Washington by Richard Harwell

Author:Richard Harwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A Touchstone Book
Published: 1968-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Washington fairly leaped at the words. Send instantly for Rhea. Washington looked about him for some shelter where he could rally the troops of Lee. Fortune favored. Nearby, on the eastward gradient, was a hedgerow. With terse commands Washington ordered all he met in the field to post themselves behind this barrier. Henry Beekman Livingston on his own initiative brought up his men and put them there—the first movement in a rally of the fugitives. Livingston was laboring firmly at this and Washington was collecting other regiments when Tilghman returned with Rhea, the most useful guide, surely, that ever came to Washington on a field of battle. The ground where they stood, Rhea told the General, was part of a long elevation. In front was a protective swamp. On the left, the Army would find an eminence of some strength; woods in the rear would cover any supports posted there.

The spirits of Washington rose at the words. Within a few moments he was master of himself and of the situation. Hamilton wrote later: “His coolness and firmness were admirable. He instantly took measures for checking the enemy’s advance, and giving time for the Army, which was very near, to form and make a proper disposition.” Wayne helped tremendously in this by placing his unshaken brigade where it would be able to hold off the approaching enemy, while Washington reassured Ramsey’s and Stewart’s Regiments, ordered Varnum to form behind the hedge, and sent an urgent call for artillery. Greene and Stirling must be left to find the best positions they could on either wing.

Full effort achieved heart-stirring results. When, presently, smoke and sound told of the arrival of the royal artillery on the east side of the swamp, Col. Eleazer Oswald had four guns ready for a defiant answer. Washington felt sure they would discourage an immediate British attack and hurried off to see how Stirling fared on the left. There the Commander-in-Chief came again upon Lee who apparently did not understand who was directing the action. Washington still was ignorant of what had happened at the front, but his wrath had not cooled and he said tersely that one or the other of them should take charge where they were. If Lee would stay there, he would go back and form the centre. Lee was agreeable. Washington galloped back to the ridge in anticipation of heavier assaults than Oswald’s guns and Wayne’s muskets could repulse for long. The line behind the hedgerow must be strengthened. Not a second could be lost.

The odds shifted again momentarily, because Stewart’s and Ramsey’s men were beginning to waver and had to be relieved. Elsewhere the rally was taking form. Stirling was trying to get ten cannon in a good position, with Maxwell’s Brigade in support of the wing; Steuben was available to collect fugitives; Greene’s men were filing in on the right; the men behind the hedgerow were more numerous. Washington could reason that he soon would have a better chance of redeeming a

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