r getting supplies from the country, and totally
subduing them before they are reinforced, I should be happy indeed.
But what prospect or hope can there be of my effecting so desirable a
work at this time? The enclosed return,[56] to which I solicit the
most serious attention of congress, comprehends the whole force I have
in Jersey. It is but a handful, and bears no proportion on the scale
of numbers to that of the enemy. Added to this, the major part is made
up of militia. The most sanguine in speculation can not deem it more
than adequate to the least valuable purposes of war."

[Footnote 56: See note No. VIII. at the end of the volume.]

[Sidenote: Skirmishes.]

Though unable to act with the vigour he wished, the American general
kept up a war of skirmishes through the winter. In the course of it,
the British loss was believed to be considerable; and hopes were
entertained that, from the scarcity of forage, neither their cavalry
nor draft horses would be in a condition to take the field when the
campaign should open. Their foraging parties were often attacked to
advantage. Frequent small successes, the details of which filled the
papers throughout the United States, not only increased the confidence
of the American soldiers, but served greatly to animate the people.

[Sidenote: State of the army.]

The hope of collecting a sufficient force during the winter to make
any valuable impression on the British army being disappointed, the
views of the General were directed to the next campaign.

As the new army was to be raised by the authority of the state
governments, he urged on them the necessity of bringing a respectable
force into the field early in the spring, with all the earnestness
which was suggested by his situation, and zeal for the service.

In Connecticut and Massachusetts, the country was laid off into
districts, each of which was required, by a given day, to furnish a
soldier enlisted for three years, or during the war; in default of
which, one person, from those capable of bearing arms, was to be
drafted to serve until the first of the ensuing January. The
Commander-in-chief, though still deprecating the introduction of men
into the army whose terms of service would be of short duration, felt
the necessity of submitting to this expedient, as the most eligible
which could now be adopted.

In Virginia, where the same difficulty attended enlistments, it was
proposed by the executive to fill the