Читать книгу Washington the Soldier - Henry B. Carrington - Страница 11

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Seth Pomeroy.

Richard Montgomery, who served gallantly under Wolfe before Quebec, in 1759, and in the West Indies, in 1762.

David Wooster.

William Heath, who, previous to the war, was a vigorous writer upon the necessity of military discipline and a thoroughly organized militia.

Joseph Spencer, of Connecticut, also a soldier of the French and Indian War, both as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel.

John Thomas, also a soldier of the French and Indian War, and in command of a regiment at Cambridge, recruited by himself.

John Sullivan, a lawyer of New Hampshire, of Irish blood; a member of the First Continental Congress, and quick in sympathy with the first movement for armed resistance to British rule.

Nathaniel Greene, already in command of the Rhode Island troops.

Congress had also selected as Adjutant-General of the Army, Horatio Gates, of Virginia, who, like Lee, had served in the British regular army; commanded a company in the Braddock campaign, and gained some credit for bravery at the capture of Martinique, in the West Indies. He was also known to Washington, and shared with Lee in aspiration to the chief command.

If Washington had possessed prophetic vision, even his sublime faith might have wavered in view of that unfolding future which would leave none of these general officers by his side at the last conflict of the opening war.

Ward, somewhat feeble in body, would prove unequal to active service; lack the military acuteness and discernment which the crisis would demand, and retire from view with the occupation of Boston.

Lee, so like Arnold in volcanic temper, would be early detached for other service, in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina; would become a prisoner of war at New York; would propose to the British authorities a plan for destroying the American army; would escape execution as a British deserter, on exchange; and afterwards, at the Battle of Monmouth, so nearly realize his suggestion to General Howe, as to show that his habitual abuse of Congress and his jealousy of his Commander-in-Chief were insufficiently atoned for by dismissal from the army, and the privilege of dying in his own bed, unhonored and unlamented.

Schuyler, devoted to his country, with rare qualities as a gentleman and with a polish of manner and elegance of carriage that for the time made him severely unpopular with the staid stock of New England, would serve with credit in Canada; organize the army which Gates would command at Saratoga; be supplanted by that officer; retire from service because of poor health; but ever prove worthy of the confidence and love of his commander-in-chief. Of him, Chief Justice Kent would draw a pen-picture of “unselfish devotion, wonderful energy, and executive ability.” Of him, Daniel Webster would speak, in an august presence, in these terms: “I was brought up with New England prejudices against him; but I consider him second only to Washington in the service he rendered to his country in the War of the Revolution.”

Putnam, who had been conspicuously useful at Bunker Hill, would, because of Greene’s illness, suddenly succeed that officer in command on Long Island, without previous knowledge of the works and the surrounding country; would, feebly and without system, attempt to defend the lines against Howe’s advance; would serve elsewhere, trusted indeed, but without battle command, and be remembered as a brave soldier and a good citizen, but, as a general officer, unequal to the emergencies of field service.

Pomeroy, brave at Bunker Hill, realizing the responsibilities attending the consolidation of the army for active campaign duty, would decline the proffered commission.

Montgomery, would accompany Schuyler to Canada, full of high hope, and yet discover in the assembled militia such utter want of discipline and preparation to meet British veterans, as to withhold his resignation only when his Commander-in-Chief pleaded his own greater disappointments before Cambridge.

The perspective-glass will catch its final glimpse of Montgomery, when, after the last bold dash of his life, under the walls of Quebec, his body is borne to the grave and buried with military honors, by his old comrade in arms, Sir Guy Carleton, the British general in command.

Wooster, then sixty-four years of age, would join Montgomery at Montreal; waive his Connecticut rank; serve under his gallant leader; be recalled from service because unequal to the duties of active command; would prove faithful and noble wherever he served, and fall, defending the soil of his native State from Tryon’s invasion, in 1777.

Heath, would supplement his service on the Massachusetts Committee of Safety by efficient duty at New York, White Plains, and along the Hudson, ever true as patriot and soldier; but fail to realize in active service that discipline of men and that perception of the value of campaign experience which had prompted his literary efforts before he faced an enemy in battle.

Spencer, would discharge many trusts early in the war, with fidelity, but without signal ability or success, and transfer his sphere of patriotic duty to the halls of Congress.

Thomas, would prove efficient in the siege of Boston, and serve in Canada.

Sullivan, would also enter Canada; become a prisoner of war at Long Island; be with Washington at White Plains; succeed to the command of Lee’s division after the capture of that officer; distinguish himself at Trenton; serve at Brandywine; do gallant service at Germantown; attempt the capture of Staten Island and of Newport; chastise the Indians of New York, and resign, to take a seat in Congress.

Greene, would attend his chief in the siege of Boston; fortify Brooklyn Heights; engage in operations about Forts Washington and Lee; take part in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Newport, and Springfield; would then succeed Gates at the south, fight the battles of Guilford Court-House, Hobkirk Hill, and Eutaw Springs, and close his life in Georgia, the adopted home of his declining years.

But, during the midsummer of 1775, the beleaguered City of Boston, astounded by the stolid and bloody resistance to its guardian garrison, began to measure the cost of loyalty to the King, in preference to loyalty to country and duty; while the enclosed patriots began to assure themselves that deliverance was drawing near. Burgoyne, after watching the battle from Copp’s Hill, in writing to England of this “great catastrophe,” prepared the Crown for that large demand for troops upon which he afterwards conditioned his acceptance of a command in America.

The days of waiting for a distinct battle-issue had been fulfilled. The days of waiting for the consolidation of the armies about Boston, under one competent guide and master, also passed. Washington had left Philadelphia and was journeying toward Cambridge.

WASHINGTON AT FOUR PERIODS OF HIS MILITARY CAREER.

[Etching from H. H. Hall’s Sons’ engraving.]