in the faithful discharge of the important trust which had been reposed in him.

General Gates left Boston for Providence, Rhode Island, on the 2d of April following, when the command of the Eastern department again devolved on General Heath. He remained at Boston until the 4th of June, when he received orders from General Washington to join the grand army. He had previously ordered away all the heavy ordnance belonging to the United States, at Boston and Providence, to the banks of the Hudson river. Every mark of respect was paid him on his departure from Boston, and on his way to the place of his destination. On the 21st of June, he arrived at New Windsor, whence he accompanied General Washington to West Point, the Gibraltar of the Western World, and, on the 23d of the same month, he was invested with the command of all the rebel . troops, as the British were pleased to call them, on the east side of the Hudson river. This change of situation brought him again into the duties of the camp, from which his situation at the head of the Eastern depart ment had for some time relieved him. Here he was in active field duties, when, on the 30th of June, he received a notification from John Jay, Esq. President of Congress, accompanying an extract of the proceedings of that body, announcing his election to the place of a Commissioner of the board of war, with a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, while, at the same time, he was allowed to retain his rank in the army.

The proffer of Congress was declined, as the General manifested his wish to remain in the station which he then held.

According to orders received from General Washing ton, on the 10th of July, General Heath marched his division, next day,,for Bedford in New-York. Here he arrived on the 14th, and finding that the British shipping had gone down the Sound towards New-York, he took a strong position between Bedford and Ridgefield. The eyes of the public were now fixed on this division, and on the contiguous foe, who was laying waste the country in Connecticut. They had destroyed Fairfield. This move

ment, however, saved a number of towns and villages from devastation, and inspired fresh confidence in the inhabitants. In order to withdraw the attention of the British from Connecticut, General Washington planned the surprise of Stony Point, which General Wayne so gallantly executed. The next object was an attack on Verplanck's Point, garrisoned by one thousand of the enemy. On the Americans removing from Stony Point, General Washington ordered General Heath, with his division, to repair to Peekskill, and supersede General Robert Howe. While these operations were in train, to prevent the design of General Sir Henry Clinton, of cutting off the retreat of General Howe, General Washington ordered General Heath to take possession of the passes into the Highlands, by forced marches, which he completely effected. He continued actively engaged with his division, in affairs of minor importance, during the remainder of the campaign.

On the 28th of November, General Washington invested him with the command of all the troops and posts on the Hudson river. This was reckoned the key of communication between the eastern and southern states. The winter passed away without any occurrence of magnitude. The weather had been extremely severe, and the suffering of the troops was great. Still, however, their commander had such an ascendancy over them, that they remained patient under all their privations.

The latter end of February, 1780, by leave of the commander-in-chief, General Heath left the army on a visit to his friends in New England. On the 8th of March, he represented to the council of Massachusetts, the high importance and necessity of filling up their battalions. This had the desired effect; for the state legislature shortly afterwards ordered a draft for the purpose, to rendezvous at Springfield, in Massachusetts. On the 9th of June, he received an order from General Washington, whose head quarters were at Morristown, N. J., to repair to Providence, R. I., to meet the commander of the French forces and fleet, which were expected there every moment, in order to render them the assistance requisite

after so long a voyage. He arrived at Providence on the 16th of June, when he was escorted into town with all possible respect. Every necessary preparation was made for the reception of the French army, as soon as it should land. The fleet arrived at Newport on the 11th of July, and the General repaired thither, where he was introduced to Count Rochambeau, the commander of the French land forces, and the Chevalier Ternay, commander of the fleet. The usual civilities on such occasions took place between the respective parties, and a close intimacy between Rochambeau and the General commenced, which lasted during the whole war.

The arrival of the French force attracted the attention of the British-Sir Henry Clinton designed to attack it at Newport with a force of eight thousand men. Intelligence of this, and the appearance of the British fleet off Rhode Island, induced a call of the militia as a re-enforcement. Every disposition was made to give the enemy a warm reception. The General informed General Washington of his desire to return to the main army, and assume the command of the right wing, a rank to which he was entitled by seniority. However, at the solicitations of Count Rochambeau, and to comply with the wish of General Washington, he remained there; as the generalin-chief had informed him, that the main army had no immediate prospect of active operations.

On the first of October, General Heath took leave of the French officers at Newport, in order to repair to the main army, for which he had received an order from General Washington, who, at the same time, informed him of Arnold's treason, and Andre's capture. Complimentary letters of leave passed between Generals Rochambeau and Heath, and the latter proceeded as far as West Point, which he reached on the 16th, on his way to the main army, where he found a letter from General Washington, appointing him to the command of that fortress, in place of General Greene, who had been ordered to supersede General Gates in the southern states.

On the 17th, General Greene departed for the object of his journey, and, at the same time, General Heath assumed

the command, when the contemplated predatory excursion of the enemy afforded him sufficient employ. In November, a number of the French officers paid a visit to General Heath, at West Point, where they were received and treated with marked respect.

On the 1st of December, the discharge of the six month's men was begun. Three New York regiments departed for Albany, and the army generally went into winter quarters. General Washington established his quarters at New Windsor for the winter, on the 6th of the month, and the next day visited West Point.

In consequence of the scarcity of provisions at West Point, of which General Washington was made acquainted, he ordered General Heath to proceed to the eastward, in order to obtain of the Governors of the New England states, those supplies, the want of which portended the most serious consequences.

While on this expedition, which he commenced in the beginning of May, General Washington advised him, in the July following, that in the new regulations for the ensuing campaign, the command of the right wing of the main army was reserved for him. In consequence, he left his residence at Roxbury, on the 12th, to assume his command, the grand army having encamped near Peekskill. When he arrived at the army, it had changed its position, and was encamped at Philipsburg, in two lines, in the place which had been between the two armies the preceding year.

On the 17th of August, 1781, General Washington confidentially communicated to General Heath, a blow which he intended to strike against the enemy; for which purpose he detached a part of the army to the southward, leaving Heath in command of the main army during his absence. His orders were dated on the 19th of the same month, and confined him to defensive operations. The general, accordingly, was busily engaged during the whole summer in executing the trust reposed in him. On the 28th of October, he received a despatch from General Washington, announcing the success of the meditated blow, which had terminated in the capture of Cornwallis

and the British army, at Yorktown, in Virginia. On the 22d, the corporation of Albany passed a vote of thanks to General Heath, for the alacrity which he had displayed in defending the northern frontiers of the state of New York against the maraudings of the enemy. The whole army celebrated in the Highlands, on the 31st, the joyful event, which had been effectuated by the commander-inchief, and his auxiliary forces. Things now wore a favourable aspect on the American side. The foraging went on successfully; but the general was directed to forward no more supplies to the army in Virginia. About this time, the troops went into winter quarters, with more cheerfulness and better prospects, than in any preceding year.

General Washington returned from the south in the April following, and established his head quarters at Newburgh, on the west bank of the Hudson. On resuming the command, he publicly returned his thanks to General Heath, for the successful execution of the trust reposed in him during his absence.

A new scene of outrage, committed by a party of refugees, under command of a Captain Lippencott, attracted public attention. In their maraudings, they fell in with a Captain Huddy, whom they took prisoner, and hung. It was well understood, that however the conduct of the party might be censured by the enemy, some evasive pretext would rob justice of its demand, by suffering the party to escape; and the event justified the anticipation. To put a stop to practices so incompatible with the rules of warfare observed among civilized nations, General Washington called a council of officers, who met in General Heath's quarters on the 19th of April. They were convoked to advise the General, respecting the best mode of preventing the repetition of such sanguinary deeds. The Council unanimously recommended measures of retaliation. In conformity with their advice, it was determined to select by lot, a captive officer in the hands of the Americans, who should undergo the fate which Huddy experienced, unless the crime should be fully atoned by the punishment of the murderers. And as Lippencott was acquitted by a British court-martial of a crime, which