by
numbers; the Delaware men were cut to pieces; the militia were swept
away in flight, and Gates with them. His northern laurels, as it was
said, had changed into southern willows; and for the second time within
three months an American army at the South had been annihilated.

This was, on the whole, the darkest moment of the war. For a moment in
July there had been a glimmer of hopefulness when the Count de
Rochambeau arrived with 6000 men who were landed on Rhode Island. The
British fleet, however, soon came and blockaded them there, and again
the hearts of the people were sickened with hope deferred. It seemed as
if Lord George Germaine's policy of "tiring the Americans out" might be
going to succeed after all. When the value of the Continental paper
money now fell to zero, it was a fair indication that the people had
pretty much lost all faith in Congress. In the army the cases of
desertion to the British lines averaged about a hundred per month.

[Sidenote: Benedict Arnold's treason, July-Sept., 1780.]

This was a time when a man of bold and impulsive temperament, prone to
cherish romantic schemes, smarting under an accumulation of injuries,
and weak in moral principle, might easily take it into his head that the
American cause was lost, and that he had better carve out a new career
for himself, while wreaking vengeance on his enemies. Such seems to have
been the case with Benedict Arnold. He had a great and well-earned
reputation for skill and bravery. His military services up to the time
of Burgoyne's surrender had been of priceless value, and he had always
stood high in Washington's favour. But he had a genius for getting into
quarrels, and there seem always to have been people who doubted his
moral soundness. At the same time he had good reason to complain of the
treatment which he received from Congress. The party hostile to
Washington sometimes liked to strike at him in the persons of his
favourite generals, and such admirable men as Greene and Morgan had to
bear the brunt of this ill feeling. Early in 1777 five brigadier
generals junior to Arnold in rank and vastly inferior to him in ability
and reputation had been promoted over him to the grade of major-general.
On this occasion he had shown an excellent spirit, and when sent by
Washington to the aid of Schuyler, he had signified his willingness to
serve under St. Clair and Lincoln, two of the juniors who had been
raised above him. Arnold was a warm