mander-in-chief were also ordered, and the regi mental surgeons directed to send to the general hospital such of their sick as required "nurses or constant attendance," and also "to apply to the directors in their respective departments for medicines and other necessaries." 1 On the 15th, when Greene's letter was read, it was referred to the Medical Committee. But the subject which recurred oftenest to his mind in these anxious days was the new army, and more especially the choice of officers. Governor Cooke, on receiving the call of Congress for Rhode Island's quota of two battalions, wrote to Washington for a list of the officers whom he wished to recommend for promotion, and to Greene to "give every information and assistance relating to it in his power." 2 "The anxiety I felt for the honor of the State," writes Greene on the 16th from Washington's head-quarters, "and the good of the cause, made me anticipate your wishes relative to recommendations. "I had made a collection of the officers belonging to the three Rhode Island regiments, and delivered it in to his Excellency General Washington, to be forwarded to your State. That recommendation and arrangement of officers is the best that I could make or recommend to the General, all circumstances considered. The State will act their pleasure with respect to the appointment. The General only wishes to have good men, such as will discharge their duty in every point of view, and maintain the character of 1 Journals of Congress, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1776. 2 Bartlett, R. I. Records, Vol. VIII. pp. 30, 31. gentlemen; he has no attachment to any person further than his merit recommends him. Men of merit he wishes to be appointed, whether in or out of the army." Greene's recommendation, when it was made known a few weeks later, "threw the officers," if Lee may be trusted, "into a great flame of discontent. . . . . They accused him of partiality to his connections and townsmen, to the prejudice of men of manifestly superior merit." But as his only connections in the army were his brother-in-law, William Littlefield, the captain of his guard, whom he recommended for a lieutenancy, and who, after serving honorably through the war, was retained on the peace establishment long after its close; and Christopher Greene and Samuel Ward, who had already distinguished themselves by their attention to the instruction and discipline of their men in the camp before Boston, and their fortitude and intrepidity in the expedition against Quebec, and became still more distinguished, in the autumn of the following year, by their gallant defence of Red Bank, his family attachments had a very narrow field to act in, and were fully justified by the character of their objects. And as this part of the accusation was so utterly unfounded, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there was no better foundation for the other. Lee's letter was written three days after the fall of Fort Washington, when, judging by his own standard, he may have sup 1 Lee to Washington, Sparks's Correspondence of the Revolution, Vol. I. p. 306. posed Washington's confidence in Greene's judgment to have been materially shaken, and, following his own bad instincts, may not have been unwilling to extend the unfavorable opinion to Greene's motives. He had returned from the South, on the 14th of October, with a head dizzy with success, and a heart rankling with jealousy. During the few hours that he had passed at Fort Constitution, on his way to head-quarters, he had found time to write at Greene's desk, perhaps a letter to Gates, condemning the position of the army as "execrable"; calling Congress "cattle, that stumble every step"; blaming Washington for not threatening them with resignation for their interference with the army; and calling loudly for a separate army upon the Delaware, or, in other words, an independent command for himself. In September, an officer had written from New York, "General Lee is hourly expected, as if from heaven, with a legion of flaming swordsmen." "You ask," writes Tilghman to Duer in October, "if General Lee is in health, and if our people feel bold. I answer both in the affirmative. His appearance among us has not contributed a little to the latter." 2 Four days after his arrival, the name of Fort Constitution was changed to Fort Lee, in commemoration of his successful defence of Lee was not the man, either in heart or in head, to listen to such admiration long Charleston. 1 Force, American Archives, 5th 2 Force, ut sup., pp. 197-1095. Series, Vol. II. pp. 1008, 1034. without conceiving unfounded hopes, even if he did not form unwarrantable designs. But, whatever the nature or extent of his wishes may have been, he looked upon this as a favorable moment for aiming a blow at Greene, and seized it with characteristic malevolence. I am anticipating events by a few weeks; but, to make an end of this unpleasant part of my narrative, I will add now, that Lee was greatly deceived in his calculations. Washington's confidence, not easily won, was still less easily shaken; and the Legisla ture of Rhode Island, accepting his recommendation, appointed the officers whom Greene had selected. Varnum, as he had suggested, was complimented with a renewal of his commission, and, not long after, being appointed to a brigade, left the colonelcy of his battalion vacant, as had been originally intended, for his old Major of the Army of Observation, Christopher Greene. Howe in Motion. CHAPTER IX. Greene to Washington. - Expedition to Staten Island. Called to Council at Head-quarters. tracts from Letters. - Foreshadowings of the Quartermaster-Gen eral. Greene's Troops. The Passage of the Hudson.-Letters to Congress and General Mifflin. IT T seemed very strange then, and seems very foolish now, that Sir William Howe, after taking possession of New York, on the 15th of September, should have waited till the 12th of October before he again put his army in motion. "Our army are now so strongly fortified, and so much out of the command of the shipping, we have little more to fear this campaign," writes Greene. With a wellorganized army, this would have been true; but public opinion in England demanded another victory; and Howe, with forces superior in numbers, equipments, and discipline, was determined to win it. Could he get in the rear of the Americans, and cut off their retreat, they would be compelled either to fight at a disadvantage, or lay down their arms. A trial of skill was evidently at hand, and perhaps a trial of strength also. Greene longed for a part in the struggle. "I am informed," he writes on the 12th at five in the afternoon, "a large body of the enemy's troops have landed at Frogg's |