The Life of George Washington. In Words of One SyllablePollard, Josephine
History
The Life of George Washington. In Words of One Syllable
Pollard, Josephine
Presidents -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature; Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Juvenile literature
FOES IN THE CAMP.
It is much worse to have one foe in the camp than to have a host of
foes out-side, for who can tell what harm he may do who comes in the
guise of a friend?
In the year 1774 a young man, named John An-dre, came with the King's
troops, and fought in their ranks at St. John's and Crown Point.
He had a brave heart, and a fine mind, and did much to keep up the
hearts of the men when in the camp. He was fond of the fair sex and
had praised in rhyme the charms of a Miss Ship-pen who wed Ben-e-dict
Ar-nold in the year 1780.
Ar-nold had fought well on our side at the north, and won much
praise. He had been a sea-man in his youth, and was both strong and
brave. But he grew proud and vain, and sought to rank as high as the
Com-mand-er-in-chief, with whom he found much fault.
Wash-ing-ton had great faith in him, and did not dream he was false at
heart.
For some ill-deeds while at Phil-a-del-phi-a Ar-nold had been brought
to court and tried and his guilt proved, and this had made him wroth
with Wash-ing-ton, and the cause he had sworn to aid.
He sought for a way to pay back the slight and raise him-self to
fame. With this end in view he wrote to Sir Hen-ry Clin-ton--but did
not use his own name--that he would like to join the cause of King
George on the terms that he set forth. He was in need of funds for he
was deep in debt, but Clin-ton did not see fit to make use of him.
Two or three more of his schemes failed, and at last he asked that he
might have charge of the post at West Point. This Wash-ing-ton gave
him, and in Au-gust Ar-nold fixed him-self in a fine house that stood
on the east side of the stream, half a mile or so south of West Point.
From this place he sent notes to An-dre, the aide-de-camp of Clin-ton,
who wrote back and signed his name _John An-der-son_.
Ar-nold's plan was to throw West Point and the High-lands in-to the
hands of Sir Hen-ry Clin-ton at the time that Wash-ing-ton was at
King's Bridge, and the Eng-lish troops in New York.
A fleet, with a large land force on board, was to come up to the
High-lands, and Ar-nold would at once yield up the post in-to their
hands. This act he thought would bring the war to an end, with the
flag of King George at high mast, and then great would be the name and
fame of Ben-e-dict Ar-nold.
That the scheme might not fail, Ar-nold wrote to An-dre to meet him at
Dobb's Fer-ry, Sep-tem-ber 11, at noon.
But Ar-nold had spent the night of the 10th at Hav-er-straw, on the
west shore, and on his way back in his barge, as he had no flag, he
was fired on by the guard boats of the King's troops. So he had to put
off his plans for a day or two.
In the mean-time the sloop-of-war _Vul-ture_--a good name for such a
bird of prey--was brought up the Hud-son so as to be near at hand to
aid in the vile scheme.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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