CHAPTER V

Major2Major André.

Major André.

The tournament was between the "Knights of the Ladies of the Blended Rose and the Ladies of the Burning Mountain," the latter presumably the daughters of the country about to be consumed!

The gayety was at its height when the army was encamped just across the Schuylkill at Valley Forge—when the winter was one of extraordinary rigor. During that winter the army was often without bread, often entirely without meat. "Few men" had "more than one shirt, many only the moiety of one, and some none at all." Men were confined in hospitals or farmers' houses forwant of shoes. In camp there were on a single day 2,898 men unfit for duty because they were "barefoot and otherwise naked." In December the men built fires and sat up all night because there were no blankets to cover them. When a march was necessary their way could be traced by their bleeding feet. In three weeks of this time the army at Valley Forge lost, in its overflowing hospitals, hundreds, some say thousands, of men. Just across the river American women were bandying idle compliments with the British and Hessian officers, living on delicacies of their providing, dancing at midnight routs and noonday festivals. Here, at Valley Forge, Martha Washington was passing among the sick with deeds and words of cheer, and the aged mother praying in solitude on the banks of the Rappahannock!

Of the lady, to whom the Philadelphia letter was addressed, we must, perforce, form doubtful conclusions. That she possessed a personality which found immediate favor in the eyes of men, there is not the least doubt. No man could send her an ordinary message of courtesy unadorned by expressions of gallantry. Alexander Hamilton writes of Mrs. Bland to her husband so warmly that he is constrained to explain, "I write in the styled'amitie, notd'amour, as might have been imagined." Says Arthur Lee, "Lay me at the feet of Mrs. Bland," prudently adding, "and in the bosom of your friendship."

Stephen Higginson of Boston eclipses them all, and dilates upon "the rapturous delight ofone fond kissfrom sun to sun," which it appears she had promised him; doubting, however, his "capacity for enjoyments so excessive and for so long a time." Her own colonel shows himself to be very tender and gentle to his wife. He preserved all her letters. The poor lady had the smallpox, that dreadful scourge of the time, but she had not the greatness of soul to keep from the soldier in the field the knowledge of her disaster. She drives him wild with her indefinite complainings, her vague hints. He begs her to spare him this torture. "You say you have been too ill until to-day to see yourself in the glass. You cannot know what doubts I have had, what altercations in my own mind whether you went to the glass or the glass came to you!" She pines for the stir and excitement of the camp. He entreats her to feel benevolence and interest in the stay-at-home people. But my lady is subtle; all her trouble is forsooth for his sake—and he believes her. He entreats her to spare him her repiningat his absence, and says, "Remember 'tis for you, for my country, for my honor, that I endure this separation, the dangers and the hardships of war; remember that America cannot be free, and therefore cannot be happy, without the virtue of her sons and the heroism of her daughters."

We observe the lady gains her point. She joinsthe Court of Madam Washington in camp. We observe further, as confirmation of our estimate of her charms, that she did not long remain a widow after her husband's early death. She became Mrs. Blodgett, and again Mrs. Curran. Having refused to give John Randolph of Roanoke the papers and family portraits belonging to her first husband, he wrote bitterly of her, always as "the romantic Mrs. Bland-Blodgett-Curran."

With these volatile letters were others lining the ample egg-basket,—the originals of some of the most celebrated letters of Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, on the grave issues of the hour, and all addressed to Colonel Bland. A very important letter was from Arthur Lee, a pure, incorruptible patriot, who could not understand how a public servant living on a small salary could grow rich.

He was ambassador at the French court with Franklin. He left his countrymen in great straits for money, clothing, and provisions. He found their representatives abroad living in affluence. He wrote home, Dec. 13, 1778, "they have made immense private fortunes for themselves and their dependents. Mr. D. (Silas Deane) is generally understood to have made £60,000 sterling while he was commissioner; his clerk, from being penniless, keeps his house and carriage. Dr. Franklin's nephew, Mr. Williams, from being clerk in a sugar bakehouse in London,is become a capital merchant here, loading a number of ships on his own account, while gentlemen of the first fortunes in America cannot get remittances or credit for their subsistence.

LeeArthur Lee.

Arthur Lee.

"These things are notorious, and there are no visible sources of this property but the public money and State secrets to trade upon.

"They will force me one day or other to bring the proof of these things before Congress and the public; when I am sure they will shed some of their borrowed plumes."

Letters from the French officers, Lafayette, Fleury,De Francey, speak of "des lauriers que vous avez gagné à la defense de votre patrie," etc. One from Lafayette's own hand illustrates the excellence of the marquis's English, perhaps quite as good as the American colonel's French:—

"Dear Sir: I make myself the pleasure of writing to you; and wishing you an agreeable sejour at home. If you find there a horse distinguished by his figure as well as his qualities for what you think I can desire of him, I shall be obliged to you to send him to me; Provided he would not be wicked for others or troublesome to me; as otherwise they are not so dear at equal beauties and qualities. Being so fine as I wish him, he must be verry dear. I beg your pardon for this commission and I am, with great affection"Your most obedient servant,La Fayette."P.S. We have not any other interesting news in camp but that a vessel is arrived in Portsmouth from France with fifty pieces of cannon and five thousand arms."

"Your most obedient servant,

La Fayette.

"P.S. We have not any other interesting news in camp but that a vessel is arrived in Portsmouth from France with fifty pieces of cannon and five thousand arms."

Rather an important item to follow an order for a horse.

How "verry dear" the marquis's fine horse was likely to be we can gather from a letter written by the good old gentleman at "Cawsons," from which we have news of some old friends among the race-horses: "I have a new coach which stands me in fourteen thousand and odd pounds of the present money. I have sold the horse 'Aristotle' at a profit and bought for your use the high-bred horse,'Janus-and-Silver-eye,' which cost me one hundred and twenty pounds."

Another French officer who preferred his own English to Colonel Bland's French was Colonel Armand. He complains that "Congress have passed a resolve that havehurted me in my hart and reputation. I have not practise the way of making friend to me in congress, for I thought such way below the charactere of an honest man, and now God know but I shall trayed to justify myself by myself." Another letter exhibits Washington's stern ideas of honorable warfare, contrasting sharply with some well-remembered methods in later days.

"I am informed that the liberty I granted the light dragoons to impress horses has been horridly abused and perverted into a plundering scheme. I intended nothing more than that the horses belonging to the disaffected, in the neighborhood of the British Army, should be taken for the use of the dismounted dragoons and regularly reported to the quarter-master general that an account might be kept of the number of persons from whom they were taken in order to future settlement. You are to make known to your whole corps that they are not to meddle with the horses or other property of any inhabitants whatever; for they may be assured, as far as it depends upon me, thatmilitary executionwill attend all caught in the like practice hereafter."

Other letters relate to General Washington's famous order against gaming, he being certain that "gentlemen"—that word so dear to the colonial Virginian—"can find amusement without application to this vile resource attended with so many evil consequences." In vain did one John Hawkins complain of loss because of his erection "for the amusement of gentlemen," of four large houses of entertainment with billiard-tables. It was decided that billiards, as "a game where wagers were laid" were included in the order.

These letters were written in times "well fitted to winnow the chaff from the grain." While Washington wrote of the falling away of the officers, and the desertion of thousands of men, he also paid more than one noble tribute to the brave and true men who remained with him. "Naked and starving as they are," he said, "we cannot enough admire their incomparable patience and fidelity."

Upon Colonel Bland's election to the First Congress, General Washington wrote him a most eloquent letter in behalf of an appropriation for the payment of the army. The original of this grand letter was found in the egg-basket collection.

"This army is of near eight years standing, six of which they have spent in the field, without any other shelter from the inclemency of the seasons than tents or such houses as they could build for themselves without expense to the public. Theyhave encountered cold, hunger and nakedness. They have fought many battles and bled freely. They have done this without pay." This superb tribute to the men whose blood flows in the veins of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, concludes with an earnest appeal to Congress for harmony. The jealousies already evident between the states filled his heart with anguish. He continues, "Unless our Union can be fixed upon this basis—the removal of the local prejudices which intrude upon and embarrass that great line of policy which alone can make us a free, happy and powerful people—unless our Union can be fixed on such a basis as to accomplish these, certain am Ithat we have toiled, bled and spent our treasure to very little purpose."

With this eloquent utterance we conclude our extracts from the half-burned letters, with which the poor negro's egg-basket was lined.

In Virginia, about to become the battle-ground of the Revolution, the condition of affairs was gloomy, humiliating, apparently almost desperate. After a war of five years the state was still unfortified, unarmed, unprepared. Her strength, her money, her sons had been sent to fight her battles in the North. She had entered the war already loaded with debt from the Indian and French wars, and further depleted through her patriotic non-importation policy. Navigable rivers ran, at intervals of a few miles, from her interior to the coast. An invading fleet had but to sail up these rivers, to lay waste the entire country, and end all by a single, well-directed blow.

Virginia was slow to appreciate the necessity of an armed naval force. She never desired to meet her enemy at sea. One of her sons declared in Congress, "I deem it no sacrifice of dignity to say to the Leviathan of the deep, 'We cannot contend with you in your own element, but if you come within our limits we will shed our last drop of blood in their defence,'" adding "What! Shall the great mammoth of the American forests leave his nativeelement, and plunge into the water in a mad contest with a shark? Let him stay on shore and not be excited by the muscles and periwinkles on the strand to venture on the perils of the deep. Why take to water where he can neither fight or swim?"

But in 1775 the Convention of Virginia directed the Committee of Safety to procure armed vessels for the better defence of the colony.[17]About seventy vessels were placed in service, built at the Chickahominy Navy-yard, South Quay, and Hampton near Norfolk. George Mason, for the Committee of Safety, built two galleys and a fine battle ship,The American Congress, to carry fourteen guns and ninety-six marines. The vessels were to serve separately for the defence of the coast, but there was great difficulty in obtaining sailors to man them. Among the seamen were faithful negroes who purchased their freedom by serving through the war. These ships sometimes captured sloops laden with supplies for the officers of the invading army. Luxuries intended for British officers found their way to rebel tables. The planters lacked many essential articles,—food, clothing, medicines,—but they had a pineapple now and then. They sent out their own tobacco in ships which often never returned, and in time most of the Virginia ships were either destroyed or captured. Then it was that John Paul Jones obtained a commission fromCongress to "harass the enemies of the Commonwealth," and swept the seas.

In January, 1781, Virginia was invaded by the enemy. Tarleton's cavalry carried the torch and sword throughout the whole James River region, burned houses, carried off horses, cutting the throats of those too young for service. They made a dash to the mountains and captured seven members of the assembly, then in session at Charlottesville, announcing an intention to go as far as Fredericksburg and Mount Vernon. In May, Tarleton was confidently expected at Fredericksburg. The planters abandoned their homes and removed their families from place to place for safety. The homestead was totally destroyed or pillaged, china pounded up, servants carried off, and every animal stolen or slaughtered. "Were it possible," said one old citizen, "I should remove my family to some other country, for nothing can compensate for the sufferings and alarms they daily experience. Scarce do they remain one week in a place, before they are obliged to abandon their shelter and seek an asylum from the bounty of others." The state was swept as by a tornado—growing crops destroyed, plantations laid waste. The destruction of property was estimated at thirteen million sterling. So dearly did the peaceful citizens of Virginia purchase freedom for their descendants!

Among the stories of this prince of raiders stilltold at Virginia firesides, is one of a day when he made a clean sweep of everything portable on an old lady's plantation. Standing calmly in her doorway, she watched the rifling of her poultry-yard. One cowardly and aged Muscovy drake basely abandoned his harem and hid in a hedge. The old dame espied him just as Tarleton and his staff rode off. "Here, you Jim," she called to a negro lad; "catch that old duck and ride for your life after that general. Tell him he forgot one lean old duck, and I send it to him with my compliments." "What did he say?" she asked the boy on his return. "He jes put dat old Muscovy in he wallet, an' he say he much obliged."

The raids of the enemy along the navigable waters of Virginia became incessant. Gunboats would ascend the rivers, to the terror of all who dwelt on their banks. One of these went up the Pamunkey at night, and was kept from landing by a handful of men who fired, ran on ahead and fired again, and so on until the captain, believing himself to be in the midst of a large force on shore, and uncertain as to the possibility of return, hoisted a white flag in the moonlight and surrendered! Then the captain on shore (John Otey, with only twenty men) was, indeed, in a dilemma! Waiting until the moon went down, he ordered the crew ashore, forbade any to speak, took their arms and marched them through the darkness to headquarters!

A schooner on April 9, 1781, ascended the Potomac as far as Alexandria, landing at every house on the way, burning, destroying, stealing, loudly declaring their errand to "burn out the traitors, George Washington and George Mason."

On the 12th six armed vessels ascended the river, and the counties of Stafford, Prince William, and Fairfax became the "scene of war." Fifty miles from Fredericksburg, Cornwallis was encamped with his main body of the British army. Twenty miles from Fredericksburg, Lafayette was protecting, with his small force, the homes of the mother, wife, and sister of the commander-in-chief. "Before this letter reaches you," warned Colonel Bannister, "the enemy will have penetrated to Fredericksburg."

To be brave and serene became the high duty of the commander's family. They must present an example of fortitude and courage. This was the obligation laid upon them by their position. Nor did they demand, because of this position, anything more than the protection accorded to all. No sentries or guards were posted around their dwellings, no force detailed for their special protection. When Mary Washington's daughter expressed alarm, her mother reminded her that "the sister of the commanding General must be an example of fortitude and faith." Even the general himself could not repress a cry of anguish when he heard of the desolation of his native state. "Would to God,"he said, "would to God the country could rise as one man and extirpate Cornwallis and his whole band!"

The general's family held their posts in calm silence, expressing no excitement or alarm. Tarleton's cavalry—mounted on Virginia's race-horses—were dashing all over the country, and liable at any moment to appear wherever it pleased him. For Mary Washington there was no security, no peace, save in the sanctuary of her own bosom. Virginia was the battle-ground, convulsed through her borders with alarms! Finally, General Washington could bear it no longer. Despite her remonstrance he removed his mother to the county of Frederick, in the interior of the state, where she remained for a short time to escape the Red Dragoons of the dreaded Tarleton.

"As for our present distresses," he wrote to George Mason, "they are so great and complicated that it is scarcely within the powers of description to give an adequate idea of them. We are without money and have been so for a long time; without provision and forage, without clothing, and shortly shall be (in a manner) without men. In a word; we have lived upon expedients till we can live no longer."

The eventful year of 1781—destined to bring so great a deliverance to the country—brought infinite sorrow to Mary Washington and her daughter.The good man and pure patriot, Fielding Lewis, died in January. Always too frail in health to bear arms, he had sent his sons to the front, advanced £7000 for the manufacture of arms, and so impoverished himself by advances of money to the colony that he was unable to pay his taxes (Calendar State Papers, Vol. i, p. 503; Henings Statutes, Vol. ix, p. 71).

In the same year Samuel Washington died at his home, "Harewood," in Jefferson County. The family bond was close in Mary Washington's household and no one was dearer than her son Samuel!

Washington's letters in 1780 repeat the story of Valley Forge. "The present situation of the army" (Jan. 8, 1780) "is the most distressing of any we have experienced since the beginning of the war. For a fortnight past the troops, both officers and men, have been almost perishing from want. The troops are half starved, imperfectly clothed, riotous, and robbing the country people of their subsistence from sheer necessity." In April things had not improved. "We are on the point of starving," he wrote to Reed of Pennsylvania. "I have almost ceased to hope. The country in general is in such a state of insensibility and indifference to its interests that I dare not flatter myself with any change for the better." And he adds, like a sigh of hopeless anguish, "In modern wars the longest purse must chiefly determine the event."

The English were fully cognizant of this state of affairs. "We look on America as at our feet," wrote Horace Walpole, in 1780, to Mann.

"Poorly clothed, badly fed, and worse paid," said General Wayne in 1780, "some of them not having had a paper dollar for nearly twelve months; exposed to winter's piercing cold, to drifting snows and chilling blasts, with no protection but old worn-out coats, tattered linen overalls, and but one blanket between three men! In this situation, the enemy begin to work upon their passions, and have found means to circulate proclamations among them. The officers in general, as well as myself, stand for hours every day exposed to wind and weather among the poor naked fellows while they are working at their huts, assisting with our own hands, sharing every vicissitude in common with them, participating in their ration of bread and water. The delicate mind and eye of humanity are hurt—very much hurt—at their distress."

These were the trials to which the soldiers of the American Revolution were subjected, and which those who endured to the end bore without murmuring; for no stress of suffering could wring from their brave hearts a word of injury to the cause for which they suffered!

May the honors now so gladly awarded to those brave men, by those descended from them, never be given by inadvertence or mistake to the caitiffhost that forsook their commander in his dark hour!

The army that bore the sufferings of which so many have written was a small one. Few armies have ever shown a nobler self-devotion than that which remained with Washington through the dreary winter at Valley Forge, but the conscientious historian must not give honor equally to them and the mighty host of the American people who had no sympathy with the movement. Washington himself wrote, Dec. 30, 1778, "If I were called upon to draw a picture of the times and of the men from what I have seen, heard, and part know, I should in one word say that idleness, dissipation, and extravagance seem to have laid fast hold upon them; that speculation, peculation and an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have got the better of every other consideration—that party disputes and quarrels are the great business of the day; whilst the momentous concerns of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, ruined finances, depreciated money, and want of credit—which in its consequence is want of everything—are but of secondary consideration."

Under these circumstances the nobility and beauty of the character of Washington can indeed hardly be surpassed. "He commanded," says Lecky, "a perpetually fluctuating army, almost wholly destitute of discipline and respect for authority, torn by themost violent personal and provincial jealousies, wretchedly armed, wretchedly clothed, and sometimes in danger of starvation. Unsupported for the most part by the population among whom he was quartered, and incessantly thwarted by Congress, he kept his army together by a combination of skill, firmness, patience, and judgment which has rarely been surpassed, and he led it at last to a signal triumph."

But while he thus held his army discontent, distrust, suspicion,—the train which inevitably follows failure,—possessed the minds of the people and embittered the hearts of those who were striving to serve them. The leaders were blamed for the misfortunes of the time, their ability doubted, their patriotism suspected.

Thus hampered and trammelled, weak, sick at heart, America stretched out appealing hands to France.

The rebellion of the colonies had been long expected in France. As early as 1750, Turgot, before the Sorbonne, had compared colonies to fruits which only remain on the stem until they reach maturity, and then drop off.

VergennesVergennes.

Vergennes.

Vergennes, in conversation with an English traveller, had predicted: "England will soon repent of having removed the only check that can keep her colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection. She will call upon them to contribute towards supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her. They will answer by striking off all dependence."

France had excellent reasons for hating England. Her lilies had gone down again and again before the British flag. Despoiled by England of her American and Canadian possessions, dislodged from her foothold in India, subjected to the espionage, and stung by the arrogance of her enemy, her policy was directed toward one object, the rehabilitation of her former glory at the expense of her greatest rival.[18]

BeaumarchaisBeaumarchais.

Beaumarchais.

Louis the Sixteenth, young and pleasure-loving, was glad to shift all responsibility upon his able advisers,—Maurepas, whom he tolerated, Vergennes, whom he feared and respected, and Beaumarchais, the son of a watchmaker, author of "Le Mariage de Figaro" and "Le Barbier de Seville,"—whom he cordially admired and loved, and who had probably more influence at court than all therest put together. These were the men with whom Deane and Franklin labored, with varying result, for many years—sometimes thwarted and discouraged, at others cheered by promises, and sustained by substantial favors. Presents of money were given by France to America, and her ports were open to American trading-vessels. But England had a vigilant ambassador at the French court, watching like a cat lest the plucky little mouse should venture too far. It behooved the mouse to keep well in hiding. He could hope to gain an advantage over his enemy by stealthy diplomacy only.

SilasSilas Deane.

Silas Deane.

France had, early in September, 1776, sent secret messengers to America to ascertain the state of affairs and report to the court of Versailles. Congress sent Silas Deane, Benjamin Franklin, and Arthur Lee to plead the cause of the colonists at the French court, and negotiate treaties with foreign powers.[19]

BenBenjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin, on being selected, had said to Dr. Rush, "I am old and good for nothing, but, asstore keepers say of their remnants of cloth, I am but a fag-end, and you may have me for what you please;"[20]but Franklin had strong personal reasons for hating England. Accused once by the solicitor-general (Wedderburn, Lord Loughborough) of stealing political letters, the latter had arraigned him and poured upon his head all the vials of ministerial wrath, branding him as a thief in the most fearful philippic ever pronounced against man.[21]"Franklin stood," says Dr. Priestly, "conspicuously erect during the harangue, and kept his countenance as immovable as wood." He was dressed in a suit of Manchester velvet, which he laid aside and never wore after the terrible lashing of Lord Loughborough; but, "Seven years afterwards, on the termination of the war, so triumphant to his own country, and so humiliating to Britain, he signed the articles of Peace, being then Ambassador at Paris,dressed in the Manchester velvet,"—once the garment of heaviness and humiliation, now the royal robe of triumph!

He became, fortunately, a toast at the French court. The statesman who could write ballads and invent musical instruments possessed a charming versatility which attracted the French. How versatile he still could be, even in old age, is attestedby the fact that poets, philosophers, and men of fashion,—Vergennes, Voltaire, Turgot,—nay, the queen herself, admired and sought him. Turgot described him in a line which afterwards adorned the snuff-boxes, medallions, and rings of the court. On these Franklin's head appeared, with this legend,Eripuit fulmen sceptrumque tyrannus, the dignified, old, unpowdered head, its thin hair concealed by a fur cap, which yet had wisdom to guide the hand that "tore the lightning from heaven and the sceptre from the tyrant!"

It was not designed by Providence that America should fail in her contest. Rough-hewn as her methods must perforce be, they were given shape by the hand that guides our ends. Every event here, every move on the chess-board in France, tended to the same result. One of the fifteen decisive battles of the world was fought at Saratoga. "The Capitulation of General Burgoyne to Mr. Gates" (as the English in their wrath expressed it) turned the tide of affairs. It resulted immediately in the alliance with France, so long and ardently desired, without which this country might not have won independence.

Of course, we sent post-haste to tell the good news of this victory to our long-suffering envoy at the French court. The "Capitulation to Mr. Gates" occurred Oct. 17, 1777; the news reached Franklin Dec. 4, of the same year—nearly twomonths afterward. But we are the last people who should ever lament the want of telegraphic service in our early history. Had such existed during the Revolution, we would surely this day be sending our humble duty, with many gifts, to our Gracious Sovereign, his Most Sacred Majesty, Edward VII, upon his coronation. A polite ambassador would not be nearly sufficient.

BurgoyneGeneral Burgoyne.

General Burgoyne.

When Benjamin Franklin received the news he was quietly dining, not dreaming of any better fortunethan that we should be able to hold Philadelphia.[22]No more dramatic scene can be imagined than that which took place on the evening of Dec. 4, 1777, when Jonathan Austin's chaise rapidly drove into the courtyard at Passy and rudely interrupted Dr. Franklin's dinner-party. The guests, among whom were Beaumarchais, rushed out. "Sir," exclaimed Franklin, "is Philadelphia taken?" "Yes, Sir," replied Austin; and Franklin clasped his hands and turned to reënter the house. Austin cried, "I have better andgreater news; General Burgoyne and his whole army are prisoners of war." Beaumarchais set out with all speed to notify Vergennes, and he drove with such haste that his coach upset, and he dislocated his arm.

RochambeauRochambeau.

Rochambeau.

It was not, however, until July 10, 1780, that Rochambeau wrote from Newport to Washington: "We are now at your command. It is hardly necessary for me to tell your Excellency that I bring sufficient cash for whatever is needed by the King's army."

Lafayette was holding Cornwallis at Yorktown, having orders from Washington that he was on no account to be permitted to escape. In order to prevent this it was necessary to have the assistance of the French fleet. To this end he despatched a frigate to Cape Henry, where De Grasse was expected to touch, urging him to come up Chesapeake Bay as soon as possible to clear the James River and blockade the York. This word was received by De Grasse, who arrived with his fleet of twenty-eight ships of the line in Chesapeake Bay on Aug. 30, 1781.

GrasseDe Grasse.

De Grasse.

The French forces then joined Washington in arapid march to Virginia, having made a feint of attacking New York, and thus deceived Sir Henry Clinton. Well for us there were no railroads or telegraph wires in those days! Washington and his allies were not discovered until they were almost in front of Cornwallis.

The march through Philadelphia was a species of triumph. And now who more ready than the Tory ladies to welcome and applaud! "The windows were filled with ladies waving handkerchiefs and uttering exclamations of joy. The ragged Continentals came first with their torn battle-flags and cannon; and the French followed in gay white uniforms faced with green to the sound of martial music. A long time had passed since Philadelphia had seen such a pageant; the last resembling it had been the splendid Mischianza festival, devised by poor André in the days of the British occupation,"[23]and enjoyed, alas, by these same ladies, while these same Continentals were starving and perishing with cold!

They were equal to any situation, these Philadelphia ladies! The first duty of woman, according to them, was to make herself agreeable to the powers that be—the heroes of the hour. Said Washington Irving, "The beauties who had crowned the British Knights in the chivalrous time of the Mischianza, were now ready to bestow wreaths and smiles on their Gallic rivals."

CornwallisLord Cornwallis.

Lord Cornwallis.

Fifteen days after the arrival of the allied forces successful assaults were made upon the enemy's redoubts, Washington putting the match to the first gun; and on Oct. 17, Cornwallis, after having made unsuccessful efforts to relieve his position and to escape by water, proposed a cessation of hostilities and the appointment of commissioners to settle terms of surrender. On Oct. 19, in pursuance of articles of capitulation, drawn by Vicomte de Noualles and Colonel Laurens, representing the allies, and Colonel Dundas and Major Ross, representing the British, Lord Cornwallis surrendered; the English marching out to the tune, "The World's Turned Upside Down,"—a fact which was,no doubt, accepted by the brave Cornwallis as the only solution to the turn events had taken.

"The work is done and well done," said Washington as he heard the long shout of the French and the Americans.

To Maurepas, in France, Lafayette wrote:—

"The play is over, Monsieur le Compte, the fifth act has just come to an end."[24]

"It's all over now," said our old friend Lord North,[25]heartily relieved, we may well believe, to be rid of all the bother.

At midnight on Oct. 23, 1781, Philadelphia was startled by the cry, "Cornwallis is taken." And on Oct. 24, on motion of Mr. Randolph, it was resolved, "That Congress at 2 o'clock this day go in procession to the Dutch Lutheran Church and return thanks to Almighty God for crowning the allied arms of the United States and France with success by the surrender of the whole British Army under the command of the Earl of Cornwallis."[26]

But not with joy and gratitude was the news received by old Lord Fairfax, who had given Washington his first opportunity in life. He had liked the fifteen-year-old lad, had taught him to follow the hounds, and been his cordial friend as long as he fought for the Crown. Lord Fairfax, "the Nimrodof Greenway Court," was now ninety-two years old. "When he heard," says the irrepressible Parson Weems, "that Washington had captured Cornwallis and all his army, he called to his black waiter: 'Come, Joe! Carry me to bed, for it is high time for me to die.'"

"Then up rose Joe, all at the wordAnd took his master's arm.And thus to bed he softly laidThe Lord of Greenway farm."There oft he called on Britain's nameAnd oft he wept full sore.Then sighed, 'Thy will, O Lord, be done,'And word spake never more."

"Then up rose Joe, all at the wordAnd took his master's arm.And thus to bed he softly laidThe Lord of Greenway farm.

"There oft he called on Britain's nameAnd oft he wept full sore.Then sighed, 'Thy will, O Lord, be done,'And word spake never more."

The old Royalist's heart had broken with grief and disappointment.

But how was the aged mother to hear the news? Would her heart break with the sudden access of joy?

Washington himself despatched a courier to her with the news of the surrender. She raised her hands to heaven and exclaimed with the deepest fervor:—

"Thank God! Thank God! All the fighting and killing is over. The war is ended and now we shall have peace and happiness."

GreenwayGREENWAY COURT.

GREENWAY COURT.

Mindful of her age her son would not come to her suddenly and unheralded. He could not comeimmediately. He had to attend to the distribution of ordnance and stores, the departure of prisoners, the embarkation of troops, to say nothing of the courtesies of the hour—such as the selection of two beautiful horses as a present to De Grasse, who did not sail until Nov. 4. He was then summoned in haste to Eltham, the seat of his old friend Colonel Bassett, there to fold his tender arms around the dying form of Parke Custis and receive his last breath. Years before, he had thus comforted the sweet young sister, "Patsy Custis," in her last hour.

Martha Washington, the mother, and the wife and four children of Parke Custis (who was only twenty-eight years old) were all at Eltham, and with them Washington remained until the last tribute of respect was paid to the deceased. And that he might comfort his wife and help the young widow, he then and there adopted George Washington Parke Custis and Nellie Custis into his family.

From Eltham he proceeded immediately on pressing business with Congress at Philadelphia, and not until Nov. 11 did he reach Fredericksburg.

That was a great day when the news came to Fredericksburg—"Cornwallis has surrendered." "With red spurs" rode the couriers that carried the glad tidings, and the hearts of the people leaped with joy. Twenty-eight British captains had stepped forth from the lines and surrendered as many colors to the ragged Continentals. With instinctive magnanimity the conquerors had given a banquet to their captive officers, and Washington had saluted Cornwallis with a toast to the British army. Thus the brave honor the brave. And now—courtesies all rendered, the sword sheathed, the guns stacked—the great commander was coming home, first to his mother, attended by a brilliant retinue of French and American officers. When the soldier of his people laid his country's freedom at his mother's feet, if ever in this world a foretaste of heavenly joy be given to human beings, to Mary and George Washington alike this was the hour. Says Mr. Custis:—

"After an absence of nearly seven years, it was, at length, on the return of the combined armiesfrom Yorktown, permitted to the mother again to see and embrace her illustrious son. So soon as he had dismounted, in the midst of a numerous and brilliant suite, he sent to apprise her of his arrival, and to know when it would be her pleasure to receive him. No pageantry of war proclaimed his coming, no trumpets sounded, no banners waved. Alone and on foot, the Marshal of France, the general-in-chief of the combined armies of France and America, the deliverer of his country, the hero of the age, repaired to pay his humble duty to her whom he venerated as the author of his being, the founder of his fortune and his fame. For full well he knew that the matron would not be moved by all the pride that glory ever gave, nor by all the 'pomp and circumstance' of power.

"The lady was alone, her aged hands employed in the works of domestic industry, when the good news was announced; and it was further told that the victor chief was in waiting at the threshold. She welcomed him with a warm embrace, and by the well-remembered and endearing name of his childhood; inquiring as to his health, she remarked the lines which mighty cares and many trials had made on his manly countenance, spoke much of old times and old friends, but of his glory—not one word."

But old Fredericksburg tells a story so characteristic that we are fain to accept it. Her neighbors had gathered at her door to congratulate her; butbefore they spoke with her, an orderly dashed up, dismounted, touched his three-cornered hat and said, "Madam! his Excellency will be here within the hour." "His Excellency!Tell George I shall be glad to see him," replied the dame; and turning to her wide-eyed ebony maid, she said, "Patsy, I shall need a white apron."

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