The correspondence of the Father of
his country, now first published, reveals the fact that the compensation
attached to military rank was by no means an unimportant object of the
universal rage for preferment, which then threatened to break up the
army. Lafayette set a noble example to the republican chiefs. He
declined the tender of a commission as major-general, with the
emoluments, and stipulated, on the contrary, for leave to serve without
reward, and even without a command, until he should have made a title to
it by actual achievements. He won his commission by the blood he gave to
his adopted country in the battle of Brandywine, by rallying the troops
in the retreat at Chester Bridge, and by his brave resistance and
capture, with the aid of militia-men, of a superior force of British
and Hessian regulars; and thus, without exciting murmurs among his
compatriots, and with the thanks of Congress, he rose to the command of
a division in the army of the United States. Lavish of gold, as he had
already shown that he was lavish of blood, he clothed and equipped
these troops, numbering two thousand, at his own expense; and they soon
became, under his exact but affectionate discipline, the favorite corps
of the whole army.
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