IRLF SB THE CAMPAIGN TRENTON 17/6-77 SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE DECISIVE EVENTS " IK- ^AMERICAN HISTORY LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Accession 9.3.5.8.8 Class _ 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. Illus trated (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 CH&mts in American fftstorjj THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 1776-77 BY * s SAMUEL ADAMS BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK STREET I8 95 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY LEE AND SHEPARD All rights reserved THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON PRESS OF anfc Cfcaw BOSTON, U.S.A. CONTENTS PRELUDE 7 I NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR . . . . n 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 II VIII THE OUTLOOK . ... 68 IX THE MARCH TO TRENTO/T 79 X TRENTON 89 XI THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON ... 94 XII AFTER PRINCETON 108 (5) 93588 PRELUDE SELDOM, in the annals of war, has a single cam paign 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 edu cation, 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^vin battles, and our soldiers to fight with a confidence altogether new to them. In vain do we look for any other expla nation of the sudden stiffening up of the back bone of the Revolutionary army, or of the equally sudden restoration of an apparently dead and buried cause after even its most devoted followers 8 PRELUDE had given up all as lost. As with expiring breath that little band of hunted fugitives, miserable rem nant 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 under stood, 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. Com ing 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 PRELUDE g 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 consider ing 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 surround ing storm. Nowhere, we think, does Washington appear to such advantage as during this truly eventful cam paign. 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 dis close in more prosperous times. He does not IO PRELUDE 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 dan gerous. 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 dom inate the storm of disaster around him. Washington never claimed to be a man of des tiny. 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 person ality 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 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, New views anc * that these people were everywhere of the war. getting ready for a most determined resistance, the British ministry awoke to the neces sity 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, there fore, no longer directed to New England exclu sively, 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 12 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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. 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, The new 1 77^- On paper it consisted of twenty- continental eight battalions, with an aggregate of Army. 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 Continen tals, 2 as the regular troops were then called, to distinguish them from the militia. Immediately upon the evacuation of Boston by the British (March 17, 1776), the army marched by divisions to New York, the last brigade, with it marches to the commander-m-chief, leaving Cam- New York. bridge Qn NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR 13 tinctly 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 proposi tion, so quickly accepted by both belligerents, as regards the strategic value of New York for com bined 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. 14 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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. 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 inexperi- Make-up of ence were to be tested at the risk of the army. total f a j lurej and the mora i e severely tried by the grumbling and discontent arising for the most part from laxity of discipline, but some what 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 NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR 15 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, out posts, 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 assem blage. A few of the regiments, raised in the cities, 1 6 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 distin guished 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 unques tionably 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 admis sion from a British officer of rank that the rebel artillery officers were at least equal to their own. NEW YORK THE SEAT OF WAR \*J 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 I7/6. 6 1 As will be sben farther on, New England had no strategic value in this relation. 2 CONTINENTALS. This term, for want of a better, arose from the 1 8 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON practice of speaking of the colonies, as a whole, as the Continent, to distinguish them from this or that one, separately. 8 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 Connect icut. B 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. PLANS FOR DEFENCE 1 9 II PLANS FOR DEFENCE WASHINGTON S army had no sooner reached the Hudson than ten of the best battalions l were hur ried off to Albany, if possible, to retrieve the dis asters which had recently overwhelmed the army of Canada, where three generals, two of whom, Troops sent Montgomery and Thomas, were of the to Canada. highest promise, with upwards of 5,000 men, had been lost. The departure of these sea soned troops made a gap not easily filled, and should not be lost sight of in reckoning the effec tiveness of what were left. This large depletion was, however, more than made good, in numbers at least, by the reenforce- ments now arriving from the middle colonies, who, with troops forming the garrison of the city, pres ently raised the whole force under Washington s strength of orders 2 to a much larger number than the army. we re ever assembled in one body again. 2O THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON A very large proportion, however, were militia men, called out for a few weeks only, who indeed served to swell the ranks, without adding much real strength to the army. It being fully decided upon that New York should be held, two entirely distinct sets of meas ures were found indispensable. First the city was commanded by Brooklyn Heights, rising at short plans for cannon-shot across the East River, defence. 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 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 New York outgrown. A few farms and country in 1776. 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 cf King s Bridge, 4 twelve miles above the city, where PLANS FOR DEFENCE 21 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. Fort Washington 5 was, therefore, built on a com manding height two and a half miles below King s Bridge, with outworks covering the approaches to the bridge, either by the country roads com ing in from the north or from Harlem River at Fort wash- tne east - These works were never fin- mgton. ished, 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 ree n- forcements 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. 22 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 uncer tain constituent of it. For the present, there fore, 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 ques tions most anxiously debated in the American camp. However, the belief in a successful defence was much encouraged by the recent crushing defeat PLANS FOR DEFENCE 23 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. Thus matters stood in the American camps, when the British army that had been driven from Boston, heavily reenforced from Europe, and by The British calling in detachments from South Caro- army. ^ma, 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 24 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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. 1 THESE were Poor s, Patterson s, Greaton s, and Bond s Massa chusetts 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. 8 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. * 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 i83d 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 PLANS FOR DEFENCE 2$ 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. 26 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON III LONG ISLAND TAKEN 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 British move the landing of Howe s troops, in great to L. island. f orce> on t he Long Island shore, oppo site. 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. 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, LONG ISLAND TAKEN 2/ 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, pian of suggested the British plan of attack, attack. which was quickly matured and success fully 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 col umn got quite around the American flank and rear unperceived, and on the morning of the 2/th was in position, near Bedford, at an early hour, 28 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON waiting for the signal-guns to announce the begin ning of the battle at the British left. BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. Both columns then advanced to the attack. Being strongly posted, and well commanded, the LONG ISLAND TAKEN Battle of Americans made an obstinate resistance Long Island. anc j ^ fa^fi t | ie enem y j n 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." Though not in personal command when the action began, Washington crossed over to Brook lyn in time to see his broken and dispirited bat talions come streaming back into their works. Washington Fearing the worst, he had called down re-enforces. twQ Q f his best re gi ments (Shee s and 3O THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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, reinforcing 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. 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 asth and him, Washington changed his mind, agth. preparations were quietly made to with draw 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 LONG ISLAND TAKEN 31 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 mak ing 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. 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 Losses 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. Although the defence of New York had thus broken down at its vital point, a majority of gen erals favored still holding the city. To this end New York Washington now divided his forces, to be held. leaving 4,000 in the city, posting 6,500 32 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTO.V 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, him self, 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 Brad- dock s fatal campaign. 1 THIS range of hills includes the present Prospect Park and Green wood Cemetery. z THIS weak point was the approach from the east where the Ja maica 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. GENERAL GLOVER S estimate. s THE Morris House is still standing at i6oth street, near loth avenue, N.Y., and is now occupied by Gen. Ferdinand P. Earle. NEW YORK EVACUATED 33 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 dila tory proceedings be accounted for. Sixteen days passed without any demonstration on his part whatever. Meantime, however, the steady exten sion 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 recon sidered, 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 recover ing its breath, he prepared to spring at the moment 34 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON his enfeebled adversary should show signs of re turning animation. 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 British seize to a disgraceful panic which seized New York, foe 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 isl and, at the heels of the retreating Americans. A captain of British grenadiers describes what took place after the landing, in the following ani mated 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 NEW YORK EVACUATED 35 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." Each side now rested in possession of half the island, Washington of all above Harlem Heights, Howe of all below. His conquest was, however, Great fire near P rovm g a barren one, at best, for septem- within a week a third part of the city her 21. was laid in ashes, some say by incen diaries, some by accident. The situation was now so far reversed that Wash ington seemed to be blockading Howe in the city. 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 36 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON the enemy proposing to do next? It was impera- captain Hale tive to know. To ascertain this Capt. hanged. 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. But again and again we are puzzled to account for Howe s delays. Hard fighter that he unques tionably was, he seemed never in a hurry to begin. There is even some ground for believing that in Howe s New Yoi "k ne had found his Capua. Be delays. ^at as ft may, it is certainly true that nearly a whole month passed by before the slug gard Sir William again drew sword. Leaving Lord Percy to defend the lines below Lands at Harlem with four brigades, at eight Throg s o clock P.M. of the nth of October, Neck. General Clinton with the reserves, light STORMING OF FORT WASHINGTON. Explanation E, American positions; A-C, British attacks by Harlem River; B, via King s Bridge; D, from Harlem Plains. NEW YORK EVACUATED 39 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. 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 draw- in? out his forces from Harlem to Washington & moves to Kind s Bridge, first sending forward White Plains. 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 Meantime the enemy had been bringing up ree n- forcements, and on the i8th, finding the mainland too strongly held at Throg s Neck, for an advance Howe from that point, they made another marches to landing six miles beyond, whence they give battle. marched toward New Rochelle. From here they again marched (22d) for White Plains, 4O THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON where Washington was found (2/th) drawn up in order of battle behind the Bronx, waiting for them. Here Washington attempted to make a stand, but his right 4 being vigorously attacked and Battle of turned, he was forced to fall back upon a o^tob^lT 8 second position, in which he remained unmolested for several days, when (November I ) 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. Things remained in this situation until Novem ber 1 6, 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, Fort wash- notably at the north, and again at the ington taken. ions attempted to gain the rocky shore back of the Morris House, under Harlem Heights. A British officer, 6 there present, says of it that NEW YORK EVACUATED 4! " 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." The loss of the garrison of Fort Washington, 2,000 of whom were regular troops, was univer sally regarded as the most severe blow that the Effect on the American cause had yet sustained, and army. j t j ia j a mos t 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 Washington was withdrawn from the island. Lee s and Lee. 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. 42 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 1 A BRITISH brigade was sent down to the city in the course of the evening. * 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. 6 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. THE SITUATION REVIEWED 43 THE SITUATION REVIEWED THE dilemma now confronting Washington was hydra-headed. Either way it was serious. On one side New England lay open to the enemy, The new on t ^ ie otner New Jersey. And an situation. 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 Eng land, 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 proba bility 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 44 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON Hudson and the Delaware where the enemy s triumphal march might be stayed. Forced by these adverse circumstances to at tempt much more than twice his present force would have encouraged the hope of doing suc cessfully, 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 weak ened 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 ? purposes should be more fully developed. With Washing ton it was no longer a choice of evils, but a stern obedience to imperative necessity. Lee was now put in command of the corps left to watch Howe s movement east of the Hudson, The army loosely estimated at 5,000 men, and or- divided. dered 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 support- THE SITUATION REVIEWED 45 ing distance. With the other corps of 4,000 men Washington crossed into New Jersey, going into camp in the neighborhood of Fort Lee, Washington in New 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 com mand, 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 narrow est point. Howe determined to brush away this last obstruction without delay. 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 Novem ber 19 2 Lord Cornwallis made a sudden dash across to the New Jersey side, passing Fort Lee unper- ceived, landed a little above the fort at a place Fort Lee ^ at ^ad strangely been left unguarded, taken. climbed the heights unmolested, and was only prevented from making prisoners of the 46 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 ob tained 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 disas trous 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 gen erals ; the people hung their heads and were silent. AMERICAN POSITION BEHIND THE HACKENSACK. THE SITUATION REVIEWED 49 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 i8th by Gordon and those who have followed him. The igth is the date given by Captain Harris, who was with the expedition. 8 AN enumeration of these losses will be found in Gordon s American Revolution, Vol. IT., p. 360. THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON VI THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS IT was now the 2Oth 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. Losses in battle, by sickness or desertion, or other causes, had brought his dismembered forces down to a totaj of 10,000 men, of whom 3,500 only were strength of now un ^er his immediate command, the the army. 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 RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS CJ I 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 ! state of pub- His appeal had fallen flat. The great lie feeling. and rich State Q f 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 ques tion, " What think you, if we should retreat to the back parts of Pennsylvania, would the Pennsyl- vanians 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 dis couraging reply. " We must then retire to Augusta County in Virginia," said Washington, with grave decision, 52 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON " 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. First and foremost among the many causes of the army s disruption was its losses in prison ers. 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 Cruelties to l eas t committed with his guilty knowl- prisoners. edge. 1 The calculated barbarities prac tised 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." THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS 53 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 lan guishing 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. We have emphasized this dark feature of the contest solely for the purpose of showing its Affects material influence upon it at this par- recruiting. ticular 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, Washing- 54 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON ton 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 antip athy, 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 lower ing itself to the level of a little one. But Lee o could only see in it a struggle for personal favor and preferment. After the evacuation of Fort Lee, Lee was urged, unfortunately not ordered, to cross his force into Retreat ^he J ersevs > anc ^ SO bring it into COOp- begins. eration with the troops already there. The demonstrations then making in his front de- THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS 55 cided 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 van ishing. 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 Philadel phia 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 inarched, just as the enemy s rear-guard 56 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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. 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 New Brunswick small force. Instead, however, of the evacuated. .. 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 THE RETREAT THROUGH THE JERSEYS 57 had come. He therefore wrote to his laggard lieutenant, " Hasten your march as much as pos sible or your arrival may be too late." Fortunately Cornwallis had orders not to ad vance beyond New Brunswick. He therefore halted there until he could receive new instruc- Deccem- tions, which caused a delay of six days ber7 before the pursuit was renewed. 3 On the 7th Cornwallis moved on to Princeton, arriv ing 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 calcu lated 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 resist- 58 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON ance altogether hopeless. In this firm hold on his soldiers, at such an hour, we recognize the leader. 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 Harrington, afterwards Bishop of Dur ham. 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? LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE 59 VII LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE " 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 December 2 was ^ until Washington had reached and 3 . Princeton that Lee s troops were at last put in motion toward the Delaware. Hitherto Lee had been in some sort Washing ton s tutor, or at least military adviser, a r6le 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. Unquestion ably 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 can- 6O THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON not be acquitted of disloyalty to the cause he served, if that course threatened to wreck the cause itself. 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 Dela- Lee s plans. ware, in time to be of service, Lee had decided to adopt an entirely different line of con duct, more in accord with his own ideas of how the remainder of the campaign should be con ducted. 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, LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE 6 1 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 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 December 7 directing them to march to Morristown, and s. where his own troops were then halted. The prospect of this reinforcement, 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." In halting as he did Lee was deliberately forc ing 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 oppor tunity for righting in retreat being thrown away, (52 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 "Washington crosses the 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, December 8. 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 LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE 63 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 1 2th of the month, when it was again put in motion toward Vealtown, now Bernardsville. 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 corn- Gates mander-in-chief, Gates sent forward a arrives. sta ff o ffi cer 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 Lee taken. pushed on in search of him, and at four o clock in the morning of the 1 3th, he found Lee quartered in an out-of-the-way country tavern at 64 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 be tween 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 LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE 6$ of the situation, but proceeded to thwart them in a manner savoring of contempt. Lee was Washing ton s Bernadotte. Neither urging, remonstrance, nor entreaty could swerve him one iota from the course he had mapped out for himself. Con ceiving that he held the key to the very unprom ising 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 some what similar, though essentially different as to motives, might, and probably would, have justi fied 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 Wash ington s military reputation. Could he even have cut the enemy s line so as to throw it into confu sion, his conduct might have escaped censure. With this end in view he designed holding a posi tion 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 66 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON beyond the Delaware. Washington saw through Lee s schemes, refused to be driven into doing what his judgment did not approve, and the ten sion 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 dishonor ably 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 LEE S MARCH AND CAPTURE 67 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 out spoken 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 conse quence, 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 insuffer able egotism made him disliked, and it is to be remarked of the divis ions 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 TlCONDEROGA 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 be tween 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. 68 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 appar ently 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 THE OUTLOOK 69 thought of retreating behind the Alleghanies, which was virtual surrender. Even he, if report be true, began to think of the halter, and Frank lin s little witticism, on signing the Declaration, of, " Come, gentlemen, we must all hang together or we shall hang separately," was getting uncomfort ably 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 van quished people. The young men present deter mined 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 JO THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON with the assurance that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes." 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 Bur- British g vne > was gating ready to break plans. 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, Clin ton 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. THE OUTLOOK J\ Brilliant only when roused by the presence of danger, Howe as easily fell into his habitual in dolence 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 dis affected inhabitants. The field had already been reaped, and these troops were the gleaners. To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Borden- town, and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the dep6t, the first being well placed 72 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 chain Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was ofposts. strong enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had hap pened, 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 ac tive operations were for the present wholly sus pended. At the officers messes or in the bar racks 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 Rail at Trenton with 1,200 dentown ton. THE ATTACK ON TRENTON THE OUTLOOK 75 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. As soon as he had time to look about him, Donop at once extended his outposts down to Bur lington, on the river, and to Black Horse, on the back-road leading south to Mt. Holly, thus estab- Raiiand Hshing himself at the base point of a Donop. 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 care fully 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 Wash ington stretched out the remnant of his force along the opposite bank of the Delaware, from above Trenton to below Bordentown, looking chiefly to 76 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON the usual crossing places, which were being vigi lantly watched. Under date of December 16 a British officer writes home as follows: " Winter quarters are now OPERATIONS IN THE JliRSF.YS. 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 THE OUTLOOK 77 General Howe is returning to New York. I under stand 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." 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 im partial 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 cruelties of country where the scene of the action troops. h as k een i 00 k s 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 be hind, 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 /8 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON speaks out. But his omissions &re still more elo quent. It was not so much the loss of property, bad as that was, as the nameless atrocities every where 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 pro tection. As vainly did they appeal to the human ity 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 feel ing had taken place that the authors of these cruel ties 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. THE MARCH TO TRENTON 79 IX THE MARCH TO TRENTON 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 Spirit of the no reverses could subdue. And though officers. a ca i m 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 Post at which he himself had all along secretly Bristol. entertained. The hope was still further encouraged by a reinforcement of Pennsylvania 8O THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 Rail. 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. The isolated situation of Rail and Donop seemed to invite attack. Their fancied security seemed also to presage success. An inexorable necessity called loudly for action before conditions so favor able should be changed by the freezing up of the Rail s Delaware when, if the enemy had any danger. enterprise whatever, the river would no longer prevent, but assist, his marching into Phila delphia, and perhaps dictating a peace from the halls of Congress. Donop being considerably nearer Philadelphia than Rail, was, as we have seen, being closely THE MARCH TO TRENTON 8 1 watched by Cadwalader, whose force being largely drawn from the city had the best reasons for wish ing to be rid of so troublesome a neighbor. More especially in view of possible contin gencies, 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 Gates excusing himself from taking this com- suiking. mand on the plea of iii_health. Below Cadwalader, again, Putnam was in com mand at Philadelphia, with a fluctuating force of local militia, only sufficiently numerous to furnish guards for the public property, protect the friends, in Phiia- an d watch the enemies, of the cause, deiphia. 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 mak- 82 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON ing one of those sudden movements so discon certing 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. Putnam was the first to beard the lion by throw ing part of his force across the Delaware. 3 Whether this was done to mask any purposed A first move. J f f 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 reinforce ments 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 Cadwala- der s and Ewing s 4 forces in between Donop and Rail, while Griffin or Putnam was threatening Donop from below; and he was striking Rail from above. Had these blows fallen in quick THE MARCH TO TRENTON 83 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 : 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 Ran the * n tn d r front. Cadwalader and Ewing object. having spent the night in vain efforts to cross their commands, returned to their encamp ments. 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 84 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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. Greene, Sullivan, St. Clair, Sterling, Knox, Mer cer, Stephen, Glover, Hand, Stark, Poor, and Pat terson were there to lead these slender columns to victory. Among the subordinates who were treading this rugged pathway to renown were strong array Hull, Monroe, Hamilton, and Wilkinson, of officers. Rank disappeared in the soldier. Major-generals commanded weak brigades, brig adiers, 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. Boats being held in readiness the troops began their memorable crossing. Its difficulties and dangers may be estimated by the failure of the THE MARCH TO TRENTON 85 two cooperating corps to surmount them. Of this TheDeia- P art ^ the work Glover 5 took charge, ware crossed. 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 event ful 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 pre cious 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 86 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON" for the march of nine miles to Trenton, \vhich 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 day break was now out of the question. Nevertheless, Washington decided to push on as rapidly as pos sible ; and the troops having been formed in two columns, were now put in motion toward the enemy. The march was horrible. A more severe win ter 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 judg ing 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. THE MARCH TO TRENTON 8/ 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 near- ing 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. 1 JOHN CADWALADER, of Philadelphia. His services in this cam paign 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 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON he had moved to Philadelphia before the war broke out. His knowl edge of the country which became the seat of war was invaluable to Washington. THIS force was under command of Colonel Griffin, Putnam s ad jutant-general. 4 JAMES EWING, brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia, posted opposite to Bordentown. In some accounts he is called Irvine, Erwing, etc. 6 COL. JOHN GLOVER commanded one of the best disciplined regiments in Washington s army. TRENTON 89 X TRENTON VERY early in the evening there had been firing at Rail 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 Rail s mind as regards any danger of an attack. 1 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 enjoy ing 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 The attack. them. They turned out only to be swept away before the eager rush of the Ameri- QO THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON cans, 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. 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 imagina tion conjures up the sounding of the last trump. 2 street com- Grape and canister cleared the streets bats - 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 Rail, brave enough in the smoke and flame of combat, even thought of forcing his way back into the town. 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 TRENTON 91 at the right the roll of Sullivan s musketry an- Suiiivanin nounccd his steady advance toward the bridge leading to Bordentown. The road to Princeton was held by a regiment of rifle men. 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. Not knowing which way to turn next, Rail held his ground, like a wounded boar brought to bay, until a bullet struck him to the ground with a Hessians mortal wound. Finding themselves surrender. 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 92 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON immortal twenty-four hundred had behaved like men determined to be free. Now, while in the fresh glow of triumph, Wash ington 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, The river recnforced by the fugitives from Tren- recrossed. tonj outnumbered him three to two. Reinforced 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 cer tainty 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 there fore given to repass the river without delay or confusion, and, after gathering up their prisoners and their trophies, the victors retraced their pain ful march to their old encampment, where they TRENTON 93 arrived the same evening, worn out with their twenty-four hours incessant marching and fight ing, 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. 1 HARRIS says that Rail 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. 94 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON XI THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 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 dis tinctly 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 Wash- cadwaiader i"gton still to be at Trenton, Cadwal- ader made a second attempt to cross to his assistance at Bristol on the 2/th, 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. On getting over the river, Cadwalader learned THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 95 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 there- fore 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 At Borden- a detachment. That, too, had been town. 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 96 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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." 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 Trenton re- ^ s command. On the 29th he there- occupied. f ore r eoccupied 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 Meantime the alarm brought about by Donop s 4 falling back on Princeton caused the commanding officer there to call urgently for reinforcements. None were sent, however, for some days, when the Princeton grenadiers and second battalion of guards reenforced. marched in from New Brunswick. In evidence of the wholesome terror inspired by Wash ington s daring movements comes the account of the reception of this reinforcement by an eye- THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 97 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 gen erals 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. 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 sub sequent operations. Hearing that the enemy was at least ready to move forward, Cadwalader s and 98 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON Mifflin s troops were called in to Trenton, and washin ton preparations made to receive the attack concentrates un f]i nc hingly. This force being all assembled on the 1st of January, 1777, Washing ton 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 sur prise, with some thirty guns planted in his front to defend the crossing. Washington and Rail had thus suddenly changed places. The American position was strong except on the right. It being higher ground the artillery com manded the town, the Assanpink was not fordable in front, the bridge was narrow, and the left secured His position, b / the Delaware. The weak spot, the jan. 2, 1777. 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, THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 99 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 Wash ington, 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 I OO THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 re treat? 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 abandon ment 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. 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 Washington s not he threaten their s ? This was sub- tactics. Hmated audacity, with his little force; but safety here was only to be plucked from the nettle danger. It was then and there that Wash- THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON IOI ington 6 proposed making a flank march to Prince ton that very night, boldly throwing themselves upon the enemy s communications, defeating such reinforcements 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 im puted to fear, but rather to da^tfe^The proposal was instantly adopted, ag^ffie generals repaired to their respective commands. 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 sud den changes of weather, not uncommon even in midwinter, the soft ground had become hard March to frozen during the early part of the Princeton. night, so that rapid marching was possible, and rapid marching was the only thing IO2 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 shoe less 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. Shortly after daybreak the British, at Trenton, heard the dull booming of a distant cannonade. Washington, escaped from their snares, was sound ing 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 expect ing to make short work of Washington in the morning, saw himself fairly outgeneralled. His rear-guard, his magazines, his baggage, were in THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON IO3 danger, his line of retreat cut off. There was British in not a moment to lose. Exasperated pursuit. at 1-]^ 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. Three British battalions lay at Princeton the night before. 7 Two of them were on the march to Trenton when Washington s troops were dis covered approaching on a back road. Astonished at seeing troops coming up from that direction, Mercer s ^ ie leading battalion instantly turned fight - 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 vol leys, the British charged with the bayonet, broke IO4 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 him self 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 every thing 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 fir ing grew brisker and brisker. Assailed with fresh spirit, the British, in their turn, gave way, leav ing 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 THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 1 05 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 night. Two had been pre vented 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 dep6t there seemed to him, it IO6 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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." 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. In deed, 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. < PART of Donop s force fell back even as far as New Brunswick. 6 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. THE FLANK MARCH TO PRINCETON 1 07 e IN a letter to his wife Knox gives the credit of this suggestion to Washington, without qualification. ^ THESE were the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-first. s 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. o THE Seventeenth regiment, Colonel Mawhood, carried off the honors of the day for the British. 1 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. IO8 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON XII AFTER PRINCETON IT had taken Cornwallis a whole week to drive Washington from Brunswick to Trenton ; Wash ington had now made Cornwallis retrace his steps inside of twenty-four hours. In the retreat through the Jerseys there had been neither strat egy 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 with out 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 AFTER PRINCETON I (X) which tend rather to increase than diminish its effects. What was passing at Brunswick has fortu nately found a record in the diary of a British officer posted there when the news of Washing ton 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 Bruns wick. 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 Prince ton, 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?). Wash ington 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, IIO THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON 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 imme diately 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. AFTER PRINCETON I I I 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 ex traordinary campaign that every blow Washington had struck left his army exhausted. After each 112 THE CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON success it was necessary to recuperate. It was now being reorganized in the shelter of its moun tain fastness, strengthened by a simultaneous uprising of the people, who now took the redress of their wrongs into their own hands. No forag ing 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 cam paign had ended in utter failure and disgrace. In England, Edward Gibbon says that the Americans had almost lost the name of rebels, and in Amer ica Sir William Howe found that he had to contend with a man in every way his superior. NDEX AMERICAN Army, 12, 17 note marches to N. York, 12; it ciency, 14 ; weakened by dfach- ments, 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 Wash ington, 40 ; losses there, 41 ; is divided into two corps, 44; dis sension in, 49 note; reduced numbers, 50; summary of losses, 52, 53 ; reaches the Delaware, 57 ; in position there, 75 ; is reen forced, 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 scq. ; in win ter 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 ; suc ceeds better in a second attempt, 94; and occupies Bordentown, 95- :on, 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. Bruns wick, 106. DECLARATION of Independence, read to the army, 23. Donop, Col. Count, 72, 75 ; aban dons 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 col umn at Trenton, 87. Griffin, Colonel, moves into the Jerseys, 82. INDEX HALE, Capt. Nathan, taken and hanged, 36. Harlem Heights, the army head quarters, 32, and note. Haslet, Col. John, at Princeton, 105. Heath, Gen. Wm., put in command in the Highlands, 44, 96, io6note. 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; in humanity to prisoners by his per mission, 52; plans for next cam paign, 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 Brit ish, 34 ; account by an eye-wit ness, 34, 35. Knox, Gen. Henry, improves the artillery service, 16, 17 ; at Tren ton, 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 Morrislown, and is captured, 63 ; probable aims, 65. Long Island, campaign opened at, 26 ; British plan of attack, 27 ; flank march, 27, 28 ; evacuated, 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, n ; its strategic value, 13 ; defence de termined 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 com mand 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 lorce 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 Prince ton, 105. Stark, Gen. John, at Trenton, 87, 106 note. Sterling or Stirling, Lord (Will iam 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. INDEX Trenton, occupied as a British out post, 72; carried by assault, 89 et seq.; fruits of victory, 91 ; an epoch in the war, 93 ; first aban doned, 93 ; then reoccupied, 96. WASHINGTON, Gen., at N. York, 12 ; decides to act on the defen sive, 1 8 note; stands on his dig nity, 24; not in command at L. Island, 29 ; orders its evacuation, 30; moves to White Plains, 39; fights 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 partisan ship, 54 ; directs Lee to join him, 54. 55 retreats to Newark, 55 ; to New Brunswick, 56 ; troops leave him, 56 ; at Princeton, 57 ; admi rable retreat, 57; crosses the Delaware, 62; determines on striking the British outposts 79 80 ; his plan, 82, 83 ; marches on Trenton, 83 et sea.; carries Tren ton 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 gal lantry, 104 ; marches to Somerset C. H ., 106. White Plains, Washington concen trates at, 39, 42 note ; action at, 40. Supplementary Reading for Softools Gradd Snppleinen a-y Reading By Prof. Tweed, for 3 Years Primary. 12 Parts. In p?iper covers each 5 cts. The 4 parts lor each year bound in boards 20 cts. each WVeh Fire of 76 By S. A. Drake 50 L lustrations $1.25 The Story of Patriots Day Concord and Lexington By Geo. J. Varney Illustrated Cloth 60cems Young People s History of Eng land Toung People s History of Ire land Illustrated by George M Towle School edition 68 cents each Story of Our Country By Mrs. L. B. Monroe Boards 60 cents The King of the Golden River By John Ruskiu Cloth 25 cents Boards 20 cents Decisive Events in American History By Samuel Adams Drake Each 40 cents BuRGOYNE s IN VASION OF 1777 ; THE TAKING OF LOUISBURG ; BATTLE OF GETTYS BURG; CAMPAIGN OF TRENTON Manual of Bible Selections and Responsive Exercises for Pub lic and Private Schools By Mrs. S. B. Perry 60 cents Heroes of Hibt , ., By George M. Towle School Edition 68 cents VASCO DE GAMA ; PIZARRO ; MA GELLAN ; MARCO POLO ; RALEIGH ; DRAKE Heroes and Martyrs of Invention By George M. Towle 68 cents Young Folks Series 24 Parts each 15 Cents HlGGINSON S AMERICAN EXPLORERS 8 Parts; MRS. HOP KINS OBSERVATION LESSONS 4 Parts ; PARABLES ; MRS. PERRY S BIBLE STORIES ; DICKENS OWN READINGS 10 Parts. Gl .ip*es at the Plant World By F. D. Bergen. School Edition 50 cents The Lost Jewel By Harriet Pres- >fford 50 cents >lks East and \V>st r,v ums Boards 60 cents each Excellent Quotations By Julia B Hoitt Cloth 75 cents Young Folks Book of Poetry Arranged by Prof. L. J. Campbell In three parts Paper 20 cents eacl Prof. King s Geographical Read ers Fully illustrated I. HOME AND SCHOOL 50 cts. II. THIS CONTINENT OF OURS 72 cents III. LAND WE LIVE IN Part 1st 56 cents IV. LAND WE LIVE IN Part 2d 56 cents V. LAND WE LIVE IN Part 3d First Steps with British and American Authors By Albert F. Blaisdell, A.M. 75 cents. Readings from the Waverley Novels Edited by Albert F. Bhus- dell, A.M. Cloth 75 cents Chapters fr<-m Jane Austen By Oscar Fay Adams Cloth 75 cent, 1 ? The following Books are bound in Boards Price 30 cents each Stories of Animals By Mrs. San- born Tenney 500 ills. 6 vols. QUAD RUPEDS ; BIRDS ; FISHES AND REP TILES; BEES AND OTHER INSECTS; SEA AND RIVER SHELLS; SEA URCHINS AND CORALS Miss West s Class iu Geography By Miss Sparhawk Nntural History Plays By Louisa P. Hopkins Robinson Crusoe Arranged for Schools by W. T. Adams Aiabian Nights Entertainments (Selections) Arranged by Dr. Eliot Stories from American History By N S. Dodge. Noble Deeds of Our Fathers as told by Soldiers of the Revolution The Boston Tea-Party and Other Stories of the Revolution Stories of the Civil War By Albert F. Blaisdell, A.M. The Flower People By Mrs. Hor ace Mail 11 Lessons on Manners By Miss Vigg A. Kiss for a Blow By Henry Clarke Wright The Nation in a Nutshell By H. R. Shattuck Illustrated 50 cents George Makepeace Towle Prof. Monroe s Readings 4 vol- Sh<rt Studies of American Au thors By Col. T. W. Higgiuson The Columbia* Speaker By L. J. Campbell and O. J. Root, Jr. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin With >.otes Boards Every-Day Business Its Practical Details By M. S. Emery Complete in one volume ClothSOcts. Copies for examination sent prepaid upon receipt of nnove introductory net prices Our complete catalogue free LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston nes - ON ITS PRACTICAL DETAILS Arranged for Young People by M. S. EMERY Price, boards, SO cents net. By mail, 35 cents. N accurate knowledge- of how to attend to the every-day affairs of a business life is, indeed, a most valuable possession. The require ments of modern business life are manifold and exacting, demand ing technical information, and, besides, quite a degree of what may justly be termed "cultivation." This valuable and indispensable book covers a wide range of information of much importance, and is designed as a text-book for schools, and for ready reference for young people and those who need such instruction as it contains. It treats in an attractive and clear manner subjects which bear on every-day callings, iike "Letter-writing," by which so large a percentage of business is con ducted; " Bills, Receipts, and Accounts; " "Post-Omce Business," with instructions regarding late advantages and scope of accommodation; " Telegrams," " Express Business," " United States Money," " Savings Banks," " National Banks," " Bank Checks," " Notes and Drafts," "Mortgages," "Investment and Speculation," "Taxes." " Fire Insur ance," and "Life Insurance." These are topics conveying a general idea of the worth of the book topics about which business men must know, and covering that which they who would be business men must learn. Keeping relatively abreast of modern methods, the educators of our day see the necessity of imparting business knowledge, as well as that which is purely scientific, historical, or literary in its nature; hence, the adaptability of " Every-Day Business " to the necessities of American schools and our progressive ways of life. Miss WEST S \j . . GEOGRAPHY By FRANCES C. SPARHAWK Boards 30 cts By mail 35 cts " After making child-nature a special study, Miss Sparhawk offers this little book as its result. It is designed to be used as a supplementary reader for classes in geography, and in cases of very young children as preparatory to the definitions and statements of text-books, which to chil dren so often mean nothing. Still, the author does not intend that because this book is used all verbal explanations should be done away with; and while it is designed to take the place of aimless and weary work, it is not Rain, Highways and Barriers, From the Lakes to the Gulf, Cities, Mountains and Rivers, and many more important topics, h* eluding the continents." School Journal. fy all booksellers and sent by mail postpaid on receipt of prtct LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston Pocfcet Guide to He Common Land Birds of New England - By M. A. WILLCOX PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY WELLESLEY COLLEGE Containing Full Description Key and Literary References 60 cents net " Nothing is more indicative of the spread of popular culture in profitable and beneficent directions than the constantly increasing interest in the practical study of ornithology and botany. Of the numerous volumes thai have been published of late on bird lore, none is so practicable, or on the whole so well suited to the needs of the beginner, as this." Boston Beacon. " Miss Willcox s long experience in teaching college women how to study birds has enabled her to present the subject in a very attractive form, and the book will be interesting and valuable to all bird-lovers." Boston Ttmes. NEW ENGLAND BIRD LIFE BEING A MANUAL OF NEW ENGLAND ORNITHOLOGY REVISED AND EDITED FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF WINFRED A. STEARNS BY Dr. ELLIOTT COUES Part I. Oscines (Singing Birds) - - Price $2.50 Part II. Non-Oscine Passeres, Birds of Prey, Game and Water Birds - - Price 82.5O "This work is as valuable for any general reader as it is for the scientist. for its descriptions are written in plain, popular language which all intelligent people can readily comprehend. So far as our observation extends, we know of no work, the low price of which renders it accessible to all classes of readers, that we should so cordially recommend to our friends. The descriptions of the birds are so plain and clear that any one can readily identity a species, and learn all that is desired as to its habi tats, migration, breeiiinghabits. etc. It is copiously illustrated with wood cuts which give us many excellent portraits of our feathered friends." Chicago Herald. "Its method and scope are all that could be desired in a general scien tific treatise." Boston Traveller. "This book is a benefit/or to the rising generation which they cannot too highly prize." Portland Argus. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston TEACHERS AIDS. THE ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY By GABRIEL COMPAYRB. Translated by William H. Payne, Ph.D., LL.D., Chancellor of the University of Nashville. Price. $1.00, net. By mail Si.ic. MED CT10N AN ORGANIZATI N IN THE GERMANSCHOOLS By JOHN T. PRINCK, Mass. State Board of Education. Cloth, $1.00, net Mailing; price, $1.15. METHODS AND AIDS IN GEOGRAPHY For the use of Teachers and Normal Schools. By CHARLES F. KING, Master Dearborn School, Boston. Cloth. Illustrated. $1.20, net. By mail Si. REMINISCENCES OF FRIEDRICH FROEBEL By BARONESS B. VON MAKENHOLZ-BULOW. Translated by Mrs. Horace Mann. With a sketch of the life of Froebel by Emily Shirreff. Cloth, 1.50, MOTHER-PLAY AND NURSERY SONGS By FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. Translated from the German. Edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody. Quarto. Boards, $1.50, net. By mail, $1.75. THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW EDUCATION By LOUISA PARSONS HOPKINS, supervisor of Boston Public Schools. Clo. $1.50. HOW SHALL MY CHILD BE TAUGHT? Practical Pedagogy or the Science of Teaching. By Mrs. LOUISA PARSONS HOPKINS, supervisor in Boston Public Schools. Cloth, $1.00, net. AN HOUR WITH DELSARTE A Study of Expression. By ANNA MORGAN of the Chicago Conservatory. Illustrated with full-page figure illustrations. Quarto. Cloth. $2.00. THE VOICE How to Train It, How to Care for It. By E. B. WARMAN, A.M. With full- page illustrations by Marion Morgan Reynolds. Quarto. Cloth, $2.00. GESTURES AND ATTITUDES An Exposition of the Delsarte Theory of Expression. By EDW D B. WAR- MAN, A.M., auther of " The Voice, How to Train It, How to Care for It," etc. With over 150 full-page illustrations by Marion Morgan Reynolds. Cloth. $3.00. HANDBOOK OF SCHOOL GYMNASTICS OF THE SWEDISH SYST EM By BARON NILS POSSE. Cloth. Illustrated. Net, 50 cents. By mail, 55 cents. THE SPECIAL KINESIOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL GYM NASTICS. By BARON NILS POSSE. With Analytical Chart. Fully illustrated. Quarto. Cloth, 3.00. FIRST STEPS WITH AMERICAN AND BRITISH AUTHORS By ALBERT F. BLAISDELL, A.M. Illustrated. Cloth, 75 cents, net. By mai), 85 cents. STUDY OF THE ENGLISH CLASSICS A Practical Handbook for Teachers. By ALBERT F. BLAISDELL. Cloth, $1.00, net. By mail, $1.10. THE ART OF PROJECTING A Manual of Experimentations with the Port Lumiere and Magic Lantern. By Prof. A. E. DOLBEAK, M.E., Ph.D. New Edition, Revised. $2.00. OBSERVATION LESSONS For Teachers. By LOUISA PARSONS HOPKINS, Supervisor Boston Public Schools. Parts I., II., III., and IV. Paper, 15 cents, net, each part. Complete in one volume, cloth, 75 cents, net. By mail, 83 cents. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY By LOUISA PARSONS HOPKINS, Supervisor Boston Public Schools. 50 cents. HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE In two volumes. By FRANCIS H. UNDERWOOD, A.M. American Authors. British Authors. Price, $2.00 per volume. By mail, $2.20. LIFE AND WORKS OF HORACE MANN Edited by GEORGE C. MANN. Five volumes. Cloth, $2.50, net, per volume. Any of the above sent by mail on receipt of price. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston. THE SPECIAL KINESIOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL GYM NASTICS By BARON NILS POSSE, M.G. Graduate Royal Gymnastic Central In stitute, Stockholm, Sweden. Director Posse Gymnasium, Boston. With 267 illustrations and Analytical Chart, $3.00. The previous editions of Baron Posse s Swrdish System of Educational Gymnastics having been exhausted, and a new edition demanded, the author has taken the opportunity to completely revise and enlarge it, making it the foundation of all rational gymnastics, "since, to-day, it is the only system whose details have been elucidated by and derived from Mechanics, Anat omy, Physiology, and Psychology, and whose theories have survived the scrutiny of scientists all over the world." Many tables of exercises have been added together with an analytical chart of the system, which will be ol great value to all students and teachers. Size of chart, 18 X22 inches. THE VOICE How to train it How to care for it By E. B. WARMAN A.M. With full-page illustrations by MARIAN MORGAN REYNOLDS Quarto cloth $2.00 " The book is intended for ministers, lecturers, readers, actors, singers, teachers, and public speakers, and the special conditions applicable to each class are pointed out in connection with the general subject. I he use and abuse of the vocal organs is considered, and their legitimate functions emphasized as illustrated by their anatomy, hygiene, and physiology. The breathing and vocal exercises for the culture and development of the human voice are made clear by diagrams as well as descriptions, and the fruits of the author s long experience as a teacher are embodied in this eminently practical treatise." Critic. AN HOUR WITH DELSARTE A Study of Expression by ANNA MORGAN of the Chicago Conserva. tory Illustrated by ROSA MUELLER SPRAGUE and MARIAN KEY. NOLDS with full-page figure illustrations 4*0 cloth $2.00 "This beautiful quarto volume presents the ideas of Delsarte in words which all may understand. It is explicit and comprehensible. No one can read this book or study its twenty-two graceful and graphic illustra tions without perceiving the possibility of adding strength aivd ex P^ sion to gestures and movements, as well as simplicity and ease. Mr. Turveydrop went through life with universal approval, simply by his admirable deportment. Every young person may profitably take * kint from his success, and this book will be found invaluable as an instructor." Woman s Journal, Boston. Sold by all booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt o LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston METHODS IN HISTORY J[ pathfindei 1 iq American Hi^or 1 J For the Use of Teachers, Normal Schools and More Mature Pupils in Grammar Grades By WILBUR F. GORDY Principal North Grammar School Hartford Conn, and W. I. TWITCH ELL Principal Arsenal Grammar School Hartford Conn. In Two Parts Complete in One Volume SI. 20 net; also, pub lished separately Part I. 60 cents net ; Part II. 90 cents net In the "Atlantic Monthly" for February 1893 " A Pathfinder in American History " by W. F. Gordy and W. I. Twitchell, is a capital handbook for the use of teachers. The compilers go straight at the mark, assuming that American history is intrinsically interesting and of the highest importance in the development of an intelligent patriotism. They lay down courses, make practical suggestions, and throughout are specific, not gen eral, in the aid they give teachers in this most significant part of school work. G. I. Aldrich Superintendent of Schools Newton Mass " You have done a useful bit of work, and I show my appreciation of it by ask ing the School Board to authorize its use in Newton." CARPENTRY FOR BOYS Elementary Woodwork FOR Manual Training Classes Designed to give fundamental instruction in the use of the principal tools needed in Carpentry and Joinery By GEORGE B. KILBON Principal of Manual Training Springfield Mass Cloth 75 cents net This is a collection of sixteen lessons taught in the senior grammar grade at Springfield, Mass., and is designed to give fundamental instruction in the use of all the principal tools needed in carpentry and joinery. It is copiously illus trated, and is admirably calculated to give the young student a thorough practi cal insight into the fundamental principles of working in wood, on a clear and simple system that commends itself at once to confidence in its efficacy. Boston Gazette. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston E PEOQRAPHICAL * If. -.READERS Five Fully Illustrated Volumes Now Heady. Others in Pren- aration. By CHAS. F. KING Author of " Methods and Aids in Geography. " First Book: HOME AND SCHOOL 240 pages. Over 125 Illustrations. Price, 50 cents net. By mail, 58 cents. Second Book: THIS CONTINENT OF OURS 320 pages. Fully Illustrated. Price, 72 cents net. By mail, 83 cents. Third Book: THE LAND WE LIVE IN Part I 240 pages. 153 Illustrations. Price, 56 cents net. By mail, 64 cents. Fourth Book: THE LAND WE LIVE IN Part II 240 pages. 153 Illustrations. Price, 56 cents net. By mail, 64 cents. Fifth Book: THE LAND WE LIVE IN Part III 268 pages. 171 Illustrations. Price, 56 cents net. By mail, 64 cents. In presenting this series of readers the publishers wish to make prominent seme of the desirable and interesting features which are incorporated in it. The books are based upon a well-defined system, which is carefully developed and adhered to throughout. The earth as the abode of man is the dominant idea, and man, his occupations, customs, manners, and various relations with his fellowmen, are carefully considered, faithfully portrayed, and intelligently dis cussed. The information is given in the narrative style, which introduces the same characters, the Cartmell family, in many changing scenes and constantly varying surroundings. As the truths intended to be conveyed by the study of geography can better be conceived by travel, the author enforces his points by conveying the Cartmell family to all the places described. One of the strongest features of the system is the free use of excellent illus trations, made mostly from recent photographs and from drawings by English, French, and American artists. In no other manner can such an accurate knowl edge of practical value, in regard to political, physical, and commercial geogra phy, be obtained. The books are carefully graded, and are intended to be used in connection with, and not in place of, the regular geography. Interspersed throughout the series are frequent suggestions as to reviewing topics, numerous maps of the countries visited, valuable lists of suitable poems for additional reading and study, out lines for lessons in language, etc. In fact, everything that will contribute to instruct, interest, and give infonnation to the pupil has been supplied in a very compact and readable form. The PICTURESQUE GEOGRAPHICAL, READERS are in use in New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, and many other cities and towns throughout the United States. Specimen Pages Mailed Free Sample Copies for examination sent upon receipt of prices quoted above. Our Complete Catalogue mailed free. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston THE STORY OF OUR COUNTRY Mrs. LEWIS B. MONROE " Since the issue of the famous Peter Parley books, we nave not met with a book so pleasing and instructive. It is written in the style of a conversation between a mother and her children, aged ten and twelve years. From beginning to end, there is nothing tiresome in these pages. The whole history of the discovery, settlement, fortunes and growth of America is contained, briefly epitomized, and by good arrangement impressed upon the memory. We cheerfully commend it. " New York School Journal. 275 handsomely printed pages fully illustrated Price 80 cents net By mail 90 cents School edition boards 60 cents By mail 66 cents STRUGGLES OF THE NATIONS OR THE PRINCIPAL WARS, BATTLES, SIEGES AND TREATIES OF THE WORLD BY S. M. BURNHAM Two Volumes - - Price $4.00 per set net Either Volume sold separately " The arrangement of Struggles of the Nations is so complete that it gives the principal wars, battles, sieges and treaties of peace in a style easy and graceful, in which notable historic incidents and scraps of biog raphy brighten every page. It is a most admirable summary ; and as much as the most intelligent reader will find time for study along this line of history. The narrative of the Civil War of the United States is concise, definite, and authentic. A special chapter has been given to treaties, leagues, alliances, etc., and the general principles on which they are founded. The work is certain to be a source of profitable information to a wide circle of readers." The Inter-Ocean, Chicago. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston HISTORICAL HANDBOOKS [Reference Handbook of American History By the LIBRARY METHOD For Secondary Schools Period of the Constitution 1789-1889 By A. W. BACHELER Princi pal of the High School Gloucester Mass. Interleaved Price 50 cents net In this selection of topics for study and research, the important events of the History of the United States are emphasized, the relation of cause to effect is clearly presented. The success of the method has been so well established by experience that this attempt to bring the system within the reach of every student of United States history will be gratefully received. The Study of English History By the LABORATORY METHOD By MARY E. WILDER Interleaved Price 40 cents net This manual, which was prepared by the author for use in her class-room, has proven of such value that many educators have desired it for use in other schools. The work embraces English History from Ancient England until the present time and is covered by a very full list of topics which are divided into periods. At the end of each period a list of historical novels and dramas is given. The work contains a full list of the authorities men tioned, together with several minor lists. Hints are also given for teachers unaccustomed to laboratory method. The Study of Roman History By the LABORATORY METHOD By CAROLINE E. TRASK Interleaved Price 40 cents Topics for the Study of Greek Mythology BASED ON BULFINCH S "Acs OF FABLE" By ANNA GOODING DODGE, former teacher of English Literature in Arlington High School Price 20 cents net By mail 22 cents This is a set of topics prepared for a systematic study of Mythology. The introduction of a separate course on this subject for high-school pupils has proved most successful and valuable both to classical and English scholars. These topics will be found of invaluable service to teachers and students in this study. The Study of Greek History By the LABORATORY METHOD By CAROLINE E. TRASK LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston "FIRED THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD" HISTORY OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER S [BREED S] HILL ON JUNO 17. 1TTS From Authentic Sources in Print and Manuscript By Rev. GEORGE E. ELLIS, D.D. With a map of the Battle Ground and an Account of the Monument on Breed s Hill. Cloth Illustrated 50 cents Dr Ellis was not a participant in this " battle of.battles," but the reader of the graphic delineation that he has prepared is easily persuaded that the true spirit of the heroes of that immortal struggle has been portrayed with a pen so full of careful research and loftiest patriotism as to place the work in the front rank of the many accounts that have been presented. The body of the book presents the scene of the battle and its surround ings, preparations for the affray during the night preceding the battle, the several assaults and a resume" of the results set forth in the comprehensive diction of the natural story-teller, all being supplemented by copious notes appertaining to occurrences directly associated with the participants in the world-read event, a description of the monument erected to the memory of Gen. Warren, a care fully compiled list of those who sacrificed their lives in this opening struggle for liberty, a table giving the approximate division of time together with many other items of interest. THE STORY OF PATRIOTS DAY By GEORGE J. VARNEY CLOTH 6O CEICTTS The 19th of April, 1775, is a day that is full of meaning to the patriotic American, and its anniversary should be more generally observed in the school than it is. The recounting of the stirring events connected with the opening of the Revolutionary War will have an excellent effect in inspiring the pupils with patriotism. An excellent history of these events, together with the poetry written in their commemoration, is contained in this book, in which is described the condition of things in Massachusetts just previous to the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, and then, starting with the 18th of April, 1775, the editor relates with great particularity the events of that night and the succeeding day in Boston and at Lexington and Concord, the ride of Revere and Dawes, the massa cre at Lexington and the fight at Concord bridge. Paul Revere s story of his famous ride, the original of which is owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society, is quoted in full. Scarcely less interesting are the narratives of others who either took part in the doings of the day, or who received the accounts from those who did. An added chapter gives an account of the fhigs used during the war of the Revolution. School Journal, Xew York. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers TORIE? lMERICAN HISTORY V Four Books, Cloth, Illustrated, Price for each book, 50 cents, Boards^ 30 cents net. By mail, 35 cents FIRST SERIES STORIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY. By N. S. DODGE, As a reading-book for the younger classes in public and private schools (by many of which it has been adopted), it will be found of great value. " Nobody knows better than the author how to make a good story out of even the driest matters of fact. . . . Here are twenty-two of such stories ; and they are chosen with a degree of skill which of itself would indicate its author s fitness for the task, even if we had no other evidence of that fitness. There is uo better, pure^, more interesting, or more instruc tive book for boys." New York Hearth and Home. SECOND SERIES NOBLE DEEDS OF OUR FATHERS. As told by Soldiers of the Revolution gathered around the Old Bell of Independence. Revised and adapted from HENRY C. WATSON. " Every phase of the struggle is presented, and the moral and reli gious character of our forefathers, even when engaged in deadly conflict, is depicted with great clearness. The young reader indeed, older readers will like the stories will be deeply interested in the story of Lafayette s return to this country, of reminiscences of Washington, of the night before the battle of Brandywine, of the first prayer in Congress, of the patriotic women of that day, stories of adventure regarding Gen. Wayne, the traitor Arnold, the massacre of Wyoming, the capture of Gen. Prescott, and in other narratives equally interesting and important." Norwich Bulle .in. THIRD SERIES THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, and other Stories of the Revolution. Relating many Daring Deeds of the Old Heroes. By HENRY C. WATSON. "The tales are full of interesting material, they are told in a very graphic manner, and give many incidents of personal daring and descrip tions of famous men and places. General Putnam s escape, the fight at Concord, the patriotism of Mr. Borden, tho battle of Bunker Hill, the battle of Oriskany, the mutiny at Morristown, and the exploits of Peter Francisco are among the subjects. Books such as this have a practical value and an undeniable charm. History will never be dull so long as it is represented with so much brightness and color." Philadelphia Record. iSTORIES OF THE CIVIL WAR. By ALBERT M. BLAIS- DELL, A.M., author of " First Steps with American and British Authors," " Readings from the Waverley Novels," " Blaisdell s Physi ologies," etc. Illustrated. Library Edition, Cloth, $1.00. School Edition, Boards, 30 cents, net; by mail, 35 cents. "An exceedingly interesting collection of true stories of thrilling events and adventures of the brave men who fought during the Civil War. The author aims to present recitals of graphic interest and founded on fact ; to preserve those written by eye-witnesses or participants in the scenes described; and especially to stimulate a greater love and reverence for our beloved land and its institutions, in the character of the selections presented. LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston DECISIVE HMERIGAN EVMISJN ri HISTORY THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 1863 By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE, with explanatory notes and plans. Cloth, 50 cents. Mr. Drake s work needs no introduction; he is known as a careful student and an interesting writer. In the present volume he has treated his subject with enthusiasm. In eleven chapters he sets before his readers a graphic description of that fearful^ carnage, beginning with a description of the country and an account of the invasion, and ending with the story of the retreat and the result of the battle. The book is carefully edited, with copious notes, and is evidently designed for use in schools as well as for private study. It contains, in addition, the list of officers of the Army of the Potomac at the time of the battle, and an accurate index of ths book. Lo^vell Times. THE TAKING OF LOUISBURG-1745 By SAMUS ADAMS DRAKE, author of " Burgoyne s Invasion of 1777, etc. Cloth, illustrated, 50 cents. Mr. Drake s "The Taking of Louisburg " well deserves a place in the series of " Decisive Events in American History ;" for the celebrated fortress was once the key and stronghold of French power in Canada, and its unexpected capture by a seemingly inadequate force was a bright spot in the inglorious war between the French and English in America. Mr. Drake gives the history in a simple and concise style that makes it attractive, and impresses its incidents upon the memory in vivid colors the illustrations increasing the effect of the text. It is just the book to arouse in the minds of young readers a deep interest in American history. BURGOYNE S INVASION OF 1777 With an outline sketch of the American Invasion of Canada, 1775-76, by SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE. Price 50 cents. "The invasion of Burgoyne holds its place as one of the most important events of the Revolutionary struggle. The author is well fitted by his line ot studvand investigation to write such a book Few men are more familiar with the localities than he, and few more successful in description of place and action. He not only writes veritable history, but he gives to the record a sort ot dr; ?tic interest and fervor. Those who are familiar with the story will be delighted to go over the ground again with so enthusiastic a companion as Mr. Urakfr Troy Budget. IN PRESS THE CAMPAIGN OP TRENTON 1776 jf i 9^ ~r\ L P v7^>w j^\^>^ * H * ^V Scld by all booksellers, andj^en^b^Vi^^^ost^nd^n receipt of price LEE AND SHERMtfS^^shels Boston -7 I 39(40 2S ) YB 37324