"Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the Speaker with a smile; "your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess."
For the next sixteen years Washington's life passed quietly and contentedly. Then was heard the distant thunder of the coming Revolution.
We may be sure that Washington studiously watched the course of events, and often went back to Mount Vernon from the public meetings with an anxious mind.
203. Becomes Commander-in-Chief of the American Army.—Soon a problem presented itself before the Continental Congress of which Washington was a member. Who shall be chosen Commander-in-Chief of our armies? Who shall be singled out for this most difficult task?
There was one man to whom all turned. On a motion of John Adams of Massachusetts the choice was George Washington—"a gentleman from Virginia who is among us, and very well known to all of us." The choice was unanimous. It was a spontaneous tribute to his superior military experience and skill; to the strength and purity of his character, the ardor and unselfishness of his patriotism, and the perfect confidence which his whole career had inspired.
Washington, in the course of his brief and modest speech of acceptance, said his service would be freely given without salary, asking that only his expenses be paid, and of which he would keep a careful record. His expense-books, kept during the Revolution in his own neat handwriting, are still carefully preserved.
With the promptness which was a part of his self-training, he began at once his new duties. In a few days, as we have read in [Chapter XII], he took command of the patriot army at Cambridge.
We know how Washington's well-planned siege shut up the British army in Boston all that summer and all the next winter until March, when his admirable strategy compelled the proud Howe to sail silently away. This achievement of the brave Virginia officer, and of his raw farmer-soldiers against the much larger force of British regulars, well deserved the gold medal given him by Congress.
204. Takes Command in New York; his Masterly Retreat.—Howe and Washington, after the evacuation of Boston, moved their armies to New York, each knowing the other would do so. The British plan was to take and hold the Hudson River and thus to separate the troublesome New England colonies from the others. The possession of New York was therefore of vast importance.
Washington arrived first, and as the Brooklyn Heights opposite New York controlled the latter city, he did well to occupy this position. But it would have been very unwise to place all his army there. He stationed about nine thousand men under General Putnam in Brooklyn. The rest he used across the river in the city, and to hold Fort Lee and Fort Washington.