exchange for him.

Congress expressed a high sense of the gallant conduct of Colonel
Barton and his party, and presented him with a sword as a mark of
approbation.

As the fleet fell down toward Sandy Hook, Washington withdrew slowly
from the Clove, and disposed his army in different divisions, so as to
march to any point which might be attacked.

At length the embarkation was completed and the fleet put to sea.
Still, its destination was uncertain. It might be going to the south,
or it might return to New York and ascend the Hudson. Soon, however,
Washington received intelligence that it had been seen off the capes of
the Delaware. It was of course expected to come up the Delaware and
attack Philadelphia.

Washington ordered the army to march to Germantown, and himself
hastened forward to Chester. The fleet of the British had disappeared
again. It might have returned to New York, or it might have sailed to
New England, with a view to joining Burgoyne as he was advancing on
Ticonderoga.

During this period of suspense and conjecture, Washington was for
several days in Philadelphia consulting on public measures with the
committees and members of Congress. Here he first met Lafayette. This
young nobleman, whose name has since become so dear to every American
heart, was born at Auvergne, in France, on the 6th of September, 1757.
His family was of ancient date and of the highest rank among the French
nobility. He was left an orphan at an early age, heir to an immense