George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

[120] Howe to witness the discomfit of the youthful gen-

Chap. IV.} 1778. May 20.

eral, whom he was to ship to England. At Chestnut Hill they were to meet the American party after its rout; but they listened in vain for the sound of cannon, and at noon Grant came in sight with only his own detachment. Lafayette had been surprised and his direct communication with Valley Forge cut off; but a lower ford called Matson's, which was nearer to Grant than to him, remained unoccupied. Sending small parties into the woods, to present themselves as the heads of attacking columns, he had deceived his antagonist, and crossed the ford while Grant was preparing to give battle.

Wayworn and crestfallen, Howe returned to the city. On the twenty-fourth he gave up to Sir Henry

24.

Clinton the command of an army which excelled in discipline, health, and alertness. Of the officers who attended him to the place of embarkation, the most gallant shed tears at the parting; and Knyphausen, from deep emotion, could not finish the address which he began in their name.

Brave and an adept in military science, Howe had failed in the conduct of the war from sluggish dilatoriness, want of earnest enterprise, and love of the pleasures which excite a coarse nature. On landing near Bunker Hill he had sufficient troops to have turned the position of the Americans; but he delayed just long enough for them to prepare for his attack. He was driven out of Boston from his most unmilitary neglect to occupy Dorchester heights which overlook the town. He took his troops in midwinter to the bleak, remote, and then scarcely inhabited Halifax, instead of sailing to Rhode Island,