RETURN OF THE AUTHOR-JUDGE LIVINGSTON. 145 along the margin of the immense fountain of pure water which constitutes Lake George. We were much indebted upon this occasion to the polite attentions of Mr. Brockolst Livingston,* who was at this time one of the Aids-de-camp of Gen. Schuyler, and who so far dispensed with his avocations as to show us what was worthy of being seen. We lost no time in setting off, as soon as the despatches were ready for us; and returned with all possible expedition, in order to prepare ourselves for the expected march of our regiment to join the main army under the Commanderin-chief. Orders for that purpose had already been received, and were complied with in about a week after our return. The troops were transported by water to Trenton; from whence marching to Elizabethtown, they were again embarked in vessels which carried them to New York. *Son of the celebrated William Livingston-Governor of New Jersey. He was entered as a student at Nassau Hall, Princeton, but left the College, in 1776, for the field, and became one of the family of Gen. Schuyler. He was afterwards attached to the suite of Gen. Arnold, with the rank of Major, and shared in the honour of the conquest of Burgoyne. In 1779 he accompanied MR. JAY to Spain, as private Secretary. In 1802 he was called to the Bench of the Supreme Court of New York, and in 1806, was transferred to that of the Supreme Court of the United States, which station he held, with distinguished ability, until his decease in March, 1823, in the 66th year of his age.-Ed. 13 146 THE AUTHOR LEAVES PHILADELPHIA. CHAPTER VI. The Author leaves Philadelphia.-Appearance of the Army.-Character of the Soldiers. Erection of Fort Washington.-Fort Lee.-Character of General Mifflin.-An odd Character.-Connecticut Light Horse.-Character of the Army. Declaration of Independence.-Statue of George III.-British land on Long Island.-Action with the Enemy.-New York.-Privations of Soldiers.— Long Island.-Entrenchments.-Skirmishing.-Midnight Scene in Camp.Retreat to New York.-Reflections.-Washington vindicated.-General Howe. -Conduct of the British. THE much deprecated event of marching from Philadelphia, was not the less afflicting for having been foreseen. The reader is acquainted with the attraction which existed there; and it is for those alone who have felt the effervescence of the passions, to form a just conception of the pangs, attendant on this separation from it. To say it was a disruption of my heart strings, would be a language neither too forcible nor figurative for the occasion. The other absences imposed by the demands of imperious duty, were not without disquietude; but they were cheered by the prospect of a speedy termination. This, before me, was a toiling sea without a shore; a dreary, illimitable void; and in subjecting myself to the stern mandate which now forced me away, I recognise a sacrifice which imparts some merit to my poor exertions in behalf of my country. If equal deprivations were sustained by others, I venture confidently to affirm, that estimated by the measure of suffering, none were greater than my own. On account of my late service interfering with the necessary preparations for the march, I had been permitted for about a week, to defer the moment of exile. When no longer to be postponed, I took my passage in the stage, where, indifferent to all around me, I sat ruminating on scenes of happiness departed, cheerless and lost to every hope of their return. Dreams of glory, it is true, sometimes crossed my imagination, but discordant to APPEARANCE OF THE ARMY. 147 the tone of the predominant passion, the images were painful, and deeply tinged with despair. In so desolating a frame of mind, I perceived the necessity of active duty, which should leave me no time for reflection; and under this impression, as I approached my place of destination, became as impatient for its attainment as I had been reluctant in setting out for it; eager to immerse myself in martial occupations, "As in the hardy camp and toilsome march, A considerable portion of our motley army had already assembled in New York and its vicinity. The troops were chiefly from the eastern provinces; those from the southern, with the exception of Hand's, Magaw's, and our regiment, had not yet come on. The appearance of things was not much calculated to excite sanguine expectations in the mind of a sober observer. Great numbers of people were indeed to be seen, and those who are not accustomed to the sight of bodies under arms, are always prone to exaggerate them. But this propensity to swell the mass, had not an equal tendency to convert it into soldiery; and the irregularity, want of discipline, bad arms, and defective equipment in all respects, of this multitudinous assemblage, gave no favourable impression of its prowess. The materials of which. the eastern battalions were composed, were apparently the same as those of which I had seen so unpromising a specimen at Lake George. I speak particularly of the officers, who were in no single respect distinguishable from their men, other than in the coloured cockades, which, for this very purpose, had been prescribed in general orders; a different colour being assigned to the officers of each grade. So far from aiming at a deportment which might raise them above their privates, and thence prompt them to due respect and obedience to their commands, the object was, by humility, to preserve the existing blessing of equality: an illustrious instance of which was given by Colonel Putnam, the chief engineer of the army, and no less a personage than the nephew of the Major-General of that name. "What," says a person meeting him one day with a piece of meat in his hand, "carrying home your rations yourself, Colonel!" "Yes," says 148 CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS. he," and I do it to set the officers a good example." But if any aristocratic tendencies had been really discovered by the Colonel among his countrymen, requiring this wholesome example, they must have been of recent origin, and the effect of southern contamination, since I have been credibly informed, that it was no unusual thing in the army before Boston, for a Colonel to make drummers and fifers of his sons, thereby, not only being enabled to form a very snug, economical mess, but to aid also considerably the revenue of the family chest. In short, it appeared, that the sordid spirit of gain was the vital principle of this greater part of the army.* The only exception I recollect to have seen, to these miserably constituted bands from New England, was the regiment of Glover from Marblehead. There was an ap This sentiment is supported by a passage in a letter from General WASHINGTON to General Reed, dated Cambridge, 10th February, 1776. "Notwithstanding all the public virtue which is ascribed to these people, there is no nation under the sun that pays more adoration to money than they do." I am aware that these references to General WASHINGTON's sentiments will be strongly repulsive to the feelings of many worthy men, from the consideration that the General's character stands particularly high in New England, and that in that quarter of the Union are found not only the greatest number of his admirers, but also many of the ablest defenders of his policy and fame. But can these confidential declarations of his opinions, emanating from an ardent love of his country and zeal in her cause, justly lessen him in the estimation of a single man of liberality and understanding? Is truth to be eternally muffled up and the materials of faithful history suppressed, lest her exposure in certain instances may be displeasing to some good men and grateful to a malignant faction? for useful it cannot be. To the promulgation indeed of these truths, the retribution is certain. His book, "the unkindest cut of all," to an author, will not sell. It will be shunned like a pestilence in those places, where the truths it holds out, are unwelcome. For this reason I have been given to understand that my publication will not do at all for a New England market. Some repugnance of the same kind would seem to exist against it in New York, as not long since a book-seller of that city informed me he could not dispose of a single copy. Even in its birth-place, Pennsylvania, it is very illy calculated for popularity; and as for Virginia and her dependencies sweeping the whole Southern States to Louisiana inclusive, it must then be, if not too contemptible for notice, a subject of the bitterest execration. Nevertheless, I am consoled by the invincible pride of conscious honesty and the major amica veritas, in a collision with all other friendships. JOIN GLOVER, a native of Marblehead, in Massachusetts, a Brigadier-General in the army of the United States. With his command he formed the advance of the army in its passage of the Delaware, and was, of course, at the Battle of Trenton. He conducted Burgoyne's army, after its surrender, through the New Eng CHARACTER OF THE SOLDIERS-GENERAL GLOVER. 149 pearance of discipline in this corps; the officers seemed to have mixed with the world, and to understand what belonged to their stations. Though deficient, perhaps, in polish, it possessed an apparent aptitude for the purpose of its institution, and gave a confidence that myriads of its meek and lowly brethren were incompetent to inspire. But even in this regiment there were at number of negroes, which, to persons unaccustomed to such associations, had a disagreeable, degrading effect. If there were any troops here, at this time, from Jersey, I do not recollect seeing them; and those of New York, appeared not to be very numerous. They, however, afforded officers, who might have been distinguished without a badge; and who were sufficiently men of the world, to know that the levelling principle was of all others, the most incompatible with good soldiership. Colonel Hamilton had been furnished by this province, making his debut in the new career as a captain of artillery; but I never saw him in this capacity, and I believe he was soon taken into the family of the Commander-in-chief. Reinforcements were yet expected from the southward. Among these were Miles'st and land States. He enjoyed, in a very high degree, the confidence and esteem of the Commander-in-chief, whose commendation was warmly bestowed. He served throughout the war with high reputation.-ED. * ALEXANDER HAMILTON, a name not very dear to the "progressive democracy". of our party-ridden country, but nevertheless, one of the brightest and greatest that ever adorned the annals of any nation. His personal appearance is graphically described by Sullivan in his "Familiar Letters," already quoted: "He was under middle size, thin in person, but remarkably erect and dignified in his deportment. His hair was turned back from his forehead, powdered, and collected in a club behind. His complexion was exceedingly fair, and varying from this only by the almost feminine rosiness of his cheeks. His might be considered, as to figure and colour, an uncommonly handsome face. When at rest, it had rather a severe. and thoughtful expression; but when engaged in conversation, it easily assumed an attractive smile. When he entered a room it was apparent, from the respectful attention of the company, that he was a distinguished person. His appearance and deportment accorded with the dignified distinction to which he had attained in public estimation." At the period of his death, in July, 1804, he was in his 48th year.-ED. + MILES is mentioned by WASHINGTON in his letter to the President of Congress, dated New York, August 12th, 1776: "The enemy have made no movements of consequence, nor have we any farther intelligence of their designs. Colonel Smallwood and his battalion got in on |