honoured with a seat in the Legislature, until he vacated it for the more arduous toils of the tented field, by the acceptance of a colonelcy in the provincial army; and so great was his interest, that, in a few weeks, he raised a regiment in his native county. In the beginning of the campaign of 1777 he was raised to the rank of brigadier general, and with his brigade was ordered to reinforce general Washington, at the head of Elk. At the battle of Brandywine, general Kniphausen was posted at Chad's ford, as a feint, general Washington having stationed general Wayne, with an adequate force, as he supposed, to defend the passage of the ford. When Cornwallis, as he had designed, succeeded in turning the right flank of the American army, Kniphausen crossed the ford and attacked Wayne with great vigour. He sustained the shock with much resolution; but, after a severe conflict, was obliged to give way to superior force, leaving in possession of the enemy, his entrenchments, battery and cannon. During the campaign of 1777, '78, gen. Wayne was attached to the army in the middle states, under the immediate command of Washington, and rendered important services in the military operations of the time. In the campaign of 1779, general Washington conceived the design of storming Stoney Point, a strong position on the Hudson, about fifty miles above New York, which had a short time before, fallen into the hands of the British. The object in view, was to withdraw from Connecticut to the defence of their lines, a party of the enemy, who were laying waste a part of that state. The execu tion of this enterprize was entrusted to general Wayne, who completely effected it. The situation of this post was of much importance in another point of view, as it commanded a pass of the river, essential to the British shipping, for the attack on the forts above. The garrison, which consisted of about 600 men, under a col. Johnson, was part of the force which had bayonetted his troops in cool blood, at Paoli. His parole on this occasion, recalled to the remembrance of his troops, that sanguinary affair. Although the enterprize was effected with the bayonet, the flints having been taken out of their firelocks, and the storming of the fort might have justified complete retaliation, yet the moment the enemy submitted, he spared the further effusion of blood. This enterprize completely effected its object, by compelling the British general to withdraw his forces from Connecticut to defend his own posts. In the commencement of this attack, which was of short duration, a ball discharged by one of the sentinels, grazed the general's head, and knocked him down. He laid a few moments, apparently lifeless, but soon rose, and so far recovered, as to rest on one knee. Supposing himself mortally wounded, he desired one of his aids to carry him forward, and let him die in the fort. During the campaigns of 1779 and 1780, general Wayne was with of twenty and thirty, he was much addicted to gaming and drinking, which involved him in many combats, wherein he evinced that daring and adventurous spirit, which marked the career of his future life. In the commencement of the revolutionary contest between Great Britain and her colonies, he was appointed to command a troop of cavalry, raised in defence of the rights of the latter, against the usurpation of the mother country. With it he joined the American army at Boston, whence he was detached by general Washington, to the expedition of general Arnold against Quebec, to co-operate with general Montgomery, in the reduction of that capital. The combined operations against that city were begun under the angry auspices of a December sky. In the early part of the attack on that city, Arnold was wounded in the arm, and carried off the field, when his command devolved on Morgan, who, with his little Spartan band, passed the first barrier, and had mounted the second, when the fall of the lamented Montgomery checked his career of expected glory. Colonel Campbell, second in command to that general, after his fall, made no farther effort at conquest, but drew off his troops, which left the enemy undisturbed, to direct his whole attention towards the troops under Morgan, who was compelled to surrender to superior force. While a prisoner, he was offered the rank and emolument of a colonel in the British service. He begged the officer who made him the offer, never again to insult his misfortunes in so degrading a manner. Soon afterwards he was exchanged, when he repaired to the American standard, and received the command of a select rifle corps, by gen. Washington's recommendation, who, although in want of his services, judged it prudent to detach him to the assistance of gen. Gates. That general having after the fall of Ticonderoga, succeeded gen. St. Clair, appeared unable to check the career of Burgoyne, in whose subsequent capture Morgan particularly distinguished himself, notwithstanding which, Gates, in his official communication of that event to the American government, passed his services over unnoticed. The cause was this-Gates was connected with a party who wished to take away the chief command from Washington, and sounded Morgan on the subject. Morgan treated the attempt with disdain, and declared he would serve under no other commander. Hence intimacies ceased to exist between them, and Gates treated him with studied neglect. The latter, after Burgoyne's capture, having invited several British and American officers to dine with him, purposely neglected Morgan. Having, however, some business to transact with him, he called on the general at his dining-room in the evening; but upon his entrance was not announced to the guests. His business finished, he withdrew, and the British officers having learnt his name, followed him out of Gates's presence, and paid him individually their respects. |