ceasing exertions of the State commissary, aided by the co-operation of the quartermaster-general, produced an agreeable change in the quantity and quality of provisions. Still the situation of the army was deplorable, and much remained to be done to give durable comfort to the troops, whose past distress is thus described by General Greene in an official letter written on the 13th of August. "For upward of two months, more than one-third of our army was naked, with nothing but a breech-cloth about them, and never came out of their tents; and the rest were as ragged as wolves. Our condition was little better in the articles of provision. Our beef was perfect carrion; and even bad as it was, we were frequently without any. An army thus clothed and thus fed may be considered in a desperate situation."

The delay and uncertainty in evacuating Charleston, however productive of gloomy forebodings in the American camp, did not stop the enterprise of adventurous individuals, who, believing the event at hand, seized, as they presumed, the sure opportunity of advancing their fortunes. Many of these procured admittance into Charleston, and entered into contracts with the British merchants, whom they found as desirous of selling their stock on hand, as they were eager to buy it.

Among the adventurers who, about the end of August or beginning of September, made their way into Charleston, was Mr. John Banks from Virginia. This gentleman (no doubt with permission), after a short stay in town, visited the American army. Here he was introduced to General Greene. Well knowing the naked condition of his countrymen in arms, and convinced of the general solicitude to relieve their sufferings, he offered to procure and deliver whatever might be wanted. Greene having been, as before mentioned, authorized by the superintendent of finance to enter into contracts for supplying his army, did not hesitate in accepting Banks's proposal, and a contract was arranged with him for the requisite clothing to be delivered on the evacuation of Charleston. This was the first opportunity which had presented of effecting the long-wished and much-desired object. It was embraced with avidity, and Mr. Banks completely executed his contract at the designated period, to the great joy of the general and army.

The preparations for evacuating Charleston began now to assume a determinate character; and the doubts heretofore entertained on that subject to be dissipated. The American general held still his position at Ashley Hill, shutting up every avenue to intercourse

between town and country. The enemy no longer attempted to interrupt this operation, but fixed in his design of withdrawing from South Carolina, he avoided unavailing conflict. Thus passed the autumn, and General Leslie, although never intermitting his preparations to retire, still continued with his army in Charleston. At length, early in December, the embarkation of the military stores, ordnance, and baggage commenced. When this was completed, the troops followed, and on the 14th the embarkation was finished. General Wayne, with the Legion and light infantry, had for some days previous, by order of Greene, placed himself near the Quarterhouse for the purpose of entering the town as soon as it should be evacuated. To this officer, Leslie informally intimated his wish to prevent injury to the town, in which he presumed on the cordial coincidence of the American general, and which he insinuated was only to be effected by prohibiting every attempt to interrupt the embarkation of the retiring army.

Wayne communicated to the general the intimation he had received from Leslie, who directed him to conform to it.

Accordingly no effort was made to disturb the enemy's embarkation, which took place without the smallest confusion or disorder; the light troops under Wayne entered into town close after the retirement of the British rear.

Thus was the metropolis of South Carolina restored to the United States, after having been in the possession of the enemy from its surrender to Sir Henry Clinton. (12th May, 1780.)

The governor with his suite was escorted into the capital on the same day. On the next the civil authority resumed its former functions, and the din of arms yielded to the innocent and pleasing occupations of peace.

APPENDIX.

A.-Page 83.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL BURGOYNE had been a soldier from early life, and very much distinguished himself in the campaign of 1762, under the Count de la Lippe Schomburg, in Portugal, where he established his reputation in arms, signalizing himself particularly by his surprise of the Spaniards at Valentia de Alcantera, and afterward with Colonel Lee at Villavelha. He was an accomplished gentleman, with the advantage of respectable family connections, and a highly finished education.

B.-Page 83.

MAJOR-GENERAL GATES, like his antagonist, had been bred to arms, and served in America during the war of 1755. His course seems to have been mediocre. After the peace of 1763 he settled in Virginia, where the revolutionary war found him. Unprovided as were the States with soldiers of experience, General Gates was called forth by the Congress of 1775, and was appointed adjutantgeneral, with the rank of brigadier, to the army assembled before Boston in our first campaign.

C.-Page 113.

MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES LEE was born in England, and entered very young into the army-the profession most congenial to his mind. He served in America, in Portugal, and in Turkey, always respected, and sometimes distinguished.

Like his unfortunate friend, Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, he possessed the confidence and esteem of Count de la Lippe, under whose orders, with Lieutenant-Colonel Burgoyne, he was detached to strike at a detached camp of the enemy in the village of Villavelha, during the campaign of 1762, in Portugal; which service was handsomely performed.

In the dispute between the colonies and the mother country, Lee espoused with warmth the cause of the colonies, whose rights he believed to be despotically invaded; and some time after came over to America. When convinced that the sword must be drawn, he resigned his commission in the British army, and accepted the third station in the American staff, proffered to him by Congress. He possessed a sublime genius, highly improved by books and travel; but was eccentric from freedom of thought, which he uttered without reserve; sarcastic without malignity of heart, but with asperity of tongue; and imprudent, from an indisposition to guard himself by cramping mental independence.

D.-Page 186.

MAJOR-GENERAL BARON DE KALB was a German by birth; and, from the best information obtainable, must have served during the war of 1755 in some

* Colonel Howard thinks he was from Alsace or Lorraine-German provinces, ceded to France; and that he served in the French army in conjunction with that of the Inperialists in 1755. It is very probable the French had in this country the regiment of Deux Ponts, a German corps-but raised from a district then belonging to France.

of the inferior stations of the quartermaster-general's department, in the imperial army operating with that of his most Christian majesty; it being well ascertained by his acquaintances in our army that he was intimately versed in the details of that department. Toward the close of that war he must have been dispatched by the French court to North America, as he has himself often mentioned his having traversed the then British provinces in a concealed character; the object of which tour cannot be doubted, as the baron never failed, when speaking of the existing war, to express his astonishment, how any government could have so blundered as to efface the ardent and deep affection which, to his own knowledge, existed on the part of the colonies to Great Britain previous to the late rupture,-a preference equalled only by their antipathy to the French nation, which was so powerful as to induce the baron to consider it, as he called it, "instinctive."

Just before the peace our incognitus, becoming suspected, was arrested; and for a few days he was imprisoned. On examination of his baggage and papers, nothing could be found confirming the suspicion which had induced his arrest, and he was discharged.

Such discovery was not practicable; as during this tour the baron himself declared, that he relied entirely upon his memory, which was singularly strong; never venturing to commit to paper the information of others or his own observations. On the restoration of peace the baron returned to Europe, and came once more to America in 1777 or 1778, recommended to Congress as an experienced soldier, worthy of coufidence. A brigadier in the service of France, he was honored by Congress with the rank of major-general, and repaired to the main army, in which he served at the head of the Maryland division very much respected.

Possessing a stout frame, with excellent health, no officer was more able to encounter the toils of war. Moderate in mental powers, as in literary acquirements, he excelled chiefly in the practical knowledge of men and things, gained during a long life by close and accurate investigation of the cause and effect of passing events.

We all know that the court of France has been uniformly distinguished by its superior address and management in diving into the secrets of every nation, whether friend or foe, with whom it has relation.

The business of espionage has been brought in France to a science, and a regular trained corps, judiciously organized, is ever in the service of the court. Of this body there is strong reason to believe that the baron was a member, and probably one of the chief confidants of that government in the United States. No man was better qualified for the undertaking. He was sober, drinking water only abstemious to excess; living on bread, sometimes with beef soup, at other times with cold beef; industrious, it being his constant habit to rise at five in the morning, light his candle, devote himself to writing, which was never intermitted during the day but when interrupted by his short meals, or by attention to his official duty; and profoundly secret. He wrote in hieroglyphics, not upon sheets of paper as is customary in camps, but in large folio books; which were carefully preserved, waiting to be transmitted to his unknown correspondent whenever a safe opportunity might offer. He betrayed an unceasing jealousy lest his journals and mystic dictionary might be perused; and seemed to be very much in dread of losing his baggage; which, in itself was too trifling to be regarded, and would only have attracted such unvarying care from the valuable paper deposit. He never failed to direct his quartermaster to place him as near the centre of the ariny as was allowable, having an utter aversion to be in the vicinity of either flank, lest an adventuring partisan should carry off his baggage. What became of his journals is not known; but very probably he did not venture to take them into South Carolina; what is most probable, he placed such as remained in the hands of the French minister for transmission to Paris, when he was ordered to the South.