; it did not in any way abate his self-reliance or
his fiery ardor, but it taught him the necessity of forethought, of
thorough preparation, and of ceaseless watchfulness. A few days later he
led the assault at Germantown, driving the Hessians before him with the
bayonet. This was always his favorite weapon; he had the utmost faith in
coming to close quarters, and he trained his soldiers to trust the
steel. At Monmouth he turned the fortunes of the day by his stubborn and
successful resistance to the repeated bayonet charges of the Guards and
Grenadiers. His greatest stroke was the storming of Stony Point, where
in person he led the midnight rush of his troops over the walls of the
British fort. He fought with his usual hardihood against Cornwallis; and
at the close of the Revolutionary War he made a successful campaign
against the Creeks in Georgia. During this campaign the Creeks one night
tried to surprise his camp, and attacked with resolute ferocity, putting
to flight some of the troops; but Wayne rallied them and sword in hand
he led them against the savages, who were overthrown and driven from the
field. In one of the charges he cut down an Indian chief; and the dying
man, as he fell, killed Wayne's horse with a pistol shot.

Wayne Reorganizes the Army

As soon as Wayne reached the Ohio, in June, 1792, he set about
reorganizing the army. He had as a nucleus the remnant of St. Clair's
beaten forces; and to this were speedily added hundreds of recruits
enlisted under new legislation by Congress, and shipped to him as fast
as the recruiting officers could send them. The men were of precisely
the same general character as those who had failed so dismally under St.
Clair, and it was even more difficult to turn them into good soldiers,
for the repeated disasters, crowned by the final crushing horror, had
unnerved them and made them feel that their task was hopeless, and that
they were foredoomed to defeat. [Footnote: Bradley MSS. Letters and
Journal of Captain Daniel Bradley; see entry of May 7, 1793, etc.] The
mortality among the officers had been great, and the new officers,
though full of zeal, needed careful training. Among the men desertions
were very common; and on the occasion of a sudden alarm Wayne found that
many of his sentries left their posts and fled. [Footnote: "Major
General Anthony Wayne," by Charles J. Stille, p. 323.] Only rigorous and
long continued discipline and exercise under a commander both