The army and the people imitated Washington's example, and gave their confidence to the noble Frenchman, with joy that their cause had attracted such a champion.

Defeat

goyne.

The spring of 1777 was marked only by some of Bur- predatory excursions from the British side into Connecticut, and from the American into Long Island. The summer brought about the evacuation of New Jersey, as has been mentioned. But the British retired only to strike harder elsewhere. A well-appointed army under General Burgoyne was already on its march from Canada to Lake Champlain and the Hudson. As this descended, it was the plan of the British in New York to ascend the Hudson, meeting the other army, and cutting off the communication between New England and her sister states. It was a promising scheme, and the first movements in it were successful. Burgoyne took Ticonderoga, and swept the adjacent country, menacing Northern New York on his right, and the Green Mountain region on his left. General St. Clair, who had evacuated Ticonderoga, could make no resistance; nor was his superior officer, General Schuyler, the commander of the northern army, in any position to check the advance of the enemy. But Schuyler bore up bravely; and the officers under him did their part. A British detachment against Bennington was defeated by John Stark and his New England militia, (August 16.) Fort Schuyler was defended by continental troops, the British retiring on the approach of reënforcements under Arnold, (August 22.) Just as these reverses had checked the advance of Burgoyne, the gallant Schuyler was ousted of his command to make room for General Gates, a very inferior man, if not a very inferior general. He, profiting by the preparations of his predecessor, met the British, and defeating them in two actions near Saratoga, (September 19, October 7,) compelled them to surrender. Nearly six

thousand troops laid down their arms; but more than twice that number were now collected on the American side, (October 16.)

Loss of

lands.

While this triumph was won, losses were still the Hud- Occurring elsewhere. The advance of the British son High- from New York, after being strangely delayed, began with the capture of the forts which protected the Highlands, (October 5-6.) But on proceeding some way farther up the river, the enemy found it advisable to return to New York.

Loss of

The main army of Great Britain was that which Philadel- Washington had to deal with in New Jersey and phia. the vicinity. "If General Howe can be kept at bay," wrote the commander-in-chief, " and prevented from effecting his principal purposes, the successes of General Burgoyne, whatever they may be, must be partial and temporary." After much uncertainty as to the intentions of the British general, he suddenly appeared in the Chesapeake, and landing, prepared to advance against Philadelphia, (August 25.) Washington immediately marched his entire army of about eleven thousand to stop the progress of the enemy. about seventeen thousand opposed to him, Washington decided that battle must be given for the sake of Philadelphia. After various skirmishes, a general engagement took place by the Brandywine, resulting in the defeat of the Americans, (September 11.) But so little were they dispirited, that their commander decided upon immediately fighting a second battle, which was prevented only by a great storm. Washington then withdrew towards the interior, and Howe took possession of Philadelphia, (September 26.) Not yet willing to abandon the city, Washington attacked the main division of the British encamped at Germantown. At the very moment of victory, a panic

Notwithstanding the superior number

ton's em

seized the Americans, and they retreated, (October 4.) There was no help for Philadelphia; it was decidedly lost. The contrast between the defeat of Burgoyne Washing- and the loss of Philadelphia was made a matter barrass of reproach to the commander-in-chief. Let him make his own defence. "I was left," he says, "to fight two battles, in order, if possible, to save Philadelphia, with less numbers than composed the army of my antagoHad the same spirit pervaded the people

ments.

nist.

as the states

we might be

of this and the neighboring states, of New York and New England, fore this time have had General Howe nearly in the situation of General Burgoyne, with this difference - that the former would never have been out of reach of his ships, whilst the latter increased his danger every step he took." More than this, Washington conducted his operations in a district where great disaffection to the American cause cut off supplies for the army, and intelligence of the enemy. To have done what he did, notwithstanding these embarrassments, was greater than a victory. It was felt to be so at the time. 'Nothing," said the French minister, the Count de Vergennes, to the American commissioners in France, nothing has struck me so much as General Washington's attacking and giving battle to General Howe's army to bring an army, raised within a year, to this, promises every thing."

Loss of

ware.

66

66

The enemy were not yet secure in Philadelphia, the Dela- the Delaware below the city being still in the possession of the Americans. Nor did they give it up without a struggle. Fort Mercer, upon the Jersey shore, was gallantly defended under Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Greene against a Hessian attack, (October 22;) but when Fort Mifflin, upon an island in the river, gave way after a noble struggle, under Lieutenant Colonel Sam

uel Smith, (November 15,) Fort Mercer was evacuated, and the Delaware was lost, (November 20.) An attack meditated by the Americans upon Philadelphia, and one attempted by the British upon the American camp at Whitemarsh, (December 5-8,) resulted in nothing. The operations of 1777 were ended.

cruise.

Wickes's One enterprise of the year is not to be passed over. Captain Wickes, of the cruiser Reprisal, after distinguishing himself in the West Indies, sailed for France in the autumn of 1776. Encouraged by his success in making prizes in the Bay of Biscay, Wickes started on a cruise round Ireland in the following summer, (1777.) Attended by the Lexington and the Dolphin, the Reprisal swept the Irish and the English seas of their merchantmen. But on the way to America, the Lexington was captured, and the Reprisal, with the gallant Wickes and all his crew, was lost on the coast of Newfoundland. It was for the navy, of which Wickes was so great an ornament, that a national flag had been adopted in the summer of his cruise, (June 14.)

Cabal

"I see plainly," wrote Lafayette to Washington, against at the close of the year, "that America can defend Washing- herself, if proper measures are taken; but I begin

ton.

sons.

to fear that she may be lost by herself and her own When I was in Europe, I thought that here almost every man was a lover of liberty, and would rather die free than live a slave. You can conceive my astonishment, when I saw that toryism was as apparently professed as whiggism itself." "We must not," replied Washington, " in so great a contest, expect to meet with nothing but sunshine." These mournful complaints, this cheerful answer, referred to an intrigue that had been formed against Washington, for the purpose of displacing him from his command. Generals Gates and Mifflin, both members of the

board of war, lately organized, with Conway, a foreign general in the service, were at the head of a cabal, which was secretly supported by some members of Congress. Had their unworthy plots prevailed, had their anonymous letters to the civil authorities, and their underhand appeals to military men, succeeded, Washington would have been superseded by Gates or by Lee, it was uncertain which, both of British birth, both of far more selfishness than magnanimity, of far more pretension than power. Gates, as we shall read hereafter, met the most utter of all the defeats, Lee conducted the most shameful of all the retreats, in which the Americans were involved. Happily for the struggling nation, these men were not its leaders. The cabal in which they were involved fell asunder; yet without crushing them beneath its ruins. They retained their offices and their honors, as well as Washington.

Army The army was full of quarrels. Sectional jealquarrels. ousies were active, the northern man distrusting the southern, and the southern the northern. National jealousies were equally rife, the American officers opposing the foreign, and the foreign officers the American. More serious, because more reasonable, were the angry feelings excited in the army against Congress, now for its interference, and now for its neglect. Much ill will on both sides was excited by the question of half pay for life to the officers; it being opposed in Congress, and settled only by a compromise of half pay for seven years after the conclusion of the war. Washington contended with all the intellectual and moral strength of his nature against the jealousy which Congress unhappily entertained of the army. "The prejudices of other countries," as he says, "have only gone to them [the troops] in time of peace.

It is our policy to be prejudiced against them in time of war; though they are citizens, having all the ties and interests of citizens."