victory, however, settled on that occasion on the American banners; and very much of the praise, so hardly earned by the fight at Monmouth, is due to the gallant manner in which Wayne seconded the views of the ardent Washington. In consequence of some severe strictures made by General Lee upon the testimony made by Wayne upon that officer's trial, a correspondence passed between them, which reflected much credit upon both. It is the only instance (and it is a proof not only of Wayne's amiable disposition, but of the respect entertained for him by all), in the space of his military career, in which conduct was manifested towards him, by any, that he felt bound to regard as an insult, or to resent as such. Principally by the exertions of General Wayne, the Pennsylvania line were, after the campaign, comfortably quartered in their huts; and he then surrendered his command to General St. Clair, being called by business to the assembling of the Legislature of his native state. Being anxious to return to active business, he requested from General Washington a situation in the light corps, if the arrangement could be made without injury to the service; and Washington, as soon as such a corps was organized, availed himself with alacrity of the tender of General Wayne's services. The campaign of 1779 opened under gloomy auspices. The winter had passed without the proper preparations on the part of government for a continuance of the war. The British commenced their destructive predatory excursions in the southern and eastern states. It, however, was destined not to close without conferring on General Wayne the brightest wreath of glory he had ever won. The British commander, Clinton, in pursuance of an enlarged plan of operations, moved up the Hudson with a considerable force, and made himself master, among other fortresses, of the important position called "Stony Point." It was highly important to the American cause that this strong fortress should be recaptured, and the execution of the important design was entrusted to the bravery and skill of Wayne. Most nobly were the Most nobly were the wishes of all his friends fulfilled. The situation of that post is probably familiar to all. It is a high, rocky position on the left bank of the Hudson, below West Point, of a steep and rugged ascent; and garrisoned, as it was, by 600 chosen men of the British army, under the command of a distinguished officer, it was deemed by their leader almost impregnable. Several breastworks and strong batteries were advanced in front of the principal work, and two rows of abbatis were placed about midway up the ascent. Several vessels of war were also stationed in the river, and commanded, in some measure, the ground at the foot of the hill. Having disciplined his gallant little corps, and equipped them in the handsomest possible manner, between twelve and one o'clock of the morning of the 16th July 1779, Wayne advanced to the assault. Our limits will not permit a detailed account of this glorious achievement. Wayne was wounded in the head with a musket-ball in ascending the hill; he instantly fell, but as quickly rose on one knee, and immediately exclaimed-forward, my brave fellows, forward;" then, in a suppressed voice, he said, "assist me-if mortally wounded I will die in the fort," and supported by his aids, Major Fishbourne and Mr. Archer, he entered the works among the foremost of the gallant troops. The whole garrison, cannon and stores were captured, with very inconsiderable loss on the part of the assailants. The congratulations he received from all sides, and the honours conferred by congress and the legislature of his native state, it would be impossible to detail. It is, however, a pleasure to insert the testimony of a most capable judge, and the more gratifying, as an unfortunate misunderstanding, which has been before alluded to, had occurred between the parties. General Charles Lee wrote thus to him:-I do most sincerely declare, that your action in the assault of Stony Point, is not only the most brilliant, in my opinion, through the whole course of the war, on either side, but that it is one of the most brilliant I am acquainted with in history; the assault of Schweidnitz, by Marshal Laudun, I think inferior to it." That The conduct of General Wayne, throughout the trying scenes that arose from the famous mutiny of the Pennsylvania line, was marked by gallantry on the one hand, and on the other by a proper regard to the sufferings of the troops. mutiny, it is known, arose from the extreme sufferings and privations which the soldiers underwent, from the total absence of common necessaries. Wayne was very instrumental in bringing about a comparatively peaceable adjustment of a revolt which threatened at one time the most serious consequences to the peace of the country. The theatre of the war being now (1781) transferred to the southern states, where the traitor Arnold was committing numerous ravages, and where Lord Cornwallis had assumed the command of the British army, the Marquis Lafayette was detached with a strong body to the reinforcement of the southern army, and General Wayne was ordered to join him with as many Pennsylvanians as he could organize. He effected a junction with the marquis in spite of Cornwallis's strenuous exertions to the contrary, and by their judicious movements, the two generals prevented the destruction of the public magazines which had escaped the grasp of Arnold, and which Cornwallis was anxious to lay waste. The two armies maneuvered for some time in face of each other; that under Cornwallis showing no particular anxiety for battle; till at length, at Green Spring, General Wayne, who commanded the advanced-guard, and who was pushing forward to carry into effect the marquis's plan of cutting off Cornwallis's rear-guard, found himself suddenly opposed by the whole British army. With his usual gallantry, instead of retreating, he advanced rapidly, and made a bold charge on the English line; a warm action ensued, and by the arrival of Lafayette, the detachment of Wayne was supported. The instant that a check had been given to their opponents, Wayne fell back upon the main body, and the British general, supposing their force to be greater than it was, admitted of no pursuit. General Wayne received compliments from all quarters, on account of his spirited conduct in this affair. The British commander, Cornwallis, now took up his position at Yorktown, so famous in the history of the American war; and Washington immediately began his measures to lead Clinton into the supposition that he was to be the object of attack, and finally to bear down upon and, if possible, capture the devoted Cornwallis. In this plan General Wayne was directed to co-operate. He was to watch the British leader and prevent his retreat into North Carolina. The details of the maneuvres of the besieging army at Yorktown, and the glorious results, are too well known to require repetition; suffice it to say, that the subject of this notice earned his full share of the glory of the contest. To have borne a part in the events of that ever memorable capture would seem all-sufficient praise. No repose was accorded to the brave Wayne. He was immediately directed to join the army under General Greene, to whom his presence was highly acceptable. The capture of Cornwallis enabled him to render that assistance to the state of Georgia, of which, at that time, she stood so much in need. Besides the incursions of the enemy, who had ravaged the country almost without opposition, the friends of liberty in that state suffered severely from the deadly hatred entertained towards them by the tories. To compose these differences, and to free the country from the enemy, General Wayne was sent by Greene. On his arrival, he found that, besides his other duties, it was necessary to compose the differences which had broken out among the officers, and to procure almost every apparatus of war without money. He had but little acquaintance with the climate and country, and was but slightly known to the officers. The difficulties, then, in his path, were not easily surmountable; by his zeal, enterprize and perseverance, however, he found means to overcome them all. Near the Ogechee river, he had the opportunity he was anxiously looking for, of meeting the enemy in force; and the result of his attack was their precipitate flight and rout. Shortly after, a strong body of the Creeks, the Indian allies of the British, made an attack upon the rear-guard, which was then commanded by Wayne in person, and were completely repulsed. This formidable auxiliary force was by this defeat prevented from joining the enemy. Wayne's horse was killed in this conflict, and he had to fight sword in hand with his savage assailants. He says himself, in a letter to General Greene, that so determined was the bravery of the Indians, that after he had cut down one of their chiefs, with his latest breath he drew the trigger of his musket, and shot his noble horse dead under him. The British shortly afterwards evacuated Savannah, and that city was immediately taken possession of by General Wayne. Previously to the retreat of the enemy, a correspondence was held with him on the subject of the surrender, and he most readily agreed to protect the persons and property of those who chose to remain. He was immediately recalled to co-operate with General Greene in South Carolina, at a time when he was forming the most enterprising schemes for the annexation of Florida to the United States. After the two generals had formed a junction they commenced at once a series of operations for the purpose of expelling the enemy from Charleston, but were relieved from the necessity of much active exertion by the offer of General Leslie to abandon the place. This was accordingly done, and on the morning of the 14th of December 1782, General Wayne had the satisfaction of taking peaceable possession of Charleston. This was his last active and military movement in the revolutionary war, which he had contributed so much by his bravery and good conduct to bring to a successful and glorious issue. After some necessary arrangements, in the month of July, General Wayne embarked for Philadelphia; he had been previously suffering severely from an attack of fever, and upon his return he had a relapse. After an illness, which nearly brought him to his grave, he recovered; but he had missed the opportunity of being present at the interesting spectacle which took place in New York, subsequently to its evacuation by the British. The great and the good Washington bade then an affectionate adieu to his comrades in arms, and Wayne deeply regretted his absence from a scene so touching. He so expressed himself in a letter to the general, who gave him a cordial invitation to pay him a visit at Mount Vernon. On the 10th October 1783, for his many and distinguished services, Wayne was brevetted a major-general, in accordance with a resolution of congress. Under the old constitution of Pennsylvania, which was ratified on the 28th day of September 1776, there was a provision, that on the second Tuesday of October 1783, and in every seventh year thereafter, there should be chosen by ballot, two persons in each city and county of the state, who were to constitute the council of censors; and it was their duty to inquire whether the constitution had been preserved inviolate in every part, and whether the legislative and executive branches of government had performed their duty as guardians of the people, or had assumed greater powers than were entrusted to them by the charter. They had also power to inquire whether the public taxes had been justly laid and collected; to order impeachments, pass public censures, recommend to the legislature the repeal of such laws as they judged to be contrary to the constitution, and generally to see that the laws had been duly executed. The year in which the council of censors was to have its first existence, was also the first year of peace; a remarkable coincidence, which could certainly not have been anticipated when the constitution was created. To this exalted and very responsible situation, the most honorable that then presented itself, General Wayne was appointed by his fellow-citizens; and it appears that he took a very active part in the proceedings of that body. Much good was anticipated from the controlling and supervisory powers of the council; but as it had a very brief existence, its good or its bad effects are mere matters of speculation, in which no experience is at hand to assist in forming a correct judgment. The term of a censor was limited in duration to one year; at the expiration of that period he was returned to the assembly, as a member for the county of Chester. In this body he served two years, and was one of the most zealous of the representatives in his exertions for the good of his native state. The early abrogation of the Pennsylvania test laws was principally due to the earnest and repeat ed exertions of the general. Another subject, too, which he brought to the notice of the general assembly, is an evidence of the acuteness of his mind, and of the clearness with which he saw the true interests of his country. He proposed a resolution, on the 7th of November 1785, to appoint a committee to revise the laws relative to the navigation of the river Susquehanna and other streams, and also to report a bill for the improvement of the navigation between the waters of the Delaware and the Chesapeake, by means of a canal. The committee made a report, approving of the plan; and the executive council was authorized to enter into a negotiation with the states of Maryland and Delaware, in order to effect the object. This was the first movement that had been made in Pennsylvania, on the interesting subject of inland navigation, since the revolution. The proposed canal is now in full operation; and the state is deriving all the benefit from it which the sagacity of General Wayne so clearly foresaw would flow from its completion. The pressure of domestic concerns deprived the state of the benefit of a continuance of the general's services. He was induced, from a necessary regard to them, to resign his seat in the legislature. About the same time, the most pressing solicitations were made to him to induce him to become a candidate for the presidential chair of Pennsylvania; the same imperative necessity, however, compelled him to decline the proffered honour. In the year 1782, the state of Georgia, with a view to induce him to become a member of that state, and to reward him for his important services, complimented General Wayne with the grant of a large and valuable landed estate. He, therefore, was the owner of considerable real property in both states, and passed his time pretty much between the two. His residence became a matter of doubt, and finally of judicial decision in a particular case. In the year 1787, his fellow-citizens of Pennsylvania elected him a member of the convention which afterwards adopted the constitution of the United States; and in the year 1791, his fellow-citizens of Georgia, determined not to be outdone, chose him a member of the United States Congress. This last election gave rise to very considerable and animated discussion. It was finally canvassed and set aside; immediately afterwards, President Washington appointed Wayne to, probably at that moment, the most honourable, and at the same time the most responsible, situation within his gift. We allude to the appointment of commander-in-chief of the United States armies. The circumstances which made the nomination so highly important, will be presently briefly mentioned. In accepting the appointment, General Wayne, in a letter to General Knox, then secretary of war, with his usual modesty, remarked: "I clearly foresee, that this is a command which must inevitably be attended with the most anxious care, as well as great fatigue and difficulty, and one from which more may be expected than will be in my power to perform; yet I should be wanting both in point of duty and gratitude to the president, were I to decline an appointment, however arduous, to which he thought proper to nominate me. I therefore accept of the trust that he has been pleased to repose in me, in full confidence of the most effectual support from the president and yourself; and I shall attend at such time and place as you may direct, in order to file the oath of office as prescribed by law." The object of General Wayne's appointment was, if possible, to bring to a favourable close the longprotracted and disastrous war with the Indian tribes which had raged on the north-western frontier. The magnitude of the trust will appear very clearly from a slight review of the then state of affairs. After the peace with Great Britain was concluded, many of their Indian auxiliaries, incited, it was believed, by the English themselves, refused to lay down their arms and to enter into a treaty. They committed horrible depredations upon the settlements bordering on the Ohio. From the year 1783 to 1790, it was supposed that, upon those waters, fifteen hundred men, women and children had been slain or made captive by the savages. Every species of barbarity had been exhibited towards the frontier settlers. More than two thousand horses had been stolen from the inhabitants. Negotiations were attempted with the Indians; but they rejected them with disdain. The government then despatched Brigadier General Harmer into their country in order to bring them to reasonable terms, and put a stop to their devastations. That brave officer, in the summer of 1790, was defeated by the Indians, and of course, that event inspired them with fresh confidence, and carried additional dismay throughout the whole frontier. It was necessary that the stain upon the American arms should be wiped off. A new army was raised, and the command entrusted to General Arthur St. Clair, who had distinguished himself highly in the war of the revolution. The result was looked forward to with intense anxiety; and the best hopes were entertained of success, from the known talents of the commander. The earnest wishes, however, of the whole nation, it is well known, were most cruelly disappointed. On the 4th of November 1791, near the Miami villages, the general and his brave army suffered a total defeat; it was, in truth, a complete massacre: sixty commissioned officers were killed or wounded, and one thousand privates slain on the spot. The gallant Brigadier-General Butler, the companion of Wayne in many of his feats of conduct and valour, was among the killed. It is easy to picture the dismay of the community on receiving the disastrous news. The Indian war became highly unpopular: and even the administration of the illustrious Washington suffered not a little in public estimation. A large quantity of money has been spent, besides the vast sacrifice of the lives of as noble troops as ever took the field. The anxiety, therefore, of the president, and of all well-wishers of their country, to select a commander who by his talents and energy was fitted to repair the wound the national honour had sustained, and to afford some kind of security to the harassed and exposed frontier, may be easily imagined. Washington did not hesitate an instant in the choice, and the senate immediately confirmed the appointment. For all the exigencies of the service, Wayne was peculiarly fitted. Ardent, yet sufficiently cautious, experienced not only in the general science of war, but particularly so in contests with the wily and savage foe, untiring in his perseverance, hardy and brave as Cæsar, he was, of all the then distinguished officers in the United States, perhaps the most proper for the occasion. We have seen that he accepted the command with a full knowledge of its difficulties and dangers, and with a modest distrust of his abilities, which only served to render him the more cautious and vigilant. On the 25th of May 1792, the general was furnished by the secretary of war with his instruc tions, in which he was emphatically told, what he knew full well beforehand, "that another defeat would be inexpressibly ruinous to the reputation of the government. He repaired to Pittsburgh, after taking leave of his family and friends, which place had been selected as the rendezvous of the troops. A new army was to be raised and organized; new officers to be obtained; the old force had been completely annihilated; the old officers had been killed or had resigned their commissions. The labours of the commanding general was, of course, proportionably increased. This, however, was a duty which, in the space of his long and faithful services to his country, Wayne had been required frequently to perform. At the breaking out of the revolution it was his duty and his pleasure to convert the raw, undisciplined yeomen into regular troops; and now he resumed the task with the same earnestness and cheerfulness, under the orders of his independent country. Many of the officers, not to mention the soldiers, had yet to learn the rudiments of their profession. Every thing, therefore, devolved upon the general. Military tactics, discipline, the organization of the army, all required his constant and persevering personal attention. His efforts were indefatigable, and the obstacles he encountered would have deterred one less determined than himself to redeem his country's reputation. The country was completely panic-struck; an engagement with the Indians was regarded as identical with defeat. The greatest difficulties, therefore, existed in obtaining recruits. They marched, almost with horror, to the place of rendezvous, and seemed to consider themselves as on the way to instant destruction. When arrived at head-quarters, the greatest trouble and care were necessary to prevent desertion. It was impossible to guard against it completely, and this delayed considerably the formation of the army. Often the very sentries would desert their posts, and leave the most accessible places unguarded. The general, however, introduced a different scene, as soon as his salutary measures had time to go into operation. The troops were constantly exercised in all the usual evolutions, and also in such as were supposed to be most appropriate to the peculiar warfare they were about to undertake. They were taught daily to fire at a mark, and rewards were given to the best marksmen. A generous emulation was excited between the infantry and the riflemen. The latter were instructed in the importance of quickness as well as accuracy, and the former were led to place implicit confidence in the use of the bayonet. Instruction in the broadsword exercise was also imparted to the dragoons; and the artillery were not omitted in the attention which the general bestowed on every department of the service. The troops were taught to charge in open order, each individual relying on himself, and prepared for a personal conflict with the savage foe. These varied and necessarily tedious preparations, together with the extreme slowness and hesitation with which the recruits came in, occupied the entire season; which, however, was not suffered to pass over by the general without. obtaining information of the strength and disposition of the hostile Indians. Efforts were made to induce them to consent to an honourable peace; but they repelled all advances, and even went so far as to barbarously murder the two officers who were sent to them with a flag of truce. The army wintered about twenty-two miles below Pittsburgh, on the Ohio, at a place named Legionville. Being anxious to conciliate the powerful tribe of the Six Nations, Wayne sent for two of their distinguished chiefs, Cornplanter and New Arrow, to pay him a visit. These persons professed to be very friendly towards the United States, and yet gave some evidence of what might be the views of the hostile Indians, when even they insisted upon confining the Americans to the east bank of the Ohio river. "My mind and heart," said Cornplanter," are upon that river; may that water ever continue to run and remain the boundary of lasting peace between the Americans and Indians on its opposite shores." It was evident from these ridiculous and unjust pretensions (unjust because repeated treaties and fair purchase had confirmed to the states much land west of that river), that British emissaries were at work, labouring to plant these notions in the minds of the Indians: subsequent disclosures made the fact perfectly obvious. On the 30th of April 1793, Wayne departed from Legionville, with an army disciplined to his entire satisfaction, and which, owing to his judicious plan of operation, had perfect confidence in itself. He had adopted the very wise and creditable determination of banishing whiskey entirely from his camp; he justly denominated it a baneful poison. In six days the army arrived at Fort Washington, near the village, now the city of Cincinnati, and took up a position about a mile below that place. The government was still exceedingly anxious, if possible, to bring the war to a close without the necessity of a battle. General Wayne was, therefore, delayed in his operations by the positive orders of the president. The people of the United States were adverse in the extreme to an Indian war, and to comply with their known wishes in this respect attempts were again made at negotiation. A very highly respectable commission was sent forward to treat with the Indians. But their pretensions continued to be so extravagant, still insisting upon the Ohio as their boundary, and refusing to enter into negotiations except on that basis, that but one course was left. It remained for the power of the sword to settle the controversy, and General Wayne accordingly was directed to do the utmost in his power to render the result favourable to his country; being again told by the secretary at war that a defeat would be pernicious in the highest degree to her best interests. The secretary proceeded to say: "Your arrangements having been prepared for this event, if no unforseen circumstances should occur to prevent your proceeding, nothing further remains, but to commit you and the troops employed under you to the protection of the Supreme Being: hoping you and they will have all possible success in the measures you may be about to undertake, to prevent the murder of helpless women and children." The correspondence that passed between General Knox, the secretary of war, and Wayne, during this period of highly excited interest, is extremely interesting, and reflects the utmost credit upon both those gentlemen. In conformity with the powers vested in him, Wayne, having called for a reinforcement of a thousand mounted men from Kentucky, advanced and took up a position further in the enemy's country. His object was to keep the savages in check, and then to strike with effect when a favourable opportunity presented itself. He assured the secretary of war that, knowing the critical situation of his infant country, and feeling for the honour and reputation of the government, which he pledged himself to support with his latest breath, he would in no way commit his legion unnecessarily, and unless powerfully supported, would content himself with securing the frontier and protecting the posts and army during the winter. The troops in the autumn had suffered not only with the fevers usual to the season, but had been visited with the influenza and the small-pox. During the remainder of the autumn and part of the winter, he contented himself with a further advance into the country, securing his army carefully as he proceeded; anxious to receive further directions from the war department, with which his communications, on account of his great distance, were very unfrequent. In the middle of winter he sent a strong detachment to the fatal battle-ground, where so many of the heroes of St. Clair's army had unfortunately perished, in order to erect a redoubt, collect the scattered bones of those unfortunate men, and pay the last honours to their memory. The enterprise was successful; and a pleasure, yet not unmixed with mournful recollections, was derived from the opportunity of rendering these last sad offices to the remains of the illustrious dead. The cunning foe, under pretence of opening negotiations for peace, but really with the design of prying into the situation of the general's forces, sent him a pacific message. Anxious, as he knew the government to be, to secure a peace, though he distrusted the sincerity of their professions, Wayne did all in his power to produce the desired result. At one time, appearances seemed so much to justify the expectation of an amicable settlement, that Big-Tree, a Seneca warrior of high standing, who, from his friendly feelings towards the country had joined the army, in a fit of exasperation at the thought of peace, committed suicide. "I have lost" said he, "a very dear friend, the friend of my heart, General Richard Butler." He had sworn to sacrifice three enemies to the manes of his departed friend, and seeing his chance of revenge most probably at an end, he killed himself. Upon the approach of spring affairs assumed a most interesting aspect. The British had established a fortified position within the limits of the territory of the United States. This, together with Lord Doncaster's speech to the Indians, the refusal of the British government to deliver up the posts, and the spoliations upon American commerce, all gave indications of a disposition on the part of that power to renew the war. Surrounded as the American general was with difficulties, it was a source of high gratification to him to receive the full approbation, as he did, of his own government, of all his measures. Confiding fully in his caution and valour, they entrusted him with the delicate task of taking, if he thought it necessary, the British post above referred to, and thus of involv. ing the country, perhaps, in a war with England. In the month of June, a small escort, under the walls of Fort Recovery, was attacked by a powerful body of Indians, assisted by British auxiliaries. They were repulsed with great loss; and thus, on the very ground of their former victory, the Indians were taught, under different auspices, to know and feel the superiority of the American arms. This successful skirmish inspired the army generally with the greatest confidence. Towards the latter end of July, the mounted volunteers from Kentucky, whose assistance had been required by the general, arrived; and every preparation having been made, which a prudent foresight could suggest, on the 8th of August Wayne made a rapid advance into the very heart of the Indian settlements. So quick was the movement, and so judicious the direction which the general had selected (being towards that part of the country where the Indians fancied themselves secure, under the protection of the British fort), that had it not been for the treachery of a soldier, the enemy would have been taken completely by surprise. Thus the grand emporium of the hostile Indians in the west was taken possession of without loss of blood. Being himself a practical engineer, Wayne erected a fortress, which he named Fort Defiance, at the confluence of the Au |