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BATTLE OF TRENTON.

He perceived the security of Howe, and the advantage which the scattered cantonment of his troops presented to the American arms. 'Now,' exclaimed he, on being informed of the widely dispersed state of the British troops, time to clip their wings, when they are so spread;' and, accordingly resolving to give them an unexpected blow, he planned an attack on the Hessians at Trenton.

now is the

On the evening of the 25th of December, he crossed the Delaware, marched all night, attacked the Hessians, who had not the slightest intelligence of his approach, and routed them with great slaughter. Colonel Rawle, who commanded the royalists in that quarter, did everything which could be expected from a brave and experienced officer; but the attack was sudden and impetuous; and it was directed by Washington himself. The Hessians gave way on all sides; their artillery was seized, and 1,000 of their best troops remained prisoners of war. Washington re-crossed to his camp with the loss of but nine of his men.

Some of the colonial reinforcements having now arrived, the provincial army was not only increased in numbers, but improved in courage and zeal. Emboldened by his success, Washington resolved to leave Philadelphia, and to make another attempt against the British forces. At the beginning of the year he again crossed the Delaware, and marched to Trenton.

An alarm had already been spread through the British army by the late success and increased force of Washington's army. A strong detachment, under General Grant, marched to Princeton; and Earl Cornwallis, who was on the point of sailing for England, was ordered to leave New York, and resume his command in the Jerseys.

On joining General Grant, Lord Cornwallis immediately marched against Trenton, where Washington was encamped at the head of about 5,000 men. On his approach, Washington crossed a rivulet, named the Asumpinck, and took post on some high ground, with the rivulet in his front. On the advance of the British army, on the afternoon of the 2nd of January, 1777, a smart cannonade ensued, and continued till night, Lord Cornwallis intending to renew the attack next morning; but, soon after midnight, General Washington silently decamped, leaving his fires burning, his sentinels advanced, and small parties to guard the fords of the rivulet, and, by a circuitous route through Allentown, proceeded towards Princeton.

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About half-way between Trenton and Princeton, the Americans encountered three regiments, under Colonel Mawhood, who were advancing to join Cornwallis. A battle ensued, in which the British were worsted, and most of them compelled to retreat towards Brunswick. Washington pressed on towards Princeton, where one regiment had been left, and succeeded in taking 300 of them prisoners. The rest escaped by a precipitate flight. The British lost about 100 men in this affair; the Americans less. But they had to regret the loss of one of their bravest and most valuable officers, General Mercer. In this action, James Monroe, who subsequently became president of the republic, was wounded.

Washington was still pressed by Cornwallis with a vastly superior force. He retreated towards Morristown, and on crossing Millstone river, broke down the bridge at Kingston, to impede the progress of the British; and there the pursuit ended.

Both armies were completely worn out, the one being as unable to pursue as the other was to retreat. Washington took a position at Morristown, and Lord Cornwallis reached Brunswick, where all was alarm and confusion, in consequence of the battle of Princeton, and the expected approach of the Americans.

At Morristown, Washington now fixed his head quarters. This place is situated among hills of difficult access, with a fine country in the rear, from which he could easily draw supplies; and he might retire across the Delaware, if necessary. Giving his troops little repose, he overran both East and West Jersey, and even made himself master of the coast opposite Staten Island. With a greatly inferior army, by judicious movements, he wrested from the British almost all their conquests in the Jerseys. Brunswick and Amboy were the only posts which remained in their hands, and even in these, they were not a little harassed and straitened. The American detachments were in a state of unwearied activity, frequently surprising and cutting off the British advanced guards, keeping them in continual alarm and melting down their numbers by a desultory and indecisive warfare. It was by the operations of this campaign that Washington gained for himself among European tacticians the name of the American Fabius. By judiciously delaying the decisive action, he conquered a greatly superior force of the enemy.

Thus terminated the campaign of 1776, not altogether un

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ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

fourably to the American interest. The whole country south of the Jerseys was entirely freed from the British troops. Rhode Island indeed was wholly in their possession; and so was the city of New York; and while they kept their position in the latter place, they were so nearly in a state of siege, that their situation was scarcely more comfortable than that of General Gage and his army in Boston during the preceding winter.

Meantime, the people throughout the colonies who had watched, with breathless and terrible anticipation, the unfortunate retreat of Washington through the Jerseys, and his late critical situation at Philadelphia, were now inspirited by the news of his brilliant successes at Trenton and Princeton, and his subsequent expulsion of the enemy from all their important posts in the Jerseys.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CAMPAIGN OF 1777.

WHILE General Washington was actively employed in the Jerseys in asserting the independence of America, congress could not afford him much assistance; but that body was not backward in promoting the same cause by its enactments and recommendations. Hitherto the colonies had been united by no bond but that of their common danger and common love of liberty. Congress resolved to render the terms of their union more definite, to ascertain the rights and duties of the several colonies, and their mutual obligations towards each other. A committee was appointed to sketch the principles of the union or confederation.

This committee presented a report in thirteen Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States, and proposed that, instead of calling themselves the UNITED COLONIES, they should assume the name of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; that each state should retain its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which was not by the confederation expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled, and that they should enter into a firm league for mutual defence. The articles also defined the rights of the several states, and of

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their citizens; the powers of congress; and the mode of raising money from the respective states for the purposes of general government and defence.

These articles of confederation were adopted after much discussion, and transmitted to the several state legislatures; and, meeting their approbation, were ratified by all the delegates on the 15th of November, 1777. They remained in force, as the constitution of the country, until the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1788.

The only provision which congress could at present make for the support of the army was by the emission of bills of credit to pass at their nominal value in all payments and dealings throughout the states. This soon became depreciated, and the attempts to sustain it, by fixing the prices of commodities, were abortive, and introduced confusion and misery, involving many families in ruin. It was a serious but unavoidable hindrance to all their subsequent operations during the war.

In consequence of the hostilities with the colonies, the British West India Islands experienced a severe scarcity of provisions. When the fleet was about to return to England, an insurrection of the negroes of Jamaica was threatened. The military force of the island had been weakened by draughts to complete the army on the continent; and the ships of war were detained to assist in suppressing the disturbances of the negroes. By this delay the Americans gained time for equipping privateers, who succeeded in capturing many richly laden ships; and were permitted to sell their prizes in the ports of France, both in Europe and the West Indies.

The British cabinet remonstrated against this unfriendly conduct of France; but soon became satisfied that both France and Spain were in a state of active preparation for war. Parliament met on the 31st of October, and, notwithstanding attempts were made for adopting conciliatory measures, it was resolved to support the ministry in a vigorous prosecution of the war.

Congress was not less determined to maintain the independence of the United States at all hazards. Aware of the covert hostility of France towards Great Britain, they had already sent commissioners to Paris, for the purpose of soliciting a loan of money, a supply of munitions of war and an acknowledgment of the independence of the states.

These

commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Arthur Lee, and Silas Deane. Franklin was already known to the French as a philosopher and statesman: and he became very popular in the capital. The commissioners, however, were not yet successful in all their designs. Some arms were obtained privately, and the sale of prizes taken by the American privateers, in French ports, was still connived at; but no public recognition of independence nor open support of the cause could be obtained.

It was at this period that the Marquis de la Fayette, a young French nobleman of the highest rank and an immense fortune, resolved to devote himself to the cause of American liberty. Undismayed by the intelligence just received of the evacuation of New York, the loss of Fort Washington, the calamitous retreat through the Jerseys, and the other disasters of the campaign of 1776, he presented himself to the commissioners, and offered his services as a volunteer. They were so candid as to say that they could not in conscience urge him to proceed; and assured him that they possessed not the means nor the credit for procuring a vessel for his passage: 'Then,' exclaimed the gallant and generous youth, 'I will provide my own;' and it is a literal fact, that when our beloved country was too poor to offer him so much as a passage to her shores, he left in his tender youth the bosom of home, of happiness, of wealth, and of rank, to plunge in the dust and blood of our inauspicious struggle.

He arrived in the spring of 1777; and was cordially received by Washington, and appointed by congress a majorgeneral in the army. His example was followed by many other French officers; and he was afterwards mainly instrumental in securing the friendship and alliance of the French government

During the disastrous campaign of 1776, a large number of American prisoners were taken and conveyed to New York, where they were confined in the most horrible of all dungeons, the British prison ships. There they endured sufferings, which have seldom known a parallel in the annals of cruelty. But they bore all with the patience of martyrs, and the courage of patriots. When offered liberty and promotion, if they would join the royal party, they spurned the offer with contempt; and hundreds of them expired in captivity, rather than desert the cause to which they had devoted themselves.