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Show .' -S? I5Y THE PHES1BENT-' Installment 16 i'.aron von Steuuon had won himself (: place on the great Frederick's staff V.n the seven years' war, and was of uhar. studious race of soldiers the world was presently to learn to fear. Steuben at Valley Forge. !!! joined Washington at Valley I''un?e and turned the desolate camp Snlo a training-school of arms, teaching, teach-ing, what these troops had never known before, promptness and precis-Son precis-Son 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 mot even had a properly organized staff till this schooled and thorough German Ger-man supplied it, and ha was valued in the camp as he deserved. Baron Admires Americans. "You say to your soldier, 'Do this,' and he doeth It," he wrote to an old comrade in Prussia; "I am obliged to .ay to mine, "This Is the reason why you ought to do that,' and then he loes it." Hut he learned to like and to admire ad-mire his new comrades soon enough when he found what spirit and capacity capa-city there was In them for the field of action. The army came out of its dismal winter quarters stronger than it had wer been before, alike In spirit and discipline; more devoted to its commander com-mander than ever, and more fit to nerve 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. The year opened, besides, with a new hope and a new confidence. They were no longer a body of insurgents oven to the eye of Europe. iews came to the camp late in the night of the 4th of May (1778) that France had entered into open alliance with the United States, and would eend fleets and an army to aid in securing se-curing their independence. An Alliance of Power. Such an alliance changed the whole Jace of affairs. England would no ij(jU.y6- J r 'longer have the undisputed freedom of the seas, and the conquest of her col- onies.iii 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 resources re-sources in throwing himself upon his 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 Burgoyne at Saratoga. Parliament Awakes. Parliament at last (February, 1778) came to its senses: resolved to renounce re-nounce the right to tax the colonies, except for the regulation of trade, and 6ent commissioners to America to offer of-fer 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 position; posi-tion; was hard to defend, and harder to provision; was toq far from the sea. and not far enough from Washington's Wash-ington's open lines of operation. General Howe Resigns. Before the summer's campaign began. be-gan. Sir William Howe resigned his command and bade the town goodbye, good-bye, amidst elaborate festivities (May 18th, 177S). General Clinton, who succeeded him, received orders from England to undo Howe's work at once, abandon Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, and concentrate his forces at New York. Washington Close Behind. Twas easier said thac done. There were not transports enough lo move his fifteen thousand men by Eea; only the three thousand loyalists loyal-ists who had put themselves under liis ' protection could be sent in the ehlps with a portion of his stores: he rn.t',Ws the hostile country; and ,,r-i, was scarcely begun (June 'tj;:h jrore ' Wishington was at lis heels, with a force but little inferior to his own either in numbers or in discipline. He 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 had come out of captivity, exchanged, ex-changed, and now proved himself the insubordinate poltroon he was. H6 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 Howe's movement against Philadelphia, and now he was to consummate his cowardly treachery. treach-ery. Washington outstripped his opponent oppo-nent in the movement upon New York, and determined to fall upon him at Monmouth Court House, where, on the night of the 27th of June, Clinton's Clin-ton's divisions lay separate, offering a chance to cut them asunder. A Treacherous Move. On the morning of the 28th, Lee was ordered forward 'with six thousand thou-sand men to enfold Clinton's left wing eight thousand men, the flower of the British 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; suc-cessful; and the fighting had begun, when, to the amazement and chagrin alike of officers and men, Lee began to withdraw. Lafayette sent a messenger mes-senger hot-foot for Washington, who rode np to find his men, not attacking, attack-ing, but pursued. "What is the meaning of all this?" he thundered, his wrath terrible to see. Washington's Terrible Wrath. When Lee would have made some excuse, he hotly cursed him, in his fury, for a coward, himself rallied the willing troops, and led them 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 his wounded behind him, and Washington's Washing-ton's chance to crush him was gone. Great Frederick's Opinion. "Clinton gained no advantage except ex-cept to reach New York with the wreck of his army," commended the observant Frederick over sea; "America "Amer-ica is probably lost for England." But a great opportunity had been treacherously thrown away, and the war dragged henceforth with every painful trial of hope deferred. French Fleet Off Sandy Hook. A scant three weks after Clinton had reached New York, the Count d'Estaing was off Sandy Hook, with a French fleet of twelve ships of the line and six frigates, bringing four thousand troops. The British fleet within the harbor was barely half as strong'j but the pilots told the cautious cau-tious Frenchman that his 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 invested, in-vested, however, when Lord Howe appeared ap-peared 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, who had come to take the town with the French, withdrew 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-five hundred men to the southern coast, and Savannah was taken (December 29, 1778). Only In the far west, at the depths of the great wilderness beyond the mountains, was anything done that promised decisive advantage.' George Rogers Clark, that daring Saxon frontiersman, who moved so like a king through the far forest, swept the whole country of the Illinois free from British soldiers and British authority that winter of 1778-9, annexing annex-ing it to the states that meant to be independent; and a steady stream of immigration began to pour into the opened country, as if to prepare a still deeper task of conquest for the British Brit-ish at far New York. But few noted in the east what gallant gal-lant men were doing in the valley of the Mississippi. They saw only that the British, foiled 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 overrunning Georgia, and everv effort to dislodge them failed; for Washington could not withdraw hi army from before Clinton at New York. Spain Joined France in offensive alliance in April, 1779; in August a combined French and Spanish fleet attempted at-tempted an invasion of England; all Europe seemed about to turn upon tbe stout little kingdom in its unanimous fear and hatred of her arrogant supremacy su-premacy upon the seas. British a Common Target. Everywhere there was war upon the ocean highways even America sending send-ing forth men of desperate valor, like John Paul Jones, to ravage and challenge chal-lenge Britain upon her very coast. But England's spirit only rose with the danger, and Washington waited all the weary year through for his French allies. In 1780 it looked for a little as if the British were indeed turned victors. In the spring Clinton withdrew the force that had held Newport to New York, and, leaving General Knyphau-sen Knyphau-sen there with a powerful force lo keep Washington and the city, carried eight thousand men southward to take Charleston. There were forces already al-ready in the south sufficient to swell his army to ten thousand ere he invested in-vested the fated town; and on the twelfth of May (17S0) it fell 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 loyalists. loyal-ists. The whole country was swept and harried by partisan bands. The men who should have swelled General Lincoln's force knew not when their homes might be plundered and destroyed, de-stroyed, if they were to leave them. The planters of the low country dared not stir for fear of an insurrection of their slaves. In June Clinton could take half his force back to New York, deeming the work done. Gates Put to Rout. General Gates completed the disastrous disas-trous record. On the thirteenth of June he was given chief command in the south, and was told that the country coun-try expected another "Burgoynade." His force was above three thousand, and he struck his blow, as he should, at Camden, where Cornwallis 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 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 so rapidly fell in value that by the time the hopeless year 1789 was out men in the ranks found a month's pay too little with which to buy even a single bushel of wheat. Washington was obliged to levy supplies sup-plies from the country round him to feed his 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 hundred 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 co-operation of a naval force, it was impossible to do more than hold the British in New York. France, it was true, was bestirring herself agaiu. On the tenth of July a French fleet put in at Newport and landed a force of six thousand men, under Count Ro-chambeau, Ro-chambeau, a most sensible and capable cap-able officer, who was directed to join Washington and put himself entirely under hl3 command. But a powerful British fleet presently present-ly made its appearance in the sound; the French admiral dared not stir; Ro-chambeau Ro-chambeau dared not leave him without with-out succor; and the reinforcements .hat were to have followed out of France were blockaded in the harbor of Brest. Treason Is Added. Then, while things Btood so, treason was added. Benedict Arnold, the man whom Washington trusted with a deep affection, af-fection, and whom the army loved for his gallantry, entered into correspondence correspond-ence with the enemy; arranged to give West Point and the posts dependent upon it into their hands; and, his treason trea-son suddenly detected, escaped without 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 had 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 80 that mighty sobs burst from him, as if his great heart would break; and all the night through the guard could hear him pacing pac-ing his room endlessly, in a lonely vigil with his bitter thoughts. He 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 re-quired that no means should be neg-leoted neg-leoted to arrest General Arnold, I 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- ficer that Washington trusted might not? Who could be confided in if such men turned traitors? But a sudden turning of affairs marked the close of the year. Cornwallis had penetrated too far into the Carolinas; had advanced into in-to North Carolina, and was beset, as Burgoyne had been, by a rising of the country. He lost twelve hundred men at King's mountain (October 7, 1780), as Burgoyne had lost a thousand thou-sand at Bennington; and everywhere, as he moved, he found himself checked check-ed by the best officers the long war had bred Nathaniel Green, who had been Washington's right hand man tb' war through; 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 Outgeneraled. He was outgeneraled; his 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 he 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 estab-lished 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 free to move; at last a French fleet was at hand to block the free passage of the sea. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |