"I think I can see him now, at Morristown, in the midst of the
mutineers, with his cocked pistol in his hand, attempting to enforce
orders--an action that no other man would have thought of doing under
such circumstances." "He did his duty," said Wilson; "but the men cannot
be censured for their conduct. They had received no pay for many months,
were without sufficient clothing to protect them from the weather, and
sometimes without food. If they had not been fighting for freedom and
their country's rights, they never could have stood it out."

"One of the best things Wayne ever did," said Smith, "was that manoeuvre
of his in Virginia, where the British thought they had him surely in a
net."

"What manoeuvre was that?" inquired Mr. Jackson Harmar.

"Why, you see, General Lafayette was endeavoring to avoid a general
action with Cornwallis, and yet to harass him. Early in July, 1781, the
British army marched from Williamsburg, and encamped on the banks of the
James River, so as to cover a ford leading to the island of Jamestown.
Soon after, the baggage and some of the troops passed the ford, but the
main army kept its ground. Lafayette then moved from his encampment,
crossed the Chichahominy, pushed his light troops near the British
position, and advanced with the continentals to make an attempt on the
British rear, after the main body had passed the river. The next day,
the Marquis was told that the main body of the British had crossed the
ford, and that a rear-guard only remained behind. This was what the
British general wanted him to believe, and he posted his troops ready to
receive our men. Well, General Wayne, with eight hundred men, chiefly of
the Pennsylvania line, (including Mr. Harmar, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Wilson,