Dissolution of the Combined Armies.- Washington at Eltham.- Death of John Parke Custis. - Wash- ington at Mount Vernon. - Correspondence about the Next Campaign. — Lafayette sails for France. - Washington stimulates Congress to Military Preparations. Project to surprise and carry off ton brings Pacific News. - Discontents of the Army. - Extraordinary Letter from Colonel Nicola. - In- dignant Reply of Washington. -Joint Letter of Sir Guy Carleton and Admiral Digby. the Officers to Congress. - Anonymous Papers cir- culated in the Camp.- Meeting of Officers called. - Address of Washington. -Resolutions in Conse- quence. Letters of Washington to the President. The Army to be discharged. - Parting Address of Washington. Evacuation of New York. - Parting Scene of Washington with his Officers at New York. - Washington doubts the Solidity of the Confederation. - Correspondence with John Jay on the Subject. Plan of a Convention of all the States to revise the Federal System. Washington heads the Virginia Washington talked of for the Presidency. His Letters on the Subject expressing his Reluctance. Election. His Progress to the Seat of Govern- 534 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. CHAPTER I. Sufferings of the Army at Morristown. - Rigorous Winter. Derangement of the Currency. - Confusion in the Commissariat. Impressment of Supplies. - Patriotic Conduct of the People of New Jersey. - The Bay of New York Frozen over. Lord Stirling's Expedition against Staten Island. -Knyphausen's Incursion into the Jerseys. - Caldwell's Church at Elizabethtown burnt. - Character of its Pastor. Foray into Westchester County. - Burning of Young's House in the Valley of the Neperan. HE dreary encampment at Valley Forge has become proverbial for its hardships; yet they were scarcely more severe than those suffered by Washington's army during the present winter, while hutted among the heights of Morristown. The winter set in early, and was uncommonly rigorous. The transportation of supplies was obstructed; the magazines were exhausted, and the commissaries had neither money nor credit to enable them to replenish them. For weeks at a time the army was on half allowance; sometimes without meat, sometimes without bread, sometimes without both. There was a scarcity, too, of clothing and blankets, so that the poor |