new army in January, being still in Colonel Webb's
regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the
Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed
the routine of his earlier months there, doing all
that was possible to assist his brother officers in
perfecting the discipline of the raw troops, deepening
their patriotism, and proving himself a soldier
as devoid of fear as he was rich in all manly qualities.
Not a word of regret can be found in his
diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former
pupil, Miss Betsey Christophers of New London,
that the novelty and glamour of camp life had worn
off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing
would tempt him to "accept a furlough" or shrink
in any manner from any of his duties as a soldier.
And so the weeks passed on.

During the winter heavy cannon from Fort
Ticonderoga had been brought through the snows
over the Green Mountains. The cannon were
placed on Dorchester Heights which commanded
the British camp, thus compelling the British
general to choose between attacking the American
army and evacuating the city. In a letter written
in April, 1776, to his half-brother, John Augustine,
Washington wrote thus regarding this time:

The enemy... apprehending great annoyance from
iour new works, resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly,

[[58]]

p057 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p058w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p059

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