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the night. Accordingly, on the evening of the 15th of August, Gates set out for Camden, and at the same time Cornwallis moved toward Clermont. About daydawn the two armies met midway on Sander's Creek.

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Both generals were surprised, but both made immediate preparations for battle. As soon as it was light the conflict began. Steadiness and courage in all parts of the field would have given the victory to the Americans, but at the first onset the Virginia and Carolina militia broke line, threw their arms away and fled. For a while the Continentals of Maryland and Delaware sustained the battle with great bravery, but at length they were outflanked by Webster's cavalry and driven back. The American officers made heroic efforts to

save the day, but all in vain; the retreat became a rout. Baron de Kalb, the friend of La Fayette and fellow-sufferer with Washington at Valley Forge, remained on the field trying to rally his men until he was wounded eleven times and fell in the agony of death. More than a thousand of the Americans were killed, wounded or captured. The shattered remnants continued the retreat to Charlotte, North Carolina, eighty miles distant. The military reputation of Gates, which never had any solid foundation, was blown away like chaff, and he was superseded by General Greene, who, after Washington, was the best officer of the Revolution.

Cornwallis was again master of South Carolina. A few days after the battle of Sander's Creek, Sumter's corps was overtaken by Tarleton at Fishing Creek, thirty miles north-west from Camden, and completely routed. Only Marion and his troopers remained to harass the victorious enemy. The triumph of the British was marked by cruelty and oppression. Cornwallis visited the patriots with merciless severity, and the ruined State crouched at the feet of the conqueror. On the 8th of September the British advanced from Camden into North Carolina, and on the 25th reached Charlotte, the Americans having retreated to Salisbury. While this movement was in progress, Colonel Ferguson, with a force of

eleven hundred regulars and tories, was sent into the country west of the Catawba to overawe the patriots and encourage the loyalists to take up arms. On the 7th of October, while Ferguson and his men were encamped on the top of King's Mountain, they were suddenly attacked by a thousand riflemen led by Colonel Campbell. The camp was surrounded; a desperate battle of an hour and a half ensued; Ferguson was slain, and three hundred of his men were killed or wounded; the remaining eight hundred threw down their arms and begged for quarter. On the morning after the battle ten of the leading tory prisoners were condemned by a court-martial and hanged. During the remaining two months of the year there were no military movements of importance. Georgia and South Carolina were in the power of the British, and North Carolina was invaded. Meanwhile, the financial credit of the nation was sinking to the lowest ebb. Congress, having no silver and gold with which to meet the accumulating expenses of the war, had resorted to paper money. At first the expedient was successful, and the continental bills were received at par; but as one issue followed another, the value of the notes rapidly diminished, until, by the middle of 1780, they were not worth two cents to the dollar. To aggravate the evil, the emissaries of Great Britain executed counterfeits of the congressional money and sowed the spurious bills broadcast over the land. Business was paralyzed for the want of a currency, and the distress became extreme; but Robert Morris and a few other wealthy patriots came forward with their private fortunes and saved the suffering colonies from ruin. The mothers of America also lent a helping hand; and the patriot camp was gladdened with many a contribution of food and clothing which woman's sacrificing care had provided.

In the midst of the general gloom the country was shocked by the rumor that Benedict Arnold had turned traitor. And the news, though hardly credible, was true. The brave, rash man, who, on behalf of the patriot cause, had suffered untold hardships and shed his blood on more fields than one, had blotted the record of his heroism with a deed of treason. After the battle of Bemis's Height, in the fall of 1777, Arnold was promoted by Congress to the rank of major-general. Being disabled. by his wound, he was made commandant of Philadelphia after the evacuation of the city by the British. Here he married the daughter of a loyalist, and living in the old mansion of William Penn entered upon a career of luxury and extravagance which soon overwhelmed him with debt and bankruptcy. In order to keep up his magnificence, he began a system of frauds on the commissary department of the army. His bearing toward the citizens was that of a military despot; the people groaned under his tyranny, and charges were preferred against him by Congress..

The cause was finally heard by a court-martial in December of 1779. Arnold was convicted on two of the charges, and, by the order of the court, was mildly reprimanded by Washington.

Professing unbounded patriotism, and seeming to forget the disgrace which his misconduct had brought upon him, Arnold applied for and obtained command of the important fortress of West Point on the Hudson. On the last day of July, 1780, he reached the camp and assumed control of the most valuable arsenal and dépôt of stores in America. He had already formed the treasonable design of surrendering the fort into the hands of the enemy. For months he had kept up a secret correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, and now the scheme ripened, on Arnold's part, into an open proposition to betray his country for gold. It was agreed that on a certain day the British fleet should ascend the Hudson, that the garrison should be divided and scattered, and the fortress given up without a struggle.

On the 21st of September Sir Henry Clinton sent Major John Andrè up the river to hold a personal conference with Arnold and make

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the final arrangements for the surrender. Andrè, through whom the correspondence between Arnold and Clinton had been carried on, was a former acquaintance of Arnold's wife, and now held the post of adjutant-general in the British army. He went to the conference, not as a spy, but wearing full uniform; and it was agreed that the meeting should be held outside of the American lines. About midnight of the 21st he went ashore from the Vulture, a sloop of war, and met Arnold in a thicket on the west bank of the river, two miles below Haverstraw. Daydawn approached, and the conspirators were obliged to hide themselves. In doing so they entered the American lines; Arnold gave the password, and Andrè, disguising himself, assumed the character of a spy.

SCENE OF ARNOLD'S

TREASON, 1780.

During the next day the traitor and his victim remained concealed at the house of a tory named Smith. Here the awful business was completed. Arnold was to surrender West Point, its garrisons and stores, and to receive for his treachery ten thousand pounds and a commission as brigadier in the British army. All preliminaries being settled, papers containing a full description of West Point, its defences and the best

method of attack were made out and given to Andrè, who secreted the dangerous documents in his stockings. During that day an American battery drove the Vulture from its moorings in the river; and at nightfall Andrè was obliged to cross to the other side and proceed by land toward New York. He passed the American outposts in safety; but at Tarrytown, twenty-five miles from the city, he was suddenly confronted by three militiamen* who stripped him, found his papers, and delivered him to Colonel Jameson at North Castle. Through that officer's amazing stupidity Arnold was at once notified that John Anderson—that being the assumed name of Andrè-had been taken with his passport and some papers "of a very dangerous tendency." Arnold, on hearing the news, fled to the river and escaped on board the Vulture. Andrè was tried by a court-martial at Tappan, and condemned to death. tober he was led to the gallows, and, under the stern code of war, was hanged. Though dying the death of a felon, he met his doom like a brave man, and after times have commiserated his sad fate. Arnold received his pay.

On the 2d of Oc

In the dark days of December there came a ray of light from Europe. For several years Holland had secretly favored the Americans; now she began negotiations for a commercial treaty similar to that already existing between France and the United States. Great Britain discovered the purposes of the Dutch government; there were angry remonstrances, and then, on the 20th of December, an open declaration of war. Thus the Netherlands were added to the enemies of England; it seemed that George III. and his ministers would have enough to do without further efforts to enforce a stamp-act or levy a tax on tea.

FOR

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE END.

OR the Americans the year 1781 opened gloomily. The condition of the army was desperate-no food, no pay, no clothing. Even the influence of Washington was not sufficient to quiet the growing discontent of the soldiery. On the first day of January the whole Pennsylvania line, numbering nearly two thousand, mutinied, left their camp at Morris

* John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac van Wart. Congress afterward rewarded them with silver medals and pensions for life.

town and marched toward Philadelphia. General Wayne, after trying in vain to prevent the insurrection, went with his men, still hoping to control them. At Princeton they were met by two emissaries from Sir Henry Clinton, and were tempted with offers of money, clothing and release from military service if they would desert the American standard. The mutinous patriots made answer by seizing the British agents and delivering them to General Wayne to be hanged as spies. For this deed the commissioners of Congress, who now arrived, offered the insurgents a large reward, but the reward was indignantly refused. Washington, knowing how shamefully the army had been neglected by Congress, was not unwilling that the mutiny should take its own course. The congressional agents were therefore left to adjust the difficulty with the rebellious troops. But the breach was easily healed; a few liberal concessions on the part of the government sufficed to quiet the mutiny.

About the middle of the same month the New Jersey brigade, stationed at Pompton, revolted. This movement Washington quelled by force. General Robert Howe marched to the camp with five hundred regulars and compelled twelve of the principal mutineers to execute the two leaders of the revolt. From that day order was completely restored. These insurrections had a good rather than a bad effect; Congress was thoroughly alarmed, and immediate provisions were made for the better support of the army. An agent was sent to France to obtain a further loan of money. Robert Morris was appointed secretary of finance; the Bank of North America was organized; and although the outstanding debts of the United States could not be paid, yet all future obligations were promptly met, for Morris and his friends pledged their private fortunes to sustain the credit of the government.

On

In the North military movements were begun by Arnold. arriving at New York the traitor had received the promised commission, and was now a brigadier-general in the British army. In the preceding November, Washington and Major Henry Lee formed a plan to capture him. Sergeant John Champe undertook the daring enterprise, deserted to the enemy, entered New York, joined Arnold's company, and with two assistants concerted measures to abduct him from the city and convey him to the American camp. But Arnold suddenly moved his quarters, and the plan was defeated. A month afterward he was given command of a fleet and a land-force of sixteen hundred men, and on the 16th of December left New York to make a descent on the coasts of Virginia.

Early in January the traitor entered James River and began war on his countrymen. His proceedings were marked with much ferocity, but not with the daring which characterized his former exploits. In the

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