ington sent orders to move into New Jersey. The British fell back from their outposts on the Delaware and concentrated in great force at Princeton. Cornwallis took command in person, and resolved to attack and overwhelm Washington at Trenton. So closed the year. Ten days previously, Howe only waited for the freezing of the Delaware before taking up his quarters in Philadelphia. Now it was a question whether he would be able to hold a single town in New Jersey.

CHAPTER XL.

OPERATIONS OF "77.

ON the 1st of January, 1777, Washington's army at Trenton numbered

about five thousand men. On the next day Cornwallis approached from Princeton with greatly superior forces. The British were exasperated and the Americans resolute. During the afternoon there was severe and constant skirmishing in the fields and along the roads to the east and north of Trenton. As the columns of the enemy pressed on, Washington abandoned the village and took up a stronger position on the south side of Assanpink Creek. The British, attempting to force a passage, were driven back; it was already sunset, and Cornwallis deferred the attack till the morrow.

2. Washington's position was critical in the extreme. To attempt to recross the Delaware was hazardous. To retreat in any direction was to lose all that he had gained by his recent victory. To be beaten in battle was utter ruin. In the great emergency he called a council of war and announced his determination to leave the camp by night, make a circuit to the east, pass the British left flank and strike the detachment at Princeton before his antagonist could discover or impede the movement. Orders were immediately issued for the removal of the baggage to Burlington. In order to deceive the enemy, the camp-fires along the Assanpink were brightly kindled and a guard left to keep them burning through the night. Then the army was put in motion by the circuitous route to Princeton. Everything was done in silence, and the British sentries walked their beats until the morning light showed them a deserted camp. Just then the roar of the American cannon, thirteen miles away, gave Cornwallis notice of how he had been outgeneraled.

At sunrise Washington was entering Princeton. At the same mo

ment the British regiments stationed there were marching out by the Trenton road to reinforce Cornwallis. The Americans met them in the edge of the village, and the battle at once began. The patriots, under General Mercer, posted themselves behind a hedge, and were doing good work with their muskets until the British charged bayonets. Then the militia gave way in confusion, and Mercer, one of the bravest of the brave, received a mortal wound. But the Pennsylvania reserves and regulars were at hand, led by the commander-in-chief. The valor of Washington never shone with brighter lustre. He spurred among his flying men, who rallied at his call. He rode between the hostile lines and reined his horse within thirty yards of the enemy's column. There he stood. From both sides there came a crash of musketry. Washington's aid drew his hat over his eyes that he might not see the chieftain die. The wind tossed up the smoke, and there, unhurt, was the sublime leader of the American armies. The British were already broken and flying, with a loss of four hundred and thirty men in killed, wounded and missing. The loss of the Americans was small; but the gallant Mercer was greatly lamented.

Washington had intended to press on to Brunswick and destroy the enemy's magazines. His men, however, were too much exhausted for the march. The legions of Cornwallis were already in hearing, and there was no time for delay. Washington accordingly withdrew to the north, and on the 5th of January took a strong position at Morristown. Cornwallis hastened to New Brunswick to protect his stores. In a short time the whole of New Jersey north of Newark and Elizabethtown was recovered by the patriots. In all parts of the State the militia rose in arms; straggling parties of the British were cut off, and the outposts of the enemy were kept in constant alarm. The Hessians, whose barbarous invasion and brutal conduct had almost ruined the country, were the special objects of patriot vengeance. Vexed by the perpetual assaults of partisan warfare, Cornwallis gradually contracted his lines, abandoning one post after another, until his whole force was cooped up in New Brunswick and Amboy. The boastful British army that was to have taken Philadelphia now thought only of a safe return to New York.

In the early spring, General Howe despatched a fleet up the Hudson to destroy the American stores at Peekskill. Macdougal, the commandant, finding himself too feeble to make a successful defence, blew up the magazines and retreated. On the 13th of April Cornwallis marched a division out of New Brunswick and surprised General Lincoln, who was stationed at Boundbrook on the Raritan; but the latter made good his retreat with a trifling loss. On the 25th of the same month, General Tryon with a detachment of two thousand men landed on the north shore

of Long Island Sound, and proceeded against Danbury, Connecticut. After destroying a large quantity of stores and burning the town the British began a retreat to the coast. Immediately they were attacked on flank and rear by the exasperated patriots, who, led by the aged Wooster and the daring Arnold, made charge after charge on the retreating foe. Before regaining their shipping the British lost more than two hundred men; of the patriots about sixty were killed and wounded. The veteran Wooster, now sixty-eight years of age, fell in this engagement.

A similar expedition, undertaken by the Americans, was more successful. Colonel Meigs, of Connecticut, learning that the British were collecting stores at Sag Harbor, near the eastern extremity of Long Island, gathered two hundred militiamen, and determined to surprise the post. On the night of the 22d of May he embarked his men in whale-boats, crossed the Sound, and reached Sag Harbor just before daydawn on the following morning. The British, numbering a hundred, were overpowered; only four of them escaped; five or six were killed, and the remaining ninety were made prisoners. A gun-ship, ten loaded transports and a vast amount of stores were destroyed by the victorious patriots, who, without the loss of a man, returned to Guilford with their captives. For this gallant deed Colonel Meigs received an elegant sword from Congress.

Washington remained in his camp at Morristown until the latter part of May. Cornwallis was still at New Brunswick, and it was necessary that the American commander should watch the movements of his antagonist. The patriot forces of the North were now concentrated on the Hudson; and a large camp, under command of Arnold, was laid out on the Delaware. Both divisions were within supporting distance of Washington, who now broke up his winter-quarters and took an advantageous position at Boundbrook, only ten miles from the British camp. Howe now crossed over from New York, reinforced Cornwallis and threatened an attack upon the American lines; but Washington stood his ground, and Howe pressed forward as far as Somerset Court-House, in the direction of the Delaware. The movement was only a feint intended to draw Washington from his position; but he was too wary to be deceived, and the British fell back through New Brunswick to Amboy. The American lines were now advanced as far as Quibbletown. While in this position, Howe, on the night of the 25th of June, turned suddenly about and made a furious attack on the American van; but Washington withdrew his forces without serious loss and regained his position at Boundbrook. Again the British retired to Amboy, and on the 30th of the month crossed over to Staten Island. After more than six months of manoeuvring and fighting the invading army was fairly driven out of New Jersey.

On the 10th of July a brilliant exploit was performed in Rhode Island. Colonel William Barton, of Providence, learning that MajorGeneral Prescott of the British army was quartered at a farm-house near Newport, apart from his division, determined to capture him. On the night of the 10th of July the daring colonel, with forty volunteers, embarked at Providence, dropped down the bay, and reached the island near Prescott's lodgings. The movement was not discovered. The British sentinel was deceived with a plausible statement, and then threatened with death if he did not remain quiet. The patriots rushed forward, burst open Prescott's door, seized him in bed, and hurried him, half clad, to the boats. The alarm was raised; a squad of cavalry came charging to the water's edge; but the provincials were already paddling out of sight with their prisoner. This lucky exploit gave the Americans an officer of equal rank to exchange for General Lee. Colonel Barton was rewarded with promotion and an elegant sword.

Meanwhile, Congress had returned to Philadelphia. The American government was at this time essentially weak in its structure and inefficient in action. Nevertheless, there was much valuable legislation which tended to strengthen the army and the nation. But the most auspicious sign that gladdened the patriots was the unequivocal sympathy of the French. From the beginning of the contest the people of France had espoused the American cause. Now, after the lapse of two years, their sympathy became more outspoken and enthusiastic. True, the French government would do nothing openly which was calculated to provoke a war with Great Britain. Outwardly the forms and sentiments of peace were preserved between the two nations; but secretly the French rejoiced at British misfortune and applauded the action of the colonies. Soon the Americans came to understand that if money was required France would lend it; if supplies were needed, France would furnish them; if arms were to be purchased, France had arms to sell. During the year 1777 the French partisans of America managed to supply the colonies with more than twenty thousand muskets and a thousand barrels of powder.

At last the republicans of France, displeased with the double-dealing of their government, began to embark for America. Foremost of all came the gallant young MARQUIS OF LA FAYETTE.* Though the king withheld permission, though the British minister protested, though family and home and kindred beckoned the youthful nobleman to return, he left all to fight the battle of freedom in another land. Fitting a vessel at his own expense, he eluded the officers, and with the brave De Kalb and a small company of followers reached Georgetown, South Carolina, in *La Fayette's name was Gilbert Motier.

April of 1777. He at once entered the patriot army as a volunteer, and in the following July was commissioned as a major-general. Not yet twenty years of age, he clung to Washington as son to father, and through life their friendship was unclouded.

One of the most important events of the whole war was the campaign of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne. This distinguished British officer arrived at Quebec in March of 1777. Superseding Sir Guy Carleton in command of the English forces in Canada, he spent the months of April and May in organizing a powerful army for the invasion of New York. By the beginning of June he had thoroughly equipped a force of ten thousand men, of whom about seven thousand were British and Hessian veterans; the rest were Canadians and Indians. The plan of the campaign embraced a descent upon Albany by way of Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Upper Hudson. From Albany it was Burgoyne's purpose to descend the river to New York and unite his forces with the main division of the British army. By this means New England was to be cut off from the Middle and Southern colonies and the whole country placed at the mercy of Howe. That any successful resistance could be offered to the progress of the invading army was little imagined.

On the 1st of June Burgoyne reached St. John's, at the foot of Lake Champlain, and on the 16th proceeded to Crown Point. This place, which was undefended, was occupied by a British garrison; and the main army swept on to Ticonderoga, which was at that time held by three thousand men under General St. Clair. The British soon gained possession of Mount Defiance, and planted a battery seven hundred feet above the American works. Mount Hope was also seized and retreat by way of Lake George cut off. St. Clair, seeing that resistance would be hopeless, abandoned the fort on the night of the 5th of July, and escaped with the garrison by way of Mount Independence and Wood Creek. The British pressed after the fugitives, and overtook them at Hubbardton, a village in Vermont, seventeen miles from Ticonderoga. A sharp engagement ensued, in which the Americans fought so obstinately as to check the pursuit; and then continued their retreat to Fort Edward. On the following day the British reached Whitehall and captured a large quantity of baggage, stores and provisions.

At this time the American army of the North was commanded by General Schuyler, a man whose patriotism was greater than his abilities. His headquarters were at Fort Edward, where he remained until after the arrival of St. Clair. The garrison now numbered between four and five thousand men; but this force was deemed inadequate to hold the place against Burgoyne's army. Schuyler therefore evacuated the post and