CHAPTER XXVI
_My Lord Cornwallis_
And so the departure of my Lord Cornwallis was necessarily deferred.The packet upon which he had engaged passage, and which had actuallyreceived his baggage, sailed without him. It would be some days beforehe would grace the court of St. James with his handsome person, and along time would elapse before he would once more rejoice in the sightof his beloved hills; when he next returned it would not be with thelaurels of a conqueror either! He was to try conclusions once andagain with the gentleman he had so assiduously pursued through theJerseys; and this time, ay, and in the end too, the honors were to bewith his antagonist. The Star and Order of the Bath, which hisgracious and generous Britannic majesty had sent over to the newCaesar, General Howe, with so much laudation and so many words ofcongratulation, was to have a little of its lustre diminished, and wasdestined to appear not quite so glorious as it had after Long Island;in fact, it was soon to be seen that it was only a pyrotechnic starafter all, and not in the order of heaven! Both of these gentlemenwere to learn that an army--almost any kind of an army--is alwaysdangerous until it is wiped out; and it is not to be considered aswiped out as long as it has any coherent existence at all, even if thecoherent existence only depends upon the iron will of one man,--whichis another way of saying the game is never won until it is ended.
There was mounting in hot haste in New York, and couriers and ordersstreamed over the frozen roads, and Lord Cornwallis himself galloped atfull speed for Princeton. The calculations of a certain number of hismajesty's faithful troops were to be rudely disturbed, and thecomfortable quarters in which they had ensconced themselves were to bevacated forthwith. Concentration, aggregation, synthesis, were thewords; and this time the reassembled army was not to disintegrate intowinter quarters until this pestilent Mr. Washington was attended to,and attended to so effectually that they could enjoy the enforcedhospitality of the surly but substantial Jerseymen through the longwinter nights undisturbed. For his part, Mr. Washington, having tastedsuccess, the first real brilliant offensive success of the campaign,was quite willing to be attended to. In fact, in a manner which inanother sex might be called coquettish, he seemed to court attention.Having successfully attacked with his frost-bitten ragged regiments adetachment, he was now to demonstrate to the world that not even thepresence of an army could stop him.
Things were not quiet on the Pennsylvania side of the river either;there were such comings and goings in Newtown as that staid andconservative village had never before seen. Our two friends, thesad-hearted, were both busily employed. Talbot had galloped over thefamiliar road, and had electrified the good people of Philadelphia withhis news, and then had hastened on to Baltimore to reassure the spiritsof the frightened Congress. Honest Robert Morris was trotting aroundfrom door to door upon New Year's morning, hat in hand, begging fordollars to assist his friend George Washington, and the cause ofliberty, and the suffering army; and Seymour, become as it were asoldier, and with Philip for esquire, was waiting to take what he couldget, be the amount ever so little, back to General Washington. Thesailor had been granted a further leave of absence by the navalcommittee, at the general's urgent request, and was glad to learn thathe should soon have command of the promised ship of war, which was eventhen making ready in the Delaware. Honest Bentley--beloved of thesoldiery in spite of his genuinely expressed contempt for landwarriors--was lending what aid he could in keeping up the spirits ofthe men, and in other material ways in the camp. Some of the clothing,some of the guns from the Mellish, some of the material captured fromthe Hessians had gone into the hands and over the backs and upon thefeet of the men. But the clothed and the naked were equally happy, forhad they not done something at last? Ay! they had given assurance thatthey were men to be reckoned with.
Fired by the example set them by the Continentals, the Pennsylvaniamilitia, under Cadwalader and Ewing and Mifflin, had at last crossedthe Delaware and joined Griffin's men. Washington had followed them,and the twenty-ninth of December found him established in newheadquarters at Trenton. A number of mounds in the fields, coveredwith snow, some bitter recollections and sad stories of plunder,robbery, rapine, and worse, told with gnashing teeth or breaking heartby the firesides, were all that remained of their strange antagonistsin the town. But the little town and the little valley were to be oncemore the scene of war. The great game was to be played again, and thelittle creek of the Assunpink was to run red under its ice and betweenits banks.
On the twenty-ninth, Washington's troops began to cross the riveragain. Two parties of light dragoons were sent on in advance underColonel Reed, assisted by parties of Pennsylvania riflemen despatchedby Cadwalader. They clung tenaciously to the flanks of Von Donop.That unfortunate commander had been led away from his camp atBurlington in pursuit of Griffin's gallant six hundred. When hereturned, unsuccessful, the news from Trenton had so alarmed him thathe fled precipitately, abandoning his heavy baggage and some of hisartillery. It was a work of joy for the pursued to pursue, a reversalof conditions which put the heavy German veterans at a strangedisadvantage compared with their alert and active pursuers. They hadmarched through that country with a high hand, plundering and abusingits inhabitants in a frightful way, and they were now being made toexperience the hatred they themselves had enkindled. The countrypeople rose against them, and cut them off without mercy.
It took two days to get the troops across, on account of the ice in theriver. And now came another difficulty. The time of the major part ofthe Americans had expired on the last day of the year, but Washingtonhad them paraded and had ridden up and addressed them in a brilliant,soldier-like fashion, and they had to a man volunteered to remain withhim for six weeks longer, or as much more time as was necessary toenable him to complete his campaign before he went into winterquarters. He was at last able to pay them their long deferred salaryout of the fifty thousand dollars sent him by Robert Morris, whichSeymour and Talbot that day had brought him; and for their futurereward he cheerfully pledged his own vast estate, an example ofself-sacrifice which Greene, Stark, Talbot, Seymour, and others of theofficers who possessed property, at once emulated. The men were put ingood spirits by a promise of ten dollars' bounty also, and they wereready and eager for a fight.
Reed, attended by six young gentlemen of the Philadelphia Troop, hadbeen sent out to reconnoitre. Up toward Princeton they had surprised aBritish outpost composed of a sergeant and twelve dragoons; thesergeant escaped, but the twelve dragoons, panic-stricken, werecaptured after a short resistance; and Reed and his gallant youngcavaliers returned in triumph to headquarters. Valuable informationwas gained from this party. Cornwallis had joined Grant at Princeton,and with seven or eight thousand men was assembling wagons andtransportation, preparing for a dash on Trenton. Confirmation of thisnot unexpected news came by a student from the college, who had escapedto Cadwalader and been sent up to General Washington. The situation ofWashington was now critical, but he took prompt measures to relieve it.Cadwalader from the Crosswicks, and Mifflin from Bordentown, withthirty-six hundred men, were ordered forward at once. They promptlyobeyed orders, and by another desperate night march reached Trenton onthe morning of the first day of the year.
There was heavy skirmishing all day on the second. Cornwallis,advancing in hot haste from Princeton with eight thousand men, waschecked, and lost precious time, by a hot rifle fire from the wood onthe banks of the Shabbakong Creek, near the road he followed in hisadvance. The skirmishers under Greene, seconded by Hand, after doinggallant service and covering themselves with glory by delaying theadvance for several hours, giving Washington ample time to withdraw hisarmy across the Assunpink and post it in a strong defensive position,had retired in good order beyond the American line. In the skirmishLieutenant Von Grothausen, he who had galloped away with the dragoonsat Trenton and had been under suspicion of cowardice ever since, hadsomewhat redeemed his reputation in that he had boldly ridden down uponthe riflemen, and had been killed. It was
late in the evening when theadvance parties crossed the bridge over the creek and sought safetybehind the lines. Indefatigable General Knox had concentrated thirtypieces of cannon at the bridge--"A very pretty battery," he called it.
It was dusk when the eager Americans saw the head of the British armycoming through the streets. They remained silent while the enemyformed, and advanced to attack the bridge and the fords in heavycolumns at the same time. The men came on in a solid mass for thebridge head, cheering gallantly. They were met by Knox's artillery anda steady fire from the riflemen. Three times they crashed on thatbridge like a mighty wave, and three times like a wave broken they fellback before an awful storm of fire. General Washington himself,sitting on his white horse, gave the orders at the bridge, and thebrave enemy were repulsed. The position was too strong to be taken bydirect assault without great loss; besides, it was not vital afterall--so reasoned Cornwallis. The British soldiery were weary, they hadmarched all day at a hot pace and were exhausted. They had not livedin a chronic state of exhaustion for so long that they never gave it athought; they were not used to it, as were the Continentals, and whenthe British were tired they had to rest. They would be in betterspirit on the morrow. The creek was fordable in a dozen places, butCornwallis resisted the importunities of some of his officers, whowished to ford it and attack at once; he sent urgent messengers off toPrinceton to bring up the two thousand men left there with Von Donop,and to hurry up Leslie with the rear guard, six miles away; when theyarrived they could turn the right flank of the Americans, and it wouldbe all up with them then. He thought he had Washington at such adisadvantage that he could not escape, though the small advantage ofposition might enable him to make a desperate resistance, even with hisinferior forces.
"We will wait," he said to Erskine, "until Von Donop comes up, andLeslie, and then we 'll bag the 'old fox' in the morning!"
So, after brisk firing on both sides until night closed down, thecamp-fires were lighted on both sides of the creek; and the Britishofficer went to sleep, calmly confident that he had held the winningcards, and all that was necessary was that the hand should be playedout in the morning, to enable him to take the game again. He didindeed hold the higher cards, but the "old fox" showed himself thebetter player.
On the other side of the creek, in the house of good MistressDagworthy, anxious hearts were debating. General Washington hadsummoned a council of war, which expressed the usual diversity ofopinion on all subjects, except an unwillingness to fight, upon which,like every other council of war, it was agreed. Indeed the odds werefearful! Ten thousand seasoned, well-equipped, well-trained, veterantroops, ably led, and smarting with the late defeat and the check ofthe day against five thousand or six thousand wretchedly providedsoldiers, three-fifths of whom were raw militiamen, who had never hearda shot fired in anger!
Not even a leader like Washington, and officers to second him likeGreene, Sullivan, Knox, St. Clair, Stephen, Stirling, Cadwalader,Sargeant, Mercer, Mifflin, Reed, Stark, Hand, Glover, and the others,could overcome such a disparity and inequality.
Cornwallis had only to outflank them, crumple them up, roll them backon the impassable Delaware, and then--God help them all!
There was no disguising the critical nature of their situation, and thearmy had never before been in so desperate a position. It needed nogreat skill to see the danger now to be faced, but the mistake ofCornwallis gave them a brief respite, of which they promptly availedthemselves. Washington was not a man before whom it was ever safe toindulge in mistakes, and the more difficult his position, the moredangerous he became. Trial, danger, hazard, seemed to bring out all ofthe most remarkable qualities of the man in the highest degree.Nothing alarmed him, nothing dismayed him, nothing daunted him; thehotter the conflict, the more pressing the danger, the cooler hebecame. No man on earth was ever more ready and quick to avail himselfof time and opportunity, once he had determined upon a course ofaction. This campaign was the most signal illustration, among manyothers, which his wonderful career affords. Action, prompt, bold,decisive, was as the breath of life to him; but before coming to adecision, contrary to the custom of great commanders generally, heusually called a council of war, which, on account of his excessivemodesty, he sometimes allowed to overrule his own better judgment, tothe great detriment of the cause. Alone he was superb! Given equalresources, the world has not seen a general with whom he could notsuccessfully be matched. In this particular juncture, fortunately forthe country, he insisted upon having his own way.
There were apparently but three alternatives before the council. Thefirst was a retreat with all speed down the river, leaving the heavybaggage and artillery, and then crossing at Philadelphia if they couldget there in time. But this would be to abandon the whole colony ofNew Jersey, to lose the results of the whole campaign, and leave theenemy in fine position to begin again in the spring; and if this werethe end, they might better have stayed on the west side of the river.Besides, successes were vital and must be had. Another retreat meantdisintegration and ruin, in spite of the lucky stroke at Trenton. Thesecond alternative was a battle where they stood, and that meant totaldefeat,--a thing not to be considered a moment. The army must win ordie; and as dying could do no good, it had to win. A brilliant idea,however, had occurred to the commander-in-chief, the man of brilliantideas. He communicated it to the council, where it instantly foundadherents, and objectors, too. It was the third alternative. Acircuitous road called the Quaker road, recently surveyed and justmade, led in a roundabout way from the rear of the camp toward thePrinceton road, which it entered two miles from that town.Washington's plan was to steal silently away in the night by this road,leaving bright fires burning to deceive the confident enemy, and presswith all speed toward Princeton, strike Cornwallis' rear-guard there atdaybreak with overwhelming force, crush it before that general couldretrace his steps, and then make a dash for the British supplies at NewBrunswick. If it were not practicable to reach that point, Washingtoncould take a position on the hills above Morristown, on the flank ofthe British, and, by threatening their communications, force thesuperior army to retreat and abandon the field, or else attack theAmericans in their intrenchments in the hills, with a probable resulteven more disastrous to the attacking party than at Bunker Hill. Itwas a conception as simple and beautiful as it was bold, brilliant, andpracticable.
But now the objectors began; it had been snowing, sleeting, and rainingfor several days; the roads were impassable, they had no bottom.Objections were made on all sides: the artillery could not possibly bemoved, no horses could pull the wagons through the mud, the troopscould not march in it. But Washington, with true instincts, held tohis carefully devised plan with an unusual resolution. Arguing,explaining, suggesting, convincing, persuading, the hours slipped away,until at ten o'clock at night there came a sudden change in theweather, perceptible even to those in the house. Washington raneagerly to the door and opened it. Followed by the general officers,he stepped out into the night. It was dark and cloudy, no moon orstars even, and growing colder every moment under the rising northeastwind.
"Gentlemen," he cried gayly, "Providence has decided for us. The windhas shifted. The army will move in two hours."
At the time specified by the commander, the muddy roads were frozenhard. The heavy baggage was sent down to Burlington, and a strongparty of active men was left to keep bright fires burning, and chargedto show themselves as much as possible and make a great commotion bythrowing up fortifications and loud talking, with instructions to slipaway and join the main body early next day as best they could. At oneo'clock in the morning the astonished army started out upon theiradventurous journey,--another long cold night march. The untravelledroads were as smooth and hard as iron. With muffled wheels theysucceeded in stealing away undetected.
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