expired, and no others took their places. While the little army of less
than four thousand men was constantly depleted, it seemed as if its foes
increased, in that country of loyalists and British sympathizers. It was
with only the "skeleton of an army" that Washington, on the eighth of
December, crossed the Delaware at Trenton, less than three thousand
troops remaining by him then. Cornwallis and his soldiers were not far
behind, during a portion of that gloomy retreat, a few days measuring
the distance between the rival armies; but they did not catch up with
the Americans that time.

The very day after his arrival at Trenton Washington ordered Putnam to
Philadelphia, where he was placed in absolute command, and where he
displayed the same energy and integrity of purpose that had always
animated him hitherto. He had been a sustaining force to the
Commander-in-Chief on that march across New Jersey, and of the few
generals who had stood by him, no one had endured with less complaint or
performed with more alacrity than Old Put. He was one upon whom to rely
in the proposed scheme of fortifying the city, and his long experience
at entrenching made him peculiarly fit for the work.

His sturdy nature, good sense, and ready wit made him at once a favorite
with the Continental Congress and the Committee of Safety; though the
former, acting on his advice, soon left the city for the greater
security of Baltimore. Putnam soon placed the city under martial law,
drafted all the citizens, except the Quakers, into the military service,
and put the place in the best posture for defense of which it was
capable. "There were foes within the city as well as foes without," for
the Tory element was strong in Philadelphia, and it was because of it
that Putnam was unable to cooperate with Washington when he dealt the
enemy the first of those telling blows at Trenton and Princeton. He
dared not withdraw his men from the city, even for a short absence, in
order to create a diversion while his Commander-in-Chief made the direct
attack. Had he done so, and also the other generals to whom were
entrusted the details of this affair, the Hessians might have been
entirely cut off in their retreat from Trenton and practically
destroyed. As it was, Putnam held to his command in Philadelphia, and
soon had the pleasure of entertaining some of the Hessian captives, for
whom he was obliged to provide quarters while passing through the city.

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