Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/40

The way was now opened, and the scene of the war was soon transferred to other parts of the country. The day after the evacuation of Boston, five regiments, with a battalion of riflemen and two companies of artillery, were sent to New York. But, as the British fleet was still in Nantasket road, Washington did not venture to move more of his army, or to go away himself, until the risk of a return was over. On April 13 he reached New York, and was soon summoned to Philadelphia for a conference with congress. On his return to New York, while he was anxiously awaiting an attack by the British forces, the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, was transmitted to him. The regiments were forthwith paraded, and the Declaration was read at the head of the army. "The General hopes," said he in the orders of the day, "that this important event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer and soldier to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his country depend, under God, solely on the success of our arms." He hailed the Declaration with delight, and had written to his brother, from Philadelphia, that he was rejoiced at "the noble act" of the Virginia convention, recommending that such a declaration should be adopted. But his little army, according to the returns of August 5 following, hardly numbered more than 20,000 men, of whom six or seven thousand were sick or