Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter viii Yorktown it had been in September of 1780 that Lafayette had gone with Washington up the Hudson and stumbled, as it were, upon the tragedy of Benedict Arnold's treachery. The young Major-General had witnessed his great chief's horror and pain and rage; had seen, too, the agony of Arnold's innocent wife; had lived through the days of Andre's trial, and had been forced to sit in judgment upon that young man of charm and talent and sign the warrant that sent him to the gallows as a spy. We may be sure that with Lafayette's loyalty to his chief, his chivalry toward women, and his naturally tender heart, these events had left their scar. When Arnold, through good fortune, escaped his countrymen's rage and appeared as an officer in the British army, prosperous and unrepentant, Lafayette's heart must have burned within him. When the news came that Arnold was pillaging Virginia at will, Lafayette must have rejoiced that he was chosen by Washington to go to the Old Dominion with some regiments of light infantry, reinforced by militia, to do what he could to deal with this villain. The story of Lafayette's start, with its many delays, the story, too, of Washington's various changes of plans for the campaign, is a long one and beside the purpose of these sketches. Let us be content merely to follow Lafayette without explanation or delay as he appears and reappears for the next few spring and summer and autumn months against the background of the Old Dominion; for Virginia, more than any other State, shows us our hero at the height of his military glory, at the height of heroic young manhood; gives us the perfect portrait of the man that America loved. Like some splendid young knight, without fear and without reproach, he moves now...