decision of avoiding one for the present.

His reasons for this decision were conclusive. Wayne and Smallwood had
not yet joined the army. The continental troops ordered from
Peekskill, who had been detained for a time by an incursion from New
York, were approaching; and a reinforcement of Jersey militia, under
General Dickenson, was also expected.

To these powerful motives against risking an engagement, other
considerations of great weight were added, founded on the condition of
his soldiers. An army, manoeuvring in an open country, in the face of
a very superior enemy, is unavoidably exposed to excessive fatigue,
and extreme hardship. The effect of these hardships was much increased
by the privations under which the American troops suffered. While in
almost continual motion, wading deep rivers, and encountering every
vicissitude of the seasons, they were without tents, nearly without
shoes, or winter clothes, and often without food.

A council of war concurred in the opinion the Commander-in-chief had
formed, not to march against the enemy, but to allow his harassed
troops a few days for repose, and to remain on his present ground
until the expected reinforcements should arrive.

Immediately after the battle of Brandywine, the distressed situation
of the army had been represented to congress, who had recommended it
to the executive of Pennsylvania to seize the cloths and other
military stores in the ware houses of Philadelphia, and, after
granting certificates expressing their value, to convey them to a
place of safety. The executive, being unwilling to encounter the odium
of this strong measure, advised that the extraordinary powers of the