ow in
operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in
conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he
derived from councils of war, where hearing all suggestions, he selected
whatever was best; and certainly no General ever planned his battles
more judiciously. But if deranged during the course of the action, if
any member of his plan was dislocated by sudden circumstances, he was
slow in re-adjustment. The consequence was that he often failed in the
field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York.
He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence;
never acting until every circumstance, every consideration was maturely
weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but when once decided, going
through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was
most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known; no motives
of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to
bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of the words, a wise,
a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable, and high
toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual
ascendancy over it. If ever however it broke its bonds, he was most
tremendous in his wrath. In his expenses he was honorable, but exact;
liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility, but frowning and
unyielding on all visionary projects, and all unworthy calls on his
charity. His heart was not warm in its affections; but he exactly
calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem proportioned
to it. His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one
would wish, his deportment easy, erect, and noble; the best horseman of
his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback.
Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with
safety, he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents
were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor
fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was
unready, short, and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather diffusely,
in an easy and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with
the world, for his education was merely reading, writing, and common
arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day. His t