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cret, the utmost exertions were employed to procure a supply. A vessel which was dispatched to Africa, obtained, in exchange for New England rum, all the gunpowder in the British factories; and in the beginning of winter, captain Manly captured an ordnance brig, which furnished the American army with the precise articles, of which it was in the greatest want. In September, general Washington dispatched Arnold on an expedition against Quebec. In February, 1776, he proposed to a council of his officers to cross the ice and attack the enemy in Boston, but they unanimously, disapproved of the daring measure. It was, however, soon resolved to take possession of the heights of Dorchester. This was done without discovery, on the night of the 4th of March, an on the 17th the enemy found it necessary to evacuate the town. The recovery of Boston ined congress to pass a vote of thanks to general Washington and his brave army.

In the belief, that the efforts of the British would be directed towards the Hudson, he hastened the army to New York, where he himself arrived on the 14th of April. He made every exertion to fortify the city, and attention was paid to the forts in the highlands. While he met the most embarrassing difficulties, a plan was formed to assist the enemy in seizing his person, and some of his own guards engaged in the conspiracy; but it was discovered, and some, who were concerned in it, were executed. In the beginning of July, general Howe landed his troops at Staten Island, his brother, lord Howe, who commanded the fleet, soon arrived; and as both were commissioners for restoring peace to the colonies. the latter addressed, a letter, upon the subject, to "George Washington, esquire;" but the general refused to receive it, as it did not acknowledge the public character, with which he was invested by congress, in which char

acter only he could have any intercourse with his lordship. Another letter was sent to "George Washington, &c. &c. &c." This, for the same reason, was rejected. After the disastrous battle of Brooklyn, on the 27th of August, in which Sterling and Sullivan were taken prisoners, and of which he was only a spectator, he withdrew the troops from Long Island, and in a few days he resolved to withdraw from New York. At Kipp's bay, about three miles from the city, some works had been thrown up to oppose the enemy; but on their approach the American troops fled with precipitation. Washington rode towards the lines, and made every exertion to prevent the disgraceful flight. Such was the state of his mind at this moment, that he turned his horse towards the advancing enemy, apparently with the intention of 1 E› ing upon death. His aids now seized the brid his horse and rescued him from destructie York was, on the same day, Septem evacuated. In October he retreated Plains, where, on the 28th, a consid took place, in which the Americans were o ered. After the loss of forts Washington and Lee, he passed into New-Jersey in November, and was pursued by a triumphant and numerous army. His army did not amount to three thousand, and it was daily diminishing: his men, as the winter commenced, were barefooted and almost naked, destitute of tents and of utensils, with which to dress their scanty provisions; and every circumstance tended to fill the mind with despondance. But general Washington was undismayed and firm. He showed himself to his enfeebled army with a serene and unembarrassed countenance, and they were inspired with the resolution of their commander. On the 8th of December he was obliged to cross the Delaware; but he had the precaution to secure the boats for seventy miles upon the river. the river. While the

British were waiting for the ice to afford them a passage, as his own army had been reinforced by several thousand men, he formed the resolution of carrying the cantonments of the enemy by surprise. On the night of the 25th of December, he crossed the river nine miles above Trenton, in a storm of snow mingled with hail and rain, with about two thousand four hundred men. Two other detachments were unable to effect a passage. In the morning, precisely at eight o'clock, he surprised Trenton, and took 1000 Hessians prisoners, 1000 stand of arms, and six field pieces. Twenty of the enemy were killed, and of the Americans, two were killed, and two frozen to death; and one officer and four privates wounded. On the same day he recrossed the Delaware, with the fruits of his enterprise; but in two or three days passed again into New Jersey, and concentrated his forces, amounting to five thousand, at Trenton. On the approach of a superior enemy under Cornwallis, January 2, 1777, he drew up his men behind Assumpinck creek. He expected an attack in the morning, which would probably result in a ruinous defeat. At this moment, when it was hazardous, if not impracticable, to return into Pennsylvania, he formed the resolution of getting into the rear of the enemy, and thus stop them in their progress towards Philadelphia. In the night he silently decamped, taking a circuitous route through Allentown to Princeton. A sudden change of the weather to severe cold, rendered the roads favourable for his march. About sunrise his van met a British detachment on its way to join Cornwallis, and was defeated by it; but as he came up he exposed himself to every danger, and gained a victory. With 300 prisoners he then entered Princeton. During this march many of his soldiers were without shoes, and their feet left the marks of blood upon the frozen ground. This hardship and their

want of repose, induced him to lead his army to a place of security on the road to Morristown. Cornwallis in the morning broke up his camp, and alarmed for his stores at Brunswick, urged the pursuit. Thus the military genius of the American commander, under the blessing of divine Providence, rescued Philadelphia from the threatened danger, obliged the enemy, which had overspread New-Jersey, to return to the neighborhood of New-York, and revived the desponding spirit of his country. Having accomplished these objects, he retired to Morristown, where he caused his whole army to be inoculated with the small pox, and thus was freed from the apprehension of a calamity, which might impede his operations during the next campaign.

On the last of May, he removed his army to Middlebrook, about ten miles from Brunswick, where he fortified himself very strongly. An ineffectual attempt was made by sir William Howe to draw hin from his position by marching towards Philadelphia: but after Howe's return to New York, he moved towards the Hudson in order to defend the passes in the mountains, in the expectation that a junction with Burgoyne, who was then upon the lakes, would be attempted. After the British general sailed from New York and entered the Chesapeake in August, general Washington marched imediately for the defence of Philadelphia. On the 11th of September he was defeated at Brandywine, with the loss of nine hundred in killed and wounded. A few days afterwards, as he was pursued, he turned upon the enemy, determined upon another engagement; but a heavy rain so damaged the arms and ammunition, that he was under the absolute necessity of again retreating. Philadelphia was entered by Cornwallis on the 26th of September. On the 4th of October, the American commander made a well planned attack upon the

British camp at Germantown; but in consequence of the darkness of the morning, and the imperfect discipline of his troops, it terminated in the loss of 1200 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. In December he went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, on the west side of the Schuylkill, between twenty and thirty miles from Philadelphia. Here his army was in the greatest distress for want of provisions, and he was reduced to the necessity of sending out parties to seize what they could find. About the same time a combination was formed to remove the commander in chief, and to appoint in his place general Gates, whose successes of late had given him a high reputation. But the name of Washington was too dear to the great body of Americans to admit of such a change. Notwithstanding the discordant materials, of which his army was composed, there was something in his character, which enabled him to attach both his officers and soldiers so strongly to him, that no distress could weaken their affection, nor impair the veneration, in which he was generally held. Without this attachment to him the army must have been dissolved. General Conway, who was . concerned in this faction, being wounded in a duel with general Cadwalader, and thinking his wound mortal, wrote to general Washington, "you are, in my eyes, the great and good man.' On the 1st of February, 1778, there were about four thousand men in camp unfit for duty for want of clothes. Of these scarcely a man had a pair of shoes. The hospitals also were filled with the sick. At this time the enemy, if they had marched out of their winter quarters, would easily have dispersed the American army. The apprehension of the approach of a French fleet, inducing the British to concentrate their forces, when they evacuated Philadelphia on the 17th of June, and marched towards New-York, general Washington followed them. Contrary to

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