wn. General Wayne felt many a pang for
this rash command, as he was a man who never would shed blood without it
was necessary in the performance of his duty."

"Why didn't he send the Indians to Greene's camp, or some other American
post?" enquired Hand.

"There was no time or men to spare if the rumour had been true," said
Colson. "Most commanders would have acted as Wayne did, under the
circumstances. Though I think the execution of the order might have been
delayed until the enemy came in sight."

"The General no doubt had good reason for his course," said Kinnison.
"He believed it to be his duty to do everything for the safety of the
men he commanded, and expecting to be assailed by a much larger force
than his own, he did right to destroy the foes he had in camp. I know it
must have shocked his feelings to give the order, but he was a man who
couldn't shrink or be driven from the plain line of duty. Now, there was
that affair with the Pennsylvania line, at Morristown. I've heard
several men who were at Morristown at the time, say that Wayne was wrong
in daring to oppose the mutineers--that their demands were just and
reasonable, and he ought rather to have led, than opposed them. But
every man who knows anything of the duty of a general and a patriot must
applaud Wayne."

"Can't you give us an account of that mutiny at Morristown?" enquired
Hand.

THE MUTINY AT MORRISTOWN.

"I can tell you what was told me by men who engaged in it," said
Kinnison. "For myself, I was at that time, with the Massachusetts troops
at Middlebrook. The Pennsylvania line, numbering about two thousand men,
was stationed at the old camp ground at Morristown. Most of these men
believed that their term of service expired at the end of the year 1779,
though Congress and some of the generals thought otherwise, or that the
men were enlisted to serve until the end of the war. This difficulty
about the term of enlistment was the seed of the mutiny. But there were
many other things that would have roused any other men to revolt. The
Pennsylvanians had not received any pay for twelve months, and during
the severest part of the fall, they suffered for the want of food and
clothing. To expect men to bear such treatment and remain in the army
when there was the slightest pretext for leaving, it was building on a
sandy foundation. Patriotism and starvation were not as agreeable to
common soldiers as they were to some members of Congress. E