His self-possession now returned, and, ashamed at having given way to an impulse of fear, he at once pricked back with all the rapidity to which he could urge his horse, and resumed his place in tin1 order of march; while the commanding officers, with good-natured peals of laughter, welcomed him back and commended his courage."1 " This reconnoisance," says a French writer, " was made with all the care imaginable. We had been exposed to six or seven hundred cannon-shots, which cost the Americans two men. We had taken twenty or thirty prisoners from the English, and killed four or five men. Sixty horses had also been taken from them. I can not repeat too often how greatly I have been surprised at the American army. '■ Bolton (rev. ed.), ii., 533.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

It is inconceivable that troops almost naked, poorly paid, and composed of old men, negroes, and children, should march equally well on the road and under fire. I have shared this astonishment with M. de Rochambeau himself, who continued to speak of it to us on the return march. I hardly need to speak of the coolness of General Washington. It is known; but this great man is a thousand times greater "and more noble at the head of his army than at any other time.'' J This was no sensational parade before the enemy's position to make a plausible showing of offensive designs, but an elaborate, scientific preparation for a siege. It is said that Washington and Rochambeau were in their saddles twenty-four consecutive hours. Rochambeau relates an interesting episode: We had proceeded (he savs) to an island, which was separated from the enemy posted on to have Long-Island, by an arm of the sea, the width of which General Washington wished fatigue, measured.