Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/429

Rh point within a mile and a half of the works at 8 o'clock in the evening. At midnight the Ameri- cans advanced in two columns, with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, and. surprising the pickets, forced their way through every obstacle to the centre of the fort. Wayne' received a wound in the head, but, determining to die in the fort if the wound was mortal, entered the works with his troops, supported by his aides. The garrison soon surrendered, and not a life was taken after the flag was hauled down. The ordnance and stores were conveyed to West Point, and the works were de- stroyed. Congress voted a gold medal to Wayne, and'silver ones to his two subordinate command- ers. He also received thanks from congress " for his brave, prudent, and soldier-like conduct in the well-conducted attack on Stony Point/' and a simi- lar testimonial was given him by the general as- sembly of his native state of Pennsylvania. A year later he was sent to capture Fort Lee, but it was too strongly fortified. He was, however, success- ful in sweeping the country of cattle, horses, and of everything available for the use of the enemy's army, and thwarted Gen. Clinton's plans. This raid gave rise to Maj. John Andre's poem of " The Cow Chase," which ended with the stanza :

As if by poetic justice, Wayne had command of the troops from whom the guard was drawn that attended Andre's execution. On 1 Jan., 1781, 1,300 men of the Pennsylvania line mutinied; but Wayne, by his tact, arranged the matter peaceably to the advantage of the government and the satis- faction of the troops. Soon afterward he was sent by Washington to join Lafayette, who was then operating against Lord Cornwallis in Virginia. At Jamestown Ford the British appeared to be falling back to avoid Lafayette, and Wayne attacked, by the latter's orders, but found himself confronted by the entire British force. Unable to retreat, he at once charged the enemy and fell back after discon- certing a projected manoeuvre against Lafayette. This action at Green Springs on 6 July, 1781, dem- onstrated Wayne's great ability as a general, in that he turned an almost positive defeat into a success. Wayne was actively engaged in the in- vestment and capture of Yorktown. The first parallel was opened by him and Gen. James Clin- ton with six regiments on 6 Oct., 1781, and five days later the second parallel was begun by the Pennsylvania and Maryland troops, covered by two battalions under the command of Wayne. In the attack on the 14th, Wayne supported the French troops with his Pennsylvania regiments. After the surrender he was sent to join Gen. Nathanael Greene in the south, and on the night of 23-24 June he was surrounded by a numerous body of Creek Indians under an able chief and a British officer. For a few moments they held possession of his artillery, but, mustering his forces, Wayne attacked the assailants so furiously in flank and rear with sword and bayonet alone, that they soon broke and fled. With his own hand Wayne cut down a Creek chieftain, and in the morning the dead body of Guistersigo, the principal warrior of the Creeks, and the bitterest enemy of the Ameri- cans among these Indians, was found on the battle- field. When Charleston, S. C, was evacuated by the British on 14 Dec, 1782, Gen. Wayne took possession of that city, which was the last military service he performed during the Revolutionary war. The brevet rank of major-general was con- ferred on him on 10 Oct., 1783. He then returned to Pennsylvania and resumed his civil life. In 1784 he was elected to the general assembly from Chester county, and also served in the convention that ratified the constitution of the United States. Subsequently he settled in Georgia on a tract of land that the state gave him as a recompense for his military services, and was elected a delegate to the convention that framed the state constitution in 1787. He was elected from Georgia to congress, and served from 24 Oct., 1791, to 21 March, 1792, when his seat was contested and congress declared it vacant. A new election was ordered, but he de- clined to be a candidate. He was nominated on Washington's recommendation to be general-in- chief of the U. S. army, with the rank of major- general, and was confirmed in that office on 3 April, 1792. , Certain of the Indian tribes of the north- west, instigat- ed by the Brit- ish, refused to cease hostili- ties after the peace of 1783, and previous attempts by Gen. Josiah Harmer and Gen. Arthur St. Clair at subjugating the savages had failed. Wayne collected an adequate force, and, conscious that failure in negotiating with the Indians would be followed by immediate hostilities on the frontiers, spent more than a year in drilling his troops and training them for the peculiar service for which they were required. In the autumn of 1793 he marched into the northwest, and near Greenville, Ohio, built a stockade which he called Fort Recovery. He pushed on during the following summer through the wilderness toward Maumee river, and at its junction with the Auglaize he built Fort Adams, as an intermediate post. In August he went down the Maumee with 1,000 men, and encamped near a British post at the foot of the Maumee rapids, called Fort Miami. Here Gen. Wayne, with a force ample to destroy the Indians in spite of British influence, offered them peace if they would lay down their weapons. On their refusal he advanced to the head of the rapids, and on 20 Aug., at Fallen Timbers, attacked and defeated the Indians. Almost all the dead warriors were found with British arms. After laying their country waste he moved up to the junction of St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers, where he built a strong fortification which he called Fort Wayne. He spent the winter in Greenville, where, on 3 Aug., 1795, was signed a treaty with the Indians, in which twelve tribes participated. A lasting peace followed, and a large territory was acquired by the United States. Wayne returned on a visit to Pennsylvania, and was appointed sole commissioner to treat with the Indians of the northwest, and to take possession of all the forts that had been held by the British in that territory; but. while descending Lake Erie from Detroit, he died from an attack of the gout. Although Washington called him " prudent," Wayne's unexpected successes in perilous expeditions won for him his more popular appellation of " Mad Anthony Wayne." The title of " Dandy Wayne " was also applied to him, owing to his constant attention to dress, and in one of his letters to Wash-