of all, he seems to
have displayed his usual judgment and skill in adapting himself to
the requirements of his position; and, while never losing his
gentleness and his simplicity of manner, to have borne himself as the
impersonation, for the time being, of the executive authority of a
great and proud commonwealth. He ceased to appear frequently upon the
streets; and whenever he did appear, he was carefully arrayed in a
dressed wig, in black small-clothes, and in a scarlet cloak; and his
presence and demeanor were such as to sustain, in the popular mind,
the traditional respect for his high office.

He had so far recovered from the illness which had prostrated him
during the summer, as to be at his post of duty when the General
Assembly of the State began its first session, on Monday, the 7th of
October, 1776. His health, however, was still extremely frail; for on
the 30th of that month he was obliged to notify the House "that the
low state of his health rendered him unable to attend to the duties of
his office, and that his physicians had recommended to him to retire
therefrom into the country, till he should recover his strength."[261]
His absence seems not to have been very long. By the 16th of November,
as one may infer from entries in the journal of the House,[262] he was
able to resume his official duties.

The summer and autumn of that year proved to be a dismal period for
the American cause. Before our eyes, as we now look back over those
days, there marches this grim procession of dates: August 27, the
battle of Long Island; August 29, Washington's retreat across East
River; September 15, the panic among the American troops at Kip's Bay,
and the American retreat from New York; September 16, the battle of
Harlem Plains; September 20, the burning of New York; October 28, the
battle of White Plains; November 16, the surrender of Fort Washington;
November 20, the abandonment of Fort Lee, followed by Washington's
retreat across the Jerseys. In the midst of these disasters,
Washington found time to write, from the Heights of Harlem, on the 5th
of October, to his old friend, Patrick Henry, congratulating him on
his election as governor of Virginia and on his recovery from
sickness; explaining the military situation at headquarters; advising
him about military appointments in Virginia; and especially giving to
him important suggestions concerning the immediate military defence of
Virginia "against the enemy's ships an