The love and respect in which the army held Washington were increased by his magnificent daring and splendid generalship in this battle. Congress thanked him "for his great good conduct." General Charles Lee, who had always been disrespectful to Washington and who had tried his best to harm him, was court-martialed for insubordination (disobedience) and deprived of his command. (Charles Lee was not connected with the Lees of Virginia.) General Lee was really a brilliant soldier, but he was ruined by his own jealous disposition. Washington treated him and all other enemies with the kindness of a great mind and a true heart.
After the Battle of Monmouth, Clinton took up his quarters in New York and Washington remained in New Jersey. Soon he received word that the French King had sent a fleet of eighteen ships and four thousand soldiers to help the colonists. The Americans were very glad of this, thinking that the British fleet would now be destroyed; but the attack of the French (August, 1778) was unsuccessful and they sailed away without having done much good.
We have spoken several times of the Tories who sided with the British. When the war broke out, the patriot settlers in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, decided they would join in the defense of the country and they drove all the Tories out of the Valley. Just after the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), while all the fighting men were away, these Tories got together seven hundred Indians and attacked the women and children. Before Washington could send aid, the whole Valley was laid waste. All the homes were burned. Hundreds were killed by the Indians and many more died trying to reach places of safety. This was followed by night attacks in different places, when sentinels were surprised and murdered by Indians and Tories. Indeed, all through the war, the most cruel enemies the patriots had were their Tory neighbors.
To guard against such attacks, and to be ready to meet the British at any point, Washington distributed his troops in a long line of camps and got ready to defend the country from Boston to Philadelphia. The Hudson River was guarded by a fortress at West Point. In order to call the militia out, he arranged a system of signals. On a high hill overlooking the British camp, sentries kept constant watch. If the enemy moved, warning was to be given by firing a big gun. When the gun boomed, fires were to be lighted on the hills within hearing. As soon as these were seen from more distant hills, other fires were to be lighted, until every hilltop blazed and all the countryside was roused and men warned to hurry to their rallying places.
Though General Clinton had a great army, he did not offer battle. He carried on an annoying form of warfare by sending out small bodies of men to distant places, to attack and destroy. In this way he plundered and burned villages on the shores of the Chesapeake and in New England and captured valuable stores.
"Mad Anthony" Wayne
While these things were happening, Washington planned to recapture the fort at Stony Point on the Hudson, which had been taken by Sir Henry Clinton, May 31, 1779. His plan was entrusted to General Wayne, called "Mad Anthony" Wayne because of his dashing bravery. Wayne took a small body of light-armed, fearless men, marched through the mountains and at midnight on July 16, stormed the fort and captured it. This feat was so well done that it is considered one of the great events of the war. Congress thanked Washington for the victory and gave Wayne a medal for his courage and success.
The swift and daring young scout, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, was with this expedition. After it was over, he asked permission to lead an attack on the garrison of Paulus Hook (now Jersey City), right under the guns of New York. Washington, who always admired courageous deeds, allowed him to make the attempt. Lee surprised the fort at night, captured a number of prisoners and made a successful retreat while the guns from the battleships were sounding the alarm. These two daring attacks increased the confidence and spirit of the Americans and gave the British more respect for them. Still, it was tiresome for the troops to remain month after month in camp, wondering what the enemy would do next.
Washington had more serious troubles. Congress was slow and often unwise in its acts. The people grew tired of the war, because business was suffering and the farms were neglected, and nothing seemed to be gained by it. Officers resigned from the army and men deserted. Washington was laughed at by the Tories and criticized by his friends. But he was patient and said, "We must not despair! The game is yet in our hands; to play it well is all we have to do."