** A council of war was held on the 17th, the day before the Americans left Valley Forge, and among other questions proposed was, "If the enemy march through Jersey, will it be prudent to attack them on the way, or more eligible to proceed to the North River in the most direct and convenient manner, to secure the important communication between the Eastern and Southern States?" Nearly all the officers were opposed to an attack, on account of the inequality of force, but some thought it should defend on circumstances. Washington was desirous of attacking the enemy, but was obliged to yield to the force of circumstances. *** Charles Scott was a native of Cumberland county, in Virginia. He raised the first company of volunteers in that state, south of the James River, that actually entered into the Continental service. So much was he appreciated, that, in 1777. the shire-town of Powhatan county was named in honor of him. Congress appointed him a brigadier in the Continental army on the 1st of April, 1777. He served with distinction during the war, and at its termination he went to Kentucky. He settled in Woodford county, in that state, in 1785. He was with St. Clair at his defeat in 1791; and in 1794 he commanded a portion of Wayne's army at the battle of the Fallen Timber. He was governor of Kentucky from 1808 to 1812. He died on the 22d of October, 1820, aged seventy-four years. **** Mount Holly is the scat of justice for Burlington county. It is situated on the north branch of the Raneoeus Creek, about nineteen miles from Trenton. During the war, a Whig, named William Denning, who afterward resided in Mount Holly, constructed a wrought-iron cannon. It was made of iron staves, hooped like a barrel with the same material. There were four layers of staves, firmly bound together, and then bored and breeched like other cannons. He finished one in Middlesex, Pennsylvania, and began another in Mount Holly. The former was captured at the battle of Brandywine, and is now in the Tower of London; the latter was placed in the Philadelphia arsenal. Denning died a few years since, at the age of ninety-four. [[[Extent of the British Line.--Washington's Determination to Fight.--Preparations of both Armies for Battle.]]]