of the disobedience of a positive order? Certainly not. Was it that Washington well knew I loved, nay adored, him above all human beings? That knowledge would not have weighed a feather in the scale of his military justice. In short, the whole affair is explained in five words; it was my first offence."

The clemency of Washington toward the first offence preserved to the army of the Revolution one of its most valued and effective soldiers, and had its reward in little more than two years from the date of our narrative, when Brigadier-General Morgan established his own fame, and shed an undying lustre on the arms of his country, by the glorious and ever-memorable victory of the Cowpens.*

*The southern states became the most important theatre of military operations in the year 1781. General Greene had been appointed commander-in-chief of the southern department, in October, 1780, and with his usual skill and energy, arranged his army for a winter campaign, in two divisions. With the main army, Greene took post at Cheraw, eastward of the Pedee, and Morgan (then promoted to brigadiergeneral) was sent with the remainder (about a thousand in number) to occupy the country near the junction of the Pacolet and Broad rivers. At that time, Cornwallis was preparing to invade North Carolina. He found himself in a dangerous situation, for he was placed between the two divisions of the republican army. Unwilling to leave Morgan in his rear, he sent Tarleton to capture or disperse his troops. His force was superior, and the. Americans retreated northward for some distance. At length having reached a position among the Thicketty mountains, in Spartanburg district, Morgan found himself compelled to fight. Posting his men upon an eminence, he turned and faced his pursuers. This movement disconcerted Tarleton, for he expected to fall upon Morgan in the confusion of a flight. He was confident of an easy victory, however, and prepared for battle. On the morning of the seventeenth of January, 1781, a furious contest began. For more than two hours they fought desperately, when the British broke and fled. dred men in killed and wounded, five hundred made prisoners, and a large quantity of arms, ammunition, and stores. It was one of the most brilliant victories achieved during the war. Congress awarded a gold medal to General Morgan, and Colonels Howard and Washington, who nobly seconded the general, each received a silver medal. Morgan pushed on across the Catawba with his prisoners, and at the Yadkin was joined by General Greene. Then commenced that remarkable retreat of Greene before Cornwallis, from the Yadkin, beyond the Dan, into Virginia, which has arrested the attention of military men.

They lost almost three hun

Nearly twenty years more had rolled away, and our hero, like most of his compatriots, had beaten his sword into a ploughshare, and was enjoying, in the midst of a domestic circle, the evening of a varied and eventful life. When advanced in years, and infirm, Major-General Morgan was called to the supreme legislature of his country, as a representative of the state of Virginia.* It was at this period that the author of these Memoirs had the honor and happiness of an interview with the old general, which lasted for several days. And the veteran was most kind and communicative to one, who hailing from the immediate family of his venerated chief, found a ready and a warm welcome to the heart of Morgan. And many, and most touching reminiscences of the days of trial were related by the once famed leader of the woodsmen, to the then youthful and delighted listener, which were eagerly devoured, and carefully treasured in a memory of no ordinary power.

And it was there the unlettered Morgan, a man bred amid the scenes of danger and hardihood that distinguished the frontier warfare, with little book knowledge, but gifted by nature with a strong and discriminating mind, paid to the fame and memory of the Father of our Country a more just, more magnificent tribute than, in our humble judgment, has emanated from the thousand and one efforts of the best and brightest geniuses of the age. General Morgan spoke of the necessity of Washington to the army of the Revolution, and the success of the

* General Morgan was elected to Congress in 1797, and served two years. In July, 1799, he published an address to his constituents, in which he vindicated the administration of President Adams. Like Washington, Morgan was a federalist. The author of these Recollections was then about eighteen years of age.

struggle for Independence. He said we had officers of great military talents, as for instance Greene and others; we had officers of the most consummate courage and spirit of enterprize, as for instance Wayne and others. One was yet necessary, to guide, direct, and animate the whole, and it pleased Almighty God to send that one in the person of George Washington!

CHAPTER XIII.

ROBERT MORRIS.*

WHOM DID WASHINGTON MOST LOVE-WASHINGTON AND GREENE-WASHINGTON'S Caution IN GUARDING AGAINST JEALOUSIES - INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCES OF WASHINGTON - ROBERT MORRIS HIS FINANCIAL AID TO THE PATRIOTS-A CHOSEN GUEST AT WASHINGTON'S TABLE-MORRIS'S SPECULATIONS-WASHINGTON'S ADVICE UNHEEDED WASHINGTON VISITS MORRIS IN PRISON-PROVERBIAL INGRAtitude of REPUBLICS.

IT has often been asked, "Who were the favorites of Washington? whom did he love?" I answer, the most worthy. Washington lived for his country, and for her so much did he "live and move," and almost "have his being," that when he loved a man, that man must love his country.

In the War for Independence, Greene was his Hephastion, yet such was his delicacy in bestowing praise,

*First published in the Philadelphia National Gazette, on the twenty-ninth of June, 1826.

t Nathaniel Greene was born of Quaker parents, at Warwick, in Rhode Island, in 1740. He was trained to the occupation of an anchor-smith, the business of his father. He was quick and studious, and while yet a boy, had learned some Latin and collected a small library. He loved to read books on military subjects. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a member of the Rhode Island legislature; and, full of zeal for republican principles, he hesitated not a moment to take up arms for his country, contrary to the practices and traditions of his sect. He took the command of three regiments of the Army of Observation, which Rhode Island sent to Roxbury after the affair at Lexington. The Quakers disowned him, and the Congress made him a brigadier-general. All through the long struggle of seven years, he was the most useful of all the officers; and in genuine military genius, was in some respects superior to Washington. He retired to Rhode Island at the conclusion of the war, and soon afterward went to Georgia to look after an estate near Savannah, which that state had given him. There, in June, 1786, he was prostrated

even where most deserved, that he declined the mentioning of Greene's division, which had so gallantly covered the retreat from Brandywine, saying to that illustrious commander, who prayed that his comrades might receive their well-earned commendation: "You, sir, are considered in this army as my favorite officer; your division is composed of southrons, my more immediate countrymen. Such are my reasons."*

It has been thought that certain vivacious personages, as Gouverneur Morris, and General Henry Lee, were in the habit of taking liberties with the chief. Around the Father of his Country, his virtues and character created an atmosphere of awe and veneration, in which undue familiarity could not have existed for a moment. No men living were more ardently attached to the chief than the Revolutionary statesman and distinguished of ficer alluded to. They possessed brilliant talents, had rendered conspicuous services, and were the most plea

by a "sun-stroke," and died on the nineteenth of that month, at the age of fortysix years.

Greene was truly to Washington what Hephaestion was to Alexander. He loved him tenderly, and from the earliest moment of their acquaintance, their attachment was warm and sincere. Alexander used to say, in speaking of the intimacy between his friend and himself, that "Craterus was the friend of the king, but Hephaestion was the friend of Alexander.” Such was the relationship between Washington and Greene.

One of the most delicate duties to which Washington was called, during the carlier years of the war particularly, was the silencing of jealousies among the officers. They all soon learned so to confide in his justice, that he seldom failed in his efforts to allay unpleasant feelings. But while he desired to avoid every appearance of favoritism, he never failed to employ, in a manner, and in a position that he deemed best for the public service, those whom his judgment approved. In Greene he discovered rare talent for every kind of military service requiring great executive ability, and he never hesitated to give him his proper position; but, as in the instance mentioned in the text, he avoided the public expression of his opinion of his superior merits, so as not to offend others unnecessarily.