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down over his eyes, apparently lost in thought, with his hand resting on a cannon, and every now and then patting it, as if it were a favorite horse or a pet plaything."

He continued at the head of his company, which, from its exposure and losses in the brilliant enterprises of Trenton and Princeton was reduced to twenty-five men, until the first of March, seventy-seven. On that day, having, at the instance of Washington, accepted a place in his staff, after declining the overtures of other general officers,† he was announced, in orders, aide-decamp to the commander-in-chief with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

The American head-quarters were now at Morristown, whither Washington had retired early in January, as a place of temporary safety, with fragments of regiments. "Here was seen," as Hamilton stated with regard to the enemy, "the spectacle of a powerful army straitened within narrow limits by the phantom of a military force, and never permitted to transgress those limits with impunity; in which skill supplied the place of means, and disposition was the substitute for an army."

The advantages of this post, selected at the instance of St. Clair, decided his remaining there until the opening of the next campaign. Protected by heights difficult of access, and by extensive heavy forests from the approach of any large force, it was within striking distance of Amboy, New Brunswick and Newark, the present positions of the enemy, thus held in check, while a retreat was secured by various defiles in its rear, leading to a fertile, well-peopled country.

* Irving's Washington, iii. 88.

Elias Boudinot to Lord Stirling.

CHAPTER VI.

DEFICIENT as the American army was in numbers, and thus reduced to inactivity, the severe campaign through which it had passed, had the happy effect of disclosing to the commander-in-chief the character of his officers, and of drawing around him in a common devotion to its cause, the most gallant patriots of this infant nation.

Environed by difficulties, they had learned, and their example had taught the American people the all-important lesson, that their enemy was not invincible; while their common dangers inspired a mutual confidence, which, towards the person of their chief, rose to enthusiasm.

Indeed, in his long life of true glory, this was the moment when Washington's popularity was greatest. The reverses at the beginning of the campaign had scarcely left a hope for America of successful resistance. But when, in the language of Hamilton, "after escaping the grasp of a disciplined and victorious enemy, this little band of patriots were seen skilfully avoiding an engagement until they could contend with advantage; and then, by the masterly enterprises of Trenton and Princeton, cutting them up in detachments, rallying the scattered energies of the country, infusing terror in the breasts of their invaders, and changing the whole tide and current

of the war," *a new confidence pervaded the nation, and every bosom swelled with gratitude to Washington and to his illustrious companions.

Time with its unerring contrasts more and more opens to the view their difficulties and their merits. Of the former a narrative in some detail must now be given.

The appointment of Charles Lee, a native of England, who had served in America in the war of fifty-six, was at the instance of Washington.

Of a romantic temper, this soldier of fortune sought distinction in the most remote and opposite regions of Europe, serving with equal zest in Portugal against the Spaniards and in Poland against the Turks. Confident of his superiority, he endured with bitter discontent the preference, he alleged, on his native soil interest enjoyed over unassisted merit. This sense of disappointment rankled in his breast. Yielding to this feeling and to the impulses of a wayward nature, he became an impetuous republican. Thus swayed, the New World suddenly opened an unlimited sphere to his ambition. It was the more attractive as it presented to him the prospect of contending in arms with those whom patronage had preferred to him; and of avenging himself upon the privileged orders which he imagined had been the only obstacles to his advancement. Opinions so congenial with those beginning to prevail in America strongly recommended him, and from an over value of his experience he was placed on the general staff, next in rank to Artemas Ward, upon whose resignation he became second in command.

Among the soldiery of New England, the preferment

* When Colonel Rahl wrote to General Grant for more troops to enable him to hold his posts on the Delaware, he laughed at his application, and sent him word that "he could keep the whole Jersies with a corporal and four men."

of Washington to the chief command was at first regarded with jealousy.* The very qualities which fitted him for that command were not kindred to a people extremely jealous of their individual independence, the less so, because exerted to reduce that independence to a due subordination. The conflict to either party was sore. Ward was believed to have resigned, unwilling to admit Washington his superior, and discontented feelings clothed Lee with an importance he little deserved. "You observe," wrote John Adams of Lee, "the oddity of a great man. He is a queer creature, but you must love his dogs if you love him,† and forgive a thousand whims for the sake of the soldier and the scholar.” *

The great man resolved to become greater, and only waited some reverse of Washington to mount to supreme command. The casualties of an unprovided war often demanded the intervention of Congress. Supposed to wear fortune in his crest, Lee was ordered to Canada to retrieve the mishaps there. "We want you at New York," writes John Adams, "we want you at Cambridge, we want you in Virginia, but Canada seems of more importance than any of those places, and therefore you are sent there." Ten days after he was sent to Charleston. "After a warm contest," Hancock writes, "occasioned by the high estimation the members of Congress have of your worth and abilities, every one wishing to have you where he had most at stake, Congress have this day come to a

* J. Adams writes, x. 36: "The appointment of Washington to the command in 1775 of an army in Cambridge, consisting altogether of New England men, over the head of officers of their own flesh and choice, a most hazardous step, was another instance of apparent unanimity, and real regret in nearly one half."

dogs.

On his journey to Boston with Washington, his suite was eleven poodle

American Archives, July 24, 1775.

resolution that you shall take the command of the southern department." From Charleston he was ordered to the camp at Haerlem, having received the thanks of Congress, and a loan for his success at the South.

Amid all this intoxicating favor, such were his eccentricities, that he soon alarmed those who guided the early councils of this country by the most arbitrary acts and startling indiscretions. But, nevertheless, he enjoyed the confidence of the people, who mistook his extravagances for genius, and imagined they saw, in the roughness of his manners and in the irregularities of his mind, evidences of natural resources which only waited an opportunity for their display. Led away by the impetuosity of his temper, he often transcended the strict bounds of duty. Yet for every violation his ready wit furnished a plausible excuse, while his reputed knowledge gave him an influence with the uninformed, to whom he was the more recommended by the pointed sarcasms always at his command, which would have been withheld from an open avowal of disapprobation. Had this been all, it would have been enough to offend a just sense of the great importance of confidence in the person selected to lead the armies of America at such a crisis. But Lee's was not merely a hostility of words. It rose to acts which, jeoparding the fate of the country, merited the severest penalty of martial law.

On the tenth of November,† from his head-quarters at White Plains, two days before he crossed the Hudson, Washington stated in instructions to Lee, "if the enemy should remove the whole, or the greatest part of their force to the west side of the Hudson River, I have no doubt of your following with all possible despatch, leaving the militia and invalids to cover the frontiers of Connec+ 1776.

* Lee's Memoirs, 203.

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