97
10 In his letter to Congress, July 26, 1780, concerning this expedition, Washington spoke of the American cannon
being too light to penetrate the logs of which it (the block-house) was constructed. He also attributed the
great loss of the Americans to the '' intemperate valor'' of the men. Andre" exercised a poetic license in
putting these words in Wayne's mouth before the fight.
21 History commonly speaks of "the two Irvines" as though they were brothers, or at least relatives. But there
is no evidence to prove this. In fact the names are widely different. James "Irvine" is really James
Ewing, of Pennsylvania (probably born at Lancaster). He commanded the Flying Camp in 1776, and was
distinguished in the fight at Chestnut Hill, near Philadelphia. He it was that was a hatter by trade.
William Irvine, a physician, is the one who took part in the attack on the block-house.
24 Lord Stirling (William Alexander) had been frustrated in his attempt to gain a Scotch estate and peerage, to
which he was clearly entitled. He assumed the title of Earl of Stirling as of right.
32 Wayne reported the cannon too light for effective work.
34 General Charles Lee, in his testimony at his court martial after the battle of Monmouth, spoke of Hamilton
'' flourishing his sword and saying, ' I will stay and we will all die here on the spot.'''
"I could not but be surprised," said Lee, "at his expression, but observed him much fluttered, and in a sort
of frenzy of valor."
Richard Harrison, Washington's secretary.
36 Mumps were prevalent in the patriot army.
A direct reference to the old ballad of Chevy Chase :
For WitheringtoH needs must I wayle,
As one in doleful dumps;
For when his legges were smitten off,
He fought upon his stumps.
80 "The Bodies "—a soldier's slang word for the royal troops constituting the King's body-guard.
61 That she was a disreputable woman, who had been drummed out of camp, under guard of the provost-
marshal's force. Cunningham was the notorious jailer at New York.
62 A dramshop.
63 Rev. James Caldwell, an earnest patriot of New Jersey, pastor of a church at Connecticut Farms. His wife
had been shot by a newly-enlisted soldier, in the parsonage, when the British, under Knyphausen, made
a raid upon Springfield, in 1778.
64 "Calling himself, because ordered not to do it, Earl of Stirling, though no sterling Earl." In a winter
expedition to Staten Island, a large proportion of his soldiers were frost-bitten.
06 Lafayette.
67 Now Jersey City, where the British had a redoubt, which Major Henry Lee surprised in August, 1779, cap-
turing 159 prisoners. (I have never seen explained the allusion to the city of Lincoln.)
68 Miss Susannah Livingston, daughter of Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey, who was suspected of
political authorship.
Chatham, was Chatham, N. J.
(By a singular coincidence, the signature under Andrews portrait—my frontispiece—is photographed
from his official congratulatory letter, as Deputy Adjutant-General, to Cuyler, the Tory who was Colonel of
the refugee corps which defended the block-house. The original letter, one of the most interesting of
Revolutionary documents, is in the collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, who kindly allowed the
reproduction of the signature.)
