marched home. Such, however, was still their patriotism, that they delivered some British emissaries to general Wayne, who hanged them as spies. Committing the defence of the posts on the Hudson to general Heath, general Washington in August marched with count Rochambeau for the Chesapeak, to co-operate with the French fleet there. The siege of Yorktown commenced on the 28th of September, and on the 10th of October he reduced Cornwallis to the necessity of surrendering with upwards of seven thousand men, to the combined armies of America and France. The day after the capitulation, he ordered that those who were under arrest, should be pardoned, and that divine service in acknowledg ment of the interposition of Providence should be performed in all the brigades and divisions. This event filled America with joy, and was the means of terminating the war.

Few events of importance took place in 1782. On the 25th November, 1783, New York was evacuated by the British, and he entered it accompanied by governor Clinton and many respectable citizens. On the 19th of April a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. On the 4th of December, he took his farewell of his brave comrades in arms. At noon the principal officers of the army assembled at Frances' tavern, and their beloved commander soon entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass with wine, he turned to them and said "with a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honourable." Having drank, he added, "I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you if each of you will come and take me by the hand." General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of utterance, general Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the most affectionate manner he took his leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to interrupt the silence and tenderness of the scene. Ye men who delight in blood, slaves of ambition ! When your work of carnage was finished, could you thus part with your companions in crime? Leaving the room, general Washington passed through the light infantry and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited to carry him to Powles' Hook. The whole company followed in mute procession with dejected countenances. When he entered the barge he turned to them, and waving his hat bade them a silent adieu, receiving from them the same last affectionate compliment. On the 23d of December he resigned his commission to congress, then assembled at Annapolis. Here the expressions of the

gratitude of his countrymen in affectionate addresses, poured in upon him, and he received every testimony of respect and

veneration.

In 1787, he was persuaded to take a seat in the convention which formed the present constitution of the United States. In 1789, he was unanimously elected president of the United States. In April he left Mount Vernon to proceed to New York, and to enter on the duties of his office. He every where received testimonies of respect and love. On the 13th of April he arrived at New York, and he was inaugurated first president of the United States. At the close of his first term of four years, he prepared a valedictory address to the American people, anxious to return again to the scenes of domestic life; but the earnest entreaties of his friends, and the peculiar situation of his country, induced him to be a candidate for a second election. At the expiration of his second term, he determined irrevocably to withdraw to the shades of private life. He published in September, 1796, his farewell address to the people of the United States, which ought to be engraven upon the hearts of his countrymen.

He then retired to Mount Vernon, giving to the world an example, most humiliating to its emperors and kings; the example of a man, voluntarily disrobing himself of the highest authority, and returning to private life, with a character, having upon it no stain of ambition, of covetousness, of profusion, of luxury, of oppression, or of injustice.

In 1798, an army was raised, and he was appointed commander in chief.

On the 13th of December, 1799, while attending to some improvements upon his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, which wetted his neck and hair. Unapprehensive of danger, he passed the afternoon in his usual manner, but at night he was seized with an inflammatory affection of the windpipe. The disease commenced with a violent ague, accompanied with some pain, and a sense of stricture in the throat, a cough, and a difficult deglutition, which was soon succeeded by fever, and a quick and laborious respiration. About twelve or fourteen ounces of blood were taken from him. In the morning, his family physician, doctor Craik, was sent for; but the utmost exertions of medical skill were applied in vain. To his friend and physician who sat on his bed, and took his head in his lap, he said, with difficulty, "Doctor, I am dying, and have been dying for a long time; but I am not afraid to die." Respiration became more and more protracted and imperfect, until half past eleven on Saturday night, when, retaining the full possession of his intellect, he expired with out a struggle. Thus, on the 14th of December, 1799, in the

sixty eighth year of his age, died the father of his country, "them an first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." This event spread a gloom over the country, and the tears of America proclaimed the services and virtues of the hero and sage, and exhibited a people not insensible to his worth.

General Washington was rather above the common stature; his frame was robust. and his constitution vigorous. His exterior created in the beholder the idea of strength united with manly gracefulness. His eyes were of a grey colour, and his complexion light. His manners were rather reserved than free. His person and whole deportment exhibited an unaffected and indescribable dignity, unmingled with haughtiness, of which all who approached him were sensible. The attachment of those who possessed his friendship was ardent, but always respectful. His temper was humane, benevolent, and conciliatory; but there was a quickness in his sensibility to any thing apparently offensive, which experience had taught him to watch and correct.

He conducted the war with that consummate prudence and wisdom, which the situation of his country and the state of his army demanded. He also possessed a firmness of resolution, which neither dangers nor difficulties could shake.

WASHINGTON, WILLIAM, lieutenant colonel commandant of a continental regiment of dragoons during the revolutionary war, was the eldest son of Baily Washington, Esq. of Stafford county, in the state of Virginia.

First among the youth of Virginia who hastened to the standard of his country, on the rupture between Great Britain and her colonies, he was appointed to the command of a company of infantry in the third regiment of the Virginia line, commanded by colonel, afterwards brigadier general, Mercer. In no corps in our service was the substantial knowledge of the profession of arms more likely to be acquired.

Here Washington learnt the rudiments of war. He fought with this gallant regiment at York Island, and on the retreat through New Jersey, sharing with distinguished applause in that disastrous period, its difficulties, its dangers and its glo

ry. When afterwards the commander in chief struck at colonel Ralle, stationed with a body of Hessians in Trenton, captain Washington was attached to the van of one of the assailing columns, and in that daring and well executed enterprise received a musket ball through his hand, bravely leading on his company against the arraying enemy.

The commander in chief having experienced the extreme difficulties to which he had been exposed during the preceding campaign, by his want of cavalry, was, shortly after this

period, in consequence of his suggestions to congress, authorised to raise three regiments of light dragoons. To the command of one of these he appointed lieutenant colonel Baylor one of his aid-de-camps. To this regiment captain Washington was transferred with the rank of major, and returned to Virginia for the purpose of assisting in recruiting the regiment.

As soon as the corps was completed, Baylor joined the main army; his regiment was, in 1778, surprised by a detachment of the British, led by major general Gray, and suffered extremely. Washington fortunately escaped; and in the course of the succeeding year, or early in 1780, he was detached with the remains of Bland's, Baylor's, and Moylan's regiments of horse, to the army of major general Lincoln, in South Carolina, where he was constantly employed with the light troops, and experienced, with some flashes of fortune, two severe blows; first at Monk's Corner, where he commanded our horse, and last at Leneau's ferry, when he was second to lieutenant colonel White, of Moylan's regiment. These repeated disasters so reduced our calvary, that White and Washington retired from the field and repaired to the northern confines of North Carolina for the purpose of repairing their heavy losses. It was here that they applied to general Gates for the aid of his name and authority to expedite the restoration and equipment of their regiments, that they might be ready to take the field under his orders. This salutary and proper request was injudiciously disregarded; from which omission very injurious consequences seem to have resulted in the sequel.

After the defeat of general Gates on the sixteenth of the following August, it will be recollected that the American general retired to Hillsborough, from whence he returned to Salisbury.

Lieutenant colonel Washington, with his cavalry, now accompanied him, and formed a part of the light corps placed by Gates under the direction of brigadier Morgan. He 96sumed his accustomed active and vigorous service, and was in the execution of the trust confided to Morgan.

During this period he carried, by an extraordinary stratagem, the post at Rudgley's which drew from lord Cornwallis the following letter to lieuteuant colonel Tarleton. **Rudgley will not be made a brigadier. He surrendered, without firing a shot, himself and one bundred and three rank and file, to the cavalry only. A deserter of Morgan's assures us that the infantry never came within three miles of the house."

Greene now succeeded Gates, when brigadier Morgan, with the light corps, was detached to hang upon the enemy's left flank, and to threaten Ninety-Six.

The battle of the Cowpens ensued, in which Washington, at the head of our horse, acquired fresh laurels. He continued with the light corps, performing with courage and precision the duties assigned him until the junction of the two divisions of the American army at Guilford court-house. Soon after this event a more powerful body of horse and foot was selected by general Greene, and placed under colonel Williams of which Washington and his cavalry were a constituent part.

In the eventful and trying retreat which ensued, lieutenant colonel Washington contributed his full share to the maintenance of the measures of Williams, which terminated so propitiously to our arms, and so honourably to the light troops and their commander. After our repassage of the Dan, Washington and his horse were again placed in the van, and with Howard and Lee, led by Williams, played that arduous game of marches, countermarches, and manoeuvres, which greatly contributed to baffle the skilful display of talents and enterprise, exhibited by lord Cornwallis in his persevering attempt to force Greene, at the head of an inferior army, to battle, or to cut him off from his approaching reinforcements and approaching supplies.

Colonel Washington acted a very distinguised part in the battles of Guilford, Hobkick's Hill and Eutaws; and throughout the arduous campaign of 1781; always at his post, decided, firm and brave, courting danger, and contemning difficulty. His eminent services were lost to the army from the battle of the Eutaws, where, to its great regret, he was made prisoner: nor did he afterwards take any part in the war, as from the period of his exchange nothing material occurred, the respective armies being confined to minor operations, produced by the prospect of peace. While a prisoner in Charleston, Washington became acquainted with Miss Elliott, a young lady in whom concentred the united attractions of respectabi descent, opulence, polish, and beauty. The gallant soldier soon became enamored with his amiable acquaintance, and afterwards married her. This happened in the spring of 1782; and he established himself in South Carolina at Sandy Hill, the ancestral seat of his wife.

Washington seems to have devoted his subsequent years to domestic duties, rarely breaking in upon them by attention to public affairs, and then only as a member of the state legis. lature. He possessed a stout frame, being six feet in height, broad, strong, and corpulent. His occupations and his amusements applied to the body, rather than to the mind, to the cultivation of which he did not bestow much time or application; nor was his education of the sort to excite such babits,