"Sam": or The history of mystery./ By C. W. Webber.

386 "SAM:" OP., THE HISTORY OF MYSTERY.
of the British and Hessians, against whom, even Howe's
protections had proved a very uncertain defense. Plundering, into which soldiers very easily fall, was by no means
confined to the British. Washington was again obliged to
issue stern orders against "the infamous practice of plundering the inhabitants, under pretense that they are Tories."
Another proclamation was presently issued, requiring all
those who had taken British protections, either to remove
within the enemy's lines, or else to repair to the nearest
general officer, give up their protections, and take an oath
of allegiance to the United States. Objections were made
to this proclamation, and one of the New Jersey delegates
in Congress, raised some question about it, on the ground
that it was an interference with State rights, allegiance
being due to the State, and not to the confederacy; but
Congress sustained Washington in the course he had taken.
Huts were erected at Morristown, and there the main body
of the American army remained during the winter. The
right was at Princeton, under Putnam; the left in the Highlands, under Heath; cantonments were established at various places along this extended line. Skirmishes occasionally
took place between advanced parties, but for six months, no
important movement was made upon either side. Washington, busy in organizing the new army, was, in fact, very
weak. Recruits came in but slowly; and detachments of
militia, principally from the eastern States, had to be called
out for temporary service. These were judiciously posted,
so as to make the best possible show; but, for several
months, there was little more than the shadow of an army.
The enemy, made cautious by their losses, fortunately were
ignorant of Washington's real situation. The strong ground
occupied by the Americans, and the winter, which had now
fairly set in, seemed to forbid the hope of successful attack.
In skirmishes, the Americans were generally successful; the
British quarters were straitened, their supplies were cut off,
and they were reduced to great distress for forage and fresh
provisions.
The recovery of the Jerseys by the fragments of a
defeated army, which had seemed just before on the point
of dissolution, gained Washington a high reputation, not at
home only, but in Europe also, where the progress of the