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Chapter 10 - part 3 · History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution

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  Section thirty nine of History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American
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  Revolution, Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are
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  in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox
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  dot org. History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution,
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  Volume one by Mercy Otis Warren, Chapter ten, Part three. Nothing
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  more decided than the above transactions took place this season. The Delaware Ripper thus
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  cleared and eligible winter quarters secured for the King's troops, and the colo season
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  fast advancing. General Howe gave up the pursuit of the cautious in Warree Washington.
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  He found it impossible with all his efforts to bring him to another general
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  action. While his own judgment and that of the most judicious of his offices
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  forbatt it and imprudence dictated the probable disadvantages of such a movement, His numbers
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  were too small and the wants of the army too many to hazard anything.
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  The most guarded imprudent defense was the only line of conduct left to the American
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  commander. These circumstances induced General Howe about the middle of December to draw the
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  main body of his army into the city of Philadelphia. They were indeed unable
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  longer to keep the field, be very destitute of tents and other equipage necessary
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  for the army in a cold climate at this inclement season. Thus, after
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  the proud vaunts of victory and conquest, and the loss of many gallant officers
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  and brave men, the British commander had little to boast at the conclusion of
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  the campaign. But the possession of a city abandoned by the best of its
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  inhabitants, and the command of the adjacent country circumscribed within the hour or limits
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  of twenty miles. This was but a small compensation for the waste of life
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  and treasure. It was a gloomy picture of the termination of a campaign for
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  Sir William Howe to convey to his master and to his countrymen, after the
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  exultation for some partial successes had flattered them with the highest hopes of speeding in
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  complete victory. Yet, notwithstanding these wauntings over a people among whom they did
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  not yet appear a probability of complete subjugation by the sword, nor the smallest
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  traces of a disposition among the people of America to yield obedience to the laws
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  and requisitions which the Government of Great Britain were attempting thus to enforce at the
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  point of a bayonet. After Sir William Howe had retired and taken winter quarters
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  in the city, a novel scene, considering the weakness of the Continental Army,
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  was exhibited without the surprise and wonder of their fellows, and to the
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  admiration of all mankind acquainted with the circumstances. The Americans, nearly destitute of
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  tents, fully supplied with provisions, almost without shoes, stockings, blankets,
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  or other clothing, cheerfully erected themselves huts of temper and brush, and encamped
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  for the winter at a place called Ballet Forge, within twenty five miles of
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  the city of Philadelphia. Thus, in the neighborhood of a powerful British army,
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  fearless of its numbers and strength, a striking proof of their intrepidity in
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  suffering and the defiance of danger was exhibited by a kind of challenge bidden to
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  their enemies, not very usual in similar situations. The Commander in Chief and
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  several of the principal officers of the American Army, in defiance of danger,
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  either to themselves or to such tender connections sent for their ladies from the different
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  states to which they belonged, to pass the remainder of the winter, and
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  by their presence, to enliven the gloomy appearance of a hunted village in the
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  woods, inhabited only by hungry and half naked soldiery footnote. Nothing but the
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  inexperience of the American ladies and their confidence in the judgment of their husbands could
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  justify this hazard to their persons and to their feelings of delicacy and the footnote.
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  The resolution and patience of this little army surmounted every difficulty. They waited
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  long amidst penury, hunger, and cold for the necessary supplies, which,
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  in spite of the utmost exertions of the several states, came in, but
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  too slowly. Such was the deficiency of horses and wagons for the ordinary as
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  well as extraordinary occasions of the army, that the men, in many instances
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  cheerfully yelped themselves to little care courages of their own construction. Others loaded the
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  wooden provisions on their backs for present supply. In their extreme necessity, General
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  Washington informed a committee sent from Congress to inquire into the state of the Army,
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  that some brigades had been some days without meet, and that the common
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  soldiers had frequently been at its quarters to make known their distresses. Unprovided with
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  materials to raise their cold lodgement from the ground. The dampness of the situation
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  and the wet earth in which they lay occasioned sickness and mortality to rage among
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  them to an astonishing degree. Indeed, nothing could surpass their suffering except the
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  patience and fortitude with which it was endured by the faithful part of the army.
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  Those of a different character deserted in great numbers footnote see a letter from
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  the Committee sent from Congress to Mister Laurence, the President, and a footnote.
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  In this weak and dangerous situation, the American Army continued encamped at Valley
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  Forge from December till May, while the British troops, in high health and
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  spirits, lay in Philadelphia without once attempting to molest them. But this wanted
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  vigor and enterprise. General Howe was severely and justly censured in Britain, blamed
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  by those interested in his success in America, and ridiculed by the impartial observer
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  in every quarter. By his negligence this winter, he again undoubtedly lost the
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  fairest opportunity of executing the designs of his master and acquiring to himself much military
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  fame. But by wasting his time in effeminate and reprehensible pleasures, he sunk
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  his character as an officer, and few scrupled to assert that the man of
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  honor and value was lost for a time in the arms of a handsome adulteress.
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  Many of his officers followed as example and abandoned themselves to idleness and debauchery,
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  while the soldiers were left to indulge their own licentious habits. At this
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  period, though not attacked by a foreign foe, the situation of the American
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  commander in chief was really not very enviable. It required the utmost prudence and
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  address to keep together the appearance of an army under the complicated miseries they must
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  feel in the depth of winter, hungry and barefooted, whose fatiguing, securitous
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  marches over the snowy path had been marked by their bleeding feet before they,
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  in such a destitute predicament, pitched their tents in the valley. The dilatory
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  spirit of some, and the peculating dispositions of other offices in the various public
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  departments increased every difficulty with regard to clothing and subsistence. The deplorable state of
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  the sick, the corrupt conduct in scels the hospitals, the want of discipline
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  among the soldiers, the inexperience of officers, the soulness of recruits, and
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  the diminution of the old army from various causes were circumstances discouraging, indeed,
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  and might have been considered, if not a balance, at least a weight
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  in the scale against the advantages of the pride of high station. Yet these
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  were not all the embarrassments which the commander in chief had to encounter. General
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  Washington had his personal enemies to combat, nor was he without his rivals for
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  power and fame. Footnote. Both the conduct and letters of General Lee had
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  in several instances confirmed the opinion that he was ambitious of obtaining the chief command
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  of the army of the United States, and doubtless he had a party that
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  for short time flattered these expectations. At this time, indeed, he was
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  a prisoner, but his correspondencies were extensive. End a footnote in all communities,
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  there are some restless minds who create jealousies and foment divisions that often injure
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  the best cause and the most unimpeachable character. And it may be observed that
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  there is ever a spirit of intrigue and circumvention that runs parallel with the passions
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  of men. Thus the fortune of war is frequently changed by dangerous emulations,
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  and the best systems of social and political happiness overthrown by the envy and resentment
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  of little minds or the boundless ambition of more exalted souls. Nor was it
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  many years before America discovered she had in her bosom, her caesars and her
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  catalines, as well as her brutuses and arcados. Many persons were disgusted with
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  the dictatorial powers vested in General Washington after the action at Trenton, which they
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  alleged were at isp own request. These were ample. Indeed, he was
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  empowered by Congress to reform and no model the military arrangements in such manner as
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  he judged best for the public service. He was also vested with several other
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  discretionary powers footnote see Resolves of Congress and to footnote Congress had indeed limited his
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  power to six months, but exigencies of the highest necessity had urged him sometimes
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  to exercise it in a manner to arbitrary for the principles and dispositions of Americans
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  unused to the impressment of their property for the use of armies. In this
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  state of affairs, the commander was attacked by anonymous letters, fictitious signatures,
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  and incendiary suggestions. He was centured for his co operations, defensive movements,
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  and baby and slowness. Disadvantageous impressions were made on the minds of some,
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  and others were led to believe that General Washington was not without his weaknesses and
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  his foibles. It was observed by one of his principal officers that decision is
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  often wanting in minds other ways valuable footnote See a letter from General Read to
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  General Lee afterwards published and a footnote the decision is often wanting in minds other
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  ways valuable. That an indecisive mind in a commander is one of the greatest
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  misfortunes that could be fall an army. That he had often lamented this circumstance
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  through the campaign, that they were in a very awful situation in an alarming
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  state that required the utmost wisdom and firmness of mind, a wish at this
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  time undoubtedly prevailed among some distinguished characters for his supersedence of his command. Footnote
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  Samuel Adams of Boston, General Mifflin and several other characters of distinction were suspected
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  of unfriendly designs to the commander in chief. But there therefore were sufficient grounds
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  to suppose that mister Adams ever harbored any disaffection to the person of General Washington.
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  On the contrary, he respected and esteemed his character and loved the man.
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  But zellus and ardent in the defense of his injured country. He was
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  startled at everything that appeared to retard the operations of war or impede the success
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  of the revolution, a revolution for which posterity is as much indebted to the
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  talents and exertions of mister Adams as to those of anyone in the United States.
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  General Mifflin was a young gentleman of warm and sanguine disposition. Active in
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  Zellous, he engaged early in opposition to the measures of the British Parliament.
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  He took arms and was among the first officers commissioned on the organization of a
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  continental army. But this he was read out of the society of Quakers to
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  which himself and his family had belonged. But mister Miflin's principles led him to
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  consider himself under a more obligation to act offensively as well as defensively, and
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  vigorously to oppose the enemies of his country. And from his character and principles,
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  he undoubtedly wished to see a commander in chief of the United Armies who
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  would admit of no delay in the acceleration of the object in which they were
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  engaged. And a footnote, But Washington, cool, cautious, and more
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  popular than any man. His good genius was ever at hand to preserve his
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  character invulnerable. Yet several circumstances confirmed the opinion that even some members of Congress
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  at this period were intriguing for his removal. It might, indeed, at
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  this time, have had a fatal effect on American affairs. Had General Washington
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  fallen back neath a popular disgust or the intrigues of his enemies. Perhaps few
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  other men could have kept together the shadow of an army under such a combination
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  of difficulties as the young Republic had to encounter, both in the field and
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  the cabinet. Many men of more active and enterprising spirit might have put a
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  period to the war in the shortest space of time, yet perhaps not ultimately
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  so much in favor of America as the slow defensive movements of the officer then
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  vested with the chief command. This line of conduct was thought by some to
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  be not so much owing to his superior sagacity and penetration as to a constitutional
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  want of ardency at times when energy appeared was necessary to many persons, a
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  predilection in favor of a connection with Britain seemed united with this disposition. It
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  had appeared clearly by many circumstances in conversation with his confidential friends, that he
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  was not, in the beginning of opposition, fond of a final separation from
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  the parent state, and that he wished to move defensively until some events might
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  take place that would bring back, and with honor and dignity, reunite the
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  revolted colonies to the bosom of their ancient parent footnote. In the early period
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  of the war, many very worthy characters opposed to the British system, besides
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  General Washington, wished for reconciliation with Great Britain, if it could be procured
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  consistently, with honor and with sufficient pledges of security to the just claims of
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  the colonies, rather than in irrevocable separation. But time convinced all that nothing
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  but independence and a total dismemberment could secure the liberties of the United States and
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  the footnote. But the public opinion always in his favor. With a happy
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  t Gallan to secure the confidence of the people, he commanded in a remarkable
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  manner, their affections, their resources, and their attachment to the end of
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  the war, and had the good fortune to parry every charge brought against him
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  with the firmness of the soldier, though not without the sensibility of the man
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  who found his reputation at stake. He complained heavily to his private friends,
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  and took no public notice of the vague imputations of slander that fell from the
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  pen of a French officer of distinction under the signature of Delisle and of Section thirty nine