Wayne's assault on Stony Point. Benedict Fiske's phrase. Lee was tried by court-martial and dismissed from the army; there is now little question that he had entered into treasonable communications with the British authorities. Monmouth was the last important engagement in the North; thenceforward the British contented themselves with marauding expeditions, whose only result was to keep alive a keen sense of injury on the part of the Americans. The latter, on their side, performed one brilliant exploit, the capture of a British stronghold, Stony Point, on the Hudson. The movement was carefully planned by Washington and splendidly executed by the Light Infantry of the Line under Anthony Wayne, one of the most dashing commanders of the war. 155. Arnold's Treason, 1779. - Benedict Arnold, the hero of Quebec and Saratoga, was careless of money and given to lavish expenditure. Although the ablest leader of a division on the American side, his habits aroused the distrust of Congress, and other men of less ability and less experience were promoted over his head. Washington exerted all his influence in Arnold's favor, and as soon as a wound received at Saratoga permitted, he was given the command at Philadelphia. There he became acquainted with many persons who were hostile to the American cause, and misused his official position for purposes of private gain. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be reprimanded by Washington. In performing this unpleasant duty, the commander in chief said: "Our profession is the chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. . . . I reprimand you for having forgotten that in proportion as you have rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have been guarded and temperate in your deportment towards your fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you . . . with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your coun 1779] Arnold's Treason 215 try." To enable him to do this, Washington appointed Arnold commander of West Point, the most important station of the Americans on the Hudson. Arnold already had been in correspondence with the André British authorities, and probably he asked for this com- captured. mand that he might have something of value to betray to his new employers. At all events, the negotiations went on apace until the cap ture of John André, the British agent in the affair, disclosed all. Arnold escaped to New York and received his promised reward of office and money, although he had not performed his part of the nefarious bargain. After the close of the war, he lived in England, one of the most despised men in the world. Lafayette Chandler's Trials, II, 157-265: Winsor's America, VI, 467, 468. Far more interesting is the discussion which has arisen His trial. over the execution of John André. To understand his career, the student should compare his motives and his actions with those of Nathan Hale, a noble American, whom the British hanged as a spy, or with those of two young foreigners, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. André was an agreeable young man who knowingly placed himself in the position of a spy, and suffered the penalty of death without flinching, as hundreds of men have suffered before and since. There was nothing remarkable in his career; it was only by a bold stretch of the imagination that one could have held him worthy a place in Westminster Abbey, among the heroes of the English race; and nothing save the sickliest sentimentalism could have induced an American to erect a monument to his memory on American soil. After his capture, André's status was examined by a very competent Court of Inquiry, presided over by Nathanael Greene; among its members were Steuben, a Prussian veteran, and Lafayette, a general officer in the French army. It is idle to contend that their The war in the South, 1776-82. Winsor's Birthplace of Nathan Hale finding was not sound. André passed the American lines in disguise, under an assumed name, with papers betraying military secrets concealed in his boots. He had a pass from Arnold, giving safe conduct to John Anderson; the document was conceived in fraud, was used for a fraudulent purpose, and could not for a moment have protected André against Arnold's commanding officer. 156. The Southern Campaigns, 1776-81. The British had early directed their attention to the conquest of the South. In the winter of 1776, while the siege of Boston 1780] The Southern Campaigns 217 and ch. vi; Fiske's was still in progress, Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Hyde Parker America, had led an expedition to the conquest of Charleston. Their VI, 168-172, ignominious failure and the conflict in the North had diverted the British from any further attempts in that direction, until toward the close of 1778, by which time they seem to have become convinced that the South would offer less resistance to invasion than had been encountered in the North. In this opinion events showed that the British were right. The Southerners were able to make slight opposition to the wellequipped forces which captured Savannah in 1778 and invaded South Carolina in 1779. Indeed, so hopeless did resistance at one time appear, that Governor Rutledge of South Caro General Greene Revolution, and ch. xv lina drew up a letter in states. which it was proposed that the latter state should remain neutral, leaving the contest to be decided by the other In 1780 Clinton again appeared before Charleston. On this occasion he captured that town, and the British, under Cornwallis, soon overran the greater part of South Carolina. At the same time, other expeditions from New York under Phillips and Arnold began the conquest of Virginia. Toward the end of 1780, Nathanael Greene assumed direction of the defense of the South: by a series of remarkable campaigns, he compelled the British to yield. up the greater portion of the Carolinas and Georgia and to retire to Charleston and Savannah. These results were Cornwallis accomplished by Greene with a handful of trained soldiers of the Continental Line and large bodies of militia. The leading events of these campaigns in the southernmost colonies were Clinton's abortive attack on Charleston (1776), the capture of Savannah (1779), the capture of Charleston (1780), Gates's defeat at Camden (1780), the battle of King's Mountain (1780), Morgan's remarkable defeat of Tarleton at the Cowpens (1781), the battle of Guilford Court House (1781), Hobkirk's Hill (1781), the siege of Ninety-six (1781), and the battle of Eutaw Springs (1781). 157. The Yorktown Campaign, 1781. — After the battle of Guilford Court House, Lord Cornwallis appears to have come to the conclusion that the permanent conquest of the Carolinas was impossible as long as Virginia was in the hands of the Americans and able to send men and supplies to the Southern armies. He may also have regarded the continuous occupation of the Carolinas as impracticable with the means at his disposal and may have marched northward to be within easier reach of reinforcements from New York. At all events, he marched northward to Virginia from Wilmington, whither he had repaired after his unavailing contest with Greene. In Virginia he found a small British force under Phillips and Arnold; the former died almost immediately, the latter he sent to New York. Lafayette was also in Virginia with a small but highly efficient body of men, one of the divisions of Light Infantry of the Continental Line. He had originally been ordered to that region in the hope of entrapping Arnold; now, he and Cornwallis marched up and down Virginia until Cornwallis went into quarters at Portsmouth for the summer; later, he removed his army to Yorktown, in obedience, as he supposed, to the orders of Clinton. Up to this time, the co-operation with France had produced slight effect upon the contest beyond diverting the attention of the British from America, and securing the evacuation of Philadelphia. A French force under Rochambeau had reached America in the summer of 1780, but |