Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-30

Next came Princeton. and the whole
country was electrified. The tide had
turned. CORVALLIS. no longer the pur-
suer, was now pursued. He was glad to
get back to New York. He took Lee
with him.
When Lee arrived in New York Gen.
Howe and his brother. Lord Howe, did
not know what to do with him. They had
to ask the king whether to try him as a
traitor or to hold him as a prisoner OF
war. Pending instructions they put him
In prison.
Exaggerated reports reached Washing
ton of the severity of the treatment or
Lee, and Washington thereupon notified
Gen. Howe that until Lee was recog-
niZed as a prisoner Of war there would
he no exchange of prisoners. and as the
British treated Lee SO Washington would
t-eat British prisoners
Washington had scores of Hessian Of
fcers as prisoners II they We're treated
hardly it would have bad effect upon
the spirits Of the other foreign officers
in the British service.
Howe got orders to send Lee TO Ere
land for trial. Howe, cautious and slow,
fearing reprisals II i'll befell Lee, de-
layed In carrying out this order, mean
while sending a long explanation to Lon
don Of the embarrassment of his position.
London gave authority to him to con-
slider Lee prisoner OF war.
Possibly the attitude OF the king to-
ward Lee was softened by some advtces
from Howe as to what Lee was doing to
aid the British cause. Three months
after his capture and while Washington
was working in his behalf with the utmost
energy Lee was laying plan before Sir
William Howe and Lord Richard Howe
to crush the revolution. All the knowl-
edge Lee had gained in America was at
the service Of the Howes Lee was con-
hot &c y,ta pyfx
this page. were adopted the rebellion
would be stamped out within sixty days
And his plan was good one. That 1t
impressed the Howes and influenced them
greatly there can be no doubt.
1t is we'll for America that Ii did
While Lee was urging the Howes to
accept his plan a little thing happened
I in London that was of momentous inn
portance to the struggling continentals.
Lord George German wrote an order to
Howe to send an army UP the Hudson to
reinforce the army Burgoyne was bring
ing down from Canada. The clerk VINO
wrote the dispatch was not a neat pen
man and his lordship ordered the dis
patch rewritten. Before the new draft
was finished his lordship had to leave
for the country to keep social appoint
ment. When he returned TO town the
matter of the rewriting Of the order to
Howe had slipped his memory and the
new order somehow got buried beneath
a pile of papers. 1t was not discovered
did not dare to let the fact be known.
for Burgoyne. without receiving the aid
he expected from Howe. had been over
whelmed at Saratoga and forced to sur
render his whole army, and Howe. with
no orders from London to send reinforce
ments to Burgoyne, had turned his at
tention to an attack on Philadelphia,
move that was of little value to the
British and which ultimately proved
disastrous
Lee was released on parole December
%, 1777. and allowed the liberty of New
York. Two months later he won five
hundred dollar prize in a lottery, and
early in March, 177S, was transferred
to Philadelphia. His parole was ex-
tended so that he was permitted to visit
the American camp and go to the ses-
sions Of Congress in York, Pa. The Con-
way cabal had raised Gen. Gates as
rival Of Washington and there was g. bit
ter struggle on between the two factions.
Lee used all the influence at his COM
man to aid Gates.
April 81 he was exchanged for Gen.
Prescott and a month later rejoined the
was a popular hero. He had bombarded
Washington and Congress with letters
while a prisoner and had insisted that a
commission be sent from Congress to
matter" What this very important mat
ter was he never explained, but he was
aggrieved that his request was not COM
piled with.
When the British evacuated Philadel
phia and began their march across New
jersey Washington called a council Of
war to consider the question of risking
general engagement. OF nearly twenty
generals, all but two. Wayne and one
other, voted against it. but Washington
decided it was necessity. He thought
the rear guard Of the British could be
cut off and captured. Lee considered the
idea absurd, but after Washington had
laid out his plan Lee insisted on his right
to command the first division OF the
army. In the battle of Monmouth Lee
had 5000 men. The British force he
came in collision with numbered 1900.
WAYNE, whose men formed the right
wing of Lees force, drove the British
back when they attacked and had them
in disorder. He sent request to Lee to
hurry reinforcements to him SO he could
press his advantage, but instead of sup
porting him Lee ordered a retreat.
If the British had taken full advantage
of the confusion that resulted from the
muddle that followed through the tangled
orders that Lee gave the whole Of Lees
division would have been captured. AS
one of the officers put it, I'VE fed from
a shadow" 1t was at the height Of dis
order that Washington arrived. He re-
ceived word while several miles away
that Lee was in retreat and had raced
Over to ascertain the cause. Every Amer
lean schoolboy has read how he rebuked
Lee, how he reformed the disordered
lines and how the two armies fought a
drawn battle the rest Of that terribly hot
day. They tell, too, how the British fled
in the night toward Sandy Hook.
Lee was tried by court-martial on three
charges: Disobedience of orders, misbe-
havior before the enemy in making an
unnecessary retreat and disrespect to the
commander-in-chief.O On all three charges
he was found guilty. He was sentenced
to be suspended from the army for one
year.
No one can read the proceedings OF
that court-martial without getting high
opinion of Lees talent as lawyer. His
argument in his own behalf was master
ly. But what can be thought of the eff
frontery of the man? Less than eight
trayed the country. The papers proving
his treason were in Gen. Howes pos
session. If the men in his army whose
lives he had placed in Jeopardy by his
conduct at Monmouth had had suspicion
of that treason ~ that his action in the
battle was designed by him to destroy
that army he would have been hanged
from the first tree they could find. But
throughout the trial he conducted HIM
self as If grave injustice were being
done to him. When he was found guilty,
however, he broke loose. For some Of
the outrageous things he said about