ne night, he proceeded in the
direction of Basking Ridge, a pretty village not far away. Lee left his
army at Bernardsville, which was then known as Vealtown, and rode on to
Basking Ridge, accompanied only by a small guard. There he took lodgings
at an inn, and made himself comfortable. The next morning he did not go
and put himself at the head of his army and move on, because there were
various affairs which occupied his attention.

Several of his guard wished to speak to him, some of them being men from
Connecticut, who appeared before him in full-bottomed wigs, showing
plainly that they considered themselves people who were important enough
to have their complaints attended to. One of them wanted his horse shod,
another asked for some money on account of his pay, and a third had
something to say about rations. But General Lee cut them all off very
shortly with, "You want a great deal, but you have not mentioned what
you want most. You want to go home, and I should be glad to let you go,
for you are no good here." Then his adjutant general asked to see him;
and he had a visit from a Major Wilkinson, who arrived that morning with
a letter from General Gates.

All these things occupied him very much, and he did not sit down to
breakfast till ten o'clock. Shortly after they had finished their meal,
and Lee was writing a letter to General Gates, in which he expressed a
very contemptible opinion of General Washington, Major Wilkinson saw, at
the end of the lane which led from the house down to the main road, a
party of British cavalry, who dashed round the corner toward the house.
The major immediately called out to General Lee that the Redcoats were
coming; but Lee, who was a man not to be frightened by sudden reports,
finished signing the letter, and then jumped up to see what was the
matter.

By this time the dragoons had surrounded the house; and when he
perceived this, General Lee naturally wanted to know where the guards
were, and why they did not fire on these fellows. But there was no
firing, and apparently there were no guards; and when Wilkinson went to
look for them, he found their arms in the room which had been their
quarters, but the men were gone. These private soldiers had evidently
been quite as free and easy, and as bent upon making themselves
comfortable, as had been the general, and they had had no thought that
such a thing as a British soldier was anywhere in the neighborhood. When
Wilkinson looked