department. The Count D'Estaing had arrived there with a French fleet, and a body of troops. With these forces, combined with the Americans, the two commanders, after having besieged the city for some time, resolved on the almost desperate resolution of possessing it by assault. The allied force consisted of between four and five thousand men. General Lincoln and Count D'Estaing led their respective troops to the lines of the enemy, with the most signal firmness and intrepidity, and faced their fire for about fifty-five minutes, when they were repulsed with considerable loss. Count D'Estaing received two slight wounds; more than six hundred of his brave troops, and about one hundred and seventy continentals were killed or wounded. Count Pulaski, a brigadier general in our service, at the head of two hundred horsemen, was in full gallop, with the intention of charging the enemy in the rear, when he received a mortal wound. This gentleman was a Polander, of distinguished rank and character; having viewed the American cause in a favorable light, he offered his services to our Congress, who appointed him to the rank of brigadier general. He has by his active and enterprising spirit rendered essential service to our army, and his death is universally lamented.

During the siege of Savannah, an event occurred, singularly honorable to an enterprising individual, which should never be forgotten. A captain of Colonel Delancey's battalion of refugee troops, with about one hundred American royal regulars, was posted near a river twenty-five miles from Savannah, where were four armed British vessels, manned with about forty sailors. Colonel John White, of the Georgia line, was desirous of the honor of capturing this party; his whole force, however, consisted of no more than six volunteers, including his own servant; it was only by a well concerted stratagem, therefore, that he could hope for success. In the night, he kindled a number of fires, in different places, and exhibited the appearance of a large encampment, and having arranged his plan, he summoned the captain to surrender, threatening his entire destruction, by a superior force, in case of a refusal. Intimidated, and deceived by appearances, the captain immediately signified his readiness to comply with the demand, and made no further defence. The American Colonel, White, had now the satisfaction, by his peculiar address, to see the whole of the prisoners, amounting to one hundred and forty, divest themselves of their arms, and submit to himself and his six volunteers. The prison

ers were afterwards safely conducted by three of the captors for twenty-five miles through the country, to an American post. During the present month, one Hessian lieutenant and seven Hessian soldiers, and four British, deserted from the enemy at New York. The lieutenant pretended to desire to enter our service as a volunteer, but deserters are generally suspicious, or worthless characters, undeserving of attention. One of the British deserters pretended to be a prophet, but probably a disguised spy.

If you

Morristown, January 1st, 1780.-A new year commences, but brings no relief to the sufferings and privations of our army. Our canvass covering affords but a miserable security from storms of rain and snow, and a great scarcity of provisions still prevails, and its effects are felt even at head quarters, as appears by the following anecdote. "We have nothing but the rations to cook, Sir," said Mrs. Thomson, a very worthy Irish woman and housekeeper to General Washington." Well, Mrs. Thomson, you must then cook the rations, for I have not a farthing to give you." please, Sir, let one of the gentlemen give me an order for six bushels of salt." "Six bushels of salt, for what?" "To preserve the fresh beef, Sir." One of the aids gave the order, and the next day his Excellency's table was amply provided. Mrs. Thomson was sent for, and told that she had done very wrong to expend her own money, for it was not known when she could be repaid. "I owe you," said his Excellency, "too much already to permit the debt being increased, and our situation is not at this moment such as to induce very sanguine hope." "Dear Sir," said the good old lady, "it is always darkest just before daylight, and I hope your Excellency will forgive me for bartering the salt for other necessaries which are now on the table." Salt was eight dollars a bushel, and it might always be exchanged with the country people for articles of provision.*

* In a private letter to a friend, General Washington says, "We have had the virtue and patience of the army put to the severest trial. Sometimes it has been five or six days together without bread; at other times as many days without meat; and once or twice two or three days without either. I hardly thought it possible, at one period, that we should be able to keep it together, nor could it have been done, but for the exertions of the magistrates in the several counties of this state, (Jersey,) on whom I was obliged to call, expose our situation to them, and in plain terms declare that we were reduced to the alternative of disbanding or catering for ourselves, unless the inhabitants would afford us their aid. I allotted to each county a certain proportion of flour or grain, and a certain number of cattle, to be delivered on certain days; and, for the honor of the magistrates, and the good dis

The weather for several days has been remarkably cold and stormy. On the 3d instant, we experienced one of the most tremendous snow storms ever remembered; no man could endure its violence many minutes without danger of his life. Several marquees were torn asunder and blown down over the officers' heads in the night, and some of the soldiers were actually covered while in their tents, and buried like sheep under the snow. My comrades and myself were roused from sleep by the calls of some officers for assistance; their marquee had blown down, and they were almost smothered in the storm, before they could reach our marquee, only a few yards, and their blankets and baggage were nearly buried in the snow. We are greatly favored in having a supply of straw for bedding, over this we spread all our blankets, and with our clothes and large fires at our feet, while four or five are crowded together, preserve ourselves from freezing. But the sufferings of the poor soldiers can scarcely be described; while on duty they are unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of storms and severe cold; at night they now have a bed of straw on the ground, and a single blanket to each man; they are badly clad, and some are destitute of shoes. We have contrived a kind of stone chimney outside, and an opening at one end of our tents gives us the benefit of the fire within. The snow is now from four to six feet deep, which so obstructs the roads as to prevent our receiving a supply of provisions. For the last ten days we have received but two pounds of meat a man, and we are frequently for six or eight days entirely destitute of meat, and then as long without bread. The consequence is, the soldiers are so enfeebled from hunger and cold, as to be almost unable to perform their military duty, or labor in constructing their huts. It is well known that General Washington experiences the greatest solicitude for the sufferings of his army, and is sensible that they in general conduct with heroic patience and fortitude. His Excellency, it is understood, despairing of supplies from the

position of the people, I must add, that my requisitions were punctually complied with, and in many counties exceeded. Nothing but this great exertion could have saved the army from dissolution or starving, as we were bereft of every hope from the commissaries. At one time the soldiers eat every kind of horse food but hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, rye, and Indian corn, composed the meal which made their bread. As an army, they bore it with the most heroic patience; but sufferings like these, accompanied by the want of clothes, blankets, &c. will produce frequent desertion in all armies; and so it happened with us, though it did not excite a single mutiny."

Commissary General, has made application to the magistrates of the state of New Jersey for assistance in procuring provisions. This expedient has been attended with the happiest success. It is honorable to the magistrates and people of Jersey, that they have cheerfully complied with the requisition, and furnished for the present an ample supply, and have thus probably saved the army from destruction.

As if to make up the full measure of grief and embarrassment to the Commander in Chief, repeated complaints have been made to him that some of the soldiers are in the practice of pilfering and plundering the inhabitants of their poultry, sheep, pigs, and even their cattle, from their farms. This marauding practice has often been prohibited in general orders, under the severest penalties, and some exemplary punishments have been inflicted. General Washington possesses an inflexible firmness of purpose, and is determined that discipline and subordination in camp shall be rigidly enforced and maintained. The whole army has been sufficiently warned, and cautioned against robbing the inhabitants on any pretence whatever, and no soldier is subjected to punishment without a fair trial, and conviction by a court martial. Death has been inflicted in a few instances of an atrocious nature, but in general, the punishment consists in a public whipping, and the number of stripes is proportioned to the degree of offence. The law of Moses prescribes forty stripes save one, but this number has often been exceeded in our camp. In aggravated cases, and with old offenders, the culprit is sentenced to receive one hundred lashes, or more. It is always the duty of the drummers and fifers to inflict the chastisement, and the drum major must attend and see that the duty is faithfully performed. The culprit being securely tied to a tree or post, receives on his naked back the number of lashes assigned him, by a whip formed of several small knotted cords, which sometimes cut through the skin at every stroke. However strange it may appear, a soldier will often receive the severest stripes without uttering a groan, or once shrinking from the lash, even while the blood flows freely from his lacerated wounds. must be ascribed to stubbornness or pride. They have, however, adopted a method which they say mitigates the anguish in some measure; it is by putting between the teeth a leaden bullet, on which they chew while under the lash, till it is made quite flat and jagged. In some instances of

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incorrigible villains, it is adjudged by the court that the culprit receive his punishment at several different times, a certain number of stripes repeated at intervals of two or three days, in which case the wounds are in a state of inflammation, and the skin rendered more sensibly tender; and the terror of the punishment is greatly aggravated. Another mode of punishment is that of running the gantlet; this is done by a company of soldiers standing in two lines, each one furnished with a switch, and the criminal is made to run between them and receive the scourge from their hands on his naked back; but the delinquent runs so rapidly, and the soldiers are so apt to favor a comrade, that it often happens in this way that the punishment is very trivial; but on some occasions, a soldier is ordered to hold a bayonet at his breast to impede his steps. If a non-commissioned officer is sentenced to corporeal punishment, he is always degraded to the soldier's rank. The practice of corporeal punishment in an army has become a subject of animadversion, and both the policy and propriety of the measure have been called in question. It may be observed that the object of punishment is to exhibit examples, to deter others from committing crimes; that corporeal punishment may be made sufficiently severe as a commutation for the punishment of death in ordinary cases; it is more humane, and by saving the life of a soldier we prevent the loss of his services to the public. In justification of the practice, it is alleged also, that in the British army it has long been established in their military code, and it is not uncommon to sentence a criminal to receive a thousand lashes, and that they aggravate its horrors in the most cruel manner, by repeating the stripes from day to day, before the wounds are healed; and instances are not wanting of its having been attended with fatal consequences. On the other hand, it is objected, that corporeal punishment is disreputable to an army, it will never reclaim the unprincipled villain, and it has a tendency to repress the spirit of ambition and enterprise in the young soldier; and the individual thus ignominiously treated, can never, in case of promotion for meritorious services, be received with complacency as a companion for other officers. These objections will apply to most other modes of punishment, and it remains to be decided, which is the most eligible for the purpose of maintaining that subordination so indispensable in

all armies.