Page:Tale of the Rebellion of 1745, or, The broken heart (2).pdf/19

19 SINGULAR

ADVENTURE OF A BRITISH SOLDIER,

In a Campaign in North America.

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In the year 1779, when the war with America was conducted with great spirit upon that continent, a division of the British army was encamped on the banks of a river, and in a position so favoured by nature,that it was difficult for any military art to surprise it. War in America was rather a species of hunting than a regular campaign. “ If you fight with art,” said Washington to his soldiers, “ you are sure to be defeated. Acquire discipline enough for retreat and the uniformity of combined attack, and your country will prove the best of engineers.” So true was the maxim of the Ame= rican General, that the English soldiers had to contend with little else. The Americans had in- corporated the Indians into their ranks, and had made them useful in a species of war to which their habits of life had peculiarly fitted them. They sallied out of their impenetrable forests and jungles, and with their arrows and tomahawks, committed daily waste upon the British army,— surprising their sentinels, cutting off their stragglers, and even when the alarm was given and pursuit commenced, they fled with a swiftness that the speed of cavalry could not overtake, into rocks and fastnesses whither it was dangerous to follow them. In order to limit as far as possible this