and with which facts we will be glad to be supplied by miles, north and south, along the Delaware, and above any gentleman possessing them. Account of the climate of Pennsylvania, and its influence upon the human body. From medical enquiries and observations. By Benjamin Rush, M. D. Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. half a mile, due west, towards the Schuylkill, to which The state of Pennsylvania lies between 39° 43′ 25" and 42° north latitude, including, of course, 2° 16′ 35′′ equal to 157 miles, from its southern to its northern boundary. The western extremity of the state is in the longitude of 5° 23′ 40′′, and the eastern, in that of 27' from the meridian of Philadelphia, comprehending, in a due west course, 311 miles, exclusive of the territory lately purchased by Pennsylvania from the United States of which, as yet, no accurate surveys have been obtained. The state is bounded on the south by part of the state of Delaware, by the whole state of Maryland, and by Virginia to her western extremity. The last named state, the territory lately ceded to Connecticut, and Lake Erie, (part of which is included in Pennsylvania) form the western and north western boundaries of the state. Part of the state of New York, and the territory lately ceded to Pennsylvania, with a part of Lake Erie, compose the northern, and another part of New York, with a large extent of New Jersey (separated from PennsylThe tide of the Delaware seldom rises more than six vania by the river Delaware) compose the eastern boun- feet. It flows four miles an hour. The width of the daries of the state. The lands, which form these boun-river, near the city, is about a mile. daries (except a part of the states of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey) are in a state of nature. A large tract of the western, and north eastern parts of Pennsylvania, is nearly in the same uncultivated situation. The state of Pennsylvania is intersected and diversified with numerous rivers and mountains. To describe, or even to enumerate them all, would far exceed the li mits I have proposed to this account of our climate. It will be sufficient only to remark, that one of these rivers, viz: the Susquehanna, begins at the northern boundary of the state, twelve miles from the river Delaware, and winding several hundred miles through a variegated country, enters the state of Maryland on the southern line, fifty-eight miles westward of Philadelphia; that each of these rivers is supplied by numerous streams of various sizes; that tides flow in parts of two of them, viz. in the Delaware and Schuylkill; that the rest rise and fall alternately in wet and dry weather; and that they descend with great rapidity, over prominent beds of rocks in many places, until they empty themselves into the bays of Delaware and Chesapeake on the east, and into the Ohio on the western parts of the state: The city, with the adjoining districts of Southwark and the Northern Liberties, contains between forty and fifty thousand inhabitants. From the accounts which have been handed down to and us by our ancestors, there is reason to believe, that the Thunder and lightning are less frequent: the cold of climate of Pennsylvania has undergone a material change. form, than they were forty or fifty years ago. Nor is our winters, and the heat of our sunimers, are less unithis all: the springs are much colder, and the autumns more temperate, than formerly, insomuch that cattle are not housed so soon, by one month, as they were in former years. Within the last eight years, there have been exceptions to part of these observations. The winter cold. The river Delaware was frozen near three months, of the year 1779-80, was uniformly and uncommonly during this winter; and public roads, for waggons sleighs, connected the city of Philadelphia, in many places, with the Jersey shore. The thickness of the ice in inches, and the depth of the frost in the ground was the river, near the city, was from sixteen to nineteen from four to five feet, according to the exposure of the The mountains form a considerable part of the state depth of the frost in the earth, compared with its depth ground and the quality of the soil. This extraordinary of Pennsylvania. Many of them appear to be reserved, in more northern and colder countries, is occasioned by as perpetual marks of the original empire of nature in the long delay of snow, which leaves the earth without this country. The Allegheny, which crosses the state about two hundred miles from Philadelphia, in a north, months. Many plants were destroyed by the intensea covering, during the last autumnal and the first winter inclining to an east course, is the most considerable and extensive of these mountains. It is called by the In-ed cattle, and the feet of hogs exposed to the air, were ness of the cold, during that winter. The ears of horndians, the backbone of the continent. Its height, in frost bitten; squirrels perished in their holes, and pardifferent places, is supposed to be about one thousand tridges were often found dead in the neighbourhood of three hundred feet from the adjacent plains. ral hours at 5° below o, in Fahrenheit's thermomeer> farm houses. In January, the mercury stood for seve and during the whole of this month, (except on one day) it never rose, in the city of Philadelphia, t the freezing point. The soil of Pennsylvania is diversified, by its vicinity to mountains and rivers. The vallies and bottoms consist of a black mould, which extends from a foot to four feet in depth. But, in general, a deep clay forms the surface of the earth. Immense beds of limestone lie beneath this clay, in many parts of the state. This account of the soil of Pennsylvania is confined wholly to the lands on the east side of the Allegheny mountain. The soil, on the west side of this mountain, shall be described in another place. The city of Philadelphia lies in the latitude of 39° 57', in longitude 75° 8' from Greenwich, and fifty five miles west from the Atlantic ocean. The cold, in the winter of the year 1783-4, vas as intense, but not so steady as it was in the winter that has been described. It differed from it materally in one particular, viz. there was a thaw in the morth of January, which opened all our rivers for a few days. The summer which succeeded the winer of 1779-80, was uniformly warm. The mercury in the thermometer during this summer, stood on one day, the 15th of AuIt is situated about four miles due north from the con- gust, at 95° and fluctuated between 93° and 80° for maflux of the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill. The build-ny weeks. The thermometer, in every reference, that ings, which consist chiefly of brick, extend nearly three has been, or shall be made to it, stood in the shade in the open air. dissolved away so gradually, as scarcely to injure a bridge or a road. On the 28th of February, the Delaware was navigable, and on the 2d of March no ice was to be seen in it. Having premised these general remarks, I proceed to observe, that there are seldom more than twenty or thirty days, in summer or winter, in Pennsylvania, in which the mercury rises above 80° in the former, or fall below 30° in the latter season. Some old people have remarked, that the number of extremely cold and warm days, in successive summers and winters bears an exact proportion to each other. This was strictly true in the years 1787 and 1788. 1 The warmest part of the day in summer is at 2 o'clock in ordinary, and three in the afternoon, in extremely warm weather. From these hours, the heat gradually diminishes till the ensuing morning. The coldest part of the four and twenty hours is at the break of day. There are seldom more than three or four nights in a summer, in which the heat of the air is nearly the same as in the preceding day. After the hottest days, the evenings are generally agreeable and often delightful. The higher the mer cury rises in the day time, the lower it falls the succeeding night. The mercury from 80° generally falls to 66; while it descends, when at 60° only to 56°. This disproportion between the temperature of the day and night, in summer, is always greatest in the month of August. The dews, at this time, are heavy, in proportion to the coolness of the evening. They are sometimes so considerable, as to wet the clothes; and there are instances, in which marsh meadows, and even creeks which have been dry during the summer, have been supplied with their usual water, from no other sources than the dews which have fallen in this month, or in the first weeks of September. I know, it has been said by many old people, that the winters in Pennsylvania are less cold, and the summers less warm, than they were forty or fifty years ago. The want of thermometrical observations, before and during those years, renders it difficult to decide this question. Perhaps the difference of clothing and sensation between youth and old age, in winter and summer, may have laid the foundation of this opinion. I suspect, the mean temperature of the air in Pennsylvania has not altered; but that the principal change in our climate consists in the heat and cold being less confined, than formerly, to their natural seasons. I adopt the opinion of Dr. Williamson*, respecting the diminution of the cold in the southern, being occasioned by the cultivation of the northern parts of Europe; but no such cultivation has taken place in the countries, which lie to the north west of Pennsylvania; nor do the partial and imperfect improvements, which have been made in the north west parts of the state, appear to be sufficient to lessen the cold, even in the city of Philadelphia. I have been able to collect no facts, which dispose me to believe, that the winters were colder before the year 1740, than they have been since. In the memorable winter of 173940, the Delaware was crossed on the ice in sleighs, on the 5th of March, old style, and did not open till the 13th of the same month. The ground was covered, during this winter, with a deep snow; and the rays of the sun were constantly obscured by a mist, which hung in the upper regions of the air. In the winter of 177980, the river was navigable on the 4th of March; the depth of the snow was moderate, and the gloominess of the cold was sometimes suspended, for a few days, by a cheerful sun. From these facts, it is probable, the winter of 1739-40, was colder than the winter of 1779-80. The winter of 1804-5, exhibited so many peculiarities that it deserves a place in the history of the climate of Pennsylvania. The navigation of the Delaware was obstructed on the 18th December. The weather partook of every disagreeable and distressing property of every cold climate on the globe. These were intense cold, deep snows, hail, sleet, high winds and heavy rains. They generally occurred in succession, but sometimes most of them took place in the course of four and twen- The warmest weather is generally in the month of ty hours. A serene and star light evening, often pre- July. But intensely warm days are often felt in May, ceded a tempestuous day. The mercury stood for June, August and September. In the table of the weamany days, in Philadelphia, at 4° and 6o above o in Father for the year 1787, there is an exception to the first renheit's thermometer. The medium depth of the snow of these remarks. It shows that the mean heat of Auwas too feet, but from its fall being accompanied with gust was greater by a few degrees than that of July. high winds, its height, in many places, was three and four feet, particularly in roads, which it rendered so impassable, as to interrupt business and social intercourse, in many parts of the state. From the great depth of the snow, the ground was so much protected from the cold, that the frost extended but six inches below the surface. The newspapers daily furnished distressing accounts of persons perishing with the cold by land and water, and of shipwrecks on every part of the coast of the United States. Poultry were found dead or with frozen feet in their coops in many places. This intense cold was not confined to Pennsylvania. InNorfolk, Va. the mercury stood at 18° above on the 2d January. At Lexington, Ky. it stood at o on thest of the same month. In lower Canada, the snow was 7 feet in depth, which is three feet deeper than in common years-and such was the quantity of ice collected in the northern seas, that a ship was destroyed and several vessels injured by large masse: of it floating between the 41 and 42 deg. of north latiude. Great fears vere entertained of an inundation in Pennsylvania, from a sudden thaw of the immense quantities of snow and ice that had accumulated during the winter, in every part of the state; but happily they both ⚫ American Philosophical Transactions, vol. II. There is another circumstance connected with the one just mentioned, which contributes very much to miti gate the heat of summer; and that is, it seldom continues more than two or three days, without being succeeded by showers of rain, accompanied sometimes by thunder and lightning, and afterwards by a north-west wind, which produces a coolness of the air, that is highly in vigorating and agreeable. The transitions from heat to cold are often very sudden, and sometimes to very distant degrees. After day in which the mercury has stood at 86° and even 90°, it falls in the course of a single night to the 65th, and even to the 60th degree, insomuch that fires have been found necessary the ensuing morning, especially if the change in the temperature of the air has been accompanied by rain and a south-east wind. In a summer month in the year 1775, the mercury was observed to fall 20° in an hour and a half. There are few summers in which fires are not agreeable during some parts of them. My ingenious friend Mr. David Rittenhouse, whose talent for accurate observation extends alike to all subjects, informed me, that he had never passed a summer during his residence in the country, without discovering frost in every month of the year, except July. In this The weather is equally variable in Pennsylvania during the greatest part of the winter. The mercury fell from 37° to 44° below 0, in four and twenty hours, between the fourth and fifth of February 1788. season nature seems to play at cross-purposes; heavy falls of snow are often succeeded by a great thaw which frequently in a short time leaves no vestige of the snow, the rivers Delaware, Schuylkill, and Susquehanna, have sometimes been frozen, so as to bear horses and carriages of all kinds, and thawed so as to be passable in boats, two or three times in the course of the same win ter. The ice is formed for the most part in a gradual manner, and seldom till it has been previously chilled by a fall of snow. Sometimes its production is more sudden. On the 31st of December 1784, the Delaware was completely frozen over between ten o'clock at night and eight the next morning, so as to bear the weight of a man. An unusual vapour like a fog was seen to rise from the water, in its passage from a fluid to a solid state. This account of the variableness of the weather in winter, does not apply to every part, of Pennsylvania. There is a line, about the 41° of the state, beyond which the winters are steady and regular, insomuch that the earth there is seldom without a covering of snow during the three winter months. In this line the climate of Pennsylvania forms a union with the climate of the eastern and northern states. gret, by many of them, on the night between the third and fourth of May, in the year 1774. Also on the morn ing of the 8th May, 1803. Such was its quantity on the latter day, that it broke down the limbs of many poplar trees. This effect was ascribed to its not being accom panied with any wind. The colder the winter, the greater delay we observe in the return of the ensuing spring. Sometimes the weather, during the spring months, 13 cloudy and damp, attended occasionally with a gentle fall of rain, resembling the spray from a cataract of water. A day of this species of weather is called, from its resemblance to a damp day in Great Britain, "an English day." This damp weather seldom continues more than three or four days. The month of May, 1786, will long be remembered, for having furnished a very uncommon instance of the absence of the sun for fourteen days, and of constant damp or rainy weather. The time in which frost and ice begin to show themselves in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, is generally about the latter end of October or the beginning of November. But the intense cold seldom sets in till about the 20th or 25th of December: hence the common saying, 'as the day lengthens, the cold strengthens.' The coldest weather is commonly in January. The na-try is universal and delightful. vigation of the river Delaware, arter being frozen, is seldom practicable for large vessels, before the first week The month of June is the only month in the year which resembles a spring month in the southern countries of Europe. The weather is then generally tem perate, the sky is serene, and the verdure of the coun in March. As in summer there are often days in which fires are agreeable, so there are sometimes days in winter in which they are disagrecable. Vegetation has been observed in all the winter months. Garlic was tasted in butter in January 1781. The leaves of the willow, the blossom of the peach tree, and the flowers of the dandelion and the crocus were all seen in February 1779; and I well recollect, about thirty two years ago, to have seen an apple orchard in full bloom, and small apples on many of the trees, in the month of December. A cold day in winter is often succeeded by a moderate evening. The coldest part of the four and twenty hours is generally at the break of day. The autumn is the most agreeable season of the year in Pennsylvania. The cool evenings and mornings, which generally begin about the first week in Septem ber, are succeeded by a moderate temperature of the air during the day. This species of weather continues with an increase of cold scarcely perceptible, till the middle of October, when the autumn is closed by rain, which sometimes falls in such quantities as to produce destructive freshes in the rivers and creeks, and sometimes descends in gentle showers, which continue with occasional interruptions by a few fair days, for two or three weeks. These rains are the harbingers of the winter, and the Indians have long ago taught the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, that the degrees of cold during the winter, are in proportion to the quantity of rain which falls during the autumn.† From this account of the temperature of the air in Pennsylvania, it is evident that there are seldom more than four months in which the weather is agrecable without a fire. In the most intense cold which has been recorded in Philadelphia, within the last twenty years, the mercury stood at 5° below o. But it appears from the accounts published by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, in the 58th volume of the transactions of the Royal Society of LonIn winter, the winds generally come from the north don, that the mercury stood at 22° below o on the 2d of west in fair, and from the north east in wet weather. January 1767, at Brandywine, about thirty miles to the The north west winds are uncommonly dry as well as westward of Philadelphia. They inform us, that on the cold. It is in consequence of the violent action of these first of the same month the mercury stood at 20°, and winds that trees have uniformly a thicker and more comon the day before at 7° below o. I have to lament that pact bark on their northern, than on the southern expoI am not able to procure any record of the temperature sures. Even brick houses are affected by the force and of the air in the same year in Philadelphia. From the dryness of these north west winds; hence it is much variety in the height, and quality of the soil, and from more difficult to demolish the northern than the souththe difference in the currents of winds, and the quanti-ern walls of an old brick house. This fact was commutics of rain and snow which fall in different parts of the nicated to me by an eminent bricklayer in the city of state, it is very probable this excessive cold may not Philadelphia. have extended thirty miles from the place where it was perceived. The greatest degree of heat upon record in Philadelphia, is 95°. The standard temperature of the air in the city of Philadelphia, is 524 °, which is the temperature of our deepest wells, as also the mean heat of our common spring water. I cannot help agreeing with Mr. Kirwan in one of his remarks upon the science of meteorology in the preface to his estimate of the temperature of different latitudes. "This science, (says he) if brought to perfection, would enable us at least to foresee those changes in the weather, which we could not prevent. Great ás is the distance between such knowledge, and our own present attainments, we have no reason to think it above the level of the powers of the human mind. The motions of the planets must have appeared as perplexed and intricate to those who first contemplated them; yet by persevering industry, they are now known to the utmost precision. The present is (as the great Leibinitz expresses it) in every case pregnant with the future, and the connexion must be found by long and attentive observation." The spring in Pennsylvania is generally less pleasant, than in many other countries. In March, the weather is stormy, variable, and cold. In April, and sometimes in the beginning of May, it is moist, and accompanied by a degree of cold which has been called rawness, and which, from its disagreeable effects upon the temper, has been called the sirocco of this country. From the variable nature of the weather in the spring, vegetation advances very differently in different years. The colder the spring, the more favourable it proves to the fruits of the earth. The hopes of the farmer from his fruit The influence which the perfection of this science trees, in a warm spring, are often blasted by a frost in must have upon health, agriculture, navigation and com April and May. A fall of snow is remembered with re-merce, is too obvious to be mentioned. VOL. II. 22 The winds in fair weather in the spring, and in warm weather in the summer, blow from the south west and from west north west. The raw air before mentioned, comes from the north east. The south west winds like wise usually bring with them those showers of rain in the spring and summer, which refresh the earth. They moreover moderate the beat of the weather, provided they are succeeded by a north west wind. Now and then showers of rain come from the west north west. There is a common fact connected with the account of the usual winds in Pennsylvania, which it may not be improper to mention in this place. While the clouds are seen flying from the south west, the scud, as it is called, or a light vapour, is seen at the same time flying below the clouds from the north east. BATTLE OF TRENTON. Extract from a History of the American Revolution, from the Pennsylvania Journal, of 1781. New York, with several posts in the neighbourhood, "The affairs of America now wore a serious aspect. and a considerable part of New Jersey, were in possession of the enemy. The American army had lost during the campaign near five thousand men by captivity and the sword; and the few remaining regular troops, amounting only to 2000 men, were upon the eve of being disbanded; for as yet the enlistments were for the short term of only one year. General Howe had canNew Jersey. His strongest post was at Trenton. It toned his troops in several villages on the Delaware, in Roll. General Washington occupied the heights on the consisted of 1200 Hessians under the command of Col. Pennsylvania side of the river, in full view of the enemy. A few cannon shot were now and then exchanged across the river, but without doing much execution on either side. The two armies lay in these positions for Hail frequently descends with snow in winter. Once several weeks. In the mean while the spirit of liberty, in four or five years large and heavy showers of hail fall inflamed by the recital of the ravages committed in New in the spring and summer. They generally run in nar- Jersey by the British army, began to revive in every row veins (as they are called) of thirty or forty miles part of the continent. Fifteen hundred associators, for in length, and two or three miles in breadth. The hea- as yet most of the states were without militia laws, viest shower of hail that is remembered in Philadelphia, marched from the city of Philadelphia to reinforce the did not extend in breadth more than half a mile north expiring army of Gen. Washington. This body of men and south. Some of the stones weighed half an ounce. consisted chiefly of citizens of the first rank and character The windows of many houses were broken by them.-in the state. They had been accustomed to live in all the This shower fell in May 1783. softness that is peculiar to the inhabitants of large cities. The moisture of the air is much greater than formerly, occasioned probably by the exhalations, which in former years fell in the form of snow, now descending in the form of rain. The depth of the snow is sometimes between two and three feet, but in general it seldom exceeds between six and nine inches. From sudden changes in the air, rain and snow often fall together, forming what is commonly called sleet. In the uncultivated parts of the state, the snow sometimes lies on the ground till the first week in April. The backwardness of the spring has been ascribed to the passage of the air over the undissolved beds of snow and ice which usually remain, after the winter months are past, on the north west grounds and waters of the state, and of the adjacent country. The dissolution of the ice and snow in the spring, is sometimes so sudden as to swell the creeks and rivers in every part of the state to such a degree, as not only to lay waste the hopes of the husbandman from the produce of his lands, but in some instances to sweep his barns, stables, and even his dwelling house into their The wind, during a general thaw, comes from the south west or south east. currents.* The following account of the thaw of the river Susquehanna, in the spring of 1784, was published by the author in the Columbian Magazine for November, 1786. It may serve to illustrate a fact related formerly in the history of the winters in Pennsylvania, as well as to exhibit an extraordinary instance of the destructive effects of a sudden thaw. "The winter of 1783-4, was uncommonly cold, insomuch that the mercury in Farenheit's thermometer stood several times at 5° below o. The snows were frequent; and, in many places, from two to three feet deep, dur. ing the greatest part of the winter. All the rivers in Pennsylvania were frozen, so as to bear waggons and sleds with immense weights. In the month of January a thaw came on suddenly, which opened our rivers so as to set the ice a-driving, to use the phrase of the country. In the course of one night, during the thaw, the wind shifted suddenly to the north west, and the weather became intensely cold. The ice, which had floated the day before, was suddenly obstructed; and in the river Susquehanna, the obstructions were formed in those places where the water was most shallow, or where it had been accustomed to fall. This river is several hundred miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile and a half in breadth, and winds through a billy, and in many places a fertile and highly cultivated country. It has as yet a most difficult communication with our bays and the sea, occasioned by the number and height of the falls which occur near the mouth of the river. The "I know of but one use that can be derived from recording the history of this inundation. In case of similar obstructions of rivers, from causes such as have been described, the terrible effects of their being set in motion by means of a general thaw, may in part be obviated, by removing such things out of the course of the water and ice, as are within our power; particularly cattle, hay, grain, fences, and farming utensils of all kinds.” But neither the hardships of a military life, nor the se- mean while victory declared itself every where in favour verity of the winter checked their ardor in the cause of of the American arms, and General Washington retheir country. The wealthy merchant and the journey.ceived the submission of the main body of the enemy by man tradesman, were seen marching side by side, and means of a flag. The joy of the American troops can often exchanged the contents of their canteens with more easily be conceived than described. This was the each other. This body of troops was stationed at Bris- first important advantage they had gained over the enetol under the command of General Cadwalader. On the my in the course of the campaign, and its consequences evening of the 25th of December, General Washington were at once foreseen upon the affairs of America. marched from his quarters with his little army of regu- Great praise was given to the behaviour of both officers lar troops to M'Konkie's ferry with the design of sur- and soldiers by General Washington, after the battle, in prising the enemy's post at Trenton. He had previous- his letter to Congress. The Philadelphia light horse ly given orders to General Ewing, who commanded a distinguished themselves upon this occasion, by their small body of the militia of the Flying camp, to cross the bravery and attention to duty. They were the more Delaware below Trenton, so as to cut off the retreat of admired for their conduct, as it was the first time they the enemy towards Bordentown. He had likewise ad- had ever been in action.* The loss of the enemy vised General Cadwalader of his intended enterprise, amounted to near one hundred in killed and wounded; and recommended it to him at the same time to cross among the former was their commander, Colonel Rollthe river at Dunk's ferry, three miles below Bristol, in Above one thousand prisoners were taken, together order to surprise the enemy's post at Mount Holly. Un- with six field pieces, and a considerable quantity of fortunately the extreme coldness of the night increased camp furniture of all kinds. Private baggage was immethe ice in the river to that degree that it was impossible diately rendered sacred by a general order. About one for the militia to cross it either in boats or on foot. After hundred of the enemy escaped by the lower road to struggling with the season, till near day-light, they re- Bordentown. The American army had several privates luctantly abandoned the shores of the Delaware and re- and only one officer wounded. After having refreshed turned to their quarters. General Washington, from themselves, and rested a few hours in Trenton, they rethe peculiar nature of that part of the river to which he turned with their prisoners and other trophies of victory directed his march, met with fewer obstacles from the to the Pennsylvania side of the river by the same way ice, and happily crossed the river about day light. He they came, with the loss of only three men, who perishimmediately divided his little army, and marched themed with the cold in re-crossing the river, an event not to through two roads towards Trenton. The distance was be wondered at, when we consider that many of them six miles. About eight o'clock an attack was made on were half naked, and most of them bare-footed." the picket guard of the enemy. It was commanded by a youth of eighteen, who fell in his retreat to the main body. At half an hour after eight o'clock the town was nearly surrounded, and all the avenues to it were seized, except the one which was left for General Ewing to occupy. An accident here had like to have deprived the American army of the object of their enterprise. The commanding officer of one of the divisions sent word to General Washington just before they reached the town, that his ammunition had been wetted by a shower of rain that had fallen in the morning, and desired to know what he must do. The Commander-in-Chief with the coolness and intrepidity that are natural to him in action, sent him word to "advance with fixed bayonets." This laconic answer inspired the division with the firmness and courage of their leader. The whole body now moved onwards in sight of the enemy. An awful silence reigned through every platoon. Each soldier stepped as if he carried the liberty of his country upon his single musket. The moment was a critical The attack was begun with artillery under the command of Colonel afterwards General Knox. The infantry supported the artillery with spirit and firmness. It was now the tears and prayers of the sons and daughters of liberty found acceptance in the sight of heaven. The enemy were thrown into confusion in every quarOne regiment attempted to form in an orchard, but were soon forced to fall back upon their main body. A company of them took sanctuary in a stone house which they defended with a field piece judiciously posted in the entry of the house. Captain, afterwards Colonel Washington, (a relation of the General's) was or- * An anecdote is mentioned of Samuel Morris, Esq. dered to dislodge them. He advanced with a field the captain of the troop of horse in this action, which piece, but finding his men exposed to a close and though it discovers his inexperience of war, does singusteady fire-he suddenly leaped from them, and rushing lar honour to his humanity. In advancing towards the into the house seized the officer by the collar who had town he came up to the Hessian licutenant who comthe command of the gun, and claimed him as his prison-manded the picket guard. He lay mortally wounded, and His men followed him, and the whole company weltering in his blood, in the great road. The captain were immediately made prisoners of war. The captain was touched with the sight, and called to Gen. Greene received a ball in his hand in entering the house. In the to know if nothing could be done for him. The general bid him push on, and take no notice of him. The captain was as much agitated with the order, as he was affected with the scene before him, and it was not till after the fortunate events of the morning were over, that he was convinced that his sympathy for a bleeding enemy was ill timed. one. ter. er. It is remarkable that out of these fifteen hundred citizens of Philadelphia, there died with sickness only one man during a six weeks tour of duty. Few veteran troops perhaps ever endured more from cold, hunger, watching, and fatigue, than this corps of city militia. "Both the friends and enemies of America dwell upon the events of the winter of 1776-7, as forming a kind of crisis in the affairs of this country. It has been said on the one side, that the indolence and avarice of General Howe, and on the other side, that the river Delaware by checking his march to Philadelphia, proved the means of protracting the war, and finally of establishing the independence of America. But I cannot admit this idea. I confess that a panic had seized the inhabitants of several of the states. But the people of New England shared no part of it. The spirit of New York was high, in consequence of the retreat of General Burgoyne from Ticonderoga. The back counties of Pennsylvania inhabited by a race of hardy republicans, were put in motion by the spirited harangues of General Mifflin; who was sent among them for that purpose by the Congress. Volunteers daily crowded to the American standard from Delaware, Maryland, and the most remote parts of Virginia. Even the upper counties of New Jersey still held their arms in their hands. A body of six hundred choice spirits assembled at Morristown, under the command of Colonel Ford, a militia officer, and effectually checked the progress of the enemy in that part of the state. Added to, this, the Congress was composed of men of the first rank for abilities and fortune in the country, and possessed in the highest degree the confi dence and even the affections of the people. The paper money continued to circulate with very little depre ciation. No associations were formed any where to as |