Show ft t f df A f installment 16 von steuben had won himself place on the great fredericks staff in the seven years war and was of that studious race of soldiers the world was presently to learn to fear steuben at valley forge he joined washington at valley forge and turned the desolate camp into a training school ot arms teach ing what these troops had never known before promptness and precis ion in the manual of arms in massed and ordered movement in the use of the bayonet the drill and mastery of the charge and of the open field neither washington nor any of his officers had known how to give this training the commander in chief had not even bad a properly organized staff till this schooled and thorough ger man supplied it and he was valued in the camp as he deserved baron admires americans you say to your soldier do this and he boeth it he wrote to an old comrade in prussia I 1 am obliged to ay to mine this Is the reason why ou ought to do that and then he docs it but he learned to like and to ad mire his new comrades soon enough when he found what spirit and capa city there was in them for the field of action s the army came out of its dismal winter quarters stronger than it had ever been before alike in spirit and discipline more demoted to its corn mander than ever and more fit to serve him an efficient army at last the change to a system of long enlistments had transformed it from a levy of militia into an army steadied by service unafraid of the field 9 the year opened besides with a bew hope and a new confidence they w ere no longer a body of insurgents even to the ee of europe aws came to the camp late in t the night of the ath of may 1778 that france had entered into open alliance with the united states and would send fleets and an army to aid in securing their independence an alliance of power such an alliance changed the whole face of affairs england would no U f sc longer have the undisputed freedom of the seas and the conquest of her col onles in america might turn out the least part of her task in the presence of european enemies she now knew the full significance of saratoga and germantown washington s splendid audacity and extraordinary command of his re sources in throwing himself upon bis victorious antagonist at germantown as the closing move of a long retreat had touched the imagination and won the confidence of foreign soldiers and statesmen hardly less than the taking of Dur goyne at saratoga parliament awaked parliament at last february 1778 ame to Us senses resolved to renounce the right to tax the colonies except tor the regulation of trade and sent commissioners to america to of er such terms for submission but it was too late neither congress nor the states would now hear of anything but independence with a french fleet about to take the sea it was necessary that the british commanders in america should concentrate their forces philadelphia they had at last found out was a burden not a prize it had no strategic advantage of alon was bard to defend and harder tp provision was too tar from the sea and not far enough from wash angton s open lines of operation general howe resigns before the summers campaign bean sir william howe resigned bis command and bade the town good bye amidst elaborate festivities may 1778 general clinton who succeeded him received orders from england to undo work at once abandon palla delphia delp hla and his forces at new york washington behind easier said thac done there were not transports enough to move his fifteen thousand men by oa only the three thousand loyal ests who bad put themselves under hla protection 1 coul be sent in the chips with a portion of his stores he must cross the hostile country and s wi vins scarcely begun june lix ator was at ala heels with a force but little inferior to his own either in numbers or in discipline lie might never have reached new york at all had not charles lee been once more second in command in the american army the insubordinate lee he bad come out of captivity ex changed and now proved himself the insubordinate poltroon he was he had never had any real heart in the cause he owned estates in virginia but he was not of the great virginian family of the northern neck he was only a soldier of fortune strayed out of the british service on half pay to seek some profit in the colonies and cared for no interest but his own while a prisoner he had secretly directed howes movement against philadelphia and now he was to consummate his cowardly cry washington outstripped his opponent in the movement upon new york and determined to fall upon him at monmouth court house where on the night of the of june alln tons divisions lay separate offering a chance to cut them asunder A eroin move on the morning of the lee was ordered forward with six thou sand men to enfold cliftons Clin tons left wing eight thousand men the flower of the force by gaining its flank while washington held its main body ready to strike in his aid at the right moment the movement was perfectly successful and the fighting had begun when to the amazement and chagrin alike of officers and men lee began to withdraw lafayette sent a messenger hot foot for washington who rode ap to find his men not attack ing but pursued what Is the meaning of all this he thundered his wrath terrible to see terrible wrath when lee would have made some excuse he hotly cursed him in his fury tor a coward himself rallied the willing troops and led thein forward again to a victory won back the field lee had abandoned and drove the enemy to the cover of a morass in the night that followed clinton hastily withdrew leaving even bis wounded behind him and washing ton s chance to crush him was gone great fredericks opinion clinton gained no advantage except to reach new york with the wreck of his army commended the observant frederick over sea america Is probably lost tor england but a great opportunity had been treacherously thrown away and the war dragged henceforth with every painful trial of hope deterred french fleet off sandy hook A scant three after clinton had reached new york the count dEstal ng was off sandy hook wah a french fleet 0 twelve ships of the line and six frigates bringing four thousand troops the british fleet within the harbor was barely halt as but the pilots told the cautious frenchman that hla larger ships could not cross the bar and he turned away from new york to strike at newport the only other point now held by the british in all the country that place had hardly been in vested however when lord howe appeared with a stronger fleet than the french fleet sails to boston D estaing was obliged to draw off to meet him a great storm sent both fleets into port to refit instead of to fight and the disgusted militiamen and continentals continent als who bad come to take the town with the french with drew in high choler to see the fleet without which they could do nothing taken off to boston when the autumn came clinton felt free to send thirty alvo hundred men to the southern coast and savannah was taken december 29 1778 only in the tar west at the depths of the great wilderness beyond the mountains was anything done that promised decisive advantage george rogers dark that daring saxon frontiersman who moved so like a king through the tar forest swept the whole country of the illinois free from british soldiers and british authority that winter of 1778 9 annex ing it to the states that meant to be independent and steady stream of immigration began to pour into the opened country as it to prepare a still deeper task of conquest for the brit ish at tar new york but few noted in the east what gal lant men were doing in abo valley of the mississippi they saw only that the british tolled in new england and the middle colonies had changed their plans and were now minded to try what could be done in the south there at last their campaigns seemed about to yield them something savannah taken they had little trouble in georgia and every effort to dislodge them tailed tov washington could not withdraw hl army from before clinton 31 new york spain joined franco in offensive alliance in april 1779 in august a combined french and spanish fleet at tempted an invasion of england all europe seemed about to turn upon 0 stout little kingdom in its unanimous fear and hatred of her arrogant su prelacy upon the seas british a common target everywhere there was war upon the ocean highways even america send ing forth men of desperate valor like john paul jones to ravage and chal lenge britain upon her very coast but england s spirit only rose with the danger and washington waited all the weary year through tor his french allies in 1780 it looked for a little as it the british were indeed turned victors in the spring clinton withdrew the force that had held newport to new york and leaving general sen there with a powerful force to keep washington and the city carried eight thousand men southward to take charleston there were forces al ready in the south sufficient to swell his army to ten thousand ere he in vested the fated town and on the twelfth of may 1780 it tell into his hands with general lincoln and three thousand prisoners south carolina lost washington had sent such succor as he could but the british force was overwhelming and south carolina was lost south carolina teemed with loyal ests the whole country was swept and harried by partisan bands the men who should have swelled gemeril lincoln a force knew not when their homes might be plundered and destroyed it they were to leave them the planters of the low country dared not belr for fear of an insurrection of their slaves in june clinton could take halt his force back to new york deeming the work done gates put to rout general gates completed the dasas arous trous record on the thirteenth of june be was given chief command in the south and was lold that the coun try expected another Burgoy his force was above three thousand and he struck his blow as he should at camden where cornwallis ls had but two thousand men albeit trained and veteran troops but the end was total shameful rout august 16 1780 and the men knew at last the incapacity of their hero of saratoga congress in helpless state certainly things looked f desperate enough that dark year the congress was sinking into a more and more helpless inefficiency definite articles of confederation had been submitted to the states nearly three years ago november 1777 but they had not been adopted yet and the states had almost ceased to heed the requisitions of the congress at ail unable to tax it paid its bills and the wages of its troops in paper which co rapidly fell in value that by the time the hopeless year 1789 was out men in the ranks found a months pay too little with which to buy even a single bushel of wheat washington was obliged to levy supplies from the country round him 10 teed bis army and in spite of their stanch loyalty to him his men grew mutinous in sheer disgust with the weak and faithless government they were expected to serve wholesale desertion began as many as one hun dred men a month going over to the enemy to get at least pay and food and clothing the country worn out the country seemed not so much dismayed as worn out and indifferent weary of waiting and hoping looking stolidly to see the end come washington was helpless without the operation cooperation co of a naval force it was impossible to do more than hold the british ta new york france it was true was bestirring herself again on the tenth of july french fleet put in at newport and landed a force of six thousand men under count rochambeau a most sensible and capable officer who was directed to join washington and put himself entirety under bis command but a powerful british fleet presently made its appearance in the sound the french admiral dared not stir rochambeau dared not leave him without succor and the reinforcements that were to have followed out of france were blockaded in the harbor of brest treason la added then while things stood so treason was added arc n benedict arnold the man whom washington trusted with a deep affection fec tion and whom the army loved lor his gallantry entered into correspond enca with the enemy arranged to give west point and the posts dependent upon it into their hands and bis treason suddenly detected escaped with out punishment to the british sloop of war that waited in the river for the british agent in the plot washington was at hand when the discovery was made his aides were breakfasting with arnold when the traitor was handed the note which told him he was found out and arnold bad scarcely excused himself and made good his flight when the commander in chief reached the house overcome with grief when washington learned what had happened it smote him so that mighty sobs burst from him as if bis great heart would break and all the night through the guard could hear him pacing his room endlessly in a lonely vigil with his bitter thoughts lie did not in his own grief forget the stricken wife upstairs go to mrs arnold he said to one of his officers and tell her that though my duty required that no means should be neg looted to arrest general arnold I 1 have a great pleasure in acquainting her that he is now safe on board a british vessel arnold had deemed himself wronged and insulted by congress but what of aicer that washington trusted might nota who could be confided in it such men turned traitors but a sudden turning of affairs marked the close of the year cornwallis ls had penetrated too tar into the carolinas Caroll nas had advanced into north carolina and was beset as burgoyne had been by a rising of the country he lost twelve hundred men at kings mountain october 7 1780 as burgoyne bad lost a thousand at bennington and everywhere as he moved he found himself checked by the best officers ahe war had bred nathaniel green ft ho bad been washington s right hand man clr war through Ih rough henry lee the daring master of cavalry whom washington loved the veteran steuben morgan who had won saratoga with arnold and partisan leaders a score whom he had learned to dread in that wide forested country cornwallis ls outgeneraled he was outgeneraled bis forces were taken in detail and beaten and he himself was forced at last into virginia by midsummer 1781 all his interior posts were lost and he was cut off from charleston and savannah by a country he dared not cross again in virginia though at first he raided as be pleased he was checked more and more as the season advanced by a growing force under lafayette and by the first week in august he had taken counsel of prudence and established himself seven thousand strong at yorktown near the sea his base of supplies the final blow then it was that washington struck the blow which ended the war at last rochambeau was tree to move at last a french fleet was at hand to block the tree passage of tho sea 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