The Washington herald., 1913-02-08

i
NO. 80.
| WASHINGTON was in his prime. and all
the forty-three years Of his strenuous
| life he had been at school, to learn how
| such task as this was to be performed.
| He had found the army not only with |
out proper discipline and equipment, but
actually without powder: and the winter |
| had come and was passing away before |
| even that primary and perilous need |
| could be supplied.
| The men Of that extemporiZed army |
had been enlisted but for a few months |
service. When their brief terms Of en-
Iistment ran out they incontinentIy took
themselves of: and Washingtons most
earnest appeals to the continental and
provincial congresses to provide Tor
longer enlistments and an adequate sys-
| TEN Of recruitment did not always SUI
| fee to prevent his force from perilouslY
dwindling away under his very eyes
Providence Favors the Patriots.
II was a mercifuI Providence that dis
posed the British TO lie quiet in Boston.
Such authority as he had, washington
used to the utmost. and with diligence
| and foresight which showed all his old
policy of thorough.
Under his orders a few fast vessels
were fitted out and armed as prtvateers
at the nearest safe ports. Maroiehead
volunteers in the army were put ABOARD
them for crews, and the enemy's sup
plies were captured upon the seas and
brought overIand-the much-needed pow
der and al-into the American camp,
while men-of-war. which might have
swept the coast, lay just at hand in the
harbOr.
Keeping Things stirred Up.
No opportunity was missed either TO
disturb the British or to get what the
army needed: and the ministers at home,
as well as the commanders in Boston,
grew uneasy and apprehensive in the
presence Of so active and watchtul an
opponent.
He was playing the game boldly. even
a bit desperately at times. More than
once. as the slow months of siege drag
ged by. he would have hazarded a sur
prise and sought to take the city by
storm. had not the counsel Of his Off
GERS persistentIy restrained him.
Fighting In the North.
Only in the North was there such
fighting as he wished to see.
Montgomery had pushed through the
forests and taken Montreal November
L. lI75D. At the same time Washington
had sent a force of some l,2oO men, un-
der Benedict Arnold. to see what could
be done against the little garrison at |
100 men, but with what he had left he |
had climbed straight to the Heights of
Abraham and summoned the British at
their gates.
When they would neither surrender nor
fight. he had sat down to wait for Mont
gomery. and when he came, with barely /
800 men, had stormed the stout defenses,
in a driving snOwstorm, In the black
darkness that came just before the
morning on the last day Of the year. Had
Montgomery not been killed in the as
sault, the surprise would have succeeded; /
and Arnold had no cause to be ashamed /
Of the gallant affair.
Failure though II was, il heartened the !,
troops before Boston to think what
might be done under such officers.
Mrs. Warrington Visits Camp.
The monotony of the LONG, anxious
season was broken at Cambridge by 4 |
touch now and again OF such pleasures |
as spoke Of home and gracious peace
In mIdwinter Mrs. Washington had
driven into camp. come all the way from
Virginia. with proper escort. in her
coach and four. her horses bestridden
by black positions in their livery OF
scarlet and white: and she had seemed
TO bring with her to the homely place
not only the cerenonious habit. but the
genial and hospitable air OF Virginia as
well.
Many a quiet entertainment at head
quarters coaxed a little ease of mind
out OF the midst of even that grim and
trying winters work while she was
there.
Washington Ready 10 STRIKE.
With the first month OF spring Wash
Ington determined to cut inaction short
and make a decisive stroke.
He had been long enough with the
army now to presume upon its conf
lowed his own counsels. Siege can
non had been dragged through the
unwilling forests all the way from Ii
conderoGa: the supplies and the time
had come: and on the morning of the
5th of March. I7I6, the British stared
to see Tamparts and cannon on Dor
chester Heights.
1T was like the work Of the genii OF
Aladdin's wonderful lamp" declared one
OF their astonished officers.
Occupies Dorchester Heights.
Why they had themselves neglected to
occupy the hills OF Dorchester. and had
waited 50 patiently till Washington
should have time and such guns as he
needed, was a question much pressed at .
home in England, and their stupidity was
rewarded now.
They had suffered themselves to be
amused all night by a furious cannonad- ,
ing out of Roxbury, Somerville. and East :
while 1000 men, a battery of
heavy ordnance. and hundreds Of wagons
and oxcarts with timber. bales of hay, !
spades, crowbars, hatchets, hammers, ,
and nails had been gotten safely to the
Dorchester hills.
When they saw what had happened
they thought OF the assault upon Bunkers !