surely you cannot
refuse it."

Without replying, he immediately wrote the following:

"For the satisfaction of General Heath, and at his request, I do certify
that I am commanding officer, at this present writing, in this post, and
that I have, in that capacity, ordered Prescott's and Wyllis' regiments
to march."

The next morning General Lee rode up to Heath's door, and said:

"Upon further consideration I have concluded not to take the two
regiments with me. You may order them to return to their former post."

Evidently the ambitious and conceited general had come to the conclusion
that "discretion is the better part of valor."

General Lee did not cross the Hudson until the 4th of December, moving
snail-like, although he knew that Washington's army was in imminent
peril.

"Do come on," Washington's last plea was; "your arrival may be
fortunate, and, if it can be effected without delay, it may be the means
of preserving a city whose loss must prove of the most fatal consequence
to the cause of America."

The "city" referred to was Philadelphia. Washington had written to him
that the enemy was designing to capture Philadelphia, a calamity that
must be prevented if possible.

At this time Washington had removed the baggage and stores of his army
across the Delaware. Being reinforced, however, by fifteen hundred
Pennsylvania militia, he resolved to march back to Princeton and await
developments. On his way he met General Stirling, who had evacuated
Princeton, as Cornwallis was marching upon it with a large force.
Returning to Trenton, he hastily collected all the boats possible, and
conveyed his whole force over the Delaware, including General Stirling's
command from Princeton. The rear-guard had scarcely crossed the river
when Cornwallis appeared in the distance with his "bannered hosts." As
Washington had taken possession of all the boats and transports, the
enemy could not cross.

The tact and skill of Washington as a general were as conspicuous in his
retreat through the Jerseys as they were on any battlefield. Thomas
Paine accompanied the army, and he wrote:

"With a handful of men we sustained an orderly retreat for near an
hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field-pieces, the
greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say
that our retreat was precipitate, for we were three weeks in performing
it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched bac