The Boys of Old Monmouth Part 28

"There are several good reasons," replied Ted blandly. "In the first place, if the mule won't go, I can't go. Then, if he stops, I have to stop, too. As to the reason for my being here, why, I'm looking for Benzeor."

"I don't know where you expect to find him," laughed Peter--forgetting his own anxiety for the moment in the ludicrous sight before him.

"Well, I got to thinking of it yesterday after you left me; and when I'd taken Sallie and the babies up to the captain's,--Sallie's my wife, ye know,--I jest made up my mind as how I'd got to look after Benzeor afore he did any more damage. Goin' around the country hangin' Sallies! The rascal! Old Monmouth never'll be safe till Benzeor Osburn has been 'tended to. And if I'm not the man to do it, I don't know who is. So Jeshurun and I decided to start out last night, and we've been travelin'

ever since."

"Jeshurun? I don't see anybody with you," said Peter, glancing quickly about him as he spoke.

"Ha! ha!" laughed Ted. "Ye're lookin' too far afield, young man. This here fellow's Jeshurun. Whoa, Jes.h.!.+ Whoa!" he suddenly added, as the mule darted to one side and turned several circles in the road before his rider could stop him.

"Yes, sir; this is Jeshurun, and a more onery little beast never lived.

I told ye about him yesterday, and how he'd suddenly take it into his head to go backwards for a bit. That's the reason I ride him this way part of the time. He thinks I want to go the other way, ye see, and that's how I come it over him by jest sittin' the wrong way, too.

Besides, a good twist of his tail is worth more than a bridle sometimes.

Instead of controllin' him with a bridle, as any decent beast would be glad to have me do, I just have to steer him by twistin' his tail, same's I use the rudder in my boat, ye see. Whoa there, Jes.h.!.+ Whoa there! What's the matter with ye, anyhow? Whoa! Whoa!"

These last remarks of Ted were caused by a sudden movement on the part of Jeshurun, whose heels were thrown into the air, while with his teeth he almost literally bit the dust. The mule was small and the feet of his rider almost touched the ground, and the antics of the pair caused Peter to laugh aloud.

"Where did you get that name for him?" he inquired when quiet was restored.

"Oh, it came to him jest natural like. Two years ago when I bought him, and was a-leadin' him home, I got him into the yard and then he just began to make his heels fly like a pair o' drumsticks. It's likely there was some noise made by him or me, I don't jest know which, and the first thing I knew, Sallie--she's my wife, ye know--and a whole lot o' folks came a-runnin' out o' the house to see what all the rumpus was about.

They was havin' meetin' in the house, though I didn't know anything about that, or I wouldn't have argued with the mule as I was doin', o'

course. Well, sir, if you'd believe it, the parson had been a-preachin'

about somebody in the Old Testament. His text was: 'But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness.' Yes, sir; those were his very words. Well, when Sallie--she's my wife, ye know--set eyes on this here beast, she said Jeshurun should be his name, and Jeshurun it's been ever since. Whoa there! Whoa, I say! What ye up to now?"

Perhaps Jeshurun objected to the story, for he suddenly whirled about and started swiftly up the road. In vain Ted tried to restrain him, but after his attempts failed, he turned and shouted, "I'll see you farther on! Jesh'll get tired o' this."

As Jeshurun and his rider disappeared in a cloud of dust, Little Peter quickly recovered from his surprise and started briskly after them.

CHAPTER XXV

THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT FIGHT

THE morning of Sunday, June 28, 1778, dawned clear and warm. Not a cloud could be seen in the sky, and the air was motionless, save in occasional places where it quivered under the burning heat of the summer sun. By eight o'clock the thermometer already had indicated ninety-six degrees, and before the day was done it had risen considerably above a hundred.

The British forces had now arrived within ten or twelve miles of the Heights of Middletown, and if once they should succeed in gaining that position, all attempts on the part of the Americans to attack them would be worse than useless, for it was now as well known by Was.h.i.+ngton as it was by Clinton that British vessels were lying at anchor off Sandy Hook, ready and waiting to receive the advancing army and its stores on board, and transport all in safety to New York.

Clinton, as we already know, still believed that the Americans were seeking only to capture his stores and train of baggage wagons, and, therefore, wisely had placed them in the care of General Knyphausen and the Hessian soldiers, in advance of the place of danger, as he supposed, and also of the place where the brave leader himself took his stand with his men. All of the British grenadiers, light infantry, and cha.s.seurs of the line were encamped in the strong position that Clinton had selected in the parting of the road which led from Monmouth Court House to Middletown, the right wing extending about a mile and a half beyond the court house itself, while the left lay stretched for three miles along the road from Allentown. Thick woods afforded strong protection to the flanks, while a swamp extended toward the rear and the left, and woods also covered their front. The British general had chosen his place wisely, and there he waited until that eventful Sunday morning.

General Was.h.i.+ngton was well aware of all that was going on, and had determined to attack the British the moment they moved from the position they then occupied. Late on Sat.u.r.day night, the commander had given orders for General Maxwell to send out parties of observation, who were to watch the British and report instantly any signs they might discover of an attempt to retreat during the night, and to keep up a constant communication with himself. General orders had also been given Lee to be prepared to attack Clinton's forces the moment they should depart from their camping-place.

General Lee's treachery or incompetency, or both, are well known to-day, and the only cause of surprise is that General Was.h.i.+ngton should have given him such discretionary orders. The great commander must have been fully aware of Lee's true feelings, for already he had suffered much from his jealousy and his traitorous designs; but perhaps the rest of the army did not know what Was.h.i.+ngton himself well knew, and on the eve of battle he chose the lesser of the two evils, and thought he would suffer less by permitting Lee to continue to act, than he would from the misunderstanding and confusion that might arise if he dealt with the man at that time as he justly deserved. At all events, his orders were somewhat general, and the fact that he had not given specific commands is all that remains to-day to be quoted in favor of the guilty Lee.

It was about five o'clock in the morning when a messenger arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton's camp from General d.i.c.kinson--who, with the New Jersey militia, was nearest the enemy's lines--with the information that the front of the British line had begun its march toward the Heights of Middletown. Instantly Was.h.i.+ngton's army was put in motion, and one of his aids was sent in all haste to inform General Lee of the movement of the British, and to urge him forward to attack them at once unless some very strong obstacle should be found, and to a.s.sure him that the main body of the American army would be rushed forward to his support.

I am very certain that if my readers could somehow have been privileged to witness the march of Was.h.i.+ngton's soldiers, they would not have been greatly impressed by the sight. Many of them were without uniforms, and their flushed and streaming faces under the burning heat, while they bore an expression of determination, after all would not have been very prepossessing in their appearance. Numbers of the Continentals had either cast aside their coats or rolled them up and strapped them across their backs, so that entire ranks appeared to be marching to battle in their s.h.i.+rt-sleeves. However, although their personal bearing was not made more forceful by the absence of coats, their personal comfort was decidedly improved; and, as we shall soon see, their work in the battle was not hindered by their lack of bright colored uniforms.

Meanwhile, the advanced corps under General Lee had moved from Englishtown, and was now advancing toward the British. The redcoats were also in motion, and the left wing had marched more than a mile beyond Monmouth Court House when it discovered that the American columns had out-flanked it on the north. Lee's forces had marched along the main road, successfully crossing the deep ravines and causeways. They had halted frequently to receive reports from the scouts and the men in advance as to the movements of the British, but these reports apparently were somewhat contradictory and created some confusion among the American ranks.

One of these halts had been made near the "new church," which was so called to distinguish it from the smaller structure, which until 1752 had stood upon the same site. This "new church" was of wood, its sides covered with s.h.i.+ngles, and painted white. There such famous preachers as Whitefield, the missionary Brainerd, Tennent, and others had given their messages of peace, but it can be safely a.s.serted that in all its long history the "old" church or the "new" had never seen such a "service" as that which was held there on that Sunday morning in June, 1778. Before the day was done bullet marks and the effect of cannon shot were apparent on its walls, and while the roof and even the steeple were said to have been covered with people on that day, who had a.s.sembled to watch the battle, probably no other congregation in all our land had ever been gathered by such summons, or had taken their seats on the roof of the building instead of in the accustomed place within the walls.

Young General Lafayette, who had command of Lee's right, soon pa.s.sed the Court House, and was advancing upon the other end of the British line on the south at the same time when the left wing was folding about Cornwallis on the north; and General Wayne, who was in command of the American centre, was also pressing strongly forward. Apparently, all things were favoring the rugged Continentals, and had it not been for Lee's cowardice or treachery, or both, they would have won the battle there and then, before Was.h.i.+ngton could come with the aid of his advancing troops.

Some slight minor engagements had already occurred, though not one of them was of much importance; but now General Wayne discovered that most of the British forces before him had descended from the high ground they had occupied and were advancing along the same route, over the plains of Monmouth, which the Hessians had followed when they departed earlier in the morning.

Instantly the impetuous Wayne sent a messenger to General Lee requesting permission for his own "troops to be pressed on." No such permission was given, however, until it was discovered that a band of eight or nine hundred of the redcoats had halted, and, turning about, appeared to be inviting an attack. General Wayne was then ordered to take about four hundred men and advance.

Despite the smallness of the number, Wayne eagerly obeyed, when the Queen's light dragoons were sent back by Clinton to check the movement.

So excited was the little band of Americans that they instantly formed, and drove the hors.e.m.e.n back upon a body of foot soldiers who had been sent to their aid. A much larger body of troops were soon discovered to be moving upon General Wayne's right, but he immediately opened fire upon them with the two pieces of artillery he possessed, sent back for reinforcements, and gallantly prepared for the battle.

During this time General Lee apparently was trying to cut off the force with which Wayne was engaged by making a detour and falling upon the line of Clinton's march between the rear of the main body and that detachment.

This action of Lee's, together with those which three of the others of the divisions of the American forces were making at the same time, led Clinton to suppose that his baggage train was what the Americans were striving to gain. As we already know, this, all the time, had been his understanding of the purpose of Was.h.i.+ngton, and now the action and movements of the various bodies of troops strengthened his suspicion.

The first thing the British commander did was to send the Queen's light dragoons against Wayne. Then he sent a detachment from the men in advance to strengthen his own right, and next he arranged for the main body, of which Lord Cornwallis was in command, to form on the plain and prepare to attack General Lee and the various divisions which were under him at the time.

General Wayne and his brave men were now fighting desperately, and to all appearances success was about to crown his efforts, when he was dumfounded by an order he received from Lee to make only a feigned attack, and not to press too hard against the redcoats in front of him.

Wayne did not know what to make of the order. He was chagrined and angry to receive such a word at a time when all things seemed to favor his determined band. It is said that he made use of some very forceful language, and even expressed his opinion of his superior officer in no very complimentary terms; but he was too good a soldier not to obey; and, although he could not understand what Lee meant by giving him such directions at such a time, he held back his men, hoping all the time that Lee himself would come up and grasp the victory which almost seemed to be in his hand.

General Lee had been watching the movements of the British, and perceived what Clinton was trying to do by the actions to which we already have referred. Instead of meeting them boldly, and permitting his soldiers, who were all now eager for the battle, to advance, he at once prepared to withdraw them from the field.

Young Lafayette had just discovered a body of British cavalry advancing toward Lee's right, and, quickly riding up to his commander, he begged for permission to advance and gain their rear, and so cut them off from the main body.

"Sir," replied Lee, "you do not know British soldiers. We cannot stand against them. We shall certainly be driven back at first, and we must be cautious."

"It may be so, general," said Lafayette quietly, "but British soldiers have been beaten, and they may be again. At any rate I am disposed to make the trial."

Reluctantly Lee yielded, so far as to permit the brave young marquis to wheel his column by the right and make an attempt to gain the left of the British, but at the same time he ordered three regiments to be withdrawn from Wayne's command, thereby weakening him for reasons which neither Wayne nor any one of his men ever understood.

General Lee then rode off to reconnoitre, as he afterwards declared, and to his astonishment discovered another large body of British soldiers marching back on the Middletown road toward the Court House. If there was one thing more than another which Lee apparently disliked at that time, it was the sight and presence of men clad in scarlet coats, and he instantly gave orders for the several corps in his division to retreat, or to make a "retrograde movement," as he afterwards explained it.

His friends claimed for him, and, indeed, Lee afterwards claimed for himself, that he had only ordered the right to fall back, and had commanded the left, under Scott and Maxwell, to advance, and his order was misunderstood; and that when Maxwell's men perceived the retreat of their comrades on the left, they thought all was ended and they must save themselves. But, at all events, proof of the truthfulness of his statement was wanting, and all his men were soon retreating toward the "new meeting-house," on the roof and steeple of which were a.s.sembled the people of the congregation.

Few of the men beside Lee himself knew why the retreat was made. The soldiers were angry and were giving vent to their feelings in terms which had not been carefully selected. General Wayne's men were the only ones who had even fired a shot, and the anger of Wayne himself was steadily increasing. Every soldier felt as if he were being robbed of success, which by right belonged to him and to his country.

Between the "meeting-house" and the parsonage, General Was.h.i.+ngton, all unaware of Lee's disgraceful actions and the retreat of the advanced division, met a fifer, who appeared to be in great haste to leave the region.

Reining in his horse, the great commander ordered the fleeing man to halt, and then said sternly:--

"Who are you? Do you belong to the army? Why are you running in this fas.h.i.+on?"

"I am a soldier," replied the trembling man, "but all the Continentals are running, too."

"It isn't true! It can't be true! I'll have you whipped if you dare to mention such a thing to another living man!" cried the astonished commander.