[Footnote: Washington had forty cannon. At night-fall the ground was so soft that he could not move them; but, while the council was in session, the wind changed, and in two hours the roads were as hard as pavement. Erskine urged Cornwallis to attack the Americans that night, but he said he could "catch the fox in the morning." On the morrow the fires were still burning, but the army was gone. None knew whither the patriots had fled. But at sunrise there was a sound of firing in the direction of Princeton. The report of the cannon through the keen frosty air could be distinctly heard, but Cornwallis believed it to be distant thunder. Erskine, however, exclaimed, "To arms, general! Washington has outgeneraled us. Let us fly to the rescue at Princeton!">[
[Footnote: Frederick the Great of Prussia is said to have declared that the achievements of Washington and his little band, during the six weeks following Christmas, were the most brilliant recorded on the pages of military history.]
CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA—Howe, having spent the next summer at New York, where he was closely watched by Washington, finally took the field, and manoeuvred to force the patriot army to a general fight. Finding the "American Fabius" too wary for him, he suddenly embarked eighteen thousand men on his brother's fleet, and set sail. Washington hurried south to meet him. The patriot army numbered only 11,000, but when Washington learned that the British had arrived in the Chesapeake, he resolved to hazard a battle for the defence of Philadelphia.
[Illustration: MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.]
BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE (Sept. ll).—The Americans took position at Chad's Ford, on the Brandywine. Here they were attacked in front while Cornwallis stole around in the rear, as Clinton did in the battle of Long Island. Sullivan, Sterling, La Fayette, Wayne, and Count Pulaski, in vain performed prodigies of valor. The patriots were routed, Philadelphia was taken, and the British army went into quarters there and at Germantown.
[Footnote: La Fayette's full name was Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de la Fayette. At a banquet in honor of the brother of the English king, he first heard the Declaration of Independence. He was won by its arguments, and from that time joined his hopes and sympathies to the American cause. Yet, how was he to aid it? The French nobility, though disliking England, did not endorse the action of her colonies. He was not yet twenty years of age, he had just married a woman whom he tenderly loved, his prospects at home for honor and happiness were bright, to join the patriot army would take him from his native land, his wife, and all his coveted ambitions, and lead him into a struggle that seemed as hopeless as its cause was just. Yet his zeal for America overcame all these obstacles. Other difficulties now arose. His family objected, the British minister protested, the French king withheld his permission. Still undaunted, he purchased a vessel fitted it out at his own expense, and, escaping the officers sent to detain him, crossed the ocean. As soon as he landed at Charleston, he hastened to Philadelphia, and offering himself to Congress asked permission to serve as a volunteer without pay. A few days after, his acquaintance with Washington began, and it soon ripened into a tender and intimate friendship. His valor won for him a commission as major-general before he was twenty-one.]
[Footnote: The British army was sadly demoralized by the festivities of their winter quarters. Franklin wittily said, "Howe has not taken Philadelphia so much as Philadelphia has taken Howe.">[
BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN (Oct. 4)—Washington would not let the enemies of his country rest in peace. A few weeks after they had settled down for the winter, he made a night march, and at sunrise fell upon their troops at Germantown. At first the attack was successful, but a few companies of British desperately defending a stone house caused delay. The co-operation of the different divisions was prevented by a dense fog, which also hid the confusion of the enemy, so that the Americans retreated just at the moment of victory.
[Footnote: One thousand of his men were barefoot at this time.]
CONCLUSION OF THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA.—After these battles, Howe turned his attention to the forts on the Delaware, which prevented his bringing supplies up to Philadelphia. The gallant defenders were soon forced by a severe bombardment to evacuate. Washington now retired to Valley Forge for winter quarters.