MILITARY ARRANGEMENTS. possession of New York, the city was fired in several places, and a great part of it was consumed. The incendiaries were probably stragglers from the American lines; but it is certain that the act was done without the knowledge or countenance of Washington. 291 Ch.20. 1776 American The deplorable state of the army, and the utter State of the impossibility of keeping the field, or conducting army. any important operations with a militia which was disbanded every year, had been repeatedly represented to Congress by Washington and other generals. But the lawyers and traders of whom that assembly was composed, thought they were better judges of such matters than the General-inchief and his colleagues in command; and had it not been for the loss of New York, would probably have gone on declaiming against the danger to liberty of standing armies, while the British troops overran their provinces, and re-established the authority of George the Third. But the misconduct and utter inefficiency of the constitutional force having been proved by fatal experience, the Congress, alarmed at the imminent danger, at length gave their sanction to a plan for raising a body of regulars, which Washington had urged. They voted eighty-eight battalions for service during the war, and they offered a liberal bounty on enlistment. At the pressing instance of John Adams," the 292 Ch. 2o. 1776 Inactivity of DILATORY PROCEEDINGS President of the War Committee, they also, though not without great hesitation and reluctance, adopted a measure without which an army is an undisciplined mob, dangerous only to its employers. They enacted a code of military law, upon the model of the Articles of War which govern the British service. Still they did what they could to mar the efficiency of the establishment so created, by reserving to the several provincial states the appointment of the regimental officers to their respective contingents. The result of an arrangement so wholly at variance with any principle of military organization was, that persons totally unfit for their duties were appointed through local and political intrigue. Many months, however, elapsed before any step was taken by Congress towards the completion of this scheme; and in the meantime Washington had to maintain a position which was daily becoming more critical, with troops upon whom little reliance could be placed, either in the camp or in the field. General Howe remained inactive nearly a month after the capture of New York. Washington profited by this interval to render his position more secure. At length the approach of winter rendered it necessary for the British to make some movement. The Americans, encamped on the heights of Haarlem, were not likely to offer battle by descending into the open plains; and it was only by menacing their communications with the ment. OF SIR WILLIAM HOWE. main land, that they could be forced to an engageHowe having conveyed a large body of troops through a dangerous navigation, landed them at a small island close to the main land, and in the rear of the Americans. An attempt was made to dislodge him, but the Americans, though repulsed, were enabled to retreat upon their lines in good order. The English general, as usual, neglecting, or only half profiting by his opportunities, made no attempt to dislodge the enemy from his intrenchments, but preferred the minor but not unimportant enterprise of attacking Fort Washington, which contained a garrison of three thousand men. The place was taken by storm, after a stout resistance, and the whole garrison, with a large quantity of military stores, fell into the hands of the British. 293 Ch.20. 1776 retreats. Washington was compelled by this disaster to Washington abandon his position, and he continued in full retreat, which must have terminated in an utter rout, had Cornwallis, instead of hanging upon his rear, pushed on in vigorous pursuit. The American army having thus been suffered to cross the Delaware, at length halted in the Pennsylvanian territory. The season was now too far advanced for farther operations, and the Royal army were distributed in winter quarters, along an extended line of eighty miles from the Delaware to the Hakensack. Before this took place an accident happened to which great importance was attached on both sides. This was the capture of General 294 Ch.20. 1776 CAPTURE OF GENERAL LEE. Lee, the second in command to Washington. This officer having held a commission in the British army, and seen some active service, had a higher reputation than any of the American generals, some of whom were brought from civil pursuits, and some from mechanical occupations. Lee was a man of education and ability, but of a rude, wayward, self-willed disposition, which rendered his talents almost impracticable. His arrival at head-quarters had been anxiously expected, and his reception at New York was such as to flatter the idea which he willingly entertained, that under his direction the blunders of former incapable commanders would be speedily rectified. He began by thwarting, disobeying, and ridiculing the plans of his superior in command. Washington, who appears to have had a good opinion of Lee's military judgment, bore with his humours, and flattered his vanity. His capture was owing to a wilful and perverse negligence of ordinary precaution. He chose to go out unattended on a reconnoitring expedition, and was surprised by a party of cavalry. Considerable difficulty arose as to the exchange of a prisoner of such distinction. Lee was the only officer in the American army of whom the English spoke in any other terms than those of contempt; and they were, therefore, very unwilling to restore him to the service of the rebels. It was alleged that having been a British officer, although he had regularly resigned his commission before he CAMPAIGN OF 1776. joined the American army, he was to be considered as a deserter; and it was not until Washington declared that the treatment of English prisoners in his hands should be regulated by the treatment of Lee, that the latter was recognised as a prisoner of war and ultimately exchanged upon the usual terms. 295 Ch. 20. 1776 by surprise. The campaign of 1776, seemed likely to close Trenton taken without any farther movement on either side, when an opportunity presented itself of which such advantage was taken as to change the fortune of the war. A chain of posts, of which the town of Trenton was the centre, extended along the side of the river, nearly opposite to the headquarters of Washington. By a remarkable supineness, this position, the nearest to the enemy, was left in charge of the German mercenaries, and the ordinary precaution of throwing up outworks had been altogether neglected. Washington determined to send a strong detachment across the river at night, and surprise Trenton." With the It is stated by Lord Stanhope, following Adolphus, that the attack on Trenton was planned by Arnold; but this statement appears to have no other foundation than the fact that Arnold arrived at head-quarters a week before the attack was made. It appears, however, from a letter to Governor Trumball, dated the 14th December, some days before Arnold's appearance, that Washington had meditated such an attempt for some time. The general who had planned and executed the attack on Dorchester Heights, was quite capable of originating such an achievement as the capture of Trenton.-SPARKS's Washington, vol. iv. p. 541; LORD STANHOPE's History of England, vol. vi. |