o 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 NATHANAEL GREENE, 
 
 Major-General in the Army of the Revolution. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "historical VIEW OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 'fls <}>a<xav, o'i fiiv ISovTO novevfievov ' ov yap e-ywye 
 "HvTrjor' ovSe ISov • nepl 6* aWtav ^ewrl yeveaOai. 
 
 Iliad iv. 374. 
 
 ' After this manner said they, who had seen him toiling ; but I ne'er 
 Met him myself, nor saw him : men say he was greater than others.' 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 P. PUTNAM AND SON 
 . 1867. 
 
it' 
 
 0^ 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1867, by 
 
 ANNA M. GREENE, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of New York. 
 
 University Press : Welch, Bigelow, & Co., 
 Cambridge. 
 
TO 
 
 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. 
 
 My dear Longfellow, 
 
 Thirty-nine years ago this month of April, 
 you and I were together at Naples, wandering 
 up and down amid the wonders of that histor- 
 ical city, and, consciously in some things and un- 
 consciously in others, laying up those precious 
 associations which are youth's best preparation 
 for age. We were young then, with life all be- 
 fore us ; and, in the midst of the records of a 
 great past, our thoughts would still turn to our 
 own future. Yet, even in looking forward, they 
 caught the coloring of that past, making things 
 bright to our eyes, which, from a purely American 
 point of view, would have worn a different aspect. 
 From then till now the spell of those days has 
 been upon us. 
 
 One day — I shall never forget it — we returned 
 
 212258 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 at sunset from a long afternoon amid the statues 
 and relics of the Museo Borbonico. Evening was 
 coming on with a sweet promise of the stars ; 
 and our minds and hearts were so full that we 
 could not think of shutting ourselves up in our 
 rooms, or of mingling with the crowd on the 
 Toledo. We wanted to be alone, and yet to 
 feel that there was life all around us. We went 
 up to the flat roof of the house, where, as we 
 walked, we could look down into the crowded 
 street, and out upon the wonderful bay, and 
 across the bay to Ischia and Capri and Sorrento, 
 and over the house-tops and villas and vineyards 
 to Vesuvius. The ominous pillar of smoke hung 
 suspended above the fatal mountain, reminding 
 us of Pliny, its first and noblest victim. A golden 
 vapor crowned the bold promontory of Sorrento, 
 and we thought of Tasso. Capri was calmly sleep- 
 ing, like a sea-bird upon the waters ; and we 
 seemed to hear the voice of Tacitus from across 
 the gulf of eighteen centuries, telling us that the 
 historian's pen is still powerful to absolve or to 
 condemn long after the imperial sceptre has fallen 
 from the withered hand. There, too, lay the na- 
 tive island of him whose daring mind conceived 
 the fearful vengeance of the Sicilian Vespers. 
 We did not yet know Niccolini ; but his grand 
 
DEDICATION. V 
 
 verses had already begun their work of regen- 
 eration in the Italian heart. Virgil's tomb was 
 not far off. The spot consecrated by Sannaz- 
 zaro's ashes was near iis. And over all, with a 
 thrill like that of solemn music, fell the splen- 
 dor of the Italian sunset. 
 
 We talked and mused by turns, till the twilight 
 deepened and the stars came forth to mingle 
 their mysterious influences with the overmaster- 
 ing magic of the scene. It was then that you 
 unfolded to me your plans of life, and showed 
 me from what "deep cisterns ". you had already 
 learned to draw. From that day the office of 
 literature took a new place in my thoughts. I 
 felt its forming power as I had never felt it 
 before, and began to look with a calm resigna- 
 tion upon its trials, and with true appreciation 
 upon its rewards. Thenceforth, little as I have 
 done of what I wished to do, literature has been 
 the inspiration, the guide, and the comfort of my 
 life. And now, in giving to the world the first, 
 perhaps the only, work for which I dare hope a 
 life beyond my own, the memory of those days 
 comes back to me, and tells me that, loving me 
 still in the fulness of your fame as you loved 
 me in the hour of aspiration, you will not be 
 unwilling to see your name united with mine 
 
vi DEDICATION. 
 
 upon these pages, which but for your counsel 
 and your sympathy would never have been 
 written. 
 
 Ever, my dear Longfellow, 
 
 Faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON GREENE. 
 East Greenwich, R. I, April 3, 1867. 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 THE intention of writing this work was formed in 
 early youth, and has been kept constantly in view 
 through the checkered fortunes of maturer years. The 
 plan has often changed under the influence of a wider 
 study of books, and a more extensive observation of men. 
 The purpose has never lost the hold which it first took 
 upon my youthful imagination. 
 
 I was born and grew up in the midst of men and women 
 who had known my grandfather as a public and a private 
 man, and seen him in all the various relations of life. In 
 my seventeenth year I became the inmate of the house of 
 one of his dearest friends, General Lafayette. Among all 
 who had known him I found but one opinion both of his 
 greatness and his goodness, of the vigor and depth of his 
 mind, of the warmth and purity of his heart. 
 
 In 1846 I wrote, at the request of Mr. Sparks, the Life 
 which forms the tenth volume of the second series of his 
 American Biography. I wrote it at Rome, from the com- 
 mon printed authorities, and, as I expressly stated, not as 
 the result of my studies, but as an earnest of what I some 
 day hoped to do with Greene's letters before me. On my 
 return to the United States I received from my cousin, 
 Phineas Miller Nightingale (second son of General Greene's 
 eldest daughter, Martha Washington) the family papers 
 which had passed into his hands, and began a careful study 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 of my subject in these authentic documents. Every page 
 that I read confirmed my original opinion, and strength- 
 ened my first intention. I resolved that nothing should 
 prevent me fi'om telling the fiill story of my grandfather's 
 life, and claiming for him the gratitude which is his due 
 from all generations of his countrymen. 
 
 The life of General Greene falls by a natural division 
 into two parts ; the first of which is strictly biographical, 
 the second historical. In the first, his position is that of 
 a subordinate officer, who, whatever influence he may 
 exert, is never the acknowledged source of controlling 
 movements. Events do not revolve around him as their 
 common centre. His actions are parts of the actions of 
 other men. However just his views, he cannot enforce 
 them without the consent of an official superior. How- 
 ever well done all that he does may be, the narrative of 
 it, if confined to that alone, would leave half of the story 
 untold. Such was Greene's public fife, from 1775 to his 
 appointment to the command of the Southern army in 
 October, 1780. 
 
 From that moment his life becomes history, — the history 
 of the Carolinas and Georgia. Military movements origi- 
 nate with him. The restoration of civil government de- 
 pends upon the success of his arms. The resources of 
 the country are drawn forth and administered by his will. 
 If you would understand events, you must seek the expla- 
 nation of them in his letters and reports. Battles and 
 sieges and marches are parts of the general plan which he 
 conceived, and dependent for their historical importance 
 upon the measure in which they contributed to the ac- 
 complishment of that plan. This fundamental difference 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 of character requires a corresponding difference of treat- 
 ment. 
 
 Therefore, in the first part of this work Greene's 
 thoughts and feehngs, the growth of his mind and the for- 
 mation of his character, compose the picture. The war is 
 the frame in which it Is set. Of him I have told all that I 
 could learn ; of the war, only so much as was necessary in 
 order to understand the part which he took therein. Of the 
 story of these five years Washington is the representative 
 hero. The other generals are grouped around him in 
 due subordination. First and nearest to him of all stands 
 Greene, with Washington's "great arm leaning upon him.'* 
 No one will read these volumes of mine who has not already 
 made himself familiar with the general history of the war, 
 either in the careful pages of Sparks or the charming narra- 
 tive of Irving. No American can feel that he has done 
 his duty to himself or his country who has not read both. 
 
 In my first two volumes I have drawn freely from 
 General Greene's correspondence, inserting many letters 
 entire, and giving copious extracts from others. But 
 while I have still made this correspondence the basis of 
 my third volume also, I have used it rather as the mate- 
 rial from which my narrative was to be woven than as a 
 narrative In itself. The psychological study was already 
 complete. . The character of the General was already 
 formed before he took the command of the Southern 
 army, as the character of the man was formed before he 
 took command of the Rhode Island army of observation. 
 From what he had already done it was easy to conjecture 
 what he would do. Every report of a new step in the 
 reconquest of the South* came to Washington not merely 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 as welcome tidings, but as a fulfilment of expectations. " I 
 think I am sending you a general," he had written, when 
 he announced Greene's appointment to a Southern cor- 
 respondent. " This brilliant manoeuvre is another proof 
 of the singular abilities which that officer possesses," he 
 wrote, when the " report of the judicious and successful 
 movement of General Greene, by which he compelled 
 the enemy to abandon their outposts," * reached him. 
 Therefore, while Greene is kept almost exclusively in 
 view through the first two volumes, in the third other 
 characters are brought prominently forward, who hold 
 somewhat of the same relation to him which he held to 
 Washington. The canvas is more crowded, and he, in 
 turn, becomes the central figure of a noble group. 
 
 I trust that I shall not be suspected of indulging a 
 puerile vanity, if I claim for Greene's family a different 
 position from that which has been assigned them by pre- 
 vious historians. To my conception of personal dignity, 
 it is a matter of absolute indifference whether General 
 Greene's ancestors were men of fortune or day-laborers ; 
 whether his father aided the work of his brain by the 
 work of his hands, or passed his life in guiding and con- 
 trolling the work of other men. But, as a historical fact, 
 I have thought it my duty to say, that, from the first emi- 
 grant downward, the Greenes filled prominent and im- 
 portant positions in public life ; that the branch from 
 which the General sprang was early engaged in manufac- 
 tures and farming, upon a scale which implies the com- 
 mand of what must, in those days, have been a large 
 capital; and that the General's father devoted the chief 
 * Sparks's Washington, Vol. VIII. p. 241. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 of his time to the utiHzation of that capital. In colonial 
 life there is no room for idle men or women, and habits 
 of industry and thrift were laid deep in the founda- 
 tions of the Colony of Rhode Island. It was no espe- 
 cial merit of the Greenes that their industry had been 
 fruitful, but it would have deprived them of all claim to 
 the respect of their contemporaries, if, while all around 
 them labored, they alone had been idle. In a country 
 so full of life and future as ours, where the merit of the 
 father is a pledge instead of an inheritance, and events 
 and actors follow each other with such rapidity that the 
 link between the present and the past seems constantly 
 to be slipping from our grasp, family pride has but a thin 
 and barren soil to grow in. But while blood carries 
 with it no privilege, and to be the grandson of a great 
 man conveys no share in his greatness, there are obliga- 
 tions independent of privilege, and a duty to country and 
 to the truth of history, obedience to which is often mis- 
 taken by the thoughtless for vanity or pride. Here and 
 elsewhere I claim for General Greene the place which 
 his contemporaries gave him. I claim it upon the au- 
 thority of his written words, and of his acts as recorded 
 by those who saw and shared in them. The nature of 
 historical evidence must change before his position can be 
 changed. 
 
 In using the manuscript letters from which so large a 
 part of my work is drawn, I have not allowed myself to 
 make any alterations either in grammar or phraseology. 
 General Greene habitually uses " is " for " are," and occa- 
 sionally makes other mistakes, which a stroke of the pen 
 would correct. I have not felt at liberty to attribute to him 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 a grammatical accuracy which he did not possess, or to give 
 to his letters the false coloring of strict propriety of con- 
 struction. His language is generally good, his sentences 
 clear, his expression forcible. But the habits of early life 
 were too strong in minor details for the associations of later 
 life ; and, admirable as his letters are in the higher qual- 
 ities of composition, — thought distinctly, precisely, and 
 vigorously expressed, — they still betray the deficiencies 
 of his education. In the orthography, though generally 
 correct, I have not hesitated to follow the modern stand- 
 ard. 
 
 Besides the papers of General Greene, which of them- 
 selves form a collection of over six thousand documents, 
 I have made free use of the Washington papers in the 
 Department of State at Washington ; of the Gates and 
 Steuben papers in the library of the Historical Society of 
 New York ; of the Heath papers in the library of the 
 Historical Society of Massachusetts ; of some very impor- 
 tant papers in the library of the Philosophical Society of 
 Pennsylvania ; and have had copies from the Sullivan, 
 Reed, Lincoln, Pickering, Glover, Varnum, and Wadsworth 
 papers, through the courtesy of their owners. Among the 
 printed authorities, I have placed great confidence in Gor- 
 don, whose letters to the principal actors in the war show 
 how carefully he performed the historian's first duty, — the 
 search of truth. Of the American Archives it is needless 
 to speak, except to express the regret which not only every 
 student of American history, but every American honora- 
 bly jealous .for the good name of his country, must feel 
 that the hands of such a man as Peter Force should have 
 been arbitrarily stayed in a w^ork worthy of the industry 
 
PREFACE. XIU 
 
 of a Muratori, and the critical acumen of a Gibbon. Mr. 
 Sparks's " Washington," and " Correspondence of the Rev- 
 olution," I have used with constantly increasing respect for 
 the good sense and conscientious love of truth whicJh were 
 leading characteristics of that excellent man.. I have also, 
 among modem authorities, consulted with great advantage 
 " The Battles of the United States, by H. B. Dawson," 
 whose habits of niinute reference cannot be too highly 
 commended. 
 
 The public acknowledgment of the kind offices upon 
 which works like this are so largely dependent is one of the 
 pleasantest duties of the historian. My thanks are espe- 
 cially due to my cousin, Phineas Miller Nightingale, of Cum- 
 berland Island, Georgia, for efficient aid in the collection of 
 materials ; to my lifelong friend, Wilham H. Richards of 
 New York, for assistance in the laborious task of arranging 
 them ; and to my cousin, Lieutenant-Governor William 
 Greene, of Warwick, R. I., for important papers, and still 
 more important counsel. During my visits to Washington 
 I was allowed by my venerable friend, Peter Force, free 
 access to his library, the most valuable in existence in this 
 department of study ; and what no library could have af- 
 forded, — a free communication of the treasures of tradi- 
 tion and anecdote with which he had stored his memory 
 in the course of a life devoted to the illustration of Amer- 
 ican history. I have already spoken of what I owe to the 
 pubhcations of Mr. Sparks. I owe still more to the deep 
 interest which he took in my labors, — an interest begin- 
 ning when they began, and ending only with his life. 
 
 To George H. Moore, Friedrich Kapp, William B. Reed, 
 Charles F. Adams, Henry B. Dawson, Thomas C. Am- 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 ory, George Brinley, Benjamin Lincoln, Charles Deane, 
 Richard R. Ward, Peyton Skipwyth, Robert H. Ives, 
 John S. Littell, Octavius Pickering, Henry E. Turner, 
 James H. Eldredge, Daniel H. Greene, Townsend Ward, 
 and the family of the late Thomas Biddle of Philadelphia, I 
 am under great obhgations, — to some of them for copies 
 of documents, to some for the loan of books, and to some 
 for aid in the investigation of particular questions. A part 
 of my long labors was cheered by the active sympathy 
 of my kinsman, Samuel Ward Greene. Nor can I ever 
 forget the assistance given me by my friends, Charles 
 Sumner, Charles Butler, and James S. Thayer in my en- 
 deavors to obtain the aid of Congress for the publication 
 of General Greene's correspondence, — an assistance none 
 the less prized for the failure of the object for which it 
 was given. To each and all of these gentlemen I would 
 tender my sincere thanks. Alas that those thanks can 
 no longer reach the ear of another friend, — George Sum- 
 ner, — whose wise counsels and affectionate zeal cheered 
 and strengthened the first years of my labors, but whom 
 death has not permitted to see their close. 
 
 It is not without many doubts and misgivings that I part 
 from these companions of laborious years. It is impossible 
 to write words so akin to farewell and not feel a sadness 
 steal over you, like the sadness of him who pauses upon 
 the threshold and looks behind him through eyes dimmed 
 by tears, before he turns his face from the familiar home- 
 stead forever. In sickness and in health, in joy and in 
 sorrow, in my native land, with its present crowding re- 
 lentlessly upon the past; under foreign skies, where the 
 past still controls and gives its own coloring to the pres- 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 ent, — I have ever cherished the hope of telling this story 
 of the life of an American of the heroic age of American 
 history. And, now that my task is done and -these pages 
 pass from under my control, stronger than every personal 
 feeling is the fear that, through some error or shortcoming 
 of my own, I may have failed to do justice to a great and 
 good man, and incurred thereby the guilt of dimming one 
 of the brightest pages of the annals of my country. If I 
 have failed, it has not been from want of industry to search 
 for the truth, nor of courage to tell it. As my documents 
 have dictated, so have I written. My errors — and in 
 every history there will be errors — are the offspring of in- 
 voluntary ignorance or unconscious misconstruction. Who- 
 ever will point them out to me will do me an office of 
 friendship which I shall be the first to acknowledge, and 
 the last to forget. 
 
 G. W. G. 
 
 East Greenwich, R. I., October 21, 1867. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT AS COMMANDER OF 
 THE RHODE ISLAND ARMY OF OBSERVATION. 
 
 1742-1775. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Potowomut. — John Greene. — Birth of Nathanael Greene. 
 The Quaker Preacher and his Family. — Habits and Customs 
 of the Times. — Anecdotes of Nathanael Greene. — Quaker 
 Views of Literature. — Nathanael's First Studies. — Giles and 
 the Holiday Walk. — East Greenwich. — Master Maxwell. — 
 New Studies. — The Winter-Evening Fireside. — The Eight 
 . Sons. — Colonial Traditions. — Pocket Money. — The Sail to 
 Newport. — Buying Books. — Dr. Stiles 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Greene's Studies. — New Acquaintances. — Lindley Murray. — 
 Visit to New York. — John Jay. — Inoculation. — Family 
 Lawsuit. — Greene reads Law Books. — Growth of Mind. — 
 Personal Appearance. — Manners and Habits 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Potowomut. — The Farm. — The Forge and Mills. — Coventry. 
 
 — Whence the Iron for the Forge came. — From Potowomut 
 to Coventry. — The New House. — Greene among his Neigh- 
 bors. — David Howell 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Death of Greene's Father. — Greene a Voter. — First Steps in 
 Public Life. — First Political Letter. — In the Assembly. — 
 Gasper. — Takes his Stand. — William Greene of Warwick. 
 
 — Henry Marchant. — Progress of the Revolution. — Greene's 
 
 b 
 
XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Opinion of Governor Ward as Delegate to Congress. — Militia 
 Laws Revised. — Kentish Guards. — James M. Varnum. — 
 Christopher Greene. — Letter to Varnum. — Trip to Boston 
 to buy a Musket. 39 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Inner Life. — Mental Culture. — How and what he studied. — 
 His Librar)% — Study of Composition. — Letters to S. Ward, 
 Jr. — Quaker Prejudices against Literature. — Glimpses of his 
 Daily Life and Habits. — Forge burned. — A Lottery. — Let- 
 ter to William Greene. — Asthma. — In Love. — Why he 
 loved S. Ward. — S. Ward's Sister. — Progress of the Dis- 
 pute with England. — Greene resolves to take up Arms. — 
 Read out of the Meeting. — Threatened Accusation. — Military 
 Reading. — Rhode Island College. — Courtship and Marriage. 
 — Domestic Life. — Rapid Development of Public Opinion. — 
 Tea burned in Market Square, Providence. — Battle of Lex- 
 ington. — March of Kentish Guards. — Assembly meets. — 
 Army of Observation. — Mission to Connecticut. — Greene 
 chosen Brigadier-General. — Commission. — Farewell Letter 
 to his Wife 52 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 FROM HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE COMMAND OF THE RHODE 
 ISLAND ARMY OF OBSERVATION TO HIS APPOINTMENT AS 
 QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL. 
 
 1775-1778. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 New Phase in Greene's Life. — Condition of Rhode Island Camp. 
 — Effects of his Presence. — Council of War at Cambridge. — 
 Ward's Head-quarters. — Colonial Troops independent of 
 each other. — Greene devotes himself to disciplining his Bri- 
 gade. — Difficulties of the Task. — Drunkenness. — Punish- 
 ments. — Hard Work. — Treated with " Great Respect *' by 
 the General Officers. — Bunker Hill. — Active Siege. — Dis- 
 honest Agents. — Arrival of Washington. — Charles Lee. — 
 Greene sends an Address to Washington. — His Satisfaction 
 at Washington's Appointment. 87 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Washington's Arrival the Beginning of a New Period. — His 
 Staff. — Mifflin. —Trumbull. — Reed. — Gates. — Army of the 
 United Colonies. — New Organization. — Three Grand Divis- 
 ions. — Greene on Prospect Hill. — Gradual Extension of the 
 Works. — Death of Adjutant Mumford. — All Eyes fixed on 
 Boston. — Parties to Camp. — The Country calls for a Bat- 
 tle. — Want of Powder. — Waste of Powder. — Preparations 
 for Defence. — Extracts from General Orders. . . .102 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Term of Service of the Army most out. — Congress sends a Com- 
 mittee to Camp. — Greene's Impressions of Franklin. — His 
 first Intercourse with Southern Members of Congress. — His 
 Efforts to do away with Sectional Jealousies. — Lord Sheffield. 
 
 — Church's Treason. — Gradual Growth of a Desire for Inde- 
 pendence. — Extracts from Greene's Letters to Governor 
 Ward. — His Idea of the Duty of Congress. — An Army of 
 Seventy Thousand Men. — Feelings of the People. . .116 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Greene's Life, Habits, and Associates in Camp. — Letter to his 
 Wife. — Christopher Greene and Samuel Ward join the 
 Canada Expedition. — Interest awakened by it. — Anxiety 
 caused by the Burning of Falmouth. — By the Progress of 
 Enlistment. — Extracts from Letters. — Opinion on giving 
 Bounties. — Mistake of Congress. — Old Troops go. — New 
 Troops come. — Arms retained. — New Year. — The Flag. 
 
 — Scanty Supplies. — Small-Pox. — Mrs. Greene in Camp. 
 
 — Siege draws to a Close. — Dorchester Heights occupied. 
 
 — Preparations for an Attack. — Storm. — Evacuation of 
 Boston 130 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Perplexing Conduct of the Enemy. — Fortifications of Bos- 
 ton. — Greene in Command of the City. — Letter to Colonel 
 Nightingale. — Thursday Lecture. — Marching Orders. — 
 Alarm in Rhode Island. — March to New York. — Prepara- 
 tions for Defending the City. — Greene appointed to com- 
 mand Fourth Brigade. — Command on Long Island. — For- 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 tifications. — Alarm Signals. — Tories. — John Jay. — Gou- 
 verneur Morris. — Reconnoitring with Knox. — Forts Wash- 
 ington and Independence. — Brigade and Regimental Re- 
 ports. 149 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Death of Governor Ward. — Correspondence with John Adams. 
 
 — Tone and Character of it. — The new Army. — Difficulties 
 in Raising and Organizing it. — Provisions for the Disabled. 
 
 — Condition of the Officers. — Principles of Promotion. — 
 Insufficient Pay of Soldiers and Officers. — Exaggerated 
 Ideas of the Strength of the Army. — Rhode Island Declara- 
 tion of Independence. — Letters to Washington. — Alexander 
 Hamilton. — Mrs. Greene at Camp 170 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Enemy's Ships begin to arrive at the Hook. — Constant Watch- 
 ing. — Alarms in the Country. — Tories. — Threatened Duel 
 in Greene's Division. — English Fleet at the Narrows. — Ar- 
 rival of the Hessians. — Hitchcock's Regiment. — Militia. — 
 First Marching Orders. — Removal of Cattle and Grain. — 
 Dangerous Illness. — Carried to New York. — Battle of 
 Long Island. 195 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Condition of the Army after the Battle of Long Island. — 
 Greene convalescent. — Letter to Washington. — Council 
 of War. — Unfortunate Decision. — Greene urges the Call 
 of a New Council. — Decision reversed. — Retreat from New 
 York. — Battle of Harlem. — Greene in Command in the 
 Jerseys. — What was thought of him. — His Idea of what 
 should be done. — Preparations for Defence. — His Opinion 
 of Congress. — Letters to Governor Cooke. — Resolves of 
 Congress. — Public Opinion. — Privateering. — Hospitals. — 
 Recommendation of Officers for the New Army. — Charles 
 Lee 208 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Howe in Motion. — Greene to Washington. — Expedition to 
 Staten Island. — Called to Council at Head-quarters. — Let- 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 ters, and Extracts from Letters. — Foreshadowings of the 
 Quartermaster-General. — Greene's Troops. — The Passage 
 of the Hudson. — Letters to Congress and General Mifflin. 234 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Letters to Washington. — Barracks at Fort Independence burnt. 
 
 — Letters to Washington. — Letter to Mrs. Greene — John 
 Clark to General Greene. — The Group at Fort Lee. — Har- 
 rison to Greene 247 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Movements of the Enemy. — Magaw on the Alert. — Greene to 
 Washington. — Harrison to Greene. — Washington to Greene. 
 
 — Greene to Washington. — Preparations for Defence. — 
 Letters to and from Greene. — Washington at Fort Lee. — 
 Fall of Fort Washington. . . . . . . .260 
 
 CHAPTER Xir. 
 
 Fall of Fort Lee. — Different Accounts of it. — Retreat through 
 the Jerseys. — Greene's Hopes. — Letters. — Inefficiency of 
 Congress. — Embarrassments of Washington's Position. — 
 Ampler Powers conferred on Washington. — Greene to Gov- 
 ernor Cooke. 276 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Washington's Confidence in Greene excites Jealousy. — Charles 
 Lee. — Greene's Share in the Jersey Campaign. — Surprise 
 of Trenton. — Letters. — Greene in Favor of following up the 
 Surprise. — The Assanpink. — Princeton. — March to Morris- 
 town • . .296 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Effect of Success on the Country and the Army. — Position of 
 the Army. — Recreations of Winter Quarters. — Washington's 
 Anxiety. — Greene shares it. — State Rights. — Death of Col- 
 onel Hitchcock. — Greene's Regret for the Loss of Mercer. — 
 Greene in want of a Horse. — Expects Active Work. — Dif- 
 ficulties in Raising the New Army. — Correspondence with 
 Governor Cooke. — Defends Washington. — Letters and Ex- 
 
XXll CONTENTS. 
 
 tracts. — Change Produced on the Character of the War by 
 the Declaration of Independence. — Bounties. — Inoculation. 
 
 — Delays caused by a Weak Government 308 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Improved State of Public Feeling. — Successful Expeditions 
 and their Effect. — Hamilton's Entrance into Washington's 
 Family. — Correspondence with John Adams resumed. — 
 Washington's Opinion of the Policy of Congress in the Case 
 of General Lee. — Growth of Hostility in Congress towards 
 Washington. — Greene sent to Philadelphia. — Appears be- 
 fore Congress. — Committee appointed to confer with him. — 
 Letters. — Life in Philadelphia. — Returns to Camp. . . 331 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Greene's Return to Camp. — Birth of his Second Daughter. — 
 Governor Livingston's Family. — Letter to Mrs- Greene. — 
 Anxiety about Rhode island. — Correspondence with Arnold. 
 
 — Spring. — Army not yet raised. — Letter to J. Adams. — 
 Doubts and Conjectures about the Enemy's Plans. — At- 
 
 ' tempt to surprise General Lincoln. — American Retaliation. 
 
 — Plans, Positions, Reports, and Conjectures. — Greene sent 
 with Knox to examine the Passes of the Hudson. — Reports 
 and Letters to Washington. — Return to Morristown. — Let- 
 ters to his Wife 355 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Scanty Numbers of the New Army. — Greene's Division. — Wee- 
 don. — Muhlenberg. — Exchanges a Regiment with Sullivan. 
 
 — New Aid. — Washington's Position. — Howe's Plan. — 
 Lee's Treason. — Conjectures and Perplexity of the Ameri- 
 cans. — Preparations for the Campaign. — Howe's MancEuvres. 
 
 — Americans Advance on Brunswick. — Howe foiled. — Dis- 
 asters in the North. — Greene expects to be sent North. — 
 Washington unwilling to part with him. — Veil partly lifted. 
 
 — March to the Delaware 380 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Greene, Sullivan, and Knox on the Point of resigning. — Their 
 Conduct misrepresented. — Defects of the Civil Government 
 
CONTENT?S. XXlll 
 
 of the Revolution. — Change in the Relations between Con- 
 gress and the Country. — Relations of Congress to the State 
 Governments. — To the Army. — Opposition and Collisions. 
 
 — Question of Promotion. — Letters to John Adams. — For- 
 eign Officers. — Du Coudray. — Conditional Tender of Res- 
 ignation. — Congress very angry. — Resolutions. — Interrup- 
 tion of Greene's Correspondence with John Adams. — Letter 
 
 to President of Congress 402 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 American Army on the Banks of the Delaware. — Perplexed 
 by Howe's Movements. — Different Opinions about them. — 
 Uneasiness caused by the Evacuation of Ticonderoga. — 
 Glimpse of Inner Life. — Schuyler and New England Offi- 
 cers. — Letters and Extracts. — Council of War. — Lafay- 
 ette. — Army on the Point of Moving Northward. — Howe 
 in Chesapeake Bay. — American Army marches Southward. 
 
 — March through Philadelphia. — Washington Reconnoitring. 
 
 — Camp at Red Clay Creek. — Greene condemns the Posi- 
 tion. — Henry Lee. — Army at Chad's Ford. — Battle of the 
 Brandywine 428 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 American Army not discouraged by their Defeat. — March to 
 Germantown. — Sullivan unjustly blamed. — Weedon dis- 
 satisfied. — Greene and Washington. — Preparations for ad- 
 vancing towards the Enemy. — Advance to Warren's Tavern. 
 
 — Battle prevented by a Storm. — Greene's Choice of a 
 Position. — Marches and Countermarches. — Howe deceives 
 
 the Americans, and crosses the Schuylkill 454 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Howe in Philadelphia. — Straitened for Provisions. — Wash- 
 ington's Preparations for the Defence of the Delaware. — 
 Council of War oppose a Battle. — Further Intelligence. — 
 Battle decided upon. — Advance of the Army and Battle of 
 Germantown. 470 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Beginning of the Cabal against Washington. — Forts on the 
 Delaware. — Christopher Greene. — Operations on both Sides 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 of the Delaware. — Attack of Red Bank. — Defeat and 
 Death of Donop. — Rejoicings of the Americans. — Colonel 
 Greene thanked by Congress and congratulated by Washing- 
 ton and General Greene. — Washington anxious to attack 
 the British. — Movements for the Support of Fort Mifflin. 
 
 — Attack and Fall of Fort Mifflin 482 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Howe resolved to have the Left Bank of the Delaware. — Corn- 
 wallis sent to secure it. — Greene sent to oppose him. — 
 Reasons for disliking the Service. — Conway's Letter to 
 Gates. — Ought Red Bank to be held ? — Greene on the 
 March. — Letter to his Wife. — Crosses the Delaware. — Let- 
 ter to Varnum. — To Washington. — Fort Mercer evacuated. 
 
 — Greene's Prospects not bright. — Glover's Brigade. — Colo- 
 nel Comstock. — Council at Head-quarters on attacking 
 Philadelphia. — Letters to and from Washington. — Greene 
 rejoins the main Army. — Contemporary Opinion of his Con- 
 duct. — Marshall's Opinion 510 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Winter March to Valley Forge. — The Valley. — Hut Build- 
 ing. — The Encampment. — Position condemned by De Kalb 
 and Varnum. — Alarm from the Enemy. — Distress of the 
 Army for Food. — Letters. — Discontent. — Congressional 
 Committee. — Greene sent to collect Supplies. — Letters to 
 Washington 536 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Momentary Relief of the Army. — Greene's daily Duties. — 
 Social Life in Camp. — Lafayette, Steuben, Duponceau, De 
 Kalb, Fleury , &c. — Appearance of the Encampment. — What 
 Men talked about. — Rhode Island's Negro Regiment. — Steu- 
 ben's Arrival and first Steps in Disciplining the Army. . .564 
 
LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT AS COM; 
 
 MANDER OF THE RHODE ISLAND ARMY 
 
 OF OBSERVATION. 
 
 1742-1775. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITV 
 
 OF 
 
 'FonN)J 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS APPOINTMENT AS COMMANDER 
 OF THE RHODE ISLAND ARMY OF OBSERVATION. 
 
 1742-1775. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 Potowomut. — John Greene. — Birth of Nathanael Greene. — The 
 Quaker Preacher and his Family. — Habits and Customs of the 
 Times. — Anecdotes of Nathanael Greene. — Quaker Views of 
 Literature. — Nathanael's First Studies. — Giles and the Holiday 
 Walk. — East Greenwich. — Master Maxwell. — New Studies. — 
 The Winter-Evening Fireside. — The Eight Sons. — Colonial Tradi- 
 tions. — Pocket Money. — The Sail to Newport. — Buying Books. 
 — Dr. Stiles. 
 
 ON the western shore of Narraganset Bay, and 
 midway almost between the northern and 
 southern extremities of the State of Rhode Island, 
 lies a tract of land still known by its Indian name 
 of Potowomut, or place of all the fires.^ It is a 
 peninsula of unequal width, though about two 
 miles wide in its broadest part, and bounded on 
 the south by a fresh-water river, navigable for 
 small craft for about two miles from its mouth, 
 and called, like the land on its left bank, by its 
 original name of Potowomut. At the head of 
 navigation of this little stream, and where it 
 ceases to feel the influence of the tide from the 
 
 1 Works of Job Durfee, p. 162. 
 
4 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 bay, the smaller streamlets that form it are gath- 
 ered into a pond, — once, apparently, a mere hol- 
 low between two small hills, in which part of 
 the water remained while part made its way over 
 the lower rim of the valley to the channel of the 
 river. The banks of these smaller streams are 
 still covered with brushwood and trees. There 
 are trees on the eastern bank of the pond also, 
 — oaks for the most part, and, though not thick 
 set, yet enough so to show that the whole tract 
 must have been well wooded in 1654, when 
 Eandal Houlden and Ezekiel Hollyman bought 
 it for themselves and their fellow-townsmen of 
 Warwick, of Taccomanan and his sons Awasho- 
 tust and Wawanockashaw, for fifteen pounds in 
 wampumpeage and "ye valine of one coate of 
 such clothe as ye Indians doe now commonly use 
 to weare, annually as a gratuity." ^ 
 
 One of these inhabitants of Warwick was John 
 Greene, surgeon, a native of Salisbury in Eng- 
 land, who, coming over "in the next company 
 after Eoger Williams,"^ with his wife and five 
 children, had followed Williams to Providence 
 and Gorton to Shawomet, thus becoming an origi- 
 nal proprietor in both places. The purchase of 
 Potowomut had brought it within the jurisdiction 
 of Warwick, although separated from it by the full 
 width of Shawomet or Greenwich Bay ; and here, 
 
 1 Bartlett, Records of the Colony Family, compiled by General Greene, 
 of Rhode Island and Providence Plan- I am told by a member of the family, 
 tations. Vol. I. p. 131, note. though the indorsement says by Gen- 
 
 2 MS. Genealogy of the Greene eral Greene's father. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 in the old homestead, Nathanael Greene, fifth in 
 descent from the original emigrant, " was born the 
 twenty-seventh day of fifth month, 1742, about on^ 
 or two o'clock in the afternoon of the third day of 
 the week." ^ His father, Nathanael, the second of 
 that name in the family, was a Quaker preacher, 
 eminent, tradition says, for his vigorous enforce- 
 ment of evangelical truth, but equally well known 
 among his neighbors as a large landed proprietor, 
 and the owner of a grist-mill, a flour-mill, a saw- 
 mill, and a forge, which he kept in constant and 
 profitable operation. Eight sons, two of them by 
 his first wife, Phoebe Greene, the other six by his 
 second wife, Mary Mott, were trained from their 
 boyhood to work in the fields, the mills, and the 
 forge; to w^alk their two miles to the meeting- 
 house in all weathers ; and having learnt to read 
 in George Fox's " Instructions for right Spelling 
 and plain Directions for Eeading and Writing true 
 English,"^ and mastered the curious collection of 
 miscellaneous information which it contains, were 
 expected to find ample food for their literary curi- 
 osity during the rest of their lives in the " Holy 
 Scriptures, Barclay's Apology, Fox, Townsend, and 
 a few others of the same tenor and date." ^ 
 
 The habits of the country were primitively sim- 
 
 1 Greene, Gen. ut sup. As the of this curious little volume to my 
 new style is mentioned in one of the friend Charles Deane, Esq., of Cam- 
 later entries this must have been bridge, Mass. 
 
 O. S., and consequently the 6th of ^ General Greene's own words in 
 
 June. a letter to S. Ward, Jr., Oct. 9, 
 
 2 I am indebted for my knowledge 1772. 
 
6 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 pie, those of the Quakers rigorously so. Carriages 
 were little used, the father of a family riding to 
 meeting with his wife on a pillion behind him, and 
 sometimes with a younger child on a cushion be- 
 fore ; the rest of the family, servants and all, fol- 
 lowing after on foot. It was a proof that Nathanael 
 Greene was well to do in the world that he was the 
 owner of a chair. The boys would work hard all 
 day, and walk half a dozen miles for a visit or a 
 frolic in the evening. The table was abundantly 
 supplied with nutritious food, meat forming a part 
 of every meal, and cider from their own orchards 
 being the principal drink. By the rules of the 
 Quakers every boy was trained to some handicraft, 
 and by the habits of the country all worked with 
 their own hands. But thrift was also a habit of the 
 country, and the foundations of that industrial pros- 
 perity which has won for Rhode Island so high a 
 place among her sister States were already laid in 
 the laborious habits and judicious enterprise of her 
 Colonial days. 
 
 As the largest town contained but little over five 
 thousand inhabitants, there was no very material 
 difference between town and country life. The 
 meetings of the General Assembly, and sessions of 
 the court, which were held alternately in the prin- 
 cipal towns, were the great civil gatherings of the 
 people. And as the day for them approached, inn- 
 keepers were seen bustling about with an air of 
 busy importance; — the larder was stocked anew, 
 the huge oven filled to overflowing with apple-pies 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 7 
 
 and pumpkin-pies, the cider-barrel tapped and tast- 
 ed ; the old drudge-horse wearied with journeys 
 to the mills for the rye and Indian meal that were 
 to furnish the morning and evening board with 
 the oblong johnny-cake and the cone-shaped brown 
 bread, and the dinner-table with the luscious suet- 
 pudding and the spherical dumpling, that borrowed 
 such a flavor from the rich meat gravy. Bedroom 
 windows were opened, and the long unused bed 
 aired. All along the highways and cross-paths 
 from the neighboring towns and villages, you would 
 see travellers journeying resolutely forward through 
 rain or dust, some on foot, some on horseback, some 
 alone, some gathered in friendly groups. The man 
 with " a case in court " was readily known by his 
 half important, half anxious air ; the idler, by his 
 stor^ and jest ; and between those who came for 
 business and those who came for curiosity, the 
 quiet streets would buzz and hum with life. 
 
 For the Quakers, the great gathering times were 
 the yearly, quarterly, and monthly meetings, when 
 every Quaker door was thrown open, and every 
 seat at table and in the meeting-house filled. Na- 
 thanael Greene's house, family tradition tells us, 
 was always well filled on these occasions, and the 
 good cheer that he set before his guests seasoned 
 with good counsel to the young, and pleasant inter- 
 change of thought and experience with the old. 
 Tradition adds, too, that there were moments when 
 the grave Quaker brow relaxed, and a merry jest 
 or tale, provoking a merry laugh, was heard from 
 
8 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 Quaker lips. However this may be^ these meet- 
 ings were not without their effect upon the imagi- 
 nations of the younger members of the family, as 
 a change in the daily routine, returning at stated 
 intervals and looked forward to from a distance ; 
 and upon the character, as bringing them into closer 
 contact with thoughtful men and women in their 
 most thoughtful mood. It was a part of the Qua- 
 ker's moral and social training, and not to be for- 
 gotten in the study of a life more than half of 
 which was passed under Quaker influences. 
 
 Kecreation came with the duties of rural life, 
 and partly under the guise of competition, — to cut 
 the broadest swath, turn the deepest furrow, get 
 the most work out of the oxen without straining 
 them, lift the heaviest weight, and shape the new- 
 mown hay into the neatest and firmest stack. 
 Then, for the young Greenes, there was a swim in 
 the clear cool river at the close of a sultry day ; a 
 half-hour on the smooth ice of the well-sheltered 
 pond by winter starlight or moonlight, or before 
 the tardy sun called them to their morning task ; 
 and, most prized of all, the merry huskings ^ in Oc- 
 tober evenings, which even the dread of the relent- 
 less rod could not always keep from running into a 
 dance, — that greatest of abominations to the eyes 
 of a Quaker. 
 
 Several anecdotes of Nathanael Greene's boyhood 
 have been preserved, which, if not very remarkable, 
 
 1 Those scenes so well described ia " The corn-husks rustle and the corn- 
 Barlow's " Hasty Pudding," where cobs crack." 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 9 
 
 have at least the merit of being perfectly authen- 
 tic. An early playmate of his, whom I remember 
 well, used to talk with great pride of his old com- 
 panion's feats of strength. Dancing he was par- 
 ticularly fond of, and, being a general favorite, he 
 was always sure to be told beforehand whenever a 
 husking was to end in a dance. Nor, as his broth- 
 ers used to relate, was the pleasure any the less 
 coveted for the rigor of the prohibition or the cer- 
 tainty of the chastisement. His father kept regu- 
 lar hours, and, long before the first set in a modern 
 ball would be started, his orderly family was sup- 
 posed to be abed and asleep. Then it was that the 
 truant would slip softly from his pillow, put on his 
 clothes, silently raise the window, and let himself 
 cautiously down upon the soft grass of the yard. 
 I have forgotten how he got back again, but for 
 this too he found a way ; and if on any of those 
 autumn nights his watchful parent had made an 
 inspection of the household not too close upon mid- 
 night, he would have found the windows shut and 
 all his sons in their places. Thus more than one 
 merry evening was gained, and the future strategist 
 had got almost to look upon himself as secure from 
 detection, when, returning one night from a distant 
 excursion, what should he see by the clear starlight 
 but his father, — horsewhip in hand, pacing with 
 ominous patience to and fro beneath the tell-tale 
 window. It was very clear that, if any Scripture 
 text was the subject of the venerable preacher's 
 meditations at that inauspicious moment, it must 
 
10 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 have been Solomon's warning to those who spare 
 the rod. It evidently was not to be spared on this 
 occasion ; but might it not be deprived of its sting ? 
 Thus far the culprit had not been seen. Close by, 
 on the other side of the house, there was a bundle 
 of shingles. With a quickness of thought that 
 stood him well in stead on many a worthier occa- 
 sion, he stole softly round the corner, stuffed as 
 many shingles under his coat as he needed to form 
 an impervious corselet, then, coming forward with 
 well-feigned terror, submitted to his chastisement ; 
 not forgetting that vehement Ohs ! and Ahs ! were 
 an essential part of the comedy. 
 
 Better things, however, were mingled with this 
 love of forbidden pleasure. Literary culture was 
 not in favor with the Quakers. " I was educated a 
 Quaker," he writes in 1772, looking back with 
 something like bitterness of heart upon this period 
 of his life, " and amongst the most superstitious 
 sort. My father was a man of great piety, had an 
 excellent understanding, and was governed in his 
 conduct by humanity and kind benevolence, but 
 his mind was overshadowed with prejudice against 
 literary accomplishments." Still, reading was ne- 
 cessary as a means of reading the Bible, and writ- 
 ing and ciphering as a means of doing business 
 accurately. And therefore, in the long winter 
 evenings, an itinerant teacher was employed to 
 teach the boys to read, write, and cipher. This 
 was all that Nathanael Greene knew at the age of 
 fourteen ; nor did the little book-shelf in the sitting- 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 11 
 
 room corner contain anything to awaken a desire 
 of knowing more. 
 
 One day, however, in a winter ramble, chance 
 threw into his path a young man of the name 
 of Giles, a collegian on a vacation visit to East 
 Greenwich, who, talking to him about college and 
 college studies, and arousing the curiosity that had 
 hitherto slept so calmly but was never to sleep 
 again, glides into history for a moment and then 
 vanishes forever. Nathanael Greene returned from 
 that day's walk another boy, — returned to the 
 forge and the farm and the mill, to his station at 
 the anvil and his seat by the hopper ; but not to 
 the content of being foremost at his daily work, 
 and leader in the morning and evening sports of 
 his companions. As he looked upon the running 
 stream, the growing grain, the mysterious light and 
 motion of the stars, — even as he watched the re- 
 volving wheel, and the reddening iron, or shaped 
 with his ponderous hammer the anchor which was 
 to fasten its pointed fluke into the oozy bottom of 
 some distant sea, — questions and doubts and long- 
 ings came crowding upon his mind, and he had 
 neither book nor friend to answer them. The day 
 of unquestioning faith was passed. Henceforth, to 
 believe, he must first understand. 
 
 It must have been an anxious moment in the 
 father's life when this son, so full of promise, came 
 to him and asked him for better means of study. 
 All his life-long distrust of learning must have risen 
 up in his mind at the appeal, and hardened him 
 
12 • LIFE, OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 against it. But though a prejudiced maiij he was 
 a just man. His boy had done his duty in the 
 forge and the mill, and was it not the father's 
 duty to grant his request ? In the end it proved 
 a first step in his own disenfranchisement ; for a 
 few years later he went further still, and studied 
 Locke's Essay on the Understanding, making him- 
 self master of its most abstruse discussions. 
 
 Two miles from Potowomut, on a green hillside 
 that slopes gently downward to a retired little inlet 
 of Narraganset Bay, stands East Greenwich, then, as 
 now, a quiet rural village, with large elms throwing 
 their fraternal branches over its principal street, 
 and compact wooden houses scattered loosely over 
 its surface, each with its little garden in the rear. 
 Here was a court-house, here was a Baptist meeting- 
 house, and just beyond the hill-top, in a little valley 
 through which the Masquachugh flows with a slen- 
 der current and a pleasant murmur to mingle with 
 the waters of Greenwich Cove, stood the plain 
 wooden building in which Nathanael Greene the 
 elder was wont, when his thoughts waxed fervent 
 within him, to pour them forth in words that sank 
 deep into the hearts of his hearers. And here, too, 
 lived a teacher by the name of Maxwell, — Master 
 Maxwell, the old men of my boyhood still called 
 him, who had brought with him much learning 
 from the schools and colleges of his native Scot- 
 land. Under his guidance young Greene began 
 Latin and geometry, and, talking with him, felt the 
 longings which his conversation with Giles had 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 13 
 
 awakened grow more definite and distinct. How* 
 far his Latin was carried, it is no longer possible to 
 determine. His brother Christopher used to tell 
 of his going up into a little room over the kitchen 
 to study his lessons without interruption. Dupon- 
 ceau told Longfellow and me in 1835, that in a 
 long evening which he passed with General Greene 
 and Baron Steuben, on their journey southward in 
 1780, " Greene turned the conversation upon the 
 Latin poets, with whom he seemed perfectly famil- 
 iar."^ But I find no other testimony upon the 
 subject. There are no quotations from Latin au- 
 thors in his letters, except one in English from 
 Seneca's epistles, which he may have read in a 
 translation. His Horace, which he is known to 
 have read constantly, was Smart's two little duo- 
 decimos with the English facing the text, well 
 known and duly prized by the school-boys of two 
 generations ago ; and the Caesar that he purchased 
 in 1774 was Duncan's translation without the text. 
 The extent of his Latin studies is very doubtful. 
 
 But about his Euclid there is no doubt. He had 
 bought the volume with his own earnings, a solid 
 octavo stoutly bound in dark sheep-skin, and he de- 
 voted himself to the study of it with the ardor of a 
 vigorous mind in its first taste of positive science. 
 It became his companion at the forge and in the 
 
 1 I have also a letter from him — still unfortunately in manuscript, 
 
 upon the subject, and he afterwards I am indebted for my knowledge of 
 
 repeated the same anecdote in his it to my friend Friederich Kapp, the 
 
 memoirs, — a very interesting work, historian of Steuben and De Kalb. 
 
14 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 mill, and in my boyhood his brothers still loved to 
 point out the seat by the forge where he would 
 study it while the iron was heating, and tell with 
 proud complacency, how, when his turn called him 
 to the grist-mill, he would often forget himself in 
 his book long after the last kernel had been 
 shaken from the hopper. 
 
 Summer brought no relaxation in his daily la- 
 bors, but the long winter evenings were all his 
 own, and well did he turn them to account. No 
 part of New England life was more characteristic, 
 or has left a deeper impression than these evenings 
 by the winter fireside.^ The huge chimney was 
 all ablaze with the crackling wood fire ; and if the 
 tallow candles gave a dim light, the fire-light on 
 the walls and the bright coals on the hearth lent 
 a cheerful glow to the room, that seldom failed to 
 awaken a kindred glow in the heart. In the 
 snug corner, sheltered from the draft of win- 
 dow or door, sat the mother with her knitting- 
 needles ; or on Saturday evenings, her darning- 
 needle flashing swiftly to and fro in her skilful 
 fingers. It was thus that the warm yarn stocking 
 and the stout mitten grew steadily day by day, 
 without encroaching upon the other duties of the 
 industrious housewife. Eight over against her, in 
 his straight-backed wooden-seated chair, sat the 
 father. His day's work is done, — you need not 
 ask him whether well or ill, for the day's history is 
 
 1 I gladly record my indebtedness *' Snow-Bound," — beautiful poetry 
 to Whittier's charming picture in and true history. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 15 
 
 written on his face, and the evening's history may 
 be easily read beforehand in the contracted or the 
 open brow. Sometimes, when he has been kept 
 out in the cold longer than usual, you will see a 
 mug on the hot ashes, just within reach of the heat 
 from the coals. It is filled with cider from his own 
 press, and before he drinks it a little ginger will be 
 mixed with it to give it a warmer glow, and a hot 
 iron stirred in it to make it froth and bubble. Close 
 round the " resplendent brass " of the andirons, you 
 would often see a sputtering row of apples ; and 
 often too the quick sharp blow of the hammer 
 would tell that the rich shagbark had not failed in 
 the October woods. Happy was the fireside whose 
 circle was filled with sons and daughters ready to 
 lighten the task of father and mother and confirm 
 their hopes. 
 
 There was no daughter at Nathanael Greene's 
 fireside, the only one he had ever had, Phebe, who, 
 though the child of his second wife, bore the name 
 of the first, not living to complete her first year. 
 But eight sons formed a goodly circle. Benjamin 
 and Thomas were children of his first wife, his 
 cousin, Phebe Greene. The other six, of Mary 
 Mott, his second wife. Mary Rodman, who took 
 the wife's seat on "the 28th day of the 11th 
 month, 1754," was childless, but quickly learnt to 
 look upon her husband's children as her own. 
 
 Of these six, the eldest was named Jacob, first of 
 that name in the family record. We shall meet 
 him by and by as commissary of purchases, when his 
 
16 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 brother became Quartermaster-General. We meet 
 him also in the State Legislature, of which he was 
 several times a member. When his brother joined 
 the army, he took his place at Coventry, where 
 he lived to the day of his sudden death in 1805. 
 Phebe came next, and then Nathanael. William 
 followed, the only bachelor of the six. I remem- 
 ber him well in his feeble old age, as the first out- 
 side of our own roof to whom we went with our 
 "Merry Christmas," always finding a large Christ- 
 mas cake in wait for our coming. Elihu was the 
 fifth, an old man when I knew him, but a cheery, 
 hale old man, still active at the forge, still ready 
 to raise the dam gate, and take his seat by the 
 hopper, and, what we boys prized most of all, ever 
 gentle and patient and kind. His wife had long 
 been dead, but he had never taken to himself a 
 second, unwilling, perhaps, to give to another the 
 place that had once been filled by a grand-niece of 
 Franklin. But strongest, heartiest, and halest of 
 all, in my boyish days, was the fifth son, Christo- 
 pher, straight and firm, with the broad forehead 
 and decided mouth of his brother the General, and 
 a voice that even in old age rang out as clear and 
 shrill as a bugle-call. Kind at heart though quick 
 of temper, he too was an active, busy man to the 
 last. It was but two days before his death that he 
 followed me to the door to shake hands with me a 
 second time, and the very day before it he rode 
 his favorite filly to Greenwich. With EHhu he 
 lived on the old homestead, and carried on the old 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 17 
 
 business. The little sloop that conveyed their 
 anchors to Providence and Newport was named 
 the "Two Brothers," in commemoration of their 
 fraternal love, and it is still remembered with pride 
 that in their long partnership they never thought 
 of a settlement of accounts. A son of Christopher 
 yet holds the old homestead, which thus far has 
 never passed out of the name. In one thing the 
 two brothers differed, — for while EHhu remained 
 a widower, Christopher married twice, and each 
 time a daughter of Governor Samuel Ward. The 
 last and youngest child was Perry, different in 
 many respects from his brothers, our traditions 
 say, but of fine talents and engaging address. 
 
 But they were all boys still, and with life all 
 before them, in the days of which I am now telling; 
 and, hopeful as the father must have felt when he 
 cast his eyes round upon them, his hopes can hardly 
 have gone beyond the promise which they gave of 
 growing up to walk in his footsteps as thrifty and 
 useful members of society. No visions of Guilford 
 and Eutaw came to disturb his tranquil anticipa- 
 tions of a peaceful life and peaceful death for all. 
 
 It was around these firesides that Colonial history 
 was first formed, father repeating it to son till fam- 
 ily tradition grew into narrative. John Greene's 
 story was an eventful one, — the story of exile and 
 persecution for conscience' sake. It must have had 
 a touch of the stern Puritan days in it, though he 
 was not a Puritan. Like Koger Williams, he claimed 
 " soul liberty," and was driven from Massachusetts. 
 
18 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 Like his friend Gorton, he claimed the fullest exer- 
 cise of that liberty, and joined with him in the 
 purchase and settlement of Warwick. He was one 
 of the twelve who were summoned to submit 
 themselves to a Massachusetts tribunal, and only 
 escaped, by timely flight, the siege, condemnation, 
 and imprisonment which fell so heavily upon his 
 companions.^ Like them, too, his convictions won 
 peace for him at last, and he was repeatedly chosen 
 by his fellow-citizens to offices of honor and trust. 
 Nor was he indifferent to his profession. There is 
 still a manuscript volume in existence, in which, 
 anticipating Buchan, he endeavors to bring the de- 
 scription and treatment of disease within the com- 
 prehension of every father and mother. The old 
 Quaker's heart must have glowed as he told the 
 story of this first emigrant, for in the religious in- 
 dependence which Gorton taught there was a sug- 
 gestive resemblance to the independence of forms 
 w^hich George Fox taught. From that day civil 
 honors were found in each generation of the 
 Greenes, each having its Secretary, or Deputy, 
 or Governor. 
 
 And now too, in these very years, 1753- 1755, 
 the name of Washington first began to be heard at 
 Colonial firesides ; his journey through the wilder- 
 ness ; his gallant stand with a handful of followers 
 at the " Great Meadows " ; his almost miraculous 
 
 1 Greene's connection with Gorton one of his chief proselytes, gave Gor- 
 
 is expressly stated in " Some Notices ton half of his divided lands at Paw- 
 
 of Samuel Gorton, &c.," edited by tuxet." (p. 35.) See also Staplcs's 
 
 Mr. Charles Deane. " John Greene, edition of " Simplicitie's Defence." 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. * 19 
 
 preservation on the fatal field of the Monongahela. 
 Much as the rigid Quaker detested war, these things 
 touched the Colonists too nearly not to find a 
 greedy ear in every circle. How did young Greene 
 feel when he first heard the name of his future 
 leader and friend ? 
 
 One part of these leisure hours, says a family 
 tradition, was still devoted to work ; not, indeed, 
 his regular work, but to the making of toy anchors 
 and other toys of iron, grinding off the callous skin 
 from his hands that he might hold the tiny things 
 more easily. These were his own, and to these he 
 looked for pocket-money, for he could hardly ex- 
 pect his father to buy him books. His only real 
 holiday was when the sloop took her load of an- 
 chors to Newport, for then he could sell his little 
 venture, and add, with the proceeds, a new book to 
 his library. For the Newport of those days was the 
 great city of the Colony, and it was not without 
 something like an expanding of his conceptions 
 that, as the little sloop rounded Long Wharf, he 
 caught his first glimpse of ships that, but a few 
 weeks before, had been lying at a wharf in London 
 or Bristol ; that, as he walked up Church Lane, he 
 saw the steeple of Trinity rising high over Berke- 
 ley's organ, and farther on the Corinthian portico 
 of the Redwood Library opening upon more books 
 than it seemed possible to read in a lifetime. One 
 of these excursions proved a turning point in his 
 progress. 
 
 He had sold his wares, and hurried ofi^, money in 
 
20 ' LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 hand, to the bookstore, an eager, impetuous boy in 
 spite of his broad-brimmed hat and peaceful drab, 
 neither of them, perhaps, altogether free from the 
 traces of the mill. 
 
 '' I want to buy a book." " What book ? " asked 
 the bookseller, stopping short in his conversation 
 with an earnest-faced young man in the dress of a 
 clergyman, and looking, it may be, somewhat quiz- 
 zingly at his new customer. The clergyman turned 
 to look also, and saw so much to please him in the 
 open countenance and bright eye of the blushing 
 boy, that he took him kindly by the hand, and ques- 
 tioned him intelligently about his reading. It was 
 more than a book that young Greene got that day, 
 for he got himself a friend, — one who had read 
 many books, and knew the human heart, and loved 
 knowledge in all her manifold forms. Not many 
 years afterwards that clergyman became the head 
 of Yale College, and, as President Stiles, labored 
 sedulously to the close of a long life in moulding 
 the hearts and minds of ingenuous youth. But of 
 the hundreds who went out into the world with his 
 mark upon them, there was not one who laid his 
 lessons more fruitfully to heart than the Quaker 
 boy whom he first taught what books to buy. 
 Nor among the many good deeds that he did, and 
 wise counsels that he gave, was there one more 
 fraught with important consequences to the free- 
 dom and prosperity of his country than the work 
 of spontaneous kindness which he performed that 
 day. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Greene's Studies. — New Acquaintances. — Lindley Murray. — Visit 
 to New York. — John Jay. — Inoculation. — Family Lawsuit. — 
 Greene reads Law Books. — Growth of Mind. — Personal Appear- 
 ance. — Manners and Habits. 
 
 nPHE first fruit of Stiles's friendship was a knowl- 
 -*- edge of Locke on the Understanding, — the 
 text-book of every Englishman of that day who 
 undertook to study the laws of mental action. It 
 came to Greene just when he was prepared for it 
 by the eager gropings of his own mind ; and, 
 following close upon Euclid, gave additional force 
 to those lessons of rigorous demonstration and con- 
 nected reasoning which are the best fruits of a 
 careful study of the great geometer. It opened 
 also a new and wider field of inquiry, and pre- 
 pared him for entering with keener relish upon the 
 investigation of moral and political truth. Watts's 
 Logic was another of the works to which he was 
 deeply indebted at this period ; and good old Kol- 
 lin, still preserving in his diffuseness the pure spirit 
 of classic antiquity, was his first guide in history 
 and polite literature. In English, Swift became 
 his model, particularly the Drapier's Letters, al- 
 though I do not find any proof that he ever 
 thought of applying to the study of them that 
 
22 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 happy method by which Franklin learnt to infuse 
 into his own style so much of the graceful simpli- 
 city and idiomatic elegance of his chosen master, 
 Addison.^ 
 
 Thus his mind grew apace. Books became his 
 favorite companions ; knowledge for her own sake 
 his highest ambition. But no thought of a change 
 of occupation seems ever to have disturbed the 
 serenity of his daily task. He was born to the 
 plough and anvil, and that share in public life which 
 most Colonists took and some member of his family 
 had always taken, and was content to remain where 
 fortune had placed him. His only complaint was, 
 " I feel the mists of ignorance to surround me " ; 
 and all that he asked of his books, that they should 
 help him to break through these mists. 
 
 The acquaintance of Dr. Stiles brought him in- 
 to contact with men of cultivation, giving him 
 glimpses of a refinement towards which he felt 
 himself irresistibly attracted, and showing him 
 how much sweeter the intercourse of friends be- 
 comes when elevated by the love of letters. 
 Another new acquaintance, formed, like the first, 
 in one of his trips to Newport, but nearer to him in 
 age, and, like himself, a Quaker by birth and edu- 
 cation, was Lindley Murray, — the future gramma- 
 rian of three generations of ungrateful school-boys. 
 From him Greene learnt much that he could hardly 
 have learnt to the same advantage from an older 
 person ; discussing the books that he had read as 
 
 1 See Sparks's Franklin, Vol. I. p. 18. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 23 
 
 boy talks with boy, and looking up to him with 
 that blending of faith and emulation which only 
 boys and girls can feel. Grammar, however, if we 
 are to judge by the apparent unconsciousness with 
 which Greene makes a plural noun the nominative 
 of a singular verb, can hardly have yet taken the 
 place in the mind of his friend which it was soon 
 to take and to hold through life. Murray's present 
 ambition was to become a lawyer, and his good 
 fortune led him to study law in the same office with 
 John Jay. May not Greene, in some of his visits 
 to him in New York, have met in his society, as a 
 young lawyer just welcoming his first brief, the 
 man whom a few years later he was to address from 
 camp as President of the Congress from which he 
 held his commission ? 
 
 Of these visits to New York, however, only one 
 positive record remains. The small-pox was still 
 the scourge of all classes, in spite of inoculation, 
 which thousands either rejected as useless, or con- 
 demned as rebellion against the will of God. 
 Massachusetts had rejected it on its first introduc- 
 tion, and it was only by the refusal of the Council 
 to confirm the vote of the Kepresentatives, that 
 the courageous Boylston was enabled to continue 
 the practice of it. The Rhode Island Assembly 
 rejected it as late as 1772, in spite of the exertions 
 of its most intelligent members. Finding the dis- 
 ease in New York, Greene had himself inoculated, 
 and, passing through it without any other perma- 
 nent mark than a slight blemish in the right eye, 
 
24 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 which' in no way impaired the distinctness of his 
 sight, won for himself a sense of personal security 
 which nothing else could have given, and the im- 
 portance of which made itself felt in the very first 
 year of the war. We shall find him one of the 
 earliest and most constant advocates of the inocu- 
 lation of the army. 
 
 About this time [1760] the death of his two 
 half-brothers brought a lawsuit into the family. 
 The principles which it involved were so intricate, 
 that it was sent to England by appeal. And here, 
 too, we catch a glimpse of another distinctive trait 
 of Greene's character ; for being intrusted by his 
 father with the management of the case as far as 
 the collecting of evidence and conferences with 
 lawyers were concerned, he procured himself a 
 Jacob's Law Dictionary and made himself master 
 of its contents. A few years later Blackstone also 
 was welcomed to his shelves with as pure a joy as 
 Gibbon felt when, at nearly the same age, and not 
 far from the same time, he " exchanged a bank-note 
 of twenty pounds for the twenty volumes of the 
 Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions." ^ An- 
 other consequence of the lawsuit, and for his fu- 
 ture career by no means the least important, was 
 the acquaintance that he formed with members of 
 the bench and the bar, whom he soon began to as- 
 sociate with upon the footing of one who has some- 
 thing to teach, as well as a great deal to learn. 
 
 And thus he grew up to manhood, laying deeper 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, (4to ed.,) Vol. I. p. 84. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 25 
 
 foundations than he knew of; a cheerful, vigorous, 
 thoughtful young man, foremost in all the labors 
 of the forge, the farm, and the mill ; foremost also 
 in feats of strength and skill ; fond of the society 
 of females, who '' never felt lonely where he was, 
 for he always knew how to entertain them " ;^ fond 
 of the society of cultivated men ; a great lover of 
 books; a curious inquirer into the reasons and 
 causes of things ; a subtile scrutinizer of men and 
 their actions ; a thoughtful observer of Nature, and 
 keenly alive to her genial influences ; fonder of 
 listening than of talking, where there was anything 
 to be learned ; with no ambition beyond the pos- 
 session of a comfortable home, and fortune enough 
 to enable him to buy books and command a few 
 leisure hours to read them in ; a man, in short, to 
 puzzle the staid elders who sat on the high seats 
 in the meeting-house, and even to make his pious 
 father sometimes doubt the fulfilment of the proph- 
 ecy with which astrology-loving Dr. Spencer had 
 announced his birth as of one that *was to be " a 
 great man in Israel." 
 
 His health was good, and both by constitution 
 and habit he was capable of bearing exposure and 
 fatigue. A few years later the asthma came to 
 harass him with sleepless nights. Though not 
 over five feet ten in height, he was strongly built, 
 with broad shoulders, a full chest, and vigorous 
 limbs. In his right knee there was a slight stiff- 
 ness, enough, it would seem, by the manner in 
 
 1 Words used by an old lady who knew Greene to Mr. Rousmanier. 
 
26 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 which it is mentioned, to be seen in his gait, but 
 not enough to prevent him from running, and jump- 
 ing, and wrestling with the strongest and most 
 active of his companions.^ His face was a well- 
 filled oval, with all the features clearly defined, 
 though none of them, except, perhaps, the fore- 
 head, large enough to arrest the attention at a first 
 glance. As you looked more closely you would be 
 struck by the prominence of the lower part of the 
 brow, that part just over the eyes, where phrenolo- 
 gists place the organ of locality. The eyes them- 
 selves were of a clear, liquid blue, which kindled 
 under excitement to an intense and flashing light.^ 
 His nose was rather Grecian than Roman, and such 
 as the sculptor of a strong, manly face loves to 
 chisel, the outline clear from the root downward, 
 and the nostrils slightly expanding into an ex- 
 pression of prompt and vigorous decision. The 
 mouth, too, with its deep-set corners and full lips, 
 told of quick, firm utterances and a strong will ; 
 but it told of tenderness also, and the power of 
 keen enjoyment. The chin, full, rounded, and 
 double, told the same story, giving a dash of every- 
 day humanity to an expression which, if derived 
 from the eyes alone, would have been an expression 
 of pure intellect. For as you look at the eyes 
 they seem to be lambent with a combined light, 
 
 1 See Stone's Howland, p. 40. whose name will often recur in these 
 
 2 Lest the reader should tax me pages, and whose statements no one 
 with exaggeration, I hasten to add who knew him would venture to call 
 that this peculiarity was told me by in question. 
 
 my uncle, Colonel Samuel Ward, 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 27 
 
 partly from within and partly from without, as of 
 a soul alternately questioning itself and the world 
 that surrounds it. But as you look at the mouth 
 you detect, under the possibility of stern compres- 
 sion, the possibility of joyous sensation and lively 
 sallies of humor. Indeed, this humor formed one 
 of the most vivid recollections of those who had 
 known him in the intimacy of domestic life ; and 
 his brothers, to the day of their death, could never 
 mention Tristram Shandy without dilating upon 
 the exquisite comicality of his impersonation of 
 Dr. Slop. 
 
 His bearing was that of dignified self-possession, 
 rather than of ease and grace. Indeed, the grace 
 which the intercourse of polished society gives, he 
 had no means of learning ; and still less the grace 
 of the dancing-school ; for his dancing, well as he 
 loved it, was such as country boys and girls- learn 
 from some older companion or chance teacher, and 
 practise with more vigor than skill. " You dance 
 stiffly," said a partner to him once, rallying him 
 upon the halt in his right leg. " Very true," he 
 replied, " but you see that I dance strong." But 
 going into the world with a consciousness of many 
 disadvantages to overcome, he became a close ob- 
 server, never failing to turn to account every op- 
 portunity of making an acquisition or correcting 
 a defect. 
 
 His temper was naturally impetuous, for he was 
 of a bilious, nervous temperament, but it was 
 brought under early control, and he bore among 
 
28 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 his companions the reputation of a genial man, 
 though a firm and resolute one. Deliberate in 
 forming his opinions where circumstances admitted 
 of deliberation, he was never unduly tenacious of 
 them, nor arrogant in enforcing them, but always 
 ready to listen to objections, and yield to them if 
 well founded. 
 
 It is not an easy thing to go back to the boy- 
 hood of a great man, and distinguish the steps by 
 which he grew up in mind and character. And 
 even of those who knew him best there are few 
 who are not ready to fancy that they had already 
 discovered in his youth the indications of all that 
 he became in manhood. Still the intellectual 
 tastes, the resolute perseverance, and the system- 
 atic industry which characterized Greene's public 
 life were undoubtedly formed long before he be- 
 came a public man ; and the administrative ca- 
 pacity which he displayed in the Quartermaster- 
 General's department was but the extension to a 
 larger field of the sound judgment and rigorous 
 method with which he conducted the humbler in- 
 terests of the farms and forges of Potowomut and 
 Coventry. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Potowomut. — The Farm. — The Forge and Mills. — Coventry. — 
 Whence the Iron for the Forge came. — From Potowomut to Coven- 
 try. — The New House. — Greene among his Neighbors. — David 
 Howell. 
 
 THE soil of Potowomut was light and thin, 
 yielding enough for the family table, but 
 adding little to the family purse. This, however, 
 was not the elder Greene*s only farm, for he had 
 made large investments in land in different parts 
 of the State, and was as deeply interested in agri- 
 culture as in manufactures. But the agriculture 
 of those days was, even in its best forms, little 
 better than a mere routine ; the son still holding 
 tenaciously to the methods of the grandfather, as 
 they came down to him unchanged in the lessons of 
 his father. If books were consulted at all, English 
 literature in young Greene's boyhood had nothing 
 better than the " Book of Husbandry " and Tup- 
 per's " Five Hundred Points," and a few others of 
 almost equal antiquity. Elliot's " Field Husbandry 
 in New England" was not published till 1760 ; 
 Arthur Young had not yet begun the observations 
 and reports which stimulated Washington's agri- 
 cultural instincts so keenly ; and many years were 
 yet to pass before chemistry, analyzing soils and 
 
30 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 plants and manures, should reveal the prolific law 
 of the constant circulation of matter and force. 
 And thus in agriculture the elder Greene had but 
 little to teach his sons beyond what he had learnt 
 from his father. 
 
 But the forge and mills gave very different 
 returns; and when we remember how England 
 looked askance upon the manufacturing industry 
 of the Colonies, these early efforts of Rhode Island 
 industry acquire something of the importance of 
 general history. Jabez Greene, grandson of the 
 first John Greene, was the original settler of Poto- 
 womut, and Thomas Hill was an original partner 
 in the mills. As early, however, as 1740, two 
 years before the birth of the third Nathanael, the 
 whole property passed into the hands of the 
 Greenes. Meanwhile this branch of the family 
 had become Quakers, and the peaceful doctrines of 
 George Fox, and the peaceful industries of the 
 forge and the mill, seem to have taken possession 
 of the "Place of all the Fires" simultaneously. 
 The pure spirit of brotherly love seems to have 
 come with them. 
 
 Jabez Greene died without making a will, al- 
 though he had declared his intention of making 
 one, and told his eldest son, James, that he meant 
 to divide his estate equally among his children. 
 By the laws of Rhode Island James became sole 
 heir, and the first use that he made of his indepen- 
 dent control of the property was to carry out his 
 father's design and divide it with his brothers. And 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 31 
 
 thus the property was held and improved in com- 
 mon by the six sons of Jabez, of whom Nathanael, 
 the preacher, was the fourth. Already, in 1743, 
 the forge, store, and merchandise were valued at 
 £8,055, with £2,408 of uncollected debts. The 
 chief care of the works seems gradually to have 
 devolved upon Nathanael, and when his sons grew 
 to man's estate they were admitted to the business 
 as partners. 
 
 This business, if we take into consideration the 
 meagre supply market and difiicult communications 
 of those days, was sufficiently extensive to require 
 no ordinary share of commercial as well as of pro- 
 ductive talent. The wheat was brought from Vir- 
 ginia in vessels owned or chartered by the firm, 
 and the flour sent to Newport and Providence, the 
 principal markets of the Colony. The coal came 
 from Virginia also, and the best iron from Pennsyl- 
 vania. Of all these a constant and regular supply 
 was required. Merchandise was also needed for 
 the store, — country goods, such as workingmen 
 and their families used, — and of these a full pro- 
 vision was kept constantly on hand. Then the 
 anchors were to be sent to market, and the pro- 
 ceeds of all these various industries collected and 
 put to use. What with his duties as a preacher, 
 and his cares as a merchant, manufacturer, and 
 farmer, Nathanael Greene was a very busy man. 
 
 The grist-mill was a frame building on the west 
 bank of the river, a few yards below the dam, 
 duly provided with all the necessary apparatus for 
 
32 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 making meal and flour. The constant whir of the 
 millstone and jar of the hopper, mingling with the 
 gurgle of the water as it rushed through the gate, 
 and its deeper roar as it dashed over the dam, 
 made it a difficult place to talk in, though, as 
 young Nathanael grew up, it became one of his 
 favorite places for study. For many years it was 
 the only mill in the neighborhood, and through 
 the whole of the first quarter of the present cen- 
 tury farmers and farmers' boys still continued to 
 ride thither from a wide circuit round, with their 
 bag of corn slung over their horse's back, to have 
 it ground under the eye of the two last survivors 
 of the two generations of brothers. And it is not 
 uninteresting to know, as we trace the connec- 
 tions of civilization, that the second flour-mill that 
 was ever constructed in Chili was constructed by 
 Samuel Ward Greene, the fourth son of the young- 
 er of those two brothers. Thus the knowledge 
 that was acquired on the banks of the Potowomut 
 helped to free fertile Chili from her dependence 
 upon a foreign market for the most essential ar- 
 ticle of daily food ; mysterious link in the subtile 
 chain which binds remote lands and different races 
 together. 
 
 Close by the side of the mill, but on lower 
 ground, was the forge, — a larger building, with a 
 broad shingle roof coming down so near to the 
 ground on the west side that it was easy to get on 
 it and play. Two broad doors opened upon the 
 river-bank, where the sloop lay as at a natural 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 33 
 
 wharf. Within were three separate forges, each 
 with its own anvil, its own chimney, and its 
 own huge bellows. The anchor anvil stood in 
 the middle, directly under a great trip-hammer, 
 which, as it dealt its sharp, quick blows, ris- 
 ing and falling with the turning of the wheel, — 
 wheel and water both unseen, but sending forth a 
 whirring and gurgling sound from behind the dark 
 screen of the eastern wall, — had, as I well remem- 
 ber, something of wonder and of mystery in it to 
 the eye and ear of childhood. A small forge was 
 reserved for the common work of a blacksmith's 
 shop. 
 
 The two banks of the river were connected by a 
 bridge just below the dam; and there, when the 
 day's work was done, the boys loved to take their 
 stand, and fish for eels in the dark water below. 
 
 The house, a plain wooden edifice, low in the 
 ceilings, like most of the houses of early colonial 
 days, but substantially built, and well adapted to 
 the modes of life of a large Quaker family, stood 
 almost within stone's throw of the forge, upon the 
 brow of a small hill, up and down whose easy 
 slope the boys used to indulge in many a frolic 
 on their way to and from their work, not always, 
 as they grew warm in their game, distinguishing 
 their father from an elder brother. 
 
 About a year before the birth of General Greene 
 the six brothers had built another forge on the 
 Pawtucket Eiver, in the township of Coventry, 
 where they had purchased a large tract of land. 
 
34 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 Here, too, was a fine stream of water to set their 
 simple machinery agoing, and a fine hill — the 
 rocky water-shed which holds the north and south 
 branches of the Pawtucket apart — to build on. It 
 was not till many years later that the building-site 
 was used ; but so well was the water-power turned 
 to account, that, on the death of Jabez, in 1753, his 
 quarter was estimated at £865. By 1768 over a 
 hundred families had gathered around Greene's 
 forge as their home.^ 
 
 The iron used in these works was all American 
 iron. The refined iron was brought chiefly from 
 Pennsylvania by Apponaug, then a flourishing 
 little seaport in the northwest corner of Coweset 
 or Greenwich Bay, though scarcely ever visited 
 now by anything but a lumberman from Maine or 
 a collier from Pennsylvania. The rough ore came 
 in part from the iron-beds in the adjacent town 
 of Cranston, and was carted by farmers in their ox- 
 carts to be smelted, with the help of black sand 
 from Block Island, in the smelting-furnace which 
 formed part of the works. Some of it was bog- 
 iron from the neighboring swamps, and some was 
 obtained by dragging the fresh-water ponds, which 
 are spread like a net all over the western sections 
 of the State. What use was made of Elliot's dis- 
 covery of " the art of producing malleable iron 
 from the black sea sand " I have not been able to 
 ascertain.^ 
 
 1 I have to thank for some of these Pawtucket, made a careful examina- 
 
 details the Hon. Henry Rousmanier, tion of the Warwick Records, 
 
 of Centreville, who, in preparing his ^ See Holmes's Annals of America, 
 
 valuable sketches of the valley of the Vol. 11. p. 123. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 35 
 
 When the work was done, the anchors had to be 
 carried to Apponaug in carts, and thence by water 
 to Newport, the principal market for naval stores, 
 and the great seaport of the colony. So well did 
 the reputation of the Potowomut and Coventry 
 works become established, that, more than half a 
 century from their foundation, when the father of 
 Commodore Perry lay at Newport in command of 
 the " General Greene," he sent to the Greene forge 
 for his anchors ; but so effacing are the habits of 
 American life, that you may now go from door to 
 door all through Coventry, and scarcely find a 
 man who can tell you where they stood. Local cir- 
 cumstances have preserved somewhat better the 
 recollection of the forge and mill at Potowomut. 
 But, with the exception of the dam, all traces of 
 those also have been swept away within my own 
 remembrance. 
 
 The distance between the two works was about 
 ten miles, by a rough but pleasant road through 
 green lanes, bordered in many parts by thick 
 woods of walnut and oak, in some by lower 
 growths of cedar ; opening on the highest ridges 
 upon a rich foreground of forest, and a broad back- 
 ground of water and islands ; the bright waters 
 and green islands of Narragansett Bay, — green 
 then, for the ruthless hand of war had not yet 
 stripped them of their sheltering trees. At the bot- 
 tom of the valleys, the road ran along the pebbly 
 margin of a fresh-water pond, or crossed the course 
 of a brawling rivulet, — ponds and brooks over 
 
36 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 whose fringed waters old Walton would have 
 hung in dreamy ecstasy throughout the long sum- 
 mer day. Over this road, to and fro, one of the 
 partners had to pass in almost daily rides ; and it 
 was a pleasant thought for the father, as years 
 thickened upon him, that he had such a sturdy 
 band of sons at his call. But already his chief 
 reliance was the son who bore his own name ; and 
 thus in 1770, when it was decided that one of 
 them should go and live at Coventry, the choice 
 naturally fell upon him. 
 
 The removal to Coventry was a great event in 
 this uniform though busy life. From childhood that 
 son had lived under the same roof with his father 
 and brothers, and now, in his twenty-ninth year, he 
 was to build himself a house apart. We shall see 
 by and by how his heart still clung to Potowomut. 
 For his building-site he chose a spot on the hill- 
 side, sheltered on the west by a natural wood, 
 which still covered the brow of the hill ; sloping 
 in front, like a green terrace, down to the brink 
 of the river, and looking out over a broad belt of 
 woodland towards Coweset Bay. From the top of 
 the hill the eye reached the graceful curve and 
 sparkling waters of the bay itself, which seems 
 to shrink with a coy smile from the outstretched 
 arms of Potowomut, and nestle securely under the 
 bald headland of Warwick Neck. The house was a 
 neat two-story building, with four rooms on each 
 floor, divided by a wide entry, and on the exterior 
 something of an air of architecture, which still 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 87 
 
 pleases, if it does not satisfy, the eye. It was a 
 great step in advance, both outside and in, of the 
 old homestead at Potowomut. 
 
 Greene was soon settled, and his days resumed 
 their even tenor. He was often in the saddle, 
 making all his land journeys on horseback, — an 
 unconscious preparation for the future, — and a 
 mode of travelling to which his love of animals 
 gave a peculiar zest. " His first visit, after an ab- 
 sence from home," says one who was often in the 
 family, " was always to the stable." ^ To Newport, 
 instead of the old route by Potowomut Kiver, he 
 would go by a sloop from Greenwich ; sometimes, 
 as a well-authenticated tradition attests, timing his 
 movements so as to meet a party of friends at 
 Hope, — a small rocky island half-way down the 
 bay, — and pass the evening there in dancing. 
 Thus much of his life was still an out-of-doors 
 life, bringing him into constant contact with 
 men, and almost always as a controller of their 
 actions. Sometimes, when he found himself sin- 
 gled out for an invitation while others of " equal 
 claims" were passed by, he would turn the cir- 
 cumstance over in his mind with a kind of pleased 
 surprise, and be " almost persuaded that he was a 
 person of some importance." Nor was he the only 
 one that thought so. "Mr. Greene is a very re- 
 markable man," said David Howell, then a tutor in 
 Rhode Island College, but distinguished in later 
 life at the bar, on the bench, and in Congress, and 
 
 1 Communicated by Mr. Rousmanier. 
 
38 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 who had ridden down to Coventry over night to 
 borrow a book of him. It was not every day that 
 either of them found such a man to talk with, and 
 the conversation naturally ran on till late in the 
 evening. Great was Howell's surprise, when he 
 came down next morning before daylight, to make 
 sure of reaching home in time for his recitation, 
 to find Greene up before him, and "poring over 
 a book by the fire." And as a proof of the delicacy 
 of Greene's hospitality I will add, that when on 
 parting for the night his guest had apologized for 
 the necessity he should be under of leaving too 
 early in the morning to bid him good by, he 
 made no oiFer of breakfast, but when morning 
 came the table was found set, and the breakfast 
 ready. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Death of Greene's Father. — Greene a Voter. — First Steps in Public 
 Life. — First Political Letter. — In the Assembly. — Gasper. — 
 Takes his Stand. — William Greene of Warwick. — Henry Mar- 
 chant. — Progress of the Revolution. — Greene's Opinion of Gov- 
 ernor Ward as Delegate to Congress. — Militia Laws Revised. — 
 Kentish Guards. — James M. Varnum. — Christopher Greene. — 
 Letter to Varnum. — Trip to Boston to buy a Musket. 
 
 "IVTOT long after his removal to Coventry his 
 -^^ father died; "an event," he writes, "which 
 turned all our afiairs into different channels, that 
 made it requisite for me to give the closest appli- 
 cation and attention to the settlement of matters." 
 Still, no material change was made by it in the 
 business relations of the brothers ; and everything 
 continued to go on, as of old, in the name of the 
 whole family. All had been trained to work with 
 the feeling that in working for their father they 
 were working for themselves ; and, when the estate 
 passed into their hands, they were prepared to 
 share equally in its duties and profits. 
 
 In Ehode Island the right of suffrage, except for 
 the eldest son of a freeholder, was founded upon 
 the possession of real estate of the value of forty 
 pounds sterling. Nathanael's half-brother Thomas, 
 who died in 1760, had given him an estate in 
 
40 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 West Greenwich, and upon this he was admitted a 
 freeman in Warwick in April, 1765 ; making, as a 
 Quaker, his "solemn affirmation" to the protest 
 against " bribery and corruption " which the law of 
 that day prescribed. Thus, within a month after 
 the passage of the Stamp Act, and just about the 
 time when his future opponent, Cornwallis, be- 
 came a "Lord of the Bedchamber," Greene be- 
 came a voter; little dreaming the one of the 
 other, or of the desperate race they were to run, 
 or the bloody field on which they were to meet in 
 the wilds of Carolina. Three years later, when 
 the non-importation resolutions of 1768 were in- 
 troduced, Greene was on the committee for can- 
 vassing the county for signatures ; and within the 
 very year of his removal to Coventry he was 
 chosen to represent his new home in the General 
 Assembly. His earliest public act in this new 
 home was to set on foot a movement for the estab- 
 lishment of a school. 
 
 The great Rhode Island controversy of those 
 days, in which town and country waged war upon 
 each other under the names of Hopkins and Ward, 
 until the original cause of the dispute became 
 merged in a personal contest between party lead- 
 ers, had been brought to an end, under the over- 
 shadowing influence of the impending contest with 
 England, two years before he entered the legis- 
 lature. Family ties had naturally placed him in 
 the Ward party, and it is not improbable that he 
 took an active part in the dispute. But the record 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 41 
 
 of his political career is too imperfect at this point 
 to permit us to follow his first steps in public 
 life as closely as there is always a wish to do when 
 the later steps became so important. His earliest 
 political letter that has been preserved is ad- 
 dressed to Moses Brown of Providence, and turns 
 upon the opposition to the re-election of Judge 
 Potter. "I should be remiss/' he writes, "not to 
 give you timely information of all matters that 
 were likely to concern civil polity or the well-be- 
 ing of the government, and in an especial manner 
 when I thought you would be likely to adopt any 
 plan to obviate their schemes. I know not for 
 what reason, but there is the greatest opposition 
 forming against Judge Potter's ensuing election 
 that I ever saw in my life against any representa- 
 tive. His conduct and mine hath been almost 
 uniformly the same in public measures, except the 
 affair of your Bridge ; and they have not the least 
 objection to my going again, if I will not support 
 
 the Judge's ensuing election so zealously Was 
 
 I not conscious that the Judge would do his town 
 and the government better service than any other 
 person in it, I would not be so strongly attached 
 to his interest as to oppose any man the better 
 sort of people thought worthy, by their suffrage, 
 to represent them in the General Assembly." 
 The interest of this question has long since passed 
 away even from Khode Island history ; but it was 
 a question which called into play the power of 
 reading character and controlling men of one of 
 
42 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775." 
 
 the founders of a great nation, and thus becomes 
 a part of the world's history. 
 
 Of course, much of Greene's attention as a legis- 
 lator was given to local details. But some of these 
 local details involved the discussion of fundamental 
 principles; and from what is positively known of 
 his habits of mind, we may reasonably conclude 
 that these discussions became for him the occa- 
 sions of an enlarged and careful study. When the 
 resolutions of 1774 against the " importation of 
 negroes" were passed, he was not a member of the 
 Assembly; but his declaration of a few years 
 later, "As for slavery, nothing can be said in its 
 defence," shows what his vote would have been. 
 But in the legislature and out of it he was hence- 
 forth a public man, taking an active interest, even 
 when he did not take a leading part in public 
 measures. The training that was to fit him for 
 dealing with men, and bearing great responsibili- 
 ties, was begun. 
 
 He was not present at the burning of the " Gas- 
 per," although a local tradition makes him one of 
 the leaders ; ^ but he went to Providence the next 
 day, and, as he rode along, must have seen the 
 smoke floating over the smouldering hull, as two 
 years later he saw it floating over the ruins of 
 Charlestown. ^ Yet his name was mixed up with 
 this bold enterprise in the English reports of it, 
 
 1 Colonel E. Bowen, who was pres- ^ Letter to S. Ward, Jr., January 
 ent,.told me that General Greene was 25, 1773. 
 not. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 43 
 
 and in this offensive connection probably first met 
 the royal eye, which it was soon to meet still more 
 offensively. When the " new-fangled court," as he 
 calls it, assembled at Newport to receive informa- 
 tion against the persons suspected of taking a part 
 in the destruction of the royal cutter, he con- 
 demned it as "alarming to every virtuous mind 
 and lover of liberty in America." He condemns 
 also the attitude of the General Assembly, which 
 " seems to have lost all that spirit of independence 
 and public virtue that has ever distinguished them 
 since they have first been incorporated, and sunk 
 down into a tame submission and entire acquies- 
 cence to ministerial mandates." Already his views 
 embraced the whole country, and the earliest writ- 
 ten expression of his political sentiments implies 
 Union : " If this court and mode of trial is estab- 
 lished as a precedent, it will naturally affect all the 
 other colonies." 
 
 It is easy to conceive with what interest he 
 read the " Farmers' Letters," and how prominent 
 a place he gave in his library to the Dissertation 
 on the Canon and Feudal law, and Novanglus, 
 and the Massachusetts circular, and Otis's Eights of 
 the British Colonies, and Quincy's Observations on 
 the Boston Port Bill, and the other tracts of that 
 reasoning period, during which the public mind 
 was preparing itself for open resistance. His own 
 mind was prepared for the worst. " The ministry 
 seem to be determined to imbrue their cursed 
 hands in American blood." ^ 
 
 1 To S. Ward, Jr. 
 
44 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 These sentiments brought him into intimate rela- 
 tions with the popular leaders. " I spent last even- 
 ing with him (Governor Ward), Mr. Marchant, and 
 sundry other gentlemen, at your uncle Greene's/' 
 he writes Governor Ward's son, Samuel, January 
 25, 1773. That uncle Greene was the second 
 William of the Warwick branch, through whom 
 the blood of the first John Greene was mingled 
 with the blood of Eoger Williams and Samuel 
 Gorton, — historical names all of them, and repre- 
 sentatives of prolific ideas. He, too, was already in 
 public life as associate judge, and was to become 
 chief justice, and, in a very critical moment of the 
 war, governor. The Mr. Marchant was Henry 
 Marchant, the Attorney-General, who had been 
 sent to England two years before to demand the 
 payment of the old war debt, and who was in four 
 years more to take the place which had been so 
 well filled by Samuel Ward in Congress. It is 
 easy to conceive what brought such men together 
 at such a time. 
 
 Nor did Greene long have occasion to complain 
 of the spirit of the Assembly. The idea of a Gen- 
 eral Congress as a means of obtaining redress had 
 been familiar to the popular mind ever since the 
 Congress of 1765, and must have been so often 
 discussed in private as to make the first public sug- 
 gestion of it almost a matter of chance. But the 
 first official action was that of a town-meeting in 
 Providence on the 17th of May, 1774, instructing 
 their " Deputies to the General Assembly " to use 
 
1742-1775.] HFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 45 
 
 their influence for promoting a Congress ; ^ and as 
 an augury of Union, the very first election sent the 
 leaders of Rhode Island's two great parties to sit 
 in that Congress side by side, and take counsel 
 together for the common defence. 
 
 Greene felt all the solemnity of this act. "Heaven 
 bless their (the Congresses') consultations," he 
 wrote Samuel Ward, Jr., "with her seasoning grace, 
 and crown their resolution with success and tri- 
 umph ! " The choice of Governor Ward gave him 
 particular pleasure. "The mean motives of in- 
 terest, of partial distinction of ministers of state, 
 will have no influence upon his virtuous soul : 
 like Cato of old, he '11 stand or fall with the lib- 
 erties of his country." 
 
 In the December session, although not a mem- 
 ber of the Assembly, he was put upon " a commit- 
 tee to revise the militia laws of the Colony," and 
 report " as soon as may be." ^ Events were hasten- 
 ing, and his part becoming daily more important. 
 The cannon had already been removed from Fort 
 George. The resolution to proceed immediately 
 to the formation of a public magazine of powder, 
 lead, and flints, and the recommendation "to all 
 the inhabitants of this colony, that they expend no 
 gunpowder for mere sport and diversion, and in 
 pursuit of game," and the act in pursuance of the 
 report of the committee upon militia laws provid- 
 ing for monthly exercises in " martial discipline," 
 
 1 Arnold has examined this subject ^ Bartlet's Khode Island Records, 
 with his usual candor and good sense Vol. VIII. p. 262. 
 in the second volume of his History 
 of Rhode Island, p. 334. 
 
46 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 and for the manner in which " the forces within 
 this colony shall march to the assistance of any of 
 our sister colonies when invaded or attacked," 
 close ominously the last year of colonial peace. 
 Of all these preparations, none came more di- 
 rectly home to his personal feelings than the or- 
 ganization of the Kentish Guards, an independent 
 company for East Greenwich, Warwick, and Coven- 
 try, similar in object and plan to those which were 
 organizing all over the country. To these three 
 towns he was bound by peculiar ties ; having been 
 born in Warwick, living in Coventry, and going, 
 from childhood, every week to meditate in silence 
 or listen in reverence in the meeting-house that 
 stood thoughtfully amid rows of uninscribed graves 
 on the bank of a mill-pond in a sweet little valley 
 just beyond the hill-top of Greenwich. All the 
 members of this company were his neighbors and 
 acquaintances, some of them his friends. Among 
 its first officers were James Mitchel Yarnum, a 
 man of "exalted talents," whom he "loved and 
 esteemed," who was to take an honorable place 
 in the civil and military history of the Kevolution ; 
 and Christopher Greene, who was to follow Arnold 
 to Quebec, defend Red Bank against Donop 
 and his Hessians, and die, sword in hand, in the 
 flower of his age, victim of the negligence of a 
 militia guard. And still, as the war went on, this 
 little nursery of gallant men sent out officers to 
 the regular army, till they numbered nearly thirty 
 in all. Nathanael Greene was among the peti- 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 47 
 
 tioners for a charter, which was granted in the 
 October session of 1774.^ 
 
 But in connection with the Kentish Guards 
 there was a mortification in store for Greene for 
 which he was little prepared. He had entered the 
 company as a private, and without any idea of 
 taking a commission. But this some of his friends 
 would not consent to, and by dint of persuasion 
 they prevailed upon him to let his name be 
 brought forward for a lieutenancy. But they 
 were to encounter an objection which none of 
 them had foreseen. Greene's stiflf knee gave, as 
 we have already seen, a limp to his gait ; and in 
 the eyes of some of the village critics this limp, 
 though slight, was a serious blemish, unfitting him, 
 not merely for an officer, but even for a private. 
 A limping soldier in ranks like theirs ! Greene was 
 thunderstruck. It was the first mortification he 
 had ever received, and he took it sorely to heart. 
 His friends were indignant. Yarnum threatened 
 to withdraw his name, and the loss of Yarnum's 
 fine person and popular eloquence would have 
 been a serious blow to the halforganized com- 
 pany. 
 
 But this was a form of resentment that Greene 
 could not accept, and, not satisfied with having 
 told his friend by word of mouth how he thought 
 and felt about it, he returned to the subject in a 
 letter, which, happily for his memory, still exists 
 
 1 The original draft of the charter also Rhode Island Records, Vol. 
 is among the Vamum Papers. See VII. p. 260. 
 
48 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1755. 
 
 in his own hand, to show how firmly he already 
 held the rein of his passions, and how early he 
 learned to subject his feelings as a man to his du- 
 ty as a citizen. And thus he writes from Coventry, 
 on Monday, 2 o'clock, P. M. 
 
 '« Dear Sir : — 
 
 *'As I am ambitious of maintaining a place in your 
 esteem, and cannot hope to do it if I discover in my 
 actions a little mind and a mean spirit, I think in justice 
 to myself I ought to acquaint you with the particulars of 
 the subject on which we conversed to-day. I was in- 
 formed the gentlemen of East Greenwich said that I was 
 a blemish to the company. I confess it is the first stroke 
 of mortification I ever felt from being considered, either 
 in private or public life, a blemish to those with whom 
 I associated. Hitherto I have always had the happiness 
 to find myself respected in society in general, and my 
 friendship courted by as respectable characters as any in 
 the government. Pleased with these thoughts, and anx- 
 ious to promote the good of my country, and ambitious 
 of increasing the consequence of East Greenwich, I have 
 exerted myself to form a military company there ; but 
 little did I think that the gentlemen considered me in 
 the light of an obtruder. My heart is too susceptible of 
 pride, and my sentiments too delicate, to wish a con- 
 nection where I am considered in an inferior point of 
 light. I have always made it my study to promote the 
 interest of Greenwich, and to cultivate the good opinion 
 of its inhabitants, (so) that the severity of the speech, and 
 the union of sentiment coming from persons so unex- 
 pected, might wound the pride of my heart deeper than 
 the force of the observation merited. God knows when 
 I first entered this company, I had not in contemplation 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 49 
 
 any kind of office, but was fully determined not to 
 accept any ; but GrifF and others has been endeavor- 
 ing to obtain my consent for some weeks past. I 
 never expected that being a member of the company 
 would give me any more consequence in life either as 
 a private soldier or commissioned officer. I thought 
 the cause of liberty was in danger ; and as it was at- 
 tackt by a military force, it was necessary to cultivate a 
 military spirit amongst the people, that, should tyranny 
 endeavor to make any other advances, we might be pre- 
 pared to check it in its first sallies. I considered with 
 myself that, if we should never be wanted in that char- 
 acter, it would form a pretty little society in our meetings 
 when we might relax ourselves a few hours from the 
 various occupations of life, and return to our business 
 again with more activity and spirit. I did not want to 
 add any new consequence to myself from the distinction 
 of that company ; if I had been ambitious of promotion 
 in a public character, you yourself can witness for me I 
 have had it in my power, but I always preferred the 
 pleasures of private society to those of public distinction. 
 If I conceive right of the force of the objection of the gen- 
 tlemen of the town, it was not as an officer, but as a 
 soldier for that my halting was a blemish to the rest. I 
 confess it is my misfortune to limp a little, but I did not 
 conceive it to be so great ; but we are not apt to discover 
 our own defects. I feel the less mortified at it as it 's nat- 
 ural, and not a stain or defection that resulted from my 
 actions. I have pleased myself with the thought of serving 
 under you, but as it is the general opinion that I am un- 
 fit for such an undertaking, I shall desist. I feel not the 
 less inclination to promote the good of the company, be- 
 cause I am not to be one of its members. I will do any- 
 thing that 's in my power to procure the charter. I will 
 
50 HFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 bear my proportion of the expense until the company is 
 formed and completely equipt. Let me entreat you, sir, 
 if you have any regard for me, not to forsake the com- 
 pany at this critical season, for I fear the consequences; 
 if you mean to oblige me by it, I assure you it will not. I 
 would not have the company break and disband for fifty 
 dollars; it would be a disgrace upon the county, and upon 
 the town in particular. I feel more mortification than 
 resentment, but I think it would manifest a more gener- 
 ous temper to have given me their opinions in private 
 than to make proclamation of it in public as a capital ob- 
 jection ; for nobody loves to be the subject of ridicule, 
 however true the cause. I purpose to attend to-morrow, 
 if my business will permit, and, as Mrs. Greene is waiting, 
 will add no more, only that I am, with great truth, your 
 sincere friend." 
 
 How the matter was finally arranged is no 
 longer known, beyond the simple fact that he re- 
 mained in the company as a private. There was 
 still another practical difficulty : where should he 
 find a musket ? for already muskets and military 
 accoutrements of all kinds were hard to get. He 
 resolved to go to Boston, where his business rela- 
 tions, although it was the first year of the Port 
 Bill, would afford a sufficient pretext for a visit. It 
 is probable that he took lodgings at the " Bunch of 
 Grapes," on the little square in front of Faneuil 
 Hall. If we bear in mind his position in the Legis- 
 lature, we shall see that he would hardly be in 
 Boston at such a time without endeavoring to ex- 
 change opinions with the leaders of the popular 
 party. He may have met Sam Adams and War- 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 51 
 
 ren, and discussed with them the chances of that 
 armj of twenty thousand men which Massachusetts 
 had just asked Rhode Island to join with New 
 Hampshire and Connecticut in helping her raise, 
 and Josiah Quincy's pamphlet, and that little close- 
 printed quarto of sixteen pages which told what the 
 General Congress of Philadelphia had done. It is 
 as certain as tradition can make it, that he went 
 more than once to Knox's bookstore. It is posi- 
 tively known that he attended the morning and 
 evening parades of the British troops, looking at 
 them sternly from under the broad brim of his 
 Quaker hat with those keen eyes which, before 
 another twelvemonth was passed, were to look 
 at them more sternly still from under the cocked 
 hat of a brigadier-general. And then, having 
 bought a musket, and engaged a British deserter 
 to go back with him as drill-master to the " Guards," 
 he prevailed upon a farmer to hide his musket in 
 his cart, and, following him at a cautious distance, 
 set out upon his journey homeward. Once over 
 the Roxbury lines, he would breathe freely ; but 
 when, a few months later, he heard poor Ditson's ^ 
 story, he must have recalled his own adventure 
 with something more than self-congratulation. In 
 a few days he appeared on parade with his drill- 
 master and his musket ; and still in the old home- 
 stead, where he was born and grew up to full man- 
 hood, that musket has its place on the wall, and is 
 reverentially preserved in memory of him. 
 
 1 Who was tarred and feathered for buying one. See Force, Am. 
 Archives, 4th Series, Vol. II. p. 83. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Inner Life. — Mental Culture. — How and what he studied. — His 
 Library. — Study of Composition. — Letters to S. Ward, Jr. — 
 Quaker Prejudices against Literature. — Glimpses of his Daily Life 
 and Habits. — Forge burned. — A Lottery. — Letter to William 
 Greene. — Asthma. — In Love. — Why he loved S. Ward. — S. 
 Ward's Sister. — Progress of the Dispute with England. — Greene 
 resolves to take up Arms. — Read out of the Meeting. — Threatened 
 Accusation. — Military Reading. — Rhode Island College. — Court- 
 ship and Marriage. — Domestic Life. — Rapid Development of Pub- 
 lic Opinion. — Tea burned in Market Square, Providence. — Battle 
 of Lexington. — March of Kentish Guards. — Assembly meets. — 
 Army of Observation. — Mission to Connecticut. — Greene chosen 
 Brigadier-General. — Commission. — Farewell Letter to his Wife. 
 
 T>UT, side by side with this out-of-door Kfe, in 
 -*^ the eye of his little world, Greene was living a 
 thoughtful inner life, which few in that world could 
 appreciate or understand. From the time when 
 his literary curiosity had first been awakened by 
 his conversation with Giles he had resolved to 
 make the cultivation of his mind a part of his daily 
 work. The long evenings of winter, and early ris- 
 ing all the year round, gave him hours and half- 
 hours which amounted to days in the course of the 
 month, and he turned them all to account. Some 
 time, too, as I have already said, he gained during 
 his working hours by still keeping his book at 
 hand, to be taken up, though but for a moment, 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 53 
 
 while the iron was heating, or for freer use while 
 the corn was passing from the hopper. 
 
 In this way he had gradually mastered Euclid 
 and Locke ; the frequent interruptions serving 
 only to make him think more closely, and weigh 
 every idea and principle more carefully, before it 
 took its appropriate place in his mind. Thus his 
 mode of reading became very deliberate, and being 
 prevented both by the turn of his mind and his 
 slender stock of books from reading for excitement, 
 he would read the same book over and over again, 
 returning to it with unpalled appetite, until he had 
 made himself thoroughly master of its contents. 
 And thus, too, his knowledge, instead of floating 
 loosely upon the surface of his mind, permeated 
 every part of it, and became a substantial thing, 
 over which his control was absolute. And hence, 
 in after years, it was a saying, among those who 
 knew him best, that nobody could get the sub- 
 stance out of a book as he could.^ 
 
 It was not, however, without the constant ex- 
 ertion of a strong will that he could carry his 
 studies beyond Barclay and Fox, much less enter 
 those profane regions where wit and poetry spread 
 their snares for heedless feet. Of his father's prej- 
 udices I have already spoken ; and it was not till 
 
 1 This has often been told me by knowledge how much I owe to her 
 
 my grandaunt, Mary Ward, sister of tenderness for the happiness of my 
 
 Greene's first love, and of his early early years, and to her sound, clear 
 
 friend, Samuel Ward. The reader mind for my comprehension of the 
 
 will pardon me if I add, that I can- feelings and sentiments of our Revo- 
 
 not write the name of this excellent lution. 
 woman without a longing to ac- 
 
54 LIFE OP NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 he grew up to man's estate that he became wholly 
 free to follow his natural bent and indulge a wider 
 range of study, and not until he had a house of 
 his own that he could make a library a part of its 
 furniture. Then the pleasant little northeast room 
 that looks down the meadow to the river was 
 chosen for a study ; and, on walls covered with the 
 miscellaneous contents of a country store, a few 
 shelves were set apart for his books. By degrees 
 the number rose to two hundred and fifty well- 
 chosen volumes, the wonder of the country round, 
 and which doubtless made even some of his friends, 
 as they thought of the precious dollars that had 
 been given for them, shake their heads gravely, and 
 say, " You never can read them all ! " There was 
 Euclid, his early teacher, who had given him his 
 first consciousness of a firm grasp upon scientific 
 truth. There were the four thick octavos of the 
 Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, answering hun- 
 dreds of the questions that crowded upon his 
 mind, and illustrating its answers, when they were 
 susceptible of illustration, by elaborate engravings. 
 He had paid " four pounds lawful " for them ; but 
 it was not by pounds and shillings that the pleas- 
 ure and profit he had derived from them could 
 be estimated. There was John Mair's " Book-keep- 
 ing Methodized," with a dictionary of commercial 
 terms, and an appendix full of valuable informa- 
 tion about the Colonial trade, — lessons gratefully 
 remembered when the complicated questions and 
 accounts of the quartermaster-general's department 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREEKE. 55 
 
 came up before him. There were Locke's Essay and 
 Butler's Analogy. There, high in place, were the 
 four beautiful quartos of Blackstone from the Ox- 
 ford press, and near them an Edinburgh quarto, 
 wdth leaves often and thoughtfully turned, Fergu- 
 son's Essay on Civil Society, — a work little read 
 now, but which was held in that day to have " a 
 great deal of genius and fine writing." ^ Beccaria's 
 golden treatise, the first application of a humane 
 philosophy to the theory of crimes and punish- 
 ments, was there also. Were not Montesquieu and 
 Burlamaqui, and Puifendorf and Yattel, and Hume's 
 essays close by its side ? I do not know positively, 
 though I know that a few years later he had read 
 Yattel and Hume ; and he could hardly have seen 
 the names of the others recurring so often, in books 
 which he is known to have read, without feeling 
 a strong desire to read them too. His Roman his- 
 tory was Rollin, with engravings facing the title- 
 page ; young Pompey leading his horse before the 
 censors ; Regulus tearing himself from the arms of 
 his wife and children ; Caesar sinking under the 
 dagger which Brutus, with averted head, thrusts 
 into his bosom. His English history was Rapin ; 
 his rhetoric and literature, Rollin in four duodeci- 
 mos. There was Csesar " Englished by Duncan," 
 and Horace by Smart. There was Pope's Homer, 
 and Pope's own poems, and the Spectator, and 
 Swift, whose terse simplicity he had early learned 
 to admire, and Tristram Shandy, whom he often 
 
 1 Hume to Robertson, May 29, 1759. Stewart's Life of Robertson. 
 
56 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 quotes, and whose Dr. Slop he loved to imperson- 
 ate to the great amusement of his brothers. And 
 in most of these books, on a fly-leaf or the title- 
 page, was written Nathanael Gh^eene's, in a bold, 
 round hand, which a schoolmaster might have en- 
 vied, but which was to lose itself almost in a swift 
 running-hand when thoughts crow^ded his pen, and 
 expresses, booted and spurred, waited to convey 
 his orders. 
 
 How soon he began to use his pen as a means 
 of culture I have no w^ay of ascertaining. The 
 earliest specimens of his writings that have been 
 preserved are his letters to Samuel Ward, Jr., a son 
 of the Governor, beginning shortly after his re- 
 moval to Coventry, and coming down to the mid- 
 dle of 1774. Some of these are regular studies of 
 composition; showing less, however, the progress 
 he had made as a writer than the subjects to which 
 he had turned his thoughts, and the opinions he 
 had formed upon them. In one of these letters he 
 traces our actions to " self-love " as " the primary 
 mover and first principle of them all," attributing 
 the " hazardous actions of great and exalted spirits " 
 " for the good of others " to the " passion of glory," 
 and the " generous benevolence of worthy minds 
 in the domestic way of life " to the " greater hap- 
 piness " which the gratification of their benevo- 
 lence affords them. 
 
 In a comparison between town and country life, 
 he unconsciously gives us a pleasant glimpse of his 
 own way of enjoying life in the country. Town 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 57 
 
 life reminds him of a cloudy sky, country life of a 
 clear one, each acting upon the other by a law of 
 " necessary succession " ; but country life, in which 
 " nature seems to move gently on, undisturbed by 
 noise and tumult," affords an opportunity of " con- 
 templating her order and beauty until we arrive at 
 that pitch of knowledge and understanding that 
 the God of nature has qualified us to soar to." 
 
 He defines " virtuous manners as such acquired 
 habits of thought and correspondent actions as 
 lead to the steady prosecution of the general wel- 
 fare of society. Virtuous principles are such as 
 tend to confirm those habits by superinducing the 
 idea of duty." " Virtuous manners " he holds to 
 be " a permanent foundation for civil liberty, be- 
 cause they lead the passions and desires them- 
 selves to coincide with the appointments of civil 
 law." He speaks of benevolence, " What shall I 
 say to you of benevolence ? The example of God 
 teacheth the lesson truly." He speaks of friend- 
 ship, and finds its " principal fruit in the ease and 
 discharge of the swelling of the heart." "• The pur- 
 suit of virtue where there is no opposition," he re- 
 gards as " the merit of a common man ; hut to 
 practise it in spite of all opposition is the charac- 
 ter of a truly great and noble soul." Sometimes 
 his sentiments assume the form of friendly sugges- 
 tion. " It is very fortunate for you to be able to 
 enumerate a long train of noble ancestors, but to 
 equal the best and excel the most is to have no 
 occasion for any He that enters in life with 
 
68 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 all the advantages of a noble birth, adorned with a 
 liberal education and improved by the most pious 
 example, cannot be excused short of an improve- 
 ment proportionate to the opportunity given 
 
 Learn, my friend, to distinguish between true and 
 false modesty. What I call false modesty is not to 
 have resolution to deny an unreasonable request 
 
 or power to oppose a corrupt custom Have 
 
 you not felt, on seeing or reading of noble deeds or 
 generous actions, pleasant emotions mixt with the 
 desire of imitation? These are the advantages 
 that spring from choice books and the best of com- 
 pany. They inspire the mind to action, and direct 
 the passions." 
 
 Sometimes his thoughts, dwelling upon the 
 bright prospects of his young friend, revert with 
 a dignified consciousness to his own position. " I 
 hope one day to see you shine like a star of the 
 first magnitude, all glorious both evening and 
 morning I lament the want of liberal edu- 
 cation. I feel the mist of ignorance to surround me. 
 .... I was educated a Quaker, and amongst the 
 most superstitious sort ; and that of itself is enough 
 to cramp the best of geniuses, much more mine. 
 This constrained manner of educating their youth 
 has proved a fine nursery of ignorance and super- 
 stition instead of piety, and has laid a foundation 
 for farce instead of worship." 
 
 He then goes on to show that " it was not the 
 original intention of the Friends to prevent the 
 propagation of useful literature in the Church, but 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 59 
 
 only to prohibit their youth from reading such 
 books as may make them fools by industry " ; that 
 " they considered youth to be the great opportu- 
 nity of life, which settles or fixes most men in a 
 good or bad course " ; that, falling upon an age of 
 priestcraft, they were disgusted with a system of 
 education the only aim of which was to " cultivate 
 the youthful mind to be subservient to the after- 
 views " of the priesthood, and failing to distinguish 
 " where the evil lay," and, arguing " from the abuse 
 to the disuse of the thing," they confounded litera- 
 ture with a " vain philosophy," and while they 
 aimed only " to lop off the dead branches," super- 
 stition and ignorance, creeping in, " increased into 
 
 the decay of learning This, my dear friend, 
 
 was the foundation of my education." 
 
 It is this feeling, perhaps, that prevents him from 
 speaking often of books, although a mention of 
 them now and then creeps in. " I have been read- 
 ing," he writes, July 21, 1773, "Butler's Analogy 
 between Natural and Eevealed Religion." Some- 
 times his reading furnishes him with a simile, 
 " Griffin pursued him through Connecticut as Death 
 did Tristram Shandy through France." Sometimes 
 with a quotation, " I conclude with the contents of 
 one of Seneca's letters, ' I am well, I hope you are 
 well, farewell.' " Once there is an attempt at hu- 
 mor. He sends out an imaginary messenger to 
 see. what his friend " Sam " is a doing ; and, after 
 some hesitation, the messenger says : " Why, then, 
 — if — if I must, I will. I found him out in the 
 
60 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 woods the back of the house with his winter shoes 
 on, new modelling his bow agreeably to the Boston 
 plan. He had scraped up the earth as you have 
 seen stray cattle when they meet, and was all be- 
 smeared with the dust he had raised ; he looked 
 like the miller in the farce." The drama, if we*may 
 judge by this allusion, had attracted some share of 
 his attention. Once only does he quote poetry. 
 A " once celebrated " belle had paid him a visit. 
 She was in declining health. " She appears," he 
 writes, "like a gaudy flower nipt by the pinch- 
 ing frost. I fancy she is not long for this world. 
 Though she flies swiftly on the wings of wild de- 
 sire for matrimony. 
 
 " How rich, how valued once avails thee not ; 
 To whom related or by whom begot. 
 A heap of dust alone remains of thee, 
 *T is all thou art, and all the proud shall be." 
 
 In these transcripts of his mind he gives us oc- 
 casional glimpses of himself from other points of 
 view. " I have been to meeting to-day," he writes, 
 of a Sunday afternoon ; " our silence was inter- 
 rupted by a vain, conceited minister. His sermon 
 made me think of a certain diet called Whistle- 
 Belly vengeance ; he that eats most has the worst 
 share. He began by asking what could be said 
 that had not been said : ^Much more,' thinks I, ' than 
 you ever thought or ever will.' Poor man ! he had 
 a little morsel to comfort himself, and he could n't 
 be contented to eat it alone, but, feeling the springs 
 of benevolence rise up in his mind, he thought it 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 61 
 
 his duty to make a distribution among the whole 
 congregation. The assembly was so large and the 
 matter so light that it evaporated like smoke, and 
 left us neither the fuller nor the better pleased 
 than when he began." 
 
 Another day he was more fortunate. " There 
 has been a famous preacher at Greenwich. He is 
 a gentleman of elevated faculties, a fine speaker, 
 and appears by his language to be a lover of man- 
 kind." 
 
 Sometimes we meet a passage that gives us a 
 morning glance into his room ; as Cicero's hcec 
 ante dihculum scripsi -^ does into the early hours 
 of the great orator. " Day stands tiptoe, and the 
 rays of the sun begin to gild the tops of the high- 
 est hills and tallest trees," he writes in August, 
 1772; and sometimes a glance which shows that, 
 with all his love of books and application to business, 
 he loved a hearty merry-making still. " I am just 
 returned from Mr. Benjamin Gardener's wedding," 
 he writes from Potowomut in January, 1774. " We 
 
 kept it up three or four days The bride was 
 
 dressed in a corded lutestring gown, flounced and 
 furbelowed in high taste ; her head was dressed in 
 a laced fly, long lappets — " and then suddenly 
 checking his pen, as if conscious that he was beyond 
 his depth, he adds, " the rest of the head-dress was 
 of a piece, which I leave to your imagination to 
 frame, as I am no great connoisseur in female fur- 
 niture, and am at a loss for a name to convey my 
 
 II wrote this before dawn. 
 
62 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 ideas. The bride looked rich, but not neat ; amia- 
 ble, but not handsome. So much for the wedding." 
 And passing to " snow-storm upon snow-storm ; all 
 the face of the earth is covered with virgin snow," 
 he closes with another unconscious revelation of 
 character, showing how strong his local attach- 
 ments were, and what a hold the old homestead 
 had upon his affections. " Although it (the snow) 
 is deep and difficult to get abroad, yet I can't con- 
 fine myself long from Potowomut, where we ap- 
 pear as the people of old did that went into the 
 ark, male and female." 
 
 In the summer of 1772, August 17, the forge at 
 Coventry was burnt down. Lotteries were the in- 
 surance companies of that day, and the Legislature 
 was petitioned for a lottery. Lest any one should 
 feel inclined to tax the Greenes with gambling, let 
 it be remembered that school-houses and churches 
 were built and repaired by the same means, and 
 that even private individuals felt authorized to 
 have recourse to them for the reparation of pri- 
 vate losses. 
 
 " Whereas," say the records, " John Greene & 
 Company, and Griffin Greene all of Coventry ; and 
 Nathaniel Greene & Company preferred a petition, 
 and represented unto this Assembly that, on the 
 night of the 17th instant, the buildings of the forge 
 in said Coventry, of which they were owners, were 
 entirely consumed by fire ; that the loss is so great 
 that they cannot repair it without assistance ; that 
 some of them are considerably indebted, have in- 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 63 
 
 creasing families to maintain, and by the said mis- 
 fortune are deprived of their principal dependence ; 
 that although they the petitioners are the immedi- 
 ate sufferers, yet many others must consequently 
 share in the calamity, as a considerable part of the 
 country adjacent were employed by means of said 
 forge, which also furnished a very material and 
 expensive article for shipping ; and that, if the said 
 forge be not repaired, the anchor works, which still 
 remain, will be in a manner useless ; and thereupon 
 prayed this Assembly to grant them a lottery to 
 raise the sum of $ 2,500 under the direction of 
 Messrs. William Greene, Christopher Greene, and 
 Charles Holden, they giving bond for the faithful 
 performance of the said trust ; on consideration 
 whereof 
 
 " Be it enacted by this General Assembly and by 
 the authority thereof it is enacted, that the afore- 
 said petition be, and the same is hereby granted." ^ 
 
 Two years later Nathaniel Greene & Company 
 relinquished their interest in the lottery, which by 
 a new act, in compliance with a new petition, was 
 made over to Griffin Greene, whose name we shall 
 often meet as a favorite cousin of the General.^ A 
 letter to William Greene gives the story from an- 
 other point of view. 
 
 " CoYENTRY, August 23, 1772. 
 
 " News of our misfortune in the destruction of the forge 
 doubtless will reach you before this. We have made ap- 
 
 1 Bartlett, R. I. Records, Vol. VII. stated in the text, see the same vol- 
 p. 52. For numerous instances of ume, passim. 
 similar grants, to the full extent ^ Records ut sup. 242. 
 
64 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 plication to the General Assembly for a lottery, which 
 have obtained a grant of. You, Mr. Christopher Greene, 
 and Charles Holden, are appointed directors. I must 
 entreat you to accept of that trust, lest it should defeat 
 the whole scheme. I am confident the satisfaction of as- 
 sisting the unfortunate will give you as much pleasure 
 as will balance the trouble and difficulty you '11 experi- 
 ence upon the occasion. I urge it more on my uncle 
 and Griffin's account than our own ; and had it not been 
 for them we had not adopted this method to recover part 
 of our loss, but the injury was too great for them to re- 
 cover themselves without the aid and assistance of their 
 friends. The loss is much greater in its consequences to 
 us than it would be in its own nature, for uncle's loss is 
 our loss, for this unhappy affair will put it out of his pow- 
 er to pay us our demands for some time, if ever he gets 
 able." 1 
 
 Thus much for the lottery, which I have thought 
 too interesting an illustration of ninety years ago 
 to be passed over in silence. 
 
 " I have had a most severe turn of the phthisic or 
 asthma," the letter continues ; " I have not slept six hours 
 in four nights, being obliged to sit up the two last nights. 
 I hope you and your family enjoy a better state of health. 
 If ever I felt the benefit of philosophy it has been upon 
 this occasion, for I felt as calm and as contented as old 
 Socrates when condemned unjustly by the Athenians." 
 
 This is the first mention of a disease which stuck 
 to him through life ; and if we feel a smile stealing 
 
 1 I am indebted for the original left in blank are covered with memo- 
 of this letter to Lieutenant-Governor randa of names and numbers, show- 
 William Greene, the grandson of the ing how industriously the trust was 
 William to whom it was written, fulfilled. 
 All the parts of the sheet originally 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 65 
 
 to our lips at the self-congratulatory comparison 
 with Socrates, we may remember that Greene was 
 not a mere declairaer, trying to embellish a sen- 
 tence, but a student of real life, trying to form him- 
 self for its duties by the example of great men. 
 
 A few days after the fire he wrote to Samuel 
 Ward: "Your letter reached me the morning 
 after the destruction of the forge. I sat upon the 
 remains of one of the old shafts and read it. I was 
 surrounded with gloomy faces, piles of timber still 
 in flames, heaps of bricks dasht to pieces, bushels 
 of coal reduced to ashes ; — everything seemed to 
 appear in ruin and confusion." The letter troubled 
 him too. Some expressions in one of his own let- 
 ters had been misunderstood, and his young friend 
 had been wounded by them. " I read over your 
 letter once or twice," Greene writes, "before I 
 could satisfy myself whether the surprise I felt was 
 the effect of the loss, or from the contents of the 
 letter." He defends himself warmly ; but a sweet 
 tone of affection runs through his defence, and, 
 withdrawing for a moment the veil of his feelings, 
 he confesses that " a contest has been going on in 
 his bosom, that his breast has been like a theatre 
 of strife and a field of battle, where reason and pas- 
 sion contend with various successes of power and 
 victory." If we would know why he was thus " at 
 variance " with himself, and continually " torn and 
 distracted with civil feuds of his own disturbed im- 
 agination" we must go a little more into detail 
 and withdraw the veil still further. 
 
 5 
 
66 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 There were many things in young Samuel Ward 
 to draw Greene towards him, notwithstanding the 
 fourteen years' difference in their ages. Nature 
 had given him, fine talents. The happy fortune of 
 his birth had brought him early into contact with 
 cultivated men. He laid the foundation of his 
 education betimes, graduating at ^Rhode Island 
 College on its third commencement, and with high 
 honors, although not yet turned of sixteen. As he 
 came out into life it was seen that sound principles, 
 force of will, self-control, and generous sentiments 
 formed a part of that education; exalted, all of 
 them, by an honorable ambition, and vivified by a 
 dash of bold enterprise. How resolutely he bore 
 the privations of the march through the wilder- 
 ness, how bravely he fought under the walls of 
 Quebec, how gallantly he faced the Hessians at 
 Eed Bank, how adventurously, when the war was 
 ended, he carried the flag of the new republic into 
 the China seas, with what placid serenity he re- 
 turned to the plough when his midday was passed, 
 closing the active portion of his long career amid 
 the woods and fields, cheerfully sowing where his 
 hand might not be permitted to garner, and plant- 
 ing trees whose fruit he could never hope to see, 
 are things which it is not now my office to tell. 
 But I cannot write his name upon the same 
 page with that of my grandfather, without re- 
 calling, as if it were but of yesterday, the rev- 
 erence with which, thirty years ago, and with 
 eyes already accustomed to look upon historical 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 67 
 
 meiij I looked upon his venerable form as bent, 
 but not broken by age, he would talk to me of 
 Horace, his daily companion, or, at my urgent 
 request, call forth from his faithful memory 
 some pleasing recollection of the friend of his 
 youth. 
 
 And now, if we bear in mind Greene's political 
 ties, we shall see how naturally his relations with 
 the father would ripen into still closer relations 
 with the son. And if we remember the longing 
 with which he looked to the intellectual " Canaan " 
 amid whose pleasant places his young friend was 
 roaming at will, while his own feet, like those of 
 " Moses of old," were stayed by the waters of " Jor- 
 dan," we shall see how much this intimate connec- 
 tion with one so highly favored must have ap- 
 peared to him like standing on the brink of the 
 stream, and catching a breath from the hallowed 
 region beyond. 
 
 But besides all this, Samuel Ward had a sister 
 who was exceeding fair in the eyes of his friend ; 
 a maiden in whom all the noble instincts of the 
 father and brother looked out through soft eyes 
 of bluish gray, strengthening the harmony of well- 
 matched features, deepening at times the tints 
 upon rosy cheeks, and imparting dignity to a form 
 which, although not above the middle size, was full 
 of symmetry and grace. In the intimacy of coun- 
 try life, Greene had seen her grow up from girl- 
 hood to womanhood, and learned as he talked with 
 her and looked upon her to give her his love. 
 
68 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 But she could only give him friendship in return, 
 and for a long while the alternations of hope and 
 fear, the effort to awaken a warmer feeling, and 
 the growing consciousness that his efforts were 
 vain, seem to have " overwhelmed " him as they 
 have overwhelmed the lovers of all generations 
 with " agreeable distress and pleasant pains." . And 
 this it was that made him feel " at variance with 
 himself" ; and the meditative habits which his 
 natural disposition and his mode of life encouraged 
 must have greatly contributed to increase and pro- 
 long the agitation. 
 
 It was fortunate for him that just at this time 
 public questions began to demand a larger share 
 of his attention. The dispute with England was 
 rapidly assuming a more decided form, and making 
 it necessary for men of all classes to choose their 
 side in the approaching contest. For Greene this 
 decision involved another decision, which he could 
 not make without pain, although he made it with- 
 out hesitation. He saw that nothing but a reso- 
 lute appeal to arms could save the colonies from 
 absolute subjection to the royal prerogative. He 
 felt that his country had the same right to his ser- 
 vices in the field which he had recognized as her 
 unquestionable right in the council-chamber. But 
 he knew that he could not take a sword in his 
 hand without exposing himself to be cast out from 
 the religious society with which he had lived in 
 unbroken harmony from his earliest childhood. 
 Amid the little nameless mounds that dotted the 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 69 
 
 greensward on the west side of the Quaker meet- 
 ing-house, there was one which he knew to be the 
 grave of his mother, and by the same path by 
 which, when but a boy of ten, he had followed her 
 body to its resting-place, he had in riper years 
 followed two brothers and his father to their places 
 by her side. How could he cut himself off from a 
 seat in the building in which he had so often lis- 
 tened to his father's voice, and his right to a grave 
 in a spot consecrated by the graves of father and 
 mother and brothers ? 
 
 His heart was tender, and his personal and local 
 attachments strong ; but he took his resolution de- 
 liberately, and ever after abided firmly by it. Yet 
 although from the first his sentiments must have 
 been known to the " meeting," and consequently 
 condemned, it was not till he had made a public 
 profession of them by attending a military pa- 
 rade at Plainfield, near the Khode Island border, 
 that it took public notice of them. Then says the 
 record : — 
 
 " At our monthly meeting, held at Cranston on 
 
 the 5th of seventh month, 1773 Whereas, 
 
 this meeting is informed that Nathanaeland Griffin 
 Greene have (been) at a place in Connecticut of 
 public resort where they had no proper business, 
 therefore this meeting appoints Ephraim Congdon, 
 Jared Greene, and Gary Spencer to make inquiry 
 into the matter, and to make report at our next 
 monthly meeting." 
 
 And when the next meeting came together, it 
 
70 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 was further resolved : " At our monthly meeting at 
 East Greenwich y* 2d of the eighth month, 1773, 
 The committee appointed to inquire into the con- 
 duct of Nathanael Greene and Griffin Greene re- 
 port that they have had no opportunity with 
 them as yet. Therefore it is continued to our next 
 monthly meeting.'* 
 
 There was an evident reluctance to proceed to 
 extremities against the son and nephew of an emi- 
 nent preacher. The next meeting was held at 
 " Cranston on y^ 6th day of y^ ninth month," and 
 still the blow was suspended. " In the matter re- 
 ferred to this meeting concerning Nathanael Greene 
 and Griffin Greene, the committee report that they 
 have treated with them, but they have givep no 
 satisfaction as yet. Whereupon this meeting con- 
 tinues it once more, and desires the clerk to in- 
 form them of the same." 
 
 Another month passes, both parties meeting con- 
 stantly the while in the pursuit of their customary 
 avocations. The next meeting is held at East 
 Greenwich, in the very building wherein for almost 
 thirty years his face had been one of the most 
 familiar, and there on "y® 30th day of y® ninth 
 month " the clerk writes with reluctant pen, — " The 
 matter referred to this meeting concerning Na- 
 thanael Greene and Griffin Greene, as they have 
 not given this meeting any satisfaction for their 
 outgoing and misconduct, therefore this meeting 
 doth put them from under the care of the meeting 
 until they make satisfaction for their misconduct, 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 71 
 
 and appoint John Greene to inform them of the 
 same." ^ 
 
 Already this same year he had been menaced 
 with a more dangerous accusation. " One of the 
 Gaspee's people has sworn against me as being con- 
 cerned in the destruction of her I should 
 
 be tempted to let the sun shine through him if I 
 could come at him," he writes Samuel Ward. The 
 idea of being " called to the bar as a criminal," in 
 such a cause, has its ludicrous side also. " Would 
 it not make you laugh," he writes, "to see the 
 Colonel stand in that attitude ? " 
 
 And now military books began to make their 
 appearance on his shelves, purchased, most of 
 them, an authentic tradition says, at the bookstore 
 of Henry Knox, whom he had known thus far 
 only as a bookseller, but whom he was soon to 
 meet in camp, and to live with throughout the 
 rest of his life as a cherished friend. Then came 
 the organization of the Kentish Guards. His 
 separation from the Quakers was complete and 
 irrevocable. 
 
 One more trace of his interest in another class 
 of questions remains. Khode Island College had 
 been established in 1764 (February 27), and gave 
 promise of becoming an important institution. 
 There was still, however, as late as 1770 (February 
 7), an uncertainty about the best place for a per- 
 manent location; all the principal towns of the 
 
 1 MSS. records. I am indebted for my friend and schoolmate, James II. 
 my copy of the passages in the text to Eldridge, M.D., of East Greenwich. 
 
72 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 State claiming it on the ground of peculiar local 
 advantages. Greene took an active part in the 
 discussion, advocating the claims of East Green- 
 wich.^ 
 
 Erelong another decisive change in his per- 
 sonal condition followed. Just where the hill on 
 whose eastern slope East Greenwich is built be- 
 gins to fall away on the west towards a deep 
 and smiling valley stands the house of Governor 
 Greene, — a large house for the early Colonial days 
 in which it was built, and to whose unadorned walls 
 association still gives such an air of simple dignity 
 that you instinctively pause and look around you 
 before you cross the threshold ; for there are few 
 of Khode Island's great men who have not crossed 
 it, and in its little southwest parlor, whose western 
 window overlooks the valley, Franklin loved to sit 
 and look upon the pleasant landscape. But it 
 was not to sit where Franklin had sat, or even 
 to discuss, with the future governor, the anxious 
 questions of the day, that Greene stopped so often 
 and so long in his frequent passings by. But that 
 little parlor was lighted now by eyes of bluish 
 gray, which smiled upon him till he forgot in 
 whom he had first learned to love such eyes, and 
 a form light and agile in his favorite dance, and a 
 merry laugh from dewy lips, and a lively wit, and a 
 heart all ready to meet his own in equal exchange. 
 
 1 Guild's History of Brown Uni- interesting chapters of this authentic 
 versity. The history of the location and important work, 
 of this institution is one- of the most 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 73 
 
 The maiden's name was Catherine Littlefield, and 
 she was a niece of the governor's wife, the Cather- 
 ine Ray of Franklin's letters. The courtship sped 
 swiftly and smoothly; and more than once, in 
 the course of it, he followed her to Block Island, 
 where, as long after, her sister told me, the time 
 passed gleefully in merry-makings, of which dan- 
 cing always formed a principal part. And, on the 
 12th of July, 1774, it was certified, under the 
 hand of David Sprague, Clerke, " to all whom it 
 may concern That The intention of marriage was 
 Published in the congregation assembled For Di- 
 vine Worship in Newshoreham meeting-house 
 Three days of Publick Worship Between Mr. Na- 
 thanial Greene of Coventry in the County of Kint 
 and Catharine Littlefield a Daughter of John Little- 
 field Esq. at Newshoreham in the county of New- 
 port and no objection was made to forbid their 
 marriage." On the same days^ the worshippers at 
 the " Episcopal Church at Providence " received a 
 similar notice, as is testified, in a clear, copy-book 
 hand, by the rector, J. Greaves. And a third cer- 
 tificate being given, on the 18th, by Stephen 
 Arnold, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, the 
 requisitions of law and custom were fulfilled. Al- 
 ready, on the 10th, he had written : — 
 
 " Friend Samuel, — Please to deliver the enclosed 
 cards to your sisters. On the 20th tliis instant, I expect 
 to be married to Miss Kitty Littlefield, at your uncle 
 Greene's. As a relation of hers, and friend of mine, 
 your company will be required on that occasion." 
 
74 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 But a sterner note mingles menacingly with tlie 
 marriage-bell. "The soldiers in Boston," he goes 
 on to say, " are insolent above measure. Soon, 
 very soon, I expect to hear the thirsty earth drink- 
 ing in the warm blood of American sons. Oh, 
 how my eyes flash with indignation, and my bosom 
 burns with holy resentment ! .... Boston ! 
 Boston ! would to heaven that the good angel that 
 destroyed the army of Sennacherib might now in- 
 terpose, and rid you of your oppressors ! How is 
 the design of government subverted ! " 
 
 The 20th of July came, and in the little room 
 hallowed by the recollections of Franklin, Greene 
 received the hand of his bride ; and then, through 
 those green roads and lanes, which looked greener 
 and lovelier than ever before, he led her home to 
 Coventry. 
 
 Time now passed swiftly. Public life and pri- 
 vate life crowded close upon each other. His 
 forge, his books, the society of his wife, were occu- 
 pation enough for one whom ambition had scarcely 
 touched, and whose thoughts had never wandered 
 far from his paternal fields. But the legislature 
 met often, and each session brought up questions 
 of great moment. Solomon Southwick, of New- 
 port, had just published Lord Somers's " Judgment 
 of whole Kingdoms and Nations concerning the 
 Rights, Powers, and Prerogatives of Kings, and the 
 Rights, Privileges, and Properties of the People " ; 
 and as the legislators of Rhode Island read this 
 inculcation of the duty of " resisting evil and de- 
 
1742-1775.J LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 75 
 
 structive princes/' they felt their own resolution 
 strengthened, and saw the path of duty grow 
 plainer to their eyes. All began to feel that " the 
 time (was) near approaching when (they) must 
 gird on (their) swords, and ride forth to meet their 
 enemies." ^ Greene's feelings toward the minis- 
 try find their way into his letters to his wife. " Ke- 
 member me to the Doctor, and tell him if he don't 
 make a perfect cure, or lay a good foundation for 
 it, I'll put him on board of a man-of-war, and send 
 him to England to be tryed for the heinous offence 
 of disaffection to Arbitrary Government and Minis- 
 terial tyranny." It is from such letters that we 
 learn what the habitual tone of his conversation 
 must have been. The drills of militia and inde- 
 pendent companies continued. The calls for arms 
 became constant, and manufactories sprang up in 
 different parts of the State to answer them. The ac- 
 tion of Congress was approved in an extra session 
 of the Assembly.^ Committees of inspection were 
 on the alert. All eyes were turned anxiously to- 
 wards Boston. Money and provisions were sent 
 to the inhabitants, already straitened by the Port 
 Bill.^ In December, as we have already seen, Fort 
 George was dismantled, and the cannon secured 
 for the use of the Colony.* The use of tea was 
 
 1 Extract from a letter from a gen- Greene's friend, Varnum. Bartlett 
 tleman in Connecticut, published in R. I. Rec, Vol. VII. p. 303. 
 Force's Archives. * " Six twenty-four-pounders, eigh- 
 
 2 R. I. Records, Vol. VII. p. 263. teen eighteen-pounders, fourteen six- 
 * See, among others, the East pounders, and six four-pounders." 
 
 Greenwich resolutions, drawn by Captain Wallace to Admiral Graves, 
 
76 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 suspended. " We will have nothing to do with the 
 East India Company^s irksome tea, nor any other 
 subject to the like duty/' say the Middletown re- 
 solves.^ At Providence, " about twelve o'clock at 
 noon, the town-crier'' passed through the town, 
 giving notice, ^^At five o'clock this afternoon, a 
 quantity of India tea will be burnt in the market- 
 place. All true friends of their country, lovers of 
 freedom and haters of shackles and handcuffs, are 
 hereby invited to testify their good disposition, by 
 bringing in and casting into the fire a needless herb 
 which for a long tme hath been highly detrimental 
 to our liberty, interest, and health." About three 
 hundred pounds were burnt "by the firm con- 
 tenders for the true interest of America. A tar- 
 barrel, Lord North's speech, Eivingston's and Mill's 
 and Hicks's newspapers and divers other ingredients 
 were also added, .... many worthy women .... 
 making a free-will offering of their respective stocks 
 of the hurtful trash. On this occasion the bells were 
 tolled ; but it is referred to the learned whether 
 tolling or ringing would have been most proper. 
 Whilst the tea was burning a spirited son of liberty 
 went along the streets with his brush and lamp- 
 black, and obliterated or unpainted the word tea 
 on the shop signs." 
 
 This was in March, 1775;^ and these anxieties 
 and preparations of feeling went on gaining 
 
 Dec. 12, 1774. R. I. Rec, Vol. VII. i Arnold's Rhode Island, Vol. II. 
 
 p. 306. Wallace's letter is a good il- p. 330. 
 
 lustration of the feeling on both sides. 2 force's Am. Archives, 4th Series, 
 
 How diflferently the name sounds in Vol. II. p. 15 ; also Arnold's Rhode 
 
 Scottish history and in American ! Island, Vol. II. p. 345. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 77 
 
 strength through the first weeks of April. Then, 
 on the afternoon of the 19th, a messenger fresh 
 from the field reached Providence, with tidings 
 that the regulars and the colonists were fight- 
 ing at Lexington. The news passed quickly from 
 mouth to mouth, each new narrator giving it the 
 coloring of his own mind. '^ War, war, boys ! " 
 John Howland heard one man say : " there is war ; 
 the regulars have marched out of Boston ; a great 
 many men are killed; war, war, boys!"^ Men 
 gathered in groups on the parade, inquiring the 
 news, the ofiicers of the four independent compa- 
 nies among them. The drum beat to arms. It 
 was sundown before the men could be all got to- 
 gether, and then Sessions, the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 would not hearken to their earnest appeals for 
 marching orders. Wanton, the Governor, lived at 
 Newport, thirty miles off. Without orders, the 
 officers were reluctant to march, for they knew 
 that their legal authority would cease the moment 
 they crossed the boundary line ; and, true Anglo- 
 Saxons, even in this uprising which strict law 
 would have called rebellion, they would feign have 
 preserved the forms of law. Adopting, therefore, 
 a middle course, they despatched an express to 
 Boston, resolved, if they were needed, to march 
 without taking further thought of the Governor's 
 consent. 
 
 Meanwhile, the tidings passed on, from farm- 
 house to farm-house, from town to town. It was 
 
 1 Stone's Howland, p. 40. 
 
78 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 already night when they reached Greene at Cov- 
 entry; but he instantly mounted his horse, and 
 hurried off to the alarm-post of the Kentish 
 Guards, at Greenwich, stopping at the house of a 
 friend named Madison, — who still, in my early man- 
 hood, lived to tell the story, — to borrow a few dol- 
 lars in hard money. The Guards set out by dawn, 
 with Yarnum at their head. It was early in the 
 morning when they passed through Providence. 
 " I viewed the company as they marched up the 
 street," said John Howland, "and observed Na- 
 thaniel Greene, with his musket on his shoulder, 
 in the ranks, as a private. I distinguished Mr. 
 Greene, whom I had frequently seen, by the mo- 
 tion of his shoulder in the march, as one of his 
 legs was shorter than the other." ^ It was the stiff- 
 ness in his knee which gave him that halt in his 
 gait, and the musket on his shoulder was the Eng- 
 lish musket he had bought in Boston. At Paw- 
 tucket, just as they were crossing the line, a 
 messenger from the Tory Governor, Wanton, over- 
 took them, with orders to turn back. The com- 
 pany obeyed ; but Greene, procuring a horse, 
 pushed on with three companions, two of them 
 his brothers. On the way, messengers met them 
 with information that the British troops had been 
 driven into Boston. 
 
 On the 22d, the Assembly met at Providence, 
 and "Voted and resolved, that fifteen hundred 
 men be enlisted, raised, and embodied, as aforesaid, 
 
 1 Stone's Howland, ut sup. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 79 
 
 with all the expedition and despatch that the thing 
 will admit of." This little army was to serve at 
 home as an army of observation, " and also, if it 
 be necessary for the safety and preservation of any 
 of the Colonies, to march out of this Colony, and join 
 and co-operate with the forces of the neighboring 
 Colonies." In the same session, " a committee was 
 appointed to wait upon the General Assembly of 
 Connecticut to consult with them upon measures 
 for the common defence of the four New England 
 Colonies, and that they make report to this Assem- 
 bly at the next session." Samuel Ward and Wil- 
 liam Bradford were made the committee ; and 
 Ward, being unable to serve, on account of his 
 duties as delegate to Congress, " It (was) voted 
 and resolved, that M""* Nathanael Greene be, and 
 he is hereby, appointed " in his place. 
 
 In the following week the Assembly met again, 
 not at Newport, as they should have done, but, for 
 greater security, at Providence ; and, promptly 
 meeting the great question of the hour, pro- 
 ceeded to organize their army of observation. 
 The number, as we have already seen, was fixed at 
 fifteen hundred men. These were now ^^ formed 
 into one brigade, under the command of a briga- 
 dier-general," the brigade to be "divided into 
 three regiments, each of which shall be com- 
 manded by one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, and 
 one major, .... each regiment to consist of eight 
 companies," — one of the companies to be " a train 
 of artillery and have the use of the Colony's field- 
 
80 LIPE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 pieces." Then passing to the choice of officers, 
 the name of Nathanael Greene was placed first on 
 the list as brigadier-general. 
 
 As we look at this choice from our present point 
 of view, we are instinctively led to class it among 
 those events wherein human wisdom, recognizing 
 its own weakness, seeks for the explanation of its 
 impulses in a direct interposition of an overruling 
 Providence. But there were human causes also, 
 and we cannot but long to know them. Greene 
 had never held a military commission. The Col- 
 ony had its militia organization and its major- 
 general, Simeon Potter. Why not choose for the 
 responsible office a man of military associations? 
 Varnum, the colonel of the Kentish Guards, was a 
 brilliant and popular man. Why go to his ranks 
 for a brigadier-general? We find Greene em- 
 ployed, it is true, in the revisal of the militia laws, 
 and on the mission to Connecticut, in which mih- 
 tary organization would be more or less fully dis- 
 cussed. It is probable, also, that his late military 
 reading had given precision and distinctness to his 
 language upon military questions. Still, the main 
 clew escapes us, although I cannot but feel that 
 something was owing to his personal relations with 
 Governor Ward. There is a tradition, but I will not 
 vouch for it, that the first choice fell upon an Epis- 
 copahan, who declined ; the second, on a Congrega- 
 tionalist, who also declined; and that, when the 
 third vote was announced as having fallen on 
 Greene, he rose in his place, and said : " Since the 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 81 
 
 Episcopalian and Congregationalist won't, I sup- 
 pose the Quaker must." 
 
 Wanton, though re-elected Governor in spite of 
 his Tory proclivities, having failed to qualify, Henry 
 Ward, Secretary of the Colony, was "authorized 
 and fully empowered to sign the commissions of 
 all officers civil and military, .... receiving there- 
 for, out of the general treasury, two shillings and 
 eight pence for each commission." ^ And accord- 
 ingly, on the 8th of May, 1775, impressing Khode 
 Island's anchor on the left-hand corner of an open 
 sheet of common foolscap, he wrote in a clear and 
 beautiful hand : — 
 
 " By the Plonorable the General Assembly of the English Col- 
 ony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New 
 England in America. 
 
 " To Nathaniel Greene, Esquire, 
 
 Greeting : 
 *' Whereas, for the Preservation of the Rights and Lib- 
 erties of His Majesty's loyal and faithful Subjects in this 
 Colony and America, the aforesaid General Assembly have 
 ordered Fifteen Hundred Men to be inlisted and embodied 
 into an Army of Observation, and to be formed into one 
 Brigade under the command of a Brigadier-General, and 
 have appointed you the said Nathaniel Greene Brigadier- 
 General of the said Army of Observation : You are, there- 
 fore, hereby in His Majesty's Name George the Third, by 
 the Grace of God King of Great Britain, &c., authorized, 
 empowered, and commissioned to have, take, and exercise 
 the Office of Brigadier-General of the said Army of Obser- 
 vation, and to command, guide, and conduct the same, or 
 
 1 For these statements generally, see Bartlett, ut sup., Vol. VII. 
 
82 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 any Part thereof. And in Case of Invasion or Assault of 
 a Common Enemy, to disturb this or any other of His 
 Majesty's Colonies in America, you are to alarm and 
 gather together the Army under your Command, or any 
 Part thereof, as you shall deem sufficient, and therewith 
 to the utmost of your Skill and Ability you are to resist, 
 expel, kill, and destroy them in Order to preserve the In- 
 terest of His Majesty and His good Subjects in these Parts. 
 You are also to follow such instructions, Directions, and 
 Orders as shall from Time to Time be given forth, either 
 by the General Assembly or your superior Officers. And 
 for your so doing this Commission shall be your sufficient 
 Warrant. 
 
 " By Virtue of an Act of the said General Assembly, I, 
 Henry Ward, Esq'', Secretary of the said Colony, have 
 hereunto set my Hand and the seal of the said Colony 
 this Eighth Day of May, A. D. 1775, and in the Fifteenth 
 Year of His said Majesty's Reign. 
 
 " Henry Ward." i 
 
 Details of organization and preparation followed. 
 There were questions to arrange with the gov- 
 ernment, and, at the last moment, with the Com- 
 mittee of Safety. His private affairs, too, might 
 have claimed some share of his attention, but he 
 threw them upon his brothers; and never, from 
 that moment, gave them more than a cursory 
 glance. There were little details, however, which 
 he did not forget, and, among them, to direct 
 James Gould, of Newport, who had made him many 
 a suit of drab, to make him a suit of uniform, and 
 " send it to Cambridge by Wednesday." 
 
 1 From the original among the Greene papers. 
 
1742-1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 83 
 
 And then, on the 2d of June, he wrote his wife 
 from Providence : — 
 
 "My dear Wife, — I am this moment going to set 
 off for camp, having been detained by the Committee of 
 Safety till now. I have recommended you to the care of 
 my brethren ; direct your conduct by their advice, unless 
 they should so far forget their affection for me as to re- 
 quest anything unworthy of you to comply with. In that 
 case, maintain your own independence until my return, 
 which, if Providence allows, I will see justice done you ; 
 but I have no reason to think but that you '11 be very 
 kindly and affectionately treated in my absence. I have 
 not so much in my mind that wounds my peace, as the 
 separation from you. My bosom is knitted to yours by 
 all the gentle feelings that inspire the softest sentiments 
 of conjugal love. It had been happy for me if I could 
 have lived a private life in peace and plenty, enjoying all 
 the happiness that results from a well-tempered society, 
 founded on mutual esteem. The social feelings that ac- 
 companies such an intercourse is a faint emblem of the 
 divine saints inhabiting eternity. But the injury done my 
 country, and the chains of slavery forging for posterity, 
 calls me forth to defend our common rights, and repel the 
 bold invaders of the sons of freedom. The cause is the 
 cause of God and man. Slavery shuts up every avenue 
 that leads to knowledge, and leaves the soul ignorant of 
 its own importance ; it is rendered incapable of promot- 
 ing human happiness or piety or virtue ; and he that be- 
 trays that trust, being once acquainted with the pleasure 
 and advantages of knowledge and freedom, is guiUy of a 
 spiritual suicide. I am determined to defend my rights, 
 
 1 I take this from the original or- and fourth generation, pursue with re- 
 
 der-book of James Gould, preserved speetability and skill their hereditary 
 
 by his grandchildren, David and Na- trade, under the name of Gould and 
 
 than Gould, who still, in the third Son. 
 
84 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1742-1775. 
 
 and maintain my freedom, or sell my life in the attempt ; 
 and I hope the righteous God that rules the world will 
 bless the armies of America, and receive the spirits of those 
 whose lot it is to fall in action into the paradise of God, 
 into whose protection I commend you and myself; and 
 am, with truest regard, your loving husband, 
 
 " N. Greene." 
 
 And thus, with a mind enriched and strength- 
 ened by study; with habits of careful investigar 
 tion and patient thought ; with principles drawn 
 from reading and meditation, and tested by expe- 
 rience in practical legislation ; with the accuracy 
 of a man of business, and the breadth of a man 
 of speculation ; trained to observe and to listen ; 
 painstaking and cautious in the formation of opin- 
 ions, but prompt and resolute in action ; accus- 
 tomed to deal with men ; not unused to responsi- 
 bihty ; and casting the pleasures of domestic life 
 and the tranquil pursuits he loved behind him, 
 he went forth, at the age of thirty-two, to take his 
 place among great men, and fight the battles of 
 his country. 
 
BOOK SECOND. 
 
 FROM HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE COMMAND OF 
 THE RHODE ISLAND ARMY OF OBSERVATION TO 
 HIS APPOINTMENT AS QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL. 
 
 1775-1778. 
 
BOOK SECOND. 
 
 FROM HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE COMMAND OF THE 
 RHODE ISLAND ARMY OF OBSERVATION TO HIS AP- 
 POINTMENT AS QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL. 
 
 1775-1778. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 New Phase in Greene's Life. — Condition of Rhode Island Camp. — 
 Eflfects of his Presence. — Council of War at Cambridge. — Ward's 
 Head-quarters. — Colonial Troops independent of each other. — 
 Greene devotes himself to disciplining his Brigade. — Difficulties 
 of the Task. — Drunkenness. — Punishments. — Hard Work. — 
 Treated with " Great Respect " by the General Officers. — Bunker 
 Hill. — Active Siege. — Dishonest Agents. — Arrival of Washing- 
 ton. — Charles Lee. — Greene sends an Address to Washington. — 
 His Satisfaction at Washington's Appointment. 
 
 /^ REENE now enters upon a new phase of de- 
 ^^ velopment, still partly formative, for he had 
 his new profession to learn ; but partly applicative 
 also, for he brought to the study of it his life-long 
 habits of work, both with mind and body, and his 
 experience in practical legislation. One part of 
 that experience stood him promptly in stead, 
 — the dealing with the passions and caprices of 
 men, — for, on Saturday, the 3d of June, when 
 he reached the Rhode Island camp at Jamaica 
 Plains, he found it " in great commotion " ; the 
 men " a factious set " ; the officers unable to control 
 
88 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. ' [1775. 
 
 them ; " several companies with clubbed muskets/^ 
 upon the point of starting for home ; " the com- 
 missaries beaten off" ; an " excitement " which, " in 
 a few days more, would have proved fatal to the 
 campaign." His arrival checked the confusion, 
 men and officers turning to him with hope, if not 
 yet with perfect confidence. " Never," he writes, 
 "was a man so little deserving so welcome." It 
 was hard work " to limit people accustomed to so 
 much latitude"; but he applied himself strenu- 
 ously to the task, and "made several arrangements 
 for order," with apparently good success ; for, on 
 the 5th, he writes to his wife : " I am well, but very 
 much fatigued^ .... not having slept above six 
 hours in two nights." Colonel Yarnum had not 
 yet arrived. " I wish you would forward Colonel 
 Varnum's regiment," he writes to his brother Jacob, 
 the same day ; " he will be a welcome guest in 
 camp ; I expect much from his and his troops' 
 example." 
 
 On the same day, too, he was " summoned to a 
 meeting with the generals," at Cambridge, in that 
 quaint old house which, with the added associa- 
 tions of a historian's life and a poet's birth therein,^ 
 still looks across the Common, from its modest 
 nook, upon almost its only remaining contempo- 
 rary, the Washington Elm. It was in this house 
 that Ward had established his head-quarters, and, 
 with Spencer, Putnam, Heath, and Thomas, was 
 
 1 Abiel Holmes, author of the An- works in it ; and Oliver Wendell 
 nals, lived and wrote his principal Holmes was born in it. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 89 
 
 trying to give shape and order to the young army. 
 At first, each Colonial general commanded the 
 troops of his own Colony, independently of the 
 other generals. But gradually the conviction that 
 there must be a single head crept in, and, when 
 Washington came. Ward had already begun to be 
 looked up to as commander-in-chief^ 
 
 In the beginning, Greene found enough to do 
 in his own brigade ; for he saw plainly, that, with- 
 out discipline, it would be impossible to keep his 
 men together, much less prepare them for service. 
 Fortunately, among his officers there were several 
 who, like himself, had been taught their drill by 
 the drill-master of the Kentish Guards.^ And 
 thus he was enabled, from the first, to give the 
 exercises of his three regiments a uniformity 
 that was sadly wanting in the others, in which 
 every colonel had a system of his own,^ neither 
 the Norfolk exercises nor the regulations for 1764 
 for the King's troops being universally accepted. 
 
 A daily exercise was ordered for commissioned 
 and non-commissioned officers. At four, the whole 
 battalion was mustered and paraded, none but the 
 sick, or those engaged in other duties, being ex- 
 cused.* What the first parades were, and what 
 
 1 Frothingham, Siege of Boston, war," I think it probable that Major 
 p. 101. Box and the English sergeant were 
 
 2 In writing to Timothy Picker- the same person. 
 
 ing in 1779, he speaks with great ^ Kapp's Steuben, p. 127. 
 
 warmth of the aid received from Ma- * Regimental orders, MS. I am 
 
 jor Box ; and from what he says of indebted for the use of this manu- 
 
 this officer's services in " exercising script to my kinsman and old school- 
 
 and forming independent companies mate, Daniel Rowland Greene, M.D., 
 
 previous to the commencement of the of East Greenwich. 
 
90 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 ideas of military etiquette some of the officers 
 and men brought with them, the regimental 
 order of the day for the 8th of June will show : 
 '^That Colonel Hitchcock's regiment parade on 
 Wednesday every week, precisely at half after 
 three o'clock, and march round the Square. The 
 Colonel expects, in that parade, that every officer 
 appear in his uniform, and that care is taken by 
 the officers that every soldier be clean, and as 
 neatly dressed as possible ; and that no one who 
 has breeches be permitted to wear trousers, nor to 
 parade without having on his stockings and shoes ; 
 and that, during the march, no soldier be permit- 
 ted to talk. As the regiment has gained honor 
 from their regular performance of exercise, 'tis 
 fully expected by the Colonel, that the officers 
 spare no pains to instruct themselves in the exer- 
 cise." The same order, it may be presumed, ex- 
 tended to the other regiments. 
 
 An order of the 10th provides for the proper 
 cleaning of the firelocks : " That the officers of the 
 several companies in Colonel Hitchcock's regiment 
 call their companies together this forenoon, and 
 see that every soldier's firelock be washed clean, 
 and that some non-commissioned officer strictly 
 attend while the guns are washing, and take special 
 care that no one washes his gun without taking 
 ofi" the lock. 'T is expected that every company 
 washes their firelocks with hot water." 
 
 An order of the 4th of July directs, " That every 
 captain in Colonel Hitchcock's regiment make a 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 91 
 
 return of the number of firelocks, of the number 
 of rounds of powder and ball, number of tools and 
 implements of all kinds in his company, and who- 
 ever has lost any implements, the names of the 
 persons who lost them, — the return to be made 
 this day." 
 
 It was found, too, upon trial, that the daily ex- 
 ercise already established was not sufficient to 
 overcome those inequalities which are always 
 found where many study the same thing together. 
 On the 6th of July it was ordered, " That a drill 
 be established for the instruction of those who are 
 deficient in exercise, from ten to eleven o'clock in 
 the forenoon every day; that the drill be com- 
 manded either by a commissioned or a non- 
 commissioned officer of the several companies by 
 rotation, beginning with Captain Thayer's com- 
 pany ; that the drill parade for exercise before the 
 Laboratory; and 'tis expected that every officer 
 will strictly see that all those who are deficient in 
 exercise in their company constantly attend the 
 same at the time fixed for holding the drill." By 
 the 28th of June, Greene was enabled to write 
 that, " though raw, irregular, and undisciplined," 
 his men were "under much better government 
 than any round about Boston." 
 
 The greatest obstacle to the establishment of 
 good discipline was in the officers rather than the 
 men. Some did their duty; but for others, the 
 transition from the equality of home life to the dis- 
 tinctions of camp was exceedingly difficult. " Some 
 
92 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 captains, and many subordinate officers, neglect 
 their duty," writes Greene ; " some through fear of 
 offending their soldiers, some through laziness, and 
 some through obstinacy. This makes the task of 
 the field officers very laborious. I have warned 
 them of their negligence many times, and am de- 
 termined to break every one for the future who 
 shall lay himself open to it." A corporal in Hitch- 
 cock's regiment had already been " reduced to the 
 ranks for repeated neglect of duty, and disobe- 
 dience to his captain."-^ 
 
 Another great obstacle to good order was drunk- 
 enness. The first court-martial recorded in Hitch- 
 cock's orderly-book was a regimental court-martial 
 called to decide upon a case of intoxication. Jere- 
 miah Olney, whose name we shall meet often here- 
 after, was president, and Stephen Olney a member. 
 The culprit was Peter Young, who, being " sent for 
 and examined, plead not guilty of the charge. 
 Captain John Angell, captain of the guard, June 
 21, deposeth and saith, that the prisoner, Peter 
 Young, was confined in the guard-house by Colo- 
 nel Miller, at ten o'clock at night, for being found 
 in liquor ; who, when confined, behaved himself in 
 a very indecent and contemptuous manner ; damn- 
 ing the man that confined him, and also the man 
 that kept him in confinement, throwing his hat 
 about the guard-house. And the prisoner being 
 present heard Captain Angell's evidence, and said 
 he had no evidence to confute the same. The 
 
 1 Orderly-book, ut sup. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 93 
 
 Court, upon mature deliberation, are of opinion 
 that the prisoner, Peter Young, be sentenced to 
 ride the wooden horse fifteen minutes, with two 
 guns tied at his feet, and ten minutes without 
 guns, as an adequate punishment for his crime." 
 
 This, however, was merely a meeting of individ- 
 ual cases. To- meet the evil itself, Greene wrote 
 directly to the Provincial Congress of Massachu- 
 setts, requesting them to interpose their authority, 
 and prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors with- 
 in the limits of the camp.^ 
 
 It was not easy to adapt civil punishments to 
 military offences. Legislators shrank at first 
 from the severity which, as the war continued, 
 became almost habitual. In the Khode Island 
 "Rules and Orders for the Army of Observation," 
 only three articles out of fifty-three impose capital 
 punishment; and in two out of those three the 
 court-martial is left free to order " such other pun- 
 ishment" as it may think best. Even whipping, 
 though familiar to the public mind, is limited to 
 the Mosaic rule of " thirty-nine stripes " ; and in 
 practice does not, at first, exceed fifteen, ten, and 
 sometimes five.^ 
 
 It was a great change for Greene, from the quiet 
 life of Coventry. " My task," he writes, " is hard, 
 and fatigue great. I go to bed late, and rise early. 
 The number of applications you cannot conceive 
 
 1 Journals of the Prov. Cong, of ^ Rhode Island Colonial Records, 
 Mass, p. 461. Greene's letter has not Vol. VII, p. 340, Rules, «&c., Arts. 
 been preserved. 24, 25, 30, and 50. 
 
94 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 of, without being present to observe the round of 
 business." He had wondered, in Ehode Island, at 
 finding himself singled out by his acquaintances 
 for special attentions. And now he felt something 
 of the same kind of surprise at "the great re- 
 spect " with which he was treated by " the general 
 of&cers of the neighboring camps." " Were I," he 
 writes, "to estimate my value by the attention 
 paid to my opinion, I should have reason to think 
 myself some considerable personage." But he lays 
 it all to the account of his office. "Fatal expe- 
 rience," he adds, " teaches me every day, that man- 
 kind are apt to pay deference to station, and not to 
 merit. Therefore, when I find myself surrounded 
 by their flattering attentions, I consider them as 
 due to my office, and not to me." His self-reliance 
 had none of that presumptuous contempt for the 
 opinions of others in it, which is so common in 
 self-made men. " I shall study to deserve well," he 
 said ; " but cannot but lament the great defects I 
 find in myself to discharge, with honor and justice, 
 the important trust committed to my care." But 
 as, while a mere anchor-smith at Coventry, Judge 
 Howel had marked him out as a "very extraor- 
 dinary man"; so at Cambridge, Timothy Picker- 
 ing, hearing his questions and remarks as president 
 of a court-martial, pronounced him " a man of true 
 military genius, and decidedly the first man in the 
 Court." ^ None were readier to acknowledge his 
 superiority than the officers and men under his 
 
 1 Caldwell's Life of Greeue, p. 41. 
 
1775.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 95 
 
 immediate command. " My own officers and men," 
 he writes, "are generally well satisfied, — nay, I 
 have not heard one complaint." 
 
 It is not probable that he took part in planning 
 the occupation of Bunker Hill, for on the day of 
 the battle he was in Ehode Island. The tidings 
 reached him towards evening. He immediately 
 mounted his horse, and, riding " all night," arrived 
 at camp " next day morning, when I found Charles- 
 town all burnt to ashes, and the troops engaged on 
 the other side of Cambridge Bay." A thousand 
 men were sent over from Koxbury, to work upon 
 the intrenchments at Prospect Hill; and among 
 them, a hundred from his brigade, under the com- 
 mand of Christopher Greene, then a major in Yar- 
 num's regiment. The excitement of battle was 
 not yet passed away. The British were "con- 
 stantly firing cannon-shot," both on the new posi- 
 tions at Prospect and Winter Hill, and the earlier 
 one at Koxbury, where part of Greene's force was 
 now stationed. It was the first time that he had 
 seen balls and shells flying in earnest. The '' troops 
 were in high spirits"; and ten days later, when 
 he put together the conflicting statements of the 
 losses on both sides, he " wished that we could sell 
 them another hill at the same price." 
 
 Everything now bore the aspect of an active 
 siege. The "enemy made several feints to de- 
 ceive" the Americans, but were too "narrowly 
 watched" to succeed. From the intrenchments 
 that were fast rising on the top of Prospect Hill, 
 
96 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 the British soldiers could be seen, with the naked 
 eye, working hard to convert the little redoubt 
 which they had won, at the sacrifice of so much 
 blood, into an impregnable fortress. Shells were 
 thrown into Koxbury. The English general 
 seemed determined to familiarize his enemy with 
 danger. 
 
 But there was another danger to guard against, 
 — the demoralization of the troops, through the 
 dishonesty of the agents to whom they looked for 
 their daily supplies. It is a thankless task to tell 
 the whole truth about the men of those days ; but 
 what are the lessons of history, if they are to be 
 moulded and colored by the vanity or caprice of 
 the historian ? The war of independence brought 
 great virtues into play, but it brought great vices, 
 too, — faithless agents, heartless speculators, some 
 cowards, some traitors, many selfish partisans, and 
 not a few lukewarai patriots. We shall find men 
 of each of these^ classes, crossing the path of the 
 true and faithful, all through the war, and in every 
 part of the country. We first meet them in the 
 camp before Boston. 
 
 "There is continual complaints made to me," 
 writes Greene to Deputy-Governor Cooke of Khode 
 Island, on the 4th of July, " about the provisions 
 falling short, some barrels not having much more 
 than one half and two thirds the quantity they 
 ought to contain. I wish your Honor would de- 
 sire the committee throughout the Colony to ex- 
 amine all the provisions sent to camp, for I am 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 97 
 
 very positive they must have been greatly imposed 
 upon. The field oJB&cers are continually complain- 
 ing to me of the imposition, and requesting me to 
 have a stop put to it as soon as possible. Many 
 people in camp suspects the fidelity of the com- 
 mittee, to suffer such repeated impositions, and 
 still no check put to them. Such unfavorable 
 sentiments propagated abroad must do great in- 
 jury to their characters, and perhaps render it very 
 difficult for them to settle their accounts with the 
 Colony, and do justice to themselves and those 
 they are concerned with. 
 
 " A quantity of bread arrived from Providence 
 last week, and to-day the much greater part was 
 mouldy and unfit for use. (From) the first parcel 
 I picked out what was good, and condemned the 
 rest. This to-day appears all bad, upon examina- 
 tion, except a few single baskets. Such bread being 
 brought here begets jealousy among the people, 
 that they are going to be imposed upon ; and little 
 grievances are sufficient reasons to ground their 
 complaints and murmurs upon, especially as they 
 find themselves strongly supported by their friends 
 and relations that comes to visit the troops in their 
 quarters. There was a quantity of beef con- 
 demned last week, as being horse-meat. When it 
 first took rise, I thought it merely chimerical. But 
 Captain Jerry Olney, Captain Kitt Olney, and many 
 others, came and informed me, that the people had 
 a conceit that it was horse-flesh; that they had 
 gone without victuals all day, and they desired me 
 
98 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 to inquire into the matter. I, accordingly, did get 
 a jury of butchers to examine it, and they con- 
 demned it as unfit for use, a considerable part 
 being horse-flesh. Captain John Collins, of New- 
 port, happened to be at camp at the same time, and 
 he said he had seen abundance of horse-beef, and 
 he said he was confident this was of that kind. 
 You must, worthy sir, be sensible that the task is 
 difiicult, and trouble great, to form people into any 
 regular government that comes out with minds 
 possessed with notions of liberty that is nothing 
 short of licentiousness. I am willing to spend, 
 and be spent, in so righteous a cause ; but unless I 
 am supported by the helping hand of government, 
 my endeavors will be defeated, and your expecta- 
 tions blasted. God knows, I am far from com- 
 plaining out of prejudice to any mortal; but 
 necessity on the one hand, and justice on the 
 other, calls on me to represent the matter to you, 
 that the evil may be put a stop to as early as pos- 
 sible. Many officers blames me for being so silent 
 upon the occasion, and thinks I don't do justice to 
 the Colony ; but as I am fully sensible that many 
 acts upon such narrow principles of policy influ- 
 enced by party and prejudice, I have carefully 
 studied to avoid their captious advice. But from 
 mature deliberation, I have thought it prudent 
 to make you acquainted with the state of the mat- 
 ter, that you may take such steps to remove the 
 complaint as the subject requires. If the troops 
 are comfortably subsisted, if they don't do their 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 99 
 
 duty, they can be punished, with great justice ; 
 but if they are not well fed, and properly clad, 
 they excuse all their misconduct from one or the 
 other reason." 
 
 We shall meet these complaints again, from time 
 to time, in other forms, but always proceeding from 
 the same cause, — the love of dishonest gain, and 
 indifference to the public interest. Meanwhile, 
 Congress had taken the decisive step, upon which 
 the success of the war depended. On the 15th of 
 June, Washington had been chosen commander-in- 
 chief On the 2d of July, about two in the after- 
 noon, he reached Cambridge, with an escort of 
 mounted citizens and a troop of light horse. It 
 was Sunday, but a brisk cannonade upon Eoxbury 
 had been kept up throughout the morning from the 
 British lines on Boston Neck. Washington must 
 had heard it all through his morning ride.^ Next 
 day, he took formal command of the army. Some, 
 perhaps, as they saw him draw his sword under 
 the broad elm which still extends its protecting 
 branches over the western border of Cambridge 
 Common, remembered, that, a few years before, 
 they had listened to Whitefield under that same 
 tree. Only the troops stationed at Cambridge 
 would seem to have been there ; for on the 4th 
 Greene writes: "I sent a detachment to-day of two 
 hundred men, commanded by a colonel, lieutenant- 
 colonel, and major, with a letter of address, to wel- 
 come his Excellency to camp. The detachment 
 
 1 Frothingham, Siege of Boston, pp. 213, 214. 
 
100 LITE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 met with a very gracious reception, and his Excel- 
 lency returned me a very polite answer, and invi- 
 tation to visit him at his quarters." 
 
 But there was a man at Washington's side under 
 that tree, to whom all eyes turned eagerly, when 
 they had looked their fill at the majestic figure of 
 the Commander-in-chief, — a tall man, lank and thin, 
 with a huge nose, a satirical mouth, and restless 
 eyes, who sat his horse as if he had often ridden at 
 fox-hunts in England, and wore his uniform with 
 a cynical disregard of common opinion, — Charles 
 Lee, the most accomplished soldier in the whole 
 army, men said, and whose science, they thought, 
 was to be disinterestedly employed for us, because 
 our cause was the cause of freedom. The next 
 fifteen months will show how far this opinion was 
 just. 
 
 How Greene felt at the idea of a commander-in- 
 chief the letter from which I have just quoted will 
 show : " A few minutes after the detachment was 
 drawn out, I received a letter directed to his Ex- 
 cellency, under cover of one to me, from Mr. Ward, 
 Secretary, who acquaints me that the General 
 Assembly has appointed him to the command of 
 our troops ; all of which is perfectly agreeable, and 
 I shall conduct myself accordingly ; and hope, by 
 his wise directions, accompanied with my best en- 
 deavors, and that of all my officers, to promote the 
 service of the Colony, agreeable to their wishes. I 
 expect the General next day after to-morrow to 
 visit our camp." 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 101 
 
 How he felt towards Washington, he tells Sam- 
 uel Ward, from Roxbury, ten days later, — not the 
 Samuel he had written long letters to from Coven- 
 try, for that Samuel was with him, as a captain in 
 Yarnum's regiment, — but Samuel Ward the father, 
 who had sat with Washington in Congress Hall, and 
 voted to send him to Cambridge, as the fittest man 
 for the office on whose right filling the whole con- 
 test turned. To him, then, Greene writes, on the 
 14th of July : " His Excellency, General Washing- 
 ton, has arrived amongst us, universally admired. 
 Joy was visible in every countenance, and it seemed 
 as if the spirit of conquest breathed through the 
 whole army. I hope we shall be taught to copy 
 his example, and to prefer the love of liberty, in 
 this time of public danger, to all the soft pleasures 
 of domestic life, and support ourselves with manly 
 fortitude amidst all the dangers and hardships that 
 attend a state of war. And I doubt not, under 
 the General's wise direction, we shall establish 
 such excellent order and strictness of discipline 
 as to invite victory to attend him wherever he 
 goes." 
 
 And how did Washington first meet him whom, 
 from that time forward, he was never to meet with- 
 out an expanding of the heart? Of their first 
 meeting and first intercourse I know nothing ; but 
 the qualities which had attracted the attention of 
 Pickering, when only a casual observer, could not 
 have been hidden long from so sagacious an ob- 
 server as Washington, when there were such mo- 
 mentous questions to call them forth. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Washington's Arrival the Beginning of a New Period. — His Staff. — 
 Mifflin. — Trumbull. — Keed. — Gates. — Army of the United Col- 
 onies. — New Organization. — Three Grand Divisions. — Greene on 
 Prospect Hill. — Gradual extension of the Works. — Death of Ad- 
 jutant Mumford. — All Eyes fixed on Boston. — Parties to Camp. — 
 The Country calls for a Battle. — Want of Powder. — Waste of 
 Powder. — Preparations for Defence. — Extracts from General Or- 
 ders. 
 
 AVTITH "Washington's arrival in camp a new 
 ' ' period begins, — a period of system and or- 
 ganization, still very imperfect it is true, but nev- 
 ertheless a great advance upon the disconnected 
 and irregular condition in which the troops had 
 lived since they first broke ground before Bos- 
 ton. Washington's own experience with regular 
 troops had been confined to his short service on 
 Braddock's staff; and, like most of his officers, he 
 had a great deal to learn. But he was familiar 
 with the common text-books, — very incomplete 
 and meagre guides as yet, — had had full expe- 
 rience of irregular troops, and a feeble govern- 
 ment ; had lived in camp ; provided for the sup- 
 plies of his men; and learnt how to deal with 
 prejudices, ignorance, obstinacy, and sloth. His 
 staff was not yet what it afterwards became ; but 
 there were men on it whose names interest us 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 103 
 
 still, — Mifflin, brave and eloquent, once, like 
 Greene, a Quaker, and who now stood high in 
 Washington's confidence, though at a later day he 
 became a bitter enemy both of Washington and 
 Greene ; Trumbull, in whose young mind the in- 
 stincts of the artist were already struggling with 
 the ambition of military distinction ; Reed, whose 
 fine culture and pleasing address made him deligh1> 
 ful as a companion, while his command of a free 
 and flowing style, and his facility in seizing upon 
 the important points of his subject, rendered his 
 services, as secretary, invaluable ; and Gates, the 
 adjutant-general, who brought with him honorable 
 recollections of the old French war, and a heart not 
 yet corrupted by flattery and unmerited success. 
 
 The first step in organization was to convert the 
 independent Colonial bands, which enthusiasm had 
 brought together, into a regular army, — the army 
 of the United Colonies. " I am informed by his 
 Excellency," writes Greene, " that the idea of Col- 
 ony troops is to be abolished, and that the whole 
 army is to be formed into brigades, and the gen- 
 erals to be appointed by the Congress." Great was 
 the commotion in camp when these tidings became 
 public, and men began to ask each other anxiously 
 who the new generals were to be. Greene viewed 
 these incipient jealousies with regret. "I should 
 be extremely sorry," he writes, " for any schisms 
 that might creep in through the ports of honor, 
 from real or imaginary degradation." For his own 
 part, "if continued," he was prepared to "serve 
 
104 LII'E OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 cheerfully " ; if not, to " submit patiently I 
 
 wish that good and able men may be the objects of 
 the Continental choice, rather than subjects of par- 
 ticular interests." When the appointments were 
 announced, he found himself last on the list as 
 brigadier-general. 
 
 The army was divided into three grand divisions, 
 Greene being placed, with seven regiments, in the 
 left wing, under General Lee, with Sullivan, at the 
 head of six regiments, for senior brigadier, — in all, 
 five thousand six hundred and seventy-seven men. 
 His station was at Prospect Hill, — the Mount Pis- 
 gah of some of the old maps, — with " the enemy's 
 lines and buildings on Bunker Hill, and the desola- 
 tion at Charlestown," ^ full in view. Not far from 
 the foot of the hill was the farm-house in which 
 Lee had taken up his quarters, — a comfortable 
 two-story building, with convenient rooms, and a 
 pleasant view, and all too good, even in its old age, 
 to be called " Hobgoblin Hall." ^ And within two 
 miles, by a pleasant road, which soon became as 
 familiar to him as the green lanes that lead from 
 Potowomut to Coventry, stood the fine old man- 
 sion which, although Sparks and Everett have 
 since lived in it, and Longfellow has consecrated 
 it as the birthplace of America's greatest poems, 
 is still known, far and near, as the head-quarters of 
 Washington. 
 
 1 Belknap's Diary, Oct. 23. In a chimneys and rubbish." — Force, Am. 
 
 letter of the times, Charlestown is Archives, 4th Series, Vol. III. p. 73. 
 
 said to be "now in ashes, and noth- ^ Letters of Mrs. Adams, p. 64. 
 jng to be seen of that fine town but 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 105 
 
 Three of the regiments in Greene's brigade 
 were his own Khode-Islanders, — ten hundred and 
 eighty-five men in all, — led by Yarnum, Hitch- 
 cock, and Church, with men of strong wills, like 
 Christopher Greene and the two Olneys and the 
 two Angells and Simeon Thayer, and of rich cul- 
 ture, like Samuel Ward, for majors and captains 
 and lieutenants. No troops in the whole army 
 were equipped and appointed as they were, with 
 their tents and marquees, and the " four excellent 
 field-pieces," ^ which had once formed part of the 
 garrison of Fort George. Greene "spared no 
 pains, night nor day, to teach them their duty"; 
 and, fully seconded by most of his officers, — espe- 
 cially by Yarnum and Hitchcock, " excellent disci- 
 plinarians," — succeeded in bringing them to a 
 high state of efficiency. Lee bestowed great en- 
 comimns upon their bearing and discipline. " I 
 flatter myself," writes Greene, " that they compara- 
 tively deserve it." Four Massachusetts regiments, 
 — seventeen hundred and thirteen men, — under 
 Whitcomb, Gardner, Brewer, and Little, com- 
 pleted his brigade.^ 
 
 The irregular leaguer became a regular siege. 
 One by one the hills and strong positions were 
 occupied, and secured by strong works, — Pros- 
 pect, Winter, Ploughed, and Cobble Hills, Lech- 
 mere Point, Sewall's Farm, " a semicircle of eight 
 or nine miles," with the enemy in " the centre, .... 
 
 1 Essex Gazette, quoted by Froth- 2 j take my numbers from Froth- 
 ingham, Siege of Boston, p. 101, note, ingham. Siege of Boston, p. 219. 
 
106 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 with entire command of the water." ^ Every day 
 added to the strength of the American lines. Al- 
 most every day, too, there was a skirmish, or a sur- 
 prise, or a cannonade, shells and balls falling thick 
 within the American works, sometimes killing, 
 sometimes maiming, but producing, in the main, 
 "no other effect than to inure the Americans to 
 danger," ^ and make them ask, if, with upwards of 
 two thousand shot and shells, they have killed 
 only twelve persons, " how many "shot and bombs 
 will it require to subdue the whole of his Majesty's 
 rebellious subjects?"^ "I have no doubt," Greene 
 writes to his wife, " that I shall be safely conducted 
 through the shower of Tory hail. But whatever 
 be my fate, let my reputation stand fair for the 
 inspection of all inquiring friends." 
 
 Yet the first sight of a violent death, within 
 his own immediate circle, came upon him with a 
 shock. Adjutant Mumford, of East Greenwich, — 
 a member of Yarnum's regiment, — had his head 
 taken off by a cannon-ball. " My sweet angel," — 
 Greene writes to his wife, immediately after, — 
 "the anxiety that you must feel at the unhappy fate 
 of Mr. Mumford, the tender sympathy for the dis- 
 tress of his poor lady, the fears and apprehensions 
 for my safety, under your present debilitated state, 
 must be a weight too great for you to support. 
 We are all in the hands of the great Jehovah ; to 
 him let us look for protection. I trust that our con- 
 
 1 Washington to his brother. Writ- ^ Thacher's Military Journal, Jan- 
 ings, Vol, III. p. 39. uary 18, 1776. 
 
 2 Heath's Memoirs, p. 43. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 107 
 
 troversy is a righteous one ; and although many of 
 our friends and relatives may suffer an untimely 
 fate, yet we must consider the evil sanctified by 
 the righteousness of the dispute. Let us, then, 
 put our confidence in God, and recommend our 
 souls to his care. Stifle your own grief, my sweet 
 creature, and offer a small tribute of consolation to 
 the afflicted widow. I could wish, from my soul, 
 that you was removed from this scene of horror, 
 altogether inconsistent with the finer feelings of a 
 delicate mind. I would come and see you, but 
 prudence forbids "my absence. I sent Colonel Yar- 
 num to communicate to you the wretched loss his 
 poor lady has met with. My heart melts with 
 pity, but dumb silence must speak my grief until I 
 am in a situation to give scope to the natural sen- 
 timent of the human heart. I hope his good sense 
 and knowledge of the human heart will point out 
 the most prudent method." 
 
 Before another year was passed, his eye had 
 become more familiar with violent death, and he 
 would hardly have thought of sending a field 
 officer to announce such an event. But at first, the 
 true heart still pleaded earnestly against indurat- 
 ing custom. 
 
 Meanwhile, from far and near, all eyes were fixed 
 upon Boston. " The roads were lined with specta- 
 tors." Parties were formed to go and see the camp, 
 many coming from a great distance, and looking, 
 some with admiration, some with terror, — all with 
 wonder, — at the forts, "bomb proof"; at breast- 
 
108 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. ~ [1775. 
 
 works, "seventeen feet thick"; at the trenches, 
 "wide and deep"; at the "forked impediments'* 
 for guarding the approaches to them.^ Sometimes, 
 in the midst of their gazing, they would see a 
 party of officers go by on horseback, and distin- 
 guishing, in the midst of them, one with a " noble 
 and majestic air, .... tall and well-proportioned," 
 would say to each other, "That is his Excel- 
 lency! that is General Washington!" not failing, 
 at the same time, to take note of his " blue coat, 
 with bulBf-colored facings; the rich epaulette on 
 each shoulder ; the buff underdress ; elegant, small 
 sword, and black cockade in his hat." ^ Sometimes 
 this pleasure excursion had a fatal ending. Trum- 
 bull's sister, the wife of Colonel Huntington, re- 
 ceived such a shock from what she saw, that she 
 went mad, and soon after died.^ But to the 
 greater part of those whom curiosity or family 
 attachment brought there it was a wild, pic- 
 turesque scene, full of strange excitement. To 
 their inexperienced eyes, the morning prayers, fol- 
 lowed by the reading of the orders of the day; 
 "the great distinction between officers and sol- 
 diers," everybody being " made to know his place, 
 and keep in it, or be tied up, and receive thirty or 
 forty lashes " ; and " the thousands at work every 
 day, from four to eleven," gave the army a general 
 air of discipline and order, and inspired a degree 
 of confidence which its leaders were far from shar- 
 
 1 Letter cited in Frothingham's ^ Thacher's Military Journal, Ju- 
 Siege of Boston, p. 275. The name ly 20, 1775. 
 of the writer is not given. ^ Trumbull's Autobiography, p. 22. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 10^ 
 
 ing. If, without this preparation, they had held 
 Bunker Hill so long against the best troops in the 
 British army, why can they not, with the in- 
 creased strength which discipline gives them, drive 
 the enemy from Boston ? The country grew clam- 
 orous for another battle. 
 
 The subject was brought up more than once in 
 council of war. The first council had determined 
 not to occupy Dorchester, nor to defend it if the 
 British should attempt to occupy it. But shall 
 they be left in undisturbed possession of Boston ? 
 Greene felt that "an attack upon a town, gar- 
 risoned with eight thousand regular troops, was 
 a serious object." He knew, as Washington did, 
 that, however veteran-like the troops might appear 
 to common eyes, to the soldier's eye they were still 
 " raw and undisciplined." Yet he thought that an 
 attack, with twenty thousand men, might succeed ; 
 "but of an army of twenty thousand men," he 
 writes, "it will be hard if we cannot find eight 
 thousand who will fight manfully. There must be 
 some cowards among them as well as among us." 
 
 There were anxious hours, as summer and au- 
 tumn wore slowly on. On the 3d of August a 
 council was held at head-quarters, and it was found 
 that, owing to a mistake in the report of the Mas- 
 sachusetts committee, instead of four hundred and 
 eighty-five quarter-casks of powder in the maga- 
 zine, as had been supposed, there were only thirty- 
 five half-barrels, or not half a pound a man. When 
 Washington heard the report, he was so much struck 
 
110 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 by the danger "that he did not utter a word for 
 half an hour; every one else was equally surprised. 
 Messengers were despatched to all the Southern 
 Colonies to call in their stores."^ The dangerous 
 secret was carefully kept from the army. But 
 Greene knew it ; and as he looked upon his silent 
 cannon, and listened to the frequent roar of the 
 enemy's cannon, or marked at night " the track of 
 their shells, — a long train of light on the dark 
 sky,"^ — he must have often asked himself, "How 
 can I hold this hill, if they come out now ? " 
 
 It was hard to enforce even the most salutary 
 rules in an army in which a large proportion of 
 the officers stood more in need of discipline than 
 their men. When the danger from a deficiency 
 of powder was passed, a new danger arose, from 
 the "wanton waste" of it. "There being," say 
 Greene's orders for November 7, "an open and 
 daring violation of a general order, in firing at 
 geese, as they pass over the camp. General Greene 
 gives positive orders, that any person that fires for 
 the future be immediately put under guard. Every 
 officer that stands an idle spectator, and sees such a 
 wanton waste of powder, and don't do his utmost 
 to suppress the evil, may expect to be reported." 
 
 In the orders of the 9th, the same subject 
 recurs, under another form: "That all the car- 
 tridges delivered out this day, if the bunches are 
 not broke, the captains collect them in their sev- 
 eral companies, and deliver them out when occasion 
 
 1 Sullivan to New Hampshire Com- ^ Trumbull's Autobiography, pp. 
 mittee of Safety, August 5, 1775. 21, 22. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. Ill 
 
 calls. Every person that fires his gun without posi- 
 tive orders, to be punished immediately by a regi- 
 mental court-martial ; and if these orders are not 
 obeyed, the General will order the first transgressor 
 to be tied up and whipped, for an example." 
 
 An order of the next day brings to light another 
 infraction of discipline : " General Greene is in- 
 formed, that the soldiers have got into a practice 
 of stealing cartridges from one another, and those 
 that go on furlough, or are discharged, carry them 
 home. As this conduct is both dishonorable and 
 villanous, the General hopes there are but few, if 
 any, that are so lost to honor and honesty as to 
 commit so dirty a crime. If any are detected in 
 the fact, they may expect to be punished without 
 mercy." 
 
 Every alarm, too, seems to have furnished a pre- 
 text for wasting powder. "The officers of this 
 brigade," continue the orders of the 10th, "are 
 once more desired to pay particular attention to 
 the preservation of the cartridges. There has 
 been such a wanton waste, for some time past, and 
 still continues, upon every alarm, that it is really 
 disgraceful. It is impossible to conceive upon 
 what principle this strange itch for firing originates, 
 as it is rather a mark of cowardice than bravery 
 to fire away ammunition, without any inten- 
 tion. If the soldiers are desirous of defending their 
 rights and liberties, the General desires they would 
 not deprive themselves of the means to execute so 
 laudable a purpose." 
 
112 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 These appeals to the patriotism of the troops 
 are not always successful. A large infusion of bad 
 elements would seem, from the frequent courts- 
 martial recorded in the orderly-books, to have 
 found its way into the patriot camp. Stealing and 
 drunkenness were the principal crimes ; but disobe- 
 dience, desertion, and even mutiny sometimes oc- 
 curred, and were punished by fines, imprisonment, 
 whipping, and, in the case of corporals and ser- 
 geants, by degradation to the ranks. The reports 
 of courts-martial fill many pages of the orderly- 
 books, showing very clearly that love of country 
 was not the only motive which brought recruits 
 and volunteers to the camp before Boston. 
 
 Greene's duty was severe, — to bed late, and up 
 early, much riding, much writing, frequent councils 
 at head-quarters, the daily details of discipline, and 
 the daily duties of a siege in daily progress. In 
 his attempts to enforce exactness and order, he 
 enters into minute details. " The captains," say the 
 orders for November 12, " every day to examine 
 the arms and ammunition of their companies, and 
 see that their arms are kept clean, the locks in 
 good order, and the flints well fixed ; to count the 
 cartridges and flints of each individual ; for every 
 cartridge that is lost to be charged one shilling 
 lawful money ; and for every flint missing, three- 
 pence ; a report to be made daily of the regiment 
 to the colonel, in what condition they find the guns 
 and ammunition. Any captain or subordinate that 
 neglects to make a daily return to his colonel or 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 113 
 
 commanding officer, the colonel to report him to 
 the general of brigade, that he may report him to 
 head-quarters." 
 
 " The days being short," says an order of the 1st 
 of November, "and the weather coming on cold, 
 the General orders the artificers to begin half an 
 hour before sunrise, and continue at work as long 
 as they can well see. The officers commanding the 
 several parties are to see the order punctually com- 
 plied with. The artificers are to examine their 
 arms and ammunition once a week at least, and 
 see that their guns and cartridges are in good 
 
 order The General has great reason to be 
 
 displeased with the sergeants and corporals on the 
 main guard, in planting and relieving sentries. 
 For the future, they are to give each sentry a 
 proper detail of his duty as sentry, for what inten- 
 tion he is placed, and see that the sentry that re- 
 lieves gives the same detail that he received to the 
 relieving sentry; and the sergeants or corporals 
 are not to suffer the sentries relieved to straggle 
 home to the guard, but to keep them with the 
 party until the whole are relieved, and then to 
 march them home to the guard together." 
 
 The alarm posts and positions in case of alarm, 
 and the duties of the different officers, are dis- 
 tinctly marked out. Exact orders are given for 
 the careful keeping of the working tools, which are 
 to be " collected and numbered every evening, the 
 officers commanding the fatigue parties to be ac- 
 countable for the tools delivered them." When, 
 
114 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 a few years later, Greene became quartermaster- 
 general, the habit of these minute details, and the 
 practical knowledge acquired by them, served, on 
 more than one occasion, to lighten his labors. 
 
 But one of his most serious duties was the con- 
 stant provision for defence. "General Greene," 
 say the orders of the 10th of November, "is 
 greatly displeased with the officers of the artillery, 
 that they were so ill-provided with wads to-day. 
 The General gives positive orders, that proper pro- 
 visions be made immediately, that the artillery 
 may be in readiness at an alarm at the first notice." 
 "Upon an alarm," say the orders of the 12th 
 November, Colonel Brewster's regiment to take 
 post in the citadel on the left ; Colonel Little's regi- 
 ment to form on parade in the long lines next to 
 the barracks ; Colonel Thompson's in the front of 
 Colonel Little's, there to wait for orders, — no offi- 
 cer to stir from his post, nor to suffer his people 
 to straggle, but to keep them silent and attentive." 
 
 November was an anxious month, and new ar- 
 rangements were needed for the long nights and 
 short days. " The field officer of the day to exam- 
 ine the sally-ports in these fortifications, and if the 
 chevaux-de-frise are out of repair, they are to put 
 them in order, and if any of the pickets are out 
 of place, to have them rectified ; the firing of the 
 morning gun to be discontinued ; the reveille to be 
 beat at gray daylight, at the beating of which the 
 troops to man the lines with as much expedition as 
 possible ; all the sentries on the lines to be posted 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. "115 
 
 on the parapet, and to hail every person that ap- 
 proaches the hnes on the outside as soon as it is 
 dark, and to suffer no one to come near the lines 
 without giving the countersign. All the soldiers, 
 for the future, to repair to their quarters at nine 
 o'clock ; and if any are catched abroad after that 
 hour, and cannot give a satisfactory account of 
 their business, to be sent to the main guard, as 
 none but drunkards and thieves will be out at a 
 later hour, unless upon some special business." 
 
 Among the provisions for repelling an assault 
 are instructions for the use of spears. "Every 
 colonel or commanding officer of a regiment," say 
 the orders of the 15th, "to appoint thirty men 
 that are active, bold, and resolute, to use the spears 
 in defence of the lines, instead of guns ; to form in 
 the centre of the rear of the regiment, to stand 
 ready to push the enemy off the breastwork, if 
 they should attempt to get over the parapet into 
 the lines. Let those be appointed that are the 
 worst equipped for arms, and those that have none 
 at all, provided the size, strength, and activity are 
 agreeable for the purpose of their appointment, to 
 be commanded by a sub and sergeant." 
 
 I dwell upon these details, for they not only 
 belong to the camp life of those anxious days, but 
 help us in tracing step by step the growth of the 
 general as we have already traced that of the man. 
 Watchfulness, energy, rapidity of comprehension, 
 and patience of labor were equally the character- 
 istics of both. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Term of Service of the Army most out. — Congress sends a Committee 
 to Camp. — Greene's Impressions of Franklin. — His first Intercourse 
 with Southern Members of Congress. — His Efforts to do away with 
 Sectional Jealousies. — Lord Sheflfield. — Church's Treason. — Grad- 
 ual Growth of a Desire for Independence. — Extracts from Greene's 
 Letters to Governor Ward. — His Idea of the Duty of Congress. — 
 An Army of Seventy Thousand Men. — Feelings of the People. 
 
 rriHE approach of autumn brought another anx- 
 -■- iety with it. The army was enlisted for only 
 a few months, and those months were passing 
 rapidly away. What will England do ? October 
 brought " the echo of Bunker's hill/' ^ and the news 
 of " warlike preparations." What will Congress 
 do? After much ill-timed delay, Congress ap- 
 pointed Frankhn, Lynch, and Harrison a commit- 
 tee to go to camp and consult with Washington 
 about the new army. While they were yet on 
 their way the general officers met in council, and, 
 after a careful examination of the subject, fixed 
 upon twenty thousand men as the number re- 
 quired to continue the siege. On the 15th the 
 committee reached head-quarters. " I had the 
 honor," Greene writes the next day, " to be intro- 
 duced to that very great man Dr. Franklin, whom 
 I viewed with silent admiration the whole evening. 
 
 1 Sparks's Writings of Washington, Vol. HI. p. 113. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 117 
 
 Attention watched his lips, and conviction closed 
 his periods." And Franklin, on his side, may have 
 looked with more than ordinary interest on Greene ; 
 for the name had long been familiar to his ear, and 
 Greene's wife was the niece of his " dear friend," 
 Catherine Ray.^ But this was no time for forming 
 new friendships. The committee had hard work 
 to do, and when it was done, Greene and Franklin 
 parted never to meet again. 
 
 It was the first time, too, that Greene had been 
 brought into contact with members of Congress 
 from the South, and he took advantage of the op- 
 portunity to speak to them about " the groundless 
 jealousy of the New England Colonies," which was 
 said to prevail there. " I mentioned this subject," he 
 writes to Governor Ward, " to Mr. Lynch and Colo- 
 nel Harrison, who assured me there was no such 
 sentiment prevailing in Congress nor among the 
 southern inhabitants of any respectability. I am 
 sorry to find they were mistaken. It grieves me 
 that such jealousies should prevail. If they are 
 nourished, they will sooner or later sap the founda- 
 tions of the union and dissolve the connection. 
 God in mercy avert so dreadful an evil ! " 
 
 How deeply he felt and how justly he reasoned 
 upon this subject may be seen by the order of the 
 day for the 25th of October : " General Greene is J 
 
 1 Wife of William Greene of War- Catherine Ray and Catherine Ray 
 wick, afterwards Governor of Rhode Greene, have been published by Mr. 
 Island, whose name I have already Sparks. The originals are still in 
 had occasion to mention. Many of the possession of her grandson, Lieu- 
 Franklin's letters to this lady, both as tenant-Governor William Greene. 
 
118 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 I greatly displeased with a number of evil-disposed 
 persons that are endeavoring to beget jealousy and 
 discontent amongst the troops, by promoting and 
 propagating a spirit of reflection amongst the dif- 
 ferent regiments; as such a conduct has a ten- 
 dency to bring on great confusion and disorder in 
 the brigade, and to alienate the affection of one 
 Colony from another, and destroy that confidence 
 and union now happily subsisting amongst us, 
 the General entreats all the officers of whatsoever 
 rank to suppress as much as possible such a grow- 
 ing evil as national, colonial, regimental, or per- 
 sonal reflection, and requests the field officers of 
 the several regiments to punish every person that 
 is guilty of such high misdemeanor with the utmost 
 severity." 
 
 The same sentiments appear in a letter of Octo- 
 ber 16th to Governor Ward. " As the troops are 
 considered continental and not colonial, there must 
 be some systematical plan for the payment without 
 any reference to particular colonies ; otherwise they 
 will be partly continental and partly colonial. His 
 Excellency has a great desire to banish every idea 
 of local attachments. It is next to impossible to 
 unhinge the prejudices that people have for places 
 and things they have had a long connection with. 
 But the fewer of those local attachments discover 
 themselves in our plan for establishing the army 
 the more satisfactory it must be to the Southern 
 gentry. For my own part, I feel the cause and not 
 
 I the place. I would as soon go to Virginia as stay 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 119 
 
 here. I can assure the gentlemen to the south- ( 
 ward that there could not be anything more ab- 
 horrent proposed, than a union of those colonies 
 for the purpose of conquering the southernj 
 colonies." 
 
 But if we would do full justice to Greene's sen- 
 timents upon this vital subject, and his early com- 
 prehension of the natural relations of the colonies 
 to each other, we must compare his words with 
 those of an English statesman high in rank and 
 authority. " The interests of one Colony are no 
 ways incompatible with the interests of another. 
 .... The different climates and produce of the 
 colonies will ever preserve a harmony among them 
 by an active trade and commerce." Thus writes 
 Greene on the 31st of December, 1775. 
 
 And thus, in 1783, wrote the friend of Gibbon : 
 " It will not be an easy matter to bring the Amer- 
 ican states to act as a nation ; they are not to be 
 
 feared as such by us Their climate, their 
 
 staples, their manners, are different ; their interests 
 opposite, and that which is beneficial to one is de- 
 structive to the other." ^ 
 
 There were still other things to be anxious about. 
 A little before the arrival of the committee, Greene 
 had been surprised by a visit from his old teacher. 
 Master Maxwell. Master Maxwell brought with 
 
 1 Lord Sheflfield's Observations on that Laurens thought it had done 
 
 the Commerce of the American States, " much mischief." — Gibbon's Miscel- 
 
 p. 137, in which Gibbon found "plain laneous Works, Vol. L pp. 609 - 617, 
 
 sense, full information, and warm ed. 4to. 
 spirit," and hailed it as a good sign 
 
120 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 him a letter from Henry Ward, Secretary for the 
 Colony, enclosing a mysterious letter in cipher 
 which a woman from Boston had tried to send on 
 board the ship of the notorious Wallace, the scourge 
 of Narragansett Bay. Greene carried the letter to 
 Washington. Who could the writer be, and what 
 were his intentions? The first step towards the 
 discovery of this was to discover the messenger. 
 Here other counsellors appear to have been called 
 in, and among them " Old Put," who tracked her 
 out, compelled her to mount behind him, and 
 brought her in triumph to head-quarters. Not 
 even Washington could keep from laughing when, 
 from his chamber window, he saw the sturdy "Wolf 
 Hunter " dash up to the Craigie House gate, leap 
 from his horse, and drag his terrified prisoner up 
 the broad pathway to the door. But composing 
 his countenance, he reached the stairway landing 
 as the front door was thrown open, and, putting on 
 his sternest look, assured her that nothing but a 
 full confession could save her from a halter. A 
 shudder must have gone through all who stood 
 near when they heard the name of Dr. Church, — 
 a man trusted, respected, beloved, foremost among 
 patriots with voice and hand and pen. Could he 
 be a traitor ? 
 
 He was immediately arrested and his papers 
 seized. The letter was deciphered. "I attended 
 the General Court of this Province to-day," Greene 
 writes to his wife on the 27th of October, to hear 
 " Dr. Church's examination relative to his treason. 
 
NIVEi 
 
 Of 
 1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 121 
 
 With art and ingenuity surpassing whatever you 
 saw he veiled the villany of his conduct, and by 
 imphcation transformed vice into virtue. But not- 
 withstanding all his art and address, and his faculty 
 of making the worse appear the better reason, he 
 could not establish his innocence either satisfactory 
 to the public in general or the General Court in 
 particular." He was condemned to close confine- 
 ment. Mortification, mingled perhaps with the 
 pain of a tardy repentance, and rendered more dis- 
 tressing by the sudden change from an active life 
 to a life of solitary disoccupation, soon began to 
 tell upon his health ; and after several months of 
 rigorous imprisonment, obtaining permission to go 
 to the West Indies, he set out upon his voyage of 
 exile, and was never heard of more. But the 
 memory of his treason survived him to trouble 
 many minds, as perils thickened, with painful rec- 
 ollections and anxious doubts.-^ 
 
 In the spring "the feelings of the people had 
 varied with the varying news from England."^ 
 But as summer wore away the conviction gradu- 
 ally gained ground that there was nothing to hope 
 either from the King or the Parliament, although, 
 as the paroles and countersigns show from time 
 to time, Cambden and Burke still held their places 
 in the affections of the leaders. Even "Wilkes and 
 Liberty " sometimes is used.^ But as early as Oc- 
 tober "the plan of Independence was become a 
 
 1 For Church's letter, see Cowell's ^ Belknap, p. 87. 
 Spirit of 1776 in Rhode Island. ^ Orderly-book. 
 
122 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 favorite point in the army," and praying for the 
 kino; "offensive."^ How soon Greene beoran to 
 " wish heartily for Independence " it is difficult to 
 say with certainty ; but in a letter of October 16th 
 he had already hinted at it, and in another of the 
 23d he returns to the subject. " We had as well 
 begin in earnest at first as at last, for we have no 
 
 alternative but to fight it out or be slaves 
 
 The alternative is separation from Great Britain 
 or subjugation to her." With the question of In- 
 dependence came the question of foreign trade : 
 " We should open our ports to all who have a 
 mind to come and trade with us " ; and of political 
 relations : " France, as a real enemy to Great Brit- 
 ain, acts upon a true plan of policy in refusing to 
 intermeddle until she is satisfied that there is no 
 hope of accommodation." 
 
 In January, when he had read " the king^s late 
 gracious speech to both houses of Parliament," he 
 became anxious for immediate action. ^^ Permit 
 me," he writes to Governor Ward, "to recommend, 
 from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to 
 bleed in my country's cause, a declaration of Inde- 
 pendence ; and call upon the world, and the great 
 God who governs it, to witness the necessity, pro- 
 priety, and rectitude thereof." The magnitude of 
 the contest, which he sees clearly, does not alarm 
 him. " My worthy friend, the interests of mankind 
 hang upon that truly worthy body of which you 
 are a member. You stand the representatives, not 
 
 1 Belknap, p. 92. 
 
1775.1 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 123 
 
 of America only, but of the whole world; the 
 friends of liberty and the supporters of the rights 
 of human nature. It hath been said that Canada, 
 in the late war, was conquered in Germany. Who 
 knows but that Britain may be in the present con- 
 test. I take it for granted that France and Spain 
 have made overtures to the Congress. Let us em- 
 brace them as brothers. We do not want their 
 land forces in America ; their navy we do. Their 
 commerce will be mutually beneficial. They will 
 doubtless pay the expenses of their fleet, as it will 
 be employed in protecting their own trade. Their 
 military stores we want amazingly. These will be 
 articles of commerce. The Elector of Hanover 
 has ordered his German troops to relieve the gar- 
 risons of Gibraltar and Port Mahon. France will, 
 of consequence, attack and subdue Hanover with 
 little trouble. This will bring on a very severe 
 war in Germany, and turn Great Britain's atten- 
 tion that way. This may prevent immense ex- 
 pense and innumerable calamities in America." 
 
 A wide range this for the thoughts of an anchor- 
 smith. Hear, too, how he reasons upon America's 
 duty in the struggle : — 
 
 " A large army must be raised in addition to the forces 
 
 upon the present establishment All the forces in 
 
 America should be under one commander, raised and 
 appointed by the same authority, subjected to the same 
 regulations, and ready to be detached wherever the occa- 
 sion may require It will be infinitely safer, and not 
 
 more expensive in the end, for the continent to give a 
 
124 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 large bounty to any number of troops in addition to what 
 may be ordered on the present establishment, that will 
 engage during the war, than to enlist them from year to 
 
 year without a bounty How will posterity, millions 
 
 yet unborn, bless the memory of those brave patriots who 
 are now hastening the consummation of freedom, truth, 
 and religion ! But want of decision renders wisdom in 
 council insignificant, as want of power has prevented us 
 here from destroying the mercenary troops now in Bos- 
 ton. Frugality, a most amiable domestic virtue, becomes 
 a vice of the most enormous kind when opposed to the 
 common good. The tyrant, in his last speech, has con- 
 vinced us that to be free or not depends upon ourselves. 
 Nothing, therefore, but the most vigorous exertion on our 
 part can shelter us from the evils intended us. How can 
 we, then, startle at the idea of expense, when our whole 
 property, our dearest connections, our liberty, nay, life it- 
 self, is at stake ; let us, therefore, act like men inspired 
 with a resolution that nothing but the powers of heaven 
 shall conquer us. It is no time for deliberation : the 
 houj? is swiftly rolling on when the plains of America will 
 be deluged with human blood. Eesolves, deliberations, 
 and all the parade of heroism in words, will not obtain a 
 victory. Arms and ammunition are as necessary as men, 
 and must be had at the expense of everything short of 
 Britain's claims." 
 
 The question of domestic enemies, of Tories, is 
 daily becoming more embarrassing. He is for 
 prompt action and uncompromising severity. " Gov- 
 ernor Franklin and the Assembly go on with a high 
 hand. His impudence and the Congress's silence 
 astonish all this part of the world. To suffer such 
 presumption to go unpunished betrays a want of 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 125 
 
 spirit to resent or power to punish. The dignity 
 of Congress ought to be held sacred, or else its au- 
 thority will soon be brought into contempt. His 
 conduct is calculated to breed a mutiny in the 
 state ; such budding mischiefs cannot be too early 
 nipped ; diseases that might have been easily rem- 
 edied if seasonably attended to, have often been 
 rendered incurable by being too long neglected. I 
 wish this may not be the case here Gen- 
 eral Lee has just returned from Khode Island. He 
 has taken the Tories in hand, and sworn them by 
 a very solemn oath that they would not, for the 
 future, grant any supplies to the enemy, directly 
 nor indirectly, nor give them any kind of intelli- 
 gence, nor suffer it to be done by others, without 
 giving information. Joseph Wanton and Doctor 
 Hunter were the principals." 
 
 The want of arms had compelled Washington to 
 retain the weapons of those who were leaving the 
 army. On the 4th of January Greene writes : 
 " Undoubtedly the detaining of arms, being private 
 property, is repugnant to many principles of civil 
 and natural law and hath disgusted many. But 
 the great law of necessity must justify the expe- 
 dient till we can be otherwise furnished." 
 
 Nor was his opinion upon the necessity of 
 united action less decided. "There appears a 
 strange hobble in our gait. Here we are at log- 
 gerheads, in other places only sparring, and oth- 
 ers again are in perfect tranquillity. Here we 
 are cutting them off from fresh provisions, and re- 
 
126 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 moving the stock from the island, which amounts 
 to a perfect depopulation, while at New York, 
 Philadelphia, and many other parts of America, 
 their ships are supplied with everything they 
 stand in need of, and live in the midst of peace 
 and plenty. If we are to be considered as one 
 people, and they as the common enemy, upon 
 what principle are they so differently treated in 
 the different governments?" 
 p^ Washington had been disappointed in the com- 
 \ mon people, and made no secret of his disgust. 
 '' His Excellency is a great and good man. I feel 
 the highest degree of respect for him. I wish him 
 immortal honor. I think myself happy in an op- 
 portunity to serve under so good a general. My 
 happiness will be still greater if fortune gives me 
 an opportunity to contribute to his glory and my 
 country's good. 
 
 " But his Excellency, as you observe, has not had 
 time to make himself acquainted with the genius 
 of this people. They are naturally as brave and 
 spirited as the peasantry of any other country • but 
 you cannot expect veterans of a raw militia of only 
 a few months' service. The common people are 
 exceedingly avaricious ; the genius of the people 
 is commercial, from their long intercourse with 
 trade. The sentiment of honor, the true charac- 
 teristic of a soldier, has not yet got the better of 
 interest. His Excellency has been taught to be- 
 lieve the people here a superior race of mortals ; 
 ^and finding them of the same temper and disposi- 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 127 
 
 tions, passions and prejudices, virtues and vices of 
 the common people of other governments, they 
 sink in his esteem. The country round here set 
 no bounds to their demands for hay, wood, and 
 teaming. It has given his Excellency a great deal 
 of uneasiness, that they should take this opportu- 
 nity to extort from the necessities of the army suchj 
 enormous prices." 
 
 His relations with Washington are becoming in- 
 timate ; and the reserved, cautious man is already 
 beginning to "lean his great arm upon him." 
 "The General has often expressed to me his un- 
 easiness about the expenses, they so far exceed the 
 expectations of Congress. He is afraid they will 
 sink under the weight of such "charges." 
 
 He, too, has thought upon this subject. " Econ- 
 omy is undoubtedly essential in this dispute ; there 
 should be no wanton waste of public property; but 
 if you starve the cause you protract the dispute." 
 
 To his mind, the duty of Congress is plain. " If 
 the Congress wish to put the finishing stroke . to 
 this war, they must exert their whole force at once, 
 and give every measure an air of decision. I pray 
 God we may not lose the critical moment. Human 
 affairs are ever like the tide, constantly on the ebb 
 and flow. Our preparations in all parts of the 
 United Colonies ought to be so great as to leave 
 no room to doubt our intentions to support the 
 cause and obtain our conditions. This will draw 
 in the weak and wavering, and give such a turn 
 to the minds of the people that small shocks shall 
 
128 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 not be seriously felt in the general plan of opera- 
 tions." 
 
 He was for embodying seventy thousand men at 
 once, stationing a body in each maritime town to 
 protect it against piratical incursions, and support 
 the spirited and confirm the weak and wavering " : 
 each body " to be considered as a detachment from 
 the grand army^ subject to the commander-in- 
 chief, and at his disposal and discretion To 
 
 cure the itch for going home on furlough, and save 
 the continent the needless expense of paying a 
 large body of troops that are absent from camp," 
 he suggests an exchange of the Southern and 
 Northern troops. 
 
 It had been proposed to pay the troops part of 
 their wages and put the other part in trust for the 
 benefit of their families. He does not approve 
 of this. " The colonels are the best judges of the 
 prudence and good economy of their soldiers. 
 Those who behave well and make a prudent use 
 of their money want no agent; for they will 
 receive monthly payments, and such part as they 
 can spare for the support of their families can eas- 
 ily be conveyed home." For the others, "a man 
 from each town or county" might be employed 
 as an agent. 
 
 He had already, as we have seen, formed the 
 idea of a great army, well organized, thoroughly 
 disciplined, properly fed, clothed, and paid, and en- 
 listed for the whole war ; and regarding this as the 
 surest way of bringing the contest to a prompt 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 129 
 
 decision, endeavored, by means of his correspond- 
 ence with Governor Ward, to convey his idea to 
 Congress. ^^ 
 
 He looks anxiously, too, towards the people,/ 
 complaining, not of " the lower class, but of the 
 merchants and wealthy farmers," who have raised 
 the prices of many articles "four times the first 
 cost, and of many of them cent per cent." These 
 "are the people that wound the cause. When 
 people are distressed, it is natural for them to try 
 everything and everywhere to get relief; and to 
 find oppression instead of relief from these two 
 orders of men, will go near to driving the poorer 
 sort to desperation. It will be good policy in the 
 United Colonies to render the poorer sort of people 
 as easy and happy under their present circum- 
 stances as possible ; for they are creatures of a 
 day, and present gain and gratification, though 
 small, has more weight with them than much 
 greater advantages at a distance. A good poli- 
 tician must and will consider the temper of the 
 times and the prejudices of the people he has to 
 deal with, when he takes his measures to execute ] 
 any great design." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Greene's Life, Habits, and Associates in Camp. — Letter to his Wife. 
 — Christopher Greene and Samuel Ward join the Canada Expedi- 
 tion. — Interest awakened by it. — Anxiety caused by the burning 
 of Falmouth. — By the Progress of Enlistment. — Extracts from 
 Letters. — Opinion on giving Bounties. — Mistake of Congress. — 
 Old Troops go. — New Troops come. — Arms retained. — New 
 Year. — The Flag. — Scanty Supplies. — Small-Pox. — Mrs. Greene 
 in Camp. — Siege draws to a Close. — Dorchester Heights occu- 
 pied. — Preparations for an Attack. — Storm. — Evacuation of 
 Boston. 
 
 \ ND thus Greene lived, with his active mind 
 ■^^^ constantly employed watching the progress of 
 events, revolving the great questions of the day, 
 and keenly alive to the magnitude of the contest 
 in which he was engaged. The principles with 
 which he had stored it in his quiet home at Poto- 
 womut and Coventry, gleaning with a bold hand 
 the rich fields of history and philosophy., found a 
 daily application, as the lessons of past history 
 were daily repeated in the history that was grow- 
 ing under his own eye. His horizon was enlarged ; 
 and thought, even when it did not open new chan- 
 nels, flowed in broader currents through the old. 
 The discussions of councils of war had taken the 
 place of solitary meditation ; and ideas which, 
 twelve months earlier, he might have thrown out 
 in their germ as an exercise letter to Samuel 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 131 
 
 Ward, Jr., now filled elaborate pages to Samuel 
 Ward, Sen., as suggestions to be woven into the 
 framework of an empire. In his personal habits 
 there was little change, great as was the change in 
 the nature of his pursuits. He was still up with 
 the dawn ; he was still hours in the saddle ; he was 
 still busy with his pen ; he was still an attentive 
 listener ; he was still a patient thinker ; and he 
 still loved his book, — finding time, even in the 
 greatest pressure of business, to calm his mind by 
 a page of some favorite author, before he laid his 
 head upon his pillow. Some time he found, too, for 
 social relaxation, and that friendly interchange of 
 sentiments and opinions which he always re- 
 garded as one of the chief blessings of life. In 
 his own brigade were his early friends Varnum, 
 Ward, and Christopher Greene ; and to them was 
 soon added, as chaplain, — though not without a 
 protest from all the other chaplains of the army, 
 — the eloquent Universalist, John Murray.^ Here, 
 also, his early acquaintance with Knox began to 
 ripen into friendship, and Reed obtained a hold 
 upon his confidence w^hich was never shaken. 
 With Lee, too, he seems to have lived upon in- 
 timate terms. '' I have taken the liberty to show 
 your last letter to General Lee," he writes to Gov- 
 ernor Ward in January, "whose knowledge of 
 Europe and America, genius and learning, enable 
 him to give you the advice you want. He has 
 written you fully on the subject • it would be mere 
 
 1 Amory's Sullivan, Vol. I. p. 181. 
 
132 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 arrogance in me to say anything upon the sub- 
 ject, after he has taken up the pen." The dinners 
 at head-quarters had become friendly meetings. 
 " I am now going/' he writes to his wife, in Septem- 
 ber, " to dine with his Excellency General Wash- 
 ington, and Mr. Murray with me. I wish you 
 could fly to Cambridge, and partake of a friendly 
 repast." Only in one thing had the regularity of 
 his habits changed. Amidst all these occupations, 
 Sunday was no longer the day it had been from 
 his youth upwards. " Mr. Murray gave us a sermon 
 to-day," he writes to his wife, three or four weeks 
 after her first visit to camp. " This is the first ser- 
 mon I have heard since your first arrival at Jamaica 
 Plains. Perhaps, you stood between me and the 
 Gospel ; but I fear, if the true reasons should be 
 inquired after, you would escape the charge." 
 
 As the evenings grow longer he writes for more 
 books ; and, to show that his admiration of Lee's 
 mind did not extend to his dress, I will add, that 
 in the same paragraph he asks for more shirts. 
 These long evenings awaken thoughts of home. 
 " It is past nine o'clock ; the room is still, and the 
 company all gone. My attention is turned to- 
 wards you. Permit me to address you, my dear, 
 with some sentiments of warm affection. My soul 
 breathes a secret prayer for your happiness, amidst 
 these times of general calamity. How fondly 
 should I press you to my bosom, were you with 
 me. Cruel separation ! But I console myself that 
 you are happily provided for, and I in the way of 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 133 
 
 my duty, offering my small services, united with 
 others who are endeavoring to preserve an op- 
 pressed people from cruel slavery, — the worst of 
 miseries. May God speed our efforts, and crown 
 us with success." He pictures her to himself, 
 " amidst a little circle of friends, .... with anx- 
 ious bosoms, petitioning the throne of Grace 
 
 Surely, Providence will hear the prayers of the 
 innocent. It will come up before him like a sweet- 
 smelling savor, like frankincense from the altar of 
 Innocence. America ! what a black cloud hangs 
 over this once happy land, but now miserable and 
 afflicted people." 
 
 In September he lost the society of two of his 
 friends, — Christopher Greene and Samuel Ward, 
 — both of whom had volunteered for the " Canada 
 expedition, a long and tedious voyage," he writes 
 his wife on the 10th. " I am sorry that so good 
 an officer is going from the hill ; his regiment will 
 feel a severe loss. Captain Ward is also embarked 
 with him in the same expedition. I did every- 
 thing in my power to dissuade him from the un- 
 dertaking ; but the heart and zeal of youth, ambi- 
 tious of distinguishing himself, overcame the cool 
 reasons that I could offer." Perhaps, underlying 
 those " cool reasons," Ward, who knew him so well, 
 had detected the latent feeling which made him 
 add, as he told the story to his wife, " it will be a 
 very pretty tour." 
 
 Henceforth the news from Canada became a regu- 
 lar topic in his letters. " I had the pleasure to hear 
 
134 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 from your son Samuel the 26th of September," he 
 writes to Governor Ward on the 16th of October. 
 " He was at Fort Weston, just going to set off on 
 their journey. All in health and good spirits. .... 
 By several letters from Quebec, things wear a 
 promising appearance there. If the expedition 
 succeeds, and we get possession of Canada, we shall 
 effectually shut the back door against them. And 
 I make no doubt of keeping them from entering at 
 the front." In December it was "reported that 
 Quebec was taken. General Montgomery and 
 Colonel Arnold will acquire immortal honor. 
 that we had plenty of powder! I should then 
 hope to see something done here for the honor of 
 America." And two days later he writes to his 
 brother Jacob : " Letters were received this day 
 from General Montgomery, near Quebec. He says 
 he expects to be master of the place in a very lit- 
 tle time. He has powder and all kind of military 
 stores to facilitate the reduction. He and his 
 troops are in good health, and he speaks very 
 highly of Colonel Arnold and his party. Many 
 ofiicers and a large number of privates belong to 
 our government." 
 
 Towards the end of October another event oc- 
 curred to call his attention to other parts of the 
 country. News came in the night of the 23d that 
 Falmouth had been burned, and that, by orders 
 from England, " all the seaport towns on the con- 
 tinent that would not lay down and deliver up 
 their arms, and give hostages for their future good 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 135 
 
 behavior/' were to be burnt also. "The city of 
 New York," it was said, " was already in ashes." 
 
 This was startling news for a Rhode-Islander, 
 whose whole State was a seaport town. He imme- 
 mediately sent off an express to Governor Cook, a 
 firm, active, intelligent man, heartily devoted to 
 the cause, who had succeeded the half Tory Wan- 
 ton as Governor. " By these accounts we may 
 learn what we have to expect. I think Newport 
 should be fortified in the best manner it can be. 
 Doubtless the enemy will make an attempt to get 
 the stock of the island. Provision should be made 
 to defeat them. Death and desolation seem to 
 mark their footsteps. Fight or be slaves, is the 
 American jnotto. The first is by far the most 
 eligible." 
 
 But now the absorbing subject was the new 
 army. Whence was it to come ? How was it to 
 be raised? Must all these men whom we have 
 been trying so hard to teach leave us just as they 
 are beginning to become soldiers ? 
 
 In November he writes that " the troops enlist 
 very slowly in general." And on the 10th of De- 
 cember : " I was in hopes that ours would not have 
 deserted the cause of their country. But they 
 seem to be so sick of this way of life, and so home- 
 sick, that I fear the greater part and the best of 
 the troops from our Colony will go home. The 
 Connecticut troops are going home in shoals this 
 day. Five thousand of the militia, three from this 
 Province and two from New Hampshire, are called 
 
136 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 in to take their place. There is a great defection 
 among their troops, but from the spirit and resolu- 
 tion of the people of that Province, I make no 
 doubt they will furnish their proportion without 
 delay. New Hampshire behaves jiobly ; their 
 troops engage cheerfully. The regiment raised in 
 the Colony of Ehode Island has hurt our recruit- 
 ing amazingly. They are fond of serving in the 
 army at home, and each feels a desire to protect 
 his own family." 
 
 " I harangued the troops yesterday, and hope it 
 had some effect. They appear of a better disposi- 
 tion to-day. Some have enlisted and others dis- 
 cover a complying temper. I leave nothing un- 
 done or unsaid that will promote the recruiting 
 service. But I fear the Colony of Ehode Island is 
 upon the decline. There have been, and now are, 
 some unhappy disputes subsisting between the 
 town and country interest, and some wretches, for 
 the sake of a present popularity, are endeavoring 
 to widen the breach, — to build up their own con- 
 sequence to the prejudice and ruin of the public 
 interest. God grant that they may meet with the 
 disgrace they deserve ! 
 
 " This Province begins to exert itself The Gen- 
 eral Court has undertaken to provide for the army 
 wood, etc. Their troops begin now to enlist very 
 fast. They are zealous in the country to engage 
 in the service. 
 
 " I sent home some recruiting officers, but they 
 got scarcely a man, and report there are none to 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 137 
 
 be had there. No public spirit prevails. I wish 
 you and your colleague were at home a few days 
 to spirit up the people. Newport, I believe, from 
 the best intelligence I can get, is determined to 
 observe a strict neutrality this w^inter, and in the 
 spring join the strongest party. I feel for the 
 honor of the Colony, which I think in a fair way, 
 from the conduct of the people at home and the 
 troops abroad, to receive a wound. It mortifies 
 me to death that our Colony and troops should be 
 a whit behind the neighboring governments in pri- 
 vate virtue or public spirit. 
 
 Eight days pass, and he writes more cheerfully. 
 " The army is filling up slowly. I think the pros- 
 pect is better than it has been. Eecruits come in 
 out of the country plentifully, and the soldiers in 
 the army begin to show a better disposition and to 
 recruit cheerfully." 
 
 The question of bounties comes up. " You en- 
 treat the general officers," he writes to Governor 
 Ward, " to recommend to Congress the giving of a 
 bounty. But His Excellency General Washington 
 has ofte i assured us that the Congress would not 
 give a bounty, and before they would give a bounty 
 they would give up the dispute. The cement be- 
 tween the Northern and Southern Colonies is not 
 very strong if forty thousand lawful will induce the 
 Congress to give us up.^ .... Do you think we 
 
 1 In March, 1776, Reed writes get a bounty for the New England 
 to Washington from Philadelphia : troops, but without effect. The Con- 
 " Many attempts have been made to gress are resolved that you shall aban- 
 
138 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 should hesitate a moment to recommend a bounty 
 if. we felt ourselves at liberty to do so? We 
 should then have an opportunity of picking the 
 best men, filling the army soon, keeping up a 
 proper discipline, and preserving good order and 
 government in camp ; while we are obliged to re- 
 lax the very sinews of military government and 
 give a latitude of indulgence to the soldiery in- 
 compatible with the security of either camp or 
 
 country There is nothing that will encourage 
 
 our enemies, both external and internal, like the 
 difficulties we meet in raising an army. If we had 
 given a good bounty and raised the troops speed- 
 ily, it would have struck the ministry with aston- 
 ishment to see that four colonies could raise such 
 an army in so short a time. They could not ex- 
 pect to conquer a people so united, firm, and reso- 
 lutely determined to defend their rights and privi- 
 leges. But from the difficulties we meet with, the 
 confusion and disorder we are in, the large num- 
 ber of soldiers who are going home, our enemies 
 will draw a conclusion that we are like a rope of 
 sand, and that we shall soon break to pieces. God 
 grant it may not be the case ! " 
 
 He thinks that Congress was mistaken also in 
 ^^ sending strangers at so critical a period, .... to 
 establish the plan for the constitution of the new 
 army History does not afford so dangerous a 
 
 don the lines and give up their coun- enlisted here." — Sparks's Corre- 
 try to be ravaged if they will not spondenoe of the Revolution, Vol. 
 defend it on the same terms as those I. pp. 164, 165. 
 
n 
 
 1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 139 
 
 measure as that of disbanding an old army and 
 forming a new one within point-blank shot of the 
 enemy. The task was rendered very difficult by 
 the reduction of eleven regiments and the dis- 
 charge of such a number of officers who have 
 done everything to obstruct and retard the filling 
 the new army in hopes to ruin the establishment 
 and bring themselves into place again." 
 
 The 31st of December was the " last day of the 
 old enlisted soldiers' service. "Nothing but con- 
 fusion and disorder reign. We are obliged to re- 
 tain their guns, whether private or public property. 
 They are prized and the owners paid ; but as guns 
 last spring ran very high, the committee that 
 values them sets them much lower than the price 
 they were purchased at. This is looked upon to 
 be both tyrannical and unjust. I am very sorry 
 that necessity forces his Excellency to adopt any 
 measures disagreeable to the people. But the 
 army cannot be provided for in any other way." 
 
 Thus discontented and disgusted, many of the 
 old soldiers went home. But people at home 
 looked upon the matter in another light. "The 
 Connecticut troops went off in spite of all that 
 could be done to prevent it. But they met with 
 such an unfavorable reception at home that many 
 are returning to camp already. The people on the 
 road expressed so much abhorrence at their quit- 
 ting the army, that it was with difficulty they got 
 provisions. I wish all the troops now going home/ 
 may meet with the same contempt." 
 
140 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 He looks anxiously to the morrow. " We never 
 have been so weak as we shall be to morrow when 
 we dismiss our old troops." And in anticipation 
 of this, he had taken advantage of the last days of 
 their service to strengthen " the hill, in-order that, 
 if the soldiery should not engage as cheerfully as 
 we expected, I might be able to defend it with a 
 less number." 
 
 The new year opens. A communication comes 
 from the enemy, with the king's speech, denoun- 
 cing war and confiscation and death. And shortly 
 after a new flag rises on " Mount Pisgah," the red 
 field crossed with thirteen stripes, and above it a 
 union. Thirteen guns salute it as it unfurls to the 
 breeze,, and thirteen rounds of cheers from the 
 troops of the " citadel." ^ 
 
 The British look out from Boston and hail it as 
 the signal of submission, in which they are soon to 
 be sharply undeceived. The coming and going, 
 the tumult and confusion, the deep anxiety of 
 those who knew their danger and kept silent, the 
 long, fixed gazing at Bunker Hill and the Koxbury 
 lines, the straining of eye and ear through the long 
 winter night for some sign of the enemy's coming, 
 — for surely he must know their weakness and be 
 prepared to profit by it, — made the next three 
 days pass very slowly. But on the 4th Greene 
 draws a long breath : " I this day manned the lines 
 upon this hill, and felt a degree of pleasure that 
 I have not felt for several days. Our situation has 
 
 1 Frothingham, p. 283. 
 
1775.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 141 
 
 been critical. We have no part of the militia here, 
 and the night after the old troops went away I 
 could not have mustered seven hundred men, not- 
 withstanding the returns of the newly enlisted 
 troops amounted to nineteen hundred and upward." 
 He adds, — and you can fancy him as he writes it 
 pausing a moment to look out upon Bunker Hill 
 and Boston, where the general who had permitted 
 this golden opportunity to escape him was wast- 
 ing his strength in useless cannonades, — "I am 
 now strong enough to defend myself against all 
 the force in Boston." 
 
 Meanwhile the army had been in great straits/ 
 for supplies. They had begun to suffer from cold 
 as early as September. " Excuse the badness of the 
 writing; it is so cold I cannot feel the pen," he 
 writes to Sullivan on the 23d. " We have suffered 
 prodigiously," he writes in December, " for want of 
 wood. Many regiments have been obliged to eat 
 their provisions raw for want of fuel to cook it, and 
 notwithstanding we have burnt up all the fences 
 and cut down all the trees for a mile round the 
 camp, our sufferings have been inconceivable. The 
 barracks have been greatly delayed for want of 
 stuff. Many of the troops are yet in tents, and will 
 be for some time, especially the officers. The fa- 
 tigues of the campaign, the suffering for want of 
 wood and clothing, have made a multitude of sol- 
 diers heartily sick of service." 
 
 An alarm of small-pox, too, came to increase 
 their apprehensions^ It was known to be in Bos- 
 
142 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 ton, and it was said the enemy were trying to in- 
 troduce it by emissaries into the American camp/ 
 A strict system of fumigation was established, and 
 everybody coming from Boston was compelled to 
 submit to it before he was allowed to enter the 
 lines.^ Greene remembered his first visit to New 
 York, and how he had had himself inoculated at 
 a time when most men still shrunk from inocula- 
 tion as impious, or condemned it as ineffectual. 
 And now, faithful to his early convictions, he urged 
 the adoption of immediate measures for inoculat- 
 ing the army, and gave up, it has been said, his 
 house at Coventry for a hospital for the officers.^ 
 
 It was a happy day for him when his wife joined 
 him in camp. Mrs. Washington came to head- 
 quarters about the same time. Other officers were 
 joined by their wives, and that pleasant custom 
 began, which was continued throughout the war, 
 of giving to winter quarters as much as possible 
 the air of home. His official relations with Wash- 
 ington grew more and more intimate as circum- 
 stances revealed the harmony of their opinions. 
 Sometimes Washington, who really loved a jest, 
 would slyly remind him of his Quaker origin. " Go 
 to General Greene; he is a Quaker, and knows 
 more about it than I do," was his answer to Moses 
 
 1 Washington to President of Con- ^ I have added an expression of 
 gress. — Sparks, Vol. III. p. 1 88. doubt to this statement, having no 
 
 2 The late venerable President authority for it but Johnson, whom, 
 Quincy told me that this fumiga- with all his opportunities for oral as 
 tion was almost his earliest boyish well as written information, I find it 
 recollection. necessary to use with care. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 143 
 
 Brown, who had been sent to Cambridge upon 
 some business in which the Quakers were particu- 
 larly interested.-^ His social relations, too, were 
 upon the pleasantest footing. His wife was fond 
 of society and well fitted to shine in it, notwith- 
 standing the comparative seclusion of her early 
 years. And an intimacy sprang up between her 
 and Mrs. Washington which, like that between 
 their husbands, ripened into friendship, and con- 
 tinued unimpaired through life. His first child, 
 still in the cradle, was named George Washington, 
 and the second, who was born the ensuing year, 
 Martha Washington. 
 
 And now this long siege began to draw to a 
 close. In January, Knox had reached camp with 
 a fine train of artillery, which, by a rare display of 
 energy and judgment, he had succeeded in bring- 
 ing from Ticonderoga. All winter long the Amer- 
 icans had been counting upon the ice for " a pas- 
 sage into Boston." Early in February the weather 
 set in cold and sharp. Preparations were made 
 for an attack. Greene was sick with jaundice. " I 
 am as yellow as saffron," he writes to his brother 
 Jacob on the 8th, " my appetite all gone and my 
 flesh too. I am so weak that I can scarcely walk 
 across the room. But I am in hopes I am getting 
 something better. I am grievously mortified at 
 my confinement, as this is a critical, and will be to 
 appearance an important, period of the American 
 war. Cambridge bay is frozen over ; if the weather 
 
 1 Mr. Brown told me this himself, a few years before his death. 
 
144 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1775. 
 
 continues a few days longer as cold as it has been 
 a few days past, it will open a passage into Boston. 
 Sick or well I intend to be there, if I am able to 
 sit on horseback." Like Washington, he believed 
 that an attack might succeed. But the weather 
 changed before the attempt could be made. 
 
 All the heights round Boston had been occu- 
 pied except Dorchester. To seize this was like 
 forcing the enemy to fight, for it commanded the 
 bay and shipping ; and this Washington was now 
 about to do. Preparations were made rapidly and 
 secretly. By the opening of March all was ready. 
 To draw off the enemy's attention from the point 
 of danger, the Americans began to fire from Cob- 
 ble Hill, Lechmere Point, and Lamb's Dam. The 
 British returned the fire. On the 2d of March 
 "there w^as an almost incessant roar of cannon 
 and mortars all night long."-^ A thirteen-inch shell 
 reached Prospect Hill and burst there, though 
 with little damage.^ A ball from the American 
 ranks struck Brattle Street Church, in the wall of 
 which it still remains imbedded. On the night 
 of the 4th the cannonade was renewed, forming 
 an almost unbroken line of fire. For miles round 
 the " houses were shaken," and " windows rattled 
 with the roar," hundreds of anxious hearts " beat- 
 ing pace " ^ with the cannon all through the weary 
 night. When day came, people gathered on Penn's 
 Hill "to hear the amazing roar of cannon" and 
 
 1 Heath, p. 39. ^ Mrs. Adams's Letters, pp. 68, 69. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 145 
 
 watch the flight of shells, seeing distinctly " every 
 shell that was thrown." " Oh ! " said they, " how 
 many of our dear countrymen must fall." ^ 
 
 What does all this mean, thought the English, as 
 they looked out from their strong works, — their 
 Bunker Hill, which Montresor had made impregna- 
 ble, and the battery at Fox Hill, and the old and 
 new lines that cut off the approach by Roxbury. 
 Do the rebels hope to burn the town, and shell us 
 out ? But when the morrow came, — the anniver- 
 sary of that 5th of March on which British troops 
 had first fired upon their New England brothers, 
 — through the gray haze of morning they saw Dor- 
 chester heights covered with redoubts. " The reb- 
 els have done more in a night than my whole army 
 could have done in a month," exclaimed Howe ; 
 and knowing well that, if they were allowed to 
 hold their ground, his fleet would be driven from 
 the harbor, he made immediate preparations for an 
 attack. Washington, on his side, anticipating one, 
 prepared to meet it, by sending Putnam, with four 
 thousand men, in two divisions, to attack the city 
 on the water side. Greene, with the second di- 
 vision, was to " land at Barton's Point, or rather to 
 the south of it," secure Copp's Hill, and then 
 joining the first division, under Sullivan, help him 
 force the works at the Neck, and let in the troops 
 from Roxbury.^ Both divisions were drawn up 
 near Fort No. 2, half a mile in front of the Cam- 
 bridge lines, and about three quarters of a mile 
 
 1 Mrs. Adams's Letters, ut sup. ^ Force, Archives, Vol.V. p. 110. 
 
 10 
 
146 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 from Putnam's quarters, in the large house, still 
 standing, near the the main street of Cam- 
 bridgeport. He was there, the rough old wolf- 
 hunter, whom men believed in, though they had 
 not yet seen him fully tried ; Sullivan, too, " not 
 very suddenly moved, but when once roused, not 
 very easily lulled " ; ^ and Greene, with thought- 
 ful brow and glowing eye. Right before them lay 
 the Charles, not now winding in silence through 
 the meadows,^ but all astir with the din of prepa- 
 ration and covered with boats, three huge floating 
 batteries among them, and flatboats that would 
 hold forty men each. And beyond the broad tract 
 of lowland, and broader tract of bay on their left, 
 they could almost see the martyr city, — the 
 bristling cannon, the redoubts, the strong lines. 
 Mount Horam, where the grenadiers lay in wait 
 for them, and Beacon Hill, rising serenely in the 
 background. They knew that hundreds of eyes 
 were looking out anxiously from housetop and 
 steeple, and every point which could give a glimpse 
 of the bay. It was under the gaze of all these eyes 
 that they were to row right up to those black em- 
 brasures. The slow hours passed heavily. Noon, 
 and no signal yet from Roxbury steeple ; no pen- 
 dant on Prospect Hill. Messengers come and go. 
 Some of them must have brought word from Dor- 
 
 1 Mrs. Adams Letters to J. Adams, " Ri^er that in silence windest, 
 p g5 Through the meadows, bright and free, 
 
 '2 The reader will recall Longfel- Till at length thy rest thou findest, 
 ° In the bosom of the sea." 
 
 low's beautiful lines to this beautiful 
 
 stream : — 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 147 
 
 Chester, that the British troops were preparing to 
 enter their boats, and the ships were all in line to 
 cover the landing, and take part in the assault. 
 Some, too, may have told how Washington had 
 ridden in among the men, and bidden them re- 
 member that this day was the anniversary of the 
 massacre. 
 
 One of the clock. The church-bells are all 
 gone, or you would have heard their clear voices 
 ring it out ; but the heart hears them, and bounds 
 at the remembrance of their profanation. And 
 thus day passes, and night closes in dark and omi- 
 nous upon unfulfilled expectations. And as the 
 night, too, wears on, the wind rises fast, irresisti- 
 ble. Even the Charles feels it, and is agitated 
 between its narrow banks. But down in the bay 
 it is lashing the waters into waves and curling 
 crests of foam. God has put forth his own hand ; 
 there is nothing left for man to do but to watch 
 with awe the manifestation of Omnipotence ; ^ no 
 more roaring of cannon and hurtling of shells 
 through the air, but the howling of the wind, and 
 the impetuous dash of rain. The propitious tem- 
 pest continued all next day. 
 
 On the following night a Captain Erving suc- 
 ceeded in making "his escape out of Boston," and 
 brought word "that the British were preparing 
 to leave the town." ^ But what will become of it 
 
 1 " That this most remarkable in- Washington to his brother. Sparks, 
 terposition of Providence is for some Vol. III. p. 341. 
 wise purpose I have no doubt." — ^ Heath, p. 41. 
 
148 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 meanwhile, in the hands of disappointed and im- 
 bittered men ? There were still anxious days and 
 nights, especially among those who^ did not know, 
 as Washington and his generals knew, that their 
 work was nearly done. On the loth a council was 
 held at General Ward's quarters at Roxbury, — 
 Washington, Ward, Putnam, Thomas, Sullivan, 
 Heath, Greene, Gates being present. They decided 
 that, if the town were not evacuated the next day, 
 they would fortify Nook's Hill. The British still 
 lingered ; and, wearied with their loitering, Wash- 
 ington brought things to an immediate decision by 
 fortifying Nook's Hill. Howe had no choice but to 
 flee, or drive the Americans from their stronghold, 
 or see his ships sunk at their moorings. On the 
 19th, soon after sunrise, boats filled with sol- 
 diers and citizens were seen putting off from the 
 wharves, and when the sun set the city was once 
 more in the hands of its own people. 
 
 i Mrs. Adams writes on the 7th : it is wise and just ; but from all the 
 
 " I feel disappointed. This day our muster and stir, I hoped and expected 
 
 militia are all returning without ef- more important and decisive results." 
 
 fecting anything more than taking — Mrs. Adams's Letters, p. 69. 
 possession of Dorchester hill. I hope 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Perplexing Conduct of the Enemy. — Fortifications of Boston. — 
 Greene in Command of the City. — Letter to Colonel Nightingale. — 
 Thursday Lecture. — Marching Orders. — Alarm in Rhode Island. 
 — March to New York. — Preparations for Defending the City. — 
 Greene appointed to command Fourth Brigade. — Command on 
 Long Island. — Fortifications. — Alarm Signals. — Tories. — John 
 Jay. — Gouverneur Morris. — Reconnoitring with Knox. — Forts 
 Washington and Independence. — Brigade and Regimental Reports. 
 
 TT was not without some doubts of the enemy's 
 -^ intentions that Washington saw their jfleet still 
 linger m the lower bay. They had begun the 
 war, it was true, by a capital error, allowing them- 
 selves to be cooped up in a place of little stra- 
 tegic importance, when by occupying New York 
 and seizing the passes of the Hudson, they might, 
 almost without firing a gun, have cut off the com- 
 munication between the Eastern and Middle States, 
 and secured their own communication with Canada. 
 There was but little doubt that this was now their 
 object, and Heath had already been sent on with 
 his brigade the day after the evacuation. But 
 might not the British general, before he struck 
 this blow, attempt with his concentrated forces a 
 parting blow at the Americans in their new posi- 
 tion ? ^ Therefore Washington continued to watch 
 
 1 Washington's Orders, MSS., order of the day for March 24. 
 
150 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 Howe's movements, holding his own troops well in 
 hand and preparing himself for either contingency. 
 The command of the city was given to Greene.^ 
 " General Greene," say the orders of the day for 
 the 24th, " will dispose of the regiments in Boston 
 to the best advantage." And next day " the 
 wagon-master and companies of carpenters in Bos- 
 ton are to receive and obey all such orders and 
 directions as Brigadier-General Greene shall think 
 proper to give," ^ And thus the time passed fe- 
 verishly on till the 27th, when the fleet made sail 
 and stood out to sea. 
 
 Two years before, the British troops had given 
 Greene important lessons in minor tactics by their 
 daily exercises on the Common, and now they left 
 a still more important lesson behind them in their 
 works in the city and on Bunker Hill.^ It is easy 
 to conceive the interest with which he viewed 
 them. Fortification was the only chapter in the 
 art of war which he had thus far studied practi- 
 cally ; and here was an illustration of it far surpass- 
 ing anything he had ever seen. But of his feel- 
 ings at the triumph in which he had borne so hon- 
 orable a part no record has been preserved. Our 
 last glimpse of him was on the 5th of March, wait- 
 ing on the banks of the Charles for the signal to 
 embark. Our next is on the 24th, at his quarters 
 in the redeemed city, writing to Colonel Joseph 
 
 1 See Wilkinson, Mem., pp. 1-33. enemy left all their works standing 
 
 2 Order-book, MSS. in Boston and on Bunker Hill, and 
 8 Washington gives his impres- formidable they are." — Sparks, Vol. 
 
 sions iu a letter to his brother: " The III. p. 343, 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 151 
 
 Nightingale of Providence. " Ehode Island has as 
 good troops as are on the continent; there are 
 many excellent under officers ; for God's sake don't 
 let the whole be defeated and dishonored for want 
 of a commander. You have it in your power now 
 to distinguish yourselfj to your own honor and to 
 your country's glory. Let not your private in- 
 terest defeat the public expectation. The eyes of 
 the people are upon you. Make a noble sacrifice 
 of your private interest to the public good ; and 
 give the world a convincing proof that you are 
 more social than selfish, and that the happiness of 
 your country is a greater object with you than the 
 increase of wealth." 
 
 On the 28th, too, he must have been with 
 "Washington and the other general officers and 
 their suites," when they marched in procession 
 from the council-chamber " to the old brick meet- 
 ing-house, .... preceded by the sheriff with 
 his w^and, and attended by the members of the 
 council who had had the small-pox, the committee 
 of the House of Kepresentatives, the selectmen, 
 the clergy, and many other gentlemen," to attend 
 the reopening of the Thursday Lecture, which the 
 Bostonians of that day regarded as a sacred bond 
 connecting them with their remotest ancestors ; for, 
 except during the last three months of the English 
 occupation, it had never been interrupted since the 
 foundation of their city. And now " an excellent 
 and well-adapted discourse was delivered from 
 Isaiah xxxiii. : ' Look upon Zion, the city of our 
 
152 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 solemnities ; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet 
 habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken 
 down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be 
 removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be 
 broken/ " And when the sermon was over the 
 procession formed again in the same order and 
 marched back to the council-chamber, and from 
 the council-chamber to " the Bunch of Grapes 
 tavern, where an elegant dinner was provided at 
 the public expense, after which many proper and 
 pertinent toasts were drank." " Joy and grati- 
 tude,'* says the contemporary record, " sat in every 
 countenance and smiled in every eye." ^ 
 
 On the next day marching orders were issued for 
 Monday, April 1st, at sunrise. " Yarnum's, Hitch- 
 cock's, Little's, Reed's, and Bailey's regiments," say 
 the orders of the 29th of March, " to march on Mon- 
 day morning at sunrise. Brigadier-General Greene 
 will take the command of this brigade. Deputy 
 Quartermaster-General Park will provide the neces- 
 sary teams, and the Commissary-General will deliver 
 the provisions for the march. The Adjutant-Gen- 
 eral will give the marching orders to the colonel 
 commanding the divisions. The field officer of 
 regiments and captains of companies will be an- 
 swerable for any damage done to the barracks 
 upon their men's moving out ; therefore it behooves 
 them to see that no wanton destruction is commit- 
 ted, as they will be charged with a sum sufficient to 
 
 1 Pennsylvania Evening Post, April of the Revolution, Vol. I. pp. 226, 
 9, 1776, quoted in Moore's Diary 227. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 153 
 
 pay for repairing the mischief done." A detachment 
 from Knox's artillery was added to complete the 
 brigade ; and, to guard against the inconveniences 
 which Heath's men had suffered on the road,^ each 
 colonel was to receive " a warrant for five hundred 
 pounds, lawful money, upon application at head- 
 quarters." ^ The route lay through Providence to 
 New London, where transports were to meet the 
 troops and convey them to New York. 
 
 But before they were well on their way came 
 an express from Governor Cooke, saying that 
 " a ship of war had arrived in the harbor of New- 
 port, and that twenty-seven ships, undoubtedly 
 having the ministerial troops on board, were within 
 Seconnet Point." Greene was ordered to hasten 
 his march, and a messenger despatched to Sullivan, 
 who with six regiments was on the road to Nor- 
 wich, to direct him to file off towards Providence.^ 
 It might be but a feint. "The enemy have the 
 best knack of puzzling people I ever met with in 
 my life," Washington had written Reed* while 
 watching the fleet in Boston Bay, and this might 
 be a stroke of the same game. But a sharp blow 
 dealt at Rhode Island would be felt everywhere, 
 and counteract, in part, the injurious effects of the 
 evacuation of Boston. So Greene pushed on, little 
 doubting that the tide of war was turning towards 
 
 1 Heath's letter to President of ^ Force's Archives, ut sup. 
 Congress. Force's Archives, Vol. V. * Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. 
 p. 775. p. 330. 
 
 '•^ Order of the day for March 
 30. Force's Archives, Vol. V. p. 757. 
 
154 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 his own home, and that he might soon have to fight 
 under the eye of his own people. 
 
 But the whole country was in a state of fever- 
 ish alarm, dreading an attack at almost every 
 vulnerable point of its long coast; and while all 
 were in this frame of mind, three soldiers looking 
 seaward from a hill below Newport had mis- 
 taken the undulations of the fog for the sails of the 
 hostile fleet. A messenger had been immediately 
 despatched to the Governor at Providence, and the 
 Governor, a man of decision, had sent the urgent 
 tidings to Washington at Boston. But being also 
 a man of forecast, he had sent at the same time a 
 trusty messenger to Newport to verify the report. 
 Much writing and much riding it may seem to us, 
 with our telegraphs and steamboats and railroads ; 
 but it took a night and a day to spread the alarm, 
 and another night and day to contradict it.^ And 
 then, while the militia-men laid by their knap- 
 sacks and guns, and the farmers went back to their 
 fields, and the merchants drew long breaths, Greene 
 was free to hold on his way towards New London, 
 scarcely turning aside for a glance at Coventry and 
 Potowomut as he passed along the familiar roads. 
 But the roads were heavy with the spring thaw, 
 and the people not always ready to help with their 
 teams when the baggage-horses gave out. It was 
 his first march with troops, and easy as it would 
 have seemed two or three years later, it must have 
 seemed hard to him then. At New London he met 
 
 1 Bartlett, Rhode Island Colonial Records, Vol. VII. p. 506. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 155 
 
 his old acquaintance, Commodore Hopkins, in the 
 full flush of his expedition to New Providence, and 
 his fight with the Glasgow. Here, too, he found 
 the transports that were to convey him and his 
 brigade to New York. Before he was ready to sail, 
 Washington passed through on £is way thither by 
 the shore road. The night he sailed a snow-storm 
 came on, dispersing his little fleet, and not without 
 danger of shipwreck.^ 
 
 On the 17th,^ when he reached New York, he 
 found Washington earnestly engaged in his prep- 
 arations for defence ; completing the works that 
 had already been laid out, and preparing new 
 ones. The King's ships, " instead of lying within 
 pistol-shot of the wharves, and their sentries con- 
 versing with ours, while they received every 
 necessary that the country afforded,"^ were driven 
 down to the Hook, and their intercourse with the 
 inhabitants cut ofl! It " was hard times for quiet 
 people." * New York was no more "the gay, polite 
 place it used to be esteemed, but it was become 
 almost a desert, unless for the troops."^ Disaffected 
 citizens, whose number was large, thought it an 
 odious restraint upon their freedom, that they were 
 required to be within doors by a stated hour, or 
 provide themselves with a pass.^ 
 
 On the 24th, the regiments were brigaded anew, 
 
 1 Force's Archives, Vol. V. p. 943. * Moore's Diary of the Revolution, 
 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. p. 314. Vol. I. p. 230. 
 
 2 Heath, p. 45. 6 Force's Archives, Vol. V. p. 1 167. 
 
 3 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. Letter from Rev. John Carroll, 
 p. 376. « Force's Archives. 
 
156 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 and Greene put in command of the Fourth Brig- 
 ade, consisting of his old Rhode-Islanders, under 
 Varnum and Hitchcock, and the regiments under 
 Wayne, Little, and Irvine. This was the begin- 
 ning of his intercourse with Wayne, whom we by 
 and by find numbered among his friends, and 
 whom we shall meet again by his side in Carolina, 
 and by his death-bed in Georgia. But before this 
 arrangement had been fully carried out, news from 
 Canada — that department which gave Washing- 
 ton " more trouble and concern than his own," ^ — 
 made it necessary to send another reinforcement 
 to the Northern army. Sullivan was appointed to 
 command it, and Wayne's and Irvine's regiments 
 placed under his orders. Greene's brigade, now 
 counted as the Third, and with Hand's regiment, 
 which took the place of Wayne's and Irvine's, num- 
 bered thirteen hundred and seven men in all fit for 
 duty, although they counted as seventeen hundred 
 and sixty-one on the rolls. With this force he 
 was ordered "to encamp, to-morrow morning at 
 ten o'clock, on the ground marked out upon 
 Long Island."^ 
 
 A broader field now opened before him, with a 
 wider range of duties and a greater weight of re- 
 sponsibiHty. Although the enemy had not yet 
 made his appearance, there could be little doubt 
 that the line of the Hudson was his object, 
 and that part of the first blow, if not the whole 
 
 1 Reed to Robert Morris. Life, &c. ^ Order of the day for April 30. 
 of President Reed, Vol. I. p. 200. Force's Archives, Vol. V. p. 1152. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 157 
 
 weight of it, would fall upon Long Island. To pre- 
 pare for this was his first duty, — a duty so similar 
 to that of the last campaign, that, as he made his 
 daily rounds among the works, and daily revolved in 
 his mind his means of defence, and the possibility 
 of strengthening them, it must have seemed to him 
 as if he had been merely applying the lessons of 
 that campaign to a new field. 
 
 Of the many wants of our army, there was none 
 greater or more deeply felt than the want of scien- 
 tific engineers. Gridley, whom Washington had 
 been taught to look upon as "one of the first 
 engineers of the age," ^ had proved sadly wanting 
 in energy, and was still slowly carrying out the 
 new plans for the defence of Boston.^ Kufus Put- 
 nam had given proof of talent and energy, but 
 was deficient in scientific training. The works at 
 Cambridge had been " planned by a few of the 
 principal officers of the army, assisted by Mr. 
 Knox, a gentleman from Worcester."^ "I have 
 but one," writes Washington, in June, " on whose 
 judgment I should wish to rely in laying out 
 works of the least consequence." * Greene's taste 
 for mathematics was too much akin to these studies 
 not to give them a scientific as well as a practical 
 interest in his eyes. But the first idea of the 
 works at Brooklyn was suggested by Lee,^ and it 
 is impossible to determine with certainty how far 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington. * Ut sup., p. 427. 
 
 2 Ibid. ^ Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 8 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. Revolution, Vol. I. p. 158. 
 
 p. 138. 
 
158 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 his plans were changed, or how fully they were 
 carried out by his successors. Still, very little had 
 been accomplished when Greene took the com- 
 mand, and all that was done after the 1st of May 
 belongs to him. " The rebel works were judiciously 
 planned, but ill executed," said Captain Montresor, 
 one of the most skilful of the British engineers, in 
 his examination before a Parliamentary commit- 
 tee.^ However this may be, they saved the Ameri- 
 can army. 
 
 Brooklyn at that time, or Brookland as General 
 Greene often calls it, might be regarded as a nar- 
 row peninsula, separated from the main body of 
 Long Island by Wallabout Bay, a broad indenture 
 on the north, and Gowanus or Gowan's Cove and 
 Creek, which ran deep into the land from the 
 south. Thus the land line was reduced to little 
 more than a mile and a third, presenting, as it 
 were, a natural front to an enemy and resting 
 both flanks on the water. Within this line, and on 
 the heights near the water, Lee had built a redoubt, 
 by means of which, in conjunction with a battery 
 on the Manhattan side, he hoped to secure the en- 
 trance of the East Kiver. He had also chosen the 
 site for two other redoubts, thus forming an " in- 
 trenched encampment " large enough for three 
 thousand men.^ Upon this basis Greene began his 
 work. Near the Wallabout, where are now Fort 
 Greene and Washington Square, stood a wooded 
 
 1 Quoted by Reed, Life and Cor- 2 Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 respondence of President Reed, Vol. Revolution, Vol. I. pp. 153-158. 
 I. p. 224, note. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 159 
 
 hill commanding a water range of a little over a 
 mile, from Wallabout Bay to Corlear's Hook, and a 
 land range which covered the two principal roads 
 from the interior of the island. On this he built 
 Fort Putnam, a redoubt with five guns, and cut- 
 ting down the trees, brought the roads under the 
 fire of his guns. The approaches on the north 
 were secured by an intrenchment running in a 
 northwesterly line down the hillside to the brink 
 of the Wallabout. Another zigzag intrenchment 
 connected it with Freek's Millpond, a body of wa- 
 ter at the head of Gowanus Creek ; and, to make 
 this entrenchment, already so well protected by the 
 nature of the ground, still easier to defend, he 
 strengthened it by another redoubt of five guns, 
 half-way between the millpond and Fort Putnam. 
 This, proper names being the order of the day, he 
 named, or some one named for him, Fort Greene. 
 Near the head of the creek, and still within the 
 peninsula, was another high hill, called Cobble Hill 
 by the English settlers, but Ponkiesberg by the 
 Dutch. On this a third redoubt was built, armed 
 with three guns and strengthened by an intrench- 
 ment which, running spirally down the cone-shaped 
 hill, procured the works the characteristic name of 
 the Corkscrew Fort. Between this fort and Gowa- 
 nus Cove was Box-hill Fort, a fourth redoubt ; and 
 two more small redoubts, one on the slope of Ber- 
 gen Hill and one near the Jamaica road, and a little 
 south of Fort Putnam, completed the lines of de- 
 fence on the land side. On the water side a strong 
 
160 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 guard was stationed at Ked Hook, where works had 
 already been thrown up, and another at Governor's 
 Island, half-way between Ked Hook and the Bat- 
 tery. Hand's regiment was stationed at the Nar- 
 row^, to keep a sharp lookout from that important 
 point, and the shore carefully patrolled ; and, to 
 prepare himself for defending the ground between 
 his lines and the landing-places on the coast, 
 Greene made a careful study of it in every direc- 
 tion.-^ 
 
 His first care was to push on his works as rapid- 
 ly as his means would permit. But while part of 
 his small force was working with the spade, large 
 numbers were also required for guards. " I can- 
 not safely enlarge the fatigue party," he writes 
 in July, "without injuring the health of the 
 people, for they are one day on and one day off 
 duty now." 
 
 To secure the earliest intelligence of the enemy's 
 approach, a system of signals was planned by a 
 committee composed of Sullivan, Greene, and Stir- 
 ling. "Upon the appearance of any number of 
 ships by day, from one to six, a large flag is to be 
 hoisted on the highlands of Neversink; upon the 
 appearance of any number, from six to twenty, 
 two flags, and for any greater number, three flags. 
 These flags are to be hoisted upon flagstaff's ar- 
 ranged there, from east to west, at twenty yards' 
 distance from each other. The signals by night to 
 
 1 In the topographical part of this Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolu- 
 description I have made free use of tion, Vol. II. Ch. XXIII. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 161 
 
 be given by an equal number of fires, arranged in 
 the same order and at the same places. These 
 signals to be reported, both by day and night, on 
 the heights of Staten Island, by flags and fires 
 arranged in the same manner We recom- 
 mend that the day signal be given by large 
 ensigns, with broad stripes of red and white, and 
 that upon the appearance of three flags by day, or 
 three fires by night, the country is to take the 
 alarm, and communicate it as soon as possible, for 
 the purpose of calling in the militia." A good look- 
 out was to be kept up day and night, and in 
 addition to the alarm by flag, "intelligence to 
 be given by express to the Commander-in-chief." ^ 
 The militia, by order of the Committee of Safety, 
 had a " rendezvous appointed " for each regiment, 
 and riders were kept in readiness, day and night, 
 to spread the alarm. 
 
 While he was thus actively engaged in prepar- 
 ing to meet the open attack of an enemy from 
 without, a less congenial vigilance was forced upon 
 him by an enemy within. Like all her sister Colo- 
 nies, New York had her full share of Tories ; and 
 on Long Island the number was so great as to give 
 just grounds for anxiety. Should the king's troops 
 succeed in efiecting a landing, and putting them- 
 selves in direct communication with these partisans 
 of the crown, their familiarity with the country 
 would make them invaluable assistants in every 
 operation of the enemy. Meanwhile, they served 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, Vol. V. p. 1473. 
 11 
 
162 • LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 as spies upon the patriot army, and as a check upon 
 the actions of the patriot citizens. Some made no 
 secret of their predilections ; some temporized and 
 tried to lull suspicion; nearly all were prepared 
 to welcome the invading army the moment it ap- 
 peared, and work covertly the while to make its 
 landing and advance easy. And in doing this 
 they made skilful use of exaggerated statements, 
 false reports, malignant slanders, and all those dan- 
 gerous arts which add so much to the peril and 
 bitterness of civil war. 
 
 The part of the military arm in this matter was 
 exceedingly delicate ; for at such moments nothing 
 is easier than to raise the cry of despotism and 
 military usurpation. " I will lend any aid in my 
 power that shall be thought within the line of my 
 department," wrote Washington to the Committee 
 of Safety, " to root out or secure such abominable 
 pests of society."^ And with his usual judgment 
 he continued to act as the apparent agent of the 
 Committee, while, as with the Congress, he con- 
 trolled, in a measure, and inspired their counsels by 
 his admirable letters. Greene's duty was, in the 
 main, purely executive. "I send you prisoner," 
 he writes to the Provincial Congress on the 6th of 
 June, " Mr. John Livingston and his barber, taken 
 into custody by order of the committee of Jamaica, 
 as you will see by the papers accompanying this. 
 He was delivered by the captain of the minute 
 company to Lieutenant-Colonel Cornwell, who com- 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. p. 391. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 163 
 
 manded a detachment from this division of the 
 army, by order of General Putnam, to Hempstead. 
 The captain requested that he might be delivered 
 safely into the hands of the Congress ; accordingly 
 I have sent him (Livingston) and his barber under 
 the care of a number of officers. It is notorious 
 that many of the inhabitants of Queen's County 
 are very unfriendly. Arms, I am informed by the 
 officers of my brigade, are daily carrying by the 
 camp down into that part of the island, and the 
 inhabitants here say they are the very people that 
 are known to be unfriendly. I should be glad to 
 know whether you approve or disapprove of such 
 a practice. The officers tell me that not less than 
 four or five hundred stand of arms have gone by 
 the camp within a few days. I have given orders 
 to stop all for the future until I know your 
 pleasure." 
 
 But when the enemy came and the danger grew 
 more imminent, it sometimes was necessary to act 
 without waiting for the previous action of the 
 Committee. " I shall send in," he writes to Wash- 
 ington, August 4th, " a list of the persons proper 
 to be taken up on the Island." ^ On the llth he 
 sends a list of thirty-seven names, prepared with the 
 aid of " Mr. Skinner, a young gentleman bred to the 
 practice of the law, and perfectly acquainted with 
 almost all the political characters in the Province. 
 .... Your Excellency will please to examine it, 
 and if it meets your approbation, signify the time 
 
 1 Force, Archives, 5th Series, Vol. I. p. 750. 
 
164 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 you will have the execution take place by giving 
 your orders on the back of the list." The day 
 before he had " sent over nine suspected Tories to 
 the City Hall/' one of whom did " not seem to be 
 
 an object worth sending away Among the 
 
 others there were several insignificant characters. 
 How extensive their influence may be I can't pre- 
 tend to divine ; but from their appearance they 
 don't look like doing much mischief" The Tories, 
 however, were upon the lookout, and, either from 
 the suspicion natural to their position or fore- 
 warned by friends with whom old associations 
 were more powerful than public duty, " many of 
 them had gone off" "I wonder," Greene writes, 
 "whether anything of this sort has been in con- 
 templation by the Provincial Congress. It is sur- 
 prising to me how it could be known." 
 
 Sometimes, with all his earnestness, he found it 
 difficult to conduct the examination with a sober 
 face. " I have examined the prisoners," he writes 
 on the 27th of July, " and find them to be a parcel 
 of poor, ignorant, cowardly fellows. Two are 
 tailors, named John and James Dunbar, and the 
 other two are common laborers, named Isaac Petit 
 and Will. Smith. They candidly confess they set 
 off with an intention of going to Staten Island, 
 but not with any intention of joining the enemy, 
 but to get out of the way of fighting here. I be- 
 lieve the true reasons of their attempting to make 
 their escape were, there has been a draft among 
 the militia to fill the new levies, and it was rumored 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 165 
 
 these were a part that were drawn. It was also 
 reported they were to go into the Northern army, 
 and that almost all that went there died or were 
 killed. The prospect was so shocking to them, 
 and to their grandmothers and aunts, I believe 
 they persuaded them to run away. Never did I 
 see fellows more frightened ; they wept like a par- 
 cel of children, and appear exceeding sorrowful. 
 One of them is in an exceeding ill state of health, 
 very unfit for any fatigue. I beg your Excel- 
 lency's direction how to dispose of them; they 
 don't appear to be acquainted with one pubHc mat- 
 ter ; they have been Toryish, but I fancy not from 
 principle, but from its being the prevailing senti- 
 ment in the country." ^ 
 
 Such cases, however, were rare, and the larger 
 part of the disaffected, as the sequel proved, were 
 both willing and able to fight in their bad cause. 
 Sometimes they collected in numbers. " I re- 
 ceived information last evening," he writes on the 
 27th of July, ^' of there being thirty or forty Tories 
 on a little island at the entrance of Jamaica Bay. 
 Three boats full of men were seen off there day 
 before yesterday, but they did not land nor speak 
 with any boats, that the guards could discover. I 
 sent a party of sixty men to scour the island this 
 morning, and to take all they found there pris- 
 oners." ^ 
 
 Sometimes his pen has the ring of the sword in 
 
 1 Force, Archives, 5th Series, Vol. ^ Force, Archives, ut sup., p. 621. 
 I. pp. 621, 622. 
 
166 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 it. "In obedience to the within order and war- 
 rant, I sent a detachmennt of my brigade, under 
 the command of Colonel Vernon, to the house of 
 the within named David Mathews, Esq., at Flat- 
 bush, who surrounded his house and seized his per- 
 son, precisely at the hour of one this morning. 
 After having made him a prisoner, diligent search 
 was made after his papers ; but none could be found, 
 notwithstanding great care was taken that none of 
 the family should have the least opportunity to 
 remove or destroy them."^ 
 
 These were stern measures; but "matters," wrote 
 Washington, "are too far advanced to sacrifice 
 
 anything to punctilios My tenderness has 
 
 been often abused, and I have had reason to 
 repent the indulgence shown to them."^ Lenity, 
 indeed, was attributed to fear; but when men 
 who, like Mathews, were suspected, upon strong 
 grounds, of conspiring against the new government 
 were subjected to the restraints which duty to it- 
 self and to the people compelled it to impose, they 
 talked loudly of violated rights and injured inno- 
 cence.^ 
 
 But why revive these obscure details ? Because 
 I would show how the earnest, single-minded men 
 looked upon their duty, and did it ; accepting war 
 
 1 The warrant, under date of June ^ Mathews's Letters, and the reply 
 21, 1776, and bearing the signatures of the New York Convention, Au- 
 of Philip Livingston, John Jay, and gust 28, 1776, are deserving of care- 
 Gouverneur Morris, is given in full in ful perusal. See Force, Archives, 
 Force's Archives, Vol. VI. p. 1158. 5th Series, Vol. I. p. 1549 et seq. 
 
 2 Sparks's Washington, Vol. HL 
 p. 452. • 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 167 
 
 for what it was, — the dominion of the strong hand 
 and resolute will, — and civil war as a condition 
 which permitted no neutrality. When the war 
 was over. General Greene made himself many ene- 
 mies, both in South Carolina and in Khode Island, 
 by opposing the exclusion of the Tories as im- 
 politic in a country which required population, and 
 unjust as punishing opinions which could no longer 
 do harm, and which twenty years earlier had been 
 held by Whig and Tory alike. But while the war 
 lasted no one kept them more sternly in check 
 than he. It was some compensation for this un- 
 pleasant duty, that it brought him into intercourse 
 with John Jay and Gouverneur Morris,^ leading 
 members of the secret committee of the Provincial 
 Congress. And it was a pleasant relief from the in- 
 spection of works already planned to ride up with 
 other officers, or with Knox alone, and study the 
 ground on Manhattan Island that was to become 
 the scene of action. " I am obliged to defer going 
 up to King's Bridge till another day," he writes to 
 Knox the 29th of May, "being under obligation 
 to go to New Utrecht this morning, and to wait on 
 the Committee of Safety of this town this after- 
 noon about some business I will endeavor to 
 
 see you this afternoon, and fix upon some other 
 time for reconnoitring the ground up and about 
 King's Bridge." Knox, upon whom much of the 
 
 1 Jay took a leading part in the See Life of John Jay, by his son Wil- 
 measures against the Tories, repug- liam Jay, Vol. I. p. 48 et seq. 
 nant as severity was to his feelings. • 
 
168 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 duty of an engineer devolved, was glad to have 
 such a companion in his studies, and Greene, who 
 had been early drawn towards Knox by his warm 
 heart and sound mind, loved to be with him. 
 Sometimes other officers accompanied them, and it 
 was on one of these reconnoitring expeditions 
 that "the commanding height near Morris's house" 
 was pointed out " as a position which, if properly 
 fortified, would be nearly impregnable." So, among 
 others, thought Putnam. Some insisted, with 
 Greene and Heath, that, even if it were " made as 
 strong as Gibraltar," it would be a mere trap from 
 which it would be impossible for the army to ex- 
 tricate itself, unless the high grounds above the 
 bridge were occupied at the same time.-^ Both 
 opinions were accepted, and Fort Washington was 
 built on the first height and Fort Independence on 
 the second. 
 
 At the camp before Boston, Greene's regiments 
 had been distinguished as the best disciplined in 
 the army. Since then many changes had taken 
 place in the organization of his brigade, and his 
 new troops had not yet had time to acquire the 
 precision of the old. Still, mixing with them, and 
 working and living together, an attachment sprang 
 up between the new and old regiments which he 
 carefully fostered as a means of success. He seems, 
 too, to have fully appreciated the importance of 
 exact and regular reports, both for preserving dis- 
 cipline by keeping officer and soldier constantly 
 
 1 Heath, Mem., p. 52. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 169 
 
 under the eye of their commander, and for ena- 
 bhng him, by reference to his returns, to ascertain 
 at any moment the number and condition of his 
 men. The state of each company was the subject 
 of a morning report, from the corporal to every 
 ofiicer in the company ; the state of each regiment, 
 of a daily report from the adjutant to the com- 
 manding officer; there were daily reports of the 
 sick and absent; provision reports every other 
 day to the quartermaster; returns from the adju- 
 tant three times a week, and the same number of 
 returns from the surgeon ; daily reports of guards, 
 and twice a week reports of arms and ammunition. 
 These, with courts-martial, orders, papers, and cor- 
 respondence, required a ream of paper a month 
 for each regiment ; and, much as they fell short of 
 the completeness and accuracy introduced by Steu- 
 ben, were of great service, and, when regularly 
 carried out, must have contributed materially to 
 lighten the burden that lay so heavy upon Wash- 
 ington's shoulders. Greene spared no pains to 
 make them effective in his brigade.-^ 
 
 1 See estimate of the quantity of American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. 
 paper necessary for each regiment I, p. 578. 
 of General Greene's brigade. Force, 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Death of Governor Ward. — Correspondence with John Adams. — 
 Tone and Character of it. — The new Army. — Difficulties in Rais- 
 ing and Organizing it. — Provisions for the Disabled. — Condition of 
 the Officers. — Principles of Promotion. — Insufficient Pay of Sol- 
 diers and Officers. — Exaggerated Ideas of the Strength of the Army. 
 — Rhode Island Declaration of Independence. — Letters to Wash- 
 ington. — Alexander Hamilton. — Mrs. Greene at Camp. 
 
 TT has been seen that Greene took great pleasure 
 -*- in writing to Governor Ward, not merely as a 
 duty of friendship, but in order to bring his ideas 
 upon the important questions of the day before an 
 active and influential member of Congress. On 
 the 26th of March Ward died of the small-pox, 
 which was still committing its fearful ravages 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
 decimating the army in Canada, and knocking with 
 livid hand at the doors of the national council 
 in Philadelphia. Some had guarded themselves 
 against it by inoculation; but Ward, by one of 
 those inconsistencies which we often find in the 
 most enlightened men, felt that he had no time to 
 be inoculated ; and when the disease came, the blow 
 was sure.-^ And thus he died, a wise, pure-minded, 
 
 1 John Adams, in a letter to his Island,by the small-pox, in the natural 
 
 wife, says : " We have this week lost way. He never would hearken to 
 
 a very valuable friend of the Colo- his friends, who have been constantly 
 
 nies in Governor Ward of Rhode advising him to be inoculated ever 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. • 171 
 
 earnest man, whose merit Congress recognized so 
 fully, that, in committee of the whole, although 
 coming from the smallest of the Colonies but one, 
 he was almost constantly called to the chair; an 
 early advocate of independence, although he did 
 not live to take a part in the final discussion ; 
 a firm believer in the happy issue of the war, al- 
 though he was not permitted to witness even the 
 evacuation of Boston ; one whose innate upright- 
 ness and steadfast loyalty to truth and honor were 
 soon greatly missed in Congress, and whom Rhode 
 Island could ill spare, in shaping the path that was 
 to lead her from the insulation of Colonial life to 
 her higher destiny as a member of a great and 
 indissoluble Union. 
 
 Greene felt the loss keenly ; for to whom could 
 he now tell his thoughts and feelings upon all these 
 great questions, without reserve ? For a while he 
 wrote with much fulness and freedom to John 
 Adams, whose acquaintance he would naturally 
 have made at Cambridge the preceding autumn, 
 if indeed he had not already known him during 
 that earlier period of the contest in which Adams 
 took so prominent a part. The character of his 
 letters is still the same, — a close, careful study of 
 the situation, and an earnest search after the rem- 
 edy. The army is still foremost in his thoughts, 
 
 since the first Congress began. But But in a letter of January 7, to his 
 
 he would not be persuaded daughter Deborah, Governor Ward 
 
 He must take it in the natural way." w^rites : " I am not likely to get time to 
 
 — Letters of John Adams to his Wife, be inoculated." 
 p. 92. 
 
172 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 for it is by the army that the controversy is to be 
 decided. And how to fill its ranks, and to keep 
 them full, is still the prominent question; for it 
 was well known" that the enemy had filled theirs 
 by means which showed that they had no scruples 
 about bloodshed. Nothing could have brought out 
 in a stronger light England's utter ignorance of 
 the American character, than her employment of 
 foreign mercenaries in enforcing unconstitutional 
 acts ; and from the hour in which the first Hessian 
 put his foot upon American soil, a return to the 
 affectionate relation of parent and child became im- 
 possible. Still, while the under-current was setting 
 more decidedly towards independence, there were 
 many things on the surface to make thought- 
 ful men anxious.^ There could be no question 
 about the result, if all the resources of the coun- 
 try were developed ; but Greene had watched the 
 course of Congress too closely, and knew too much 
 about its internal dissensions, not to entertain se- 
 rious doubts about its power to develop those 
 resources seasonably and effectively. One great 
 opportunity of securing an army for the whole 
 war had been permitted to slip by unheeded. Was 
 there sufficient ground for believing that the mis- 
 take would not be repeated ? 
 
 " The peculiar situation of affairs," he writes on 
 the 26th of May, " renders it necessary to adopt 
 
 1 In our general acceptance of the Dickinson and Robert Morris thought 
 doctrine of independence, we too of- the declaration of it premature, 
 tea forget that such men as John 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. . 173 
 
 every measure that will engage people in the ser- 
 vice." \_But the people had already discovered that 
 there was a vast difference between sitting on 
 committees of safety or discussing questions in 
 Congress and working upon intrenchments or 
 facing the enemy in the field. J "If I am to form 
 a judgment of the success of recruiting," he says in 
 the same letter, "from what is past, the time is 
 too short to raise the troops and be in readiness to 
 meet the enemy ; and as every argument has been 
 made use of upon the present plan of recruiting 
 to engage people in the service, there must be 
 some new motive added to quicken the motions 
 of the recruiting parties From the ap- 
 proaching danger, recruiting will grow more and 
 more difficult. If the Congress was to fix a certain 
 support upon every officer and soldier that got 
 maimed in the service, or upon the families of 
 those that were killed, it w^ould have as happy an 
 influence towards engaging people in the service, 
 and inspire those engaged with as much courage, 
 as any measure that could be fixt upon. I think it 
 is nothing more than common justice, neither; it 
 puts those in and out of the army upon a more 
 equal footing than at present. I have not time to 
 add anything more. Major Frazier is waiting for 
 this ; the desperate game you have got to play, and 
 the uncertainty of war, may render every measure 
 that will increase the force and strength of the 
 American army worthy consideration." 
 
 Adams agreed with him about the justice of the 
 
174 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 measure, but doubted its acceptance by Congress. 
 " I could wish," writes Greene on the 2d of June, 
 "the Congress to think seriously of the matter, 
 both with respect to the justice and utility of the 
 measure. Is it not inhuman to suffer those that 
 have fought nobly in the cause to be reduced to 
 the necessity of getting a support by common 
 charity ? Does not this militate with the free and 
 independent principles we are endeavoring to 
 support? Is it not equitable that the States 
 who received the benefit should be at the ex- 
 pense ? .... I think it would be right and just 
 for every government to furnish their equal pro- 
 portion of troops or contribute to the support of 
 
 those that are sent by other Colonies 
 
 Can there be anything more humiliating than 
 this consideration to those that are in the army, 
 or to those that have a mind to come in it, than 
 this? If I meet with a misfortune, I shall be 
 reduced to the necessity of begging my bread. 
 . ... On the contrary, if there were a support 
 established, what confidence would it give to those 
 engaged, what encouragement to those that are 
 not. Good policy points out the measure ; human- 
 ity calls for it; justice claims it at your hands.'* 
 He regards "the dispute as in its infancy," and 
 urges that "nothing should be neglected to en- 
 courage people to engage or to render those easy, 
 contented, and happy that are engaged. Good 
 covering is an object of the first consideration. 
 . . . . A few troops, well accommodated, healthy 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 175 
 
 and spirited, will do more service to the State that 
 employs them than a much larger number that are 
 sickly, dispirited, and discontented. This is the 
 unhappy state of the army at this time, arising 
 from the badness of the tents." 
 
 He calls Adams's attention also to the conditiony 
 of the ofl&cers, whom he terms " the very soul off 
 an army," for "the activity and zeal of the troops 
 entirely depends upon the animation given them 
 
 by their officers The field officers in 
 
 general, and the colonels of regiments in par- 
 ticular, think themselves grievously burthened 
 upon the present establishment ; few, if any, of 
 that rank that are worth retaining in service will 
 continue, if any dependence is to be made upon 
 the discontent that appears." One of their griev- 
 ances was " the necessity of acting as factors of the 
 regiments, .... drawing from the Continental 
 stores by wholesale, and delivering out to the 
 troops by retail," greatly to the loss " of such as 
 were bad accountants." This, says he, " is no part 
 of the duty of a colonel of a regiment, and (from) 
 the mode in which the business has been con- 
 ducted, too much of their time has been engaged 
 in that employment for the good of the service." 
 He proposes as a remedy that "there should be 
 an agent for each regiment to provide the troo 
 with clothing on the easiest terms." 
 
 Another cause of complaint was the insufficiency 
 of their pay. " They say, and I believe with too 
 much truth, that their pay will not defray their 
 
176 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 expenses The dispute begins to be reduced 
 
 to a national principle, and the longer it con- 
 tinues the more will that idea prevail. People 
 engaged in the service in the early part of the 
 dispute without any consideration of pay reward ; 
 few, if any, thought of its continuance; but its 
 duration will reduce all that have not indepen- 
 dent fortunes to attend to their family concerns.'* 
 Novelty may attract new men to the service, if 
 the present officers quit it, but that will not make 
 up for " the injury the army sustains by the loss 
 of every good officer. A young officer, without 
 any experience in the military art and knowledge 
 of mankind, unless he has a very uncommon genius, 
 must be totally unfit to command a regiment." 
 
 There was still another cause of uneasiness, — a 
 recent resolve of Congress on which every officer 
 looked with feelings that might easily be worked 
 up to a violent explosion. "I observe in the re- 
 solves of Congress they have reserved to them- 
 selves the right of rewarding by promotion accord- 
 ing to merit; the reserve may be right, but the 
 exercise will be dangerous. (Of) two persons of 
 very unequal merit, the inferior may get promoted 
 over the superior, if a single instance of bravery 
 is a sufficient reason for such promotion. There 
 is no doubt but it's right and just to reward sin- 
 gular merit; but the public applause accompanying 
 
 every brave action is a noble reward 
 
 When one officer is promoted over the head of 
 another, if he has spirit enough to be fit for ser- 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 177 
 
 vice, it lays him under the necessity of quitting it ; 
 it is a public intimation that he is unfit for pro- 
 motion, and consequently undeserving his present 
 appointment. For my own part, I would never 
 give any legislative body an opportunity to hu- 
 miliate me but once. I should think the Gen- 
 eral's recommendation is necessary to warrant a 
 promotion out of the regular channel." 
 
 Nor were the common soldiers without just' 
 grounds of uneasiness, as they looked forward to 
 the continuance of the war. " The emission of such 
 large sums of money increases the price of things 
 in proportion to the sums emitted. The money 
 has but a nominal value. The evil does not rise 
 from a depreciation altogether, but from there 
 being larger sums emitted than is necessary for a 
 circulating medium. If the evil increases, it will 
 starve the army ; for the pay of the troops, at the 
 prices things are sold at, will scarcely keep thei 
 troops decently clothed." 
 
 With all his sympathy with Mr. Adams's zeal, he 
 was not without some doubts of the soundness of 
 his jugdment. He could not shut his eyes to the 
 lessons which a year in the midst of the army, and 
 a year's observation of Congress, had sternly forced 
 upon him. He had seen the enthusiasm which, in 
 a few days, brought together an army of nearly 
 twenty thousand men, speedily evaporate in the 
 daily routine and daily hardships of camp. He 
 had seen a second army slowly and painfully col- 
 lected ; had seen how difficult it was to arm them, 
 
 12 
 
178 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 how hard it was to supply them with powder ; how 
 burdensome their food, clothing, and pay were be- 
 coming ; he knew that there were jealousies and 
 dissensions in Congress, divisions and animosities 
 among the people ; he knew that the favorable 
 moment for securing men for the war had been 
 allowed to pass by unimproved, and that it would 
 soon become necessary to begin the tantalizing 
 labor of enlistment over again ; he saw a paper 
 money unsupported by taxes rapidly spreading 
 over the country, and obstructing the channels of 
 healthy commerce. And, seeing these things, he 
 could not but recognize in them an element of 
 failure, which it behooved thoughtful men to take 
 calmly into consideration, and, instead of indulg- 
 ing themselves in delusive hopes, to meet it by a 
 prompt and judicious application of all their re- 
 sources. 
 
 " I observe," he continues, in the same letter, 
 " that you don't think the game you are playing as 
 desperate as I imagine. You doubtless are much 
 better acquainted with the resources that are to 
 be had in case of any misfortune than I am ; but I 
 flatter myself I know the history, state, and strength 
 of this army as well as any in it, both with respect 
 to the goodness of the troops or the abilities of the 
 officers. Don't be too confident ; the fate of war 
 is very uncertain ; little incidents has given rise to 
 great events. Suppose this army should be de- 
 feated, two or three of the leading generals killed, 
 our stores and magazines all lost ; I would not be 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 179 
 
 answerable for the consequences that such a stroke 
 might produce in American politics." 
 
 Exaggerated ideas of the strength and condition 
 of the army had been spread through the coun- 
 try, — ideas which it was very desirable to give the 
 enemy, but very dangerous for our own people to 
 entertain ; for it not only led them to relax their 
 exertions, but served to foster expectations which, 
 as they could not be fulfilled, became the ground 
 of dangerous suspicions and unjust complaint. 
 " You think," continues Greene, " the present army, 
 assisted by the militia, is sufficient to oppose the 
 force of Great Britain, formidable as it appears on 
 paper. I can assure you it's necessary to make 
 great allowances, in the calculation of our strength, 
 from the establishment, or else you '11 be greatly 
 deceived. I am confident the force of America, if 
 properly exerted, will prove superior to all her en- 
 emies, but I would risk nothing to chance ; it is 
 easy to disband when it is impossible to raise 
 
 troops If the force of Great Britain should 
 
 prove near equal to what it has been represented, 
 a large augmentation will be necessary ; if the 
 present offers should not be sufficient to induce 
 people to engage in the army, you will be obliged 
 to augment the bounty, and perhaps at a time 
 when that order of people will have it in their 
 power to make their own conditions, or distress the 
 state." 
 
 In what light Greene viewed his correspondence 
 with Adams appears in a letter of July 14 : — 
 
180 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 " I received your letter of the 22d of June : if it was 
 necessary for you to apologize for not writing sooner, it is 
 necessary also for me. But, as the express conditions of 
 my corresponding with you was to write when I had time, 
 and leave you to answer at your leisure, I think an apol- 
 ogy is unnecessary on either side. But I can assure you, 
 as you did me, that it is not for want of respect that your 
 letter has been unanswered so long. 
 
 " I am glad to find you agree with me in the justice 
 and propriety of establishing some provision for the un- 
 fortunate. I have not had time to fix upon any plan for 
 that purpose, but I will write you more fully in my next. 
 I have never mentioned the matter to but one or two par- 
 ticular friends, for fear the establishment should not take 
 place. The troops' expectations being once raised, a dis- 
 appointment must necessarily sour them. On the other 
 hand, if the Congress established a support for the unfor- 
 tunate unsolicited, it must inspire the army with love and 
 gratitude towards the Congress for so generous an act. 
 r\ " You query whether there is not a want of economy 
 ^ in the army amongst the officers. I can assure you there 
 is not among those of my acquaintance. The expenses of 
 the officers runs very high, unless they dress and live be- 
 low the gentleman. Few that have ever lived in charac- 
 ter will be willing to descend to that. As long as they 
 continue in service they will support their rank ; if their 
 pay is not sufficient, they will draw on their private for- 
 tunes at home. The pay of the soldiers will scarcely keep 
 them decently clothed. The troops are kept so much 
 upon fatigue that they wear out their clothing as fast as 
 the officers can get it. The wages given to common sol- 
 diers is very high, but everything is so dear that the pur- 
 chase of a few articles takes their whole pay. This is a 
 ^ general complaint through the whole army. 
 " I am not against rewarding merit, or encouraging 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 181 
 
 activity; neither would I liave promotions confined to a 
 regular line of succession. But every man that has spirit 
 enough to be fit for an officer will have too mucli to con- 
 tinue in service after another of inferior rank is put over 
 his head. The power of rewarding merit should be lodged 
 with the Congress, but I should think the General's rec- 
 ommendation is the best testimonial of a person's deserv- 
 ing a reward that the Congress can have. 
 
 " Many of the New England colonels have let in a jeal- 
 ousy that the Southern officers of that vank in the Conti- 
 nental establishment are treated with more respect and at- 
 tention by the Congress than they are. They say several 
 of the Southern colonels have been promoted to the rank 
 of brigadier-general, but not one New England colonel. 
 Some of them appear not a little disgusted. I wish the 
 officers in general were as studious to deserve promotion 
 as they are anxious to obtain it. 
 
 *' You cannot more sincerely lament the want of knowl- 
 edge to execute the business that falls in your department 
 than I do that which falls in mine ; and, was I not kept 
 in countenance by some of my superior officers, I should 
 be sincerely disposed to quit the command I hold in the 
 army. But I will endeavor to supply the want of knowl- 
 edge as much as possible by watchfulness and industry. 
 In these respects I flatter myself I have never been faulty. 
 I have never been one moment out of the service since I 
 engaged in it. My interest has and will suffer greatly by 
 my absence, but I shall think that a small sacrifice if I 
 can save my country from slavery. 
 
 " You have heard long before this reaches you of the 
 arrival of General and Admiral Howe. The General's 
 troops are encamped on Staten Island. The Admiral 
 arrived on Friday last. A few hours before his arrival 
 two ships went up the North River amidst a most terrible 
 fire from the different batteries. The Admiral sent up a 
 
182 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 flag to-day, but, as the letter was not properly addressed, 
 it was not received. The Admiral laments his not arriv- 
 ing a few days sooner. I suppose he alludes to the Dec- 
 laration of Independence. It is said he has great powers 
 to treat, as well as a strong army to execute. 
 
 " I wrote you some time past I thought you was play- 
 ing a desperate game. I still think so. Here is Howe's 
 army arrived, and the reinforcements hourly expected. 
 
 " The wliole force we liave to oppose them don't 
 amount to much above nine thousand, if any. I could 
 wish the troops had been drawn together a little earlier, 
 that we might have had some opportunity of disciplining 
 them. However, what falls to my lot I shall endeavor to 
 execute to the best of my ability." 
 
 It has already been seen that, as early as October 
 of the preceding year, Greene was anxious for a 
 declaration of independence. Rhode Island, with- 
 out waiting for the action of Congress, made her 
 declaration in May.^ Greene welcomed it with ex- 
 ultation. " By a letter from Governor Cooke," he 
 writes to a friend on the 14th, " covering a late act 
 past last session in your government, you have 
 declared yourselves independent. 'T is nobly done. 
 God prosper you, and crown your endeavors with 
 success." 
 
 While the army lay before Boston, his daily 
 communications with Washington left little room 
 for correspondence. But now his letters grow 
 more frequent, showing not only how intimate the 
 relations between them had become, but what a 
 wide range his thoughts had taken, and how ear- 
 
 1 Arnold's Rhode Island, Vol. II. p. 372. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 183 
 
 nestly he labored to do his duty, even in its minute 
 details. 
 
 " I beg leave to recommend to your considera- 
 tion/' he writes to Washington on the 5th of July, 
 " the establishing a certain guard at Red Hook. It 
 is undoubtedly a post of vast importance. De- 
 tached guards never defend a place equal to troops 
 stationed at a particular post. Both officers and 
 men contract an affection for a post after being 
 there some time ; they will be more industrious to 
 have everything in readiness, and more obstinate 
 in defence. The little baggage that each private 
 has is of consequence to him, and will influence his 
 conduct in time of action if it is at stake. The 
 officers also will have new motives ; they, knowing 
 a post to be committed to their trust, and that the 
 whole disgrace will fall upon them if any miscon- 
 duct happens, will be much more likely to take 
 every necessary precaution to avoid so great an 
 evil. But an officer that commands a detachment 
 thinks little more than how to pass away his time 
 during his tour of duty, it being uncertain whether 
 he shall ever command there again." 
 
 Is there not something in this of the man who 
 had studied Locke carefully, and trained himself 
 betimes to trace human actions to their spring ? 
 On the 11th, he calls Washington's attention to 
 another subject, and in this letter, too, displays the 
 same instinctive tendency to combine close obser- 
 vation with broad generalization. 
 
 "I was mentioning, some few days past, that 
 
184 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 a putrid fever prevailed in my brigade, and that I 
 thought it partly owing to their feeding too freely 
 on animal food. Vegetables would be much more 
 wholesome ; and, by your Excellency's permission, 
 they may be provided for the troops, without any 
 additional expense to the Continent, if the colonels 
 of the regiments were allowed to retrench in the 
 article of meat, and that they should draw its value 
 in money, to be applied by the quartermaster of 
 the regiment to the procuring necessary sauce, the 
 quartermaster to draw the money weekly, and to 
 account to the commanding officer of the regiment 
 how it is expended, and for what. This method 
 may be a little more troublesome to the commis- 
 sary-general and the quartermaster of the regi- 
 ment ; but if it will remedy so great an evil as now 
 prevails, I think it worthy your Excellency's atten- 
 tion. The troops cannot complain that they are 
 scanted in their allowance ; leaving them at liberty 
 to draw either meat or money, as the inclination of 
 the troops or commanding officer may lead them, 
 puts it out of their power to complain. People 
 often would adopt measures, when left to their 
 choice, that they would think a hardship to have 
 imposed upon them. 
 
 " Cleanliness contributes much to the health of 
 the troops. They now do and have done so much 
 fatigue, that the allowance of soap will not keep 
 them clean. Their clothing gets exceedingly dirty, 
 and they wear out twice as many clothes on fitigue 
 as doing other duty. I should think it a piece of 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 185 
 
 justice due to the troops, for the extraordinary fa- 
 tigue, to be allowed a double quantity of soap when 
 they are employed so much on fatigue. This is a 
 grievance I have often heard the officers complain 
 of, that the fatigue wore out the troops' clothing 
 faster than they could get them, and that they 
 made themselves so dirty at work that the allow- 
 ance of soap would not clean them. 
 
 "I have never mentioned anything of a further 
 allowance of soap to any person, except the other 
 evening at head-quarters. I only beg leave to 
 propose it to your Excellency's consideration, and 
 leave it for your better judgment to determine the 
 propriety and utility of such an establishment." 
 
 "I wrote to your Excellency yesterday morn- 
 ing," he writes on the 18th, "that I thought it 
 would be an advisable measure to have Cobble 
 Hill fixed upon to give notice, by the -fire of two or 
 three guns, that the enemy had landed on this 
 island. Colonel Cary wrote me an answer to that 
 proposition that your Excellency had no objection. 
 If it is to alarm the camp on your side, it should 
 be mentioned in general orders, that the guards 
 may govern themselves accordingly. I don't want 
 it to alarm this camp ; w^hat I proposed it for was, 
 to give your Excellency earlier intelligence than 
 could be done by express, and the express to fol- 
 low with the particulars. I submit it to your 
 Excellency's further consideration." 
 
 A letter of the 25th gives us a glimpse of him 
 at his desk : a little, mahogany desk it was, — it 
 
186 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 is before me now, — a foot and a half wide by a foot 
 deep, with a sloping lid scarce large enough to 
 hold the foolscap sheet on which he usually wTote, 
 and which, lifting like the lid of a school-desk, 
 shows within -a small oblong space in front, and, 
 in the back part, four neat little drawers, and a 
 space between them divided by a shelf The table 
 it stood on then was covered with passes, which 
 he was signing, — dull, tedious, unprofitable work 
 for a general officer, but which must nevertheless 
 be done. 
 
 " I am so confined writing passes, &c., that it is 
 impossible for me to attend to the duties of the 
 day, which in many instances prejudices the ser- 
 vice. Such a confined situation leaves one no op- 
 portunity of viewing things for themselves. It is 
 recommended by one of the greatest generals of 
 the age, not only to issue orders, but to see to the 
 execution ; for, the army being composed of men 
 of indolence, if the commander is not attentive to 
 every individual in the different departments, the 
 machine becomes dislocated, and the progress of 
 business retarded. 
 
 " The science or art of war requires a freedom 
 of thought and leisure to reflect upon the various 
 incidents that daily occur, which cannot be had 
 "where the whole of one's time is engrossed in 
 clerical employments. The time devoted to this 
 employment is not the only injury I feel, but it 
 confines my thoughts as well as engrosses my time. 
 It is like a merchandise of small wares. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 187 
 
 " I must beg leave to recommend to your Excel- 
 lency's consideration the appointing an officer to 
 write and sign the necessary passes. The person 
 I should wish to appoint is Lieutenant Blodget. If 
 it was put in general orders that passes signed by 
 him should be deemed authentic as if signed by 
 me, it would leave me at liberty to pursue the 
 more important employments of my station. 
 
 " I hope your Excellency will not think this 
 application results from a lazy habit, or a desire to 
 free myself from business, — far from it : I am 
 never more happy than when I am honorably or 
 usefully employed. If your Excellency thinks I 
 can promote the service as much in this employ- 
 ment as in any other, I shall cheerfully execute 
 the business without the least murmur." 
 
 On the 28th, he closes a report with another 
 suggestion for the comfort of his men. " The new 
 levies that colne in hanker after milk and vege- 
 tables. I should think that it would benefit the 
 service to allow all the regiments to draw one 
 third the value of the animal food in money, to 
 purchase milk, &c., and direct in the most positive 
 terms the quartermasters to provide it for the 
 men.'* 
 
 A letter of the 3d of August gives us another 
 kind of glimpse of him, and not so pleasant a one ; 
 for it reveals, at the same time, one of the abuses 
 of our imperfectly organized army, and he is 
 somewhat angry. " General Heard gives furloughs 
 to the troops of Colonel Foreman's regiment. I 
 
188 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 conceive it to be capitally wrong, and very injurious 
 to me and Colonel Foreman both, as neither can 
 know what to depend upon if the troops are fur- 
 loughed without our knowledge or consent. This 
 is not the only evil ; for if the troops are refused 
 the indulgence here they request, and get it else- 
 where, it will naturally lead them to form an 
 opinion that we are tyrannical. I must beg your 
 Excellency to put a stop to it immediately." 
 
 ^ Two days later he takes up the subject of regi- 
 mental hospitals. " There is no proper establish- 
 ment for the supplying the regimental hospital 
 with proper utensils for the sick. They suffer, 
 therefore, for want of proper accommodation. 
 There is repeated complaint upon this head. The 
 regimental hospitals are and ever will be rendered 
 useless, nay, grievous, unless there is some proper 
 fund to provide the necessary conveniences. The 
 general hospital cannot receive all' the sick, and 
 those that are in the regimental hospitals are in a 
 suffering condition. If this evil continues, it must 
 greatly injure the service, as it will greatly dispirit 
 the well to see the sick suffer, and prevent their 
 engaging again upon any conditions whatever. 
 Great humanity should be exercised towards those 
 indisposed. Kindness, on one hand, leaves a favor- 
 able and lasting impression ; neglect and suffering, 
 
 jon the other, is never forgotten. 
 
 ' "I am sensible there has formerly been great 
 abuses in the regimental hospitals; but I am in 
 hopes in general men of better principles are 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 189 
 
 elected to those places, and that the same evils will 
 not happen again. But the continent had better 
 suffer a little extraordinary expense than the sick 
 should be left to suffer for want of those con- 
 veniences that may easily be provided. _^ 
 
 " I would beg leave to propose that the colonels' 
 of regiments be allowed to draw moneys to provide 
 the regimental hospitals with proper utensils; an 
 account of the disbursements weekly or monthly 
 to be rendered. This will prevent abuse and 
 remedy the evil. Something is necessary to be 
 done speedily, as many sick are in a sufferingj 
 condition." 
 
 It is evident from these letters that Greene had 
 studied his situation carefully, and that his reflec- 
 tions upon the events that were passing around 
 him were fast taking the shape of principles. His 
 knowledge had been enlarged by observation upon 
 a wider field, but the habit of mind was still that 
 habit of firm, bold, but careful withal and patient, 
 thought which he had formed for his own guidance 
 long before he dreamed of the use it would one 
 day be put to. And it is in this light that the 
 study of his letters becomes so important; ever 
 bearing in mind that what may now be gathered 
 from text-books in a few hours, required then the 
 observations of more than one campaign, and a 
 vigorous mind to reason upon them. There are 
 few of his letters which, however trifling the im- 
 mediate occasion, do not reveal the workings of 
 an active and powerful mind. 
 
190 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 With such qualities, he could not but take a deep 
 interest in the profession that brought them into 
 plaj. Without loving war, without ever closing 
 his eyes to its horrors, he found in its intense ex- 
 citement a kind of stern dehght, — the delight of 
 the strong man in putting forth his strength. It 
 called out all his faculties, and put all his energies 
 to task ; revealing to himself, as well as to others, 
 capacities of which he had been altogether uncon- 
 scious. And with the growth of this feeling grew 
 another feeling, its natural attendant. Military 
 fame was within his reach. The work that he was 
 helping to do would some day furnish material for 
 history, and, as he asked himself what place his 
 name was to hold in that history, he felt unwonted 
 longings rise within him. " Let my name stand 
 fair for the inspection of inquiring friends," he had 
 written in the first weeks of the war. But now 
 those friends were no longer the little village circle, 
 but the leaders of the nation ; and to stand fair with 
 them was fame. Thus, too, he naturally became 
 sensitive about promotion and rank, as the expres- 
 sion of public approbation. The light in which he 
 viewed promotion has already been seen from his 
 letter of the 2d of June to John Adams. It is ex- 
 pressed still more fully in a letter of May 21st to 
 Washington, and is the more deserving of attention 
 inasmuch as he found himself, in the course of the 
 next year, compelled to act upon it in a manner 
 which has been greatly misinterpreted. 
 
 " From the last accounts from Great Britain, it 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 191 
 
 appears absolutely necessary that there should be 
 an augmentation of the American forces ; in conse- 
 quence of which, I suppose, there will be several 
 promotions. As I have no desire of quitting the 
 service, I hope the Congress will take no measure 
 that will lay me under the disagreeable necessity 
 of doing it. I have ever found myself exceeding 
 happy under your Excellency's command. I wish 
 my ability to deserve was equal to my inclination 
 to merit. How far I have succeeded in my en- 
 deavors, I submit to your Excellency's better 
 judgment. I hope I shall never be more fond of 
 promotion than studious to merit it. Modesty will 
 forever forbid me to apply to that house for any 
 favors. I consider myself immediately under your 
 Excellency's protection, and look up to you for 
 justice. Every man feels himself wounded when 
 he finds himself neglected, and that in proportion 
 as he is conscious of endeavoring to merit atten- 
 tion. I shall be satisfied with any measures that 
 the Congress shall take that have not a direct ten- 
 dency to degrade me in the public estimation. A 
 measure of that sort would sink me in my own es- 
 teem, and render me spiritless and uneasy in my 
 situation, and consequently unfit for the service. 
 I wish for nothing more than justice, either upon a 
 principle of merit or rank, and will at all times rest 
 satisfied when your Excellency tells me I ought to 
 be. I feel myself strongly attached to the cause, 
 to the Continental Congress, and to your Excel- 
 lency's person; and I should consider it a great 
 
192 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 misfortune to be deprived of an opportunity of tak- 
 ing an active part in the support of the one, and in 
 the promotion of the other. But, should anything 
 take place, contrary to my wishes, which might fur- 
 nish me with a sufficient reason for quitting the 
 service, yet I will not do it until the dangers and 
 difficulties appear less than at present." 
 
 It was not, however, until August that the new 
 appointments were made, when four new major- 
 generals were chosen, his name still coming last on 
 the list. Although independence had already been 
 declared more than a month, and but seven days 
 before, all the members had set their names to the 
 Declaration in solemn session, his new commission, 
 like his brigadier's commission of the preceding 
 year, still ran in the name of the United Colonies, 
 Unlike that, however, it bears the date both of the 
 month and the year. On the 12th, his promotion 
 was announced in general orders, and Nixon's and 
 Heard's brigades were put under his command. 
 One of the first benefits that he experienced in the 
 possession of a higher grade was the lightening of 
 that clerical burden which had pressed on him so 
 heavily, for he was now entitled to two aids. " I 
 have made choice," he writes on the 15th, " of Mr. 
 William Blodget and Major William Livingston for 
 my aides-de-camp. Should it meet with your ap- 
 probation, you will please to signify it in orders." 
 
 I have already spoken of his growing intimacy 
 with Knox. About this time he laid the founda- 
 tion of another friendship, which, like that with 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENR 193 
 
 Knox, was to grow stronger year by year, and end 
 only with life. Duty as well as inclination often 
 called him to head-quarters ; and his way from the 
 ferry led him through the Park, then open ground, 
 and frequently used for drills and parades. One 
 day, on passing through it, whether in coming or 
 in going the tradition does not tell, his attention 
 was attracted by the soldierly appearance of a com- 
 pany of young artillerists, and particularly by the 
 air and bearing of their commander, who, though 
 but a boy in size, went through his duty with the 
 precision of a veteran. When the parade was over, 
 Greene sent to compliment the young officer on 
 his proficiency, and invite him to dinner. The in- 
 vitation was accepted ; and thus began that inter- 
 course with Alexander Hamilton which, founded 
 on a just appreciation of each other's talents, per- 
 fect confidence in each other's motives, equal devo- 
 tion to the cause in which they were engaged, and 
 a singular harmony of opinions upon all the great 
 questions involved in it, was a source of strength 
 and happiness to both. 
 
 During part of the spring and summer his wife 
 was with him in camp. Mrs. Washington and Mrs. 
 Knox were with their husbands at the same time, 
 and the pleasant intercourse of Cambridge appears 
 to have been kept up between them all, — dinner 
 being still a favorite mode of bringing them to- 
 gether. "General Greene and lady present their 
 compliments to Colonel Knox and his lady, and 
 should be glad of their company to-morrow at din- 
 
 13 
 
194 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 ner, at two o'clock/' says a note dated Thursday 
 evening, eight o'clock, and still preserved among 
 the Knox papers. But as the active business of 
 the campaign began, the ladies turned their faces 
 homeward, and little time or inclination was left for 
 even these brief hours of social enjoyment. " Mrs. 
 Washington left the city," is the entry for the 30th 
 of June in Heath's Diary. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Enemy's Ships begin to arrive at the Hook. — Constant Watching. — 
 Alarms in the Country. — Tories. — Threatened Duel in Greene's 
 Division. — English Fleet at the Narrows. — Arrival of the Hessians. 
 — Hitchcock's Regiment. — Militia. — First Marching Orders. — 
 Eemoval of Cattje and Grain. — Dangerous Illness. — Carried 
 to New York. -^- cattle of Long Island. 
 
 A BOUT this time ships began to drop into the 
 -^^ Hook, " three or four " a day/ and on the 29th 
 of June a hundred and twenty sail of topsail vessels 
 cast anchor there. Henceforth Greene's eye will be 
 ever on them, watching their slightest movements. 
 " The general officers were in council," writes Heath 
 on the same day. The Americans lie on their 
 arms all the night of the 2d of July.^ On the 5th 
 four prisoners are brought in ; and from them 
 Greene gains the first accurate estimate of the 
 enemy's force, which he immediately transmits to 
 Washington. " The people of Staten Island," he 
 writes, " went on board the fleet as they lay at the 
 Hook, several boat-loads of them." A warning 
 this, that, unless he kept sharp watch, the people of. 
 Long Island w^ould do the same at the earliest 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. here." — Reed to Mrs. Reed, 1st Ju- 
 p. 443. ly, Life, &c. of President Reed, 
 
 2 Heath, p. 48, " Mrs. Washington Vol. I. p. 194. 
 and the other ladies are gone from 
 
196 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 opportunity. " Our people are firing with nine- 
 pounders at the Narrows, but have not heard 
 whether they have done any execution. There 
 was a smart fire heard at the west end of Staten 
 Island about four this morning. It is supposed to 
 be an attack upon Fort Smith, in the south part of 
 Staten Island." 
 
 On the 11th four more sail are seen standing in 
 for the Hook, two ships, a brigantine, and a schooner. 
 The fleet lies idly at anchor ; but from time to time 
 a few vessels detach themselves from the main 
 body, as if to perplex the Americans, either drop- 
 ping down seaward, or " cruising about the bay." 
 On the 17th the enemy are seen to be intrenching 
 on the heights of Staten Island. " I was down at 
 the Hook about sunrise," he writes on the 18th, 
 " and saw a sloop stretching down towards the 
 
 Narrows Our out-guards suspect there are 
 
 spies about the camp. The sentries have fired half 
 a dozen times a night the three preceding nights." 
 With Tories all round and an open enemy, whose 
 ships can bring him, in a couple of hours, close up 
 to your w^orks, this w^atching and counting new 
 enemies as they come in is nervous business. And 
 nervous, too, it is for the poor wives and daughters, 
 and on the main-land as well as on the island. " We 
 *have our coach standing before our door every 
 night, and the horses harnessed, ready to make our 
 escape if w^e have time," whites one of them, a 
 daughter of John Morin Scott. " We have hardly 
 any clothes to wear ; only a second change." Then 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 197 
 
 an alarm comes in the night, in the midst of a 
 thunder-storm, and they hurry off, making their 
 way towards the interior as best they may. But 
 at last they are " obliged to stop on the road and 
 stay all night, and all the lodging (they can) get 
 (is) a dirty bed on the floor. How hard it seems 
 for us, who have always been used to living com- 
 fortably ! " ^ - 
 
 The enemy increases. At two o'clock on the 21st 
 seven more large ships are seen coming up from 
 the Hook toward the Narrows ; and a negro brought 
 in by the rifle-guard reports that on Staten Island 
 eight hundred negroes are to be formed into a 
 regiment that very day. And the next day, when 
 those ships of yesterday have come to anchor, 
 soldiers are seen on board of them, — men ^^in the 
 Highland habit," the comrades, perhaps, of those 
 Highlanders who, to His Majesty's great " hurt and 
 surprise, had had the misfortune to fall into the 
 hands of the enemy," giving Greene a closer view 
 of the Highland habit than he could get now.^ 
 
 But now the wheat is a-ripening in the fields 
 along the Utrecht and Gravesend shores, and he 
 would not have it fall into the hands of the enemy, 
 " for everything they destroy or carry off" will be a 
 matter of triumph." ^'I apprehend," he writes, 
 " that an order of Congress will be necessary for 
 its removal." He wants, also, Washington's opinion 
 
 1 Extracts from a letter from a '^ Force, Archives, Vol. VI. p. 
 
 daughter of General J. M. Scott, in 1055 ; and 5th Series, Vol. I. p. 
 
 Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolu- 1102. 
 tion, Vol. II. p. 599. 
 
198 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 upon his preparations of defence. " I should be 
 exceeding glad/' he writes on the 25th, "if your 
 Excellency would visit this post, when at liberty, to 
 see if there are any alterations or further regula- 
 tions necessary." 
 
 But all the trouble does not come from the 
 enemy and the Tories. His own officers make him 
 some, and very foolishly. Lieutenant Dunworth, 
 discharged a few days before from Little's regi- 
 ment, had challenged Captain Talbot, of Yarnum's. 
 A hint of the quarrel had reached Greene before- 
 hand, and he had already spoken to Washington of 
 the possibility of its coming to a challenge ; wish- 
 ing, however, " to know nothing about it." But 
 when the challenge had actually been sent and ac- 
 cepted, and he was known to have been informed 
 of it, he was "not a little perplexed, knowing 
 duelling to be against all laws, both civil and mili- 
 tary," and yet feeling, apparently, that the ques- 
 tion of personal courage was so involved in it that 
 it would be difficult to prevent it. He did prevent 
 it, however, though by what means I do not know, 
 and Talbot's life was preserved for better things. 
 
 Meanwhile his eyes still turn anxiously seaward. 
 At five in the afternoon of the 27th eight sail are 
 seen standing in for the Hook, too far off as yet to 
 discern what they are, but they have the look of 
 transports. This was Friday. Sunday, at noon, ten 
 more sail are descried in the offing, and next morn- 
 ing it is discovered that the enemy are stronger by 
 thirteen ships than they were at sunset. In the 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 199 
 
 night signal-guns were fired, — a thing which had 
 never been done before; and, after the guns, "a 
 considerable noise and movement of the boats was 
 heard." Listening, still other sounds come floating 
 on the damp night-air, — sounds of " confusion and 
 hurry." Perhaps the enemy have heard of the 
 fire-ships, and are peering into the darkness up the 
 bay, as we are down it. 
 
 Two days pass without further change. On the 
 evening of the 30th two ships come in late ; and 
 then, on the morning of the 1st of August, thirty 
 sail are discovered standing in for the Hook. All 
 through the long forenoon you might have seen 
 them coming grandly on, with their white sails 
 trimmed as none but men-of- wars-men know how to 
 trim them, and the black muzzles of a thousand 
 guns frowning sternly from their sides. At four 
 they are off the New Utrecht shore, and pilots 
 hurry down to meet them. 
 
 Who are they? The Hessians, doubtless, and 
 every American feels his blood boil, and grasps his 
 firelock firmly, as he repeats the name. But no ! 
 not quite yet. It is only Clinton returning from 
 Carolina, with Greene's future antagonist, Cornwal- 
 lis; returning, too, not in triumph, though still 
 haughty and confident. 
 
 But there is other cause for alarm. " The troops 
 are in general exceeding sickly, great numbers 
 taken down every day. If the state of the army 
 will admit of a reinforcement at this post, perhaps 
 it may be prudent. If it does not, I will do the 
 
200 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 best I can with what I have." ^ In the evening he 
 goes down to the Narrows, and counts the ships for 
 himself. From the uniforms, the troops seem to 
 be the guards and artillery. " If your Excellency 
 has leisure, perhaps it may be worth while to pay 
 a visit to the Narrows, and to reconnoitre and view 
 the fleet." 
 
 And still the eye turns towards the eastern 
 horizon. Twenty-one more sail heave in sight on 
 the evening of the 3d. By morning eight were 
 in, the rest coming in. In the night "the ene- 
 my's guard-boats patrolled much higher up the 
 bay than usual." We want " a couple of guard- 
 boats to patrol from Ked to Yellow Hook, across 
 the bay leading to Eapelye's," if they can be 
 spared from other patrolling and guarding. If 
 not, he will da as he will do about the reinforce- 
 ments, — make the best use of the means he has ; 
 vigilant, not rashly confiding, but with no ques- 
 tionings about the path of duty. 
 
 Wednesday, the 7th, comes. The day passes off 
 without change ; but at nine in the evening " Col- 
 onel Yarnum reports, from Ked Hook, .... as 
 many as a hundred boats coming from Staten 
 Island to the ships, full of men." Three ships, too, 
 were observed going towards the Narrows, having 
 first taken in thirty boat-loads of soldiers. Every- 
 thing seems to indicate a general embarkation. 
 The cloud is about to burst. 
 
 Not quite yet ; but, gathering other clouds to 
 
 1 Letter of August 1. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 201 
 
 itself, and growing darker every hour, it yet hangs 
 with a deepening menace on the horizon. The 
 three ships, with their thirty boat-loads of soldiers, 
 are still at the Narrows on the 10th. "I was at 
 Red Hook this morning about three o'clock," he 
 writes. It is a dangerous place, with its dank, 
 miasma-laden air, for a man born and bred in the 
 pure air of Rhode Island, but it affords a sight that 
 almost repays the risk; for there, in the gray 
 morning twilight, lies the English fleet, just within 
 the Narrows, — two hundred vessels in all, "seven 
 of the largest drawn up in a line nearly two miles 
 advanced of the rest," ^ presenting a dim confusion 
 of spars and hulls at first, but which, as day ad- 
 vances and the mists roll away to seaward, grows 
 every moment more distinct, till the masts and rig- 
 ging of the nearer ships come out in mazy lines 
 upon the kindling sky, while the great mass far- 
 ther down paint their dark outlines upon it like a 
 forest in winter, stern and bare. 
 
 Another night passes, but not silently, for the 
 booming of guns is heard. The Hessian fleet, 
 surely! Morning brings no answer; but three 
 ships lie at the Hook, and a large schooner, hoisting 
 her sails, stretches up from the watering-place to- 
 wards Amboy. Last evening, too, — the evening 
 of the 11th, — a twenty-gun ship came up, and, 
 firing as she passed the Narrows, the "Admiral" 
 fired in return. And now four ships run down, 
 and cast anchor off the New Utrecht shore ; and 
 
 1 Letter of Aaron Burr, Force, Archives, 5th Series, Vol. I. p. 887. 
 
202 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 far off at sea, we cancount twenty-five sail more 
 — ships all of them, apparently, coming in as fast 
 as the wind can drive them through the water. 
 
 Here, then, they are, at last, these dreaded Hes- 
 sians, hirelings of blood and pillage ; here they 
 are, looking out, from those thronged decks, on our 
 lovely fields, and revelling already in fancy in their 
 work of desolation. Ah ! call them victims, rather, 
 poor, deluded victims, of greedy masters, — driven, 
 many of them, at the point of the bayonet ; lured, 
 some of them, by lies and misrepresentations ; and 
 some drawn away by the errors of an age when it 
 was still held honorable to sell your sword and 
 blood, without pausing to consider whom or what 
 you were to trample down. There is old De Heis- 
 ter, grown gray in his bloody trade. He had 
 drooped during the long fourteen weeks of sea- 
 life, but now, as he snuffs the land breeze, his spir- 
 its revive, and he quaffs full glasses of his native 
 Ehennish to the health of his friends. Eahl is 
 there, with the warm blood flowing freely through 
 his veins at the sight of firm land and green 
 trees. It will flow faster still next Christmas 
 night, oh the snows of Trenton. And Donop is 
 there, too; one more year and less than three 
 short months, and he will faintly murmur, as the 
 death-film gathers in his eyes, " I die the victim of 
 my ambition, and of the avarice of my sovereign." 
 Yes, count your gold, landgraves and dukes, — thou 
 of Hesse-Cassel, and thou, too, of Brunswick, — 
 good English guineas, undipped and sound within 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 203 
 
 the ring ; send out into your streets and lanes, into 
 the roads and highways, and gather in your human 
 cattle for the shambles. History has taken note of 
 you all ; and perhaps, even before your account 
 is given in, you will find that it is God's work 
 that is doing here, and you are not on his side.^ 
 
 On the 14th the Hessians are seen landing on 
 Staten Island in . great numbers j they parade on 
 the beach, happy to feel solid ground under their 
 feet once more, and then march up the hill towards 
 the flagstaff; some zealous Captain Manuel, per- 
 haps, rejoicing in the prospect of " a steady drill." 
 But the weather grows thick and stormy. Nothing 
 is heard or seen on the 15th. Yet a passage in 
 to-day's orders gives Greene more uneasiness than 
 the enemy. Hitchcock's regiment, which has been 
 with him from the beginning, which is so well 
 drilled, so carefully disciplined, which keeps its 
 arms in such good order, which knows the ground 
 so thoroughly, and has so " peculiar an attachment, 
 to the old regiments," is to be taken from him, and 
 " strangers to the ground," who, if they are like 
 most of the troops that come over, " are undisci- 
 plined, and badly furnished with arms," are to take 
 its place. He had counted upon these men : they 
 and the regiments they had so " long been ac- 
 quainted with," who were "not only attached to 
 each other, but to the place, .... would support 
 each other, in time of action," as strangers, or mere 
 
 1 For a full view of this interest- handeldeutscherFiirsten nach Amer- 
 ing subject, see Kapp's " Soldaten- ica." 
 
204 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 acquaintances of a day, could not be expected to 
 do. "If it can possibly be dispensed with, and 
 absolute necessity does not require their removal/' 
 he would wish them to stay. 
 
 Then the militia, notwithstanding the " promise 
 of the lieutenant-colonel," did not come in. " Should 
 they delay coming in any longer than this day, I 
 am determined not to be trifled with, and shall let 
 them feel my resentment by vigorous and spirited 
 exertions of military discipline, and those powers 
 with which I am invested." A part of the militia, 
 however, had joined him, under Colonel Smith, and 
 to him he had issued, on the 9th, his first marching 
 orders, charging him to " send out scouts and par- 
 ties to gain intelligence. If the enemy should 
 make their landing good on any part of the island, 
 and hear of your coming, they may send out a 
 party to interrupt your march. Keep good front, 
 flank, and rear guards, to prevent being sur- 
 prised." 
 
 But the " troops appear to be in exceedingly 
 good spirits," and he has " no doubt but that, if the 
 enemy should make their attack there, he would be 
 able to render a very good account of them." Mean- 
 while he is "carrying into execution the late re- 
 solve of Congress, respecting the removal of the 
 cattle, dismantling of the mills, removing the grain 
 already threshed, and having that which is still in 
 sheaf so stacked and disposed of that, in case of 
 an attack, it may easily be destroyed." ^ 
 
 1 Force, Archives, 5th Series, Vol. I. p. 967. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 205 
 
 It is true that these daybreak and evening rides 
 in that unwholesome air have not been taken with 
 impunity ; he is " confined to his bed with a raging 
 fever," but " hopes, through the assistance of Provi- 
 dence, to be able to ride, before the presence of the 
 enemy may make it absolutely necessary." His 
 aid — W. S. Livingston — writes for him the 16th, 
 and it may have been a comfort to him to know 
 that there was " no appearance of any immediate 
 preparation for an attack." Still the fever increases. 
 " I am sorry to inform your Excellency," writes Liv- 
 ingston, on the 17th, " that General Greene had a 
 very bad night of it, and cannot be said to be any 
 better this morning than he was yesterday." 
 
 William Blodget whites for him the next day, and 
 in a more cheerful strain : "The General desires me 
 to acquaint your Excellency that he finds himself 
 considerably better this morning; and is in hopes, 
 in a few days, to be able to go abroad, though still 
 very weak." And, rising on his pillow, Greene 
 writes a letter himself, about a Captain Grimes, 
 who was said to have given several indications of 
 cowardice. On the following day a report comes 
 in that " five small vessels," with troops aboard, had 
 made their appearance at Hog Island Inlet, and two 
 pettyaugers off Oyster Bay, — a marauding expe- 
 dition in search of live-stock. He "immediately 
 detaches a party of horse, and two hundred and 
 twenty men, among them twenty rifles." 
 
 And thus the days pass on, — fever holding him 
 dow^n, his strong will buoying him up, till the signs 
 
206 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 of attack become so manifest, and the danger so 
 imminent, that Washington is constrained to send, 
 first SulUvan, and then Putnam, to take his place, 
 while he is carried over to the city. And there, in 
 the house of John Inglis, in the Sailors' Snug Har- 
 bor, on what is now the northwest corner of Broad- 
 way and Ninth Street, though a quiet suburban 
 retreat then, he lay when the battle of Long Island 
 was fought. It was only three or four miles from 
 the scene, and he could hear it all ; and his brother 
 Christopher, who was with him, brought him the 
 tidings from the field as fast as they could be gath- 
 ered. When he heard how hard it had fared with 
 Small wood's regiment he burst into tears. Of all 
 the anxious hearts of the next forty-eight hours, 
 there was none more anxious than his. At last, 
 early in the morning, comes word that the army is 
 over the river, — the works, indeed, which he had 
 toiled so hard to make impregnable, are lost, but 
 men, equipage, baggage, are saved. " It was the 
 best effected retreat I ever read of or heard of, 
 considering the difficulties," he exclaimed, with 
 magnanimous exultation. 
 
 " Providence took me out of the way," he writes 
 on the 30th. "I have been very sick for near 
 three weeks ; for several days there was a hard 
 struggle between nature and the disorder. I am 
 now a little better, though scarcely able to sit up 
 an hour at a time. I have no strength or appetite, 
 and my disorder, from its operation, appears to 
 threaten me with long confinement. Gracious 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 207 
 
 God ! to be confined at such a time ! And the 
 misfortune is doubly great, as there was no gen- 
 eral officer who had made himself acquainted with 
 the ground as perfectly as I had. I have not the 
 vanity to think the event would have been other- 
 wise had I been there, yet I think I could have 
 given the commanding general a good deal of 
 necessary inforrnation. Great events, sometimes, 
 
 depend upon very little causes I think, from 
 
 this manoeuvre, the General purposes to retreat to 
 King's Bridge, and there make the grand stand. 
 . ... If this is the determination, two to one 
 New York is laid in ashes." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Condition of the Army after the Battle of Long Island. — Greene con- 
 valescent. — Letter to Washington. — Council of War. — Unfor- 
 tunate Decision. — Greene urges the Call of a New Council. — 
 Decision reversed. — Retreat from New York. — Battle of Harlaem. 
 
 — Greene in Command in the Jersies. — What was thought of him. 
 
 — His Idea of what should be done. — Preparations for Defence. — 
 His Opinion of Congress. — Letter to Governor Cooke. — Resolves 
 of Congress. — Public Opinion. — Privateering. — Hospitals. — Rec- 
 ommendation of Officers for the New Army. — Charles Lee. 
 
 A SICK-ROOM could not hold Greene long at 
 ■^^^ such a time. The retreat from Long Island, 
 which in his judgment was a triumph of military 
 skill binding him still more firmly to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, was, for the bulk of the army, a 
 lucky escape, exciting only a general conviction of 
 their inability to resist so powerful an enemy. " All 
 is gone ; the regulars must overcome," said the 
 militia ; ^ and the militia, with new levies equally 
 worthless, formed more than a third of the army. 
 Sickness added its depressing influence to the other 
 causes of dejection ; a fourth of the whole army, as 
 the returns showed, being sick within nine days 
 after the retreat. It was difficult to provide com- 
 fortably for these sick men, with the inadequate 
 means of the general and regimental hospitals, 
 
 1 See Gordon, American Revolution, Vol. 11. p. 324. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 209 
 
 and the incompetency in many cases, and in some 
 the dishonesty, of the regimental surgeons ; ^ and 
 many a man who would not have feared the enemy 
 may have felt his heart sink within him as he 
 helped carry a comrade to the hospital or the 
 grave, and thought how little it would take to re- 
 duce him to the same condition. Local jealousies, 
 too, were at work undermining the imperfect be- 
 ginnings of union, setting the men of one section 
 against the men of another section, and, what was 
 doubly dangerous, bringing out in full force the 
 natural opposition between the democratic ele- 
 ments of the Eastern States and the semi-aristo- 
 cratic elements of a portion of the Middle States.^ 
 The officers from Pennsylvania and Maryland and 
 Delaware looked down with great contempt upon 
 the officers from Massachusetts and Connecticut and 
 Rhode Island, and, if not always without reason, — 
 for the custom of permitting the men to choose their 
 own officers had given many a man epaulets who 
 was hardly fit for the ranks, — yet often with great 
 injustice, for Knowlton was a Connecticut man, 
 and Glover a Massachusetts man, and Hitchcock 
 a Rhode Island man, and always with serious in- 
 jury to the common cause; for how could the pri- 
 vates be expected to stand by each other in battle, 
 
 1 Gordon's strong statement, Vol. ^ Graydon's Memoirs contain, per- 
 il, pp. 334, 335, is confirmed by the haps, the most striking expression of 
 correspondence of the time. One of this feeling, in which the writer him- 
 them was drummed out of the army self seems to have shared largely, 
 for selling recommendations to fur- See also an extract from a contempo- 
 loughs at sixpence sterling. rary letter in Gordon, Vol. II. p. 331. 
 14 
 
210 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 when the officers hated each other even more than 
 they hated the enemy ? Insubordination, desertion, 
 cowardice before the enemy, and insolence and 
 oppression towards their friends, were the natural 
 fruits of these feelings,^ heightened by the crafty 
 insinuations of the disaffected that the leaders 
 were seeking to save themselves by selling the 
 army to the British.^ The emergency which 
 Greene had foretold in his letters to John Adams 
 was come. Was he prepared to meet it ? 
 
 We left him scarcely " able to sit up an hour at 
 a time," much less to walk across the room, but 
 already interpreting Washington's designs by his 
 last movement. Five days pass without a record, 
 his strength gradually returning the while ; how 
 fast or how slow we know not, or by what help of 
 air and exercise, but so effectually that as early as 
 the 5th we find him at his desk again, pen in 
 hand, writing a letter to Washington, which presup- 
 poses many anxious inquiries and much anxious 
 thought. As yet Washington's intentions were 
 unknown ; no council had been summoned, no 
 opinions called for ; but Greene could not restrain 
 his feelings. 
 
 " The critical situation which the army is in," he 
 writes, " will, I hope, sufficiently apologize for my troub- 
 ling your Excellency with this letter. The sentiments 
 are dictated, I am sure, by an honest mind, — a mind 
 which feels deeply interested in the salvation of this 
 
 1 Letter in Gordon, Vol. II. p. ^ Greene to Washington, Septem- 
 332. ber 5th. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 211 
 
 country, and for the honor and reputation of the General 
 under whom he serves. 
 
 " The object under consideration is, whether a general 
 and speedy retreat from this island is necessary or not. 
 To me it appears the only eligible plan to oppose the en- 
 emy successfully, and secure ourselves from disgrace. I 
 think we have no object on this side of King's Bridge. 
 Our troops are now so scattered that one part may be cut 
 off before the others can come to their support. In this 
 situation, suppose the enemy should run up the North 
 River several ships of force, and a number of transports 
 at the same time, and effect a landing between the town 
 and middle division of the army ; another party from 
 Long Island should land right opposite ; these two par- 
 ties form a line across the island, and intrench themselves. 
 The two flanks of this line could be easily supported by 
 the shipping ; the centre, fortified with the redoubts, 
 would render it very difficult if not impossible to cut our 
 way through. 
 
 " At the time the enemy are executing this movement 
 or manoeuvre they will be able to make sufficient diver- 
 sions, if not real lodgements, to render it impossible for 
 the centre and upper divisions of the army to affi^rd any 
 assistance here. Should this event take place (and, by 
 the by, I don't think it very improbable), your Excel- 
 lency will be reduced to that situation which every 
 prudent general would wish to avoid, — that is, of be- 
 ing obliged to fight the enemy to a disadvantage, or 
 submit. 
 
 " It has been agreed that the city of New York would 
 not be tenable if the enemy got possession of Long Island 
 and of Governor's Island. They are now in possession 
 of both these places. Notwithstanding, I think we might 
 hold it for some time, but the annoyance must be so great 
 as to render it an unfit place to hold troops in. If 
 
\ 
 
 212 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 we should hold it, we must hold it to a great disad- 
 vantage. 
 
 " The city and island of New York are no objects for 
 us ; we are not to bring them into competition with the 
 general interests of America. Part of the army already 
 has met with a defeat ; the country is struck with a 
 panic ; any capital loss at this time may ruin the cause. 
 'Tis our business to study to avoid any considerable 
 misfortune, and to take post where the enemy will be 
 obliged to fight us, and not we them. The sacrifice of 
 the vast property of New York and the suburbs I hope 
 has no influence upon your Excellency's measures. Re- 
 member the King of France. When Charles the Fifth, 
 Emperor of Germany, invaded his kingdom, he laid 
 whole provinces waste, and by that policy he starved and 
 ruined Charles's army, and defeated him without fighting 
 a battle. Two thirds of the property of the city of New 
 York and the suburbs belongs to the Tories. We have 
 no very great reason to run any considerable risk for its 
 defence. If we attempt to hold the city and island, and 
 should not be able finally, we shall be wasting time 
 unnecessarily, and betray a defect of judgment, if no 
 worse misfortune attend it. 
 
 " I give it as my opinion, that a general and speedy 
 retreat is absolutely necessary, and that the honor and 
 interest of America require it. I would burn the city 
 and suburbs, and that for the following reasons. If the 
 enemy gets possession of the city, we never can recover 
 the possession without a superior naval force to theirs ; it 
 will deprive the enemy of an opportunity of barracking 
 their whole army together, which, if they could do, 
 would be a very great security. It will deprive them of 
 a general market ; the price of things would prove a 
 temptation to our people to supply them for the sake 
 of the gain, in direct violation of the laws of their 
 country. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 21S 
 
 " All these advantages would result from the destruc- 
 tion of the city, and not one benefit can arise to us from 
 its preservation, that I can conceive of. If the city once 
 gets into the enemy's hands, it will be at their mercy 
 either to save or destroy it, after they have made what 
 use of it they think proper. 
 
 " At the retreat I would order the army to take post at 
 King's Bridge, and post along Westchester shore, where 
 barracks may be procured for that part of the army that 
 are without tents. I must confess I am too ignorant of 
 the ground to form much judgment about posting the 
 troops. Your Excellency's superior judgment, formed 
 from your own observation upon the ground, will enable 
 you to make a much better disposition than I can con- 
 ceive of. 
 
 " If my zeal has led me to say more than I ought, I 
 hope my good intentions may atone for the offence. 
 
 " I shall only add that these sentiments are not dic- 
 tated from fear, nor from any apprehension of personal 
 danger ; but are the result of a cool and deliberate sur- 
 vey of our situation, and the necessary measures to extri- 
 cate us from our present difficulties. I have said nothing 
 at all about the temper and disposition of the troops, and 
 their apprehensions about being sold. This is a strong 
 intimation that it will be difficult to get such troops to 
 behave with proper spirit in time of action, if we should 
 be attacked. 
 
 " Should your Excellency agree with me with respect 
 to the two first points, that is, that a speedy and general 
 retreat is necessary, and also that the city and suburbs 
 should be burned, I would advise to call a general council 
 upon that question, and take every general officer's opin- 
 ion upon it." 
 
 The same grave questions were agitating Wash- 
 
214 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 ington's own mind. " Till of late," he had written 
 the President of Congress on the 2d, " I had no 
 doubt in my own mind of defending this place ; 
 nor should I have yet, if the men would do their 
 duty ; but this I despair of .... If I should be 
 obliged to abandon the town, ought it to stand as 
 winter quarters for the enemy ? " ^ Greene's letter 
 coming to him while in this mood, he called a 
 council of general officers on the 7th, laid the situ- 
 ation of the army before them, and asked their 
 opinion as to his future movements. Unfortunately, 
 an exaggerated importance was attached to the 
 preservation of New York. Congress had decided 
 that if the army were compelled to leave it, " no 
 damage " should be done it.^ Even in the army 
 some could not bear the idea of abandoning " the 
 poor city." " The very thought gives me the hor- 
 rors," wrote Colonel Malcolm to John McKesson,^ 
 the day before the council met, and the feeling 
 was, doubtless, largely shared by the army. But, 
 what was far w^orse, it was shared by the council 
 also, who decided by a large majority to try to hold 
 the city with ^nq thousand men, and post the rest 
 of the army at King's Bridge and intermediate 
 points. "There were some general officers," wrote 
 Washington, " in whose judgment and opinion 
 
 ^ Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 72. their leaving it; the Congress having 
 2 " Resolved, That General Wash- no doubt of being able to recover the 
 ington be acquainted that Congress same, though the enemy should, for a 
 would have especial care taken, in time, obtain possession of it." —Jour- 
 case he should find it necessary to nals of Congress, September 3, 1776. 
 quit New York, that no damage be ' Force, Archives, 5th Series, Vol. 
 done to said city by his troops, on II. p. 197. 
 
1776.] • LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. • 215 
 
 much confidence is to be placed, that were for a 
 
 total and immediate removal from the city 
 
 But they were overruled by a majority." ^ What 
 Washington himself thought is evident from thp^ 
 tone of this last paragraph. 
 
 Greene left the council-room with a heavy heart, 
 but by no means disposed to accept the decision as 
 final, without another attempt to open the eyes of 
 his colleagues to their danger. It was a delicate 
 thing for the lowest major-general on the list to 
 ask a reconsideration of the decision of a full board 
 of general officers, and it was a still more delicate 
 thing to collect the opinions of subordinates upon 
 a question already discussed and determined by 
 superiors. No man's ideas were more decided than 
 his as to the imperative duty of subordination in an 
 army ; and in this taking counsel against a council 
 there was something that looked very much Ijke in- 
 subordination. But this was no time for personal 
 considerations, or a scrupulous adherence to form 
 and precedent ; and after consulting some of the 
 field-officers, he put into Washington's hands on 
 the 11th a petition for a second council, signed by 
 Nixon, Mifflin, Beall, Parsons, Wadsworth, and Scott; 
 his own name standing at the head as the only 
 major-general on the list.^ 
 
 This was all that Washington waited for ; and 
 immediately summoning a council for the next day 
 at General McDougall's head-quarters, the decision 
 
 1 Sparks, Vol. IV. pp. 84, 85. 
 
 2 Force, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. II. p.'326. 
 
216 • LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 of the first council was reversed with only three 
 dissenting voices, — Spencer, Clinton, and Heath. 
 Eight thousand men were to be left " for the de- 
 fence of Mount Washington and its dependencies." ^ 
 Every nerve was now strained to remove the 
 stores and baggage, and convey the sick to a place 
 of greater security. But eight precious days had 
 already been lost. On Sunday, the 15th, Howe 
 landed between Kips's and Turtle Bay ; and in the 
 "miserable and disorderly retreat" which followed 
 Washington's invaluable life was imperilled by the 
 cowardice of Parsons's and Fellows's brigades ; and 
 Putnam, with three thousand five hundred men, 
 was barely saved from capture, by the " cakes and 
 wine " of Mrs. Murray.^ " Are these the men with 
 whom I am to save America ? " cried Washington, 
 in the bitterness of his heart.^ But in the fore- 
 noon of the next day, a skirmish of outposts 
 gradually swelling to the proportions of a battle, 
 the Americans drove the British from three suc- 
 cessive positions, and withdrew, at last, volunta- 
 rily, in order to prevent the engagement from 
 becoming general. It was Greene's first close 
 fight ; and though he had no command in it, he 
 went into it, with Putnam and Reed, for example's 
 sake, and " fought hard." * Great was the exulta- 
 
 1 Force, ut sup., pp. 329, 330. * Greene to Governor Cooke, Sep- 
 
 2 Gordon, American Revolution, tember 17, speaks of "the spirited 
 Vol. II. pp. 327, 328 ; Greene to conduct of General Putnam and Col- 
 Governor Cooke, September 17 ; onel Reed," witliout alluding to his 
 Ramsay, American Revolution, Vol. own share in the fight ; but in a let- 
 I. p 306 ; Thatcher, Military Journal, ter to Colonel H. Lee, February 18, 
 p. 59. 1 782, he says, " I fought hard at Har- 
 
 8 Heath. lem." 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 217 
 
 tion of the Americans at this proof that the Brit- 
 ish could still be made to run, and the Hessians 
 too. But great and sincere was the mourning over 
 the gallant Knowlton, who could ill be spared by 
 .an army which, amid its many wants, wanted most 
 of all officers like him, whom it could look up to 
 with respect and follow with confidence. 
 
 From the first appearance of the enemy in the 
 waters of New York, no pains had been spared to 
 secure New Jersey and the communications with 
 Philadelphia. A flying camp had been established, 
 the militia called out, and works thrown up at im- 
 portant points. Especial importance had been at- 
 tached to Fort Constitution, on the Palisades,^ 
 which, it was hoped, would, with Fort Washington, 
 on the opposite bank of the Hudson, effectually 
 command the passage of the river, and thus secure 
 both the country above and the crossings at the 
 ferries. General Mercer and General Livingston 
 had been active in all these measures, and much 
 was justly expected from their intelligence and 
 zeal. But the day after the fight at Harlem, 
 Greene was ordered over to take command in the 
 Jerseys, with his head-quarters at Fort Constitution. 
 His detachment was composed of three brigades, 
 — Nixon's, Clinton's, and Irvine's, — and two regi- 
 ments, — Bradley's and Dey's, — the last of them 
 militia, forming a total, on the 29th of September, 
 of three thousand five hundred and twenty-one, 
 rank and file, present and fit for duty, out of a 
 body of five thousand seven hundred and seven. 
 
 1 Washington to Mercer, September 3, Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 75. 
 
218 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 It was a position of great responsibility, imply- 
 ing a confidence highly flattering to his feelings, 
 and a well-earned reward of the zeal he had dis- 
 played from his first entrance into the army. 
 " You have a very just idea of Greene's impor- 
 tance," writes Tench Tilghman, one of Washing- 
 ton's own staff, who was watching him from head- 
 quarters, to William Duer, who was watching him 
 from Fishkill, as a member of the Convention's 
 Committee of Correspondence ; " he is, beyond 
 doubt, a first-rate military genius, and one in 
 whose opinions the General places the utmost con- 
 fidence.^ He is so near us that he can give every 
 assistance in the w^ay of advice ; and, should the 
 enemy relinquish their plan against the Jersey side, 
 he can also be spared to attend in time of action." 
 " I remember," says Colonel Pickering, " that, as I 
 was passing the night at Providence, on my w^ay to 
 New York, with my regiment, in 1776, the conver- 
 sation turned upon the possibility of Washington's 
 being killed, and who, in case of such a misfortune, 
 w^as best qualified to take his place. Greene, it 
 was acknowledged by all, was the proper man." ^ 
 
 Everything now depended upon being able to 
 " make a stand " before the enemy, and keep them 
 at bay, or at least so far retard their advance as to 
 draw out the campaign without giving them an 
 opportunity to strike another blow like that of 
 Long Island. " I think," Greene writes to Governor 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th ^ Pickering MSS. 
 Series, Vol. II. p. 870. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 219 
 
 Cooke, on the 17th, "and so does his Excellency, 
 that the operations of the campaign will have no 
 effect upon you, as it will be impossible for the 
 enemy to detach any part of the army while our 
 army is able to make any stand. I would not 
 evacuate one foot of ground (in Rhode Island), as 
 it will tend to encourage the enemy, and dispirit 
 our people." 
 
 In the Jerseys, as on Long Island, his task was 
 one of sleepless watchfulness. "The enemy are 
 landed at Powley's Hook," he writes from " Camp 
 Fort Constitution " on the 23d. " They came up this 
 afternoon, and began a cannonade on the batteries, 
 and, after cannonading for half an hour, or a little 
 more, they landed a party from the ships. Gen- 
 eral Mercer had ordered off from the Hook all the 
 troops, except a small guard, who had orders to 
 evacuate the place from the first approach of the 
 enemy. General Mercer mentions no troops but 
 those landed from the ships, but Colonel Bull, and 
 many others that were along the river upon the 
 heights, saw twenty boats go over from New York 
 to Powley's Hook. This movement must have 
 happened since General Mercer wrote. I propose 
 visiting Bergen to-night, as General Mercer thinks 
 of going to his post at Amboy to-morrow. I pur- 
 pose to detain him one day longer." 
 
 On examining the position, he determined to 
 hold it a few days longer, pushing forward his 
 advanced guard " to a mill just back of Powley's 
 Hook." But early in October he decided to evac- 
 
220 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 uate Bergen also ; " a measure," says a letter of the 
 time, " which will first be condemned and after- 
 wards approved." ^ And thus, by the 5th of Octo- 
 ber, he found himself with his troops collected, and 
 equally prepared to meet an attack on his own 
 side of the river, or go to Washington's assistance, 
 if needed, on the other side. 
 
 It was one of the trials of his situation, as well as 
 of Washington's, that his confidence in the wisdom 
 and justice of Congress had been fatally impaired. 
 The mistakes of the first year might have been at- 
 tributed to inexperience and novelty of position ; 
 but they had all been carefully repeated in the 
 second year, and the campaign was again w^earing 
 away without any adequate provision for the fu- 
 ture. He could not see these things without deep 
 anxiety ; but it was an anxiety free from any doubt 
 about the issue of the contest, for he knew the re- 
 sources of the country, he knew the character of 
 the people, and he was confident that if those re- 
 sources were properly drawn out, and that charac- 
 ter wisely used, England would be compelled to 
 yield. 
 
 " I apprehend," he says, in a private letter of the 28th, 
 " the several retreats that have lately taken place begin 
 to make you think all is lost. Don't be frightened ; 
 our cause is not yet in a desperate state. The policy of 
 Congress has been the most absurd and ridiculous im- 
 aginable, pouring in militia-men who come and go every 
 month. A military force established upon such princi- 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. II. p. 867. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 221 
 
 pies defeats itself. People coming from home with all 
 the tender feelings of domestic life are not sufficiently 
 fortified with natural courage to stand the shocking scenes 
 of war. To march over dead men, to hear without con- 
 cern the groans of the wounded, — I say few men can stand 
 such scenes, unless steeled hy habit or fortified by military 
 pride. 
 
 " There must be a good army established ; men engaged 
 for the war ; a proper corps of officers ; and then, after a 
 proper time to discipline the men, everything is to be 
 expected. 
 
 " The Congress goes upon a penurious plan. The 
 present pay of the officers will not support them, and it is 
 generally determined by the best officers to quit the ser- 
 vice, unless a more adequate provision is made for their 
 support. The present establishment is not thought repu- 
 table. 
 
 " The Congress has never furnished the men voted by 
 near one half, certainly by above a third. Had we had 
 numbers we need not have retreated from Long Island or 
 New York. But the extent of ground to guard rendered 
 the retreat necessary ; otherwise the army would have 
 been ruined by detachments. The enemy never could 
 have driven us from Long Island and New York if our 
 rear had been secured. We must have an army to meet 
 the enemy everywhere ; to act offensively as well as de- 
 fensively. Our soldiers are as good as ever were ; and 
 were the officers half as good as the men, they would beat 
 any army on the globe of equal numbers." ^ 
 
 When these lines were written a committee of 
 Congress was already in camp, " to make inquiry 
 into the condition of the army, and agree upon the 
 necessary augmentation." " The general officers," 
 
 1 Extract from a private letter. Sept. 28, 1776. 
 
222 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [[1776. 
 
 says Heath on the 26th, " were in council with a 
 committee of Congress." And on the 27th, says 
 the same somewhat meagre but still valuable diary, 
 " the council sat again." ^ The result was a resolu- 
 tion to raise a new army without delay. 
 
 " The Congress," Greene writes a friend in Rhode Isl- 
 and on the 3d of October, " have ordered eighty-eight 
 regiments to be raised for the war. This looks well. 
 For God's sake let us have good officers from Rhode 
 Island, if you wish to preserve its reputation. We want 
 nothing but good officers to constitute as good an army as 
 ever marched into the field. Our men are infinitely bet- 
 ter than the officers. I do not speak of Rhode Island offi- 
 cers, for they are generally good, and behaved exceeding 
 well in the late action. They did themselves a great deal 
 of honor. I shall send a list to the Governor of such as 
 deserve a preference. I think you may officer your regi- 
 ment as well as any on the continent, if you will consult 
 nothing but the merit of the man." 
 
 And, writing to Governor Cooke, on the 11th : — 
 
 " His Excellency General Washington will transmit you 
 a list of officers, to constitute the two new regiments to 
 be raised by your State. The most of those officers are 
 gentlemen whose conduct has been approved by those 
 under whom they have served. The success of the cause, 
 the defeat of the enemy, the honor of the State, and the 
 reputation of the army, altogether depends upon the es- 
 tablishing a good core, or corps of officers. My little ex- 
 perience has fully convinced me that, without more 
 attention is paid by the different States in the appoint- 
 ment of the officers, the troops never will answer their 
 
 1 Heath, Memoirs, p. 66. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 223 
 
 expectations. I hope, as everything that is dear and 
 valuable is at stake, that no popular prejudices nor family 
 connection will influence the House in the appointment 
 of the officers for the new army. I am sensible that 
 America has as good material to form an army as any 
 state in the world ; but without a good set of officers, the 
 troops will be little better than a lawless banditti, or an 
 ungovernable mob. The Americans possess as much 
 natural bravery as any people upon earth, but habit must 
 form the soldier. He who expects men brought from the 
 tender scenes of domestic life can meet danger and death 
 with a becoming fortitude is a stranger to the human 
 heart. 
 
 " There is nothing that can get the better of that active 
 principle of self-preservation, but a proper sentiment of 
 pride, or being often accustomed to danger. As the prin- 
 ciple of pride is not predominant enough in the minds of 
 the common soldiery, the force of habit must be called 
 in to its aid, to get the better of our natural fears, ever 
 alarmed at the approach of danger. 
 
 " There has been, it must be confessed, some shameful 
 conduct in this army this campaign, in a great measure 
 owing to the bad conduct of the officers. I have neither 
 seen nor heard of one instance of cowardice among the 
 old troops, where they had good officers to lead them on. 
 In the last action, every regiment behaved with a becom- 
 ing spirit, especially Colonel Hitchcock's and Colonel Var- 
 num's. I don't wish to see an officer in the army but such 
 as has a regard for their reputation, who feels a sentiment 
 of honor, and is ambitious of distinguishing himself. 
 Such will answer the public expectation, and be an honor 
 to the State that sent him. 
 
 " Colonel Varnum, from the treatment he has met with 
 from Congress, has taken the resolution of leaving the 
 army. The Colony are generally acquainted with his 
 
224 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 abilities, (so) that he stands in no need of a recommenda- 
 tion. Perhaps the House may think proper to re-elect 
 him, and give him the opportunity to refuse tlie appoint- 
 ment, as a compliment due to his party services. Colonel 
 Cornwell and Colonel Cearey, you '11 observe, are both left 
 out in the general arrangement. They were both in the 
 late action, and behaved exceeding well ; but as there is a 
 reduction of regiments, 'tis not possible to accommodate 
 the whole, and there is a preference given by the under 
 officers, though they have never been consulted upon this 
 occasion. His Excellency has put down only such as 
 appears deserving, without consulting them upon the sub- 
 ject to know whether they would serve or not. The 
 House will appoint such and so many of those recom- 
 mended as they shall think proper, and fill the vacancies 
 of their own choice ; but I hope there will be none in the 
 arrangement but men of merit. * 
 
 " The several retreats and evacuations that have taken 
 place this campaign, without doubt has alarmed the fear 
 of the timid, and aroused their apprehension of an ap- 
 proaching ruin. The source of these misfortunes have 
 originated from several causes. The strength of the 
 enemy far exceeded tlie expectations of Congress ; the late 
 season that they attempted to call in a reinforcement to 
 our aid, the many delays that took place among the differ- 
 ent States in furnishing their proportion, protracted the 
 time of collecting the forces together to such a degree that, 
 when the enemy had their whole strength together, ours, 
 in different detachments, were very far inferior to theirs. 
 With a force inferior to the enemy in number, witli troops 
 that were mostly raw and undisciplined, with young and 
 ignorant officers, what could be expected against old, ex- 
 perienced officers, with veteran troops to command, short 
 of what has taken place, especially when you take in the 
 idea of the extent of ground we had to guard, and the 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 225 
 
 assistance the enemy received from their ships, owing 
 to the situation of the posts we occupied ? The militia 
 has come and gone in such shoals that his Excellency 
 could never tell scarcely two days together the strength 
 he had at any one post. 
 
 "If the different States complete the estabhshment 
 agreeable to tlie resolves of Congress, and the troops 
 come well officered (for on that the whole depends), I 
 have not the least doubt in my own mind but that in a 
 few months we shall be able to seek the enemy instead of 
 tl^ey us. I know our men are more than equal to theirs ; 
 and were our officers equal to our men, we should have 
 nothing to fear from the best troops in the world. I do 
 not mean to derogate from the worth and merit of all the 
 officers in the army. We have many that are in the ser- 
 vice deserving of the highest applause, and has served 
 with reputation and honor to themselves and the State 
 that sent them ; and I am happy to have it to say that 
 the Rhode Island regiments hitherto are amongst this 
 number." 
 
 John Hancock, too, communicates the " resolves " 
 to the General Assembly of Rhode Island in a 
 letter of the 9th : — 
 
 " The enclosed resolves, which I transmit in obedience 
 to the commands of Congress, will inform you of the 
 ample provision they have made for the support of both 
 officer and soldier who shall enter the service during the 
 war. The pay of the former is considerably increased ; 
 and the latter is to receive annually a complete suit of 
 clothes, or, in lieu thereof, the sum of twenty dollars 
 should he provide the suit for himself. This additional 
 encouragement, besides the twenty-dollar bounty and one 
 hundred acres of land formerly granted, the Congress 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 expect will be the means of engaging the troops to serve 
 during the war." ^ 
 
 n. 
 
 But " there is a material difference/' wrote Wash- 
 ington, "between voting battalions and raising 
 men."^ The enthusiasm with which the war 
 began had been materially dampened by hard- 
 ships, disappointments, and reverses. Men no 
 longer felt implicit confidence in the wisdom of 
 Congress. There were already serious doubts 
 about public credit, and the paper money which 
 was putting it to so severe a test. Individual 
 interests were fast resuming their control, and 
 gaining a fatal supremacy over that devotion to 
 the general interest with which the war began. 
 Men of capital were thinking again of their specu- 
 lations and investments ; and the laborers, both in 
 town and country, the mechanics and farmers, men 
 by whom the ranks of the army should have been 
 filled, were looking enviously upon the sudden 
 gains of privateersmen, and the apparent ease with 
 which large fortunes were made with little work. 
 " The officers,'* wrote Lee, " and indeed it must 
 necessarily be so, are of opinion that nothing im- 
 pedes the recruiting of the army so much as the 
 present rage for privateering ; that, unless this is in 
 some measure checked, it is in vain to expect any 
 success."^ Indeed, it was difficult even for the 
 f officers to look at these sudden fortunes without 
 
 1 Bartlett, R. I. Records, Vol. VIII. « Lee to Governor Cooke, Bartlett, 
 p. 31. R. I. Records, Vol. VIII. p. 55. 
 
 2 Sparks. Vol. IV. p. 131. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 227 
 
 remembering that they also had families to pro- ' 
 vide for. " This fall," writes Greene in the letter 
 from which I just now quoted, " is the golden har- 
 vest I think the fishing-ships at the eastward 
 may be objects of attention this fall. In the 
 spring, the East India ships may be intercepted on 
 the coast of Africa. Were I at liberty, I think 
 that I could make a fortune for my family. Bu/" *^/ . 
 is necessary for some to be in the field to secure | 
 the property of others in their stores." 
 
 Another subject that weighed heavily upon his 
 mind at this period was the condition of the sick ; 
 for here, as on Long Island, there were serious dif- 
 ferences between the general hospital and the 
 regimental hospitals, and the consequences fell 
 heavily upon the poor soldier. After struggling 
 with it awhile, he laid the whole matter before 
 Congress in a letter of the 10th of October, to the 
 President : — 
 
 " The sick of the army, who are under the care of the 
 regimental surgeon, are in a most wretched condition ; 
 the surgeons being without the least article of medicine 
 to assist Nature in her efforts for the recovery of health. 
 There is no circumstance that strikes a greater damp 
 upon the spirits of the men who are yet well than the 
 miserable condition the sick are in. They exhibit a 
 spectacle shocking to human feelings, and, as the knowl- 
 edge of their distress spreads through the country, will 
 prove an insurmountable obstacle to the recruiting the 
 new army. 
 
 " Good policy as well as humanity, in my humble 
 opinion, demands the immediate attention of Congress 
 
228 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 upon this subject, that the evil may be souglit out, and 
 the grievance redressed. The sick in the army are too 
 numerous to be all accommodated on the contracted plan 
 of the general hospital. The Director-General says he 
 has no authority by his commission to supply the demand 
 of the regimental sick ; and, the general hospital being 
 too small to accommodate much more than one half, the 
 remainder lies without any means of relief than the value 
 of the rations allowed to every soldier. Many hundreds 
 are now in this condition, and die daily for want of 
 proper assistance ; by which means the army is robbed of 
 many valuable men at a time when a reinforcement is so 
 exceedingly necessary. Both officers and men join in one 
 general complaint, and are greatly disgusted at this evil, 
 wdiich has prevailed so long. Some measures should be 
 taken to justify the Director-General, or to empower the 
 Commander-in-chief to qualify him, to furnish the regi- 
 mental surgeons, under the direction of the colonel of 
 the regiment, with such supplies as the state of the sick 
 may demand. 
 p- '' Great complaints have been made that the regimental 
 ^ surgeons abuse their trust, and embezzle the regimental 
 stores committed to their care ; this, among others, is a 
 reason urged why the regimental sick suffer as they do. 
 The surgeons, it has been said, cannot be trusted with the 
 necessary stores. 
 
 " Whether this complaint be well or ill founded, I am 
 not a judge of; perhaps in some few instances it may have 
 been the case, but I am far from thinking they are de- 
 serving the charge in general ; besides which, the injury 
 arising from a few abuses of this kind, were they even 
 more common, is trifling compared with that which the 
 army and public suffers in the present state of things. 
 
 " The Director-General complains of the want of medi- 
 cine, and says his stocks are but barely sufficient for the 
 
 L 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 229 
 
 general hospital. I can see no reason, either from policy 
 or humanity, that the stores for the general hospital 
 should be preserved for contingencies which may never 
 happen, and the present regimental sick left to perish for 
 want of proper necessaries. It is wholly immaterial, in 
 my opinion, eitlier to the States or the army, whether a 
 man dies in the general or regimental hospital. 
 
 " The platform of the general hospital should be large 
 enough to receive all the sick that are unfit to continue in 
 quarters, or else to supply the regimental hospitals with 
 such medicines and necessaries as the state of the sick 
 requires. 
 
 " P. S. I do not mean to censure the conduct of the 
 Director-General, nor to complain of his activity ; but I 
 mean to point out the defect of the present establishment, 
 and to show the necessity of giving the Director some fur- 
 ther power, and much more assistance, to enable him to 
 supply the numerous wants." 
 
 But already, the day before this letter was writ- 
 ten, Congress had resolved, — 
 
 " That no regimental hospitals be, for the future, al- 
 lowed in the neighborhood of the general hospital. 
 
 " That John Morgan, Esq., provide and superintend an 
 hospital, at a proper distance from the camp, for the army 
 posted on the east side of Hudson's River. 
 
 " That William Shippen, Jr., Esq., provide and super- 
 intend an hospital for the army in the State of New Jersey. 
 
 " That each of the hospitals be supplied by the respec- 
 tive directors with such a number of surgeons, apotheca- 
 ries, surgeon's mates, and other assistants, and also such 
 quantities of medicines, beddings, and other necessaries, as 
 they sliall judge expedient." 
 
 Weekly returns to Congress and to the Com* 
 
230 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 mander-in-chief were also ordered, and the regi- 
 mental surgeons directed to send to the general 
 hospital such ,pf their sick as required " nurses or 
 constant attendance," and also " to apply to the 
 directors in their respective departments for medi- 
 cines and other necessaries."^ On the 15th, when 
 Greene's letter was read, it was referred to the 
 Medical Committee. 
 
 But the subject which recurred oftenest to his 
 mind in these anxious days was the new army, and 
 more especially the choice of officers. Governor 
 Cooke, on receiving the call of Congress for Khode 
 Island's quota of two battalions, wrote to Wash- 
 ington for a list of the officers whom he wished to 
 recommend for promotion, and to Greene to " give 
 every information and assistance relating to it in 
 his power." ^ 
 
 ** The anxiety I felt for the honor of the State," writes 
 Greene on the 16th from Washington's head-quarters, 
 " and the good of the cause, made me anticipate your 
 wishes relative to recommendations. 
 
 " I had made a collection of tlie officers belonging to the 
 three Rhode Island regiments, and delivered it in to his 
 Excellency General Washington, to be forwarded to your 
 State. That recommendation and arrangement of officers 
 is the best that I could make or recommend to the General, 
 all circumstances considered. The State will act their 
 pleasure with respect to the appointment. The General 
 only wishes to have good men, such as will discharge their 
 duty in every point of view, and maintain the character of 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, Wednes- 2 Bartlett, R. I. Records, Vol. VIII. 
 day, Oct. 9, 1776. pp.30, 31. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 231 
 
 gentlemen ; he has no attachment to any person further 
 than his merit recommends him. Men of merit he wishes 
 to be appointed, whether in or out of the army." 
 
 Greene's recommendation, when it was made 
 known a few weeks later, " threw the officers," if 
 Lee may be trusted, " into a great flame of discon- 
 tent They accused him of partiaUty to his 
 
 connections and townsmen, to the prejudice of men 
 of manifestly superior merit." -^ But as his only 
 connections in the army were his brother-in-law, 
 William Littlefield, the captain of his guard, whom 
 he recommended for a lieutenancy, and who, after 
 serving honorably through the war, was retained 
 on the peace establishment long after its close ; 
 and Christopher Greene and Samuel Ward, who 
 had already distinguished themselves by their at- 
 tention to the instruction and discipline of their 
 men in the camp before Boston, and their fortitude 
 and intrepidity in the expedition against Quebec, 
 and became still more distinguished, in the autumn 
 of the following year, by their gallant defence of 
 Red Bank, — his family attachments had a very nar- 
 row field to act in, and were fully justified by the 
 character of their objects. And as this part of the 
 accusation was so utterly unfounded, it is not un- 
 reasonable to suppose that there was no better 
 foundation for the other. Lee's letter was written 
 three days after the fall of Fort Washington, when, 
 judging by his own standard, he may have sup- 
 
 1 Lee to Washington, Sparks's Correspondence of the Revolution, Vol. 
 I. p. 306. 
 
232 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 posed Washington's confidence in Greene's judg- 
 ment to have been materially shaken, and, following 
 his own bad instincts, may not have been unwilling 
 to extend the unfavorable opinion to Greene's 
 motives. He had returned from the South, on the 
 14th of October, with a head dizzy with success, 
 and a heart rankling with jealousy. During the 
 few hours that he had passed at Fort Constitution, 
 on his way to head-quarters, he had found time to 
 write — at Greene's desk, perhaps — a letter to 
 Gates, condemning the position of the army as 
 " execrable " ; calling Congress " cattle, that stum- 
 ble every step"; blaming Washington for not 
 threatening them with resignation for their inter- 
 ference with the army; and calling loudly for a 
 separate army upon the Delaware, or, in other 
 words, an independent command for himself.^ In 
 September, an officer had written from New York, 
 " General Lee is hourly expected, as if from heaven, 
 with a legion of flaming swordsmen." " You ask," 
 writes Tilghman to Duer in October, "if General 
 Lee is in health, and if our people feel bold. I 
 answer both in the affirmative. His appearance 
 among us has not contributed a little to the 
 latter."^ Four days after his arrival, the name 
 of Fort Constitution was changed to Fort Lee, 
 in commemoration of his successful defence of 
 Charleston. Lee was not the man, either in 
 heart or in head, to listen to such admiration long 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th ^ Force, m« su/?., pp. 197- 1095. 
 Series, Vol. II. pp. 1008, 1034. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 233 
 
 without conceiving unfounded hopes, even if he did 
 not form unwarrantable designs. But, whatever 
 the nature or extent of his wishes may have been, 
 he looked upon this as a favorable moment for 
 aiming a blow at Greene, and seized it wi'th char- 
 acteristic malevolence. 
 
 I am anticipating events by a few weeks ; but, to 
 make an end of this unpleasant part of my narrative, 
 I will add now, that Lee was greatly deceived in 
 his calculations. Washington's confidence, not easily 
 won, was still less easily shaken ; and the Legisla- 
 ture of Rhode Island, accepting his recommenda- 
 tion, appointed the officers whom Greene had 
 selected. Yarnum, as he had suggested, was com- 
 plimented with a renewal of his commission, and, 
 not long after, being appointed to a brigade, left 
 the colonelcy of his battalion vacant, as had been 
 originally intended, for his old Major of the Army 
 of Observation, Christopher Greene. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Howe in Motion. — Greene to Washington. — Expedition to Staten 
 Island. — Called to Council at Head-quarters. — Letters, and Ex- 
 tracts from Letters. — Foreshadowings of the Quartermaster-Gen- 
 eral. — Greene's Troops. — The Passage of the Hudson. — Letters 
 to Congress and General Mifflin. 
 
 TT seemed very strange then, and seems very 
 -^ foolish now, that Sir William Howe, after taking 
 possession of New York, on the 15th of September, 
 should have waited till the 12th of October before 
 he again put his army in motion. " Our army are 
 now so strongly fortified, and so much out of the 
 command of the shipping, w^e have little more to 
 fear this campaign," writes Greene.. With a well- 
 organized army, this would have been true ; but 
 public opinion in England demanded another vic- 
 tory ; and Howe, with forces superior in numbers, 
 equipments, and discipline, was determined to win 
 it. Could he get in the rear of the Americans, 
 and cut off their retreat, they would be compelled 
 either to fight at a disadvantage, or lay down their 
 arms. A trial of skill was evidently at hand, and 
 perhaps a trial of strength also. Greene longed 
 for a part in the struggle. "I am informed," he 
 writes on the 12th at five in the afternoon, " a large 
 body of the enemy's troops have landed at Frogg's 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 235 
 
 Point. If SO, I suppose that the troops here will 
 be wanted there. I have three brigades in readi- 
 ness to reinforce you. General Clinton's brigade 
 will march first, General Nixon's next, and then the 
 troops under command of General Roberdeau. I 
 don't apprehend any danger from this quarter at 
 present. If the force on your side are insufficient, 
 I hope these three brigades may be ordered over, 
 and I with them, and leave General Irvine's brig- 
 ade to guard the post. If the troops are wanted 
 over your side, or likely to be, in the morning, they 
 should be got over in the latter part of the night, 
 as the shipping may move up from below, and im- 
 pede, if not totally stop, the troops from passing. 
 I wait your Excellency's further commands. Should 
 be glad to know where the enemy has landed, and 
 their numbers." "The bearer will be put imme- 
 diately over the ferry," says an indorsement on the 
 envelope, signed " W. Blodget, Aide-de-camp ^ 
 
 Part of the troops were called over, but Greene 
 was not ; and, unwilling to remain an inactive spec- 
 tator of the contest, he undertook to alarm the 
 British General for the safety of his posts on Staten 
 Island. " The tents on Staten Island have been all 
 struck, as far as discovery has been made," he says 
 in a postscript to his letter of the 12th; and, act- 
 ing upon this, he planned an attack upon the post 
 at Richmond with a detachment of Mercer's men, 
 and was already within a few miles of it by eleven 
 in the evening of the 15th, when orders from 
 Washington reached him, calling him immediately 
 
236 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 to Harlem. Mercer held on towards the enemy, 
 and succeeded in surprising a party, and securing 
 twenty prisoners. "Well-disciplined troops," he 
 writes, " would have taken the whole, without the 
 loss of a man." ^ 
 
 The cause of Greene's sudden summons to head- 
 quarters was the council which had been called for 
 the next day — the 16th — at Lee's quarters. This 
 is the council in which it was determined, after 
 " much consideration and debate," and with only 
 one dissenting voice, — Clinton's, — to evacuate 
 York Island, but " retain Fort Washington as long 
 as possible." Greene, as the official minutes show,^ 
 was not present at the council, and could not, 
 therefore, have taken that part in the discussion 
 which Gordon attributes to him.^ At what time 
 he reached head-quarters is uncertain ; but on the 
 17th he writes from thence to Governor Cooke, 
 " General Howe has landed at Frogg's Point, a 
 place a few miles east of Hell Gate ; he is collect- 
 ing his force together at that place, with a view to 
 cut off* our retreat. His Excellency is making an 
 arrangement to counteract him. The troops ap- 
 pear to be in good spirits ; and I am in hopes, if 
 Howe attacks us, he will meet with a defeat. A 
 battle is daily — nay, hourly — expected. I shall 
 come in for no share of the honor or glory of the 
 day if victorious, nor shame or disgrace if defeated, 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th ^ Gordon, American Revolution, 
 Series, Vol. II. pp. 1073-1093. Vol. II. p. 338. 
 
 * See Minutes, in Force, ut sup., 
 p. 1117. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 237 
 
 my command being in New Jersey. Howe's de- 
 signs, evidently, appear to be to get in our rear to 
 cut off our supplies, and starve the army out. 
 This reduces us to the necessity of extending our 
 left wing out in the country, to preserve our com- 
 munications with the country from whence we get 
 our support. A few days may produce some events 
 important to the American interest. I was on 
 Staten Island night before last; the greater part 
 of the British troops and the Hessians are drawn 
 off to support General Howe's operations at Frogg's ' 
 Point." 
 
 An incident, trifling in itself, but interesting as 
 illustrative of the times, shows that he was at his 
 own quarters again some time in the course of the 
 17th. William Bradford, Adjutant of Hitchcock's 
 regiment, had brought off from Long Island " at 
 very great risk," a horse belonging to Jacob 
 Wycoff, an avowed Tory ; and which, but for Brad- 
 ford's energy, would have fallen into the hands of 
 the enemy. What was to be done with the horse, 
 and how was the Adjutant to be rewarded? "As 
 property belonging to Tories is not, nor ought not 
 to be, the reward of those that takes it into pos- 
 session, only under certain limitations," Greene 
 writes to the New York Convention on the 17th, 
 " I think it my duty to acquaint you that I have 
 the horse in my possession, and shall be deliv- 
 ered to your order, either to the Adjutant, as a 
 reward for his bravery, or to be sold for the 
 benefit of the State, as you may think proper. If 
 
238 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 the horse is to be sold, I should be glad of an 
 opportunity to purchase him, as I am in want of a 
 horse, mine being worn out in the service." The 
 Convention requested him to have the horse ap- 
 praised, and keep him " in your service until some 
 future determination of the Convention, or future 
 Legislature of this State, relative to the disposition 
 of the property of all such persons as have or 
 hereafter may join the enemy that may fall into 
 our hands. The bravery of the Adjutant will then 
 also be considered." ^ 
 
 When Washington selected Greene for the com- 
 mand which controlled his communications with 
 the seat of government, he evidently felt the ne- 
 cessity of having a man in it whom he could call 
 upon with confidence for other duties besides those 
 of watching the enemy or leading men to battle. 
 New duties — shadows from the Quartermaster- 
 General's department — begin to fall upon his path. 
 
 " I was at head-quarters near King's Bridge with his 
 Excellency General Washington last night/' he writes the 
 President of Congress on the 20th, from Camp Fort Lee 
 (lately Fort Constitution), " and, on leaving him, was de- 
 sired to send by express to acquaint you that the army are 
 in great want of a large supply of cartridges, which no 
 person can be spared to make ; therefore he requests that 
 you will order all that are now made up at Philadelphia 
 to be sent forward in light wagons that can travel with 
 great despatch, as they are really very much wanted ; and, 
 as none can be made up here, that persons be employed 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III. p. 251. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 239 
 
 at Philadelphia to continue at that business to furnish a 
 full supply for the army. 
 
 " Mr. Commissary Lowry is ^n great want of a supply 
 of salt, which he begs may be sent to Trenton, to enable 
 him to furnish provisions for tlie army at King's Bridge, 
 which are much wanted, and the supplies fi-om Con- 
 necticut may shortly be cut off; and I have great reason 
 to apprehend the evil will soon take place, if not wholly, 
 in part. The article of salt is essentially necessary, and 
 must be procured if possible. Fresh provisions cannot be 
 passed over without great difficulty, and the state of 
 health of the troops, from a laxed habit, requires a supply 
 of salt. Mr. Lowry mentions the Council of Safety of 
 Pennsylvania having a quantity." 
 
 Congress responds promptly to the call. 
 
 " Enclosed you have a copy," he writes to Washington 
 on the 24th, " of the letter in answer to mine to Congress 
 relative to cartridges. As soon as the cartridges come 
 up, they shall be forwarded. Colonel Biddle has written 
 to Amboy for ninety thousand that are at that post. 
 
 " We have collected all the wagons in our power, and 
 sent over. Our people have had extreme hard duty. 
 The common guards, common fatigue, and the extraor- 
 dinary guards and extraordinary fatigue, for the removal 
 of the stores and forwarding the provisions, has kept every 
 man on duty. 
 
 " General Putnam requested a party of men to rein- 
 force them at Mount Washington. I sent between two 
 and three hundred of Colonel Durkee's regiment. Please 
 to inform me whether your Excellency approves thereof. 
 
 " We shall get a sufficient quantity of provisions over 
 to-day for the garrison at Fort Washington. General 
 Mifflin thinks it not advisable to pull the barracks down 
 
240 LIFE OF NATHANAJEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 yet. He has hopes of our army returning to that ground 
 for winter quarters.^ I think this, would be running too 
 great a risk to leave them standing in expectation of such 
 an event, there being several strong fortifications in and 
 about King's Bridge. If the enemy should throw in 
 a thousand or fifteen hundred men, they could cut off our 
 communication effectually ; and, as the state of the bar- 
 racks are, they would find exceeding good cover for the 
 men. But if we were to take the barracks down, if 
 the boards were not removed, it would in a great meas- 
 ure deprive them of that advantage. However, I have 
 not had it in my power to do either as yet. 
 
 *' I have directed all the wagons that are on the other 
 side to be employed in picking up the scattered boards 
 about the encampments. I believe, from what I saw yes- 
 terday in riding over the ground, they will amount to 
 many thousands. As soon as we have got these together, 
 I purpose to begin upon the barracks. In the mean time 
 should be glad to know if your Excellency has any other 
 orders to give respecting the business. 
 
 r^ " I have directed the Commissary and Quartermaster- 
 General of this department to lay in provisions and prov- 
 ender upon the back road to Philadelphia, for twenty 
 thousand men for three months. The principal magazine 
 will be at Aquackanonck. I shall fortify it as soon as 
 possible, and secure that post and the passes to the bridge, 
 which is now repaired, and fit for an army to pass over 
 
 f with the baggage and artillery. 
 
 " I rejoice to hear of the defeat of that vile traitor, Major 
 Rogers, and his party of Tories, though I am exceeding 
 
 1 " I found little Mifflin," said Lee army still in the field ! Go set fire 
 
 to Wilkinson, " exulting in the pros- to those you have built, and get away 
 
 pect of fine winter quarters at King's by the light, or Sir William Howe 
 
 Bridge. I replied to him: * Winter will find quarters for you.'" — Wil- 
 
 quarters here, Sir? and the British kinson's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 103. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 241 
 
 sorry to hear it lost us so brave an officer as Major 
 Greene." 
 
 Bear in mind, as you read these details about 
 scattered boards, and find him so attentive to little 
 things, how sorely our army was suffering for want 
 of suitable arms and covering, and see, as you will 
 further on, how the public property was scattered 
 and lost, and you will feel the importance as well 
 as the rarity of this watchfulness. Henceforth his 
 life is filled with such things ; one great care with a 
 multitude of lesser cares grouped around it. Ob- 
 serve, too, how carefully he reports every measure 
 to Washington for approval or correction. 
 
 His own force on the 26th amounted to two 
 thousand one hundred and forty-six men of all 
 arms, present and fit for duty. Irvine's was the 
 only one of his original brigades that was left him ; 
 Roberdeau's having taken the place of Nixon's and 
 Clinton's, and McCallister's and Cloty's regiments 
 that of Bradley's and Dey's. These, too, were days 
 of intense anxiety ; and long and frequent were his 
 gazings, from his lookout on the crest of the Pali- 
 sades, up and dowm the broad and deep river that 
 flowed at their feet, and on the imperilled works 
 that crowned its eastern bank. As the British 
 army advanced, the " Whig families were seen hur- 
 rying unprotected before them, with their clothing 
 and a scanty supply of provisions, to seek shelter 
 for the coming winter, they knew not where." ^ 
 Sights like these were harder to bear than the hor- 
 
 1 Tompkins's Address, in Bolton's " Westchester," Vol, II. p. 373. 
 16 
 
242 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 rors of the battle-field, for they met the eye when 
 the blood was cool, and the mind free to take note 
 of them in all their painful reality. 
 
 Meanwhile his own regular work went steadily 
 on. Soon after the opening of the campaign, ef- 
 forts had been made to close the passage of the 
 river by means of chevauoc-de-frise and sunken 
 vessels. " I am fully of opinion," wrote Washington 
 on the 8th of September, " that by the establishing 
 of strong posts at Mount Washington, on the upper 
 part of this island, and on the Jersey side opposite 
 to it, with the assistance of the obstructions already 
 made, and which may be improved in the water, 
 not only the navigation of Hudson's River, but 
 an easier and better communication may be effect- 
 ually secured between the Northern and Southern 
 States." ^ 
 
 When these lines were written, several ships had 
 already passed up the river, in spite of the obstruc- 
 tions ; and from time to time others continued 
 to pass them, although they had been farther 
 strengthened by sinking other vessels. Early in 
 October three frigates went up apparently un- 
 harmed, a " gentleman on board one of them walk- 
 ing the second deck, seemingly in command, as if 
 nothing was the matter, and seven forts keeping a 
 constant fire at the ships." ^ Still, on several occa- 
 sions, shot had been seen to strike ; and great care, it 
 
 1 Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 82 ; and for a Series, Vol. II. p. 1025; letter of 
 description of the obstructions. Heath, Thomas Erving to the Maryland 
 pp. 47, 48. Committee of Safety. 
 
 2 Force, American Archives, 5th 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 243 
 
 was observed, was taken to keep the men, as far as 
 possible, below out of harm's way ; and in August, 
 before Fort Constitution was built, the " Phoenix " 
 and " Rose," in running down, kept close under the 
 western shore, to avoid the well-directed fire from 
 Fort Washington and the works below.-^ It was evi- 
 dent that, if the passage could not be absolutely 
 prevented, it might, at least, be rendered extremely 
 hazardous. 
 
 t " This being a critical hour," Greene writes to the Pres- 
 ident of Congress on the 28th of October, " when the hopes 
 and fears of the country and city are continually alarmed, 
 and yesterday there being a considerable heavy cannon- 
 ade most part of the day, I liave thought it advisable to 
 forward an express with the account of the action of the 
 day. The communication between this and the grand 
 division of the army is in great measure cut off; there- 
 fore it will be some time before you have any account 
 from his Excellency General Washington. 
 
 " A ship moved up the river early in the morning, 
 above our lower lines, right opposite to Fort No. 1, near 
 old head-quarters at Morris's. She began a brisk can- 
 nonade upon the shore. Colonel Magaw, who commands 
 at Fort Washington, got down an eigh teen-pounder and 
 fired sixty rounds at her ; twenty-six went through her. 
 The gun was mostly loaded with two balls. She was an- 
 noyed considerably by two eighteen-pounders from this 
 shore. Tlie confusion and distress that appeared on 
 board the ship exceeds all description. Without doubt 
 she lost a great number of men. She was towed off by 
 four boats sent from the other ships to her assistance ; 
 she slipped her cable, and left her anchor. Had the tide 
 
 1 Heath, p. 54. 
 
244 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 run flood one half-hour longer, we should have sunk her. 
 At the same time the fire from the ships began, the enemy 
 brought up their field-pieces, and made a disposition to 
 attack the lines, but Colonel Magaw had so happily dis- 
 posed and arranged his men as to put them out of conceit 
 of that manoeuvre. 
 
 " A cannonade and fire with small-arms continued al- 
 most all day with very little intermission. We lost one 
 man only. Several of the enemy were killed ; two or 
 three our people got and brought off the field, and sev- 
 eral more were left there. The firing ceased last evening, 
 and has not been renewed this morning. 
 
 " General Washington and General Howe are very 
 near neighbors. Some decisive stroke is hourly expected. 
 God grant it may be a happy one ! The troops are in 
 good spirits, and in every engagement since the retreat 
 from New York have given the enemy a drubbing." 
 
 Part of this description had found a place in a 
 letter of the preceding day to General Mifflin, and 
 it is impossible to mistake the cheerful undertone 
 which runs through both letters. 
 
 "• By Major Howell you will receive one hundred and 
 nineteen thousand musket cartridges. Part arrived to- 
 day and part last night. As soon as the remainder comes 
 up from Amboy and Philadelphia, they shall be sent for- 
 ward. I have been to view the roads again, and fixed 
 upon Aquackanonck, Springfield, Bound Brook, Prince- 
 town, and Trentown, to establish the magazines at Tren- 
 town and Aquackanonck to be the principal ones, the 
 others only to serve to support the troops in passing from 
 one to the other. They are all inland posts, and I hope 
 the stores will be secure. I have ordered all the cannon 
 from Amboy, except two eighteen-pounders and two field- 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 245 
 
 pieces. I have directed them to be sent to Springfield, 
 Bound Brook, and Aquackanonck, to secure the stores. 
 
 *' The people have been employed on the other side in 
 getting the boards together at Fort Washington and the 
 ferry. Some have been brought from King's Bridge. 
 To-day I sent up to Colonel Lasher to know what assist- 
 ance he could give towards taking down the barracks and 
 bringing off the boards ; and had for answer that he had 
 orders to burn the barracks, quit the post, and join the 
 army by the way of the North River at the White Plains. 
 
 " We have had a considerable skirmish on York Island 
 to-day. The cannonade began in the morning and held 
 until evening, with very short intermissions. A ship 
 moved up opposite Fort No. 1. Colonel Magaw got 
 down an eighteen-pounder, and fired sixty shot at her, 
 twenty-six of which went into her. She slipped her cable 
 and left her anchor, and was towed off by four boats. I 
 think we must have killed a considerable number of their 
 men, as the confusion and distress exceeded all descrip- 
 tion. Our artillery behaved incomparably well. Colonel 
 Magaw is charmed with their conduct in firing at the ship 
 and in the field. I left the island at three o'clock this 
 afternoon. We had lost but one man ; he was killed by 
 a shell that fell upon his head. We have brought off 
 some of the enemy from the field of battle, and more are 
 still lying on the ground dead." 
 
 And here it may be well to observe that, though 
 Greene was the superior officer on the spot, and 
 evidently, by the tone of his letter, regarded this 
 brisk little affair as a very creditable one, he gives 
 all the credit of it to Magaw. Magaw got down 
 the eighteen-pounder. Magaw made the judicious 
 distribution of the troops. Magaw was " charmed 
 
246 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 with the conduct (of the artillerymen) in firing at 
 the ship and in the field." Had he not mentioned 
 the fact of his leaving the island at three, one 
 would have supposed that he was copying Magaw's 
 report instead of making his own. We shall find 
 him still keeping his own name in the background 
 and putting other names forward, when greater 
 things than this were to be told. 
 
 " I am anxious," he continues in the same letter, " to 
 know the state of the troops in the grand army, whether 
 they are high or low spirited, whether well or ill posted, 
 whether a battle is expected or not. We must govern 
 our operations by yours. The troops here and on the 
 other side are in good spirits ; but I fear quitting Fort 
 Independence will oblige Magaw to draw his forces into 
 the garrison, as the enemy will have a passage open upon 
 his back. I fear it will damp the spirits of his troops. 
 He did not expect it so soon. If the barracks are not 
 burnt in the morning, and the enemy don't press too hard 
 upon us, we will try to get aw^y some of the boards." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Letters to Washington. — Barracks at Fort Independence burnt. — 
 Letters to Washington. —Letter to Mrs. Greene. — John Clark to 
 General Greene." — The Group at Fort Lee. — Harrison to Greene. 
 
 rpHE tide of war was slowly turning northward, 
 -*- drawing as it rolled on a thick screen of wood- 
 ed hills between Fort Lee and the main army. 
 "Little skirmishes," says a letter from Fort Lee, 
 " happen almost every day, but they are thought so 
 little of that they are seldom mentioned as news." ^ 
 Meanwhile, Greene's work continues, — incessant 
 watchfulness for the present, careful preparation 
 for the uncertain contingencies of the future. 
 
 " Enclosed," he writes Washington on the 29th, " is an 
 estimate made of the provisions and provender necessary 
 to be laid in at the different posts between this and 
 Philadelphia, to form a communication, and for the sup- 
 port of the troops passing and repassing from the different 
 States. 
 
 '' Your Excellency will please to examine it and signify 
 your pleasure. Should the estimate be larger than is 
 necessary for the consumption of the army, very little or 
 no loss can arise, as the articles will be laid in at a season 
 when the prices of things are at the lowest rates, and the 
 situations will admit of an easy transportation to market 
 by water." 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. II. p. 1239. 
 
248 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 See how the New England education crops out 
 in this last sentence. Washington observed it, no 
 doubt; and, taking its place in his cautious mind by 
 the side of many previous and still more subse- 
 quent observations, it worked that conviction in 
 him which, a year and a half later, led him to force 
 the Quartermaster-Generalship on Greene's reluc- 
 tant acceptance. 
 
 " The ships," Greene continues, " have fallen down the 
 North River, and the troops which advanced upon Har- 
 lem Plains, and on the hill where the Monday's action 
 was, have drawn within their lines again. 
 
 " I received the prisoners taken, and have forwarded 
 them to Philadelphia. I enclose you a return of the 
 troops at this post, who are chiefly raw and undisci- 
 plined." 
 
 Next morning, at three o'clock, as the sentinel 
 looked out from the rampart of Fort Lee, he saw 
 a sudden glare lighting up the wooded heights of 
 Tettard's and Valentine's hills, and casting a lurid 
 gleam on the still waters of the Spuyten Devil. 
 The barracks around Fort Independence were all 
 ablaze. Greene hurried across the river to examine 
 the ground and see what could be saved. 
 
 " Colonel Lasher burnt the barracks yesterday morning 
 at three o'clock," he writes Washington on the 29th ; 
 " he left all the cannon in the fort. I went out to ex- 
 amine the ground, and found between two and three 
 hundred stand of small-arms (that were out of repair), 
 about two miles beyond King's Bridge, a great number of 
 spears, shot, shells, &c., too numerous to mention. I 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 249 
 
 directed all tlie wagons on the other side to be employed 
 in getting tlie stores away, and expect to. get it com- 
 pleted this morning. I forgot to mention five tons of bar 
 iron tliat was left. I am sorry the barracks were not left 
 standing a few days longer ; it would have given us an 
 opportunity to have got off some of the boards. 
 
 *' I think Fort Independence might have kept the 
 enemy at bay several days, but the troops here and on the 
 other side are so much fatigued that it must have been a 
 work of time. 
 
 " Colonel Magaw showed me a letter from Colonel 
 Reed, ordering the Rangers to march and join the army. 
 Major Coburn was wounded in the Sunday action. Col- 
 onel Magaw says the Rangers are the only security to 
 his lines. By keeping out constant patrols, their ac- 
 quaintance with the ground enables them to discover the 
 enemy's motions in every quarter. The Colonel petitions 
 very hard for their stay. I told him I would send an ex- 
 press to learn your Excellency's further pleasure. The 
 Colonel thinks, if the Rangers leave him, he must draw 
 the garrison in from the lines. That would be a pity, as 
 the redoubts is not yet in any great forwardness. From the 
 Sunday affair, I am more fully convinced that we can 
 prevent any ships from stopping the communication. 
 
 " I have forwarded eighty thousand musket cartridges 
 more under the care of a subaltern's guard, commanded 
 by Lieutenant Pembleton, of Colonel Railing's regiment. 
 
 " This moment heard of the action of yesterday. Can 
 learn no particulars. God grant you protection and suc- 
 cess ! Colonel Crawford says he expects the action to be 
 renewed this morning. I hope to be commanded where- 
 ever I can be most useful." 
 
 The enemy were again within sight, but it was 
 difficult to divine their intentions. Greene was 
 
250 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 beginning to feel anxious about Fort Washington, 
 which, although the works were under the charge 
 of General Putnam/ he felt, from its connection 
 with Fort Lee, in some degree responsible for. 
 
 " The enemy have possession of Fort Independence, on 
 the heights above King's Bridge," he writes to Washing- 
 ton on the 31st. *' They made their appearance the night 
 before last ; we had got everything of value away. The 
 bridges are cut down. I gave Colonel Magaw orders to 
 stop the road between the mountains. 
 
 " I should be glad to know your Excellency's mind 
 about holding all the ground from King's Bridge to the 
 lower lines. If we attempt to hold the ground, the gar- 
 rison must still be reinforced ; but if the garrison is only 
 to draw into Mount Washington, and keep that, the num- 
 ber of troops is too large. 
 
 " We are not able to determine, with any certainty, 
 whether the troops that have taken post above King's 
 Bridge are the same troops or not that were in and about 
 Harlem several days past. They disappeared from below 
 all at once ; and some little time after, about fifty boats, 
 full of men, were seen going up towards Hunt's Point ; 
 and that evening, the enemy were discovered at Fort 
 Independence. We suspect them to be the same troops 
 that were engaged in the Sunday skirmish. Six officers, 
 belonging to privateers that were taken by the enemy, 
 made their escape last night. They inform me that they 
 were taken by the last fleet that came in. They had about 
 six thousand foreign troops on board, one quarter of which 
 had the black scurvy, and died very fast. 
 
 " Seventy sail of transports and ships fell down to Red 
 
 1 Orders of the day, Head-quar- Force, American Archives, 5th Series, 
 ters, Harlem Heights, Oct. 14, 1776, Vol. II. p. 1118. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 251 
 
 Hook. They were bound for Rhode Island ; had on board 
 about three thousand troops. They also inform that, 
 after the Sunday action, an officer of distinction was 
 brought into the city, badly wounded. 
 
 " The ships have come up the river to their station 
 again, a little below their lines. Several deserters from 
 Powley's Hook have come over. They all report that 
 General Howe is wounded, as did those from the fleet. 
 It appears to be a prevailing opinion in the land and sea 
 service. 
 
 " I forwarded your Excellency a return of the troops 
 at this post, and a copy of a plan for establishing maga- 
 zines. I could wish to know your pleasure as to the mag- 
 azines as soon as possible. 
 
 ''I shall reinforce Colonel Magaw with Colonel Rai- 
 ling's regiment, until I hear from your Excellency respect- 
 ing the matter. 
 
 " The motions of the grand army will best determine 
 the propriety of endeavoring to hold all the ground from 
 King's Bridge to the lower lines. I shall be as much on 
 the Island of York as possible, so as not to neglect the 
 duties of my own department. I can learn no satisfactory 
 account of the action of the other day." 
 
 One of the questions of this letter deserves par- 
 ticular attention : " I should be glad to know your 
 Excellency's mind about holding all the ground 
 from King's Bridge to the lines." We shall see by 
 and by what Washington answered. The earnest, 
 watchful soldier paints himself well in these let- 
 ters, written in the intervals of other duties, and 
 making his daily life, like Washington's, a ceaseless 
 passing to and fro from the saddle to the desk, and 
 from the desk to the saddle. The thoughts, too, pass 
 
252 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 directly from his mind to his paper ; and the events 
 and rumors and conjectures of the day come be- 
 fore us, as they came before him, with the freshness 
 of a present existence about them. But of the indi- 
 vidual life — the husband, the friend, the man who 
 loved books and thirsted after knowledge — we 
 get, in these busy days, but two precious glimpses. 
 The first is in a letter of the 2d of November to 
 his wife : — 
 
 " I embrace this opportunity to write you by Bill Hul- 
 burt, who has got dismission from the service on account 
 of his ill state of health. I am now very hearty, and busi- 
 ness enough. I am separated from the grand army, and 
 can have no communication without going seventy miles. 
 We had a little action on York Island on Sunday last. 
 We drove the enemy away, and gave one of their ships a 
 severe drubbing. There was an engagement in tlie grand 
 army, of one brigade. Our loss amounted to about four 
 hundred killed, wounded, and taken prisoners ; the ene- 
 my's unknown, but it is judged near as many again as 
 ours. Our troops are in good spirits, and take a great 
 number of the enemy by scouting parties. I hold all the 
 ground on York Island, in spite of the enemy. Colonel 
 Magaw commands the garrison, — a fine officer. The 
 enenjy are at King's Bridge, and on the ground where 
 you met with the insult from the tavern-keeper. Colonel 
 Bedford lodges with me, and wants you to come and go 
 to Philadelphia ; but, as things are, I can't advise it. 
 Colonel Biddle, a gentleman from Philadelphia, Quarter- 
 master-General, is continually urging me to send for you 
 to go to the city, and spend some weeks with his lady. 
 Were you here, I should readily agree ; but, as you are 
 at home in peace, I cannot recommend you to come on to 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 253 
 
 this troublesome part of America. Billy is captain of my 
 guard. I have recommended him to the Assembly for a 
 lieutenancy in the new army. He lias got hearty and well 
 again, and is desirous of continuing in the service. Ma- 
 jor Blodget is quite fat, and lauglis all day. Common 
 Sense (Tom Paine) and Colonel Snarl, or Cornwell, are 
 perpetually wrangling about mathematical problems. Ma- 
 jor Livingston is sick, and gone home. I wish you well 
 and happy, and am affectionately yours." 
 
 The other we gain bj a letter of John Clark, 
 Jr., a spirited young Pennsylvanian, Major in 
 McCallister's battalion, who won so upon Greene's 
 good opinion that he afterwards took him into 
 his family as an aid. He writes from Mr. Law- 
 rence's, at Rockland, on the 8th of November, 
 in a delicate, lady's hand, that contrasts strangely 
 with the military details that fill the first page and 
 a half of his letter : — 
 
 " I 've ordered," he says in the last half-page, " a fish- 
 erman to catch a few pike ; hope to have the pleasure of 
 presenting you with a mess very soon. I thank you for 
 your good advice in reminding me of my duty, and hope 
 I won't depart from it, when 1 send you the fish and the 
 service not injured. Pray tell Major Blodget there is a 
 fine pond to employ his angling in, and that I think an 
 exercise of this kind will be conducive to his health." 
 And in the postscript, " Pray don't forget to send for 
 Beccaria on ' Crimes and Punishments ' for me, and fur- 
 nish me with Sterne's ' Sentimental Journal.' I '11 take 
 care of it, and return it safe." 
 
 It is impossible not to wish that we knew more 
 about the little circle of which these letters give 
 
254 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. ' [1776. 
 
 US such a tantalizing glimpse. Greene's face had 
 not yet taken that anxious and careworn expres- 
 sion which the Quartermaster-General's depart- 
 ment gave it.^ He was fond of conversation, was 
 a good listener, and particularly skilful in intro- 
 ducing the subjects upon which he wished to draw 
 out the opinions of his company. But duty pressed 
 hard upon him ; and, much as he loved conversa- 
 tion, he loved reading still more. We can easily 
 imagine him seated by his little desk, with his pen 
 or his book, sometimes absorbed in the work in 
 hand, sometimes raising his eye from the printed 
 or the written page to listen for a few moments 
 to the conversation, or throw in a few suggestive 
 words. Paine was not yet Tom Paine the drunk- 
 ard, or the author of the "Age of Keason," but the 
 great pamphleteer of the Revolution. " The writer 
 of ' Common Sense ' and the ' Forrester ' is the same 
 person," writes John Adams to his wife. " His 
 name is Paine, a gentleman about two years ago 
 from England, — a man who. General Lee says, has 
 genius in his eyes." ^ Washington, too, speaks of 
 " the sound doctrine and unanswerable reasonings 
 contained in the pamphlet ' Common Sense,' " ^ 
 and of the "powerful change which it was work- 
 ing in the minds of many men" in Virginia.^ 
 Clement Biddle was a Philadelphian, two years 
 older than Greene, and, like him, of a Quaker 
 
 1 I was told of this expression of ^ Letters of John Adams to his 
 
 his face by the late Mrs. Sands, whose Wife, Vol. I. p. 105. 
 
 name will be met with more than once ^ Sparks, Vol. III. p. 276. 
 
 in these pages as Miss Lett. * Sparks, Vol. III. p. 347. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 255 
 
 family, and a Quaker by education. His reputation 
 for mercantile skill and integrity had procured him 
 an early appointment on the staff, with which he 
 remained connected till 1780, living all the while 
 in close intimacy with Greene, and enjoying the 
 full confidence of Washington. Familiarity with 
 good society and a genial temperament made him 
 as pleasant a companion in camp as his higher 
 qualities of mind and character made him a useful 
 assistant in the serious duties of his difficult and 
 responsible department. John Clark, Jr., must 
 have been a pleasant companion, too. To him 
 Greene was drawn by their common love of knowl- 
 edge; and it must have been no small source of 
 gratification to the commander to discover in his 
 young subordinate much of the same spirit to 
 which he owed his own advancement in life, and be 
 able by his counsels to repay as it were, through 
 him, some portion of the debt he owed his own 
 early friend and guide, — Dr. Stiles. Samuel 
 "Ward, Jr., we already know. He was now a 
 prisoner on parole, fresh from Canada, and able to 
 tell, if he had been less unwilling to speak of him- 
 self, thrilling stories of the wild and perilous ex- 
 pedition to Quebec. Hugh Mercer, too, the Scotch- 
 man, was often there, the oldest soldier of them 
 all, who could tell of the still wilder scenes amid 
 which he first met Washington, — how he had seen 
 him ride backward and forward over the fatal field 
 of the Monongahela, untouched by the bullets that 
 were striking down some comrade with every fresh 
 
256 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 discharge from the deadly rifles of their unseen 
 foe, until, of all the gallant band of officers who 
 had marched out that bright morning in the pride 
 and fulness of their strength, he was the only one 
 who came from the battle unwounded. Mercer 
 could also tell how, spent with exertion and loss 
 of blood, he had hidden himself under the trunk 
 of a fallen tree, over w^hich one of the victorious 
 Indians had passed in pursuit of him; what a re- 
 freshing draught he had drunk from a little brook, 
 the first refreshment since the dawn of that dis- 
 astrous day ; and how, in the extremity of his hun- 
 ger, he had killed and eaten a rattlesnake, and 
 fancied it a delicious morsel. But liveliest, wit- 
 tiest, merriest of all the group was young William 
 Blodget, of Providence ; first Greene's secretary 
 and then his aid, too amiable not to be loved, too 
 volatile to love himself wisely, but whose laugh 
 always rang out fresh and clear, and who was 
 always ready with his pen to sketch figures and 
 groups, and make his companions laugh by a kind 
 of hieroglyphics of his own, in which part of the 
 words were written out, and part symbolized by 
 figures and objects. But these intervals of social 
 relaxation were few, and seldom free from inter- 
 ruption. An officer would come in for orders, or 
 an orderly perhaps, with a letter fresh from head- 
 quarters, in the familiar hand of Washington, or 
 of Harrison, Washington's trusted aid ; and Greene, 
 turning to his desk, would be instantly absorbed in 
 his work. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 257 
 
 " Colonel Harrison wrote me you were in great want 
 of flour," he writes to Washington from King's Ferry on the 
 5th. " 'T is attended with very great difficulty to bring it 
 up from Fort Lee by land. Wagons can't be got to trans- 
 port a sufficient supply for your army. At Dobbs's Ferry 
 there are eight or nine hundred barrels, brought from 
 the other side. I have directed Colonel Tupper to load 
 a number of the pettyaugers and flat-bottomed boats, 
 and send them up to Peekskill. Our troops are so ar- 
 ranged along shore I am in hopes to keep a passage open 
 for this mode of conveyance. If it can be done, it will 
 save an amazing expense. 
 
 " I found everything in this place in the utmost confu- 
 sion ; the wagons and flour detained for want of boats 
 and assistance to transport them over. I shall send Cap- 
 tain Fond hither as soon as I get back, to take charge of 
 the public stores here and to transport the things across. 
 Colonel Tupper is to convey the pettyaugers by the ships ; 
 and if the barges are manned, the boats are to be run on 
 shore, and Major Clark, who commands a party opposite 
 the ships, is to protect them. I shall attempt to trans- 
 port stores from Burdett's Ferry if the enemy make no 
 new disposition. The utmost care shall be taken that 
 nothing falls into the enemy's hands. 
 
 " I am informed by Colonel Harrison that your Excel- 
 lency approves of the plan for forming the magazines. 
 I have directed the commissaries of the department to lay 
 in the provisions as fast as possible, and the Quarter- 
 master-General is exerting himself to lay in provender. 
 
 " Many of our people have got into huts. The tents 
 are sent forward as fast as tlie people get their huts 
 complete. 
 
 " Should this ferry be wanted through the winter, the 
 landing must be altered. I can, by altering the road, 
 shorten the distance two miles ; one by land, the other by 
 17 
 
258 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREEXE. [1776. 
 
 water. Where it now is, it freezes very soon ; where I pro- 
 pose it, it is open all winter. 
 
 " lam now in the State of New York, and am informed by 
 Colonel Hawkes Hay that tlie militia which he commands 
 refuse to do duty. They say that General Howe has prom- 
 ised them peace, liberty, and safety, and that is all they 
 want. What is to be done with them? This spirit and 
 temper should be checked in its infancy. I purpose to 
 send the Colonel about fifty men, and have directed the 
 Colonel to acquaint them, if they refuse to do duty agreea- 
 ble to the orders of the State, that I will send up a regi- 
 ment here, and march them to Fort Lee to do duty 
 there. I beg your Excellency's further advice. 
 
 "I am informed the Virginia regiments are coming on. 
 I wish I could form a party sufficiently strong to make 
 a little diversion in the reap of the enemy by the way of 
 King's Bridge. The Hessians have relaid the bridge and 
 been across ; but yesterday morning, I believe, they all 
 went back again. What does your Excellency think of 
 such a manoeuvre ? Is it practicable ? has it the ap- 
 pearance of being successful if attempted and well con- 
 ducted ? 
 
 " We have a flying report that General Gates has de- 
 feated Burgoyne. We also hear that a party of Hessians 
 has deserted over to us. I wish to know the truth of 
 both reports. 
 
 " All things were quiet at Fort Lee and York Island 
 yesterday at noon. 
 
 " The people seem to be much alarmed at Philadelphia 
 from the success of the enemy. The country is greatly 
 alarmed at having their grain and hay burnt, yet I believe 
 it will answer a most valuable purpose : I wish it had 
 been sooner agreed upon. 
 
 ** I am informed Hugh Gaine, the printer, is gone into 
 New York. I have ordered all the boats stove from Bur- 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 259 
 
 dett's Ferry to Hobuck, and from Powley's Hook to Ber- 
 gen Point, to stop the communication. There is a vile 
 generation here as well as with you. The committee 
 from Philadelphia for inquiring into the state of the army 
 complains that enlisting orders are not given out. Please 
 to let me know your pleasure." 
 
 While Greene was writing these lines, Harrison, 
 by Washington's order, was answering the question 
 asked in the letter of the 30th October about 
 holding " the grounds between King's Bridge and 
 the lower lines." 
 
 *' It depends," he says, " upon so many circumstances 
 that it is impossible for him (Washington) to determine 
 the point. He submits entirely to your discretion and 
 such judgment as you will be able to form from the 
 enemy's movements, and the whole complexion of things. 
 He says you know the original design was to garrison 
 the works, and preserve the lower lines as long as they 
 can be kept, that the communication across the river 
 might be open to us, at the same time tliat the enemy 
 should be prevented from having a passage up and down 
 the river for their ships." ^ 
 
 1 Force, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III. p. 519. 
 
CHAP TEE XI. 
 
 Movements of the Enemy. — Magaw on the Alert. — Greene to Wash- 
 ington. — Harrison to Greene. — Washington to Greene. — Greene 
 to Washington. — Preparations for Defence. — Letters to and from 
 Greene. — Washington at Fort Lee. — Fall of Fort Washington. 
 
 TT^ARLY in the morning of that same day, the 
 ■^-^ 5th of November, the enemy " made a sudden 
 and unexpected movement from the several posts 
 they had taken in front of the Americans." ^ Wash- 
 ington had foiled them by superior generalship. 
 Even Lee was satisfied. " TFe," he writes Franklin 
 on the 6th, " have by proper positions brought Mr. 
 Howe to his ne plus ultra" ^ " The design of this 
 manoeuvre," writes Washington, "is a matter of 
 much conjecture and speculation, and cannot be 
 accounted for with any degree of certainty."^ 
 Washington's conjecture proved the true one. "I 
 expect the enemy will bend their force against 
 Fort Washington, and invest it immediately. From 
 some advices, it is an object that will attract their 
 earliest attention." * 
 
 Magaw was on the alert. " We have just now 
 discovered," he writes to Greene on the 7th, " that 
 
 1 Washington to President of Con- ^ Washington to President of Con- 
 gress, Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 157. gress, ut sup. 
 
 2 Force, American Archives, 5th * Washington, ut sup. 
 Series, Vol. II. p. 541. 
 
1776] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 261 
 
 the enemy have brought down about forty sail to 
 Morrisania Point, ten of which are ships. By this, 
 I imagine they are retreating, and intend to pay 
 us a visit. This forenoon we discovered several 
 English officers on the Plains on this side King's 
 Bridge. We conjecture they had come from the 
 grand army. We have made a bad exchange for 
 Hutchinson's regiment, at least in point of num- 
 bers : we have great need of the one hundred and 
 twenty from them. Perhaps you can visit us in 
 the morning. The Hessians continue intrenching 
 on the heights on this side King's Bridge." " Col- 
 onel Cadwallader," says the postscript, " has dis- 
 covered twenty-three topsail vessels."^ 
 
 But, farther north. New Jersey seemed their im- 
 mediate object. 
 
 " By an express from Major Clarke, stationed at Dobbs's 
 Ferry," Greene writes to Washington on the 7th, " I find 
 the enemy are encamped right opposite, to the number of 
 between three and five thousand ; and the Major adds, 
 from their disposition and search after boats, they design 
 to cross the river. A frigate and two transports or pro- 
 vision-ships passed the chevaux-de-frise night before last ; 
 they were prodigiously shattered from the fire of our 
 cannon. The same evening, Colonel Tupper attempted 
 passing the ships with the pettyaugers loaded with flour. 
 The enemy manned several barges, two tenders, and a 
 row-galley, and attacked them. Our people ran the petty- 
 augers ashore, and landed and defended them. The 
 enemy attempted to land several times, but were repulsed. 
 The fire lasted about an hour and a half, and the enemy 
 
 1 Greene Papers, MSS. 
 
262 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 moved off. Colonel Tapper still thinks he can transport 
 the provisions in flatboats. A second attempt shall be 
 speedily made. We lost one. 
 
 " General Mercer writes me the Virginia troops are 
 coming on. They are now at Trentown. He proposes 
 an attack on* Staten Island ; but the motions of the 
 enemy are such I think necessary for them to come for- 
 ward as fast as possible. On York Island, the enemy 
 have taken possession of the far hill nearest to Spuyten 
 Devil. I think they will not be able to penetrate any far- 
 ther. There appears to be about fifteen hundred of 
 them. From the enemy's motions, I should be apt to sus- 
 pect they were retreating from your army, or altering 
 their operations. 
 
 '' Mr. Lovell, who at last is enlarged from his confine- 
 ment, reports that Colonel Allen, his fellow-prisoner, was 
 informed that transports were getting in readiness, to sail 
 at a moment's warning, sufficient to transport fifteen 
 thousand men. 
 
 " The officers of Colonel Hand's regiment are here 
 with enlisting orders. The officers of the Pennsylvania 
 regiments think it a grievance (such of them as are com- 
 missioned for the new establishment) that the officers of 
 other regiments should have the privilege of enlisting 
 their men before they get orders. I have stopped it until 
 I learn your Excellency's pleasure. General Irvine is 
 very much opposed to it. You '11 please to favor me with 
 a line on the subject." 
 
 On the 7th, also, Washington had heard of the 
 passage of other ships through the chevaux-de-frise. 
 
 " His Excellency," writes Harrison on that day, ''just 
 now received intelligence that three of the enemy's ships 
 passed the chevaux-de-frise yesterday, or the day before. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 263 
 
 When he considers this event, with the present disposition 
 of the enemy, who have advanced towards the North 
 River, he apprehends that they have something in view 
 that we are not apprised of. He wishes you to post 
 parties of observation at every place on the Jersey side of 
 the North River where they can land, to watch their 
 motions ; and upon the least appearance of their collect- 
 ing boats, or making any disposition to embark, that they 
 will give him the earliest notice." ^ 
 
 On the following day Washington himself wrote 
 to Greene : — 
 
 " The late passage of three vessels up the North River, 
 of which we have just received advice, is so plain a proof 
 of the inefficacy of all the obstructions we have thrown 
 into it that I cannot but think it will fully justify a 
 change in the disposition that has been made. If we can- 
 not prevent vessels from passing up, and the enemy is 
 possessed of the surrounding country, what valuable 
 purpose can it answer to attempt to hold a post from 
 which the expected benefit cannot be had ? I am therefore 
 inclined to think that it will not be prudent to hazard the 
 men and stores at Mount Washington ; but, as you are on 
 the spot, I leave it to you to give such orders as to evac- 
 uating Mount Washington as you may judge best, and so 
 far revoking the order given to Colonel Magaw to defend 
 it to the last." ^ 
 
 This letter reached Greene on the 9th, and he 
 immediately answered it. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter of the 8th this moment 
 came to hand. I shall forward the letter to General 
 Stevens by express. The stores at Dobbs's Ferry, I had 
 just given orders to the quartermaster to prepare wag- 
 
 1 Greene Papers, Letters to Gen- ^ Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 164. 
 eral Greene, 1776. 
 
264 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 ons to remove them. I think the enemy will meet with 
 some difficulty in crossing the river at Dobbs's Ferry. 
 However, it is not best to trust too much to the expected 
 difficulties they may meet there. 
 
 " By the letter that will accompany this, and was to 
 have gone last night by Major Mifflin, your Excellency 
 will see what measures I took before your favor came to 
 hand. The passing of the ships up the river is, to be sure, 
 a full proof of the insufficiency of the obstructions in the 
 river to stop the ships from going up ; but that garrison 
 employs double the men to invest it that we have to oc- 
 cupy it. They must keep troops at King's Bridge to 
 prevent a communication with the country ; and they 
 dare not leave a very small number, for fear our people 
 should attack them. 
 
 " Upon the whole, I cannot help thinking the garrison 
 is of advantage ; and I cannot conceive the garrison to be 
 in any great danger. The men can be brought off at any 
 time, but the stores may not be so easily removed ; yet I 
 think they can be got off in spite of them, if matters grow 
 desperate. This post is of no importance only in con- 
 junction with Mount Washington. I was over there last 
 evening. The enemy seem to be disposing matters to be- 
 siege the place ; but Colonel Magaw thinks it will take 
 them till December expires before they can carry it. If 
 the enemy do not find it an object of importance, they will 
 not trouble themselves about it ; if they do, it is an open 
 proof they feel an injury from our possessing it. Our 
 giving it up will open a free communication with the 
 country by the way of King's Bridge, that must be a 
 great advantage to them and injury to us." 
 
 In the same letter of the 8th, Washington had 
 written : — 
 
 ** The best accounts obtained of the enemy assure us of 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. > 265 
 
 a considerable movement among their boats last evening; 
 and, so far as can be collected from the various sources of 
 intelligence, they must design a penetration into Jersey, 
 and to fall down upon your post. You will therefore 
 immediately have all the stores removed whicli you do 
 not deem necessary for your defence ; and, as the enemy 
 have drawn great relief from the forage and provisions 
 which they have found in the country, and which our ten- 
 derness spared, you will do well to prevent their receiving 
 any fresh supplies there by destroying them, if the inhab- 
 itants will not drive off their stock and remove their h^y 
 and grain in time. Experience has shown that a contrary 
 conduct is not of the least advantage tQ the poor inhabit- 
 ants^ from whom all their effects of every kind are taken, 
 without distinction and without the least satisfaction. 
 
 " Troops are filing off from hence as fast as our situa- 
 tion and circumstances will admit, in order to be trans- 
 ported over the river with all expedition." 
 
 " If the enemy crosses the river," answered Greene, 
 " I shall follow your Excellency's advice respecting the 
 cattle and forage. Those measures, however cruel in ap- 
 pearance, were ever my maxims of war in defence of a 
 
 country. In attacking, they would be very improper 
 
 I shall collect our whole strength and watch the motions 
 of the enemy, and pursue such measures for the future 
 as circumstances may render necessary. 
 
 " As I have your Excellency's permission, I shall order 
 General Stephen on as far as Aquackanonck, at least. 
 That is an important pass. I am fortifying it as fast as 
 possible." 
 
 Part of the army was now crossing the Hudson 
 at King's Ferry, and it was evident that the 
 enemy's plans would soon be known. Washington, 
 too, would soon be at Fort Lee. Meanwhile letters 
 
266 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 continued to pass constantly between him and 
 Greene. 
 
 " Your Excellency's favor by Colonel Harrison of the 
 8th," Greene writes on the 10th from Fort Lee, " came 
 to hand last evening. I am taking every measure in my 
 power to oppose the enemy's landing, if they attempt 
 crossing the river into the Jerseys. I have about five 
 hundred men posted at the different passes in the moun- 
 tains fortifying. About five hundred more are marching 
 from Amboy directly for Dobbs's Ferry. General Mercer 
 is with me now. I shall send him up to take command 
 of these immediately. I have directed the Quarter- 
 master-General to have everything moved out of the 
 enemy's way, particularly cattle, carriages, hay and grain. 
 The flour at Dobbs's Ferry is all moved from that place ; 
 and I have directed wagons to transport it to Clarke's 
 and Orange towns. I was at Dobbs's Ferry last night ; left 
 it at sundown ; saw no new movement of the enemy. 
 The enemy landed from on board the ships many bales of 
 goods, supposed to be clothing. I am sure the enemy 
 cannot land at Dobbs's Ferry, it will be so hedged up by 
 night. The flats run oif a great distance ; they can't 
 get near the shore with their ships. If the enemy in- 
 tends to effect a landing at all, they '11 attempt it at 
 Naiac's, or Haverstraw Bay. I wish these intelligences 
 may not be calculated to deceive us. Methinks if the 
 enemy intended crossing the river, they would not give us 
 several days to prepare to oppose them. They might 
 have taken their measures, lain concealed until they had 
 got everything in readiness to cross the river,* and then 
 effected it at once. It might have been so much easier 
 accomplished that way than it can now, and so many 
 more advantages obtained in getting possession of the 
 grain, hay, cattle, wagons, and horses, that I cannot help 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 267 
 
 suspecting it to be only a feint to lead our attention astray. 
 I wish it may not turn out so. However, I shall exert 
 myself as much to be in readiness as if they had actually 
 landed, and make the same disposition to oppose them as 
 if I was certain they intended to cross. 
 
 '* I shall keep a good, intelligent officer at Bergen, and 
 another at Ball's Ferry, to watcli the motions of the ships. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter to General Putnam this 
 moment came to hand. I have ordered the Quarter- 
 master-General to send off all the superfluous stores, and 
 the commissaries to hold themselves in readiness to pro- 
 vide for the troops at Dobbs's Ferry and Haverstraw Bay. 
 
 " I have wrote to Colonel Hawkes Hay to have the 
 road altered at King's Ferry. I directed Colonel Tupper 
 to send up to that ferry all the spare boats. I had given 
 orders for collecting and scuttling the boats before your 
 Excellency's letter came to hand on the subject. Our 
 numbers are small for the duty we have to go through ; 
 but I hope our exertions may be in some proportion to 
 your Excellency's expectation. Sixty or seventy sail of 
 shipping from Frogg's Point and Morrisania have fallen 
 down the East River to New York. 
 
 " In my next I will enclose your Excellency a return 
 of the stores of all kinds at this post, and take your fur- 
 ther directions as to the disposition of them." 
 
 On the 11th important intelligence was brought 
 in by Justice Mercerau, of Staten Island. Greene 
 communicated it to Washington the same day, and 
 on the next to the President of Congress. 
 
 " Your favor of the 4th and 5th of this instant," he 
 writes the President, " came duly to hand. You may de- 
 pend upon my transmitting to Congress every piece of intel- 
 ligence that comes to hand that is worthy of their notice. 
 
 " By one Justice Mercerau, a gentleman that fled from 
 
268 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 Staten Island, I am informed that there are ten thousand 
 troops embarked for South Carolina, to be commanded 
 by Lord Dunmore. This intelligence he obtained by a 
 gentleman yesterday from the city of New York, — a man 
 of credit and truth. Mercerau is a very good friend to 
 the cause and a sensible man, and he says from several 
 ways this account is confirmed. Perhaps the number is 
 not so great as reported. Mercerau further informs me 
 that a large fleet are at the watering-place on Long or 
 Staten Island, all ready to sail for England. It is re- 
 ported the fleet consists of one hundred sail. 
 
 " By several accounts of different people from the city, 
 it appears our prisoners are in a very suffering situation. 
 Humanity requires that something should be done for 
 them. They have only half allowance of bread and 
 water ; but this, I suppose, is exaggerated. 
 
 " The enemy at Dobbs's Ferry, wliere they have lain 
 several days past, decamped this morning at nine o'clock, 
 and took the road towards King's Bridge. They made an 
 appearance at the ferry, as if they intended to cross the 
 river. I believe they are disappointed in their expecta- 
 tions, and at a loss what measures to pursue. 
 
 " We have had several skirmishes with the Hessians on 
 York Island within a few days ; killed and wounded be- 
 tween thirty and forty privates, and one officer. 
 
 " Day before yesterday our people had an interview 
 with the Hessians ; they acknowledged they were greatly 
 imposed upon by their prince, and promised to desert that 
 night, but none came over. 
 
 " A considerable part of the troops on the other side are 
 coming over into the Jerseys, and his Excellency Gen- 
 eral Washington with them. I expect General Howe 
 will attempt to possess himself of Mount Washington, but 
 very much doubt whether he will succeed in the attempt. 
 Our troops are much fatigued with the amazing duty, but 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 269 
 
 are generally in good spirits. The Hessians say they are 
 on half allowance. The light-horse are said to be perish- 
 ing for want of provender.'' 
 
 On the 13th Washington reached Fort Lee.^ 
 He was now convinced that one of the immediate 
 objects of the enemy was " the investing of Fort 
 Washington";^ and it was evident that, if the 
 garrison were to be withdrawn, they must be with- 
 drawn without loss of time. Still his mind wavered 
 in " warfare and hesitation." ^ Greene was in favor 
 of defending the fort; and of Greene's "judgment 
 and candor " he had " a good opinion." * While he 
 was thus wavering, the enemy came. On the 15th 
 Magaw was summoned to surrender; and, return- 
 ing " a spirited refusal," ^ sent over an express to 
 Greene with a copy of his letter. Washington 
 had ridden over to Hackinsac. "Enclosed," Greene 
 writes to him from Fort Lee at four o'clock, " you 
 have a letter from Colonel Magaw. The contents 
 will require your Excellency's attention. I have 
 directed Colonel Magaw to defend the place un- 
 til he hears from me. I have ordered General 
 Heard's brigade to hasten on. I shall go to the 
 Island soon." 
 
 Washington hurried back to Fort Lee. Greene 
 and Putnam were gone to Fort Washington. He 
 
 1 Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 134. Reed, p. 263, and his reprint of the 
 
 2 Ibid. original letters of Washington to 
 8 Letter to Joseph Reed, August 22, Reed, p. 1 24. 
 
 1779 ; Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 329 ; and, * Washington to Reed, ut sup. 
 with slight variations, in W. B. Reed's ^ Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 179. 
 Life and Correspondence of Joseph 
 
270 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 instantly followed, and was partly across the river, 
 when he met them on their way back.^ It was 
 late. The shadows of evening already lay damp 
 and dark on the deep bed of the river, and were 
 fast enfolding the fortress itself, over which the 
 young flag was waving for the last time in the 
 cold, autumn twilight. While the boatmen of the 
 two barges lay on their oars, Greene and Putnam 
 told him how hopeful they had left Magaw, and 
 how confident all were that they could make their 
 defence good. Encouraged, though not fully shar- 
 ing their confidence, he returned wdth them to the 
 western shore,^ — all three, perhaps, pausing from 
 time to time, as they climbed the steep ascent of 
 the Palisades, to hearken whether, amid the sounds 
 that floated heavily on the damp night-air, there 
 was anything to encourage them or to alarm. 
 Night slowly wore away, — a long and anxious 
 night, so impenetrably dark on the surface of the 
 river, that, although watchful eyes from either bank 
 were fixed upon it, the enemy passed silently up 
 with thirty flat-bottomed boats, and, entering 
 Spuyten Devil Creek, carried them safely round 
 to Harlem River,^ where Cornwallis and Mathews 
 were waiting their arrival. Day came at last, and 
 with it the booming of cannon from north and 
 south.* At ten, a large body was seen advancing 
 
 i Marshall, Life of Washington, American Archives, 5th Series, Vol. 
 
 Vol. L p. 117 (2d ed.); Gordon, IIL p. 924; Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 174, 
 
 Vol. IL p. 348. note. 
 
 '^ Ibid. * Graydon, Memoirs, p. 199. 
 
 * Howe's official report, Force, 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 271 
 
 over Harlem Plain, with their field-pieces in front, 
 which, on coming within cannon-shot of a small 
 work on a rocky point of the ridge that skirted it, 
 they unlimbered, and began to fire.^ 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington, Greene, Putnam, Mer- 
 cer, and Knox, with their aids, had again crossed 
 the river, and were watching the' enemy's approach 
 from the old head-quarters at Morris's house. Wash- 
 ington gave no new orders, but, observing the 
 troops and their position, withdrew reluctantly, 
 though just in time to escape capture. Fifteen 
 minutes later the English stood on the very spot 
 where he had been standing.^ 
 
 The attack began, — Knyphausen leading on the 
 north; Mathews, Cornwallis, and Sterling on the 
 east; Percy, with Lexington still fresh in his 
 memory, on the south,^ Washington had taken 
 his stand on the brow of the Palisades, whence he 
 could see part and hear all* Greene was with 
 him, and Putnam and Mercer and Knox and Reed. 
 Tom Paine was there, too; and Young Samuel 
 Ward, whose heart misgave him, for, a few days 
 before, on visiting the fort with Greene, he had 
 recognized among its defenders some of the faint- 
 hearted of the Canada expedition, who, when the 
 toil and danger pressed upon them, had turned 
 back, and abandoned their comrades. When they 
 saw Ward, they started as if they had seen a spec- 
 
 1 Gmydon, ut sup. Howe's Report, u^smjo. Washington to 
 
 2 Graydon, p. 200; Gordon, Vol. President of Congress, Sparks, Vol. 
 n. p. 348. IV. p. 178. 
 
 8 Marshall, Grajdon, Gordon, and * Gordon, Vol. II. p. 351. 
 
272 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 tre, and slunk away.^ There was gallant fighting 
 on the north, where Rawlings, with his Virginians? 
 held the Hessians at bay, giving ground only when 
 their rifles became foul, and could no longer be used 
 with effect. It cost Knyphausen " near upon eight 
 hundred men " to force them back.^ Gallantly, too, 
 Cadwallader maintained his ground till the first and 
 second divisions of the enemy, crossing the Har- 
 lem and dispersing the troops in their front, were 
 upon the point of cutting off his retreat. The 
 royal troops pushed on with exultation. The 
 Americans fell back, or broke and fled. Rahl was 
 within a hundred yards of the fort. The troops 
 lost heart, and refused to man the lines where, par- 
 ticularly from the northern brow of the hill, they 
 might still have held their ground.^ Magaw did 
 his best, but in they came, panic-stricken, and 
 crowding one upon another, till there was no room 
 left to fight in? The enemy sent a second sum- 
 mons. 
 
 Washington saw it; saw the white flag go into the 
 fort; saw his men bayoneted, as they begged for 
 quarters. There was still a chance of safety. Could 
 Magaw but hold out till night, his men might yet be 
 saved from captivity. A gallant Massachusetts man 
 — Captain Gooch — offered to cross with the mes- 
 sage ; and, making his way up to the fort and then 
 back again, running down the steep hillside, dodging 
 
 1 This was told me by Richard ^ This is Gordon's statement. 
 
 Ray Ward, Esq., of New York, son ^ Greene to Governor Cooke, Dec. 
 
 of Major Ward, who had it from 4,1776; Gordon, Vol. II. p. 350. 
 his father. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 273 
 
 blows and thrusts from swords and bayonets as he 
 passed, brought back the unwelcome tidings that 
 it was too late ; ^ the negotiations had advanced too 
 far; the garrison were already prisoners of war; 
 Fort Washington, with its valuable stores, and more 
 than two thousand men, — good and true men, many 
 of them, — was lost. Why was it held at such 
 hazard ? 
 
 Greene has always borne the blame of this loss, 
 as if, when the Commander-in-chief was present, the 
 decision had rested with him. The reasons on 
 which he founded his advice he has given in full in 
 his letter of the 9th of November. It cannot be 
 denied that there is great weight in them. Could 
 Fort Washington have held out till the middle of 
 December, it could have held out till spring ;^ and 
 with such a fortress in his rear, Howe would never 
 have dared to enter the Jerseys. Washington 
 found Greene's reasons so strong that he could not 
 come to a decision; and while he was weighing 
 them, the post was lost. 
 
 But one of the elements of Greene's calculation 
 failed him. He had calculated upon a vigorous 
 defence, and the defence was not worthy of that 
 of Bunker Hill the year before, nor that of Fort 
 Mercer or Fort Mifflin the year after. Had Raw- 
 lings been supported, Knyphausen could not have 
 gained the north Hues. But the men refused to 
 man them, and crowded into the redoubt, where 
 they became a compact mark for the enemy's guns. 
 
 1 Heath, p. 86. 
 18 
 
274 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 The defence on the east was still more irresolute ; 
 and there are questions connected with that on the 
 south which will, it is probable, never be solved.^ 
 But had it been like that of Rawlings's riflemen, 
 it would have wellnigh crippled the enemy. A 
 thousand or fifteen hundred men more would have 
 been enough to give Magaw the means of support- 
 ing the riflemen, and strengthening his defences 
 on the east. I am told, by persons better qualified 
 than I am to decide a military question, that Gen- 
 eral Greene's advice was founded upon sound mili- 
 tary principles. That he still thought so long after, 
 is evident from his answer to Wilkinson. " I after- 
 wards," says Wilkinson, "conversed with General 
 Greene respecting this affair, who was generally 
 blamed for attempting to hold the place ; and I rec- 
 ollect well he observed, ' I would to God we had had 
 ten thousand men there.' He was of opinion that 
 the ground was tenable, and that it was lost by the 
 insufliciency of our force. I am inclined to the 
 same opinion, and the fact may be ascertained." ^ 
 
 This agrees with what Greene wrote to Gover- 
 nor Cooke on the 4th of December. " The garrison 
 consisted of upwards of two thousand men : the 
 lines were too extensive for that number to defend ; 
 and when they retreated into the garrison, so much 
 
 1 According to documents in the publish the results of his investiga- 
 
 possession of Mr. Dawson, Cadwalla- tion of the whole subject. The stu- 
 
 der gave up the Fort " without a dent of American history will look 
 
 blow, while Magaw was away from anxiously for them, 
 
 it, leading his men to oppose another ^ Wilkinson's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 
 
 column of the enemy," It is under- 103. 
 stood that Mr. Dawson will soon 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 275 
 
 confusion, disorder, and dispiritedness prevailed 
 that Colonel Magaw, who commanded the garrison, 
 could not get the troops to man the outworks." 
 These words were written before he had had an 
 opportunity of conversing with any of the prisoners 
 of that disastrous day. In 1778, when he had had 
 that opportunity, and had also studied the subject 
 in the light of longer experience, he wrote to John 
 Brown, " Kemember the effect that the loss of the 
 garrison of Fort Washington had : there were men 
 enough to have defended themselves against all the 
 army, had they not been struck with a panic ; but, 
 being most of them irregular troops, they lost all 
 their confidence when the danger began to grow 
 pressing, and so fell a prey to their own fears." ^ 
 
 1 The following passage from the in attempting to storm lines incon- 
 
 same letter, written 1 1 th September, siderable when compared to the forti- 
 
 1778, after the failure of the expe- fications at Newport, and defended 
 
 dition against Newport, shows on with a less number of men in the 
 
 what his reasoning concerning the works than were here. Recollect the 
 
 defence of the lines was founded, fate of the British army at Bunker's 
 
 "Kemember the loss of the British Hill, attacking slight works defended 
 
 army before Ticonderoga last war, by new-levied troops." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Fall of Fort Lee. — Different Accounts of it. — Retreat through the 
 Jerseys. — Greene's Hopes. — Letters. — Inefficiency of Congress. — 
 Embarrassments of Washington's Position. — Ampler Powers con- 
 ferred on Washington. — Greene to Governor Cooke. 
 
 " rpHE loss of Fort Washington rendered Fort Lee 
 J- useless ; his Excellency ordered its evacuation ac- 
 cordingly. All the valuable stores accordingly were sent 
 off. The enemy got intelligence of it ; and, as they were 
 in possession of Harlem river, brought their boats through 
 that pass without our notice. They crossed the river in 
 a very rainy night, and landed, about five miles above the 
 fort, about six thousand, — most accounts say eight thou- 
 sand. We had then at Fort Lee only between two and 
 three thousand effective men. His Excellency ordered 
 a retreat immediately. We lost considerable baggage, for 
 want of wagons, and a considerable quantity of stores. 
 We had about ninety or a hundred prisoners taken, but 
 these were a set of rascals that skulked out of the way for 
 fear of fighting. The troops at Fort Lee were mostly of 
 the flying camp, irregular and undisciplined ; had they 
 obeyed orders, not a man would have been taken. 
 
 " I returned to the camp two hours after the troops 
 marched off. Colonel Cornwell and myself got off sev- 
 eral hundred ; yet, notwithstanding all our endeavors, still 
 near a hundred remained hid about the woods. We re- 
 treated to Hackensack, from Hackensack to Equacanach, 
 from Equacanach to Newark, from Newark to Brunswick, 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 277 
 
 from Brunswick to this place [Trenton] ; here we are, 
 endeavoring to collect a sufficient force to give the enemy 
 battle, or at least to stop their progress." 
 
 Such is Greene's summary to Governor Cooke 
 of the busy, anxious fortnight which followed the 
 fall of Fort Washington. A careful comparison 
 with other authorities shows that, though perfectly 
 accurate in every other respect, he has failed to 
 do justice to his own share in these interesting 
 transactions. The day after the surrender, Wash- 
 ington had returned to Hackensack, where the 
 troops he had taken over the river with him were 
 posted. 
 
 " The much greater part of the enemy," Greene wrote 
 him on the 18th, " marched off from Fort Washington, 
 and above King's Bridge, this morning. Tiieir route ap- 
 peared to be towards New York. One of the train of 
 artillery came across the river last night on a raft. By 
 this account, the enemy must have suffered greatly on the 
 north side of Fort Washington. Colonel Rawlings's regi- 
 ment was posted tliere, and behaved with great spirit. 
 Colonel Magaw could not get the men to man the lines ; 
 otherwise, he would not have given up the fort. 
 
 " I am sending off the stores as fast as I can get wag- 
 ons. I have sent three expresses to Newark for boats, 
 but can get no return of what boats we may expect from 
 that place. The stores here are large, and the transpor- 
 tation by land will be almost endless. The powder and 
 fixed ammunition I have sent off first by land, as it is an 
 article too valuable to trust upon the water. 
 
 "Our Bergen guard were alarmed last night, but be- 
 lieve without reason." 
 
278 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 The night of the 19th was dark and rainj; and 
 the guards that had been stationed along the Pali- 
 sades to observe the movements of the enemy kept 
 such slack watch that he made good his landing 
 at Closter, five miles above Fort Lee, before they 
 gave the alarm. "Then an officer/' says Paine, 
 who was at the Fort as Greene's volunteer aid, 
 "posted down to Fort Lee, with the tidings."^ 
 Greene instantly despatched an express to Wash- 
 ington, at Hackensack ; and, ordering the garrison 
 under arms, put them in motion for the head of 
 the English Neighborhood, — a small stream which, 
 with the Hackensack (neither of them ford able 
 near the fort), formed the western boundary of the 
 narrow neck of land on which the fort stood. 
 There was no time for hesitation ; for Cornwallis, 
 the most active of the English generals, — Greene's 
 future antagonist in the Carolinas, — had but a 
 mile and a half to march to cut oJBP the retreat of 
 the Americans, and Greene five to secure it. Hur- 
 rying his men over the ground, he succeeded in 
 reaching the head of the creek before the enemy 
 came up, and thus securing the road to the bridge 
 over the Hackensack. Here he drew up his little 
 army, with their front towards the enemy ; and, 
 while Washington, who had now joined him, held 
 them at bay, hastened back to the fort, collected a 
 large body of stragglers, — nearly three hundred in 
 all, — and conveyed them in safety across the river. 
 
 1 Crisis, No. I. Force, American Archives, 6th Series, Vol. III. p. 1291. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 279 
 
 Such was Greene's first measuring of swords with 
 Cornwallis.^ 
 
 The remainder of the retreat to the banks of 
 the Delaware — "the mud rounds," as the soldiers 
 called it — was conducted by Washington in per- 
 son, with Greene most of the time at his side, and 
 deeper than ever in his counsels. This was the 
 darkest hour of the war. " It is impossible for me," 
 wrote Washington to his brother, John Augustine, 
 on the 19th of November, "in the compass of a 
 letter, to give you any idea of our situation ; of 
 my difficulties, and of the constant perplexities 
 and mortifications I meet with, derived from the 
 unhappy policy of short enlistments, and de- 
 laying them too long." ^ A month passed, and he 
 writes again to the same brother, " In a word, my 
 dear sir, if every nerve is not strained to recruit 
 the new army with all possible expedition, I think 
 the game is pretty nearly up."^ The tone of 
 Greene's letters is more hopeful. The stern ex- 
 citement of the close-drawn contest seems to have 
 given an elastic energy to his feelings, without 
 clouding his judgment. He sees whence the evil 
 comes, and where the danger lies, but finds 
 grounds of hope even in the very clearness of his 
 perceptions. 
 
 1 In this account I have followed sitions of the army in the various 
 Gordon, who differs from the author movements round New York, etc. 
 of " The Crisis" (Tom Paine). Gor- during this campaign. — Greene Pa- 
 don was very minute in his inquiries, pers, letters of Gordon and Greene, 
 and General Greene marked out for ^ Sparks, Vol. IV. p 184. 
 him, at his written request, the po- ^ Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 231. 
 
280 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 ** We have had,*^ be writes to Governor Cooke on the 
 4th of December, " another convincing proof of the folly of 
 short enlistments : the time for which the five months' men 
 were engaged expired at this actual period " (during 
 the retreat, that is, from Hackensack). *' Two brigades 
 left us at Brunswick, notwithstanding the enemy were 
 within two hours' march and coming on. The loss of 
 these troops at this critical time reduced his Excel- 
 lency to the necessity to order a retreat again. Here 
 [Trenton] we are endeavoring to draw our forces to- 
 gether. The Philadelphia and Pennsylvania militia turn 
 out with great spirit, but the Jersey militia behaves scur- 
 vily, and I fear are not deserving the freedom we are con- 
 tending for. General Lee is on his march for this place, 
 and part of the Ticonderoga troops. When we get col- 
 lected together, I am in hopes it will be a respectable 
 body of troops. 
 
 " The enemy spread desolation wherever they go ; the 
 British and Hessian troops plunder, without distinction, 
 Whig and Tory ; all fare alike. 
 
 " I am in hopes the General will give orders to advance 
 upon the enemy to-morrow : our numbers are still small, 
 not to exceed 5,000, but daily increasing. When we left 
 Brunswick we had not 3,000 men, — a very pitiful army 
 to trust the liberties of America upon. The American 
 States should establish their militia upon the British 
 plan : they would be a much better body of troops ; it 
 Would do less injury to husbandry, manufactures, and 
 commerce than upon the present establishment. The 
 distresses of the people would be infinitely less, for those 
 to whose lot it fell to serve would naturally accommodate 
 their business to their situation. A militia upon the 
 British establishment are a respectable body of troops, and 
 afford a great internal security to a state. They are sub- 
 ject to such a degree of discipline and order as renders 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 281 
 
 them formidable ; and, without that, numbers are useless, 
 nay, distressing, for you cannot bring them to act to any 
 one point, and you have a great many useless and un- 
 profitable mouths to feed I wish the enlisting may 
 
 go on favorably, but I fear the contrary : the success of 
 privateering has set all tlie troops distracted. 'T is im- 
 possible to oppose the enemy successfully without a good, 
 firm body of troops, suV>ject to proper discipline and well 
 officered. Our men are good ; nothing is wanting but 
 officers and discipline to make the American troops equal 
 to any in the world. 
 
 " The situation this army was in when I wrote you 
 last," he writes to his wife on the same day, " must nat- 
 urally alarm your fears. The enemy have since pressed 
 us very hard from place to place. The time for which 
 our troops were engaged expired, and they went off by 
 whole brigades, notwithstanding the enemy lay within two 
 or three hours' march of us, and our force remaining not 
 near half equal to theirs. The virtue of the Americans 
 is put to a trial : if they turn out with spirit, all will go 
 on well ; but if the militia refuses their aid, the people 
 must submit to the servitude they deserve. But I think 
 it is impossible that Americans can behave so poltroonish. 
 The militia of Pennsylvania, and particularly of Phila- 
 delphia, are coming in by thousands. In a day or two I 
 hope to advance upon the enemy, and drive them back as 
 fast as they drove us in. We are making every disposi- 
 tion to advance upon the enemy, and by to-morrow I hope 
 the General will issue his orders to move forward. 
 
 " The troops of Maryland and Virginia have orders to 
 move forward to stop the ravages of the enemy. Their 
 footsteps are marked with destruction wherever they go. 
 There is no difference made between the Whigs and Tories; 
 all fare alike. Tiiey take the clothes ofif on the people's 
 
282 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 back. The distress they spread wherever they go exceeds 
 all description. 
 
 " I hope to God you have not set forward for this place 
 from what I wrote you last. Continue at home, my dear, 
 if you wish to enjoy the least share of happiness. Sev- 
 enty sail of the enemy's fleet sailed a few days past, tlieir 
 destination unknown : but 't is suggested by many they 
 were bound for Rhode Island ; but I rather suppose them 
 to be going to the southward. The climate will favor 
 their operations much more than the Northern States. 
 
 *' What is the news amongst you ? The loss of Fort 
 Washington and the enemy's late movements weighed 
 down the spirits of the people. Tell Dr. Senter to write 
 me how recruiting goes on, and the temper of the people, 
 the success of the privateers, and everything of an inter- 
 esting nature. 
 
 " I am hearty and well amidst all the fatigues and 
 hardships I endure. I hope you enjoy your health and 
 the company of all your friends about you. Be of good 
 courage ; don't be distressed : all things will turn out for 
 the best. I wish you abundant happiness, and am affec- 
 tionately yours." 
 
 It is evident that these letters were written in 
 great haste and amid frequent interruptions, — haste 
 and interruptions which show what a life he was 
 leading. It was evident, too, that, while he was 
 not afraid to look the danger full in the face, 
 he was resolved to ma'ke the most of every favor- 
 able circumstance, and paint things in as bright 
 colors as he could without awakening unfounded 
 expectations. 
 
 On the 7th, three days after this last letter to 
 his wife, we find him at Princeton, writing to Wash- 
 ington at Trenton : — 
 
1776.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 283 
 
 " Lord Stirling will write by the same express that this 
 comes by, and enclose your Excellency several pieces of 
 intelligence obtained of different people yesterday. His 
 Lordship thinks the enemy are making a disposition to 
 advance : for my part, I am at a loss to determine whether 
 their disposition is to advance, or for defence. The enemy 
 have got a party advanced about seven miles this side 
 Brunswick ; another at Brunswick, with an advance of 
 guard two miles this side of the town. 'Tis reported by 
 some of the country people that the enemy intend to ad- 
 vance in two columns ; one this, the other the Boundbrook 
 road. General Mercer advanced upon this road, and I 
 should think the German battalion might be advanta- 
 geously posted on the other road. 
 
 " Major Clarke reports General Lee is at the heels of 
 the enemy. I should think he had better keep upon the 
 flanks than upon the rear of the enemy, unless it were 
 possible to concert an attack at the same instant of time 
 in front and rear. 
 
 " Our retreat should not be neglected, for fear of con- 
 sequences. The bottom of the river should be examined, 
 and see if the boats can be anchored in the ferry-way. 
 If there is no anchor-ground, the bridge must be thrown 
 over below. Colonel Biddle had better make a trial im- 
 mediately, that we may not be in confusion. If a bridge 
 cannot be thrown over, forty boats should be manned 
 under the care of a good officer, and held in readiness : 
 with these boats, prudently managed, the troops could be 
 thrown over in a very short time. Methinks all the 
 cannon that don't come forward with the army might 
 be well posted on the other side the river to cover 
 a retreat. 
 
 " I think General Lee must be confined within the 
 limits of some general plan, or else his operations will be 
 
284 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 independent of yours. His own troops, General St. 
 Clair's, and the militia must form a respectable body. 
 
 " If General Dickinson would engage the militia for 
 some given time, there might be some dependence upon 
 them ; but no operation can be safely planned wherein 
 they are to act a part, unless they can be bound by 
 some further tie than the common obligation of a militia- 
 man. I think if the General was at length to engage his 
 militia on some such plan, your Excellency might take 
 your measures accordingly. 
 
 " This moment a captain has returned that went to 
 reconnoitre last night, and it is beyond a doubt the enemy 
 are advancing ; and my Lord Stirling thinks they will be 
 up here by twelve o'clock. I shall make the best disposi- 
 tion I can to oppose them.'' 
 
 The hope of making a stand was not realized; 
 and again the little army turned its face towards 
 the Delaware, its ranks growing thinner at every 
 step. 
 
 " The last time I wrote you was at Trenton," he writes 
 to his wife on the 16th from Coryell's Ferry, on the Dela- 
 ware, forty miles above Philadelphia ; " since which, the 
 enemy have reduced us to the necessity to pass the Dela- 
 ware. We have been endeavoring to draw a force to- 
 gether to check General Howe's progress ; but the militia 
 of New Jersey have been so frighted, and the Pennsyl- 
 vania milita so disaffected, that our endeavors have been 
 ineffectual. The troops under the command of General 
 Lee we expect to join us to-day, but without the General, 
 who had the misfortune to be made a prisoner on Friday 
 last by a party of liglit-horse. The General, by some 
 strange infatuation, was led from the army four miles; 
 the Tories gave information of his situation, and a party 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 285 
 
 of light-horse came eighteen miles, and seized and carried 
 him off. Tliis is a great loss to the American States, as he 
 is a most consummate General. Fortune seems to frown 
 upon the cause of freedom ; a combination of evils are 
 pressing in upon us on all sides. However, I hope this 
 is the dark part of the night, which generally is just 
 before day. The Tories are the cursedest rascals amongst 
 us, — the most wicked, villanous, and oppressive. They 
 lead the relentless foreigners to the houses of their 
 neighbors, and strip the poor women and children of 
 everything they have to eat or wear ; and after plundering 
 them in this sort, the brutes often ravish the mothers and 
 daughters, and compel the fathers and sons to behold 
 their brutality ; many have fallen sacrifices in this way. 
 
 " The Tories have done us more injury than they can 
 repair during their generation. Beware of those mis- 
 creants ; watch them narrowly. 
 
 " I hear a fleet and army have made good their landing 
 at Rhode Island. God forbid they should penetrate into 
 the country with you as with us. But if the New Eng- 
 land virtue is not greater than it is here, God knows 
 what the consequence will be. The militia of the city of 
 Philadelphia are the only people that have shown a dis- 
 position to support the cause. 
 
 " The enemy are now retreating into winter quarters, 
 as they say ; but perhaps 't is only a feint to amuse, to 
 try to surprise us. We must be on our guard, which I 
 hope we shall. 
 
 " The Eastern delegates applied to his Excellency 
 General Washington to permit me to go to New England 
 to take the command there ; but the General would not 
 permit me to go. I am impatient to hear how matters 
 stand with you, — what opposition is forming, and how 
 the recruiting service goes on. 
 
 " We have pleasing accounts from Virginia and Mary- 
 
286 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 land with respect to the recruiting service ; the regiments 
 are filling very fast. We are fortifying the city of Phil- 
 adelphia, and doubt not we shall be able to keep the 
 enemy out this winter. The city is under martial law ; 
 the Quakers horridly frighted for fear the city should be 
 burnt. The ravages of the Jerseys is shocking to be- 
 hold. 
 
 " I have no hope of coming to New England this 
 winter. I enjoy my health perfectly well. I feel a great 
 deal of anxiety for your sake. God bless you with 
 health, and comfort you during our separation. Any- 
 thing you want my brethren will furnish you ; don't be 
 afraid to apply. I should be happy to receive a line, if it 
 can come by a safe hand ; but if you cannot write by 
 some safe hand, don't write at all, for it 's uncertain whose 
 hands it may fall into. Remember my love to my breth- 
 ren, and to all inquiring friends. 
 
 " The Continental currency the Tories are endeavoring 
 to destroy : the credit is almost lost in the Jerseys, and 
 much injured in this State. However, a good army will 
 soon repair the credit, and nothing else. Much depends 
 upon New England this winter. 
 
 " I must bid you adieu, being called in haste. Fare- 
 well, my dear. Kiss our little pledges of mutual affec- 
 tion, whom I long to see." 
 
 The reader will hardly have forgotten Greene's 
 letter from Fort Lee about the " general and regi- 
 mental hospitals." It is pleasant to find that, 
 even in the midst of this general depression, he 
 never loses sight of the great questions of organ- 
 ization : — 
 
 " I take the liberty to recommend Doctor Warren to 
 Congress," he writes to the President on the 16th, " as a 
 
1776.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 287 
 
 very suitable person to receive an appointment of a sub- 
 director, which I am informed they are about to create a 
 number of. Dr. Warren has given great satisfaction where 
 he has had the direction of business. He is a young 
 gentleman of ability, humanity, and great application to 
 business. 
 
 " I feel a degree of happiness that the Congress are 
 going to put the hospital department upon a better estab- 
 lishment ; for the sick this campaign have suffered beyond 
 description, and shocking to humanity. For my own 
 part, I have never felt any distress equal to what the 
 sufferings of the sick have occasioned, and am confident 
 that nothing will injure the recruiting service so much as 
 the dissatisfaction arising upon that head." 
 
 But a still more important question was now 
 forcing itself upon his attention ; a question which, 
 in those critical moments, must have been the sub- 
 ject of frequent and earnest discussion between 
 him and Washington. Among the mistakes and 
 evils which this eventful year had revealed, there 
 was none graver or more evident than the inability 
 of Congress to cope with the new and urgent ex- 
 ecutive questions which every day brought forth. 
 
 The most serious embarrassments against which 
 Washington had to contend arose from the ne- 
 cessity of constantly referring to Congress for 
 authority, and asking their advice where he ought 
 to have controlled their resolves. Upon all the 
 important questions that had arisen in that body, 
 there had, from the beginning, been serious dif- 
 ferences of opinion ; sectional jealousies and per- 
 sonal jealousies mingling largely in every discus- 
 
288 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 sion, and preparing the way for those dangerous 
 intrigues which, in the course of the following 
 year, attained their full measure of malignity in 
 the Conway cabal. The voices of a few wise men 
 were drowned in the clamor of a majority jealous 
 of military power, and unable to use their own 
 power effectively. It was Congress that held on to 
 the fatal system of short enlistments, imtil the 
 time for securing an army for the war was passed. 
 It was Congress that wasted precious days in 
 debate, when circumstances called for prompt and 
 decisive action. Nor was the personal conduct of 
 individual members in perfect harmony with their 
 professions. At this very time, when the fate of 
 the war was trembling in the balance, and every 
 man should have been at his post, John Adams, 
 although a member of the board of war, was in- 
 dulging himself in a three months' visit to his 
 family in Massachusetts.^ It was evident to the 
 men upon whom the heat and burden of the day 
 fell, that the scattered powers of Congress must, 
 for a time at least, be concentrated in a single 
 hand, and Washington authorized to do whatever 
 the occasion required, without waiting to consult 
 a distant and dilatory assembly. In this delicate 
 and embarrassing situation, Washington seems to 
 have placed his chief reliance upon Greene ; and 
 sorely must Greene have felt the loss of Samuel 
 
 1 Life and Works of John Adams, it was a great error of judgment in 
 Vol. I. p. 257. No one can call Mr. him to absent himself from Congress 
 Adams's patriotism in question j but at this critical moment. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 289 
 
 Ward, through whom he might have brought the 
 subject before Congress without exposing either 
 Washington or himself to the suspicion of seeking 
 to augment the military power at the expense of 
 the civil power. But there was no time for hesita- 
 tion. Washington wrote on the 20th, with his 
 usual frankness and good sense, Greene on the 
 21st: — 
 
 " Although I am far from thinking the American cause 
 desperate, yet I conceive it to be in a critical situation. 
 The enemy in the heart of the country ; the disaffected 
 daily increasing ; the Continental money losing its cur- 
 rency ; the time for which the troops stand engaged al- 
 most ready to expire ; very few enlisted upon the new 
 establishment ; the tide of public sentiment at a stand, 
 and ready to run through dififerent channels ; the people 
 refusing to supply the army under various pretences, but 
 evidently from a disaffection to the cause and to the 
 currency, — are combined evils calculated to pave the way 
 for General Howe's advances ; who, having cantoned his 
 troops advantageously, stands prepared to take advantage 
 of those circumstances which, I am sorry to say, afford 
 him but too favorable a prospect. It is necessary, in addi- 
 tion to this disagreeable train of evils, that the different 
 corps of officers who are discontented and imsatisfied, 
 either from a real or supposed injury in their appoint- 
 ments from the different States, should be reconciled ; 
 that recruiting may go on with spirit ; that there should 
 be an augmentation of our force, and a larger train of 
 artillery. 
 
 " Effectually to remedy those evils and oppose the en- 
 emy ; to put the recruiting service in a favorable train ; 
 to establish the artillery and elaboratory upon a proper 
 
 19 
 
290 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 footing ; to check the disaffected and call out assistance ; 
 to give a currency to the Continental money, and form 
 the necessary magazines, — greater powers must be lodged 
 in the hands of the General than he has ever yet exer- 
 cised. It is impossible, in his present situation and the 
 short time he has to prepare for the ensuing campaign, 
 for him to be in readiness so early as General Howe will 
 take the field, unless you delegate to him full power to 
 take such measures as he may find necessary to promote 
 the establishment of the new army. Time will not ad- 
 mit nor circumstances allow of a reference to Congress. 
 
 " I can see no evil nor danger to the States in delegat- 
 ing such powers to the General, reserving to yourselves 
 the right of confirming or repealing the measures. The 
 General should have power to appoint officers to enlist at 
 large. This is no time to be particular about proportions 
 or attentive to economy. The measure of our force 
 should be the extent of our funds. 
 
 " We have a formidable enemy to oppose, whose prog- 
 ress can only be checked by a superior force ; and how- 
 ever disagreeable the reflections, this is a serious truth, 
 that the present existence of the civil depends upon the 
 military power. I am no advocate for the extension of 
 military power ; neither would I advise it at present, but 
 from the fullest conviction of its being absolutely neces- 
 sary. Remember the policy of the Romans, a people as te- 
 nacious of their liberties as any on earth. When their state 
 was invaded, they delegated full powers to exert their 
 whole forces. The state of war is so uncertain, depend- 
 ent upon so many contingencies ; a day, nay, an hour, is 
 so important in the crisis of public affairs, — that it would 
 be folly to wait for relief from the deliberative councils of 
 legislative bodies. The virtue of the people, at such an 
 hour, is not to be trusted ; and I can assure you that the 
 General will not exceed his powers, though he may sacri- 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 291 
 
 fice the cause. There never was a man that might be 
 more safely trusted, nor a time when there was a louder 
 call. If you intend to support your independence, you 
 must not be too delicate in the choice of means. 
 
 " Examples are daily made by General Howe of our 
 friends who fall in his way, while those who are disaffected 
 to our cause are suffered to remain in peace and quiet 
 amongst us. Many who are now well affected will be in- 
 duced, from the risk and danger on the one side, and the 
 apparent security on the other, to change their sentiments. 
 A discretionary power to punish the disaffected is neces- 
 sary. The militia have refused to turn out when there 
 has been the greatest want of their assistance, and noth- 
 ing but such a power can ever compel them. If the re- 
 fusal of the Continental money, and the withholding of the 
 necessary supplies from the army, for want of such a 
 power in the General, are to pass unpunished, the one 
 will put it out of our power to pay, and the other to sup- 
 port the troops, and consequently must lay the founda- 
 tions of all oppositions." 
 
 Both letters were laid before Congress on the 
 26th. A step in the direction which they sug- 
 gested had already been taken by a resolution of 
 the 12th, the day of the adjournment to Balti- 
 more, declaring " that, until the Congress shall 
 otherwise order, the General be possessed of full 
 power to order and direct all things relative to the 
 department, and to the operations of war." ^ After 
 hearing Washington and Greene's letters, the sub- 
 ject of ampler powers was discussed in committee 
 of the whole, and decided affirmatively on the 27th, 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, December 12, 1776. 
 
292 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 the second day of the discussion, though by what 
 majority the meagre journals do not tell. 
 
 " This Congress, having maturely considered the pres- 
 ent crisis, and having perfect reliance on the wisdom, 
 vigor, and uprightness of General Washington, do hereby 
 
 Resolve^ That General Washington shall be, and he 
 is hereby, vested with full, ample, and complete powers 
 to raise and collect together, in the most speedy and 
 effectual manner, from any or all of these United States, 
 sixteen battalions of infantry, in addition to those already 
 voted by Congress ; to appoint officers for the said battal- 
 ions of infantry ; to raise, officer, and equip three thou- 
 sand light-horse, three regiments of artillery, and a corps 
 of engineers, and to establish their pay ; to apply to any 
 of the States for such aid of the militia as he shall judge 
 necessary ; to form such magazines of provisions, and in 
 such places, as he shall think proper ; to displace and ap- 
 point all officers under the rank of brigadier-general ; 
 and to fill up all vacancies in every other department in 
 the American army ; to take, wherever he may be, what 
 ever he may want for the use of the army, if the inhabi- 
 tants will not sell it, allowing a reasonable price for the 
 same; to arrest and confine the persons who refuse to 
 take the Continental currency, or are otherwise disaf- 
 fected to the American cause, and return to the States 
 of which they are citizens their names and the nature of 
 their offences, together with the witness to prove them. 
 
 " That the foregoing powers be vested in General 
 Washington, for and during the term of six months 
 from the date hereof, unless sooner determined by 
 Congress."^ 
 
 Great must Greene's satisfaction have been 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, December 27, 1776. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 293 
 
 when he read these resolutions ; and it is impos- 
 sible not to regret that when he and Washing- 
 ton met, there was no one by to tell us how cor- 
 dially they grasped each other's hand, and with 
 what a clearing up of the brow they sat down to 
 look over the new field together.^ Of Greene's 
 feelings some idea may be formed from a letter to 
 Governor Cooke, which he wrote with a pen still 
 fresh from the memorable letter to the President 
 of Congress. 
 
 " By your letter to General Washington, I find the 
 British troops have landed on Rhode Island. Although 
 I am sorry my own country should be subject to their 
 ravages, yet I rejoice that they are surrounded by a 
 people who are united and firmly determined in opposi- 
 tion. You may be subject to a partial evil, but Amer- 
 ica cannot fail to reap the advantage. You think you are 
 greatly infested with the Tories and disaffected, but 
 there is but the shadow of disaffection with you to what 
 there is here. The Friends, or Quakers, are almost to 
 a man disaffected. Many have the effrontery to refuse 
 the Continental currency. This line of conduct cannot 
 fail of drawing down the resentment of the people upon 
 them. The fright and disaffection was so great in the 
 Jerseys, that, in our retreat of one hundred and odd 
 miles, we were never joined by more than a hundred men. 
 I dare say, had that army been in New England, we should 
 not have been under the necessity of retreating twenty 
 miles. We are now on the west side of the Delaware ; 
 our force, though small, collected together. But, small as 
 it is, I hope to give the enemy a stroke in a few days. 
 
 1 How the army viewed this Dictatorship may be seen in Thacher's Mili- 
 tary Journal, p. 74. 
 
294 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 Should fortune favor the attack, perhaps it may put a 
 stop to General Howe's progress. His ravages in the Jer- 
 seys exceeds all description, — men slaughtered, women 
 ravished, and houses plundered, little girls not ten years 
 old ravished, mothers and daughters ravished in the 
 presence of the husbands and sons who were obliged to 
 be spectators to their brutal conduct. 
 
 " I think, notwithstanding the general disaffection of 
 a certain order of people, the army will fill up. Should 
 that be the case, nothing is to be feared. 
 
 " By a vessel just arrived from France with a valuable 
 cargo, we learn a French war is inevitable. 
 
 " Short enlistments has been in a great measure the 
 source of all the misfortunes that we labor under, though, 
 thank God ! but few to what we at first expected. The 
 Congress, in the infancy of politics, could not be brought 
 to believe many serious truths. By attending to specula- 
 tive principles, rather than real life, their maxims in war 
 have been founded in folly. However, experience ripens 
 judgment, and enables to correct many an error in busi- 
 ness that, at first, we could not conceive of ; and I don't 
 doubt the Congress, in time, will be as able politicians 
 in military matters as they are in civil government. 
 
 " The Eastern delegates made application to General 
 Washington for me to come to Rhode Island. But the 
 General would not consent. He thinks more is to be 
 trusted to the virtue of your people than to the force of 
 this country. As the enemy have got possession of Rhode 
 Island, and done all the mischief they can, it will not be 
 bad policy to let them remain in quiet until spring. To 
 attempt any (thing) against them, unless you are sure of 
 success, will be a very dangerous manoeuvre. 'Tis an 
 endless task to attempt to cover all the country. You 
 must drive back the stock from the shores, and make a 
 disposition to cover capital objects ; by too great a division 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 295 
 
 of your force, you'll be incapable of making any consider- 
 able opposition whenever they may think proper to make a 
 descent. But it is my opinion they will be peaceable if you 
 will ; for, from the best accounts we can get, they consist 
 of the invalids of the army. They may attempt to plun- 
 der the shores, but nothing more than that, this winter ; 
 for I am confident they have no hopes of penetrating into 
 the country. If they make any descent, it will be against 
 Providence, to seize the stores and burn the town. This 
 is very probable, as the Tories will endeavor in Newport 
 to spirit them on to such an attempt ; but, unless it is 
 already done, you have nothing to fear. 
 
 " I am told some malicious reports propagated indus- 
 triously about me, respecting the loss of the baggage and 
 stores at Fort Lee. They are as malicious as they are 
 untrue. I can bring very good vouchers for my conduct 
 in every instance, and have the satisfaction to have it ap- 
 proved by the General under whom I serve. Everything 
 was got off from that place that could be, with the roads 
 and wagons we had to move the stores with. The evacua- 
 tion of Fort Lee was determined upon several days before 
 the enemy landed above us, and happily all the most 
 valuable stores were away. The enemy's publication of 
 the garrison and stores there taken is a grand falsehood. 
 Not an article of military stores was left there, or nothing 
 worth mentioning. 
 
 " The Congress have removed to Baltimore. General 
 Spencer and General Arnold are coming to take the com- 
 mand at Rhode Island. Arnold is a fine, spirited fellow, 
 and an active general. 
 
 " I hope they '11 keep the enemy at bay." 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Washington's Confidence in Greene excites Jealousy. — Charles Lee. 
 
 — Greene's Share in the Jersey Campaign. — Surprise of Trenton. 
 
 — Letters. — Greene in Favor of following up the Surprise. — The 
 Assanpink. — Princeton. — March to Morristown. 
 
 TT was hardly possible to stand so high as Greene 
 -*- was known to stand in the confidence of the 
 Commander-in-chief, without exciting some feelings 
 of envy. How bitter these feelings became in the 
 sequel we shall see when Conway's Cabal comes to 
 light. Meanwhile, in this as in other evil things, 
 Charles Lee took the lead ; beginning by an artful 
 misuse of the alleged discontent occasioned by 
 some of Greene's recommendations for commissions 
 in the Khode Island line, in the hope of shaking 
 Washington's confidence in his disinterestedness, 
 and closing by an artful appeal to Washington's 
 self-esteem, in order to shake his confidence in his 
 judgment : " General ! why would you be over- 
 persuaded by men of inferior judgment to your 
 own ? " ^ Reed, too, who appears at this time to 
 have looked up to Lee with a confidence which he 
 lived to regret, uses nearly the same words in a 
 letter of the 22d of December: "Allow me to 
 
 1 Lee to Washington, November of the Revolution, Vol. I. p. 306. 
 18, 1776, Sparks's Correspondence See also sup., p. 231. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 297 
 
 hope that you will consult your own good judg- 
 ment and spirit, and not let the goodness of your 
 heart subject you to the influence of opinions 
 from men in every respect your inferiors." ^ How 
 far Lee was sincere in his opinion it would be use- 
 less to inquire ; but we cannot forget that at this 
 very time he was writing to Gates, that " a certain 
 great man was damnably deficient." ^ But of the 
 sincerity which led to Eeed's suggestion there is 
 no reason to doubt. A more intimate acquaintance 
 with Greene soon led him to change his opinion, 
 and made him, in the end, one of his most trusted 
 friends and warmest admirers. 
 
 It is evident, from Greene's letter to Governor 
 Cooke, that Washington was unwilling to separate 
 himself from so trusty a counsellor at so trying a 
 moment. But, honorable as this circumstance was 
 to his character, and gratifying as it must have 
 been to his feelings, it was most unfortunate in its 
 bearing upon his place in history. In a separate 
 command, his opinion and advice would have been 
 given in writing, and we should have been able to 
 ascertain with precision the plans that he proposed 
 and the measures that he suggested. How freely 
 he would have written, we see by his letter of the 
 7th of December, from Princeton ; ^ and it is but 
 fair to suppose that in that daily personal inter- 
 course with the Commander-in-chief, which con- 
 
 1 Life and Correspondence of Presi- tain great man is most damnably 
 dent Reed, Vol. I. p. 272. deficient." — Wilkinson, Memoirs, 
 
 2 Letter from Basking Ridge, De- Vol. I. p. 108. 
 Entre nous, a cer- '^ Sup., p. 282. 
 
298 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 tinned unbroken through the whole of this winter 
 campaign, he spoke as fully and as freely as he 
 wrote. We know, indeed, by Hamilton's express 
 testimony, that he had a share in the " formation,'* 
 as well as " in the execution, of the plans " which 
 changed so suddenly the whole aspect of the war.^ 
 But this is all that we know ; and, without ventur- 
 ing to claim for him the original suggestion of the 
 brilliant attack upon Trenton, or the still more 
 brilliant advance upon Princeton, we must be sat- 
 isfied with the uncontested fact that he took a 
 prominent part in the execution of both. 
 
 It was never Washington's intention to permit 
 the enemy to keep undisturbed possession of the 
 Jerseys; but where and when to strike the first 
 blow was a question of no little difficulty. When 
 Greene wrote to Governor Cooke, " I hope we shall 
 give the enemy a stroke in a few days," he evi- 
 dently says what he and Washington had already 
 said to each other. Nor is it probable that either 
 of them waited for Reed's letter of the 22d, in 
 order to perceive the advantage of an attack upon 
 Trenton: — ^ 
 
 " If your business at Newtown will permit," Greene 
 writes to Colonel Biddle on the 24th, " I should be glad 
 to see you here. There is some business of importance 
 to communicate to you, which I wish to do to-day. No 
 butter, no cheese, no cider, — this is not for the lienor of 
 Pennsylvania. Colonel Griffin is at Mount Holly, col- 
 
 1 Hamilton's Eulogium on Greene, ^ gge Heed's Life and Corrcspond- 
 delivered before the Cincinnati, ence, Vol. I. p. 271. 
 Works, Vol. II. p. 480. 
 
1776.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 299 
 
 lecting great numbers of the Jersey troops ; they have 
 drove the Hessians and Highlanders many miles. Yester- 
 day a great firing was heard there ; the consequence I 
 have not learned." 
 
 The business of importance was evidently the 
 attack upon the Hessians at Trenton, now fully 
 matured, and although carefully kept secret, yet a 
 secret which Biddle's duties required him to know. 
 In the attack, Greene commanded the left wing 
 and Sullivan the right. Washington, Stirhng, and 
 Mercer were with Greene, St. Clair with Sulli- 
 van. Greene's column, which marched by the 
 upper or Pennington road, reached the point of 
 attack three minutes before Sullivan's, and, divid- 
 ing, entered the town by two streets, one of which, 
 Queens, now bears his name, — the only public 
 record of his part in the battle : — ^ 
 
 " Before this reaches you," he writes to his wife from 
 Trenton, on the 30th, " doubtless you will hear of the at- 
 tack upon this place. We crossed the river Delaware at 
 McKonkee's ferry, eight miles above this place, on the 
 25th of this instant, and attacked the town by storm in 
 the morning. It rained, hailed, and snowed, and was a 
 violent storm. The storm of nature and the storm of the 
 town exhibited a scene that filled the mind during the 
 action with passions easier conceived than described. 
 The action lasted about three quarters of an hour. We 
 killed, wounded, and took prisoners of the enemy between 
 eleven and twelve hundred. Our troops behaved with 
 great spirit. General Sullivan commanded the right 
 wing of the army, and T the left. 
 
 1 Gordon, Vol. II. p. 395. 
 
300 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1776. 
 
 " This is an important period to America, big with great 
 events. God only knows what will be the issue of this 
 campaign, but everything wears a much better prospect 
 than they have for some weeks past. The enemy are 
 collecting their forces at Trenton, whether they mean to 
 attack or to act upon the defensive. 
 
 " I am well in health, and hope to continue so. In a 
 few weeks I hope to have a fine army together. I ob- 
 serve the enemy have got possession of Newport, and 
 Joseph Wanton proclaimed Governor. I am sure the 
 enemy cannot penetrate the country in New England as 
 they have done here. 
 
 " Should we get possession again of the Jerseys, per- 
 haps I may get liberty to come and see you. I pity your 
 situation exceedingly ; your distress and anxiety must 
 be very great. Put on a good stock of fortitude. By the 
 blessing of God I hope to meet again." 
 
 When the battle was over, Greene went with 
 Washington to visit the dying Rahl. What shall 
 be done next ? was now the question. 
 
 Greene was for following up the surprise of 
 Trenton by a rapid pursuit of the enemy, and an 
 immediate attack upon their other posts. But 
 Knox was the only officer who agreed with him, 
 and Washington, not yet feeling himself justified in 
 overruling the opinion of a majority, reluctantly 
 accepted its decision. "He has since regretted," 
 writes Gordon, " his not seizing the golden oppor- 
 tunity." 1 
 
 " The year '76 is over. I am heartily glad of it, 
 and hope you nor America will ever be plagued 
 with such another," writes Robert Morris to Wash- 
 
 1 Gordon, Vol. n. p. 396. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 301 
 
 ington on the 1st of January, 1777.^ But the cam- 
 paign was not over. The country had been roused 
 by the surprise of Trenton, but it was necessary 
 to prevent it from relapsing into the despondency 
 of November and December. The enemy had 
 been startled ; it was necessary to turn their alarm 
 into fear. Washington resolved to follow up the 
 blow, and before his troops, most of whose terms of 
 service were just expiring, left him, strike another, 
 and, if possible, a decisive one, for the deliverance 
 of the Jerseys. 
 
 On the 28th Greene recrossed the river with 
 three hundred militia.^ On the 30th Washington 
 crossed with the Continentals. By personal appeals 
 and the promise of ten dollars bounty, most of the 
 Eastern men were prevailed upon to engage for six 
 weeks longer ; though many of them, if Gordon's 
 information was correct, stayed only long enough to 
 secure their money .^ The forces under Cadwalla- 
 der and Mifflin, about three thousand six hundred 
 in all, were called in from Crosswicks and Borden- 
 town, reaching Trenton by a night march on the 
 morning of the 2d of January. The poor fellows 
 had hardly got out their camp-kettles, and kindled 
 their fires, with the prospect of a quiet meal and a 
 few hours* rest under the very same roofs which the 
 week before had sheltered the Hessians when the 
 drum beat to arms, and they were hurried forward 
 to meet the enemy, who was advancing under 
 
 1 Sparks's Correspondence of the ^ Gordon, Vol. II. p. 398 ; Wash- 
 Revolution, Vol. I. p. 316. ington to President of Congress, 
 
 2 Gordon, Vol. II. p. 398. Works, Vol. IV. p. 254. 
 
302 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Cornwallis by the old road from Princeton.^ Some 
 hours were passed in skirmishing, when Greene 
 was ordered up with a strong detachment to the 
 support of the advance. " I remember him/' one 
 of the soldiers of that day told me, in 1850/ " dash- 
 ing up to the company I was in " (his own Rhode- 
 Islanders, under Hitchcock, who had been with him 
 from the beginning), " and calling out in a clear, 
 loud voice, ' Push on, boys ! push on ! ' " 
 
 But the pressure was too severe, — eight thou- 
 sand disciplined men moving resolutely forward 
 upon five thousand weary Continentals and militia.^ 
 Still the retreat through the town was obstinately 
 contested. The only passage to the main body 
 was by a bridge over the Assanpink. On the east 
 end Washington sat watching the progress of the 
 conflict, with a " firm, composed, and majestic coun- 
 tenance," which the men looked on as they passed, 
 and grew strong. His noble horse, pressing the 
 railing with his broad breast, seemed conscious, 
 thought the soldier who lived to tell the story, that 
 " he too was not to quit his post and station." * As 
 soon as all were safe over, the cannon, which had 
 been drawn aside to let the troops pass, were again 
 brought into position, and, opening a well-directed 
 fire, checked the enemy's advance. For a while 
 the evening shadows, that were fast settling over 
 the landscape, were lighted up by the flames from 
 
 1 Stone's Life and Recollections of their comparative strength. Memoirs, 
 John Rowland, p. 72. Vol. I. p. 135. 
 
 2 John Rowland. * Stone's Rowland, ut sup. 
 8 This is Wilkinson's estimate of 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 303 
 
 the muzzles of the guns, as cannon-ball and mus- 
 ket-ball darted forth on their deadly^ errand. But 
 soon the useless cannonading ceased ; and both ar- 
 mies, separated only by the slender current of the 
 Assanpink and the little hamlet of Trenton, not 
 over a thousand yards in all, prepared themselves 
 for a watchful night and bloody morning. The 
 Americans gathered eagerly round their watch- 
 fires, feeding the welcome flame with cedar rails 
 from the neighboring fences.^ As yet the weather 
 was mild, and the ground, freed from the recent 
 frost, soft and wet. 
 
 Meanwhile, Washington summoned his officers 
 to council, at the head-quarters of St. Clair, his 
 own being now in the hands of the enemy. "What 
 shall we do ? Shall we retreat down the Delaware, 
 on the Jersey side, and cross it over against Phila- 
 delphia; or shall we remain where we are, and 
 try the chances of a battle ? " Each course had its 
 advocates, when a voice was heard, saying, " Better 
 than either of these, let us take the new road 
 through the woods, and get in the enemy's rear 
 by a march upon Princeton, and, if possible, on 
 Brunswick even." From whom did this bold sug- 
 gestion come ? St. Clair claimed it as his ; and 
 why should the positive assertion of an honorable 
 man be lightly called in question ? ^ But whose 
 
 1 " The evening was so- far ad- ^ Qlney's narrative in Williams's 
 
 vanced that I could distinguish the Life of Olney. 
 
 flames from the muzzles of our mus- ^ See St. Clair's Narrative, p. 242 ; 
 
 kets." —Wilkinson, Memoirs, Vol. I. Wilkinson, Vol. I. p. 140 ; Gordon, 
 
 p. 138. Vol. II. p. 400. 
 
304 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 ever it was, it was the inspiration of true genius, 
 and was promptly accepted by all. 
 
 When the council broke up, a sudden change 
 had taken place in the weather. The mist which 
 had hovered over the landscape all through the 
 day had disappeared ; and, though the night was 
 very dark, the sky was cloudless. There was no 
 wind, but the air was piercing cold, and the ground 
 had already frozen hard enough to bear the heaviest 
 weight without yielding.^ All along the American 
 line the fires were blazing brightly ; and the half- 
 clad men, heaping the wood upon them with liberal 
 hands, crouched behind them, unseen of the enemy, 
 and ate their scanty suppers, thinking anxiously on 
 the morrow. 
 
 It was soon time to begin the critical movement, 
 on which their safety, and the war itself, depended. 
 First, the baggage guard was summoned, and the 
 baggage silently sent off towards Burlington. Then 
 a strong fatigue party was set to work on an in- 
 trenchment near a mill, and so close to the enemy's 
 lines, that they must have heard the heavy blows 
 of pickaxe and spade upon the frosty ground, and 
 almost have counted the falling of each frozen clod, 
 as it was thrown into its place. If there were- 
 spies ttere, they probably hurried back to Corn- 
 wallis, and told him that he might sleep quietly till 
 morning, for the Americans were determined to 
 hold their ground. And thus the night wore 
 slowly on. Some laid them down in their places, 
 
 1 Gordon, Vol. I. p. 400; Wilkinson, Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 140. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 305 
 
 and slept ; some sat talking by the fire ; some, per- 
 haps, were busy with their arms, which they ex- 
 pected soon to put to use. Midnight came. The 
 guards at the bridge, and at the upper passes, were 
 doubled, and received their last orders. The fires 
 were heaped up anew, and the drowsy British sen- 
 tinels, as they looked across the narrow interval of 
 flickering light and shade, and saw how cheerfully 
 they blazed, may have said to themselves, "Do 
 those rebels know what we are preparing for them 
 to-morrow?" Little did they think that, behind 
 that wall of flame, their skilful enemy was cau- 
 tiously filing off into the dark wood, and turning 
 his steps towards another victory. The order to 
 move was given in so low a voice, that some offi- 
 cers were, for a moment, at loss which way they 
 were to go. The road was newly cut, and rough 
 with stubs, too low to be seen by starlight, but high 
 enough to catch and bruise the men's feet, as they 
 marched, — half-shod feet, we must remember, — 
 and whose track, a few days before, Wilkinson tells 
 Us, he had traced for miles by their blood on the 
 snow.-^ The- slow pace of the artillery compelled 
 the ranks to move slowly, and frequently to halt ; 
 and as they halted, "two or three men in each 
 platoon would be seen standing, with their arms 
 supported, fast asleep." Then the order to move 
 on would come ; and as the sleepers, rousing them- 
 selves, and pressed by the platoons from behind, 
 
 1 Wilkinson Memoirs, p. 127. 
 20 
 
306 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 attempted to move, they would often strike against 
 a stub, and fall.^ 
 
 Day dawned upon them clear, and very cold. 
 The sun rose as they were approaching a hill near 
 Princeton ; and as its rays fell upon it, Wilkinson, 
 who was with the advance, thought that he saw a 
 flashing along its ridge, as of burnished steel. " It 
 must be the enemy," said he, "for the muskets of 
 our poor fellows have no burnish to them." Harri- 
 son — Washington's secretary — was near him, and 
 he called to him to observe it. But when he looked 
 again, it was gone; and presently two horsemen 
 were seen to leap a fence, ride forward a little 
 ways, reconnoitre, and then spur back with their 
 tidings. The enemy was indeed at hand ; and in 
 the short, sharp conflict which followed I catch but 
 a single glimpse of Greene in an anecdote, which I 
 will not vouch for, but which, as I read it, recalls 
 to my mind a passage in one of his letters to Gov- 
 ernor Cooke. In a charge, an ofl^icer by his side 
 suddenly reigned up his horse to avoid passing 
 over a human body. " On, sir," said Greene, sternly ; 
 " this is no time for stopping." 
 
 Thus far, Washington's bold strategy had suc- 
 ceeded. The road to Brunswick was open. Lee 
 was there ; other prisoners were there ; abundant 
 stores and supplies were there ; and there, too, was 
 the military chest, with seventy thousand pounds 
 in hard money. To seize these had formed a part 
 of Washington's original plan; and as he halted 
 
 1 Stone's Howland, p. 75. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 307 
 
 with several of his general officers at the forks in 
 the Kingston road, while his victorious but weary 
 troops were filing off towards Eocky Hill, there 
 was a general cry, " that we had five hundred 
 fresh men to beat up their quarters at Bruns- 
 wick." ^ " It would have put an end to the war," 
 says "Washington, sadly, in a letter to the President 
 of Congress.^ But the five hundred fresh men 
 were not there, and in their stead was an army 
 worn down by hunger and fatigue. 
 
 It was now that the happy resolution was 
 adopted of proceeding to Morristown, and fixing 
 winter quarters there. Knox, according to Gor- 
 don, suggested it; St. Clair, according to Wilkin- 
 son.^ Greene, who, being with the advance, had 
 not been present at the discussion, had taken the 
 Morristown road of his own accord, before the de- 
 cision was known.* That night the troops biv- 
 ouacked at Somerset Court-House, many of them 
 lying on the frozen ground without blankets.^ On 
 the 6th they reached Morristown, wayworn and 
 destitute, but victorious. The Revolution was 
 saved. 
 
 1 Wilkinson, Memoirs, p. 148. * Gordon, ut sup. 
 
 2 Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 261. 6 Stone's Howland, p. 77 ; Wil- 
 8 Gordon, Vol. II. p. 402; Wil- kinson, p. 148. 
 
 kinsoD, p. 149. 
 
CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 Effect of Success on the Country and the Army. — Position of the 
 Army. — Recreations of Winter Quarters. — Washington's Anxiety. 
 
 — Greene shares it. — State Rights. — Death of Colonel Hitchcock. 
 
 — Greene's Regret for the Loss of Mercer. — Greene in want of a 
 Horse. — Expects Active Work. — Difficulties in Raising the New 
 Army. — Correspondence with Governor Cooke. — Defends Wash- 
 ington. — Letters and Extracts. — Change Produced on the Charac- 
 ter of the War by the Declaration of Independence. — Bounties. — 
 Inoculation. — Delays caused by a Weak Government. 
 
 "Y^TITH lightened hearts, though weary hmbs, the 
 ^ ^ patriot army wound its slow way through the 
 rough mountain passes which lead from the banks 
 of the Earitan to the little village of Morristown. 
 Wondering and admiring must the inhabitants 
 have looked upon them, and listened to them, as 
 they told how within ten days they had crossed 
 the Delaware three times, had fought the Hessians 
 once and the British regulars once, and defeated 
 them both; had stolen a night march upon the 
 active Cornwallis, and checked in mid career the 
 course of rapine and outrage which had marked 
 the English occupation of the Jerseys. And now 
 the choice of continuing the winter campaign, or 
 of lying still and recruiting their exhausted 
 strength, rested with them ; for betwixt them and 
 the seaboard lay, like a fortress with its walls and 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 309 
 
 moat, part of the tortuous course of the Passaic, 
 and three chains of sharp and rugged hills. Their 
 new cantonment itself was on high table-land, with 
 steep slopes on two of its sides ; and the bold ridge 
 of Thimble Mountain casting its shadows upon it 
 from the west. They could look down as from a 
 watch-tower on the lowlands, where their enemy 
 lay ; but no enemy could reach them without for- 
 cing his way through rugged passes, and exposing 
 himself at every step to the deadly aim of well- 
 trained marksmen. Forage was abundant, and 
 within easy reach; provisions, though less abun- 
 dant, yet enough so to carry them comfortably 
 through the winter ; and the air, though cold, was 
 pure and healthy. It was the second winter en- 
 campment of the war ; many of the men, and 
 still more of the officers, had already served two 
 campaigns together. Faces had grown familiar, 
 and characters were fast becoming known in 
 their weakness and in their strength. And for a 
 softening background to the picture, as the army 
 settled down in its quarters, Mrs. Washington 
 came to camp ; and other ladies joining their hus- 
 bands, a little winter circle was formed, like the 
 winter circle of Cambridge. There were sleigh- 
 rides over the crisp snow, and dinner-parties at 
 head-quarters, and now and then a subscription 
 ball ; and always hospitable firesides, where the 
 grave and thoughtful could talk of their hopes 
 and fears by the blazing hearth, and the young 
 and cheerful play merry games. Greene's share 
 
310 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 in these enjoyments was not what he would have 
 wished it to be ; for his wife was unable to join 
 him till the winter camp was broken up, and the 
 new campaign about to begin. 
 
 But his intimacy with Knox grew closer every 
 day, and Hamilton's entrance into Washington's 
 family added materially to the pleasure of his in- 
 tercourse with head-quarters. 
 
 " I lodge," he writes to his wife, " at Mr. Hoffman's, 
 — a very good-natured, doubtful gentleman. He has a 
 charming wife, a great lover of the clergy. Major 
 Clarke, one of my aide-de-camps, is eternally perplex- 
 ing her with doubts and difficulties, by dark hints and 
 oblique insinuations respecting the purity of manners 
 and principles of the Church of England 
 
 " The smile of Heaven has changed the face of affairs. 
 Respect and courtesy flow in upon us from all quarters. 
 This is a picture of human life. I see the difference 
 betwixt moving on with the tide of success, or sinking 
 under a load of misfortunes." ^ 
 
 For Washington the problem was still the same 
 as that of the winter before Boston, — to mask his 
 weakness by " a good face and false appearances." ^ 
 Here, too, he had a new army to raise, an old army 
 to disband, raw recruits to drill, the spirits of the 
 country to keep up by expeditions and skirmishes, 
 the enemy to harass by cutting off their foraging 
 parties and beating up their quarters, and grave 
 questions to discuss with Congress for the correc- 
 
 1 Greene's MSS. Letters to Mrs. ^ Letter of May 21, quoted by 
 Greene. Letter of January 20, and Gordon, Vol. II. p. 467. 
 February 1, 1777. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 311 
 
 tion of past errors and the preparation for a more 
 decisive future. Many new difficulties, also, had 
 arisen, and some old ones swollen to dangerous 
 proportions. But at the root of them all was 
 an ill-timed jealousy of military influence, and still 
 more avowedly the baneful question of State 
 rights, which, enfeebling the Congress of the Rev- 
 olution, reducing to impotence the Congress of 
 the Confederation, and waging a ceaseless war 
 against the Congress of the Union, attained, at 
 last, to the fulness of its maturity as the ally of 
 slavery in the great rebellion of 1860. The narra- 
 tive of these things belongs to the life of Wash- 
 ington, entering into my subject only in as far as 
 Greene acted with him in them. How far that 
 action extended it is impossible to ascertain, but 
 Hamilton suggests that it embraced the most im- 
 portant events;^ and Greene's letters show that 
 his thoughts were constantly directed, and with a 
 singular harmony of judgment and feeling, to the 
 same topics which occupied the mind of his com- 
 mander, now almost his dearest friend. 
 
 " I am exceeding happy," he writes to his wife, 
 on the 20th of January, " in the full confidence of 
 his Excellency General Washington ; and I found 
 that confidence to increase every hour, the more 
 difficult and distressing our affairs grew." 
 
 One of the earliest associations of this encamp- 
 ment was a painful one. I have already had oc- 
 casion to mention, more than once, the name of 
 
 1 Hamilton, Eulogy on Greene, Works, Vol. II. p. 480. 
 
312 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [177T. 
 
 Daniel Hitchcock, who had accompanied Greene to 
 Boston as colonel of one of the three regiments 
 which formed the Ehode Island contingent. From 
 that time to this he had continued with the army, 
 performing, during the last few weeks, the duties 
 of a brigadier, winning honor wherever honor was 
 to be won, much loved by his own men, and re- 
 spected by all. But fatigue and exposure had un- 
 dermined his health : more than once sickness had 
 kept him from the field ; ^ and, a few days after 
 the arrival of the army at Morristown, he died.^ 
 He was buried in what, in the course of the war, 
 became a populous burying-ground ; and, four 
 years later, in another burying-ground, on the 
 other bank of the Hudson, peopled like this with 
 the victims of war, his friend and companion of 
 Ehode Island's first contingent, Christopher Greene, 
 was buried, as he had been, without any distin- 
 guishing record from the State they honored, or the 
 country they served so well. Nor, although Greene 
 had long ceased to look upon himself as the repre- 
 sentative of a single State, have I been willing to 
 pass over the fate of men so closely connected 
 with the beginning of his military life, without 
 telling how much he prized their services, and how 
 deeply he lamented their death. 
 
 " He was buried,'' Greene writes of Hitchcock, " with 
 all the honors of war, as the last mark of respect we 
 
 1 Greene's MSS. Olney's Narra- ^ Stone's Howland. 
 tive in Williams's Olney, p. 198. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 313 
 
 could show him." And following up the melancholy 
 train of thought which this death suggested, he adds, 
 " Poor General Mercer is also dead of the wounds he 
 received in the Princeton action. He was a fine com- 
 panion, a sincere friend, a true patriot, and a brave gen- 
 eral. May Heaven bless his spirit with eternal peace ! 
 Several more brave ofiicers fell that day ; particularly 
 one Captain Neale, of the artillery. The enemy refused 
 him quarter after he was wounded. He has left a poor 
 widow over [whelmed] with grief. She is as fine a woman 
 as ever I saw ; her distress melts the hearts of all around 
 
 her Such instances paint all the horrors of war 
 
 beyond description." 
 
 Greene's own health had not suffered, incessant 
 as had been his labors, and feeble as he had been 
 at the opening of the campaign. His equipage 
 had not fared so well. "I am miserably off/' he 
 writes to a friend on the 17th of January, " for 
 want of a horse ; you 'U oblige me very much, if 
 you can get me a good one." Daily rides over 
 rough roads and in all weathers wore down his 
 horses fast; and the way in which he speaks of 
 them in his letters shows a tenderness for them 
 which reminds us that with him, as with Washing- 
 ton, the horse had always been a favorite animal. 
 But at this moment he felt the want more sensibly, 
 as he was looking forward to active service. " The 
 sooner a panic-struck enemy is followed, the bet- 
 ter," Washington had written to Lincoln on the 
 7th.^ But, in spite of Washington's desire to push 
 them, they had had ten days to rest and gather 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, IV. p. 266. 
 
 I 
 
314 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 courage in. " The enemy, for several days past," 
 Greene writes on the 17th, " are remarkably still. 
 I strongly suspect mischief." Awed, however, by 
 the apparent strength of the Americans, they did 
 not dare to move out in force ; and although fre- 
 quent skirmishes occurred between scouts and 
 foraging parties, in which the Americans generally 
 had the advantage, Washington was left free to 
 give his attention almost undividedly to the other 
 duties of his charge. 
 
 The new army was the first ; and here was a new 
 difficulty at the threshold, for, on adopting the 
 bounty system, some Eastern States, reflecting that 
 living was more expensive in their rough climate 
 than in their sister States, had offered higher 
 bounties than Congress ^ had done ; and Ehode 
 Island, alarmed by the presence of the enemy, in- 
 stead of confining her exertions to the speedy 
 filling up of the Continental battalions, had " set 
 on foot two regiments of seven hundred and fifty 
 men each, and one regiment of artillery of three 
 hundred men to serve for fifteen months." ^ When 
 Washington heard this, he wrote to Governor 
 Cooke, condemning the measure as injudicious, and 
 injurious to the general interest.^ Three days 
 afterwards, the 23d of January, Greene, who, be- 
 sides agreeing fully with Washington, felt that the 
 
 1 Sparks's Correspondence of the ^ Bartlett's Rhode Island Colonial 
 
 Revolution, Vol. I. p. 342, contains Records, Vol. VIII. p. 140. 
 
 an able exposition of the subject by '^ Sparks's Washington, IV. p. 285. 
 
 Governor Trumbull, of Connecti- Bartlett, m< sup., 114. 
 cut, one of the truly wise men of the 
 day. 
 
1777.1 I^IFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 315 
 
 honor of his native State was at stake, wrote even 
 more strongly than Washington had done : — 
 
 " I am exceeding unhappy to hear of your resolution 
 of raising troops at the expense of the State, before your 
 proportion of the Continental regiments is completed. 
 The forming of new regiments only serves to burden the 
 State, without giving it any additional strength. 
 
 " There is not a State on the continent whose interest 
 and happiness depends so much on a union with the 
 others as yours. You are the most exposed and the least 
 capable of making a separate defence ; consequently, it is 
 your interest to cultivate every measure that may tend to 
 form the union of strength ; and it must be considered 
 bad policy to give an example to others, from which you 
 can derive little or no advantage, and that may prove so 
 ruinous in its consequences. 
 
 " Suppose, for instance, every State was to neglect the 
 completion of the Continental regiments, and prepare for 
 their own internal security ? where is the State that 's 
 able to withstand the enemy's collective force ? If the 
 continent had troops enough on foot to baffle all the 
 enemy's attempts, and were located to particular States, 
 they must inevitably fall a sacrifice for want of a power 
 of drawing the whole collective force together. You 
 have no reason to hope, if you neglect the general 
 interest, and take measures for your own particular 
 safety, but that others will do the same ; and it is folly 
 to expect that troops raised for the defence of any par- 
 ticular State will enter into the service of the States. 
 In general, it is in vain to expect more of soldiers than 
 they are bound by contract to execute. 
 
 " The source of all our evils has been, by taking meas- 
 ures from speculative principles, rather than from real life. 
 The policy of the States has been pregnant with many 
 
316 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENlE. [1777. 
 
 evils, by rating our patriotism too high. This kind of 
 policy has distressed the army beyond description ; and, 
 if I mistake not, this measure of yours has a direct ten- 
 dency to continue things in the same channel ; it may 
 afford you a temporary relief, but never can remove the 
 principal evil. 
 
 " Divine Providence has given a very favorable turn to 
 affairs, and at an hour when people least expected it. 
 Now is the happy hour to complete the Continental estab- 
 lishment. Every State to the southward is expecting 
 itself to fill up its proportion ; not a moment should be 
 lost. If the regiments don't fill up by voluntary enlist- 
 ments, they must be drafted. I hope the powers of 
 government are strong enough to do it. I have not the 
 least shadow of doubt upon my mind, of the success of 
 the war, if the different States raise their men ; but on 
 that the whole depends. 
 
 " I hope the cause is not less righteous, nor opposition 
 less necessary, than it was at the commencement of this 
 dispute. It was a folly to embark in the cause, and sink 
 under the weight of a few misfortunes. He that goes to 
 war and always expects a flowing tide is a novice in the art, 
 and ignorant of human affairs. Our sufferings, though 
 great, bear no proportion to our expectations at first. 
 Our resources are daily increasing ; we have now a fine 
 nursery of officers, whose judgments are daily ripening 
 by experience and observation. A systematic plan is 
 formed for the exertion of our whole strength. Maga- 
 zines, arms, and military stores of every kind, are form- 
 ing and formed, to supply the wants of the army. If it 
 was prudent to engage in this war without any of those 
 advantages, how foolish must our conduct appear, to 
 despair at an hour when we have much to hope and little 
 to fear ! 
 
 " I must confess I did not expect to find the Americans 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 31T 
 
 such slaves to contingencies, but more especially New 
 England, and, in particular, Rhode Island. Such a de- 
 pression of spirit under misfortunes, and elevation upon 
 successes, betrays a want of principle and fortitude, that 
 I would fain flatter myself were the foundation of our op- 
 position. Let any man examine the history of any war 
 in Europe, and compare ours with theirs, and see if there 
 has anything happened different from the common course 
 of events that attend every war. Nay, I think we have 
 abundant cause to bless God that our sufferings have not 
 been greater than they have. A general officer is in a 
 very disagreeable situation ; subject to the censure and 
 reproach of every little dirty politician, ignorant of every 
 circumstance necessary to form a right judgment. But 
 such is the disposition of mankind, that success only 
 marks the man of wisdom, while the unfortunate are 
 execrated without any allowances for providential inter- 
 positions or human accidents. 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear of the distraction and con- 
 fusion that prevails in your councils and public measures. 
 The liberality with which you confer favors on some, and 
 fix stigmas on others, must make men of real merit some- 
 what cautious how they put themselves in a situation 
 where they may be reduced from the highest pitch of 
 glory to the lowest state of contempt. It was ever 
 the policy of the Romans to be cautious whom they 
 trusted, and how they disgraced those they had once 
 honored. 
 
 " I saw a letter from one Malmedy, a French gentle- 
 man, to his Excellency General Washington, whom you 
 have appointed a brigadier-general ; and a copy of a 
 letter from General Lee, to your State, recommending 
 him for a chief colonel's commission. General Lee's 
 letter contains some infamous and very illiberal reflec- 
 tions upon the genius of all the New England States ; 
 
318 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 however just the obstructions with respect to particular 
 appointments, 't is certainly very unjust when applied to 
 the whole body of the people. There are as many men 
 of spirit, activity, and understanding in New England 
 as in any part of the world, according to their numbers. 
 
 " A novelty of things of foreign growth often makes 
 us rate them above those of more solid worth of our 
 production. The gentleman that General Lee recom- 
 mended may be deserving, and possess every quality as- 
 cribed to him ; but I must confess that I have not the 
 highest veneration for the General's recommendation. 
 His temper scarce admits of a proper medium to form 
 a just estimate of people and things. His approbation 
 and execration depend often upon trifles ; besides, the 
 General don't know the power he has over the Ameri- 
 cans, and consequently is not cautious enough in his 
 recommendations not to abuse it.^ 
 
 " Some amongst you, I am told, are uncharitable 
 enough to charge the army with a design of protracting 
 the war for their own private advantage .^ The bosom 
 that can harbor such a thought must be very ill-prin- 
 cipled, and ignorant of our sufferings. For my own part, 
 Heaven knows there is not a man in America, that would 
 more sincerely rejoice at the close of this unhappy dispute 
 than myself ! neither have I a single wish to continue in 
 service a moment longer than the interest and happiness 
 of my country require it. I would freely give place to 
 any man that should be found more deserving. I am 
 conscious of having faithfully discharged my duty to the 
 utmost of my power ; and although I have not been able 
 to command success, I have religiously endeavored to 
 deserve it. I am happy in the confidence of the General, 
 whose merit and worth cannot be too highly rated. 
 
 1 For further details of this affair, Colonial Records, VIII. pp. HI, 160, 
 see Sparks's Washington, IV. pp. &c. 
 419,422. Bartlett's Rhode Island ^ ggg j.^^ams to his "Wife, p. 265. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 319 
 
 " Yet I am told there are some ungodly tongues among 
 you (whose greatest virtue don't equal the General's very 
 vices), who give themselves a latitude of censure. 
 
 " Ever since the Trenton affair, we have had a contin- 
 ual train of successes. The Lord seems to have smote 
 the enemy with a panic. I wish our strength would ad- 
 mit a proper improvement ; but our delicate situation 
 requires the utmost caution and prudence. The enemy 
 are near three thousand weaker than they were a month 
 ago. 
 
 " Our parties have daily skirmishes, in which we have 
 been always successful. His Excellency has ordered 
 General Heath to advance on New York, to co-operate 
 with us, the result of which I have not learned ; but we 
 have a rumor it is attended with success. Generals 
 Spencer and Arnold are with you by this ; I long to hear 
 of your situation. I expect General Knox will pass 
 through Providence. I beg leave to recommend him to 
 your warmest friendship as a most deserving man. His 
 spirit, military knowledge, and ripeness of judgment is 
 inferior to very few, if any, in America. I shall close this 
 long letter with strongly recommending the filling the 
 Continental regiments immediately." 
 
 Greene had written in " the style and freedom of 
 one friend to another " ; but the Governor was net- 
 tled, and laid the letter before the Assembly. They 
 too were nettled, and directed him to write to 
 Washington and Greene explaining their measures, 
 and defending the policy of them. The troops, 
 they asserted, were designed as much for the Con- 
 tinental service as for the service of the State ; the 
 difference in time, fifteen months, instead of three 
 years or the war, being the only difference between 
 them. 
 
320 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " I am exceeding happy," writes Greene in reply, " on 
 the receipt of yours, to find my information erroneous, 
 and my apprehensions and fears in a great degree ground- 
 less respecting your departure from the union and gen- 
 eral plan. 
 
 " At the time I wrote, upwards of two months had 
 elapsed without (my) receiving a single line from any 
 person in the State ; various reports were circulating 
 here to the prejudice of the policy of New England ; the 
 enormous bounty that was given, the effect it would have 
 upon the other States, the resolutions of your State to 
 raise men for its own internal defence, neglecting the 
 Continental regiments, were circumstances not a little 
 alarming to his Excellency. These reports were con- 
 firmed by Lieutenant Allen, of Providence, who arrived 
 from that place much about the same time. He must 
 have been totally ignorant of the terms upon which the 
 troops were raising ; for I conceived them to be for the 
 safety of the State only, and never knew but that they 
 were located, until the receipt of your letter. 
 
 " I hope the house will pardon the freedom with which 
 I delivered my sentiments, when I assure them that it 
 was from a full persuasion that the reports were true, 
 and that the measure was calculated to fix a lasting dis- 
 grace upon the legislators. I have felt no small share of 
 unhappiness in remaining so long ignorant of the true 
 history of your proceedings ; for, notwithstanding I am 
 not answerable for any misconduct in legislation, I can- 
 not help feeling myself wounded when anything trans- 
 pires to the prejudice of the State ; and you may rest 
 assured, sir, the language of my letter was a true tran- 
 script of people's sentiments and opinions respecting your 
 political transactions. If the love for my native place, and 
 zeal for the cause, hath led me to a too hasty animadver- 
 sion upon administration, it hath arisen from a strong 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 321 
 
 desire to correct the evil before it was rendered incurable. 
 .... If you consider the critical situation of the Amer- 
 ican affairs, the importance of adhering to the general 
 plan, the short time we had to prepare for the ensuing 
 campaign, the fatal consequences that might result from 
 an unseasonable delay to myself, the army, and to the 
 cause in general, you cannot be surprised to find my fears 
 and apprehensions alarmed at the disagreeable situation 
 
 things were reported to be in Had I known the 
 
 governmental regiments differed from the continental 
 only in point of time, I should have been silent upon the 
 occasion ; notwithstanding the policy does not correspond 
 with my sentiments. If the enemy had intended to pen- 
 etrate into the country immediately upon their arrival, 
 no new levies could have been raised seasonably ; if they 
 did not, then the Continental regiments might have been 
 as easily completed as any others." ^ 
 
 That Greene was right in his condemnation of 
 this policy the sequel clearly showed. " It is also 
 evident/' writes Washington in April, " that the 
 raising of the Colonial brigades for fifteen months 
 retards the Continental enlistments."^ 
 
 One of the strongest passages in Greene's letter 
 was the reference to the personal attacks upon 
 Washington. 
 
 " You may be assured," writes the Governor, '* that 
 the subjects of this State have the highest veneration for 
 the inestimable (General Washington, and a becoming 
 respect for tlie brave and worthy generals and command- 
 ers under him, and cannot conceive on what the sugges- 
 
 1 Barllett, R. I. Colonial Records, ^ gparks's Washington, Vol. IV. 
 Vol.VIII. pp. 137-211. p. 375. 
 
 21 
 
322 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 tions contained in your letter concerning him are founded, 
 and request you will give us the authors of such infamous 
 insinuation, that a proper inquiry may be had, and con- 
 dign punishment inflicted upon such base calumniators." 
 " I feel a singular pleasure," says Greene, in his answer, 
 " in hearing his Excellency General Washington contin- 
 ues in such high estimation among you. The strictures 
 that were made on the General's conduct by some of the 
 inhabitants of Providence gave me great uneasiness ; if 
 a character so important, so truly worthy, is not shielded 
 from calumny and reproach, what have lesser ones to 
 expect ? 
 
 " Lieutenant Allen is the author, and from the char- 
 acter he bears I make no doubt of its truth ; but had I 
 conceived my letter was for the inspection of the General 
 Assembly, I should not have troubled the House with 
 such out-of-door politics." ^ 
 
 Allen was called before the Council. " He tells us," 
 writes Governor Cooke, " that he informed you that he 
 had heard nothing to the prejudice of the generals from 
 any persons of note in this place ; but only mentioned to 
 you some idle talk of Mr. Man, and some other persons 
 of much less consequence. 
 
 " The Council were convinced that he might have given 
 you quite different intelligence, from the representation 
 he made to us of it. Upon the whole, I beg you to rest 
 assured that General Washington and yourself are at 
 present very high in the estimation of all respectable 
 people in this State." ^ 
 
 " I observe your remarks upon the army on the other 
 side of the North River. I am at a loss whether you 
 mean to impeach the troops or the General through the 
 troops. If the charge is against the former, they can be 
 
 1 Bartlett, Vol. VIII. ut sup. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 216. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 323 
 
 of no use to us here, for if they will not fight there, 
 neither will they here ; but if the charge is against the 
 General, I would only observe, that, under the cloud of 
 misfortunes, the same reproaches lay against the Com- 
 mander-in-chief as now lie against that army. But you 
 see that time has proved the prudence and wisdom of the 
 General's delays. I would not be understood to mean 
 to draw a parallel between the men. I would further 
 observe, for your satisfaction, that a considerable part of 
 the troops on the other side are ordered over here, and 
 are now on their march to join us ; but all this under the 
 rose. My dear sir, you may rest assured, the routing 
 the enemy from the Jerseys is a most desirable object with 
 the General ; but who can form so good a judgment of 
 the practicability as he who knows the strength on both 
 sides ? This is a critical era. The new army in its in- 
 fancy, we unable to support misfortunes, great caution 
 is necessary to preserve our standing. Did you but 
 know the real situation of things, you would applaud the 
 General's prudence. I shall only add, that nothing but 
 the fullest conviction of your prudence and zeal would 
 have induced me to unbosom myself with so much 
 freedom." 
 
 The general whose conduct had been called in 
 question was General Heath, who had just failed, 
 and, as some thought, from over-caution, in an at- 
 tempt upon Fort Independence. 
 
 It was about this time that many of the ques- 
 tions that ought to have been addressed to Wash- 
 ington began to be addressed to Greene, who, in 
 his answers, is careful always to put Washington's 
 name foremost, very much as a Secretary of State 
 puts foremost the name of the President. 
 
324 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " Your favor of the 8th and 10th are before me," the 
 letter to Major Caldwell begins. " In answer to your first, 
 respecting the conditions upon which the light-horse are 
 to be raised,! can only say the Continental Congress have 
 not fixed upon any certain conditions : they have the mat- 
 ter now under consideration. Whatever rank, pay, or 
 provision is fixed upon for the horse in general, such will 
 be the pay of the company the Doctor is to raise. His 
 Excellency desires that he would not get any but good 
 men and horses ; the horses to be valued, and the men 
 properly accoutred ; an account of the cost and charges 
 to be kept, a warrant for the payment of which will be 
 given. The General is not inclined to raise a company of 
 light-horse upon the plan you propose With re- 
 spect to exempting the militia from service to thresh their 
 grain. General Maxwell can better judge of the propriety 
 and utility of the measure. His Excellency, therefore, 
 refers you to him ; but, at the same time, would observe, 
 as this is a critical period, it may be dangerous to open a 
 door for the militia falling off. His Excellency thinks we 
 had better suffer the loss of a little grain than reduce our 
 strength." .^ 
 
 The intimate footing upon which he lived with 
 Washington appears still more clearly from the let- 
 ters that passed between them in their occasional 
 separations. Thus when, in the course of February, 
 Greene had his quarters for a while at Basking- 
 ridge, he writes to Washington on the 20th : — 
 
 " Your favor of the 18th came to hand last evening. I 
 shall pay due attention to its contents ; but I fear my 
 situation is too remote to carry on a communication of 
 intelligence to advantage. Ever since I have been here, 
 I have been revolving the matter over and over in my 
 mind respecting the subject of intelligence. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 325 
 
 " Nothing more eligible has occurred than the plan your 
 Excellency suggests ; but I hope the old channel of intelli- 
 gence is not yet shut up. Day before yesterday I was at 
 Boundbrook and Quibbletown ; there I met with Mr. Low- 
 rey, the commissary, who informed me the same person 
 that was employed by Colonel Read and Colonel Cox was 
 expected out that day with intelligence, the purport of 
 which he promised to forward to you immediately. 
 
 " I transmitted a return yesterday by Major Clarke 
 to head-quarters, with the strength of the brigades, 
 and the places they are posted at. Lord Sterling 
 has but few troops in his brigade, except McCoy's regi- 
 ment, and they are all at Quibbletown. 
 
 *' Lord Sterling, General Johnson, and myself will en- 
 deavor to fix upon the best places to collect the troops at ; 
 little more can be done than agree upon proper alarm- 
 posts, and make the troops and ourselves acquainted with 
 the ground. In order to make the troops acquainted 
 with the ground, I propose ,to send down scouting-parties 
 daily, — not so much for the annoyance of the enemy as 
 to get them acquainted with the ground, and to keep them 
 employed. *»• 
 
 " Should the enemy advance, my plan would be to at- 
 tack with the light troops on the rear and upon the flanks, 
 avoiding a general engagement, unless we can attack them 
 on advantageous ground, where they can bring but part of 
 their troops to act. I am unacquainted with General Put- 
 nam's strength ; but if he has any considerable force, 
 Brunswick should be his object, by all means. 
 
 " But I must confess, I think General Putnam is in 
 much more danger than we. I cannot help still appre- 
 hending Philadelphia to be their object ; the consequence 
 to them, and injury to us, is infinitely greater than beat- 
 ing up our quarters here, and fighting us upon such dis- 
 advantageous ground. 
 
326 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " If the enemy have no expectation of crossing the 
 Delaware, I should think they would move toward Tren- 
 ton, to draw our forces on the flat country : there they 
 may give us a capital blow, here they cannot ; in the flat 
 country their artillery is of great importance, here it is 
 not; there regular troops can act to advantage, here 
 they cannot, — at least, they have not that superiority as 
 they would have there. Our troops are almost all irregu- 
 lar, and they know it. If they consult their own inter- 
 est, they will avoid fighting us upon our ground, that we 
 are acquainted with and they ignorant of. Upon the 
 whole, I think General Howe will find it difficult to move, 
 any way ; but if he moves at all, I am confident it will be 
 towards Philadelphia. But, notwithstanding, I will make 
 the best preparation our situation will admit. Lord Ster- 
 ling is going below to-morrow, to endeavor to fix upon 
 some plan to get intelligence. I will meet General Sulli- 
 van at the same time, and form a plan for the purpose of 
 supporting each other. 
 
 " We sent down forty wagons after forage yesterday. 
 Their success I have not yet heard, but they are mostly 
 returned. This moment the quartermaster came in, and 
 reports they all got full loads, and have returned safe. 
 They were within a mile of the enemy's quarters." 
 
 It is evident, from the unreserved tone of these 
 letters, the minuteness of the details, and the free- 
 dom with which the opinions are uttered, and the 
 advice given, that Greene and Washington were 
 living upon very intimate terms. It is evident, too, 
 that much of their conversation, when together, 
 must have been equally free and minute, compre- 
 hending, in its wide range, all the interests of the 
 army and all the questions of the time. I shall 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 327 
 
 follow their correspondence during the rest of this 
 important year as closely as my materials will per- 
 mit; for it was during this year, and more espe- 
 cially during this winter, that these great men, 
 applying the experience of their two first cam- 
 paigns, and calmly weighing the obstacles that lay 
 in their path, and their means of overcoming them, 
 were so closely drawn together by a full accordance 
 of opinions and motives, that smaller minds, both 
 in the army and in Congress, began to look upon 
 their union with jealousy, and the enemies of the 
 one became, henceforth, the enemies of the other. 
 
 There was one essential difference between their 
 present situation and their situation in the camp 
 before Boston, and a difference widely in their fa- 
 vor. For then the object of the war was limited 
 to a redress of grievances ; and those who knew 
 that their grievances had reached that degree in 
 which redress is no longer possible, were unable to 
 prepare for the long and difficult contest that 
 awaited them as they would have prepared for it 
 if the people had foreseen what they foresaw. But 
 the Declaration of Independence had removed this 
 stumbling-block from their path, imposing greater 
 exertions, it is true, but strengthening the hearts 
 and hands of all for these exertions by setting the 
 same distinct and definite object before all. It 
 was no longer a simple question of redress, but the 
 grand and comprehensive question of nationality. 
 
 It was acknowledged now that an army ought 
 to be raised for the war, and Congress would gladly 
 
328 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 have raised the new army upon that footing. But 
 they could no longer do this as they might have 
 easily done it in the beginning. Bounties and 
 land-grants were now required, — bounties of twen- 
 ty dollars and land-grants of an hundred acres to 
 those who enlisted for the war. Even those offers 
 were insufficient to fill the ranks, and far the larger 
 portion of the newly enlisted troops enlisted, not 
 for the war, but for three years, although the bounty 
 was but ten dollars, and there was no grant of 
 land. Here, however, a new difficulty arose. Ad- 
 ditional bounties were offered by some of the 
 States, Massachusetts raising hers to sixty-six dol- 
 lars and two thirds. And thus the soldiers of the 
 army of 1776, who were willing to enter the new 
 army, instead of taking the Congress bounty, and 
 enlisting in camp, took out their discharges, and 
 went home, in order to secure the State bounty by 
 enlisting there. It is easy to conceive the addi- 
 tional embarrassment that arose from this want of 
 concert between the State governments and the 
 national government. It is easy, too, to conceive 
 how often Washington and Greene, on whom the 
 unnecessary burden fell heaviest, must have said to 
 each other, with anxious misgivings, " When shall 
 we learn that there is no safety for us but in 
 union ?"i 
 
 1 See Journals of Congress, Wednes- ington's Works, Vol. IV. p. 316; 
 
 day, June 26, 1776; Monday, Sep- Governor Trumbull to Washington, 
 
 tember 16, 1776; Washington to February 21, 1777 ; Correspondence 
 
 Knox, February 11, 1777, with a val- of the RevoUition, Vol. I. p. 342. 
 uable note by Mr. Sparks ; Wash- 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 329 
 
 One of the first things that this new army re- 
 quired was security against the scourge which had 
 rnade such havoc in the old, and so often swept 
 over the whole country with such fearful desola- 
 tion. The small-pox, in spite of science, confirmed 
 by experience, was still permitted to hang with a 
 constant menace over the land, and never so fatally 
 as where many men were gathered together in 
 common dwellings. What they became when the 
 monster broke loose amongst them our own recol- 
 lections of the cholera will readily suggest. Atten- 
 tion to this danger, and to inoculation as the only 
 safeguard against it, had been given, from time to 
 time, from the beginning of the war, when circum- 
 stances permitted it. But during this winter, a reg- 
 ular system of inoculation was instituted, and the 
 new recruits carried through the disease before they 
 entered upon active service. One of the districts 
 for inoculation was at Morristown ; and, in order to 
 induce the inhabitants to open their doors to the 
 sick, the army surgeons were directed to inoculate 
 their families without charge. Never was a wise 
 and beneficent measure more completely success- 
 M} 
 
 In our study of these things we must still bear 
 in mind that they were done, not by means of the 
 vivifying energy of a good government, but in de- 
 spite of the hesitations and delays of a weak gov- 
 
 1 Ramsay, History of the Ameri- as his professional tastes led him to 
 can Revolution, Vol. I. p. 327, whom give particular attention to the sub- 
 I cite in preference to many others, ject. 
 
330 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 ernment. The machinery by which the work was 
 accomplished was made while the work was doing; 
 and even after it had been made, it was often diffi- 
 cult to keep the parts together. When the hospi- 
 tals were organized, hundreds that might have 
 been saved had already died for want of them. 
 When the quartermaster distributed the clothes 
 and shoes, half the army was nearly naked and 
 barefooted. When the commissary brought in his 
 supply of provisions, the men were on the brink 
 of starvation. When the paymaster came round 
 with money, biting want had already compelled 
 both soldier and officer to pledge his share in ad- 
 vance for scarce half its value. 
 
 " It is the peculiar misfortune of this army," Washing- 
 ton writes to Greene in May, " to have, generally speak- 
 ing, the heads of the different departments always absent 
 when they are most wanted. Two months was I labor- 
 ing as hard as I could to get the commissary-general to 
 this place, and had scarcely accomplished it before the 
 Congress ordered him to Philadelphia ; from whence I 
 have used my utmost endeavors to bring him back, but am 
 a/swered that he is detained by order. In the mean 
 while, the army may starve." ^ 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 437. See also a passage in Vol. V. 
 p. 314. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Improved State of Public Feeling. — Successful Expeditions and their 
 Effect. — Hamilton's Entrance into Washington's Family. — Corre- 
 spondence with John Adams resumed. — Washington's Opinion of 
 the Policy of Congress in the Case of General Lee. — Growth of 
 Hostility in Congress towards Washington. — Greene sent to Phila- 
 delphia. — Appears before Congress. — Committee appointed to con- 
 fer with him. — Letters. — Life in Philadelphia. — Returns to Camp. 
 
 nnHERE was one bright side, however, to the 
 -■- picture of these anxious months. The spirit 
 awakened by the successes of Trenton and Prince- 
 ton had not been suffered to die away. " The 
 Tories are melting away very fast in this country," 
 Greene writes to his wife as early as January. 
 " The different treatment they meet with from the 
 enemy from what they expect works great ref- 
 ormations." If the British ventured out of their 
 stronghold, they were boldly attacked, and gener- 
 ally with a sufficient degree of success to excite 
 a desire on the part of the Americans for a fur- 
 ther trial of strength. Three of these encounters 
 are recorded in a single letter, — a letter from 
 Baskingridge of February 24, to Colonel G. Wea- 
 don, Adjutant-General. 
 
 " A large foraging party of the enemy came out yes- 
 terday from Araboy, consisting of about four thousand ; 
 our people attacked them with various success. Colonel 
 Striker says our parties killed and wounded three wagon- 
 
332 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. -^ rnyy. 
 
 loads. Eleven was seen dead in one place. The enemy's 
 cannon gave them a great superiority over our people. 
 The foraging party continued out till night, and our par- 
 ties followed them towards Amboy till quite dark. Our 
 party lost about eight or ten men, whether killed, wound- 
 ed, or taken prisoners is uncertain. This party took 
 seven prisoners. The party that made this attack was 
 from General Maxwell's brigade. Hand's and Striker's 
 regiment, and part of Colonel McKay's. The attack be- 
 gan about eleven in the forenoon. I was out from home 
 at Turkey reviewing one of the brigades, or else I should 
 (have) sent an express last night. 
 
 " Colonel Johnson was down with a party of Maryland 
 militia, — made an attack upon Piscataway ; he killed 
 three, and if his men had stood their ground they would 
 have taken forty men. He formed an ambush, and sent 
 out a flying party to draw them into it ; it succeeded ac- 
 cording to his expectation, but his party cowardly deserted 
 him just as the enemy was in his power. 
 
 " General Warner sent out a party last night to bring 
 off their picket at the bridge. The guide was deceived 
 in the ground, and led the party between the out-sentries 
 and the guard. They took two prisoners and drove the 
 enemy, but what execution was done is uncertain." 
 
 The report of encounters like these, amounting 
 sometimes, like Dickinson's in January, and Nel- 
 son's in February, to brilliant captures, was spread 
 over the country by letters and newspapers, raising 
 some extravagant expectations indeed, and in so 
 far acting injuriously upon the public mind, but 
 generally filling it with hopes that prepared the 
 way for more vigorous exertion.^ This spirit was 
 
 1 Ramsay, American Revolution, ington, Vol. I. p. 140 (revised edi- 
 Ch. XII. ; Marshall, Life of Wash- tion). 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 333 
 
 fostered also by the cruelty of the enemy, who had 
 not yet discovered how completely their outrages 
 during the invasion of December had imbittered 
 the inhabitants against them. " The enemy," says 
 Greene, in a short postscript to Colonel Weadon, 
 " killed two of the inhabitants yesterday because 
 they did not assist them with their wagons to 
 carry off their dead. One they shot through the 
 head, the other they killed with a bayonet." 
 
 But another incident of this time, of great impor- 
 tance to the common cause, but to Greene a bright 
 gleam of sunshine, ever growing brighter and 
 brighter as the general darkness thickened, was 
 Hamilton's entrance into the family of the Com- 
 mander-in-chief as aide-de-camp, on the 1st of 
 March. Hamilton, as has already been seen, had 
 attracted Greene's attention during the summer of 
 '76, but, strongly as they were drawn towards each 
 other, their intercourse had been controlled during 
 the busy months that followed by their relative po- 
 sitions and duties rather than by their inclinations. 
 Now, however, it quickly ripened into friendship. 
 Greene was at head-quarters daily, as a counsellor 
 and friend. Hamilton was always there to meet 
 him as the confidential secretary of the man they 
 both loved and honored. Their views seldom dif. 
 fered, if ever, both with regard to persons and to 
 things, and each found in the other's mind an en- 
 ergy, an activity, a vigor of grasp, a breadth of com- 
 prehension, a quickness of conception, and a power 
 of patient thought, which he recognized as the dis- 
 
334 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 tinctive characteristics of his own. Family tradi- 
 tion has always represented Hamilton as the object 
 of Greene's peculiar affection ; and Hamilton, who 
 lived to put his opinion of Greene upon record, 
 bore witness to " the enormous powers of his mind," 
 under circumstances which would have made exag- 
 geration a satire.^ 
 
 It was at this time also that Greene's correspond- 
 ence with John Adams, which had been interrupt- 
 ed during Adams's long absence from Congress, was 
 resumed. It was useful as a means of bringing his 
 ideas before Congress, and occasionally entering 
 a timely protest against injudicious measures. It 
 was useful, too, as a means of ascertaining the views 
 of leading men, by eliciting those of a man who, in 
 despite of his vanity and violent passions, was un- 
 doubtedly a chief among them. The first of these 
 letters was written from Baskingridge, March 3d. 
 
 " It is a long time since I wrote to you or you to me ; 
 who stands in debt upon the score of letters I cannot tell ; 
 therefore I shall begin anew. If you ha\>e time and in- 
 clination, you will give it an answer ; if not, I sliall con- 
 sider it as the ladies do their visits after marriage ; if 
 there 's no return, the acquaintance drops. 
 
 " I believe you are pretty well convinced of the truth 
 of the observation I made to you last summer, which was 
 that you were playing a desperate game. I fancy your 
 ideas and mine differed very widely at that time respect- 
 
 1 I borrow this expression from one of the audience. Surely every 
 
 Hamilton's Eulogium on Greene, word, that was written for such an 
 
 pronounced before the Cincinnati audience would be carefully pon- 
 
 July 18, 1789. Nothing but illness dered. See Hamilton's Works, Vol. 
 
 prevented Washin^on from forming II. p. 482. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 335 
 
 ing the state of things. You consulted your own feelings 
 rather than the history of mankind in general. I am 
 sensible you have not the most exalted opinions of your 
 generals. Who is in fault ? Every one would wish to 
 be an Epaminondas, Sertorius, or Turenne, if tliey could, 
 but if Nature has refused to crown the soiis of America 
 with such choice gifts, who is to blame ? either she or we ? 
 We cannot be blamable only as we stand in the way of 
 better men. I can speak for myself, although I have no 
 wish to leave the service, yet I value the freedom and 
 happiness of America so much higher than I do my own 
 personal glory, that I am ready at all times to give place 
 to a better man. 
 
 " I am sensible, from a review of the last campaign, 
 there appears some considerable defects in the counsels 
 and conduct of its operations ; but give me leave to tell 
 you, sir, that our difficulties were inconceivable to those 
 that were not eye-witnesses to them. To expect that brav- 
 ery, firmness, and good conduct from undisciplined troops 
 that is only to be found among veteran soldiers [is un- 
 just]. General Howe had, the last campaign, a large and 
 well-supported army ; this army [was] strongly appointed 
 in all its operations, with a very formidable naval force. 
 Our forces were hastily drawn together, no time to dis- 
 cipline or form them, — very few that had ever been in 
 action. We had the enemy's intentions to collect, a 
 large extent of country on the bays and rivers to guard. 
 It is true we have met with some misfortunes, and great 
 ones too, but not more so than might have been expected, 
 considering their strength and our situation. Perhaps 
 the generals may be thought blamable for not fighting 
 more. I must confess I advised to the bringing on an 
 action at the White Plains, and then thought it right, as 
 our army was wasting away and the ground being very 
 strong on which the army lay ; but the discipline of 
 
336 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 the British troops and the superiority of their artillery 
 might have given a general defeat. In that case, the 
 consequences would have been terrible. The alternative 
 was disagreeable ; if we did not defeat the enemy, the 
 dissolution of our army was soon to take place and they 
 left at liberty to range at large. General Howe has 
 invariably pursued the maxims of an invader, this cam- 
 paign, endeavoring to bring us to a general action and 
 avoid skirmishing. General Washington, as every de- 
 fender ought, lias followed directly the contrary conduct 
 by endeatoring to skirmish with the enemy at all times 
 and avoid a general engagement. The short term of 
 enlistment and the still shorter aid of the militia has 
 lost us almost all the benefit of these skirmishes. Amer- 
 ica abounds with materials to form as good an army as 
 the world can prodvice ; but it requires time, for nothing 
 but habit makes the soldier, and pride the officer. I am 
 in hopes, if the new army iills agreeable to the resolutions 
 of Congress, that America' will display in some future 
 campaign as much heroism and bravery as Europe can 
 boast of. With these advantages, if the reputation of 
 the American arms is not supported, let censure fall on 
 the heads of the guilty. I know that success marks the 
 man of wisdom, while the unfortunate are execrated 
 without any allowance for Providential accidents or mis- 
 fortunes. Let us bury our past errors in the cabinet and 
 field, and join heart and hand in concerting and execut- 
 ing the most effectual measures to free America from 
 her cruel oppressors. 
 
 " I beg leave to make some inquiry into the policy of 
 some late resolutions of Congress that respects General 
 Lee. Why is he denied his request of having some 
 persons appointed to confer with him ? Can any injury 
 arise ? Will it reflect any dishonor upon your body to 
 gratify the request of one of your generals ? Suppose 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 337 
 
 any misfortune should attend him immediately, will not 
 all his friends say he was made a sacrifice of ? that you had 
 it in your power to save him, but refused your aid ? He 
 says in his letter he has something of the last importance 
 to propose with respect to himself, and adds, perhaps not 
 less so as to the public. You cannot suppose the general 
 would hold out a profession to bring us into disgrace or 
 servitude. If he would, it is certainly our interest to 
 know it seasonably, that we may not make a sacrifice for 
 a man that is undeserving of it. If he would not, 't is 
 certainly a piece of justice due to his merit to give him a 
 hearing. To hear what he has to propose cannot injure 
 us, for we shall be at liberty to approve or reject his 
 proposition. But let us consider it in another point of 
 view. Will not our enemies, the disaffected, improve this 
 report to our prejudice ? They will naturally say, that 
 General Howe had a mind to offer some terms of peace, 
 and that you refused to lend an ear or give him a hear- 
 ing, and that you were obstinately bent on pursuing the 
 war, although evidently to the ruin of the people. Had 
 you not consented to hear General and Lord Howe last 
 spring, the public never would have been satisfied, but 
 that there might have been an accommodation upon safe 
 and honorable conditions. For my own "part, I could 
 wish you to give General Lee a hearing. But whether 
 you give him a hearing or not, I cannot help thinking 
 the sacrifice you are making for General Lee is impolitic 
 as respects the Hessians, and unjust as it respects our 
 prisoners with General Howe. The cartel that was set- 
 tled between General Washington and General Howe, was 
 an exchange of officers for officers of equal rank, soldiers 
 for soldiers, and citizens for citizens. General Howe has 
 never refused this mode of exchange, and is now press- 
 ing of us to comply with it. Had we an officer of equal 
 rank with General Lee, we might demand him with some 
 
338 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 propriety, or had we an equal or superior number of 
 officers prisoners with us, the doctrine of retaliation would 
 be reasonable and just ; but to retaliate for the injury of- 
 fered to one is bringing distress on many for no valuable 
 purpose. General Howe has upwards of three hundred Qf 
 our officers in his hands ; and we only about fifty of his. 
 If we put six field-officers in confinement because Gen- 
 eral Lee is kept confined, General Howe will immediately 
 order an equal number of ours under the same confine- 
 ment. The officers themselves will have cause of com- 
 plaint, and all their friends will clamor loudly. If Gen- 
 eral Howe should not retaliate upon our officers, but call 
 them together, show them they are in his power, by us de- 
 voted to destruction, and then enlarge them, it will totally 
 detach them and their connections from our cause. If 
 we make a sacrifice of the enemy, we don't hear the 
 groans and see the tears of their mourning friends ; but 
 if any of our officers fall a sacrifice, these multiplied dis- 
 tresses are amongst us continually sounding in our ears. 
 But the worst consequences and the most to be dreaded is 
 the effect it will have upon the Hessians, The mild and 
 gentle treatment the Hessian prisoners have received 
 since they have been in our possession has produced a 
 great alteration in their disposition. Desertion prevails 
 among them. One whole brigade refused to fight or do 
 duty, and were sent prisoners to New York. Kancor 
 and hatred prevails between them and the British sol- 
 diery. It should be our policy to increase this hatred, not 
 take a measure that may heal the difference. General 
 Howe has been spreading papers among the Hessians 
 with accounts of our having sold the Hessian prisoners 
 for slaves. This severity to their officers will but too 
 strongly confirm them in the account. If we can alien- 
 ate the foreign troops from the British service, we inevi- 
 tably ruin Great Britain, for her own natural strength 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 339 
 
 is totally insufficient to conquer and hold in subjection 
 these States. If the foreign troops that are here can 
 be debauched, Great Britain must be discouraged from 
 employing any more, as so little reliance is to be placed 
 upon them. For these and many other reasons that will 
 readily occur to you, I would wish the resolution respect- 
 ing retaliation might be suspended for a time, at least, 
 especially as General Lee's . confinement is not strict. 
 The situation of our army forbids our doing anything 
 that may alarm the fears of the people anew. We have 
 but the shadow of force ; and are more indebted to the 
 weather for security than to our own strength. I fear 
 your late promotions will give great disgust to many. 
 But whatever promotions you intend to make, pray let 
 them be completed as soon as possible, that those difficul- 
 ties of reconciling discontented persons may not be at a 
 time when harmony and concord is necessary. You '11 
 excuse the freedom I have taken, and pardon what 's 
 amiss." ^ 
 
 1 Greene MSS. This is the let- ring a single step of promotion to the 
 
 ter which suggested to Mr. Charles service of the public, must be bridled. 
 
 F. Adams the following remarkable It is incompatible with republican 
 
 commentary : " General Greene con- principles. I hope, for my own part, 
 
 tinned to write as he had done the that Congress will elect annually all 
 
 year before. He repeated his convic- the general officers. If, in conse- 
 
 tion that the game was desperate, quence of this, some great men 
 
 though this would make no differ- should be obliged at the year's end to 
 
 ence in his resolution to see it out." go home and serve their country in 
 
 Mr. Adams's answer contains, some other capacity, not less neces- 
 
 among other passages, the follow- sary and better adapted to their 
 
 ing : — genius, I do not think that the 
 
 " Our late promotions may possi- country would be ruined. Perhaps 
 bly give disgust, but that cannot be it would be no harm. The officers of 
 avoided. This delicate point of the army ought to consider that the 
 honor, which is really one of the rank, the dignity, and the rights of 
 most putrid corruptions of absolute whole States are of more importance 
 monarchy, — I mean the honor of than this point of honor; more, in- 
 maintaining a rank superior to abler deed, than the solid glory of any par- 
 men, — I mean the honor of prefer- ticular officer. The States insist, with 
 
i 
 
 340 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 If we turn to Washington's correspondence, we 
 shall find him writing, on the 1st of March, to the 
 President of Congress : — 
 
 " Though I sincerely commiserate the misfortunes of 
 General Lee, and feel much for his present unhappy situa- 
 tion, yet, with all possible deference to the opinion of Con- 
 gress, I fear that these resolutions will not have the desired 
 effect, — are founded in impolicy, and will, if adhered to, 
 produce consequences of an extensive and melancholy 
 nature." And, on the 2d, to Robert Morris : *' I wish, with 
 all my heart, Congress had gratified General Lee, in his 
 request. If not too late, I wish they would do it still." 
 
 In other letters his language is even stronger 
 with regard to Lee ; and as to the system of choos- 
 ing general of&cers from each State, in proportion 
 " to the number of men which they furnish, .... I 
 confess," he writes to Arnold, on the 3d of April, 
 " this is a strange mode of reasoning." ^ 
 
 It is evident, from this constant harmony of opin- 
 ion upon the most important subjects, that Wash- 
 ington and Greene were in the habit of discussing 
 them together ; and if we would give the power of 
 
 great justice and sound policy, on voting in a " warm room," and eating 
 having a share of the general oflficers luxurious dinners, the other " freez- 
 in some proportion to the quotas of ing and starving on a bleak hillside," 
 troops they are to raise. This prin- — I use Washington's words, — and 
 ciple has occasioned many of our late remember, moreover, that it was no 
 promotions, and it ought to satisfy longer by votes, but by hard fight- 
 gentlemen. But if it does not, they ing, that the contest was to be decid- 
 as well as the public must abide the ed, we may be excused for wishing 
 consequences of their discontent." that John Adams had never written 
 When we consider the relative po- these words. See Adams's Works, 
 sitions of the Congress and the Vol. I. p. 263. 
 army, and remember their relative i Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. 
 duties, — one party discussing and pp. 334,341,342,378. 
 
1777.1 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 341 
 
 patient investigation and severe examination which 
 each of them is known to have possessed its due 
 weight, it is fair to suppose that each brought to 
 the discussion a full share of independent thought. 
 It is equally evident, from this and all his other 
 letters of this period, that Greene was confident 
 the contest would be successful, if the people did 
 their duty. "I hope," ends one of his letters to 
 Governor Cooke, "if heaven continues to smile 
 upon us, and the respective States furnish their 
 proportion of men, to exterminate from this land 
 of liberty those hostile invaders of human happi- 
 ness and the rights of mankind." ^ 
 
 It was all-important that the door of Congress 
 should be kept open for Washington's friends, for 
 it had been opened very wide to his enemies. The 
 cabal which reached its height early in the follow- 
 ing winter had already begun to raise its loathsome 
 head. And if we follow closely the action of Con- 
 gress upon the counsels and suggestions of the 
 Commander-in-chief, we shall discover even in its 
 own meagre journals the traces of an incipient 
 hostility. In spite of Washington's earnest and re- 
 peated representations. Congress had never taken 
 measures in season for filling up the army, and mak- 
 ing the necessary appointments. Yet, in February, 
 while Washington was still holding the enemy at 
 bay, with a shadow of an army, it did not hesitate 
 to insert in its resolutions a " pompous paragraph " 
 about the " earnest desire of Congress to make the 
 
 1 Greene MSS. Letter of March 6, 1777. 
 
342 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 army under the immediate command of General 
 Washington sufficiently strong, not only to curb 
 and confine the enemy within their present quar- 
 ters, and prevent them from deriving support of 
 any kind from the country, but, by the Divine bless- 
 ing, totally to subdue them before they are rein- 
 forced." Four States were against this paragraph, 
 six — the four Eastern, with Virginia and Georgia 
 — in favor of it. What it really meant may be 
 gathered from a letter of Mr. Burke, of North 
 Carolina, to the Governor: "There appeared, 
 through this whole debate, a great desire, in some 
 of the delegates of the Eastern States, and in one 
 from New Jersey, to insult the General." ^ 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine how Washington 
 looked when he handed the letter, with this half- 
 drawn dagger in it, to Greene, and what a bitter 
 smile rested upon Greene's lips as he read it. 
 ^^ Could I accomplish the important objects so 
 eagerly wished by Congress," wrote Washington, 
 in reply, " I should be happy indeed. But what 
 prospect or hope can there be of my effecting so 
 desirable a work at this time ? The enclosed re- 
 turn, to which I solicit the most serious attention 
 of Congress, comprehends the whole force I have 
 in Jersey." That force amounted to three thou- 
 sand men fit for service, two thousand of whom 
 were militia.^ 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, February i Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. 
 22, 1777. Sparks's Washington, p. 362. 
 Vol. IV. pp. 326, 327, note. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 343 
 
 One of the pretexts employed by Washington's 
 enemies in Congress was the pretext of State 
 rights, and Mr. Abraham Clark, a delegate from 
 New Jersey, came prominently forward, as one of 
 its earliest advocates. To counteract the injurious 
 effects of the proclamation issued, on the 30th of 
 November, by Lord and Sir William Howe,^ Wash- 
 ington had issued, on the 25th of January, a coun- 
 ter-proclamation, calling upon all who had taken 
 out protections from the English general to give 
 them up, and take the oath of allegiance to the 
 United States. " The General's proclamation is a 
 violation of our civil rights," wrote Mr. Clark to 
 Mr. Dayton. "Each State requires an oath to 
 that particular State. In many other things the 
 proclamation is exceptionable, and very improper. 
 I believe the General is honest, but I think him 
 fallible." 2 
 
 How far Washington was aware of the existence 
 of this hostile spirit in Congress is uncertain, but 
 he was well aware that something more urgent 
 than a letter was required to induce that dilatory 
 body to hasten its steps. Could he have gone to 
 Philadelphia himself, laid his plans publicly before 
 Congress as a whole, and reasoned in private with 
 individual members, the ascendency of his per- 
 sonal character might have done much towards 
 filling the opening breach, and obtaining the neces- 
 sary action. But he could not leave the army at 
 
 1 Force, American Arcliives, 5th ^ Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. 
 Series, Vol. III. p. 927. pp. 297, 298, note. 
 
344 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 SO critical a moment, and therefore, as the nearest 
 approach to going himself, he sent Greene. 
 
 " The difficulty, if not the impossibility," he writes the 
 President of Congress, on the 18th of March, " of giving 
 Congress a just idea of our situation (and of several other 
 important matters requiring their earliest attention), by 
 letter, has induced me to prevail on Major-General Greene 
 to wait upon them for that purpose. This gentleman is 
 so much in my confidence, so intimately acquainted with 
 my ideas, with our strength and our weakness, with every- 
 thing respecting the army, that I have thought it unneces- 
 sary to particularize or prescribe any certain line of duty 
 or inquiries for him. I shall only say, from the rank he 
 holds as an able and good officer, in the estimation of all 
 who know him, he deserves the greatest respect, and much 
 regard is due to his opinions in the line of his profession. 
 He has upon his mind such matters as appear to me most 
 material to be immediately considered, and many more 
 will probably arise during the intercourse you may think 
 proper to honor him with ; on all which I wish to have 
 the sense of Congress, and the result of such deliberations 
 as may be formed thereupon." ^ 
 
 Greene's instructions are dated on the same 
 day: — 
 
 " The necessity of having the Congress well informed 
 of many matters essential to the well-being of this army, 
 and the impracticability of doing this by letter, have in- 
 duced me to request you, who intimately know our cir- 
 cumstances, to repair immediately to Philadelphia for this 
 purpose, and, at the same time, ascertain how we are to 
 be supplied with arms, and many other articles, in which 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 368. 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 345 
 
 we are exceedingly deficient. To enumerate the several 
 matters of information necessary to be given, and the in- 
 quiries proper to be made, would be as needless as end- 
 less ; your own good sense, assisted by such hints as you 
 have received, will be abundantly sufficient. 
 
 " Two or three things, however, I must in a more par- 
 ticular manner recommend to your attention ; one is the 
 embarrassment I am laid under with respect to carrying 
 the exchange of prisoners into execution, agreeably to the 
 cartel settled with General Howe, by order of Congress, 
 on account of the confinement of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Campbell and the Hessian field-officers. I would have 
 you inquire of the quartermaster-general how he stands 
 provided with tents, ammunition, carts, wagons for in- 
 trenching tools, and hatchets, or tomahawks ; also, of the 
 commissary of stores, how he proceeds with his casting of 
 cannon and making of cartridges, of which numbers 
 should be in readiness ; and, generally, what forwardness 
 the business of the laboratory is in, and urge him to the 
 most diligent discharge of the duties thereof. 
 
 " One thing in particular I beg of you to impress 
 strongly upon Congress, and that is the necessity of keep- 
 ing the paymaster regularly supplied with the article of 
 cash ; without it everything moves slowly ; and many and 
 great disadvantages flow from the want of it, as we have 
 most wofully experienced of late in numberless instances. 
 As the establishment of the light-horse, with respect to 
 the pay, seems to be upon an unstable footing, and it is 
 indispensably necessary that both officers and men should 
 know what they have to depend upon, I should be glad if 
 the pay could be settled upon such a just and liberal foot- 
 ing as to give satisfaction to the parties.'' ^ 
 
 With those documents in hand, and in his mind 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 367. 
 
346 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 things still more important which it was not 
 deemed wise to put upon paper, Greene repaired 
 promptly to Philadelphia. It was his first sight of 
 the Quaker City, and his first meeting with Con- 
 gress. " A letter of the 18th from General Wash- 
 ington/' says the Journal for Thursday, March 
 20th, " brought by General Greene was read : — 
 
 " Ordered^ That General Greene attend Congress to- 
 morrow at eleven o'clock." 
 
 Eleven o'clock came, and Greene presented him- 
 self at the door ; not, however, if we may trust 
 his well-known habit of turning every moment and 
 every circumstance to account, without having 
 talked awhile in the outer hall with members 
 whom he knew, and sought the acquaintance of 
 others whom it was desirable to know. Then, with 
 somewhat of ceremony borrowed from England, he 
 was ushered into Independence Hall. There, in a 
 chair raised a little above the others, dignified, 
 graceful, with a ready smile and a fluent tongue, 
 sat John Hancock, the first signer of the Declara- 
 tion. Right below him was a lean man, with deep 
 wrinkles furrowing his face, eyes that flashed and 
 sparkled as they looked out from their deep sock- 
 ets, and lank white hair combed straight down upon 
 his head, but not long enough to cover his ears. 
 The table before him covered with papers, and 
 the busy pen showed at first glance that this was 
 Secretary Charles Thompson, whose name stands 
 second on the Declaration.^ Greene believed 
 
 1 Nouveau Voyage dans I'Amerique, etc., par M. I'Abbe Robin. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 347 
 
 already in union, yearned for it, looking to it as 
 the only source of strength and peace and pros- 
 perity. But did not some misgiving rise in his 
 mind as he turned from the firm Puritan face 
 of Sam Adams, written all over with I can and I 
 will, to the You must and you shall that 
 looked out with equal distinctness from the keen 
 eyes of the South Carolina Rutledge and the thin 
 lips of Eichard Henry Lee ? William Ellery sat 
 in Samuel Ward's place, — a good and a true man ; 
 but did not Greene long for the familiar face of 
 that wise and upright friend, to tell him what the 
 lurking distrust in the eye of Abraham Clark 
 meant ? Yet be it mistrust, or caution, or curiosi- 
 ty, or whatever it might, he was there to do Wash- 
 ington's will and speak in Washington's name ; and 
 his heart and mind told him that the salvation of 
 the country, and all the interests involved in her 
 holy cause, depended upon his doing both firmly 
 but wisely. Why did not Charles Thompson write 
 out in full the words that were said during that 
 two hours' interview ? and why has not some diary 
 preserved for us the picture of the soldier in his 
 uniform, returning to his habits as a legislator, 
 and addressing the national council in the same 
 straightforward and earnest language with which 
 he had so often addressed the Rhode Island As- 
 sembly ? ^ But all that Charles Thompson has re- 
 corded is, — 
 
 1 It is impossible to touch upon and not regret the meagreness of its 
 any interesting incident in the history Journals. 
 of the Congress of the Revolution 
 
348 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " Ordered^ That the committee appointed on the 13th 
 to confer with General Gates do also confer with General 
 Greene on the several matters given in charge to him by- 
 General Washington, and that three members be added 
 to the committee. 
 
 ''The members chosen, Mr. Wilson, Mr. S. Adams, 
 and Mr. Witherspoon." ^ 
 
 The members of the first committee were Mr. 
 Roberdeau, Mr. L. Morris, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Whip- 
 ple, and Mr. Lovell,^ — names that suggest Httle 
 as yet, though by winter we shall find Mr. Lovell 
 writing things which, it may be hoped, he was 
 soon sorry for. With this committee Greene 
 passed two evenings in full and free discussion. 
 One of the subjects he felt most interest in was 
 the authority of councils of war, which, as the 
 sequel shows, he did not hold in very high esteem, 
 never calling them himself except when he had 
 already made up his mind not to fight. But Wash- 
 ington, acting with that cautious consideration 
 which his peculiar position required, had thus far 
 held himself bound to follow their opinion even 
 where it disagreed with his own. Is this the inten- 
 tion of Congress ? was the question which Greene 
 brought before the committee ; and, on their rec- 
 ommendation, .Congress 
 
 " Resolved^ That General Washington be informed 
 that it never was the intention of Congress that he should 
 be bound by a majority of voice in a council of war, con- 
 trary to his own judgment." ^ 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, March 21, 1777. John Adams has a curious 
 1777. passage upon this subject in a letter 
 
 2 Ibid., March 13. to his wife. Letter CV. p. 206. 
 * Journals of Congress, March 24, 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 349 
 
 Before the next year was over, the battle of 
 Monmouth, fought in opposition to the decision 
 of a council of war, showed how wise and timely 
 that resolution had been. In other respects, too, 
 Greene appears to have had no reason to com- 
 plain of his committee ; nor, as far as resolves 
 could go, of anything in Congress itself but its 
 useless delays. But Congress was, unhappily, far 
 more skilled in framing resolutions than in car- 
 rying them into execution, and this it was that 
 tried so sorely men like Washington and Greene, 
 full of energy and action. How Greene sped in 
 all these matters, and what else he did, he tells 
 Washington in a long letter written just before 
 his return : — 
 
 " I received your letter of the 21st. I was with a com- 
 mittee of Congress, who had the business of the cartel 
 and other matters under consideration, when your Excel- 
 lency's letter was delivered me. I had explained the 
 matter fully to the Congress and committee. I was two 
 hours before the former, and two evenings with the latter. 
 I believe the business of the cartel will be settled agree- 
 able to your wishes, that is. General Howe acknowledging 
 General Lee a prisoner of war, and holding him subject 
 to exchange whenever we have an equivalent to offer, — 
 the full execution of the old cartel to take place as your 
 Excellency and General Howe can agree, with full powers 
 to annex such further conditions as may be thought ne- 
 cessary to promote the comfort and happiness of the un- 
 fortunate. I explained fully the state of the army to the 
 Congress ; but I fear they can do but little more than has 
 been done. There has gone from the city about seven 
 
350 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 hundred men within the week past, a thousand more will 
 be ready in eight or ten days. The Congress have wrote 
 to Governor Johnson to forward the Maryland troops, and 
 to the Governor of the three lower counties. The Mary- 
 land delegates which arrived in town last night say their 
 regiments are above half full, upon an average. It is 
 reported, with some degree of confidence, that the new 
 North Carolina regiments are on their march this side of 
 Virginia, but I have no sufficient foundation for the re- 
 port to give full credit to it. 
 
 " I believe Congress thinks the alteration of the route 
 of the Massachusetts troops exceedingly judicious. I ex- 
 plained to the House your Excellency's ideas of the next 
 campaign. It appeared to be new to them ; however, they 
 readily admitted the probability from the reasons afforded. 
 I yesterday went to view the forts and fortifications below 
 the city. I think them quite insufficient for the purpose, 
 without a very strong opposition. I have rode round the 
 city and up the Schuylkill, and give it as my opinion, 
 that it cannot be fortified to advantage. The approaches 
 may be made so many ways, that it would take a greater 
 number of troops to defend the works than it would be 
 prudent to have shut up in the city. However, I think 
 an advantageous line may be drawn from the Schuylkill 
 to the Delaware, beginning at Morris's seat on the Schuyl- 
 kill, and running from thence to Shippen's, Hubley's, and 
 Dickinson's country seat over the Delaware. Those posts 
 would be eligible upon the enemy's getting possession of 
 the city. 
 
 " Enclosed is a return of the situation of the quarter- 
 master-general's department, the wagons, spare carriages, 
 <fec., not mentioned in the return, are in great forward- 
 ness, General Mifflin informs. 
 
 " Colonel Flowers returned yesterday from Carlisle, 
 the place for the laboratory. He has contracted for the 
 
1777.] "" LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 351 
 
 ground, provided materials, and ordered the necessary 
 buildings to be erected as soon as possible. There is cast 
 at this place one twelve-pound, two sixes, and two five- 
 inch howitzers that are good. They will continue to cast 
 about two a week. Colonel Flowers is making out a 
 return of the state of his department ; if he completes it 
 before this letter goes, I shall enclose it. 
 
 " 1 am told by the Congress, the pay and establishment 
 of the light-horse is completed and forwarded. 
 
 " I have impressed upon the Congress, in the strongest 
 manner I was capable, the necessity of keeping the pay- 
 master fully supplied with cash. The House requested 
 estimates. I told them I could not furnish any ; but the 
 demand would be great, at the opening the campaign, 
 to pay oiBf the old arrearages and satisfy the new de- 
 mands. 
 
 " There is so much deliberation and waste of time in 
 the execution of business before this assembly, that my 
 patience is almost exhausted. I cannot get the resolve 
 respecting the cartel passed so soon as I want it. I know 
 your delicate situation, and the anxiety you must be 
 under. 
 
 " I think it is uncertain yet whether General Gates 
 will serve as adjutant-general. I have directed General 
 Fermoy to repair to camp. What measures the Congress 
 will take respecting the rank of general officers appointed 
 by the States I cannot pretend to say. The subject has 
 been fully explained to them, and the injury that may 
 arise from things continuing in their present situation. 
 
 " Colonel Cox is gone out of town. Whether he will 
 accept the appointment of commissary of prisoners or not 
 I cannot tell. I shall write him upon the subject. 
 
 " A brig arrived this day from Nantes. Her cargo con- 
 sists of two hundred and seventy-two chests of arms, 
 containing six thousand eight hundred muskets, — sixty 
 
352 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 chests of which, not being proved, the captain says he 
 cannot so fully engage for their goodness, but the re- 
 maining two hundred and twelve chests are very fine 
 proved arms; also, fifteen hundred excellent double- 
 bridled gun-locks. When this vessel left France there 
 were great preparations in that kingdom and Spain for 
 war, which was expected to be general throughout 
 Europe. 
 
 " Another vessel has just passed up the river from 
 Hispaniola, deep ladened, her cargo unknown. 
 
 " Major Conner, by land from Charleston, South 
 Carolina, advises of a ship belonging to that State arriv- 
 ing there eight days before he left that place with a 
 number of arms, ammunition, &c., and twelve brass 
 cannon from France. 
 
 " Nothing could have happened more seasonable than 
 these arms, as the Congress have none in store. Colonel 
 Flowers has about four thousand out of repair, and about 
 four hundred that are fit for use. The Secret Committee 
 have given me to understand that a large quantity of 
 arms, ammunition, and brass cannon are daily expected. 
 
 " I shall stay to-day and to-morrow in town, and then 
 set ojBf for camp, unless I am detained by the Congress." 
 
 This was the business side of the mission to Phil- 
 adelphia. But there was also another side to this 
 picture ; for Philadelphia had recovered quickly 
 from the fright of December, and was already gay 
 and brilliant again. It was not merely staid Con- 
 gressmen with grave faces that were seen in its 
 straight and airy streets, but officers with epau- 
 lets and feathers, and buff facings and rattling 
 swords, that kept time to their steps, and the step 
 itself that vibrating, elastic tread which drum and 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 353 
 
 fife teach, and, once taught, is never forgotten. 
 There were foreign officers too, mercurial French- 
 men, impassive Germans, and here and there a Pole, 
 sprinkling every tavern and boarding-house table, 
 standing in knots at the corners or on the side- 
 walks, but oftenest found and thickest at the door 
 of Independence Hall, watching to slip a memorial 
 into the hand of some member of Congress, or to 
 remind him of. some hasty word which had been 
 twisted into a promise. And in private houses 
 there were sumptuous dinners served up in choice 
 china, and now and then on plate, with rich wines 
 in rare varieties, — such dinners as head-quarters 
 never saw, though members who had a sure, social 
 footing saw and ate them daily. And both at the 
 afternoon board and in the evening dance there 
 were bright young faces ; and, writes Greene to his 
 wife, they " appeared angelic." " Attractive scene 
 of debauch and amusement," is Eichard Henry 
 Lee's description of the Philadelphia of that winter. 
 "Philadelphia, that mass of cowardice and Toryism," 
 writes John Adams. A place of "crucifying ex- 
 penses," wrote James Lovell, putting his finishing 
 touch to the picture. To foreboding minds all 
 this must have seemed a kind of madness, the fren- 
 zied revel of sailors on a sinking ship, and in this 
 Philadelphia of March there were some, perhaps, 
 whose hearts grew heavy with sad anticipations 
 when they called to mind the Philadelphia of De- 
 cember, as it appeared to Wilkinson and Gates. 
 "It was dark," writes Wilkinson, "when we en- 
 
 23 
 
354 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 tered Front Street, and it appeared as if we had 
 penetrated a wilderness of houses ; such was the 
 silence and stillness which prevailed, that the drop- 
 ping of a stone would have been heard several 
 squares, and the hoofs of our horses resounded 
 in all directions."^ 
 
 Greene loved society, and knew how to play the 
 fool in the right place, as we shall see by and by, 
 and see Washington join heartily in the frolic ] but 
 this was neither the time nor the place, and doing 
 as quickly as Congress would let him what he 
 came to do, he gladly turned his face again towards 
 the bleak hills of Morristown, revolving in his mind 
 the checkered scenes he was leaving behind him, 
 and, gathering strength as he crossed the Delaware 
 to Trenton, and rode over the battle-field of Prince- 
 ton, and holding his way along the road where a 
 few weeks before he had tracked the march of his 
 weary soldiers by blood-prints on the snow, he came 
 out once more upon that mountain screen, behind 
 which his beloved commander was thoughtfully 
 preparing himself for another trial of strength and 
 skill with his powerful adversary. 
 
 1 Richard H. Lee to Washington, ton. Correspondence of Revolution, 
 
 Sparks's Correspondence of the Rev- ut sup., 412. Wilkinson's Memoirs, 
 
 olution. Vol. I. p. 367. J. Adams's Vol. L p. 127. 
 Letters. James Lovell to Washing- 
 
CHAPTEK XVI. 
 
 Greene's return to Camp. — Birth of his Second Daughter. — Gover- 
 nor Livingston's Family. — Letter to Mrs. Greene. — Anxiety about 
 Rhode Island. — Correspondence with Arnold. — Spring. — Army 
 not yet raised. — Letter to J. Adams. — Doubts and Conjectures 
 about the Enemy's Plans. — Attempt to surprise General Lincoln. 
 — American Retaliation. — Plans, Positions, Reports, and Conjec- 
 tures. — Greene sent with Knox to examine the Passes of the Hud- 
 son. — Reports and Letters to Washington. — Return to Morris- 
 town. — Letters to his Wife. 
 
 /^ EEENE'S first feeling on returning to camp 
 ^^ was a longing for home. " The great distance 
 there is between us/' he writes to his wife on the 
 30th, " and the few opportunities I have to hear 
 from you, leaves me in a very disagreeable sus- 
 pense. Eight long months have passed amidst 
 fatigue and toil" (of the danger he does not 
 speak) " since I have tasted the flowers of domes- 
 tic felicity." And here " General Knox and a few 
 others " come in and stop his pen. When they are 
 gone, he adds, " I have been endeavoring to collect 
 a few tender sentiments, and to call home my wan- 
 dering thoughts ; but " they " have put them all to 
 the rout, and in vain do I endeavor to rally my 
 ideas." 
 
 A few days afterwards he received the tidings of 
 the birth of his second child, — a daughter. 
 
356 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GEEENE. [1^77. 
 
 " I read the letter/' he writes from Baskingridge, " with 
 a trembling hand. Some superstitious fears had been 
 hovering round me that something would happen to you. 
 What gave rise to this troublesome train of visitants I 
 cannot tell, unless it was the extreme anxiety I felt for 
 you in your critical situation. Heaven be praised for this 
 second pledge of conjugal affection ! When I shall see the 
 poor little [one] God only knows. I am exceedingly 
 happy at your being at Potowomut, and rejoice to find 
 the brothers so kind and attentive to your wants. How 
 shall you or I repay their kindness ? We must leave that 
 to some after day. Nothing delights me more than to 
 hear you all live in good-fellowship. 
 
 " I am now at Lord Stirling's seat, in a most agreeable 
 family of Governor Livingston's. There are three young 
 ladies of distinguished merit, sensible, polite, and easy. 
 Their manners are soft and engaging ; they wish much to 
 see you here, and I wish it too ; but I expect long before 
 that happy moment to be upon the march towards Phila- 
 delphia. The enemy, I expect, will advance that way be- 
 fore ten days or a fortnight at most. If you have an 
 inclination to come to the westward, bring somebody with 
 you that can take care of you, as it is uncertain whether 
 I shall have an opportunity to see you at all. I never 
 wished more ardently to see you in my life than now ; 
 the hours grow tedious and the heart impatient. Fortune 
 is rather unfriendly to afford but a few months' enjoyment 
 for several years' marriage. However, I hope fortune has 
 something better in store. If not, we must learn content- 
 ment. Pray is Nancy Yernon and the Doctor become 
 one ? I saw Doctor Young when I was in Philadelphia ; 
 his wife and Suse his daughter, Mrs. Washington and 
 Mrs. Bland from Yirginia, are at camp, happy with their 
 better-halves. Mrs. Washington is extremely fond of the 
 General, and he of her ; they are very happy in each 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 357 
 
 other. General Knox informs me that he and his Lucy 
 had agreed to visit you at Coventry. The morning was 
 fixed to set out, but the orders of the General pointed out 
 a different route." 
 
 Another cause of anxiety was, at this moment, 
 recalling his thoughts to Ehode Island. The pres- 
 ence of the enemy on the island had excited at 
 first a general alarm, which was presently followed 
 by a resolution to attack them. Various plans 
 were proposed, and many letters passed between 
 Washington and the officers in immediate command 
 in the State, — Spencer and Arnold. Greene, too, 
 had drawn up a plan, which he forwarded to Arnold ; 
 but all w^ere agreed that, unless a good and trust- 
 worthy force could be raised, any attempt, no mat- 
 ter on what plan, would be highly imprudent.^ 
 No such force could be raised ; and yet Arnold 
 writes to Greene from Providence on the 10th of 
 March : — 
 
 ** The wise Assembly of this State have passed a vote, 
 declaring it disgraceful to the States of New England, and 
 to this State in particular, and of course to the general 
 officers of the army, that the enemy on Rhode Island have 
 remained so long unmolested, and have requested and di- 
 rected General Spencer to attack them immediately, as he 
 would avoid the anathemas of the Great and General As- 
 sembly of the State of Rhode Island ; which, being fearful 
 of incurring, he has, in conjunction with General Cooke, 
 given orders for collecting the militia, &c. for the above 
 
 1 See Sparks's Correspondence of Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. pp. 
 the Revolution, Vol. I. pp. 334, 353. 312, 344. 
 
358 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 purpose. Included is a copy of votes of the Assembly. 
 I send it to you as a curiosity." ^ 
 
 "I am favored with yours of the 10th," writes Greene 
 from Morristown, March 30th, in reply, *' covering several 
 resolutions of the Assembly of the State of Rhode Island. 
 I fear those were hasty measures, — the product of dis- 
 appointment and vexation, taken without adverting to 
 consequences. I am very sure their hearts are right, and 
 their zeal warm, but I fear they do not give themselves 
 time to deliberate properly. I am sure the House of As- 
 sembly never meant the resolutions as a reflection upon 
 the general officers ; neither did they think their neighbor- 
 ing States might take umbrage at the severity of the re- 
 proach. The State of Rhode Island may think it a great 
 misfortune tliat the troops on Rhode Island have not been 
 attacked ; but I am far from thinking so, and ever shall 
 be, unless I can be first convinced of the certainty of the 
 success of the attack. People that are unacquainted with 
 military matters and the force of discipline think that 
 number are sufficient to secure success ; four thousand 
 troops, well posted, with a good train of artillery, may bid 
 defiance to three times their numbers, especially when 
 there is but little order and method and discipline among 
 the assailants. I wish General Spencer may not hazard an 
 attack with such troops as you describe ; it is the opinion 
 of the best military judges we have in the army, that the 
 chance of an attack is against us. It signifies nothing for 
 a few spirited officers to rush upon danger, when they have 
 little or no hope of being well supported. Spirit is essen- 
 tial in an officer, but prudence is more so. If you make 
 the attack, God grant you success ! but I hope General 
 Spencer will have more prudence than to run any unneces- 
 sary risk to gratify popular clamor. 
 
 1 For votes of Assembly, see Bart- ters. Greene's MSS. Letters to Gen- 
 lett's Rhode Island Records, Vol. eral Greene, Skipwith Collection, p. 
 VIII. pp. 154, 155. Arnold's Let- 14. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 359 
 
 " I am exceeding sorry to hear that the New England 
 States are so tardy in furnishing their proportion of men ; 
 the Northern States are little better. This army wants a 
 large re-enforcement to open the campaign to advantage ; 
 fortune favors us with a very seasonable supply of arms. 
 I hear there is twelve thousand stand arrived to the east- 
 ward at Portsmouth, and one thousand barrels of powder ; 
 there is also six thousand eight hundred stand of arms 
 arrived at Philadelphia, and six hundred and sixty barrels 
 of powder arrived in Maryland. 
 
 " Several valuable prizes have been brought into Balti- 
 more within a few days past, — two of the enemy's store- 
 ships, loaded with provisions, bound for New York. 
 General Gates goes again to Ticonderoga. It is uncer- 
 tain who commands the north side of Hudson's River, 
 but I think it probable General Putnam will." 
 
 It is almost startling to find Greene and Arnold 
 writing each other so freely, and with such ex- 
 pressions of mutual respect. But at this very time, 
 Washington, too, was writing of the future traitor : 
 " Surely, a more active, a more spirited and sensi- 
 ble officer fills no department in your army." ^ 
 And such, indeed, was the general feeling of the 
 army, fully shared by Greene, who, as they were 
 very seldom stationed together, had but little per- 
 sonal intercourse with him, yet continued to be- 
 lieve in him, and write to him till almost the very 
 day of his fall. 
 
 Spring is come. Washington has worked hard 
 all through the winter, with voice and pen. 
 Greene has worked hard, too, sharing all his cares 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 351. 
 
360 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 and counsels. A new campaign is at hand, but the 
 work of preparation is not yet done ; and while 
 they are watching the enemy, holding themselves 
 in readiness to seize an advantage or repulse an 
 attack, they must still wait upon the steps of a 
 dilatory Congress and State governments, too much 
 absorbed with the care of their individual safety 
 to provide seasonably for the safety of the whole. 
 
 " I am more and more alarmed every day of my life," 
 Greene writes to John Adams, on the 5th of April, '' at 
 the local preparations making in the different States for 
 their own defence, in such a situation as we are in, sur- 
 rounded with imaginary and real grievances, — claims 
 made by one State, and refused by another. Men at the 
 head of affairs full of caprice and humors, poisoned with 
 little prejudices, and conceited of their own importance, 
 can easily throw the whole empire into a convulsion, un- 
 less there is some seasonable check provided to silence 
 those little differences in their infancy. Human nature 
 is capable of those ebullitions of folly, and prudence dic- 
 tates the necessity of providing against them. It is my 
 opinion, there ought not to be any standing troops but 
 what are on the Continental establishment." 
 
 It was late for beginning a principal laboratory, 
 but the work was still delayed for want of the ne- 
 cessary orders. 
 
 • 
 
 " I have neither seen nor heard any resolution of Con- 
 gress," he writes in the same letter, " approving or disap- 
 proving of the Laboratory being fixed at Springfield. If 
 the Congress approves thereof it will be necessary for 
 them to say so, there being now an order for its being 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 361 
 
 fixed at Brookfield, and the council of the Massachusetts 
 State commissioned to provide the materials for tlie erec- 
 tion of the necessary buildings at that place. Please to 
 inquire into the matter, and write General Knox upoii 
 the subject ; it will forward the business, if the council 
 has the same powers with respect to providing materials, 
 only at Springfield instead of Brookfield." 
 
 The new army ought to have been in camp, 
 armed, equipped, and well advanced in its drill. 
 But the new levies not only came in slowly, but 
 were in part composed of the worst materials for 
 a patriot army ; " convict servants," whom the re- 
 cruiting officers, with a disgraceful neglect of duty, 
 had purchased of their masters.-^ 
 
 Meanwhile, "What will the enemy do?" was the 
 first question on every tongue, the uppermost 
 thought in every mind. 
 
 " Since my return to camp," writes Greene, in the 
 same letter from which I have already quoted, " I am 
 more at a loss to guess the enemy's intentions than ever. 
 They are fortifying Brunswick. Two spies who left that 
 place a few days since say the greater part of the troops 
 are gone to Staten Island ; drafts have been made from 
 the several corps. There is a general order of General 
 Howe's commanding all the officers that are absent from 
 posts to join the 10th of this instant. It is generally sug- 
 gested some expedition is on foot. If 't is up the North 
 Eiver, General Howe is the greatest blunderer of the age 
 to put us on our guard by such an ill-timed expedition as 
 they made the other day. If this expedition is to the 
 southward, his delay has lost him the happy moment ; a 
 
 1 Gordon's American Revolution, Vol. II. p. 467. 
 
362 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 fortnight's delay longer will put it out of his power to do 
 any great things. If the States furnish their men, and 
 we have a good train of artillery provided seasonably, and 
 General Howe don't shut himself up in some inaccessible 
 post, ten to one but ruin awaits him before fall. But if 
 every State is at liberty to furnish only a part of their 
 men, and those at their pleasure, we shall have another 
 crippled campaign, indecisive and perhaps disgraceful." 
 
 A few days later a little light broke suddenly in 
 upon the scene. 
 
 " The enemy made an attempt to surprise General Lin^ 
 coin this morning," he writes to John Adams from Bound- 
 brook on the 13th of April. " They advanced by three 
 divisions ; one crossed the Raritan, about a mile above 
 head-quarters. The second division came in front of the 
 town ; the third to the left of the town, and crossed the 
 river called Boundbrook. Besides these three divisions, 
 there was a corps de reserve commanded by General 
 Mathews. The patrols and guards posted by General 
 Lincoln were negligent, or else the Tories, who are per- 
 fectly acquainted with the ground, brought the columns 
 in between the patrols and guards ; which of the two was 
 the cause of the surprise, or whether they both concurred 
 to produce it, I can't tell. The General had but just 
 time to draw off the troops from between the heads of 
 their two flank columns, which kept up a warm fire as 
 our people passed between them. Our artillery, consist- 
 ing of three three-pounders and the ammunition belong- 
 ing to them, fell into the enemy's hands, and most of the 
 men were made prisoners belonging to the artillery, and 
 two of the officers. There was about twenty artillerymen 
 made prisoners, and about forty battalion men killed, 
 wounded, and missing. General Lincoln had one aide- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 363 
 
 de-camp made prisoner, and lost almost all his papers. 
 This is a great misfortune, as it will inform the enemy 
 of many disagreeable circumstances. The enemy were 
 supposed to be between four and five thousand strong at 
 least. General Lincoln had about five hundred conti- 
 nental and militia troops. The action began about five 
 o'clock. The enemy's loss must be considerable. Colo- 
 nel Butler, with about three hundred excellent marksmen, 
 had a good fire upon one of the heads of their columns for 
 a considerable time. I am posted at Baskingridge, about 
 twelve miles from this place. The enemy had evacuated 
 the town before I got there. They held it about an hour. 
 .... This opportunity presented to write, and as it 's un- 
 certain whether the General's express will reach the city as 
 soon as this gentleman, I thought proper to write to you." 
 
 When the circumstances became fully known, it 
 was ascertained that no blame could attach to 
 General Lincoln. 
 
 It " was owing to the valorous conduct of the militia," 
 says Greene, in a letter of the 20th to a friend, " who 
 were posted at a fording-place on the Raritan. They de- 
 serted their post without giving the General the least 
 
 notice I marched from Baskingridge upon the first 
 
 intelligence ; but the distance was twelve miles, and the 
 enemy had retreated before I got down." " The British 
 Generals" (Cornwallis and Grant), he writes to his wife, 
 " breakfasted, and I dined, at the same house the same 
 day. This is the state of war." 
 
 The Americans were not disposed to put up with 
 the insult. 
 
 " The next night," he continues, '' we surprised one of 
 their pickets, killed one officer and seven privates, and 
 
364 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 took sixteen prisoners.'* They would gladly have done 
 more. " I returned to this place last night," he writes to 
 Lincoln from Morristown on the 19th. '* Upon examining 
 the condition of our posts and those of the enemy, from 
 the intelligence of the enemy's strength and situation, 
 and the weak state our advance posts were in, I find it 
 impossible to make an attack upon the enemy with any 
 probability of success. General Maxwell and General 
 Stevens are of the same opinion. The latter wrote to 
 General Washington this morning, that he liad intelli- 
 gence of the enemy's making some new disposition. 
 ' The regiment of Guards are ordered up from the land- 
 ing to Bonumtown, when the enemy will have their 
 principal force assembled thereabouts, viz. the thirty- 
 third, second battalion of the seventy-first light infantry 
 from Rhode Island, and the forty-second, and I believe 
 the grenadiers, who came from Rhode Island.' This is 
 an extract from General Stevens's letter, who is of opin- 
 ion that there will not be left above one thousand six 
 hundred men at Brunswick and the landing. How well 
 this opinion is founded I leave you to judge. General 
 Stevens's opinion is, the enemy have some stroke in con- 
 templation. His Excellency wishes you to keep a good 
 lookout. He thinks the cannon with you are in a dan- 
 gerous situation, and will in a great degree be useless, if 
 the enemy make an attempt to surprise you. He there- 
 fore wishes you to send them to Morristown immediately, 
 and only consider Boundbrook as an advanced picket. 
 The General thinks you had better order all the stores 
 back between the first and second mountain, and draw 
 your daily supplies from thence." 
 
 How little do we realize the constant self-control 
 which their situation imposed upon these bold and 
 enterprising men ! 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 365 
 
 " Pray, how goes on recruiting with you ? " Greene 
 writes to a friend the next day. " I am sure the conti- 
 nent must come to drafting at last ; the sooner the 
 better. Our strength now is trifling. It is to be re- 
 gretted that the cause of freedom rests upon the shoulders 
 of so few. General Howe is preparing with all imagina- 
 ble diligence to take the field. His bridge across the 
 Delaware, so much talked of, is arrived at Brunswick, as 
 I am informed by a spy who left that place last night. I 
 would thank the British myrmidons to protract the open- 
 ing of the campaign for about three weeks ; but that is 
 not to be expected. Our army will appear like Gideon 
 and his pitchers. God grant us the same success ! The 
 cause is equally righteous, and claims his heavenly pro- 
 tection." 
 
 There is one other source of hope to which he 
 still continues to look, though almost a year was 
 yet to pass before he saw it realized. " Very late 
 news from Europe mentions that a French and 
 Spanish war is inevitable, and that but few recruits 
 can be got for the reinforcement of the British 
 army in America." 
 
 Thus all through April the anxiety and watch- 
 fulness and preparation continue. 
 
 " I am directed by his Excellency General Washing- 
 ton," he writes to General Lincoln from Baskingridge, on 
 the 27th, " to acquaint you the tents are arrived from 
 Philadelphia, and that he purposes encamping the troops 
 in a few days. His Excellency desires you to give the 
 necessary orders for each regiment, to send the quarter- 
 master or some other proper officer to draw the necessary 
 tents for the respective regiments ; one tent for five men. 
 His Excellency also desires you to give it out in orders, 
 
366 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 that no parties go out of the lines except such as are au- 
 thorized by the daily or.ders, unless the officer has per- 
 mission. General Maxwell had a party of about twenty 
 surprised a few nights past, that went out of their own 
 accord without the necessary directions. I purpose to 
 call and see you this afternoon or to-morrow. Enclosed 
 you have a piece of intelligence from Brunswick yester- 
 day. I had intelligence from New York night before last. 
 The intelHgence gives an account of the enemy's being in 
 great preparation, cutting down a large ship to make a 
 floating battery. Eleven sail of transports with troops 
 have gone up the North River ; as many with troops are 
 gone down the Eastern Sound, said to be bound for New 
 Haven. These movements are to divert our attention 
 from their principal object, and to keep the Eastern troops 
 from coming on. The bridge at New York is complete, 
 and part of it is said to be at Brunswick." 
 
 To increase the perplexity of the American com- 
 manders, a report came from Europe that Boston 
 was to be attacked. 
 
 " I observe by Dr. Lee's letter to his brother," ^ Greene 
 writes to John Adams on the 2d of May, " that Burgoyne 
 is to attack Boston. The troops remaining so long at 
 Newport seems to favor this opinion, — time only can 
 unfold their future intentions. I observe, by some late 
 resolves of Congress, they are in fear for Ticonderoga. 
 If Carleton comes over the lakes with a view of penetrat- 
 ing into the country. General Howe must be bound up 
 the North River, notwithstanding all his threats and 
 preparations for Philadelphia." 
 
 With his fleet so near at hand, it was not diffi- 
 cult for Sir William Howe to embarrass and per- 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 395. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 367 
 
 plex his adversaries. There were so many points 
 to attack, and each point offered so many induce- 
 ments, that it seemed almost impossible to divine 
 in what direction he would turn. His first meas- 
 ures served only to increase the perplexity. To- 
 wards the end of March he sent a detachment up 
 the Hudson, and destroyed the stores at Peekskill. 
 Towards the end of April he sent another detach- 
 ment into Connecticut, and destroyed the stores at 
 Danbury. " For once, give them credit for a bold 
 manoeuvre," Greene writes to John Adams. "I 
 think they have paid dear for the attempt. It is 
 supposed their loss in killed, w^ounded, and prison- 
 ers cannot be less than six hundred." 
 
 But whatever Howe's plans might be, the passes 
 of the Hudson were the key to direct commun- 
 ication between the Eastern and Western States. 
 Firmly held, the British forces north of the High- 
 lands would still be deprived of the means of com- 
 municating with the army at New York. Once lost, 
 the line of the Hudson was lost, and the Eastern 
 States would be severed from the Middle States. 
 Early in the preceding campaign Washington had 
 given as much of his attention to these passes as 
 his time and means permitted. He was even more 
 anxious about them now, and, unable to go and 
 examine them himself, he sent Greene to examine 
 them for him, and " give such orders for further 
 defence as " might " appear to " him " necessary for 
 the greater security of the passes by land and 
 water through the Highlands," disposing, "more- 
 
368 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 over, of the troops in such a manner as " he might 
 "judge most hkely to answer the end in view."^ 
 
 Greene had never been through the Highlands 
 before, and, could he have thrown aside his grave 
 responsibilities for a while, he could hardly have 
 chosen a better time for a first view of them. 
 Never till then had his eyes rested on such huge 
 masses, or wandered over such an expanse of fo- 
 liage, fresh with the new life of early spring, or 
 seen the Hudson itself — although he had passed 
 weeks on its banks — flow with such majestic tran- 
 quillity, with every passing cloud, and every im- 
 pending cliff, and the blended leaves of the forest, 
 reflected in its burnished mirror, and looking up, 
 as it were, from the mysterious depth of waters 
 into the mysterious depth of overarching sky. 
 But he had no time to think of the grandeur or 
 beauty of the scene. It was for their strength 
 that he looked with such searching eyes upon pass 
 and defile ; it was to choose the most inaccessible 
 points that he climbed the highest mountains, and 
 studied the projections and indentations of the tor- 
 tuous river. The genial Knox was with him ; and, 
 as they rode along, they talked of cannon and mor- 
 tar ; measured with their eyes the range from each 
 cliff*, and from bank to bank ; and sometimes, too, 
 spoke of their great cause, their hopes and their 
 fears for the opening campaign, their faith in Wash- 
 ington, and more than once of what they dreaded 
 
 ^Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 414. Instructions to General Greene, 
 Morristown, May 12, 1777. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 369 
 
 from the delays and stumblings of Congress. At 
 Peekskill they found McDougall,Wayne, and George 
 Clinton ; and after a careful comparison of observa- 
 tions, Greene drew up a report which they all signed 
 together. 
 
 " We have examined the obstructions in the North 
 River, and beg leave to observe that the object is too im- 
 portant to be trusted to its present security. If those 
 obstructions in the river can be rendered effectual, and 
 the passes into the Highlands be properly guarded, which 
 can be done with about four or five thousand troops, the 
 rest of the army will be at liberty to operate elsewhere. 
 
 " To render the obstruction at Fort Montgomery com- 
 plete, it will be necessary to have a boom across the river, 
 and one or two cables in front of the chain, to break the 
 force of the shipping before they come up to it. The two 
 Continental ships should be immediately manned and 
 fixed, and the two row-galleys be stationed just above the 
 obstruction, which will form a front fire equal to what the 
 enemy can bring against them. The fire from the ships 
 and galleys in front, and the batteries upon the flank, will 
 render it impossible for the shipping to operate there if 
 the obstructions in the river bring them up, which, with 
 the additional strength proposed, we have great reason to 
 expect. 
 
 ** The communication between the Eastern and Western 
 States is essential to the continent ; and the advantages 
 we shall have over the enemy by the communication, and 
 the great expense that will be saved in transportation of 
 stores, by having the command of the river, warrant every 
 expense to secure an object of so great magnitude. We 
 are very confident, if the obstructions in the river can be 
 rendered effectual, the enemy will not attempt to operate 
 
 24 
 
370 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 by land, the passes through the Highlands are so exceed- 
 ing difficult." 
 
 By the same courier Greene gives Washington 
 an account of his mission thus far : — 
 
 " Agreeable to your Excellency's instructions, I have 
 given the necessary orders to carry the further obstruc- 
 tions on the river into execution. I am going this day up 
 to New Windsor to view the obstructions there, and the 
 passes through the Highlands to the Clove, after which I 
 shall be able to give your Excellency a very good history 
 of the state of things here, which I shall do at my return. 
 It will be impossible to be at home under two days." 
 
 New Windsor was an important village then, very 
 unlike the single street of dilapidated houses that 
 stands crumbling now on the western bank of the 
 Hudson; and almost within the shadow of the 
 Storm King.^ Bear with me, reader, if, as I write 
 this name, I pause to recall him who gave it, — him 
 whose quick poetic eye reading at a glance what 
 thousands had looked upon the deep serenity of 
 the majestic mountain and never seen, — its pro- 
 phetic communings with sun and cloud, its unfailing 
 promise of a perfect day and its sure foreshadow- 
 ings of storm, and, reading these, gave it the lordly 
 name which must cling to it forever. Bear with 
 me if, mingling my own personal recollections with 
 these recollections of a past which belongs to the 
 world's history, I recall the Idlewild which sleeps 
 under the Storm King's shadow, and to which genius 
 
 1 A mountain at the northern opening of the Highlands, called Butter 
 Hill on the map. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 371 
 
 and geniality have given a charm that can never 
 fade from my memory. It is only they who have 
 known thee there, dear Willis, who have known in 
 full the depth of thy mind or the tenderness of thy 
 heart. 
 
 At the farthest end of the village, on a pleasant 
 bank that, shaded with fruit-trees, slopes swiftly 
 down to the river's edge, stood, a few years back, 
 a modest little cottage, known to all the country 
 round as the head-quarters of Washington. But 
 it is gone now, torn down though not replaced. 
 Here, as in the best house, Greene must have passed 
 his first night in the hamlet where, before the war 
 was over, he was to pass so many ; and here on the 
 18th he wrote to Colonel Hughes of the Quarter- 
 master's department : — 
 
 " His Excellency General Washington sent me and 
 General Knox to this division of the army to examine the 
 forts, fortifications, and obstructions across the river ; also 
 the state of the provision at each post, and the condition 
 of the Quartermaster-General's department in this divis- 
 ion of the army. 
 
 "• I am sorry to find a general complaint at all the posts 
 of want of forage. You must be sensible by this, that a 
 considerable part of the Continental forces are drawn to- 
 gether at Peekskill and its environs. You also must be 
 sensible that no operation can take place, if the motions 
 of the enemy render it ever so necessary, without the 
 article of forage. 
 
 '' The season is fast approaching when we may expect 
 tlie enemy will be in motion, and to be unprepared to 
 counteract them for want of forage will be a great misfor- 
 tune. I am told by some of your deputies, that the evil 
 
372 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 originates through the neglect of the agents of Mr. Diier ; 
 if that is the case, you must not trust to them for a supply 
 any longer. Receive all that they send in, but immedi- 
 ately take such measures to establish proper magazines as 
 will afford a sufficient supply to all parts of the army. If 
 the inhabitants will not supply it voluntarily, you must 
 apply to the commanding officer at Peekskill for a proper 
 guard to take it, paying or giving certificates for every- 
 thing so taken. 
 
 '^ Wagons and horses to transport the regimental bag- 
 gage, artillery horses, and covered wagons for military 
 stores, should be provided as soon as possible. Your ut- 
 most exertions will be necessary to provide these things 
 seasonably. Let the provisions be got over the North 
 River agreeably to the resolve of Congress and order of 
 General Washington, and lodged at such places as General 
 George Clinton shall direct. 
 
 " I must entreat you to use all possible diligence to get 
 everything in your department in the greatest forward- 
 ness. Your own industry is unexceptionable, but you 
 will please to have an eye to those that are under you, as 
 few are faithful enough to discharge their duty without 
 such attention." 
 
 By the 19th he was again at Morristown. 
 
 "■ I returned last night from Peekskill," he writes to his 
 wife the next day, " after a long, tedious, and hard journey. 
 To crown all, I fell from my horse upon the top of an ex- 
 ceeding high mountain, cut my lip through, and otherwise 
 bruised myself exceedingly. Never did I undergo so 
 much fatigue in less time. Last night at Mr. Lott's, 
 within about nine miles of this place, I heard you was 
 gone on before me. how my heart leaped for joy, not- 
 withstanding I was sure it was impossible ! yet the thought 
 was so pleasing I could not help indulging the sweet 
 delusion." 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 373 
 
 It is pleasant to get the glimpse of the inner man 
 which these letters give when his thoughts turn 
 homeward. 
 
 " I impatiently waited for the post to-day, in hopes of a 
 letter, but, to my great mortification, not a Hne," he 
 writes in one. " I had the pleasure to hear from you 
 to-day by letters from Brother Kitt and Sister Caty," be- 
 gins another. 
 
 *' They write jou are cleverly, and in a way of getting 
 well soon. God grant you may ! The child, also, they 
 say is in a fair way. Heaven be praised for its goodness ! 
 I most ardently wish to see you, but when or where 
 [I shall] the Lord alone knows. I don't expect to visit 
 Rhode Island till the close of this campaign, if fortune 
 should preserve me through it." 
 
 Then day after day passes without bringing let- 
 ters from home, although he writes "by every post 
 and every private opportunity." 
 
 " My dear, it is now a month and upward since I re- 
 ceived a line from one of the family. I think it exceeding 
 unkind ; if you are unwell, and incapable of writing, 
 surely some of the brothers might do me that friendly 
 office. However disagreeable consequences may be, it is 
 some consolation to know them. Nothing is more painful 
 than a state of suspense. Pray, my dear, let me know 
 the worst, that I may accommodate my mind to the, evil. 
 The last accounts I had from you, you was exjr .mg 
 unwell, taking four grains of mercury every day. i.hink 
 how you would feel if I had been in an engagement, and 
 left your mind under the torture of suspense for upwards 
 of a month. how cruel ! " 
 
 She had been very ill. 
 
374 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. . [1777. 
 
 "I was almost thunderstruck at the receipt of your 
 letter. How different its contents from my wishes ! A 
 lingering disorder of five weeks' continuance, and from 
 the present symptoms a confinement of two months longer. 
 Heaven preserve you, and bless you with patience and 
 fortitude to support yourself under the cruel misfortune! 
 Long had I pleased myself with the [hope] of a happy 
 meeting. But fortune seems to delight to sport with 
 
 human happiness that I had but wings to fly 
 
 to your relief! " 
 
 And when better tidings of her health came, other 
 trials followed close upon the trial of protracted ill- 
 ness, threatening to keep them still apart. 
 
 " My dear angel," he writes, " since I wrote you this 
 morning I received your letter of the 29th of April. The 
 contents have wrung drops of blood from my heart. 
 Gracious God, how much I wish to come to you ! . . . , 
 But the General will not permit me to go. I have had 
 exceedingly hard duty this spring. The General keeps 
 me constantly upon the go. The love and friendship he 
 has for me, and the respect and kindness he shows me, 
 goes a great way to alleviate my pains. I am as well 
 loved and respected in the army as I can wish ; but not- 
 withstanding the honors of war, and the love and respect 
 of men, I feel a blank in my heart which nothing but your 
 presence can fill up. There is not a day or night, nay, 
 not an hour, but I wish to fold you to my heart." 
 
 Of his own health he seldom writes. Once in- 
 deed he says : — 
 
 *' I have a slight disorder that has been hanging about 
 me for several days past. I hope its duration will be 
 short, as I have neither time nor inclination to be absent 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 375 
 
 from duty." But of hers he is constantly thinking. 
 *' You must threaten the doctors, if they don't cure you 
 in a few days, with instant destruction. If Doctor Joslin 
 attends you, let him know if he don't make a radical 
 cure in a fortnight, he shall have more holes in his hide 
 to fill witli tow wads." 
 
 And what a host of associations these letters 
 home and from home awaken ! How do familiar 
 scenes and familiar faces come crowding upon the 
 mind, looking you right in the face, as it were, and 
 knocking at the heart's door as though it were the 
 door of your chamber ! " How is my son ? " says 
 another letter. " How are my friends ? Where is 
 Nancy Yernon ? Is the Doctor and she like to form 
 a connection?" This Nancy Vernon was a very 
 lovely Newport beauty, and the Doctor, Doctor 
 Senter, an eminent physician who had made the 
 march to Quebec with Arnold's detachment, keeping 
 a journal of its incidents which, though brief, is full 
 of valuable information.^ " I think not. Pray in- 
 form me. How is Brother Bill ? Where is Elihu ? 
 My best respects to him and his wife. Pray, is there 
 harmony amongst you ? Where are Griffin and his 
 wife ? Not a word have I heard from him since he 
 left camp: Out of sight out of mind." 
 
 He hardly knows how to decide about her com- 
 ing on to join him. 
 
 " I most ardently wish to see you ; but the great dis- 
 tance between us, the poor accommodations on the roads, 
 the uncertainty of the motions of the enemy, and the 
 
 1 Published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1846. 
 
876 LIFE OP NATIIANAEL OREENB. [177T. 
 
 weak state of jour liealth, are obstacles that preretit tnj 
 pressing you. to come, agreeable to my wishes. Prudence 
 restrains what my heart most inclined to. I cannot ex- 
 press the recent pleasure I felt at hearing you was come, 
 although I knew it must be false, yet so strong were my 
 wishes tliat reason was obliged to give place to my de- 
 luded hopes/' 
 
 Of course^ the heart conquers ; and in another 
 letter of the name day he writes that he hopes she 
 is well enough to set out to join him^ and then 
 goes on to tell her what arrangements he had made 
 to facilitate her preparations, and secure her com- 
 fort while he was with the army 
 
 ** If you think your health and strength will endure 
 the journey, my heart will leap for joy to meet you. If 
 you are in want of any clothes, write to Mrs. Knox, she 
 will get you whatever you want ; the General has wrote 
 to her for that purpose, and I am to pay the General here. 
 
 ** Mr. Lottos family have engaged you to spend the 
 summer there. It is about nine miles from this place, 
 and about twenty-two or three miles from the place where 
 we are going to encamp. They are one of the finest 
 families you ever saw. The old gentleman and his lady 
 are as merry as boys of fourteen ; there are four or ftve 
 fine young ladies of delicate sentiments and polite educa- 
 tion. They are all anxious to see you and cultivate your 
 acquaintance. They long to see you, and impatiently 
 wait your coming. Heaven grant it may be speedy ( 
 Mr. Hofiman and the ladies of this place wish to see you, 
 as do Lady Stirling and Lady Kitty, one of the finest 
 young ladies I ever saw. But Mr. Lett claims the prefer- 
 ence to your society. His son-in-law, Mr. Livinp^Hton, 
 was one of my aide-de-camps last year, which introduced 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATIIANAEL GREFJ^E. 377 
 
 me into the family. You may learn music and French, 
 too, there. Adieu, my second self.** 
 
 He is very anxious that his wife should appear to 
 advantage among the friends whose opportunities 
 of early education had so far exceeded hers. 
 
 " Remember when you write to Mrs. Knox you write 
 to a good scholar, therefore mind and spell well ; you are 
 defective in this matter, my love ; a little attention will 
 soon correct it. Bad writing is nothing, if the spelling is 
 but good. People are often laughed at for not spelling 
 well, but never for not writing well. It is said it is uii- 
 genteel for gentlemen to make observations upon ladies* 
 writing. I hope you won*t think it unkind in mo. 
 Nothing but the affection and regard I feel for you makes 
 me wish to have you appear an accomplished lady in every 
 point of view.** 
 
 And mingled with all these expressions of tender- 
 ness is the great anxiety of the hour. "IIow 
 goes on the inoculation?'* follows close upon 
 " How is my son ? ** " How goes on recruiting ? " 
 is mixed up with fears for her health. 
 
 ** I am happy to hear you have such a fine daughter. 
 As to her name, I must beg to bo excused from giving 
 her any name. That falls more immediately under your 
 province. Mrs. Washington's Christian name is Martha. 
 I sliall have no objection to that or any other name you 
 think proper to give her.** 
 
 Martha Washington was the name chosen for this 
 eldest daughter, as George Washington had been 
 the name of the eldest son. But in the next para- 
 graph the husband and father becomes again the 
 patriot and general. 
 
378 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 '* Before this reaches you, the account of the loss of the 
 stores at Danbury will come to hand. Our loss is consid- 
 erable in stores, the enemy*s in men. This was a bold 
 manoeuvre, and does the enemy great credit, notwith- 
 standing it is at our expense. It is supposed the enemy's 
 loss amounted to upwards of six hundred men killed, 
 wounded, and taken prisoners. Had not General Wooster 
 been wounded, ten to one the whole party had been cut 
 off. Before he was wounded, the enemy broke, and ran 
 like fury ; but after he was wounded, there was nobody 
 to lead the troops on, which gave the enemy time to rally 
 again. 
 
 " By some late accounts from England, we learn that 
 Boston is to be attacked. The troops continuing so long 
 at Rhode Island seems to favor that opinion. General 
 Howe still threatens Philadelphia; if he attempts it, it 
 will be a bloody march. It is said Carleton is crossing the 
 Lakes ; if that be true. General Howe must be bound up 
 the North River, notwithstanding all his parade for the 
 southward." 
 
 A letter begins with : — 
 
 " I waited impatiently for the post to-day ; but, to my 
 great mortification, not a line. Captain Flagg (who ar- 
 rived here a day or two past with the Rhode Island de- 
 tachment) informed me he left you unwell with a fever." 
 Expressions of anxiety, and of his longing " to hear from 
 you, but much more to see you," follow, but then the 
 great care breaks out. " By intelligence from New York 
 and Brunswick yesterday, we learn the enemy are to take 
 the field the first of June. Their delay is unaccountable 
 already. What has kept them in their quarters we can't 
 imagine. We have got together a small force, although 
 by no means equal to our expectations. The small-pox 
 has proved a great hindrance to the troops coming in. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 379 
 
 However, if General Howe attempts to pass through the 
 Jerseys, we determine to play fury with him. There is 
 little or no reinforcement expected from England. 
 that the Americans were but spirited and resolute, how 
 easy the attempt to rout those miscreants ! but their fool- 
 ish delays and internal disputes, I fear, will protract the 
 war to a much greater length than is necessary to com- 
 plete the work. I am sure America will be victorious 
 finally, but her sufferings for want of union and public 
 spirit may be great first. There is no people on earth 
 that ever had so fair an opportunity to establish their 
 freedom at so easy a rate, if the opportunity had been prop- 
 erly improved. God grant a happy issue to the war ! " 
 
 And directly after the admonition to take heed to 
 her spelling in her letters to Mrs. Knox comes : — 
 
 " The enemy remains at Brunswick in a frighted 
 condition. Our army are camping near Boundbrook. 
 Nothing material has happened since I left this place. 
 By some late arrivals from France a fresh supply of arms 
 and clothing is received, and it is said the British Ministry 
 are not likely to get any reinforcements from Germany. 
 If so, poor General Howe is still at an humble distance 
 from the great and important business of conquering 
 America. My hand trembles so prodigiously that I can 
 scarcely write. Tell your brother Bill to bring on the 
 bald horse, if he is in good order." 
 
CHAPTEE XYII. 
 
 Scanty Numbers of the New Army. — Greene's Division. — Weedon. — 
 Muhlenberg. — Exchanges a Regiment with Sullivan. — New Aid. 
 — Washington's Position. — Howe's Plan. — Lee's Treason. — Con- 
 jectures and Perplexity of the Americans. — Preparations for the 
 Campaign. — Howe's Manoeuvres. — Americans Advance on Bruns- 
 wick. — Howe foiled. — Disasters in the North. — Greene expects 
 to be sent North. — Washington unwilling to part with him. — Veil 
 partly lifted. — March to the Delaware. 
 
 nnHE army for the new campaign consisted of 
 -■- five divisions, each division containing two 
 brigades; and the whole forming forty-three regi- 
 ments of eight thousand three hundred and seven- 
 ty-eight men, inclusive of the artillery and cavalry. 
 The cavalry amounted to only one hundred and 
 eighty men, not even enough for vedettes and 
 patrols ; and of this small army " upwards of two 
 thousand were sick, and five thousand seven hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight rank and file *' were all that 
 could be counted upon for active service.^ Even 
 of those five thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
 eight, half were raw recruits, ignorant of " the first 
 rudiments of military duty," and who " had never 
 looked an enemy in the face." The two brigades of 
 
 1 There is a discrepancy between shall, Vol. I. p. 145. Gordon puts 
 
 the statements of Gordon and Mar- the number at 7,271, inclusive of cav- 
 
 shall, although both wrote from offi- airy and artillery. Vol. II. p. 469. 
 cial returns. I have followed Mar- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 381 
 
 Greene's division were commanded by Weedon, a 
 Virginian, with whom he formed a warm friendship 
 and continued to correspond during the rest of his 
 Ufe ; and Peter Muhlenberg, the Lutheran parson, 
 who, telling his parishioners " that, in the language 
 of Holy Writ, there was a time for all things, — a time 
 to preach and a time to pray, — but that those times 
 had passed away and there was a time to fight, 
 and that time was now come," had stripped off the 
 preacher's gown which concealed the soldier's uni- 
 form, and, descending the pulpit, ordered the drum 
 to beat at the church door to raise recruits for the 
 regiment he was going to lead to the army.-^ One 
 of the regiments first assigned to Greene was Ha- 
 zen's, which, at Sullivan's request, he exchanged 
 with him for the German regiment commanded by 
 Baron Arendt. 
 
 " Your Excellency's favor of yesterday this moment 
 came to hand,"' he writes to Washington from Bound- 
 brook on the 24th of May. " I am perfectly satisfied with 
 the exchange of Hazen's regiment for tlie Baron Arendt's. 
 I am by no means attached to any particular regiment. 
 Nearly an equal distribution of the forces will be entirely 
 satisfactory to me. I only wish to stand upon an equal 
 footing with the other officers ; then, if I don't execute 
 my duty as well, I am willing to be subject to censure. 
 
 " General Sullivan's reasons for the exchange are very 
 substantial, and perfectly satisfactory. I ever wish to 
 make the good of the service my principal object. When 
 I deviate from that line I wish to be corrected." 
 
 In his military family, also, a change had been 
 
 1 Life of Muhlenberg, byhis grandson, Henry A. Muhlenberg, p. 53. 
 
382 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 made. Major Clarke, whom he had been brought 
 into such pleasant relations with at Fort Lee, hav- 
 ing taken the place of Major Livingston as his aid. 
 The merry, restless, witty Blodget was still his 
 other aid. His quarters, as the dates of his letters 
 show, were part of the time at Boundbrook and 
 part of the time at Middlebrook. 
 
 Whatever the British general's plan might be, 
 Washington had chosen his position well for speedily 
 detecting them, and counteracting them as far as his 
 means would permit. Brunswick, where the British 
 army still lay, was within ten miles of his camp ; 
 and from the high ground in front of it he could 
 look down upon the whole field of the enemy's 
 operations, tracing the course of the Karitan to its 
 mouth, and following the road to Philadelphia deep 
 into southern Jersey. A ridge of strong and com- 
 manding heights, connected by nature and strength- 
 ened by art, covered his encampment in front ; while 
 the road northward for a junction with the forces 
 at Peekskill, and the road southward for gathering 
 in his right wing and coming out upon the enemy's 
 flank or rear, lay equally within his reach. Thus, 
 whichever way the British general turned, — whether 
 against the Highland passes, as some circumstances 
 seemed to indicate, or towards Philadelphia, as 
 seemed equally evident from others, — he was sure 
 either to find his watchful adversary in his path or 
 feel him at some vulnerable point. 
 
 Well might the American generals be doubtful 
 about the designs of Sir William Howe, for they 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 383 
 
 were no less a mystery to officers of high rank in 
 his own army. Warned by Trenton and Princeton, 
 he had drawn in his scattered forces, abandoned his 
 conquests of December, and narrowed down his 
 occupation of the Jerseys to Brunswick and Am- 
 boy, — posts well chosen for preserving his commu- 
 nications with New York, and keeping up the 
 appearance of a design upon Philadelphia. In 
 these narrow quarters his troops had suffered all 
 through the winter from hard service and cold 
 weather ; their pickets were often surprised, their 
 fo raging-parties assailed, their outposts cut off.^ 
 But in March, says the Newport Gazette, speaking 
 the wishes of the Tories, they " were in the highest 
 health and spirits, longing only for the opening of 
 the campaign to assert the injured rights of their 
 king and coimtry. They are well supplied with 
 clothing and every necessary."^ They had, more- 
 over, the consolation to learn from the same au- 
 thentic chronicler, that, while they were thus revel- 
 ling in abundance, the rebels at Morristown were 
 paying fifteen pence a pound for beef, forty-five for 
 butter, eight shilHngs apiece for geese and turkeys, 
 and that " their salt was almost expended." How 
 must loyal hearts have rejoiced ! 
 
 Meanwhile, Sir William Howe had formed, with 
 the approbation of the ministry, a plan for sever- 
 ing the Eastern States from the Middle States, 
 
 1 Stedman's History of the Ameri- man on the Conduct of the War in 
 
 can War, Vol. I. p. 276, and pas- the Middle Colonies, p. 59. 
 
 sages already quoted from Greene's '^ Newport Gazette, No. 11, March 
 
 Letters. Also, Letters to a Noble- 27, 1777. 
 
384 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 by combining the movements of the army of New 
 York with those of the army of Canada. The plan 
 had been discussed, the details matured, and prepara- 
 tions were busily making with great expectations of 
 success on the part of all whom the Commander-in- 
 chief had admitted to his confidence. And thus 
 things went busily on till the beginning of April ; 
 nothing but the arrival of supplies and reinforce- 
 ments from England being wanted to '^ open the 
 door wide for the Canada army/' and, striking " at 
 the root of the rebellion, place those Independent 
 Hypocrites between two fires." ^ 
 
 April came, and all was changed ; no more, co- 
 operation with the " Canada army," no more a tri- 
 umphant march through the Jerseys ; but in their 
 stead an invasion of Pennsylvania by sea, and the 
 conquest of Philadelphia by a march northward 
 from Chesapeake Bay. Great was the astonish- 
 ment of the English generals, and greater still their 
 disgust, when the " great secret " became known. 
 Not the least decided in his "reprobation" was 
 Howe's unwelcome lieutenant of Bunker Hill and 
 future successor at Philadelphia, Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton. Cornwallis and Grant alone were admitted to 
 the full confidence of their general, and they per- 
 haps approved of his new decision.^ At a later pe- 
 riod in the war, when the disastrous consequences 
 
 1 Moore's Treason of Charles Lee, * MSS. notes to Stedman's History 
 
 p. 91. One of the most valuable of the War, attributed to Sir H. 
 
 monograms of our Revolutionary Clinton. This curious copy is in the 
 
 history, not only founded upon docu- library of John Carter Brown, Esq., 
 
 ments, but controlled by them. of Providence. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 385 
 
 of this ill-judged change became evident to all, 
 Howe threw the responsibility on the ministers, 
 and said that he had been compelled to change his 
 plan because they had withheld the reinforcements 
 which he had demanded as a condition of success. 
 
 But on the 29th of March General and Admiral 
 Howe had received a letter from Charles Lee, — 
 that British colonel and American general whose 
 misfortunes Washington was even then lamenting 
 in letters to Congress, and of whom Greene writes 
 to Lincoln twenty-one days later, " General Lee's 
 servant and dog are sent down to the lines to be 
 sent in to the General. You will please to give 
 the necessary passport accordingly." Well would 
 it have been for Lee's happiness then, and his good 
 name with posterity, if he had humbled himself be- 
 fore that mute favorite, and learned from its plead- 
 ing eyes and eloquent caresses the precious lesson 
 of fidelity. For in that fatal letter, — never ac- 
 knowledged by the Howes, lest they should be 
 taunted with having failed through the suggestions 
 of a traitor, never seen for eighty years by other 
 eyes than theirs and the two or three whom they 
 took into their counsels, but which, awakened at last 
 from its almost centennial slumbers in their domes- 
 tic archives, has been brought back to the very spot 
 in which it was written, to bear witness, when every 
 other witness had passed away, against the heart 
 that conceived and the hand that wrote it, — in this 
 letter, so fortunately preserved and so strangely 
 discovered, it is written that, '' to bring matters to 
 
 25 
 
386 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 a conclusion, it is necessary to unhinge or dissolve, 
 if I may so express myself, the whole system or 
 machine of resistance, or, in other terms. Congress 
 government. This system or machine, as affairs 
 now stand, depends entirely on the circumstances 
 and disposition of the people of Maryland, Virginia, 
 and Pennsylvania, If the Province of Maryland, 
 or the greater part of it, is reduced, or submits, and 
 the people of Virginia are prevented or intimidated 
 from marching aid to the Pennsylvania army, the 
 whole machine is dissolved, and a period put to the 
 war, — to accomplish which is the object of the 
 scheme which I now take the liberty of offering to 
 the consideration of his Lordship and the General ; 
 and if it is adopted in full, I am so confident of the 
 success that I would stake my life on the issue." 
 By this " scheme " fourteen thousand men were 
 " to clear the Jerseys and take possession of Phila- 
 delphia," and " four thousand be immediately em- 
 barked in transports, one half of which should pro- 
 ceed up the Potomac and take post at Alexandria, 
 the other half up Chesapeake Bay and possess 
 
 themselves of Annapolis From these posts 
 
 proclamations of pardon " were to be " issued to all 
 those who come in at a given day ; and I will an- 
 swer for it with my life, that all the inhabitants of 
 that great tract southward of the Patapsco, and 
 lying betwixt the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, 
 and those on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, will 
 immediately lay down their arms. But this is 
 not all. I am much mistaken if those potent and 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 387 
 
 populous German districts, Frederick County in 
 Maryland and York in Pennsylvania, do not follow 
 their example " ; and thus Congress cut off from 
 its constituents, and Washington cut off from rein- 
 forcements, in "less than two months from the 
 date of this proclamation, not a spark of this deso- 
 lating war " would remain " unextinguished in any 
 part of the continent " 
 
 How did the two brothers look when they saw 
 the well-known handwriting of a former brother-in- 
 arms, the damning record of the wilful treachery 
 of a native of their own island ? In all the com- 
 mon relations of life they were honorable men, and 
 the suspicion of personal degradation was never 
 raised against them. But now, while they instinc- 
 tively shrank from the traitor, they found, as it 
 seemed to them, a ray of light in his treason. They 
 had learned that their expectation of supplies and 
 reinforcements would not be fulfilled ; that the 
 ministry, while it approved their plans, either could 
 not or would not give them the means of accom- 
 plishing them ; that, for whatever they did, they 
 must chiefly depend upon the resources which they 
 had already at hand. They changed their plan, 
 therefore, and, without adopting Lee's in full, ac- 
 cepted its suggestion of beginning their operations 
 from the south. Sorely must the pride of the traitor 
 have been tried as, watching the gradual develop- 
 ment of their campaign, he recognized the traces 
 of his own villany, and saw in the caution with 
 which his suggestions had been received the fatal 
 
388 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 proof of the distrust and contempt which they had 
 awakened. 
 
 To the Americans, of course, these things were 
 unknown ; nor is there any ground for supposing 
 that Washington's and Greene's distrust of Lee's 
 capricious temper ever extended to his fidelity. 
 Meanwhile, as Greene revolved the possible plans of 
 the enemy, he wrote to John Adams : — 
 
 '* I cannot concur with you in sentiment because the 
 enemy did not go to Philadelphia last December that they 
 had no intention, then or since, of going there. I am of 
 opinion, if the enemy could have got over the Delaware 
 immediately after our army crossed it, it would have been 
 agreeable to their wishes. Had they effected it before the 
 junction of the forces under General Lee and General 
 Gates, the consequences might have been disagreeable. 
 The attempt was dangerous, the chain of communication 
 from Brunswick being very extensive for the number of 
 their troops to maintain ; and yet I cannot think at that 
 time they had much to fear either from Pennsylvania or 
 New York. 
 
 " General Howe has lost the most favorable opportunity 
 this spring of destroying us, perhaps, that he ever will 
 have. Had he marched for Philadelphia as soon as the 
 season opened, he might have performed it with less than 
 one half the force necessary to accomplish it now. Such 
 a stroke before the formation of our army might have 
 given us a deadly wound by retarding our preparations 
 for some months, increasing the Tory faction and depriv- 
 ing us of many valuable stores." 
 
 As the season opened, every exertion was made 
 to get the army well in hand, and prepare the 
 men for an active campaign. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 389 
 
 " I arrived at this place yesterday about noon," Greene 
 writes to Washington from Boundbrook on the 24th of 
 May, " and immediately issued the necessary orders for 
 collecting the troops together from the outposts. I fear, 
 without great exertions in the commissary's department, 
 there will be a want of provisions. I shall endeavor to 
 learn the design of the enemy's collection of wagons. 
 
 " We shall begin to lay off the encampment this morn- 
 ing. Colonel Biddle arrived too late last night to do any- 
 thing more than to ride round the ground." 
 
 " I find a great want of tents in several brigades," he 
 writes the ensuing day. " General Maxwell says he has 
 none, neither has he had it in his power to get any. I 
 shall endeavor to get a more particular state to-day, and 
 shall notify your Excellency upon the subject. 
 
 " A small detachment of Colonel Lewis's regiment 
 came in last evening without blankets or tents, and said 
 there was none to be had at. Philadelphia. If that be true, 
 we shall be miserably ofif. 
 
 '' Upon inquiry I find the camp fever begins to prevail 
 among some of the troops. Nothing will correct this evil 
 like the free use of vinegar. The men feed principally 
 upon animal food, which produces a strong inclination to 
 putrefaction. Vegetables, or any other kind of food, can- 
 not be had in such plenty as to alter the state of the habit. 
 Vinegar is the only sovereign remedy. Cost what it may, 
 I would have it in such plenty as to allow the men a gill, 
 if not a half-pint, each day. 
 
 " If cider vinegar cannot be had in such plenty as the 
 state of the army requires, vinegar can be made with mo- 
 lasses, water, and a little flour to produce a fermentation. 
 One hogshead of molasses and one barrel of rum will 
 make ten hogsheads of vinegar. Vinegar can be made 
 from the simple state of the materials fit for use in a 
 fortnight's time. 
 
390 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 *' I think it, my dear General, an object of great im- 
 portance to preserve the health of the troops. What can 
 a sickly army do ? They are a burden to themselves and 
 the state that employs them. All the accumulated ex- 
 pense of raising and supporting an army is totally lost un- 
 less you can find means to preserve the health of the troops. 
 No general, however active himself, or whatever may be 
 his knowledge or experience in the art of war, can execute 
 anything important while the hospitals are crowded with 
 the sick. Besides, such a spectacle as we beheld last 
 campaign is shocking to the feelings of humanity, distress- 
 ing to the whole army to accommodate the sick ; but, above 
 all, the country is robbed of many useful inhabitants, and 
 the army of many brave soldiers. 
 
 '* Your own reputation, the protection of the country, 
 and the success of the campaign, are dependent upon the 
 health of the army. Objects so important in their conse- 
 quences demand your Excellency's serious attention. 
 
 " Enclosed is an account of the state of things in Bruns- 
 wick yesterday. Colonel Brodhead's picket was attacked 
 yesterday. The enemy took one foot sentry and one ve- 
 dette ; the latter was lost by attempting too rashly to 
 recover the foot soldier, which, however, was recovered, 
 but wounded in a most shocking manner. 
 
 " The troops are encamping as fast as possible.'' 
 
 The work of preparation continues ; each day, or 
 rather each hour, bringing some new difficulty to 
 light. On the 27th he writes to Washington early, 
 it would seem, in the morning, for the answer comes 
 the same day : — 
 
 " This moment the commissary reports to me that the 
 provisions and the supplies fall short ; and that it is out of 
 his power, with his utmost exertions, to procure a sufficient 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATH.VNAEL GREENE. 391 
 
 supply. I wish your Excellency would order the commis- 
 sary at Morristown down here as soon as possible to the 
 assistance of this. 
 
 " We must take sheep and cattle about the country to 
 supply the deficiency. 
 
 " I think Colonel Trumbull should pay immediate atten- 
 tion to this matter. 
 
 " A deserter of the 71st this moment came in from Bon- 
 umtown. He says very little. He says it is the common 
 talk in the British army they are going to Philadelphia 
 by water, and that transports are prepared and preparing 
 to go round to Philadelphia, and that the troops are all to 
 embark." 
 
 " I have ordered the assistant commissary at this place 
 to repair immediately to camp," says Washington in re- 
 ply. " It is the peculiar misfortune of this army to have, 
 generally speaking, the heads of the different departments 
 always absent when they are most wanted. Two months 
 was I laboring, as hard as a man could, to get the Commis- 
 sary-General to this place, and had scarcely accomplished it 
 before the Congress ordered him to Philadelphia ; from 
 whence I have used my utmost endeavors to bring him 
 back, but am answered that he is detained by order. In 
 the mean while, the army may starve. I will again send 
 to him by express, and for present supplies advise the adop- 
 tion of the mode you pointed out, by your taking the 
 provision out of the country about Elizabethtown, Newark, 
 and Millstone, because two ends will be answered by it.^ 
 .... I hope Colonel Dayton reported to you the sus- 
 picious person arrested at Bullion's tavern, and that you 
 have had him under examination before this." 
 
 On the 28th of May Washington joined the army 
 at Middlebrook.^ And now began the manoeuvres 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. ^ Gordon, Vol. II. p. 469. 
 p. 437. 
 
392 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 by which the British general endeavored to deceive 
 his watchful adversary, — threatenings and shows 
 of attack, relapsing suddenly into inactivity. 
 
 " The Philistines are upon thee, Samson ; take care of 
 thyself," Greene writes on the 31st to Sullivan, who was 
 posted on the right at a short distance from the mUin body. 
 " The enemy are destroying their works at Amboy and 
 reinforcing Brunswick. They threaten to attack us here ; 
 they are welcome, if they please. If they are bound to 
 Philadelphia, I think they will endeavor to steal a march 
 upon us, and either leave you to the right, or make an at- 
 tack upon you, and give you a royal rout. I am going to 
 view Millstone this afternoon, to establish a guard there of 
 horse and foot. God bless you 1 " 
 
 Washington, meanwhile, was strengthening his 
 position, already so strong by nature ; for he was re- 
 solved to leave nothing to chance that forethought 
 could make sure. 
 
 " His Excellency," Greene writes to Lincoln on the 1st 
 of June, " thinks it advisable to fortify with a small re- 
 doubt the passes through the mountains not stopped or 
 hedged up.^ The bigness of the redoubts should be pro- 
 portioned to the strength of the picket. If it be made 
 defensible against small arms, it will be sufficient, as no 
 cannon can be brought to play against them. Such works 
 will render the pass much more formidable and the 
 picket quite secure. The very name will have its weight 
 upon the minds of the enemy. It will take but little time 
 or labor to construct such works. I purpose to fortify 
 the gap at Steel's Tavern, and I think a couple of small 
 redoubts are necessary upon my right to secure that flank. 
 I would have but two passes leading into the camp front 
 
 1 See an important letter of Washington to Arnold. Sparks, Vol. IV. 
 p. 463. 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 393 
 
 or rear. Should be glad of your opinion upon the sub- 
 ject. I am this morning going to Somerset to post a guard 
 there. I shall be back again about noon. Should be glad 
 to see you at my quarters. Please to come and dine with 
 me and the young gentlemen of your family. 
 
 " Colonel Parker sent in a prisoner from Westfield last 
 night. I think he is an American recruit. He gives much 
 the same account about the enemy as you heard before." 
 
 And again on the 9th : — 
 
 " Is there a guard posted at the cross-roads upon your 
 left ? I think our front is very secure, and our flanks 
 tolerably well guarded ; but a small guard seems neces- 
 sary to me at the cross-roads on the left, and another to 
 the right towards Pluckemin. The latter I shall pay par- 
 ticular attention to ; to the former I trust you will. 
 
 " Pray, what can these gentry be about ? I never was 
 more perplexed to unravel and adjust the contradictory 
 intelligence. I cannot think General Howe will attempt 
 to garrison Brunswick and divide his force. To march by 
 land to Philadelphia with a divided force is not a little 
 dangerous ; the militia may retard him more than he is 
 aware of, and the Continental troops will complete his ruin. 
 If he gives up the Jerseys, and goes altogether by wa- 
 ter, it will be a strong proof of his weakness, and cannot 
 fail to ruin their interest in the country. The people will 
 be afraid to be connected with those who can only afford 
 them a temporary and water security. I cannot fix a 
 judgment satisfactory to myself, much less to anybody else." 
 
 The first efforts of the British general were to 
 draw Washington down from his strong position ; 
 and failing in this, he retraced his steps towards 
 Amboy. On the night of the 21st Washington 
 called a council of war in which it was determined to 
 
394 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 advance upon Brunswick. Greene was immediately 
 pushed forward with his own division, strengthened 
 for the occasion by Wayne's brigade and Morgan's 
 riflemen, with orders to fall upon the enemy's rear. 
 Orders were sent to Sullivan and Maxwell to 
 co-operate with Greene. In the advance was Mor- 
 gan the wagoner, serving for the first time under 
 the leader for whom, three years later, he was to 
 win the decisive battle of the Cowpens. The road 
 ran along the right bank of the Ear i tan, whose 
 pleasant waters were studded with starlight when 
 the march began, but were already glowing with 
 the first beams of morning when the eager advance 
 came out unexpected upon the first picket of the 
 enemy. They were Hessians,^ who perhaps re- 
 called to mind Trenton, as they fled in wild dis- 
 order towards the town, hotly pursued by Morgan 
 and his riflemen. In a few minutes the American 
 advance and British rear stood face to face close to 
 the bridge ; and in a few moments more up came 
 the remainder of the rifle corps, and Wayne with 
 his whole brigade. A brisk charge cleared the 
 town, and compelled the enemy to take refuge in 
 their redoubts on the east bank of the river. But 
 Morgan's blood was up, and Wayne was eager for 
 a fight, and Greene was not the man to hold them 
 back where impulse might almost supply the place 
 of strength ; and without waiting to see how much 
 they were outnumbered, they pushed on over the 
 bridge, and drove the enemy from their works. 
 
 1 Almon's Remembrancer, Vol. V. p. 259. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 395 
 
 Meanwhile, as day advanced, Washington drew out 
 his whole army on the high grounds in front of his 
 camp, watching anxiously Greene's movements, and 
 looking eagerly for some sign that Sullivan and 
 Maxwell were at their posts. But Sullivan had re- 
 ceived his orders too late to get up in season ; and 
 Maxwell, by the desertion or capture of the express 
 to whom they were confided, did not receive his at 
 all. And thus the English general, harassed in- 
 deed, and with his rear-guard sorely pressed, but 
 with his main body untouched, held on his way to- 
 wards Amboy ; marking his steps by a long line of 
 smoke and flame from the burning houses and barns, 
 which in happier days the wretched owners, little 
 dreaming of the desolation that was to come upon 
 -them, had confidingly built by the wayside. The 
 Americans continued the pursuit as far as Piscata- 
 way. 
 
 " General Greene desires me," writes Washington to 
 the President of Congress, " to make mention of the con- 
 duct and bravery of General Wayne and Colonel Morgan and 
 of their officers and men upon this occasion, as they con- 
 stantly advanced upon an enemy far superior to tliem in 
 numbers, and well secured behind strong redoubts." ^ 
 
 And thus June slowly wore away in movements 
 which, on the 2d of July, Washington briefly sum- 
 med up in a letter to the President of Congress : — 
 
 " General Howe, as you have been informed, made a 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. Graham, pp. 125, 126 ; an able work, 
 p. 471. Gordon, Vol. II. pp. 471, founded upon a careful study of docu- 
 472. Life of Morgan, by James ments. 
 
396 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 show of marching for the Delaware, but suddenly turned 
 back to Brunswick, and from thence to Amboy. He came 
 out- again with his whole force a few days ago, with a seem- 
 ing intention to make a general attack upon us ; but after 
 marching seven or eight miles parallel with the Sound, 
 he returned again into Amboy, contenting himself with 
 burning many houses and plundering all that fell in his 
 way.'^ 1 
 
 And on the 2d of July, in a final recapitulation, he 
 writes to Governor Trumbull from Middlebrook : — 
 
 " Since my last, the enemy, disappointed in their at- 
 tempt upon our right, have made an experiment upon our 
 left, and, frustrated in that also, have now abandoned the 
 Jerseys and encamped upon Staten Island. There is a 
 great stir among their shipping, and in all probability their 
 next movement will be by water ; though it is impossible' 
 to decide with certainty to what place." ^ 
 
 Howe had tried to conquer by numbers and dis- 
 cipline, and failed ; he had tried manoeuvres and 
 strategy, and his failure was still more signal. What 
 will he try next ? was the chief question in the 
 American camp, — the subject of many a long con- 
 ference betwixt Washington and Greene, as they 
 compared the reports of their spies and their own 
 calculations of the various chances of war ; but con- 
 ferences into which success had infused a confidence, 
 a buoyancy almost, of hope, which had never 
 mingled with them before. Of this hope, one of the 
 chief sources was the reawakening of popular en- 
 thusiasm ; for no sooner had Howe begun to move 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 479. ^ ibid., p. 477. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 397 
 
 than the militia began to rise on every side, — that 
 same Jersey militia which, when the British army 
 first came among them, had either skulked igno- 
 miniously away to avoid taking up arms on either 
 side, or crowded still more ignominiously on the 
 path of the invader, to ask protection at his hand.^ 
 The ravages and outrages of November and De- 
 cember had convinced the Jerseymen that there 
 was no protection for them but in the sword.^ 
 
 The tidings from the northward seemed to indi- 
 cate a combined movement of the two hostile ar- 
 mies, — a measure so accordant with sound military 
 principles, that Washington, supposing that his ad- 
 versary would do what evidently he ought to do, 
 and looking suspiciously upon the passes of the 
 Highlands, advanced first to Morristown, next to 
 Pompton Plains, and thence to Kamapo Clove. 
 
 In the midst of these movements came disastrous 
 tidings from the North. 
 
 " General St. Clair," Greene writes from Pompton 
 Plains on the 13th of July, " who commanded at Ticon- 
 deroga, has evacuated that important post. His garrison 
 consisted of between four and five thousand men, in good 
 health and high spirits. With such a garrison, strongly 
 intrenched and well armed, fully supplied with provisions 
 and ammunition, and the works defended by one hundred 
 and seventy pieces of cannon, it was evacuated without 
 firing a gun. General Schuyler had two thousand men 
 with him at Fort Edward. General Nixon was on his 
 
 1 Gordon, Vol. II. p. 470. Sparks's ^ Letters to a Nobleman upon the 
 
 Washington, Vol. IV. pp. 465-482. Conduct of the War in the Middle 
 
 Arnold to Mifflin. Almon's Remem- Colonies. Letter III. 
 brancer, Vol. V. p. 268. 
 
398 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 march from Albany with upwards of one thousand Con- 
 tinental troops, the militia of the country coming in from 
 all quarters to the aid of the garrison ; and the command- 
 ing officer, fully acquainted with all these circumstances, 
 has abandoned the post. What could induce him to take 
 such a measure God only knows ! Burgoyne's whole 
 force only consisted of five thousand five hundred men, 
 — the whole is a mystery to all the army. Charity obliges 
 me to suspend all ill-natured reflections, but I fear there 
 has been some misconduct somewhere. Our affairs never 
 were in so prosperous a train as they were before this. 
 This affair will give us a severe wound. But by the 
 blessing of God I hope to recover the shock. What has 
 become of the garrison, whether they are prisoners or 
 gone down to No. 4, 1 cannot learn. I think it is proba- 
 ble I shall be sent to the North. 
 
 " General Howe and almost all his troops are embarked, 
 their destination unknown. I have had some fears for 
 Providence, but Philadelphia or the North River are ob- 
 jects of much greater importance. We are on our march 
 to join General Putnam on the North River." 
 
 It was evident that somebody must be promptly 
 sent to the North. Washington felt the necessity, 
 but hesitated in his choice. 
 
 " It is not determined who goes to Ticonderoga," 
 Greene writes to his wife on the 17th. " I can plainly see 
 the General wants me to go, but is unwilling to part with 
 me ; he has set several persons to sound my inclinations. 
 I will go if the General give the order and the good of the 
 service requires it ; but I feel a reluctance, and the more 
 so as it is disagreeable to you. If I am left at liberty to 
 consult my own inclination, I shall not go ; but if my honor 
 and reputation becomes interested, I must consent, and I 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 399 
 
 am sure your love and affection is such, if my character is 
 at stake, to give your consent also." 
 
 As he foresaw, the General was " unwilling to 
 part with him " ; and for him the change would have 
 been the more unwelcome, as his wife was now 
 within a day's ride of him at Mr. Lott's, and he was 
 very happy to have her there. 
 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Lott," he writes, " are laying us under 
 an obligation never to be cancelled ; their politeness, 
 kindness, hospitality and friendship to you and me im- 
 presses my heart with a weight of gratitude that almost 
 makes me unhappy from the little prospect I have of 
 making a suitable return for their goodness. Never did I 
 see a finer family in all my life. I am sure you will love 
 and respect them. ... I long to be with you again. The soft 
 delights, the sweet pleasures of social endearments I felt 
 at our meeting, still dances round my heart, makes me 
 wish their continuance; but Fate, cruel Fate! cuts the 
 thread, and leaves but the remembrance of past pleasures 
 to console us for solid enjoyments. Heaven grant you 
 protection, my dear angel, through all the slippery paths 
 of life, give you prudence, patience, and health to enjoy 
 your friends and make everybody love you as I do, — 
 only in a less degree ! " 
 
 No wonder that he looked reluctantly upon a 
 campaign in Canada. Lincoln, a judicious and brave 
 officer was sent in his stead, and he gladly remained 
 by the side of his beloved commander. Still closely 
 watching the British, General Washington advanced 
 eleven miles into the Clove, making, says Picker- 
 ing's diary, " his head-quarters at Galloways, an old 
 log-house. The General lodged in a bed, his family 
 
400 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 on the floor about him. We had plenty of supawn 
 and milk, and all were contented." ^ 
 
 "His conduct is puzzling and embarrassing beyond 
 measure," Washington writes to Schuyler on the 22d. 
 " So are the informations which I get. At one time the 
 ships are standing up towards the North River ; in a little 
 while they are going up the Sound ; and in an hour after 
 they are going out of the Hook." ^ 
 
 Again the army was drawn back to Ramapo. 
 
 " We are this moment returned to our old quarters at 
 this place," Greene writes to his wife on the 28d. " Our 
 future motions will depend entirely upon General Howe's 
 motions. If he goes into New England, we shall follow 
 him ; if he goes to Philadelphia, we shall go there. Our 
 march will (be) rapid if the fleet moves to the westward. 
 I hope, however, not so rapid but that I shall have an 
 opportunity to call and see you. If our accommodations 
 were better, and your health and strength capable of en- 
 during the fatigue, I could wish to see you here to-morrow, 
 and some of the young ladies with you. Our accommo- 
 dations are not good. However, I believe our stay will 
 be short here, — perhaps we may march in the morning. 
 If you should set out to come on, if we should march I 
 shall send forward an aide-de-camp to notify you thereof. 
 This I shall do whether you come or not, if we march to 
 Philadelphia or to the eastward." 
 
 At last the veil was partly lifted. 
 
 " I have just received information," Washington writes 
 to Lincoln on the 24th, " that the fleet left the Hook yes- 
 
 1 Pickering's MSS. Diary. For rapher, Octavius Pickering, of Cam- 
 the use of which I am indebted to bridge. 
 the kindness of his son and biog- ^ gparks, Vol. IV. p. 505. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 401 
 
 terday, and as I think the Delaware the most probable 
 place of their destination, I shall immediately move the 
 army that way." ^ 
 
 By the end of the month the American army was 
 once more on the banks of the Delaware, — part of 
 them at Coryell's Ferry, part at Howell's Ferry, and 
 part at Trenton, — still waiting in painful uncertain- 
 ty to become assured "of the real destination of 
 the enemy." ^ 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 505. » jbid.^ Vol. V. p. 7. 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 Greene, Sullivan, and Knox on the Point of resigning. — Their Con- 
 duct misrepresented. — Defects of the Civil Government of the 
 Kevolution. — Change in the Relations bewteen Congress and the 
 Country. — Relations of Congress to the State Governments. — To 
 the Army. — Opposition and Collisions. — Question of Promotion. 
 — Letters to John Adams. — Foreign Officers. — Du Coudray. — 
 Conditional Tender of Resignation. — Congress very angry. — Reso- 
 lutions. — Interruption of Greene's Correspondence with John 
 Adams. — Letter to President of Congress. 
 
 'Wf HILE all eyes were thus turned northward 
 ' ^ or seaward, and attention was waiting pain- 
 fully upon the steps of Howe and Burgoyne, of 
 Schuyler and Washington, another question had 
 arisen which threatened for the moment to deprive 
 the country of the services of three of its best gen- 
 erals, Greene, Sullivan, and Knox. As the story of 
 this transaction has never yet been fully told, and 
 Greene has more than once been taxed with pre- 
 cipitancy for an act which was the result of mature 
 deliberation, I shall endeavor, as far as my mate- 
 rials permit, to show by what causes he was led, at 
 so critical a moment, to an act so decisive as the 
 conditional tender of his resignation. 
 
 It was one of the misfortunes of the times, that 
 the civil government of the Kevolution should have 
 resolved upon a legislative assembly. The first Con- 
 tinental Congress enjoyed and deserved in a re- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 403 
 
 markable degree the respect and confidence of the 
 country. The second Congress was composed of 
 eminent men, and succeeded, for a time, to the 
 honors and reputation of the first. But when it at- 
 tempted to pass from discussion to organization, and 
 to direct as well as to frame the machinery of ad- 
 ministration, its delays and disputes and errors and 
 contradictions and hesitations excited a well-found- 
 ed distrust of its executive skill. Conscious of this 
 distrust, it became jealous of its authority ; and in- 
 stead of endeavoring to regain, by correcting its 
 errors, the ground which it had lost by committing 
 them, it grew suspicious and exacting in proportion 
 to the decay of its strength. And while this criti- 
 cal change in its relations to the country was tak- 
 ing place, important changes took place also in 
 the materials of which it was composed, — some 
 of its wisest members being removed by death, 
 or imperative calls to other fields of duty, or by 
 failing of re-election at the regular expiration of 
 their terms of office. 
 
 Among the first elements with which it was 
 brought into collision were the newly organized 
 governments of the States. The question of State 
 rights, that unsolved problem of our history, begins 
 almost with the beginning of the war. How abun- 
 dant and active the materials' of disunion were, and 
 how difficult it was even for leading men to rise 
 above them might be proved by numerous passages 
 in the letters of Washington and Greene, if it were 
 not still more evident from the conduct of the local 
 
404 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 legislatures. How far this spirit might have been 
 counteracted or controlled if the policy of the Con- 
 gress had been that policy of prompt decision and 
 energetic action which, commanding respect at all 
 times, commands in times of general danger gen- 
 eral and implicit obedience, it is impossible to say. 
 The problem of union was a complex problem, 
 hedged round with natural and artificial difficulties, 
 to which the political science of the day, contem- 
 plating it from a lower point of view and with a 
 narrow horizon, afforded no satisfactory solution. 
 To meet it and solve it in the midst of an ex- 
 hausting civil war required a larger comprehension, 
 a firmer control of the passions, and a clearer per- 
 ception of general truths, than are often given to 
 large bodies, whether they meet for deliberation 
 or for action. They were not given to the Congress 
 nor to the State governments of the Eevolution. 
 
 Another element with which it was brought into 
 immediate and constant relations was the army; 
 and, unfortunately for both, these relations, from 
 their very nature, brought into immediate and con- 
 stant contrast the elements of opposition which they 
 both contained, rather than the elements of har- 
 monious action, which they also contained in an 
 almost equal degree. If the Congress was com- 
 posed of the representatives of the people, the army 
 was composed in a large proportion of the con- 
 stituents of the Congress. More than once also, 
 during the course of the war, men who had done 
 good service for their country as soldiers, withdraw- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GEEENE. 405 
 
 ing from their original field of action, did equally 
 good service for her as statesmen. And more than 
 once, too, men who had proved themselves wise and 
 eloquent in counsel were found at the head of a 
 regiment, or even in more subordinate positions in 
 the army. Sullivan, Schuyler, and Varnum became 
 distinguished members of Congress, after having 
 been distinguished generals. John Dickinson was 
 serving in the army during a part of 1776 with the 
 same zeal with which he had served in Congress 
 during another part of the same year. Washington 
 himself had passed directly from his seat in Con- 
 gress Hall to the camp before Boston. The real 
 interest and the real object of the citizen in arms 
 and of the citizen in the toga were still the same. 
 
 But their point of view was different. The ever- 
 present object of Congress was discussion as a 
 means of organization. The ever-present object of 
 the leaders of the army was decision as a means of 
 action. Congress counted obstacles, weighed dif- 
 ficulties, balanced opposing advantages, eating and 
 sleeping meanwhile and refreshing mind and body 
 as nature bade. But while Congress was deliberat- 
 ing upon the best way of procuring meat, the army 
 was often brought to the verge of starvation for the 
 want of it. While Congress was discussing by a 
 warm fire the most eligible method of providing the 
 army with tents and blankets, half the army was 
 sleeping on the snow without either-blanket or tent. 
 While Congress was framing elaborate resolutions, 
 and drawing out and equipping regiments upon 
 
406 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 paper, officers in the field were standing disheart- 
 ened before their thinned and disheartened ranks. 
 No object could wear the same shape or color to 
 men who contemplated it from such different points 
 of view. 
 
 And yet the object of Congress and the army was 
 the same, — independence ; and in both bodies the 
 leaders were contending for it under the same fear- 
 ful responsibility of fortune and life. 
 
 In an organized government, the army, however 
 constituted, is the instrument of government, and 
 subject implicitly to its control. In a revolutionary 
 government, the army is the organ of revolution ; 
 and government, in its relations with it, must rec- 
 ognize its equal claims to respect and considera- 
 tion, for the only hold upon it is the hold of 
 opinion. When the war began. Congress held the 
 army by harmony of opinion, and might easily 
 have continued so to hold it until the end of the 
 war. But to do this, it should have made it its 
 aim to inspire the army with confidence in its 
 justice and energy. Errors of statesmanship, like 
 errors of generalship, would easily have been for- 
 given and forgotten ; for both statesmen and gen- 
 erals had still much to learn. Unfortunately, while 
 the best generals strove earnestly to correct their 
 errors by their experience. Congress, in too many 
 things, clung obstinately to its errors, in spite of 
 the most decisive experience. 
 
 Those errors were twofold, — errors of policy 
 and errors of principle, — the one tending to un- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 407 
 
 d ermine the respect which, in the beginning, was 
 felt for their wisdom ; the other, to awaken a gen- 
 eral distrust of their justice. 
 
 The first year of the war demonstrated the dan- 
 ger of short enlistments and temporary levies. 
 But more than half the second year was allowed 
 to pass before it was decided to raise an army for 
 the whole duration of the war. The first campaign 
 demonstrated the necessity of providing by reg- 
 ularly organized departments for the food, clothing, 
 and transportation of the army ; but it was not till 
 late in the second year that a board of war was 
 organized; and not till later still that the Quar- 
 termaster-General and Commissary-General were 
 allowed to devote themselves to their duty in 
 camp, instead of waiting idly for orders at the door 
 of Congress. All experience and the simplest rea- 
 soning showed the importance of strengthening the 
 hands of their General by passing promptly all the 
 acts needed for the conduct of an army in the 
 field, or the support and instruction of an army in 
 quarters ; but, in spite of all experience and the 
 plainest reason. Congress persisted in its unsea- 
 sonable delays. Washington was compelled to 
 take the field, with his ranks half filled, his maga- 
 zines inadequately supplied, and his men badly 
 clothed, badly armed, and often ignorant of the 
 first rudiments of their duty. The policy of the 
 Congress, in the organization and support of the 
 army, was a policy of tergiversation and delay. 
 No wonder that the army, leaders and all, should 
 early lose their confidence in its wisdom ! 
 
408 LIFE OFNATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 But the dissatisfaction did not end here. One of 
 the earliest felt of the numerous wants of the army 
 was the want of good officers, — men to whose in- 
 telligence, judgment, and consciences the lives of 
 their subordinates could be intrusted with full 
 confidence that the trust would neither be rashly 
 assumed nor carelessly administered. To select 
 them in the beginning from the mass of unproved 
 candidates was impossible ; but in the course of 
 two campaigns, the characters and pretensions of 
 men were well tried, the chaff thoroughly sifted, 
 and what remained might be confidently accepted 
 as sound. The army of 1777 contained materials 
 out of which all the vacant grades might be safely 
 and adequately filled ; not, indeed, with men who 
 had learned their profession in all its details, but 
 with men who had been tried in battle, had been 
 tried in long marches and comfortless encamp- 
 ments, and who had given abundant proofs of 
 courage, intelligence, and endurance. The raw 
 recruits that came into the hands of men like 
 these soon became patient of labor and privation, 
 and bold in the presence of the enemy. It was 
 evidently the policy of Congress to secure by all 
 proper and reasonable inducements the services of 
 such officers for the war. It was the duty of Con- 
 gress, in its dealings with them, to remember that 
 in becoming soldiers, and exposing themselves to 
 the dangers and privations of a soldier's life, they 
 adopted, with the ideas of subordination that lie 
 at the basis of military discipline, the ideas of rank 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 409 
 
 and grade which define and circumscribe that sub- 
 ordination. 
 
 But Congress remembered nothing of this. It 
 required of them the service of ofiicers, but gave 
 them a pay hardly sufficient to enable them to live 
 like private soldiers. It demanded the present 
 sacrifice of cold, hunger, hard service, and exposure 
 to sickness, wounds, and death ; and refused the 
 prospective reward of half-pay or pension when 
 sickness or wounds should have incapacitated them 
 for further exertion, or death should have made 
 their wives unprotected widows, and their chil- 
 dren helpless orphans. Forgetting that pride is an 
 essential element of the military character, and 
 that self-respect is essential to a healthy and sus- 
 taining pride, it trifled with their claims to rank by 
 the accepted rules of service, and claimed and ex- 
 ercised the power of dealing with commissions ac- 
 cording to its own good pleasure. John Adams, as 
 we have already seen, did not hesitate to write : 
 "Our late promotions may possibly give disgust, 
 but that cannot be avoided " ; and by an error 
 which, though not uncommon^ is one of the most 
 baneful into which a statesman can fall, applying 
 a principle of Grecian and Eoman polity to a so- 
 ciety founded upon an entirely different basis from 
 that of Greece and Kome, he added : — 
 
 " I hope, for my own part, that Congress will elect an- 
 nually all the general officers. If, in consequence of this, 
 some great men should be obliged at the year's end to go 
 home and serve their country in some other capacity, not 
 
410 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 less necessary, and better adapted to their genius, I do 
 not think the public would be ruined. The officers of the 
 army ought to consider that the rank, the dignity, and the 
 rights of whole States, are of more importance than this 
 point of honor ; more, indeed, than the solid glory of any 
 particular officer. The States insist, with great justice 
 and sound policy, on having a share of the general officers 
 in some proportion to the quotas of troops they are to 
 raise. This principle has occasioned some of our late 
 promotions ; and it ought to satisfy gentlemen. But, if 
 it does not, they, as well as the public, must abide the con- 
 sequences of their discontent." ^ 
 
 It did not satisfy gentlemen; for they very 
 naturally thought that the sacrifice of domestic 
 happiness and professional advantages which they 
 had made, and were still making, gave them an un- 
 questionable claim to all the privileges which the 
 usages of modern society attached to their official 
 position. They felt that, by those usages, to be 
 superseded was to be degraded; and that, if much 
 was due to the critical condition of their coun- 
 try, something also was due to that universal 
 principle of human nature which compels the man 
 who has been degraded in his own eyes to look 
 upon himself as hopelessly degraded in the eyes of 
 the world. Therefore the laws of promotion be- 
 came at a very early period of the war a subject of 
 serious thought to all who were within the sphere 
 of their influence ; and, except the Commander-in- 
 chief, all were almost equally within it. And thus, 
 as early as the second campaign, it came to be re- 
 
 1 Life of John Adams, by Charles Francis Adams, p. 263. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 411 
 
 garded as an accepted principle, and consequently, 
 an imperative rule of action, that the promotion of 
 a junior officer over a senior must, except in the 
 case of some distinguished service, be received as a 
 public declaration that the senior was unfit for his 
 position.^ 
 
 How Greene felt upon this subject, and how he 
 felt towards Congress, will best appear from his 
 own letters. His correspondence with Samuel 
 Ward from the camp before Boston had given him 
 an early view of the dissensions in Congress ; and 
 his official position, as well as his personal relations 
 towards Washington, had given him a distinct view 
 of the dilatoriness of its action. Still, he had 
 hoped that the Declaration of Independence, by 
 pledging all to the same cause, might lead to 
 greater harmony of sentiment, and that the ne- 
 cessity of united exertion for sustaining that dec- 
 laration might produce greater promptness of 
 action. How these hopes waxed and waned with 
 the fluctuations of events I have already shown, 
 wherever I have found an expression of them in 
 his letters. In 1777 they had sunk very low. 
 
 1 For the facts on which these gen- ened enthusiasm in spile of the errors 
 eralizations are founded, I must refer of Congress and the shortcomings of 
 to Washington's and Greene's let- the people. But for the reverence in- 
 ters, to the Journals of Congress, and spired by Washington, the people 
 to the contemporary histories, which, would have failed the Congress and 
 if I am not greatly mistaken, bear me Congress the people. But for the 
 fully out in all my positions. It is sustaining sympathy of Greene, Sul- 
 the greatest of all absurdities to rep- livan, Schuyler, Knox, Hamilton, the 
 resent the Revolution as the work of two Morrises, and a few more, both 
 either the people or of Congress , it civilians and soldiers, Washington 
 was the work of a few leading men would have sunk under the burden 
 who inspired confidence and awak- of responsibility and labor. 
 
412 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 We have already found him writing to Washing- 
 ton from Philadelphia, towards the end of March : 
 " There is so much deliberation and waste of time 
 in the execution of business before this Assembly^ 
 that my patience is almost exhausted. I cannot 
 get the resolve respecting the cartel passed so soon 
 as I want it. I know your delicate situation, and 
 the anxiety you must be under." For want of this 
 cartel, hundreds of gallant soldiers were languish- 
 ing in the sugar-houses and prison-ships of New 
 York. 
 
 On the 8th of April Congress had passed a re- 
 solve for erecting monuments to Warren and Mer- 
 cer. One had already been voted to Montgomery 
 on the 25th of January, 1776. Greene welcomes 
 the act as wise and just. He sees in it the means 
 of binding the Congress and the army more closely 
 together, and strengthening the injfluence of the 
 one by increasing the confidence of the other. 
 
 " The monuments,'* he writes to John Adams on the 
 2d of May, " you are erecting to the memory of the great 
 heroes Warren, Montgomery, and Mercer will be a pleas- 
 ing circumstance to the army in general, and, at the same 
 time, a piece of justice due to the bravery of the un- 
 fortunate generals. These things are attended with but 
 little expense, and have great influence. I would beg 
 leave to propose another species of honor to animate the 
 living to great and worthy actions. Patriotism is a 
 glorious principle, but never refuse her the necessary 
 aids. Let a number of medals be struck, of different 
 figures emblematical of great actions, with a motto ex- 
 pressive of the same. These medals to be presented by 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 413 
 
 Congress to such of the officers as shall perforin some 
 great and noble act, — specified by some previous resolu- 
 tion for that purpose, — the officer that claims it to wear 
 it as a mark of distinction due to his merit. These will 
 be a species of honors attended with no expense, and at 
 the same time have a great influence. They will also 
 serve to fix the honors of the army, dependent upon the 
 dignity of Congress ; and I conceive it an object of great 
 importance to unite the wishes of the army with the 
 
 views of Congress 
 
 " I concur with you in sentiment as to the pro- 
 priety and necessity of taxation. Had the measure been 
 adopted in New England, instead of endeavoring to regu- 
 late the prices of things, it would have had a much better 
 effect. You may rely upon the army in general, and me 
 in particular, doing everything in our power to aid and 
 assist the Congress in carrying into execution every ne- 
 cessary resolve as far as our influence extends." 
 
 If he was frank in condemning the errors of Con- 
 gress, he was evidently no less frank in acknowl- 
 edging its merits. Nor was he less ready to 
 acknowledge the vices of the army. 
 
 " You lament," he writes to the same correspondent on 
 the 28th of May, " the general corruption of manners, and 
 the increase of vicious habits, that prevail in the army. 
 It is a serious truth, and much to be lamented. I know 
 of nothing that a people can receive in exchange for the 
 loss of their morals that is an equivalent. I am sensible 
 of the force and justice of your remarks, that the vices of 
 the army prevent many from engaging in the service, 
 more than the hardships and dangers attending it. 
 
 " I am not one of those fine gentlemen who despises all 
 moral rectitude and religious duties. Although I am no 
 
414 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 enthusiast, nevertheless I most devoutly believe in the ob- 
 servance of religious duties." 
 
 He had already written, " The clergy are most 
 certainly useful and necessary in the army, and 
 ought to be decently provided for." 
 
 Adams, it must be remembered, was chairman of 
 the Board of War: — 
 
 " You say," Greene writes to him on the 7th of May, 
 " your opinion is of no consequence to the continent, and 
 you are happy it is not. You add, had you conceived the 
 conduct of our army, or the defence against the operations 
 of the enemy, depended in any degree upon you, you 
 should not have contented yourself with such vague con- 
 jectures. I am at a loss to conceive your meaning. Are 
 not the military operations entirely under the direction of 
 Congress ? Have you not all the information that we 
 have respecting the enemy's force and ours ? Are you 
 not acquainted with, the enemy's motions, and of ours 
 also, as early as possible ? Are you not as deeply inter- 
 ested in the consequences of this dispute as any one man 
 in America ? Have your constituents not a right to ex- 
 pect you'll give your counsel in every instance when it 
 may be useful ? Would you persuade me you are insen- 
 sible of the weight and influence your opinion hath in all 
 public measures ? Under all these considerations, how 
 am I to conceive your opinion is of no consequence, and 
 that you are happy it is not ? 
 
 " I readily agree with you in sentiment, that there is no 
 one man, either in the civil or military line, of such 
 mighty consequence tliat the liberties of America are de- 
 pendent upon his will or existence. Yet there are several 
 in both departments that America might sensibly feel the 
 loss of at this time. If I could persuade myself that am- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 415 
 
 bitiorr was the leading principle, either in the cabinet or 
 field, I would have no further connection with the dispute ; 
 for I feel the principle of humanity too forcibly to think 
 myself justifiable to sacrifice the happiness of thousands 
 only for the purpose of rearing up a few important char- 
 acters. 
 
 " I note your observations upon a certain general, that 
 he might be of more importance to the continent if he 
 thought himself of less. Your opinion, in this instance, 
 is very different (if I remember right) from what it was 
 last summer upon a similar occasion. Then you said it 
 was necessary to think more of ourselves and things less 
 impracticable, — this was the way to surmount difficulties. 
 Although I wish the Congress to support their dignity iu 
 every instance, yet I hope they will carefully avoid sport- 
 ing with the finer feelings of the gentlemen of the army, 
 unless it is necessary for the good of the public or to 
 support their own dignity. 
 
 " You observe that prejudice, caprice, and varip^y are 
 the common offspring of all revolutions, and th^^ have 
 less to fear from them than I imagine. ThesdICvils will 
 rather increase than decrease with the confusion of the 
 times, and they will rage in proportion as the dispute 
 grows more or less doubtful. If you wish to establish 
 your own authority ; if you wish to give a proper tone to 
 every State ; if you wish to silence all the little factions 
 that restless spirits may produce ; if you wish to be feared 
 abroad, and loved and respected at home, — establish 
 your army in its full force. Nothing can give you so 
 much authority, weight, and dignity as an army at your 
 command, superior to all your foreign and domestic ene- 
 mies. The prospect of safety will be a pleasing circum- 
 stance to the people, and conciliate and reconcile them 
 fully to your administration. An army thus organized, 
 government fully established in the respective States, the 
 
416 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 authority of Congress fully acknowledged by each, cannot 
 fail of making America both easy and contented and 
 happy at home, and loved and feared abroad. Nothing 
 can be more mortifying and distressing to the feelings of 
 humanity than a long continuance of the present calami- 
 ties ; and more especially when we consider that, by a 
 proper exertion, we may exterminate those hostile in- 
 vaders of human happiness and the rights of mankind. 
 Remember the long war with the United States, and the 
 blood and treasure spent in that dispute for want of a 
 proper exertion at first." 
 
 It is evident, from these letters, that Greene is far 
 from claiming for the military department powers 
 that belong to the civil department. Another letter 
 brings out this fact in still stronger light : — 
 
 " I have had it hinted to me," he says in a letter of 
 the 28th of May, " that General Schuyler was about to 
 be created President of the Congress, and to hold his 
 military command in the army. I take this early oppor- 
 tunity of expressing my abhorrence of such a measure. 
 No free people ought to admit a junction of the civil and 
 military ; and no man of good principles would ask it, or 
 ever accept of an appointment which may be improved 
 by corruption to the prejudice and injury of the rights of 
 a free people. The best way to guard against evil is to 
 avoid temptation. If General Schuyler is (of) a mind 
 to be in Congress, let him resign his commission, and not 
 hold two offices so incompatible one with the other. I 
 have no objection to General Schuyler as a general, nei- 
 ther have I to his being President of the Congress, if he 
 is thought to be the most suitable person for that impor- 
 tant trust. But he must cease to be a general before he 
 commences a member of Congress. I will not hold a 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 417 
 
 commission under that State who blends those two char- 
 acters together. I think them incompatible with the 
 safety of a free people, and I can assure you, I am not 
 fighting for a change of masters, but to have none but the 
 law. ' 
 
 But while he was thus prepared to uphold the 
 dignity of the civil power he claimed the privilege 
 of freely animadverting upon its errors. 
 
 " I have no wish to see such a large proportion of im- 
 portant offices in the military department in the hands of 
 foreigners. I cannot help considering them as so many 
 spies in our camp,^ ready to take their measures as their 
 interest may direct. If foreigners are introduced, their 
 command should not be very extensive, then the injury 
 cannot be great, but even in this case it is an injury to 
 America, for the multiplying foreign officers gives us no 
 internal strength. A good nursery of officers, nursed by 
 experience, firmly attached to the interest of the country, 
 is a great security against foreign invaders. The only 
 tie that we have upon foreigners, is the sentiment of 
 honor, too slender for the happiness of a country to de- 
 pend upon, — while officers created from among the peo- 
 ple are bound, not only by the ties of honor, but by that 
 of interest and family connection. We, in many instances, 
 see the power of British gold ; let us not neglect to 
 guard against its influence. I have no narrow prejudices 
 upon this subject, neither have I any private differences 
 with any of those gentlemen. My opinion is founded 
 upon the general conduct of mankind." 
 
 1 That Greene's view of the real de Broglie. The remark does not 
 
 character of many of these men was apply, nor in strict chronology could 
 
 just, no one can doubt who has read it, to Lafayette or Steuben. Fleury, 
 
 Duportail's letter to the French Min- Armand, Kosciusko, and Pulaski 
 
 ister, or DeKalb's letters to the Duke also belong to the exceptions. 
 27 
 
418 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 On the 28th of May, in the same letter in which 
 he speaks so strongly of the rumored appointment 
 of Schuyler to the Presidency of Congress, he re- 
 turns again to the subject of foreign officers : — 
 
 "I must again repeat the impropriety of creating so 
 many foreign officers. A very considerable part of our 
 force will get into their hands. What method can Great 
 Britain take to defeat us more effectually than to intro- 
 duce a great number of foreigners into the army, and 
 bind them to their interest by some very interesting con- 
 siderations ? That this is practicable, nobody will doubt. 
 That we ought to guard against it, everybody must al- 
 low. British gold may reason forcibly with those whose 
 hopes and future expectations are not connected with the 
 people they betray. 
 
 " I am told by Captain Moduit (Mauduit), a French 
 gentleman lately created a captain in the train of artil- 
 lery, that one Du Coudre (Coudray) is engaged by Mr. 
 Deane as major-general of the train. The impropriety of 
 putting a foreigner at the head of such a department 
 must be obvious to everybody: besides the impropriety, 
 you will deprive the army of a most valuable officer, uni- 
 versally acknowledged as such. The exchange will be 
 much against you, besides the injustice you will do to a 
 man who has served you with fidelity and reputation. I 
 beg you will take it under consideration seasonably. I 
 know not the powers of Mr. Deane, but I think such pow- 
 ers are dangerous and unfit to trust with any man. If 
 this gentleman is to be appointed a major-general, I wish 
 it may be of the foot instead of the artillery." 
 
 Washington was writing letters of similar import 
 at the same time.^ And in a letter of the 4th of 
 
 1 See particularly a letter of May 31st, to the President of Congress. 
 Sparks, Vol. IV. p. 444. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 419 
 
 June to one of his brother^' Greene repeats in sub- 
 stance what he had twice represented so strongly 
 to Mr. Adams. 
 
 " God knows how long this war may last ; the want 
 of union and virtue among the Americans may protract 
 it for some time. We have now a very respectable force 
 in the field from the southward, though not large. The 
 Eastern troops "are very backward in coming on. The 
 State of Pennsylvania is in great confusion. The Qua- 
 kers are poisoning everybody : foolish people ! The 
 Congress and I do not agree in politics ; they are intro- 
 ducing a great many foreigners. I think it dangerous to 
 trust so large a part of the American army to the com- 
 mand of strangers. British gold is of a poisonous qual- 
 ity, and the human heart treacherous to the last de- 
 gree. There are no less than four general officers of the 
 [French] nation now in the American service. There is 
 a French gentleman sent over by Mr. Deane to have the 
 command of all the artillery in America. If his appoint- 
 ment is confirmed, it will rob us of one of the best, or at 
 least, as good an officer as we have in the service, Gen- 
 eral Knox. I tremble for the consequences, as I fear it 
 will ruin the whole corps, and it is now upon a very re- 
 spectable footing, and increasing in perfection daily. 
 Wisdom and prudence sometimes forsake the wisest 
 bodies. I am exceedingly distressed at the state of things 
 in the great National Council." 
 
 With an opinion so decided, so evidently the 
 result of patient meditation, and so perfectly in 
 harmony with the opinion of Washington, it is 
 easy to conceive that he watched the action of 
 Congress carefully, and waited anxiously for the 
 result. He received assurances, it is said, from Mr. 
 
420 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Adams, that Deane's contract would not be con- 
 firmed ; ^ but he received also, through another 
 channel and from another member of Congress, an 
 equally positive assurance, not only that Du Cou- 
 dray had obtained the full rank which that contract 
 assured him, but that his commission was to be 
 dated from the 1st of August, of the preceding year, 
 eight days earlier than his own. If he had ap- 
 proved of Knox's view of the question, while as 
 yet it had no apparent bearing upon his own rank, 
 he could not hesitate about the course which self- 
 respect and consistency required of him, when it 
 was thus unexpectedly brought to his door. In 
 the view of the army, to be superseded, was to 
 be degraded ; and, in a position wholly dependent 
 upon opinion for its efficiency, to be degraded 
 was to be deprived of the power of honorable ex- 
 ertion. On the 1st of July, more than a month 
 after he had called the attention of Mr. Adams to 
 Du Coudray's pretensions, he wrote to the Presi- 
 dent of Congress ; — 
 
 " A report is circulating here at camp, that Monsieur 
 Du Coudray, a French gentleman, is appointed a major- 
 general in the service of the United States, his rank to 
 commence from the 1st of last August ; if the report be 
 true, it will lay me under the necessity of resigning my 
 commission, as his appointment supersedes me in com- 
 mand. I beg you '11 acquaint me with respect to the 
 truth of the report, and if true, enclose me a permit to 
 retire." 
 
 1 Life of John Adams, p. 264. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 421 
 
 The same mail which carried this letter carried 
 letters of the same import from Sullivan and 
 Knox. Congress was very angry, and after dis- 
 cussing them Saturday, July 5th, resumed the 
 discussion Monday, the 7th ; and, " unanimously " 
 resolved : — 
 
 " That the President transmit to General Washington 
 copies of the letters from Generals Sullivan, Greene, and 
 Knox to Congress, with directions to him to let those 
 officers know that Congress consider the said letters as an 
 attempt to influence their decisions, an invasion of the 
 liberties of the people, and indicating a want of confi- 
 dence in the justice of Congress ; that it is expected by 
 Congress the said officers will make proper acknowledg- 
 ments for an interference of so dangerous a tendency ; 
 but if any of those officers are unwilling to serve their 
 country, under the authority of Congress, they shall be 
 at liberty to resign their commissions and retire." ^ 
 
 John Adams, it is supposed by his biographer, 
 was the author of this resolution ; ^ and, not con- 
 tent with this, he wrote Greene a private letter, 
 " placing before him at once," says the same au- 
 thority, " the alternative of withdrawing his act 
 or of giving in his resignation." How Greene 
 viewed Adams's letter I have no positive means 
 of ascertaining. Mr. C. F. Adams says, " Greene 
 never answered Mr. Adams's private letter, nor did 
 he resume the correspondence." ^ The correspond- 
 ence, it is true, was dropped somewhere about this 
 time ; and it is not till the 28th of January, 1782, 
 
 ^ See Journals of Congress ad ^ Life of John Adams, p. 264. 
 
 diem. ^ Ibid., p. 265. 
 
422 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 that I again find him writing to Mr. Adams. But 
 in that letter, which was an answer to a letter of 
 Mr. Adams, introducing the Count de Noailles, and 
 expressing a desire to renew their correspondence, 
 he not only says, " the correspondence had been 
 dropped from your disinclination and not mine," 
 but attributes that disinclination to " prejudices " 
 which Adams " had let in to my disadvantage, such 
 as my being more influenced by men than meas- 
 ures, and that in the field I had neither activity 
 nor enterprise. However mortifying these things 
 were, my pride would not permit me to undeceive 
 you." Now, unless we suppose Greene's memory 
 to have been singularly at fault, we must lay the 
 interruption of the correspondence to Mr. Adams, 
 and not to him ; and, consequently, must suppose 
 that he did answer the letter in which his some- 
 what arrogant correspondent undertook to instruct 
 him in the law of duty and honor. What the 
 tone of that answer was likely to be may be con- 
 jectured from his letter of the 19th to the Presi- 
 dent of Congress, acknowledging the communica- 
 tion of the angry resolve of the 7th : — 
 
 " His Excellency has communicated to me a resolution 
 of Congress, of the 7th inst., founded upon three letters 
 from the Generals Sullivan, Knox, and myself, relative 
 to Mr. Du Coudray's supposed appointment, agreeable to 
 the contract between him and Mr. Deane. 
 
 *' I confess that it was matter of infinite surprise to me 
 that an interpretation of so deep a complexion should 
 have been put upon a meaning so innocent and inoffensive 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 423 
 
 as that contained in those letters. Nor can I be per- 
 suaded but that Congress, upon a dispassionate review of 
 the matter, will readily perceive that they have embraced 
 ideas by no means deducible from anything we have 
 done ; and will in justice recall a censure equally severe, 
 unmerited, and injurious. It is a fact well known, that 
 Mr. Deane, a public envoy from these States, did make 
 a contract with Mr. Du Coudray investing him with the 
 supreme command of the artillery, and the rank of major- 
 general from the 1st of August last; this contract I 
 verily believed the Congress had confirmed and ratified. 
 It is unnecessary to mention the reasons that induced 
 that belief; but what seemed to stamp it with infallible 
 certainty was a letter from a member of Congress to 
 that import, who might be supposed to speak the sense of 
 that body. 
 
 " We could not possibly divine the secret intentions of 
 Congress ; and could only judge from appearances and 
 circumstances of common notoriety, which concurred to 
 establish the idea that prevailed. On the supposition that 
 I was superseded by Mr. Du Coudray, could my feelings 
 and determination be any other than what they there ap- 
 peared ? And can it be said that I had not competent 
 ground for making that supposition ? Its not having 
 been at once openly announced by Congress is no objec- 
 tion to it, for this was ascribed to, and might have pro- 
 ceeded from, motives of delicacy ; for although reasons of 
 policy might demand the sacrifice, and necessity urge the 
 measure, yet that delicacy would dictate the propriety 
 that the knowledge of it should come to me through a 
 different and more indirect channel. 
 
 ** I see not how similar applications to Congress from 
 three officers, equally interested in the same event, and 
 consequently speaking the same language, on a principle 
 so natural, and so well supported as that which actuated 
 
424 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENK [1777. 
 
 US, could be deemed a combination, or construed into an 
 attempt to ' influence their discussions, an invasion of 
 the liberties of the people, and indicating a want of 
 confidence in the justice of Congress.' Did I not know 
 it to be the case, I could not imagine that these ex- 
 pressions had not other foundation than merely a request 
 (from officers who had reason to believe themselves su- 
 perseded), to be permitted to retire, on condition it 
 should be so ; how could this be considered as an attempt 
 to influence their decisions ? For my own part, I shall 
 retire from the service without a single murmur, when 
 the interest or happiness of my country demands so ne- 
 cessary a sacrifice. I trust the Congress in all their acts 
 have an eye to the common good, and never do violence to 
 the feelings of individuals, but where necessity sanctifies 
 the measure. To refuse a person liberty to retire in this 
 situation would be cruel and unjust. I do not hold my 
 character as an officer in such high estimation as to think 
 that declaring my intention to resign could have any 
 effect upon the determination of Congress, especially in a 
 matter in which H is to be supposed they act either from 
 national views of policy, or from a preference to superior 
 merit. Neither am I disposed to enter into any unlawful 
 combination to do myself private justice, however great 
 my injuries, real or imaginary. In the present case my 
 situation was rendered ineligible ; my feelings as a soldier 
 forbid my holding a command that was linked with 
 evident signs of personal degradation. I had no con- 
 ception that an application founded upon a supposed 
 event could either be affrontive to the delicacy or dignity 
 of the governors of a free people ; and, therefore, am 
 persuaded my meaning and intentions must have been 
 wholly mistaken. 
 
 " Whatever influence I could have must be in propor- 
 tion to the importance of my military character ; take 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 425 
 
 this away, and I stand upon the footing of a common 
 citizen ; and it seems to me somewhat extraordinary, 
 that an offer to lay that aside should be deemed to import 
 such dangerous consequences as are imputed to it. I 
 did not complain of any injustice, demand reparation for 
 any injury, but simply state the information I received, 
 and ask permission to retire if it was true. The question 
 of right is entirely untouched. 
 
 '' There are often weighty motives for superseding 
 officers of whatever rank, and this might possibly have 
 been the case in what I thought had happened, so that 
 the supposition did not by any necessary implication im- 
 peach the justice of Congress ; but as I was not acquaint- 
 ed with these reasons, and perhaps could hardly be 
 brought to feel their force if I was, I only declared my 
 wish to conform to those maxims universally established 
 among civilized nations, and necessary to be upheld in 
 the military line, and to relinquish a station which I 
 could no longer fill with satisfaction or honor to myself. 
 I might add much to show that my letter does not war- 
 rant the construction put upon it ; but 't is a subject 
 of a delicate nature, and will not admit of a free dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 " With respect to that part of the resolution which 
 declares ' that if any of those officers are unwilling to 
 serve their country, under the authority of Congress, he 
 shall have liberty to retire,' I answer that I have all 
 the respect for Congress a free citizen ought to have for 
 the representatives of himself and the collective body of 
 the people, and that it is my glory and happiness to serve 
 my country, under the authority of those delegated by 
 her to direct her councils and support her interests. I 
 have not a single thought or wish inconsistent with this ; 
 but at the same time, I as freely answer that I esteem it 
 my duty to do it in a manner most compatible with the 
 
426 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 dignity of the man, the citizen, and that of a soldier, 
 while I sustain the character ; and will immediately re- 
 nounce any station in which I cannot act with honor, 
 and have recourse to that in which I can flatter myself I 
 shall always be ambitious of, the character of a useful 
 and good member of society. In my military capacity, 
 I have and will serve my country to the utmost of my 
 ability while I hold it, but I am determined to hold it 
 not a moment longer than I can do it unsullied and un- 
 violated." 
 
 " A letter of the 19th, from General Greene, and one 
 of the same date from Joseph Trumbull, were read," says 
 the Journal of Congress for the 23d of July, '' Ordered, 
 To lie on the table." 
 
 "Your letter of the 8th was duly received," writes 
 Washington to the President of Congress, on the 12th of 
 July ; " and, agreeably to your request, I communicated 
 to Generals Greene and Knox the resolution of Congress 
 respecting them and General Sullivan, the last of whom 
 I have not seen since it came to hand." ^ 
 
 No further allusion to the subject occurs, as 
 far as I have been able to ascertain, either in 
 the Journals of Congress or in the private cor- 
 respondence of the three generals. To Washing- 
 ton it is not probable that Greene communicated 
 either of his letters, for while he could entertain 
 no doubt of Washington's opinion as a soldier, he 
 had too much respect and consideration for his 
 position as commander-in-chief to ask for a posi- 
 tive expression of it upon so delicate an occasion. 
 What Washington thought his own letters show ; 
 
 1 Journals of Congress ad diem. Sparks's Washington, Vol. IV. p. 490. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 427 
 
 and, in weighing all the evidence, it seems more 
 than probable that Congress was upon the point of 
 committing a great injustice, and doing a very un- 
 wise and arbitrary act. As it was, on the very day 
 on which it passed its angry resolution it voted an 
 advance of a thousand dollars to Du Coudray ; and 
 it was not until the question had been many days in 
 the hands of a committee, and several times before 
 the House in committee of the whole, that a final 
 decision was reached. Instead of giving him the 
 command of all the artillery, it was resolved : 
 " That Mons. Du Coudray be appointed inspector- 
 general of ordnance and military manufactories, 
 with the rank of major-general." ^ 
 
 1 Joaraals of Congress, Monday, Aug. 11, 1777. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 American Army on the Banks of the Delaware. — Perplexed by 
 Howe's Movements. — Different Opinions about them. — Uneasiness 
 caused by the Evacuation of Ticonderoga. — Glimpse of Inner Life. 
 — Schuyler and New England Officers. — Letters and Extracts. — 
 Council of War. — Lafayette. — Army on the Point of Moving 
 Northward. — Howe in Chesapeake Bay. — American Army 
 marches Southward. — March through Philadelphia. — Washington 
 Reconnoitring. — Camp at Red Clay Creek. — Greene condemns 
 the Position. — Henry Lee. — Army at Chad's Ford. — Battle of 
 the Brandywine. 
 
 "V^TE left the Americans once more on the banks 
 ^ * of the Delaware. It is easy to imagine how 
 the old soldiers felt as they looked upon the scene 
 of their winter sufferings and victory, — orchards 
 laden with fruit, fields almost ripe for the sickle, 
 where they had left ice and snow ; men and wom- 
 en at their daily work, and children merrily 
 playing in the streets and at the cottage doors, 
 where they had left an insolent enemy in all the 
 pride and all the terrors of war. How eagerly 
 must they have pointed out the sites of every in- 
 cident to their new companions. Here we strug- 
 gled with the ice. Here we landed. On that spot 
 Washington mounted his horse. It was there that 
 Sullivan struck into the river road ; and Greene 
 filed off to the left. At this hour, and just as day 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 429 
 
 was breaking, we found a man chopping wood, and 
 learned from him where to look for the guard. 
 Down that street we fired and charged, and in this 
 orchard the Hessians laid down their arms. It is 
 easy, too, to conceive that neither Washington nor 
 Greene could approach these scenes without a 
 grateful swelling of the heart, and renewed con- 
 fidence in the justice of their cause. 
 But still all was uncertainty and doubt. 
 
 " General Howe's in a manner abandoning General 
 Burgoyne,'' writes Washington to Gates, from Coryell's 
 Ferry on the 30th, "is so unaccountable a matter that, 
 till I am fully assured it is so, I cannot help casting my 
 eyes continually behind me." ^ 
 
 The next day brought intelhgence that wore an 
 air of certainty, — the fleet was at the capes of the 
 Delaware. Washington and Greene would have 
 still waited for more positive information ; but the 
 pressure from without was so strong, that it was 
 decided to advance still nearer to Philadelphia and 
 take quarters at Germantown.^ And here Wash- 
 ington writes to his brother on the 5th of Au- 
 gust : — 
 
 " We have remained in a very irksome state of sus- 
 pense ; some imagining that they are gone to the south- 
 ward, whilst a majority, in whose opinion upon this oc- 
 casion I concur, are satisfied that they are gone to the 
 eastward." ^ " We are yet entirely in the dark," he 
 writes to Putnam on the 7th, and orders " the heavy 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 8. ^ Sparks, ut sup. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 21, and Greene to Var- 
 num, inf. 
 
430 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 baggage of the army to be thrown over the Delaware 
 again " ; and holds " the men in constant readiness to 
 march the moment we receive any accounts of the 
 enemy." ^ , 
 
 Still, "casting his eyes" anxiously behind, he 
 put his army once more in motion for Coryell's 
 Ferry; and once more the fleet was seen, and 
 again an express came, booted and spurred, from 
 Congress with the tidings. The army halts at the 
 Cross-roads in Buck's County, waiting anxiously, 
 curiously perhaps, to see how all these conflicting 
 movements will end. Time lags heavily, and all 
 grow impatient for a decision. 
 
 " We have been in and about the city of Philadelphia 
 for near a fortnight past," Greene writes to a brother on 
 the 11th of August, from the camp at the Cross-roads, 
 *' ignorant of General Howe's destination. I hope it will 
 not be against New England, but I have my fears. We 
 were marching towards Coryell's Ferry from the city, 
 expecting the fleet was gone eastwardly, when, by an ex- 
 press from the President of Congress, last night, we 
 learned that the fleet are bound westwardly. I wish it 
 may be true. It was said that two hundred sail were 
 seen off the coast between Delaware and Chesapeake 
 bays ; but I doubt the intelligence, for I cannot per- 
 suade myself that General Burgoyne would dare to push 
 with such rapidity towards Albany, if he did not expect 
 support from General Howe." 
 
 Meanwhile one of the daily topics of conversa- 
 tion in camp, and at head-quarters, was the army in 
 Canada. 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 24. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 431 
 
 " You must learn to be a philosopher," Greene writes 
 to a brother, from whom he had received a desponding 
 letter ; " to behold misfortunes without repining, limit 
 the passions, the appetites, and desires to the state of the 
 body, and the necessity of the times. However un- 
 fortunate things may appear, let us console ourselves 
 with reflecting that the greatest good often springs out 
 of what we consider as the worst of evils. General 
 Burgoyne's triumphs and little advantages may serve to 
 bait his vanity, and lead him on to his total ruin. This 
 is not improbable when we consider the temper of the 
 human heart, the history of mankind, and the dispensa- 
 tions of Divine Providence upon the rise and fall of men 
 and kingdoms. The campaign opened with a very fortu- 
 nate train of circumstances. General Howe was foiled 
 in all his manoeuvres, and disgraced in every move- 
 ment. Our success was equal to our utmost wishes. 
 The Northern department has brought disgrace upon the 
 American arms, and a cloud over New England. But 
 even all these misfortunes may be a necessary prelude to 
 General Burgoyne's final overthrow. I agree with you, 
 that there is something very mysterious in conducting 
 the military operations to the northward. There must 
 have been a want of judgment in the choice of the posts 
 and extent of the works, or some great negligence in 
 fairly representing the true state of things. We were 
 all led to believe the situation of the place so strong by 
 nature, and so improved by art, that the garrison was 
 sufficient to defend itself against any number that might 
 be brought against it. Whatever may be the source of 
 the misfortune, it is not owing to cowardice. I have 
 been with General St. Clair in two actions, and know 
 him to be a man of bravery ; and it is agreed on all 
 hands, that the garrison was in high health, and full of 
 spirits, and left the place with great reluctance. Charity 
 
432 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 obliges me to suspend my opinion until there is a fair and 
 candid inquiry made into the cause of the evacuation of 
 Ticonderoga ; and if it was necessary to evacuate it, why 
 it had not been done earlier. If the stores and garrison 
 had been saved, the loss of the place would have been 
 inconsiderable." 
 
 His brother's letter contained gloomy pictures 
 of the condition of the country, and the spirit of 
 the people. Greene takes a wiser and calmer view 
 of things : — 
 
 " You lament the ruin of trade, the depreciation of 
 money, and the discontent of the people are so many 
 sure marks of the downfall of our cause. 'T is true our 
 trade is greatly injured ; but remember, whilst it rains 
 upon us the sun does not shine upon them. Our trade 
 is, perhaps, not more injured than theirs ; we must 
 balance accounts in national suffering. If the diminu- 
 tion of their force and resources equal our misfortunes 
 and losses, then we are not sufferers on the great scale of 
 national gain. The depreciation of money is rather a 
 temporary and in some respects a local evil. The in- 
 crease of trade, and a proper attention to taxation, will 
 soon correct the evil. The army are the greatest suf- 
 ferers. All the other parts of the community regulate 
 their conduct and prices by one another. But the wages 
 of the army are fixed and unchangeable. There is a 
 fund of hard money now establishing in Europe sufficient 
 to pay the interest of all our loans. This cannot fail of 
 establishing the credit of the money ' abroad and at 
 home. This is a good piece of pohcy. The discontent 
 of the people is not greater than is to be expected in 
 every revolution, when robbed of the blessings of peace 
 and plenty, and forced into a long, and distressing war 
 
1777.] nFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 433 
 
 to obtain some future advantage, that they have but an 
 indistinct conception of. I have no doubt of a happy 
 issue, although we may experience many calamities in 
 •the course of the dispute." 
 
 Shall I bring another side-light of domestic feel- 
 ing into this self-drawn picture of the statesman 
 and soldier ? 
 
 " You distress me exceedingly," he continues, " in 
 committing to my charge the care of your family. God 
 grant you may long live to discharge the duty yourself. 
 I feel the force of brotherly affection equally strong with 
 yourself. I have been equally happy in our mutual 
 good understanding. The sweet pleasures of social fel- 
 lowship have ever been one of the greatest sources of my 
 happiness. Few misfortunes in life, however tender my 
 other connections may be, could equal the loss. Although 
 I should esteem this charge one of my greatest misfor- 
 tunes, yet I trust I should discharge my duty to the sur- 
 vivors of the family with such a brotherly affection as to 
 leave no cause of a blush when we meet in another world. 
 But heaven avert so great an evil to them and to me, and 
 grant you long life and better health shall be my constant 
 prayer." 
 
 And Heaven heard the prayer ; and of his five 
 brothers, all survived him many years, — one of 
 them nearly a half-century, down to my early 
 manhood. 
 
 I have spoken with a natural pride of Greene's 
 having himself inoculated during his first visit to 
 New York, in spite of the prejudices against it 
 which had taken such m hold of the common 
 mind. I find a record of another common preju- 
 
 28 
 
434 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 dice which he did not escape, and trifle as it may 
 seem, I record it, for such things are essential to 
 the truth of my portrait. He was told that his lit- 
 tle daughter was " marked with port wine." 
 
 " Be pleased," he writes, " to send some to the nurse 
 and direct her to wash the part and give the child a lit- 
 tle. This, however simple it may appear, has been often 
 known to remove the marks." 
 
 Such were some of the thoughts that followed 
 him to his tent, mingling with ofl&cial duties and 
 filling the heavy hours of protracted expectation. 
 In every letter the same questions recur. Where 
 is Howe ? Where is Burgoyne ? How long are 
 we to remain here idly waiting the development of 
 events ? " You are very much mistaken about the 
 destination of Sir William being known before yours 
 reached me," he writes to General Varnum on the 
 14th. 
 
 " I am totally ignorant yet. This manoeuvre of Gen- 
 eral Howe is so strange and unaccountable that it ex- 
 ceeds all conjecture. General Burgoyne's rapid marches 
 into the country is a strong proof to me that he expects 
 to be supported from some other quarter. This leads me 
 to conclude that General Howe's designs are ultimately 
 against New England, notwithstanding his eccentric 
 movements. I am glad to hear you are so well prepared 
 to defend the Highlands. I fear the obstructions in the 
 river will scarcely prove sufficient to check the enemy's 
 progress with their ships. Your observations are very 
 just respecting General Schuyler ; if he has lost the con- 
 fidence of the people, his talents will be useless. The 
 Congress were made sensible of that and have appointed 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 435 
 
 General Gates to the command. I hope he will succeed 
 bettef. I think it an object of the first importance to 
 give a check to Burgoyne, and the very plan you men- 
 tion has often been proposed both with respect to Bur- 
 goyne and New York. Philadelphia is the American 
 Diana, she must be preserved at all events. There is 
 great attention paid to this city ; it is true it is one of the 
 finest upon the continent, but in my opinion is an object 
 of far less importance than the North River. Our posi- 
 tion in the Jerseys was calculated to cover the North 
 River and Philadelphia, and afford protection to the State 
 of New Jersey, but the cry was so great for the salvation 
 of Philadelphia that the General was prevailed upon to 
 leave Coryell's Ferry, contrary to his judgment, and 
 march down to the citj^, and I expect to have our labors 
 for our pains. We are now within about twenty miles of 
 the city, waiting to get better information. There have 
 been several expresses from Sinepuxent, an inlet about 
 half-way between Delaware and Chesapeake Bay, who 
 confidently assert the fleet has been seen ofi" there for sev- 
 eral days ; but I cannot credit it. I shall mention to the 
 General the Rhode Island troops are without commis- 
 sions, and also the detachment that is detained at Rhode 
 Island contrary to your orders." 
 
 It will be seen by the manner in which Greene 
 speaks of Schuyler's removal from the command 
 of the Northern army that he approved of it as a 
 necessary act of policy at that critical moment of 
 our fortunes. Schuyler's talent and patriotism he 
 does not call in question, but he does question the 
 propriety of giving him the command of men to 
 whom he was personally unacceptable. The North- 
 ern army was composed chiefly of New England 
 
436 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 men, and an eyewitness tells us that, believing the 
 New England officers to be "a disgrace to tlieir 
 stations, Schuyler was at no pains to conceal the 
 extreme contempt he felt for them." ^ However 
 unfit for their stations many of these men may 
 have been, they were officers like him, they held 
 their commissions by the same title with him, it was 
 through them that his orders reached the common 
 soldier, and it was as much if not more to them 
 than to him that the common soldier looked for 
 the indulgences that contributed to his comfort, and 
 the direction that made him useful. Justice as well 
 as policy demanded a recognition of these claims. 
 Schuyler did not recognize them, and New Eng- 
 land men could not persuade themselves that the 
 man who in his official intercourse with them could 
 not command his own "peevishness" ^ was qualified 
 to command them. It is difficult to see how an 
 army of citizens, contending for their rights as 
 citizens, could come to any other conclusion. 
 
 It would appear, moreover, that Schuyler's 
 claims had been enforced by his friends with some 
 degree of the haughtiness which he displayed in 
 his intercourse with his New England officers. 
 
 " General Schuyler," Greene writes to John Adams on 
 the 5tli of April, " is going to Congress armed with the 
 imperial cohorts of New York, to support the assertion 
 
 1 Graydon's Memoirs of his own asked to sit nor to take a glass of 
 Time, p. 143. wine, and after announcing his wants, 
 
 2 " He," a New England officer was dismissed with that peevishness 
 who came on business while the Gen- of tone we apply to a low and vexa- 
 eral was at dinner, "was neither tious intruder." — Graydon, p. 144. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 437 
 
 that the Northern operations depend entirely upon his be- 
 ing continued in the command : a dispassionate inquiry, 
 perhaps, may convince you of his usefulness ; if not, it 
 will afford you an opportunity to convince the State of 
 New York that the salvation of America don't depend 
 upon the political sentiments of Albany County." 
 
 It is not impossible that, with all Greene's study 
 to overcome it, some tinge of sectional feeling may 
 have lent its coloring to his judgment upon this 
 occasion, just as it tinged Washington's judgment 
 of New England in '75. Neither is it impossible 
 that he may have regarded the enforcement of 
 Schuyler's claims as a sectional question in itself, 
 and consequently as tending to foster a spirit 
 which it was a duty to suppress. However this 
 may be, his personal relations with Schuyler, 
 though never intimate, were always pleasant. In 
 April he wrote : — 
 
 " General Schuyler thinks, with me, that it will be ex- 
 ceeding difficult, if not impossible, for the enemy to pene- 
 trate the country by the way of Ticonderoga." 
 
 And in August, while justifying the policy of 
 Schuyler's removal, he leaves his talent and patriot- 
 ism unquestioned. When the whole history of the 
 campaign became known, he probably regretted 
 that the New York general was not permitted to 
 gather the laurels which he had so diligently sown. 
 But now he could onlj^ judge from facts apparently 
 established, though not explained, and these were 
 of a nature to awaken serious doubts and still more 
 serious anxiety. 
 
438 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Meanwhile summer was passing, and tlie cam- 
 paign hardly begun. 
 
 " I readily acknowledge the propriety of your observa- 
 tion," Greene writes to General Yarnum from the Cross- 
 roads on the 17th, " that delays are dangerous, and that 
 the prime of the season is wasting while we are basking 
 in the sunshine of Pennsylvania, but repentance often 
 comes too late. Could we have divined how General 
 Howe would have directed his future operations, some 
 part of your plan might have been carried into execution. 
 The destruction of General Burgoyne's army is one of the 
 first objects upon the continent ; but how to effect it is 
 the question. You see he moves with caution, notwith- 
 standing our army flies before him. It is near a month 
 since he landed at Skenesborough. His advance parties 
 have advanced only about twenty or thirty miles, and 
 nothing, or next to nothing, to oppose him. Sure .1 am he 
 never would have dared to penetrate an inch if he had 
 met with a serious opposition. It is said our troops are 
 panic-struck : this is strange ; they have met with no 
 misfortune. I am confident if there is a formidable force 
 collected under the command of General Gates, that 
 Burgoyne never leaves sight of his shipping. His retreat 
 is secure while he has the command of South Bay ; in that 
 situation he will rest unless he can bring over a great 
 part of the country to join him. How that might en- 
 courage him I cannot pretend to say. Could I persuade 
 myself that Burgoyne would not retreat upon the North- 
 ern army's being reinforced, I would run all hazards to 
 attempt his obstruction. But I am well persuaded he 
 would retreat immediately to Ticonderoga ; where it 
 would be out of our power to do him any great injury. 
 I wish the party that is coming by the German flats would 
 be defeated ; I am much afraid of the consequences of 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 439 
 
 their successes : the disaffected people joined by the 
 Indians will render that a troublesome neighborhood. 
 There is a corps of riflemen detached to combat these In- 
 dians, under the command of Colonel Morgan. 
 
 " I am under no apprehensions about the troops at 
 Rhode Island, unless they are joined by General Howe's 
 forces ; they are as innocent and harmless as can be ex- 
 pected. The greatest injury they do us is the distressing 
 trade, and alarming the fears of the people on the sur- 
 rounding shores. 
 
 " Our situation is not a little awkward, — buried in the 
 country, out of hearing of the enemy. His Excellency 
 is exceedingly impatient ; but it is said, if Philadelphia 
 is lost, all, all is ruined. It is a great object to be sure, 
 but not of that great magnitude that it claims in the meas- 
 ure of the American police. Rest assured we shall not 
 remain idle long. This is a curious campaign : in the 
 spring we had the enemy about our ears every hour ; the 
 Northern army could neither see nor hear of an enemy. 
 Now they have got the enemy about their heads and we 
 have lost ours, compelled to wander about the country 
 like the Arabs in search of them. 
 
 " I think there is force enough gone and going to 
 the northward, if they are well directed and led on 
 with spirit ; but without that they will be idle and use- 
 
 " I am glad to hear your forces are healthy ; ours are 
 growing more so than they were. I can assure you I was 
 no advocate for coming so hastily here ; for I ever thought 
 General Howe's motions very equivocal. But the loss of 
 Philadelphia would injure us more than our taking New 
 York would them. And it is not certain our rapid march 
 did not hinder the enemy from coming up the Bay to the 
 city : they were hovering about the coast for several days 
 'tis very certain." 
 
440 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 The camp on the Neshaminy was beginning to 
 grow uncomfortable under the hot August sun, and 
 there was much reason to fear that a longer stay 
 might seriously affect the health of the army.^ 
 Washington resolved to change his ground. But at 
 the same time he had become convinced that the 
 British fleet was gone to the southward, and that in 
 changing his ground it was full time to make some 
 move of sufficient importance to counteract the 
 effects of the loss of Charleston, — if Charleston, as 
 now was feared, should fall into the hands of the 
 enemy. He accordingly called a council on the 
 morning of the 21st, and upon a careful considera- 
 tion of the subject it was unanimously concluded, — 
 1st, " That the enemy had most probably sailed for 
 Charleston ; 2d, That it was not expedient for the 
 army to march southward, as it could not possibly 
 arrive in time to afford any succor ; 3d, That the 
 army should move immediately towards the North 
 Kiver." ^ It was in this council that Lafayette first 
 took his place as Major-General, and here began that 
 friendship with Greene which, surviving ever fresh 
 in the breast of the true-hearted Frenchman, made 
 La Grange and Rue D'Anjou homes for me, when 
 in 1827, a boy of sixteen, I went to him in the name 
 of the friend whose ashes had been lying forty-one 
 years in their unhonored grave. 
 
 Hamilton was sent to carry the resolves of the 
 council to Congress, and bring back "the results 
 of their opinion." ^ By three o'clock the active 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 41. 2 jbid. 
 
 « Ibid., p. 40. 
 
1777.1 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 441 
 
 young aide-de-camp was at the door of Congress 
 Hall with Washington's letter in his hand. Con- 
 gress read it, " adjourned for two hours," and, meet- 
 ing again at five, 
 
 " Resolved^ That Congress approve the plan of march- 
 ing the army towards Hudson's River, and then that Gen- 
 eral Washington act as circumstances may require." ^ 
 
 But on the next day, while they were busy with 
 new resolves, came at half past one another pant- 
 ing express from the southward to tell them that 
 "near two hundred sail of Mr. Howe's fleet [were] 
 at anchor in the Chesapeake Bay." ^ 
 
 Here then all doubts were ended ; the British 
 general was resolved to have Philadelphia ; and oh ! 
 what fear and trembling came over loyal men and 
 women in the devoted city, and how hard the Tories 
 found it to hide their joy and smile soberly as they 
 trod with elastic step the streets that were, as they 
 now felt sure, speedily to be filled with the repre- 
 sentatives of their king. Congress knew what slip- 
 pery ground it was standing on, and passed quick 
 resolves for moving the public stores out of harm's 
 way, for calling out the militia and strengthening 
 the hands of Washington. 
 
 And Washington, when the tidings reached him, 
 hastened his preparations ; and putting his army in 
 motion early next morning, was within " about ^y^ 
 miles" of the city by nightfall. The next day was 
 Sunday, and the early morning was fair ; but it soon 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, Thursday, ^ Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 August 21, 1777. Revolution, Vol. I. p. 429. 
 
442 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 came on to rain, threatening to " spoil the stores 
 and wet the army." ^ But by seven the rain ceased, 
 and Washington, drawing out his men in long array, 
 as Clearchus lengthened his line of Greeks to mul- 
 tiply them in the eyes of the wondering Persians,^ 
 led them through the city, dow^n Front Street and up 
 Chestnut, and out by the road towards Wilmington, 
 in quick continuous march without halting. " What 
 an army ! " said both Whig and Tory, as they saw 
 them pass,^ the shorter men of each company in 
 the front rank, the taller behind them; some in 
 hunting-shirts, some in uniform, some in common 
 clothes, some with their hats cocked, some without, 
 and of those who did cock them, not all wearing 
 them the same way, but each man with a green 
 sprig, emblem of hope, in his hat, and each bearing 
 his firelock with what, even to instructed eyes, had 
 the air of skilful training.^ Each brigadier-gen- 
 eral was at the head of his brigade, each division- 
 general at the head of his division, — Greene first, 
 with the gay Blodget and high-spirited Clark at his 
 side. Washington, too, rode surrounded by his staff. 
 The drums beat and the fifes played in the centre 
 of each brigade, the inspiring trumpets sent out 
 their clear voices from the heads of the columns, 
 and mingling with the measured tread of man came 
 the tramp of horses and the rumbling of artillery. 
 Handkerchiefs waved towards them from the win- 
 dows, loyal voices cheered and blessed them as they 
 
 1 John Adams to his Wife. Let- ^ Graydon's Memoirs, Littell's Ed., 
 ters, Vol. I. p, 253. p. 291, and J. Adams, ut sup. 
 
 ^ Anabasis, II. 4. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 443 
 
 went by ; some eyes, too, lowered upon them from 
 behind half-drawn curtains, and when the martial 
 array had passed slowly out of sight, some drew 
 long breaths again, and felt as if such men with 
 such a leader must conquer, while others, shaking 
 their heads gravely, said, "There are but eleven 
 thousand of them fit for service, and the British 
 are fifteen." 
 
 Thus, hastening forward, Washington soon found 
 himself as near the enemy as he cared to bring the 
 main body of his forces without a more accurate 
 knowledge of their position. Then with Greene 
 and Lafayette and their aids he went forward to 
 reconnoitre. Gray's Hill and Iron Hill were the only 
 spots in the neighborhood of Elkton high enough to 
 command an extensive view, and from these the 
 American officers looked long and anxiously south- 
 eastward, where a few tents, with the British flag 
 waving haughtily over them, were the only signs 
 of the invader that the eye could detect. How 
 many were landed or how soon they would be pre- 
 pared to push forward it was impossible to ascertain. 
 Night came upon the little party as they turned 
 their horses' heads homewards, and with it a sud- 
 den tempest of wind and rain. Washington sought 
 with his companions the shelter of a neighboring 
 farm-house. It was a gloomy evening, with the 
 black storm without and the crowded little room 
 within, clothes drenched with rain, and uppermost 
 in every mind but Washington's the fear that some 
 partisan of the enemy might secretly bring him 
 
444 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [177T. 
 
 down upon them as he had been brought down upon 
 Lee not a twelvemonth before. But the night passed 
 away without alarm, though sleepless for Greene, 
 and at daybreak they were all in the saddle again, 
 glad to feel their horses under them and see an open 
 road before them ; and then, as he set spurs to his 
 steed, Washington frankly avowed that he had made 
 a lucky escape and done an imprudent thing.^ 
 
 Greene was next sent forward with Weedon, one 
 of his brigadiers, to select a position for a camp. 
 After a careful examination, he fixed upon the 
 Cross-roads about six miles from Elk, with an open 
 country behind to draw supplies and reinforce- 
 ments from, and good skirmishing ground in front, 
 from which it would be easy to harass and annoy 
 the enemy while he was engaged in collecting the 
 provisions and carts and horses that he needed for 
 putting his army in motion. But before Greene's 
 report could reach head-quarters a council of war 
 had decided upon another position and another 
 policy. An encampment was chosen right in the 
 enemy's path, — Redclay Creek, about half-way 
 between Wilmington and Christiana. "You can- 
 not hold your ground," said Greene, "if they ad- 
 vance"; and when it was urged that, unless the 
 way was blocked up. Sir William Howe would push 
 straight on for Philapelphia, he replied, "Howe 
 will not think of such a thing until he has beaten 
 this army."^ 
 
 1 Lafayette's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. Greene was Gordon's autliority, as I 
 21. learn by a letter of Gordon's to him, 
 
 2 See- Gordon, Vol. II. p. 494. April 5, 1784. 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 445 
 
 Meanwhile, great exertions were made to remove 
 the stores with which the country abounded out 
 of the enemy's reach, and Greene being in the ad- 
 vance behind Whiteclay Creek, most of this duty 
 fell upon him. 
 
 "Enclosed," he writes to Washington on the 2d of 
 September, " is a letter from Mr. Levi Hollings worth, rel- 
 ative to the situation of the stores in that quarter. Gen- 
 eral Muhlenberg has marched with his detachment to 
 cover the removal of the stores. If your Excellency thinks 
 an additional force is necessary it shall be sent immedi- 
 ately. I wait further orders." 
 
 At this moment a new figure appears on the 
 crowding scene, one that we shall often meet in 
 the sequel, and even day by day, during the most 
 active portion of the Southern campaigns. 
 
 " Mr. John Rudolph," says Hollingsworth's letter, 
 "who was reconnoitring with Captain Lee yesterday, 
 near the head of Elk, says they saw signs of a detach- 
 ment of troops from the enemy having gone towards Not- 
 tingham. Captain Lee supposed them, by their track, to 
 be about five hundred horse and foot." 
 
 It was a fit rising of the curtain upon the 
 checkered career of the gallant young Virginian 
 whom companionship in toil and danger was to 
 unite in such close bonds of friendship with Greene, 
 and who after many vicissitudes, and much honor 
 and praise, was, forty-one years later, to end his 
 days in obloquy and suffering under the roof of 
 Greene's youngest daughter.-^ 
 
 1 At Dungeness, Cumberland Isl- room, with its unfinished walls of 
 and, Ga. I remember well the large tabby-work in which he died, and the 
 
446 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " Nothing new in camp since I wrote you last," Greene 
 writes to his wife on the 7th of September, from " the 
 camp near Wilmington, only that the army are advanced 
 in line with me. 'Tis said this morning tlie enemy are 
 coming out. A note, this moment received from Captain 
 Lee, of the light-horse, favors the opinion. I am just 
 going out upon a reconnoitring party. You must ex- 
 cuse a short letter." 
 
 The position of the Americans, although carefully 
 strengthened, was found, as Greene had foreseen, 
 to be untenable, and upon the enemy's advance 
 they fell back to Chad's Ford on the Brandy wine. 
 
 " The enemy marched out day before yesterday," 
 Greene writes to his wife on the 10th ; " they took post in 
 a position to turn our right flank, the Christiana creek 
 being on our left, the General thought our situation too 
 dangerous to risk a battle, as the enemy refused to 
 fight us in front. The General ordered the army to file 
 off to the right, and take post at this place. A general 
 action must take place in a few days. The army are in 
 
 high spirits, and wish for action Here are some 
 
 of the most distressing scenes imaginable, — the inhab- 
 itants generally desert their houses, furniture moving, 
 cattle driving, and women and children travelling off 
 on foot, — the country all resounds with the cries of the 
 people, — the enemy plunders most amazingly. The 
 militia of the country are not like the Jersey militia; 
 fighting is a new thing with these, and many seem to 
 have but a poor stomach for the business. 
 
 " I am exceedingly fatigued. I was on horseback for 
 
 little graveyard in a corner of an old my cousin, P. M. Nightingale, son of 
 
 cotton-field in which he was buried, General Greene's eldest daughter, 
 
 within a few feet of my grandmother's Martha Washington, 
 grave. The estate now belongs to 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 447 
 
 upwards of thirty hours ; and never closed my eyes for 
 near forty. Last night I was in hopes of a good night's 
 rest ; but a dusty bed gave me asthma, and I had very 
 little sleep the whole night ; but little as it was, I feel 
 finely refreshed this morning." 
 
 This is not the first mention of asthma, as the 
 reader will remember ; and henceforth in reading 
 of Greene's laborious days, it should be borne in 
 mind, that his nights were often passed in strug- 
 gling with this painful disease. 
 
 The battle which all were anxiously awaiting 
 was at hand. Early on the morning of the 11th, 
 the enemy were seen approaching in force by the 
 road to Chad's Ford, where, expecting the principal 
 effort to be made, Washington had drawn up his 
 main body, Wayne with Proctor's artillery in 
 front, behind an intrenchment on the bank of the 
 river, and Greene with his two brigades on the 
 heights in their rear. The morning wore away 
 in skirmishes and cannonading, Washington and 
 Greene passing most of it together at head- 
 quarters, three quarters of a mile from the ford, 
 waiting the moment of decided action. Towards 
 eleven came a messenger from Sullivan, who was 
 two miles higher up the stream in command of the 
 right, saying that a large body of the enemy was 
 marching for the upper fords by the great valley 
 road. The force in front could not be the main 
 body then; and Howe was repeating the ma- 
 noeuvre which had given him the victory of Long 
 Island. Washington instantly decided to cross 
 
448 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 and attack the enemy on the opposite side of the 
 ford. Orders were sent to Sullivan to cross at the 
 same time, and fall upon the left wing. Greene 
 immediately put his brigades in motion, and was 
 already over the ford with the advance when 
 another messenger came ; there was no large 
 body on the great valley road, the whole British 
 army was in front; Greene and Sullivan were rush- 
 ing upon certain destruction. Greene was recalled, 
 and Sullivan directed to wait further information 
 and orders. 
 
 Two more anxious hours passed. Another mes- 
 senger came, no longer with hearsays and con- 
 jectures, but an eyewitness, barely escaped with 
 panting horse from the hands of the enemy. 
 Howe's manoeuvre had again succeeded, and Corn- 
 wallis was already on the left bank, pressing down 
 towards the rear of the Americans. Sullivan was 
 hurried off to meet him. Wayne was ordered to 
 watch the ford, where the body that all the morn- 
 ing had been feigning an intention to pass would 
 now, doubtless, try to pass in earnest. Greene 
 was directed to hold himself in readiness to suc- 
 cor either Wayne or Sullivan, as circumstances 
 might require. Washington remained wath Greene, 
 waiting for the first sounds of the conflict. 
 
 Another long watching and waiting. At last, 
 between four and five, came a sudden burst of 
 cannon and musketry from northwestward, borne 
 over the fields and woods in the still autumn air. 
 It was heard far off in distant Philadelphia, too, 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 449 
 
 muttering ominously at the windows of Congress 
 Hall, and, booming heavily through the streets, 
 brought men quickly together in anxious groups,^ 
 ^ — the Tories by themselves, the Whigs, too, by 
 themselves, looking at each other askance in silent 
 expectation. They are at it, thought Washington 
 and Greene, as the sounds came faster and faster, 
 and in heavier surges, swelling at last into a con- 
 tinuous roar. Washington, pausing but a mo- 
 ment to give his orders to Greene, pushed forward 
 by the nearest way, eager for the battle, his horse's 
 head close upon the flank of his guide's horse, 
 leaping the fences in his path, and calling out im- 
 patiently, " Push on, old man ! push on ! " 
 
 Greene, too, pressed forward with Weedon's 
 brigade by the nearest road, hoping to come up 
 in time for a share in the fray; his well-trained 
 men chafing from the inaction of the morning, 
 warmed by the roar from the battle-field, which 
 grew louder and distincter at every step, and try- 
 ing, as experience served them, to conjecture the 
 fortunes of their countrymen from the eddying 
 tide of sound. They had nearly four miles to go, 
 but in forty-five minutes^ the four miles were 
 passed ; and as they came up, Pinckney, one of 
 Washington's aids, met them with instructions to 
 halt Spottswood's and Stephens's regiments in a 
 ploughed field on Sullivan's right, and form them 
 there. For Sullivan, after a gallant resistance, had 
 
 1 Lafayette's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 25. 
 
 2 Greene to H. Marchant. 
 
 29 
 
450 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 been defeated, and his broken ranks were scat- 
 tered in the woods, and crowding through the 
 road in the rear. It was too late to think of 
 saving the day, but the army might yet be saved ; 
 and to Greene the difficult and dangerous task 
 was assigned. 
 
 His two brigades — for Muhlenberg's joined him 
 by another road — were all Virginians but the 
 Pennsylvania regiment of Walter Stewart ; and all 
 of them carefully trained under the eyes of their 
 leaders, the resolute Weedon and the impetuous 
 Muhlenberg. Weedon, though but an innkeeper 
 at Fredericksburg before the war, had so zealously 
 "fanned the flame of sedition" till it broke out, 
 and had taken so active a part in it when it did, 
 that he was made a brigadier in the promotions of 
 1777, and, fortunately for both, was assigned to 
 Greene's division, in the general distribution of the 
 army. " My dear old friend," Greene's letters to 
 him begin, and the friendship lasted through life. 
 Muhlenberg, though a German Pennsylvanian by 
 birth, had studied at Gottingen, had been ordained 
 in London, and was pastor of a parish in Virginia 
 at the opening of the war. How he passed from 
 the pulpit to the head of a regiment I have 
 already told ; how gallantly he bore him in battle 
 I shall now tell. 
 
 Without wasting time in vain efforts to check 
 the tide of flight, Greene ordered his men to open 
 their ranks as the fugitives came up, and close 
 them again promptly when they were passed. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 451 
 
 The artillery, too, was directed to keep up a con- 
 stant fire, and hold back the enemy ; and, thus 
 marching and fighting, half a mile was slowly 
 passed, when, coming to a narrow defile flanked by 
 woods on both sides, and commanding the road by 
 which the army was to retreat, he ordered Weedon 
 to hold it with his own brigade, while he crossed 
 over and held the road with Muhlenberg. Day 
 was nearly spent when these arrangements were 
 completed. The fog of the morning had melted 
 away before the midday sun, but the evening 
 vapors were now gathering, and the tree-tops all 
 aglow with the rich hues of sunset. Still, thought 
 Cornwallis, Greene's fated antagonist, as he urged 
 forward his exulting battalions, there are three 
 quarters of an hour of sunlight yet, full as much 
 as we shall want to complete the rout of these 
 rebels, and put, perhaps, an end to the war. And 
 forward swept the bristling ranks, their guns and 
 bayonets shining like silver, says one who saw 
 them; on they swept, grenadiers, light infantry, 
 Anspachers and Hessians, till the deadly fire from 
 the American guns met them from the road in 
 their front and the defile on their left flank, mak- 
 ing their deep lines quiver and bend, as a corn- 
 field quivers and bends to the whirlwind. But 
 Cornwallis's stern eye was upon them, as, ar- 
 rayed in the bright scarlet of his grade, with 
 glittering epaulets aiid rich gold lace, firm and 
 erect, he sat on his noble horse watching the ed- 
 dying tide of battle ; and, fearing the reproof of 
 
452 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 that eye, they promptly reformed their ranks and 
 rushed on again to the assault. And again the 
 deadly tempest met them, and again they wavered 
 and fell back. " To the bayonet ! to the bayonet 1 " 
 now resounded along the line, and the tall grena- 
 diers smiled grimly under their black caps ; and 
 the high-trained light infantry and mustachioed 
 Hessians filling up the gaps in their platoons, and 
 throwing forward their keen bayonets, rushed with 
 a mingled shout of hatred and indignation to the 
 charge. But if any among them had leisure to 
 look across the lessening interval between the two 
 hostile fronts, thick strewn already with wounded 
 and dying and dead, he would have seen the 
 American line compact and firm ; he would have 
 seen at its head, on a large white horse, the stately 
 form of Muhlenberg ; he would have seen a keener 
 and more prophetic eye than Cornwallis's, sweep- 
 ing over the field, and taking in the whole position 
 at a glance. The Anspachers started with amaze- 
 ment as they looked, for in Muhlenberg they rec- 
 ognized one who had suddenly come among them 
 ten years before at Gottingen ; and in a wild, boy- 
 ish freak, had served awhile in their ranks, leav- 
 ing behind him deep impressions of an inflexible 
 will and impetuous temper. " Hier kommt Teufel 
 Piet ! " (" Here comes Devil Pete ! ") cried the old 
 soldiers as they gazed, and knowing that where 
 he led there would be need of all their strength, 
 braced themselves firmly for the shock. And now 
 bayonet met bayonet, thrust for thrust, man con- 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 453 
 
 tended with man, strong arm against strong arm, 
 and skill was matched with skill. Charge followed 
 charge in quick succession ; the sun sank behind 
 the trees, and still the battle raged. At last, borne 
 down by numbers, Weedon was forced from his 
 ground ; but still maintaining a firm front, and 
 with face towards the enemy, brought off his men 
 in good order, to the road in Muhlenberg's rear. 
 And then, too, Greene having accomplished his 
 purpose, and given the broken divisions time to 
 make sure their retreat, slowly drew off his own 
 division, and, as twilight deepened into darkness, 
 the weary combatants stayed their hands from the 
 work of death. And as they slowly made their 
 way along the road to Chester, an old man who 
 had fought among the young men said sadly to 
 his nearest companion, " Three hundred immortal 
 souls are this day to us as though they had never 
 been." " Yes, and we may join them to-morrow," 
 answered the other ; " but if I live, may I be hanged 
 if I don't avenge their deaths, as far as one arm 
 can do it." ^ 
 
 1 The history of this battle is not easy Muhlenberg's brigade, knowing that 
 to unravel, as the authorities stand, he was assisted in the study of the 
 I give them all together, — Gordon, battle by Colonel Pinckney, of Wash- 
 Marshall, Johnson's Greene, Muhlen- ington's staff. The story of Wash- 
 berg's Muhlenberg, Proceedings of ington's having pointed out to Greene 
 the Historical Society of Pennsyl- the position in the defile has, as far 
 vania, Septenriber and December, as I can ascertain, no other founda- 
 1846, Washington's Works, Vol. V., tion than the order suggested by Sul- 
 Greene MSS., Howe's Official Re- livan, and conveyed by Pinckney, 
 port in Almon's Remembrancer, Vol. to halt in the " ploughed field." The 
 V. p. 409, Lafayette's Memoirs, Vol. " ploughed field " was the ground 
 V. p. 1. I have chiefly followed, from which Greene's retreat began, 
 though with some hesitation, John- and the pass, according to Gordon, 
 son's account of the part taken by was half a mile in its rear. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 American Army not discouraged by their Defeat. — March to Ger- 
 mantown. — Sullivan unjustly blamed. — Weedon dissatisfied. — 
 Greene and Washington. — Preparations for advancing towards the 
 Enemy. — Advance to Warren's Tavern. — Battle prevented by a 
 Storm. — Greene's Choice of a Position. — Marches and Counter- 
 marches. — Howe deceives the Americans, and crosses the Schuylkill. 
 
 A ND thus the Americans lost another battle, 
 -^^ but they lost neither heart nor hope. By 
 twelve o'clock the troops were "arraying behind 
 Chester" for the night. Greene had brought off 
 his gallant brigades in good order, and Washington, 
 exhausted with the labor and excitement of the 
 day and evening, was upon the point of going to 
 bed, when he remembered that there was still a 
 duty to perform. " Congress must be written to, 
 gentlemen," he said to his staff, pausing at the 
 door, " and one of you must do it, for I am too 
 sleepy." Harrison, on whom the duty devolved, 
 was too " distressed " to write it, and " put it upon " 
 Pickering, the Adjutant-General. " I wrote and 
 gave it to the General to read," writes Pickering. 
 " He, with perfect composure, directed me to add 
 a consolatory hope that another day would give a 
 more fortunate result." " And that," said Picker- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 455 
 
 ing to Mr. Sparks when he related the incident, 
 " was the most important point of all." ^ 
 
 By four in the morning the letter was in the 
 hands of John Hancock, who caught eagerly at the 
 well-timed hope. " I am sorry," he writes, " for the 
 unfortunate issue of the day, but from the troops 
 keeping up their spirits, I flatter myself it will still 
 be in our power to retrieve the loss of yesterday " ; 
 adding, " I have thought proper, in consequence of 
 the intelligence received this morning, to call the 
 Congress together at six o'clock." ^ 
 
 At six o'clock Congress met, heard Washington's 
 letter, and ordered it to be published ; then at ten, 
 and passed rapid resolutions for calling out the mi- 
 litia, and hastening forward the Continentals "to 
 reinforce thfe army under General Washington " ; 
 and then again at five in the afternoon, and or- 
 dered " a proper boat or vessel to be provided " 
 without delay, to convey the wounded Lafayette to 
 New Jersey, and " that the Commissary-General of 
 purchases be directed to purchase, on the most rea- 
 sonable terms he can, thirty hogsheads of rum, and 
 that the same be presented to the army, and dis- 
 tributed among the soldiers in such manner as the 
 General shall direct, in compliment to the soldiers 
 for their gallant behavior, in the late battle of 
 Brandywine." ^ 
 
 1 I am indebted to Mr. Sparks for The letter to Congress is given in 
 this anecdote, which is also given in a Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. .57. 
 letter from Pickering to Judge Peters, 2 Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 for the loan of which, and other im- " Revolution, Vol. I. p. 434. 
 portant ones, I am indebted to the » Journals of Congress, September 
 courtesyof Mr. Charles Eliot Norton. 12,1777. 
 
456 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Meanwhile, the defeated army was rapidly re- 
 turning through Derby to the banks of the Schuyl- 
 kill, Greene covering the rear with the gallant 
 brigades, by whose aid he had covered it so effect- 
 ually the day before. By the 13th, it was again 
 in its late camping-ground of Germantown, soon 
 to be its next battle-ground. There, and at Phila- 
 delphia, and throughout the country, there was 
 much discussion about the causes of the defeat, 
 Congress unjustly laying it at Sullivan's door, and 
 even carrying its injustice so far as to order his im- 
 mediate recall from the army, and an official inves- 
 tigation of his conduct. But Washington, who 
 judged more wisely, remonstrated with them 
 against a measure which was to deprive him of 
 the services of a valuable officer, when he was rath- 
 er in need of having new generals sent him, than 
 prepared to have an old and approved one taken 
 away.^ Congress yielded, — it was no time to dis- 
 pute Washington's opinions, — and when, at the 
 first practicable moment, the official investigation 
 was made, Sullivan was justly exonerated from all 
 blame.^ Time has confirmed the decision. The 
 conflicting intelligence of the 11th, like the want 
 of intelligence at Long Island the year before, was 
 the fault, not of the generals, but of the means at 
 their command. Steuben was but just on his way 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. ory's able and satisfactory paper in 
 61. the Historical Magazine for Decem- 
 
 2 Ut sup. 62. For a full vindica- ber, 1866, and also in the Proceedings 
 tion of General Sullivan on this and of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
 other occasions, see Mr. T. C. Am- ciety for 1866-67, p. 380. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 457 
 
 from Paris to Marseilles, where the Flamand was 
 waiting to take him to America, and till Steuben 
 came, many of the springs and wheels without 
 which an army cannot act either promptly or 
 harmoniously were wanting. 
 
 But if there was much of questioning as to who 
 had lost the day, there could be none as to who 
 had saved the army. In that " hour and a quar- 
 ter " " of hot action," Greene had " confessedly 
 saved the park of artillery, and indeed the army, 
 from the fatal effects of a disagreeable rout " ; ^ and 
 now his officers looked for a public acknowledg- 
 ment of the important service in general orders. 
 But no such acknowledgment came, and Weedon 
 remonstrated with Greene, and Greene, according 
 to one version of the story, with Washington, who 
 replied, " You, sir, are considered my favorite offi- 
 cer : Weedon's brigade, like myself, are Virginians ; 
 should I applaud them for their achievement under 
 your command, I shall be charged with partiality ; 
 jealousy will be excited, and the service injured." 
 Greene saw that Washington was right, and de- 
 sisted. According to the other version, he refused, 
 from the first, to carry the complaint to Washing- 
 ton, saying, " Our General has enough to distress 
 him ; let us not add to his perplexities. The whole 
 army admits the services you rendered ; let us rest 
 satisfied with the consciousness of it." And that 
 this is the true version cannot be questioned, with- 
 out calling in question the truth of what Greene 
 
 1 Greene to Colonel Lee, February 18, 1782. 
 
458 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 wrote to Colonel Lee in the letter from which I 
 just now quoted ; for in that letter, written to 
 meet some of Lee's complaints of unrecognized ser- 
 vices, after showing them to be altogether unfound- 
 ed, he adds : — 
 
 " How dififerent was my situation in the Northern 
 army ! I fought hard at Harlem. I was in the action 
 at Trenton and Princeton. I covered the retreat at 
 Brandywine, and was upwards of an hour and a quarter 
 in a hot action, and confessedly saved the park of artil- 
 lery, and indeed the army, from the fatal effects of a 
 disagreeable rout ; and yet, in all those actions, I never 
 had the honor to have my name mentioned to the public, 
 either as being with the army, or having done the least 
 thing, notwithstanding I was a general officer. At Ger- 
 mantown, I was evidently disgraced, though I think, if 
 ever I merited anything, it was for my exertions on that 
 day. I have been concerned in many other lesser ser- 
 vices, which have all been passed over in silence. But I 
 never murmured or complained^ notwithstanding I was 
 held in indignation for faults and misfortunes I had no 
 direction of." ^ 
 
 It was by no means Washington's intention to 
 let Sir William Howe get possession of Philadel- 
 phia even now without fighting for it, or hold it 
 tranquilly if he should succeed in getting it. It 
 was a busy time in the American camp, where the 
 men were furbishing up their arms and preparing 
 
 ' 1 For first version see Caldwell's ter to Lee was first published by H. 
 
 Life of Greene, p. 58, who evidently Lee (son of the Colonel), in his very 
 
 took up a camp rumor for an authen- clever, but very angry, and therefore 
 
 tic anecdote. For second, Johnson's not always trustworthy, " Campaign 
 
 Greene, Vol. I. p. 77. Greene's let- of 178l"." Appendix, XVIII. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 459 
 
 for another battle; a busy time in Philadelphia, 
 where good Whigs were packing up for a sudden 
 removal, and commissary officers hurrying off the 
 public stores to places of safety, and Congress 
 pressing its business, and, as an urgent part of it, 
 sending off the principal Quakers, — " six wagons 
 of them with a guard," — to Virginia, in the 
 hope of checking the readiness which the broth- 
 erhood had so freely manifested to keep up a 
 treasonable correspondence with the enemy; a 
 busy time on the high ways, " no end to chaises, 
 coaches, and wagons with fugitives " ; a busy time 
 in the villages, where " one message followed an- 
 other that the loss of the American army was very 
 serious," and " the British army already near the 
 city," every village fancying that it " would be the 
 scene of their march, or even the battle-field," and 
 the pious Christian, who saw God's finger in all 
 this trouble, crying, solemnly, " Now, Pennsylvania, 
 prepare to meet the Lord your God ! " but busiest 
 time of all, at head-quarters in Germantown, to- 
 wards which all eyes were turned with anxious 
 expectation. Cold weather was at hand, and the 
 troops needed blankets and shoes.^ There was a 
 widespread disaffection throughout the country, 
 making it difficult to obtain provisions or informa- 
 tion, and without them, the army could not be 
 
 1 The proof of these statements See also extracts from a very curious 
 
 is so abundant in Washington's Journal of H. N. Muhlenberg, in the 
 
 Letters, that you have only to turn Life of General Muhlenberg, p. 341 et 
 
 over the pages of the fifth volume to seq. 
 find them repeated in various forms. 
 
460 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [177T. 
 
 moved. The British fleet would soon be trying to 
 force its way up the Delaware, and the defences, 
 long before begun, must be completed and strength- 
 ened. The British army would soon be trying to 
 reach the Schuylkill, and there were several fords 
 to fortify and guard. 
 
 Washington's pen ran rapidly over quires of pa- 
 per; Greene's pen was tasked for orders and in- 
 structions. There was work, also, for both of them, 
 out of doors as well as within, and work for the 
 men too, who were set at once to clean their guns, 
 and put up their fresh distribution of cartridges, — 
 forty apiece. On the 14th, they turned their 
 faces southward again towards the enemy, march- 
 ing first a few miles up the left bank of the Schuyl- 
 kill to Levering's Ford. " for a little more dis- 
 cipline, both in officers and men," thought Picker- 
 ing, as he saw them, instead of marching directly 
 into the water without breaking their ranks, halt 
 and loiter on the bank, some stripping off shoes 
 and stockings, some their breeches too, and officers 
 even quitting their platoons to secure a canoe or 
 borrow a horse. " It was a pleasant day," wrote 
 the rigorous adjutant in his daily record, " and had 
 the men marched directly over by platoons, with- 
 out stripping, no harm could have ensued, their 
 clothes would have been dried by night on their 
 march, and the bottom would not have hurt their 
 feet." Once over the Schuylkill, Washington 
 pressed forward by the Lancaster road to get be- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 461 
 
 tween the enemy and Swede's Ford. On the 15th, 
 he reached the Warren Tavern.^ 
 
 On the next morning, about 9 o'clock, the scouts 
 brought word that the enemy was advancing to 
 offer battle. Detachments were instantly sent for- 
 ward to support the advance guard, and help them 
 hold the British in check while the line was form- 
 ing, for, although it was not the ground Washing- 
 ton had intended- to fight upon, he was both will- 
 ing and ready to fight.^ The right was quickly 
 arrayed for action, Washington sending forward 
 Pickering, Adjutant-General, to assist in forming 
 the troops. But behind the centre and left was a 
 valley of soft, wet ground, impassable for artillery, 
 except in that part of it which lay in the rear of 
 Greene's division, " where there was a firm road." 
 Greene was the first to observe it, and, riding up to 
 Washington, asked him if he meant to have the 
 troops fight in that position. When Pickering re- 
 turned from the right, the centre was still unformed, 
 and a number of officers were gathered round 
 Washington in consultation. " Pressing his horse 
 forward to learn the object," he found that they 
 were still debating whether to " receive the British 
 where they were, or cross the valley and make 
 their stand on the high ground on the other side 
 of it." Meanwhile the sounds of musketry began 
 to come faster and faster from the front, where 
 Wayne, with the advanced guard, was already en- 
 
 1 Marshall, Vol. I. p. 160. Sparks's Washington, Vol- V. p. 62. Picker- 
 ing's Diary, MSS. 
 
 2 Marshall, ut sup. 
 
462 LITE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 gaged with the enemy, and, as the approaching din 
 plainly showed, falling back upon the main body 
 for support. The consultation still continued. 
 "Sir," said Pickering, addressing himself directly 
 to Washington, " the advancing of the British is 
 manifest by the reports of the musketry. The or- 
 der of battle is not completed. If we are to fight 
 the enemy on this ground, the troops ought to be 
 immediately arranged. If we are to take the high 
 ground on the other side of the valley, we ought 
 to march immediately, or the enemy may fall upon 
 us in the midst of our movement. Pray, Sir, de- 
 cide." "Let us move," said Washington; and 
 Greene was ordered to draw up the troops in the 
 new position. 
 
 By this time the sky was overcast, and the pat- 
 tering of rain began to mingle with the sounds of 
 the approaching conflict, gradually deepening from 
 shower to shower into a continuous flood. The 
 British came to a halt; neither side was able to 
 use its cannon, much less its muskets. At night- 
 fall the Americans filed off on the road to Yel- 
 low Springs, moving slowly and painfully over 
 the miry ground, and under the drenching rain 
 as it dashed slant upon them, borne furiously 
 hither and thither by a sharp, bleak wind. When 
 they reached their halting-place, they had to rest 
 themselves as best they could on the streaming 
 earth, their tents being with the baggage-trarn in 
 the rear. ^ 
 
 1 Most of the details of this para- ering manuscripts in the possession 
 gtaph I have drawn from the Pick- of Mr. Octavius Pickering, of Cam- 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 463 
 
 But they were not to rest long, for on examining 
 their arms it was found that their ill-protected 
 guns were unfit for use, and their worse-protected 
 ammunition, which had been distributed at forty 
 rounds a man, was water-soaked in their worthless 
 cartouch-boxes. Sorely disappointed, and with a 
 heavy heart, Washington again put his weary bat- 
 talions in motion towards Warwick Furnace, where 
 the strong ground would, he hoped, protect him 
 while his men were cleaning and repairing their 
 arms, and a fresh supply of ammunition was brought 
 up from the magazines.^ Greene was sent forward 
 with Tilghman, one of Washington's aids, to choose 
 a position, and chose one on the range of moun- 
 tains that, extending from Valley Forge to the Yel- 
 low Springs, — " difficult of access," easy of descent, 
 well suited for skirmishes and partial actions, but 
 impossible to force a general engagement upon, — 
 offered most of the same advantages of ground 
 which had enabled the American general to baffle 
 all the manoeuvres of his adversary in June and 
 July. And thus, with Wayne close in the enemy's 
 rear, and the main army within striking distance of 
 his flank, Greene thought that a crippling blow 
 might be dealt if Howe should attempt to cross 
 
 bridge, who kindly permitted me 515) to be the wet valley mentioned 
 
 to have copies made of everything by Pickering, which with such a rain 
 
 in them which bore upon my sub- would soon become a pond, and as a 
 
 ject. The cold wind is spoken of pond be remembered by many of the 
 
 *m Milhlenberg's Journal. I sup- actors. 
 
 pose the " large piece of water " ^ Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 
 mentioned by Gordon (Vol. II. p. 66. 
 
464 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 the Schuylkill, and a safe retreat secured in case of 
 disaster.^ 
 
 But while Greene was making his study of the 
 ground, a council of war was deciding to act by the 
 front, and unfortunately, if we are to judge by^^the 
 result on both occasions. Washington again ac- 
 cepted their decision. That, as a military man, he 
 approved of Greene's plan it would be wronging 
 him to doubt ; but Greene's enemies, who were also 
 his enemies, were at this time accusing Greene of a 
 willingness to sacrifice Philadelphia from a dread 
 of southern influence,^ and Washington seems to 
 have felt that, whatever his military judgment 
 might dictate, he must again give way to public 
 opinion. In this sentiment Greene did not concur, 
 neither did he approve of submitting every ques- 
 tion to the decision of a council of war, — a system 
 which betrayed, as he thought, something like a 
 want of personal decision. We shall come upon an 
 open expression of this thought in a few moments, 
 and by and by, when we tell the story of his great 
 campaign of '81, we shall see how strictly he lived 
 up to the idea of independent action which he 
 seems to have already formed. 
 
 In accordance, then, with the opinion of the 
 council, Wayne was left in the rear, where he soon 
 after met with that bloody disaster, the remem- 
 brance of which has come down to us as the massa- 
 
 1 Gordon, from Greene's Memo- the time, as appears from Graydon, 
 
 randa, Vol. II. p. 516. Greene's first p. 292. 
 
 plan of acting on the flank before the ^ Graydon, p. 292. 
 battle of Brandywine was known at 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 465 
 
 ere of Paoli. Howe for once was fully awake, 
 resolved to have Philadelphia by force or by skill, 
 cost what it might of toil or blood. And thus 
 Washington, too, was kept in constant motion. On 
 the 18th, the Americans were at Warwick ; on the 
 19th, at Fatland Ford, on the left bank of the 
 Schuylkill, which even at Parker's Ford, several 
 miles higher up, where they crossed, was breast 
 high.-^ " His Excellency General Washington was 
 with the troops who passed us here to the Perkio- 
 men," says Muhlenberg's diary for Friday, Septem- 
 ber 19th. " The procession lasted the whole night, 
 and we had all kinds of visits from officers wet to 
 the breast, who had to march in that condition the 
 cold, damp night through, and to bear hunger and 
 thirst at the same time. This," he adds, "robs 
 them of courage and health, and instead of pray- 
 ers we hear from most, the national evil, curses." 
 But the good man offered up sincere and earnest 
 prayers for them. 
 
 The two armies were now near each other, front 
 to front almost, with the swollen Schuylkill flowing 
 rapidly between. The British tents could be seen 
 from Providence " with a telescope," and the good 
 old Whig who tells us so seems to have shuddered 
 as he looked out upon them from his once peace- 
 ful home. His " weaker vessels baked bread twice " 
 during the day, " and distributed all the food they 
 had to the sick and ailing. In the evening a nurse, 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 65. Muhlenberg's Journal, Life of 
 Muhlenberg, p. 342. 
 
466 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 with three English children of a fugitive family of 
 consequence, from Philadelphia, arrived, and could 
 get no farther, as it was night. They begged for 
 lodging, which we granted, as good or bad as we 
 had it. ' Give shelter willingly ' (Romans xii. 13),^ 
 particularly to children who are yet saints. There 
 were also two negroes, servants of the English 
 family,^ who wished to one another in secret that 
 the British might be victorious, as then all negro 
 slaves would be free ; and this opinion is said to be 
 general- among all negroes in- America."^ 
 
 Instructive glimpses these into the interior of a 
 cottage between two hostile armies, whom it is 
 sometimes better to see march by from the cot- 
 tager's door, with trembling women and children 
 around you, than from the strategian's closet with 
 nothing but maps and muster-rolls to remind you 
 that you are all children of the same Father. 
 
 On the 17th, the venerable pastor had written: — 
 
 *' Here am I old, worn out, with a sick wife subject to 
 hysterical paroxysms, have with me two daughters, two 
 sons' wives with two infant children, and my son's parents- 
 in-law, and expect every day and hour that a British di- 
 vision will cross the Schuylkill and treat us without 
 distinction, as the providence of God has ordered and will 
 allow. We cannot well fly, for there is no place safe. 
 Where the two armies do not reach there are thieves, rob- 
 bers, and murderers, who take advantage of the present 
 time and condition." 
 
 1 The quotation is from Luther's ^ Muhlenberg, the reader will re- 
 version, ** Herberget gerne.'" The member, was a German American, 
 English version reads, " Given to and therefore calls these English, 
 hospitality." ^ Muhlenberg's Diary, ut sup. 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 467 
 
 The American army seemed to bring hope with 
 them ; but on the 21stj Sunday, in the afternoon, 
 the British were said to be in motion again, likely, 
 Muhlenberg was told, " to come out upon the great 
 road at our house and attack the American army. 
 We were advised to fly, as a battle might take 
 place and our house be plundered or burned." 
 Some of the family resolved to go to New Han- 
 over, and wanted him to go with them. He tried 
 to persuade his wife to go and " leave [him] be- 
 hind alone. She was not to be persuaded, but 
 would rather live, suffer, and die with me in Provi- 
 dence." 
 
 Meanwhile, Howe was manoeuvring to get pos- 
 session of the lower fords, and through them of the 
 road to Philadelphia, by alarming Washington for 
 the safety of his stores at Reading. It was for this 
 that his army was in motion, pushing apparently 
 up the great valley road towards the upper fords. 
 Washington resolved to throw himself in his front. 
 " At twelve o'clock at night the advance of the 
 American army, with many field-pieces, came past, 
 and some of them knocked at our door, as if to 
 break it in. Our people rose, asked them what 
 they wanted, and were answered, ^ Fire.' A Ger- 
 man captain, however, drove them off." 
 
 The British general, meantime, by a rapid coun- 
 termarch, had seized Fatland's and Gordon's Fords, 
 and begun to cross over to the left bank. The road 
 to Philadelphia was now open. When the unwel- 
 come news reached head-quarters, "every one," says 
 Gordon, " was astonished." 
 
468 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " On one of these dreary nights," writes Picker- 
 ing, " as the army marched upwards on the eastern 
 side of the Schuylkill, in its rear I fell in with Gen- 
 eral Greene. We descended the bank of Perkio- 
 men Creek together, and while our horses were 
 drinking, I said to him : ' General Greene, before I 
 "Came to the army, I entertained an exalted opin- 
 ion of General Washington's military talents, but 
 I have since seen nothing to enhance it.' I did 
 not venture to say it w^as sensibly lowered, though 
 that was the fact; and so Greene understood me, 
 for he instantly answered in these words precisely: 
 ^ Why, the General does want decision ] for my 
 part, I decide in a moment.'" 
 
 That Greene did decide, after a careful examina- 
 tion of facts, with marvellous promptitude, is as- 
 serted by all who knew him, and proved by all his 
 independent acts. Still, I could wish that he had 
 never permitted himself to call Washington's de- 
 cision in question ; for the hereditary reverence I 
 have been trained up in for that wonderful man, 
 and which Greene's precept and example have 
 made traditional in his family, renders it difficult 
 for me to enter into the feelings of those who, act- 
 ing with him, and loving and revering him, and 
 putting full faith in his civic talents, still permitted 
 themselves — as Hamilton and Pickering and Steu- 
 ben are known to have done — to doubt his mili- 
 tary talents. That Greene's was but a passing 
 doubt, extending to a single quality, and arising 
 
 1 Gordon, Vol. II. p. 518. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 469^ 
 
 from the cause already mentioned, will plainly ap- 
 pear from the sequel.-^ 
 
 Nothing but a battle could now save the city. 
 Congress had already withdrawn with the intention 
 of reassembling at Lancaster, although they after- 
 wards decided to remove to Yorktown ; ^ and 
 wisely, before they separated, they strengthened 
 Washington's hands by an important resolve.^ Still, 
 a battle was looked for, especially by Pennsylva- 
 nians, upon whom the brunt of these destructive 
 marches and countermarches fell. But Washing- 
 ton now felt that he must wait a few days longer, 
 no matter what the public thought or said, for rein- 
 forcements were on their march, and his troops 
 needed rest, and more especially shoes and blan- 
 kets. When next he fought he was determined to 
 come strong-handed to the conflict. Meanwhile, 
 he drew back a few miles farther up the country, 
 and pitched his camp at Pennibecker's mill on Per- 
 kiomen Creek. 
 
 1 Pickering Papers and Pickering ington's " reluctance to change opin- 
 
 to Peters, MSS. I have been coun- ion" led him to expose himself and 
 
 selled not to repeat this anecdote; his suite to a serious danger. Did 
 
 but, as I interpret the historian's duty, Lafayette look up to him with any 
 
 the suppression of a characteristic the less reverence ? 
 fact is a practical falsehood. Greene ^ Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 
 saw faults in Washington, but saw Revolution, Vol. I. p. 436. 
 too that they were outbalanced by his » Journals, October 17, 1777. 
 virtues. Lafavette tells us that Wash- 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Howe in Philadelphia. — Straitened for Provisions. — Washington's 
 Preparations for the Defence of the Delaware. — Council of War 
 oppose a Battle. — Further Intelligence. — Battle decided upon. — 
 Advance of the Army and Battle of Germantown. 
 
 TTOWE entered Philadelphia on the 26th of Sep- 
 -*--■- tember amid the exultations of the Tories, and 
 the deep dejection of the few Whigs whom chance 
 or necessity had detained there. This, however, 
 was only a first step, and it had cost him a battle 
 and thirty days' marching, though the distance from 
 his landing-place at Elkton was only sixty miles. 
 Two miles a day, with fighting on the road, and 
 starvation at the end of it, did not look like putting 
 down the rebellion this campaign. But the British 
 and their partisans talked boldly of the victories 
 they had already won, and promised themselves 
 still greater. There was, however, a second step 
 to take, without which it were better the first had 
 never been taken. Without the command of the 
 river there could be no direct communication with 
 the fleet, and consequently no sure base of sup- 
 plies. Provisions had long been dear in Philadel- 
 phia, especially West India and European arti- 
 cles ; but immediately after the British entered it, 
 articles of daily use rose to prices that few could 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 471 
 
 continue to pay long without exhausting their 
 resources.-^ To shut out the British fleet from go- 
 ing freely up and down the river, and thus starve 
 Howe into evacuation, was one of Washington's 
 first aims, and the principal means of accomplishing 
 it were chevaiix-de-frises in the channel, supported 
 by galleys, frigates, and two forts, — Fort Mifflin 
 on Fort Island, and Fort Mercer at Ked Bank on 
 the Jersey shore. How long, how skilfully, and 
 how gallantly the passage of the river was de- 
 fended we shall see a little further on ; for some fa- 
 miliar names are awaiting us there, and sora6 of 
 the glory of those brave days is ours. 
 
 But the preparations of annoyance did not end 
 here. Eeinforcements were coming in from the 
 North and from Virginia, and with their aid a direct 
 blow might be struck at the royal army itself be- 
 fore it could settle contentedly down in its winter 
 quarters. Accordingly, on the 28th, two days after 
 the occupation of the city by the British, a council 
 of war was assembled to decide whether it would 
 be better to wait for these reinforcements, or to 
 venture an immediate attack with the eight thou- 
 sand continentals and three thousand militia, al- 
 ready in camp, upon the eight thousand British and 
 German regulars who held Philadelphia. Greene, 
 with all of the major-generals and five of the briga- 
 diers, was for deferring the attack, but taking, at 
 the same time, some strong position nearer the 
 
 1 J. Adams's letters to his wife for the first, and Reed's Life of President 
 
 Reed for the second. 
 
472 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 city, from whence they might advance or retreat, 
 as circumstances required. Wayne, with five other 
 brigadiers, was for attacking at once. Washing- 
 ton accepted the decision of the majority, and on 
 the 30th the army moved forward by the Skippack 
 road to within sixteen miles of Germantown, where 
 a part of the enemy's forces lay. The Americans 
 kept vigilant guard in their new camp, and con- 
 stantly sent out light parties for intelligence. One 
 of the early fruits of this watchfulness was two in- 
 terrupted letters, from which it was ascertained that 
 Sir William Howe " had detached a part of his force 
 against Billingsport and the forts on the Delaware." ^ 
 A second council was promptly called. All agreed in 
 voting an immediate attack, and the battle of Ger- 
 mantown, in a political sense, at least, one of the 
 most important battles of the Eevolution, was the 
 immediate consequence of that vote. 
 
 The British position seemed to invite attack. 
 Part of their forces, as we have seen, had been de- 
 tached to act against the defences of the Delaware, 
 part had been stationed in Philadelphia, and a still 
 larger part lay at Germantown, now almost a suburb 
 of the metropolis, but then a village of a single 
 street, two miles in length, and four miles nearer 
 than the city to the American camp.^ Here the 
 main body of the British were encamped, their 
 centre near the centre of the village, and at right 
 angles with it, and their wings stretching out into 
 the country in the midst of gardens and orchards, 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 78. ^ Marshall, Vol. I. p. 167* 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 473 
 
 and covered in front by the German chasseurs on 
 their left, and Simcoe's Queen's Hangers on their 
 right. Their pickets were at Mount Airy, two 
 miles farther up the main road. 
 
 Besides this main road, there were two other roads 
 to the village, — the Lime-kiln road, leading into the 
 centre of the camp, nearly at an angle of forty-five 
 degrees, and the old York road, which led to the 
 rear of the camp by a similar angle with the Lime- 
 kiln. Both of these roads were on the British right. 
 On their left, which was strengthened by Wissa- 
 hickon Creek, a small stream running for some dis- 
 tance almost parallel with the village, and then 
 eastward to empty into the Schuylkill, there was 
 still another road, generally known as the Ridge 
 road, which, crossing the creek not far from its 
 mouth, led directly in upon the German troops 
 who were posted there, and leaned, although they 
 did not absolutely rest upon the Schuylkill. To 
 strike the British, front, flank, and rear, and thus 
 rendering it impossible for one body to carry suc- 
 cor to another, crush them, as it were, by four 
 simultaneous blows, the American army was di- 
 vided into four columns, each of which was to act 
 by a separate road. 
 
 Sullivan led the right wing, which was to take 
 the enemy in front by the. main road ; Greene the 
 left, which was to come in upon their right by the 
 Lime-kiln road, while the attacks upon their rear 
 were intrusted to the Pennsylvania militia, under 
 Armstrong, by the Ridge road, and the Maryland 
 
474 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 and Jersey militia, under Smallwood and Forman, 
 by the old York road. Light parties were to scour 
 the roads and fields in front, and keep open the 
 communications between the different corps as the 
 army advanced. 
 
 About seven ^ in the evening of the 3d of Octo- 
 ber the Americans broke up from their encamp- 
 ment at Metuchen Hill on Skippack Creek, and set 
 out upon their night march of sixteen miles. The 
 country through which they were to pass was ir- 
 regular, dotted with woods, orchards, and enclosed 
 fields, wdth here and there a valley, and in some 
 places a marsh or a small watercourse. The air 
 was heavy with lowland vapors, through which the 
 stars twinkled fitfully, and the breath of the night- 
 wind was frosty and chill. But ofiicers and men 
 were well broken in to night marches ; and what 
 were walls that could be thrown down and ditches 
 that could be leaped, to mire knee deep and rivers 
 breast high ? and what the still mist to a pelting 
 rain ? On then they marched, with the heavy tread of 
 twenty thousand feet, and heavier rumbling of can- 
 non and ammunition wagons ; the veterans, strong 
 by their recollections of the past, and the new- 
 comers emulous of the name of veterans. 
 
 Sullivan's advance was the first on the ground, 
 and as they descended into the valley near Mount 
 Airy, the sun rose with the momentary promise of 
 a clear day, but was presently lost again in a fog. 
 The landscape, too, was almost lost, close wrapped 
 
 1 Washington says 7, — Sparks, Vol. V. p. 78. Sullivan, 9, — Id. 464. 
 Pickering's MS. Diary, — " about 8." 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 475 
 
 in thick vapors, which, opening from time to time, 
 gave short glimpses of objects forty yards distant, 
 and suddenly closing in again, dense and dark, left 
 the mind bewildered and the eye aching with the 
 effort to recover what it had seen. Still Sullivan 
 pressed on, came upon the British outposts by sur- 
 prise, drove them in, and still advancing and fight- 
 ing, for the British rallied at every fence and new 
 troops came up .to their support, made sure his ad- 
 vance by the main road, with his troops well in 
 hand, and everything, like the sunrise just before, 
 bidding fair for a propitious day. And now, he 
 thought, it is time to hear from Greene ; and not 
 hearing from him, and fearing for his left flank, he 
 ordered Wayne to form on the east of the road, on 
 ground assigned to Greene in the original plan of 
 attack. 
 
 In that plan it had been expected that the whole 
 army would be upon the ground by daylight ; but 
 the difficulties of the road retarded Sullivan's ad- 
 vance till sunrise, and Greene's, with his additional 
 two miles, and a mistake of his guide,^ some time 
 longer. There would appear also to have been 
 some mistake in estimating the distances, involving, 
 of course, a corresponding mistake in fixing the 
 time for brino-ino^ the different columns into action. 
 Thus, it was about half an hour after Sullivan's at- 
 tack began when Greene came upon the ground, 
 advancing along the Lime-kiln road, with Stephen's 
 brigade on the west of it, Scott's, Muhlenberg's, and 
 
 1 Pickering's Diary and his letter in North American Review, Vol. 
 XXIIL p. 425. 
 
476 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 McDoiigal's on the east. And here, Sullivan's change 
 in the original plan of attack, though well meant, and 
 apparently called for by the circumstances, wrought 
 a fatal injury, for as Stephen advanced, he found 
 Wayne's corps in his front, where he had looked 
 only for the enemy, and mistaking it for the enemy, 
 fired upon it. Wayne's troops, too, equally surprised 
 to find themselves attacked from their rear were 
 thrown into a momentary confusion, and before the 
 error could be corrected and order restored, Ste- 
 phen's division was irretrievably separated from 
 Greene's, and a dangerous gap made in the Ameri- 
 can line. 
 
 Still Greene pushed on at the head of his divis- 
 ion, Muhlenberg leading his own gallant brigade 
 which had made the great stand at the Brandy- 
 wine, Scott and McDougal leading theirs ; the air 
 ringing the while with the sounds of the conflict 
 on the right, — sounds which a soldier, trying to 
 recall them when the battle was over, likened to 
 " the crackling of thorns under a pot, and incessant 
 peals of thunder." ^ The first force they met was 
 a body of light infantry, and driving it before them, 
 and sweeping resistlessly on, in a few moments they 
 found themselves in front of the British right, all 
 drawn up, and ready to receive them. In front of 
 them, I say, but still almost without seeing them, 
 for the fog was so thick that forty yards was the 
 farthest they could see, and often not farther than 
 twenty, and the hostile line, magnified by the mist, 
 
 1 Letter of a soldier in the Newport Gazette. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 477 
 
 must have looked, as all indistinct objects do, larger 
 and stronger than it really was. But there was the 
 flash from the enemy's guns to guide them, and by 
 that flash they aimed their own, and firing rapidly 
 volley upon volley, soon made them waver and 
 shrink. Then forward came Muhlenberg, with the 
 bayonet, dashing upon them like a wave upon a 
 quivering wreck, and driving them sheer through 
 the camp into the village. Never before had those 
 low, steep-roofed stone houses looked down from 
 their pent-eaves or peered out from under their 
 ponderous cornices upon such a scene. Evil was 
 the hour when their builders built their walls of 
 stone, and, making them strong against cold and 
 heat, made them fatally strong against their friends. 
 For the British soldiers, well trained and prompt in 
 danger, threw themselves into them all through the 
 village, carrying even their light field-pieces into 
 the chambers, and pouring down hurtling showers 
 of cannon-balls and musket-balls from the windows. 
 Then might you have seen that the chief want of 
 our brave fellows was the want of discipline, and 
 that impassive bearing which discipline gives. For 
 as the combat deepened, and men began to fall, you 
 would see two, and often ^ye or even six, quit their 
 places in the ranks to help off a wounded comrade, 
 dropping and losing their own arms by the way. 
 Many of these would not return to the line at 
 all, and often the wounded man would die be- 
 fore they reached the surgeon. Ofiicers, too, were 
 frequently found out of their places, and separated 
 
478 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 from their men at the very moment when their 
 familiar voices were most needed to guide them, 
 and their familiar faces to cheer them.^ 
 
 And now, too, the air grew darker as the smoke 
 of the guns, and the still denser smoke of stubble 
 and hay, which the enemy had set fire to, to in- 
 crease the confusion, mingled with the fog; all 
 hanging over the battle-field in sulphurous folds, 
 which there was no wind to blow aside. And from 
 it came shouts and huzzas, and shrieks and groans, 
 and reverberations of cannon, and the crackling of 
 musketry ; and under it the fierce work still went 
 on, the deadly thrust and clash of bayonet, the 
 deadly struggle hand to hand, eyes glaring mortal 
 hate into eyes they had never seen before, and foot 
 sternly pressed on palpitating limbs and bespatter- 
 ing human blood. Look well to it. King George ! 
 think well of it under the gilded canopy of your 
 royal closet! for although none of these fiendish 
 sounds can reach you there now, the time will 
 surely come when they shall knock dolefully at 
 your door till Reason deserts her seat, and the man 
 at whose will all these brothers of God's household 
 are shedding each other's blood so freely becomes 
 a drivelling idiot. 
 
 The left wing then was in the village at the market- 
 place, and though reduced in numbers by Stephen's 
 inability to extricate his division from its entangle- 
 ment wdth Wayne — for Stephen, brave and tried 
 officer hitherto, had used his canteen too freely that 
 raw morning — was still driving the enemy and mak- 
 
 1 Pickering's Diary. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 479 
 
 ing prisoners. . Sullivan, too, was pressing forward, 
 and Wayne coming gallantly on, when — as some 
 say — a light-horseman called out abruptly, "We are 
 surrounded," and Sullivan's men, struck with sud- 
 den panic, turned and fled. Others say that their 
 ammunition was exhausted, others that nobody 
 knew why or how the alarm began. Wayne's men, 
 too, suddenly paused, and presently began to fall 
 back. Washington, as he saw them hurry by, point- 
 ing to their empty cartouch-boxes, saw that the day 
 was lost, felt that they were running from victory. 
 
 Then the British left, wheeling promptly round, 
 came back to the support of their right, and Greene 
 found himself between two fires. It was a critical 
 moment ; everything looking strange and unintel- 
 ligible through the fog; aids riding hither and 
 thither with orders, but stopped at every step by 
 the orchard-walls and garden-walls which their 
 jaded horses were no longer able to leap ; the fire 
 on the right suddenly checked, and the sounds of 
 conflict passing away rapidly up the road as if the 
 battle had suddenly come to an end. But it was 
 the moment that strong men love ; and Greene 
 was never stronger, firmer, or more self-possessed 
 than then. The day was lost, but his division 
 might, must be saved. Scott's brigade and McDou- 
 gars,levss advanced than Muhlenberg's, were prompt- 
 ly concentrated upon the line of retreat. But Muh- 
 lenberg's was in the very midst of the enemy, and 
 nothing but desperate efforts in the men, and con- 
 summate coolness in the officers, could save them. 
 
480 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Their hundred and ten prisoners were lost again. 
 Mathews, who, leading the advance, was in the 
 thickest of the conflict, was surrounded and forced 
 to yield, though not till nearly all his men had been 
 killed or wounded, and he himself disabled by bay- 
 onet-stabs. But it was in vain that the British, exult- 
 ant now, and confident of victory, pressed on ; the 
 Americans had withstood as impetuous a charge as 
 this at the Brandywine, and come off unbroken, and 
 unbroken they came off this dark morning too ; 
 Greene carefully gathering them in hand as they fell 
 back, and as soon as they were extricated from the 
 enemy, and set forward on their road campward, 
 placing himself in the rear to bring up the retreat. 
 Not one of his cannon was lost. Even a single 
 piece, that had been dismounted, was put into a 
 wagon and brought safely away. And to divert 
 the enemy's attention, and prevent them from get- 
 ting into his front, he divided his forces at a fork in 
 the road, sending part of them forward by one road 
 and taking the other himself with the rest. 
 
 Cornwalhs had now joined the pursuers with 
 fresh troops, and they pressed on with new vigor. 
 Pulaski's cavalry, who formed a rear-guard, shrink- 
 ing from their fire, rode over the second division, 
 which broke and scattered, mistaking them for the 
 enemy's dragoons. It seemed for a moment as if 
 the artillery must be lost. To allay the confusion 
 and save it, Greene ordered the men to lay hold of 
 each other's hands, and thus form a firm line again. 
 The balls, all this time, were whistling round him, 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 481 
 
 and his officers looked anxiously at his reckless ex- 
 posure of his person. But he well knew where men 
 turn for encouragement in danger, and what a 
 strengthening power there is in a firm brow and 
 cheerful countenance. Queues and curls were the 
 head-dress of the day. A musket-ball struck off 
 Captain's Burnet's queue as he was riding at the 
 General's side. "Burnet," said Greene, "you had 
 better jump dawn, if you have time, and pick up 
 your queue." " And your curl, too. General,'* 
 answered Burnet, observing that another ball had 
 just taken off one of his commander's curls. Greene 
 laughed, and all held on their way, lighter-hearted 
 and more cheerful for the well-timed jest. And at 
 last Cornwallis, unable to get within striking dis- 
 tance, and suffering, without gaining ground, from 
 the American artillery, which every now and then 
 sent a sharp volley into his ranks, gave over the 
 pursuit, and drew off his men. It had continued 
 nearly five miles from the battle-field, and fifteen 
 more heavy miles were passed before the weary 
 army, vanquished again, but not yet disheartened, 
 regained the encampinent from whence it had set 
 forth a few short days before with so much hope, 
 and so many comrades, alas ! who were never to 
 return to it again. 
 
 1 The authorities for the battle of Vol. XXIII. p. 425, his manuscript 
 Germantown have been collected and Diary; and, among secondary author- 
 studied by Sparks with his usual dili- ities, Johnson's Greene and Muhlen- 
 gence. I have also consulted Gordon, berg's Muhlenberg. The only men- 
 who drew from original sources ; Mar- tion of the battle in Greene's papers 
 shall, who was present, Pickering's is in a letter to Henry Marchant, and 
 letter in the North American Keview, the one to Henry Lee, already quoted. 
 31 
 
CHAPTEK XXII 
 
 Beginning of the Cabal against Washington. — Forts on the Delaware. 
 
 — Christopher Greene. — Operations on both Sides of the Delaware. 
 
 — Attack of Red Bank. — Defeat and Death of Donop. — Rejoi- 
 cings of the Americans. — Colonel Greene thanked by Congress and 
 congratulated by Washington and General Greene. — Washington 
 anxious to attack the British. — Movements for the Support of 
 Fort Mifflin. — Attack and Fall of Fort Mifflin. 
 
 \ NOTHER defeat following close upon the 
 -^-^ defeat of the Brandywine, close upon toil- 
 some marches and countermarches, close upon the 
 loss of Philadelphia ! And the Northern army, 
 meanwhile was boldly breasting the great wave of 
 invasion, and fighting decisive battles, and prepar- 
 ing to strike the last crushing blow. Congressmen 
 were very indignant that Washington and his 
 advisers should blunder so, and display so little 
 enterprise ; and among these lay critics were John 
 Adams, who, in September, professed himself " sick 
 of Fabian systems in all quarters " ; -^ and, in 
 October, rejoiced " that the glory of turning the 
 tide of arms was not immediately due to the Com- 
 mander-in-chief";^ and James Lo veil, who wrote 
 in November, " our affairs are Fabiused into a very 
 disagreeable posture," and " you w^ill be astonished 
 
 1 Letters to his Wife, Vol. I. p. 265. 2 ibid., Vol. II. p. 14. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 483 
 
 when you come to know accurately what numbers 
 have at one time and another been collected near 
 Philadelphia to wear out stockings, shoes, and 
 breeches."^ Generals, too, shook their heads 
 gravely, Pennsylvania generals in particular, who 
 thought that Philadelphia ought to be preserved 
 at all hazards. Foremost among these was Mif- 
 flin, who, neglecting his duties as Quartermaster- 
 General,^ had retired to Reading in disgust at 
 Washington's refusal the summer before to march 
 directly to Philadelphia, instead of waiting to 
 know whither Howe was going.^ " According to 
 him, the ear of the Commander-in-chief was exclu- 
 sively possessed by Greene " ; " neither the most 
 wise, the most brave, nor most patriotic of counsel- 
 lors." ^ Even Wayne, — though in a different spirit, 
 — the spirit of Reed in December, 1776, not the spirit 
 of Mifflin or Conway at any time, — complained to 
 Gates of the loss of Fort Mifflin and of Washington's 
 " listening too much to some counsel." ^ 
 
 And thus from Congress and from camp eyes 
 were turned hopefully towards Gates, and letters, 
 some with and some without the writer's name, 
 went northward to encourage the fortunate general 
 in drawing flattering comparisons between himself 
 and the Commander-in-chief All through the last 
 months of the year this unholy spirit was at work, 
 
 1 Letter to Gates. — York, Novem- General." — To President of Con- 
 ber 27, 1777. Gates papers, N. Y. gress, December 23, 1777. 
 
 H. Society. ^ Greene MSS. Letters of Febru- 
 
 2 Sparks, Vol. V. 198. "Since ruary 7, 1778. 
 
 the month of July we have had no * Graydon, p. 299. 
 assistance from the Quartermaster- ^ Gates Papers. 
 
484 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 active and hopeful in Congress, but never very 
 hopeful in camp, and hated wherever seen in the 
 country. How it was conceived in wounded 
 vanity, how it was fostered by untimely jealousies, 
 how it grew for a while in obscurity, and how it 
 shrunk and melted away in the light, I shall pres- 
 ently tell as fully as my materials will allow ; for 
 Washington's and Greene's names are so blended 
 in it that it belongs equally to the story of both. 
 Meanwhile it behooves us, as we follow Greene's 
 steps through the remainder of this anxious year, 
 to keep our eyes upon this deepening cloud, and 
 remember with what a dark menace it hung upon 
 an horizon already so dark. 
 
 Disappointed, though not disheartened, by the 
 result of his bold attack upon the British forces at 
 Germantown, Washington now directed his atten- 
 tion more anxiously to the defences of the Dela- 
 ware. Howe, it was well known, already found it 
 difficult to feed his army in the half-beleaguered 
 city,^ and could the forts hold out a few weeks 
 longer, till cold weather and ice came to their aid, 
 he might be compelled to return ignominiously to 
 his ships, or fight his way, at great peril, through 
 the Jerseys to New York. These forts, as we have 
 already seen, were Fort Mercer at Ked Bank on 
 the Jersey shore, and Fort Mifflin on Great Mud or 
 Fort Island in the Delaware ; both of them about 
 
 1 Life of President Reed, Vol. I. six dollars Continental money; beef, 
 
 p. 331. " Salt, four dollars per bushel very poor, from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per 
 
 (hard money) ; butter, one dollar per pound ; flour not to be purchased." 
 pound ; sugar, Is. 6c/. per pound, or 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 485 
 
 seven miles below Philadelphia, and near enough 
 to the American camp for their heavy guns to 
 be distinctly heard there. The defence of Fort 
 Mifflin was intrusted to Baron Arendt, " colonel of 
 the German battalion, an officer of experience and 
 ability," ^ and in his absence, for he was compelled 
 by illness to leave soon after assuming the com- 
 mand, to Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of Maryland ; 
 that of Fort Mercer to our old friend, Colonel 
 Christopher Greene of Rhode Island. 
 
 Eeinforcements were already on their way to the 
 main army, both from the North and the South, 
 when the battle of German town was fought. Among 
 the reinforcements from the North was Yarnum's 
 brigade ; and while they were yet on their way, an 
 express from Washington met them with a letter 
 of the 7th for Varnum, saying : — ' 
 
 " I desire you will immediately on the receipt of this 
 detach Colonel Greene's and Colonel Angell's regiments 
 with their baggage, with orders to throw themselves into 
 
 the fort at Red Bank upon the Jersey shore 
 
 General Greene has written a particular letter to Colonel 
 Greene, in which he will find instructions." " Upon the 
 whole, sir," end these instructions, " you will be pleased 
 to remember, that the post with which you are now 
 intrusted is of the utmost importance to America, and 
 demands every exertion of which you are capable for its 
 security and defence. The whole defence of the Dela- 
 ware absolutely depends upon it ; and consequently all 
 the enemy's hopes of keeping Philadelphia, and finally 
 succeeding in the object of the present campaign. In- 
 
 1 General to Colonel Greene, October 18, 1777. — Greene MSS. 
 
486 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. (1777. 
 
 fluenced by these considerations, I doubt not your regard 
 to the service, and your own reputation, will prompt 
 you to every possible effort to accomplish the important 
 end of your trust, and frustrate the intentions of the 
 enemy .^ 
 
 " I arrived here on Saturday last, with my regiment," 
 writes Greene from Red Bank on the 14th. " They were 
 much fatigued with the march, as I forced thirty-five miles 
 one day. They are now in high spirits, and go to their 
 duty with the greatest cheerfulness. The enclosed return 
 shows our strength. I have found it necessary to contract 
 the fort ; but it is now too large for our numbers, as we 
 
 have very little to expect from the militia I find 
 
 it necessary for the security of the post, to keep my men 
 all on fatigue duty. This, I doubt, will cause them to be 
 less spirited in action, if I should be under the necessity 
 to continue it, which must be the case unless I am rein- 
 forced. The post I have in charge I am determined to 
 defend, with the small number I command, to the last 
 extremity ; yet I doubt my number is much too small to 
 answer your Excellency's expectations." 
 
 Meanwhile every effort was made " to divert the 
 enemy's attention and force." ^ On the 16th of Oc- 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. is hardly probable that "in which he 
 86. As the "particular letter of will find" means only in the same 
 General Greene " is referred to as envelope with Greene's letter ; for in 
 containing Colonel Greene's instruc- the regular order they would have 
 tions, is it not probable that the in- been enclosed in the letter to Var- 
 structions published by Mr. Sparks num, the commander of the brigade, 
 are really a letter of Greene in the rather than to the subordinate officer 
 form of instructions, and written in whom Varnum was to detach. The 
 Washington's name 1 If not, why question, however, is one of mere 
 should Washington speak of it as "a curiosity, having no importance, ex- 
 particular letter" containing instruc- cept as it illustrates the intimacy of 
 tions, when he had already given in- Greene's relations with Washington, 
 structions himself of the same date, 2 Washington to President of Con- 
 and covering the whole ground ? It gress. — Sparks, Vol. V. p. 94. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 487 
 
 tober Washington advanced again to the ground 
 which he held before his attack upon Germantown. 
 Light parties familiar with the roads were kept 
 hovering around the enemy, ready dt every op- 
 portunity to strike at his foragers and intercept 
 his supplies. On one occasion, Greene was ordered 
 to cross the Schuylkill, and attack a supply train, 
 which was said to be on the road to Chester with 
 an escort of fifteen hundred men. But, remember- 
 ing the disastrous effects of rain on the American 
 cartouch-boxes at the Warren Tavern a month 
 before, Washington added in his instructions : 
 " Come back if it rains." And rain coming on, as 
 had been apprehended, Greene, obedient to his 
 orders, retraced his steps. Next, a strong detach- 
 ment was sent out under McDougal, and, upon 
 more accurate information of the enemy's designs, 
 reinforced to four thousand men. They advanced 
 " in great spirits," marching most of the night, to 
 attack a post which the enemy was forming at 
 Gray's Ferry, for the protection of their bridge, 
 but found the post deserted, and the bridge de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 These were anxious days for Greene, for he had 
 no common stake in his namesake's success. It 
 was doubtless he who had recommended him for 
 that important trust. In that little garrison of 
 four hundred men were playmates of his boy- 
 hood, companions of his youth, friends of his man- 
 hood. It was but eleven months since another 
 post, stronger by nature than this could be made 
 
488 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 by art, had fallen in a few hours, with all eyes fixed 
 upon it, as they were now fixed upon Eed Bank ; 
 and many had laid the loss at his door. What if 
 Christophef" Greene should fail as Magaw had 
 failed ? What if the Rhode-Islanders should be 
 panic-stricken, as more than half the garrison of 
 Fort Washington had been panic-stricken?^ 0, 
 how his enemies and Washington's enemies would 
 rejoice ; and with what a redoublement of strength 
 would they follow up their nefarious machinations ! 
 It was a grave responsibility that he had assumed ; 
 but he never shrunk from responsibility. He still 
 believed that Fort Washington might have been 
 defended. He knew that Fort Mercer would 
 be: — 
 
 " This will be handed you," he writes to his kinsman, 
 from the camp at Mantuchen, on the 18th, " by Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Greene, who commands a detachment 
 from my division, sent down as a reinforcement for the 
 posts on the Delaware. They are exceeding good troops ; 
 and are to be depended on as much as any troops in the 
 army. I am in hopes, with this additional strength, you 
 will be able to baffle all the attempts of the enemy to 
 dislodge you. The Baron Arendt, colonel of the German 
 battalion, an officer of experience and ability, is coming 
 down to take the command at Fort Mifflin, agreeable to 
 the determination of the council in the first instance. 
 He is thought to be an officer of great spirit. Remember 
 me to all friends. 
 
 " Your affectionate, 
 
 *'N. Greene." 
 
 1 Greene to John Brown, September 11, 1778, quoted above, p. 275. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 489 
 
 This other Colonel Greene was a Virginian, a 
 resolute, sturdy man, whom we shall meet at 
 Guilford, and on the Reedy Fork. Greene had 
 proved him already at the Brandywine and Ger- 
 mantown ; and would have been glad to have had 
 him at his kinsman's side in the dangerous hour, 
 now close at hand. 
 
 But before day on the 22d, and before this rein- 
 forcement had arrived, word came to the guard at 
 Timber Creek bridge, that the enemy were coming 
 down upon them from Haddonfield, four battalions 
 of Hessians, twelve hundred veterans, with the 
 veteran Count Donop at their head. The guard 
 promptly took up the bridge ; and the enemy, un- 
 able to ford the stream, were compelled to make 
 a four miles' march up its right bank to another 
 bridge. Before they could do this, regain the 
 main road and reach the fort, it was already noon. 
 
 The little garrison was on the lookout for them, 
 and, peering curiously through the embrasures and 
 over the parapet, could see them gathering on the 
 skirts of a wood within cannon-shot of the fort, 
 and preparing themselves for the onset. Greene, to 
 inspirit his men, mounted the rampart, and walked 
 np and down, taking a last survey of his defences ; 
 and then turning calmly to look at the enemy 
 through his little pocket spyglass, — the only field- 
 glass of those days. " Fire low, men," said he, as 
 he came down ; " they have a broad belt just above 
 their hips, — aim at that." ^ The original fort had 
 
 1 1 draw these statements from well- thorities, — Dr. Peter Turner, of East 
 attested tradition. One of the au- Greenwich, — in his description of the 
 
490 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 been planned for a large garrison ; but, under the 
 direction of the gallant Plessis de Mauduit, a skil- 
 ful engineer, Greene had reduced it to a pentago- 
 nal redoubt, with '^ a good earthen rampart, a 
 ditch, and abbatis in front of the ditch." ^ Within 
 this his four hundred men could work their four- 
 teen cannon, and use their muskets with free room 
 to move in, and not too much space to guard. As 
 his practised eye ran over their ranks, he felt his 
 heart swell with pride. There might be a few 
 doubtful ones among the men, but the officers he 
 knew by trial ; and he knew that in moments like 
 these it is the officer that makes the man. There 
 was young Samuel Ward, who had followed him to 
 Cambridge and Quebec as captain, and now stood 
 by his side as his major, — slender, but tall, vigor- 
 ous, and erect, with a keen flash in his eye, and im- 
 movable firmness on his lips and brow. There was 
 Simeon Thayer, a soldier of the old French war, like 
 Ward, his companion at Cambridge, trained to en- 
 durance in the wilderness, and proved in the night 
 assault upon Quebec. There was Israel Angell, 
 another tried man and true ; and the two impetu- 
 ous Olneys, Jeremiah and Stephen ; and there, too, 
 was young Sylvanus Shaw, of Newport, looking for 
 the last time upon the noonday sun. There they 
 stood, friends and proved companions all of them, 
 
 assault, always dwelt with emphasis though a very short man, pacing 
 
 upon Greene's appearance on the the room with the air and bearing a 
 
 rampart, often springing to his feet, giant. 
 
 as he warmed with the narrative, my 2 Chastellux's Travels. 
 
 cousin, S. W. Greene tells me, and, 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 491 
 
 and strong in the strength which friendship and 
 companionship inspire in the hour of danger.^ 
 Well might Greene's heart beat high as he looked 
 around him upon these brave men, and remem- 
 bered what was required at his hands and theirs. 
 
 Four hours wore feverishly away, while the ene- 
 my were planting their cannon and resting them- 
 selves from their morning's march. At last, at 
 half past four, twa men were seen approaching, an 
 officer with a flag, and a drummer marching before 
 him, and beating his drum as he had been used to 
 beat it in his native Hesse, where drum and bayonet 
 gave the law. The Americans felt their veins 
 tingle as they saw his arrogant gesture, but they 
 sent Lieutenant-Colonel Olney to meet him, and 
 their blood boiled hotter still when they heard the 
 officer's arrogant words : " The King of England 
 orders his rebelHous subjects to lay down their 
 arms, and they are warned that if they stand the 
 battle, no quarter whatever will be given them." 
 " We ^hall neither ask for quarter, nor expect it, 
 and shall defend the fort to the last extremity," 
 answered Olney, and he had hardly regained the 
 works when the enemy opened their fire from their 
 cannon on the skirt of the wood. In an instant 
 the air was filled with the dust and gravel that 
 flew in clouds from the top of the breastwork as 
 
 1 A principle of human nature not range his troops so that " kindred may 
 overlooked by Homer, who makes support kindred and tribe tribe " : — 
 Nestor advise Agamemnon to ar- 
 
 'Qs ^prjTpr] (f)prjTpr](f)iv dp^yi], (f)v\T] Se (fivXais- 
 
 Iliad, II. 363. 
 
492 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 the balls struck it in swift succession. A few heads 
 were struck too. Then all was silent again but 
 the heavy tread of trained steps, and the stern 
 words of officers to their men, as, with the precision 
 which years of toilsome drilling had given them, 
 the Hessians advanced to the assault. A few mo- 
 ments brought them to the first intrenchment, 
 which had been abandoned in contracting the fort, 
 and finding it empty, though entire, and seeing no 
 signs of the Americans, who lay silent behind their 
 inner works, they raised a loud huzza, waved their 
 hats over their heads, and rushed on to the second 
 intrenchment. The drummer beat his liveliest 
 march, and the officer who had borne the insolent 
 summons was again seen near him at the head of 
 the advance, — a Hessian, some say, and others, an 
 Englishman, who had been sent with the Hessians 
 as interpreter.^ But the silence of the Ameri- 
 cans w^as the silence of Bunker Hill, and here, as 
 there, a row of black tubes might have been seen 
 reaching over the top of the parapet and following 
 the advancing column, as the eye of the tiger fol- 
 lows its victim ; and here, too, no sooner were the 
 enemy within range, than the same deadly fire 
 darted forth from the earthen mound, and the Hes- 
 sian column shook, fearfully rent and yawning with 
 deep gaps. Down went the drummer headlong 
 
 1 Heath says, " A very capable ad- without the work, and where he had 
 
 jutant whom Donop sent, in order, if no opportunity to see more than the 
 
 possible, to get some idea of the ditch and parapet on that side." — 
 
 work; but the commandant of the Memoirs, pp. 137, 138. 
 fort took care to have him stopped 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 
 493 
 
 among the foremost, — down the bearer of the 
 bloody threat. Still the wavering ranks pressed 
 on, treading now in slippery blood, and stumbling 
 over mangled bodies, and, coming close np to the 
 abbatis, began to tear away the branches. But faster 
 and deadlier came the whizzing balls in front and 
 on the flank, where a part of the old curtain form- 
 ed a projection, behind which Stephen Olney stood 
 with his trained marksmen, raking the ditch at 
 every fire. Vainly did the poor Hessians stagger 
 forward and pluck madly at the branches to open 
 themselves a passage. Vainly did their officers 
 bring them back, again and again, to the fatal 
 ditch. Officers and men fell alike before the with- 
 ering fire, some in heaps one upon the other, some 
 among the boughs they were trying to tear away. 
 " Look, Captain, and see me shoot," said Sweetzer, 
 one of Stephen Olney's men. " I indulged him 
 four or ^ye times," says Olney, " and his object fell. 
 I then directed him to fire at an officer, and he 
 only staggered a little." Not so, poor Donop, who 
 came proudly into the battle, like Nelson at Trafal- 
 gar, with his glittering star, which he had won in 
 other battles, on his breast. It caught the eye of 
 one of these trained marksmen, and taking deadly 
 aim, he hit the bold Hessian in the thigh, shattering 
 it with a mortal wound. Still, discipline held the 
 thinned ranks together. There wAs yet a chance 
 of success on the river-side, and towards it they 
 turned their desperate fury. But this brought 
 them between two fires, that of the small-arms 
 
494 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 from the fort, and that of Hazleton's galleys from 
 the water. Courage and discipline were vain here, 
 and, breaking once more, they fled in hopeless 
 confusion. 
 
 Meanwhile, the second column had passed the 
 abbatis on the south side of the redoubt, crossed 
 the ditch, and mounted the berme. But here the 
 skilful Mauduit, to make the defence sure, had 
 formed a projecting framework of horizontal stakes, 
 set firm in the embankment, and pointed sharp at 
 the outer end. At first, some of the garrison, re- 
 membering the effect of the enemy's cannon when 
 the fight began, were afraid to show their heads 
 above the parapet,, and, raising their guns as high 
 as they could, fired downwards at a venture. But 
 Jeremiah Olney soon brought them to reason with 
 his hanger, belaboring their backs with it till they 
 were glad to take aim, as their braver companions 
 did ; and before this fire, too, the enemy soon 
 quailed and broke, some making their way back 
 across the ditch, while some preferred to take their 
 chance as prisoners, rather than to run such a 
 gauntlet again. When Mauduit came out to re- 
 pair the abbatis, he found some twenty of them 
 standing close up to the shelving of the parapet, 
 in order to keep themselves out of sight. In forty 
 minutes all was over; four hundred Hessians lay 
 dead or wounded outside of the redoubt, thirty- 
 two Americans within; amongst them Sylvanus 
 Shaw, whom death had spared when Montgomery 
 fell, and Arnold and Lamb were wounded under 
 the walls ol Quebec. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 495 
 
 The day had been warm, but the heavy air from 
 the river and the woods grew cold when the sun 
 was down. It was very sad, say those who saw 
 them, to see the dead and the dying as they lay in 
 heaps one upon the other. It was still sadder to 
 hear the doleful cries and groans of the wounded 
 as the keen night-air bit into the bullet-holes and 
 sword-gashes with its frosty breath. " But, " says 
 an eyewitness, " I could not but remember what 
 our fate would have been had they conquered. " 
 Stephen Olney, who commanded the night guard, 
 had some of them carried into a little floorless hut, 
 and laid beside the fire, " which rendered them," 
 says he, " a little more comfortable than in the 
 open air." Well do I remember the surgeon who 
 was busy among those wounded men through the 
 long hours of the autumn night, — Peter Turner, of 
 East Greenwich, a hale old man in my early child- 
 hood, still following his noble art, and ministering 
 to the sick and suffering ; and well too do I re- 
 member the strange feelings, half awe, at coming 
 so near to the mystery of death, half boyish enjoy- 
 ment of martial sights and sounds, with which I 
 followed the muffled drum at his funeral, and saw 
 his brethren of the Kentish Guards fire their fare- 
 well over his grave.^ 
 
 1 This name, so familiar in Rhode at Newbern, N. C, in the line of his 
 
 Island, reappears with new honors in duty ; one, Captain William G. Turn- 
 
 the war for the Union: four of the old er, having been disabled by a severe 
 
 Surgeon's grandsons, out of a family wound at the battle of Fredericks- 
 
 of six, having served in it from burg, and the other two returning 
 
 the beginning ; one of them, George uninjured to civil life at the close of 
 
 F. Turner, dying of yellow-fever the war. Nothing but the insufficient 
 
496 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Mauduit was one of the earliest to go the rounds 
 when the battle was over. As he was passing one 
 of the bloody heaps, he heard a voice from it say- 
 ing, " Whoever you are, draw me hence." It was 
 impossible to see who it was by the faint starlight, 
 but he ordered the soldiers who were with him to 
 take up the wounded man and carry him into the 
 redoubt. When he was come within, and they 
 looked upon him closer by the light of their lan- 
 terns, they saw that it was Count Donop, the 
 Hessian colonel. Some of them called to mind 
 the bloody. words that had passed his pale lips 
 hardly two hours before. " Well, " said they, " it 
 is determined to give no quarter." " I am in your 
 hands," answered the unhappy man ; " revenge 
 yourselves." But the vengeance they sought was 
 in binding up his wounds, and placing him under 
 the care of a tender nurse in a neighboring farm- 
 house, where three days afterwards he died, saying, 
 in French, to Mauduit, with his last breath : " It is 
 finishing a noble career early. I die the victim of 
 ray ambition, and of the avarice of my sovereign." -^ 
 
 health of one, and the imperative do- " Major Thayer .... was de- 
 
 mestic duties of the other, prevented tached about the dusk of the evening 
 
 the two remaining brothers from tak- with a small force, to bring in the 
 
 ing up arms. wounded. As he was employed in 
 
 1 In this account of Donop's death this humane service, two Hessian gren- 
 
 I have followed Mauduit's narrative, adiers approached and told him their 
 
 as reported by Chastellux, Vol. I. commanding officer, Count Donop, 
 
 p. 260, &c. The account in Stone's was lying wounded in the edge of 
 
 Memoir of Thayer, which is drawn the woods, near where their artillery 
 
 directly from Thayer's papers, dif- played. Suspecting an attempt to 
 
 fers from it so materially that I decoy him into an ambuscade, he 
 
 give it in full without attempting to placed them under guard, telling 
 
 decide between the two claimants : them if they deceived him they would 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 497 
 
 And when the enemy were all gone, and the 
 sounds of the conflict had died away, and the dead 
 and the wounded were numbered, " Take your 
 pen," said Colonel Greene to Ward, "and tell his 
 Excellency what we have done." And Ward took 
 his pen and wrote that letter which Mr. Sparks has 
 published in the fifth volume of his Washington, 
 so modest and calm, and almost severe, in its sim- 
 plicity, that when I read it, it seems to me as if 
 I were still listening to the calm tones of his voice, 
 as when, in my inquisitive boyhood, I listened to 
 his stories of Red Bank and Quebec. 
 
 Loud and heartfelt was the rejoicing in the 
 American camp when that letter reached it. 
 
 " I heartily congratulate you upon this happy event," 
 wrote Washington to the successful Colonel, " and beg 
 you will accept my most particular thanks, and present 
 the same to your whole garrison, both officers and men. 
 Assure them that their gallantry and good behavior meet 
 my warmest approbation. " ^ 
 
 Congress " Resolved^ That Congress have an high 
 sense of the merit of Colonel Greene and the officers and 
 men under his command in their gallant defence of the 
 fort at Red Bank on Delaware River, and that an ele- 
 gant sword be provided by the Board of War, and pre- 
 sented to Colonel Greene." ^ 
 
 immediately be put to death ; to this take him in a blanket, and carry him 
 they readily assented, and conducted with all possible care to the fort, 
 him to the place where they found where he was received by Colonel 
 the Count lying under a tree mortally Greene." — Stone's Invasion of Can- 
 wounded. The Count asked the ada in 1775, p. 75. 
 Major if he was an officer, and of ^ Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 what rank, of which being satisfied. 111. 
 
 he surrendered himself a prisoner. ^ jQ^-^als of Congress, Vol. II. p. 
 
 Major Thayer caused six men to 312. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1777. 
 32 
 
498 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " With the greatest pleasure I congratulate you on 
 your late brave and successful defence," writes General 
 Greene to his kinsman. " The attempt was bold, and 
 the defence noble. Honor and laurels will be the re- 
 ward of the garrison." ^ 
 
 The hopes of the Americans were greatly raised ; 
 could the defence be prolonged till the arrival of 
 reinforcements from the North, Howe would yet be 
 driven back to his ships. But it was not to be ex- 
 pected that he would accept Donop's defeat as a 
 final decision of the contest, and permit the Ameri- 
 cans to retain their hold upon the Delaware with- 
 out fighting hard for it. 
 
 " Griffin informs me," Greene continues (and with what 
 a pleasant recollection of peaceful Coventry this name 
 comes to us !) " you are in great fear of a siege, and it will 
 be impossible to defend the place any length of time 
 should the enemy lay siege to it. I am sorry to learn that 
 the garrison are growing sickly. Their labor and fatigue 
 must be intolerable. A strong reinforcement will be sent 
 you immediately. I believe three hundred have marched 
 to-day, and more will march to-morrow. You may de- 
 pend that my influence, so far as it extends, shall be 
 exerted to relieve the anxiety of the garrison." 
 
 Great efforts had been made, and were still made, 
 to call out the militia, but with very imperfect suc- 
 cess, few answering the call, and most of those few 
 displaying so little spirit that Colonel Greene 
 wrote there was very " little to expect from 
 them";^ and Washington even went so far as to 
 
 1 General Greene to Colonel Chris- ^ Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 topher Greene, October 26, 1777. Revolution, Vol. II. p. 4. 
 Greene MSS. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 499 
 
 direct Yarnum not to bring them into the forts, 
 " for I am of opinion they would rather dismay 
 than assist the Continental garrison."^ Yarnum, 
 too, was sent into Jersey with a strong detachment 
 to hold the ground on the left bank of the Dela- 
 ware, and protect the forts from another assault on 
 the land side. But what Washington most desired 
 was to attack the British general himself and drive 
 him from Philadelphia by main force. Light par- 
 ties were still kept hovering around him ; spies 
 went backwards and forwards with prompt notice 
 of every movement ; his best officers, Greene 
 among them, were sent out to reconnoitre. But to 
 attack with any prospect of success required more 
 strength than he could bring to bear upon such 
 strong works as Howe had surrounded himself 
 with. That strength could only come from the 
 victorious army of the North, and thither Hamilton 
 was despatched to urge the immediate march of 
 strong reinforcements. 
 
 Meanwhile Howe's plans were ripening. Fort 
 Mifflin's turn was come. Too large for its garri- 
 son, — never strong, — built on a low mud-bank, 
 miscalled an island, which at high tide was always 
 more than half under water, with five, batteries 
 of eighteen, twenty-four, and thirty- two pounders 
 within five hundred yards of its walls, and an un- 
 wholesome atmosphere undermining the health of 
 its garrison, how long could it be expected to hold 
 out against the overwhelming force that was 
 slowly gathering around it ? 
 
 1 Washington to Varnam, November 7. — Varnum Papers. 
 
600 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Much, at one time, had been expected from the 
 fleet, but Hazlewood was a State officer, and jeal- 
 ousies sprang up between the United States officers 
 and the State officers which prevented a cordial 
 co-operation when nothing but cordial co-operation 
 could have made their exertions effectual. Some- 
 thing, too, was expected from the militia, — not 
 fighting, but work at night in repairing the. dam- 
 age done by the enemy's fire during the day. 
 
 " I would have you endeavor," writes Washington to 
 Yarnum at 1 P. M., on the 12th of November, " to pre- 
 vail upon the militia to go over at night, when there is a 
 cessation of firing, and work till daylight. You may 
 give them the most positive assurance that it is not meant 
 'to keep them there against their consent. This would 
 greatly relieve the Continental troops, and by these 
 means a great deal of work might be done." ^ 
 
 In October there had been " a scattering can- 
 nonade"^ up to the day of Donop's defeat, after 
 which both forts were left in peace for a while. On 
 the 10th of November the real siege began. Smith 
 was active, vigilant, and firm. His chief engineer 
 was Fleury, a young Frenchman, who had already 
 distinguished himself at the Brandy wine, and was to 
 distinguish himself yet more at Stony Point. The 
 artillery was commanded by Captain-Lieutenant 
 Treat, " one of the most promising and best of young 
 officers," says Knox, who had seen him tried. With 
 the later reinforcements had come Silas Talbot, 
 
 i Varnum Papers. 
 
 2 Angell's Letter in Cowell's Spirit of 1776 in Khode Island. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 501 
 
 of Providence, just promoted by Congress " in con- 
 sideration of his merit and services in a spirited at- 
 tempt to set fire to one of the enemy's ships of war 
 in the North River " ^ the year before. These were 
 officers whom the men could look up to with confi- 
 dence, smiling grimly as Smith uttered a grim joke. 
 " What are you dodging for, sir? " said he sternly to 
 one of his aids, who could not hold his head firm as 
 the bullets whistled by ; " the king of Prussia had 
 thirty aids killed in one day." " Yes, sir," answered 
 the young man, " but Colonel Smith has n't so many 
 to lose." 
 
 From the beginning the fire was very heavy. 
 
 " I am interrupted by the bombs and balls, which fall, 
 thickly," writes Fleury in his journal, on the 10th, at 
 noon. *' The fire increases, but not the effect ; our bar- 
 racks alone suffer. Two o'clock. The direction of the 
 fire is changed ; our palisades suffer ; a dozen of them 
 are broken down ; one of our cannon is damaged, — I am 
 afraid it will not fire straight. Eleven o^clock at night. 
 The enemy keep up a firing every half-hour ; our garri- 
 son diminishes; our soldiers are overwhelmed with fa- 
 tigue. 11th. The enemy keep up a heavy fire ; they 
 have changed the direction of their embrasures, and, in- 
 stead of battering our palisades in front, they take them 
 obliquely, and do great injury to our north side. At 
 night. The enemy fire, and interrupt our works. Three 
 vessels have passed up between us and Province Island 
 without any molestation from the galleys. Colonel 
 Smith, Captain George, and myself wounded. Those 
 two gentlemen passed immediately to Red Bank." 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, Vol. 11. p. 285. Friday, October 10, 1777. 
 
602 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Kussell, of the Connecticut 
 line, now took the command. " Heavy firing," 
 continues Fleury on the 12th ; " our two eighteen- 
 pounders at the northern battery dismounted. At 
 night. The enemy throw shells, and we are alarmed 
 by thirty boats." " Lieutenant-Colonel Russell, an 
 amiable, sensible man, and an excellent officer, ex- 
 hausted by fatigue, and totally destitute of health, 
 requested to be recalled."^ Who will take the 
 command now ? Washington's orders had just 
 reached Yarnum : the fort was to be held as long as 
 it could be held without sacrificing the garrison. It 
 was no time to detach " officers in rotation " as their 
 terms of service came round.^ None but a volun- 
 teer could bring the right spirit to work like this. 
 
 And then it was that Simeon Thayer, of Provi- 
 dence, came forward, as twice before he had come 
 forward to do perilous duty under the walls of 
 Quebec. On the morning of the 13th the little 
 garrison saw him calmly take his place at their 
 head: detachments from Durkey's and Chandler's 
 Connecticut regiments coming with him to relieve 
 the remainder of Smith's men.^ A new battery 
 was opened upon them as if to greet their arrival. 
 "The walk of our rounds is destroyed," writes 
 Fleury, "the block-houses ruined, and garrison 
 is exhausted with fatigue and ill health." The new 
 detachments, it will be remembered, formed only 
 part of the garrison. Another night of watchfal- 
 
 1 Varnum's letter to'the Providence ^ Angell's Letter of February 1 7, 
 Gazette. 1778. 
 
 2 Id. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 503 
 
 ness and labor and constant alarm wears slowly 
 away. Another morning dawns, — the morning of 
 the 14th, — and as Thayer looks out upon the misty 
 river he sees, near the shore, just above the enemy's 
 grand battery, a large floating battery all ready to 
 open upon his crumbling works. By noon he 
 silences it ; but a boat from the fleet deserts to the 
 enemy with the tale of the weakness of the Ameri- 
 cans, and the desperate straits to which they are 
 reduced. And now, knowing what a shadow he 
 has to deal with, the British commander will surely 
 gather up all his strength and crush them. Only 
 one thing can save them : a strong diversion by 
 strong detachments from the main army. 
 
 "Washington knew it, and longed to make the 
 trial. 
 
 " We have just returned from reconnoitring the 
 islands below and up to the Middle Ferry," writes 
 Greene from Mr. Morris's, November 4th, 8 o'clock, P. 
 M. We purpose to go out again in the morning ; from 
 the present view, Derby appears the only eligible posi- 
 tion for the army for the purpose of their crossing the 
 river. It is the opinion of several of the gentlemen that 
 the enemy may be best dislodged from the islands by de- 
 tachments. Others are of opinion that it would be dan- 
 gerous, unless the party was covered by the army ; but 
 all are of opinion it is practicable either the one or the 
 other ; and, considering the good consequences that will 
 result from it, it ought to be attempted. Derby is not 
 the most eligible post I ever saw, but it is not so dan- 
 gerous as to discourage the attempt to relieve Fort 
 Mifflin. 
 
504 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 " The flag was flying at Fort Mifflin at sunset this 
 evening ; there has been a very severe cannonade to- 
 day. Enclosed is a letter from Colonel Greene respect- 
 ing the condition of the fort. The enemy have got up 
 two or three vessels into the Schuylkill ; they were at- 
 tempting to get up a two-and-thirty gun frigate between 
 Hog Island and Province Island. By the best observa- 
 tion we could make, her guns were taken out and fol- 
 lowed her in a sloop. She did not get up, but what was 
 the reason I know not. 
 
 " The commodore should be directed to sink a vessel 
 or two in the new channel as soon as possible, and the 
 fort encouraged to hold out to the last. 
 
 " There is but one bridge over the Schuylkill, and that 
 is at the Middle Ferry. I examined the river myself 
 from the falls to the mouth. 
 
 " The enemy have got a chain of redoubts, with abbatis 
 between, from one river to the other. A part of this is 
 from information, and part from my own observation. 
 The Schuylkill is very deep and rapid, too deep for foot 
 to ford it. The bridge at Mattison's Ford is not in so 
 great forwardness as I could wish ; the commanding offi- 
 cer says it will be done in three days ; but a bridge of 
 wagons can be thrown over for the foot to pass if that 
 should not be done. 
 
 '* The enemy are greatly discouraged by the fort's hold- 
 ing out so long ; and it is the general opinion of the best 
 of citizens that the enemy will evacuate the city if the fort 
 holds out until the middle of next week 
 
 " From the best accounts we can get, there are but 
 five ships with troops on board in the river.'' 
 
 " I trust and believe it is not yet too late to give 
 the forts some relief/' wrote Eeed on the 16th.^ 
 
 1 Life of President Reed, Vol. I. p. 336. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 505 
 
 But, weighing carefully his own strength and the 
 enemy's, Washington saw that the hazard was too 
 great. He had done all that his means permitted 
 and his judgment warranted, and would not imperil 
 his army by a false step. 
 
 But already the fate of Fort Mifflin was decided. 
 Disheartened by the obstinate resistance which they 
 had encountered, the British were, at one moment, 
 it is said, upon the point of giving up the contest 
 and evacuating the city. But new resolutions came 
 with the discovery of a new channel which the cur- 
 rent, turned from its natural course by the chevaux- 
 de-frise, had worn between Hog Island and the 
 Pennsylvania shore. A passage was now open for 
 their heavy ships. 
 
 A grand and fearful sight that noble three hun- 
 dred presented to the morning sun of the 15th of 
 November.^ All the preceding day they had fought 
 against overwhelming odds, all the preceding night 
 they had worked and slept by turns, working 
 rather to clear away ruins than to build up new de- 
 fences, and sleeping on the slimy ooze which formed 
 the floor of the fort.^ Their fort itself was shattered 
 and rent in every part ; their block-houses were de- 
 stroyed ; only two cannon were left mounted ; 
 five strong redoubts were training their heavy 
 guns upon them from Province Island ; six ships, 
 four of them sixty-fours, and two of them forties, 
 
 1 In his admirable letter of the 17th November, to the President of Con- 
 gress. — Sparks, Vol. V. p. 151. 
 
 2 Marshall. 
 
606 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 were within nine hundred yards of them on the 
 river ; three ships, " with a galley and some smaller 
 armed vessels/' ^ were coming up and taking station 
 between them and the redoubt on the Jersey shore, 
 which they had counted upon for protection against 
 a cross fire. With eyes that looked out heavily 
 from under weary lids they saw these prepara- 
 tions, — saw the fatal circle closing slowly around 
 them; and, doing what little they could to pre- 
 pare themselves for the struggle, calmly awaited 
 the signal to begin. The autumn sun was already 
 high over their heads when it came, a single 
 bugle-note, and at once from ship and battery 
 came flash and roar and hurtling balls, and soon 
 a dark cloud gathered around the ships and settled 
 heavily over the fort. With throbbing hearts the 
 garrison of Fort Mercer looked down from their 
 walls. When will that cloud break and show us 
 our own flag again ? It broke, and the broad folds 
 of the young flag were still waving defiantly over 
 the ruins, and still from the two remaining guns 
 went forth a resolute answer to the enemy's cannon. 
 Soon those two were dismounted also. At eleven a 
 "ship mounting twenty twentj^-four-pounders and 
 a sloop with three twenty-four-pounders, warped 
 up back of Hog Island," close to the fort, — so close 
 that the men in their tops could look straight 
 down into the works and throw hand-grenades into 
 them. Their very yard-arms seemed to overhang 
 the shattered walls. Not a man could show himself 
 
 1 Lord Howe. Almon's Remembrancer, Vol. V, p. 499. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 507 
 
 upon the platform without becoming the mark for 
 forty eager rifles. At a quarter before three came 
 a faint dawn of hope. Yarnum wrote to Thayer 
 " that the floating batteries and some of the galleys 
 were working up to attack" these new enemies. 
 With longing eyes the little garrison saw them 
 draw nigh ; with heavy hearts they saw them put 
 about and go back. The fleet had failed them.-^ 
 And all the while the fatal fire kept on, — direct 
 from the ships, a cross fire from the land batteries. 
 Over a thousand balls came rushing in upon them 
 in twenty minutes.^ "Long before night there 
 was not a single palisade left." * The embrasures 
 were knocked in, " the parapet levelled." The men 
 crouched behind the fragments of wall outside the 
 fort, the only protection left them,* grasping their 
 weapons firmly for a last struggle, hand to hand. 
 Treat was dead. A first-lieutenant, two sergeants, 
 and three privates of the artillery were dead ; nine 
 others were lying wounded by their guns, several 
 of them mortally ; sixteen dead and wounded out 
 of twenty, the full number of the artillery when 
 the siege began. Talbot had fought for hours with 
 his wrist shattered, and at last was wounded in the 
 hip also. Fleury had been wounded four days, but 
 stuck to his post. 
 
 Night came on, and welcome were its protecting 
 shadows to these weary men. The ships drew off, 
 dropping down to the lower cTievaux-de-frise. The 
 
 1 Angell's Letter. ^ Varnum's Letter. 
 
 8 Knox to Colonel Lamb. — Life of Lamb, p. 173. 
 * Angell's Letter. 
 
508 • LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 fire from the batteries continued. Then as darkness 
 settled over the scene the sound of oars was heard 
 from the Jersey side. Yarnura had sent boats over 
 to take off the garrison, if Thayer thought best to 
 evacuate. The gallant fellow, who knew how 
 much every hour's delay was worth to Washing- 
 ton, would gladly have held out longer. Even 
 now he could hardly bring his mind to acknowl- 
 edge that all hope was gone. He collected the 
 stores and put them into the boats ; he collected 
 the wounded, and then out of the remnants of 
 his three hundred, selecting for himself forty, he 
 sent the rest away. They at least and the stores 
 were safe. It was seven in the evening when all 
 this was done. Then with his chosen forty he again 
 went the rounds to see what could yet be done for 
 defence. On the bosom of the broad river all was 
 silent, and the peaceful stars looked down into it 
 as sweetly as if man's blood had never defiled its 
 waters. But far down where his eye could not 
 pierce the darkness, Thayer knew that the enemy's 
 ships were lying quietly at anchor, waiting only 
 for the return of daylight to close in upon him 
 again. And from the enemy's batteries, which half 
 girded him round like the curve of the half-moon,^ 
 shells still came shrieking through the air, and balls 
 still came dashing among the ruins. Midnight 
 brought no change, no protecting storm, no sudden 
 shift of wind, no prospect of succor from man or 
 from the elements. It was madness, not manly 
 
 1 Angell's Letter. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 509 
 
 courage, to stay longer, and spiking the dismount- 
 ed guns which he had no means of removing, and 
 setting fire to the remains of the barracks, that 
 not a fragment might fall entire into the hands 
 of the enemy, he drew off his men to the shore, 
 distributed them among the boats, and crossed 
 the perilous passage in the light of the blazing 
 ruins. Eager hands grasped his as he entered 
 Fort Mercer,- wh^re no one had expected to 
 see him again alive,-^ and when for the first 
 time in five nights he laid his head upon 
 a pillow, he could say to himself, "I can sleep 
 now, for I have done my duty." And if any 
 should accuse me of dwelling too minutely upon 
 these details, I would remind them that a hasty 
 Congress, regarding Smith alone as commander of 
 Fort Mifilin, failed to do justice to Thayer, thus 
 making it more imperatively the duty of history 
 to hold up his name as that of a brave man, a 
 skilful officer, and a true patriot.^ 
 
 1 Varnum's Letter. Life of Olney, Chastellux's Travels, 
 
 2 A sword was voted to Smith, Vol. I. p. 260, &c., of English Trans- 
 who was fully entitled to it ; but no lation, Gordon, Marshall, and Ram- 
 notice was taken of Thayer. say. Reed's Life of Reed, and Daw- 
 
 My authorities for Red Bank and son's Battles of the United States. 
 
 Fort Mifflin are Ward's letter in The account in Lee's Memoirs can- 
 
 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 112, not be reconciled with those of Var- 
 
 Washington's Writings, Vol. V., num, Angell, and Knox, &c., or rather 
 
 Greene MSS., Varnum MSS., Var- his narrative is very inaccurate, unless 
 
 num's Letter to the Providence Ga- all the others are so. I have also 
 
 zette, and a letter of Colonel Angell, consulted the official letter in Almon's 
 
 republished, both of them, in Cow- Remembrancer, Vol. V., and the me- 
 
 ell's Spirit of 1776 in Rhode Island, moir of Major Thayer in E. M. 
 
 an important letter of Knox to Col- Stone's Invasion of Canada in 1775, 
 
 onel Lamb, in Leake's Life of Lamb, — a valuable contribution to Ameri- 
 
 p. 192, Olney 's Narrative in William's can history. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Howe resolved to have the Left Bank of the Delaware. — Cornwallls 
 sent to secure it. — Greene sent to oppose him. — Reasons for 
 disliking the Service. — Conway's Letter to Gates. — Ought Red 
 Bank to be held ? — Greene on the March. — Letter to his Wife.— 
 Crosses the Delaware. — Letter to Varnum. — To Washington. — 
 Fort Mercer evacuated. — Greene's Prospects not bright. — Glover's 
 Brigade. — Colonel Comstock. — Council at Head-quarters on at- 
 tacking Philadelphia. — Letters to and from Washington. — Greene 
 rejoins the main Army. — Contemporary Opinion of his Conduct. — 
 Marshall's Opinion. 
 
 O LOWLY but surely Sir William Howe was work- 
 ^ ing out his plans. Fort Mifflin was won ; the 
 eastern channel was free ; but Fort Mercer still 
 stood with a perpetual menace upon the heights of 
 Ked Bank. So long as those frowning batteries 
 looked down upon the ship-channel, there could be 
 no free passing up and down the sorely needed 
 river. This point, too, must be won, and won at all 
 hazards. Cornwallis, the ablest of the British gen- 
 erals, was chosen for the important task, and, cross- 
 ing the Delaware at Chester, on the 19th of 
 November, he joined at Billingsport another de- 
 tachment just arrived from New York, under Sir 
 Thomas Wilson, and came out with overwhelming 
 forces upon the rear of the little garrison.-^ 
 
 1 Howe's Letter in Almon's Remembrancer, Vol. V. p. 502. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 511 
 
 The possibility of such a movement had been 
 foreseen by Washington, who had kept Yarnum at 
 Woodbery, in lower Jersey, with his brigade, and 
 such parties of the reluctant militia as he could 
 bring up to his assistance. But when Cornwallis 
 was sent, he too turned to his trusted and best, 
 and sent Greene to oppose him. 
 
 It was not a pleasant duty for Greene, for there 
 were many chances against his being able to look 
 his adversary in the face, and he knew what the 
 consequences of a failure would be. 
 
 " I am very sorry," he had just written to Henry Mar- 
 chant, " to find the public so illy informed with regard to 
 the operations here, both with respect to men and events. 
 We fight by main strength. It would give me pleasure if 
 some of your body were always with the army. It would 
 enable them to judge of men and measures, to reward 
 merit, and remedy evils. Private friendship often sounds 
 the trumpet of praise, and imposes upon the credulity and 
 good-nature of your board. 
 
 '* The successes to the northward have given great relief 
 to the Northern States ; but the American affairs are in a 
 most critical situation, owing to the universal dislike to 
 service. I think I never saw the army so near dissolving 
 since I have belonged to it. The officers cannot maintain 
 themselves, and, from the present temper prevaihng in 
 general, determine to leave the service at the close of the 
 campaign. 
 
 " Military rank being conferred upon people of all orders 
 so lavishly has rendered its value of much less importance 
 than formerly. It was once considered a jewel of great 
 value, but it now begins to be held in light esteem." ^ 
 
 1 Greene MSS. Greene to Henry Marchant. Camp near Philadelphia, 
 November 17, 1777. 
 
512 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1777.. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that, only seven days 
 before these Hnes were written, Washington had 
 written to Conway: — 
 
 *' A letter which I received last night contained the 
 following paragraph : ' In a letter from General Conway 
 to General Gates, he says, Heaven has been determined 
 to save your country^ or a weak general and bad coun- 
 sellors would have ruined it.^ " ^ 
 
 The cabal was now at its height, startled, but 
 not discouraged by its sudden detection ; and 
 Greene knew that the first place among those 
 "bad counsellors" was assigned to him. 
 
 Still, it was not without some hope of " giving 
 an effectual check " ^ to the enemy's forces in 
 Jersey, that he went forth to meet Cornwallis. St. 
 Clair, Knox, and De Kalb, who had been sent down 
 to examine the ground, were " all clear in their 
 opinion, that keeping possession of the Jersey 
 shore at or near Red Bank was of the last impor- 
 tance." ^ " Very much will depend upon keeping 
 possession of Fort Mercer," wrote Washington to 
 Varnum on the evening of the 19th,* " as, to reduce 
 it, the enemy will be obliged to put themselves in 
 a very disagreeable position to them, and advan- 
 tageous to us, upon a narrow neck of land between 
 two creeks with our force pressing upon their rear. 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. cording to De Kalb's report to the 
 139. Duke de Broglie, was to be mined, 
 
 2 Washington to Varnum, Novem- and on the enemy's advance blown 
 ber 19. — Varnum MSS. up. — Kapp's Dc Kalb, p. 125. See 
 
 3 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. also Reed's Reed, Vol. I. p. 339. 
 163. This must be understood of the * Varnum MSS. 
 
 shore rather than the fort, which, ac- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 513 
 
 Therefore, desire Colonel Greene to hold it if pos- 
 sible till the relief arrives." Major Ward had just 
 been with him with a letter from the colonel, 
 giving a general account of the condition of the 
 fort, and referring him to Ward " for a more par- 
 ticular" one. "Thus, having given your Excel- 
 lency," says the last paragraph, " what appears to 
 me, with the unanimous voice of all the field- 
 officers of the garrison, a true state of our circum- 
 stances and observations thereon, I wait your 
 Excellency's particular commands and directions 
 for an invariable rule for me to pursue." -^ Wash- 
 ington knew what this meant, and how literally 
 the sturdy colonel would interpret his orders ; and 
 in closing his letter to Yarnum he adds, " Although 
 I am anxious to have the fort kept, I do not mean 
 that it should be done, at all events, so as to en- 
 danger the safety of the men, without any prob- 
 ability of success." 
 
 Thus, for the purpose of the expedition, every- 
 thing depended upon coming up strong enough and 
 in time. On the morning of the 20th Greene 
 began his march ; in the evening he writes to his 
 wife from Forelanesend, near Bristol : — 
 
 " I am now on my march for Red Bank fort. Lord 
 Cornwallis crossed over into the Jerseys day before yester- 
 day, to invest that place v^ith a large body of troops. I 
 am in hopes to have the pleasure to meet his Lordship. 
 This eccentric movement will lengthen out the campaign 
 for some weeks at least, and it is possible may transfer 
 
 1 Sparks's Correspondence of the Revolution, Vol. II. p. 43. 
 33 
 
514 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 the seat of war for the winter. The enemy are now get- 
 ting up their stores and fortifying the city of Philadelphia 
 as strong as possible. The weather begins to get severe, 
 and campaigning of it disagreeable, but necessity obliges 
 
 us to keep the field for some time I had a fall 
 
 from my horse some time ago, but have got entirely over 
 
 it, except a sprain in my wrist I lodge in a fine 
 
 country-house to-night. The Marquis of Fayette is in 
 company with me ; he has left a young wife, and a fine 
 fortune of fourteen thousand pounds sterling per annum, 
 to come and engage in the cause of liberty : this is a noble 
 enthusiasm. He is one of the sweetest-tempered young 
 gentlemen ; he purposes to visit Boston this winter ; if so, 
 
 you'll have an opportunity to see him Your 
 
 brother, I am told, behaved the hero the other day, in the 
 attack on Red Bank." 
 
 The next morning he crosses the Delaware in 
 advance of his troops, and at noon writes to 
 Yarnum from Burlington : — 
 
 " I make no doubt you are acquainted with the march- 
 ing of the troops of my division to join you. I am at a 
 loss respecting your situation, the condition of Fort Mer- 
 cer, or the operations of the enemy in the Jerseys. A 
 report prevails here this morning that Fort Mercer is 
 evacuated, and the fleet below burnt. You'll please to 
 inform me as to the truth of the reports, where you are, 
 where the enemy is, and where you think a junction of 
 our forces can be easiest formed ; and also, if you think 
 an attack can be made upon the enemy with a prospect 
 of success. General Glover's brigade is on the march to 
 join us, and Morgan's corps of rangers. General Hunt- 
 ington's brigade, I imagine, will be with you to-day.'* 
 " I am a stranger to all the lower part of Jersey," he adds, 
 in a postscript, " [which] makes me be particular." 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 515 
 
 At five, the express returns with Yarnum's 
 answer, and he immediately writes to Washing- 
 ton: — 
 
 " General Yarnum this moment acquainted me that 
 Fort Mercer was evacuated last evening. Commodore 
 Hazlewood informs me also that the greater part, if not all 
 the fleet, except the thirteen galleys, were burnt this 
 morning ; one or two of the smallest vessels attempted to 
 pass the city, and could not effect it. One was set on fire, 
 and one other fell into the enemy's hands, owing to the 
 matches going out ; the people made their escape. My 
 division arrived on the other side of the river about ten 
 this morning, but the want of scows to get over the bag- 
 gage will prevent our marching till the morning ; the 
 greater part of the night, if not the whole, will be em- 
 ployed in getting over the baggage and artillery. 
 
 " General Yarnum has retreated to Mount Holly. I 
 purpose to see him and General Huntington early in the 
 morning ; if it is practicable to make an attack upon the 
 enemy, it shall be done ; but I am afraid the enemy will 
 put it out of my power, as they can so easily make us take 
 such a circuitous march by taking up the bridge over Tim- 
 ber Creek. I cannot promise anything until I learn more 
 of the designs of the enemy, their strength, and the posi- 
 tion they are in. If it is possible to make an attack upon 
 them with a prospect of success, it shall be done. Colonel 
 Shrieve was with me this afternoon about turning out the 
 militia. I wish he may succeed, but from the temper of 
 the people there appears no great prospect. I have heard 
 nothing from General Glover's brigade. I hope Colonel 
 Morgan's corps of light troops will be on in the morning, 
 and Captain Lee's troop of light-horse. 
 
 " The fleet are greatly distressed at the reflections 
 thrown out against the officers ; the commodore thinks the 
 
516 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 officers are greatly injured ; he asserts they did their duty 
 faithfully." 
 
 N. B. — " The commodore this moment informs me 
 there is three sloops and a brig past safe by the city." 
 
 Thus the chief purpose of the expedition was 
 already lost the very day that it began. Cornwallis 
 was too strong, had too much the start of him, had 
 been too near his object at starting. Still Chris- 
 topher Greene would have held out longer. 
 
 " I shall follow your directions, either to evacu- 
 ate or defend the fort," he said to the generals who 
 had been sent to consult with him, and who ad- 
 vised an evacuation. " I know what we have done 
 when the works were not half completed. Now 
 they are finished, and I am not afraid." ^ 
 
 Greene's prospect of success was not bright. 
 He had heard nothing yet of Glover's brigade, 
 without which his inferiority to Cornwallis was too 
 great to justify him in coming within striking 
 distance of the British general. Lee's light-horse, 
 on which he depended for information of the 
 enemy's movements, had not yet arrived. Yet 
 there was a second object even after the loss of 
 the fort. It was important to show that the coun- 
 try would not be given up to the enemy without 
 an effort. The people must still see their own 
 
 1 This is Gordon's statement, Vol. generally well informed, and, though 
 
 III. p. 9, which I follow with some he sometimes mistaiccs, seldom if ever 
 
 hesitation, as it cannot easily be rec- invents, I suppose him here to have 
 
 onciled with St. Clair's, Knox's and confounded the mission of St. Clair, 
 
 De Kalb's report (Washington, Vol. Knox, and De Kalb with advice given 
 
 V. p. 163), or wiih Greene's letter by Varnum and Huntington after 
 
 quoted above. But as Gordon was their departure. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 517 
 
 flag somewhere amongst them, must still feel that 
 Congress and Washington had not forgotten them. 
 If, besides this, a successful blow could be struck, 
 either at a part or the whole of the enemy's force, 
 it would be wise to strike it ; but it was no time 
 for great hazards. 
 
 *' I came to this place yesterday morning," Greene 
 writes to Washington from Mount Holly on the 2$d. 
 " The difficulty of crossing the baggage over the river pre- 
 vented its coming up last night. The boats and scows at 
 Burlington are under very bad regulations. General 
 Varnum had retreated, as I wrote your Excellency before, 
 to this place. He left a party of militia at Haddonfield. 
 I am afraid there has a very considerable quantity of 
 stores fallen into the enemy's hands, but principally be- 
 longing to tlie fleet. The enemy and the militia had a 
 small skirmish at Little Timber Creek Bridge ; the enemy 
 crossed there in the afternoon and encamped. They say 
 they are going to take post at Haddonfield, to cover the 
 lower counties, and open a market from thence. * Those 
 counties are some of the most fertile in the State, from 
 whence great quantities of provision can be drawn. A 
 large number of boats went up to Philadelphia from the 
 shipping yesterday morning ; there are some soldiers on 
 board of them. 
 
 " Colonel Morgan's corps of light infantry advanced this 
 morning for Haddonfield. If the troops can be got in 
 readiness, I intend to put the whole in motion this after- 
 noon. We are greatly distressed for want of a party of 
 light-horse. 
 
 '' I must beg your Excellency to forward some as soon 
 as possible. 
 
 " I have nothing from Glover's brigade ; I sent an ex- 
 
518 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GEEENK [1777. 
 
 press to the commanding officer yesterday, but, from the 
 present situation of things, I believe it will be best not to 
 wait their coming up. 
 
 " Every piece of intelligence necessary for my informa- 
 tion, with regard to the movements of the enemy in the city, 
 I must entreat your Excellency to forward to me by express. 
 
 " Colonel Shrieve will attempt to turn out the militia, 
 but the Commissary's department is in such a bad situa- 
 tion, and the people so unwilling to furnish supplies, that 
 it will be difficult to subsist a large body. 
 
 " A considerable body of light-horse would be very 
 serviceable here. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter of the 22d instant is just 
 come to hand ; you have in this all the intelligence I have 
 received." 
 
 Here again we have a proof of the intimacy of 
 Washington's intercourse with Greene. When they 
 are together in camp, it is a personal intercourse ; 
 the moment they are separated, it takes the form 
 of long and frequent letters. " Eeceived and an- 
 swered the same day/' is Washington's indorse- 
 ment upon this last letter, a frequent indorsement 
 upon the letters of both, for both equally felt the 
 necessity of leaning upon each other. For Wash- 
 ington, Greene was the man of sound judgment 
 and " singular abilities " ; for Greene, Washington 
 was the great and good man, whom God had given 
 us for a leader in a holy war, just as, in the sore 
 need of his chosen people, he had raised up great 
 men to guide and rescue them. In studying 
 Greene's character, we should err greatly if we 
 were to let his firm, direct, common-sense way of 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 519 
 
 dealing with men and estimating motives deceive 
 us as to the influence of his affectionate heart and 
 rehgious convictions. 
 
 " I have nothing new to communicate to your Excel- 
 lency with respect to the motions of the enemy," begins 
 his letter of the 24th. " They remain, or did last night, at 
 Woodbury, with a guard at Timber Creek, consisting 
 of about six hundred men. The boats that went up, 
 mentioned in my former letters, I conjecture had on board 
 the baggage of the army ; the soldiers seen on board were 
 the regimental guard to the baggage. 
 
 " The militia of this State is dwindling to nothing. 
 General Yarnum says there were upwards of fourteen 
 hundred a few days since ; they are reduced now to be- 
 tween seven and eight. Colonel Shrieve is gone out to see 
 what impression he can make upon the people, and to en- 
 deavor to draw together as large a number as possible, but 
 I cannot flatter myself with any considerable reinforce- 
 ment. I will endeavor to enclose your Excellency a return 
 of our strength in continentals and militia this afternoon 
 if possible. We are all ready to advance, but the general 
 officers think it advisable to wait the return of the first 
 express sent to Glover's brigade, to learn the strength and 
 time the junction may be formed with that brigade. I 
 have heard nothing where it is, notwithstanding I have 
 sent three expresses. Captain Lee is not arrived, neither 
 have I heard anything of him. I would wish, if possible, 
 some horse might be sent, as every army is an unwieldy 
 body without them ; in this country they are more im- 
 mediately necessary to prevent the enemy from sending 
 out theirs to collect stock. 
 
 " Colonel Cox, who is with me at this place, says, if the 
 enemy can open a communication with the three lower 
 counties, they will be able, independent of all the sur- 
 
520 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 rounding country, to draw supplies of every kind neces- 
 sary for the subsistence of the army, and inhabitants of the 
 city of Philadelphia. 
 
 " Your Excellency observes in your last, you must 
 leave the propriety of attacking the enemy to me ; would 
 you advise me to fight them with very unequal numbers ? 
 Most people, indeed all, agree they are near or quite five 
 thousand strong ; our force is upwards of three, exclusive 
 of the militia, which may be from seven to eight hundred 
 at most. The situation the enemy are in, the ease with 
 which they can receive reinforcements, and the difficulty 
 of our knowing it, will render it absolutely necessary, 
 when we advance from this place, to make the attack 
 as soon as possible. I had much rather engage with 
 three thousand against five than attack the enemy's lines, 
 and there is a much greater prospect of succeeding, but 
 still I cannot promise myself victory, nor even a prospect 
 of it, with inferior numbers. 
 
 "I have seen of late the difficulty your Excellency 
 seemed to labor under, to satisfy the expectations of an 
 ignorant populace, with great concern. It is our mis- 
 fortune to have an extent of country to cover that demands 
 four times our numbers ; the enemy so situated as to be 
 very difficult to approach, and, from pretty good authority, 
 superior to us in numbers. Under these disadvantages 
 your Excellency has the choice of but two things, — to fight 
 the enemy without the least prospect of success, upon the 
 common principles of war, or to remain inactive, and be sub- 
 ject to the censure of an ignorant and impatient populace. 
 In doing one, you may make a bad matter worse, and take a 
 measure that, if it proves unfortunate, you may stand con- 
 demned for by all military gentlemen of experience ; in 
 pursuing the other, you have the approbation of your own 
 mind, you give your country an opportunity to exert itself 
 to supply the present deficiency, and also act upon such 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 521 
 
 military principles as will justify you to the best judges in 
 the present day, and to all future generations. For my 
 own part, I feel censure with as great a degree of sensi- 
 bility as is possible, and I feel ambitious to do everything 
 that common sense can justify ; but I am fully persuaded 
 in attempting more you may make a temporary a lasting 
 evil. The cause is too important to be trifled with to show 
 our courage, and your character too deeply interested to 
 sport away upon unmilitary principles. 
 
 " For your sake, for my own sake, and for my country's 
 sake, I wish to attempt everything which will meet your 
 Excellency's approbation. I will run any risk or engage 
 under any disadvantages, if I can only have your coun- 
 tenance, if unfortunate. With the public, I know success 
 sanctifies everything, and that only. 
 
 '' I cannot help thinking, from the most dispassionate 
 survey of the operations of the campaign, that you stand 
 approved by reason and justified by every military princi- 
 ple. With respect to my own conduct I have ever given 
 my opinion with candor, and to my utmost executed with 
 fidelity whatever was committed to my charge. In some 
 instances we have been unfortunate. In one I thought I 
 felt the lower of your Excellency's countenance, when 
 I am sure I had no reason to expect it. It is out 
 of my power to command success, but I trust I 
 have ever endeavored to deserve it. It is mortifying 
 enough to be a common sharer in 'misfortunes, but to be 
 punished as the author, without deserving it, is truly 
 afflicting. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter of the 22d, but I suppose it 
 was of yesterday, this moment came to hand. As I have 
 wrote so fully on the subject, I have nothing to add, only 
 that to advance from this place before Glover's brigade 
 joins us, unless we attack the enemy without tliem, will 
 rather injure them than facilitate our designs. But if your 
 
522 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Excellency wishes the attack to be made immediately, give 
 me only your countenance, and, notwithstanding it is con- 
 trary to the opinion of the general officers here, I will take 
 the consequences upon myself. 
 
 " Enclosed is a copy of a letter from Colonel Ellis, at 
 Haddonfield. 
 
 "• The hospitals in the Jerseys are greatly complained of. 
 They prove a grave for many of the poor soldiery ; prin- 
 cipally owing to the negligence of the surgeons who have 
 the care of the hospitals. How far these complaints are 
 well grounded I cannot pretend to say, but would beg 
 leave to recommend the sending of a good trusty officer to 
 inspect the management of the hospitals, and to remain 
 there until regularly relieved." 
 
 This was not very hopeful, but at half past three 
 came Burnet with tidings of Glover's brigade. 
 "They will be at the block-house to-night, eight 
 miles from this place," Greene adds in a postscript 
 to Washington, and begins to hope he may yet 
 have a chance to meet Cornwallis. 
 
 In the Jersey militia there was a Colonel Adam 
 Comstock, who, unlike many of his comrades, longed 
 for a brush with the enemy. " 0, how I want to 
 give them a flogging before they leave the Jer- 
 seys ! " he says in one of his letters to Greene ; ^ and 
 under. his inspiration the militia made several at- 
 tacks upon the enemy's pickets and took several 
 prisoners. He was upon the lookout for infor- 
 mation also, and skilful in his devices for ob- 
 taining it. 
 
 " This moment," he writes to Greene from Haddonfield 
 
 1 Greene MSS. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 523 
 
 at half past twelve on the 25th, " I arrived from a recon- 
 noitring tour near Little Timber Creek Bridge ; sent a 
 smart young woman, who had a sister in Gloucester, as a 
 spy to Gloucester. She has returned, and I believe has re- 
 ceived no other damage than a kiss from the Hessian gen- 
 eral, — this is as she says. She reports that a very large 
 number of. British and Hessian troops are in Gloucester ; 
 that they are embarking in boats and going to Philadel- 
 phia; and that her sister there informed her they had 
 been embarking ever since early in the morning. That 
 Lord Cornwallis quartered at Colonel Ellis's house, and 
 the Hessian general at a house opposite, who asked the 
 young woman where the rebels were. She answered she 
 could not tell, she had seen none of them. Slie said she 
 passed many sentries before she came to Little Timber 
 Creek Bridge, where she passed the last. 
 
 " I doubt not this information. I fear they will be too 
 quick for us. Colonel Hart's regiment is here.'' 
 
 Greene instantly wrote to Washington : — 
 
 " This moment (four o'clock) received intelligence 
 the enemy are embarking from Gloucester and crossing 
 to Philadelphia. Colonel Comstock sends this intel- 
 ligence, and says it may be depended upon. I have 
 ordered General Varnum's and General Huntington's 
 brigades to advance immediately, to fall upon the 
 enemy's rear, and prevent their getting off their stock. 
 I wait your Excellency's orders to march where you 
 may think advisable. Colonel Shepard got into camp 
 about noon ; the whole body of the troops will be 
 ready to move at a moment's warning. The rifle corps, 
 and about six hundred militia, are upon the enemy's 
 flanks. 
 
 " A detachment from Captain Lee's horse took nine 
 
524 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 prisoners yesterday, — the first account I ever had of 
 their being in this quarter." 
 
 At three Comstock writes again : — 
 
 " Seven prisoners just arrived here from the enemy, 
 taken by the militia about three miles from this place on 
 the road to Gloucester. The prisoners I have examined ; 
 two of them are gunners, and two matrosses, belonging 
 to the first regiment of artillery ; the other three belong 
 to the thirty-third regiment ; they were about half a 
 mile from their picket plundering. Those belonging to 
 the artillery had three of the artillery horses with them, 
 marked G, which are also taken. This express rides 
 one of them. The prisoners, on examination, say the 
 main body lies about four miles from this on the Glouces- 
 ter road encamped ; that their line forms a triangle ; 
 that they are to wait there till they have embarked all 
 the stock for Philadelphia, which will take 'em all day ; 
 that the army expect to embark to-morrow, and go into 
 winter quarters; that they have two six-pounders in 
 front, two ditto in the rear, and some smaller in the cen- 
 tre ; that they were not in the least apprehensive of any of 
 the American army being within miles of them ; other- 
 wise, they should not have been taken in the manner 
 they were. This moment some Hessian prisoners arrived 
 here, taken in the same manner. I have not examined 
 them. I could wish your army was here now, for I 
 think they may be surprised very easily ; they gave 
 various accounts of their number, from five to eight 
 thousand. They mostly agree that Billings Fort and 
 Fort Mercer are levelled. 0, how I want to give them 
 a flogging before they leave the Jerseys ! " 
 
 Meanwhile, a new question had arisen at head- 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 525 
 
 quarters. Washington had reconnoitred the 
 enemy's works; and Stirhng, Wayne, Scott, and 
 Woodford were eager for an attack upon Phil- 
 adelphia. " The enemy's force is weakened," they 
 said, " by the absence of Cornwallis ; and, if we 
 bring three columns suddenly against their north 
 line, and enfilade their works from the hills on the 
 other side of the Schuylkill, while Greene, embark- 
 ing two thousand men at Dunk's Ferry, enters the 
 city at Spruce Street, secures the bridge over the 
 Schuylkill, and takes the lines in the rear, we shall 
 surely succeed." On the evening of the 24th the 
 council met to discuss the question. The discus- 
 sion was protracted and warm. There can be little 
 doubt to which side Washington's sound judgment 
 led him ; for, not only were the British works very 
 strong, but Greene's co-operation depended upon so 
 many contingencies, as to make it extremely doubt- 
 ful whether it would be possible for him to reach the 
 city in season, if he reached it at all. Still, public 
 opinion called so loudly for an attack, and civilians 
 were so clamorous, that he thought it wise to 
 strengthen himself by a more solemn expression of 
 the opinions of his officers. Therefore, when the 
 council broke up, they were directed to give their 
 opinions the next morning in writing ; and an ex- 
 press was sent off to Greene in the night for his. 
 On comparing them, eleven were found against 
 it, and four only in its favor. Amongst those 
 who opposed it were Greene, Sullivan, Knox, De 
 
526 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 Kalb, Du Portail, the best and most experienced 
 officers in the army.-^ 
 
 But when Greene wrote to Washington from 
 Mount Holly, at midnight of the 25th, he did not 
 know what the decision would be. 
 
 " I wrote your Excellency this afternoon," he says, 
 " that the enemy were crossing from the Jerseys to Phil- 
 adelphia, and that the intelligence came from Colonel 
 Comstock. He is stationed at Haddonfield to collect 
 intelligence. 
 
 " I have received two letters from the Colonel to-day, 
 the first dated at twelve o'clock, the last at three, both of 
 which I have enclosed. It appears to me the enemy are 
 crossing their cattle ; but I much doubt whether any 
 part of their troops have crossed the river ; perhaps they 
 may begin in the morning. I am divided in my mind 
 how to act. If your Excellency intends an attack on 
 Philadelphia, our moving down to Haddonfield will pre- 
 vent our co-operating with you ; but if the enemy are 
 crossing, the attack upon the city would not be warrant- 
 able now, if before, without our whole collective force at 
 least; and as part is below and part here, I wish to move 
 forward for the support of the troops below, and attack 
 the enemy if practicable. 
 
 " I expected before this to have received your Ex- 
 cellency's further orders ; but as I liave not, and from 
 the intelligence there appears a prospect of attempting 
 something here, I have ventured to put the troops in 
 motion. If I should receive orders to tlie contrary, I can 
 speedily return. If the enemy cross to the cityj they may 
 
 1 Sparks's Washinj^ton,Vol.V. pp. Philadelphia, was against this dan- 
 167,168. Duer's Life of Lord Stir- gerous attempt. For a judicious ex- 
 ling, pp. 177, 178. Reed, anxious as amination of the question see Mar- 
 he was to see Howe driven from shall. Vol. I. pp. 181, 182. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 527 
 
 be attacked at any time hereafter as well as now. If 
 they have not crossed, and are in a situation to be 
 attacked, I shall have an opportunity to attempt some- 
 thing. I am anxious to do everything in my power; and 
 more especially as the people seem to be dissatisfied at 
 the evacuation of Red Bank Fort." 
 
 It was not till afternoon of the next day, the 
 26th, that the new orders reached him. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter of the 25th reached me at 
 this place," he writes to Washington from Haddonfield, 
 *' at four. I halted the troops on the receipt of it, those 
 that had not got into the town. General Varnum's and 
 Huntington's brigades got to this place before the letter 
 came to hand. I am sorry our march will prove a fruit- 
 less one ; the enemy have drawn themselves down upon 
 the peninsula of Gloucester ; the ships are drawn up to 
 cover the troops, there is but one road that leads down to 
 the point, on each side the ground is swampy and full of 
 thick underbrush, that makes the approaches impracti- 
 cable almost ; these difficulties might have been sur- 
 mounted, but we could reap no advantage from it, the 
 shipping being so posted as to cover the troops, and this 
 country is so intersected with creeks, that approaches are 
 rendered extremely difficult, and retreat very dangerous. 
 I should not have halted the troops, but all the general 
 officers were against making an attack, the enemy being 
 so securely situated and so effectually covered by their 
 shipping. 
 
 " We have a fine body of troops, and in fine spirits, 
 and every one appears to wish to come to action. I pro- 
 posed to the gentlemen drawing up in front of the 
 enemy, and to attack their picket, and to endeavor to 
 draw them out, but they were all against it from the 
 improbability of the enemy's coming out. The Marquis, 
 
528 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 with about four hundred militia and the rifle corps, 
 attacked the enemy's picket last evening, killed about 
 twenty and wounded as many more, and took about 
 twenty prisoners. The Marquis is charmed with the 
 spirited behavior of the militia and rifle corps ; they drove 
 the enemy above half a mile, and kept the ground until 
 dark. Tlie enemy's picket consisted of about three hun- 
 dred, and were reinforced during the skirmish. The 
 Marquis is determined to be in the way of danger.^ 
 
 " From the best observations I am able to make, and 
 from the best intelligence I can obtain, it is uncertain 
 whether any of the enemy have crossed the river ; the 
 boats are constantly going, but I believe they are trans- 
 porting stock ; there are as many men in the returning 
 boats as goes over ; by to-morrow it will be reduced to 
 a certainty. I believe the enemy have removed the great 
 chevaux-de-frise ; there went up sixty sail of vessels this 
 morning. If the obstructions are removed in the river, 
 it accounts for the enemy's evacuating Carpenter's and 
 Province Islands, as they are no longer necessary. The 
 prisoners say the enemy are going into winter quarters as 
 soon as they get up the river. 
 
 *' Enclosed is our order of battle with a plate agreeing 
 to the order. 
 
 "I propose to leave General Yarnum's brigade and the 
 rifle corps at this place for a few days, especially the rifle- 
 men, who cover the country very much. General Yar- 
 num's brigade will return to Mount Holly to-morrow or 
 next day. I will make further inquiry respecting the 
 hospitals, and give such directions as appear necessary. 
 My division, Huntington's and Glover's brigades, will pro- 
 ceed with all despatch to join your Excellency. I could 
 wish the enemy might leave the Jerseys before us." 
 
 1 See also Lafayette Memoirs, &c., Vol. I. p. 33. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 529 
 
 By this time Washington had received Greene's 
 letter of the 24th. Its manly sympathy touched 
 his heart ; and he immediately replied in his own 
 hand, subscribing himself, as he seldom does to any 
 one, " With sincere regard and affection " : — 
 
 " My letter of yesternight (wrote after I returned from 
 a view of the enemy's lines from the other side Schuylkill) 
 I must refer to. Our situation, as you justly observe, is 
 distressing from a variety of irremediable causes, but more 
 especially from the impracticability of answering the ex- 
 pectations of the world without running hazards which no 
 military principles can justify, and which, in case of fail- 
 ure, might prove the ruin of our cause ; patience, and a 
 steady perseverance in such measures as appear warranted 
 by sound reason and policy, must support us under the 
 censure of the one, and dictate a proper line of conduct for 
 the attainment of the other ; that is the great object in 
 view. This, as it ever has, will, I think, ever remain the 
 first wish of my heart, however I may mistake the means 
 of accomplishment ; that your views are the same, and 
 that your endeavors have pointed to the same end, I am 
 perfectly satisfied of, although you seem to have imbibed 
 a suspicion which I never entertained. 
 
 " I can foresee inconveniences, I can foresee losses, and 
 I dare say I may add that I can foresee much dissatisfac- 
 tion that will arise from the withdrawing the Continental 
 troops from the Jerseys. But how is it to be avoided ? We 
 cannot be divided when the enemy are collected. The 
 evils which I apprehended from throwing troops into the 
 Jerseys now stare me more forcibly in the face, and a 
 day or two, if you cannot join us in that time, may realize 
 them ; for my mind scarce entertains a doubt but that 
 General Howe is collecting his whole force with a view of 
 pushing at this army. This, especially under the informa- 
 
 34 
 
530 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1T77. 
 
 tion you have received of Lord Cornwallis's recrossing the 
 Delaware, induces me to press despatch upon you, that our 
 junction may be formed as speedily as possible, and the 
 consequences of a division avoided. 
 
 " The current sentiment, as far as I can collect it, is 
 in favor of our taking post the other side Schuylkill ; in 
 this case the Jerseys will be left totally uncovered ; conse- 
 quently all the craft in the river, with their rigging, guns, 
 &c. ; the hospitals on that side of the river, the maga- 
 zines of provisions which the commissaries are about es- 
 tablishing in the upper part of Jersey, &c. Think, 
 therefore, I beseech you, of all these things, and prepare 
 yourself by reflection and observation (being on the spot) 
 to give me your advice on these several matters. The 
 boats (those belonging to the public, and built for the pur- 
 pose of transporting troops, &c. across the river) ought in 
 my judgment to be removed, as soon as they have served 
 your present calls, up to Coryell's Ferry at least, if not 
 higher. I am almost inclined to think (if we should cross 
 the Schuylkill) that they ought to be carted over also. 
 
 " It has been proposed that some of the galleys should 
 fall down to or near the mouth of Frankfort Creek, in 
 order to prevent troops from coming up by water, and fall- 
 ing in the rear of our pickets near the enemy's lines ; will 
 you discuss with the Commodore on this subject ? Will 
 you also ask what is become of the hands that were on 
 board the vessels which were burnt ? " ^ 
 
 Washington's letter found Greene at Mount 
 Holly, on his march back to camp. 
 
 " Your favor of yesterday," he writes on the 27th, " I 
 received last night about twelve o'clock. The greater 
 part of the troops returned to this place last night, and 
 
 1 Greene MSS. 
 
1777.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 531 
 
 marched early this morning to cross the Delaware. I 
 stayed at Haddonfield myself, with General McDougars 
 division, to give the necessary orders to the militia. I 
 have left the rifle corps at Haddonfield, and Captain Lee's 
 troop of light-horse, to encourage the militia and awe the 
 enemy, — to prevent their coming out in small parties. 
 Colonel Olney had orders to make an attack upon their 
 picket this morning, but they drew them in so close to 
 their main body, and there being but one road, he could 
 not effect it ; their picket consisted of about three hun- 
 dred men. I am much afraid the withdrawing of the 
 troops will greatly alarm the country. Any position below 
 this with any considerable force would be very dangerous ; 
 the country is exceedingly intersected with creeks, and 
 lies so contiguous to Philadelphia. I think any body of 
 troops may be surprised from the city at Haddonfield in 
 five hours, and at almost any place in its neighborhood. 
 
 " The hospitals will be in some danger at Burlington, 
 Bordentown, and Princetown, if all the troops are with- 
 drawn from this State ; but if the sick were ordered to be 
 immediately removed, it would still increase the alarm in 
 the country, for which reason I would risk what are there 
 at present, and order the Director-General not to send 
 any more there. 
 
 " I shall set out immediately for Burlington. I have 
 given Lieutenant-Colonel Abeel orders to procure wag- 
 ons and send off all the spare ammunition to Hunting- 
 ton, the heavy cannon to Bordentown. At my arrival at 
 Burlington, I will inquire of the Commodore respecting 
 the matters by you directed. 
 
 " General McDougal's division will quarter here to- 
 night, and march at five in the morning for Burlington. 
 I think there are as many troops gone forward as will be 
 able to get over to-day. I shall push on the troops as fast 
 as possible without injuring their health. I sent forward 
 
532 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 one of my aids to Burlington early this morning, to super- 
 intend the embarkation of the troops and baggage." 
 
 Next morning he writes from Burlington at nine 
 o'clock : — 
 
 " Three brigades are now on the march for head- 
 quarters, — my division and General Glover's brigade. 
 General McDougal's division is not yet come to town. 
 They had orders to march at four this morning, and 
 I was in hopes they would have been in town by the 
 time Glover's brigade got over the river. I am afraid the 
 want of provision has detained them this morning. 
 
 " It is with the utmost difficulty we can get bread to 
 eat. The commissary of purchases of flour is very ill 
 managed ; there is no magazine of consequence, and the 
 army served from hand to mouth. The baggage cannot 
 be got over by to-morrow night. 
 
 " Mr. Tench Francis, an uncle of Colonel Tilghman, 
 was brought to me a prisoner this morning ; he was taken 
 at Gloucester. He says Lord Cornwallis's detachment 
 consisted of about six thousand ; that none embarked yes- 
 terday ; he also adds that the reinforcement consisted of 
 about twenty-five hundred from New York. 
 
 " General Howe designs to make an immediate attack 
 upon the army, unless the weather is bad. This is the 
 general conversation of the officers of all ranks. Mr. 
 Francis says he thinks the enemy design to burn and de- 
 stroy wherever they go.^ 
 
 " Germantown is devoted to destruction. The enemy 
 plundered everybody within their reach, and almost of 
 everything they had. It is the common conversation 
 among the officers of all ranks, that they design to divide 
 our land as soon as the country is conquered. 
 
 1 This proved too true. — See Reed's Life of President Reed. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 533 
 
 "The obstinate resistance, they say, made at Mud 
 Island has broke the campaign." 
 
 Again Washington replies immediately : — 
 
 " Captain Duplessis has just delivered me yours of this 
 morning from Burlington. Every account from Philadel- 
 phia confirms the report that the enemy mean to make a 
 speedy move. I shall not be disappointed if they come 
 out this night or very early in the morning. You will 
 therefore push forward the rear brigades with all possible 
 expedition, and the moment the troops and baggage have 
 all passed, let the boats be instantly sent up the river to 
 Coryell's Ferry ; for one part of my information is that 
 the enemy are preparing to send boats up the Delaware, 
 and it cannot be for any other purpose than to destroy 
 the remainder of our water-craft. I shall be glad that 
 you would come on immediately upon the receipt of this, 
 and send word back to the brigadiers to hasten their 
 march." ^ 
 
 And thus ended Greene's week in the Jerseys. 
 " If an attack can be made on Lord Cornwallis with 
 a prospect of success, I am persuaded it will be 
 done," wrote Washington to the President of Con- 
 gress on the 23d.^ " General Greene has not been 
 in sufficient force to see Cornwallis in the field," ^ 
 wrote Eeed to the President of Pennsylvania on 
 the 30th. And on the same day Cadwallader wrote 
 Keed from head-quarters, " Greene and the detach- 
 ment from New Jersey are all arrived in camp." 
 .... Greene had intended to attack Cornwallis, 
 
 1 See Sparks's Washington, Vol. ^ i\,[d,^ p. i67. 
 V. p. 174. 8 Life of Reed, Vol. I. p. 341. 
 
534 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 and had made his disposition, but prudently declined 
 it. The attempt in my opinion was dangerous, as 
 two or three thousand men could have been thrown 
 in his rear, or a reinforcement sent over to Glou- 
 cester in the night without notice." ^ Such were 
 the contemporary judgments of his conduct ; 
 and when all the feelings of the day were passed, 
 Marshall, with Washington's papers before him, 
 wrote : — 
 
 " Washington still hoped to recover much of what had 
 been lost. A victory would restore the Jersey shore, and 
 this object was deemed so important that General Greene's 
 instructions indicated the expectation that he would be in 
 a condition to fight Lord Cornwallis. 
 
 " That judicious officer feared the reproach of avoiding 
 an action less than the just censure of sacrificing the real 
 interests of his country by engaging the enemy on disad- 
 vantageous terms." ^ « 
 
 The expectations of an attack were well founded. 
 On the 4th, the British general came out with all 
 his strength and took post on Chestnut Hill, in front 
 of the right wing of the Americans. On the 11th, 
 Washington, with a touch of humor not unfrequent 
 in his letters, wrote Governor Livingston of New 
 Jersey : — 
 
 " General Howe, after making great preparations and 
 threatening to drive us beyond the mountains, came out 
 with his whole force last Thursday evening, and after 
 manoeuvring round us till the Monday following, de- 
 camped very hastily, and marched back to Philadel- 
 phia." 3 
 
 1 Life of Reed, Vol. I. p. 349. » Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 182. 
 
 2 Marshall, Vol. I. p. 180. 
 
1777.], LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 535 
 
 There was still another reason for Washington's 
 hastening call to Greene. The season was far ad- 
 vanced, the weather was cold, the troops were 
 suffering for want of clothing and shelter, the 
 enemy were already in good winter quarters ; but 
 where should the Americans take up theirs ? The 
 general sentiment was in favor of a line from Lan- 
 caster to Reading. Greene, with Cadwallader and 
 a few others, thought Wilmington a better position. 
 At last, after much discussion, and principally upon 
 the opinions of the gentlemen from Pennsylvania, 
 Washington decided upon Valley Forge. " Accord- 
 ing to the original plan," writes Reed to President 
 Wharton, " a brigade of Continental troops was to 
 be left with the militia on this side Schuylkill, and 
 (this plan)j which when I wrote I thought was ap- 
 proved of by his Excellency, has upon other advice 
 been totally changed. General Greene, Cadwalla- 
 der, and myself had fixed upon this plan as the 
 most eligible to quiet the minds of the people and 
 cover the country.' 
 
 »» 1 
 
 1 Life, Vol. L pp. 353, 354. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 Winter March to Valley Forge. — The Valley. — Hut Building. — 
 The Encampment. — Position condemned by De Kalb and Varnum. 
 — Alarm from the Enemy. — Distress of the Army for Food. — 
 Letters. — Discontent. — Congressional Committee. — Greene sent 
 to collect Supplies. — Letters to Washington. 
 
 X\7 INTER had set in with more than its wonted 
 " ' severity. The ground was frozen hard, the 
 rivers would soon be frozen also, and snow come 
 to block up the roads and collect in chilling drifts 
 around the tents. Few of the men had blankets, 
 fewer still whole clothes ; many had but half a 
 shirt, some none at all ; still more were without 
 shoes or covering of any kind to their feet ; num- 
 bers were compelled to sit up all night by their 
 watch-fires to keep themselves from freezing. The 
 Quartermaster-General had not been near the army 
 since July ; the commissaries, in spite of Washing- 
 ton's positive commands, were constantly behind- 
 hand with their supplies of food ; ^ the hospitals 
 were full; the graveyards filling daily. There 
 were but eleven thousand and ninety-eight men in 
 the whole army, and of these two thousand eight 
 hundred and ninety-eight were unfit for duty. In 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 158. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 537 
 
 nineteen days, from the 4th to the 23d of Decem- 
 ber, the ranks ^Mecreased near two thousand 
 men." ^ 
 
 With these the winter march from Whitemarsh 
 to Valley Forge began ; happily not a long one, 
 for it was tracked all the way with blood from the 
 soldiers' bare feet.^ A storm held them at Gulph 
 Mills through the 17th. They remained there the 
 18th also, to keep with becoming solemnity the 
 Thanksgiving which Congress had ordered;^ and 
 on the 19th they reached the humble valley which 
 their sufferings and endurance have made im- 
 mortal. 
 
 It is a " deep, short " valley on the west bank of 
 the Schuylkill, about twenty miles from Philadel- 
 phia,* forming " the first step of the hills that 
 reach to North Mountain or the Blue Ridge," ^ and 
 just within the circle of operations of the last few 
 weeks. A small creek runs through the upper 
 part of it, turning the wheels of a cotton-factory 
 now, as then it set in motion the trip-hammer 
 of Isaac Potts's forge, from which the valley took 
 its name. The hills that surrounded it were cov- 
 ered with trees ; and the whole region was rich in 
 iron ore. The creek and forge may have re- 
 minded Greene of his own forge at Coventry, 
 
 1 All of these facts are drawn from * Gordon says about sixteen, Vol. 
 Washington's Letters, chiefly Vol. V. III. p. 11. Washington, about twen- 
 December and January, 1777-78. ty. Vol. V. 
 
 2 Gordon, Vol. III. p. 12, on » j^ge, Memoirs -of the War in 
 Washington's authority. the Southern Department, Vol. I. p. 
 
 ^ Kapp, Kalb's Leben, p. 127. 47. 
 
538 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 which also stood on the banks of a pretty stream, 
 with a wooded hill sloping down to the water's 
 edge. But sad anticipations must have come over 
 him as he looked out upon the desolate land- 
 scape, and thought how hard it would be to pro- 
 vide daily food for the well and suitable diet for 
 the sick. 
 
 Shelter was easier to find ; and soon the men 
 were spreading over the hillsides and through the 
 woods in regular " parties of twelve/' cutting down 
 the trees, lopping off the branches, measuring the 
 logs, and, as fast as they were ready, rolling them 
 to the spot marked out for each hut by a super- 
 intendent chosen from the field-ofl&cers of each 
 brigade. Lucky was the regiment which had most 
 carpenters or woodchoppers in it, and surest to win 
 the twelve dollars' " reward " that Washington had 
 offered " the party in each which finished its hut 
 in the quickest and most workmanlike manner." ^ 
 From morning till night, all through the short 
 winter day, the sound of busy axes was heard in 
 the keen air, mingling with the crash of falling 
 trees and the voices of men ; while up and down 
 through the whole space went the brigade in- 
 spectors and regimental inspectors, issuing their 
 orders in the sharp, decided tone of military com- 
 mand, and making sure that each hut was set in 
 the proper line, and built in the proper proportions. 
 And suddenly uprose to the music of these min- 
 
 1 Order of the Day, December 18, the huts. — Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 which contains full specifications for 524. 
 
1777.] ' LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 539 
 
 gled sounds a little town of huts, with its regular 
 streets and avenues ; each hut fourteen feet by six- 
 teen, with roof and doors of split oak slabs, with 
 log sides six feet and a half high, made tight with 
 clay, and a chimney of clay and wood rising a foot 
 or two above the roof, — the roof itself a single 
 sharp slope that would shed easily the coming 
 snow. The one door and one window opened upon 
 the street, and the fireplace stood opposite the 
 door.^ On a line in the rear of the huts of the 
 men were the huts of the officers, larger somewhat, 
 and with two windows. Each general officer had 
 a hut for himself, and another for his staff; each 
 regiment one for its field-officers, and one for the 
 regimental staff; every two companies one for its 
 commissioned officers, and one for every twelve 
 non-commissioned officers and privates. Troops 
 from the same State were lodged in the same 
 street or in the same quarter. In shape the whole 
 resembled a triangle, with Valley Creek forming 
 its irregular base, and the Schuylkill for its left 
 side ; or, perhaps, rather a protracted oval, with the 
 hills and woods curving towards each other with 
 a gradual inclination, and abatis, redoubts, and 
 pickets at different points, showing that it was a 
 camp as well as a town. Washington's quarters 
 were in the angle formed by the junction of the 
 river and creek, in the house of a Quaker, Isaac 
 Potts, which is still standing ; Greene's, in a hut. 
 
 1 Washington's Order of the Day, December 18, and a manuscript draw- 
 ing in the Varnum Papers. 
 
540 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 It was not without serious misgivings and grave 
 discontent that some of the officers looked upon 
 their winter quarters. "None but an interested 
 speculator or an ill-wisher of the Generars/' writes 
 De Kalb, " can have suggested to him the idea of 
 wintering in this wilderness." ^ Instead of a camp to 
 rest in, while new recruits were brought forward, 
 and preparations made for taking the field in spring, 
 he looked forward to a hard winter campaign. 
 ^' Who knows but what we shall meet with a mis- 
 fortune this winter ? " ^ " It is unparalleled in the 
 history of man," writes Yarnum in February, " to 
 establish winter quarters in a country wasted, and 
 without a single magazine." ^ How far Greene 
 shared in these gloomy anticipations, there is noth- 
 ing in his letters to show ; but it may safely be 
 assumed that, on this as on every other occasion, 
 having expressed his own opinion frankly, he acted 
 cordially and earnestly in carrying out the decision 
 of the Commander-in-chief 
 
 The day of trial was close at hand. On the after- 
 »oon of the 22d intelligence came that a strong 
 foraging party of the enemy was " advancing to- 
 wards Derby." Orders were immediately issued for 
 the troops to hold themselves in readiness to march 
 against it. 
 
 " When, behold," writes Washnigton, " to my great 
 mortification, I was not only informed, but convinced, that 
 
 1 Kapp's De Kalb, p. 129. in Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 
 2 Ut sup. 240, but not among the Greene or 
 ^ Letter to General Greene, quoted Varnum Papers. 
 
1777.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 541 
 
 the men were unable to stir on account of provision, and 
 that a dangerous mutiny begun the night before, and 
 which with difficulty was suppressed by the spirited exer- 
 tions of some officers, was still much to be apprehended 
 for want of this article. This brought forth the only 
 commissary in the purchasing line in this camp ; and 
 with him this melancholy and alarming truth, that he had 
 not a single hoof of any kind to slaughter, and not more 
 than twenty-five barrels of flour ! From hence form an 
 opinion of our situation when I add, that he could not tell 
 when to expect any." ^ 
 
 But what if Howe himself should come out again ? 
 Shall we go and meet him on his own ground, when 
 we once let him come within a mile of us without 
 attacking him ? " The attempt will be exceeding 
 hazardous and the success doubtful,'* said most of 
 the general officers whom Sullivan consulted by 
 Washington's directions. But for himself, he said, 
 " I am so weary of the infernal clamor of the Penn- 
 sylvanians, that I am for satisfying them at all 
 events, and risking every consequence in an ac- 
 tion. Possibly we may be successful ; if not, they 
 may be satisfied; and even Congress itself may 
 gain experience, and learn to censure with 
 more caution." ^ 
 
 The alarm from the enemy passed, but the more 
 serious anxiety caused by the just discontent of 
 officers and men was not so easily removed. 
 
 " It gives me the greatest pain," writes Greene to 
 Washington on the 1st of January, " to hear the mur- 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. ^ Sparks's Correspondence of the 
 197. Revolution, Vol. IL p. 63. 
 
542 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1777. 
 
 murs and complaints among the officers for the want of 
 spirits. They say they are exposed to the severity of the 
 weather, subject to hard duty, and nothing but bread and 
 beef to eat morning, noon, and night, without vegetables, 
 or anything to drink but cold water ; this is hard fare for 
 people that have been accustomed to live tolerably. 
 
 " The officers observe, however disagreeable their situ- 
 ation, they would patiently submit to their hard fortune, if 
 the evil in its own nature was incurable ; but they think 
 by proper exertions spirits may be procured to alleviate 
 their distress until they have an opportunity to provide 
 for themselves. 
 
 " Lord Stirling was mentioning yesterday that he had 
 made a discovery of a considerable quantity of spirits, 
 sufficient to supply all the officers. Supposing his Lord- 
 ship's information to be true, will it not be consistent with 
 good policy to seize it and distribute it aniong the regi- 
 ments for the use of the officers, — about thirty or forty 
 gallons for each regiment ? This would give a temporary 
 relief, and the present dissatisfaction seems to be so great, 
 it is absolutely necessary to take some measures, if possible, 
 to silence as many of the complaints as may be. Colonel 
 Abeel has just returned from Bethlehem, and says there are 
 sixteen hogsheads of spirits at that place belonging to the 
 old commissary department; it is in the hands of Mr. 
 Oakley, and was sent there by Mr. Ervin. Colonel Abeel 
 thinks it will be disposed of for private property, if not sent 
 for immediately. Colonel Abeel also observes there are 
 great quantities of whiskey sent into the Jerseys at Easton, 
 and that a full supply might be had for the use of the army 
 if some person was sent there to seize." ^ 
 
 A severe commentary this upon the Commissary 
 department, and forming, with Washington's letter 
 
 1 Greene Papers, January, 1778. 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 543 
 
 of the 22d of December, a picture that might well 
 have made Tories exult and Whigs tremble. It 
 was evident that this state of things could not con- 
 tinue much longer. " Unless some great and capi- 
 tal change suddenly takes place in that line, this 
 army must inevitably be reduced to one or other 
 of these three things, — starve, dissolve, or disperse, 
 in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner 
 they can." ^ 
 
 To add to Greene's own discomforts, he was suf- 
 fering from " a very disagreeable pain in one of his 
 eyes." How he felt as he revolved all these things 
 in his mind he tells us himself, in a letter of Janu- 
 ary 3d to his brother Jacob : — 
 
 " Our army are tenting themselves ; they are almost 
 worn out with fatigue, and greatly distressed for want of 
 clothing, particularly the article of shoes and stockings. 
 The present mode of clothing the army will always leave 
 us without a sufficient supply. The change in the Com- 
 missary department has been a very distressing circum- 
 stance ; the army has been fed from hand to mouth ever 
 since Mr. Trumbull left it. Our operations have been 
 greatly retarded from the situation of the Commissary de- 
 partment. The Quartermaster-General's department also 
 has been in a most wretched condition. General Mifflin, 
 who ought to have been at the head of the business, has 
 never been with the army since it came into the State. 
 
 " The Congress have lately appointed Colonel Wilkin- 
 son to the rank of a brigadier, and Brigadier-General 
 Conway to the rank of major-general. Both these ap- 
 pointments are exceedingly disgusting to the army ; the 
 
 1 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 197. 
 
544 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 first to the colonels, the last to the brigadiers. The army- 
 is exceedingly convulsed by these appointments, and God 
 knows what will be the issue ! Almost all the colonels in 
 the army will resign in consequence of Wilkinson's ap- 
 pointment. General Gates is exceedingly blamed for rec- 
 ommending the measure. 
 
 " General Conway is a man of much intrigue and little 
 judgment. He is a great incendiary, of a restless spirit, 
 and always contriving to puff himself off to the public as 
 an officer of great consequence. He left the army under 
 pretence of going to France, alleging for reason that there 
 was the greatest probability of a French war, and that he 
 should injure his interests by staying here. Everybody in 
 the army thought he was gone. But he stole away to 
 Congress, got in with some of the court faction to trumpet 
 his consequence to the Congress, and they hastily ap- 
 pointed him a major-general, to the prejudice of the briga- 
 diers, who, to a man, will resign their commissions if he 
 holds his rank and remains in the army. This appoint- 
 ment appears to have been obtained by such low artifices 
 that everybody despises him for it. The Marquis Lafay- 
 ette, and all the other French gentlemen, will hardly speak 
 to him. He is the greatest novice in war, in everything 
 but disciplining a regiment, that ever I saw. He is by no 
 means of an enterprising military, turn of mind, and of 
 very little activity. This is the true character of the man, 
 and yet he is palmed off upon the public, by httle arts, as 
 the first military man upon the continent. 
 
 " Our cause is sure if we do not get divided among our- 
 selves. But there is great danger that we shall. Men of 
 great ambition, and without principle or virtue, will sac- 
 rifice everything to their private views. The army in 
 general has been very well united ; but I am afraid the 
 injudicious appointments made in Congress will ruin it. 
 
 " You mention my letter to Governor Cook, in which I 
 
1778.J LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 545 
 
 pronounce the division in the British force as a fortunate 
 circumstance for America. The events of the campaign 
 liave verified it. And had our force been equal to Gen- 
 eral Howe's, or at least as much superior as the Northern 
 army was to Burgoyne's, he must have shared the same 
 fate. But, alas ! we have fought with vastly superior 
 numbers, and, although twice defeated, have kept the field. 
 History affords but few examples gf the kind. The peo- 
 ple may think there has not been enough done, but our 
 utmost endeavors have not been wanting. Our army, 
 with inferior numbers, badly found, badly clothed, worse 
 fed, and newly levied, must have required good general- 
 ship to triumpli over superior numbers well found, well 
 clothed, well fed, and veteran soldiers. We cannot con- 
 quer the British force at once, but they cannot conquer 
 us at all. The limits of the British government in Amer- 
 ica are their out-sentinels. 
 
 " Reports prevail very strongly again of a French war. 
 I honestly confess to you I do not believe it, for France 
 can have no pretext for declaring war, and certainly it is 
 not the interest of Great Britain to do it. But, neverthe- 
 less, it may happen. I wish Congress may not be lulled 
 into security from their late successes to the North, and 
 their hopes of a French explosion. It is our business to 
 levy a new army as soon as possible ; each State to fur- 
 nish its proportion by a draft. There is no such thing as 
 filling the army by voluntary enlistments as speedily as 
 will be necessary to open the campaign to advantage. 
 Each State will be compelled hereafter to furnish clothing 
 for their own troops. The present mode of clothing the 
 army is ruinous. We have had three thousand soldiers 
 unfit for duty for want of clothing this fall and winter. 
 The Rhode Island troops have done themselves great 
 honor this campaign. Colonel Greene's character. is in 
 high estimation. Major Thayer distinguished himself at 
 
 35 
 
646 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 Fort Mifflin, and has acquired universal applause. Your 
 troops are generally exceedingly )/ell officered from the 
 northward this year. General Gates is a child of fortune ; 
 the successes to the northward are all glorious. General 
 Arnold and General Lincoln are in liigh esteem ; and it 
 is said General Burgoyne gives Arnold the credit for the 
 successes obtained over liim. 
 
 " I am happy that the work is but done. I do not care 
 who does it. But I should like to have a hand in the 
 mischief. 
 
 " I have no hope of coming home this winter ; the Gen- 
 eral will not grant me permission. Mrs. Greene is coming 
 to camp. We are all going into log-huts, — a sweet life 
 after a most fatiguing campaign." 
 
 A few days later we find him once more address- 
 ing Congress upon the subject of promotions ; not 
 for his own sake, for the elevation of Conway and 
 Wilkinson left his rank iminvaded, but for the 
 army's sake, and the sake of sound principles. 
 It was a delicate subject to touch upon, with Du 
 Coudray's affair so fresh in the memory of Con- 
 gress. Nothing was easier than to raise the cry of 
 military dictation, and hold him up to the country 
 as undertaking to give law to the civil authority. 
 All this he knew, and, weighing it carefully in his 
 own mind, decided that his duty required of him 
 a frank and full statement of the question. It is 
 more than probable that, before putting hand to 
 his pen, he took counsel with Washington, even if 
 it was not at Washington's suggestion that he 
 ^rote. 
 
 " I would take the liberty," he writes, " of addressing 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 547 
 
 Congress, tlirougli you, upon a subject which appears to 
 me of great importance ; and which, in my opinion, 
 deserves the most serious attention. It is the present 
 prevailing discontent among the officers in two capital 
 lines of the army ; to wit, the colonels and brigadiers. 
 I am to say this discontent has arisen to such a height, 
 and is so general, as to forebode the most alarming con- 
 sequences. 
 
 " This dissatisfaction proceeds principally from some 
 promotions which have taken place lately, by which the 
 officers in those lines respectively conceive themselves 
 most materially and essentially injured in their rank ; the 
 first more particularly in the promotion of Colonel Wil- 
 kinson, the last in that of Brigadier-General Conway to 
 the rank of major-general. Tliey feel the force of the 
 injury doubly in these instances from being superseded by 
 those who had served in subordinate stations. I cannot 
 pretend to say upon what principle those gentlemen were 
 promoted ; but I doubt whether the advantages resulting 
 from their rise will answer the flattering expectations of 
 Congress in their appointments. I do not wish to lessen 
 their merit, but I believe it is generally thought their 
 promotions liave been to the prejudice of others at least 
 as deserving as themselves, and who had superior claims 
 in every other point of view. 
 
 " The officers of the army say they engaged in the 
 service of their country, not only from a sense of duty as 
 citizens, but with the fullest confider^ce that the justice of 
 Congress would secure to them their rank, and the right 
 of promotion according to the rules which prevail in all 
 well-regulated armies. If they conceive these principles 
 to be violated, if they lose their confidence in the justice 
 of Congress, it is easy to foresee the fatal effects that will 
 result. Military ardor will languish ; a spirit of enter- 
 prise will cease ; men of honor will decline the service ; 
 
548 LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 art and cabal will succeed, and low intrigue will be the 
 characteristic and genius of the army. 
 
 " I am persuaded, Sir, the army is not blind to merit, 
 neither are they averse to measures calculated to promote 
 their true political interest, the interest and happiness of 
 their country ; the former tliey wish to be rewarded, and 
 the latter ever attended to. But with difficulty they will 
 be brought to confess merit in officers from their appoint- 
 ment which never has been discovered in the field. 
 
 " That the Congress should have the power to reward 
 is acknowledged by all, and that great political reasons 
 will justify the introducing officers in some instances, and 
 promoting them in others out of the common line, none 
 can deny. However, merit and the reasons of state in 
 such cases should be obvious. If they are not, the pro- 
 motion will be viewed with disgust. Under the above dis- 
 tinction Lam happy to mention the Marquis de Lafayette. 
 This nobleman's generous, disinterested conduct, his sac- 
 rifices to our cause, and his great merit, gave him a just 
 claim to an honorable notice. 
 
 " I have delivered my sentiments with great candor on 
 this important occasion ; the subject demanded it, duty 
 required it. I am not personally affected by the injuries 
 complained of, nor am I immediately interested in any 
 manner but as a man wiiose only wish is to promote the 
 happiness of his country." ^ 
 
 How serious the question was Congress had a 
 present opportunity of judging, for letters from nine 
 brigadiers were read on the same day with Greene's, 
 the 19th, and Washington's opinion was known to 
 accord with theirs. Still, the faction of which I have 
 
 1 Greene Papers, Letter to President of Congress, Valley Forge, January 
 12, 1778. 
 
1778;] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 549 
 
 already spoken, and soon shall have occasion to 
 speak again, was at its height. Conway had many 
 friends in Congress ; Gates had just been put at the 
 head of the Board of War ; Wilkinson had been 
 appointed Secretary. The letters were ordered to 
 lie upon the table ; and as the war went on Greene 
 had reason, on more than one occasion, to believe 
 that his letter at least was neither forgotten nor 
 forgiven. 
 
 The question of the army was daily becoming 
 more urgent. The system of short enlistments had 
 been abandoned. It had been resolved henceforth 
 to engage men for three years or for the war. But 
 when the remedy came, the evils of the original 
 organization had swollen to alarming proportions. 
 Not the least of those evils was tne reliance placed 
 upon the militia, who, coming out for short terms of 
 service, brought with them to camp the indepen- 
 dence of civil life, wasting in a few weeks supplies 
 that would have carried disciplined men through a 
 campaign, and deterring hundreds from enlisting 
 in the regular army by the high prices which they 
 paid for substitutes.^ A deep-seated discontent was 
 spreading among the officers of every rank. " No 
 day, nor scarce an hour passes," wrote Washington 
 in December, " without the offer of a resigned com- 
 mission."^ When the war began an officers pay 
 was sufficient for all his wants ; but now, the frugal 
 
 1 How unfavorably this impressed foreign oflRcers may be seen by a letter 
 of De Kalb in Kapp's Life of that general, p. 130. 
 
 2 Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 201. 
 
550 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. . [1778. 
 
 De Kalb tells us that with all his economy he " had 
 to pay his host two hundred and forty- two francs for 
 a fortnight's supply of milk." ^ Depreciation was 
 already within twelve months of the point when 
 a member of Congress was " asked four hundred 
 dollars for a hat, three hundred for a pair of leather 
 breeches, one hundred and twenty-five for a pair 
 of shoes, and a suit of clothes sixteen hundred." ^ 
 Roused at length by the remonstrances of the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, Congress took the matter seriously 
 in hand, and sent a committee of six of its members 
 to camp with full powers to examine the subject and 
 propose the necessary reforms.^ Two of Greene's 
 personal friends, Reed and Gouverneur Morris, were 
 on this committee • on which we find another name 
 familiar to the statesmen and lawyers of that day, 
 — Francis Dana, familiar to the men of the last and 
 the present generation by the poetical honors of his 
 son, and the literary and professional honors of his 
 grandson. Washington, having collected, as was 
 his custom, the opinions of his general officers, and 
 carefully considered them, laid the result before the 
 committee in an elaborate report upon the state of 
 the army.* 
 
 Meanwhile, the people of Rhode Island were 
 living in constant alarm from the continued occu- 
 pation of Newport and the Island by the enemy. 
 General Spencer, whose failure in the projected 
 
 1 Utsnp. 134. 3 See Journals of Congress, 1778, 
 
 2 Life of Samuel Adams, Vol. HI. January 10, 13, and 20. 
 
 p. 51, a work of great interest and * Sparks's Wasliington, Vol. V. p. 
 value. 525, and note. 
 
1778.] ■ LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 551 
 
 expedition of the preceding summer, had given rise 
 to serious doubts of his qualifications for so im- 
 portant a command, had sent in his resignation, and 
 Congress accepting it with suggestive promptness, 
 resolved that his place should immediately be filled 
 by an officer of equal rank. Governor Cooke and his 
 advisers naturally fixed their eyes upon Greene.^ 
 
 " Governor Cooke wrote me a few days since," he 
 writes to his brother Jacob on the 7th of February, " a 
 most alarming letter respecting the situation of Rhode 
 Island. Mr. Ellery^ proposed to me to take the command 
 there, provided it was agreeable to his Excellency ; but 
 he is totally averse to the measure. General Spencer has 
 resigned : who will take the command! know not. I wish 
 General Sullivan may, as I can think of no person who will 
 do it more justice. I am in hopes to prevail on the Gen- 
 eral to let the Rhode Island troops return home and there 
 continue until the enemy leaves the State. I flatter my- 
 self they will fill up their ranks very soon if they go home 
 with that understanding." ^ 
 
 All this while the army was still living from hand 
 to mouth, one day without bread, another without 
 meat, and often upon the verge of finding them- 
 selves without either meat or bread.* Washington 
 had been invested with extensive powers to lay the 
 country under contribution, but was reluctant to 
 use them.^ The inhabitants over a wide circuit and 
 
 1 Journals of Congress, January * Washington to Governor Clinton. 
 13, 1778. Sparks, Vol. V. p. 240. 
 
 2 William Ellery, who, upon the ^ Washington to President of Con- 
 death of Samuel Ward, had been gress. — Sparks, Vol. V. p. 209. 
 chosen to take his place in Congress. For the feeling of Congress, com- 
 
 8 See also a letter of February 5, pare Journals of Congress, December 
 1778, to Governor Cooke. 10, 1777. 
 
652 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 all around the camp were deeply disaffected, and 
 consequently unwilling to give their cattle and 
 grain for American certificates when they could 
 always get British gold for them at Philadelphia.^ 
 Never since the retreat through the Jerseys had the 
 disaffection seemed so wide-spread or so alarming; 
 never had the army been so close upon dissolution. 
 Washington resolved to send out a large party, and 
 seize by the strong hand whatever could not be 
 had by purchase. Greene was put in command of 
 it, — a painful duty ; but from the beginning of the 
 contest he had held that war was a state of violence, 
 subject to laws of its own, and they who were not 
 for their country were against her. How vigorously 
 he acted up to this principle his own letters show. 
 
 " We are posted at this place," he writes from head- 
 quarters, — Springfield Meeting-house, February 14, 1778,^ 
 — " and purpose to collect all the cattle, carriages, <fec., 
 <fec., in and about the neighborhood to-day ; to-morrow 
 we purpose to take post at one Edwards's, about six miles 
 in our rear. We have ordered all the collections made 
 to-day to Edwards's Tavern to-night. I must beg you to 
 exert yourself in obtaining forage, otherwise the business 
 will go on slow. Tell all the wagoners and the officers 
 that have the superintendence of the wagons that I will 
 punish the least neglect with the greatest severity. You 
 must forage the country naked, and, to prevent their com- 
 plaint of the want of forage, we must take all their cattle, 
 
 1 Sparks'sLifeof GouverneurMor- Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 
 ris. Morris to Jay, Vol, I. p. 154. 222. 
 
 Reed to President Wharton. Life of 2 Probably to Colonel Biddle, 
 
 Joseph Reed, Vol. I. p. 358. Wash- among whose papers the original 
 
 ington to Colonel W. Stewart. — was found, though without address. . 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 553 
 
 sheep, and horses fit for the use of the army. Let us hear 
 Jrora you and know how you go on." 
 
 Reports come in, but nol as favorable yeports as 
 he had hoped for. At half past three of the same 
 day he again writes to Colonel Biddle : — 
 
 " I received two letters from you within an hour past. 
 I am very sorry to find so small a collection of wagons. 
 Search the country through and through. Mount your 
 pressing parties on horses for expedition's sake. Harden 
 your heart and despatch business as fast^ as possible. I 
 have got many parties out collecting wagons, horses, cattle, 
 hogs, and sheep. The wagons I shall forward to you as 
 fast as they come in. We have made considerable collec- 
 tion of horses, and I think it will be best to send them to 
 camp to-night, that as many wagons may be rigged oijt as 
 possible, to come on for forage. 
 
 '*• I think I shall move from this position to-night or to- 
 morrow morning ; we are in the midst of a d — d nest of 
 Tories, and as we are in the neighborhood of the enemy, a 
 change of position becomes necessary for security's sake." 
 
 He did not change his position, however, till the 
 next day, and in the course of the morning he 
 wrote to Washington : — 
 
 " We are in want of some of the deputy quartermaster- 
 generals to conduct the business of that department ; 
 please to send us one. I received two letters from Col- 
 onel Biddle ; he has got but few wagons ; the inhabitants 
 conceal tliem ; the Colonel complains bitterly of the disaf- 
 fection of the people. I sent out a great number of small 
 parties to collect the cattle, horses, &c., yesterday, but the 
 collection was inconsiderable ; the country is very much 
 drained ; the inhabitants cry out and beset me from all 
 
554 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 quarters ; but like Pharaoh I harden mj heart. Two men 
 were taken up carrying in provisions to the enemy yester- 
 day morning. I gave them a hundred each by way of 
 example. • I liave sent off all the cattle, sheep, and horses. 
 I will send on the forage and all further collections that 
 may be made as fast as possible. I determine to forage 
 the country very bare. Nothing shall be left unat- 
 tempted. 
 
 " As provision will be scarce, especially of the meat 
 kind, if the commissaries could purchase a quantity of 
 sugar, the troops, with wheat, might make a fermity ; a 
 diet that would contribute to their health, be palatable 
 and nourishing to the troops. I think it would be a 
 very good substitute for meat, and not much more expen- 
 sive if any. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Colonel Ballard was out on a foraging 
 business yesterday down about Derby, and got intelligence 
 that the enemy's bridge (was) being removed, and that it 
 was with difficulty they relieved their guards, being some 
 hours about it. He solicited a party to attempt the 
 guard ; upon his earnest entreaty I granted his request. 
 Enclosed is his report, by which you will see the attempt 
 was unsuccessful. 
 
 " I hope the committee of Congress will not lose sight 
 of Colonel Cox ; there is no man will serve their purpose 
 better. Your Excellency may remember I named Mr. 
 Lott for that department ; please to name him to the com- 
 mittee." 
 
 From this closing paragraph it would seem that 
 the negotiations which placed him — sorely against 
 his will — at the head of the quartermaster-gen- 
 eral's department were already begun. 
 
 In the evening of the same day he wrote to 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 555 
 
 Washington again from his new quarters at Provi- 
 dence Meeting-House. His foraging parties were 
 still out scouring the country ; but says he : — 
 
 " I am afraid there will be nothing considerable, as the 
 country appears much drained. Hay is the plentifullest 
 article that there is in the country ; sixty or seventy tons 
 
 may be had in this neighborhood To-morrow we 
 
 shall mount a press party on horses to press wagons the 
 back of Brandywine. The inhabitants hereabouts if they 
 have any wagons or harness they conceal them." 
 
 Ballard's attempt, though unsuccessful, seems to 
 have been well planned and judiciously conducted. 
 Even a partial success at this moment would have 
 had a good moral effect upon the army, and was 
 well worth the trial. 
 
 " I am sorry," he writes to Greene, *•' to inform you that 
 my scheme has proved ineffectual ; the enemy had by 
 some means got knowledge of our march ; indeed, we saw 
 a light-horseman ride on to give the news when we had 
 approached within about five hundred yards. We then 
 pushed on as hard as possible-, but found them secured in 
 the stone house. They began a very heavy fire before we 
 got within one hundred yards, which was very warmly re- 
 turned on our part till we got within fifty yards, but con- 
 ceiving it impracticable to force them out of the house, I 
 ordered my men to retreat. They behaved exceeding 
 brave, and would, I believe, have attempted staving the 
 doors. Major Cable's party, who went on the lower side 
 next the Schuylkill, fell in with a small party ; he thinks 
 he killed several of them. The poor fellows are exceed- 
 ing fatigued, and would be glad of some whiskey. I di- 
 rected the officers of each respective corps to make out a 
 
556 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENK [1778. 
 
 return for whiskey. Many of them say they have n't had 
 a mouthful of meat these four days. I am so worsted I 
 cannot wait upon you at your quarters. My party met 
 with but little loss, four or five slightly wounded, and I 
 believe one or two killed." 
 
 On the 16th Greene again writes to Washington, 
 the pen having now to take the place of the daily 
 intercourse of camp. 
 
 '' I received your Excellency's answer by Colonel Ham- 
 ilton to mine of yesterday morning. I wrote you again 
 last evening proposing the burning the liay on the Jersey 
 shore, also anotlier forage in Bucks County. Upon re- 
 volving the matter over in my mind, I think the following 
 would be the best plan to execute it upon. Wagons can- 
 not be got in this country, and to attempt to collect them 
 in Bucks County will explain our intentions too early 
 for the safety of the party. I would, therefore, propose a 
 press-warrant to be sent to Colonel Smith at Lancaster, 
 and for him to apply to the executive council for a hun- 
 dred wagons to be got ready in three days ; and in case 
 they don't furnish them by that time, that Colonel Smith 
 collect the wagons with his press-warrant ; but if your 
 Excellency thinks our situation will justify dispensing with 
 an application to the executive council, the press-warrant 
 will be the most speedy and certain method of getting the 
 complement of wagons seasonably. These wagons, when 
 collected, to be loaded with forage in some of the best hay 
 towns between camp and Lancaster, and upon their arri- 
 val in camp to be immediately taken upon a forage into 
 Bucks County. The business in this way can be con- 
 ducted with so much secrecy and despatch that it will be 
 difficult for the enemy to defeat it. 
 
 " I will do everything in my power here, but the face 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHAN AEL GREENE. 557 
 
 of the country is strongly marked witli poverty and dis- 
 tress. All of the cattle, and most of the best horses, have 
 been carried into the city. The few Whigs that are here 
 say there has been great numbers drove along for Phil- 
 adelphia market. We take all the horses and cattle, hogs 
 and sheep fit for use ; but the country has been so gleaned, 
 that there is but little left in it. 
 
 " Your Excellency's letter of this day this moment 
 came to hand. I had given orders to all the press parties 
 to bring the inhabitants prisoners that concealed their 
 cattle or carriages, and examples shall not be wanting to 
 facilitate the business I am out upon. 
 
 " Captain Lee this moment writes of the increasing 
 distress of the army for want of provisions. God grant 
 we may never be brought to such a wretched condition 
 again. General Wayne will cross over into the Jerseys 
 from Wilmington, to execute the design of destroying the 
 liay and driving in all the stock from the shores, which 
 he proposes to forward on to camp by the shortest and 
 safest route. But this will not afford an immediate re- 
 lief. I shall send into camp this night everything I can 
 collect. By tliis detachment my party will be much 
 diminished. Great numbers have already been sent home 
 that have fallen sick and got their feet sore in marching. 
 I think it will be best, therefore, to send two of my field- 
 officers to camp, they being altogether useless to me." 
 
 " I sent to camp yesterday," he writes from Providence 
 Meeting-house on the 17th, " near fifty head of cattle. 
 I wish it had been in my power to have sent more ; but 
 the inhabitants have taken the alarm, and concealed their 
 stock in such manner that it is difficult finding any. 
 They have done the same with their wagons and har- 
 ness. Our poor fellows are obliged to search all the 
 woods and swamps without success. I have given orders 
 
558 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 to give no receipts for anything they find concealed, and 
 to notify tlie people accordingly. 
 
 " Colonel Hariner is gone with a party on the back of 
 the forks of the Brandywine, a little above the route of the 
 enemy. General Wayne is gone to Wilmington in order 
 to cross over into the Jerseys ; but if the ice won't per- 
 mit him to pass, he is to make a large circuit, and come 
 in by the way of Goshen. Colonel Spencer is gone to the 
 township of Goshen, to rendezvous at the meeting-house, 
 to collect cattle, &c. I shall continue here until the im- 
 pressed wagons, and all those from camp are loaded ; but 
 I am afraid there will be but few to what our wants 
 demand, and what might be loaded here with hay. 
 Grain there is but little to be got. 
 
 " The business I am upon is very disagreeable ; but I 
 should be happy in executing it, if our success was equal 
 to our wants. The teams that come into camp, that are 
 not for the ordinary duties of it, should never be suf- 
 fered to continue there all night, if it can possibly be 
 avoided. If they can get only a few miles into the 
 country, they can get forage for their cattle. The trans- 
 portation has become one of the most difficult parts of 
 the business of foraging, for forage is really plentier than 
 teams. We have ^collected a considerable number of 
 horses ; but the officers, in spite of everytliing I can say 
 to them, will bring in many that are unfit for our pur- 
 pose. All such we shall notify the inhabitants to come 
 and take them again. The Whigs here are afraid to give 
 any information respecting the Tories for fear that when 
 we are gone they will be carried prisoners into Pliil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 " I am afraid we have lost one of our small parties 
 that was sent out to collect cattle from Springfield 
 meeting-house. The party was sent from Colonel Shep- 
 pard's division, commanded by one Romsdell (an ex- 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 559 
 
 ceeding good officer, Colonel Sbeppard says), and con- 
 sisted of twenty odd men; they went out day before 
 yesterday morning and have never returned. How they 
 could have fallen into the enemy's hands I can't im- 
 magine, for I have never heard of their being out. 
 
 " I think the officer must have got lost, and fallen in 
 with the enemy's picket at the Ferry, before he knew 
 where he was. Or else his men must have made him a 
 prisoner, and carried in to the enemy, which I don't 
 think improbable, for most of his party were Virginia 
 convicts. 
 
 " If the enemy had been out and attacked him, it 's 
 ten to one but some of the party might have got off. 
 It 's possible the soldiers might kill the officer and go in 
 themselves ; but by what means he or his party has 
 fallen into the enemy's hands I am not able to con- 
 jecture ; but L am well convinced they have by their 
 not returning, and by an account I have from the city of 
 such a party being marched through it, the evening of 
 the day they went out. The intelligence says there was 
 no officer with the men, which makes me apprehend foul 
 play ; but it 's all conjecture. 
 
 " Colonel Ballard's report did not prove true ; there 
 was not "a man of his killed ; five were slightly wounded ; 
 he killed one Hessian, and mortally wounded another ; 
 two of his men on their march deserted. 
 
 " The enemy are getting ready for a grand forage 
 somewhere. The inhabitants think, from many circum- 
 stances, they intended it on this side, but I imagine 
 they will alter their plan now, if they designed it before. 
 I have no doubt of Bucks County being their object. 
 We have burnt all the hay upon Tinewin Island, and 
 the other little islands about it. The quantity was very 
 considerable ; we got a number of very good horses from 
 all the islands." ♦ 
 
660 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 His mind was soon relieved from its appre- 
 hensions for the safety of Romsdell and his party, 
 as we see by a letter of the next day : — 
 
 *' I wrote your Excellency yesterday, that I was afraid 
 we had lost one of our small parties, but they came in a 
 few minutes after I sent the letter off. Has there been 
 any great desertions from camp, or any report of prison- 
 ers made on the other side of the Schuylkill ? 
 
 *' I am persuaded there was some of our prisoners 
 paraded for some purpose. If there has been no report 
 of any being lately taken, they have paraded some of 
 our prisoners from the jails, to make the inhabitants be- 
 lieve they had taken a considerable part of the party that 
 attacked their picket. 
 
 '* The time for which I came out expires to-night ; but 
 as the foraging business has been greatly obstructed for 
 want of wagons, it will be necessary for me to continue 
 a few days longer. I wish to know your Excellency's 
 pleasure respecting the matter, that I may govern myself 
 accordingly. 
 
 " I am told by the inhabitants that one Mr. James, 
 that lives a few miles from this place, has enlisted near a 
 hundred men from this county. There has gonie fifteen 
 from the town of Goshen. This corps is for cavalry. 
 Most of them have found means to get horses. These 
 are the reports of the Whigs here. 
 
 " I am persuaded there has been too little attention 
 paid to the branding the Continental horses. Brands 
 would prevent their being stolen or exchanged ; but the 
 wagon-masters must be strictly forbid exchanging the 
 branded horses for others only for a temporary relief, — 
 both parties often suffer by the exchange, — the country- 
 man often has his branded horse taken from him ; and 
 the wagoner sells the other,. or sends it away by some of 
 
1778.] LIFE OP NATHANAEL GREENE. 561 
 
 his comrades after a few days' service. Indeed, I tliink if 
 every horse that belongs to the Continental teams that 
 fails upon the road, and others pressed to supply their 
 places, were immediately branded and paid for, the con- 
 tinent would be subject to less expense than they now 
 are, and the inhabitants receive less injury. One of the 
 wagon-masters told me there were forty or fifty teams ex- 
 pected into this neighborhood from camp last night. I 
 am very glad of it, as few are to be got about here." 
 
 And now this painful duty was nearly fulfilled. 
 One letter from Providence Meeting-house on the 
 20thj and he returns to camp. 
 
 " General Wayne wrote me last evening that all his 
 troops had crossed over the river Delaware into the Jer- 
 seys. He intends to collect all the stock and burn ^11 the 
 hay along the river that will be within the reach of the 
 enemy. If he executes the business effectually, the only 
 chance the enemy will have for foraging will be between 
 Schuylkill and the Delaware. I am told there is consid- 
 erable hay upon the Delaware, at a place called Point-no- 
 point, which may be burnt. The enemy have got a great 
 part of it away, but there is still remaining a large quan- 
 tity. It would be well worth while to attempt to destroy 
 it, for everybody that comes from the city agrees they 
 are very short of forage. 
 
 " Colonel Biddle wrote me last evening he had 
 loaded forty wagons yesterday. We want nothing but 
 wagons to make a grand forage ; there is great plenty of 
 hay a little below Marcus Hook. Captain Lee was at 
 Wilmington yesterday. He said he was out after cattle. 
 Colonel Spencer wrote me from Goshen last night there 
 was but few cattle to be got there. I have not heard 
 from Colonel Harmer since he set off for the forks of the 
 
 36 
 
562 LIFE OF NATHANAJEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 Brandy wine, but have heard of cattle going to camp from 
 that quarter, and therefore suppose they were sent by 
 him. Many people in this county refuse certificates for 
 their horses and cattle. The nexf move I make from 
 here I shall order home all the troops except one division ; 
 they will be so remote from the enemy that there will be 
 little or no danger from them, and the country will be 
 pretty well gleaned. One division will be a sufficient 
 cover against any attempt from their light-horse, and 
 they will be too remote for the foot to attempt anything 
 by surprise. 
 
 " I have quartered the troops constantly in houses, (so) 
 that they have suffered very little, — only from the heavy 
 marches they have gone through in collecting cattle, 
 &c." 
 
 And thus ended Greene's first forage. 
 
 " I have just returned," he writes to Knox on the 26th 
 of February, " from foraging in Chester and its environs. 
 My orders were to collect all the horses fit for cavalry or 
 draft, the cattle, sheep, and hogs fit for killing, together 
 with the carriages and harness fit for Continental use. 
 I executed my orders with the greatest fidelity. I was 
 out ten or eleven days, which prevented my writing you 
 by the last post. 
 
 " I must beg your pardon for not writing you before, 
 but I have put it off from time to time to learn the de- 
 termination of the committee of Congress respecting the 
 establishment of the army. The matter is now gone to 
 Congress, and I believe strongly recommended by the 
 committee, but I am well persuaded from many circum- 
 stances that it will be rejected. 
 
 " A mystical darkness has spread over the councils of 
 America and prevents her counsellors from seeing her 
 true interest. 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 663 
 
 " The army has been in great distress since you left it ; 
 the troops are getting naked, and they were seven days 
 without bread. Such patience and moderation as they 
 manifested under their sufferings does the highest honor 
 to the magnanimity of the American soldiers. The 
 seventh day they came before their superior officers and 
 told their sufferings in as respectful terms as if they had 
 been humble petitioners for special favors ; they added 
 that it would be impossible to continue in camp any 
 longer without support. Happily, relief arrived from the 
 little collections I had made and some others, and pre- 
 vented the army from disbanding. We are still in dan- 
 ger of starving ; the commissary's department is in a 
 most wretched condition, the quartermaster's in a worse. 
 Hundreds and hundreds of our horses have actually 
 starved to death. The committee of Congress have seen 
 all these things with their own eyes." 
 
CHAPTEE XXY. 
 
 Momentary Relief of the Army. — Greene's daily Duties. — Social 
 Life in Camp. — Lafayette, Steuben, Duponceau, De Kalb, Fleury, 
 &c. — Appearance of the Encampment. — What Men talked about. 
 — Rhode Island's Negro Regiment. — Steuben's Arrival and first 
 Steps in disciplining the Army. 
 
 Tj^OR the moment the army was relieved. "I 
 -*- have heard lately by persons from the army," 
 writes William Greene of Warwick, soon after Gov- 
 ernor of Rhode Island, " that they are now well 
 fed, which has afforded me much satisfaction, as I 
 am convinced, and that long since, that, under God, 
 our all depends (upon) making them comfortable, 
 so as to create in them a cheerful inclination to 
 carry on our reasonable and very necessary de- 
 fence." ^ Still, the relief was but momentary, and, 
 glad as Greene was to escape from the unwelcome 
 duty of foraging, his feelings were still severely 
 tried by the sight of sufferings which he could 
 not alleviate. The daily round of his duties even 
 was not without annoyance, for it brought him 
 into daily contact with evils which he had foreseen 
 from the beginning, and constantly though vainly 
 striven to avert. But there was work to do, and 
 he was " never so happy as when " at work. 
 
 1 Letter of Governor Greene to General Greene, March 6, 1778. 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 565 
 
 Every fourth day he was officer of the day/ with 
 posts to visit, orders to issue and superintend, and 
 reports to make and receive. Then, too, there 
 were councils of war, courts-martial, and, withal, 
 the special duties of his own division. Even the 
 laborious De Kalb complained that he had hardly 
 a free hour.^ Most of this, however, was routine 
 work, with nothing in it to satisfy a mind that loved 
 thought. But for that higher element of his 
 nature he found abundant occupation in his re- 
 lations with Washington, which required him to 
 study all the questions of administration and or- 
 ganization from that comprehensive point of view 
 to which he was naturally led by his fondness for 
 political science, *and its applications in history. 
 Of the nature of this daily communication some 
 idea, as I have already said, may be formed from 
 his letters to Washington during their occasional 
 separations ; and it was doubtless in part from 
 the opportunity of witnessing these communica- 
 tions, which his own confidential relations to the 
 Commander-in-chief gave him, that Hamilton was 
 led to form that exalted estimate of Greene's intel- 
 lectual powers of which he has left so emphatic an 
 expression in his eulogy.^ 
 
 But even Valley Forge had its recreations. 
 " Several general officers are sending for their 
 wives," writes Lafayette to his own, " and I envy 
 them, not their wives, but the happiness of being 
 
 1 Kapp's De Kalb, p. 128. ^ Hamilton's Works, Vol. II. p. 
 
 2 Utsup. 482. 
 
666 LIFE OP NATHANAEL GKEENE. [1778. 
 
 where they can see them."^ Mrs. Greene had 
 joined her husband early in January, bringing with 
 her her summer's acquisition, a stock of French, 
 that quickly made her little parlor the favorite 
 resort of foreign officers.^ There was often to be 
 seen Lafayette, not yet turned of twenty-one, 
 though a husband, a father, and a major-general ; 
 graver somewhat in his manners than strictly be- 
 longed either to his years or his country ; and 
 loved and trusted by all, by Washington and 
 Greene especially. Steuben, too, was often there, 
 wearing his republican uniform, as, fifteen years 
 before, he had worn the uniform of the despotic 
 Frederick ; as deeply skilled in the ceremonial of 
 a court as in the manoeuvring of an army ; with a 
 glittering star on his left breast, that bore witness 
 to the faithful service he had rendered in his native 
 Germany; and revolving in his accurate mind 
 designs which were to transform this mass of 
 physical strength which Americans had dignified 
 with the name of army into a real army which 
 Frederick himself might have accepted. He had 
 but little English at his command as yet, but at 
 his side there was a mercurial young Frenchman, 
 Peter Duponceau, who knew how to interpret both 
 his graver thoughts and the lighter gallantries 
 with which the genial old soldier loved to season 
 his intercourse with the wives and daughters of his 
 new fellow-citizens. As the years passed away, 
 
 1 Lafayette Memoirs, Vol. I. p. moirs, MSS., communicated to me 
 147. by Mr. Kapp. 
 
 2 Extracts from Duponceau's Me- 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. .567 
 
 Duponceau himself became a celebrated man, and 
 loved to tell the story of thes6 checkered days. 
 Another German, too, De Kalb, was sometimes seen 
 there, taller, statelier, graver than Steuben, with 
 the cold, observant eye of the diplomatist, rather 
 than the quick glance of the soldier, though a sol- 
 dier too, and a brave and skilful one ; caring very 
 littl^ about the cause he had forsaken his noble 
 chateau and lovely wife to fight for, but a great 
 deal about the promotion and decorations which 
 his good service here was to win him in France ; 
 for he had made himself a Frenchman, and served 
 the King of France, and . bought him French lands 
 and married a French wife. Already before this 
 war began, he had come hither in the service of 
 France to study the progress of the growing dis- 
 content ; and now he was here again an American 
 major-general, led partly by the ambition of rank, 
 partly by the thirst of distinction, but much, too, 
 by a certain restlessness of nature, and longing 
 for excitement and action, not to be wondered at 
 in one who had fought his way up from a butlership 
 to a barony.^ He and Steuben had served on op- 
 posite sides during the Seven Years' War, though 
 born both of them on the same bank of the Rhine ; 
 and though when Steuben first came De Kalb 
 was at Albany, yet in May they must have met 
 more than once. How did they feel towards each 
 other, the soldier of Frederick and the soldier of 
 Louis? If we had known more about this, we 
 
 1 Kapp's De Kalb, p. 2. 
 
568 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 should have known better, perhaps, why Lafayette, 
 a fast friend of De Kalb, speaks of " the methodic 
 mediocrity"-^ of Steuben, and Steuben of the 
 "vanity and presumption" of the young major- 
 general. 
 
 In the same circle, too, was the young Fleury 
 whom we have seen bearing himself so gallantly at 
 Fort Mifflin, and who, a year after, was to render 
 still more brilliant service at Stony Point ; and the 
 Marquis de la Rouerie, concealing his rank under 
 the name of Armand, and combating an unsuccess- 
 ful love by throwing himself headlong into the 
 tumult of war ; ^ and Mauduit Duplessis, whose skill 
 as an engineer had been proved at Eed Bank, and 
 who about this time was brevetted Lieutenant- 
 Colonel, at Washington's recommendation, for " gal- 
 lant conduct at Brandywine and Germantown," and 
 " distinguished services at Fort Mercer," and " a 
 degree of modesty not always found in men who 
 have performed brilliant actions," ^ but whom 
 neither modesty nor gallantry could save from a 
 fearful death at San Domingo ; and Gimat, aid 
 to Lafayette now, but who afterwards led La- 
 fayette's van as colonel in the successful assault 
 of the British redoubts at Yorktown ; and La 
 Colombe, who was to serve Lafayette faithfully 
 in France as he served him here ; and Ternant, 
 distinguished in America, France, and Holland, 
 but who this year rendered invaluable service to 
 
 1 Lafayette Memoirs, Vol. I. p, 49. 214, and Journals of Congress, Janu- 
 
 2 Ibid., 74. ary 19, 1778. • 
 ^ Sparks's Washington, Vol. V. p. 
 
1778.] . LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 569 
 
 American discipline by his aid in carrying out 
 the reforms of Steuben. Kosciusko was in the 
 North, but Poland had still another representa- 
 tive, the gallant Pulaski, who had done good 
 service during the last campaign, and who the 
 very next year was to lay down his life for us 
 at the siege of Savannah. 
 
 Washington, too, and his wife were often seen in 
 this evening circle, — not the grave, cold Washing- 
 ton of some books, but a human being, who knew 
 how to laugh heartily and smile genially ; and the 
 courtly Morris and the brilliant Reed were there, 
 and Charles Carrol, who was to outlive them nearly 
 all ; and Knox, whom Greene loved as a brother, 
 and Hamilton and Laurens, as often as their duty 
 would permit ; and Wayne and Yarnum and Sul- 
 livan, and many others of whom history tells, with 
 some of whom she has kept no record ; all equally 
 glad to escape, for a while, from stern duties and 
 grave cares to a cheerful fireside and genial con- 
 versation. There was no room for dancing in these 
 narrow quarters, but next winter at Morristown 
 we shall find a good deal of it, and see Washing-, 
 ton dancing four hours with Mrs. Greene without 
 once sitting down.^ There were no cards either. 
 All games of chance had been prohibited early in 
 the war,^ and American ofl&cers, even if they had 
 had the means and inclination, had no opportunity, 
 to ruin themselves as the officers of Howe's army 
 were ruining themselves at Philadelphia this very 
 
 1 Greene Papers. 
 
 2 Sparks's Washington, Vol. III. p. 296, Vol. IV. p. 436. 
 
570 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 winter. But there was tea or coffee, and pleasant 
 conversation always, and music often, no one who 
 had a good voice being allowed to refuse a song. 
 Few could give more interest to a story or life to 
 an anecdote than Mrs. Greene, and no one in those 
 evening circles could excel her in adapting her 
 subject and manner to the taste and manner of the 
 immediate listener.^ And thus again somewhat of 
 the gentleness of domestic life was shed over these 
 stern scenes of war, and somewhat of its cheerful- 
 ness brought into these narrow dwellings; of 
 themselves " no gayer," writes Lafayette, " than a 
 dungeon." ^ 
 
 Out of doors all was more like a dungeon still ; 
 for the bleak hills shut them in on one side, the 
 frozen river on the other. Out of the cold white 
 snow rose the leafless forest dark and spectral ; and 
 . the wind swept in fierce gusts down the valley, or 
 sighed and moaned around the thatched roofs of 
 the huts. From the huts themselves came few 
 signs of life, but the smoke that swayed to and fro 
 over the chimneys at the will of the blast, and the 
 shivering sentinels at the officers' doors, and now 
 and then, as you passed along, a half-naked soldier 
 peering from a door, and muttering, in an ominous 
 
 1 I am compelled to rely somewhat — Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Revo- 
 
 upon family tradition for this sketch lution, Vol. I. p. 72. 
 
 of my grandmother ; but the tradition ^ Lafayette's letter to his wife, 
 
 is uniform. The anecdote in Mrs. Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 143: "L'armde 
 
 Ellet's Women of the Revolution, of Americaine passera I'hiver sous de 
 
 the " young lady who was resolved petites baraques qui ne sont guere 
 
 not to like her," has recently been plus gaies qu'un cacliot." 
 confirmed to me by the lady herself. 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 571 
 
 undertone, " No bread, no soldier." ^ If you ven- 
 tured within, hungry nakedness met you on the 
 threshold, or a foul and diseased air repelled you 
 from it. In the streets you would meet parties of 
 soldiers yoked together to little carriages of their 
 own contriving, and dragging their wood and pro- 
 visions from the storehouse to their huts.^ There 
 were regular parades, too, at guard mounting ; and 
 sometimes grand parades, in which you would see 
 men half naked holding their rusty firelocks with 
 hands stiffened with cold, and officers shielding 
 themselves from the cold in a kind of dressing- 
 gown made out of an old blanket or faded bed- 
 quilt.^ 
 
 There were many things to talk about in this 
 dreary camp. There were rumors again of a 
 French war. Burgoyne's defeat, perhaps, might 
 turn the trembling scale of European diplomacy, 
 and then how easy it would be to put an end to 
 the war with England. There was that never- 
 failing subject of discussion, the currency also, — 
 long since rapidly depreciating, and now hanging 
 apparently upon the brink of bankruptcy. The 
 Congress have at last agreed upon Articles of Con- 
 federation ; will the States adopt them, and submit 
 to a uniform system of taxation as the only sure 
 basis of national credit ? The Congress committee 
 was in camp, seeing with their own eyes what the 
 army suffered ; would they have the courage to fol- 
 
 1 Duponceau's Reminiscences, ut to President of Congress, February 
 sup. 12,1778. Reed, Vol. I. p. 362. • 
 
 2 Letter of Committee of Congress ^ Kapp's Steuben, p. 118. 
 
572 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 low up the evil to its source and heal it ? Con- 
 gress was discussing the question of half-pay ; did 
 they, did the country even, see it in its true light ? 
 
 " I observe," writes Greene to one of his brothers, 
 '' you think the spirit of patriotism is ready to expire in 
 the army among the officers from their demand to be put 
 upon half-pay. Can you think the obligation rests upon 
 those that first engaged, to go through the dispute with- 
 out any further provision than a bare subsistence for the 
 time being ? 
 
 " If the dispute was just and necessary, then the obli- 
 gation rests upon all equally ; but if not, then there is no 
 obligation to support it. These being the simple and 
 natural principles upon which the question stands, take 
 into consideration the situation of the officers, and how 
 far their demands is founded in justice. The officers of 
 the army, at the beginning of the dispute, flew to arms, 
 regardless of their families or their fortunes, expecting at 
 the same time that peace and reconciliation would soon 
 take place. Few expected the dispute would be carried 
 to such extremity ; but the contest has been growing 
 warmer and warmer from first to last, (so) that there 
 never has been the most distant opportunity to bring 
 about a reconciliation. If it is necessary to maintain our 
 camp, if our present safety and future happiness depend 
 upon its support, it is the duty and interest of every 
 individual to lend his aid ; then it becomes a common 
 obligation upon all. Why, therefore, should a few zeal- 
 ous officers, be made a certain sacrifice for the common 
 good. Those that are in the army are wasting their for- 
 tunes, impairing their constitutions, depriving themselves 
 of every domestic pleasure ; and if they continue a few 
 •years longer in their present situation, what is to become 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 573 
 
 of them after the war ? Out of business, out of credit, 
 without connection in the way of trade, — military dis- 
 tinction or character to maintain, numerous acquaint- 
 ances contracted, without the means to be civil to them 
 hereafter, must render the condition of the officers in- 
 finitely more wretched than other parts of society. Is it 
 reasonable, that men should be exposed to all the hard- 
 ships of war, be constantly exposed to sudden death and 
 broken bones, without any compensation ? Is this making 
 the business of society equal ? There never was a nation 
 under the sun, where a set of officers were left without 
 support after a long and cruel war, unless it was when all 
 the inhabitants did equal duty in the civil and military 
 departments. But, waiving the justice of their claim, 
 good policy demands the measure, for the continent can- 
 not support the war upon the present system." 
 
 This year, too, there was a new army to raise. 
 Khode Illand had undertaken, at the suggestion of 
 General Varnum, to enlist a negro battalion.' 
 
 '' The Rhode Island troops," Greene writes to his 
 brother, " have done themselves great honor ; the reputa- 
 tion of the officers is in high estimation. The soldiers of 
 the two regiments are put into one ; and Colonel Greene 
 and all his officers are coming home to recruit a negro 
 regiment. Will they succeed or not ? " 
 
 They did succeed ; and among my earliest recol- 
 lections of the soldiers of the Revolution is old 
 Ichabod,^ who lived to enjoy in the midst of two 
 new generations, the honor he had won by the 
 side of their fathers. We may readily suppose 
 that there was no little speculation and conjecture 
 in camp about these new soldiers. 
 
 1 See Bartlett's Rhode Island Colonial Records, Vol. VIII. pp. 524, 64 1» 
 358, 359. 
 
574 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 But whatever the numerical strength of the 
 army might be, they were to have at least the 
 strength of discipline. On the 23d of February 
 Baron Steuben reached Valley Forge. It w^as an 
 exciting day in the American camp. When his 
 approach was known, Washington rode out several 
 miles to meet him ; and on reaching the quarters 
 that had been assigned him, he found an officer 
 with twenty-five men stationed at the door as a 
 guard of honor. " I am only a volunteer," said Steu- 
 ben, and sought to decline the compliment. " Our 
 whole army," answered Washington, "would be 
 gratified to stand sentinel for such volunteers." ^ I 
 have already given a glimpse of the old soldier in 
 Mrs. Greene's evening circle ; but that which chiefly 
 made him welcome there, was the good s«nse and 
 good spirit with which he used his profound science 
 as a tactician. " Give me a plan of inspection," said 
 Washington; and Frederick's old soldier, putting 
 off the pride of professional knowledge, set him- 
 self down to study the materials he was to work 
 with, and adapt his plan to his means. " I was 
 often obliged," says he, " to abandon ideas I had 
 formed. I was in want of information and advice, 
 and I was fortunate enough to find a few officers 
 of merit, who gave me every satisfaction. They 
 were General Greene, Colonel Laurens, and Colo- 
 nel Hamilton. " ^ Betwixt him and Greene it was 
 the beginning of a friendship which was to hold 
 firm till death. In a few days the plan was com- 
 
 1 Kapp, p. 105. 2 Ibid,, 124. 
 
1778.] LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. 575 
 
 pleted and approved. Then began the application 
 of it, and it is easy to conceive the deep interest 
 with which the whole army watched its progress. 
 His first step was to draft from the line a hundred 
 and twenty men as a guard for the Commander-in- 
 chief and a school for himself And now if we 
 call to mind the English prejudice, which threw the 
 drilling of recruits upon sergeants as a drudgery 
 below the dignity of a commissioned officer, and 
 remember that it had been strictly imitated by the 
 Americans, we shall easily conceive the surprise 
 of the American officers when they saw a major- 
 general take a musket in his own hands and teach 
 his men how to manage it. It is easy, too, to con- 
 ceive the pride with which the men themselves 
 went through their lesson, repeating it doubtless to 
 their less fortunate comrades, day by day us they 
 learned it. " In a fortnight," says Steuben, " my 
 company knew perfectly how to bear arms, had a 
 military air, knew how to march, to form in col- 
 umn, deploy, and execute some little manoeuvres 
 with excellent precision." ^ Greene had seen the 
 British troops manoeuvre on Boston Comnfon, and 
 the regiments under his immediate command had 
 been the best disciplined regiments in the army. 
 But here was a work begun which was to make 
 the whole army perfect in the most intricate 
 details of the Prussian system, — the most perfect 
 of all. More than one watchful hour must he have 
 passed at Steuben's side during these first days of 
 
 1 Kapp's Steuben, p. 126. 
 
576 LIFE OF NATHANAEL GREENE. [1778. 
 
 the experiment. How successfully the work was 
 done Monmouth will show us next June. Mean- 
 while it was a pleasant and useful thing to talk 
 about in the leisure hours of camp. 
 
AP PEND I X 
 
 37 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE GREENE FAMILY, 
 
 FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OP GENERAL GREENE. 
 
 John Greene, from Salisbury, in England, brought over 
 five children, — John,^ Peter,^ James,^ Thomas,^ and Mary*^; 
 and also brought over his wife : both buried at Conemicut farm. 
 
 John Greene settled at Providence, and was an original pro- 
 prietor. He came in the next company after Roger Williams. 
 After some time he moved to Warwick, at a place called Conem- 
 icut. Having lost his first wife, he returned to England and 
 married a second time. He was an original proprietor in War- 
 wick, so called since. 
 
 2d. His first son, John,^ Deputy Governor, married an Almy, 
 by whom he had four sons, — Peter,^ Job,^ Samuel,* and Rich- 
 ard*: and four daughters, who married Pory, John Spencer, 
 Charles Holden, and Thomas Greene. Peter,^ the second son, 
 married and was soon after drowned, leaving no children. 
 
 James,^ the third son, married Deliverance Potter, by whom 
 he had James,* and two daughters, Sarah* and Mary*; both 
 married Reynolds. His second wife was an Anthony, from 
 Rliode Island, by whom he had Peter,* Jabez,* David,* John,* 
 and Elizabeth*; one married a Hull, name unknown. 
 
 Thomas,^ his fourth son, married a Barton, by whom he had 
 Thomas,* Benjamin,* Richard,* and Nathaniel.* 
 
 Mary ^ married a Sweet, who was the father of all the hone- 
 setting Sweets. 
 
 John,^ his son Peter,* married an Arnold, at Pawtuxet, by 
 whom he had Peter,* John,* William,* Stephen,* Elisha,* and 
 Barlow * ; also one daughter, who married Stephen Arnold at 
 Warwick. 
 
580 APPENiDIX. 
 
 Job,® second son to John,^ married a Sayles, by whom he had 
 Job,* Christopher,* Daniel,* Philip,* Amy,* Mary,* Phoebe,* Catha- 
 rine,* and Deborah.* 
 
 Samuel,* third son of John,^ married a Gorton, by whom he 
 had Mary,* who married Thomas Fry ; William,* the Governor ; 
 Samuel,* and Benjamin.* 
 
 Richard,® fourth son of John,^ married a Sayles, by whom he 
 had one son, named John, who married an Almy ; also five 
 daughters, — Andrey,* Almy,* Isbael,* Eleanor,* and Mary.* 
 
 James,® son of James,^ married Mary Fones, by whom he had 
 ten children, — Fones,* James,* Daniel,* Elisha,* John,* Jere- 
 miah,* and Samuel*; Marcy, Deliverance, and Mary, one of 
 whom married John Holden, the other Resolved Rhodes. 
 
 Peter,® son of James,^ married a Slocum, who was afterwards 
 drowned at Pawtuxet Falls ; left several children. 
 
 Jabez,® son of James,^ married a Barton, by whom he had one 
 daughter, named Susannah, married to a Chadsey ; and six 
 sons, — James,* Jabez,* Nathaniel,* Benjamin,* Rufus,* and 
 John*; Jabez married for his second wife Hannah Whitman, 
 by whom he had one daughter. 
 
 David,® son of James,^ married a Slocum, by whom he had 
 one son, — David.* David® married a Barber for his second 
 wife, by whom he had two sons, — Jonathan and Joseph; and 
 several daughters. 
 
 John,® son of James,^ married an Allen, of Dartmouth, by 
 whom he had David,* James,* Increase,* and Job * ; and several 
 daughters. 
 
 Thomas,® son of Thomas,^ married Anna Greene, daughter of 
 Deputy John Greene, by whom he had one son, named John, 
 who lived at Potowomut ; and also several daughters. 
 
 Benjamin,® son of Thomas,^ married Susannah Holden, by 
 whom he had one son, Benjamin,* who married an Arnold, leav- 
 ing one daughter named Phoebe^; Susannah, who married Philip 
 Arnold ; Catharine, William Greene, afterwards Governor ; 
 Elizabeth, John Fry ; Margaret, Pardon Tillinghast. 
 
 Richard,® son of Thomas,^ married a Carder, by whom he had 
 Richard,* who lived in Warwick ; Thomas, in Bristol ; and three 
 daughters, — Mary,* married Elisha Greene ; Elizabeth,* an 
 Allen, of Rhode Island ; and Welthan,* Jeremiah Lippitt. 
 
APPENDIX. 581 
 
 Nathaniel,' son of Thomas, married a Gould, of Boston ; lived 
 and died there, leaving Thomas,* Nathaniel,* Rufus,* Benjamin,* 
 and William.* 
 
 Nathaniel* Greene, son of Jabez,^ married Phcebe Greene, 
 and had issue, — Benjamin,^ who was born seventh day of the 
 fifth month, about eleven o'clock in the morning, on the first day 
 of the week, 1734; Thomas,^ was born the eleventh day of 
 the ninth month, about five o'clock in the morning, 1735. My 
 wife Phoebe ^ died the eleventh day of third month, about two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, 1737. I was married to Mary Mott the 
 eighteenth day of second month, 1739. Our son Jacob ^ was 
 born the seventh day of the first month, 1740, about one or two 
 o'clock in the morning, on the sixth day of the week. Our 
 daughter Phoebe ^ was born the twentieth day of the first month, 
 
 1741, about four o'clock in the morning. Our daughter Phoebe 
 died [blank in original^ day of eighth month, 1741. Our son 
 Nathanael ® was born the twenty-seventh day of fifth month, 
 
 1742, about one or two o'clock in the afternoon of the third day 
 of the week. Our son William ^ was born the first day of the 
 ninth month, 1743, between four and five o'clock in the morning, 
 on the third day of the week. Our son Elihue ^ was born the 
 tenth day of the tenth month, 1746, between one and two o'clock 
 in the morning of the fourth day of the week. Our son Chris- 
 topher^ was born the third day of fifth month, 1748, about one 
 or two o'clock in the morning, on the first day of the week. 
 Our son Perry ^ was born the fifth day of the ninth month, 
 1749, about five o'clock in the morning, on the first day of the 
 week. My wife Mary died the seventh day of third month, 
 1753, new style, about seven or eight o'clock in the morning, on 
 the fourth day of the week. 
 
 This is the last entry in this table. The Genealogy of the 
 family has been written in full by General George Sears Greene, 
 to whose work I refer in advance all those who are interested in 
 these details. I give here the only addition that my own subject 
 requires. 
 
 Nathanael,^ son of Nathanael,* married Catharine Littlefield, 
 and had issue, — George Washington, Martha Washington, Cor- 
 nelia Lott, Nathanael Ray, Louisa Catharine, and a daughter 
 who died a few days after her birth. 
 
682 APPENDIX. 
 
 George W. was drowned in Savannah River. He was never 
 married. Martha W. and Cornelia L. were twice married, and 
 left families. Louisa C. was married, but had no children. Na- 
 thanael Ray married Anna Maria Clarke and had issue, — Na- 
 thanael and George Washington. 
 
 In the Potowomut branch the order of descent from the orig- 
 inal emigrant is, — 1. John, the founder. 2. James. 3. Jabez. 
 4. Nathanael, the Quaker preacher. 5. Nathanael, the General. 
 
 GENEALOGY OF THE COWENT (vTARWICK) BRANCH OF THE 
 GREENE FAMILY IN RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 1. John Greene, sen.,^ the founder of the family in New 
 England. 
 
 2. John Greene, jun., born in 1619 or 1620. Deputy Gov- 
 ernor of the Colony from 1690 to 1700. Died 27th Nov., 1708. 
 
 3. Samuel, son of John, jun., ^ born 1670, died 1720. 
 
 4. William, son of Samuel, born 16th May, 1696. Lieut.- 
 Governor and Governor of the Colony for thirteen of the seven- 
 teen years between 1741 and 1758, in which latter year he died 
 in office. 
 
 5. William, son of William, born Aug. 16, 1731. Chief 
 Justice of the State of R. I. in 1777, and Governor from 1778 
 to 1785. Died Nov. 29, 1809. 
 
 6. Ray Greene, son of the second William, born Feb. 2, 1765, 
 Attorney- General and District Attorney for several years till 
 1797, when he was elected Senator in Congress, which office he 
 resigned in 1801. Died 11th Jan., 1849. 
 
 7. William, son of Ray, at present (1867) Lieut.- Governor 
 of Rhode Island. 
 
APPENDIX II. 
 
 See page 344. 
 
 The following letter is still more important as an illustration 
 of the relations of Greene to Washington. I am indebted for a 
 copy of it to Mr. M. H. Welles, of Big Flats, N. Y. 
 
 Letter of General Washington to James Wilson, Esq., 
 IN Congress, Philadelphia. 
 
 Head Quarters, Morris Town, 15th March, 1777. 
 Dear Sir, — 
 
 Give me leave to introduce to your attention Major-General 
 Greene, who obliges me by delivering this. He is a gentleman 
 in whose abilities I place the most entire confidence. A long 
 
 acquaintance with him justifies me in this The danger 
 
 of communicating by letter, our present situation, and the indis- 
 pensable necessity of Congress knowing it, have compelled me, 
 though I can ill spare so useful an officer at this time, to send 
 
 him to Philadelphia His perfect knowledge of our 
 
 strength and of my opinion enables him to give Congress the 
 most satisfactory accounts they can desire. 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 
 Your most humble servant, 
 
 GEO. WASHINGTON. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 Cambridge Printed bft Welch, Bigelow, & Co. 
 
0rlis Irg.% ^Kmt %ntl^ax. 
 
 HISTORICAL STUDIES, i vol. 121110. G. P. Put- 
 nam. 1850. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES, i vol. i2mo. G. P. Put- 
 nam. i860. 
 
 HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE AMERICAN REVO- 
 LUTION. I vol. I2mO. TiCKNOR AND FlELDS. 
 1864. 
 
 NATHANAEL GREENE : An Examination of Some 
 Passages in Mr. Bancroft's History of the United 
 States. 8vo. Ticknor and Fields. 1866. 
 
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