lents; but since I have been with the army, I have seen nothing
to increase that opinion.' Greene answered, 'Why, the General does want
decision: for my part, I decide in a moment.' I used the word 'increase,'
though I meant 'support,' but did not dare speak it." Wayne exclaimed "if
our worthy general will but follow his own good judgment without listening
too much to some counsel!" Edward Thornton, probably repeating the
prevailing public estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion,
said, "a certain degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and
energy, may be observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious
result of too refined caution."

Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not
merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in a
measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being almost
wholly "bush-fighting," was not of a kind to teach strategic warfare, and
in his speech accepting the command Washington requested that "it may be
remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with
the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am
honored with." Indeed, he very well described himself and his generals
when he wrote of one officer, "his wants are common to us all--the want of
experience to move upon a large scale, for the limited and contracted
knowledge, which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
stead." There can be no question that in most of the "field" engagements
of the Revolution Washington was out-generalled by the British, and
Jefferson made a just distinction when he spoke of his having often
"failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston
and York."

The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led
British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of ability
in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a writer in
1778, who said, "in short, I am of the opinion ... that any other General
in the world than General Howe would have beaten General Washington; and
any other General in the world than General Washington would have beaten
General Howe."

This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it was
their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New Jersey,
to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a danger; they
established posts in No