would restore the Jersey shore, and this object was deemed so important
that General Greene's instructions indicated the expectation that he
would be in a condition to fight Cornwallis.

Greene feared the reproach of avoiding an action less than the just
censure of sacrificing the real interests of his country by engaging
the enemy on disadvantageous terms. The numbers of the British exceeded
his, even counting his militia as regulars, and he determined to wait
for Glover's brigade, which was marching from the north. Before its
arrival, Cornwallis took post on Gloucester point, a point of land
making deep into the Delaware, which was entirely under cover of the
guns of the ships, from which place he was embarking his baggage and
the provisions he had collected for Philadelphia.

Believing that Cornwallis would immediately follow the magazines he had
collected, and that the purpose of Howe was, with his united forces, to
attack the American army while divided, General Washington ordered
Greene to re-cross the Delaware and join the army.

Thus, after one continued struggle of more than six weeks, in which the
Continental troops displayed great military virtues, the army in
Philadelphia secured itself in the possession of that city by opening a
free communication with the fleet.

While Lord Cornwallis was in Jersey, and General Greene on the Delaware
above him, the reinforcements from the north being received, an attack
on Philadelphia was strongly pressed by several officers high in rank,
and was, in some measure, urged by that torrent of public opinion,
which, if not resisted by a very firm mind, overwhelms the judgment,
and by controlling measures not well comprehended may frequently