Evening star., 1932-04-03
Each Settled in the Valleyof VugiuiaAfter
the Revolution, Within Fe7v Miles of
Each Other, Living Doavn Their CHagrm
WiH Oft-RePeafed 7oasts-Here'5 the
Story Of the Mistakes That Cost Them
Their Commands

-- HREE generals, each of whom had
served with George Washington in
the French and Indian Wars, were
appointed major generals in the
Revolutionary War and who
later relieved of their commands,
settled In the Valley Of Virginia after the
Revolution within few miles of each other
Living in such close proximity they often
visited at one of the homes, bearing cut the
bromide that misery loves company" With
this strange bond to bind them together an
invariable toast was drunk in the course of the
evening. one to .each or the three deposed
generals.
Here's to the health of Mai Gen. Charles
Lee, who was cashiered from the Continental
Army because he retreated when he should
have advanced"
Here's to the health of Maj Gen. Adam
Stephen, who was cashiered from the Con-
tinentar Army because he advanced when he
should have retreated."
Here's health to Mai. Gen. Horatio Gates
who was cashiered from the Continental Army
because he might have either advanced
retreated but did neither"
Strangely enough, history for the most part
corroborateS this legend of convivial toast
which persists to this day in the Eastern
Panhandle of West Virginia, from Berkeley
Springs to Charles Town, a section that was
yet Virginia until its secession at the time of
the Civil War.
OF the three, less is known of Adam Stephen
than of the others. The George Washington
Bicentennial Commission, which furnished
pictures of Lee and Gates, had none Of Stephen
Exhaustive research in the Library of Congress
revealed that no engraving exists" of Stephen
0F the three Stephen is the only one to have
~ been actually cashiered from the Army.
Lee was court-martialed and later dismissed
rryI,il ila Hofae aIad tn
Nathaniel Green and was ordered to appear
before court of inquiry to answer for his
conduct at the Battle of Camden The court
was apparently never convened and Gates was
reinstated, retiring to his Berkeley County
plantation after the war.
"Stephen was one of Washingtons neutenants
in the French and Indian War" states Dr.
David NJ. Matteson, assistant historian for the
George Washington Bicentennial Commission
He participated in the Fort Necessity
expedition and was in the Braddock expe-
dition, becoming lieutenant colonel when Wash
ington was placed in command OF the frontier
in 1755, after the British defeat He continued
as lieutenant colonel during the whole of Wash
ingtons command and was associated with
him as such in the Forbes expedition of 1883:
Stephen was made brigadier general of the
Continental line in 1776, and took part in the
Battle of Trenton, being later promoted to
major general. He led one Of the attacking
the Battle Of Germantown he was in command
of division
1t was bad weather for fighting that early
October day at Germantown in 1777. There
was a heavy fog, and brush fires in the
vicinity had added to already great visual
difficulties History relates that Mai. Gen.
Stephen as much befogged as the land
scapc, for he had been drinking heavily There
had been heavy firing on Chew House, the
visibility being poor the Revolutionary
soldiers could not see how relatively unim-
portant from military point of view the
position really was.
Attracted by firing in the direction of Chew
House, one of Stephens brigades started, with
out orders, in the fog to the scene of battle
Contact with troops on either side lost
throuot this premature advance, and Stephens
brfga Became the Lost Battalion" Of the
Revoa icn
Anc ,her brigade inclined too far to the right
as they moved out later and came upon the
rear Of Cen Anthony Waynes troops, who
were panic-strcken, believing them to be the
British. History has not been able to say
with certainty about some of the other things
that happened at Germantown but in all
probability American troops fired on each other
in th2 confusion and fog.
Gen. Stephen was Summariy dismissed
before the month ended. He retired to his
Virginia estate. where he had time to drink
several facetious toaSts with Gates and Lee
before Lees death in 1882 Gates departure
for New York in $780, and his own death in
1891.
"Horatfo Gates" continues DIR. Matteson,
'was an officer in the Braddock expedition,
where he first got in touch with Washington,
and continued TO serve during the French and
Indian War. At the close OF the war he retired,
and established his estate in Virginia. We
find in washingtons diary that just before he
started out to attend the Continental Congress
beth Charles Lee and Gates were guests at
Mount Vernon when the war broke out