Note 83 — Chapter XXV

Washington several years afterwards, speaking of this important march in a letter to Noah Webster, writes: “That much trouble was taken, and finesse used, to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry Clinton in regard to the real object, by fictitious communications, as well as by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage, and boats in his neighborhood, is certain. Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army, for I had always conceived where the imposition does not completely take place at home, it would never sufficiently succeed abroad.”—Sparks, ix. 404.