ARMIES AT CAMBRIDGE.

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and vicissitudes of camp life before a beleaguered city filled. with veteran British troops.

Mrs. Washington's advent was unheralded, for it was not known even to her husband on what day she would arrive, and no hint had been given to any one excepting Robert H. Harrison, the general's secretary, that she was expected. A letter to one of the officers from a friend in Philadelphia, giving him an account of her reception at and departure from that city, had been received on the day before her arrival.

Washington had sent a single member of his staff and an orderly out on the road he knew she would be travelling, a few miles from Cambridge, to guide her to head-quarters. This aide-de-camp had waited at a country inn several days. So unostentatious was her advent, attended only by this aide. and the orderly riding some distance ahead of her equipage, that no one suspected the modest carriage with jaded horses bore the wife of the commander-in-chief, until she alighted with her companions at head-quarters, at near sunset on a cold, gray, December day. When she had recovered from the fatigue of travel, she received ceremonial. visits from the wives of officers in camp and the ladies in the neighborhood, who cordially welcomed her among them, and were charmed with her matronly beauty (she was then forty-three years old), grace, and suavity of demeanor, and her perfect simplicity and frankness of manner.

A general gloom overspread the camp at the time of Mrs. Washington's arrival, for the terms of the enlistments of many of the soldiers would soon expire, and there appeared very little disposition on their part to re-enlist. December was passing away, and yet not more than five thousand new

recruits had joined the army.

General Howe had strengthened his defences preparatory to establishing his winter quarters in Boston while waiting for reinforcements from home in the spring.

Washington had been authorized by Congress to attack the British in Boston whenever he should deem it expedient, "notwithstanding the town and property be destroyed;" and the patriotic president of Congress, John Hancock, whose home was in that city, had written to him: "May God crown your attempt with success, though individually I may be the greatest sufferer."

Men and means had been wanting to promise success to such an attempt. But a brighter prospect scon appeared. It was noticed as a coincidence that with the advent of Mrs. Washington into camp a change had taken place in the sentiments of the troops and people. Many of the former re-enlisted, while a stirring appeal made by the commanderin-chief to the militia of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, to supply the places of the troops which had left the army in its hour of peril, was nobly responded to. The regiments were speedily filled, and before Christmas fully ten thousand minute-men, chiefly in Massachusetts, were held in ready reserve to march whenever called upon. The camp was well supplied with provisions, and order was. more generally observed.

With Mrs. Washington as a central figure among the wives of officers in camp and ladies of leading families in the vicinity, together with the general hopefulness of the aspect of public affairs at this juncture, social life at Cambridge was made very pleasant at the Christmas holidays. Among the most fascinating of the women in camp was

Mrs. Lucy Knox, the young wife of Col. Henry Knox, and daughter of Thomas Flucker, late secretary of the province of Massachusetts. She was beautiful in person, brilliant in intellect, and the life of any social circle of which she formed a part. The duties of her husband, who was afterwards the commander of the artillery in the Continental Army, kept General Knox near the person of General Washington during the long war that ensued. Consequently, at every winter encampment, where Mrs. Washington was at head-quarters, she and Mrs. Knox were much together, and became fast friends.*

* Henry Knox was a young bookseller in Boston. Lucy Flucker, daughter of the secretary of the province, being of a literary turn of mind, visited his shop to procure books and stationery. They became acquaintances, then friends, and then lovers. They maintained sentiments in common, and in spite of the opposition of friends she married the young Whig bookseller, and shared his fortunes during the long war which soon followed and for long years afterwards. She was with him in camp and on marches, a faithful wife and loyal companion of his joys and sorrows. She was a woman of sound judgment and brilliant intellect, and graced every exalted position which she was called to fill. Their later life was spent in elegant retirement at Thomaston Manor. She had rare power of conversation, and was one of the most charming and entertaining women of her time. Exceedingly exemplary as a wife and mother, she commands admiration.

ΤΟ

CHAPTER V.

DURING the winter of 1775-76, Washington prosecuted the siege of Boston with as much vigor as circumstances would allow. After the arrival of Colonel Knox from Lake Champlain with forty-two sled-loads of captured heavy guns, ammunition, and stores, *he resolved to attack the British either by assault or by a general bombardment and cannonade. The winter was so mild that the ice-bridge over the St. Charles would not bear troops before February, and a lack of powder was a serious hinderance. "The bay is open," wrote Colonel Moylan late in January. "Everything thaws except old Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out, Powder! powder! ye gods, give me powder!'" The British, in daily expectation of receiving reinforcements from Ireland and Halifax, were quite contented with a dream of security. The officers established a theatre,

* On the 10th of May, 1775, some Vermont and Connecticut militia, led by Col. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, surprised and captured the British stronghold of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. Two days afterwards some Vermonters, or "Green Mountain Boys," seized the stronger fort of Crown Point, a few miles farther down the lake. The spoils obtained at these forts consisted of about one hundred and fifty cannons and a large quantity of ammunition and stores. Late in the year Colonel Knox was sent, with sleds drawn by oxen, to fetch the spoils to Cambridge, and succeeded. These supplies were timely for the successful prosecution of the siege of Boston.

and got up a farce called "Boston Blockaded," in which Washington was lampooned unmercifully. Balls were held, and they were preparing for a grand masquerade when Washington suddenly dispelled their pleasant dreams of conquest and confiscation, and transformed the farce of "Boston Blockaded" into a sad tragedy of Boston besieged. He had secretly, during a single night, fortified Dorchester Heights, which commanded the town, the moon shining brightly while the men toiled. When Howe saw this ominous menace in the morning, he exclaimed in astonishment, "I know not what to do. The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month."

The British fleet in Boston Harbor was in equal peril from the great guns on Dorchester Heights, while a heavy patriot force was preparing at Cambridge to cross the Charles River in boats and attack the troops in the city.

Howe called a council of war, and it was decided to evacuate the city. This decision filled the inhabitants of Boston with consternation. The Tories dreaded the retribution they deserved and might expect from those whom they had cruelly persecuted and driven from their homes; the few Whigs who remained in the city believed the British would. burn the town on their departure. The Tories saw the arm of military power on which they had confidently leaned suddenly wither into helplessness. They demanded protection for person and property; the troops were not able to protect themselves. Three thousand loyalists begged to be carried away, with their effects, from the wrath that menaced them. The number of transports was inadequate to perform this service. The Tories would be lucky if they