Page:Charles Lee Papers 1873 Vol 3.djvu/278

THE LEE PAPERS. 259

power ; besides, it must occur to every man who is not destitute of common reason, that the further they were from their ships and the heights of Middletown, the point of their security, the more they were (to use the military language) in the air. To these considerations may be added, that the ground we found them in, was extremely favourable to the nature of their troops ; and that we drew them into, as favourable to ours. The ground we found them in, was calculated for cavalry, in which they comparatively abounded ; and that which we drew them into, as much the reverse. In fine, admitting that the order I received was any one of the three referred to, and supposing we had been as perfectly acquainted with every yard of the country as we were utterly ignorant of it, I am happy to be able consciously to pronounce, that were the transactions of that day to pass over again, there is no one step I took which I would not again take. There is no one thing I did which does not demonstrate that I conducted myself as an obedient, prudent, and, let me add, spirited officer ;* and I do from my soul sincerely wish, that a court of inquiry, composed of the ablest soldiers in the world, were to sit in judgment, and enjoined to canvass with the utmost rigor every circumstance of my conduct on this day, and on their decision my reputation or infamy to he for ever established. There is, however, I confess, the strongest reason to believe (but for this omission I am no ways responsible) that, had a proper knowledge of the theatre of action been obtained, as it might, and ought to have been, its nature and different situations, with their references studied, and, in consequence, a general plan of action wisely conceited and digested, a most important, perhaps a decisive blow might have been struck, but not by adopting any one measure that any one of my* This stile, on ordinary occasions, would appear a most intolerable and disgusting gasconade ; but when a man's conduct has been so grossly misrepresented and calumniated, as mine has been, the strongest language is justifiable in his defence.