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+Project Gutenberg's The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by Samuel Adams Drake
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77
+
+Author: Samuel Adams Drake
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2008 [EBook #24741]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 1776-77 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WORKS BY SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
+
+  OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PERSONAGES OF BOSTON.
+    Illustrated                                               $2.00
+
+  OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC FIELDS OF MIDDLESEX.
+    Illustrated                                                2.00
+
+  NOOKS AND CORNERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.
+    Illustrated                                                3.50
+
+  CAPTAIN NELSON. A Romance of Colonial Days                    .75
+
+  THE HEART OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
+    Illustrated (Illuminated Cloth)                            7.50
+    Tourist's Edition                                          3.00
+
+  AROUND THE HUB. A Boy's Book about Boston.
+    Illustrated                                                1.50
+
+  NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS AND FOLK LORE.
+    Illustrated                                                2.00
+
+  THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND.
+    Illustrated                                                1.50
+
+  THE MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST.                                1.75
+
+  OLD BOSTON TAVERNS. Paper                                     .50
+
+  BURGOYNE'S INVASION OF 1777.                                  .50
+
+  THE TAKING OF LOUISBURG.                                      .50
+
+_Any book on the above list sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt
+of price, by_
+
+  LEE AND SHEPARD, BOSTON
+
+
+[Illustration: _East View of_ Hell Gate, _in the Province of_ New York.
+
+_W A Williams Del. 1725_
+
+_1. Hoorns Hook._ _3. Hancock's Rock._ _5. Morrisena._ _7. Pinfold's
+Place._ _9. The Pot._ _11. The Frying Pan._
+
+_2. The Gridiron._ _4. The Mill Rock._ _6. Bahanna's Island._ _8.
+Hallet's Point._ _10. The Hogs back._]
+
+
+
+
+  Decisive Events in American History
+
+
+  THE
+
+  CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+  1776-77
+
+
+  BY
+
+  SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
+
+
+  BOSTON
+  LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
+  10 MILK STREET
+  1895
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY LEE AND SHEPARD
+_All rights reserved_
+THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+
+PRESS OF
+Rockwell and Churchill
+BOSTON, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        PRELUDE                                  7
+
+     I--NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR                11
+
+    II--PLANS FOR DEFENCE                       19
+
+   III--LONG ISLAND TAKEN                       26
+
+    IV--NEW YORK EVACUATED                      33
+
+     V--THE SITUATION REVIEWED                  43
+
+    VI--THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS         50
+
+   VII--LEE'S MARCH AND CAPTURE                 59
+
+  VIII--THE OUTLOOK                             68
+
+    IX--THE MARCH TO TRENTON                    79
+
+     X--TRENTON                                 89
+
+    XI--THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON            94
+
+   XII--AFTER PRINCETON                        108
+
+
+
+
+PRELUDE
+
+
+Seldom, in the annals of war, has a single campaign witnessed such a
+remarkable series of reverses as did that which began at Boston in
+March, 1776, and ended at Morristown in January, 1777. Only by
+successive defeats did our home-made generals and our rustic soldiery
+learn their costly lesson that war is not a game of chance, or mere
+masses of men an army.
+
+Though costly, this sort of discipline, this education, gradually led to
+a closer equality between the combatants, as year after year they faced
+and fought each other. When the lesson was well learned our generals
+began to win battles, and our soldiers to fight with a confidence
+altogether new to them. In vain do we look for any other explanation of
+the sudden stiffening up of the backbone of the Revolutionary army, or
+of the equally sudden restoration of an apparently dead and buried cause
+after even its most devoted followers had given up all as lost. As with
+expiring breath that little band of hunted fugitives, miserable remnant
+of an army of 30,000 men, turning suddenly upon its victorious pursuers,
+dealt it blow after blow, the sun which seemed setting in darkness,
+again rose with new splendor upon the fortunes of these infant States.
+
+Certainly the military, political, and moral effects of this brilliant
+finish to what had been a losing campaign, in which almost each
+succeeding day ushered in some new misfortune, were prodigious. But
+neither the importance nor the urgency of this masterly counter-stroke
+to the American cause can be at all appreciated, or even properly
+understood, unless what had gone before, what in fact had produced a
+crisis so dark and threatening, is brought fully into light. Washington
+himself says the act was prompted by a dire necessity. Coming from him,
+these words are full of meaning. We realize that the fate of the
+Revolution was staked upon this one last throw. If we would take the
+full measure of these words of his, spoken in the fullest conviction of
+their being final words, we must again go over the whole field, strewed
+with dead hopes, littered with exploded reputations, cumbered with
+cast-off traditions, over which the patriot army marched to its supreme
+trial out into the broad pathway which led to final success.
+
+The campaign of 1776 is, therefore, far too instructive to be studied
+merely with reference to its crowning and concluding feature. In
+considering it the mind is irresistibly impelled toward one central,
+statuesque figure, rising high above the varying fortunes of the hour,
+like the Statue of Liberty out of the crash and roar of the surrounding
+storm.
+
+Nowhere, we think, does Washington appear to such advantage as during
+this truly eventful campaign. Though sometimes troubled in spirit, he is
+always unshaken. Though his army was a miserable wreck, driven about at
+the will of the enemy, Washington was ever the rallying-point for the
+handful of officers and men who still surrounded him. If the cause was
+doomed to shipwreck, we feel that he would be the last to leave the
+wreck.
+
+His letters, written at this trying period, are characterized by that
+same even tone, as they disclose in more prosperous times. He does not
+dare to be hopeful, yet he will not give up beaten. There is an
+atmosphere of stern, though dignified determination about him, at this
+trying hour, which, in a man of his admirable equipoise, is a thing for
+an enemy to beware of. In a word, Washington driven into a corner was
+doubly dangerous. And it is evident that his mind, roused to unwonted
+activity by the gravity of the crisis, the knowledge that all eyes
+turned to him, sought only for the opportune moment to show forth its
+full powers, and by a conception of genius dominate the storm of
+disaster around him.
+
+Washington never claimed to be a man of destiny. He never had any
+nicknames among his soldiers. Napoleon was the "Little Corporal,"
+"Marlborough" "Corporal John," Wellington the "Iron Duke," Grant the
+"Old Man," but there seems to have been something about the personality
+of Washington that forbade any thought of familiarity, even on the part
+of his trusty veterans. Yet their faith in him was such that, as
+Wellington once said of his Peninsular army, they would have gone
+anywhere with him, and he could have done anything with them.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR
+
+
+[Sidenote: New views of the war.]
+
+Upon finding that what had at first seemed only a local rebellion was
+spreading like wildfire throughout the length and breadth of the
+colonies, that bloodshed had united the people as one man, and that
+these people were everywhere getting ready for a most determined
+resistance, the British ministry awoke to the necessity of dealing with
+the revolt, in this its newer and more dangerous aspect, as a fact to be
+faced accordingly, and its military measures were, therefore, no longer
+directed to New England exclusively, but to the suppression of the
+rebellion as a whole. For this purpose New York was very judiciously
+chosen as the true base of operations.[1]
+
+In the colonies, the news of great preparations then making in England
+to carry out this policy, inevitably led up to the same conclusions, but
+as the siege of Boston had not yet drawn to a close, very little could
+be done by way of making ready to meet this new and dangerous emergency.
+
+We must now first look at the ways and means.
+
+[Sidenote: The new Continental Army.]
+
+A new army had been enlisted in the trenches before Boston to take the
+place of that first one, whose term of service expired with the new
+year, 1776. On paper it consisted of twenty-eight battalions, with an
+aggregate of 20,372 officers and men. By the actual returns, made up
+shortly before the army marched for New York, there were 13,145 men of
+all arms then enrolled, of whom not more than 9,500 were reported as fit
+for duty. These were all Continentals,[2] as the regular troops were
+then called, to distinguish them from the militia.
+
+[Sidenote: It marches to New York.]
+
+Immediately upon the evacuation of Boston by the British (March 17,
+1776), the army marched by divisions to New York, the last brigade, with
+the commander-in-chief, leaving Cambridge on April 4.[3] This move
+distinctly foreshadows the general opinion that the seat of war was
+about to be transferred to New York and its environs.
+
+There is no need to discuss the general proposition, so quickly accepted
+by both belligerents, as regards the strategic value of New York for
+combined operations by land and sea. Hence the Americans were naturally
+unwilling to abandon it to the enemy. A successful defence was really
+beyond their abilities, however, against such a powerful fleet as was
+now coming to attack them, because this fleet could not be prevented
+from forcing its way into the upper bay without strong fortifications at
+the Narrows to stop it, and these the Americans did not have. Once in
+possession of the navigable waters, the enemy could cut off
+communication in every direction, as well as choose his own point of
+attack. Afraid, however, of the moral effect of giving up the city
+without a struggle, the Americans were led into the fatal error of
+squandering their resources upon a defence which could end only in one
+way, instead of holding the royal army besieged, as had been so
+successfully done at Boston.
+
+Having arrived at New York, Washington's force was increased by the two
+or three thousand men who had been hastily summoned for its defence,[4]
+and who were then busily employed in throwing up works at various
+points, under the direction of the engineers.
+
+[Sidenote: Make-up of the army.]
+
+Now, it is usual to call such a large body of raw recruits, badly armed,
+and without discipline, an army, in the same breath as a well armed and
+thoroughly disciplined body. This one had done good service behind
+entrenchments, and in some minor operations at Boston had shown itself
+possessed of the best material, but the situation was now to be wholly
+reversed, the besiegers were to become the besieged, their mistakes were
+to be turned against them, the experiments of inexperience were to be
+tested at the risk of total failure, and the _morale_ severely tried by
+the grumbling and discontent arising for the most part from laxity of
+discipline, but somewhat so, too, from the wretched administration of
+the various civil departments of the army.[5] The officers did not know
+how to instruct their men, and the men could not be made to take proper
+care of themselves. In consequence of this state of things, inseparable
+perhaps from the existing conditions, General Heath tells us that by the
+first week of August the number of sick amounted to near 10,000 men, who
+were to be met with lying "in almost every barn, stable, shed, and even
+under the fences and bushes," about the camps. This primary element of
+disintegration is always one of the worst possible to deal with in an
+army of citizen soldiers, and the present case proved no exception.
+
+Except a troop of Connecticut light-horse, who had been curtly and
+imprudently dismissed because they showed sufficient _esprit de corps_
+to demur against doing guard duty as infantry, and whose absence was
+only too soon to be dearly atoned for, there was no cavalry, not even
+for patrols, outposts, or vedettes. These being thus of necessity drawn
+from the infantry, it was usual to see them come back into camp with the
+enemy close at their heels, instead of giving the alarm in season to get
+the troops under arms.
+
+As for the infantry, it was truly a motley assemblage. A few of the
+regiments, raised in the cities, were tolerably well armed and
+equipped, and some few were in uniform. But in general they wore the
+same homespun in which they had left their homes, even to the field
+officers, who were only distinguished by their red cockades. In few
+regiments were the arms all of one kind, not a few had only a sprinkling
+of bayonets, while some companies, whom it had been found impracticable
+to furnish with fire-arms at the home rendezvous, carried the
+old-fashioned pikes of by-gone days. Among the good, bad, and
+indifferent, Washington had had two thousand militia poured in upon him,
+without any arms whatever. But these men could use pick and spade.
+
+The single regiment of artillery this "rabble army," as Knox calls it,
+could boast was unquestionably its most reliable arm. Under Knox's able
+direction it was getting into fairly good shape, though the guns were of
+very light metal. In the early conflicts around New York it was rather
+too lavishly used, and suffered accordingly, but its efficiency was so
+marked as to draw forth the admission from a British officer of rank
+that the rebel artillery officers were at least equal to their own.
+
+These plain facts speak for themselves. If radical defects of
+organization lay behind them, it was not the fault of Washington or the
+army, but is rather attributable to the want of any settled policy or
+firm grasp of the situation on the part of the Congress.
+
+Washington had no illusions either with regard to himself or his
+soldiers. His letters of this date prove this. He was as well aware of
+his own shortcomings as a general, as of those of his men as soldiers.
+There could, perhaps, be no greater proof of the solidity of his
+judgment than this capacity to estimate himself correctly, free from all
+the prickings of personal vanity or popular praise. With reference to
+the army he probably thought that if raw militia would fight so well
+behind breastworks at Bunker Hill, they could be depended upon to do so
+elsewhere, under the same conditions. His idea, therefore, was to fight
+only in intrenched positions, and this was the general plan of campaign
+for 1776.[6]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] As will be seen farther on, New England had no strategic value in
+this relation.
+
+[2] Continentals. This term, for want of a better, arose from the
+practice of speaking of the colonies, as a whole, as the Continent, to
+distinguish them from this or that one, separately.
+
+[3] The last brigade to march at this time is meant. As a matter of
+fact one brigade was left at Boston, as a guard against accidents. Later
+on it joined Washington.
+
+[4] General Lee had been sent to New York as early as January. He took
+military possession of the city, with militia furnished by Connecticut.
+
+[5] In a private letter General Knox indignantly styles it "this rabble
+army."
+
+[6] "Being fully persuaded that it would be presumption to draw out our
+young troops into open ground against their superiors, both in numbers
+and discipline, I have never spared the spade and pickaxe."--_Letters._
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+PLANS FOR DEFENCE
+
+
+[Sidenote: Troops sent to Canada.]
+
+Washington's army had no sooner reached the Hudson than ten of the best
+battalions[1] were hurried off to Albany, if possible, to retrieve the
+disasters which had recently overwhelmed the army of Canada, where three
+generals, two of whom, Montgomery and Thomas, were of the highest
+promise, with upwards of 5,000 men, had been lost. The departure of
+these seasoned troops made a gap not easily filled, and should not be
+lost sight of in reckoning the effectiveness of what were left.
+
+[Sidenote: Strength of the army.]
+
+This large depletion was, however, more than made good, in numbers at
+least, by the reinforcements now arriving from the middle colonies, who,
+with troops forming the garrison of the city, presently raised the whole
+force under Washington's orders[2] to a much larger number than were
+ever assembled in one body again. A very large proportion, however,
+were militiamen, called out for a few weeks only, who indeed served to
+swell the ranks, without adding much real strength to the army.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans for defence.]
+
+It being fully decided upon that New York should be held, two entirely
+distinct sets of measures were found indispensable. First the city was
+commanded by Brooklyn Heights, rising at short cannon-shot across the
+East River. These heights were now being strongly fortified on the
+water-side against the enemy's fleet, and on the land-side against a
+possible attack by his land forces.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: New York in 1776.]
+
+The second measure looked to defending the city from an attack in the
+rear. At this time New York City occupied only a very small section of
+the southern part of the island which it has since outgrown. A few farms
+and country seats stretched up beyond Harlem, but the major part of the
+island was to the city below as the country to the town, retaining all
+its natural features of hill and dale unimpaired. At this time, too, the
+only exit from the island was by way of King's Bridge,[4] twelve miles
+above the city, where the great roads to Albany and New England turned
+off, the one to the north, the other to the east, making this passage
+fully as important in a military sense, as was the heavy drawbridge
+thrown across the moat of some ancient castle.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Washington.]
+
+Fort Washington[5] was, therefore, built on a commanding height two and
+a half miles below King's Bridge, with outworks covering the approaches
+to the bridge, either by the country roads coming in from the north or
+from Harlem River at the east. These works were never finished, but even
+if they had been they could not solve the problem of a successful
+defence, because it lay always in the power of the strongest army to cut
+off all communication with the country beyond--and that means the
+passing in of reënforcements or supplies--by merely throwing itself
+across the roads just referred to. This done, the army in New York must
+either be shut up in the island, or come out and fight, provided the
+enemy had not already put it out of their power to do so by promptly
+seizing King's Bridge. And in that case there was no escape except by
+water, under fire of the enemy's ships of war.
+
+One watchful eye, therefore, had to be kept constantly to the front,
+and another to the rear, between positions lying twelve to thirteen
+miles apart, and separated by a wide and deep river.
+
+It thus appears that the defence of New York was a much more formidable
+task than had, at first, been supposed, and that an army of 40,000 men
+was none too large for the purpose, especially as it was wholly
+impracticable to reënforce King's Bridge from Brooklyn, or _vice versa_.
+But from one or another cause the army had fallen below 25,000
+effectives by midsummer, counting also the militia, who formed a
+floating and most uncertain constituent of it. For the present,
+therefore, King's Bridge was held as an outpost, or until the enemy's
+plan of attack should be clearly developed; for whether Howe would first
+assail the works at Brooklyn, Bunker Hill fashion, or land his troops
+beyond King's Bridge, bringing them around by way of Long Island Sound,
+were questions most anxiously debated in the American camp.
+
+However, the belief in a successful defence was much encouraged by the
+recent crushing defeat that the British fleet had met with in
+attempting to pass the American batteries at Charleston. Thrice welcome
+after the disasters of the unlucky Canada campaign, this success tended
+greatly to stiffen the backbone of the army, in the face of the steady
+and ominous accumulation of the British land and naval forces in the
+lower bay. Then again, the Declaration of Independence, read to every
+brigade in the army (July 9), was received with much enthusiasm. Now,
+for the first time since hostilities began, officers and men knew
+exactly what they were fighting for. There was at least an end to
+suspense, a term to all talk of compromise, and that was much.
+
+[Sidenote: The British army.]
+
+Thus matters stood in the American camps, when the British army that had
+been driven from Boston, heavily reënforced from Europe, and by calling
+in detachments from South Carolina, Florida, and the West Indies, so
+bringing the whole force in round numbers up to 30,000 men,[6] cast
+anchor in the lower bay. Never before had such an armament been seen in
+American waters. Backed by this imposing display of force, royal
+commissioners had come to tender the olive branch, as it were, on the
+point of the bayonet. They were told, in effect, that those who have
+committed no crime want no pardon. Washington was next approached. As
+the representative soldier of the new nation, he refused to be addressed
+except by the title it had conferred upon him. The etiquette of the
+contest must be asserted in his person. Failing to find any common
+ground, upon which negotiations could proceed, resort was had to the
+bayonet again.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] These were Poor's, Patterson's, Greaton's, and Bond's Massachusetts
+regiments on April 21, two New Jersey, two Pennsylvania, and two New
+Hampshire battalions on the 26th. See _Burgoyne's Invasion_ of this
+series for an account of the Canada campaign.
+
+[2] The numbers are estimated by General Heath (_Memoirs_, p. 51) as
+high as 40,000. He, however, deducts 10,000 for the sick, present. They
+were published long after any reason for exaggeration existed.
+
+[3] The Brooklyn lines ran from Wallabout Bay (Navy Yard) on the left,
+to Gowanus Creek on the right, making a circuit of a mile and a half.
+All are now in the heart of the city.
+
+[4] King's Bridge was so named for William III., of England. It crosses
+Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The bridge at Morrisania was not built until 1796.
+
+[5] Fort Washington stood at the present 183d street. Besides defending
+the approaches from King's Bridge, it also obstructed the passage of the
+enemy's ships up the Hudson, at its narrowest point below the Highlands.
+At the same time Fort Lee, first called Fort Constitution, was built on
+the brow of the lofty Palisades, opposite, and a number of pontoons
+filled with stones were sunk in the river between. The enemy's ships ran
+the blockade, however, with impunity.
+
+[6] The British regiments serving with Howe were the Fourth, Fifth,
+Sixth, Tenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth,
+Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth,
+Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth,
+Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth,
+Forty-ninth, Fifty-second, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-seventh,
+Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Seventy-first, or thirty battalions with
+an aggregate of 24,513 officers and men. To these should be added 8,000
+Hessians hired for the war, bringing the army up to 32,500 soldiers.
+Twenty-five per cent. would be a liberal deduction for the sick,
+camp-guards, orderlies, etc. The navy was equally powerful in its way,
+though it did little service here. Large as it was, this army was
+virtually destroyed by continued attrition.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+LONG ISLAND TAKEN
+
+
+[Sidenote: British move to L. Island.]
+
+Up to August 22, the British army made no move from its camps at Staten
+Island. On their part, the Americans could only watch and wait. On this
+day, however, active operations began with the landing of Howe's troops,
+in great force, on the Long Island shore, opposite. This force
+immediately spread itself out through the neighboring villages from
+Gravesend, to Flatbush and Flatlands, driving the American skirmishers
+before them into a range of wooded hills,[1] which formed their outer
+line of defence. Howe had determined to attack in front, clearing the
+way as he went.
+
+[Sidenote: Plan of attack.]
+
+As the enemy would have to force his way across these hills, before he
+could reach the American intrenched lines around Brooklyn, all the roads
+leading over them were strongly guarded, except out at the extreme
+left, beyond Bedford village, where only a patrol was posted.[2] This
+fatal oversight, of which Howe was well informed, suggested the British
+plan of attack, which was quickly matured and successfully carried out.
+It included a demonstration on the American left, to draw attention to
+that point, while another corps was turning the right, at its unguarded
+point.
+
+A third column was held in readiness to move upon the American centre
+from Flatbush, just as soon as the other attacks were well in progress.
+When the flanking corps was in position, these demonstrations were to be
+turned into real attacks, which, if successful, would throw the
+Americans back upon the flanking column, which, in its turn, would cut
+off their retreat to their intrenchments.
+
+This clever combination, showing a perfect knowledge of the ground,
+worked exactly as planned.
+
+By making a night march, the turning column got quite around the
+American flank and rear unperceived, and on the morning of the 27th was
+in position, near Bedford, at an early hour, waiting for the
+signal-guns to announce the beginning of the battle at the British left.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.]
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Long Island.]
+
+Both columns then advanced to the attack. Being strongly posted, and
+well commanded, the Americans made an obstinate resistance and did hold
+the enemy in check for some hours at one end of the line, only to find
+themselves cut off by the hurried retreat of all the troops posted at
+the passes on their left; for as soon as the firing there showed that
+the turning column had come up in their rear, these troops, with great
+difficulty, fought their way back to the Brooklyn lines, leaving three
+generals and upwards of 1,000 men in the enemy's hands.
+
+The resistance met with by the enemy's turning corps may be guessed from
+what an officer[3] who took part has to say of it. "We have had," he
+goes on to relate, "what some call a battle, but if it deserves that
+name it was the pleasantest I ever heard of, as we had not received more
+than a dozen shots from the enemy, when they ran away with the utmost
+precipitation."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington re-enforces.]
+
+Though not in personal command when the action began, Washington crossed
+over to Brooklyn in time to see his broken and dispirited battalions
+come streaming back into their works. Fearing the worst, he had called
+down two of his best regiments (Shee's and Magaw's) from Harlem
+Heights, and Glover's from the city, to reënforce the troops then
+engaged on Long Island, but as has already been pointed out, reënforcing
+in this manner was out of the question. By making a rapid march, the
+Harlem troops reached the ferry in the afternoon, after firing had
+ceased. They were, however, ferried across the next morning.
+
+[Sidenote: 28th and 29th.]
+
+These movements would indicate a resolution to hold the Brooklyn lines
+at all hazards, and were so regarded, but during the two days subsequent
+to the battle, while the enemy was closing in upon him, Washington
+changed his mind, preparations were quietly made to withdraw the troops,
+while still keeping up a bold front to the enemy, and on the night of
+the 29th the army repassed the East River without accident or
+molestation.
+
+Having thus cleared Long Island, the British extended themselves along
+the East River as far as Newtown, that river thus dividing the hostile
+camps throughout its whole extent. And though New York now lay quite at
+his mercy, Howe refrained from cannonading it, for the same reason as
+Washington did from shelling Boston; namely, that of securing the city
+intact a little later.
+
+In spite of this brilliant opening of the campaign, and outside of the
+noisy subalterns who were making their _début_ in war, it was felt that
+the British army, fresh, numerous, and splendidly equipped, had
+acquitted itself most ingloriously in permitting the Americans to make
+their retreat from the island as they had, when the event of an assault
+must probably have been most disastrous to them.
+
+[Sidenote: Losses so far.]
+
+On the other side defeat had seriously affected the _morale_ of the
+Americans. Fifteen hundred men had been lost on Long Island. A great
+many more were now being lost through desertion. In Washington's own
+words the unruly militia left him by companies, half regiments or whole
+regiments, leaving the infection of their evil example to work its will
+among the well-disposed.
+
+[Sidenote: New York to be held.]
+
+Although the defence of New York had thus broken down at its vital
+point, a majority of generals favored still holding the city. To this
+end Washington now divided his forces, leaving 4,000 in the city,
+posting 6,500 at Harlem Heights, and 12,000 at Fort Washington and
+King's Bridge. Though furnished by a general officer,[4] these figures
+really include the sick, who were estimated at nearly 10,000, as well as
+the large number detached on extra duty. Washington, himself, vaguely
+estimated his effective force at under 20,000 at this time.
+
+As thus arranged, Harlem Heights, in the centre, became the army
+headquarters for the time being, Washington, by one of those little
+accidents that sometimes arrest a passing thought, occupying the
+house[5] of the same lady who had formerly refused the offer of his hand
+in marriage, Miss Mary Phillipse, later to accept that of Colonel Roger
+Morris, his old companion in arms during Braddock's fatal campaign.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] This range of hills includes the present Prospect Park and Greenwood
+Cemetery.
+
+[2] This weak point was the approach from the east where the Jamaica
+road crossed the hills into Bedford village. By striking this road
+somewhat higher up, the enemy got to Bedford before the Americans,
+guarding the hills beyond, had notice of their approach.
+
+[3] Captain Harris, of the Fifth Foot.
+
+[4] General Glover's estimate.
+
+[5] The Morris House is still standing at 160th street, near 10th
+avenue, N. Y., and is now occupied by Gen. Ferdinand P. Earle.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+NEW YORK EVACUATED
+
+
+Howe seems to have thought that so long as Washington remained in New
+York he might be bagged at leisure. In no other way can his dilatory
+proceedings be accounted for. Sixteen days passed without any
+demonstration on his part whatever. Meantime, however, the steady
+extension of his lines toward Hell Gate had operated such a change of
+opinion in the American camp that the decision to hold the city was now
+reconsidered, and the evacuation fixed for September 15. It was seen
+that the storm centre was now shifting over toward the American
+communications, but just where it would break forth was still a matter
+of conjecture.
+
+Howe was fully informed of what was going on by his royalist friends in
+the city, and like the cat watching the wounded mouse while it is
+recovering its breath, he prepared to spring at the moment his
+enfeebled adversary should show signs of returning animation.
+
+[Sidenote: British seize New York.]
+
+All being ready, on the very day fixed for the evacuation, Sir Henry
+Clinton crossed the East River in boats from Newtown Bay to Kipp's Bay,
+with 4,000 men, landed without opposition, owing to a disgraceful panic
+which seized the Americans posted there for just such an emergency, and
+thus thrust himself in between the Americans in the city and those at
+Harlem Heights. Thus cut off, it was only at the greatest risk of
+capture that the garrison below was saved, with the loss of much
+artillery, tents, baggage, and stores, by marching out on one road while
+the enemy were marching in on another,[1] as Clinton had immediately
+pushed on up the island, at the heels of the retreating Americans.
+
+A captain of British grenadiers describes what took place after the
+landing, in the following animated style:
+
+     "After landing in York Island we drove the Americans into their
+     works beyond the eighth milestone from New York, and thus got
+     possession of the best half of the island. We took post opposite
+     to them, placed our pickets, borrowed a sheep, killed, cooked, and
+     ate some of it, and then went to sleep on a gate, which we took the
+     liberty of throwing off its hinges, covering our feet with an
+     American tent, for which we should have cut poles and pitched had
+     it not been so dark. Give me such living as we enjoy at present,
+     such a hut and such company, and I would not care three farthings
+     if we stayed all the winter, for though the mornings and evenings
+     are cold, yet the sun is so hot as to oblige me to put up a blanket
+     as a screen."
+
+[Sidenote: Great fire, September 21.]
+
+Each side now rested in possession of half the island, Washington of all
+above Harlem Heights, Howe of all below. His conquest was, however, near
+proving a barren one, at best, for within a week a third part of the
+city was laid in ashes, some say by incendiaries, some by accident.
+
+The situation was now so far reversed that Washington seemed to be
+blockading Howe in the city.
+
+[Sidenote: Captain Hale hanged.]
+
+Though it had little bearing upon the result of the campaign, one other
+event is deserving of brief mention here. Clinton's descent had been
+cleverly managed, out of Washington's sight. What were the enemy
+proposing to do next? It was imperative to know. To ascertain this Capt.
+Nathan Hale volunteered to go over to Long Island. At his returning he
+was arrested. The papers found upon him betrayed his purpose in going
+within the enemy's lines, and he was forthwith hanged in a manner that
+would have disgraced Tyburn itself.
+
+Howe's next move was probably conceived with the twofold design, first
+of cooping Washington up within the island, and second of capturing or
+breaking up his entire army.
+
+[Sidenote: Howe's delays.]
+
+But again and again we are puzzled to account for Howe's delays. Hard
+fighter that he unquestionably was, he seemed never in a hurry to begin.
+There is even some ground for believing that in New York he had found
+his Capua. Be that as it may, it is certainly true that nearly a whole
+month passed by before the sluggard Sir William again drew sword.
+
+[Sidenote: Lands at Throg's Neck.]
+
+Leaving Lord Percy to defend the lines below Harlem with four brigades,
+at eight o'clock P.M. of the 11th of October, General Clinton with the
+reserves, light infantry and 1,500 Hessians, embarked on the East River,
+passed through Hell Gate, and landed at Throg's Neck,[2] in Westchester,
+early the next morning.
+
+[Illustration: STORMING OF FORT WASHINGTON.
+
+Explanation--E, American positions; A-C, British attacks by Harlem
+River; B, _via_ King's Bridge; D, from Harlem Plains.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington moves to White Plains.]
+
+Here he lay inactive for six whole days, within six miles of the road on
+which Washington was moving out from King's Bridge to White Plains; for
+at the first notice given him of the enemy's movements, which indeed had
+all along been anxiously expected, Washington had been drawing out his
+forces from Harlem to King's Bridge, first sending forward some light
+troops to delay Howe as much as possible, until the army could get into
+position. It is evident that but for Howe's delays this purpose could
+not have been successfully accomplished.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: Howe marches to give battle.]
+
+Meantime the enemy had been bringing up reënforcements, and on the 18th,
+finding the mainland too strongly held at Throg's Neck, for an advance
+from that point, they made another landing six miles beyond, whence they
+marched toward New Rochelle. From here they again marched (22d) for
+White Plains, where Washington was found (27th) drawn up in order of
+battle behind the Bronx, waiting for them.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of White Plains, October 28.]
+
+Here Washington attempted to make a stand, but his right[4] being
+vigorously attacked and turned, he was forced to fall back upon a second
+position, in which he remained unmolested for several days, when
+(November 1) he moved still farther back, to the heights of North
+Castle, where he felt himself quite safe from attack.
+
+Howe had now manoeuvred Washington out of all his defences except Fort
+Washington, which by General Greene's advice was to be defended, though
+now cut off from all support.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Washington taken.]
+
+Things remained in this situation until November 16, when the fort was
+assaulted on three sides, with the result that the whole garrison of
+about 3,000 men were made prisoners of war.[5] At some points the
+resistance was obstinate, notably at the north, and again at the east,
+where one of the attacking divisions attempted to gain the rocky shore
+back of the Morris House, under Harlem Heights. A British officer,[6]
+there present, says of it that "before landing the fire of cannon and
+musketry was so heavy that the sailors quitted their oars and lay down
+in the bottom of the boats, and had not the soldiers taken the oars and
+pulled on shore we must have remained in this situation."
+
+[Sidenote: Effect on the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington and Lee.]
+
+The loss of the garrison of Fort Washington, 2,000 of whom were regular
+troops, was universally regarded as the most severe blow that the
+American cause had yet sustained, and it had a most depressing effect
+both in and out of the army, but more particularly in the army, as it
+tended to develop the growing antagonism between the commander-in-chief
+and General Lee, who had ineffectually advocated the evacuation of Fort
+Washington when the army was withdrawn from the island. Lee's military
+insight had now been most decisively vindicated. His antipathy to
+serving as second in command became more and more pronounced, and was
+more or less reflected by his admirers, of whom he now had more than
+ever. Worse still, it was destined soon to have the most deplorable
+results to the army, the cause, and even to Lee himself.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] A British brigade was sent down to the city in the course of the
+evening.
+
+[2] A contraction of Throgmorton's Neck. As this was an island at high
+tide, the Americans quickly barred the passage to the mainland by
+breaking down the bridge.
+
+[3] On account of the want of wagons this was very slowly done, as the
+wagons had to be unloaded and sent back for what could not be brought
+along with the troops.
+
+[4] This rested on Chatterton's Hill, some distance in front of the main
+line. Not having intrenched, the defenders were overpowered, though not
+until after making a sharp fight.
+
+[5] An excellent account of the operations at Fort Washington will be
+found in Graydon's _Memoirs_, p. 197 _et seq._
+
+[6] Lieut. Martin Hunter, of the Fifty-second Foot.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE SITUATION REVIEWED
+
+
+[Sidenote: The new situation.]
+
+The dilemma now confronting Washington was hydra-headed. Either way it
+was serious. On one side New England lay open to the enemy, on the other
+New Jersey. And an advance was also threatened from the North. If he
+stayed where he was, the enemy would overrun New Jersey at will. Should
+he move his army into New Jersey, Howe could easily cut off its
+communications with New England, the chief resource for men and
+munitions. Of course this was not to be thought of. On the other hand,
+the conquest of New Jersey, with Philadelphia as the ultimate prize, in
+all probability would be Howe's next object. At the present moment there
+was nothing to prevent his marching to Philadelphia, arms at ease. To
+think of fighting in the open field was sheer folly. And there was not
+one fortified position between the Hudson and the Delaware where the
+enemy's triumphal march might be stayed.
+
+Forced by these adverse circumstances to attempt much more than twice
+his present force would have encouraged the hope of doing successfully,
+Washington decided that he must place himself between the enemy and
+Philadelphia, and at the same time hold fast to his communications with
+New England and the upper Hudson. This could only be done by dividing
+his greatly weakened forces into two corps, one of which should attempt
+the difficult task of checking the enemy in the Jerseys, while the other
+held a strong position on the Hudson, until Howe's purposes should be
+more fully developed. With Washington it was no longer a choice of
+evils, but a stern obedience to imperative necessity.
+
+[Sidenote: The army divided.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington in New Jersey.]
+
+Lee was now put in command of the corps left to watch Howe's movement
+east of the Hudson, loosely estimated at 5,000 men, and ordered back
+behind the Croton. Heath, with 2,000 men of his division, was ordered to
+Peekskill, to guard the passes of the Highlands, these two corps being
+thus posted within supporting distance. With the other corps of 4,000
+men Washington crossed into New Jersey, going into camp in the
+neighborhood of Fort Lee, where Greene's small force was united with his
+own command.[1] Orders were also despatched to Ticonderoga, to forward
+at once all troops to the main army that could be spared. Fort Lee had
+thus become the last rallying-point for the troops under Washington's
+immediate command, and in that sense, also, a menace to the full and
+free control of the lower Hudson, which the guns of the fort in part
+commanded at its narrowest point. Howe determined to brush away this
+last obstruction without delay.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Lee taken.]
+
+Regarding Fort Lee as no longer serving any important purpose, perhaps
+foreseeing that it would soon be attacked, Washington was getting ready
+to evacuate it, when on the night of November 19[2] Lord Cornwallis made
+a sudden dash across to the New Jersey side, passing Fort Lee
+unperceived, landed a little above the fort at a place that had
+strangely been left unguarded, climbed the heights unmolested, and was
+only prevented from making prisoners of the whole garrison by its
+hurried retreat across the Hackensack. Everything in the fort, even to
+the kettles in which the men were cooking their breakfasts, was lost.
+
+As regards any further attempt to stay the tide of defeat, all was now
+over. The enemy had obtained a secure foothold on the Jersey shore from
+which to march across the State, when and how he pleased. Unpalatable as
+the admission may be, the fact remains that the Americans had been
+everywhere out-generaled and out-fought. Nearly everything in the way of
+war material had been lost in the hurried evacuation of New York.[3]
+Confidence had been lost. Prestige had been lost. Clearly it was high
+time to turn over a new leaf. With this lame affair the first division
+of the disastrous campaign of 1776 properly closes, and the second
+properly begins. It had been watched with alternate hope, doubt, and
+despondency. Excuses are never wanting to bolster up failing
+reputations. The generals said they had no soldiers, the soldiers
+declared they had no generals; the people hung their heads and were
+silent.
+
+[Illustration: AMERICAN POSITION BEHIND THE HACKENSACK.]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] The Eastern troops remained on the east bank of the Hudson, under
+Lee's command, while those belonging to the Middle and Southern colonies
+crossed the Hudson with Washington. This disposition may have been
+brought about by the belief that the soldiers of each section would
+fight best on their own ground, but the fact is notorious that a most
+bitter animosity had grown up between them.
+
+[2] This movement is assigned to the 18th by Gordon and those who have
+followed him. The 19th is the date given by Captain Harris, who was with
+the expedition.
+
+[3] An enumeration of these losses will be found in Gordon's _American
+Revolution_, Vol. II., p. 360.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS
+
+
+It was now the 20th of November. In a few weeks more, at farthest, the
+season for active campaigning would be over. Thus far delay had been the
+only thing that the Americans had gained; but at what a cost! Yet
+Washington's last hopes were of necessity pinned to it, because the
+respite it promised was the only means of bringing another army into the
+field in season to renew the contest, if indeed it should be renewed at
+all.
+
+[Sidenote: Strength of the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: State of public feeling.]
+
+Losses in battle, by sickness or desertion, or other causes, had brought
+his dismembered forces down to a total of 10,000 men, of whom 3,500 only
+were now under his immediate command, the rest being with Lee and Heath.
+And the work of disintegration was steadily going on. Always hopeful so
+long as there was even a straw to cling to, Washington seems to have
+expected that the people of New Jersey would have flown to arms, upon
+hearing that the invader had actually set foot upon the soil of their
+State. Vain hope! His appeal had fallen flat. The great and rich State
+of Pennsylvania was nearly, if not quite, as unresponsive. Disguise it
+as we may, the fire of '76 seemed all but extinct on its very earliest
+altars, and in its stead only a few sickly embers glowed here and there
+among its ashes. The futility of further resistance was being openly
+discussed, and submission seemed only one step farther off.
+
+In one of his desponding moments Washington turned to his old comrade,
+Mercer, with the question, "What think you, if we should retreat to the
+back parts of Pennsylvania, would the Pennsylvanians support us?"
+
+Though himself a Pennsylvanian by adoption, Mercer's answer was given
+with true soldierly frankness. "If the lower counties give up, the back
+counties will do the same," was his discouraging reply.
+
+"We must then retire to Augusta County in Virginia," said Washington,
+with grave decision, "and if overpowered there, we must cross the
+Alleghanies."
+
+A volume would fail to give half as good an idea of the critical
+condition of affairs as that brief dialogue.
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties to prisoners.]
+
+First and foremost among the many causes of the army's disruption was
+its losses in prisoners. Not less than 5,000 men were at that moment
+dying by slow torture in the foul prisons or pestilential floating
+dungeons of New York. Turn from it as we may, there is no escaping the
+conviction that if not done with the actual sanction of Sir William
+Howe, these atrocities were at least committed with his guilty
+knowledge.[1] The calculated barbarities practised upon these poor
+prisoners, with no other purpose than to make them desert their cause,
+or if that failed, totally to unfit them for serving it more, are almost
+too shocking for belief. It was such acts as these that wrung from the
+indignant Napier the terrible admission that "the annals of civilized
+warfare furnish nothing more inhuman towards captives of war than the
+prison ships of England."
+
+This method of disposing of prisoners was none the less potent that it
+was in some sort murder. Washington had not the prisoners to exchange
+for them, Howe would not liberate them on parole, and when exchanges
+were finally effected, the men thus released were too much enfeebled by
+disease ever to carry a musket again.
+
+In brief, more of Washington's men were languishing in captivity in New
+York than he now had with him in the Jerseys. And he was not losing
+nearly so many by bullets as by starvation.
+
+[Sidenote: Affects recruiting.]
+
+We have emphasized this dark feature of the contest solely for the
+purpose of showing its material influence upon it at this particular
+time. The knowledge of how they would be treated, should they fall into
+the enemy's hands, undoubtedly deterred many from enlisting. In a
+broader sense, it added a new and more aggravated complication to the
+general question as to how the war was to be carried on by the two
+belligerents, whether under the restraints of civilized warfare, or as a
+war to the knife.
+
+Thrown back upon his own resources, Washington must now bitterly have
+repented leaving Lee in an independent command. If there was any secret
+foreboding on his part that Lee would play him false, we do not discover
+it either in his orders or his correspondence. If there was secret
+antipathy, Washington showed himself possessed of almost superhuman
+patience and self-restraint, for certainly if ever man's patience was
+tried Washington's was by the shuffling conduct of his lieutenant at
+this time; but if aversion there was on Washington's part he resolutely
+put it away from him in the interest of the common cause, feeling, no
+doubt, that Lee was a good soldier who might yet do good service, and
+caring little himself as to whom the honor might fall, so the true end
+was reached. It was a great mind lowering itself to the level of a
+little one. But Lee could only see in it a struggle for personal favor
+and preferment.
+
+[Sidenote: Retreat begins.]
+
+After the evacuation of Fort Lee, Lee was urged, unfortunately not
+ordered, to cross his force into the Jerseys, and so bring it into
+coöperation with the troops already there. The demonstrations then
+making in his front decided Washington to fall back behind the Passaic,
+which he did on the 22d, and on the same day marched down that river to
+Newark. On the 24th Cornwallis,[2] who now had assumed control of all
+operations in the Jerseys, was reënforced with two British brigades and
+a regiment of Highlanders.
+
+Before this force Washington had no choice but to give way in proportion
+as Cornwallis advanced, until Lee should join him, when some chance of
+checking the enemy might be improved. At any rate, such a junction would
+undoubtedly have made Cornwallis more circumspect. As Lee still hung
+back, Washington saw this slender hope vanishing. He for a moment
+listened to the alternative of marching to Morristown, where the troops
+from the Northern army would sooner join him; but as this plan would
+leave the direct road to Philadelphia open, it neither suited
+Washington's temper nor his views, and he therefore adhered to his
+former one of fighting in retreat. And though he had failed to check
+Cornwallis at Newark he would endeavor to do so at New Brunswick.
+
+For New Brunswick, therefore, the remains of the army marched, just as
+the enemy's rear-guard was entering Newark in hot pursuit. On finding
+himself so close to the Americans, Cornwallis pushed on after them with
+his light troops, but as Washington had broken down the bridge over the
+Raritan after passing it, the British were brought to a halt there.
+
+[Sidenote: New Brunswick evacuated.]
+
+Sustained by the vain hope of being reënforced here, either by Lee or by
+new levies of militia coming up as he fell back toward Philadelphia,
+Washington meditated making a stand at New Brunswick, which should at
+least show the exultant enemy that there was still some life left in his
+jaded battalions, and perhaps delay pursuit, which was all that could be
+hoped for with his small force. Instead, however, of the expected
+reënforcement, the departure of the New Jersey and Maryland brigades,
+still so called by courtesy alone, since they were but the shadows of
+what they had been, put this purpose out of the question. Again
+Washington reluctantly turned his back to his enemy.
+
+Lee's troops were now the chief resource. What few militia joined the
+army one day melted away on the next. In Washington's opinion the
+crisis had come. He therefore wrote to his laggard lieutenant, "Hasten
+your march as much as possible or your arrival may be too late."
+
+[Sidenote: December 7.]
+
+Fortunately Cornwallis had orders not to advance beyond New Brunswick.
+He therefore halted there until he could receive new instructions, which
+caused a delay of six days before the pursuit was renewed.[3] On the 7th
+Cornwallis moved on to Princeton, arriving there on the same day that
+Washington left it. This was getting dangerously near, with a wide river
+to cross, at only one short march beyond.
+
+In view of the actual state of things, this retreat must stand in
+history as a masterpiece of calculated temerity. Keeping only one day's
+march ahead of his enemy, Washington's rear-guard only moved off when
+the enemy's van came in sight. There is nowhere any hint of a disorderly
+retreat, or any serious infraction of discipline, or any deviation from
+the strict letter of obedience to orders, such as usually follows in the
+wake of a beaten and retreating army. Washington simply let himself be
+pushed along when he found resistance altogether hopeless. In this firm
+hold on his soldiers, at such an hour, we recognize the leader.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Captain Graydon (_Memoirs_) and Ethan Allen (_Narrative_), both
+prisoners at this time, fix the responsibility where it belongs.
+
+[2] Cornwallis (Lord Brome) was squint-eyed from effects of a blow in
+the eye received while playing hockey at Eton. His playmate who caused
+the accident was Shute Barrington, afterwards Bishop of Durham. He
+entered the army as an ensign in the Foot Guards. His first commission
+is dated Dec. 8, 1756.
+
+[3] This delay is chargeable to Howe, who kept the troops halted until
+he could consult with Cornwallis in person as to future operations. The
+question was, Should or should not the British army cross the Delaware?
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+LEE'S MARCH AND CAPTURE
+
+
+[Sidenote: December 2 and 3.]
+
+"Hasten your march or your arrival may be too late." When this urgent
+appeal was penned Lee had not yet seen fit to cross the Hudson, nor was
+it until Washington had reached Princeton that Lee's troops were at last
+put in motion toward the Delaware.
+
+Hitherto Lee had been in some sort Washington's tutor, or at least
+military adviser,--a rôle for which, we are bound in common justice to
+say, Lee was not unfitted. But from the moment of separation he appears
+in the light of a rival and a critic, and not too friendly as either. In
+the beginning Washington had looked up to Lee. Lee now looked down upon
+Washington. Unquestionably the abler tactician of the two, Lee seemed to
+have looked forward to Washington's fall as certain, and to so have
+shaped his own course as to leave him master of the situation. In so
+doing he cannot be acquitted of disloyalty to the cause he served, if
+that course threatened to wreck the cause itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Lee's plans.]
+
+It is only just to add that for troops taking the field in the dead of
+winter, Lee's were hardly better prepared than those they were going to
+assist. General Heath, who saw them march off, says that some of them
+were as good soldiers as any in the service, but many were so destitute
+of shoes that the blood left on the rugged, frozen ground, in many
+places, marked the route they had taken; and he adds that a considerable
+number, totally unable to march, were left behind at Peekskill. This
+brings us face to face with the extraordinary and unlooked-for fact that
+instead of bending all his energies toward effecting a junction with the
+commander-in-chief, east of the Delaware, in time to be of service, Lee
+had decided to adopt an entirely different line of conduct, more in
+accord with his own ideas of how the remainder of the campaign should be
+conducted. Meantime, as a cloak to his intentions, he kept up a show of
+obeying the spirit, if not the letter, of his instructions, leaving the
+impression, however, that he would take the responsibility of
+disregarding them if he saw fit. If he had written to Washington, "You
+have had your chance and failed; mine has now come," his words and acts
+would have been in exact harmony.[1]
+
+[Sidenote: December 7 and 8.]
+
+On the 7th Lee was at Pompton. This day an express was sent off to him
+by Heath informing him of the arrival of Greaton's, Bond's, and Porter's
+battalions from Albany. Lee replied from Chatham directing them to march
+to Morristown, where his own troops were then halted. The prospect of
+this reënforcement, which in all probability he had been expecting to
+intercept, may account both for the slowness of Lee's march, and for the
+closing sentence of his reply to Heath. Here it is: "I am in hopes to
+reconquer (if I may so express myself) the Jerseys. It was really in the
+hands of the enemy before my arrival."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington crosses the Delaware.]
+
+[Sidenote: December 8.]
+
+In halting as he did Lee was deliberately forcing a crisis with
+Washington, who was all this time falling back upon his supplies, while
+the British, having to drag theirs after them, could only advance by
+spurts. Here was a rare opportunity for fighting in retreat being thrown
+away, as Washington conceived, by Lee's dilatoriness in reënforcing
+him. Reluctant to abandon his last chance of giving the enemy a check,
+Washington seems to have thought of doing so at Princeton (ignorant that
+this spot was so soon to be the field of more brilliant operations) as a
+means of gaining time for the removal of his baggage across the
+Delaware. It was probably with no other purpose that his advance, which
+had reached Trenton as early as the 3d, was marched back to Princeton,
+which Lord Sterling was still holding with the rear-guard as late as the
+7th, when, as we have seen, Cornwallis made his forced march from
+Brunswick to Princeton, in such force as to put resistance out of the
+question. Here he halted for seventeen hours, thus giving Washington
+time to reach Trenton, get his 2,200 or 2,400 men across the Delaware,
+and draw them up on the other side, out of harm's reach, just as his
+baffled pursuers arrived on the opposite bank.
+
+Cornwallis immediately began a search for the means of crossing in his
+turn.[2] Here, again, he was baffled by Washington's foresight, as
+every boat for seventy miles up and down the Delaware had been removed
+beyond his adversary's reach.
+
+On the day of this catastrophe, which seemed, in the opinion not only of
+the victors, but of the vanquished, to have given the finishing stroke
+to the American Revolution, Lee's force, augmented by the junction of
+the troops marching down to join him, was the sole prop and stay of the
+cause in the Jerseys.
+
+That force lay quietly at Morristown until the 12th of the month, when
+it was again put in motion toward Vealtown, now Bernardsville.
+
+[Sidenote: Gates arrives.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lee taken.]
+
+At this time a second detachment from the army of the North, under
+Gates,[3] was on the march across Sussex County to the Delaware. Being
+cut off from communication with the commander-in-chief, Gates sent
+forward a staff officer to learn the condition of affairs, report his
+own speedy appearance, and receive directions as to what route he should
+take, Hearing that Lee was at Morristown, this officer pushed on in
+search of him, and at four o'clock in the morning of the 13th, he found
+Lee quartered in an out-of-the-way country tavern at Baskingridge,
+three miles from his camp, and by just so much nearer the enemy, whose
+patrols, since Washington had been disposed of, were now scouring the
+roads in every direction. One of these detachments surprised the house
+Lee was in, and before noon the crestfallen general was being hurried
+off a prisoner to Brunswick by a squadron of British light-horse.
+
+Lee's troops, now Sullivan's, with those of Gates, one or two marches in
+the rear, freed from the crafty hand that had been leading them astray,
+now pressed on for the Delaware, and thus that concert of action, for
+which Washington had all along labored in vain, was again restored
+between the fragments of his army, impotent when divided, but yet
+formidable as a whole.
+
+Lee's written and spoken words, if indeed his acts did not speak even
+louder, leave no doubt as to his purpose in amusing Washington by a show
+of coming to his aid, when, in fact, he had no intention of doing so. He
+not only assumed the singular attitude, in a subordinate, of passing
+judgment upon the propriety or necessity of his orders,--orders given
+with full knowledge of the situation,--but proceeded to thwart them in
+a manner savoring of contempt. Lee was Washington's Bernadotte. Neither
+urging, remonstrance, nor entreaty could swerve him one iota from the
+course he had mapped out for himself. Conceiving that he held the key to
+the very unpromising situation in his own hands, he had determined to
+make the gambler's last throw, and had lost.
+
+Although Lee's conduct toward Washington cannot be justified, it is more
+than probable that some such success as that which Stark afterwards
+achieved at Bennington, under conditions somewhat similar, though
+essentially different as to motives, might, and probably would, have
+justified Lee's conduct to the nation, and perhaps even have raised him
+to the position he coveted--of the head of the army, on the ruins of
+Washington's military reputation. Could he even have cut the enemy's
+line so as to throw it into confusion, his conduct might have escaped
+censure. With this end in view he designed holding a position on the
+enemy's flank,[4] arguing, perhaps, that Washington would be compelled
+to reënforce him rather than see him defeated, with the troops now
+beyond the Delaware. Washington saw through Lee's schemes, refused to be
+driven into doing what his judgment did not approve, and the tension
+between the two generals was suddenly snapped by the imprudence or worse
+of Lee himself.
+
+Captain Harris,[5] who saw Lee brought to Brunswick a prisoner, has this
+to say of him: "He was taken by a party of ours under Colonel Harcourt,
+who surrounded the house in which this arch-traitor was residing. Lee
+behaved as cowardly in this transaction as he had dishonorably in every
+other. After firing one or two shots from the house, he came out and
+entreated our troops to spare his life. Had he behaved with proper
+spirit I should have pitied him. I could hardly refrain from tears when
+I first saw him, and thought of the miserable fate in which his
+obstinacy has involved him. He says he has been mistaken in three
+things: first, that the New England men would fight; second, that
+America was unanimous; and third, that she could afford two men for our
+one."[6]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Lee had expected the first place and had been given the second. His
+successes while acting in a separate command (at Charleston) told
+heavily against Washington's reverses in this campaign; and his
+outspoken criticisms, frequently just, as the event proved, had produced
+their due impression on the minds of many, who believed Lee the better
+general of the two. Events had so shaped themselves, in consequence, as
+to raise up two parties in the army. And here was laid the foundation of
+all those personal jealousies which culminated in Lee's dismissal from
+the army. While his abilities won respect, his insufferable egotism made
+him disliked, and it is to be remarked of the divisions Lee's ambition
+was promoting, that the best officers stood firmly by the
+commander-in-chief.
+
+[2] Cornwallis took no boats with him, as he might have done, from
+Brunswick. A small number would have answered his purpose.
+
+[3] Ticonderoga being out of danger for the present, Washington had
+ordered Gates down with all troops that could be spared.
+
+[4] As Washington had been urged to do, instead of keeping between
+Cornwallis and Philadelphia.
+
+[5] Lord George Harris, of the Fifth Foot.
+
+[6] It will be noticed that this account differs essentially from that
+of Wilkinson, who, though present at Lee's capture, hid himself until
+the light-horse had left with their prisoner.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+
+To all intents the campaign of 1776 had now drawn its lengthened
+disasters to a close. It had indeed been protracted nearly to the point
+of ruin, with the one result, that Philadelphia was apparently safe for
+the present. But with Washington thrown back across the Delaware, Lee a
+prisoner, Congress fled to Baltimore, Canada lost, New York lost, the
+Jerseys overrun, the royal army stretched out from the Hudson to the
+Delaware and practically intact, while the patriot army, dwindled to a
+few thousands, was expected to disappear in a few short weeks, the
+situation had grown desperate indeed.
+
+So hopeless indeed was the outlook everywhere that the ominous cry of
+"Every one for himself"--that last despairing cry of the
+vanquished--began to be echoed throughout the colonies. We have seen
+that even Washington himself seriously thought of retreating behind the
+Alleghanies, which was virtual surrender. Even he, if report be true,
+began to think of the halter, and Franklin's little witticism, on
+signing the Declaration, of, "Come, gentlemen, we must all hang together
+or we shall hang separately," was getting uncomfortably like inspired
+prophecy.
+
+If we turn now to the people, we shall find the same apparent consenting
+to the inevitable, the same tendency of all intelligent discussion
+toward the one result. One instance only of this feeling may be cited
+here, as showing how the young men--always the least despondent portion
+of any community--received the news of the retreat through the Jerseys.
+
+Elkanah Watson sets down the following at Plymouth, Mass.: "We looked
+upon the contest as near its close, and considered ourselves a
+vanquished people. The young men present determined to emigrate, and
+seek some spot where liberty dwelt, and where the arm of British tyranny
+could not reach us. Major Thomas (who had brought them the dispiriting
+news from the army) animated our desponding spirits with the assurance
+that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and
+confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes."
+
+[Sidenote: British plans.]
+
+At the British headquarters the contest, with good reason, was felt to
+be practically over. Unless all signs failed one short campaign would,
+beyond all question, end it; for at no point were the Americans able to
+show a respectable force. In the North a fresh army, under General
+Burgoyne, was getting ready to break through Ticonderoga and come down
+the Hudson with a rush, carrying all before them, as Cornwallis had done
+in the Jerseys. This would cut the rebellion in two. On the same day
+that Washington crossed the Delaware, Clinton had seized Newport,
+without firing a shot. This would hold New England in check. In short,
+should Howe's plans for the coming season work, as there was every
+reason to expect, then there would be little enough left of the
+Revolution in its cradle and stronghold, with the troops at New York,
+Albany, and Newport acting in well-devised combination.
+
+Brilliant only when roused by the presence of danger, Howe as easily
+fell into his habitual indolence when the danger had passed by. In
+effect, what had he to fear? Washington was beyond the Delaware, with
+the débris of the army he had lately commanded, which served him rather
+as an escort than a defence. If let alone, even this would shortly
+disappear.
+
+Under these circumstances Howe felt that he could well afford to give
+himself and his troops a breathing-spell. This was now being put in
+train. Cornwallis was about to sail for England, on leave of absence.
+The garrison of New York disposed itself to pass the winter in idleness,
+and even those detachments doing outpost duty in the Jerseys, after
+having chased Washington until they were tired, turned their attention
+exclusively to the disaffected inhabitants. The field had already been
+reaped, and these troops were the gleaners.
+
+[Sidenote: Chain of posts.]
+
+To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across
+the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Bordentown,
+and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the dépôt, the first
+being well placed either for making an advance, or for checking any
+attempts by the Americans to recross the river. Washington believed that
+the British would be in Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was strong
+enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had
+happened, no doubt the enemy's advanced troops would have taken
+possession of the city at once. And it is even quite probable that this
+contingency was considered a foregone conclusion, since British agents
+were now actively at work in Washington's own camp, undermining the
+feeble authority which everybody believed was tottering to its fall. Be
+that as it may, the fact remains that active operations were for the
+present wholly suspended. At the officers' messes or in the barracks all
+the talk was of going home. Besides, if Howe had really wanted to take
+Philadelphia there was nothing to prevent his doing so. There were no
+defences. If saved at all, the city must be defended in the field, not
+in the streets.
+
+Bordentown being rather the most exposed, Count Donop was left there
+with some 2,000 Hessians, and Colonel Rall at Trenton with 1,200 to
+1,300 more. Both were veterans. As these Hessians were about equally
+hated and feared, it was well reasoned that they would be all the more
+watchful against a surprise.
+
+[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON TRENTON.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rall and Donop.]
+
+As soon as he had time to look about him, Donop at once extended his
+outposts down to Burlington, on the river, and to Black Horse, on the
+back-road leading south to Mt. Holly, thus establishing himself at the
+base point of a triangle from which his outposts could be speedily
+reënforced, either from Bordentown or each other. The post at Burlington
+was only eighteen miles from Philadelphia.
+
+In order to understand the efforts subsequently made to break through it
+this line should be carefully traced out on the map. In spots it was
+weak, yet the long gaps, like that between Princeton and Trenton, and
+between Princeton and Brunswick, were thought sufficiently secured by
+occasional patrols.
+
+To meet these dispositions of the enemy Washington stretched out the
+remnant of his force along the opposite bank of the Delaware, from above
+Trenton to below Bordentown, looking chiefly to the usual crossing
+places, which were being vigilantly watched.
+
+[Illustration: OPERATIONS IN THE JERSEYS.]
+
+Under date of December 16 a British officer writes home as follows:
+"Winter quarters are now fixed. Our army forms a chain of about ninety
+miles in length from Fort Lee, where our baggage crossed, to Trenton on
+the Delaware, which river, I believe, we shall not cross till next
+campaign, as General Howe is returning to New York. I understand we are
+to winter at a small village near the Raritan River, and are to form a
+sort of advanced picket. There is mountainous ground very near this post
+where the rebels are still in arms, and are expected to be troublesome
+during the winter."
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties of troops.]
+
+He then goes on to speak of the deplorable condition in which the
+inhabitants had been left by the rival armies, dividing the blame with
+impartial hand, and moralizing a little, as follows: "A civil war is a
+dreadful thing; what with the devastation of the rebels, and that of the
+English and Hessian troops, every part of the country where the scene of
+the action has been looks deplorable. Furniture is broken to pieces,
+good houses deserted and almost destroyed, others burnt; cattle, horses,
+and poultry carried off; and the old plundered of their all. The rebels
+everywhere left their sick behind, and most of them have died for want
+of care."
+
+This telling piece of testimony is introduced here not only because it
+comes from an eye-witness, but from an enemy. Beneath the uniform the
+man speaks out. But his omissions are still more eloquent. It was not
+so much the loss of property, bad as that was, as the nameless
+atrocities everywhere perpetrated by the royal troops upon the young,
+the helpless, and the innocent, that makes the tale too revolting to be
+told. In truth, all that part of the Jerseys held by the enemy had been
+given up to indiscriminate rapine and plunder. It was in vain that the
+victims pleaded the king's protection. As vainly did they appeal to the
+humanity of the invaders. The brutal soldiery defied the one and laughed
+at the other. Finding that the promised pardon and mercy were synonymous
+with murder, arson, and rapine, such a revulsion of feeling had taken
+place that the authors of these cruelties were literally sleeping on a
+volcano; and where patriotism had so lately been invoked in vain, hope
+of revenge was now turning every man, woman, and child into either an
+open or a secret foe to the despoilers of their homes. One little breath
+only was wanting to fan the revolt to a flame; one little spark to fire
+the train. All eyes, therefore, were instinctively turned to the banks
+of the Delaware.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE MARCH TO TRENTON
+
+
+[Sidenote: Spirit of the officers.]
+
+[Sidenote: Post at Bristol.]
+
+Enough has been said to show that only heroic measures could now save
+the American cause. Fortunately Washington was surrounded by a little
+knot of officers of approved fidelity, whose spirit no reverses could
+subdue. And though a calm retrospect of so many disasters, with all the
+jealousies, the defections, and the terror which had followed in their
+wake, might well have carried discouragement to the stoutest hearts,
+this little band of heroes now closed up around their careworn chief,
+and like the ever-famous Guard at Waterloo, were fully resolved to die
+rather than surrender. This was much. It was still more when Washington
+found his officers inspired by the same hope of striking the enemy
+unawares which he himself had all along secretly entertained. The hope
+was still further encouraged by a reënforcement of Pennsylvania
+militia, whose pride had been aroused at seeing the invader's vedettes
+in sight of their capital. These were posted at Bristol, under
+Cadwalader,[1] as a check to Count Donop, while what was left of the old
+army was guarding the crossings above, as a check to Rall.
+
+To do something, and to do it quickly, were equally imperative, because
+the term of the regular troops would expire in a few days more, and no
+one realized better than the commander-in-chief that the militia could
+not long be held together inactive in camp.
+
+[Sidenote: Rall's danger.]
+
+The isolated situation of Rall and Donop seemed to invite attack. Their
+fancied security seemed also to presage success. An inexorable necessity
+called loudly for action before conditions so favorable should be
+changed by the freezing up of the Delaware when, if the enemy had any
+enterprise whatever, the river would no longer prevent, but assist, his
+marching into Philadelphia, and perhaps dictating a peace from the halls
+of Congress.
+
+Donop being considerably nearer Philadelphia than Rall, was, as we have
+seen, being closely watched by Cadwalader, whose force being largely
+drawn from the city had the best reasons for wishing to be rid of so
+troublesome a neighbor.
+
+[Sidenote: Gates sulking.]
+
+More especially in view of possible contingencies, which he could not be
+on the ground to direct, Washington sent his able adjutant-general,
+Reed,[2] down to aid Cadwalader. This action, too, removed a difficulty
+which had arisen out of Gates' excusing himself from taking this command
+on the plea of ill-health.
+
+[Sidenote: In Philadelphia.]
+
+Below Cadwalader, again, Putnam was in command at Philadelphia, with a
+fluctuating force of local militia, only sufficiently numerous to
+furnish guards for the public property, protect the friends, and watch
+the enemies, of the cause, between whom the city was thought to be about
+equally divided. Most reluctantly the conclusion had been reached that
+the appearance of the British in force, on the opposite bank of the
+Delaware, would be the signal for a revolt. Here, then, was another rock
+of danger, upon which the losing cause was now steadily
+drifting,--another warning not to delay action.
+
+It was then that Washington resolved on making one of those sudden
+movements so disconcerting to a self-confident enemy. It had been some
+time maturing, but could not be sooner put in execution on account of
+the wretched condition of Sullivan's (lately Lee's) troops, who had come
+off their long march, as Washington expresses it, in want of everything.
+
+[Sidenote: A first move.]
+
+Putnam was the first to beard the lion by throwing part of his force
+across the Delaware.[3] Whether this was done to mask any purposed
+movement from above, or not, it certainly had that result. After
+crossing into the Jerseys Griffin marched straight to Mt. Holly, where
+he was halted on the 22d, waiting for the reënforcements he had asked
+for from Cadwalader. Donop having promptly accepted the challenge,
+marched against Griffin, who, having effected his purpose of drawing
+Donop's attention to himself, fell back beyond striking distance.
+
+It was Washington's plan to throw Cadwalader's and Ewing's[4] forces in
+between Donop and Rall, while Griffin or Putnam was threatening Donop
+from below; and he was striking Rall from above. Had these blows fallen
+in quick succession there is little room to doubt that a much greater
+measure of success would have resulted.
+
+Orders for the intended movement were sent out from headquarters on the
+23d. They ran to this effect:
+
+[Sidenote: Rall the object.]
+
+Cadwalader at Bristol, Ewing at Trenton Ferry, and Washington himself at
+McKonkey's Ferry, were to cross the Delaware simultaneously on the night
+of the 25th and attack the enemy's posts in their front. Cadwalader and
+Ewing having spent the night in vain efforts to cross their commands,
+returned to their encampments. It only remains to follow the movements
+of the commander-in-chief, who was fortunately ignorant of these
+failures.
+
+Twenty-four hundred men, with eighteen cannon, were drawn up on the bank
+of the river at sunset. Tolstoi claims that the real problem of the
+science of war "is to ascertain and formulate the value of the spirit of
+the men, and their willingness and eagerness to fight." This little band
+was all on fire to be led against the enemy. No holiday march lay before
+them, yet every officer and man instinctively felt that the last hope
+of the Republic lay in the might of his own good right arm.
+
+Did we need any further proof of the desperate nature of these
+undertakings, it is found in the matchless group of officers that now
+gathered round the commander-in-chief to stand or fall with him. With
+such chiefs and such soldiers the fight was sure to be conducted with
+skill and energy.
+
+[Sidenote: Strong array of officers.]
+
+Greene, Sullivan, St. Clair, Sterling, Knox, Mercer, Stephen, Glover,
+Hand, Stark, Poor, and Patterson were there to lead these slender
+columns to victory. Among the subordinates who were treading this rugged
+pathway to renown were Hull, Monroe, Hamilton, and Wilkinson. Rank
+disappeared in the soldier. Major-generals commanded weak brigades,
+brigadiers, half battalions, colonels, broken companies. Some sudden
+inspiration must have nerved these men to face the dangers of that
+terrible night. History fails to show a more sublime devotion to an
+apparently lost cause.
+
+[Sidenote: The Delaware crossed.]
+
+Boats being held in readiness the troops began their memorable crossing.
+Its difficulties and dangers may be estimated by the failure of the two
+coöperating; corps to surmount them. Of this part of the work Glover[5]
+took charge. Again his Marblehead men manned the boats, as they had done
+at Long Island; and though it was necessary to force a passage by main
+strength through the floating ice, which the strong current and high
+wind steadily drove against them, the transfer from the friendly to the
+hostile shore slowly went on in the thickening darkness and gloom of the
+waiting hours.
+
+Little by little the group on the eastern shore began to grow larger as
+the hours wore on. Washington was there wrapped in his cloak, and in
+that inscrutable silence denoting the crisis of a lifetime. Did his
+thoughts go back to that eventful hour when he was guiding a frail raft
+through the surging ice of the Monongahela? Knox was there animating the
+utterly cheerless scene by his loud commands to the men in charge of his
+precious artillery, for which the shivering troops were impatiently
+waiting. At three o'clock the last gun was landed. The crossing had
+required three hours more than had been allowed for it. Nearly another
+hour was used up in forming the troops for the march of nine miles to
+Trenton, which could hardly be reached over such a wretched road, and in
+such weather, in less than from three to four hours more. To make
+matters worse, rain, hail, and sleet began falling heavily, and freezing
+as it fell.
+
+To surround and surprise Trenton before daybreak was now out of the
+question. Nevertheless, Washington decided to push on as rapidly as
+possible; and the troops having been formed in two columns, were now put
+in motion toward the enemy.
+
+The march was horrible. A more severe winter's night had never been
+experienced even by the oldest campaigners. To keep moving was the only
+defence against freezing. Enveloped in whirling snow-flakes, encompassed
+in blackest darkness, the little column toiled steadily on through
+sludge ankle-deep, those in the rear judging by the quantity of snow
+lodged on the hats and coats of those in front, the load that they
+themselves were carrying. Not a word, a jest, or a snatch of song broke
+the silence of that fearful march.
+
+At a cross-road four and a half miles from Trenton the word was passed
+along the line to halt. Here the columns divided. With one Greene filed
+off on a road bearing to the left, which, after making a considerable
+circuit, struck into Trenton more to the east. Washington rode with this
+division. The other column kept the road on which it had been marching.
+Sullivan led this division with Stark in the van. At this moment
+Sullivan was informed that the muskets were too wet to be depended upon.
+He instantly sent off an aid to Washington for further orders. The aid
+came galloping back with the order to "go on," delivered in a tone which
+he said he should never forget. With grim determination Sullivan again
+moved forward, and the word ran through the ranks, "We have our bayonets
+left."
+
+All this time Ewing was supposed to be nearing Trenton from the south.
+In that case the town would be assaulted from three points at once, and
+a retreat to Bordentown be cut off.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] John Cadwalader, of Philadelphia. His services in this campaign were
+both timely and important.
+
+[2] Joseph Reed succeeded Gates as adjutant-general after Gates was
+promoted. Reed's early life had been passed in New Jersey, though he had
+moved to Philadelphia before the war broke out. His knowledge of the
+country which became the seat of war was invaluable to Washington.
+
+[3] This force was under command of Colonel Griffin, Putnam's
+adjutant-general.
+
+[4] James Ewing, brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia, posted
+opposite to Bordentown. In some accounts he is called Irvine, Erwing,
+etc.
+
+[5] Col. John Glover commanded one of the best disciplined regiments in
+Washington's army.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+TRENTON
+
+
+Very early in the evening there had been firing at Rall's outposts, but
+the careless enemy hardly gave it his attention. Some lost detachment
+had probably fired on the pickets out of mere bravado. The night had
+been spent in carousal, and the storm had quieted Rall's mind as regards
+any danger of an attack.[1]
+
+[Sidenote: The attack.]
+
+But in the gray dawn of that dark December morning the two assaulting
+columns, emerging like phantoms from the midst of the storm, were
+rapidly approaching the Hessian pickets. All was quiet. The newly fallen
+snow deadened the rumble of the artillery. The pickets were enjoying the
+warmth of the houses in which they had taken post, half a mile out of
+town, when the alarm was raised that the enemy were upon them. They
+turned out only to be swept away before the eager rush of the
+Americans, who came pouring on after them into the town, as it seemed
+in all directions, shouting and firing at the flying enemy. That long
+night of exposure, of suspense, the fatigue of that rapid march, were
+forgotten in the rattle of musketry and the din of battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Street combats.]
+
+Roused by the uproar the bewildered Hessians ran out of their barracks
+and attempted to form in the streets. The hurry, fright, and confusion
+were said to be like to that with which the imagination conjures up the
+sounding of the last trump.[2] Grape and canister cleared the streets in
+the twinkling of an eye. The houses were then resorted to for shelter.
+From these the musketry soon dislodged the fugitives. Turned again into
+the streets the Hessians were driven headlong through the town into an
+open plain beyond it. Here they were formed in an instant, and Rall,
+brave enough in the smoke and flame of combat, even thought of forcing
+his way back into the town.
+
+[Sidenote: Sullivan in action.]
+
+But Washington was again thundering away in their front with his cannon.
+In person he directed their fire like a simple lieutenant of artillery.
+Off at the right the roll of Sullivan's musketry announced his steady
+advance toward the bridge leading to Bordentown. The road to Princeton
+was held by a regiment of riflemen. Those troops, whom Sullivan had been
+driving before him, saved themselves by a rapid flight across the
+Assanpink. Why was not Ewing there to stop them! Sullivan promptly
+seized the bridge in time to intercept a disorderly mass of Hessian
+infantry, who had broken away from the main body in a panic, hoping to
+make their escape that way.
+
+[Sidenote: Hessians surrender.]
+
+Not knowing which way to turn next, Rall held his ground, like a wounded
+boar brought to bay, until a bullet struck him to the ground with a
+mortal wound. Finding themselves hemmed in on all sides, and seeing the
+American cannoneers getting ready to fire with canister, at short range,
+the Hessian colors were lowered in token of surrender.
+
+A thousand prisoners, six cannon, with small-arms and ammunition in
+proportion, were the trophies of this brilliant victory. The work had
+been well done. From highest to lowest the immortal twenty-four hundred
+had behaved like men determined to be free.
+
+[Sidenote: The river recrossed.]
+
+Now, while in the fresh glow of triumph, Washington learned that neither
+Ewing nor Cadwalader had crossed to his assistance. He stood alone on
+the hostile shore, within striking distance of the enemy at Bordentown,
+and at Princeton. Donop, reënforced by the fugitives from Trenton,
+outnumbered him three to two. Reënforced by the garrison at Princeton,
+the odds would be as two to one. All these enemies he would soon have on
+his hands, with no certainty of any increase of his own force.
+
+His combinations had failed, and he must have time to look about him
+before forming new ones. There was no help for it. He must again put the
+Delaware behind him before being driven into it.
+
+Washington heard these tidings as things which the incompetence or
+jealousies of his generals had long habituated him to hear. Orders were
+therefore given to repass the river without delay or confusion, and,
+after gathering up their prisoners and their trophies, the victors
+retraced their painful march to their old encampment, where they
+arrived the same evening, worn out with their twenty-four hours'
+incessant marching and fighting, but with confidence in themselves and
+their leaders fully restored.
+
+This little battle marked an epoch in the history of the war. It was now
+the Americans who attacked. Trenton had taught them the lesson that, man
+for man, they had nothing to fear from their vaunted adversaries; and
+that lesson, learned at the point of the bayonet, is the only one that
+can ever make men soldiers. The enemy could well afford to lose a town,
+but this rise of a new spirit was quite a different thing. Therefore,
+though a little battle, Trenton was a great fact, nowhere more fully
+confessed than in the British camp, where it was now gloomily spoken of
+as the tragedy of Trenton.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Harris says that Rall had intelligence of the intended attack, and
+kept his men under arms the whole night. Long after daybreak, a most
+violent snow-storm coming on, he thought he might safely permit his men
+to lie down, and in this state they were surprised by the
+enemy.--_Life_, p. 64.
+
+[2] General Knox's account is here followed.--_Memoir_, p. 38.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON
+
+
+[Sidenote: Cadwalader crosses.]
+
+The events of the next two days, apart from Washington's own movements,
+are a real comedy of errors. The firing at Trenton had been distinctly
+heard at Cadwalader's camp and its reason guessed. Later, rumors of the
+result threw the camps into the wildest excitement. Bitterly now these
+men regretted that they had not pushed on to the aid of their comrades.
+Supposing Washington still to be at Trenton, Cadwalader made a second
+attempt to cross to his assistance at Bristol on the 27th, when, in
+fact, Washington was then back in Pennsylvania.[1]
+
+Cadwalader thus put himself into precisely the same situation from which
+Washington had just hastened to extricate himself. But neither had
+foreseen the panic which had seized the enemy on hearing of the surprise
+of Trenton.
+
+[Sidenote: At Bordentown.]
+
+On getting over the river, Cadwalader learned the true state of things,
+which placed him in a very awkward dilemma as to what he should do next.
+As his troops were eager to emulate the brilliant successes of their
+comrades, he decided, however, to go in search of Donop. He therefore
+marched up to Burlington the same afternoon. The enemy had left it the
+day before. He then made a night march to Bordentown, which was also
+found deserted in haste. Crosswicks, another outpost lying toward
+Princeton, was next seized by a detachment. That, too, had been
+hurriedly abandoned. Cadwalader could find nobody to attack or to attack
+him. The stupefied people only knew that their villages had been
+suddenly evacuated. In short, the enemy's whole line had been swept away
+like dead leaves before an autumnal gale, under that one telling blow at
+Trenton.
+
+Even Washington himself seems not to have realized the full extent of
+his success until these astonishing reports came in in quick succession.
+As the elated Americans marched on they saw the inhabitants everywhere
+pulling down the red rags which had been nailed to their doors, as
+badges of loyalty. "Jersey will be the most whiggish colony on the
+continent," writes an officer of this corps of Cadwalader's. "The very
+Quakers declare for taking up arms."[2]
+
+[Sidenote: Trenton reoccupied.]
+
+In view of the facts here stated, Washington was strongly urged to
+secure his hold on West Jersey before the enemy should have time to
+recover from their panic. The temper of the people seemed to justify the
+attempt, even with the meagre force at his command. On the 29th he
+therefore reoccupied Trenton in force. At the same time orders were sent
+off to McDougall at Morristown, and Heath in the Highlands, to show
+themselves to the enemy, as if some concerted movement was in progress
+all along the line.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: Princeton reënforced.]
+
+Meantime the alarm brought about by Donop's[4] falling back on Princeton
+caused the commanding officer there to call urgently for reënforcements.
+None were sent, however, for some days, when the grenadiers and second
+battalion of guards marched in from New Brunswick. In evidence of the
+wholesome terror inspired by Washington's daring movements comes the
+account of the reception of this reënforcement by an eye-witness,
+Captain Harris, of the grenadiers, who writes of it: "You would have
+felt too much to be able to express your feelings on seeing with what a
+warmth of friendship our children, as we call the light-infantry,
+welcomed us, one and all crying, 'Let them come! Lead us to them, we are
+sure of being supported.' It gave me a pleasure too fine to attempt
+expressing."
+
+Howe was now pushing forward all his available troops toward Princeton.
+Cornwallis hastened back to that place with the _élite_ of the army.
+While these heavy columns were gathering like a storm-cloud in his front
+Washington and his generals were haranguing their men, entreating them
+to stay even for a few weeks longer. Such were the shifts to which the
+commander-in-chief found himself reduced when in actual presence of this
+overwhelming force of the enemy.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington concentrates.]
+
+Through the efforts of their officers most of the New England troops
+reënlisted for six weeks--Stark's regiment almost to a man.[5] And these
+battalions constituted the real backbone of subsequent operations.
+Hearing that the enemy was at least ready to move forward, Cadwalader's
+and Mifflin's troops were called in to Trenton, and preparations made
+to receive the attack unflinchingly. This force being all assembled on
+the 1st of January, 1777, Washington posted it on the east side of the
+Assanpink, behind the bridge over which Rail's soldiers had made good
+their retreat on the day of the surprise, with some thirty guns planted
+in his front to defend the crossing. Washington and Rall had thus
+suddenly changed places.
+
+[Sidenote: His position, Jan. 2, 1777.]
+
+The American position was strong except on the right. It being higher
+ground the artillery commanded the town, the Assanpink was not fordable
+in front, the bridge was narrow, and the left secured by the Delaware.
+The weak spot, the right, rested in a wood which was strongly held, and
+capable of a good defence; but inasmuch as the Assanpink could be forded
+two or three miles higher up, a movement to the right and rear of the
+position was greatly to be feared. If successful it would necessarily
+cut off all retreat, as the Delaware was now impassable.
+
+On the 2d the enemy's advance came upon the American pickets posted
+outside of Trenton, driving them through the town much in the same
+manner as they had driven the Hessians. As soon as the enemy came within
+range, the American artillery drove them back under cover, firing being
+kept up until dark.
+
+Having thus developed the American position, Cornwallis, astonished at
+Washington's temerity in taking it, felt sure of "bagging the fox," as
+he styled it, in the morning.
+
+The night came. The soldiers slept, but Washington, alive to the danger,
+summoned his generals in council. All were agreed that a battle would be
+forced upon them with the dawn of day--all that the upper fords could
+not be defended. And if they were passed, the event of battle would be
+beyond all doubt disastrous. Cornwallis had only to hold Washington's
+attention in front while turning his flank. Should, then, the patriot
+army endeavor to extricate itself by falling back down the river? There
+seems to have been but one opinion as to the futility of the attempt,
+inasmuch as there was no stronger position to fall back upon. As a
+choice of evils, it was much better to remain where they were than be
+forced into making a disorderly retreat while looking for some other
+place to fight in.
+
+Who, then, was responsible for putting the army into a position where it
+could neither fight nor retreat? If neither of these things could be
+done with any hope of success, there remained, in point of fact, but one
+alternative, to which the abandonment of the others as naturally led as
+converging roads to a common centre. In all the history of the war a
+more dangerous crisis is not to be met with. It is, therefore,
+incredible that only one man should have seen this avenue of escape,
+though it may well be that even the boldest generals hesitated to be the
+first to urge so desperate an undertaking.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's tactics.]
+
+In effect, the very danger to which the little army was exposed seems to
+have suggested to Washington the way out of it. If the enemy could turn
+his right, why could not he turn their left? If they could cut off his
+retreat, why could not he threaten their's? This was sublimated
+audacity, with his little force; but safety here was only to be plucked
+from the nettle danger. It was then and there that Washington[6]
+proposed making a flank march to Princeton that very night, boldly
+throwing themselves upon the enemy's communications, defeating such
+reënforcements as might be found in the way, and perhaps dealing such a
+blow as would, if successful, baffle all the enemy's plans.
+
+The very audacity of the proposal fell in with the temper of the
+generals, who now saw the knot cut as by a stroke of genius. This would
+not be a retreat, but an advance. This could not be imputed to fear, but
+rather to daring. The proposal was instantly adopted, and the generals
+repaired to their respective commands.
+
+[Sidenote: Jan. 3, 1777.]
+
+[Sidenote: March to Princeton.]
+
+Replenishing the camp fires, and leaving the sentinels at their posts,
+at one o'clock the army filed off to the right in perfect silence and
+order. The baggage and some spare artillery were sent off to Burlington,
+to still further mystify the enemy. By one of those sudden changes of
+weather, not uncommon even in midwinter, the soft ground had become hard
+frozen during the early part of the night, so that rapid marching was
+possible, and rapid marching was the only thing that could save the
+movement from failure, as Cornwallis would have but twelve miles to
+march to Washington's seventeen, to overtake them--he by a good road,
+they by a new and half-worked one. Miles, therefore, counted for much
+that night, and though many of the men wore rags wrapped about their
+feet, for want of shoes, and the shoeless artillery horses had to be
+dragged or pushed along over the slippery places, to prevent their
+falling, the column pushed on with unflagging energy toward its goal.
+
+[Sidenote: British in pursuit.]
+
+Shortly after daybreak the British, at Trenton, heard the dull booming
+of a distant cannonade. Washington, escaped from their snares, was
+sounding the reveille at Princeton. The British camp awoke and listened.
+Soon the rumor spread that the American lines were deserted. Drums beat,
+trumpets sounded, ranks were formed in as great haste as if the enemy
+were actually in the camps, instead of being at that moment a dozen
+miles away. Cornwallis, who had gone to bed expecting to make short work
+of Washington in the morning, saw himself fairly outgeneralled. His
+rear-guard, his magazines, his baggage, were in danger, his line of
+retreat cut off. There was not a moment to lose. Exasperated at the
+thought of what they would say of him in England, he gave the order to
+press the pursuit to the utmost. The troops took the direct route by
+Maidenhead to Princeton; and thus, for the second time, Trenton saw
+itself freed from enemies, once routed, twice disgraced, and thoroughly
+crestfallen and stripped of their vaunted prestige.
+
+[Sidenote: Mercer's fight.]
+
+Three British battalions lay at Princeton the night before.[7] Two of
+them were on the march to Trenton when Washington's troops were
+discovered approaching on a back road. Astonished at seeing troops
+coming up from that direction, the leading battalion instantly turned
+back to meet them. At the same time Washington detached Mercer to seize
+the main road, while he himself pushed on with the rest of the troops.
+This movement brought on a spirited combat between Mercer and the strong
+British battalion, which had just faced about.[8] The fight was short,
+sharp, and bloody. After a few volleys, the British charged with the
+bayonet, broke through Mercer's ranks, scattered his men, and even
+drove back Cadwalader's militia, who were coming up to their support.
+
+Other troops now came up. Washington himself rode in among Mercer's
+disordered men, calling out to them to turn and face the enemy. It was
+one of those critical moments when everything must be risked. Like
+Napoleon pointing his guns at Montereau, the commander momentarily
+disappeared in the soldier; and excited by the combat raging around him,
+all the Virginian's native daring flashed out like lightning. Waving his
+uplifted sword, he pushed his horse into the fire as indifferent to
+danger as if he had really believed that the bullet which was to kill
+him was not yet cast.
+
+Taking courage from his presence and example the broken troops re-formed
+their ranks. The firing grew brisker and brisker. Assailed with fresh
+spirit, the British, in their turn, gave way, leaving the ground strewed
+with their dead, in return for their brutal use of the bayonet among the
+wounded. Finding themselves in danger of being surrounded, that portion
+of this fighting British regiment[9] which still held together
+retreated as they could toward Maidenhead, after giving such an example
+of disciplined against undisciplined valor as won the admiration even of
+their foes.
+
+While this fight was going on at one point, the second British battalion
+was, in its turn, met and routed by the American advance, under St.
+Clair. This battalion then fled toward Brunswick, part of the remaining
+battalion did the same thing, and part threw themselves into the college
+building they had used as quarters, where a few cannon shot compelled
+them to surrender.
+
+Three strong regiments had thus been broken in detail and put to flight.
+Two had been prevented from joining Cornwallis. Besides the killed and
+wounded they left two hundred and fifty prisoners behind them. The
+American loss in officers was, however, very severe. The brave Mercer
+was mortally wounded, and that gallant son of Delaware, Colonel Haslet,
+killed fighting at his commander's side.
+
+After a short halt Washington again pushed on toward Brunswick, but
+tempting as the opportunity of destroying the dépôt there seemed to him,
+it had to be given up. His troops were too much exhausted, and
+Cornwallis was now thundering in his rear. When Kingston was reached the
+army therefore filed off to the left toward[10] Somerset Court House,
+leaving the enemy to continue his headlong march toward Brunswick, which
+was not reached until four o'clock in the morning, with troops
+completely broken down with the rapidity of their fruitless chase.
+
+Washington could now say, "I am as near New York as they are to
+Philadelphia."
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Cadwalader seems to have done all in his power to cross his troops
+in the first place. His infantry mostly got over, but on finding it
+impossible to land the artillery--ice being jammed against the shores
+for two hundred yards--the infantry were ordered back. Indeed, his
+rear-guard could not get back until the next day. This was at Dunk's
+Ferry. The next and successful attempt took from nine in the morning
+till three in the afternoon, when 3,000 men crossed one mile above
+Bristol.
+
+[2] Thomas Rodney's letter.
+
+[3] Heath was ordered to make a demonstration as far down as King's
+Bridge, in order to keep Howe from reënforcing the Jerseys. It proved a
+perfect flash-in-the-pan.
+
+[4] Part of Donop's force fell back even as far as New Brunswick.
+
+[5] Stark made a personal appeal with vigor and effect. His regiment had
+come down from Ticonderoga in time to be given the post of honor by
+Washington himself.
+
+[6] In a letter to his wife Knox gives the credit of this suggestion to
+Washington, without qualification.
+
+[7] These were the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-first.
+
+[8] The hostile columns met on the slope of a hill just off the main
+road, near the buildings of a man named Clark, Mercer reaching the
+ground first.
+
+[9] The Seventeenth regiment, Colonel Mawhood, carried off the honors of
+the day for the British.
+
+[10] The position at Morristown had been critically examined by Lee's
+officers during their halt there. Washington had therefore decided to
+defend the Jerseys from that position.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+AFTER PRINCETON
+
+
+It had taken Cornwallis a whole week to drive Washington from Brunswick
+to Trenton; Washington had now made Cornwallis retrace his steps inside
+of twenty-four hours. In the retreat through the Jerseys there had been
+neither strategy nor tactics; nothing but a retreat, pure and simple. In
+the advance, strategy and tactics had placed the inferior force in the
+attitude menacing the superior, had saved Philadelphia, and were now in
+a fair way to recover the Jerseys without the expenditure even of
+another charge of powder.
+
+While Washington was looking for a vantage ground from which to hold
+what had been gained, everything on the British line was going to the
+rear in confusion. Orders and counter orders were being given with a
+rapidity which invariably accompanies the first moments of a panic, and
+which tend rather to increase than diminish its effects.
+
+What was passing at Brunswick has fortunately found a record in the
+diary of a British officer posted there when the news of Washington's
+coming fell like a bombshell in their camp. It is given word for word:
+
+     On the 3d we had repeated accounts that Washington had not only
+     taken Princeton, but was in full march upon Brunswick. General
+     Matthew (commanding at Brunswick) now determined to return to the
+     Raritan landing-place, with everything valuable, to prevent the
+     rebels from destroying the bridge there. We accordingly marched
+     back to the bridge, one-half on one side, the remainder on the
+     other, for its defence, never taking off our accoutrements that
+     night.
+
+     On the 3d, Lord Cornwallis, hearing the fate of Princeton, returned
+     to it with his whole force, but found the rebels had abandoned it,
+     upon which he immediately marched back to Brunswick, arriving at
+     break of day on the 4th. I then received orders to return to
+     Sparkstown (Rahway?). Washington marched his army to Morristown and
+     Springfield. At about the time I arrived at Sparkstown, a report
+     was spread that the rebels had some designs upon Elizabethtown and
+     Sparkstown. The whole regiment was jaded to death. Unpleasant this!
+     Before day notice was brought to me by a patrol that he had heard
+     some firing towards Elizabethtown, about seven miles off. I
+     immediately jumped out of bed and directed my drums to beat to
+     arms, as nothing else would have roused my men, they were so tired.
+     Soon after this an express brought me positive orders to march
+     immediately to Perth Amboy, with all my baggage. At between six and
+     seven the rebels fired at some of my men that were quartered at two
+     miles distance. I had before appointed a subaltern's guard for the
+     protection of my baggage. This duty unluckily fell upon the
+     lieutenant of my company, which left it without an officer, the
+     ensign being sick at New York. I immediately directed my
+     lieutenant, who was a volunteer on this occasion, to march with his
+     guard, that was then formed, to the spot where the firing was,
+     while I made all the haste I could to follow him with the
+     battalion.
+
+     The lieutenant came up with them and fired upwards of twelve
+     rounds, when, the rebels perceiving the battalion on the march, ran
+     off as fast as they could. Had I pursued them I should perhaps have
+     given a good account of them.
+
+The company baggage-wagon was, however, carried off by the Americans,
+driver and all. The garrison got to Perth Amboy that night.
+Elizabethtown was evacuated at the same time. The narrative goes on to
+say:
+
+     The only posts we now possess in the Jerseys are Paulus Hook, Perth
+     Amboy, Raritan Landing, and Brunswick. Happy had it been if at
+     first we had fixed on no other posts in this province....
+     Washington's success in this affair of the surprise of the Hessians
+     has been the cause of this unhappy change in our affairs. It has
+     recruited the rebel army and given them sufficient spirit to
+     undertake a winter campaign. Our misfortune has been that we have
+     held the enemy too cheap. We must remove the seat of war from the
+     Jerseys now on account of the scarcity of forage and provisions.
+
+The writer shows the wholesome impressions his friends were under in
+this closing remark: "The whole garrison is every morning under arms at
+five o'clock to be ready for the scoundrels."
+
+In New York great pains were taken to prevent the truth about the
+victories at Trenton and Princeton from getting abroad. False accounts
+of them were printed in the newspapers, over which a strict military
+censorship was established; but in spite of every precaution enough
+leaked out through secret channels to put new life and hope in the
+hearts and minds of the long-suffering prisoners of war.
+
+It was one of the misfortunes of this most extraordinary campaign that
+every blow Washington had struck left his army exhausted. After each
+success it was necessary to recuperate. It was now being reorganized in
+the shelter of its mountain fastness, strengthened by a simultaneous
+uprising of the people, who now took the redress of their wrongs into
+their own hands. No foraging party could show itself without being
+attacked; no supplies be had except at the point of the sword. A host of
+the exasperated yeomanry constantly hovered around the enemy's advanced
+posts, which a feeling of pride alone induced him to hold. Putnam was
+ordered up to Princeton, Heath to King's Bridge, so that Howe was kept
+looking all ways at once. Redoubts were thrown up at New Brunswick,
+leading Wayne to remark that the Americans had now thrown away the spade
+and the British taken it up. Looking back over the weary months of
+disaster the change on the face of affairs seems almost too great for
+belief. From the British point of view the campaign had ended in utter
+failure and disgrace. In England, Edward Gibbon says that the Americans
+had almost lost the name of rebels, and in America Sir William Howe
+found that he had to contend with a man in every way his superior.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+American Army, 12, 17 _note_;
+  marches to N. York, 12;
+  its efficiency, 14;
+  weakened by detachments, 19, 24 _note_;
+  reënforced, 19, 20;
+  effectives in summer of 1776, 22, 24 _note_;
+  defeated at L. Island, 29;
+  losses there, 31;
+  how posted after the battle, 31, 32;
+  driven from N. York, 39;
+  fights at White Plains and Fort Washington, 40;
+  losses there, 41;
+  is divided into two corps, 44;
+  dissension in, 49 _note_;
+  reduced numbers, 50;
+  summary of losses, 52, 53;
+  reaches the Delaware, 57;
+  in position there, 75;
+  is reënforced, 79;
+  time expiring, 80;
+  reënlistments, 97.
+
+
+Bedford, L. I., seized by British, 27.
+
+Bordentown, occupied by British troops, 71, 72;
+  evacuated, 95.
+
+British Army of subjugation, 23;
+  by regiments, 25 _note_;
+  takes the field, 27;
+  drives the Americans from L. Island, 27 _et seq._;
+  in winter quarters, 72, 76.
+
+Brooklyn Heights fortified, 20, 24 _note_;
+  outer defences, 26;
+  turned by British, 27, 28.
+
+
+Cadwalader, Col. John, 80, 87 _note_;
+  fails to get his troops across the Delaware, 83;
+  succeeds better in a second attempt, 94;
+  and occupies Bordentown, 95.
+
+Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry, at N. York, 34;
+  moves to Throg's Neck, 36;
+  captures Newport, R. I., 70.
+
+Cornwallis, Gen. Lord, surprises Fort Lee, 45;
+  is reënforced, 55;
+  pursues Washington, 55, 56, 57, 58 _note_;
+  is unable to follow him beyond Trenton, 62, 67 _note_;
+  has leave of absence, 71;
+  hastens back to Trenton, 97;
+  makes a forced march back to N. Brunswick, 106.
+
+
+Declaration of Independence, read to the army, 23.
+
+Donop, Col. Count, 72, 75;
+  abandons Bordentown, 95.
+
+
+Ewing, Gen. James, 83, 87 _note_.
+
+
+Fort Lee, 24 _note_;
+  evacuated, 45, 49 _note_.
+
+Fort Washington, built, 21, 24 _note_;
+  assault and capture of, 40, 41, 42 _note_.
+
+
+Gates, Gen. Horatio, brings troops from Ticonderoga, 63, 67 _note_;
+  refuses a command, 81.
+
+Glover, Gen. John, at L. Island, 30;
+  at Trenton, 85, 88 _note_.
+
+Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, advises the holding of Fort Washington, 40;
+  at Fort Lee, 45;
+  heads a column at Trenton, 87.
+
+Griffin, Colonel, moves into the Jerseys, 82.
+
+Hale, Capt. Nathan, taken and hanged, 36.
+
+Harlem Heights, the army headquarters, 32, and _note_.
+
+Haslet, Col. John, at Princeton, 105.
+
+Heath, Gen. Wm., put in command in the Highlands, 44, 96, 106 _note_.
+
+Howe, Gen. Sir William, lands at L. Island, 26;
+  his delays, 36;
+  moves into Westchester, 39;
+  fights at White Plains, 40;
+  and takes Fort Washington, 40;
+  inhumanity to prisoners by his permission, 52;
+  plans for next campaign, 70;
+  takes things easy, 71;
+  roused by Washington's bold strokes, 97.
+
+
+King's Bridge, importance of, to N. York, 20, 21;
+  an outpost, 22, 24 _note_.
+
+Kipp's Bay, landing-place of British, 34;
+  account by an eye-witness, 34, 35.
+
+Knox, Gen. Henry, improves the artillery service, 16, 17;
+  at Trenton, 84, 85.
+
+
+Lee, Gen. Charles, sent to N. York, 18 _note_;
+  ineffectually urges evacuation of Fort Washington, 41;
+  a rival of Washington, 41;
+  gets a separate command, 44;
+  moves to join Washington, 59;
+  his equivocal attitude, 50, 60;
+  his troops, 60, 67 _note_;
+  is reënforced, 61;
+  halts at Morristown, and is captured, 63;
+  probable aims, 65.
+
+Long Island, campaign opened at, 26;
+  British plan of attack, 27;
+  flank march, 27, 28; evacuated, 30.
+
+
+McDougall, Gen. Alexander, at Morristown, 96.
+
+Mercer, Gen. Hugh, at Princeton, 104, 105, 107 _note_.
+
+Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, at Trenton, 98.
+
+
+New Jersey, invaded, 50;
+  apathy of people, 51;
+  military situation in, 71;
+  outrages perpetrated by the invaders, 77, 78;
+  arouse the people, 78;
+  mostly reconquered, 108, 112.
+
+New York, the seat of war, 11;
+  its strategic value, 13;
+  defence determined upon, 13;
+  how effected, 20 _et seq._;
+  the city and island in 1776, 20;
+  escapes bombardment, 30;
+  dispositions for holding the city, 31, 32;
+  evacuation ordered, 33;
+  takes place, 34;
+  partially burnt, 35.
+
+North Castle, Washington retreats to, 40.
+
+
+Percy, Gen. Lord Hugh, in command at Harlem, 36.
+
+Philadelphia, critical situation there, 81.
+
+Princeton, attacked by Washington, 103;
+  losses at, 105.
+
+Putnam, Gen. Israel, commands at Philadelphia, 81;
+  sends a force into the Jerseys, 82, 88 _note_.
+
+
+Rall or Rahl, Col., 72;
+  alarm of an attack, 89, 93 _note_;
+  fights bravely, and is mortally hurt, 91.
+
+Reed, Joseph, 81, 87 _note_.
+
+
+St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, at Princeton, 105.
+
+Stark, Gen. John, at Trenton, 87, 106 _note_.
+
+Sterling or Stirling, Lord (William Alexander), at Princeton, 62.
+
+Sullivan, Gen. John, succeeds to command of Lee's corps, 64;
+  leads a column at Trenton, 87.
+
+
+Throg's Neck, British land at, 39, 42 _note_.
+
+Trenton, occupied as a British outpost, 72;
+  carried by assault, 89 _et seq._;
+  fruits of victory, 91;
+  an epoch in the war, 93;
+  first abandoned, 93;
+  then reoccupied, 96.
+
+
+Washington, Gen., at N. York, 12;
+  decides to act on the defensive, 18 _note_;
+  stands on his dignity, 24;
+  not in command at L. Island, 29;
+  orders its evacuation, 30;
+  moves to White Plains, 39;
+  rights there, but has to fall back, 40;
+  his dilemma, 43;
+  decides to divide his force, 44;
+  crosses into N. Jersey, 45;
+  manoeuvring for delay, 50;
+  rises above partisanship, 54;
+  directs Lee to join him, 54, 55;
+  retreats to Newark, 55;
+  to New Brunswick, 56;
+  troops leave him, 56;
+  at Princeton, 57;
+  admirable retreat, 57;
+  crosses the Delaware, 62;
+  determines on striking the British outposts, 79, 80;
+  his plan, 82, 83;
+  marches on Trenton, 83 _et seq._;
+  carries Trenton by assault, but is obliged to recross the
+    Delaware, 91, 92;
+  but reoccupies Trenton, 96;
+  takes post there, 98;
+  steals a march on Cornwallis, 101, 107 _note_;
+  fights at Princeton, 103;
+  personal gallantry, 104;
+  marches to Somerset C. H., 106.
+
+White Plains, Washington concentrates at, 39, 42 _note_;
+  action at, 40.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by 
+Samuel Adams Drake
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by Samuel Adams Drake
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77
+
+Author: Samuel Adams Drake
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2008 [EBook #24741]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 1776-77 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<table width="500" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Works by Samuel Adams Drake" border="0">
+<tr><td><h3>WORKS BY SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE</h3></td></tr>
+<tr><td><hr class="front" /></td></tr>
+<tr><td>OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PERSONAGES OF BOSTON.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">$2.00</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC FIELDS OF MIDDLESEX.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">2.00</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>NOOKS AND CORNERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">3.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>CAPTAIN NELSON. A Romance of Colonial Days</td><td class="right">.75</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>THE HEART OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated (Illuminated Cloth)</td><td class="right">7.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Tourist's Edition</td><td class="right">3.00</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>AROUND THE HUB. A Boy's Book about Boston.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS AND FOLK LORE.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">2.00</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="intro">Illustrated</td><td class="right">1.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>THE MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST.</td><td class="right">1.75</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>OLD BOSTON TAVERNS. Paper</td><td class="right">.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>BURGOYNE'S INVASION OF 1777.</td><td class="right">.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td>THE TAKING OF LOUISBURG.</td><td class="right">.50</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="center"><i>Any book on the above list sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt<br />
+of price, by</i></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td><h4>LEE AND SHEPARD, BOSTON</h4></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image1_th.jpg" width="600" height="332" alt="" title="" />
+<span class="caption2"><i>East View of</i> Hell Gate, <i>in the Province of</i> New York.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image1.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+<p class="center"><i>W A Williams Del. 1725</i></p>
+
+<p class="caption3"><i>1. Hoorns Hook. 3. Hancock's Rock. 5. Morrisena. 7. Pinfold's
+Place. 9. The Pot. 11. The Frying Pan.</i><br />
+
+<i>2. The Gridiron. 4. The Mill Rock. 6. Bahanna's Island.
+8. Hallet's Point. 10. The Hogs back.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<p class="oldeng1">Decisive Events in American History</p>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p class="title1">THE</p>
+
+<p class="title2">CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON<br />
+<br />
+1776-77</p>
+
+
+<p class="title3">BY</p>
+
+<p class="title4">SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE</p>
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="title5">BOSTON</p>
+<p class="title6">LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS</p>
+<p class="title7">10 MILK STREET</p>
+<p class="title8">1895</p>
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<p class="title9">Copyright, 1895, by Lee and Shepard</p>
+<hr class="little" />
+<p class="title10"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+<hr class="little" />
+<p class="title11">The Campaign of Trenton</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="title7">PRESS OF</p>
+
+<p class="oldeng2">Rockwell and Churchill</p>
+
+<p class="title12">BOSTON, U.S.A.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<div class="smcap">
+<table border="0" width="450" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+
+<col style="width:10%;" />
+<col style="width:60%;" />
+<col style="width:30%;" />
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Prelude</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">I</td><td align="left">&mdash;New York the Seat of War</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">II</td><td align="left">&mdash;Plans for Defence</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">III</td><td align="left">&mdash;Long Island Taken</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">IV</td><td align="left">&mdash;New York Evacuated</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">V</td><td align="left">&mdash;The Situation Reviewed</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VI</td><td align="left">&mdash;The Retreat through the Jerseys</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VII</td><td align="left">&mdash;Lee's March and Capture</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">VIII</td><td align="left">&mdash;The Outlook</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">IX</td><td align="left">&mdash;The March to Trenton</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">X</td><td align="left">&mdash;Trenton</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XI</td><td align="left">&mdash;The Flank March to Princeton</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">XII</td><td align="left">&mdash;After Princeton</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span></p>
+<h2>PRELUDE</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Seldom</span>, in the annals of war, has a single campaign witnessed such a
+remarkable series of reverses as did that which began at Boston in
+March, 1776, and ended at Morristown in January, 1777. Only by
+successive defeats did our home-made generals and our rustic soldiery
+learn their costly lesson that war is not a game of chance, or mere
+masses of men an army.</p>
+
+<p>Though costly, this sort of discipline, this education, gradually led to
+a closer equality between the combatants, as year after year they faced
+and fought each other. When the lesson was well learned our generals
+began to win battles, and our soldiers to fight with a confidence
+altogether new to them. In vain do we look for any other explanation of
+the sudden stiffening up of the backbone of the Revolutionary army, or
+of the equally sudden restoration of an apparently dead and buried cause
+after even its most devoted followers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> had given up all as lost. As with
+expiring breath that little band of hunted fugitives, miserable remnant
+of an army of 30,000 men, turning suddenly upon its victorious pursuers,
+dealt it blow after blow, the sun which seemed setting in darkness,
+again rose with new splendor upon the fortunes of these infant States.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly the military, political, and moral effects of this brilliant
+finish to what had been a losing campaign, in which almost each
+succeeding day ushered in some new misfortune, were prodigious. But
+neither the importance nor the urgency of this masterly counter-stroke
+to the American cause can be at all appreciated, or even properly
+understood, unless what had gone before, what in fact had produced a
+crisis so dark and threatening, is brought fully into light. Washington
+himself says the act was prompted by a dire necessity. Coming from him,
+these words are full of meaning. We realize that the fate of the
+Revolution was staked upon this one last throw. If we would take the
+full measure of these words of his, spoken in the fullest conviction of
+their being final words, we must again go over the whole field, strewed
+with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> dead hopes, littered with exploded reputations, cumbered with
+cast-off traditions, over which the patriot army marched to its supreme
+trial out into the broad pathway which led to final success.</p>
+
+<p>The campaign of 1776 is, therefore, far too instructive to be studied
+merely with reference to its crowning and concluding feature. In
+considering it the mind is irresistibly impelled toward one central,
+statuesque figure, rising high above the varying fortunes of the hour,
+like the Statue of Liberty out of the crash and roar of the surrounding
+storm.</p>
+
+<p>Nowhere, we think, does Washington appear to such advantage as during
+this truly eventful campaign. Though sometimes troubled in spirit, he is
+always unshaken. Though his army was a miserable wreck, driven about at
+the will of the enemy, Washington was ever the rallying-point for the
+handful of officers and men who still surrounded him. If the cause was
+doomed to shipwreck, we feel that he would be the last to leave the
+wreck.</p>
+
+<p>His letters, written at this trying period, are characterized by that
+same even tone, as they disclose in more prosperous times. He does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span>
+dare to be hopeful, yet he will not give up beaten. There is an
+atmosphere of stern, though dignified determination about him, at this
+trying hour, which, in a man of his admirable equipoise, is a thing for
+an enemy to beware of. In a word, Washington driven into a corner was
+doubly dangerous. And it is evident that his mind, roused to unwonted
+activity by the gravity of the crisis, the knowledge that all eyes
+turned to him, sought only for the opportune moment to show forth its
+full powers, and by a conception of genius dominate the storm of
+disaster around him.</p>
+
+<p>Washington never claimed to be a man of destiny. He never had any
+nicknames among his soldiers. Napoleon was the "Little Corporal,"
+"Marlborough" "Corporal John," Wellington the "Iron Duke," Grant the
+"Old Man," but there seems to have been something about the personality
+of Washington that forbade any thought of familiarity, even on the part
+of his trusty veterans. Yet their faith in him was such that, as
+Wellington once said of his Peninsular army, they would have gone
+anywhere with him, and he could have done anything with them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON</h2>
+
+<h3>NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">New views of the war.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Upon</span> finding that what had at first seemed only a local rebellion was
+spreading like wildfire throughout the length and breadth of the
+colonies, that bloodshed had united the people as one man, and that
+these people were everywhere getting ready for a most determined
+resistance, the British ministry awoke to the necessity of dealing with
+the revolt, in this its newer and more dangerous aspect, as a fact to be
+faced accordingly, and its military measures were, therefore, no longer
+directed to New England exclusively, but to the suppression of the
+rebellion as a whole. For this purpose New York was very judiciously
+chosen as the true base of operations.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p><p>In the colonies, the news of great preparations then making in England
+to carry out this policy, inevitably led up to the same conclusions, but
+as the siege of Boston had not yet drawn to a close, very little could
+be done by way of making ready to meet this new and dangerous emergency.</p>
+
+<p>We must now first look at the ways and means.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The new Continental Army.</div>
+
+<p>A new army had been enlisted in the trenches before Boston to take the
+place of that first one, whose term of service expired with the new
+year, 1776. On paper it consisted of twenty-eight battalions, with an
+aggregate of 20,372 officers and men. By the actual returns, made up
+shortly before the army marched for New York, there were 13,145 men of
+all arms then enrolled, of whom not more than 9,500 were reported as fit
+for duty. These were all Continentals,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> as the regular troops were
+then called, to distinguish them from the militia.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">It marches to New York.</div>
+
+<p>Immediately upon the evacuation of Boston by the British (March 17,
+1776), the army marched by divisions to New York, the last brigade, with
+the commander-in-chief, leaving Cambridge on April 4.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> This move
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>distinctly foreshadows the general opinion that the seat of war was
+about to be transferred to New York and its environs.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need to discuss the general proposition, so quickly accepted
+by both belligerents, as regards the strategic value of New York for
+combined operations by land and sea. Hence the Americans were naturally
+unwilling to abandon it to the enemy. A successful defence was really
+beyond their abilities, however, against such a powerful fleet as was
+now coming to attack them, because this fleet could not be prevented
+from forcing its way into the upper bay without strong fortifications at
+the Narrows to stop it, and these the Americans did not have. Once in
+possession of the navigable waters, the enemy could cut off
+communication in every direction, as well as choose his own point of
+attack. Afraid, however, of the moral effect of giving up the city
+without a struggle, the Americans were led into the fatal error of
+squandering their resources upon a defence which could end only in one
+way, instead of holding the royal army besieged, as had been so
+successfully done at Boston.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p><p>Having arrived at New York, Washington's force was increased by the two
+or three thousand men who had been hastily summoned for its defence,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+and who were then busily employed in throwing up works at various
+points, under the direction of the engineers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Make-up of the army.</div>
+
+<p>Now, it is usual to call such a large body of raw recruits, badly armed,
+and without discipline, an army, in the same breath as a well armed and
+thoroughly disciplined body. This one had done good service behind
+entrenchments, and in some minor operations at Boston had shown itself
+possessed of the best material, but the situation was now to be wholly
+reversed, the besiegers were to become the besieged, their mistakes were
+to be turned against them, the experiments of inexperience were to be
+tested at the risk of total failure, and the <i>morale</i> severely tried by
+the grumbling and discontent arising for the most part from laxity of
+discipline, but somewhat so, too, from the wretched administration of
+the various civil departments of the army.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The officers did not know
+how to instruct their men, and the men could not be made to take proper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>
+care of themselves. In consequence of this state of things, inseparable
+perhaps from the existing conditions, General Heath tells us that by the
+first week of August the number of sick amounted to near 10,000 men, who
+were to be met with lying "in almost every barn, stable, shed, and even
+under the fences and bushes," about the camps. This primary element of
+disintegration is always one of the worst possible to deal with in an
+army of citizen soldiers, and the present case proved no exception.</p>
+
+<p>Except a troop of Connecticut light-horse, who had been curtly and
+imprudently dismissed because they showed sufficient <i>esprit de corps</i>
+to demur against doing guard duty as infantry, and whose absence was
+only too soon to be dearly atoned for, there was no cavalry, not even
+for patrols, outposts, or vedettes. These being thus of necessity drawn
+from the infantry, it was usual to see them come back into camp with the
+enemy close at their heels, instead of giving the alarm in season to get
+the troops under arms.</p>
+
+<p>As for the infantry, it was truly a motley assemblage. A few of the
+regiments, raised in the cities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> were tolerably well armed and
+equipped, and some few were in uniform. But in general they wore the
+same homespun in which they had left their homes, even to the field
+officers, who were only distinguished by their red cockades. In few
+regiments were the arms all of one kind, not a few had only a sprinkling
+of bayonets, while some companies, whom it had been found impracticable
+to furnish with fire-arms at the home rendezvous, carried the
+old-fashioned pikes of by-gone days. Among the good, bad, and
+indifferent, Washington had had two thousand militia poured in upon him,
+without any arms whatever. But these men could use pick and spade.</p>
+
+<p>The single regiment of artillery this "rabble army," as Knox calls it,
+could boast was unquestionably its most reliable arm. Under Knox's able
+direction it was getting into fairly good shape, though the guns were of
+very light metal. In the early conflicts around New York it was rather
+too lavishly used, and suffered accordingly, but its efficiency was so
+marked as to draw forth the admission from a British officer of rank
+that the rebel artillery officers were at least equal to their own.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span></p><p>These plain facts speak for themselves. If radical defects of
+organization lay behind them, it was not the fault of Washington or the
+army, but is rather attributable to the want of any settled policy or
+firm grasp of the situation on the part of the Congress.</p>
+
+<p>Washington had no illusions either with regard to himself or his
+soldiers. His letters of this date prove this. He was as well aware of
+his own shortcomings as a general, as of those of his men as soldiers.
+There could, perhaps, be no greater proof of the solidity of his
+judgment than this capacity to estimate himself correctly, free from all
+the prickings of personal vanity or popular praise. With reference to
+the army he probably thought that if raw militia would fight so well
+behind breastworks at Bunker Hill, they could be depended upon to do so
+elsewhere, under the same conditions. His idea, therefore, was to fight
+only in intrenched positions, and this was the general plan of campaign
+for 1776.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">As</span> will be seen farther on, New England had no strategic
+value in this relation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">Continentals.</span>This term, for want of a better, arose from
+the practice of speaking of the colonies, as a whole, as the Continent,
+to distinguish them from this or that one, separately.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></p><div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> last brigade to march at this time is meant. As a
+matter of fact one brigade was left at Boston, as a guard against
+accidents. Later on it joined Washington.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">General</span> Lee had been sent to New York as early as January.
+He took military possession of the city, with militia furnished by
+Connecticut.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">In</span> a private letter General Knox indignantly styles it
+"this rabble army."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>"<span class="smcap">Being</span> fully persuaded that it would be presumption to draw
+out our young troops into open ground against their superiors, both in
+numbers and discipline, I have never spared the spade and
+pickaxe."&mdash;<i>Letters.</i></p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span></p>
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<h3>PLANS FOR DEFENCE</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Troops sent to Canada.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Washington's</span> army had no sooner reached the Hudson than ten of the best
+battalions<a name="FNanchor_1_7" id="FNanchor_1_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_7" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> were hurried off to Albany, if possible, to retrieve the
+disasters which had recently overwhelmed the army of Canada, where three
+generals, two of whom, Montgomery and Thomas, were of the highest
+promise, with upwards of 5,000 men, had been lost. The departure of
+these seasoned troops made a gap not easily filled, and should not be
+lost sight of in reckoning the effectiveness of what were left.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Strength of the army.</div>
+
+<p>This large depletion was, however, more than made good, in numbers at
+least, by the reinforcements now arriving from the middle colonies, who,
+with troops forming the garrison of the city, presently raised the whole
+force under Washington's orders<a name="FNanchor_2_8" id="FNanchor_2_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_8" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> to a much larger number than were
+ever assembled in one body again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> A very large proportion, however,
+were militiamen, called out for a few weeks only, who indeed served to
+swell the ranks, without adding much real strength to the army.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plans for defence.</div>
+
+<p>It being fully decided upon that New York should be held, two entirely
+distinct sets of measures were found indispensable. First the city was
+commanded by Brooklyn Heights, rising at short cannon-shot across the
+East River. These heights were now being strongly fortified on the
+water-side against the enemy's fleet, and on the land-side against a
+possible attack by his land forces.<a name="FNanchor_3_9" id="FNanchor_3_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_9" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">New York in 1776.</div>
+
+<p>The second measure looked to defending the city from an attack in the
+rear. At this time New York City occupied only a very small section of
+the southern part of the island which it has since outgrown. A few farms
+and country seats stretched up beyond Harlem, but the major part of the
+island was to the city below as the country to the town, retaining all
+its natural features of hill and dale unimpaired. At this time, too, the
+only exit from the island was by way of King's Bridge,<a name="FNanchor_4_10" id="FNanchor_4_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_10" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> twelve miles
+above the city, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> the great roads to Albany and New England turned
+off, the one to the north, the other to the east, making this passage
+fully as important in a military sense, as was the heavy drawbridge
+thrown across the moat of some ancient castle.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fort Washington.</div>
+
+<p>Fort Washington<a name="FNanchor_5_11" id="FNanchor_5_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_11" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> was, therefore, built on a commanding height two and
+a half miles below King's Bridge, with outworks covering the approaches
+to the bridge, either by the country roads coming in from the north or
+from Harlem River at the east. These works were never finished, but even
+if they had been they could not solve the problem of a successful
+defence, because it lay always in the power of the strongest army to cut
+off all communication with the country beyond&mdash;and that means the
+passing in of re&euml;nforcements or supplies&mdash;by merely throwing itself
+across the roads just referred to. This done, the army in New York must
+either be shut up in the island, or come out and fight, provided the
+enemy had not already put it out of their power to do so by promptly
+seizing King's Bridge. And in that case there was no escape except by
+water, under fire of the enemy's ships of war.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></p><p>One watchful eye, therefore, had to be kept constantly to the front,
+and another to the rear, between positions lying twelve to thirteen
+miles apart, and separated by a wide and deep river.</p>
+
+<p>It thus appears that the defence of New York was a much more formidable
+task than had, at first, been supposed, and that an army of 40,000 men
+was none too large for the purpose, especially as it was wholly
+impracticable to re&euml;nforce King's Bridge from Brooklyn, or <i>vice versa</i>.
+But from one or another cause the army had fallen below 25,000
+effectives by midsummer, counting also the militia, who formed a
+floating and most uncertain constituent of it. For the present,
+therefore, King's Bridge was held as an outpost, or until the enemy's
+plan of attack should be clearly developed; for whether Howe would first
+assail the works at Brooklyn, Bunker Hill fashion, or land his troops
+beyond King's Bridge, bringing them around by way of Long Island Sound,
+were questions most anxiously debated in the American camp.</p>
+
+<p>However, the belief in a successful defence was much encouraged by the
+recent crushing defeat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> that the British fleet had met with in
+attempting to pass the American batteries at Charleston. Thrice welcome
+after the disasters of the unlucky Canada campaign, this success tended
+greatly to stiffen the backbone of the army, in the face of the steady
+and ominous accumulation of the British land and naval forces in the
+lower bay. Then again, the Declaration of Independence, read to every
+brigade in the army (July 9), was received with much enthusiasm. Now,
+for the first time since hostilities began, officers and men knew
+exactly what they were fighting for. There was at least an end to
+suspense, a term to all talk of compromise, and that was much.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The British army.</div>
+
+<p>Thus matters stood in the American camps, when the British army that had
+been driven from Boston, heavily re&euml;nforced from Europe, and by calling
+in detachments from South Carolina, Florida, and the West Indies, so
+bringing the whole force in round numbers up to 30,000 men,<a name="FNanchor_6_12" id="FNanchor_6_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_12" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> cast
+anchor in the lower bay. Never before had such an armament been seen in
+American waters. Backed by this imposing display of force, royal
+commissioners had come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> to tender the olive branch, as it were, on the
+point of the bayonet. They were told, in effect, that those who have
+committed no crime want no pardon. Washington was next approached. As
+the representative soldier of the new nation, he refused to be addressed
+except by the title it had conferred upon him. The etiquette of the
+contest must be asserted in his person. Failing to find any common
+ground, upon which negotiations could proceed, resort was had to the
+bayonet again.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_7" id="Footnote_1_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_7"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">These</span> were Poor's, Patterson's, Greaton's, and Bond's
+Massachusetts regiments on April 21, two New Jersey, two Pennsylvania,
+and two New Hampshire battalions on the 26th. See <i>Burgoyne's Invasion</i>
+of this series for an account of the Canada campaign.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_8" id="Footnote_2_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_8"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> numbers are estimated by General Heath (<i>Memoirs</i>, p.
+51) as high as 40,000. He, however, deducts 10,000 for the sick,
+present. They were published long after any reason for exaggeration
+existed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_9" id="Footnote_3_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_9"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> Brooklyn lines ran from Wallabout Bay (Navy Yard) on
+the left, to Gowanus Creek on the right, making a circuit of a mile and
+a half. All are now in the heart of the city.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_10" id="Footnote_4_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_10"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">King's</span> Bridge was so named for William III., of England. It
+crosses Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The bridge at Morrisania was not built
+until 1796.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_11" id="Footnote_5_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_11"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">Fort Washington</span> stood at the present 183d street. Besides
+defending the approaches from King's Bridge, it also obstructed the
+passage of the enemy's ships up the Hudson, at its narrowest point below
+the Highlands. At the same time Fort Lee, first called Fort
+Constitution, was built on the brow of the lofty Palisades, opposite,
+and a number of pontoons filled with stones were sunk in the river
+between. The enemy's ships ran the blockade, however, with impunity.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span></p><div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_12" id="Footnote_6_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_12"><span class="label">[6]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> British regiments serving with Howe were the Fourth,
+Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth,
+Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth,
+Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth,
+Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth,
+Forty-ninth, Fifty-second, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-seventh,
+Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Seventy-first, or thirty battalions with
+an aggregate of 24,513 officers and men. To these should be added 8,000
+Hessians hired for the war, bringing the army up to 32,500 soldiers.
+Twenty-five per cent. would be a liberal deduction for the sick,
+camp-guards, orderlies, etc. The navy was equally powerful in its way,
+though it did little service here. Large as it was, this army was
+virtually destroyed by continued attrition.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span></p>
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<h3>LONG ISLAND TAKEN</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">British move to L. Island.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Up</span> to August 22, the British army made no move from its camps at Staten
+Island. On their part, the Americans could only watch and wait. On this
+day, however, active operations began with the landing of Howe's troops,
+in great force, on the Long Island shore, opposite. This force
+immediately spread itself out through the neighboring villages from
+Gravesend, to Flatbush and Flatlands, driving the American skirmishers
+before them into a range of wooded hills,<a name="FNanchor_1_13" id="FNanchor_1_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_13" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> which formed their outer
+line of defence. Howe had determined to attack in front, clearing the
+way as he went.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plan of attack.</div>
+
+<p>As the enemy would have to force his way across these hills, before he
+could reach the American intrenched lines around Brooklyn, all the roads
+leading over them were strongly guarded,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> except out at the extreme
+left, beyond Bedford village, where only a patrol was posted.<a name="FNanchor_2_14" id="FNanchor_2_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_14" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This
+fatal oversight, of which Howe was well informed, suggested the British
+plan of attack, which was quickly matured and successfully carried out.
+It included a demonstration on the American left, to draw attention to
+that point, while another corps was turning the right, at its unguarded
+point.</p>
+
+<p>A third column was held in readiness to move upon the American centre
+from Flatbush, just as soon as the other attacks were well in progress.
+When the flanking corps was in position, these demonstrations were to be
+turned into real attacks, which, if successful, would throw the
+Americans back upon the flanking column, which, in its turn, would cut
+off their retreat to their intrenchments.</p>
+
+<p>This clever combination, showing a perfect knowledge of the ground,
+worked exactly as planned.</p>
+
+<p>By making a night march, the turning column got quite around the
+American flank and rear unperceived, and on the morning of the 27th was
+in position, near Bedford, at an early hour,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> waiting for the
+signal-guns to announce the beginning of the battle at the British left.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image2_th.jpg" width="500" height="576" alt="" title="" /><br />
+<span class="caption2">BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image2.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Battle of Long Island.</div>
+
+<p>Both columns then advanced to the attack. Being strongly posted, and
+well commanded, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> Americans made an obstinate resistance and did hold
+the enemy in check for some hours at one end of the line, only to find
+themselves cut off by the hurried retreat of all the troops posted at
+the passes on their left; for as soon as the firing there showed that
+the turning column had come up in their rear, these troops, with great
+difficulty, fought their way back to the Brooklyn lines, leaving three
+generals and upwards of 1,000 men in the enemy's hands.</p>
+
+<p>The resistance met with by the enemy's turning corps may be guessed from
+what an officer<a name="FNanchor_3_15" id="FNanchor_3_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_15" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who took part has to say of it. "We have had," he
+goes on to relate, "what some call a battle, but if it deserves that
+name it was the pleasantest I ever heard of, as we had not received more
+than a dozen shots from the enemy, when they ran away with the utmost
+precipitation."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington re-enforces.</div>
+
+<p>Though not in personal command when the action began, Washington crossed
+over to Brooklyn in time to see his broken and dispirited battalions
+come streaming back into their works. Fearing the worst, he had called
+down two of his best regiments (Shee's and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> Magaw's) from Harlem
+Heights, and Glover's from the city, to re&euml;nforce the troops then
+engaged on Long Island, but as has already been pointed out, re&euml;nforcing
+in this manner was out of the question. By making a rapid march, the
+Harlem troops reached the ferry in the afternoon, after firing had
+ceased. They were, however, ferried across the next morning.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">28th and 29th.</div>
+
+<p>These movements would indicate a resolution to hold the Brooklyn lines
+at all hazards, and were so regarded, but during the two days subsequent
+to the battle, while the enemy was closing in upon him, Washington
+changed his mind, preparations were quietly made to withdraw the troops,
+while still keeping up a bold front to the enemy, and on the night of
+the 29th the army repassed the East River without accident or
+molestation.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus cleared Long Island, the British extended themselves along
+the East River as far as Newtown, that river thus dividing the hostile
+camps throughout its whole extent. And though New York now lay quite at
+his mercy, Howe refrained from cannonading it, for the same reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> as
+Washington did from shelling Boston; namely, that of securing the city
+intact a little later.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of this brilliant opening of the campaign, and outside of the
+noisy subalterns who were making their <i>d&eacute;but</i> in war, it was felt that
+the British army, fresh, numerous, and splendidly equipped, had
+acquitted itself most ingloriously in permitting the Americans to make
+their retreat from the island as they had, when the event of an assault
+must probably have been most disastrous to them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Losses so far.</div>
+
+<p>On the other side defeat had seriously affected the <i>morale</i> of the
+Americans. Fifteen hundred men had been lost on Long Island. A great
+many more were now being lost through desertion. In Washington's own
+words the unruly militia left him by companies, half regiments or whole
+regiments, leaving the infection of their evil example to work its will
+among the well-disposed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">New York to be held.</div>
+
+<p>Although the defence of New York had thus broken down at its vital
+point, a majority of generals favored still holding the city. To this
+end Washington now divided his forces, leaving 4,000 in the city,
+posting 6,500<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> at Harlem Heights, and 12,000 at Fort Washington and
+King's Bridge. Though furnished by a general officer,<a name="FNanchor_4_16" id="FNanchor_4_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_16" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> these figures
+really include the sick, who were estimated at nearly 10,000, as well as
+the large number detached on extra duty. Washington, himself, vaguely
+estimated his effective force at under 20,000 at this time.</p>
+
+<p>As thus arranged, Harlem Heights, in the centre, became the army
+headquarters for the time being, Washington, by one of those little
+accidents that sometimes arrest a passing thought, occupying the
+house<a name="FNanchor_5_17" id="FNanchor_5_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_17" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> of the same lady who had formerly refused the offer of his hand
+in marriage, Miss Mary Phillipse, later to accept that of Colonel Roger
+Morris, his old companion in arms during Braddock's fatal campaign.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_13" id="Footnote_1_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_13"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> range of hills includes the present Prospect Park and
+Greenwood Cemetery.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_14" id="Footnote_2_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_14"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> weak point was the approach from the east where the
+Jamaica road crossed the hills into Bedford village. By striking this
+road somewhat higher up, the enemy got to Bedford before the Americans,
+guarding the hills beyond, had notice of their approach.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_15" id="Footnote_3_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_15"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">Captain Harris</span>, of the Fifth Foot.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_16" id="Footnote_4_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_16"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">General Glover's</span> estimate.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_17" id="Footnote_5_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_17"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> Morris House is still standing at 160th street, near
+10th avenue, N. Y., and is now occupied by Gen. Ferdinand P. Earle.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p>
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<h3>NEW YORK EVACUATED</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Howe</span> seems to have thought that so long as Washington remained in New
+York he might be bagged at leisure. In no other way can his dilatory
+proceedings be accounted for. Sixteen days passed without any
+demonstration on his part whatever. Meantime, however, the steady
+extension of his lines toward Hell Gate had operated such a change of
+opinion in the American camp that the decision to hold the city was now
+reconsidered, and the evacuation fixed for September 15. It was seen
+that the storm centre was now shifting over toward the American
+communications, but just where it would break forth was still a matter
+of conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>Howe was fully informed of what was going on by his royalist friends in
+the city, and like the cat watching the wounded mouse while it is
+recovering its breath, he prepared to spring at the moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> his
+enfeebled adversary should show signs of returning animation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">British seize New York.</div>
+
+<p>All being ready, on the very day fixed for the evacuation, Sir Henry
+Clinton crossed the East River in boats from Newtown Bay to Kipp's Bay,
+with 4,000 men, landed without opposition, owing to a disgraceful panic
+which seized the Americans posted there for just such an emergency, and
+thus thrust himself in between the Americans in the city and those at
+Harlem Heights. Thus cut off, it was only at the greatest risk of
+capture that the garrison below was saved, with the loss of much
+artillery, tents, baggage, and stores, by marching out on one road while
+the enemy were marching in on another,<a name="FNanchor_1_18" id="FNanchor_1_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_18" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> as Clinton had immediately
+pushed on up the island, at the heels of the retreating Americans.</p>
+
+<p>A captain of British grenadiers describes what took place after the
+landing, in the following animated style:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"After landing in York Island we drove the Americans into their
+works beyond the eighth milestone from New York, and thus got
+possession of the best half of the island. We took post<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> opposite
+to them, placed our pickets, borrowed a sheep, killed, cooked, and
+ate some of it, and then went to sleep on a gate, which we took the
+liberty of throwing off its hinges, covering our feet with an
+American tent, for which we should have cut poles and pitched had
+it not been so dark. Give me such living as we enjoy at present,
+such a hut and such company, and I would not care three farthings
+if we stayed all the winter, for though the mornings and evenings
+are cold, yet the sun is so hot as to oblige me to put up a blanket
+as a screen."</p></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Great fire, September 21.</div>
+
+<p>Each side now rested in possession of half the island, Washington of all
+above Harlem Heights, Howe of all below. His conquest was, however, near
+proving a barren one, at best, for within a week a third part of the
+city was laid in ashes, some say by incendiaries, some by accident.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was now so far reversed that Washington seemed to be
+blockading Howe in the city.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Captain Hale hanged.</div>
+
+<p>Though it had little bearing upon the result of the campaign, one other
+event is deserving of brief mention here. Clinton's descent had been
+cleverly managed, out of Washington's sight. What were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> the enemy
+proposing to do next? It was imperative to know. To ascertain this Capt.
+Nathan Hale volunteered to go over to Long Island. At his returning he
+was arrested. The papers found upon him betrayed his purpose in going
+within the enemy's lines, and he was forthwith hanged in a manner that
+would have disgraced Tyburn itself.</p>
+
+<p>Howe's next move was probably conceived with the twofold design, first
+of cooping Washington up within the island, and second of capturing or
+breaking up his entire army.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Howe's delays.</div>
+
+<p>But again and again we are puzzled to account for Howe's delays. Hard
+fighter that he unquestionably was, he seemed never in a hurry to begin.
+There is even some ground for believing that in New York he had found
+his Capua. Be that as it may, it is certainly true that nearly a whole
+month passed by before the sluggard Sir William again drew sword.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Lands at Throg's Neck.</div>
+
+<p>Leaving Lord Percy to defend the lines below Harlem with four brigades,
+at eight o'clock P.M. of the 11th of October, General Clinton with the
+reserves, light infantry and 1,500 Hessians, embarked on the East River,
+passed through Hell Gate, and landed at Throg's Neck,<a name="FNanchor_2_19" id="FNanchor_2_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_19" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> in Westchester,
+early the next morning.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image3_th.jpg" width="400" height="686" alt="" title="" /><br />
+<span class="caption2">STORMING OF FORT WASHINGTON.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image3.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">Explanation&mdash;E, American positions; A-C, British attacks by Harlem
+River; B, <i>via</i> King's Bridge; D, from Harlem Plains.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Washington moves to White Plains.</div>
+
+<p>Here he lay inactive for six whole days, within six miles of the road on
+which Washington was moving out from King's Bridge to White Plains; for
+at the first notice given him of the enemy's movements, which indeed had
+all along been anxiously expected, Washington had been drawing out his
+forces from Harlem to King's Bridge, first sending forward some light
+troops to delay Howe as much as possible, until the army could get into
+position. It is evident that but for Howe's delays this purpose could
+not have been successfully accomplished.<a name="FNanchor_3_20" id="FNanchor_3_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_20" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Howe marches to give battle.</div>
+
+<p>Meantime the enemy had been bringing up re&euml;nforcements, and on the 18th,
+finding the mainland too strongly held at Throg's Neck, for an advance
+from that point, they made another landing six miles beyond, whence they
+marched toward New Rochelle. From here they again marched (22d) for
+White Plains,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> where Washington was found (27th) drawn up in order of
+battle behind the Bronx, waiting for them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Battle of White Plains, October 28.</div>
+
+<p>Here Washington attempted to make a stand, but his right<a name="FNanchor_4_21" id="FNanchor_4_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_21" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> being
+vigorously attacked and turned, he was forced to fall back upon a second
+position, in which he remained unmolested for several days, when
+(November 1) he moved still farther back, to the heights of North
+Castle, where he felt himself quite safe from attack.</p>
+
+<p>Howe had now man&#339;uvred Washington out of all his defences except Fort
+Washington, which by General Greene's advice was to be defended, though
+now cut off from all support.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fort Washington taken.</div>
+
+<p>Things remained in this situation until November 16, when the fort was
+assaulted on three sides, with the result that the whole garrison of
+about 3,000 men were made prisoners of war.<a name="FNanchor_5_22" id="FNanchor_5_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_22" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> At some points the
+resistance was obstinate, notably at the north, and again at the east,
+where one of the attacking divisions attempted to gain the rocky shore
+back of the Morris House, under Harlem Heights. A British officer,<a name="FNanchor_6_23" id="FNanchor_6_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_23" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+there present, says of it that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> "before landing the fire of cannon and
+musketry was so heavy that the sailors quitted their oars and lay down
+in the bottom of the boats, and had not the soldiers taken the oars and
+pulled on shore we must have remained in this situation."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Effect on the army.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington and Lee.</div>
+
+<p>The loss of the garrison of Fort Washington, 2,000 of whom were regular
+troops, was universally regarded as the most severe blow that the
+American cause had yet sustained, and it had a most depressing effect
+both in and out of the army, but more particularly in the army, as it
+tended to develop the growing antagonism between the commander-in-chief
+and General Lee, who had ineffectually advocated the evacuation of Fort
+Washington when the army was withdrawn from the island. Lee's military
+insight had now been most decisively vindicated. His antipathy to
+serving as second in command became more and more pronounced, and was
+more or less reflected by his admirers, of whom he now had more than
+ever. Worse still, it was destined soon to have the most deplorable
+results to the army, the cause, and even to Lee himself.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span></p><div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_18" id="Footnote_1_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_18"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">A British</span> brigade was sent down to the city in the course
+of the evening.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_19" id="Footnote_2_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_19"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">A contraction</span> of Throgmorton's Neck. As this was an island
+at high tide, the Americans quickly barred the passage to the mainland
+by breaking down the bridge.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_20" id="Footnote_3_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_20"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">On</span> account of the want of wagons this was very slowly done,
+as the wagons had to be unloaded and sent back for what could not be
+brought along with the troops.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_21" id="Footnote_4_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_21"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> rested on Chatterton's Hill, some distance in front of
+the main line. Not having intrenched, the defenders were overpowered,
+though not until after making a sharp fight.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_22" id="Footnote_5_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_22"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">An</span> excellent account of the operations at Fort Washington
+will be found in Graydon's <i>Memoirs</i>, p. 197 <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_23" id="Footnote_6_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_23"><span class="label">[6]</span></a><span class="smcap">Lieut. Martin Hunter</span>, of the Fifty-second Foot.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span></p>
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SITUATION REVIEWED</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The new situation.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> dilemma now confronting Washington was hydra-headed. Either way it
+was serious. On one side New England lay open to the enemy, on the other
+New Jersey. And an advance was also threatened from the North. If he
+stayed where he was, the enemy would overrun New Jersey at will. Should
+he move his army into New Jersey, Howe could easily cut off its
+communications with New England, the chief resource for men and
+munitions. Of course this was not to be thought of. On the other hand,
+the conquest of New Jersey, with Philadelphia as the ultimate prize, in
+all probability would be Howe's next object. At the present moment there
+was nothing to prevent his marching to Philadelphia, arms at ease. To
+think of fighting in the open field was sheer folly. And there was not
+one fortified position between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> Hudson and the Delaware where the
+enemy's triumphal march might be stayed.</p>
+
+<p>Forced by these adverse circumstances to attempt much more than twice
+his present force would have encouraged the hope of doing successfully,
+Washington decided that he must place himself between the enemy and
+Philadelphia, and at the same time hold fast to his communications with
+New England and the upper Hudson. This could only be done by dividing
+his greatly weakened forces into two corps, one of which should attempt
+the difficult task of checking the enemy in the Jerseys, while the other
+held a strong position on the Hudson, until Howe's purposes should be
+more fully developed. With Washington it was no longer a choice of
+evils, but a stern obedience to imperative necessity.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The army divided.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington in New Jersey.</div>
+
+<p>Lee was now put in command of the corps left to watch Howe's movement
+east of the Hudson, loosely estimated at 5,000 men, and ordered back
+behind the Croton. Heath, with 2,000 men of his division, was ordered to
+Peekskill, to guard the passes of the Highlands, these two corps being
+thus posted within supporting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> distance. With the other corps of 4,000
+men Washington crossed into New Jersey, going into camp in the
+neighborhood of Fort Lee, where Greene's small force was united with his
+own command.<a name="FNanchor_1_24" id="FNanchor_1_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_24" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Orders were also despatched to Ticonderoga, to forward
+at once all troops to the main army that could be spared. Fort Lee had
+thus become the last rallying-point for the troops under Washington's
+immediate command, and in that sense, also, a menace to the full and
+free control of the lower Hudson, which the guns of the fort in part
+commanded at its narrowest point. Howe determined to brush away this
+last obstruction without delay.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fort Lee taken.</div>
+
+<p>Regarding Fort Lee as no longer serving any important purpose, perhaps
+foreseeing that it would soon be attacked, Washington was getting ready
+to evacuate it, when on the night of November 19<a name="FNanchor_2_25" id="FNanchor_2_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_25" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Lord Cornwallis made
+a sudden dash across to the New Jersey side, passing Fort Lee
+unperceived, landed a little above the fort at a place that had
+strangely been left unguarded, climbed the heights unmolested, and was
+only prevented from making prisoners of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> whole garrison by its
+hurried retreat across the Hackensack. Everything in the fort, even to
+the kettles in which the men were cooking their breakfasts, was lost.</p>
+
+<p>As regards any further attempt to stay the tide of defeat, all was now
+over. The enemy had obtained a secure foothold on the Jersey shore from
+which to march across the State, when and how he pleased. Unpalatable as
+the admission may be, the fact remains that the Americans had been
+everywhere out-generaled and out-fought. Nearly everything in the way of
+war material had been lost in the hurried evacuation of New York.<a name="FNanchor_3_26" id="FNanchor_3_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_26" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+Confidence had been lost. Prestige had been lost. Clearly it was high
+time to turn over a new leaf. With this lame affair the first division
+of the disastrous campaign of 1776 properly closes, and the second
+properly begins. It had been watched with alternate hope, doubt, and
+despondency. Excuses are never wanting to bolster up failing
+reputations. The generals said they had no soldiers, the soldiers
+declared they had no generals; the people hung their heads and were
+silent.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image4_th.jpg" width="500" height="640" alt="" title="" /><br />
+<span class="caption2">AMERICAN POSITION BEHIND THE HACKENSACK.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image4.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span><br /></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span></p><div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_24" id="Footnote_1_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_24"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> Eastern troops remained on the east bank of the
+Hudson, under Lee's command, while those belonging to the Middle and
+Southern colonies crossed the Hudson with Washington. This disposition
+may have been brought about by the belief that the soldiers of each
+section would fight best on their own ground, but the fact is notorious
+that a most bitter animosity had grown up between them.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_25" id="Footnote_2_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_25"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> movement is assigned to the 18th by Gordon and those
+who have followed him. The 19th is the date given by Captain Harris, who
+was with the expedition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_26" id="Footnote_3_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_26"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">An</span> enumeration of these losses will be found in Gordon's
+<i>American Revolution</i>, Vol. II., p. 360.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p>
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was now the 20th of November. In a few weeks more, at farthest, the
+season for active campaigning would be over. Thus far delay had been the
+only thing that the Americans had gained; but at what a cost! Yet
+Washington's last hopes were of necessity pinned to it, because the
+respite it promised was the only means of bringing another army into the
+field in season to renew the contest, if indeed it should be renewed at
+all.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Strength of the army.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">State of public feeling.</div>
+
+<p>Losses in battle, by sickness or desertion, or other causes, had brought
+his dismembered forces down to a total of 10,000 men, of whom 3,500 only
+were now under his immediate command, the rest being with Lee and Heath.
+And the work of disintegration was steadily going on. Always hopeful so
+long as there was even a straw to cling to, Washington seems to have
+expected that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> the people of New Jersey would have flown to arms, upon
+hearing that the invader had actually set foot upon the soil of their
+State. Vain hope! His appeal had fallen flat. The great and rich State
+of Pennsylvania was nearly, if not quite, as unresponsive. Disguise it
+as we may, the fire of '76 seemed all but extinct on its very earliest
+altars, and in its stead only a few sickly embers glowed here and there
+among its ashes. The futility of further resistance was being openly
+discussed, and submission seemed only one step farther off.</p>
+
+<p>In one of his desponding moments Washington turned to his old comrade,
+Mercer, with the question, "What think you, if we should retreat to the
+back parts of Pennsylvania, would the Pennsylvanians support us?"</p>
+
+<p>Though himself a Pennsylvanian by adoption, Mercer's answer was given
+with true soldierly frankness. "If the lower counties give up, the back
+counties will do the same," was his discouraging reply.</p>
+
+<p>"We must then retire to Augusta County in Virginia," said Washington,
+with grave decision,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> "and if overpowered there, we must cross the
+Alleghanies."</p>
+
+<p>A volume would fail to give half as good an idea of the critical
+condition of affairs as that brief dialogue.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cruelties to prisoners.</div>
+
+<p>First and foremost among the many causes of the army's disruption was
+its losses in prisoners. Not less than 5,000 men were at that moment
+dying by slow torture in the foul prisons or pestilential floating
+dungeons of New York. Turn from it as we may, there is no escaping the
+conviction that if not done with the actual sanction of Sir William
+Howe, these atrocities were at least committed with his guilty
+knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_1_27" id="FNanchor_1_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_27" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The calculated barbarities practised upon these poor
+prisoners, with no other purpose than to make them desert their cause,
+or if that failed, totally to unfit them for serving it more, are almost
+too shocking for belief. It was such acts as these that wrung from the
+indignant Napier the terrible admission that "the annals of civilized
+warfare furnish nothing more inhuman towards captives of war than the
+prison ships of England."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p><p>This method of disposing of prisoners was none the less potent that it
+was in some sort murder. Washington had not the prisoners to exchange
+for them, Howe would not liberate them on parole, and when exchanges
+were finally effected, the men thus released were too much enfeebled by
+disease ever to carry a musket again.</p>
+
+<p>In brief, more of Washington's men were languishing in captivity in New
+York than he now had with him in the Jerseys. And he was not losing
+nearly so many by bullets as by starvation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Affects recruiting.</div>
+
+<p>We have emphasized this dark feature of the contest solely for the
+purpose of showing its material influence upon it at this particular
+time. The knowledge of how they would be treated, should they fall into
+the enemy's hands, undoubtedly deterred many from enlisting. In a
+broader sense, it added a new and more aggravated complication to the
+general question as to how the war was to be carried on by the two
+belligerents, whether under the restraints of civilized warfare, or as a
+war to the knife.</p>
+
+<p>Thrown back upon his own resources, Washington<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> must now bitterly have
+repented leaving Lee in an independent command. If there was any secret
+foreboding on his part that Lee would play him false, we do not discover
+it either in his orders or his correspondence. If there was secret
+antipathy, Washington showed himself possessed of almost superhuman
+patience and self-restraint, for certainly if ever man's patience was
+tried Washington's was by the shuffling conduct of his lieutenant at
+this time; but if aversion there was on Washington's part he resolutely
+put it away from him in the interest of the common cause, feeling, no
+doubt, that Lee was a good soldier who might yet do good service, and
+caring little himself as to whom the honor might fall, so the true end
+was reached. It was a great mind lowering itself to the level of a
+little one. But Lee could only see in it a struggle for personal favor
+and preferment.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Retreat begins.</div>
+
+<p>After the evacuation of Fort Lee, Lee was urged, unfortunately not
+ordered, to cross his force into the Jerseys, and so bring it into
+co&ouml;peration with the troops already there. The demonstrations then
+making in his front <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>decided Washington to fall back behind the Passaic,
+which he did on the 22d, and on the same day marched down that river to
+Newark. On the 24th Cornwallis,<a name="FNanchor_2_28" id="FNanchor_2_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_28" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> who now had assumed control of all
+operations in the Jerseys, was re&euml;nforced with two British brigades and
+a regiment of Highlanders.</p>
+
+<p>Before this force Washington had no choice but to give way in proportion
+as Cornwallis advanced, until Lee should join him, when some chance of
+checking the enemy might be improved. At any rate, such a junction would
+undoubtedly have made Cornwallis more circumspect. As Lee still hung
+back, Washington saw this slender hope vanishing. He for a moment
+listened to the alternative of marching to Morristown, where the troops
+from the Northern army would sooner join him; but as this plan would
+leave the direct road to Philadelphia open, it neither suited
+Washington's temper nor his views, and he therefore adhered to his
+former one of fighting in retreat. And though he had failed to check
+Cornwallis at Newark he would endeavor to do so at New Brunswick.</p>
+
+<p>For New Brunswick, therefore, the remains of the army marched, just as
+the enemy's rear-guard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> was entering Newark in hot pursuit. On finding
+himself so close to the Americans, Cornwallis pushed on after them with
+his light troops, but as Washington had broken down the bridge over the
+Raritan after passing it, the British were brought to a halt there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">New Brunswick evacuated.</div>
+
+<p>Sustained by the vain hope of being re&euml;nforced here, either by Lee or by
+new levies of militia coming up as he fell back toward Philadelphia,
+Washington meditated making a stand at New Brunswick, which should at
+least show the exultant enemy that there was still some life left in his
+jaded battalions, and perhaps delay pursuit, which was all that could be
+hoped for with his small force. Instead, however, of the expected
+re&euml;nforcement, the departure of the New Jersey and Maryland brigades,
+still so called by courtesy alone, since they were but the shadows of
+what they had been, put this purpose out of the question. Again
+Washington reluctantly turned his back to his enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Lee's troops were now the chief resource. What few militia joined the
+army one day melted away on the next. In Washington's opinion the
+crisis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> had come. He therefore wrote to his laggard lieutenant, "Hasten
+your march as much as possible or your arrival may be too late."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">December 7.</div>
+
+<p>Fortunately Cornwallis had orders not to advance beyond New Brunswick.
+He therefore halted there until he could receive new instructions, which
+caused a delay of six days before the pursuit was renewed.<a name="FNanchor_3_29" id="FNanchor_3_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_29" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> On the 7th
+Cornwallis moved on to Princeton, arriving there on the same day that
+Washington left it. This was getting dangerously near, with a wide river
+to cross, at only one short march beyond.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the actual state of things, this retreat must stand in
+history as a masterpiece of calculated temerity. Keeping only one day's
+march ahead of his enemy, Washington's rear-guard only moved off when
+the enemy's van came in sight. There is nowhere any hint of a disorderly
+retreat, or any serious infraction of discipline, or any deviation from
+the strict letter of obedience to orders, such as usually follows in the
+wake of a beaten and retreating army. Washington simply let himself be
+pushed along when he found resistance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> altogether hopeless. In this firm
+hold on his soldiers, at such an hour, we recognize the leader.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_27" id="Footnote_1_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_27"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">Captain Graydon</span> (<i>Memoirs</i>) and Ethan Allen (<i>Narrative</i>),
+both prisoners at this time, fix the responsibility where it belongs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_28" id="Footnote_2_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_28"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">Cornwallis</span> (Lord Brome) was squint-eyed from effects of a
+blow in the eye received while playing hockey at Eton. His playmate who
+caused the accident was Shute Barrington, afterwards Bishop of Durham.
+He entered the army as an ensign in the Foot Guards. His first
+commission is dated Dec. 8, 1756.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_29" id="Footnote_3_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_29"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> delay is chargeable to Howe, who kept the troops
+halted until he could consult with Cornwallis in person as to future
+operations. The question was, Should or should not the British army
+cross the Delaware?</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span></p>
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<h3>LEE'S MARCH AND CAPTURE</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">December 2 and 3.</div>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Hasten</span> your march or your arrival may be too late." When this urgent
+appeal was penned Lee had not yet seen fit to cross the Hudson, nor was
+it until Washington had reached Princeton that Lee's troops were at last
+put in motion toward the Delaware.</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto Lee had been in some sort Washington's tutor, or at least
+military adviser,&mdash;a r&ocirc;le for which, we are bound in common justice to
+say, Lee was not unfitted. But from the moment of separation he appears
+in the light of a rival and a critic, and not too friendly as either. In
+the beginning Washington had looked up to Lee. Lee now looked down upon
+Washington. Unquestionably the abler tactician of the two, Lee seemed to
+have looked forward to Washington's fall as certain, and to so have
+shaped his own course as to leave him master of the situation. In so
+doing he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>cannot be acquitted of disloyalty to the cause he served, if
+that course threatened to wreck the cause itself.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Lee's plans.</div>
+
+<p>It is only just to add that for troops taking the field in the dead of
+winter, Lee's were hardly better prepared than those they were going to
+assist. General Heath, who saw them march off, says that some of them
+were as good soldiers as any in the service, but many were so destitute
+of shoes that the blood left on the rugged, frozen ground, in many
+places, marked the route they had taken; and he adds that a considerable
+number, totally unable to march, were left behind at Peekskill. This
+brings us face to face with the extraordinary and unlooked-for fact that
+instead of bending all his energies toward effecting a junction with the
+commander-in-chief, east of the Delaware, in time to be of service, Lee
+had decided to adopt an entirely different line of conduct, more in
+accord with his own ideas of how the remainder of the campaign should be
+conducted. Meantime, as a cloak to his intentions, he kept up a show of
+obeying the spirit, if not the letter, of his instructions, leaving the
+impression,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> however, that he would take the responsibility of
+disregarding them if he saw fit. If he had written to Washington, "You
+have had your chance and failed; mine has now come," his words and acts
+would have been in exact harmony.<a name="FNanchor_1_30" id="FNanchor_1_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_30" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">December 7 and 8.</div>
+
+<p>On the 7th Lee was at Pompton. This day an express was sent off to him
+by Heath informing him of the arrival of Greaton's, Bond's, and Porter's
+battalions from Albany. Lee replied from Chatham directing them to march
+to Morristown, where his own troops were then halted. The prospect of
+this re&euml;nforcement, which in all probability he had been expecting to
+intercept, may account both for the slowness of Lee's march, and for the
+closing sentence of his reply to Heath. Here it is: "I am in hopes to
+reconquer (if I may so express myself) the Jerseys. It was really in the
+hands of the enemy before my arrival."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington crosses the Delaware.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">December 8.</div>
+
+<p>In halting as he did Lee was deliberately forcing a crisis with
+Washington, who was all this time falling back upon his supplies, while
+the British, having to drag theirs after them, could only advance by
+spurts. Here was a rare opportunity for fighting in retreat being thrown
+away,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> as Washington conceived, by Lee's dilatoriness in re&euml;nforcing
+him. Reluctant to abandon his last chance of giving the enemy a check,
+Washington seems to have thought of doing so at Princeton (ignorant that
+this spot was so soon to be the field of more brilliant operations) as a
+means of gaining time for the removal of his baggage across the
+Delaware. It was probably with no other purpose that his advance, which
+had reached Trenton as early as the 3d, was marched back to Princeton,
+which Lord Sterling was still holding with the rear-guard as late as the
+7th, when, as we have seen, Cornwallis made his forced march from
+Brunswick to Princeton, in such force as to put resistance out of the
+question. Here he halted for seventeen hours, thus giving Washington
+time to reach Trenton, get his 2,200 or 2,400 men across the Delaware,
+and draw them up on the other side, out of harm's reach, just as his
+baffled pursuers arrived on the opposite bank.</p>
+
+<p>Cornwallis immediately began a search for the means of crossing in his
+turn.<a name="FNanchor_2_31" id="FNanchor_2_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_31" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Here, again, he was baffled by Washington's foresight, as
+every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> boat for seventy miles up and down the Delaware had been removed
+beyond his adversary's reach.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of this catastrophe, which seemed, in the opinion not only of
+the victors, but of the vanquished, to have given the finishing stroke
+to the American Revolution, Lee's force, augmented by the junction of
+the troops marching down to join him, was the sole prop and stay of the
+cause in the Jerseys.</p>
+
+<p>That force lay quietly at Morristown until the 12th of the month, when
+it was again put in motion toward Vealtown, now Bernardsville.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Gates arrives.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Lee taken.</div>
+
+<p>At this time a second detachment from the army of the North, under
+Gates,<a name="FNanchor_3_32" id="FNanchor_3_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_32" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> was on the march across Sussex County to the Delaware. Being
+cut off from communication with the commander-in-chief, Gates sent
+forward a staff officer to learn the condition of affairs, report his
+own speedy appearance, and receive directions as to what route he should
+take, Hearing that Lee was at Morristown, this officer pushed on in
+search of him, and at four o'clock in the morning of the 13th, he found
+Lee quartered in an out-of-the-way country tavern at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> Baskingridge,
+three miles from his camp, and by just so much nearer the enemy, whose
+patrols, since Washington had been disposed of, were now scouring the
+roads in every direction. One of these detachments surprised the house
+Lee was in, and before noon the crestfallen general was being hurried
+off a prisoner to Brunswick by a squadron of British light-horse.</p>
+
+<p>Lee's troops, now Sullivan's, with those of Gates, one or two marches in
+the rear, freed from the crafty hand that had been leading them astray,
+now pressed on for the Delaware, and thus that concert of action, for
+which Washington had all along labored in vain, was again restored
+between the fragments of his army, impotent when divided, but yet
+formidable as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>Lee's written and spoken words, if indeed his acts did not speak even
+louder, leave no doubt as to his purpose in amusing Washington by a show
+of coming to his aid, when, in fact, he had no intention of doing so. He
+not only assumed the singular attitude, in a subordinate, of passing
+judgment upon the propriety or necessity of his orders,&mdash;orders given
+with full knowledge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> of the situation,&mdash;but proceeded to thwart them in
+a manner savoring of contempt. Lee was Washington's Bernadotte. Neither
+urging, remonstrance, nor entreaty could swerve him one iota from the
+course he had mapped out for himself. Conceiving that he held the key to
+the very unpromising situation in his own hands, he had determined to
+make the gambler's last throw, and had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Although Lee's conduct toward Washington cannot be justified, it is more
+than probable that some such success as that which Stark afterwards
+achieved at Bennington, under conditions somewhat similar, though
+essentially different as to motives, might, and probably would, have
+justified Lee's conduct to the nation, and perhaps even have raised him
+to the position he coveted&mdash;of the head of the army, on the ruins of
+Washington's military reputation. Could he even have cut the enemy's
+line so as to throw it into confusion, his conduct might have escaped
+censure. With this end in view he designed holding a position on the
+enemy's flank,<a name="FNanchor_4_33" id="FNanchor_4_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_33" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> arguing, perhaps, that Washington would be compelled
+to re&euml;nforce him rather than see him defeated, with the troops now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>
+beyond the Delaware. Washington saw through Lee's schemes, refused to be
+driven into doing what his judgment did not approve, and the tension
+between the two generals was suddenly snapped by the imprudence or worse
+of Lee himself.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Harris,<a name="FNanchor_5_34" id="FNanchor_5_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_34" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> who saw Lee brought to Brunswick a prisoner, has this
+to say of him: "He was taken by a party of ours under Colonel Harcourt,
+who surrounded the house in which this arch-traitor was residing. Lee
+behaved as cowardly in this transaction as he had dishonorably in every
+other. After firing one or two shots from the house, he came out and
+entreated our troops to spare his life. Had he behaved with proper
+spirit I should have pitied him. I could hardly refrain from tears when
+I first saw him, and thought of the miserable fate in which his
+obstinacy has involved him. He says he has been mistaken in three
+things: first, that the New England men would fight; second, that
+America was unanimous; and third, that she could afford two men for our
+one."<a name="FNanchor_6_35" id="FNanchor_6_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_35" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span></p><div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_30" id="Footnote_1_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_30"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">Lee</span> had expected the first place and had been given the
+second. His successes while acting in a separate command (at Charleston)
+told heavily against Washington's reverses in this campaign; and his
+outspoken criticisms, frequently just, as the event proved, had produced
+their due impression on the minds of many, who believed Lee the better
+general of the two. Events had so shaped themselves, in consequence, as
+to raise up two parties in the army. And here was laid the foundation of
+all those personal jealousies which culminated in Lee's dismissal from
+the army. While his abilities won respect, his insufferable egotism made
+him disliked, and it is to be remarked of the divisions Lee's ambition
+was promoting, that the best officers stood firmly by the
+commander-in-chief.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_31" id="Footnote_2_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_31"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">Cornwallis</span> took no boats with him, as he might have done,
+from Brunswick. A small number would have answered his purpose.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_32" id="Footnote_3_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_32"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">Ticonderoga</span> being out of danger for the present, Washington
+had ordered Gates down with all troops that could be spared.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_33" id="Footnote_4_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_33"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">As Washington</span> had been urged to do, instead of keeping
+between Cornwallis and Philadelphia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_34" id="Footnote_5_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_34"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">Lord George Harris</span>, of the Fifth Foot.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_35" id="Footnote_6_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_35"><span class="label">[6]</span></a><span class="smcap">It</span> will be noticed that this account differs essentially
+from that of Wilkinson, who, though present at Lee's capture, hid
+himself until the light-horse had left with their prisoner.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span></p>
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OUTLOOK</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">To</span> all intents the campaign of 1776 had now drawn its lengthened
+disasters to a close. It had indeed been protracted nearly to the point
+of ruin, with the one result, that Philadelphia was apparently safe for
+the present. But with Washington thrown back across the Delaware, Lee a
+prisoner, Congress fled to Baltimore, Canada lost, New York lost, the
+Jerseys overrun, the royal army stretched out from the Hudson to the
+Delaware and practically intact, while the patriot army, dwindled to a
+few thousands, was expected to disappear in a few short weeks, the
+situation had grown desperate indeed.</p>
+
+<p>So hopeless indeed was the outlook everywhere that the ominous cry of
+"Every one for himself"&mdash;that last despairing cry of the
+vanquished&mdash;began to be echoed throughout the colonies. We have seen
+that even Washington himself seriously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> thought of retreating behind the
+Alleghanies, which was virtual surrender. Even he, if report be true,
+began to think of the halter, and Franklin's little witticism, on
+signing the Declaration, of, "Come, gentlemen, we must all hang together
+or we shall hang separately," was getting uncomfortably like inspired
+prophecy.</p>
+
+<p>If we turn now to the people, we shall find the same apparent consenting
+to the inevitable, the same tendency of all intelligent discussion
+toward the one result. One instance only of this feeling may be cited
+here, as showing how the young men&mdash;always the least despondent portion
+of any community&mdash;received the news of the retreat through the Jerseys.</p>
+
+<p>Elkanah Watson sets down the following at Plymouth, Mass.: "We looked
+upon the contest as near its close, and considered ourselves a
+vanquished people. The young men present determined to emigrate, and
+seek some spot where liberty dwelt, and where the arm of British tyranny
+could not reach us. Major Thomas (who had brought them the dispiriting
+news from the army) animated our desponding spirits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> with the assurance
+that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and
+confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">British plans.</div>
+
+<p>At the British headquarters the contest, with good reason, was felt to
+be practically over. Unless all signs failed one short campaign would,
+beyond all question, end it; for at no point were the Americans able to
+show a respectable force. In the North a fresh army, under General
+Burgoyne, was getting ready to break through Ticonderoga and come down
+the Hudson with a rush, carrying all before them, as Cornwallis had done
+in the Jerseys. This would cut the rebellion in two. On the same day
+that Washington crossed the Delaware, Clinton had seized Newport,
+without firing a shot. This would hold New England in check. In short,
+should Howe's plans for the coming season work, as there was every
+reason to expect, then there would be little enough left of the
+Revolution in its cradle and stronghold, with the troops at New York,
+Albany, and Newport acting in well-devised combination.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span></p><p>Brilliant only when roused by the presence of danger, Howe as easily
+fell into his habitual indolence when the danger had passed by. In
+effect, what had he to fear? Washington was beyond the Delaware, with
+the d&eacute;bris of the army he had lately commanded, which served him rather
+as an escort than a defence. If let alone, even this would shortly
+disappear.</p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances Howe felt that he could well afford to give
+himself and his troops a breathing-spell. This was now being put in
+train. Cornwallis was about to sail for England, on leave of absence.
+The garrison of New York disposed itself to pass the winter in idleness,
+and even those detachments doing outpost duty in the Jerseys, after
+having chased Washington until they were tired, turned their attention
+exclusively to the disaffected inhabitants. The field had already been
+reaped, and these troops were the gleaners.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Chain of posts.</div>
+
+<p>To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across
+the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Bordentown,
+and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t, the first
+being well placed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> either for making an advance, or for checking any
+attempts by the Americans to recross the river. Washington believed that
+the British would be in Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was strong
+enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had
+happened, no doubt the enemy's advanced troops would have taken
+possession of the city at once. And it is even quite probable that this
+contingency was considered a foregone conclusion, since British agents
+were now actively at work in Washington's own camp, undermining the
+feeble authority which everybody believed was tottering to its fall. Be
+that as it may, the fact remains that active operations were for the
+present wholly suspended. At the officers' messes or in the barracks all
+the talk was of going home. Besides, if Howe had really wanted to take
+Philadelphia there was nothing to prevent his doing so. There were no
+defences. If saved at all, the city must be defended in the field, not
+in the streets.</p>
+
+<p>Bordentown being rather the most exposed, Count Donop was left there
+with some 2,000 Hessians, and Colonel Rall at Trenton with 1,200 to
+1,300 more. Both were veterans. As these Hessians were about equally
+hated and feared, it was well reasoned that they would be all the more
+watchful against a surprise.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image5_th.jpg" width="500" height="612" alt="" title="" /><br />
+<span class="caption2">THE ATTACK ON TRENTON.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image5.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span></p><div class="sidenote">Rall and Donop.</div>
+
+<p>As soon as he had time to look about him, Donop at once extended his
+outposts down to Burlington, on the river, and to Black Horse, on the
+back-road leading south to Mt. Holly, thus establishing himself at the
+base point of a triangle from which his outposts could be speedily
+re&euml;nforced, either from Bordentown or each other. The post at Burlington
+was only eighteen miles from Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<p>In order to understand the efforts subsequently made to break through it
+this line should be carefully traced out on the map. In spots it was
+weak, yet the long gaps, like that between Princeton and Trenton, and
+between Princeton and Brunswick, were thought sufficiently secured by
+occasional patrols.</p>
+
+<p>To meet these dispositions of the enemy Washington stretched out the
+remnant of his force along the opposite bank of the Delaware, from above
+Trenton to below Bordentown, looking chiefly to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> the usual crossing
+places, which were being vigilantly watched.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px; margin-top: 2em;">
+<img src="images/image6_th.jpg" width="500" height="397" alt="" title="" /><br />
+<span class="caption2">OPERATIONS IN THE JERSEYS.</span><br />
+<span class="caption1"><a href="images/image6.jpg">[Click here to view this image enlarged.]</a></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Under date of December 16 a British officer writes home as follows:
+"Winter quarters are now fixed. Our army forms a chain of about ninety
+miles in length from Fort Lee, where our baggage crossed, to Trenton on
+the Delaware, which river, I believe, we shall not cross till next
+campaign, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> General Howe is returning to New York. I understand we are
+to winter at a small village near the Raritan River, and are to form a
+sort of advanced picket. There is mountainous ground very near this post
+where the rebels are still in arms, and are expected to be troublesome
+during the winter."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cruelties of troops.</div>
+
+<p>He then goes on to speak of the deplorable condition in which the
+inhabitants had been left by the rival armies, dividing the blame with
+impartial hand, and moralizing a little, as follows: "A civil war is a
+dreadful thing; what with the devastation of the rebels, and that of the
+English and Hessian troops, every part of the country where the scene of
+the action has been looks deplorable. Furniture is broken to pieces,
+good houses deserted and almost destroyed, others burnt; cattle, horses,
+and poultry carried off; and the old plundered of their all. The rebels
+everywhere left their sick behind, and most of them have died for want
+of care."</p>
+
+<p>This telling piece of testimony is introduced here not only because it
+comes from an eye-witness, but from an enemy. Beneath the uniform the
+man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> speaks out. But his omissions are still more eloquent. It was not
+so much the loss of property, bad as that was, as the nameless
+atrocities everywhere perpetrated by the royal troops upon the young,
+the helpless, and the innocent, that makes the tale too revolting to be
+told. In truth, all that part of the Jerseys held by the enemy had been
+given up to indiscriminate rapine and plunder. It was in vain that the
+victims pleaded the king's protection. As vainly did they appeal to the
+humanity of the invaders. The brutal soldiery defied the one and laughed
+at the other. Finding that the promised pardon and mercy were synonymous
+with murder, arson, and rapine, such a revulsion of feeling had taken
+place that the authors of these cruelties were literally sleeping on a
+volcano; and where patriotism had so lately been invoked in vain, hope
+of revenge was now turning every man, woman, and child into either an
+open or a secret foe to the despoilers of their homes. One little breath
+only was wanting to fan the revolt to a flame; one little spark to fire
+the train. All eyes, therefore, were instinctively turned to the banks
+of the Delaware.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span></p>
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MARCH TO TRENTON</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Spirit of the officers.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Post at Bristol.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Enough</span> has been said to show that only heroic measures could now save
+the American cause. Fortunately Washington was surrounded by a little
+knot of officers of approved fidelity, whose spirit no reverses could
+subdue. And though a calm retrospect of so many disasters, with all the
+jealousies, the defections, and the terror which had followed in their
+wake, might well have carried discouragement to the stoutest hearts,
+this little band of heroes now closed up around their careworn chief,
+and like the ever-famous Guard at Waterloo, were fully resolved to die
+rather than surrender. This was much. It was still more when Washington
+found his officers inspired by the same hope of striking the enemy
+unawares which he himself had all along secretly entertained. The hope
+was still further encouraged by a re&euml;nforcement of Pennsylvania<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>
+militia, whose pride had been aroused at seeing the invader's vedettes
+in sight of their capital. These were posted at Bristol, under
+Cadwalader,<a name="FNanchor_1_36" id="FNanchor_1_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_36" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> as a check to Count Donop, while what was left of the old
+army was guarding the crossings above, as a check to Rall.</p>
+
+<p>To do something, and to do it quickly, were equally imperative, because
+the term of the regular troops would expire in a few days more, and no
+one realized better than the commander-in-chief that the militia could
+not long be held together inactive in camp.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Rall's danger.</div>
+
+<p>The isolated situation of Rall and Donop seemed to invite attack. Their
+fancied security seemed also to presage success. An inexorable necessity
+called loudly for action before conditions so favorable should be
+changed by the freezing up of the Delaware when, if the enemy had any
+enterprise whatever, the river would no longer prevent, but assist, his
+marching into Philadelphia, and perhaps dictating a peace from the halls
+of Congress.</p>
+
+<p>Donop being considerably nearer Philadelphia than Rall, was, as we have
+seen, being closely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> watched by Cadwalader, whose force being largely
+drawn from the city had the best reasons for wishing to be rid of so
+troublesome a neighbor.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Gates sulking.</div>
+
+<p>More especially in view of possible contingencies, which he could not be
+on the ground to direct, Washington sent his able adjutant-general,
+Reed,<a name="FNanchor_2_37" id="FNanchor_2_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_37" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> down to aid Cadwalader. This action, too, removed a difficulty
+which had arisen out of Gates' excusing himself from taking this command
+on the plea of ill-health.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">In Philadelphia.</div>
+
+<p>Below Cadwalader, again, Putnam was in command at Philadelphia, with a
+fluctuating force of local militia, only sufficiently numerous to
+furnish guards for the public property, protect the friends, and watch
+the enemies, of the cause, between whom the city was thought to be about
+equally divided. Most reluctantly the conclusion had been reached that
+the appearance of the British in force, on the opposite bank of the
+Delaware, would be the signal for a revolt. Here, then, was another rock
+of danger, upon which the losing cause was now steadily
+drifting,&mdash;another warning not to delay action.</p>
+
+<p>It was then that Washington resolved on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span>making one of those sudden
+movements so disconcerting to a self-confident enemy. It had been some
+time maturing, but could not be sooner put in execution on account of
+the wretched condition of Sullivan's (lately Lee's) troops, who had come
+off their long march, as Washington expresses it, in want of everything.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A first move.</div>
+
+<p>Putnam was the first to beard the lion by throwing part of his force
+across the Delaware.<a name="FNanchor_3_38" id="FNanchor_3_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_38" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Whether this was done to mask any purposed
+movement from above, or not, it certainly had that result. After
+crossing into the Jerseys Griffin marched straight to Mt. Holly, where
+he was halted on the 22d, waiting for the re&euml;nforcements he had asked
+for from Cadwalader. Donop having promptly accepted the challenge,
+marched against Griffin, who, having effected his purpose of drawing
+Donop's attention to himself, fell back beyond striking distance.</p>
+
+<p>It was Washington's plan to throw Cadwalader's and Ewing's<a name="FNanchor_4_39" id="FNanchor_4_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_39" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> forces in
+between Donop and Rall, while Griffin or Putnam was threatening Donop
+from below; and he was striking Rall from above. Had these blows fallen
+in quick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> succession there is little room to doubt that a much greater
+measure of success would have resulted.</p>
+
+<p>Orders for the intended movement were sent out from headquarters on the
+23d. They ran to this effect:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Rall the object.</div>
+
+<p>Cadwalader at Bristol, Ewing at Trenton Ferry, and Washington himself at
+McKonkey's Ferry, were to cross the Delaware simultaneously on the night
+of the 25th and attack the enemy's posts in their front. Cadwalader and
+Ewing having spent the night in vain efforts to cross their commands,
+returned to their encampments. It only remains to follow the movements
+of the commander-in-chief, who was fortunately ignorant of these
+failures.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty-four hundred men, with eighteen cannon, were drawn up on the bank
+of the river at sunset. Tolstoi claims that the real problem of the
+science of war "is to ascertain and formulate the value of the spirit of
+the men, and their willingness and eagerness to fight." This little band
+was all on fire to be led against the enemy. No holiday march lay before
+them, yet every officer and man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> instinctively felt that the last hope
+of the Republic lay in the might of his own good right arm.</p>
+
+<p>Did we need any further proof of the desperate nature of these
+undertakings, it is found in the matchless group of officers that now
+gathered round the commander-in-chief to stand or fall with him. With
+such chiefs and such soldiers the fight was sure to be conducted with
+skill and energy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Strong array of officers.</div>
+
+<p>Greene, Sullivan, St. Clair, Sterling, Knox, Mercer, Stephen, Glover,
+Hand, Stark, Poor, and Patterson were there to lead these slender
+columns to victory. Among the subordinates who were treading this rugged
+pathway to renown were Hull, Monroe, Hamilton, and Wilkinson. Rank
+disappeared in the soldier. Major-generals commanded weak brigades,
+brigadiers, half battalions, colonels, broken companies. Some sudden
+inspiration must have nerved these men to face the dangers of that
+terrible night. History fails to show a more sublime devotion to an
+apparently lost cause.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Delaware crossed.</div>
+
+<p>Boats being held in readiness the troops began their memorable crossing.
+Its difficulties and dangers may be estimated by the failure of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> two
+co&ouml;perating; corps to surmount them. Of this part of the work Glover<a name="FNanchor_5_40" id="FNanchor_5_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_40" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+took charge. Again his Marblehead men manned the boats, as they had done
+at Long Island; and though it was necessary to force a passage by main
+strength through the floating ice, which the strong current and high
+wind steadily drove against them, the transfer from the friendly to the
+hostile shore slowly went on in the thickening darkness and gloom of the
+waiting hours.</p>
+
+<p>Little by little the group on the eastern shore began to grow larger as
+the hours wore on. Washington was there wrapped in his cloak, and in
+that inscrutable silence denoting the crisis of a lifetime. Did his
+thoughts go back to that eventful hour when he was guiding a frail raft
+through the surging ice of the Monongahela? Knox was there animating the
+utterly cheerless scene by his loud commands to the men in charge of his
+precious artillery, for which the shivering troops were impatiently
+waiting. At three o'clock the last gun was landed. The crossing had
+required three hours more than had been allowed for it. Nearly another
+hour was used up in forming the troops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> for the march of nine miles to
+Trenton, which could hardly be reached over such a wretched road, and in
+such weather, in less than from three to four hours more. To make
+matters worse, rain, hail, and sleet began falling heavily, and freezing
+as it fell.</p>
+
+<p>To surround and surprise Trenton before daybreak was now out of the
+question. Nevertheless, Washington decided to push on as rapidly as
+possible; and the troops having been formed in two columns, were now put
+in motion toward the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The march was horrible. A more severe winter's night had never been
+experienced even by the oldest campaigners. To keep moving was the only
+defence against freezing. Enveloped in whirling snow-flakes, encompassed
+in blackest darkness, the little column toiled steadily on through
+sludge ankle-deep, those in the rear judging by the quantity of snow
+lodged on the hats and coats of those in front, the load that they
+themselves were carrying. Not a word, a jest, or a snatch of song broke
+the silence of that fearful march.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span></p><p>At a cross-road four and a half miles from Trenton the word was passed
+along the line to halt. Here the columns divided. With one Greene filed
+off on a road bearing to the left, which, after making a considerable
+circuit, struck into Trenton more to the east. Washington rode with this
+division. The other column kept the road on which it had been marching.
+Sullivan led this division with Stark in the van. At this moment
+Sullivan was informed that the muskets were too wet to be depended upon.
+He instantly sent off an aid to Washington for further orders. The aid
+came galloping back with the order to "go on," delivered in a tone which
+he said he should never forget. With grim determination Sullivan again
+moved forward, and the word ran through the ranks, "We have our bayonets
+left."</p>
+
+<p>All this time Ewing was supposed to be nearing Trenton from the south.
+In that case the town would be assaulted from three points at once, and
+a retreat to Bordentown be cut off.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_36" id="Footnote_1_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_36"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">John Cadwalader</span>, of Philadelphia. His services in this
+campaign were both timely and important.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_37" id="Footnote_2_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_37"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">Joseph Reed</span> succeeded Gates as adjutant-general after Gates
+was promoted. Reed's early life had been passed in New Jersey, though he
+had moved to Philadelphia before the war broke out. His knowledge of the
+country which became the seat of war was invaluable to Washington.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span></p><div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_38" id="Footnote_3_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_38"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">This</span> force was under command of Colonel Griffin, Putnam's
+adjutant-general.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_39" id="Footnote_4_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_39"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">James Ewing</span>, brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia,
+posted opposite to Bordentown. In some accounts he is called Irvine,
+Erwing, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_40" id="Footnote_5_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_40"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">Col. John Glover</span> commanded one of the best disciplined
+regiments in Washington's army.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span></p>
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<h3>TRENTON</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Very</span> early in the evening there had been firing at Rall's outposts, but
+the careless enemy hardly gave it his attention. Some lost detachment
+had probably fired on the pickets out of mere bravado. The night had
+been spent in carousal, and the storm had quieted Rall's mind as regards
+any danger of an attack.<a name="FNanchor_1_41" id="FNanchor_1_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_41" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The attack.</div>
+
+<p>But in the gray dawn of that dark December morning the two assaulting
+columns, emerging like phantoms from the midst of the storm, were
+rapidly approaching the Hessian pickets. All was quiet. The newly fallen
+snow deadened the rumble of the artillery. The pickets were enjoying the
+warmth of the houses in which they had taken post, half a mile out of
+town, when the alarm was raised that the enemy were upon them. They
+turned out only to be swept away before the eager rush of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>Americans, who came pouring on after them into the town, as it seemed
+in all directions, shouting and firing at the flying enemy. That long
+night of exposure, of suspense, the fatigue of that rapid march, were
+forgotten in the rattle of musketry and the din of battle.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Street combats.</div>
+
+<p>Roused by the uproar the bewildered Hessians ran out of their barracks
+and attempted to form in the streets. The hurry, fright, and confusion
+were said to be like to that with which the imagination conjures up the
+sounding of the last trump.<a name="FNanchor_2_42" id="FNanchor_2_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_42" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Grape and canister cleared the streets in
+the twinkling of an eye. The houses were then resorted to for shelter.
+From these the musketry soon dislodged the fugitives. Turned again into
+the streets the Hessians were driven headlong through the town into an
+open plain beyond it. Here they were formed in an instant, and Rall,
+brave enough in the smoke and flame of combat, even thought of forcing
+his way back into the town.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sullivan in action.</div>
+
+<p>But Washington was again thundering away in their front with his cannon.
+In person he directed their fire like a simple lieutenant of artillery.
+Off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> at the right the roll of Sullivan's musketry announced his steady
+advance toward the bridge leading to Bordentown. The road to Princeton
+was held by a regiment of riflemen. Those troops, whom Sullivan had been
+driving before him, saved themselves by a rapid flight across the
+Assanpink. Why was not Ewing there to stop them! Sullivan promptly
+seized the bridge in time to intercept a disorderly mass of Hessian
+infantry, who had broken away from the main body in a panic, hoping to
+make their escape that way.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Hessians surrender.</div>
+
+<p>Not knowing which way to turn next, Rall held his ground, like a wounded
+boar brought to bay, until a bullet struck him to the ground with a
+mortal wound. Finding themselves hemmed in on all sides, and seeing the
+American cannoneers getting ready to fire with canister, at short range,
+the Hessian colors were lowered in token of surrender.</p>
+
+<p>A thousand prisoners, six cannon, with small-arms and ammunition in
+proportion, were the trophies of this brilliant victory. The work had
+been well done. From highest to lowest the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> immortal twenty-four hundred
+had behaved like men determined to be free.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The river recrossed.</div>
+
+<p>Now, while in the fresh glow of triumph, Washington learned that neither
+Ewing nor Cadwalader had crossed to his assistance. He stood alone on
+the hostile shore, within striking distance of the enemy at Bordentown,
+and at Princeton. Donop, re&euml;nforced by the fugitives from Trenton,
+outnumbered him three to two. Re&euml;nforced by the garrison at Princeton,
+the odds would be as two to one. All these enemies he would soon have on
+his hands, with no certainty of any increase of his own force.</p>
+
+<p>His combinations had failed, and he must have time to look about him
+before forming new ones. There was no help for it. He must again put the
+Delaware behind him before being driven into it.</p>
+
+<p>Washington heard these tidings as things which the incompetence or
+jealousies of his generals had long habituated him to hear. Orders were
+therefore given to repass the river without delay or confusion, and,
+after gathering up their prisoners and their trophies, the victors
+retraced their painful march to their old encampment, where they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>
+arrived the same evening, worn out with their twenty-four hours'
+incessant marching and fighting, but with confidence in themselves and
+their leaders fully restored.</p>
+
+<p>This little battle marked an epoch in the history of the war. It was now
+the Americans who attacked. Trenton had taught them the lesson that, man
+for man, they had nothing to fear from their vaunted adversaries; and
+that lesson, learned at the point of the bayonet, is the only one that
+can ever make men soldiers. The enemy could well afford to lose a town,
+but this rise of a new spirit was quite a different thing. Therefore,
+though a little battle, Trenton was a great fact, nowhere more fully
+confessed than in the British camp, where it was now gloomily spoken of
+as the tragedy of Trenton.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_41" id="Footnote_1_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_41"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">Harris</span> says that Rall had intelligence of the intended
+attack, and kept his men under arms the whole night. Long after
+daybreak, a most violent snow-storm coming on, he thought he might
+safely permit his men to lie down, and in this state they were surprised
+by the enemy.&mdash;<i>Life</i>, p. 64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_42" id="Footnote_2_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_42"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">General Knox's</span> account is here followed.&mdash;<i>Memoir</i>, p. 38.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span></p>
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON</h3>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cadwalader crosses.</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> events of the next two days, apart from Washington's own movements,
+are a real comedy of errors. The firing at Trenton had been distinctly
+heard at Cadwalader's camp and its reason guessed. Later, rumors of the
+result threw the camps into the wildest excitement. Bitterly now these
+men regretted that they had not pushed on to the aid of their comrades.
+Supposing Washington still to be at Trenton, Cadwalader made a second
+attempt to cross to his assistance at Bristol on the 27th, when, in
+fact, Washington was then back in Pennsylvania.<a name="FNanchor_1_43" id="FNanchor_1_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_43" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>Cadwalader thus put himself into precisely the same situation from which
+Washington had just hastened to extricate himself. But neither had
+foreseen the panic which had seized the enemy on hearing of the surprise
+of Trenton.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">At Bordentown.</div>
+
+<p>On getting over the river, Cadwalader learned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> the true state of things,
+which placed him in a very awkward dilemma as to what he should do next.
+As his troops were eager to emulate the brilliant successes of their
+comrades, he decided, however, to go in search of Donop. He therefore
+marched up to Burlington the same afternoon. The enemy had left it the
+day before. He then made a night march to Bordentown, which was also
+found deserted in haste. Crosswicks, another outpost lying toward
+Princeton, was next seized by a detachment. That, too, had been
+hurriedly abandoned. Cadwalader could find nobody to attack or to attack
+him. The stupefied people only knew that their villages had been
+suddenly evacuated. In short, the enemy's whole line had been swept away
+like dead leaves before an autumnal gale, under that one telling blow at
+Trenton.</p>
+
+<p>Even Washington himself seems not to have realized the full extent of
+his success until these astonishing reports came in in quick succession.
+As the elated Americans marched on they saw the inhabitants everywhere
+pulling down the red rags which had been nailed to their doors, as
+badges of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> loyalty. "Jersey will be the most whiggish colony on the
+continent," writes an officer of this corps of Cadwalader's. "The very
+Quakers declare for taking up arms."<a name="FNanchor_2_44" id="FNanchor_2_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_44" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Trenton reoccupied.</div>
+
+<p>In view of the facts here stated, Washington was strongly urged to
+secure his hold on West Jersey before the enemy should have time to
+recover from their panic. The temper of the people seemed to justify the
+attempt, even with the meagre force at his command. On the 29th he
+therefore reoccupied Trenton in force. At the same time orders were sent
+off to McDougall at Morristown, and Heath in the Highlands, to show
+themselves to the enemy, as if some concerted movement was in progress
+all along the line.<a name="FNanchor_3_45" id="FNanchor_3_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_45" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Princeton re&euml;nforced.</div>
+
+<p>Meantime the alarm brought about by Donop's<a name="FNanchor_4_46" id="FNanchor_4_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_46" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> falling back on Princeton
+caused the commanding officer there to call urgently for re&euml;nforcements.
+None were sent, however, for some days, when the grenadiers and second
+battalion of guards marched in from New Brunswick. In evidence of the
+wholesome terror inspired by Washington's daring movements comes the
+account of the reception of this re&euml;nforcement by an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>eye-witness,
+Captain Harris, of the grenadiers, who writes of it: "You would have
+felt too much to be able to express your feelings on seeing with what a
+warmth of friendship our children, as we call the light-infantry,
+welcomed us, one and all crying, 'Let them come! Lead us to them, we are
+sure of being supported.' It gave me a pleasure too fine to attempt
+expressing."</p>
+
+<p>Howe was now pushing forward all his available troops toward Princeton.
+Cornwallis hastened back to that place with the <i>&eacute;lite</i> of the army.
+While these heavy columns were gathering like a storm-cloud in his front
+Washington and his generals were haranguing their men, entreating them
+to stay even for a few weeks longer. Such were the shifts to which the
+commander-in-chief found himself reduced when in actual presence of this
+overwhelming force of the enemy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington concentrates.</div>
+
+<p>Through the efforts of their officers most of the New England troops
+re&euml;nlisted for six weeks&mdash;Stark's regiment almost to a man.<a name="FNanchor_5_47" id="FNanchor_5_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_47" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> And these
+battalions constituted the real backbone of subsequent operations.
+Hearing that the enemy was at least ready to move forward, Cadwalader's
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> Mifflin's troops were called in to Trenton, and preparations made
+to receive the attack unflinchingly. This force being all assembled on
+the 1st of January, 1777, Washington posted it on the east side of the
+Assanpink, behind the bridge over which Rail's soldiers had made good
+their retreat on the day of the surprise, with some thirty guns planted
+in his front to defend the crossing. Washington and Rall had thus
+suddenly changed places.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His position, Jan. 2, 1777.</div>
+
+<p>The American position was strong except on the right. It being higher
+ground the artillery commanded the town, the Assanpink was not fordable
+in front, the bridge was narrow, and the left secured by the Delaware.
+The weak spot, the right, rested in a wood which was strongly held, and
+capable of a good defence; but inasmuch as the Assanpink could be forded
+two or three miles higher up, a movement to the right and rear of the
+position was greatly to be feared. If successful it would necessarily
+cut off all retreat, as the Delaware was now impassable.</p>
+
+<p>On the 2d the enemy's advance came upon the American pickets posted
+outside of Trenton,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> driving them through the town much in the same
+manner as they had driven the Hessians. As soon as the enemy came within
+range, the American artillery drove them back under cover, firing being
+kept up until dark.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus developed the American position, Cornwallis, astonished at
+Washington's temerity in taking it, felt sure of "bagging the fox," as
+he styled it, in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>The night came. The soldiers slept, but Washington, alive to the danger,
+summoned his generals in council. All were agreed that a battle would be
+forced upon them with the dawn of day&mdash;all that the upper fords could
+not be defended. And if they were passed, the event of battle would be
+beyond all doubt disastrous. Cornwallis had only to hold Washington's
+attention in front while turning his flank. Should, then, the patriot
+army endeavor to extricate itself by falling back down the river? There
+seems to have been but one opinion as to the futility of the attempt,
+inasmuch as there was no stronger position to fall back upon. As a
+choice of evils, it was much better to remain where they were than be
+forced into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> making a disorderly retreat while looking for some other
+place to fight in.</p>
+
+<p>Who, then, was responsible for putting the army into a position where it
+could neither fight nor retreat? If neither of these things could be
+done with any hope of success, there remained, in point of fact, but one
+alternative, to which the abandonment of the others as naturally led as
+converging roads to a common centre. In all the history of the war a
+more dangerous crisis is not to be met with. It is, therefore,
+incredible that only one man should have seen this avenue of escape,
+though it may well be that even the boldest generals hesitated to be the
+first to urge so desperate an undertaking.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Washington's tactics.</div>
+
+<p>In effect, the very danger to which the little army was exposed seems to
+have suggested to Washington the way out of it. If the enemy could turn
+his right, why could not he turn their left? If they could cut off his
+retreat, why could not he threaten their's? This was sublimated
+audacity, with his little force; but safety here was only to be plucked
+from the nettle danger. It was then and there that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>Washington<a name="FNanchor_6_48" id="FNanchor_6_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_48" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+proposed making a flank march to Princeton that very night, boldly
+throwing themselves upon the enemy's communications, defeating such
+re&euml;nforcements as might be found in the way, and perhaps dealing such a
+blow as would, if successful, baffle all the enemy's plans.</p>
+
+<p>The very audacity of the proposal fell in with the temper of the
+generals, who now saw the knot cut as by a stroke of genius. This would
+not be a retreat, but an advance. This could not be imputed to fear, but
+rather to daring. The proposal was instantly adopted, and the generals
+repaired to their respective commands.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Jan. 3, 1777.</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">March to Princeton.</div>
+
+<p>Replenishing the camp fires, and leaving the sentinels at their posts,
+at one o'clock the army filed off to the right in perfect silence and
+order. The baggage and some spare artillery were sent off to Burlington,
+to still further mystify the enemy. By one of those sudden changes of
+weather, not uncommon even in midwinter, the soft ground had become hard
+frozen during the early part of the night, so that rapid marching was
+possible, and rapid marching was the only thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> that could save the
+movement from failure, as Cornwallis would have but twelve miles to
+march to Washington's seventeen, to overtake them&mdash;he by a good road,
+they by a new and half-worked one. Miles, therefore, counted for much
+that night, and though many of the men wore rags wrapped about their
+feet, for want of shoes, and the shoeless artillery horses had to be
+dragged or pushed along over the slippery places, to prevent their
+falling, the column pushed on with unflagging energy toward its goal.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">British in pursuit.</div>
+
+<p>Shortly after daybreak the British, at Trenton, heard the dull booming
+of a distant cannonade. Washington, escaped from their snares, was
+sounding the reveille at Princeton. The British camp awoke and listened.
+Soon the rumor spread that the American lines were deserted. Drums beat,
+trumpets sounded, ranks were formed in as great haste as if the enemy
+were actually in the camps, instead of being at that moment a dozen
+miles away. Cornwallis, who had gone to bed expecting to make short work
+of Washington in the morning, saw himself fairly outgeneralled. His
+rear-guard, his magazines, his baggage, were in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> danger, his line of
+retreat cut off. There was not a moment to lose. Exasperated at the
+thought of what they would say of him in England, he gave the order to
+press the pursuit to the utmost. The troops took the direct route by
+Maidenhead to Princeton; and thus, for the second time, Trenton saw
+itself freed from enemies, once routed, twice disgraced, and thoroughly
+crestfallen and stripped of their vaunted prestige.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mercer's fight.</div>
+
+<p>Three British battalions lay at Princeton the night before.<a name="FNanchor_7_49" id="FNanchor_7_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_49" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Two of
+them were on the march to Trenton when Washington's troops were
+discovered approaching on a back road. Astonished at seeing troops
+coming up from that direction, the leading battalion instantly turned
+back to meet them. At the same time Washington detached Mercer to seize
+the main road, while he himself pushed on with the rest of the troops.
+This movement brought on a spirited combat between Mercer and the strong
+British battalion, which had just faced about.<a name="FNanchor_8_50" id="FNanchor_8_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_50" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The fight was short,
+sharp, and bloody. After a few volleys, the British charged with the
+bayonet, broke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> through Mercer's ranks, scattered his men, and even
+drove back Cadwalader's militia, who were coming up to their support.</p>
+
+<p>Other troops now came up. Washington himself rode in among Mercer's
+disordered men, calling out to them to turn and face the enemy. It was
+one of those critical moments when everything must be risked. Like
+Napoleon pointing his guns at Montereau, the commander momentarily
+disappeared in the soldier; and excited by the combat raging around him,
+all the Virginian's native daring flashed out like lightning. Waving his
+uplifted sword, he pushed his horse into the fire as indifferent to
+danger as if he had really believed that the bullet which was to kill
+him was not yet cast.</p>
+
+<p>Taking courage from his presence and example the broken troops re-formed
+their ranks. The firing grew brisker and brisker. Assailed with fresh
+spirit, the British, in their turn, gave way, leaving the ground strewed
+with their dead, in return for their brutal use of the bayonet among the
+wounded. Finding themselves in danger of being surrounded, that portion
+of this fighting British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> regiment<a name="FNanchor_9_51" id="FNanchor_9_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_51" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> which still held together
+retreated as they could toward Maidenhead, after giving such an example
+of disciplined against undisciplined valor as won the admiration even of
+their foes.</p>
+
+<p>While this fight was going on at one point, the second British battalion
+was, in its turn, met and routed by the American advance, under St.
+Clair. This battalion then fled toward Brunswick, part of the remaining
+battalion did the same thing, and part threw themselves into the college
+building they had used as quarters, where a few cannon shot compelled
+them to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>Three strong regiments had thus been broken in detail and put to flight.
+Two had been prevented from joining Cornwallis. Besides the killed and
+wounded they left two hundred and fifty prisoners behind them. The
+American loss in officers was, however, very severe. The brave Mercer
+was mortally wounded, and that gallant son of Delaware, Colonel Haslet,
+killed fighting at his commander's side.</p>
+
+<p>After a short halt Washington again pushed on toward Brunswick, but
+tempting as the opportunity of destroying the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t there seemed to him,
+it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> had to be given up. His troops were too much exhausted, and
+Cornwallis was now thundering in his rear. When Kingston was reached the
+army therefore filed off to the left toward<a name="FNanchor_10_52" id="FNanchor_10_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_52" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Somerset Court House,
+leaving the enemy to continue his headlong march toward Brunswick, which
+was not reached until four o'clock in the morning, with troops
+completely broken down with the rapidity of their fruitless chase.</p>
+
+<p>Washington could now say, "I am as near New York as they are to
+Philadelphia."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>Footnotes:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_43" id="Footnote_1_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_43"><span class="label">[1]</span></a><span class="smcap">Cadwalader</span> seems to have done all in his power to cross his
+troops in the first place. His infantry mostly got over, but on finding
+it impossible to land the artillery&mdash;ice being jammed against the shores
+for two hundred yards&mdash;the infantry were ordered back. Indeed, his
+rear-guard could not get back until the next day. This was at Dunk's
+Ferry. The next and successful attempt took from nine in the morning
+till three in the afternoon, when 3,000 men crossed one mile above
+Bristol.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_44" id="Footnote_2_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_44"><span class="label">[2]</span></a><span class="smcap">Thomas Rodney's</span> letter.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_45" id="Footnote_3_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_45"><span class="label">[3]</span></a><span class="smcap">Heath</span> was ordered to make a demonstration as far down as
+King's Bridge, in order to keep Howe from re&euml;nforcing the Jerseys. It
+proved a perfect flash-in-the-pan.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_46" id="Footnote_4_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_46"><span class="label">[4]</span></a><span class="smcap">Part</span> of Donop's force fell back even as far as New
+Brunswick.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_47" id="Footnote_5_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_47"><span class="label">[5]</span></a><span class="smcap">Stark</span> made a personal appeal with vigor and effect. His
+regiment had come down from Ticonderoga in time to be given the post of
+honor by Washington himself.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span></p><div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_48" id="Footnote_6_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_48"><span class="label">[6]</span></a><span class="smcap">In</span> a letter to his wife Knox gives the credit of this
+suggestion to Washington, without qualification.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_49" id="Footnote_7_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_49"><span class="label">[7]</span></a><span class="smcap">These</span> were the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-first.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_50" id="Footnote_8_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_50"><span class="label">[8]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> hostile columns met on the slope of a hill just off the
+main road, near the buildings of a man named Clark, Mercer reaching the
+ground first.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_51" id="Footnote_9_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_51"><span class="label">[9]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> Seventeenth regiment, Colonel Mawhood, carried off the
+honors of the day for the British.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_52" id="Footnote_10_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_52"><span class="label">[10]</span></a><span class="smcap">The</span> position at Morristown had been critically examined by
+Lee's officers during their halt there. Washington had therefore decided
+to defend the Jerseys from that position.</p></div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="major" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p>
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER PRINCETON</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> had taken Cornwallis a whole week to drive Washington from Brunswick
+to Trenton; Washington had now made Cornwallis retrace his steps inside
+of twenty-four hours. In the retreat through the Jerseys there had been
+neither strategy nor tactics; nothing but a retreat, pure and simple. In
+the advance, strategy and tactics had placed the inferior force in the
+attitude menacing the superior, had saved Philadelphia, and were now in
+a fair way to recover the Jerseys without the expenditure even of
+another charge of powder.</p>
+
+<p>While Washington was looking for a vantage ground from which to hold
+what had been gained, everything on the British line was going to the
+rear in confusion. Orders and counter orders were being given with a
+rapidity which invariably accompanies the first moments of a panic, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>
+which tend rather to increase than diminish its effects.</p>
+
+<p>What was passing at Brunswick has fortunately found a record in the
+diary of a British officer posted there when the news of Washington's
+coming fell like a bombshell in their camp. It is given word for word:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>On the 3d we had repeated accounts that Washington had not only
+taken Princeton, but was in full march upon Brunswick. General
+Matthew (commanding at Brunswick) now determined to return to the
+Raritan landing-place, with everything valuable, to prevent the
+rebels from destroying the bridge there. We accordingly marched
+back to the bridge, one-half on one side, the remainder on the
+other, for its defence, never taking off our accoutrements that
+night.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3d, Lord Cornwallis, hearing the fate of Princeton, returned
+to it with his whole force, but found the rebels had abandoned it,
+upon which he immediately marched back to Brunswick, arriving at
+break of day on the 4th. I then received orders to return to
+Sparkstown (Rahway?). Washington marched his army to Morristown and
+Springfield. At about the time I arrived at Sparkstown, a report
+was spread that the rebels had some designs upon Elizabethtown and
+Sparkstown. The whole regiment was jaded to death. Unpleasant this!
+Before day notice was brought to me by a patrol that he had heard
+some firing towards Elizabethtown,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> about seven miles off. I
+immediately jumped out of bed and directed my drums to beat to
+arms, as nothing else would have roused my men, they were so tired.
+Soon after this an express brought me positive orders to march
+immediately to Perth Amboy, with all my baggage. At between six and
+seven the rebels fired at some of my men that were quartered at two
+miles distance. I had before appointed a subaltern's guard for the
+protection of my baggage. This duty unluckily fell upon the
+lieutenant of my company, which left it without an officer, the
+ensign being sick at New York. I immediately directed my
+lieutenant, who was a volunteer on this occasion, to march with his
+guard, that was then formed, to the spot where the firing was,
+while I made all the haste I could to follow him with the
+battalion.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant came up with them and fired upwards of twelve
+rounds, when, the rebels perceiving the battalion on the march, ran
+off as fast as they could. Had I pursued them I should perhaps have
+given a good account of them.</p></div>
+
+<p>The company baggage-wagon was, however, carried off by the Americans,
+driver and all. The garrison got to Perth Amboy that night.
+Elizabethtown was evacuated at the same time. The narrative goes on to
+say:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The only posts we now possess in the Jerseys are Paulus Hook, Perth
+Amboy, Raritan Landing, and Brunswick.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> Happy had it been if at
+first we had fixed on no other posts in this province....
+Washington's success in this affair of the surprise of the Hessians
+has been the cause of this unhappy change in our affairs. It has
+recruited the rebel army and given them sufficient spirit to
+undertake a winter campaign. Our misfortune has been that we have
+held the enemy too cheap. We must remove the seat of war from the
+Jerseys now on account of the scarcity of forage and provisions.</p></div>
+
+<p>The writer shows the wholesome impressions his friends were under in
+this closing remark: "The whole garrison is every morning under arms at
+five o'clock to be ready for the scoundrels."</p>
+
+<p>In New York great pains were taken to prevent the truth about the
+victories at Trenton and Princeton from getting abroad. False accounts
+of them were printed in the newspapers, over which a strict military
+censorship was established; but in spite of every precaution enough
+leaked out through secret channels to put new life and hope in the
+hearts and minds of the long-suffering prisoners of war.</p>
+
+<p>It was one of the misfortunes of this most extraordinary campaign that
+every blow Washington had struck left his army exhausted. After each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>
+success it was necessary to recuperate. It was now being reorganized in
+the shelter of its mountain fastness, strengthened by a simultaneous
+uprising of the people, who now took the redress of their wrongs into
+their own hands. No foraging party could show itself without being
+attacked; no supplies be had except at the point of the sword. A host of
+the exasperated yeomanry constantly hovered around the enemy's advanced
+posts, which a feeling of pride alone induced him to hold. Putnam was
+ordered up to Princeton, Heath to King's Bridge, so that Howe was kept
+looking all ways at once. Redoubts were thrown up at New Brunswick,
+leading Wayne to remark that the Americans had now thrown away the spade
+and the British taken it up. Looking back over the weary months of
+disaster the change on the face of affairs seems almost too great for
+belief. From the British point of view the campaign had ended in utter
+failure and disgrace. In England, Edward Gibbon says that the Americans
+had almost lost the name of rebels, and in America Sir William Howe
+found that he had to contend with a man in every way his superior.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span></p><p class="index">INDEX</p>
+
+<p class="index1">
+<span class="smcap">American Army</span>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marches to N. York, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its efficiency, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weakened by detachments, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re&euml;nforced, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effectives in summer of 1776, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated at L. Island, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses there, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how posted after the battle, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven from N. York, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fights at White Plains and Fort Washington, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses there, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is divided into two corps, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissension in, <a href="#Page_49">49</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduced numbers, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of losses, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reaches the Delaware, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in position there, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is re&euml;nforced, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">time expiring, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re&euml;nlistments, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Bedford, L. I.</span>, seized by British, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bordentown, occupied by British troops, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuated, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+British Army of subjugation, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by regiments, <a href="#Page_25">25</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes the field, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives the Americans from L. Island, <a href="#Page_27">27</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in winter quarters, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Brooklyn Heights fortified, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outer defences, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turned by British, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Cadwalader</span>, Col. John, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to get his troops across the Delaware, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds better in a second attempt, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and occupies Bordentown, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry, at N. York, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves to Throg's Neck, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures Newport, R. I., <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cornwallis, Gen. Lord, surprises Fort Lee, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is re&euml;nforced, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pursues Washington, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is unable to follow him beyond Trenton, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has leave of absence, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hastens back to Trenton, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes a forced march back to N. Brunswick, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Declaration</span> of Independence, read to the army, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Donop, Col. Count, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abandons Bordentown, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Ewing</span>, Gen. James, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Fort</span> Lee, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuated, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a> <i>note</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Fort Washington, built, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assault and capture of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>note</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Gates</span>, Gen. Horatio, brings troops from Ticonderoga, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses a command, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Glover, Gen. John, at L. Island, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Trenton, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a> <i>note</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, advises the holding of Fort Washington, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Fort Lee, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads a column at Trenton, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Griffin, Colonel, moves into the Jerseys, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span><span class="smcap">Hale</span>, Capt. Nathan, taken and hanged, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Harlem Heights, the army headquarters, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, and <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+Haslet, Col. John, at Princeton, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Heath, Gen. Wm., put in command in the Highlands, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+Howe, Gen. Sir William, lands at L. Island, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his delays, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves into Westchester, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fights at White Plains, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and takes Fort Washington, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inhumanity to prisoners by his permission, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans for next campaign, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes things easy, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">roused by Washington's bold strokes, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">King's</span> Bridge, importance of, to N. York, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an outpost, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>note</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Kipp's Bay, landing-place of British, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">account by an eye-witness, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Knox, Gen. Henry, improves the artillery service, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Trenton, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Lee</span>, Gen. Charles, sent to N. York, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ineffectually urges evacuation of Fort Washington, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a rival of Washington, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gets a separate command, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves to join Washington, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his equivocal attitude, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his troops, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is re&euml;nforced, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">halts at Morristown, and is captured, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">probable aims, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Long Island, campaign opened at, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">British plan of attack, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flank march, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>; evacuated, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">McDougall</span>, Gen. Alexander, at Morristown, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mercer, Gen. Hugh, at Princeton, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, at Trenton, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">New Jersey</span>, invaded, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">apathy of people, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">military situation in, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outrages perpetrated by the invaders, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arouse the people, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mostly reconquered, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+New York, the seat of war, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its strategic value, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence determined upon, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how effected, <a href="#Page_20">20</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the city and island in 1776, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes bombardment, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dispositions for holding the city, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evacuation ordered, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes place, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">partially burnt, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+North Castle, Washington retreats to, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Percy</span>, Gen. Lord Hugh, in command at Harlem, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Philadelphia, critical situation there, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Princeton, attacked by Washington, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">losses at, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Putnam, Gen. Israel, commands at Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends a force into the Jerseys, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a> <i>note</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Rall</span> or <span class="smcap">Rahl</span>, Col., <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alarm of an attack, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fights bravely, and is mortally hurt, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Reed, Joseph, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">St. Clair</span>, Gen. Arthur, at Princeton, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stark, Gen. John, at Trenton, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+Sterling or Stirling, Lord (William Alexander), at Princeton, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sullivan, Gen. John, succeeds to command of Lee's corps, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads a column at Trenton, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Throg's</span> Neck, British land at, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>note</i>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>Trenton, occupied as a British outpost, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carried by assault, <a href="#Page_89">89</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fruits of victory, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an epoch in the war, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first abandoned, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">then reoccupied, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Washington</span>, Gen., at N. York, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to act on the defensive, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stands on his dignity, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not in command at L. Island, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders its evacuation, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves to White Plains, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights there, but has to fall back, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his dilemma, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to divide his force, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crosses into N. Jersey, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">man&#339;uvring for delay, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rises above partisanship, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">directs Lee to join him, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retreats to Newark, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to New Brunswick, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">troops leave him, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Princeton, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admirable retreat, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crosses the Delaware, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">determines on striking the British outposts, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his plan, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marches on Trenton, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries Trenton by assault, but is obliged to recross the Delaware, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but reoccupies Trenton, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes post there, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">steals a march on Cornwallis, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fights at Princeton, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal gallantry, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marches to Somerset C. H., <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+White Plains, Washington concentrates at, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i>note</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action at, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by 
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+Project Gutenberg's The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by Samuel Adams Drake
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77
+
+Author: Samuel Adams Drake
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2008 [EBook #24741]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 1776-77 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WORKS BY SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
+
+  OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC PERSONAGES OF BOSTON.
+    Illustrated                                               $2.00
+
+  OLD LANDMARKS AND HISTORIC FIELDS OF MIDDLESEX.
+    Illustrated                                                2.00
+
+  NOOKS AND CORNERS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.
+    Illustrated                                                3.50
+
+  CAPTAIN NELSON. A Romance of Colonial Days                    .75
+
+  THE HEART OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
+    Illustrated (Illuminated Cloth)                            7.50
+    Tourist's Edition                                          3.00
+
+  AROUND THE HUB. A Boy's Book about Boston.
+    Illustrated                                                1.50
+
+  NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS AND FOLK LORE.
+    Illustrated                                                2.00
+
+  THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND.
+    Illustrated                                                1.50
+
+  THE MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST.                                1.75
+
+  OLD BOSTON TAVERNS. Paper                                     .50
+
+  BURGOYNE'S INVASION OF 1777.                                  .50
+
+  THE TAKING OF LOUISBURG.                                      .50
+
+_Any book on the above list sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt
+of price, by_
+
+  LEE AND SHEPARD, BOSTON
+
+
+[Illustration: _East View of_ Hell Gate, _in the Province of_ New York.
+
+_W A Williams Del. 1725_
+
+_1. Hoorns Hook._ _3. Hancock's Rock._ _5. Morrisena._ _7. Pinfold's
+Place._ _9. The Pot._ _11. The Frying Pan._
+
+_2. The Gridiron._ _4. The Mill Rock._ _6. Bahanna's Island._ _8.
+Hallet's Point._ _10. The Hogs back._]
+
+
+
+
+  Decisive Events in American History
+
+
+  THE
+
+  CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+  1776-77
+
+
+  BY
+
+  SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
+
+
+  BOSTON
+  LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
+  10 MILK STREET
+  1895
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY LEE AND SHEPARD
+_All rights reserved_
+THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+
+PRESS OF
+Rockwell and Churchill
+BOSTON, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+        PRELUDE                                  7
+
+     I--NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR                11
+
+    II--PLANS FOR DEFENCE                       19
+
+   III--LONG ISLAND TAKEN                       26
+
+    IV--NEW YORK EVACUATED                      33
+
+     V--THE SITUATION REVIEWED                  43
+
+    VI--THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS         50
+
+   VII--LEE'S MARCH AND CAPTURE                 59
+
+  VIII--THE OUTLOOK                             68
+
+    IX--THE MARCH TO TRENTON                    79
+
+     X--TRENTON                                 89
+
+    XI--THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON            94
+
+   XII--AFTER PRINCETON                        108
+
+
+
+
+PRELUDE
+
+
+Seldom, in the annals of war, has a single campaign witnessed such a
+remarkable series of reverses as did that which began at Boston in
+March, 1776, and ended at Morristown in January, 1777. Only by
+successive defeats did our home-made generals and our rustic soldiery
+learn their costly lesson that war is not a game of chance, or mere
+masses of men an army.
+
+Though costly, this sort of discipline, this education, gradually led to
+a closer equality between the combatants, as year after year they faced
+and fought each other. When the lesson was well learned our generals
+began to win battles, and our soldiers to fight with a confidence
+altogether new to them. In vain do we look for any other explanation of
+the sudden stiffening up of the backbone of the Revolutionary army, or
+of the equally sudden restoration of an apparently dead and buried cause
+after even its most devoted followers had given up all as lost. As with
+expiring breath that little band of hunted fugitives, miserable remnant
+of an army of 30,000 men, turning suddenly upon its victorious pursuers,
+dealt it blow after blow, the sun which seemed setting in darkness,
+again rose with new splendor upon the fortunes of these infant States.
+
+Certainly the military, political, and moral effects of this brilliant
+finish to what had been a losing campaign, in which almost each
+succeeding day ushered in some new misfortune, were prodigious. But
+neither the importance nor the urgency of this masterly counter-stroke
+to the American cause can be at all appreciated, or even properly
+understood, unless what had gone before, what in fact had produced a
+crisis so dark and threatening, is brought fully into light. Washington
+himself says the act was prompted by a dire necessity. Coming from him,
+these words are full of meaning. We realize that the fate of the
+Revolution was staked upon this one last throw. If we would take the
+full measure of these words of his, spoken in the fullest conviction of
+their being final words, we must again go over the whole field, strewed
+with dead hopes, littered with exploded reputations, cumbered with
+cast-off traditions, over which the patriot army marched to its supreme
+trial out into the broad pathway which led to final success.
+
+The campaign of 1776 is, therefore, far too instructive to be studied
+merely with reference to its crowning and concluding feature. In
+considering it the mind is irresistibly impelled toward one central,
+statuesque figure, rising high above the varying fortunes of the hour,
+like the Statue of Liberty out of the crash and roar of the surrounding
+storm.
+
+Nowhere, we think, does Washington appear to such advantage as during
+this truly eventful campaign. Though sometimes troubled in spirit, he is
+always unshaken. Though his army was a miserable wreck, driven about at
+the will of the enemy, Washington was ever the rallying-point for the
+handful of officers and men who still surrounded him. If the cause was
+doomed to shipwreck, we feel that he would be the last to leave the
+wreck.
+
+His letters, written at this trying period, are characterized by that
+same even tone, as they disclose in more prosperous times. He does not
+dare to be hopeful, yet he will not give up beaten. There is an
+atmosphere of stern, though dignified determination about him, at this
+trying hour, which, in a man of his admirable equipoise, is a thing for
+an enemy to beware of. In a word, Washington driven into a corner was
+doubly dangerous. And it is evident that his mind, roused to unwonted
+activity by the gravity of the crisis, the knowledge that all eyes
+turned to him, sought only for the opportune moment to show forth its
+full powers, and by a conception of genius dominate the storm of
+disaster around him.
+
+Washington never claimed to be a man of destiny. He never had any
+nicknames among his soldiers. Napoleon was the "Little Corporal,"
+"Marlborough" "Corporal John," Wellington the "Iron Duke," Grant the
+"Old Man," but there seems to have been something about the personality
+of Washington that forbade any thought of familiarity, even on the part
+of his trusty veterans. Yet their faith in him was such that, as
+Wellington once said of his Peninsular army, they would have gone
+anywhere with him, and he could have done anything with them.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON
+
+NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR
+
+
+[Sidenote: New views of the war.]
+
+Upon finding that what had at first seemed only a local rebellion was
+spreading like wildfire throughout the length and breadth of the
+colonies, that bloodshed had united the people as one man, and that
+these people were everywhere getting ready for a most determined
+resistance, the British ministry awoke to the necessity of dealing with
+the revolt, in this its newer and more dangerous aspect, as a fact to be
+faced accordingly, and its military measures were, therefore, no longer
+directed to New England exclusively, but to the suppression of the
+rebellion as a whole. For this purpose New York was very judiciously
+chosen as the true base of operations.[1]
+
+In the colonies, the news of great preparations then making in England
+to carry out this policy, inevitably led up to the same conclusions, but
+as the siege of Boston had not yet drawn to a close, very little could
+be done by way of making ready to meet this new and dangerous emergency.
+
+We must now first look at the ways and means.
+
+[Sidenote: The new Continental Army.]
+
+A new army had been enlisted in the trenches before Boston to take the
+place of that first one, whose term of service expired with the new
+year, 1776. On paper it consisted of twenty-eight battalions, with an
+aggregate of 20,372 officers and men. By the actual returns, made up
+shortly before the army marched for New York, there were 13,145 men of
+all arms then enrolled, of whom not more than 9,500 were reported as fit
+for duty. These were all Continentals,[2] as the regular troops were
+then called, to distinguish them from the militia.
+
+[Sidenote: It marches to New York.]
+
+Immediately upon the evacuation of Boston by the British (March 17,
+1776), the army marched by divisions to New York, the last brigade, with
+the commander-in-chief, leaving Cambridge on April 4.[3] This move
+distinctly foreshadows the general opinion that the seat of war was
+about to be transferred to New York and its environs.
+
+There is no need to discuss the general proposition, so quickly accepted
+by both belligerents, as regards the strategic value of New York for
+combined operations by land and sea. Hence the Americans were naturally
+unwilling to abandon it to the enemy. A successful defence was really
+beyond their abilities, however, against such a powerful fleet as was
+now coming to attack them, because this fleet could not be prevented
+from forcing its way into the upper bay without strong fortifications at
+the Narrows to stop it, and these the Americans did not have. Once in
+possession of the navigable waters, the enemy could cut off
+communication in every direction, as well as choose his own point of
+attack. Afraid, however, of the moral effect of giving up the city
+without a struggle, the Americans were led into the fatal error of
+squandering their resources upon a defence which could end only in one
+way, instead of holding the royal army besieged, as had been so
+successfully done at Boston.
+
+Having arrived at New York, Washington's force was increased by the two
+or three thousand men who had been hastily summoned for its defence,[4]
+and who were then busily employed in throwing up works at various
+points, under the direction of the engineers.
+
+[Sidenote: Make-up of the army.]
+
+Now, it is usual to call such a large body of raw recruits, badly armed,
+and without discipline, an army, in the same breath as a well armed and
+thoroughly disciplined body. This one had done good service behind
+entrenchments, and in some minor operations at Boston had shown itself
+possessed of the best material, but the situation was now to be wholly
+reversed, the besiegers were to become the besieged, their mistakes were
+to be turned against them, the experiments of inexperience were to be
+tested at the risk of total failure, and the _morale_ severely tried by
+the grumbling and discontent arising for the most part from laxity of
+discipline, but somewhat so, too, from the wretched administration of
+the various civil departments of the army.[5] The officers did not know
+how to instruct their men, and the men could not be made to take proper
+care of themselves. In consequence of this state of things, inseparable
+perhaps from the existing conditions, General Heath tells us that by the
+first week of August the number of sick amounted to near 10,000 men, who
+were to be met with lying "in almost every barn, stable, shed, and even
+under the fences and bushes," about the camps. This primary element of
+disintegration is always one of the worst possible to deal with in an
+army of citizen soldiers, and the present case proved no exception.
+
+Except a troop of Connecticut light-horse, who had been curtly and
+imprudently dismissed because they showed sufficient _esprit de corps_
+to demur against doing guard duty as infantry, and whose absence was
+only too soon to be dearly atoned for, there was no cavalry, not even
+for patrols, outposts, or vedettes. These being thus of necessity drawn
+from the infantry, it was usual to see them come back into camp with the
+enemy close at their heels, instead of giving the alarm in season to get
+the troops under arms.
+
+As for the infantry, it was truly a motley assemblage. A few of the
+regiments, raised in the cities, were tolerably well armed and
+equipped, and some few were in uniform. But in general they wore the
+same homespun in which they had left their homes, even to the field
+officers, who were only distinguished by their red cockades. In few
+regiments were the arms all of one kind, not a few had only a sprinkling
+of bayonets, while some companies, whom it had been found impracticable
+to furnish with fire-arms at the home rendezvous, carried the
+old-fashioned pikes of by-gone days. Among the good, bad, and
+indifferent, Washington had had two thousand militia poured in upon him,
+without any arms whatever. But these men could use pick and spade.
+
+The single regiment of artillery this "rabble army," as Knox calls it,
+could boast was unquestionably its most reliable arm. Under Knox's able
+direction it was getting into fairly good shape, though the guns were of
+very light metal. In the early conflicts around New York it was rather
+too lavishly used, and suffered accordingly, but its efficiency was so
+marked as to draw forth the admission from a British officer of rank
+that the rebel artillery officers were at least equal to their own.
+
+These plain facts speak for themselves. If radical defects of
+organization lay behind them, it was not the fault of Washington or the
+army, but is rather attributable to the want of any settled policy or
+firm grasp of the situation on the part of the Congress.
+
+Washington had no illusions either with regard to himself or his
+soldiers. His letters of this date prove this. He was as well aware of
+his own shortcomings as a general, as of those of his men as soldiers.
+There could, perhaps, be no greater proof of the solidity of his
+judgment than this capacity to estimate himself correctly, free from all
+the prickings of personal vanity or popular praise. With reference to
+the army he probably thought that if raw militia would fight so well
+behind breastworks at Bunker Hill, they could be depended upon to do so
+elsewhere, under the same conditions. His idea, therefore, was to fight
+only in intrenched positions, and this was the general plan of campaign
+for 1776.[6]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] As will be seen farther on, New England had no strategic value in
+this relation.
+
+[2] Continentals. This term, for want of a better, arose from the
+practice of speaking of the colonies, as a whole, as the Continent, to
+distinguish them from this or that one, separately.
+
+[3] The last brigade to march at this time is meant. As a matter of
+fact one brigade was left at Boston, as a guard against accidents. Later
+on it joined Washington.
+
+[4] General Lee had been sent to New York as early as January. He took
+military possession of the city, with militia furnished by Connecticut.
+
+[5] In a private letter General Knox indignantly styles it "this rabble
+army."
+
+[6] "Being fully persuaded that it would be presumption to draw out our
+young troops into open ground against their superiors, both in numbers
+and discipline, I have never spared the spade and pickaxe."--_Letters._
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+PLANS FOR DEFENCE
+
+
+[Sidenote: Troops sent to Canada.]
+
+Washington's army had no sooner reached the Hudson than ten of the best
+battalions[1] were hurried off to Albany, if possible, to retrieve the
+disasters which had recently overwhelmed the army of Canada, where three
+generals, two of whom, Montgomery and Thomas, were of the highest
+promise, with upwards of 5,000 men, had been lost. The departure of
+these seasoned troops made a gap not easily filled, and should not be
+lost sight of in reckoning the effectiveness of what were left.
+
+[Sidenote: Strength of the army.]
+
+This large depletion was, however, more than made good, in numbers at
+least, by the reinforcements now arriving from the middle colonies, who,
+with troops forming the garrison of the city, presently raised the whole
+force under Washington's orders[2] to a much larger number than were
+ever assembled in one body again. A very large proportion, however,
+were militiamen, called out for a few weeks only, who indeed served to
+swell the ranks, without adding much real strength to the army.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans for defence.]
+
+It being fully decided upon that New York should be held, two entirely
+distinct sets of measures were found indispensable. First the city was
+commanded by Brooklyn Heights, rising at short cannon-shot across the
+East River. These heights were now being strongly fortified on the
+water-side against the enemy's fleet, and on the land-side against a
+possible attack by his land forces.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: New York in 1776.]
+
+The second measure looked to defending the city from an attack in the
+rear. At this time New York City occupied only a very small section of
+the southern part of the island which it has since outgrown. A few farms
+and country seats stretched up beyond Harlem, but the major part of the
+island was to the city below as the country to the town, retaining all
+its natural features of hill and dale unimpaired. At this time, too, the
+only exit from the island was by way of King's Bridge,[4] twelve miles
+above the city, where the great roads to Albany and New England turned
+off, the one to the north, the other to the east, making this passage
+fully as important in a military sense, as was the heavy drawbridge
+thrown across the moat of some ancient castle.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Washington.]
+
+Fort Washington[5] was, therefore, built on a commanding height two and
+a half miles below King's Bridge, with outworks covering the approaches
+to the bridge, either by the country roads coming in from the north or
+from Harlem River at the east. These works were never finished, but even
+if they had been they could not solve the problem of a successful
+defence, because it lay always in the power of the strongest army to cut
+off all communication with the country beyond--and that means the
+passing in of reenforcements or supplies--by merely throwing itself
+across the roads just referred to. This done, the army in New York must
+either be shut up in the island, or come out and fight, provided the
+enemy had not already put it out of their power to do so by promptly
+seizing King's Bridge. And in that case there was no escape except by
+water, under fire of the enemy's ships of war.
+
+One watchful eye, therefore, had to be kept constantly to the front,
+and another to the rear, between positions lying twelve to thirteen
+miles apart, and separated by a wide and deep river.
+
+It thus appears that the defence of New York was a much more formidable
+task than had, at first, been supposed, and that an army of 40,000 men
+was none too large for the purpose, especially as it was wholly
+impracticable to reenforce King's Bridge from Brooklyn, or _vice versa_.
+But from one or another cause the army had fallen below 25,000
+effectives by midsummer, counting also the militia, who formed a
+floating and most uncertain constituent of it. For the present,
+therefore, King's Bridge was held as an outpost, or until the enemy's
+plan of attack should be clearly developed; for whether Howe would first
+assail the works at Brooklyn, Bunker Hill fashion, or land his troops
+beyond King's Bridge, bringing them around by way of Long Island Sound,
+were questions most anxiously debated in the American camp.
+
+However, the belief in a successful defence was much encouraged by the
+recent crushing defeat that the British fleet had met with in
+attempting to pass the American batteries at Charleston. Thrice welcome
+after the disasters of the unlucky Canada campaign, this success tended
+greatly to stiffen the backbone of the army, in the face of the steady
+and ominous accumulation of the British land and naval forces in the
+lower bay. Then again, the Declaration of Independence, read to every
+brigade in the army (July 9), was received with much enthusiasm. Now,
+for the first time since hostilities began, officers and men knew
+exactly what they were fighting for. There was at least an end to
+suspense, a term to all talk of compromise, and that was much.
+
+[Sidenote: The British army.]
+
+Thus matters stood in the American camps, when the British army that had
+been driven from Boston, heavily reenforced from Europe, and by calling
+in detachments from South Carolina, Florida, and the West Indies, so
+bringing the whole force in round numbers up to 30,000 men,[6] cast
+anchor in the lower bay. Never before had such an armament been seen in
+American waters. Backed by this imposing display of force, royal
+commissioners had come to tender the olive branch, as it were, on the
+point of the bayonet. They were told, in effect, that those who have
+committed no crime want no pardon. Washington was next approached. As
+the representative soldier of the new nation, he refused to be addressed
+except by the title it had conferred upon him. The etiquette of the
+contest must be asserted in his person. Failing to find any common
+ground, upon which negotiations could proceed, resort was had to the
+bayonet again.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] These were Poor's, Patterson's, Greaton's, and Bond's Massachusetts
+regiments on April 21, two New Jersey, two Pennsylvania, and two New
+Hampshire battalions on the 26th. See _Burgoyne's Invasion_ of this
+series for an account of the Canada campaign.
+
+[2] The numbers are estimated by General Heath (_Memoirs_, p. 51) as
+high as 40,000. He, however, deducts 10,000 for the sick, present. They
+were published long after any reason for exaggeration existed.
+
+[3] The Brooklyn lines ran from Wallabout Bay (Navy Yard) on the left,
+to Gowanus Creek on the right, making a circuit of a mile and a half.
+All are now in the heart of the city.
+
+[4] King's Bridge was so named for William III., of England. It crosses
+Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The bridge at Morrisania was not built until 1796.
+
+[5] Fort Washington stood at the present 183d street. Besides defending
+the approaches from King's Bridge, it also obstructed the passage of the
+enemy's ships up the Hudson, at its narrowest point below the Highlands.
+At the same time Fort Lee, first called Fort Constitution, was built on
+the brow of the lofty Palisades, opposite, and a number of pontoons
+filled with stones were sunk in the river between. The enemy's ships ran
+the blockade, however, with impunity.
+
+[6] The British regiments serving with Howe were the Fourth, Fifth,
+Sixth, Tenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth,
+Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth,
+Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth,
+Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth,
+Forty-ninth, Fifty-second, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-seventh,
+Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and Seventy-first, or thirty battalions with
+an aggregate of 24,513 officers and men. To these should be added 8,000
+Hessians hired for the war, bringing the army up to 32,500 soldiers.
+Twenty-five per cent. would be a liberal deduction for the sick,
+camp-guards, orderlies, etc. The navy was equally powerful in its way,
+though it did little service here. Large as it was, this army was
+virtually destroyed by continued attrition.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+LONG ISLAND TAKEN
+
+
+[Sidenote: British move to L. Island.]
+
+Up to August 22, the British army made no move from its camps at Staten
+Island. On their part, the Americans could only watch and wait. On this
+day, however, active operations began with the landing of Howe's troops,
+in great force, on the Long Island shore, opposite. This force
+immediately spread itself out through the neighboring villages from
+Gravesend, to Flatbush and Flatlands, driving the American skirmishers
+before them into a range of wooded hills,[1] which formed their outer
+line of defence. Howe had determined to attack in front, clearing the
+way as he went.
+
+[Sidenote: Plan of attack.]
+
+As the enemy would have to force his way across these hills, before he
+could reach the American intrenched lines around Brooklyn, all the roads
+leading over them were strongly guarded, except out at the extreme
+left, beyond Bedford village, where only a patrol was posted.[2] This
+fatal oversight, of which Howe was well informed, suggested the British
+plan of attack, which was quickly matured and successfully carried out.
+It included a demonstration on the American left, to draw attention to
+that point, while another corps was turning the right, at its unguarded
+point.
+
+A third column was held in readiness to move upon the American centre
+from Flatbush, just as soon as the other attacks were well in progress.
+When the flanking corps was in position, these demonstrations were to be
+turned into real attacks, which, if successful, would throw the
+Americans back upon the flanking column, which, in its turn, would cut
+off their retreat to their intrenchments.
+
+This clever combination, showing a perfect knowledge of the ground,
+worked exactly as planned.
+
+By making a night march, the turning column got quite around the
+American flank and rear unperceived, and on the morning of the 27th was
+in position, near Bedford, at an early hour, waiting for the
+signal-guns to announce the beginning of the battle at the British left.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.]
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of Long Island.]
+
+Both columns then advanced to the attack. Being strongly posted, and
+well commanded, the Americans made an obstinate resistance and did hold
+the enemy in check for some hours at one end of the line, only to find
+themselves cut off by the hurried retreat of all the troops posted at
+the passes on their left; for as soon as the firing there showed that
+the turning column had come up in their rear, these troops, with great
+difficulty, fought their way back to the Brooklyn lines, leaving three
+generals and upwards of 1,000 men in the enemy's hands.
+
+The resistance met with by the enemy's turning corps may be guessed from
+what an officer[3] who took part has to say of it. "We have had," he
+goes on to relate, "what some call a battle, but if it deserves that
+name it was the pleasantest I ever heard of, as we had not received more
+than a dozen shots from the enemy, when they ran away with the utmost
+precipitation."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington re-enforces.]
+
+Though not in personal command when the action began, Washington crossed
+over to Brooklyn in time to see his broken and dispirited battalions
+come streaming back into their works. Fearing the worst, he had called
+down two of his best regiments (Shee's and Magaw's) from Harlem
+Heights, and Glover's from the city, to reenforce the troops then
+engaged on Long Island, but as has already been pointed out, reenforcing
+in this manner was out of the question. By making a rapid march, the
+Harlem troops reached the ferry in the afternoon, after firing had
+ceased. They were, however, ferried across the next morning.
+
+[Sidenote: 28th and 29th.]
+
+These movements would indicate a resolution to hold the Brooklyn lines
+at all hazards, and were so regarded, but during the two days subsequent
+to the battle, while the enemy was closing in upon him, Washington
+changed his mind, preparations were quietly made to withdraw the troops,
+while still keeping up a bold front to the enemy, and on the night of
+the 29th the army repassed the East River without accident or
+molestation.
+
+Having thus cleared Long Island, the British extended themselves along
+the East River as far as Newtown, that river thus dividing the hostile
+camps throughout its whole extent. And though New York now lay quite at
+his mercy, Howe refrained from cannonading it, for the same reason as
+Washington did from shelling Boston; namely, that of securing the city
+intact a little later.
+
+In spite of this brilliant opening of the campaign, and outside of the
+noisy subalterns who were making their _debut_ in war, it was felt that
+the British army, fresh, numerous, and splendidly equipped, had
+acquitted itself most ingloriously in permitting the Americans to make
+their retreat from the island as they had, when the event of an assault
+must probably have been most disastrous to them.
+
+[Sidenote: Losses so far.]
+
+On the other side defeat had seriously affected the _morale_ of the
+Americans. Fifteen hundred men had been lost on Long Island. A great
+many more were now being lost through desertion. In Washington's own
+words the unruly militia left him by companies, half regiments or whole
+regiments, leaving the infection of their evil example to work its will
+among the well-disposed.
+
+[Sidenote: New York to be held.]
+
+Although the defence of New York had thus broken down at its vital
+point, a majority of generals favored still holding the city. To this
+end Washington now divided his forces, leaving 4,000 in the city,
+posting 6,500 at Harlem Heights, and 12,000 at Fort Washington and
+King's Bridge. Though furnished by a general officer,[4] these figures
+really include the sick, who were estimated at nearly 10,000, as well as
+the large number detached on extra duty. Washington, himself, vaguely
+estimated his effective force at under 20,000 at this time.
+
+As thus arranged, Harlem Heights, in the centre, became the army
+headquarters for the time being, Washington, by one of those little
+accidents that sometimes arrest a passing thought, occupying the
+house[5] of the same lady who had formerly refused the offer of his hand
+in marriage, Miss Mary Phillipse, later to accept that of Colonel Roger
+Morris, his old companion in arms during Braddock's fatal campaign.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] This range of hills includes the present Prospect Park and Greenwood
+Cemetery.
+
+[2] This weak point was the approach from the east where the Jamaica
+road crossed the hills into Bedford village. By striking this road
+somewhat higher up, the enemy got to Bedford before the Americans,
+guarding the hills beyond, had notice of their approach.
+
+[3] Captain Harris, of the Fifth Foot.
+
+[4] General Glover's estimate.
+
+[5] The Morris House is still standing at 160th street, near 10th
+avenue, N. Y., and is now occupied by Gen. Ferdinand P. Earle.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+NEW YORK EVACUATED
+
+
+Howe seems to have thought that so long as Washington remained in New
+York he might be bagged at leisure. In no other way can his dilatory
+proceedings be accounted for. Sixteen days passed without any
+demonstration on his part whatever. Meantime, however, the steady
+extension of his lines toward Hell Gate had operated such a change of
+opinion in the American camp that the decision to hold the city was now
+reconsidered, and the evacuation fixed for September 15. It was seen
+that the storm centre was now shifting over toward the American
+communications, but just where it would break forth was still a matter
+of conjecture.
+
+Howe was fully informed of what was going on by his royalist friends in
+the city, and like the cat watching the wounded mouse while it is
+recovering its breath, he prepared to spring at the moment his
+enfeebled adversary should show signs of returning animation.
+
+[Sidenote: British seize New York.]
+
+All being ready, on the very day fixed for the evacuation, Sir Henry
+Clinton crossed the East River in boats from Newtown Bay to Kipp's Bay,
+with 4,000 men, landed without opposition, owing to a disgraceful panic
+which seized the Americans posted there for just such an emergency, and
+thus thrust himself in between the Americans in the city and those at
+Harlem Heights. Thus cut off, it was only at the greatest risk of
+capture that the garrison below was saved, with the loss of much
+artillery, tents, baggage, and stores, by marching out on one road while
+the enemy were marching in on another,[1] as Clinton had immediately
+pushed on up the island, at the heels of the retreating Americans.
+
+A captain of British grenadiers describes what took place after the
+landing, in the following animated style:
+
+     "After landing in York Island we drove the Americans into their
+     works beyond the eighth milestone from New York, and thus got
+     possession of the best half of the island. We took post opposite
+     to them, placed our pickets, borrowed a sheep, killed, cooked, and
+     ate some of it, and then went to sleep on a gate, which we took the
+     liberty of throwing off its hinges, covering our feet with an
+     American tent, for which we should have cut poles and pitched had
+     it not been so dark. Give me such living as we enjoy at present,
+     such a hut and such company, and I would not care three farthings
+     if we stayed all the winter, for though the mornings and evenings
+     are cold, yet the sun is so hot as to oblige me to put up a blanket
+     as a screen."
+
+[Sidenote: Great fire, September 21.]
+
+Each side now rested in possession of half the island, Washington of all
+above Harlem Heights, Howe of all below. His conquest was, however, near
+proving a barren one, at best, for within a week a third part of the
+city was laid in ashes, some say by incendiaries, some by accident.
+
+The situation was now so far reversed that Washington seemed to be
+blockading Howe in the city.
+
+[Sidenote: Captain Hale hanged.]
+
+Though it had little bearing upon the result of the campaign, one other
+event is deserving of brief mention here. Clinton's descent had been
+cleverly managed, out of Washington's sight. What were the enemy
+proposing to do next? It was imperative to know. To ascertain this Capt.
+Nathan Hale volunteered to go over to Long Island. At his returning he
+was arrested. The papers found upon him betrayed his purpose in going
+within the enemy's lines, and he was forthwith hanged in a manner that
+would have disgraced Tyburn itself.
+
+Howe's next move was probably conceived with the twofold design, first
+of cooping Washington up within the island, and second of capturing or
+breaking up his entire army.
+
+[Sidenote: Howe's delays.]
+
+But again and again we are puzzled to account for Howe's delays. Hard
+fighter that he unquestionably was, he seemed never in a hurry to begin.
+There is even some ground for believing that in New York he had found
+his Capua. Be that as it may, it is certainly true that nearly a whole
+month passed by before the sluggard Sir William again drew sword.
+
+[Sidenote: Lands at Throg's Neck.]
+
+Leaving Lord Percy to defend the lines below Harlem with four brigades,
+at eight o'clock P.M. of the 11th of October, General Clinton with the
+reserves, light infantry and 1,500 Hessians, embarked on the East River,
+passed through Hell Gate, and landed at Throg's Neck,[2] in Westchester,
+early the next morning.
+
+[Illustration: STORMING OF FORT WASHINGTON.
+
+Explanation--E, American positions; A-C, British attacks by Harlem
+River; B, _via_ King's Bridge; D, from Harlem Plains.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington moves to White Plains.]
+
+Here he lay inactive for six whole days, within six miles of the road on
+which Washington was moving out from King's Bridge to White Plains; for
+at the first notice given him of the enemy's movements, which indeed had
+all along been anxiously expected, Washington had been drawing out his
+forces from Harlem to King's Bridge, first sending forward some light
+troops to delay Howe as much as possible, until the army could get into
+position. It is evident that but for Howe's delays this purpose could
+not have been successfully accomplished.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: Howe marches to give battle.]
+
+Meantime the enemy had been bringing up reenforcements, and on the 18th,
+finding the mainland too strongly held at Throg's Neck, for an advance
+from that point, they made another landing six miles beyond, whence they
+marched toward New Rochelle. From here they again marched (22d) for
+White Plains, where Washington was found (27th) drawn up in order of
+battle behind the Bronx, waiting for them.
+
+[Sidenote: Battle of White Plains, October 28.]
+
+Here Washington attempted to make a stand, but his right[4] being
+vigorously attacked and turned, he was forced to fall back upon a second
+position, in which he remained unmolested for several days, when
+(November 1) he moved still farther back, to the heights of North
+Castle, where he felt himself quite safe from attack.
+
+Howe had now manoeuvred Washington out of all his defences except Fort
+Washington, which by General Greene's advice was to be defended, though
+now cut off from all support.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Washington taken.]
+
+Things remained in this situation until November 16, when the fort was
+assaulted on three sides, with the result that the whole garrison of
+about 3,000 men were made prisoners of war.[5] At some points the
+resistance was obstinate, notably at the north, and again at the east,
+where one of the attacking divisions attempted to gain the rocky shore
+back of the Morris House, under Harlem Heights. A British officer,[6]
+there present, says of it that "before landing the fire of cannon and
+musketry was so heavy that the sailors quitted their oars and lay down
+in the bottom of the boats, and had not the soldiers taken the oars and
+pulled on shore we must have remained in this situation."
+
+[Sidenote: Effect on the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington and Lee.]
+
+The loss of the garrison of Fort Washington, 2,000 of whom were regular
+troops, was universally regarded as the most severe blow that the
+American cause had yet sustained, and it had a most depressing effect
+both in and out of the army, but more particularly in the army, as it
+tended to develop the growing antagonism between the commander-in-chief
+and General Lee, who had ineffectually advocated the evacuation of Fort
+Washington when the army was withdrawn from the island. Lee's military
+insight had now been most decisively vindicated. His antipathy to
+serving as second in command became more and more pronounced, and was
+more or less reflected by his admirers, of whom he now had more than
+ever. Worse still, it was destined soon to have the most deplorable
+results to the army, the cause, and even to Lee himself.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] A British brigade was sent down to the city in the course of the
+evening.
+
+[2] A contraction of Throgmorton's Neck. As this was an island at high
+tide, the Americans quickly barred the passage to the mainland by
+breaking down the bridge.
+
+[3] On account of the want of wagons this was very slowly done, as the
+wagons had to be unloaded and sent back for what could not be brought
+along with the troops.
+
+[4] This rested on Chatterton's Hill, some distance in front of the main
+line. Not having intrenched, the defenders were overpowered, though not
+until after making a sharp fight.
+
+[5] An excellent account of the operations at Fort Washington will be
+found in Graydon's _Memoirs_, p. 197 _et seq._
+
+[6] Lieut. Martin Hunter, of the Fifty-second Foot.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE SITUATION REVIEWED
+
+
+[Sidenote: The new situation.]
+
+The dilemma now confronting Washington was hydra-headed. Either way it
+was serious. On one side New England lay open to the enemy, on the other
+New Jersey. And an advance was also threatened from the North. If he
+stayed where he was, the enemy would overrun New Jersey at will. Should
+he move his army into New Jersey, Howe could easily cut off its
+communications with New England, the chief resource for men and
+munitions. Of course this was not to be thought of. On the other hand,
+the conquest of New Jersey, with Philadelphia as the ultimate prize, in
+all probability would be Howe's next object. At the present moment there
+was nothing to prevent his marching to Philadelphia, arms at ease. To
+think of fighting in the open field was sheer folly. And there was not
+one fortified position between the Hudson and the Delaware where the
+enemy's triumphal march might be stayed.
+
+Forced by these adverse circumstances to attempt much more than twice
+his present force would have encouraged the hope of doing successfully,
+Washington decided that he must place himself between the enemy and
+Philadelphia, and at the same time hold fast to his communications with
+New England and the upper Hudson. This could only be done by dividing
+his greatly weakened forces into two corps, one of which should attempt
+the difficult task of checking the enemy in the Jerseys, while the other
+held a strong position on the Hudson, until Howe's purposes should be
+more fully developed. With Washington it was no longer a choice of
+evils, but a stern obedience to imperative necessity.
+
+[Sidenote: The army divided.]
+
+[Sidenote: Washington in New Jersey.]
+
+Lee was now put in command of the corps left to watch Howe's movement
+east of the Hudson, loosely estimated at 5,000 men, and ordered back
+behind the Croton. Heath, with 2,000 men of his division, was ordered to
+Peekskill, to guard the passes of the Highlands, these two corps being
+thus posted within supporting distance. With the other corps of 4,000
+men Washington crossed into New Jersey, going into camp in the
+neighborhood of Fort Lee, where Greene's small force was united with his
+own command.[1] Orders were also despatched to Ticonderoga, to forward
+at once all troops to the main army that could be spared. Fort Lee had
+thus become the last rallying-point for the troops under Washington's
+immediate command, and in that sense, also, a menace to the full and
+free control of the lower Hudson, which the guns of the fort in part
+commanded at its narrowest point. Howe determined to brush away this
+last obstruction without delay.
+
+[Sidenote: Fort Lee taken.]
+
+Regarding Fort Lee as no longer serving any important purpose, perhaps
+foreseeing that it would soon be attacked, Washington was getting ready
+to evacuate it, when on the night of November 19[2] Lord Cornwallis made
+a sudden dash across to the New Jersey side, passing Fort Lee
+unperceived, landed a little above the fort at a place that had
+strangely been left unguarded, climbed the heights unmolested, and was
+only prevented from making prisoners of the whole garrison by its
+hurried retreat across the Hackensack. Everything in the fort, even to
+the kettles in which the men were cooking their breakfasts, was lost.
+
+As regards any further attempt to stay the tide of defeat, all was now
+over. The enemy had obtained a secure foothold on the Jersey shore from
+which to march across the State, when and how he pleased. Unpalatable as
+the admission may be, the fact remains that the Americans had been
+everywhere out-generaled and out-fought. Nearly everything in the way of
+war material had been lost in the hurried evacuation of New York.[3]
+Confidence had been lost. Prestige had been lost. Clearly it was high
+time to turn over a new leaf. With this lame affair the first division
+of the disastrous campaign of 1776 properly closes, and the second
+properly begins. It had been watched with alternate hope, doubt, and
+despondency. Excuses are never wanting to bolster up failing
+reputations. The generals said they had no soldiers, the soldiers
+declared they had no generals; the people hung their heads and were
+silent.
+
+[Illustration: AMERICAN POSITION BEHIND THE HACKENSACK.]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] The Eastern troops remained on the east bank of the Hudson, under
+Lee's command, while those belonging to the Middle and Southern colonies
+crossed the Hudson with Washington. This disposition may have been
+brought about by the belief that the soldiers of each section would
+fight best on their own ground, but the fact is notorious that a most
+bitter animosity had grown up between them.
+
+[2] This movement is assigned to the 18th by Gordon and those who have
+followed him. The 19th is the date given by Captain Harris, who was with
+the expedition.
+
+[3] An enumeration of these losses will be found in Gordon's _American
+Revolution_, Vol. II., p. 360.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS
+
+
+It was now the 20th of November. In a few weeks more, at farthest, the
+season for active campaigning would be over. Thus far delay had been the
+only thing that the Americans had gained; but at what a cost! Yet
+Washington's last hopes were of necessity pinned to it, because the
+respite it promised was the only means of bringing another army into the
+field in season to renew the contest, if indeed it should be renewed at
+all.
+
+[Sidenote: Strength of the army.]
+
+[Sidenote: State of public feeling.]
+
+Losses in battle, by sickness or desertion, or other causes, had brought
+his dismembered forces down to a total of 10,000 men, of whom 3,500 only
+were now under his immediate command, the rest being with Lee and Heath.
+And the work of disintegration was steadily going on. Always hopeful so
+long as there was even a straw to cling to, Washington seems to have
+expected that the people of New Jersey would have flown to arms, upon
+hearing that the invader had actually set foot upon the soil of their
+State. Vain hope! His appeal had fallen flat. The great and rich State
+of Pennsylvania was nearly, if not quite, as unresponsive. Disguise it
+as we may, the fire of '76 seemed all but extinct on its very earliest
+altars, and in its stead only a few sickly embers glowed here and there
+among its ashes. The futility of further resistance was being openly
+discussed, and submission seemed only one step farther off.
+
+In one of his desponding moments Washington turned to his old comrade,
+Mercer, with the question, "What think you, if we should retreat to the
+back parts of Pennsylvania, would the Pennsylvanians support us?"
+
+Though himself a Pennsylvanian by adoption, Mercer's answer was given
+with true soldierly frankness. "If the lower counties give up, the back
+counties will do the same," was his discouraging reply.
+
+"We must then retire to Augusta County in Virginia," said Washington,
+with grave decision, "and if overpowered there, we must cross the
+Alleghanies."
+
+A volume would fail to give half as good an idea of the critical
+condition of affairs as that brief dialogue.
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties to prisoners.]
+
+First and foremost among the many causes of the army's disruption was
+its losses in prisoners. Not less than 5,000 men were at that moment
+dying by slow torture in the foul prisons or pestilential floating
+dungeons of New York. Turn from it as we may, there is no escaping the
+conviction that if not done with the actual sanction of Sir William
+Howe, these atrocities were at least committed with his guilty
+knowledge.[1] The calculated barbarities practised upon these poor
+prisoners, with no other purpose than to make them desert their cause,
+or if that failed, totally to unfit them for serving it more, are almost
+too shocking for belief. It was such acts as these that wrung from the
+indignant Napier the terrible admission that "the annals of civilized
+warfare furnish nothing more inhuman towards captives of war than the
+prison ships of England."
+
+This method of disposing of prisoners was none the less potent that it
+was in some sort murder. Washington had not the prisoners to exchange
+for them, Howe would not liberate them on parole, and when exchanges
+were finally effected, the men thus released were too much enfeebled by
+disease ever to carry a musket again.
+
+In brief, more of Washington's men were languishing in captivity in New
+York than he now had with him in the Jerseys. And he was not losing
+nearly so many by bullets as by starvation.
+
+[Sidenote: Affects recruiting.]
+
+We have emphasized this dark feature of the contest solely for the
+purpose of showing its material influence upon it at this particular
+time. The knowledge of how they would be treated, should they fall into
+the enemy's hands, undoubtedly deterred many from enlisting. In a
+broader sense, it added a new and more aggravated complication to the
+general question as to how the war was to be carried on by the two
+belligerents, whether under the restraints of civilized warfare, or as a
+war to the knife.
+
+Thrown back upon his own resources, Washington must now bitterly have
+repented leaving Lee in an independent command. If there was any secret
+foreboding on his part that Lee would play him false, we do not discover
+it either in his orders or his correspondence. If there was secret
+antipathy, Washington showed himself possessed of almost superhuman
+patience and self-restraint, for certainly if ever man's patience was
+tried Washington's was by the shuffling conduct of his lieutenant at
+this time; but if aversion there was on Washington's part he resolutely
+put it away from him in the interest of the common cause, feeling, no
+doubt, that Lee was a good soldier who might yet do good service, and
+caring little himself as to whom the honor might fall, so the true end
+was reached. It was a great mind lowering itself to the level of a
+little one. But Lee could only see in it a struggle for personal favor
+and preferment.
+
+[Sidenote: Retreat begins.]
+
+After the evacuation of Fort Lee, Lee was urged, unfortunately not
+ordered, to cross his force into the Jerseys, and so bring it into
+cooeperation with the troops already there. The demonstrations then
+making in his front decided Washington to fall back behind the Passaic,
+which he did on the 22d, and on the same day marched down that river to
+Newark. On the 24th Cornwallis,[2] who now had assumed control of all
+operations in the Jerseys, was reenforced with two British brigades and
+a regiment of Highlanders.
+
+Before this force Washington had no choice but to give way in proportion
+as Cornwallis advanced, until Lee should join him, when some chance of
+checking the enemy might be improved. At any rate, such a junction would
+undoubtedly have made Cornwallis more circumspect. As Lee still hung
+back, Washington saw this slender hope vanishing. He for a moment
+listened to the alternative of marching to Morristown, where the troops
+from the Northern army would sooner join him; but as this plan would
+leave the direct road to Philadelphia open, it neither suited
+Washington's temper nor his views, and he therefore adhered to his
+former one of fighting in retreat. And though he had failed to check
+Cornwallis at Newark he would endeavor to do so at New Brunswick.
+
+For New Brunswick, therefore, the remains of the army marched, just as
+the enemy's rear-guard was entering Newark in hot pursuit. On finding
+himself so close to the Americans, Cornwallis pushed on after them with
+his light troops, but as Washington had broken down the bridge over the
+Raritan after passing it, the British were brought to a halt there.
+
+[Sidenote: New Brunswick evacuated.]
+
+Sustained by the vain hope of being reenforced here, either by Lee or by
+new levies of militia coming up as he fell back toward Philadelphia,
+Washington meditated making a stand at New Brunswick, which should at
+least show the exultant enemy that there was still some life left in his
+jaded battalions, and perhaps delay pursuit, which was all that could be
+hoped for with his small force. Instead, however, of the expected
+reenforcement, the departure of the New Jersey and Maryland brigades,
+still so called by courtesy alone, since they were but the shadows of
+what they had been, put this purpose out of the question. Again
+Washington reluctantly turned his back to his enemy.
+
+Lee's troops were now the chief resource. What few militia joined the
+army one day melted away on the next. In Washington's opinion the
+crisis had come. He therefore wrote to his laggard lieutenant, "Hasten
+your march as much as possible or your arrival may be too late."
+
+[Sidenote: December 7.]
+
+Fortunately Cornwallis had orders not to advance beyond New Brunswick.
+He therefore halted there until he could receive new instructions, which
+caused a delay of six days before the pursuit was renewed.[3] On the 7th
+Cornwallis moved on to Princeton, arriving there on the same day that
+Washington left it. This was getting dangerously near, with a wide river
+to cross, at only one short march beyond.
+
+In view of the actual state of things, this retreat must stand in
+history as a masterpiece of calculated temerity. Keeping only one day's
+march ahead of his enemy, Washington's rear-guard only moved off when
+the enemy's van came in sight. There is nowhere any hint of a disorderly
+retreat, or any serious infraction of discipline, or any deviation from
+the strict letter of obedience to orders, such as usually follows in the
+wake of a beaten and retreating army. Washington simply let himself be
+pushed along when he found resistance altogether hopeless. In this firm
+hold on his soldiers, at such an hour, we recognize the leader.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Captain Graydon (_Memoirs_) and Ethan Allen (_Narrative_), both
+prisoners at this time, fix the responsibility where it belongs.
+
+[2] Cornwallis (Lord Brome) was squint-eyed from effects of a blow in
+the eye received while playing hockey at Eton. His playmate who caused
+the accident was Shute Barrington, afterwards Bishop of Durham. He
+entered the army as an ensign in the Foot Guards. His first commission
+is dated Dec. 8, 1756.
+
+[3] This delay is chargeable to Howe, who kept the troops halted until
+he could consult with Cornwallis in person as to future operations. The
+question was, Should or should not the British army cross the Delaware?
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+LEE'S MARCH AND CAPTURE
+
+
+[Sidenote: December 2 and 3.]
+
+"Hasten your march or your arrival may be too late." When this urgent
+appeal was penned Lee had not yet seen fit to cross the Hudson, nor was
+it until Washington had reached Princeton that Lee's troops were at last
+put in motion toward the Delaware.
+
+Hitherto Lee had been in some sort Washington's tutor, or at least
+military adviser,--a role for which, we are bound in common justice to
+say, Lee was not unfitted. But from the moment of separation he appears
+in the light of a rival and a critic, and not too friendly as either. In
+the beginning Washington had looked up to Lee. Lee now looked down upon
+Washington. Unquestionably the abler tactician of the two, Lee seemed to
+have looked forward to Washington's fall as certain, and to so have
+shaped his own course as to leave him master of the situation. In so
+doing he cannot be acquitted of disloyalty to the cause he served, if
+that course threatened to wreck the cause itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Lee's plans.]
+
+It is only just to add that for troops taking the field in the dead of
+winter, Lee's were hardly better prepared than those they were going to
+assist. General Heath, who saw them march off, says that some of them
+were as good soldiers as any in the service, but many were so destitute
+of shoes that the blood left on the rugged, frozen ground, in many
+places, marked the route they had taken; and he adds that a considerable
+number, totally unable to march, were left behind at Peekskill. This
+brings us face to face with the extraordinary and unlooked-for fact that
+instead of bending all his energies toward effecting a junction with the
+commander-in-chief, east of the Delaware, in time to be of service, Lee
+had decided to adopt an entirely different line of conduct, more in
+accord with his own ideas of how the remainder of the campaign should be
+conducted. Meantime, as a cloak to his intentions, he kept up a show of
+obeying the spirit, if not the letter, of his instructions, leaving the
+impression, however, that he would take the responsibility of
+disregarding them if he saw fit. If he had written to Washington, "You
+have had your chance and failed; mine has now come," his words and acts
+would have been in exact harmony.[1]
+
+[Sidenote: December 7 and 8.]
+
+On the 7th Lee was at Pompton. This day an express was sent off to him
+by Heath informing him of the arrival of Greaton's, Bond's, and Porter's
+battalions from Albany. Lee replied from Chatham directing them to march
+to Morristown, where his own troops were then halted. The prospect of
+this reenforcement, which in all probability he had been expecting to
+intercept, may account both for the slowness of Lee's march, and for the
+closing sentence of his reply to Heath. Here it is: "I am in hopes to
+reconquer (if I may so express myself) the Jerseys. It was really in the
+hands of the enemy before my arrival."
+
+[Sidenote: Washington crosses the Delaware.]
+
+[Sidenote: December 8.]
+
+In halting as he did Lee was deliberately forcing a crisis with
+Washington, who was all this time falling back upon his supplies, while
+the British, having to drag theirs after them, could only advance by
+spurts. Here was a rare opportunity for fighting in retreat being thrown
+away, as Washington conceived, by Lee's dilatoriness in reenforcing
+him. Reluctant to abandon his last chance of giving the enemy a check,
+Washington seems to have thought of doing so at Princeton (ignorant that
+this spot was so soon to be the field of more brilliant operations) as a
+means of gaining time for the removal of his baggage across the
+Delaware. It was probably with no other purpose that his advance, which
+had reached Trenton as early as the 3d, was marched back to Princeton,
+which Lord Sterling was still holding with the rear-guard as late as the
+7th, when, as we have seen, Cornwallis made his forced march from
+Brunswick to Princeton, in such force as to put resistance out of the
+question. Here he halted for seventeen hours, thus giving Washington
+time to reach Trenton, get his 2,200 or 2,400 men across the Delaware,
+and draw them up on the other side, out of harm's reach, just as his
+baffled pursuers arrived on the opposite bank.
+
+Cornwallis immediately began a search for the means of crossing in his
+turn.[2] Here, again, he was baffled by Washington's foresight, as
+every boat for seventy miles up and down the Delaware had been removed
+beyond his adversary's reach.
+
+On the day of this catastrophe, which seemed, in the opinion not only of
+the victors, but of the vanquished, to have given the finishing stroke
+to the American Revolution, Lee's force, augmented by the junction of
+the troops marching down to join him, was the sole prop and stay of the
+cause in the Jerseys.
+
+That force lay quietly at Morristown until the 12th of the month, when
+it was again put in motion toward Vealtown, now Bernardsville.
+
+[Sidenote: Gates arrives.]
+
+[Sidenote: Lee taken.]
+
+At this time a second detachment from the army of the North, under
+Gates,[3] was on the march across Sussex County to the Delaware. Being
+cut off from communication with the commander-in-chief, Gates sent
+forward a staff officer to learn the condition of affairs, report his
+own speedy appearance, and receive directions as to what route he should
+take, Hearing that Lee was at Morristown, this officer pushed on in
+search of him, and at four o'clock in the morning of the 13th, he found
+Lee quartered in an out-of-the-way country tavern at Baskingridge,
+three miles from his camp, and by just so much nearer the enemy, whose
+patrols, since Washington had been disposed of, were now scouring the
+roads in every direction. One of these detachments surprised the house
+Lee was in, and before noon the crestfallen general was being hurried
+off a prisoner to Brunswick by a squadron of British light-horse.
+
+Lee's troops, now Sullivan's, with those of Gates, one or two marches in
+the rear, freed from the crafty hand that had been leading them astray,
+now pressed on for the Delaware, and thus that concert of action, for
+which Washington had all along labored in vain, was again restored
+between the fragments of his army, impotent when divided, but yet
+formidable as a whole.
+
+Lee's written and spoken words, if indeed his acts did not speak even
+louder, leave no doubt as to his purpose in amusing Washington by a show
+of coming to his aid, when, in fact, he had no intention of doing so. He
+not only assumed the singular attitude, in a subordinate, of passing
+judgment upon the propriety or necessity of his orders,--orders given
+with full knowledge of the situation,--but proceeded to thwart them in
+a manner savoring of contempt. Lee was Washington's Bernadotte. Neither
+urging, remonstrance, nor entreaty could swerve him one iota from the
+course he had mapped out for himself. Conceiving that he held the key to
+the very unpromising situation in his own hands, he had determined to
+make the gambler's last throw, and had lost.
+
+Although Lee's conduct toward Washington cannot be justified, it is more
+than probable that some such success as that which Stark afterwards
+achieved at Bennington, under conditions somewhat similar, though
+essentially different as to motives, might, and probably would, have
+justified Lee's conduct to the nation, and perhaps even have raised him
+to the position he coveted--of the head of the army, on the ruins of
+Washington's military reputation. Could he even have cut the enemy's
+line so as to throw it into confusion, his conduct might have escaped
+censure. With this end in view he designed holding a position on the
+enemy's flank,[4] arguing, perhaps, that Washington would be compelled
+to reenforce him rather than see him defeated, with the troops now
+beyond the Delaware. Washington saw through Lee's schemes, refused to be
+driven into doing what his judgment did not approve, and the tension
+between the two generals was suddenly snapped by the imprudence or worse
+of Lee himself.
+
+Captain Harris,[5] who saw Lee brought to Brunswick a prisoner, has this
+to say of him: "He was taken by a party of ours under Colonel Harcourt,
+who surrounded the house in which this arch-traitor was residing. Lee
+behaved as cowardly in this transaction as he had dishonorably in every
+other. After firing one or two shots from the house, he came out and
+entreated our troops to spare his life. Had he behaved with proper
+spirit I should have pitied him. I could hardly refrain from tears when
+I first saw him, and thought of the miserable fate in which his
+obstinacy has involved him. He says he has been mistaken in three
+things: first, that the New England men would fight; second, that
+America was unanimous; and third, that she could afford two men for our
+one."[6]
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Lee had expected the first place and had been given the second. His
+successes while acting in a separate command (at Charleston) told
+heavily against Washington's reverses in this campaign; and his
+outspoken criticisms, frequently just, as the event proved, had produced
+their due impression on the minds of many, who believed Lee the better
+general of the two. Events had so shaped themselves, in consequence, as
+to raise up two parties in the army. And here was laid the foundation of
+all those personal jealousies which culminated in Lee's dismissal from
+the army. While his abilities won respect, his insufferable egotism made
+him disliked, and it is to be remarked of the divisions Lee's ambition
+was promoting, that the best officers stood firmly by the
+commander-in-chief.
+
+[2] Cornwallis took no boats with him, as he might have done, from
+Brunswick. A small number would have answered his purpose.
+
+[3] Ticonderoga being out of danger for the present, Washington had
+ordered Gates down with all troops that could be spared.
+
+[4] As Washington had been urged to do, instead of keeping between
+Cornwallis and Philadelphia.
+
+[5] Lord George Harris, of the Fifth Foot.
+
+[6] It will be noticed that this account differs essentially from that
+of Wilkinson, who, though present at Lee's capture, hid himself until
+the light-horse had left with their prisoner.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+
+To all intents the campaign of 1776 had now drawn its lengthened
+disasters to a close. It had indeed been protracted nearly to the point
+of ruin, with the one result, that Philadelphia was apparently safe for
+the present. But with Washington thrown back across the Delaware, Lee a
+prisoner, Congress fled to Baltimore, Canada lost, New York lost, the
+Jerseys overrun, the royal army stretched out from the Hudson to the
+Delaware and practically intact, while the patriot army, dwindled to a
+few thousands, was expected to disappear in a few short weeks, the
+situation had grown desperate indeed.
+
+So hopeless indeed was the outlook everywhere that the ominous cry of
+"Every one for himself"--that last despairing cry of the
+vanquished--began to be echoed throughout the colonies. We have seen
+that even Washington himself seriously thought of retreating behind the
+Alleghanies, which was virtual surrender. Even he, if report be true,
+began to think of the halter, and Franklin's little witticism, on
+signing the Declaration, of, "Come, gentlemen, we must all hang together
+or we shall hang separately," was getting uncomfortably like inspired
+prophecy.
+
+If we turn now to the people, we shall find the same apparent consenting
+to the inevitable, the same tendency of all intelligent discussion
+toward the one result. One instance only of this feeling may be cited
+here, as showing how the young men--always the least despondent portion
+of any community--received the news of the retreat through the Jerseys.
+
+Elkanah Watson sets down the following at Plymouth, Mass.: "We looked
+upon the contest as near its close, and considered ourselves a
+vanquished people. The young men present determined to emigrate, and
+seek some spot where liberty dwelt, and where the arm of British tyranny
+could not reach us. Major Thomas (who had brought them the dispiriting
+news from the army) animated our desponding spirits with the assurance
+that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and
+confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes."
+
+[Sidenote: British plans.]
+
+At the British headquarters the contest, with good reason, was felt to
+be practically over. Unless all signs failed one short campaign would,
+beyond all question, end it; for at no point were the Americans able to
+show a respectable force. In the North a fresh army, under General
+Burgoyne, was getting ready to break through Ticonderoga and come down
+the Hudson with a rush, carrying all before them, as Cornwallis had done
+in the Jerseys. This would cut the rebellion in two. On the same day
+that Washington crossed the Delaware, Clinton had seized Newport,
+without firing a shot. This would hold New England in check. In short,
+should Howe's plans for the coming season work, as there was every
+reason to expect, then there would be little enough left of the
+Revolution in its cradle and stronghold, with the troops at New York,
+Albany, and Newport acting in well-devised combination.
+
+Brilliant only when roused by the presence of danger, Howe as easily
+fell into his habitual indolence when the danger had passed by. In
+effect, what had he to fear? Washington was beyond the Delaware, with
+the debris of the army he had lately commanded, which served him rather
+as an escort than a defence. If let alone, even this would shortly
+disappear.
+
+Under these circumstances Howe felt that he could well afford to give
+himself and his troops a breathing-spell. This was now being put in
+train. Cornwallis was about to sail for England, on leave of absence.
+The garrison of New York disposed itself to pass the winter in idleness,
+and even those detachments doing outpost duty in the Jerseys, after
+having chased Washington until they were tired, turned their attention
+exclusively to the disaffected inhabitants. The field had already been
+reaped, and these troops were the gleaners.
+
+[Sidenote: Chain of posts.]
+
+To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across
+the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Bordentown,
+and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the depot, the first
+being well placed either for making an advance, or for checking any
+attempts by the Americans to recross the river. Washington believed that
+the British would be in Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was strong
+enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had
+happened, no doubt the enemy's advanced troops would have taken
+possession of the city at once. And it is even quite probable that this
+contingency was considered a foregone conclusion, since British agents
+were now actively at work in Washington's own camp, undermining the
+feeble authority which everybody believed was tottering to its fall. Be
+that as it may, the fact remains that active operations were for the
+present wholly suspended. At the officers' messes or in the barracks all
+the talk was of going home. Besides, if Howe had really wanted to take
+Philadelphia there was nothing to prevent his doing so. There were no
+defences. If saved at all, the city must be defended in the field, not
+in the streets.
+
+Bordentown being rather the most exposed, Count Donop was left there
+with some 2,000 Hessians, and Colonel Rall at Trenton with 1,200 to
+1,300 more. Both were veterans. As these Hessians were about equally
+hated and feared, it was well reasoned that they would be all the more
+watchful against a surprise.
+
+[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON TRENTON.]
+
+[Sidenote: Rall and Donop.]
+
+As soon as he had time to look about him, Donop at once extended his
+outposts down to Burlington, on the river, and to Black Horse, on the
+back-road leading south to Mt. Holly, thus establishing himself at the
+base point of a triangle from which his outposts could be speedily
+reenforced, either from Bordentown or each other. The post at Burlington
+was only eighteen miles from Philadelphia.
+
+In order to understand the efforts subsequently made to break through it
+this line should be carefully traced out on the map. In spots it was
+weak, yet the long gaps, like that between Princeton and Trenton, and
+between Princeton and Brunswick, were thought sufficiently secured by
+occasional patrols.
+
+To meet these dispositions of the enemy Washington stretched out the
+remnant of his force along the opposite bank of the Delaware, from above
+Trenton to below Bordentown, looking chiefly to the usual crossing
+places, which were being vigilantly watched.
+
+[Illustration: OPERATIONS IN THE JERSEYS.]
+
+Under date of December 16 a British officer writes home as follows:
+"Winter quarters are now fixed. Our army forms a chain of about ninety
+miles in length from Fort Lee, where our baggage crossed, to Trenton on
+the Delaware, which river, I believe, we shall not cross till next
+campaign, as General Howe is returning to New York. I understand we are
+to winter at a small village near the Raritan River, and are to form a
+sort of advanced picket. There is mountainous ground very near this post
+where the rebels are still in arms, and are expected to be troublesome
+during the winter."
+
+[Sidenote: Cruelties of troops.]
+
+He then goes on to speak of the deplorable condition in which the
+inhabitants had been left by the rival armies, dividing the blame with
+impartial hand, and moralizing a little, as follows: "A civil war is a
+dreadful thing; what with the devastation of the rebels, and that of the
+English and Hessian troops, every part of the country where the scene of
+the action has been looks deplorable. Furniture is broken to pieces,
+good houses deserted and almost destroyed, others burnt; cattle, horses,
+and poultry carried off; and the old plundered of their all. The rebels
+everywhere left their sick behind, and most of them have died for want
+of care."
+
+This telling piece of testimony is introduced here not only because it
+comes from an eye-witness, but from an enemy. Beneath the uniform the
+man speaks out. But his omissions are still more eloquent. It was not
+so much the loss of property, bad as that was, as the nameless
+atrocities everywhere perpetrated by the royal troops upon the young,
+the helpless, and the innocent, that makes the tale too revolting to be
+told. In truth, all that part of the Jerseys held by the enemy had been
+given up to indiscriminate rapine and plunder. It was in vain that the
+victims pleaded the king's protection. As vainly did they appeal to the
+humanity of the invaders. The brutal soldiery defied the one and laughed
+at the other. Finding that the promised pardon and mercy were synonymous
+with murder, arson, and rapine, such a revulsion of feeling had taken
+place that the authors of these cruelties were literally sleeping on a
+volcano; and where patriotism had so lately been invoked in vain, hope
+of revenge was now turning every man, woman, and child into either an
+open or a secret foe to the despoilers of their homes. One little breath
+only was wanting to fan the revolt to a flame; one little spark to fire
+the train. All eyes, therefore, were instinctively turned to the banks
+of the Delaware.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE MARCH TO TRENTON
+
+
+[Sidenote: Spirit of the officers.]
+
+[Sidenote: Post at Bristol.]
+
+Enough has been said to show that only heroic measures could now save
+the American cause. Fortunately Washington was surrounded by a little
+knot of officers of approved fidelity, whose spirit no reverses could
+subdue. And though a calm retrospect of so many disasters, with all the
+jealousies, the defections, and the terror which had followed in their
+wake, might well have carried discouragement to the stoutest hearts,
+this little band of heroes now closed up around their careworn chief,
+and like the ever-famous Guard at Waterloo, were fully resolved to die
+rather than surrender. This was much. It was still more when Washington
+found his officers inspired by the same hope of striking the enemy
+unawares which he himself had all along secretly entertained. The hope
+was still further encouraged by a reenforcement of Pennsylvania
+militia, whose pride had been aroused at seeing the invader's vedettes
+in sight of their capital. These were posted at Bristol, under
+Cadwalader,[1] as a check to Count Donop, while what was left of the old
+army was guarding the crossings above, as a check to Rall.
+
+To do something, and to do it quickly, were equally imperative, because
+the term of the regular troops would expire in a few days more, and no
+one realized better than the commander-in-chief that the militia could
+not long be held together inactive in camp.
+
+[Sidenote: Rall's danger.]
+
+The isolated situation of Rall and Donop seemed to invite attack. Their
+fancied security seemed also to presage success. An inexorable necessity
+called loudly for action before conditions so favorable should be
+changed by the freezing up of the Delaware when, if the enemy had any
+enterprise whatever, the river would no longer prevent, but assist, his
+marching into Philadelphia, and perhaps dictating a peace from the halls
+of Congress.
+
+Donop being considerably nearer Philadelphia than Rall, was, as we have
+seen, being closely watched by Cadwalader, whose force being largely
+drawn from the city had the best reasons for wishing to be rid of so
+troublesome a neighbor.
+
+[Sidenote: Gates sulking.]
+
+More especially in view of possible contingencies, which he could not be
+on the ground to direct, Washington sent his able adjutant-general,
+Reed,[2] down to aid Cadwalader. This action, too, removed a difficulty
+which had arisen out of Gates' excusing himself from taking this command
+on the plea of ill-health.
+
+[Sidenote: In Philadelphia.]
+
+Below Cadwalader, again, Putnam was in command at Philadelphia, with a
+fluctuating force of local militia, only sufficiently numerous to
+furnish guards for the public property, protect the friends, and watch
+the enemies, of the cause, between whom the city was thought to be about
+equally divided. Most reluctantly the conclusion had been reached that
+the appearance of the British in force, on the opposite bank of the
+Delaware, would be the signal for a revolt. Here, then, was another rock
+of danger, upon which the losing cause was now steadily
+drifting,--another warning not to delay action.
+
+It was then that Washington resolved on making one of those sudden
+movements so disconcerting to a self-confident enemy. It had been some
+time maturing, but could not be sooner put in execution on account of
+the wretched condition of Sullivan's (lately Lee's) troops, who had come
+off their long march, as Washington expresses it, in want of everything.
+
+[Sidenote: A first move.]
+
+Putnam was the first to beard the lion by throwing part of his force
+across the Delaware.[3] Whether this was done to mask any purposed
+movement from above, or not, it certainly had that result. After
+crossing into the Jerseys Griffin marched straight to Mt. Holly, where
+he was halted on the 22d, waiting for the reenforcements he had asked
+for from Cadwalader. Donop having promptly accepted the challenge,
+marched against Griffin, who, having effected his purpose of drawing
+Donop's attention to himself, fell back beyond striking distance.
+
+It was Washington's plan to throw Cadwalader's and Ewing's[4] forces in
+between Donop and Rall, while Griffin or Putnam was threatening Donop
+from below; and he was striking Rall from above. Had these blows fallen
+in quick succession there is little room to doubt that a much greater
+measure of success would have resulted.
+
+Orders for the intended movement were sent out from headquarters on the
+23d. They ran to this effect:
+
+[Sidenote: Rall the object.]
+
+Cadwalader at Bristol, Ewing at Trenton Ferry, and Washington himself at
+McKonkey's Ferry, were to cross the Delaware simultaneously on the night
+of the 25th and attack the enemy's posts in their front. Cadwalader and
+Ewing having spent the night in vain efforts to cross their commands,
+returned to their encampments. It only remains to follow the movements
+of the commander-in-chief, who was fortunately ignorant of these
+failures.
+
+Twenty-four hundred men, with eighteen cannon, were drawn up on the bank
+of the river at sunset. Tolstoi claims that the real problem of the
+science of war "is to ascertain and formulate the value of the spirit of
+the men, and their willingness and eagerness to fight." This little band
+was all on fire to be led against the enemy. No holiday march lay before
+them, yet every officer and man instinctively felt that the last hope
+of the Republic lay in the might of his own good right arm.
+
+Did we need any further proof of the desperate nature of these
+undertakings, it is found in the matchless group of officers that now
+gathered round the commander-in-chief to stand or fall with him. With
+such chiefs and such soldiers the fight was sure to be conducted with
+skill and energy.
+
+[Sidenote: Strong array of officers.]
+
+Greene, Sullivan, St. Clair, Sterling, Knox, Mercer, Stephen, Glover,
+Hand, Stark, Poor, and Patterson were there to lead these slender
+columns to victory. Among the subordinates who were treading this rugged
+pathway to renown were Hull, Monroe, Hamilton, and Wilkinson. Rank
+disappeared in the soldier. Major-generals commanded weak brigades,
+brigadiers, half battalions, colonels, broken companies. Some sudden
+inspiration must have nerved these men to face the dangers of that
+terrible night. History fails to show a more sublime devotion to an
+apparently lost cause.
+
+[Sidenote: The Delaware crossed.]
+
+Boats being held in readiness the troops began their memorable crossing.
+Its difficulties and dangers may be estimated by the failure of the two
+cooeperating; corps to surmount them. Of this part of the work Glover[5]
+took charge. Again his Marblehead men manned the boats, as they had done
+at Long Island; and though it was necessary to force a passage by main
+strength through the floating ice, which the strong current and high
+wind steadily drove against them, the transfer from the friendly to the
+hostile shore slowly went on in the thickening darkness and gloom of the
+waiting hours.
+
+Little by little the group on the eastern shore began to grow larger as
+the hours wore on. Washington was there wrapped in his cloak, and in
+that inscrutable silence denoting the crisis of a lifetime. Did his
+thoughts go back to that eventful hour when he was guiding a frail raft
+through the surging ice of the Monongahela? Knox was there animating the
+utterly cheerless scene by his loud commands to the men in charge of his
+precious artillery, for which the shivering troops were impatiently
+waiting. At three o'clock the last gun was landed. The crossing had
+required three hours more than had been allowed for it. Nearly another
+hour was used up in forming the troops for the march of nine miles to
+Trenton, which could hardly be reached over such a wretched road, and in
+such weather, in less than from three to four hours more. To make
+matters worse, rain, hail, and sleet began falling heavily, and freezing
+as it fell.
+
+To surround and surprise Trenton before daybreak was now out of the
+question. Nevertheless, Washington decided to push on as rapidly as
+possible; and the troops having been formed in two columns, were now put
+in motion toward the enemy.
+
+The march was horrible. A more severe winter's night had never been
+experienced even by the oldest campaigners. To keep moving was the only
+defence against freezing. Enveloped in whirling snow-flakes, encompassed
+in blackest darkness, the little column toiled steadily on through
+sludge ankle-deep, those in the rear judging by the quantity of snow
+lodged on the hats and coats of those in front, the load that they
+themselves were carrying. Not a word, a jest, or a snatch of song broke
+the silence of that fearful march.
+
+At a cross-road four and a half miles from Trenton the word was passed
+along the line to halt. Here the columns divided. With one Greene filed
+off on a road bearing to the left, which, after making a considerable
+circuit, struck into Trenton more to the east. Washington rode with this
+division. The other column kept the road on which it had been marching.
+Sullivan led this division with Stark in the van. At this moment
+Sullivan was informed that the muskets were too wet to be depended upon.
+He instantly sent off an aid to Washington for further orders. The aid
+came galloping back with the order to "go on," delivered in a tone which
+he said he should never forget. With grim determination Sullivan again
+moved forward, and the word ran through the ranks, "We have our bayonets
+left."
+
+All this time Ewing was supposed to be nearing Trenton from the south.
+In that case the town would be assaulted from three points at once, and
+a retreat to Bordentown be cut off.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] John Cadwalader, of Philadelphia. His services in this campaign were
+both timely and important.
+
+[2] Joseph Reed succeeded Gates as adjutant-general after Gates was
+promoted. Reed's early life had been passed in New Jersey, though he had
+moved to Philadelphia before the war broke out. His knowledge of the
+country which became the seat of war was invaluable to Washington.
+
+[3] This force was under command of Colonel Griffin, Putnam's
+adjutant-general.
+
+[4] James Ewing, brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia, posted
+opposite to Bordentown. In some accounts he is called Irvine, Erwing,
+etc.
+
+[5] Col. John Glover commanded one of the best disciplined regiments in
+Washington's army.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+TRENTON
+
+
+Very early in the evening there had been firing at Rall's outposts, but
+the careless enemy hardly gave it his attention. Some lost detachment
+had probably fired on the pickets out of mere bravado. The night had
+been spent in carousal, and the storm had quieted Rall's mind as regards
+any danger of an attack.[1]
+
+[Sidenote: The attack.]
+
+But in the gray dawn of that dark December morning the two assaulting
+columns, emerging like phantoms from the midst of the storm, were
+rapidly approaching the Hessian pickets. All was quiet. The newly fallen
+snow deadened the rumble of the artillery. The pickets were enjoying the
+warmth of the houses in which they had taken post, half a mile out of
+town, when the alarm was raised that the enemy were upon them. They
+turned out only to be swept away before the eager rush of the
+Americans, who came pouring on after them into the town, as it seemed
+in all directions, shouting and firing at the flying enemy. That long
+night of exposure, of suspense, the fatigue of that rapid march, were
+forgotten in the rattle of musketry and the din of battle.
+
+[Sidenote: Street combats.]
+
+Roused by the uproar the bewildered Hessians ran out of their barracks
+and attempted to form in the streets. The hurry, fright, and confusion
+were said to be like to that with which the imagination conjures up the
+sounding of the last trump.[2] Grape and canister cleared the streets in
+the twinkling of an eye. The houses were then resorted to for shelter.
+From these the musketry soon dislodged the fugitives. Turned again into
+the streets the Hessians were driven headlong through the town into an
+open plain beyond it. Here they were formed in an instant, and Rall,
+brave enough in the smoke and flame of combat, even thought of forcing
+his way back into the town.
+
+[Sidenote: Sullivan in action.]
+
+But Washington was again thundering away in their front with his cannon.
+In person he directed their fire like a simple lieutenant of artillery.
+Off at the right the roll of Sullivan's musketry announced his steady
+advance toward the bridge leading to Bordentown. The road to Princeton
+was held by a regiment of riflemen. Those troops, whom Sullivan had been
+driving before him, saved themselves by a rapid flight across the
+Assanpink. Why was not Ewing there to stop them! Sullivan promptly
+seized the bridge in time to intercept a disorderly mass of Hessian
+infantry, who had broken away from the main body in a panic, hoping to
+make their escape that way.
+
+[Sidenote: Hessians surrender.]
+
+Not knowing which way to turn next, Rall held his ground, like a wounded
+boar brought to bay, until a bullet struck him to the ground with a
+mortal wound. Finding themselves hemmed in on all sides, and seeing the
+American cannoneers getting ready to fire with canister, at short range,
+the Hessian colors were lowered in token of surrender.
+
+A thousand prisoners, six cannon, with small-arms and ammunition in
+proportion, were the trophies of this brilliant victory. The work had
+been well done. From highest to lowest the immortal twenty-four hundred
+had behaved like men determined to be free.
+
+[Sidenote: The river recrossed.]
+
+Now, while in the fresh glow of triumph, Washington learned that neither
+Ewing nor Cadwalader had crossed to his assistance. He stood alone on
+the hostile shore, within striking distance of the enemy at Bordentown,
+and at Princeton. Donop, reenforced by the fugitives from Trenton,
+outnumbered him three to two. Reenforced by the garrison at Princeton,
+the odds would be as two to one. All these enemies he would soon have on
+his hands, with no certainty of any increase of his own force.
+
+His combinations had failed, and he must have time to look about him
+before forming new ones. There was no help for it. He must again put the
+Delaware behind him before being driven into it.
+
+Washington heard these tidings as things which the incompetence or
+jealousies of his generals had long habituated him to hear. Orders were
+therefore given to repass the river without delay or confusion, and,
+after gathering up their prisoners and their trophies, the victors
+retraced their painful march to their old encampment, where they
+arrived the same evening, worn out with their twenty-four hours'
+incessant marching and fighting, but with confidence in themselves and
+their leaders fully restored.
+
+This little battle marked an epoch in the history of the war. It was now
+the Americans who attacked. Trenton had taught them the lesson that, man
+for man, they had nothing to fear from their vaunted adversaries; and
+that lesson, learned at the point of the bayonet, is the only one that
+can ever make men soldiers. The enemy could well afford to lose a town,
+but this rise of a new spirit was quite a different thing. Therefore,
+though a little battle, Trenton was a great fact, nowhere more fully
+confessed than in the British camp, where it was now gloomily spoken of
+as the tragedy of Trenton.
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Harris says that Rall had intelligence of the intended attack, and
+kept his men under arms the whole night. Long after daybreak, a most
+violent snow-storm coming on, he thought he might safely permit his men
+to lie down, and in this state they were surprised by the
+enemy.--_Life_, p. 64.
+
+[2] General Knox's account is here followed.--_Memoir_, p. 38.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON
+
+
+[Sidenote: Cadwalader crosses.]
+
+The events of the next two days, apart from Washington's own movements,
+are a real comedy of errors. The firing at Trenton had been distinctly
+heard at Cadwalader's camp and its reason guessed. Later, rumors of the
+result threw the camps into the wildest excitement. Bitterly now these
+men regretted that they had not pushed on to the aid of their comrades.
+Supposing Washington still to be at Trenton, Cadwalader made a second
+attempt to cross to his assistance at Bristol on the 27th, when, in
+fact, Washington was then back in Pennsylvania.[1]
+
+Cadwalader thus put himself into precisely the same situation from which
+Washington had just hastened to extricate himself. But neither had
+foreseen the panic which had seized the enemy on hearing of the surprise
+of Trenton.
+
+[Sidenote: At Bordentown.]
+
+On getting over the river, Cadwalader learned the true state of things,
+which placed him in a very awkward dilemma as to what he should do next.
+As his troops were eager to emulate the brilliant successes of their
+comrades, he decided, however, to go in search of Donop. He therefore
+marched up to Burlington the same afternoon. The enemy had left it the
+day before. He then made a night march to Bordentown, which was also
+found deserted in haste. Crosswicks, another outpost lying toward
+Princeton, was next seized by a detachment. That, too, had been
+hurriedly abandoned. Cadwalader could find nobody to attack or to attack
+him. The stupefied people only knew that their villages had been
+suddenly evacuated. In short, the enemy's whole line had been swept away
+like dead leaves before an autumnal gale, under that one telling blow at
+Trenton.
+
+Even Washington himself seems not to have realized the full extent of
+his success until these astonishing reports came in in quick succession.
+As the elated Americans marched on they saw the inhabitants everywhere
+pulling down the red rags which had been nailed to their doors, as
+badges of loyalty. "Jersey will be the most whiggish colony on the
+continent," writes an officer of this corps of Cadwalader's. "The very
+Quakers declare for taking up arms."[2]
+
+[Sidenote: Trenton reoccupied.]
+
+In view of the facts here stated, Washington was strongly urged to
+secure his hold on West Jersey before the enemy should have time to
+recover from their panic. The temper of the people seemed to justify the
+attempt, even with the meagre force at his command. On the 29th he
+therefore reoccupied Trenton in force. At the same time orders were sent
+off to McDougall at Morristown, and Heath in the Highlands, to show
+themselves to the enemy, as if some concerted movement was in progress
+all along the line.[3]
+
+[Sidenote: Princeton reenforced.]
+
+Meantime the alarm brought about by Donop's[4] falling back on Princeton
+caused the commanding officer there to call urgently for reenforcements.
+None were sent, however, for some days, when the grenadiers and second
+battalion of guards marched in from New Brunswick. In evidence of the
+wholesome terror inspired by Washington's daring movements comes the
+account of the reception of this reenforcement by an eye-witness,
+Captain Harris, of the grenadiers, who writes of it: "You would have
+felt too much to be able to express your feelings on seeing with what a
+warmth of friendship our children, as we call the light-infantry,
+welcomed us, one and all crying, 'Let them come! Lead us to them, we are
+sure of being supported.' It gave me a pleasure too fine to attempt
+expressing."
+
+Howe was now pushing forward all his available troops toward Princeton.
+Cornwallis hastened back to that place with the _elite_ of the army.
+While these heavy columns were gathering like a storm-cloud in his front
+Washington and his generals were haranguing their men, entreating them
+to stay even for a few weeks longer. Such were the shifts to which the
+commander-in-chief found himself reduced when in actual presence of this
+overwhelming force of the enemy.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington concentrates.]
+
+Through the efforts of their officers most of the New England troops
+reenlisted for six weeks--Stark's regiment almost to a man.[5] And these
+battalions constituted the real backbone of subsequent operations.
+Hearing that the enemy was at least ready to move forward, Cadwalader's
+and Mifflin's troops were called in to Trenton, and preparations made
+to receive the attack unflinchingly. This force being all assembled on
+the 1st of January, 1777, Washington posted it on the east side of the
+Assanpink, behind the bridge over which Rail's soldiers had made good
+their retreat on the day of the surprise, with some thirty guns planted
+in his front to defend the crossing. Washington and Rall had thus
+suddenly changed places.
+
+[Sidenote: His position, Jan. 2, 1777.]
+
+The American position was strong except on the right. It being higher
+ground the artillery commanded the town, the Assanpink was not fordable
+in front, the bridge was narrow, and the left secured by the Delaware.
+The weak spot, the right, rested in a wood which was strongly held, and
+capable of a good defence; but inasmuch as the Assanpink could be forded
+two or three miles higher up, a movement to the right and rear of the
+position was greatly to be feared. If successful it would necessarily
+cut off all retreat, as the Delaware was now impassable.
+
+On the 2d the enemy's advance came upon the American pickets posted
+outside of Trenton, driving them through the town much in the same
+manner as they had driven the Hessians. As soon as the enemy came within
+range, the American artillery drove them back under cover, firing being
+kept up until dark.
+
+Having thus developed the American position, Cornwallis, astonished at
+Washington's temerity in taking it, felt sure of "bagging the fox," as
+he styled it, in the morning.
+
+The night came. The soldiers slept, but Washington, alive to the danger,
+summoned his generals in council. All were agreed that a battle would be
+forced upon them with the dawn of day--all that the upper fords could
+not be defended. And if they were passed, the event of battle would be
+beyond all doubt disastrous. Cornwallis had only to hold Washington's
+attention in front while turning his flank. Should, then, the patriot
+army endeavor to extricate itself by falling back down the river? There
+seems to have been but one opinion as to the futility of the attempt,
+inasmuch as there was no stronger position to fall back upon. As a
+choice of evils, it was much better to remain where they were than be
+forced into making a disorderly retreat while looking for some other
+place to fight in.
+
+Who, then, was responsible for putting the army into a position where it
+could neither fight nor retreat? If neither of these things could be
+done with any hope of success, there remained, in point of fact, but one
+alternative, to which the abandonment of the others as naturally led as
+converging roads to a common centre. In all the history of the war a
+more dangerous crisis is not to be met with. It is, therefore,
+incredible that only one man should have seen this avenue of escape,
+though it may well be that even the boldest generals hesitated to be the
+first to urge so desperate an undertaking.
+
+[Sidenote: Washington's tactics.]
+
+In effect, the very danger to which the little army was exposed seems to
+have suggested to Washington the way out of it. If the enemy could turn
+his right, why could not he turn their left? If they could cut off his
+retreat, why could not he threaten their's? This was sublimated
+audacity, with his little force; but safety here was only to be plucked
+from the nettle danger. It was then and there that Washington[6]
+proposed making a flank march to Princeton that very night, boldly
+throwing themselves upon the enemy's communications, defeating such
+reenforcements as might be found in the way, and perhaps dealing such a
+blow as would, if successful, baffle all the enemy's plans.
+
+The very audacity of the proposal fell in with the temper of the
+generals, who now saw the knot cut as by a stroke of genius. This would
+not be a retreat, but an advance. This could not be imputed to fear, but
+rather to daring. The proposal was instantly adopted, and the generals
+repaired to their respective commands.
+
+[Sidenote: Jan. 3, 1777.]
+
+[Sidenote: March to Princeton.]
+
+Replenishing the camp fires, and leaving the sentinels at their posts,
+at one o'clock the army filed off to the right in perfect silence and
+order. The baggage and some spare artillery were sent off to Burlington,
+to still further mystify the enemy. By one of those sudden changes of
+weather, not uncommon even in midwinter, the soft ground had become hard
+frozen during the early part of the night, so that rapid marching was
+possible, and rapid marching was the only thing that could save the
+movement from failure, as Cornwallis would have but twelve miles to
+march to Washington's seventeen, to overtake them--he by a good road,
+they by a new and half-worked one. Miles, therefore, counted for much
+that night, and though many of the men wore rags wrapped about their
+feet, for want of shoes, and the shoeless artillery horses had to be
+dragged or pushed along over the slippery places, to prevent their
+falling, the column pushed on with unflagging energy toward its goal.
+
+[Sidenote: British in pursuit.]
+
+Shortly after daybreak the British, at Trenton, heard the dull booming
+of a distant cannonade. Washington, escaped from their snares, was
+sounding the reveille at Princeton. The British camp awoke and listened.
+Soon the rumor spread that the American lines were deserted. Drums beat,
+trumpets sounded, ranks were formed in as great haste as if the enemy
+were actually in the camps, instead of being at that moment a dozen
+miles away. Cornwallis, who had gone to bed expecting to make short work
+of Washington in the morning, saw himself fairly outgeneralled. His
+rear-guard, his magazines, his baggage, were in danger, his line of
+retreat cut off. There was not a moment to lose. Exasperated at the
+thought of what they would say of him in England, he gave the order to
+press the pursuit to the utmost. The troops took the direct route by
+Maidenhead to Princeton; and thus, for the second time, Trenton saw
+itself freed from enemies, once routed, twice disgraced, and thoroughly
+crestfallen and stripped of their vaunted prestige.
+
+[Sidenote: Mercer's fight.]
+
+Three British battalions lay at Princeton the night before.[7] Two of
+them were on the march to Trenton when Washington's troops were
+discovered approaching on a back road. Astonished at seeing troops
+coming up from that direction, the leading battalion instantly turned
+back to meet them. At the same time Washington detached Mercer to seize
+the main road, while he himself pushed on with the rest of the troops.
+This movement brought on a spirited combat between Mercer and the strong
+British battalion, which had just faced about.[8] The fight was short,
+sharp, and bloody. After a few volleys, the British charged with the
+bayonet, broke through Mercer's ranks, scattered his men, and even
+drove back Cadwalader's militia, who were coming up to their support.
+
+Other troops now came up. Washington himself rode in among Mercer's
+disordered men, calling out to them to turn and face the enemy. It was
+one of those critical moments when everything must be risked. Like
+Napoleon pointing his guns at Montereau, the commander momentarily
+disappeared in the soldier; and excited by the combat raging around him,
+all the Virginian's native daring flashed out like lightning. Waving his
+uplifted sword, he pushed his horse into the fire as indifferent to
+danger as if he had really believed that the bullet which was to kill
+him was not yet cast.
+
+Taking courage from his presence and example the broken troops re-formed
+their ranks. The firing grew brisker and brisker. Assailed with fresh
+spirit, the British, in their turn, gave way, leaving the ground strewed
+with their dead, in return for their brutal use of the bayonet among the
+wounded. Finding themselves in danger of being surrounded, that portion
+of this fighting British regiment[9] which still held together
+retreated as they could toward Maidenhead, after giving such an example
+of disciplined against undisciplined valor as won the admiration even of
+their foes.
+
+While this fight was going on at one point, the second British battalion
+was, in its turn, met and routed by the American advance, under St.
+Clair. This battalion then fled toward Brunswick, part of the remaining
+battalion did the same thing, and part threw themselves into the college
+building they had used as quarters, where a few cannon shot compelled
+them to surrender.
+
+Three strong regiments had thus been broken in detail and put to flight.
+Two had been prevented from joining Cornwallis. Besides the killed and
+wounded they left two hundred and fifty prisoners behind them. The
+American loss in officers was, however, very severe. The brave Mercer
+was mortally wounded, and that gallant son of Delaware, Colonel Haslet,
+killed fighting at his commander's side.
+
+After a short halt Washington again pushed on toward Brunswick, but
+tempting as the opportunity of destroying the depot there seemed to him,
+it had to be given up. His troops were too much exhausted, and
+Cornwallis was now thundering in his rear. When Kingston was reached the
+army therefore filed off to the left toward[10] Somerset Court House,
+leaving the enemy to continue his headlong march toward Brunswick, which
+was not reached until four o'clock in the morning, with troops
+completely broken down with the rapidity of their fruitless chase.
+
+Washington could now say, "I am as near New York as they are to
+Philadelphia."
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Cadwalader seems to have done all in his power to cross his troops
+in the first place. His infantry mostly got over, but on finding it
+impossible to land the artillery--ice being jammed against the shores
+for two hundred yards--the infantry were ordered back. Indeed, his
+rear-guard could not get back until the next day. This was at Dunk's
+Ferry. The next and successful attempt took from nine in the morning
+till three in the afternoon, when 3,000 men crossed one mile above
+Bristol.
+
+[2] Thomas Rodney's letter.
+
+[3] Heath was ordered to make a demonstration as far down as King's
+Bridge, in order to keep Howe from reenforcing the Jerseys. It proved a
+perfect flash-in-the-pan.
+
+[4] Part of Donop's force fell back even as far as New Brunswick.
+
+[5] Stark made a personal appeal with vigor and effect. His regiment had
+come down from Ticonderoga in time to be given the post of honor by
+Washington himself.
+
+[6] In a letter to his wife Knox gives the credit of this suggestion to
+Washington, without qualification.
+
+[7] These were the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-first.
+
+[8] The hostile columns met on the slope of a hill just off the main
+road, near the buildings of a man named Clark, Mercer reaching the
+ground first.
+
+[9] The Seventeenth regiment, Colonel Mawhood, carried off the honors of
+the day for the British.
+
+[10] The position at Morristown had been critically examined by Lee's
+officers during their halt there. Washington had therefore decided to
+defend the Jerseys from that position.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+AFTER PRINCETON
+
+
+It had taken Cornwallis a whole week to drive Washington from Brunswick
+to Trenton; Washington had now made Cornwallis retrace his steps inside
+of twenty-four hours. In the retreat through the Jerseys there had been
+neither strategy nor tactics; nothing but a retreat, pure and simple. In
+the advance, strategy and tactics had placed the inferior force in the
+attitude menacing the superior, had saved Philadelphia, and were now in
+a fair way to recover the Jerseys without the expenditure even of
+another charge of powder.
+
+While Washington was looking for a vantage ground from which to hold
+what had been gained, everything on the British line was going to the
+rear in confusion. Orders and counter orders were being given with a
+rapidity which invariably accompanies the first moments of a panic, and
+which tend rather to increase than diminish its effects.
+
+What was passing at Brunswick has fortunately found a record in the
+diary of a British officer posted there when the news of Washington's
+coming fell like a bombshell in their camp. It is given word for word:
+
+     On the 3d we had repeated accounts that Washington had not only
+     taken Princeton, but was in full march upon Brunswick. General
+     Matthew (commanding at Brunswick) now determined to return to the
+     Raritan landing-place, with everything valuable, to prevent the
+     rebels from destroying the bridge there. We accordingly marched
+     back to the bridge, one-half on one side, the remainder on the
+     other, for its defence, never taking off our accoutrements that
+     night.
+
+     On the 3d, Lord Cornwallis, hearing the fate of Princeton, returned
+     to it with his whole force, but found the rebels had abandoned it,
+     upon which he immediately marched back to Brunswick, arriving at
+     break of day on the 4th. I then received orders to return to
+     Sparkstown (Rahway?). Washington marched his army to Morristown and
+     Springfield. At about the time I arrived at Sparkstown, a report
+     was spread that the rebels had some designs upon Elizabethtown and
+     Sparkstown. The whole regiment was jaded to death. Unpleasant this!
+     Before day notice was brought to me by a patrol that he had heard
+     some firing towards Elizabethtown, about seven miles off. I
+     immediately jumped out of bed and directed my drums to beat to
+     arms, as nothing else would have roused my men, they were so tired.
+     Soon after this an express brought me positive orders to march
+     immediately to Perth Amboy, with all my baggage. At between six and
+     seven the rebels fired at some of my men that were quartered at two
+     miles distance. I had before appointed a subaltern's guard for the
+     protection of my baggage. This duty unluckily fell upon the
+     lieutenant of my company, which left it without an officer, the
+     ensign being sick at New York. I immediately directed my
+     lieutenant, who was a volunteer on this occasion, to march with his
+     guard, that was then formed, to the spot where the firing was,
+     while I made all the haste I could to follow him with the
+     battalion.
+
+     The lieutenant came up with them and fired upwards of twelve
+     rounds, when, the rebels perceiving the battalion on the march, ran
+     off as fast as they could. Had I pursued them I should perhaps have
+     given a good account of them.
+
+The company baggage-wagon was, however, carried off by the Americans,
+driver and all. The garrison got to Perth Amboy that night.
+Elizabethtown was evacuated at the same time. The narrative goes on to
+say:
+
+     The only posts we now possess in the Jerseys are Paulus Hook, Perth
+     Amboy, Raritan Landing, and Brunswick. Happy had it been if at
+     first we had fixed on no other posts in this province....
+     Washington's success in this affair of the surprise of the Hessians
+     has been the cause of this unhappy change in our affairs. It has
+     recruited the rebel army and given them sufficient spirit to
+     undertake a winter campaign. Our misfortune has been that we have
+     held the enemy too cheap. We must remove the seat of war from the
+     Jerseys now on account of the scarcity of forage and provisions.
+
+The writer shows the wholesome impressions his friends were under in
+this closing remark: "The whole garrison is every morning under arms at
+five o'clock to be ready for the scoundrels."
+
+In New York great pains were taken to prevent the truth about the
+victories at Trenton and Princeton from getting abroad. False accounts
+of them were printed in the newspapers, over which a strict military
+censorship was established; but in spite of every precaution enough
+leaked out through secret channels to put new life and hope in the
+hearts and minds of the long-suffering prisoners of war.
+
+It was one of the misfortunes of this most extraordinary campaign that
+every blow Washington had struck left his army exhausted. After each
+success it was necessary to recuperate. It was now being reorganized in
+the shelter of its mountain fastness, strengthened by a simultaneous
+uprising of the people, who now took the redress of their wrongs into
+their own hands. No foraging party could show itself without being
+attacked; no supplies be had except at the point of the sword. A host of
+the exasperated yeomanry constantly hovered around the enemy's advanced
+posts, which a feeling of pride alone induced him to hold. Putnam was
+ordered up to Princeton, Heath to King's Bridge, so that Howe was kept
+looking all ways at once. Redoubts were thrown up at New Brunswick,
+leading Wayne to remark that the Americans had now thrown away the spade
+and the British taken it up. Looking back over the weary months of
+disaster the change on the face of affairs seems almost too great for
+belief. From the British point of view the campaign had ended in utter
+failure and disgrace. In England, Edward Gibbon says that the Americans
+had almost lost the name of rebels, and in America Sir William Howe
+found that he had to contend with a man in every way his superior.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+American Army, 12, 17 _note_;
+  marches to N. York, 12;
+  its efficiency, 14;
+  weakened by detachments, 19, 24 _note_;
+  reenforced, 19, 20;
+  effectives in summer of 1776, 22, 24 _note_;
+  defeated at L. Island, 29;
+  losses there, 31;
+  how posted after the battle, 31, 32;
+  driven from N. York, 39;
+  fights at White Plains and Fort Washington, 40;
+  losses there, 41;
+  is divided into two corps, 44;
+  dissension in, 49 _note_;
+  reduced numbers, 50;
+  summary of losses, 52, 53;
+  reaches the Delaware, 57;
+  in position there, 75;
+  is reenforced, 79;
+  time expiring, 80;
+  reenlistments, 97.
+
+
+Bedford, L. I., seized by British, 27.
+
+Bordentown, occupied by British troops, 71, 72;
+  evacuated, 95.
+
+British Army of subjugation, 23;
+  by regiments, 25 _note_;
+  takes the field, 27;
+  drives the Americans from L. Island, 27 _et seq._;
+  in winter quarters, 72, 76.
+
+Brooklyn Heights fortified, 20, 24 _note_;
+  outer defences, 26;
+  turned by British, 27, 28.
+
+
+Cadwalader, Col. John, 80, 87 _note_;
+  fails to get his troops across the Delaware, 83;
+  succeeds better in a second attempt, 94;
+  and occupies Bordentown, 95.
+
+Clinton, Gen. Sir Henry, at N. York, 34;
+  moves to Throg's Neck, 36;
+  captures Newport, R. I., 70.
+
+Cornwallis, Gen. Lord, surprises Fort Lee, 45;
+  is reenforced, 55;
+  pursues Washington, 55, 56, 57, 58 _note_;
+  is unable to follow him beyond Trenton, 62, 67 _note_;
+  has leave of absence, 71;
+  hastens back to Trenton, 97;
+  makes a forced march back to N. Brunswick, 106.
+
+
+Declaration of Independence, read to the army, 23.
+
+Donop, Col. Count, 72, 75;
+  abandons Bordentown, 95.
+
+
+Ewing, Gen. James, 83, 87 _note_.
+
+
+Fort Lee, 24 _note_;
+  evacuated, 45, 49 _note_.
+
+Fort Washington, built, 21, 24 _note_;
+  assault and capture of, 40, 41, 42 _note_.
+
+
+Gates, Gen. Horatio, brings troops from Ticonderoga, 63, 67 _note_;
+  refuses a command, 81.
+
+Glover, Gen. John, at L. Island, 30;
+  at Trenton, 85, 88 _note_.
+
+Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, advises the holding of Fort Washington, 40;
+  at Fort Lee, 45;
+  heads a column at Trenton, 87.
+
+Griffin, Colonel, moves into the Jerseys, 82.
+
+Hale, Capt. Nathan, taken and hanged, 36.
+
+Harlem Heights, the army headquarters, 32, and _note_.
+
+Haslet, Col. John, at Princeton, 105.
+
+Heath, Gen. Wm., put in command in the Highlands, 44, 96, 106 _note_.
+
+Howe, Gen. Sir William, lands at L. Island, 26;
+  his delays, 36;
+  moves into Westchester, 39;
+  fights at White Plains, 40;
+  and takes Fort Washington, 40;
+  inhumanity to prisoners by his permission, 52;
+  plans for next campaign, 70;
+  takes things easy, 71;
+  roused by Washington's bold strokes, 97.
+
+
+King's Bridge, importance of, to N. York, 20, 21;
+  an outpost, 22, 24 _note_.
+
+Kipp's Bay, landing-place of British, 34;
+  account by an eye-witness, 34, 35.
+
+Knox, Gen. Henry, improves the artillery service, 16, 17;
+  at Trenton, 84, 85.
+
+
+Lee, Gen. Charles, sent to N. York, 18 _note_;
+  ineffectually urges evacuation of Fort Washington, 41;
+  a rival of Washington, 41;
+  gets a separate command, 44;
+  moves to join Washington, 59;
+  his equivocal attitude, 50, 60;
+  his troops, 60, 67 _note_;
+  is reenforced, 61;
+  halts at Morristown, and is captured, 63;
+  probable aims, 65.
+
+Long Island, campaign opened at, 26;
+  British plan of attack, 27;
+  flank march, 27, 28; evacuated, 30.
+
+
+McDougall, Gen. Alexander, at Morristown, 96.
+
+Mercer, Gen. Hugh, at Princeton, 104, 105, 107 _note_.
+
+Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, at Trenton, 98.
+
+
+New Jersey, invaded, 50;
+  apathy of people, 51;
+  military situation in, 71;
+  outrages perpetrated by the invaders, 77, 78;
+  arouse the people, 78;
+  mostly reconquered, 108, 112.
+
+New York, the seat of war, 11;
+  its strategic value, 13;
+  defence determined upon, 13;
+  how effected, 20 _et seq._;
+  the city and island in 1776, 20;
+  escapes bombardment, 30;
+  dispositions for holding the city, 31, 32;
+  evacuation ordered, 33;
+  takes place, 34;
+  partially burnt, 35.
+
+North Castle, Washington retreats to, 40.
+
+
+Percy, Gen. Lord Hugh, in command at Harlem, 36.
+
+Philadelphia, critical situation there, 81.
+
+Princeton, attacked by Washington, 103;
+  losses at, 105.
+
+Putnam, Gen. Israel, commands at Philadelphia, 81;
+  sends a force into the Jerseys, 82, 88 _note_.
+
+
+Rall or Rahl, Col., 72;
+  alarm of an attack, 89, 93 _note_;
+  fights bravely, and is mortally hurt, 91.
+
+Reed, Joseph, 81, 87 _note_.
+
+
+St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, at Princeton, 105.
+
+Stark, Gen. John, at Trenton, 87, 106 _note_.
+
+Sterling or Stirling, Lord (William Alexander), at Princeton, 62.
+
+Sullivan, Gen. John, succeeds to command of Lee's corps, 64;
+  leads a column at Trenton, 87.
+
+
+Throg's Neck, British land at, 39, 42 _note_.
+
+Trenton, occupied as a British outpost, 72;
+  carried by assault, 89 _et seq._;
+  fruits of victory, 91;
+  an epoch in the war, 93;
+  first abandoned, 93;
+  then reoccupied, 96.
+
+
+Washington, Gen., at N. York, 12;
+  decides to act on the defensive, 18 _note_;
+  stands on his dignity, 24;
+  not in command at L. Island, 29;
+  orders its evacuation, 30;
+  moves to White Plains, 39;
+  rights there, but has to fall back, 40;
+  his dilemma, 43;
+  decides to divide his force, 44;
+  crosses into N. Jersey, 45;
+  manoeuvring for delay, 50;
+  rises above partisanship, 54;
+  directs Lee to join him, 54, 55;
+  retreats to Newark, 55;
+  to New Brunswick, 56;
+  troops leave him, 56;
+  at Princeton, 57;
+  admirable retreat, 57;
+  crosses the Delaware, 62;
+  determines on striking the British outposts, 79, 80;
+  his plan, 82, 83;
+  marches on Trenton, 83 _et seq._;
+  carries Trenton by assault, but is obliged to recross the
+    Delaware, 91, 92;
+  but reoccupies Trenton, 96;
+  takes post there, 98;
+  steals a march on Cornwallis, 101, 107 _note_;
+  fights at Princeton, 103;
+  personal gallantry, 104;
+  marches to Somerset C. H., 106.
+
+White Plains, Washington concentrates at, 39, 42 _note_;
+  action at, 40.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Campaign of Trenton 1776-77, by
+Samuel Adams Drake
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