troops was
stationed. He had made himself formidable to the enemy by harassing
their foraging parties. An attempt was made to surprise him. A party
of about two hundred dragoons, taking a circuitous route in the night,
came upon him by daybreak. He had but a few men with him at the time,
and took post in a large store-house. His scanty force did not allow a
soldier for each window. The dragoons attempted to force their way
into the house. There was a warm contest. The dragoons were bravely
repulsed, and sheered off, leaving two killed and four wounded.

Washington, whose heart evidently warmed to this young Virginian
officer, not content with noticing his exploit in general orders, not
long afterwards strongly recommended him for the command of two troops
of horse, with the rank of major, to act as an independent partisan
corps. "His genius," observes he, "particularly adapts him to a
command of this nature; and it will be the most agreeable to him of
any station in which he could be placed." It was a high gratification
to Washington when Congress made this appointment; accompanying it
with encomiums on Lee as a brave and prudent officer.

In the month of February, Mrs. Washington rejoined the general at
Valley Forge, and took up her residence at head-quarters. The
arrangements consequent on her arrival bespeak the simplicity of style
in this rude encampment. "The general's apartment is very small,"
writes she to a friend; "he has had a log cabin built to dine in,
which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at
first." Lady Stirling, Mrs. Knox, the wife of the general, and the
wives of other of the officers were also in the camp.

The reforms in the commissariat had begun to operate. Provisions
arrived in considerable quantities; supplies, on their way to the
Philadelphia market to load the British tables were intercepted and
diverted into the hungry camp of the patriots; magazines were formed
in Valley Forge; the threatened famine was averted; "grim-visaged war"
gradually relaxed his features, and affairs in the encampment began to
assume a more cheering aspect.

An important arrival in the camp was that of the Baron Steuben,
towards the latter part of February. He was a seasoned soldier from
the old battle fields of Europe; having served in the seven years'
war, been aide-de-camp to the great Frederick, and connected with the
quartermaster-general's department. Honors had been heaped upon him in