more than two thousand men, leaving blankets and baggage, except what his few wagons could bear away, a large amount of provisions, camp-kettles on the fire, above four hundred tents standing, and all his cannon except two twelve-pounders, but no military stores.* With his utmost speed he barely escaped being cut off; but Washington, first ordering Grayson, his aide-de-camp, to renew the summons for Lee to cross the river, gained the bridge over the Hackensack by a rapid march, and covered the retreat of the garrison, so that less than ninety stragglers were taken prisoners. The main body of those who escaped were without tents, or blankets, or camp utensils, but such as they could pick up as they went along. To prevent being hemmed in on the narrow peninsula between the Hackensack and Passaic rivers, which meet in Newark bay, orders were given on the twenty-first for moving beyond the Passaic. The governor of New Jersey was reminded that the enlistment of the flying camp belonging to that state, Pennsylvania, and Maryland was near expiring, so that the enemy could be stopped only by the immediate uprising of the militia. At Newark, where Washington arrived on the night of the twenty-second, he maintained himself for five days, devising means to cover the country, and awaiting the continental force under Lee and volunteers of New Jersey. On the twenty-third he sent Reed, who was a native of New Jersey, to the legislature of that state then at Burlington, and Mifflin to congress. Reed, who had been charged to convey to the New Jersey government "a perfect idea of the critical situation of affairs, the movements of the enemy, and the absolute necessity of further and immediate exertions," shrinking from further duty, returned his commission to the president of congress; but a cold rebuke from Washington drove him, at the end of four days, to retract his resignation, though he could not overcome his reluctance at "following the wretched remains of a broken army." + Congress called on the associators in Philadelphia and the nearest four counties to join the army, if but for six months; *Greene to Governor Cooke, 21 December 1776, in Force, iii., 1242, 1243. A Reply to General J. Reed's Remarks, 10, 13, 21. begged blankets and woollen stockings for the soldiers; and wrote North and South for troops and stores. The state of Pennsylvania was paralyzed by disputes about its new constitution; but Mifflin successfully addressed the old committee of safety and the new assembly; he reviewed and encouraged the city militia; with Rittenhouse in the chair, and the general assembly and council of safety in attendance, he spoke to the people of Philadelphia in town-meeting with fervor, and was answered by acclamations. All this while the British officers were writing home from New York: "Lord Cornwallis is carrying all before him in the Jerseys; peace must soon be the consequence of our success." On the twenty-eighth the advanced guard of Cornwallis reached Newark, just as it was left by the rear of the Americans. At Brunswick, where the American army arrived on the evening of the twenty-eighth, it found short repose. Lee, though importuned daily, and sometimes twice a day, lingered on the east of the Hudson; Pennsylvania had no government; the efforts of congress were ineffective; and the appeal of the governor of New Jersey to its several colonels of militia could not bring into the field one full company. All this while Washington was forced to hide his weakness and bear loads of censure from false estimates of his strength. To expressions of sympathy from William Livingston he answered: "I will not despair." As he wrote these words, on the last day of November, he was parting with the New Jersey and Maryland brigades, which formed nearly half his force and claimed their discharge now that their engagement expired; while the brothers, Lord and Sir William Howe, were publishing a new proclamation of pardon and amnesty to all who within sixty days would promise not to take up arms against the king. The legislature of New Jersey did all it could; but the second officer of the Monmouth battalion refused "taking the oaths to the state;" Charles Read, its colonel, "submitted to the enemy;" the chief justice wavered; and Samuel Tucker, president of its constituent convention, chairman of its committee of safety, treasurer, and judge of its supreme court, signed the pledge of fidelity to the British. From Philadelphia, Joseph Galloway went over to Howe; so did Andrew Allen, who had been a member of the continental congress, and two of his brothers-all confident of being soon restored to their former fortunes and political importance. Even John Dickinson for two or three months longer refused to accept * from Delaware an appointment to the congress of the United States. The convention of Maryland on the tenth of November † authorized its delegates to concur in the decisions of the majority of congress. On the other hand, Schuyler detached from the northern army to Washington's aid seven continental regiments of New England, who owed service to the end of the year. Wayne, the commander at Ticonderoga, burned to go "to the assistance of poor Washington." Trumbull of Connecticut said for its people and for himself: "We are determined to maintain our cause to the last extremity." The fate of America was trembling in the scale, when the Howes rashly divided their forces. Two English and two Hessian brigades, under the command of Clinton, assisted by Earl Percy and Prescott, passed through the sound in seventy transports, and, on the seventh of December, were convoyed into the harbor of Newport by eleven ships-of-war. The island of Rhode Island could offer no resistance; and for its useless occupation a large number of troops were kept unemployed all the next three years. On the evening On the first of December, just as Washington was leaving Brunswick, he renewed his urgency with Lee: "The enemy mean to push for Philadelphia. I must entreat you to hasten your march, or your arrival may be too late." of that day Cornwallis entered Brunswick. he retreated, broke down a part of the bridge over the Raritan, and a sharp cannonade took place across the river, in which it is remembered that an American battery was commanded by Alexander Hamilton. With but three thousand men, he marched by night to Princeton. Leaving Stirling and twelve hundred men at that place to watch the motions of the enemy, he went with the rest to Trenton, where he found time * Cæsar Rodney to Thomas Rodney, 23 December 1776. Force, Fifth Series, iii., 1370. John Dickinson to George Read, 20 and 22 January 1777. Robert Morris to John Jay, 12 January 1777. MSS. Force, Fifth Series, iii., 179. to counsel congress how to provide resources for the campaign of the next year. Having transferred his baggage and stores beyond the Delaware, he faced about with such troops as were fit for service. But, on the sixth, Cornwallis was joined by Howe and nearly a full brigade of fresh troops. Washington, on his way to Princeton, met the detachment of Stirling retreating before a vastly superior force; he therefore returned with his army to Trenton, and crossed the Delaware. Who shall say what might have happened if Howe had pushed forward four thousand men in pursuit? But, resting seventeen hours at Princeton, and, on the eighth, taking seven hours to march twelve miles, he arrived at Trenton just in time to see the last of the patriots safely pass the river. His army could not follow, for Washington had destroyed or secured every boat on the Delaware and its tributaries for seventy miles. Philadelphia was in danger. Congress published an appeal to the people, especially of Pennsylvania and the adjacent states, giving assurance of aid from foreign powers. Washington with all his general officers entreated Lee to march and join him with all possible expedition, adding: "Do come on; your arrival without delay may be the means of preserving a city." Late at night arrived an evasive answer. Lee was impatient to gain the chief command. From the east side of the Hudson he wrote to Rush: "Let me talk vainly; I could do you much good, might I but dictate one week. Did none of the congress ever read the Roman history?" The day after the loss of Fort Lee he received one explicit order, and another peremptory one, to pass into New Jersey. To Bowdoin, who was then at the head of the government of Massachusetts, he described these orders as "absolute insanity." Of other more elaborate instructions he sent garbled extracts to Bowdoin with the message: "In so important a crisis, even the resolves of the congress must no longer nicely weigh with us. We must save the community, in spite of the legis lature. There are times when we must commit treason against the laws of the state for the salvation of the state. The present crisis demands this brave, virtuous kind of treason." A letter to Lee from Reed, who was himself irresolute and de sponding, ran thus: "You have decision, a quality often wanted in minds otherwise valuable. Oh, General, an indecisive mind is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an army; how often have I lamented it this campaign!" Lee greedily inhaled the flattery of the man who professed to be the friend of Washington, and on the twenty-fourth wrote back: "My dear Reed, I lament with you that fatal indecision of mind which in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity, or even want of personal courage." Before the end of the month this answer, having outwardly the form of an official despatch, fell under the eye of Washington. On the second and third of December the division of Lee passed over the Hudson; but not to join Washington: he claimed to be "a general detached to make an important diversion," and he was bent on making his detachment larger than that of the commander-in-chief. He demanded of Heath in the Highlands the transfer of his best regiments, having first said to him: "I will and must be obeyed;" but the honest officer refused, producing his instructions. At Haverstraw, on the fourth of December, he intercepted and incorporated into his own division the three thousand men whom Schuyler had sent from the northern army to the relief of Washington. From Pompton, on the seventh, he despatched a French officer of no merit and ignorant of English to command the troops collected for the defence of Rhode Island; and in a letter to the governor of that state he sneered at Washington as destitute of the qualities which "alone constitute a general." From Morristown he announced to Richard Henry Lee and Rush, the committee of congress, that it was not his intention "to join the army with Washington." From Chatham he hurried off orders to Heath to send him three regiments just arrived from Ticonderoga, without loss of time, saying: "I am in hopes here to reconquer the Jerseys." On the twelfth his division marched with Sullivan eight miles only to Vealtown; but Lee, with a small guard, proceeded three or four miles nearer the enemy, who were but eighteen miles off, and passed the night at White's tavern at Baskingridge. The next morning he lay in bed till eight o'clock. On rising, he wasted two hours with Wilkinson, a messenger |