Military Journal, During the American Rev. War - Part 12



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

MAJOR-GENERAL HORATIO GATES.

GENERAL GATES was a native of England, and was educated to the military 
profession. He was an officer under the unfortunate Braddock, in the 
expedition against Fort du Quesne, in the year 1755, and who, after 
receiving a dangerous wound, was, with the illustrious Washington, among 
the few officers who escaped with life on that memorable occasion. When 
the American colonies were forced to assume a hostile attitude, Gates had 
been for some time a resident in Virginia, and having evinced his zeal and 
attachment to the violated rights of his adopted country, and sustaining a 
high military reputation, he was by Congress appointed adjutant-general, 
with the rank of brigadier, and he accompanied General Washington to our 
camp at Cambridge, in July, 1775. On the retreat of our forces from 
Canada, the chief command in that department was conferred on him in June, 
1776. He continued the retreat of our army from Crown Point to 
Ticonderoga, which did not fully accord with the views of Congress and the 
commander-in-chief. The British forces having retired to winter-quarters 
in Canada, Gates marched with a detachment of his command, and joined the 
main army in Jersey, in the autumn of that year. His sphere of action was 
not brilliant or splendid, till his mighty achievement in the capture of 
Burgoyne, at Saratoga; nor is he justly and exclusively entitled to the 
full measure of applause acquired by that most glorious victory; the 
magnanimous General Schuyler,(*) whom he superseded in command, had, by 
his indefatigable industry, and almost unprecedented labors, raised the 
most formidable impediments to the march of Burgoyne, which tended more 
than is generally imagined to facilitate the conquest made by the northern 
army.

(* MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER. - It has been observed that neither 
history nor biography has rendered justice to this highly meritorious 
character. He possessed a clear understanding, a strong mind, a humane and 
generous disposition. No individual could have contributed more largely, 
by his vigilance and efficiency, to augment the obstacles to the march of 
the British army to Fort Edward. His name should be enrolled with the 
renowned band of military patriots and heroes, that posterity may know the 
eminent services which his splendid talents conferred on his country.)

When General Gates succeeded to the command of the northern army, August, 
1777, Generals Schuyler and St. Clair were suffering, though most 
unjustly, the public odium by the evacuation of Ticonderoga, and their 
successor in command was in high repute and confidence with his officers 
and soldiers. Burgoyne's right wing, under St. Leger had been cut off at 
Fort Stanwix, and his left at Bennington, by General Stark. Our army was 
daily increasing in numbers, and considerably exceeded the strength of the 
enemy, and our troops were greatly invigorated with courage, and 
determined on victory. Every circumstance, in fact, was auspicious to a 
successful issue. Burgoyne still perceived that, in proportion as he 
advanced, obstacles multiplied on every side. Having at length surmounted 
almost insuperable difficulties, he passed the Hudson, and advanced to 
Saratoga. Gates also advanced to Stillwater, and boldly faced his 
formidable foe; and on the 19th of September, a sanguinary conflict 
ensued. Both parties firm and unyielding, both attained the high honors of 
the brave, but neither bore the palm of a complete victory from the field. 
While Burgoyne's loss was irretrievable, the force and the ardor of his 
antagonist were continually augmenting. Every day's delay now increased 
the heavy embarrassments of Burgoyne, while time threw additional 
advantages into the hands of his spirited opponent; till at length it 
became obvious that retreat or victory was his unavoidable alternative; 
but, on trial, it was resolved, to his utter dismay, that neither resource 
was at his command. On the 7th of October, the two opposing armies rushed 
again to the field of slaughter, and both were satiated with blood and 
carnage. The British army were repulsed in every direction, and its 
commander was led to the painful conviction that a more disastrous fate 
awaited him. Burgoyne, now driven to the brink of despair - his forces 
disabled, his provisions exhausted, and a victorious adversary opposing 
him in front - resolved on a rapid retreat, but on exploring the route, 
behold, his adversary was there!

The dreaded crisis had now arrived, when a capitulation was alone 
practicable. Articles not very dishonorable to the vanquished enemy were 
acceded to, and General Gates enjoyed the ineffable satisfaction of 
receiving in submission the once-victorious chief. To the honor of General 
Gates, it is mentioned that the captured troops were directed to a 
sequestered spot to ground their arms, that their feelings might not be 
wounded in the presence of our army, though it deprived the latter of 
satisfaction in which they were justly entitled to participate. An 
interesting narrative of the first interview between the victor and the 
captured officers is thus given by Adjutant-General Wilkinson: "General 
Burgoyne proposed to be introduced to General Gates, and we crossed the 
Fishkill, and proceeded to head-quarters on horseback, General Burgoyne in 
front with his Adjutant-General Kingston, and his aids-de-camp, Captain 
Lord Petersham and Lieutenant Wilford, behind him; then followed Major-
General Phillips, the Baron Reidesel, and the other general officers, and 
their suites according to rank. General Gates, advised of Burgoyne's 
approach, met him at the head of his camp - Burgoyne in a rich royal 
uniform, and Gates in a plain blue frock. When they approached nearly 
within sword's length, they reined up and halted. I then named the 
gentlemen, and General Burgoyne, raising his hat most gracefully, said, 
'The fortune of war, General Gates, has made me your prisoner;' to which 
the conqueror, returning a courtly salute, promptly replied, I shall 
always, be ready to bear testimony that it has not been through any fault 
of your excellency.' Major-General Phillips then advanced, and he and 
General Gates saluted, and shook hands with the familiarity of old 
acquaintances. The Baron Reidesel and other officers Were introduced in 
their turn."

General Gates was remarkable for his humanity to prisoners, and a desire, 
to mitigate the sufferings of the unfortunate. Among the objects in 
distress who claimed his attention was Lady Ackland, whose husband was 
wounded and captured during the battle of the 7th of October. General 
Gates bestowed on her the care and tenderness of a parent. In reply to a 
letter from General Burgoyne in her behalf, he says: "The respect due to 
her ladyship's rank, the tenderness due to her person and sex, were 
sufficient recommendations to entitle her to my protection. I am surprised 
that your excellency should, think that I could consider the greatest 
attention to Lady, Ackland in the light of an obligation."

General Gates received the thanks of Congress, and a gold medal, as a 
memorial of their gratitude. Great was the credit which he acquired by 
this momentous event, universal joy pervaded the country, and all ranks 
were ready to vie with each other in their homage to the fortunate 
conqueror. It was not long after, that the wonderful discovery was 
supposed to be made, that the illustrious Washington was incompetent to 
the task of conducting the operations of the American army, and that 
General Gates, if elevated to the important station of commander-in-chief, 
would speedily meliorate the condition of our affairs. A discontented 
party in Congress, with a few interested individuals in our army, 
constituted the faction hostile to the saviour of his country. General 
Gates himself was strongly suspected of more than a passive acquiescence, 
and there were those who imputed to him a principal agency in the affair, 
which, however, he promptly disavowed. Had the project succeeded, it, 
would in alI probability have sealed the ruin of our army and sacrificed 
the glorious cause of our country. But all the eclat which General Gates 
had acquired, and all the splendor of his name, were insufficient to 
proselyte a single officer to his interest. He was not endowed with that 
dignity and with those illustrious qualities which were requisite to 
command the confidence and reverence of the army as the successor of the 
much-beloved Washington. I am assured by Governor Brooks that, being in 
company with a number of respectable officers at Valley Forge when the 
subject was canvassed, General Weedon, of Virginia, with great vehemence 
declared, that should General Gates be preferred to the chief command, he 
never would serve under him, but would absolutely resign his commission 
and quit the service, and all present were in unison with him in opinion.

A private correspondence was maintained between the intriguing General 
Conway and General Gates, criticising and reprobating the measures pursued 
by General Washington, and in one of Conway's letters he ascribes our want 
of success to a weak general and bad counsellors. General Gates, on 
finding that General Washington had been apprised of this correspondence, 
addressed his excellency, requesting that be would disclose the name of 
his informant; and, extraordinary as it may appear, in violation of the 
rules of decorum, he addressed the commander-in-chief on a subject of 
extreme delicacy in an open letter, transmitted to the President of 
Congress. His pretence was, that some of the members of that body might 
aid in detecting the person who made the communication. General 
Washington, however, made no hesitancy in disclosing the name and the 
circumstances which brought the affair to light. General Gates then, with 
inexcusable disingenuousness, attempted to vindicate the conduct of 
Conway, and to deny that his letter contained the reprehensible 
expressions in question, but utterly refused to produce the original 
letter. This subject, however, was so ably and candidly discussed by 
General Washington as to cover his adversary with shame and humiliation, 
and he was glad to discontinue the investigation. It was thought to be 
inexcusable in General Gates that he neglected to communicate to the 
commander-in-chief an account of so important an event as the capture of 
the British army at Saratoga, but left his excellency to obtain 
information by common report. In November, 1777, Congress having new-
modeled the board of war, appointed General Gates the president, and he 
entered on the duties of the office, but retained his rank in the army. 
The subject of this sketch was destined to experience, in a remarkable 
manner, the humiliating vicissitudes of fortune. He had the conducting of 
the most prosperous and the most disastrous of the military enterprises in 
the war. In June, 1780, General Gates was by Congress vested with the 
chief command of our army in the Southern States. In a general battle at 
Camden,(*) August 15th, being the first and only encounter which he had 
with Lord Cornwallis, he suffered a total defeat, and was obliged to fly 
from the enemy for personal safety; and thus was the prediction of General 
Lee, when Gates was vested with the command, that his Northern laurels 
would be exchanged for Southern willows, verified. It would, however, be 
great injustice to attribute the misfortune altogether to the commander, 
under his peculiar circumstances; a large proportion of his force 
consisted of raw militia, who were panic-struck, and fled at the first 
fire; their rout was absolute and irretrievable. It may be observed, 
nevertheless, that his conduct in some respects on this occasion did not 
meet the approbation of those who must be admitted as competent judges of 
the military operations of that fatal day. Proudly calculating on the 
weight of his name, and too confident in his own superiority, he slighted 
the counsel which he ought to have respected; and hurrying impetuously 
into the field of battle, his tide of prosperity ebbed as fast at Camden 
as it had flowed at Saratoga.

(* In the disastrous battle at Camden, the Baron de Kalb, a brave and 
experienced Prussian officer, and major-general in our service, was 
unfortunately slain. It was said that this heroic officer cautioned 
General Gates against a general action, under present circumstances. His 
exit was marked with unfading glory, and his distinguished merit was 
gratefully acknowledged by Congress, in erecting a monument to his memory.)

The plot to supplant General Washington is established beyond question, 
and it will be only sufficient to quote the following extracts from the 
two purest patriots and men that have ever lived, to satisfy of its truth 
those who are not familiar with the events of that period. Patrick Henry, 
writing on the subject to General Washington, says:

"While you face the armed enemies of our liberty in the field, and, by the 
favor of God, have been kept unhurt, I trust your country will never 
harbor in her bosom the miscreant who would ruin her best supporter. I 
wish not to flatter; but when arts unworthy honest men are used to defame 
and traduce you, I think it not amiss, but a duty, to assure you of that 
estimation in which the public hold you, Not that I think any testimony I 
can bear is necessary. for your support or private satisfaction, for a 
bare recollection of what is past must give you sufficient pleasure in 
every circumstance of life. But I cannot help assuring you, on this 
occasion, of the high sense of gratitude which all ranks of men, in this 
your native county, bear to you. It will give me sincere pleasure to 
manifest my regards, and render my best services to you or yours. I do not 
like to make a parade of these things, and I know you are not fond of it; 
however, I hope the occasion will plead my excuse."

To which General Washington replies:

"The anonymous, letter with which you were pleased to favor me was written 
by ******, so far as I can judge from a similitude of hands.

"My caution to avoid any thing that could injure the service prevented me 
from communicating, except to a very few of my friends, the intrigues of a 
faction which I know was formed against me, since it might serve to 
publish our internal dissensions; but their own restless zeal to advance 
their views has too clearly betrayed them, and made concealment on my part 
fruitless. I cannot precisely mark the extent of their views, but it 
appeared in general that General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my 
reputation and influence. This I am authorized to say from undeniable. 
facts in my possession, from publications, the evident scope of which 
could not be mistaken, and from private detractions industriously 
circulated. ******, it is generally supposed, bore the second part in the 
cabal; and General Conway, I know, was a very active and malignant 
partizan; but I have good reason to believe that their machinations have 
recoiled most sensibly on themselves."

Yet, in the face of the evidence of the fact, General Armstrong recently 
avows that "the danger propagated and believed for half a century, that 
two distinguished officers of the army of the revolution had conspired to 
put down the commander-in-chief is an impudent and vile falsehood from 
beginning to end."

General Gates was displaced from his command by order of Congress, and his 
conduct subjected to the inquiry of a special court, which resulted in his 
acquittal, but his Saratoga laurels had. faded and he was unable to 
retrieve his suffering fame. "It was the general opinion that General 
Gates was not treated by Congress with that delicacy, or indeed gratitude, 
that was due to an officer of his acknowledged merit. He, however, 
received the order of his supersedure and suspension, and resigned the 
command, to General Greene with becoming dignity." General Greene asserted 
that if there was any mistake in the conduct of, Gates it was in hazarding 
an action at all against such superior force.

He was reinstated in his military command in the main army in 1782, but 
the great scenes of war were now passed, and he could only participate in 
the painful scene of a final separation. In the midst of his misfortune 
General Gates was called to mourn the afflictive dispensation of 
Providence in the death of his only son. Major Garden, in his excellent 
publication, has recorded the following affecting anecdote, which he 
received from Dr. William Reed:

"Having occasion to call on General Gates, relative to the business of the 
department under my immediate charge, I found him traversing the apartment 
which he occupied, under the influence of high excitement; his agitation 
was excessive - every feature of his countenance, every gesture betrayed 
it. Official despatches, informing him he was superceded, and that the 
command of the southern army had been transferred to general Greene, had 
just been received and perused by him. His countenance, however, betrayed 
no expression of irritation or resentment; it was sensibility alone that 
caused his emotion. an open letter, which he held in his hand, was often 
raised to his lips, and kissed with devotion, while the exclamation 
repeatedly escaped them, 'Great man! Noble, generous procedure!' When the 
tumult of his mind had subsided, and his thoughts found utterance, he, 
with strong expression of feeling, exclaimed, "I have received this day a 
communication from the commander-in-chief, which has conveyed more 
consolation to my bosom, more ineffable delight to heart, than I had 
believed it possible for it ever to have felt again. With affectionate 
tenderness he sympathizes with me in my domestic misfortunes, and condoles 
with me on the loss I have sustained by the recent death of an only son; 
and then with peculiar delicacy, lamenting my misfortune in battle, 
assures me that his confidence in my zeal and capacity is so little 
impaired, that the command of the right wing of the army will be bestowed 
on me so soon as I can make it convenient to join him.'"

When the revolution was completed, General Gates retired to his plantation 
in Virginia, where he continued about seven years, when he with his wife 
took up his final residence in the neighborhood of New York. In civil life 
General Gates was a zealous partizan, but he was always disappointed in 
his ambitious views. In 1800, he was elected to the New York legislature 
to answer the purpose of a party, and withdrew again to private life as 
soon as that purpose was answered. During the federal administration of 
the general government, he was found in the ranks of the opposite or minor 
party, which excluded him altogether from a share of the honors and 
emoluments which it was in the power of his former illustrious military 
leader to bestow. "A few years before his death he generously gave freedom 
to his slaves, making provision for the old and infirm, while several 
testified their attachment to him by remaining in his family. In the 
characteristic virtue of planters' hospitality, Gates had no competitor, 
and his reputation may well be supposed to put this virtue to a hard 
test." "He had a handsome person, and was gentlemanly in his Manners, 
remarkably courteous to all, and carrying good-humor sometimes beyond the 
nice limit of dignity. To science, literature or erudition, however, he 
made no pretensions, but gave indisputable marks of a social, amiable, 
benevolent disposition. He died without posterity at his abode near New 
York, on the 10th day of April, 1806, aged seventy-eight years."


BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN STARK.

GENERAL STARK was a native of Londonderry, in New Hampshire, and was born 
August 17th, 1728. When at the age of twenty-one years, he was, while on a 
hunting excursion, surprised and captured by the Indians, and remained 
four months a prisoner in their hands. He was captain of a company of 
rangers in the provincial service during the French war of 1755, and was 
with the British general, Lord Howe, when he was killed in the storming 
the French lines at Ticonderoga, in July, 1758. At the close of that war 
he retired, with the reputation of a brave and vigilant officer. When the 
report of Lexington battle reached him, he was engaged at work in his saw-
mill. Fired with indignation and a martial spirit, he immediately seized 
his musket, and with a band of heroes proceeded to Cambridge. The morning 
after his arrival, he received a colonel's commission; and availing 
himself of his own popularity, and the enthusiasm of the day, in two hours 
he enlisted eight hundred men! On the memorable 17th of June, at Breed's-
hill, Colonel Stark, at the head of his back-woodsmen of New Hampshire, 
poured on the enemy that deadly fire, from a sure aim, which effected such 
remarkable destruction in their ranks, and compelled them twice to 
retreat. During the whole of this dreadful conflict, Colonel Stark evinced 
that consummate bravery and intrepid zeal which entitle his name to honor 
and perpetual remembrance in the pages of our history. After the British 
evacuated Boston, Colonel Stark joined our northern army while retreating 
from Canada, and he had the command of a party of troops who were employed 
in fortifying the post of Mount Independence. We next find him at Trenton, 
in December, 1776, where be shared largely in the honors of that ever-
memorable battle under Washington , when the Hessians were captured. But 
Stark reached the climax of his fame when, in one of the darkest and most 
desponding periods of the American war, he achieved a glorious victory 
over the enemy at Bennington. General Burgoyne, after possessing himself 
of Ticonderoga in July, 1776, and while advancing at the head of his 
victorious army towards Albany, conceived the design of taking by surprise 
a quantity of stores which our people had deposited at Bennington. For 
this enterprise he despatched a German officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Baum, 
with five hundred soldiers and one hundred Indians, with two field-pieces. 
Stark was at that time brigadier- general of militia, and was in the 
vicinity with about one thousand four hundred brave men from New 
Hampshire. He advanced towards the enemy, and drew up his men, in a line 
of battle. Colonel Baum, deeming it imprudent to, engage with his present 
force, halted his troops, and sent an express to Burgoyne for a 
reinforcement, and in the mean time entrenched and rendered himself as 
defensible as possible.

General Burgoyne immediately despatched Colonel Breyman, with about one 
thousand troops, to reinforce Colonel Baum; but a heavy rain and bad roads 
prevented his arrival in season. General Stark, on, the 16th of August, 
planned his mode of attack, and a most severe action ensued, which 
continued about two hours, with an. incessant firing of musketry and the 
enemy's field-artillery. Colonel Baum defended himself with great bravery 
till he received a mortal wound, and his whole party was defeated. It was 
not long after that Colonel Breyman appeared with his reinforcement, and 
another battle ensued, which continued obstinate on both sides till 
sunset, when the Germans yielded, and the victory on our side was 
complete, the trophies of which were four brass field-pieces and more than 
seven hundred prisoners. Congress, on the 4th of October following, passed 
a resolve of thanks to General Stark, and the officers and troops under 
his command, for their brave and successful attack and signal victory, and 
that Brigadier Stark be appointed a brigadier-general in the army of the 
United States. General Stark volunteered his services under General Gates 
at Saratoga, and assisted in the council which stipulated the surrender of 
General Burgoyne, nor did he relinquish his valuable services till he 
could greet his native country as an Independent Empire. General Stark was 
of the middle stature, not formed by nature to exhibit an erect, soldierly 
mien. His manners were frank and unassuming; but he manifested a peculiar 
sort of eccentricity and negligence, which precluded all display of 
personal dignity, and seemed to place him among those of ordinary rank in 
life. But, as a courageous and heroic soldier, he is entitled to high rank 
among those who have been crowned with unfading laurels, and to whom a 
large share of glory is justly due. His character as a private citizen was 
unblemished, and he was ever held in respect. For the last few years of 
his life, he enjoyed a pecuniary bounty from the government. He lived to 
the advanced age of ninety-three years, eight months and twenty-four days 
and died May 8th, 1822.


MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN.

GENERAL SULLIVAN has a claim to honorable distinction among the general 
officers of the American army. Before the revolution, he had attained to 
eminence in the profession of the law in New Hampshire. But indulging a 
laudable ambition for military glory, he relinquished the fairest 
prospects of fortune and fame, and, on the commencement of hostilities, 
appeared among the most ardent patriots and intrepid warriors. He was a 
member of the first Congress, in 1774; but, preferring a military 
commission, he was in 1776 appointed a brigadier-general of the American 
army, then at Cambridge, and soon obtained the command on Winter-hill. The 
next year he was ordered to Canada, and, on the death of General Thomas, 
the command of the army devolved on him. The situation of our army in that 
quarter was inexpressibly distressing, destitute of clothing, dispirited 
by defeat and constant fatigue, and a large proportion of the troops sick 
with the small-pox, which was attended by an unprecedented mortality. By 
his great exertions and judicious management he meliorated the condition 
of the army, and obtained general applause. On his retiring from that 
command, July 12, 1776, the field-officers thus addressed him: "It is to 
you, sir, the public are indebted for the preservation of their property 
in Canada; it is to you we owe our safety thus far. Your humanity will 
call forth the silent tear and the grateful ejaculation of the sick. Your 
universal impartiality will force the applause of the wearied soldier." In 
August, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and soon after 
was, with Major-General Lord Stirling, captured by the British in the 
battle on Long Island. General Sullivan being paroled, was sent by General 
Howe with a message to Congress, after which, he returned to New York. In 
September he was exchanged for Major General Prescott. We next find him in 
command of the right division of our troops, in the famous battle at 
Trenton, and he acquitted himself honorably on that ever memorable day.

In August, 1777, without the authority of Congress or the commander-in-
chief, he planned and executed an expedition against the enemy on Staten 
Island. Though the enterprise was conducted with prudence and success in 
part, it was said by some to be less brilliant than might have been 
expected, under his favorable circumstances; and as that act was deemed a 
bold assumption of responsibility, and reports to his prejudice being in 
circulation, a court of inquiry was ordered to investigate his conduct. 
The result was an honorable acquittal. Congress resolved that the result 
so honorable to General Sullivan is highly pleasing to Congress, and that 
the opinion of the court be published, in justification of that injured 
officer. In the battles at Brandywine and at Germantown, in the autumn of 
1777, General Sullivan commanded a division, and in the latter conflict 
his two aids were killed, and his own conduct was so conspicuously brave, 
that General Washington in his letter to Congress concludes with encomiums 
on the gallantry of General Sullivan, and the whole right wing of the army 
who acted immediately under the eye of his excellency. In August, 1778, 
General Sullivan was sole commander of an expedition to the island of 
Newport, in cooperation with the French fleet under the Count D'Estaing. 
The Marquis de la Fayette and General Greene volunteered their services on 
the occasion. The object of the expedition was defeated, in consequence of 
the French fleet being driven off by a violent storm. By this unfortunate 
event the enemy were encouraged to engage our army in battle, in which 
they suffered a repulse, and General Sullivan finally effected a safe 
retreat to the main. This retreat, so ably executed, without confusion, 
the loss of baggage or stores, increased the military reputation of 
General Sullivan, and redounds to his honor as a skilful commander.

The bloody tragedy acted at Wyoming, in 1778, had determined the commander-
in-chief, in 1779, to employ a large detachment from the continental army 
to penetrate into the heart of the Indian country, to chastise the hostile 
tribes and their white associates and adherents, for their cruel 
aggressions on the defenceless inhabitants. The command of this expedition 
was committed to Major-General Sullivan, with express orders to destroy 
their settlements, to ruin their crops, and make such thorough 
devastations as to render the country entirely uninhabitable for the 
present, and thus to compel the savages to remove to a greater distance 
from our frontiers. General Sullivan had under his command several 
brigadiers and a well-chosen army, to which were attached a number of 
friendly Indian warriors. With this force he penetrated about ninety miles 
through a horrid, swampy wilderness and barren mountainous deserts, to 
Wyoming, on the Susquehannah river, thence by water to Tioga, and 
possessed himself of numerous towns and villages of the savages. During 
this hazardous expedition, General Sullivan and his army encountered the 
most complicated obstacles, requiring the greatest fortitude and 
perseverance to surmount. He explored an extensive tract of country, and 
strictly executed the severe but necessary orders he had received. A 
considerable number of Indians were slain, some were captured, their 
habitations were burned, and their plantations of corn and vegetables laid 
waste in the most effectual manner. "Eighteen villages, a number of 
detached buildings, one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn, and 
those fruits and vegetables which conduce to the comfort and subsistence 
of man, were utterly destroyed. Five weeks were unremittingly employed in 
this work of devastation." On his return from the expedition, he and his 
army received the approbation of Congress. It is remarked on this 
expedition by the translator of M. Chastelleux's Travels, an Englishman 
then resident in the United States, that the instructions given by General 
Sullivan to his officers, the order of march he prescribed to his troops, 
and the discipline he had the ability to maintain, would have done honor 
to the most experienced ancient or modern generals. At the close of the 
campaign of 1779, General Sullivan, in consequence of impaired health, 
resigned his commission in the army. Congress, in accepting of his 
resignation, passed a resolve, thanking him for his past services. His 
military talents, and bold spirit of enterprise, were universally 
acknowledged. He was fond of display, and his personal appearance and 
dignified deportment commanded respect.

After his resignation, he resumed his professional pursuits at the bar, 
and was much distinguished as a statesman, politician, and patriot. He 
acquired very considerable proficiency in general literature, and an 
extensive knowledge of men and the world. He received from Harvard 
University a degree of Master of Arts, and from the University of 
Dartmouth a degree of Doctor of Laws. He was one of the convention that 
formed the state constitution for New Hampshire, was chosen into the first 
council, and was afterwards elected chief magistrate in that state, and 
held the office for three years. In September, 1789, he was appointed 
judge of the District court for the District of New Hampshire, and 
continued in the office till his death, in 1795.


MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS CONWAY,
Knight of the Order of St. Louis.

THIS gentleman was born in Ireland, and went with his parents to France, 
at the age of six years, and was from his youth educated to the profession 
of arms. He had obtained considerable reputation as a military officer and 
as a man of sound understanding and judgment. He arrived from France with 
ample recommendations, and Congress appointed him a brigadier-general in 
May, 1777. He soon became conspicuously inimical to General Washington, 
and sought occasions to traduce his character. In this he found support 
from a faction in Congress, who were desirous that the commander-in-chief 
should be superseded. The Congress not long after elected General Conway 
to the office of inspector-general to our army, with the rank of major-
general, though he had insulted the commander-in-chief, and justified 
himself in doing so. This gave umbrage to the brigadiers over whom he was 
promoted, and they remonstrated to Congress against the proceeding, as 
implicating their honor and character. Conway, now smarting under the 
imputation of having instigated a hostile faction against the illustrious 
Washington, and being extremely unpopular among the officers in general, 
and finding his situation did not accord with his feelings and views, 
resigned his commission, without having commenced the duties of inspector. 
He was believed to be an unprincipled intriguer, and after his 
resignation, his calumny and detraction of the commander-in-chief, And the 
army generally, was exercised with unrestrained virulence and outrage.

No man was more zealously engaged in the scheme of elevating General Gates 
to the station of commander-in- chief. His vile insinuations and direct 
assertions in the public newspapers and in private conversation, relative 
to the incapacity of Washington to conduct the operations of the army, 
received countenance from several members of Congress, who were induced to 
declare their want of confidence in him, and the affair assumed an aspect 
threatening the most disastrous consequences. Conway maintained a 
correspondence with General Gates on the subject, and in one of his 
letters he thus expresses himself. "Heaven has been determined to save 
your country, or a weak general and bad counsellors would have ruined it." 
He was himself at that time one of the counsellors, against whom he so 
basely inveighs. Envy and malice ever are attendant on exalted genius and 
merit. But the delusion was of short continuance; the name of Washington 
proved unassailable, and the base intrigue of Conway recoiled with 
bitterness on his own head. General Cadwallader, of Pennsylvania, 
indignant at the attempt to vilify the character of Washington, resolved 
to avenge himself on the aggressor, in personal combat. In Major Garden's 
Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War, &c., we have the following detailed 
particulars of the duel:

"The parties having declared themselves ready, the word was given to 
proceed. General Conway immediately raised his pistol, and fired with 
great composure, but without effect. General Cadwallader was about to do 
so, when a sudden gust of wind occurring, he kept his pistol down, and 
remained tranquil. 'Why do you not fire, General Cadwallader?' exclaimed 
Conway. 'Because,' replied General Cadwallader, 'we came not here to 
trifle. Let the gale pass, and I shall act my part.'

'You shall have a fair chance of performing it well,' rejoined Conway, and 
immediately presented a full front. General Cadwallader fired, and his 
ball entered the mouth of his antagonist; he fell directly forward on his 
face. Colonel Morgan, running to his assistance, found the blood spouting 
from behind his neck, and, lifting up the club of his hair, saw the ball 
drop from it. It had passed through his head, greatly to the derangement 
of his tongue and teeth, but did not inflict a mortal wound. As soon as 
the blood was sufficiently washed away to allow him to speak, General 
Conway, turning to his opponent, said, good-humoredly, 'You fire, general, 
with much deliberation, and certainly with a great deal of effect,' The 
calls of honor being satisfied, all animosity subsided, and they parted, 
free from all resentment."

General Conway, conceiving his wound to be mortal, and believing death to 
be near, acted honorably, in addressing to General Washington, whom he had 
perfidiously slandered, the following letter of apology:

"PHILADELPHIA, February 23d, 1778.
"SIR: I find myself just able to hold my pen during a few minutes, and 
take this opportunity of expressing my sincere grief for having done, 
written, or said any thing disagreeable to your excellency. My career will 
soon be over; therefore justice and truth prompt me to declare my last 
sentiments. You are in my eyes the great and good man. May you long enjoy 
the love, esteem and veneration of these states, whose liberties you have 
asserted, by your virtues!
"I am, with the greatest respect,
"Your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant,
"THS. CONWAY."


MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES LEE.

GENERAL LEE was an original genius, and one of the most eccentric and 
extraordinary characters of the age. His brilliant talents, military 
prowess, and extensive intelligence, would have entitled him to 
preeminence in the days of chivalry. He could dignify with honor an 
elevated station, and it was not difficult for him to degrade his rank by 
indulging in a malignant, sordid passion for personal satire and 
invective. From the qualities and manners of a gentleman, he could descend 
to the level of a querulous clown. The profession of arms was his delight 
from infancy, and he was commissioned at the early age of eleven years. In 
the year 1762, he bore a colonel's commission, and served under General 
Burgoyne in Portugal, where he signalized himself by his martial skill and 
active enterprises. He afterwards served as an aid-de-camp to his Polish 
majesty, with the rank of major-general. He exhausted every valuable 
treatise, both ancient and modern, on the military art, and his capacious 
mind was stored with knowledge on every subject which he could collect 
from reading, conversation and extensive travelling in Europe. He was 
honored with the acquaintance of princes and noblemen, yet his manners 
were rude and singular, partly from nature and partly from affectation. To 
his strong powers of intellect, he added literary accomplishments, and the 
knowledge of six languages beside his own. As a statesman, he appeared to 
be influenced by an innate principle of republicanism; an attachment to 
these principles was implanted in the constitution of his mind, and he 
espoused the cause of America as a champion of her emancipation from 
oppression. He pertinaciously opposed every oppressive measure of the 
British cabinet towards the American colonies, even while he was in their 
service. On his arrival in this country, he became daily more enthusiastic 
in the cause of liberty, and he travelled rapidly through the colonies, 
animating, both by conversation and his eloquent pen, to a determined and 
persevering resistance to British tyranny. Thus he acquired a large share 
of popularity, and his presence among the people at this crisis was 
considered as a most fortunate and propitious omen. He probably expected 
to have become the first in military rank in America, but in 1775, he 
accepted a commission of second major-general from our Congress, having 
previously resigned that which he held in the British service, and 
relinquished his half-pay. He accompanied General Washington to join the 
troops assembled near Boston, in July, 1775, and he was considered as a 
real acquisition to our cause. In the spring of 1776 be was ordered to New 
York, to take the command and to fortify that city for defence. Not long 
after, he was appointed to the command of the southern department, and in 
his travels through the country, he received every testimony of high 
respect from the people. General Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, 
with a powerful fleet and army, attempted the reduction of Charleston 
while be was in command. The fleet anchored within half-musket- shot of 
the fort on Sullivan's island, where Colonel Moultrie, one of the bravest 
and most intrepid of men, commanded. A tremendous engagement ensued on the 
28th of June, 1776, which lasted twelve hours without intermission. The 
whole British force was completely repulsed, after suffering an 
irreparable loss. General Lee and Colonel Moultrie received the thanks of 
Congress for their signal bravery and gallantry. Our hero had reached the 
pinnacle of his military glory, the eclat of his name alone appeared to 
enchant and animate the most desponding heart.

But here we pause to contemplate the humiliating reverse of human events. 
He returned to the main army in October, and in marching at the head of a 
large detachment through the Jerseys, having, from a desire of retaining a 
separate command, delayed his march several days in disobedience of 
express orders from the commander-in-chief, he was guilty of most culpable 
negligence in regard to his personal security. He took up his quarters two 
or three miles from the main body, and lay for the night, December 13th, 
1776, in a careless, exposed situation. Information of this being 
communicated to Colonel Harcourt, who commanded the British light-horse, 
he proceeded immediately to the house, fired into it, and obliged the 
general to surrender himself a prisoner. They mounted him on a horse in 
haste, without his cloak or hat, and conveyed him in triumph to New York. 
A splendid triumph indeed it was, for next to Washington he was the most 
highly prized as a captive by the British, who considered him as the soul 
of the American army, and at that juncture of our affairs a more grievous 
loss, Washington thought, could not have been sustained. The commander-in-
chief greatly lamented his capture, as he entertained a high opinion of 
his martial skill, and he was apprehensive that the British general would 
treat him with indignity and rigor. Not having any prisoner of his rank, 
his excellency immediately proposed to exchange for him five Hessian field-
officers, captured at Trenton, which is equivalent to the rank of major-
general. The British commander affected to consider Lee as a deserter from 
his majesty's service, and refused to listen to proposals for an exchange, 
but treated him with all the rigor of a state criminal of the first 
magnitude. This compelled the American commander, by order of Congress, to 
retaliate on the persons of five Hessian officers, and also on Colonel 
Campbell, who was now committed to a dungeon. After the capture of General 
Burgoyne and his army, the enemy relaxed in their rigorous treatment, and 
General Lee was soon exchanged for Major-General Prescott. It is next to 
be seen in what manner General Lee terminated his career in the 
continental service. In the battle at Monmouth on the 28th of June, 1778, 
he commanded the van of the American troops, with orders from the 
commander-in-chief to attack the retreating enemy. Instead of obeying this 
order, he conducted in an unworthy manner, and greatly disconcerted the 
arrangements of the day. His excellency, advancing to the field of battle, 
met him in his disorderly retreat, and accosted him with strong 
expressions of disapprobation. Lee, incapable of brooking even an implied 
indignity, and unable to restrain the warmth of his resentment, used 
improper language in return, and some irritation was excited on both sides 
for the moment. Lee on the same day addressed two letters to the commander-
in-chief, couched in disrespectful language, and with an air of defiance 
solicited a trial for his conduct, in consequence of which he was 
immediately put under arrest. A courtmartial, of which Lord Stirling was 
president, was ordered for his trial on the following charges: 1st, For 
disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy on the 28th of June, 
agreeably to repeated instructions. 2d, For misbehaviour before the enemy 
on the same day, by making an unnecessary, disorderly and shameful 
retreat. 3d, For disrespect to the commander-in-chief in two letters, 
dated July 1st and June 28th. The letter dated July 1st was so dated my 
mistake; it was written June 28th. The court found him guilty on all the 
charges, and sentenced him to be suspended from any command in the armies 
of the United States of America for the term of twelve months. He made a 
masterly defence, and endeavored to prove that any other course than that 
pursued would have given the enemy great advantage, and hazarded the 
destruction of our army. In his adversity General Lee was not altogether 
destitute of advocates as respects the affair of Monmouth; they allege 
that, Were it not for the disrespectful letters to his excellency, Lee 
would have been acquitted, and the degree of punishment seems in some 
measure to justify this opinion. If he had been proved fully guilty of all 
the charges, a suspension for one year would be inadequate to the 
magnitude of the crime. It appears also that Congress did not without some 
demur sanction the sentence of the court-martial. When at length their 
confirmation of the sentence was promulgated, it was like a mortal wound 
to the lofty, aspiring spirit of General Lee. Pointing to his dog, he 
exclaimed, "Oh, that I was that animal I that I might not call man my 
brother." He became outrageous, and from that moment he was more open and 
virulent in his attack on the character of the commander-in-chief and did 
not cease in his unwearied endeavors, both in his conversation and 
writings, to lessen his reputation in the estimation of the army and the 
public. He was an active abettor of General Conway in his calumny and 
abuse of General Washington, and they were believed to be in concert in 
their vile attempts to supersede his excellency in the supreme command. 
With the hope of effecting his nefarious purpose, he published a pamphlet, 
replete with scurrilous imputations unfavorable to the military talents of 
the commander-in-chief; but this with his other malignant allegations were 
consigned to contempt. At length Colonel Laurens, one of General 
Washington's aids, unable longer to suffer this gross abuse of his 
illustrious friend, demanded of Lee that satisfaction which custom has 
sanctioned as honorable. A rencounter accordingly ensued, and Lee received 
a wound in his side. Lee, now finding himself abandoned by his friends, 
degraded in the eye of the public, and despised by the wise and virtuous, 
retired to his sequestered plantation in Virginia. In this spot, secluded 
from all society, he lived in a sort of hovel, without glass windows or 
plastering, or even a decent article of house furniture; here he amused 
himself with books and dogs. On January 10th, 1780, Congress resolved that 
Major-General Lee be informed that they have no further occasion for his 
services in the army of the United States. In the autumn of 1782, wearied 
with his forlorn situation and broken spirit, he resorted to Philadelphia, 
and took lodgings in an ordinary tavern. He was soon seized with a disease 
of the lungs, and, after a few days' confinement, he terminated his mortal 
course, a martyr to chagrin and disappointment, October 2d, 1782. The Iast 
words which he was heard to utter, were, "Stand by me, my brave 
grenadiers!" The citizens of Philadelphia were much affected with his 
unexpected death, and his funeral was attended by a large concourse of 
people, the clergy of different denominations, the president and members 
of Congress, and of the assembly of Pennsylvania, the minister of France 
and his secretary, General Baron de Viomenil, the minister of War, and 
several other officers of distinction, both of the French and of the 
American army.

General Lee was rather above the middle size, "plain in his person, even 
to ugliness, and careless in his manners, even to a degree of rudeness; 
his nose was so remarkably aquiline, that it appeared as a real deformity. 
His voice was rough, his garb ordinary, his deportment morose. He was 
ambitious of fame, without the dignity to support it. In private life, he 
sunk into the vulgarity of the clown." His remarkable partiality for dogs 
was such, that a number of these animals constantly followed in his train, 
and the ladies complained that he allowed his canine adherents to follow 
him into the parlor, and not unfrequently a favorite one might be seen on 
a chair next his elbow at table.

In the year 1776, when our army lay at White Plains, Lee resided near the 
road which General Washington frequently passed, and he one day with his 
aids called and took dinner; after they had departed, Lee said to his 
aids, "You must look me out other quarters, or I shall have Washington and 
his puppies calling till they eat me up." The next day he ordered his 
servant to write with chalk on the door, " No victuals cooked here to-
day." The company, seeing the hint on the door, passed with a smile, at 
the oddity of the man. "The character of this person," says one who knew 
him well, "is full of absurdities and qualities of a most extraordinary 
nature. His understanding was great, his memory capacious, and his fancy 
brilliant. He was a correct and elegant classical scholar, and both wrote 
and spoke his native language with perspicuity, force and beauty. From 
these circumstances he was at times a most agreeable and instructive 
companion. His temper was naturally sour and severe. He was seldom seen to 
laugh, and scarcely to smile. The history of his life is little less than 
the history of disputes, quarrels and duels in every part of the world. He 
was vindictive to his enemies. His avarice had no bounds. He never went 
into a public and seldom into a private house where he did not discover 
some marks of ineffable and contemptible meanness. He grudged the expense 
of a nurse in his last illness, and died in a small dirty room in the 
Philadelphia tavern, called the Canastoga Wagon, attended by no one but a 
French servant, and Mr. Oswald the printer, who once served as an officer 
under him. He was both impious and profane. In his principles, he was not 
only an infidel, but he was very hostile to every attribute of the Diety. 
His morals were exceedingly debauched. His appetite was so whimsical, as 
to what he ate and drank, that he was at all times and in all places a 
most troublesome and disagreeable guest. His judgment in war was generally 
sound. He was extremely useful to the Americans in the beginning of the 
revolution, by inspiring them with military ideas and a contempt for 
British discipline and valor. It is difficult to say whether the active 
and useful part he took in the contest arose from personal resentment 
against the king of Great Britain, or from a regard to the liberties of 
America. It is certain he reprobated the French alliance and republican 
forms of government after he retired from the American service. He was in 
the field brave in the highest degree, and, with all his faults and 
oddities, was beloved by his officers and soldiers. He was devoid of 
prudence, and used to call it a rascally virtue. Two virtues he possessed 
in an eminent degree, sincerity and veracity. He was never known to 
deceive or desert a friend, and he was a stranger to equivocation, even 
where his safety or character was at stake. It was notorious that General 
Lee was a man of unbounded personal ambition; and, conscious of his 
European education, and preeminent military talents and prowess, be 
affected a superiority over General Washington, and constantly aimed at 
the supreme command, little scrupulous as to the means employed to 
accomplish his own advancement. In reference to his base detraction, 
General Washington, in a letter to a friend, said:

"What cause is there for such a profusion of venom as he is emitting on 
all occasions? - a simple narration of facts would defeat all his 
assertions, notwithstanding they are made with an effrontery which few men 
do, and, for the honor of human nature, ought to possess." - "mf [sic] 
this gentleman is envious of my station, and conceives that I stand in his 
way to preferment, I can assure him, in Most solemn terms, that the first 
wish of my soul is to return to that peaceful retirement, and domestic 
ease and happiness, whence I came. To this end all my labors have been 
directed, and for this purpose have I been more than four years a perfect 
slave, endeavoring, under as many embarrassing circumstances as ever fell 
to any man's lot to encounter, and as pure motives as any man was ever 
influenced by, to promote the cause and service I had embarked in." - 
Garden's Anecdotes.

The following is an extract from General Lee's will:

"I desire most earnestly that I may not be buried in any church or church-
yard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist Meeting House, 
for since I have resided in this country, I have kept so much bad company 
while living, that I do not choose to continue it when dead."

Thomas Paine once said of Lee, that "he was above all monarchs, and below 
all scum."


MAJOR-GENERAL BENEDICT ARNOLD.

THIS extraordinary man is already recorded in our revolutionary history, 
in the character of a valiant and intrepid officer, and in the next page 
as a sordid and infamous traitor to his country. He was a native of 
Connecticut, where he was known as a half-bred apothecary, a retailer, a 
skipper, and a jockey. Under pretence of bankruptcy, he committed perjury 
with the view of defrauding his creditors. But his mind was formed for 
bold and desperate enterprise, and he was chosen captain of a militia 
company of volunteers. On hearing of the battle at Lexington, he marched 
with his company, and arrived at head-quarters, at Cambridge, about the 
last of April, 1775, where he was promoted to a colonel. He immediately 
repaired to the vicinity of Lake Champlain, and united with Colonel Allen 
and his party, who were preparing to execute their plan for taking 
possession of the British garrison at Ticonderoga. This enterprise was 
crowned with success, without bloodshed, and an immense quantity of 
valuable ordnance and munitions of war was taken for the use of our army. 
After which, he proceeded down the lake to St. John's in a small schooner, 
and seized by surprise an armed sloop of superior force, which he brought 
off with several prisoners. In September following, Colonel Arnold was 
invested with the command of eleven hundred men, destined on a very 
extraordinary and arduous expedition - no less than penetrating through 
the unexplored wilderness to Quebec, by the route of Kennebec river. 
Colonel Burr, late vice-president of the United States, was with his 
party. The expedition was attended by the most distressing circumstances 
which can be imagined, during which Arnold conducted with unexampled 
resolution, and the soldiers exercised the greatest fortitude and 
patience, and accomplished an undertaking almost incredible. The men were 
obliged to drag their batteaux over falls, up rapid streams, over carrying 
places, and to march through morasses, thick woods, and over mountains for 
about three hundred and twenty miles. A part of the detachment, consisting 
of about three hundred men, under Colonel Enos, returned to Cambridge to 
avoid absolute starvation in the wilderness. Some of those who persevered 
were compelled to feed on dogs, which they devoured without sparing legs 
or skin, and also their cartridge boxes, leather breeches and shoes. 
Colonel Arnold appears to have defeated his own object by an imprudent 
act. He intrusted to a transient Indian a letter to a friend in Quebec; 
the Indian betrayed his trust, and delivered the letter to the British 
commandant, who immediately adopted measures for defence and to oppose 
their march. In December, 1775, Colonel Arnold having reached the vicinity 
of Quebec, was second in command under General Montgomery, and led a party 
in the boldest and most spirited manner to the attack of the city of 
Quebec, by escalade, where he received a wound by a musket-ball in his 
leg, and the brave Montgomery was slain. In January, 1776, Arnold was 
promoted to the rank of brigadier, and had the command of the miserable 
remains of our army, and retreated to Crown Point. He took from merchants 
at Montreal goods to a very considerable amount, under circumstances which 
implicated his honor and character. He ordered Colonel Hazen to take 
charge of the goods; but, conceiving that they were taken unjustly from 
the proprietors, he refused to comply. On the retreat of the army, part of 
the goods were pillaged, in consequence of which Colonel Hazen was 
subjected to a trial, but was honorably acquitted. This affair excited 
much indignation among several respectable officers, who, having received 
abusive treatment from Arnold, demanded of General Gates, who now 
commanded in chief, that he should be arrested and brought to trial; but 
Gates, viewing him as a brave and valuable officer, was determined that he 
should command our fleet on Lake Champlain, and therefore waived all 
complaints exhibited against him. AfterArnold was invested with the 
command of our fleet, Sir Guy Carleton proceeded up Lake Champlain with a 
superior force, and a furious contest ensued. No man could have conducted 
with more intrepid bravery than did General Arnold. By his valorous 
conduct he acquired the highest applause; but being overpowered, he was 
obliged to retreat with the Congress galley, which he commanded, and four 
gondolas, Which he ran on shore and blew up in despite of every effort of 
the enemy to prevent it. He even displayed a nice point of honor in 
keeping his flag flying, and not quitting his galley till she was in 
flames, that the enemy should not board and strike the American flag. In 
April, 1777, General Tryon commanded an expedition from New York, 
consisting of about two thousand men, to destroy a deposit of stores at 
Danbury, in Connecticut. General Arnold by a forced march reached the 
scene of action, and with his usual impetuosity engaged the enemy; and, 
when within a few yards, a whole platoon was leveled at him, by which his 
horse was killed. A soldier was advancing to thrust his bayonet through 
him, when, with great presence of mind he took his pistols from his 
holsters, and shot him down. Having mounted another horse, that also was 
shot through his neck. Congress resolved, that a horse properly 
caparisoned be presented to General Arnold, as a token of their 
approbation of his gallant conduct, in which he had one horse killed and 
another wounded. In May following, he was created a major-general. When, 
in August, 1777, General St. Leger invested Fort Stanwix, General Arnold 
marched, at the head of a detachment from Fort Edward, to raise the siege; 
but the enemy, alarmed at his approach, abandoned the enterprise before 
his arrival. In September a serious difference took place between him and 
General Gates, who commanded our army at Saratoga. A conscious superiority 
on one side, and an arrogant temper on the other, sufficed to render the 
contention almost irreconcilable. The consequence was, that Arnold in a 
rage requested to be discharged from under the command of General Gates, 
and the latter immediately gave him a passport to repair to General 
Washington's head-quarters, though a battle with Burgoyne was daily 
expected. He postponed his departure, however, till the sanguinary 
conflict at Bemis's heights commenced, October 7th, when he betrayed great 
agitation and wrath. Rushing into the field of battle, and acting the part 
of a desperado, he exposed himself in the most rash and intemperate 
manner. In the heat of the action, when our troops were gaining advantage, 
General Arnold ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks, at the head of his 
regiment, to force the German lines, which was instantly obeyed, and they 
boldly entered at the sallyport together, where Arnold received a wound in 
his leg, and his horse was killed under him. He had so little control of 
his mind, that while brandishing his sword in animating the officers and 
soldiers, he struck Captain Pettingill and Captain Brown, and wounded one 
of them on his head, without assigning any cause. These gentlemen the next 
day requested Colonel Brooks to accompany them to Arnold's quarters, to 
demand an explanation. He disavowed all recollection of the fact, and 
denied that he had struck an officer; but when convinced of it, readily 
offered the required apology. It is but justice to confess, that by his 
military phrenzy, or romantic heroism, Arnold contributed to the honor and 
success of the day. General Washington had a high sense of his gallantry, 
and presented him a pair of elegant pistols. After the evacuation of 
Philadelphia by the British army, General Arnold was intrusted with the 
command in that city. Here his display of connubial gallantry, as in the 
field his martial spirit, was crowned with honor and success. His 
addresses were auspiciously received, and he was honored with the hand of 
the then celebrated Miss Shippen, one of the most elegant and accomplished 
ladies in the city, but of a tory family. His whole soul now appeared to 
be engaged in the promotion of his own interest and aggrandizement. He 
occupied the house of Governor Penn, the best in the city, and this he 
furnished in a rich and splendid style.

His carriage and equipage we're equally splendid, and he rioted in the 
luxury and pageantry of a nobleman. "Proud of the trappings of office, and 
ambitious of an ostentatious display of wealth and greatness, the certain 
mark of a narrow mind, he had wasted the plunder acquired at Montreal, 
where his conduct had been remarkably reprehensible, and had dissipated 
the rich harvest of peculation he had reaped at Philadelphia, where his 
rapacity had no bounds. He deliberately seized every thing he could lay 
his hands on in the city, to which be could affix an idea that it had been 
the property of the disaffected party, and converted it to his own use." 
(History of the American Revolution by Mrs. M. Warren.)

Unmindful of his military station, he engaged in various speculations and 
in privateering, in both of which he was unfortunate. He made exorbitant 
demands on government, in compensation for public services, and made 
bitter complaints against Congress, pretending that he suffered injustice 
from their hands. The commissioners appointed to liquidate his accounts, 
rejected a large proportion of his demands, as being unjust and unfounded, 
and for which he deserved severe reprehension. He was charged by the 
citizens of Philadelphia with gross acts of extortion, and of peculating 
on the public funds; and he was at length so notorious for his follies and 
vices, and so audacious in his reproaches against what he termed the 
ingratitude of his country, that the general voice demanded an 
investigation of his conduct. The government of Pennsylvania, as well as 
many respectable citizens, exhibited formal charges against him, and 
Congress directed that he should be arrested, and tried by a court-
martial. He was sentenced to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief, 
which being approved by Congress, was carried into execution accordingly. 
The emoluments of his office, with all his embezzlements, proved 
inadequate to his exigencies, and his funds being exhausted, he was unable 
to meet the demands of his creditors. Thus he evinced a mind destitute of 
both moral principle and political integrity. Rebuffed and mortified in 
his vicious pursuits, he became soured and disaffected to our government 
and cause, and the most malevolent and rancorous spirit agitated his 
unprincipled bosom, restrained by a want of opportunity to indulge his 
revenge. At the opening of the campaign in June, 1780, the commander-in-
chief offered him the command of the left wing of our army, to which his 
rank entitled him; but this be declined, under the pretext that the wound 
which he received at Saratoga, rendered him incapable of active service in 
the field. He solicited the station of commander of the garrison at West 
Point, and in this request he was indulged by the commander-in-chief, who 
still had confidence in him as a military officer. He was now invested 
with a situation which furnished him with the meditated opportunity of 
executing his treasonable purpose, and avenging himself on his country and 
the glorious cause of freedom. He engaged in a secret correspondence with 
Sir Henry Clinton, and actually agreed to put him in possession of the 
important garrison at West Point.

The British general, appreciating the importance of the acquisition, 
immediately closed with him for the stipulated sum of ten thousand pounds 
sterling, and sent Major John Andre, his adjutant-general and aid-de-camp, 
to negotiate the arrangement for the surrender of the post. A British 
sloop-of-war, called the Vulture, conveyed him up the North river within 
twelve miles of West Point, and in the night of the 21st of September, 
1780, by direction of General Arnold, this gentleman was brought on shore, 
under the fictitious name of John Anderson. Arnold received him on the 
beach, and conducted him to the house of Joshua Smith, within our lines, 
and the night was spent in ripening the infamous plot for execution. The 
following night it was attempted to reconduct him on board the Vulture; 
but the boatmen who had been seduced to bring him on shore, utterly 
refused to perform the service, and a return to New York by land was the 
only alternative. Arnold furnished him with numerous papers, containing 
all the necessary information respecting the garrison, and a passport, 
naming him John Anderson, on public business, with which he proceeded on 
his journey.

Having reached Tarrytown, on his route, Andre was suddenly arrested by 
three militia-men, who, finding the above-mentioned papers concealed in 
his boots, immediately delivered them into the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Jameson, the commanding officer on our lines. With the view of giving 
Arnold an opportunity to escape, Andre had the address to induce Colonel 
Jameson to inform him by letter that John Anderson was taken on his way to 
New York. On this being received by express, the guilty traitor, struck 
with the pressing danger of his situation, instantly informed his wife 
that he had received some letters which obliged him to flee his country 
for ever, and desired her to retire and remain in her chamber. He now 
called earnestly for a horse, and mounted the first that presented; and, 
instead of the usual path, he took a shorter route, riding down a very 
steep and dangerous precipice to the landing. This has since been called 
"Traitor's-hill." The barge being in readiness, he sprang into it, and 
ordered the boatmen to proceed down the river, and he was soon on board 
the Vulture, which Andre two nights before had left, and which immediately 
sailed with her prize for New York. Arnold was apprised that General 
Washington, being on his return from a journey to Hartford, intended to 
visit him that day, and he was momentarily expected. Accordingly his 
excellency arrived soon after Arnold had absconded; and not finding him at 
his quarters, he passed over the river to West Point, to view the works, 
and with the expectation of finding him at his post; but being 
disappointed, he returned to Arnold's quarters, where he still found that 
no one could account for his absence. But in a few hours despatches 
arrived from Colonel Jameson, announcing the capture of Major Andre, and 
this was accompanied by his own letter of confession. The mysterious 
affair was now developed. Arnold's treason and elopement admitted at once 
of explanation. An officer was immediately sent to our fort at Verplank's 
Point, with orders to fire at Arnold's barge; but it was too late; she had 
already reached the Vulture. In about an hour and a half after Arnold had 
absconded, Dr. Eustis, who had charge of the hospital in the vicinity, was 
called to the assistance of Mrs. Arnold, whose situation was alarming. He 
found her at the head of the stair-case, in great dishabille, her hair 
disheveled, knowing no one, and frantic in the arms of her maid and 
Arnold's two aids, struggling to liberate herself from them. She was 
carried back to her chamber, and fell into convulsions, which lasted 
several hours. In a lucid interval, she inquired of the doctor if General 
Washington was in the house, expressing a wish to see him. Believing that 
she intended to say some thing which would explain the secret of Arnold's 
unaccountable absence, he hastened below, gave notice of her request, and 
conducted the general to her chamber, who remained no longer than to hear 
her deny that he was General Washington, and to witness the return of her 
distraction. When Arnold deserted his post, a corporal, by name James 
Lurvey, was the coxswain of his barge. After their arrival on board the 
Vulture, and Arnold had held an interview with the officers in the cabin, 
he came on deck, and said to his bargemen, "My lads, I have quitted the 
rebel army, and joined the standard of his Britannic Majesty. If you will 
join me, I will make sergeants and corporals of you all; and for you, 
James, I will do some thing more." Indignant at the offer, Lurvey promptly 
replied, "No, sir; one coat is enough for me to wear at a time!" - a 
worthy example of fidelity in the corporal, and a cutting sarcasm on the 
guilty traitor. Two only of the crew remained, and they were British 
deserters. The brave corporal, with the remainder of the men, returned; 
not, however, in the barge; Arnold had the meanness to retain that for his 
own use, and gave them a miserable boat in exchange.

After his arrival on board the Vulture, he addressed to General Washington 
the following letter:

"On board the Vulture, September 25th, 1780.
"SIR: The heart which is conscious of its own rectitude, cannot attempt to 
palliate a step which the world may censure as wrong. I have ever acted 
from a principle of love to my country, since the commencement of the 
present unhappy contest between Great Britain and the colonies; the same 
principle of love to my country actuates my present conduct, however it 
may appear inconsistent to the world, who very seldom judge right of any 
man's actions.

"I have no favor to ask for myself; I have too often experienced the 
ingratitude of my country to attempt it; but from the known humanity of 
your excellency, I am induced to ask your protection for Mrs. Arnold, from 
every insult and injury that the mistaken vengeance of my country may 
expose her to. It ought to fall only on me: she is as good and as innocent 
as an angel, and is incapable of doing wrong. I beg she may be permitted 
to return to her friends in Philadelphia, or to come to me, as she may 
choose; from your excellency I have no fears on her account, but she may 
suffer from the mistaken fury of the country.

"I have to request that the inclosed letter may be delivered to Mrs. 
Arnold, and she permitted to write to me.

"I have also to ask that my clothes and baggage, which are of little 
consequence, may be sent to me. If required, their value shall be paid in 
money.

"I have the honor to be, with great regard and esteem,

"Your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant.
"B. ARNOLD.

"His Excellency General Washington;

"N. B. In justice to the gentlemen of my family, Colonel Varrick, and 
Major Frank, I think myself in honor bound to declare that the as well as 
Joshua Smith, Esquire, who I know is suspected, are totally ignorant, of 
any transactions of mine that they had reason to believe were injurious to 
the public."

Mrs. Arnold was permitted to go unmolested to her husband at New York, and 
to take her chariot with her. Arnold had the audacity to remonstrate to 
General Washington against the execution of Major Andre, and to attempt to 
intimidate him by threats of retaliation, should the unfortunate prisoner 
suffer; but his excellency treated both the traitor and his affrontive 
letters with sovereign contempt. He next published an address to the 
people of the United States, in which he pretended to ascribe his 
defection from the American cause to principle, of which it is well known 
that he ever has been destitute. He attempts to vindicate his conduct by 
the ridiculous pretence that he was actuated by motives favorable to the 
interests of his country by bringing the war to a speedy termination, as 
though the destiny of America was doomed to be at his disposal , and that 
he was authorized to decide the fate of millions. In his artful address he 
labored to palliate his own guilt and to influence others to follow his 
vile example. He execrated with peculiar bitterness our alliance with 
France, and accused Congress of tyranny and usurpation, and a total 
disregard of the interest and welfare of the people. Not satisfied with 
this insidious appeal to the people, he addressed by proclamation "the 
officers and soldiers of the continental army, who had the real interest 
of their country at heart, and who were determined to be no longer the 
tools and dupes of Congress or of France." As inducement to the American 
officers and soldiers to desert the cause which they had embraced, he 
represented that the corps of cavalry and infantry which he was authorized 
to raise, would be on the same footing with the other troops in the 
British service; that he would with pleasure advance those whose valor he 
had witnessed, And that the private men who might join him should receive 
a bounty of three guineas each, besides payment at their full value for 
horses, arms, and accoutrements. He endeavored to paint in lively colors 
the deplorable condition of our country, and to reprobate our Congress as 
oppressors, and their authority as tyrannical. "You are promised liberty," 
he exclaims, "but is there an individual in the enjoyment of it, saving 
your oppressors? Who among you dare speak or write what he thinks against 
the tyranny which has robbed you of your property, imprisons your persons, 
drags you to the field of battle, and is daily deluging your country with 
your blood?" Again, "what is America now but a land of widows, orphans, 
and beggars? As to you who have been soldiers in the continental army, can 
you at this day want evidence that the funds of your country are 
exhausted, or that the managers have applied them to their own private 
uses? In either case, one surely can no longer continue in their service 
with honor and advantage. Yet you have hitherto been their supporters in 
that cruelty which, with an equal indifference to yours, as well as to the 
labor and blood of others, is devouring a country that from the moment you 
quit their colors will be redeemed from their tyranny." These 
proclamations failed of the effect which they were designed to produce; 
and notwithstanding all the hardships, sufferings and irritations which 
the Americans were called to encounter, "Arnold remains the solitary 
instance of an American officer who abandoned the side first embraced in 
the contest, and turned his sword on his former companions in arms." "I am 
mistaken," says Washington in a letter to a friend, "if at this time 
Arnold is undergoing the torments of a mental hell. From some traits of 
his character which have lately come to my knowledge, he seems to have 
been so hacknied in crime - so lost to all sense of honor and shame - that 
while his faculties still enable him to continue his sordid pursuits, 
there will be no time for remorse." "This man," says Hamilton, "is in 
every sense despicable. In addition to the scene of knavery and 
prostitution during his command at Philadelphia, which the late seizure of 
his papers has unfolded, the history of his command at West Point is a 
history of little as well as of great villanies. He practised every dirty 
act of peculation, and even stooped to connexions with the sutlers of the 
garrison to defraud the public." A respectable officer, in a letter to a 
friend, speaks of Arnold in the following language: "It is not possible 
for human nature to receive a greater quantity of guilt than he possesses. 
Perhaps there is not a single obligation, moral or divine, but what he has 
broken through. It is discovered now that, in his most early infancy, hell 
marked him for her own, and infused into him a full proportion of her own 
malice. His late apostacy is the summit of his character. He began his 
negotiations with the enemy, to deliver up West Point to them, long before 
he was invested with the command of it, and whilst he was still in 
Philadelphia; after which, he solicited the command of that post from the 
ostensible cause that the wound in his leg incapacitated him for an active 
command in the field." His papers contain the most authentic and 
incontestable proofs of his crime, and that he regarded his important 
employments only as affording him opportunities to pillage the public with 
impunity. The crimes of this unprincipled conspirator are thus summed up: 
Treason, avarice, hypocrisy, ingratitude, barbarity, falsehood, deception, 
peculation and robbery. He aimed to plunge a dagger into the bosom of his 
country, which had raised him from the obscurity in which he was born, to 
honors which never could have been the object even of his hopes. He robbed 
his country at the time of her deepest distress, having directed his wife 
to draw all she could from the commissaries' store, and sell or store it, 
though at a time when the army was destitute of provisions. He robbed the 
soldiers when they were in want of necessaries and defrauded his own best 
friends who trusted and had tendered him the most essential services. He 
spoke contemptuously of our allies, the French, and his illiberal abuse of 
every character opposed to his fraudulent and wicked transactions exceeds 
all description. For the sake of human nature it were to be wished that a 
veil could for ever be thrown over such a vile example of depravity and 
wickedness.

An effigy of Arnold, large as life, was constructed by an artist at 
Philadelphia, and, seated in a cart, with the figure of the devil at his 
elbow, holding a lantern up to the face of the traitor to show him to the 
people, having his name and crime in capital letters. The cart was paraded 
the whole evening through the streets of the city, with drums and fifes 
playing the Rogue's March, with other marks of infamy, and was attended by 
a vast concourse of people. The effigy was finally hanged, for the want of 
the original, and then committed to the flames. Yet this is the man on 
whom the British have bestowed ten thousand pounds sterling as the price 
of his treason, and appointed to the rank of brigadier-general in their 
service. It could scarcely be imagined that there was an officer of honor 
left in that army, who would debase himself and his commission by serving 
under or ranking with Benedict Arnold!

In January, 1781, Arnold was by Sir Henry Clinton invested with the 
command of one thousand seven hundred men, supported by a naval force, on 
an expedition to Virginia, where he committed extensive ravages on the 
rivers and along the unprotected coast, plundering the plantations to the 
extent of his power. According to report, he shipped off a cargo of 
negroes, which he had stolen, to Jamaica, and sold them for his own 
emolument. Having taken an American captain prisoner, he inquired of him 
what the Americans would do with him if he should fall into their hands; 
the officer replied, they would cut off the leg that was wounded at 
Saratoga, and bury it with the honors of war, and hang the remainder of 
his body on a gibbet. In September, 1781, Arnold was again vested with a 
command, and sent on a predatory expedition against New London, in 
Connecticut, his native state. After taking possession of the fort, they 
made a merciless slaughter of the men who defended it, and destroyed an 
immense quantity of provisions, stores and shipping; sixty dwelling-houses 
and eighty-four stores were destroyed, and about one hundred inhabitants 
were deprived of their habitations, and most of them of their all. This 
terminated the career of this monster of wickedness in America. At the 
close of the war, he accompanied the royal army to England. "The contempt 
that followed him through life," says a late elegant writer (Alexander 
Garden, Esquire. - Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War) "is further 
illustrated by the speech of the present Lord Lauderdale, who, perceiving 
Arnold on the right hand of the king, and near his person as he addressed 
his parliament, declared, on his return to the Commons, that, however 
gracious the language he had heard from the throne, his indignation could 
not but be highly excited at beholding, as he had done, his majesty 
supported by a traitor." "And on another occasion, Lord Surrey, since duke 
of Norfolk, rising to Speak in the House of Commons, and perceiving Arnold 
in the gallery, sat down with precipitation, exclaiming, 'I will not speak 
while that man' (pointing to him) 'is in the house."'

He purchased in England a quantity of goods which he brought over to New 
Brunswick; the store and goods took fire, and the whole were consumed; - 
but, according to report they were insured to a much greater amount than 
their real value. After this event, no further laurels remained for him to 
achieve; he recrossed the Atlantic, and died in London, June 14th, 1801.


SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL KNOX.

AMONG those of our countrymen, who most zealously engaged in the cause of 
liberty, few sustained a rank more deservedly conspicuous than General 
Knox. He was one of those heroes, of whom it may be truly said, that he 
lived for his country.

The ardor of his youth and the vigor of his manhood were devoted to 
acquiring its liberty and establishing its prosperity. Born in Boston, 
July, 1750, his childhood and youth were employed in obtaining the best 
education that the justly-celebrated schools of his native town afforded. 
In very early life he opened a book-store, for the enlargement of which he 
soon formed an extensive correspondence in Europe; but little time elapsed 
before, at the call of his country, he relinquished this lucrative and 
increasing business. Indebted to no adventitious aid, his character was 
formed by himself; the native and vigorous principles of his own mind made 
him what he was. Distinguished among his associates, from the first dawn 
of manhood, for a decided predilection to martial exercises, be was at the 
age of eighteen selected by the young men of Boston as one of the officers 
of a company of grenadiers - a company so distinguished for its martial 
appearance, and the precision of its evolutions, that it received the most 
flattering encomium from a British officer of high distinction.

This early scene of his military labors served but as a school for that 
distinguished talent which afterward shone with lustre, in the most 
brilliant campaigns of an eight years' war: through the whole of which, he 
directed the artillery with consummate skill and bravery.

His heart was deeply engaged in the cause of freedom; he felt it to be a 
righteous cause, and to its accomplishment yielded every other 
consideration. When Britain declared hostilities, he hesitated not a 
moment what course he should pursue. No sordid calculation of interest 
retarded his decision. The quiet of domestic life, the fair prospect of 
increasing wealth, and even the endearing claims of family and friends, 
though urged with the most persuasive eIoquence, had no power to divert 
the determined purpose of his mind.

In the early stages of British hostility, though not in commission, he was 
not an inactive spectator. At the battle of Bunker-hill, as a volunteer, 
be was constantly exposed to danger, in reconnoitering the movements of 
the enemy, and his ardent mind was engaged with others in preparing those 
measures that were ultimately to dislodge the British troops from their 
boasted possession of the capital of New England.

Scarcely had we began to feel the aggressions of the British arms, before 
it was perceived that, without artillery, of which we were then destitute, 
the most important objects of the war could not be accomplished. No 
resource presented itself, but the desperate expedient of procuring it 
from the Canadian frontier. To attempt this, in the agitated state of the 
country, through a wide extent of wilderness, was an enterprise so replete 
with toil and danger, that it was hardly expected any one would be found 
hardy enough to encounter its perils. Knox, however, saw the importance of 
the object; he saw his country bleeding at every pore, without the power 
of repelling her invaders; he saw the flourishing capital of the North in 
the possession of an exulting enemy, that we were destitute of the means 
essential to their annoyance, and formed the daring and generous 
resolution of supplying the army with ordnance, however formidable the 
obstacles that might oppose him. Young, robust and vigorous, supported by 
an undaunted spirit, and a mind ever fruitful in resources, he commenced 
his mighty undertaking, almost unattended, in the winter of 1775, relying 
solely for the execution of his object on such aid as he might procure 
from the thinly-scattered inhabitants of the dreary region through which 
he had to pass. Every obstacle of season, roads, and climate were 
surmounted by determined perseverance; and a few weeks, scarcely 
sufficient for a journey so remote, saw him return laden with ordnance and 
the stores of war - drawn in defiance of every obstacle over the frozen 
lakes and mountains of the north. Most acceptable was this offering to our 
defenceless troops, and most welcome to the commander-in-chief, who well 
knew how to appreciate a service so important. This expedition stamped the 
character of him who performed it for deeds of enterprise and daring. He 
received the most flattering testimony of approbation from the commander-
in-chief and from Congress, and was in consequence of this important 
service appointed to the command of the artillery, of which he had thus 
laid the foundation, in which command he continued with increasing 
reputation through the Revolutionary War.

Among the incidents that occurred during the expedition to Canada, was his 
accidental meeting with the unfortunate Andre, whose subsequent fate was 
so deeply deplored by every man of feeling in both nations. His deportment 
as a soldier and gentleman so far interested General Knox in his favor, 
that he often afterward expressed the most sincere regret that he was 
called by duty to act on the tribunal that pronounced his condemnation.

During the continuance of the war, the corps of artillery was principally 
employed with the main body of the army, and near the person of the 
commander-in-chief, and was relied on as an essential auxiliary in the 
most important battles.

There was perhaps no period of the war when the American cause assumed an 
aspect so precarious as in the autumn of 1777. Philadelphia, then the 
centre and capital of our country - preeminent for its wealth, its 
population, and its trade - a place most distinguished for the progress of 
the arts, was destined to fall within the grasp of our haughty foe. In the 
campaign that preceded its occupation by the British, General Knox was a 
conspicuous actor, eager for the contest, yet compelled with his brave 
companions to lament that the equipments of our army were unequal to the 
heroic spirits of its soldiers. Trenton and Princeton witnessed his 
enterprise and valor. At that critical period of our affairs, when hope 
had almost yielded to despair, and the great soul of Washington trembled 
for his country's freedom, Knox was one of those that strengthened his 
hand and encouraged his heart. At that awful moment, when the tempest 
raged with its greatest fury, he, with Greene and other heroes, stood as 
Pillars of the Temple of Liberty, till the fury of the storm was past.

The letters of General Knox, still extant, written in the darkest periods 
of the revolution, breathe a spirit of devotedness to the cause in which 
he had embarked, and a firm reliance on the favor of Divine Providence; 
from a perusal of those letters it is evident that he never yielded to 
despondency, but, in the most critical moments of the war, confidently 
anticipated its triumphant issue.

In the bloody fields of Germantown and Monmouth, without derogating from 
the merits of others, it may be said that during the whole of these hard-
fought battles, no officer was more distinguished for the discharge of the 
arduous duties of his command. In the front of the battle he was seen 
animating his soldiers, and pointing the thunder of their cannon. His 
skill and bravery were so conspicuous on the latter occasion, that be 
received the particular approbation of the commander-in-chief, in general 
orders issued by him the day succeeding that of the battle, in which he 
says, that "the enemy have done them the justice to acknowledge that no 
artillery could be better served than ours." But his great exertions on 
that occasion, together with the extreme heat of the day, produced the 
most alarming consequences to his health. To these more important scenes, 
his services were not confined; with a zeal devoted to our cause, he was 
ever at the post of danger; and the immortal hero, who stands first on the 
list of heroes and of men, has often expressed his sense of their 
services. In every field of battle where Washington fought, Knox was by 
his side. The confidence of the commander-in-chief, inspired by early 
services, was thus matured by succeeding events. There can be no higher 
testimony to his merits than that, during a war of so long continuance, 
passed almost constantly in the presence of Washington, he uniformly 
retained his confidence and esteem, which at their separation had ripened 
into friendship and affection. The parting interview between General Knox 
and his illustrious and beloved chief, after the evacuation of New York, 
by the British, and Knox had taken possession of it at the bead of a 
detachment of our army, was inexpressibly affecting. The hour of their 
separation having arrived, Washington, incapable of utterance, grasped his 
hand, and embraced him in silence and in tears. His letters, to the last 
moment of his life, contain the most flattering expressions of his 
unabated friendship. Honorable to himself as had been the career of his 
revolutionary services, new laurels were reserved for him at the siege of 
Yorktown. To the successful result of this memorable siege, the last 
brilliant act of our revolutionary contest, no officer contributed more 
essentially than the commander of the artillery. His animated exertions, 
his military skill, his cool and determined bravery in this triumphant 
struggle, received the unanimous approbation of his brethren in arms, and 
he was immediately created major-general by Congress, at the 
recommendation of the commander-in-chief, with the concurrence of the 
whole army.

The capture of Lord Cornwallis closed the contest, and with it his 
military life. Having contributed so essentially to the successful 
termination of the war, he was selected as one of the commissioners to 
adjust the terms of peace, which service be performed, in conjunction with 
his colleagues, much to the satisfaction of his country. He was deputed to 
receive the surrender of the city of New York, and soon after appointed to 
the command of West Point. It was here that he was employed in the 
delicate and arduous duty of disbanding the army, and inducing a soldiery, 
disposed to turbulence by their privations and sufferings, to retire to 
domestic life, and resume the peaceful character of citizens.

It is a fact most honorable to his character that, by his countenance and 
support, he rendered the most essential aid to Washington, in suppressing 
that spirit of usurpation which had been industriously fomented by a few 
unprincipled and aspiring men, whose aim was the subjugation of the 
country to a military government. No hope of political elevation - no 
flattering assurances of aggrandizement - could tempt him to build his 
greatness on the ruin of his country.

The great objects of the war being accomplished, and peace restored to our 
country, Gen. Knox was early, under the confederation, appointed secretary 
of war by Congress, in which office he was confirmed by President 
Washington, after the establishment of the federal government. The duties 
of this office were ultimately increased, by having those of the navy 
attached to them - to the establishment of which his counsel and exertions 
eminently contributed. He differed in opinion from some other members of 
the cabinet on this most interesting subject. One of the greatest men*whom 
our country has produced (President Adams), has uniformly declared that he 
considered America much indebted to his efforts for the creation of a 
power which has already so essentially advanced her respectability and 
fame.

Having filled the office of the war department for eleven years, he 
obtained the reluctant consent of President Washington to retire, that he 
might give his attention to the claims of a numerous and increasing 
family. This retirement was in concurrence with the wishes of Mrs. Knox, 
who had accompanied him through the trying vicissitudes of war, shared 
with him its toils and perils, and who was now desirous of enjoying the 
less busy scenes of domestic life. A portion of the large estates of her 
ancestor, General Waldo, had descended to her, which he by subsequent 
purchase increased till it comprised the whole Waldo Patent, an extent of 
thirty miles square, and embracing a considerable part of that section of 
Maine which now constitutes the counties of Lincoln, Hancock, and 
Penobscot. To these estates he retired from all concern in public life, 
honored as a soldier and beloved as a man, devoting much of his time to 
their settlement and improvement. He was induced repeatedly to take a 
share in the government of the state, both in the house of representatives 
and in the council - in the discharge of whose several duties, he employed 
his wisdom and experience with the greatest assiduity. At that time Maine 
and Massachusetts composed one great and powerful state. His enlarged and 
liberal policy, as a legislator, was manifested on every question on which 
he acted, and in every debate in which he took a part. While at the 
council board of Massachusetts, on all public political questions, his 
opinions had great weight with Governor Strong, at that period the worthy 
chief magistrate of the commonwealth. Though independent and firm in his 
political sentiments, like Strong, he was disposed to conciliate those who 
differed from him in opinion, and was wholly free from the spirit of 
intolerance.

In 1798, when the French insults and injuries towards this country called 
for resistance, be was one of those selected to command our armies, and to 
protect our liberty and honor from the expected hostilities of the French 
Directory: happily for our country, their services were not required.

Retired from the theatre of active life, he still felt a deep interest in 
the prosperity of his country. To that portion of it which he had chosen 
for his residence, his exertions were more immediately directed. His 
views, like his soul, were bold and magnificent; his ardent mind could nor 
wait the ordinary course of time and events; it outstripped the progress 
of natural improvement. Had he possessed a cold, calculating mind, he 
might have left behind him the most ample wealth; but he would not have 
been more highly valued by his country, or more beloved by his friends. - 
He died at Montpelier, his seat in Thomaston, 25th of October, 1806, from 
sudden internal inflammation, at the age of fifty-six, from the full vigor 
of health.

The great qualities of General Knox, were not merely those of the hero and 
the statesman; with these were combined those of the elegant scholar and 
the accomplished gentleman. There have been those as brave and as learned, 
but rarely a union of such valor with so much urbanity - a mind so great; 
yet so free from ostentation.

In sketching the life of such a man, it is not the least interesting part 
to recall his private virtues. Long will he be remembered as the ornament 
of every circle in which he moved - as the amiable and enlightened 
companion, the generous friend, the man of feeling and benevolence. His 
conversation was animated and cheerful, and he imparted an interest to 
every subject that he touched. In his gayest moments he never lost sight 
of dignity; he invited confidence, but repelled familiarity. His 
imagination was brilliant, his conceptions lofty; and no man ever 
possessed the power of embodying his thoughts in more vigorous language; 
when ardently engaged, they were peculiarly bold and original, and you 
irresistibly felt in his society that his intellect was not of the 
ordinary class. Yet no man was more unassuming - none more delicately 
alive to the feelings of others. He had the peculiar talent of rendering 
all who were with him happy in themselves; and no one ever more feelingly 
enjoyed the happiness of those around him. Philanthropy filled his heart; 
in his benevolence there was no reserve - it was as diffusive as the 
globe, and extensive as the family of man. His feelings were strong and 
exquisitely tender. In the domestic circle they shone with peculiar 
lustre: here, the husband, the father and the friend, beamed in every 
smile - and if at any time a cloud overshadowed his own spirit, he strove 
to prevent its influence from extending to those that were dear to him. He 
was frank, generous, and sincere; and in his intercourse with the world, 
uniformly just. His house was the seat of elegant hospitality, and his 
estimate of wealth, was its power of diffusing happiness. To the testimony 
of private friendship, may be added that of less partial strangers, who 
have borne witness both to his public and private virtues. Lord Moira, who 
is now perhaps the greatest general that England can boast of, has in a 
late publication spoken in high terms of his military talents. Nor should 
the opinion of the Marquis Chattelleux be omitted: "As for General
Knox," he says, "to praise him for his military talents alone, would be to 
deprive him of half the eulogium he merits; a man of understanding, well 
informed, gay, sincere and honest - it is impossible to know without 
esteeming him, or to see without loving him - thus have the English, 
without intention, added to the ornaments of the human species, by 
awakening talents where they least wished or expected." Judge Marshall 
also, in his Life of Washington, thus speaks of him: "Throughout the 
contest of the revolution, this officer had continued at the head of the 
American artillery, and, from being colonel of a regiment, had been 
promoted to the rank of major-general. In this important station he had 
preserved a high military character, and on the resignation of General 
Lincoln, had been appointed secretary of war. To his great services, and 
to unquestionable integrity, he was admitted to unite a sound 
understanding; and the public judgment as well as that of the chief 
magistrate, pronounced him in all respects competent to the station he 
filled. The president was highly gratified in believing that his public 
duty comported with his private inclination, in nominating General Knox to 
the office which had been conferred on him under the former government." - 
As a proof of their estimation of his literary attainments, the president 
and trustees of Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of Doctor of 
Laws.

Perhaps in no instance of his life was his warmth of heart and strength of 
attachment more fully exemplified than at the closing interview of the 
principal leaders of the war, when they were about to take a final leave 
of each other, never probably to meet again. It was most natural that the 
recollection of the past scenes should awaken the liveliest emotions: the 
bosom of the soldier is the residence of honor and of feeling, and no man 
cherished them more fondly than Knox. He proposed to his brethern in arms 
that some course should be adopted to keep alive the generous attachment 
which was the fruit of their long intercourse and mutual toils and 
dangers; the proposal accorded with the feelings of the principal officers 
of the army, who united in forming the Cincinnati, a society whose object 
was to cement and perpetuate the friendship of its founders, and transmit 
the same sentiment to their descendants. Pure as are believed to have been 
the motives of those who associated in forming this society, there were 
not wanting some who, from ignorance or illiberality, professed to doubt 
the purity of its character and the correctness of its objects. But it is 
a fact, derived from the highest authority (Governor Brooks), that it had, 
from its commencement, the unqualified approbation of the commander-in-
chief, expressed in the most decided language. Such sanction as that of 
Washington could not fail to do away every suspicion of its unfairness, 
and to establish the rectitude of its motives and principles.

General Knox was a supporter of Christian institutions, and contributed 
much, by his liberality and his example, to promote the preaching of the 
gospel. It always appeared to afford him the highest pleasure to bear 
testimony to the excellence of Christianity, and he often expressed his 
firm belief that its exalted principles were intended to correct the heart 
and to purify the life; to make man what he ought to be in this world, and 
to prepare him for the more elevated enjoyments of the future. He most 
firmly believed in the immortality and the immateriality of the soul.

From his reflections on religion, committed by him to paper, it is evident 
that his thoughts were often and intensely employed on the all-important 
concerns of a future state of existence; that he firmly befieved in an 
overruling Providence, and that he was created and sustained by its power 
and goodness. He considered the order, harmony and beauty of creation, as 
affording the most convincing proof of wisdom and design. He thought the 
universal distribution of blessings among mankind, furnished conclusive 
evidence of the goodness of the Being from whose bounty they flow. But it 
was a subject on which he reasoned for himself, unfettered by the arrogant 
dogmas of the churchmen, or the metaphysical subtleties of the schools. He 
expressed exalted pleasure in the full conviction that the arm of Almighty 
Power was extended for the protection of the whole family of man, without 
respect to Jew or Gentile. The exclusive pretensions of the various sects 
and denominations in the church, he considered the fruits of human 
invention, and altogether unworthy the wisdom of the Almighty Mind.

Elevated by the aspirations of his own exalted mind, he believed our 
residence on this globe, which he considered but an atom in creation, as 
only the commencement of a progressive state of existence, still rising 
toward perfection from sphere to sphere, till, by successive gradations of 
intellectual and moral improvement, we are prepared for the presence and 
enjoyment of the All-perfect Being who created us.