idly; when suddenly, he turned his horse down the steep bluff at his
side, reached the bottom in safety by some miracle, and rode away in
triumph, leaving his astonished and baffled pursuers at the top, for not
one dared follow him!

* * * * *

I have spoken of how the test of war winnows the wheat from the chaff.
This was so in those days as in these, and, as an amusing proof of it,
one has only to glance over the names of the generals appointed by the
Congress at the same time as Putnam. Artemas Ward, Seth Pomeroy, William
Heath, Joseph Spencer, David Wooster, John Thomas, John Sullivan--what
cursory student of American history knows anything of them? Four others
are better remembered--Richard Montgomery, for the gallant and hopeless
assault upon Quebec in which he lost his life; Charles Lee for
disobeying Washington's orders at the battle of Monmouth and provoking
the great Virginian to an historic outburst of rage; Nathanael Greene
for his masterly conduct of the war in the South; Horatio Gates, first
for a victory over Burgoyne which he did very little to bring about, and
second for his ill-starred attempt to supplant Washington as
commander-in-chief.

Let us pause for a glance at Gates. Born in England, he had seen service
in the British army, and had been badly wounded at Braddock's defeat,
but managed to escape from the field. He resigned from the army, after
that, and settled in Virginia, where his supposed military prowess won
him the appointment of brigadier-general at the outbreak of the
Revolution. He secured command of the Northern army, which had gathered
to resist the great force which was marching south from Canada under
John Burgoyne. He found the field already prepared by General Schuyler,
a much more able officer. Stark had defeated and captured a strong
detachment at Bennington, and Herkimer had won the bloody battle of
Oriskany; the British army was hemmed in by a constantly-increasing
force of Americans, and was able to drag along only a mile a day;
Burgoyne and his men were disheartened and apprehensive of the future,
while the Americans were exultant and confident of victory. In such
circumstances, on September 19, 1777, was fought the first battle of
Bemis Heights, a bloody and inconclusive struggle, supported wholly by
the division of Benedict Arnold, who behaved so gallantly that Gates,
who had not even ridden on the field of battle, was consumed with
jealous