The Neutral Ground (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I HE SUMMER night was softly descending upon the hills that rose in silent majesty at some little distance back from the banks of the Hudson River. Many of the leafy giants that had but recently helped to form the primeval forest had been chopped down, and with their branches rudely lopped off, laid side by side upon the I ground from which the stumps and underbrush had been removed, so that after having been I thickly covered with earth, whereby the chinks between the logs were fairly well filled, they formed a rough but serviceable corduroy road; this winding way led in and out among the elevations of land following the level stretches and the slight declivities rather than the more abrupt ascents and descents that constantly pre / sented themselves; on account of the heavy / rains almost amounting in some seasons to torrential down-pours as well as the wind-blown drifting masses of fleecy snow that piled themselves upon and among the trees, this primitive public highway had to be frequently reinforced and repaired; but in spite of the attention that it received from those who enjoyed its advantages, it was at its best but a poor substitute for, or to be exact forerunner of the magnificent and dignified thoroughfare over which the traveler now approaches the outskirts of the city of New York. The year seventeen hundred and seventyeight was in many ways a stormy and a pivotal one for the independent strength of a nation then in its uncertain infancy that is now invincible; at the close of the preceding year, the fortunes of the young United States of America were almost at their lowest ebb; the great, unselfish heart of Washington was rent and torn by many conflicting emotions; in his plain, and even dingy headquarters at Valley Forge, he spent m...