry Lee, George Washington, 
 Patrick Henry, Bichard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund 
 Pendleton, were appointed delegates, to represent the people of 
 Virginia in the General Congress. \ 
 
 Shortly after Washington's return from Williamsburg he re- 
 ceived a reply from Bryan Fairfax to his last letter. Fairfax, 
 who was really a man of liberal views, seemed anxious to vindi- 
 
 * See information given to the elder Adams, by Mr. Lynch of Sout]^ 
 Car9lina,~J.dams' Lianj. " -' ^ 
 
LIFE OF WASJimGTOlsr. 23D 
 
 cate himself from any suspicion of the contrary. * In adverting' 
 to the partial suppression of his letter, by some of the gentlemen 
 of the committee : " I am uneasy to find," writes he, " that any 
 one should look upon the letter sent down as repugnant to the 
 principles we are contending for ; and, therefore, when you have 
 leisure, I shall take it as a favor if 3^ou will let me know wherein 
 it was thought so. I beg leave to look upon you as a friend, and 
 it is a great relief to unbosom one's thoughts to a friend. Be- 
 sides, the information and the correction of my errors, which I 
 may obtain from a correspondence, are great inducements to it. 
 For I am convinced that no man in the colony wishes its pros- 
 perity more, would go greater lengths to serve it, or is, at the 
 same time, a better subject to the crown. Pray excuse these 
 compliments, they may be tolerable from a friend." * 
 
 The hurry of various occupations prevented Washington, in 
 his reply, from entering into any further discussion of the pop- 
 ular theme. " I can only in general add," said he, " that an in- 
 nate spirit of freedom first told me that the measures which the 
 administration have for some time been, and now are violently 
 pursuing, are opposed to every principle of natural justice ; 
 whilst much abler heads than my own have fully convinced me, 
 that they are not only repugnant to natural right, but subver- 
 sive of the laws and constitution of Great Britain itself 
 
 I shall conclude by remarking that, if you disavow the right of 
 Parliament to tax us, unrepresented as we are, we only difier in 
 the mode of opposition, and this difference principally arises 
 from your belief that they (the Parliament I mean), want a de- 
 cent opportunity to repeal the acts ; whilst I am fully convinced 
 that there has been a regular systematic plan to enforce them, 
 and that nothing but unanimity and firmness in the colonies, 
 which they did not expect, can prevent it. By the best advices 
 from Boston, it seems that General Gage is exceedingly discon- 
 certed at the quiet and steady conduct of the people of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay, and at the measures pursuing by the other 
 governments. I dare say he expected to force those oppressed 
 people into compliance, or irritate them to acts of violence before 
 this, for a more colorable pretense of ruling that and the other 
 colonies with a high hand." 
 
 Washington had formed a correct opinion of General Gage. 
 Prom the time of taking command at Boston he had been per- 
 plexed how to manage its inhabitants. Had they been hot- 
 headed, impulsive, and prone to paroxysm, his task would have 
 been comparatively easy ; but it was the cool, shrewd commoDi 
 
 * Sparks, Washington's Writings, vol, ii, p. 329? ^ 
 
240 LIFE OF' WASHINGTON':^ 
 
 sense", "by^HicF all .their movements were regulated^ "thafc'con- 
 founded him. 
 
 High-handed measures had failed of the anticipated effect. 
 Their harbor had been thronged Avith ships ; their town with 
 troops. The port bill had put an end to commerce ; wharves 
 were deserted, warehouses closed ; streets grass-grown and silent. 
 The rich were growing poor, and the poor were without employ ; 
 yet the spirit of the people was unbroken. There was no uproar, 
 however ; no riots ; everything was awfully systematic and ac- 
 cording to rule. Town meetings were held, in which public 
 rights and public measures were eloquently discussed by John 
 Adams, Josiah Quincy, and other eminent men. Over these 
 meetings Samuel Adams presided as moderator ; a man clear in 
 judgment, calm in conduct, inflexible in resolution ; deeply 
 grounded in civil and political history, and infallible on all 
 points of constitutional law. 
 
 Alarmed at the powerful influence of these assemblages, gov- 
 ernment issued an act prohibiting them after the 1st of August. 
 The act was evaded by convoking the meetings before that day, 
 and keeping them alive indefinitely. Gage was at a loss how 
 to act. It would not do to disperse these assemblages by force 
 of arms ; for, the people who composed them mingled the sol- 
 dier with the polemic ; and like their prototypes, the Covenant- 
 ers of yore, if prone to argue, were as ready to fight. So the 
 meetings continued to be held pertinaciously. Faneuil Hall 
 was at times unable to hold them, and they swarmed from 
 that revolutionary hive into old South Church. The liberty- 
 tree became a rallying place for any popular movement, and a 
 flag hoisted on it was saluted by all processions as the emblem 
 of the popular cause. 
 
 Opposition to the new plan of government assumed a more 
 violent aspect at the extremity of the province, and was abetted 
 by Connecticut. " It is very high," writes Gage (August 27th), 
 " in Berkshire County, and makes way rapidly to the rest. At 
 Worcester they threaten resistance, purchase arms, provide 
 powder, cast balls, and threaten to attack any troops who may 
 oppose them. I apprehend I shall soon have to march a body 
 of troops into that township." 
 
 The time appointed for the meeting of the General Congress 
 at Philadelphia was now at hand. Delegates had already gone 
 on from Massachusetts. " It is not possible to guess," writes 
 Gage, "what a body composed of such heterogeneous matter 
 will determine ; but the members from hence, I am assured, 
 will promote the most haughty and insolent resolves ; for their 
 plan has ever been, by threats and high-sounding sedition, to 
 terrify and intimidate," 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 MEETING OF THE FIRST CONGRESS. OPENING CEREMONIES. 
 
 ELOQUENCE OF PATRICK HENRY AND HENRY LEE. 
 
 DECLARATORY RESOLUTION. BILL OF RIGHTS. STATE 
 
 PAPERS. — Chatham's opinions of congress. — washing- 
 ton's CORRESPONDENCE WITH CAPT. MACKENZIE. VIEWS 
 
 WITH RESPECT TO INDEPENDENCE. DEPARTURE OF FAIR- 
 FAX FOR ENGLAND. 
 
 When the time approached for the meeting of the General 
 Congress at Philadelphia, Washington was joined at Mount 
 Vernon by Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, and they 
 performed the journey together on horseback. It was a noble 
 companionship. Henry was then in the youthful vigor and 
 elasticity of his bounding genius ; ardent, acute, fanciful, elo- 
 quent. Pendleton, schooled in public life, a veteran in council, 
 with native force of intellect, and habits of deep reflection. 
 Washington, in the meridian of his days, mature in wisdom, 
 comprehensive in mind, sagacious in foresight. Such were the 
 apostles of liberty, repairing on their august pilgrimage to 
 Philadelphia from all parts of the land, to lay the foundations 
 of a mighty empire. Well maj'- we say of that eventful period, 
 " There were giants in those days." 
 
 Congress assembled on Monday, the 5th of September, in a 
 large room in Carpenter's Hall. There were fifty-one delegates, 
 representing all the colonies excepting Georgia. 
 
 The meeting has been described as " awfully solemn." The 
 most eminent men of the various colonies were now for the 
 first time brought together ; they were known to each other by 
 fame, but were, personally, strangers. The object which had 
 called them together nvus of incalculable magnitude. The lib- 
 erties of no less than three millions of people, with that of all 
 their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of their 
 councils.* 
 
 " It is such an assembly," writes John Adams, who was 
 present, " as never before came together on a sudden, in any 
 part of the world. Here are fortunes, abilities, learning, elo- 
 
 * Adams' Diary. 
 
2ji2 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 quence, acuteness, equal to any I ever met with in my life. 
 Here is a diversity of religions, educations, manners, interests, 
 such as it would seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct." / 
 
 There being an inequality in the number of delegates from / 
 the different colonies, a question arose as to the mode of voting ; / 
 whether by colonies, by the poll, or by interests. 
 
 Patrick Henry scouted the idea of sectional distinctions, or 
 individual interests. " All America," said he, " is thrown into 
 one mass. Where are your landmarks — your boundaries of 
 colonies ? They are all thrown down. The distinctions between 
 Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders, 
 are no more. 1 am not a Yirginian, hut an American^' * 
 
 After some debate it was determined that each colony should 
 have but one vote, whatever might be the number of its del- 
 egates. The deliberations of the House were t6 be with closed 
 doors, and nothing but the resolves promulgated, unless by 
 order of the majority. 
 
 To give proper dignity and solemnity to the proceedings of 
 the House, it was moved on the following day, that each morn- 
 ing the session should be opened by prayer. To this it was 
 demurred, that as the delegates were of different sects, they 
 might not consent to join in the same form of worship. 
 
 Upon this, Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said : " He would 
 willingly join in prayer with any gentleman of piety and virtue, 
 whatever might be his cloth, provided he was a friend of his 
 country ; " and he moved that the Reverend Mr. Ducho, of 
 Philadelphia, who answered to that description, might be in- 
 vited to officiate as chaplain. This was one step towards unan- 
 imity of feeling, Mr. Adams being a strong Congregationalist, 
 and Mr. Duche an eminent Episcopalian clergyman. The 
 motion was carried into effect ; the invitation was given and 
 accepted. 
 
 In the course of the day, a rumor reached Philadelphia that 
 Boston had "been cannonaded by the British. It produced a strong 
 sensation ; and when Congress met on the following morning 
 (7th), the effect was visible in every countenance. The del- 
 egates from the east were greeted with a warmer grasp of the 
 hand by their associates from the south. 
 
 The E-everend Mr. Duche, according to invitation, appeared 
 in his canonicals, attended by his clerk. The morning service 
 of the Episcopal Church was read with great solemnity, the 
 clerk making the responses. The Psalter for the 7th day of 
 the month includes the 35th Psalm, wherein David prays for 
 protection against his enemies. 
 
 J, Adam's Diary. , „ 
 
 J 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 24^ 
 
 ^^ Plead my cause, Lord, with them that strive with me ; 
 fight against them that fight against me. 
 
 "Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my 
 help. 
 
 " Draw out, also, the spear, and stop the way of them that 
 persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation," etc., 
 etc. 
 
 The imj^loring words of this psalm spoke the feelings of all 
 hearts present ; but especially of those from New England. 
 John Adams writes in a letter to his wife : " You must re- 
 member this was the morning after we heard the horrible rumor 
 of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon 
 an audience. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that psalm 
 to be read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duch unex- 
 pectedly struck out into an extemporaro prayer, which filled the 
 bosom of every man present. Episcopalian as he is. Dr. Cooper 
 himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnest- 
 ness and pathos, and in language so eloquent and sublime, for 
 America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an ex- 
 cellent effect upon everybody here." * 
 
 It has been remarked that Washington was especially devout 
 on this occasion — kneeling, while others stood up. In this, 
 however, each, no doubt, observed the attitude in prayer to 
 which he was accustomed. Washington knelt, being an Epis- 
 copalian. 
 
 The rumored attack upon Boston rendered the service of the 
 day deeply affecting to all present. They were one political 
 family, actuated by one feeling, and sympathizing with the weal 
 and woe of each individual member. The rumor proved to be 
 erroneous ; but it had produced a most beneficial effect in call- 
 ing forth and quickening the spirit of union, so vitally im- 
 portant in that assemblage. 
 
 Owing to closed doors, and the want of reporters, no record 
 exists of the discussions and speeches made in the first Con- 
 gress. Mr. Wirt, speaking from tradition, informs us that a 
 long and deep silence followed the organization of that august 
 body ; the members looking round upon each other, indi- 
 vidually reluctant to open a business so fearfully momentous. 
 This " deep and deathlike silence " was beginning to become 
 painfully embarrassing, when Patrick Henry arose. He fal- 
 tered at first, as was his habit ; but his exordium was impres- 
 sive ; and as he launched forth into a recital of colonial wrongs 
 he kindled with his subject, until he poured forth one of those 
 ♦John Adams' Correspondence and Diary* 
 
244 IIFF OF WASBtNGTON. 
 
 eloquent appeals which had so often shaken the House of Bur- 
 gesses and gained him the fame of being the greatest orator of 
 Virginia. He sat down, according to Mr. Wirt, amidst mur- 
 murs of astonishment and ap2)lause, and was now admitted, on 
 every hand, to be the first orator of America. He was followed 
 by E/ichard Henry Lee, who, according to the same writer, 
 charmed the House with a different kind of eloquence, chaste 
 and classical; contrasting, in its cultivated graces, with the 
 wild and grand effusions of Henry. " The superior powers of 
 these great men, however," adds he, " were manifested only in 
 debate, and while general grievances were the topic ; when 
 called down from the heights of declamation to that severer test 
 of intellectual excellence, the details of business, they found 
 themselves in a body of cool-headed, reflecting and most able 
 ' men, by whom they were, in their turn, completely thrown into 
 the shade." * 
 
 The first public measure of Congress was a resolution decla- 
 ratory of their feelings with regard to the recent acts of Par- 
 liament, violating the rights of the peoj)le of Massachusetts, 
 and of their determination to combine in resisting any force 
 that might attempt to carry those acts into execution. 
 
 A committee of two from each province reported a series of 
 resolutions, which were adopted by Congress, as a " declaration 
 of colonial rights." 
 
 In this were enumerated their natural rights to the enjoy- 
 ment of life, liberty, and property ; and their rights as British 
 subjects. Among the latter was participation in legislative 
 councils. This they could not exercise through representatives 
 in Parliament ; they claimed, therefore, the power of legislating 
 in their provincial Assemblies, consenting, however, to such 
 acts of Parliament as might be essential to the regulation of 
 trade ; but excluding all taxation, internal or external, for rais- 
 ing revenue in America. 
 
 The common law of England was claimed as a birthright, 
 including the right of trial by a jury of the vicinage ; of hold- 
 ing public meetings to consider grievances; and of petitioning 
 the king. The benefits of all such statutes as existed at the 
 time of the colonization were likewise claimed, together with 
 the immunities and privileges granted by royal charters, or 
 secured by provincial laws. 
 
 The maintenance of a standing army in any colony in time 
 of peace, without the consent of its legislature, was pronounced 
 contrary to law. The exercise of the legislative power in 
 
 * Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry* 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 24^ 
 
 the colonies by a council appointed during pleasure by the 
 crown, was declared to be unconstitutional, and destructive to 
 the freedom of American legislation. 
 
 Then followed a specification of the acts of Parliament, passed 
 during the reign of George III., infringing and violating these 
 rights. These were : the sugar act ; the stamp act ; the two 
 acts for quartering troops ; the tea act ; the act suspending the 
 New York Legislature; the two acts for the trial in Great 
 Britain of offenses committed in America; the Boston port 
 bill ; the act for regulating the government of Massachusetts, 
 and the Quedec act. 
 
 " To these grievous acts and measures," it was added, " Amer- 
 icans cannot submit; but in hopes their fellow-subjects in 
 Great Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that 
 state in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, 
 we have, for the present, only resolved to pursue the following 
 peaceable measures : — 
 
 " 1st. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and 
 non-exportation agreement, or association. 
 
 " 2d. To prepare an address to the people of Great Britain, 
 and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America. 
 
 " 3d. To prepare a loyal address to His Majesty." 
 
 The above-mentioned association was accordingly formed, 
 and committees were to be appointed in every county, city, and 
 town, to maintain it vigilantly and strictly. 
 
 Masterly state papers were issued by Congress in conformity 
 to the resolutions ; namely, a petition to the king, drafted by 
 Mr. Dickinson of Philadelphia; an address to the people of 
 Canada by the same hand, inviting them to join the league of 
 the colonies ; another to the people of Great Britain, drafted 
 by John Jay of New York; and a memorial to the inhab- 
 itants of the British colonies, by Eichard Henry Lee of Vir- 
 ginia.* 
 
 The Congress remained in session fifty-one days. Every 
 subject, according to Adams, was discussed "with a modera- 
 tion, an acuteness, and a minuteness equal to that of Queen 
 Elizabeth's privy council." f The papers issued by it have 
 deservedly been pronounced master-pieces of practical talent 
 and political wisdom. Chatham, when speaking on the subject 
 in the House of Lords, could not restrain his enthusiasm. 
 "When your lordships," said he, look at the papers transmitted 
 to us from America ; when you consider their decency, firm- 
 ness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish 
 
 * See Correspondence and Diary of J. Adams, vols. ii. and ix. 
 t Letter to William Tudor, 26th of Sept. 1774. 
 
246 LIF£: OF WASHINGtOlt. 
 
 to make it your own. Eor myself, I must declare and avow 
 that, in the master states of the world, I know not the people, 
 or senate, who, in such a complication of difficult circumstances, 
 can stand in preference to the delegates of America assembled 
 in General Congress at Philadelphia." 
 
 From the secrecy that enveloped its discussions, we are 
 ignorant of the part taken by Washington in the debates ; the 
 similarity of the resolutions, however, in spirit and substance 
 to those of the Fairfax County meeting, in which he presided, 
 and the coincidence of the measures adopted with those therein 
 recommended, show that he had a powerful agency in the whole 
 proceedings of this eventful assembly. Patrick Henry, being 
 asked, on his return home, whom he considered the greatest 
 man in Congress, replied : " If you speak of eloquence, Mr. 
 E-utledge, of South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; 
 but if you speak of solid information and sound judgment. 
 Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on that 
 floor. 
 
 How thoroughly and izealously he participated in the feel- 
 ings which actuated Congress in this memorable session may 
 be gathered from his correspondence with a friend enlisted in 
 the royal cause. This was Captain Kobert Mackenzie, who 
 had formerly served under him in his Virginia regiment during 
 the French war, but now held a commission in the regular 
 army, and was stationed among the British troops at Boston. 
 
 Mackenzie, in a letter, had spoken with loyal abhorrence of 
 the state of affairs in the " unhappy province " of Massachusetts, 
 and the fixed aim of its inhabitants at " total independence." 
 " The rebellious and numerous meetings of men in arms," said 
 he, "their scandalous and ungenerous attacks upon the best 
 characters in the province, obliging them to save themselves by 
 flight, and their repeated, but feeble threats, to dispossess the 
 troops, have furnished sufficient reasons to General Gage to 
 put the town in a formidable state of defense, abont which we 
 are now fully employed and which will be shortly accom- 
 plished to their great mortification." 
 
 " Permit me," writes Washington in reply, " with the freedom 
 of a friend (for you know I always esteemed you), to express 
 my sorrow that fortune should place you in a service that 
 must fix curses, to the latest posterity, upon the contrivers, 
 and, if success (which, by the by, is impossible) accompanies 
 it, execrations upon all those who have been instrumental 
 in the execution When you condemn the con- 
 duct of the Massachusetts people, you reason from effects, 
 Xiot causeS; otherwise you would not wonder at a people^ who 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 247 
 
 are every day receiving fresh proofs of a systematic assertion of 
 an arbitrary power, deeply planned to overturn the laws and 
 constitution of their country, and to violate the most essential 
 and valuable rights of mankind, being irritated, and with diffi- 
 culty restrained from acts of the greatest violence aiid intem- 
 perance. 
 
 " For my own part, I view things in a very different point of 
 light from the one in which you seem to consider them ; and 
 though you are led to believe, by venal men, that the people of 
 Massachusetts are rebellious, setting up for independency, and 
 what not, give me leave, my good friend, to tell you that you 
 
 are abused, grossly abused I think I can announce 
 
 it as a fact, that it is not the wish or interest of that govern- 
 ment, or any other upon this continent, separately or collectively, 
 to set up for independence ; but this you may at the same time 
 rely on, that none of them will ever submit to the loss of their 
 valuable rights and privileges, which are essential to the hap- 
 piness of . every free state, and without which, life, liberty, and 
 property are rendered totally insecure. 
 
 " These, sir, being certain consequences, which must naturally 
 result from the late acts of Parliament relative to America in 
 general, and the government of Massachusetts in particular, is 
 it to be wondered at that men who wish to avert the impending 
 blow, should attempt to oppose its progress, or prepare for their 
 defense, if it cannot be averted ? Surely I may be allowed to 
 answer in the negative ; and give me leave to add, as my opin- 
 ion, that more blood will be spilled on this occasion,* if the 
 ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than 
 history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals of 
 North America ; and such a vital wound will be given to the 
 peace of this great country, as time itself cannot cure, or eradi- 
 cate the remembrance of." 
 
 In concluding, he repeats his views with respect to indepen- 
 dence : " I am well satisfied that no such thing is desired by 
 any thinking man in all North America ; on the contrary, that 
 it is the ardent wish of the warmest advocates for liberty, that 
 peace and tranquillity, upon constitutional grounds, may be re- 
 stored, and the horrors of civil discord prevented." * 
 
 This letter we have considered especially worthy of citation, 
 from its being so full and explicit a declaration of Washington's 
 sentiments and opinions at this critical juncture. His views 
 on the question of independence are particularly noteworthy, 
 from his being at this time in daily and confidential communis 
 
 * Sparks. Washing tow's Writing s,yo\, ii. p. 899. 
 
248 TAFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 cation with the leaders of the popular movement, and among 
 them with the delegates from Boston. It is evident that the 
 filial feeling still throbbed toward the mother country, and a 
 complete separation from her had not yet entered into the alter- 
 natives of her colonial children. 
 
 On the breaking up of Congress, Washington hastened back 
 to Mount Vernon, where his presence was more than usually 
 important to the happiness of Mrs. Washington, from the lone- 
 liness caused by the recent death of her daughter, and the ab-'> 
 sence of her son. The cheerfulness of the neighborhood had 
 been diminished of late by the departure of George William 
 Fairfax for England, to take possession of estates which had de- 
 volved to him in that kingdom. His estate of Belvoir, so closely 
 allied to that of Mount Vernon by family ties and reciprocal 
 hospitality, was left in charge of a steward or overseer. Through 
 some accident the house took fire, and was burnt to the ground. 
 It was never rebuilt. The course of political events which 
 swept Washington from his quiet home into the current of 
 public and military life, prevented William Fairfax, who was a 
 royalist, though a liberal one, from returning to his once happy 
 abode, and the hospitable intercommunion of Mount Vernon 
 and Belvoir was at an end forever. 
 
LIFE OF WASIimGTOJSr. . 249 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 GAGE^S MILITARY MEASURES. — REMOVAL OF GUNPOWDER FROM 
 THE ARSENAL. PUBLIC AGITATION. ALARMS IN THE COUN- 
 TRY. CIVIL GOVERNMENT OBSTRUCTED. BELLIGERENT 
 
 SYMPTOMS. ISRAEL PUTNAM AND GENERAL CHARLES LEE 
 
 THEIR CHARACTERS AND STORIES. GENERAL ELECTION. 
 
 SELF-CONSTITUTED CONGRESS. HANCOCK PRESIDENT. AD- 
 JOURNS TO CONCORD. REMONSTRANCE TO GAGE. HIS PER- 
 PLEXITIES. GENERALS ARTEMAS WARD AND SETH POMEROY. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLIES. ■ 
 
 RESTLESSNESS THROUGHOUT THE LAND. INDEPENDENT 
 
 COMPANIES IN VIRGINIA. MILITARY TONE AT MOUNT VER- 
 NON. — Washington's military guests. — major horatio 
 
 GATES. anecdotes CONCERNING HIM. GENERAL CHARLES 
 
 lee. his peculiarities and dogs. washington at the 
 
 richmond convention. war speech of patrick henry.-— 
 
 Washington's military intentions. 
 
 The rumor of the cannonading of Boston, which had thrown 
 such a gloom over the religious ceremonial at the opening of 
 Congress, had been caused by measures of Governor Gage. 
 The public mind, in Boston and its vicinity, had been rendered 
 excessively jealous and sensitive by the landing and encamp- 
 ing of artillery upon the Common, and Welsh Fusiliers on 
 Fort Hill, and by the planting of four large field-pieces on 
 Boston Neck, the only entrance to the town by land. The 
 country people were arming and disciplining themselves in 
 every direction, and collecting and depositing arms and am- 
 munition in places where they would be at hand in case of 
 emergency. Gage, on the other hand, issued orders that the 
 munitions of war in all the public magazines should be brought 
 to Boston. One of these magazines was the arsenal in the 
 northwest part of Charleston, between Medford and Cambridge. 
 Two companies of the king's troops passed silently in boats up 
 Mystic Biver in the night ; took possession of a large quantity 
 of gunpowder deposited there, and conveyed it to Castle Wil- 
 liams. Intelligence of this sacking of the arsenal flew with 
 lightning speed through the neighborhood. In the morning 
 several thousand of patriots were assembled at Cambridge, 
 weapon in hand, and were with difficulty prevented from march- 
 
250 . LtFM OF WASBINGTON. 
 
 ing upon Boston to compel a restitution of the powder. In tlie 
 confusion and agitation, a rumor stole out into the country that 
 Boston was to be attacked ; followed by another ,that the ships 
 were cannonading the town, and the soldiers shooting down the 
 inhabitants. The whole country was forthwith in arms. 
 Numerous bodies of the Connecticut people had made some 
 marches before the report was contradicted, f 
 
 To guard against any irruption from the country, Gage en- 
 camped the 59th regiment on Boston Neck, and employed the 
 soldiers in intrenching and fortifying it. 
 
 In the meantime the belligerent feelings of the inhabitants 
 were encouraged, by learning how the rumor of their being 
 cannonaded had been received in the General Congress, and by 
 assurances from all parts that the cause of Boston would be 
 made the common cause of America. " It is surj^rising," writes 
 General Gage, " that so many of the other provinces interest 
 themselves so much in this. They have some warm friends in 
 New York, and I learn that the people of Charleston, South 
 Carolina, are as mad as they are here.^ 
 
 The commissions were arrived for those civil officers ap- 
 pointed by the crown under the new modifications of the char- 
 ter : many, however, were afraid to accept of them. Those who 
 did soon resigned finding it impossible to withstand the odium of 
 the people. The civil government throughout the province be- 
 came obstructed in all its operations. It was enough for a man 
 to be supposed of the governmental party to incur the popular 
 ill-will. 
 
 Among other portentous signs, war-hawks began to appear 
 above the horizon. Mrs. Cushing, wife to a member of Con- 
 gress, writes to her husband, " Two of the greatest military 
 character of the day are visiting this distressed town. Gen- 
 eral Charles Lee, who has served in Poland, and Colonel Israel 
 Putnam, whose bravery and character need no description.'' 
 As these two men will take a prominent part in coming^ events, 
 we pause to give a word or two concerning them. 
 
 Israel Putnam was a soldier of native growth ; one of the 
 military productions of the French war ; seasoned and proved 
 in frontier campaigning. He had served at Louisburg, Port 
 Duquesne, and Crown Point ; had signalized himself in Indian 
 warfare ; been captured by the savages, tied to a stake to be 
 tortured and burnt, and had only been rescued by the inter- 
 ference, at the eleventh hour, of a French partisan of the 
 Indians. 
 
 * Holmes' Annals, ii. 191, Letter of Gage to Lord Dartmouth, 
 t Gage to Dartmouth, Sept. 20. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 251 
 
 Since the peace, he had returned to agricultural life, and 
 was now a farmer at Pomfret, in Connecticut, where the scars 
 of his wounds and the tales of his exploits rendered him a hero 
 in popular estimation. The war spirit yet burned within him. 
 He was now chairman of a committee of vigilance, and had 
 come to Boston in discharge of his political and semi-belligerent 
 functions. 
 
 General Charles Lee was a military man of a different stamp ; 
 an Englishman by birth, and a highly cultivated production of 
 European warfare. He was the son of a British officer, Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel John Lee, of the dragoons, who married the 
 daughter of Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart., and afterwards rose to 
 be a general. Lee was born in 1731, and may almost be said 
 to have been cradled in the army, for he received a commission 
 by the time he was eleven years of age. He had an irregular 
 education ; part of the time in England, part on the continent, 
 and must have scrambled his way into knowledge ; yet by apt- 
 ness, diligence, and ambition, he had acquired a considerable 
 portion, being a Greek and Latin scholar, and acquainted with 
 modern languages. The art of war was his especial study from 
 his boyhood, and he had early opportunities of practical exper- 
 ience. At the age of twenty-four, he commanded a company of 
 grenadiers in the 44th regiment, and served in the French war 
 in America, where he was brought into military companionship 
 with Sir William Johnson's Mohawk warriors, whom he used 
 to extol for their manly beauty, their dress, their graceful car- 
 riage and good breeding. In fact, he rendered himself so 
 much of a favorite among them, that they admitted him to 
 smoke in their councils, and adopted him into the tribe of the 
 Bear, giving him an Indian name, signifying "Boiling Water." 
 
 At the battle of Ticonderoga, where Abercrombie was defeated 
 he was shot through the body, while leading his men against 
 the French breastworks. In the next campaign, he was present 
 at the siege of Fort Niagara, where General Prideaux fell, and 
 where Sir William Johnson, with his British troops and Mohawk 
 warriors, eventually won the fortress. Lee had, probably, an 
 opportunity on this occasion of fighting side by side with some 
 of his adopted brethren of the Bear tribe, as we are told he was 
 much exposed during the engagement with the French and 
 Indians, and that two balls grazed his hair. A military errand, 
 afterwards, took him across Lake Erie, and down the northern 
 branch of the Ohio to Fort Duquesne, and thence by a long 
 march of seven hundred miles to Crown Point, where he joined 
 General Amherst. In 1760, he was among the forces which fol- 
 lowed that general from Lake Ontario down the St Lawrence : 
 
252 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 and was present at the surrender of Montreal, wliich completed 
 the conquest of Canada. 
 
 In 1762, he bore a colonel's commission, and served under 
 Brigadier-general Burgoyne in Portugal, where he was intrust- 
 ed with an enterprise against a Spanish post at the old Moorish 
 castle of Vilha, on the banks of the Tagus. He forded the 
 river in the night, pushed his wa}^ through mountain passes, 
 and at two o'clock in the morning, rushed with his grenadiers 
 into the enemy's camp before daylight, where everything was 
 carried at the point of the bayonet, assisted by a charge of dra- 
 goons. ■ The war over, he returned to England, bearing tes- 
 timonials of bravery and good conduct from his commander- 
 in-chief, the Count de la Lippe, and from the king of Portugal.* 
 
 Wielding the pen as well as the sword, Lee undertook to 
 write on questions of colonial policy, relative to Pontiac's war 
 in which he took the opposition side. This lost him the favor 
 of the ministry, and with it all hojDC of further promotion. 
 
 He now determined to offer his services to Poland, supposed 
 to be on verge of a war. Kecommendations from his old com- 
 mander, the Court de la Lij)pe, procured him access to some of 
 the continental courts. He was well received by Frederick the 
 Great, and had several conversations with him, chiefly on 
 American affairs. At Warsaw, his military reputation secured 
 him the favor of Poniatowsky, recently elected king of Poland, 
 with the name of Stanislaus Augustus, who admitted him to his 
 table, and made him one of his aides-de-camp. Lee was 
 disappointed in his hope of active service. There was agitation 
 in the country, but the power of the king was not adequate to 
 raise forces sufficient for its suppression. He had few troops, 
 and those not trustworthy ; and the town was full of the dis- 
 affected. " We have frequent alarms," said Lee, " and the 
 pleasure of sleeping every night with our pistols on our pillows." 
 
 By way of relieving his restlessness, Lee, at the suggestion 
 of the king, set off to accompany the Polish ambassador to 
 Constantinople. The latter travelled too slow for him ; so he 
 dashed ahead when on the frontiers of Turkey, with an escort 
 of the grand seignior's treasure ; came near perishing' with cold 
 and hunger among the Bulgarian mountains and after his 
 arrival at the Turkish capital, ran a risk of being buried under 
 the ruins of his house in an earthquake. 
 
 Late in the same year (1766), he was again in England, an 
 applicant for military appointment, bearing a letter from King 
 Stanislaus to George. His meddling pen is supposed again to 
 
 * Life of Charles Lee, by Jared Sparks. Also, Memoirs of Charles 
 Lee ; published in London, 1792, 
 
LIFE OF WASFUNGTON. 253 
 
 have marred liLs fortunes, having indulged in sarcastic comments 
 on the military character of General Townshend and Lord George 
 Sackville. " I am not at all surprised," said a friend to him, 
 " that you find the door shut against you by a person who has 
 such unbounded credit, as you have ever too freely indulged in 
 a liberty of declaiming, which many invidious persons have not 
 failed to inform him of. The principle on which you thus 
 freely speak your mind, is honest and patriotic, but not politic." 
 
 The disappointments which Lee met with during a residence 
 of two years in England, and a protracted attendance on people 
 in power, rankled in his bosom, and embittered his subsequent 
 resentment against the king and his ministers. ^ 
 
 In 1768, he was again on his way to Poland, with the design 
 of performing a campaign in the Russian service. " I flatter 
 myself," said he, " that a little more practice will make me a 
 a good soldier. If not, it will serve to talk over my kitchen 
 fire in my old age, which will soon come upon us all." 
 
 He now looked forward to spirited service. " I am to have 
 a command of Cossacks and Wallacks," writes he, " a kind of 
 people I have a good opinion of. I am determined not to serve 
 in 'the line. One might as well be a church-warden." 
 
 The friendship of King Stanislaus continued. " He treats 
 me more like a brother than a patron," said Lee. In 1769, the 
 latter was raised to the rank of major-general in the Polish 
 army, and left Warsaw to join the Hussian force, which was 
 crossing the Dniester and advancing into Moldavia. He arrived 
 in time to take part in a severe action between the Russians 
 and Turks, in which the Cossacks and hussars were terribly cut 
 up by the Turkish cavalry, in a ravine near the city of Chot- 
 zim. It was a long and doubtful conflict, with various changes ; 
 but the rumored approach of the grand vizier, with a hundred 
 and seventy thousand men, compelled the Russians to abandon 
 the enterprise and recross the Dniester. 
 
 Lee never returned to Poland, though he ever retained a de- 
 voted attachment to Stanislaus. He for some time led a restless 
 life about Europe — visiting Italy, Sicily, Malta, and the south 
 of Spain ; troubled with attacks of rheumatism, gout, and the 
 effects of a " Hungarian fever." He had become more and 
 more cynical and irascible, and had more than one " affair of 
 honor," in one of which he killed his antagonist. His splenetic 
 feelings, as well as his political sentiments, were occasionally 
 vented in severe attacks upon the ministry, full of irony and 
 sarcasm. They appeared in the public journals, and gained 
 him such reputation, that even the papers of Junius were by 
 some, attributed to him, 
 
254 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 In the questions whicli had risen between England and her 
 colonies, he had strongly advocated the cause of the latter ; and 
 it was the feelings thus excited, and the recollections, perhaps, 
 of his early campaigns, that had recently brought him to 
 America. Here he had arrived in the latter part of 1773, had 
 visited various parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, 
 taking an active part in the political agitations of the country. 
 His caustic attacks upon the ministry ; his conversational 
 powers and his poignant sallies, had gained him great reputa- 
 tion; but his military renown rendered him especially interest- 
 ing at the present juncture. A general, who had served in the 
 famous campaigns of Europe, commanded Cossacks, fought with 
 Turks, talked with Frederick the Great, and been aide-de-camp 
 to the king of Poland, was a prodigious acquisition to the patriot 
 cause ! On the other hand, his visit to Boston was looked upon 
 with uneasiness by the British officers, who knew his adventur- 
 ous character. It was surmised that he was exciting a spirit 
 of revolt, with a view to putting himself at its head. These 
 suspicions found their way into the London papers, and alarmed 
 the British cabinet. " Have an attention to his conduct," writes 
 Lord Dartmouth to Gage, " and take every legal method to pre- 
 vent his effecting any of those dangerous purposes he is said to 
 have in view." 
 
 Lee, when subsequently informed of these suspicions, scoffed 
 at them in a letter to his friend, Edmund Burke, and decla'red 
 that he had not the " temerity and vanity " to aspire to the 
 aims imputed to him. 
 
 " To think myself qualified for the most important charge 
 that ever was committed to mortal man," writes he, " is the 
 last stage of presumption ; nor do I think the Americans would, 
 or ought to confide in a man, let his qualifications be ever so 
 great, who has no property among them. It is true, I most de- 
 voutly wish them success in the glorious struggle ; that I have 
 expressed my wishes both in writing and viva voce / but my 
 errand to Boston was mere curiosity to see a people in so sin- 
 gular circumstances ; and I had likewise an ambition to be ac- 
 quainted with some of their leading men ; with them only I 
 associated during my stay in Boston. Our ingenious gentlemen 
 in the camp, therefore, very naturally concluded my design was 
 to put myself at thoir head. 
 
 To resume the course of events at Boston. Gage on the 1st 
 of September, before this popular agitation, had issued writs 
 for an election of the Assembly to meet at Salem in October ; 
 seeing, however, the irritated state of the public mind, he now 
 countermanded the same by proclamation. The people, disre- 
 
LIFE OF WASIIiNGTCN. ^55 
 
 garding the countermand, carried the election, and ninety of 
 the new members thus elected met at the appointed time. They 
 waited a whole day for the governor to attend, administer the 
 oaths, and open the session ; but as he did not make his appear- 
 ance, they voted themselves a provincial Congress, and chose 
 for president of it John Hancock — a man of great wealth, popu- 
 lar, and of somewhat showy talents, and ardent patriotism ; and 
 eminent for his social position. 
 
 This self-constituted body adjourned to Concord, about twenty 
 miles from Boston, quietly assumed supreme authority, and 
 issued a remonstrance to the governor, virtually calling him to 
 account for his military operations in fortifying Boston Neck, 
 and collecting warlike stores about him, thereby alarming the 
 fears of the whole province, and menacing the lives and prop- 
 erty of the Bostonians. 
 
 General Gage, overlooking the irregularity of its organization, 
 entered into explanations with the Assembly, but failed to give 
 satisfaction. As winter approached, he found his situation more 
 and more critical. Boston was the only place in Massachusetts 
 that now contained British forces, and it had become the refuge 
 of all the ^' tories " of the province ; that is to say, of all those de- 
 voted to the British government. There was animosity between 
 them and the principal inhabitants, among whom revolutionary 
 principles prevailed. The town itself, almost insulated by nature, 
 and surrounded by a hostile country, was like a place besieged. 
 
 The provincial Congress conducted its affairs with the order 
 and system so formidable to General Gage. Having adopted a 
 plan for organizing the militia, it had nominated general offi- 
 cers, two of whom, Artemas Ward and Seth Pomeroy, had 
 accepted. 
 
 The executive powers were vested in a committee of safety. 
 This was to determine when the services of the militia were 
 necessary ; was to call them forth ; to nominate their officers to 
 the Congress ; to commission them, and direct the operations of 
 the army. Another committee was appointed to furnish sup- 
 plies to the forces when called out — hence, named the Commit- 
 tee of Supplies. 
 
 Under such auspices, the militia went on arming and dis- 
 ciplining itself in every direction. They associated themselves 
 in large bodies, and engaged, verbally or by writing, to as- 
 semble in arms at the shortest notice for the common defense, 
 subject to the orders of the committee of safety. 
 
 Arrangements had been made for keeping up an active coiv 
 respondence between different parts of the country, and spread^ 
 ing an alarm,, in case of any threatening danger. Under the 
 
256 . LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 direction of the committees just mentioned, large quantities of 
 military stores had been collected and deposited at Concord 
 and at Worcester. 
 
 This semi-belligerent state of affairs in Massachusetts pro- 
 duced a general restlessness throughout the land. The weak- 
 hearted apprehended coming troubles ; the resolute prepared to 
 brave them. Military measures, hitherto confined to New Eng- 
 land, extended to the middle and southern provinces, and the 
 roll of the drum resounded through the villages. 
 
 Virginia was among the first to buckle on its armor. It had 
 long been a custom among its inhabitants to form themselves 
 into independent companies, equipped at their own expense, 
 having their own peculiar uniforms, and electing their own 
 officers, though holding themselves subject to militia law. 
 They had hitherto been self-disciplined ; but now they con- 
 tinually resorted to Washington for instruction and ad- 
 vice ; considering him the highest authority on military af- 
 fairs. He was frequently called from home, therefore, in the 
 course of the winter and spring, to different parts of the country 
 to review independent companies ; all of which were anxious 
 to put themselves under his command as field-officer. 
 
 Mount Vernon, therefore, again assumed a military tone as 
 in former days, when he took his first lessons there in the art' 
 of war. He had his old campaigning associates with him oc- 
 casionally. Dr. Craik and captain Hugh Mercer, to talk of past 
 scenes and discuss the possibility of future service. Mercer 
 was already bestirring himself in disciplining the militia about 
 Fredericksburg, where he resided. 
 
 Two occasional and important guests at Mount Vernon, in 
 this momentous crisis, were General Charles Lee, of whom we 
 have just spoken, and Major Horatio Gates. As the latter is 
 destined to occupy an important page in this memoir, we will 
 give a few particulars concerning him. He was an Englishman 
 by birth, the son of a captain in the British army. Horace 
 Walpole, whose Christian name he bore, speaks of him in one 
 of his letters as his godson, though some have insinuated that 
 he stood in filial relationship of a less sanctified character. He 
 had received a liberal education, and, when but twenty-one 
 years of age, had served as a volunteer under General Edward 
 Cornwallis, Governor of Halifax. He was afterwards captain 
 of a New York independent company, with which, it may be 
 remembered, he marched in the campaign of Braddock, in which 
 he was severely wounded. For two or three subsequent years 
 he was with his company in the western part of the province of 
 'New York, receiving the appointment of brigade major. He 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 267 
 
 accompanied General Monckton as aide-de-camp to the West 
 Indies, and gained credit at the capture of Martinico. Being 
 despatched to London with tidings of the victory, he was re- 
 warded by the appointment of major to a regiment of foot ; and 
 afterwards, as a special mark of royal favor, a majority in the 
 E-oyal Americans. His promotion did not equal his expecta- 
 tions and fancied deserts. He was married, and wanted some- 
 thing more lucrative ; so he sold out on half pay and became 
 an applicant for some profitable post under the government, 
 which he hoped to obtain through the influence of Greneral 
 Monckton and some friends in the aristocracy. Thus several 
 years were passed, partly with his family in retirement, partly 
 in London, paying court to patrons and men in power, until 
 finding there was no likelihood of success, and having sold his 
 commission and half-pay, he emigrated to Virginia in 1772, a 
 disappointed man ; purchased an estate in Berkeley County, 
 beyond the Blue Bidge ; espoused the popular cause, and re- 
 newed his old campaigning acquaintance with Washington. 
 
 He was not about forty-six years of age, of a florid complexion 
 and goodly presence, though a little inclined to corpulency ; so- 
 cial, insinuating, and somewhat specious in his manners, with 
 a strong degree of self-approbation. A long course of solicita- 
 tion, haunting public offices and antechambers, and " knocking 
 about town," had taught him, it is said, how to wheedle and 
 flatter, and accommodate himself to the humors of others, so as 
 to be the boon companion of gentlemen, and " hail-fellow well 
 met " with the vulgar. 
 
 Lee, who was an old friend and former associate in arms, had 
 recently been induced by him to purchase an estate in his neigh- 
 borhood in Berkeley County, with a view to making it his 
 abode, having a moderate competency, a claim to land on the 
 Ohio, and the half-pay of a British colonel. Both of these of- 
 ficers, disappointed in the British service, looked forward, prob- 
 ably, to greater success in the patriot cause. 
 
 Lee had been at Philadelphia since his visit to Boston, and 
 had made himself acquainted with the leading members of Con- 
 gress during the session. He was evidently cultivating an in- 
 timacy with every one likely to have influence in the approach- 
 ing struggle. 
 
 To Washington the visits of these gentlemen were extremely 
 welcome at this juncture, from their military knowledge and 
 experience, espacially as much of it had been acquired in 
 America, in the same kind of warfare, if not the very same 
 campaigns in which he himself had mingled. Both were in- 
 terested in the popular cause. Lee was full of plans for the or- 
 
258 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ganization and disciplining of the militia, and occasionally ac- 
 companied Washington in his attendance on provincial reviews. 
 He was subsequently very efficient at Annapolis in promot- 
 ing and superintending the organization of the Maryland mil- 
 itia. 
 
 It is doubtful whether the visits to Lee were as interesting 
 to Mrs. Washington as to the general. He was whimsical, ec- 
 centric, and at times almost rude ; negligent also, and slovenly 
 in person and attire ; for though he had occasionally associated 
 with kings and princes, he had also campaigned with Mohawks 
 and Cossacks, and seems to have relished their " good breeding." 
 What was still more annoying in a well-regulated mansion, he 
 was always followed by a legion of dogs, which shared his affec- 
 tions with his horses, and took their seats by him when at table. 
 
 " I must have some object to embrace," said he misanthropi- 
 cally. " When I can be convinced that men are as worthy ob- 
 jects as dogs, I shall transfer my benevolence, and become as 
 staunch as philanthropist as the canting Addison affected to 
 be." =* 
 
 In his passion for horses and dogs, Washington, to a certain 
 degree, could sympathize with him, and had noble specimens of 
 both in his stable and kennel, which Lee doubtless inspected 
 with a learnad eye. During the season in question, Washing- 
 ton, according to his diary, was occasionally in the saddle at an 
 early hour following the fox-hounds. It was the last time for 
 many a year that he was to gallop about his beloved hunting- 
 grounds of Mount Vernon and Belvoir. 
 
 In the month of March the second Virginia convention was 
 held at Richmond. Washington attended as delegate from 
 Fairfax , County. In this assembly, Patrick Henry, with his 
 usual ardor and eloquence, advocated measures for embodying, 
 arming, and disciplining a militia force, and providing for the 
 defense of the colony. " It is useless," said he, " to address 
 further petitions to government, or to await the effect of those 
 already addressed to the throne. The time for supplication is 
 past ; the time for action is at hand. We must fight, Mr. 
 Speaker," exclaimed he, emphatically ; " I repeat it, sir, we mpst 
 fight ! An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that 
 is left us ! " 
 
 Washington joined him in the conviction, and was one of a 
 committee that reported a plan for carrying those measures into 
 effect. He was not an impulsive man to raise the battle-cry, but 
 the executive man to marshal the troops into the field, and 
 carry on the war. 
 
 * Lee to Adams. L\fe and Works of Adams, ii. 414. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. ' 259 
 
 His brother, John Augustine, was raising and disciplining 
 an independent company ; Washington offered to accept the 
 command of it should occasion require it to he drawn out. He 
 did the same with respect to an independent company at Rich- 
 mond. " It is my full intention, if needful," writes he to his 
 brother, " to devote my life and fortune to the cause" * 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 INFATUATION IN BRITISH COUNCILS. — COL. GRANT, THE BRAG- 
 GART. COERCIVE MEASURES. EXPEDITION AGAINST THE 
 
 MILITARY MAGAZINE AT CONCORD. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 THE CRY OF BLOOD THROUGH THE LAND. OLD SOLDIERS OF 
 
 THE FRENCH WAR. JOHN STARK. ISRAEL PUTNAM. RIS- 
 ING OF THE YEOMANRY. — MEASURES OF LORD DUNMORE IN 
 VIRGINIA. INDIGNATION OP THE VIRGINIANS. HUGH MER- 
 CER AND THE FRIENDS OF LIBERTY. ARRIVAL OF THE NEWS 
 
 OF LEXINGTON AT MOUNT VERNON. EFFECT ON BRYAN 
 
 FAIRFAX, GATES, AND WASHINGTON. 
 
 While the spirit of revolt was daily gaining strength and 
 determination in America, a strange infatuation reigned in the 
 British councils. While the wisdom and eloquence of Chatham 
 were exerted in vain in behalf of American rights, an empty 
 braggadocio, elevated to a seat in Parliament, was able to cap- 
 tivate the attention of the members, and influence their votes 
 by gross misrepresentations of the Americans and their cause. 
 This was no other than Colonel Grant, the same shallow soldier 
 who, exceeding his instructions, had been guilty of a foolhardy 
 bravado before the walls of Fort Duquesne, which brought 
 slaughter and defeat upon his troops. Prom misleading the 
 army, he was now promoted to a station where he might mis- 
 lead the councils of his country. We are told that he enter- 
 tained Parliament, especially the ministerial side of the House, 
 with ludicrous stories of the cowardice of Americans. He had 
 served with them, he said, and knew them well, and would ven- 
 ture to say that they would never dare to face an English 
 army ; that they were destitute of every requisite to make good 
 soldiers, and that a very slight force would be sufficient for theii: 
 
 * I^etter to Jolju Augustine. Sparks, iv. 405* 
 
260 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 complete reduction. With five regiments he could march 
 through all America ! 
 
 How often has England been misled to her cost by such slander- 
 ous misrepresentations of the American character ! Grant talked 
 of having served with the Americans ; had he already forgotten 
 that in the field of Braddock's defeat, when the British regulars 
 fled, it was alone the desperate stand of a handful of Virginians, 
 which covered their disgraceful flight, and saved them from 
 being overtaken and massacred by the savages ? 
 
 This taunting and braggart speech of Grant was made in the 
 face of the conciliatory bill of the venerable Chatham, devised 
 with a view to redress the wrongs of America. The councils of 
 the arrogant and scornful prevailed ; and instead of the proposed 
 bill, further measures of a stringent nature were adopted, coer- 
 cive of some of the middle and southern colonies, but ruinous 
 to the trade and fisheries of New England. 
 
 At length the bolt, so long suspended, fell ! The troops at 
 Boston had been augmented to about four thousand men. 
 Goaded on by the instigations of the tories, and alarmed by the 
 energetic measures of the whigs. General Gage now resolved to 
 deal the latter a crippling blow. This was to surprise and de- 
 stroy their magazine of military stores at Concord, about twenty 
 miles from Boston. It was to be effected on the night of the 
 18th of April, by a force detached for the purpose. 
 
 Preparations were made with great secrecy. Boats for the 
 transportation of the troops were launched, and moored under 
 the sterns of the. men-of-war. Grenadiers and light infantry 
 were relieved from duty and held in readiness. On the 18th 
 officers were stationed on the roads leading from Boston to prevent 
 any intelligence of the expedition getting into the country. At 
 night orders were issued by General Gage that no person should 
 leave the town. About ten o^clock, from eight to nine hundred 
 men, grenadiers, light infantry, and marines, commanded by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, embarked in the boats at the foot of 
 Boston Common, and crossed to Lechmere Point, in Cambridge, 
 whence they were to march silently, and without beat of drum, 
 to the place of destination. 
 
 The measures of General Gage had not been shrouded in all 
 the secrecy he imagined. Mystery often defeats itself by the 
 suspicions it awakens. Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the committee 
 of safety, had observed the preparatory disposition of the boats 
 and troops, and surmised some sinister intention. He sent no- 
 tice of these movements to John Hancock and Samuel Adams, 
 both members of the provincial Congress, but at that time pri- 
 vately sojourning with a friend at Lexington. A design on the 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 261 
 
 magazine at Concord was suspected, and the committee of safety- 
 ordered that the cannon collected there should be secreted, and 
 part of the stores removed. 
 
 On the night of the 18th Dr. Warren sent off two messengers 
 by different routes to give the alarm that the king's troops were 
 actually sallying forth. The messengers got out of Boston just 
 before the order of General Gage went into effect, to prevent 
 any one from leaving the town. About the same time a lantern 
 was hung out of an upper window of the north church, in the 
 direction of Charlestown. This was a preconcerted signal to the 
 patriots of that place, who instantly dispatched swift messengers 
 to rouse the country. 
 
 In the meantime Colonel Swift set out on his nocturnal march 
 from Lechmere Point by an unfrequented path across marshes, 
 where at times the troops had to wade through water. He had 
 proceeded but a few miles when alarm guns, booming through 
 the night air, and the clang of village bells, showed that the 
 news of his approach was travelling before him, and the people 
 were rising. He now sent back to General Gage for a rein- 
 forcement, while Major Pitcairn was detached with six com- 
 panies to press forward and secure the bridges at Concord. 
 
 Pitcairn advanced rapidly, capturing every one he met or 
 overtook. Within a mile of Lexington, however, a horseman 
 was too quick on the spur for him, and galloping to the village 
 gave the alarm that the red-coats were coming. Drums were 
 beaten; guns fired. By the time that Pitcairn entered the 
 village, about seventy or eighty of the yeomanry, in military 
 array, were mustered on the green near the church. It was a 
 part of the "constitutional army," pledged to resist by force 
 any open hostility of British troops. Besides these, there was a 
 number of lookers-on, armed and unarmed. 
 
 The sound of drum, and the array of men in arms, indicated 
 a hostile determination. Pitcairn halted his men within a short 
 distance of the church, and ordered them to prime and load. 
 They then advanced at double quick time. The major, riding 
 forward, waved his sword, and ordered the rebels, as he termed 
 them, to disperse. Other of the officers echoed his words as 
 they advanced : " Disperse, ye villains ! Lay down your arms, 
 ye rebels, and disperse ! " The orders were disregarded. A 
 scene of confusion ensued, with firing on both sides ; which 
 party commenced it, has been a matter of dispute. Pitcairn 
 always maintained that, finding the militia would not disperse, 
 he turned to order his men to draw out, and surround them, 
 when he saw a flash in the pan from the gun of a countryman 
 posted behind a wall, and almost instantly the report of two or 
 
"2,^2 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 three muskets. These he supposed to be from the Americans, 
 as his horse was wounded, as was also a soldier close by him. 
 His troops rushed on, and a promiscuous fire took place, though, 
 as he declared, he made repeated signals with his sword for his 
 men to forbear. 
 
 The firing of the Americans was irregular, and without much 
 effect ; that of the British was more fatal. Eight of the patriots 
 were killed, and ten wounded, and the whole put to flight. The 
 victors formed on the common, fired a volley, and gave three 
 cheers for one of the most inglorious and disastrous triumphs 
 ever achieved by British arms. 
 
 Colonel Smith soon arrived with the residue of the detach- 
 ment, and they all marched on towards Concord, about six 
 miles distant. 
 
 The alarm had reached that place in the dead hour of the 
 preceding night. The church bell roused the inhabitants. They 
 gathered together in anxious consultation. The militia and 
 minute men seized their arms, and repaired to the parade ground, 
 near the church. Here they were subsequently joined by armed 
 yeomanry from Lincoln, and elsewhere. Exertion§ were now 
 made to remove and conceal the military stores. A scout, who had 
 been sent out for intelligence, brought word that the British 
 had fired upon the people at Lexington, and were advancing up- 
 on Concord. There was great excitement and indignation. 
 Part of the militia marched down the Lexington road to meet 
 them, but returned, reporting their force to be three times that 
 of the Americans. The whole of the militia now retired to an 
 eminence about a. mile from the centre of the town, and formed 
 themselves into two battalions. 
 
 About seven o'clock, the British came in sight, advancing 
 with quick step, their arms glittering in the morning sun. They 
 entered in two divisions by different roads. Concord is trav- 
 ersed by a river of the same name, having two bridges, the 
 north and the south. The grenadiers and light infantry took 
 post in the centre of the town, while strong parties of light 
 troops were detached to secure the bridges and destroy the mil- 
 itary stores. Two hours were expended in the work of de- 
 struction without much success, so much of the stores having 
 been removed or concealed. During all this time the yeomanry 
 from the neighboring towns were hurrying in with such wea- 
 pons as were at hand, and joining the militia on the height, 
 until the little cloud of war gathering there numbered about 
 four hundred and fifty. 
 
 About ten o'clock, a body of three hundred undertook to dis- 
 lodge the British from the north bridge. As they approached 
 
^ LIFE OF WASBINGTON. 263 
 
 the latter fired upon them, killing two, and wounding a third. 
 The patriots returned the fire with spirit and ^ffect. The 
 British retreated to the main body, the Americans pursuing 
 them across the bridge. 
 
 By this time all the military stores which could be found 
 had been destroyed ; Colonel Smith,, therefore, made prepara- 
 tions for a retreat. The scattered troops were collected, the 
 dead were buried, and conveyances procured for the wounded. 
 About noon he commenced his retrograde march for Boston. 
 It was high time. His troops were jaded by the night march, 
 and the morning's toils and skirmishings. 
 
 The country was thoroughly alarmed. The yeomanry were 
 hurrying from every quarter to the scene of action. As the 
 British began their retreat, the Americans began the work of 
 sore and galling retaliation. Along the open road, the former 
 were harrassed incessantly by rustic marksmen, who took de- 
 liberate aim from behind trees, or over stone fences. Where 
 the road passed through woods, the British found themselves 
 between two fires, dealt by unseen foes, the minute men having 
 posted themselves on each side among the bushes. It was in 
 vain they threw out flankers, and endeavored to dislodge their 
 assailants ; each pause gave time for other pursuers to come 
 within reach, and open attacks from different quarters. For 
 several miles they urged their way along woody defiles, or 
 roads skirted with fences and stone walls, the retreat growing 
 more and more disastrous ; some were shot down, some gave 
 out through mere exhaustion ; the rest hurried on, without 
 stopping to aid the fatigued or wounded. Before reaching Lex- 
 ington, Colonel Smith received a severe wound in the leg, and 
 the situation of the retreating troops was becoming extremely 
 critical, when, about two o'clock, they were met by Lord Percy, 
 with a brigade of^one thousand men, and two field pieces. His 
 lordship had been detached from Boston about nine o'clock by 
 General Gage, in compliance with Colonel Smith's urgent call 
 for a reinforcement, and had marched gayly through Eoxbury 
 to the tune of " Yankee Doodle," in derision of the " rebels." 
 He now found the latter a more formidable foe than he had an- 
 ticipated. Opening his brigade to the right and left, he re- 
 ceived the retreating troops into a hollow square ; where, faint- 
 ing and exhausted, they threw themselves on the ground to 
 rest. His lordship showed no disposition to advance upon their 
 assailants, but contented himself with keeping them at bay 
 with his field-pieces, which opened a vigorous fire from an emi- 
 nence. 
 
 Hitherto the provincials, being hasty levies, without a leader, 
 
264 ilF-E? OW WASHINGTON. 
 
 had acted from individual impulse, without much concert ; but 
 now General Heath was upon the ground. He was one of 
 those authorized to take^ command when the minute men should 
 be called out. That class of combatants promptly obeyed his 
 orders, and he was efficacious in rallying them, and bringing 
 them into military order, when checked and scattered by the 
 fire of the field-pieces. 
 
 Dr. Warren, also, arrived on horseback, having spurred from 
 Boston on receiving news of the skirmishing. In the subse- 
 quent part of the day, he was one of the most active and effi- 
 cient men in the field. His presence, like that of General 
 Heath, regulated the infuriated ardor of the militia, and brought 
 it into system. 
 
 Lord Percy, having allowed the troops a short interval for 
 repose and refreshment, continued the retreat toward Boston. 
 As soon as he got under march, the galling assault by the pur- 
 suing yeomanry was recommenced in flank and rear. The 
 British soldiery, irritated in turn, acted as if in an enemy's 
 country. Houses and shops were burnt down in Lexington ; 
 private dwellings along the road were plundered, and their in- 
 habitants maltreated. In one instance, an unoffending invalid 
 was wantonly slain in his own house. All this increased the 
 exasperation of the yeomanry. There was occasional sharp 
 skirmishing, with bloodshed on both sides, but in general a 
 dogged pursuit, where the retreating troops were galled at every 
 step. Their march became more and more impeded by the 
 number of their wounded. Lord Percy narrowly escaped death 
 from a musket ball, which struck off a button of his waistcoat. 
 One of his officers remained behind wounded in West Cam- 
 bridge. His ammunition was failing as he approached Charles- 
 town. The provincials pressed upon him in rear, others were 
 advancing from Boxbury, Dorchester, and •Milton; Colonel 
 Pickering, with the Essex militia, seven hundred strong, was at 
 hand ; there was danger of being intercepted in the retreat to 
 Charlestown. The field-pieces were again brought into play, 
 to check the ardor of the pursuit ; but they were no longer ob- 
 jects of terror. The sharpest firing of the provincials was near 
 Prospect Hill, as the harassed enemy hurried along the Charles- 
 town road, eager to reach the Neck, and get under cover of their 
 ships. The pursuit terminated a little after sunset, at Charles- 
 town Common, where General Heath brought the minute men 
 to a halt. Within half an hour more, a powerful body of men, 
 from Marblehead and Salem, came up to join in the chase. 
 " If the retreat," writes Washington, " had not been as precip- 
 itate as it was, — and God knows it could not well have been 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 265 
 
 more so, — the ministerial troops must have surrendered, or been 
 totally cut off." 
 
 The distant firing from the main land had reached the British 
 at Boston. The troops which, in the morning, had marched 
 through K-oxhury, to the tune of Yankee Doodle, might have 
 been seen at sunset, hounded along the old Cambridge road to 
 Charleston Neck, by mere armed yeomanry. Gage was as- 
 tounded at the catastrophe. It was but a short time previous 
 that one of his officers, in writing to friends in England, scoffed 
 at the idea of the Americans taking up arms. " Whenever it 
 comes to blows," said he, " 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 Massachusects province." How frequently, throughout 
 this Revolution, had the English to pay the penalty of thus 
 undervaluing the spirit they were provoking ! 
 
 In this memorable affair, the British loss was seventy-three 
 killed, one hundred and seventy-four wounded, and twenty-six 
 missing. Among the slain were eighteen officers. The loss of 
 the Americans was forty-nine killed, thirty-nine wounded, and 
 five missing. This was the first blood shed in the revolutionary 
 struggle ; a mere drop in amount, but a deluge in its effects, — 
 rending the colonies forever from the mother country. 
 
 The cry of blood from the field of Lexington went through 
 the land. Kone felt the ai:>peal more than the old soldiers of 
 the French war. It roused John Stark, of New Hampshire — a 
 trapper and hunter in his youth, a veteran in Indian warfare, a 
 campaigner under Abercrombie and Amherst, now the military 
 oracle of a rustic neighborhood. Within ten minutes after re- 
 ceiving the alarm, he was spurring towards the sea-coast, and 
 on the way stirring up the volunteers of the Massachusetts 
 borders, to assemble forthwith at Bedford, in the vicinity of 
 Boston. 
 
 Equally alert was his old comrade in frontier exploits, Colonel 
 Israel Putnam. A man on horseback, with a drum, passed 
 through his neighborhood in Connecticut, proclaiming British 
 violence at Lexington. Putnam was in the field ploughing, as- 
 sisted by his son. In an instant the team was unyoked, the 
 plough left in the furrow, the lad sent home to give word of his 
 father's departure, and Putnam, on horseback, in his working 
 garb, urging with all speed to the camp. Such was the spirit 
 aroused throughout the country. The sturdy yeomanry, from all 
 parts, were hastening toward Boston with such weapons as were 
 at hand ; and happy was he who could command a rusty fowling- 
 piece and a powder-horn. 
 
266 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 The news reached Virginia at a critical moment. Lord Dun- 
 more, obeying a general order issued by the ministry to all the 
 provincial governors, had seized upon the military munitions of 
 of the province. Here was a similar measure to that of Gage. 
 The cry went forth that the subjugation of the colonies was to 
 be attempted. All Virginia was in combustion. The standard 
 of liberty was reared in every county ; there was a general cry 
 to arms. Washington was looked to, from various quarters, to 
 take command. His old comrade in arms, Hugh Mercer, was 
 about marching down to William sburgh at the head of a body 
 of resolute men, seven hundred strong, entitled " The friends of 
 constitutional liberty and America," whom he had organized 
 and drilled in Fredericksburg, and nothing but a timely con- 
 cession of Lord Dunmore, with respect to some powder which 
 he had seized, prevented his being beset in his palace. 
 
 Before Hugh Mercer and the Friends of Liberty disbanded 
 themselves, they exchanged a mutual pledge to reassemble at a 
 moment's warning, whenever called on to defend the liberty and 
 rights of this or any other sister colony. 
 
 Washington was at Mount Vernon, preparing to set out for 
 Philadelphia as a delegate to the second Congress, when he re- 
 ceived tidings of the affair at Lexington. Bryan Fairfax and 
 Major Horatio Gates were his guests at the time. They all re- 
 garded the event as decisive in its consequences ; but they re- 
 garded it with different feelings. The worthy and gentle- 
 spirited Fairfax deplored it deeply. He foresaw that it must 
 break up all his pleasant relations in life ; arraying his dearest 
 friends against the government to which, notwithstanding the 
 errors of its policy, he was loyally attached and resolved to 
 adhere. 
 
 Gates, on the contrary, viewed it with the eye of a soldier 
 and a place-hunter — hitherto disappointed in both capacities. 
 This event promised to open a new avenue to importance and 
 command, and he determined to enter upon it. 
 
 Washington's feelings were of a mingled nature. They may 
 be gathered from a letter to his friend and neighbor, George 
 William Fairfax, then in England, in which he lays the blame 
 of this " deplorable affair " on the ministry and their military 
 agents ; and concludes with the following words, in which the 
 yearnings of the patriot give affecting solemnity to the implied 
 resolve of the soldier : " Unhappy it is to reflect that a brother's 
 sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast ; and that the 
 once happy and peaceful plains of America are to be either 
 drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative ! 
 JBut can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice f " 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYIII. 
 
 ENLISTING OF TROOPS IN THE EAST. CAMP AT BOSTON. GEN- 
 ERAL ARTEMAS WARD. — SCHEME TO SURPRISE TICONDEROGA. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS. ETHAN ALLEN AND THE GREEN. 
 
 MOUNTAIN BOYS. BENEDICT ARNOLD AFFAIR OF TICONDE- 
 ROGA AND CROWN POINT. A DASH AT ST. JOHN's. 
 
 At the eastward, the march of the Eevolution went on with 
 accelerated speed. Thirty thousand men had been deemed 
 necessary for the defense of the country. The provincial Con- 
 gress of Massachusetts resolved to raise thirteen thousand six 
 hundred, as its quota. Circular letters, also, were issued by 
 the committee of safety, urging the towns to enlish troops with 
 all speed, and calling for military aid from the other New Eng- 
 land provinces. 
 
 Their appeals were promptly answered. Bodies of militia, 
 and parties of volunteers from New Hampshire, Ehode Island, 
 and Connecticut, hastened to join the minute men of Massa- 
 chusetts in forming a camp in the neighborhood of Boston. 
 With the troops of Connecticut, came Israel Putnam, having 
 recently raised a regiment in that province, and received from 
 its Assembly the commission of brigadier-general. Some of 
 his old comrades in Prench and Indian warfare, had hastened 
 to join his standard. Such were two of his captains, Durkee 
 and Knowlton. The latter, who was his especial favorite, had 
 fought by his side when a mere boy. 
 
 The command of the camp was given to Greneral Artemas 
 Ward, already mentioned. He was a native of Shrewsbury in 
 Massachusetts, and a veteran of the seven years' war — having 
 served as lieutenant-colonel under Abercrombie. He had, like- 
 wise, been a member of the legislative bodies, and had recently 
 been made, by the provincial Congress of Massachusetts, com- 
 mander-in-chief of its forces. 
 
 As affairs were now drawing to a crisis, and war was consid- 
 ered inevitable, some bold spirits in Connecticut conceived a 
 project for the outset. This was the surprisal of the old forts of 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point, already famous in the Prench war. 
 Their situation on Lake Champlain gave them the command of 
 the main route to Canada; so that the possession of them 
 
268 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 would be ail-important in case of hostilities. They were feebly 
 garrisoned and negligently guarded, and abundantly furnished 
 with artillery and military stores, so much needed by the 
 patriot army. 
 
 This scheme was set on foot in the purlieus, as it were, of 
 the provincial Legislature of Connecticut, then in session. It 
 was not openly sanctioned by that body, but secretly favored, 
 and money lent from the treasury to those engaged in it. A 
 committee was appointed, also, to accompany them to the fron- 
 tier, aid them in raising troops, and exercise over them a de- 
 gree of superintendence and control. 
 
 Sixteen men were thus enlisted in Connecticut, a greater 
 number in Massachusetts, but the greatest accession of force 
 was from what was called the " New Hampshire Grants." This 
 was a region having the Connecticut River on one side, and 
 Lake Champlain and the Hudson E-iver on the other — being, 
 in fact, the country forming the present State of Vermont. It 
 had long been a disputed territory, claimed by New York and 
 New Hampshire. George II. had decided in favor of New 
 York ; but the Governor of New Hampshire had made grants of 
 between one and two hundred townships in it, whence it had 
 acquired the name of the New Hampshire Grants. The settlers 
 on those grants resisted the attempts of New York to eject 
 them, and formed themselves into an association called the 
 " Green Mountain Boys." Resolute, strong-handed fellows they 
 were, with Ethan Allen at their head, a native of Connecticut, 
 but brought up among the Green Mountains. He and his 
 lieutenants, Seth Warner and Kemember Baker, were outlawed 
 by the Legislature of New York, and rewards offered for their 
 apprehension. They and their associates armed themselves, 
 set New York at defiance, and swore they would be the death 
 of any one who should attempt their arrest. 
 
 Thus Ethan Allen was becoming a kind of Eobin. Hood 
 among the mountains, when the present crisis changed the rel- 
 ative position of things as if by magic. Boundary feuds were 
 forgotten amid the great questions of colonial rights. Ethan 
 Allen at once stepped forward, a patriot, and volunteered with his 
 Green Mountain boys to serve in the popular cause. He was well 
 fitted for the enterprise in question, by his experience as a fron- 
 tier champion, his robustness of mind and body, and his fearless 
 spirit. He had a kind of rough eloquence, also, that was very 
 effective with his followers. " His style," says one, who knew 
 him personally, " was a singular compound of local barbarisms. 
 Scriptural phrases, and oriental wildness ; and though unclassic, 
 and sometimes un grammatical, was highly animated and forci- 
 
tmi: OF WASHINGTON. 269 
 
 ble." Washington, in one of his letters, says there was " an 
 original something in him which commanded admiration." 
 
 Thus reinforced, the party, now two hundred and seventy 
 strong, pushed forward to Castleton, a place within a few miles 
 of the head of Lake Champlain. Here a council of war was 
 held on the 2d of May. Ethan Allen was placed at the head of 
 the expedition, with James Easton and Seth Warner as second 
 and third in command. Detachments were sent off to Skenes- 
 borough (now Whitehall,) and another place on the Lake, with 
 orders to seize all the boats they could find and bring them to 
 Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga, whither Allen prepared to 
 proceed with the main body. 
 
 At this juncture, another adventurous spirit arrived at Castle- 
 ton. This was Benedict Arnold, since so sadly renowned. He, 
 too, had conceived the project of surprising Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point ; or, perhaps, had caught the idea from its first 
 agitators in Connecticut — in the militia of which province he 
 held a captain's commission. He had proposed the scheme to 
 the Massachusetts committee of safety. It had met their ap- 
 probation. They had given him a colonel's commission, author- 
 ized him to raise a force in Western Massachusetts, not exceed- 
 ing four hundred men, and furdished him with money and 
 means. Arnold had enlisted but a few ofiicers and men when 
 he heard of the expedition from Connecticut being on the 
 march. He instantly hurried on with one attendant to over- 
 take it, leaving his few recruits to follow, as best they could : 
 in this way he reached Castleton just after the council of war. 
 
 Producing the colonel's commission received from the Massa- 
 chusetts committee of safety, he now aspired to the supreme 
 command. His claims were disregarded by the Green Moun- 
 tain Boys ; they would follow no leader but Ethan Allen. As 
 they formed the majority of the party, Arnold was fain to ac- 
 quiesce, and serve as a volunteer, with the rank, but not the 
 command of colonel. 
 
 The party arrived at Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga, on the 
 night of the ninth of May. The detachment sent in quest of 
 boats had failed to arrive. There were a few boats at hand, 
 with which the transportation was commenced. It was slow 
 work ; the night wore away ; day was about to break, and but 
 eighty-three men, with Allen and Arnold, had crossed. Should 
 they wait for the residue, day would dawn, the garrison wake, 
 and their enterprise might fail. Allen drew up his men, ad- 
 dressed them in his own emphatic style, and announced his in- 
 tention to make a dash at the fort, without waiting for more 
 force. " It is a desperate attempt," said he, " and I ask no man 
 
270 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 to go against his will. I will take the lead, and be the first to ad- 
 vance. You that are willing to follow, poise your firelocks." 
 Not a firelock but was poised. 
 
 They mounted • the hill briskly, but in silence, guided by a 
 boy from the neighborhood. The day dawned as Allen arrived 
 at a sally port. A sentry pulled trigger on him, but his piece 
 missed fire. He retreated through a covered way. Allen and 
 his men followed. Another sentry thrust at Easton with his 
 bayonet, but was struck down by Allen, and begged for quar- 
 ter. It was granted on condition of his leading the way in- 
 stantly to the quarters of the commandant. Captain Delaplace, 
 who was yet in bed. Being arrived there, Allen thundered at 
 the door, and demanded a surrender of the fort. By this time 
 his followers had formed into two lines on the parade-ground, 
 and given three hearty cheers. The commandant appeared at 
 his door half-dressed, " the frightened face of his pretty wife 
 peering over his shoulder." He gazed at Allen in bewildered 
 astonishment. " By whose authority do you act ? " exclaimed 
 he. " In the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental 
 Congress ! " replied Allen, with a flourish of his sword, and an 
 oath which we do not care to subjoin. 
 
 There was no disputing the point. The garrison, like the 
 commander, had been startled from sleep, and made prisoners 
 as they rushed forth in their confusion. A surrender accord- 
 ingly took place. The captain, and forty-eight men, which 
 composed his garrison, were sent prisoners to Hartford in Con- 
 necticut. A great supply of military and naval stores, so im- 
 portant in the present crisis, was found in the fortress. 
 
 Colonel Seth Warner, who had brought over the residue of 
 the party from Shoreham, was now sent with a detachment 
 against Crown Point, which surrendered on the 12th of May, 
 without firing a gun ; the whole garrison being a sergeant and 
 twelve men. Here were taken upward of a hundred cannon. 
 
 Arnold now insisted vehemently on his right to command 
 •Ticonderoga ; being, as he said, the only officer invested with 
 legal authority. His claims had again to yield to the superior 
 popularity of Ethan Allen, to whom the Connecticut committee, 
 which had accompanied the enterprise, gave an instrument in 
 writing, investing him with the command of the fortress and its 
 dependencies, until he should receive the orders of the Connec- 
 ticut Assembly, or the Continental Congress. Arnold, while 
 forced to acquiesce, sent a protest, and a statement of his griev- 
 ances to the Massachusetts Legislature. In the meantime, his 
 chagrin was appeased by a new project. The detachment 
 originally sent to seize upon boats at Skenesborough, arrived 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 271 
 
 with a schooner, and several bateaux. It was immediately con- 
 certed between Allen and Arnold to cruise in them down the 
 lake, and surprise St. John's on the Sorel River, the frontier 
 post of Canada. The schooner was accordingly armed with 
 cannon from the fort. Arnold, who had been a seaman in his 
 youtli, took the command of her, while Allen and his Green 
 ^lountain Boys embarked in the bateaux. 
 
 Arnold outsailed the other craft, and arriving at St. John's, 
 surprised and made prisoners of a sergeant and twelve men ; 
 captured a king's sloop of seventy tons, with two brass six- 
 pounders and seven men ; took four bateaux, destroyed several 
 others, and then, learning that troops were on the way from 
 Montreal and Chamblee, spread all his sails to a favoring 
 breeze, and swept up the lake with his prizes and prisoners, 
 and some valuable stores, which he had secured. 
 
 He had not sailed far when he met Ethan Allen and the 
 bateaux. Salutes were exchanged ; cannon on one side, mus- 
 ketry on the other. Allen boarded the sloop, learnt from Ar- 
 nold the particulars of his success, and determined to push on, 
 take possession of St. John's and garrison it with one hundred 
 of his Green Mountain Boys. He was foiled in the attempt by 
 the superior force which had arrived ; so he returned to his sta- 
 tion at Ticonderoga. 
 
 Thus a partisan band, unpracticed in the art of war, had, by 
 a series of daring exploits, and almost without the loss of a man, 
 won for the patriots the command of Lakes George and Cham- 
 plain, and thrown open the great highway to Canada, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 SECOND SESSION OF CONGRESS. JOHN HANCOCK. PETITION TO 
 
 THE KING. FEDERAL UNION. MILITARY MEASURES. DE- 
 BATES ABOUT THE ARMY. QUESTION AS TO COMMANDER-IN- 
 CHIEF. APPOINTMENT OF WASHINGTON. OTHER APPOINT- 
 MENTS. LETTERS OF WASHINGTON TO HIS WIFE AND BROTHER. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 
 
 The second General Congress assembled at Philadelphia on 
 the 10th of May. Peyton Randolph was again elected as presi- 
 dent; but being obliged to return, and occupy his place as 
 Speaker of the Virginia Assembly, John Hancock, of Massa- 
 chusetts, was elevated to the chair. 
 
272 I^IFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 A lingering feeling of attachment to the mother country, 
 struggling with the growing spirit of self-government, was 
 manifested in the proceedings of this remarkable body. Many 
 of those most active in vindicating colonial rights, and Wash- 
 ington among the number, still indulged the hope of an event- 
 ual reconciliation, while few entertained, or at least avowed, the 
 idea of complete independence. 
 
 A second "humble and dutiful" petition to the king was 
 moved, but met with strong opposition. John Adams condemned 
 it as an imbecile measure, calculated to embarrass the proceed- 
 ings of Congress. He was for prompt and vigorous action. 
 Other members concurred with him. Indeed, the measure 
 itself seemed but a mere form, intended to reconcile the half- 
 scrupulous ; for subsequently, when it was carried. Congress, in 
 face of it, went on to assume and exercise the powers of a sover- 
 eign authority. A federal union was formed, leaving to each 
 colony the right of regulating its internal affairs according to 
 its own individual constitution, but vesting in Congress the 
 power of making peace or war ; of entering into treaties and 
 alliances ; of regulating general commerce ; in a word, of legis- 
 lating on all such matters as regarded the security and welfare 
 of the whole community. 
 
 The executive power was to be vested in a council of twelve, 
 chosen by Congress from among its own members, and to hold 
 office for a limited time. Such colonies as had not sent dele- 
 gates to Congress, might yet become members of the confeder- 
 acy by agreeing to its conditions. Georgia, which had hitherto 
 hesitated, soon joined the league, which thus extended from 
 Nova Scotia to Florida. 
 
 Congress lost no time in exercising their federated powers. 
 In virtue of them, they ordered the enlistment of troops, the 
 construction of forts in various parts of the colonies, the provi- 
 sion of arms, ammunition, and military stores ; while to defray 
 the expenses of these, and other measures, avowedly of self-de- 
 fense, they authorized the emission of notes to the amount of 
 three millions of dollars, bearing the inscription of "The 
 United colonies ;" the faith of the confederacy being pledged 
 for their redemption. 
 
 A retaliating decree was passed, prohibiting all supplies of 
 provisions to the British fisheries ; and another, declaring the 
 province of Massachusetts Bay absolved from its compact with 
 the crown, by the violation of its charter ; and recommending 
 it to form an internal government for itself. 
 
 The public sense of Washington's military talents and ex- 
 perience was evinced iil his being chairman of all the commit- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 273 
 
 \ tees appointed for military affairs. Most of the rules and regu- 
 \ lations for the army, and the measures for the defense, were 
 \ devised by him. 
 
 V The situation of the New England army, actually besieging 
 poston, became an early and absorbing consideration. It was 
 vithout munitions of war, without arms, clothing, or pay ; in 
 fict, without legislative countenance or encouragement. Unless 
 sanctioned and assisted by Congress, there was danger of its 
 dissolution. If dissolved, how could another be collected ? If 
 dissolved, what would there be to prevent the British from sal- 
 lying out of Boston, and spreading desolation throughout the 
 country ? 
 
 All this was the subject of much discussion out of doors. 
 The disposition to uphold the army was general ; but the diffi- 
 cult question was, who should be commander-in-chief ? Adams, 
 in his diary, gives us glimpses of the conflict of opinions and 
 interests within doors. There was the southern party, he said, 
 which could not brook the idea of a New England army, com- 
 manded by a New England general. " Whether this jealousy 
 was sincere," writes he, " or whether it was mere pride, and a 
 haughty ambition of furnishing a southern general to command 
 the northern army, I cannot say ; but the intention was very 
 visible to me, that Colonel Washington was their object ; and 
 so many of our stanchest men were in the plan, that we could 
 carry nothing without conceding to it. There was another em- 
 barrassment, which was never publicly known, and which was 
 carefully concealed by those who knew it : the Massachusetts 
 and other New England delegates were divided. Mr. Hancock 
 and Mr. Gushing hung back ; Mr. Paine did not come forward, 
 and even Mr. Samuel Adams was irresolute. Mr. Hancock 
 himself had an ambition to be appointed commander-in-chief. 
 Whether he thought an election a compliment due to him, and 
 intended to have the honor of declining it, or whether he would 
 have accepted it, I know not. To the compliment, he had some 
 pretentions ; for at that time, his exertions, sacrifices, and gen- 
 eral merits in the cause of his country, had been incomparably 
 greater than those of Colonel Washington. But the delicacy of 
 his health, and his entire want of experience in actual service, 
 though an excellent militia officer, were decisive objections to 
 him in my mind." 
 
 General Charles Lee was at that time in Philadelphia. His 
 former visit had made him well acquainted with the leading 
 members of Congress. The active interest he had manifested 
 in the cause was well known, and the public had an almost ex- 
 travagant idea of his military qualifications. He was of foreign 
 
274 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 birth, however, and it was deemed improper to confide the SU' 
 preme command to any but a native-born American. In fact, 
 if he was sincere in what we have quoted from his letter to 
 Burke, he did not aspire to such a signal mark of confidence. 
 
 The opinion evidently inclined in favor of Washington ; yefc 
 it was promoted by no clique of partisans or admirers. More 
 than one of the Virginia delegates, says Adams, were cool en 
 the subject of this appointment ; and particularly, Mr. Pendle- 
 ton was clear and full against it. It is scarcely necessary to 
 add, that Washington in this, as in every other situation in 
 life, made no step in advance to clutch the impending honor. 
 
 Adams, in his diary, claims the credit of bringing the mem- 
 bers of Congress to a decision. Kising in his place, one day, 
 and stating briefly but earnestly, the exigencies of the case, he 
 moved that Congress should adopt the army at Cambridge, and 
 appoint a general. Though this was not the time to nominate 
 the person, " yet," adds he, "as I had reason to believe this was 
 a point of some difficulty, I had no hesitation to declare, that I 
 had but one gentleman in my mind for that important com- 
 mand, and that was a gentleman from Virginia, who was among 
 us and very well known to all of us ; a gentleman, whose skill 
 and experience as an officer, whose independent fortune and 
 great talents, and excellent universal character would command 
 the approbation of all America, and unite the cordial exertions 
 of all the colonies better than any other person in the Union. 
 Mr. Washington, who happened to sit near the door, as soon as 
 he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into 
 the library room. Mr. .Hancock, who was our president, which 
 gave me an opportunity to observe his countenance, while I was 
 speaking on the state of the colonies, the army at Cambridge, 
 and the enemy, heard me with visible pleasure ; but when I came 
 to describe Washington for the commander, I never remark- 
 ed a more sudden or striking change of countenance. Mortifi- 
 cation and resentment were expressed as forcibly as his face 
 could exhibit them." 
 
 "When the subject came under debate, several delegates op- 
 posed the appointment of Washington ; not from personal af- 
 fections, but because the army were all from New England, and 
 had a general of their own, General Artemas Ward, with whom 
 they appeared well satisfied ; and under whose command they 
 had proved themselves able to imprison the British army in 
 Boston ; which was all that was to be expected or desired." 
 
 The subject was postponed to a future day. In the interim, 
 pains were taken out of doors to obtain a unanimity, and the 
 voices were in general so clearly in favor of Washington, tha,t 
 
LIFE OF WASUINGTOm 275 
 
 the dissentient members were persuaded to withdraw their op- 
 position. 
 
 \ On the 15th of June, the army was regularly adopted by 
 Cpngress, and the pay of the commander-in-chief fixed at five 
 hVndred dollars a month. Many still clung to the idea, that in 
 all these proceedings they were merely opposing the measures 
 of the ministry, and not the authority of the crown, and thus 
 the army before Boston was designated as the Continental 
 Army, in contradistinction to that under General Gage, which 
 was called the Ministerial Army. 
 
 In this stage of the business, Mr. Johnson of Maryland, rose, 
 and nominated Washington for the station of commander-in- 
 chief. The election was by ballot, and was unanimous. It was 
 formally announced to him by the president, on the following 
 day, when he had taken his seat in Congress. Rising in his 
 place, he briefly expressed his high and grateful sense of the 
 honor conferred on him, and his sincere devotion to the cause. 
 " But," added he, " lest some unlucky event should happen un- 
 favorable to my reputation, I beg it may" be remembered by 
 every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare, with the 
 utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command 
 I am honored with. As to pay, I beg leave to assure the 
 Congress that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempt- 
 ed me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my 
 domestic ease and happiness. I do not wish to make any profit 
 of it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those, I 
 doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire." 
 
 " There is something charming to me in the conduct of 
 "Washington," writes Adams to a friend ; " a gentleman of one 
 of the first fortunes upon the continent, leaving his delicious 
 retirement, his family and friends, sacrificing his ease, and 
 hazarding all, in the cause of his country. His views are 
 noble and disinterested. He declared, when he accepted the 
 mighty trust, that he would lay before tIs an exact account of 
 his expenses, and not accept a shilling of pay." 
 
 Four major-generals were to be appointed. Among those 
 specified were General Charles Lee and General Ward. Mr. 
 Mifflin of Philadelphia, who was Lee's especial friend and 
 admirer, urged that he should be second in command. " Gen- 
 eral Lee," said he, " would serve cheerfully under Washington ; 
 but considering his rank, character, and experience, could not 
 be expected to serve under any other. He mustHbe aut secun- 
 diis, aut nullus. 
 
 Adams, on the other hand, as strenuously objected that it 
 would be a great deal to expect that General Ward, who was 
 
276 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 actually in command of the army of Boston, should serve under 
 any man ; hut under a stranger he ought not to serve. Gen- 
 eral Ward, accordingly, was elected the second in command, 
 and Lee the third. The other two major-generals were 
 Philip Schuyler of New York, and Israel Putnam of Con- 
 necticut. Eight brigadier-generals were likewise appointed; 
 Seth Pomeroy, E-ichard Montgomery, David Wooster, Wilham 
 Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and 
 Nathaniel Greene. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Mifflin's objections to having Lee 
 ranked under Ward, as being beneath his dignity and merits, 
 he himself made no scruple to acquiesce ; though, judging 
 from his supercilious character, and from circumstances in his 
 subsequent conduct, he no doubt considered himself vastly 
 superior to the provincial officers placed over him. 
 
 At Washington's express request, his old friend, Major 
 Horatio Gates, then absent at his estate in Virginia, was ap- 
 pointed adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier. 
 
 Adams, according to his own account, was extremely loth to 
 admit Lee or Gates into the American service, although he 
 considered them officers of great experience and confessed 
 abilities. He apprehended difficulties, he said, from the " nat- 
 ural prejudices and virtuous attachment of our countrymen to 
 their own officers." ^^ But," adds he, " considering the earnest 
 desire of General Washington to have the assistance of those 
 officers, the extreme attachment of many of our best friends in 
 the southern colonies to them, the reputation they would give 
 to our arms in Europe, and especially with the ministerial gen- 
 erals and army in Boston, as well as the real American merit of 
 both, I could not withhold my vote from either." 
 
 The reader will possibly call these circumstances to mind 
 when, on a future page, he finds how Lee and Gates requited 
 the friendship to which chiefly they owed their appointments. 
 
 In this momentous,change in his condition, which suddenly 
 altered all his course of life, and called him immediately to the 
 camp, Washington's thoughts recurred to Mount Vernon, and 
 its rural delights, so dear to his heart, whence he was to be 
 again exiled. His chief concern, however, was on account of 
 the distress it might cause to his wife. His letter to her on 
 the subject is written in a tone of manly tenderness. ''You 
 may believe me," writes he, "when I assure you, in the most 
 solemn manner, that, so far from seeking this appointment, I 
 have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only 
 from my unwillingness to part with you and the family, but 
 from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capac- 
 
X/FJE* OF WASHINGTON. 277 
 
 \ity ; and I should enjoy more real liappiness in one month with 
 you at home than I have the most distant prospect of finding 
 ahroad, if my stay were to he seven times seven years. But as 
 it has heen a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this 
 service, I shall hope that my undertaking it is designed to an- 
 swer some good purpose 
 
 " I shall rely confidently on that Providence which has hither- 
 fore preserved, and heen bountiful to me, not doubting but that 
 I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from 
 the toil or danger of the campaign ; my unhappiness will flow 
 from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone. 
 I therefore beg that you will summon your whole fortitude, 
 and pass your time as agreeably as possible. ISTothing will 
 give me so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to 
 hear it from your own pen." 
 
 And to his favorite brother, John Augustine, he writes : " I 
 am now to bid adieu to you, and to every kind of domestic ease, 
 for a while. I am embarked " on a wide ocean, boundless in its 
 prospect, and in which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found. 
 I have been called upon by the unanimous voice of the colonies 
 to take the command of the continental array ; an honor I 
 neither sought after, nor desired, as I am thoroughly convinced 
 that it requires great abilities, and much more experience than 
 I am master of." And subsequently, referring to his wife : 
 " I shall hope that my friends will visit, and endeavor to keep 
 up the spirits of my wife as much as they can, for my departure 
 will, I know, be a cutting stroke upon her ; and on this account 
 alone I have many disagreeable sensations." 
 
 On the 20th of June, he received his commission from the 
 President of Congress. The following day was fixed upon for 
 his departure for the army. He reviewed previously, at the re- 
 quest of their officers, several militia companies of horse and 
 foot. Every one was anxious to see the new commander, and 
 rarely has the public beau ideal of a commander been so fully 
 answered. He was now in the vigor of his days, forty-three 
 years of age, stately in person, noble in his demeanor, calm and 
 dignified in his deportment ; as he sat his horse, with nianl}' 
 grace, his military presence delighted every eye, and wherever 
 he went the air rang with acclamations. 
 
278 T-IFE OF WASHINGTOl^. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL. 
 
 MORE TROOPS ARRIVE AT BOSTON. GENERALS HOWE, BUR- 
 
 GOYNE, AND CLINTON. PROCLAMATION OF GAGE. NATURE 
 
 OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. SCORNFUL CONDUCT OF THE 
 
 BRITISH OFFICERS. PROJECT OF THE AMERICANS TO SEIZE 
 
 UPON breed's hill. — Putnam's opinion of it.— sanctioned 
 
 BY PRESCOTT. NOCTURNAL MARCH OF THE DETACHMENT.— 
 
 FORTIFYING OF BUNKER's HILL. BREAK OF DAY, AND AS^ 
 
 TONISHMENT OF THE ENEMY. 
 
 While Congress had been deliberating on the adoption of 
 the army, and the nomination of a commander-in-chief, events 
 had been thickening and drawing to a crisis in the excited 
 region about Boston. The provincial troops which blockaded the 
 town prevented supplies by land, the neighboring country re- 
 fused to furnish them by water ; fresh provisions and vegetables 
 were no longer to be procured, and Boston began to experience 
 the privations of a besieged city. 
 
 On the 25th of May, arrived ships of war and transports 
 from England, bringing large reinforcements, under Generals 
 Howe, Burgoyne, and Henry Clinton, commanders of high rep- 
 utation. 
 
 As the ships entered the harbor, and the " rebel camp " was 
 pointed out, — ^ten thousand yeomanry beleaguering a town gar- 
 risoned by five thousand regulars, — Burgoyne could not re- 
 strain a burst of surprise and scorn. " What ! " cried he, " ten 
 thousand peasants keep five thousand king's troops shut up ! 
 Well, let us get in, and we'll soon find elbow-room." 
 
 Inspirited by these reinforcements. General Gage deter- 
 mined to take the field. Previously, however in conformity to' 
 instructions from Lord Dartmouth, the head of the war depart- 
 ment, he issued a proclamation (12th June), putting the prov- 
 ince under martial law, threatening to treat as rebels and trai- 
 tors all malcontents who should continue under arms, together 
 with their aiders and abettors ; but offering pardon to all who 
 should lay down their arms, and return to their allegiance. 
 Erom this proffered amnesty, however, John Hancock and Sam- 
 uel Adams were especially excepted ; their offenses being pro- 
 nounced too "flagitious not to meet with condign punish- 
 ment." 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 279 
 
 This proclamation only served to put the patriots on the alert 
 against such measures as might he expected to follow, and of 
 which their friends in Boston stood ready to apprise them. The 
 besieging force, in the meantime, was daily augmented by re- 
 cruits and volunteers, and now amounted to about fifteen thou- 
 sand men distributed at various points. Its character and or- 
 ganization were peculiar. As has well been observed, it could 
 not be called a national army, for, as yet, there was no nation 
 to own it ; it was not under the authority of the Continental 
 Congress, the act of that body recognizing it not having as yet 
 been passed, and the authority of that body itself not having 
 been acknowledged. It was, in fact, a fortuitous assemblage of 
 four distinct bodies of troops, belonging to different provinces, 
 and each having a leader of its own election. About ten thou- 
 sand belonged to Massachusetts, and were under the command 
 of General Artemas Ward, whose head-quarters were at Cam- 
 bridge. Another body of troops, under Colonel John Stark, al- 
 ready mentioned, came from New Hampshire. Rhode Island 
 furnished a third, under the command of General Nathaniel 
 Greene. A fourth was from Connecticut, under the veteran 
 Putnam. 
 
 These bodies of troops, being from different colonies, were 
 independent of each other, and had their several commanders. 
 Those from New Hampshire were instructed to obey General 
 Ward as commander-in-chief ; with the rest it was a voluntary 
 act, rendered in consideration of his being military chief of 
 Massachusetts, the province which, as allies, they came to de- 
 fend. There was, in fact, but little organization in the army. 
 Nothing kept it together, and gave it unity of action, but a 
 common feeling of exasperated patriotism. 
 
 The troops knew but little of military discipline. Almost 
 all were familiar with the use of fire-arms in hunting and fowl- 
 ing ; -many had served in frontier campaigns against the French, 
 and in " bush-fighting " with the Indians ; but none were ac- 
 quainted with regular service or the discipline of European 
 armies. There was a regiment of artillery, partly organized by 
 Colonel Gridley, a skillful engineer, and furnished with nine 
 field-pieces ; but the greater part of the troops were without 
 military dress or accoutrements ; most of them were hasty 
 levies of yeomanry, some of whom had seized their rifles and 
 fowling-pieces, and turned out in their working-clothes and 
 homespun country garbs. It was an army of volunteers, sub- 
 bordinate through inclination and respect to officers of their 
 own choice, and depending for sustenance on supplies sent from 
 their several town. 
 
280 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Such was the army spread over an extent of ten or twelve 
 miles, and keeping watch upon the town of Boston, containing 
 at that time a population of seventeen thousand souls, and gar- 
 risoned with more than ten thousand British troops, disciplined 
 and experienced in the wars of Europe. 
 
 In the disposition of these forces, General Ward had stationed 
 himself at Cambridge, with the main body of about nine thou- 
 sand men and four companies of artillery. Lieutenant-general 
 Thomas, second in command, was posted with five thousand 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Khode Island troops, and three 
 or four companies of artillery, at Boxbury and Dorchester, 
 forming the right wing of the army ; while the left, composed 
 in a great measure of New Hampshire troops, stretched through 
 Medford to the hills of Chelsea. 
 
 It was a great annoyance to the British officers and soldiers, 
 to be thus hemmed in by what they termed a rustic rout with 
 calico frocks and fowling-pieces. The same scornful and taunt- 
 ing spirit prevailed among them, that the cavaliers^ of yore in- 
 dulged toward the Covenanters. Considering Episcopacy as the 
 only loyal and royal faith, they insulted and desecrated 
 the " sectarian " places of worship. One was turned into 
 a riding-school for the cavalry, and the fire in the stove was 
 kindled with books from the library of its pastor. The provin- 
 cials retaliated by turning the Episcopal church at Cambridge 
 into a barrack, and melting down its organ-pipes into bullets. 
 
 Both parties panted for action ; the British though impa- 
 tient of their humiliating position, and eagerness to chastise 
 w^hat they considered the presumption of their besiegers ; the 
 provincials through enthusiasm in their cause, a thirst for enter- 
 prise and exploit, and, it must be added, an unconsciousness of 
 their own military deficiencies. 
 
 We have already mentioned the peninsula of Charlestown 
 (called from a village of the same name), which lies opposite to 
 the north side of Boston. The heights, which swell up in rear 
 of the village, overlook the town and shipping. The project 
 was conceived in the besieging camp to seize and occupy those 
 heights. A council of ' war was held upon the subject. The 
 arguments in favor o f the attempt were, that the army was 
 anxious to be employed ; that the country was dissatisfied at 
 its inactivity, and that the enemy might thus be drawn out to 
 ground where they might be fought to advantage. General 
 Putnam was one of the most strenuous in favor of the measure. 
 
 Some of the more wary and judicious, among whom were 
 General Ward and Dr. Warren, doubted the expediency of in- 
 trenching themselves on those heights, and the possibility of 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 281 
 
 maintaining so exposed a post, scajitily furnished, as they were, 
 with ordnance and ammunition. Besides, it might bring on a 
 general engagement, which it was not safe to risk. 
 
 Putnam made light of the danger. He was confident of the 
 bravery of the militia if intrenched, having seen it tried in the 
 old French war. ^^ The Americans," said he, " are never afraid 
 of their heads ; they are only afraid of their legs ; shelter them, 
 and they'll fight forever." He was seconded by General Pome- 
 roy, a leader of like stamp, and another veteran of the French 
 war. He had been a hunter in his time ; a dead shot with the 
 rifle, and was ready to lead troops against the enemy, "with 
 five cartridges to a man." 
 
 The daring counsels of such men are always captivating to 
 the inexperienced; but in the present instance they were sanc- 
 tioned by one whose opinion in such matters, and in this vicinity, 
 possessed peculiar weight. This was Colonel William Prescott, 
 of Pepperell, who commanded a regiment of minute men. He, 
 too, had seen service in the French war, and acquired reputa- 
 tion as a lieutenant of infantry at the capture of Cape Breton. 
 This was sufiicient to constitute him an oracle in the present 
 instance. He was now about fifty years of age, tall and com- 
 manding in his appearance, and retaining the port of a soldier. 
 What was more, he had a military garb, being equipped with a 
 three-cornered hat, a top wig, and a single-breasted blue coat, 
 with facings, and lapped up at the skirts. All this served to 
 give him consequence among the rustic militia officers with 
 whom he was in council. 
 
 His opinion, probably, settled the question, and it tras deter- 
 mhied to seize on and fortify Bunker's Hill and Dorchester 
 Heights. In deference, however, to the suggestions of the more 
 cautious, it was agreed to postpone the measure until they were 
 sufficiently supplied with the miunitions of war to be able to 
 maintain the heights when seized. 
 
 Secret intelligence hurried forward the project. General 
 Gage, it is said, intended to take possession of Dorchester 
 Heights on the night of the 18th of June. These heights lay 
 on the opposite side of Boston, and the committee were ignorant 
 of their localities. Those on Charlestown Neck, being near at 
 hand, had some time before been reconnoitered by Colonel 
 Richard Gridley, and other of the engineers. It was determined 
 to seize and fortify these heights on the night of Friday, the 
 16th of June, in anticipation of the movement of General Gage. 
 Troops were drafted for the purpose from the Massachusetts 
 regiments of Colonels Prescott, Frye, and Bridges. There was 
 also a fatigue party of about two hundred men from Putnam's 
 
282 LIFE OF WASRINGTON.' 
 
 Connecticut troops, led by his favorite officer, Captain Knowl- 
 ton, together with a company of forty-nine artillery men, with 
 two field pieces, commanded by Captain Samuel Cridley. 
 
 A little before sunset the troops, about twelve hundred in 
 all, assembled on the common, in front of G-eneral Ward's 
 quarters. They cam^ provided with packs, blankets, and pro- 
 visions for four-and-twenty hours, but ignorant of the object of 
 the expedition. Being all paraded, prayers were offered up by 
 the reverend President Langdon of Harvard College, after 
 which they all set forward on their silent march. 
 
 Colonel Prescott, from his experience in military matters, 
 and his being an officer in the Massachusetts line, had been 
 chosen by General Ward to conduct the enterprise. His 
 written orders were to fortify Bunker's Hill, and defend the 
 works until he should be relieved. Colonel Bichard Gridley, 
 the chief engineer, who had likewise served in the French war, 
 was to acconrpany him and plan the fortifications. It was un- 
 derstood that reinforcements and refreshments would be sent to 
 the fatigue party in the morning. 
 
 The detachment left Cambridge about nine o'clock. Colonel 
 Prescott taking the lead, preceded by two sergeants with dark 
 lanterns. At Charlestown Neck they were joined by Major 
 Brooks, of Bridges' regiment, and General Putnam ; and here 
 were the wagons laden with intrenching tools, which first gave 
 the men an indication of the enterprise. 
 
 Charlestown Neck is a narrow isthmus, connecting the 
 peninsula with the main land ; having the Mystic E-iver, about 
 half a mile wide, on the north, and a large embayment of 
 Charles Biver on the south or right side. 
 
 It was now necessary to proceed with the utmost caution, for 
 they were coming on ground over which the British kept 
 jealous watch. They had erected a battery at Boston on Copp's 
 Hill, immediately opposite to Charlestown. Pive of their 
 vessels of war were stationed so as to bear upon the peninsula 
 from different directions, and the guns of one of them swept 
 the isthmus, or narrow neck just mentioned. 
 
 Across this isthmus Colonel Prescott conducted the detach- 
 ment undiscovered, and uj) the ascent of Bunker's Hill. This 
 commences at the Neck and slopes up for about three hundred 
 yards to its summit, which is about one hundred and twelve 
 feet high. It then declines toward the south, and is connected 
 by a ridge with Breed's Hill about sixty or seventy feet high. 
 The crests of the two hills are about seven hundred yards apart. 
 
 On attaining the heights, a question rose which of the two 
 they should proceed to fortify. Bunker's Hill was specified in 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 283 
 
 the written orders given to Colonel Prescott by General Ward 
 but Breed's Hill was much nearer to Boston, and had a better com- 
 mand of the town and shipping. Bunker's Hill, also, being on 
 the upper and narrower part of the peninsula, was itself com- 
 manded by the same ship which raked the Neck. Putnam was 
 clear for commencing the principal work there, while a minor 
 work might be thrown up at Bunker's Hill, as a protection in 
 the rear, and a rallying point, in case of being driven out of 
 the main work. Others concurred with this opinion, yet there 
 was a hesitation in deviating from the letter of their orders. At 
 length Colonel Gridley became impatient ; the night was wan- 
 ing ; delay might prostrate the whole enterprise. Breed's Hill 
 was then determined on. Gridley marked out the lines for 
 the fortifications ; the men stacked their guns ; threw off their 
 packs ; seized their trenching tools, and set to work with great 
 spirit ; but so much time had been wasted in discussion, that it 
 was midnight before they struck the first spade into the 
 ground. 
 
 Prescott, who felt the responsibility of his charge, almost 
 despaired of carrying on these operations undiscovered. A 
 party was sent out by him silently to patrol the shore at the 
 foot of the heights, and watch for any movement of the enemy. 
 Not willing to trust entirely to the vigilance of others, he twice 
 went down during the night to the water's edge — reconnoiter- 
 ing everything scrupulously, and noting every sight and sound. 
 It was a warm, still, summer's night ; the stars shone brightly, 
 but everything was quiet. Boston was buried in sleep. The 
 sentry's cry of " All's well '' could be heard distinctly from its 
 shores, together with the drowsy calling of the watch on board 
 of the ships of war, and then all would relapse into silence. 
 Satisfied that the enemy were perfectly unconscious of what 
 was going on upon the hill, he returned to the works, and a 
 little before daybreak called in the patrolling party. 
 
 So spiritedly, though silently, had the labor been carried on, 
 that by morning a strong redoubt was thrown up as a main 
 work, flanked on the left by a breastwork, partly cannon-proof, 
 extending down the crest of Breed's Hill to a piece of marshy 
 ground called the Slough. To support the right of the redoubt, 
 some troops were thrown into the village of Charlestown, at the 
 southern foot of the hill. The great object of Prescott's solic- 
 itude was now attained, a sufficient bulwark to screen his men 
 before they should be discovered ; for he doubted the possibility 
 of keeping raw recruits to their post, if openly exposed to the 
 fire of artillery, and the attack of disciplined troops. 
 
 At dawn of day^ the Americans at work were espied by the 
 
284 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 sailors on board of the ships of war, and the alarm was given. 
 The captain of the Lively, the nearest ship, without waiting 
 for orders, put a spring upon her cable, and bringing her guns 
 to bear, opened a fire upon the hill. The other ships and a 
 floating battery followed his example. Their shot did no mis- 
 chief to the works, but one man, among a number who had in- 
 cautiously ventured outside, was killed. A subaltern reported 
 his death to Colonel Prescott, and asked what was to be done. 
 " Bury him," was the reply. The chaplain gathered some of 
 his military flock around him, and was proceeding to perform 
 suitable obsequies over the " first martyr," but Prescott ordered 
 that the men should disperse to their work, and the deceased be 
 buried immediately. It seemed shocking to men accustomed 
 to the funeral solemnities of peaceful life to bury a man with- 
 prayers, but Prescott saw that the sight of this man suddenly 
 shot down had agitated the nerves of his comrades, unaccus- 
 tomed to scenes of war. Some of them, in fact, quietly left the 
 hill, and did not return to it. 
 
 To inspire confidence by example, Prescott now mounted the 
 parapet, and walked leisurely about, inspecting the works,- giv- 
 ing directions, and talking cheerfully with the men. In a 
 little while they got over their dread of cannon-balls, and some 
 even made them a subject of joke, or rather bravado — a species 
 of sham courage occasionally manifested by young soldiers, but 
 never by veterans. 
 
 The cannonading roused the town of Boston. General Gage 
 could scarcely believe his eyes when he beheld on the opposite 
 hill a fortification full of men, which had sprung up in the 
 course of the night. As he reconnoitered it through a glass 
 from Copp's Hill, the tall figure of Prescott, in military garb, 
 walking the parapet, caught his eye. " Who is that oflicer who 
 appears in command ? " asked he. The question was answered 
 by Counselor Willard, Prescott's brother-in-law, who was at 
 hand, and recognized his relative. " Will he fight ? " demanded 
 Gage, quickly. " Yes, sir ! " he is an old soldier, and will fight 
 to the last drop of blood ; but I cannot answer for his men." 
 
 " The works must be carried ! " exclaimed Gage. 
 
 He called a council of war. The Americans might intend to 
 cannonade Boston from this new fortification ; it was unani- 
 mously resolved to dislodge them. How was this to be done ? 
 A majority of the council, including Clinton and Grant, advised 
 that a force should be landed on Charlestown neck, under the 
 protection of their batteries, so as to attack the Americans in 
 rear, and cut off their retreat. General Gage objected that it 
 ^ould place his troops between two armies j one at Cambridge, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 285 
 
 superior in numbers, the other on the heights, strongly fortified. 
 He was for landing in front of the works, and pushing directly 
 up the hill ; a plan adopted through a confidence that raw mil- 
 itia would never stand their ground against the assault of vet- 
 eran troops — another instance of undervaluing the American 
 spirit, which was to cost the enemy a lamentable loss of life. 
 
 CHAPTER XLL 
 
 The sound of drum and trumpet, the clatter of hoofs, the 
 rattling of gun-carriages, and all the other military din and 
 bustle in the streets of Boston, soon apprised the Americans on 
 their rudely fortified height of an impending attack. They 
 were ill-fitted to withstand it, being jaded by the night's labor, 
 and want of sleep ; hungry and thirsty, having brought but 
 scanty supplies, and oppressed by the heat of the weather. 
 Prescott sent repeated messages to General Ward, asking re- 
 inforcements and provisions. Putnam seconded the request in 
 person, urging the exigencies of the case. Ward hesitated. 
 He feared to weaken his main body at Cambridge, as his mili- 
 tary stores were deposited there, and it might have to sustain 
 the principal attack. At length, having taken advice of the 
 council of safety, he issued orders for Colonels Stark and Eead, 
 then at Medford, to march to the relief of Prescott with their 
 New Hampshire regiments. The orders reached Medford 
 about 11 o'clock. Ammunition was distributed in all haste ; 
 two flints, a gill of powder, and fifteen balls to each man. The 
 balls had to be suited to the different calibres of the guns ; the 
 powder to be carried in powder-horns, or loose in the pocket, for 
 there were no cartridges prepared. It was the rude turn out of 
 yeomen soldiery destitute of regular accoutrements. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the Americans on Breed's Hill were 
 sustaining the fire from the ships, and from the battery on 
 Copp's Hill, which opened upon them about ten o'clock. They 
 returned an occasional shot from one corner of the redoubt, 
 without much harm to the enemy, and continued strengthening 
 their position until about 11 o'clock, when they ceased to work, 
 piled their intrenching tools in the rear, and looked out anx- 
 iously and impatiently for the anticipated reinforcements an4 
 supplies, 
 
286 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 About this time General Putnam, who had been to head- 
 quarters, arrived at the redoubt on horseback. Some words 
 passed between him and Prescott with regard to the intrench- 
 ing tools, which have been variously reported. The most prob- 
 able version is, that he urged to have them taken from their 
 present place, where they might fall into the hands of the 
 enemy, and carried to Bunker's Hill, to be employed in throw- 
 ing up a redoubt, which was part of the original plan, and 
 which would be very important should the troops be obliged 
 to retreat from Breed's Hill. To this Prescott demurred that 
 those employed to convey them, and who were already jaded 
 with toil, might not return to his redoubt. A large part of the 
 tools were ultimately carried to Bunker's Hill, and a breast- 
 work commenced by order of General Putnam. The impor- 
 tance of such a work was afterwards made apparent. 
 
 About noon the Americans descried twenty-eight barges 
 crossing from Boston in parallel lines. They contained a large 
 detachment of grenadiers, rangers, and light infantry, admir- 
 ably equipped, and commanded by Major-general Howe. They 
 made a splendid and formidable appearance with their scarlet 
 uniforms, and the sun flashing upon muskets and bayonets, and 
 brass field-pieces. A heavy fire from the ships and batteries 
 covered their advance, but no attempt was made to oppose 
 them, and they landed about 1 o'clock at Moulton's Point a 
 little to the north of Breed's Hill. 
 
 Here General Howe made a pause. On reconnoitering the 
 works from this point, the Americans appeared to be much 
 more strongly posted than he had imagined. He descried 
 troops also hastening to their assistance. These were the New 
 Hampshire troops, led on by Stark. Howe immediately sent 
 over to General Gage for more forces, and a supply of cannon- 
 balls ; those brought by him being found, through some egre- 
 gious oversight, too large for the ordnance. While awaiting 
 their arrival, refreshments were served out to the troops, with 
 " grog " by the bucketful ; and tantalizing it was, to the hungry 
 and thirsty provincials, to look down from their ramparts of 
 earth, and see their invaders seated in groups upon the grass 
 eating and drinking, and preparing themselves by a hearty 
 meal for the coming encounter. Their only consolation was to 
 take advantage of the delay, while the enemy were carousing, 
 to strengthen their position. The breastwork on the left of 
 the redoubt extended to what was called the Slough, but be- 
 yond this, the ridge of the hill, and the slope toward Mystic, 
 River, were undefended, leaving a pass by which the enemy 
 plight turn the'leftfl^nk of the position and seize upon Bunker'^ 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 2ST 
 
 Hiil. Putnam ordered his cliosen officer, Captain Knowlton, 
 to cover this pass with the Connecticut troops under his com- 
 mand. A novel kind of rampart, savoring of rural device, was 
 suggested by the rustic general. About six hundred feet in 
 the rear of the redoubt, and about one hundred feet to the left 
 of the breastwork, was a post-and-rail fence, set in a low foot- 
 wall of stone, and extending down to Mystic E/iver. The posts 
 and rails of another fence were hastily pulled up, and set a 
 few feet in behind this, and the intermediate space was filled 
 up with new-mown hay from the adjacent meadows. This 
 double fence, it will be found, proved an important protection 
 to the redoubt, although there still remained an unprotected 
 interval of about seven hundred feet. 
 
 While Knowlton and his men were putting up this fence, 
 Putnam proceeded with other of his troops to throw up the 
 work on Bunker's Hill, despatching his son Captain Putnam, 
 on horseback, to hurry up the remainder of his men from 
 Cambridge. By this time his compeer in Prench and Indian 
 warfare, the veteran Stark, made his appearance with the New 
 Hampshire troops, five hundred strong. He had grown cool 
 and wary with age, and his march from Medford, a distance of 
 five or six miles, had been in character. He led his men at a 
 moderate pace, to bring them into action fresh and vigorous. 
 In crossing the Neck, which was enfiladed by the enemy's ships 
 and batteries. Captain Dearborn, who was by his side, suggested 
 a quick step. The veteran shook his head : " One fresh man 
 in action is worth ten tired ones," replied he, and marched 
 steadily on. 
 
 Putman detained some of Stark's men to aid in throwing up 
 the work on Bunker's Hill, and directed him to reinforce 
 Knowlton with the rest. Stark made a short speech to his men, 
 now that they were likely to have warm work. He then pushed 
 on, and did good service that day at the rustic bulwark. 
 
 About two o'clock Warren arrived on the heights, ready to 
 engage in their perilous defense, although he had opposed the 
 scheme of their occupation. He had recently been elected a 
 major-general, but had not received his commission ; like Pom- 
 eroy, he came to serve in the ranks with a musket on his shoulder. 
 Putnam offered him the command at the fence ; he declined it, 
 and merely asked where he could be of most service as a volunteer. 
 Putman pointed to the redoubt, observing that there he would 
 be under cover. " Don't think I seek a place of safety," replied 
 Warren, quickly ; " where will the attack be hottest ! " Putnam 
 still pointed to the redoubt. "That is the enemy's object j if 
 that can be maintained, the day is ours." 
 
288 LIFE OF WASBINGTOlf. 
 
 Warren was cheered by the troops as he entered the redouht. 
 Colonel Prescott tendered him the command. He again declined. 
 ^- 1 have come to serve only as a volunteer, and shall he happy 
 to learn from a soldier of your experience." Such were the 
 noble spirits assembled on these perilous heights. 
 
 The British now prepared for a general assault. An easy 
 victory was anticipated : the main thought was, how to make it 
 most effectual. The left wing, commanded by General Pigot, 
 was to mount the hill and force the redoubt ; while General 
 Howe, with the right wing, was to push on between the fort 
 and Mystic E-iver, turn the left flank of the Americans, and cut 
 off their retreat. 
 
 General Pigot, accordingly, advanced up the hill under cover 
 of a fire from field-pieces and howitzers planted on a small height 
 near the landing-place on Moulton's Point. His troops com- 
 menced a discharge of musketry while yet at a long distance 
 from the redoubts. The Americans within the works, obedient 
 to strict command, retained their fire until the enemy were with- 
 in thirty or forty paces, when they opened upon them with a 
 tremendous volley. Being all marksmen, accustomed to take 
 deliberate aim, the slaughter was immense, and especially fatal 
 to officers. The assailants fell back in some confusion ; but, 
 rallied on by their officers, advanced within pistol shot. Another 
 volley, more effective than the first, made them again recoil. 
 To add to their confusion, they were galled by a flanking fire 
 from the handful of provincials posted in Charleston. Shocked 
 at the carnage, and seeing the confusion of his troops. General 
 Pigot was urged to give the word for a retreat. 
 
 In the meantime. General Howe, with the right wing, ad- 
 vanced along Mystic E-iver toward the fence where Stark, Read, 
 and Knowlton were stationed, thinking to carry this slight 
 breastwork with ease, and so get in the rear of the fortress. 
 His artillery proved of little avail, being stopped by a swampy 
 piece of ground, while his columns suffered from two or three 
 field-pieces with which Putnam had fortified the fence. Howe's 
 men kept up a fire of musketry as they advanced ; but, not 
 taking aim, their shot passed over the heads of the Americans. 
 The latter had received the same orders with those in the re- 
 doubt, not to fire until the enemy should be within thirty paces. 
 Some few transgressed the command. Putnam rode up and 
 swore he would cut down the next man that fired contrary to 
 orders. When the British arrived within the stated distance a 
 sheeted fire opened upon them from rifles, muskets, and fowling- 
 pieces, all leveled with deadly aim. The carnage, as in the 
 other instance, was horrible. The British were thrown into 
 confusion and fell back 3 some even retreated to the boats. 
 
LIFE OM' WASHINGTON. ,^9,0 
 
 There was a general pause on the part of the British. The 
 American officers availed themselves of it to prepare for another 
 attack, which must soon be made. Prescott mingled among his 
 men in the redoubt, who were all in high spirits at the severe 
 check they had given '■' the regulars." lie praised them for their 
 steadfastness in maintaining their post, and their good conduct 
 in reserving their fire until the word of command, and exhorted 
 them to do the same in the next attack. 
 
 Putnam rode about Bunker's Hill and its skirts, to rally and 
 bring on reinforcements which had been checked or scattered 
 in crossing Charlestown Neck by the raking fire from the ships 
 and batteries. Before many could be brought to the scene of 
 action the British had commenced their second attack. They 
 again ascended the hill to storm the redoubt ; their advance 
 was covered as before by discharges of artillery. Charlestown, 
 which had annoyed them on their first attack by a flanking fire, 
 was in flames, by shells thrown from Copp's Hill, and by 
 marines from the ships. Being built of wood, the place was 
 soon wrapped in a general conflagration. The thunder of artil- 
 lery from batteries and ships, the bursting of bomb-shells, the 
 sharp discharges of musketry ; the shouts and yells of the com- 
 batants ; the crash of burning buildings, and the dense vol- 
 umes of smoke, which obscured the summer sun, all formed a 
 tremendous spectacle. " Sure I am," said Burgoyne in one of 
 his letters, — " Sure I am nothing ever has or ever can be mpre 
 dreadfully terrible than what was to be seen or heard at this 
 time. The most incessant discharge of guns that ever was 
 heard by mortal ears." 
 
 The American troops, although unused to war, stood undis- 
 mayed amidst a scene where it was bursting upon them with all 
 its horrors. * Reserving their fire, as before, until the enemy was 
 close at hand, they again poured forth repeated volleys with the 
 fatal aim of sharp-shooters. The British stood the first shock, 
 and continued to advance ; but the incessant stream of fire stag- 
 gered them. Their officers remonstrated, threatened, and even 
 attempted to goad them on with their swords, but the havoc 
 was too deadly ; whole ranks were mowed down ; many of the 
 officers were either slain or wounded, and among them several 
 of the staff of General Howe. The troops again gave way and 
 retreated down the hill. 
 
 All this passed under the eye of thousands of spectators of 
 both sexes and all ages, watching from afar every turn of a 
 battle in which the lives of those most dear to them were at 
 hazard. The British soldiery in Boston gazed with astonish- 
 ment and almost incredulity at the resolute and protracted 
 
S90 LiFi: OF WASHINGTON 
 
 stand of raw militia whom they had been taught to despise, and 
 at the havoc made among their own veteran troops. Every 
 convoy of wounded brought over to the town increased their 
 consternation ; and General Clinton, who had watched the action 
 from Gopp's Hill, embarking in a boat, hurried over as a volun- 
 teer, taking with him reinforcements. 
 
 A third attack was now determined on, though some of Howe's 
 officers remonstrated, declaring it would be downright butchery. 
 A different plan was adopted.- Instead of advancing in front 
 of the redoubt, it was to be taken in flank on the left, where 
 the open space between the breastwork and the fortified fence 
 presented a weak point. It having been accidentally discovered 
 that the ammunition of the Americans was nearly expended, 
 preparations were made to carry the works at the point of the 
 bayonet ; and the soldiery threw off their knapsacks, and some 
 even their coats, to be more light for action. 
 
 General Howe, with the main body, now made a feint of at- 
 tacking the fortified fence ; but, while a part of his force was 
 thus engaged, the rest brought some of the field-pieces to en- 
 filade the breastwork on the left of the redoubt. A raking fire 
 soon drove the Americans out of this exposed place into the in- 
 closure. Much damage, too, was done in the latter by balls 
 which entered the sally-port. 
 
 The troops were now led on to assail the works ; those who 
 flinched were, as before, goaded on by the swords of the officers. 
 The Americans again reserved their fire until their assailants 
 were close at hand, and then made a murderous volley, by 
 which several officers were laid low, and General Howe himself 
 was wounded in the foot. The British soldiery this time like- 
 wise reserved their fire and rushed on with fixed bayonets. 
 Clinton and Pigot had reached the southern and eastern sides 
 of the redoubt, and it was now assailed on three sides at once. 
 Prescott ordered those who had no bayonets to retire to' the back 
 part of the redoubt and fire on the enemy as they showed them- 
 selves above the parapet. The first who mounted exclaimed in 
 triumph, " The day is ours ! " He was instantly shot down, 
 and so were several others who mounted at the same time. 
 The Americans, however, had fired their last round, their am- 
 munition was exhausted ; and now succeeded a desperate and 
 deadly struggle, hand to hand, with bayonets, stones, and the 
 stocks of their muskets. At length, as the British continued 
 to pour in, Prescott gave the order to retreat. His men had to 
 cut their way through two divisions of the enemy who were get- 
 ting in rear of the redoubt, and they received a destructive 
 volley from those who had formed on the captured works. By 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 291 
 
 that volley fell tlie patriot Warren, who had distinguished him- 
 self throughout the action. He was among the last to leave the 
 redoubt, and had scarce done so when he was shot through the 
 head with a musket-ball, and fell dead on the spot. 
 
 While the Americans were thus slowly dislodged from the 
 redoubt, Stark, Read, and Knowlton maintained their ground 
 at the fortified fence ; which, indeed, had been nobly defended 
 throughout the action. Pomeroy distinguished himself here 
 by his sharpshooting until his musket was shattered by a ball. 
 The resistance at this hastily constructed work was kept up 
 after the troops in the redoubt had given way, and until Colonel 
 Prescott had left the hill ; thus defeating General Howe's design 
 of cutting off the retreat of the main body, which would have 
 2)roduced a scene of direful confusion and slaughter. Having 
 effected their purpose, the brave associates at the fence abandon- 
 ed their weak outpost, retiring slowly, and disputing the ground 
 inch by inch, with a regularity remarkable in troops many of 
 whom had never before been in action. 
 
 The main retreat was across Bunker's Hill, where Putnam 
 had endeavored to throw up a breastwork. The veteran, sword 
 in hand, rode to the rear of the retreating troops, regardless of 
 the balls whistling about him. His only thought was to rally 
 them at the unfinished works. " Halt ! make a stand there ! " 
 cried he, we can check them yet. In God's name form and give 
 them one shot more." 
 
 Pomeroy, wielding his shattered musket as a truncheon, sec- 
 onded him in his efforts to stay the torrent. It was impossible, 
 however, to bring the troops to a stand. They continued on 
 down the hill to the Neck, and across it to Cambridge, exposed 
 to a raking fire from the ships and batteries, and only protected 
 by a single piece of ordnance. The British were too exhausted 
 to pursue them ; they contented themselves with taking pos- 
 session of Bunker's Hill, were reinforced from Boston, and 
 threw up additional works during the night. 
 
 We have collected the preceding facts from various sources, 
 examining them carefully, and endeavoring to arrange them 
 with scrupulous fidelity. We may appear to have been more 
 minute in the account of the battle than the number of troops 
 engaged would warrant ; but it was one of the most momentous 
 conflicts in our Revolutionary history. It was the first regular 
 battle between the British and the Americans, and most event- 
 ful in its consequences. The former had gained the ground 
 for which they contended ; but, if a victory, it was more dis- 
 astrous and humiliating to them than an ordinary defeat. They 
 had ridiculed and despised their enemy, representing them as 
 
292 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 dastardly and inefficient ; yet here their best troops, led on hy 
 experienced officers, had repeatedly been repulsed, by an in- 
 ferior force of that enem}^, — mere yeomanry, — from works 
 thrown up in a single night, and had suffered a loss rarely par- 
 alleled in battle with the most veteran soldiery ; for, according 
 to their own returns, their killed and wounded, out of a detach- 
 ment of two thousand men, amounted to one thousand and fifty 
 four, and a large proportion of them officers. The loss of the 
 Americans did not exceed four hundred and fifty. 
 
 To the latter this defeat, if defeat it might be called, had the 
 effect of a triumph. It gave them confidence in themselves 
 and consequence in the eyes of their enemies. They had proved 
 to themselves and to others that they could measure weapons 
 with the disciplined soldiers of Europe, and inflict the most 
 harm in the conflict. 
 
 Among the British officers slain was Major Pitcairn, who, at 
 Lexington, had shed the first blood in the Revolutionary war. 
 
 In the death of Warren the Americans had to lament the loss 
 of a distinguished patriot and a most estimable man. It was 
 deplored as a public calamity. His friend Elbridge Gerry had 
 endeavored to dissuade him from risking his life in this perilous 
 conflict. " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," replied War- 
 ren, as if he had foreseen his fate — a fate to be envied by those 
 ambitious of an honorable fame. He was one of the first who 
 fell in the glorious cause of his country, and his name has be- 
 come consecrated in its history. 
 
 There has been much discussion of the relative merits of the 
 American officers engaged in this affair-^a difficult question 
 where no one appears to have had the general command. Pres- 
 cott conducted the troops in the night enterprise ; he superin- 
 tended the building of the redoubt, and defended it throughout 
 the battle : his name, therefore, will ever shine most conspicuous, 
 and deservedly so, on this bright page of our Kevolutionary his- 
 tory. 
 
 Putnam was also a leading spirit throughout the affair ; one 
 of the first to prompt and of the last to maintain it. He ap- 
 pears to have been active and efficient at every point ; sometimes 
 fortifying ; sometimes hurrying up reinforcements ; inspiriting 
 the men by his presence while they were- able to maintain their 
 ground, and fighting gallantly at the outpost to cover their re- 
 treat. The brave old man, riding about iii the heat of the 
 action, on this sultry day, "with a hanger belted across his 
 brawny shoulders, over a waistcoat without sleeves," has been 
 sneered at by a contemporary, as '^ much fitter to head a band 
 of sickle men or ditchers than musk'^ceers." But this very 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 293 
 
 description illustrates his character, and identifies him with the 
 times and the service. A yeoman warrior fresh from the plough 
 in the garb of rural labor ; a patriot brave and generous, but 
 rough and ready, who thought not of himself in time of danger, 
 but was ready to serve in any way, and to sacrifice official rank 
 and self-glorification to the good of the cause. He was emi- 
 nently a soldier for the occasion. His name has long been a 
 favorite one with young and old, one of the talismanic names of 
 the Revolution, the very mention of which is like the sound of 
 a trumpet. Such names are the precious jewels of our history, 
 to be garnered up among the treasures of the nation, and kept 
 immaculate from the tarnishing breath of the cynic and the 
 doubter. 
 
 Note. — In treating of the battle of Bunker's Hill, and of other occur- 
 rences about Boston at this period of the Eevolution, we have had re- 
 peated occasion to consult the History of the Siege of Boston, by Richard 
 Frothingham, Jr. ; a work abounding with facts as to persons and 
 events, and full of interest for the American reader. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM PHILADELPHIA. ANECDOTES OF GENERAL 
 
 SCHUYLER. OF LEE. TIDINGS OF-BUNKER's HILL. MILI- 
 TARY COUNCILS. POPULATION OF NEW YORK. THE JOHNSON 
 
 FAMILY. GOVERNOR TRYON. ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK. — • 
 
 MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS TO SCHUYLER. ARRIVAL AT THE 
 
 CAMP. 
 
 In a preceding chapter we left Washington preparing to de- 
 
 )art from Philadelphia for the army before Boston. He set out 
 
 m horseback on the 21st of June, having for military com- 
 
 )anions of his journey Major-Generals Lee and Schuyler, and 
 
 )eing accompanied for a distance by several private friends. As 
 
 m escort he had a " gentleman troop " of Philadelphia, com- 
 
 landed by Captain Markoe ; the whole formed a brilliant cav- 
 
 Icade. 
 
 G-eneral Schuyler was a man eminently calculated to sympa- 
 
 lize with Washington in all his patriotic views and feelings, 
 
 id became one of his most faithful coadjutors. Sprung from 
 
 le of the earliest and most respectable Dutch families which 
 
 )lonized Kew York, all his interests and affections were iden- 
 
 ified with the country. He had received a good education ; 
 
 ipplied himself at an early age to the exact sciences, and became 
 
294 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 versed in finance, military engineering, and political economy. 
 He was one of those native-born soldiers who had acquired ex- 
 perience in that American school of arms, the old Erench war. 
 When but twenty-two years of age he commanded a company 
 of New York levies under Sir William Johnson, of Mohawk 
 renown, which gave him an early opportunity of becoming ac- 
 quainted with the Indian tribes, their country and their policy. 
 In 1758 he was in Abercrombie's expedition against Ticonderoga, 
 accompanying Lord Viscount Howe as chief of tlic^ commissariat 
 department ; a post Avell qualified to give him experience in the 
 business part of war. When that gallant young nobleman fell 
 on the banks of Lake George, Schuyler conveyed his corpse 
 back to Albany and attended to his honorable obsequies. Since 
 the close of the French war he had served his country in various 
 civil stations, and been one of the zealous and eloquent vindica- 
 tors of colonial rights. He was one of the " glorious minority " 
 of the New York General Assembly — George Clinton, Colonel 
 Woodhull, Colonel Philip Livingston and others — who, when 
 that body was timid and wavering, battled nobly against British 
 influence and oppression. His last stand had been recently as 
 a delegate to Congress, where he had served with Washington 
 on the committee to prepare rules and regulations for the army, 
 and where the latter had witnessed his judgment, activity, 
 practical science, and sincere devotion to the cause. 
 
 Many things concurred to produce perfect harmony of opera- 
 tion between these distinguished men. They were nearly of 
 the same age, Schuyler being one year the youngest. Both 
 were men of agricultural as well as military tastes. Both were 
 men of property, living at their ease in little rural paradises, — 
 Washington on the grove clad heights of Mount Vernon, Schuy- 
 ler on the pastoral banks of the upper Hudson, where he had 
 a noble estate at Saratoga, inherited from an uncle, and the old 
 family mansion, near the city of Albany, half hid among ances- 
 tral trees. Yet both were exiling themselves from these happy 
 abodes, and putting life and fortune at hazard in the service of 
 their country. _ _ 
 
 Schuyler and Lee had early military recollections to draw 
 them together. Both had served under Abercrombie in the ex- 
 pedition against Ticonderoga. There was some part of Lee's 
 conduct in that expedition which both he and Schuyler might 
 deem it expedient at this moment to forget. Lee was at that 
 time a young captain, naturally presumptuous, and flushed with 
 the arrogance of military power. , On his march along the banks 
 of the Hudson, he acted as if in a conquered country', impressing 
 horses and oxen, and seizing upon supplies, without exhibiting 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 295 
 
 any proper warrant. It was enough for him '^ they were nec- 
 essary for the service of his troops." Should any one question 
 his right, the reply was a volley of execrations. 
 
 Among those who experienced this unsoldierly treatment 
 was Mrs. Schuyler, the aunt of the general, a lady of aristocra- 
 tical, station revered throughout her neighborhood. Her cattle 
 were impressed, herself insulted. She had her revenge. After 
 the unfortunate affair at Ticonderoga, a number of the wounded 
 were broiight down along the Hudson to the Schuyler mansion. 
 Lee was among the number. The high-minded mistress of the 
 house never alluded to his past conduct. He was received, like 
 his brother officers, with the kindest sympathy. Sheets and 
 table-cloths were torn up to serve as bandages. Everything 
 was done to alleviate their sufferings. Lee's cynic heart was 
 conquered. He swore in his vehement manner that he was sure 
 there would be a place reserved for Mrs. Schuyler in heaven, 
 though no other woman should be there, and that he should 
 wish for nothing better than to share her final destiny ! " * 
 
 Seventeen years had since elapsed, and Lee and the nephew 
 of Mrs. Schuyler were again allied in military service, but under 
 a different banner ; and recollections of past times must have 
 given peculiar interest to their present intercourse. In fact, 
 the journe}' of Washington with his associate generals, experi- 
 enced like him in the wild expeditions of the old French war, 
 was a revival of early campaigning feelings. 
 
 The}^ had scarcely proceeded twenty miles from Philadelphia 
 when they were met by a courier, spurring with all speed, bear- 
 ing despatches from the army to Congress, communicating 
 tidings of the battle of Bunker's Hill. Washington eagerly in- 
 quired particulars ; above all, how acted the militia ? When 
 told that they stood their ground bravely ; sustained the enemy's 
 fire ; reserved their own until at close quarters, and then de- 
 livered it with deadly effect ; it seemed as if a weight of doubt 
 and solicitude were lifted from his heart. " The liberties of the 
 country are safe ! " exclaimed he. 
 
 The news of the battle of Bunker's Hill had startled the 
 whole country ; and this clattering cavalcade escorting the com- 
 mander-in-chief to the army, was the gaze and wonder of every 
 town and village. 
 
 The journey may be said to have been a continual council of 
 war between Washington and the two generals. Even the con- 
 trast in character of the two latter made them regard questions 
 from different points of view. Schuyler, a warm-hearted patriot, 
 with everything staked on the cause ; Lee, a soldier of fortune, 
 indifferent to the ties of home and country, drawing his sword 
 
 * Memoirs of an American lady (Mrs. Grant, of Laggan), Vol. ii 
 chap. ix. 
 
296 LIFE OF WASMmOTON. 
 
 without enthusiasm ; more through resentment against a govern- 
 ment which had disappointed him than zeal for liberty or for 
 colonial righjfcs. 
 
 One of the most frequent subjects of conversation was the 
 province of New York. Its power and position rendered it the 
 great link of the confederacy ; what measures were necessary 
 for its defense, and most calculated to secure its adherence to 
 the cause ? A lingering attachment to the crown, kept up by 
 the influence of British merchants, and military and civil 
 functionaries in royal pay, had rendered it slow in coming into 
 the colonial compact ; it was only on the contemptuous dismissal 
 of their statement of grievances, unheard, that its people had 
 thrown off their allegiance, as much in sorrow as in anger. 
 
 No person was better fitted to give an account of the interior 
 of New York than General Schuyler; and the hawk-eyed Lee 
 during a recent sojourn had made its capital somewhat of a 
 study ; but there was much yet for both of them to learn. 
 
 The population of New York was more varied in its elements 
 than that of almost any other of the provinces, and had to be 
 cautiously studied. The New Yorkers were of a mixed origin, 
 and stamped with the peculiarities of their respective ancestors. 
 The descendants of the old Dutch and Huguenot families, the 
 earliest settlers, were still among the soundest and best of the 
 population. They inherited the love of liberty, civil and relig- 
 ious, of their forefathers, and were those who stood foremost in 
 the present struggle for popular rights. Such were the Jays, 
 the Bensons, the Beekmans, the Hoffmans, the Van Homes, 
 the E-oosevelts, the Duyckinks, the Pintards, the Yateses, and 
 others whose names figure in the patriotic documents of the 
 day. Some of them, doubtless, cherished a remembrance of the 
 time when their forefathers were lords of the land, and felt an 
 innate propensity to join in resistance to the government hj 
 which their supremacy had been overturned. A. great propor- 
 tion of the more modern families, dating from the downfall of 
 the Dutch government in 1664, were English and Scotch, and 
 among these were many loyal adherents to the crown. Then 
 there was a mixture of the whole, produced by the intermar- 
 riages of upwards of a century, which partook of every shade of 
 character and sentiment. The operations of foreign commerce 
 and the regular communications with the mother country 
 through packets and ships of war, kept these elements in con- 
 stant action, and contributed to produce that mercurial tempera- 
 ment, that fondness for excitement, and j)roneness to pleasure, 
 which distinguished them from their neighbors on either side 
 • — tlie austere Puritans of New England, and the quiet "Friends" 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 297 
 
 There was a power, too, of a formidable kind witliin tlie in- 
 terior of the province, which was an object of much solicitude. 
 This was the " Johnson Family." We have repeatedly had oc- 
 casion to speak of Sir William Johnson, His Majesty's general 
 agent for Indian affairs : of his great wealth, and his almost 
 sovereign sway over the Six Nations. He had originally re- 
 ceived that appointment through the influence of the Schuyler 
 family. Both Generals Schuyler and Lee, when young men, 
 had campaigned with him ; and it was among the Mohawk war- 
 riors, who rallied under his standard, that Lee had beheld his 
 vaunted models of good breeding. 
 
 In the recent difficulties between the crown and colonies. Sir 
 William had naturally been in favor of the government which 
 had enriched and honored him, but he had viewed with deep 
 concern the acts of Parliament which were goading the colonists 
 to armed resistance. In the height of his solicitude he received 
 despatches ordering him, in case of hostilities, to enlist the 
 Indians in the cause of government. To the agitation of feel- 
 ings produced by these orders many have attributed a stroke of 
 apoplexy, of which he died, on the 11th of July, 1774, about a 
 year before the time of which we are treating. 
 
 His son and heir. Sir John Johnson, and his sons-n-lawi, 
 Colonel Guy Johnson and Colonel Claus, felt none of the reluc- 
 tance of Sir William to use harsh measures in support of roy- 
 alty. They lived in a degree of rude feudal style in stone 
 mansions capable of defense, situated on the Mohawk Kiver 
 and in its vicinity ; they had many Scottish Highlanders for 
 tenants ; and among their adherents were violent men, such as 
 the Butlers, of Tryon County, and Brant, the Mohawk sachem,- 
 since famous in Indian warfare. 
 
 They had recently gone about with armed retainers, over- 
 awing and breaking up patriotic assemblages, and it was known 
 they could at any time bring a force of warriors in the field. 
 
 Recent accounts stated that Sir John was fortifying the old 
 family Hall at Johnstown with swivels, and had a hundred and 
 fifty Roman Catholic Highlanders quartered in and about it, 
 all armed and ready to obey his orders. 
 
 Colonel Guy Johnson, however, was the most active and 
 zealous of the family. Pretending to apprehend a design on 
 the part of the New England people to surprise and carry him 
 off, he fortified his stone mansion on the Mohawk, called Guy's 
 Park, and assembled there a part of his militia regiment and 
 other of his adherents, to the number of five hundred. He held 
 a great Indian council there, likewise, in which the chiefs of 
 the Six Nations recalled the friendship and good deeds of the 
 
298 LIFE OF WASHI^i'GTOX. 
 
 late Sir William Johnson, and avowed their determination to 
 stand by and defend every branch of his family. 
 
 As yet it was uncertain whether Colonel Guy really intended 
 to take an open part in the appeal to arms. Should he do so, 
 he would carry with him a great force of the native tribes, and 
 might also domineer over the frontier. 
 
 Tryon, the governor of New York, was at present absent in 
 England, having been called home by the ministry to give an 
 account of the affairs of the province, and to receive instruc- 
 tions for its management. He was a tory in heart, and had 
 been a zealous opponent of all colonial movements, and his 
 talents and address gave him great influence over an important 
 part of the community. Should he return with hostile instruc- 
 tions, and should he and the Johnsons cooperate, the one con- 
 trolling the bay and harbor of New York and the waters of the 
 Hudson by means of ships and land forces ; the others overrun- 
 ning the valley of the Mohawk and the regions beyond Albany 
 with savage hordes, this great central province might be wrest- 
 ed from the confederacy, and all intercourse broken off between 
 the eastern and southern colonies. 
 
 All these circumstances and considerations, many of which 
 came under discussion in the course of this military journey, 
 rendered the command of New York a post of especial trust 
 and importance, and determined Washington to confide it to 
 General Schuyler. He was peculiarly fitted for it by his mili- 
 tary talents, his intimate knowledge of the province and its con- 
 cerns, especially what related to the upper parts of it, and his 
 experience in Indian affairs. 
 
 At Newark, in the Jerseys, Washington was met on the 
 25th by a committee of the provincial Congress, sent to con- 
 duct him to the city. The Congress was in a perplexity. It 
 had in a manner usurped and exercised the powers of Governor 
 Tryon during his absence, while at the same time it professed 
 allegiance to the crown which had appointed him. He was 
 now in the harbor, just arrived from England, and hourly ex- 
 pected to land. Washington, too, was approaching. How were 
 these double claims to ceremonious respect, happening at the 
 same time, to be managed ? 
 
 In this dilemma a regiment of militia was turned out, an< 
 the colonel instructed to pay military honors to M^hichever oi 
 the distinguished functionaries should first arrive. WashingJ 
 ton was earlier than the governor by several hours, and receivec 
 those honors. Peter Van Burgh Livingston, president of the 
 New York Congress, next delivered a congratulatory address^ 
 the latter part of which evinces the cautious reserve witi 
 
LIFE OF WASBtNGTCN. 209 
 
 I 
 
 wliicli, in those revolutionary times, military power was in- 
 trusted to an individual : — 
 
 '' Confiding in yon, sir, and in the worthy generals immedi- 
 ately under your command, we have the most flattering hopes 
 of success in the glorious struggle for American liberty, and 
 the fullest assurances that wlvenever this important contest 
 shall be decided by that fondest wish of each American soul, 
 an accommodation icith our mother country, you will cheer- 
 fidly resign the important deposit committed into your hands, 
 and reassume the character of our worthiest citizenP 
 
 The following was Washington's reply, in behalf of himself 
 and his generals, to this part of the address : — 
 
 " As to the fatal, but necessary operations of war, when we 
 assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen ; and we 
 shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy hour, when 
 the establishment of American liberty, on the most firm and 
 solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our private 
 stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and happy coun- 
 try." 
 
 The landing of Governor Tryon took place about eight o'clock 
 in the evening. The military honors were repeated ; he was 
 received with great respect by the mayor and common council, 
 and transports of loyalty by those devoted to the crown. It 
 was unknown what instructions he had received from the 
 ministry, but it was rumored that a large force would soon 
 arrive from England, subject to his directions. At this very 
 moment a ship of war, the Asia, lay anchored opposite the 
 city ; its grim batteries bearing upon it, greatly to the disquiet 
 of the faint-hearted among its inhabitants. 
 
 In this situation of affairs Washington was happy to leave 
 such an efficient j)erson as General Schuyler in command of the 
 place. According to his instructions, the latter was to make 
 returns once a month, and oftener, should circumstances require 
 it, to Washington, as commander-in-chief, and to the Continental 
 Congress, of the forces under him, and the state of his supplies ; 
 and to send the earliest advices of all events of importance. 
 He was to keep a wary eye on Colonel Guy Johnson, and to 
 counteract any prejudicial influence he might exercise over the 
 Indians. With respect to Governor Tryon, Washington hinted 
 at a bold and decided line of conduct. " If forcible measures 
 are judged necessary respecting the person of the governor, I 
 should have no difficulty in ordering them, if the Continental 
 Congress were not sitting ; but as that is the case, and the seiz- 
 ^^9 ^f ^ governor quite a_)iew_thing,J^_mus,t^eieT y ou to that 
 body for direction.J^ 
 
300 LIFE OF WASBIJSTGTOX. 
 
 Had Congress thought proper to direct sucn a measiu\', 
 Schuyler certainly would have been the man to execute it. 
 
 At New York, Washington had learned all the details^of 
 the battle of Bunker's Hill ; they quickened his impatience to 
 arrive at the camp. He departed, therefore, on the 26th, ac- 
 companied by General Lee, and escorted as far as Kingsbridge," 
 the termination of ]N"ew York Island, by Markoe's Philadelphia 
 light horse, and several companies of militia. 
 
 In the meantime the provincial Congress of Massachusetts, 
 then in session at Watertown, had made arrangements for the 
 expected arrival of Washington. According to a resolve of that 
 body, " the president's house in Cambridge, excepting one room 
 reserved by the president for his own use, was to be taken," 
 cleared, prepared, and furnished for the reception of the Com- 
 mander-in-chief and General Lee. The Congress had likewise 
 sent on a deputation which met Washington at Springfield, on 
 the frontiers of the province, and provided escorts and accom- 
 modations for him along the road. Thus honorably attended 
 from town to town, and escorted by volunteer companies and 
 cavalcades of gentlemen, he arrived at Watertown on the 2d of 
 July, where he was greeted by Congress with a congratulatory, 
 address, in which, however, was frankly stated the undisciplined 
 state of the army he was summoned to command. An address 
 of cordial welcome was likewise made tt) General Lee. 
 
 The ceremony over, Washington was again in the saddle, 
 and, escorted by a troop of light horse and a cavalcade of 
 citizens, proceeded to the head-quarters provided for him at 
 Cambridge, three miles distant. As he entered the confines of 
 the camp the shouts of the multitude and the thundering of 
 artillery gave note to the enemy beleaguered in Boston of his 
 arrival. 
 
 His military reputation had preceded him and excited great 
 expectations. They were not disappointed. His personal ap- 
 pearance, notwithstanding the dust of travel, was calculated to 
 captivate the public eye. As he rode through the camp, amidst 
 a throng of officers, he was the admiration of the soldiery and 
 of a curious throng collected from the surrounding country. 
 Happy was the countryman who could get a full view of him 
 to carry home an account of it to his neighbors. " I have been 
 much gratified this day with a view of General Washington," 
 writes a contemporary chronicler. " His excellency was ,on 
 horseback, in company with several military gentlemen.^ It 
 was not difficult to distinguish him from all others. He is tall 
 and well-proportioned, and his personal appearance^trul y ^nobl e 
 and majesUc." * -i 
 
 ♦.Thatcher. Military' Journal]^ I 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 301 
 
 The fair sex were still more enthusiastic in their admiration, 
 if we may judge from the following passage of a letter written 
 by the intelligent and accomplished wife of John Adams to her 
 husband : " Dignity, ease, and complacency, the gentleman and 
 the soldier, look agreeably blended in hun. Modesty marks 
 every line and feature of his face. Those lines of Dryden in- 
 stantly 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.** 
 
 With Washington, modest at all times, there was no false ex- 
 citement on the present occasion ; nothing to call forth emotions 
 of self-glorification. The honors and congratulations with 
 which he was received, the acclamations of the public, the cheer- 
 ings of the army, only told him how much was expected from 
 him ; and when he looked round upon the raw and rustic levies 
 he was to command, " a mixed multitude of people, under very 
 little discipline, order, or government," scattered in rough en- 
 campments about hill and dale, beleaguering a city garrisoned 
 by veteran troops, with ships of war anchored about its harbor, 
 and strong outposts guarding it, he felt the awful responsibility 
 of his situation, and the complicated and stupendous task be- 
 fore him. He spoke of it, however, not despondingly nor 
 boastfully and with defiance ; but with that solemn and sedate 
 resolution, and that hopeful reliance on Supreme Groodness, which 
 belonged to his magnanimous nature. The cause of his coun- 
 try, he observed, had called him to an active and dangerous 
 duty, but he trusted that Divine Providence, which wisely 
 orders the, affairs of men, wotdd enable him to discharge it 
 with fidelity and success^ 
 
 * Letter to Governor TrumbuU. Sparks, ilL 31. 
 
302 LIJF£ OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMIES. SKETCH OP 
 
 GENERAL LEE. CHARACTERS OF THE BRITISH COMMANDERS, 
 
 HOWE, CLINTON AND BURGOYNE. SURVEY OF THE CAMPS 
 
 FROM PROSPECT HILL. THE CAMPS CONTRASTED. DESCRIP- 
 TION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. RHODE ISLAND TROOPS. 
 
 CHARACTER OF GENERAL GREENE. WASHINGTON REPRE- 
 SENTS THE DEFICIENCIES OF THE ARMY. HIS APOLOGY 
 
 FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS. GOVERNOR TRUMBULL. 
 
 CRAGIE HOUSE, WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS. 
 
 On the 3d of July, the morning after his arrival at Cambridge, 
 Washington took formal command of the army. It was drawn 
 up on the common about half a mile from headquarters. A' mul- 
 titude had assembled there, for as yet military spectacles were 
 novelties, and the camp was full of visitors, men, women, and 
 children, from all parts of the country, who had relatives among 
 tre yeoman soldiery. 
 
 An ancient elm is still pointed out, under which Washington, 
 r ; .e arrived from headquarters accompanied by General Lee 
 iind a numerous suite, wheeled his horse, and drew his sword as 
 <iommander-in-cliief of the armies. We have cited the poetical 
 description of him furnished by the pen of Mrs. Adams ; we 
 give her sketch of his military compeer — less poetical, but no 
 less graphic. 
 
 " General Lee looks like a careless, hardy veteran ; and by 
 ^^'3 appearance brought to my mind his namesake, Charles XII. 
 >i Sweden. The elegance of his pen far exceeds that of his 
 person." * 
 
 Accompanied by this veteran campaigner, on whose military 
 judgment he had great reliance, Washington visited the differ- 
 ent American posts, and rode to the heights, commanding views 
 over Boston ibiid its environs, being anxious to make himself 
 acquainted with the strength and relative position of both 
 armies : and here we will give a few particulars concerning the 
 distinguished commanders with whom he was brought imme- 
 diately in competition. 
 
 Congress, speaking of them reproachfully, observed, " Three 
 of England's most experienced generals are sent to wage war 
 * Mrs. Adams to John Adams, 1775. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 303 
 
 with tlieir fellow-subjects." The first hero alluded to was the 
 Honorable William Howe, next in command to Gage. He was 
 a man of fine presence, six feet high, well proportioned, and of 
 graceful deportment. He is said to have been not unlike Wash- 
 ington in appearance, though wanting his energy and activity. 
 He lacked also his air of authority ; but affability of manners 
 and a generous disposition made him popular with both officers 
 and soldiers. 
 
 There was a sentiment in his favor even among Americans at 
 the time when he arrived at Boston. It was remembered that 
 he was brother to the gallant and generous youth, Lord Howe, 
 who fell in the flower of his days on the banks of Lake George, 
 and whose untimely death had been lamented throughout the 
 colonies. It was remembered that the general himself had won 
 reputation in the same campaign, commanding the light infantry 
 under Wolfe on the famous Plains of Abraham. A mournful 
 feeling had therefore gone through the country, when General 
 Howe was cited as one of the British commanders who had 
 most distinguished themselves in the bloody battle of Bunker's 
 Hill. Congress spoke of it with generous sensibility in their 
 address to the people of Ireland already quoted. " America is 
 amazed," said they, " to find the name of Howe on the catalogue 
 of her enemies — she loved his brother ! " 
 
 General Henry Clinton, the next in command, was grandson 
 of the Earl of Lincoln, and son of George Clinton, who had 
 been governor of the province of New York for ten years, from 
 1743. The general had seen service on the Continent in the 
 Seven Years' War. He was of short stature, and inclined to 
 corpulency, with a full face and prominent nose. His manners 
 were reserved, and altogether he was in strong contrast with 
 Howe, and by no means so popular. 
 
 Burgoyne, the other British general of note, was natural son 
 of Lord Bingley, and had entered the army at an early age. While 
 yet a subaltern he had made a runaway match with a daughter 
 of the Earl of Derby, who threatened never to admit the offend- 
 ers to his presence. In 1758 Burgoyne was a lieutenant-colonel 
 of light dragoons. In 1761 he was sent with a force to aid the 
 Portuguese against the Spaniards, joined the army commanded 
 by the Count de la Lippe, and signalized himself by surprising 
 and capturing the town of Alcantara. He had since been elected 
 to Parliament for the borough of Middlesex, and displayed con- 
 siderable parliamentary talents. In 1772 he was made a major- 
 general. His taste, wit, and intelligence, and his aptness at 
 devising and promoting elegant amusements, made him for a 
 time a leader in the gay world, though Junixis accuses hin\ of 
 
304 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ■unfair practices at the gaming table. His reputation for talents 
 and services had gradually mollified the heart of his father-in- 
 law, the Earl of Derby. In 1774 he gave celebrity to the mar- 
 riage of a son of the Earl with Lady Betty Hamilton, by pro- 
 ducing an elegant dramatic trifle, entitled, " The Maid of the 
 Oaks," afterwards performed at Drury Lane, and honored with 
 a biting sarcasm by Horace Walpole. " There is a new puppet 
 show at Drury Lane," writes the wit, " as fine as the scenes can 
 make it, and as dull as the author could not help making it." * 
 
 It is but justice to Burgoyne's memory to add, that in after 
 years he produced a dramatic work, " The Heiress," which ex- 
 torted even Walpole's approbation, who pronounced it the 
 genteelest comedy in the English language. 
 
 Such were the three British commanders at Boston, who 
 were considered especially formidable ; and they had with them 
 eleven thousand veteran troops, well appointed and well dis- 
 ciplined. 
 
 In visiting the different posts, Washington halted for a time 
 at Prospect Hill, which, as its name denotes, commanded a 
 wide view over Boston and the surrounding country. Here 
 Putnam had taken his position after the battle of Bunker's 
 Hill, fortifying himself with works which he deemed impreg- 
 nable ; and here the veteran was enabled to point out to the 
 commander-in-chief, and to Lee, the main features of the bel- 
 ligerent region, which lay spread out like a map before them. 
 
 Bunker's Hill was but a mile distant to the east, the Britisli 
 standard floating as if in triumph on its summit. The main 
 force under General Howe was intrenching itself strongly about 
 half a mile beyond the place of the recent battle. Scarlet uni- 
 forms gleamed about the hill ; tents and marquees whitened 
 its sides. All up there was bright, brilliant, and triumphant. 
 At the base of the hill lay Charleston in ashes, "nothing to be 
 seen of that fine town but chimneys and rubbish. 
 
 Howe's sentries extended a hundred and fifty yards beyond 
 the neck or isthmus, over which the Americans retreated after 
 the battle. Three floating batteries in Mystic River command- 
 ed this isthmus, and a twenty-gun ship was anchored betwccMi 
 the peninsula and Boston. 
 
 General Gage, the commander-in-chief, still had his liead- 
 quarters in the town, but there were few troops there besides 
 Burgoyne's light horse. A large force, however, was intrench- 
 ed south of the town on the neck leading to Roxbury, — tlu; 
 only entrance to Boston by land. 
 
 The American troops were irregularly distributed in a kind 
 * Walpole to the Hon. W, S, Conway. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 305 
 
 of semicircle eight or nine miles in extent ; the left resting on 
 Winter Hill, the most northern post; the right extending on 
 the south to Roxbury and Dorchester Neck. 
 
 Washington reconnoitered the British posts from various 
 points of view. Everything about them was in admirable 
 order. The works appeared to be constructed with military 
 science, the troops to be in a high state of discipline. The 
 American camp, on the contrary, disappointed him. He had 
 expected to find eighteen or twenty thousand men under arms ; 
 there were not much more than fourteen thousand. He had 
 expected to find some degree of system and discipline ; whereas 
 all were raw militia. He had expected to find works scientifi- 
 cally constructed, and proofs of knowledge and skill in engi- 
 neering : whereas, what he saw of the latter was very imper- 
 fect, and confined to the mere manual exercise of cannon. 
 There was abundant evidence of aptness at trenching and 
 throwing up rough defenses ; and in that way General Thomas 
 had fortified Roxbury Neck, and Putnam had strengthened 
 Prospect Hill. But the semicircular line which linked the 
 extreme posts, was formed of rudely-constructed works, far too 
 extensive for the troops which were at hand to man them. 
 
 Within this attenuated semicircle, the British forces lay 
 concentrated and compact ; and having command of the water, 
 might suddenly bring their main strength to bear UDon some 
 weak point, force it, and sever the American camp. 
 
 In fact, when we consider the scanty, ill-conditioned, and 
 irregular force which had thus stretched itself out to beleaguer 
 a town and harbor defended by ships and floating batteries, and 
 garrisoned by eleven thousand strongly posted veterans, we are 
 at a loss whether to attribute its hazardous position to ignorance, 
 or to that daring self-confidence, which at times, in our military 
 history, has snatched success in defiance of scientific rules. It 
 was revenge for the slaughter at Lexington, which, we are 
 told, first prompted the investment of Boston. " The universal 
 voice," says a contemporary, "is, starve them out. Drive them 
 from the town, and let His Majesty's ships be their only place 
 of refuge." 
 
 In riding throughout the camp, Washington observed that 
 nine thousand of the troops belonged to Massachusetts ; the rest 
 were from other provinces. They were encamped in separate 
 bodies, each with its own regulations, and officers of its own ap- 
 pointment. Some had tents, others were in barracks, and others 
 sheltered themselves as best they might. Many were sadly 
 in want of clothing, and all, said Washington, were strongly 
 imbued with the spirit of insubordination, which they mis- 
 took for independence. 
 
306 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 A chaplain of one of the regiments * has left on record a 
 graphic sketch of this primitive army of the Revolution. "It 
 is very diverting/' writes he, " to walk among the camps. They 
 are as different in their forms, as the owners are in their dress ; 
 and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of the 
 persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards, and 
 some are made of sailcloth ; some are partly of one, and partly 
 of the other. Again others are made of stone and turf, brick 
 and brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously 
 wrought with wreaths and withes.'' 
 
 One of the encampments, however, was in striking contrast 
 with the rest, and might vie with those of the British for order 
 and exactness. Here were tents and marquees pitched in the 
 English style ; soldiers well drilled and well equipped ; every- 
 thing had an air of discipline and subordination. It was a 
 body of E-hode Island troops, which had been raised, drilled, 
 and brought to the camp by Brigadier-general Greene, of that 
 province, whose subsequent renown entitles him to an introduc- 
 tion to the reader. 
 
 Nathaniel Greene was born in Bhode Island, on the 26th of 
 May, 1742. His father was a miller, an anchorsmith, and a 
 Quaker preacher. The waters of the Potowhammet turned the 
 wheels of the mill, and raised the ponderous sledge-hammer of 
 the forge. Greene, in his boyhood, followed the plough, and 
 occasionally worked at the forge of his father. His education 
 was of an ordinary kind ; but having an early thirst for knowl- 
 edge, he applied himself sedulously to various studies, while 
 subsisting by the labor of his hands. Nature had endowed him 
 with quick parts, and a sound judgment, and his assiduity was 
 crowned with success. He became fluent and instructive in 
 conversation, and his letters, still extant, show that he held an 
 able pen. 
 
 In the late turn of public affairs, he had caught the belig- 
 erent spirit prevalent throughout the country. Plutarch and 
 Caesar's Commentaries became his delight. He applied himself 
 to military studies, for which he was prepared by some knowl- 
 edge of mathematics. His ambition was to organize and disci- 
 pline a corps of militia to which he belonged. For this purpose 
 during a visit to Boston, he had taken note of everything about 
 the discipline of the British troops. In the month of May, he 
 had been elected commander of the Rhode Island contingent of 
 the army of observation, and in June had conducted to the 
 lines before Boston three regiments, whose encampment we 
 have just described, and who were pronounced the best disci- 
 plined and" appointed troops in the army. 
 
 * The Kev. William Emerson. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 307 
 
 Greene made a soldier-like address to Washington, welcoming 
 him to the camp. His appearance and manner were calculated 
 to make a favorable impressioii. He was about thirty-nine 
 years of age, nearly six feet high, well built and vigorous, with 
 an open, animated, intelligent countenance, and a frank, manly 
 demeanor. He may be said to have stepped at once into the 
 confidence of the commander-in-chief, which he never forfeited, 
 but became one of his most attached, faithful, and efficient coad- 
 jutors throughout the war. 
 
 Having taken his survey of the army, Washington wrote to 
 the President of Congress, representing its various deficiencies, 
 and, among other things, urging the appointment of a commis- 
 sary-general, a quartermaster-general, a commissary of musters, 
 and a commissary of artillery. Above all things, he requested 
 a supply of money as soon as possible. " I find myself already 
 much embarrassed for want of a military chest." 
 
 In one of his recommendations we have an instance of fron- 
 tier expediency, learnt in his early campaigns. Speaking of 
 the ragged condition of the army, and the difficulty of procur- 
 ing the requisite kind of clothing, he advises that a number of 
 hunting shirts, not less than ten thousand, should be provided ; 
 as being the cheapest and quickest mode of supplying this 
 necessity. " I know nothing in a speculative view more trivial," 
 observes he, ^' yet which, if put in practice, would have a hap- 
 pier tendency to unite the men, and abolish those provincial 
 distinctions that lead to jealousy and dissatisfaction." 
 
 Among the troops most destitute, were those belonging to 
 Massachusetts, which formed the larger part of the army. 
 Washington made a noble apology for them. " This unhappy 
 and devoted province," said he, " 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 circum- 
 stances. The deficiency of numbers, discipline, and stores, can 
 only lead to this conclusion, that their spirit has exceeded their 
 strength.''^ 
 
 This apology was the more generous,coming from a Southern- 
 er ; for there was a disposition among the Southern officers to 
 regard the Eastern troops disparagingly. But Washington 
 already felt as commander-in-chief, who looked with an equal 
 eye on all ; or rather as a true patriot, who was above all sec- 
 tional prejudices. 
 
 One of the most efficient cooperators of Washington at this 
 time, and throughout the war, was Jonathan Trumbull, the 
 governor of Connecticut. He was a Avell-educated man, ex- 
 perienced in public business, who had sat for many years in the 
 
308 XIl^'J? OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 legislative councils of his native province. Misfortune had 
 cast him down from affluence, at an advanced period of life, but 
 had not subdued his native energy. He had been one of the 
 leading spirits of the E-evolution, and the only colonial governor 
 who, at its commencement, proved true to the popular cause. 
 He was now sixty-five years of age, active, zealous, devout, a 
 patriot of the primitive New England stamp, whose religion 
 sanctified his patriotism. A letter addressed by him to Wash- 
 ington, just after the latter had entered upon the command, is 
 worthy of the purest days of the Covenanters. "Congress," 
 writes he, " have, w4th one united voice, appointed you to the 
 high station you possess. The Supreme Director of all events 
 hath caused a wonderful union of hearts and counsels_to sub- 
 sist among us. " '' , 
 
 "Now, therefore, be strong, and very courageous. May^the 
 God of the armies o£ Israel shower down the blessings of his 
 Divine providence on you; give you wisdom and fortitude,' 
 cover your head in the day of battle and danger, add success, 
 convince our enemies of their mistaken measures, and that all 
 their attempts to deprive these colonies of their inestimable 
 constitutional rights and liberties are injurious and vain.ji'' 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 We are obliged to Professor Felton of Cambridge for correcting an 
 error in our first volume in regard to Washington's head-quarters, and 
 for some particulars concerning a house associated with the history and 
 literature of our country. 
 
 The house assigned to Washington for head-quarters, was that of the 
 president of the provincial Congress, not of the University. It had beeni 
 one of those tory mansions noticed by the Baroness Reidesel, in her men- 
 tion of Cambridge. " Seven families, who were connected by relation- 
 ship, or lived in great intimacy, had here farms, gardens, and splendid 
 mansions, and not far off, orcliards ; and the buildings were at a quarter 
 of a mile distant from each other. The owners had been in the habit of 
 assembling every afternoon in one or other of these houses.and of divert- 
 ing themselves with music or dancing ; and lived in affluence, in good 
 humor, and without care, until this unfortunate war dispersed them, 
 and transformed all these houses into solitary abodes." 
 
 The house in question was confiscated by Government. It stood on 
 the Watertown road, about half a mile west of the college, and has 
 long been known as the Cragie House, from the name of Andrew Cra- 
 gie, a wealthy gentleman, who purchased it after the war, and revived 
 its former hospitality. He is said to have acquired great influence 
 among the leading members of the *' great and general court," by dint 
 of jovial dinners. He died long ago, but his widow survived until 
 within fifteen years. She was a woman of much talent and singularity. 
 She refused to have the canker-worms destroyed, when they were mak- 
 ing sad ravages among the beautiful trees on the lawn before the house. 
 " We are all worms,, said she, " and they have as a good a right here 
 as I have." The consequence was that more than a half of the trees 
 I)erished. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 309 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIV. 
 
 QUESTIONS OF MILITARY RANK. POPULARITY OF PUTNAM. 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS AT HEAD-QUARTERS.^COLONEL MIFFLIN 
 AND JOHN TRUMBULL, AIDES-DE-CAMP. JOSEPH REED, WASH- 
 INGTON'S SECRETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL FRIEND. GATES AS 
 
 ADJUTANT-GENERAL. HAZARDOUS SITUATION OF THE ARMY. 
 
 STRENGTHENING OF THE DEFENSES. EFFICIENCY OP PUT- 
 NAM. RAPID CH^JfGES. NEW DISTRIBUTION OF THE FORCES. 
 
 RIGID DISCIPLINE. LEE AND HIS CANE. HIS IDEA AS TO 
 
 STRONG^ BATTALIONS. ARRIVAL OF RIFLE COMPANIES. 
 
 DANIEL MORGAN AND HIS SHARPSHOOTERS. WASHINGTON 
 
 DECLINES TO DETACH TROOPS TO DISTANT POINTS FOR THEIR 
 PROTECTION.*^HIS REASON FOR SO DOING. 
 
 The justice and impartiality of Washington were called into 
 exercise as soon as he^ntered upon liis command, in allaying 
 discontents among his general officers, caused by the recent ap- 
 pointments and promotions made by the Continental Congress. 
 General^Spencer was so'offended that Putnam should be pro- 
 moted over his head, that he left the army, without visiting 
 the commander-in-chief ; but was subsequently induced to 
 return. General Thomas felt aggrieved by being out-ranked 
 by the veteran Pomeroy ; the latter, however, declining to 
 serve, he found himself senior brigadier, and was appeased. 
 
 The sterling merits of Putnam soon made every one acquiesce 
 in his promotion. There was a generosity and buoyancy about 
 the brave old man that made him a favorite throughout the 
 army ; especially with the younger officers, who spoke of him 
 familiarly and fondly as " Old Put ; '' a sobriquet by which he 
 is called even in one of the private letters of the commander-in 
 chief. 
 
 The Cragie House is associated with American literature through some 
 of its subsequent occupants. Mr. Edward Everett resided in it the first 
 year or two after his marriage. Later, Mr. Jared Sparks, during part of 
 the time that he was preparing his collection of Washington's writings ; 
 editing a volume or two of his letters in the very room from which they 
 were written. Next came Mr. Worcester, author of the pugnacious dic- 
 tionary, and of many excellent books, and lastly, Longfellow, the poet, 
 who, having married the heroine of Hyperion, purchased the house of 
 the heirs of Mr. Cragie and refitted it. 
 
310 LIFE OP WASHINGTON. 
 
 The Congress of Massachusetts manifested considerate liber- 
 ality with respect to head-quarters. According to their minutes, 
 a committee was charged to procure a steward, a housekeeper, 
 and two or three women cooks— Washington, no doubt, having 
 brought with him none but the black servants who had accom- 
 panied him to Philadelphia, and who Avere but little fitted for 
 New England housekeeping. His wishes were to be consulted 
 in regard to the supply of his table. This his station, as com- 
 mander-in-chief, required should be kept up in ample and hospit- 
 able style. Every day a number of his officers dined with him. 
 As he was in the neighborhood of the seat of the Provincial 
 Government, he would occasionally have members of Congress 
 and other functionaries at his board. Though social, however, 
 he was not convivial in his habits. He received his guests with 
 courtesy ; but his mind and time were too much occupied by 
 grave and anxious concerns, to permit him the genial indul- 
 gence of the table. His own diet was extremely simple. Some- 
 times nothing but baked apples or berries, with cream and 
 milk. He would retire early from the board, leaving an aide- 
 de-camp or one of his officers to take his place. Colonel Mifflin 
 was the first person who officiated as aide-de-camp. He was a 
 Philadelphia gentleman of high respectability, who had accom- 
 panied him from that city, and received his appointment short- 
 ly after their arrival at Cambridge. The second aide-de-camp 
 was John Trumbull,* son of the governor of Connecticut. He 
 had accompanied General Spencer to the camp, and had caught 
 the favorable notice of "Washington by some drawings which 
 he had made of the enemy's works. " I now suddenly found 
 myself," writes Trumbull, " in the family of one of the most 
 distinguished and dignified men of the age ; surrounded at his 
 table by the principal officers of the army, and in constant in- 
 tercourse with them — it was further my duty to receive com- 
 pany, and do the honors of the house to many of the first 
 people of the country of both sexes." Trumbull was j^oung, 
 and unaccustomed to society, and soon found himself, he says, 
 unequal to the elegant duties of his situation ; he gladly ex- 
 changed it, therefore, for that of major of brigade. 
 
 The member of Washington's family most deserving of 
 mention at present, was his secretary, Mr. Joseph Eeed. With 
 this gentleman he had formed an intimacy in the course of his 
 visits to Philadelphia, to attend the sessions of the Continental 
 Congress. Mr. E-eed was an accomplished man, had studied 
 law in America, and at the Temple in London, and had gained 
 a high reputation at the Philadelphia bar. In the dawning of 
 In after years distinguished as a historical painter. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 'Sll 
 
 the Revolution he had embraced the popular cause, and car- 
 ried on a correspondence with the Earl of Dartmouth, endeav- 
 oring to enlighten that minister on the subject of colonial af- 
 fairs. He had since been highly instrumental in rousing the 
 Fhiladelphians to cooperate with the patriots of Boston. A 
 sympathy of views and feelings had attached him to Washing- 
 ton, and induced him to accompany him to the camp. He had 
 no definite purpose when he left home, and his friends in Phil- 
 adelphia were surprised, on receiving a letter from him written 
 from Cambridge, to find that he had accepted the post of secre- 
 tary to the commander-in chief. 
 
 They expostulated with him b}^ letter. That a man in the 
 thirty-fifth year of his age, with a lucrative profession, a young 
 wife and growing family, and a happy home, should suddenly 
 abandon all to join the hazardous fortunes of a revolutionary 
 camp, appeared to them the height of infatuation. They re- 
 monstrated on the peril of the step. " I have no inclination," 
 replied Eeed, " to be hanged for half treason. When a sub- 
 ject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way 
 through, if he means to sit down in safety. T have taken too 
 active a part in what may be called the civil part of opposition, 
 to renounce, without disgrace, the public cause when it seems 
 to lead to danger ; and have a most sovereign contempt for the 
 man who can plan measures he has not the spirit to execute." 
 
 Washington has occasionally been represented as cold and re- 
 served ; yet his intercourse with Mr. Reed is a proof to the con- 
 trary. His friendship towards him was frank and cordial, and 
 the confidence he reposed in him full and implicit. Reed, in 
 fact, became, in a little time, the intimate companion of his 
 thoughts, his bosom counselor. He felt the need of such a 
 friend in the present exigency, placed as he was in a new and 
 untried situation, and having to act with persons hitherto un- 
 known to him. 
 
 In military affairs, it is true, he had a shrewd counselor in 
 General Lee ; but Lee was a wayward character ; a cosmopolite, 
 without attachment to country, somewhat splenetic, and prone 
 to follow the bent of his whims and humors, which often clashed 
 with propriety and sound policy. Reed, on the contrary, 
 though less informed on military matters, had a strong common 
 sense, unclouded by passion or prejudice, and a pure patriotism, 
 which regarded everything as it bore upon the welfare of his 
 country. 
 
 Washington's confidence in Lee had always to be measured 
 and guarded in matters of civil policy. 
 
 The arrival of Gates in camp was heartily welcomed by the 
 
3l0 i-lFFi OP WASHlNGTOJ^. 
 
 The Congress of Massachusetts manifested considerate liber- 
 ality with respect to head-quarters. According to their minutes, 
 a committee was charged to procure a steward, a housekeeper, 
 and two or three women cooks— Washington, no doubt, having 
 brought with him none but the black servants who had accom- 
 panied him to Philadelphia, and who Avere but little fitted for 
 New England housekeeping. His Avishes Avere to be consulted 
 in regard to the supply of his table. This his station, as com- 
 mander-in-chief, required should be kept up in ample and hospit- 
 able style. Every day a number of his officers dined Avith him. 
 As he Avas in the neighborhood of the seat of the Provincial 
 Government, he Avould occasionally have members of Congress 
 and other functionaries at his board. Though social, hoAvever, 
 he was not convivial in his habits. He received his guests Avitli 
 courtesy ; but his mind and time were too much occupied by 
 grave and anxious concerns, to permit him the genial indul- 
 gence of the table. His OAvn diet Avas extremely simple. Some- 
 times nothing but baked apples or berries, with cream and 
 milk. He w^ould retire early from the board, leaving an aide- 
 de-camp or one of his officers to take his place. Colonel Mifflin 
 was the first person who officiated as aide-de-camp. He Avas a 
 Philadelphia gentleman of high respectability, who had accom- 
 panied him from that city, and received his appointment short- 
 ly after their arrival at Cambridge. The second aide-de-camp 
 was John Trumbull,* son of the gOA^ernor of Connecticut. He 
 had accompanied General Spencer to the camp, and had caught 
 the favorable notice of Washington by some draAvings Avhich 
 he had made of the enemy's works. " I now suddenly found 
 myself,'' Avrites Trumbull, " in the family of one of the most 
 distinguished and dignified men of the age ; surrounded at his 
 table by the principal officers of the army, and in constant in- 
 tercourse with them — it was further my duty to receive com- 
 pany, and do the honors of the house to many of the first 
 people of the country of both sexes." Trumbull was j^oung, 
 and unaccustomed to society, and soon found himself, he says, 
 unequal to the elegant duties of his situation ; he gladly ex- 
 changed it, therefore, for that of major of brigade. 
 
 The member of Washington's family most deserving of 
 mention at present, was his secretary, Mr. Joseph Reed. With 
 this gentleman he had formed an intimacy in the course of his 
 visits to Philadelphia, to attend the sessions of the Continental 
 Congress. Mr. Reed was an accomplished man, had studied 
 law in America, and at the Temple in London, and had gained 
 a high reputation at the Philadelphia bar. In the daAvning of 
 In after years distinguished as a historical painter. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 'Sll 
 
 the Revolution he had embraced the popular cause, and car- 
 ried on a correspondence with the Earl of Dartmouth, endeav- 
 oring to enlighten that minister on the subject of colonial af- 
 fairs. He had since been highly instrumental in rousing the 
 Philadelphians to cooperate with the patriots of Boston. A 
 sympathy of views and feelings had attached him to Washing- 
 ton, and induced him to accompany him to the camp. He had 
 no definite purpose when he left home, and his friends in Phil- 
 adelphia were surprised, on receiving a letter from him written 
 from Cambridge, to find that he had accepted the post of secre- 
 tary to the commander-in chief. 
 
 They expostulated with him b}^ letter. That a man in the 
 thirty-fifth year of his age, with a lucrative profession, a young 
 wife and growing family, and a happy home, should suddenly 
 abandon all to join the hazardous fortunes of a revolutionary 
 camp, appeared to them the height of infatuation. They re- 
 monstrated on the peril of the step. " I have no inclination," 
 replied E-eed, " to be hanged for half treason. When a sub- 
 ject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way 
 through, if he means to sit down in safety. T have taken too 
 active a part in what may be called the civil part of opposition, 
 to renounce, without disgrace, the public cause when it seems 
 to lead to danger ; and have a most sovereign contempt for the 
 man who can plan measures he has not the spirit to execute.'* 
 
 Washington has occasionally been represented as cold and re- 
 served ; yet his intercourse with Mr. E-eed is a proof to the con- 
 trary. His friendship towards him was frank and cordial, and 
 the confidence he reposed in him full and implicit. Reed, in 
 fact^ became, in a little time, the intimate companion of his 
 thoughts, his bosom counselor. He felt the need of such a 
 friend in the present exigency, placed as he was in a new and 
 untried situation, and having to act with persons hitherto un- 
 known to him. 
 
 In military affairs, it is true, he had a shrewd counselor in 
 General Lee ; but Lee was a wayward character ; a cosmopolite, 
 without attachment to country, somewhat splenetic, and prone 
 to follow the bent of his whims and humors, which often clashed 
 with propriety and sound policy. Reed, on the contrary, 
 though less informed on military matters, had a strong common 
 sense, unclouded by passion or prejudice, and a pure patriotism, 
 which regarded everything as it bore upon the welfare of his 
 country. 
 
 Washington's confidence in Lee had always to be measured 
 and guarded in matters of civil policy. 
 
 The arrival of Gates in camp was heartily welcomed by the 
 
312, LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 commander-in-cliief, wlio had received a letter from that officer, 
 gratefully acknowledging his friendl}'^ iiiHuence in procuring 
 him the appointment of adjutant-general. Washington may 
 have promised himself much cordial cooperation from him, rec- 
 ollecting the warm friendship professed by him when he visited 
 a't Mount Vernon, and they talked together over their early 
 companionship in arms ; but of that kind of friendship there 
 was no further manifestation. Gates was certainly of great 
 service, from his practical knowledge and military experience at 
 this juncture, when the whole army had in a manner to be or- 
 ganized ; but from the familiar intimacy of Washington he 
 gradually estranged himself. A contemporary has accounted 
 for this, by alleging that he was secretly chagrined at not 
 having received the appointment of major-general, to which he 
 considered himself well fitted by his military knowledge and 
 experience, and which he thought Washington might have ob- 
 tained for him had he used his influence with Congress. We 
 shall have to advert to this estrangement of Gates on subse- 
 quent occasions. 
 
 The hazardous position of the army from the great extent and 
 weakness of its lines, was what most pressed on the immediate 
 attention of Washington ; and he summoned a council of war, 
 to take the matter into consideration. In this it was urged 
 that, to abandon the line of works, after the great labor and ex- 
 pense of their construction, would be dispiriting to the troops 
 and encouraging to the enemy, while it would expose a wide ex- 
 tent of the surrounding country to maraud and ravage. Be- 
 sides, no safer position presented itself, on which to fall back. 
 This being generally admitted, it was determined to hold on to 
 the works, and defend them as long as possible ; and, in the mean- 
 time, to augment the army to at least twenty thousand men. 
 
 Washington now hastened to improve the defenses of the 
 camp, strengthen the weak parts of the line, and throw up ad- 
 ditional works round the main forts. No one seconded him 
 more effectually in this matter than General Putnam. No 
 works were thrown up with equal rapidity to those under his 
 superintendence. "You seem, general," said Washington, "to 
 have the faculty of infusing your own spirit into all the work- 
 men you employ ; " — and it w^as the fact. 
 
 The observing chaplain already cited, gazed with w^onder at 
 the rapid effects soon produced by the labors of an army. " It 
 is surprising," writes he, " how much work has been done. The 
 lines are extended almost from Cambridge to Mystic Eiver ; 
 very soon it will be morally impossible for the enemy to get be- 
 tween the works, except in one place, which is supposed to be 
 
LIFE OF WASTIINGTOK. 313 
 
 left purposly unfortified, to entice the enemy out of their fort- 
 resses. Who would have thought, twelve months past, that all 
 Cambridge and Charlestown would be covered over with 
 American camps, and cut up into forts and intrenchments, and 
 all the lands, fields, orchards, laid common, — horses and cattle 
 feeding on the choicest mowing land, whole fields of corn eaten 
 down to the ground, and large parks of well-regulated forest 
 trees cut down for firewood and other public uses." 
 
 Beside the main dispositions above mentioned, about seven 
 hundred men were distributed in the small towns and villages 
 along the coast, to prevent depredations by water ; and horses 
 were kept read}" saddled at various points of the widely ex- 
 tended lines, to convey to headquarters intelligence of any 
 special movement of the enemy. 
 
 The army was distributed by Washington into three grand 
 divisions. One, forming the right wing, was stationed on the 
 heights of Koxbury. It was commanded by Major-general 
 Ward, who had under him Brigadier-generals Spencer and 
 Thomas. Another, forming the left wing, under Major-general 
 Lee, having with him Brigadier-generals Sullivan and Greene, 
 was stationed on Winter and Prospect Hills ; while the centre, 
 under Major-general Putnam and Brigadier-general Heath, was 
 stationed at Cambridge. With Putnam was encamped his favor- 
 ite officer Knowlton, who had been promoted by Congress to the 
 rank of major for his gallantry at Bunker's Hill. 
 
 At Washington's recommendation, Joseph Trumbull, the 
 eldest son of the governor, received, on the 24th of July, the ap- 
 pointment of commissary-general of the continental army. He 
 had already officiated with talent in that capacity in the Con- 
 necticut militia. " There is a great overturning in the camp as 
 to order and regularity," writes the military chaplain ; " 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 it, or be tied up and receive thirty or forty 
 lashes according to his crime. Thousands are at work every 
 day from four till eleven o'clock in the morning." 
 
 Lee was supposed to have been at the bottom of this rigid 
 discipline — the result of his experience in European campaign- 
 ing. His notions of military authority were acquired in the 
 armies of the North. Quite a sensation was, on one occasion, 
 produced in camp by his threatening to cane an officer for un- 
 soldierly conduct. His laxity in other matters occasioned 
 
314 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 almost equal scandal. He scoffed, we are told, '•' with his usual 
 profaneness, " at a resolution of Congress appointing a day of fast- 
 ing and prayer, to obtain the favor of heaven upon their cause. 
 " Heaven," he observed, " was ever found favorable to strong 
 battalions." * 
 
 Washington differed from him in this respect. , By his orders 
 the resolution of Congress was scrupulously enforced. All labor, 
 excepting that absolutely necessary, was suspended on the ap- 
 pointed day ; and officers and soldiers were required to attend 
 divine service, armed and equipped and ready for immediate 
 action. 
 
 Nothing excited more gaze and wonder among the rustic 
 visitors to the camp, than the arrival of several rifle companies, 
 fourteen hundred men in all, from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
 Virginia; such stalwart fellows as Washington had .known in 
 his early campaigns. Stark hunters and bush fighters ; many 
 of them upwards of six feet high, and of vigorous frame ; dressed 
 in fringed frocks, or rifle shirts and round hats. Their displays 
 of sharpshooting were soon among the marvels of the camp. 
 We are told that while advancing at quick step, they could hit a 
 mark of seven inches diameter, at the distance of two hundred 
 and fifty yards.* 
 
 One of these companies was commanded hj Captain Daniel 
 Morgan, a native of New Jersey, whose first experience in war 
 had been to accompany Braddock's army as a wagoner. He 
 had since carried arms on the frontier and obtained a command. 
 He and his riflemen in coming to the camp had marched six 
 hundred miles in three weeks. They willbe found of signal 
 efficiency in the sharpest conflicts of the Revolutionary War. 
 
 While all his forces were required for the investment of 
 Boston, Washington was importuned by the Legislature of 
 Massachusetts and the governor of Connecticut, to detach 
 troops for the protection of different points of the sea-coast, 
 where depredations by armed vessels were apprehended. The 
 case of New London was specified by Governor Trumbull, where 
 Captain Wallace of the Mose frigate, with two other ships of 
 war, had entered the harbor, landed men, spiked the cannon, 
 and gone off threatening future visits. 
 
 Washington referred to his instructions, and consulted with 
 his general officers and such members of the Continental Con- 
 gress as happened to be in camp, before he replied to these 
 requests ; he then respectfully declined compliance. 
 
 In his reply to the General Assembly of Massachusetts, he 
 
 * Graydon's Memoirs, p. 138. 
 
 t Thacher's Military Journal^ p. 37 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 315 
 
 stated frankly and explicitly the policy and system on which 
 the war was to be conducted, and according to which he was to 
 act as commander-in-chief. " It has been debated in Congress 
 and settled," writes he, " that the militia, or other internal 
 strength of each province, is to be applied for defense against 
 those small and particular depredations, which were to be ex- 
 pected, and to which they were supposed to be competent. This 
 will appear the more proper, when it is considered that every 
 town, and indeed every part of our sea-coast, which is exposed 
 to these depredations, would have an equal claim upon this 
 army. 
 
 "It is the misfortune of our situation which exposes us to these 
 ravages, and against which, in my judgment, no such temporary 
 relief could possibly secure us. The great advantage the enemy 
 have of transporting troops, by being masters of the sea, will en- 
 able them to harass us by diversions of this kind ; and should we 
 be tempted to pursue them, upon every alarm, the army must 
 either be so weakened as to expose it to destruction, or a great 
 part of the coast be still left unprotected. Nor, indeed, does it 
 appear to me that such a pursuit would be attended with the 
 least effect. The first notice of such an excursion would be its 
 actual execution, and long before any troops could reach the 
 scene of action, the enemy would have an opportunity to ac- 
 complish their purpose and retire. It would give me great 
 pleasure to have it in my power to extend protection and safety 
 to every individual ; but the wisdom of the G-eneral Court will 
 anticipate me on the necessity of conducting our operations on 
 a general and impartial scale, so as to exclude any just cause 
 of complaint and jealousy." 
 
 His reply to the governor of Connecticut was to the same ef- 
 fect. " I am by no means insensible to the situation of the 
 people on the coast. I wish I could extend protection to all, 
 but the numerous detachments necessary to remedy the evil 
 would amount to a dissolution of the army, or make the most 
 important operations of the campaign depend upon the piratical 
 expeditions of two or three men-of-war and transports." 
 
 His refusal to grant the required detachments gave much 
 dissatisfaction in some quarters, until sanctioned and enforced 
 by the Continental Congress. All at length saw and acquiesced 
 in the justice and wisdom of his decision. It was in fact a 
 vital question, involving the whole character and fortune of the 
 war ; and it was acknowledged that he met it with a forecast 
 and determination befitting a commander-in-chief. 
 
 i 
 
316 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 Washington's object in distressing boston. — scarcity 
 
 AND SICKNESS IN THE TOWN. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. — 
 
 SCARCITY OF POWDER IN THE CAMP. ITS PERILOUS SITUA- 
 TION. ECONOMY OF AMMUNITION. CORRESPONDENCE BE- 
 TWEEN LEE AND BURGOYNE. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN 
 
 WASHINGTON AND GAGE. THE DIGNITY OF THE PATRIOT 
 
 ARMY ASSERTED. 
 
 The great object of Washington at present, was to force the 
 enemy to come out of Boston and try a decisive action. His 
 lines had for some time cut off all communication of the town 
 with the country, and he had caused the live stock within a 
 considerable distance of the place to be driven back from the 
 coast, out of reach of the men-of-war's boats. Fresh provisions 
 and vegetables were consequently growing more and more 
 scarce and extravagantly dear, and sickness began to prevail. 
 " I have done and shall do everything in my power to distress 
 them," writes he to his brother John Augustine. " The tran- 
 sports have all arrived, and their whole reinforcement islanded, 
 so that I see no reason why they should not, if they ever attempt 
 it, come boldly out and put the matter to issue at once." 
 
 " We are in the strangest state in the world," writes a lady 
 from Boston, " surrounded on all sides. The whole countr}^ 
 is in arms and intrenched. We are deprived of fresh pro- 
 visions, subject to continual alarms and cannonadings, the 
 provincials being very audacious and advancing to our lines, 
 since the arrival of generals Washington and Lee to command 
 them." 
 
 At this critical juncture, when Washington was pressing 
 the siege, and endeavoring to provoke a general action a 
 startling fact came to light ; the whole amount of powder in 
 the camp would not furnish more than nine cartridges to a 
 man ! * 
 
 A gross error had been made by the committee of supplies 
 when Washington, on taking command, had required a return 
 of the ammunition. They had returned the whole amount of 
 powder collected by the province, upwards of three hundred 
 barrels ; without stating what had been expended. The blunder 
 * Letter to the President of Congress, Aug. 4. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 317 
 
 was detected on an order oeing issued for a new supply of 
 cartridges. It was found that there were but thirty-two barrels 
 of powder in store. 
 
 This was an astounding discovery. Washington instantly 
 despatched letters and expresses to Rhode Island, the Jerseys, 
 Ticonderoga and elsewhere, urging immediate supplies of pow- 
 der and lead ; no quantity, however small, to be considered be- 
 neath notice. In a letter to Governor Cooke of Rhode Island, 
 he suggested that an armed vessel of that province might be 
 sent to seize upon a magazine of gunpowder, said to be in a 
 remote part of the island of Bermuda. " I am very sensible," 
 writes he, "that at first view the project may appear hazardous, 
 and its success must depend on the concurrence of many cir- 
 cumstances ; but we are in a situation which requires us to run 
 all risks. ..... Enterprises which appear chimerical, 
 
 often prove successful from that very circumstance. Common 
 sense and prudence will suggest vigilance and care, where the 
 danger is plain and obvious ; but where little danger is appre- 
 hended, the more the enemy will be unprepared, and, conse- 
 quently, there is the fairest prospect of success." 
 
 Day after day elapsed without the arrival of any supplies ; 
 for in these irregular times, the munitions of war were not 
 readily procured. It seemed hardly possible that the matter 
 could be kept concealed from the enemy. Their works on 
 Bunker's Hill commanded a full view of those of the Americans 
 on Winter and Prospect hills. Each camp could see what was 
 passing in the other. The sentries were almost near enough 
 to converse. There was furtive intercourse occasionally be- 
 tween the men. In this critical state, the American camp re- 
 mained for a fortnight ; the anxious commander incessantly 
 apprehended an attack. At length a partial supply from the 
 Jersej^s put an end to this imminent risk. Washington's 
 secretary Reed, who had been the confident of his troubles and 
 anxieties, gives a vivid expression of his feelings on the arrival 
 of this relief. " I can hardly look back without shuddering, at 
 our situation before this increase of our stock. JStocJc did I 
 say ? it was next to nothing. Almost the whole powder of the 
 army was in the cartridge-boxes." * 
 
 It is thought that, considering the clatidestine intercourse 
 carried on between the two camps, intelligence of this deficiency 
 of ammunition on the part of the besiegers must have been con- 
 veyed to the British commander ; but that the bold face with 
 which the Americans continued to maintain their position made 
 him discredit it. 
 
 * Jleed to Thomas Bradford. Life and Correspondence, vol. i. p. 118, 
 
320 LIFE OP WASHINGTOn. 
 
 Jiave been compatible, and humanity to the subdued has become 
 ahnost a general system. Britons, ever pre-eminent in mercy, 
 have outgone common examples, and overlooked the criminal in 
 the captive. Upon these principles your prisoners, whose lives 
 by the law of the land are destined to the cord, have hitherto 
 been treated with care and kindness, and more comfortably 
 lodged than the king's troops in the hospitals ; indiscriminate- 
 ly, it is true, for I acknowledge no rank that is not derived 
 from the king. 
 
 " My intelligence from your army would justify severe re- 
 criminations. I understand there are of the king's faithful 
 subjects, taken some time since by the rebels, laboring, like 
 negro slaves to gain their daily subsistence, or reduced to the 
 wretched alternative to perish by famine or take arms against 
 their king and country. Those who have made the treatment 
 of the prisoners in my hands, or of your other friends in 
 Boston, a pretense for such measures, found barbarity upon 
 falsehood. 
 
 " I would willingly hope, sir, that the sentiments of liberality 
 which I have always believed you to possess, will be exerted to 
 correct these misdoings. Be temperate in political disquisition : 
 give free operation to truth, and punish those who deceive and 
 misrepresent ; and not only the effects, but the cause, of this 
 unhappy conflict will be removed. Should those, under whose 
 usurped authority you act, control such a disposition, and dare 
 to call severity retaliation ; to God, who knows all hearts, be the 
 appeal of the dreadful consequences," etc. 
 
 There were expressions in the foregoing letter well calculated 
 to rouse indignant feelings in the miost temperate bosom. 
 Had Washington been as readily moved to transports of pas- 
 sion as some are pleased to represent him, the rebel and .the 
 cord might readily have stung him to fury ; but with him, 
 anger was checked in its impulses by higher energies, and 
 reigned in to give a grander effect to the dictates of his judg- 
 ment. The following was his noble and dignified reply to 
 General Gage : — 
 
 " I addressed you, sir, on the 11th instant, in terms which 
 gave the fairest scope for that humanity and politeness which 
 were supposed to form a part of your character. I remon- 
 strated with you on the unworthy treatment shown to the offi- 
 cers and citizens of America, whom the fortune of war, chance, 
 or a mistaken confidence, had thrown into your hands. 
 Whether British or American mercy, fortitude, and patience 
 are most pre-eminent ; whether our virtuous citizens, whom the 
 hand of tyranny has forced into arms to defend their wives, 
 
LIFE OF WASniNQTON. :)2l 
 
 tlieir children, and their property, or the merciless instruments 
 of lawless domination, avarice, and revenge, best deserve the 
 appellation of rebels and the punishment of that cord which 
 your affected clemency has forborne to inflict ; whether the 
 authority under which I act is usurped, or founded upon the 
 genuine principles of liberty, were altogether foreign to the 
 subject. I purposely avoided all political disquisition*, nor 
 shall I now avail myself of those advantages which the sacred 
 cause of my country, of liberty, and of human nature give me 
 over you ; much less shall I stoop to retort an invective ; but 
 the intelligence you say you have received from our army re- 
 quires a reply. I have taken time, sir, to make a strict inquiry, 
 and find it has not the least foundation in truth. Not only 
 your officers and soldiers have been treated with the tenderness 
 due to fellow-citizens and brethren, but even those execrable 
 parricides, whose counsels and aid have deluged their country 
 with blood, have been protected from the fury of a justly en- 
 raged people. Far from compelling or permitting their assist- 
 ance, I am embarrassed with the numbers who crowd to our 
 camp, animated with the Durest principles of virtue and love to 
 their country 
 
 *^ You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from the 
 same source with your own. I cannot conceive one more honor- 
 acle than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a 
 brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain 
 of all power. Far from making it a plea for cruelty, a mind of 
 true magnanimity and enlarged ideas would comprehend and 
 respect it. 
 
 " What may have been the ministerial views which have pre- 
 cipated the present crisis, Lexington, Concord, and Charlestown 
 can best declare. May that God, to whom you, too, appeal, 
 judge between America and you. Under his providence, those 
 who influence the councils of America, and all the other inhabi- 
 tants of the united colonies, at the hazard of their lives, are 
 determined to hand down to posterity those just and invaluable 
 privileges which they received from their ancestors. 
 
 " I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with you, 
 perhaps forever. If your officers, our prisoners, receive a treat- 
 ment from me different from that which I wished to show them, 
 they and you will remember the occasion of it." 
 
 We have given these letters of Washington almost entire, 
 for they contain his manifesto as commander-in-chief of the 
 armies of the Revolution ; setting forth the opinions and mo- 
 tives by which he was governed, and the principles on which 
 hostilities on his part would be conducted. It was planting 
 
320 LIFE OP WASHING fan. 
 
 have been compatible, and humanity to the subdued has become 
 almost a general system. Britons, ever pre-eminent in mercy, 
 have outgone common examples, and overlooked the criminal in 
 the captive. Upon these principles your prisoners, whose lives 
 by the law of the land are destined to the cord, have hitherto 
 been treated with care and kindness, and more comfortably 
 lodged than the king's troops in the hospitals ; indiscriminate- 
 ly, it is true, for I acknowledge no rank that is not derived 
 from the king. 
 
 " My intelligence from your army would justify severe re- 
 criminations. I understand there are of the king's faithful 
 subjects, taken some time since by the rebels, laboring, like 
 negro slaves to gain their daily subsistence, or reduced to the 
 wretched alternative to perish by famine or take arms against 
 their king and country. Those who have made the treatment 
 of the prisoners in my hands, or of your other friends in 
 Boston, a pretense for such measures, found barbarity upon 
 falsehood. 
 
 " I would willingly hope, sir, that the sentiments of liberality 
 which I have always believed you to possess, will be exerted to 
 correct these misdoings. Be temperate in political disquisition : 
 give free operation to truth, and punish those who deceive and 
 misrepresent ; and not only the effects, but the cause, of this 
 unhappy conflict will be removed. Should those, under whose 
 usurped authority you act, control such a disposition, and dare 
 to call severity retaliation ; to God, who knows all hearts, be the 
 appeal of the dreadful consequences," etc. 
 
 There were expressions in the foregoing letter well calculated 
 to rouse indignant feelings in the most temperate bosom. 
 Had Washington been as readily moved to transports of pas- 
 sion as some are pleased to represent him, the rebel and .the 
 cord might readily have stung him to fury ; but with him, 
 anger was checked in its impulses by higher energies, and 
 reigned in to give a grander effect to the dictates of his judg- 
 ment. The following was his noble and dignified reply to 
 General Gage : — 
 
 " I addressed you, sir, on the 11th instant, in terms which 
 gave the fairest scope for that humanity and politeness which 
 were supposed to form a part of your character. I remon- 
 strated with you on the unworthy treatment shown to the offi- 
 cers and citizens of America, whom the fortune of war, chance, 
 or a mistaken confidence, had thrown into your hands. 
 Whether British or American mercy, fortitude, and patience 
 are most pre-eminent ; whether our virtuous citizens, whom the 
 hand of tyranny has forced into arms to defend their wives, 
 
ItF:^ OF WASBIJ^GTOI^. .021 
 
 tlieir children, and their property, or the merciless instruments 
 of lawless domination, avarice, and revenge, best deserve the 
 appellation of rebels and the punishment of that cord which 
 your affected clemency has forborne to inflict ; whether the 
 authority under which I act is usurped, or founded upon the 
 genuine principles of liberty, were altogether foreign to the 
 subject. I purposely avoided all political disquisition 5 nor 
 shall I now avail myself of those advantages which the sacred 
 cause of my country, of liberty, and of human nature give me 
 over you ; much less shall I stoop to retort an invective ; but 
 the intelligence you say you have received from our army re- 
 quires a reply. I have taken time, sir, to make a strict inquiry, 
 and find it has not the least foundation in truth. Not only 
 your officers and soldiers have been treated with the tenderness 
 due to fellow-citizens and brethren, but even those execrable 
 parricides, whose counsels and aid have deluged their country 
 with blood, have been protected from the fury of a justly en- 
 raged people. Far from compelling or permitting their assist- 
 ance, I am embarrassed with the numbers who crowd to our 
 camp, animated with the Durest principles of virtue and love to 
 their country 
 
 " You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from the 
 same source with your own. I cannot conceive one more honor- 
 acle than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a 
 brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain 
 of all power. Far from making it a plea for cruelty, a mind of 
 true magnanimity and enlarged ideas would comprehend and 
 respect it. 
 
 " What may have been the ministerial views which have pre- 
 cipated the present crisis, Lexington, Concord, and Charlestown 
 can best declare. May that God, to whom you, too, appeal, 
 judge between America and you. Under his providence, those 
 who influence the councils of America, and all the other inhabi- 
 tants of the united colonies, at the hazard of their lives, are 
 determined to hand down to posterity those just and invaluable 
 privileges which the}'^ received from their ancestors. 
 
 "I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with you, 
 perhaps forever. If your officers, our prisoners, receive a treat- 
 ment from me different from that which I wished to show them, 
 they and you will remember the occasion of it." 
 
 We have given these letters of Washington almost entire, 
 for they contain his manifesto as commander-in-chief of the 
 armies of the Revolution ; setting forth the opinions and mo- 
 tives by which he was governed, and the principles on which 
 hostilities on his part would be conducted. It was planting 
 
324 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 that province, aided if necessary by the New England colonies, 
 on whom it was authorized to call for military assistance. 
 
 The Provincial Congress of New York forthwith invited the 
 ^^ Governor and Company of the English colony of Connecticut " 
 to place part of their forces in these captured posts, until re- 
 lieved by New York troops ; and Trumbull, the governor of 
 Connecticut, soon gave notice that one thousand men, under 
 Colonel Hinman, were on the point of marching for the re- 
 inforcement of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 
 
 It had been the idea of the Continental Congress to have 
 those posts dismantled, and the cannon and stores removed to 
 the south end of Lake George, where a strong post was to be estab- 
 lished. But both Allen and Arnold exclaimed against such a 
 measure, vaunting, and with reason, the importance of those forts. 
 
 Both Allen and Arnold where ambitious of further laurels. 
 Both were anxious to lead an expedition into Canada ; and 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point would open the way to it. 
 " The key is ours," writes Allen to the New York Congress.' 
 ^' If the colonies would suddenly push an army of two or three 
 thousand men into Canada, they might make an easy conquest 
 of all that would oppose them, in the extensive province of 
 Quebec, except a reinforcement from England should prevent 
 it. Such a diversion would weaken Gage, and insure us Can 
 ada. I wish to God America would, at this critical juncture, ex- 
 ert herself agreeably to the indignity offered her by a tyranni 
 cal ministry. She might rise on eagle's wings, and mount up 
 to glory, freedom, and immortal honor, if she did but know and 
 exert her strength. Fame is now hovering over her head. A 
 vast continent must now sink to slavery, poverty, horror, and 
 bondage, or rise to unconquerable freedom, immense wealth, 
 inexpressible felicity, and immortal fame. 
 
 " I will lay my life on it, that with fifteen hundred men, and 
 a proper train of artillery, I will take Montreal. Provided I 
 could be thus furnished, and if an army could command the 
 field, it would be no insuperable difficulty to take Quebec." 
 
 A letter to the same purport, and with the same rhetorical 
 flourish, on which he appeared to value himself, was written by 
 Allen to Trumbull, the governor of Connecticut. Arnold urged 
 the same project, but in less magniloquent language, upon the 
 attention of the Continental Congress. His letter was dated 
 from Crown Point, where he had a little squadron, composed of 
 the sloop captured at St. John's, a schooner, and a flotilla of 
 bateaux. All these he had equipped, armed, manned, and 
 officered ; and his crews were devoted to him. In bis letter to 
 the Continental Congress, he gave information concerning Can- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 325 
 
 ada, collected through spies and agents. Carleton, he said, 
 had not six hundred effective men under him. The Canadians 
 and Indians were disaffected to the British Government, and 
 Montreal was ready to throw open its gates to a patriot force. 
 Two thousand men, he was certain, would be sufficient to get 
 possession of the province. 
 
 " I beg leave to add," says he, " that if no person appears 
 who will undertake to carry the plan into execution, I will 
 undertake, and, with, the smiles of Heaven, answer for the suc- 
 cess, provided I am supplied with men, etc., to carry it into 
 execution without loss of time." 
 
 In a postscript of his letter, he specifies the forces requisite 
 for his suggested invasion. " In order to give satisfaction to 
 the different colonies, I propose that Colonel Hinman's regi- 
 ment, now on their march from Connecticut to Ticonderoga, 
 should form part of the army ; say one thousand men ; five 
 hundred men to be sent from New York, five hundred of Gen- 
 eral Arnold's regiment, including the seamen and marines on 
 board the vessels (no Green Mountain JBoys).^^ 
 
 Within a few days after the date of this letter. Colonel Hin- 
 man with the Connecticut troops arrived. The greater part of 
 the Green Mountain Boys now returned home, their term of 
 enlistment having expired. Ethan Allen and his brother in 
 arms, Seth Warner, repaired to Congress to get i)^j for their 
 men, and authority to raise a new regiment. They were re- 
 ceived with distinguished honor by that body. The same pay 
 was awarded to the men who had served under them as that 
 allowed to the continental troops ; and it was recommended to 
 the Xew York Convention that, should it meet the approbation 
 of General Schuyler, a fresh corps of Green Mountain Boys 
 about to be raised, should be employed in the army under such 
 officers as they (the Green Mountain Boys) should choose. 
 
 To the Kew York Convention Allen and Warner now re- 
 paired. There was a difficulty about admitting them to the 
 Hall of Assembly, for their attainder of outlawry had not been 
 repealed. Patriotism, however, pleaded in their behalf. They 
 obtained an audience. A regiment of Gpeen Mountain Boys, 
 five hundred strong, was decreed, and General Schuyler notified 
 the people of the New Hampshire Grants of the resolve, and 
 requested them to raise the regiment. 
 
 Thus prosperously went the affairs of Ethan Allen and Seth 
 Warner. As to Arnold, difficulties instantly took place between 
 him and Colonel Hinman. Arnold refused to give up to him 
 the command of either post, claiming on the strength of his 
 instructions from the committee of safety of Massachusetts, a 
 
326 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 right to the command of all the posts and fortresses at the 
 south end of Lake Champlain and Lake George. This threw 
 everything into confusion. Colonel Hinman was himself per- 
 plexed in this conflict of various authorities ; being, as it were, 
 but a locum tenens for the province of IS'ew York. 
 
 Arnold was at Crown Point, acting as commander of the fort 
 and admiral of the fleet ; and, having about a hundred and fifty 
 resolute men under him, was expecting with confidence to be 
 authorized to lead an expedition into Canada. 
 
 At this juncture arrived a committee of three members of 
 the Congress of Massachusetts, sent by that body to inquire 
 into the manner in which he had executed his instructions ; 
 complaints having been made of his arrogance and undue as- 
 sumption of command. 
 
 Arnold was thunderstruck at being subjected to inquiry, 
 when he had expected an ovation. He requested a sight of the 
 committee's instructions. The sight of them only increased 
 his indignation. They were to acquaint themselves with the 
 manner in which he had executed his commission ; with his 
 spirit, capacity, and conduct. Should they think proper, they 
 might order him to return to Massachusetts, to render account 
 of the moneys, ammunition, and stores he had received, and the 
 debts he had contracted on behalf of the colony. While at Ti- 
 conderoga, he and his men were to be under command of the 
 principal officer from Connecticut. 
 
 Arnold was furious. He swore he would be second in com- 
 mand to no one, disbanded his men, and threw up his commis- 
 sion. Quite a scene ensued. His men became turbulent ; 
 some refused to serve under any other leader ; others clamored 
 for their pay, which was in arrears. Part joined Arnold on 
 board of the vessels which were drawn out into the lake ; and 
 among other ebullitions of passion, there was a threat of sail- 
 ing for St. John's. 
 
 At length the storm was allayed by the interference of 
 several of the officers, and the assurances of the committee that 
 every man should be paid. A part of them enlisted under 
 Colonel Easton, and Arnold set off for Cambridge to settle his 
 accounts with the committee of safety. 
 
 The project of an invasion of Canada, urged by Allen and 
 Arnold, had at first met with no favor, the Continental Con- 
 gress having formally resolved to make no hostile attempts 
 upon that province. Intelligence subsequently received, in- 
 duced it to change its plans. Carleton was said .to be strength- 
 ening the fortifications and garrison at St. John's, and prepar- 
 ing to launch vessels on the lake wherewith to regain command 
 
LIFE OF WASBINGTOm 327 
 
 of it, and retake the captured post^. Powerful reinforcements 
 were coming from England and elsewhere. Guy Johnson was 
 holding councils with the fierce Cayuga^ and Senecas, and stir- 
 ring up the Six Nations to hostility. On the other hand, 
 Canada was full of religious and political dissensions. The late 
 exploits of the Americans on Lake Champlain, had produced a 
 favorable effect on the Canadians, who would flock to the 
 patriot standard if unfurled among them by an imposing force. 
 Now was the time to strike a blow to paralyze all hostility from 
 this quarter ; now, while Carleton's regular force was weak, 
 and before the arrival of additional troops. Influenced by these 
 considerations. Congress now determined to extend the Revolu- 
 tion into Canada, but it was an enterprise too important to be 
 intrusted to any but discreet hands. General Schuyler, then in 
 New York, was accordingly ordered, on the 27th June, to pro- 
 ceed to Ticonderoga, and, " should he find it practicable and 
 not disagreeable to the Canadians, immediately to take posses- 
 sion of St. John's and Montreal, and pursue such other meas- 
 ures in Canada as might have a tendency to promote the peace 
 and security of these provinces." 
 
 It behooved General Schuyler to be on the alert, lest the en- 
 terprise should be snatched from his hands. Ethan Allen and 
 Seth Warner were at Bennington, among the Green Moun- 
 tains. Enlistments were going on, but too slow for Allen's 
 impatience, who had his old hankering for a partisan foray. 
 In a letter to Governor Trumbull (July 12th), he writes, 
 " Were it not that the grand Continental Congress had totally 
 incorporated the Green Mountain Boys into a battalion under 
 certain regulations and command, I would forthwith advance 
 them into Canada and invest Montreal, exclusive of any help 
 from the colonies \ though under present circumstances I would 
 not, for my right arm, act without or contrary to order. If niy 
 fo7id zeal for reducing the hing^ s fortresses and destroying or 
 imprisoning his troops in Canada he the result of enthusiasm ^ 
 I hope and expect the wisdom of the continent will treat it as 
 such ; and on tlie other hand, if it proceed from sound policy, 
 that the plan will be adopted." ^ 
 
 Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the 18th of Julj-. A 
 letter to Washington, to whom, as commander-in-chief, he made 
 constant reports, gives a striking picture of a frontier post in 
 those crude days of the Eevolution. 
 
 " You will expect tliat I should say something about this 
 place and the troops here. Not one earthly thing for oifense 
 
 * Force's Am. Archives, ii. 1649 
 
328 LIFE OF WASntNGTON. 
 
 or defense has been done ; the commanding officer has no 
 orders ; he only came to reinforce the garrisoyi, and he ex- 
 pected the general. About ten last night I arrived at the 
 landing-place, at the north eiid of Lake George ; a post occupied 
 by a captain and one hundred men. A sentinel, on being in- 
 formed that I was in the boat, quitted his post to go and 
 awaken the guard, consisting of three men, in which he had 
 no success. I walked up and came to another, a sergeant's 
 guard. Here the sentinel challenged, but suffered me to come 
 up to him ; the whole guard, like the first, in the soundest 
 sleep. With a penknife only I could have cut off both guards, 
 and then have set fire to the block-house, destroj'^ed the stores, 
 and starved the people here. At this post I had pointedly 
 recommended vigilance and care, as all the stores from Lake 
 George must necessarily be landed here. But I hope to get 
 the better of this inattention. The officers and men are all 
 good-looking people, and decent in their deportment, and I 
 really believe will make good soldiers as soon as I can get the 
 better of this nonchalance of theirs. Bravery, I believe, they 
 are far from wanting." 
 
 Colonel Hinman, it will be recollected, was in temporan 
 command at Ticonderoga, if that could be called a command 
 where none seemed to obey. The garrison was about twelve 
 hundred strong : the greater part Connecticut men brought by 
 himself; some were New York troops, and some few Green 
 Mountain Boys. Schuyler, on taking command, despatched a 
 confidential agent into Canada, Major John Brown, an Amer- 
 ican, who resided at the Sorel River, and was popular among 
 the Canadians. He was to collect information as to the British 
 forces and fortifications, and to ascertain how an invasion and 
 an attack on St. John's would be considered by the people of 
 the province : in the meantime, Schuyler set diligently to work 
 to build boats and prepare for the enterprise, should it ulti- 
 mately be ordered by Congress. 
 
 Schuyler was an authoritative man, and inherited from his 
 Dutch ancestry a great love of order ; he was excessively an- 
 noj^ed, therefore, by the confusion and negligence prevalent 
 arouild him, and the difficulties and delays thereby occasioned. 
 He chafed in spirit at the disregard of discipline among his 
 yeoman soldiery, and tkeir opposition to all system and regu- 
 larity. This was especially the case with the troops from Con- 
 necticut, officered generally by their own neighbors and familiar 
 companions, and unwilling to acknowledge the authority of a 
 commander from a different province. He poured out his 
 complaints in a friendly letter to Washington 5 the latter con« 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 329 
 
 soled him by stating his own troubles and grievances in the 
 camp at Cambridge, and the spirit with which he coped with 
 them. " From my own experience," writes he (July 28), " I 
 can easily judge of your difficulties in introducing order and 
 discipline into troops, who have, from their infancy, imbibed 
 ideas of the most contrary kind. It would be far beyond the 
 compass of a letter, for me to describe the situation of things 
 here [at Cambridge], on my arrival. Perhaps you will only be 
 able to judge of it, from my assuring you, that mine must be a 
 portrait at full length of what you have had in miniature. Con- 
 fusion and discord reigned in every department, which, in a 
 little, time, must have ended either in the separation of the 
 army, or fctril contests with one another. The better genius 
 of America h.is prevailed, and, most happily, the ministerial 
 troops have not availed themselves of these advantages, till, I 
 
 trust, the opportunity is in a great measure passed over 
 
 We mend every day, and, I flatter myself, that in a little time 
 we shall work up these raw materials into a good manufacture. 
 I must recommend to you, what I endeavor to practice myself, 
 patience and perseverance." 
 
 Schuyler took the friendly admonition in the spirit in which 
 it was given. " I can easily bonceive," writes he (Aug. 6th), 
 " that my difficulties are only a faint semblance of yours. 
 Yes, my general, I will strive to copy your bright example, 
 and patiently and steadily persevere in that line which only can 
 promise the wished-for reformation." 
 
 He had calculated on being joined by this time by the regi- 
 ment of G-reen Mountain Boys which Ethan Allen and Seth 
 Warner had undertaken to raise in the Kew Hampshire Grants. 
 Unfortunately, a quarrel had arisen between those brothers in 
 arms, which filled tbe Green Mountains with discord and party 
 feuds. The election of officers took place on the 27th of July. 
 It was made by committees from the different townships. 
 Ethan Allen was entirely passed by, and Seth Warner nomi- 
 nated as lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Allen was thunder- 
 struck at finding himself thus suddenly dismounted. His 
 patriotism and love of adventure, however, were not quelled ; 
 and he forthwith repaired to the army at Ticonderoga to offer 
 himself as a volunteer. 
 
 Schuyler, at first, hesitated to accept his services. He was 
 aware of his aspiring notions, and feared there would be a 
 difficulty in keeping him within due bounds, but was at length 
 persuaded by his officers to retain him to act as a pioneer on 
 the Canadian frontier. 
 
 In a letter from camp, Allen gave Governor Trumbull an ao 
 
330 J^JF'J^ OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 count of the downfall of Lis towering hopes. " jSTotwithstand* 
 ing my zeal and success in my country's cause, the old farmers 
 on the New Hampshire Grants, who do not incline to go to 
 war, have met in a committee meeting, and in their nomination 
 of officers for the regiment of Green Mountain Boys, have 
 wholly omitted me." 
 
 His letter has a consolatory postscript. " I find myself in 
 the favor of the officers of the army and the young Green 
 Mountain Boys. How the old men came to reject me I cannot 
 conceive, inasmuch as I saved them from the encroachments of 
 New York.'^ * — The old men probably doubted his discretion. 
 
 Schuyler was on the alert with respect to the expedition 
 against Canada. From his agent. Major Brown, and from 
 other sources, he had learnt that there were but about seven 
 hundred king's troops in that province ; three hundred of them 
 at St. John's, about fifty at Quebec, the remainder at Montreal, 
 Chamblee, and the upper posts. Colonel Guy Johnson was at 
 Montreal with three hundred men, mostlj^ his tenants, and with 
 a number of Indians. Two batteries had been finished at St. 
 John's, mounting nine guns each : other works were intrenched 
 and picketed. Two large row-galleys were on the stocks, and 
 would soon be finished. Now was the time, according to his 
 informants, to carry Canada. It might be done with great ease 
 and little cost. The Canadians were disaffected to British 
 rule, and would join the Americans, and so would many of the 
 Indians. 
 
 " I am prepared," writes he to Washington, " to move against 
 the enemy, unless your Excellency and Congress should direct 
 otherwise. In the course of a few days I expect to receive the 
 ultimate determination. Whatever it may be, I shall try to 
 execute it in such a manner as will promote the just cause in 
 which we are engaged." 
 
 While awaiting orders on this head he repaired to Albany to 
 hold a conference and negotiate a treaty wdth the Caughnawagas 
 and the warriors of the Six Nations, whom, as one of the com- 
 missioners of Indian affairs, he had invited to meet him at that 
 place. General Hichard Montgomery was to remain in com- 
 mand at Ticonderoga during his absence, and to urge forward 
 the military preparations. As tlie i^ubsequent fortunes of this 
 gallant officer are inseparably connected with the Canadian 
 campaign, and have endeared his name to Americans, we pause 
 to give a few particulars concerning him. _ 
 
 General Kichard Montgomery was of a good family in the 
 
 * Am, Archives, 4th Series, ill. 1T» 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, S3l 
 
 north of Ireland, where lie was horn in 1736. He entered the 
 army when ahout eighteen years of age ; served in America in 
 the French war ; won a lieutenancy hy gallant conduct at 
 Louishurg ; followed General Amherst to Lake Champlain, and 
 after the conquest of Canada was promoted to a captaincy for 
 his services in the West Indies. 
 
 After the peace of Versailles he resided in England; hut, 
 ahout three years before the breaking out of the Revolution, he 
 sold out his commission in the army and emigrated to New 
 York. Here he married the eldest daughter of Judge Robert 
 R. Livingston, of the Clermont branch of that family, and took 
 up his residence on an estate which he had purchased in Dutchess 
 County, on the banks of the Hudson. 
 
 Being known to be in favor of the popular cause, he was 
 drawn reluctantly from his rural abode to represent his county 
 in the first convention of the province ; and on the recent or- 
 ganization of the army his military reputation gained him the 
 unsought commission of brigadier-general. " It is an event," 
 writes he to a friend, " which must put an end for a while, 
 perhaps forever, to the quiet scheme of life I had prescribed 
 for myself ; for, though entirely unexpected and undesired by 
 me, the will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose between 
 liberty and slavery, must be obeyed." 
 
 At the time of receiving his commission Montgomery was 
 about thirty-nine years of age, and the heau ideal of a soldier. 
 His form was well-proportioned and vigorous ; his countenance 
 expressive and prepossessing ; he was cool and discriminating 
 in council, energetic and fearless in action. His principles 
 commanded the respect of friends and foes, and he was noted 
 for winning the affections of the soldiery. 
 
 While these things were occurring at Ticonderoga, several 
 Indian chiefs made their appearance in the camp at Cambridge. 
 They came in savage state and costume, as ambassadors from 
 their respective tribes, to have a talk about the impending in- 
 vasion of Canada. One was chief of the Caughnawaga tribe, 
 whose residence was on the banks of the St. Lawrence, six 
 miles above Montreal. Others were from St. Francis, about 
 forty-five leagues above Quebec, and were of a warlike tribe, 
 from which hostilities had been especially apprehended. 
 
 Washington, accustomed to deal with the red warriors of the 
 wilderness, received them with great ceremonial. They dined 
 at headquarters among his officers, and it is observed that to 
 some of the latter they might have served as models, such was 
 their grave dignity and decorum. 
 
 A council-lire was held. The sachems all offered, on behalJ^ 
 
332 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 of their tribes, to take up the hatchet for the Americans should 
 the latter invade Canada. The offer was embarrassing. Con- 
 gress had publicly resolved to seek nothing but neutrality from 
 the Indian nations, unless the ministerial agents should make 
 an offensive alliance with them. The chief of the St. Francis 
 tribe declared that Governor Carleton had endeavored to per- 
 suade him to take up the hatchet against the Americans, but in 
 vain. " As our ancestors gave this country to you," added he 
 grandly, " we would not have you destroyed by England ; but 
 are ready to afford you our assistance." 
 
 Washington wished to be certain of the conduct of the ene- 
 my, before he gave a reply to these Indian overtures. He 
 wrote by express, therefore, to General Schuyler, requesting 
 him to ascertain the intentions of the British governor with 
 respect to the native tribes. 
 
 By the same express, he communicated a plan which had oc- 
 cupied his thoughts for several days. As the contemplated 
 movement of Schuyler would probably cause all the British 
 force in Canada to be concentrated in the neighborhood of Mont- 
 real and St. John's, he proposed to send oS an expedition of 
 ten or twelve hundred men, to penetrate to Quebec by the way 
 of the Kennebec Biver. " If you are resolved to proceed," 
 writes he to Schuyler, " which I gather from your last letter is 
 your intention, it would make a diversion that would distract 
 Carleton. He must either break up, and follow this party to 
 Quebec, by which he would leave you a free passage, or he must 
 suffer that important place to fall into other hands — an event 
 that would have a decisive effect and influence on the public in- 
 terest The few whom I have consulted on the 
 
 project approve it much, but the final determination is deferred 
 until I hear from you. Not a moment's time is to be lost in 
 the preparations for this enterprise, if the advices from you 
 favor it. With the utmost expedition the season will be con- 
 siderably advanced, so that you will dismiss the express as soon 
 as possible." 
 
 The express found Schuyler in Albany, where he had been 
 attending the conference with the Six Nations. He had just 
 received intelligence which convinced him of the propriety of 
 an expedition into Canada ; had sent word to General Montgom- 
 ery to get everything ready for it, and was on the point of 
 departing for Ticonderoga to carry it into effect. In reply to 
 Washington, he declared his conviction, from various accounts 
 which he had received, that Carleton and his agents were ex- 
 citing the Indian tribes to hostility. " I should, therefore, not 
 hesitate one moment," adds he, "to employ any savages that 
 might be willing to join us." 
 
LIFE OF WASTnNGTOJSTo 333 
 
 He expressed himself delighted with Washington's project of 
 sending off an expedition to Quebec, regretting only that it had 
 not been thought of earlier. " Should the detachment from 
 your body penetrate into Canada," added he, " and we meet 
 with success, Canada must inevitably fall into our hands." 
 
 Having sent off these despatches, Schuyler hastened back to 
 Ticonderoga. Before he reached there, Montgomery had re- 
 ceived intelligence that Carleton had completed his armed 
 vessels at St. John's, and was about to send them into Lake 
 Champlain by the Sorel River. No time, therefore, was to be 
 lost in getting possession of the Isle Aux Noix, which com- 
 manded the entrance to that river. Montgomery hastened, 
 therefore, to embark with about a thousand men, which were 
 as many as the boats now ready could hold, taking with him 
 two pieces of artillery ; with this force he set olf down the 
 lake. A letter to G-eneral Schuyler explained the cause of his 
 sudden departure, and entreated him to follow on, in a whale- 
 boat, leaving the residue of the artillery to come on as soon as 
 conveyances could be procured. 
 
 Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the night of the 30th of 
 August, but too ill of a bilious fever to push on in a whaleboat. 
 He caused, however, a bed to be prepared for him in a covered 
 bateau, and, ill as he was, continued forward on the following 
 day. On the 4th of September he overtook Montgomery at 
 the Isle la Motte, where he had been detained by contrary 
 weather, and, assuming command of the little army, kept on the 
 same day to the Isle Aux Noix, about twelve miles south of 
 St. John's — where for the present we shall leave him, and re- 
 turn to the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief. 
 
334 i^IFE OF WASHIJStGTOir, 
 
 CHAPTER XL VII. 
 
 A CHALLENGE DECLINED. A BLOW MEDITATED. A CAUTIOUS 
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR. PREPARATION FOR THE QUEBEC EX- 
 PEDITION. BENEDICT ARNOLD .THE LEADER. ADVICE AND 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS. DEPARTURE. GENERAL SCHUYLER ON THE 
 
 SOREL. RECONNOITERS ST. JOHN's. CAMP AT ISLE AUX 
 
 NOIX. ILLNESS OF SCHUYLER. RETURNS TO TICONDEROGA. 
 
 EXPEDITION OF MONTGOMERY AGAINST ST. JOHN's . 
 
 LETTER OF ETHAN ALLEN. HIS DASH AGAINST MONTREAL. 
 
 ITS CATASTROPHE. A HERO IN IRONS. CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF WASHINGTON WITH SCHUYLER AND ARNOLD. HIS 
 
 ANXIETY ABOUT THEM. 
 
 The siege of Boston had been kept up for several weeks 
 without any remarkable occurrence. The British remained 
 within their lines, diligently strengthening them ; the besiegers 
 having received further supplies of ammunition, were growing 
 impatient of a state of inactivit}'-. Towards the latter part of 
 August there were rumors from Boston, that the enemy were 
 preparing for a sortie. Washington was resolved to provoke it 
 by a kind of challenge. He accordingly detached fourteen 
 hundred men to seize at night upon a height within musket-shot 
 of the enemy's line on Charlestown Neck, presuming that the 
 latter would sally forth on the following day to dispute pos- 
 session of it, and thus be drawn into a general battle. The 
 task was executed with silence and celerity, and by daybreak 
 the hill presented to the astonished foe the aspect of a fortified 
 post 
 
 The challenge was not accepted. The British opened a heavy 
 cannonade from Bunker's Hill, but kept within their works. 
 The Americans, scant of ammunition, could only reply with a 
 single nine-pounder; this, however, sank one of the floating 
 batteries which guarded the Neck. They went on to comjjlete 
 and strengthen this advanced post, exposed to daily cannonade 
 and bombardment, which, however, did but little injury. They 
 continued to answer from time to time with a single gun 5 re- 
 serving their ammunition for a general action. " We are just in 
 the situation of a man with little money in his pocket," writes 
 Secretary Reed J "he will do twenty mean things to prevent 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 335 
 
 liis breaking in upon his little stock. We are obliged to bear 
 with the rascals on Bunker's Hill, when a few shot now and 
 then in return would keep our men attentive to their business 
 and give the enemy alarms." * 
 
 The evident unwillingness of the latter to come forth was 
 perplexing. " Unless the ministerial troops in Boston are 
 waiting for reinforcements/' writes Washington, " I cannot de- 
 vise what they are staying there for, nor why, as they affect to 
 despise the Americans, they do not come forth and put an end 
 to the contest at once." 
 
 Perhaps they persuaded themselves that his army, composed 
 of crude, half-disciplined levies from different and distant 
 quarters, would gradually fall asunder and disperse, or that its 
 means of subsistence would be exhausted. He had his own 
 fears on the subject, and looked forward with doubt and anxiety 
 to a winter's campaign ; the heavy expense that would be in- 
 curred in providing barracks, fuel, and warm clothing ; the dif- 
 ficulty there would be of keeping together, through the rigor- 
 ous season, troops unaccustomed to military hardships, and 
 none of whose terms of enlistment extended beyond the 
 first of January : the supplies of ammunition, too, that would 
 be required for protracted operations; the stock ©f powder on 
 hand, notwithstanding the most careful husbandry, being fear- 
 fully small. Revolving these circumstances in his mind, he 
 rode thoughtfully about the commanding points in the vicinity 
 of Boston, considering how he might strike a decisive blow that 
 would put an end to the murmuring inactivity of the army, and 
 relieve the country from the consuming expense of maintain- 
 ing it. The result was, a letter to the major and brigadier- 
 generals, summoning them to a council of war to be held at the 
 distance of three days, and giving them previous intimation of 
 its purpose. It was to know whether, in their judgment, a 
 successful attack might not be made upon the troops at Boston 
 by means of boats, in cooperation with an attempt upon their- 
 lines at lloxbury. '^ The success of such an enterprise," adds 
 he, " depends, I well know, upon the All wise Disposer of events, 
 and it is not within the reach of human wisdom to foretell the 
 issue ; but if the prospect is fair, the undertaking is justifiable." 
 
 He proceeded to state the considerations alread}^ cited, which 
 appeared to justify it. The council having thus had time for 
 previous deliberation, met on the 11th of September. It was 
 composed of Major-generals Ward, Lee, and Putnam, and 
 Brigadier-generals Thomas, Heath, Sullivan, Spencer, and 
 
 * Life of Beed, vol. i. 119, 
 
336 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Greene. They unanimously pronounced the suggested attempt 
 inexpedient, at least for the present. 
 
 It certainly was bold and hazardous, yet it seems to have 
 taken strong hold on the mind of the commander-in-chief, 
 usually so cautious. ^' I cannot say," Avrites he to the Presi- 
 dent of Congress, '' that I have wholly laid it aside ; but new 
 events may occasion new measures. Of this I hope the honor- 
 able Congress can need no assurance, that there is not a man in 
 America who more earnestly wishes such a termination of the 
 campaign, as to make the army no longer necessary." 
 
 In the meantime, as it was evident the enemy did not intend 
 to come out, but were only strengthening their defenses, and 
 preparing for winter, Washington was enabled to turn his at- 
 tention to the expedition to be sent into Canada by the way of 
 the Kennebec Kiver. 
 
 A detachment of about eleven hundred men, chosen for the 
 purpose, was soon encamped on Cambridge Common. There 
 were ten companies of New England infantry, some of them from 
 General Greene's Hhode Island E-egiments ; three rifle com- 
 panies from Pennsylvania and Virginia, one of them Captain 
 David Morgan's famous company ; and a number of volunteers, 
 among whom was Aaron Burr, then but twenty years of age, and 
 just commencing his varied, brilliant, but ultimately unfortu- 
 nate career. 
 
 The proposed expedition was wild and perilous, and required 
 a hardy, skillful, and intrepid leader. Such a one was at hand. 
 Benedict Arnold was at Cambridge, occupied in settling his 
 accounts with the' Massachusetts committee of safety. These 
 were nearly adjusted. Whatever faults may have been found 
 with his conduct in some particulars, his exploits on Lake 
 Champlain had atoned for them ; for valor, in time of war, 
 covers a multitude of sins. It was thought, too, by some, that 
 he had been treated harshly, and there was a disposition to 
 soothe his irritated pride. Washington had given him an 
 honorable reception at head-quarters, and now considered him 
 the very man for the present enterprise. He had shown apt- 
 ness for military service, whether on land or water. He was 
 acquainted, too, with Canada, and especially with Quebec, hav- 
 ing, in the course of his checkered life, traded in horses between 
 that place and the West Indies. With these considerations he 
 intrusted him with the command of the expedition, giving him 
 the commission of lieutenant-colonel in the continental army. 
 
 As he would be intrusted with dangerous powers, Washing- 
 ton, besides a general letter of instructions, addressed a special 
 one to him individually, full of cautious and considerate advice. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 337 
 
 ^^ Upon your conduct and courage, and tliat of the officers and 
 soldiers detailed on this expedition, not only the success of the 
 present enterprise, and your own honor, but the safety and wel- 
 fare of the whole continent, may depend. I charge you, there- 
 fore, and the officers and soldiers under your command, as you 
 value your own safety and honor, and the favor and esteem of 
 youT country, that you consider yourselves as marching, not 
 tlu-aigh the country of an enemy, but of our friends and breth- 
 ren ; for such the inhabitants of Canada and the Indian nations 
 have approved themselves, in this unhappy contest between 
 Great Britain and America; and that you check by every 
 moti\'e of duty and fear of punishment every attempt to plunder 
 or insult the inhabitants of Canada. Should any American 
 soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any Canadian or 
 Indian in his person or property, I do most earnestly enjoin you 
 to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the 
 enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death 
 itself, it will not be disproportioned to its guilt at such a time 
 
 and in such a cause I also give in charge to 
 
 you, to avoid all disrespect to the religion of the country and 
 
 its ceremonies While we are contending for 
 
 our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the 
 rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone 
 is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only, in this case, 
 are they answerable." 
 
 In the general letter of instructions, Washington inserted 
 the following clause : " If Lord Chatham's son should be in 
 Canada, and in any way fall into your power, you are enjoined 
 to treat him with all possible deference and respect. You can- 
 not err in paying too much honor to the son of so illustrious a 
 character, and so true a friend to America. 
 
 Arnold was, moreover, furnished with hand-bills for distribu- 
 tion in Canada, setting forth the friendly objects of the present 
 expedition, as well as of that under General Schuyler ; and call- 
 ing on the Canadians to furnish necessaries and accommodations 
 of every kind ; for which they were assured ample compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 On the 13th of September Arnold struck his tents, and set 
 out in high spirits. More fortunate than his rival, Ethan Allen, 
 he had attained the object of his ambition, the command of an 
 expedition into Canada ; and trusted, in the capture of Quebec, 
 to eclipse even the surprise of Ticonderoga. 
 
 Washington enjoined upon him to push forward as rapidly as 
 possible, success depending upon celerity ; and counted the 
 days as they elapsed after his departure, impatient to receive 
 
338 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tidings of his progress uj) the Kennebec, and expecting that 
 the expedition would reach Quebec about the middle of October. 
 In the interim came letters from General Schuyler, giving par- 
 ticulars of the main expedition. 
 
 In a preceding chapter we left the general and his little army 
 at the Isle Aux Noix, near the Sorel River, the outlet of the 
 lake. Thence, on the 5th of September, he sent Colonel Ethan 
 Allen and Major Brown to reconnoiter the country between 
 that river and the St. Lawrence, to distribute friendly ad- 
 dresses among the people and ascertain their feelings. This 
 done, and having landed his baggage and provisions, the gereral 
 proceeded along the Sorel River the next day with his boats, 
 until within two miles of St. John's, when a cannonade was 
 opened from the fort. Keeping on for half a mile further, he 
 landed his troops in a deep, close swamp, where they had a 
 sharp skirmish with an ambuscade of tories and Indians, whom 
 they beat off with some loss on both sides. Night coming on, 
 they cast up a small intrenchment, and encamped, disturbed 
 occasionally by shells from the fort, which, however, did no 
 other mischief than slightly wounding a lieutenant. 
 
 In the night the camp was visited secretly by a person who 
 informed General Schuyler of the state of the fort. The works 
 were completed, and furnished with cannon. A vessel pierced 
 for sixteen guns was launched, and would be ready to sail in 
 three or four days. It was not probable that any Canadians 
 would join the army, being disposed to remain neutral. This 
 intelligence being discussed in a council of war in the morning, 
 it was determined that they had neither men nor artillery suffi- 
 cient to undertake a siege. They returned, therefore, to the 
 Isle Aux Noix, cast up fortifications, and threw a boom across 
 the channel of the river to prevent the passage of the enemy's 
 vessels into the lake, and awaited the arrival of artillery and 
 reinforcements from Ticonderoga. 
 
 In the course of a few days the expected reinforcements ar- 
 rived, and with them a small train of artillery. Ethan Allen 
 also returned from his reconnoitering expedition, of which he 
 made a most encouraging report. The Canadian captains of 
 militia were ready, he said, to join the Americans, whenever, 
 they should appear with sufficient force. He had held talks, 
 too, with the Indians, and found them well disposed. In a- 
 word, he was convinced that an attack on St. John's, and an in- 
 road into the province, would meet with hearty cooperation.' 
 
 Preparations were now made for the investment of St. John's, 
 by land and water. Major Brown, who had already acted as ai 
 scout, was sent with one hundred Americans," and a.bout.thirty 
 
LIFE OE WASHINGTON. 339 
 
 Canadians towards Chamblee, to make friends in that quarter, 
 and to join the army as soon as it should arrive at St. John's. 
 
 To quiet the restless activity of Ethan Allen, who had no 
 command in the army, he was sent with an escort of thirty men 
 to retrace his steps, penetrate to La Prairie, and beat up for 
 recruits among the people whom he had recently visited. 
 
 For some time past, General Schuyler had been struggling 
 with a complication of maladies, but exerting himself to the ut- 
 most in the harassing business of the camp, still hoping 
 to be able to move with the army. When everj^thing was nearly, 
 ready he was attacked in the night by a severe access of 
 his disorder, which confined him to his bed, and compelled him 
 to surrender the conduct of the expedition to General Mont- 
 gomery. Since he could be of no further use, therefore, in this 
 quarter, he caused his bed, as before, to be placed on board a 
 covered bateau, and set off for Ticonderoga, to hasten forward 
 reinforcements and supplies. An hour after his departure, he 
 met Colonel Seth Warner, with one hundred and seventy Green 
 Mountain Boys, steering for the camp, '' being the first," adds 
 he, " that have appeared of that boasted corps." Some had 
 mutinied and deserted the colonel, and the remainder were at 
 Crown Point ; whence they were about to embark. 
 
 Such was the purport of different letters received from Schuy- 
 ler , the last bearing date September 20th. Washington was 
 deeply concerned when informed that he had quitted the army, 
 supposing that General Wooster, as the eldest brigadier, would 
 take rank and command of Montgomery, and considering him 
 deficient in the activity and energy required by the difficult 
 service in which he was engaged. " I am, therefore," writes he 
 to Schuyler, "much alarmed for Arnold, whose expedition was 
 built upon yours, and who will infallibly perish, if the invasion 
 and entry into Canada are abandoned by your successor. I 
 hope by this time the penetration into Canada by your army 
 is effected ; but if it is not, and there are any intentions to lay 
 it aside, I beg it may be done in such a manner that Arnold 
 may be saved, by giving him notice , and in the meantime, your 
 army may keep such appearances as to fix Carleton, and to pre- 
 vent the force of Canada being turned wholly upon Arnold. 
 
 " Should this find you at Albany, and General Wooster 
 •about taking the command, I entreat you to impress him strong- 
 ly with the importance and necessity of proceeding, or so to 
 conduct, that Arnold may have time to retreat." 
 
 What caused this immediate solicitude about Arnold, was 
 a letter received from him, dated ten days previously from Fort 
 Western, on the Kennebec River. He had sent reconnoitering 
 
340 LI^E OF WASBmOTOm 
 
 parties ahead in light canoes, to gain intelligence from the 
 Indians, and take the courses and distances to Dead River, a 
 branch of the Kennebec, and he was now forwarding his troops 
 in bateaux in five divisions, one day's march apart ; Morgan 
 with his riflemen in the first division. Lieutenant-colonel Eoger 
 Enos commanding the last. As soon as the last division should 
 be under way, Arnold was to set off in a light skiff to overtake 
 the advance. Chaudiere Pond, on the Chaudiere River, was 
 the appointed rendezvous, whence they were to march in a body 
 towards Quebec. 
 
 Judging from the date of the letter, Arnold must at this time 
 be making his way, by land and water, through an uninhabited 
 and unexplored wilderness ; and beyond the reach of recall ; 
 his situation, therefore, would be desperate should General 
 Wooster fail to follow up the campaign against St. John's. 
 The solicitude of Washington on his account was heightened* 
 by the consciousness that the hazardous enterprise in which 
 he was engaged had chiefly been set on foot by himself, and he 
 felt in some degree responsible for the safety of the resolute 
 partisan and his companions. 
 
 Fortunately, Wooster was not the successor to Schuyler in 
 the command of the expedition. Washington was mistaken as 
 to the rank of his commission, which was one degree lower 
 than that of Montgomery. The veteran himself, who was a 
 gallant soldier, and had seen service in two wars, expressed him- 
 self nobly in the matter, in reply to some inquiry made by 
 Schuyler. " I have the cause of my country too much at heart," 
 said he, ^' to attempt to make any difficulty or uneasiness in the 
 army, upon whom the success of an enterprise of almost infinite 
 importance to the country is now depending. I shall consider 
 my rank in the army what my commission from the Continen- 
 tal Congress makes it, and shall not attempt to dispute the com- 
 mand with General Montgomery at St. John's." We shall 
 give some further particulars concerning this expedition against 
 St. John's, towards which Washington was turning so anxious 
 an eye. 
 
 On the 16th of September, the day after Schuyler's departure 
 for Ticonderoga, Montgomery proceeded to carry out the plans 
 which had been concerted between them. Landing on the ITtli 
 at the place where they had formerly encamped, within a mile 
 and a half of the fort, he detached a force of five hundred men, 
 among whom were three hundred Green Mountain Boys under 
 Colonel Seth Warner, to take a position at the junction of two 
 roads leading to Montreal and Chamblee, so as to intercept re- 
 lief from those points. He now proceeded to invest St. John's. 
 
LIT^ OF WASHmoTON. 341 
 
 A battery was erected on a point of land commanding the fort, 
 the ship-yards, and the armed schooner. Another was thrown 
 up in the woods on the east side of the fort, at six hundred 
 yards' distance, and furnished with two small mortars. All 
 this was done under an incessant fire from the enemy, which, 
 as yet, was but feebly returned. 
 
 St. John's had a garrison of five or six hundred regulars and 
 two hundred Canadian militia. Its commander. Major Preston, 
 made a brave resistance. Montgomery had not proper battering 
 cannon ; his mortars were defective ; his artillerists unpracticed, 
 and the engineer ignorant of the first principles of his art. The 
 siege went on slowly, until the arrival of an artiller}^ company 
 under Captain Lamb, expedited from Saratoga by G-eneral 
 Schuyler. Lamb, who was an able officer, immediately bedded 
 a thirteen-inch mortar, and commenced a fire of shot and shells 
 upon the fort. The distance, however, was too great, and the 
 positions of the batteries were ill chosen. 
 
 A flourishing letter was received by the general from Colonel 
 Ethan Allen, giving hope of further reinforcement. "I am 
 now," writes he, " at the Parish of St. Ours, four leagues from 
 Sorel to the south. I have two hundred and fifty Canadians 
 under arms. As I march, they gather fast. You may rely on 
 it, that I shall join you in about three days, with five hundred 
 or more Canadian volunteers. I could raise one or two thousand 
 in a week's time ; but I will first visit the army with a less 
 number, and, if necessary, go again recruiting. Those that 
 used to be enemies to our cause, come cap in hand to me ; and 
 I swear by the Lord, I can raise three times the number of our 
 
 army in Canada, provided you continue the siege The 
 
 eyes of all America, nay, of Europe, are or will be on the econo- 
 my of this army and the consequences attending it." ^ 
 
 Allen was actually on his way toward St. John's, when, be- 
 tween Longueil and La Prairie, he met Colonel Brown with 
 his party of Americans and Canadians. A conversation took 
 place between them. Brown assured him that the garrison at 
 Montreal did not exceed thirty men, and might easily be sur- 
 prised. Allen's partisan spirit was instantly excited. Here 
 was a chance for another bold stroke equal to that at Ticon- 
 deroga. A plan was forthwith agreed upon. Allen was to re- 
 turn to Longueil, which is nearly opposite Montreal, and cross 
 the St. Lawrence in canoes in the night, so as to land a little 
 below the town. Brown, with two hundred men, was to 
 cross above, and Montreal was to be attacked simultaneously 
 at opposite points. 
 
 * Am. Archives, 4th Series, iii. 754, 
 
M2 LIFE OF WASmnOTON. 
 
 All tills was arranged and put in action without the consent 
 or knowledge of General Montgomery ; Allen was again the 
 partisan leader, acting from individual impulse. His later 
 letter also to General Montgomery, would seem to have par- 
 taken pf fanfaronade ; for the whole force with which he under- 
 took his part of this inconsiderate enterprise was thirty Amer- 
 icans and eighty Canadians. With these he crossed the river 
 on the night of the 24th of September, the few canoes found 
 at Longueil having to pass to and fro repeatedly, before his 
 petty force could be landed. Guards were stationed on the 
 roads to prevent any one passing and giving the alarm in 
 Montreal. Day dawned, but there was no signal of Major 
 Brown having performed his part of the scheme. The enter- 
 prise seems to have been as ill concerted as it was ill advised. 
 The day advanced, but still no signal ; it was evident Major 
 Brown had not crossed. Allen would gladly have recrossed 
 the river, but it was too late. An alarm had been given to the 
 town, and he soon found himself encountered by about forty 
 regular soldiers, and a hasty levy of Canadians and Indians. 
 A smart action ensued ; most of Allen's Canadian recruits gave 
 way and fled, a number of Americans were slain, and he at 
 length surrendered to the British officer, Major Campbell, 
 being promised honorable terms for himself and thirty-eight 
 of his men, who remained with him, seven of whom were 
 wounded. The prisoners were marched into the town and de- 
 livered over to General Prescott, the commandant. Their 
 rough appearance, and rude equipments, were not likely to 
 gain them favor in the eyes of the military tactician, who doubt- 
 less considered them as little better than a band of freebooters 
 on a maraud. Their leader, albeit a colonel, must have seemed 
 worthy of the band; for Allen was arrayed in rough frontier 
 style — a deer-skin jacket, a vest and breeches of course serge, 
 worsted stockings, stout shoes, and a red woolen cap. 
 
 We give Allen's own account of his reception by the British 
 officer. " He asked me my name, which I told him. He then 
 asked me whether I was that Colonel Allen who took Ticon- 
 deroga. I told him I was the very man. Then he shook 
 his cane over my head, calling me many hard names, among 
 which, he frequently used the word rebel, and put himself in a 
 great rage." * 
 
 Ethan Allen, according to his own account, answered with 
 
 becoming spirit. Indeed he gives somewhat of a melodramatic 
 
 scene, which ended by his being sent an board of the Gaspee 
 
 schooner of war, heavily ironed, to be transported to England 
 
 * Am. Archives, iii. 800. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. . 343 
 
 for trial ; Prescott giving him the parting assurance, sealed 
 with an emphatic oath^ that he would grace a halter at Ty- 
 burn. 
 
 Neither Allen's courage nor his rhetorical vein deserted him 
 on this trying occasion. From his place of confinement he in- 
 dited the following epistle to the general : — 
 
 "Honorable Sir, — In the wheel of transitory events I find 
 myself prisoner, and in irons. Probably your honor has cer- 
 tain reasons to me inconceivable, though I challenge an instance 
 of this sort of economy of the Americans during the late w^ar 
 to any officers of the crown. On my part, I have to assure 
 your honor, that when I had the command and took Captain 
 Delaplace and Lieutenant Fulton, with the garrison of Ticon- 
 deroga, I treated them with every mark of friendship and 
 generosity, the evidence of which is notorious, even in Canada. 
 I have only to add, that I expect an honorable and humane 
 treatment, as an officer of my rank and merit should have, and 
 subscribe myself your honor's most obedient servant, 
 
 Ethan Allen." 
 
 In the British publication from which we cite the above, the 
 following note is appended to the letter, probably on the 
 authority of General Prescott : " K. B. — The author of the 
 above letter is an outlaw, and a reward is offered by the New 
 York Assembly for apprehending him." * 
 
 The reckless dash at Montreal was viewed with concern by 
 the American commander. " I am apprehensive of disagree- 
 able consequences arising from Mr. Allen's imprudence," writes 
 General Schuyler. " I always dreaded his impatience of sub- 
 ordination, and it was not until after a solemn promise made 
 me in the presence of several officers that he would demean 
 himself with propriety, that I would permit him to attend the 
 army ; nor would I have consented then, had not his solicita- 
 tions been backed by several officers." 
 
 The conduct of Allen was also severely censured by Wash- 
 ington. ^' His misfortune," said he, " w411, I hope, teach a 
 lesson of prudence and subordination to others who may be 
 ambitious to outshine their general officers, and, regardless of 
 order and duty, rush into enterprises which have unfavorable 
 effects on the public, and are destructive to themselves." 
 
 Partisan exploit had, in fact, inflated the vanity and bewil- 
 dered the imagination of Allen, and unfitted him for regular war^ 
 fare. Still his name will ever be a favorite one with his coun- 
 ^ Remembrancer, ii. 51, 
 
344 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 try men. Even his occasional rhodomontade will be tolerated 
 with a good-humored smile, backed as it was by deeds of daring 
 courage ; and among the hardy pioneers of our Revolution 
 whose untutored valor gave the first earnest of its triumphs, will 
 be remembered, with honor, the rough Green Mountain par- 
 tisan, who seized upon the " Keys of Champlain." 
 
 In the letters of Schuyler, which gave Washington accounts, 
 from time to time, of the preceding events, were sad repinings 
 at his own illness, and the multiplied annoyances which beset 
 him. " The vexation of spirit under which I labor," writes he, 
 " that a barbarous complication of disorders should prevent me 
 from reaping those laurels for which I have unweariedly 
 wrought since I was honored with this command ; the anxiety 
 I have suffered since my arrival here (at Ticonderoga), lest the 
 army should starve, occasioned by a scandalous want of sub- 
 ordination and inattention to my orders, in some of the officers 
 that I left to command at the different posts ; the vast variety 
 of disagreeable and vexatious incidents that almost every hour 
 arise in some department or other, — -not only retard my cure, 
 but have put me considerably back for some days past. If Job 
 had been a general in my situation, his memory had not been 
 so famous for patience. But the glorious end we have in view, 
 and which I have confident hope will be attained, will atone 
 for all." Washingtpn replied in that spirit of friendship which 
 existed between them. " You do me justice in believing that 
 I feel the utmost anxiety for your situation, that I sympathize 
 with you in all your distresses, and shall most h,eartily share in 
 the joy of your success. My anxiety extends itself to poor Ar- 
 nold, whose fate depends upon the issue of your campaign 
 
 The more I reflect upon the importance of your expedition, 
 the greater is my concern, lest it should sink under insuperable 
 difficulties. I look upon the interests and salvation of our bleed- 
 ing country in a great degree as depending jpon your suc- 
 cess." 
 
 Shortly after writing the above, and while he was still full 
 of solicitude about the fate of Arnold, he received a despatch 
 from the latter dated October 13th, from the great portage or 
 carrying-place between the Kennebec and Dead River. 
 
 " Your Excellency," writes Arnold, ^' may possibly think we 
 have been tardy in our march, as we have gained so little ; but 
 when you consider the badness and weight of the bateaux, and 
 large quantities of provisions, etc., we have been obliged to force 
 up against a very rapid stream, where you would have taken the 
 men for amphibious animals, as they were a great part of the 
 time under water : add to this the great fatigue in the portage, 
 
iJFW OF WAsmncTon. Si5 
 
 you will think I have pushed the men as fast as they could 
 possibly bear." 
 
 The toils of the expedition up the Kennebec River had in- 
 deed been excessive. Part of the men of each division managed 
 the boats — part marched along the banks. Those on board had 
 to labor against swift currents ; to unload at rapids ; transport the 
 cargoes, and sometimes the boats themselves, for some distance 
 on their shoulders, and then to reload. They were days in 
 making their way round stupendous cataracts ; several times 
 their boats were upset and filled with water, to the loss or 
 damage of arms, ammunition, and provisions. 
 
 Those on land had to scramble over rocks and precipices, to 
 struggle through swamps and fenny streams ; or cut their way 
 through tangled thickets, which reduced their clothes to rags. 
 With all their efforts, their progress was but from four to ten 
 miles a day. At night the men of each division encamped 
 together. 
 
 By the time they arrived at the place whence the letter was 
 written, fatigue, swamp fevers and desertion had reduced their 
 numbers to about nine hundred and fifty effective men. Arnold, 
 however, wrote in good heart. " The last division," said he, 
 "is just arrived; three divisions are over the first carrying- 
 place, and as the men are in high spirits, I make no doubt of 
 reaching the river Chaudiere in eight or ten days, the greatest 
 difficulty being, I hope, already past." 
 
 He had some days previously despatched an Indian, whom he 
 considered trusty, with a letter for General Schuyler, apprising 
 him of his whereabouts, but as yet had received no intelligence 
 either of, or from the general, nor did he expect to receive any 
 until he should reach Chaudiere Pond. There he calculated to 
 meet the return of his express, and then to determine his plan 
 of operations. 
 
 1^ 
 
345 LIFE OP WAsniNGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 BRITISH IN BOSTON SEND OUT CRUISERS DEPREDATIONS OP 
 
 CAPTAIN WALLACE ALONG THE COAST. TREASON IN THE 
 
 CAMP. ARREST OF DR. CHURCH. HIS TRIAL AND FATE. — ■ 
 
 CONFLAGRATION OF FALMOUTH. IRRITATION THROUGHOUT 
 
 THE COUNTRY. FITTING OUT OF VESSELS OF WAR. EMBARK- 
 ATION OF GENERAL GAGE FOR ENGLAND. COMMITTEE PROM 
 
 CONGRESS. CONFERENCES WITH WASHINGTON. RESOLU- 
 TIONS OF CONGRESS TO CARRY ON THE WAR. RETURN OP 
 
 SECRETARY REED TO PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 While the two expeditions were threatening Canada from 
 different quarters, the war was going on along the seaboard. 
 The British in Boston, cut off from supplies by land, fitted out 
 small armed vessels to seek them along the coast of New Eng- 
 land." The inhabitants drove their cattle into the interior, or 
 boldly resisted the aggressors. Parties landing to forage were 
 often repulsed by hasty levies of the yeomanry. Scenes of 
 ravage and violence occurred. Stonington was cannonaded, 
 and further measures of vengeance were threatened by Captain 
 Wallace of the Hose man-of-war, a naval officer, who had ac- 
 quired an almost piratical reputation along the coast, and had his 
 rendezvous in the harbor of Newport, domineering over the 
 waters of Rhode Island.* 
 
 About this time there was an occurrence, which caused great 
 excitement in the armies. A woman, coming from the camp at 
 Cambridge, applied to a Mr. Wainwood of Newport, Rhode 
 Island, to aid her in gaining access to Captain Wallace, or Mr. 
 Dudley, the collector. Wainwood, who was a patriot, drew 
 from her the object of her errand. She was the bearer of a 
 letter f rOm some one in camp, directed to Major Kane in Boston : 
 but which she was to deliver either to the captain or the collector. 
 Suspecting something wrong, he prevailed upon her to leave it 
 with him for delivery. After her departure he opened the letter. 
 It was written in cipher, which he could not read. He took it 
 to Mr. Henry Ward, secretary of the colony. The latter, ap- 
 prehending it might contain treasonable information to the 
 enemy, transmitted it to General Greene, who laid it before 
 Washington. 
 * Gov. Trumbull to Washington. Sparks' Corresp. of the Rev. i. 27. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 347 
 
 A letter in cipher, to a person in Boston hostile to the cause, 
 and to be delivered into the hands of Captain Wallace the nauti- 
 cal marauder ! — there evidently was treason in the camp ; but 
 how was the traitor to be detected ? The first step was to se- 
 cure the woman, the bearer of the letter, who had returned to 
 Cambridge. Tradition gives us a graphic scene connected with 
 her arrest. Washington was in his chamber at head-quarters, 
 when he beheld from his window. General Putnam approaching 
 on horseback, with a stout woman en croupe behind him. He 
 had pounced upon the culprit. The group presented by the old 
 general and his prize, overpowered even Washington's gravity. 
 It was the only occasion throughout the whole campaign, on 
 which he was known to laugh heartily. He had recovered his 
 gravity by the time the delinquent was brought to the foot of 
 the broad staircase in head-quarters, and assured her in a severe 
 tone from the head of it, that, unless she confessed everything 
 before the next morning, a halter would be in readiness for her. 
 
 So far the tradition ; — his own letter to the President of 
 Congress states that for a long time the woman was proof 
 against every threat and persuasion to discover the author, but 
 at length named Dr. Benjamin Church. It seemed incredible. 
 He had borne the character of a distinguished patriot ; he was 
 the author of various patriotic writings ; a member of the Mas- 
 sachusetts House of Representatives ; one of the committee de- 
 puted to conduct Washington to the army, and at present he 
 discharged the functions of surgeon-general and director of the 
 hospitals. That such a man should be in traitorous correspond- 
 ence with the enemy was a thunderstroke. Orders were given 
 to secure him and his papers. On his arrest he was extremely 
 agitated, but acknowledged the letter, and said it would be 
 found, when deciphered, to contain nothing criminal. His 
 papers were searched, but nothing of a treasonable nature dis- 
 covered. " It appeared, however, on inquiry," says Washing- 
 ton, " that a confidant had been among the papers before my 
 messenger arrived." 
 
 The letter was deciphered. It gave a description of the 
 army. The doctor made an awkward defense, protesting that 
 he had given an exaggerated account of the American force for 
 the purpose of deterring the enemy from attacking the American 
 lines in their present defenseless condition from the want of 
 powder. His explanations were not satisfactory. The army 
 and country were exceedingly irritated. In a council of war he 
 was convicted of criminal correspondence ; he was expelled 
 from the Massachusetts House of E-epresentatives, and the 
 Continental Congress ultimately resolved that he should be 
 
348 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 confined in some secure jail in Connecticut^ without the use of 
 jyen, ink, or paper ; '^ and that no person be allowed to converse 
 with him, except in the presence and hearing of a magistrate or 
 the sheriff of the county." 
 
 His sentence was afterwards mitigated on account of his 
 health, and he was permitted to leave the country. He em- 
 barked for the West Indies, and is supposed to have perished 
 at sea. _^ 
 
 What had caused especial irritation in the case of Dr. Church 
 was the kind of warfare already mentioned carried on along the 
 coast by British cruisers, and notoriously by Captain Wallace. 
 To check these maraudings, and to capture the enemy's trans- 
 ports laden with supplies, the provinces of Massachusetts, Ehode 
 Island, and Connecticut fitted out two armed vessels each, at 
 their own expense, without seeking the sanction or aid of Con- 
 gress. Washington, also, on his own responsibility, ordered 
 several to be equipped for like purpose, which were to be 
 manned by hardy mariners, and commanded by able sea cap- 
 tains, actually serving in the army. One of these vessels was 
 despatched, as soon as ready, to cruise between Cape Ann and 
 Gape Cod. Two others were fitted out with all haste, and sent 
 to cruise in the waters of the St. Lawrence, to intercept two 
 unarmed brigantines which Congress had been informed had 
 sailed from England for Quebec, with ammunition and military 
 stores. Among the sturdy little New England seaports, which 
 had become obnoxious to punishment by resistance to nautical 
 exactions, was Falmouth (now Portland), in Maine. 
 
 On the evening of the 11th of October, Lieutenant Mowat, of 
 the Royal Navy, appeared before it with several armed vessels, 
 and sent a letter on shore apprising the inhabitants that he 
 was come to execute a just punishment on them for their " pre- 
 meditated attacks on the legal prerogatives of the best of 
 sovereigns." Two hours were given them " to remove the 
 human species out of the town," at the period of which a red 
 pendant hoisted at the main-top-gallant masthead and a gun 
 would be the signal for destruction. 
 
 The letter brought a deputation of three persons on board. 
 The lieutenant informed them verbally that he had orders from 
 Admiral Graves to set fire to all the seaport towns between 
 Boston and Halifax ; and he expected New York, at the present 
 moment, was in ashes. 
 
 With much difficulty, and on the surrendering of some arms, 
 the committee obtained a respite until nine o'clock the next 
 morning, and the inhabitants employed the interval in remov- 
 ing their families and effects, The next morning the com- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 349 
 
 mittee returned on board before nine o'clock. The lieutenant 
 now offered to spare the town on certain conditions, which were 
 refused. About half-past nine o'clock the red pendant was run 
 up to tlie masthead, and the signal gun fired. Within five 
 minutes several houses were in flames from a discharge of car- 
 casses and bombshells, which continued throughout the day. 
 The inhabitants, '' standing on the heights, were spectators of 
 the conflagration, which reduced many of them to penury and 
 despair." One hundred and thirty-nine dwelling-houses and 
 two hundred and twenty-eight stores are said to have been 
 burnt.* All the vessels in the harbor, likewise, were destroyed 
 or carried away as prizes. 
 
 Having satisfied his sense of justice with respect to Falmouth, 
 the gallant lieutenant left it a smoking ruin, and made sail, as 
 was said, for Boston, to supply himself with more ammunition, 
 having the intention to destroy Portsmouth also, f 
 
 The conflagration of Falmouth was as a bale-fire throughout 
 the country. Lieutenant Mowatwas said to have informed the 
 committee at that place that orders had come from England to 
 burn all the seaport towns that would not lay down and deliver 
 up their arms, and give hostages for their good behavior. $ 
 
 Washington himself supposed such to be the case. "The 
 desolation and misery," writes he, "which ministerial ven- 
 geance had planned, in contempt of every principle of humanity, 
 and so lately brought on the town of Falmouth, I know not how 
 sufficiently to commiserate, nor can my compassion for the gen- 
 eral suffering be conceived beyond the true measure of my 
 feelings." 
 
 General Greene, too, in a letter to a friend, expresses himself 
 with equal warmth. "0, could the Congress behold the 
 distresses and wretched condition of the poor inhabitants driven 
 from the seaport towns, it must, it would, kindle a blaze of in- 
 dignation against the commissioned pirates and licensed rob- 
 bers People begin heartily to wish a declaration 
 
 of independence."§ 
 
 General Sullivan was sent to Portsmouth, where there was a 
 fortification of some strength, to give the inhabitants his ad- 
 vice and assistance in warding o^ the menaced blow. New- 
 port, also, was put on the alert, and recommended to fortify 
 tself. " I expect everj^ hour," writes Washington, " to hear 
 
 * Holmes' Annals^ ii. 220. t Letter of P. Jones, 
 
 f Letter from Gen. Greene to Gov. Cooke. 
 § Letter to the President of Congress. 
 
350 Li^^i^ OF \vasih:ngton. 
 
 that Newport has shared the same fate of unhappy Falmouth."* 
 Under the feeling roused by these reports, the General Court 
 of Massachusetts exercising a sovereign power, passed an act 
 for encouraging the fitting out of armed vessels to, defend the 
 sea-coast of America, and for erecting a court to try and con- 
 demn all vessels that should be found infesting the same. This 
 act, granting letters of marque and reprisal, anticipated any 
 measure of the kind on the part of the General Government, 
 and was pronounced by John Adams " one of the most import- 
 ant documents in history.^f 
 
 The British ministry have, in latter days, been exculpated 
 from the charge of issuing such a desolating order as that said 
 to have been reported by Lieutenant Mowat. The orders under 
 which that officer acted, we are told, emanated from General 
 Gage and Admiral Graves. The former intended merely the 
 annoyance and destruction of rebel shipping, whether on the 
 coast or in the harbors to the eastward of Boston ; the burning 
 of the town is surmised to have been an additional thought of 
 Admiral Graves. Naval officers have a passion for bombard- 
 ments. 
 
 Whatever part General Gage may have had in this most ill- 
 advised and discreditable measure, it was the last of his military 
 government, and he did not remain long enough in the country 
 to see it carried into effect. He sailed for England on the 10th 
 of October. The tidings of the battle of Bunker's Hill had 
 withered his laurels as a commander. Still he was not absolutely 
 superseded, but called home, " in order," as it was consider- 
 ately said, '^ to give His Majesty exact information of 
 everything, and suggest such matters as his knowledge 
 and experience of the service might enable him to furnish." 
 During his absence. Major-general Howe would act as com- 
 mander-in-chief of the colonies on the Atlantic Ocean, and Major 
 general Carleton of the British forces in Canada and on the 
 frontiers. Gage fully expected to return and resume the com- 
 mand. In a letter written to the minister, Lord Dartmouth,., 
 the day before sailing, he urged the arrival, early in the spring,^ 
 of reinforcements which had been ordered, and anticipating 
 great hazard at the opening of the campaign. In the meantim< 
 he trusted that two thousand troops, shortly expected from Ire 
 land, would enable him "to distress the rebels by incursions 
 along the coast," — and — " he hoped Portsmouth in New Ham^ 
 shire would feel the weight of His Majesty's arms." Pool 
 Gage," writes Horace Walpole, " is to be the scape-goat fol 
 
 \Am. Archives^ iii. 1145. 
 t See Life of Gerry, p. 109. 
 
LIFE OF WASIUJSQfON, 351 
 
 what was a reason against employing him — incapacity." He 
 never returned to America. 
 
 On the 15th of October a Committee from Congress arrived 
 in camp, sent to hold a Conference with Washington, and with 
 delegates from the governments of Connecticut, Rhode Island, 
 Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, on the subject of a new 
 organization of the army. The committee consisted of Benjamin 
 Franklin, Thomas Lynch of Carolina, and Colonel Harrison of 
 Virginia. It was just twenty years since Washington had met 
 Franklin in Braddock's camp, aiding that unwary general by 
 his sagacious counsels and prompt expedients. Franklin was 
 regarded with especial deference in the camp at Cambridge. 
 Greene, who had never met with him before, listened to him aa 
 to an oracle. 
 
 Washington was president of the board of conference, and Mr. 
 Joseph Reed secretary. The committee brought an intimation 
 from Congress that an attack upon Boston was much desired, 
 if practicable. 
 
 Washington called a council of war of his generals on the 
 subject ; they were unanimously of the opinion that an attack 
 w*3uld not be prudent at present. 
 
 Another question now arose. An attack upon the British 
 forces in Boston, whenever it should take place", might require 
 a bombardment ; Washington inquired of the delegates how far 
 it might be pushed to the destruction of houses and property. 
 They considered it a question of too much importance to be de- 
 cided by them, and said it must be referred to Congress. But 
 though they declined taking upon themselves the responsibility, 
 the majority of them was strongly in favor of it ; and expressed 
 themselves so, when the matter was discussed informally in 
 camp. Two of the committee, Lynch and Harrison, as well as 
 Judge Wales, delegate from Connecticut, when the possible 
 effects of a bombardment were suggested at a dinner table, de- 
 clared that they would be willing to see Boston in flames. Lee, 
 who was present, observed that it was impossible to burn it un- 
 less they sent in men with bundles of straw to do it. " It could 
 not be done with carcasses and red-hot shot. Isle Royal,'^ he 
 added, " in the river St. Lawrence, had been fired at for a long 
 time in 1760, with a fi.ne train of artillery, hot-shot and car- 
 casses, without effect." "* 
 
 The board of conference was repeatedly in session, for three 
 or four days. The report of its deliberations rendered by the 
 committee, produced a resolution of Congress, that a new army 
 
 * Life of Dr. Belknap^ p. 96. The doctor was present at the abovQ 
 cited conversation. 
 
352 ^^I^^ OF WASSmofO^. 
 
 of twenty-two tliousand two hundred and seventy-two men and 
 officers, should be formed, to he recruited as much as possiWe 
 from the troops actually in service. Unfortunately the term 
 for which they were to be enlisted was to be hut for one year. 
 It formed a precedent which became a recurring cause of em- 
 barrassment throughout the war. 
 
 Washington's secretary, Mr. Reed, had, after the close of the 
 conference, signified to him his intention to return to Phila- 
 delphia, where his private concerns required his presence. His 
 departure was deeply regretted. His fluent pen had been of 
 great assistance to Washington in the despatch of his multifari- 
 ous correspondence, and his judicious counsels and cordial sym- 
 pathies had been still more appreciated by the commander-in- 
 chief, amid the multiplied difficulties of his situation. On the 
 departure of Mr. Eeed, his place as secretary was temporarily 
 supplied by Mr. Robert Harrison of Maryland, and subsequently 
 by Colonel Mifflin ; neither, however, attained to the affectionate 
 confidence reposed in their predecessor. 
 
 We shall have occasion to quote the correspondence kept up 
 between Washington and Reed, during the absence of the latter. 
 The letters of the former are peculiarly interesting, as giviiig 
 views of what was passing, not merely around him, but in the 
 recesses of his own heart. No greater proof need be given of the 
 rectitude of that heart, than the clearness and fullness with 
 which, in these truthful documents, every thought and feeling 
 is laid open. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 MEASURES OF GENERAL HOWE. DESECRATION OF CHURCHES. 
 
 THREE PROCLAMATIONS. SEIZURE OF TORIES. WANT OP 
 
 ARTILLERY. HENRY KNOX, THE ARTILLERIST. HIS MISSION 
 
 TO TICONDEROGA. RE-ENLISTMENT OF TROOPS. LACK OF 
 
 PUBLIC SPIRIT. COMMENTS OF GENERAL GREENE. 
 
 The measures which General Howe had adopted after taking 
 command in Boston, rejoiced the royalists, seeming to justify 
 their anticipations. He proceeded to strengthen the works on 
 Bunker's Hill and Boston Neck, and to clear away houses and 
 throw up redoubts on eminences within the town. The patriot 
 inhabitants were shocked by the desecration of the Old South 
 Church, which for more than a hundred years had been a favor- 
 ite place of worship, where some of the most eminent divines 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 353 
 
 liad officiated. The pulpit and pews were now removed, the 
 floor was covered with earth, and the sacred edifice was con- 
 verted into a riding-school for Burgoyne's light dragoons. To 
 excuse its desecration, it was spoken of scoffingly as a " meeting- 
 house, where sedition had often been preached." 
 
 The North Church, another " meeting-house," was entirely 
 demolished and was used for fuel. " Thus," says the chroni- 
 cler of the day, " thus are our houses devoted to religious wor- 
 ship, profaned and destroyed by the subjects of His E-oyal 
 Majesty." =* 
 
 About the last of October, Howe issued three proclamations. 
 The first forbade all persons to leave Boston without his per- 
 mission under pain of military execution ; the second forbade 
 any one, so permitted, to take with him more than five pounds 
 sterling, under pain of forfeiting all the money found upon his 
 person and being subject to fine and imprisonment; the third 
 called upon the inhabitants to arm themselves for the preserva- 
 tion of order within the town ; they to be commanded by offi- 
 cers of his appointment. 
 
 Washington had recently been incensed by the conflagration 
 of*Falmouth ; the conduct of Governor Dunmore who had pro- 
 claimed martial law in Virginia, and threatened ruin to the 
 patriots, had added to this provocation ; the measures of Gen- 
 eral Howe seemed of the same harsh character, and he deter- 
 mined to retaliate. 
 
 " Would it not be prudent," writes he to Governor Trumbull 
 of Connecticut, " to seize those tories who have been, are, and 
 we know will be active against us ? Why should persons who 
 are preying upon the vitals of their country, be suffered to 
 stalk at large, whilst we know they will do us every mischief in 
 their power ? " 
 
 In this spirit he ordered General Sullivan, who was fortify- 
 ing Portsmouth, "to seize upon such persons as held commis- 
 sions under the crown, and were acting as open and avowed 
 enemies to their country, and hold them as hostages for the se- 
 curity of the town." Still he was moderate in his retaliation, 
 and stopped short of private individuals. " Eor the present," 
 said he, " I shall avoid giving the like order with regard to the 
 tories of Portsmouth ; but the day is not far off when they will 
 meet with this, or a worse fate, if there is not a considerable 
 reformation in their conduct." f 
 
 The season was fast approaching when the bay between the 
 camp and Boston would be frozen over, and military operations 
 
 * Thacher's, Military Journal^ p. 50. 
 
 t Letter to William Palfrey. Sparks, ill. 158. 
 
354 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 might be conducted upon the ice. General Howe, if reinforced, 
 would then very probably " endeavor to relieve himself from 
 the disgraceful confinement in which the ministerial troops had 
 been all summer." Washington felt the necessity, therefore, 
 of guarding the camps wherever they were most assailable ; 
 and of throwing up batteries for the purpose. He had been 
 embarrassed throughout the siege by the want of artillery and 
 ordnance stores ; but never more so than at the present mo- 
 ment. In this juncture, Mr. Henry Knox stepped forward, 
 and offered to proceed to the frontier forts on Champlain in 
 quest of a supply. 
 
 Knox was one of those providential characters which spring 
 up in emergencies, as if they were formed by and for the occa- 
 sion. A thriving bookseller in Boston, he had thrown up busi- 
 ness to take up arms for the liberties of his country. He was 
 one of the patriots who had fought on Bunker's Hill, since 
 when he had aided in planning the defenses of the camp be- 
 fore Boston. The aptness and talent here displayed by him as 
 an artillerist, had recently induced Washington to recommend 
 him to Congress for the command of the regiment of artillery 
 in place of the veteran Gridley, who was considered by all the 
 officers of the camp too old for active employment. Congress 
 had not yet acted on that recommendation ; in the meantime 
 Washington availed himself of the offered services of Knox in 
 the present instance. He was accordingly instructed to 
 examine into the state of the artillery in camp, and take an ac- 
 count of the cannon, mortars, shells, lead, and ammunition that 
 were wanting. He was then to hasten to New York, procure 
 and forward all that could be had there ; and thence proceed to 
 the head-quarters of General Schuyler, who was requested by 
 letter to aid him in obtaining what further supplies of the kind 
 were wanting from the forts of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, St. 
 John's, and even Quebec, should it be in the hands of the 
 Americans. Knox set off on his errand with promptness and 
 alacrity, and shortly afterwards the commission of colonel of the 
 regiment of artillery which Washington had advised, was for- 
 warded to him by Congress. 
 
 The reenlistment of troops actually in service was now at- 
 tempted, and proved a fruitful source of perplexity. In a letter 
 to the President of Congress, Washington observes that half of 
 the officers of the rank of captain were inclined to retire ; and 
 it was probable their example would influence their men. Of 
 those who were disposed to remain, the officers of one colony 
 were unwilling to mix in the same regiment with those of an- 
 other. Many sent in their names, to serve in expectation of 
 
LIFK OF WASHINGTON. 355 
 
 promotion; others stood aloof, to see what advantages they 
 could make for themselves ; while those who had declined sent 
 in their names again to serve.* The difficulties were greater, 
 if possible, with the soldiers than with the officers. They would 
 not enlist unless they knew their colonel, lieutenant-colonel, 
 and captain ; Connecticut men being unwilling to serve under 
 officers from Massachusetts, and Massachusetts men under 
 officers from Ehode Island ; so that it was necessary to ap- 
 point the officers first. 
 
 Twenty daj^s later he again writes to the President of Con- 
 gress : " I am sorry to be necessitated to mention to you the 
 egregious want of public spirit which prevails here. Instead 
 oppressing to be engaged in the cause of their country, which 
 I vainly flattered myself would be the case, I find we are most 
 
 likely to be. deserted in a most critical time Our 
 
 situation is truly alarming, and of this General Howe is well 
 apprised. Ko doubt when he is reinforced he will avail himself 
 of the information." 
 
 In a letter to Reed he disburdened his heart more completely. 
 "Such dearth of public spirit, and such want of virtue; such 
 stock-jobbing, and fertility in all the low arts to obtain advan- 
 tage of one kind or another in this great change of military 
 arrangement, I never saw before, and I pray God's mercy that 
 I may never be witness to again. What will be the end of 
 these maneuvers is beyond my scan. I tremble at the prospect. 
 "We have been till this time (Nov. 28) enlisting about three 
 thousand five hundred men. To engage these, I have been 
 obliged to allow furloughs as far as fifty men to a regiment, 
 and the officers I am persuaded indulge many more. The Con- 
 necticut troops will not be prevailed upon to stay longer than 
 their term, saving those who have enlisted for the next cam- 
 paign, and are mostly on furlough ; and such a mercenary spirit 
 pervades^he whole, that I should not be surprised at any dis- 
 aster that may happen Could I have foreseen what 
 
 I have experienced and am likely to experience, no considera- 
 tion upon earth should have induced me to accept this com- 
 mand." 
 
 No one drew closer to Washington in this time of his troubles 
 and perplexities than General Greene. He had a real venera- 
 tion for his character, and thought himself " happy in an op- 
 portunity to serve under so good a general." He grieved at 
 Washington's annoyances, but attributed them in part to his 
 being somewhat of a stranger in New England. " He has not 
 had time," writes he, " to make himself acquainted with the 
 * Washington to the President of Congress, Nov. 8. 
 
356 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 genius of this people ; they are naturally as brave and spirited 
 as the peasantry of any other country, but you cannot expect 
 veterans of a raw militia from only a few months' service. The 
 common people are exceedingly avaricious ; the genius of the 
 people is commercial, from their long intercourse of trade. The 
 sentiment of honor, the true characteristic of a soldier, has not 
 yet got the better of interest. His Excellency has been taught 
 to believe the people here a superior race of mortals ; and find- 
 ing them of the same temper and dispositions, passions and 
 prejudices, virtues and vices of the common people of other 
 governments, they sank in his esteem." * 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 AFFAIRS IN CANADA. CAPTURE OF FORT CHAMBLEE. SIEGE 
 
 OF ST. John's. — maclean and his Highlanders. — Mont- 
 gomery ON THE TREATMENT OF ETHAN ALLEN. REPULSE 
 
 of carleton. capitulation of the garrison op st. 
 
 John's. — generous conduct of Montgomery. — maclean 
 
 ke-embarks for quebec. weary struggle of arnold 
 
 through the wilderness. defection of colonel eno^. 
 
 arnold in the valley of the chaudiere. his arri- 
 val opposite quebec. surrender of montreal. escape 
 
 of carleton. home-sickness of the american troops. 
 
 Despatches from Schuyler dated October 26th, gave Wash- 
 ington another chapter of the Canada expedition. Chamblee, 
 an inferior fort, within five miles of St. John's, had been taken 
 by Majors Brown and Livingston at the head of fifty Aidi|ricans 
 and three hundred Canadians. A large quantity of gunpowder 
 and other military stores found there, was a seasonable supply 
 to the army before St. John's, and consoled General Mont- 
 gomery for his disappointment in regard to the aid promised 
 by Colonel Ethan Allen. He now pressed the siege of St. 
 John's with vigor. The garrison, cut off from supplies, were 
 suffering from want of provisions ; but the brave commander 
 Major Preston, still held out manfully, hoping speedy relief 
 from General Carleton, who was assembling troops for that pur- 
 pose at Montreal. 
 
 Carleton, it is true, had but about one hundred regulars,| 
 * Greene to Dep. Gov. Ward. Am, Archives j 4th Series, ill. 1145 
 
 7 
 f 
 
 i 
 
J.IFE OF WASHINGTON. 357 
 
 several hundred Canadians, and a number of Indians with him ; 
 but he calculated greatly on the cooperationof Colonel Maclean, 
 a veteran Scot, brave and bitterly loyal, who had enlisted three 
 hundred of his countrymen at Quebec, and formed them into 
 a regiment called " The Royal Highland Emigrants." This 
 doughty Highlander was to land at the mouth of the Sorel, 
 where it empties into the St. Lawrence, and proceed along 
 the former river to St. John's, to join Carleton, who would re- 
 pair thither by the way of Longueil. 
 
 In the meantime Montgomery received accounts from vari- 
 ous quarters that Colonel Ethan Allen and his men, captured 
 .in the ill-advised attack upon Montreal, were treated with 
 cruel and unnecessary severity, being loaded with irons ; and 
 that even the colonel himself was subjected to this " shocking 
 indignity." Montgomery addressed a letter to Carleton on 
 the subject, strong and decided in its purport, but written in 
 the spirit of a courteous and high-minded gentleman, and end- 
 ing with an expression of that sad feeling which gallant officers 
 must often have experienced in this revolutionary conflict, on 
 being brought into collision with former brothers in arms. 
 
 " Your character, sir," writes he, " induces me to hope I am 
 ill-informed. Nevertheless, the duty I owe the troops com- 
 mitted to my charge, lays me under the necessity of acquaint- 
 ing your Excellency, that, if you allow this conduct and per- 
 sist in it, I shall, though with the most painful regret, execute 
 with rigor the just and necessary law of retaliation upon the 
 garrison of Chamblee, now in my possession, and upon all 
 
 others who may hereafter fall into my hands I 
 
 shall expect your Excellency's answer in six days. Should the 
 bearer not return in that time, I must interpret your silence 
 into a declaration of a barbarous war. I cannot pass this op- 
 portunity without lamenting the melancholy and fatal necessity, 
 - which obliges the firmest friends of the constitution to oppose 
 one of the most respectable officers of the crown." 
 
 While waiting for a reply, Montgomery pressed the siege of 
 St. John's, though thwarted continually by the want of sub- 
 ordination and discipline among his troops — hasty levies from 
 various colonies, who, said he, " carry the spirit of freedom into 
 the field, and think for themselves." Accustomed as he had 
 been, in his former military experience, to the implicit obedi- 
 ence of European troops, the insubordination of these yeoman 
 soldiery was intolerable to him. "Were I not afraid," writes 
 he, " the example would be too generally followed, and that the 
 public service might suffer, I would not stay an hour at the 
 head of troops whose operations I cannot direct. I must say I 
 
358 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 have no hopes of success, unless from the garrison's wanting 
 provisions." 
 
 He had advanced his lines and played from his batteries on 
 two sides of the fort for some hours, when tidings brought by 
 four prisoners caused him to cease his fire. 
 
 General Carleton, on the 31st of September, had embarked 
 his motley force at Montreal in thirty-four boats, to cross the 
 St. Lawrence, land at Longueil, and pushed on for St John's 
 where, as concerted, he was to be joined by Maclean and his 
 Highlanders. As the boats approached the right bank of the 
 river at Longueil, a terrible fire of artillery and musketry was 
 unexpectedly opened upon them, and threw them into confusion. 
 It was from Colonel Seth Warner's detachment of Green 
 Mountain Boys and New Yorkers. Some of the boats were 
 disabled, some were driven on shore on an island ; Carleton re- 
 treated with the rest to Montreal, with some loss in killed and 
 wounded. The Americans captured two Canadians and two 
 Indians ; and it was these prisoners who brought tidings to 
 the camp of Carleton's signal repulse. 
 
 Aware that the garrison held out merely in expectation of the 
 relief thus intercepted, Montgomery ceased his fire, and sent 
 a flag by one of the Canadian prisoners with a letter informing 
 Major Preston of the event, and inviting a surrender to spare 
 the effusion of blood. 
 
 Preston in reply expressed a doubt of the truth of the report 
 brought by the prisoners, but offered to surrender if not re- 
 lieved in four days. The condition was refused, and the gal- 
 lant major was obliged to capitulate. His garrison consisted 
 of five hundred regulars and one hundred Canadians ; among the 
 latter were several of the provincial noblesse. 
 
 Montgomery treated Preston and his garrison with the 
 courtesy inspired by their gallant resistance. He had been a 
 British officer himself, and his old associations with the service 
 made him sympathize with the brave men whom the fortune 
 of war had thrown into his hands. Perhaps their high-bred and 
 aristocratic tone contrasted favorably in his ej^^es, with the 
 rough demeanor of the crude swordsmen with whom he had re- 
 cently associated, and brought back the feelings of early days 
 when war with him was a gay profession, not a melancholy 
 duty. According to the capitulation, the baggage of both 
 officers and men was secured to them, and each of the latter re- 
 ceived a new suit of clothing from the captured stores. This 
 caused a murmur among the American soldiery, many of whom 
 were nearly naked, and the best but scantily provided. Even 
 some of the officers were indignant that all the articles of 
 
 I 
 
LIFE OF WA8BINGT0K. 359 
 
 clothing had not been treated as lawful spoil. " I would not 
 have sullied my own reputation, nor disgraced the Continental 
 arms by such a breach of capitulation for the universe/' said 
 Montgomery, Having sent his prisoners up Lake Champlain to 
 Ticonderoga, he prepared to proceed immediately to Montreal ; 
 requesting General Schuyler to forward all the men he could 
 possibly spare. 
 
 The Royal Highland Emigrants who were to have cooperated 
 with General Carleton, met with no better fortune than that 
 commander. Maclean landed at the mouth of the Sorel, and add- 
 ed to his force by recruiting a number of Canadians in the neighbor- 
 hood at the point of the bayonet. He was in full march for St. 
 John's when he was encountered by Majors Brown and Livings- 
 ton with their party, fresh from the capture of Chamblee, and re- 
 inforced by a number of Green Mountain Boys. These pressed 
 him back to the mouth of the Sorel, where hearing of the re-, 
 pulse of Carleton, and being deserted by his Canadian recruits, 
 he embarked the residue of his troops, and set off down the St. 
 Lawrence to Quebec. The Americans now took post at the 
 mouth of the Sorel, where they erected batteries so as to com- 
 mand the St. Lawrence, and prevent the descent of any armed 
 vessels from Montreal. 
 
 Thus closed another chapter of the invasion of Canada. " Not 
 a word of Arnold yet," said Montgomery, in his last despatch. 
 " I have sent two expresses to him lately, one by an Indian 
 who promised to return with expedition. The instant I have 
 any news of him, I will acquaint you by express/' 
 
 We will anticipate his express, by giving the reader the pur- 
 port of letters received by Washington direct from Arnold him- 
 self, bringing forward the collateral branch of this eventful en- 
 terprise. 
 
 The transportation of troops and effects across the carrying- 
 place between the Kennebec and Dead Bivers, had been a work 
 of severe toil and difficulty to Arnold and his men, but perform- 
 ed with admirable spirit. There were ponds and streams full 
 of trout and salmon, which furnished them with fresh provis- 
 ions. Launching their boats on the sluggish waters of the 
 Dead Biver, they navigated it in divisions, as before, to the foot 
 of snow-crowned mountains ; a part of the great granite chain 
 which extends from southwest to northeast throughout our 
 continent. Here, while Arnold and the first division were en- 
 camped to repose themselves, heavy rains set in, and they came 
 near being swept away by sudden torrents from the mountains. 
 Several of their boats were overturned, much of their provisions 
 was lost, the sick list increased, and the good spirits which had 
 
360 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 hitherto sustained them began to give way. They were on 
 scanty allowance, with a prospect of harder times, for there 
 were still twelve or fifteen days of wilderness before them, where 
 no supplies were to be had. A council of war was now held, in 
 which it was determined to send back the sick and disabled, 
 who were mere encumbrances. Arnold, accordingly, wrote to 
 the commanders of the other divisions, to press on with as many 
 of their men as they could furnish with provisions for fifteen 
 days, and to send the rest back to a place on the route called 
 Norridgewock. This order was misunderstood, or misinter- 
 preted, by Colonel Enos, who commanded the rear division ; he 
 gave all the provisions he could spare to Colonel Greene of the 
 third division, retaining merely enough to supply his own corps 
 of three hundred "'men on their way back to Korridgewock, 
 whither he immediately returned. 
 
 Letters from Arnold and Enos apprised Washington of this 
 grievous flaw in the enterprise. He regarded it, however, as 
 usual, with a hoi:)eful eye. "Notwithstanding this great de- 
 fection,'^ said he, " I do not despair of Colonel Arnold's suc- 
 cess. vHe will have, in all probability, many more difficulties 
 to encounter, than if he had been a fortnight soonet ; as it is 
 likely that Governor Carleton, will, with what forces he can 
 collect after the surrender of the rest of Canada, throw himself 
 into Quebec, and there make his last effort." * 
 
 Washington was not mistaken in the confidence he had 
 placed in the energy of Arnold. Though the latter found his 
 petty force greatly reduced by the retrograde move of Enos and 
 his party, and although snow and ice rendered his march still 
 more bleak among the mountains, he kept on with unflinching 
 spirit until he arrived at the ridge which divides the streams 
 of New England and Canada. Here, at Lake Megantic, the 
 source of the Chaudiere, he met an emissary whom he had sent 
 in advance to ascertain the feelings of the habitans, or French 
 yeomanry, in the fertile valley of that stream. His report being 
 favorable, Arnold shared out among the different companies the 
 scanty provisions which remained, directing them to make the 
 best of their way for the Chaudiere settlements ; while he, with 
 a light foraging party, would push rapidly ahead, to procure and 
 and send back supplies. 
 
 He accordingly embarked with his little party in five bateaux 
 and a birch canoe, and launched forth without a guide on the 
 swift current of the Chaudiere. It was little better than a 
 mountain torrent, full of rocks and rapids. Three of their 
 
 * Washington to the President of Congress, Nov. 19th. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 361 
 
 boats were dashed to pieces, the cargoes lost, and the crews 
 saved with difficulty. At one time, the whole party came near 
 being precipitated over *a cataract, where "all might have per- 
 ished ; at length they reached Sertigan, the first French settle- 
 ment, where they were cordially received. Here Arnold bought 
 provisions, which he sent back by the Canadians and Indians to 
 his troops. The latter were in a state of starvation. Some had 
 not tasted food for eight-and-forty hours ; others had cooked 
 two dogs, followers of the camp ; and others had boiled their 
 moccasins, cartouch boxes, and other articles of leather, in the 
 hope of rendering them eatable. 
 
 Arnold halted for a short time in the hospitable valley of the 
 Chaudiere, to give his troops repose, and distributed among the 
 inhabitants the printed manifesto with which he had been fur- 
 nished by Washington. Here he was joined by about forty 
 Norridgewock Indians. On the 9th of November, the little 
 army emerged from the woods at Point Levi, on the St. Law- 
 rence, opposite to Quebec. A letter written by an inhabitant 
 of that place, speaks of their sudden apparition. 
 
 '^ There are about five hundred provincials arrived at Point 
 Levi, opposite to the town, by the way of Chaudiere across the 
 woods. Surely a miracle must have been wrought in their fa- 
 vor. It is an undertaking above the common race of men in 
 this debauched age. They have travelled through woods and 
 bogs, and over precipices, for the space of one hundred and 
 twenty miles, attended with every inconvenience and difficulty, 
 to be surmounted only by men of indefatigable zeal and in- 
 dustry." 
 
 Leaving Arnold in full sight of Quebec, which, after his long 
 struggle through the wilderness, must have appeared like a 
 land of promise, we turn to narrate the events of the upper ex- 
 pedition into Canada, of which the letters of Schuyler kept 
 Washington faithfully informed. 
 
 Montgomery appeared before Montreal on the 12th of No- 
 vember. General Carleton had embarked with his little garri- 
 son, and several of the civil officers of the place, on board of a 
 flotilla, of ten or eleven small vessels, and made sail in the 
 night, with a favorable breeze, carrying away with him the 
 powder and other important stores. The town capitulated, of 
 course ; and Montgomery took quiet possession. His urbanity 
 and kindness soon won the good-will of the inhabitants, both 
 English and French, and made the Canadians sensible that he 
 really came to secure their rights, not to molest them. Inter- 
 cepted letters acquainted him with Arnpld's arrival in the 
 neighborhood of Quebec,, and the great alarm of " the king's 
 
362 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 friends," who expected to be besieged: '^wbicb, witb the 
 blessing of God, they shall be," said Montgomery, "if the 
 severe season holds off, and I can prevail on the troops to ac- 
 company me." 
 
 His great immediate object was the capture of Carleton, 
 which would form a triumphal close to the enterprise, and 
 might decide the fate of Canada. The flotilla in which the 
 general was embarked, had made repeated attempts to escape 
 down the St. Lawrence ; but had as often been driven back by 
 the batteries thrown up by the Americans at the mouth of the 
 Sorel. It now lay anchored about fifteen miles above that 
 river, and Montgomery prepared to attack it with bateaux and 
 light artillery, so as to force it down upon the batteries. 
 
 Carleton saw his imminent peril. Disguising himself as a 
 Canadian voyager, he set off on a dark night accompanied by 
 six peasants, in a boat with muffled oars, which he assisted to 
 pull, slipped quietly and silently past all the batteries and 
 guard-boats, and effected his escape to Three Rivers, where he 
 embarked in a vessel for Quebec. After his departure the 
 flotilla surrendered, and all those who had taken refuge on board 
 were made prisoners of war. Among them was General Pres- 
 cott, late commander of Montreal. 
 
 Montgomery now placed garrisons in Montreal, St. John's, 
 and Chamblee, and made final preparations for descending the 
 St. Lawrence, and cooperating with Arnold against Quebec. 
 To his disappointment and deep chagrin, he found but a hand- 
 ful of his troops disposed to accompany him. Some pleaded 
 ill-health ; the term of enlistment of many had expired, and 
 they were bent on returning home ; and others, who had no 
 such excuses to make, became exceedingly turbulent, and in- 
 deed mutinous. Nothing but a sense of public duty, and grati- 
 tude to Congress for an unsought commission, had induced 
 Montgomery to engage in the service ; wearied by the con- 
 tinual vexations which beset it, he avowed, in a letter to 
 Schuyler, his determination to retire as soon as the intended 
 expedition against Quebec was finished. " Will not your health 
 permit you to reside at Montreal this winter ? " writes he to 
 Schuyler : " I must go home, if I walk by the side of the lake. 
 I am weary of power, and totally want that patience and temper 
 so requisite for such a command." Much of the insubordina- 
 tion of the troops he attributed to the want of tact and cultiva- 
 tion in their officers, who had been suddenly advanced from in- 
 ferior stations and coarse employments. " An affair happened 
 yesterday," writes he to Schuyler on the 24th of November, 
 ^' which had very near sent me home. A number of officers 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 363 
 
 presumed to remonstrate against the indulgence I had given 
 some of the king's troops. Such an insult I could not bear, 
 and immediately resigned. To-day they qualified it by such 
 an apology, as put it in my power to resume the command." In 
 the same spirit he writes : " I wish some method could be fallen 
 upon for engaging gentlemen to serve. A point of honor and 
 more knowledge of the world, to be found in that class of men, 
 would greatly reform discipline, and render the troops much 
 more tractable." 
 
 The troops which had given Montgomery so much annoy- 
 ance and refused to continue with him in Canada, soon began 
 to arrive at Ticonderoga. Schuyler, in a letter to Congress, 
 gives a half querulous, half humorous account of their conduct. 
 " About three hundred of the troops raised in Connecticut, 
 I)assed here within a few days. An unhappy home-sickness 
 prevails. These all came down as invalids, not one willing to 
 re-engage for the winter's service ; and, unable to get any work 
 done by them, I discharged them en groupe. Of all the spe- 
 cifics ever invented for any, there is none so efficacious as a 
 discharge for this prevailing disorder. No sooner was it ad- 
 ministered but it perfected the cure of nine out of ten ; who, 
 refusing to wait for boats to go by the way of Lake George, 
 slung their heavy packs, crossed the lake at this place, and 
 undertook a march of two hundred miles with the greatest good- 
 will and alacrity." 
 
 This home-sickness in rustic soldiers, after a rough campaign, 
 was natural enough, and seems only to have provoked the testy 
 and subacid humor of Schuyler ; but other instances of conduct 
 roused his indignation. 
 
 A schooner and tow galley arrived at Crown Point, with up- 
 wards of a hundred persons. They were destitute of provisions ; 
 none were to be had at the Point, and the ice prevented them 
 from penetrating to Ticonderoga. In starving condition they 
 sent an express to General Schuyler, imploring relief. He imme- 
 diately ordered three captains of General Wooster's regiment, 
 with a considerable body of men in bateaux, to " attempt a relief 
 for the unhappy sufferers." To his surprise and disgust, they 
 manifested the utmost unwillingness to comply, and made a va- 
 riety of excuses, which he spurned at as frivolous, and as evinc- 
 ing the greatest want of humanity. He expressed himself to that 
 effect the next day, in a general order, adding the following 
 stinging words ; " The general, therefore, not daring to trust 
 a matter of so much importance to men of so little feeling, has 
 ordered Lieutenant E,iker, of Col. Holmes' regiment, to make 
 the attempt. He received the order with the alacrity becom- 
 ing a gentleman, an officer, and a Christian." 
 
364 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 This high-minded rebuke, given in so public a manner, rank- 
 led in the breasts of those whose conduct had merited it, and 
 insured to Schuyler that persevering hostility with which mean 
 minds revenge the exposure of their meanness. 
 
 CHAPTEE LI. 
 
 ■HIS 
 
 EULOGIUM OF ARNOLD. SCHUYLER AND MONTGOMERY TALK 
 
 OF RESIGNING. EXPOSTULATIONS OF WASHINGTON. THEIR 
 
 EFFECT. — Schuyler's conduct to a captive foe. 
 
 We have endeavored to compress into a succinct account 
 various events of the invasion of Canada, furnished to Wash- 
 ington by letters from Schuyler and Arnold. The tidings of 
 the capture of Montreal had given him the liveliest satisfaction. 
 He now looked forward to equal success in the expedition 
 against Quebec. In a letter to Schuyler, he passed a high 
 eulogium on Arnold. " The merit of this gentleman is certainly 
 great," writes he, " and I heartily wish that fortune may dis- 
 tinguish him as one of her favorites. I am convinced that he 
 will do everything that prudence and valor shall suggest to add 
 to the success of our arms, and for reducing Quebec to our 
 possession. Should he not be able to accomplish so desirable a 
 work with the forces he has, I flatter myself that it will be 
 effected when General Montgomery joins him, and our conquest 
 of Canada will be complete." 
 
 Certain passages of Schuyler's letters, however, gave him 
 deep concern, wherein that general complained of the embar- 
 rassments and annoyances he had experienced from the insubor- 
 dination of the army. " Habituated to order," said he, " I can- 
 not without pain see that disregard of discipline, confusion and 
 inattention, which reign so generally in this quarter, and I am 
 determined to retire. Of this resolution I have advised Con- 
 gress." 
 
 He had indeed done so. In communicating to the President 
 of Congress the complaints of General Montgomery, and his 
 intention to retire, " my sentiments," said he, " exactly coincide 
 with his. I shall, with him, do everything in my power to 
 put a finishing stroke to the campaign, and make the best ar- 
 rangement in my power, in order to insure success to the next. 
 This done, I must beg leave to retire." 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. B65 
 
 Congress, however, was too well aware of his value, readily 
 to dispense with his services. His letter produced a prompt 
 resolution expressive of their high sense of his attention and 
 perseverance, " which merited the thanks of the United Col- 
 onies.'' He had alleged his impaired health, — they regretted 
 the injuries it had sustained in the service, but begged he 
 would not insist on a measure " which would deprive America 
 of the benefits of his zeal and abilities, and rob him of the 
 honor of completing the work he had so happily begun." 
 
 What, however, produced a greater effect upon Schuyler 
 than any encomium or entreaty on the part of Congress, were 
 the expostulations of Washington, inspired by strong friend- 
 ship and kindred sympathies. "I am exceedingly sorry," 
 writes the latter, " to find you so much embarrassed by the dis- 
 regard of discipline, confusion and want of order among the 
 troops, as to have occasioned you to mention to Congress an 
 inclination to retire. I know that your complaints are too 
 well founded, but would willingly hope that nothing will in- 
 duce you to quit the service I have met with 
 
 difficulties of the same sort, and such as I never expected ; but 
 they must be borne with. The cause we are engaged in is so 
 just and righteous, that we must try to rise superior to every 
 obstacle in its support ; and, therefore, I beg that you will not 
 think of resigning, unless you have carried your application to 
 Congress too far to recede." 
 
 And in another letter he makes a still stronger appeal to his 
 patriotism. " I am sorry that you and General Montgomery 
 incline to quit the service. Let me ask you, sir, when is the 
 time for brave men to exert themselves in the cause of liberty 
 and their country, if this is not ? Should any difficulties that 
 they may have to encounter at this important crisis deter 
 them ? God knows there is not a difficulty that you both very 
 justly complain of, that I have not in an eminent degree ex- 
 perienced, that I am not every day experiencing ; but we must 
 bear up against them, and make the best of mankind, as they 
 are, since we cannot have them as we wish. Let me, there- 
 fore, conjure you, and Mr. Montgomery, to lay aside such 
 thoughts — as thoughts injurious to yourselves, and extremely 
 so to your country, which calls aloud for gentlemen of your 
 ability." 
 
 The noble appeal went straight to the heart of Schuyler, 
 and brought out a magnanimous reply. ^ ^ I do not hesitate," 
 writes he, " to answer my dear general's question in the affirm- 
 ative, by declaring that now or never is the time for every 
 virtuous American to exert himself in the cause of liberty and 
 
366 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 his country ; and that it is become a duty cheerfully to sacrifice 
 the sweets of domestic felicity to attain the honest and glorious 
 end America has in view." 
 
 In the same letter he reveals in confidence the true cause of 
 his wish to retire from an official station ; it was the annoyance 
 he had suffered throughout the campaign from sectional preju- 
 dice and jealousy. " I could point out particular persons of 
 rank in the army," writes he, " who have frequently de- 
 clared that the general commanding in this quarter ought 
 to be of the colony from whence the majority of the troops came. 
 But it is not from opinions or principles of individuals that I 
 have drawn the following conclusion : that troops from the 
 colony of Connecticut will not bear with a general from another 
 colony ; it is from the daily and common conversation of all 
 ranks of people from that colony, both in and out of the army ; 
 and I assure you that I sincerely lament that people of so much 
 public virtue should be actuated by such an unbecoming jeal- 
 ousy, founded on such a narrow principle." Having made this 
 declaration, he adds, " although I frankly own that I feel a re- 
 sentment, yet I shall continue to sacrifice it to a nobler object, 
 the weal of that country in which I have drawn the breath of 
 life, resolved ever to seek, with unwearied assiduity, for oppor- 
 tunities to fulfill my duty to it." 
 
 It is with pride we have quoted so frequently the correspond- 
 ence of these two champions of our Revolution, as it lays open 
 their hearts, and shows the lofty patriotism by which they wexe 
 animated. 
 
 A letter from John Adams to General Thomas, alleges as 
 one cause of Schuyler's unpopularity with the eastern troops, 
 the " politeness " shown by him to Canadian and British pris- 
 oners ; which " enabled them and their ministerial friends to 
 impose upon him." * 
 
 The " politeness " in fact, was that noble courtesy which a 
 high-minded soldier extends towards a captive foe. If his 
 courtesy was imposed upon, it only proved that, incapable of 
 double-dealing himself, he suspected it not in others. All 
 generous natures are liable to imposition ; their warm impulses 
 being too quick for selfish caution. It is the cold, the calculat- 
 ing, and the mean, whose distrustful wariness is never taken 
 in. 
 
 * Letter book of Gen. Thomas. MS. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 367 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES IN FILLING UP THE ARMY. — l^HE CONNECTICUT 
 
 TROOPS PERSIST IN GOING HOME. THEIR RECEPTION THERE. 
 
 TIMELY ARRIVAL OF SPOILS IN THE CAMP. PUTNAM AND 
 
 THE PRIZE MORTAR. A MARAUD BY AMERICANS. REBUKED 
 
 BY WASHINGTON. — CORRESPONDENCE OF WASHINGTON WITH 
 GENERAL HOWE ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF ETHAN ALLEN.— 
 
 FRATERNAL ZEAL OF LEVI ALLEN. TREATMENT OF GENERAL 
 
 PRESCOTT. — PREPARATIONS TO BOMBARD BOSTON. BATTERY 
 
 AT LECHMERE's point. PRAYER OF PUTNAM FOR POWDER. 
 
 The forming even of the skeleton of an army under the new 
 regulations, had been a work of infinite difficulty ; to fill it up 
 was still more difficult. The first burst of revolutionary zeal 
 had passed away : enthusiasm had been chilled by the inaction 
 and monotony of a long encampment, — an encampment, more- 
 over, destitute of those comforts which, in experienced warfare, 
 are provided by a well-regulated commissariat. The troops had 
 suffered privations of every kind, want of food, clothing, pro- 
 visions. They looked forward with dismay to the rigors of 
 winter, and longed for their rustic homes and their family fire- 
 sides. 
 
 Apprehending that some of them would incline to go home 
 when the time of their enlistment expired, Washington sum- 
 moned the general officers to head-quarters, and invited a dele- 
 gation of tke General Court to be present, to adopt measures 
 for the defense and support of the lines. The result of their 
 deliberations was an order that three thousand of the minute 
 men and militia of Massachusetts, and two thousand from New 
 Hampshire, should be at Cambridge by the tenth of December, 
 to relieve the Connecticut regiments, and supply the deficiency 
 that would be caused by their departure, and by the absence of 
 others on furlough. 
 
 With this arrangement the Connecticut troops were made 
 acquainted, and, as the time of most of them would not be out 
 before the 10th, they were ordered to remain in camp until re- 
 lieved. Their officers assured Washington that he need appre- 
 hend no defection on the part of their men ; they would not 
 leave the lines. The officers themselves were probably mistaken 
 in their opinion of their men, for on the 1st of December, many 
 
368 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the latter, some of whom belonged to Putnam's regiment, 
 resolved to go home immediately. Efforts were made to prevent 
 them, but in vain ; several carried off with them their arms 
 and ammunition. Washington sent a list of their names to 
 Governor Trumbull. " I submit it to your judgment/' writes 
 he, " whether an example should not be made of these men who 
 have deserted the cause of their country at this critical juncture 
 when the enemy are receiving reinforcements ? " 
 
 We anticipate the reply of Governor Trumbull, received 
 several days subsequently. " The late extraordinary and rep- 
 rehensible conduct of some of the troops of this colony," writes 
 he, " impresses me, and the minds of many of our people, with 
 great surprise and indignation, since the treatment they met 
 with, and the order and request made to them, were so reason- 
 able, and apparently necessary for the defense of our common 
 cause, and safety of our rights and privileges, for which they 
 freely engaged." 
 
 We will here add, that the homeward-bound warriors seem to 
 have run the gauntlet along the road; for their conduct on 
 quitting the army drew upon them such indignation, that they 
 could hardly get anything to eat on their journey, and when 
 they arrived at home they met with such a reception (to the 
 credit of the Connecticut women be it recorded), that many were 
 soon disposed to return again to the camp." * 
 
 On the very day after the departure homeward of these troops 
 and while it was feared their example would be contagious, a 
 long, lumbering train of; wagons, laden with ordnance and mili- 
 tary stores, and decorated with flags, came wheeling into the 
 camp escorted by continental troops and country militia. They 
 were part of the cargo of a large brigantine laden with muni- 
 tions of war, captured and sent in to Cape Ann by the schooner 
 Xee, Captain Manly, one of the cruisers sent out by Washing- 
 ton. " Such universal joy ran through the whole camp," 
 writes an officer, " as if each one grasped a victory in his own 
 hands." 
 
 Beside the ordnance captured, there were two thousand 
 stands of arms, one hundred thousand flints, thirty-thousand 
 round shot, and thirty-two tons of musket-balls. 
 
 " Surely nothing," writes Washington, " ever came more a 
 propos" 
 
 It was indeed a cheering incident, and was eagerly turned to 
 account. Among the ordnance was a huge brass mortar of a 
 new construction, weighing near three thousand pounds. It 
 
 * See Letter of G-en. (^reene to Sj^muel Ward, Am. Archives^ 4th 
 Series, vol ivt 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 369 
 
 was considered a glorious trophy, and there was a resolve to 
 christen it. Mifflin, Washington's secretary, suggested the 
 name. The mortar was fixed in a bed ; old Putnam mounted 
 it, dashed on it a bottle of rum, and gave it the name of " Con- 
 gress." The shouts which rent the air were heard in Boston. 
 When the meaning of them were explained to the British, they 
 observed, that "should their expected reinforcements arrive in 
 time, the rebels would pay dear in the spring for all their petty 
 triumphs." 
 
 With Washington, this transient gleam of nautical success 
 was soon overshadowed by the conduct of the cruisers he had sent 
 to the St. Lawrence. Failing to intercept the brigantines, the 
 object of their cruise, they landed on the island of St. John's, 
 plundered the house of the governor and several private dwell- 
 ings, and brought off three of the principal inhabitants prison- 
 ers ; one of whom. Mr. Callbeck, was president of the council, 
 and acted as governor. 
 
 These gentlemen made a memorial to Washington of this 
 scandalous maraud. He instantly ordered a restoration of the 
 effects which had been pillaged : of his conduct towards the 
 gentlemen personally, we may judge by the following note ad- 
 dressed to him by Mr. Callbeck : — 
 
 " I should ill deserve the generous treatment which your 
 Excellency has been pleased to show me, had I not the grati- 
 tude to acknowledge so great a favor. I cannot ascribe any 
 part of it to my own merit, but must impute the whole to the 
 philanthropy and humane disposition that so truly characteriz 
 General Washington. Be so obliging, therefore, as to accept 
 the only return in my powder, that of my most grateful thanks." ^ 
 
 Shortly after the foregoing occurrence, information was re- 
 ceived of the indignities which had been heaped upon Colonel 
 Ethan Allen, when captured at Montreal by General Prescott, 
 who, himself, was now a prisoner in the hands of the Americans. 
 It touched Washington on a point on which he was most sensi- 
 tive and tenacious, the treatment of American officers when 
 captured; and produced the following letter from him to 
 General Howe : — 
 
 " Sir, — ^We have just been informed of a circumstance which, 
 were it not so well authenticated, I should scarcely think 
 credible. It is that Colonel Allen, who, with his small party, 
 was defeated and made prisoner near Montreal, has been treated 
 without regard to decency, humanity, or the rules of war ; that 
 he has been thrown into irons, and suffers all the hardships in- 
 flicted upon common felons. 
 
 * Sparks. Washington's Writings, vol. ill. p. 194. 
 
370 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 " I think it my duty, sir, to demand, and do expect from you, 
 an eclaircissement on this subject. At the same time, I flatter 
 myself, from the character which Mr. Howe bears as a man of 
 honor, gentleman, and soldier, that my demand will meet with 
 his approbation. I must take the liberty, also, of informing you 
 that I shall consider your silence as a confirmation of the re- 
 port, and further assuring you, that whatever treatment Col- 
 onel Allen receives, whatever fate he undergoes, such exactly 
 shall be the treatment and fate of Brigadier Prescott, now in 
 our hands. The law of retaliation is not only justifiable in the 
 eyes of God and man, but absolutely a duty, which, in our 
 present circumstances, we owe to our relations, friends, and 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 " Permit me to add, sir, that we have all here the highest 
 regard and reverence for your great personal qualities and at- 
 tainments, and the Americans in general esteem it as not the 
 least of their misfortunes, that the name of Howe, a name so 
 dear to them, should appear at the head of the catalogue of the 
 instruments employed by a wicked ministry for their destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 General Howe felt acutely the sorrowful reproach in the 
 latter part of the letter. It was a reiteration of what had al- 
 ready been expressed by Congress ; in the present instance it 
 produced irritation, if we may judge from the reply. 
 
 " Sir, — In answer to your letter, I am to acquaint you that 
 my command does not extend to Canada. Not having any ac- 
 counts wherein the name of Allen is mentioned, I cannot give 
 you the smallest satisfaction upon the subject of your letter. 
 But trusting Major-general Carleton's conduct will never incur 
 censure upon any occasion, I am to conclude in the instance of 
 your. inquiry, that he has not forfeited his past pretensions to 
 decency and humanity. 
 
 " It is with regret, considering the character jou have always 
 maintained among your friends, as a gentleman of the strictest 
 honor and delicacy, that I find cause to resent a sentence in the 
 conclusion of your letter, big with invective against my su- 
 periors, and insulting to myself, which should obstruct any 
 further intercourse between us. I am, sir, etc." 
 
 In transmitting a copy of his letter to the President of Con- 
 gress, Washington observed : " My reason for pointing out 
 Brigadier-general Prescott as the object who is to suffer for Mr. 
 Allen's fate, is, that by letters from General Schuyler and 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 371 
 
 copies of letters from General Montgomery to Schuyler, I am 
 given to understand that Prescott is the cause of Allen's suffer- 
 ings. I thought it best to be decisive on the occasion, as did 
 the generals whom I consulted thereon." 
 
 For the sake of continuity we will anticipate a few facts con- 
 nected with the story of Ethan Allen. Within a few weeks 
 after the preceding correspondence, Washington received a letter 
 from Levi Allen, a brother to the colonel, and of like enterpris- 
 ing and enthusiastic character. It was dated from Salisbury in 
 Connecticut ; and inclosed affidavits of the harsh treatment his 
 brother had experienced, and of his being confined on board of 
 the Gaspee, " with a bar of iron fixed to one of his legs and iron 
 to his hands." Levi was bent upon effecting his deliverance, 
 and the mode proposed was in unison with the bold, but wild 
 schemes of the colonel. We quote his crude, but characteristic 
 letter. 
 
 " Have some thoughts of going to England, incognito^ after 
 my brother ; but am not positively certain he is sent there, 
 though believe he is. Beg your Excellency will favor me with 
 a line, and acquaint me of any intelligence concerning him, and 
 if your Excellency please, your opinion of the expediency of 
 going after him, and whether your Excellency would think 
 proper to advance any money for that purpose, as my brother 
 was a man blessed with more fortitude than fortune. Your 
 Excellency may think, at first thought, I can do nothing by 
 going to England ; I feel as if I could do a great deal, by 
 raising a mob in London, bribing the jailer, or by getting into 
 some servile employment with the jailer, and over-faithfulness 
 make myself master of the key, or at least be able to lay my 
 ihand on it some night. I beg your Excellency will countenance 
 ly going ; can muster more than one hundred pounds, my own 
 iproperty ; shall regard spending that no more than one copper. 
 Your Excellency must know Allen was not only a brother, but 
 a real friend that sticketh closer than a brother." 
 
 In a postscript he adds, " cannot live without going to Eng- 
 land, if my brother is sent there." 
 
 In reply, Washington intimated a belief that the colonel had 
 been sent to England, but discountenanced Levi's wild project 
 of following him thither; as there was no probability of its 
 success, and he would be running himself into danger without 
 a prospect of rendering service to his brother. 
 
 The measure of retaliation mentioned in Washington's letter 
 to Howe, was actually meted out by Congress on the arrival of 
 General Prescott in Philadelphia. He was ordered into close 
 confinement in the jail ; though not put in irons. He was subse- 
 
372 LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 quently released from confinement on account of ill-health, and 
 was treated by some Philadelphia families 'with unmerited 
 hospitality.* 
 
 At the time of the foregoing correspondence with Howe, 
 Washington was earnestly occupied preparing works for the 
 bombardment of Boston, should that measure be resolved upon 
 by Congress. General Putnam, in the preceding month, had 
 taken possession in the night of Cobble Hill without molestation 
 from the enemy, though a commanding eminence ; and in two 
 days had constructed a work which, from its strength, was 
 named Putnam's impregnable fortress. 
 
 He was now engaged on another work on Lechmere Point, to 
 be connected with the works on Cobble Hill by a bridge thrown 
 across Willis' Creek, and a covered way. Lechmere Point is 
 immediately opposite the west part of Boston ; and the /Scar- 
 borough ship-of-war was anchored near it. Putnam availed 
 himself of a dark and foggy day (Dec. 17), to commence opera- 
 tions, and broke ground with four hundred men, at ten o'clock 
 in the morning, on a hill at the Point. " The mist," says a 
 contemporary account, " was so great as to prevent the enemy 
 from discovering what he was about until near twelve o'clock, 
 when it cleared up, and opened to their view our whole party at 
 the Point, and another at the causeway throwing a bridge over 
 the creek. The /Scarborough, anchored off the Point, poured 
 in a broadside. The enemy from Boston threw shells. The 
 garrison at Cobble Hill returned fire. Our men were obliged 
 to decamp from the Point, but the work was resumed by the 
 brave old general at night." 
 
 On the next morning a cannonade from Cobble Hill obliged 
 the /Scarborough to weigh anchor and drop down below the 
 ferry ; and General Heath was detached with a party of men to 
 carry on the work which Putnam had commenced. The enemy 
 resumed their fire. Sentinels were placed to give notice of 
 
 * Thomas Walker, a merchant of Montreal, who, accused of traitor- 
 ous dealings with the Americans, had been thrown into prison during 
 Prescott's sway, and his country-house burnt down, undertook a jour- 
 ney to Philadelphia in the depth of winter, when he understood the 
 general was a captive there, trusting to obtain satisfaction for his ill- 
 treatment. To his great surprise he found Mr. Prescott lodged in the 
 best tavern of the place, walking or riding at large through Philadelphia 
 and Bucks Counties, feasting with gentlemen of the first rank in the 
 province and keeping a levee for the reception of the grandees. In con- 
 sequence of such unaccountable phenomena, and the little prospect of 
 his obtaining any adequate redress in the present unsettled state of pub- 
 lic affairs, Mr. Walker has returned to Montreal. — Am. Archives, 4th 
 1178. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 373 
 
 a sliot or shell ; the men would crouch down or dodge it, and 
 continue on with their work. The fire ceased in the afternoon, 
 and Washington visited the hill accomjjanied by several officers, 
 and inspected the progress of the work. It was to consist of 
 two redoubts, on one of which was to be a mortar battery. There , 
 was as yet a deficiency of ordnance ; but the prize mortar was 
 to be mounted which Putnam had recently christened " The 
 Congress." From the spirit with which the work was carried 
 on, Washington trusted that it would soon be completed, " and 
 then," said he, " if we have powder to sport with, and Con- 
 gress gives the word, Boston can be bombarded from this 
 point." 
 
 For several days the labor at the works was continued ; the 
 redoubts were thrown up, and a covered way was constructed 
 leading down to the bridge. All this was done notwithstand- 
 ing the continual fire of the enemy. The letter of a British 
 officer gives his idea of the efficiency of the work. 
 
 " The rebels for some days have been erecting a battery on 
 Phipps' Farm. The new constructed mortar taken on board 
 the ordnance brig, we are told, will be mounted upon it, and 
 we expect a warm salute from the shells, another part of that 
 vessel's cargo ; so that, in spite of her capture, we are likely to 
 be complimented with the contents of her lading. 
 
 " If the rebels can complete their battery this town will be on 
 fire about our ears a few hours after, all our buildings being of 
 wood, or a mixture of brick and wood-work. Had the rebels 
 erected their battery on the other si'de of the town, at Dor- 
 chester, the admiral and all his bombs would have made the 
 first blaze, and the burning of the town would have followed. 
 If we cannot destroy the rebel battery by our guns we must 
 march out and take it sword in hand." 
 
 Putnam anticipated great effects from this work, and es- 
 pecially from his grand mortar, " The Congress." Shells there 
 were in abundance for a bombardment ; the only thing wanting 
 was a supply of powder. One of the officers, writing of the 
 unusual mildness of the winter, observes : " Everything thaws 
 here except old Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out 
 for powder — powder — powder. Ye gods, give us powder." 
 
374 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 MOUNT VERNON IN DANGER. MRS. WASHINGTON INVITED TO 
 
 THE CAMP. LUND WASHINGTON, THE GENERAL's AGENT. 
 
 TERMS ON WHICH HE SERVES. INSTRUCTED TO KEEP UP THE 
 
 HOSPITALITY OF THE HOUSE. JOURNEY OF MRS. WASHING- 
 TON TO CAMP. HER EQUIPAGE AND LIVERIES. ARRIVAL AT 
 
 CAMP. DOMESTIC AFFAIRS AT HEAD-QUARTERS. GAYETIES 
 
 IN CAMP. A BRAWL BETWEEN ROUND-JACKETS AND RIFLE- 
 SHIRTS. 
 
 Amid the various concerns of the war, and the multiplied 
 perplexities of the camp, the thoughts of Washington continu- 
 ally reverted to his home on the banks of the Potomac. A 
 constant correspondence was kept up between him and his 
 agent, Mr. Lund Washington, who had charge of his various 
 estates. The general gave clear and minute directions as to 
 their management, and the agent rendered as clear and minute 
 returns of everything that had been done in consequence. 
 
 According to recent accounts. Mount Vernon had been con- 
 sidered in danger. Lord Dunmore was exercising martial law 
 in the Ancient Dominion, and it was feared that the favorite 
 abode of the " rebel commander-in-chief " would be marked out 
 for hostility, and that the enemy might land from their ships 
 in the Potomac, and lay it waste. Washington's brother, John 
 Augustine, had entreated Mrs. Washington to leave it. The 
 people of Loudoun had advised her to seek refuge beyond the Blue 
 Ridge, and had offered to send a guard to escort her. She had 
 declined the offer, not considering herself in danger. Lund 
 Washington was equally free from apprehensions on the sub- 
 ject. " Lord Dunmore," writes he, " will hardly himself vent- 
 ure up this river, nor do I believe he will send on that errand. 
 You may depend I will be watchful, and upon the least alarm 
 persuade her to move." 
 
 Though alive to everthing concerning Mount Vernon, Wash- 
 ington agreed with them in deeming it in no present danger of 
 molestation by the enemy. Still he felt for the loneliness of 
 Mrs. Washington's situation, heightened as it must be by anxiety 
 on his own account. On taking command of the army, he had 
 held out a prospect to her, that he would rejoin her at home in 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 375 
 
 the autumn ; there was now a probahility of his being detained 
 before Boston all winter. He wrote to her, therefore, by ex- 
 press, in November, inviting her to join him at the camp. He 
 at the same time wrote to Lund Washington, engaging his 
 continued services as an agent. This person, though bearing 
 the same name, and probably of the same stock, does not appear 
 to have been in any near degree of relationship. Washington's 
 letter to him gives a picture of his domestic policy. 
 
 ^^ I will engage for the year coming, and the year following, 
 if these troubles and my absence continue, that your wages 
 shall be standing and certain at the highest amount that any 
 one year's crop has produced you yet. I do not offer this as any 
 temptation to induce you to go on more cheerfully in prosecut- 
 ing those schemes of mine. I should do injustice to you Were 
 I not to acknowledge, that your conduct has ever appeared to 
 me above everything sordid ; .but I offer it in consideration of 
 the great charge you have upon your hands, and my entire de- 
 pendence upon your fidelity and industry. 
 
 " It is the greatest, indeed it is the only comfortable reflec- 
 tion I enjoy on this score, that my business is in the hands of 
 a person concerning whose integrity I have not a doubt, and on 
 whose care I can rely. Were it not for this, I should feel very 
 unhappy on account of the situation of my affairs. But I am 
 persuaded you will do for me as you would for yourself." 
 
 The following were his noble directions concprning Mount 
 Vernon : — 
 
 " Tiet 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, pro- 
 vided 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 well bestowed. 
 What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my desire it 
 should be done. You are to consider that neither myself nor 
 wife is now in the way to do those good offices." 
 
 Mrs. Washington came on with her own carriage and horses, 
 accompanied by her son, Mr. Custis, and his wife. She 
 travelled by very easy stages, partly on account of the badness 
 of the roads, partly out of regard to the horses, of which Wash- 
 ington was always very careful, and which were generally re- 
 markable for beauty and excellence. Escorts and guards of 
 honor attended her from place to place, and she was detained 
 some time at Philadelphia, by the devoted attention of the in- 
 habitants. 
 
 Her arrival at Cambridge was a glad event in the army. In- 
 
376 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 cidental mention is made of the equipage in which she appeared 
 there. A chariot and four, with black postilions in scarlet and 
 white liveries. It has been suggested that this was an English 
 style of equij)age, derived from the Fairfaxes ; but in truth it 
 was a style still prevalent at that day in Virginia. 
 
 It would appear that dinner invitations to head-quarters were 
 becoming matters of pride and solicitude. " I am much obliged 
 to you/' writes Washington to Beed, " for the hints respecting 
 the jealousies which you say are gone abroad. I cannot charge 
 myself with incivility, or what in my opinion is tantamount, 
 ceremonious civility to gentlemen of this colony ; but if such 
 my conduct appears, I will endeavor at a reformation ; as I can 
 assure you, my dear Beed, that I wish to walk in such a line as 
 will give most general satisfaction. You know that it was my 
 wish at first to invite a certain number to dinner, but uninten- 
 tionally we somehow or other missed of it. If this has given 
 rise to the jealousy, I can only say that I am very sorry for it; 
 at the same time I add, that it was rather owing to inattention, 
 or, more properly, too much attention to other matters, which 
 caused me to neglect it." 
 
 And in another letter : — 
 
 " My constant attention to the great and perplexing objects 
 which continually arise to my view, absorbs all lesser considera- 
 tions ; and, indeed, scarcely allows me to reflect that there is 
 such a body as the General Court of this colony, but when I 
 am reminded of it by a committee ; nor can I, upon recollec- 
 tion, discover in what instance I have been inattentive to, or 
 slighted them. They could not surely conceive that there was 
 a propriety in unbosoming the secrets of the army to them ; 
 that it was necessary to ask their opinion in throwing up an 
 intrenchment or forming a battalion. It must be, therefore, 
 what I before hinted to you ; and how to remedy it I hardly 
 know, as I am acquainted with few of the members, never go 
 out of my own lines, nor see any of them in them." 
 
 The presence of Mrs. Washington soon relieved the general 
 from this kind of perplexity. She presided at head-quarters, 
 with mingled dignity and affability. We have an anecdote or 
 two of the internal affairs of head-quarters, furnished by the 
 descendant of one who was an occasional inmate there. 
 
 Washington had prayers morning and- evening, and was reg- 
 gular in his attendance at the church in which he was a com- 
 municant. On one occasion, for want of a clergyman, the 
 Episcopal service was read by Colonel William Palfrey, one of 
 Washington's aides-de-camp ; who substituted a prayer of his 
 own composition in place of the one formerly offered up for the 
 king. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 377 
 
 Not long after her arrival in camp, Mrs. Washington claimed 
 to keep Twelfth-night in due style, as the anniversary of her 
 wedding. " The general," says the same informant, " was some- 
 what thoughtful, and said he was afraid he must refuse it." 
 His objections were overcome, and Twelfth-night and the wed- 
 ding anniversary were duly celebrated. 
 
 There seems to have been more conviviality at the quarters 
 of some of the other generals ; their time and minds were less 
 intensely engrossed by anxious cares, having only their in- 
 dividual departments to attend to. Adjutant-general Mifflin's 
 house appears to have been a gay one. " He was a man of 
 education, ready apprehension, and brilliancy," says Graydon ; 
 "had spent some time in Europe, particularly in France, and 
 was very easy of access, with the manners of genteel life, 
 though occasionally evolving those of the Quaker." * 
 
 Mrs. Adams gives an account of an evening party at his 
 house. "I was very politely entertained and noticed by the 
 generals," writes she, " more especially General Lee, who was 
 very urgent for me to tarry in town, and dine with him and the 
 ladies present at Hobgoblin Hall ; but I excused myself. 
 The general was determined that I should not only be acquainted 
 with him, but with his companions too ; and therefore placed 
 a chair before me, into which he ordered Mr. Spada (his dog) 
 to mount, and present his paw to me for a better acquaintance. 
 I could not do otherwise than accept it." t 
 
 John Adams, likewise, gives us a picture of festivities at head- 
 quarters, where he was a visitant on the recess of Congress. 
 
 " I dined at Colonel Mifflin's with the general (Washington) 
 and lady, and a vast collection of other company, among whom 
 were six or seven sachems and warriors of the French Caughna- 
 waga Indians, with their wives and children. A savage feast 
 they made of it ; yet were very polite in the Indian style. I 
 was introduced to them by the general as one of the grand 
 council at Philadelphia, which made them prick up their ears. 
 They came and shook hands with me." % 
 
 While giving these familiar scenes and occurrences at the 
 camp, we are tempted to subjoin one furnished from the manu- 
 script memoir of an eye-witness. A large party of Virginia 
 riflemen, who had recently arrived in camp, were strolling 
 about Cambridge, and viewing the collegiate buildings, now 
 
 * Graydon' s Memoirs, p. 154. 
 
 t Letters of Mr. Adams, vol. 1. 85. 
 
 X Adams' Letters, vol. ii. p. 80. Adams adds, that they made him 
 " low bows and scrapes " — a kind of homage never paid by an Indian 
 Warrior. 
 
378 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 turned into barracks. Their half-Indian equipments, and 
 fringed and ruffled hunting garbs, provoked the merriment of 
 some troops from Marblehead, chiefly fishermen and sailors, 
 who thought nothing equal to the round jacket and trowsers. 
 A bantering ensued between them. There was snow upon the 
 ground, and snow-balls began to fly when jokes were wanting. 
 The parties waxed warm with the contest. They closed, and 
 came to blows ; both sides were reinforced, and in a little while at 
 least a thousand were at fisticuffs, and there was a ' tumult in 
 the camp worthy of the days of Homer. " At this juncture," 
 writes our informant, "Washington made his appearance, 
 whether by accident or design, I never knew. I saw none of 
 his aides with him; his black servant just behind him mounted. 
 He threw the bridle off his own horse into his servant's hands, 
 sprang from his seat, rushed into the thickest of the melee, 
 seized two tall brawny riflemen by the throat, keeping them at 
 arm's-length, talking to and shaking them.'' 
 
 As they were from his own province, he may have felt pecul- 
 iarly responsible for their good conduct ; they were engaged, 
 too, in one of those sectional brawls which were his especial ab- 
 horrence ; his reprimand must, therefore, have been a vehement 
 one. He was commanding in his serenest nloments, but irre- 
 sistible in his bursts of indignation. On the present occasion, 
 -vve are told, his appearance and strong-handed rebuke put an 
 instant end to the tumult. The combatants dispersed in all 
 directions, and in less than three minutes none remained on the 
 ground but the two he had collared. 
 
 The veteran who records this exercise of military authority, 
 seems at a loss which most to admire, the simplicity of the pro- 
 cess or the vigor with which it was administered. "Here," 
 writes he, " bloodshed, imprisonments, trials by court-martial, 
 revengeful feelings between the different corps of the army, 
 were happily prevented by the physical and mental energies of 
 a single person, and the only damage resulting from the fierce 
 encounter was a few torn hunting frocks and round jackets."* 
 
 * From memoranda written at an advanced age, by the late Hon. 
 Israel Trask ; who, when but ten years old , was in the camp at Cam- 
 bridge with his father, who was a lieutenant. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 379 
 
 CHAPTEE LIV. 
 
 a.ffairs in canada. arnold at point levi. quebec re- 
 inforced. crossing of the st. lawrence. landing in 
 
 Wolfe's cove. — Arnold on the heights of Abraham. — 
 
 CAUTIOUS counsel. QUEBEC AROUSED. THE INVADERS 
 
 BAFFLED. WITHDRAW TO POINT AUX TREMBLES. BOOMING 
 
 OF CANNON. CARELTON AT QUEBEC. LETTER OF WASHING- 
 TON TO ARNOLD. 
 
 We again turn from the siege of Boston, to the invasion of 
 Canada, which at that time shared the anxious thoughts of 
 Washington. . His last accounts of the movements of Arnold, 
 left him at Point Levi, opposite to Quebec. ^ Something bril- 
 liant from that daring officer was anticipated. It was his inten- 
 tion to cross the river immediately. Had he done so, he might 
 have carried the town by a cotip de main ; for terror as well 
 as disaffection prevailed among the inhabitants. At Point 
 Levi, however, he was brought to a stand ; not a boat was to be 
 found there. Letters which he had despatched some days pre- 
 viously, by two Indians, to Generals Schuyler and Montgomery, 
 had been carried by his faithless messengers, to Caramhe, the 
 lieutenant-governor, who, thus apprised of the impending dan- 
 ger, had caused all the boats of Point Levi to be either removed 
 or destroyed. 
 
 Arnold was not a man to be disheartened by difficulties. With 
 great exertions he procured about forty birch canoes from the 
 Canadians and Indians, with forty of the latter to navigate 
 them ; but stormy winds arose, and for some days the river was 
 too boisterous for such frail craft. In the meantime the gar- 
 rison at Quebec was gaining strength. Pecruits arrived from 
 Nova Scotia. The veteran Maclean, too, who had been driven 
 from the mouth of the Sorel by the detachment under Brown 
 and Livingston, arrived down the river with his corps of Poyal 
 Highland Emigrants, and threw himself into the place. The 
 Lizard frigate, the Hornet sloop-of-war, and two armed schoon- 
 ers were stationed in the river, and guard-boats patrolled at 
 night. The prospect of a successful attack upon the place was 
 growing desperate. 
 
 On the 13th of November, Arnold received intelligence tl^a^ 
 
380 LJ^FE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Montgomery had captured St. John's. He was instantly roused 
 to emulation. His men, too were inspirited by the news. 
 The wind had abated ; he determined to cross the river that 
 very night. At a late hour in the evening he embarked with 
 the first division, principally riflemen. The river was wide ; 
 the current rapid ; the birch canoes, easy to be upset, required 
 skillful management. By four o'clock in the morning, a large 
 part of his force had crossed without being perceived, and landed 
 about a mile and a half above Cape Diamond, at Wolfe's Cove, 
 so-called from being the landing-place of that gallant com- 
 mander. 
 
 Just then a guard-boat, belonging to the Lizard^ came slowly 
 along shore and discovered them. They hailed it, and ordered 
 it to land. Not complying it was fired into, and three men 
 were killed. The boat instantly pulled for the frigate, giving 
 vociferous alarm. 
 
 Without waiting the arrival of the residue of his men, for 
 whom the canoes had been despatched, Arneld led those who 
 had landed to the ^oot of the cragged defile, once scaled by the 
 intrepid Wolfe, and scrambled up it in all haste. By daylight 
 he had planted his daring flag on the far-famed Heights of 
 Abraham. 
 
 Here the main difficulty stared him in the face. A strong 
 line of walls and bastions traversed the promontory from one of 
 its precipitous sides to the other ; inclosing the upper and 
 lower towns. On the right, the great bastion of Cape Diamond 
 crowned the rocky height of that name. On the left was the 
 bastion of La Potasse, close by the gate of St. John's opening 
 upon the barracks ; the gate where Wolfe's antagonist, the gal- 
 lant Montcalm, received his death wound. 
 
 A council of war was now held. Arnold, who had some 
 knowledge of the place, was for dashing forward at once and 
 storming the gate of St. John's. Had they done so, they might 
 have been successful. The gate was open and unguarded. 
 Through some blunder and delay, a message from the comman- 
 der of the Lizard to the lieutenant-governor had not yet been 
 delivered, and no alarm had reached the fortress. 
 
 The formidable aspect of the place, however, awed Arnold's 
 associates in council. They considered that their whole force 
 was but between seven and eight hundred men ; that nearly 
 one third of their fire-arms had been rendered useless, and much 
 of their ammunition damaged in their march through the wil- 
 derness ; they had no artillery, and the fortress looked too strong 
 to be carried by a coup de main. Cautious counsel is often 
 fatal to a daring enterprise. While the council of war deliber- 
 
 J 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 381 
 
 ated, the favorable moment passed away. The lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor received the tardy message. He hastily assembled 
 the merchants, officers of militia, and captains of the mer- 
 chant vessels. All promised to stand by him; he had 
 strong distrust, however, of the French part of the population 
 and the Canadian militia ; his main reliance was on Colonel 
 Maclean and his E-oyal Highland Emigrants. 
 
 The din of arms now resounded through the streets. The 
 cry was up — " The enemy arc on the Heights of Abraham ! 
 The gate of St. John's is open ! " There was an attempt to 
 shut it. The keys were not to be found. It was hastil}^ secur- 
 ed by ropes and handspikes, and the walls looking upon the 
 heights were soon manned by the military, and thronged by 
 the populace. 
 
 Arnold paraded his men within a hundred yards of the walls, 
 and caused them to give three hearty cheers ; hoping to excite 
 a revolt in the place, or to provoke the scanty garrison to a sally. 
 There were a few scattered cheerings in return ; but the taunt- 
 ing bravo failed to produce a sortie ; the governor dared not 
 venture beyond the walls with part of his garrison, having too 
 little confidence in the loyalty of those who would remain be- 
 hind. There was some firing on the part of the Americans, 
 but, merely as an additional taunt ; they were too far off for 
 their musketry to have effect. A large cannon on the ramparts 
 was brought to bear on them, and matches were procured from 
 the Lizard, with which to fire it off. A few shots obliged the 
 Americans to retire and encamp. 
 
 In the evening Arnold sent a flag, demanding in the name 
 of the United Colonies the surrender of the place. Some of 
 the disaffected and the faint-hearted were inclined to open the 
 gate, but were held in check by the mastiff loyalty of Maclean. 
 The veteran guarded the gate with his Highlanders ; forbade 
 all communication with the besiegers, and fired upon their flag 
 as an ensign of rebellion. 
 
 Several days elapsed. Arnold's flags of truce were repeated- 
 ly insulted, but he saw the futility of resenting it, and attack- 
 ing the place with his present means. The inhabitants grad- 
 ually recovered from their alarm, and armed themselves to de- 
 fend their property. The sailors and marines proved a valua- 
 ble addition to the garrison, which now really meditated a 
 sortie. 
 
 Arnold received information of all this from friends within 
 the walls ; he heard about the same time of the capture of Mon- 
 treal, and that General Carleton, having escaped from that 
 place, was on his way down to Quebec, He thought at present^ 
 
382 I^IFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 therefore, to draw off on the 19th to Point aux Trembles (Asp- 
 en-tree Point), twenty miles above Quebec, there to await the 
 arrival of General Montgomery with troops and artillery. As 
 his little army wended its way along the high bank of the river 
 towards its destined encampment, a vessel passed below, which 
 had just touched at Point aux Trembles. On board of it was 
 General Carleton, hurrying on to Quebec. 
 
 It was not long before the distant booming of artillery told 
 of his arrival at his post, where he resumed a stern command. 
 He was unpopular among the inhabitants ; even the British mer- 
 chants and other men of business were offended by the coldness 
 of his manners, and his confining his intimacy to the military 
 and the Canadian noblesse. 
 
 He was aware of his unpopularity, and looked round him with 
 distrust ; his first measure was to turn out of the place all sus- 
 pected persons, and all who refused to aid in its defense. This 
 caused a great "trooping out of town," but what was lost in 
 numbers was gained in strength. With the loyally disposed who 
 remained, he busied himself in improving the defenses. 
 
 Of the constant anxiety, yet enduring hope, with which 
 "Washington watched this hazardous enterprise we have evidence 
 in his various letters. To Arnold, when at Point Levi, baffled 
 in the expectation of finding the means of making a dash upon 
 Quebec, he writes : " It is not in the power of any man to com- 
 mand success, but you have done more, you have deserved it ; 
 and before this time (Dec. 5th), I hope you have met with the 
 laurels which are due to your toils, in the possession of Quebec. 
 
 " I have no doubt but a junction of your detachment with 
 the army under General Montgomery, is effected before this. 
 If so, you will put yourself under his command, and will, I am 
 persuaded, give him all the assistance in your power, to finish 
 the glorious work you have begun." 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 383 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 LORD DUNMORE. HIS PLANS OF HARASSING VIRGINIA. — LEE*S 
 
 POLICY RESPECTING TORY GOVERNORS AND PLACEMEN. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND HARASSED BY WALLACE AND HIS CRUISERS, 
 
 AND INFESTED BY TORIES. LEE SENT TO ITS RELIEF. HIS 
 
 VIGOROUS MEASURES. THE ARMY DISBANDING. WASHING- 
 TON'S PERPLEXITIES. SYMPATHY OF GENERAL GREENE. 
 
 HIS LOYALTY IN TIME OF TROUBLE. THE CRISIS. CHEERING 
 
 NEWS FROM CANADA. GLOOMY OPENING OF THE NEW YEAR. 
 
 NEWS FROM COLONEL KNOX. 
 
 In the month of December a vessel had been captured, bear- 
 ing supplies from Lord Dunmore, to the army at Boston. A 
 letter on board from his lordship to General Howe, invited him 
 to transfer the war to the southern colonies ; or, at all events, 
 to send reinforcements thither ; intimating at the same time 
 his plan of proclaiming liberty to indentured servants, negroes, 
 and others appertaining to rebels, and inviting them to join 
 His Majesty's troops. In a word, — to inflict upon Virginia the 
 horrors of a servile war. 
 
 " If this man is not crushed before spring," writes Washing- 
 ton, " he will become the most formidable enemy America has. 
 
 His strength will increase as a snowball Motives 
 
 of resentment actuate his conduct to a degree equal to the de- 
 struction of the colony." 
 
 General Lee took the occasion to set forth his own system 
 of policy, which was particularly rigid wherever men in author- 
 ity and tories were concerned. It was the old grudge against 
 ministers and their adherents set on edge. 
 
 " Had my opinion been thought worthy of attention," would 
 he say, " Lord Duiimore would have been disarmed of his teeth 
 and claws." He would have seized Tryon too, " and all his 
 tories at New York," and, having struck the stroke, would have 
 applied to Congress for approbation. 
 
 " I propose the following measures," would he add : " To 
 seize every governor, government man, placeman, tory, and 
 enemy to liberty on the continent, to confiscate their estates ; 
 or at least lay them under heavy contributions for the public. 
 Their persons should be secured, in some of the interior towns, 
 as hostages for the treatment of those of our party, whom the 
 
384 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 fortune of war shall throw into their hands ; they should he 
 allowed a reasonable pension out of their fortunes for their 
 maintenance." * 
 
 Such was the policy advocated by Lee in his letters and con- 
 versation, and he soon had an opportunity of carrying it partly 
 into operation. Ehode Island had for some time past been 
 domineered over by Captain Wallace of the royal navy ; who 
 had stationed himself at Newport with an armed vessel, and 
 obliged the place to furnish him with supplies. Latterly he 
 had landed in Conanicut Island, opposite to Nevrport, with a 
 number of sailors and marines, plundered and burnt houses, 
 and driven off cattle for the supply of the army. In his exac- 
 tions and maraudings, he was said to have received countenance 
 from the tory part of the inhabitants. It was now reported 
 that a naval armament was coming from Boston against the 
 island. In this emergency, the governor (Cooke) wrote to Wash- 
 ington, requesting military aid, and an efficient officer to put 
 the island in a state of defense, suggesting the name of General 
 Lee for the purpose. 
 
 Lee undertook the task with alacrity. " I sincerely wish," 
 sam Washington, " he may be able to do it with effect ; as 
 that place, in its present state, is an asylum for such as are dis- 
 affected to American liberty." 
 
 Lee set out for Khode Island with his guard and a party of 
 riflemen, and at Providence was joined by the cadet company 
 of that place, and a number of minute men. Preceded by these, 
 he entered the town of Newport on Christmas-day, in military 
 style. While there, he summoned before him a number of per- 
 sons who had supplied the enemy ; some according to a con- 
 vention originally made between Wallace and the authorities, 
 others, as it was suspected, through tory feelings. All were 
 obliged by Lee to take a test oath of his own devising, by 
 which they " religiously swore that they would neither directly, 
 nor indirectly, assist the wicked instruments of ministerial ty- 
 ranny and villainy commonly called the king's troops and navy, 
 by furnishing them with provisions and refreshments." They 
 swore moreover, to " denounce all traitors before the public au- 
 thority, and to take arms in defense of American liberty, when- 
 ever required by Congress or the provincial authority." Two 
 custom-house officers, and another person, who refused to take 
 the oath, were put under guard and sent to Providence. Hav- 
 ing laid out works, and given directions for fortifications, Lee 
 returned to camp after an absence of ten days. Some of his 
 
 * Lee to Rich. Henry Lee. Am. Archives, 4th Series, iv. 248. 
 
LIFE OF WASBlNGTOJSf. 385 
 
 proceedings, were considered too higli-lianded, and were dis- 
 approved by Congress. Lee made light of legislative cen- 
 sures. " One must not be trammeled by laws in war-time," 
 said he ; " in a revolution all means are legal." 
 
 Washington approved of his measures. " I have seen Gen- 
 eral Lee since his expedition/' writes he, " and hope E-hode 
 Island will derive some advantage from it. I am told that 
 Captain Wallace's ships have been supplied for some time by 
 the town of Newport, on certain conditions stipulated between 
 him and the committee I know not what per- 
 nicious consequences may result from a precedent of this sort. 
 Other places, circumstanced as Newport is, may follow the ex- 
 ample, and by that means their whole fleet and army will be 
 furnished with what it highly concerns us to keep from them. 
 .... Vigorous regulations, and such as at another time 
 would appear extraordinary, are now become absolutely neces- 
 sary for preserving our country against the strides of tyranny, 
 making against it." * 
 
 December had been throughout a month of severe trial to 
 Washington ; during which he saw his army dropping away 
 piecemeal before his eyes. Homeward every face was turned as 
 soon as the term of enlistment was at an end. Scarce could the 
 disbanding troops be kept a few days in camp until militia 
 could be procured to supply their place. Washington made re- 
 peated and animated appeals to their patriotism ; they were al- 
 most unheeded. He caused popular and patriotic songs to be 
 sung about the camp. They passed by like the idle wind. 
 Home ! home ! home ! throbbed in every heart. " The desire 
 of retiring into a chimney-corner," says Washington reproach- 
 fully, " seized the troops as soon as their terms expired." 
 
 Can we wonder at it ? They were for the most part yeo- 
 manry, unused to military restraint, and suffering all the hard- 
 ships of a starveling camp, almost within sight of the smoke of 
 their own firesides. 
 
 Greene, throughout this trying month, was continually by 
 Washington's side. His letters expressing the same cares and 
 apprehensions, and occasionally in the same language with 
 those of the commander-in-chief, show how completely he was 
 in his councils. He could well sympathize with him in his 
 solicitudes. Some of his own Rhode Island troops were with 
 Arnold in his Canada expedition. Others encamped on Pros^ 
 pect Hill, and whose order and discipline had been his pride, 
 were evincing the prevalent disposition to disband. " They 
 seem to be so sick of this way of life, and so homesick," writes 
 * Washington to Gov. Cooke. Sparks, iii. 227. 
 
386 LIFE OF WASHINGTOir. 
 
 he, " that I fear the greater part of the best troops from our 
 colony will soon go home." To provide against such a con- 
 tingency^ he strengthened his encampment, so that, " if the 
 soldiery should not engage as cheerfully as he expected, he 
 might defend it with a less number." * 
 
 Still he was buoyant and cheerful ; frequently on his white 
 horse about Prospect Hill, haranguing his men, and endeavor- 
 ing to keep them in good humor. "This is no time for dis- 
 gusting the soldiery," would he say, " when their aid is so 
 essential to the preservation of the rights of human nature and 
 the liberties of America." 
 
 He wore the same cheery aspect to the commander-in-chief ; 
 or rather he partook of his own hopeful spirit. " I expect," 
 would he say, "the army, notwithstanding all the difficulties 
 we meet with, will be full in about six weeks." 
 
 It was this loyalty in time of trouble, this buoyancy under 
 depression, this thorough patriotism, which won for him the 
 entire confidence of Washington. 
 
 The thirty-first of December arrived, the crisis of the army ; 
 for with that month expired the last of the old terms of enlist- 
 ment. " We never have been so weak," writes Greene, " as we 
 shall be to-morrow, when we dismiss the old troops." On this 
 day Washington received cheering intelligence from Canada. 
 A junction had taken place, a month previously, between Arnold 
 and Montgomery at Point aux Trembles. They were about 
 two thousand strong, and were making every preparation for 
 attacking Quebec. Carleton was said to have with him but 
 about twelve hundred men, the majority of whom were sailors. 
 It was thought that the French would give up Quebec, if they 
 could get the same conditions that were granted to the inhabit- 
 ants of Montreal, t 
 
 Thus the year closed upon Washington with a ray of light 
 from Canada, while all was doubt around him. 
 
 On the following morning (January 1st, 1776), his army did 
 not amount to ten thousand men, and was composed of but 
 half-filled regiments. Even in raising this inadequate force, 
 it had been necessary to indulge many of the men with fur- 
 loughs, that they might visit their families and friends. The 
 expedients resorted to in equipping the army, show the pre- 
 vailing lack of arms. Those soldiers who retired from service, 
 were obliged to leave their weapons for their successors, re- 
 ceiving their appraised value. Those who enlisted, were re- 
 quired to bring a guU; or were charged a dollar for the use of 
 
 * Greene to Henry Ward. 
 
 t Letter of Washington to the President of Congress, Dec. 31. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 387 
 
 one during the campaign. He who brought a blanket was 
 allowed two dollars. It was impossible to furnish uniforms ; ' 
 the troops, therefore, presented a motley appearance, in gar- 
 ments of divers cuts and colors ; the price of each man's garb 
 being deducted from his pay. 
 
 The detachments of militia from the neighboring provinces 
 which replaced the disbanding troops, remained but for brief 
 periods ; so that, in despite of every effort, the lines were often 
 but feebly manned, and might easily have been forced. 
 
 The anxiety of Washington, in this critical state of the army, 
 may be judged from his correspondence with Reed. "It is 
 easier to conceive than to describe the situation of my mind 
 for some time past, and my feelings under our present circum- 
 stances,'' writes he on the 4th of Januarj'^. " Search the vol- 
 umes of history through, and I much question whether a case 
 similar to ours is to 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 an- 
 other raised within the same distance (musket shot) of a rein- 
 forced enemy. What may be the issue of the last manoeuvre, 
 time only can unfold. 1 wish this month were well over our 
 
 head We are now left with a good deal less than 
 
 half-raised regiments, and about five thousand militia, who only 
 stand engaged to the middle of this month ; when, according 
 to custom, they will depart, let the necessity of their stay be 
 ever so urgent. Thus, for more than two months past, I have 
 Scarcely emerged from one difficulty before I have been plunged 
 in another. How it will end, God, in his great goodness, will 
 direct. I am thankful for his protection to this time. We 
 are told that we shall soon get the army completed, but I have 
 been told so many things which have never come to pass, that 
 I distrust everything." 
 
 In a subsequent letter to Mr. E,eed, he reverts to the subject, 
 and pours forth his feelings with confiding frankness. What 
 can be more touching than the picture he draws of himself and 
 his lonely vigils about his sleeping camp ? " The reflection 
 on my situation and that of this army, produces many an un- 
 happy 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 com- 
 mand, 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 
 
388 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 to the back country and lived in a wigwam. If I shall he able 
 to rise superior to these and many other difficulties, which 
 might he enumerated, I shall most religiously believe that the 
 finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies ; 
 for surely if we get well through this month, it must be for 
 want of their knowing the disadvantages which we labor 
 under.'^ 
 
 Recurring to the project of an attack upon Boston, which he 
 had reluctantly abandoned in deference to the adverse opinions 
 of a council of war, — " Could I have foreseen the difficulties 
 which have come upon us ; could I have known that such a 
 backwardness would have been discovered among the old 
 soldiers to the service, all the generals upon earth should not 
 have convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon 
 Boston till this time. When it can now be attempted, I will 
 not undertake to say ; but thus much I will answer for, that no 
 opportunity can present itself earlier than my wishes." 
 
 In the midst of his discouragements, Washington received 
 letters from Knox, showing the spirit and energy with which 
 he was executing his mission, in quest of cannon and ordnance 
 stores. He had struggled manfully and successfully with all 
 kinds of difficulties from the advanced season, and head winds, 
 in getting them from Ticonderoga to the head of Lake George. 
 "Three days ago," writes he, on the 17th of December, "it 
 was very uncertain whether we could get them over until next 
 spring ; but now, please God, they shall go. I have made forty- 
 two exceedingly strong sleds, and have provided eighty yoke of 
 oxen to drag them as far as Springfield, where I shall get fresh 
 cattle to take them to camp." 
 
 It was thus that hardships and emergencies were bringing 
 out the merits of the self-made soldiers of the Kevolution ; and 
 showing their commander-in-chief on whom he might rely. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 389 
 
 CHAPTEE LVI. 
 
 MILITARY PREPARATIONS IN BOSTON. A SECRET EXPEDI- 
 TION. ITS OBJECT. lee's PLAN FOR THE SECURITY OF 
 
 NEW YORK. OPINION OF ADAMS ON THE SUBJECT. IN- 
 STRUCTIONS TO LEE. TRANSACTIONS OF LEE IN CONNECT- 
 ICUT. LEE's policy in REGARD TO THE TORIES. UNEASI- 
 NESS IN NEW YORK. LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY 
 
 TO LEE. HIS REPLY. HIS OPINION OF THE PEOPLE OF 
 
 CONNECTICUT. OF THE HYSTERICAL LETTER FROM THE 
 
 NEW YORK CONGRESS. 
 
 Early in the montli of January, there was a great stir of 
 preparation in Boston harbor. A fleet of transports were taking 
 in supplies, and making arrangements for the embarkation of 
 troops. Bomb-ketches and flat-bottomed boats were getting 
 ready for sea, as were two sloops-of-war, which were t(3 convey 
 the armament. Its destination was kept secret ; but was con- 
 fidently surmised by Washington. 
 
 In the preceding month of October, a letter had been laid 
 before Congress, written by some person in London of high 
 credibility, and revealing a secret plan of operations said to 
 have been sent out by ministers to the commanders in Boston. 
 The following is the purport : Possession was to be gained of 
 New York and Albany, through the assistance of Governor 
 Tryon, on whose influence with the tory part of the population, 
 much reliance was placed. These cities were to be very strongly 
 garrisoned. All w^ho did not join the king's forces were to bo 
 declared rebels. The Hudson Eiver, and the East Piver or 
 Sound, were to be commanded by a number of small men-of-war 
 and cutters, stationed in different parts, so as wholly to cut off 
 all communication by water between New York and the prov- 
 inces to the northward of it ; and between New York and^ 
 Albanj^, except for the king's service ; and to prevent, also, all 
 communication between the city of New York and the provinces 
 of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and those to the southward of 
 them. "By these means," said the letter, "tlie administration 
 and their friends fancy they shall soon either starve out or 
 retake the garrisons of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and 
 open and maintain a safe intercourse and correspondence be-^ 
 
390 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tween Quebec, Albany, and New York ; and thereby offer the 
 fairest opportunity to their soldiery and the Canadians, in con- 
 junction with the Indians to be procured by Guy Johnson, to 
 make continual irruptions into New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
 and Connecticut, and so distract and divide the provincial 
 forces, as to render it easy for the British army at Boston to 
 defeat them, break the spirits of the Massachusetts people, de- 
 populate their country, and compel an absolute subjection to 
 Great Britain." * 
 
 It was added that a lord, high in the American department, 
 had been very particular in his inquiries about the Hudson 
 Eiver ; what sized vessels could get to Albany ; and whether, if 
 batteries were erected in the Highlands, they would not control 
 the navigation of the river, and prevent vessels from going up 
 and down. 
 
 This information had already excited solicitude respecting the 
 Hudson, and led to measures for its protection. It was now 
 surmised that the expedition preparing to sail from Boston, and 
 which was to be conducted by Sir Henry Clinton, might be des- 
 tined to seize upon New York. How was the apprehended 
 blow to be parried ? General Lee, who was just returned from 
 his energetic visit to Rhode Island, offered his advice and 
 services in the matter. In a letter to Washington, he urged 
 him to act at once, and on his own responsibility, without await- 
 ing the tardy and doubtful sanction of Congress, for which, in 
 military matters, Lee had but small regard. 
 
 " New York must be secured," writes he, " but it will never, 
 I am afraid, be secured by due order of the Congress, for obvious 
 reasons. They find themselves awkwardly situated on this 
 head. You must step in to their relief. I am sensible no man 
 can be spared from the lines under present circumstances ; but 
 I would propose that you should detach me into Connecticut, 
 and lend your name for collecting a body of volunteers. I am 
 assured that I shall find no difiiculty in assembling a sufficient 
 number for the purpose wanted. This body, in conjunction (if 
 there should appear occasion to summon them) with the Jersey 
 regiment under the command of Lord Stirling, now at Elizabeth- 
 town, will effect the security of New York, and the expulsion 
 or suppression of that dangerous banditti of tories, Avho have 
 appeared on Long Island, with the professed intention of acting 
 against the authority of Congress. Not to crush these serpents 
 before their rattles are grown would be ruinous. 
 
 " This manoeuvre, I not only think prudent and right, but 
 absolutely necessary to our salvation ; and if it meets, as I 
 * Am, Archives. 4th Series, ill, 1281. 
 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 391 
 
 (lently hope it will, with your approbation, the sooner it is en- 
 tered upon the better ; the delay of a single day may be fatal." 
 
 Washington, while he approved of Lee's military suggestions, 
 was cautious in exercising the extraordinary^ powers so recently 
 vested in him, and fearful of transcending them. John Adams 
 was at that time in the vicinity of the camp, and he asked his 
 opinion as to the practicability and exjiediency of the plan, and 
 whether it " might not be regarded as beyond his line." 
 
 Adams, resolute of spirit, thought the enterprise might easily 
 be accomplished by the friends of liberty in New York, in con- 
 nection with the Connecticut j)eople, " who are very ready," 
 said he, " upon such occasions." 
 
 As to the expediency, he urged the vast importance, in the 
 progress of this war, of the city and province of New York, and 
 the Hudson River, being the nexus of the northern and southern 
 colonies, a kind of key to the whole continent, as it is a passage 
 to Canada, to the Great Lakes, and to all the Indian nations. 
 No effort to secure it ought to be omitted. 
 
 That it was within the limits of Washington's command, he 
 considered perfectly clear, he being " vested with full power 
 and authorit}^ to act as he should think for the good and welfare 
 of the service." 
 
 If there was a body of people on Lqjig Island armed to 
 oppose the American system of defense and furnishing supplies 
 to the British army and navy, they were invading American 
 liberty as much as those besieged in Boston. 
 
 If, in the city of New York, a body of tories were waiting 
 only for a force to protect them, to declare themselves on the 
 side of the enemy, it was high time that city was secured. * 
 
 Thus fortified, as it were, by congressional sanction, through 
 one of its most important members, who pronounced New York 
 as much within his command as Massachusetts, he. gave Lee 
 authority to carry out his plans. He was to raise volunteers in 
 Connecticut ; march at their head to New York ; call in mili- 
 tary aid from New Jersey ; put the city and the posts on the 
 Hudson in a posture of security against surprise ; disarm all 
 persons on Long Island and elsewhere, inimical to the views of 
 Congress, or secure them in some other manner if necessary, 
 and seize upon all medicines, shirts, and blankets, and send 
 them on for the use of the American army. 
 
 Lee departed on his mission on the 8th of January. On the 
 16th he was at New Llaven, railing at the indecision of Con- 
 gress. They had ordered the enlistment of troops for the 
 security of New Yorl^:. A Connecticut regiment under Colonel 
 * Adams to Washington, Corr. of Rev., i. 113. 
 
392 LIFE OF" WASmnGTON. 
 
 Waterburj had been raised, equi];)ped, and on the point of em- 
 harking for Oyster Bay, Long Island, to attack the tories, who 
 were to he attacked on the other side hy Lord Stirling, " when 
 suddenly," says Lee, " Colonel Waterhury received an order to 
 disband his regiment, and the tories are to remain unmolested 
 till they are joined by the King's assassins." 
 
 Trumbull, the Grovernor of Connecticut, however, " like a 
 man of sense and spirit," had ordered the regiment to be 
 reassembled, and Lee trusted it would soon be ready to march 
 with him. "I shall send immediately," said he, "an express 
 to the Congress informing them of my situation, and at the 
 same time conjuring them not to suffer the accursed Provincial 
 Congress of New York to defeat measures so absolutely neces- 
 sary to salvation." 
 
 Lee's letter to the President of Congress showed that the in- 
 structions dictated by the moderate and considerate spirit of 
 Washington were not strong enough on some points to suit his 
 stern military notions. The scheme, simply of disarming the 
 tories, seemed to him totally ineffectual ; it would only embitter 
 their minds and add virus to their venom. They could and 
 would always be supplied with fresh arms by the enemy. That 
 of seizing the most dangerous would, from its vagueness, be at- 
 tended with some bad consequences, and could answer no good 
 one. " The plan of explaining to these deluded people the 
 justice of the American cause is certainly generous and hu- 
 mane," observed he, " but I am afraid will be fruitless. They 
 are so riveted in their opinions, that I am persuaded, should an 
 angel descend from heaven with his golden trumpet, and ring 
 in their ears that their conduct was criminal, he would be dis- 
 regarded." 
 
 Lee's notion of the policy proper in the present case was, to 
 disarm the disaffected of all classes, supplying our own troops 
 with the arms thus seized ; to appraise their estates, and oblige 
 them to deposit at least one half the value with the Con- 
 tinental Congress, as a security for good behavior ; to adminis- 
 ter the strongest oath that could be devised, that they would 
 act offensively and defensively in support of the common 
 rights ; and finally, to transfer all such as should prove refrac- 
 tory, to some place in the interior, where they would not be 
 dangerous. 
 
 The people of New York, at all times very excitable, were 
 thrown into a panic on hearing that Lee was in Connecticut, on 
 his way to take military possession of the city. They appre- 
 hended his appearance there would provoke an attack from the 
 ships in the harbor. Some, who thought the war about to be 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 393 
 
 brought to their own doors, packed up their effects, and made 
 off into the country with their wives and children. Others be- 
 leaguered the committee of safety with entreaties against the 
 deprecated protection of General Lee. The committee, through 
 Pierre Van Cortlandt, their chairman, addressed a letter to Lee, 
 inquiring into the motives of his coming with an army to New 
 York, and stating the incapacity of the city to act hostilely 
 against the ships of war in port, from deficiency of powder, and 
 a want of military works. For these, and other reasons, they 
 urged the impropriety of provoking hostilities for the present, 
 and the necessity of "saving appearances," with the ships of 
 war, till at least the month of March, when they hoped to be 
 able to face their enemies wrth some countenance. 
 
 "We, therefore," continued the letter, "ardently wish to 
 remain in peace for a little time, and doubt not we have as- 
 signed sufficient reasons for avoiding at present a dilemma, in 
 which the entrance of a large body of troops into the city, will 
 almost certainly involve us. Should you have such an entrance 
 in design, we beg at least the troops may halt on the western 
 confines of Connecticut, till we have been honored by you with 
 such an explanation on this important subject, as you may con- 
 ceive your duty may permit you to enter upon with us, the 
 grounds of which, you may easily see, ought to be kept an 
 entire secret." 
 
 Lee, in reply, dated Stamford, January 23d, disclaimed all 
 intention of commencing actual hostilities against the men-of- 
 war in the harbor, his instructions from the commander-in-chief 
 being solely to prevent the enemy from taking post in the city, 
 or lodging themselves on Long Island. Some subordinate 
 purposes were likewise to be executed, which were much more 
 proper to be communicated by word of mouth than by writing. 
 In compliance with the wishes of the committee, he promised 
 to carry with him into the town just troops enough to secure it 
 against any present designs of the enemy, leaving his main 
 force on the western border of Connecticut. " I give you my 
 word," added he, " that no active service is proposed, as you 
 seem to apprehend. If the ships of war are quiet, I shall be 
 quiet ; but I declare solemnly, that if they make a pretext of 
 my presence to fire on the town, the first house set on flames 
 by their guns, shall be the funeral pile of some of their best 
 friends." 
 
 In a letter to Washington, written on the following day, he 
 says of his recruiting success in Connecticut : " I find the 
 people throughout this province more alive and zealous than 
 my most sanguine expectations. I believe I might have col- 
 
394 I^IFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 lected two thousand volunteers. I take only four companies 
 
 with me, and Waterlmry's regiment These Con- 
 
 necticutians are, if possible, more eager to go out of their coun- 
 try, than they are to return home, when they have been absent 
 for any considerable time." 
 
 Speaking of the people of New York, and the letter from 
 their Provincial Congress, which he incloses : " The whigs," 
 says he, " I mean the stout ones, are, it is said, very desirous 
 that a body of troops should march and be stationed in the 
 city — the timid ones are averse, merely from the spirit of pro- 
 crastination, which is the characteristic of timidity. The letter 
 from the Provincial Congress, you will observe, breathes the 
 very essence of this spirit ; it is wofully hysterical." 
 
 By the by, the threat contained in Lee's reply about a 
 "funeral pile," coming from a soldier of his mettle, was not 
 calculated to soothe- the hysterical feelings of the committee of 
 safety. How he conducted himself on his arrival in the city, we 
 shall relate in a future chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER LYII. 
 
 MONTGOMERY BEFORE QUEBEC. HIS PLAN OF OPERATIONS. A 
 
 SUMMONS TO SURRENDER. A FLAG INSULTED. THE TOWN 
 
 BESEIGED. PLAN OF AN ESCALADE. ATTACK OF THE LOWER 
 
 TOWN. MONTGOMERY IN THE ADVANCE. HIS DEATH. RE- 
 TREAT OF COL. CAMPBELL. ATTACK BY ARNOLD.^ — DEFENSE 
 
 OF LOWER TOWN. ARNOLD WOUNDED. RETREAT OF THE 
 
 AMERICANS. GALLANT RESOLVE OF ARNOLD. 
 
 Prom amid surrounding perplexities, Washington still 
 turned a hopeful eye to Canada. He expected daily to receive 
 tidings that Montgomery and Arnold were within the walls of 
 Quebec, and he had even written to the former to forward as 
 much as could be spared of the large quantities of arms, 
 blankets, clothing and other military stores, said to be deposited 
 there, the army before Boston being in great need of such sup- 
 plies. 
 
 On the 18th of January came despatches to him from Gen- 
 eral Schuyler, containing withering tidings. The following is 
 the purport : Montgomery, on the 2d of December, the day 
 after, his arrival at Point aux Trembles, set off in face of a 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 395 
 
 driving snow-storm for Quebec, and arrived before it on tbe 5th. 
 The works, from their great extent, appeared to him incapable 
 of being defended by the actual garrison ; made up, as he said, 
 of " Maclean's banditti," the sailors from the frigates and other 
 vessels, together with the citizens obliged to take up arms; most 
 of whom were impatient of the fatigues of a siege, and wished 
 to see matters accommodated amicably. " I propose," added 
 he, " amusing Mr. Carleton with a formal attack, erecting bat- 
 teries, etc., but mean to assault the works, I believe towards 
 the lower town, which is the weakest part." 
 
 According to his own account, his whole force did not exceed 
 nine hundred effective men, three hundred of whom he had 
 brought with him ; the rest he found with Colonel Arnold. The 
 latter he pronounced an exceeding fine corps, inured to fatigue, 
 and well accustomed to a cannon, shot, having served at Cam- 
 bridge. " There is a style of discipline among them," adds he, 
 " much superior to what I have been used to see in this cam- 
 paign. He, himself (Arnold), is active, intelligent and enter- 
 prising. Fortune often baffles the sanguine expectations of 
 poor mortals. I am not intoxicated with her favors, but T do 
 think there is a fair prospect of success." * 
 
 On the day of his arrival, he sent a flag with a summons to 
 surrender. It was fired upon, and obliged to retire. Exasper- 
 ated at this outrage, which, it is thought, was committed by the 
 veteran Maclean, Montgomery wrote an indignant, reproachful, 
 and even menacing letter to Carleton, reiterating the demand, 
 magnifying the number of his troops, and warning him against 
 the consequences of an assault. Finding it was rejected from 
 the walls, it was conveyed in by a woman, together with letters 
 addressed to the principal merchants, promising great indul- 
 gence in case of immediate submission. By Carleton's orders, 
 the messenger was sent to prison for a few days, and then 
 drummed out of town. " 
 
 Montgomery now prepared for an attack. The ground was 
 frozen to a great depth, and covered with snow ; he was scantily 
 provided with intrenching tools, and had only a field train of 
 artillery, and a few mortars. By dint of excessive labor a 
 breastwork was thrown up, four hundred yards distant from the 
 walls and opposite to the gate of St. Louis, which is nearly 
 in the centre. It was formed of gabions, ranged side by side, 
 and filled with snow, over which water was thrown until 
 thoroughly frozen. Here Captain Lamb mounted five light 
 pieces and a howitzer. Several mortars were placed in the 
 
 Montgomery to Schuyler, Dec. 5. 
 
396 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 suburbs of St. Roque, which extends on the left of the promon. 
 tory, below the heights, and nearly on a level with the river. 
 
 From the " Ice Battery " Captain Lamb opened a well-sus- 
 tained and well-directed fire upon the walls, but his field-pieces 
 were too light to be effective. With his howitzer he threw 
 shells into the town and set it on fire in several places. For 
 five days and nights the garrison was kept on the alert by the 
 teasing fire of this battery. The object of Montgomery was 
 harass the town, and increase the dissatisfaction of the inhabit- 
 ants. His flag of truce being still fired upon, he caused the 
 Indians in his camp to shoot arrows into the town, having letters 
 attached to them, addressed to the inhabitants, representing 
 Carleton's refusal to treat, and advising them to rise in a body 
 and compel him. It was all in vain ; whatever might have been 
 the disposition of the inhabitants, they were completely under 
 the control of the military. 
 
 On the evening of the fifth day, Montgomery paid a visit to 
 the ice battery. The heavy artillery from the wall had repaid 
 its ineffectual fire with ample usury. The brittle ramparts had 
 been shivered like glass ; several of the guns had been rendered 
 useless. Just as they arrived at the battery, a shot from the 
 fortress dismounted one of the guns, and disabled many of the 
 men. A second shot immediately following, was almost as de- 
 structive. "This is warm work, sir,^' said Montgomery, to 
 Captain Lamb. " It is indeed, and certainly no place for you, 
 sir.'' " Why so. Captain ? '' " Because there are enough of us 
 here to be killed, without the loss of you, which would be irre- 
 parable." 
 
 The general saw the insufficiency of the battery, and, on re- 
 tiring, gave Captain Lamb permission to leave it whenever he 
 thought proper. The veteran waited until after dark, when, 
 securing all the guns, he abandoned the ruined redoubt. The 
 general in this visit was attended by Aaron Burr, whom he had 
 appointed his aide-de-camp. Lamb wondered that he should 
 encumber himself with such a boy. The perfect coolness and 
 self-possession with which the youth mingled in this dangerous 
 scene, and the fire which sparkled in his eye, soon convinced 
 Lamb, according to his own account, that " the young volunteer 
 was no ordinary man." * 
 
 Nearly three weeks had been consumed in these futile oper- 
 ations. The arm}^, ill-clothed and ill-provided, was becoming 
 impatient of the rigors of a Canadian winter ; the term for 
 which part of the troops had enlisted would expire with the 
 year, and they already talked of returning home. Montgomery 
 * Life of John Lamb^ p. 125. 
 
lif:b of iVAsnmaTOK. 307 
 
 was sadly conscious of the insufficiency of his means ; still he 
 could not endure the thoughts of retiring from before the place 
 without striking a blow. He knew that much was expected 
 from him, in consequence of his late achievements, and that the 
 eyes of the public were fixed upon this Canadian enterprise. 
 He determined, therefore, to attempt to carry the place by 
 escalade. One third of his men were to set fire to the houses 
 and stockades of the suburb of St. Roque, and force the bar- 
 riers of the lower town ; while the main body should scale the 
 bastion of Cape Diamond. 
 
 It was a hazardous, almost a desperate project, yet it has 
 met with the approbation of military men. He calculated upon 
 the devotion and daring spirit of his men ; upon the discontent 
 which prevailed among the Canadians, and upon the incompe- 
 tency of the garrison for the defense of such extensive works. 
 
 In regard to the devotion of his men, he was threatened with 
 disappointment. When the plan of assault was submitted to a 
 council of war, three of the captains in Arnold's division, the 
 terms of whose companies were near expiring, declined to serve, 
 unless they and their men could be transferred to another com- 
 mand. This almost mutinous movement, it is supposed, was 
 fomented by Arnold's old adversary. Major Brown, and it was 
 with infinite difficulty Montgomery succeeded in overcoming it. 
 
 The ladders were now provided for the escalade, and Mont- 
 gomery waited with impatience for a favorable night to put it 
 into execution. Small-pox and desertion had reduced his little 
 army to seven hundred and fifty men. From certain move- 
 ments of the enemy, it was surmised that the deserters had re- 
 vealed his plan. He changed, therefore, the arrangement. 
 Colonel Livingston was to make a false attack on the gate of 
 St. John's and set fire to it ; Major Brown, with another de- 
 tachment, was to menace the bastion of Cape Diamond. Arnold, 
 with three hundred and fifty of the hardy fellows who had 
 followed him through the wilderness, strengthened by Captain 
 Lamb and forty of his company, was to assault the suburbs and 
 batteries of St. Roque ; while Montgomery, with the residue of 
 his forces, was to pass below the bastion at Cape Diamond, de- 
 file along the river, carry the defenses at Drummond's Wharf, 
 and thus enter the lower town on one side, while Arnold forced 
 his way into it on the other. These movements were all to be 
 made at the same time, on the discharge of signal rockets, thus 
 distracting the enemy, and calling their attention to four several 
 points. 
 
 On the 31st of December, at two o'clock in the morning, the 
 troops repaired to their several destinations, under cover of a 
 
398 Ln^E OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 violent snow-storm. By some accident or mistake, such as is 
 apt to occur in complicated plans of attack, the signal rockets 
 were let oif before the lower divisions had time to get to their 
 fighting ground. They were descried by one of Maclean's 
 Highland officers, who gave the alarm. Livingston, also, failed 
 to make the false attack on the gate of St. John's, which was 
 to have caused a diversion favorable to Arnold's attack on the 
 sul)urb below. 
 
 The feint by Major Brown, on the bastion of Cape Diamond, 
 was successful, and concealed the march of General Montgomery. 
 
 That gallant commander descended from the heights to 
 Wolfe's Cove, and led his division along the shore of the St. 
 Lawrence, round the beetling promontory of Cape Diamond. 
 The narrow approach to the lower town in that direction was 
 traversed by a picket or stockade, defended by Canadian mili- 
 tia ; beyond which was a second defense, a kind of block-house, 
 forming a battery of small pieces, manned by Canadian militia, 
 and a few seamen, and commanded by the captain of a trans- 
 port. The aim of Montgomery Avas to come uj^on these bar- 
 riers by surprise. The pass which they defended is formidable 
 at all times, having a swift river on one side, and overhanging 
 precipices on the other ; but at this time was rendered peculi- 
 arly difficult by drifting snow, and by great masses of ice piled 
 on each other at the foot of the cliffs. 
 
 The troops made their .way painfully, in extended and strag- 
 gling files, along the narrow footway, and over the slippery 
 piles of ice. Among the foremost, were some of the first New 
 York regiment, led on by Captain Cheeseman. Montgomery, 
 who was familiar with them, urged them on. " Forward, men 
 of New York ! " cried he. "You are not the men to flinch 
 when your general leads you on ! " In his eagerness, he threw 
 himself far in the advance, with his pioneers and a few officers, 
 and made a dash at the first barrier. The Canadians stationed 
 there, taken by surprise, made a few random shots, then threw 
 down their muskets and fled. Montgomery sprang forward, 
 aided with his own hand to pluck down the pickets, which the 
 pioneers were sawing, and having made a breach sufficiently 
 wide to admit three or four men abreast, entered sword in hand, 
 followed by his staff, Captain Cheeseman, and some of his men. 
 The Canadians had fled from the picket to the battery or block- 
 house, but seemed to have carried the panic with them, for the 
 battery remained silent. Montgomery felt for a moment as if 
 the surprise had been complete. He paused in the breach to 
 rally on the troops, who were stumbling along the difficult pass. 
 "Push on, my brave boys," cried he, " Quebec is ours ! " 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 399 
 
 He again dashed forward, but, when within forty paces of 
 the battery, a discharge of grape-shot from a single cannon, 
 made deadly havoc. Montgomery and McPherson, one of his 
 aides, were killed on the spot. Captain Cheeseman, who was 
 leading on his New Yorkers, received a canister-shot through 
 the body ; made an effort to rise and push forward, but fell 
 back a corpse ; with him fell his orderly sergeant and several 
 of his men. This fearful slaughter, and the death of their gen- 
 eral, threw everything in confusion. The officer next in lineal 
 rank to the general, was far in the rear ; in this emergency, 
 Colonel Campbell, quartermaster-general, took the command, 
 but, instead of rallying the men, and endeavoring to effect the 
 junction with Arnold, ordered a retreat, and abandoned the 
 half-won field, leaving behind him the bodies of the slain. 
 
 While all this was occurring on the side of Cape Diamond, 
 Arnold led his division against the opposite side of the lower 
 town along the suburb and street of St. E-oque. Like Mont- 
 gomery, he took the advance at the head of a forlorn hope of 
 twenty-five men, accompanied by his secretary, Oswald, form- 
 erly one of his captains at Ticonderoga. Captain Lamb and 
 his artillery company came next, with a field-piece mounted on 
 a sledge. Then came a company with ladders and scaling im- 
 plements, followed by Morgan and his riflemen. In the rear 
 of all these came the main body. A battery on a wharf com- 
 manded the narrow pass by which they had to advance. This 
 was to be attacked with the field-piece, and then scaled with 
 ladders by the forlorn hope ; while Captain Morgan with his 
 riflemen, was to pass round the wharf on the ice. 
 
 The false attack which was to have been made by Livingston 
 on the gate of St. John's, by way of diversion, had not taken 
 place ; there was nothing, therefore, to call off the attention of 
 the enemy in this quarter from the detachment. The troops, 
 as they straggled along in lengthened file*through the drifting 
 snow, were sadly galled by a flanking fire on the right, from 
 wall and pickets. The field-piece at length became so deeply 
 embedded in a snow-drift, that it could not be moved. Lamb 
 sent M^ord to Arnold of the impediment ; in the meantime he 
 and his artillery company were brought to a halt. The com- 
 pany with the scaling ladders would have halted also, having 
 been told to keep in the rear of the artillery ; but they were 
 urged on by Morgan with a thundering oath, who pushed on 
 after them with his riflemen, the artillery company opening to 
 the right and left to let them pass. 
 
 They arrived in the advance just as Arnold was leading on 
 his forlorn hope to attack the barrier. Before he reached it, 
 
400 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 a severe wound in the right leg with a musket-ball completely 
 disabled him, and he had to be borne from the field. Mor- 
 gan instantly took the command. Just then Lamb came up 
 with his company, armed with muskets and bayonets, having 
 received orders to abandon the field-piece, and support the ad- 
 vance. Oswald joined him with the forlorn hope. The battery 
 which commanded the defile mounted two pieces of cannon. 
 There was a discharge of grape-shot when the assailants were 
 close under the muzzles of the guns, yet but one man was 
 killed. Before there could be a second discharge, the battery 
 was carried by assault, some firing into the embrasures, others 
 scaling the walls. The captain and thirty of his men were 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 The day was just dawning as Morgan led on to attack the 
 second barrier, and his men had to advance under a fire from 
 the town walls on their right, which incessantly thinned their 
 ranks. The second barrier was reached ; they applied their 
 scaling ladders to storm it. The defense was brave and obsti- 
 nate, but the defenders were at length driven from their guns, 
 and the battery was gained. At the last moment one of the 
 gunners ran back, linstock in hand, to give one more shot. 
 Captain Lamb snapped a fusee at him. It missed fire. The 
 cannon was discharged, and a grape-shot wounded Lamb in the 
 head, carrying away part of the cheek-bone. He was borne off 
 senseless, to a neighboring shed. 
 
 The two barriers being now taken, the way on this side into 
 the lower town seemed .open. Morgan prepared to enter it with 
 the victorious vanguard, first stationing Captain Dearborn and 
 some provincials at Palace Gate, which opened down into the 
 defile from the upper town. By this time, however, the death 
 of Montgomery and retreat of Campbell, had enabled the enemy 
 to turn all their attention in this direction. A large detach- 
 ment sent by General Carleton, sallied out of Palace Gate after 
 Morgan had passed it, surprised and captured Dearborn and 
 the guard, and completely cut off the advanced party. The 
 main body, informed of the death of Montgomery, and giving 
 up the game as lost, retreated to the camp, leaving behind the 
 field-piece which Lamb's company had abandoned, and the 
 mortars in the battery of St. Roque. 
 
 Morgan and his men were now hemmed in on all sides, and 
 obliged to take refuge in a stone house, from the inveterate fire 
 which assailed them. From the windows of this house they 
 kept up a desperate defense, until cannon were brought to bear 
 upon it. Then, hearing of the death of Montgomery, and see- 
 ing that there was no prospect of relief^ Morgan and his gallant 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 401 
 
 handful of followers were compelled to surrender themselves 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 Thus foiled at every point, the wrecks of the little army- 
 abandoned their camp, and retreated about three miles from 
 the town ; where they hastily fortified themselves, apprehending 
 a pursuit by the garrison. General Carleton, however, con- 
 tented himself with having secured the safety of the place, and 
 remained cautiously passive until he should be properly rein- 
 forced ; distrusting the good faith of the motley inhabitants. 
 He is said to have treated the prisoners with a humanity the 
 more honorable, considering the " habitual military severity of 
 his temper ; " their heroic daring, displayed in the assault upon 
 the lower town, having excited his admiration. 
 
 The remains of the gallant Montgomery received a soldier's 
 grave, within the fortifications of Quebec, by the care of 
 Cramahe, the lieutenant-governor, who had formerly known 
 him. 
 
 Arnold, wounded and disabled, had been assisted back to the 
 camp, dragging one foot after the other for nearly a mile in 
 great agony, and exposed continually to the musketry from 
 tlie walls at fifty yards' distance, which shot down several at 
 his side. 
 
 He took temporary command of the shattered army, until 
 General Wooster should arrive from Montreal, to whom he sent 
 an express, urging him to bring on succor. " On this occasion,'' 
 says a contemporary writer, " he discovered the utmost vigor of 
 a determined mind, and a genius full of resources. Defeated 
 and wounded, as he was, he put his troops into such a situation 
 as to keep them still formidable." * 
 
 With a mere handful of men, at one time not exceeding five 
 hundred, he maintained a blockade of the strong fortress from 
 which he had just been repulsed. " I have no thoughts," writes 
 he, " of leaving this proud town until I enter it in triumph. I 
 am in the way of my duty, and 1 know no fear .^" t 
 
 Happy for him had he fallen at this moment. — Happy for 
 him had he found a soldier's and a patriot's grave, beneath the 
 rock-built walls of Quebec. Those walls would have remained 
 enduring monuments of his renown. His name, like that of 
 Montgomery, would have been treasured up among the dearest 
 though most mournful recollections of his country, and that 
 country would have been spared the single traitorous blot that 
 dims the bright page of its revolutionary history. 
 
 * Civil War in America^ vol. i. p. 112. 
 
 t See Arnold's Letter. Bememhrancery 11. 368. 
 
402 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF WASHINGTON AND SCHUYLER ON THE 
 
 DISASTERS IN CANADA. REINFORCEMENTS REQUIRED FROM 
 
 NEW ENGLAND. DANGERS IN THE INTERIOR OF NEW YORK. 
 
 JOHNSON HALL BELEAGUERED. SIR JOHN CAPITULATES. — - 
 
 GENEROUS CONDUCT OF SCHUYLER. GOVERNOR TRYON AND 
 
 THE TORIES. TORY MACHINATIONS. LEE AT NEW YORK. 
 
 SIR HENRY CLINTON IN THE HARBOR. MENACES OF LEE. 
 
 THE CITY AND RIVER FORTIFIED. LEE's TREATMENT OF THE 
 
 TORIES. HIS PLANS OF FORTIFICATION. ORDERED TO THE 
 
 COMMAND IN CANADA. HIS SPECULATIONS ON TITLES OF 
 
 DIGNITY. 
 
 Schuyler's letter to Washington announcing the recent 
 events was written with manly feeling. " I wish/' said he, 
 " I had no occasion to send my dear general this melancholy 
 account. My amiable friend, the gallant Montgomery, is no 
 more ; the brave Arnold is wounded ; and we have met with a 
 severe check in an unsuccessful attempt on Quebec. May 
 Heaven be graciously pleased that the misfortune may ter- 
 minate here : I tremble for our people in Canada." 
 
 Alluding to his recent request to retire from the army, ]ie 
 writes : " Our affairs are much worse than when I made the re- 
 quest. This is motive sufficient for me to continue to serve 
 my country in any way I can be thought most serviceable ; 
 but my utmost can be but little, weak and indisposed as I am." 
 
 Washington was deeply moved by the disastrous intelligence. 
 " I most sincerely condole with you," writes he, in reply to 
 Schuyler, " upon the fall of the brave and worthy Montgomery. 
 In the death of this gentleman America has sustained a heav}^ 
 loss. I am much concerned for the intrepid and enterprising 
 Arnold, and greatly fear that consequences of the most alarm- 
 ing nature will result from this well-intended but unfortunate 
 attempt." 
 
 General Schuyler, who was now in Albany, urged the ne- 
 cessity of an immediate reinforcement of three thousand men 
 for the army in Canada. Washington had not a man to spare 
 from the army before Boston. He applied, therefore, on his 
 own responsibility^ to Massachusetts, Kew Hampshire, and 
 
LIFE OF WASIimGTOX. 403 
 
 Connecticut, for three regiments, wliich were granted. His 
 prompt measure received the approbation of Congress, and 
 further reinforcements were ordered from the same quarters. 
 
 Solicitude was awakened about the interior of the province of 
 New York. Arms and ammunition were said to be concealed 
 in Tryon County, and numbers of the tories.in that neighbor- 
 hood preparing for hostilities. Sir John Johnson had fortified 
 Johnson Hall, gathered about him his Scotch Highland tenants 
 and Indian allies, and it was rumored he intended to carry fire 
 and sword along the valley of the Mohawk. 
 
 Schuyler, in consequence, received orders from Congress to 
 take measures for securing the military stores, disarming the 
 disaffected, and apprehending their chiefs. He forthwith 
 hastened from Albany at the head of a body of soldiers ; was 
 joined by Colonel Herkimer, with the militia of Tyron County 
 marshaled forth on the frozen bosom of the Mohawk River, 
 and appeared before Sir John's stronghold, near Johnstown, on 
 the 19th of January. 
 
 Thus beleaguered. Sir John, after much negotiation, capitu- 
 lated. He was to surrender all weapons of war and military 
 stores in his possession, and to give his parole not to take 
 arms against America. On these conditions he was to be at 
 libert}^ to go as far westward in Tryon County as the German 
 Flats and Kingsland districts, and to every part of the colony 
 to the southward and eastward of these districts, provided he 
 did not go into any seaport town. 
 
 Sir John intimated a trust that he, and the gentlemen 
 with him, would be permitted to retain such arms as were 
 their own property. The reply was characteristic : " General 
 Schuyler's feelings as a gentleman induce him to consent that 
 Sir John Johnson may retain the few favorite family arms, he 
 making a list of them. General Schuyler never refused a gen- 
 tleman his side-arms." 
 
 The capitulation being adjusted, Schuyler ordered his troops 
 to be drawn up in line at noon (Jan. 20th), between his 
 quarters and the court-house, to receive the surrender of the 
 Highlanders, enjoining profound silence on his officers and 
 men, when the surrender should be made. Everything was 
 conducted with great regard to the feelings of Sir John's 
 Scottish adherents ; they marched to the front, grounded their 
 arms, and were dismissed with exhortations to good behavior. 
 
 The conduct of Schuyler throughout this affair drew forth a 
 resolution of Congress applauding him for his fidelity, prudence, 
 and expedition, and the proper temper he had maintained 
 toward the " deluded people " in question. Washington, too, 
 
404 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 congratulated him on his success. "I hope/' writes he, 
 " General Lee will execute a work of the same kind on Long 
 Island. It is high time to begin with our internal foes, when 
 we are threatened with such severity of chastisement from our 
 kind parent without.'^ 
 
 The recent reverses in Canada had, in fact, heightened the 
 solicitude of Washington about the province of New York. 
 That province was the central and all-important link in the con- 
 federacy ; but he feared it might prove a brittle one. We have 
 already mentioned the adverse influences in oj^eration there. A 
 large number of friends to the crown, among the official and 
 commercial classes ; rank tories (as they were called), in the 
 city and about the neighboring country, particularly on Long 
 and Staten Islands ; king's ships at anchor in the bay and 
 harbor, keeping up a suspicious intercourse with the citi- 
 zens, while Governor Tryon, castled, as it were, on board 
 one of these ships, carried on intrigues with those disaffected 
 to the popular cause, in all parts of the neighborhood. County 
 committees had been empowered by the New York Congress 
 and Convention, to appreliend all persons notoriously disaffect- 
 ed, to examine into their conduct, and ascertain whether they 
 were guilty of any hostile act or machination. Imprisonment 
 or banishment was the penalty. The committees could call 
 upon the militia to aid in the discharge of their functions. 
 Still, disaffection to the cause was said to be rife in the prov- 
 ince, and Washington looked to General Lee for effective 
 measures to suppress it. 
 
 Lee arrived at New York on the 4th of February, his caustic 
 liumors sharpened by a severe attack of the gout, which had 
 rendered it necessary, while on tlie march, to carry him for a 
 considerable part of the way in a litter. His correspondence is 
 a complete mental barometer. " I consider it as a piece of the 
 greatest good fortune," writes he to Washington (Feb. 5th), 
 "that the Congress have detached a committee to this j^lace, 
 otherwise I should have made a most ridiculous figure, besides 
 bringing upon myself the enmity of the whole province. My 
 hands were effectually tied up from taking any step necessary 
 for the public service by the late resolve of Congress, putting 
 every detachment of the continental forces under the command 
 of the Provincial Congress where such detachment is." 
 
 By a singular coincidence, on the very day of his arrival. 
 Sir Henry Clinton, with the squadron which had sailed so 
 mysteriously from Boston, looked into the harbor. " Though 
 it was Sabbath," says a letter-writer of the day, " it threw tlie 
 whole citv into such a convulsion as it never knew before. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 405 
 
 Many of the inhabitants hastened to move their effects into the 
 country, expecting an immediate conflict. All that day and 
 all night, were there carts going iind boats loading, and women 
 and children crying, and distressed voices heard in the roads in 
 the dead of the night.'' "* 
 
 Clinton sent for the mayor, and expressed much surprise and 
 concern at the distress caused by his arrival; which was merely, 
 he said, on a short visit to his friend Tryon, and to see how 
 matters stood. He professed a juvenile love for the place, and 
 desired that the inhabitants might be informed of the purport 
 of his visit, and that he would go away as soon as possible. 
 
 " He brought no troops with him," writes Lee, " and pledges 
 his honor that none are coming. He says it is merely a visit 
 to his friend Tryon. If it is really so, it is the most whimsical 
 piece of civility I ever heard of." 
 
 A gentleman in New York, writing to a friend in Phila- 
 delphia, reports one of the general's characteristic menaces, 
 which kept the town in a fever : — 
 
 " Lee says he will send word on board of the men-of-war, 
 that, if they set a house on fire, he will chain a hundred of 
 their friends by the neck, and make the house their funeral 
 pile." t 
 
 For this time, the inhabitants of New York were let off for 
 their fears. Clinton, after a brief visit, continued his myster- 
 ious cruise, openly avowing his destination to be North Caro- 
 lina — which nobody believed, simply because he avowed it. 
 
 The Duke of Manchester, speaking in the House of Lords of 
 the conduct of Clinton, contrasts it with that of Lord Dunmore, 
 who wrapped Norfolk in flames. " I will pass no censure on 
 that noble lord," said he, " but I could wish that he had acted 
 with that generous spirit that forbade Clinton uselessly to des- 
 stroy the town of New York. My lords, Clinton visited New 
 York ; the inhabitants expected its destruction. Lee appeared 
 before it with an army too powerful to be attacked, and Clinton 
 passed by without doing any wanton damage." 
 
 The necessity of conferring with committees at every step, 
 was a hard restraint upon a man of Lee's ardent and impatient 
 temper, who had a soldierlike contempt for the men of peace 
 around him ; yet at the outset he bore it better than might 
 have been expected. 
 
 "The Congress committees, a certain number of the commit- 
 tees of safety, and your humble servant," writes he to Wash- 
 ington, "have had two conferences. The result is such as will 
 
 * Bemembrancer, vol. iii. 
 
 t Am. ArchiveSy 5th Series, iv. 941. 
 
406 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 agreeably surprise you. It is in the first place agreed, and 
 justly, that to fortify the town against shipping is impracticable ; 
 but we are to fortify lodgments on some commanding part of 
 the city for two thousand men. We are to erect inclosed bat- 
 teries on both sides of the water, near Hell Gate, which will 
 answer the double purpose of securing the town against pira- 
 cies through the Sound, and secure our communication with 
 Long Island, now become a more important point than ever ; 
 as it is determined to form a strong fortified camp of three 
 thousand men, on the island, immediately opposite to New York. 
 The pass in the Highlands is to be made as respectable as pos- 
 sible, and guarded by a battalion. In short, I think the plan 
 judicious and complete." 
 
 The pass in the Highlands above alluded to, is that grand 
 defile of the Hudson, where, for upwards of fifteen miles, it 
 wends its deep channel between stern, forest-clad mountains 
 and rocky promontories. Two forts, about six miles distant 
 from each other, and commanding narrow parts of the river at 
 its bends through these Highlands, had been commenced in the 
 preceding autumn, by order of the Continental Congress ; but 
 they were said to be insufficient for the security of that import- 
 ant pass, and were to be extendq^ and strengthened. 
 
 Washington had charged Lee, in his instructions, to keep a 
 stern eye upon the tories, who were active in New York. " You 
 can seize upon the persons of the principals," said he ; " they 
 must be so notoriously known, that there will be little danger 
 of committing mistakes." Lee acted up to the letter of these 
 instructions, and weeded out with a vigorous hand some of the 
 rankest of the growth. This gave great offense to the peace- 
 loving citizene, who insisted that he was arrogating a power 
 vested solely in the civil authority. One of them, well-affected to 
 the cause, writes, " To see the vast number of houses shut up, one 
 would think the city almost evacuated. Women and children are 
 scarcely to be seen in the streets. Troops are daily coming in ; 
 they break open and quarter themselves in any house they find 
 shut." * 
 
 The enemy, too, regarded his measures with apprehension 
 " That arch rebel Lee," writes a British officer, " has driven all 
 the well-affected people from the town of New York. If some- 
 thing is not speedily done. His Britannic Majesty's American 
 dominions will be confined within a very narrow compass." t 
 
 In the exercise of his military functions, Lee set Governor 
 Trj^on and the captain of the Asia at defiance. " They had 
 
 * Fred. Rhinelander to Peter Van Schaack, Feb. 23. 
 t Am. Archives, v. 425. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 407 
 
 threatened perdition to the town/' writes he to Washington, 
 " if the cannon were removed from the batteries and wharves, 
 but I ever considered their threats as a brutum fulmen, and 
 even persuaded the town to be of the same way of thinking. 
 We accordingly conveyed them to a place of safety in the mid- 
 dle of the day, and no cannonade ensued. Captain Parker 
 publishes a pleasant reason for his passive conduct. He says 
 that it was manifestly my intention, and that of the New Eng- 
 land men under my command, to bring destruction on this 
 town, so hated for their loyal principles, but that he was de- 
 termined not to indulge us ; so remained quiet out of spite. 
 The people here laugh at his nonsense, and begin to despise the 
 menaces which formerly used to throw them into convulsions." 
 
 Washington appears to have shared the merriment. In his 
 reply to Lee, he writes, "I could not avoid laughing at Captain 
 Parker's reasons for not putting his repeated threats into ex- 
 ecution,'' — a proof, by the way, under his own hand, that he 
 could laugh occasionally ; and even when surrounded by per- 
 plexities. 
 
 According to Lee's account, the New Yorkers showed a wonder- 
 ful alacrity in removing the cannon. " Men and boys of all ages," 
 writes he, '^ worked with the greatest zeal and pleasure. I 
 really believe the generality are as well affected as any on the 
 continent." Some of the well-affected, however, thought he 
 was rather too self-willed and high-handed. " Though General 
 Lee has many things to recommend him as a general," writes 
 one of them, " yet I think he was out of luck when he ordered 
 the removal of the guns from the battery ; as it was without 
 the approbation or knowledge of our Congress." ^ — Lee seldom 
 waited for the approbation of Congress in moments of exigency. 
 
 He now proceeded with his plan of defenses. A strong re- 
 doubt, capable of holding three hundred men, was commenced 
 at Horen's Hook, commanding the pass at Hell Gate, so as to 
 block up from the enemy's ships the passage between the main- 
 land and Long Island. A regiment was stationed on the isl- 
 and, making fascines, and preparing other materials for con- 
 structing the works for an intrenched camp, which, Lee hoped 
 would render it impossible for the enemy to get a footing there. 
 " What to do with this city,"- writes he •' I own, puzzles me. It is 
 so encircled with deep navigable water, that whoever commands 
 the sea must command the town. To-morrow I shall begin to dis- 
 mantle that part of the fort next to the town, to prevent its be- 
 ing converted into a citadel. I shall barrier the principal 
 streets, and, at least, if I cannot make it a continental garrison^ 
 *Fred. Rhinelander to Peter Yan Scheadk, Feb. 23 
 
408 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 it shall be a disputable field of battle." Batteries were to be 
 erected on an eminence behind Trinity Church, to keep the 
 enemy's ships at so great a distance as not to injure the 
 town. 
 
 King's Bridge, at the upper end of Manhattan or New York 
 Island, linking it with the main land, was pronounced by Lee 
 " a most important pass, without which the city could have no 
 communication with Connecticut." It was, therefore, to be made 
 as strong as possible. 
 
 Heavy cannon were to be sent up to the forts in the High- 
 lands, which were to be enlarged and strengthened. 
 
 In the midst of his schemes, Lee received orders from Con- 
 gress to the command in Canada, vacant by the death of Mont- 
 gomery. He bewailed the defenseless condition of the city ; 
 the Continental Congress, as he said, not having as yet taken 
 the least step for its security. " The instant I leave it," said 
 he, " I conclude the Provincial Congress, and inhabitants in 
 general, will relapse into their former hysterics. The men-of-war 
 and Mr. Tryon will return to their old station at the wharves, 
 and the j&rst regiments who arrive from England will take quiet 
 possession of the town and Long Island." 
 
 It must be observed that, in consequence of his military de- 
 monstrations in the city, the enemy's ships had drawn off and 
 dropped down the bay ; and he had taken vigorous measures, 
 without consulting the committees, to put an end to the practice 
 of supplyilig them with provisions. 
 
 " Governor Tryon and the Asia/' writes he, to Washington, 
 " continue between Nutten and Bedlow's Islands. It has pleased 
 his Excellency, in violation of the compact he has made, to seize 
 several vessels from Jersey laden with flour. It has, in return, 
 i)leased my Excellency to stop all provisions from the city, and 
 cut off all intercourse with him, — a measure which has thrown 
 the mayor, council, and tories into agonies. The propensity, 
 or rather rage, for paying court to this great man, is inconceiv- 
 able. They cannot be weaned from him. We must put worm- 
 wood on his paps, or they will cry to suck, as they are in their 
 second childhood." 
 
 We would observe in explanation of a sarcasm in the above 
 quoted letter, that Lee professed a great contempt for the titles 
 of respect which it was the custom to prefix to the names of 
 men in office or command. He scoffed at them as unworthy of 
 " a great, free, manly, equal commonwealth." " For my own 
 part," said he, " I would as lief they would put ratsbane in m}^ 
 mouth, as the Excellency with which I am daily crammed. 
 How much more true dignity was there in the simplicity of ad- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 409 
 
 dress among the E,omaiis ! Marcus Tullius Cicero, Decius 
 Bruto Imperatori, or Caio Marcello Consuli, than to ^ His Ex- 
 cellency Major-general Noodle/ or to the ^ Honorable John 
 Doodle/ " 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 MONOTONOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS BEFORE BOSTON. WASHING- 
 TON ANXIOUS FOR ACTION. EXPLOIT OF PUTNAM. ITS 
 
 DRAMATIC CONSEQUENCES. THE FARCE OF THE BLOCKADE 
 
 OF BOSTON. AN ALARMING INTERRUPTION. DISTRESSES OF 
 
 THE BESIEGED. WASHINGTON'S IRKSOME PREDICAMENT. 
 
 HIS BOLD PROPOSITION. DEMUR OF THE COUNCIL OF WAR. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF KNOX WITH ARTILLERY. DORCHESTER 
 
 HEIGHTS TO BE SEIZED AND FORTIFIED. PREPARATIONS FOR 
 
 THE ATTEMPT. 
 
 The siege of Boston continued through the winter, without 
 any striking incident to enliven its monotony. The British re- 
 mained within their works, leaving the beleaguering army slow- 
 ly to augment its forces. The country was dissatisfied with 
 the inaction of the latter. Even Congress was anxious for 
 some successful blow that might revive popular enthusiasm. 
 Washington shared this anxiety, and had repeatedly, in councils 
 of war, suggested an attack upon the town, but had found a 
 majority of his general officers opposed to it. He had hoped 
 some favorable opportunity would present, when, the harbor 
 being frozen, the troops might approach the town upon the ice. 
 The winter, however, though severe at first, proved a mild one, 
 and the bay continued open. General Putnam, in the mean- 
 time, having completed the new works at Lechmere Point, and 
 being desirous of keeping up the spirit of his men, resolved to 
 treat them to an exploit. Accordingly, from his "impregnable 
 fortress " of Cobble Hill, he detached a party of about two hun- 
 dred, under his favorite officer. Major Knowlton, to surprise 
 and capture a British guard stationed at Charlestown. It was 
 a daring enterprise, and executed with spirit. As Charlestown 
 Neck was completely protected, Knowlton led his men across 
 the mill-dam, round the base of the hill, and immediately below 
 the fort ; set fire to the guard-house and some buildings in its 
 vicinity ; made several prisoners, and retired without loss, 
 although thundered upon by the cannon of the fort. The ex- 
 
410 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ploit was attended by a dramatic effect on which Putnam had 
 not calculated. The British officers, early in the winter, had 
 fitted up a theatre, which was well attended by the troops and 
 tories. On the evening in question, an afterpiece was to be 
 performed, entitled, " The Blockade of Boston," intended as a 
 burlesque on the patriot army which was beleaguering it. 
 Washington is said to have been represented in it as an awk- 
 ward lout, equipped with a huge wig, and a long rusty sword, at- 
 tended by a country booby as orderly sergeant, in rustic garb, 
 with an old firelock seven or eight feet long. 
 
 The theatre was crowded, especially by the military. The 
 first piece was over, anjd the curtain was rising for the farce, 
 when a sergeant made his appearance, and announced that 
 " the alarm guns were firing at Charlestown, and the Yankees 
 attacking Bunker's Hill." At first this was supposed to be a 
 part of the entertainment, until General Howe gave the word, 
 " Officers, to your alarm posts." 
 
 Great confusion ensued ; every one scrambled out of the 
 theatre as fast as possible. There was, as usual, some shrieking 
 and fainting of ladies ; and the farce of " The Blockade of Bos- 
 ton " had a more serious than comic termination. 
 
 The London " Chronicle," in a sneering comment on Boston 
 affairs, gave Burgoyne as the author of this burlesque afterpiece, 
 though perhaps unjustly. " General Burgoyne has opened a 
 theatrical campaign, of which himself is sole manager, being 
 determined to act with the provincials on the defensive only. 
 Tom Thumb has been already represented ; while, on the other 
 hand, the provincials are preparing to exhibit, early in the 
 spring, '• Measure for Measure.' " 
 
 The British officers, like all soldiers by profession, endeavored 
 to while away the time by every amusement within their reach ; 
 but in truth, the condition of the besieged town was daily be- 
 coming more and more distressing. The inhabitants were 
 without flour, pulse, or vegetables ; the troops were nearly as 
 destitute. There was a lack of fuel, too, as well as food. The 
 small-pox broke out, and it was necessary to inoculate the 
 army. Men, women, and children either left the city volunta- 
 rily, or were sent out of it ; yet the distress increased. Several 
 houses were broken open and plundered ; others were demol- 
 ished by the soldiery for fuel. General Howe resorted to the 
 sternest measures to put a stop to these excesses. The provost 
 Was ordered to go the rounds with the hangman, and hang up 
 the first man he should detect in the act, without waiting for 
 further proof for trial. Offenders were punished with four 
 hundred, six hundred, and even one thousand lashes. The wife 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 411 
 
 of a private soldier, convicted of receiving stolen goods, was 
 sentenced to one hundred lashes on her bare back, at the cart's 
 tail, in different parts of the town, and an ijnprisonment of 
 three months. 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington was incessantly goaded by the im- 
 patient murmurs of the public, as we may judge by his letters 
 to Mr. Keed. " I know the integrity of my own heart," writes 
 he, on the 10th of February ; " but to declare it, unless to a 
 friend, may be an argument of vanity. I know the unhapj^y 
 predicament I stand in ; I know that much is expected of me ; I 
 know that, without men, without arms, without ammunition, 
 without anything fit for the accommodation of a soldier, little 
 is to be done ; and, what is mortifying, I know that I cannot 
 stand justified to the world without exposing my own weakness, 
 and injuring the cause, by declaring my wants ; which I am 
 determined not to do, further then unavoidable necessity brings 
 every man acquainted with them. 
 
 " My own situation is so irksome to me at times, that, if I 
 did not consult the public good more than my own tranquillity, 
 I should long ere this have put everything on the cast of a die. 
 So far from my having an army of twenty thousand men, well 
 armed, I have been here with less than one half of that number, 
 including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those neither 
 armed nor clothed as they should be. In short, my situation 
 has been such, that I have been obliged to use art to conceal it 
 from my own officers." 
 
 How precious are those letters ! And how fortunate that the 
 absence of Mr. Keed from camp, should have procured for us 
 such confidential outpourings of Washington's heart at this 
 time of its great trial. 
 
 He still adhered to his opinion in favor of an attempt upon 
 the town. He was aware that it would be attended with con- 
 siderable loss, but believed it would be successful if the men 
 should behave well. Within a few days after the date of this 
 letter, the bay became sufficiently frozen for the transportation 
 of troops. " This," writes he to E,eed, " I thought, knowing 
 the ice would not last, a favorable opportunity to make an as- 
 sault upon the troops in town. I proposed it in council ; but 
 behold, though we had been waiting all the year for this favor- 
 able event, the enterprise was thought too dangerous. Per- 
 haps it was ; perhaps the irksomeness of my situation led me 
 to undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I 
 did not think so, and I am sure yet that the enterprise, if it 
 had been undertaken with resolution, must have succeeded ; 
 without it, any would fail," 
 
412 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 His proposition was too bold for the field-officers assembled in 
 council (Feb. 16th), who objected that there was not force, nor 
 arms and ammunition sufficient in camp for such an attempt. 
 Washington acquiesced in the decision, it being almost unani- 
 mous ; yet he felt the irksomeness of his situation. " To have 
 the eyes of the whole continent," said he, " fixed with anxious 
 expectation of hearing of some great event, and to be restrained 
 in every military operation for want of the necessary means of 
 carrying it on, is not very pleasing, especially as the means 
 used to conceal my weakness from the enemy, conceal it also 
 from our friends, and add to their wonder." 
 
 In the council of war above mentioned, a cannonade and bom- 
 bardment were considered advisable, as soon as there should be 
 a sufficiency of powder ; in the meantime, preparations might 
 be made for taking possession of Dorchester Heights and Nod- 
 dle's Island. 
 
 At length the camp was rejoiced by the arrival of Colonel 
 Knox, with his long train of sledges drawn by oxen, bringing 
 more than fifty cannon, mortars, and howitzers, besides supplies 
 of lead and flints. The zeal and perseverance which he had 
 displayed in his wintry expedition across frozen lakes and 
 snowy wastes, and the intelligence with which he had fulfilled 
 his instructions, won him the entire confidence of Washington. 
 His conduct in this enterprise was but an earnest of that energy 
 and ability which he displayed throughout the war. 
 
 Further ammunition being received from the royal arsenal at 
 New York, and other quarters, and a reinforcement of ten regi- 
 ments of militia, Washington no longer met with opposition to 
 his warlike measures. Lechmere Point, which Putnam had 
 fortified, was immediately to be supplied with mortars and 
 heavy cannon, so as to command Boston on the north ; and 
 Dorchester Heights, on the south of the town, were forthwith to 
 be taken possession of. " If anything," said Washington, " will 
 induce the enemy to hazard an engagement, it will be our at- 
 tempting to fortify those heights, as, in that event taking place, 
 we shall be able to command a great part of the town, and al- 
 most the whole harbor." Their possession, moreover, would 
 enable him to push his works to Nook's Hill, and other points 
 opposite Boston, whence a cannonade and bombardment must 
 drive the enemy from the city. 
 
 The council of Massachusetts, at his request, ordered the 
 militia of the towns contiguous to Dorchester and Boxbury, to 
 hold themselves in readiness to repair to the lines at those 
 places with arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, on receiving 
 a preconcerted signal. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 413 
 
 Washington felt painfully aware how much depended upon 
 the success of this attempt. There was a cloud of gloom and 
 distrust lowering upon the public mind. Danger threatened on 
 the north and on the south. Montgomery had fallen before the 
 walls of Quebec. The army in Canada was shattered. Tryon 
 and the tories wer.e plotting mischief in New York. Dunmore 
 was harassing the lower part of Virginia, and Clinton and his 
 fleet were prowling along the coast, on a secret errand of mis- 
 chief. 
 
 Washington's general orders evince the solemn and anxious 
 state of his feelings. In those of the 26th of February, he 
 forbade all playing at cards and other games of chance. "At 
 this time of public distress," writes he, " men may find enough 
 to do in the service of God and their country, without abandon- 
 ing themselves to vice and immorality It is a 
 
 noble cause we are engaged in ; it is the cause of virtue and 
 mankind ; every advantage and comfort to us and our posterity 
 depend upon the vigor of our exertions ; in short, freedom or 
 slavery must be the result of our conduct ; there can, therefore, 
 be go greater inducement to men to behave well. But it may 
 not be amiss to the troops to know, that if any man in action 
 shall presume to skulk, hide himself, or retreat from the enemy 
 without the orders of his commanding officer, he will be instant- 
 ly shot down as an example of cowardice ; cowards having too 
 frequently disconcerted the best formed troops by their dastardly 
 behavior." 
 
 In the general plan it was concerted that, should the enemy 
 detach a large force to dislodge our men from Dorchester 
 Heights, as had been done in the affair of Bunker's Hill, an 
 attack upon the opposite side of the town should forthwith be 
 made by General Putnam. For this purpose he was to have 
 four thousand picked men in readiness, in two divisions, under 
 Generals Sullivan and Greene. At a concerted signal from 
 Eoxbury, they were to embark in boats near the mouth of 
 Charles River, cross under cover of the fire 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 Eoxbury 
 troops. 
 
414 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 THE AFFAIR OF DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. AMERICAN AND ENG- 
 LISH LETTERS RESPECTING IT. A LABORIOUS NIGHT. REVE- 
 LATIONS AT DAYBREAK. HOWE IN A PERPLEXITY. A NIGHT 
 
 ATTACK MEDITATED. STORMY WEATHER. THE TOWN TO BE 
 
 EVACUATED. NEGOTIATIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS. PREPA- 
 RATIONS TO EMBARK. EXCESSES OF THE TROOPS. BOSTON 
 
 EVACUATED. SPEECH OF THE DUKE OF MANCHESTER ON THE 
 
 SUBJECT, A MEDAL VOTED BY CONGRESS. 
 
 The evening of Monday, the 4tli of March, was fixed upon 
 for the occupation of Dorchester Heights. The ground was 
 frozen too hard to he easily intrenched ; fascines, therefore, and 
 gahions, and bundles of screwed hay, were collected during the 
 two preceding nights, with which to form breastworks and re- 
 doubts. During these two busy nights the enemy's batteries 
 were cannonaded and bombarded from opposite points, to occupy 
 their attention, and prevent their noticing these preparations. 
 They replied with spirit, and the incessant roar of artillery thus 
 kept up, covered completely the rumbling of wagons and ord- 
 nance. 
 
 How little the enemy were aware of what was impending, we 
 may gather from the following extract of a letter from an officer 
 of distinction in the British army in Boston to his friend in 
 London, dated on the 3d of March : — 
 
 " For these last six weeks or near two months we have been 
 better amused than could possibly be expected in bur situation. 
 We had a theatre, we had balls, and there is actually a sub- 
 scription on foot for a masquerade. England seems to have for- 
 got us, and we have endeavored to forget ourselves. But we were 
 roused to a sense of our situation last night, in a manner un- 
 pleasant enough. The rebels have been for some time past 
 erecting a bomb battery, and last night began to play upon us. 
 Two shells fell not far from me. One fell upon Colonel Monck- 
 ton's house, but luckily did not burst until it had crossed the 
 street. Many houses were damaged, but no lives lost. The 
 rebel army," adds he, " is not brave, I believe, but it is agreed 
 on all hands that their artillery officers are at least equal to 
 ours." * 
 
 * Am, Archives, 4th Series, v. 425. • 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 415 
 
 The wife of John Adams, who resided in the vicinity of the 
 American camp, and knew that a general action was meditated, 
 expresses in a letter to her husband the feelings of a patriot 
 woman during the suspense of these nights. 
 
 " I have been in a constant state of anxiety since you left me," 
 writes she on Saturday. " It has been said to-morrow, and to- 
 morrow for this month, and when the dreadful" to-morrow will 
 be, I know not. But hark ! The house this instant shakes with 
 the roar of cannon. I have been to the door, and find it is a 
 cannonade from our army. Orders, I find, are come, for all the 
 remaining militia to repair to the lines Monday night, by twelve 
 o'clock. No sleep for me to-night." 
 
 On Sunday the letter is resumed. " I went to bed after 
 twelve, but got no rest ; the cannon continued firing, and my 
 heart kept pace with them all night. We have had a pretty 
 quiet day, but what to-morrow will bring forth, God only 
 knows." 
 
 On Monday, the appointed evening, she continues : " 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 which was thrown. The sound, I think, is one of the 
 grandest in nature, and is of the true species of the sublime. 
 'Tis now an incessant roar ; but 0, the fatal ideas which are 
 connected with the sound ! How many of our dear countrymen 
 must fall ! 
 
 " I went to bed about twelve, and arose again a little after 
 one. I could no more sleep than if I had been in the engage- 
 ment ; 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 conceptions. I hope to give you joy of 
 Boston, even if it is in ruins, before I send this away." 
 
 On the Monday evening fhus graphically described, as soon 
 as the firing commenced, the detachment under Oeneral Thomas 
 set out on its cautious and secret march from the lines of Rox- 
 bury and Dorchester. Everything was conducted as regularly 
 and quietly as possible. A covering party of eight hundred men 
 preceded the carts with the intrenching tools ; then came 
 General Thomas with the working party, twelve hundred strong, 
 followed by a train of three hundred wagons, laden with fascines, 
 gabions, and hay screwed into bundles of seven or eight hun- 
 dred-weight. A great number of such bundles were ranged in 
 a line along Dorchester Neck on the side next the enemy, to 
 protect the troops, while passing, from being raked by the fire 
 of the enemy. Fortunately, although the moon, as Washington 
 
416 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 writes, was shining in its full lustre, the flash and roar of can- 
 nonry from opposite points, and the bursting of bombshells high 
 in the air, so engaged and diverted the attention of the enemy, 
 that the detachment reached the heights about eight o'clock, 
 without being heard or perceived. The covering party then 
 divided ; one half proceeded to the point nearest Boston, the 
 other to the one nearest to Castle Williams. The working party 
 commenced to fortify, under the directions of Gridley, the vet- 
 eran engineer, who had planned the works on Bunker's Hill. 
 It was severe labor, for the earth was frozen eighteen inches 
 deep ; but the men worked with more than their usual spirit, 
 for the eye of the commander-in-chief was upon them. Though 
 not called there by his duties, Washington could not be absent 
 from this eventful operation. An eloquent orator has imagined 
 his situation, — " All around him intense movement ; while 
 nothing was to be heard excepting the tread of busy feet, and 
 the dull sound of the mattock upon the frozen soil. Beneath 
 him the slumbering batteries of the castle ; the roadsteads and 
 a harbor filled with the vessels of the royal fleet, motionless ex- 
 cept as they swung round at their moorings at the turn of the 
 midnight tide ; the beleaguered city occupied with a power- 
 ful army, and a considerable noncombatant population, startled 
 into unnatural vigilance by the incessant and destructive can- 
 nonade, yet unobservant of the great operations in progress 
 so near them ; the surrounding country, dotted with a hundred 
 rural settlements, roused from the deep sleep of a New England 
 village, by the unwonted glare and tumult." * 
 
 The same plastic fancy suggests the crowd of visions, phan- 
 toms of the past, which may have passed through Washington's 
 mind, on this night of feverish excitement. " His early train- 
 ing in the wilderness ; his escape from drowning, and the deadly 
 rifle of the savage in the perilous mission to Venango ; the 
 shower of iron hail through which he rode unharmed on Brad- 
 dock's field ; the early stages of the great conflict now brought 
 to its crisis, and, still more solemnly, the possibilities of the 
 future for himself and for America — the ruin of the patriot 
 cause if he failed at the outset ; the triumphant consolidation 
 of the Revolution if he prevailed." 
 
 The labors of the night were carried on by the Americans 
 with their usual activity and address. When a relief party ar- 
 rived at four o'clock in the morning two forts were in sufficient 
 forwardness to furnish protection against small-arms and grape- 
 shot ; and such use was made of the fascines and bundles of 
 screwed hay, that, at dawn, a formidable-looking fortress frowned 
 
 * Oration of the Hon. Edward Everett at Dorchester, July 4th, 1855. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 417 
 
 along the height. We have the testimony of a British officer 
 already quoted, for the fact. " This morning at daybreak we 
 discovered two redoubts on Dorchester Point, and two smaller 
 ones on their flanks. They were all raised during the last 
 night, with an expedition equal to that of the genii belonging 
 to Aladdin's wonderful lamp. From these hills they commaad 
 the whole town, so that we must drive them from their post, or 
 desert the place." 
 
 Howe gazed at the mushroom fortress with astonishment, as 
 it loomed indistinctly, but grandly, through a morning fog. 
 " The rebels," exclaimed he, " have done more work in one 
 night, than my whole army would have done in one month." 
 
 Washington had watched, with intense anxiety, the effect of 
 the revelation at daybreak. " When the enemy first discovered 
 our works in the morning," writes he, " they seemed to be in 
 great confusion, and from their movements, to intend an attack." 
 
 An American, who was on Dorchester Heights, gives a picture 
 of the scene. A tremendous cannonade was commenced from 
 the forts in Boston, and the shipping in the harbor. " Cannon 
 shot," writes he, "are continually rolling and rebo.unding over the 
 hill, and it is astonishing to observe how little our soldiers are 
 terrified by them. The royal troops are perceived to be in motion, 
 as if embarking to pass the harbor and land on Dorchester shore, 
 to attack our works. The hills and elevations in this vicinity 
 are covered with spectators, to witness deeds of horror in the 
 expected conflict. His Excellency, General Washington, is 
 present, animating and encouraging the soldiers, and they in 
 return manifest their joy, and express a warm desire for the 
 approach of the enemy ; each man knows his own place. Our 
 breastworks are strengthened, and among the means of defense 
 are a great number of barrels, filled with stones and sand, and 
 arranged in front of our works, which are to be put in motion, 
 and made to roll down the hill, to break the legs of the assail- 
 ants as they advance." 
 
 General Thomas was reinforced with two thousand men. 
 Old Putnam stood ready to make a descent upon the north side 
 of the town, with his four thousand picked men, as soon as the 
 heights on the south should be assailed : " All the forenoon," 
 says the American above cited, "we were in momentary ex- 
 pectation of witnessing an awful scene ; nothing less than the 
 carnage of Breed's Hill battle was expected." 
 
 As Washington rode about the heights, he reminded the troops 
 that it was the 5th of March, the anniversary of the Boston mas- 
 sacre, and called on them to revenge the slaughter of their 
 brethren. They answered him with shouts. " Our oflicers and 
 
418 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 men," writes he, " appeared impatient for the appeal. The event^ 
 I think, must have been fortunate ; nothing less than success 
 and victory on our side." 
 
 Howe, in the meantime, was perplexed between his pride and 
 the hazards of his position. In his letters to the ministry, he 
 had scouted the idea of "being in danger from the rebels." 
 He had " hoped they would attack him." Apparently they 
 were about to fulfill his hopes, and with a formidable advan- 
 tage of position. He must dislodge them from Dorchester 
 Heights, or evacuate Boston. The latter was an alternative 
 too mortifying to be readily adopted. He resolved on an attack, 
 but it was to be a night one. 
 
 " A body of light infantry, under the command of Major 
 Mulgrave, and a body of grenadiers, are to embark to-night at 
 seven," writes the gay British officer already quoted. " I think 
 it likely to be a general affair. Adieu balls, masquerades, etc., 
 for this may be looked upon as the opening of the campaign." 
 
 In the evening the British began to move. Lord Percy was 
 to lead the attack. Twenty-five hundred men were embarked 
 in transports, which were to convey them to the rendezvous at 
 Castle Williams. A violent storm set in from the east. The 
 transports could not reach their place of destination. The men- 
 of-war could not cover and support them. A furious surf beat 
 on the shore where the boats would have to land. The attack 
 was consequently postponed until the following day. 
 
 That day was equally unpropitious. The storm continued, 
 with torrents of rain. The attack was again postponed. In 
 the meantime, the Americans went on strengthening their 
 works ; by the time the storm subsided. General Howe deemed 
 them too strong to be easily carried ; the attempt, therefore, 
 was relinquished altogether. 
 
 What was to be done ? The shells thrown from the heights 
 into the town, proved that it was no longer tenable. The fleet 
 was equally exposed. Admiral Shuldham, the successor to 
 Graves, assured Howe that if the Americans maintained pos- 
 session of the heights, his ships could not remain in the harbor. 
 It was determined, therefore, in a council of war, to evacuate 
 the place as soon as possible. But now came on a humiliating 
 perplexity. The troops, in embarking, would be exposed to a 
 destructive fire. How was this to be prevented ? General 
 Howe's pride would not suffer him to make capitulations ; he 
 endeavored to work on the fears of the Bostonians, by hinting 
 that if his troops were molested while embarking, he might be 
 obliged to cover their retreat by setting fire to the town. 
 
 The hint had its effect. Several of the principal inhabitants 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 419 
 
 communicated with liim througli tlie medium of General Rob- 
 ertson. The result of the negotiation was, that a paper was 
 concocted and signed by several of the " selectmen " of Boston, 
 stating the fears they had entertained of the destruction 
 of the place, but that those fears had been quieted by Gen- 
 eral Howe's declaration that it should remain uninjured, 
 provided his troops were unmolested while embarking ; the se- 
 lectmen, therefore, begged ^^ some assurance that so dreadful a 
 calamity might not be brought on, by any measures from with- 
 out." 
 
 This paper was sent out from Boston, on the evening of the 
 8th, with a flag of truce, which bore it to the American lines 
 at Roxbury. There it was received by Colonel Learned, and 
 carried by him to head-quarters. Washington consulted with 
 such of the general officers as he could immediately assemble. 
 The paper was not addressed to him, nor to any one else. It 
 was not authenticated by the signature of General Howe ; nor 
 was there any other act obliging that commander to fulfill the 
 promise asserted to have been made by him. It was deemed 
 proper, therefore, that Washington should give no answer to 
 the paper ; but that Colonel Learned should signify in a letter, 
 his having laid it before the commander-in-chief, and the rea- 
 sons assigned for not answering it. 
 
 With this uncompromising letter, the flag returned to Boston. 
 The Americans suspended their fire, but continued to fortify 
 their positions. On the night of the 9th, a detachment was 
 sent to plant a battery on Nook's Hill, an eminence at Dorchester, 
 which lies nearest to Boston Neck. A fire kindled behind the 
 hill revealed the project. It provoked a cannonade from the 
 British, which was returned with interest from Cobble Hill, 
 Lechmere Point, Cambridge, and Roxbury. The roar of caii- 
 nonry and bursting of bombshells prevailed from half after 
 eight at night, until six in the morning. It was another night 
 of terror to the people of Boston ; but the Americans had to 
 desist, for the present, from the attempt to fortify Nook's Hill. 
 Among the accidents of the bombardment, was the bursting of 
 Putnam's vaunted mortar, " The Congress." 
 
 Daily preparations were now made by the enemy for depart- 
 ure. By proclamation, the inhabitants were ordered to deliver 
 up all linen and woolen goods, and all other goods, that in pos- 
 session of the rebels, would aid them in carrying on the war. 
 Crean Bush, a New York tory, was authorized to take posses- 
 sion of such goods, and put them on board of two of the trans- 
 ports. Under cover of his commission, he and his myrmidons 
 broke open stores, and stripped them of their contents. Ma- 
 
420 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 rauding gangs from the fleet and army followed their example, 
 and extended their depredations to private houses. On the 
 14th, Howe, in a general order, declared that the first soldier 
 caught plundering should he hanged on the spot. Still on the 
 16th houses were broken open, goods destroyed, and furniture 
 defaced by the troops. Some of the furniture, it is true, be- 
 longed to the officers, and was destroyed because they could 
 neither sell it nor carry it away. 
 
 The letter of a British officer gives a lively picture of the 
 hurried preparations for retreat. " Our not being burdened 
 with provisions, permitted us to save some stores and ammuni- 
 tion, the light field-pieces, and such things as were most con- 
 venient of carriage. The rest, I am sorry to say, we were 
 obliged to leave behind ; such of the guns as by dismounting 
 we could throw into the sea was so done. The carriages were 
 disabled, and every precaution taken that our circumstances 
 would permit ; for our retreat was by agreement. The people 
 of the town who were friends to government, took care of 
 nothing but their merchandise, and found means to employ 
 the men belonging to the transports in embarking their goods, 
 so that several of the vessels were entirely filled with -private 
 property, instead of the king's stores. By some unavoidable 
 accident, the medicines, surgeons' chests, instruments, and 
 necessaries, were left in the hospital. The confusion unavoid- 
 able to such a disaster, will make you conceive how much must 
 be forgot, where every man had a private, concern. The neces- 
 sary care and distress of the women, children, sick, and 
 wounded, required every assistance tliat could be given. It 
 was not like breaking up a camp, where ever}'- man knows his 
 duty ; it was like departing your country with your wives, your 
 servants, your household furniture, and all your encumbrances. 
 The officers, who felt the disgrace of their retreat, did their 
 utmost to keep up appearances. The men, who thought they 
 were changing for the better, strove to take advantage of the 
 present times, and were kept from plunder and drink with 
 difficulty."* 
 
 For some days the embarkation of the troops was delayed by 
 adverse winds. Washington, who was imperfectly informed of 
 affairs in Boston, feared that the movements there might be a 
 feint. Determined to bring things to a crisis, he detaclied a 
 force to Nook's Hill on Saturday, the sixteenth, which threw 
 up a breastwork in the night regardless of the cannonading of 
 the enemy. This commanded Boston Neck and the south part 
 
 * Remembrancer, vol, iii, p. 108* 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 421 
 
 of the town, and a deserter brought a false report to the British 
 that a general assault was intended. ♦ 
 
 The embarkation, so long delayed, began with hurry and 
 confusion at four o'clock in the morning. The harbor of 
 Boston soon presented a striking and tumultuous scene. 
 There were seventy-eight ships, and transports casting loose 
 for sea, and eleven or twelve thousand men, soldiers, sailors, 
 and refugees, hurrying to embark ; many, especially of the latter, 
 with their families and personal effects. The refugees, in fact, 
 labored under greater disadvantages than the king's troops, be- 
 ing obliged to man their own vessels, as sufficient seamen 
 could not be spared from the king's transports. Speaking of 
 those ^^ who had taken upon themselves the style and title of 
 government men" in Boston, and acted an unfriendly part in 
 this great contest, Washington observes : " By all accounts 
 there never existed a more miserable set of beings than these 
 wretched creatures now are. Taught to believe that the power 
 of Great Britain was superior to all opposition, and that for- 
 eign aid, if not, was at hand, they were even higher and more 
 insulting in their opposition than the E-egulars. When the 
 order 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 tliem with greater consternation. 
 They were at their wits' end, and conscious of their black in- 
 gratitude, 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.'' * 
 
 While this tumultuous embarkation was going on, the 
 Americans looked on in silence from their batteries on Dor- 
 chester Heights, without firing a shot. "It was lucky for the 
 inhabitants now left in Boston, that they did not," writes a 
 British officer ; " for I am informed everything was prepared 
 to set the town in a blaze, had they fired one cannon." f 
 
 At an early hour of the morning, the troops stationed at 
 Cambridge and E-oxbury had paraded, and several regiments 
 under Putnam had embarked in boats, and dropped down 
 Charles Kiver, to Sewall's Point, to watch the movements of 
 the enemy by land and water. About nine o'clock a large body 
 of troops was seen marching down Bunker's Hill, while boats 
 full of soldiers were putting off for the shipping. Two scouts 
 were sent from the camp to reconnoiter. The works appeared 
 still to be occupied, for sentries were posted about them with 
 shouldered muskets. Observing them to be motionless, the 
 
 * Letter to John A. Washington, Am. Archives^ 4th. Series, v, 560* 
 t Frothingham, Sle[/e of Boston, p. 310, 
 
422 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 scouts made nearer scrutiny, and discovered them to be mere 
 effigies, set up to delay the advance of the Americans. Push- 
 ing on, they found the works deserted, and gave signal of the 
 fact ; whereupon a detachment was sent from the camp to take 
 possession. 
 
 Part of Putnam's troops were now sent back to Cambridge ; 
 a part were ordered forward to occupy Boston. General Ward, 
 too, with five hundred men, made his way from Eoxbury, 
 across the Neck, about which the enemy had scattered caltroops 
 or crow's feet,* to impede invasion. The gates were unbarred 
 and thrown open, and the Americans entered in triumph, with 
 drums beating and colors flying. 
 
 By ten o'clock the enemy were all embarked and under way ; 
 Putnam had taken command of the city, and occupied the im- 
 portant points, and the flag of thirteen stripes, the standard of 
 the Union, floated above all the forts. 
 
 On the following day, Washington himself entered the town, 
 where he was joyfully welcomed. He beheld around him sad 
 traces of the devastation caused by the bombardment, though 
 not to the extent that he had apprehended. There were evi- 
 dences, also, of the haste with which the British had retreated — 
 five pieces of ordnance with their trunnions knocked off ; others 
 hastily spiked ; others thrown off the wharf. " General Howe's 
 retreat," writes Washington, "was precipitate beyond anything 
 I could have conceived. The destruction of the stores at Dun- 
 bar's camp, after Braddock's defeat, was but a faint image of 
 what may be seen at Boston ; artillery carts cut to pieces in 
 one place, gun carriages in another ; shells broke here, shots 
 buried there, and everything carrying with it the face of dis- 
 order and confusion, as also of distress."! 
 
 To add to the mortification of General Howe, he received, 
 we are told, while sailing out of the harbor, despatches from 
 the ministry, approving the resolution he had so strenuously 
 expressed of maintaining his post until he should receive rein- 
 forcements. 
 
 As the small-pox prevailed in some parts of the town, pre- 
 cautions were taken by Washington for its purification ; and 
 the main body of the army did not march in until the 20th. 
 "The joy manifested in the countenances of the inhabitants," 
 says an observer, "was overcast by the melancholy gloom 
 caused by ten tedious months of siege ; " but when, on the 22d, 
 the people from the country crowded into the town, " it was 
 
 *Iron balls, with four sharp points, to wound the feet of men or 
 horses, 
 t Lee's MemoirSf p. 162, 
 
LIFE OF WASBinOTON. 423 
 
 truly interesting/' writes the same observer, " to witness the 
 tender interviews and fond embraces of those who had been 
 long separated under circumstances so peculiarly distressing."* 
 
 Notwithstanding the haste with which the British army was 
 embarked, the fleet lingered for some days in Nantasket E-oad. 
 Apprehensive that the enemy, now that their forces were col- 
 lected in one body, might attempt by some blow to retrieve 
 their late disgrace, Washington hastily threw up works on 
 Fort Hill, which commanded the harbor, and demolished those 
 which protected the town from the neighboring country. The 
 fleet at length disappeared entirely from the coast, and the de- 
 liverance of Boston was assured. 
 
 The eminent services of Washington throughout this arduous 
 siege, his admirable management, by which " in the course of 
 a few months, an undisciplined hand of husbandmen became 
 soldiers, and were enabled to invest, for nearly a year, and 
 finally to expel a brave army of veterans commanded by the 
 most experienced generals," drew forth the enthusiastic ap- 
 plause of the nation. No higher illustration of this great 
 achievement need be given than the summary of it contained 
 in the speech of a British statesman, the Duke of .Manchester, 
 in the House of Lords. " The army of Britain," said he, 
 '^ equipped with every possible essential of war ; a chosen army, 
 with chosen officers, backed by the power of a mighty fleet, 
 sent to correct revolted subjects; sent to chastise a resisting 
 city ; sent to assert Britain's authority, — has, for many tedious 
 months, been imprisoned within that town by the provincial 
 army ; who, their watchful guards, permitted them no inlet to 
 the country ; who braved all their efforts, and defied all their 
 skill and ability in war could ever attempt. One way, indeed, 
 of escaj)e was left ; the fleet is yet respected ; to the fleet the 
 army has recourse ; and British generals, whose name never 
 met with a blot of dishonor, are forced to quit that town which 
 was the first object of the war, the immediate cause of hostili- 
 ties, the place of arms, which has cost this nation more than a 
 million to defend." 
 
 We close this eventful chapter of Washington's history, with 
 the honor decreed to him by the highest authority of his country. 
 On motion of John Adams, who had first moved his nomination 
 as commander-in-chief, a unanimous vote of thanks to him was 
 passed in Congress ; and it was ordered that a gold medal be 
 struck, commemorating the evacuation of Boston, bearing the 
 effigy of Washington as its deliverer. 
 
 Thatcher's Mil. Journal, p. 50. 
 
424 LIFE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 DESTINATION OF THE FLEET. — COMMISSION OF THE TWO HOWES. 
 
 CHARACTER OF LORD HOWE. THE COLONIES DIVIDED 
 
 INTO DEPARTMENTS. LEE ASSIGNED TO THE SOUTHERN DE- 
 PARTMENT. GENERAL THOMAS TO CANADA. — CHARACTER 
 
 OF LEE, BY WASHINGTON. LETTERS OF LEE FROM THE SOUTH. 
 
 A DOG IN A DANCING SCHOOL. COMMITTEE OF SAFETY IN 
 
 VIRGINIA. lee's grenadiers. PUTNAM IN COMMAND AT 
 
 NEW YORK. STATE OF AFFAIRS THERE. ARRIVAL OF 
 
 WASHINGTON. NEW ARRANGEMENTS. PERPLEXITIES WITH 
 
 RESPECT TO CANADA. ENGLAND SUBSIDIZES HESSIAN 
 
 TROOPS. 
 
 The British fleet bearing the army from Boston, had disap- 
 peared from the coast. " Whither they are bound, and where 
 they next will pitch their tents," writes Washington, " I know 
 not." He conjectured their destination to be New York, and 
 made his arrangements accordingly ; but he was mistaken. 
 General Howe had steered for Halifax, there to await the ar- 
 rival of strong reinforcements from England, and the fleet of 
 his brother. Admiral Lord Howe ; who was to be commander- 
 in-chief of the naval forces on the North American station. 
 
 It was thought these brothers would cooperate admirably in 
 the exercise of their relative functions on land and water. Yet 
 they were widely different in their habits and dispositions. 
 Sir William, easy, indolent, and self-indulgent, "hated busi- 
 ness," we are told, " and never did any. Lord Howe loved it, 
 dwelt upon it, never could leave it." Beside his nautical com- 
 mands, he had been treasurer of the navy, member of the 
 board of admiralty, and had held a seat in Parliament ; where, 
 according to Walpole, he was "silent as a rock," excepting 
 when naval affairs were under discussion ; when he spoke 
 briefly and to the point. " My Lord Howe," said George II., 
 " your life has been a continued series of services to your coun- 
 try." He was now about fiity-one years of age, tall and well 
 proportioned like his brother; but wanting his ease of deport- 
 ment. His complexion was dark, his countenance grave and 
 strongly marked, and he had a shy reserve, occasionally mis- 
 taken for haughtiness. As a naval officer, he was esteemed 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 425 
 
 resolute and enterprising, yet cool and firm. In his younger 
 days he had contracted a friendship for Wolfe ; " it was like 
 the union of cannon and gunpowder," said Walpole. Howe 
 strong in mind, solid in judgment, firm of purpose, was said to 
 he the cannon ; Wolfe, quick in conception, prompt in execu- 
 tion, impetuous in action, the gunpowder. "^ The hravest man, 
 we are told, could not wish for a more able, or more gallant 
 commander than Howe, and the sailors used to say of him, 
 '^ Give us Black Dick, and we fear nothing." 
 
 Such is his lordship's portrait as sketched by English pencils ; 
 we shall see hereafter how far his conduct conforms to it. At 
 present we must consider the state of the American army, in 
 the appointments and commands of which various changes had 
 recently taken place. 
 
 It was presumed the enemy in the ensuing campaign would 
 direct their operations against the Middle and Southern colonies. 
 Congress divided those colonies into two departments ; one com- 
 prehending ISTew York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 and Maryland, was to be under the command of a major-general 
 and two brigadier-generals ; the other, comprising Virginia, 
 the Carolinas, and Georgia, to be under the command of a 
 major-general, and four brigadiers. 
 
 In this new arrangement, the orders destining General Lee 
 to Canada were superseded, and he was appointed to the com- 
 mand of the Southern department, where he was to keep watch 
 upon the movements of Sir Henry Clinton. He was somewhat 
 dissatisfied with the change in his destination. '^ As I am the 
 only general ofiicer on the continent," writes he to Washington 
 " who can speak or think in French, I confess I think it would 
 have been more prudent to have sent me to Canada ; but I 
 shall obey with alacrity, and I hope with success." 
 
 In reply, Washington observes, " I was just about to con- 
 gratulate you on your appointment to the command in Canada, 
 when I received the account that your destination was altered. 
 As a Virginian, I must rejoice at the change, but as an 
 American, I think j^ou would have done more essential service 
 to the common cause in Canada. For, beside the advantage of 
 speaking and thinking in French, an officer who is acquainted 
 with their manners and customs, and has travelled in their 
 country, must certainly take the strongest hold of their affec- 
 tion and confidence." 
 
 The command in Canada was given to General Thomas, who 
 had distinguished himself at Koxbury, and was promoted to 
 the rank of major-general. It would have been given to 
 * Barrows, Life of Earl Howe, p. 400. 
 
426 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Schuyler, but for tlie infirm state of his health ; still Congress 
 expressed a reliance on his efforts to comj^lete the work " so 
 conspicuously begun and well conducted " under his orders 
 in the last campaign ; and, as not merely the success but the 
 very existence of the army in Canada would depend on supplies, 
 sent from these colonies across the lakes, he was required, 
 until further orders, to fix his head-quarters at Albany, where, 
 without being exposed to the fatigue of the camp until his 
 health was perfectly restored, he would be in a situation to 
 forward supplies ; to superintend the operations necessary for 
 the defense of New York and the Hudson E-iver, and the af- 
 fairs of the whole middle department. 
 
 Lee set out for the South on the 7th of March, carrying with 
 him his bold spirit, his shrewd sagacity, and his whimsical 
 and splenetic humors. The following admirably impartial 
 sketch is given of him by Washington, in a letter to his brother 
 Augustine : " He is the first in military knowledge and ex- 
 perience we have in the whole army. He is zealously attached 
 to the cause ; honest and well meaning, but rather fickle and 
 violent, I fear, in his temper. However, as he possesses an 
 uncommon share of good sense and spirit, I congratulate my 
 countrymen on his appointment to that department." * 
 
 We give by anticipation a few passages from Lee's letters, il- 
 lustrative of his character and career. The news of the evacu- 
 ation of Boston reached him in Virginia, In a letter to Wash- 
 ington, dated Williamsburg, April 5, he expresses himself on 
 the subject with generous warmth. " My dear general," writes 
 he, " I most sincerely congratulate you ; I congratulate the 
 public, on the great and glorious event, your possession of 
 Boston. It will be a most bright page in the annals of 
 America, and a most abominable black one in those of 
 the beldam Britain. Go on, my dear general ; crown yourself 
 with glory, and establish the liberties and lustre of your coun- 
 try on a foundation more permanent than the capitol rock." 
 
 Then reverting to himself, his subacid humors work up, and 
 he shows that he had been as much annoyed in Williamsburg, 
 by the interference of committees, as he had been in New York. 
 "My situation," writes he, "is just as I expected. I am afraid 
 I shall make a shabby figure, without any real demerits of my 
 own. I am like a dog in a dancing-school ; I know not where 
 to turn myself, where to fix myself. The circumstances of the 
 country, intersected with navigable rivers ; the uncertainty of 
 the enemy's designs and motions, who can fly in an instant to 
 any spot they choose, with their canvas wings, throw me^, ox 
 * Force's Am. Archives, 4th Series, v. 562. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 427 
 
 would throw Julius Caesar into this inevitable dilemma; Imay 
 possibly be in the North, when, as E-ichard says, I should serve 
 my sovereign in the West. I can only act from surmise, and 
 have a very good chance of sitrmising wrong. I am soriy to 
 grate your ears with a truth, but must, at all events, assure 
 you, that the Provincial Congress of New York are angels of 
 decision, when compared with your countrymen, the committee 
 of safety assembled at Williamsburg. Page, Lee, Mercer, and 
 Payne, are, indeed, exceptions ; but from Pendleton, Bland, 
 the Treasurer, and Co. — Libera nos domine ! " 
 
 Lee's letters from Virginia, written at a later date, were in a 
 better humor. " There is a noble spirit in this province per- 
 vading all orders of men ; if the same becomes universal, we 
 shall be saved. I am, fortunately for my own happiness, and 
 I think, for the well-being of the community, on the best terms 
 with the senatorial part, as well as the people at large. I shall 
 endeavor to preserve their confidence and good opinion." '* 
 
 And in a letter to Washington : — 
 
 " I have formed two companies of grenadiers to each regi- 
 ment, and with spears thirteen feet long. Their rifles (for they 
 are all riflemen) sling ovier their shoulders, their appearance is 
 formidable, and the men are conciliated to the weapon. . . 
 . . I am likewise furnishing myself with four-ounced rifled 
 amusettes, which will carry an infernal distance ; the two- 
 ounced hit a half sheet of paper, at five hundred yards dis- 
 tance." 
 
 On Lee's departure for the South, Brigadier-general Lord 
 Stirling had remained in temporary command at New York. 
 Washington, however, presuming that the British fleet had 
 steered for that port, with the force which had evacuated 
 Boston, hastened detachments thither under Generals Heath 
 and Sullivan, and wrote for three thousand additional men to 
 be furnished by Connecticut. The command of the whole he 
 gave to General Putnam, who was ordered to fortify the city and 
 the passes of the Hudson, according to the plans of General 
 Lee. In the meantime, Washington delayed to come on him- 
 self, until he should have pushed forward the main body of his 
 army by divisions. ( 
 
 Lee's anticipations that laxity and confusion would prevail 
 after his departure, were not realized. The veteran Putnam, 
 on taking command, put the city under rigorous military rule. 
 The soldiers were to retire to their barracks and quarters at the 
 beating of the tattoo, and remain there until the reveille in the 
 morning. The inhabitants were subjected to the same rule. 
 * Force's Am, Archives, 4th Series, v. 792. 
 
42S LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Kone would be permitted to pass a sentry, without the counter- 
 sign, wliich would be furnished to them on applying to any of 
 the brigade majors. All communication between the "minis- 
 terial fleet," and shore was stopped; the ships were no longer to 
 be furnished with provisions. Any person taken in the act of 
 holding communication with them would be considered an 
 enemy, and treated accordingly. 
 
 We have a lively picture of the state of the city, in letters 
 written at the time, and already cited. " When j'-ou are in- 
 formed that New York is deserted by its old inhabitants, and 
 filled with soldiers from New England, Philadelphia, Jersey, 
 etc., 3^ou will naturally conclude the environs of it are not very 
 safe from so undisciplined a multitude as our provincials are 
 represented to be ; but I do believe there are very few instances 
 of so great a number of men together, with so little mischief 
 done by them. They have all the simplicity of ploughmen in 
 their manners, and seem quite strangers to the vices of older 
 soldiers : they have been employed in creating fortifications in 
 
 every part of the town Governor Tryon loses his 
 
 credit with the people here prodigiously ; he has lately issued 
 a proclamation, desiring the deluded people of this colony to 
 return to their obedience, promising a speedy support to the 
 friends of government, declaring a door of mercy open to the 
 penitent, and a rod for the disobedient, etc. The friends of 
 government were provoked at being so distinguished, and the 
 friends to liberty hung him in efiigy, and printed a dying speech 
 for him. A letter, too, was intercepted from him, hastening 
 Lord Howe to New York, as the rebels were fortifying. These 
 
 have entirely lost him the good-will of the people 
 
 You cannot think how sorry I am the governor has so lost him- 
 self, a man once so much beloved. Lucifer, once the son of 
 morn, how fallen ! General Washington is expected hourly ; 
 General Putnam is here, with several other generals, and some 
 
 of their ladies The variety of reports keeps one's 
 
 mind always in agitation. Clinton and Howe have set the 
 continent a racing from Boston to Carolina. Clinton came into 
 our harbor : away flew the women, children, goods, and chattels, 
 and in came the soldiers flocking from every part. No sooner 
 was it known that he was not going to land here, than expresses 
 were sent to Virginia and Carolina, to put them on their guard ; 
 his next expedition was to Virginia ; there they were ready to 
 receive him ; from thence, without attempting to land, he sailed 
 to Carolina. Now General Howe is leading us another 
 dance." * 
 
 * Bemembrancer, vol. ill. p. 85. 
 
LiFi: OF WASHmGTOJSt. 429 
 
 Washington came on by the way of Providence, Norwich 
 and New London, expediting the embarkation of troops from 
 these posts, and arrived at New York on the 13th of April. 
 Many of the works which Lee had commenced were by this 
 time finished ; others were in progress. It was apprehended 
 the principle operations of the enemy would be on Long Island, 
 the high grounds of which, in the neighborhood of Brooklyn, 
 commanded the city. Washington saw that an able and efficient 
 officer was needed at that place. Greene was accordingly sta- 
 tioned there, with a division of the army. He immediately pro- 
 ceeded to complete the fortifications of that important post, and 
 to make himself acquainted with the topography, and the defen- 
 sive points of the surrounding country. 
 
 The aggregate force distributed at several extensive posts in 
 New York and its environs, and on Long Island, Staten Island, 
 and elsewhere, amounted to little more than ten thousand men ; 
 some of those were on the sick list, others absent on command, 
 or on furlough ; there were but about eight thousand available 
 and fit for duty. These, too, were without pay ; those recently 
 enlisted, without arms, and no one could say where arms were 
 to be procured. 
 
 Washington saw the inadequacy of the force to the purposes 
 required, and was full of solicitude about the security of a place, 
 the central point of the Confederacy, and the grand deposit of 
 ordnance and military stores. He was aware, too, of the disaf- 
 fection to the cause among many of the inhabitants, and appre- 
 hensive of treachery. The process of fortifying the place had 
 induced the ships of war to fall down into the outer bay, within 
 the Hook, upwards of twenty miles from the city ; but Governor 
 Tryon was still on board of one of them, keeping up an active 
 correspondence with the tories on Staten and Long Islands, and 
 in other parts of the neighborhood. 
 
 Washington took an early occasion to address an urgent letter 
 to the committee of safety, pointing out the dangerous and even 
 treasonable nature of this correspondence. He had more weight 
 and influence with that body than had been possessed by Gen- 
 eral Lee, and procured the passage of a resolution prohibiting, 
 under severe penalties, all intercourse with the king's ships. 
 
 Head-quarters, at this time, was a scene of incessant toil on 
 the part of the commander-in-chief, his secretaries and aides-de 
 camp. " I give in to no kind of amusements myself," writes 
 he, " and consequently those about me can have none, but are 
 confined from morning until evening, hearing and answering 
 applications and letters." The presence of Mrs. Washington 
 was a solace in the midst of these stern military cares^ and dif- 
 
430 LIFE OF WASBINGTON. 
 
 fused a feminine grace and decorum, and a cheerful spirit over 
 the domestic arrangements of head-quarters, where everything 
 was conducted with simplicity and dignity. The wives of some 
 of the other generals and officers rallied around Mrs. Washing- 
 ton, but social intercourse was generally at an end. " We all 
 live here," writes a lady of New York, "like nuns shut up in a 
 nunnery. No society with the town, for there are none there 
 to visit J neither can we go in or out after a certain hour with- 
 out the countersign." 
 
 In addition to his cares about the security of New York, 
 Washington had to provide for the perilous exigencies of the 
 army in Canada. Since his arrival in the city, four regiments 
 of troops, a company of riflemen, and another of artificers had 
 been detached under the command of Brigadier-general Thomp- 
 son, and a further corps of six regiments under Brigader-general 
 Sullivan, with orders to join General Thomas as soon as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Still Congress inquired of him, whether further reinforce- 
 ments to the army in Canada would not be necessary, and 
 whether they could be spared from the army in New York. His 
 reply shows the peculiar perplexities of his situation, and the 
 tormenting uncertainty in which he was kept, as to where the 
 next storm of war would break. " With respect to sending more 
 troops to that country, I am really at a loss what to advise, as 
 it is impossible, at present, to know the designs of the enemy. 
 Should they send the whole force under General Howe up the 
 river St. Lawrence, to relieve Quebec and recover Canada, the 
 troops gone and now going, will be insufficient to stop their 
 progress ; and, should they think proper to send that, or an 
 equal force, this way from Great Britain, for the purpose of 
 possessing this city and securing the navigation of Hudson's 
 River, the troops left here will not be sufficient to oppose them ; 
 and yet, for anything we know, I think it not improbable they may 
 attempt both ; both being of the greatest importance to them, 
 if they have men. I could wish indeed, that the army in 
 Canada should be more powerfully reinforced ; at the same time, 
 I am conscious that the trusting of this important post, which 
 is now become the grand magazine of America, to the handful 
 of men remaining here, is running too great a risk. The secur- 
 ing of this post and Hudson's River is to us also of so great 
 importance, that I cannot, at present, advise the sending any 
 more troops from hence ; on the contrary, the general officers 
 now here, whom I thought it my duty to consult, think it ab- 
 solutely necessary to increase the army at this place with at 
 least ten thousand men ; especially when it is considered, that 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 431 
 
 from this place only the army in Canada must draw its supplies 
 of ammunition, provisions, and most probably of men.'' 
 
 Washington at that time was not aware of the extraordinary 
 expedients England had recently resorted to, against the next 
 campaign. The Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse Cas- 
 sel, and the Hereditary Prince of Cassel, Count of Hanau, had 
 been subsidized to furnish troops to assist in the subjugation of 
 her colonies. Four thousand three hundred Brunswick troops, 
 and nearly thirteen thousand Hessians, had entered the British 
 service. Beside the subsidy exacted by the German princes, 
 they were to be paid seven pounds four shillings and four pence 
 sterling for every soldier furnished by them, and as much more 
 for every one slain. 
 
 Of this notable arrangement, Washington, as we observed, 
 was not yet aware. " The designs of the enemy," writes he, 
 " are too much behind the curtain for me to form any accurate 
 opinion of their plan of operations for the summer's campaign. 
 We are left to wander, therefore, in the field of conjecture." "^ 
 
 Within a few days afterwards, he had vague accounts of 
 " Hessians and Hanoverian troops coming over ; " but it was 
 not until the 17th of May, when he received letters from Gen- 
 eral Schuyler, inclosing others from the commanders in Canada, 
 that he knew in what direction some of these bolts of war were 
 launched ; and this calls for some further particulars of the 
 campaign on the banks of the St. Lawrence ; which we shall 
 give to the reader in the ensuing chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 ARNOLD BLOCKADES QUEBEC. HIS DIFFICULTIES. ARRIVAL OF 
 
 GENERAL WOOSTER. OF GENERAL THOMAS. ABORTIVE AT- 
 TEMPT ON QUEBEC. PREPARATIONS FOR RETREAT. SORTIE 
 
 OF CARLETON. RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS. HALT AT 
 
 POINT DESCHAMBAULT. ALARM IN THE COLONIES AT THE 
 
 RETREAT OF THE ARMY. POPULAR CLAMOR AGAINST SCHUY- 
 LER. SLANDERS REFUTED. 
 
 In a former chapter, we left Arnold before the walls of Que- 
 bec, wounded, crippled, almost disabled, yet not disheartened ; 
 blockading that " proud town " with a force inferior, by half, in 
 number to that of the garrison. For his gallant services. Con- 
 gress promoted him in January to the rank of brigadier-general, 
 * Letter to the President of Congress, 5th May. 
 
432 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Throughout the winter he kept up the blockade with his 
 shattered army ; though had Carleton ventured upon a sortie, 
 he might have been forced to decamp. That cautious general, 
 however, remained within his walls. He was sure of reinforce- 
 ments from England in the spring, and, in the meantime, 
 trusted to the elements of dissolution at work in the besieging 
 army. 
 
 Arnold, in truth, had difficulties of all kinds to contend with. 
 His military chest was exhausted : his troops were in want of 
 necessaries ; to procure supplies, he was compelled to resort to 
 the paper money issued by Congress, which was uncurrent 
 among the Canadians ; he issued a proclamation making the re- 
 fusal to take it in payment a penal offense. This only produced 
 irritation and disgust. As the terms of their enlistment ex- 
 pired, his men claimed their discharge and returned home. 
 Sickness also thinned his ranks ; so that, at one time, his force 
 was reduced to five hundred men, and for two months, with all 
 his recruitments, of raw militia, did not exceed seven hundred. 
 
 The failure of the attack on Quebec had weakened the cause 
 among the Canadians ; the peasantry had been displeased by 
 the conduct of the American troops ; they had once welcomed them 
 as deliverers ; they now began to regard them as intruders. The 
 seigneurs, or noblesse, also, feared to give further countenance 
 to an invasion, which, if defeated, might involve them in ruin. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these discouragements, Arnold still kept 
 up a bold face ; cut off supplies occasionally, and harassed the 
 place with alarms. Having repaired his batteries, he opened a 
 fire upon the town, but with little effect ; the best part of the 
 artillerists, with Lamb, their capable commander, were prison- 
 ers within the walls. 
 
 On the 1st day of April, General Wooster arrived from Mont- 
 real, with reinforcements, and took the command. The day 
 after his arrival, Arnold, by the falling of his horse, again re- 
 ceived an injury on the leg recently wounded, and was disabled 
 for upwards of a week. Considering himself slighted by Gen- 
 eral Wooster, who did not consult him in military affairs, he ob- 
 tained leave of absence until he should be recovered from his 
 lameness, and repaired to Montreal, where he took command. 
 
 General Thomas arrived at the camp in the course of April, 
 and found the army in a forlorn condition, scattered at different 
 posts, and on the island of Orleans. It was numerically in- 
 creased to upwards of two thousand men, but several hundred 
 were unfit for service. The small-pox had made great ravages. 
 They had inoculated each other. In their sick and debilitated 
 gtate, they were without barracks, andalniost without medicine. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 433 
 
 A portion, whose term of enlistment had expired, refused to- do 
 duty, and clamored for their discharge. 
 
 The winter was oyer, the river was breaking up, reinforce- 
 ments to the garrison might immediately be expected, and then 
 the case would be desperate. Observing that the river about 
 Quebec was clear of ice, General Thomas determined on a bold 
 effort. It was, to send up a fire-ship with the flood, and, while 
 the ships in the harbor were in flames, and the town in confu- 
 sion, to scale the walls. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 3rd of May, the troops turned out with 
 scaling ladders ; the fire-ship came up the river under easy sail 
 and arrived near the shipping before it was discovered. It was 
 fired into. The crew applied a slow match to the train and 
 pulled off. The ship was soon in a blaze, but the flames caught 
 and consumed the sails ; her way was checked, and she drifted 
 off harmlessly with the ebbing tide. The rest of the plan was 
 of course, abandoned. 
 
 Nothing now remained but to retreat before the enemy should 
 be reinforced. Preparations were made in all haste, to embark 
 the sick and the military stores. While this was taking place, 
 five ships made their way into the harbor, on the 6th of May, 
 and began to land troops. Thus reinforced. General Carleton 
 sallied forth, with eight hundred or a thousand men. We quote 
 his own letter for an account of his sortie. " As soon as part 
 of the 29th regiment with the marines, in all about two hundred 
 were landed, they, with the greatest part of the garrison, by 
 this time much improved, and in high spirits, marched out of 
 the ports of St. Louis and St. John's, to see what these mighty 
 boasters were about. They were found very busy in their prepara- 
 tions for a retreat. A few shots being exchanged, the line marched 
 forward, and the place was soon cleared of these plunderers." 
 
 By his own account, however, these " mighty boasters " had 
 held him and his garrison closely invested for five months ; had 
 burnt the suburbs, battered the walls, thrown red-hot shot 
 among the shipping, made repeated and daring attempts to carry 
 the place by assault and stratagem, and rendered it necessary 
 for soldiers, sailors, marines, and even judges and other civil 
 officers to mount guard."* One officer declares, in a letter, that 
 for eighty successive nights he slept in his clothes, to be ready 
 in case of alarm. 
 
 All this, too was effected by a handful of men, exposed in 
 open encampments to the rigors of a Canadian winter. If in 
 truth they were boasters, it must be allowed their deeds were 
 equal to their words. 
 
 * Carle tou to Lord Germaiue, May 14th. 
 
434 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The Americans were in no condition to withstand Carleton's 
 unlooked-for attack. They had no intrenchments, and could 
 not muster three hundred men at any point. A precipitate re- 
 treat was the consequence, in which haggage, artillery; every- 
 thing was abandoned. Even the sick were left behind, many 
 of whom crawled away from the camp hospitals, and took refuge 
 in the woods, or among the Canadian peasantry. 
 
 General Carleton did not think it prudent to engage in a 
 pursuit with his newly-landed troops. He treated the prisoners 
 with great humanity, and caused the sick to be sought out in 
 their hiding-places, and brought to the general hospitals, with 
 assurances, that, when healed, they should have liberty to re- 
 turn to their homes. 
 
 General Thomas came to a halt at Point Deschambault, about 
 sixty miles above Quebec, and called a council of war to consider 
 what was to be done. The enemy's ships were hastening up 
 the St. Lawrence ; some were already but two or three leagues' 
 distance. The camp was without cannon ; powder, forwarded 
 by General Schuyler, had fallen into the enemy's hands ; there 
 were not provisions enough to subsist the army for more than 
 two or three days ; the men-of-war, too, might run up the river, 
 intercept all their resources, and reduce them to the same ex- 
 tremity they had experienced before Quebec. It was resolved, 
 therefore, to ascend the river still further. 
 
 General Thomas, however, determined to send forward the 
 invalids, but to remain at Point Deschambault with about five 
 hundred men, until he should receive orders from Montreal, and 
 learn whether such supplies could be forwarded immediately 
 as would enable him to defend his position."* 
 
 The despatches of General Thomas, setting forth the dis- 
 astrous state of affairs, had a disheartening effect on Schuyler, 
 who feared the army would be obliged to abandon Canada. 
 Washington, on the contrary, spoke cheeringly on the subject. 
 " We must not despair. A manly and spirited opposition only 
 can insure success, and prevent the enemy from improving the 
 advantage they have obtained." f 
 
 He regretted that the troops had not been able to make a 
 stand at Point Deschambault, but hoped they would maintain 
 a post as far down the river as possible. The lower it was, the 
 more important would be the advantages resulting from it, as 
 all the country above would be favorable, and furnish assistance 
 and support ; while all below would necessarily be in the poweir 
 of the enemy. 
 
 * General Thomas to Washington, May 8. 
 t Washington to Schuyler, May ITth. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 435 
 
 The tidings of the reverses in Canada and the retreat of the 
 American army, had spread consternation throughout the New 
 Hampshire Grants, and the New England frontiers, which 
 would now be laid open to invasion. Committees of towns and 
 districts assembled in various places, to consult on the alarming 
 state of affairs. In a time of adversity, it relieves the public 
 mind to have some individual on whom to charge its disasters. 
 General Schuyler, at present, was to be the victim. We have 
 already noticed the prejudice and ill-will, on the part of the 
 New England people, which had harassed him throughout the 
 campaign, and nearly driven him from the service. His 
 enemies now stigmatized him as the cause of the late reverses. 
 He had neglected, they said, to forward reinforcements and sup- 
 plies to the army in Canada. His magnanimify in suffering 
 Sir John Johnson to go at large, while in his power, was again 
 misconstrued into a crime : he had thus enabled that dangerous 
 man to renew his hostilities. Finally, it was insinuated that 
 he was untrue to his country, if not positively leagued with her 
 enemies. 
 
 These imputations were not generally advanced ; and when 
 advanced, were not generally countenanced; but a committee 
 of King's County appears to have given them credence, address- 
 ing a letter to the commander-in-chief on the subject, accom- 
 panied by documents. 
 
 Washington, to whom Schuyler's heart had been laid open 
 throughout all its trials, and who knew its rectitude, received 
 the letter and documents with indignation and disgust, and 
 sent copies of them to the general. "From these,'' said he, 
 " you will readily discover the diabolical and insidious arts and 
 schemes carrying on by the tories and friends of government to 
 raise distrust, dissensions, and divisions among us. Having 
 the utmost confidence in your integrity, and the most incontest- 
 able proof of your great attachment to our common country 
 and its interests, I could not but look upon the charge against 
 you with an eye of disbelief, and sentiments of detestation and 
 abhorrence ; nor should I have troubled you with the matter, . 
 had I not been informed that copies were sent to different com- 
 mittees, and to Governor Trumbull, which I conceived would 
 get abrdad, and that you, should you find I had been furnished 
 with them, would consider my suppressing them as an evidence 
 of my belief, or at best of my doubts, of the charges." * 
 
 We will go forward, and give the sequel of this matter. 
 While the imputations in question had merely floated in public 
 
 * Washington to Schuyler, May 21. 
 
436 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 rumorj Schuyler had taken no notice of them ; "but it is now/^ 
 writes he, in reply to Washington, " a duty which I owe my- 
 self and my country, to detect the scoundrels, and the only 
 means of doing this is by requesting that an immediate inquiry 
 he made into the matter ; when I trust it will appear that it was 
 more a scheme calculated to ruin me, than to disunite and cre- 
 ate jealousies in the friends of America. Your Excellency, will, 
 therefore, please to order a court of inquiry the soonest possi- 
 ble ; for I cannot sit easy under such an infamous imputation ; 
 since on this extensive continent numbers of the most respect- 
 able characters may not know what your Excellency and Con- 
 gress do of my principles and exertions in the common cause." 
 
 He further 9,dds : " I am informed by persons of good credit, 
 that about one hundred persons, living on what are commonly 
 called the New Hampshire Grants, have had a design to seize 
 me as a tory, and perhaps still have. There never was a man 
 so infamously scandalized and ill-treated as I am." 
 
 We need only add, that the Berkshire committees which, in 
 a time of agitation and alarm, had hastil}'- given countenance to 
 these imputations, investigated them deliberately in their cooler 
 moments, and acknowledged, in a letter to Washington, that 
 they were satisfied their suspicions respecting General Schuyler 
 were wholly groundless. "We sincerely hope," added they, 
 " his name may be handed down, with immortal honor, to the 
 latest posterity, as one of the great pillars of the American 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 GATES SENT TO PHILADELPHIA WITH THE CANADA DE- 
 SPATCHES. PROMOTED TO THE RANK OP MAJOR-GENERAL. 
 
 WASHINGTON SUMMONED TO PHILADELHIA. PUTNAM LEFT 
 
 IN COMMAND. CONFERENCE WITH CONGRESS. ARMY AR- 
 RANGEMENTS. A BOARD OF WAR INSTITUTED. THE CLIN- 
 TONS OF NEW YORK. MRS. WASHINGTON INOCULATED. 
 
 REED MADE ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 
 
 As the reverses in Canada would affect the fortunes of the 
 Revolution elsewhere, Washington sent General Gates to lay 
 the despatches concerning them before Congress. " His mili- 
 tary experience," said he, " and intimate acquaintance with the 
 situation of our affairs, will enable him to give Congress the 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 437 
 
 fullest satisfaction about the measures necessary to be adopted 
 at this alarming crisis ; and, with his zeal and attachment to 
 the cause of America, he will have a claim to their notice and 
 favors." 
 
 Scarce had Gates departed on his mission (May 19th), when 
 Washington himself received a summons to Philadelphia, to 
 advise with Congress concerning the opening campaign. He 
 was informed also that Gates, on the 16th of May, had been 
 promoted to the rank of major-general, and Mifflin to that of 
 brigadier-general, and a wish was intimated that they might 
 take the command of Boston. 
 
 Washington prepared to proceed to Philadelphia. His gen- 
 eral orders issued on the 19th of May, show the anxious situ- 
 ation of affairs at New York. In case of an alarm the respective 
 regiments were to draw up opposite to their encampments 
 or quarters, until ordered to repair to the alarm posts. The 
 alarm signals for regulars, militia, and the inhabitants of the 
 city, were, in the daytime, two cannon fired from the rampart 
 at Fort George, and a flag hoisted on the top of Washington's 
 head-quarters. In the night, two cannon fired as above, and 
 two lighted lanterns hoisted on the top of head-quarters.* 
 
 In his parting instructions to Putnam, who, as the oldest 
 major-general in the city, would have the command during his 
 absence, Washington informed him of the intention of the 
 Provincial Congress of New York to seize the principal tories 
 and disaffected persons in the city, and the surrounding country, 
 especially on Long Island, and authorized him to afford military 
 aid, if required, to carry the same into execution. He was also 
 to send Lord Stirling, Colonel Putnam the engineer, and 
 Colonel Knox, if he could be spared, up to the Highlands, to 
 examine the state of the forts and garrisons, and report what 
 was necessary to put them in a posture of defense. Their gar- 
 risons were chiefly composed of parts of a regiment of New 
 York troops, commanded by Colonel James Clinton, of Ulster 
 County, and were said to be sufficient. 
 
 * The following statement of the batteries at New York, we find dated 
 May 22d :— 
 The Grand Battery, on the south part of the town. 
 Fort George, immediately above it. 
 White Hall Battery, on the Jeft of the Grand Battery. 
 Oyster Battery, behind General Washington's head-quarters. 
 Grenadier Battery, near the Brew House on the North Kiver. 
 Jersey Battery, on the left of the Gi-enadier Battery. 
 Bayard^s Hill Redoubt, on Bayard's Hill. 
 Spencer Redoubt, on the hill where his brigade is encamped. 
 Waterhury's Battery, (fascines), on a wliaif below this hill. 
 Badlam^s Redoubt, on a hill near the Jews' burying gound. 
 
438 LIFE OF WASRlJSfGTOJSf. 
 
 The general, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, departed 
 from New York on the 21st of May, and they were invited by 
 Mr. Hancock, the President of Congress, to be his guests during 
 their sojourn at Philadelphia. 
 
 Lee, when he heard of Washington's visit there, argued good 
 effects from it. " I am extremely glad, dear general," writes 
 he, " that you are in Philadelphia, for their councils sometimes 
 lack a little of military electricity.'' 
 
 Washington, in his conferences with Congress, appears to 
 have furnished this electricity. He roundly expressed his con- 
 viction, that no accommodation could be effected with Great 
 Britain, on acceptable terms. Ministerialists had declared in 
 Parliament, that, the sword being drawn, the most coercive 
 measures would be persevered in, until there was complete sub- 
 mission. The recent subsidizing of foreign troops was a part 
 of this policy, and indicated unsparing hostility. A protracted 
 war, therefore, was inevitable ; but it would be impossible to 
 carry it on successfully with the scanty force actually em- 
 bodied, and with transient enlistments of militia. 
 
 In consequence of his representations, resolutions were passed 
 in Congress that soldiers should be enlisted for three years, with 
 a bounty of ten dollars for each recruit ; that the army at New 
 York should be reinforced until the first of December, with 
 thirteen thousand eight hundred militia ; that gondolas and fire- 
 rafts should be built, to prevent the men-of-war and enemy's 
 ships from coming into New York Bay, or the Narrows ; and 
 that a flying camp of ten thousand militia, furnished by Penn- 
 sylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, and likewise engaged until 
 the 1st of December, should be stationed in the Jerseys for the 
 defense of the Middle colonies. Washington, was, moreover, 
 empowered, in case of emergency, to call on the neighboring 
 colonies for temporary aid with their militia. 
 
 Another important result of his conferences with Congress 
 was the establishment of a war office. Military affairs had 
 hitherto been referred in Congress to committees casually ap- 
 pointed, and had consequently been subject to great irregularity 
 and neglect. Henceforth a permanent committee, entitled '^ the 
 Board of War and Ordnance," was to take cognizance of them. 
 The first board was composed of five members ; John Adams, 
 Colonel Benjamin Harrison, E-oger Sherman, James Wilson, 
 and Edward K-utledge ; with Bichard Peters as secretary. It 
 went into operation on the 12th of June. 
 
 While at Philadelphia, Washington had frequent consulta- 
 tions with George Clinton, one of the delegates from New York, 
 concerning the interior defenses of that province, especially 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 439 
 
 those connected with the security of the Highlands of the Hud- 
 son, where part of the regiment of Colonel James Clinton, the 
 brother of the delegate, was stationed. The important part 
 which these brothers were soon to act in the military affairs of 
 that province, and ultimately in its political history, entitles 
 them to a special notice. 
 
 They were of the old Clinton stock of England, being de- 
 scended from General James Clinton, an adherent of royalty in 
 the time of the civil wars, but who passed over to Ireland, after 
 the death of Charles I. Their father, Charles Clinton, grandson 
 of the general, emigrated to America in 1729, and settled in 
 Ulster, now Orange County, just above the Highlands of the 
 Hudson. Though not more than fifty miles from the city of 
 Kew York, it was at that time on the borders of a wilderness, 
 where every house had at times to be a fortress. Charles Clin- 
 ton, like most men on our savage frontier in those days, was a 
 warrior by necessity, if not by choice. He took an active part 
 in Indian and French wars, commanded a provincial regiment 
 stationed at Fort Herkimer, joined in the expedition under Gen- 
 eral Bradstreet, when it passed up the valley of the Mohawk, 
 and was present at the capture of Fort Frontenac. His sons, 
 James and George, one twenty, the other seventeen years of 
 age, served in the same campaign, the one as captain, the other 
 as lieutenant ; thus taking an early lesson in that school of 
 American soldiers, the French war. 
 
 James, whose propensities were always military, continued in 
 the provincial army until the close of that war j and afterwards, 
 when settled on an estate in Ulster County, was able and active 
 in organizing its militia. George applied himself to the law, 
 and became successful at the bar, in the same county. Their 
 father, having laid aside the sword, occupied for many years, 
 with discernment and integrity, the honorable station of Judge 
 of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in Ulster County, in 
 1773, in the eighty-third year of his age, " in full view of that 
 Revolution in which his sons were to act distinguished parts." 
 With his latest breath he charged them " to stand by the liber- 
 ties of their country." 
 
 They needed no such admonition. From the very first, they 
 had been heart and hand in the cause. George had championed 
 it for years in the Kew York legislature, signalizing himself by 
 his zeal as one of an intrepid minority in opposing ministerial 
 oppression. He had but recently taken his seat as delegate to 
 the Continental Congress. 
 
 James Clinton, appointed colonel on the 30th of June, 1775, 
 had served with his regiment of New York troops under Mont- 
 
440 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 gomery at the seige of St. John's and the capture of Montreal, 
 after which he had returned home. He had subsequently been 
 appointed to the command of a regiment in one of the four bat- 
 talions raised for the defense of New York. We shall soon have 
 occasion to speak further of these patriot brothers. 
 
 The prevalence of the small-pox had frequently rendered 
 Washington uneasy on Mrs. Washington's account during her 
 visits to the army ; he was relieved, therefore, by her submitting 
 to inoculation during their sojourn in Philadelphia, and having 
 a very favorable time. 
 
 He was gratified, also, by procuring the appointment of his 
 late secretary, Joseph Reed, to the post of adjutant-general, va- 
 cated by the promotion of General Gates, thus placing him once 
 more by his side. 
 
 CHAPTER LXIY. 
 
 AFFAIRS IN CANADA. DISASTER AT THE CEDARS. HOSTILE 
 
 DESIGNS OF THE JOHNSONS. A BLOODY SUMMER EXPECTED. 
 
 FORTS IN THE HIGHLANDS. COLONEL JAMES CLINTON IN 
 
 COMMAND. FORTIFICATIONS AT KING's BRIDGE AND ON 
 
 LONG ISLAND. 
 
 Despatches from Canada continued to be disastrous. Gen- 
 eral Arnold, who was in command at Montreal, had established 
 a post on the St. Lawrence, about forty miles above that 
 place, on a point of land called the Cedars ; where he had sta- 
 tioned Colonel Bedel, with about four hundred men, to prevent 
 goods being sent to the enemy, in the upper country, and to 
 guard against surprise from them, or their Indians. 
 
 In the latter part of May, Colonel Bedel received intelligence 
 that a large body of British, Canadians, and Indians, under 
 the command of Captain Forster, were coming down from Os- 
 wegatchie, to attack him. Leaving Major Butterfield in com- 
 mand of the post, he hastened down to Montreal to obtain rein- 
 forcements. Arnold immediately detached one hundred men, 
 under Major Shelburne, and prepared to follow in person, with 
 a much greater force. In the meantime, the post at the Cedars 
 had been besieged, and Major Butterfield intimidated into a 
 surrender, by a threat from Captain Porster, that resistance 
 would provoke a massacre of his whole garrison by the Indians. 
 The reinforcements under Mai or Shelburne were assailed with- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. Ul 
 
 in four miles of the Cedars, by a large party of savages, and 
 captured after a sharp skirmish, in which several were killed 
 on both sides. 
 
 Arnold received word of these disasters while on the march. 
 He instantly sent forward some Caughnawaga Indians, to 
 overtake the savages, and demand a surrender of the prisoners ; 
 with a threat that, in case of a refusal, and that any of tliem 
 were murdered, he would sacrifice every Indian who fell into 
 his hands, and would follow the offenders to their towns, and 
 destroy them by fire and sword. He now embarked four hun- 
 dred of his men in bateaux, and pushed on with the remainder 
 by land. Arriving at St. Ann's, above the rapids of the St. 
 Lawrence, he discovered several of the enemy's bateaux, taking 
 the prisoners off from an island, a league distant. It was a 
 tormenting sight, as it was not in his power to relieve them. 
 His bateaux were a league behind, coming up the rapids very 
 slowly. He sent several expresses to hurry them. It was sun- 
 set before they arrived and he could embark all his people ; in 
 the meantime, his Caughnawaga messengers returned with an 
 answer from the savages. They had five hundred prisoners 
 collected together, they said, at Quinze Chiens, where they 
 were posted ; should he offer to land and attack them, they 
 would kill every prisoner, and give no quarter to any who should 
 fall into their hands thereafter. 
 
 " Words cannot express my feelings," writes Arnold, " at 
 the delivery of this message. Torn by the conflicting passions 
 of revenge and humanity ; a sufficient force to take ample re- 
 venge, raging for action, urged me on one hand, and humanity for 
 five hundred unhappy wretches, who were on the point of being 
 sacrificed, if our vengeance was not delayed, pleaded equally 
 strong on the other." In this situation, he ordered the boats 
 to row immediately for the island, whither he had seen the 
 enemy taking their prisoners. Before he reached it, the savages 
 had conveyed them all away, excepting five, whom he found 
 naked, and almost starved, and one or two, whom, being unwell, 
 they had butchered. Arnold now pushed for Quinze Chiens, 
 about four miles distant, on the mainland. Here was the whole 
 force of the enemy, civilized and savage, intrenched and forti- 
 fied. As Arnold approached, they opened a fire upon his boats, 
 with small arms, and two brass six-pounders. He rowed near 
 the land without returning a shot. By this time it was 
 too dark to distinguish anything on shore, and being unac- 
 quainted with the ground, he judged it prudent to return to 
 St. John^s. 
 
 Here he called a council of war, and it was determined to at- 
 
442 MFE OF WASHINGTON* 
 
 tack the enemy early in the morning. In the course of the 
 night, a flag was sent by Captain Forster, with articles for an 
 exchange of prisoners which had been entered into by him and 
 Major Shelburne. As the terms were not equal, they were ob- 
 jected to by Arnold, and a day passed before they were ad- 
 justed. A cartel was then signed, by which the prisoners, con- 
 sisting of two majors, nine captains, twenty subalterns, and 
 four hundred and forty-three privates, were to be exchanged for 
 an equal number of British prisoners of the same rank, and 
 were to be sent to the south shore of the St. Lawrence, near 
 Caughnawaga, whence to return to their homes. Nine days 
 were allowed for the delivery of the prisoners, during which 
 time hostilities should be suspended. 
 
 Arnold, in a letter to the commissioners of Congress then at 
 Montreal, giving an account of this arrangement, expressed 
 his indignation at the conduct of the king's officers, in employ- 
 ing savages to screen their butcheries, and suffering their pris- 
 oners to be killed in cold blood. " I intend being with you 
 this evening, added he," " to consult on some effectual meas- 
 ures to take with these savages, and still more savage British 
 troops, who are still at Quinze Chiens. As soon as our prisoners 
 are released, I hope it will be in our power to take ample ven- 
 geance, or nobly fall in the attempt." * 
 
 The accounts which reached Washington of these affairs 
 were vague and imperfect, and kept him for some days in pain- 
 ful suspense. The disasters at the Cedars were attributed en- 
 tirely to the base and cowardly conduct of Bedel and Butter- 
 worth, and he wrote to Schuyler to have good courts appointed, 
 and bring them, and every other officer guilty of misconduct to 
 trial. 
 
 "The situation of our affairs in Canada," observes he, "is 
 truly alarming. I sincerely wish the next letters from the 
 northward may not contain the melancholy advices of General 
 Arnold's defeat, and the loss of Montreal. The most vigorous 
 exertions will be necessary to retrieve our circumstances there, 
 and I hope you will strain every nerve for that purpose. Un- 
 less it can be done now, Canada will be lost to us forever.'^ 
 
 While his mind was agitated by these concerns, letters from 
 Schuyler showed that mischief was brewing in another quarter. 
 
 Colonel Guy Johnson, accompanied by Sachem Brant and the 
 Butlers, had been holding councils with the Indians, and de- 
 signed, it was said, to come back to the Mohawk country, at the 
 head of a British and savage force. A correspondence was car- 
 
 * Arnold to the Commissioners of Congress, 27th May. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 443 
 
 ried on between him and his cousin, Sir John Johnson, who 
 was said to be preparing to cooperate with his Scotch dependents 
 and Indian allies. 
 
 Considering this a breach of Sir John's parole, Schuyler had 
 sent Colonel Elias Dayton with a force to apprehend him. Sir 
 John, with a number of his armed tenants, retreated for refuge 
 among the Indians, on the borders of the lakes. Dayton took 
 temporary possession of Johnson Hall, placed guards about it, 
 seized upon Sir John's papers, and read them in presence of 
 Lady Johnson, and subsequently conveyed her ladyship as a 
 kind of hostage to Albany. 
 
 Shortly afterwards came further intelligence of the designs 
 of the Johnsons. Sir John with his Scotch warriors and Indian 
 allies, was said to be actually coming down the valley of the 
 Mohawk, bent on revenge, and prepared to lay everything waste ; 
 and Schuyler collecting a force at Albany to oppose him. 
 Washington instantly wrote to Schuyler, to detach Colonel 
 Dayton with his regiment on that service, with instructions to 
 secure a post where Fort Stanwix formerly stood, in the time 
 of the French war. As to Schuyler himself, Washington, on 
 his own responsibility, directed him to hold a conference with 
 the Six Nations, and with any others, whom he and his brother 
 commissioners on Indian affairs might think necessary, and 
 secure their active services, without waiting further directions 
 from Congress — that body having recently resolved to employ 
 the Indian allies in the war, the enemy having set the example. 
 
 " We expect a bloody summer in New York and Canada," 
 writes Washington to his brother Augustine, " 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 it, the same Providence which has in 
 many instances appeared for us, will still go on to afford its 
 aid." 
 
 Lord Stirling, who, by Washington's orders, had visited and 
 inspected the defenses in the Highlands, rendered a report of 
 their condition, of which we give the purport. Fort Montgom- 
 ery, at the lower part of the Highlands, was on the west 
 bank of the river, north of Dunderberg (or Thunder Hill). It 
 was situated on a bank one hundred feet high. The river at 
 that place was about half a mile wide. Opposite the fort was 
 the promontory of Anthony's Nose, many hundred feet high, 
 accessible only to goats, or men expert in climbing. A body of 
 riflemen stationed here, might command the decks of vessels. 
 Fort Montgomery appeared to Lord Stirling the proper plac^ 
 for a guard post. 
 
444 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Fort Constitution was about six miles higher up the river, 
 on a rocky island of the same name, at a narrow strait where 
 the Hudson, shouldered by precipices, makes a sudden bend 
 round West Point. A redoubt, in the opinion of Lord Stirling, 
 would be needed on the point, not only for the preservation of 
 Port Constitution but for its own importance. 
 
 The garrison of that fort consisted of two companies of 
 Colonel James Clinton's regiment, and Captain Wisner's com- 
 pany of minute men, in all one hundred and sixty rank and 
 file. Fort Montgomery was garrisoned by three companies of 
 the same regiment, about two hundred rank and file. Both 
 garrisons were miserably armed. The direction of the works 
 of both forts was in the hands of commissioners appointed by 
 the Provincial Congress of New York. The general command 
 of the posts required to be adjusted. Several persons accused 
 of being " notorious tories," had recently been sent into Fort 
 Montgomery by the district committees of the counties of Al- 
 bany, Dutchess, and Westchester, with directions to the com- 
 manding officers, to keep them at hard labor until their further 
 order. They were employed upon the fortifications. 
 
 In view of all these circumstances, Washington, on the 14th 
 of June, ordered Colonel James Clinton to take command of 
 both posts, and of all the troops stationed at them. He seemed 
 a fit custodian for them, having been a soldier from his youth ; 
 brought up on a frontier subject to Indian alarms and incur- 
 sions, and acquainted with the strong points and fastnesses of 
 the Highlands. 
 
 King's Bridge, and the heights adjacent, considered by 
 General Lee of the utmost importance to the communication 
 between New York and the mainland, and to the security of 
 the Hudson, were reconnoitered by Washington on horseback, 
 about the middle of the month ; ordering where works should 
 be laid out. Brenst works were to be thrown up for the de- 
 fense of the bridge, and an advanced work (subsequently called 
 Fort Independence), was to be built beyond it, on a hill com- 
 manding Spyt den Duivel Creek, as that inlet of the Hudson 
 is called, which links it with the Harlaem River. 
 
 A strong work, intended as a kind of citadel, was to crown 
 a rocky height between two and three miles south of the bridge, 
 commanding the channel of the Hudson ; and below it were to 
 be redoubts on the banks of the river at Jeffrey's Point. In 
 honor of the general, the citadel received the name of Fort 
 Washington. 
 
 Colonel Rufus Putnam was the principal engineer, who had 
 the direction of the works. General Mifflin encamped in 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 445 
 
 their vicinity, with part of the two battalions from Pennsyl- 
 vania, to be employed in their construction, aided by the 
 militia. 
 
 While these preparations were made for the protection of 
 the Hudson, the works about Brooklyn on Long Island were 
 carried on with great activity, under the superintendence of 
 General Greene. In a word, the utmost exertions were made 
 at every point, to put the city, its environs, and the Hudson 
 River, in a state of defense, before the arrival of another hostile 
 armament. 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 retreat of general thomas. his death. general sul- 
 livan in command. scene on the sorel. sanguine 
 
 expectations of sullivan. washington's opinion of 
 
 Sullivan's character. — gates appointed to the com- 
 mand IN CANADA. REINFORCEMENTS OF THE ENEMY. 
 
 reverses. THOMPSON CAPTURED. RETREAT OF SULLIVAN. 
 
 CLOSE OF THE INVASION OF CANADA. 
 
 Operations in Canada were drawing to a disastrous close. 
 General Thomas, finding it impossible to make a stand at Point 
 Deschambault, had continued his retreat to the mouth of the 
 Sorel, where he found General Thompson with part of the 
 troops detached by Washington, from New York, who were 
 making some preparations for defense. Shortly after his ar- 
 rival, he was taken ill with the small-pox, and removed to 
 Chamblee. He had prohibited inoculation among his troops, 
 because it put too many of their scanty number on the sick list ; 
 he probably fell a victim to his own prohibition, as he died of 
 that malady on the 2d of June. 
 
 On his death, General Sullivan, who had recently arrived, 
 with the main detachment of troops from New York, succeeded 
 to the command. General Wooster having been recalled. He 
 advanced immediately with his brigade to the mouth of the 
 Sorel, where he found General Thompson with but very few 
 troops to defend that post, having detached Colonel St. Clair, 
 with six or seven hundred men, to Three Rivers, about fifty 
 miles down the St. Lawrence, to give check to an advanced 
 corps of the enemy of about eight hundred regulars and Cana- 
 dians, under the veteran Scot, Colonel Macle^-n, In the mean- 
 
446 LI^E OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 time General Thompson, wlio was left with but two hundred 
 men to defend his post, was sending off his sick and his heavy 
 baggage, to be prepared for a retreat, if necessary. " It really 
 was affecting," writes Sullivan to Washington, ^^to see the 
 banks of the Sorel lined with men, women, and children, leap- 
 ing and. clapping their hands for joy, to see me arrive ; it gave 
 no less joy to General Thompson, who seemed to be wholly 
 forsaken, and left to fight against an unequal force or retreat 
 before them." 
 
 Sullivan proceeded forthwith to complete the works on the 
 Sorel ; in the meantime he detached General Thompson with 
 additional troops to overtake St. Clair, and assume command of 
 the whole party, which would then amount to two thousand 
 men. He was by no means to attack the encampment at Three 
 E-ivers, unless there was great prospect of success, as his defeat 
 might prove the total loss of Canada. " I have the highest 
 opinion of the bravery and resolution of the troops you com- 
 mand," says Sullivan in his instructions, " and doubt not but, 
 under the direction of a kind Providence, you will open the 
 way for our recovering that ground which former troops have 
 so shamefully lost." 
 
 Sullivan's letter to Washington, written at the same time, is 
 full of sanguine anticipation. It was his fixed determination 
 to gain post at Deschambault, and fortify it so as to make it inac- 
 cessible. " The enemy's ships are now above that place," writes 
 he ; " but if General Thompson succeeds at three Elvers, I will 
 soon remove the ships below Richelieu Palls, and after that, ap- 
 proach Quebec as fast as possible." 
 
 " Our affairs here," adds he, " have taken a strange turn 
 since our arrival. The Canadians are flocking by hundreds to 
 take a part with us. The only reason of their disaffection was, 
 because our exertions were so feeble that they doubted much of 
 our success, and even of our ability to protect them. 
 
 " I venture to assure you, and the Congress, that I can in a 
 few days reduce the army to order, and with the assistance of a 
 kind Providence, put a new face to our affairs here, which a 
 few days since seemed almost impossible." 
 
 The letter of Sullivan gave Washington an unexpected 
 gleam of sunshine. " Before it came to hand," writes he in 
 reply, " I almost dreaded to hear from Canada, as my advices 
 seemed to promise nothing favorable, but rather further mis- 
 fortunes. But I now hope that our affairs, from the confused, 
 distracted, and almost forlorn state in which you found them, 
 will change, and assume an aspect of order and success." Still 
 his sagacious mind perceived a motive for this favorable color- 
 
LWE OF WASHINGTON. 447 
 
 ing of affairs. Sullivan was aiming at the command in Canada ; 
 and Washington soberly weighed his merits for the appoint- 
 ment, in a letter to the President of Congress. " He is active, 
 spirited, and zealously attached to the cause. He has his wants 
 and he has his foibles. The latter are manifested in his little 
 tincture of vanity, and in an over-desire of being popular, which 
 now and then lead him into embarrassments. His wants are com- 
 mon to us all. He wants experience to move upon a grand scale ; 
 for the limited and contracted knowledge, which any of us have 
 in military matters, stands in very little stead." This want 
 was overbalanced, on the part of General Sullivan, by sound 
 judgment, some acquaintance with men and books, and an en- 
 terprising genius. 
 
 " As the security of Canada is of the last importance to the 
 well-being of these colonies," adds Washington, " I should like 
 to know the sentiments of Congress, respecting the nomination 
 of any officer to that command. The character I have drawn 
 of General Sullivan is just, according to my ideas of him. Con- 
 gress will therefore determine upon the propriety of continuing 
 him in Canada, or sending another, as the}'- shall see fit." "* 
 
 Scarce had Washington despatched this letter, when he re- 
 ceived one from the President of Congress, dated the 18th of 
 June, informing him that Major-general Gates had been ap- 
 pointed to command the forces in Canada, and requesting him 
 to expedite his departure as soon as possible. The appointment 
 of Gates has been attributed to the influence of the eastern del- 
 egates, with whom ho was a favorite ; indeed, during his sta- 
 tion at Boston, he had been highly successful in cultivating the 
 good graces of the Kew England people. He departed for his 
 command on the 26th of June, vested with extraordinary 
 powers for the regulation of affairs in that " distant, dangerous, 
 and shifting scene." " I would fain hope," writes Washington, 
 " his arrival there will give our affairs a complexion different 
 from what they have worn for a long time past, and that many 
 essential benefits will result from it." 
 
 Despatches just received from General Sullivan, had given a 
 different picture of affairs in Canada from that contained in 
 his previous letter. In fact, when he wrote that letter, he was 
 ignorant of the actual force of the enemy in Canada, which had 
 recently been augmented to about 13,000 men ; several regi- 
 ments having arrived from Ireland, one from England, another 
 from General Howe, and a body of Brunswick troops under the 
 Baron E-eidesel. Of these, the greater part were on the way up 
 from Quebec in divisions, by land and water, with Generals 
 
 * Washington to the President of Congress, July 12, 1776. 
 
448 LIFE OF WASHINGTOir. / 
 
 Carleton, Biirgoyne, Philips, and Eeidesel ; while a consider- 
 able number under G-eneral Frazer had arrived at Three Eivers, 
 and others, under General Nesbit, lay near them on board of 
 transports. 
 
 Sullivan's despatch dated on the 8th of June, at the mouth 
 of the Sorel, began in his former sanguine vein, anticipating 
 the success of General Thompson's expedition to Three Rivers. 
 " He has proceeded in the manner proposed, and made his attack 
 at daylight, for at that time a very heavy cannonading began, 
 which lasted with some intervals to twelve o'clock. It is now 
 near one P. M. ; the firing has ceased, except some irregular 
 firing with cannon, at a considerable distance of time one from 
 the other. At eight o'clock a very heavy firing of small arms 
 was heard even here, at the distance of forty-five miles. I am 
 almost certain that victory has declared in our favor, as the 
 irregular firing of the cannon for such a length of time after 
 the small-arms ceased, shows that our men are in possession of 
 the ground." 
 
 The letter was kept open to give the particulars of this 
 supposed victory ; it closed with a dismal reverse. General 
 Thompson had coasted in bateaux along the right bank of the 
 river at that expanse called Lake St. Pierre, and arrived at 
 Nicolete, where he found St. Clair and his detachment. He 
 crossed the river in the night, and landed a few miles above 
 Three Kivers, intending to surprise the enemy before daylight ; 
 he was not aware at the time that additional troops had arrived 
 under General Burgoyne. 
 
 After landing, he marched with rapidity towards Three 
 Rivers, but was led by treacherous guides into a morass, and 
 obliged to return back nearly two miles. Day broke, and he 
 was discovered from the ships. A cannonade was opened upon 
 his men as they made their way slowly for an hour and a half 
 through a swamp. At length they arrived in sight of Three 
 Rivers, but it was to find a large force drawn up in battle array, 
 under General Frazer, by whom they were warmly attacked, 
 and after a brief stand thrown into confusion. Thompson 
 attempted to rally his troops, and partly succeeded, until a fire 
 was opened upon them in rear by Nesbit, who had landed from 
 his ships. Their rout now was complete. General Thompson, 
 Colonel Irvine, and about two hundred men were captured, 
 twenty-five were slain, and the rest pursued for several miles 
 through a deep swamp. After great fatigues, and sufferings they 
 were able to get on board of their boats, which had been kept 
 from falling into the hands of the enemy. In these they made 
 their way back to the Sorel, bringing General Sullivan a sad 
 explanation of all the firing he had heard, and the alarming in- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 449 
 
 telligence of tlie overpowering force that was coming up the river. 
 
 " This, my dear general," writes Sullivan, in the conclusion 
 of his letter, "is the state of this unfortunate enterprise. 
 What you will next hear I cannot say. I am every moment 
 informed of the vast number of the enemy which have arrived. 
 I have only two thousand five hundred and thirty-three rank 
 and file. Most of the officers seem discouraged, and of course, 
 tlieir men, I am employed day and night in fortifying and 
 securing my camp, and am determined to hold it as long as a 
 person will stick by me." 
 
 He had, indeed, made the desperate resolve to defend the 
 mouth of the Sorel, but was induced to abandon it by the un- 
 animous opinion of his officers, and the evident unwillingness 
 of his troops. Dismantling his batteries, therefore, he retreated 
 with his artillery and stores, just before the arrival of the 
 enem}'-, and was followed, step by step along the Sorel, by a 
 strong column under General Burgoyne. 
 
 On the 18th of June he was joined by General Arnold with 
 three hundred men, the garrison of Montreal, who had crossed 
 at Longueil ju.st in time to escape a large detachment of the 
 enemy. Thus reinforced, and the evacuation of Canada being 
 determined on in a council of war, Sullivan succeeded in destroy- 
 ing everything at Chamblee and St. John's that he could not 
 carry away, breaking down bridges, and leaving forts and ves- 
 sels in flames, and continued his retreat to the Isle aux Noix, 
 where he made a halt for some days, until he should receive 
 positive orders from Washington or General Schuyler. In a 
 letter to Washington, he observes, " I am extremely sorry it 
 was not in my power to fulfill your Excellency's wishes, by 
 leading on our troops to victory." After stating the reason of 
 his failure, he adds, " I think we shall secure all the public 
 stores and baggage of the army, and secure our retreat with 
 very little loss. Whether we shall have well men enough to 
 carry them on, I much doubt, if we don't remove quickly ; un- 
 less Heaven is pleased to restore health to this wretched army, 
 now, perhaps, the most pitiful one that ever was formed." 
 
 The low, unhealthy situation of the Isle aux Noix, obliged 
 him soon to remove his camp to the Isle La Motte, whence, on 
 receiving orders to that effect from General Schuyler, he 
 ultimately embarked with his forces, sick and well, for Crown 
 Point. 
 
 Thus ended this famous invasion ; an enterprise bold in its 
 conceptions, daring and hardy in its execution ; full of ingeni- 
 ous expedients, and hazardous exploits ; and which, had not 
 unforeseen circumstances counteracted its well-devised plans, 
 might have added all Canada to the American Confederacy. 
 
450 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 DESIGNS OF THE ENEMY AGAINST NEW YORK AND THE HUDSON. 
 
 PLOT OF TRYON AND THE TORIES. ARRIVAL OF A FLEET. 
 
 ALARM POSTS. TREACHERY UP THE HUDSON. FRESH AR- 
 RIVALS. GENERAL HOWE AT STATEN ISLAND. WASHING- 
 
 ton's PREPARATIONS. 
 
 The great aim of the British, at present, was to get pos- 
 session of New York and the Hudson, and make them the 
 basis of military operations. This they hoped to effect on the 
 arrival of a powerful armament, hourly expected, and designed 
 for operations on the seaboard. 
 
 At this critical juncture there was an alarm of a conspiracy 
 among the tories in the city and on Long Island, suddenly to 
 take up arms and cooperate with the British troops on their 
 arrival. The wildest reports were in circulation concerning it. 
 Some of the tories were to break down King's Bridge, others 
 were to blow up the magazines, spike the guns, and massacre 
 all the field-officers. Washington was to be killed or delivered 
 up to the enemy. Some of his own body-guard were said to 
 be in the plot. 
 
 Several publicans of the city were pointed out, as having 
 aided or abetted the plot. One was landlord of the " High- 
 lander," at the corner of Beaver Street and Broadway. An- 
 other dispensed liquor under the sign of " Kobin Hood." 
 Another, named Lowry, described as a "fat man in a blue 
 coat," kept tavern in a low house opposite the Oswego market. 
 Another, James Houlding, kept a beer-house in Try on Row, 
 opposite the gates of the upper barracks. It would seem as if 
 a network of corruption and treachery had been woven through- 
 out the city by means of these liquor dealers. One of the most 
 noted, however, was Corbie, whose tavern was said to be " to 
 the southeast of General Washington's house, to the westward 
 of Bayard's Woods, and north of Lispenard's Meadows," from 
 which it would appear that, at that time, the general was 
 quartered at what was formerly called Richmond Hill; a 
 mansion surrounded by trees, at a short distance from the city, 
 in rather an isolated situation. 
 
 A committee of the New York Congress, of which John Jay 
 was chairman, traced the plot up to Governor Tryon, who, from 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 451 
 
 his safe retreat on shipboard, acted through agents on shore. 
 The most important of these was David Matthews, the tory 
 mayor of the city. He was accused of disbursing money to 
 enlist men, purchase arms, and corrupt the soldiery. 
 
 Washington was authorized and requested by the committee, 
 to cause the mayor to be apprehended, and all his papers 
 secured. Matthews was at that time residing at Flatbush on 
 Long Island, at no great distance from General Greene's en- 
 campment. Washington transmitted the warrant of the com- 
 mittee to the general on the 21st, with directions that it should 
 " be executed with precision, and exactly by one o'clock of the 
 ensuing morning, by a careful officer." 
 
 Precisely at the hour of one, a detachment from Greene's 
 brigade surrounded the house of the mayor, and secured his 
 person ; but no papers were found, though diligent search was 
 made. 
 
 Numerous others arrests took place, and among the number, 
 some of Washington's body-guard. A great dismay fell upon 
 the tories. Some of those on Long Island who had proceeded 
 to arm themselves, finding the plot discovered, sought refuge in 
 woods and morasses. Washington directed that those arrested, 
 who belonged to the army, should be tried by a court-martial, 
 and the rest handed over to the secular power. 
 
 According to statements made before the committee, five 
 guineas bounty was offered by Governor Tryon to each man who 
 should enter the king's service ; with a promise of two hundred 
 acres of land for himself, one hundred for his wife, and fifty for 
 each child. The men thus recruited were set to act on shore, 
 in cooperation with the king's troops when they came. 
 
 Corbie's tavern, near Washington's quarters, was a kind of 
 rendezvous of the conspirators. There one Gilbert Forbes, a 
 gunsmith, "a short, thick man, with a white coat," enlisted 
 men, gave them monej'-, and "swore them on the book to 
 secrecy." From this house a correspondence was kept up with 
 Governor Tryon on shipboard, through a "mulatto-colored 
 negro, dressed in blue clothes." At this tavern it was supposed 
 Washington's body-guards were tampered with. Thomas 
 Hickey, one of the guards, a dark-complexioned man, five feet 
 six inches high, and well set, was said not only to be enlisted, 
 but to have aided in corrupting his comrades ; among others. 
 Green the drummer, and Johnson the fifer. 
 
 It was further testified before the committee, that one Ser- 
 geant Graham, an old soldier, formerly of the royal artillery, had 
 been employed by Governor Tryon to prowl round and survey 
 the grounds and works about the city, and on Long Island, and 
 
452 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 that, on information thus procured, a plan of operations had 
 been concerted. On the arrival of the fleet, a man-of-war should 
 cannonade the battery at Ked Hook ; while that was doing, a 
 detachment of the army should land below with cannon, and by 
 a circuitous march surprise and storm the works on Long 
 Island. The shipping then, with the remainder of the army, 
 were to divide, one part to run up the Hudson, the other up the 
 East E-iver ; troops were to land above New York^ secure the 
 pass at King's Bridge, and cut off all communication between 
 the city and country.* 
 
 Much of the evidence given was of a dubious kind. It was 
 certain that persons had secretly been enlisted, and sworn to 
 hostile operations, but Washington did not think that any 
 regular plan had been digested by the conspirators. "The 
 matter," writes he, " I am in hopes, by a timely discovery, will 
 be suppressed." f 
 
 According to the mayor's own admission before the commit- 
 tee, he had- been cognizant of attempts to enlist tories and 
 corrupt Washington's guards, though he declared he had dis- 
 countenanced them. He had on one occasion, also, at the request 
 of Governor Tryon, paid money for him to Gilbert Forbes, the 
 gunsmith, for rifles and round-bored guns which he had already 
 furnished, and for others which he was to make. He had done 
 so, however (according to his account), with great reluctance, 
 and after much hesitation and delay, warning the gunsmith 
 that he would be hanged if found out. The mayor, with a num- 
 ber of others, were detained in prison to await a trial. 
 
 Thomas Hickey, the individual of Washington's guard, was 
 tried before a court-martial. He was an Irishman, and had 
 been a deserter from the British army. The court-martial found 
 him guilty of mutiny and sedition, and treacherous correspond- 
 ence with the enemy, and sentenced him to be hanged. 
 
 The sentence was approved by Washington, and was carried 
 promptly into effect, in the most solemn and impressive manner 
 to serve as a warning and example in this time of treachery and 
 danger. On the morning of the 28th, all the officers and men 
 off duty, belonging to the brigades of Heath, Spencer, Stirling, 
 and Scott, assembled under arms at their respective parades at 
 ten o'clock, and marched thence to the ground. Twenty men 
 from each brigade, with bayonets fixed, guarded the prisoner to 
 the place of execution, which was a field near the Bowery Lane. 
 There he was hanged in the presence, we are told, of nearly 
 twenty thousand persons. 
 
 * Am. Archives, 5th Series, vi. lltT. 
 
 t Washington to the President of Congress, June 28, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 453 
 
 While the city was still brooding over this doleful spectacle, 
 four ships-of-war, portentous visitants, appeared off the Hook, 
 stood quietly in at the Narrows, and dropped anchor in the 
 bay. 
 
 In his orderly book, Washington expressed a hope that the 
 unhappy fate of Thomas Hicke}^, executed that day for mutiny, 
 sedition, and treachery, would be a warning to every soldier in 
 the line to avoid the crimes for which he suffered."* 
 
 On the 29th of June, an express from the lookout on ^taten 
 Island, announced that forty sail were in sight. They were, in 
 fact, ships from Halifax, bringing between nine and ten thou- 
 sand of the troops recently expelled from Boston, together with 
 six transports filled with Highland troops, which had joined 
 the fleet at sea. At sight of this formidable armament stand- 
 ing into the harbor, Washington instantly sent notice of its ar- 
 rival to Colonel James Clinton, who had command of the posts 
 in the Highlands, and urged all possible preparations to give 
 the enemy a warm reception should they push their frigates up 
 the river. 
 
 According to general orders issued from head-quarters on the 
 following day (June 30), the officers and men, not on duty 
 were to march from their respective regimental parades to 
 
 * As a specimen of the reports, which circulated throughout the coun- 
 try, concerning this conspiracy, we give an extract from a letter, written 
 from Wethersfield, in Connecticut, 9th of July, 1776, by the Reverend 
 John Marsh. 
 
 " You have heard of the infernal plot that has been discovered. 
 About ten days before any of the conspirators were taken up, a woman 
 went to the general and desired a private audience. 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 
 he was a-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 assa,ssinate 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, who has been executed, went from this place. He 
 came from Ireland a few years ago. What will be done with the mayor 
 is uncertain . He can't be tried by court-martial, and, it is said, there 
 is no law of that colony by which he can be condemned. May he have 
 his deserts." 
 
454 LIFE OF' WASHINGTON. 
 
 their alarm posts, at least once every day, that they might be- 
 come well acquainted with them. They were to go by routes 
 least exposed to a fire from the shipping, and all the officers, 
 from the highest to the lowest, were to make themselves well 
 acquainted with the grounds. Upon a signal of the enemy's 
 approach, or upon any alarm, all fatigue parties were immedi- 
 ately to repair to their respective corps, with their arms, am- 
 munition, and accoutrements, ready for instant action. 
 
 It was ascertained that the ramifications of the conspiracy 
 lately detected, extended up the Hudson. Many of the dis- 
 affected in the upper counties were enlisted in it. The com- 
 mittee of safety at Cornwall, in Orange County, sent word to 
 Colonel James Clinton, Fort Constitution, of the mischief that 
 was brewing. James Haff, a tory, had confessed before them, 
 that he was one of a number who were to join the British 
 troops as soon as they should arrive. It was expected the 
 latter would push up the river and land at Verplanck's Point ; 
 whereupon the guns at the forts in the Highlands were to be 
 spiked by soldiers of their own garrisons ; and the tories 
 throughout the country were to be up in arms.* 
 
 Clinton received letters, also, from a meeting of committees 
 in the precincts of Newburg, apprising him that persons dan- 
 gerous to the cause were lurking in that neighborhood, and re- 
 questing him to detach twenty-five men under a certain lieuten- 
 ant acquainted with the woods, " to aid in getting some of 
 these rascals apprehended and secured." 
 
 While city and country were thus agitated by apprehensions 
 of danger, internal and external, other arrivals swelled the 
 number of ships in the bay of New York to one hundred and 
 thirty, men-of-war and transports. They made no movement 
 to ascend the Hudson, but anchored off Staten Island, where 
 they landed their troops, and the hill-sides were soon whitened 
 with their tents. 
 
 In the frigate Greyhound, one of the four ships which first 
 arrived, came General Howe. He had preceded the fleet in 
 order to confer with Governor Tryon, and inform himself of 
 the state of affairs. In a letter to his government he writes : 
 " I met with Governor Tryon on board of a ship at the Hook, 
 and many gentlemen, fast friends of government, attending him, 
 from whom I have the fullest information of the state of the 
 
 rebels We passed the Narrows with three ships- 
 
 of-war, and the first division of transports, landed the grenadiers 
 and light infantry, as the ships came up, on this island, to the 
 
 * Extracts from minutes of the committee. Am. Archives, 4th. fcJerie^ 
 Vi. 1112. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 455 
 
 great joy of a most loyal people, long suffering on that account 
 under the oppression of the rebels stationed among them ; who 
 
 precipitately fled on the approach of the shipping 
 
 There is great reason to expect a numerous body of the inhabit- 
 ants to join the army from the province of York, the Jerseys 
 and Connecticut, who, in this time of universal oppression, 
 only wait for opportunities to give proofs of their loyalty and 
 zeal." * 
 
 Washington beheld tie gathering storm with an anxious 
 eye, aware that General Howe only awaited the arrival of his 
 brother, the admiral, to commence hostile operations. He 
 wrote to the President of Congress, urging a call on the Massa- 
 chusetts government for its quota of continental troops, and 
 the formation of a flying camp of ten thousand men, to be 
 stationed in the Jerseys as a central force, ready to act in any 
 direction as circumstances might require. 
 
 On the 2d of July, he issued a general order, calling upon 
 the troops to prepare for a momentous conflict which was to 
 decide their liberties and fortunes. Those who should signalize 
 themselves by acts of bravery, would be noticed and rewarded ; 
 those who proved craven would be exposed and punished. No 
 favor would be shown to such as refused or neglected to do 
 their duty at so important a crisis. 
 
 * Governor Tryon, in a letter dated about this time from on board of 
 the Duchess of Gordon, off Staten Island, writes: " The testimony given 
 by the inhabitants of the island, of loyalty to His Majesty, and attach- 
 ment to his government, I flatter myself will be general throughout the 
 province, as soon as the army gets the main body of the rebels between 
 them and the sea; which will leave all the back country open to the 
 command of the king's friends, and yield a plentiful resource of provis- 
 ions for the army, and place them in a better situation to cut off the 
 rebels' retreat when forced from their stronghold," — Am. Archives, 5th 
 Series, 122. 
 
456 LIFE OF WASnmoTON, 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 FIRST APPEARANCE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON- HIS EARLY 
 
 DAYS. GENERAL HUGH MERCER IN COMMAND OF THE FLY- 
 ING CAMP. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. ANNOUNCED 
 
 About this time, we have the first appearance in the military 
 ranks of the Revolution, of one destined to take an active and 
 distinguished part in public affairs ; and to leave the impress of 
 his genius on the institutions of the country. 
 
 As General Greene one day, on his way to Washington's 
 head-quarters, was passing through a field, — then on the out- 
 skirts of the city, now in the heart of its busiest quarter, 
 and known as " the Park," — he paused to notice a provincial 
 company of artillery, and was struck with its able performances, 
 and with the tact and talent of its commander. He was a 
 mere youth, apparently about twenty years of age ; small in 
 person and stature, but remarkable for his alert and manly 
 bearing. It was Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 Greene was an able tactician, and quick to appreciate any dis- 
 play of military science ; a little conversation sufiiced to con- 
 vince him that the youth before him had a mind of no ordinary 
 grasp and quickness. He invited him to his quarters, and 
 from that time cultivated his friendship. 
 
 Hamilton was a native of the island of Nevis, in the West 
 Indies, and at a very early age had been put in a counting- 
 house at Santa Cruz. His nature, however, was aspiring. " I 
 contemn the groveling condition of a clerk to which my fortune 
 condemns me," writes he to a youthful friend, " and would 
 willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my 
 
 station I mean to prepare the way for futurity. 
 
 I am no philosopher, and may be justly said to build castles in 
 the air ; yet we have seen such schemes succeed, when the pro- 
 jector is constant. I shall conclude by saying, I wish there was 
 
 Still he applied himself with zeal and fidelity to the duties 
 of his station, and such were the precocity of his judgment, and 
 his aptness at accounts, that, before he was fourteen years of 
 age, he was left for a brief interval, during the absence of the 
 principal, at the head of the establishment. While his situa- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 457 
 
 tion in the house gave him a practical knowledge of business, 
 and experience in finance, his leisure hours were devoted to 
 self-cultivation. He made himself acquainted with mathematics 
 and chemistry, and indulged a strong propensity to literature. 
 Some early achievements of his pen attracted attention, and 
 showed such proof of talent, that it was determined to give him 
 the advantage of a regular education. He was accordingly sent 
 to Elizahethtown, in the Jerseys, in the autumn of 1772, to 
 prepare, by a course of studies, for admission into King's (now 
 Columbia) College, at New York. He entered in the college 
 as a private student, in the latter part of 1773, and endeavored, 
 by diligent application, to fit himself for the medical profession. 
 
 The contentions of the colonies with the mother country gave 
 a different direction and impulse to his ardent and aspiring 
 mind. He soon signalized himself by the exercise of his pen, 
 sometimes in a grave, sometimes in a satirical manner. On 
 the 6th of July, 1774, there was a general meeting of the 
 citizens in the "Fields," to express their abhorrence of the 
 Boston Port Bill. Hamilton was present, and, prompted by 
 his excited feelings and the instigation of youthful companions, 
 ventured to address the multitude. The vigor and maturity 
 of his intellect, contrasted with his youthful appearance, won 
 the admiration of his auditors ; even his diminutive size gave 
 additional effect to his eloquence. 
 
 The war, for which in his boyish days he had sighed, was ap- 
 proaching. He now devoted himself to military studies, espe- 
 cially pyrotechnics and gunnery, and formed an amateur corps 
 out of a number of his fellow-students, and the young gentle- 
 men of the city. In the month of March, 1776, he became 
 captain of artillery, in a provincial corps, newly raised, and 
 soon, by able drilling, rendered it conspicuous for discipline. 
 
 It was while exercising his artillery company that he at- 
 tracted, as we have mentioned, the attention of General Greene. 
 Further acquaintance heightened the general's opinion of his 
 extraordinary merits, and he took an early occasion to intro- 
 duce him to the commander-in-chief, by whom we shall soon 
 find him properly appreciated. 
 
 A valuable accession to the army at this anxious time, was 
 Washington's neighbor, and former companion in arms, Hugh 
 Mercer, the veteran of Culloden and Fort Duquesne. His 
 military spirit was alert as ever ; the talent he had shown in or- 
 ganizing the Virginia militia, and his zeal and efficiency as a 
 member of the committee of safety, had been properly appreciated 
 by Congress, and on the 5th of June he had received the com- 
 mission of brigadier-general. He was greeted by Washing- 
 
458 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 ton with the right hand of fellowship. The flying camp was 
 about forming. The committee of safety of Pennsylvania were 
 forwarding some of the militia of that province to the Jerseys, 
 to perform the service of the camp until the militia levies, 
 specified by Congress, should arrive. Washington had the 
 nomination of some continental officer to the command. He 
 gave it to Mercer, of whose merits he felt sure, and sent him 
 over to Paulus Hook, in the Jerseys, to make arrangements 
 for the Pennsylvania militia as they should come in ; recom- 
 mending him to Brigadier-general William Livingston, as an 
 officer on whose experience and judgment great confidence 
 might be reposed. 
 
 Livingston was a man inexperienced in arms, but of education, 
 talent, sagacity, and ready wit. He was of the New York 
 family of the same name, but had resided for some time in the 
 Jerseys, having a spacious mansion in Elizabethtown, which he 
 had named Liberty Hall. Mercer and he were to consult to- 
 gether, and concert plans to repel invasions ; the New Jersey 
 militia, however, were distinct from the flying camp, and only 
 called out for local defense. New Jersey's greatest danger of 
 invasion was from Staten Island, where the British were throw- 
 ing up works, and whence they might attempt to cross to Am- 
 boy. The flying camp was therefore to be stationed in the 
 neighborhood of that place. 
 
 " Tlie known disaffection of the people of Amboy," writes 
 Washington, " and the treachery of those on Staten Island, 
 who, after the fairest professions, have shown themselves our 
 most inveterate enemies, have induced me to give directions 
 that all persons of known enmity and doubtful character should 
 be removed from those places." 
 
 According to General Livingston's humorous account, his 
 own village of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being 
 peopled in those agitated times " by unknown, unrecommended 
 strangers, guilty-looking tories, and very knavish whigs." 
 
 While danger was gathering round New York, and its inhab- 
 itants were in mute suspense and fearful anticipations, the 
 General Congress at Philadelphia was discussing, with closed 
 doors, what John Adams pronounced — " The greatest question 
 ever debated in America, and as great as ever was or will be de- 
 bated among men." The result was, a resolution passed un- 
 animously, on the 2d of July, " that these United Colonies are, 
 and of right ought to be, free and independent States." 
 
 ''The 2d of July," adds the same patriot statesman," will be 
 the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am 
 apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding genera- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 450 
 
 tions, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be com- 
 memorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion 
 to Almighty Grod. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and 
 parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and il- 
 luminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from 
 this time forth forevermore." 
 
 The glorious event has, indeed, given rise to an annual jubi- 
 lee, but not on the day designated by Adams. The fourth of 
 July is the day of national rejoicing, for on that day the "Dec- 
 laration of Independence," that solemn and sublime document, 
 was adopted. Tradition gives a dramatic effect to its announce- 
 ment. It was known to be under discussion, but the closed 
 doors of Congress excluded the populace. They awaited, in 
 throngs, an appointed signal. In the steeple of the state-house 
 was a bell, imported twenty-three years previously from Lon- 
 don by the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania. It bore the 
 portentious text from Scripture : "Proclaim liberty throughout 
 all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof." A joyous peal 
 from that bell gave notice that the bill had been passed. It 
 was the knell of British domination. 
 
 No one felt the importance of the event more deeply than 
 John Adams, for no one had been more active in producing it. 
 We quote his words written at the moment. " When I look 
 back to the year 1761, and recollect the argument concerning 
 writs of assistance in the superior court, which I have hitherto 
 considered as the commencement of the controversy between 
 Great Britain and America, and run through the whole period 
 from that time to this, and recollect the series of political events, 
 the chain of causes and effects, I am surprised at the sudden- 
 ness, as well as the greatness of this devolution ; Great Britain 
 has been filled with folly, America with wisdom." 
 
 His only regret was, that the declaration of independence 
 had not been made sooner. " Had it been made seven months 
 ago," said he, " we should have mastered Quebec, and been in 
 possession of Canada, and might before this hour have formed 
 alliances with foreign states. Many gentlemen in high sta- 
 tions, and of great influence, have been duped by the minis- 
 terial bubble of commissioners to treat, and have been slow and 
 languid in promoting measures for the reduction of that prov- 
 ince." 
 
 Washington hailed the declaration with joy. It is true, it 
 was but a formal recognition of a state of things which had 
 long existed, but it put an end to all those temporizing hopes 
 of reconciliation which had clogged the military action of the 
 country. 
 
460 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 On the 9th of July, he caused it to be read at six o'clock in 
 the evening, at the head of each brigade of the army. " The 
 general hopes," said he in his orders, "that this important 
 event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer and sol- 
 dier, to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing that now the 
 peace and safety of his country depend, under God, solely on 
 the success of our arms ; and that he is now in the service of a 
 state, possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and ad- 
 vance him to the highest honors of a free country." 
 
 The excitable populace of New York were not content with 
 the ringing of bells to proclaim their joy. There was a leaden 
 statue of George III. in the Bowling Green in front of the fort. 
 Since kingly rule is at an end, why retain its effigy ? On the 
 same evening, therefore, the statue was pulled down amid the 
 shouts of the multitude, and broken up to be run into bullets 
 " to be used in the cause of independence." 
 
 Some of the soldiery having been implicated in this popular 
 effervescence, Washington censured it in general orders, as 
 having much the appearance of a riot and a want of discipline, 
 and the army wBiS forbidden to indulge in any irregularities of 
 the kind. It was his constant effort to inspire his countrymen 
 in arms with his own elevated idea of the cause in which they 
 were engaged, and to make them feel that it was no ordinary 
 warfare, admitting of vulgar passions and perturbations. " The 
 general hopes and trusts," said he, " that every officer and man 
 will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, de- 
 fending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." * 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF MORE SHIPS. MOVEMENTS OF THE '^ PH(ENIX" 
 
 AND THE " ROSE." PANIC IN THE CITY. HOSTILE SHIPS UP 
 
 THE HUDSON. STIR OF WAR ALONG THE RIVER. GENERAL 
 
 GEORGE CLINTON, AND THE MILITIA OF ULSTER COUNTY. 
 
 FRESH AGITATION OF NEW YORK. ARRIVAL OF LORD HOWE. 
 
 The exultation of the patriots of New York, caused by the 
 Declaration of Independence, was soon overclouded. On the 
 12th oi July, several ships stood in from sea, and joined the 
 naval force below. Every nautical movement was now a mat- 
 ter of speculation and alarm, and all the spy-glasses in the city 
 were incessantly reconnoitering the bay. 
 
 * Orderly book, July 9. Sparks, iii. 456. 
 
LIFJE: of WASHINGTON. 46l 
 
 " The enemy are now in the harbor," writes an American 
 officer, ^' although they have not yet ventured themselves with- 
 in gunshot of the city, but we hourly except to be called into 
 action. The whole army is out between two and three every 
 morning, at their respective alarm posts, and remain there until 
 sunrise. I am morally certain that it will not be long before 
 we have an engagement." 
 
 Scarce had this letter been penned, when two ships-of-war 
 were observed getting under way, and standing toward the 
 city. One was the JPhoenix, of forty guns ; the other the Mose^ 
 of twenty guns, commanded by Captain Wallace, of unenviable 
 renown, who had marauded the New England coasts, and domi- 
 neered over E-hode Island. The troops were immediately at 
 their alarm posts. It was about half-past three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, as the ships and three tenders came sweeping up the 
 bay with the advantage of wind and tide, and shaped their 
 course up the Hudson. The batteries of the city and of Paulus 
 Hook, on the opposite Jersey shore, opened a fire upon them. 
 They answered it with broadsides. There was a panic through- 
 out the city. Women and children ran hither and thither about 
 the streets, mingling their shrieks and cries with the thunder- 
 ing of the cannon. " The attack has begun ! The city is to be 
 destroyed ! What will become of us ? " 
 
 The Phoenix and the Hose continued their course up the 
 Hudson. They had merely fired upon the batteries as they 
 passed ; and on their own part had sustained but little damage, 
 their decks having ramparts of sand-bags. The ships below 
 remained in sullen quiet at their anchors, and showed no in- 
 tention of following them. The firing ceased. The fear of a 
 general attack upon the city died away, and the agitated citi- 
 zens breathed more freely. 
 
 Washington, however, apprehended this movement of the 
 ships might be with a different object. They might be sent to 
 land troops and seize upon the passes of the Highlands. Forts 
 Montgomery and Constitution were far from complete, and 
 were scantily manned. A small force might be sufficient to 
 surprise them. The ships might intend, also, to distribute 
 arms among the tories in the river counties, and prepare them 
 to cooperate in the apprehended attack upon New York. 
 
 Thus thinking, the moment Washington saw these ships 
 standing up the river, he sent off an express to put General 
 Mifflin on the alert, who was stationed with his Philadelphia 
 troops at Fort Washington and King's Bridge. The same ex- 
 press carried a letter from him to the New York Convention, 
 at that time holding its sessions at White Plains in Westchea* 
 
462 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ter County, apprising it of the impending danger. His imme- 
 diate solicitude was for the safety of Forts Constitution and 
 Montgomery. 
 
 Fortunately George Clinton, the patriotic legislator, had re- 
 cently been appointed brigadier-general of the militia of Ulster 
 and Orange counties. Called to his native State by his mili- 
 tary duties in this time of danger, he had only remained in 
 Congress to vote for the Declaration of Independence, and then 
 hastened home. He was now at New Windsor, in Ulster 
 County, just above the Highlands. Washington wrote to him 
 on the afternoon of the 12th, urging him to collect as great a 
 force as possible of the New York militia, for the protection of 
 the Highlands against this hostile irruption, and to solicit aid, 
 if requisite, from the western parts of Connecticut. " I have 
 the strongest reason to believe," added he, " it will be absolutely 
 necessary, if it were only to prevent an insurrection of your 
 own tories." 
 
 Long before the receipt of Washington's letter, Clinton had 
 been put on the alert. About nine o'clock on the morning of 
 the 13th, an alarm gun from his brother at Fort Constitution, 
 thundered through the echoing defiles of the mountains. 
 Shortly afterwards, two river sloops came to anchor above the 
 Highlands before the general's residence. Their captains in- 
 formed him that New York had been attacked on the preceding 
 afternoon. They had seen the cannonade from a distance, and 
 judged from the subsequent firing that the enemy's ships were 
 up the river as far as King's Bridge. 
 
 Clinton was as prompt a soldier as he had been an intrepid 
 legislator. The neighboring militia were forthwith put in 
 motion. Three regiments were ordered out ; one was to repair to 
 Fort Montgomery ; another to Fort Constitution ; the third to 
 rendezvous at Newburg, just above the Highlands, ready to 
 hasten to the assistance of Fort Constitution, should another 
 signal be given. All the other regiments under his command 
 were to be prepared for service at a moment's notice. In order- 
 ing these hasty levies, however, he was as considerate as he was 
 energetic. The colonels were directed to leave the frontier 
 companies at home, to protect the country against the Indians, 
 and some men out of each company to guard against internal 
 enemies. 
 
 Another of his sagacious measures was to send expresses to 
 all the owners of sloops and boats twenty miles up the west 
 side of the river, to haul them off so as to prevent their ground- 
 ing. Part of them were to be ready to carry over the militia to 
 the forts. The rest were ordered down to Fort Constitution, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 463 
 
 where a chain of them might be drawn across the narrowest 
 part of the river, to be set on fire should the enemy's ships 
 attempt to pass. 
 
 Having made these prompt arrangements, he proceeded early- 
 in the afternoon of the same day, with about forty of his neigh- 
 bors, to Fort Constitution J whence, leaving some with his 
 brother, he pushed down on the same evening to Fort Mont- 
 gomery, where he fixed his headquarters, as being nearer the 
 enemy and better situated to discover their motions. 
 
 Here, on the following day (July 14th), he received Wash- 
 ington's letter, written two days previously ; but by this time 
 he had anticipated its orders, and stirred up the whole country. 
 On that same evening, two or three hundred of the hardy Ulster 
 yeomanry, roughly equipped, part of one of the regiments he 
 had ordered out, marched into Fort Montgomery, headed by 
 their colonel (Woodhull). Early the next morning five hundred 
 of another regiment arrived, and he was told that parts of two 
 other regiments were on the way. 
 
 '' The men," writes he to Washington, " turn out of their 
 harvest fields to defend their country with surprising alacrity. 
 The absence of so many of them, however, at this time, when 
 their harvests are perishing for want of the sickle, will greatly 
 distress the country. I could wish, therefore, that a less num- 
 ber might answer the purpose." 
 
 On no one could this prompt and brave gathering of the yeo- 
 manry produce a more gratifying effect than upon the com- 
 mander-in-chief ; and no one could be more feelingly alive, in 
 the midst of stern military duties, to the appeal in behalf of the 
 peaceful interests of the husbandman. 
 
 While the vigilant Clinton was preparing to defend the 
 passes of the Highlands, danger was growing more imminent 
 at the mouth of the Hudson. 
 
 Kew York has always been a city prone to agitations. That 
 into which it was thrown on the afternoon of the 12th of July, 
 by the broadside of the Phoenix and the Hose, was almost im- 
 mediately followed by another. On the same evening there was 
 a great booming of cannon, with clouds of smoke, from the 
 shipping at anchor at Staten Island. Every spy-glass was again 
 in requisition. The British fleet were saluting a ship of the 
 line, just arrived from sea. She advanced grandl^^^, every man- 
 of-war thundering a salute as she passed. At her foretop mast- 
 head she bore St. George's flag. " It is the admiral's ship ! " 
 cried the nautical men on the lookout at the Battery. " It is 
 the admiral's ship ! " was echoed from mouth to mouth, and 
 the word soon flew through the city, " Lord Howe is come ! " 
 
464 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST TORIES. — SECRET COMMITTEES. — DEC- 
 LARATION" OF LORD HOWE. HIS LETTER TO THE COLONIAL 
 
 GOVERNORS. HIS LETTER TO WASHINGTON REJECTED. IN- 
 TERVIEW BETWEEN THE BRITISH ADJUTANT-GENERAL AND 
 
 COLONEL REED. RECEPTION OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL BY 
 
 WASHINGTON. THE " PHCENIX " AND " ROSE " IN THE TAP- 
 PAN SEA AND HAVERSTRAW BAY. ARMING OF THE RIVER 
 
 YEOMANRY. GEORGE CLINTON AT THE GATES OF THE HIGH- 
 LANDS. 
 
 Lord Howe was indeed come, and affairs ' now appeared to 
 be approaching a crisis. In consequence of the recent con- 
 spiracy, the Convention of New York, seated at White Plains 
 in Westchester County, had a secret committee stationed in 
 New York for the purpose of taking cognizance of traitorous 
 machinations. To this committee Washington addressed a 
 letter the day after his lordship's arrival, suggesting the policy 
 of removing from the city and its environs, " all persons of 
 known disaffection and enmity to the cause of America;'^ espe- 
 cially those confined in jail for treasonable offenses j who might 
 become extremely dangerous in case of an attack and alarm. 
 He took this step with great reluctance ; but felt compelled to 
 it by circumstances. The late conspiracy had shown him that 
 treason might be lurking in his camp. And he was well aware 
 that the city and the neighboring country, especially West- 
 chester County, and Queens and Suffolk counties on Long 
 Island, abounded with " tories " ready to rally under the royal 
 standard whenever backed by a commanding force. 
 
 In consequence of his suggestion, thirteen persons in confine- 
 ment for traitorous offenses, were removed to the jail of Litch- 
 field in Connecticut. Among the number was the late mayor ; 
 but as his offense was not of so deep a dye as those whereof the 
 rest stood charged, it was recommended by the president of the 
 Convention that he should be treated with indulgence. 
 
 The proceedings of Lord Howe soon showed the policy of 
 these precautions. His lordship had prepared a declaration ad- 
 dressed to the people at large, informing them of the powers 
 vested in his brother and himself as commissioners for restoring 
 peace j and inviting communities as vfoil a? individuals, who, 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON . 465 
 
 in the tumult and disasters of the times, had deviated from 
 their allegiance to the crown, to merit and receive pardon by a 
 prompt return to their duty. It was added, that proper con- 
 sideration would be had of the services of all who should contrib- 
 ute to the restoration of public tranquillity. 
 
 His lordship really desired peace. According to a contem- 
 porary, he came to America " as a mediator, not as a de- 
 stroyer,""^ and had founded great hopes in the efficacy of this 
 document in rallying back the people to their allegiance ; it 
 was a sore matter of regret to him, therefore, to find that, in 
 consequence of his tardy arrival, his invitation to loyalty had 
 been forestalled by the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Still it might have an effect in bringing adherents to the 
 royal standard ; he sent a flag on shore, therefore, . bearing a 
 circular letter, written in his civil and military capacity, to the 
 colonial governor, requesting him to publish his address to the 
 people as widely as possible. 
 
 We have heretofore shown the tenacity with which "Washing- 
 ton, in his correspondence with Generals Gage and Howe, ex- 
 acted the consideration and deference due to him as command- 
 er-in-chief of the American armies ; he did this not from official 
 pride and punctilio, but as the guardian of American rights 
 and dignities. A further step of the kind has yet to be taken. ' 
 The British officers, considering the Americans in arms rebels 
 without valid commissions, were in the habit of denying them 
 all military title. Washington's general officers had urged him 
 not to submit to this tacit indignity, but to reject all letters 
 directed to him without -a specification of his official rank. 
 
 An occasion now presented itself for the adjustment of this 
 matter. Within a day or two an officer of the British navy, 
 Lieutenant Brown, came with a flag from Lord Howe, seeking 
 a conference with Washington. Colonel Keed, the adjutant- 
 general, embarked in a "barge, and met him half way between 
 Governor's and Staten Islands. The lieutenant informed him 
 that he was the bearer of a letter from Lord Howe to 3fr, 
 Washington. Colonel Reed replied, that he knew no such per- 
 son in the American army. The lieutenant produced and 
 offered the letter. It was addressed to George Washington, 
 Esquire. He was informed that it could not be received with 
 such a direction. - The lieutenant expressed much concern. 
 The letter, he said, was of a civil, rather than' a military 
 nature — Lord Howe regretted he had not arrived sooner — he 
 had great powers — it was much to be wished the letter could be 
 received. 
 
 * Letter of Mr. Dennis de Berdt, to Mr. Joseph IReed^'^Am^ -Archives, 
 -5th Series, i. 372. 
 
46G LIFE OF WASBINGTpN. 
 
 While the lieutenant was embarrassed and agitated, Keed 
 maintained his coolness, politely declining to receive the letter, 
 as inconsistent with his duty. They parted ; but after the 
 lieutenant had*l)een rowed some little distance, his barge was 
 put about, and Reed waited to hear what further he had to say. 
 It was to ask by what title General — but catching himself. Mi\ 
 Washington chose to be addressed. 
 
 Reed replied that the general's station in the army was well 
 known ; and they could not be at a loss as to the proper mode 
 of addressing him, especially as this matter had been discussed 
 in the preceding summer, of which, he presumed, the admiral 
 could not be ignorant. The lieutenant again expressed his dis- 
 appointment and regret, and their interview closed. 
 
 On the 19th, an aide-de-camp of General .Howe came with a 
 flag, and requested to know, as there appeared to be an obstacle 
 to a correspondence between the two generals, whether 
 Colonel Patterson, the British adjutant-general, could be ad- 
 mitted to an interview with General Washington. Colonel 
 Reed, who met the flag, consented in the name of the general, 
 and pledged his honor for the safety of the adjutant-general 
 during the interview, which was fixed for the following 
 morning. 
 
 At the appointed time. Colonel Reed, and Colonel Webb, one 
 of Washington's aides, met the flag in the harbor, took Colonel 
 Patterson into their barge, and escorted him to town, passing 
 in front of the grand battery. The customary precaution of 
 blindfolding was dispensed with ; and there was a lively and 
 sociable conversation the whole way. Washington received the 
 adjutant-general at head-quarters with much form and ceremony, 
 in full military array with his officers and guards about him. 
 
 Colonel Pattersen, addressing him by the title of your excel- 
 lency, endeavored to explain the address of the letter as consist- 
 ent with propriety, and founded on a similar address in the 
 previous summer, to General Howe. That General Howe did not 
 mean to derogate from the rank or respect of General Washing- 
 ton, but conceived such an address consistent with what had been 
 used by ambassadors or plenipotentiaries where difficulties of 
 rank had arisen. He then produced, but did not offer, a letter 
 addressed to George Washington, Esquire, etc. etc., hoping 
 that the et ceteras, which_ implied everything, would remove 
 all impediments. 
 
 Washington replied that it 'was true the et ceteras implied 
 everything, but they also implied anything. His letter al- 
 luded to, of the previous summer, was in reply' tb one addressed 
 in like "rhanner, A letter, he added, addressed to a person 
 
L1F:E of WASHINGTON 467 
 
 iicting in a public character, should have some inscriptions to 
 designate it from a mere private letter ; and he should absolutely 
 decline any letter addressed to himself as a private person, 
 when it related to his public station. 
 
 Colonel Patterson, finding the letter would not be received, 
 endeavored, as far as he could recollect, to communicate the 
 scope of it in the course of a somewhat desultory conversation. 
 What he chiefly dwelt upon was, that Lord Howe and his 
 brother had been specially nominated commissioners for the 
 promotion of peace, which was esteemed a mark of favor and 
 regard to America ; that they had great powers, and would 
 derive the highest pleasure from effecting an accommod^ion ; 
 and he concluded by adding, that he wished his visit to be 
 considered as making the first advance toward that desirable 
 object. 
 
 Washington replied that, by what had appeared (alluding, 
 no doubt, to Lord Howe's circular), their powers, it would 
 seem, were only to grant pardons. Now those who had com- 
 mitted no fault needed no pardon ; and such was the case with 
 the Americans, who were only defending what they considered 
 their indisputable rights. 
 
 Colonel Patterson avoided a discussion of this matter, which, 
 he observed, would open a very wide field ; so here the confer- 
 ence, which had been conducted on both sides with great 
 courtesy, terminated. The colonel took his leave, excusing 
 himself from partaking of a collation, having made a late 
 breakfast, and was again conducted to his boat. He expressed 
 himself highly sensible of the courtesy of his treatment, in hav- 
 ing the usual ceremony of blindfolding dispensed with. 
 
 Washington received the applause of Congress and of the 
 public for sustaining the dignity of his station. His conduct 
 in this particular was recommended as a model to all American 
 officers in corresponding with the enemy ; and Lord Howe in- 
 formed his government that, thenceforward, it would be politic 
 to change the superscription of his letters. 
 
 In the meantime the irruption of the Phoenix and the Rose 
 into the waters of the Hudson had roused a belligerent spirit 
 along its borders. The lower part of that noble river is com- 
 manded on the eastern side by the bold woody heights of 
 Manhattan Island and Westchester County, and on the western 
 side by the rocky cliffs of the Palisades. Beyond those cliffs, 
 the river expands into a succession of what may almost be 
 termed lakes ; first the Tappan Sea, then Haverstraw Bay, then 
 the Bay of Peekskill ; separated from each other by long 
 stretching points, or high beetling promontories, but affording 
 
468 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ample sea-room and safe anchorage. Then come the redoubt- 
 able Highlands, that strait, fifteen miles in length, where the 
 river bends its course, narrow and deep, between rocky, forest- 
 clad mountains. 
 
 " He who has command of that grand defile," said an old 
 navigator, '^may at any time throttle the Hudson." 
 
 The New York Convention, aware of the impending danger, 
 despatched military envoys to stir up the yeomanry along the 
 river, and order out militia. Powder and ball were sent to 
 Tarrytown, before which the hostile ships were anchored, and 
 yeoman troops were stationed there and along the neighboring 
 shores of the Tappan Sea. In a little while the militia of 
 Dutchess County and Cortlandt's Manor were hastening, 
 rudely armed, to protect the public stores at Peekskill, and 
 mount guard at the entrance of the Highlands. 
 
 No one showed more zeal in this time of alarm, than Colonel 
 Pierre Van Cortlandt, of an old colonial family, which held its 
 manorial residence at the mouth of the Croton. With his 
 regiment he kept a dragon watch along the eastern shore of 
 the Tappan Sea and Haverstraw Bay ; while equal vigilance 
 was maintained night and day along the western shore, from 
 Nyack quite up to the Dunderberg, by Colonel Hay and his 
 regiment of Haverstraw. Sheep and cattle were driven inland, 
 out of the reach of maraud. Sentinels were posted to keep a 
 lookout from heights and headlands, and give the alarm should 
 any boats approach the shore ; and rustic marksmen were 
 ready to assemble in a moment, and give them a warm 
 reception. 
 
 The ships of war which caused this alarm and turmoil, lay 
 quietly anchored in the broad expanses of the Tappan Sea and 
 Haverstraw Bay; shifting their ground occasionally, and 
 keeping out of musket shot of the shore, apparently sleeping 
 in the summer sunshine, with awnings stretched above their 
 decks ; while their boats were out taking soundings quite up 
 to the Highlands, evidently preparing for further operations. 
 At night, too, their barges were heard rowing up and down 
 the river on mysterious errands ; perriaugers, also, paid them 
 furtive visits occcasionally ; it was surmised, with communi- 
 cations and supplies from tories on shore. 
 
 While the ships were anchored in Haverstraw Bay, one of 
 the tenders stood into the Bay of Peekskill, and beat up within 
 long shot of Fort Montgomery, where General George Clinton 
 was ensconced with six hundred of the militia of Orange and 
 Ulster counties. As the tender approached, a thirty-two 
 pounder was brought to range upon her. The ball passed 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 469 
 
 through her quarter ; whereupon she put about, and ran round 
 the point of tlie Dunderberg, where the boat landed, plundered 
 a solitary house at the foot of the mountain, and left it in 
 flames. The marauders, on their way back to the ships, were 
 severely galled by rustic marksmen, from a neighboring 
 promontory. 
 
 The ships, now acquainted with the channel, moved up with- 
 in six miles of Fort Montgomery. General Clinton apprehended 
 they might mean to take advantage of a dark night, and slip 
 by him in the deep shadows of the mountains. The shores 
 were high and bold, the river was deep, the navigation of 
 course safe and easy. Once above. the Highlands, they might 
 ravage the country beyond, and destroy certain vessels of war 
 which were being constructed at Poughkeepsie. 
 
 To prevent this, he stationed a guard at night on the furthest 
 point in view, about two miles and a half below the fort, pre- 
 pared to kindle a blazing fire should the ships appear in sight. 
 Large piles of dry brushwood mixed with combustibles, were 
 prepared at various places up and down the shore opposite to 
 the fort, and men stationed to set fire to them as soon as a sig- 
 nal should be given from the lower point. The fort, therefore, 
 while it remained in darkness, would have a fair chance with 
 its batteries as the ships passed between it and these confla- 
 grations. 
 
 A private committee sent up by the New York Convention, 
 had a conference with the general, to devise further means of 
 obstructing the passage of ships up the river. Fire rafts were 
 to be brought from Poughkeepsie and kept at hand ready for 
 action. These were to be lashed two together, with chains, be- 
 tween old sloops filled with combustibles, and sent down with a 
 strong wind and tide, to drive upon the ships. An iron chain, 
 also, was to be stretched obliquely across the river from Fort 
 Montgomery to the foot of AntJfiony's Nose, thus, as it were, 
 chaining up the gate of the Highlands. 
 
 For a protection below the Highlands, it was proposed to 
 station whale-boats about the coves and promontories of Tap- 
 pan Sea and Haverstraw Bay ; to reconnoiter the enemy, cruise 
 about at night, carry intelligence from post to post, seize any 
 river craft that might bring the ships supplies, and cut off their 
 boats when attempting to land. Galleys also, were prepared, 
 with nine-pounders mounted at the bows. 
 
 Colonel Hay of Haverstraw, in a letter to Washington, re- 
 joices that the national Congress are preparing to protect this 
 great highway of the country, and anticipates that the banks of 
 the Hudson were about to become the chief theatre of the war. 
 
470 LIFU OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The Van Cortlandt Family.— Two members of this old and 
 honorable family were conspicuous patriots throughout the Revolution. 
 Pierre Van Cortlaudt, the father, at this time about 56 years of age, a 
 stanch friend and ally of George Clinton, was member of the first 
 Provincial Congress, and president of the Comtnittee of Public Safety. 
 Governor Tryon had visited him in his old manor-house at the mouth 
 of the Croton, in 1774, and made him offers of royal favors, honors, 
 grants of land, etc., if he would abandon the popular cause. His offers 
 were nobly rejected. The Cortlandt family suffered in consequence, 
 being at one time obliged to abandon their manorial residence ; but the 
 head remained true to the cause, and subsequently filled the office of 
 lieutenant-governor with great dignity. 
 
 His son Pierre, mentioned in. the above chapter, and then about 27 
 years of age, had likewise resisted the overtures of Tryon, destroyiftg a 
 major's commission in the Cortlandt militia, which he sent him. Con- 
 gress, in 1775, made him lieutenant-colonel in the continental service, 
 in which capacity we now find him, acquitting himself with zeal and 
 ability. 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 QUESTION OF COMMAND BETWEEN GATES AND SCHUYLER. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE AKMY AT CROWN POINT. DISCONTENT 
 
 AND DEPARTURE OF SULLIVAN. — FORTIFICATIONS AT TI- 
 CONDEROGA. THE QUESTION OF COMMAND ADJUSTED. SE- 
 CRET DISCONTENTS. SECTIONAL JEALOUSIES IN THE ARMY. 
 
 SOUTHERN TROOPS. SMALLWOOD's MACARONI BATTALION. 
 
 CONNECTICUT LIGHT-HORSE. 
 
 While the security of the Hudson from invading ships was 
 claiming the attention of Washington, he was equally anxious 
 to prevent an irruption of the enemy from Canada. He was 
 grievedj therefore, to find there was a clashing of authorities 
 between the generals who had charge of the Korthern frontier. 
 Gates, on his way to take command of the army in Canada, had 
 heard with surprise in Albany, of its retreat across the New 
 York frontier. He still considered it under his orders, and 
 was proceeding to act accordingly ; when General Schuyler ob- 
 served, that the resolution of Congress, and the instructions of 
 Washington, applied to the army only while in Canada; the 
 moment it retreated within the limits of New York, it came 
 within his (Schuyler's) command. A letter from Schuyler to 
 Washington, written at the time says*. "If Congress intended 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 47I 
 
 that General Gates should command the Northern army, 
 wherever it may be, as he assures me they did, it ought to have 
 been signified to me, and I should then have immediately re- 
 signed the command to him ; but until such intention is prop- 
 erly conveyed to me, I never can. I must, therefore, entreat 
 your excellency to lay this letter before Congress, that they may 
 clearly and explicitly signify their intentions, to avert the 
 dangers and evils that may arise from a disputed command." 
 
 That there might be no delay in the service at this critical 
 juncture, the two generals agreed to refer the question of com- 
 mand to Congress, and in the meantime to act in concert. They 
 accordingly departed together for Lake Champlain, to prepare 
 against an anticipated invasion by Sir Guy Carleton. They 
 arrived at Crown Point on the 6th of July, and found there the 
 wrecks of the army recently driven out of Canada. They had 
 been harassed in their retreat by land ; their transportation on 
 the lake had been in leaky boats, without awnings, where the 
 sick, suffering from small-pox, lay on straw, exposed to a burn- 
 ing July sun ; no food but salt pork, often rancid, hard biscuit 
 or unbaked flour, and scarcely any medicine. Not more than 
 six thousand men had reached Crown Point, and half of those 
 were on the sick list ; the shattered remains of twelve or fif- 
 teen very fine battalions. Some few were sheltered in tents, 
 some under sheds, and others in huts hastily formed of bushes ; 
 scarce one of which but contained a dead or dying man. Two 
 thousand eight hundred were to be sent to a hospital recently 
 established at the south end of Lake George, a distance of fifty 
 miles ; when they were gone, with those who were to row them 
 in boats, there would remain but the shadow of an army."^ 
 
 In a council of war, it was determined that, under present 
 circumstances, the post of Crown Point was not tenable ; neither 
 was it capable of being made so this summer, without a force 
 greatly superior to any they might reasonably expect ; and that, 
 therefore, it was expedient to fall back, and take a strong posi- 
 tion at Ticonderoga. 
 
 General Sullivan had been deeply hurt that Gates, his 
 former inferior in rank, should have been appointed over him 
 to the command of the army in Canada ; considering it a tacit 
 intimation that Congress did not esteem him competent to the 
 trust which had devolved upon him. He now, therefore, re- 
 quested leave of absence, in order to wait on the commander- 
 in-chief. It was granted with reluctance. Before departing, 
 he communicated to the army, through General Schuyler, his 
 high and grateful sense pf their exertions in securing a retreat 
 * Col. John Trumbull's Autobiography, p. 285, Appendix. 
 
472 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 from Canada, and the cheerfulness with which his commands 
 had been received and obeyed. 
 
 On the 9th of July, Schuyler and Gates returned to Ticon- 
 deroga, accompanied by Arnold. Instant arrangements were 
 made to encamp the troops, and land the artillery and stores as 
 fast as they should arrive. Great exertions, also, were made 
 to strengthen the defenses of the place. Colonel John 
 Trumbull, who was to have accompanied Gates to Canada, as 
 adjutant-general, had been reconnoitering the neighborhood 
 of Ticonderoga, and had pitched upon a place for fortification 
 on the eastern side of the lake, directly opposite the east point 
 of Ticonderoga, where Fort Independence was subsequently 
 built. He also advised the erection of a work on a lofty 
 eminence, the termination of a mountain ridge, which separates 
 Lake George from Lake Champlain. His advice was unfort- 
 unately disregarded. The eminence, subsequently called 
 Mount Defiance, looked down upon and commanded the narrow 
 parts of both lakes. We shall hear more of it hereafter. 
 
 Preparations were made, also, to augment the naval force on 
 the lakes. Ship carpenters from the Eastern States were em- 
 ployed at Skenesborough, to build the hulls of galleys and 
 boats, which, when launched, were to be sent down to Ticon- 
 deroga for equipment and armament, under the superinten- 
 dence of General Arnold. 
 
 Schuyler soon returned to Albany, to superintend the gen- 
 eral concerns of the Northern department. He was indefatigable 
 in procuring and forwarding the necessary materials and artil- 
 lery for the fortification of Ticonderoga. 
 
 The question of command between him and Gates was ap- 
 parently at rest. A letter from the President 6f Congress, 
 dated July 8th, informed General Gates, that according to the 
 resolution of that body under which he had been appointed, his 
 command was totally independent of General Schuyler while 
 the array was in Canada, but no longer. Congress had no de- 
 sign to divest General Schuyler of the command while the 
 troops were on this side of Canada. 
 
 To Schuyler, under the same date, the president, writes : 
 " The Congress highly approve of your patriotism and magna- 
 nimity in not suffering any difference of opinion to hurt the 
 public service. 
 
 " A mutual confidence and good understanding are at this 
 time essentially necessary, so that I am persuaded they will 
 take place on all occasions between yourself and General 
 Gates." 
 
 Gates professed himself entirely satisfied with the explana- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 473 
 
 tion lie had received, and perfectly disposed to obey the com- 
 mands of Schuyler. " I am confident," added he, " we shall, 
 as the Congress wish, go hand in hand to promote the public 
 welfare." 
 
 Schuyler, too, assured both Congress and Washington, " that 
 the difference in opinion between Gates and himself had not 
 caused the least ill-will, nor interrupted that harmony necessary 
 to subsist between their officers." 
 
 Samuel Adams, however, who was at that time in Congress, 
 had strong doubts in the matter. 
 
 " Schuyler and Gates are to command the troops," writes he, 
 the former while they are without, the latter while they are 
 within the bounds of Canada. Admitting these generals to 
 have the accomplishments of a Marlborough, or a Eugene, I 
 cannot conceive that such a disposition of them will be attended 
 with any good effects, unless harmony subsists between them. 
 Alas, I fear this is not the case. Already disputes have arisen, 
 which they have referred to Congress ; and, although they effect; 
 to treat each other with a politeness becoming their rank, in 
 my mind, altercations between commanders who have preten- 
 sions nearly equal (I mean in point of command), forebode a 
 repetition of misfortune. I sincerely wish my apprehensions 
 may prove groundless." * 
 
 We have a letter before us, also, written to Gates, by his 
 friend Joseph Trumbull, commissary-general, on whose appoint- 
 ment of a deputy, the question of command had arisen. Trum- 
 bull's letter was well calculated to inflame the jealousy of Gates. 
 ^' I find you are in a cursed situation," writes he ; " your au- 
 thority at an end j and commanded by a person who will be 
 willing to have you knocked in the head, as General Mont- 
 gomery was, if he can have the money chest in his power." 
 
 Governor Trumbull, too, the father of the commissary- 
 general, observes subsequently : " It is justly to be expected 
 that General Gates is discontented with his situation, finding 
 himself limited and removed from the command, to be a wretched 
 spectator of the ruin of the army, without power of attempting 
 to save them." f We shall have frequent occasion hereafter to 
 notice the discord in the service caused by this rankling discon- 
 tent. 
 
 As to General Sullivan, who repaired to Philadelphia and 
 tendered his resignation, the question of rank which had ag- 
 grieved him was explained in a manner that induced him to 
 continue in service. It was universally allowed that his retreat 
 
 * S. Adams to K. H. Lee. Am. Archives, 5th Series, i. 347. 
 t Governor Trumbull to Mr. William Williams. 
 
474 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 had been ably conducted through all kinds of difficulties and 
 disasters. 
 
 A greater source of solicitude to Washington than this jeal- 
 ousy between commanders, was the sectional jealousy springing 
 up among the troops. In a letter to Schuyler (July 17th), he 
 says, " I must entreat your attention to do away with the un- 
 happy and pernicious distinctions and jealousies between the 
 troops of different governments. Enjoin this upon the officers, 
 and let them inculcate and press home to the soldiery, the ne- 
 cessity of order and harmony among those who are embarked in 
 one common cause, and mutually contending for all that free 
 men hold dear." 
 
 Nowhere were these sectional jealousies more prevalent than 
 in the motley army assembled from distant quarters under 
 Washington's own command. Keed, the adjutant-general, 
 speaking on this subject, observes: "The Southern troops, 
 comprising the regiments south of the Delaware, looked with 
 very unkind feelings on those of New England j especially 
 those from Connecticut, whose peculiarities of deportment made 
 them the objects of ill-disguised derision among their fellow- 
 soldiers." * 
 
 Among the troops thus designated as Southern, were some 
 from Virginia, under a Major Leitch ; others from Maryland, 
 under Colonel Smallwood ; others from Delaware, led by Col- 
 onel Haslet. There were four continental battalions from 
 Pennsylvania, commanded by Colonels Shee, St. Clair, Wayne, 
 and Magaw; and provincial battalions, two of which were 
 severally commanded by Colonels Miles and Atlee. The conti- 
 nental battalion under Colonel Shee, was chiefly from the city 
 of Philadelphia, especially the officers ; among whom were Lam- 
 bert Cadwalader and William Allen, members of two of the 
 principal and most aristocratic families, and Alexander Gray- 
 don, to whose memoirs we are indebted for some graphic pictures 
 of the times. 
 
 These Pennsylvania troops were under the command of Briga- 
 dier-general Mifflin, who, in the preceding year, had acted as 
 Washington's aide-de-camp, and afterwards as quartermaster- 
 general. His townsman and intimate, Graydon, characterizes 
 him as a man of education and cultivated manners, with a great 
 talent at haranguing ; highly animated in his appearance, full 
 of activity and apparently of fire ; but rather too much of a 
 bustler, harassing his men unnecessarily. " He assumed," adds 
 Graydon, "a little of the veteran, from having been before 
 
 *Life of Eeed, vol. i. p. 239. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 475 
 
 Boston/' His troops were chiefly encamped near King's Bridge, 
 and employed in constructing works at Fort Washington. 
 
 Smallwood's Maryland battalioa was one of the brightest in 
 point of equipment. The scarlet and buff uniforms of those 
 Southerners contrasted vividly with the rustic attire of the yeo- 
 man battalions from the East. Their officers, too, looked down 
 upon their Connecticut compeers, who could only be distin- 
 guished from their men by wearing a cockade. " There were 
 ]ione," says Graydon, " by whom an unofficer-like appearance 
 and deportment could be tolerated less than by a city-bred 
 Marylander; who, at this time, was distinguished by the most 
 fashionable cut coat, the most fnacaroni cocked-hat, and hottest 
 blood in the Union." Alas, for the homespun-clad officers from 
 Connecticut E/iver. 
 
 The Pennsylvania regiment under Shee, according to Gray- 
 don, promoted balls and other entertainments, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the fast-days and sermons borrowed from New England. 
 There was nothing of the puritanical spirit among the Pennsyl- 
 vania soldiery. 
 
 In the same sectional spirit, he speaks of the Connecticut 
 light-horse : " Old-fashioned men, truly irregulars ; whether 
 their clothing, equipments, or caparisons were regarded, it 
 would have been difficult" to have discovered any circumstance 
 of uniformity. Instead of carbines and sabres, they generally 
 carried fowling-pieces, some of them very long, such as in 
 Pennsylvania are used for shooting ducks. Here and there 
 one appeared in a dingy regimental of scarlet, with a triangular, 
 tarnislied, laced hat. These singular dragoons were volunteers, 
 who came to make a tender of their services to the commander- 
 in-chief. But they stayed not long in New York. As such a 
 body of cavalry had not been counted upon, there was in all 
 probability a want of forage for their jades, which, in the spirit 
 of ancient knighthood, thej'- absolutely refused to descend from j 
 and as the general had no use for cavaliers in his insular oper- 
 ations, they were forthwith dismissed, with suitable acknowledg- 
 ments for their truly chivalrous ardor." * 
 
 The troops thus satirized, were a body of between four and 
 five hundred Connecticut light-horse, under Colonel Thomas 
 Seymour. On an appeal for aid to the governor of their State, 
 they had voluntarily hastened on in advance of the militia, to 
 render the most speedy succor. Supposing, from the sudden- 
 ness and urgency of the call upon their services, that they were 
 immediately to be called into action and promptly to return 
 
 ^ Graydon' s Memoirs, p. 155. 
 
476 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 home, they had come off in such haste, that many were unpro' 
 vided even with a blanket or a change of clothing. 
 
 Washington speaks of them as being for the most part, 
 if not ajl, men of reputation and property. They were, in fact, 
 mostly farmers. As to their sorry jades, they were rough coun- 
 try horses, such as farmers keep, not for show, but service. As 
 to their dingy regimentals, we quote a word in their favor from 
 a writer of that day. " Some of these worthy soldiers assisted 
 in their present uniforms at the reduction of Louisburg, and 
 their ^ lank cheeks and war-worn coats' are viewed with more 
 veneration by their honest countrymen, than if they were glit- 
 tering nabobs from India, or bashaws with nine tails.'' * 
 
 On arriving, their horses, from scarcity of forage, had to be 
 pastured about King's Bridge. In fact Washington informed 
 them that, under present circumstances, they could not be of 
 use as horsemen ; on which they concluded to stay, and do 
 duty on foot till the arrival of the new levies.f In a letter to 
 Governor Trumbull (July 11), Washington observes : " The 
 officers and men of that corps have manifested so firm an at- 
 tachment to the cause we are engaged in, that they have con- 
 sented to remain here, till such a body of troops are marched 
 from your colony as will be a sufficient reinforcement, so as to 
 admit of their leaving this city with safety. .... They 
 have the additional merit of determining to stay, even if they 
 are obliged to maintain their horses at their own expense." t 
 
 In a very few days, however, the troopers on being requested 
 to mount guard like other soldiers, grew restless and uneasy. 
 Colonel Seymour and his brother field-officers, therefore, ad- 
 dressed a note to Washington, stating that, by the positive 
 laws of Connecticut, the light horse were expressly exempted 
 from staying in garrison, or doing duty on foot, apart from their 
 horses ; and that they found it impossible to detain their men 
 any longer under that idea, they having come " without the 
 least expectation or preparation for such services." They re- 
 spectfully, therefore, asked a dismission in form. Washington's 
 brief reply shows that he was nettled by their conduct. 
 
 " Gentlemen, — In answer to yours of this date, I can only 
 repeat to you what I said last night, and that is, that if your 
 men think themselves exempt from the common duty of a 
 soldier — will not mount guard, do garrison duty, or service 
 separate from their horses — they can no longer be of any use 
 
 * Am. Archives, 5tli Series, i. 175. 
 
 + Webb to Gov. Trumbull. 
 
 I Am. Archives, 5tlx Series, i, 192. 
 
^LIFE OF WASHINGTON. irj"; 
 
 here, where horses cannot be brought to action, and I do not 
 care how soon they are dismissed." 
 
 In fact, the assistance of these troops was much needed ; 
 yet he apprehended the exemption from fatigue and garrison 
 duty which they demanded as a right, would, if granted, set 
 a dangerous example to others, and be productive of many evil 
 consequences. 
 
 In the hurry of various concerns, he directed his aide-de- 
 camp. Colonel Webb, to write in his name to Governor Trum- 
 bull on the subject. 
 
 Colonel Seymour, on his return home, addressed a long letter 
 to the governor explanatory of his conduct. " I can't help re- 
 marking to your Honor," adds he, " that it may with truth be 
 said. General Washington is a gentleman of extreme care and 
 caution ; that his requisitions for men are fully equal to the 
 necessities of the case. . • . . . I should have stopped 
 here, but am this moment informed that Mr. Webb, General 
 Washington's aide-de-camp, has written to your Honor some- 
 thing dishonorable to the light-horse. Whatever it may be I 
 know not, but this I do know, that it is a general observation 
 both in camp and countrj'-, if the butterflies and coxcombs were 
 away from the army, we should not be put to so much difficulty 
 in obtaining men of common sense to engage in the defense of 
 their country." * 
 
 As to the Connecticut infantry which had been furnished 
 by Governor Trumbull in the present emergency, they likewise 
 were substantial farmers, whose business, he observed, would 
 require their return, when the necessity of their further stay 
 in the army should be over. They were all men of simple 
 rural manners, from an agricultural State, where great equality 
 of condition prevailed ; the officers were elected by the men 
 out of their own ranks, they were their own neighbors, and 
 every way their equals. All this, as yet, was but little under- 
 stood or appreciated by the troops from the South, among 
 whom military rank was more defined and tenaciously observed, 
 and where the officers were men of the cities, and of aristocratic 
 habits. 
 
 We have drawn out from contemporary sources these few 
 particulars concerning the sectional jealousies thus early spring- 
 ing up among the troops from the different States, to show the 
 difficulties with which Washington had to contend at the out- 
 set, and which formed a growing object of solicitude throughout 
 the rest of his career. 
 
 * Am. Archives, 5th SerieSj i. 513, 
 
478 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 John Adams, speaking of the violent passions, and discord- 
 ant interests at work throughout the country, from Florida to 
 Canada, observes : " It requires more serenity of temper, a 
 deeper understanding, and more courage than fell to the lot of 
 Marlborough, to ride, in this whirlwind." * 
 
 CHAPTER LXXI. 
 
 SOUTHERN CRUISE OF SIR HENRY CLINTON. FORTIFICATIONS 
 
 AT CHARLESTON.— ARRIVAL THERE OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 BATTLE AT SULLIVAn's ISLAND. WASHINGTON ANNOUNCES 
 
 THE RESULT TO THE ARMY. 
 
 Letters from General Lee gave Washington intelligence of 
 the fate of Sir Henry Clinton's expedition to the South ; that 
 expedition which had been the subject of so much surmise and 
 perplexity. Sir Henry in his cruise along the coast had been 
 repeatedly foiled by Lee. First as we have shown, when he 
 looked in at New York ; next when he paused at Norfolk in Vir- 
 ginia ; and lastly, when he made a bold attempt at Charleston 
 in South Carolina; for scarce did his ships appear off the bar 
 of harbor, than the omnipresent Lee was marching his troops 
 into the city. 
 
 Within a year past, Charleston had been fortified at various 
 points. Fort Johnson, on James Island, three miles from the 
 city, and commanding the breadth of the channel, was garrisoned 
 by a regiment of South Carolina regulars under Colonel Gads- 
 den. A strong fort had recently been constructed nearly op- 
 posite, on the southwest point of Sullivan's Island, about six 
 miles below the city. It was mounted with twenty-six guns, 
 and garrisoned by three hundred and seventy-five regulars and 
 a few militia, and commanded by Colonel William Moultrie 
 of South Carolina, who had constructed it. This fort, in con- 
 nection with that on James Island, was considered the key of 
 the harbor. 
 
 Cannon had also been mounted on Haddrell's Point on the 
 mainland, to the northwest of Sullivan's Island, and along the 
 bay in front of the town. 
 
 The arrival of General Lee gave great joy to the people of 
 Charleston, from his high reputation for military skill and e:^- 
 *■ Am- Archives, 4th Series, v. 1112. 
 
■LIFE OF WASHINGTON-. 479 
 
 perlence. According to his own account in a letter to Wash- 
 ington, the town on his arrival was " utterly defenseless." He 
 was rejoiced therefore, when the enemy, instead of immediately 
 attacking it, directed his whole force against the fort on Sul- 
 livan's Island. " He has lost an opportunity,'' said Lee, " such 
 as I hope will never occur again, of taking the town." 
 
 Tlie British ships, in fact, having passed the bar with some 
 difficulty, landed their troops on Long Island, situated to the 
 east of Sullivan's Island, and separated from it by a small creek 
 called the Breach. Sir Henry Clinton meditated a combined 
 attack with his land and naval forces on the fort commanded by 
 Moultrie ; the capture of which, he thought, would insure the 
 reduction of Charleston. 
 
 The Americans immediately threw up works on the north- 
 eastern extremity of Sullivan's Island, to prevent the passage 
 of the enemy over the Breach, stationing a force of regulars 
 and militia there, under Colonel Thompson. General Lee en- 
 camped on Haddrell's Point, on the mainland, to the north of 
 the island, whence he intended to keep up a communication by 
 a bridge of boats, so as to be ready at any moment to aid either 
 Moultrie or Thompson. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, on the other hand, had to construct bat- 
 teries on Long Island, to oppose those of Thompson, and cover 
 the passage of his troops by boats or by the ford. Thus time 
 was consumed, and the enemy were, from the 1st to the 28th of 
 June, preparing for the attack; their troops suffering from the 
 intense heat of the sun on the burning sands of Long Island, 
 and both fleet and army complaining of brackish water and 
 scanty and bad provisions. 
 
 At length on the 28th of June, the Thunder Bomb commenced 
 the attack, throwing shells at the fort as the fleet, under Sir 
 Peter Parker, advanced. About eleven o'clock the ships drop- 
 ped their anchors directly before the front battery. " I was at 
 this time in a boat," writes Lee, " endeavoring to make the 
 island ; but the wind and tide being violently against us, drove 
 us on the main. They immediately commenced the most furi- 
 ous fire I ever heard or saw. I confess I was in pain, from the 
 little confidence I reposed in our troops ; the officers being all 
 boys, and the men raw recruits. What augmented my anxiety 
 was, that we had no bridge finished for retreat or communica- 
 tion ; and the creek or cove which separates it from the conti- 
 nent is near a mile wide. I had received, likewise, intelligence 
 that their land troops intended at the same time to land and 
 assault, y I never in my life felt myself so uneasy ; and what 
 added to my uneasiness was, that I knew our stock of ammuni- 
 
480 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 tion was miserably low. I had once thouglit of ordering the 
 commanding officer to spike his guns, and, when his ammuni- 
 tion was spent, to retreat with as little loss as possible. How- 
 ever, I thought proper jireviously to send to town for a fresh 
 supply, if it could possibly be procured, and ordered my aide-de- 
 camp, Mr. Byrd (who is a lad of magnanimous courage), to pass 
 over in a small canoe, and report the state of the spirit of the 
 garrison. If it had been low, I should have abandoned all 
 thoughts of defense. His report was flattering. I then deter- 
 mined to maintain the post at all risks, and passed the creek or 
 cove in a small boat, in order to animate the garrison in pro- 
 pria persona ; but I found they had no occasion for such an 
 encouragement. 
 
 " They were pleased with my visit, and assured me they 
 never would abandon the post but with their lives. The cool 
 courage they displayed astonished and enraptured me, for I do 
 assure you^ my dear general, I never experienced a better fire. 
 Twelve full hours it was continued without intermission. The 
 noble fellows who were mortally wounded, conjured their 
 brethren never to abandon the standard of liberty. Those who 
 lost their limbs deserted not their posts. Upon the whole, they 
 acted like Romans in the third century." 
 
 Much of the foregoing is corroborated by the statement of a 
 British historian. " While the continued fire of our ships,'^ 
 writes he," seemed sufficient to shake the fierceness of the 
 bravest enemy, and daunt the courage of the most veteran 
 soldier, the return made by the fort could not fail calling for 
 the respect, as well as of highly incommoding the brave seamen 
 of Britain. In the midst of that dreadful roar of artillery, they 
 stuck with the greatest constancy and firmness to their guns ; 
 fired deliberately and slowly, and took a cool and effective aim. 
 The ships suffered accordingly ; they were torn almost to pieces, 
 and the slaughter was dreadful. Never did British valor shine 
 more conspicuous, and never did our marine in an engagement 
 of the same nature with any foreign enemy experience so rude 
 an encounter." * 
 
 The fire from the ships did not produce the expected effect. 
 The fortifications were low, composed of earth and - palmetto 
 wood, which is soft, and makes no splinters, and the merlons 
 were extremely thick. At one time there was a considerable 
 pause in the American fire, and the enemy thought the fort was 
 abandoned. .It was only because the powder was exhausted. 
 As soon as a supply could be forwarded from the mainland by 
 
 * Hist. Civil War in America, Dublin, 1779. Annual Register 
 
LtFB OF WASHINGTON. 481 
 
 General Lee, the fort resumed its fire with still more deadly 
 effect. Through unskillful pilotage, several of the ships ran 
 aground, where one, the frigate Actceon, remained ; the rest 
 were extricated with difficulty. Those which bore the brunt 
 of the action were much cut up. One hundred and seventy-five 
 men were killed, and nearly as many wounded. Captain Scott, 
 commanding the Experiment, of fifty guns, lost an arm, and 
 was otherwise wounded* Captain Morris, commanding the 
 Actceoriy was slain. So also was Lord Campbell, late governor 
 of the province, who served as a volunteer on board of the 
 squadron. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, with two thousand troops and five or six 
 hundred seamen, attempted repeatedly to cross from Long 
 Island, and cooperate in the attack upon the fort, but was as 
 often foiled by Colonel Thompson, with his battery of two can- 
 nons, and a body of South Carolina rangers and North Car- 
 olina regulars. " Upon the whole," says Lee, " the South and 
 North Carolina troops and Virginia rifle battalion we have here, 
 are admirable soldiers.'^ 
 
 The combat slackened before sunset, and ceased before ten 
 o'clock. Sir Peter Parker, who had received a severe contusion 
 in the engagement, then slipped his cables, and drew off his 
 shattered ships to Five Pathom Hole. The Actceon remained 
 aground. 
 
 On the following morning Sir Henry Clinton made another 
 attempt to cross from Long Island to Sullivan's Island ; but 
 was again repulsed, and obliged to take shelter behind his 
 breastworks. Sir Peter Parker, too, giving up all hope of re- 
 ducing the fort in the shattered condition of his ships, ordered 
 that the Actmon should be set on fire and abandoned. The 
 crew left her in flames, with the guns loaded, and the colore 
 flying. The Americans boarded her in time to haul down her 
 colors, and secure them as a trophy, discharge her guns at one 
 of the enemy's ships, and load three boats with stores. They 
 then abandoned her to her fate, and in half an hour she blew up. 
 
 Within a few days the troops were reembarked from Long 
 Islands ; the attempt upon Charleston was for the present 
 abandoned, and the fleet once more put to sea. 
 
 In this action, one of the severest in the whole course of the 
 war, the loss of the Americans in killed and wounded, was but 
 thirty-five men. Colonel Moultrie derived the greatest glory 
 from the defense of Sullivan's Island ; though the thanks of 
 Congress w^ere voted as well to General Lee, Colonel Thompson, 
 and those under their command. 
 
 'f For God's sake, my dear generay^ writes Lee to Washing- 
 
4$2 l^IFE OF WASHINGTOX. 
 
 ton, " urge the Congress to furnish me with a thousand cavah-y. 
 With a thousand cavalry I could insure the safety of these 
 Southern provinces ; and without cavalry, I can answer for 
 nothing. From want of this species of troops we had infalli- 
 bly lost this capital, but the dilatoriness and stupidity of the 
 enemy saved us." 
 
 The tidings of this signal repulse of the enemy came most 
 opportunely to Washington, when he was apprehending an at- 
 tack upon New York. He writes in a familiar vein to Schuyler 
 on the subject. '^ Sir Peter Parker and his fleet got a severe 
 drubbing in an attack upon our works on Sullivan's Island, just 
 by Charleston in South Carolina ; a part of their troops, at the 
 same time, in attempting to land, were repulsed." He assumed 
 a different tone in announcing it to the army in a general 
 order of the 21st July. " This generous example of our troops 
 under the like circumstances with us, the general hopes, will 
 animate every officer and soldier to imitate, and even outdo them, 
 when the enemy shall make the same attempt on us. With 
 such a bright example before us of what can be done by brave 
 men fighting in defense 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." 
 
 CHAPTEE LXXII. 
 
 I^UTNAm's military projects. CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE AT FORT 
 
 WASHINGTON. MEDITATED ATTACK ON STATEN ISLAND. 
 
 ARRIVAL OP SHIPS. HESSIAN REINFORCEMENTS. SCOTCH 
 
 ' HIGHLANDERS. SIR HENRY CLINT^ON AND LORD CORNWAL- 
 
 Lis. — Putnam's obstructions of the Hudson. — the " phce- 
 
 NIX " AND " rose " ATTACKED BY ROW GALLEYS AT TARRY- 
 TOWN. GENERAL ORDER OF WASHINGTON ON THE SUBJECT 
 
 OF SECTIONAL JEALOUSIES. PROFANE SWEARING PROHIBIT- 
 ED IN THE CAMP. PREPARATIONS AGAINST ATTACK. LEVIES 
 
 OF YEOMANRY. GEORGE CLINTON IN COMMAND OF THE 
 
 LEVIES ALONG THE HUDSON. ALARMS OF THE PEOPLE OF 
 
 NEW YORK. — BENEVOLENT SYMPATHY OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 THE " PHGENIX " GRAPPLED BY A FIRE-SHIP. THE SHIPS 
 
 EVACUATE THE HUDSON. 
 
 General Putnam, beside his bravery in the field, was 
 somewhat of a mechanical projector. The batteries at Fort 
 Washington had Droved ineffectual in opposing the passage of 
 
LIFE OF WASHtNGTOn. 483 
 
 hostile ships up the Hudson. He was now engaged on a plan 
 for obstructing the channel opposite the fort, so as to prevent 
 the passing of any more ships. A letter from him to General 
 Gates (July 26th) explains his project. "We are preparing 
 chevaux-de-frise, at which we make great despatch by the help 
 of ships, which are to be sunk — a scheme of mine which you 
 may be assured is very simple ; a plan of which I send you. 
 The two ships' sterns lie towards each other, about seventy feet 
 apart. Three large logs, which reach from ship to ship, are 
 fastened to them. The two ships and logs stop the river two 
 hundred and eighty feet. The ships are to be sunk, and 
 when hauled down on one side, the pricks will be raised to a 
 proper height, and they must inevitably stop the river, if the 
 enemy will let us sink them." 
 
 It so happened that one Ephraim Anderson, adjutant to the 
 second Jersey battalion, had recently submitted a project to 
 Congress for destroying the enemy's fleet in the harbor of New 
 York. He had attempted an enterprise of the kind against 
 the British ships in the harbor of Quebec during the siege, and 
 according to his own account, would have succeeded, had not 
 the enemy discovered his intentions, and stretched a cable across 
 the mouth of the harbor, and had he not accidentally been much 
 burnt. 
 
 His scheme was favorably entertained by Congress, and 
 Washington, by a letter dated July 10th, was instructed to aid 
 him in carrying it into effect. Anderson, accordingly, was soon 
 at work at New York constructing fire-ships, with which the 
 fleet was to be attacked. Simultaneous with the attack, a descent 
 was to be made on the British camp on Staten Island, from the 
 nearest point of the Jersey shore, by troops from Mercer's fly- 
 ing camp, and by others stationed at Bergen under Major 
 Knowlton, Putnam's favorite officer for daring enterprises. 
 
 Putnam entered into the scheme as zealously as if it had been 
 his own. Indeed, by the tenor of his letter to Gates, already 
 quoted, he seemed almost to consider it so. " The enemy's 
 fleet," writes he, " now lies in the bay, close under Staten 
 Island. Their troops possess no land here but the Island. 
 Is it not strange that those invincible troops, who were to 
 lay waste all this country with their fleets and army, are so 
 fond of islands and peninsulas, and dare not put their feet 
 on the main ? But I hope, by the blessing of God, and good 
 friends, we shall pay them a visit on their island. For that 
 end we are preparing fourteen fire-ships to go into their fleet, 
 some of which are ready charged and fitted to sail, and I hope 
 soon to have them all fixed." 
 
484 LIFE OF WASnmaTO]^. 
 
 Anderson, also, on the 31st July, writes ^rom Kew York to 
 the President of Congress : " I have heen for some time past 
 very assiduous in the preparation of fire-ships. Two are already 
 complete, and hauled off into the stream ; two more will be off 
 to-morrow, and the residue in a very short time. In my next, 
 I hope to give you a particular account of a general conflagra- 
 tion, as everj^thing in my power shall be exerted for the demo- 
 lition of the enemy's fleet. I expect to take an active part, 
 and be an instrument for that purpose. I am determined (God 
 willing) to make a conspicuous figure among them, by being a 
 ' burning and shining light,' and thereby serve my country, 
 and have the honor of meeting the approbation of Congress." * 
 
 Projectors are subject to disappointments. It was impossible 
 to construct a suflicient number of fire-ships and galleys in time. 
 The flying camp, too, recruited but slowly, and scarcely ex- 
 ceeded three thousand men ; the combined attack by fire and 
 sword had therefore to be given up, and the " burning and 
 shining light " again failed of conflagration. 
 
 Still, a partial night attack on the Staten Island encampment 
 was concerted by Mercer and Knowlton, and twice attempted. 
 On one occasion, they were prevented from crossing the strait 
 by tempestuous weather, on another by deficiency of boats. 
 
 In the course of a few days arrived a hundred sail, with large 
 reinforcements, among which were one thousand Hessians, and 
 as many more were reported to be on the way. The troops 
 were disembarked on Staten Island, and fortifications thrown 
 up on some of the most commanding hills. 
 
 All projects of attack upon the enemy were now out of the 
 question. Indeed, some of Washington's ablest advisers ques- 
 tioned the policy of remaining in New York, where they might 
 be entrapped as the British had been in Boston. Keed, the 
 adjutant-general, observed that, as the communication by the 
 Hudson was interrupted, there was nothing now to keep them 
 at New York but a mere point of honor ; in the meantime, they 
 endangered the loss of the army and its military stores. Why 
 should they risk so much in defending a city, while the greater 
 part of its inhabitants were plotting their destruction ? His 
 advice was, that, when they could defend the city no longer, 
 they should evacuate, and burn it, and retire from Manhattan 
 Island ; should avoid any general action, or indeed any action, 
 unless in view of great advantages ; and should make it a war 
 of posts. 
 
 During the latter part of July, and the early part of August, 
 ships of war with their tenders continued to arrive, and Scotch 
 * Am. Archives, 5th Series, i. 155. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 485 
 
 Highlanders, Hessians, and other troops to be landed on Staten 
 Island. At the beginning of August, the squadron with Sir 
 Henry Clinton, recently repulsed at Charleston, anchored in 
 the bay. " His coming," writes Colonel Eeed, ""was as unex- 
 pected as if he had dropped from the clouds." He was accom- 
 panied by Lord Cornwallis, and brought three thousand troops. 
 
 In the meantime, Putnam's contrivances for obstructing the 
 channel had reached their destined place. A letter dated Fort 
 Washington, August 3d, says : "Four ships chained and boomed, 
 with a number of amazing large chevaux-de-frise, were sunk 
 close by the fort under command of General Mifflin, which fort 
 mounts thirty-two pieces of heavy cannon. We are thoroughly 
 sanguine that they [the ships up the river] never will be able 
 to join the British fleet, nor assistance from the fleet be afforded 
 to them ; so that we may set them down as our own." 
 
 Another letter, written at the same date from Tarry town, on 
 the borders of the Tappan Sea, gives an account of an attack 
 made by six row galleys upon the Phoenix and the Hose. They 
 fought bravely for two hours, hulling the ships repeatedly, but 
 sustaining great damage in return; until their commodore, 
 Colonel Tupper, gave the signal to draw off. " Never," says 
 the writer, " did men behave with more firm, determined spirit, 
 than our little crews. One of our tars being mortally wounded, 
 cried to his companions : ^ I am a dying man ; revenge my 
 blood, my boys, and carry me alongside my gun, that I may die 
 there.' We were so preserved by a gracious Providence, that 
 in all our galleys we had but two men killed and fourteen 
 wounded, two of which are thought dangerous. We hope to 
 have another touch at those pirates before they leave our river ; 
 which God prosper ! " 
 
 Such was the belligerent spirit prevailing up the Hudson. 
 
 The force of the enemy collected in the neighborhood of Kew 
 York was about thirty thousand men ; that of the Americans a 
 little more than seventeen thousand, but was subsequently in- 
 creased to twenty thousand, for the most part raw and undis- 
 ciplined. One fourth were on the sick-list with bilious and 
 putrid fevers and dysentery ; others w.ere absent on furlough or 
 command ; the rest had to be distributed over posts and sta- 
 tions fifteen miles apart. 
 
 The sectional jealousies prevalent among them were more 
 and more a subject of uneasiness to Washington. In one of 
 his general orders he observes : " It is with great concern that 
 the general understands that jealousies have arisen among the 
 troops from the different provinces, and reflections are fre- 
 quently thrown out which can only tend to irritate each other, 
 
486 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and injure the noble cause in which we are engaged, and which 
 we ought to support with one hand and one heart. The general 
 most earnestly entreats the officers and soldiers to consider the 
 consequences ; that they can no way assist our enemies more 
 effectually than by making divisions among ourselves ; that the 
 honor and success of the army, and the safety of our bleeding 
 country, depend upon harmony and good agreement with each 
 other ; that the provinces are all united to oppose the common 
 enemy, and all distinctions sunk in the name of an American. 
 To make this name honorable, and to preserve the liberty of 
 our country, ought to be our only emulation ; and he will be the 
 best soldier and the best patriot, who contributes most to this 
 glorious work, whatever be his station, or from whatever part of 
 the continent he may come. Let all distinction of nations, 
 countries, and provinces, therefore, be lost in the generous con- 
 test, who shall behave with the most courage against the enemy, 
 and the most kindness and good-humor to each other. If there 
 be any officers or soldiers so lost to virtue and a love of their 
 country, so as to continue in such practices after this order, 
 the general assures them, and is authorized by Congress to de- 
 clare to the whole army, that such persons shall be severely 
 punished, and dismissed from the service with disgrace." 
 
 The urgency of such a general order is apparent in that early 
 period of our confederation, when its various parts had not as 
 yet been sufficiently welded together to acquire a thorough feel- 
 ing of nationality; yet what an enduring lesson does it 
 furnish for every stage of our Union ! 
 
 We subjoin another of the general orders issued in this time 
 of gloom and anxiety : — 
 
 "That the troops may have an opportunity of attending 
 public worship, as well as to take some rest after the great 
 fatigue they have gone through, the general, in future, excuses 
 them from fatigue duty on Sundays, except at the ship-yards, 
 or on special occasions, until further orders. 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 
 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." * 
 
 * Orderly Book, Aug. 3, as cited by Sparks. Writings of Washing- 
 ton , vol. iv. p. 28. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 487 
 
 While Washington thus endeavored to elevate the minds of 
 his soldiery to the sanctity of the cause in which they were 
 engaged, he kept the most watchful eye upon the movements of 
 the enemy. Besides their great superiority in point of numbers 
 as well as discipline, to his own crude and scanty legions, they 
 possessed a vast advantage in their fleet. " They would not be 
 half the enemy they are," observed Colonel Reed, '^ if they were 
 once separated from their ships." Every arrival and departure 
 of these, therefore, was a subject of speculation and conjecture. 
 Aaron Burr, at that time in New York, aide-de-camp to General 
 Putnam, speaks in a letter to an uncle, of thirty transports, 
 which, under convoy of three frigates, had put to sea on the 
 7th of August, with the intention of sailing round Long Island 
 and coming through the Sound, and thus investing the city by 
 the North and East Rivers. " They are then to land on both 
 sides of the island," writes he, "join their forces, and draw a 
 line across, which will hem us in, and totally cut off all com- 
 munication ; after which, they will have their own fun." He 
 adds : " They hold us in the utmost contempt. Talk of forcing 
 all our lines without firing a gun. The bayonet is their pride. 
 They have forgot Bunker's Hill." * 
 
 In this emergency, Washington wrote to General Mercer 
 for 2,000 men from the flying camp. Colonel Smallwood's 
 battalion was immediately furnished, as a part of them. The 
 Convention of the State ordered out hasty levies of country 
 militia, to form temporary camps on the shore of the Sound, 
 and on that of the Hudson above King's Bridge, to annoy the 
 enemy, should they attempt to land from their ships on either 
 of these waters. Others were sent to reinforce the posts on 
 Long Island. As King's County on Long Island was noted 
 for being a stronghold of the disaffected, the Convention ordered 
 that, should any of the militia of that county refuse to serve, 
 they should be disarmed and secured, and their possessions laid 
 waste. 
 
 Many of the yeomen of the country, thus hastily summoned 
 from the plough, were destitute of arms, in lieu of which they 
 were ordered to bring with them a shovel, spade, or pickaxe, or 
 a scythe straightened and fastened to a pole. This rustic array 
 may have provoked the thoughtless sneers of city scoffers, such 
 as those cited by Graydon ; but it was in truth one of the glori- 
 ous features ef the Revolution, to be thus aided in its emergen- 
 cies by " hasty levies of husbandmen." * 
 
 * Am. Archives, 5th Series, i. 188*7. 
 
 t General orders, Aug. 8th, show the feverish slate of affairs in the 
 city. " As the movements of the enemy, and intelliscence by deserters, 
 give the utmost reason to believe that the great struggle irr which we are 
 
488 J^IFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 By the authority of the ISTew York Convention, Washington 
 had appointed General George Clinton to the command of the 
 levies on both sides of the Hudson. He now ordered him to 
 hasten down with them to the fort just erected on the north 
 side of King's Bridge ; leaving two hundred men under the com- 
 mand of a brave and alert officer to throw up works at the pass 
 of Anthony's Nose, where the main road to Albany crosses 
 that mountain. Troops of horse also were to be posted by him 
 along the river to watch the motions of the enemy. 
 
 Washington now made the last solemn preparations for the 
 impending conflict. All suspected persons, whose presence 
 might promote the plans of the enemy, were removed to a dis- 
 tance. All papers respecting affairs of state were put up in a 
 large case, to be delivered to Congress. As to his domestic ar- 
 rangements, Mrs. Washington had some time previously gone 
 to Philadelphia, with the intention of returning to Virginia, as 
 there was no prospect of her being with him any part of the 
 summer, which threatened to be one of turmoil and danger. 
 The other ladies, wives of general officers, who used to grace 
 and enliven head-quarters, had all been sent out of the way of 
 the storm which was lowering over this devoted city. 
 
 Accounts of deserters, and other intelligence, informed 
 Washington on the 17th, that 'a great many of the enemy's 
 troops had gone on board of the transports ; that three days' 
 provisions had been cooked, and other steps taken indicating 
 an intention of leaving Staten Island. Putnam, also, came up 
 from below with word that at least one fourth of the fleet had 
 sailed. There were many conjectures at head-quarters as to 
 whither they were bound, or whether they had not merely shifted 
 their station. Everything indicated, however, that affairs were 
 tending to a crisis. 
 
 The " hysterical alarms '^ of the peaceful inhabitants of 
 
 contending for everything dear to us and our posterity is near at hand, 
 the general most earnestly recommends the closest attention to the state 
 of the men's arms, ammunition, and flints ; that if we should be sud- 
 denly called to action, nothing of this kind may be to provide. And he 
 does most anxiously exhort both officers and soldiers not to be out of 
 tlieir quarters or encampments, especially in the morning or upon the 
 tide of flood. 
 
 *' A flag in the daytime, or a light at night, in the fort on Bayard's 
 Hill, with three guns from the same place fired quick but distinct, is to 
 be considered as a signal for the troops to repair to their alarm posts, 
 and prepare for action. And that the alarm may be more effectu- 
 ally given, the drums are immediately to beat to arms upon the signal 
 being given from Bayard's Hill. This order is not to be considered as 
 countermanding the firing two guns at Fort George,as formerly ordered. 
 That is also to be done on an alarm, but the flag will not be hoisted at 
 the pjd he^d-quarters in Broadway."— 4??». Ar(ihw.esy 5th Series, i, 912. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. ' 489 
 
 Kew York, which had provoked the soldierlike impatience and 
 satirical sneers of Lee, inspired different sentiments in the 
 benevolent heart of Washington, and produced the following 
 letter to the New York Convention : 
 
 " When I consider that the city of New York will, in all hu- 
 man probability, very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I 
 cannot but view the great numbers of women, children, and in- 
 firm persons remaining in it, with the most melancholy con- 
 cern. When the men-of-war (the Phoenix and Rose) passed 
 up the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor creatures, run- 
 ning every way with their children, were truly distressing, and 
 I fear they will have an unhappy effect upon the ears and minds 
 of our young and inexperienced soldiery. Can no method be 
 devised for their removal ? '^ 
 
 How vividly does this call to mind the compassionate sensi- 
 bility of his younger days, when commanding at Winchester, 
 in Virginia, in time of public peril ; and melted to " deadly 
 sorrow " by the " supplicating tears of the women, and mov- 
 ing petitions of the men." As then, he listened to the prompt 
 suggestions of his own heart ; and, without awaiting the ac- 
 tion of the Convention, issued a proclamation, advising the in- 
 habitants to remove, and requiring the officers and soldiery to 
 aid the helpless and the indigent. The Convention soon 
 responded to his appeal, and appointed a committee to effect 
 these purposes in the most humane and expeditious manner. 
 
 A gallant little exploit at this juncture, gave a fillip to the 
 spirits of the community. Two of the fire-ships recently con- 
 structed, went up the Hudson to attempt the destruction of 
 the ships which had so long been domineering over its waters. 
 One succeeded in grappling the Phoenix, and would soon have 
 set her in flames, but in the darkness got to leeward, and was 
 cast loose without effecting any damage. The other, in making 
 for the Hose, fell foul of one of the tenders, grappled and 
 burnt her. The enterprise was conducted with spirit, and 
 though it failed of its main object, had an important effect. The 
 commanders of the ships determined to abandon those waters, 
 where their boats were fired upon by the very yeomanry when- 
 ever they attempted to land ; and where their ships were in 
 danger from midnight incendiaries, while riding at anchor. 
 Taking advantage of a brisk wind, and favoring tide, they made 
 all sail early on the morning of the 18th of August, and stood 
 down the river, keeping close under the eastern shore, where 
 they supposed the guns from Mount Washington could not be 
 brought to bear upon them. Notwithstanding this precaution, 
 the Phoenix was thrice hulled by shots from the fort, and one 
 
490 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of the tenders once. The Hose, also, was hulled once by a 
 shot from Burdett's Ferry. The men on board were kept close, 
 to avoid being picked off by a party of riflemen posted on the 
 river bank. The ships fired grapeshot as they passed, but with- 
 out effecting any injury. Unfortunatelyj a passage had been 
 left open in the obstructions on which General Putnam had cal- 
 culated so sanguinely ; it was to have been closed in the course 
 of a day or two. Through this they made their way, guided by 
 a deserter ; which alone, in Putnam's opinion, saved them from 
 being checked in their career, and utterly destroyed by the bat- 
 teries. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIII. 
 
 THR BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 
 
 The movements of the British fleet, and of the camp on 
 Staten Island, gave signs of a meditated attack ; but, as the 
 nature of that attack was uncertain, Washington was obliged to 
 retain the greater part of his troops in the city for its defense, 
 holding them ready, however, to be transferred to any point in 
 the vicinity. General Mifflin, with about five hundred of the 
 Pennsylvania troops, of Colonels Shee and Magaw's regiments, 
 were at King's Bridge, ready to aid at a moment's notice. 
 " They are the best disciplined of any troops that I have yet 
 seen in the army," said General Heath, who had just reviewed 
 them. General George Clinton was at that post, with about 
 fourteen hundred of his yeomanry of the Hudson. As the 
 Phoenix and Rose had explored the shores, and taken the 
 soundings as far as they had gone up the river, General Heath 
 thought Howe might attempt an attack somewhere above King's 
 Bridge, rather than in the face of the many and strong works 
 erected in and around the city. " Should his inclination lead 
 him this way," adds he, " nature has done much for us, and we 
 shall, as fast as possible, add the strength of art. We are push- 
 ing our works with great diligence." * 
 
 Reports from different quarters, gave Washington reason to 
 apprehend that the design of the enemy might be to land part 
 of their force on Long Island, and endeavor to get possession 
 of the heights of Brooklyn, which overlooked ]!^ew York ; while 
 another part should land above the city, as General Heath sug- 
 gested. Thus, various disconnected points distant from each 
 * Heath to Washington, Aug. 17.— 18. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 491 
 
 other, and a great extent of intervening country, had to be de- 
 fended by raw troops, against a superior force, well disciplined, 
 and possessed of every facility for operating by land and 
 water. 
 
 General Greene, with a considerable force, was stationed at 
 Brooklyn. He had acquainted himself with all the localities of 
 the island, from Hell Gate to the Narrows, and made his plan 
 of defense accordingly. His troops were diligently occupied in 
 works which he laid out, about a mile beyond the village of 
 Brooklyn, and facing the interior of the island, whence a land 
 attack might be attempted. 
 
 Brooklyn was immediately opposite to New York. The 
 Sound, commonly called the East River, in that place about 
 three-quarters of a mile in width, swept its rapid tides between 
 them. The village stood on a kind of peninsula, formed by the 
 deep inlets of Wallabout Bay on the north, and Gowanus Cove 
 on the south. A line of intrenchments and strong redoubts 
 extended across the neck of the peninsula, from the bay to a 
 swamp and creek emptying into the cove. To protect the rear 
 of the works from the enemy's ships, a' battery was erected at 
 Bed Hook, the southwest corner of the peninsula, and a fort 
 on Governor's Island, nearly opposite. 
 
 About two miles and a half in front of the line of intrench- 
 ments and redoubts, a range of hills, densely wooded, extended 
 from southwest to northeast, forming a natural barrier across 
 the island. It was traversed by three roads. One, on the left 
 of the works, stretched eastwardly to Bedford, and then by a 
 passHhrough the Bedford Hills to the village of Jamaica ; 
 another, central and direct, led through the woody heights to 
 Flatbush ; a third, on the right of the lines, passed by Gowanus 
 Cove to the Narrows and Gravesend Bay. 
 
 The occupation of this range of hills, and the protection of 
 its passes, had been designed by General Greene ; but unfort- 
 unately, in the midst of his arduous toils, he was taken down 
 by a raging fever, which confined him to his bed ; and General 
 Sullivan, just returned from Lake Champlain, had the tem- 
 porary command. 
 
 Washington saw that to prevent the enemy from landing on 
 Long Island would be impossible, its great extent affording so 
 many places favorable for that purpose, and the American 
 works being at the part opposite to New York. " However," 
 writes he to the President of Congress, " we shall attempt to 
 harass them as much as possible, which is all that we can do." 
 
 On the 21st came a letter, written in all haste by Brigadier- 
 general William Livingston, of New Jersey. Movements _o.f 
 
492 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the enemy on Staten Island had been seen from his camp. 
 He had sent over a spy at midnight, who brought back the 
 following intelligence. Twenty thousand men had 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 declared that he 
 had heard orders read, and the conversation of the generals. 
 " They appear very determined," added he, " and will put all 
 to the sword ! " 
 
 Washington sent a copy of the letter to the New York Con- 
 vention. On the following morning (August 22d) the enemy 
 appeared to be carrying their plans into execution. The re- 
 ports of cannon and musketry were heard from Long Island, 
 and columns of smoke were descried rising above the groves 
 and orchards at a distance. The city, as usual, was alarmed, 
 and had reason to be so ; for word soon came that several thou- 
 sand men, with artillery and light-horse, were landed at Grrave- 
 send ; and that Colonel Hand, stationed there with the Penn- 
 sylvania rifle regiment, had retreated to the lines, setting fire 
 to stacks of wheat, and other articles, to keep them from falling 
 into the enemj'^'s hands. 
 
 Washington apprehended an attempt of the foe by a forced 
 march, to surprise the lines at Brooklyn. He immediately sent 
 over a reinforcement of six battalions. It was all that he 
 could spare, as with the next tide the ships might bring up 
 the residue of the army, and attack the city. Five battalions 
 more, however, were ordered to be ready as a reinforcement, if 
 required. "Be cool, but determined," was the exhortation 
 given to the departing troops. " Do not fire at a distance, but 
 wait the commands of your officers. 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." 
 
 In justice to the poor fellows, most of whom were going for 
 the first time on a service of life and death, Washington ob- 
 serves, that "they went off in high spirits," and that the whole 
 capable of duty evinced the same cheerfulness.''^ 
 
 Nine thousand of the enemy had landed, with forty pieces of 
 cannon. Sir Henry Clinton had the chief command, and led 
 the first division. His associate officers were the Earls of 
 Cornwallis and Percy, General Grant, and General Sir Wil- 
 liam Erskine. As their boats approached the shore. Colonel 
 Hand, stationed, as has been said, in the neighborhood with his 
 rifle regiment, retreated to the chain of wooded hills, and took 
 post on a height commanding the central road leading from 
 * Washington to the President of Congress. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTOn. 493 
 
 Flatbush. The enemy having landed without opposition, Lord 
 Cornwallis was detached with the reserve to Flatbu^h, while 
 the rest of the army extended itself from the ferry at the Nar- 
 rows through Utrecht and Gravesend to the village of Flatland. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, with two battalions of light-infantry, Col- 
 onel Donop's corps of Hessians, and six field-pieces, advanced 
 rapidly to seize upon the central pass through the hills. He 
 found Hand and his riflemen ready to make a vigorous defense. 
 This brought him to a halt, having been ordered not to risk an 
 attack should the pass be occupied. He took post for the night, 
 therefore, in the village of Flatbush. 
 
 It was evidently the aim of the enemy to force the lines at 
 Brooklyn, and get possession of the heights. Should they 
 succeed, New York would be at their mercy. The panic and 
 distress of the inhabitants went on increasing. Most of those 
 who could afford it, had already removed to the country. There 
 was now a new cause of terror. It was rumored that, should 
 the American army retreat from the city, leave would be given 
 for any one to set it on fire. The New York Convention ap- 
 prised Washington of this rumor. " I can assure you, gentle- 
 men," writes he in reply, " that this report is not founded on 
 the least authority from me. On the contrary, I am so sensi- 
 ble of the value of such a city, and the consequences of its de- 
 struction to many worthy citizens and their families, that 
 nothing but the last necessity, and that such as would justify 
 me to the whole world, would induce me to give orders to that 
 purpose." 
 
 In this time of general alarm, head-quarters were besieged by 
 applicants for safeguard from the impending danger ; and 
 Washington was even beset in his walks by supplicating women 
 with their children. The patriot's heart throbbed feelingly 
 under the soldier's belt. Nothing could surpass the patience 
 and benignant sympathy with which he listened to them, and 
 endeavored to allay their fears. Again he urged the Conven- 
 tion to carry out their measures for the removal of these de- 
 fenseless beings. " There are many," writes he, " who anxiously 
 wish to remove, but have not the means." 
 
 On the 24th he crossed over to Brooklyn, to inspect the lines 
 and reconiioiter the neighborhood. In this visit he felt sen- 
 sibly the want of General Greene's presence, to explain his 
 plans and point out the localities. 
 
 The American advanced posts were in the wooded hills. 
 Colonel Hand, with his riflemen, kept watch over the central 
 road, and a strong redoubt had been thrown up in front of the 
 pass^ to check any advance of the enemy from Flatbush. 
 
494 LIFE OF WASHINGTOlR, 
 
 Another road leading from Flatbush to Bedford, by wliicli fhe 
 enemy might get round to the left of the works at Brooklyn, 
 was guarded by two regiments, one under Colonel Williams, 
 posted on the north side of the ridge, the other by a Pennsyl- 
 vania rifle regiment, under Colonel Miles, posted on the south 
 side. The enemy were stretched along the country beyond the 
 chain of hills. 
 
 As yet, nothing had taken place but skirmishing and irregu- 
 lar firing between the outposts. It was with deep concern 
 Washington noticed a prevalent disorder and confusion in the 
 camp. There was a want of system among the officers, and 
 cooperation among the troops, each corps seeming to act inde- 
 pendently of the rest. Few of the men had any military ex- 
 perience, except, perchance, in bush-fighting with the Indians. 
 Unaccustomed to discipline and the restraint of camps, they 
 sallied forth whenever they pleased, singly or in squads, 
 prowling about and firing upon the enemy, like hunters after 
 game. 
 
 Much of this was no doubt owing to the protracted illness of 
 General Greene. 
 
 On returning to the city, therefore, Washington gave the 
 command on Long Island to General Putnam, warning him, 
 however, in his letter of instructions, to summon the officers 
 together, and enjoin them to put a stop to the irregularities 
 which he had observed among the troops. Lines of defense 
 were to be formed round the encampment, and works on the 
 most advantageous ground. Guards were to be stationed on 
 the lines, with a brigadier of the day constantly at hand to see 
 that orders were executed. Field-officers were to go the rounds 
 and report the situation of the guards and no one was to pass 
 beyond the lines without a special permit in writing. At the 
 same time, partisan and scouting parties, under proper officers, 
 and with regular license, might sally forth tw harass the enemy, 
 and prevent their carrying off the horses and cattle of the 
 country people. 
 
 Especial attention was called to the wooded hills between 
 the works and the enemy's camp. The passes through them 
 were to be secured by abatis, and defended by the best troops, 
 who should, at all hazards, prevent the approach of Jjie enemy. 
 The militia being the least tutored and experienced, might man 
 the interior works. 
 
 Putnam crossed with alacrity to his post. " He was made 
 happy," writes Colonel Peed, "by obtaining leave to go over. 
 The brave old man was quite miserable at being kept here." 
 
 In the meantime; the enemy were augmenting their forces 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 495 
 
 on the island. Two brigades of Hessians, under Lieutenant- 
 general De Heister, were transferred from the camp on Staten 
 Island on the 25th. This movement did not escape tlie vigilant 
 eye of Washington. By the aid of his telescope, he had noticed 
 that from time to time tents were struck on Staten Island, and 
 portions of the encampment broken up ; while ship after ship 
 weighed anchor, and dropped down to the Narrows. 
 
 He now concluded that the emeny were about to make a 
 push with their main force for the possession of Brooklyn 
 Heights. He accordingly sent over additional reinforcements, 
 and among them Colonel John Haslet's well equipped and well 
 disciplined Delaware regiment ; which was joined to Lord 
 Stirling's brigade, chiefly composed of Southern troops, and 
 stationed outside of the lines. These were troops which Wash- 
 ington regarded with peculiar satisfaction, on account of their 
 soldier-like appearance and discipline. 
 
 On the 29th, he crossed over to Brooklyn, accompanied by 
 Keed, the adjutant-general. There was much movement among 
 the enemj^'s troops, and their number was evidently augmented. 
 In fact. General De Heister had reached Flatbush with his 
 Hessians, and taken command of the centre ; whereupon Sir 
 Henry Clinton, with the right wing, drew off to Flatlands, in 
 a diagonal line to the right of De Heister, while the left wdng, 
 commanded by General Grant, extended to the place of landing 
 on Gravesend Bay. 
 
 Washington remained all day, aiding General Putnam with 
 his counsels, who, new to the cominand, had not been able to 
 make himself well acquainted with the fortified posts beyond 
 the lines. In the evening Washington returned to the city, 
 full of anxious thought. A general attack was evidently at 
 hand. Where would it be made ? How would his inexperi- 
 enced troops stand the encounter ? What would be the defense 
 of the city if assailed by the ships ? It was a night of intense 
 solicitude, and well might it be ; for during that night a plan 
 was carried into effect, fraught with disaster to the Americans. 
 
 The plan to which we allude was concerted by General 
 Howe, the commander-in-chief. Sir Henry Clinton, with the 
 van-guard, composed of the choicest troops, was by a circuitous 
 march in the night, to throw himself into the road leading 
 from Jamaica to Bedford, seize upon a pass through the Bed- 
 ford Hills, within three iniles of that village, and thus turn 
 the left of the American advanced posts. It was preparatory 
 to this nocturnal march, that Sir Henry during the day had 
 fallen back with his troops from Flatbush to Flatlands, and 
 caus-ed that stir and movement which had attracted the notice 
 of Washington. 
 
496 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 To divert the attention of the Americans from the stealthy- 
 march on their left, General Grant was to menace their right 
 flank toward Gravesend before daybreak, and General De 
 Heister to cannonade their centre, where Colonel Hand was 
 stationed. Neither, however, was to press an attack until the 
 guns of Sir Henry Clinton should give notice that he had 
 effected his purpose, and turned the left flank of the Ameri- 
 cans ; then the latter were to be assailed at all points with the 
 utmost vigor. 
 
 About nine o'clock in the evening of the 26th, Sir Henry 
 Clinton began his march from Flatlands with the van^guard, 
 composed of light infantr3^ Lord Percy followed with the 
 grenadiers, artillery, and light dragoons, forming the centre. 
 Lord Cornwallis brought up the rear-guard with the heavy 
 ordnance. General Howe accompanied this division. 
 
 It was a silent march, without beat of drum or sound of 
 trumpet, under guidance of a Long Island tory along by-roads 
 traversing a swamp by a narrow causeway, and so across the 
 country to the Jamaica road. About two hours before day- 
 break, they arrived within half a mile of the pass through the 
 Bedford Hills, and halted to prepare for an attack. At this 
 juncture they captured an American patrol, and learnt, to their 
 surprise, that the Bedford pass was unoccupied. In fact, the 
 whole road beyond Bedford, leading to Jamaica, was left un- 
 guarded, excepting by some light volunteer troops. Colonels 
 Williams and Miles, who were stationed to the left of Colonel 
 Hand, among the wooded hills, had been instructed to send 
 out parties occasionally to patrol the road, but no troops had 
 been stationed at the Bedford pass. The road and pass may 
 not have been included in General Greene's plan of defense, or 
 may have been thought too far out of the way to need special 
 precaution. The neglect of them, however, proved fatal. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton immediately detached a battalion of light- 
 infantry to secure the pass ; and, advancing with his corps at 
 the first break of day, possessed himself of the heights. He 
 was now within three miles of Bedford, and his march had 
 been undiscovered. Having passed the heights, therefore, he 
 halted his division for the soldiers to take some refreshment, 
 preparatory to the morning's hostilities. 
 
 There we will leave them, while we note how the other divis- 
 ions performed their part of the plaiil 
 
 About midnight General Grant moved from Gravesend Bay, 
 with the left wing, composed of two brigades and a regiment of 
 regulars, a battalion of New York loyalists, and ten field-pieces. 
 He proceeded along the road leading past the Narrows and 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 497 
 
 G-owanus Cove, toward the right of the American works. A 
 picket guard of Pennsylvanian and New York militia, under 
 Colonel Atlee, retired before him fighting to a position on the 
 skirts of the wooded hills. 
 
 In the meantime, scouts had brought in word to the Ameri- 
 can lines that the enemy were approaching in force upon the 
 right. General Putnam ordered Lord Stirling to hasten with 
 the two regiments nearest at hand, and hold them in check* 
 These were Haslet's Delaware, and Smallwood's Maryland regi^ 
 ments ; the latter the macaronis, in scarlet and buff, who had 
 outshone, in camp, their yeoman fellow-soldiers in homespun. 
 They turned out with great alacrity, and Stirling pushed for- 
 ward with them on the road toward the Narrows. By the time 
 he had passed Gowanus Cove, daylight began to appear. Here 
 on a rising ground, he met Colonel Atlee with his Pennsylvania 
 provincials, and learned that the enemy were near. Indeed, 
 their front began to appear in the uncertain twilight. Stirling 
 ordered Atlee to place himself in ambush in an orchard on the 
 left of the road, and await their coming up, while he formed the 
 Delaware and Maryland regiments along a ridge from the road, 
 up to a piece of woods on the top of the hill. 
 
 Atlee gave the enemy two or three volleys as they approached, 
 and then jetreated and formed in the wood on Lord Stirling's 
 left. By this time his lordship was reinforced by Kichline's 
 riflemen, part of whom he placed along a hedge at the foot of 
 the hill, and part in front of the wood. General Grant threw 
 his light troops in the advance, and posted them in an orchard 
 and behind hedges, extending in front of the Americans, and 
 about one hundred and fifty yards distant. 
 
 It was now broad daylight. A rattling fire commenced be- 
 tween the British light troops and the American riflemen, 
 which continued for about two hours, when the former retired 
 to their main body. In the meantime, Stirling's position had 
 been strengthened by the arrival of Captain Carpenter with two 
 field-pieces. These were placed on the side of the hill, so as to 
 command the road and the approach for some hundred yards. 
 General Grant, likewise, brought up his artillery within three 
 hundred yards, and formed his brigades on opposite hills, about 
 six hundred yards distant. There was occasional cannonading 
 on both sides, but neither party sought a general action. 
 
 Lord Stirling's object was merely to hold the enemy in check; 
 and the instructions of General Grant, as we have shown, were 
 not to press an attack until aware that Sir Henry Clinton was 
 on the left flank of the Americans. 
 
 During this time, De Heister had commenced his part of the 
 
498 LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 plan by opening a cannonade from his camp at Flatbush, upon 
 the redoubt, at the pass of the wooded hills, where Hand and 
 his riflemen were stationed. On hearing this General Sullivan, 
 who was within the lines, rode forth to Colonel Hand's post to 
 reconnoiter. De Heister, however, according to the plan of 
 operations, did not advance from Matbush, but kept up a brisk 
 fire from his artillery on the redoubt in front of the pass, which 
 replied as briskly. Ai? the same time, a cannonade from a 
 British ship upon the battery at Red Hook, contributed to 
 distract the attention of the Americans. 
 
 In the meantime terror reigned in New York. The volley- 
 ing of musketry and the booming of cannon at early dawn, had 
 told of the fighting that had commenced. As the morning ad- 
 vanced, and platoon firing and the occasional discharge of a 
 field-piece were heard in different directions, the terror in- 
 creased. Washington was still in doubt whether this was but 
 a part of a general attack, in which the city was to be included. 
 Five ships of the line were endeavoring to beat up the bay. 
 Were they to cannonade the city, or to land troops above it ? 
 Fortunately, a strong head-wind baffled all their efforts ; but 
 one vessel of inferior force got up far enough to open the fire 
 already mentioned upon the fort at Red Hook. 
 
 Seeing no likelihood of an immediate attack upon the city, 
 Washington hastened over to Brooklyn in his barge, and 
 galloped up to the works. He arrived there in time to witness 
 the catastrophe for which all the movements of the enemy had 
 been concerted. 
 
 The thundering of artillery in the direction of Bedford, had 
 given notice that Sir Henry had turned the left of the Ameri- 
 cans. De Heister immediately ordered Colonel Count Donop 
 to advance with his Hessian regiment, and storm the redoubt, 
 while he followed with his whole division. Sullivan did not 
 remain to defend the redoubt. Sir Henry's cannon had ap- 
 prised him of the fatal truth, that his flank was turned, and he 
 in danger of being surrounded. He ordered a retreat to the 
 lines, but it was already too late. Scarce had he descended 
 from the height, and emerged into the plain, when he was met 
 by the British light-infantry, and dragoons, and driven back 
 into the woods. By this time De Heister and his Hessians 
 had come up, and now commenced a scene of confusion, con- 
 sternation, and slaughter, in which the troops under Williams 
 and Miles were involved. Hemmed in and entrapped between 
 the British and Hessians, and driven from one to the other, the 
 Americans fought for a time bravely, or rather desperately. 
 Some were cut down and trampled by the cavalry, others bayo- 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 499 
 
 neted without mercy by the Hessians. Some rallied in groups, 
 and made a brief stand with their rifles from rocks or behind 
 trees. The whole pass was a scene of carnage, resounding with 
 the clash of arms, the tramp of horses, the volleying of fire- 
 arms and the cries of the combatants, with now and then the 
 dreary braying of the trumpet. We give the words of one who 
 mingled in the fight, and whom we have heard speak with 
 horror of the sanguinary fury with which the Hessians plied 
 the bayonet. At length some of the Americans, by a desperate 
 effort, cut their way through the host of foes, and effected a re- 
 treat to the lines, fighting as they went. Others took refuge 
 among the woods and fastnesses of the hills, but a great part 
 were either killed or taken prisoners. Among the latter was 
 General Sullivan. 
 
 Washington, as we have observed, arrived in time to witness 
 this catastrophe, but was unable to prevent it. He had heard 
 the din of the battle in the woods, and seen the smoke rising 
 from among the trees ; but a deep column of the enemy was 
 descending from the hills on the left ; his choicest troops were 
 all in action, and he had none but militia to man the works. 
 His solicitude was now awakened for the safety of Lord Stir- 
 ling and his corps, who had been all the morning exchanging 
 cannonades with General Grant. The forbearance of the latter 
 in not advancing, though so superior in force, had been misin- 
 terpreted by the Americans. According to Colonel Haslet's 
 statement, the Delawares and Marylanders, drawn up on the 
 side of the hill, " stood upwards of four hours, with a firm and 
 determined countenance, in close array, their colors flying, the 
 enemy's artillery playing on them all the while, not dariyig to 
 advance and attack them, though six times their number, and 
 nearly surrounding them." * 
 
 Washington saw the danger to which these brave fellows 
 were exposed, though they could not. Stationed on a hill within 
 the lines, he commanded, with his telescope, a view of the whole 
 field, and saw the enemy's reserve, under Cornwallis, marching 
 down by a cross road to get in their rear, and thus place them 
 between two fires. With breathless anxiety he watched the 
 result. 
 
 The sound of Sir Henry Clinton's cannon apprised Stirling 
 that the enemy was between him and the lines. General Grant, 
 too, aware that the time had come for earnest action, was clos- 
 ing up, and had already taken Colonel Atlee prisoner. His 
 lordship now thought to effect a circuitous retreat to the lines, 
 by crossing the creek which empties into Gowanus Cove^ near 
 * Atlee to Colonel Rodney, Sparks, iv, 516. 
 
500 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 what was called the Yellow Mills. There was a bridge and 
 mill-dam, and the creek might be forded at low water, but no 
 time was to be lost, for the tide was rising. 
 
 Leaving part of his men to keep face towards General Grant, 
 Stirling advanced with the rest to pass the creek, but was 
 suddenly checked by the appearance of Cornwallis and his 
 grenadiers. 
 
 Washington, and some of his officers on the hill, who watched 
 every movement, had supposed that Stirling and his troops, 
 finding the case desperate, would surrender in a body, without 
 firing. On the contrary his lordship boldly attacked Cornwal- 
 lis with half of Smallwood's battalion, while the rest of his 
 troops retreated across the creek. Washington wrung his 
 hands in agony at the sight. " Good God ! " cried he, " what 
 brave fellows I must this day lose ! ^' * 
 
 It was, indeed, a desperate fight ; and now Smallwood's mac- 
 arotiis showed their game spirit. They were repeatedly broken, 
 but as often rallied, and renewed the fight. " We were on the 
 point of driving Lord Cornwallis from his station,'' writes Lord 
 Stirling, " but large reinforcements arriving, rendered it im- 
 possible to do more than provide for safety." 
 
 " Being thus surrounded, and no probability of a reinforce- 
 ment," writes a Maryland officer, " his lordship ordered me to 
 retreat with the remaining part of our men, and force our way 
 to our camp. We soon fell in with a party of the enemy, who 
 clubbed their firelocks, and waved their hats to us as if they 
 meant to surrender as prisoners ; but on our advancing within 
 sixty yards, they presented their pieces and fired, which we re- 
 turned with so much warmth that they soon quitted their post, 
 and retired to a large body that was lying in ambuscade." f 
 
 The enemy rallied, and returned to the combat with addi- 
 tional force. Only five companies of Smallwood's battalion 
 were now in action. There was a warm and close engagement 
 for nearly ten minutes. The struggle became desperate on the 
 part of the Americans. Broken and disordered, they rallied in 
 a piece of woods, and made a second attack. They were again 
 overpowered with numbers. Some were surrounded and bay- 
 oneted in a field of Indian corn ; others joined their comrades 
 who were retreating across a marsh. Lord Stirling had en- 
 couraged and animated his young soldiers by his voice and ex- 
 ample, but when all was lost, he sought out General De Heister, 
 and surrendered himself as his prisoner. 
 
 More than two hundred and fifty brave fellows, most of them 
 
 * Letter from an American officer. Am. Archives, 5th Series, ii. 108. 
 + Letter from a Marylander. A.m. Archives, 5th Series, i. 1232. 
 
LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 501 
 
 of Smallwood's regiment, perished in this deadly struggle, with- 
 in sight of the lines of Brooklyn. That part of the Delaware 
 troops who had first crossed the creek and swamp, made good 
 their retreat to the lines with a trifling loss, and entered the 
 camp covered with mud and drenched with water, but bringing 
 with them twenty-three prisoners, and their standard tattered 
 by grape-shot. 
 
 The enemy now concentrated their forces within a few hun- 
 dred yards of the redoubts. The grenadiers were within 
 musket shot. Washington expected they would storm the 
 works, and prepared for a desperate defense. The discharge of 
 a cannon and volleys of musketry from the part of the lines 
 nearest to them, seemed to bring them to a pause. 
 
 It was, in truth, the forbearance of the British commander 
 that prevented a bloody conflict. His troops, heated with 
 action and flushed with success, were eager to storm the works ; 
 but he was unwilling to risk the loss of life that must attend 
 an assault, when the object might be attained at a cheaper rate, 
 by regular approaches. Checking the ardor of his men, there- 
 fore, though with some difficulty, he drew them off to a hollow 
 way, in front of the lines, but out of reach of the musketry, and 
 encamped there for the night.* 
 
 The loss of the American in this disastrous battle has been 
 variously stated, but is thought, in killed, wounded, and prison- 
 ers, to have been nearly two thousand ; a large number, con- 
 sidering that not above five thousand were engaged. The 
 enemy acknowledged a loss of 380 killed and wounded.f 
 
 The success of the enemy was attributed, in some measure 
 to the doubt in which Washington was kept as to the nature of 
 the intended attack, and at what point it would chiefly be 
 made. This obliged him to keep a great part of his forces in 
 New York, and to distribute those at Brooklyn over a wide ex- 
 tent of country, and at widely distant places. In fact, he 
 knew not the superior number of the enemy encamped on Long 
 Island, a majority of them having been furtively landed in the 
 night, some days after "the debarkation of the first division. 
 
 Much of the day's disaster has been attributed, also, to a con- 
 fusion in the command, caused by the illness of General 
 Greene. Putnam, who had supplied his place in the emergency 
 after the enemy had landed, had not time to make himself ac- 
 quainted with the post, and the surrounding country. Sullivan, 
 though in his letters he professes to have considered himself 
 
 * General Howe to Lord G. Germaine. Bemembrancery iii. 347. 
 t Howe states the prisoners at 1094^ and computes the whole Anjeri- 
 cau loss 9,t 3,300, 
 
502 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 subordinate to General Putnam within the lines, seems still to 
 have exercised somewhat of an independent command, and to 
 have acted at his own discretion : while Lord Stirling was said 
 to have command of all the troops outside of the works. 
 
 The fatal error, however, and one probably arising from all 
 these causes, consisted in leaving the passes through the wooded 
 hills too weakly fortified and guarded ; and especially in neg- 
 lecting the eastern road, by which Sir Henry Clinton got in 
 the rear of the advanced troops, cut them ofi from the lines, 
 and subjected them to a cross fire of his own men and De Heis- 
 ter's Hessians. 
 
 This able and fatal scheme of the enemy might have been 
 thwarted, had the army been provided with a few troops of 
 light horse to serve as videttes. With these to scour the roads 
 and bring intelligence, the night march of Sir Henry Clinton, 
 so decisive of the fortunes of the day, could hardly have failed, 
 to be discovered and reported. The Connecticut horsemen, 
 therefore, ridiculed by the Southerners for their homely equip- 
 ments, sneered at as useless, and dismissed for standing on 
 their dignity and privileges as troopers, might, if retained, 
 have saved the army from being surprised and severed, its ad- 
 vanced guards routed and those very Southern troops cut up 
 captured, and almost annihilated. 
 
 [end of vol. I.] 
 
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