THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 89 



miles apart. The American advance, of about six 

 thousand men, under Lafayette, was to attack the 

 British rear division upon its left flank and engage 

 it until Washington, with the remainder of the army, 

 should come up and complete its discomfiture. At 

 the last moment Lee changed his mind and solicited 

 the command of the advance. The nobleness of 

 Washington's nature made him very kind in his judg- 

 ments of other men. He was always ready to make 

 allowances, and up to this time he had found some 

 charitable interpretation for Lee's behaviour. Now 

 he showed the defects of his excellence, and was too 

 trustful. He so arranged matters that Lee should 

 have the command, and Lafayette most gracefully 

 yielded the point. Washington's orders to Lee were 

 explicit and peremptory. On the morning of the 28th 

 of June the advance division overtook the enemy near 

 Monmouth Court House. The position was admirable 

 for an oblique attack upon the British flank, and in 

 the opinion of Anthony Wayne and other brigade 

 commanders a prompt and spirited attack was called 

 for. But the fighting had scarcely begun when Lee's 

 conduct became so strange and his orders so contra- 

 dictory as to excite uneasiness on the part of Lafay- 

 ette, who sent a messenger back to Washington, 

 urging him to make all possible haste to the front. 

 When the commander-in-chief, with his main force, 

 had passed Freehold church on his way toward the 

 scene of action, he was astonished at the spectacle of 

 Lee's division in disorderly retreat, with the enemy 

 close upon their heels. A little farther on he met the 

 faithless general. The men who then beheld Wash- 

 ington's face, and listened to his terrific outburst of 



