front, with the design to cut them off from the inain body of their army.

In the mean time General Clinton perceiving that strong columns of Americans were hanging upon both his flanks, and supposing that their cbject was to attack his baggage now passing through defiles, resolved to halt Lord Cornwallis's division and attack the Americans in his rear, with the expectation, that General WASHINGTON by this manœuvre would be induced to recall his detachments in advance. This movement was made at the moment Lee was reconnoitring their covering party. He found this corps much stronger than he had supposed it to be, and the ground he thought unfavourable for an attack. In his rear was a morass which could be passed only by a neck of hard land, which rendered it difficult for reinforce ments to reach him, and would impede his retreat should he be repulsed. He was finally induced by a movement of General Scott, to cross the ravine and regain the heights of Freehold.

During these manœuvres, some skirmishing took place. As soon as General WASHINGTON heard the firing, he directed the troops under his immediate command, to throw off their packs and march rapidly to the support of the division in front. General Lee

gave no information of his retrograde manœuvre to the Commander in Chief. As General WASHINGTON was approaching the scene of action in advance of his troops, he met, to his surprise and mortification, the corps of General Lee retreating before the enemy, without having made any serious efforts to maintain their ground. He found General Lee in the rear of his division, whom he addressed with warmth, and in language disapproving his retreat. He immediately ordered two regiments to form on ground favourable to check the advancing enemy. He asked General Lee, will you command on this ground? Consenting, he was ordered to arrange the remainder of his division

and to take measures to stop the advance of the British. "Your orders," Lee replied, "suall be obeyed, and I will not be the first to leave the field." The Commander in Chief returned to the main body and formed it for action. The division of Lee now bravely sustained a severe conflict with the van of the British, and when forced from the ground, Lee brought his troops off in order, and formed them in rear of Eng. lish Town.

The check the enemy received, enabled General WASHINGTON to form the left wing and second line of the army on an eminence. Lord Sterling, who commanded this wing, planted a battery of cannon and played with effect upon the British column, which had passed the morass and was pressing on to charge the Americans. At the same time a body of infantry was brought into action. The advance of the enemy was by these measures stopped.

General Green, who on this day commanded the right wing of the American army, had left the direct road near English Town and moved upon the right, as a security to this flank of the army, and had rather passed the ground on which the action began. Learn ng the situation of General WASHINGTON, he brought up his division, and took an advantageous position on the right.

The enemy now attempted to turn the left flank of the Americans, but were repulsed by parties of infan try. They then assailed the right wing, and here too they failed. General Green had posted a body of troops with artillery on cominanding ground in his front, which severely galled the enemy. At this period General Wayne advanced with a strong corps of infantry, and in a close and well directed fire attacked them in front. They gave way and fell behind the ravine to the ground, on which the Commander in Chief met General Lee in the morning. On this ground the British formed in a strong position. Both

Banks were covered by woods and morasses, and their front could be attacked caly through a narrow pass.

General WASHINGTON, even under these circumstances, determined to renew the engagement. In pursuance of this resolution, he ordered Brigadier Poor to gain the right flank of the British, and Brigadier Woodford their left. The artillery was directed to play upon them in front. Before these orders could be effectually carried into execution, the day was fully spent. The General therefore determined to defer the attack until the next morning. He ordered the troops to retain their respective positions, and to lay on their arms. The General in the course of the day had shunned no danger, and he slept in his cloak amidst his soldiers on the field of battle.

At midnight, the British moved off their ground with such silence, that General Poor although very near did not perceive it. General WASHINGTON knew that the British army would reach high and unassailable ground before he could come up with them, and therefore discontinued the pursuit. He despatched small parties of light troops to protect the country from depredation and to encourage desertion. The main body of his army he marched to cover the important passes in the high lands on the Hudson.

General WASHINGTON was satisfied with the behaviour of his army on this day. In his official communication to Congress he mentioned that after the troops had recovered from the surprise of the unex. pected retreat of the morning, their conduct could not have been surpassed. General Wayne was noticed with great commendation,. and the artillery corps was said to have highly distinguished itself.

In the battle of Monmouth, eight officers and sixty-one privates of the Americans were killed; and about one hundred and sixty wounded. Among the killed were Lieutenant Colonel Bonner of Pennsylva nia and Major Dickinson of Virginia, officers of merit

whose fall was much lamented. The Americans buried about three hundred of the British, who had been found on the field; although Sir Henry Clinton, in his official letter, stated his loss in killed and missing at four officers and one hundred and eighty-four privates, and his wounded at sixteen officers and one hundred and fifty-four privates. Among the slain was the Honourable Colonel Monckton, an officer of celebrity. The day had been excessively hot, and numbers, both British and Americans, were found among the dead without wounds, who had fallen victims to the heat.

The Americans made about a hundred prisoners, and nearly a thousand privates, mostly Germans, deserted the British standard, on the march through New-Jersey.

Congress highly approved of the conduct of the Commander in Chief in bringing on the action of the 23th, and was gratified with its issue. In'a resolution which passed that body unanimously, their thanks were given to General WASHINGTON "for the activity with which he moved from the camp at Valley Forge, in pursuit of the enemy; for his distinguished exertions in forming the line of battle; and for his great, good conduct in the action." He was requested "to signify the thanks of Congress to the officers and men under his command, who distinguished themselves by their conduct and valour in the battle."

Although the Commander in Chief disapproved of the retreat, yet could the proud spirit of General Lee have patiently borne what he considered as a reprimand c the field of battle, it is probable that an explanation mutually satisfactory might have taken place. Ge ne.al WASHINGTON Continued him in command on the day of action, after his retreat, and discovered no disposition to take publick notice of it. But the irritable and lofty spirit of Lee urged him to write the next day two offensive letters to General WASHINGTON, in which, assuming the language of a superiour, he

demanded satisfaction for the insult offered him on the field of battle. On deliberation, the Commander in Chief informed him "that he should have an opportu nity to justify himself to the army, to America, and the world, or of convincing them that he had been guilty of breach of orders and misconduct before the enemy." General Lee, expressing his desire for a Court Martial in preference to a Court of Inquiry, was arrested upon the following charges,

1. For disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy on the 28th of June agreeably to repeated instructions.

2 For misbehaviour before the enemy on the same day, by making an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat.

3. For disrespect to the Commander in Chief, in two letters.

The high colouring of the second charge was in con sequence of complaints entered by Generals Wayne and Scott, against General Lee, which on investigation appeared to have been founded in their misapprehending his movements. Lord Sterling presided at the court, which found him guilty of all the charges, but softened the language of the second, and found him guilty of misbehaviour, by making an unnecessary, and in some few instances, a disorderly retreat. The court sentenced him to be suspended from his command for one year.

Congress, with some hesitation, almost unanimously approved the sentence.

The suspension of General Lee was highly satisfactory to the army. They keenly resented his abuse to the Commander in Chief, and his continuance in commission probably would have produced great incon venience.

Scarcely had Sir Henry Clinton reached New-York, when a French fleet appeared off the Chesapeak, un der the command of Count d'Estaing. He had been VOL. I.

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