XVII. 1776. here sent dispatches to the commander in chief, BOOK expressing sanguine hopes, that by a continued pursuit he could entirely disperse the army under general Washington, and seize his heavy baggage and artillery before he could pass the Delawar. But general Howe would not revoke his order, saying only that he would join his lordship immediately but this junction did not take place till after an important interval of several days; and the Americans were once more saved by the cold and dilatory policy of the English general. On the 7th, lord Cornwallis advanced to Princetown, which the Americans had scarcely quitted: and the van of his lordship's army reached at midnight, December 8, the banks of the Delawar, just as the rear-guard of the Americans gained the opposite shore. Here a cessation of the pursuit became indispensable, as no boats could be procured for transporting the troops over that great river. During this memorable retreat, general Lee, at the head of a considerable body of troops, had followed the track of lord Cornwallis, but at too great a distance to be of any service to the commander in chief. It seemed as if his proud and envious mind, which could brook no superiority, would have been gratified by the total defeat and ruin of general Washington, to whom he would, in all probability, have suc XVII. 1776. BOOK ceeded as generalissimo of the forces of America*. But it was otherwise decreed, and an unlookedfor and unspeakable mortification and disgrace awaited him. While he lay carelessly and without a guard at a place called Basking-ridge, intelligence of his situation was communicated to colonel Harcourt, who instantly formed a plan for capturing this able officer, styled by the British army "the American Palladium." With such address and activity was this project carried into execution, that the general was seized by a party of light horse, conducted by the colonel in the night of the 18th of December 1776, and carried safely off to the British camp, though seve ral guarded posts and armed patroles, lay in their way. This capture caused great exultation, and the prisoner was confined in the closest manner. An offer being made by the congress to exchange six field-officers for the general, it was answered, that general Lee, being a deserter from his majesty's service, did not come under the denomination of a prisoner of war, nor was he en * General Washington on the 8th of December writes"I have no certain intelligence of general Lee, although I have sent frequent expresses to him. I last night dispatched another, desiring he would hasten his march to the Delawar, in which I would provide boats near Alexandria, for the transportation of his troops.I cannot account for the slowness of his march."-Vide General Washington's Letters. XVII. titled to the benefits of the cartel; and the me- BOOK nace of retaliation alone prevented their proceeding to the last extremity against him*. During 1776. the royal successes in the Jerseys, general Clinton, with two brigades of British and two of Hessian troops, with a squadron of men of war, was detached to the attack of Rhode Islandwhich being in no condition of defence, was abandoned to them without resistance. It was taken possession of by general Clinton on the very day that general Washington crossed the DelaWhen the expedition was in readiness to procced on this enterprise, general Clinton strongly urged that he might rather be permitted to conduct it to the Delawar, where it would no doubt have produced effects infinitely more important for the possession of Rhode Island had no other visible consequence than to keep a great body of troops unemployed for three successive years, and apparently contributing as little to the projected reduction of the adjoining continent as if they had been stationed at Formosa or Japan, war. The affairs of America were now in the opinion of many verging to a crisis; for, though it might reasonably be expected that the first operations of so great a force as that now employed * Vide Washington's Letters, January 12, 1777. XVII. BOOK by Great Britain would be successful in a certain degree, it could scarcely be imagined that such a series of disasters could happen in so short a time. But the event of the campaign, though now in appearance brought very nearly to a termination, shewed in a striking manner the caprice of fortune, and the folly of those who in a hazardous and dangerous war rely on a constant and uninterrupted tide of success. When general Washington retreated across the Delawar, he trembled for the fate of America *; and talked of retiring for safety with the remains of his army to the recesses of the Alleghany mountains, expecting to have been immediately followed by the British forces. For, though the boats were by a timely precaution removed to the Pennsylvanian shore, the neighbourhood supplied ample materials, which art and industry might soon have constructed into rafts and flotillas sufficient for the transportation of the troops. But it was remarked by men of discernment, that nothing of the vast or decisive appeared in the plans of the English general, and the troops now "There can be no doubt," says the American general, in his dispatch of December 12, but that Philadelphia is the object of the enemy, and that they will pass the Delawar as soon as possible. Happy should I be, if I could see the means of preventing them; at present, I confess I do not.” -Vide Letters by General Washington, &c. XVII. 1776. in the full career of success were ordered into BOOK winter cantonments, forming an extensive chain from Brunswic to the Delawar, and down the banks of that river for many miles, so as to compose a front at the end of the line looking over to Pennsylvania. General Washington having perfect information of this disposition, in the spirit of a vigilant and sagacious commander, immediately formed the resolution to clip the wings of the enemy while they were so spread *." Very early in the morning of the 26th of December (1776), a day purposely selected on the supposition that the preceding festivity might favour the project of surprize, general Washington crossed the Delawar, not without extreme difficulty from the quantity of ice in the river, nine miles above Trenton, and immediately began his march in the midst of a storm of snow and hail at the head of his troops, which ex * "Mr. Mersereau, employed by the American general to gain intelligence, returned with an account where they were cantoned, and in what numbers. General Fermoy was appointed to receive and communicate the information to the commander in chief. Upon the receipt of it, HE cried out,Now is our time to clip their wings, while they are so spread !" Vide GORDON's History of the American War. |