Excerpt from Life and Times of Washington, Vol. 2: Containing a Particular Account of National Principles and Events, and of the Illustrious Men of the Revolution To remedy these evils - to annoy the rear of the British troops, in case they evacuated Philadelphia, which it was now suspected they intended to do, and also to form an advanced guard of the main army - Lafayette, with upwards of two thousand chosen men, and six pieces of artillery, was ordered to the east of the Schuylkill, and took post on Barren Hill, seven or eight miles in advance of the army at Valley Forge. Sir William Howe immediately got notice of his posi tion, and formed a plan to surprise and cut him Off. For that purpose, a detach ment of five thousand of the best troops of the British army, under Generalcarp. X1v.] monmouth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.