The Boys Life of Lafayette 13

The Boys Life of Lafayette 13

He appears to have exercised his usual personal charm for

Americans upon these original children of the soil as he had already

exercised it upon the whites who came to supplant them. But he says

of it only that they "showed an equal regard for his words and his

necklaces." Before the council was over he was adopted into one of the

tribes, and returned to Albany the richer by another name to add to his

long collection--"Kayewla," which had belonged to a respected chief of

a bygone day. The new Kayewla was so well liked that a band of Iroquois

followed him south and became part of his military division.

 

On his return to Albany an unexpected duty awaited him. A new form

of oath of office, forever forswearing allegiance to George III and

acknowledging the sovereignty and independence of the United States,

had come, with the order that all must subscribe to it. So, to use the

picturesque phrase of the Middle Ages, it was "between" his French

hands that the officers of the northern military department swore

fealty to the new United States of America.

 

As spring advanced the influence of Gates and Conway waned and

Washington regained his old place in public esteem. Conway himself left

the country. Lafayette and De Kalb were ordered back to the main army;

and in doing this Congress took pains to express by resolution its

belief that the young general was in no way to blame for the failure

of the winter expedition to Canada. When he reached Washington's

headquarters in April he found Valley Forge much less melancholy than

[Pg 100]when he left it; a change due not only to the more cheerful

season of the year, but to wonders in the way of improved discipline

that General von Steuben had brought about in a few short weeks.

This officer of much experience had been trained under Frederick the

Great, and, having served as his aide, was equipped in fullest measure

with the knowledge and skill in military routine that Washington's

volunteers so lacked. When he took up his duties he found a confusion

almost unbelievable to one of his orderly military mind. Military terms

meant nothing. A regiment might contain only thirty men, or it might

be larger than another officer's brigade. It might be formed of three

platoons or of twenty-one. There was one company that consisted of

only a single corporal. Each colonel drilled his men after a system of

his own; and the arms in the hands of these go-as-you-please soldiers

"were in a horrible condition--covered with rust, half of them without

bayonets," while there were many from which not a single shot could

be fired. Yet this was the main army of the revolutionists who had

set out to oppose England! Fortunately Baron von Steuben was no mere

drillmaster. He had the invaluable gift of inspiring confidence and

imparting knowledge. Between March, when he began his "intensive"

training, and the opening of the summer campaign, he made of that band

of lean and tattered patriots a real army, though it still lacked much

of having a holiday appearance. The men's coats gave no indication of

their rank, or indeed that they were in the army at all. They were

of many colors, including red, and it was not impossible to see an

[Pg 101]officer mounting guard at grand parade clad "in a sort of

dressing-gown made of an old blanket or woolen bedcover." But the man

inside the coat was competent for his job.

 

It was a compatriot of Lafayette's, the French Minister of War,

St.-Germain, who had persuaded General Steuben to go to America;

so to France is due part of our gratitude for the services of this

efficient German. Perhaps, going back farther, the real person we

should thank is General Burgoyne, since it was his surrender which

undoubtedly quickened the interest of the French in the efficiency

of our ragamuffin army. French official machinery, which had been

strangely clogged before, began to revolve when news of Burgoyne's

surrender reached Paris early in December, 1777. The king, who had

not found it convenient to receive the American commissioners up to

that time, sent them word that he had been friendly all along; and as

soon as diplomatic formality permitted, a treaty of amity and commerce

was signed between France and America. That meant that France was

now formally an ally, and that the United States might count upon

her influence and even upon her military help. It was a great point

gained, but Franklin refused to allow his old eyes to be dazzled by

mere glitter when he "and all the Americans in Paris" were received by

the king and queen at Versailles in honor of the event. He was less

impressed by the splendor of the palace than by the fact that it would

be the better for a thorough cleaning. After the royal audience was

[Pg 102]over he and the other commissioners hastened to pay a visit of

ceremony to young Madame Lafayette in order to testify to the part her

husband had played in bringing about this happy occurrence.

 

When news of the signing of this treaty reached America about the 1st

of May, 1778, Lafayette embraced his grave general in the exuberance of

his joy, and even kissed him in French fashion. There was an official

celebration in camp on the 7th of May, with much burning of gunpowder,

reviewing of troops, "suitable" discoursing by chaplains, and many

hearty cheers. Washington's orders prescribed in great detail just when

and how each part of the celebration was to be carried out, and this is

probably the only time in history that an American army _en masse_ was

ordered to cry, "Long live the king of France!"

 

Lafayette, with a white sash across his breast, commanded the left; but

it was a heavy heart that he carried under his badge that gala-day.

Letters which came to him immediately after news of the treaty had

brought sad tidings. He learned of the death of a favorite nephew,

loved by him like a son, and also that his oldest child, the little

Henriette, to whom he had been sending messages in every letter, had

died in the previous October. "My heart is full of my own grief, and

of yours which I was not with you to share," he wrote Adrienne. "The

distance from Europe to America never seemed so immense to me as it

does now.... The news came to me immediately after that of the treaty,

and while bowed down with grief I had to receive congratulations and

[Pg 103]take part in the public rejoicing." Had the letters come

through without delay they would have arrived at the beginning of

winter, at the moment when General Conway was fanning the flame of his

homesickness. The desire to comfort his wife might have turned the

scale and sent Lafayette across the sea instead of to Albany. Now,

though he longed to go to her, he felt bound to remain for the campaign

which was about to open.

 

 

[Pg 104]XII

 

FARCE AND TREACHERY

 

 

Much as the French treaty had done for the Americans, it had by no

means ended the war. There were as many British soldiers as ever on

American soil, and General Howe at Philadelphia and General Clinton

at New York could be trusted to make excellent use of them. Signs of

British activity were already apparent. A large number of transports

had sailed from Philadelphia, but whether they had gone to bring

reinforcements or whether it meant that Philadelphia was being

abandoned and that the Hudson was again to be the main point of attack

Washington did not know. Lafayette was ordered to take some of the best

troops at Valley Forge and find out.

 

He left camp on the 18th of May with about twenty-two hundred men,

among them six hundred Pennsylvania militia and half a hundred

Iroquois Indians. Crossing the Schuylkill, he established himself on

high ground between that river and the Delaware, twelve miles from

the city, at a hamlet called Barren Hill, whose chief ornament was a

[Pg 105]church with a graveyard. It was an excellent spot for purposes

of observation; for roads ran in various directions, while the abrupt

fall of the land toward the Schuylkill protected his right, and there

were substantial stone buildings in a wood in front which could be used

as forts in case of need. He guarded against surprise on his left,

the direction from which any considerable body of British was likely

to approach, by placing there his large detachment of Pennsylvania

militia. He planted his five cannon in good positions, sent out his

Indian scouts, who wormed themselves several miles nearer the city, had

interviews with promising individuals who were to act as spies, and was

well pleased with himself.

 

The British were also exceedingly well pleased when their spies brought

in full information of Lafayette's position and numbers. They saw that

he had separated himself from the American army and virtually placed

himself in their hands; and short of Washington himself there was no

officer they would so enjoy capturing. His prominence at home and

his popularity in America made him a shining mark; moreover, he had

fooled them in London before coming to America. It would be a great

satisfaction to take him prisoner gently, without hurting him, treat

him with mock courtesy, and send him back to England, a laughing-stock.

 

They had force enough to make his capture practically certain, and

set out in great glee, so sure of the result that before leaving town

Generals Howe and Clinton, both of whom were in Philadelphia, sent out

invitations to a reception for the following day "to meet the Marquis

[Pg 106]de Lafayette." Although it was looked upon as something of a

lark, the expedition was deemed sufficiently important for General

Clinton to lead it in person, while General Howe accompanied him,

and the admiral, General Howe's sailor brother, went along as a

volunteer. Taking four men to Lafayette's one, and marching by night,

they approached Barren Hill in a way to cut off the fords across the

Schuylkill and also to intercept any assistance which might be sent

from Valley Forge.

 

Unconscious that he was in danger, Lafayette was talking, early on the

morning of May 20th, with a young woman who was going into the city as

a spy, when word was brought him that dragoons in red coats had been

seen on the Whitemarsh road. This did not disturb him, for he knew that

among the coats of many colors worn by his Pennsylvania militia some

were red; but he sent out to verify the information, merely as a matter

of routine. Soon the truth was learned--and exaggerated--and his men

set up a cry that they were surrounded by the British.

 

Fortunately Lafayette had a head which grew steadier in a crisis.

Sending his aides flying in all directions, he found that while the

way to Valley Forge was indeed cut off, one ford still remained open,

though the British were rapidly advancing upon it. He quickly placed a

small number of his men near the church, where the stone wall of the

graveyard would serve as breastworks, stationed a few more near the

woods as if they were heads of columns just appearing, and ordered

[Pg 107]all the rest to drop quietly down the steep side of the hill

until they were out of sight, and then hurry to the ford. The attention

of the enemy was held long enough by the decoy troops to enable the

others to reach the ford or swim across, their heads dotting the water

"like the corks of a floating seine," and Lafayette, who had stayed

behind, brought the last of his men to safety just as two columns of

the B