The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [352]
In July 1779, he returns to his home in Virginia, and in January 1780, the congress officially dismisses him from the army. He dies in Philadelphia in 1782, at age fifty-one.
DANIEL MORGAN
After retiring to his home in the Shenandoah Valley, he returns briefly to service under Lafayette to assist in the defense against Tarleton’s Virginia raids, but his health continues to plague him, and by mid-1781, his days of active service in the Revolution are at an end.
In 1794, he accepts Washington’s request to serve during the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania, returns home to Virginia, where he is elected to Congress in 1797. He takes his four hundred ninety-nine scars to his grave in Winchester, Virginia, in 1802, at age sixty-six.
Morgan is one of only eight men to be awarded congressional gold medals for his service during the war.
HORATIO GATES
After his humiliation at the Battle of Camden, Gates returns to his home in Virginia. Incensed at the widespread and vocal disregard for his abilities, he demands an official inquiry into his performance. In 1782, a congress that is focused on the much more important task of forging a peace clears him of misconduct, though no one will speak publicly on his behalf. Returning briefly to the army, Gates is the power behind much of the fiery talk aimed at inciting the army to lay siege to the congress, which Washington defuses.
After the peace treaty, Gates returns to Virginia, suffers the death of his wife, and soon proceeds to offer his hand in marriage to several prominent women, including the widow of the heroic General Richard Montgomery, who was killed at Quebec. His quest finally lands him a marriage to a wealthy New Yorker. He dies in 1806, at age seventy-eight.
ANTHONY WAYNE
Promoted to major general in 1783, “Mad Anthony” retires to the plantation given him as a reward for his service to the state of Georgia. But he discovers that farming is not always profitable, and after several financial setbacks, he returns to his home in Pennsylvania, where he serves in the assembly, and then, in 1791, is elected to Congress.
He serves the army again in an attempt to deal with Indian violence in western Pennsylvania, and in 1794, routs a large force of Indians, bringing an effective end to the conflict. On the journey home, he is stricken by illness, and dies at Erie, Pennsylvania, in December 1796. He is fifty-one.
FREDERICK VON STEUBEN
He leaves the army in March 1784, and is granted full citizenship by his adopted country. He moves to New York City, and establishes himself as a lion of society. Always an honored guest at parties, he obliges with his martial bearing and boisterous manner. Though popular with the New York society ladies, he never marries. Granted a pension by Congress, and a significant land grant in New York state, he retires to his new home in the Mohawk Valley. He is stricken by a sudden, unexplained illness, and dies, November 1794, at age sixty-four. Leaving no heirs, his estate is bequeathed to the two adjutants who had served him throughout his experience in the American war, Majors Walker and North.
In 1910, in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to American independence, Congress erects a statue of him in Washington, D.C. A duplicate of this statue is erected the following year in Potsdam, Prussia.
TENCH TILGHMAN
Washington’s most trusted and loyal aide resigns from the army in December 1783. He returns to Maryland, settles, and marries, in Baltimore.