you that I am
confined to my bed with a raging fever. The critical situation of
affairs makes me the more anxious, but I hope, through the assistance
of Providence, to be able to ride before the presence of the enemy may
make it absolutely necessary;" and he assured the commander-in-chief
that his men appeared to be "in exceeding good spirits," and would no
doubt be able to render a very good account of the enemy should they
land on Long Island. On the 16th there was no change for the better in
his condition, but on the contrary Livingston, his aid, reported that
he had "a very bad night of it;" and in a day or two he was removed to
New York, to the house of John Inglis now the intersection of Ninth
Street and Broadway where with rest and care he slowly passed the
crisis of his illness.[77]

[Footnote 77: _Greene's Life of Greene_, vol. i.]

On the 20th Washington gave orders to General Sullivan, who had
recently returned from Canada, to take the command upon Long Island,
until General Greene's state of health should permit him to resume
it.[78]

[Footnote 78: _General Orders, August 20, 1776._--... "General
Sullivan is to take command upon Long Island till General Greene's
state of health will permit him to resume it, and Brigadier Lord
Stirling is to take charge of General Sullivan's division till he
returns to it again."]

CHAPTER III.

THE TWO ARMIES.

Right here, before entering upon the details of the coming struggle,
we may delay a moment to glance at the two armies as they lay in their
opposite camps waiting to engage in the serious business before them.
What was their composition and organization, what their strength, who
their officers and leaders? In the case of the American troops
particularly may these questions be asked, because to them and their
services the country has long acknowledged its obligations, and so far
bound itself to perpetuate their memory. Who were the men who stood
with Washington in this first and critical year of our national
life--who came to this vicinity to fight on strange ground for a
common cause? We are called upon to remember them, not as soldiers
simply, but as public-spirited citizens arming to secure themselves in
their privileges, or perhaps as ancestors who had a thought for the
peace and happiness of present generations.

The original army of the Revolution was that ardent though disjointed
body of provincials which gathered around Boston immediately afte