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
A bridge of ice had formed 'twixt New Jer-sey and Stat-en Isl-and, so
Wash-ing-ton sent Lord Stir-ling with 2,500 men to start up and seize
a force of 1,200 red-coats. His lord-ship crossed in the night, but
was seen and had to fall back to E-liz-a-beth-town. Some of his men
fell in-to the hands of the King's troops, and some in-to the hands of
Jack Frost.
This raid gave a start to the foe and they set out to tease and vex
our out-posts, which they thought could be done at small risk, as
there was snow on the ground, and the troops could be borne on
sleighs.
Not far from White Plains--and a score of miles from the out-posts of
the red-coats--300 of our men had a post in a stone house known as
Young's house, as that was the name of the man who owned it. It faced
a road which ran north and south down through a rich plain, and so on
to New York. Our men kept a close watch on this road, to stop the
red-coats who might seek to pass with food or live-stock. The
red-coats made up their mind to break up this nest of blue-birds, and
the night of Feb-ru-a-ry 2, was set for the task.
The King's troops set out from King's Bridge, some in sleighs and some
on horse-back. The snow was deep, and it was hard for the sleighs to
break their way through. The troops at length left them, and marched
on foot. They could not bring their field guns with them. Now and then
they would come to a place where the snow was more than two feet deep,
and they had to take by-ways and cross roads so as not to get near our
out-guards.
The sun rose while they were yet six miles or more from Young's house.
This spoiled their plan, but still they kept on. Ere they could reach
the house, the news flew like wild-fire that the red-coats were near,
and men left their farms and homes to aid those in Young's house. But
though they fought well, they had not strength to hold the fort. Not a
few were killed. The house was sacked and set on fire, and the
red-coats made haste to get back to their lines with those of our men
whom they had seized, and who were sent to New York and put in the
vile jails there.
In the year 1780, France sent ships-of-war and troops to aid our
cause, and to drive the red-coats from New York. The French troops
were in charge of Count de Ro-cham-beau, who was told to do just as
Wash-ing-ton said; for he was Com-mand-er-in-chief.
Wash-ing-ton's heart gave a throb of joy at this proof of good-will,
and his grief was that he had not more troops of his own to join with
these that he might push for New York at once. He must wait till the
rest of the French troops, then on their way, came to port.
In the mean-time his thoughts were turned to the South, where the
red-coats, led by Corn-wal-lis, waged a fierce war. Our troops there
were in charge of Gen-er-al Greene, who was full of cheer, and did his
best to keep the foe at bay, but with poor luck as his force was
small.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account