[162] Letters to the President of Congress.—Sparks’ Correspondence, Vol. V., p. 71.
[163] In Washington’s account of the battle he wrote: “Had it not been for a thick fog, which rendered it so dark at times, that we were not able to distinguish friend from foe at the distance of thirty yards, we should, I believe, have made a decisive and glorious day of it. Providence designed it otherwise. For after we had driven the enemy a mile or two, after they were in the utmost confusion, and flying before us in most places, after we were upon the point, as it appeared to everybody, of grasping a complete victory, our own troops took fright, and fled with precipitation and disorder.”
[164] A British officer wrote: “In this action the Americans, though repulsed, showed themselves a formidable adversary, capable of charging with resolution and retreating in good order. The hope, therefore, of any action with them as decisive, and likely to put a speedy termination to the war, was exceedingly abated.”—Civil War in America, Vol. I., p. 269.
[165] Life of Talbot, by Henry T. Tuckerman, p. 31.
[166] Abbot’s Lives of the Presidents.
Transcriber’s Notes
Transcriber added a background to the title page, used it as the cover of this eBook, and placed the result in the Public Domain. The original cover is included in the illustrated versions of this eBook.
Spelling was made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book.
Frequent simple typographical errors (of spelling and punctuation) were corrected. Several commas were changed to periods to avoid run-on sentences. Unmatched quotation marks were remedied.
Citations that mostly were in italics but occasionally in quotation marks have been changed here to italics. Other irregular citations have not been changed.