It is the opinion of historians that the outcome of the
battle of Monmouth would have been very different if the American side
had been left in the capable hands of the young Lafayette.

The battle of Monmouth, which took place on the 28th of June, was
widely scattered in its action over a hot and sandy plain. The outcome
was that General Lee first brought his troops face to face with the
enemy, and then, instead of leading on to the attack, gave the order
for retreat. Afterwards, in the court-martial of Lee, it was made
evident that the movement of the troops as ordered by Lee would have
left Lafayette and his detachment abandoned in an extremely exposed
position on the open plain, the troops that should have supported him
having been withdrawn by Lee's orders and directed to retreat.
Lafayette and the other generals felt great bitterness on that day
because they had been swept into battle but had not been allowed to
strike a blow.

Everybody knows how Washington rode up, and when he saw the retreat,
how he indignantly reproved General Lee and commanded the battalions
to turn back and form in position for battle. Lafayette was in command
of a division stationed at the second line under Lord Stirling who
sustained the left wing; they were now placed on an eminence behind a
morass and there played the batteries to such good effect that they
were able to check the advance of the British. This halt gave
Washington time to place his army to advantage. The British were
driven from a strong position they had taken, and before dark the
American troops had turned the British back. That night they lay upon
the field in bright moonlight, and while Washington and Lafayette
discussed the possible outcome of the next day, the British were
silently withdrawing from the Monmouth plains. The next morning all
had disappeared except some forty of their wounded. At Sandy Hook,
where the British army crossed to New York, it was learned that they
had lost about two thousand men by desertions and by losses at
Monmouth. Many of the soldiers on both sides had died from the extreme
heat on that 28th of June.

During the battle Lafayette was master of himself. Almost fifty years
later, Colonel Willett related that in the hottest of the fight he
saw Lafayette ride up to one of the officers and, in a voice cool,
steady, and slow, and with as much deliberation as if nothing exciting
prevailed, say,

"General, the enemy is making an attempt to