Back Aa

George Washington

<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> <div class="blockquot">BATTLE OF MONMOUTH—PATRIOTS RECEIVE AID FROM FRANCE—RECAPTURE OF FORT AT STONY POINT BY GEN. ANTHONY WAYNE—WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN—SURRENDER OF CHARLESTON, S. C., TO THE BRITISH—TREASON OF BENEDICT ARNOLD—1778-1780 </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i062.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="439" alt="Molly Pitcher" title="" /> Molly Pitcher</div> General Howe had spent a pleasant winter and spring holding Philadelphia, but he had done nothing in the way of military service. He was now ordered home and Sir Henry Clinton took his place and was told to leave the city. While Washington was in doubt as to what move Clinton would make, messengers came from England with offers of peace for the colonies. They offered a large bribe to General Joseph Reed, a member of Congress. His scornful answer was, "I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it!" This was the spirit that won freedom for America. In June (1778), General Clinton withdrew his army from Philadelphia and Washington marched his troops out of Valley Forge and followed him. Near Monmouth, New Jersey, Washington decided to make an attack. He sent General Charles Lee (who, by this time, had been released by the British) with six thousand men to start the battle, while he brought up the main division. General Lee, who never would take orders from Washington, commanded his men to retreat. Immediately Washington heard of this disobedience, he galloped forward, sternly ordered Lee to the rear, and with hot words rallied the men, stopped the retreat and saved the day. His presence and the courage he displayed ended the disorder and put new life into the men. An officer, who saw him at the time, said his anger was splendid and he "swore like an angel from heaven." Washington spent the night upon the field, his head pillowed on the roots of a tree. At daybreak he arose to renew the attack, but the enemy had learned one of his own tricks and, as Washington himself put it, "had stolen off in the night as silent as the grave." It was at this battle of Monmouth that Molly Pitcher became a heroine. She had been carrying water to the men in action. At one gun, six men had been killed, the last one her husband. As he fell, she seized the ramrod from his hand and took his place. Washington was proud of her courage and gave her the rank and pay of her husband. The love and respect in which the army held Washington were increased by his magnificent daring and splendid generalship in this battle. Congress thanked him "for his great good conduct." General Charles Lee, who had always been disrespectful to Washington and who had tried his best to harm him, was court-martialed for insubordination (disobedience) and deprived of his command. (Charles Lee was not connected with the Lees of Virginia.) General Lee was really a brilliant soldier, but he was ruined by his own jealous disposition. Washington treated him and all other enemies with the kindness of a great mind and a true heart. After the Battle of Monmouth, Clinton took up his quarters in New York and Washington remained in New Jersey. Soon he received word that the French King had sent a fleet of eighteen ships and four thousand soldiers to help the colonists. The Americans were very glad of this, thinking that the British fleet would now be destroyed; but the attack of the French (August, 1778) was unsuccessful and they sailed away without having done much good. We have spoken several times of the Tories who sided with the British. When the war broke out, the patriot settlers in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, decided they would join in the defense of the country and they drove all the Tories out of the Valley. Just after the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), while all the fighting men were away, these Tories got together seven hundred Indians and attacked the women and children. Before Washington could send aid, the whole Valley was laid waste. All the homes were burned. Hundreds were killed by the Indians and many more died trying to reach places of safety. This was followed by night attacks in different places, when sentinels were surprised and murdered by Indians and Tories. Indeed, all through the war, the most cruel enemies the patriots had were their Tory neighbors. To guard against such attacks, and to be ready to meet the British at any point, Washington distributed his troops in a long line of camps and got ready to defend the country from Boston to Philadelphia. The Hudson River was guarded by a fortress at West Point. In order to call the militia out, he arranged a system of signals. On a high hill overlooking the British camp, sentries kept constant watch. If the enemy moved, warning was to be given by firing a big gun. When the gun boomed, fires were to be lighted on the hills within hearing. As soon as these were seen from more distant hills, other fires were to be lighted, until every hilltop blazed and all the countryside was roused and men warned to hurry to their rallying places. Though General Clinton had a great army, he did not offer battle. He carried on an annoying form of warfare by sending out small bodies of men to distant places, to attack and destroy. In this way he plundered and burned villages on the shores of the Chesapeake and in New England and captured valuable stores. <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/i066.jpg" width-obs="226" height-obs="300" alt=""Mad Anthony" Wayne" title="" /> "Mad Anthony" Wayne</div> While these things were happening, Washington planned to recapture the fort at Stony Point on the Hudson, which had been taken by Sir Henry Clinton, May 31, 1779. His plan was entrusted to General Wayne, called "Mad Anthony" Wayne because of his dashing bravery. Wayne took a small body of light-armed, fearless men, marched through the mountains and at midnight on July 16, stormed the fort and captured it. This feat was so well done that it is considered one of the great events of the war. Congress thanked Washington for the victory and gave Wayne a medal for his courage and success. The swift and daring young scout, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, was with this expedition. After it was over, he asked permission to lead an attack on the garrison of Paulus Hook (now Jersey City), right under the guns of New York. Washington, who always admired courageous deeds, allowed him to make the attempt. Lee surprised the fort at night, captured a number of prisoners and made a successful retreat while the guns from the battleships were sounding the alarm. These two daring attacks increased the confidence and spirit of the Americans and gave the British more respect for them. Still, it was tiresome for the troops to remain month after month in camp, wondering what the enemy would do next. Washington had more serious troubles. Congress was slow and often unwise in its acts. The people grew tired of the war, because business was suffering and the farms were neglected, and nothing seemed to be gained by it. Officers resigned from the army and men deserted. Washington was laughed at by the Tories and criticized by his friends. But he was patient and said, "We must not despair! The game is yet in our hands; to play it well is all we have to do." Washington's greatness is shown not only by his skill in action, but by the patience with which he could wait. He simply would not be discouraged. Under such trials, he became "the best among the great." The winter came and Washington took part of his army into a camp of log huts at Morristown, New Jersey. The sad story of Valley Forge was repeated here and the winter (1779-1780) was the coldest ever known in the colonies. When the war broke out, there was, of course, no American money. Congress had put out some paper money called "Continental Currency," but it was worth so little that it took a great deal of it to buy anything. Washington was obliged to ask the states to give the army grain and cattle. New Jersey, where a part of the army was stationed, was very generous and the women knitted socks and made clothes for the soldiers. The British went on surprising and killing small garrisons and plundering the country. In December, 1779, General Clinton sailed, with General Cornwallis and a strong army, to attack Charleston, South Carolina. They landed at Savannah, Georgia, and marched overland. Washington dared not go to the help of the Southern troops and leave the Hudson unguarded against the British army from Canada, which might descend upon it. General Benjamin Lincoln and Commander Whipple were, therefore, left alone to defend Charleston, which they did bravely, though it was bombarded on all sides by the British. They held out until their guns were destroyed and their provisions gone. The people were frightened into submission and on May 12, 1780, the city of Charleston surrendered, and Lincoln and his army became prisoners of war. Considering South Carolina conquered, General Clinton went back to New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis in command, with orders to subdue North Carolina and Virginia. After their success in the South, the British made an attempt to capture Washington's headquarters at Morristown. The patriots of New Jersey rallied to the help of the army and drove off the British, who withdrew, burning houses and killing people as they went. Soon after this, the Americans were encouraged by the arrival (July 10, 1780) of a large French force under Count de Rochambeau (ro-sham-bo), who came to help them. Early in the year (January, 1780), Washington had had the unpleasant duty laid upon him by Congress of rebuking General Benedict Arnold, who, though he was very brave and fought gallantly, had been guilty of several unwise acts. Washington greatly admired General Arnold and made his reproof so gentle that it was almost a compliment. But being called to account at all was more than Arnold could bear. He felt hurt, too, that Congress had promoted others and had only blame for him. This so enraged him that he proved false to the trust Washington had placed in him and false to his country. After his rebuke, feeling that he had been treated unfairly, Arnold began writing letters to Major John André, a popular young British officer, in which he offered to betray the fortress of the Hudson. At Arnold's own request, Washington gave him command of West Point and an important part in a plan to attack the British with the help of the French. Washington had gone to consult with the French commander in Newport (R. I.), when Major André and General Arnold met. At dead of night, September 21, 1780, they went to a house in the forest to make arrangements for the betrayal of West Point. With letters and plans of the fort hidden in his boots, Major André rode back alone to New York. He was caught and searched by three young farmers, who were guarding their cattle against the outlaws who overran the neighborhood. They found the letters and knew he was a spy. André begged them to release him and made them all kinds of offers if they would, but they marched him off ten miles to the nearest fort. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i070.jpg" width-obs="571" height-obs="550" alt="A Messenger came to Benedict Arnold" title="" /> A Messenger came to Benedict Arnold</div> General Washington came back from Newport two days earlier than he was expected. Lafayette, Count Rochambeau and Hamilton rode with him and they planned to go at once to West Point. Arnold was living with his family in a house several miles from the fort and Washington sent word they would have breakfast with him. This was the very day for the fort to be given up and the sudden return of Washington frightened Arnold. Just before his guests arrived, a messenger brought word of André's capture. Hastily bidding his wife good-by, he flung himself on his horse and galloped away. After breakfast, Washington went on with Rochambeau to the fort. No salute welcomed them. General Arnold was not there and apparently they were not expected. While wondering at his absence, Washington had no thought of treachery. Then Hamilton brought him the dreadful news. "Whom can we trust now?" was all he said. Hamilton rode hard after Arnold, but he escaped to the British ship which was lying in the river. Major André endeared himself to everybody by his charming manners, intelligence and bravery. The young officers loved him and the British made every effort to save him, but honorably refused to give up General Arnold in exchange for him. Washington treated André with the greatest kindness, but justice to America required that this fine young officer should die and he suffered the shameful death of a spy (October 2, 1780). His body was later sent to England and he was buried in Westminster Abbey. General Arnold was made an officer in the British army, but nobody trusted him, and the men hated his command. Twenty years afterward (1801), he died, poor and broken-hearted, in a foreign land. It is said that, on his death-bed, he called for his old American uniform and asked to be allowed to die in it. "God forgive me," he cried, "for ever putting on another!" Count Rochambeau had told a pretty story about his journey from Newport with General Washington. One evening, as they passed through a large town, the people came out to greet their General. Throngs of children carrying torches crowded about him, touching his hands and calling him "Father." He was very kind and gentle to all these people, but the patriotism of the children pleased him most. He said Great Britain could never conquer a country whose children were taught to be loyal. Another French officer said of Washington's horses, "They are as good as they are beautiful, and all perfectly trained. He trains them all himself. He leaps the highest barriers and rides very fast." At one time, early in the war, when the Virginia riflemen first came north, some Marblehead (Mass.) fishermen laughed at their fringed hunting shirts and a fight followed. Washington heard of it, jumped on his horse and galloped into camp. His colored servant was going to let down some bars for him, but he leaped over them and dashed into the midst of the fight. He seized the two biggest riflemen and shook them, commanding peace. Washington, as usual, was prevented, through lack of men and supplies, from giving the British a blow. Months passed without much being done, except dashing skirmishes now and then. The two camps watched each other, wondering what the other would do. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i072.jpg" width-obs="225" height-obs="280" alt="Chapter footer" title="" /></div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i073a.jpg" width-obs="534" height-obs="650" alt="Washington bidding Farewell to His Officers" title="" /> Washington bidding Farewell to His Officers</div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.