History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

436 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1780.
the armies of tlie republic had been defeated, and scattered,
and the state was believed to have been securely conquered.
Yet as the year closed there was a flash of encouragement
from King's Mountain, but not enough was gained to compensate
for other losses. Elsewhere, however, the patriots
held their own. It is unnecessary to follow the opera-
tions in that section, as no troops from New England participated
in them. While no engagements of importance
occurred with the army under the immediate command of
Washington, a campaign of manoeuvers was carried on in
which the American army was not outgeneraled. The
British kept up the system of desultory warfare, killing,
burning and destroying wherever their expeditions could
reach. The treason of Arnold, so nearly successful, was
the most severe blow that had fallen upon the patriot cause.
It is not necessary to recapitulate the familiar incidents of
that extraordinary episode. The reminiscences of the
Northampton soldiers during that period, having special
local interest have already been related. A French fleet,
sent over to aid the cause of liberty, accomplished very lit-
tle. Well nigh hopeless bankruptcy stared the country in
the face, notwithstanding the foreign loans which the
agents of the United States succeeded in negotiating.
Every state was largely in debt, and it was almost impossible
to obtain soldiers. In Massachusetts the currency had
depreciated till it stood seventy-five to one of the old cur-
rency, and about forty to one of the new ; taxes were high,
and the absence of so many able-bodied men in the army
seriously interfered with farming, the staple industry of
the country. Mutiny followed swiftly in the footsteps of
treason, and the prospect, when Washington placed his
army in winter quarters, in 1780, was dark and dismal.
For the better supply of the commissariat,
Sheldon's Light-
Horse. diftereut points were selected for the can-
tonments of the army in the winter of 1780
and 1781, and the regiment of Light-Horse, commanded by
Col. Sheldon, was quartered in Northampton and Hatfield.
No special reason for this proceeding appears. The regiment
was not recruited in this section, though some companies
of infantry from Hampshire County seem to have