country was internally so strong, and yield further succor to the
Southern States, which had not equal military advantages. With the
consent of Congress, therefore, he put the Maryland line under
marching orders, together with the Delaware regiment, which acted with
it, and the first regiment of artillery. The Baron De Kalb, now at the
head of the Maryland division, was instructed to conduct this
detachment with all haste to the aid of General Lincoln. He might not
arrive in time to prevent the fall of Charleston, but he might assist
to arrest the progress of the enemy and save the Carolinas.

CHAPTER LIV.
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY.--FALL OF CHARLESTON.

We have cited the depreciation of the currency as a main cause of the
difficulties and distresses of the army. The troops were paid in paper
money at its nominal value. A memorial of the officers of the Jersey
line to the legislature of their State, represented the depreciation
to be so great, that four months' pay of a private soldier would not
procure for his family a single bushel of wheat; the pay of a colonel
would not purchase oats for his horse, and a common laborer or express
rider could earn four times the pay in paper of an American officer.

Congress, too, in its exigencies, being destitute of the power of
levying taxes, which vested in the State governments, devolved upon
those governments, in their separate capacities, the business of
supporting the army. This produced a great inequality in the condition
of the troops; according to the means and the degree of liberality of
their respective States. Some States furnished their troops amply not
only with clothing, but with many comforts and conveniencies; others
were more contracted in their supplies; while others left their troops
almost destitute. Some of the States, too, undertook to make good to
their troops the loss in their pay caused by the depreciation of the
currency. As this was not general it increased the inequality of
condition.

These, and other defects in the military system, were pressed by
Washington upon the attention of Congress in a letter to the
President. In consequence it was proposed in Congress to send a
committee of three of its members to head-quarters to consult with the
commander-in-chief, and, in conjunction with him, to effect such
reforms and changes in the various departments of the army as might be
deemed necessary. After a prolonged debate, a committee of three was