his inquisitive mind could appropriate. But there was one set of men whom he never could conciliate, who mistrusted his purposes, and cast upon him lowering looks as they met him about the camp. Those were the general and held officers from New Hampshire, who looked upon him as a dandy and an upstart at least, if not also at heart a traitor. They would not associate with him, still less confide in him.” It is further stated on authority, that there is no reason for doubting that “after the battle at Charlestown, Thompson was favorably introduced by some officers of Cambridge to General Washington, who had just assumed the command; and that, had it not been for the opposition of some of the New Hampshire officers, he would have had the place in the American artillery corps which was given to Colonel Gridley.” The genius of Thompson was thus lost to the American cause through the rivalries and hatreds of army officers, a source of evil which profoundly troubled the life of Washington during the Revolution, as it did also that of Lincoln during the civil war.
Nothing was therefore left to Thompson but to remain in obscurity at home under a cloud of suspicion that would have darkened his life, or to seek a field of action elsewhere. He was a man of high spirit and great force of character, and of course would not submit like a poltroon to the degrading alternative. He accordingly took service under the government of his early allegiance. He went to England, and soon after his arrival, at the age of twenty-three, was given an appointment in the colonial office, under Lord George Germaine. He directed immediate attention to military matters; improved the accoutrements of the Horse-Guards; continued and extended his experiments on gunpowder, and improved the construction of firearms. He experimented with great guns, made a study of the principles of naval artillery, and devised a code of marine signals. He also made investigations into the cohesion of bodies, which he communicated to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, and was elected Fellow of that body in 1779 at the age of twenty-six. He very soon became one of the most active and honored members of the Royal Society, always attending its meetings when he was in London. He afterward received a colonelcy from the British Government, and came back to this country in command of a regiment on Long Island, building a fort at Huntington, He returned to England in 1783, and the same year made a tour on the Continent. At Strasburg he accidentally met with Prince Maximilian of Deux Ponts, then field-marshal in the service of France, who became so interested in Colonel Thompson that he gave him an introduction to his uncle the Elector of Bavaria at Munich. The Elector was a man of liberal views, and discerning in Thompson the talent that he thought might be made available in promoting the interests of his government and people, he made overtures to him to enter his service in a joint military and civil capacity. The
