23 See map in paragraph [135].
[139. Our victory at Princeton, New Jersey; the British take Philadelphia; winter at Valley Forge; Burgoyne beaten; the king of France agrees to help us.]—Washington took his thousand prisoners over into Pennsylvania. A few days later he again crossed the Delaware into New Jersey. While Cornwallis was fast asleep in his tent, he slipped round him, got to Princeton,[24] and there beat a part of the British army. Cornwallis woke up and heard Washington's cannon. "That's thunder," he said. He was right; it was the thunder of another American victory.
But before the next winter set in, the British had taken the city of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. Washington's army was freezing and starving on the hillsides of Valley Forge,[25] about twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia.
But good news was coming. The Americans had won a great victory at Saratoga, New York,[26] over the British general, Burgoyne.[27] Dr. Franklin was then in Paris. When he heard that Burgoyne was beaten, he hurried off to the palace of the French king to tell him about it. The king of France hated the British, and he agreed to send money, ships, and soldiers to help us. When our men heard that at Valley Forge, they leaped and hurrahed for joy. Not long after that the British left Philadelphia, and we entered it in triumph.
24 Princeton: see map in paragraph [135].
25 Valley Forge: see map in paragraph [135].
26 Saratoga: see map in paragraph [135].
27 Burgoyne (Bur'goin).
| SERGEANT JASPER AND THE FLAG. |