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588 dangerously ill at Fishkill. He sailed from Bos- ton, 11 Jan., 1779, in the new American frigate '• Alliance." a swift and well-built ship, but manned by a rough and motley crew, picked up at short notice. A plot was laid among these ruffians to seize the ship and take her into a British port, after murdering all on board except Lafayette, who was to be delivered up to the British govern- ment as a prisoner of suitable rank to be exchanged for Gen. Burgoyne. The plot was betrayed to the marquis, who caused thirty of the mutineers to be tiut in irons. Arriving in 'aris, 12 Feb., he was forbidden the king's pres- ence until he should have passed a week in confine- ment at his father-in- law's palace. After puri- fying himself by this kind of " political quarantine " from the stain of former disobedience, he was re- ceived with favor at court, and appointed colonel of dragoons to serve in the army with which it was designed to invade Eng- land early in the summer. The invasion depended upon the combined sup- port of the French and Spanish fleets, and owing to the failure of this naval support was abandoned. Lafayette took much pains in laying before Vergennes a clear and correct statement of the situation in the United States, and on his own responsibility urged him to send a land force as well as a fleet to co-operate with Washington's array. This was a step in ad- vance of the policy of congress, which as yet desired only naval assistance, and dreaded the dis- sensions likely to arise between French and Amer- ican soldiers serving together. To avoid such dissensions, Lafayette recommended that all dis- putes about precedence should be forestalled by expressly placing the French auxiliary army under Washington's command, and ordering that in all cases a French officer should be regarded as junior to an American officer of equal rank. These views were supported by D'E^taing upon his arrival in France early in 1780, and they were adopted by the ministry in sending out the auxiliary force of 0,000 men, under Count Rochambeau, which ar- rived in Rhode Island 10 July of that year. To report these negotiations to congress and prepare for the arrival of the troops. Lafayette sailed from Roehelle in the French frigate "Hermione," 19 March, 1780, and arrived, 27 April, in Boston har- bor. After transacting business at Philadelphia and Newport, connected with these matters, Lafay- ette repaired to Washington's headquarters at Tap- pan on the Hudson, and was appointed, 7 Aug., to command a special corps of 2,000 light infantry ; his place, from first to last, was with the American army, not with the French auxiliaries. An inter- view between Washington and Rochambeau was arranged for 20 Sept. at Hartford, and Lafayette and Knox accompanied the American commander thither. Returning to the Hudson, they reached West Point, 26 Sept., the day on which Arnold's treason was discovered. Lafayette was a member of the board of fourteen generals that condemned Andre to death.

When Arnold, with a British force, invaded Virginia, early in 1781, Lafayette was sent with 1,200 men from the New England and New Jer- sey lines to assist in the defence of that state. His troops were ill equipped for a campaign; for want of tents they were obliged to pass the frosty nights in the open air, and many of them were without hats or shoes. At Baltimore he pur- chased the necessary clothes and equipments for the troops, paying for them in drafts on the French treasury, which he endorsed for greater security in case the French government should not see fit to add the amount to the loans already appropriated for the United States. The military stores of Virginia were in great part concentrated at Richmond, and the British commanders Arnold and Phillips had planned the destruction of that town ; but Lafayette arrived there, 29 April, in time to foil the designs of the enemy. For some days skirmishing went on between Lafayette and Phil- lips, who was suddenly seized with fever, and died 13 May, leaving Arnold in sole command. Lord Cornwallis, retreating from North Carolina after the battle of Guilford, arrived 20 May at Petersburg, where he effected a junction with Arnold. The British force now numbered 5.000 men, and Lafayette did not feel strong enough to oppose it until he should have been re-enforced by Wayne, who was moving southward with 1,000 infantry of the Pennsylvania line. He accordingly retreated northward from Richmond toward Fredericksburg, with Cornwallis in full pursuit. " The boy cannot escape me," wrote the British general in a letter which was intercepted : but the young Frenchman's retreat was admirably conducted. He crossed the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, 4 June, and secured a strong position, while Cornwallis paused for a moment and detached Tarleton on a raid to Charlottesville, to break up the legislature which was in session there, and to Albemarle, where a quantity of military stores had been collected. The first part of the raid was partially successful, but Lafayette effected his junction with Wayne, 7 June, and prevented Tarleton from approaching Albemarle. Cornwallis now, when rejoined by Tarleton, abandoned as imprudent the idea of an offensive campaign in the interior of the country, so far from his base of operations on the sea-coast, and accordingly retreated to Richmond. Lafayette was presently re-enforced by Steuben, so that he outnumbered Cornwallis, who accordingly, 20 June, continued his retreat, crossing the Chickahominy near White Oak Swamp, and marching down to the peninsula to Williamsburg. At Green Spring, near that town, an indecisive action was fought between parts of the two armies, 6 July, the Americans attacking, but unsuccessfully. Cornwallis continued his retreat to Yorktown, while Lafayette occupied Malvern Hill, and awaited further developments. Washington and Rochambeau, with 6,000 men, started, 19 Aug., from the Hudson, and reached the head of Chesapeake bay, 5 Sept., the same day on which the French fleet, under De Grasse, repulsed the British fleet, and obtained full possession of the Virginia waters. Cornwallis as yet knew nothing of Washington's approach, but there was just a chance that he might realize his danger, and, crossing the James river, seek safety in a retreat upon North Carolina. This solitary chance was now forestalled by Lafayette. The troops of Saint-Simon, brought by the fleet, had now increased his army to 8,000, and with his force he took his stand, 7 Sept., across the neck of the peninsula at Williamsburg, thus cutting off Cornwallis's retreat. Washington arrived, 14 Sept., at Lafayette's headquarters and took command, and the ensuing concentration of all